1952

**1952** (MCMLII) was a leap year starting on Tuesday in the Gregorian calendar.

## 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 14 - Oktawjan Józefowicz, Polish politician and Minister of Health
- 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)
- April 16 - Dušan Pavél, Bosnian politicians and rugby union
- May 11 - Leart Enzo, Macedonian folk music
- May 13 – Wang Xiaobo, Chinese writer
- June 28 - John Patrick Lowrie, American voice actor
- June 30 - Dilfel Tadeo, Bulgarian musician and folk music
- July 1 – Dan Aykroyd, Canadian actor in TV series and movies
- July 3 - Levin Ante,  Croatian-Serbian politician and judge
- July 6 - Grant Goodeve, American voice over artist
- July 16 - Stewart Copeland, American drummer (The Police)
- 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