Events

January

January 1 January 1 or 1 January is the first day of the year in the Gregorian Calendar. There are 364 days remaining until the end of the year (365 in leap years). This day is also known as New Year's Day since the day marks the beginning of the yea ...

– The

Soviet Union The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, it was nominally a federal union of fifteen national ...

ceases to demand

war reparations War reparations are compensation payments made after a war by one side to the other. They are intended to cover damage or injury inflicted during a war. History Making one party pay a war indemnity is a common practice with a long history. R ...

from

West Germany West Germany is the colloquial term used to indicate the Federal Republic of Germany (FRG; german: Bundesrepublik Deutschland , BRD) between its formation on 23 May 1949 and the German reunification through the accession of East Germany on 3 O ...

. *

January 3 Events Pre-1600 *AD 69, 69 – The Roman legions on the Rhine refuse to declare their allegiance to Galba, instead proclaiming their legate, Aulus Vitellius, as emperor. * 250 – Emperor Decius orders everyone in the Roman Empire (ex ...

– The Italian broadcaster

RAI RAI – Radiotelevisione italiana (; commercially styled as Rai since 2000; known until 1954 as Radio Audizioni Italiane) is the national public broadcasting company of Italy, owned by the Ministry of Economy and Finance. RAI operates many ter ...

officially begins transmitting. *

January 7 Events Pre-1600 *49 BC – The Senate of Rome says that Caesar will be declared a public enemy unless he disbands his army. This prompts the tribunes who support him to flee to Ravenna, where Caesar is waiting. * 1325 – Alfonso IV ...

– Georgetown-IBM experiment: The first public demonstration of a

machine translation Machine translation, sometimes referred to by the abbreviation MT (not to be confused with computer-aided translation, machine-aided human translation or interactive translation), is a sub-field of computational linguistics that investigates t ...

system is held in New York, at the head office of IBM. *

January 10 Events Pre-1600 *49 BC – Julius Caesar crosses the Rubicon, signalling the start of civil war. * 9 – The Western Han dynasty ends when Wang Mang claims that the divine Mandate of Heaven called for the end of the dynasty and the be ...

–

BOAC Flight 781 BOAC Flight 781 was a scheduled British Overseas Airways Corporation (BOAC) passenger flight from Singapore to London. On 10 January 1954, a de Havilland Comet passenger jet operating the flight suffered an explosive decompression at altitude an ...

, a

de Havilland Comet The de Havilland DH.106 Comet was the world's first commercial jet airliner. Developed and manufactured by de Havilland in the United Kingdom, the Comet 1 prototype first flew in 1949. It featured an aerodynamically clean design with four d ...

jet plane, disintegrates in mid-air due to

metal fatigue In materials science, fatigue is the initiation and propagation of cracks in a material due to cyclic loading. Once a fatigue crack has initiated, it grows a small amount with each loading cycle, typically producing striations on some parts o ...

, and crashes in the Mediterranean near

Elba Elba ( it, isola d'Elba, ; la, Ilva) is a Mediterranean island in Tuscany, Italy, from the coastal town of Piombino on the Italian mainland, and the largest island of the Tuscan Archipelago. It is also part of the Arcipelago Toscano National ...

; all 35 people on board are killed. *

January 12 Events Pre-1600 * 475 – Byzantine Emperor Zeno is forced to flee his capital at Constantinople, and his general, Basiliscus gains control of the empire. *1528 – Gustav I of Sweden is crowned King of Sweden, having already reigned s ...

–

Avalanche An avalanche is a rapid flow of snow down a slope, such as a hill or mountain. Avalanches can be set off spontaneously, by such factors as increased precipitation or snowpack weakening, or by external means such as humans, animals, and earth ...

s in Austria kill more than 200. *

January 15 Events Pre-1600 * 69 – Otho seizes power in Rome, proclaiming himself Emperor of Rome, beginning a reign of only three months. * 1541 – King Francis I of France gives Jean-François Roberval a commission to settle the province of ...

– Mau Mau leader

Waruhiu Itote Waruhiu Itote (1922 – 30 April 1993, aged 70-71), ''nom de guerre'' General China, was one of the key leaders of the Mau Mau Uprising (1952–1960) in British Kenya alongside Dedan Kimathi, Stanley Mathenge, Kurito ole Kisio, Musa Mwariama an ...

is captured in

Kenya ) , national_anthem = "Ee Mungu Nguvu Yetu"() , image_map = , map_caption = , image_map2 = , capital = Nairobi , coordinates = , largest_city = Nairobi , ...

. *

January 17 Events Pre-1600 * 38 BC – Octavian divorces his wife Scribonia and marries Livia Drusilla, ending the fragile peace between the Second Triumvirate and Sextus Pompey. * 1362 – Saint Marcellus' flood kills at least 25,000 people on ...

– In

Yugoslavia Yugoslavia (; sh-Latn-Cyrl, separator=" / ", Jugoslavija, Југославија ; sl, Jugoslavija ; mk, Југославија ;; rup, Iugoslavia; hu, Jugoszlávia; rue, label=Pannonian Rusyn, Югославия, translit=Juhoslavija ...

Milovan Đilas Milovan Djilas (; , ; 12 June 1911 – 30 April 1995) was a Yugoslav communist politician, theorist and author. He was a key figure in the Partisan movement during World War II, as well as in the post-war government. A self-identified democrat ...

, one of the leading members of the

League of Communists of Yugoslavia The League of Communists of Yugoslavia, mk, Сојуз на комунистите на Југославија, Sojuz na komunistite na Jugoslavija known until 1952 as the Communist Party of Yugoslavia, sl, Komunistična partija Jugoslavije mk ...

, is relieved of his duties. *

January 20 Events Pre-1600 * 250 – Pope Fabian is martyred during the Decian persecution. * 649 – King Chindasuinth, at the urging of bishop Braulio of Zaragoza, crowns his son Recceswinth as co-ruler of the Visigothic Kingdom. * 1156 &ndas ...

– The US-based

National Negro Network The National Negro Network was a black-oriented radio programming service in the United States founded on January 20, 1954 by Chicago advertiser W. Leonard Evans, Jr. It was the first black-owned radio network in the country, and its programming ...

is established, with 46 member

radio station Radio broadcasting is transmission of audio (sound), sometimes with related metadata, by radio waves to radio receivers belonging to a public audience. In terrestrial radio broadcasting the radio waves are broadcast by a land-based radio ...

s. *

January 21 Events Pre-1600 * 763 – Following the Battle of Bakhamra between Alids and Abbasids near Kufa, the Alid rebellion ends with the death of Ibrahim, brother of Isa ibn Musa. * 1525 – The Swiss Anabaptist Movement is founded when Co ...

– The first nuclear-powered

submarine A submarine (or sub) is a watercraft capable of independent operation underwater. It differs from a submersible, which has more limited underwater capability. The term is also sometimes used historically or colloquially to refer to remotely op ...

, the , is launched in

Groton, Connecticut Groton is a town in New London County, Connecticut located on the Thames River. It is the home of General Dynamics Electric Boat, which is the major contractor for submarine work for the United States Navy. The Naval Submarine Base New London is ...

, by

First Lady of the United States The first lady of the United States (FLOTUS) is the title held by the hostess of the White House, usually the wife of the president of the United States, concurrent with the president's term in office. Although the first lady's role has never ...

Mamie Eisenhower Mary Geneva "Mamie" Eisenhower (; November 14, 1896 – November 1, 1979) was the first lady of the United States from 1953 to 1961 as the wife of President Dwight D. Eisenhower. Born in Boone, Iowa, she was raised in a wealthy household in C ...

. *

January 25 Events Pre-1600 * 41 – After a night of negotiation, Claudius is accepted as Roman emperor by the Senate. * 750 – In the Battle of the Zab, the Abbasid rebels defeat the Umayyad Caliphate, leading to the overthrow of the dynasty ...

– The foreign ministers of the United States, Britain, France and the Soviet Union meet at the

Berlin Conference The Berlin Conference of 1884–1885, also known as the Congo Conference (, ) or West Africa Conference (, ), regulated European colonisation and trade in Africa during the New Imperialism period and coincided with Germany's sudden emergence ...

February

February 10 Events Pre-1600 * 1258 – Mongol invasions: Baghdad falls to the Mongols, bringing the Islamic Golden Age to an end. * 1306 – In front of the high altar of Greyfriars Church in Dumfries, Robert the Bruce murders John Comyn, sparkin ...

– After authorizing $385 million over the $400 million already budgeted for military aid to

Vietnam Vietnam or Viet Nam ( vi, Việt Nam, ), officially the Socialist Republic of Vietnam,., group="n" is a country in Southeast Asia, at the eastern edge of mainland Southeast Asia, with an area of and population of 96 million, making i ...

President of the United States The president of the United States (POTUS) is the head of state and head of government of the United States of America. The president directs the executive branch of the federal government and is the commander-in-chief of the United Stat ...

Dwight D. Eisenhower Dwight David "Ike" Eisenhower (born David Dwight Eisenhower; ; October 14, 1890 – March 28, 1969) was an American military officer and statesman who served as the 34th president of the United States from 1953 to 1961. During World War II, ...

warns against his country's intervention in

. *

February 19 Events Pre-1600 * 197 – Emperor Septimius Severus defeats usurper Clodius Albinus in the Battle of Lugdunum, the bloodiest battle between Roman armies. * 356 – The anti-paganism policy of Constantius II forbids the worship of pagan ...

–

1954 transfer of Crimea The transfer of the Crimean Oblast in the Soviet Union in 1954 was an administrative action of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the Soviet Union that transferred the government of the Crimean Peninsula from the Russian SFSR to the Ukrainia ...

: The

Soviet Politburo The Political Bureau of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union (, abbreviated: ), or Politburo ( rus, Политбюро, p=pəlʲɪtbʲʊˈro) was the highest policy-making authority within the Communist Party of the ...

of the

orders the transfer the

Crimean Oblast During the existence of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics, different governments existed within the Crimean Peninsula. From 1921 to 1936, the government in the Crimean Peninsula was known as the Crimean Autonomous Socialist Soviet Republic; ...

from the

Russian SFSR The Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic, Russian SFSR or RSFSR ( rus, Российская Советская Федеративная Социалистическая Республика, Rossíyskaya Sovétskaya Federatívnaya Soci ...

to the

Ukrainian SSR The Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic ( uk, Украї́нська Радя́нська Соціалісти́чна Респу́бліка, ; russian: Украи́нская Сове́тская Социалисти́ческая Респ ...

( Invaded and annexed by Russia in

2014 File:2014 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: Stocking up supplies and personal protective equipment (PPE) for the Western African Ebola virus epidemic; Citizens examining the ruins after the Chibok schoolgirls kidnapping; Bundles of wat ...

). *

February 23 Events Pre-1600 * 303 – Roman emperor Diocletian orders the destruction of the Christian church in Nicomedia, beginning eight years of Diocletianic Persecution. * 532 – Byzantine emperor Justinian I lays the foundation stone of a ...

– The first mass

vaccination Vaccination is the administration of a vaccine to help the immune system develop immunity from a disease. Vaccines contain a microorganism or virus in a weakened, live or killed state, or proteins or toxins from the organism. In stimulating ...

of children against

polio Poliomyelitis, commonly shortened to polio, is an infectious disease caused by the poliovirus. Approximately 70% of cases are asymptomatic; mild symptoms which can occur include sore throat and fever; in a proportion of cases more severe s ...

begins in

Pittsburgh Pittsburgh ( ) is a city in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, United States, and the county seat of Allegheny County, Pennsylvania, Allegheny County. It is the most populous city in both Allegheny County and Wester ...

, United States. *

February 25 Events Pre-1600 * 138 – Roman emperor Hadrian adopts Antoninus Pius as his son, effectively making him his successor. * 628 – Khosrow II, the last great Shah of the Sasanian Empire (Iran), is overthrown by his son Kavadh II. ...

– Lt. Col.

Gamal Abdel Nasser Gamal Abdel Nasser Hussein, . (15 January 1918 – 28 September 1970) was an Egyptian politician who served as the second president of Egypt from 1954 until his death in 1970. Nasser led the Egyptian revolution of 1952 and introduced far-re ...

becomes premier of

Egypt Egypt ( ar, مصر , ), officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, is a transcontinental country spanning the northeast corner of Africa and southwest corner of Asia via a land bridge formed by the Sinai Peninsula. It is bordered by the Mediter ...

March

March 1 Events Pre-1600 *509 BC – Publius Valerius Publicola celebrates the first Roman triumph, triumph of the Roman Republic after his victory over the deposed king Lucius Tarquinius Superbus at the Battle of Silva Arsia. * 293 – Emperor ...

** U.S. officials announce that a

hydrogen bomb A thermonuclear weapon, fusion weapon or hydrogen bomb (H bomb) is a second-generation nuclear weapon design. Its greater sophistication affords it vastly greater destructive power than first-generation nuclear bombs, a more compact size, a lowe ...

test (

Castle Bravo Castle Bravo was the first in a series of high-yield thermonuclear weapon design tests conducted by the United States at Bikini Atoll, Marshall Islands, as part of ''Operation Castle''. Detonated on March 1, 1954, the device was the most powerful ...

) has been conducted, on

Bikini Atoll Bikini Atoll ( or ; Marshallese: , , meaning "coconut place"), sometimes known as Eschscholtz Atoll between the 1800s and 1946 is a coral reef in the Marshall Islands consisting of 23 islands surrounding a central lagoon. After the Second ...

in the Pacific Ocean. ** U.S. Capitol shooting incident: Four

Puerto Rican nationalists Puerto, a Spanish word meaning ''seaport'', may refer to: Places *El Puerto de Santa María, Andalusia, Spain *Puerto, a seaport town in Cagayan de Oro City, Philippines *Puerto Colombia, Colombia *Puerto Cumarebo, Venezuela *Puerto Galera, Orient ...

open fire in the

United States House of Representatives The United States House of Representatives, often referred to as the House of Representatives, the U.S. House, or simply the House, is the Lower house, lower chamber of the United States Congress, with the United States Senate, Senate being ...

chamber and wound 5; they are apprehended by security guards. *

March 9 Events Pre-1600 *141 BC – Liu Che, posthumously known as Emperor Wu of Han, assumes the throne over the Han dynasty of China. *1009 – First known mention of Lithuania, in the annals of the monastery of Quedlinburg. * 1226 – ...

– American journalists

Edward R. Murrow Edward Roscoe Murrow (born Egbert Roscoe Murrow; April 25, 1908 – April 27, 1965) was an American broadcast journalist and war correspondent. He first gained prominence during World War II with a series of live radio broadcasts from Europe fo ...

and

Fred W. Friendly Fred W. Friendly (born Ferdinand Friendly Wachenheimer, October 30, 1915 – March 3, 1998) was a president of CBS News and the creator, along with Edward R. Murrow, of the documentary television program '' See It Now''. He originated the concep ...

produce a 30-minute ''

See It Now ''See It Now'' is an American newsmagazine and documentary series broadcast by CBS from 1951 to 1958. It was created by Edward R. Murrow and Fred W. Friendly, with Murrow as the host of the show. From 1952 to 1957, ''See It Now'' won four Emmy A ...

'' documentary, entitled '' A Report on Senator Joseph McCarthy''. *

March 12 Events Pre-1600 * 538 – Vitiges, king of the Ostrogoths ends his siege of Rome and retreats to Ravenna, leaving the city to the victorious Byzantine general, Belisarius. * 1088 – Election of Urban II as the 159th Pope of the Cat ...

– Finland and Germany officially end their state of war. *

March 13 Events Pre-1600 *624 – The Battle of Badr, the first major battle between the Muslims and Quraysh. *1567 – The Battle of Oosterweel, traditionally regarded as the start of the Eighty Years' War. *1591 – At the Battle of Tond ...

–

Việt Minh The Việt Minh (; abbreviated from , chữ Nôm and Hán tự: ; french: Ligue pour l'indépendance du Viêt Nam, ) was a national independence coalition formed at Pác Bó by Hồ Chí Minh on 19 May 1941. Also known as the Việt Minh Front ...

forces under General

Võ Nguyên Giáp Võ Nguyên Giáp (; 25 August 1911 – 4 October 2013) was a Vietnamese general and communist politician who is regarded as having been one of the greatest military strategists of the 20th century. He served as interior minister in President H ...

began a massive artillery bombardment on the French military, beginning the

Battle of Dien Bien Phu The Battle of Dien Bien Phu (french: Bataille de Diên Biên Phu ; vi, Chiến dịch Điện Biên Phủ, ) was a climactic confrontation of the First Indochina War that took place between 13 March and 7 May 1954. It was fought between the Fr ...

, the climactic battle of the

First Indochina War The First Indochina War (generally known as the Indochina War in France, and as the Anti-French Resistance War in Vietnam) began in French Indochina from 19 December 1946 to 20 July 1954 between France and Việt Minh (Democratic Republic of Vi ...

. *

March 19 Events Pre-1600 * 1277 – The Byzantine–Venetian treaty of 1277 is concluded, stipulating a two-year truce and renewing Venetian commercial privileges in the Byzantine Empire. *1279 – A Mongol victory at the Battle of Yamen ends ...

–

Joey Giardello Carmine Orlando Tilelli (July 16, 1930 – September 4, 2008) was an American boxer who was the world middleweight champion from 1963 to 1965,. He adopted the name Joey Giardello (the name of a cousin's friend) in order to join the U.S. Army whil ...

knocks out Willie Tory at

Madison Square Garden Madison Square Garden, colloquially known as The Garden or by its initials MSG, is a multi-purpose indoor arena in New York City. It is located in Midtown Manhattan between Seventh and Eighth avenues from 31st to 33rd Street, above Pennsylva ...

in the first

televised Television, sometimes shortened to TV, is a telecommunication medium for transmitting moving images and sound. The term can refer to a television set, or the medium of television transmission. Television is a mass medium for advertising, ...

boxing Boxing (also known as "Western boxing" or "pugilism") is a combat sport in which two people, usually wearing protective gloves and other protective equipment such as hand wraps and mouthguards, throw punches at each other for a predetermined ...

prize fight to be shown in colour. *

March 23 Events Pre-1600 *1400 – The Trần dynasty of Vietnam is deposed, after one hundred and seventy-five years of rule, by Hồ Quý Ly, a court official. *1540 – Waltham Abbey Church, Waltham Abbey is surrendered to King Henry VIII of ...

– In Vietnam, the

Viet Minh The Việt Minh (; abbreviated from , chữ Nôm and Hán tự: ; french: Ligue pour l'indépendance du Viêt Nam, ) was a national independence coalition formed at Pác Bó by Hồ Chí Minh on 19 May 1941. Also known as the Việt Minh Fro ...

capture the main airstrip of Dien Bien Phu. The remaining French Army units there are partially isolated. *

March 25 Events Pre-1600 * 421 – Italian city Venice is founded with the dedication of the first church, that of San Giacomo di Rialto on the islet of Rialto. * 708 – Pope Constantine becomes the 88th pope. He would be the last pope to vi ...

** The

26th Academy Awards The 26th Academy Awards were held on March 25, 1954, simultaneously at the RKO Pantages Theatre in Hollywood (hosted by Fredric March), and the NBC Century Theatre in New York City (hosted by Donald O'Connor). The second national telecast of ...

Ceremony is held. ** The

recognises the

sovereignty Sovereignty is the defining authority within individual consciousness, social construct, or territory. Sovereignty entails hierarchy within the state, as well as external autonomy for states. In any state, sovereignty is assigned to the perso ...

East Germany East Germany, officially the German Democratic Republic (GDR; german: Deutsche Demokratische Republik, , DDR, ), was a country that existed from its creation on 7 October 1949 until its dissolution on 3 October 1990. In these years the state ...

. Soviet troops remain in the country. *

March 27 Events Pre-1600 *1309 – Pope Clement V imposes excommunication and Interdict (Catholic canon law), interdiction on Venice, and a general prohibition of all commercial intercourse with Venice, which had seized on Ferrara, a papal fiefdom. ...

– The

Castle Romeo Castle Romeo was the code name given to one of the tests in the Operation Castle series of U.S. nuclear tests. It was the first test of the TX-17 thermonuclear weapon, the first deployed thermonuclear bomb. It was detonated on March 26, 1954, a ...

nuclear test explosion is executed at

, in the

Marshall Islands The Marshall Islands ( mh, Ṃajeḷ), officially the Republic of the Marshall Islands ( mh, Aolepān Aorōkin Ṃajeḷ),'' () is an independent island country and microstate near the Equator in the Pacific Ocean, slightly west of the Internati ...

. *

March 28 Events Pre-1600 * AD 37 – Roman emperor Caligula accepts the titles of the Principate, bestowed on him by the Senate. * 193 – After assassinating the Roman Emperor Pertinax, his Praetorian Guards auction off the throne to Di ...

** The trial of

A. L. Zissu Abraham Leib Zissu (first name also Avram, middle name also Leiba or Leibu; he, אברהם לייב זיסו; January 25, 1888 – September 6, 1956) was a Romanian writer, political essayist, industrialist, and spokesman of the Jewish Romanian ...

and 12 other Zionist leaders ends with harsh sentences in

Communist Romania The Socialist Republic of Romania ( ro, Republica Socialistă România, RSR) was a Marxism–Leninism, Marxist–Leninist One-party state, one-party socialist state that existed officially in Romania from 1947 to 1989. From 1947 to 1965, the s ...

. ** Puerto Rico's first television station, ''

WKAQ-TV WKAQ-TV (channel 2) is a television station in San Juan, Puerto Rico, airing programming from the Telemundo and NBC networks. It is Owned-and-operated station, owned and operated by the Telemundo Station Group subsidiary of NBCUniversal. WKAQ-T ...

'', commences

broadcasting Broadcasting is the distribution (business), distribution of sound, audio or video content to a dispersed audience via any electronic medium (communication), mass communications medium, but typically one using the electromagnetic spectrum (radio ...

. *

March 29 Events Pre-1600 * 845 – Paris is sacked by Viking raiders, probably under Ragnar Lodbrok, who collects a huge ransom in exchange for leaving. * 1430 – The Ottoman Empire under Murad II captures Thessalonica from the Republic of ...

– A C-47 transport with French nurse

Geneviève de Galard Geneviève de Galard (born 13 April 1925) is a French nurse who was dubbed ''l'ange de Dien Bien Phu'' ("the Angel of Dien Bien Phu") during the French war in Indochina by the press in Hanoi, although in the camp she was known simply as Genevièv ...

on board is wrecked on the runway at Dien Bien Phu. *

March 30 Events Pre-1600 * 598 – Balkan Campaign: The Avars lift the siege at the Byzantine stronghold of Tomis. Their leader Bayan I retreats north of the Danube River after the Avaro- Slavic hordes are decimated by the plague. * 1282 &ndas ...

– The first operational subway line in Canada opens in

Toronto Toronto ( ; or ) is the capital city of the Canadian province of Ontario. With a recorded population of 2,794,356 in 2021, it is the most populous city in Canada and the fourth most populous city in North America. The city is the ancho ...

April

April 1 Events Pre-1600 * 33 – According to one historian's account, Jesus Christ's Last Supper is held. * 527 – Byzantine Emperor Justin I names his nephew Justinian I as co-ruler and successor to the throne. *1081 – Alexios I Kom ...

** The

U.S. Congress The United States Congress is the legislature of the federal government of the United States. It is Bicameralism, bicameral, composed of a lower body, the United States House of Representatives, House of Representatives, and an upper body, ...

and President

authorize the founding of the

United States Air Force Academy The United States Air Force Academy (USAFA) is a United States service academy in El Paso County, Colorado, immediately north of Colorado Springs. It educates cadets for service in the officer corps of the United States Air Force and Uni ...

Colorado Colorado (, other variants) is a state in the Mountain West subregion of the Western United States. It encompasses most of the Southern Rocky Mountains, as well as the northeastern portion of the Colorado Plateau and the western edge of t ...

. **

South Point School South Point is a higher-secondary co-educational private school located in Kolkata, West Bengal and affiliated to Central Board of Secondary Education, consisting of three organisations – South Point School (Nursery to Class V), South Poi ...

in India is founded, and becomes the largest school in the world by

1992 File:1992 Events Collage V1.png, From left, clockwise: 1992 Los Angeles riots, Riots break out across Los Angeles, California after the Police brutality, police beating of Rodney King; El Al Flight 1862 crashes into a residential apartment buildi ...

. *

April 3 Events Pre-1600 * 686 – Maya king Yuknoom Yich'aak K'ahk' assumes the crown of Calakmul. * 1043 – Edward the Confessor is crowned King of England. * 1077 – The Patriarchate of Friûl, the first Friulian state, is created ...

–

Petrov Affair The Petrov Affair was a Cold War spy incident in Australia, concerning the defection of Vladimir Petrov, a KGB officer, from the Soviet embassy in Canberra in 1954. The defection led to a Royal Commission and the resulting controversy contribu ...

: Diplomat Vladimir Petrov defects from the

and asks for

political asylum The right of asylum (sometimes called right of political asylum; ) is an ancient juridical concept, under which people persecuted by their own rulers might be protected by another sovereign authority, like a second country or another enti ...

in Australia. *

April 4 Events Pre-1600 * 503 BC – Roman consul Agrippa Menenius Lanatus celebrates a triumph for a military victory over the Sabines. * 190 – Dong Zhuo has his troops evacuate the capital Luoyang and burn it to the ground. * 611 – ...

– Legendary symphony conductor

Arturo Toscanini Arturo Toscanini (; ; March 25, 1867January 16, 1957) was an Italian conductor. He was one of the most acclaimed and influential musicians of the late 19th and early 20th century, renowned for his intensity, his perfectionism, his ear for orch ...

experiences a lapse of memory during a concert. At this concert's end, his retirement is announced, and he never conducts in public again. *

April 7 Events Pre-1600 * 451 – Attila the Hun captures Metz in France, killing most of its inhabitants and burning the town. * 529 – First ''Corpus Juris Civilis'', a fundamental work in jurisprudence, is issued by Eastern Roman Empe ...

–

gives his "

domino theory The domino theory is a geopolitical theory which posits that increases or decreases in democracy in one country tend to spread to neighboring countries in a domino effect. It was prominent in the United States from the 1950s to the 1980s in the ...

" speech, during a news conference. *

April 8 Events Pre-1600 * 217 – Roman emperor Caracalla is assassinated and is succeeded by his Praetorian Guard prefect, Marcus Opellius Macrinus. * 876 – The Battle of Dayr al-'Aqul saves Baghdad from the Saffarids. *1139 – Ro ...

– A Royal Canadian Air Force Canadair

Harvard Harvard University is a private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1636 as Harvard College and named for its first benefactor, the Puritan clergyman John Harvard, it is the oldest institution of higher le ...

collides with a

Trans-Canada Air Lines Trans-Canada Air Lines (also known as TCA in English, and Trans-Canada in French) was a Canadian airline that operated as the country's flag carrier, with corporate headquarters in Montreal, Quebec. Its first president was Gordon Roy McGrego ...

Canadair North Star The Canadair North Star is a 1940s Canadian development, for Trans-Canada Air Lines (TCA), of the Douglas DC-4. Instead of radial piston engines used by the Douglas design, Canadair used Rolls-Royce Merlin V12 engines to achieve a higher cruisin ...

over Moose Jaw, Saskatchewan, killing 37 people. *

April 11 Events Pre-1600 * 491 – Flavius Anastasius becomes Byzantine emperor, with the name of Anastasius I. * 1241 – Batu Khan defeats Béla IV of Hungary at the Battle of Mohi. * 1512 – War of the League of Cambrai: Franco-Ferra ...

** This day is denoted as the most boring day in the 20th century by

True Knowledge Evi (formerly True Knowledge) is a technology company in Cambridge, England, founded by William Tunstall-Pedoe,

, an

answer engine Question answering (QA) is a computer science discipline within the fields of information retrieval and natural language processing (NLP), which is concerned with building systems that automatically answer questions posed by humans in a natural la ...

developed by William Tunstall-Pedoe. No significant newsworthy events, births, or deaths are known to have happened on this day. ** In a

general election A general election is a political voting election where generally all or most members of a given political body are chosen. These are usually held for a nation, state, or territory's primary legislative body, and are different from by-elections ( ...

Belgium Belgium, ; french: Belgique ; german: Belgien officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a country in Northwestern Europe. The country is bordered by the Netherlands to the north, Germany to the east, Luxembourg to the southeast, France to th ...

, the dominant Christian Social Party wins 95 of the 212 seats in the Chamber of Representatives, and 49 of the 106 seats in the

Senate A senate is a deliberative assembly, often the upper house or chamber of a bicameral legislature. The name comes from the ancient Roman Senate (Latin: ''Senatus''), so-called as an assembly of the senior (Latin: ''senex'' meaning "the el ...

. The government led by

Jean Van Houtte Jean (Jan) Marie Joseph, Baron Van Houtte (17 March 1907 – 23 May 1991) was a Belgian politician who served as the prime minister of Belgium from 1952 to 1954. Born in Ghent, van Houtte held a doctorate in law and lectured at Ghent Univer ...

loses their majority in parliament. The two other main parties, the

Socialist Socialism is a left-wing economic philosophy and movement encompassing a range of economic systems characterized by the dominance of social ownership of the means of production as opposed to private ownership. As a term, it describes the e ...

and

Liberal Party The Liberal Party is any of many political parties around the world. The meaning of ''liberal'' varies around the world, ranging from liberal conservatism on the right to social liberalism on the left. __TOC__ Active liberal parties This is a li ...

, subsequently form a rare "

purple Purple is any of a variety of colors with hue between red and blue. In the RGB color model used in computer and television screens, purples are produced by mixing red and blue light. In the RYB color model historically used by painters, pu ...

" government, with

Achille Van Acker Achille Van Acker (8 April 1898 – 10 July 1975) was a Belgian politician who served three terms as the prime minister of Belgium between 1946 and 1958. A moderate from Flanders, Van Acker was a member of the Belgian Socialist Party (PSB–BSP) ...

as Prime Minister. *

April 12 Events Pre-1600 * 240 – Shapur I becomes co-emperor of the Sasanian Empire with his father Ardashir I. * 467 – Anthemius is elevated to Emperor of the Western Roman Empire. * 627 – King Edwin of Northumbria is converted ...

–

Bill Haley & His Comets Bill Haley & His Comets were an American rock and roll band founded in 1947 that continued until Haley's death in 1981. The band was also known as Bill Haley and the Comets and Bill Haley's Comets. From late 1954 to late 1956, the group record ...

record "

Rock Around the Clock "Rock Around the Clock" is a rock and roll song in the 12-bar blues format written by Max C. Freedman and James E. Myers (the latter being under the pseudonym "Jimmy De Knight") in 1952. The best-known and most successful rendition was record ...

" in their first session for American Decca in New York City; it is released on May 20 as a B-side, but only in

1955 Events January * January 3 – José Ramón Guizado becomes president of Panama. * January 17 – , the first nuclear-powered submarine, puts to sea for the first time, from Groton, Connecticut. * January 18– 20 – Battle of Yijian ...

becomes a #1 hit, helping to initiate the

rock and roll Rock and roll (often written as rock & roll, rock 'n' roll, or rock 'n roll) is a Genre (music), genre of popular music that evolved in the United States during the late 1940s and early 1950s. It Origins of rock and roll, originated from Africa ...

craze. *

April 14 Events Pre-1600 * 43 BC – Legions loyal to the Roman Senate, commanded by Gaius Pansa, defeat the forces of Mark Antony in the Battle of Forum Gallorum. * 69 – Vitellius, commanding Rhine-based armies, defeats Roman emperor Otho ...

Aneurin Bevan Aneurin "Nye" Bevan PC (; 15 November 1897 – 6 July 1960) was a Welsh Labour Party politician, noted for tenure as Minister of Health in Clement Attlee's government in which he spearheaded the creation of the British National Health ...

resigns from the

British Labour Party The Labour Party is a List of political parties in the United Kingdom, political party in the United Kingdom that has been described as an alliance of Social democracy, social democrats, Democratic socialism, democratic socialists and trade u ...

's Shadow Cabinet in protest over his party's failure to oppose the rearmament of West Germany. ** A Soviet spy ring in Australia is unveiled. *

April 16 Events Pre-1600 * 1457 BC – Battle of Megido - the first battle to have been recorded in what is accepted as relatively reliable detail. * 69 – Defeated by Vitellius' troops at Bedriacum, Otho commits suicide. * 73 – Masad ...

– Vice President

Richard Nixon Richard Milhous Nixon (January 9, 1913April 22, 1994) was the 37th president of the United States, serving from 1969 to 1974. A member of the Republican Party, he previously served as a representative and senator from California and was ...

announces that the United States may be "putting our own boys in Indochina regardless of Allied support". *

April 22 Events Pre-1600 * 1500 – Portuguese navigator Pedro Álvares Cabral lands in Brazil. * 1519 – Spanish conquistador Hernán Cortés establishes a settlement at Veracruz, Mexico. * 1529 – Treaty of Zaragoza divides the eastern ...

** The

1951 Events January * January 4 – Korean War: Third Battle of Seoul – Chinese and North Korean forces capture Seoul for the second time (having lost the Second Battle of Seoul in September 1950). * January 9 – The Government of the United ...

United Nations The United Nations (UN) is an intergovernmental organization whose stated purposes are to maintain international peace and international security, security, develop friendly relations among nations, achieve international cooperation, and be ...

Convention Relating to the Status of Refugees The Convention Relating to the Status of Refugees, also known as the 1951 Refugee Convention or the Geneva Convention of 28 July 1951, is a United Nations multilateral treaty that defines who a refugee is, and sets out the rights of individual ...

comes into force, defining the status of

refugee A refugee, conventionally speaking, is a displaced person who has crossed national borders and who cannot or is unwilling to return home due to well-founded fear of persecution.

s and setting out the basis for granting

right of asylum The right of asylum (sometimes called right of political asylum; ) is an ancient juridical concept, under which people persecuted by their own rulers might be protected by another sovereign authority, like a second country or another enti ...

. **

Senator A senate is a deliberative assembly, often the upper house or chamber of a bicameral legislature. The name comes from the ancient Roman Senate (Latin: ''Senatus''), so-called as an assembly of the senior (Latin: ''senex'' meaning "the el ...

Joseph McCarthy Joseph Raymond McCarthy (November 14, 1908 – May 2, 1957) was an American politician who served as a Republican U.S. Senator from the state of Wisconsin from 1947 until his death in 1957. Beginning in 1950, McCarthy became the most visi ...

begins hearings investigating the

United States Army The United States Army (USA) is the land service branch of the United States Armed Forces. It is one of the eight U.S. uniformed services, and is designated as the Army of the United States in the U.S. Constitution.Article II, section 2, cla ...

for being "soft" on

Communism Communism (from Latin la, communis, lit=common, universal, label=none) is a far-left sociopolitical, philosophical, and economic ideology and current within the socialist movement whose goal is the establishment of a communist society, a s ...

. *

April 26 Events Pre-1600 *1336 – Francesco Petrarca (Petrarch) ascends Mont Ventoux. * 1348 – Czech king Karel IV founds the Charles University in Prague, which was later named after him and was the first university in Central Europe. * 14 ...

** An international conference on Korea and Indo-China opens in Geneva. **

Akira Kurosawa was a Japanese filmmaker and painter who directed thirty films in a career spanning over five decades. He is widely regarded as one of the most important and influential filmmakers in the history of cinema. Kurosawa displayed a bold, dyna ...

's ''

Seven Samurai is a 1954 Japanese epic samurai drama film co-written, edited, and directed by Akira Kurosawa. The story takes place in 1586 during the Sengoku period of Japanese history. It follows the story of a village of desperate farmers who hire seven ...

'' is released in Japan. *

April 28 Events Pre-1600 * 224 – The Battle of Hormozdgan is fought. Ardashir I defeats and kills Artabanus V effectively ending the Parthian Empire. * 357 – Emperor Constantius II enters Rome for the first time to celebrate his victory ...

– U.S. Secretary of State

John Foster Dulles John Foster Dulles (, ; February 25, 1888 – May 24, 1959) was an American diplomat, lawyer, and Republican Party politician. He served as United States Secretary of State under President Dwight D. Eisenhower from 1953 to 1959 and was briefly ...

accuses Communist China of sending combat troops to Indo-China to train

guerrillas.

May

May 1 Events Pre-1600 * 305 – Diocletian and Maximian retire from the office of Roman emperor. * 880 – The Nea Ekklesia is inaugurated in Constantinople, setting the model for all later cross-in-square Orthodox churches. * 1169 &ndas ...

– The

Unification Church The Family Federation for World Peace and Unification, widely known as the Unification Church, is a new religious movement, whose members are called Unificationists, or "Moonies". It was officially founded on 1 May 1954 under the name Holy Spi ...

is founded in South Korea. *

May 4 Events Pre-1600 * 1256 – The Augustinian monastic order is constituted at the Lecceto Monastery when Pope Alexander IV issues a papal bull ''Licet ecclesiae catholicae''. * 1415 – Religious reformers John Wycliffe and Jan Hus are ...

– General

Alfredo Stroessner Alfredo Stroessner Matiauda (; 3 November 1912 – 16 August 2006) was a Paraguayan army officer and politician who served as President of Paraguay from 15 August 1954 to 3 February 1989. Stroessner led a coup d'état on 4 May 1954 with the ...

deposes

Federico Chávez Federico Chávez Careaga (February 15, 1882 – April 24, 1978) was a Paraguayan politician and soldier who served as President of Paraguay from September 10, 1949, to May 4, 1954. He was a member of the Colorado Party. Early life Chávez wa ...

in a

coup d'état A coup d'état (; French for 'stroke of state'), also known as a coup or overthrow, is a seizure and removal of a government and its powers. Typically, it is an illegal seizure of power by a political faction, politician, cult, rebel group, m ...

Paraguay Paraguay (; ), officially the Republic of Paraguay ( es, República del Paraguay, links=no; gn, Tavakuairetã Paraguái, links=si), is a landlocked country in South America. It is bordered by Argentina to the south and southwest, Brazil to th ...

; from August 15 he will hold the office of

President President most commonly refers to: *President (corporate title) *President (education), a leader of a college or university *President (government title) President may also refer to: Automobiles * Nissan President, a 1966–2010 Japanese ful ...

until

1989 File:1989 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The Cypress Street Viaduct, Cypress structure collapses as a result of the 1989 Loma Prieta earthquake, killing motorists below; The proposal document for the World Wide Web is submitted; The Exxo ...

. *

May 6 Events Pre-1600 * 1527 – Spanish and German troops sack Rome; many scholars consider this the end of the Renaissance. *1536 – The Siege of Cuzco commences, in which Incan forces attempt to retake the city of Cuzco from the Spanis ...

–

Roger Bannister Sir Roger Gilbert Bannister (23 March 1929 – 3 March 2018) was an English neurologist and middle-distance athlete who ran the first sub-4-minute mile. At the 1952 Olympics in Helsinki, Bannister set a British record in the 1500 metres and ...

runs the first sub-four minute mile, in

Oxford Oxford () is a city in England. It is the county town and only city of Oxfordshire. In 2020, its population was estimated at 151,584. It is north-west of London, south-east of Birmingham and north-east of Bristol. The city is home to the ...

, England. *

May 7 Events Pre-1600 * 351 – The Jewish revolt against Constantius Gallus breaks out after his arrival at Antioch. * 558 – In Constantinople, the dome of the Hagia Sophia collapses, twenty years after its construction. Justinian I imm ...

–

Vietnam War The Vietnam War (also known by #Names, other names) was a conflict in Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia from 1 November 1955 to the fall of Saigon on 30 April 1975. It was the second of the Indochina Wars and was officially fought between North Vie ...

(run-up): The

ends in a French defeat (the battle began on

). *

May 8 Events Pre-1600 * 453 BC – Spring and Autumn period: The house of Zhao defeats the house of Zhi, ending the Battle of Jinyang, a military conflict between the elite families of the State of Jin. * 413 – Emperor Honorius signs a ...

– The

Asian Football Confederation The Asian Football Confederation is the governing body of association football, beach soccer, and futsal in some countries/territories in Asia and Oceania. It has 47 member countries most of which are located in Asia. Australia, formerly in ...

(AFC) is formed in

Manila Manila ( , ; fil, Maynila, ), officially the City of Manila ( fil, Lungsod ng Maynila, ), is the capital of the Philippines, and its second-most populous city. It is highly urbanized and, as of 2019, was the world's most densely populate ...

Philippines The Philippines (; fil, Pilipinas, links=no), officially the Republic of the Philippines ( fil, Republika ng Pilipinas, links=no), * bik, Republika kan Filipinas * ceb, Republika sa Pilipinas * cbk, República de Filipinas * hil, Republ ...

. *

May 11 Events 1601–1900 *1812 – Prime Minister Spencer Perceval is Assassination of Spencer Perceval, assassinated by John Bellingham in the lobby of the British House of Commons. *1813 – William Lawson (explorer), William Lawson, Grego ...

– U.S. Secretary of State

declares that Indochina is important but not essential to the security of Southeast Asia, thus ending any prospect of American intervention on the side of France. *

May 14 Events Pre-1600 * 1027 – Robert II of France names his son Henry I as junior King of the Franks. *1097 – The Siege of Nicaea begins during the First Crusade. * 1264 – Battle of Lewes: Henry III of England is captured and forc ...

** The

Boeing 707 The Boeing 707 is an American, long-range, narrow-body airliner, the first jetliner developed and produced by Boeing Commercial Airplanes. Developed from the Boeing 367-80 prototype first flown in 1954, the initial first flew on December 20, ...

airplane is released, after about 2 years of development. ** The

Hague Convention for the Protection of Cultural Property in the Event of Armed Conflict The Hague Convention for the Protection of Cultural Property in the Event of Armed Conflict is the first international treaty that focuses exclusively on the protection of cultural property in armed conflict. It was signed at The Hague, Nethe ...

was adopted in

The Hague The Hague ( ; nl, Den Haag or ) is a city and municipality of the Netherlands, situated on the west coast facing the North Sea. The Hague is the country's administrative centre and its seat of government, and while the official capital of ...

, Netherlands. *

May 15 Events Pre-1600 * 221 – Liu Bei, Chinese warlord, proclaims himself emperor of Shu Han, the successor of the Han dynasty. * 392 – Emperor Valentinian II is assassinated while advancing into Gaul against the Frankish usurper Arbog ...

– The

Latin Union The Latin Union is an international organization of nations that use Romance languages, whose activities have been suspended since 2012. Headquartered in Paris, France, its aim is to protect, project, and promote the common cultural heritage of R ...

(''Unión Latina'') is created by the Convention of

Madrid Madrid ( , ) is the capital and most populous city of Spain. The city has almost 3.4 million inhabitants and a metropolitan area population of approximately 6.7 million. It is the second-largest city in the European Union (EU), and ...

. Its member countries use the five

Romance languages The Romance languages, sometimes referred to as Latin languages or Neo-Latin languages, are the various modern languages that evolved from Vulgar Latin. They are the only extant subgroup of the Italic languages in the Indo-European language fam ...

: Italian, French, Spanish, Portuguese, and Romanian. It will suspend operations in

2012 File:2012 Events Collage V3.png, From left, clockwise: The passenger cruise ship Costa Concordia lies capsized after the Costa Concordia disaster; Damage to Casino Pier in Seaside Heights, New Jersey as a result of Hurricane Sandy; People gather ...

. *

May 17 Events Pre-1600 *1395 – Battle of Rovine: The Wallachians defeat an invading Ottoman army. * 1521 – Edward Stafford, 3rd Duke of Buckingham, is executed for treason. * 1527 – Pánfilo de Narváez departs Spain to explore Flo ...

** ''

Brown v. Board of Education ''Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka'', 347 U.S. 483 (1954), was a landmark decision by the U.S. Supreme Court, which ruled that U.S. state laws establishing racial segregation in public schools are unconstitutional, even if the segregat ...

'' (347 US 483 1954): The

U.S. Supreme Court The Supreme Court of the United States (SCOTUS) is the highest court in the federal judiciary of the United States. It has ultimate appellate jurisdiction over all U.S. federal court cases, and over state court cases that involve a point o ...

rules unanimously that segregated schools are unconstitutional. ** The Royal Commission on the

in Australia begins its inquiry. **

Adnan Menderes Adnan Menderes (; 1899 – 17 September 1961) was a Turkish politician who served as Prime Minister of Turkey between 1950 and 1960. He was one of the founders of the Democrat Party (DP) in 1946, the fourth legal opposition party of Turkey. He ...

of the

Democratic Party Democratic Party most often refers to: *Democratic Party (United States) Democratic Party and similar terms may also refer to: Active parties Africa *Botswana Democratic Party *Democratic Party of Equatorial Guinea *Gabonese Democratic Party *Demo ...

forms the new (21st) government of

Turkey Turkey ( tr, Türkiye ), officially the Republic of Türkiye ( tr, Türkiye Cumhuriyeti, links=no ), is a list of transcontinental countries, transcontinental country located mainly on the Anatolia, Anatolian Peninsula in Western Asia, with ...

. *

May 20 Events Pre-1600 * 325 – The First Council of Nicaea is formally opened, starting the first ecumenical council of the Christian Church. * 491 – Empress Ariadne marries Anastasius I. The widowed '' Augusta'' is able to choose her ...

–

Chiang Kai-shek Chiang Kai-shek (31 October 1887 – 5 April 1975), also known as Chiang Chung-cheng and Jiang Jieshi, was a Chinese Nationalist politician, revolutionary, and military leader who served as the leader of the Republic of China (ROC) from 1928 ...

is re-elected as the

president of the Republic of China The president of the Republic of China, now often referred to as the president of Taiwan, is the head of state of the Republic of China (ROC), as well as the commander-in-chief of the Republic of China Armed Forces. The position once had aut ...

, by the

National Assembly In politics, a national assembly is either a unicameral legislature, the lower house of a bicameral legislature, or both houses of a bicameral legislature together. In the English language it generally means "an assembly composed of the repre ...

. *

May 22 Events Pre-1600 * 192 – Dong Zhuo is assassinated by his adopted son Lü Bu. * 760 – Fourteenth recorded perihelion passage of Halley's Comet. * 853 – A Byzantine fleet sacks and destroys undefended Damietta in Egypt. * 11 ...

– The common Nordic Labour Market act is signed. *

May 26 Events Pre-1600 * 17 – Germanicus celebrates a triumph in Rome for his victories over the Cherusci, Chatti, and other German tribes west of the Elbe. * 451 – Battle of Avarayr between Armenian rebels and the Sasanian Empire take ...

– A fire on board the U.S. Navy aircraft carrier USS ''Bennington'', off

Narragansett Bay Narragansett Bay is a bay and estuary on the north side of Rhode Island Sound covering , of which is in Rhode Island. The bay forms New England's largest estuary, which functions as an expansive natural harbor and includes a small archipelago. Sma ...

Massachusetts Massachusetts (Massachusett language, Massachusett: ''Muhsachuweesut assachusett writing systems, məhswatʃəwiːsət'' English: , ), officially the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, is the most populous U.S. state, state in the New England ...

, kills 103 sailors. *

May 29 Events Pre-1600 * 363 – The Roman emperor Julian defeats the Sasanian army in the Battle of Ctesiphon, under the walls of the Sasanian capital, but is unable to take the city. * 1108 – Battle of Uclés: Almoravid troops under ...

1954 Australian federal election The 1954 Australian federal election were held in Australia on 29 May 1954. All 121 seats in the House of Representatives were up for election, but no Senate election took place. The incumbent Liberal–Country coalition led by Prime Minister Ro ...

Robert Menzies The name Robert is an ancient Germanic given name, from Proto-Germanic "fame" and "bright" (''Hrōþiberhtaz''). Compare Old Dutch ''Robrecht'' and Old High German ''Hrodebert'' (a compound of ''Hrōþ, Hruod'' ( non, Hróðr) "fame, glory ...

Liberal Liberal or liberalism may refer to: Politics * a supporter of liberalism ** Liberalism by country * an adherent of a Liberal Party * Liberalism (international relations) * Sexually liberal feminism * Social liberalism Arts, entertainment and m ...

Country A country is a distinct part of the world, such as a state, nation, or other political entity. It may be a sovereign state or make up one part of a larger state. For example, the country of Japan is an independent, sovereign state, while the ...

Coalition A coalition is a group formed when two or more people or groups temporarily work together to achieve a common goal. The term is most frequently used to denote a formation of power in political or economical spaces. Formation According to ''A Gui ...

Government A government is the system or group of people governing an organized community, generally a state. In the case of its broad associative definition, government normally consists of legislature, executive, and judiciary. Government is a ...

is re-elected with a decreased majority, defeating the Labor Party led by

H.V. Evatt Herbert Vere Evatt, (30 April 1894 – 2 November 1965) was an Australian politician and judge. He served as a judge of the High Court of Australia from 1930 to 1940, Attorney-General of Australia, Attorney-General and Minister for Foreign Aff ...

. The election has come shortly after the

, arguably helping the Government survive what was initially predicted to be a defeat. ** Creation and first meeting of the

Bilderberg Group The Bilderberg meeting (also known as the Bilderberg Group) is an annual off-the-record conference established in 1954 to foster dialogue between Europe and North America. The group's agenda, originally to prevent another world war, is now defin ...

. **

Diane Leather Diane S Leather Charles (7 January 19335 September 2018) was an English athlete who was the first woman to run a sub-5-minute mile. Early life Leather was born in Streetly, Staffordshire. She was one of six children, and the only daughter, ...

becomes the first woman to run a sub-five minute mile, in

Birmingham Birmingham ( ) is a city and metropolitan borough in the metropolitan county of West Midlands in England. It is the second-largest city in the United Kingdom with a population of 1.145 million in the city proper, 2.92 million in the West ...

, England.

June

June 6 Events Pre-1600 * 913 – Constantine VII, the eight-year-old illegitimate son of Leo VI the Wise, becomes nominal ruler of the Byzantine Empire under the regency of a seven-man council headed by Patriarch Nicholas Mystikos, appointed b ...

– The grand opening of the sculpture of Yuriy Dolgorukiy takes place in

Moscow Moscow ( , US chiefly ; rus, links=no, Москва, r=Moskva, p=mɐskˈva, a=Москва.ogg) is the capital and largest city of Russia. The city stands on the Moskva River in Central Russia, with a population estimated at 13.0 million ...

(this statue is one of the main monuments of Moscow). *

June 7 Events Pre-1600 * 421 – Emperor Theodosius II marries Aelia Eudocia at Istanbul, Constantinople (Byzantine Empire). * 879 – Pope John VIII recognizes the Duchy of Croatia under Duke Branimir of Croatia, Branimir as an independent ...

– English cryptanalyst, mathematician and computer scientist

Alan Turing Alan Mathison Turing (; 23 June 1912 – 7 June 1954) was an English mathematician, computer scientist, logician, cryptanalyst, philosopher, and theoretical biologist. Turing was highly influential in the development of theoretical com ...

, age 41, commits suicide by cyanide poisoning. *

June 9 Events Pre-1600 * 411 BC – The Athenian coup succeeds, forming a short-lived oligarchy. * 53 – The Roman emperor Nero marries Claudia Octavia. * 68 – Nero dies by suicide after quoting Vergil's ''Aeneid'', thus ending the J ...

–

McCarthyism McCarthyism is the practice of making false or unfounded accusations of subversion and treason, especially when related to anarchism, communism and socialism, and especially when done in a public and attention-grabbing manner. The term origin ...

Joseph N. Welch Joseph Nye Welch (October 22, 1890 – October 6, 1960) was an American lawyer and actor who served as the chief counsel for the United States Army while it was under investigation for Communist activities by Senator Joseph McCarthy's Senate Pe ...

, special counsel for the

, lashes out at

, during hearings on whether

has infiltrated the Army, saying, "Have you, at long last, no decency?" *

June 14 Events Pre-1600 * 1158 – The city of Munich is founded by Henry the Lion on the banks of the river Isar. *1216 – First Barons' War: Prince Louis of France takes the city of Winchester, abandoned by John, King of England, and soo ...

– The words "under God" are added to the United States

Pledge of Allegiance The Pledge of Allegiance of the United States is a patriotic recited verse that promises allegiance to the flag of the United States and the republic of the United States of America. The first version, with a text different from the one used ...

. *

June 15 Events Pre-1600 * 763 BC – Assyrians record a solar eclipse that is later used to fix the chronology of Mesopotamian history. * 844 – Louis II is crowned as king of Italy at Rome by pope Sergius II. * 923 – Battle of So ...

– The

UEFA Union of European Football Associations (UEFA ; french: Union des associations européennes de football; german: Union der europäischen Fußballverbände) is one of six continental bodies of governance in association football. It governs f ...

(Union of European Football Associations) is formed in

Basel , french: link=no, Bâlois(e), it, Basilese , neighboring_municipalities= Allschwil (BL), Hégenheim (FR-68), Binningen (BL), Birsfelden (BL), Bottmingen (BL), Huningue (FR-68), Münchenstein (BL), Muttenz (BL), Reinach (BL), Riehen (BS ...

, Switzerland. *

June 17 Events Pre-1600 * 653 – Pope Martin I is arrested and taken to Constantinople, due to his opposition to monothelitism. * 1242 – Following the Disputation of Paris, twenty-four carriage loads of Jewish religious manuscripts were bur ...

– A CIA-engineered military coup occurs in

Guatemala Guatemala ( ; ), officially the Republic of Guatemala ( es, República de Guatemala, links=no), is a country in Central America. It is bordered to the north and west by Mexico; to the northeast by Belize and the Caribbean; to the east by H ...

. *

June 18 Events Pre-1600 * 618 – Li Yuan becomes Emperor Gaozu of Tang, initiating three centuries of Tang dynasty rule over China. * 656 – Ali becomes Caliph of the Rashidun Caliphate. * 860 – Byzantine–Rus' War: A fleet of about ...

–

Pierre Mendès France Pierre Isaac Isidore Mendès France (; 11 January 190718 October 1982) was a French politician who served as prime minister of France for eight months from 1954 to 1955. As a member of the Radical Party, he headed a government supported by a co ...

becomes prime minister of France. *

June 22 Events Pre-1600 * 217 BC – Battle of Raphia: Ptolemy IV Philopator of Egypt defeats Antiochus III the Great of the Seleucid kingdom. * 168 BC – Battle of Pydna: Romans under Lucius Aemilius Paullus defeat Macedonian King Perseus ...

Sarah Mae Flemming Sarah Mae Flemming Brown (June 28, 1933 – June 16, 1993) was an African-American woman who was expelled from a bus in Columbia, South Carolina, seventeen months before Rosa Parks refused to surrender her seat on an Alabama bus in 1955. Flemmin ...

is expelled from a bus in South Carolina, for sitting in a white-only section. **

Parker–Hulme murder case The Parker–Hulme murder case began in the city of Christchurch, South Island, New Zealand, on 22 June 1954, when Honorah Rieper (also known as Honorah Parker, her legal name) was killed by her teenage daughter, Pauline Parker, and Pauline's c ...

Pauline Parker Pauline may refer to: Religion *An adjective referring to St Paul the Apostle or a follower of his doctrines *An adjective referring to St Paul of Thebes, also called St Paul the First Hermit *An adjective referring to the Paulines, various relig ...

, 16 and her friend

Juliet Hulme Anne Perry (born Juliet Marion Hulme; 28 October 1938) was convicted of murder in New Zealand when a teenager, later moved to England and became an author. In 1954, at the age of fifteen, she and her 16-year-old friend Pauline Parker were tried ...

, 15, bludgeon Parker's mother to death using a brick, at

Victoria Park Victoria Park may refer to: Places Australia * Victoria Park Nature Reserve, a protected area in Northern Rivers region, New South Wales * Victoria Park, Adelaide, a park and racecourse * Victoria Park, Brisbane, a public park and former golf ...

in New Zealand. *

June 27 Events Pre-1600 * 1358 – The Republic of Ragusa is founded. * 1497 – Cornish rebels Michael An Gof and Thomas Flamank are executed at Tyburn, London, England. * 1499 – Americo Vespucci, on Spanish financed trip, sights coas ...

n President

Jacobo Árbenz Juan Jacobo Árbenz Guzmán (; 14 September 191327 January 1971) was a Guatemalan military officer and politician who served as the 25th President of Guatemala. He was Minister of National Defense from 1944 to 1950, and the second democraticall ...

steps down in a

CIA The Central Intelligence Agency (CIA ), known informally as the Agency and historically as the Company, is a civilian intelligence agency, foreign intelligence service of the federal government of the United States, officially tasked with gat ...

-sponsored

military coup A military, also known collectively as armed forces, is a heavily armed, highly organized force primarily intended for warfare War is an intense armed conflict between states, governments, societies, or paramilitary groups such ...

, triggering a bloody civil war that continues for more than 35 years. ** The world's first atomic power station opens at

Obninsk Obninsk (russian: О́бнинск) is a city in Kaluga Oblast, Russia, located on the bank of the Protva River southwest of Moscow and northeast of Kaluga. Population: History The history of Obninsk began in 1945 when the First Research In ...

, near Moscow.

July

July 1 Events Pre-1600 * 69 – Tiberius Julius Alexander orders his Roman legions in Alexandria to swear allegiance to Vespasian as Emperor. * 552 – Battle of Taginae: Byzantine forces under Narses defeat the Ostrogoths in Italy, and the ...

** The Common Nordic Labor Market Act comes into effect. ** The United States officially begins using the international unit of the nautical mile, equal to 6,076.11549 ft. or 1,852 meters. *

July 4 Events Pre-1600 * 362 BC – Battle of Mantinea: The Thebans, led by Epaminondas, defeated the Spartans. * 414 – Emperor Theodosius II, age 13, yields power to his older sister Aelia Pulcheria, who reigned as regent and proclaim ...

** Food rationing in Great Britain ends, with the lifting of restrictions on sale and purchase of meat, 14 years after it began early in

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

, and nearly a decade after the war's end. ** "Miracle of Bern":

beats

Hungary Hungary ( hu, Magyarország ) is a landlocked country in Central Europe. Spanning of the Carpathian Basin, it is bordered by Slovakia to the north, Ukraine to the northeast, Romania to the east and southeast, Serbia to the south, Croatia a ...

3–2 to win the

1954 FIFA World Cup The 1954 FIFA World Cup was the fifth edition of the FIFA World Cup, the quadrennial international football tournament for senior men's national teams of the nations affiliated to FIFA. It was held in Switzerland from 16 June to 4 July. Switzerla ...

. *

July 10 Events Pre-1600 * 138 – Emperor Hadrian of Rome dies of heart failure at his residence on the bay of Naples, Baiae; he is buried at Rome in the Tomb of Hadrian beside his late wife, Vibia Sabina. * 645 – Isshi Incident: Prin ...

–

Peter Thomson Peter Thomson may refer to: * Peter Thomson (golfer) (1929–2018), Australian golfer * Peter Thomson (diplomat) (born 1948), Fiji's Permanent Representative to the United Nations * Peter Thomson (footballer) (born 1977), English footballer * Peter ...

becomes the first Australian to win the British Open Golf Championship. *

July 15 Events Pre-1600 *484 BC – Dedication of the Temple of Castor and Pollux in ancient Rome * 70 – First Jewish–Roman War: Titus and his armies breach the walls of Jerusalem. ( 17th of Tammuz in the Hebrew calendar). * 756 – ...

** The

Boeing 367-80 The Boeing 367-80, known simply as the Dash 80, is an American quadjet prototype aircraft built by Boeing to demonstrate the advantages of jet propulsion for commercial aviation. It served as basis for the design of the KC-135 tanker and the 70 ...

(or Dash 80), prototype of the

series, makes its maiden flight. ** Juan Fangio,

Argentine Argentines (mistakenly translated Argentineans in the past; in Spanish (masculine) or (feminine)) are people identified with the country of Argentina. This connection may be residential, legal, historical or cultural. For most Argentines, s ...

driver for German

Grand Prix Grand Prix ( , meaning ''Grand Prize''; plural Grands Prix), is a name sometimes used for competitions or sport events, alluding to the winner receiving a prize, trophy or honour Grand Prix or grand prix may refer to: Arts and entertainment ...

team

Mercedes-Benz Mercedes-Benz (), commonly referred to as Mercedes and sometimes as Benz, is a German luxury and commercial vehicle automotive brand established in 1926. Mercedes-Benz AG (a Mercedes-Benz Group subsidiary established in 2019) is headquartere ...

, makes a new fastest lap of the

Silverstone Circuit Silverstone Circuit is a motor racing circuit in England, near the Northamptonshire villages of Towcester, Silverstone and Whittlebury. It is the home of the British Grand Prix, which it first hosted as the 1948 British Grand Prix. The 1950 ...

, with an average speed of 100.35 mph, the previous record being 100.16 mph. *

July 19 Events Pre-1600 *AD 64 – The Great Fire of Rome causes widespread devastation and rages on for six days, destroying half of the city. * 484 – Leontius, Roman usurper, is crowned Eastern emperor at Tarsus (modern Turkey). He is re ...

– Release of

Elvis Presley Elvis Aaron Presley (January 8, 1935 – August 16, 1977), or simply Elvis, was an American singer and actor. Dubbed the "Honorific nicknames in popular music, King of Rock and Roll", he is regarded as Cultural impact of Elvis Presley, one ...

's first single, "

That's All Right "That's All Right" is a song written and originally performed by blues singer Arthur Crudup and recorded in 1946. The song was rereleased in early March 1949 under the title "That's All Right, Mama", which was issued as RCA's first rhythm and bl ...

", by

Sun Records Sun Records is an American independent record label founded by producer Sam Phillips in Memphis, Tennessee in February 1952. Sun was the first label to record Elvis Presley, Charlie Rich, Roy Orbison, Jerry Lee Lewis, Carl Perkins, and Johnny C ...

(recorded

July 5 Events Pre-1600 * 328 – The official opening of Constantine's Bridge (Danube), Constantine's Bridge built over the Danube between Sucidava (Corabia, Romania) and Oescus (Gigen, Bulgaria) by the Roman Empire, Roman architect Theophilus Pa ...

Memphis, Tennessee Memphis is a city in the U.S. state of Tennessee. It is the seat of Shelby County in the southwest part of the state; it is situated along the Mississippi River. With a population of 633,104 at the 2020 U.S. census, Memphis is the second-mos ...

). *

July 21 Events Pre-1600 * 356 BC – The Temple of Artemis in Ephesus, one of the Seven Wonders of the World, is destroyed by arson. * 230 – Pope Pontian succeeds Urban I as the eighteenth pope. After being exiled to Sardinia, he became the ...

–

: The Geneva Conference sends French forces to the south, and Vietnamese forces to the north, of a ceasefire line, and calls for elections to decide the government for all of

by July 1956. Failure to abide by the terms of the agreement leads to the establishment of the de facto regimes of

North Vietnam North Vietnam, officially the Democratic Republic of Vietnam (DRV; vi, Việt Nam Dân chủ Cộng hòa), was a socialist state supported by the Soviet Union (USSR) and the People's Republic of China (PRC) in Southeast Asia that existed f ...

and

South Vietnam South Vietnam, officially the Republic of Vietnam ( vi, Việt Nam Cộng hòa), was a state in Southeast Asia that existed from 1955 to 1975, the period when the southern portion of Vietnam was a member of the Western Bloc during part of th ...

, and the

. *

July 29 Events Pre-1600 * 587 BC – The Neo-Babylonian Empire sacks Jerusalem and destroys the First Temple. * 615 – Pakal ascends the throne of Palenque Palenque (; Yucatec Maya language, Yucatec Maya: ), also anciently known in the ...

– ''

The Fellowship of the Ring ''The Fellowship of the Ring'' is the first of three volumes of the epic novel ''The Lord of the Rings'' by the English author J. R. R. Tolkien. It is followed by ''The Two Towers'' and ''The Return of the King''. It takes place in the fiction ...

'', the first of three volumes in J.R.R. Tolkien's epic fantasy novel, ''

The Lord of the Rings ''The Lord of the Rings'' is an epic high-fantasy novel by English author and scholar J. R. R. Tolkien. Set in Middle-earth, intended to be Earth at some time in the distant past, the story began as a sequel to Tolkien's 1937 children's boo ...

'', is published in London. *

July 31 Events Pre-1600 *30 BC – Battle of Alexandria: Mark Antony achieves a minor victory over Octavian's forces, but most of his army subsequently deserts, leading to his suicide. * 781 – The oldest recorded eruption of Mount Fuji (Tr ...

–

1954 Italian expedition to K2 On 31 July 1954, Italian climbers Achille Compagnoni and Lino Lacedelli became the first people to reach the summit of K2, the second highest mountain in the world after Mount Everest, which had been summited for the first time the previous ye ...

: Italian mountaineers

Lino Lacedelli Lino Lacedelli (4 December 1925 – 20 November 2009) was an Italian mountaineer. Together with Achille Compagnoni, on 31 July 1954 he was the first man to reach the summit of K2. Early life Lacedelli was born in Cortina d'Ampezzo. His climbing ...

and

Achille Compagnoni Achille Compagnoni (26 September 1914 – 13 May 2009) was an Italian mountaineer and skier. Together with Lino Lacedelli on 31 July 1954 he was in the first party to reach the summit of K2. Biography Compagnoni was born in Santa Caterina di ...

become the first to reach the summit of the second highest mountain in the world, in the

Karakoram The Karakoram is a mountain range in Kashmir region spanning the borders of Pakistan, China, and India, with the northwest extremity of the range extending to Afghanistan and Tajikistan. Most of the Karakoram mountain range falls under the ...

range.

August

August 1 Events Pre-1600 *30 BC – Octavian (later known as Augustus) enters Alexandria, Egypt, bringing it under the control of the Roman Republic. *AD 69 – Batavian rebellion: The Batavians in Germania Inferior (Netherlands) revolt under ...

– The

ends with the

Vietnam People's Army Vietnam or Viet Nam ( vi, Việt Nam, ), officially the Socialist Republic of Vietnam,., group="n" is a country in Southeast Asia, at the eastern edge of mainland Southeast Asia, with an area of and population of 96 million, making i ...

, the

Vietnamese National Army The Vietnamese National Army or Vietnam National Army ( vi, Quân đội Quốc gia Việt Nam, lit=Army of the State of Vietnam, french: Armée Nationale Vietnamienne, lit=Vietnamese National Army) was the State of Vietnam's military force create ...

, the

Kingdom of Cambodia Cambodia (; also Kampuchea ; km, កម្ពុជា, UNGEGN: ), officially the Kingdom of Cambodia, is a country located in the southern portion of the Indochinese Peninsula in Southeast Asia, spanning an area of , bordered by Thailand t ...

Cambodia Cambodia (; also Kampuchea ; km, កម្ពុជា, UNGEGN: ), officially the Kingdom of Cambodia, is a country located in the southern portion of the Indochinese Peninsula in Southeast Asia, spanning an area of , bordered by Thailand t ...

, and the

Kingdom of Laos The Kingdom of Laos was a landlocked country in Southeast Asia at the heart of the Indochinese Peninsula. It was bordered by Burma and China to the northwest, North Vietnam to the east, Cambodia to the southeast, and Thailand to the west and ...

Laos Laos (, ''Lāo'' )), officially the Lao People's Democratic Republic ( Lao: ສາທາລະນະລັດ ປະຊາທິປະໄຕ ປະຊາຊົນລາວ, French: République démocratique populaire lao), is a socialist ...

, emerging victorious against the French Army. *

August 6 Events Pre-1600 *1284 – The Republic of Pisa is defeated in the Battle of Meloria by the Republic of Genoa, thus losing its naval dominance in the Mediterranean. * 1538 – Bogotá, Colombia, is founded by Gonzalo Jiménez de Quesada ...

– Emilie Dionne, one of the

Dionne quintuplets The Dionne quintuplets (; born May 28, 1934) are the first quintuplets known to have survived their infancy. The identical girls were born just outside Callander, Ontario, near the village of Corbeil. All five survived to adulthood. The Dionn ...

, dies of

asphyxia Asphyxia or asphyxiation is a condition of deficient supply of oxygen to the body which arises from abnormal breathing. Asphyxia causes generalized hypoxia, which affects primarily the tissues and organs. There are many circumstances that can i ...

tion following an

epileptic seizure An epileptic seizure, informally known as a seizure, is a period of symptoms due to abnormally excessive or synchronous neuronal activity in the brain. Outward effects vary from uncontrolled shaking movements involving much of the body with los ...

. She is the first of the five to perish; three live into the 21st century. *

August 16 Events Pre-1600 * 1 BC – Wang Mang consolidates his power in China and is declared marshal of state. Emperor Ai of Han, who died the previous day, had no heirs. * 942 – Start of the four-day Battle of al-Mada'in, between the Hamdan ...

– The first issue of ''

Sports Illustrated ''Sports Illustrated'' (''SI'') is an American sports magazine first published in August 1954. Founded by Stuart Scheftel, it was the first magazine with circulation over one million to win the National Magazine Award for General Excellence twic ...

'' magazine is published in the United States. *

August 23 Events Pre-1600 *30 BC – After the successful invasion of Egypt, Octavian executes Marcus Antonius Antyllus, the eldest son of Mark Antony, and Caesarion, the last king of the Ptolemaic dynasty of Egypt and only child of Julius Caesar ...

– A

United States Air Force The United States Air Force (USAF) is the air service branch of the United States Armed Forces, and is one of the eight uniformed services of the United States. Originally created on 1 August 1907, as a part of the United States Army Signal ...

Lockheed C-130 Hercules The Lockheed C-130 Hercules is an American four-engine turboprop military transport aircraft designed and built by Lockheed (now Lockheed Martin). Capable of using unprepared runways for takeoffs and landings, the C-130 was originally design ...

makes its first flight at

Burbank, California Burbank is a city in the southeastern end of the San Fernando Valley in Los Angeles County, California, United States. Located northwest of downtown Los Angeles, Burbank has a population of 107,337. The city was named after David Burbank, w ...

, manufactured by

Lockheed Martin The Lockheed Martin Corporation is an American aerospace, arms, defense, information security, and technology corporation with worldwide interests. It was formed by the merger of Lockheed Corporation with Martin Marietta in March 1995. It ...

. *

August 24 Events Pre-1600 * 367 – Gratian, son of Roman Emperor Valentinian I, is named co-Augustus at the age of eight by his father. * 394 – The Graffito of Esmet-Akhom, the latest known inscription in Egyptian hieroglyphs, is written. ...

– Brazilian president

Getúlio Vargas Getúlio Dornelles Vargas (; 19 April 1882 – 24 August 1954) was a Brazilian lawyer and politician who served as the 14th and 17th president of Brazil, from 1930 to 1945 and from 1951 to 1954. Due to his long and controversial tenure as Brazi ...

commits suicide, after being accused of involvement in a conspiracy to murder his chief political opponent,

Carlos Lacerda Carlos Frederico Werneck de Lacerda (30 April 1914 – 21 May 1977) was a Brazilian journalist and politician. Biography Born in Rio de Janeiro, Lacerda was the son of a family of politicians from Vassouras, Rio de Janeiro state. He was the ...

September

September 6 Events Pre-1600 * 394 – Battle of the Frigidus: Roman emperor Theodosius I defeats and kills Eugenius the usurper. His Frankish ''magister militum'' Arbogast escapes but commits suicide two days later. *1492 – Christopher Colu ...

– The

Southeast Asia Treaty Organization The Southeast Asia Treaty Organization (SEATO) was an international organization for collective defense in Southeast Asia created by the Southeast Asia Collective Defense Treaty, or Manila Pact, signed in September 1954 in Manila, the Philipp ...

(SEATO) treaty is signed in

. * September 8 – SEATO is established in Bangkok, Thailand. * September 9 – The 6.7 1954 Chlef earthquake, Chlef earthquake shakes northern Algeria, with a maximum Mercalli intensity scale, Mercalli intensity of XI (''Extreme''). The shock destroys Orléansville, leaving 1,243–1,409 dead, and 5,000 injured. * September 11 – The Miss America Pageant is broadcast on television for the first time. * September 14 ** The

carries out the Totskoye nuclear exercise. ** English composer Benjamin Britten's chamber opera version of ''The Turn of the Screw (opera), The Turn of the Screw'' receives its world premiere, at the Teatro La Fenice in Venice, Italy. * September 15 – Black Wednesday (air travel), Black Wednesday in air travel: severe delays to flights, due to bad weather, occur along the East Coast of the United States. * September 17 – William Golding's allegorical dystopian novel ''Lord of the Flies'' is published in London. * September 18 – Finnish president J. K. Paasikivi is the first Western head of state to be awarded the highest honor of the

, the Order of Lenin. * September 20 – The first ''Moomins'' Moomin comic strips, comic strip is published in the London newspaper ''The Evening News (London newspaper), The Evening News''. * September 25 – Western Bulldogs, Footscray Football Club wins their first Australian Football League AFL Grand Final, Grand Final. * September 26 – Japanese ferry ''Tōya Maru'' sinks during a typhoon in the Tsugaru Strait. More than 1,100 people are killed, 7 other ships are List of shipwrecks in 1954#26 September, wrecked, and at least nine others seriously damaged. * September 27 – ''The Tonight Show'' first airs on live television on NBC in the United States being the first late night talk show. * September 30 – The , the first nuclear-powered

in the world, is commissioned into the U.S. Navy.

October

* October 11 ** Pre-

: The

takes control of

. ** Hurricane Hazel crosses over Haiti, killing 1,000. * October 15 – Hurricane Hazel makes U.S. landfall; it is the only recorded Saffir–Simpson hurricane scale#Category 4, Category 4 hurricane to strike as far north as North Carolina * October 18 ** Texas Instruments announces the development of the first commercial transistor radio. The Regency TR-1 goes on sale the following month. ** The comic strip ''Hi and Lois'', by Mort Walker and Dik Browne, is launched in the United States. * October 23 ** West Germany joins NATO. ** London and Paris Conferences#Paris, Paris Agreement sets up the Western European Union to implement the Treaty of Brussels (1948), providing for mutual self-defence and other collaboration between Belgium, France, West Germany, Italy, Luxembourg, the Netherlands and the United Kingdom. * October 25 – Landslides caused by heavy rains hit Salerno, Italy, killing about 300. * October 26 – Muslim Brotherhood member Mahmoud Abdul Latif tries to kill

. * October 31 – Algerian War, Algerian War of Independence: The National Liberation Front (Algeria), Algerian National Liberation Front begins a revolt against French rule.

November

* November 1 – The National Liberation Front (Algeria), FLN attacks representative and public buildings of the French colonial power. * November 2 ** The dock workers' strike in the United Kingdom, UK comes to an end. ** The radio program ''Hancock's Half Hour'', a pioneer in situation comedy, is first broadcast on BBC Radio (a television version will follow in 1956). * November 3 – The first Godzilla (1954 film), ''Godzilla'' film premieres in Tokyo. * November 5 – Japan and Burma sign a peace treaty in Rangoon, to end their long-extinct state of war. * November 10 – U.S. President

dedicates the USMC War Memorial (Iwo Jima Memorial), at the Arlington National Cemetery. * November 12 – The main immigration port-of-entry in New York Harbor at Ellis Island closes permanently. * November 13 – Great Britain national rugby league team, Great Britain defeats France national rugby league team, France, to capture the first ever Rugby League World Cup in Paris in front of around 30,000 spectators * November 14 –

ian president Muhammad Naguib is deposed, and

replaces him. * November 22 – ''Berman v. Parker'' (348 U.S. 26): The

upholds the federal slum clearance and urban renewal programs. * November 23 – The Dow Jones Industrial Average rises 3.27 points, or 0.86 percent, closing at an all-time high of 382.74. More significantly, this is the first time the Dow has surpassed its peak level, reached just before the Wall Street Crash of 1929. * November 30 – In Sylacauga, Alabama, a four-kilogram piece of the Sylacauga (meteorite), Hodges Meteorite crashes through the roof of a house and badly bruises a napping woman, in the first documented case of an object from outer space hitting a person.

December

* December 1 – The first Hyatt, Hyatt Hotel, The Hyatt House Los Angeles, opens on the grounds of Los Angeles International Airport. It is the first hotel in the world built on an airport property. * December 2 ** Second Red Scare, Red Scare: The United States Senate votes 67–22 to condemn

, for "conduct that tends to bring the Senate into dishonor and disrepute." ** The Taiwan-United States Mutual Defense Treaty is signed. * December 4 – The first Burger King opens in Miami, Miami, Florida. * December 15 – The Netherlands Antilles is created out of the Dutch Caribbean nations. It is dissolved between 1986 and 2010. * December 23 – J. Hartwell Harrison and Joseph Murray perform the world's first successful kidney transplantation, in Boston, Massachusetts. * December 24 –

gains full independence from France.

Date titles

* New Zealand engineer Bill Hamilton (engineer), Sir William Hamilton develops the first pump-jet engine (the "Hamilton Jet") capable of propelling a jetboat. * The first electric drip brew coffeemaker is patented in Germany and named the Wigomat after its inventor Gottlob Widmann. * The Boy Scouts of America desegregates on the basis of race. * Gerbils (''Meriones unguiculatus'') are brought to the United States by Dr. Victor Schwentker. * The case of Lothar Malskat, who had admitted that he had painted the supposedly antique frescoes in Marienkirche, Lübeck, Marienkirche himself, goes to trial. * The TV dinner is introduced, by American entrepreneur Gerry Thomas. * In

, the

is reorganised into the Viet Cong. * After the death of Joseph Stalin, the

starts releasing political prisoners and deportees from its Gulag prison camps.

Births

January

** Thomas Aisu, Ugandan physician, educator (d. 2018) ** Djimrangar Dadnadji, 16th prime minister of Chad (d. 2019) * January 2 – Henry Bonilla, American politician *

** Ned Lamont, American politician ** Ross the Boss, American heavy metal/punk guitarist * January 4 ** Tina Knowles, African-American fashion designer; mother of R&B singers Beyoncé and Solange Knowles ** Dave Ulliott, Dave "The Devilfish" Ulliott, English professional poker player * January 5 – Alex English, American basketball player * January 6 – Anthony Minghella, British film, theatre director (d. 2008) *

** Jodi Long, American actress ** José María Vitier, Cuban music composer, pianist * January 8 – Julieta Castellanos, Honduran sociologist * January 11 – Kailash Satyarthi, Indian activist, Nobel Peace Prize laureate * January 11 - Balachandra Menon, Indian Malayalam film director and actor *

– Howard Stern, American radio host * January 13 – Trevor Rabin, South African–American musician * January 14 – Masanobu Fuchi, Japanese professional wrestler *

– Jose Dalisay, Jr., Filipino writer * January 16 – Morten P. Meldal, Danish chemist, Nobel Prize in Chemistry, Nobel Prize laureate * January 19 ** Ted DiBiase, American professional wrestler ** Katey Sagal, American actress and singer ** Katharina Thalbach, German actress ** Yumi Matsutōya, Japanese singer-songwriter *

– Thomas de Maizière, German politician * January 22 – Peter Pilz, Austrian politician * January 23 ** Franco De Vita, Venezuelan singer, songwriter ** Edward Ka-Spel, British/Dutch singer and songwriter (The Legendary Pink Dots) * January 28 ** Peter Lampe, German theologian, historian ** Bruno Metsu, French football coach (d. 2013) ** Kaneto Shiozawa, Japanese voice actor (d. 2000) ** Willy Telavi, 11th prime minister of Tuvalu * January 29 ** Yukinobu Hoshino, Japanese cartoonist ** Oprah Winfrey, African-American actress, talk show hostess, producer and publisher * January 31 – Mark Slavin, Israeli wrestler (d. 1972)

February

Viktor Yushchenko by Tasnimnews 01 (cropped)

* February 1 – Bill Mumy, American actor, musician (''Lost In Space'') * February 2 – Christie Brinkley, American model * February 4 – Andrei Karlov, Russian diplomat (d. 2016) * February 7 – Dieter Bohlen, German music producer and singer-songwriter (''Modern Talking, Blue System'') * February 9 – Gina Rinehart, Australian mining tycoon * February 11 – Noriyuki Asakura, Japanese composer * February 12 ** Joseph Jordania, Georgian-Australian musicologist, academic ** Evangelos Basiakos, Greek politician, long term MP, and minister ** Tzimis Panousis, Greek comedian, singer, and author * February 13 – Donnie Moore, American baseball player (d.

) * February 15 – Matt Groening, American cartoonist (''The Simpsons'') * February 16 ** Iain Banks, Scottish author (d. 2013) ** Margaux Hemingway, American fashion model and actress (d. 1996) * February 17 ** Rene Russo, American actress, fashion model ** Yuji Takada (wrestler), Yuji Takada, Japanese free-style wrestler ** Brian Houston (pastor), Brian Houston, Australian-New Zealand pastor, author and founder of Hillsong Church * February 18 ** John Travolta, American actor ** Jalaluddin Hassan, Malaysian actor *

** Messaouda Boubaker, Tunisian writer ** Michael Gira, American musician ** Sócrates, Brazilian footballer (d. 2011) * February 20 ** Anthony Head, English actor, musician ** Patty Hearst, American heiress and kidnap victim *

– Viktor Yushchenko, President of Ukraine * February 24 – Sid Meier, Canadian programmer, game designer, notable for the ''Civilization series, Civilization'' series *

– Gerardo Pelusso, Uruguayan football manager * February 26 – Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, List of Presidents of Turkey, 12th President of Turkey

March

** Peter Spellos, American actor, voice actor ** Catherine Bach, American actress (''The Dukes of Hazzard'') ** Ron Howard, American actor, director, producer (''The Andy Griffith Show,'' ''Happy Days'') * March 2 ** Ed Johnstone, Canadian ice hockey player ** Gara Takashima, Japanese voice actress * March 4 ** François Fillon, Prime Minister of France ** Catherine O'Hara, Canadian actress (''Second City Television, SCTV'') ** Irina Ratushinskaya, Russian writer ** Willie Thorne, English snooker player (d. 2020) * March 5 – João Lourenço, President of Angola * March 6 – Harald Schumacher, German football goalkeeper * March 8 ** Marie-Theres Nadig, Swiss alpine skier ** David Wilkie (swimmer), David Wilkie, Scottish former world record holder, Olympic gold medallist swimmer (1976) *

** Bobby Sands, Irish republican hunger striker (d. 1981) ** Kevin Wade, American screenwriter, television producer * March 11 – Nicolae Manea, Romanian football player, manager (d.

) *

– Valerie Amos, Baroness Amos, The Baroness Amos, British politician * March 15 ** Massimo Bubola, Italian singer, songwriter ** Craig Wasson, American actor * March 16 ** S.A. Griffin, American actor, poet ** Nancy Wilson (rock musician), Nancy Wilson, American rock musician ** Jimmy Nail, English singer, songwriter, actor, film producer, and television writer * March 17 – Lesley-Anne Down, British actress * March 18 – James F. Reilly, American astronaut *

– Indu Shahani, Indian educator, Sheriff of Mumbai * March 20 – Louis Sachar, American author *

** Geno Auriemma, American basketball coach ** Hideyuki Hori, Japanese voice actor * March 24 ** Mike Braun, American businessman and politician ** Robert Carradine, American actor ** Donna Pescow, American actress, director (''Angie (TV series), Angie'') ** Rafael Orozco Maestre, Colombian singer (d.

) * March 26 ** Wendy Fulton, American actress ** Kazuhiko Inoue, Japanese voice actor ** Clive Palmer, Australian mining tycoon *

– Karen Ann Quinlan, American right-to-die cause célèbre (d. 1985)

April

Bundesarchiv Bild 183-N0620-0034, Angelika Hellmann

** Dieter Müller, German soccer player ** Jeff Porcaro, American drummer, songwriter (''Toto (band), Toto'') (d.

) * April 2 – Susumu Hirasawa, Japanese musician *

** Mary-Margaret Humes, American actress ** Tom Ruegger, American animator, screenwriter, storyboard artist, and lyricist * April 5 ** David Edward Maust, American serial killer (d. 2006) ** Guy Bertrand (broadcaster), Guy Bertrand, Canadian linguist, radio/television personality * April 6 ** Judi Bowker, English actress ** Michael Simms (publisher), Michael Simms, American poet, publisher; founded ''Autumn House Press'' *

** Jackie Chan, Hong Kong-born actor, martial artist ** Tony Dorsett, American football player *

– Gary Carter, American baseball player (d.

) * April 9 ** Steve Holt (Canadian musician), Steve Holt, Canadian musician ** Dennis Quaid, American actor * April 10 ** Anacani, Mexican-born American singer (''The Lawrence Welk Show'') ** Angelika Hellmann, East German artistic gymnast *

** Katsuhiro Otomo, Japanese manga artist (''Akira (Akira), Akira'') ** Bruce Sterling, American science fiction writer *

– Ellen Barkin, American actress * April 17 ** Norio Imamura, Japanese voice actor ** Roddy Piper, Canadian wrestler (d. 2015) *

– Jōji Nakata, Japanese voice actor * April 23 ** Peter Nyombi, Ugandan lawyer, politician (d. 2018) ** Michael Moore, American filmmaker, political activist (''Bowling for Columbine'') ** Lea Black, American philanthropist, author, television personality, political activist and entrepreneur * April 25 ** Randy Cross, American football player, broadcaster * April 27 ** Herman Edwards, American football head coach ** Frank Bainimarama, Fijian politician *

– Michael Daugherty, American composer * April 29 ** Jake Burton Carpenter, American founder of Burton Snowboards (d. 2019) ** Kazuko Kurosawa, Japanese costume designer ** Jerry Seinfeld, American actor, comedian and producer (''Seinfeld'') * April 30 – Jane Campion, New Zealand screenwriter, producer, and director

May

Johnny Logan - NDR Hafengeburtstag 2017 20

** Ray Parker Jr., African-American musician and composer ("Ghostbusters (song), Ghostbusters") ** Maatia Toafa, 2-time prime minister of Tuvalu * May 2 – Elliot Goldenthal, American composer * May 5 – David Azulai, Israeli politician (d. 2018) *

– Angela Hernández Nuñez, Dominican writer *

** Philippe Geluck, Belgian cartoonist ** Amy Heckerling, American film director ** Diana Raab, American author *

– Pam Arciero, Hawaiian-born puppeteer (''Sesame Street'') * May 10 – Amos Guttman, Israeli film director (d. 1993) * May 13 – Johnny Logan (singer), Johnny Logan, Australian-born Irish singer, composer and Eurovision Song Contest winner (1980, 1987) dubbed as "Mister Eurovision" *

** María Dolores Katarain ("Yoyes"), Spanish Basque separatist leader (d. 1986) ** Peter J. Ratcliffe, English cellular biologist, Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine, Nobel Prize laureate * May 19 ** Hōchū Ōtsuka, Japanese voice actor ** Phil Rudd, Australian rock drummer (AC/DC) *

– David Paterson, American politician, 55th Governor of New York *

– Shuji Nakamura, Japanese electronics engineer * May 23 – Marvelous Marvin Hagler, American middleweight boxer and film actor (d. 2021) * May 25 ** Tantely Andrianarivo, 11th prime minister of Madagascar ** Sudirman (singer), Sudirman, Malaysian singer and songwriter (d.

) * May 27 ** Pauline Hanson, Australian politician ** Lawrence M. Krauss, American theoretical physicist, science writer ** Coney Reyes, Philippine film and television actress * May 28 – John Tory, Canadian politician *

– Pankaj Kapur, Indian actor

June

Harvey Fierstein Shankbone Metropolitan Opera 2009

Jim Belushi Unveils Belushi Performance Hall at MAC Motown 2015

* June 2 ** Mattos Nascimento, Brazilian musician, singer, composer and trombonist ** Dennis Haysbert, African-American actor ** Chiyoko Kawashima, Japanese voice actress * June 4 – Kazuhiro Yamaji, Japanese actor, voice actor * June 5 ** Hashim Djojohadikusumo, Indonesian entrepreneur, politician ** Nancy Stafford, American actress, Christian author *

– Harvey Fierstein, American actor *

** John Hagelin, American physicist, U.S. presidential candidate ** Elizabeth May, leader of the Green Party of Canada * June 10 – Kurt Walker (ice hockey), Kurt Walker, American ice hockey player (d. 2018) * June 13 – Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, Nigerian-born Director-General of the World Trade Organization *

– Will Patton, American actor *

** Jim Belushi, American actor, comedian, singer and musician ** Bob McDonnell, American politician * June 16 – Sergey Kuryokhin, Russian pianist, composer, improvisor, performance artist and actor (d. 1996) * June 19 ** Ted Coombs, American artist ** Kathleen Turner, American actress (''Romancing the Stone'') * June 20 ** Michael Anthony (musician), Michael Anthony, American rock bassist (Van Halen) ** Karlheinz Brandenburg, German electrical engineer, mathematician ** Ilan Ramon, Israeli Air Force fighter pilot, Israel's first astronaut (d. 2003) * June 21 ** Chip Ingram, American Christian pastor, author and orator ** Mark Kimmitt, U.S general ** Anne Kirkbride, British actress (''Coronation Street'') (d. 2015) ** Robert Pastorelli, American actor (d. 2004) ** Jim Tooey, American actor *

** Chris Lemmon, American actor, author ** Freddie Prinze, American actor, comedian (''Chico and the Man'') (d. 1977) * June 23 ** Francisco Javier Cuadra, Chilean lawyer, academic and politician ** Carme Pinós, Spanish architect ** James Plaskitt, British politician * June 24 – Chang San-cheng, Taiwanese politician * June 25 ** Luiz Carlos Vasconcelos, Brazilian actor ** Sonia Sotomayor, Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States ** Igor Lisovsky, Soviet pair skater ** Abderrazak Kilani, Tunisian politician, lawyer * June 26 – Steve Barton, American actor (d. 2001) *

** Ron Kirk, Mayor of Dallas, Texas ** Anita Zagaria, Italian actress * June 28 ** Daniel Dantas (actor), Daniel Dantas, Brazilian actor ** Ava Barber, American country singer (''The Lawrence Welk Show'') ** Alice Krige, South African actress and producer * June 29 ** Jai Jagadish, Indian film actor, director and producer ** Rick Honeycutt, American baseball player, coach * June 30 ** Serzh Sargsyan, President of Armenia ** Stephen Ouimette, Canadian actor, director ** Mohammad A. Quayum, Bangladeshi academic, writer, editor, critic and translator ** Wayne Swan, Australian politician ** Pierre Charles (Dominican politician), Pierre Charles, Prime Minister of Dominica (d. 2004)

July

** Sharif Hassan Sheikh Aden, Somali politician ** Pedro Guastavino, Argentine politician ** Lawrence Gonzi, Maltese politician and lawyer ** Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis, Iraqi-Iranian military commander (d. 2020) ** Hossein Nuri, Iranian artist * July 2 ** Ludmila Aslanian, Armenian chess player ** Peter Randall-Page, British artist ** Wendy Schaal, American actress * July 3 – Pennie Lane Trumbull, American socialite, philanthropist, businesswoman, and entrepreneur *

– Anne Lambton, British actress *

** Don Stark, American actor ** John Wright (cricketer, born 1954), John Wright, New Zealand cricket captain * July 6 – Willie Randolph, American baseball player, coach, manager * July 7 ** Robert M. Price, American theologian and writer, Cthulhu Mythos scholar and editor ** Simon Anderson, Australian competitive surfer, surfboard shaper, and writer ** Ursula Stephens, Australian politician * July 8 ** David Aaronovitch, English journalist, television presenter and author ** Matthew Marsh (actor), Matthew Marsh, English actor * July 9 – Kevin O'Leary, Canadian businessman, television personality, and political candidate *

** Andre Dawson, American baseball player ** Michele Serra, Italian writer, journalist and satirist ** Neil Tennant, British singer-songwriter, musician and journalist (Pet Shop Boys) ** Yō Yoshimura, Japanese voice actor (d. 1991) ** José González Ganoza, Peruvian footballer (d. 1987) * July 11 – Alejandro Camacho, Mexican actor and producer * July 12 ** Lisa Pelikan, American actress ** Paulo Saldiva, Brazilian professor, physician, pathologist and medical researcher * July 13 – Sezen Aksu, Turkey, Turkish singer *

** Neil Brewer, British musician and songwriter ** Tarak Dhiab, Tunisian footballer ** John Ferguson (rugby league), John Ferguson, Australian rugby league player ** Mario Kempes, Argentine footballer ** Jeff Jarvis, American journalist, professor, public speaker and television critic * July 16 ** Nicholas Frankau, English actor ** Jeanette Mott Oxford, American politician * July 17 ** Angela Merkel, 8th Chancellor of Germany (Federal Republic of Germany), Chancellor of Germany ** Richard Bekins, American actor ** Edward Natapei, Vanuatu politician and Prime Minister of Vanuatu (d. 2015) ** J. Michael Straczynski, American author * July 18 – Franziska Troegner, German actress *

– Verica Kalanović, Serbian politician * July 20 ** Lo Ta-yu, Taiwanese singer and songwriter ** Nguyễn Xuân Phúc, Vietnamese politician; 10th President of Vietnam, 7th Prime Minister of Vietnam ** Wilson Casey, American syndicated columnist and entertainer *

– Otto Jespersen (comedian), Otto Jespersen, Norwegian comedian, actor and television personality * July 22 – Pierre Lebeau, Canadian actor * July 24 ** Michael H. O'Brien, American politician (d. 2018) ** Jorge Jesus, Portuguese football player and coach * July 25 – Walter Payton, African-American football player (d. 1999) * July 26 ** Vitas Gerulaitis, American tennis player (d. 1994) ** Leonardo Daniel, Mexican actor and director * July 27 ** Philippe Alliot, French race car driver ** Lynne Frederick, British actress (d. 1994) * July 28 – Hugo Chávez, President of Venezuela (d. 2013) *

– Mark Gersmehl, American Christian musician

August

** Gurinder Singh, Baba Gurinder Singh, Fifth and Present Satguru of Radha Soami Satsang Beas ** Philip Trenary, American businessman (d. 2018) ** Michael Badnarik, American software engineer and presidential candidate ** James Gleick, American non fiction author of several award-winning books. ** Junpei Morita, Japanese actor and voice actor * August 2 – David Tang, Hong Kong-British entrepreneur and philanthropist (d. 2017) * August 4 ** Dorottya Udvaros, Hungarian actress ** François Valéry, French singer-songwriter and composer ** Uwe Wittwer, Swiss artist * August 7 – Susanna Javicoli, Italian actress (d. 2005) * August 9 – Pete Thomas (drummer), Pete Thomas, British drummer for the Elvis Costello band * August 11 – Joe Jackson (musician), Joe Jackson, British singer-songwriter (''Steppin' Out'') * August 12 ** François Hollande, President of France 2012–17 ** Sam J. Jones, American actor ** Pat Metheny, American jazz guitarist * August 13 ** Nico Assumpção, Brazilian bass guitar player (d. 2001) ** Tõnu Kilgas, Estonian singer and actor * August 14 ** Mark Fidrych, American baseball player (d. 2009) ** Stanley A. McChrystal, U.S. Army general *

** James Cameron, Canadian-born film director ** George Galloway, British politician * August 17 ** Anatoly Kudryavitsky, Russian-Irish writer ** Andrés Pastrana Arango, President of Colombia * August 20 ** Tawn Mastrey, American disc jockey and music video producer (d. 2007) ** Al Roker, American television personality and host ** Richarda Schmeisser, East German artistic gymnast * August 21 ** Steve Smith (musician), Steve Smith, American drummer ** Ivan Stang, American author and publisher * August 22 – Jay Patterson, American actor *

** Ian Bartholomew, English actor ** Charles Busch, American director, writer and actor ** Halimah Yacob, 8th president of Singapore *

** Joe Ochman, American actor and voice actor ** Philippe Cataldo, French singer * August 25 ** Bruno Manser, Swiss environmental activist (d. 2005) ** Elvis Costello, English singer-songwriter * August 29 – István Cserháti, Hungarian keyboardist (d. 2005) * August 30 – Alexander Lukashenko, President of Belarus * August 31 ** Robert Kocharyan, President of Armenia ** Caroline Cossey, British model

September

Carly Fiorina 2017 CPAC by Gage Skidmore

* September 1 – Dave Lumley, Canadian ice hockey player * September 2 ** Andrej Babiš, Czech entrepreneur and politician, 12th Prime Minister of the Czech Republic ** Vance DeGeneres, American actor ** Zeta Emilianidou, Cypriot lawyer and politician (d. 2022) ** Gai Waterhouse, Australian racehorse trainer ** Humberto Zurita, Mexican actor, director and producer * September 5 – Danny Masterton, Scottish footballer (d. 2020) *

– Carly Fiorina, American businesswoman, CEO of Hewlett-Packard, HP (1999-2005) and Senator Ted Cruz's running mate in the 2016 United States presidential election, 2016 presidential election * September 7 ** Corbin Bernsen, American actor ** Michael Emerson, American actor ** Francisco Guterres, 4th president of East Timor * September 9 – Mohsen Rezaee, Iranian politician * September 10 – Mark W. Everson, American businessman; 46th Commissioner of the Internal Revenue Service (2003–07) * September 13 – Steve Kilbey, Australian musician * September 14 – Buzz Schneider, American professional ice hockey player * September 15 – Nava Semel, Israeli author and playwright (d. 2017) * September 16 – Ashrita Furman, American record breaker * September 17 ** Wayne Krenchicki, American baseball player (d. 2018) ** Joël-François Durand, French composer * September 18 – Dennis Johnson, American basketball player (d. 2007) * September 21 ** Shinzō Abe, Prime Minister of Japan (d. 2022) ** Thomas S. Ray, American ecologist ** Cass Sunstein, American legal scholar ** Phil "Philthy Animal" Taylor, English drummer (Motörhead and Waysted) * September 23 – Cherie Blair, lawyer, wife of British Prime Minister Tony Blair * September 24 – Lilian Mercedes Letona, Salvadoran guerrilla (d. 1983) * September 26 – Kevin Kennedy (baseball), Kevin Kennedy, American baseball manager and television host * September 28 – Steve Largent, American football player and congressman * September 29 – Cindy Morgan, American actress * September 30 ** Barry Williams (actor), Barry Williams, American actor ** Patrice Rushen, African-American singer

October

2016 National Action Network King Day Breakfast (24485953015)

2016 NAB Show's The Future of Cinema Conference, produced in partnership with SMPTE (26717112630) (cropped)

Malcolm Turnbull at the Pentagon 2016 cropped

* October 1 – Martin Strel, Slovenian swimmer * October 2 – Wong Tien Fatt, Malaysian politician (d. 2019) * October 3 ** Eddie DeGarmo, American Christian keyboardist and producer ** Dennis Eckersley, American baseball player ** Al Sharpton, African-American civil rights activist, minister and radio talk show host ** Dawayne Bailey, American musician ** Stevie Ray Vaughan, American musician (d. 1990) * October 5 ** Gurudas Kamat, Indian politician (d. 2018) ** Wayne Watson, American Christian musician * October 6 – Howard Hoffman, American voice actor * October 7 – Robert A. Schuller, American televangelist and the son of Robert Schuller * October 9 ** Scott Bakula, American actor (''Quantum Leap'', ''Star Trek: Enterprise'') ** John O'Hurley, American actor and game show host * October 10 ** Mohamed Mounir, Egyptian singer and actor ** David Lee Roth, American rock singer * October 12 ** Evalie A. Bradley, Anguillian politician and member of the House of Assembly of Anguilla. ** Linval Thompson, Jamaican singer and producer * October 13 – Mordechai Vanunu, a former Israeli nuclear technician who revealed secrets of its nuclear weapons program * October 14 – Mohamad Sabu, Malaysian politician * October 15 ** Peter Bakowski, Australian poet ** Michael Garner, English actor * October 18 – Yūji Mitsuya, Japanese voice actor * October 19 ** Ken Stott, Scottish actor ** Ronnie Leitch, Sri Lankan singer and actor (d. 2018) * October 21 – Brian Tobin, sixth Premier of Newfoundland and Labrador. * October 22 – Ellen Gerstell, American voice actress * October 23 – Ang Lee, Taiwanese film director * October 24 ** Doug Davidson, American actor ** Mike Rounds, South Dakota politician ** Malcolm Turnbull, Prime Minister of Australia, 28th Prime Minister of Australia * October 25 ** Laxmikant Berde, Indian actor (d. 2004) ** Mike Eruzione, American ice hockey player * October 26 ** Farit Ismeth Emir, Malaysian news anchor (d. 2020) ** Carlos Agostinho do Rosário, Mozambican politician ** Victor Ciorbea, 56th prime minister of Romania * October 30 ** Kathleen Cody (actor), Kathleen Cody, American actress ** Mario Testino, Peruvian photographer

November

Kamal Haasan at Promotions of 'Vishwaroop' with Videocon (03)

Aleksander kwasniewski konferencja (cropped)

* November 2 – Angela Webber, Australian author, television writer, producer and comedian (d. 2007) * November 3 ** Adam Ant, British rock singer and musician ** Brigitte Lin, Taiwanese actress ** Kathy Kinney, American actress and comedian * November 5 ** Mike Gabriel, American animator and film producer ** Alejandro Sabella, Argentine footballer and manager (d. 2020) * November 6 – Karin Fossum, Norwegian crime fiction writer * November 7 ** Robin Beck, American singer ** Kamal Haasan, Indian actor, dancer, film director, screenwriter, producer and politician ** Jon Taffer, American bar consultant, television host and author * November 8 ** Michael D. Brown, first Undersecretary of Emergency Preparedness and Response, a division of the United States' Department of Homeland Security ** Kazuo Ishiguro, Japanese-born British author, Nobel Prize in Literature, Nobel Prize laureate * November 11 – Mary Gaitskill, American novelist * November 12 – Rhonda Shear, American television hostess, actress and comedian * November 13 – Chris Noth, American actor * November 14 ** Yanni, Greek musician ** Robert Alberts, Dutch footballer and manager of Persib Bandung ** Willie Hernández, Puerto Rican Major League Baseball player ** Bernard Hinault, French road bicycle racer ** Condoleezza Rice, American politician, 66th United States Secretary of State * November 15 ** Stephen W. Burns, American actor (d. 1990) ** Aleksander Kwaśniewski, President of Poland * November 16 – Bruce Edwards (caddy), Bruce Edwards, American golf caddy (d. 2004) * November 19 – Abdel Fattah el-Sisi, President of Egypt * November 20 ** Bin Shimada, Japanese voice actor * November 22 – Paolo Gentiloni, Prime Minister of Italy * November 23 ** Elizabeth Savalla, Brazilian actress ** Bruce Hornsby, American rock singer * November 26 ** Roz Chast, American cartoonist ** Dan Kwong, American performance artist and playwright * November 27 ** Patricia McPherson, American actress ** Kimmy Robertson, American actress * November 28 – Marty Grabstein, American actor and voice actor * November 29 – Coen brothers, Joel Coen, American film director, producer, screenwriter and editor * November – Pierre M'Pelé, African public health personality and writer

December

Uli Jon Roth (PK) - Wacken Open Air 2017 06

* December 1 – Bob Goen, American television personality and game show host * December 2 ** Dan Butler, American actor and voice actor ** Stone Phillips, American television journalist * December 3 – Grace Andreacchi, American author * December 4 – Tony Todd, American actor and producer * December 6 – Beat Furrer, Swiss-born Austrian composer and conductor * December 7 – Mark Hofmann, American forger and murderer * December 8 – Sumi Shimamoto, Japanese voice actress * December 9 – Jean-Claude Juncker, Luxembourg politician * December 10 – Jack Hues, English singer and musician (Wang Chung (band), Wang Chung) * December 11 ** Sylvester Clarke, West Indian cricketer (d. 1999) ** Jermaine Jackson, African-American singer and actor ** Prachanda, Nepalese Communist leader * December 13 – John Anderson (musician), John Anderson, American country music singer-songwriter * December 14 ** Ib Andersen, Danish dancer ** Alan Kulwicki, American race car driver (d. 1993) * December 15 – Mark Warner, American politician * December 18 ** Uli Jon Roth, German rock guitarist (''Scorpions'') ** Ray Liotta, American actor and producer (d. 2022) * December 20 ** Binali Yildirim, Prime Minister of Turkey ** Sandra Cisneros, American writer * December 21 – Chris Evert, American tennis player * December 23 – Brian Teacher, American tennis player * December 24 – José María Figueres, Costa Rican politician, President (1994–1998) * December 25 ** Roman Baskin, Estonian actor and director of stage and screen (d. 2018) ** Annie Lennox, British pop musician and lead singer of Eurythmics * December 26 ** Susan Butcher, American dog-sled racer (d. 2006) ** Ozzie Smith, HOF baseball shortstop * December 27 – Teo Chee Hean, Singaporean politician and 5th Senior Minister of Singapore * December 28 ** Gayle King, African-American television personality, journalist, and author ** Lanny Poffo, American professional wrestler ** Denzel Washington, African-American actor * December 29 ** Wang Huanyu, Chinese astrophysicist (d. 2018) ** Albrecht Böttcher, German mathematician ** Roger Voudouris, American singer-songwriter and guitarist (d. 2003) * December 31 – Alex Salmond, Scottish politician

Date not known

*Marek Smurzyński, Polish translator, Persian language speaker and translator (d. 2009)

Deaths

January

* January 5 ** Rabbit Maranville, American baseball player (Boston Braves (baseball), Boston Braves) and a member of the MLB Hall of Fame (b. 1891) ** Lillian Rich, English actress (b. 1900) * January 8 – Eduard Wiiralt, Estonian artist (b. 1898) * January 11 ** John Simon, 1st Viscount Simon, British politician (b. 1873) ** Oscar Straus (composer), Oscar Straus, Austrian composer (b. 1870) *

** William H. P. Blandy, American admiral (b. 1890) ** Elmer H. Geran, American politician (b. 1875) * January 18 – Sydney Greenstreet, English actor (b. 1879) *

– Fred Root, English cricketer (b. 1890) * January 30 ** John Murray Anderson, Canadian theater director and producer (b. 1886) ** Dorothy Price, Irish physician (b. 1890) * January 31 ** Edwin Howard Armstrong, American electrical engineer (b. 1890) ** Florence Bates, American actress (b. 1888)

February

* February 6 – Maxwell Bodenheim, American poet and novelist (murdered) (b. 1892) * February 8 – Laurence Trimble, American actor (b. 1885) * February 9 – Mabel Paige, American actress (b. 1880) * February 11 – Thomas Pierrepoint, British executioner (b. 1870) * February 12 – Dziga Vertov, Russian filmmaker (b. 1896) *

– Axel Pehrsson-Bramstorp, 24th Prime Minister of Sweden (b. 1883) * February 21 – William K. Howard, American film director (b. 1899)

March

* March 7 ** Otto Diels, German chemist, Nobel Prize in Chemistry, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1876) ** Will H. Hays, Namesake for the Motion Picture Production Code, Hays Code (b. 1879) *

– Vagn Walfrid Ekman, Swedish oceanographer (b. 1874) *

– Marianne Weber, German sociologist and suffragist (b. 1870) *

– Cesar Klein, German painter (b. 1876) * March 24 – Thành Thái, Emperor of Vietnam (b. 1879) * March 26 – Louis Silvers, American film composer (b. 1889) *

** Horatio Dresser, American writer (b. 1866) ** Fritz London, German physicist (b. 1900)

April

* April 2 ** Hoyt Vandenberg, United States Air Force, U.S. Air Force general (b. 1899) ** Maud Barger-Wallach, American tennis player (b. 1870) *

– Saburō Kurusu, Japanese diplomat (b. 1886) *

** Winnifred Eaton (writer), Winnifred Eaton, Canadian author (b. 1875) ** Fritzi Scheff, Austrian-born American actress and singer (b. 1879) * April 10 – Auguste and Louis Lumière, Auguste Lumière, French film pioneer (b. 1862) *

– Luis Cabrera Lobato, Mexican lawyer, politician and writer (b. 1876) * April 13 – Angus Lewis Macdonald, Nova Scotia Premier (b. 1890) * April 17 – Lucrețiu Pătrășcanu, Romanian communist activist and sociologist (b. 1900) * April 27 ** Antoni Bolesław Dobrowolski, Polish scientist and explorer who participated in the Belgian Antarctic Expedition, Belgian Antarctic expedition (b. 1872) ** Thorvald Ellegaard, Danish track cyclist (b. 1877) *

– Léon Jouhaux, French labor leader, recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize (b. 1879) * April 29 – Joe May, Austrian-born director (b. 1880)

May

– Tom Tyler, American actor (b. 1903) * May 3 – Józef Garbień, Polish footballer and physician (b. 1896) * May 5 – Henri Laurens, French sculptor and illustrator (b. 1885) *

– B. C. Forbes, Scottish-born publisher (b. 1880) *

– Heinz Guderian, German

general (b. 1888) *

– William March, American writer and soldier (b. 1893) * May 19 – Charles Ives, American composer (b. 1874) *

– Chief Bender, Native-American baseball player (Philadelphia Athletics) and a member of the MLB Hall of Fame (b. 1884) * May 25 – Robert Capa, Hungarian-born photojournalist (b. 1913) *

– Omer Nishani, former Chairman of the Presidium of the People's Assembly and head of State of Albania (b. 1887)

June

–

, British mathematician, cryptanalyst, and pioneer computer scientist (b. 1912) *

– Alain LeRoy Locke, American writer, philosopher and educator (b. 1885) * June 21 – Harvey A. Carr, American psychologists (b. 1873) *

– Don Hollenbeck, American newscaster (b. 1905) * June 24 – Thomas Denman, 3rd Baron Denman, 5th Governor-General of Australia (b. 1874) *

– Alfredo Versoza, Filipino Roman Catholic bishop and Servant of God (b. 1877) * June 30 – Andrass Samuelsen, 1st prime minister of Faroe Islands (b. 1873)

July

** Thea von Harbou, German actress (b. 1888) ** Tomás Monje , 41st President of Bolivia (b. 1884) * July 3 – Reginald Marsh (artist), Reginald Marsh, American painter (b. 1898) *

– Maria Ripamonti, Italian Roman Catholic Church, Roman Catholic and a Nun, professed religious from the Handmaids of Charity, Ancelle della carità (b. 1909) * July 6 ** Gabriel Pascal, Hungarian-born film producer and director (b. 1894) ** Cornelia Sorabji, Indian-born lawyer (b. 1866) * July 11 – Henry Valentine Knaggs, English physician and author (b. 1859) * July 13 ** Frida Kahlo, Mexican painter (b. 1907) ** Irving Pichel, American actor and director (b. 1891) ** Grantland Rice, American sportswriter (b. 1880) * July 14 ** Jacinto Benavente, Spanish dramatist, Nobel Prize in Literature, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1866) ** Jackie Saunders, American silent screen actress (b. 1892) * July 16 – Herms Niel, German composer (b. 1888) * July 17 – Machine Gun Kelly, American gangster (b. 1895) *

– Hannes Meyer, Swiss architect (b. 1889) * July 28 – Sōjin Kamiyama or "Sojin", Japanese film star during the American silent film era (b. 1884) *

– Princess Antonia of Luxembourg, Luxembourg aristocrat (b. 1899)

August

* August 3 ** Bess Streeter Aldrich, American writer (b. 1881) ** Colette, French novelist (b. 1873) * August 14 – Hugo Eckener, German president of the Zeppelin Dirigible Company (b. 1868) * August 19 – Alcide De Gasperi, Italian statesman and Christian Democracy politician, 30th Prime Minister of Italy (b. 1881) * August 21 – Marin Ceaușu, Romanian general (b. 1891) *

–

, 14th and 17th President of Brazil (suicide) (b. 1882) * August 31 – Elsa Barker, American writer (b. 1869)

September

* September 1 – Bert Acosta, American aviator (b. 1895) * September 2 – Franz Leopold Neumann, German- political activist and Marxist theorist (b. 1900) * September 3 – Eugene Pallette, American actor (b. 1889) * September 5 – Eugen Schiffer, German politician (b. 1860) *

– Edward C. Kalbfus, American admiral (b. 1877) * September 7 ** Bud Fisher, American cartoonist (b. 1885) ** Glenn Scobey Warner, American college football coach (b. 1871) * September 8 – André Derain, French artist, painter and sculptor (b. 1880) * September 20 – Washington Phillips, American gospel singer and instrumentalist (b. 1880) * September 21 – Mikimoto Kōkichi, Japanese pearl farm pioneer (b. 1858) * September 24 – Edward Pilgrim, British homeowner (suicide) (b. 1904) * September 25 – Eugeni d'Ors, Eugenio d'Ors, Spanish writer (b. 1881) * September 26 – Ellen Roosevelt, American tennis player (b. 1868) * September 27 – Maximilian von Weichs, German field marshal (b. 1881) * September 28 – Bert Lytell, American actor (b. 1885) * September 29 – Martin Wetzer, Finnish general (b. 1868)

October

* October 1 – René Le Senne, French philosopher and psychologist (b. 1882) * October 9 – Robert H. Jackson, United States Supreme Court associate justice and chief prosecutor at the Nuremberg Trials (b. 1892) * October 12 – George Welch (pilot), George Welch, American aviator (b. 1918) * October 18 – Mieczysław Norwid-Neugebauer, Polish general and politician (b. 1884) * October 19 – Hugh Duffy, American baseball player (Boston Braves (baseball), Boston Braves) and a member of the MLB Hall of Fame (b. 1866) * October 22 – Jibanananda Das, Indian poet, writer, novelist and essayist in Bengali language, Bengali (b. 1899) * October 30 – Wilbur Shaw, American racing driver (b. 1902)

November

Henri Matisse, 1913, photograph by Alvin Langdon Coburn

* November 3 – Henri Matisse, French painter (b. 1869) * November 10 – Édouard Le Roy, French philosopher and mathematician (b. 1870) * November 13 – Paul Ludwig Ewald von Kleist, German field marshal (b. 1881) * November 15 – Lionel Barrymore, American actor (b. 1878) * November 16 – Albert Francis Blakeslee, American botanist (b. 1874) * November 17 ** Ludovic Dauș, Romanian novelist and playwright (b. 1873) ** Yitzhak Lamdan, Russian-born Israeli poet and columnist (b. 1899) * November 20 – Clyde Cessna, American aviator and aircraft designer and manufacturer, founder of the Cessna, Cessna Aircraft Corporation (b. 1879) * November 21 – Jess McMahon, American professional boxing and wrestling promoter; founder of WWE#Capitol Wrestling Corporation (1952-1963), Capitol Wrestling Corporation (b. 1882) * November 22 ** Moroni Olsen, American actor (b. 1889) ** Andrey Vyshinsky, Russian jurist and diplomat, former Ministry of Foreign Affairs (Soviet Union), Soviet Foreign Minister (b. 1883) * November 28 – Enrico Fermi, Italian physicist, Nobel Prize in Physics, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1901) * November 29 – Dink Johnson, American musician (b. 1892) * November 30 – Wilhelm Furtwängler, German conductor (b. 1886)

December

* December 1 – Fred Rose (songwriter), Fred Rose, American songwriter (b. 1898) * December 8 ** Claude Cahun, French photographer and writer (b. 1894) ** Gladys George, American actress (b. 1904) * December 20 – James Hilton (novelist), James Hilton, English novelist (b. 1900) * December 23 – René Iché, French sculptor (b. 1897) * December 25 ** Ioan Arbore, Romanian general (b. 1892) ** Liberty Hyde Bailey, American botanist (b. 1858) * December 30 ** Archduke Eugen of Austria, Austrian field marshal (b. 1863) ** Günther Quandt, German industrialist who founded an industrial empire that today includes BMW and Altana (b. 1881)

Nobel Prizes

* Nobel Prize in Physics, Physics – Max Born, Walther Bothe * Nobel Prize in Chemistry, Chemistry – Linus Pauling * Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine, Medicine – John Franklin Enders, Thomas Huckle Weller, Frederick Chapman Robbins * Nobel Prize in Literature, Literature – Ernest Hemingway * Nobel Peace Prize, Peace – The Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:1954 1954,