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All Events
In his first book of Structures, for two pianos, Pierre Boulez provides a classic of serial music
Ernest Hemingway publishes The Old Man and the Sea, about an epic struggle between an aged Cuban fisherman and a gigantic marlin
Grace Kelly has her first starring role in High Noon, with Gary Cooper
Kwame Nkrumah, recently released from gaol, becomes prime minister of the British colony of the Gold Coast
The Queen’s Head pub in Mortlake closes
A group of officers led by Gamal Abdel Nasser depose Egypt's king, Farouk, and send him into exile
Albanian missionary Mother Teresa opens the Nirmal Hriday, or Kalighat Home for Dying Destitutes, in Calcutta
Eva Perón dies of cancer and achieves the status of a popular saint in Argentina
Ahmed Ben Bella forms the Front de Libération National (FLN) to fight for Algerian independence
King Adbullah's grandson Hussein (who was with him when he was assassinated in 1951) becomes king of Jordan
British scholar Michael Ventris deciphers Linear B, the script of Mycenae, proving it to be an early form of Greek
Evelyn Waugh publishes Men at Arms, the first novel in the Sword of Honour trilogy based on his wartime experiences
In his novel East of Eden John Steinbeck develops the biblical theme of Cain and Abel in a family saga set in California
US clergyman Norman Vincent Peale has a best-seller in The Power of Positive Thinking
An outbreak of terrorism in Kenya is orchestrated by a secret Kikuyu organization, the Mau Mau
US composer John Cage's 4'33" consists of precisely that number of minutes and seconds of silence
Republican Dwight D. Eisenhower wins the US presidential election with Richard Nixon as his vice-president
The Modern Jazz Quartet, led by pianist John Lewis, plays in the sophisticated style that becomes known as 'cool jazz'
Le Corbusier's completes his most massive modernist development, the Unité d'Habitation at Marseilles
Samuel Beckett's play Waiting for Godot ('En attendant Godot') is first performed in French in Paris
British choreographer Kenneth MacMillan creates his first ballet, Somnambulism, to music by Stan Kenton
Saul Bellow publishes The Adventures of Augie March, a novel about the experiences of a young Chicago Jew
Joseph Stalin dies, four days after suffering a stroke
Elia Kazan directs Marlon Brando in the film On the Waterfront
Fred Zinneman directs Burt Lancaster, Deborah Kerr and Frank Sinatra in From Here to Eternity
