Title: 1956 Content: 1956 (MCMLVI) was . == Events == * The Summer Olympics were held in Melbourne, Australia. * The Winter Olympics were held in Cortina d'Ampezzo, Italy. This was the first Olympic Games in which the USSR competed. * February 11 - British spies Guy Burgess and Donald Maclean appear in the Soviet Union after being missing for 5 years * March 2 - Morocco declares its independence from France * April 19 - American actress Grace Kelly marries Rainier III, Prince of Monaco * May 2 - The United Methodist Church in America grants women full ordained clergy status * June 5 - Elvis Presley performs "Hound Dog", on The Milton Berle Show. His dancing causes a scandal. * July 25 - The Italian ocean liner SS Andrea Doria sinks after colliding with the Swedish ship SS Stockholm, killing 51 * August 17 - West Germany bans the Communist Party of Germany * September 16 - Television broadcasting begins in Australia * October 26 - Red Army troops invade Hungary * October 29 - November 7 - Suez Crisis: France, Israel and the United Kingdom in war with Egypt. * November 30 - Floyd Patterson wins the world heavyweight boxing championship * December 5 - Rose Heilbron becomes Britain's first female judge == Births == * January 3 – Mel Gibson, American-Australian actor * January 28 – Dario Chioli, Italian poet * February 6 - Jerry Marotta, American drummer (Orleans) * February 16 – Peter Hook, English bass guitarist * February 26 – Emanuel Radovan, Romanian politician of Albanian nationality. * February 27 – Csaba Vrabie, Romanian politician of Hungarian nationality from UDMR. * February 27 – Angela Aames, American actress (d. 1988) * February 29 – Aileen Wuornos, American serial killer (d. 2002) * March 24 – Steve Ballmer, American business person, CEO of Microsoft * April 5 – Dwight Hicks, American NFL player * April 12 – Andy García, American actor * April 19 - Lane Hoppen, American singer-songwriter and musician (Orleans) * May 7 – Jan Peter Balkenende, Prime minister of the Netherlands * May 17 – Bob Saget, American actor and comedian * June 2 – Mani Ratnam, Indian movie director * June 4 – Martin Adams, English darts player * June 11 – Joe Montana, American NFL player * June 11 – Ray Nagin, American politician, mayor of New Orleans * July 9 – Tom Hanks, American actor * July 13 – Michael Spinks, American boxer * July 15 – Joe Satriani, Italian-American guitar virtuoso * August 4 – Margaret Whitman, American business person, CEO of Ebay * August 26 – Sally Beamish, English composer * August 31 – Masashi Tashiro, Japanese television performer * August 31 - Mark Mangini, American sound editor * September 14 – Maxime Verhagen, Dutch politician * September 17 – Andreas Starke, German politician, Lord Mayor of Bamberg * September 27 – Milan Smrčka, Czech musician * October 1 — Theresa May, British Prime Minister * October 2 – Mike Scully, American television writer * October 28 – Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, 6th President of Iran * November 11 – Ian Craig Marsh, English musician * December 6 - Peter Buck, American guitarist (R.E.M.) * December 8 - Warren Cuccurullo, American guitarist (Duran Duran) * December 9 - Jean-Pierre Thiollet, French author * Glen Hill (actor), actor * Hugh Cook, English-born New Zealand writer * Hans Enoksen, Prime minister of Greenland == Deaths == * January 18 - Konstantin Päts, 1st President of Estonia (b. 1874) * January 27 - Erich Kleiber, German conductor (b. 1890) * February 10 - Hugh Trenchard, 1st Viscount Trenchard, British marshal of the Royal Air Force (b. 1873) * February 29 - Elpidio Quirino, 6th President of the Philippines (b. 1890) * March 8 – Drastamat Kanayan, Armenian military leader and politician (b. 1884)) * March 17 - Irène Joliot-Curie, French physicist, recipient of the Nobel Prize in Chemistry (b. 1897) * April 13 - Emil Nolde, German-Danish painter (b. 1867) * May 18 - Maurice Tate, English cricketer (b. 1895) * June 22 - Walter de la Mare, English poet, short story writer, and novelist (b. 1873) * June 26 - Clifford Brown, American jazz trumpeter (b. 1930) * July 11 - John T. Raulston, Scopes Monkey Trial judge (b. 1868) * August 11- Jackson Pollack, American painter * August 14 – Bertolt Brecht, German playwright (b. 1898) * August 25 – Alfred Kinsey, American sex researcher (b. 1894) * September 22 - Frederick Soddy, English chemist, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1877) * October 25 - Risto Ryti, 5th President of Finland (b. 1889) * October 30 – Pio Baroja, Spanish writer (b. 1872) * November 22 - Theodore Kosloff, Russian-born ballet dancer, choreographer and actor (b. 1882) * December 14 - Juho Kusti Paasikivi, 7th President of Finland (b. 1870) * December 16 - Nina Hamnett, Welsh artist (b. 1890) ==Nobel Prizes== * Nobel Prize in Physics won by William Shockley, John Bardeen, Walter Houser Brattain for inventing the point-contact transistor * Nobel Prize in Chemistry won by Sir Cyril Norman Hinshelwood, English physical chemist, and Nikolay Semyonov, Russian/Soviet physicist and chemist * Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine won by André Frédéric Cournand, Werner Forssmann, and Dickinson W. Richards for the development of cardiac catheterization * Nobel Prize in Literature won by Juan Ramón Jiménez, Spanish poet * Nobel Peace Prize - Not Awarded == Movies released == * Around the World in 80 Days winning the Academy Award for Best Picture * Bus Stop starring Marilyn Monroe and Don Murray * Giant starring Rock Hudson, Elizabeth Taylor, and James Dean * Hollywood or Bust the final Martin and Lewis movie * The King and I winning Best Actor for Yul Brynner * The Searchers starring John Wayne and Jeffrey Hunter * The Ten Commandments starring Charlton Heston and Yul Brynner * War and Peace starring Audrey Hepburn and Henry Fonda == New books == *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