Centuries: 19th century - 20th century - 21st century
Decades: 1900s 1910s 1920s 1930s 1940s - 1950s - 1960s 1970s 1980s 1990s 2000s
Years: 1951 1952 1953 1954 1955 - 1956 - 1957 1958 1959 1960 1961
Events:
- January 1 - End of Anglo-Egyptian Condominium in Sudan.
- January 16 - President Gamal Abdal Nasser of Egypt vows to reconquer Palestine
- January 26 - 1956 Winter Olympic Games[?] open in Cortina d'Ampezzo[?], Italy
- February 22 - Elvis Presley enters the music charts for the first time, with "Heartbreak Hotel".
- February 23 - Nikita Khrushchev attacks the veneration of Joseph Stalin as a "cult of personality"
- March 2 - Morocco declares its independence from France
- March 15 - The Broadway musical My Fair Lady opens in New York City.
- March 20 - Tunisia gains independence from France
- March 23 - Pakistan becomes the first Islamic republic.
- April 7 - Spain relinquishes its protectorate in Morocco.
- May 21 - Nuclear testing: In the Pacific Ocean, Bikini Atoll is nearly obliterated by the first airborne explosion of a hydrogen bomb.
- October 29 - November 3: English, French and Israeli forces participate in the 1956 Suez War against Egypt.
- November - Dwight D. Eisenhower defeats Adlai Stevenson in the U.S. presidential election
- December 12 : Japan becoms member of the UN
- Summer Olympic Games in Melbourne, Australia
- Eindhoven University of Technology founded in Eindhoven, The Netherlands
- Hungary attempts to leave the Warsaw Pact and is invaded by the Red Army
- First hard disk (5MB) invented by IBM.
Art, Culture & Fashion
- 1956 in film
- 1956 in literature
- 1956 in music
- First ever Eurovision Song Contest - May 24
- 1956 in sports
- 1956 in television
- April - WNBQ Chicago becomes the first TV station to broadcast all its local programming in color.
- April Ampex demonstrates a videotape recorder at the NAB Convention in Chicago. The three networks place orders for the recorders.
- August 8 - Final telecast of the DuMont network
- October 1 - Ernie Kovacs becomes the host for NBC's Tonight Show on Mondays and Tuesdays.
- October 29 - First use of videotape in network television programming; CBS uses its Ampex VTR to record the evening news, anchored by Douglas Edwards[?]. The tape is then fed to West Coast stations three hours later
- October 29 - Chet Huntley[?] and David Brinkley take over anchor duties of the NBC evening newscast, which is renamed The Huntley-Brinkley Report
- November - The first use of videotape on a network television entertainment program; Jonathan Winters, uses videotape and superimposing techniques to be able to play two characters in the same skit for his NBC television show
- The Price Is Right game show premieres
- Black-and-white portable TV sets hit the market
Births:
- January 3 - Mel Gibson, actor and director
- January 7 - David Caruso[?], actor
- January 10 - Shawn Colvin[?], singer
- January 17 - Paul Young[?], English musician
- January 18 - Ray Dolby[?], inventor of the Dolby noise reduction system
- January 20 - Bill Maher[?], actor, comedian, political analyst
- January 21 - Geena Davis, actress
- January 27 - Mimi Rogers[?], actress
- January 31 - Johnny Rotten, musician (The "Sex Pistols")
- February 3 - Nathan Lane[?], actor
- February 11 - Kathleen Beller[?], actress.
- February 24 - Paula Zahn[?], television journalist
- March 2 - Mark Evans[?], bassist of AC/DC
- March 13 - Dana Delany[?], actress
- March 17 - Patrick McDonnell, creator of syndicated cartoon strip "Mutts"
- March 29 - Kurt Thomas[?], gymnast
- April 4 - David E. Kelley, writer, television producer
- April 26 - Koo Stark, actress
- May 17 - Sugar Ray Leonard, boxer
- May 17 - Bob Saget[?], actor
- May 19 - James Gosling, the "father" of Java programming language
- May 21 - Judge Reinhold[?], actor
- June 23 - Glenn Danzig, rock and roll preformer of Danzig
- July 9 - Tom Hanks, actor
Deaths:
- January 5 - Mistinguett, French cabaret singer
- January 31 - A. A. Milne, author of Winnie the Pooh
- February 8 - Connie Mack[?], baseball executive, coach
- March 17 - Irene Joliot-Curie, scientist
- May 12 - Louis Calhern, silent film actor
- May 17 - Austin Osman Spare, magician
- May 20 - Max Beerbohm, theater critic
- December 7 - Huntley Gordon, pioneer Hollywood actor
- December 16 - Nina Hamnett, artist
Awards/Prizes
Winner of Eurovision Song Contest 1956: Lys Assia with Refrain- Physics - William Bradford Shockley, John Bardeen, Walter Houser Brattain
- Chemistry - Sir Cyril Norman Hinshelwood[?], Nikolay Nikolaevich Semenov[?]
- Medicine - André Frédéric Cournand[?], Werner Forssmann[?], Dickinson W Richards[?]
- Literature - Juan Ramón Jiménez[?]
- Peace - not awarded
Common misspelling and questions (FAQ)
956 156 196 195 9156 1596 1965 195 11956 19956 19556 19566 ~956 q956 2956 q956 1856 1i56 1o56 1056 1o56 1946 19r6 19t6 1966 19t6 1955 195t 195y 1957 195y 1956sOhio and Kentucky, hastily gathered together, without drill or organized them into a division with Generals M. D. Manson, J. S. Nelson sent a detachment of the Seventh Kentucky cavalry and Colonel command, to Big Hill to resist the advance of the enemy. These broke and fled, leaving, however, about one-fourth of the command compelled to retire. Metcalfe rallied his men, but on the approach to resist the attack, which they so far succeeded in doing as to demanded the surrender of the town, but learning that re-enforcements brigades, under the command of the former, to proceed to Richmond. out his pickets. The cavalry, on the 29th, reported an advance was driving in the pickets. Manson advanced to their support Moving forward with his troops he drove the attacking party back miles from the town. The enemy attacked with infantry, artillery, and several men captured. Manson then occupied Rogersville, where join him, and moved out beyond the town to meet the enemy's advance. was fiercely assaulted, which being re-enforced, the right began was badly posted for defense, the command was withdrawn from this enemy attacking in heavy force--the Federal troops were again routed .