Events 1 - 200 of 517
- Jan 1 An Irish Republican Army (IRA) unit attacks Brookeborough Royal Ulster Constabulary barracks in one of the most famous incidents of the IRA's Operation Harvest
"Prince of the Pagodas"
Jan 1 Benjamin Britten's only full-length ballet "Prince of the Pagodas," premieres at Covent Garden, London
- Jan 1 Fergal O'Hanlon, Irish Republican Army volunteer, killed during the Brookeborough Raid, at 20
- Jan 1 France returns Saar to becomes the 10th state of German Federal Republic
George Town a City
Jan 1 George Town, Penang becomes a city by a royal charter granted by Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II
- Jan 1 International Geophysical Year begins; ends 6/30/1958 (18-month year)
Fullmer vs. Robinson
Jan 2 In the first of 4 meetings between the fighters, Gene Fullmer wins the world middleweight boxing title with a 15-round unanimous decision over Sugar Ray Robinson at New York’s Madison Square Garden
Jackie Robinson Retires
Jan 5 Dodgers' Jackie Robinson announces his retirement rather than be traded to the NY Giants
Eisenhower's Troop Request
Jan 5 US President Eisenhower asks Congress to send troops to the Middle East
Elvis's Final Ed Sullivan Show
Jan 6 Elvis Presley makes his 7th & final appearance on "The Ed Sullivan Show"
- Jan 6 Yeshiva Kol Ya'ackov opens in Moscow Russia
- Jan 7 Algerian militant and National Liberation Front member Djamila Bouhired sets off a bomb in an Algiers cafe killing 11 civilians, precipitating the Battle of Algiers
- Jan 9 Checheno-Ingush ASSR reformed in RSFSR
- Jan 9 Dutch Newspaper Society expels communist daily paper "Truth"
- Jan 9 Kalmyk Autonomous Region reformed in RSFSR
- Jan 9 Karachayevo-Cherkess Autonomous Region reestablished in RSFSR
Macmillan Becomes PM
Jan 10 After Anthony Eden's resignation Harold Macmillan becomes Prime Minister of the United Kingdom
Commissioner's Bing Crosby Decision
Jan 10 Baseball Commissioner Ford Frick rules Bing Crosby can keep token stock in Detroit Tigers, even though he owns part of Pittsburgh Pirates
- Jan 11 American plane mass-murderer Jack Gilbert Graham is executed via the Gas Chamber
- Jan 11 The African Convention is founded in Dakar
Southern Christian Leadership Council
Jan 12 Southern Christian Leadership Council (SCLC) founded with Martin Luther King Jr. as leader at Ebenezer Church in Atlanta
"All that Fall"
Jan 13 "All that Fall", first radio play by Samuel Beckett, aired on BBC Third Programme
- Jan 13 Bollingen Prize for poetry awarded to Allen Tate
- Jan 14 Kripalu Maharaj is named fifth Jagadguru (world teacher)
- Jan 15 Brooklyn Dodgers extend their 5-year lease on Ebbets Field by signing a new 3-year lease with real estate developer Marvin Kratter; club moves to Los Angeles the next year
- Jan 16 3 US B-52 bombers leave California for 1st non-stop around the world flights
- Jan 16 Cavern Club opens on Matthews Street in Liverpool, England, home of many performances by The Beatles
- Jan 17 9-county commission recommends creation of BART
- Jan 18 3 B-52's set record for around-the-world flight, 45 hr 19 min
- Jan 19 USSR performs atmospheric nuclear test
"Declaration"
Jan 20 Morton Gould's orchestral work "Declaration" premieres in Washington, D.C.
- Jan 20 Władysław Gomułka wins Poland's parliamentary election
- Jan 21 KSAT TV channel 12 in San Antonio, TX (ABC) begins broadcasting
- Jan 22 Mad Bomber (George P Metesky) accused of 30 explosions, arrested
- Jan 23 Indian nationalist V. K. Krishna Menon begins the longest ever speech defending India's stand on Kashmir at the UN - 8 hours over 2 days
- Jan 23 Wham-O Company acquires rights to the "Pluto Platter" plastic flying disc toy from inventor Walter Frederick Morrison; they rename it "Frisbee" in 1958 as a nod to the Frisbie Pie Company, whose empty tins were tossed by Yale University students (including Morrison) in the 1930s
- Jan 25 FBI arrests Jack & Myra Sobel, charged with spying for USSR
- Jan 26 Dutch Pacifist Socialist Party forms
- Jan 26 Francis Poulenc's opera "Dialogue des Carmelites" premieres at La Scala, in Milan
- Jan 26 India annexes Kashmir
- Jan 26 Joseph F Cairnes succeeds Lou Perini as President of Milwaukee Braves
Cooper Beats Fraser
Jan 28 Australian Championship Men's Tennis: Ashley Cooper wins 1st of 2 straight Australian titles; beats fellow Australian Neale Fraser 6-3, 9-11, 6-4, 6-2
"The Potting Shed"
Jan 29 Graham Greene's play "The Potting Shed" premieres at the Bijou Theatre on Broadway in NYC
- Jan 30 US Congress accepts "Eisenhower Doctrine" - US offer of aid to an Arab countries threatened with communist aggression
- Jan 31 Eight people on the ground in Pacoima, California are killed following the mid-air collision between a Douglas DC-7 airliner and a Northrop F-89 Scorpion fighter jet.
- Jan 31 Trans-Iranian oil pipe line finished
- Feb 1 1st black pilot (PH Young) on a US scheduled passenger airline
Event of Interest
Feb 1 Felix Wankel's first working prototype DKM 54 of the rotary Wankel engine was running at the NSU research and development department Versuchsabteilung TX in Germany
- Feb 1 Gijsbert of Hall appointed mayor of Amsterdam
- Feb 1 MLB club owners accept new 5-year pension plan proposed by the players, but reject request to increase minimum salary from $6,000 to $7,500
- Feb 2 UN adopts a resolution calling for Israeli troops to leave Egypt
- Feb 4 1st electric portable typewriter placed on sale (Syracuse NY)
Shostakovich 2nd Piano Concert
Feb 5 Dmitri Shostakovich completes his 2nd Piano Concert
- Feb 11 KUMV TV channel 8 in Williston, ND (NBC) begins broadcasting
Election of Interest
Feb 11 NHL Players Association forms (NYC), Red Wings' Ted Lindsay elected president
- Feb 12 Researchers announce Borazan (harder than diamonds) been developed
- Feb 14 Georgia Senate unanimously approves Sen Leon Butts' bill barring blacks from playing baseball with whites
- Feb 14 Southern Christian Leadership Conference organizes in New Orleans with Martin Luther King Jr. as its President
- Feb 15 Andrei A Gromyko succeeds Dmitri Shepilov as Soviet foreign minister
The Seventh Seal
Feb 16 Swedish film classic "The Seventh Seal" directed by Ingmar Bergman, starring Max von Sydow and Bengt Ekerot is released
- Feb 16 The "Toddlers' Truce", a controversial television close down between 6 and 7 pm, abolished in the United Kingdom
- Feb 17 A fire at a home for the elderly in Warrenton, Missouri kills 72 people.
- Feb 18 Kenyan freedom fighter Dedan Kimathi executed by hanging by the British colonial government
- Feb 20 Hughie Tayfield takes 9-113 v England, 13 wkts for match
- Feb 21 Dodgers (Fort Worth) & Cubs (LA) "trade" minor league franchises
- Feb 22 Jockey Ted Atkinson, 3,500th win
- Feb 22 Walter O'Malley says Dodgers may play 10 exhibitions in California in 1958
- Feb 23 The founding congress of the Senegalese Popular Bloc is opened in Dakar
Cricket Record
Feb 25 Buddy Holly and the Crickets record their smash hit "That'll Be the Day" in Clovis, New Mexico
- Feb 25 US Supreme Court decides 6-3, baseball is only antitrust exempt pro sport
Conference of Interest
Feb 27 Mao Zedong's famous speech to the Supreme State Conference "On Correct Handling of Contradictions Among People" expounding Maoist ideals
- Feb 27 Premiere of only prime-time network TV show beginning with an "X": "Xavier Cugat Show" on NBC (until X-Files)
Sports History
Feb 28 Jockey Johnny Longden's 5,000th career victory
- Mar 1 Kokomo the Chimp becomes Today Show animal editor
- Mar 1 KTWO TV channel 2 in Casper, WY (NBC/ABC/CBS) begins broadcasting
- Mar 3 Ice Dance Championship at Colorado Springs won by Markham & Jones of Great Britain
- Mar 3 Ice Pairs Championship at Colorado Springs won by Wagner & Paul of Canada
- Mar 3 Men's Figure Skating Champ in Colorado Springs won by David Jenkins of the USA
- Mar 3 Worlds Ladies' Figure Skating Champ in Colorado Springs won by Carol Heiss (US)
- Mar 4 Gold Coast officially changes its name to Ghana ahead of its independence
- Mar 4 The S&P 500 stock market index is introduced, replacing the S&P 90.
Election of Interest
Mar 5 Eamon de Valera's Fianna Fail-party wins election in Ireland
- Mar 5 Sgt Bilko satirizes Elvis Presley (Elvis Pelvin)
Dred Scott v. Sandford
Mar 6 Centenary of Dred Scott slavery court decision marked by rediscovery of Scott's grave
- Mar 6 Ghana (formerly Gold Coast) declares independence from the United Kingdom
- Mar 8 David Diamond's 6th Symphony premieres with the Boston Symphony Orchestra conducted by Charles Munch
- Mar 8 Egypt reopens the Suez Canal after Israel withdraws from occupied Egyptian territory
- Mar 8 Israeli troops leave Egypt in compliance with UN resolution
- Mar 8 USSR performs atmospheric nuclear test
- Mar 9 8.1 earthquake shakes Andreanof Islands, Alaska
- Mar 10 Thousands of soccer fans riot in Italy
- Mar 11 Charles Van Doren finally loses on US TV game show "Twenty-One" after winning $129,000 - later revealed to be fixed
- Mar 12 German DR accepts 22 Russian divisions
Battle of Interest
Mar 13 Bloody battles in Cuba after the student led "Revolutionary Directorate" attacks the presidential palace in Havana in an unsuccessful attempt to depose dictator Fulgencio Batista
- Mar 14 Indonesian government of Sastroamidjojo resigns
Emmy Awards
Mar 16 9th Emmy Awards: Phil Silvers Show, Robert Young & Loretta Young win
Golf Tournament
Mar 16 LPGA Titleholders Championship Women's Golf, Augusta CC: Patty Berg wins her 7th Titleholders title by 3 strokes from amateur Anne Quast
- Mar 16 Toronto Maple Leafs tie NHL record 37 points beating NY Rangers 14-1
- Mar 17 Dutch ban on Sunday driving lifted
Plane Crash
Mar 17 Presidential plane crashes on Mt. Manunggal in Cebu, Philippines killing 25 including Filipino President Ramon Magsaysay
Event of Interest
Mar 21 Tennessee Williams' "Orpheus Descending" premieres in NYC
- Mar 22 "All Shook Up" single released by Elvis Presley
- Mar 22 Earthquake shakes San Francisco
- Mar 22 Republic of India adopts Saka calendar along with Gregorian
- Mar 23 US army sells last homing pigeons
- Mar 25 NBA modifies the free-throw rule
- Mar 25 Treaty of Rome establishes European Economic Community (Common Market)
Academy Awards
Mar 27 29th Academy Awards: "Around World in 80 Days", Ingrid Bergman, Yul Brynner win
- Mar 28 1st National Curling Championship held
Cinderella
Mar 31 Rodgers & Hammerstein's live television musical "Cinderella", starring Julie Andrews, with Kaye Ballard and Alice Ghostley, premieres on CBS-TV
- Apr 1 Trial begins in Budapest against participants of the Hungarian Uprising of October 1956
- Apr 1 World's biggest glass oven used
- Apr 1 WYES-TV channel 12 in New Orleans, Louisiana (PBS) begins broadcasting
- Apr 3 Samuel Beckett's play "Endgame" premieres in London as a French language production
- Apr 3 USSR performs atmospheric nuclear test
- Apr 4 Heitor Villa-Lobos' 10th Symphony premieres French Radio National Orchestra, conducted by the composer, in Paris
- Apr 6 Greek shipping tycoon Aristotle Onassis buys the Hellenic National Airlines (TAE) and founds Olympic Airlines.
- Apr 6 NYC ends trolley car service
- Apr 6 USSR performs nuclear test (atmospheric tests)
- Apr 7 Last of NY's electric trolleys completes its final run
Music History
Apr 9 Howard Hanson's "Song of Democracy" premieres in Washington, D.C.
12 Angry Men
Apr 10 "12 Angry Men", directed by Sidney Lumet, starring Henry Fonda and Lee J. Cobb, is released
- Apr 10 John Osborne's "Entertainer" premieres in London
- Apr 10 Jordanian government of Naboelsi resigns
- Apr 10 USSR performs atmospheric nuclear test
- Apr 11 Britain agrees to Singaporean self-rule
Neruda Arrested
Apr 11 Chilean poet Pablo Neruda arrested in Buenos Aires (later released)
- Apr 11 Ryan X-13 Vertijet becomes 1st jet to take-off & land vertically
- Apr 12 Jim Spalding set a 2,088 pin nine-game bowling record
- Apr 12 USSR performs atmospheric nuclear test
- Apr 13 11th Tony Awards: "Long Day's Journey into Night" (play) & "My Fair Lady" (musical) win
- Apr 13 Saturday postal delivery in US is temporarily halted due to lack of funds
- Apr 14 Leah Neuberger wins her 8th women's singles ping pong championship
- Apr 15 KTVI TV channel 2 in Saint Louis, MO (ABC) begins broadcasting
- Apr 15 Saturday mail delivery restored in the US after Congress gives the Post Office $41 million
- Apr 16 Stanley Cup Final, Montreal Forum, Montreal, Quebec: Dickie Moore has a goal and 2 assists as Montreal Canadiens beat Boston Bruins, 5-1 for a 4-1 series victory
- Apr 16 USSR performs atmospheric nuclear test at Semipalatinsk, Kazakhstan
- Apr 22 All NL baseball teams integrate, John Irwin Kennedy becomes the 1st Black player for the Philadelphia Phillies
- Apr 24 Chicago Cub pitchers walk NL record 9 Reds in 5th inning
- Apr 25 1st experimental sodium nuclear reactor operated
- Apr 25 Ibrahim Hashim forms Jordanian government
- Apr 25 WUHY TV channel 35 in Philadelphia, PA (PBS) begins broadcasting
- Apr 26 Jamestown, Virginia 350th Anniversary Festival opens
- Apr 28 LPGA Western Open Women's Golf, Montgomery CC: Patty Berg wins her 6th WO by 1 stroke from Wiffi Smith
- Apr 28 WSOC TV channel 9 in Charlotte, North Carolina (ABC) begins broadcasting
- Apr 29 1st military nuclear power plant dedicated at Fort Belvoir, Virginia
- May 1 Flevo Boys Football Club is established in Emmeloord, the Netherlands
Radio Premiere
May 1 Larry King's 1st radio broadcast, on station WAHR (1490-AM) in Miami Beach, Florida
- May 1 US gives Poland credit of $95 million
- May 1 Vanguard TV-1 booster test reaches 195 km
Event of Interest
May 2 Eugene O'Neill's stage drama "A Moon for the Misbegotten" premieres at the Bijou Theatre, NYC; runs for 68 performances
Assassination Attempt
May 2 Gangster Frank Costello escapes an assassination attempt made by rival mobsters
The Curse of Frankenstein
May 2 Hammer Film Productions releases its 1st color horror title - "The Curse of Frankenstein" starring Peter Cushing and Christopher Lee
- May 4 Alan Freed hosts "Rock n' Roll Show" 1st prime-time network rock show, cancelled after 4 episodes
Anne Frank Foundation
May 4 Anne Frank Foundation forms in Amsterdam
- May 5 Adolf Schärf (67) is elected President of Austria
Event of Interest
May 6 Italian government of Antonio Segni resigns
- May 6 Last broadcast of "I Love Lucy" on CBS-TV
Event of Interest
May 6 Pulitzer Prize for Biography awarded to John F. Kennedy for "Profiles in Courage"
Election of Interest
May 6 Rajendra Prasad re-elected President of India for a second term in a landslide
- May 7 Indians' pitcher Herb Score is hit by a line drive off Gil McDougald
Diệm Visits the US
May 8 South Vietnamese President, Ngô Đình Diệm, arrives in the United States on a state visit
- May 10 1st meeting of legislative of Cameroon
- May 10 Dmitri Shostakovich's 2nd Piano concerto premieres, played by his son Maxim at his graduation concert at Moscow's conservatory
- May 11 Gabriel Paris forms government of Colombia
Billy Graham's Crusade
May 15 Evangelist Billy Graham launches his "crusade" in front of 18,000 people at Madison Square Garden in NYC
UK Tests a Hydrogen Bomb
May 15 Operation Grapple: Britain tests its first hydrogen bomb near Christmas Island in the Indian Ocean
Copacabana Incident
May 16 NY Yankee players including Mickey Mantle, Yogi Berra, Whitey Ford, and Hank Bauer are involved in a brawl at the Copacabana nightclub while watching Sammy Davis Jr. perform, leads to Billy Martin trade
- May 16 Pope Pius XII publishes encyclical Invicti Athletae
- May 16 US launches its 3rd atomic submarine, USS Skate, at Groton, Connecticut
10th Cannes Film Festival
May 17 10th Cannes Film Festival: "Friendly Persuasion" directed by William Wyler wins the Palme d'Or
- May 17 Prayer Pilgrimage, biggest civil rights demonstration to date (DC)
- May 17 School desegregation law, Brown v Board of education
- May 19 Adone Zoli forms Italian government
Event of Interest
May 21 French government of Guy Mollet resigns
- May 22 KBTX TV channel 3 in Bryan, TX (CBS) begins broadcasting
- May 22 Red Sox set AL record by smashing 4 HRs in 6th inning in 11-0 win
- May 22 South Africa's government approves race separation in universities
- May 24 Anti-American riots breakout in Taipei, Taiwan
- May 24 Heavy earthquake strikes Colombia
Sports History
May 25 Legendary rugby player Colin Meads makes his All Black debut against Australia - New Zealand win 25-11 in Sydney
- May 27 Toronto's CHUM-AM, (1050 kHz) becomes Canada's first radio station to broadcast only top 40 Rock n' Roll music format
- May 28 NL approves baseball's Brooklyn Dodgers' & NY Giants' move to the US west coast
- May 28 US performs nuclear test at Nevada Test Site
- May 28 WPSD TV channel 6 in Paducah, KY (NBC) begins broadcasting
- May 29 Algerian rebels kill 336 collaborators
- May 29 Laos government of prince Suvanna Phuma resigns
- May 29 NYC Mayor Robert Wagner says he plans to confer with the Giants & Dodgers about the proposed move to the west coast
- May 30 Test Cricket debut for Rohan Kanhai v England at Edgbaston
- May 31 Great Britain performs nuclear test at Christmas Island (atmospheric)
- Jun 1 Don Bowden becomes first American to run a sub-4 minute mile (3:58.7) at the Pacific Association AAU Meet in Stockton, California
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