1956

Years: 1953 1954 1955 - 1956 - 1957 1958 1959
Decades: 1920s 1930s 1940s - 1950s - 1960s 1970s 1980s
Centuries: 19th century - 20th century - 21st century 1956 in art 1956 in aviation 1956 in film 1956 in literature 1956 in music 1956 in radio 1956 in science 1956 in sports 1956 in television

1956 is a leap year starting on Sunday. (see link for calendar)

Events

May

May 9 - First ascent of Manaslu, eighth highest mountain in the world.
May 18 - First ascent of Lhotse (main), fourth highest mountain
May 21 - Nuclear testing: In the Pacific Ocean, Bikini Atoll is nearly obliterated by the first airborne explosion of a hydrogen bomb.

June

June 10 - 1956 Summer Olympics: Equestrian events open in Stockholm, Sweden.
June 14 - U.S. President Dwight D. Eisenhower signs a bill into law that places the words "under God" to the United States' Pledge of Allegiance.
June 18 - Last foreign troops leave Egypt
June 28 - MP Sydney Silverman's bill for abolition of death penalty passes the British House of Commons
June 28 - Labour riots at Poznan, Poland, are crushed with heavy loss of life
June 29 - Marilyn Monroe marries the playwright Arthur Miller

July

July 8 - First ascent of Gasherbrum II
July 10 - British House of Lords defeats the abolition of death penalty
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 SS Andrea Doria sinks after colliding with the SS 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.

August

August 8 - Fire and explosion kills 263 miners at Marcinelle, Belgium

October

October 14 - Dr. B. R. Ambedkar, Indian Untouchable leader, converts to Buddhism along with 385,000 followers. See Neo-Buddhism.
October 23 - Hungarian revolution against the communist government. Soviet Union intervenes. Hungary attempts to leave the Warsaw Pact
October 26 - Warsaw Pact troops invade Hungary
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

November 4 - 1956 Hungarian Revolution: Soviet troops invade Hungary to crush a revolt that started on October 23. Thousands are killed, more are wounded and nearly a quarter million leave the country
November 6 - U.S. presidential election, 1956: Republican incumbent Dwight D. Eisenhower is reelected by defeating Democrat challenger Adlai E. Stevenson in a rematch of their contest four years earlier
November 7 - Suez Crisis: The United Nations General Assembly adopts a resolution calling for the United Kingdom, France and Israel to withdraw their troops from Egypt immediately.
November 14 - Fighting ends in Hungary
November 16 - Suez canal blocked
November 23 - Suez Crisis causes petrol rationing in Britain

December

December 2 - Fidel Castro and his followers land on Cuba
December 2 - Pipe bomb explodes at a movie theater in Brooklyn (work of George Metesky)- six people injured
December 5 - Rose Heilbron becomes Britain's first female judge
December 12 : Japan becomes member of the United Nations

Minamata disease discovered

Unknown date

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

Year in topic

1956 in art
1956 in film
- Around the World in Eighty Days
- The King and I
- The Ten Commandments
- Alfred Hitchcock's The Man Who Knew Too Much starring Jimmy Stewart
- The Invasion of the Body Snatchers
1956 in literature
1956 in music
- First ever Eurovision Song Contest - May 24
1956 in sports
1956 in television
- April - WNBQ Chicago becomes the first TV station to broadcast all its local programming in color.
- April Ampex demonstrates a videotape recorder at the NAB Convention in Chicago. The three networks place orders for the recorders.
- August 8 - Final telecast of the DuMont Network.
- September 16 - Australia's first television station TCN-9 commences transmission in Sydney
- October 1 - Ernie Kovacs becomes the host for NBC's Tonight Show on Mondays and Tuesdays.
- 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
- October 29 - Chet Huntley and David Brinkley take over anchor duties of the NBC evening newscast, which is renamed The Huntley-Brinkley Report
- 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
- The Price is Right game show premieres
- 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 14 - Ben Heppner, Canadian tenor
January 17 - Paul Young, English musician
January 18 - Ray Dolby
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 6 - Ken Lorraway, Australian athlete
February 11 - Kathleen Beller, actress
February 14 - Tom Burlinson, Australian actor
February 15 - Desmond Haynes, West Indies cricketer
February 24 - Paula Zahn, television journalist
February 26 - Keisuke Kuwata, Japanese Musician
February 29 - Randy Jackson, American musician, American Idol judge
February 29 - Bob Speller, Canadian politician
February 29 - Aileen Carol Wuornos, serial killer
March 2 - Mark Evans, bassist of AC/DC
March 6 - Steve Vizard, Australian entrepreneur
March 13 - Dana Delany, actress
March 17 - Patrick McDonnell, creator of syndicated cartoon strip "Mutts"
March 18 - Ingemar Stenmark
March 20 - Ian Moss, Australian singer
March 21 - Ingrid Kristiansen, Olypmpic athlete
March 22 - Lena Olin, actress
March 29 - Kurt Thomas, gymnast
April 3 - Ray Combs, game show host, comedian
April 4 - Kerry Chikarovski, Australian politician
April 4 - David E. Kelley, writer, television producer
April 6 - Dilip Vengsarkar, Indian cricketer
April 9 - Irma Gonzalez, Queen of the Universe
April 12 - Andy Garcia, US actor
April 14 - Barbara Bonney, US soprano
April 16 - Lise-Marie Morerod, slalom skier
April 21 - Rick DeMont, US cyclist
April 23 - Judy Davis, Australian actress
April 26 - Koo Stark, UK actress
April 28 - Jimmy Barnes, Australian rocker
May 4 - Ulrike Meyfarth, German high jumper
May 7 - Jan Peter Balkenende, Prime Minister of the Netherlands
May 9 - John Jay Ruskin. Fiddle player
May 15 - Dan Patrick, sportscaster
May 16 - Olga Korbut, Russian Olympic gymnast
May 17 - Sugar Ray Leonard, boxer
May 17 - Bob Saget, US actor
May 19 - James Gosling, the "father" of Java programming language
May 20 - Ingvar Ambj�rnsen, Norwegian author
May 21 - Judge Reinhold, actor
May 23 - Buck Showalter, baseball player, manager
June 6 - Bj�rn Borg, tennis great
June 9 - Patricia Daniels (later Patricia Cornwell), American crime novelist.
June 11 - Joe Montana, Pro Football Hall of Fame
June 21 - Kasper Winding, Danish composer, popular music
June 23 - Glenn Danzig, rock and roll performer of Danzig
July 9 - Tom Hanks, actor
July 14 - Ran Andrews, Canadian painter
July 15 - Barry Melrose, hockey player, coach, commentator
July 16 - Tony Kushner, playwright
July 25 - Mark Rolston, actor
July 31 - Michael Biehn, actor
August 5 - Maureen McCormick, actress (The Brady Bunch)
August 14 - Rusty Wallace, NASCAR driver
August 20 - Joan Allen, US film actress
August 22 - Paul Molitor, Baseball Hall of Famer
August 24 - John Culberson, American politician
September 11 - Phil Bissett, former state delegate in Maryland
September 12 - Ricky Rudd, NASCAR race car driver
September 14 - Costas Caramanlis, Greek politician
September 26 - Linda Hamilton, actress
October 11 - Nicanor Duarte Frutos, President of Paraguay
October 18 - Martina Navratilova, tennis great
November 18 - Warren Moon, Canadian football and American football star
November 23 - Shane Gould, Australian Olympic swimmer
November 23 - Steve Harvey, actor, comedian
November 26 - Dale Jarrett, NASCAR race car driver
November 28 - Lucy Gutteridge, British actress
December 5 - Krystian Zimerman, Polish pianist
December 7 - Larry Bird, Basketball Hall of Famer
December 23 - Michele Alboreto, Italian racing car driver
December 28 - Nigel Kennedy, English violinist

Deaths

January 3 - Alexander Grechaninov, Russian composer
January 5 - Mistinguett, French cabaret singer
January 13 - Lyonel Charles Feininger, German painter
January 24 - Sir Alexander Korda, Hungarian/UK film director
January 27 - Erich Kleiber, German conductor
January 29 - H. L. Mencken
January 31 - A. A. Milne, author of Winnie the Pooh
February 2 - Charley Grapewin, US actor
February 8 - Connie Mack, baseball executive, coach
February 18 - Gustave Charpentier, French composer
March 17 - Ir�ne Joliot-Curie, French scientist
March 20 - Fanny Durack, Australian Olympic swimmer
March 25 - Robert Newton, English film actor
March 30 - Edmund Clerihew Bentley, English inventor of the clerihew
March 30 - Fritz Lehmann, German conductor
March 31 - Ralph DePalma, race car driver (b. 1884)
April 30 - Alben W Barkly, US Vice-President
May 12 - Louis Calhern, US film actor
May 17 - Austin Osman Spare, magician
May 20 - Max Beerbohm, theater critic
May 26 - Al Simmons, Baseball Hall of Famer (b. 1902)
May 31 - Diedrich Hermann Westermann, German linguist
August 11 - Jackson Pollock, US painter
August 14 - Bertolt Brecht, German playwright
August 16 - Bela Lugosi, Hungarian/US film actor
August 23 - Peaches Browning, American actress
August 25 - Alfred Kinsey, sex researcher
September 27 - Babe Didrikson Zaharias, American athlete and golfer
October 19 - Isham Jones, jazz musician (b. 1894)
October 26 - Walter Gieseking, French conductor (b. 1895)
November 24 - Guido Cantelli, conductor
December 6 - Dr. B. R. Ambedkar, Indian Untouchable leader
December 7 - Huntley Gordon, pioneer Hollywood actor
December 16 - Nina Hamnett, artist

Nobel prizes

Physics - William Bradford Shockley, John Bardeen, Walter Houser Brattain
Chemistry - Sir Cyril Norman Hinshelwood, Nikolay Nikolaevich Semenov
Medicine - Andr� Fr�d�ric Cournand, Werner Forssmann, Dickinson W Richards
Literature - Juan Ram�n Jim�nez
Peace - not awarded

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