Elvis Presley visits the U.K. for the only time while his plane is refuelled in Scotland
Elvis gets his discharge papers from the U.S. Army
President Eisenhower announces that 3,500 American troops will be posted to South Vietnam
Record Retailer / Music Week publishes the first U.K. L.P. chart and the first U.K. top 50 singles chart
Pioneer V is launched from Cape Canaveral to orbit the sun between the Earth and Venus
The government announces plans for a Thames Barrier to prevent floods
The Bank of England issues a new £1 note with a portrait of Queen Elizabeth II on it
Last naming of a British steam locomotive takes place
The Sharpeville massacre in Witwatersrand, South Africa, results in over 200 deaths and injuries
Chuck Berry is jailed and fined in the U.S.A.
The head of Oliver Cromwell is reburied in an undisclosed location at Sidney Sussex College, Cambridge

Ghana becomes a republic, with Prime Minister Kwame Nkrumah as its first President
A Soviet MiG fighter shoots down a six-man RB-47 plane north of Murmansk in the Barents Sea
Politician Aneurin 'Nye' Bevan dies aged 62
The laser is first demonstrated by Theodore Maiman at Hughes Research Laboratory
Harper Lee's classic novel To Kill a Mockingbird is first published
The Etch-A-Sketch is first manufactured, licensed to the Ohio Art Company
Kruschev vows to back Cuba in expulsion of U.S. from its Guantanamo naval base
Donald Campbell makes the first test run in the new £1 million Bluebird car
Ceylon (Sri Lanka) elects Sirimavo Bandaranaike Prime Minister, the world's first female head of government
Francis Chichester sets a new cross-Atlantic sailing record of 40 days in Gypsy Moth II
The Soviet Union launches a space capsule with two dogs, Pchelka and Mushka. They don't survive
Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) founded

Skynet, in a joint experiment with NASA, launches the Echo satellite
In response to a United States embargo against Cuba, Fidel Castro nationalises foreign-owned property
The Bluebell Railway, in Sussex, England, begins regular operation
Discoverer 13 launched, the first successful test (after 12 failures) of the CORONA system that returned film to Earth in a canister
Echo 1, the first communications satellite, is successfully launched by NASA
East Germany closes its border with West Berlin
Cyprus gains independence. Archbishop Makarios is elected the first President
The CORONA satellite launched, orbiting Earth for a day taking high-res images of the Soviet Union and returning them to Earth on the 19th.
More images were taken in this one day than during the entire 'U2' program
Belka and Strelka, launched on the 19th in Sputnik 5, are the first dogs to return alive from a space shot
The Beatles begin performing at the Indra Club, Hamburg
'The Pill' goes on sale in the U.S.A. after the American FDA approves the use of Enovid-10. The U.K. has to wait another 12 months
Penguin books are prosecuted for obscenity over plans to publish 'Lady Chatterley's Lover'
Gary Powers sentenced to prison for 10 years - freed in February 1962 in exchange for Soviet spy
Oscar Hammerstein II dies
The lowest temperature ever recorded is -126.9 F (-88.3 C) 11,500 feet above sea level, at the Russian station of Vostok
The 1960 Summer Olympic Games open in Rome
Hazza Majali, the Prime Minister of Jordan, is assassinated by a time bomb

Cassius Clay wins a gold medal in the Olympic light heavyweight boxing competition
President Eisenhower formally dedicates the Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama
Color television broadcasting began in Japan
The M.O.T. test for vehicles over 10 years old is introduced
OPEC (Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries) is founded
BMC announce two new estate versions of the Mini - the Traveller and the Austin Seven Countryman
Traffic wardens and parking tickets are seen for the first time in London. 344 tickets are issued
The U.S.S. Enterprise, the first nuclear-powered aircraft carrier, is launched
Geothermal energy is used to generate electricity for the first time in the USA at The Geysers in California
The first televised presidential debate between Kennedy and Nixon is broadcast
The first 'travelator' opens at Bank underground station
Nigeria gains independence
The Flintstones premieres on the ABC TV channel in the USA

The Hawker-Siddeley VTOL P1127 'Harrier' makes its first flight
Nigeria gains independence - Nnamdi Azikiwe is the first native Governor General
Melody Maker announces the arrival of Sony transistor radios
Anthony Wedgwood-Benn resigns from Labour's National Executive Committee
Brigitte Bardot leaves hospital following a suicide attempt
In the South African republic referendum, white South Africans vote to make the country a republic
Southern England is hit by the worst flooding since 1953
Britain's first nuclear submarine H.M.S. Dreadnought is launched
An R-16 ICBM explodes at Baikonur, USSR. Over 100 are killed, including Marshal Mitrofan Nedelin
The Severn Railway Bridge at Sharpness is destroyed - two spans drop onto two tanker barges which are swept into it whilst bound for Sharpness in thick fog
Britain's first urban motorway, the M62, opens in Manchester
Cassius Clay wins his first professional fight, against Tunney Hunsaker, in Louisville, Kentucky

Prime Minister Macmillan announces that the US will use the UK for Polaris bases
The courts decide that 'Lady Chatterley's Lover' can be published
Comedian Mack Sennett dies
Actor Ward Bond of 'Wagon Train' dies
33 year old singer Johnny Horton is killed in a car crash
John F. Kennedy is elected 35th President of the United States
The Royal Shakespeare Company is formed under director Peter Hall
Penguin's initial print run of 200,000 of 'Lady Chatterley's Lover' sells out on the first day
Sammy Davis Jr marries Mai Britt despite death threats from the Ku Klux Klan. At this time, interracial marriage is still illegal in 31 US states out of 50
The Polaris missile is test launched
Actor Clark Gable dies aged 59
Mauritania becomes independent of France after more than 50 years under French rule
The last 2,049 men are inducted into the armed forces as National Servicemen

The Archbishop of Canterbury, Geoffrey Francis Fisher, talked with Pope John XXIII in the Vatican. It was the first time in more than 500 years that the head of the Anglican church had visited the Pope
Vivien Leigh and Laurence Olivier become divorced
The admission of Mauritania to the United Nations is vetoed by the USSR
Leyland Motors announces that it is to take over Standard-Triumph International
The first episode of Coronation Street is shown on television
The Australia vs West Indies test match ends in the first ever 'tied' game
U.S. Secretary of State Christian Herter announced that the USA would commit five atomic submarines and 80 Polaris missiles to NATO by the end of 1963
A fire aboard U.S.S. Constellation, the U.S.'s largest aircraft carrier, while it is under construction in a Brooklyn Navy Yard, kills 50 and injures a further 150
Richard Baer, the last Kommandant of Auschwitz, is arrested in West Germany
Discoverer XIX is launched into polar orbit from Vandenberg Air Force Base, to measure radiation
France detonates its third nuclear test blast at its atomic proving grounds at Reggane in Algeria
Chas Newby plays bass for the last of 4 engagements with The Beatles, deciding to return to university
The official end of National Service is declared in the U.K.
The farthing (quarter penny) ceases to be legal tender in Britain