.

Events
 January 4 – The Communist forces of North Korea and China seize the city of Seoul.
 Bette Nesmith Graham invents Liquid Paper

Births 
 January 6 – Kim Wilson, blues singer and harmonica player
 January 7 - Helen Worth, English actress
 January 12 – Kirstie Alley, actress
Rush Limbaugh, radio personality
Larry Hoppen, American singer-songwriter and musician (Orleans) (d. 2012)
 January 30 – Phil Collins, English musician (Genesis)
 January 31 - Harry Wayne Casey, American keyboardist (KC & the Sunshine Band)
 February 6 – Princess Daphné of Belgium
 February 14 – Kevin Keegan, English footballer and football manager
 February 15 – Melissa Manchester, singer
 February 15 – Jane Seymour, actress
 February 18 – Dale Earnhardt, American racing car driver (d. 2001)
 February 19 – Tahir-ul-Qadri, Islamic scholar and leader
 February 20 – Gordon Brown, Scottish politician
 February 25 – Don Quarrie, Jamaican sprinter
 March 4 – Kenny Dalglish Scottish footballer and football manager
 March 4 – Chris Rea, British singer and musician
 March 8 – Karen Kain, Canadian ballerina
 March 17 – Kurt Russell, actor
 March 24 – Tommy Hilfiger, fashion designer
 April 13 – Peter Davison, actor
 April 13 - Peabo Bryson, American singer
 April 21 - David Mallett, American folk musician
 April 25 - Fred Hubbell, politician
 April 27 – Ace Frehley, American musician (Kiss)
 April 30 - Ken Whiteley, Canadian folk musician
 May 15 - Dennis Frederiksen, American singer (Toto) (d. 2014)
 June 12 - Bun E. Carlos, American drummer (Cheap Trick)
 August 13 – Dan Fogelberg, American musician (d. 2007)
 August 19 - John Deacon, English bass guitarist (Queen)
 December 1 – Jaco Pastorius, American jazz bassist (d. 1987)
 December 31 - Tom Hamilton, American bass guitarist (Aerosmith)

People who were born in this year but their day of birth is unknown
 Lee Cornes, English stand-up comedian

Deaths
 January 30 – Ferdinand Porsche, German car designer
 February 12 – Choudhary Rahmat Ali, Pakistani student
 July 13 – Arnold Schoenberg

Movies released
A Streetcar Named Desire
The African Queen
Calamity Jane
Flying Leathernecks
The Thing From Another World
No Highway
Alice in Wonderland
On the Riviera
The Day the Earth Stood Still
When Worlds Collide
Bedtime for Bonzo
Miss Julie
Strangers on a Train
Rashomon
Miracle in Milan
The Lavender Hill Mob
An American in Paris
Death of a Salesman
Gerald McBoing-Boing
The Man in the White Suit
A Place in the Sun
The Big Carnival

Hit Songs
"Aba Daba Honeymoon" – Debbie Reynolds & Carleton Carpenter
"Because" – Mario Lanza
"Because Of You" – Tony Bennett
"Belle, Belle, My Liberty Belle" – Guy Mitchell
"Blue Tango" – Leroy Anderson & his Orchestra
"Cold, Cold Heart" – Tony Bennett
"Come On-A My House" – Rosemary Clooney
"Cry" – Johnnie Ray & The Four Lads
"Detour" – Patti Page
"Down The Trail Of Achin' Hearts" – Patti Page
"Down Yonder" – Del Wood
"Down Yonder" – Champ Butler
"Flamenco" – Frankie Laine
"Gambella (The Gamblin' Lady)" – Frankie Laine & Jo Stafford
"The Gang That Sang Heart Of My Heart" – Frankie Laine
"Get Happy" – Frankie Laine
"Get Out Those Old Records" – Guy Lombardo (The Lombardo Trio vocals)
"The Girl In The Wood" – Frankie Laine
"Give Me Time" – Johnnie Ray
"Gone Fishin'" – Bing Crosby & Louis Armstrong
"Got Him Off My Hands" – Georgia Gibbs
"Hello, Young Lovers" – Perry Como
"Hello, Young Lovers" – Guy Lombardo (Kenny Martin vocals)
"Hey, Good Lookin'" – Frankie Laine & Jo Stafford
"The Hot Canary" – Florian Zabach
"How High The Moon" – Les Paul and Mary Ford
"I Tawt I Taw A Puddy Tat" – Mel Blanc
"If" – Perry Como
"It Is No Secret" – Bill Kenny & The Song Spinners
"It's All In the Game" – Tommy Edwards
"It's Beginning To Look A Lot Like Christmas" – Perry Como & The Fontane Sisters
"Jealousy (Jalousie)" – Frankie Laine
"Jezebel" – Frankie Laine
"The Little White Cloud That Cried" – Johnnie Ray & The Four Lads
"The Loveliest Night Of The Year" – Mario Lanza
"Lullaby Of Broadway" – Doris Day
"Mister And Mississippi" – Patti Page
"Mockin' Bird Hill" – Patti Page
"My Heart Cries For You" – Dinah Shore
"My Truly, Truly Fair" – Guy Mitchell
"On Top Of Old Smoky" – The Weavers with Terry Gilkyson
"Once Upon A Nickel" – Georgia Gibbs
"One For My Baby" – Frankie Laine
"Paths Of Paradise" – Johnnie Ray
"Pretty-Eyed Baby" – Jo Stafford & Frankie Laine
"Red Sails In The Sunset" – Nat King Cole
"Rose, Rose I Love You" – Frankie Laine
"Shanghai" – Doris Day
"Sin" – Eddie Howard & his Orchestra
"Sound Off (The Duckworth Chant)" – Vaughn Monroe
"The Sparrow In The Treetop" – Guy Mitchell
"A Sunday Kind Of Love" – Jo Stafford
"Sweet Violets" – Dinah Shore
"The Syncopated Clock" – Leroy Anderson & his Orchestra
"Tell Me" – Doris Day
"Tell Me Why" – The Four Aces featuring Al Alberts
"Tell The Lady I Said Goodbye" – Johnnie Ray
"Tom's Tune" – Georgia Gibbs
"Too Young" – Nat King Cole
"Undecided" – The Ames Brothers
"When It's Sleep Time Down South" – Frankie Laine
"While You Danced, Danced, Danced" – Georgia Gibbs
"The World Is Waiting For The Sunrise" – Les Paul and Mary Ford

New Books
The Balance Wheel – Taylor Caldwell
The Blessing – Nancy Mitford
Boy at the Window – Owen Dodson
The Caine Mutiny   –  Herman Wouk
The Catcher in the Rye – J.D. Salinger
The Cruel Sea  –  Nicholas Monsarrat
The Daughter of Time – Josephine Tey
The Day of the Triffids – John Wyndham
Foundation  –  Isaac Asimov
The Foundling –  Cardinal Spellman
From Here to Eternity   –  James Jones
Galactic Storm – Gill Hunt
Lie Down In Darkness – William Styron
Log from the Sea of Cortez – John Steinbeck
The Loved and the Lost – Morley Callaghan
Mémoires d'Hadrien – Marguerite Yourcenar
Moses –  Sholem Asch
My Cousin Rachel  –  Daphne du Maurier
Prince Caspian – C. S. Lewis
A Question of Upbringing – Anthony Powell
Return to Paradise  –  James A. Michener
Spartacus – Howard Fast
Tempest-Tost – Robertson Davies
The Wanderer – Mika Waltari
A Woman Called Fancy –  Frank Yerby

References