At A Glance

16 May 1954 at a glance

Day of the week
16 May 1954 was a Sunday.
UK Number One
The UK Number One single was “Secret Love” by Doris Day.
Top Film of 1954
The highest-grossing film worldwide released in 1954 was Rear Window.
Star sign
The star sign for 16 May is Taurus.
Chinese zodiac
In the Chinese zodiac, 16 May 1954 fell in the Year of the Horse.
Birthstone
The birthstone for May is Emerald.
Moon phase
The moon phase on 16 May 1954 was Waxing Gibbous.

On this day: 16 May

  • 1951 The first regularly scheduled transatlantic flights begin between Idlewild Airport (now John F Kennedy International Airport) in New York City and Heathrow Airport in London, operated by El Al Israel Airlines.
  • 1954 Beginning of the Kengir uprising in the Gulag.
  • 1959 The Tritons' Fountain in Valletta, Malta is turned on for the first time.
  • 1960 Theodore Maiman operates the first optical laser (a ruby laser), at Hughes Research Laboratories in Malibu, California.
  • 1961 Park Chung Hee leads a coup d'état to overthrow the Second Republic of South Korea.

Famous people born on 16 May

  • Pierce Brosnan, Irish-American actor and producer (born 1953)
  • Melanie Lynskey, New Zealand actress (born 1977)
  • Megan Fox, American actress (born 1986)
  • Janet Jackson, American singer-songwriter and actress (born 1966)

Source: Wikipedia (CC BY-SA 4.0)

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Events of 1954 in the United Kingdom

A selection from Wikipedia's '1954 in the United Kingdom'. Not a complete list.

  • 25 January – First broadcast of Dylan Thomas's radio play Under Milk Wood, two months after its author's death, with Richard Burton as 'First Voice', on the BBC Third Programme.
  • 23 March – The film Doctor in the House is released.
  • 2 April – BBC Television broadcasts the first episode of The Grove Family, the first British TV soap opera.

Life in 1954

Prime Minister

Winston Churchill

Monarch

Elizabeth II

Pint of Beer

8p

Loaf of Bread

5p

Average House

£1,975

Weekly Wage

£9.50

Or

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Famous Faces Born in the 1950s

Well-known people born in the same decade as you, not on your birthday.

Sources: Wikidata and Wikipedia (CC BY-SA 4.0)

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