istoryworld
Events relating to europe
Vice-president Richard Nixon engages in a 'kitchen debate' with Soviet leader Nikita Khruschev at a US exhibition in Moscow
The Mini is launched, designed by Alec Issigonis, and becomes the best-selling British car of all time
Lee Kuan Yew becomes the first prime minister of the newly independent state of Singapore
On the retirement of de Valera, Sean Lemass succeeds him as leader of Fianna F´il and prime minister of Ireland
ETA (Euzkadi Ta Askatasuna) is formed in Spain as a guerrilla organization to win Basque independence
The first prototype of the Hovercraft, designed by British engineer Christopher Cockerell, crosses the English Channel
Hiroshima Mon Amour is French director Alain Resnais' first feature film, with screenplay by Marguerite Duras
Keith Waterhouse has a wide success with his second novel, Billy Liar
Soviet spacecraft Luna 2 successfully strikes the moon, in the Palus Putredinus region
Asterix, written by René Goscinny and drawn by Albert Uderzo, makes his first appearance, in the French magazine Pilote
A group of dancers leave the Netherlands Ballet and establish their own Netherlands Dance Theatre in The Hague
Soviet spacecraft Luna 3, passing by the moon at a distance of some 40,000 miles, is able to photograph the far side
Harold Pinter's second play in London's West End, The Caretaker, immediately brings him an international reputation
British author Laurie Lee remembers a Cotswold boyhood in Cider with Rosie
Billy Wright becomes the first football player to win 100 caps for England
UK prime minister Harold Macmillan, in Cape Town, warns the white settlers of Africa that 'the wind of change' is blowing through their continent
French Cameroun becomes independent as the republic of Cameroun, with Ahmadou Ahidjo as the first president
Kenneth Kaunda is elected president of UNIP, a new party fighting for an independent Northern Rhodesia
French choreographer Maurice Béjart is the first director of Belgium's new Ballet of the 20th Century
French Togo becomes independent as the republic of Togo, with Sylvanus Olympio as president
A Liverpool group of musicians call themselves Long John & the Silver Beatles – a name soon shortened to something more memorable
Italian firm director Michelangelo Antonioni makes L'Avventura, with Monica Vitti in the leading role
Soviet forces shoot down a US high-altitude U-2 spy plane and capture the pilot, Gary Powers
EFTA (European Free Trade Association) brings together the European nations outside the EEC
Cyprus becomes an independent nation, free of British colonial rule, with Archbishop Makarios as president
