April 23, 1979

1979Barry Hawkins, English snooker player^[†]

Barry Hawkins is an English professional snooker player from Ditton, Kent. He turned professional in 1996, but only rose to prominence in the 2004–05 snooker season when he reached the last 16 of the 2004 UK Championship, the quarter-finals of the 2004 British Open and the semi-finals of the 2005 Welsh Open. He has spent twenty successive seasons ranked inside the top 32. Hawkins reached his first ranking final and won his first ranking title at the 2012 Australian Goldfields Open. Hawkins has won four ranking titles.

1979Jaime King, American actress and model^[†]

Jaime Barbara King is an American actress and model best known for her roles in TV series Hart of Dixie (2011–2015) and Black Summer (2019–2021), and films such as Pearl Harbor (2001), Slackers (2002), White Chicks (2004), Sin City (2005), Sin City: A Dame to Kill For (2014), Ocean’s 8 (2018) and Lights Out (2024).

1979Joanna Krupa, Polish-American model and television personality^[†]

Joanna Krupa is a Polish-born American model, actress, and television presenter. She is known internationally as the host and head judge of Polish Top Model (2010–present) and has appeared on the reality television series Dancing with the Stars (2009) and The Real Housewives of Miami (2012–2013).

1979Samppa Lajunen, Finnish skier^[†]

Samppa Lajunen is a retired Finnish Nordic combined athlete who competed during the late 1990s and early 2000s.

1979SAETA Flight 011 crashes in Pastaza Province, Ecuador, killing all 57 people on board. The wreckage was not discovered until 1984.^[†]

On 23 April 1979, SAETA Flight 011, a Vickers Viscount passenger aircraft of Ecuadorian airline SAETA, crashed in a mountainous region of Pastaza Province, Ecuador, killing all 57 people on board. The wreckage of the aircraft was not found until five years later.

1979Blair Peach, a British activist, was fatally injured after being knocked unconscious during an Anti-Nazi League demonstration against a National Front election meeting in Southall, London.^[†]

Clement Blair Peach was a New Zealand teacher who was killed during an anti-racism demonstration in Southall, London, England. A campaigner and activist against the far right, in April 1979 Peach took part in an Anti-Nazi League demonstration in Southall against a National Front election meeting in the town hall and was hit on the head, probably by a member of the Special Patrol Group (SPG), a specialist unit within the Metropolitan Police Service. He died in hospital that night.