On this day

July 12, 1979

Revisit the music, news, notable people, and historical moments connected to this date.

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Headlines from July 12, 1979

CORRECTION

By Unknown Author

An article in Business Day reported incorrectly yesterday that Trans World Airlines planned to end service from the United States to Cairo and Tel Aviv. The airline dropped nonstop flights effective June 22 but other service to those cities will continue, a spokesman said

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Harvard Study Urges Conservation And Solar Use Over Synthetic Fuel

By Anthony J. Parisi

Harvard Business School study says US can reduce its oil imports much faster by Improved efficiency of economy--that is, by conservation and by accelerating transition to solar energy than by relying on programs to develop synthetic fuels; Dr Robert Stobaugh, co-editor of report, comments; other authors noted (M)

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Redesign: A Taste For Drama

By Suzanne Slesin

Article on interior design of fashion designer Ronaldus Shamask's 19th-century town house on Upper East Side, NYC; Shamask redesigned rooms and worked with architectural consultant William Hodgson on terrace renovation; illus (M)

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When Children Are Houseguests For a Weekend

By Melinda Blau

WE descend upon my brother‐in‐law's house once a year for a long weekend in the country. We fill his refrigerator with Hawaiian Punch and his good glass bowl with Doritos. The kids know they have to toe the line around Uncle Rick, but somehow they manage to spill something sticky, stuff the wrong things down the disposal system and forget to put TV Guide back where they found it. Uncle Rick survives the summer invasion, determined never to have children of his own.

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Music on My Birthday

Billboard 200

The Top 50 albums for the chart week of July 11, 1979, covering July 12, 1979.

  1. 1
    Album cover for Bad Girls by Donna Summer

    Bad Girls

    Donna Summer

    Last week
    1
    Peak
    1
    Weeks
    10
  2. 2
    Album cover for Breakfast In America by Supertramp

    Breakfast In America

    Supertramp

    Last week
    2
    Peak
    1
    Weeks
    16
  3. 3
    Album cover for I Am by Earth| Wind & Fire

    I Am

    Earth| Wind & Fire

    Last week
    4
    Peak
    3
    Weeks
    5
  4. 4
    Album cover for Cheap Trick At Budokan by Cheap Trick

    Cheap Trick At Budokan

    Cheap Trick

    Last week
    5
    Peak
    4
    Weeks
    21
  5. 5
    Album cover for Rickie Lee Jones by Rickie Lee Jones

    Rickie Lee Jones

    Rickie Lee Jones

    Last week
    3
    Peak
    3
    Weeks
    15

Notable Births

Nikos Barlos

1979Nikos Barlos, Greek basketball player[†]

Nikolaos "Nikos" Barlos is a Greek retired professional basketball player and coach. During his playing career, at a height of 2.03 m tall, he played at both the small forward and power forward positions.

Notable Deaths

Olive Morris

1979Olive Morris, Jamaican-English civil rights activist (born 1952)[†]

Olive Elaine Morris was a Jamaican-born British-based community leader and activist in the feminist, black nationalist, and squatters' rights campaigns of the 1970s. At the age of 17, she claimed she was assaulted by Metropolitan Police officers following an incident involving a Nigerian diplomat in Brixton, South London. She joined the British Black Panthers, becoming a Marxist–Leninist communist and a radical feminist. She squatted buildings on Railton Road in Brixton; one hosted Sabarr Books and later became the 121 Centre, another was used as offices by the Race Today collective. Morris became a key organiser in the Black Women's Movement in the United Kingdom, co-founding the Brixton Black Women's Group and the Organisation of Women of African and Asian Descent in London.

Minnie Riperton

1979Minnie Riperton, American singer-songwriter (born 1947)[†]

Minnie Julia Riperton was an American soul singer and songwriter best known for her 1974 single "Lovin' You", her five-octave vocal range, and her use of the whistle register.

Historical Events

Kiribati

1979The island nation of Kiribati becomes independent from the United Kingdom.[†]

Kiribati, officially the Republic of Kiribati, is an island country in the Micronesia subregion of Oceania in the central Pacific Ocean. Its permanent population is over 119,000 as of the 2020 census, and more than half live on Tarawa. The state comprises 32 atolls and one remote raised coral island, Banaba. Its total land area is 811 km2 (313 sq mi) dispersed over 3,441,810 km2 (1,328,890 sq mi) of ocean.

Historical Context for July 12, 1979

In 1979, the world population was approximately 4,368,539,528 people[†]