Historical Events in 1959

Events 1 - 200 of 530

• Jan 1 25th Orange Bowl: #5 Oklahoma beats #9 Syracuse, 21-6
• Jan 1 25th Sugar Bowl: #1 LSU beats #12 Clemson, 7-0

• Jan 1 45th Rose Bowl: #2 Iowa beats #16 California, 38-12
• Jan 1 Chad becomes autonomous republic in French Community

• Jan 1 Rohan Kanhai completes 256 v India at Calcutta

• Jan 3 Alaska admitted as 49th US state
• Jan 4 USSR's Luna 1 (Mechta) becomes the 1st spacecraft to leave Earth's gravity
• Jan 5 "Bozo the Clown" live children's show premieres on TV

• Jan 9 Dam across Tera River in Northwestern Spain collapses after heavy winter rains, killing 135
• Jan 9 Pat O'Connor beats Dick Hutton in St Louis, to become NWA champ
• Jan 11 9th NFL Pro Bowl, LA Memorial Coliseum: Eastern Conference beats Western Conference, 28-21; MVPs: Frank Gifford, NY Giants, HB; Doug Atkins, Chicago Bears, DE
• Jan 11 Bollingen Prize for poetry awarded to Theodore Roethke
• Jan 11 Pakistani cricket batsman Hanif Mohammad smashes 499 for Karachi v Bahawalpur, then 1st class world record

• Jan 12 KOED TV channel 11 in Tulsa, Oklahoma (PBS) begins broadcasting
• Jan 12 Rediscovery of the Caves of Nerja in Malaga, Spain
• Jan 13 French President Charles de Gaulle grants amnesty to 130 Algerians sentenced to death
• Jan 13 King Boudouin promises Belgian Congo independence
• Jan 17 "Say, Darling" closes at ANTA Theater NYC after 332 performances

• Jan 22 Buddy Holly makes his last recordings in his NYC apartment, alone with an acoustic guitar; he tapes five songs including "Peggy Sue" and "Crying, Waiting, Hoping", which were embellished, overdubbed, and released posthumously by Coral Records
• Jan 22 USAF concludes that less than 1% of UFOs are unknown objects

• Jan 24 Dmitri Shostakovich's comedy "Cheryomushk" premieres in Moscow

• Jan 24 WHCT TV channel 18 in Hartford, CT (IND) begins broadcasting
• Jan 25 1st transcontinental commercial jet flight (American) (LA to NY for $301)

• Jan 26 Australian Championships Men's Tennis: American based Peruvian Alex Olmedo wins his first Grand Slam event; beats Neale Fraser of Australia 6-1, 6-2, 3-6, 6-3
• Jan 26 Australian Championships Women's Tennis: Mary Carter Reitano wins her 2nd home singles title; beats Renee Schuurman of South Africa 6-2, 6-3
• Jan 26 Italy government of Fanfani resigns
• Jan 26 KOKH TV channel 25 in Oklahoma City, OK (IND/PBS) begins broadcasting
• Jan 28 Soviet Union wins 62-37 for 1st international basketball loss by US
• Jan 29 Smog pollution with readings higher than the 1952 'Great Smog of London' hits London, with many suffering chest and lung-related illnesses
• Jan 29 Walt Disney's "Sleeping Beauty" released
• Jan 30 Australia 1-200 1st day 4th Test v England, Adelaide Oval
• Jan 30 Danish ocean liner MS Hans Hedtoft sinks on maiden voyage after striking an iceberg off the coast of Greenland;, 95 die

• Feb 1 Heiss sisters go 1-2 in US women's Figure Skating C'ships; defending champion Carol wins from Nancy; David Jenkins wins his third straight men's title
• Feb 1 Outfielder Zack Wheat, a Brooklyn Robins favourite of the 1910s and 1920s, is elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame; Wheat hit .317 over 19-year career, and batted .300 or better 14 times

• Feb 1 Swiss men vote against voting rights for women
• Feb 1 Texas Instruments requests patent of IC (Integrated Circuit)
• Feb 1 WVUE TV channel 8 in New Orleans, LA (ABC) begins broadcasting
• Feb 2 Buddy Holly's last performance at Surf Ballroom in Clear Lake, Iowa [1]

• Feb 3 "The Day the Music Died" plane crash kills musicians Buddy Holly, Richie Valens, J. P. Richardson (aka The Big Bopper), and the pilot. near Clear Lake, Iowa
• Feb 3 American Airlines Electra crashes in NY's East River, killing 65
• Feb 4 Israel begins exporting copper ore
• Feb 5 "Redhead" opens at 46th St Theater NYC for 455 performances
• Feb 5 Australia regain the Ashes with a 10 wicket victory at Adelaide
• Feb 6 1st successful test-fire of Titan ICBM
• Feb 6 Fidel Castro is interviewed by Edward R. Murrow
• Feb 7 American pilots Bob Timm and John Cook break recently set airplane flight endurance record, exceeding 1550 hours (64 days, 22 hours, and 19 minutes), landing "The Hacienda", their modified Cessna 172 where they started, in Las Vegas, Nevada [1]
• Feb 7 Fidel Castro proclaims new Cuban constitution
• Feb 7 Mark Charlap and Norman Gimbel's musical "Whoop-Up", starring Julienne Marie and Sylvia Syms, closes at Shubert Theater, NYC, after 56 performances
• Feb 10 Dutch Princess Wilhelmina publishes "Lonely, but not alone"
• Feb 10 Tornado in St Louis kills 19 & injures 265
• Feb 11 Vinoo Mankad ends his final Test Cricket (v WI at Delhi)
• Feb 12 The Lincoln Memorial design on the U.S. penny goes into circulation. It replaces the "sheaves of wheat" design
• Feb 13 Miro Cardon, premier of Cuba, resigns
• Feb 14 $3.6 million heroin seizure in NYC

• Feb 16 Fidel Castro becomes the 16th Prime Minister of Cuba after overthrowing Fulgencio Batista
• Feb 16 Leonard Spigelgass' "Majority of One" premieres in NYC
• Feb 17 1st weather satellite launched, Vanguard 2, 9.8 kg
• Feb 19 Britain, Turkey & Greece sign agreement granting Cyprus independence
• Feb 19 Gabon adopts its constitution
• Feb 19 USAF rocket-powered rail sled attains Mach 4.1 (4970 kph), NM

• Feb 22 Inaugural Daytona 500: Lee Petty and Johnny Beauchamp cross finish line side by side; Beauchamp declared unofficial winner; ruling overturned after 3 days by NASCAR founder Bill France Sr
• Feb 23 KVIE TV channel 6 in Sacramento-Stockton, CA (PBS) begins broadcasting

• Feb 28 "Goldilocks" closes at Lunt Fontanne Theater NYC after 161 performances

• Feb 28 Ice Dance Championship at Colorado Springs USA won by Denny & Jones of Great Britain
• Feb 28 Ice Pairs Championship at Colorado Springs won by Barbara Wagner and Robert Paul of Canada, their 3rd title
• Feb 28 Ladies Figure Skating Championship in Colorado Springs won by Carol Heiss USA
• Feb 28 Launch of Discoverer 1 (WTR)-1st polar orbit
• Feb 28 Men's World Figure Skating Championship in Colorado Springs won by David Jenkins USA
• Mar 1 Archbishop Makarios returns to Cyprus after 3 years
• Mar 2 Ceremony to mark the start of construction of the Sydney Opera House at Bennelong Point, Sydney
• Mar 3 1st US probe to enter solar orbit, Pioneer 4, launched
• Mar 3 British government arrests Hastings Banda of Nyasaland, ends emergency crisis
• Mar 3 San Francisco Giants rename their stadium Candlestick Park
• Mar 3 The Mesrop Mashtots Institute of Ancient Manuscripts opens in Yerevan, Armenia, with a collection of over 23,000 manuscripts [1]
• Mar 4 US Pioneer IV misses Moon & becomes 2nd (US 1st) artificial planet

• Mar 5 Iran & US sign economic & military treaty

• Mar 6 Farthest radio signal heard (Pioneer IV, 400,000 miles)
• Mar 7 "Bells Are Ringing" closes at Shubert Theater NYC after 925 performances
• Mar 7 1st aviator to fly a million miles (1.61 M km) in a jet (MC Garlow)
• Mar 7 6th ACC Men's Basketball Tournament: NC State beats North Carolina, 80-56

• Mar 8 Groucho, Chico & Harpo Marx's final TV appearance together
• Mar 8 KUAT TV channel 6 in Tucson, AZ (PBS) begins broadcasting
• Mar 8 Pro-Egyptian coup fails in Mosul Iraq
• Mar 9 "Juno" opens at Winter Garden Theater NYC for 16 performances
• Mar 9 1st known radar contact is made with Venus
• Mar 9 Barbie makes her debut at the American Toy Fair in New York. Over a billion have been sold worldwide since.
• Mar 9 The Coasters' single "Charlie Brown" peaks at #2 on the Billboard Top 100

• Mar 10 Tibetan uprising against Chinese occupation force in Lhasa, Tibet
• Mar 11 4th Eurovision Song Contest: Teddy Scholten for Netherlands wins singing "Een beetje" in Cannes

• Mar 12 Dutch Liberal Party wins 2nd parliamentary elections
• Mar 12 US House joins Senate approving Hawaii statehood
• Mar 15 LPGA Titleholders Championship Women's Golf, Augusta CC: Louise Suggs wins her 4th Titleholders title by 1 stroke from Betsy Rawls
• Mar 15 Robert Foster sets record by staying underwater 13 m 42.5 s
• Mar 15 WILX TV channel 10 in Lansing, MI (NBC) begins broadcasting
• Mar 16 Iraq & USSR sign economic and technical treaty
• Mar 17 Australia & USSR restore diplomatic relations

• Mar 21 "Juno" closes at Winter Garden Theater NYC after 16 performances
• Mar 21 113th Grand National: Michael Scudamore wins aboard 8/1 second favourite Oxo; only 4 of 32 starters finish the race

• Mar 24 Iraq withdraws from the Baghdad Pact

• Mar 25 Bill White traded to St Louis for pitchers Sam Jones & Don Choate
• Mar 25 French President De Gaulle acknowledges Oder-Neisse boundary
• Mar 26 Test debut for Pakistani cricketer Mushtaq Mohammad v West Indies, aged 15 years
• Mar 28 11 days after Tibet uprising, China dissolves Tibet's government & installs Panchen Lama

• Mar 29 Wes Hall takes Pakistani cricket hat-trick at Lahore

• Mar 30 WNED TV channel 17 in Buffalo, NY (PBS) begins broadcasting
• Apr 4 France beats Wales, 11-3 at Stade Colombes to win the Five Nations Rugby Championship outright for the first time
• Apr 4 Mali Federation founded, consisting of Senegal & French Sudan (dissolved 1960)

• Apr 6 31st Academy Awards: "Gigi", Susan Hayward & David Niven win
• Apr 7 Oklahoma ends prohibition, after 51 years
• Apr 7 Radar 1st bounced off Sun, Stanford Calif
• Apr 9 13th NBA Championship: Boston Celtics sweep Minnesota Lakers in 4 games, first of Boston Celtics record 8 straight titles
• Apr 9 Baltimore Orioles pull their 2nd triple play (3-6-3 vs Washington Senators)
• Apr 9 Bill Sharman hits a NBA record 56 consecutive foul shot
• Apr 9 NASA names 1st 7 astronauts for Project Mercury
• Apr 10 Chicago White Sox second baseman Nellie Fox gets a MLB Opening Day record tying 5 hits in 7 at-bats in a 14-inning, 9–7 win in Detroit

• Apr 11 Dutch Prince Bernhard visits Lockheed factory
• Apr 11 Yip Harburg, Fred Saidy, and Harold Arlen's musical "Jamaica", starring Lena Horne, closes at Imperial Theater, NYC, after 558 performances
• Apr 12 13th Tony Awards: "J.B." (play) & "Redhead" (musical) win
• Apr 12 France Observator reports torture practice by French army in Algeria
• Apr 13 USAF launches Discoverer II into polar orbit
• Apr 13 Vanguard SLV-5 launched for Earth orbit (failed)
• Apr 13 Vatican edict forbids Roman Catholics from voting for communists
• Apr 14 (Robert) Taft Memorial Bell Tower dedicated in Washington, D.C.
• Apr 14 KDIN TV channel 11 in Des Moines, IA (PBS) begins broadcasting
• Apr 15 Fidel Castro begins US goodwill tour

• Apr 16 Datu Abdul Rozak inaugurated as premier of Malaysia federation
• Apr 16 MLB Philadelphia Phillies' Dave Philley gets a major league record 9th straight pinch hit, having ended the previous season with a streak of 8
• Apr 16 Musical revue "A Party with Betty Comden and Adolph Green" return engagement opens at John Golden Theatre, NYC; runs for 44 performances
• Apr 18 Stanley Cup Final, Montreal Forum, Montreal, Quebec: Montreal Canadiens' 4th straight title; beat Toronto Maple Leafs, 5-3 for a 4-1 series win
• Apr 19 Uprising in La Paz Bolivia, fails
• Apr 20 63rd Boston Marathon won by Eino Oksanen of Finland in 2:22:42
• Apr 21 Alf Dean using a rod & reel hooks a 2,664lb, 16' 10" great white shark off the coast of Ceduna, Australia
• Apr 22 Chicago White Sox beat KC Athletics 20-6, in 1 inning Sox score 11 runs on 1 hit, 10 walks, & 3 errors

• Apr 23 "Destry Rides Again" opens at Imperial Theater NYC for 472 performances
• Apr 23 1st heliport in Britain opens in London
• Apr 24 Netherland Dance Theater opens (Rudi of Dantzig & Cut Flier)
• Apr 24 WICD TV channel 15 in Champaign, IL (NBC/ABC) begins broadcasting
• Apr 25 St Lawrence Seaway linking Atlantic and the Great Lakes opens to shipping
• Apr 27 "Today" show goes abroard 1st time (Paris France)

• Apr 27 The last Canadian missionary leaves the People's Republic of China.
• Apr 28 6th National Film Awards (India): "Sagar Sangamey" wins the Golden Lotus
• Apr 28 KLOE TV channel 10 in Goodland, KS (CBS) begins broadcasting
• Apr 28 KPLR TV channel 11 in Saint Louis, MO (IND) begins broadcasting

• May 1 West Germany introduces 5 day work week

• May 3 Tiger's Charlie Maxwell hits 4 consecutive HRs in a doubleheader
• May 4 "The 400 Blows", French film directed by François Truffaut, starring Jean-Pierre Léaud, is released

• May 6 Iceland gunboats shoot at British fishing vessels

• May 8 3-deck Nile River excursion steamer springs a leak panicking passengers who capsized ship; 200 drown just yards from shore

• May 10 Giants Jim Hearn allows 2 runs against Pirates, game is suspended, Hearn is released & charged with loss 2 months after his retirement
• May 10 Soviet forces arrive in Afghanistan
• May 11 "Kookie, Kookie, Lend Me Your Comb" by Edd Byrnes & Connie Stevens hits #4

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