Events 
 January 1 – Ireland's first regular radio service, 2RN (later Radio Éireann), begins broadcasting.
 January 8 – Abdul-Aziz ibn Saud becomes the King of Hejaz
 January 12 – Freeman Gosden and Charles Correll premiere their radio program Sam 'n' Henry, in which the two white performers portrayed two black characters from Harlem looking for extra money during the Depression. It was a precursor to Gosden and Correll's more popular later program, Amos 'n' Andy.
 January 16 – BBC radio play about worker's revolution causes a panic in London
 January 26 – John Logie Baird demonstrates a mechanical television system.
 January 31 – British and Belgian troops leave Cologne
 February 9 – Flooding on London suburbs
 March 6 – The Shakespeare Memorial Theatre in Stratford-upon-Avon is destroyed by fire
 March 16 – Robert Goddard launches the first liquid-fueled rocket, at Auburn, Massachusetts
 April 7 – Failed assassination attempt against Mussolini
April 12 – By a vote of 45 to 41, the United States Senate unseats Iowa Senator Smith W. Brookhart and seats Daniel F. Steck, after Brookhart had already served for over one year.
 April 16 – Train crash in San Jose, Costa Rica – 178 dead
 April 21 – Princess Elizabeth born in London
 April 25 – Reza Khan is crowned Shah of Iran under the name "Pahlevi."

Nobel Prizes 
 Johannes Andreas Grib Fibiger, Danish doctor, won the 1926 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine, (b. 1867) (d. 1928)

Births 
 January 1 - Claudio Villa, Italian singer (d. 1987)
 January 3 – George Martin, "5th Beatle": producer of The Beatles' records, later inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame
 January 26 – Kim Tae Jung, President of South Korea and Nobel Peace Prize winner
 January 29 – Franco Cerri, Italian jazz guitarist
 January 29 – Abdus Salam, Pakistani Nobel Prize in Physics winner (d. 1996)
 February 7 - Konstantin Feoktistov, Russian cosmonaut (d. 2009)
 February 9 - Garret FitzGerald, Irish Taoiseach (d. 2011)
 February 16 - Margot Frank, sister of Anne Frank (d. 1945)
 February 16 – John Schlesinger, British movie director (d. 2003)
 February 20 - Richard Matheson, American author (d. 2013)
 March 16 – Jerry Lewis, American actor and comedian (d. 2017)
 March 24 - Dario Fo, Italian writer
 March 27 – Clarence Henry, American boxer
 April 3 - Timothy Bateson, English actor (d. 2009)
 April 7 – James Garner, American actor
 April 9 – Hugh Hefner, American publisher, founder of Playboy magazine (d. 2017)
 April 21 – Elizabeth II, Queen of the United Kingdom and the Commonwealth realms.
 April 28 – Harper Lee, American writer (d. 2016)
 May 8 - David Attenborough, British documentary movie maker, broadcaster and naturalist
 May 25 – Claude Akins, American actor (d. 1994)
 June 1 – Marilyn Monroe, American actress, singer and model (d. 1962)
 June 3 – Allen Ginsberg, American poet and writer (d. 1997)
 June 16 – Adriano Emperado, Filipino-Hawaiian martial artist
 June 28 – Mel Brooks, American actor, screenwriter, movie director and movie producer
 July 10 – Fred Gwynne, American actor (d. 1993)
 August 13 – Fidel Castro, Cuban president (d. 2016)
 October 15 - Michel Foucault, French philosopher (d. 1984)
 October 18 – Chuck Berry, American singer and songwriter (d. 2017)
 October 25 - Galina Vishnevskaya, Russian opera singer (d. 2012)
 October 26 – Robert Baker, American boxer (d. 2002)
 November 30 - Andrew W. Schally, Polish Nobel Prize in Medicine winner
 November 30 - Richard Crenna, American actor (d. 2003)
 December 24 - Ronald Draper, South African cricketer
 December 26 – Gina Pellón, Cuban painter
 Bernie Little, American businessman (d. 2003)

Deaths 
 January 3 – Emmet D. Boyle, American Governor of Nevada (b. 1879)
 January 4 – Margherita of Savoy, Queen of the Kingdom of Italy (b. 1851)
 February 15 – Piero Gobetti, Italian journalist (b. 1901)
 June 9 – Sanford Dole, American politician and businessman (b. 1844)
 August 23 – Rudolph Valentino, Italian actor (b. 1895)
 November 3 – Annie Oakley, American sharpshooter (b. 1860)
 December 6 – Claude Monet, French painter (b. 1840)
 December 29 - Rainer Maria Rilke, Austrian writer (b. 1875)
 Iraj Mirza, Iranian poet (b. 1874)

Movies 
The Scarlet Letter

 

nv:1901 – 1950