About the day » Friday December 21, 1979Calender converter

• Marie-Janne Emma Anes, Leiderdorp, Zuid-Holland, Nederland († 2017)
• William Edgerton Thorne, Rock Valley, Sioux County, Iowa († 2006)
• Candi-Jo Letkeman, Magrath, Alberta, Canada († 2020)

• Anna Margaretha van Mulken (87), Heerlen, Limburg, Nederland
• Arend Scheurs (69)
• Bastiaan Eeuwe Venema (72), Hoogeveen
• Anna Johanna Brinkman (66), amsterdam, Nederland
• Antoon Joseph Hubert Aretz (73), Kerkrade, Limburg, Netherlands
• Aaltje Liefers (63), Kampen, Overijssel, NL
• Celestina Francisca Bastiaens (71), Geel, Antw., B
• Bernardus Johannes Tempels (69)
• (87)
• Antoon Joseph Hubert Aretz (73), Kerkrade

• 1975 » Paloma Herrera, Argentinian ballerina
• 1977 » Emmanuel Macron, President of France
• 1977 » Leon MacDonald, New Zealand rugby player
• 1978 » Charles Dera, American pornographic actor, dancer, model, and mixed martial arts fighter
• 1978 » Emiliano Brembilla, Italian swimmer
• 1978 » Shaun Morgan, South African musician, singer, and guitarist
• 1979 » Steve Montador, Canadian ice hockey player († 2015)
• 1981 » Cristian Zaccardo, Italian footballer
• 1982 » Philip Humber, American baseball player
• 1983 » Steven Yeun, American actor

• 1964 » Carl Van Vechten, American author and photographer (b. 1880)
• 1965 » Claude Champagne, Canadian violinist, pianist, and composer (b. 1891)
• 1968 » Vittorio Pozzo, Italian footballer, coach, and manager (b. 1886)
• 1974 » Richard Long, American actor and director (b. 1927)
• 1982 » Abu Al-Asar Hafeez Jullundhri, Pakistani poet and composer (b. 1900)
• 1983 » Paul de Man, Belgian-born philosopher, literary critic and theorist (b. 1919)
• 1988 » Nikolaas Tinbergen, Dutch-English ethologist and ornithologist, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1907)
• 1992 » Albert King, American singer-songwriter, guitarist, and producer (b. 1924)
• 1992 » Nathan Milstein, Russian-American violinist and composer (b. 1903)
• 1992 » Stella Adler, American actress and educator (b. 1901)

• Koningin Juliana (Huis van Oranje-Nassau) was from September 4, 1948 till April 30, 1980 sovereign of the Netherlands (also known as Koninkrijk der Nederlanden)
• In The Netherlands , there was from Monday, December 19, 1977 to Friday, September 11, 1981 the cabinet Van Agt I, with Mr. A.A.M. van Agt (CDA/KVP) as prime minister.
• The Netherlands had about 14.0 million citizens.
• April 6 » Student protests break out in Nepal.
• June 1 » The first black-led government of Rhodesia (now Zimbabwe) in 90 years takes power.
• October 1 » The MTR, the rapid transit railway system in Hong Kong, opens.
• November 21 » The United States Embassy in Islamabad, Pakistan, is attacked by a mob and set on fire, killing four.
• December 9 » The eradication of the smallpox virus is certified, making smallpox the first of only two diseases that have been driven to extinction (rinderpest in 2011 being the other).
• December 12 » The 8.2 M_w  Tumaco earthquake shakes Colombia and Ecuador with a maximum Mercalli intensity of IX (Violent), killing 300–600, and generating a large tsunami.

The temperature on December 21, 1979 was between -3.1 °C and 1.1 °C and averaged -1.5 °C. There was -0.1 mm of rain. There was 2.2 hours of sunshine (28%). The partly clouded was. The average windspeed was 3 Bft (moderate breeze) and was prevailing from the east-northeast.