1959

1950–1959	USA [everyday life]	The number of people in the USA who live in the suburbs increases by 44% in the 1950s.
1950–1980	UK [television]	Watch With Mother, a series for young children featuring favourite characters such as Andy Pandy, the Flowerpot Men, Rag, Tag, and Bobtail, and the Woodentops, is shown on British television.
1956–1961	UK [television]	In addition to its successful run on radio, Hancock's Half-Hour, starring the comedian Tony Hancock, supported by Sid James, is shown on British television. It is scripted by Alan Simpson and Ray Galton.
1959	USA [technology]	US engineer Jean Hoerni of Fairchild Semiconductor Corporation designs the planar or ‘flat’ transistor and US engineer Robert Noyce discovers a way to join the circuits by printing, eliminating hundreds of hours in their production. Their work leads to the creation of the first microchip, which stimulates the computer industry with its sharply reduced size and cost and leads to the third generation of computers.
1959–1960	USA [sculpture]	The US artist David Smith sculpts his Cubi series.
1959	France [orchestral music]	The French composer Jean Françaix completes his L'Horloge de flore/The Floral Clock for oboe and orchestra.
1959	England [philosophy]	The English philosopher P F Strawson publishes Individuals: An Essay in Descriptive Metaphysics.
1959	UK [plays]	The play Sergeant Musgrave's Dance, by the English dramatist John Arden, is first performed, at the Royal Court Theatre in London, England.
1959	UK [plays]	The play A Taste of Honey, by the English dramatist Shelagh Delaney, is first performed, at the Wyndham Theatre in London, England.
1959	USA [poetry]	The US writer Robert Lowell publishes his poetry collection Life Studies, which includes ‘Skunk Hour’.
1959	USA [popular music]	Berry Gordy founds Motown Records in Detroit, Michigan, and launches the Tamla record label with ‘Come to Me’, by Marv Johnson.
1959	USA [art]	The US artist Robert Rauschenberg creates Monogram, a multimedia work (which he calls a ‘combine-painting’) that includes a stuffed goat wearing an automobile tyre. It becomes one of the most distinctive images of the 1960s.
1959	USA [art]	The US artist Allan Kaprow creates his first ‘happening’ – 18 Happenings in 6 Parts – in the Reuben Gallery in New York City. Typical of US art in the 1960s and 1970s, happenings combine visual arts, music, and improvised theatre, and often encourage audience participation.
1959	UK [banking and finance]	The first drive-in bank in Britain is opened in Liverpool.
1959	USA [cinema and film]	The film Ben-Hur, directed by William Wyler, is released in the USA. Based on the novel by the US author and diplomat Lew Wallace, it stars Charlton Heston.
1959	USA [cinema and film]	The film Some Like it Hot, directed by Billy Wilder, is released in the USA, starring Marilyn Monroe, Jack Lemmon, and Tony Curtis.
1959	UK [energy]	The first fast breeder reactor (that produces more nuclear fuel than it consumes) is commissioned at Dounreay in Scotland.
1959	USA [clothing and fashion]	The US clothing manufacturer Glen Raven Mills develops fine nylon tights (pantyhose), originally marketed as Panti-Legs.
1959	Germany [fiction]	The German writer Heinrich Böll publishes Billiard um halb zehn/Billiards at Half-Past Nine.
1959	USA [fiction]	The US writer William Burroughs publishes his novel The Naked Lunch.
1959	England [fiction]	The English writer Roald Dahl publishes his collection of short stories Kiss, Kiss.
1959	USA [fiction]	The US writer Philip Roth publishes his short-story collection Goodbye, Columbus.
1959	UK, Canada [television]	The British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) broadcasts the first transatlantic programme, from London, England, to Montreal, Canada, showing the departure of the queen and Prince Philip for Canada.
1959	USA [toys and games]	The Barbie doll, designed by Californian entrepreneurs Ruth and Eliot Handler, is launched in the USA.
1 January 1959	Cuba [revolution]	The Cuban guerrilla campaign of the 26 July Movement forces General Fulgencio Batista to resign and flee to Dominica. A military junta appoints Carlos Piedra as provisional president.
2 January 1959	Cuba [administration]	The Cuban 26 July Movement ignores the military junta and proclaims Dr Manuel Urratía provisional president. He announces a cabinet on 3 January, with Fidel Castro as prime minister (takes oath on 16 February).
21 January 1959	USA [births and deaths]	Cecil B DeMille, US film director and producer known for his spectacular films such as The Greatest Show on Earth, dies in Hollywood, California (77).
19 February 1959	Cyprus [political events]	The prime ministers of Greece, Turkey, and Britain sign an agreement in London, England, granting Cyprus independence. As a republic, the president of Cyprus is to be Greek and the vice-president Turkish, and the two communities are to be allowed considerable autonomy. Britain will retain two military bases on the island. Enosis (union with Greece) is ruled out.
April 1959	Canada, USA [transport]	The St Lawrence Seaway is completed. It provides the Great Lakes with access to the Atlantic Ocean.
4 April - 30 May 1959	French West Africa [diplomacy]	The autonomous French West Africa colonies of Ivory Coast, Niger, Upper Volta (now Burkina Faso), and Dahomey (now Benin) sign a series of agreements to form the Sahel–Benin Union.
25 May 1959	USA [boxing]	The US Supreme Court rules that a Louisiana state ban on boxing matches between white and black fighters is unconstitutional.
3 June 1959	Malay States [law and government]	The British colony of Singapore becomes self-governing.
8 June 1959	USA [aircraft]	The US X-15 rocket plane makes its first flight. Only three of the planes are built, but over the next ten years they achieve a speed of 7,200 kph/4,500 mph (Mach 6) and an altitude of 106,700 m/350,000 ft.
11 June 1959	USA [fiction]	The US Postmaster General bans the novel Lady Chatterley's Lover by D H Lawrence from the mail (meaning in effect that it cannot be distributed in the USA), citing its erotic passages.
21 July 1959	USA [fiction]	A US federal district court in New York City lifts the ban that the Postmaster General had placed on Lady Chatterley's Lover by English author D H Lawrence, ruling that the novel, which was privately published in Florence in 1928, is not obscene. A complete edition is published.
28 July 1959	UK [postal services]	The General Post Office introduces post codes and automatic sorting machines in Britain.
August 1959	USA [political events]	The US president Dwight D Eisenhower proclaims Hawaii the 50th state. Hawaiians had overwhelmingly endorsed statehood in a referendum on 27 June.
18 August 1959	UK [motor vehicles]	The Mini Minor car, designed by Alec Issigonis for the British Motor Corporation, is launched in Britain, costing less than £500. By 1965, one million Minis will have been produced, and the car becomes a symbol of ‘swinging London’ in the late 1960s.
21 August 1959	Turkey [international organizations]	Following the withdrawal of Iraq from the Baghdad Pact on 24 March, the Pact changes its name to the Central Treaty Organization (CENTO) and moves its headquarters to Ankara, Turkey.
14 September 1959	USSR [space exploration]	The Soviet spacecraft Luna 2 (launched on 12 September) becomes the first spacecraft to strike the Moon.
25 September 1959	Ceylon [terrorism]	Following the assassination of Solomon Bandaranaike, prime minister of Ceylon (Sri Lanka), by a Buddhist monk, he is succeeded by Wijayananda Dahanayake.
7 October 1959	USSR [space exploration]	The Soviet Luna 3 (launched on 4 October) takes the first photographs of the far side of the Moon.
21 October 1959	USA [museums and galleries]	The Solomon Guggenheim Museum, a modern art museum designed by US architect Frank Lloyd Wright, opens in New York City.
10 November 1959	British East Africa [law and government]	The ending of the Mau Mau emergency in Kenya is officially announced by the government (a proclamation to this effect is signed by the governor of Kenya on 12 January 1960).
1 December 1959	Antarctica [ecology]	An Antarctic Treaty is signed, suspending territorial claims and aiming to prevent development in the region (valid 23 June 1961–December 1989).