istoryworld
All Events
With US backing, South Vietnam declares itself an independent republic
Arthur Miller's play A View from the Bridge is performed in New York
Baptist pastor Martin Luther King leads the Montgomery Bus Boycott after Rosa Parks is arrested for not giving up her seat to a white man
Edna Everage, created by Australian satirist Barry Humphries, makes her first appearance in a Melbourne revue
British philologist J.R.R. Tolkien publishes the third and final volume of his epic fantasy The Lord of the Rings
Ruth Ellis, sentenced to death for the murder of an unfaithful lover, is the last woman to be hanged in Britain
Pietro Annigoni paints his best-known portrait, depicting the young British queen Elizabeth II in the Italian Renaissance style
Civil war breaks out in Sudan between the Muslim north and the Christian south
Heartbreak Hotel, Presley's first recording for RCA, goes to the top of all three US charts
The Sudan, declining the opportunity of union with Egypt, opts for independence as a separate state
Brigitte Bardot is directed by her husband Roger Vadim in his first film, And God Created Woman
Nikita Khrushchev denounces Stalin, dead now for three years, at a party congress in the USSR
Jerome Robbins creates the ballet The Concert, to music by Chopin
The musical My Fair Lady, by Alan Jay Lerner and Frederick Loewe, opens on Broadway
Tunisia wins independence from France, with Habib Bourguiba as prime minister
French Morocco and Spanish Morocco win independence from the two colonial powers
The English Stage Company, founded by George Devine, opens in London's Royal Court Theatre
The first true synthesizer is put on the market by RCA Victor
English poet Ted Hughes marries US poet Sylvia Plath
The Visit, by Swiss dramatist Friedrich Dürrenmatt, has its premiere in Zürich
After a plebiscite British Togo is merged with the neighbouring colony of the Gold Coast
The husband-and-wife team Charles and Ray Eames design a much copied lounge chair and footstool, made of moulded plywood with padded leather cushions
Anastasio Somoza is assassinated on a visit to Panama, but the dictatorship of Nicaragua remains in his family
Karlheinz Stockhausen's Song of the Children combines electronic sounds and the human voice
The Sadler's Wells Ballet, dancing now at Covent Garden, is renamed the Royal Ballet
