Events 1 - 200 of 365
Shostakovich's 5th String Quartet
Jan 1 Dmitri Shostakovich completes his 5th string quartet - premieres Leningrad 1953
- Jan 1 Norman McLaren's anti-war film "Neighbours" is released (Academy Award Best Documentary Short Subject) [1]
- Jan 3 "Dragnet" with Jack Webb premieres on NBC TV
- Jan 5 British Prime Minister Winston Churchill makes an official visit to the US
West Point Suite
Jan 5 Darius Milhaud's orchestral composition "West Point Suite", marking the US Military Academy's sesquicentennial, premieres at Carnegie Hall, NYC
Marines to Recall Williams
Jan 9 Marines give notice that they will recall Ted Williams to active duty
The Greatest Show on Earth
Jan 10 "The Greatest Show on Earth", directed and produced by Cecil B. DeMille, starring James Stewart and Charlton Heston, premieres in New York (Best Picture 1953)
La valse des toréadors
Jan 10 Jean Anouilh's play "La valse des toréadors" (The Waltz of the Toreadors) premieres at the Comédie des Champs-Elysées in Paris
- Jan 11 Bollingen Prize for poetry awarded to Marianne Moore
- Jan 12 University of Tennessee admits its 1st black student, Gene Mitchell Gray, as a graduate student in chemistry
- Jan 14 "Today Show" premieres with Dave Garroway & Jack Lescoulie on NBC-TV
- Jan 14 Rationing of coffee in Netherlands ends
- Jan 14 Snowstorm in Sierra Nevada kills 26
- Jan 16 New Dutch bible translation finished
Stan Musial's Salary
Jan 16 US Standard Board clears Stan Musial to get an $85,000 salary
- Jan 17 1952 NFL Draft: Bill Wade QB University of Vanderbilt #1 pick by Los Angeles Rams
- Jan 19 NFL purchases struggling football franchise, New York Yanks from owner Ted Collins; moves club to Dallas, Texas
- Jan 19 PGA approves allowing black participants
- Jan 20 British army occupies Ismailiya, Suez Canal Zone
Mikan's 61 Points
Jan 20 The NBA's first superstar George Mikan scores a career high 61 points leading the Minneapolis Lakers to a 91-81 double-overtime victory over the Rochester Royals
Nehru's Congress Party Wins
Jan 21 Jawaharlal Nehru's Congress party wins general election in India
- Jan 21 William Shawn succeeds Harold Ross as editor of "The New Yorker"
- Jan 24 Fire in main building of French Port Martin Antarctic base
- Jan 24 First NFL team in Texas; Dallas Texans, formerly NY Yanks; loses 11 of 12 games
Benaud Debuts
Jan 25 Test debut of great Australian cricket captain (62 Tests) and broadcaster Richie Benaud, v West Indies at the SCG
- Jan 26 At least 20 people have been killed and 100s injured during riots in Cairo against the British
- Jan 30 American mathematician D.H. Lehmer and computer programmer R. M. Robinson verify 2^521-1 and 2^607-1 as Mersenne-prime numbers, using U.S. National Bureau of Standards Western Automatic Computer (SWAC) at the Institute for Numerical Analysis at the University of California, Los Angeles
- Jan 30 Korean War truce talks deadlock
- Jan 30 Paul Creston's 4th Symphony premieres by the National Symphony Orchestra
- Jan 31 Detroit Tigers Harry Heilmann & Pittsburgh Pirates Paul Waner elected to Baseball Hall of Fame
- Jan 31 Dutch Lutheran Church reunites after 1½ centuries
- Feb 1 General strike against French colonial rule in Tunisia
- Feb 1 SN Behrman's "Jane" premieres in NYC
Givenchy's First Collection
Feb 2 Hubert de Givenchy presents his first collection in Paris with Bettina Graziani opening the show
"Tetsuwan Atom"
Feb 4 "Tetsuwan Atom" by Osamu Tezuka first published in Weekly Shonen Magazine in Japan
First African-American TV Executive
Feb 4 Jackie Robinson becomes the 1st African American executive of a major US TV and radio station as Director of Community Activities at radio WNBC-NY and TV station WNBT
Queen Elizabeth II
Feb 6 Queen Elizabeth II succeeds King George VI to the British throne and proclaimed Queen of the United Kingdom and the other Commonwealth realms including Canada, Australia and New Zealand
- Feb 8 "RCA Victor Show Starring Dennis Day" debuts on NBC TV
- Feb 10 India holds its first general election, Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru remains in power
Sports History
Feb 13 Future world champion Rocky Marciano knocks out Italian heavyweight boxer Gino Buonvino in the 2nd round at Rhode Island Auditorium, Providence for his 40th straight win
- Feb 14 Giant slalom event for women debuts at the Winter Olympics at Oslo Games; American skier Andrea Mead-Lawrence wins gold ahead of Dagmar Rom of Austria and German Annemarie Buchner
- Feb 14 VI Winter Olympic Games open at Oslo, Norway
- Feb 15 Giant slalom event for men debuts at the Winter Olympics at Oslo Games; Stein Erikson of Norway wins gold ahead of Austrians Christian Pravda and Toni Spiß
- Feb 16 Ian Craig makes NSW cricket debut aged 16 years 249 days (NSW record)
- Feb 16 United States goes 1-2 in the 500m speed skating at the Olso Winter Olympics with Ken Henry taking gold ahead of teammate Don McDermott; Norwegian Hjalmar Anderson dominates remaining 3 speed skating events
- Feb 17 Montreal Canadiens center Elmer Lach picks up his 354th career assist in a 3-2 loss at the NY Rangers to become NHL's all-time assists leader; passes Bill Cowley's mark
- Feb 17 Trude Jochum-Beiser of Austria wins the downhill gold medal at the Oslo Winter Olympics; second career gold medal after taking out the combined event at St. Moritz (1948)
- Feb 18 4th Emmy Awards: first time awards presented based on nationwide basis, "The Red Skelton Show", Sid Caesar and Imogene Coca win
- Feb 18 Norwegian speed skater Hjalmar Anderson wins his 3rd gold medal of the Oslo Winter Olympics when he claims the 10,000m in Olympic record 16:45.8; also wins gold in 1,500m and 5,000m
- Feb 19 American defending champion Dick Button becomes 1st figure-skater to land a triple jump in competition; performs triple loop in Olympic free skate in Oslo; wins gold medal ahead of Austria’s Helmut Seibt
- Feb 19 First Indochina War: French offensive at Hanoi
African Queen
Feb 20 "African Queen" film directed by John Huston, starring Humphrey Bogart and Katharine Hepburn is released in the US
- Feb 20 American alpine skier Andrea Mead-Lawrence is only multi-gold medallist at the Oslo Winter Olympics when she wins the slalom, after taking out the inaugural giant slalom
Altwegg wins Gold
Feb 20 Britain's Jeannette Altwegg wins the Olympic women’s figure skating gold medal at the Olso Winter Games ahead of American Tenley Albright, who goes on to win in Cortina d'Ampezzo (1956)
- Feb 20 Emmett Ashford is certified to be first black umpire in organised baseball; has to wait until 1966 for MLB debut
- Feb 21 Bangladesh Martyrs Day (martyrs of Bengali Language Movement)
- Feb 22 German husband and wife team Ria and Paul Falk win the mixed pairs gold medal at the Oslo Winter Olympics; defeat American siblings, Karol and Peter Kennedy
- Feb 22 Germany takes the Olympic bobsleigh double with gold in the 4-man event at the Oslo Winter Games; Adreas Ostler and Lorenz Niebert score their 2nd gold medals after winning the 2-man a week earlier
- Feb 23 Following his Nordic combined gold medal in St. Moritz (1948), Heikki Hasu takes his 2nd Olympic gold as part of Finland’s 4 x 10k cross country relay team at the Olso Winter Games
- Feb 23 Lydia Wideman of Finland becomes first female Olympic cross-country skiing champion; wins inaugural 10k event in Olso; Finnish medal sweep with minors to Mirja Hietamies and Siiri Rantanen
- Feb 24 Canada wins 6th Olympic ice hockey title courtesy of a final round 3-3 tie with the US at the Oslo Winter Games; Canadian center Billy Gibson top scores with 19 points
- Feb 24 Norway goes 1-2 in the men’s ski jumping event at the Oslo Winter Olympics with Arnfinn Bergmann winning gold ahead of teammate Torbjørn Falkanger
- Feb 25 VI Winter Olympic Games close at Oslo, Norway
- Feb 26 Netherlands-Indonesian Unity conference
Event of Interest
Feb 26 PM Winston Churchill announces Britain has its own atomic bomb
Canadian History
Feb 28 Vincent Massey is sworn in as the first Canadian-born Governor General of Canada
- Feb 29 Ice Dance Championship at Paris France won by Westwood & Demmy of Great Britain
- Feb 29 Ice Pairs Championship at Paris won by Ria Falk & Paul Falk of West Germany
- Feb 29 Ladies Figure Skating Champ in Paris won by Jacqueline du Bief of France
- Feb 29 The island of Heligoland is restored to German authority.
- Mar 1 Egyptian government-Ali Maher Pasha resigns
- Mar 1 Helgoland, in North Sea, returned to West Germany by Britain
- Mar 3 Puerto Rico approves its 1st self-written constitution
Event of Interest
Mar 5 Terence Rattigan's stage drama "Deep Blue Sea" premieres in London
Cuban Coup d'état
Mar 10 Military coup led by General Fulgencio Batista in Cuba
Golf Tournament
Mar 16 LPGA Titleholders Championship Women's Golf, Augusta CC: Babe Didrikson Zaharias wins her 3rd Titleholders title by 7 strokes from Betsy Rawls
- Mar 18 1st plastic lens for cataract patients fitted (Philadelphia)
- Mar 20 24th Academy Awards: "An American in Paris", Humphrey Bogart and Vivien Leigh win
- Mar 20 Final ratification of peace treaty restoring sovereignty to Japan by US Senate
- Mar 21 -22] Tornadoes in Arkansas, Tennessee, Missouri, Mississippi, Alabama and Kentucky cause 343 deaths
Music Concert
Mar 21 20,000 attempt to attend the 1st rock & roll concert ever when Alan Freed presents "The Moondog Coronation Ball" at old 12,000 seat Cleveland Arena; performers include: Paul Williams and the Hucklebuckers; Tiny Grimes and the Rocking Highlanders; The Dominoes; and Varetta Dillard
Event of Interest
Mar 26 Friedrich Durrenmatt's "Die Ehe des Herrn Mississippi" premieres in Munich
Singin' in the Rain
Mar 27 "Singin' in the Rain", musical comedy film directed by Gene Kelly and Stanley Donen, starring Gene Kelly and Debbie Reynolds, premieres at Radio City Music Hall in NYC
Assassination Attempt
Mar 27 Failed assassination attempt of West German Chancellor Konrad Adenauer
Queen Juliana in the US
Apr 3 Dutch Queen Juliana speaks to US Congress
- Apr 5 Henry Wittenberg wins his 8th AAU wrestling title
- Apr 8 US President Harry Truman seizes steel mills to avert a strike
- Apr 9 Hugo Ballivian's government is overthrown by the Bolivian National Revolution, starting a period of agrarian reform, universal suffrage and the nationalisation of tin mines
- Apr 11 The Battle of Nanri island takes place.
- Apr 12 Salaheddine Baccouche forms Tunisian government
- Apr 15 Archaeologist Albert Ruz discovers the tomb of Pakal, the greatest ruler of the Maya city of Palenque
- Apr 15 Franklin National Bank issues 1st bank credit card
- Apr 15 Stanley Cup Final, Olympia Stadium, Detroit, MI: Detroit Red Wings beat Montreal Canadiens, 3-0 for a 4-0 series sweep
- Apr 15 The maiden flight of the US Air Force B-52 Stratofortress prototype, designed and built by Boeing
- Apr 15 US performs nuclear test at Nevada Test Site
- Apr 21 BOAC begins 1st passenger service with jets (London-Rome route)
- Apr 21 Secretaries' Day (now Administrative Professionals' Day) is first celebrated
- Apr 22 1st atomic explosion on network news, Nob, Nevada
Event of Interest
Apr 22 Eugene Ionesco's "Les Chaises" premieres in NYC
Sports History
Apr 23 Bob Cain of St. Louis Browns and Bob Feller of Cleveland Indians each pitch a one-hitter, as the home team wins 1-0 at Sportsman's Park in St. Louis, Missouri
- Apr 23 Crude oil pipeline from Kirkuk, Iraq to Banias, Syria completed
Sports History
Apr 23 New York Giant Hoyt Wilhelm wins his 1st game in relief & hits his only HR
- Apr 25 American Bowling Congress approves use of an automatic pinsetter
- Apr 25 German state of Bathe-Wurttemberg forms
Golf History
Apr 26 Patty Berg scores 64, best competitive round of golf by a woman
- Apr 26 US minesweeper Hobson rams aircraft carrier Wasp, kills 176
Event of Interest
Apr 28 Dwight D. Eisenhower resigns as Supreme Commander of NATO
- Apr 28 St Louis Browns lend 2 black minor leaguers to Hankyu Braves of Japan
- Apr 28 WW II Pacific peace treaty takes effect
- Apr 30 Mr Potato Head is 1st toy advertised on television
- May 1 Mr Potato Head first introduced by toy distributor Hasbro
- May 1 TWA introduces tourist class
- May 1 US Marines take part in an atomic explosion training in Nevada
- May 2 1st scheduled jet airliner passenger service began with a British Overseas Airways Corporation (BOAC) Comet from London to Johannesburg carrying 36 passengers [1]
- May 2 John Cage's "Water Music" (for a solo pianist, using a piano, a radio, whistles, water containers, and a deck of cards) premieres in New York City
- May 3 1st landing by an airplane at geographic North Pole
- May 5 "Lucy Does a TV Commercial" (also known as "Vitameatavegamin") episode of "I Love Lucy" premieres, garnering 68% of US television viewers
- May 5 Pulitzer prize awarded to Herman Wouk for his novel "The Caine Mutiny"
- May 7 The concept of the integrated circuit, the basis for all modern computers, is first published by Geoffrey Dummer
5th Cannes Film Festival
May 10 5th Cannes Film Festival: "The Tragedy of Othello: The Moor of Venice" directed by Orson Welles and "Two Cents Worth of Hope" directed by Renato Castellani jointly awarded the Grand Prix du Festival International du Film
- May 12 Charlton Playground named in Bronx
- May 12 Gaj Singh is crowned Maharaja of Jodhpur
- May 13 Jawaharlal Nehru becomes premier of India
- May 13 Ron Necciai of Pittsburgh Pirate's Bristol Twins Class D farm team, strikes out 27 in 9-innings, as he no-hits Welch Minors; 4 Minors do reach base
- May 13 The Rajya Sabha, the upper house of the Parliament of India, holds its first sitting
- May 15 Detroit Tiger Virgil Trucks no-hits Washington Senators, 1-0
Sports History
May 15 Johnny Longden becomes 2nd jockey to ride 4,000 winners
Stonehenge Dated
May 18 Professor Willard Libby says England's prehistoric monument of Stonehenge dates back to 1848 BC
Event of Interest
May 19 "Time" magazine features 'Theseus', an electrical learning machine built by American scientist Claude Shannon - the 1st example of AI [1]
- May 21 Booklyn Dodgers score 15 runs in their 1st inning to beat Cincinnati Reds 19-1
- May 21 Dutch Queen Juliana opens Amsterdam-Rhine Canal
- May 27 European Defense Community forms
- May 28 Memphis Kiddie Park opens in Brooklyn, Ohio; the park's Little Dipper roller coaster would become the oldest operating steel roller coaster in North America.
- May 28 The women of Greece are given the right to vote.
- May 29 2nd Round Conference between Dutch Antilles & Suriname ends
- May 30 Charlie Grimm succeeds Tommy Holmes as manager of Boston Braves
Event of Interest
Jun 1 Catholic church puts Andre Gides "Labor" on the index
Boxing Title Fight
Jun 5 1st sporting event televised nationally - Jersey Joe Walcott beats Ezzard Charles in 15 rounds for heavyweight boxing title, at Municipal Stadium, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
- Jun 5 Test Cricket debut of Freddie Trueman v India at Headingley
- Jun 10 Chicago White Sox outfielder Sam Mele is only 6th MLB player to record 6 RBI's in an inning (4th) during a 15-4 win over the A's in Philadelphia
- Jun 10 US President Harry Truman expresses a desire to nationalize the steel industry
England Cricket’s Class Divide Hit For Six
Jun 11 Opening batsman Len Hutton becomes the 1st professional cricketer to captain England in Tests
Spahn Ties Whitney Record
Jun 14 Boston Brave Warren Spahn ties NL record held by Jim Whitney with 18 strikeouts against the Cubs in 15 innings
Peters' World Record Marathon
Jun 14 British runner Jim Peters runs world record marathon (2:20:42.2)
- Jun 14 General strike in Tunisia
- Jun 14 Keel laid for 1st nuclear powered sub USS Nautilus (4th to be named Nautilus)
- Jun 16 Soviet Fighters shoots down Swedish Air Force Catalina as it participates in search for missing Dakota DC-3, crew survives
- Jun 17 2 mine cave-ins at Charleroi, Belgium
- Jun 19 "I've Got A Secret" debuts on CBS-TV with Garry Moore as host
- Jun 19 Brooklyn Dodgers pitcher Carl Erskine no-hits Chicago Cubs, 5-0
- Jun 21 LPGA Western Open Women's Golf, Skokie CC: Betsy Rawls defeats Betty Jameson, 1 up in the final
- Jun 21 Philippine School of Commerce, through a republic act, is converted to Philippine College of Commerce; later to be the Polytechnic University of the Philippines
- Jun 23 US airplanes bomb energy centers at Yalu Korea
- Jun 25 Dutch General Election: social democratic party wins elections 30% to help form a four-party coalition
Mandela Infringes Curfew
Jun 26 Nelson Mandela and 51 others infringe South Africa's curfew
- Jun 29 USS Oriskany becomes 1st aircraft carrier to sail around Cape Horn
- Jun 30 "Guiding Light" soap opera moves from radio to TV
- Jun 30 Hussein Sirri Pasha forms Egyptian government
- Jul 1 English architect Michael Ventris says he has solved one of the 20th century's greatest linguistic riddles, by deciphering Linear B in BBC interview. Is an ancient form of Greek on clay tablets from Minoan palace of Knossos. [1]
- Jul 2 Princess Beatrice opens miniature city of Madurodam
- Jul 3 Puerto Rico's constitution approved by US Congress
- Jul 4 Canadian Currency, Mint and Exchange Fund Act allows gold coins of $5, $10, and $20 to be minted
- Jul 6 Last tram ride in London
- Jul 7 SS United States cross Atlantic in record 82:40
- Jul 11 General Eisenhower nominated as Republican US presidential candidate
- Jul 14 SS United States crosses Atlantic in 84:12 (record westward)
- Jul 15 1st transatlantic helicopter flight begins
Ghavam Sultaneh Premier
Jul 17 Shah of Persia Mohammad Reza Pahlavi names Ghavam Sultaneh premier
- Jul 18 KWGN TV channel 2 in Denver, Colorado (IND) begins broadcasting
- Jul 19 Freddie Trueman takes 8-31, India all out 58 at Old Trafford
- Jul 19 India all out 82 in 2nd innings after making 52 earlier in the day
- Jul 19 XV Summer Olympic Games open in Helsinki, Finland
- Jul 20 Emile Zatopek runs Olympic Record 10K (29:17.0)
The Quiet Man
Jul 21 "The Quiet Man" film directed by John Ford and starring John Wayne and Maureen O'Hara is released in the UK
High Noon
Jul 24 "High Noon", American Western film directed by Fred Zinnemann, starring Gary Cooper and Thomas Mitchell, is released
Admirals
Aviators
Gangsters
Generals
Industrialists
Suffragists