istoryworld
All Events
Nationalist Kurds in the north of Iraq launch a guerrilla war against the new government in Baghdad
Harold Pinter's first play in London's West End, The Birthday Party, closes in less than a week
The colony of French Guinea opts for immediate independence as the republic of Guinea, breaking its links with France
Mao Zedong imposes on China a Great Leap Forward, an attempt at industrialization that results in economic chaos and widespread famine
Sekou Touré, the first president of Guinea, settles in for twenty-six years of dictatorial rule
Hendrik Verwoerd become prime minister of South Africa on the death of J.G. Strijdom
Ayub Khan, commander-in-chief of the Pakistani army, replaces Iskander Mirza as president in a bloodless coup
Angelo Roncalli is elected pope and takes the name John XXIII
Mies van der Rohe and Philip Johnson complete a skyscraper for Seagram in New York
Charles de Gaulle is elected first President of France's Fifth Republic
Dictator Fulgencio Batista flees from Cuba, leaving Havana open to Fidel Castro and his victorious guerrillas
In the Hola camp, in Kenya, eleven Mau Mau prisoners die from their treatment at the hand of British forces
The Conservative party wins the UK general election with their highest ever vote and an increased majority
Iain Macleod, appointed colonial secretary in Macmillan's new government, intends to speed up the independence of British colonies
Fidel Castro begins more than four decades of authoritarian rule in Cuba
Alaska becomes the 49th state of the USA
Soviet spacecraft Luna 1 goes into orbit round the sun, between the orbits of Earth and Mars
Pope John XXIII summons a second Vatican Council
Francis Poulenc and Jean Cocteau collaborate on La Voix Humaine, a concerto for soprano voice and orchestra
Australian soprano Joan Sutherland becomes a star overnight with her performance at Covent Garden in Lucia di Lammermoor
Alfred Hitchcock directs Cary Grant in North by Northwest
German novelist Günter Grass has an immediate success with his first novel, The Tin Drum
Liu Shaoqi replaces Mao Zedong as China's president after the Great Leap Forward fiasco, but Mao remains Chairman
Mary Leakey finds in the Olduvai Gorge the first specimen of a new hominid species, now known as Australopithecus Boisei
Vice-president Richard Nixon engages in a 'kitchen debate' with Soviet leader Nikita Khruschev at a US exhibition in Moscow
