Notable Events of 1958

January

• A 14-year-old Bobby Fischer wins the United States Chess Championship
• British Overseas Airways Corp.’s Britannia flies London to NY in a record 7h 57m
• Sir Edmund Hillary reached South Pole overland
• First successful American satellite, Explorer I, launched into orbit; space race begins
• Sputnik 1 falls back to earth (launched October 4, 1957)
• Cuban revolutionary forces capture Havana
• The word Aerospace is coined, from the words Aircraft (aero) and Spacecraft (space)
• First two-way moving sidewalk in service (Dallas Tx)

February

• Canada's Avro Arrow makes its debut flight
• Comic strip "BC" first appears

March

• First surface crossing of Antarctic continent is completed
• Charles Van Doren finally loses on TV game show "21"
• Nikita Khrushchev becomes Premier of the Soviet Union

April

• Stereo records go on sale for first time
• Arnold Palmer wins first major golf tournament-Masters
• Sputnik 2 (with dog Laika) burns up in atmosphere (launched November 3, 1957)

May

• The Soviet Union successfully launches Sputnik 3
• Mao Tse-tung launches "Great Leap Forward" movement in China

June

• Charles de Gaulle becomes premier of France
• Nelson Mandela weds Winnie Madikizela

July

• First parking meters installed in England (625 installed)
• Alaska becomes 49th state
• Terry Fox, Canadian athlete and cancer activist, born
• Angela Hewitt, Canadian classical pianist, born
• National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) formally created

August

• Canadian Football League plays first game (Winnipeg 29, Edmonton 21)

September

• "Doctor Zhivago" by Boris Pasternak published in US
• First color video recording on magnetic tape presented, Charlotte NC
• First welded aluminum girder highway bridge completed, Urbandale, Iowa

October

• US manned space-flight project renamed Project Mercury
• Pioneer 1 became the first spacecraft launched by the newly formed NASA
• Pope John XXIII succeeds Pope Pius XII as the 261st pope
• PanAm flies first transatlantic jet trip-NY to Paris

November

• George "Punch" Imlach becomes coach of NHL's Toronto Maple Leafs

December

• Tchaikovsky's ballet The Nutcracker shown on prime-time television in color for the first time by CBS
• Alannah Myles, Canadian musician, born
• Based on birth rates (per 1,000 population), the post-war baby boom ended in the United States as an 11-year decline in the birth rate began
• Instant noodles go on sale for the first time
• First voice from space: recorded Christmas message by Eisenhower

Top Grossing Movies of 1958

The Bridge on the River Kwai, Peyton Place, Sayonara, No Time for Sergeants, The Vikings, The Search for Paradise, South Pacific, Cat on a Hot Tin Roof, King Creole Starring Elvis Presley, Gigi

Top Songs of 1958

At the Hop (Danny and the Juniors), Great Balls of Fire (Jerry Lee Lewis), All the Way (Frank Sinatra), Stood Up (Ricky Nelson), Don't (Elvis Presley), Short Shorts (Royal Teens), Sugartime (The McGuire Sisters), Get a Job (The Silhouettes), Tequila (The Champs), Sweet Little Sixteen (Chuck Berry), Catch a Falling Star (Perry Como), Are You Sincere (Andy Williams), Lollipop (The Chordettes)

Other Famous Birthdays in 1958

Kevin Bacon, Alec Baldwin, Angela Bassett, Annette Bening, Tim Burton, Mary Chapin Carpenter, Mark Cuban, Jamie Lee Curtis, Ellen DeGeneres, Holly Hunter, Ice-T, Michael Jackson, Andie MacDowell, Gary Oldman, Michelle Pfeiffer, Miranda Richardson, Tim Robbins, Sharon Stone