Superchrome permanent ink is announced. It is made available in 5 colours. The Olympics are held in London. Mahatma Ghandi is assassinated in New Delhi. The UK initiates the National Health Service and the new GCE examination system.
Communists stage a coup and seize power in Czechoslovakia.
The state of Israel is born and the Soviet Union imposes a blockade around Berlin. The 'Baby Boom' is at its height. In the US Colonel 'Chuck' Yeager breaks the sound barrier in a Bell jet aircraft and becomes the fastest man in history. The solid 24-karat gold Presidential 51 was introduced, and Parker opened a subsidiary in the Republic of South Africa. Mao Tse Tung takes Peking.