istoryworld
All Events
Thornton Wilder's play Our Town opens on Broadway
The first shipload of oil is exported from Saudi Arabia to the USA after the discovery of commercially viable resources in Dhahran
British author Evelyn Waugh publishes a classic Fleet Street novel, Scoop, introducing Lord Copper, proprietor of The Beast
The Du Pont Corporation begins manufacture of a new synthetic silk yarn, subsequently known as nylon
Delmore Schwartz publishes his first book of poems, In Dreams Begin Responsibilities
Harold Macmillan publishes The Middle Way, outlining a practical course of political action largely based on the ideas of Keynes
French writer Jean-Paul Sartre succeeds with his first novel, La Nausée ('Nausea')
In Homage to Catalonia George Orwell describes his experiences fighting for the International Brigade in the Spanish Civil War
Jiang Jieshi (Chiang Kai-shek) builds the Burma Road as a supply route
American naïve painter Grandma Moses has her first exhibition in a local drug store at the age of 78
Yorkshire batsman Len Hutton scores a record 364 in a Test match against Australia at the Oval
British author Graham Greene publishes Brighton Rock, a novel following 17-year-old Pinkie in the criminal underworld of the seaside town
Wind erosion makes this the worst year of the Dust Bowl crisis in the midwest USA
Maxim de Winter's house, Manderley, holds dark secrets in Daphne du Maurier's Rebecca
Russian film-maker Sergei Eisenstein directs Alexander Nevsky, with music by Prokofiev
Irish author Samuel Beckett publishes his first novel, Murphy
Lord Nuffield donates to Commonwealth hospitals 'iron lungs', built at his Morris Oxford factory,
A dramatized version of H. G. Wells's War of the Worlds, broadcast on US radio, terrifies listeners who think Martians are invading
US architectural critic Lewis Mumford publishes The Culture of Cities
Lavrenty Beria is appointed head of Stalin's state security organization, the NKVD
US tennis player Donald Budge becomes the first person to achieve the grand slam, winning all four majors in the same year
After Chamberlain's Munich Agreement, Harold Macmillan becomes a prominent member of a Conservative minority opposing appeasement
The peace of Buenos Aires, ending the Chaco War, gives Paraguay most of the region under dispute with Bolivia
The first of many ballets to Prokofiev's Romeo and Juliet score is premiered in Czechoslovakia
Adolf Hitler appoints Joachim von Ribbentrop as Germany's foreign minister
