At A Glance

11 May 1959 at a glance

Day of the week
11 May 1959 was a Monday.
Billboard Hot 100 No. 1
The Billboard Hot 100 No. 1 was “The Happy Organ” by Dave "Baby" Cortez.
Top Film of 1959
The highest-grossing film worldwide released in 1959 was Ben-Hur.
Bestselling Novel of 1959
“Exodus” by Leon Uris was No. 1 on Publishers Weekly's US fiction list for 1959.
Top-Rated TV Show
“Gunsmoke” (CBS) was No. 1 in the Nielsen ratings for the 1959–60 season.
Star sign
The star sign for 11 May is Taurus.
Chinese zodiac
In the Chinese zodiac, 11 May 1959 fell in the Year of the Pig.
Birthstone
The birthstone for May is Emerald.
Moon phase
The moon phase on 11 May 1959 was Waxing Crescent.

On this day: 11 May

  • 1919 Uruguay becomes a signatory to the Buenos Aires copyright treaty.
  • 1973 Citing government misconduct, Daniel Ellsberg's charges for his involvement in releasing the Pentagon Papers to The New York Times are dismissed.
  • 1987 Klaus Barbie goes on trial in Lyon for war crimes committed during World War II.
  • 1997 Deep Blue, a chess-playing supercomputer, defeats Garry Kasparov in the last game of the rematch, becoming the first computer to beat a world-champion chess player in a classic match format.
  • 1998 India conducts three underground atomic tests in Pokhran.

Famous people born on May 11

  • Sabrina Carpenter, American singer and actress (born 1999)
  • Natasha Richardson, English actress (1963–2009)
  • Lana Condor, American actress (born 1997)
  • Richard Feynman, American physicist and engineer, Nobel Prize laureate (1918–1988)

Source: Wikipedia (CC BY-SA 4.0)

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Events of 1959 in the United States

A selection from Wikipedia's '1959 in the United States'. Not a complete list.

  • January 3 – Alaska is admitted as the 49th U.S. state (see History of Alaska).
  • January 12 – The Motown record label is founded as Tamla by Berry Gordy in Detroit.
  • May 8 – The first Little Caesars pizza restaurant is opened by Mike Ilitch and his wife Marian in Garden City, Michigan.
More events of 1959 →Source: Wikipedia (CC BY-SA 4.0)

Life in the US in 1959

President

Dwight D. Eisenhower

Gas (per gallon)

$0.31

Loaf of Bread

$0.20

Average House

$11,500

Weekly Wage

$83

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Famous Faces Born in the 1950s

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

Michael Jackson29 August 1958Singer & songwriterView their day →Anthony Bourdain25 June 1956Chef & television personalityView their day →Bruce Willis19 March 1955ActorView their day →Madonna16 August 1958SingerView their day →Annette Bening29 May 1958ActressView their day →Robin Williams21 July 1951Actor & comedianView their day →Steve Jobs24 February 1955Entrepreneur & co-founder of Apple Inc.View their day →Prince7 June 1958MusicianView their day →

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

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