1956 facts for kids

Kids Encyclopedia Facts

Millennium:	2nd millennium
Centuries:	19th century – 20th century – 21st century
Decades:	1920s 1930s 1940s – 1950s – 1960s 1970s 1980s
Years:	1953 1954 1955 – 1956 – 1957 1958 1959

1956 was a special year because it was a leap year. This means it had an extra day, February 29th! It started on a Sunday according to the Gregorian calendar, which is the calendar most of the world uses.

Contents

Big Events of 1956
Famous People Born in 1956
Notable People Who Passed Away in 1956
Nobel Prizes in 1956
Popular Movies of 1956
New Books Released in 1956
Images for kids
See also

Big Events of 1956

Ercole Baldini giochi olimpici

Ercole Baldini, an Olympic gold medal winner from Italy.

The Summer Olympics were held in Melbourne, Australia. Athletes from all over the world competed!
The Winter Olympics took place in Cortina d'Ampezzo, Italy. This was the first time the Soviet Union competed in the Olympic Games.
February 11 – Two British spies, Guy Burgess and Donald Maclean, appeared in the Soviet Union. They had been missing for five years.
March 2 – Morocco became an independent country, separating from France.
April 19 – American actress Grace Kelly married Rainier III, Prince of Monaco. It was a real-life fairy tale!
May 2 – The United Methodist Church in America allowed women to become full clergy members.
June 5 – Elvis Presley performed his song "Hound Dog" on The Milton Berle Show. His energetic dancing caused a big stir!
July 25 – The Italian ship SS Andrea Doria sank after hitting the Swedish ship SS Stockholm. Sadly, 51 people lost their lives.
August 17 – West Germany banned the Communist Party of Germany.
September 16 – Television broadcasting officially began in Australia.
October 26 – Red Army troops entered Hungary.
October 29 – November 7 – The Suez Crisis happened. France, Israel, and the United Kingdom were in conflict with Egypt over control of the Suez Canal.
November 30 – Floyd Patterson won the world heavyweight boxing championship.
December 5 – Rose Heilbron became Britain's first female judge. This was a big step for women in law!

Famous People Born in 1956

Dwight Hicks at Serramonte Center 9-28-08 1

Dwight Hicks in 2008.

January 3 – Mel Gibson, an American-Australian actor.
February 16 – Peter Hook, an English bass guitarist.
March 24 – Steve Ballmer, an American business person and former CEO of Microsoft.
April 5 – Dwight Hicks, an American NFL football player.
April 12 – Andy García, an American actor.
May 7 – Jan Peter Balkenende, a former Prime minister of the Netherlands.
May 17 – Bob Saget, an American actor and comedian.
June 2 – Mani Ratnam, an Indian movie director.
June 11 – Joe Montana, an American NFL football player.
July 9 – Tom Hanks, a very famous American actor.
July 13 – Michael Spinks, an American boxer.
July 15 – Joe Satriani, an Italian-American guitar player.
August 4 – Meg Whitman, an American business person and former CEO of EBay.
August 26 – Sally Beamish, an English composer.
September 27 – Milan Smrčka, a Czech musician.
October 2 – Mike Scully, an American television writer.
October 28 – Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, a former President of Iran.
November 11 – Ian Craig Marsh, an English musician.
December 9 - Jean-Pierre Thiollet, a French author.

Notable People Who Passed Away in 1956

ElpidioQuirino

Elpidio Quirino.

January 18 – Konstantin Päts, the first President of Estonia.
February 29 – Elpidio Quirino, the sixth President of the Philippines.
March 17 – Irène Joliot-Curie, a French physicist who won the Nobel Prize in Chemistry.
April 13 – Emil Nolde, a German-Danish painter.
August 11 – Jackson Pollock, a famous American painter.
August 14 – Bertolt Brecht, a German playwright.
August 25 – Alfred Kinsey, an American researcher.
September 22 – Frederick Soddy, an English chemist and Nobel Prize winner.
October 25 – Risto Ryti, the fifth President of Finland.
December 14 – Juho Kusti Paasikivi, the seventh President of Finland.

Nobel Prizes in 1956

The Nobel Prizes are very important awards given to people who have made amazing discoveries or contributions to the world.

The Nobel Prize in Physics was awarded to William Shockley, John Bardeen, and Walter Houser Brattain. They won for inventing the point-contact transistor, a key part of modern electronics.
The Nobel Prize in Chemistry was shared by Sir Cyril Norman Hinshelwood, an English chemist, and Nikolay Semyonov, a Russian physicist and chemist.
The Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine was given to André Frédéric Cournand, Werner Forssmann, and Dickinson W. Richards. They were honored for developing cardiac catheterization, a method to study the heart.
The Nobel Prize in Literature was won by Juan Ramón Jiménez, a Spanish poet.
The Nobel Peace Prize was not awarded in 1956.

Popular Movies of 1956

Taylor - Hudson - Giant

Elizabeth Taylor and Rock Hudson in the movie Giant.

Around the World in 80 Days won the Academy Award for Best Picture.
Bus Stop starred Marilyn Monroe and Don Murray.
Giant featured Rock Hudson, Elizabeth Taylor, and James Dean.
Hollywood or Bust was the last movie starring the comedy duo Martin and Lewis.
The King and I won Best Actor for Yul Brynner.
The Searchers starred John Wayne and Jeffrey Hunter.
The Ten Commandments featured Charlton Heston and Yul Brynner.
War and Peace starred Audrey Hepburn and Henry Fonda.

New Books Released in 1956

Agatha Christie – Dead Man's Folly
Arthur C. Clarke – The City and the Stars
Ian Fleming – Diamonds Are Forever
Fred Gipson – Old Yeller
Alf Prøysen – Little Old Mrs Pepperpot

Images for kids

See also

In Spanish: 1956 para niños

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1956 Facts for Kids. Kiddle Encyclopedia.