THE WORLD IN 1953

Queen Elizabeth ascended the throne
of Great Britain and the Commonwealth

• Hungary beat England at Wembley 6-3 with Ferenc Puskas

• Cecil Woodham-Smith published ‘The Reason Why’ an investigation into ‘The Charge of the Light Brigade’.

• Mervyn Peake’s book, ‘Mr Pye’, was published in 1953

• Stalin died in 1953

James Watson & Francis Crick discover DNA

(Deoxyriboneucleic acid) double helix

• Jan Struther, author of the Hymn ‘Lord of all hopefulness’ and creator of the wartime character of Mrs. Minever, died.

• President Truman announces that the U.S. has developed a hydrogen bomb (Jan 7th)

• 1953 sees the end of the Korean War

• The academy awards are televised for the first time

• Cambodia and Laos become independent from France

• The Kenyan nationalist leader, Jomo Kenyatta is sentenced to 7 years imprisonment by British authorities.

• Casino Royale

(1st James Bond Book)

was published in 1953.

• The Samaritans is founded by Chad Varah at St Stephen’s Church, Walbrook in the City of London

• King Hussein of Jordon came to the throne

• 1st case of Myxomatosis is discovered on a farm near Edenbridge in Kent

Sir Edmund Hillary and Tenzing Norgay climbed Mount Everest for the first time in the history