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1956 the increase in living standards and the focus on education helped to fuel the increase in college education with 1 in 3 high school graduates now going off to college. TV shows included "As The World Turns" and "The Price is Right". Mothers could now buy disposable diapers and tefal non stick Frying Pans. Elvis Presley appears on the Ed Sullivan show and enters the music charts for the first time, with "Heartbreak Hotel".





Cost of Living 1956

How Much things cost in 1956
Yearly Inflation Rate USA 1.52%
Yearly Inflation Rate UK 4.7% 4.7%
Average Cost of new house $11.700.00
Average Monthly Rent $88.00
Average Yearly Wages $4.450.00
Cost of a gallon of Gas 22 cents
Average Cost of a new car $2,050.00$2,050.00
Ground Coffee per LB 85 Cents
Below are some Prices for UK guides in Pounds Stirling

Average House Price 2,280




What Events Happened in 1956

  • Suez Crisis caused by the Egyptian Nationalization of the Suez Canal


  • Suez Crisis causes petrol rationing in Britain.


  • The First C.N.D. Marches take place at Aldermarston


  • Rock and Roll Dance Craze sweeps the World


  • Prince Ranier of Monaco marries Grace Kelly


  • Pakistan becomes Islamic Republic


  • Alabama Bus segregation laws declared illegal by US Supreme Court


  • Continued independence granted for colonies in Africa from Britain and France


  • US Carries Out H Bomb Tests Bikini Atoll


  • Warsaw Pact troops invade Hungary during the The Hungarian October Revolution .


  • Elvis Presley releases his first hit


  • Premium Bonds introduced in England to encourage saving


  • British naval diver "Buster" Crabb Found Dead following covert diving operation on Russian Cruiser


  • The Summer Olympics are held in Melbourne, Australia


  • Federal-Aid Highway Act of 1956 signed into law it was for the construction of 41,000 miles of interstate highways over a 20-year period


  • 16 year old Pelejoins Brazil's Santos team


  • 52 people die when the Italian passenger liner S.S. Andrea Doria collides off Nantucket Island, Mass. with the Swedish liner S.S. Stockholm.


  • The Winter Olympic Games are held in Cortina d'Ampezzo, Italy






Popular Culture

  • Rocky Marciano retires as the only undefeated Heavyweight Champion of the world with a perfect record
  • Elvis Presley enters the US music charts for the first time, with " Heartbreak Hotel. " the first of 170 hit singles
  • Elvis Presley appears on The Ed Sullivan Show for the first time
  • Elvis Presley's first movie, "Love Me Tender" opens in New York
  • Diamonds Are Forever is published by Ian Fleming
  • "My Fair Lady" opens on Broadway starring Julie Andrews as Eliza Doolittle and Rex Harrison as Professor Higgins.
  • The first half-hour serial "As the World Turns" begins on CBS.

    • Popular Films

    • Guys and Dolls
    • The King and I
    • Trapeze
    • High Society
    • Around the World in Eighty Days

    Popular Musicians

    • Elvis Presley
    • Bill Haley and the Comets
    • Chuck Berry
    • Jerry Lee Lewis
    • Johnny Cash
    • Ella Fitzgerald
    • Dean Martin




    Technology 1956

    • First hard disk (5MB) invented by IBM.


    • Black-and-white portable TV sets hit the market


    • The first Transatlantic Telephone Cable goes in operation


    • The first commercial videotape recorder the VR-1000 from Ampex Corp goes on sale.


    • Tefal starts producing non stick Frying Pans


    • Oral Vaccine developed against Polio by Albert Sabin


    • Sony exports it's first products to Canada a Transistor Radio


      • Inventions Invented by Inventors and Country ( or attributed to First Use )
      Nuclear Power England first power station at Calder Hall
      Video Tape USA
      Video Recorder USA