January 1956

• The Anglo-Egyptian Condominium ended, with the Republic of Sudan becoming an independent nation after nearly 136 years of union with Egypt and 56 years of British occupation.
• Carl Perkins's record "Blue Suede Shoes" was released in the United States and would rise to the top of the charts within weeks.{{cite book |last1=Perkins |first1=Carl |author1-link=Carl Perkins |last2=McGee |first2=David |year=1996 |title=Go, Cat, Go! |publisher=Hyperion Press |page=157 |isbn=0-7868-6073-1}}
• A stampede during a New Year's event at the Yahiko Shrine in Niigata Prefecture, Japan, resulted in 124 deaths and 77 people injured.{{cite news |title=112 JAPANESE DIE IN PANIC AT SHRINE; 30,000 New Year's Faithful Stampede in Rite--Wall's Collapse Adds to Toll 112 JAPANESE DIE IN A SHRINE PANIC |newspaper=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1956/01/01/archives/112-japanese-die-in-panic-at-shrine-30000-new-years-faithful.html |date=1 January 1956 |at=Page 1, column 5 |access-date=19 April 2024}}{{cite news |title=124 Sjinto-pelgrims in gedrang verpletterd |trans-title=124 Shinto pilgrims crushed in crowd |newspaper=De Maasbode |date=2 January 1956 |at=Page 2, column 1 |language=nl |via=Delpher |url=https://www.delpher.nl/nl/kranten/view?coll=ddd&identifier=MMKB15:000576001:mpeg21:a00011 |access-date=19 April 2024}}
• Possession of heroin became a criminal offence in the United Kingdom.{{cite web |url=http://www.esrc.ac.uk/ESRCInfoCentre/about/CI/CP/Our_Society_Today/Spotlights_2006/heroin.aspx |first=Sophie |last=Goodchild |title=Half a Century Since Heroin Banned |work=Society Today |publisher=ESRC |access-date=17 August 2010 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101025083800/http://www.esrc.ac.uk/ESRCInfoCentre/about/CI/CP/Our_Society_Today/Spotlights_2006/heroin.aspx |archive-date=25 October 2010}}{{cite journal |last1=Lister |first1=John |title=No Reprieve for Heroin — The Medicine Cupboard — Family Planning |journal=New England Journal of Medicine |date=26 January 1956 |volume=254 |issue=4 |pages=174–175 |doi=10.1056/NEJM195601262540408}}
• Born:
• Christine Lagarde, French lawyer, politician and managing director of the International Monetary Fund; in Paris
• Kōji Yakusho, Japanese actor; in Nagasaki

• The French legislative election, brought forward from June by Edgar Faure using a constitutional sanction,{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=7eGJAgAAQBAJ&q=French+election+1956&pg=PA70 |title=The Extreme Right in France: From Pétain to Le Pen |publisher=Routledge |last=Shields |first=James |year=2007 |isbn=9781134861118 |via=Google Books}} resulted in a coalition government led by Guy Mollet.
• The British collier ship Citrine sank off The Lizard, Cornwall. One crew member died; the rest were rescued by lifeboat.{{Cite newspaper The Times |title=British Collier Sunk |date=2 January 1956 |page=8 |issue=53417 |column=C}}{{Cite newspaper The Times |title=Lifeboat Driven Onto Ship Saves Crew |date=3 January 1956 |page=6 |issue=53418 |column=D}}
• Liberian-registered tanker SS Melody ran aground at Vlissingen in the Netherlands.{{Cite newspaper The Times |title=Tanker Aground Off Dutch Coast |date=3 January 1956 |page=5 |issue=53418 |column=B}}
• In the United States, the 1956 Rose Bowl college football game was won by the Michigan State Spartans, who defeated the UCLA Bruins by 17–14, with Walt Kowalczyk being given the award for best player.[http://www.bowlprograms.com/rosebowl/?pg=182 2008 Rose Bowl Program] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080306033551/http://www.bowlprograms.com/rosebowl/?pg=182 |date=2008-03-06 }}, 2008 Rose Bowl. Accessed January 26, 2008.
• Bill Hartack, future Hall of Fame jockey who won 417 races in 1955, started 1956 by riding four winners at Tropical Park.

• Fire broke out in the television transmitter at the top of the Eiffel Tower, causing damage that would take a year to repair.{{cite web |url=http://www.toureiffel.paris/en/everything-about-the-tower/the-major-events.html |author=SETE |website=Official Eiffel Tower website |title=The major events |access-date=13 March 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150331214620/http://www.toureiffel.paris/en/everything-about-the-tower/the-major-events.html |archive-date=31 March 2015 |url-status=dead}}
• By popular demand, Peter Pan, starring Mary Martin, was restaged live by Producers' Showcase on NBC-TV.
• Born: Mel Gibson, American actor; in Peekskill, New York
• Died: Joseph Wirth, 76, German politician, Chancellor of Germany 1921–1922

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• A Piasecki YH-16A Turbo Transporter helicopter prototype, 50-1270, broke up and crashed near Swedesboro, New Jersey, near the Delaware River, United States, during a test flight. The cause of the crash was later determined to be the aft slip ring, which led to a failure of the rotor shaft. The two test pilots, Harold Peterson and George Callaghan, were killed, and the YH-16 was later cancelled.{{cite book |last=Harding |first=Stephen |title=U.S. Army Aircraft Since 1947 |via=Internet Archive |url=https://archive.org/details/usarmyaircraftsi0000hard_c0o7 |url-access=registration |year=1997 |publisher=Schiffer Publishing Ltd. |location=Atglen, Pennsylvania |lccn=96-69996 |page=[https://archive.org/details/usarmyaircraftsi0000hard_c0o7/page/202 202] |isbn=9780764301902}}
• The Dutch coaster SS Hartel collided with French ship SS Penhir in the River Thames at Gravesend, Kent, England. All nine people on board were rescued.{{Cite newspaper The Times |title=Nine Men Saved In Ship Collision |date=6 January 1956 |page=8 |issue=54321 |column=G}}
• The British cargo ship SS Gem collided with Norwegian ship SS Kallgeir at Poortershaven in the Netherlands and was beached.{{Cite newspaper The Times |title=British Steamer Aground |date=6 January 1956 |page=8 |issue=54321 |column=G}}

• Ismail al-Azhari took office as the first Prime Minister of an independent Sudan.Staff [http://www.sudanembassy.ca/primeMinisters.htm Prime Ministers of Sudan] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150924111350/http://www.sudanembassy.ca/primeMinisters.htm |date=2015-09-24 }} Sudanese Embassy, Retrieved 22 August 2012
• British tanker SS Esso Appalachee caused significant damage when it hit a jetty at Immingham, Lincolnshire, UK.
• In the UK, Independent Television's weekly current affairs programme This Week, made by Associated-Rediffusion (later Thames Television), began its 23-year run.

• The 1956 New Zealand Grand Prix motor race was held at the Ardmore Circuit and was won by Stirling Moss.{{cite web |url=http://www.sergent.com.au/motor/1956.html |title=Third New Zealand International Grand Prix 1956 |publisher=sergent.com.au |access-date=21 October 2015}}
• Panama-registered cargo ship SS Alvi struck a mine and sank in the North Sea, west of Hvide Sande, Denmark.{{csr|register=MSI|id=1128825|shipname=Alvi |access-date=25 November 2012}}
• Born: David Caruso, American actor (NYPD Blue, CSI: Miami), in New York Cityhttps://www.upi.com/Top_News/2019/01/07/UPI-Almanac-for-Monday-Jan-7-2019/6991546835238/?ur3=1

• Operation Auca: Five evangelical Christian missionaries from the United States (Nate Saint, Roger Youderian, Ed McCully, Jim Elliot and Pete Fleming) were speared to death by members of the Huaorani people of Ecuador after attempting to introduce Christianity to them.{{cite book |first=Elisabeth |last=Elliot |author-link=Elisabeth Elliot |year=2005 |title=Through Gates of Splendor |publisher=Tyndale |location=Wheaton, Illinois |isbn=978-0-8423-7151-3}}
• An earthquake of magnitude 6.6 struck the Arica and Parinacota Region of Chile, resulting in at least one death.{{cite web |url=https://earthquake.usgs.gov/earthquakes/eventpage/iscgem887797#executive |title=M6.6 – near the coast of Tarapaca, Chile |publisher=United States Geological Survey |date=January 8, 1956 |access-date=January 9, 2017}}
• In the United States, Jim Tatum resigned as coach of the Maryland Terrapins football team for a job with the North Carolina Tar Heels.{{cite news |url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=yNUzAAAAIBAJ&sjid=S-sFAAAAIBAJ&pg=5914,779982&dq=jim+tatum&hl=en |archive-url=https://archive.today/20120711020630/http://news.google.com/newspapers?id=yNUzAAAAIBAJ&sjid=S-sFAAAAIBAJ&pg=5914,779982&dq=jim+tatum&hl=en |url-status=dead |archive-date=July 11, 2012 |title=Mont Picked To Succeed Tatum |newspaper=The Miami News |date=January 18, 1956 |via=Google News }}

• The 1956 World Professional Match-play Championship opened in Belfast, Northern Ireland, with a match between John Pulman and Jackie Rea.{{cite news |via=Google News |url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=d3tAAAAAIBAJ&pg=2670%2C1154982 |title=Played last night |newspaper=The Glasgow Herald |page=4 |date=13 January 1956}}

• Norwegian coaster {{MV|Sirabuen||2}} collided with Brazilian ship {{SS|Loide Venezuela|1948|2}} and sank near Kijkduin, Netherlands; only one of her eight crew survived.{{Cite newspaper The Times |title=Ships Collide In Thick Fog |date=11 January 1956 |page=8 |issue=54325 |column=D}}
• At Edwards Air Force Base, California, U.S. Air Force 1st Lt. Barty R. Brooks died in the crash of a North American F-100 Super Sabre. The accident was caught on film and became one of the most notorious instances of the aerodynamic phenomenon known as the "Sabre dance".{{cite web |first=Alan |last=Cockrell |date=11 July 2011 |title=Deadly Sabre Dance |website=HistoryNet |access-date=12 August 2022 |url=https://www.historynet.com/deadly-sabre-dance/}}

• President Ngô Đình Diệm of South Vietnam issued Ordinance Number 6, giving his government "almost unchecked power to deal with the opposition".{{cite magazine |last=Fall |first=Bernard |author-link=Bernard B. Fall |year=1966 |title=Viet Nam in the Balance |magazine=The Australian Quarterly |volume=38 |issue=4 |pages=21–22}}
• The Soviet Union approved technical specifications for the R-13 submarine-launched ballistic missile.
• The Chicago, Indianapolis and Louisville Railway is officially renamed the Monon Railroad, formerly its nickname.

• An earthquake of magnitude 5.8 struck Budapest, Hungary, resulting in two deaths and major damage.{{cite web |url=https://www.ngdc.noaa.gov/nndc/struts/results?eq_0=4088&t=101650&s=13&d=22,26,13,12&nd=display |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170110090153/https://www.ngdc.noaa.gov/nndc/struts/results?eq_0=4088&t=101650&s=13&d=22,26,13,12&nd=display |url-status=dead |archive-date=January 10, 2017 |title=Significant Earthquake HUNGARY |publisher=National Geophysical Data Center |date=January 12, 1956 |access-date=January 9, 2017}}

• A six-day ice storm that had "lashed" Mount Washington in the United States since January 8 came to an end.{{cite journal |title=The Great Ice Storm, 8-13 January 1956 |volume=9 |issue=5 |pages=162–164 |first=Rudolf A. |last=Honkala |author-link=Rudolf A. Honkala |periodical=Weatherwise |date=October 1956 |doi=10.1080/00431672.1956.9927229|bibcode=1956Weawi...9e.162H }}

• Wetzcon 1956, the first science fiction convention ever held in Germany, opened in Wetzlar.{{cite journal |via=eFanzines |url=http://efanzines.com/CounterClock/CoClock-14.pdf |title=Julian Parr 1923 - 2003 |journal=Counter-Clock |editor-last=von Witting |editor-first=Wolf |issue=14 |date=May 2013 |page=6}}

• Born: Mayawati, Indian politician; in New Delhi

• Egyptian leader Gamal Abdel Nasser vowed to reconquer Palestine.

• U.S. T2 tanker Salem Maritime exploded, caught fire and sank in Lake Charles, Louisiana. The ship was later refloated but declared a constructive total loss.{{cite web |url=http://www.aukevisser.nl/t2tanker/id828.htm |title=Salem Maritime |publisher=Auke Visser |access-date=3 November 2016}}

• The final rounds of the United States National Football League draft were held at the Ambassador Hotel in Los Angeles, California.{{cite web |url=http://www.footballgeography.com/nfl-draft-sites/ |title=NFL Draft Locations |author= |date=October 2, 2014 |website=footballgeography.com |access-date=October 23, 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150905090250/http://www.footballgeography.com/nfl-draft-sites/ |archive-date=September 5, 2015 |url-status=dead}}
• Died: Konstantin Päts, 81, Estonian politician, President of Estonia 1938–1940

• Born: Carman, American Christian singer; in Trenton, New Jersey (d. 2021){{cite news |department=News |url=https://www.swtimes.com/story/news/2021/02/17/chrisitan-music-pioneer-carman-dies-following-health-issues/6778209002/ |newspaper=Fort Smith Times Record |date=February 18, 2021 |last=Castile |first=Misty |title=Pioneering Christian musician Carman dies at 65 |access-date=19 April 2024}}

• West Germany's Chancellor Konrad Adenauer addressed the first volunteers of the recently formed army of the Federal Republic.{{cite web |url=http://www.cvce.eu/en/obj/konrad_adenauer_addressing_the_first_volunteers_of_the_frg_army_andernach_20_January_1956-en-b66dadc6-5e51-458c-b492-7aa4f69ef8b3.html |title=Konrad Adenauer addressing the first volunteers of the FRG army |website=CVCE.EU |date=8 December 2011 |access-date=17 April 2017}}
• A Gloster Meteor NF 12 WS661 of Britain's Royal Air Force hit a tree and crashed into buildings at Wadhurst, East Sussex, killing both crew members and two bystanders.{{cite book |title=The Day Wadhurst Changed Friday 20th January 1956 |first1=Michael |last1=Harte |first2=Rachel |last2=Ring |first3=Heather |last3=Woodward |publisher=Wadhurst History Society |location=Wadhurst |year=2006 |pages=19–21, 61 |isbn=978-0-9545802-2-3}}

• Italian cargo ship Maria Pompei ran aground at Aberavon beach in Wales.{{Cite newspaper The Times |title=Snow And Ice Over Wide Areas |date=24 January 1956 |page=8 |issue=53436 |column=D}}
• Born: Geena Davis, American actress; in Wareham, Massachusetts

• Redondo Junction train wreck: The Atchison, Topeka, and Santa Fe Railway's San Diegan passenger train derailed just outside Los Angeles Union Passenger Terminal, resulting in 30 deaths, making it the worst rail accident in the city's history.{{cite web |url=http://www.lafdmuseum.org/santa-fe-train-wreck |title=The Santa Fe Train Wreck Introduced the Public to Live TV Coverage |access-date=June 16, 2014 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130725214116/http://www.lafdmuseum.org/santa-fe-train-wreck |archive-date=July 25, 2013}}
• The 1956 Formula One season opened with the Argentine Grand Prix. The race was won by Juan Manuel Fangio, who co-drove with Luigi Musso and would go on to take the Drivers' Championship.{{cite web |url=http://www.formula1.com/results/season/1956/662/ |title=1956 Argentine Grand Prix |publisher=formula1.com |access-date=9 August 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140319035046/http://www.formula1.com/results/season/1956/662/ |archive-date=19 March 2014}}

• British cargo ship SS Baltrover ran aground at the mouth of the Elbe river in West Germany.{{Cite newspaper The Times |title=Telegrams in Brief |date=27 January 1956 |page=6 |issue=53439 |column=G}}
• Died: Sir Alexander Korda, 62, Hungarian-born British film producer and director, died of a heart attack.{{cite web |url=http://www.screenonline.org.uk/people/id/446996/index.html |title=Korda, Alexander (1893–1956) |website=BFI Screenonline}}

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• Born: Bill Turnbull, British presenter and journalist; in Guildford, England (d. 2022)
• Died: Lyons Kelliher, 52, Chicago Police Department detective and former National Football League guard who played one game with the Chicago Cardinals in 1928, was shot and killed on duty by a 17-year-old AWOL soldier.{{cite web |title=Detective Lyons Kelliher, Chicago Police Department, Illinois |url=https://www.odmp.org/officer/7413-detective-lyons-kelliher |publisher=The Officer Down Memorial Page, Inc |access-date=19 April 2024}}{{cite web |title=Lyons Kelliher Stats, Height, Weight, Position, Draft, College |publisher=Sports Reference LLC |url=https://www.pro-football-reference.com/players/K/KellLy00.htm |access-date=19 April 2024}}

• Finnish troops reoccupied Porkkala after Soviet troops vacated its military base. Civilians could return on February 4.
• The 1956 Winter Olympics opened in Cortina d'Ampezzo, Italy. While speed skater Guido Caroli was entering the Stadio Olimpico Del Ghiaccio, carrying the Olympic flame, in the presence of Italy's president, Giovanni Gronchi, he tripped on a television cable, but regained his feet to light the cauldron successfully.{{cite web |title=1956 Cortina d'Ampezzo Winter Games |publisher=Sports Reference |url=https://www.sports-reference.com/olympics/winter/1956/ |access-date=13 March 2009 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081225130902/http://www.sports-reference.com/olympics/winter/1956/ |archive-date=25 December 2008}}

• Gustavo Rojas Pinilla, Supreme General in Chief of Colombia, issued "Decree 133 of 1956", transforming the General Secretariat into the Administrative Department of the Presidency of the Republic.{{cite web |url=http://www.presidencia.gov.co/nuestra_enti/entidad/resena.asp |title=Reseña Histórica |trans-title=Historical Review |work=Nuestra Entidad |language=es |access-date=2008-11-07 |publisher=Departamento Administrativo de la Presidencia de la República}}
• Died: Erich Kleiber, 65, Austrian conductor and composer, died of a heart attack.

• Elvis Presley made his first appearance on U.S. national television on The Dorsey Brothers Stage Show.
• American test pilot and future astronaut Neil Armstrong married Janet Elizabeth Shearon at the Congregational Church in Wilmette, Illinois. They would spend their honeymoon in Acapulco.{{cite book |last=Hansen |first=James R. |author-link=James R. Hansen |title=First Man: The Life of Neil A. Armstrong |title-link=First Man: The Life of Neil A. Armstrong |publisher=Simon & Schuster Paperbacks |date=April 2018 |pages=60–61 |isbn=978-1-5011-5306-8}}

• West German cargo ship MV Gertrud sank in the North Sea {{convert|150|nmi|km}} east of Peterhead, Aberdeenshire, Scotland. All nine crew were rescued by the local trawlers Junella and York City.{{Cite newspaper The Times |title=Nine Saved After Ship Sinks |date=30 January 1956 |page=3 |issue=53441 |column=E}}
• The 1956 World Sportscar Championship season opened with the 1000km of Buenos Aires, which was won by Stirling Moss and Carlos Menditeguy.{{cite web |url=http://theracingline.net/racingcircuits/racingcircuits/Argentina/BuenosAires1954-K.html |title=Buenos Aires - 1000 km Circuit (1954, 1956, 1958 & 1960) |publisher=Motor Racing Circuits Database |date=18 September 2005 |access-date=19 September 2007 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071105220046/http://theracingline.net/racingcircuits/racingcircuits/Argentina/BuenosAires1954-K.html |archive-date=5 November 2007 |url-status=dead |df=dmy}}
• Olga Fernánda Fiallo Oliva de los Rosario won the Miss Dominican Republic 1956 title.
• Born: Jan Jakub Kolski, Polish cinematographer; in Wrocław
• Died: H. L. Mencken, 75, American journalist, satirist and scholar

• The 1956 Australian Championships tennis tournament concluded in Brisbane, with Lew Hoad as the Men's Singles champion and Mary Carter as the Women's Singles champion.[http://www.australianopen.com/en_AU/index.html Australian Open official website] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100918071711/http://www.australianopen.com/en_AU/index.html |date=2010-09-18 }}

• A U.S. Air Force North American TB-25N Mitchell, 44-29125, on a cross-country flight from Nellis AFB, Nevada, to Olmsted AFB, Pennsylvania, was diverted to Greater Pittsburgh AFB but ditched in the Monongahela River. Four of the six crew evacuated successfully but two drowned. The aircraft wreckage was never recovered.{{cite web |url=http://tacairnet.com/2015/05/12/the-ghost-bomber-of-the-monongahela-river/ |title=The Ghost Bomber of the Monongahela River |last=D'Costa |first=Ian |date=May 12, 2015 |website=tacairnet.com |publisher=The Tactical Air Network |access-date=September 12, 2015}}
• Born: John Lydon ("Johnny Rotten"), English singer; in London
• Died: A. A. Milne, 74, English children's writer and dramatist

{{reflist}}

{{Events by month links}}

1956

*1956-01