Events

January

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 (), commercially styled as since 2000 and known until 1954 as (RAI), is the national public broadcasting company of Italy, owned by the Ministry of Economy and Finance. RAI operates many terrestrial and subscription television channels a ...

officially begins transmitting. *

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

–

Georgetown–IBM experiment The Georgetown–IBM experiment was an influential demonstration of machine translation, which was performed on January 7, 1954. Developed jointly by Georgetown University and IBM, the experiment involved completely automatic translation of more th ...

: The first public demonstration of a

machine translation Machine translation is use of computational techniques to translate text or speech from one language to another, including the contextual, idiomatic and pragmatic nuances of both languages. Early approaches were mostly rule-based or statisti ...

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

IBM International Business Machines Corporation (using the trademark IBM), nicknamed Big Blue, is an American Multinational corporation, multinational technology company headquartered in Armonk, New York, and present in over 175 countries. It is ...

. *

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 th ...

–

BOAC Flight 781 BOAC Flight 781 was a scheduled British Overseas Airways Corporation 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 and crash ...

, a

de Havilland Comet The de Havilland DH.106 Comet is 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 features an aerodynamically clean design with four ...

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 striation (fatigue), striati ...

, and crashes in the Mediterranean near

Elba Elba (, ; ) is a Mediterranean Sea, 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 Park, a ...

; all 35 people on board are killed. *

January 12 Events Pre-1600 * 475 – List of Byzantine emperors, Byzantine Emperor Zeno (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 crow ...

–

Avalanche An avalanche is a rapid flow of snow down a Grade (slope), slope, such as a hill or mountain. Avalanches can be triggered spontaneously, by factors such as increased precipitation or snowpack weakening, or by external means such as humans, othe ...

s in Austria kill more than 200. *

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

– 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, Kubu Kubu, ...

is captured in

Kenya Kenya, officially the Republic of Kenya, is a country located in East Africa. With an estimated population of more than 52.4 million as of mid-2024, Kenya is the 27th-most-populous country in the world and the 7th most populous in Africa. ...

. *

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 peopl ...

– In

Yugoslavia , common_name = Yugoslavia , life_span = 1918–19921941–1945: World War II in Yugoslavia#Axis invasion and dismemberment of Yugoslavia, Axis occupation , p1 = Kingdom of SerbiaSerbia , flag_p ...

Milovan Đilas Milovan Djilas (; sr-Cyrl-Latn, Милован Ђилас, Milovan Đilas, ; 12 June 1911 – 20 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 ...

, one of the leading members of the

League of Communists of Yugoslavia The League of Communists of Yugoslavia, known until 1952 as the Communist Party of Yugoslavia, was the founding and ruling party of SFR Yugoslavia. It was formed in 1919 as the main communist opposition party in the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats ...

, is relieved of his duties. *

January 20 Events Pre-1600 * 250 – Pope Fabian is martyred during the Decian persecution. *1156 – Finnish peasant Lalli kills English clergyman Henry (bishop of Finland), Henry, the Bishop of Turku, on the ice of Köyliönjärvi, Lake Köyli� ...

– 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 programmin ...

is established, with 46 member

radio station Radio broadcasting is the broadcasting 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 rad ...

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 wh ...

– The first nuclear-powered

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

, the , is launched in

Groton, Connecticut Groton ( ) is a town in New London County, Connecticut, United States, located on the Thames River (Connecticut), Thames River. It is the home of General Dynamics Electric Boat, which is the major contractor for submarine work for the United St ...

, by

First Lady of the United States First Lady of the United States (FLOTUS) is a title typically held by 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 been Code of law, codified or offici ...

Mamie Eisenhower Mary Geneva "Mamie" Eisenhower (; November 14, 1896 – November 1, 1979) was 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 Colo ...

. *

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 dyn ...

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

Berlin Conference The Berlin Conference of 1884–1885 was a meeting of colonial powers that concluded with the signing of the General Act of Berlin,

February

February 10 Events Pre-1600 * 1258 – The Siege of Baghdad ends with the surrender of the last Abbasid caliph to Hulegu Khan, a prince of the Mongol Empire. * 1306 – In front of the high altar of Greyfriars Church in Dumfries, Robert the Bru ...

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

Vietnam Vietnam, officially the Socialist Republic of Vietnam (SRV), is a country at the eastern edge of mainland Southeast Asia, with an area of about and a population of over 100 million, making it the world's List of countries and depende ...

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. The president directs the Federal government of the United States#Executive branch, executive branch of the Federal government of t ...

Dwight D. Eisenhower Dwight David "Ike" Eisenhower (born David Dwight Eisenhower; October 14, 1890 – March 28, 1969) was the 34th president of the United States, serving from 1953 to 1961. During World War II, he was Supreme Commander of the Allied Expeditionar ...

warns against his country's intervention in

. *

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

–

1954 transfer of Crimea In 1954, the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the Soviet Union transferred the Crimean Oblast from the Russian SFSR to the Ukrainian SSR. The territory had been recognized within the Soviet Union as having "close ties" to the Ukrainian SSR, a ...

: The Soviet Politburo of the

Soviet Union The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR), commonly known as the Soviet Union, was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 until Dissolution of the Soviet ...

orders the transfer of the

Crimean Oblast * oblast An oblast ( or ) is a type of administrative division in Bulgaria and several post-Soviet states, including Belarus, Russia and Ukraine. Historically, it was used in the Russian Empire and the Soviet Union. The term ''oblast'' is often tr ...

from the

Russian SFSR The Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic (Russian SFSR or RSFSR), previously known as the Russian Socialist Federative Soviet Republic and the Russian Soviet Republic, and unofficially as Soviet Russia,Declaration of Rights of the labo ...

to the

Ukrainian SSR The Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic, abbreviated as the Ukrainian SSR, UkrSSR, and also known as Soviet Ukraine or just Ukraine, was one of the Republics of the Soviet Union, constituent republics of the Soviet Union from 1922 until 1991. ...

. *

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 o ...

– 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 75% of cases are asymptomatic; mild symptoms which can occur include sore throat and fever; in a proportion of cases more severe ...

begins in

Pittsburgh Pittsburgh ( ) is a city in Allegheny County, Pennsylvania, United States, and its county seat. It is the List of municipalities in Pennsylvania#Municipalities, second-most populous city in Pennsylvania (after Philadelphia) and the List of Un ...

Pennsylvania Pennsylvania, officially the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, is a U.S. state, state spanning the Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic, Northeastern United States, Northeastern, Appalachian, and Great Lakes region, Great Lakes regions o ...

, 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 military officer and revolutionary who served as the second president of Egypt from 1954 until his death in 1970. Nasser led the Egyptian revolution of 1952 a ...

becomes premier of

Egypt Egypt ( , ), officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, is a country spanning the Northeast Africa, northeast corner of Africa and Western Asia, southwest corner of Asia via the Sinai Peninsula. It is bordered by the Mediterranean Sea to northe ...

March

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

** 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 lo ...

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 1 March 1954, the device remains the most powe ...

) has been conducted, on

Bikini Atoll Bikini Atoll ( or ; Marshallese language, Marshallese: , , ), known as Eschscholtz Atoll between the 19th century and 1946, is a coral reef in the Marshall Islands consisting of 23 islands surrounding a central lagoon. The atoll is at the no ...

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, Philippines *Puerto Colombia, Colombia *Puerto Cumarebo, Venezuela *Puerto Galera, Oriental Mi ...

open fire in the

United States House of Representatives The United States House of Representatives is a chamber of the Bicameralism, bicameral United States Congress; it is the lower house, with the U.S. Senate being the upper house. Together, the House and Senate have the authority under Artic ...

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

March 9 Events Pre-1600 *141 BC – Liu Che, Posthumous name, 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 Quedlinburg, annals of the mo ...

– American journalists

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

and Fred W. Friendly 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 Em ...

'' 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 th ...

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

March 13 Events Pre-1600 * 222 – Roman emperor Elagabalus is murdered alongside his mother, Julia Soaemias. He is replaced by his 14-year old cousin, Severus Alexander. * 624 – The Battle of Badr, the first major battle between the Mu ...

–

Việt Minh The Việt Minh (, ) is the common and abbreviated name of the League for Independence of Vietnam ( or , ; ), which was a communist-led national independence coalition formed at Pác Bó by Hồ Chí Minh on 19 May 1941. Also known as the Vi ...

forces under General

Võ Nguyên Giáp Võ Nguyên Giáp ( vi-hantu, , ; 25 August 1911 – 4 October 2013) was a Vietnamese general, communist revolutionary and politician. Highly regarded as a military strategist, Giáp led Vietnamese communist forces to victories in wars agains ...

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

Battle of Dien Bien Phu The Battle of 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 forces of the French Union and Viet Minh. The French began an operation to in ...

, 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, and alternatively internationally as the French-Indochina War) was fought between French Fourth Republic, France and Việ ...

. *

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 en ...

–

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 whi ...

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 Avenue (Manhattan), Seventh and Eighth Avenue (Manhattan), Eig ...

in the first

televised Television (TV) is a telecommunications, telecommunication media (communication), medium for transmitting moving images and sound. Additionally, the term can refer to a physical television set rather than the medium of signal transmission, ...

boxing Boxing is a combat sport and martial art. Taking place in a boxing ring, it involves two people – usually wearing protective equipment, such as boxing glove, protective gloves, hand wraps, and mouthguards – throwing Punch (combat), punch ...

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 is surrendered to King Henry VIII of England; the las ...

– In Vietnam, the

Viet Minh The Việt Minh (, ) is the common and abbreviated name of the League for Independence of Vietnam ( or , ; ), which was a Communist Party of Vietnam, communist-led national independence coalition formed at Pác Bó by Hồ Chí Minh on 19 May 1 ...

capture the main airstrip of

Dien Bien Phu Diethylenetriamine (abbreviated and also known as 2,2’-Iminodi(ethylamine)) is an organic compound with the formula HN(CH2CH2NH2)2. This colourless hygroscopic liquid is soluble in water and polar organic solvents, but not simple hydrocarbons. ...

. The remaining French Army units there are partially isolated. *

March 25 Until 1752 it was the official date of the beginning of the year in England and its dominions (in the Julian calendar). Events Pre-1600 * 410 – The Southern Yan capital of Guanggu falls to the Jin dynasty general Liu Yu, ending th ...

** The

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

Ceremony is held. ** The

recognises the

sovereignty Sovereignty can generally be defined as supreme authority. Sovereignty entails hierarchy within a state as well as external autonomy for states. In any state, sovereignty is assigned to the person, body or institution that has the ultimate au ...

East Germany East Germany, officially known as the German Democratic Republic (GDR), was a country in Central Europe from Foundation of East Germany, its formation on 7 October 1949 until German reunification, its reunification with West Germany (FRG) on ...

. Soviet troops remain in the country. *

March 27 Events Pre-1600 * 1309 – Pope Clement V imposes excommunication and interdiction on Venice, and a general prohibition of all commercial intercourse with Venice, which had seized Ferrara, a papal fiefdom. * 1329 – Pope John XXII ...

– 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 26 March 1954, ...

nuclear test explosion is executed at

, in the

Marshall Islands The Marshall Islands, officially the Republic of the Marshall Islands, is an island country west of the International Date Line and north of the equator in the Micronesia region of the Northwestern Pacific Ocean. The territory consists of 29 c ...

. *

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 Did ...

** The trial of A. L. Zissu and 12 other Zionist leaders ends with harsh sentences in

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

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

WKAQ-TV WKAQ-TV (channel 2) is a television station in San Juan, Puerto Rico, serving as the U.S. territory's dual Telemundo and NBC outlet. It is owned and operated by the Telemundo Station Group subsidiary of NBCUniversal. WKAQ-TV's studios are loc ...

'', commences

broadcasting Broadcasting is the data distribution, distribution of sound, audio audiovisual content to dispersed audiences via a electronic medium (communication), mass communications medium, typically one using the electromagnetic spectrum (radio waves), ...

. *

March 29 Events Pre-1600 * 1430 – The Ottoman Empire under Murad II captures Thessalonica from the Republic of Venice. * 1461 – Battle of Towton: Edward of York defeats Queen Margaret to become King Edward IV of England, bringing a ...

– A C-47 transport with French nurse

Geneviève de Galard Geneviève de Galard (13 April 1925 – 30 May 2024) was 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 simpl ...

on board is wrecked on the runway at

. *

March 30 Events Pre-1600 * 598 – Avar–Byzantine wars: 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 army is decimated by the plague. * 1282 ...

– The first operational

subway line Rapid transit or mass rapid transit (MRT) or heavy rail, commonly referred to as metro, is a type of high-capacity public transport that is generally built in urban areas. A grade separation, grade separated rapid transit line below ground su ...

in Canada opens in

Toronto Toronto ( , locally pronounced or ) is the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, most populous city in Canada. It is the capital city of the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of Ontario. With a p ...

April

April 1 Events Pre-1600 * 527 – Byzantine Emperor Justin I names his nephew Justinian I as co-ruler and successor to the throne. * 1081 – Alexios I Komnenos overthrows the Byzantine emperor Nikephoros III Botaneiates, and, after his tro ...

** The

U.S. Congress The United States Congress is the legislative branch of the federal government of the United States. It is a bicameral legislature, including a lower body, the U.S. House of Representatives, and an upper body, the U.S. Senate. They both ...

and President

authorize the founding of the

United States Air Force Academy The United States Air Force Academy (USAFA) is a United States service academies, United States service academy in Air Force Academy, Colorado, Air Force Academy Colorado, immediately north of Colorado Springs, Colorado, Colorado Springs. I ...

Colorado Colorado is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States. It is one of the Mountain states, sharing the Four Corners region with Arizona, New Mexico, and Utah. It is also bordered by Wyoming to the north, Nebraska to the northeast, Kansas ...

. **

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 Point ...

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

1992 1992 was designated as International Space Year by the United Nations. Events January * January 1 – Boutros Boutros-Ghali of Egypt replaces Javier Pérez de Cuéllar of Peru as United Nations Secretary-General. * January 6 ** The Republ ...

. *

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 (''asylum'' ), is a juridical concept, under which people persecuted by their own rulers might be protected by another sovereignty, sovereign authority, such as a second country or ...

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 &nd ...

– 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 orche ...

experiences a lapse of memory during a concert broadcast live from Carnegie Hall in New York City. 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 Em ...

–

gives his " domino theory" 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 – ...

– A Royal Canadian Air Force Canadair

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

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 McGregor. ...

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 cruis ...

over

Moose Jaw Moose Jaw is the List of cities in Saskatchewan, fourth largest city in Saskatchewan, Canada. Lying on the Moose Jaw River in the south-central part of the province, it is situated on the Trans-Canada Highway, west of Regina, Saskatchewan, Re ...

Saskatchewan Saskatchewan is a Provinces and territories of Canada, province in Western Canada. It is bordered on the west by Alberta, on the north by the Northwest Territories, on the east by Manitoba, to the northeast by Nunavut, and to the south by the ...

, 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, an

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

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 an electoral process to choose most or all members of a governing body at the same time. They are distinct from By-election, by-elections, which fill individual seats that have become vacant between general elections. Gener ...

in Belgium, 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 Univers ...

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

Socialist Socialism is an economic ideology, economic and political philosophy encompassing diverse Economic system, economic and social systems characterised by social ownership of the means of production, as opposed to private ownership. It describes ...

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. For example, while the political systems ...

, subsequently form a rare "

purple Purple is a color similar in appearance to violet light. In the RYB color model historically used in the arts, purple is a secondary color created by combining red and blue pigments. In the CMYK color model used in modern printing, purple is ...

" 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 1945 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 to ...

–

Bill Haley & His Comets Bill Haley & His Comets were an American rock and roll band formed in 1947 and continuing 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 reco ...

" 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, and 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 African ...

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 ...

Aneurin Bevan Aneurin "Nye" Bevan Privy Council (United Kingdom), PC (; 15 November 1897 – 6 July 1960) was a Welsh Labour Party (UK), Labour Party politician, noted for spearheading the creation of the British National Health Service during his t ...

resigns from the

British Labour Party The Labour Party, often referred to as Labour, is a List of political parties in the United Kingdom, political party in the United Kingdom that sits on the Centre-left politics, centre-left of the political spectrum. The party has been describe ...

'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. ** The world's most boring day according to

researchers Research is creative and systematic work undertaken to increase the stock of knowledge. It involves the collection, organization, and analysis of evidence to increase understanding of a topic, characterized by a particular attentiveness to ...

. *

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, Roman emperor Otho commits suicide. * ...

– Vice President

Richard Nixon Richard Milhous Nixon (January 9, 1913April 22, 1994) was the 37th president of the United States, serving from 1969 until Resignation of Richard Nixon, his resignation in 1974. A member of the Republican Party (United States), Republican ...

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 ( discovery of Brazil). * 1519 – Spanish conquistador Hernán Cortés establishes a settlement at Veracruz, Mexico. * 1529 – Treaty of Zara ...

** 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 Uni ...

United Nations The United Nations (UN) is the Earth, global intergovernmental organization established by the signing of the Charter of the United Nations, UN Charter on 26 June 1945 with the stated purpose of maintaining international peace and internationa ...

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 individuals ...

comes into force, defining the status of

refugee A refugee, according to the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), is a person "forced to flee their own country and seek safety in another country. They are unable to return to their own country because of feared persecution as ...

s and setting out the basis for granting

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

. **

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

Joseph McCarthy Joseph Raymond McCarthy (November 14, 1908 – May 2, 1957) was an American politician who served as a Republican Party (United States), Republican United States Senate, U.S. Senator from the state of Wisconsin from 1947 until his death at age ...

begins hearings investigating the

United States Army The United States Army (USA) is the primary Land warfare, land service branch of the United States Department of Defense. It is designated as the Army of the United States in the United States Constitution.Article II, section 2, clause 1 of th ...

for being "soft" on

Communism Communism () is a political sociology, sociopolitical, political philosophy, philosophical, and economic ideology, economic ideology within the history of socialism, socialist movement, whose goal is the creation of a communist society, a ...

. *

April 26 Events Pre-1600 * 1336 – Francesco Petrarca (Petrarch) ascends Mont Ventoux. * 1478 – The Pazzi family attack on Lorenzo de' Medici in order to displace the ruling Medici family kills his brother Giuliano during High Mass in Fl ...

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

Akira Kurosawa was a Japanese filmmaker who List of works by Akira Kurosawa, directed 30 feature films in a career spanning six decades. He is widely regarded as one of the greatest and most influential filmmakers in the History of film, history of cinema ...

's ''

Seven Samurai is a 1954 Japanese epic samurai action film directed by Akira Kurosawa from a screenplay co-written with Shinobu Hashimoto and Hideo Oguni. Taking place in 1586 in the Sengoku period of Japanese history, it follows the story of a villag ...

'' 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 victor ...

– U.S. Secretary of State

John Foster Dulles John Foster Dulles (February 25, 1888 – May 24, 1959) was an American politician, lawyer, and diplomat who served as United States secretary of state under President Dwight D. Eisenhower from 1953 until his resignation in 1959. A member of the ...

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 & ...

– The

Unification Church The Unification Church () is a new religious movement, whose members are called Unificationists or sometimes informally Moonies. It was founded in 1954 by Sun Myung Moon in Seoul, South Korea, as the Holy Spirit Association for the Unificatio ...

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 reformer John Wycliffe is condemned a ...

– General

Alfredo Stroessner Alfredo Stroessner Matiauda (; 3 November 1912 – 16 August 2006) was a Paraguayan politician, army general and Military dictatorship, military dictator who ruled as the 42nd president of Paraguay from 15 August 1954 until his overthrow in 19 ...

deposes

Federico Chaves Federico Chaves 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 Chaves was ...

in a

coup d'état A coup d'état (; ; ), or simply a coup , is typically an illegal and overt attempt by a military organization or other government elites to unseat an incumbent leadership. A self-coup is said to take place when a leader, having come to powe ...

Paraguay Paraguay, officially the Republic of Paraguay, is a landlocked country in South America. It is bordered by Argentina to the Argentina–Paraguay border, south and southwest, Brazil to the Brazil–Paraguay border, east and northeast, and Boli ...

; 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: Arts and entertainment Film and television *'' Præsident ...

until

1989 1989 was a turning point in political history with the "Revolutions of 1989" which ended communism in Eastern Bloc of Europe, starting in Poland and Hungary, with experiments in power-sharing coming to a head with the opening of the Berlin W ...

. *

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 Sp ...

–

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 status in the United Kingdom, cathedral city and non-metropolitan district in Oxfordshire, England, of which it is the county town. The city is home to the University of Oxford, the List of oldest universities in continuou ...

, 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 im ...

–

Vietnam War The Vietnam War (1 November 1955 – 30 April 1975) was an armed conflict in Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia fought between North Vietnam (Democratic Republic of Vietnam) and South Vietnam (Republic of Vietnam) and their allies. North Vietnam w ...

(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 (AFC) is the governing body of association football, beach soccer, and futsal in most countries and territories in Asia. The AFC was formed in 1954. It has 47 members. The Asian Ladies Football Confederation ( ...

(AFC) is formed in

Manila Manila, officially the City of Manila, is the Capital of the Philippines, capital and second-most populous city of the Philippines after Quezon City, with a population of 1,846,513 people in 2020. Located on the eastern shore of Manila Bay on ...

Philippines The Philippines, officially the Republic of the Philippines, is an Archipelagic state, archipelagic country in Southeast Asia. Located in the western Pacific Ocean, it consists of List of islands of the Philippines, 7,641 islands, with a tot ...

. *

May 11 Events Pre-1600 * 330 – Constantine the Great dedicates the much-expanded and rebuilt city of Byzantium, changing its name to New Rome and declaring it the new capital of the Eastern Roman Empire. *868 – A copy of the Diamond Sūtr ...

– 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 Robert II ( 972 – 20 July 1031), called the Pious () or the Wise (), was List of French monarchs, King of the Franks from 996 to 1031, the second from the Capetian dynasty. Crowned Juni ...

** The

Boeing 707 The Boeing 707 is an early American long-range Narrow-body aircraft, narrow-body airliner, the first jetliner developed and produced by Boeing Commercial Airplanes. Developed from the Boeing 367-80 prototype, the initial first flew on Decembe ...

jetliner is rolled out in the United States, 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 ...

is adopted in

The Hague The Hague ( ) is the capital city of the South Holland province of the Netherlands. With a population of over half a million, it is the third-largest city in the Netherlands. Situated on the west coast facing the North Sea, The Hague is the c ...

, 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 usurpe ...

– 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, it aims to protect, project, and promote the common cultural heritage of Lat ...

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

Madrid Madrid ( ; ) is the capital and List of largest cities in Spain, most populous municipality of Spain. It has almost 3.5 million inhabitants and a Madrid metropolitan area, metropolitan area population of approximately 7 million. It i ...

. Its member countries use the five

Romance languages The Romance languages, also known as the Latin or Neo-Latin languages, are the languages that are Language family, directly descended from Vulgar Latin. They are the only extant subgroup of the Italic languages, Italic branch of the Indo-E ...

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

2012 2012 was designated as: *International Year of Cooperatives *International Year of Sustainable Energy for All Events January *January 4 – The Cicada 3301 internet hunt begins. * January 12 – Peaceful protests begin in the R ...

. *

May 16 Events Pre-1600 * 946 – Emperor Suzaku abdicates the throne in favor of his brother Murakami who becomes the 62nd emperor of Japan. * 1204 – Baldwin IX, Count of Flanders is crowned as the first Emperor of the Latin Empire. *13 ...

– Beginning of the

Kengir uprising The Kengir uprising was a prisoner rebellion that occurred in Kengir ( Steplag), a Soviet MVD special camp for political prisoners, during May and June 1954. Its duration and intensity distinguished it from other Gulag rebellions during the same ...

in the

Gulag The Gulag was a system of Labor camp, forced labor camps in the Soviet Union. The word ''Gulag'' originally referred only to the division of the Chronology of Soviet secret police agencies, Soviet secret police that was in charge of runnin ...

. *

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 explo ...

** ''

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

'' (347 US 483 1954): The

Supreme Court of the United States 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 Federal tribunals in the United States, U.S. federal court cases, and over Stat ...

rules unanimously that segregated schools are unconstitutional. ** The

Royal Commission A royal commission is a major ad-hoc formal public inquiry into a defined issue in some monarchies. They have been held in the United Kingdom, Australia, Canada, New Zealand, Norway, Malaysia, Mauritius and Saudi Arabia. In republics an equi ...

on the

in Australia begins its inquiry. **

Adnan Menderes Ali Adnan Ertekin 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 ...

of the Democrat Party forms the new (21st) government of

Turkey Turkey, officially the Republic of Türkiye, is a country mainly located in Anatolia in West Asia, with a relatively small part called East Thrace in Southeast Europe. It borders the Black Sea to the north; Georgia (country), Georgia, Armen ...

. *

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 h ...

– Chiang Kai-shek is re-elected as the

president of the Republic of China The president of the Republic of China, also known as the president of Taiwan, is the head of state of the Taiwan, Republic of China (Taiwan), as well as the commander-in-chief of the Republic of China Armed Forces. Republic of China (1912– ...

, 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 repr ...

. *

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. ...

– 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 ta ...

– 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. S ...

Massachusetts Massachusetts ( ; ), officially the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, is a U.S. state, state in the New England region of the Northeastern United States. It borders the Atlantic Ocean and the Gulf of Maine to its east, Connecticut and Rhode ...

, 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 unde ...

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 R ...

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 '' Hruod'' () "fame, glory, honour, praise, reno ...

Liberal Liberal or liberalism may refer to: Politics * Generally, a supporter of the political philosophy liberalism. Liberals may be politically left or right but tend to be centrist. * An adherent of a Liberal Party (See also Liberal parties by country ...

Country A country is a distinct part of the world, such as a state, nation, or other political entity. When referring to a specific polity, the term "country" may refer to a sovereign state, state with limited recognition, constituent country, ...

Coalition A coalition is 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, military, or economic spaces. Formation According to ''A G ...

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

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

H.V. Evatt Herbert Vere "Doc" Evatt, (30 April 1894 – 2 November 1965) was an Australian politician and judge. He served as a justice of the High Court of Australia from 1930 to 1940, Attorney-General and Minister for External Affairs from 1941 to 194 ...

. 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", "Bilderberg Conference" or "Bilderberg Club") is an annual off-the-record forum established in 1954 to foster dialogue between Europe and North America. The group's agenda, originally ...

. **

Diane Leather Diane Susan Leather Charles née Leather (7 January 19335 September 2018) was an English athlete who was the Mile run world record progression#Women, first woman to run a sub-5-minute mile. Inspired to take up running aged 19 after watching t ...

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

Birmingham Birmingham ( ) is a City status in the United Kingdom, city and metropolitan borough in the metropolitan county of West Midlands (county), West Midlands, within the wider West Midlands (region), West Midlands region, in England. It is the Lis ...

, 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, appointe ...

– The grand opening of the sculpture of Yuriy Dolgorukiy takes place in Moscow (this statue is one of the main monuments of Moscow). *

June 7 Events Pre-1600 * 421 – Emperor Theodosius II marries Aelia Eudocia at Constantinople (Byzantine Empire). * 879 – Pope John VIII recognises the Duchy of Croatia under Duke Branimir as an independent state. * 1002 – He ...

– 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. He was highly influential in the development of theoretical computer ...

, 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 a political practice defined by the political repression and persecution of left-wing individuals and a Fear mongering, campaign spreading fear of communist and Soviet influence on American institutions and of Soviet espionage i ...

: Joseph N. Welch, special counsel for the United States Army, lashes out at

, during hearings on whether

has infiltrated the Army, saying, "Have you, at long last, no decency?" The exchange results in the decline of McCarthy’s popularity. *

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 U.S Pledge of Allegiance is a patriotic recited verse that promises allegiance to the flag of the United States and the republic of the United States. The first version was written in 1885 by Captain George Thatcher Balch, a Union Army o ...

. *

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 The Union of European Football Associations (UEFA ; ; ) is one of six continental bodies of governance in association football. It governs football, futsal and beach soccer, beach football in Europe and the List of transcontinental countries#A ...

(Union of European Football Associations) is formed in

Basel Basel ( ; ), also known as Basle ( ), ; ; ; . is a city in northwestern Switzerland on the river Rhine (at the transition from the High Rhine, High to the Upper Rhine). Basel is Switzerland's List of cities in Switzerland, third-most-populo ...

, 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 burn ...

– A CIA-engineered military coup occurs in

Guatemala Guatemala, officially the Republic of Guatemala, is a country in Central America. It is bordered to the north and west by Mexico, to the northeast by Belize, to the east by Honduras, and to the southeast by El Salvador. It is hydrologically b ...

. *

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 – Siege of Constantinople (860), Byzantine� ...

–

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 c ...

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: Roman Republic, Romans under Lucius Aemilius Paullus Macedonicus, Luciu ...

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 was the murder of Honorah Mary Rieper (also known as Honorah Mary Parker) in Christchurch, New Zealand, on 22 June 1954. The perpetrators were Rieper's teenaged daughter Pauline Parker and her friend Anne Perry, ...

: Pauline Parker, 16 and her friend Juliet Hulme, 15, bludgeon Parker's mother to death using a brick, at Victoria Park 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 – Amerigo Vespucci sights what is now Amapá State in B ...

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, before he became the secon ...

steps down in a

CIA The Central Intelligence Agency (CIA; ) is a civilian foreign intelligence service of the federal government of the United States tasked with advancing national security through collecting and analyzing intelligence from around the world and ...

-sponsored

military coup A military, also known collectively as armed forces, is a heavily armed, highly organized force primarily intended for warfare. Militaries are typically authorized and maintained by a sovereign state, with their members identifiable by a d ...

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

Obninsk Obninsk () is a types of inhabited localities in Russia, city in Kaluga Oblast, Russia, located on the bank of the Protva River southwest of Moscow and northeast of Kaluga. Its population is 125,376 at the 2021 census. History The history of ...

, 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 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 procla ...

** 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 (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

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

West Germany West Germany was the common English name for the Federal Republic of Germany (FRG) from its formation on 23 May 1949 until German reunification, its reunification with East Germany on 3 October 1990. It is sometimes known as the Bonn Republi ...

beats

Hungary Hungary is a landlocked country in Central Europe. Spanning much of the Pannonian Basin, 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 and ...

3–2 to win the

1954 FIFA World Cup The 1954 FIFA World Cup was the 5th edition of the FIFA World Cup, the quadrennial international Association football, football tournament for senior men's national teams of the nations affiliated to FIFA. It was held in Switzerland from 16 June ...

. *

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. * 420 – Having usurped the throne ...

– Peter Thomson 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 &ndas ...

** The

Boeing 367-80 The Boeing 367-80, also known as the Dash 80, is a retired American four-engined prototype jet aircraft by Boeing to demonstrate the advantages of jet propulsion for commercial aviation. It served as basis for the design of the KC-135 tanker a ...

(or Dash 80), prototype of the

series, makes its maiden flight. **

Juan Fangio Juan Manuel Fangio (, ; 24 June 1911 – 17 July 1995) was an Argentine racing driver, who competed in Formula One from to . Nicknamed "el Chueco" and "el Maestro", Fangio won five Formula One World Drivers' Championship titles and—at the ti ...

Argentine Argentines, Argentinians or Argentineans are people from Argentina. This connection may be residential, legal, historical, or cultural. For most Argentines, several (or all) of these connections exist and are collectively the source of their ...

driver for German

Grand Prix ( , meaning ''Grand Prize''; plural ''Grands Prix'') most commonly refers to: * Grand Prix motor racing, a form of motorsport competition ** List of Formula One Grands Prix, an auto-racing championship *** Monaco Grand Prix, the most prestigious ...

team

Mercedes-Benz Mercedes-Benz (), commonly referred to simply as Mercedes and occasionally as Benz, is a German automotive brand that was founded in 1926. Mercedes-Benz AG (a subsidiary of the Mercedes-Benz Group, established in 2019) is based in Stuttgart, ...

, makes a new fastest lap of the

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

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

July 17 Events Pre-1600 * 180 – Twelve inhabitants of Scillium (near Kasserine, modern-day Tunisia) in North Africa are executed for being Christians. This is the earliest record of Christianity in that part of the world. * 1048 – Dama ...

–

troops successfully ambush the armoured French column 'G.M. 42' in the

Battle of Chu Dreh Pass The Battle of Chu-Dreh Pass also known as the Ambush at Chu-Dreh Pass and Operation Myosotis was the last battle of the First Indochina War between French Union and Viet Minh forces that took place on 17 July 1954, in the Central Highlands (Viet ...

in the Central Highlands. It is the last battle of the war. *

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 ...

– Release of

Elvis Presley Elvis Aaron Presley (January 8, 1935 – August 16, 1977) was an American singer and actor. Referred to as the "King of Rock and Roll", he is regarded as Cultural impact of Elvis Presley, one of the most significant cultural figures of the ...

's first single, a cover of "

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

", by

Sun Records Sun Records is an American independent record label founded by producer Sam Phillips in Memphis, Tennessee on February 1, 1952. Sun was the first label to record Elvis Presley, Charlie Rich, Roy Orbison, Jerry Lee Lewis, Carl Perkins, and Jo ...

(recorded

July 5 Events Pre-1600 * 328 – The official opening of Constantine's Bridge built over the Danube between Sucidava ( Corabia, Romania) and Oescus ( Gigen, Bulgaria) by the Roman architect Theophilus Patricius. * 1316 – The Burgundian ...

Memphis, Tennessee Memphis is a city in Shelby County, Tennessee, United States, and its county seat. Situated along the Mississippi River, it had a population of 633,104 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, making it the List of municipalities in Tenne ...

). *

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 th ...

–

: 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; ; VNDCCH), was a country in Southeast Asia from 1945 to 1976, with sovereignty fully recognized in 1954 Geneva Conference, 1954. A member of the communist Eastern Bloc, it o ...

and

South Vietnam South Vietnam, officially the Republic of Vietnam (RVN; , VNCH), was a country in Southeast Asia that existed from 1955 to 1975. It first garnered Diplomatic recognition, international recognition in 1949 as the State of Vietnam within the ...

, 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 at the age of 12. * 904 – Sack of Thessalonica: Saracen raiders under Leo o ...

– The construction of Yad Vashem started in Jerusalem. It is an official memorial center to commemorate the victims of the persecution of the Jews by the Nazis and their accomplices in Europe. *

– ''

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''. The action takes place in th ...

'', 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 (genre), epic high fantasy novel written by English author and scholar J. R. R. Tolkien. Set in Middle-earth, the story began as a sequel to Tolkien's 1937 children's book ''The Hobbit'' but eventually d ...

'', 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 the 1954 Italian expedition to K2 (led by Ardito Desio), Achille Compagnoni and Lino Lacedelli became the first people to reach the summit of K2, , the second-highest mountain in the world. They reached the summit on 31 July 1954. K2 is mo ...

: 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 to reach the summit of K2. Early life Lacedelli was born in Cortina d'Ampezzo. His climbing c ...

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 d ...

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 the Kashmir region spanning the border of Pakistan, China, and India, with the northwestern extremity of the range extending to Afghanistan and Tajikistan. Most of the Karakoram mountain range is withi ...

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 u ...

– The

ends with the

Vietnam People's Army Vietnam, officially the Socialist Republic of Vietnam (SRV), is a country at the eastern edge of mainland Southeast Asia, with an area of about and a population of over 100 million, making it the world's List of countries and depende ...

, the

Vietnamese National Army The Vietnamese National Army (VNA; , ; ) was a State of Vietnam's military force officially created on 8 December 1950, after the Élysée Accords took effect on 14 June 1949 when Vietnam was recognized by France as an "independent" country rule ...

, the

Kingdom of Cambodia Cambodia, officially the Kingdom of Cambodia, is a country in Southeast Asia on the Indochinese Peninsula. It is bordered by Thailand to the northwest, Laos to the north, and Vietnam to the east, and has a coastline along the Gulf of Thail ...

Cambodia Cambodia, officially the Kingdom of Cambodia, is a country in Southeast Asia on the Mainland Southeast Asia, Indochinese Peninsula. It is bordered by Thailand to the northwest, Laos to the north, and Vietnam to the east, and has a coastline ...

, and the

Kingdom of Laos The Kingdom of Laos was the form of government in Laos from 1947 to 1975. Located 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 sou ...

Laos Laos, officially the Lao People's Democratic Republic (LPDR), is the only landlocked country in Southeast Asia. It is bordered by Myanmar and China to the northwest, Vietnam to the east, Cambodia to the southeast, and Thailand to the west and ...

, emerging victorious against the French Army. *

August 6 Events Pre-1600 *686 – The Ummayad forces suffer a deceisive defeat against the pro-Alid forces under Ibrahim ibn al-Ashtar in the battle of Khazir. *1284 – The Republic of Pisa is defeated in the Battle of Meloria (1284), Battle o ...

– 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 Dion ...

, 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 all the tissues and organs, some more rapidly than others. There are m ...

tion following an

epileptic seizure A seizure is a sudden, brief disruption of brain activity caused by abnormal, excessive, or synchronous neuronal firing. Depending on the regions of the brain involved, seizures can lead to changes in movement, sensation, behavior, awareness, o ...

. She is the first of the Canadian 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 H ...

– 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 a circulation of over one million to win the National Magazine Award for General Excellen ...

'' 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 Ca ...

– A

United States Air Force The United States Air Force (USAF) is the Air force, air service branch of the United States Department of Defense. It is one of the six United States Armed Forces and one of the eight uniformed services of the United States. Tracing its ori ...

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

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 had a Census-estimated population of 102,755 as of 2023. The city was ...

, manufactured by

Lockheed Martin The Lockheed Martin Corporation is an American Arms industry, defense and aerospace manufacturer with worldwide interests. It was formed by the merger of Lockheed Corporation with Martin Marietta on March 15, 1995. It is headquartered in North ...

. *

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 until his suicide in 1954. Due to his long and contr ...

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 s ...

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 Co ...

– 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 signed in September 1954 in Manila, Philippines. The formal insti ...

(SEATO) treaty is signed in

. *

September 8 Events Pre-1600 * 70 – After the capture of Herod's Palace the previous day, a Roman army under Titus secures and plunders the city of Jerusalem. * 617 – Battle of Huoyi: Li Yuan defeats a Sui dynasty army, opening the path ...

– SEATO is established in

Bangkok Bangkok, officially known in Thai language, Thai as Krung Thep Maha Nakhon and colloquially as Krung Thep, is the capital and most populous city of Thailand. The city occupies in the Chao Phraya River delta in central Thailand and has an estim ...

Thailand Thailand, officially the Kingdom of Thailand and historically known as Siam (the official name until 1939), is a country in Southeast Asia on the Mainland Southeast Asia, Indochinese Peninsula. With a population of almost 66 million, it spa ...

. *

September 9 Events Pre-1600 *337 – Constantine II, Constantius II, and Constans succeed their father Constantine I as co-emperors. The Roman Empire is divided between the three Augusti. * 1000 – Battle of Svolder, Viking Age. * 1141 &ndas ...

– The 6.7 Chlef earthquake shakes northern

Algeria Algeria, officially the People's Democratic Republic of Algeria, is a country in the Maghreb region of North Africa. It is bordered to Algeria–Tunisia border, the northeast by Tunisia; to Algeria–Libya border, the east by Libya; to Alger ...

, with a maximum

Mercalli intensity The Modified Mercalli intensity scale (MM, MMI, or MCS) measures the effects of an earthquake at a given location. This is in contrast with the seismic magnitude usually reported for an earthquake. Magnitude scales measure the inherent force or ...

of XI (''Extreme''). The shock destroys

Orléansville Chlef () is the capital of Chlef Province, Algeria. Located in the north of Algeria, west of the capital, Algiers, it was founded in 1843, as Orléansville, on the ruins of Roman ''Castellum Tingitanum''. In 1962, it was renamed al-Asnam, but aft ...

, leaving 1,243–1,409 dead, and 5,000 injured. *

September 11 Events Pre-1600 * 9 – The Battle of the Teutoburg Forest ends: The Roman Empire suffers the greatest defeat of its history and the Rhine is established as the border between the Empire and the so-called barbarians for the next four hu ...

– The

Miss America Miss America is an annual competition that is open to women from the United States between the ages of 18 and 28. Originating in 1921 as a "bathing beauty revue", the contest is judged on competition segments with scoring percentages: ''Priva ...

Pageant is broadcast on television for the first time. *

September 14 Events Pre-1600 *AD 81 – Domitian became Emperor of the Roman Empire upon the death of his brother Titus. * 786 – "Night of the three Caliphs": Harun al-Rashid becomes the Abbasid caliph upon the death of his brother al-Hadi. Bir ...

** The

carries out the

Totskoye nuclear exercise The Totskoye nuclear exercise was a military exercise undertaken by the Soviet Army to explore defensive and offensive warfare during nuclear war. The exercise, under the code name "Snowball" (), involved an aerial detonation of a 40 kt RDS ...

. ** English composer

Benjamin Britten Edward Benjamin Britten, Baron Britten of Aldeburgh (22 November 1913 – 4 December 1976) was an English composer, conductor, and pianist. He was a central figure of 20th-century British music, with a range of works including opera, o ...

chamber opera Chamber opera is a designation for operas written to be performed with a Chamber music, chamber ensemble rather than a full orchestra. Early 20th-century operas of this type include Paul Hindemith's ''Cardillac'' (1926). Earlier small-scale operas ...

version of ''

The Turn of the Screw ''The Turn of the Screw'' is an 1898 gothic horror novella by Henry James which first appeared in serial format in '' Collier's Weekly'' from January 27 to April 16, 1898. On October 7, 1898, it was collected in ''The Two Magics'', publis ...

'' receives its world premiere, at the

Teatro La Fenice Teatro La Fenice (; "The Phoenix (mythology), Phoenix Theatre") is a historic opera house in Venice, Italy. It is one of "the most famous and renowned landmarks in the history of Italian theatre" and in the history of opera as a whole. Especial ...

Venice Venice ( ; ; , formerly ) is a city in northeastern Italy and the capital of the Veneto Regions of Italy, region. It is built on a group of 118 islands that are separated by expanses of open water and by canals; portions of the city are li ...

, Italy. *

September 17 Events Pre-1600 * 1111 – Highest Galician nobility led by Pedro Fróilaz de Traba and the bishop Diego Gelmírez crown Alfonso VII as "King of Galicia". *1176 – The Battle of Myriokephalon is the last attempt by the Byzantine E ...

–

William Golding Sir William Gerald Golding (19 September 1911 – 19 June 1993) was a British novelist, playwright, and poet. Best known for his debut novel '' Lord of the Flies'' (1954), Golding published another 12 volumes of fiction in his lifetime. In 19 ...

's allegorical dystopian novel ''

Lord of the Flies ''Lord of the Flies'' is the 1954 debut novel of British author William Golding. The plot concerns a group of prepubescent British boys who are stranded on an uninhabited island and their disastrous attempts to govern themselves that led to ...

'' is published in London. *

September 18 Events Pre-1600 * 96 – Emperor Domitian is assassinated as a result of a plot by his wife Domitia and two Praetorian prefects. Nerva is then proclaimed as his successor. * 324 – Constantine the Great decisively defeats Licinius i ...

– Finnish president J. K. Paasikivi is the first Western head of state to be awarded the highest honor of the

, the

Order of Lenin The Order of Lenin (, ) was an award named after Vladimir Lenin, the leader of the October Revolution. It was established by the Central Executive Committee on 6 April 1930. The order was the highest civilian decoration bestowed by the Soviet ...

. *

September 20 Events Pre-1600 *1058 – Agnes of Poitou and Andrew I of Hungary meet to negotiate about the border territory of Burgenland. *1066 – At the Battle of Fulford, Harald Hardrada defeats earls Morcar and Edwin. * 1187 – Saladin ...

– The first ''

Moomins The Moomins (, ) are the central characters in a series of novels, short stories, picture books, and a comic strip by the Finnish writer and illustrator Tove Jansson, originally published in Swedish by Finnish publisher Schildts. They are a ...

comic strip A comic strip is a Comics, sequence of cartoons, arranged in interrelated panels to display brief humor or form a narrative, often Serial (literature), serialized, with text in Speech balloon, balloons and Glossary of comics terminology#Captio ...

is published in the London newspaper ''

The Evening News Evening News may refer to: Television news *''CBS Evening News'', an American news broadcast *''ITV Evening News'', a UK news broadcast *'' JNN Evening News'', a Japanese news broadcast *''Sumatera Utara Hari Ini'', a North Sumatra news broadcast ...

''. *

September 25 Events Pre-1600 * 275 – For the last time, the Roman Senate chooses an emperor; they elect 75-year-old Marcus Claudius Tacitus. * 762 – Led by Muhammad al-Nafs al-Zakiyya, the Hasanid branch of the Alids begins the Alid Revolt ...

–

Footscray Football Club The Western Bulldogs are a professional Australian rules football club based in the Melbourne suburb of Footscray. The club competes in the Australian Football League (AFL), the sport's premier competition. Originally named the Footscray F ...

wins their first

Australian Football League The Australian Football League (AFL) is the pre-eminent professional sports, professional competition of Australian rules football. It was originally named the Victorian Football League (VFL) and was founded in 1896 as a breakaway competition ...

Grand Final Primarily in Australian sports, a grand final is a game that decides a sports league's premiership (or championship) winning team, i.e. the conclusive game of a finals (or play-off) series. Synonymous with a championship game in North Ameri ...

. *

September 26 Events Pre-1600 *46 BC – Julius Caesar dedicates a temple to Venus Genetrix, fulfilling a vow he made at the Battle of Pharsalus. * 715 – Ragenfrid defeats Theudoald at the Battle of Compiègne. * 1087 – William II is c ...

– Japanese ferry ''

Tōya Maru was a Japanese train ferry constructed by Japanese National Railways (JNR) which sank during Typhoon Marie, known locally as the Tōya Maru Typhoon, in the Tsugaru Strait between the Japanese islands of Hokkaidō and Honshū on September 26, ...

'' sinks during a

typhoon A typhoon is a tropical cyclone that develops between 180° and 100°E in the Northern Hemisphere and which produces sustained hurricane-force winds of at least . This region is referred to as the Northwestern Pacific Basin, accounting for a ...

in the

Tsugaru Strait The is a strait between Honshu and Hokkaido in northern Japan connecting the Sea of Japan with the Pacific Ocean. It was named after the western part of Aomori Prefecture. The Seikan Tunnel passes under it at its narrowest point 12.1 miles ...

. More than 1,100 people are killed, 7 other ships are wrecked, and at least nine others seriously damaged. *

September 27 Events Pre-1600 * 1066 – William the Conqueror and his army set sail from the mouth of the Somme river, beginning the Norman conquest of England. * 1331 – The Battle of Płowce is fought, between the Kingdom of Poland and the Teut ...

– ''

The Tonight Show ''The Tonight Show'' is an American late-night talk show that has been broadcast on NBC since 1954. The program has been hosted by six comedians: Steve Allen (1954–1957), Jack Paar (1957–1962), Johnny Carson (1962–1992), Jay Leno (1992–2 ...

'' first airs on live television on

NBC The National Broadcasting Company (NBC) is an American commercial broadcast television and radio network serving as the flagship property of the NBC Entertainment division of NBCUniversal, a subsidiary of Comcast. It is one of NBCUniversal's ...

in the United States being the first late night talk show. *

September 30 Events Pre-1600 * 489 – The Ostrogoths under Theoderic the Great defeat the forces of Odoacer for the second time. * 737 – The Turgesh drive back an Umayyad invasion of Khuttal, follow them south of the Oxus, and capture thei ...

– The , the first nuclear-powered

in the world, is commissioned into the

United States Navy The United States Navy (USN) is the naval warfare, maritime military branch, service branch of the United States Department of Defense. It is the world's most powerful navy with the largest Displacement (ship), displacement, at 4.5 millio ...

October

October 11 Events Pre-1600 *1138 – A massive earthquake strikes Aleppo; it is one of the most destructive earthquakes ever. * 1142 – A peace treaty ends the Jin–Song wars. *1311 – The peerage and clergy restrict the authority of En ...

** Pre-

: The

takes control of

. **

Hurricane Hazel Hurricane Hazel was the deadliest, second-costliest, and most intense hurricane of the 1954 Atlantic hurricane season. The storm killed at least 469 people in Haiti before it struck the United States near the border between North and Sou ...

crosses over

Haiti Haiti, officially the Republic of Haiti, is a country on the island of Hispaniola in the Caribbean Sea, east of Cuba and Jamaica, and south of the Bahamas. It occupies the western three-eighths of the island, which it shares with the Dominican ...

, killing 1,000. *

October 15 Events Pre-1600 *1066 – Following the death of Harold II at the Battle of Hastings, Edgar the Ætheling is proclaimed King of England by the Witan; he is never crowned, and concedes power to William the Conqueror two months later. * 121 ...

–

makes U.S. landfall; it is the only recorded

Category 4 hurricane Category, plural categories, may refer to: General uses *Classification, the general act of allocating things to classes/categories Philosophy * Category of being * ''Categories'' (Aristotle) * Category (Kant) * Categories (Peirce) *Category (V ...

to strike as far north as

North Carolina North Carolina ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern region of the United States. It is bordered by Virginia to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the east, South Carolina to the south, Georgia (U.S. stat ...

October 18 Events Pre-1600 * 33 – Heartbroken by the deaths of her sons Nero and Drusus, and banished to the island of Pandateria by Tiberius, Agrippina the Elder dies of self-inflicted starvation. * 320 – Pappus of Alexandria, Greek phil ...

Texas Instruments Texas Instruments Incorporated (TI) is an American multinational semiconductor company headquartered in Dallas, Texas. It is one of the top 10 semiconductor companies worldwide based on sales volume. The company's focus is on developing analog ...

announces the development of the first commercial

transistor radio A transistor radio is a small portable radio receiver that uses transistor-based circuitry. Previous portable radios used vacuum tubes, which were bulky, fragile, had a limited lifetime, consumed excessive power and required large heavy batteri ...

. The

Regency TR-1 The Regency TR-1 was the first commercially manufactured transistor radio, introduced in 1954. Despite mediocre performance, about 150,000 units were sold, due to the novelty of its small size and portability. Previously, transistors had only bee ...

goes on sale the following month. ** The

Hi and Lois ''Hi and Lois'' is an American comic strip about a suburban family. Created by Mort Walker and illustrated by Dik Browne, both of whose children currently work on the strip, it debuted on October 18, 1954, distributed by King Features Syndicate ...

'', by

Mort Walker Addison Morton Walker (September 3, 1923 – January 27, 2018) was an American comic strip writer, best known for creating the newspaper comic strips ''Beetle Bailey'' in 1950 and ''Hi and Lois'' in 1954. He signed Addison to some of his strips. ...

and

Dik Browne Richard Arthur Allan Browne (August 11, 1917 – June 4, 1989) was an American cartoonist, best known for writing and drawing ''Hägar the Horrible'' and ''Hi and Lois''. Early life and education Dik Browne was born on August 11, 1917, in Manhat ...

, is launched in the United States. *

October 23 Events Pre-1600 * 4004 BC – James Ussher's purported creation date of the world according to the Bible. * 42 BC – Liberators' civil war: Mark Antony and Octavian decisively defeat an army under Brutus in the second part of the B ...

** West Germany joins

NATO The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO ; , OTAN), also called the North Atlantic Alliance, is an intergovernmental organization, intergovernmental Transnationalism, transnational military alliance of 32 Member states of NATO, member s ...

. **

Paris Agreement The Paris Agreement (also called the Paris Accords or Paris Climate Accords) is an international treaty on climate change that was signed in 2016. The treaty covers climate change mitigation, adaptation, and finance. The Paris Agreement was ...

sets up the

Western European Union The Western European Union (WEU; , UEO; , WEU) was the international organisation and military alliance that succeeded the Western Union (alliance) , Western Union (WU) after the 1954 amendment of the 1948 Treaty of Brussels. The WEU implement ...

to implement the

Treaty of Brussels The Treaty of Brussels, also referred to as the Brussels Pact, was the founding treaty of the Western Union (WU) between 1948 and 1954, when it was amended as the Modified Brussels Treaty (MTB) and served as the founding treaty of the Western Eu ...

(1948), providing for mutual self-defence and other collaboration between Belgium, France, West Germany, Italy, Luxembourg, the Netherlands and the United Kingdom. *

October 25 Events Pre-1600 * 285 or 286 – Execution of Crispin and Crispinian, Saints Crispin and Crispinian during the reign of Diocletian, now the patron saints of leather workers, curriers, and shoemakers. * 473 – Emperor Leo I (emperor), ...

–

Landslide Landslides, also known as landslips, rockslips or rockslides, are several forms of mass wasting that may include a wide range of ground movements, such as rockfalls, mudflows, shallow or deep-seated slope failures and debris flows. Landslides ...

s caused by heavy rains hit

Salerno Salerno (, ; ; ) is an ancient city and ''comune'' (municipality) in Campania, southwestern Italy, and is the capital of the namesake province, being the second largest city in the region by number of inhabitants, after Naples. It is located ...

, Italy, killing about 300. *

October 26 Events Pre-1600 * 1185 – The Uprising of Asen and Peter begins on the feast day of St. Demetrius of Thessaloniki and ends with the creation of the Second Bulgarian Empire. * 1341 – The Byzantine civil war of 1341–1347 formally ...

–

Muslim Brotherhood The Society of the Muslim Brothers ('' ''), better known as the Muslim Brotherhood ( ', is a transnational Sunni Islamist organization founded in Egypt by Islamic scholar, Imam and schoolteacher Hassan al-Banna in 1928. Al-Banna's teachings s ...

member Mahmoud Abdul Latif tries to kill

. *

October 31 Events Pre-1600 * 475 – Romulus Augustulus is proclaimed Western Roman Emperor. * 683 – During the Siege of Mecca, the Kaaba catches fire and is burned down. * 802 – Empress Irene is deposed and banished to Lesbos. Consp ...

–

Algerian War of Independence The Algerian War (also known as the Algerian Revolution or the Algerian War of Independence) ''; '' (and sometimes in Algeria as the ''War of 1 November'') was an armed conflict between France and the Algerian National Liberation Front (Algeri ...

: The

Algerian National Liberation Front The National Liberation Front (; ), commonly known by its French acronym FLN, is a nationalist political party in Algeria. It was the main nationalist movement during the Algerian War and the sole legal and ruling political party of the Algerian ...

begins a revolt against French rule.

November

November 1 Events Pre-1600 * 365 – The Alemanni cross the Rhine and invade Gaul. Emperor Valentinian I moves to Paris to command the army and defend the Gallic cities. * 996 – Emperor Otto III issues a deed to Gottschalk, Bishop of Freisin ...

– The FLN attacks representative and public buildings of the French colonial power. *

November 2 Events Pre-1600 * 619 – A qaghan of the Western Turkic Khaganate is assassinated in a Chinese palace by Eastern Turkic rivals after the approval of Tang emperor Gaozu. * 1410 – The Peace of Bicêtre suspends hostilities in t ...

** The dock workers' strike in the UK comes to an end. ** The radio program ''

Hancock's Half Hour ''Hancock's Half Hour'' was a BBC radio comedy, and later television comedy series, broadcast from 1954 to 1961 and written by Ray Galton and Alan Simpson. The radio series starred Tony Hancock, with Sidney James, Bill Kerr and,at various ...

'', a pioneer in

situation comedy A sitcom (short for situation comedy or situational comedy) is a genre of comedy produced for radio and television, that centers on a recurring cast of character (arts), characters as they navigate humorous situations within a consistent settin ...

, is first broadcast on

BBC Radio BBC Radio is an operational business division and service of the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) which has operated in the United Kingdom under the terms of a royal charter since 1927. The service provides national radio stations cove ...

(a television version will follow in

1956 Events January * January 1 – The Anglo-Egyptian Sudan, Anglo-Egyptian Condominium ends in Sudan after 57 years. * January 8 – Operation Auca: Five U.S. evangelical Christian Missionary, missionaries, Nate Saint, Roger Youderian, E ...

). *

November 3 Events Pre-1600 * 361 – Emperor Constantius II dies of a fever at Mopsuestia in Cilicia; on his deathbed he is baptised and declares his cousin Julian rightful successor. * 1090 – The Rouen Riot, an attempt by English king ...

– The first ''Godzilla'' film premieres in Tokyo. *

November 5 Events Pre-1600 *1138 – Lý Anh Tông is enthroned as emperor of Vietnam at the age of two, beginning a 37-year reign. * 1499 – The '' Catholicon'', written in 1464 by Jehan Lagadeuc in Tréguier, is published; this is the first B ...

– Japan and

Burma Myanmar, officially the Republic of the Union of Myanmar; and also referred to as Burma (the official English name until 1989), is a country in northwest Southeast Asia. It is the largest country by area in Mainland Southeast Asia and ha ...

sign a peace treaty in

Rangoon Yangon, formerly romanized as Rangoon, is the capital of the Yangon Region and the largest city of Myanmar. Yangon was the List of capitals of Myanmar, capital of Myanmar until 2005 and served as such until 2006, when the State Peace and Dev ...

, to end their long-extinct state of war. *

November 10 Events Pre-1600 * 474 – Emperor Leo II dies after a reign of ten months. He is succeeded by his father Zeno, who becomes sole ruler of the Byzantine Empire. * 937 – Ten Kingdoms: Li Bian usurps the throne and deposes Emperor Y ...

– U.S. President

dedicates the USMC War Memorial (Iwo Jima Memorial), at the Arlington National Cemetery. *

November 12 Events Pre-1600 * 954 – The 13-year-old Lothair III is crowned at the Abbey of Saint-Remi as king of the West Frankish Kingdom. * 1028 – Future Byzantine empress Zoe takes the throne as empress consort to Romanos III Argyros. ...

– The main immigration port-of-entry in

New York Harbor New York Harbor is a bay that covers all of the Upper Bay. It is at the mouth of the Hudson River near the East River tidal estuary on the East Coast of the United States. New York Harbor is generally synonymous with Upper New York Bay, ...

Ellis Island Ellis Island is an island in New York Harbor, within the U.S. states of New Jersey and New York (state), New York. Owned by the U.S. government, Ellis Island was once the busiest immigrant inspection and processing station in the United State ...

closes permanently. *

November 13 Events Pre-1600 * 1002 – English king Æthelred II orders the killing of all Danes in England, known today as the St. Brice's Day massacre. * 1093 – Battle of Alnwick: in an English victory over the Scots, Malcolm III of Scot ...

–

Great Britain Great Britain is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean off the north-west coast of continental Europe, consisting of the countries England, Scotland, and Wales. With an area of , it is the largest of the British Isles, the List of European ...

defeats

France France, officially the French Republic, is a country located primarily in Western Europe. Overseas France, Its overseas regions and territories include French Guiana in South America, Saint Pierre and Miquelon in the Atlantic Ocean#North Atlan ...

, 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 21 – People's Action Party, an eventual dominative political party in Singapore, was established. * November 22 – ''Berman v. Parker'' (348 U.S. 26): The Supreme Court of the United States, U.S. Supreme Court 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 censure Wisconsin United States Senator, Senator

, for "conduct that tends to bring the Senate into dishonor and disrepute." ** The Taiwan-United States Mutual Defense Treaty is signed. * December 3 ** A German court dismisses charges against Werner Naumann, head of the Neo-Nazi Naumann Circle. ** Väinö Linna's war novel ''The Unknown Soldier (novel), The Unknown Soldier'' (''Tuntematon sotilas'') is published. * 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 – Kingdom of Laos, Laos gains full independence from France.

Date unknown

* 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

prison camps.

Births

January

* January 1 ** Thomas Aisu, Ugandan physician, educator (d. 2018) ** Djimrangar Dadnadji, 16th prime minister of Chad (d. 2019) *

– 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 * January 16 – Morten P. Meldal, Danish chemist, Nobel Prize in Chemistry, Nobel Prize laureate *

– Robert F. Kennedy Jr., environmental lawyer, 2024 United States presidential election candidate * January 19 ** Ted DiBiase, American professional wrestler ** Katey Sagal, American actress and singer ** Katharina Thalbach, German actress *

– 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

* 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) ** Michael Holding, Jamaican cricket player and commentator ** 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 ** 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 *

– 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 * March 20 – Louis Sachar, American author *

** Geno Auriemma, American basketball coach ** Hideyuki Hori, Japanese voice actor * March 24 ** Robert Carradine, American actor ** Donna Pescow, American actress, director (''Angie (TV series), Angie'') * 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

– Dieter Müller, German soccer player * April 2 – Susumu Hirasawa, Japanese musician * April 5 – Guy Bertrand (broadcaster), Guy Bertrand, Canadian linguist, radio/television personality *

** 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 *

** 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'') * April 25 ** Randy Cross, American football analyst and former player * 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., American singer and songwriter ** 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) *

** 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 25 ** Tantely Andrianarivo, 11th prime minister of Madagascar (d. 2023) ** 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 ** 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) ** Huda Zoghbi, American geneticist * June 21 – Chip Ingram, American Christian pastor, author and orator *

** Chris Lemmon, American actor, author ** Freddie Prinze, American actor, comedian (''Chico and the Man'') (d. 1977) * June 23 – 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 ** Jean-Serge Brisson, Canadian author and politician ** Daniel Dantas (actor), Daniel Dantas, Brazilian actor ** Ava Barber, American country singer (''The Lawrence Welk Show'') ** Alice Krige, South African actress and producer ** Valentina Quintero, Venezuelan journalist, environmental activist, radio and television hostess. * 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 * 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) * 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 *

** Tarak Dhiab, Tunisian footballer ** Mario Kempes, Argentine footballer *

** 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 *

– Otto Jespersen (comedian), Otto Jespersen, Norwegian comedian, actor and television personality * July 22 – Pierre Lebeau, Canadian actor * July 24 – Jorge Jesus, Portuguese football player and coach * July 26 ** Vitas Gerulaitis, American tennis player (d. 1994) ** Leonardo Daniel, Mexican actor and director * July 27 ** Philippe Alliot, French racing driver ** Lynne Frederick, British actress (d. 1994) * July 28 – Hugo Chávez, President of Venezuela (d. 2013)

August

** 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 10 – Kim Pyong Il, North Korean diplomat and son of Kim Il Sung * 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 * 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 *

** 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 *

– Mohsen Rezaee, Iranian politician * September 10 – Mark W. Everson, American businessman; 46th Commissioner of the Internal Revenue Service (2003–07) * September 13 – Steve Kilbey, English born Australian musician and artist * September 15 – Nava Semel, Israeli author and playwright (d. 2017) * September 16 – Ashrita Furman, American record breaker *

** Dennis Johnson, American basketball player (d. 2007) ** Tommy Tuberville, US Senator * September 21 ** Shinzō Abe, Prime Minister of Japan (d. 2022) ** Thomas S. Ray, American ecologist ** Phil "Philthy Animal" Taylor, English drummer (Motörhead and Waysted) (d. 2015) * September 23 – Cherie Blair, lawyer, wife of British Prime Minister Tony Blair * September 24 – Lilian Mercedes Letona, Salvadoran guerrilla (d. 1983) *

– Kevin Kennedy (baseball), Kevin Kennedy, American baseball manager and television host * September 28 ** Steve Largent, American football player and congressman ** Margot Wallström, Swedish politician * September 29 – Masoud Pezeshkian, President of Iran *

– Barry Williams (actor), Barry Williams, American actor

October

* October 1 – Martin Strel, Slovenian swimmer * 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 (1989 TV series), 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 13 – Mordechai Vanunu, a former Israeli nuclear technician who revealed secrets of its nuclear weapons program * October 14 – Mohamad Sabu, Malaysian politician *

– Peter Bakowski, Australian poet *

– Yūji Mitsuya, Japanese voice actor * October 22 – Ellen Gerstell, American voice actress *

– Ang Lee, Taiwanese film director * October 24 ** Doug Davidson, American actor ** Mike Rounds, South Dakota politician ** Malcolm Turnbull, Prime Minister of Australia, 29th Prime Minister of Australia *

** 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

– Angela Webber, Australian author, television writer, producer and comedian (d. 2007) *

** Adam Ant, British rock singer and musician ** Brigitte Lin, Taiwanese actress ** Kathy Kinney, American actress and comedian *

** 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 *

– Rhonda Shear, American television hostess, actress and comedian *

– 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 ** Kathleen Quinlan, American actress * November 22 – Paolo Gentiloni, Prime Minister of Italy * November 23 ** Bruce Hornsby, American rock singer ** Elizabeth Savalla, Brazilian actress * November 26 ** Roz Chast, American cartoonist * 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

* December 2 – Dan Butler, American actor and voice actor * December 4 – Tony Todd, American actor and producer (d. 2024) * December 6 – Beat Furrer, Swiss-born Austrian composer and conductor * December 8 – Sumi Shimamoto, Japanese voice actress * December 9 – Jean-Claude Juncker, Luxembourg politician * December 11 ** Sylvester Clarke, West Indian cricketer (d. 1999) ** Jermaine Jackson, African-American singer and actor ** Prachanda, Nepalese Communist leader ** Elizângela, Brazilian actress (d. 2023) * 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 – Ray Liotta, American actor and producer (Goodfellas) (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 ** Hajji Alejandro, Filipino singer and actor (d. 2025) * December 28 ** Lanny Poffo, American professional wrestler ** Denzel Washington, African-American actor ** Tony Ables, American serial killer and robber * December 29 ** Albrecht Böttcher, German mathematician ** Roger Voudouris, American singer-songwriter and guitarist (d. 2003) * December 31 – Alex Salmond, Scottish politician (d. 2024)

Date not known

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

Deaths

January

* January 1 – José Millán-Astray, Spanish general, founder of the Spanish Legion (b. 1879) * January 5 – 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) * January 18 – Sydney Greenstreet, English actor (b. 1879) * January 31 ** Edwin Howard Armstrong, American electrical engineer (b. 1890) ** Florence Bates, American actress (b. 1888)

February

* February 8 – Laurence Trimble, American actor (b. 1885) * February 9 – Mabel Paige, American actress (b. 1880) * 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) *

– 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) *

– Aristides de Sousa Mendes, Portuguese diplomat and humanitarian (b. 1885) *

– Saburō Kurusu, Japanese diplomat (b. 1886) * April 10 – Auguste and Louis Lumière, Auguste Lumière, French film pioneer (b. 1862) * 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 film director (b. 1880)

May

– Tom Tyler, American actor (b. 1903) * 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 (b. 1884) * May 25 – Robert Capa, Hungarian-born photojournalist (b. 1913) *

– Omer Nishani, Albanian medical doctor and political figure (b. 1887)

June

–

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

– Alain LeRoy Locke, American writer, philosopher and educator (b. 1885) * June 24 – Thomas Denman, 3rd Baron Denman, 5th Governor-General of Australia (b. 1874) * 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 6 ** Gabriel Pascal, Hungarian-born film producer and director (b. 1894) ** Cornelia Sorabji, Indian-born lawyer (b. 1866) * July 13 ** Frida Kahlo, Mexican painter (b. 1907) ** Irving Pichel, American actor and director (b. 1891) * July 14 – Jacinto Benavente, Spanish dramatist, Nobel Prize in Literature, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1866) * July 16 – Herms Niel, German composer (b. 1888) *

– Machine Gun Kelly (gangster), Machine Gun Kelly, American gangster (b. 1895) *

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

August

* August 3 – Colette, French novelist (b. 1873) * August 11 – Murray Kinnell, English actor (b. 1889) * 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) *

–

, 14th and 17th President of Brazil (b. 1882)

September

* 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) * September 7 – Bud Fisher, American cartoonist (b. 1885) *

– André Derain, French artist, painter and sculptor (b. 1880) * September 21 – Kokichi Mikimoto, Japanese pearl farm pioneer (b. 1858) *

– Eugenio d'Ors, Spanish writer (b. 1881) *

– Ellen Roosevelt, American tennis player (b. 1868) *

– 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 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 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 28 – Austin Hobart Clark, American zoologist (b. 1880) * October 30 – Wilbur Shaw, American racing driver (b. 1902)

November

– Henri Matisse, French painter (b. 1869) *

– Édouard Le Roy, French philosopher and mathematician (b. 1870) *

– 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 20 – Clyde Cessna, American aviator and aircraft designer and manufacturer, founder of the Cessna, Cessna Aircraft Corporation (b. 1879) * 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 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 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,