1956

Events

   * January 1 - End of Anglo-Egyptian Condominium in Sudan.
   * January 16 - President Gamal Abdal Nasser of Egypt vows to reconquer
     Palestine
   * January 26 - 1956 Winter Olympic Games open in Cortina d'Ampezzo, Italy
   * February 22 - Elvis Presley enters the music charts for the first time,
     with "Heartbreak Hotel".
   * February 23 - Nikita Khrushchev attacks the veneration of Joseph Stalin
     as a "cult of personality"
   * March 2 - Morocco declares its independence from France
   * March 15 - The Broadway musical My Fair Lady opens in New York City.
   * March 20 - Tunisia gains independence from France
   * March 23 - Pakistan becomes the first Islamic republic.
   * April 7 - Spain relinquishes its protectorate in Morocco.
   * May 21 - Nuclear testing: In the Pacific Ocean, Bikini Atoll is nearly
     obliterated by the first airborne explosion of a hydrogen bomb.
   * July 24 - At New York City's Copacabana Club, Dean Martin and Jerry
     Lewis perform their last comedy show together which started on July 25,
     1946.
   * July 25 - 45 miles south of Nantucket Island, the Italian ocean liner
     Andrea Doria sinks after colliding with the Stockholm in heavy fog,
     killing 51.
   * July 26 - Egyptian leader Gamal Nasser nationalizes the Suez Canal
     sparking international condemnation.
   * July 30 - A Joint Resolution of the United States Congress is signed by
     President Dwight D. Eisenhower, authorizing "In God We Trust" as the
     U.S. national motto.
   * October 23 - Hungarian revolution against the communist government.
     Soviet Union intervenes. Hungary attempts to leave the Warsaw Pact.
   * October 29 - Suez Crisis begins: Israel invades the Sinai Peninsula and
     push Egyptian forces back toward the Suez Canal.
   * October 29 - Tangier Protocol signed: The international city Tangier is
     reintegrated into Morocco.
   * October 31 - Suez Crisis: The United Kingdom and France begin bombing
     Egypt to force the reopening of the Suez Canal.
   * November 4 - Soviet Union invades Hungary.
   * November - Dwight D. Eisenhower defeats Adlai Stevenson in the U.S.
     presidential election
   * December 12 : Japan becoms member of the UN

   * Summer Olympic Games in Melbourne, Australia
   * Eindhoven University of Technology founded in Eindhoven, The
     Netherlands
   * First hard disk (5MB) invented by IBM.

Art, Culture & Fashion

   * 1956 in film
        o Around the World in Eighty Days
        o The King and I
        o The Ten Commandments
        o Alfred Hitchcock's The Man Who Knew Too Much starring Jimmy
          Stewart
        o The Invasion of the Body Snatchers
   * 1956 in music
        o First ever Eurovision Song Contest - May 24
   * 1956 in television
        o April - WNBQ Chicago becomes the first TV station to broadcast all
          its local programming in color.
        o April Ampex demonstrates a videotape recorder at the NAB
          Convention in Chicago. The three networks place orders for the
          recorders.
        o August 8 - Final telecast of the DuMont network
        o October 1 - Ernie Kovacs becomes the host for NBC's Tonight Show
          on Mondays and Tuesdays.
        o October 29 - First use of videotape in network television
          programming; CBS uses its Ampex VTR to record the evening news,
          anchored by Douglas Edwards. The tape is then fed to West Coast
          stations three hours later
        o October 29 - Chet Huntley and David Brinkley take over anchor
          duties of the NBC evening newscast, which is renamed The
          Huntley-Brinkley Report
        o November - The first use of videotape on a network television
          entertainment program; Jonathan Winters, uses videotape and
          superimposing techniques to be able to play two characters in the
          same skit for his NBC television show
        o The Price is Right game show premieres
        o Black-and-white portable TV sets hit the market

Births

   * January 3 - Mel Gibson, actor and director
   * January 7 - David Caruso, actor
   * January 10 - Shawn Colvin, singer
   * January 17 - Paul Young, English musician
   * January 18 - Ray Dolby, inventor of the Dolby noise reduction system
   * January 20 - Bill Maher, actor, comedian, political analyst
   * January 21 - Geena Davis, actress
   * January 27 - Mimi Rogers, actress
   * January 31 - Johnny Rotten, musician (The "Sex Pistols")
   * February 3 - Nathan Lane, actor
   * February 11 - Kathleen Beller, actress.
   * February 13 - Vicky J. Hedstrand, vickster
   * February 24 - Paula Zahn, television journalist
   * March 2 - Mark Evans, bassist of AC/DC
   * March 13 - Dana Delany, actress
   * March 17 - Patrick McDonnell, creator of syndicated cartoon strip
     "Mutts"
   * March 29 - Kurt Thomas, gymnast
   * April 4 - David E. Kelley, writer, television producer
   * April 26 - Koo Stark, actress
   * May 7 - Jan Peter Balkenende, Prime Minister of the Netherlands
   * May 17 - Sugar Ray Leonard, boxer
   * May 17 - Bob Saget, actor
   * May 19 - James Gosling, the "father" of Java programming language
   * May 21 - Judge Reinhold, actor
   * June 9 - Patricia Daniels (later Patricia Cornwell), American crime
     novelist.
   * June 23 - Glenn Danzig, rock and roll preformer of Danzig
   * July 9 - Tom Hanks, actor
   * October 11 - Nicanor Duarte Frutos, President of Paraguay
   * December 7 - Larry Bird, Basketball Hall of Famer

Deaths

   * January 5 - Mistinguett, French cabaret singer
   * January 31 - A. A. Milne, author of Winnie the Pooh
   * February 8 - Connie Mack, baseball executive, coach
   * March 17 - Irene Joliot-Curie, scientist
   * May 12 - Louis Calhern, silent film actor
   * May 17 - Austin Osman Spare, magician
   * May 20 - Max Beerbohm, theater critic
   * May 31 - Diedrich Hermann Westermann, German inguist
   * December 7 - Huntley Gordon, pioneer Hollywood actor
   * December 16 - Nina Hamnett, artist

Awards/Prizes

Winner of Eurovision Song Contest 1956: Lys Assia with Refrain

Nobel Prizes:

   * Physics - William Bradford Shockley, John Bardeen, Walter Houser
     Brattain
   * Chemistry - Sir Cyril Norman Hinshelwood, Nikolay Nikolaevich Semenov
   * Medicine - AndrŽ FrŽdŽric Cournand, Werner Forssmann, Dickinson W
     Richards
   * Literature - Juan Ram—n JimŽnez
   * Peace - not awarded

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