- Oct 1 1st ultra high frequency (UHF) television station, Portland Or
- Oct 1 Liberal Party wins Japanese elections
- Oct 1 Monte Bello-Island (Great Britain 1st atom bomb explosion)
- Oct 2 Don Liddle beats Bob Lemon 7-4 as the New York Giants complete an unlikely Baseball World Series sweep of the powerful Cleveland Indians; Cleveland season record of 111-43 sets American League mark for regular season wins
- Oct 3 1st British nuclear test during Operation Hurricane at Monte Bello Island, Australia, UK becomes the world's third nuclear nation
- Oct 3 1st video recording on magnetic tape in Los Angeles, California
- Oct 4 "Top Banana" closes at Winter Garden Theater NYC after 356 performances
- Oct 5 19th congress of Communist Party meets in Moscow
- Oct 5 6th NHL All-Star Game, Detroit Olympia, Detroit, MI: 1st Team ties 2nd Team, 1-1; second year format - 1st v 2nd All-Star Teams, with additional players
Theater Premiere
Oct 6 Agatha Christie's play "The Mousetrap" opens in London (still running)
Agatha Christie
- Oct 7 NY Yankees beat Dodgers 4 games to 3 in 49th World Series
Event of Interest
Oct 7 First "Bandstand" broadcast in Philadelphia on WFIL-TV (Dick Clark joins in 1955 as a substitute-host)
Dick Clark
- Oct 7 Yankees tie their own record of 4 consecutive World Series wins
- Oct 8 Chinese offensive in Korea
- Oct 8 Harrow and Wealdstone, northwest London, 112 people killed in Britain's worst peace-time rail crash.
- Oct 12 Hanif Mohammad scores twin 100s v N Zone (India) his 1st first class cricket centuries
- Oct 12 KBTV (now KUSA) TV channel 9 in Denver, CO (ABC) begins broadcasting
- Oct 14 UN General Assembly first meets at its new headquarters in New York
- Oct 14 "Buttrio Square" opens at New Century Theater NYC for 7 performances
- Oct 15 Arthur Laurent's "Time of the Cuckoo" premieres in NYC
Historic Publication
Oct 15 "Charlotte's Web" by E. B. White and illustrated by Garth Williams is published by Harper & Brothers
E. B. White
Photography
Oct 15 Henri Cartier-Bresson's influential photography book "The Decisive Moment" is first published in the US and France
Henri Cartier-Bresson
- Oct 16 Pakistan's 1st Test starts, v India at Delhi
- Oct 16 Woolworth's at Powell & Market (San Francisco) opens
- Oct 18 Date of the first Mad Magazine issue
- Oct 18 "Buttrio Square" closes at New Century Theater NYC after 7 performances
- Oct 18 Vinoo Mankad takes 13 Pakistan wkts to win 1st India-Pak clash
- Oct 19 Alain Bombard departs from the Canary Islands on his solitary journey across the Atlantic ocean with almost no provisions and only a sextant for navigation to test his theory that a shipwrecked person could survive
- Oct 20 Emergency crisis proclaimed in Kenya
- Oct 21 Dutch government refuses New Guinea (West-Irian)
Film Premier
Oct 23 "Limelight" premieres directed, written, produced and starring Charlie Chaplin and Claire Bloom with appearance by Buster Keaton
Charlie Chaplin
- Oct 24 Arab Liberation Movement becomes only political party in Syria
- Oct 25 First Dutch edition of children's magazine "Donald Duck"
- Oct 25 French president inaugurates Donzère-Mondragonstuw Dam
- Oct 25 Nazar Mohammad scores Pakistan's 1st Test century 124* v India
- Oct 26 Pakistan's 1st Test Cricket win Fazal Mahmood 12 wkts v India
- Oct 27 "My Darlin' Aida" opens at Winter Garden Theater NYC for 89 performances
Event of Interest
Oct 30 Clarence Birdseye sells first frozen peas
Clarence Birdseye