Chronography of events from 1 January 1950 to 31 December 1959
Page last modified 7/11/2021
(+9999) = Day count from end of World War Two in Europe. Easter Sundays derived from https://www.staff.science.uu.nl/~gent0113/easter/easter_text2b.htm
For dates from 1/1/1960 click here
4/1/1960, Monday (+5,354) The US-Cuba relationship broke up, but the
US retained Guantanamo Bay.
1/1/1960, Friday (+5,351) The independent Republic of the
Cameroons was proclaimed.
====================================================================================
30/12/1959, Wednesday (+5,349) Tracey Ullman, actress, was born.
29/12/1959, Tuesday (+5,348)
Durgapur steel works, West Bengal, officially opened.
28/12/1959, Monday (+5,347)
26/12/1959, Saturday (+5,345) (1) The
first charity walk was organised, in aid of the World Refugee Fund, by Kenneth
Johnson of Letchworth, Hertfordshire. The intended route covered 50 miles from
Letchworth to Yatesbury in Wiltshire. 20 men and one woman paid 1 shilling to
enter; ten gave up after 13 miles, 3 after 22 miles, 1 after 25 miles, 4 at
Princes Risborough, and 3, including Johnson, carried on for 50 miles, giving
up at Ewelme, Oxfordshire. About �20 was raised.
(2)
Bulgarian National Television was founded. Colour broadcasting began in 1970.
25/12/1959, Friday (+5,344) (Syria, Turkey) The
USSR agreed to supply financial and technical aid to Syria.
24/12/1959, Thursday
(+5,343) Anti-Semitic riots in Cologne.
23/12/1959, Wednesday (+5,342) The Earl of Halifax, politician
and Viceroy of India, 1926-31, died.
22/12/1959, Tuesday
(+5,341) Bernd Schuster, West German footballer, was born.
20/12/1959, Sunday (+5,339) The
first atomic ice-breaker, The Lenin,
started operating.
15/12/1959, Tuesday (+5,334) (Aviation)
JW Rogers, USA, set a new aviation speed record of 1,525.95 mph.
14/12/1959, Monday (+5,333)
Makarios was elected President of Cyprus. he assumed office on 16/8/1960. His Turkish rival Fazil
Kucuk became Vice-President.
13/12/1959, Sunday (+5,332) The UN decided not to intervene in
Algeria.
10/12/1959, Thursday (+5,329) (1) In Britain, the Crowther report
recommended raising the school leaving age to 16.
(2) US
troops began to leave Iceland.
4/12/1959, Friday (+5,323) Paul McGrath, footballer, was born.
1/12/1959, Tuesday (+5,320) Twelve countries (Argentina,
Australia, Belgium, Chile, France, Japan, New Zealand, Norway, South Africa,
UK, USA, USSR) signed an agreement to preserve Antarctica for peaceful
scientific research.
====================================================================================
28/11/1959, Saturday (+5,317) The dockyard at Hong Kong closed,
after 80 years of operation.
25/11/1959, Wednesday (+5,314)
Charles Kennedy, British politician, was born.
20/11/1959, Friday
(+5,309) Stephen Roche, champion cyclist, was born.
19/11/1959, Thursday
(+5,308) The Archbishop of Canterbury said adultery should be a criminal
offence.
18/11/1959, Wednesday (+5,307) Ulrich Noethen, German actor,
was born.
17/11/1959, Tuesday
(+5,306) Two Scottish airports, Prestwick and Renfrew, became the first
to offer duty-free goods in Britain.
16/11/1959, Monday (+5,305)
The Rodgers and Hammerstein musical The
Sound of Music opened on Broadway, New York.
15/11/1959, Sunday (+5,304)
(Atomic)
Charles Thomson Rees Wilson, Scottish physicist who invented the cloud chamber
for detecting the tracks of subatomic particles, died in Carlops, Peebleshire.
14/11/1959, Saturday (+5,303) (Atomic)
The Dounreay fast breeder reactor in Scotland began operating.
13/11/1959, Friday (+5,302) In
South Africa, the anti-Apartheid South African Progressive party was founded at
a conference in Johannesburg.
12/11/1959, Thursday (+5,301)
Vincent Irizarry, US actor, was born.
11/11/1959, Wednesday (+5,300)
The film Ben Hur premiered in London.
10/11/1959, Tuesday (+5,299) The
UN condemned apartheid and racism.
5/11/1959, Thursday
(+5,294) Justin
Catanoso, writer, was born.
2/11/1959, Monday (+5,291)
(1) London
to Birmingham motorway opened. The first stretch of the M1 opened on
1/11/1959. Sightseers flocked to look at it.
(2) Rioting in the Belgian Congo left 70
dead.
1/11/1959, Sunday (+5,290) Jet air services began between
London, UK, and Sydney, Australia, run by BOAC.
====================================================================================
31/10/1959, Saturday (+5,289)
The first television broadcasts in Africa began, from Ibadan, Nigeria.
30/10/1959, Friday
(+5,288) Michael
Fiedler, German footballer, was born.
29/10/1959, Thursday
(+8,940) King Sisavang Vong of Laos died, aged 74, after a reign over 50
years. He was succeeded by his son, King Savang.
28/10/1959, Wednesday
(+5,286) South Africa rejected the introduction of television.
27/10/1959, Tuesday
(+5,285) The Queen�s Speech promised
independence for Cyprus and Nigeria.
18/10/1959, Sunday (+5,276)
As Chinas stepped up the persecution of the 20 million Christians within its
borders, 68-year-old Bishop James E Walsh was arrested. He was imprisoned until
1971.
16/10/1959, Friday (+5,274) George Marshall, US soldier
and politician who formulated the Marshall Plan to aid post-War Europe, died in
Washington DC.
14/10/1959, Wednesday (+5,272)
Errol Flynn, British actor, was born.
9/10/1959, Friday
(+5,267) Henry Tizard, English inventor, died aged 74.
8/10/1959, Thursday
(+5,266) UK general election. The Conservatives under Harold MacMillan
and his slogan �You�ve never had it so good� won, and Mrs Thatcher was elected an MP. The Conservatives won 365 seats,
labour won 258, and the Liberals got 6. Macmillan remained Prime Minister.
7/10/1959, Wednesday (+5,265)
The first photographs of the far side of the
Moon were transmitted by the Russian spacecraft Lunik III.
3/10/1959, Saturday (+5,261)
The postcode system for sorting mail was first used in Britain, in Norwich.
====================================================================================
30/9/1959, Wednesday
(+5,258) (Aviation)
London�s Croydon Airport closed. The last flight was to Rotterdam.
29/9/1959, Tuesday
(+5,257) Julius Beresford, rower, died (born 29/6/1868).
27/9/1959, Sunday (+5,255)
26/9/1959, Saturday (+5,254) Typhoon Vera hit Japan,
killing 4,464 on Honshu.
25/9/1959, Friday (+5,253)
Solomon Bandaranaike, Prime Minister of Sri Lanka from 1956, was shot by a Buddhist
monk in Colombo; he died the following day.
22/9/1959, Tuesday
(+5,250) The United Nations refused to admit Communist China.
20/9/1959, Sunday (+5,248)
The last fly-past of Hurricane aircraft over London to commemorate the Battle
of Britain.
16/9/1959, Wednesday
(+5,244) Charles de Gaulle, French
President, offered Algeria a referendum on independence.
14/9/1959, Monday (+5,242)
The first man-made object landed on the Moon; the Russian space probe Lunik
II, near the Mare Serenitatis.
12/9/1959, Saturday
(+5,240) Donal Lenihan, rugby player, was born.
10/9/1959, Thursday
(+5,238) Colin Gregory, tennis champion, died (born 28/7/1903).
9/9/1959, Wednesday
(+5,237) Susan Cheeseborough, gymnast, was born.
1/9/1959, Tuesday
(+5,229) Carole Hodges, cricketer, was born.
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24/8/1959, Monday (+5,221) House of Fraser beat Debenhams
in a takeover battle for Harrods.
21/8/1959, Friday (+5,218)
Hawaii became the 50th State of the USA.
19/8/1959, Wednesday
(+5,216) Sir Jacob Epstein, sculptor, died in London, England (born
10/11/1880 in New York City).
18/8/1959, Tuesday
(+5,215) The British Motor
Corporation�s Mini car was launched. At �500 including Purchase Tax, it was
short on luxuries, but affordable with a nippy engine and its small size made
it was convenient for town driving.
17/8/1959, Monday
(+5,214) (Earthquake,
USA) Hebgen
Lake earthquake, Yellowstone National Park, USA, 7.2 magnitude; 28 died in
landslides.
16/8/1959, Sunday (+5,213)
13/8/1959, Thursday
(+5,210) Work began on the Verrazano
Narrows cable suspension bridge in New York City.
12/8/1959, Wednesday
(+5,209) Parents and children rioted
in Arkansas over racial segregation in schools.
4/8/1959, Tuesday
(+5,201) Barclays Bank became the first to use computers for its branch
accounts.
====================================================================================
28/7/1959, Tuesday
(+5,194) Postcodes were introduced to Britain by the Postmaster General,
along with new postal sorting machines. They were used first in the Norwich
area on 3/10/1959.
26/7/1959, Sunday (+5,192)
President Nasser of Egypt announced in a speech in Alexandria �I announce
from here, on behalf of the United Arab Republic people, that this time we will
exterminate Israel�.
25/7/1959, Saturday (+5,191)
The hovercraft, SRN 1, made its first crossing of the English Channel from
Dover to Calais in a little over 2 hours.
23/7/1959, Thursday
(+5,189) Donald Campbell broke the world water speed record on Ullswater
when he� reached 202.32mph in Bluebird.
21/7/1959, Tuesday
(+5,187) The first nuclear merchant ship, USS Savannah, was
launched at Camden, New Jersey, in the USA.�
She was launched by Mrs Mamie Eisenhower.
17/7/1959, Friday (+5,183)
Billie Holliday, US singer, was born.
13/7/1959, Monday
(+5,179) Richard Leman, hockey champion, was born.
11/7/1959, Saturday
(+5,177) Charles Parker, cricketer, died.
5/7/1959, Sunday (+5,171)
Ghana began a boycott of all South African products.
4/7/1959, Saturday
(+5,170) Janette Brittin, cricketer, was born.
1/7/1959, Wednesday
(+5,167) A teacher got �900 a year, a nurse was paid �540. At Oxendales
in Manchester, a Mastra V.35 camera cost �13 14s 11d (�13.75) and a one-bar
electric fire cost �2 6s 3d (�2.31). The average UK house price was �2,500.
====================================================================================
26/6/1959, Friday (+5,162) Queen Elizabeth II and US
President Eisenhower opened the St Lawrence Seaway, linking the Great Lakes to
the Atlantic.
25/6/1959, Thursday
(+5,161) Eamon de Valera took up office as President of Ireland.
22/6/1959, Monday (+5,158) Michael Kiname, horse racing
champion, was born.
18/6/1959, Thursday
(+5,154) There was serious rioting in Durban when police moved in on Black
settlements. The police were destroying illicit stills discovered during an
operation to resettle some 100,000 Black people. Rioting continued throughout
June, and 4 Black people died. Property damage was estimated at �250,000. More
deaths occurred in September 1959 when police opened fire on rioters.
17/6/1959, Wednesday
(+5,153) De Valera became Prime Minister of Eire.
14/6/1959, Sunday (+5,150)
The US agreed to provide Greece with nuclear information and supply ballistic
missiles.
11/6/1959, Thursday
(+5,147) The first experimental
hovercraft capable of carrying a man was launched at Cowes, Isle of Wight.
9/6/1959, Tuesday
(+5,145) The USA launches its first ballistic missile submarine, the George Washington.
4/6/1959, Thursday (+5,140) Cuba
nationalised USA sugar mils in its territory.
3/6/1959, Wednesday (+5,139)
Singapore achieved self-government. Lee Kuan Yew was Prime Minister.
2/6/1959, Tuesday (+5,138)
Lydia Lunch, US singer, was
born.
1/6/1959, Monday (+5,137)
Martin Brundle, motor racing champion, was born.
====================================================================================
31/5/1959, Sunday (+5,136) Andrea de
Cesaris, Italian racing driver, was born.
30/5/1959, Saturday (+5,135) (1) Auckland�s Harbour Bridge on New Zealand�s
North Island officially opened.
(2) The first hovercraft flight took
place at Cowes, Isle of Wight. The Suffolk boat builder, Christopher Cockerell,
had announced its invention in 1958.
29/5/1959, Friday (+5,134) Charles de Gaulle formed a
�Government of National Safety� in France.
28/5/1959, Thursday (+5,133) The Mermaid Theatre opened in
the City of London.
27/5/1959, Wednesday (+5,132) Sales of filter tipped
cigarettes helped tobacco manufacturers maintain sales after recent reports
linking smoking to cancer.
26/5/1959, Tuesday (+5,131) Ed Walsh, US baseball player, died.
25/5/1959, Monday (+5,130) The US Supreme Court ruled
that Alabama�s ban on boxing matches between Black and White contestants was
unconstitutional.
24/5/1959, Sunday (+5,129) (1) John
Foster Dulles (born 1888), US Secretary of State until his resignation due to
ill-health in April 1959, died from cancer. He was chief spokesperson for US
President Woodrow Wilson at the Paris Peace Conference, 1919. He believed in a
robust �brinkmanship� approach to Soviet threats, reinforcing NATO and creating
SEATO. He did not get on with UK prime Minister Anthony Eden, disagreeing in
particular with the UK�s policy over Suez. He opposed the Anglo-French invasion
of Egypt in late 1956, and sometimes failed to anticipate Arab nationalist reactions
to external intervention.
(2) Empire
day was renamed Commonwealth Day.
16/5/1959, Saturday
(+5,121) Elisha Scott, footballer, died (born 24/8/1894).
7/5/1959, Thursday
(+5,112) An agreement was reached
enabling Britain to buy components of atomic weapons, as opposed to actual
nuclear warheads, from the USA.
6/5/1959, Wednesday
(+5,111) The UK protested to Iceland about violence in the Cod War.
Icelandic gunboats had fired live ammunition at British trawlers. Iceland said
they were just warning shots, but one only missed a trawler by three metres.
2/5/1959, Saturday (+5,107)
The first nuclear power station in Scotland, at Chapelcross, began
operations.
====================================================================================
23/4/1959, Thursday
(+5,098) Britain�s first heliport opened, on the River Thames in London.
19/4/1959, Sunday (+5,094) The Dalai Lama arrived in
India.
13/4/1959, Monday
(+5,088) Stephen Martin, hockey champion, was born.
9/4/1959, Thursday
(+5,084) Architect Frank Lloyd Wright, who designed New York�s Guggenheim
Museum, died aged 89.
====================================================================================
31/3/1959, Tuesday
(+5,075) The Dalai Lama escaped to
India. Tibet lost its independence to China in 1951.
30/3/1959, Monday
(+5,074) Sabine Meyer, German clarinet player, was born.
29/3/1959, Sunday (+5,073) Easter Sunday. Barthelemy
Boganda, Prime Minister of the Central African Republic, was born.
28/3/1959, Saturday (+5,072)
(1) China
dissolved the government of Tibet.
(2) Two monkeys returned alive to earth
after being sent into space by the USA.
27/3/1959, Friday
(+5,071) Soviet fighter aircraft buzzed US aircraft in the air corridor
connecting West Berlin to West Germany.
26/3/1959, Thursday
(+5,070) Jersey Zoological Park
opened.
25/3/1959, Wednesday
(+5,069) John Jeffrey, rugby player, was born.
22/3/1959, Sunday (+5,066)
Chris Snode, diving champion, was born.
17/3/1959, Tuesday
(+5,061) The UK Government announced plans for a major expansion of the
road network.
16/3/1959, Monday (+5,060)
The USSR lent money to Iraq.
13/3/1959, Friday
(+5,057)
10/3/1959, Tuesday
(+5,054) Thousands of Tibetans protested in the streets of Lhasa over the
influx of Chinese settlers, which had begun when Chinese troops entered eastern
Tibet in October 1950.
9/3/1959, Monday
(+5,053) A doll named Barbara Millicent Roberts, or Barbie for short, was
exhibited at the New York Toy Fair, wearing a black and white swimming costume.
3/3/1959, Tuesday
(+5,047) In Nyasaland (Malawi) Hastings Banda and other leaders of the
Nyasaland African Congress were arrested.
1/3/1959, Sunday (+5,045)
Archbishop Makarios returned to Cyprus, after almost three years exile.
====================================================================================
26/2/1959, Thursday (+5,042) State of Emergency in Southern
Rhodesia.
25/2/1959, Wednesday (+5,041) Norway
and Israel signed an agreement providing Israel with heavy water, crucial to
Israel's atomic program.
24/2/1959, Tuesday (+5,040) Stanley
Shoveller, hockey champion, died (born 2/9/1881).
23/2/1959, Monday (+5,039) The
European Court of Human Rights sat
for the first time.
22/2/1959, Sunday (+5,038) As part
of the Cyprus Agreement, Britain released all EOKA prisoners in Cyprus.
21/2/1959, Saturday (+5,037) Harold
MacMillan, British Prime Minister, and Selwyn Lloyd, Foreign Secretary, visited
the USSR.
20/2/1959, Friday (+5,036)
Disturbances in the British territory of Nyasaland (now Malawi).
19/2/1959, Thursday (+5,035)
(Greece-Turkey)
Greece and Turkey agreed on plans for the independence of Cyprus.
18/2/1959, Wednesday (+5,034) (Arts) Erich
Zeisl, US composer, born 18/5/1905, died.
17/2/1959, Tuesday (+5,033) (Space
exploration) The Earth satellite Vanguard 2 was launched by the USA, to
take photos of the Earth.
16/2/1959, Monday (+5,032) (Cuba) Fidel
Castro became Prime Minister of Cuba after overthrowing the regime of Fulgencio
Batista. At age 32, he was the youngest ever leader of Cuba. See 1/1/1959.
15/2/1959, Sunday (+5,031) Archbishop
Makarios arrived in London for talks on Cyprus with Macmillan.
14/2/1959, Saturday (+5,030) The US
Weather Bureau released a report that concluded "that the world is in the
midst of a long-term warming trend", based on data gathered in Antarctica.
Dr. H.E. Landsberg, director of the bureau's office of climatology, said that
the cause of the global warming was unknown, but added "One theory is that
the change is man-made, that a blanket of carbon dioxide given off by the
burning of coal and oil retards the radiation of heat by the earth.".
13/2/1959, Friday (+5,029) The
first Barbie Doll went on sale, priced at US$3 (�2), in a zebra-stripe
swimsuit. She was created by Ruth Handler, whose daughter was called Barbara.
9/2/1959, Monday (+5,025)
The UK supplied arms to Indonesia.
7/2/1959, Saturday (+5,023)
(South
Africa) Daniel Francois Malan, Prime Minister of South Africa 1948-54
and creator of apartheid, died
at Stellenbosch, Cape Province, South Africa, aged 84.
6/2/1959, Friday
(+5,022) (Computing)
The microchip was patented for Jack Kilby for Texas Instruments in Dallas,
Texas.
3/2/1959, Tuesday
(+5,019) Buddy Holly, US musician, was killed in an air crash in Iowa.
1/2/1959, Sunday (+5,017)
Swiss referendum turned down votes
for women.� But see 7/2/1971.
====================================================================================
30/1/1959, Friday (+5,015) Britain�s first drive-in bank
opened.
27/1/1959, Tuesday
(+5,012) William Batten, rugby player, died (born 26/5/1889).
23/1/1959, Friday
(+5,008) Wilhelm Ludwig, zoologist and geneticist, died in Leipzig (born
20/10/1901).
22/1/1959, Thursday
(+5,007) Two thirds of British home
snow had a television. The Rank Organisation, on 17/9/1959, said cinema
attendance in Britain fell from 1.396 million in 1950 to 1.101 million in 1956
and was still in decline.
21/1/1959, Wednesday
(+5,006) Cecil B de Mille, Hollywood film producer, died.
17/1/1959, Saturday (+5,002)
Senegal and French Sudan united to form Mali.
12/1/1959, Monday (+4,997) A US$ 400 million contract for
the Mercury US space programme was awarded to the McDonnell Aircraft
Corporation of St Louis.
8/1/1959, Thursday
(+4,993) (1) Fidel Castro entered Havana in triumph, see 2/12/1956.
(2) Charles de Gaulle was installed as first President of the 5th
Republic.� See 21/12/1958.
7/1/1959, Wednesday
(+4,992) (Food)
Jean-Michel Lorain, French chef, was born.
6/1/1959, Tuesday
(+4,991) More rioting in the Belgian Congo; the root cause was poverty and
unemployment. Belgium agreed to make reforms.
5/1/1959, Monday
(+4,990) The Chepstow to Monmouth and Ross on Wye railway closed.
4/1/1959, Sunday (+4,989) Rioting in the Belgian Congo.
3/1/1959, Saturday (+4,988)
Alaska became the 49th state of the USA. It is the USA�s largest
state.
2/1/1959, Friday (+4,987)
The Russians launched Lunik 1, the first rocket to pass near the Moon, from
Tyuratam.
1/1/1959, Thursday
(+4,986) The Right-wing President Fulgencio Batista of Cuba was
overthrown and fled to the Dominican Republic. Fidel Castro, aged 32, proclaimed a new Government. See 16/2/1959.
Castro executed his opponents and legalised the Communist Party.
====================================================================================
31/12/1958, Wednesday
(+4,985) (1)
President Sukharno proclaimed a state of Emergency in Sumatra.
(2) There were fears that a drug
prescribed for morning sickness, thalidomide, might be causing birth defects.
28/12/1958, Sunday (+4,982) Terry Butcher, footballer, was
born.
21/12/1958, Sunday (+4,975)
De Gaulle was elected the first President of the Fifth Republic, with 78%
of the vote.� He now had the strong
Presidency he had desired in 1945 (see 13/11/1945). �See 29/5/1958.
15/12/1958, Monday (+4,969)
The last steam locomotive was made at Crewe. This was the 7,331st
locomotive made at Crewe.
14/12/1958, Sunday (+4,968) The Antarctic �pole of
inaccessibility�, the point furthest from all coasts, was reached by a Soviet
tractor traverse.
13/12/1958, Saturday
(-4,967) Ahmed Mukhtar Baban, premier of Iraq, was executed
12/12/1958, Friday (+4,966)
William Higgs, horse racing champion, died (born 8/2/1880).
11/12/1958, Thursday
(+4,965) Upper Volta (now Burkina Faso) gained autonomy from France.
10/12/1958, Wednesday
(+4,964) The first domestic jet airliner service within the US began, operated
by National Airlines between New York and Miami.
9/12/1958, Tuesday
(+4,963) Rikk Agnew, US guitarist, was born in Newport Beach, California.
8/12/1958, Monday (+4,962)
The last of the four nuclear reactors at Calder Hall began operating.
6/12/1958, Saturday
(+4,960)
5/12/1958, Friday (+4,959)
(1) The first STD telephone exchange in the UK
opened.� It was in Bristol, and was
inaugurated by Queen Elizabeth II calling up the Lord Provost of Edinburgh.
(2) The UK�s first stretch of motorway, 6 � miles of the M6 at Preston,
was opened by Prime Minister Harold Macmillan. It took two years to build at a
cost of �3,750,000.
4/12/1958, Thursday
(+4,958) Tim Hutchings, athletics champion, was born.
3/12/1958, Wednesday
(+4,957) Indonesia nationalised Dutch businesses.
=====================================================================================
28/11/1958, Friday
(+4,952) Kriss Akabusi, athletics (hurdles) champion, was born.
21/11/1958, Friday (+4,945)
Work began on the Forth Road
Suspension Bridge, then the longest suspension bridge in the UK. It was
completed in 1964.
18/11/1958, Tuesday
(+4,942) Shirley Strong, athlete (hurdles), was born.
4/11/1958, Tuesday
(+4,928) In the USA, Democrats won the mid-term elections, gaining 62 seats
in the Senate (Republicans 34 seats). The Democrats gained 281 seats in
the� House of Representatives
(Republicans 153 seats).
2/11/1958, Sunday (+4,926)
Last British troops left Jordan.
===================================================================================
31/10/1958, Friday (+4,924)
Ake Senning, Swedish doctor, in Stockholm implanted the first internal heart pacemaker.
28/10/1958, Tuesday
(+4,921) (1) Cardinal Roncalli, aged 81,
was elected Pope John XXIII, succeeding Pope Pius XII. Pope Pius XII died on
9/10/1958.
(2) In
Britain, the State Opening of Parliament was televised for the first time.
27/10/1958, Monday (+4,920)
The first edition of the BBC programme Blue
Peter was broadcast.
26/10/1958, Sunday (+4,919)
Two new air services began this day. The New York to London route was operated
by BOAC, and the New York to Paris route was operated by Pan Am.
23/10/1958, Thursday
(+4,916)
21/10/1958, Tuesday
(+4,914) Women took seats in the UK House of Lords for the first time.
20/10.1958, Monday
(+4,913) Military coup in Thailand,
19/10/1958, Sunday (+4,912) The 1958 World Fair closed in
Brussels. It attracted 40 million visitors, the main centrepiece being The
Atomuim, which remains today.
18/10/1958, Saturday
(+4,911) Two Americans, Shirley Sanders and Robert Kardell, married in a
church in Hollywood, the first couple to be matched by computer.
14/10/1958, Tuesday
(+4,907) Madagascar became
independent.
11/10/1958, Saturday (+4,904) The
BBC sports programme Grandstand was first transmitted.� It was the idea of Paul Fox.
10/10/1958, Friday (+4,903) J
Peck, US� actor, was born.
9/10/1958, Thursday (+4,902)
Pope Pius XII (Eugenio Pacelli) died at Castel Gandolfo, the Papal summer
residence, 27 kilometres south-east of Rome, aged 82. In Belfast, Protestants
objected when the City Hall flag was flown at half-mast.
8/10/1958, Wednesday (+4,901) Bret Lott, US author and academic, was
born.
7/10/1958, Tuesday (+4,900)
Following unrest in Pakistan, President Iskander Mirza proclaimed martial law
and suspended the Constitution.
6/10/1958, Monday (+4,899) Bernie
Mac, actor, was born.
5/10/1958, Sunday (+4,898) In France the Fifth Republic
was formed.
4/10/1958, Saturday (+4,897) BOAC,
now British Airways, began the first transatlantic jet air service, with two de
Havilland Comet IV jets. Flight time was a record 6 hours 11 minutes.
3/10/1958, Friday (+4,896) The
wife of a British soldier was shot in the back whilst shopping in Famagusta,
Cyprus. After this British soldiers rounded up 650 Greek Cypriots and beat up
250 of them.
2/10/1958, Thursday
(+4,895) (1) Marie
Stopes, promoter of birth control, died (born 1880).
(2) Guinea
was proclaimed an independent republic.
1/10/1958, Wednesday (+4,,894)
=====================================================================================
29/9/1958, Monday (+4,892) Robert Mason Carlisle, US
singer, was born.
27/9/1958, Saturday (+4,890) Neil Adams, judo player, was born.
26/9/1958, Friday (+4,889) Kenneth Sansom, footballer, was born.
22/9/1958, Monday (+4,885)
18/9/1958, Thursday
(+4,881) John Aldridge, footballer, was born.
17/9/1958, Wednesday
(+4,880) Fidel Castro began an offensive against the Batista regime in
Cuba.
16/9/1958, Tuesday
(+4,879) Hugo MacNeill, rugby player, was born in Dublin, Ireland.
15/9/1958, Monday
(+4,878) Wendie Sperber, US comedian and actress, was born.
14/9/1958, Sunday (+4,877)
Konrad Adenauer, Chancellor of West Germany, visited French Prime Minister De
Gaulle at his home in Colombey les deux Eglises to discuss Franco-German
relations.
13/9/1958, Saturday
(+4,876) Bobby Davro, English comedian and actor, was born.
12/9/1958, Friday (+4,875) The Governor of Arkansas
closed all High Schools in Little Rock.
11/9/1958, Thursday
(+4,874) Robert W Service, Scottish-born Canadian poet, died (born 1874).
10/9/1958, Wednesday
(+4,873) David Jack, footballer, died (born 3/4/1899)
9/9/1958, Tuesday (+4,872) Charles
Macartney, Australian cricketer, died aged 72
8/9/1958, Monday (+4,871) Race
riots in Notting Hill, London. White youths attacked five Black people, leading
to 150 arrests and gang fights involving up to 2,000 people.
7/9/1958, Sunday (+4,870) Nikita
Kruschev stated that any attack by the US on China would be regarded as an
attack on the USSR.
5/9/1958, Friday (+4,868)
3/9/1958, Wednesday (+4,866) Hendrik Verwoerd became Prime Minister of
South Africa.
2/9/1958, Tuesday (+4,865) (1) South African President Hendrik Verwoerd promised to
strengthen Apartheid.
(2) The first television
station in China opened in Beijing.
1/9/1958, Monday (+4,864) British trawlers defied the Icelandic
12-mile fishing limit, which came into force this day.
====================================================================================
31/8/1958, Sunday (+4,863) Fighting between Black and White youths
in Notting Hill, London.
30/8/1958, Saturday (+4,862) The police clashed with 500 �Teddy
Boys� in Nottingham.
29/8/1958, Friday (+4,861) Michael Jackson, pop star, was born
in Gary, Indiana.
28/8/1958, Thursday (+4,860) Ernest O Lawrence, US nuclear scientist,
died aged 57.
27/8/1958, Wednesday (+4,859)
26/8/1958, Tuesday (+4,858) Ralph Vaughan Williams, English composer,
died aged 85.
25/8/1958, Monday (+4,857)
Midland Bank was the first bank to announce it would offer personal loans, from
September 1958.
24/8/1958, Sunday (+4,856) J G Strijdom, Prime Minister of South Africa,
died 65. He was succeeded by Hendrik Verwoerd on 3/9/1958.
23/8/1958,
Saturday (+4,855)
The Egyptian Government approved the Aswan Dam project.
19/8/1958,
Tuesday (+4,851) The
first motorist in Britain was caught speeding by a radar speed trap. They were
fined �3.
17/8/1958, Sunday (+4,849) Britain announced plans to resume Atom
Bomb testing on Christmas Island.
16/8/1958, Saturday (+4,848) Madonna, US singer, was born.
12/8/1958, Tuesday (+4,844)
10/8/1958, Sunday (+4,842)
(Russia)
Khrushchev opened what was then the largest hydroelectric project in the world,
on the Volga near Kuibyshev. The dam contributed to a fall in the level of the
Caspian Sea.
9/8/1958, Saturday (+4,841) The
USA reaffirmed its refusal to recognise Red China.
8/8/1958, Friday (-4,840) Columbia Records signed up a 17-year-old singer called
Cliff Richard.
7/8/1958, Thursday (+4,839) The
Litter Act came into force in Britain.
6/8/1958, Wednesday (+4,838) US
athlete Glenn Davis broke his own world record by 0.3 seconds (49.2 seconds) in
the 400m hurdles in Budapest, Hungary.
5/8/1958, Tuesday (+4,837) The
nuclear-powered submarine Nautilus
completed its voyage beneath the ice of the North Pole.� William Anderson commanded it. Launched in
January 1954, she left Pearl Harbour on 23/7/1958 and sailed through the Bering
Strait, passing the North Pole on 3/8/1958, emerging near Greenland on
5/8/1958. The Nautilus was
decommissioned in 1980 to become a floating museum.
4/8/1958, Monday (+4,836) Ethel
Anderson, Australian poet, died (born 1883)
3/8/1958, Sunday (+4,835) Peter
Collins, motor racing champion, died (born 8/11/1931).
2/8/1958, Saturday (+4,834) Chi
Chia-wei, Taiwanese gay rights activist, was born in Taiwan
1/8/1958, Friday (+4,833) King
Hussein dissolved the federation of Jordan with Iraq.
====================================================================================
31/7/1958, Thursday (+4,832) Kham tribesmen in eastern Tibet rebelled
against Chinese rule.
30/7/1958, Wednesday (+4,831) A left-wing coup overthrew the
Iraqi monarchy. The West feared a Middle Eastern domino effect.
29/7/1958, Tuesday (+4,830) NASA,
the National Aeronautical and Space Administration, was founded.
28/7/1958, Monday (+4,829) Michael
Hitchcock, US actor, was born in Defiance, Ohio.
27/7/1958, Sunday (+4,828)
Christopher Dean, ice skater, was born.
26/7/1958, Saturday (+4,827) Queen
Elizabeth II created her eldest son Prince Charles as Prince of Wales.
25/7/1958, Friday (+4,826) Thurston
Moore, US guitarist, was born in Coral Gables, Florida.
24/7/1958, Thursday (-4,825) The
first life peerages were awarded in Britain, under the Life Peerages Act.
17/7/1958, Thursday
(+4,826) British troops landed at Mafrak, 50 miles north of the Jordanian
capital Amman, in order to protect the monarchy in that country. King Abdullah
of Jordan was, like the assassinated King Faisal of Iraq (14/7/1958) a
Hashemite, and there was resistance also in Jordan, like Iraq, from Bedouins
who saw the Hashemite rulers as colonial impositions. Further British troops
arrived by sea at Aqaba. China and the USSR protested. King Abdullah attempted
to appease his Arab neighbours by removing the British troops. Nevertheless
King Abdullah�s plane was attacked by Syrian fighters whilst he was on route to
a holiday in Europe, and he was ordered to land at Damascus. King Abdullah
ignored this order and returned to Amman. Bad relations between Syria and
Jordan continued.
15/7/1958, Tuesday
(+4,824) US troops landed near
Beirut to protect US lives and property during rioting.
3/7/1958, Thursday (+4,804) The last debutantes were presented to the Queen. British high society
mourned the passing of this tradition; the Queen had decided this had no place
in modern society.� Presentation
at Court had been reserved for the daughters of the aristocracy and those
prominent in society.� Those who made
their curtsies to the Queen were sponsored and chaperoned by those who had been
presented themselves earlier.� But some
socially ambitious parents had fallen on hard times to finance the fees and
expenses of qualified chaperones.� Prince
Philip was reported to have suggested the move.
1/7/1958, Tuesday
(+4,802) A farm worker earned �7 10s (�7.50) per week and a train driver
got �11 2s 6d (�11.13) a week. The Rolls Royce �Phantom V cost �8,905, and a
Mars Bar cost 6d (2.5p).
====================================================================================
26/6/1958, Thursday
(+4,797) George Gunn, cricketer, died (born 13/6/1879).
22/6/1958, Sunday (+4,793)
Rodion Catamaru, Romanian footballer, was born.
18/6/1958, Wednesday
(+4,789) Douglas Jardine, cricketer, died (born 23/10/1900).
17/6/1958, Tuesday
(+4,788) Ex-Hungarian Prime
Minister Imre Nagy was executed after a secret trial, two years after
the suppressed Hungarian Revolution.
16/6/1958, Monday (+4,787)
Yellow lines indicating no waiting were painted along British roads.
15/6/1958, Sunday (+4,786)
Fran�ois de Vries, Dutch economist, died aged 74
14/6/1958, Saturday (+4,785) France announced it was
withdrawing its troops from Morocco.
13/6/1958, Friday
(+4,784) Peter Scudamore, champion jockey, was born.
11/6/1958, Wednesday
(+4,782) Hugo Sanchez, Mexican footballer, was born.
9/6/1958. Monday (+4,780)
Gatwick Airport was opened by Queen Elizabeth II. (see 6/6/1936). The new
facilities cost �7 million.
7/6/1958, Saturday
(+4,778) Prince, American singer, was born.
4/6/1958, Wednesday
(+4,775) To the dismay of those who wanted the FLN crushed, Charles de
Gaulle appeared to offer the prospect of reconciliation in Algeria.
3/6/1958, Tuesday
(+4,774) British Railways
re-designated Third Class accommodation as Second Class.
2/6/1958, Monday
(+4,773) French President Charles de Gaulle was granted emergency powers
for three months in respect to the Algeria crisis.
1/6/1958, Sunday (+4,772) Iceland extended its fishing limits to
12 miles.
====================================================================================
31/5/1958, Saturday (+4,771)
The Kremlin and Washington agreed to hold talks on a ban on atmospheric atom
bomb tests.
30/5/1958, Friday (+4,770) Annette Bening, actress, was born.
29/5/1958, Thursday (+4,769) De Gaulle was voted into power in
France, to deal with the crisis in Algeria. See 21/12/1958.
28/5/1958, Wednesday (+4,768) Pierre Pflimlin resigned as French
leader.
27/5/1958, Tuesday (+4,767)
A State of Emergency was declared in Sri Lanka.
23/5/1958, Friday (+4,763)
(1) (China) China, under Mao, began its Great Leap
Forward. Peasant farmers were grouped into huge communes of many thousands of
families. Farming families were encouraged to build makeshift steel furnaces
using household scrap metal, fuelled by firewood. This was disastrous as time
was taken away from food production and the �steel� produced was very
substandard. Crops rotted in the fields and some 14 � 40 million people starved
to death. This was humiliating for Mao and he eased up on the Reforms until his
Cultural Revolution in 1966. After Mao�s death in 1976, leadcrs such as Deng
Xiaoping sought to correct his excesses by breaking up the communes and
introducing market reforms.
(2) Christopher Cockerell patented the
hovercraft.
19/5/1958, Monday
(+4,759) Tony Doyle, champion cyclist, was born.
16/5/1958, Friday
(+4,756) (Aviation)
W Irwin, USA, set a new aviation speed record of 1,404.09 mph.
15/5/1958, Thursday
(+4,755) The Soviet Union launched Sputnik 3 into Earth orbit.
14/5/1958, Wednesday
(+4,754) In France, Pierre Pflimlin, Popular Republican, formed a
government.
13/5/1958, Tuesday
(+4,753) Rioting by French settlers in Algeria led to the French army
seizing power.
10/5/1958, Saturday
(+4,750)
8/5/1958, Thursday
(+4,748) The Supreme Religious Centre for World Jewry was established in
Jerusalem.
7/5/1958, Wednesday
(+7,747) (Aviation)
HC Johnson, USA, set a new aviation altitude record of 91,244 feet.
6/5/1958, Tuesday
(+4,746) (Medical)
Olivier H�l�non, French radiologist, was born
5/5/1958, Monday (+4,745) Women in Tunisia were allowed
to vote in municipal elections for the first time.
4/5/1958, Sunday (+4,744)
Alberto Lleras Camargo was chosen as President of Colombia
3/5/1958, Saturday (+4,743) President Eisenhower proposed
a demilitarised Antarctic.
2/5/1958, Friday (+4,742) State of Emergency declared in
Aden.
=====================================================================================
29/4/1958, Tuesday
(+4,,739)
21/4/1958, Monday
(+4,731) Dom Mintoff, Labour Prime Minister of Malta, found Britain�s terms
for integration unacceptable. The British Governor-General,� Sir Robert Laycock, assumed control, and
declared a State of Emergency on 30/4/1958 after demonstrations in Valetta.
20/4/1958, Sunday (-4,730)
Viacheslav Fetisov, Russian hockey champion, was, born in Moscow, Russia.
19/4/1958, Saturday
(+4,729) William Meredith, footballer, died (born 30/7/1874).
18/4/1958, Friday
(+4,728) Maurice Gamelin, French Army General, died aged 85.
17/4/1958, Thursday
(+4,727) Laslo Babits: Canadian javelin thrower was born (died 2013).
16/4/1958, Wednesday
(+4,726) The EEC, the European Economic Community, was set up. The
original six countries were France, Italy, West Germany, Holland, Belgium, and
Luxembourg. See 10/8/1952.
15/4/1958, Tuesday
(+4,725) Estelle
Taylor, US actress, died aged 64.
14/4/1958, Monday
(+4,724) Michael Hazelwood, water skiing champion, was born.
11/4/1958, Friday
(+4,721)
8/4/1958, Tuesday (+4,718)
President Eisenhower of the USA proposed mutual inspections as a means of
enforcing the mutual Test Ban.
7/4/1958, Monday (+4,717) The
first CND march from London arrived at Aldermaston. It had left Hyde Park on
4/4/1958.
6/4/1958, Sunday (+4,716) Easter
Sunday.
5/4/1958, Saturday (+4,715) Castro began 'total war' against the Cuban
dictator, Batista.
4/4/1958, Friday (+4,714) The Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament
(CND) held its first protest march this Good Friday. Members marched from Hyde
Park Corner to the Atomic Weapons Research Establishment at Aldermaston,
arriving on 7/4/1958. 600 members completed the 50-mile march and 12,000
attended the final rally.
3/4/1958, Thursday (+4,713) Castro's
revolutionary army begins its attacks on Havana.
2/4/1958, Wednesday (+4,712)
The USA embargoed arms shipments to Cuba.
1/4/1958, Tuesday (+4,711)
Economy class was introduced on transatlantic air routes.
=====================================================================================
31/3/1958, Monday
(+4,710) General election in Canada. The Progressive Conservatives won a
large majority, 208 seats, against the Liberals with 49 seats, and the
Co-operative Commonwealth Foundation with 8 seats. John Diefenbaker remained
Prime Minister.
30/3/1958, Sunday (+4,709)
Gilles Andruet, French chess player, was born.
29/3/1958, Saturday
(+4,708) Sir William Burrell, Scottish shipping merchant and
philanthropist, died aged 96.
28/3/1958, Friday
(+4,707) William Christopher Handy, US composer, died aged 84.
27/3/1958, Thursday (+4,706) (Cuba)
The Havana Hilton Hotel opened. Costing US$ 21 million, it was renamed the
Havana Libre in 1959.
26/3/1958, Wednesday
(+4,705) Philip Mead, cricketer, died (born 9/3/1887).
25/3/1958, Tuesday
(+4,704) Tom Brown, US dixieland jazz trombonist, died aged 69.
24/3/1958, Monday (+4,703)
Elvis Presley was sworn in as a US private. He was paid $78 as a regular.
He had been given a 60-day deferment to make the film �King Creole�.
21/3/1958, Friday (+4,700) (1) The Shah of Iran announced on TV that he was
divorcing his wife of seven years, Queen Soraya, because she had not given him
an heir. She moved to Paris and became an actress.
(2) London Planetarium
opened in Marylebone Street, the first planetarium in Britain.
17/3/1958, Monday (+4,696)
The Australian-born polar explorer Sir George Wilkins died.
16/3/1958, Sunday (+4,695) Mothers who worked full-time were
condemned as enemies of family life by the Bishop of Woolwich.
11/3/1958, Tuesday (+4,690) Unemployment in the USA reached 5.2
million.
9/3/1958, Sunday (+4,688)
Yemen merged with the United Arab Republic to form the United Arab States.
7/3/1958, Friday (+4,686) Rick Mayall, actor in The Young Ones, was born.
6/3/1958, Thursday (+4,685) The TUC and the Labour party called
for H-Bomb tests to stop.
5/3/1958, Wednesday (+4,684) Syria accused King Saud of organising a
plot to overthrow the Syrian regime and destroy the union of Syria and Egypt.
2/3/1958, Sunday (+4,681) The British Trans-Antarctic Expedition,
led by Dr Vivian Fuchs, completed the first surface crossing of Antarctica.
The group of 12 travelled 2,158 miles from Shackleton Station on the Weddell
Sea to Scott Station on the Ross Sea in 99 days.
====================================================================================
26/2/1958, Wednesday (+4,677) Paul Ackford, rugby player, was born.
21/2/1958, Friday (+4,672) Duncan Edwards, footballer, died (born
1/10/1936).
17/2/1958, Monday (+4,668) (1) France and Tunisia agreed to mediation by the UK
and USA.
(2) The Campaign for
Nuclear Disarmament, CND, was
launched by Bertrand Russell and Canon John Collins.
14/2/1958, Friday (+4,665) The Arab Federation of Iraq
and Jordan was proclaimed.
13/2/1958, Thursday
(+4,664) Suffragette,
Dame Christobel Pankhurst, daughter of Emmeline Pankhurst, died (born 1880).
12/2/1958, Wednesday
(+4,663) General Miguel Fuentes was elected President of Guatemala.
11/2/1958, Tuesday
(+4,662) Tunisia banned French
warships from using its port at Bizerta.
10/2/1958, Monday
(+4,661) Billy Vine, actor, died.
9/2/1958, Sunday (+4,660) A play by Irish-born Samuel
Beckett was banned from London stages due to blasphemy.
8/2/1958, Saturday (+4,659) France
bombed the Tunisian town of Sakiet Sidi Youssef as a reprisal for alleged
Tunisian involvement on a French patrol in Algeria near the Tunisian frontier
on 11/1/1958. Tunisia confined all French troops in the country to barracks.
7/2/1958, Friday (+4,658) Walter
Kingsford, British actor, died.
6/2/1958, Thursday (+4,657) 7 Manchester United players died when
the plane bringing the team home from Belgrade crashed on take-off at Munich
Airport. Three club officials and 8 sports journalists were also killed.� An eighth team member died of his injuries
two weeks later.
5/2/1958, Wednesday (+4,656)
Joe Childs, jockey, died.
3/2/1958, Monday (+4,654)
1/2/1958, Saturday (+4,652) Egypt and Syria joined to form the
United Arab Republic.� See 29/9/1961.
====================================================================================
31/1/1958, Friday (+4,651) The US Army at Cape Canaveral
launched America�s first Earth satellite. Explorer I. This led to the accidental
discovery of the Van Allen radiation belts around the Earth, when the
satellite�s radiation meters suddenly showed zero readings. US astronomer James
Van Allen realised that the meters had been overloaded and broken down.
30/1/1958, Thursday (+4,650)
Yves St Laurent held his first Paris fashion show, aged 22. He was apprenticed
to Christian Dior at 18 and when Dior died in 1959 he became head designer of
the Dior fashion house.
28/1/1958, Tuesday (+4,648) (Innovation)
Lego building bricks were patented by Godtfred Christiansen in Billund,
Denmark. Lego is short for the Danish for �play well�, Leg-Godt.
22/1/1958, Wednesday (+4,642)
21/1/1958, Tuesday (-4,641) Driffield experienced the lowest
temperature ever recorded in Yorkshire, -18.9 C.
20/1/1958, Monday (+4,640) The first radar speed checks began in Britain.
6/1/1958, Monday (+4,636)
4/1/1958, Saturday (4,624) Sputnik 1 disintegrated after
completing 1,367 orbits of the Earth. It had travelled some 43 million miles in
92 days.
3/1/1958, Friday (+4,623) (1) Banks in
The Netherlands were nationalised.
(2) Sir
Edmund Hillary, with a party from New Zealand, reached the South Pole � the
first man to do so since Captain Scott.
1/1/1958, Wednesday (+4,621) (1)� The European Economic Community came into
effect. It then comprised 6
countries; France, West Germany, Italy, and the Benelux countries.
(2) In
Tunisia, polygamy was abolished.
====================================================================================
30/12/1957, Monday (+4,619) Malta, fearing that Britain will not
maintain investment in the island, passed a resolution that Malta had no
obligations to the UK unless Britain found employment for discharged dock
workers.
26/12/1957, Thursday (+4,615)
Death of French film pioneer Charles Pathe.
25/12/1957, Wednesday (+4,614) The Queen made her first Christmas
day broadcast on British TV.
24/12/1957, Tuesday (+4,613)
Hamid Karzai, President of Afghanistan, was born.
23/12/1957, Monday (+4,612)
20/12/1957, Friday (+4,609) At the height of his career, Elvis
Presley received his call-up papers.
19/12/1957, Thursday (+4,608) Regular air services between London
and Moscow began.
17/12/1957, Tuesday (+4,606) Dorothy L Sayers, British
novelist and playwright, died.
10/12/1957, Tuesday (+4,599)
5/12/1957, Thursday (+4,594) All Dutch nationals were expelled
from Indonesia.
4/12/1957, Wednesday (+4,593) Major train crash at Lewisham,
south east London, with 92 killed and over 200 injured. In thick fog, the 4.56
steam express from Cannon Street to Ramsgate missed two red signals and
ploughed into the back of the stationary Charing Cross to Hayes electric train.
The rear of the Hayes train telescoped whilst the tender of the steam train
rose up and brought down a bridge carrying another rail line over the tracks.
The 350-ton bridge crashed down onto the already-damaged carriages. Two minutes
later another train was crossing the bridge; its driver saw the hole in the
tracks just in time and stopped his train with the leading carriage leaning
over the gap. Trains then did not have automatic warning systems if a red
signal was passed.
3/12/1957, Tuesday (+4,592) Sir Hugh Foot became the new British
Governor of Cyprus.
2/12/1957, Monday (+4,591)
1/12/1957, Sunday (+4,590) Women in Colombia voted for the first time,
======================================================================================
30/11/1957, Saturday (+4,589) General election in New Zealand was won by
the Labour Party with a majority of one seat. Walter Nash became Prime
Minister.
27/11/1957, Wednesday (+4,586) Adrian Stoop, rugby player, died (born
27/3/1883).
25/11/1957, Monday (+4,584) Diego Rivera, painter, died in
Mexico City aged 70.
15/11/1957, Friday (+4,574) France left NATO in protest at shipments of
arms to Tunisia by the UK and USA, to forestall arms supply to Tunisia by the
USSR; France feared Tunisian support for Algerian Nationalists.
11/11/1957, Monday (+4,570) Jamaica achieved internal
self-government.
9/11/1957, Saturday (+4,568) Peter O�Connor, athlete (long jump), died (born
18/10/1874).
5/11/1957, Tuesday
(+4,564) The Delta Plan was published; an ambitious scheme to strengthen
the sea defences of The Netherlands by new bridges, dykes and dams. The sea
inlets between Rotterdam and Antwerp were to be closed off, and the province of
Zeeland opened up to economic development, The project was successfully
completed in 1968.
4/11/1957, Monday
(+4,563) Sir John Harding retired as British Governor of Cyprus.
3/11/1957, Sunday (+4,562) The Soviets sent a dog
into Earth-orbit.
The dog, called Laika (meaning �barker�) was a Siberian husky rounded up as a
stray. She probably died of overheating after measuring systems on board the
Sputnik 2 failed, after a few hours in orbit 2,000 miles above Earth. The space
capsule continued to orbit Earth until April 1958 when after 2,570 orbits it
crashed to Earth, burning up in the atmosphere. Yuri Gagarin was the first
human in space, in April 1961 aboard Vostok 1. The Soviets sent 13 more dogs
into space, 8 of which survived.
2/11/1957, Saturday (+4,561) Elvis Presley set a record
with 8 simultaneous UK top 30 entries.
1/11/1957, Friday
(+4,560) Brian Stokes Mitchell, actor, was born.
=====================================================================================
31/10/1957, Thursday
(+4,559) (Road
Traffic) Toyota began exporting vehicles to the USA, beginning with the
Toyota Crown and the Toyota Land Cruiser.
30/10/1957, Wednesday
(+4,558) Women entered the House of
Lords for the first time, as a new category of �life peers� was created.
Previously, only male bearers of hereditary titles could become peers.
29/10/1957, Tuesday
(+4,557) Fulgencio Batista suspended the Cuban Constitution.
28/10/1957, Monday
(+4,556) (Sport)
Glen Hoddle, athlete, was born.
27/10/1957, Sunday (+4,555)
(Turkey)
Celal Bayar was re-elected President of Turkey.
26/10/1957, Saturday
(+4,554) (Biology)
Gerty Theresa Radnitz Cori, Czech-US biochemist, died in St Louis, Missouri.
25/10/1957, Friday
(+4,553) Lord Edward Dunsany, writer, died in Dublin, Ireland (born
24/7/1878 in London, England)
24/10/1957, Thursday
(+4,552) Christian Dior, French fashion designer and creator of �New
Look�, died.
23/10/1957, Wednesday
(+4,551) (Morocco)
Morocco began invading Ifni.
22/10/1957, Tuesday
(+4,550) (1) 13 US servicemen and
5 civilians were injured in Saigon, South Vietnam, by a bomb planted by
Communist guerrillas. This was the worst incident since 1954 when the French
admitted defeat in the fight against North Vietnam�s Viet Minh army and split
Vietnam into North and South, two independent states.
(2) The
children�s TV show, Captain Pugwash,
was first broadcast.
21/10/1957, Monday
(+4,549) Steve Lukather, US singer, was born.
20/10/1957, Sunday (+4,548)
(Sport)
Chris Cowdrey, English cricketer, was born.
19/10/1957, Saturday
(+4,547) West Germany severed diplomatic relations with Yugoslavia after
Yugoslavia recognised East Germany.
18/10/1957, Friday (+4,546) Queen Elizabeth II met US
President Eisenhower; the first visit by a British monarch to the White House.
17/10/1957, Thursday
(+4,545) A fire at Windscale (now Sellafield) nuclear plant shut down
one of the piles producing Plutonium and released radioactivity into the air.
Thousands of gallons of milk from some Cumbrian cows had to be dumped, due to
radio-iodine contamination, despite government assurances that the radiation
had been carried out to sea.
16/10/1957, Wednesday
(+4,544) (Turkey)
Syria declared a State of Emergency following Turkish troop movements on the
Syrian border. US Secretary of State John Foster Dulles warned the USSR against
attacking Turkey.
15/10/1957, Tuesday
(+4,543) The naval base at
Tricomalee was handed over to Sri Lanka by Britain.
13/10/1957, Sunday (+4,541)
11/10/1957, Friday (+4,539) The radio telescope at Jodrell Bank,
Cheshire, planned by Sir Bernard Lovell, went into operation.
10/10/1957, Thursday (+4,538) A major radiation leak was detected
at Windscale after an accident three days earlier.
9/10/1957, Wednesday (+4,537)
8/10/1957, Tuesday
(+4,536) Antonio Cabrini, Italian footballer, was born.
7/10/1957, Monday (+4,535)
Jayne Torvill, figure skating champion, was born.
5/10/1957, Saturday (+4,533)
4/10/1957, Friday (+4,532)
The first artificial Earth satellite, Sputnik I, by the USSR
was launched from Tyuratam, 170 miles east of the Aral Sea. It weighed 80 kg.
3/10/1957, Thursday
(+4,531) Berlin voted in its
youngest ever mayor, 44-year-old Willy Brandt.
2/10/1957, Wednesday
(+4,530) Poland, along with Hungary and East Germany, outlined its Rapacki
Plan for a denuclearised central Europe to the UN General Assembly.
1/10/1957, Tuesday
(+4,429) (Rail
Tunnels) The Fukasaka rail tunnel, Japan, 5.173 km long, opened on the
Omi-Shintsu-Shinhikada line.
(2) (Medical) Thalidomide was first prescribed to
pregnant women, as a cure for morning sickness.
===================================================================================
29/9/1957, Sunday (+4,527)
26/9/1957, Thursday (+4,524) Dag
Hammarskjold of Sweden was re-elected Secretary-General of the United Nations
for a further 5 years.
25/9/1957, Wednesday (+4,523) 1,000 US armed paratroopers
turned out to protect 9 Black schoolchildren who were taking their places at
the all-White Central High School in Little Rock, Arkansas. This followed a US
Supreme Court ruling that segregated schools contravened the 14th
Amendment. However Arkansas Governor Orville Faubus flouted the court ruling
and deployed armed National Guardsmen to bar the Black children, whilst a White
mob shouted �Niggers go home�. President Eisenhower intervened and the
Guardsmen were withdrawn, but a White mob remained. In an unprecedented move,
Eisenhower removed control of the National Guard from Faubus and sent in the
101st Airborne Division to protect the Black schoolchildren, to the
fury of southern Governors.
24/9/1957, Tuesday (+4,522) BBC
broadcasts to schools began.
23/9/1957, Monday (+4,521) Dr
Francois �Papa doc� Duvalier was elected President of Haiti. He had promised to
end corrupt military regimes in Haiti but his own regime mixed voodoo with the
presence of brutal secret police, the Ton Ton Macoute.
22/9/1957, Sunday (+4,520)
21/9/1957, Saturday (+4,519)
Norway�s King Haakon VII died, aged 85, after a 52-year reign.� His son, aged 54, succeeded him as King Olav
V.
20/9/1957, Friday (+4,518) Jean Sibelius, composer, died.
19/9/1957, Thursday (+4,517) Richard
M. Linnehan, US astronaut, was born in Lowell, Massachusetts.
18/9/1957, Wednesday (+4,516) The
railway between Amsterdam and Brussels was electrified.
17/9/1957, Tuesday (+4,515)
Military coup in Thailand, Prime Minister Pibul Songgram fled, and was replaced
by Pote Sarasin, Secretary-General of SEATO.
16/9/1957, Monday (+4,514)
Gerald Balding, polo champion, died.
15/9/1957, Sunday (+4,513) Konrad
Adenauer�s Christian Democratic Union Party won a massive victory in German general
elections.
14/9/1957, Saturday (+4,512)
The last Liverpool tram ran.� It was the
6a, from the Pier Head to Bowring Park, full of civic dignitaries.
13/9/1957, Friday (+4,511) The
Mousetrap became Britain�s longest running play, reaching its 1,998th
performance.
12/9/1957, Thursday (+4,510) Rachel
Ward, actress, was born in Cornwell, Oxfordshire, England.
11/9/1957, Wednesday (+4,509)
Preben Elkjaer Larsen, Danish footballer, was born.
6/9/1957, Friday
(+4,504)
5/9/1957, Thursday
(+4,503) Rebels under Fidel Castro,
along with Cuban navy Officers, tried to seize a naval base at Cienfuegos.� Forces loyal to President Batista of Cuba
defeated the attempt, and the rebel leaders were executed.
4/9/1957, Wednesday
(+4,502) In the UK, the Wolfenden Report recommended decriminalising
homosexual acts between consenting adults. This would remove a significant
cause of blackmail. �Adult� meant aged 21 or over; some feared this would be a
licence for child abuse. On 14/11/1957 the Church of England backed the Wolfenden
reforms. However the UK government shied away from this controversial change to
the law. It was only in June 1967 when the Sexual Offences Bill legalised such
homosexual acts as Wolfenden recommended.
3/9/1957, Tuesday
(+4,501)
1/9/1957, Sunday (+4,499)
A train accident near Kendal, Jamaica, killed 175 and injured 400.
===================================================================================
31/8/1957, Saturday (+4,498)
Malaysia (Malaya) became independent, ending 170 years of British rule.
This was Britain�s last major Asian colony. Malay and British forces had
defeated Communist rebels, and the new Prime Minister was Tenkgu Abdul Rahman.
Rahman (1903-1990) was the son of the Sultan of Kedah, he negotiated the
Federation of Malaysia with Sabah and Singapore, 1961-2, remaining Prime
Minister if the enlarged Malaysia. However he resigned from politics after the
violemnt Chinese-Malay riots of May 1969 in Kuala Lumpur.
30/8/1957, Friday
(+4,497) (USA)
US senator Strom Thurmond spoke for 24hrs 27m against civil rights.
29/8/1957, Thursday
(+4,496) Police in the US began using a device to measure the amount of
alcohol in a driver�s breath. It was dubbed the �drunkometer�.
28/8/1957, Wednesday
(+4,695) (Aviation)
M Randrup and W Shirley (UK) set a new aviation altitude record of 70,308 feet.
25/8/1957, Sunday (+4,492)
22/8/1957, Thursday
(+4,489) Steve Davis, snooker player, was born.
21/8/1957, Wednesday
(+4,488) 1st Soviet rocket launch at Baikonur, Kazakhstan.
20/8/1957, Tuesday
(+4,487) Jim and Finlay Carter, twins, rugby players, were born.
17/8/1957, Saturday
(+4,484) Robin Cousins, figure skating champion, was born.
12/8/1957, Monday
(+4,479) Following Britain�s decision to restore self-government to British
Guiana (Guyana), an election for the 14 seats on the Legislative Council gave
Cheddi Jagan�s People�s Progressive Party 9 seats. On 15/8/1957 Jagan formed a
new Government.
9/8/1957, Friday (+4,476) The State of Emergency in
Cyprus ended.
7/8/1957, Wednesday
(+4,474) Oliver Hardy, of Laurel and Hardy fame, died of a stroke, aged
65. Laurel was aged 67.
6/8/1957, Tuesday
(+4,473) Despite the Conservative PM, Harold MacMillan, stating that
�most of us have never had it so good�, last month, 2,000 people were
emigrating from Britain every week, for the USA or Commonwealth countries like
Canada and Australia. Many were professionals or science and medical graduates.
5/8/1957, Monday
(+4,472) The Andy Capp cartoon first
appeared in The Mirror newspaper.
3/8/1957, Saturday
(+4,470)
2/8/1957, Friday
(+4,469) (Mathematics)
John von Neumann, Hungarian-US mathematician, died in Washington DC.
1/8/1957, Thursday
(+4,468) The West Indies Federation
was formed.
====================================================================================
30/7/1957, Tuesday
(+4,466)
29/7/1957, Monday (+4,465) International
Atomic Energy Agency established.
28/7/1957, Sunday (+4,464) (Earthquake)
Magnitude 7.9 earthquake struck Guerrero, Mexico, killing 65.
27/7/1957, Saturday (+4,463) Hans
Peter Muller, West German footballer, was born.
26/7/1957, Friday (+4,462)
Carlos Castillo Armas, dictatorial President of Guatemala, was assassinated by
a palace guard with Leftist sympathies.
25/7/1957, Thursday (+4,461) Tunisia
abolished the monarchy and became a republic.�
Habib Bourguiba was elected as the first President.
24/7/1957, Wednesday (+4,460)
Sacha Guitry, French playwright,
died aged 72.
23/7/1957, Tuesday (+4,459) In Britain, violence broke out
on picket lines as a national bus strike took effect.
22/7/1957, Monday (+4,458) Shell
and BP announced they would pull out of Israel to pacify some Arab nations, who
refused to accept the very existence of Israel.
21/7/1957, Sunday (+4,457) Stefan Lofven, Swedish Prime Minister
(2014-18), was born in Stockholm.
20/7/1957, Saturday (+4,456) Conservative PM Harold
Macmillan said that �most of our people have never had it so good�.
19/7/1957, Friday (+4,455) The
Imam of Oman rebelled against the Sultan of Oman, who requested British aid.
18/7/1957, Thursday (+4,454)
Nick Faldo, golf champion, was born.
15/7/1957, Monday
(+4,451) General Franco announced that the Spanish monarchy would be
restored on his death or retirement.
12/7/1957, Friday (+4,448) US Surgeon-General Leroy E
Burney announced the US Public Health Service�s belief that there was a direct
causal relationship between smoking and lung cancer.
11/7/1957, Thursday
(+4,447) The Aga Khan died in Versoix, Switzerland. He was born in
Karachi on 2/11/1877, and during World War One, when \Turkey was drawn in on
the German side, the Aga Khan was instrumental in reassuring the Moslems of the
British Empire that the Allies had no plans against Islam and to stay loyal to
Britain. In 1937 he was appointed President of the League of Nations. He spent
World war Two in Switzerland and withdrew from further political activity. In
1946, the year of his 60-year jubilee celebration, he was twice weighed by his
subjects and paid a sum of diamonds of equivalent weight. The sum of
US$3,600,000 which resulted was used by the Khan for building schools and other
community projects in Pakistan. He was also famous as a breeder and trainer of
racehorses, winning the Epsom races five times.
7/7/1957, Sunday (+4,443) The Polish economy was
stabilised with the help of a loan of US$ 30 million. US economic aid continued
and between 1957 and 1963 Poland received economic aid worth US$ 529 million.
1/7/1957, Monday (+4,437)
The footballer�s maximum wage was raised to �20 per week. A baker earned �7
15s 3d (�7.76) per week. In the Whiteleys Christmas catalogue, an electric
razor cost �10 17s (�10.85), a cashmere cardigan cost �10 17s 6d (�10.88), and
a tropical fish tank cost �4 4s (�4.20).
====================================================================================
30/6/1957, Sunday (+4,436)The �lion� was stamped on
British eggs from this day.� The practice
ended on 31/12/1968.
29/6/1957, Saturday
(+4,435)
27/6/1957, Thursday (+4,433) The Medical Research
Council announced that smoking caused cancer.
26/6/1957, Wednesday
(+4,432) The UK government began an anti-smoking campaign, despite fears
that this would cause tax revenue to fall. As recently as 1956, the Health
Minister, Mr R Turton, had said there was no proof that smoking caused any
harm, but recent reports in the UK and USA now suggested links to some
bronchial and heart diseases.
23/6/1957, Sunday (+4,429)
Robert Norster, rugby player, was born.
13/6/1957, Thursday
(+4,419) US Vice-President Richard Nixon and civil rights leader Dr
Martin Luther King discussed how to enforce the racial desegregation of the
southern states of the USA. The Governor of Arkansas, Orval Faubus, said he
would never permit racial integration of his schools and would use state
militia to stop Black students entering White facilities. On 25/9/1957 an angry
crowd of 1,500 White demonstrators watched as 1,000 US armed National
Guardsmen, bayonets drawn, enforce the arrival of nine black students at the
Central High School in Little Rock, Arkansas. Seven protesters were arrested as
one demonstrator tried to grab a guardsman�s rifle; some shouted �go home,
niggers!�
12/6/1957, Wednesday
(+4,418) In France, Maurice Bourges-Manoury, Radical, formed a Government.
11/6/1957, Tuesday
(+4,417) Hugh Gallagher, footballer, was born (died 11/6/1957).
10/6/1957, Monday
(+4,416) In Canada, Progressive Conservatives won the election with 112
seats. The Liberals got 105 seats, the Cooperative Commonwealth foundation got
25 seats, Others got 23 seats. The Liberal leader, Louis St Laurent, resigned,
ending 22 years of Liberal rule, and the Conservative, John Diefenbaker, took
office.
8/6/1957, Saturday
(+4,414)
7/6/1957, Friday (+4,413)
A travel report published in London said a small fishing village called
Benidorm was the place for summer holidays, with guaranteed sun and low prices.
Tourist development in Benidorm had just begun, with a German company building
bed and breakfast accommodation there. There were warnings that the bathrooms
may be spartan, with some taps only giving salt water.
6/6/1957, Thursday
(+4,412) In Britain the Rent Act received Royal Assent, This removed many
controls on rents. Labour MPs protested.
4/6/1957, Tuesday
(+4,410) John Treacy, marathon runner, was born.
1/6/1957, Saturday (+4,407)
The computer, ERNIE, drew the first Premium Bond prize. The first prize was
�1,000. The lowest prize was �10. The Church had condemned the �1 premium Bonds
as a �squalid raffle� when introduced in 1956.
=====================================================================================
31/5/1957, Friday (+4,406) The American playwright Arthur
Miller was convicted of contempt of Congress for refusing to name other writers
as communists. Miller confessed his own communist sympathies but said his
conscience would not let him finger others; the judge praised his motives but
he could still face a year in jail.
30/5/1957, Thursday
(+4,405) (Railways)
Brazilian Federal Railways, RFFSA, was established.
29/5/1957, Wednesday
(+4,404) George
Bacovia, Romanian poet, died aged 75.
28/5/1957, Tuesday
(+4,403) (Cuba)
Fidel Castro�s forces attacked the Cuban garrison at Uvero.
27/5/1957, Monday
(+4,402) Duncan Goodhew, swimmer, was born.
23/5/1957, Thursday
(+4,398) (Christian)
The Church of England broke with tradition by allowing divorcees to take
Communion. The Bible taught that marriage was for life, but Britain�s legal
system allowed divorce.
21/5/1957, Friday
(+4,396) (France)
In France, Guy Mollet, Socialist, resigned as Prime Minister after a Government
defeat in the Assembly.
15/5/1957, Wednesday
(+4,390) Britain�s first H � Bomb was exploded on Christmas Island in
the southern Pacific Ocean.
14/5/1957, Tuesday
(+4,389) Petrol rationing in the UK, caused by the Suez Crisis, ended.
13/5/1957, Monday
(+4,388) India�s second election since independence continued the
administration of Nehru�s Congress Party; however in the southern State of
Kerala a Communist administration was elected.
10/5/1957, Friday (+4,385)
The USSR appealed to the US and Britain to cease nuclear tests.
7/5/1957, Tuesday
(+4,382) Eliot Ness, the FBI agent who headed the investigation of Al
Capone in Chicago, died.
6/5/1957, Monday (+4,381)
The British and French revived plans
for a Channel Tunnel link, despite fears over security and rabies.
4/5/1957, Saturday
(+4,379)
3/5/1957, Friday (+4,378) South
Africa dropped �God Save the Queen� as its national anthem.
2/5/1957, Thursday (+4,377) Senator Joe McCarthy, Republican, died of
liver disease. He was most remembered for his �witch-hunts� against suspected Communists. See 2/12/1954.
1/5/1957, Wednesday (+4,376) Rick
Darling, Australian cricketer, was born.
===================================================================================
30/4/1957, Tuesday (+4,375) Egypt reopened the Suez Canal.
29/4/1957, Monday (+4,374)
Geoffrey Gould, US actor, was born
28/4/1957, Sunday (+4,373) King
Hussein of Jordan visited King Saud of Saudi Arabia. The two rulers agreed that
the crisis in Jordan is a purely internal affair; Saudi Arabia paid the first
instalment of financial aid to Jordan.
27/4/1957, Saturday (+4,372) Michel
Barrette, Canadian actor, was born.
26/4/1957, Friday (+4,371)The
Anglican Church and the universities in South Africa continued to defy
government rulings on enforcing racial segregation, or apartheid.
25/4/1957, Thursday (+4,370)
King Hussein proclaimed martial law in Jordan; the USA despatched the 6th
fleet to the Mediterranean. On 29/4/1957 the USSR protested at this move.
24/4/1957, Wednesday (+4,369)
(1)
In Jordan, Ibrahim Hashem formed a conservative, pro-Western, government
following demonstrations.
(2) The
BBC broadcast Patrick Moore�s �The Sky at Night� for the first time.
23/4/1957, Tuesday (+4,368)
Albert Schweitzer write to the Norwegian Nobel Committee, urging mobilisation
of world opinion against nuclear tests.
22/4/1957, Monday (+4,367)
Donald Tusk, Polish Prime
Minister, was born.
21/4/1957, Sunday (+4,366) Easter
Sunday.
20/4/1957, Saturday (+4,365) The US
resumed aid to Israel, which had been suspended on October 1956.
17/4/1957, Wednesday
(+4,362) Archbishop Makarios arrived back in Athens, from a 13-month
exile in the Seychelles.
9/4/1957, Tuesday
(+4,454) Seve Ballesteros, champion golfer, was born (died 7/5/2011)
8/4/1957, Monday
(+4,353) Frank Chester, cricketer, died.
6/4/1957, Saturday
(+4,361)
4/4/1957, Thursday
(+4,349) Britain announced that compulsory National Service, 2 years
long for all reaching 18, would end in 1960.
3/4/1957, Wednesday
(+4,348) The UK Labour Party called for H-Bomb tests to stop.
2/4/1957, Tuesday
(+4,347) Brasilia Airport opened.
1/4/1957, Monday (+4,346) The BBC ran an April fools
spoof documentary about spaghetti being harvested from trees in Switzerland.
===================================================================================
31/3/1957, Sunday (+4,345)
India continued its modernisation programme under Nehru with the introduction
of a decimal currency. Nine days earlier the country had adopted a standard
calendar.
30/3/1957, Saturday
(+4,344) Yelena Kondakova, Russian astronaut, was born
29/3/1957, Friday (+4,343) (Railways)
871 km of rail track in the US was closed on one day by the New York Western
and Ontario Company.
28/3/1957, Thursday
(+4,342) Britain freed Archbishop
Makarios.
25/3/1957,
Monday (+4,339) Six nations signed the Treaty of Rome to create the Common Market (EEC)
and Euratom. These were Italy, West Germany, France, and the three Benelux
countries. The
founding nations foresaw a union of some 160 million people, to be developed
over 15 years. There was also a shared atomic energy programme, Euratom.
Britain was notably absent, preferring to create a wider but looser trading
network involving the Common Market, the Commonwealth, and others. Britain
feared a supra-national authority that would erode its sovereignty over domestic
affairs. However the PM, Harold
MacMillan, privately believed that the UK should have sought Common market
membership and now began to create the European Free trading Area, EFTA, which
included all of western Europe, and involved less loss of sovereignty for the
participating nations. A stand-alone Britain faced greater threats to its trade
and industry from a developing Common Market.
22/3/1957, Friday (+4,336)
San Francisco was hit by the worst earthquake since the 1906 disaster.
21/3/1957, Thursday
(+4,335) Sabrina Le Beauf, US actress, was born.
20/3/1957, Wednesday
(+4,334) Britain favoured UN mediation over Cyprus but the Greeks
rejected it.
19/3/1957, Tuesday
(+4,333) Elvis Presley paid the US$ 1,000 deposit on a mansion called
Graceland, being sold by Mrs Ruth Brown-Moore.
18/3/1957, Monday
(+4,332) Wolfgang Schilling, German footballer, was born.
17/3/1957, Sunday (+4,331)
22 were killed and several houses demolished when a British European
Airways turbo-prop airliner crashed at Manchester�s Ringway Airport. Failure of
one wing flap to deploy on landing was blamed; if only one wing flap deployed,
the aircraft would flip over on landing, as was seen by witnesses.
16/3/1957, Saturday
(+4,330) Constantin Brancusi, sculptor, died in Paris.
13/3/1957, Wednesday
(+4,327)
11/3/1957, Monday (+4,325)
(1) Richard Byrd, American aviator and polar
explorer, died.
(2) The World Health Information
published the first indications that radiation may have genetic effects.
10/3/1957, Sunday (+4,324)
Terence Holmes, rugby player, was born.
9/3/1957, Saturday
(+4,323) Mona Sahlin, leader of the Swedish Social Democratic Party, was born
in Sollefte�, Sweden.
8/3/1957, Friday (+4,322)
The Suez Canal reopened for smaller ships.
7/3/1957, Thursday
(+4,321) The United States Congress approved the Eisenhower Doctrine.
6/3/1957, Wednesday (+4,320)
Ghana,
formerly known as the Gold Coast, became independent; the first British
colony in Africa to do so. It had been a British colony since 1874. Dr Kwame
Nkrumah became the first Prime Minister, in the capital, Accra. Nkrumah�s party
had won the 1956 elections. The name Ghana was chosen by Nkrumah to inspire his
people from the time when Africans had wealth and power. it was taken from the
Islamic empire which ruled for centuries in Sudan during Europe�s Mediaeval
times. On 7/3/1957 Ghana joined the United Nations.
5/3/1957, Tuesday
(+4,319) The Union Jack ceased to be one of the official flags of South
Africa.
4/3/1957, Monday
(+4,318) Jim Dwyer, American journalist was born in New York (died 2020)
3/3/1957, Sunday (+4,317)
The UK competed in the Eurovision Song Contest for the first time. The British
entry, All, sung by Hull-born
Patricia Bredin, came seventh out of ten in Frankfurt Am Main, Germnay.
===================================================================================
28/2/1957, Thursday
(+4,314) Jan Ceulemans, Belgian footballer, was born.
21/2/1957, Thursday
(+4,307) The 70 year old Israeli
president, David Ben Gurion, defied US and UN calls to leave the Gaza Strip.
In Jerusalem, thousands of Israelis protested on the streets against the UN�s
call for withdrawal. On 22/1/1957 Israeli troops left the Sinai Peninsula, and
on 6/3/1957 handed the Gaza Strip over to the UN.
19/2/1957, Tuesday
(+4,305)
16/2/1957, Saturday (+4,302)
Sir Leslie Hore-Belisha, the Minister of Transport responsible for Belisha
Beacons, the driving test, and the Highway Code, died.
15/2/1957, Friday
(+4,301) In the USSR, Andrei Gromyko replaced Dmitri Shepilov as Foreign
Minister.
12/2/1957, Tuesday
(+4,298)
9/2/1957, Saturday (+4,295) Poland and Japan resumed
diplomatic relations.
8/2/1957, Friday
(+4,294) (Astronomy)
Walther Wilhelm Georg Bothe, German physicist who first used a Geiger counter
to detect cosmic rays, died in Heidelberg, West Germany.
5/2/1957, Tuesday
(+4,291) General election in Ireland, after Clann na Poblachta withdrew
from the Fine Gael-led coalition on 28/1/1957. Fianna Fail with 78 seats won a
majority over all other Parties (69 seats, of which 40 were won by Fine Gael).
Eamon de Valera became Prime Minister again on 20/3/1957, now aged 75.
1/2/1957, Friday (+4,287)
The first turbo-prop airliner, the Bristol Britannia, entered scheduled
service in Britain.
===================================================================================
31/1/1957, Thursday
(+4,286) The Trans-Iranian oil pipeline, from Abadan to Tehran, was
completed.
28/1/1957, Monday
(+4,283)
26/1/1957, Saturday
(+4,281) Kashmir joined India, under �special status� agreements, providing
for example that non-Kashmiri Indians could not buy property there. Pakistan
protested.
25/1/1957, Friday (+4,280) The UN ordered Israel to quit
Aqaba and Gaza.
24/1/1957, Thursday
(+4,279) (Chemistry)
Paul Walden, Russian-German chemist, died in Gammertingen, Germany.
20/1/1957, Sunday (+4,275)
�Wladyslaw Gomulka was elected First
Secretary of the Polish Communist Party. Aware of the USSR�s crackdown in
Hungary in 1956 he tempered ideas for a Polish form of Communism, strengthening
links between Poland and the USSR. However he ended collective farming in
Poland, returning 80% of arable land to private hands, and curbed the worst
excesses of the Polish secret police.
18/1/1957, Friday
(+4,273)
16/1/1957, Wednesday (+4,271)
UK forces repelled an attempted invasion of the colony of Aden by Yemeni
forces. Aden was annexed from Yemeni territory by the British in 1839 as a
military stronghold and naval fuelling station. Yemeni forces managed to
overrun some villages just inside Aden but were repelled by ground based
rockets and air fire.
15/1/1957, Tuesday (+4,270) (Atomic)
Columbia University physics department announced that parity is not conserved
for weak interactions.
14/1/1957, Monday (+4,269) Humphrey
Bogart, American film actor and 1951 Oscar winner, died of throat cancer.
13/1/1957, Sunday (+4,268) Elvis
Presley recorded All Shook Up in a
Hollywood studio.
12/1/1957, Saturday (+4,267) President Eisenhower urged the
USSR to agree to a ban on warfare in space.
11/1/1957, Friday (+4,266) (Football)
Bryan Robson, English footballer, was born.
10/1/1957, Thursday (+4,265) Eisenhower
was elected President of the USA, defeating the Democrat challenger, Adlai
Stevenson, to win a second term in office. He continued US vigilance against Communism,
and supported countries fighting off USSR and China-backed insurgents. He also
pledged to continue to support the UN.
9/1/1957, Wednesday (+4,264)
(1) Anthony Eden, aged 59, resigned as Prime
Minister, on grounds of ill-health, in the wake of the Suez Crisis. On
10/1/1957 Harold Macmillan became Prime Minister. Rab Butler was deputy PM but
had also supported the Suez adventure and there would have been a back-bench
revolt if Butler had become PM. A bitterly disappointed Butler received the
consolation prize of becoming Home Secretary under Macmillan, and Peter
Thorneycroft became the new Chancellor. Macmillan dismissed Labour calls for a
general election by the Labour leader Hugh Gaitskell, and busied himself with
mending relationships with the US under the recently elected President
Eisenhower.
(2) TV detector vans were first used by
the UK Post Office to track down licence dodgers.
8/1/1957, Tuesday (+4,263)
Amanda Burton, actress, was born
7/1/1957, Monday (+4,262) President Khrushchev of the USSR welcomed
China�s Prime Minister Chou En Lai. Behind the scenes, however, there was
rivalry between the two countries. The USSR supported Manchurian and
Vietnamese Communists, and there were differences on how Communism should be
enforced. However Chou En Lai supported the USSR�s crackdown in 1956 in
Hungary.
6/1/1957, Sunday (+4,261) (Sport)
Nancy Lopez, US golfer, was born.
5/1/1957, Saturday (+4,260) In the
USA, President Eisenhower announced the Eisenhower Doctrine; that the US will
protect the independence of Middle Eastern States, fearing that the USSR was
behind Arab nationalist movements.
4/1/1957, Friday (+4,259) In
the wake of the Suez Crisis, a UN sponsored force of German tugs and salvage
vessels began to clear the Suez Canal. 13 ships of various nationalities had
been stranded in the Canal and could now resume sailing towards the
Mediterranean. On 1/1/1957 President Colonel Gamal Nasser of Egypt had
abrogated a 1954 treaty that had preciously guaranteed the UK full access to
the Canal during international conflicts.
3/1/1957, Thursday
(+4,258)
1/1/1957, Tuesday
(+4,256) The Saar was formally
integrated in the German Federal Republic.
===================================================================================
31/12/1956, Monday
(+4,255) 90% of Chinese farms had been re-organised into collectives, with
land, implements and animals owned collectively, not privately.
30/12/1956, Sunday (4,254)
(Railways GB)
The last passenger train ran on the Liverpool Overhead Railway. Although the
line was busy, major repairs were found to be needed to the overhead section
and there was no money for this. The line was losing traffic to electric trams
and motor buses.
29/12/1956, Saturday
(+4,253)
27/12/1956, Thursday
(+4,251) Clearance work on the Suez
Canal began.
26/12/1956, Wednesday
(+4,250) Sarah Springman, athlete (triathlon), was born.
22/12/1956, Saturday (+4,246)
Britain and France withdrew their forces from Egypt, under intense pressure
from the USA. The Suez Crisis had caused a run on Sterling, and the US would
not halt this without a withdrawal.
18/12/1956, Tuesday
(+4,242) Japan joined the United Nations.
12/12/1956, Wednesday
(+4,236) Twelve attacks by the IRA
in Northern Ireland signalled the start of a new terror campaign.
11/12/1956, Tuesday
(+4,235) In Britain, the start of TV
broadcasting was moved forward from 7pm to 6pm.
10/12/1956, Monday (+4,234)
Martial law was declared in Hungary.
8/12/1956, Saturday (+4,232) (Poland,
Christian)The
Polish government completed a process of reconciliation with the Catholic
Church. Cardinal Wyszynski had been released from prison on 26/10/1956, and on
this day the Church was now free to make its own ecclesiastical appointments.
Religious teaching in schools, and religious posts in hospitals and the army,
were restored. Criticism of government policies in church sermons was
permitted.
5/12/1956, Wednesday
(+4,229) Rose Heilbron became Britain�s first female judge. She sat in
Burnley, Lancashire.
2/12/1956, Sunday (+4,226) Fidel Castro clandestinely
returned to eastern Cuba, from Mexico, landing in the yacht Gramma.�
He then waged an 18-month guerrilla campaign against the Batista
government. See 8/1/1959. The invasion initially suffered major setbacks, with
the Gramma first delayed by storms then grounding on a mudbank where government
aircraft could easily spot it. The entire invasion force of 82 men were flushed
out of cane fields by government soldiers, and only 12 managed to escape to the
Sierra Maestra. Here, however, Castro had friends from his childhood as� a sugar farmer�s son. With the increasing
support of local peasants, and by clever use of the terrain, Castro�s
supporters eventually won.
=================================================================================
23/11/1956, Friday (+4,217)
As the Suez Crisis deepened, petrol rationing began in the UK, and driving
tests were suspended.
22/11/1956, Thursday
(+4,216) (1) The withdrawal of Anglo-French troops from Port Said was completed, UN
forces moved in.
(2) The 16th Olympic Games opened in Melbourne.
17/11/1956, Saturday (+4,211)
Kashmir voted to become part of India.
15/11/1956, Thursday
(+4,209) UN emergency forces arrived in Suez, and began to clear the
Canal of wrecked ships on 27/12/1956. UN forces began taking over from the
British, under strong pressure from the USA. The British PM, Anthony Eden, was
suffering from psychological strain caused by the unanticipated world hostility
to his Suez adventure, and flew to Jamaica on 23/11/1957 to rest.
13/11/1956, Tuesday
(+4,207) The US Supreme Court ruled
that racial segregation on buses was illegal.
9/11/1956, Friday (+4,203) The
UN told the USSR to leave Hungary.
8/11/1956, Thursday (+4,202)
Richard Curtis, English actor, was born.
7/11/1956, Wednesday (+4,201)
Britain and France reluctantly agreed to UN demands for a ceasefire in the Suez Crisis.
6/11/1956, Tuesday (+4,200) (1) Israeli forces reached Sharm El Sheikh.
(2) Work began on the Kariba High Dam on
the River Zambesi, between Zambia and Zimbabwe. See 18/5/1960.
5/11/1956, Monday (+4,199) (Broadcasting)
The weekly British TV programme What the Papers Say was first
transmitted.
4/11/1956, Sunday (+4,198) 16 Soviet
divisions moved into Hungary, with 2,000 tanks, to suppress the Hungarian
Revolution.
3/11/1956, Saturday (+4,197) The Elmley Moor ITV
transmitter in Yorkshire was switched on. In Scunthorpe, 14 inch TVs cost 14
Guineas, 17 inch ones cost 69 Guineas, and a 21 inch model cost 88 Guineas;
black and white, (I Guinea = �1.50).
2/11/1956, Friday (+4,196) Gaza
fell to British troops.
1/11/1956, Thursday (+4,195) Ernie
(Electronic Random Number Indicating Equipment) was born as Premium Bonds first
went on sale in Britain.
===================================================================================
31/10/1956, Wednesday (+4,194) France and Britain bombed Egyptian airfields in the Suez Crisis. The speed of events � Egypt
was only given 12 hours to withdraw from the Canal � suggested to US President
Eisenhower that the whole operation was staged to maintain Anglo-French
influence in Suez.
30/10/1956, Tuesday (+4,193) Village stops on the Lincoln
to Barnetby railway closed to passengers.
29/10/1956, Monday (+4,192) 5.pm. Israeli troops invaded the Sinai Peninsula and troops pushed on towards
the Suez Canal, ostensibly to destroy guerrilla strongholds, coming within
20 miles of the Canal. 30,000 tank-supported Israeli troops invaded Gaza and
the Sinai Peninsula, in retaliation �for Egyptian attacks on land and sea
communications near Gaza�. Israeli forces wanted to reach the gun batteries at
Sharm El Sheikh at the tip of the Sinai peninsula which were closing the
Straits of Tiran to Israeli shipping. These batteries were destroyed on
5/11/1956. This was part of the Suez
Crisis in which President Nasser nationalised the canal. See 16/11/1869,
26/7/1956, and 23/6/1956. On 30/10/1956 Britain and France issued an ultimatum
to Egypt and Israel to stop fighting and on 31/10/1956 France and Britain
invaded the Suez area �to stop the Israeli-Egyptian fighting. Nasser closed the
canal by sinking 47 old ships full of concrete in it. In fact this move had
been pre-planned with Israel�s co-operation. On 25/10/1956 the� British, French, and Israeli PMs, Anthony
Eden, Guy Mollet, and David Ben Gurion, had met in secret at Sevres. On
6/11/1956 Anglo-French forces, 600 British and 487 French paratroopers, seized
the Canal itself, having landed at Port Said. The UN ordered a ceasefire on
8/11/1956. The US condemned the invasion and the UN saw the rare sight of US
and USSR delegates voting together. The US had threatened not to defend
Sterling against a run on international markets against it unless the UK pulled
out of Suez. Because of the fighting, backed by Britain and France, and ended
by a UN ceasefire, the Canal was closed for more than six months, blocked by
sunken ships. UK petrol rationing began on 23/11/1956, see this date. The Canal
closed again during the Arab-Israeli war of 1967 and did not reopen until 1975.
However by then very large oil tankers had been developed that were too deep to
pass through the canal. It is hoped that plans to deepen the Canal and reduce
fees will revive the enterprise (2001).
28/10/1956, Sunday (+4,191) (1)
Imre Nagy ordered a cease fire by security forces.
(2) Mahmoud Ahmadinejad,
President of Iran, was born.
27/10/1956, Saturday (+4,190) (1)
Prime Minister Imre Nagy formed a new Hungarian Government, see 5/11/1956.
(2) Death of US frozen foods pioneer,
Clarence Birdseye.
26/10/1956, Friday (+4,189) The United Nations approved
the creation of the International Atomic Energy Agency.
25/10/1956, Thursday (+4,188) In
Poland, thousands demonstrated in favour of the new regime in Hungary.
Hungarian security forces fired on demonstrators near the Hungarian Parliament,
killing some 600 people.
24/10/1956, Wednesday (+4,187) The Hungarian Government
declared martial law and Soviet tanks appeared in Budapest.
23/10/1956, Tuesday (+4,186) Anti
Communist uprising began in Hungary, see 5/11/1956. Protests were against the
pro-Soviet regime which had replaced the reforming regime of Imre Nagy.
Stalin's statue in Budapest was torn down and the return of Nagy only served to
inflame matters further. The uprising was crushed on 26/10/1956.
21/10/1956, Sunday (+4,184)
(Kenya)
The Mau-Mau had lost support, and were finally defeated by the Kenyan army and police.
18/10/1956, Thursday
(+4,181) Martina Navratilova, tennis champion, was born in Prague.
17/10/1956, Wednesday
(+4,180) Calder Hall, Britain�s first nuclear power station, in Cumbria,
was opened by Queen Elizabeth II.�
Generation of power had begun on 20/8/1956.
16/10/1956, Tuesday
(+4,179) (Egypt, Britain,
France)
British Prime Minister Anthony Eden and Foreign Secretary Selwyn Lloyd visited
Paris and met with French Minister Guy Mollet and Foreign Minister Christian
Pineau to discuss joint action against Egypt.
10/10/1956, Wednesday
(+4,173) Two Israeli regiments
bombarded a Jordanian police barracks for three hours.
=====================================================================================
30/9/1956, Sunday (+4,163) Doenitz (born 1891), German
Admiral during World War Two, and technically Head of State of Germany from
Hitler�s suicide on 1/5/1945 until his internment on 23/5/1945, was released
from Spandau Prison.� He had been
sentenced to 10 years imprisonment in 1946 by the Allied Military Tribunal at Nuremberg.
29/9/1956, Saturday (+4,162)
Sebastian Coe, British international athlete, was born in Chiswick, London.
28/9/1956, Friday (+4,161)
Death of US air pioneer, William Boeing.
25/9/1956, Tuesday
(+4,158) Transatlantic telephone
cable between the UK and the USA became operational.
23/9/1956, Sunday (+4.156) Britain and France took the
Suez issue to the UN Security Council.
22/9/1956, Saturday
(+4,155) Frederick Soddy, English radiochemist, died aged 79.
18/9/1956, Tuesday
(+4,151)
14/9/1956, Friday (+4,147)
Raymond Wilkins, footballer, was born.
11/9/1956, Tuesday
(+4,144) After sporadic attacks by Jordan along the Israeli frontier,
Israel retaliated. A battalion of Israeli troops attacked a Jordanian police
post at Rahwa, killing 5 policeman and ten soldiers and destroying the
building.
10/9/1956, Monday
(+4,143) (Astronomy)
Robert Julius Trumpler, Swiss-US astronomer, died in Oakland, California.
7/9/1956, Friday
(+4,140) Charles Fry, cricketer, died (born 25/4/1872).
3/9/1956, Monday (+4,136) After riots in several towns
at cinemas involving Teddy Boys following the film Rock Around The Clock, the film was banned.
==================================================================================
30/8/1956, Thursday
(+4,132) Britain announced plans for
parking wardens.
29/8/1956, Wednesday
(+4,131) Major build-up of British and French forces in the eastern
Mediterranean, to intimidate Egypt.
28/8/1956, Tuesday
(+4,130) John Eddie Long, US basketball player, was born.
24/8/1956, Friday
(+4,126) Adam Gopnik, US writer, was born.
20/8/1956, Monday (+4,122) Calder Hall, the world�s first
large-scale nuclear power station, began operating.
17/8/1956, Friday
(+4,119) Jackson Pollock, painter, died in a car accident in Long Island,
New York, USA, aged 44.
14/8/1956, Tuesday (+4,116)
German writer Bertolt Brecht died.
4/8/1956, Saturday
(+4,106) Indonesia repudiated its debts to The Netherlands.
3/8/1956, Friday (+4,105)
The name of Bedloe�s Island, site of the Statue of Liberty, was changed to
Liberty Island, on the approval of President Eisenhower.
1/8/1956, Wednesday
(+4,103) The US, Britain, and France met to talk about the Suez problem.
On 8/8/1956 Eden said Nasser could not be trusted.
=====================================================================================
30/7/1956, Monday (+4,101)
Eden told Nasser he cannot have the Suez Canal and imposed an arms embargo
on Egypt.
26/7/1956, Thursday (+4,097) (1) Nasser
nationalised the Suez Canal a month after taking power. Nasser wanted the tolls
from the Canal to pay for the Aswan Dam construction. On 28/7/1956 the
Cabinet met in London and agreed that as a last resort military means would be
used if the Canal was not kept open for free passage of ships in perpetuity,
not just until the Suez Canal Company�s concession ran out in November 1968. On
9/9/1956 Nasser rejected US plans for international control over the Canal.
(2) (Innovation) Superglue was launched in New York,
USA. It was sold in Britain from 1976.
25/7/1956, Wednesday
(+4,096) Italian ocean liner SS
Andrea sank off Massachusetts after colliding in fog with Swedish liner MS
Stockholm; 50 were killed.
23/7/1956, Monday
(+4,094)
20/7/1956, Friday
(+4,091) Charles Magri, boxer, was born in Tunis, Tunisia.
19/7/1956, Thursday
(+4,090) Britain and the USA
withdrew financial support for Egypt under its new leader, Nasser, who was seen
as too pro-Soviet.
7/7/1956, Saturday
(+4,078) In Ceylon (Sri Lanka), after the electoral victory of the Freedom
Party, Sinhalese replaced English as the official language.
===================================================================================
30/6/1956, Saturday
(+4,071) Two planes collided over the Grand Canyon, killing all 128 aboard
both planes.
29/6/1956, Friday (+4,070) In Los Angeles, athlete Charley
Dumas set a new high jump record of 2.1 metres (7 feet),
28/6/1956, Thursday
(+4,069) In riots in Poznan, Poland,
tanks were called out; 38 people died and 270 were wounded.
26/6/1956, Tuesday
(+4,067)
23/6/1956, Saturday (+4,064) General Gamal Adbel Nasser was elected Egypt�s first president.
However voting was compulsory and he was the only candidate. Nasser graduated
from the Royal Military Academy in Cairo in 1938, aged 20, and was wounded in
the 1948 Arab-Israeli war. Appointed Prime Minister of Egypt in 1954, he
enjoyed popular support.
22/6/1956, Friday
(+4,063) In Austria, following the general election of 13/5/1956, Julius
Raab formed a coalition government of the People�s Party and the Socialists.
15/6/1956, Friday
(+4,056) (Algeria)
Oil was first struck in Algeria.
13/6/1956, Wednesday
(+4,054) The last British troops left the Suez Canal Zone.
11/6/1956, Monday (+4,052)
The railway from Shenfield to Chelmsford was electrified.
6/6/1956, Wednesday (+4,047)
Bjorn Borg, Swedish tennis player, was born.
5/6/1956, Tuesday
(+4,046) In Luxembourg, Chancellor Adenauer of Germany and Prime Minister
Mollet of France agreed that the Saar would have political union with Germany
from 1/1/1957, and economic union after a longer period.
4/6/1956, Monday
(+4,045) Egypt announced that it would not renew the Suez Canal Company�s
concession when it expired in 1968.
3/6/1956, Sunday (+4,044) British Rail abolished third
class travel, to conform with Continental practice.
2/6/1956, Saturday
(+4,043) President Tito of Yugoslavia visited Moscow, USSR, as relations
improved between the two countries.
1/6/1956, Friday
(+4,042) In the USSR, Vyacheslav Molotov was replaced as Foreign Minister
by Dmitri Shepilov.
===================================================================================
24/5/1956, Thursday
(+4,034) The first Eurovision song
contest was held. Europe was just recovering from the Second World War but the
Cold War was in full swing. There was a need to unite the countries of western
Europe. An Italian radio manager had an idea for a European music festival
similar to the popular Italian San Remo Festival. The first Eurovision song
contest was held in Switzerland with seven countries participating, each with
two songs/performances. These were West Germany, France, Italy, Holland,
Belgium, Luxembourg, and Belgium, the same countries that took the initiative
to form the European Union. Switzerland won the first contest with the song
�Refrain�. Since then 37 different countries have participated, 800 different
singers have performed 900 new songs, and the show attracts 100 million viewers
in 2002.
18/5/1956, Friday
(+4,028) Maurice Tate, cricketer, died (born 30/5/1895).
14/5/1956, Monday (+4,024) A British diver disappeared
whilst bugging the underside of Soviet President Kruschev�s warship in
Portsmouth.
7/5/1956, Monday (+4,017) (1) The UK Health Minister refused to back an anti-smoking campaign
because he wasn�t convinced it was harmful.
(2) The inaugural meeting of the Western
European Union Council.
1/5/1956, Tuesday
(+4,011) Germans demonstrated in
favour of reunification.
==================================================================================
27/4/1956, Friday
(+4,007) Jeffrey Probyn, rugby player, was born.
26/4/1956, Thursday
(+4,006) Avril Lennox, gymnast, was born.
22/4/1956, Sunday (+4,002)
19/4/1956, Thursday (+3,999) Prince
Rainier of Monaco married American actress Grace Kelly.
18/4/1956, Wednesday
(+3,998) The Soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev,
along with Nikolai Bulganin, visited the UK.
17/4/1956, Tuesday
(+3,997) Premium Bonds were
introduced by Chancellor Harold MacMillan; prizes went up to �1,000.
16/4/1956, Monday
(+3,996)
15/4/1956, Sunday (+3,995)
Emil Nolde, German-Danish painter, died aged 88.
14/4/1956, �Saturday (+3,994) The first videotape was
demonstrated in Chicago.
10/4/1956, Tuesday
(+3,990) (Sri Lanka)
Solomon Bandaranaike became
Prime Minister of� a United Front
Government of Sri Lanka. He ended the British military and naval presence in
Sri Lanka, but also provoked Tamil riots by attempting to institute Sinhalese
as the only official language.
7/4/1956, Saturday (+3,987)
Spain relinquished its protectorate over Morocco.
6/4/1956, Friday (+3,986) Paramount Pictures signed
Elvis for a three-film, five-year contract worth $450,000.
3/4/1956, Tuesday
(+3,983)
1/4/1956, Sunday (+3,981) Easter Sunday. The first US
U-2 spy planes arrived at RAF Lakenheath.
====================================================================================
31/3/1956, Saturday (+3,980) The last British soldiers left
Egypt, and 74 years of British military presence in Egypt ended, as the
Grenadier Guards and Life Guards embarked at Port Said, Suez.
27/3/1956, Tuesday
(+3,976)
24/3/1956, Saturday
(+3,973) (Chemistry)
Willem Hendrik Keeson, Dutch physicist who explored the properties of� liquid helium and even produced solid helium,
died in Oegstgeest.
23/3/1956, Friday (+3,972) (1)
Pakistan became an independent Islamic
republic within the Commonwealth
(2) Foundation stone of Coventry Cathedral laid by Queen Elizabeth II.
The Cathedral was consecrated on 25/5/1962. The former 14th century
cathedral along with the city�s mediaeval centre had been destroyed in an
11-hour Luftwaffe blitz on 14/11/1940 when over 1,000 died.
22/3/1956, Thursday
(+3,971) (Race Equality) Martin Luther
King was convicted of organising a buy boycott in Alabama.
20/3/1956, Tuesday
(+3,969) Tunisia became independent, having been a French Protectorate
since 1881.
18/3/1956, Sunday (+3,967) At the 20th Party
Congress, Khrushchev denounced Stalin�s crimes.
17/3/1956, Saturday
(+3,966) (Atomic)
The daughter of Pierre and Marie Curie died of leukaemia, possibly brought on
by working with radioactive materials.
14/3/1956, Wednesday
(+3,963) Theresa Sanderson, athlete (javelin), was born.
10/3/1956, Saturday (+3,959) (Aviation)
JP Twiss, UK, set a new aviation speed record of 1,132.14 mph.
9/3/1956, Friday (+3,958) Archbishop Makarios, implicated in terrorism, was
deported by the British from Cyprus to the Seychelles. Riots broke out in
Cyprus.
8/3/1956, Thursday (+3,957)
West Germany amended its Constitution to allow for the use of conscription for
the military.
7/3/1956, Wednesday (+3,956)
Bryan Cranston, US actor, was
born.�
6/3/1956, Tuesday (+3,955) British Rail said the steam
services on the London to Manchester and Liverpool would be electrified.
5/3/1956, Monday (+3,954) (1)
The US Supreme Court upheld a ban on racial segregation in schools and
universities.
(2) The
telephone weather forecast service began in the UK.
4/3/1956, Sunday (+3,953) Kermit Driscoll, US jazz bassist, was born.
3/3/1956, Saturday (+3,952) Harahap
took control of the Indonesian government.
2/3/1956, Friday (+3,951) The Treaty of Fez was
terminated. France officially recognised the independence of Morocco.
1/3/1956, Thursday (+3,950) (1)
The USA raised its Minimum wage from 75 cents to 1 Dollar an hour.
(2) The University of Alabama expelled its first Black student. Autherine Lucy had been suspended
�for her own safety� after attacks by an angry White mob. The US Federal Court
ruled that she must be re-admitted.
=====================================================================================
29/2/1956, Wednesday (+3,949) Pakistan was declared an
Islamic Republic.
28/2/1956, Tuesday (+3,948)
James Nicholl, footballer, was born.
25/2/1956, Saturday (+3,945)
Mary Stewart, athlete, was born.
17/2/1956, Friday
(+3,937) The first episode of The
Adventures of Robin Hood was broadcast, with Richard Greene playing the
hero. The famous signature tune entered the top 20, and the series ran to 143
episodes.
16/2/1956, Thursday
(+3,936) The British Parliament
voted to end the death penalty.
14/2/1956, Tuesday
(+3,934)
13/2/1956, Monday
(+3,033) Liam Brady, footballer, was born in Dublin, Ireland.
12/2/1956, Sunday (+3,932)
The first yellow �No Parking� lines appeared in Britain, in Slough.
11/2/1956, Saturday (+3,931) A Maltese referendum favoured
integration with Britain.
10/2/1956, Friday
(+3,930) Elvis Presley walked into a recording studio and made his first
record, Heartbreak Hotel.
9/2/1956, Thursday
(+3,929) Philip
Jackson Ford Jr, basketball player, was born.
8/2/1956, Wednesday
(+3,928) Malaya was promised
independence by Britain by August 1957.
7/2/1956, Tuesday
(+3,927) A conference was held in London on establishing the British
Caribbean Federation; this was set up on 1/8/1957.
3/2/1956, Friday
(+3,923)
1/2/1956, Wednesday
(+3,921) Following French elections on 2/1/1956, Guy Mollett formed a
Socialist government in France.
===================================================================================
31/1/1956, Tuesday
(+3,920) A A Milne, English author
of children�s books, including Winnie the Pooh, died in Hartfield,
Sussex.
30/1/1956, Monday
(+3,919)
29/1/1956, Sunday (+3,918)
H L Mencken, US writer, died aged 75.
28/1/1956, Saturday
(+3,917) Elvis Presley made his first appearance on TV, on The Dorsey Brothers Stage Show.� He sang Shake
Rattle and Roll.
26/1/1956, Thursday
(+3,915) The UK banned the import
and export of heroin.
16/1/1956, Monday (+3,905)
The Winter Olympics opened at Cortina d�Ampezzo, Italy.
13/1/1956, Friday
(+3,902) Lyonel Feininger, painter died in New York, USA, aged 84.
12/1/1956, Thursday
(+3,901) Nelson Tarleton, boxer, died (born 14/1/1906)
6/1/1956, Friday
(+3,895) Clive Woodward, rugby player, was born.
3/1/1956, Tuesday
(+3,892) The USSR gave technical aid
to China.
2/1/1956, Monday (+3,891) The British Astronomer-Royal
said the idea of space travel was �bilge�.
1/1/1956, Sunday (+3,890) Sudan became independent,
having been administered jointly by Britain and Egypt.
=====================================================================================
31/12/1955, Saturday (+3,889)
In response to mounting violence in Algeria, France had increased the number of
its troops stationed there from 76,000 at the beginning of 1955 to 170,000 by
the end of 1955.
23/12/1955, Friday
(+3,881) Leonard Braund, cricketer, died (born 18/10/1875).
17/12/1955, Saturday
(+3,875)
16/12/1955, Friday (+3,874) The new terminal buildings at
London Heathrow were completed.
15/12/1955, Thursday
(+3,873) Bulgaria joined the United Nations.
14/12/1955, Wednesday
(+3,872) Ireland and Hungary joined
the United Nations.
13/12/1955, Tuesday
(+3,871) Antonio Caetano de Abreu Moniz, Portuguese surgeon, died in
Lisbon.
12/12/1955, Monday (+3,870) Christopher Cockerell patented
his prototype of the hovercraft.
10/12/1955, Saturday (+3,868)
7/12/1955, Wednesday
(+3,865) Clement Attlee, aged 72,
resigned as leader of the UK Labour Party; Hugh Gaitskell was elected as leader
by a wide margin. Gaitskell died in 1963 and Labour did not come to power again
until 1964, with Harold Wilson as leader. Attlee entered the House of Lords as
First Earl Attlee, until his death in 1969.
6/12/1955, Tuesday
(+3,864) Anthony Woodcock, footballer, was born.
5/12/1955, Monday (+3,863) Martin Luther King was elected
leader of the Montgomery Bus Boycott movement which had started following the
arrest of Rosa Parks on 1/12/1955.
3/12/1955, Saturday (+33,861)
1/12/1955, Thursday (+3,859) In Montgomery, Alabama, Rosa
Parks was arrested for refusing to give up her front of bus seat for a White
man and move to the rear of the bus. On 4/12/1955 she was fined US$ 14. A
boycott of Montgomery City Lines buses began by the Afro-American population,
costing 65% of pre-boycott revenue. The bus company had to end seat
discrimination and hire Afro-American drivers, an outcome hailed as the start
of the Black Rights movement in the USA.
====================================================================================
30/11/1955, Wednesday (+3,858)
Floodlights were used for the first time at Wembley Stadium, London, towards
the end of an international match against Spain.
29/11/1955, Tuesday (+3,857)
Howie Mandel, comedian, was
born in Toronto, Ontario
28/11/1955, Monday (+3,856) A state of emergency was
declared in Cyprus because of EOKA terrorism. The Greek majority wanted to
celebrate Oxi Day, the day Greece entered WW2, but were banned by the British
Governor of Cyprus, Sir John Harding. EOKA really wanted enosis, or union with Greece, fiercely opposed by the Turkish
minority in Cyprus.
27/11/1955, Sunday (+3,855) Arthur
Honegger, Swiss composer, died aged 63.
26/11/1955, Saturday (+3,856) Philip
Thompson, footballer, was born.
25/11/1955, Friday (+3,853) Bruno
Tonioli, Italian dancer, was born.
24/11/1955, Thursday (+3,852) Ian
Botham, cricketer, was born.
23/11/1955, Wednesday (+3,851)
Britain handed over the Cocos Islands to Australia.
22/11/1955, Tuesday (+3,850) A
Tupolev Tu-16 dropped the first Soviet nuclear bomb, RDS-37, in Siberia.
21/11/1955, Monday (+3,849)
The first meeting of the Permanent Council of the Baghdad Pact, later called
CENTO, was held.
17/11/1955, Thursday
(+3,845) Anglesey became the first
authority in Britain to introduce fluoride into the water supply.
13/11/1955, Sunday (+3,841)
(Argentina)
In Argentina, General Lonardi, who had succeeded Peron, resigned. He had been
accused of being too lenient on the Peronistas, also on the trades unions who
had been Peron�s main supporters. Lonardi was succeeded by General Pedro
Aramburu. Persecution of the Peronistas intensified; the unions called a
general strike, and Aramburu sent troops against them. Peronistas were
imprisoned, along with some Catholics (despite these being anti-Peron). Many
were internally exiled to the harsh terrain of south-eastern Argentina.
11/11/1955, Friday
(+3,839) (Rail
Tunnels) The Mount Royal Ohara rail tunnel, Japan, 5.063 km long,
opened on the Ohara-Katsuura line.
5/11/1955, Saturday (+3,853) Maurice Utrillo, painter, died in Dax,
Landes, aged 71.
4/11/1955, Friday
(+3,832) (Finland)
Matti Vanhanen, Prime Minister of Finland 2003-2010, was born in Jyv�skyl�
3/11/1955, Thursday
(+3,831) (Rail
Tunnels) The Rimutaka rail tunnel, New Zealand, 8.798 km long, opened.
2/11/1955, Wednesday
(+3,830) (Jewish)
Ben Gurion formed the new government in Israel.
1/11/1955, Tuesday
(+3,829) Yemen signed a five year
treaty of friendship with the USSR, in Cairo.
==================================================================================
31/10/1955, Monday (+3,828) Princess Margaret decided not
to marry divorced Group Captain Peter Townsend. Had she married, she would have
lost her Civil List income and place in line to the throne.
30/10/1955, Sunday (+3,827) A street sweeper in Scunthorpe
was paid �7.10 a week, for a 44-hour week.
29/10/1955, Saturday
(+3,826) Dmitri Shostakovich's Violin Concerto No. 1, originally completed
in 1948, was premiered by the Leningrad Philharmonic Orchestra.
28/10/1955, Friday (+3,825) Bill Gates was born. He
founded Microsoft in 1975 and was the world�s richest man, 1995-2007.
23/10/1955, Sunday (+3,820) South Vietnam became a
republic under Ngo Dinh Diem. Emperor Bao Dai was deposed.
19/10/1955, Wednesday
(+3,816) Lonnie Jewel Shelton, US basketball player, was born (died
8/7/2018).
14/10/1955, Friday (+3,811) Baluchistan formally became
part of West Pakistan.
13/10/1955, Thursday (+3,810) Pan American Airlines ordered
20 Boeing 707s and 25 Douglas DC-8 jet airliners. This was the start of a major
shift by world airlines into large jet aircraft for long-haul passenger
flights.
12/10/1955, Wednesday (+3,809) (Britain,
Russia)
The Soviet Navy made a goodwill visit to Portsmouth, UK, and the British Royal
Navy made a goodwill visit to Leningrad (St Petersburg), Russia.
11/10/1955, Tuesday (+3,808) Norm
Nixon, US basketball player, was born.
10/10/1955, Monday (+3,807) Experimental colour TV
broadcasts were made from by the BBC from Alexandra Palace, London.
9/10/1955, Sunday (+3,806) Steve
Ovett, athlete (javelin), was born.
8/10/1955, Saturday (+3,805) Lonnie
Pitchford, US blues musician, was born in Lexington, Mississipi (died 1998)
7/10/1955, Friday (+3,804) (Biology)
Henry Clapp Sherman, US biochemist, died in Rensselaer, New York, USA.
6/10/1955, Thursday (+3,803) The
first group of German PoW�s released from World War Two captivity in Russia
were brought to the Russian-Polish border at Bialystok, to be taken on to West
Germany. By the end of 1955, over 9,000 such PoWs had been repatriated,
5/10/1955, Wednesday (+3,802) Karamanlis became Prime
Minister of Greece, succeeding Alexander Papagos on his death.
4/10/1955, Tuesday (+3,801) John
Rutherford, rugby player, was born.
==================================================================================
30/9/1955, Friday
(+3,797) TV actor James Dean was killed when his Porsche careered off the
road near Los Angeles.
25/9/1955, Sunday (+3,792)
Karl-Heinz Rummenigge, West German footballer, was born
23/9/1955, Friday (+3,790) Pakistan joined the Baghdad
pact.
22/9/1955, Thursday
(+3,789) With the start of commercial television in Britain
came the first TV advertisement. It was for Gibbs SR toothpaste. Programmes
from the two commercial programme makers, Associated Rediffusion and the Associated
Broadcasting Company, included the annual Guildhall banquet, Britain�s
first-ever cash prize quiz show, a variety show and a boxing match from
Shoreditch. Popular ITV shows included Sunday
Night at the London Palladium and
Coronation Street. By ITV�s annual advertising revenue increased from an
initial �2 million in 1955 to �100 million in 1960. The BBC competed by having
Grace Archer, a leading character in their radio drama The Archers,
killed off in a fire.
21/9/1955, Wednesday
(+3,788) (1) Juan Peron, Presidential
dictator of Argentina since 1946, resigned and went into exile, ousted by a
military coup. He
was born on 8 October 1895, son of a wealthy rancher. In 1930 he took part in
an uprising against President Hipolioto Irigoyen A widower in 1945, he met and
married Maria Eva Durate, known as Evita.
Evita died in the early 1950s, and economic difficulties and labour unrest
increased in Argentina. Peron
disliked the Catholic Church in Argentina and sought to minimise its influence,
which brought him into conflict with the military officers. In 1955 Peron
arrested 85 priests and expelled the Bishop of Buenos Aires, which earned him
an excommunication from Pope Pius XII. On 18/6/1955 officers from the Argentine
air force and navy rebelled and fighter planes bombed government buildings at
Plaza del Mayo. Over 300 civilians were killed in the attack and Peron placed
Argentina under martial law. A full military coup was launched on 16/9/1955 by
General Eduardo Lonardi. Peron fled to Paraguay, remaining in exile until 1973
when his party won Argentine elections. Peron retuned to a hero�s welcome,
becoming President until his death on 1/7/1974.
(2) The UK annexed Rockall, to prevent
the USSR using it as a base to spy on British missile tests.
20/9/1955, Tuesday
(+3,787) The Radio Times was first
published.
19/9/1955, Monday (+3,786)
18/9/1955, Sunday (+3,785) (1)
Russian athlete Vladimir Kuts set a world 5,000 metre record of 14 minutes 46.8
seconds.
(2) Four years after they fled to
Russia, the British Government officially confirmed that Donald McLean and Guy
Burgess were Soviet spies.
17/9/1955, Saturday
(+3,784) In Cyprus, Greek supporters of Enosis, who had been urged by
Archbishop Makarios to embark on a campaign of �passive resistance� against
British troops occupying the island, burnt down the British Institute in
Nicosia. There were also attacks on British soldiers, mostly 2-year conscripts
doing National Service.
16/9/1955, Friday
(+3,783) In Argentina the garrison at Cordoba � a strongly Catholic city �
rebelled against Peron, a revolt led by General Eduardo Lonardi, a devout
Catholic, Other garrison towns joined the rebellion, and Isaac Roja, a senior
naval officer, threatened a naval bombardment of Buenos Aires unless Peron
resigned. Peron now had no military support and had to resign.
13/9/1955, Tuesday
(+3,780) The crisis in the British
colony of Cyprus worsened when EOKA called a General Strike. Illegal marches
and demonstrations by both Greeks and Turks led to clashes.
9/9/1955, Friday
(+3,776) The West German Chancellor, Dr Adenauer, went to Moscow as a guest
of the Soviet Government. At a dinner with Marshall Bulganin, they agreed to
the final release of German prisoners of war from World War Two back to West
Germany, after more than a decade in captivity.
6/9/1955, Tuesday
(+3,773) Anti-Greek riots in
Istanbul and Izmir.
====================================================================================
20/8/1955, Saturday (+3,756) Algerian independence fighters
(FLN, Front Liberation National) committed atrocities against Europeans in the
Constantine area of Algeria. Simultaneous attacks in 25 towns were co-ordinated
by former councillor Zirout Youssef; French military posts, police stations,
and the homes of Europeans were hit. ^0 Europeans died in Philippeville. The
French responded harshly, with villages suspected of harbouring rebels being
razed and 500,000 French troops being sent to maintain order. Barbed wire was
erected along the borders with Tunisia and Morocco because these two
newly-independent states were aiding the rebels. The French mounted a
retaliatory raid into Tunisia, sparking UN intervention.
19/8/1955, Friday (+3,755)
Hurricane Audrey hit Texas and Louisiana, killing 535.
18/8/1955, Thursday (+3,754) The
Anyanya I Rebellion in Sudan, by southern Anyanyas against the northern
Muslims, began.
17/8/1955, Wednesday (+3,753)
Fernand Leger, painter, died in Gif sur Yvette, France, aged 74.
16/8/1955, Tuesday
(+3,752) James Reilly: Irish surgeon, was born.
15/8/1955, Monday (+3,751) India attempted to take over
Goa.
14/8/1955, Sunday (+3,750) The US schooner
Levin J. Marvel capsized and sank in Chesapeake Bay with the loss of 12 of the
24 people on board.
13/8/1955, Saturday (+3,749) The IRA raided a training
centre in Berkshire.
12/8/1955, Friday (+3,748) Thomas
Mann, German novelist, died aged 80.
11/8/1955, Thursday (+3,747) Muslim right wing government
took over in Indonesia.
8/8/1955, Monday
(+3,744) The International Conference on the Peaceful Uses of Atomic Power
opened in Geneva.
5/8/1955, Friday (+3,741)
European Monetary Agreement signed.
4/8/1955, Thursday
(+3,740) The 1955 Mitropa Cup football competition was won by V�r�s Lobog�,
3/8/1955, Wednesday
(+3,739) Duncan Sandys, UK Housing
Minister, instructed local authorities to set up Green Belts similar to London�s around other major towns
and cities. The idea was to stop food producing farmland being lost to
urbanisation, and to stop unsightly �ribbon development� along main roads.� Where possible, urban development was to be
by �infilling�.� This month, denim jeans
became fashionable in the UK.
2/8/1955, Tuesday
(+3,738) �The US poet Wallace Stevens
died in Hartford, Connecticut.
1/8/1955, Monday (+3,737) Warsaw hosted the Communist
Youth Congress.
==================================================================================
27/7/1955, Wednesday
(+3,732) The Clean Air Bill was
presented to Parliament, to prevent the reappearance of the 1952 Smog that
killed 4,000, see 4/12/1952.
20/7/1955, Wednesday
(+3,725) Desmond Douglas, table tennis champion, was born.
17/7/1955, Sunday (+3,722) (1)
The first atomic powered electric power station in the USA began operations, in
Arco, Idaho. For two hours between 8pm and 10pm the town was disconnected from
the national power grid and plugged in to the new power source. The experiment
was a success.
(2) Walt Disney�s Disneyland
was opened in Anaheim, California.
(3) the Chinese writer Hu
Feng was arrested for publically criticising Communism as having a �blighting
influence� on literature.
13/7/1955, Wednesday
(+3,718) Nightclub hostess Ruth
Ellis became the last woman hanged, at Holloway Prison in Britain, for the
murder of her lover David Blakely, following her conviction on 21/6/1955.
However there was public sympathy for her; she claimed someone else put the gun
in her hand; and her case was influential in bringing about the abolition of
the death penalty in the UK.
12/7/1955, Tuesday
(+3,717) The last hanging at Lincoln
Prison. Kenneth Roberts, 24, was executed for the murder of 18-year-old Mary Georgina
Roberts in Scunthorpe.
9/7/1955, Saturday
(+3,714) Steve Coppell, footballer, was born in Liverpool.
7/7/1955, Thursday
(+3,712) Dixon of Dock Green began
on BBC TV with Jack Warner as George Dixon. It was to run for 21 years and 367
episodes.
5/7/1955, Tuesday
(+3,710) The first meeting of the Assembly of the Western European Union,
at Strasbourg, France.
4/7/1955, Monday (+3,709) (1)
British dock strike ended after 1 month.
(2) Britain said it would return the
Simonstown military base to South Africa by 31/3/1957, whilst retaining the
rights to use the base.
1/7/1955, Friday (+3,706) A male office worker in the UK
earned an average of �728 a year; a woman office worker was paid just �416 a
year. A skilled manual worker earned �572 a year if male; if female, she earned
�291 a year.� In 2003, average wages for
all are �24,000 a year. New houses cost an average �2,000 in 1955, as against
�150,000 in 2003. Dockers called off their strike.
===================================================================================
23/6/1955, Thursday
(+3,698) Jean Amadou Tigana, French footballer, was born.
21/6/1955, Tuesday
(+3,696) Michel Platini, French footballer, was born.
16/6/1955, Thursday
(+3,691) Civil strife continued in Argentina. A group of naval officers
attacked President Peron�s headquarters at Government House and naval aircraft
dropped bombs, killing several bystanders. Two warships were also shelling
Government House. However the Army remained loyal to Peron and the naval revolt
failed..
15/6/1955, Wednesday
(+3,690) The USA and Britain signed an atomic energy agreement, providing
for the exchange of information between them.
14/6/1955, Tuesday
(+3,689) Rail workers called off the
strike which began on 29//5/1955.
13/6/1955, Monday
(+3,688) Alan Hansen, footballer, was born.
11/6/1955, Saturday
(+3,686) Tony Allcock, bowls player, was born.
9/6/1955, Thursday
(+3,684) Stephen Smith Eccles, champion jockey, was born.
8/6/1955, Wednesday
(+3,683) Jose Antonio Camacho, Spanish footballer, was born.
5/6/1955, Sunday (+3,680)
The Warsaw Pact was founded.
===================================================================================
31/5/1955, Tuesday
(+3,675) In Britain, troops went on
stand-by as the effects of the rail and docks strikes worsened.
30/5/1955, Monday
(+3,674) Jake Smith (Roberts), professional wrestler, was born in Texas.
29/5/1955, Sunday (+3,673)
Rail strike began in Britain.
28/5/1955, Saturday (+3,672) 16 Teddy Boys were arrested
after a disturbance at a dance hall in Bath.
27/5/1955, Friday
(+3,671) (Aviation)
The French Caravelle aeroplane made its maiden flight.
26/5/1955, Thursday
(+3,670) The Conservatives won the General Election, with a majority of
59.
25/5/1955, Wednesday
(+3,669) A British expedition, led by Charles Evans, became the first to
climb Kangchenjunga, the third highest peak in the Himalayas.
24/5/1955, Tuesday
(+3,668) Docks strike began in Britain.
23/5/1955, Monday
(+3,667)
22/5/1955, Sunday (+3,666)
Petru Kuki, Romanian fencer, was born
21/5/1955, Saturday (+3,665)
Paul Barber, English hockey player, was born.
18/5/1955, Wednesday
(+3,662)
15/5/1955, Sunday (+3,659) Austria
became de jure an independent state within its 1937 borders under the Austrian
State Treaty, signed by the USA, USSR, France, and Britain (see 7/1/1946). All
the four-power occupation forces were withdrawn by 25/10/1955. On 5/11/1955
Austria declared itself constitutionally to be permanently neutral.
14/5/1955, Saturday (+3,658) Eastern
bloc countries signed the Warsaw Pact. See 31/3/1954.
13/5/1955, Friday (+3,657) A
riot took place at an Elvis Presley concert in Jacksonville, Florida, USA.
12/5/1955, Thursday (+3,656) Riots by the Chinese in
Singapore who were dissatisfied with British plans for self-government of the
island and wanted complete independence. Four people were killed.
11/5/1955, Wednesday (+3,655) Gilbert
Jessop, English cricketer, died aged 80.
10/5/1955, Tuesday (+3,654)
Tommy Burns, Canadian boxer, died
aged 73.
9/5/1955, Monday (+3,653) West Germany became a member of NATO.
8/5/1955, Sunday (+3,652) Hiroshima
victims arrived in the USA for plastic surgery.
7/5/1955, Saturday (+3,651) The USSR annulled treaties
with Britain and France in retaliation for the setting up of the Western
European Union, which included Germany.
6/5/1955, Friday (+3,650) Britain went to the
International Court over the Falklands.
5/5/1955, Thursday (+3,649) West
Germany became a sovereign state (see 26/5/1952); the Allied occupation by
France, UK and USA officially ended.
4/5/1955, Wednesday (+3,648)
Georges Enescu, Romanian composer and violinist, died in Paris, France (born
19/8/1881 in Liveni, Romania.
3/5/1955, Tuesday (+3,647)
Colin Deans, rugby player, was born.
2/5/1955, Monday (+3,646)
In the UK, passenger services
were withdrawn between Oldham and Delph
1/5/1955, Sunday (+3,645) Donna
Hartley, athletics champion, was born.
===================================================================================
29/4/1955, Friday
(+3,643)
27/4/1955, Wednesday
(+3,641) The First Bandung Conference ended (started 18/4/1955). This
was a meeting of 29 newly-independent African and Asian countries who were keen
to distance themselves from the USA/USSR superpower rivalry. Nations in attendance
included China (Zhou Enlai), India (Nehru), Cambodia (Sihanouk), Burma (U Nu),
and Egypt (Gamal Abd-al-Nasser). The presence of China signalled that country�s
determination to pursue its own brand of Communism, independent of Russia, The
Summit, held in Bandung, Indonesia, was a major foreign policy triumph for
Indonesian President Sukharno.
26/4/1955, Tuesday
(+3,640) Sir Lyman Poore Duff, Canadian jurist (born 7/1/1865 in Meaford,
Ontario) died in Ottawa, Ontario.
25/4/1955, Monday
(+3,639) Christopher Mottram, tennis champion, was born.
24/4/1955, Sunday (+3,638)
Alfred Polgar, Austrian writer and theatre critic, died aged 79
23/4/1955, Saturday
(+3,637) Anthony Miles, British chess player, was born.
18/4/1955, Monday (+3,632)
Albert Einstein, born 14/3/1879,
died in Princeton, New Jersey, of a stroke. He was born to a middle
class German family of Jewish ancestry. Einstein graduated in 1900 from the
Federal institute of technology in Zurich; he worked hard in the laboratory but
skipped lectures. He completed his general theory of relativity in 1915 and
received the Nobel Prize in 1922. He became an American citizen in 1940 after
having signed a famous letter to President F D Roosevelt warning that Germany
might try and build an atomic bomb.
15/4/1955, Friday
(+3,629)
13/4/1955, Wednesday
(+3,627) Safet Susic, Yugoslav footballer, was born
12/4/1955, Tuesday
(+3,626) The Salk polio vaccine was pronounced safe.
11/4/1955, Monday
(+3,623)
10/4/1955, Sunday (+3,624)
Easter Sunday.
9/4/1955, Saturday (+3,623)
(Restaurants)
Ray Krok bought the McDonalds burger restaurant franchise from its owners,
Richard and Mac McDonald. Kroc was impressed with the McDonalds business model,
but saw ways to cut costs further. The menu was streamlined, machinery used
more intensively, and the burgers made more cheaply. The first of the modern
McDonalds restaurants was in Des Plaines, Chicago � or � 15/4/1955, San
Bernardino, California. In 1961 Kroc bought the ownership of the chain from the
McDonalds brothers for US$2.7 million. By 1963 McDonalds sales of hamburgers
amounted to over 1 billion. Kroc died in 1984 worth over US$ 500 million.
5/4/1955, Tuesday
(3,619) Sir Winston Churchill, aged 80, resigned as Prime Minister. He
suffered a stroke in 1953. Anthony Eden succeeded him. Harold Macmillan became Eden�s new Foreign Secretary.
1/4/1955, Friday (+3,615) Greek EOKA terrorists led by
Grivas set off a series of bombs in Cyprus, starting a 4-year campaign against
British occupation.� Ankara sought to
defend the minority Turkish population in Cyprus.� On 9/3/1956 Archbishop Makarios, spiritual
leader of the Greek community, was deported by Britain to the Seychelles, but
allowed to return to Athens in 1957.� See
16/8/1960.
=================================================================================
31/3/1955, Thursday
(+3,614) The Communist Party in
China was purged.
30/3/1955, Wednesday
(+3,613)
28/3/1955, Monday (+3,611)
Israeli made raids on the Gaza Strip.
27/3/1955, Sunday (+3,610) Pakistan declared a State of
Emergency.
20/3/1955, Sunday (+3,603)
16/3/1955, Wednesday
(+3,599) Nicolas de Stael, painter, died in Antibes aged 41.
13/3/1955, Sunday (+3.596)
Bruno Conti, Italian footballer, was born
12/3/1955, Saturday
(+3,595) Saxophonist Charles Parker died.
11/3/1955, Friday (+3,594)
Sir Alexander Fleming,
discoverer of Penicillin in 1928 and Nobel prize-winner in 1945, died.
10/3/1955, Thursday
(+5,593)
8/3/1955, Tuesday
(+3,591) In West Bromwich, Birmingham,
UK, bus drivers re-imposed a colour bar, which had already led to strikes.
7/3/1955, Monday
(+3,590) In Malta, Dom Mintoff, Labour Party, won elections on the platform
of seeking greater integration with Britain.
5/3/1955, Saturday
(+3,588)
4/3/1955, Friday (+3,587)
The Burnham Commission recommended equal salaries for men and women
teachers; another step towards equality of pay between the sexes.
3/3/1955, Thursday
(+3,586) Katharine Drexel, US philanthropist, teacher and Roman Catholic
saint, died aged 96.
2/3/1955, Wednesday
(+3,585) Egypt and Syria signed a defensive pact.
1/3/1955, Tuesday
(+3,584)
=====================================================================================
26/2/1955, Saturday,
(+3,581) US pilot George Smith made the first ejection from a plane at
supersonic speed. He required surgery for damage to his liver and intestines,
leaving him unable to drink alcohol.
25/2/1955, Friday (+3,580) Britain�s largest aircraft carrier, the Ark Royal was completed.
24/2/1955, Thursday
(+3,579) (1)
(Iran, Islam, Turkey)
Turkey and Iraq signed the Baghdad Pact. This was an alliance of mutual support
against Communist activity within their borders or as an external threat. Iran
joined later in 1955.
(2) Steve Jobs, co-founder of Apple, was
born.
23/2/1955, Wednesday
(-3,580) In France, Edgar Faure formed a Radical government.
20/2/1955, Sunday (+3,575)
17/2/1955, Thursday
(+3,572) The UK Government announced it would proceed with the
manufacture of H-Bombs.
16/2/1955, Wednesday
(+3,571) Nearly 100 died in a fire at a home for the elderly in Yokohama,
Japan.
15/2/1955, Tuesday
(+3,570) The UK Government announced it would build 12 nuclear power
stations in the next 10 years. Nuclear power was expected to be much cheaper
than that from coal fired power stations; the costs of safety and the disposal
of nuclear waste had been overlooked.
12/2/1955, Saturday
(+3,567)
10/2/1955, Thursday
(+3,565) The House of Commons
voted by a majority of 31 to retain the death penalty.
9/2/1955, Wednesday
(+3,564) (South
Africa) The final expulsion of Black Africans from Johannesburg began.
60,000 Black South Africans were moved to the Meadowlands development, 13 miles
out from the city where they had lived and worked for generations.
8/2/1955, Tuesday
(+3,563) (Russia)
Soviet Prime Minister Malenkov resigned. He was succeeded by Bulganin, who
reaffirmed ties between the USSR and China, and appointed Zhukov as Minister of
Defence.
7/2/1955, Monday
(+3,562) (Taiwan)� The US 7th fleet began an
evacuation of 14,000 Chinese Nationalist troops and 18,000 Chinese civilians
from the Tachen Islands (see 17/1/1955). The evacuation was completed 6 days
later, whereupon the Chinese Communists took over the islands.
4/2/1955, Friday
(+3,559)
1/2/1955, Tuesday
(+3,556) Virginia Leng, equestrian champion, was born.
===================================================================================
31/1/1955, Monday (+3,555) RCA introduced the first
musical synthesiser.
28/1/1955, Friday
(+3,552)
25/1/1955, Tuesday
(+3,549) (1) Britain announced plans for a �1,240 million electrification of the
railways. New motorways were also envisaged.
(2) The
USSR officially ended the war with Germany.
24/1/1955, Monday
(+3,548) (USA,
Taiwan)
Because of increasing tensions between China and Formosa (Taiwan), US President
Eisenhower asked Congress for authority to protect Formosa; it was granted
within four days by 409 votes to 3 in the House of Representatives.
21/1/1955, Friday
(+3,545)
18/1/1955, Tuesday
(+3,542) The Kenyan government
offered terms to the Mau-Mau.
17/1/1955, Monday
(+3,541) Chinese Communists began a heavy bombardment of Chinese
Nationalists on the Tachen Islands just west of Taiwan. The next day Chinese
Communist forces occupied the small island of Yikiang, which the Nationalists
did not have the firepower to defend.
11/1/1955, Tuesday
(+3,535)
10/1/1955, Monday
(+3,534) (Aviation)
Pakistan International Airlines was founded.
9/1/1955, Sunday (+3,533)
400 Jamaicans arrived in London to seek work. Much post-war reconstruction
needed to be done in Britain.
8/1/1955, Saturday
(+3,532) (Biology)
Sir Arthur Keith, British anthropologist, died.
7/1/1955, Friday
(+3,531) (Race
equality) Marian Anderson became the first African-American to appear
in the Metropolitan Opera�s production of Verdi�s Masked Ball.
4/1/1955, Tuesday
(+3,528)
===================================================================================
31/12/1954, Friday (+3,524) (1)
(Britain)
Harold MacMillan, British Conservative Housing Minister, announced that a
record number of houses, 354,000, had been built during 1954.
(2) The Mau Mau had murdered 30 European
farmers since October 1952; as law and order were enforced again in 1955, only
two more White farmers were killed. However since October 1952 the Mau Mau had
murdered some 1,800 Christian Kikuyu who had refused to join them.
30/12/1954, Thursday
(+3,523) Archduke Eugen, Austrian field marshal, died aged 91.
29/12/1954, Wednesday
(+3,522) The Netherlands enacted a
�Statute of the Realm�, giving their remaining possessions in South America and
the Caribbean autonomy in domestic affairs.
23/12/1954, Thursday
(+3,516) (1) (Medical) The first successful kidney transplant was
performed. Earlier transplant attempts had been thwarted by the problem of
rejection; the recipient in this case went on to live another 8 years.
(2) France sent 20,000 troops to
Algeria.
21/12/1954, Tuesday (+3,514) Chris
Evert, tennis player, was born.
18/12/1954, Saturday (+3,511)
Greeks rioted in Cyprus, demanding union with Greece instead of British rule.
Two rioters were shot by British police as they tore down the Union Jack
outside the police station in Limassol, replacing it with the Greek flag. 42
Greek Cypriots were arrested. Athens demanded that Cypriots be allowed to vote
on the matter, knowing that Greek Cypriots outnumbered Turks.
14/12/1954, Tuesday (+3,507)
Divorce was legalised in Argentina.
12/12/1954, Sunday (+3,505) In the
UK, from 8.30 pm, the BBC broadcast the first of a televised version of George
Orwell�s 1984. Many viewers complained about the broadcasting of a �horror
movie� on a Sunday night.
8/12/1954, Wednesday (+3,501) Parking meters were introduced in
Britain.
7/12/1954, Tuesday (+3,500) Bui Van Luong was replaced as the head of
COMIGAL, Vietnam's government resettlement agency, by Pham Van Huyen.
5/12/1954, Sunday (+3,498) Keith
Robertson, rugby player, was born.
2/12/1954, Thursday (+3,495) The US Senate voted to condemn
McCarthy for abuse of proceedings, see 25/2/1954 and 2/5/1957.
1/12/1954, Wednesday (+3,494) The Est�dio da Luz football stadium opened
in Lisbon, Portugal.
====================================================================================
30/11/1954, Tuesday
(+3,493) Mrs Hewlett Hodges, of Sylacauga, Alabama, USA, became the only
person to have been struck be a meteorite. The 4kg rock crashed through the
roof of her house, bounced off a radio, and hit her hip, causing a massive
bruise but no other injuries.
29/11/1954, Monday
(+3,492) General Elections in Czechoslovakia. All candidates were
Communist-controlled.
28/11/1954, Sunday (+3,491) Enrico Fermi, atomic physicist,
died in Chicago, USA.
27/11/1954, Saturday (+3,490)
Istanbul�s ancient bazaar was devastated in a�
fire that destroyed 2,000 shops and caused �178 million damage.
20/11/1954, Saturday (+3,483)
Clyde Cessna, US aircraft manufacturer, died.
17/11/1954, Wednesday
(+3,480) Nasser became official head
of state in Egypt, see 17/4/1954.
16/11/1954, Tuesday
(+3,479) (Biology)
Albert Francis Blakeslee, US botanist, died in Northampton, Massachusetts.
15/11/1954, Monday
(+3,478) Uli Steilke, West German footballer, was born.
12/11/1954, Friday
(+3,475) The immigration centre at Ellis Island, New York, closed. 15
million migrants into the US had been processed through here since 1892.
10/11/1954, Wednesday
(+3,473) Juan Gomez Gonzalez, Spanish footballer was born.
5/11/1954, Friday (+3,468) (Myanmar, Japan)
Burma and Japan signed a peace treaty.
4/11/1954, Thursday
(+3,467) Two by-elections in the UK, Sutton and Cheam and Morpeth. Both
seats were retained by the incumbent Party, Conservative and Labour
respectively.
3/11/1954, Wednesday (+3,466)
Henri Matisse, painter, died in Nice aged 84.
2/11/1954, Tuesday (+3,465) A dock workers' strike in the UK ended.
1/11/1954, Monday (+3,464)
A nationalist uprising began
against the French in their colony of Algeria. On 23/12/1954 France sent
20,000 troops to Algeria. By September 1955 there were about 120,000 French
troops in Algeria, a number quadrupled by December 1956 with still no end to
the troubles in sight.� The war continued
until the Evian agreement of March 1962.
===================================================================================
28/10/1954, Thursday
(+3,460)
26/10/1954, Tuesday
(+3,458) An assassination attempt on
Egyptian Prime Minister Gamal Abdel Nasser failed.
25/10/1954, Monday
(+3,457) In the US, meetings of the Cabinet were televised for the first
time.
24/10/1954, Sunday (+3,456)
Jozef Raz, Slovak musician and singer, was born in Bratislava, Czechoslovakia.
23/10/1954, Saturday (+3,455)
NATO voted to end the occupation of West Germany and to form the Western European
Union. West Germany became a member of NATO.
22/10/1954, Friday
(+3,454) Louise Nettleton, archery champion, was born.
21/10/1954, Thursday
(+3,453) Brian Tobin: Canadian politician, was born.
20/10/1954, Wednesday
(+3,452) A docks strike reduced Britain�s
trade by half.
19/10/1954, Tuesday
(+3,451) Colonel Nasser of Egypt
agreed with Britain a timetable for the withdrawal of Britain from the Canal
Zone within two years.
18/10/1954, Monday
(+3,450) In Britain, Winston Churchill reshuffled his Cabinet, with Harold
Macmillan becoming Minister of Defence.
10/10/1954, Sunday (+3,442) Ho Chi Minh returned to Hanoi
as the French pulled out.
8/10/1954, Friday
(+3,440) William Dodd, archery champion, died (born 18/7/1867).
7/10/1954, Thursday
(+3,439) Seebohn Rowntree, English social reformer, died aged 83.
5/10/1954, Tuesday
(+3,437) Bob Geldof, rock musician and charity fundraiser, was born in
Dublin.
3/10/1954, Sunday
(+3,435) A Nine-Power conference in London agreed that in the interests of
European unity, Germany could join NATO.
===================================================================================
29/9/1954, Wednesday
(+3,431) (Atomic)
CERN, the Centre Europeen de Recherche Nucleaire, was founded.
25/9/1954, Saturday (+3,427) Papa Doc Duvalier won
Presidential elections in Haiti.
24/9/1954,
Friday (+3,426) Ian Taylor, hockey champion,
was born.
19/9/1954, Sunday (+3,421)
Juan Peron, President of Argentina since 1946, resigned and went into exile in
Paraguay.
14/9/1954, Tuesday
(+3,416) Kidbrooke School in London, London�s first new comprehensive
school, was opened.
11/9/1954, Saturday
(+3,413) The �Miss America� beauty contest, held in Atlanta City, New
Jersey, was televised across the USA.
10/9/1954, Friday (+3,412) Painter Andre Derain died in Chambourcy,
France, aged 74.
9/9/1954, Thursday
(+3,411) Earthquake in Algeria killed 1,500 in the city of Orleansville.� Later there were anti-French riots.
8/9/1954, Wednesday
(+4,410) South East Asia Collective Defence Treaty was signed.� See 7/11/1973 and 30/6/1974.
6/9/1954, Monday (+3,408)
Rolls Royce announced that it had developed a new vertical take-off plane;
nicknamed the flying bedstead because of its shape.
==================================================================================
28/8/1954, Saturday
(+3,399) Charlie Collier, motorcycle racer, was born.
27/8/1954, Friday
(+3,398) John Lloyd, tennis champion, was born.
26/8/1954, Thursday
(+3,397) Howard Clark, English golfer, was born.
25/8/1954, Wednesday
(+3,396) Elvis Costello, English musician, was born.
24/8/1954, Tuesday
(+3,395) President Vargas of Brazil resigned under pressure, and committed
suicide. He was succeeded by Vice-President Filho.
23/8/1954, Monday
(+3,394) Greece, Yugoslavia and Turkey signed a treaty of mutual
assistance.
22/8/1954, Sunday (+3,393)
Jimmy Murphy, hurling champion, was born.
19/8/1954, Thursday
(+3,390) Alcide de Gasperi, Italian statesman, died aged 73.
16/8/1954, Monday
(+3,387) (Sports) The weekly magazine
Sports Illustrated was launched. It did not return a profit until 1964.
10/8/1954, Tuesday
(+3,381) The Saint Lawrence Seaway
project was officially launched.
6/8/1954, Friday
(+3,377) LUFTAG legally changed its name to Lufthansa.
5/8/1954, Thursday
(+3,376) In Iran, an agreement was announced with a consortium of eight
foreign oil companies to produce and export oil; this was signed by the Shah on
29/10/1954.
4/8/1954, Wednesday
(+3,375) The Independent Television Authority was set up.
2/8/1954, Monday
(+3,373)
1/8/1954, Sunday (+3,372)
The UK Atomic Energy Authority was founded.
===================================================================================
31/7/1954, Saturday (+3,371)
(1) The Independent Television Act was passed,
allowing for independent TV franchises in the UK.
(2) K2, or Godwin Austen
Mountain, in the Himalayas, was climbed for the first time.
27/7/1954, Tuesday
(+3,367) The UK Government agreed to Colonel Nasser�s request to pull
British troops out of Suez. They were to leave by 1956.
25/7/1954, Sunday (+3,365)
George Fairbairn, rugby player, was born.
21/7/1954, Wednesday
(+3,361) (1) Britain, America and the World Bank turned down a request for aid from
President Nasser of Egypt to build the Aswan Dam.
(2) An armistice divided Vietnam into North and South. See
21/4/1954.
20/7/1954, Tuesday
(+3,360) (1) The Geneva Agreement ended hostilities between North (Communist) and
South (French) Korea.
(2) Cambodian independence from France was confirmed.
(3) The expansion of Gatwick
Airport was approved by a public committee.
19/7/1954, Monday (+3,359) The rabbit disease myxomatosis
was confirmed in Ireland.
17/7/1954, Saturday
(+3,357) In West Germany, Theodor Heuss was elected President.
15/7/1954, Thursday
(+3,355) The Boeing 707 (or 367-80) made its maiden flight from Seattle.
It could seat 219.
12/7/1954, Monday
(+3,352) (USA, Roads)
US Vice President Richard Nixon announced the construction of a network of
Interstate Highways which would enable drivers to cross the USA without
encountering a single crossroads or traffic light. They would also be useful as
part of a defensive network, and to provide rapid exits from cities in the
event of war.
10/7/1954, Saturday
(+3,350) (food,
India,
USA) US
President Eisenhower signed Public Law 480, the Agricultural Trade Development
and Assistance Act of 1954, better known as PL-480. This facilitated the export
of grain to US-aligned governments that were facing threats from Leftist
agencies, either internal rebels or intimidation from a Soviet-aligned State
next door. PL-480 could be used to keep recalcitrant allies, those possibly
sliding towards Communism, in line. For example in 1965 US President Johnson
shifted the renewal of PL-480 food aid to India from an annual to a� monthly basis, threatening India with
withdrawal of food aid as India�s President Shastri expressed disapproval of US
bombing in Vietnam. However if Shastri abandoned Nehru�s ideas of land
distribution to Indian peasants then India would receive US agricultural
technology, enhancing food yields.
5/7/1954,
Monday (+3,345)
The BBC began daily news broadcasts.
3/7/1954, Saturday (+3,343)
(1) Food rationing ended in Britain; all
goods were now off rations. Smithfield Market, London, opened at midnight
instead of 6am to cope with the demand for beef.
(2) Plans for a new
steelworks at Motherwell, Scotland, were announced.
1/7/1954, Thursday
(+3,341) (1) 90% of rabbits in southern Britain were infected with myxomatosis.
Farmers were happy since rabbits destroyed crops worth �50 million each year;
scientists worried about upsetting the balance of nature.
(2) A UK coalminer earned �7 15s (�7.75) a week, a police
constable got �445 a year. Dunlop�s �Canzonetta� rayon coat cost �7 15s
(�7.75), a �Coty 212� lipstick cost 6s 9d (34p), and a sports shirt cost 9s 6d
(47.5p).
===================================================================================
30/6/1954, Wednesday (+3,340) Senator McCarthy was censured by the US
Senate. He had gone too far by accusing the US Army of harbouring Communist
spies.
27/6/1954, Sunday (+3,337)
The first Soviet nuclear power station was opened, at Obninsk, 55 miles
from Moscow.
25/6/1954, Friday (+3,335) British doctors urged tougher
drink-driving tests than� having to say
tongue twisters or walk in a straight line.
20/6/1954, Sunday (+3,330)
Allan Lamb, cricketer, was born.
15/6/1954, Tuesday
(+3,325) Senator Joe McCarthy�s
committee labelled Robert Oppenheimer, inventor of the atom bomb, a security
risk because he opposed development of the Hydrogen Bomb.
11/6/1954, Friday
(+3,321) (Innovation)
The game Scrabble was patented in
the USA.
10/6/1954, Thursday
(+3,320) (USA) Charles
Adams, US statesman (born 2/8/1866) died.
8/6/1954, Tuesday
(+3,318)
7/6/1954, Monday (+3,317) Alan Turing, mathematician who broke the Nazi codes
during World War Two, committed suicide. After his conviction for homosexuality
on 31/3/1952 he had opted for chemical �treatment� rather than prison; this
consisted of oestrogen injections, which made him put on weight and grow
breasts.
6/6/1954, Sunday (+3,316)
The Eurovision television link-up was inaugurated.
5/6/1954, Saturday
(+3,315)
3/6/1954, Thursday
(+3,313) (1)
The Dutch West Indies were given independence.
(2) The new two-track Woodhead railway tunnel between Sheffield
and Manchester, 5 km long, opened, replacing the earlier two single-track
tunnels, see 2/2/1852.
2/6/1954, Wednesday
(+3,312) In Ireland, following the election in May, John Costello (Fine Gael)
succeeded Eamon de Valera as Prime Minister and formed a coalition government.
====================================================================================
31/5/1954, Monday
(+3,310) The first Bilderberg Group meeting concluded (opened 29/5/1954).
The group, of politicians, royalty and industrialists, was named after the
hotel where this initial meeting, now held annually, first met; the Hotel
Bilderberg, Oosterbeek, The Netherlands.
29/5/1954, Saturday
(+3,308) Thailand complained to the United nations Security Council that
the activities of the Communists in south east Asia threatened its security.
24/5/1954, Monday (+3,303)
IBM announced the development of an �electronic brain� and planned to rent
the 30 models out to offices for US$ 25,000 a month. The computer used valves.
23/5/1954, Sunday (+3,302)
Gerry Armstrong, British footballer, was born.
21/5/1954, Friday
(+3,300)
19/5/1954, Wednesday
(+3,298) Charles Ives, US composer died (born 1874)
18/5/1954, Tuesday (+3,297) The
European Convention on Human Rights came into force.����������
17/5/1954, Monday (+3,296) The US Supreme Court, in the
case of Brown v The Board of Education,�
unanimously �outlawed racial
segregation in school as unconstitutional. The principle of �separate but
equal� facilities for Black and White pupils was struck down. This ruling was
to be extended to all areas of public life.
10/5/1954, Monday
(+3,289) George Hirst, cricketer, died (born 7/9/1871).
7/5/1954, Friday (+3,286)
Communist Vietminh forces under General Giap captured Dien Ben Phu in
Vietnam, a key French garrison, after a siege. Almost all the 16,000 French
soldiers were killed. The Americans had considered using atomic bombs, but
Eisenhower was reluctant to start a new war after Korea, and did not wish to
support colonialism.� This effectively
marked the end of French rule in Indo-China.�
Dien Ben Phu was a village in Vietnam, 75 miles south of the Chinese
border and commanding a valley into Laos, which lay 20 miles further west, so
occupied a strategic position.
6/5/1954, Thursday
(+3,285) (1) Sir David Maxwell-Fylde, British Home Secretary, said the problem of
Teddy Boys was not widespread.
(2) Roger Bannister, 25 years old, ran the first mile in under
four minutes in 3 minutes 59.4 seconds, on the Iffley Road track in Oxford. The
previous record, 4 minutes 1.3 seconds, had stood since 1945. In September 1993
Algerian athlete Noureddine Morceli ran a mile in 3 minutes 44.39 seconds,
currently the world record.
5/5/1954, Wednesday
(+3,284) Austin Reed, owner of a chain of men�s clothes shops, died in
Gerrard�s Cross, Buckinghamshire.
4/5/1954, Tuesday
(+3,283) Doug Jones, US politician, was born.
2/5/1954, Sunday (+3,281)
(Vietnam)
British Prime Minister Anthony Eden made it clear at Geneva that Britain could
not support the US in a war in Vietnam when the course and scope of the war was
unknown.
====================================================================================
29/4/1954, Thursday
(+3,278) Queen Elizabeth II opened the Owen Falls hydroelectric dam at Owen
Falls, Uganda.
24/4/1954, Saturday (+3,273) 40,000
Mau-Mau suspects were arrested in Kenya.
23/4/1954, Friday (+3,272) (European
Union) The US made a loan of US$ 100 million to the European Coal and
Steel Community to modernise its collieries and power stations. A smaller loan
by the French Government facilitated the relocation of miners to the most
productive pits.
22/4/1954, Thursday (+3,271) A
committee headed by Senator John McCarthy, the �Permanent Investigations
Sub-Committee�, began hearings into an alleged Communist spy ring at Fort
Monmouth. McCarthy�s methods started alarming his colleagues.
21/4/1954, Wednesday (+3,270)
The US Air Force flew a French battalion to northern Vietnam to defend
against the Vietminh at Dien Bien Phu. Dien Bien Phu fell to the Communists on
7/5/1954.
20/4/1954, Tuesday (+3,269) Michael
Manning, 25, murderer, became the last person to be executed in the Irish
Republic.
19/4/1954, Monday (+3,268)
Trevor Francis, footballer, was born in Plymouth.
18/4/1954, Sunday (+3,267) Easter
Sunday.
17/4/1954, Saturday (+3,266) Colonel
Nasser took power in Egypt from President Neguib and became Prime Minister.
16/4/1954, Friday (+3,265) Stock
car racing for the first time in Britain, behind the Old Kent Road stadium in
London.
15/4/1954, Thursday (+3,264) Ulo
Altermann, Estonian soldier and forest brother, died (b. 1923).
14/4/1954, Wednesday (+3,263) Aneurin Bevan resigned from
the Labour Cabinet in protest at British Government support for the re-arming
of Germany, so soon after World War Two.
13/4/1954, Tuesday (+3,262)
Vladimir Petrov of the Soviet Embassy in Australia was granted asylum when he
defected, in Canberra.
12/4/1954, Monday (+3,261) In
British Guiana (Guyana) Dr Cheddi Jagan, leader of the People�s Progressive
Party, was jailed for 6 months for violating an order restricting his� movements.
10/4/1954, Saturday
(+3,259) Auguste Lumiere, French cinema pioneer, died.
7/4/1954, Wednesday
(+3,256) (Canada, USA) The USA
announced that, in conjunction with Canada, it would set up a chain of almost
100 radar stations along a 3,000 mile line at the 55th parallel. On
27/9/1954 a second chain of radar stations was announced above the Arctic
Circle to warn of enemy aircraft approaching from Russia across the North Pole.
This was the Distant Early Warning Line, or DEW; within a few years it was
obsolete because missiles would be delivered by rockets not planes.
6/4/1954, Tuesday
(+3,255) (Vietnam) France
informed the US that French public opinion would not support the war in Vietnam
anymore and that France�s aim was now a negotiated settlement. The US wanted to
carry on the fight against the Communists. The UK too was wary, in case a
Soviet nuclear strike on US bases in England was carried out.
4/4/1954, Sunday (+3,253)
3/4/1954, Saturday (+3,252)
Oxford won the 100th boat race.
2/4/1954, Friday
(+3,251) Ron Palillo, actor, was born (d. 2012)
1/4/1954, Thursday
(+3,250) The US Air Force Academy was created.
====================================================================================
31/3/1954, Wednesday
(+3,249) The USSR offered to join NATO. See 14/5/1955.
30/3/1954, Tuesday
(+3,248) (Science)
Fritz Wolfgang London, German physicist, died in Durham, North Carolina.
28/3/1954, Sunday (+3,246)
25/3/1954, Thursday
(+3,243) (TV
Broadcasting) UK Parliament approved the idea of independent TV
broadcasting. The Television Act 1954 was passed.
24/3/1954, Wednesday
(+3,242) Peter Collins, motorcycle speedway champion, was born.
20/3/1954. Saturday (+3,238)
(Russia) In
the USSR, Khrushchev became First Secretary of the Communist Party.
13/3/1954, Saturday
(+3,231) The Vietminh assault on Dien Ben Phu began; see 7/5/1954.
12/3/1954, Friday (+3,230) In Kenya, the British arrested
700 Mau-Mau activists.
10/3/1954, Wednesday
(+3,228)
9/3/1954, Tuesday
(+3,227) Gains for the Centre and Right in Finnish elections.
8/3/1954, Monday (+3,226) The US and Japan signed a
mutual defence pact.
7/3/1954, Sunday (+3,225)
(Chemistry)
Otto Paul Hermann, German chemist, died in Kiel.
5/3/1954, Friday
(+3,223)
3/3/1954, Wednesday
(+3,221) Oliver Campbell, rugby player, was born in Dublin.
2/3/1954, Tuesday
(+3,220) President Lopez of Paraguay died, aged 54, as Asuncion. General
Alfredo Stroessner was elected in his place; he gave refuge to Nazi war
criminals.
1/3/1954, Monday (+3,219)
(1) The UK Parliament approved of establishing an
Atomic Energy Authority.
(2) A US test of a 12
megaton hydrogen bomb exposed 23 Japanese fishermen, 70 to 90 miles away, to
such severe radiation that one subsequently died. The bomb, weighing ten tons,
named Bravo, was expected to deliver just 5 megatons and so the 10,000
observers were relatively near and the Marshall Islands, 100 miles away, were
not evacuated. Some Marshall islanders also suffered radiation sickness. In the
event the bomb delivered 15 megatons, the fireball was 4 miles across, and the
heat could easily be felt 30 miles away. America now realised that just one
Hydrogen Bomb could obliterate a major city such as New York.
==================================================================================
28/2/1954, Sunday (+3,218)
25/2/1954, Thursday
(+3,215) President Eisenhower
censured McCarthy (see 9/2/1950) for his bullying tactics. See 2/12/1954.
24/2/1954, Wednesday
(+3,214) The American evangelist
Billy Graham arrived in London on a three-month �crusade�.
23/2/1954, Tuesday
(+3,213) (Medical)
In Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, USA, the first mass inoculation of children
against polio began, using the Salk vaccine.
22/2/1954, Monday
(+3,212) Ian Stark, equestrian champion, was born.
20/2/1954, Saturday
(+3,210)
19/2/1954, Friday (+3,209) (Russia)
Russia transferred the Crimea to The Ukraine, to mark the 300th
anniversary of the Russo-Ukrainian Union.
18/2/1954, Thursday
(+3,208) �John Travolta, American
film actor, was born in Englewood, New York State.
15/2/1954, Monday (+3,205) Matt
Groening, creator of The Simpsons,
was born.
3/2/1954, Wednesday
(+3,193) Queen Elizabeth II made her
first visit to Australia; large crowds turned out to greet her in Sydney.
===================================================================================
31/1/1954, Sunday (+3,190)
Vivian Woodward, footballer, died.
21/1/1954. Thursday
(+3,180) The world�s first nuclear submarine, USS Nautilus, was launched
from Groton in Connecticut.
20/1/1954, Wednesday
(+3,179) The French military Commander in Chief, General Henri Navarre,
launched an attack on Vietminh positions in Annam, the narrow �waist� of the
country between North and South. Annam had been abandoned by the French in the
face of superior Vietminh numbers; the French hoped to control Annam as a
buffer zone, �contain� the North, and pacify the South. However the Vietminh
fought back strongly and forced the French to withdraw into the major towns.
16/1/1954, Saturday
(+3,175)
12/1/1954, Tuesday
(+3,171) A UK official committee
linked cigarettes with cancer.
11/1/1954, Monday (+3,170) (1)
A British Comet jet airliner crashed into the Mediterranean near Elba.� The newly discovered phenomenon of metal
fatigue was to blame.
(2) George Cowling from the
Met office became the first weatherman to be seen on TV. Previous forecasts had
been sound only.
5/1/1954, Tuesday
(+3,164)
1/1/1954, Friday (+3,160) Flashing turn indicator lights
became a legal requirement on British vehicles.
====================================================================================
31/12/1953, Thursday
(+3,159) A British expedition arrived in India to search for the
abominable snowman.
28/12/1953, Monday
(+3,156) Brian Brinkley, champion swimmer, was born.
23/12/1953, Wednesday (+3,151) The dismissed Soviet Minister of Internal
Affairs, Beria, was shot as a traitor.
21/12/1953, Monday (+3,149) In Iran, Dr Muhammad Mossadeq was sentenced
to three years in prison.
19/12/1953, Saturday (+3,147) R A Millikan, US subatomic physicist, died
aged 85.
13/12/1953, Sunday (+3,141) Ethel Muckelt, figure skating champion, died (born
30/5/1885)..
10/12/1953, Thursday
(+3,138) Churchill received the Nobel Prize for Literature.
8/12/1953, Tuesday
(+3,136) President Eisenhower made his �Atoms for Power� speech, proposing
to the United Nations General Assembly the establishment of an International
Atomic Energy Authority to monitor the spread of atomic technology for peaceful
purposes.
4/12/1953, Friday (+3,132) Jean-Marie Pfaff, Belgian footballer, was
born.
1/12/1953, Tuesday
(+3,129) Harold Macmillan boasted that 301,000 new homes have been built
in Britain during the Conservatives second year in office.
===================================================================================
30/11/1953, Monday
(+3,128) Francis Picabia, painter, died in Paris aged 74.
28/11/1953, Saturday
(+3,126)
27/11/1953, Friday
(+3,125) Peter Latham, tennis champion, died (born 18/5/1865).
26/11/1953, Thursday
(+3,124) French airborne troops captured the Vietnamese village of Dien Ben
Phu from the Vietminh, thereby gaining control of the Hanoi to Laos road.
25/11/1953, Wednesday
(+3,123) James Hayden, US actor, was born.
24/11/1953, Tuesday
(+3,122) (Poland)
Professor Marek Korowicz, having defected in October 1953 from a Polish
inspection team in North Korea to the US whilst in the demilitarised border
zone, gave details of Polish forced labour camps at a press conference in New
York. He said there were at least 73 such camps in the country, with around
300,000 inmates in total. The inmates included middle class merchants, labelled
�class enemies�, also a considerable number of young male former anti-Nazi
resistance fighters.
21/11/1953. Saturday (+3,119)
The discovery of the Piltdown Man skull on 18/12/1912 in Sussex by Charles
Dawson was revealed to be a hoax, see 22/9/1990.
13/11/1953, Friday (+3,111) In Britain, plans for a new commercial
TV channel to rival the BBC were announced.
12/11/1953, Thursday (+3,110) (Mental Health) The Samaritans Helpline
was set up by Reverend Chad Varah, at St Stephens Church, Walbrook, London
11/11/1953. Wednesday
(+3,109) (1) The polio virus was identified.
(2) The BBC programme Panorama
was first transmitted, headed by Patrick Murphy.
9/11/1953. Monday (+3,107)
(1) Cambodia became independent.
(2) The Welsh poet Dylan Marlais
Thomas, born in Swansea on 27/10/1914, died in New York City aged 39 after
falling into an alcoholic coma. He had drunk 18 stiff whiskies. His major work,
Under Milk Wood, was broadcast on
radio in 1954.
(3) King Ibn Saud
(1880-1953)� of Saudi Arabia died aged
73; the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia is named after him. He was succeeded by his
son, Saud Ibn Abdel Aziz.
7/11/1953, Saturday
(+3,105) Lucinda Green, equestrian champion, was born.
5/11/1953, Thursday
(+3,103) Dennis Andries, boxer, was born in Georgetown, Guyana.
2/11/1953, Monday (+3,100) Pakistan announced it was to
adopt Sharia law.
====================================================================================
29/10/1953, Thursday
(+3,096) (Aviation)
FK Everest, USA, set a new aviation speed record of 755.15 mph.
28/10/1953, Wednesday
(+3,095) Mark James, golf champion, was born.
27/10/1953, Tuesday
(+3,094) British gunboats foiled a
left-wing coup in British Guiana.
25/10/1953, Sunday (+3,092)
23/10/1953, Friday (+3,090) TV broadcasting began in The Philippines.
22/10/1953, Thursday
(+3,089) Laos became independent
from France; it was admitted to the United Nations in December 1955.
20/10/1953, Tuesday
(+3,087)
17/10/1953, Saturday (+3,084) Queen Elizabeth II unveiled a
monument to members of the Commonwealth air forces who lost their lives in WW2
and had no known grave, at Coopers Hill, Runnymede.
16/10/1953, Friday
(+3,083) Tom Reece, billiards champion, died (born 12/8/1873).
15/10/1953 Thursday (+3,082) (week
commencing). Italy and Yugoslavia were in dispute over a piece of territory
around Trieste. UK and USA forces as well as the UN were dragged in to the
argument. Youth culture was yet to arrive, as was the word �teenager�. Top of
the pop charts were Mantovani, Doris Day,
and Dean Martin. A Ferguson 12
inch TV cost 55 guineas (about �60). Ultra high stiletto heels were the main
thing in fashion and a jackpot winner at Littlewoods would have won �7,297.
10/10/1953. Saturday (+3,077)
President Eisenhower of the USA signed a treaty with South Korea promising
military aid if North Korea attacked.
7/10/1953, Wednesday
(+3,074) Albert Jenkins, rugby player, died (born 11/3/1895).
6/10/1953, Tuesday
(+3,073) Britain, fearing the establishment of a Communist regime in
British� Guiana by the People�s
Progressive Party, sent troops to the country. On 9/10/1953 the Constitution
was suspended and the country governed under a State of Emergency. Party
leaders were arrested.
5/10/1953, Monday
(+3,072) Roy Laidlaw, rugby player, was born.
4/10/1953, Sunday (+3,071) Tcheky
Karyo, Turkish actor, was born.
3/10/1953, Saturday
(+3,070) (Aviation)
JB Verdin, USA, set a new aviation speed record of 752.94 mph.
2/10/1953. Friday (+3,069)
The photograph of William Pettit, wanted for murder, was shown on the BBC
by request from the police. It was the first time TV was used in Britain to
help find a wanted man.
1/10/1953, Thursday
(+3,068) John Martin, painter, died in Addison, Maine, USA.
===================================================================================
30/9/1953, Wednesday
(+3,067)
28/9/1953, Monday
(+3,065) (Astronomy)
Edwin Powell Hubble, US astronomer, died in San Marino, California.
27/9/1953, Sunday (+3,064)
Japan established a national defence force.
26/9/1953. Saturday (+3,063)
Sugar rationing ended in Britain, after nearly 14 years.
25/9/1953, Friday
(+3,063) (Aviation)
MJ Lithgow, UK, set a new aviation speed record of 735.70 mph.
23/9/1953, Wednesday
(+3,060) The Royal Commission on capital punishment said it should be
left to the jury as to whether to impose the death penalty.
17/9/1953, Thursday
(+3,054) The first successful separation of Siamese Twins took place, at
the Ochnser Foundation Hospital in New Orleans.
16/9/1953, Wednesday
(+3,053) The wife of former British
Foreign Office official and Soviet spy Donald McLean disappeared, two years
after her husband fled to Russia with Guy Burgess.
2/9/1953, Wednesday
(+3,039) Maurice Colclough, rugby player, was born.
===================================================================================
30/8/1953, Sunday (+3,036)
(Italy) Italy
moved troops into the border areas of Trieste, near Yugoslavia, a week after the
Italian Prime Minister Guiseppe Pella declared that Trieste was �important to
Italy�. Yugoslavia alleged that these troops had transgressed 50 metres into
Yugoslav territory. President Tito of Yugoslavia demanded the
internationalisation of Trieste city and the incorporation of its hinterland
into Yugoslavia. The US and UK, unwilling to see Yugoslavia gain a major
influence over the northern Adriatic, announced they would end the Allied
Military Government in the 25-km coastal strip running NW from Trieste towards
Italy and hand the territory over to Italy. Tito said if this happened he would
send in Yugoslav troops. In early November Italians
demonstrated for unity of Trieste with Italy, and attempted to raise the
Italian flag on Trieste Town Hall. There were rioting and arrests; several
rioters were killed. Italy protested and for the time being both Italy and
Yugoslavia withdrew their troops from the border region, and the Allied
Military Government remained in place.
27/8/1953, Thursday
(+3,033) (Aviation)
The De Havilland Comet II made its first test flight.� Later on several crashed, leading to the
discovery of the new problem of metal fatigue.
24/8/1953, Monday
(+3,030) Samuel Torrance, golfer, was born.
22/8/1953, Saturday (+3,028) (1)
The infamous French prison of Devils Island, depicted in the film Papillon, was
closed after a century of operations.
(2) The Shah of Iran
returned to the throne and Mossadegh was jailed after a military coup.
21/8/1953, Friday (+3,027) The USSR banned lobotomies.
12/8/1953. Wednesday
(+3,018) The USSR tested its first hydrogen bomb, in the Pacific.� Moscow announced the test explosion on
20/8/1953.� Both superpowers now had
them.
8/8;/1953, Saturday
(+3,014) Nigel Mansell, motor racing champion, was born.
1/8/1953, Saturday (+3,007) Nyasaland (now Malawi)
federated with Southern and Northern Rhodesia to form� the Federation of Rhodesia and Nyasaland.
This federation lasted until 1963.
===================================================================================
31/7/1953, Friday
(+3,006) Robert Taft, US Conservative politician, died aged 63.
29/7/1953, Wednesday
(+3,004)
27/7/1953. Monday (+3,002) Armistice signed in Panmunjom, Korea, ended the Korean War. The 3-year conflict cost an
estimated 4 million lives. These included 1,313,000 South Koreans, 1,000,000 of
whom were civilians; 900,000 Chinese soldiers, 520,000 North Korean soldiers, and
1,000,000 North Korean civilians. There were 33,629 US casualties and 3,194 UN
soldiers were killed. Across Korea, 43% of industrial facilities and 33% of
homes were destroyed.
26/7/1953, Sunday (+3,001) Fidel Castro led an assault on
the Moncada Barracks; this failed, but set him up as revolutionary leader in
Cuba.� Castro served two years in prison
before release under a general amnesty.�
He went into exile in Mexico where he prepared a campaign against
Batista.
25/7/1953, Saturday (+3,000)
23/7/1953, Thursday
(+2,998) Graham Gooch, cricketer, was born.
22/7/1953, Wednesday (+2,997) Construction of Calder Hall nuclear
power station began.
21/7/1953, Tuesday
(+2,996) The first meeting of the
Press Council, in London.
20/7/1953, Monday (+2,995) The USSR and Israel restored
diplomatic relations.
18/7/1953, Saturday (+2,993)
17/7/1953, Friday
(+2,992) Maude Adams, US actress (born 11/11/1872) died.
16/7/1953, Thursday
(+2,991) A new world air speed
record, of 716 mph or 1,152 kph was set by an F16 Sabre fighter plane.
15/7/1953, Wednesday
(+2,990) John Christie was hanged (
see 25/3/1953) one day after a government tribunal maintained that Timothy
Evans was rightly convicted of murdering his wife at Christie�s house and
hanged for the crime. Christie had been convicted of murder on 25/6/1953; three
years earlier Christie had been key witness against Evans. After Christie�s
conviction, Evans� family asked for a judicial review. See 18/10/1966.
10/7/1953, Friday
(+2,985) The Soviet Minister of Internal Affairs, Lavrenti Beria, was
dismissed.
5/7/1953, Sunday (+2,980)
In Hungary, Matyas Rakosi was replaced as Prime Minister by Imre Nagy. This led
to a more relaxed regime.
4/7/1953. Saturday (+2,979)
Last tram ran in Birmingham.
3/7/1953, Friday
(+2,978)
2/7/1953, Thursday
(+2,977) In Ireland., following the loss of a seat in a by-election by
Fianna Fail, Eamon de Valera called a vote of confidence in his government. He
won by 73 to 71.
1/7/1953. Wednesday (+2,976)
(1) At the Army and Navy Stores in London a wool blanket
cost �2 9s 6d (�2.48), and a silver spoon and fork with Coronation hallmark
cost �4. A one pint thermos flak cost 8s 6d (42.5p). Train drivers got �8 8s 6d
(�8.43) a week. Footballers accepted a maximum weekly wage of �15. In the UK,
35% of the population were owner-occupiers, 19% rented from the local council,
and 46% rented from private landlords.
(2) MPs rejected a Bill to suspend the
death penalty for 5 years.
===================================================================================
29/6/1953, Monday
(+2,974)
21/6/1953, Sunday (+2,966)
Benazir Bhutto, Prime Minister of Pakistan, was born in Karachi.
20/6/1953, Saturday (+2,965) The Jewish funeral service of
Ethel and Julius Rosenburg was held at Brooklyn (see 19/6/1953). The estimated
10,500 who attended were supportive of the Rosenburgs, who were seen as
resisters of American imperialism.
19/6/1953. Friday (+2,964) Ethel
and Julius Rosenberg went to the electric chair in Sing Sing prison, 30 miles
north of New York, guilty of spying for the USSR. They were the first US civilians
to be executed for espionage. They had been condemned on 30/3/1951. Sing Sing
prison was built between 1825 and 1828, and took its name from the local
village. However the village soon changed its native-American derived name to
Ossining to avoid association with the prison.
18/6/1953, Thursday
(+2,963) Egypt declared itself a republic.
17/6/1953. Wednesday (+2,962)
In East Berlin, Soviet tanks
crushed an anti-Soviet uprising. Hundreds of East Germans took to the
streets in a protest that began over increased work quotas and food shortages
caused by the collectivisation of agriculture (see 12/7/1952).� The protests escalated to demands for free
elections. The first people to protest were construction workers on Stalinallee,
a new highway slicing through east Berlin. After Stalin�s death in March 1953
some liberation was hoped for, but instead work quotas were raised by 10%.
Churches were also to be abolished. Food prices were high, there was little
meat and no fruit at all. Red Army tanks were brought in and the Soviet
military commander proclaimed a state of emergency. 50 people were killed by
Soviet forces, at least 20 of whom were summarily executed, and over 1,000 were
convicted of taking part in the �attempted fascist coup�. Churchill and the
other western powers were reluctant to intervene because they feared a reunited
Germany. In a memo of 22/6/1953 Churchill felt a divided Germany was safer at
present, but feared to say so in public for fear of German public opinion.
16/6/1953, Tuesday
(+2,961) Margaret Bondfield, British Women�s Rights activist, died aged 80.
15/6/1953, Monday
(+2,960) Chinese leader Xi Jinping was born onto a well-connected political
family; his father was Xi Zhongxun.
12/6/1953, Friday
(+2,957)
10/6/1953, Wednesday
(+2,955) Victor Elford, motor racing champion, was born.
9/6/1953, Tuesday
(+2,954) Frederick Darling, horse racer, died (born 15/5/1884)
8/6/1953, Monday (+2,953) The US Supreme Court ruled
that restaurants in the District of Columbia could not refuse to serve African-Americans.
5/6/1953, Friday
(+2,950) The Danish Parliament, or Riksdagen, was reformed. The upper
chamber, or Landstinget, was abolished. The lower chamber, or Folketinget, now
became the entire Parliament.
2/6/1953. Tuesday (+2,947) Coronation of Queen Elizabeth II (see
6/2/1952). Britain was still recovering from World War Two.. Just 4% of homes had TV sets. Few had
fridges or washing machines, for commercial TV had yet to arrive and ignite the
consumer boom, much of which was to be on credit, or �never-never�. Just one marriage in a hundred ended in
divorce. Beer was 1 shilling 10 pence (9p) a pint, and the average wage
was �9 a week.
1/6/1953. Monday (+2,946)
Gordon Richards became the first jockey to be knighted.
====================================================================================
30/5/1953, Saturday
(+2,944)
29/5/1953. Friday (+2,943)
The New Zealander Sir Edmund Hillary, and the Sherpa, Tensing, became the
first two climbers to ascend to the 29,028 foot summit of Mount Everest. They
spent 15 minutes at the summit, taking photographs and eating mint cake before
leaving the Union Jack, the Nepalese Flag, and the United Nations Flag at the
summit. The news reached London on Coronation Day, 2/6/1953.
Sir Hillary headed the New Zealand Antarctic Expedition and
reached the South Pole in 1957. In the 60s he set up a hospital for Sherpa
tribesmen in Nepal. In 1974 his wife and daughter were killed in a plane crash.
He remarried in 1989 and his son climbed Everest in 1990.
28/5/1953, Thursday
(+2,942) In Soviet Czechoslovakia, a law was passed introducing short term
conscription of labour. Citizens were required to work �voluntarily� for 12
days a year, at weekends or during holidays. �Volunteers� who declined could be
imprisoned.
27/5/1953, Wednesday
(+2,941) Claudio Gentile, Italian footballer, was born.
26/5/1952, Tuesday
(+2,940)
25/5/1953, Monday
(+2,939) Gaetano Scirea, Italian footballer, was born.
24/5/1953, Sunday (+2,938) The
Foreign office advised British families to leave Egypt.
21/5/1953, Thursday
(+2,935) Bum Kun Cha, Korean footballer, was born.
18/5/1953, Monday (+2,932)
Jacqueline Cochrane, piloting a US F-86 Sabre plane, became the first woman
to fly faster than sound.
15/5/1953, Friday (+2,929) Mike Oldfield, composer of Tubular Bells, was born.
10/5/1953, Sunday
(+2,924) David Moorcroft, athlete, was born.
6/5/1953. Wednesday (+2,920)
Tony Blair, UK Prime Minister 1997
- 2007, was born.
4/5/1953, Monday
(+2,918) (Aviation)
W Gibb, UK, set a new aviation altitude record of 63,668 feet.
2/5/1953, Saturday (+2,916) (1) A BOAC Comet airliner crashed near Calcutta.
Experts asked why the wings came off in mid air.
(2) King Hussein II became King of
Jordan, succeeding his father King Talal, who was deposed in August 1952.
1/5/1953, Friday (+2,915) The BBC began broadcasts from
Northern Ireland, from a transmitter near Belfast. Also this day the Pontop Pyke TV
transmitter near Consett, Durham began operations. TV engineers were keen to
have programmes in operation for Queen Elizabeth�s coronation on 2/6/1953.
====================================================================================
30/4/1953, Thursday
(+2,914) In British Guiana (Guyana), elections were won by the left-wing
People�s Progressive Party under Cheddi Jagan.
28/4/1953, Tuesday
(+2,912) Japan regained the right to
self-governmemnt, which had been lost at the end of World War Two.
25/4/1953, Saturday
(+2,909) James Watson and Francis Crick described the double-helix
structure of DNA in Nature magazine.
24/4/1953. Friday (+2,908) Queen
Elizabeth II knighted Winston Churchill.
20/4/1953, Monday
(+2,904)
17/4/1953, Friday (+2,901) The actor Charlie Chaplin
announced he would never return to the USA, where he was wanted for back taxes
and suspected of being a Communist sympathiser.
16/4/1953. Thursday (+2,900) Queen
Elizabeth II launched the Royal Yacht Britannia.
15/4/1953, Wednesday
(+2,899) In South African elections the National Party under D F Malan secured
a clear majority.
13/4/1953, Monday
(+2,897)
11/4/1953, Saturday (+2,895) The US Department of Health
and Human Services was established.
10/4/1953, Friday (+2,894) David
Moorcroft, British athlete, was born in Coventry, England.
9/4/1953, Thursday (+2,893)
Communist Vietminh forces under General Giap invaded Laos from Vietnam, forcing
the French (who had mauled the Vietminh the previous year in Vietnam) back to
the Plain of Jars. The French lost over 2,000 men. Only the arrival of the
monsoon rains prevented a Vietminh capture of the Laotian royal capital, Luang
Prabang. However the Vietminh did manage to encircle it; however Giap withdrew
from the siege, to recruit Laotian guides and stockpile food for future
offensives.
8/4/1953. Wednesday (+2,892) In Kenya, Jomo Kenyatta and 5
others were convicted of being members of the Mau-Mau terrorists, and sentenced
to seven years hard labour. The Mau-Mau had been waging a terrorist war to
drive White settlers out of east Africa.
7/4/1953, Tuesday (+2,891) Swedish civil servant Dag Hammarskold succeeded Trygve
Lie as secretary of the United Nations.
6/4/1953, Monday (+2,890) German
Chancellor Konrad Adenauer visited New York; on 14/5/1953 he visited London.
5/4/1953, Sunday (+2,889) Easter Sunday. Verona Elder, sprinter,
was born.
4/4/1953, Saturday (+2,888) Carol II, King of Romania (1930-40),
died aged 59.
3/4/1953, Friday (+2,887) Easter air travel from Britain
was up 20% on last Easter.
2/4/1953, Thursday (+2,886) Jim Allister, Northern Irish
politician, was born.
1/4/1953, Wednesday (+2,885)
Aftab Baloch, Pakistan
cricketer, was born in Karachi, Pakistan
=====================================================================================
31/3/1953, Tuesday (+2,884) Swedish
diplomat Dag Hammarskjold was elected Secretary-General of the United Nations.
30/3/1953, Monday (+2,883)
Denmark adopted a new Constitution. The Upper House was abolished, and the
voting age reduced to 23.
28/3/1953, Saturday (+2,881) James Francis Thorpe, athlete,
died.
26/3/1953. Thursday (+2,879) The
Salk vaccine proved effective against polio.
25/3/1953, Wednesday
(+2,878) Police hunted for John
Christie after the remains of three women were found at his former house in
Notting Hill, London. See 15/7/1953.
24/3/1953, Tuesday (+2,877) Queen
Mary, widow of King George V, died at her London home, Marlborough House in
Pall Mall, aged 85. Her funeral was on 31/3/1953.
23/3/1953, Monday
(+2,876) Raoul Dufy, French painter (born 3/6/1877 in Le Havre, France)
died in Forcalquiers, France.
20/3/1953, Friday (+2,873)
15/3/1953, Sunday (+2,868) Tito
visited Britain.
14/3/1953, Saturday (+2,867) Nikita Kruschev became First
Secretary of the Communist Party in the USSR, replacing Georgi Malenkov.
10/3/1953, Tuesday
(+2,863)
5/3/1953. Thursday
(+2,858) (1) Soviet leader Joseph Stalin died aged 74 of a
brain haemorrhage at his dacha. He was born in 1879 in Georgia, the son of a shoemaker. In the months
before his death Stalin became paranoid, and in January 1953 the discovery of a
�Doctor�s Plot�, involving 9 Jewish physicians. Stalin died before the trial of
these 9 doctors could be staged, but it was believed they were to be the
scapegoats to precipitate a major purge of the Soviet Communist Party. Later in
1953 Pravda announced the doctors were innocent and their confessions had been
obtained under torture.
(2) Sergei Prokofiev, Russian composer,
died.
4/3/1953, Wednesday
(+2,857) The RAF made a special Coronation Dish for Queen Elizabeth II,
using lampreys � the food which allegedly killed Henry I.
3/3/1953, Tuesday
(+2,856) Artur Antunes Coimbra, Brazilian footballer, was born.
===================================================================================
23/2/1953, Monday (+2,848) An
amnesty was granted to WW II deserters.
16/2/1953, Monday
(+2,841) (South
Africa) In South Africa the Public Safety Act was passed. This gave the
Governor-General, or in some cases the Minister of Justice, powers to declare a
State of Emergency and override Parliament.
14/2/1953, Saturday
(+2,839) Johannes Kranki, Austrian footballer, was born.
10/2/1953, Tuesday
(+2,835) (Egypt)
In Egypt, General Neguib was granted dictatorial powers for three years.
9/2/1953, Monday
(+2,834) (Poland)
The Polish Government made itself responsible for all appointments and
dismissals of posts within the Polish Catholic Church.
5/2/1953, Thursday
(+2,830) (1)
The UK Food Minister, Gwilym Lloyd-George, declared an end to the rationing
of sweets and chocolate. Domestic purchases of sugar, however, stayed
on-rations until September 1953. Toffee apples were in greatest demand,
followed by nougat and liquorice strips. Sweets had been briefly de-rationed in
1949 but demand had outstripped supply, prompting re-rationing after 2 months.
(2) Walt Disney�s film Peter Pan went on general release.
2/2/1953. Monday (+2,827) The
USSR broke off relations with Israel. Relations were restored on 20/7/1953.
==================================================================================
31/1/1953. Saturday (+2,825) More
than 300 people died as severe flooding
hit Kent, Essex, and East Anglia. 1,783 people died in floods in The Netherlands, and Zeeland was very
hard hit. 59 died on Canvey Island.
28/1/1953, Wednesday
(+2,822) (1) Derek Bentley was hanged at Wandsworth Prison, see 11/12/1952.
(2) James
Scullin, 13th Australian Prime Minister from 1929 to 1932, died.
20/1/1953. Tuesday (+2,814) Dwight
D Eisenhower�s first address to the USA as President.
16/1/1953, Friday (+2,810) Egypt dissolved all political
parties.
14/1/1953. Wednesday
(+2,808) Marshall Tito was elected President of Yugoslavia. He had been
leader of Yugoslavia since 1945.
10/1/1953. Saturday (+2,804) First
meeting of the European Coal and Steel Community.
8/1/1953, Thursday
(+2,802) Riots in Karachi, Pakistan, followed by unrest in other cities,
due to adverse economic conditions.
6/1/1953, Tuesday
(+2,800) (1) The Asian Socialist Conference
convened in Rangoon (Yangon), Myanmar. Israel sent its Foreign Minister, Moshe
Sharett, as delegate. Israel provided training to Burmese farmers, and Israel
provided officers and equipment for the Burmese Army.
(2) LUFTAG was founded, which later
became Lufthansa.
1/1/1953, Thursday (+2,795) �Bomber�
Harris, head of Bomber Command responsible for the bombing of Dresden, was
knighted.
===================================================================================
31/12/1952, Wednesday
(+2,794) China now had 1,200,000
troops under Peng TeHuai fighting alongside North Korea.
29/12/1952, Monday
(+2,792) The miniature hearing aid was invented by Sonotone Corporation.
15/12/1952, Monday
+2,778) Allan Simonsen, Danish footballer, was born.
13/12/1952, Saturday
(+2,776) John Francombe, champion jockey, was born.
12/12/1952, Friday
(+2,775) Charles Kortright, cricketer, died.
11/12/1952, Thursday
(+2,774) Derek Bentley, 19, was
sentenced to death for the murder of a policeman, even though his accomplice
Christopher Craig, 16, fired the fatal shot. The incident occurred during a
bungled robbery in which police surrounded the pair on the roof of a Croydon
warehouse. Craig was too young to hang and was detained at Her Majesty�s
Pleasure. Bentley had shouted to Craig �Let him have it�; did he mean �shoot
him� or �let him have the gun�?
10/12/1952, Wednesday
(+2,773)
8/12/1952, Monday (+2,771) (1)
Queen Elizabeth II gave permission for next year�s Coronation (1/6/1953) to be
televised.
(2) Yitzhak Ben-Zvi became the new
President of Israel, succeeding Chaim Weitzmann.
7/12/1952, Sunday (+2,770) (Astronomy)
Forest Ray Moulton, US astronomer, died in Wilmette, Illinois.
6/12/1952, Saturday (+2,769) (Sport)
Chuck Baker, US basketball player, was born.
5/12/1952, Friday (+2,768) A
Scandinavian Airlines System (SAS) airliner flew non-stop over the North Pole
from Los Angeles to Copenhagen.
4/12/1952. Thursday (+2,767) Smog enveloped London and killed over 4,000 people in
less than a week.
3/12/1952, Wednesday (+2,766)
Mel Smith, English actor, was born.
2/12/1952, Tuesday (+2,765) US President Eisenhower
visited Korea.
1/12/1952, Monday (+2,764) George
Jorgensen Jr of the USA became the first person to have gender reassignment
surgery, becoming Christine Jorgensen.
===================================================================================
30/11/1952, Sunday (+2,763) Mandy
Patinkin, US actor, was born.
29/11/1952, Saturday (+2,762) William
Hare, rugby player, was born.
25/11/1952, Tuesday (+2,758) 2,000
Kikuyu were rounded up in Kenya as the Mau-Mau began an open revolt against
British rule.
21/11/1952, Friday
(+2,754) Eamonn Coghlan, athlete, was born in Dublin.
20/11/1952, Thursday
(+2,753) (Poland)
In Poland, after the first general election held under the new constitution
(26/10/1952), Boleslaw Bierut, Communist, was elected Prime Minister by the
Sejm.
19/11/1952, Wednesday
(+2,752) (Aviation)
JS Nash, USA, set a new aviation speed record of 698.50 mph.
18/11/1952, Tuesday
(+2,751) In Kenya, Jomo Kenyatta was
charged with being the head of the Mau Mau.
16/11/1952, Sunday (+2,749)
In Greece, Field Marshal Alexandros Papagos formed a government after the
success of Greek Rally in the elections.
14/11/1952, Friday (+2,747) Charts
for pop singles were published in Britain for the first time, in New Musical Express.
11/11/1952. Tuesday
(+2,744) John Mulin and Wayne Johnson at the Bing Crosby Enterprises
Laboratory in Beverly Hills, California demonstrated the first video recorder.
10/11/1952, Monday (+2,743) 77-year-old doctor and
philosopher Albert Schweitzer was awarded the Nobel Prize for his humanitarian
work in Africa.
9/11/1952, Sunday (+2,742) Chaim Weitzmann, first
President of Israel, died aged 77.
7/11/1952, Friday
(+2,740)
5/11/1952, Wednesday
(+2,738) Oleg Blokhin, Russian footballer, was born.
4/11/1952. Tuesday
(+2,737) Dwight Eisenhower elected President of the USA.
3/11/1952, Monday (+2,736)
2/11/1952, Sunday (+2,735)
The Croydon Rooftop Murder took place. Two illiterate young men, Christopher
Craig (16) and Derek Bentley (18) were seen breaking into a confectionery
warehouse. The police were called and Bentley was arrested almost immediately.
When the police moved to arrest Craig he pulled out a gun; Bentley, then under
arrest, shouted at Craig �Let him have it!� Craig then shot two policemen, one
fatally. Craig was too young to hang, and got life imprisonment; Bentley was
sentenced to death. Many thought that Bentley too should have got life, as,
firstly, he had been under arrest when the fatal shot was fired, and secondly,
the doubt surrounding Bentley�s motive in what he said; did he mean �let him
have a bullet� or �give him the gun�? The jury recommended mercy in Bentley�s
case. However executing Bentley satisfied a general sense of revenge for the
death of the policeman, and was supported by the Home Secretary.
1/11/1952, Saturday
(+2,734) The new element Fermium was first discovered in the fall-out from
a nuclear test of a Hydrogen Bomb..
====================================================================================
31/10/1952, Friday (+2,733)
The USA exploded the first hydrogen bomb at Eniwetok Atoll in the Pacific. The
bomb was equivalent to 5 to 7 megatons (million tons of TNT) and left a hole a
mile in diameter and 175 feet deep. A 5 megaton bomb would devastate about 150
square miles by blast and subject about 800 square miles to searing heat. See
9/9/2003.
28/10/1952, Tuesday
(+2,730)
25/10/1952, Saturday (+2,727) The USA blocked the entry of
China to the United Nations for the third year running. See 25/10/1971.
24/10/1952, Friday
(+2,726) (Korea,
USA) In
the US, Eisenhower described Korea as �the burial place of twenty thousand
Americans� and promised that if he was elected President he would end the
Korean War. Meanwhile the United Nations remained deadlocked over the issue of
the return of North Korean prisoners of War. The USSR and China wanted them all
returned to North Korea, but some PoWs insisted they had been forcibly drafted
into the North Korean forces and wanted to settle in South Korea.
23/10/1952. Thursday (+2,725) The
Claerwen Dam, on the River Claerwen in mid-Wales, was officially opened by
Queen Elizabeth II. Construction work had begun on 18/8/1946 when the Mayor of
Birmingham set off the first charge of dynamite. Birmingham had begun to be
threatened by a water shortage from the 1890s, and the nearest supply was in
mid-Wales. An Act of Parliament was passed in 1892 authorising the construction
of three dams on the River Elan and three more on the River Claerwen. The Elan reservoirs
were built first, and then satisfied the demand of Birmingham, which then had a
population of half a million, and most had to carry their water in a bucket
from an outside tap. But by 1946 Birmingham had over a million people, and more
of these had a sink and a bathroom, and there had been a severe drought in
1937. By 1940 city planners determined to build the Claerwen reservoirs too, as
soon as the War was over. The largest dam, designed by Sir William Halcrow, was
to be 184 feet high and 1,166 feet long. Behind would be a lake four miles long
and holding ten billion gallons of water. Birmingham could not have all the
water; places as far as Hereford also relied on the water from here, so enough
had to be let through for this. During construction, accommodation had to be
built on site for over 200 men, with housing, canteen, stores, and offices. The
building work was held up by terrible weather during the late 1940s; blizzards,
interspersed with floods and droughts, finally completed in 1952.
22/10/1952, Wednesday
(+2,724) Iran broke off diplomatic
relations with Britain.
21/10/1952, Tuesday
(+2,723) The President of the Kenya
African Movement, Jomo Kenyatta, was arrested as Britain crushed the Mau Mau
revolt.
20/10/1952. Monday (+2,722) A
state of emergency was declared in Kenya because of Mau-Mau terrorists, killing
White settlers.
10/10/1952, Friday (+2,712)
8/10/1952. Wednesday (+2,710)
112 people were killed in a rail crash in north London. At 7.31 a.m. a
commuter train about to leave Harrow and Wealdstone station was hit in the rear
by a high speed train from Perth doing nearly 60 mph. A signalman changed all
the signals to red but it was too late to stop�
a third train travelling north from Euston to hit the wreckage, demolishing
a footbridge. Carriages were strewn across six tracks; 112 people died and 200
were injured in the worst rail disaster since 1915 when five trains collided at
Quintinshill in Scotland killing 227 people.
7/10/1952, Tuesday (+2,709) Vladimir Putin, who was
elected Russian president in 1999, was born.
6/10/1952, Monday (+2,708) In the USSR, the 19th
Congress of the Communist Party adopted the directives of the Fifth Five Year
Plan. Industrial production was to rise by 70% by 1955 over the 1950 figure,
also a large increase in agricultural output.
5/10/1952, Sunday (+2,707) In the UK, tea came
off-ration. However meat, bacon, sugar, butter, margarine, cooking fats, eggs,
cheese, were still rationed.
4/10/1952. Saturday (+2,706) The
first external pacemaker was developed by Dr Paul Zoll of the Harvard Medical
School, and was fitted to David Schwartz. The first internal pacemaker was not
developed until 1958.
3/10/1952. Friday (+2,705) The first British Atomic Bomb exploded,
aboard a ship in the Monte Bello Islands, in the Pacific off north west
Australia. The ship was almost totally vaporised, apart from a few hot
fragments which fell on neighbouring islands, starting fires. Watching news
reporters felt the blast 4 minutes 15 seconds after the flash, from a distance
of 65 miles.
2/10/1952, Thursday (+2,704)
China held an �Asia and Pacific Peace� Conference, attended by delegates from
37 countries.
1/10/1952, Wednesday (+2,703) The Liberal Party won Japanese
elections.
=====================================================================================
30/9/1952, Tuesday (+2,702)
Norman Hughes, hockey champion, was born.
29/9/1952, Monday (+2,701) Asgeir
Asgeirsson (born 13/5/1894) was elected President of Iceland by 32,294 votes
against 31,094 for Bishop Bjarni Jonsson and 4,155 for Gisli Svensson.
27/9/1952, Saturday
(+2,699)
26/9/1952, Friday
(+2,698) George Santayana, Spanish writer, died aged 88.
25/9/1952, Thursday
(+2,697) Christopher Reeve, US actor, was born.
24/9/1952, Wednesday
(+2,696) (1) Romania adopted a revised Constitution,
the Workers Party became the only legitimate one.
(2) The new control tower at Luton
airport, 15.9 metres high, was opened.
21/9/1952, Sunday (+2,693)
Sir Montague Burton, British multiple tailor, knighted in 1931, died in Leeds.
19/9/1952, Friday (+2,691) The comedian Charlie Chaplin
was labelled �subversive� by Right-wingers in the USA.
18/9/1952, Thursday
(+2,690) Finland paid its final war
reparations to the USSR.
15/9/1952. Monday (+2,687)
Eritrea, having previously been under British rule since the defeat of the
Italians there in 1940, was transferred as an autonomous region to the rule of
Ethiopia.
10/9/1952, Wednesday
(+2,682) West Germany offered Israel
US$ 540 million in compensation for Nazi atrocities.
2/9/1952, Tuesday
(+2,674) Alain Girese, French footballer, was born.
===================================================================================
31/8/1952, Sunday (+2,668)
During the past month, 16,000 people had escaped from east to West Berlin,
27/8/1952, Wednesday
(+2,668) Harvey Corbett, US architect, died in New York city.,
26/8/1952, Tuesday
(+2,667) (1)
A Canberra bomber returned to Aldergrove Airport, Northern Ireland, having
completed the first transatlantic return trip in a single day, taking 7 hours
59 minutes.
(2) The Soviet union announced the first
successful intercontinental ballistic missile test.
23/8/1952, Saturday
(+2,664) Carlos Alonso Gonzalez, Spanish footballer, was born.
20/8/1952, Wednesday
(+2,661) Kurt Schumacher, German politician, died aged 56.
17/8/1952, Sunday (+2,658)
(China,
USSR) A
large Chinese delegation, led by Zhou Enlai, visited the USSR for discussions.
16/8/1952. Saturday (+2,657)
Severe thunderstorms in Somerset and north Devon caused rivers to flood and
devastated the towns of Lynmouth and Lynton. 36 died.
14/8/1952, Thursday
(+2,655) In Hungary, Matyas Rakosi, Secretary of the Hungarian Workers Party,
was also appointed Prime Minister.
11/8/1952. Monday (+2,652) Hussein
became King of Jordan. He was pro-Western, like the Saudi ruler, King Saud, and
supported Arab Nationalism against a growing movement for Arab Socialism.� His father, King Talal, had been deposed by
the Jordanian Parliament due to mental illness.
10/8/1952. Sunday (+2,651)
Inauguration of the European Coal and Steel Community. See 28/4/1949 and
16/4/1958.
5/8/1952, Tuesday
(+2,646) Japan and China resumed
diplomatic relations.
3/8/1952, Sunday (+2,644)
Osvaldo Ardiles, Argentinean footballer, was born.
===================================================================================
29/7/1952, Tuesday
(+2,639) First non-stop flight by a jet airliner over the Pacific from
Alaska to Japan.
28/7/1952, Monday
(+2,638) (Thailand)
King Maha Vajiralongkorn of Thailand was born.
27/7/1952, Sunday (+2,637)
Roxanne Hart, US actress, was born.
26/7/1952. Saturday (+2,636) (1) (Egypt) King Farouk abdicated as King of Egypt.� General Neguib was the first president. This
ended the 148-year-old Egyptian monarchy which had begun in 1805 with Ottoman
Viceroy Mohammed Ali. Farouk was the 10th generation of Ali�s
descendants. General Gamel Abdel Nasser had orchestrated the coup behind the
scenes, organising the revolutionary secret Free Officers group that had ousted
Farouk. In 1954 Nasser overthrew Neguib as ruler of Egypt. Nasser then held
�elections� in which his was the only name on the ballot paper; Nasser got
99.95% of the vote.
(2) (Argentina)
Eva Peron (Evita), Argentina�s first lady, died of cancer aged 33.
25/7/1952, Friday
(+2,635) The European Coal and Steel Community came into force.
24/7/1952, Thursday
(+2,634) Charles Copeland, US educationalist, died in Massachusetts.
23/7/1952, Wednesday
(+2,633) (Egypt)
General Neguib marched on Cairo, to overthrow King Farouk I. Farouk fled to
France and then Monaco; Egypt became a dictatorial Republic under Neguib and
Britain lost its influence in the country.
22/7/1952, Tuesday (+2,632)
After riots in Tehran, Dr Muhammad Mossadeq was reappointed Prime Minister with
emergency powers for 6 months.
19/7/1952, Saturday (+2,629)
The 15th Olympic Games opened in Helsinki, Finland.
15/7/1952, Tuesday
(+2,625) Mario Alberto Kempes, Argentinean footballer, was born.
12/7/1952, Saturday (+2,622)
The Soviets began to collectivise agriculture in East Germany.
11/7/1952, Friday (+2,621) Figures from the 1951 Census
showed that one household in three lacked a bath, and one in twenty had no
piped water.
8/7/1952, Tuesday
(+2,618)
7/7/1952, Monday (+2,617)
The American liner, United States, on her maiden voyage, made the
fastest ever Atlantic crossing.� She
covered the 2,949 nautical miles from Ambrose Light Vessel to Bishop Rock Light
in 3 days, 10 hours 40 minutes.
6/7/1952. Sunday (+2,616)
London�s last tram ran. The
last tram ended its journey at New Cross depot after a five-mile journey from
Woolwich. The Mayor of Deptford took over the controls for the last few yards
into the depot. Souvenir hunters overran the tram and soon virtually stripped
it.
5/7/1952, Saturday
(+2,615) The Court of Justice of the European Coal and Steel Community
became operational.
3/7/1952, Thursday
(+2,613) Ireland established the
Bord Failte, to promote tourism.
1/7/1952. Tuesday (+2,611) (1) A UK teacher earned �806 a year, a nurse got
�394. A jar of Poem cleansing cold cream cost 3s 6d (17.5p), a bar of Pears
transparent soap cost 10.5d (4.5p), and a tube of Solidox toothpaste cost 1s 4d
(7p).� A large loaf of white hread cost
3.1p.� A lb of back bacon cost 23p.� A pint of milk cost 2.7p.� A lb of butter cost 15p. A lb of potatoes
cost 5.7p.� A lb of oranges cost
5.3p.� A quarter lb loose tea cost
5.6p.� A pint of beer cost 9.5p.� 20 king-size cigarettes cost 21p.� A sack of house coal cost 26p.
(2) In China, the Chungking to Chengdu
railway opened (construction began 1951)
===================================================================================
27/6/1952. Friday (+2,607) The
USA lifted its ban on immigration from Africa and Asia.
26/6/1952. Thursday (+2,606) Non-violent
anti-apartheid demonstrations began in South Africa.
25/6/1952, Wednesday
(+2,605) In the US the Immigration Bill was passed, despite Resident
Truman�s veto and a Democrat majority of ten in the Senate. This Bill
established immigration quotas by nationality, something Truman considered
racist.
23/6/1952. Monday (+2,603) US
planes bombed hydro-electric plants in North Korea. One of these was close to
the Yalu River, the border between North Korea and China. The US was forced to
apologise to its allies for taking the Korean war so close to the border
without consulting them.
20/6/1952, Friday (+2,600) In Britain, pedestrian
crossings were to be marked by flashing orange beacons.
14/6/1952, Saturday (+2,594) Construction began on the
world�s first nuclear submarine.
6/6/1952, Friday
(+2,586) William Peall, billiards champion, died (born 31/12/1854).
2/6/1952, Monday
(+2,582) (USA) In
Youngstown vs Sawyer, the US Supreme Court ruled that President Truman had gone
beyond his powers in ordering the State seizure of the steel industry during a
strike.
1/6/1952. Sunday (+2,581) The
Soviet Iron Curtain isolated West Berlin.
===================================================================================
31/5/1952, Saturday (+2,580) The Volga � Don Canal was
opened
28/5/1952, Wednesday (+2,577) Communist demonstrations in
Paris, France.
26/5/1952, Monday (+2,575)
A treaty was concluded for West Germany to be a sovereign state (see
5/5/1955), so long as Germany contributed to Western defence.� Fears of the Soviet Union overrode fears of
German aggression.
25/5/1952, Sunday (+2,574)
David Jenkins, athlete, was born.
20/5/1952, Tuesday
(+2,569) Roger Milla, Cameroonian footballer, was born.
17/5/1952, Saturday
(+2,566) The Treaty of Paris was signed by the 6 original EEC members
setting up the European defence Community. However the French Parliament
subsequently declined to ratify this move, voting against it by 319 to 264.
16/5/1952, Friday (+2,565)
The British parliament voted in favour of equal pay for women.
13/5/1952, Tuesday
(+2,562)
9/5/1952, Friday
(+2,558) Zdenek Nehoda, Czech footballer, was born.
8/5/1952, Thursday
(+2,557) Hun Sen, Prime Minister of Cambodia, was born.
6/5/1952, Tuesday
(+2,555) Maria Montessori, Italian educationalist, died.
3/5/1952, Saturday
(+2,552) Allan Wells, athlete, was born.
2/5/1952, Friday (+2,551) The first scheduled jet flight , a Comet
airliner, took off from London for Johannesburg. The 18 � hour BOAC
(British Overseas Airways Corporation) flight stopped at Rome, Beirut,
Khartoum, Entebbe and Livingstone. The flight by propeller aircraft had
previously taken 28 hours.
1/5/1952, Thursday
(+2,550)
=====================================================================================
29/4/1952, Tuesday
(+2,548) (Education-Universities)
Southampton University received its Charter.
28/4/1952, Monday (+2,547)
Japan regained sovereignty.
26/4/1952, Saturday
(+2,545)
23/4/1952, Wednesday
(+2,542) The oil pipeline between Kirkuk and Banias was completed.
22/4/1952, Tuesday
(+2,541) In South Africa, Prime Minister D F Malan, having seen the law
courts declare Apartheid unconstitutional, got a Bill passed making Parliament
a �High Court�, so it was able to overrule any legal decisions against Apartheid.
21/4/1952, Monday
(+2,540) Stafford Cripps, British Labour politician, died aged 62.
13/4/1952, Sunday (+2,532)
Easter Sunday. John O�Neill, equestrian champion, was born.
9/4/1952, Wednesday
(+2,528) (Bolivia)
Protests in Bolivia, led by Trotskyist unionised miners, against the military
junta who had seized power in 1951. The miners were well organised and armed,
and mounted blockade in La Paz to prevent the military from entering to regain
power. Three days of fighting followed, after which the demoralised army gave
up and Estenssoro became President. He fulfilled his political promises,
granting universal suffrage, nationalising the tin industry, raising wages, and
redistributing land to Bolivian peasants and the indigenous peoples.
8/4/1952, Tuesday
(+2,527) (USA) In the
USA, President Truman ordered the State seizure of the steel industry in
response to a strike. The output of the steel mills was considered vital for
the US forces fighting in Korea. The strike ended in 2/5/1952, but the seizure
continued until after the Supreme Court decision of 2/6/1952.
5/4/1952, Saturday
(+2,524)
3/4/1952, Thursday
(+2,522) (Finland)
Miina Sillanpaa, Finnish politician, died.
2/4/1952, Wednesday
(+2,521) (Astronomy)
Bernard Ferdinand Lyot, French astronomer, died on a train near Cairo, Egypt.
1/4/1952, Tuesday (+2,520)
(France)
Vincent Bollore, French industrialist, was born.
======================================================================================
31/3/1952, Monday (+2,519) (1)
(Railways
GB) Passenger services ceased between Llantrisant and Pontypridd. Ferryhill
to Spennymoor (Durham) closed. Stockton on Tees to Ferryhill closed.
(2) Alan Turing, the computing expert
who led the effort to break the German Enigma codes in World War Two, was
convicted of being party to gross indecency, meaning homosexuality.
30/3/1952, Sunday (+2,518)
Anti-French riots in Tangier, French Morocco.
29/3/1952, Saturday
(+2,517) (1) In the USA, President Truman
announced he would not be standing for the elections that year.
(2) In France, the government of Edgar
Faure fell after failing to get the National Assembly to approve tax increases.
Antoine Pinay, Conservative, formed a government with Gaullist support.
20/3/1952, Thursday
(+2,508) South Africa�s Supreme Court ruled that Malan�s Apartheid
legislation was unconstitutional. However this triumph of the Africa National
Congress was short-lived, see 22/4/1952.
18/3/1952, Tuesday
(+2,506) Patrick Eddery, horse racing champion, was born in Galway,
Ireland.
11/3/1952, Tuesday
(+2,499) Douglas Adams, British writer, was born.
10/3/1952, Monday
(+2,498) Military coup in Cuba. President Socarra was overthrown and
replaced by General Zaldivar (Fulgencio Batista y Zald�var), who had previously
been ruler of Cuba, 1933-40.
9/3/1952, Sunday (+2,497)
William Beaumont, English rugby player, was born.
8/3/1952. Saturday (+2,496) The
first artificial heart was used on a 41-year old man. It kept him alive at the
Pennsylvania Hospital, Philadelphia, for 80 minutes.
7/3/1952, Friday
(+2,495) Lynn Swann, Footballer, was born.
6/3/1952, Thursday
(+2,494) William MacLean, hockey champion, was born.
5/3/1952, Wednesday
(+2,493) Vladimir Scherbachov, composer, died aged 63.
4/3/1952, Tuesday
(+2,492) China accused the US of
germ warfare in Korea.
1/3/1952, Saturday
(+2,489) Martin O�Neill, footballer, was born.
=====================================================================================
27/2/1952, Wednesday
(+2,486) The United Nations Building
in New York saw its first session.
26/2/1952, Tuesday
(+2,485) Winston Churchill announced that Britain had produced its own atom
bomb.
25/2/1952, Monday (+2,484)
The Plutonium plant at Windscale began operations.
23/2/1952, Saturday (+2,482)
21/2/1952. Thursday (+2,480) Identity
cards were abolished in Britain.
20/2/1952. Wednesday
(+2,479) NATO agreed to recruit Morocco and Tunisia.
18/2/1952, Monday (+2,477) Greece and Turkey joined NATO.
12/2/1952, Tuesday
(+2,471) James Renwick, rugby player, was born,
6/2/1952. Wednesday
(+2,465) (Britain)
The accession of Queen Elizabeth II, born 21/4/1926.
Her coronation was on 2/6/1953, on a dull showery day; it was the first
Coronation to be televised. The funeral of King George V was at Windsor on
15/2/1952, when over 300,000 paid their respects to his coffin at Westminster
Abbey.. King George V had died of lung cancer from smoking, aged 56, during the
night at Sandringham, and Elizabeth I was on safari in Kenya at the time.� King George V had had a lung removed in
September 1951 by surgeons at Buckingham Palace.
4/2/1952, Monday (+2,463) (1) The
UK Government offered farmers �5 an acre to plough up grassland for crops.
(2) The United Nations Disarmament
Commission first met.
3/2/1952, Sunday (+2,462)
In England, 283 people died 8in gale force winds and high tides caus8ing major
floods in the east coast. Thousands were made homeless.
2/2/1952, Saturday (+2,461) The De Havilland Comet went
into service as the world�s first passenger jet.
1/2/1952, Friday
(+2,460)
====================================================================================
27/1/1952, Sunday (+2,455) Anti-British rioters in Egypt
burnt down the Shepheard Hotel, killing 17.
26/1/1952, Saturday (+2,454) (Egypt)
In response to the incident of 25/1/1952 mobs in Cairo led by the Muslim
Brotherhood attacked British buildings, killing 10 Britons. Cairo police
declined to intervene until the evening.
25/1/1952, Friday (+2,453) (Egypt) British
troops captured the police headquarters in Ismalia, Egypt; 46 Egyptians were
killed. This followed guerrilla attacks on British bases in Egypt, in which the
British suspected police complicity.
24/1/1952, Thursday
(+2,452) Vincent Massey became the first Canadian to be appointed
Governor-General of Canada. He remained in post until September 1959.
23/1/1952, Wednesday
(+2,451) Omar Henry,
South African cricketer, was born in Stellenbosch, South Africa.
22/1/1952, Tuesday
(+2,450) The De Havilland Comet
became the first jet aircraft to receive a Certificate of Airworthiness.
21/1/1952, Monday
(+2,449) Billy Ocean, musician, was born.
15/1/1952, Tuesday
(+2,443)
12/1/1952, Saturday (+2,440)
(Egypt) The
first violence by Egyptian nationalists against the British began in the
village of Tel el Kebir.
11/1/1952, Friday
(+2,439) (France)
French General de Lattre de Tassigny died of cancer in Paris. He was the chief
architect of the French defence plan in World War Two.
9/1/1952, Wednesday
(+2,437) Margaret Beck, badminton player, was born.
5/1/1952, Saturday
(+2,433) Uli Hoeness, West German footballer, was born.
2/1/1952, Wednesday
(+2,430) Pope Pius X declared that
television was a threat to family life.
1/1/1952, Tuesday
(+2,429) (1) Libya became independent. An
Italian colony from 1911, when Italy took the territory from the Ottoman Turks,
the region had come under British administration in 1942.
(2) In Britain, the single TV channel,
BBC, broadcast for just a few hours a day. Programmes ran from 3pm to 6pm,
including Children�s Hour. There was then a 2-hour break, the so-called Toddler
Truce, to enable mothers to get their small children to bed. Programmes then
ran for 2 hours or so from 8pm. News coverage was patchy and sports coverage
and light entertainment virtually absent.
====================================================================================
31/12/1951, Monday (+2,428) (1)
Television came to north-west England with the opening of a transmitter
near Manchester. Scotland would get TV in 1953. TV was only available in the
London area until a Midlands transmitter opened in 1950. Now television
threatened the popularity of radio and cinema.
(2) The Organisation of American States
was founded in Washington DC.
27/12/1951, Thursday
(+2,424) (Mexico)
Ernesto Zedillo, President of Mexico, was born.
24/12/1951. Monday (+2,421) Independent
kingdom of Libya was established.� Idris
I, aged 61, was the first King.
21/12/1951, Friday
(+2,418) Stephen Perryman, footballer, was born.
13/12/1951, Thursday
(+2,410) (France-Germany,
Europe)
The French National Assembly ratified the Schuman Plan. This placed French and
German steel iron and coal industries under one common authority, to which
other countries could also accede.
12/12/1951, Wednesday
(+2,409) (Innovation,
Construction) The geodesic dome was patented by Richard Buckminster
Fuller in New York, USA.
8/12/1951, Saturday
(+2,405) (India)
Jawaharlal Nehru, first Prime Minister of India, began his first 5-year Plan.
Energy and Agriculture were to be prioritised in this Plan. Each successive
Plan would target the sectors of the Indian economy that most needed improving.
This tactic helped India�s economy advance rapidly.
6/12/1951, Thursday
(+2,403) Gerald Francis, footballer, was born in Hammersmith, London.
4/12/1951, Tuesday
(+2,401) (Egypt)
British forces attacked in Egypt during anti-British riots.
====================================================================================
24/11/1951, Saturday (+2,391) British motor manufacturers
Austin and Morris announced a merger.
20/11/1951, Tuesday (+2,387) (1) Evacuation of British Army families from Egypt
began.
(2) Snowdonia in Wales was designated a
National Park.
19/11/1951, Monday (+2,386)
The world�s first atomic central heating plant began operating, in Harwell.
11/11/1951, Sunday (+2,378)
Juan Peron was re-elected President of Argentina.
7/11/1951, Wednesday
(+2,374) Francis McEvoy, bobsleigh champion, died.
6/11/1951, Tuesday
(+2,373)� Thomas Kiely, athlete, died
(born 25/8/1869).
5/11/1951, Monday (+2,372)
(Roads) The New Jersey Turnpike opened
between New York and Philadelphia, 190 km.
4/11/1951, Sunday (+2,371)
1/11/1951, Thursday
(+2,368) The US tested an atom bomb over the Nevada desert.
====================================================================================
31/10/1951. Wednesday
(+2,367) The first zebra
crossings appeared in Britain, in Slough, Berkshire.
29/10/1951, Monday
(+2,365)
27/10/1951, Saturday
(+2,363) In Britain, Winston Churchill formed a Conservative Government,
with Anthony Eden as Foreign Secretary and R A (Rab) Butler as Chancellor of
the Exchequer.
26/10/1951, Friday (+2,362) The Chinese news agency Xinhua
announced that the Tibetan people had been �liberated from imperialist aggression
and returned to the great family of the People�s Republic of China�.
25/10/1951. Thursday
(+2,361) Margaret Roberts, later Margaret Thatcher, became the youngest
person, at age 26, to stand in a general election. She lost. However the
Conservatives won 321 seats against 295 for Labour, 6 for the Liberals, and 3
for other parties. The Conservatives had the majority of seats yet Labour had
won more of the votes cast. Winston
Churchill succeeded Clement
Attlee as Prime Minister. The Conservatives promised to de-nationalise steel
and road haulage, but would leave other nationalised industries alone.
24/10/1951, Wednesday (+2,360) Todd Crespi, actor, was born in
Frankfurt, Germany.
23/10/1951, Tuesday (+2,359) Fatmir Sejdiu, President of Kosovo,
was born.
22/10/1951, Monday (+2,,358)
Britain stopped arms exports to Egypt.
21/10/1951, Sunday (+2,357)
Four British warships arrived at Port Said, at the northern end of the Suez
Canal.
19/10/1951. Friday (+2,355)
British troops seized the Suez
Canal Zone after Egypt abrogated the 1936 Treaty.
16/10/1951, Tuesday
(+2,352) Liaquat Ali Khan, Prime Minister of Pakistan, was assassinated by
an Afghan fanatic; civil disorder ensued.
15/10/1951, Monday (+2,351)
Britain�s first party political on the BBC, broadcast by Lord Samuel for
the Liberal Party.
13/10/1951, Saturday
(+2,349)
6/10/1951, Saturday (+2,342) The British High Commissioner
in Malaya, Sir Henry Gurney, was killed in an ambush by Communist guerrillas in
the Pahang Hills. Chinese-backed Communists were fighting to destroy the rubber
plantation economy.
5/10/1951, Friday
(+2,341) (1) The US House of representatives
approved the US$ 56.9 billion Armed Forces appropriation Bill.
(2) (Morals) The oral contraceptive
was patented
4/10/1951, Thursday
(+2,340) The Anglo-Iranian Oil Company removed its personnel from Abadan
for safety reasons.
2/10/1951, Tuesday
(+2,338)
1/10/1951, Monday
(+2,337) Peter McWilliam, footballer, died.
====================================================================================
30/9/1951, Sunday (+2,336)
The Festival of Britain closed, see 3/5/1951.
27/9/1951, Thursday
(+2,333) Iranian troops occupied the Abadan oilfields.
23/9/1951, Sunday (+2,329)
Jeffrey Squire, rugby player, was born.
20/9/1951, Thursday
(+2,326) NATO invited Greece and
Turkey to join.
17/9/1951, Monday (+2,323) Susan
Reeve, athletics (long jump) was born).
16/9/1951, Sunday (+2,322) Andrew
Irvine, rugby player, was born.
15/9/1951, Saturday (+2,321) Jacinto
Guerrero, Spanish musician and composer, died aged 56
14/9/1951, Friday (+2,320) Fawley
Oil Refinery, near Southampton, opened.
13/9/1951. Thursday (+2,319) UN peace talks between Israel and the Arabs
failed.
10/9/1951, Wednesday
(+2,318) Giuseppe Mule, Italian composer, died aged 66
11/9/1951, Tuesday (+2,317) Florence Chadwick became the
first woman to swim the English Channel, taking 16 hours 22 minutes. On
12/10/1955 she broke that record, taking just 13 hours 33 minutes.
10/9/1951, Monday (+2,316) Anti-British
riots in Egypt.
9/9/1951, Sunday (+2,315) Chinese troops occupied the
Tibetan capital, Lhasa.
8/9/1951, Saturday (+2,314) The San Francisco Treaty of
Friendship between the US and Japan was signed.
7/9/1951, Friday (+2,313) Painter
John F Sloan died in Hanover, New Hampshire, USA, aged 80.
6/9/1951, Thursday
(+2,312) Melih Kibar, Turkish composer, was born (died 2005).
5/9/1951, Wednesday
(+2,311) Paul Breitner, West German footballer, was born.
2/9/1951, Sunday (+2,308)
1/9/1951, Saturday (+2,307) Australia, New Zealand, and
the USA signed the ANZUS Pact, a mutual defence treaty.� This marked a shift in New Zealand politics
away from the UK and towards the US.
====================================================================================
31/8/1951. Friday (+2,306)
Long playing 33 rpm records went on sale in West Germany.
30/8/1951, Thursday
(+2,305) The US and The Philippines concluded a mutual defence pact.
27/8/1951, Monday (+2,302)
24/8/1951. Friday (+2,299)
The Mau-Mau rebellion began in Kenya.
23/8/1951, Thursday
(+2,298) British oil companies and
workers prepared to leave Iran.
21/8/1951, Tuesday
(+2,296)
17/8/1951, Friday
(+2,292) Alan Minter, boxer, was born.
16/8/1951, Thursday
(+2,291) Louis Jouvet, French theatre director., died.
15/8/1951. Wednesday (+2,290)
Dartmoor was designated a National
Park.
14/8/1951, Tuesday
(+2,289) Randolph Hearst, US newspaper magnate, died in California.
11/8/1951, Saturday
(+2,286) Melbourne Inman, billiards champion, died.
1/8/1951, Wednesday
(+2,276) Japan Airlines was founded.
===================================================================================
28/7/1951, Saturday (+2,272) Walt Disney�s cartoon Alice in
Wonderland was released.
24/7/1951, Tuesday
(+2,268) (Britain)
The Tyne pedestrian and cycle tunnel, Newcastle, opened. It was Britain�s first
purpose-built cycle tunnel, opened as part of the Festival of Britain
celebrations, and cost �833,000 to construct.
23/7/1951, Monday (+2,267)
(France)
Marshal Petain, Head of Vichy France between 1940 and 1944, died in prison in
the Ile d�Yeu, aged 95, serving a life sentence for collaboration, having been
reprieved from a death sentence in 1945.
21/7/1951, Saturday
(+2,265)
20/7/1951. Friday (+2,264) (Jordan) King
Abdullah of Jordan was shot dead in Jerusalem by an Arab Nationalist.� Other Arab leaders were jealous of his
leadership of the Palestinians, and his grandson Hussein, aged 15 in 1951,
became King of Jordan a year later.
19/7/1951, Thursday
(+2,263) Severe flooding hit Kansas and Missouri. 41 died and 200,000 were
made homeless.
17/7/1951, Tuesday
(+2,261) (Belgium)
Baudouin became King of Belgium, after the enforced abdication of his
father, King Leopold III. Leopold surrendered the Belgian armed forces to the
Nazis on 28/5/1940, just 18 days after the German invasion of Belgium began, a
move condemned as too hasty by the Allies. Leopold then chose to become a PoW
in the luxurious surroundings of Laeken Castle, near Brussels. However there was
evidence that Leopold had averted the deportation of half a million Belgian
women in 1942 to work in German munitions factories. After the War Leopold was
exiled to London. Belgian opinion on his return wad divided on ethnic/religious
lines, with a referendum providing a 58% pro-Leopold majority. This majority was
mainly from the Catholic Flemish north of Belgium. The southern Walloon
socialist liberals were against Leopold�s return. In July 1950 Belgian
coalminers went on strike against Leopold. In the interests of national unity
Leopold abdicated in favour of his son.
10/7/1951, Tuesday
(+2,254) Negotiations began between
the USA and USSR over the Korean conflict. The USSR demanded a return to the 38th
parallel; the US insisted on the current front line as the frontier. The US
also rejected Chinese demands for a withdrawal of all foreign troops from
Korea. PoWs were also an issue, with the US holding 171,000 prisoners, 50,000
of whom did not wish to return to Communist rule. Many North Koreans and Chinese
wished to go to South Korea or Taiwan. The Communists, afraid of losing face,
wanted all returned. Both sides wanted an end to the conflict; Dwight D
Eisenhower, in office from 1953, was concerned at the expense of the war.
Stalin�s death in 1953 in March 1953 eased the deadlock. Most of the PoWs who
wanted to defect to Western countries were allowed to do so.
9/7/1951, Monday (+2,253)
Dashiell Hammett, author of The Maltese
Falcon, was jailed for 6 months for contempt of court after refusing to
give testimony that would have helped trace Communists accused of conspiring
against the US.
5/7/1951, Thursday (+2,249)
The International Court of Justice ruled against Iran (see 26/5/1951). US
President Truman called for a compromise.
3/7/1951, Tuesday (+2,247) India lodged a complaint with the UN
Security Council over Pakistani violations of the ceasefire in Kashmir.
2/7/1951, Monday (+2,246) Severe floods in Kansas and
Missouri killed 41 and left 200,000 homeless.
1/7/1951. Sunday (+2,245) (1) The
Colombo Plan was founded in Sri Lanka, to aid the development of south east
Asia.
(2) A
police constable earned �400 a year, a teacher got �766. A GECD electric
cleaner cost �14 14s (�14.70), a 1 lb (0.45 kg) tin of Nescafe cost 9s (45p)
and a 4 oz (0.11 kg) tin of Ovaltine cost 2s 6d (12.5p).
====================================================================================
30/6/1951, Saturday (+2,244)
England beat Australia 17 � 0 at Sydney, attaining the highest score ever in a
football international.
23/6/1951, Saturday
(+2,327) Raymond Stevens, badminton champion, was born.
18/6/1951. Monday (+2,232) The US was given permission for an airbase at
Greenham Common, Berkshire.
17/6/1951, Sunday (+2,231)
Elections for the French Assembly gave 107 seats to the Gaullists; 97 to the
Communists; 94 to the Socialists; 87 to the Conservatives; 82 to the Popular
Republicans; and 77 to the Radical Socialists.
16/6/1951, Saturday
(+2,230)
15/6/1951, Friday (+2,229) The Korean front line between
Northern and Southern forces was stabilised at around the 38th
parallel, where it had been originally. See 10/7/1951.
14/6/1951, Thursday
(+2,228) The first commercially-available computer, the Univac-1, made by
Remington-Rand, went on sale in the USA.
13/6/1951, Wednesday
(+2,227) Elizabeth, heir to the
British throne, laid the foundation stone of the National Theatre, on London�s
South Bank.
12/6/1951, Tuesday
(+2,226) Geoffrey Enstone, rugby player., was born.
9/6/1951. Saturday (+2,223)
In West Germany, the last Nazis
convicted of war crimes were hanged.
3/6/1951, Sunday (+2,217)
In India, the Socialist Party organised a large protest against the
government�s food and housing policies.
2/6/1951, Saturday
(+2,216) John Erskine, US author, died�
in New York (born
in New York City, 5/10/1879).
=====================================================================================
30/5/1951, Wednesday
(+ 2,213)
28/5/1951, Monday
(+2,211) (Science,
technology) RCA had sued the FCC in an effort to stop the commencement
of colour TV broadcasts in CBS format (see 11/7/1949), but this day the US
Supreme Court ruled in favour of CBS. However the delay in starting colour
broadcasts had been crucial; as in that time many more black and white sets had
been sold. When CBS did begin colour broadcasting on 25/6/1951, over 10 million
black and white sets could not receive its broadcasts. Viewer numbers and
advertising revenues were disappointing, and in October 1951 CBS halted colour
transmissions.
27/5/1951, Sunday (+2,210)
John Conteh, boxer, was born in Liverpool.
26/5/1951, Saturday (+2,209) (1)
Britain appealed to the International Court of Justice over the Iranian
nationalisation of the oil industry. On 5/7/1951 the Court ruled in Britain�s
favour.
(2) Lincoln Ellsworth, American Arctic
and Antarctic explorer, and scientist, died.
25/5/1951. Friday (+2,208)
British diplomats Burgess (1910 � 1963) and MacLean (1913 � 1983) were
first reported missing. They had defected to Moscow. They had been recruited by
the Soviets whilst working at MI5 during the 1930s. Burgess did not like life
in Moscow and died in 1963 of alcohol poisoning and kidney failure.
23/5/1951, Wednesday
(+2,206) Anatoly Karpov, Russian world chess champion in 1975, was born.
19/5/1951, Saturday (+2,202) Britain warned Iran against
seizing British oil assets there, 8 Britons died in riots there in April 1951.
15/5/1951, Tuesday
(+2,198) Johan Neesken, Dutch footballer, was born.
14/5/1951. Monday (+2,197) South
Africa disenfranchised 'coloured' voters.
11/5/1951, Friday
(+2,194) Michael Slemen, rugby player, was born.
9/5/1951, Wednesday
(+2,192) In Britain, the Government
decided to pay Old Age Pensions at age 60 for women, 65 for men, not 65 and 70
as originally planned.
3/5/1951. Thursday
(+2,186) King George V opened
the Festival of Britain, on 11 hectares (27 acres) of a former bombsite
near London�s Waterloo Station. The Festival closed on 30/9/1951. The Festival
was intended to make people optimistic about the future after years of wartime
gloom and rationing. In December 1947 Labour Minister Herbert Morrison told
Parliament that the centenary of the Great Exhibition 1851 would be marked by a
�World Fair�. Economic constraints led it to be rebranded as a national event, financed
by a grant of over �11,300,000.� There
were regional exhibits across the UK but the main venue was on a huge bomb site
on London�s South Bank, including the Festival Hall.
1/5/1951, Tuesday
(+2,184) Major anti-Apartheid demonstrations in Johannesburg, 18 were
killed.
====================================================================================
30/4/1951. Monday (+2,183) The
day after Mohammed Mossadeq took office as Iran�s Prime Minister, Iran
announced it was nationalising the Anglo-Iranian oil company, set up in 1901
and covering oil concessions of some 480,000 square miles (nationalisation took
effect on 2/5/1951). In 1911 a pipeline was built to Abadan which has since
grown as a major oil-refining city. This area was vital from 1914 for fuel
supplies to the British Army.
Britain protested strongly at the nationalisation but
evacuated the refineries on 3/10/1951.
29/4/1951, Sunday (+2,182)
Ludwig Wittgenstein, Austrian philosopher, died aged 62.
28/4/1951, Saturday
(+2,181) After a fortnight of rioting in Abadan, the Iranian Government
appointed Dr Muhammed Mossadeq as Prime Minister.
26/4/1951, Thursday
(+2,179)
23/4/1951. Monday (+2,176) The
Labour Health Minister Nye Bevan and two other ministers resign over the
introduction of charges for NHS glasses and false teeth. The charges were
imposed to pay for defence costs.
22/4/1951, Sunday (+2,175)
In the Korean War, the Battle of Imjin River. Defensive action by UN troops
against Chinese and N Korean forces.
20/4/1951, Friday
(+2,173)
19/4/1951. Thursday (+2,172) Eric
Morley, publicity officer for Mecca, devised the first Miss World beauty contest as part of the Festival of Britain. The
contest was held at the Lyceum ballroom off The Strand, London. The Swedish
entrant, Miss Kiki Haakonson, won.
18/4/1951. Wednesday (+2,171)
The European Coal and Steel Treaty was signed in Paris. France, West
Germany, Italy, and the Benelux countries signed up.
14/4/1951. Saturday (+2,167)
Ernest Bevin, Labour politician and Trade Unionist,
died.
11/4/1951. Wednesday (+2,164)
(1)
General MacArthur was relieved of his command by President Truman, after
disagreeing over the conduct of the Korean War.�
MacArthur wanted to carry the war over into Communist China, and bomb
Chinese bases in Manchuria.� MacArthur
returned to a heroes welcome in Washington, but did not realise his hopes of
nomination for the US Presidential elections. From now until the Armistice of
1953 both sides fought holding actions to maintain current positions; US forces
were slightly north of the 38th parallel.
(2) The
Stone of Scone (Stone of Destiny) was recovered at Forfar three months after
its theft from Westminster. It returned to Westminster on 13/4/1951. Scottish
Nationalists had stolen it from Westminster Abbey on 25/12/1950.
9/4/1951, Monday
(+2,162) The first trials pf Pay-per-View TV in Chicago, Illinois. Viewers
paid US$3 to download three films.
6/4/1951, Friday
(+2,159) (South
Africa) Robert Broom, Scottish-South African palaeontologist, died in
Pretoria, South Africa.
5/4/1951, Thursday (+2,158) The
UK Government approved, in principle, of withdrawing troops from the Suez
Canal.
4/4/1951, Wednesday
(+2,157) Al Christie, Canadian film
director and producer died (born 1881)
3/4/1951, Tuesday
(+2,156) (Britain)
Brendan Barber, English Trades Union leader, was born
2/4/1951, Monday (+2,155)
NATO Allied Command Europe came into being.
1/4/1951, Sunday (+2,154)
A survey of 12.4 million dwellings in Britain revealed that 1.9 million had
three rooms or less, that 4.8 million had no fixed bath, and that almost 2.8
million lacked exclusive use of a toilet. 4.7 million, 38%, had been built
before 1891, and 2.5 million dated from before 1851.
=====================================================================================
31/3/1951, Saturday (+2,153) In the Korean War, UN / US
forces once again reached the 38th parallel, the border between
North and South.
30/3/1951. Friday (+2,152) In the
USA, the Rosenbergs (Julius and Ethel), were sentenced to death, having been
found guilty of passing atomic secrets to the Russians on 29/3/1951. They were
executed on 19/6/1953.
29/3/1951, Thursday
(+2,151) The US completed a draft Peace Treaty with Japan, which was
circulated to the Allied Powers.
27/3/1951, Tuesday
(+2,149)
26/3/1951, Monday
(+2,148) Cambridge won the Boat Race. The race had been rerun after
Oxford�s boat sank on 24/3/1951.
25/3/1951, Sunday (+2,147)
Easter Sunday. China issued an ultimatum to Tibet, to choose between �peaceful
liberation� or �military annihilation�. Tibet chose to sign the 17-Point
Agreement with China on 24/5/1951.
19/3/1951, Monday
(+2,141) John Jones, rugby player, died.
14/3/1951. Wednesday (+2,136) US troops recaptured Seoul.
13/3/1951, Tuesday (+2,135) Israel
demanded 6.2 billion Deutsche marks (1.47 billion US$) compensation from Germany.
12/3/1951, Monday (+2,134) (Newspapers)
Dennis The Menace first appeared in the USA. He first appeared in the UK in The Beano on 17/3/1951.
11/3/1951, Sunday (+2,133) (Christian, Ireland)
In Northern Ireland, the Reverend Ian Paisley founded the Free Presbyterian
Church of Ulster.
10/3/1951, Saturday (+2,132) In
France, political deadlock was resolved when Henry Queuille formed a
government.
9/3/1951. Friday (+2,131) In the UK, separation for seven years
was made grounds for divorce.
8/3/1951, Thursday (+2,130)
The International Table Tennis
Federation banned Egypt, for refusing to play Israel.
7/3/1951, Wednesday (+2,129) (Iran)
In Iran the Prime Minister, General Ali Razmara, was assassinated by a militant
nationalist.
6/3/1951, Tuesday (+2,128) Ivor
Novello, Welsh composer, died aged 58.
5/3/1951, Monday (+2,127) Giorgos
Ninios, Greek actor, was born.
4/3/1951, Sunday (+2,126) Kenny
Dalglish, footballer, was born in Glasgow.
1/3/1951, Thursday
(+2,123)
=====================================================================================
28/2/1951, Wednesday
(+2,122) (France)
In France, the government of Rene Pleven fell over issues of electoral reform.
27/2/1951, Tuesday
(+2,121) (USA)
The 22nd Amendment to the US Constitution was ratified. This
limited Presidential terms of office to 2 terms.
24/2/1951, Saturday
(+2,118) Derek Randall, cricketer, was born.
21/2/1951. Wednesday (+2,115)
A British bomber aircraft crossed the Atlantic in a record 4 hours 40
minutes.
20/2/1951, Tuesday
(+2,114) Philip Neal, footballer, was born.
19/2/1951, Monday (+2,113) French writer Andre Gide died.
18/2/1951, Sunday (+2,112) The King of Nepal proclaimed a
constitutional monarchy.
17/2/1951, Saturday (+2,111)
15/2/1951, Thursday
(+2,109) Britain nationalised the
iron and steel industry.
14/2/1951. Wednesday (+2,108)
In Israel, Ben Gurion dissolved Parliament after an election defeat.
13/2/1951, Tuesday
(+2,107) The British Commonwealth Consultative Committee met in Colombo to
discuss development plans for south-east Asia.
4/2/1951, Sunday (+2,098)
Footballer Kevin Keegan was born.
1/2/1951, Thursday
(+2,095) Douglas Clark, rugby player, died (born 2/5/1891).
====================================================================================
31/1/1951, Wednesday
(+2,094) Phil Collins, rock musician, was born.
30/1/1951. Tuesday (+2,093) German
motorcar engineer Ferdinand Porsche
died.
29/1/1951, Monday
(+2,092) Andy Roberts, cricketer, was born.
28/1/1951, Sunday (+2,091)
The Shah of Iran ordered his land to be sold to peasants.
27/1/1951, Saturday (+2,090)
(1)
In Britain, meat rations were reduced to their lowest level yet, the equivalent
of 4 ounces of rump steak a week.
(2) Carl
Mannerheim, Finnish soldier and politician, who as President secured his
country�s independence from Russia, died aged 83.
26/1/1951, Friday
(+2,089) Gilles Lemaire: French politician, was born.
25/1/1951, Thursday
(+2,088) UN forces halted the
advance of the North Koreans and counterattacked.
21/1/1951, Sunday (+2,084) Mount Lamington, Papua New Guinea, erupted; at
the time it was not realised that it was an extinct volcano. 3,000 died as hot
ash clouds smothered the area.
10/1/1951, Wednesday
(+2,073) Sinclair Lewis, US novelist, died aged 65.
9/1/1951, Tuesday
(+2,072) The first film to receive the new X rating opened in London.
Entitled Life Begins Tomorrow, it received the rating for a scene dealing with
artificial insemination.
7/1/1951, Sunday (+2,070)
5/1/1951, Friday (+2,068)
Sir Ernest Swinton, British soldier and inventor of the military tank,
died.
4/1/1951, Thursday
(+2,067) Seoul was evacuated by US
forces (again). However at Pyongtaek, 50 km south of Seoul, the Chinese-North
Korean offensive was halted. A UN counter-offensive began in late January.
1/1/1951, Monday (+2,064) Chinese
and North Korean forces advanced through UN lines and captured Seoul.
=====================================================================================
28/12/1950. Thursday (+2,060) (1) Chinese
forces in Korea crossed the 38th parallel.
(2) In the UK, the Peak District was designated as the
first National Park.
27/12/1950. Wednesday (+2,059)
US and Spain resumed diplomatic relations.
25/12/1950. Monday (+2,057) (1) The Dalai Lama fled Tibet in the wake of the
Chinese invasion.
(2) Scottish Nationalists stole the
Stone of Scone from Westminster Abbey, see 11/4/1951. The Stone is a piece of
sandstone marked with a Latin cross; according to legend it was the stone Jacob
used as a pillow at Bethel where he saw visions of angels. In around 700 BC the
Stone was taken to Ireland where it was set on the Hill of Tara, the crowning
place of Irish kings. Invading Celtic Scots took the Stone to Scotland. In 1259
the English under King Edward I removed the Stone to Westminster. In 1997, when
Scotland got its own Parliament, the Stone was formally returned to Edinburgh.
14/12/1950, Thursday
(+2,046) Philip Orr, rugby player, was born.
13/12/1950. Wednesday (+2,045)
(1)
South Africa again refused to place South West Africa under UN Trusteeship.
(2) Marshall
Aid to Britain stopped.
6/12/1950, Wednesday
(+2,038) North Korean forces, backed by China, reoccupied Pyongyang, which
had been taken by US and South Korean forces in October 1950.
====================================================================================
28/11/1950. Tuesday (+2,030) China entered the Korean War; 200,000 troops
entered Korea across the Yalu River. UN troops were forced back south
again. On 28/12/1950 Chinese forces crossed the 38th parallel. The
West had ignored Chinese threats to intervene if US forces crossed north of the
38th parallel.
27/11/1950, Monday
(+2,029) James Braid, golfer, died (born 6/2/1870)
24/11/1950, Friday (+2,026) South Korean forces began an
offensive in the Yalu Valley; China planned intervention to support the North,
18/11/1950, Saturday
(+2,020) At a meeting of the Consultative Assembly of the Council of
Europe, Robert Schuman, French foreign Minister, made a speech supporting the
Pleven Plan for establishing a European Army.
16/11/1950, Thursday (+2,018) King
Farook of Egypt demanded immediate evacuation of British troops from the Suez
Canal.
15/11/1950, Wednesday
(+2,017) Hjukseb� train disaster: Four runaway freight cars collided with passenger
train no. 72, en route from Kristiansand to Oslo. With fourteen deaths
resulting from the crash, it remained Norway's worst railway accident in
peacetime until the Tretten train disaster in 1975.
14/11/1950, Tuesday
(+2,016) Britain�s National Coal Board published the Plan For Coal. Demand was assumed to rise over the next 10-15 years
and production would be expanded by 20%; some 250 of Britain�s 900 collieries
would be comprehensively modernised. By the 1960s some 20 new super-collieries
would be opened, and some 350-400 smaller ones closed, mainly in central
Scotland, west Durham, Lancashire, Cannock Chase and the Forest of Dean.
13/11/1950, Monday (+2,015) Tibet appealed to the UN for
aid against Chinese aggression.
11/11/1950, Saturday
(+2,013)
9/11/1950, Thursday
(+2,011) ICI announced its to build
a factory at Redcar to manufacture a new fabric, Terylene.
8/11/1950, Wednesday
(+2,010) The first ever combat between jet fighters took place when, in
the Korean War, a US F86 shot down a Soviet MIG 15.
7/11/1950, Tuesday
(+2,009) In US elections, the Republicans gained 30 seats in the House of
Representatives.
5/11/1950, Sunday (+2,007)
2/11/1950. Thursday
(+2,004) George Bernard Shaw, born 26/7/1856 in Dublin, died aged 94, in
Ayot St Lawrence, Hertfordshire, UK.� A
failed novelist, he was 36 when his first play, Widower�s Houses, was performed.
1/11/1950, Wednesday
(-2,003) (1) Puerto Rican nationalists
Griselio Torresola and Oscar Collazo attempted to assassinate President Harry S
Truman. Torresola was killed during the attack, but Collazo was captured.
Collazo served 29 years in a federal prison, being released in 1979. Don Pedro
Albizu Campos also served many years in a federal prison in Atlanta, for
seditious conspiracy to overthrow the U.S. government in Puerto Rico.
(2) (Christian) The Assumption, the
belief that Mary mother of Jesus bodily ascended to heaven when she died, was
declared dogma for Roman Catholics by Pope Pius XII. This belief is not
considered doctrine in the Eastern Orthodox Church and is resisted by many
Protestants.
=====================================================================================
31/10/1959, Tuesday
(+2,002)
30/10/1950, Monday
(+2,001) Nationalist uprising in Puerto Rico.
29/10/1950, Sunday (+2,000)
Gustav V, King of Sweden since 1907, died aged 92, after a 43-year reign. He
was succeeded by his 61-year old son, Gustavus VI Adolf,� who ruled until 1973.
28/10/1950, Saturday
(+1,999) General elction in Denmark. After the resignation of Hans Hedtoft,
leader of the Liberal Agrarian Party, Erik Eriksen formed a coalition with the
Conservatives.
26/10/1950, Thursday
(+1,997) (1) US forces advancing in North Korea reached the Yalu River, the border
between North Korea and China.
(2) The rebuilt chamber of the House of Commons was opened by
George VI, it having been destroyed by bombing on 10/5/1941.
23/10/1950, Monday
(+1,994) Al Jolson, US film actor, died aged 64.
21/10/1950. Saturday (+1,992) Chinese forces occupied Tibet.
19/10/1950. Thursday (+1,990) (1) US and South Korean forces captured Pyongyang,
during the Korean War. The UN General Assembly declared an aim of a united
Korea.
(2) Hugh Gaitskell
became UK Chancellor of the Exchequer. He replaced Sir Stafford Cripps who had
retired in health grounds.
17/10/1950, Tuesday (+1,988)
Chinese troops took Chamdo, opening up the way to central Tibet.
16/10/1950, Monday (+1,987) The
Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe, CS Lewis, was first published.
15/10/1950, Sunday (+1,986) In East German elections, a vote of 99.7% was
recorded for the Communist-dominated National Front Party.
13/10/1950, Friday (+1,984)
10/10/1950, Tuesday (+1,981) (Sri Lanka)
The Royal Ceylon Air Force was formed, with assistance from the RAF.
9/10/1950. Monday (+1,980) US forces, having reached the 38th
parallel, the old intra-Korean border, at the end of September, now crossed
into North Korea. Warnings from the Indian Prime Minister, Nehru, that this
might provoke Chinese intervention were ignored (see 28/11/1950).
8/10/1950, Sunday (+1,979) Michael Teague, rugby player, was born.
7/10/1950, Saturday (+1,978)
30,000 Chinese troops entered Tibet, meeting little opposition. 30,000 well
trained and equipped Chinese troops confronted a Tibetan army of fewer than
4,000 trained soldiers.
5/10/1950, Thursday (+1,976)
4/10/1950, Wednesday (+1,975) Three generations of the Bowler
family marked the centenary of the bowler hat.
3/10/1950, Tuesday
(+1,974) Brazil re-elected former dictator Getulion Vargas as President as
the economy deteriorated and inflation rose. Vargas was ousted again in 1954.
2/10/1950. Monday (+1,973) Legal aid became available in
Britain.
1/10/1950, Sunday (+1,972)
South Korean forces recrossed the 38th parallel.
======================================================================================
30/9/1950, Saturday (+1,971) (Space Exploration) The first International Astronautical Congress
was held, with more than a thousand scientists, mostly from Europe, assembling
in Paris.
29/9/1950, Friday (+1,970) (1) The first automatic telephone
answering machine was tested by the US Bell Telephone Company.
(2) The
first ever episode of Come Dancing aired on TV.
28/9/1950, Thursday (+1,969) Indonesia was admitted to the UN.
26/9/1950. Tuesday (+1,967) US
forces recaptured Seoul.
23/9/1950, Saturday
(+1,964) The US passed the McCarran Act, which set up the Subversive
Activities Control Board. All Communist individuals and organisations had to be
registered, and no current of former member of a Communist or Fascist
organisation could enter the USA. The Board was abolished in 1973.
22/9/1950, Friday
(+1,963) John Stracey, boxer, was born.
19/9/1950, Tuesday
(+1,960) The European Payments Union
was established.
15/9/1950. Friday (+1,956) UN
forces landed behind enemy lines at Inchon, North Korea. The South Korean
capital, Seoul, was retaken by the end of September 1950.
12/9/1950, Tuesday
(+1,953) Louis A Johnson resigned as US Secretary of Defence. He was
succeeded by George Marshall.
11/9/1950, Monday (+1,952) Death of Jan Smuts, the Boer
guerrilla leader who became a British field-marshal.
7/9/1950. Thursday (+1,948) All
religions were dissolved in Hungary.
1/9/1950. Friday (+1,942) North
Korean forces crossed the Naktong River.
======================================================================================
29/8/1950. Tuesday (+1,939) The first British soldiers arrived in Korea.
27/8/1950, Sunday (+1,937) The BBC transmitted its first
pictures from abroad, a two-hour programme from Calais.
20/8/1950, Sunday (+1,930)
Ann Moore, equestrian champion, was born.
15/8/1950, Tuesday
(+1,925) Princess Anne (Anne Elizabeth Alice Louise) was born in
Clarence House, London. She was the second child and only daughter of Queen
Elizabeth II.
11/8/1950, Friday
(+1,921) In Strasbourg, France, at the meeting of the Consultative Assembly
of the Council of Europe, Winston Churchill called for the creation of a
European Army. The motion was passed by 89 votes to 5.
1/8/1950, Tuesday
(+1,911) (1)
Australian Prime Minister Sir Robert Gordon Menzies promised to send troops
to assist US forces fighting in Korea.
(2) King Leopold III abdicated in favour
of his son Baudouin.
=====================================================================================
31/7/1950. Monday (+1,910)
Britain�s first self-service store, Sainsbury in Croydon, opened.
26/7/1950, Wednesday (+1,905)
Britain decided to send troops to Korea.
23/7/1950, Sunday (+1,902) Anti Leopold riots in
Brussels, Belgium.
22/7/1950, Saturday (+1,901) Leopold III of Belgium
returned to the throne after 6 years.
20/7/1950, Thursday
(+1,899)
19/7/1950. Wednesday (+1,898)
President Truman asked the US Congress for a big rise in military spending.
18/7/1950, Tuesday
(+1,897) Richard Branson,
head of the Virgin companies, was born.
17/6/1950, Monday
(+1,896) (Arts)
Phoebe Snow, US musician, was born.
16/7/1950, Sunday (+1,895)
199,850 people watched the Brazil vs. Uruguay World Cup Final in Rio; a world
record for a football match.
15/7/1950, Saturday
(+1,894) (Electricity)
Lord Citrine opened the British Electricity Laboratories (now the Central
Electricity Research Laboratories) at Leatherhead.
13/7/1950, Thursday
(+1,892)
12/7/1950, Wednesday
(+1,891) William Boone, rackets champion, was born.
11/7/1950. Tuesday
(+1,890) The BBC transmitted its first children�s programme, Watch with
Mother, featuring Andy Pandy. The programme ran until 1980.
10/7/1950. Monday (+1,889) Soap
rationing ended in Britain.
9/7/1950, Sunday (+1,888) Britain and Ireland agreed
controls on fishing in Loch Foyle; a rare instance of UK-Irish governmental
cooperation.
8/7/1950, Saturday (+1,887) US General MacArthur took over
UN forces in Korea.
7/7/1950, Friday (+1,886) The
first Farnborough Air Show took place.
4/7/1950, Tuesday
(+1,883)
2/7/1950, Sunday (+1,881)
American troops landed in South Korea.
1/7/1950, Saturday (+1,880) A train driver, on average, earned �6
18s (�6.90p) a week; a baker earned �5 7s 4d (�5.37p) a week. The London to
Paris airfare was �8, London to New York cost �125 by plane. A Cook�s Round The
World Tour, taking 140 days, cost �400. A packet of 20 Woodbines cost 2s 9d (14p).
500g of streaky bacon cost 11p.� 500g of beef cost 6p.� 250g of cheddar cheese cost 3p.� 250g of butter cost 6p.� 500g of margarine cost 5p.� 1 kg old potatoes cost 1p.� 125g of loose tea cost 5p.�� 6 eggs cost 11p.� 1 kg granulated sugar cost 5p.� 800g sliced white bread cost 2p.� 1 pint of pasteurised milk cost 2p.
======================================================================================
30/6/1950, Friday (+1,879) It was announced that the National
Coal Board made a profit of �9.5 million in 1949.
29/6/1950, Thursday (+1,878) South Korean forces retook
Seoul.
28/6/1950, Wednesday (+1,877) British Royal navy ships
joined the US forces in South Korea.
27/6/1950. Tuesday (+1,876) North Korean forces took Seoul.
British forces joined the war in Korea.
26/6/1950, Monday (+1,875) US President Truman sent US
forces to support South Korea.
25/6/1950. Sunday (+1,874) Start of the Korean War. North
Korea under Kim
Il Sung invaded the South, crossing the 38th parallel,
which was the border.
24/6/1950, Saturday (+1,873) Georges
Bidault, French Prime Minister, resigned after his government was defeated in a
vote on a technical issue.
23/6/1950, Friday (+1,872) Harry
Foster, rackets champion, died (born 30/10/1873)
20/6/1950, Tuesday
(+1,869) Gillian Gilks, badminton champion, was born.
17/6/1950. Saturday (+1,866) In
the US, the first kidney transplant took place. The patient, 44 year old Ruth
Tucker, survived for 5 years but then died when the transplanted kidney failed.
15/6/1950. Thursday (+1,864) West
Germany admitted to the Council of Europe.
7/6/1950 Wednesday (+1,856)
The BBC radio serial The Archers was first broadcast; it was created by
Godfrey Basely.
6/6/1950, Tuesday
(+1,855) Trygve Lie was appointed to a new term as United Nations Secretary
General. He announced a 20-year peace programme, more meetings with foreign
ministers, creation of a permanent UN military force, admission of new members,
and more aid for poorer countries.
4/6/1950, Sunday (+1,853)
3/6/1950, Saturday (+1,852)
The Himalayan Peak of Annapurna was first climbed, by Herzog and Lachenal,
members of a French expedition.
2/6/1950, Friday
(+1,851) The UK declined to take part in any European grouping that would
entail a loss of its national sovereignty.
=====================================================================================
30/5/1950. Tuesday (+1,848) Yugoslavia
and Albania severed relations.
26/5/1950. Friday (+1,844)
Petrol rationing ended in Britain, after 10 years. The price per gallon on
1/6/1950 was 3 shillings, compared with 1 shilling, 11d (9.5p, or about 2p a
litre) a gallon before WW 2. (In 2001 unleaded cost about 69p a litre, and was
80p or more a litre in 2000. At end 2005 it was around 85p a litre, having
nudged the �1 a litre level in summer 2005 due to unrest in Iraq and growing
demand from China, as well as a major hurricane in the oil refining area of the
Mississippi delta.). In January 2008, crude oil was at US$97 to US$100 a
barrel, and UK petrol (standard unleaded) was around �1.05 a litre.� By November 2008 petrol had fallen back to
just over 90p a litre, but was �1.32 in 2013. The first �package holiday�, 2
weeks in Corsica organised by Horizon, cost �32�
10 shillings.
25/5/1950, Thursday
(+1,843) French troops fought the
Vietcong guerrillas in Vietnam.
24/5/1950, Wednesday
(+1,842) Field Marshall Lord Archibald Wavell, British military commander
(born 1883) died.
17/5/1950, Wednesday
(+1,835) Transcontinental and Western Air (TWA) was renamed Trans World
Airlines.
13/5/1950, Saturday
(+1,831) Stevie Wonder, US singer, was born.
9/5/1950. Tuesday (+1,827) The Schuman Plan lead to the
establishment of the European Coal and Steel Community.
1/5/1950, Monday
(+1,819) Daniel McGrain, footballer, was born.
===================================================================================
30/4/1950. Sunday (+1,818)
Britain The UK�s Atomic Energy Commission accused the Scientific American
journal of publishing secrets on how to build a Hydrogen Bomb. 30,000 copies
were seized and destroyed.
27/4/1950. Thursday
(+1,815) Britain recognised the State of Israel.
24/4/1950. Monday (+1,812) King
Abdullah of Jordan annexed Arab Palestine, the West Bank.
9/4/1950, Sunday (+1,797)
Easter Sunday.
8/4/1950, Saturday
(+1,796) India and Pakistan signed the Delhi Pact, each nation committing
itself to protecting the rights of minorities within their borders.
6/4/1950, Thursday
(-1,794)
4/4/1950, Tuesday (+1,792) At
Liverpool, the liner Franconia was
found to be full of smuggled nylon stockings with a black market value of �80,000.
2/4/1950 Sunday (+1,790) Recep
Peker, Prime Minister of Turkey 1946�1947, died aged 61
1/4/1950, Saturday (+1,789)
(1)
Charles R Drew (born 3/6/1904 in Washington DC) was killed in a car accident in
Burlington, North Carolina. He discovered that blood plasma, unlike whole
blood, could be stored for long periods without spoiling; this facilitated the
blood transfusion system. For this, Drew became the first Black American man in
the US to be awarded a Doctor of Science Degree.
(2) Italy took over the Somaliland
Trusteeship from Britain.
=====================================================================================
31/3/1950, Friday (+1,788) Garuda Indonesia was established as a joint
venture with KLM, the Netherlands national airline, and began with a fleet of
27 airplanes. In 1954, Garuda would become a fully Indonesian business.
30/3/1950, Thursday (+1,787) Leon Blum, French statesman, died.
28/3/1950, Tuesday (+1,786)
27/3/1950, Monday (+1,784) Anton Ondrus, Czech footballer, was born.
26/3/1950, Sunday (+1,783) (Road)
In the UK, petrol rationing, in force since 1939, ended,
24/3/1950, Friday (+1,781)
22/3/1950, Wednesday (+1,779) John Thomas Wilson, darts champion, was born.
21/3/1950, Tuesday (+1,778) A survey showed that only 46% of
British homes had a bathroom.
20/3/1950, Monday (+1,777) Poland's Sejm passed a law requiring the
nation's Roman Catholic churches, and all other religious associations, to
transfer their property to government ownership. The purpose, according to the
introduction, was "to remove the last remains of the landowner feudal
privileges in the Church estates and to secure the material needs of the
clergy". The church pastors were allowed to keep and operate their own
private farms, and houses of worship and office buildings were exempt, but all
other church-owned assets were confiscated.
19/3/1950, Sunday (+1,776)
Edgar Rice Burroughs, author of the Tarzan books, died aged 75.
18/3/1950, Saturday (+1,775)
Former engine factory foreman Nicolae Ceausescu, the prot�g� of Romanian
General Secretary Gheorghe Gheorghiu-Dej, was made a Major General of the
Romanian Army, despite having no prior military experience. Ceausescu would
continue his rise to power and succeed Gheorghiu-Dej in 1965.
17/3/1950, Friday (+1,774) Californium was announced to have been made at the University of Berkeley California
16/3/1950, Thursday
(+1,773) The Gambols cartoon
first appeared in The Daily Express.
12/3/1950. Sunday (+1,769) A
referendum in Belgium favoured the monarchy. King Leopold III returned to the
throne after 6 years on 22/7/1950. On 23//7/1950 there were anti-Leopold riots
on the streets of Brussels. On 1/8/1950 King Leopold abdicated in favour of his
son Baudouin.
8/3/1950. Wednesday
(+1,765) (1) The USSR claimed to have the
atom bomb. See 16/7/1945.
(2) The last Lancaster bomber left RAF
service.
4/3/1950, Saturday (+1,761) Walt
Disney�s Cinderella was released.
3/3/1950. Friday (+1,760) France
granted the Saar autonomy.
2/3/1950, Thursday (+1,759) Tawfik
Abu al-Huda resigned as Prime Minister of Jordan for reasons of health, but also
because he did not want to �be party to a settlement with Israel�.
1/3/1950. Wednesday (+1,758)
Chiang Kai Shek became
President in Formosa (Taiwan).
=====================================================================================
28/2/1950. Tuesday (+1,757) (1) France
passed a Bill limiting the sale of Coca Cola.
(2) Clement Attlee formed a
new Labour Government in the UK.
27/2/1950, Monday (+1,756) China and the USSR signed a
joint agreement for exploiting oil in Sinkiang, for joint mining operations,
and joint operation of a civil airline.
26/2/1950, Sunday (+1,755) Sir Harry
Lauder, Scottish comedian and singer, died aged 79.
25/2/1950, Saturday (+1,754) (Medical)
George Richards Minot, US physician, was born in Brookline, Massachusetts.
24/2/1950, Friday (+1,753)
Richard Wayne Bandler, US author, was born.
23/2/1950. Thursday (+1,752) The
first General Election in the UK where the results were televised. Clement
Attlee, Labour Prime Minister, narrowly won for Labour, which had just a
majority over the Conservatives and Liberals combined. The result was Labour
315 seats, Conservative 298, Liberal 9, others 3. Voter turnout was 84%. 319
out of 475 Liberal candidates lost their deposits.
22/2/1950, Wednesday
(+1,751) In the USA, 205 members of the State Department were accused of
being Communists by Senator Joe McCarthy.
21/2/1950, Tuesday
(+1,750)
14/2/1950. Tuesday (+1,743) China
and the USSR signed a 30-year pact in Moscow.
13/2/1950, Monday (+1,742)
Rafael Sabatini, Italian novelist, died aged 74.
12/2/1950, Sunday (+1,741) The European Broadcasting
Union was formed.
11/2/1950, Saturday (+1,740) Author
Kurt Vonnegut was published for the first time, as his story "Report on
the Barnhouse Effect" appeared in Collier's magazine.
10/2/1950, Friday (+1,739) Mark
Spitz, champion US swimmer, was born in Modesto, California.
9/2/1950. Thursday (+1,738) In
the USA, Joseph McCarthy launched an anti-Communist crusade. He claimed he knew
the names of 250 Communists employed within the State Department.� See 25/2/1954.
8/2/1950, Wednesday (+1,737)
The Stasi was founded in East Germany.
7/2/1950, Tuesday (+1,736) The Soviet Union officially
recognised the Marxist regime of Ho Chi Minh in North Vietnam; the USA endorsed
the French-backed regime of Emperor Bao Dai in South Vietnam. The two regimes
had been at war since 1947.
6/2/1950, Monday (+1,735) The Stranraer
to Portpatrick railway closed to passengers.
5/2/1950, Sunday (+1,734) Marie-Pierre
Castel, French actress, was born.
4/2/1950, Saturday (+1,733) Philip
Ehart, rock drummer, was born.
3/2/1950, Friday (+1,732)
Michael Dickinson, horse racer, was born.
2/2/1950, Thursday (+1,731)
Constantin Caratheodory, Greek mathematician, died, (born 1873).
1/2/1950, Wednesday (+1,730) In
Bulgaria, Viko Chervenkov became Prime Minister on the death of Vasil Kolarov
======================================================================================
31/1/1950. Tuesday (+1,729) President
Truman told US scientists to make an H-Bomb.
30/1/1950, Monday (+1,728) North
Korea Chairman, Kim Il-sung, was informed that Soviet leader Joseph Stalin had
decided to support Kim's plan for an invasion of South Korea. Stalin provided
the message to Kim by way of Soviet envoy Terenti Shtykov, after having met
with Chinese leader Mao Zedong in Moscow.
29/1/1950. Sunday (+1,727) Race policy caused riots in Johannesburg.
28/1/1950, Saturday (+1,726) Hamad
bin Isa Al Khalifa, King of Bahrain from 1999, was born in Riffa, Bahrain.
27/1/1950, Friday (+1,725) In
Italy, following the resignation of the Democratic Socialist Minister in
November 1949 and withdrawal of Liberal support, Alcide de Gasperi formed a new
coalition of Christian Democrats, Democratic Socialists and� Republicans.
26/1/1950, Thursday (+1,724) India
became a democratic republic within the Commonwealth.
24/1/1950, Tuesday
(+1,722)
22/1/1950, Sunday (+1,720) In the USA, Alger Hiss, former
advisor to President Franklin Roosevelt, was convicted of perjury for denying
contacts to Soviet agents. Hiss had liaised with Chambers, editor of Time
Magazine and a Communist agent. A previous trial of Hiss ended in a hung jury;
this day he received 5 years in prison. Senator McCarthy used this case to
allege that the US State Department was riddled with Communist agents.
21/1/1950. Saturday (+1,719)
George Orwell died (born 1903). This was the pen name of British author
Eric Arthur Blair. His best known works include Animal Farm and 1984.
20/1/1950, Friday
(+1,718) The first autonomous government of the South American territory of
Dutch Guiana, part of the Kingdom of the Netherlands as the �States of Surinam�,
convened its first session.
19/1/1950, Thursday
(+1,717) The world�s first
peat-fired power station opened at Portarlington, County Laois, Ireland.
15/1/1950, Sunday (+1,713) Marius Tresor, French footballer, was born.
12/1/1950. Thursday
(+1,710) The death penalty was re-introduced in the USSR.
3/1/1950, Tuesday
(+1,701) In Egypt, the Wafd Nationalist Party won overwhelmingly in general
elections.
1/1/1950, Sunday (+1,699) Radio Beijing announced that
Tibet was to be �liberated�.
=====================================================================================
For dates up to
31/12/1949 click here