Timeline December 1979

Events in December 1979 19

• 1906 – 1979 Joan Blondell (1906-1979) American actress, the wisecracking blonde of Warner Bros. pre-Code musicals and comedies.
• 1958 – 1979 Childhood in Handsworth Grew up in a working-class Jamaican community in Handsworth, Birmingham. Left school at 13 unable to read or write, later crediting the streets and reggae music as his real education.
• 1967 – 1979 Marriage, Family and Education Married Ernest Hegi in 1967 and had two sons. After their divorce in 1984, she would marry Gordon Gagliano in 1998. Earned both a bachelor's and a master's degree in English from the University of New Hampshire in 1979.
• 1976 – 1979 Dame Edna Breaks Through Dame Edna became a star in the UK in the 1970s with stage shows Housewife, Superstar! and A Night with Dame Edna. Australian PM Gough Whitlam spontaneously made the character a 'Dame' on television.
• 1978 – 1979 Music Career Released his debut solo album Read My Lips (1978), followed by Fearless (1979), showcasing his rich baritone voice. He would release a third album, Simplicity, in 1981.
• 1978 – 1979 Stripped of Czechoslovak Citizenship Had his Czechoslovak citizenship revoked after the publication of The Book of Laughter and Forgetting, which the regime considered an act of dissidence.
• 1979 1979: Jody Scheckter Ferrari South African Scheckter won the title with Ferrari, partnered by the young Gilles Villeneuve. It would be Ferrari's last Drivers' Championship for 21 years.
• 1979 Chicago Jazz Festival Founded Her annual Grant Park tribute evolved into the first official Chicago Jazz Festival in 1979, which became one of the largest free jazz festivals in the world.
• 1979 Hear the Wind Sing Published his debut novel Hear the Wind Sing, written in spare late-night sessions after closing Peter Cat. To find a fresh style, he drafted passages in English on his old typewriter — forcing short sentences and limited vocabulary — then translated them back into Japanese. The book won the Gunzou Prize for new writers.
• 1979 Rehab and Hiatus Entered rehabilitation for substance abuse, leading to a three-year hiatus for the band. 'In the late '70s, I entered rehab,' Beard later told CBS. The break allowed him to get clean and would ultimately extend his career by decades.
• 1979 The Book of Laughter and Forgetting Published The Book of Laughter and Forgetting, which brought him international literary fame and led to his Czechoslovak citizenship being revoked.
• 1979 Australian Open 1979 Men: Guillermo Vilas · Women: Barbara Jordan
• 1979 Fatal crowd crush at The Who concert Eleven fans die before a Cincinnati show Eleven concertgoers were killed in a crush of festival seating outside Riverfront Coliseum in Cincinnati on 3 December 1979 before a concert by The Who. The disaster prompted many US venues to abandon unreserved "festival seating" policies. The band was not told until after the show had ended.
• 1979 The Who concert crush in Cincinnati 11 fans killed A crowd crush at Riverfront Coliseum kills eleven people before the show.
• 1979 Star Trek: The Motion Picture Ten years after cancellation, the success of Star Wars prompts Paramount to revive Star Trek as a theatrical film. Directed by Robert Wise, the film reunites the original cast in a slow, visually stunning but narratively underwhelming story about a vast alien entity heading toward Earth. Budget: $46 million. Gross: $139 million. Despite mixed reviews, its commercial success secures the franchise's future.
• 1979 Mother Teresa awarded the Nobel Peace Prize Recognition for work among Calcutta's poor Mother Teresa, founder of the Missionaries of Charity, received the Nobel Peace Prize in Oslo on 10 December 1979 for her work with the destitute and dying in Calcutta. She asked that the traditional prize banquet be cancelled and its funds given to the poor instead. The award brought international attention to her charitable order.
• 1979 The Clash release London Calling Double album A double album sold for the price of one, often voted the best of its decade.
• 1979 UN adopts Convention on the Elimination of Discrimination Against Women A landmark international bill of rights for women The UN General Assembly adopted the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women on 18 December 1979. Often described as an international bill of rights for women, it committed ratifying states to end discrimination in law and practice. It entered into force in 1981 and has since been ratified by most UN member states.
• 1979 Joan Blondell dies in Santa Monica Joan Blondell dies aged 73.