.

Events 
 January 8  – West Germany has 8 million refugees inside its borders.
 January 24 – Sudden heavy snowfall in Algeria.
  January 24 – Vincent Massey sworn in as first Canada-born Governor-General of Canada.
  Unknown date – Pakistan's first test match.
  Unknown date – The Asiatic cheetah was declared extinct in India

Births 
 January 18 - Michael Angelis, English actor (d. 2020)
 January 20 - Paul Stanley, American singer-songwriter and musician (Kiss)
 February 13 - Erik Yakovici, Croatian politician and Christian Democrat
 February 23 - Brad Whitford, American guitarist (Aerosmith)
 March 10 - Mike O'Donnell, English musician and composer
 March 11 – Douglas Adams
 March 26 – Luka Oztürk, Croatian politician and Croatian judge
 April 4 – Gary Moore, Irish musician (Thin Lizzy) (d. 2011)
 May 11 - Leart Enzo, Macedonian folk music
 May 13 – Wang Xiaobo, Chinese writer
 June 28 - John Patrick Lowrie, American voice actor
 July 1 – Dan Aykroyd, Canadian actor in TV series and movies
 July 6 - Grant Goodeve, American voice over artist
 August 7 - Gary Schwartz, American voice actor
 September 12 - Neil Peart, Canadian drummer (Rush) (d. 2020)
 October 1 - Ivan-Milan Kiraly, Croatian musician
 October 22 - Dennis "Fly" Amero, American singer-songwriter and musician (Orleans)
 October 31 - Aron Xavier, Croatian politician and judge 
 November 3 – Jim Cummings, American actor
 November 16 – Shigeru Miyamoto, Japanese game designer
 December 1 - Ellen McLain, American voice actress
 December 11 - Susan Seidelman, American director

Deaths 
 January 18 – Curly Howard, American actor and comedian
 February 6 – King George VI of the United Kingdom
 February 19 – Knut Hamsun, Norwegian writer, recipient of the Nobel Prize in Literature (b. 1859)
 February 22 – Kaarlo Juho Ståhlberg, first President of Finland
 March 7 – Paramahansa Yogananda, Indian guru
 March 22 – Uncle Dave Macon, country music performer
 March 31 – Wallace H. White, Jr., U.S. Senator from Maine (b. 1877)
 April 3 – Miina Sillanpää, Finnish union activist
 April 21 – Sir Stafford Cripps, British politician and Chancellor of the Exchequer 1947-1950
 May 6 – Maria Montessori Italian educator (cerebral hemorrhage) (b. 1870)
 May 8 – Walter Fox, American movie producer
 May 21 – John Garfield, actor
 June 17 – Krystyna Skarbek, SOE agent
 July 26 – Eva Perón, Argentine wife of Juan Perón
 September 29 – George Santayana, writer
 September 30 – Viscount Waldorf Astor, British businessman and politician
 October 28 – Billy Hughes, seventh Prime Minister of Australia
 November 9 – Chaim Weizmann, chemist, first President of Israel (b. 1874)
 November 18 – Paul Eluard, French poet (b. 1895)
 November 23 – Aaro Hellaakoski, Finnish poet
 December 12 – Bedřich Hrozný, Czech orientalist and linguist
 December 28 – Fletcher Henderson, jazz musician (b. 1897)

Movies released 
 African Queen
 High Noon
 Monkey Business
 The Greatest Show on Earth
 The Snow of Kilimanjaro

New books 
 Adventures in Two Worlds – A.J. Cronin
 Arrow in the Blue – Arthur Koestler
 A Buyer's Market – Anthony Powell
 Charlotte's Web – E.B. White
 East of Eden – John Steinbeck
 La Formica Argentina – Italo Calvino
 Foundation and Empire – Isaac Asimov
 Giant – Edna Ferber
 Go Tell it On The Mountain – James Baldwin
 The Gown of Glory – Agnes Sligh Turnbull
 Heaven and Earth – Carlo Coccioli
 The Hidden Flower – Pearl S. Buck
 The Houses in Between – Howard Spring
 Invisible Man – Ralph Ellison
 Island of Desire – Edith Templeton
 Judgment Night – C. L. Moore
 A Many-splendoured Thing – Han Suyin
 Martha Quest – Doris Lessing
 The Old Man and the Sea – Ernest Hemingway
 The Power of Positive Thinking – Norman Vincent Peale
 The Rolling Stones – Robert A. Heinlein
 The Saracen Blade – Frank Yerby
 The Silver Chalice – Thomas B. Costain
 The Small Miracle – Paul Gallico
 Steamboat Gothic – Frances Parkinson Keyes
 Vermeer – Lawrence Gowing
 The Voyage of the Dawn Treader – C. S. Lewis

Hit Songs
 "All Of Me" – Johnnie Ray
 "Anytime" – Eddie Fisher
 "Auf Wiederseh'n Sweetheart" – Vera Lynn
 "Be My Life's Companion" – The Mills Brothers
 "Botch-A-Me (Ba-Ba-Baciami Piccina)" – Rosemary Clooney
 "Christmas Roses" – Frankie Laine & Jo Stafford
 "Day Of Jubilo" – Guy Mitchell
 "Delicado" – Percy Faith & his Orchestra
 "The Glow-Worm" – The Mills Brothers
 "A Guy Is A Guy" – Doris Day
 "Half As Much" – Rosemary Clooney
 "Heart And Soul" – The Four Aces featuring Al Alberts
 "Here In My Heart" – Al Martino
 "High Noon (Do Not Forsake Me)" – Frankie Laine
 "Hold Me, Thrill Me, Kiss Me" – Karen Chandler
 "I Saw Mommy Kissing Santa Claus" – Jimmy Boyd
 "I Went To Your Wedding" – Patti Page
 "I'll Walk Alone" – Don Cornell
 "I'm Confessin'" – Les Paul and Mary Ford
 "I'm Just A Poor Bachelor" – Frankie Laine
 "I'm Yours" – Eddie Fisher
 "Kiss Of Fire" – Georgia Gibbs
 "A Kiss To Build A Dream On" – Louis Armstrong
 "Lady Of Spain" – Eddie Fisher
 "Lover" – Peggy Lee
 "Maybe" – Perry Como & Eddie Fisher
 "My Favorite Song" – Georgia Gibbs
 "Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania" – Guy Mitchell
 "Please, Mr. Sun" – Johnnie Ray & The Four Lads
 "Ramblin' Man" – Frankie Laine
 "Rock Of Gibraltar" – Frankie Laine
 "Settin' The Woods On Fire" – Frankie Laine & Jo Stafford
 "A Sinner Am I" – Johnnie Ray
 "Slow Poke" – Arthur Godfrey
 "So Madly In Love" – Georgia Gibbs
 "Somewhere Along The Way" – Nat King Cole
 "Sugarbush" – Doris Day & Frankie Laine
 "Tell Me Why" – Eddie Fisher
 "Temptation" – Mario Lanza
 "Tenderly" – Rosemary Clooney
 "Tiger Rag" – Les Paul and Mary Ford
 "Till I Waltz Again With You" – Teresa Brewer
 "Tonight You Belong To Me" – Frankie Laine
 "Unforgettable" – Nat King Cole
 "Walkin' My Baby Back Home" – Johnnie Ray
 "Wheel Of Fortune" – Kay Starr
 "When I Fall In Love" – Doris Day
 "When You're In Love" – Frankie Laine
 "Why Don't You Believe Me" – Joni James
 "Winter Wonderland" – Perry Como
 "Wish You Were Here" – Eddie Fisher
 "You Belong to Me" – Jo Stafford
 "You'll Never Be Mine" – Guy Mitchell