What happened in the 1950s?
The 1950s gave us rock and roll, television in the living room, DNA's double helix and the start of the space race.
97 events, oldest first.
Timeline of The 1950s
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1950
Annapurna is climbed, the first 8,000-metre peak
Maurice Herzog's team had to find the mountain on poor maps before they could climb it.
History of exploration
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1950
Diners Club launches the first multipurpose charge card
Its first cards were made of cardboard, and the first meal paid with one was dubbed the 'First Supper'.
Food & brand history
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1950
Dr. Seuss coins the word 'nerd'
The word first appeared in his book If I Ran the Zoo.
Art & literature history
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1950
Dunkin' Donuts opens
Its first shop opened in Quincy, Massachusetts.
Food & brand history
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1950
India becomes a republic
Its constitution is the longest written national constitution in the world.
Politics & society history
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1950
Peanuts first appears
Charles Schulz drew nearly 18,000 strips by himself.
Pop culture history
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1950
The European Convention on Human Rights is signed
Winston Churchill was one of its early champions.
Politics & society history
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1950
The first Formula One world championship race
It was held at Silverstone, with King George VI watching.
History of sport
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1950
The first TV remote control is sold
Zenith's 'Lazy Bones' was attached to the TV by a long cable.
Pop culture history
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1950
The Korean War begins
It was the first major war fought under the United Nations flag.
Modern history
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1950
The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe is published
C. S. Lewis and Tolkien were close friends at Oxford.
Art & literature history
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1950
Uruguay stuns Brazil in the Maracanã
Brazilians still call the shock defeat the 'Maracanazo'.
History of sport
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1951
Britain's first zebra crossing
Crossings were already marked by amber 'Belisha beacons', named after a transport minister; they only began flashing in 1952.
Science & technology history
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1951
I Love Lucy first airs
It pioneered filming sitcoms with three cameras in front of a live audience.
Pop culture history
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1951
The Archers first airs on BBC radio
It is the world's longest-running radio drama.
Pop culture history
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1951
The Catcher in the Rye is published
J. D. Salinger refused every offer to turn it into a film.
Art & literature history
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1951
UNIVAC I is delivered to the US Census Bureau
The next year it correctly forecast Eisenhower's landslide on live TV, but CBS doubted it and held back the prediction.
Science & technology history
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1952
Charlotte's Web is published
E. B. White drew on life on his own farm in Maine.
Art & literature history
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1952
Einstein is offered the presidency of Israel
He politely declined, saying he lacked the aptitude for dealing with people.
Politics & society history
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1952
Emil Zátopek wins three Olympic distance golds
He won the marathon at his first attempt at the distance.
History of sport
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1952
Frosted Flakes and Tony the Tiger hit the shelves
Tony first shared the box with Katy the Kangaroo, but he proved so popular that she was dropped within a year.
Food & brand history
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1952
KFC's first franchise opens
Colonel Sanders was in his sixties, and the first franchise was in Salt Lake City.
Food & brand history
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1952
Mr Potato Head is advertised on TV
It was the first toy advertised on TV, and early sets made you supply your own potato.
Pop culture history
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1952
The first jet airliner enters service
The de Havilland Comet halved journey times on some routes.
Science & technology history
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1952
The Great Smog smothers London
Smog seeped indoors so thickly that cinemas halted screenings because audiences could not see the screen.
Modern history
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1953
Elizabeth II's coronation is televised
It was the first British coronation shown live on television.
Pop culture history
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1953
Hillary and Tenzing reach the summit of Everest
The news reached London on the morning of Queen Elizabeth II's coronation.
History of exploration
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1953
Hungary thrashes England 6-3 at Wembley
It was England's first home defeat by a team from outside the British Isles.
History of sport
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1953
Ian Fleming's first James Bond novel is published
Fleming wrote Casino Royale in about two months at Goldeneye, his winter home in Jamaica.
Art & literature history
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1953
Joseph Stalin dies
His guards were reportedly too afraid to enter his room after he collapsed.
Modern history
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1953
Matisse makes The Snail
Matisse made it from cut paper after illness left him unable to paint easily.
Art & literature history
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1953
The first TV dinner goes on sale
Swanson created it to use up hundreds of tonnes of leftover Thanksgiving turkey.
Food & brand history
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1953
The Korean War armistice is signed
No peace treaty was ever signed, so the war has never officially ended.
Politics & society history
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1953
Waiting for Godot premieres
Godot never arrives.
Art & literature history
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1953
Watson and Crick reveal DNA's double helix
Rosalind Franklin's X-ray image, 'Photo 51', was crucial to the discovery.
Science & technology history
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1954
Brown v. Board of Education ends school segregation
The Supreme Court decision was unanimous.
Politics & society history
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1954
Burger King opens
The Whopper was added to the menu three years later.
Food & brand history
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1954
Elvis Presley records his first single
'That's All Right' was recorded at Sun Studio in Memphis.
Pop culture history
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1954
Godzilla first stomps onto cinema screens
His roar was made by rubbing a resin-coated glove along a double bass's strings.
Pop culture history
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1954
Roger Bannister runs the first four-minute mile
He was a medical student and trained in his lunch breaks.
History of sport
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1954
The first non-stick pan is made
A French engineer's wife persuaded him to coat her pans with Teflon.
Science & technology history
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1954
The first successful kidney transplant
It was between identical twins in Boston.
Science & technology history
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1954
The first volume of The Lord of the Rings is published
Tolkien never intended it as a trilogy; his publisher split it into three.
Art & literature history
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1954
USS Nautilus, the first nuclear submarine, is launched
A few years later it became the first vessel to travel submerged beneath the North Pole.
Science & technology history
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1954
West Germany wins the 'Miracle of Bern'
They beat a Hungary side that had thrashed them 8-3 earlier in the tournament.
History of sport
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1955
Disneyland opens
Opening day was so chaotic that staff nicknamed it 'Black Sunday'.
Pop culture history
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1955
Fish fingers go on sale in Britain
They were nearly called 'cod pieces'.
Food & brand history
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1955
Ray Kroc opens his first McDonald's
He was a milkshake-machine salesman intrigued by the McDonald brothers' huge orders.
Food & brand history
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1955
'Rock Around the Clock' tops the charts
It became a hit a year after release, thanks to the film Blackboard Jungle.
Pop culture history
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1955
Rosa Parks refuses to give up her bus seat
Her arrest sparked the year-long Montgomery bus boycott.
Politics & society history
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1955
The Guinness Book of Records is first published
It began after an argument at a shooting party over Europe's fastest game bird.
Art & literature history
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1955
The polio vaccine is declared safe
Jonas Salk never patented it, asking: 'Could you patent the sun?'
Science & technology history
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1955
The Warsaw Pact is signed
Its only joint military operation was an invasion of one of its own members, Czechoslovakia.
Politics & society history
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1955
Velcro is patented
George de Mestral was inspired by burrs that stuck to his dog's fur on a walk in the Alps.
Science & technology history
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1956
Grace Kelly marries Prince Rainier of Monaco
Her wedding dress was a gift from MGM, designed by the studio's Oscar-winning costume designer Helen Rose.
Pop culture history
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1956
Play-Doh is sold as a toy
It started life as a wallpaper cleaner.
Pop culture history
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1956
The first European Cup
Real Madrid won the first five tournaments.
History of sport
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1956
The first Eurovision Song Contest
Only seven countries took part, and Switzerland won.
Pop culture history
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1956
The Hungarian Uprising
Soviet tanks crushed the revolt after less than three weeks.
Modern history
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1956
The last Union veteran of the American Civil War dies
Albert Woolson died in 1956, the year Elvis Presley first topped the charts.
Modern history
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1956
The Suez Crisis
Pressure from the US forced Britain and France to withdraw.
Modern history
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1957
Althea Gibson becomes the first Black Wimbledon champion
She later turned to golf and became the first Black woman to play on the LPGA tour.
History of sport
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1957
Bubble Wrap is invented
It was first intended to be a textured wallpaper.
Science & technology history
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1957
Ghana wins independence
It was the first colony in sub-Saharan Africa to win independence.
Politics & society history
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1957
Jack Kerouac's On the Road is published
Kerouac typed his draft on a single scroll of taped-together paper roughly 120 feet long.
Art & literature history
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1957
John Lennon meets Paul McCartney
They met at a church fete in Woolton, Liverpool.
Pop culture history
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1957
Laika becomes the first animal to orbit Earth
A stray dog from the streets of Moscow, she is honoured with a monument there.
History of exploration
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1957
Sputnik 1 is launched
Its radio beeps could be picked up by amateur radio operators around the world.
History of exploration
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1957
The BBC's spaghetti harvest hoax
Viewers phoned in asking how to grow their own spaghetti trees.
Pop culture history
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1957
The Cat in the Hat is published
Dr. Seuss wrote it using only 236 different words.
Art & literature history
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1957
The Treaty of Rome is signed
It set up the European Economic Community, forerunner of the EU.
Politics & society history
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1957
West Side Story opens on Broadway
It moved Romeo and Juliet to the streets of New York.
Pop culture history
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1958
Blue Peter first airs
It is the longest-running children's TV show in the world.
Pop culture history
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1958
Britain's first motorway opens
The Preston bypass was just 8 miles long.
Science & technology history
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1958
China's Great Leap Forward begins
It led to one of the deadliest famines in history.
Modern history
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1958
Chupa Chups lollipops are launched
Salvador Dalí designed its daisy logo.
Food & brand history
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1958
El Capitan is first climbed
The climb took 47 days of effort spread over 18 months.
History of exploration
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1958
Instant noodles are invented
Momofuku Ando perfected his flash-fried noodles in a shed behind his house.
Food & brand history
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1958
NASA is founded
It was created partly in response to the shock of Sputnik.
History of exploration
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1958
Pelé wins his first World Cup
Aged 17, he is still the youngest player ever to score in a World Cup final.
History of sport
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1958
Pizza Hut opens its first restaurant
Brothers Dan and Frank Carney borrowed $600 from their mother to open it in Wichita, Kansas.
Food & brand history
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1958
The Brooklyn Dodgers move to Los Angeles
They had won their first World Series only three years earlier.
History of sport
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1958
The first conveyor-belt sushi restaurant opens
Yoshiaki Shiraishi was inspired by beer bottles moving along a brewery conveyor.
Food & brand history
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1958
The first implantable pacemaker is fitted
Its first patient went on to outlive the device's inventor.
Science & technology history
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1958
The integrated circuit is invented
Jack Kilby built the first one while most of his colleagues were away on summer holiday.
Science & technology history
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1958
The Lego brick is patented
A Lego brick from that year still fits together with one made today.
Pop culture history
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1958
Things Fall Apart is published
Chinua Achebe's novel is one of the most widely read African books.
Art & literature history
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1958
Tokyo Tower opens
It was inspired by the Eiffel Tower but painted orange and white for air safety.
Science & technology history
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1958
Vivian Fuchs completes the first crossing of Antarctica
Edmund Hillary laid supply depots for the expedition.
History of exploration
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1959
Asterix first appears
The comic has been translated into more than 100 languages and dialects.
Pop culture history
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1959
Barbie is launched
Her full name is Barbara Millicent Roberts.
Pop culture history
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1959
Fidel Castro takes power in Cuba
He went on to rule Cuba for almost 50 years.
Politics & society history
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1959
Frank Lloyd Wright's Guggenheim Museum opens
Wright spent about 16 years on the spiral design and died six months before the museum opened.
Art & literature history
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1959
Hawaii becomes the 50th US state
It is the only US state made up entirely of islands.
Politics & society history
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1959
The Antarctic Treaty is signed
It sets aside the whole continent for peace and science.
Politics & society history
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1959
The first Daytona 500
The result took three days to confirm from photographs.
History of sport
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1959
The Mini is launched
Its tiny 10-inch wheels helped free up space for four passengers.
Food & brand history
Think you know your history?
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