1956

1956 was a leap year starting on Sunday of the Gregorian calendar.

Events

January-April

• 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
• January 26 - United Kingdom bans heroin
• January 26 - The last Soviet troops leave the military base in Porkkala, Finland
• February 15 - Urho Kekkonen is elected President of Finland
• 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 1 - the International Air Transport Association finalises a draft of the Radiotelephony spelling alphabet for the International Civil Aviation Organization
• March 2 - Morocco declares its independence from France
• March 9 – British deport Archbishop Makarios from Cyprus
• 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.
• April 19 - Grace Kelly marries Prince Rainier III of Monaco

May-June

• early May - The Methodist Church in America decides at its General Conference to grant women full ordained clergy status
• May 9 - First ascent of Manaslu, eighth highest mountain in the world.
• May 18 - First ascent of Lhotse (main), fourth highest mountain
• May 21 - Nuclear testing: In the Pacific Ocean, Bikini Atoll is nearly obliterated by the first airborne explosion of a hydrogen bomb.
• June 10 - 1956 Summer Olympics: Equestrian events open in Stockholm, Sweden.
• June 14 - U.S. President Dwight D. Eisenhower signs a bill into law that places the words "under God" to the United States' Pledge of Allegiance.
• June 18 - Last foreign troops leave Egypt
• June 28 - MP Sydney Silverman's bill for abolition of death penalty passes the British House of Commons
• June 28 - Labour riots at Poznan, Poland, are crushed with heavy loss of life
• June 29 - Marilyn Monroe marries the playwright Arthur Miller
• June 30 - a TWA Lockheed Constellation and United Airlines Douglas DC-7 collide in mid-air over the Grand Canyon and crash. The 128 people aboard the two aircraft are all killed. The accident prompts tighter air traffic control to be implemented in the United States.

July-August

• July 8 - First ascent of Gasherbrum II
• July 10 - British House of Lords defeats the abolition of death penalty
• July 24 - At New York City's Copacabana Club, Dean Martin and Jerry Lewis perform their last comedy show together which started on July 25, 1946
• July 25 - 45 miles south of Nantucket Island, the Italian ocean liner SS Andrea Doria sinks after colliding with the SS Stockholm in heavy fog, killing 51.
• July 26 - Egyptian leader Gamal Nasser nationalizes the Suez Canal sparking international condemnation
• July 30 - A Joint Resolution of the U.S. Congress is signed by President Dwight D. Eisenhower, authorizing "In God We Trust" as the U.S. national motto.
• July 31 - Jim Laker sets extraordinary record at Old Trafford in the fourth Test of taking nineteen wickets in a first class match (the previous best was seventeen).
• August 8 - Fire and explosion kills 263 miners at Marcinelle, Belgium.

October

• October 14 - Dr. B. R. Ambedkar, Indian Untouchable leader, converts to Buddhism along with 385,000 followers. See Neo-Buddhism.
• October 23 - Hungarian revolution against the communist government. Soviet Union intervenes. Hungary attempts to leave the Warsaw Pact
• October 26 - Warsaw Pact troops invade Hungary
• October 29 - Suez Crisis begins: Israel invades the Sinai Peninsula and push Egyptian forces back toward the Suez Canal
• October 29 - Tangier Protocol signed: The international city Tangier is reintegrated into Morocco
• October 31 - Suez Crisis: The United Kingdom and France begin bombing Egypt to force the reopening of the Suez Canal

November-December

• November 4 - 1956 Hungarian Revolution: Soviet troops invade Hungary to crush a revolt that started on October 23. Thousands are killed, more are wounded and nearly a quarter million leave the country
• November 6 - U.S. presidential election, 1956: Republican incumbent Dwight D. Eisenhower is reelected by defeating Democrat challenger Adlai E. Stevenson in a rematch of their contest four years earlier
• November 7 - Suez Crisis: The United Nations General Assembly adopts a resolution calling for the United Kingdom, France and Israel to withdraw their troops from Egypt immediately.
• November 14 - Fighting ends in Hungary
• November 16 - Suez canal blocked
• November 22 - Beginning of the Summer Olympic Games in Melbourne, Australia.
• November 23 - Suez Crisis causes petrol rationing in Britain
• December 2 - Fidel Castro and his followers land on Cuba
• December 2 - Pipe bomb explodes at a movie theater in Brooklyn (work of George Metesky)- six people injured
• December 12 : Japan becomes member of the United Nations

Unknown date

• Eindhoven University of Technology founded in Eindhoven, The Netherlands
• First hard disk (5MB) invented by IBM.
• Minamata disease discovered

Year in topic

• 1956 in art
• 1956 in film
  • Around the World in Eighty Days
  • The King and I
  • The Ten Commandments
  • Alfred Hitchcock's The Man Who Knew Too Much starring Jimmy Stewart
  • The Invasion of the Body Snatchers
• 1956 in literature
• 1956 in music
  • First ever Eurovision Song Contest - May 24
• 1956 in rail transport
• 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.
  • April 2 - The first half-hour soap operas, As the World Turns and The Edge of Night, debut on American television. Before, all soap operas only transmitted fifteen-minute episodes each weekday.
  • August 8 - Final telecast of the DuMont Network.
  • September 16 - Australia's first television station TCN-9 commences transmission in Sydney
  • 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-February

• January 3 - Mel Gibson, Australian actor and director
• January 4 - Bernard Sumner, British guitarist (Joy Division and New Order)
• January 5 - Chen Kenichi, chef
• January 7 - David Caruso, American actor
• January 10 - Shawn Colvin, singer
• January 14 - Ben Heppner, Canadian tenor
• January 17 - Paul Young, English musician
• January 20 - Bill Maher, American actor, comedian, and political analyst
• January 21 - Geena Davis, American actress
• January 27 - Mimi Rogers, American actress
• January 31 - Johnny Rotten, British singer (Sex Pistols)
• February 3 - Nathan Lane, American actor
• February 6 - Ken Lorraway, Australian athlete
• February 11 - Kathleen Beller, actress
• February 11 - Didier Lockwood, French jazz violinist
• February 13 - Peter Hook, British bassist (Joy Division and New Order)
• February 14 - Tom Burlinson, Australian actor
• February 15 - Desmond Haynes, West Indies cricketer
• February 18 - Thomas Gradin, Swedish hockey player
• February 24 - Paula Zahn, American television journalist
• February 26 - Keisuke Kuwata, Japanese Musician
• February 29 - Randy Jackson, American musician, American Idol judge
• February 29 - Bob Speller, Canadian politician
• February 29 - Aileen Carol Wuornos, American serial killer (d. 2002)

March-April

• March 21 - Ingrid Kristiansen, Norwegian runner
• April 3 - Ray Combs, American game show host and comedian
• April 4 - Kerry Chikarovski, Australian politician
• April 4 - David E. Kelley, American writer and television producer
• April 6 - Dilip Vengsarkar, Indian cricketer
• April 12 - Andy Garcia, American actor
• April 13 - Alison Wheeler, British political activist
• April 13 - Peter 'Possum' Bourne, Australian race car driver (d. 2003)
• April 14 - Barbara Bonney, American soprano
• April 16 - Lise-Marie Morerod, Swiss skier
• April 19 - Sue Barker, British tennis player and television presenter
• April 21 - Rick DeMont, American swimmer
• April 23 - Judy Davis, Australian actress
• April 26 - Koo Stark, British actress
• April 28 - Jimmy Barnes, Australian musician
• April 30 - Jorge Chaminé, Portuguese baritone
• April 30 - Lars von Trier, Danish film director

May-June

• May 4 - Ulrike Meyfarth, German high jumper
• May 7 - Jan Peter Balkenende, Prime Minister of the Netherlands
• May 9 - John Jay Ruskin. fiddle player
• May 15 - Dan Patrick, American sportscaster
• May 16 - Olga Korbut, Russian gymnast
• May 17 - Sugar Ray Leonard, American boxer
• May 17 - Bob Saget, American actor
• May 19 - James Gosling, Canadian software engineer
• May 20 - Ingvar Ambjørnsen, Norwegian author
• May 21 - Judge Reinhold, American actor
• May 23 - Buck Showalter, baseball player and manager
• June 6 - Björn Borg, Swedish tennis player
• June 9 - Patricia Cornwell), American novelist
• June 11 - Joe Montana, American football player
• June 21 - Kasper Winding, Danish composer
• June 23 - Glenn Danzig, American musician (Danzig)

July-August

• July 9 - Tom Hanks, American actor
• July 14 - Ran Andrews, Canadian painter
• July 15 - Barry Melrose, Canadian hockey player, coach, and commentator
• July 15 - Ian Curtis, British musician (Joy Division) (d. 1980)
• July 15 - Marky Ramone American drummer (The Ramones)
• July 16 - Tony Kushner, American playwright
• July 31 - Michael Biehn, American actor
• August 5 - Maureen McCormick, American actress
• August 14 - Rusty Wallace, American race car driver
• August 20 - Joan Allen, American actress
• August 21 - Kim Cattrall, Canadian actress
• August 22 - Paul Molitor, baseball player
• August 24 - John Culberson, American politician
• August 31 - Masashi Tashiro, Japanese television performer

September-December

• September 11 - Phil Bissett, Ameriocan politican
• September 12 - Ricky Rudd, American race car driver
• September 14 - Costas Caramanlis, Greek politician
• September 14 - Ray Wilkins, English footballer and coach
• September 26 - Linda Hamilton, American actress
• September 30 - Fran Drescher, American actress
• October 11 - Nicanor Duarte Frutos, President of Paraguay
• October 17 - Mae Jemison, astronaut
• October 18 - Martina Navratilova, Czech-born tennis player
• November 7 - Fabio Domingos Pannoni, Brazilian scientist
• November 18 - Warren Moon, American football star
• November 23 - Shane Gould, Australian swimmer
• November 23 - Steve Harvey, American actor and comedian
• November 26 - Dale Jarrett, American race car driver
• November 28 - Lucy Gutteridge, British actress
• November 29 - Leo Laporte, Candian author and television host
• December 5 - Krystian Zimerman, Polish pianist
• December 7 - Larry Bird, American basketball player
• December 7 - Mark Rolston, American actor
• December 8 - Warren Cuccurullo, American musician (Missing Persons and Duran Duran)
• December 18 - Ron White, American comedian
• December 23 - Michele Alboreto, Italian race car driver
• December 23 - Dave Murray, British guitarist
• December 26 - David Sedaris, American essayist
• December 28 - Nigel Kennedy, English violinist

Deaths

January-April

• January 3 - Alexander Grechaninov, Russian composer (b. 1864)
• January 5 - Mistinguett, French singer (b. 1875)
• January 13 - Lyonel Charles Feininger, German painter (b. 1871)
• January 24 - Sir Alexander Korda, Hungarian-born film director (b. 1893)
• January 27 - Erich Kleiber, German conductor (b. 1890)
• January 29 - H. L. Mencken, American writer (b. 1880)
• January 31 - A. A. Milne, English author (b. 1882)
• February 2 - Charley Grapewin, American actor
• February 8 - Connie Mack, baseball executive and manager (b. 1862)
• February 18 - Gustave Charpentier, French composer (b. 1860)
• March 17 - Irène Joliot-Curie, French physicist, recipient of the Nobel Prize in Chemistry (b. 1897)
• March 20 - Fanny Durack, Australian swimmer
• March 25 - Robert Newton, English film actor (b. 1905)
• March 30 - Edmund Clerihew Bentley, English inventor (b. 1875)
• March 30 - Fritz Lehmann, German conductor
• March 31 - Ralph DePalma, Italian-born race car driver (b. 1884)
• April 30 - Alben Barkley, Vice-President of the United States (b. 1877)

May-December

• May 12 - Louis Calhern, American actor (b. 1895)
• May 17 - Austin Osman Spare, English magician (b. 1886)
• May 18 - Maurice Tate, English cricketer (b. 1895)
• May 20 - Max Beerbohm, English theater critic (b. 1872)
• May 26 - Al Simmons, baseball player (b. 1902)
• May 31 - Diedrich Hermann Westermann, German linguist (b. 1875)
• June 23 - Reinhold Glière, Russian composer (b. 1875)
• July 7 - Gottfried Benn, German poet (b. 1886)
• August 2 - Albert Woolson, last surviving Union veteran of the American Civil War (b. 1847)
• August 11 - Jackson Pollock, American painter (b. 1912)
• August 14 - Bertolt Brecht, German playwright (b. 1898)
• August 16 - Bela Lugosi, Hungarian-born film actor (b. 1882)
• August 23 - Peaches Browning, American actress (b. 1910)
• August 25 - Alfred Kinsey, American sex researcher (b. 1894)
• September 21 - Anastasio Somoza García, President of Nicaragua (b. 1896)
• September 22 - Frederick Soddy, English chemist, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1877)
• September 27 - Babe Didrikson Zaharias, American athlete and golfer (b. 1911)
• October 19 - Isham Jones, American musician (b. 1894)
• October 26 - Walter Gieseking, French conductor (b. 1895)
• November 24 - Guido Cantelli, Italian conductor (b. 1920)
• December 6 - Dr. B. R. Ambedkar, Indian untouchable leader (b. 1891)
• December 7 - Huntley Gordon, Canadian actor (b. 1887)
• December 16 - Nina Hamnett, Welsh artist (b 1890)

Nobel prizes

• 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