istoryworld
Events relating to europe
Molecular biologists Francis Crick and James Watson announce their discovery of the double-helix structure of DNA
Churchill moves Harold Macmillan to a new department, as minister of defence
Dylan Thomas's 'play for voices', Under Milk Wood, is broadcast on BBC radio, with Richard Burton as narrator
A painting by Graham Sutherland, commissioned for Winston Churchill's 80th birthday, does not meet with the full approval of the sitter or his wife
Politician and author Winston Churchill completes his six-volume history The Second World War
Oxford medical student Roger Bannister runs the first four-minute mile, at the Iffley Road track
Anglo-Irish novelist Iris Murdoch publishes her first novel, Under the Net
George Grivas leads a guerrilla movement, EOKA, fighting for Cyprus's independence from Britain and union with Greece
19-year-old Françoise Sagan has a major international success with her first novel, Bonjour Tristesse
In an armistice ending the Indochina War, France acknowledges the independence of Cambodia, Laos and Vietnam
18-year-old English jockey Lester Piggott wins the first of a record nine Derbys
Federico Fellini directs La Strada ('The Road'), starring his wife, Giulietta Masina, and Antony Quinn
A radical manifesto and acts of terrorism alert the world to the emergence of the FLN, committed to independence for Algeria
William Walton's opera Troilus and Cressida has its premiere at Covent Garden
English author Kingsley Amis's first novel, Lucky Jim, strikes an anti-establishment chord
William Golding gives a chilling account of schoolboy savagery in his first novel, Lord of the Flies
Le Corbusier completes the reinforced-concrete pilgrimage church of Notre Dame du Haut at Ronchamp
The new UK prime minister, Anthony Eden, gives Harold Macmillan the post of foreign secretary
Anthony Eden moves Harold Macmillan to a new position, as chancellor of the exchequer
Michael Tippett's first opera, A Midsummer Marriage, has its premiere at Covent Garden
Swedish director Ingmar Bergman wins international fame with his film Smiles of a Summer Night
An armed uprising in Morocco persuades France to accept the principle of independence for the colony
81-year-old Winston Churchill resigns as Britain's prime minister and is succeeded by Anthony Eden
Russia forms the Warsaw Treaty Organization (or Warsaw Pact) with her east European allies, as a counterbalance to NATO
Kingsley Amis and other young writers in Britain become known as Angry Young Men
