1948

1948
British Railways was created when the government nationalised the railway industry. A nationwide ban on music recording took effect in the United States by order of American Federation of Musicians President James Petrillo. The ban was aimed at a provision in the Taft-Hartley Act which criminalised a union's collection of money directly from employers 'for services that are not performed or not to be performed,' which made the AFM's recording fund to support unemployed musicians illegal. Anne Lloyd born in Glasgow. Penny Spencer born in Uxbridge. Katya Wyeth born in Essex.

In The Eye Of The Artist Charles Wheeler introduced a film on Rodin's Le Penseur. Deborah Patricia Watling born in Loughton.
Hail Variety! broadcast. The first episode of Sports Report broadcast on The Light Programme. Sixty seven years - and several changes of channel - later it is still going.
Denis Johnston's Death At Newtonstewart broadcast. Burma formally gained independence from the United Kingdom. Sao Shwe Thaik became the country's first President and U Nu its first Prime Minister.
The first edition of The BBC Television Newsreel broadcast. The first episode of Mrs Dale's Diary broadcast on The Light Programme. Sexual Behaviour In The Human Male by Doctor Alfred Kinsey published.
John Huston's The Treasure of The Sierra Madre - starring Humphrey Bogart, Walter Huston and Tim Holt - premiered. Twenty-one officials of various ministries of the Third Reich went on trial in Nuremberg, facing an assortment of charges for their roles in atrocities committed by the Nazis.
Sidney Budd's adaptation of Query broadcast. Kentucky Air National Guard pilot Thomas Mantell died in the crash of his F-51 Mustang fighter plane after being sent in pursuit of an unidentified flying object. Later investigation by the Air Force's Project Blue Book indicated that Mantell may have died chasing a Skyhook balloon, which in 1948 was a top-secret project which Mantell would not have known about.
A production of Oscar Wilde's A Woman of No Importance broadcast. John Boulting's classic adaptation of Brighton Rock - starring Richard Attenborough, Hermione Baddeley, Carol Marsh and William Hartnell - premiered.
Roger Manvell's The Film broadcast.
Sports Report covered the Third Round of the FA Cup, the highlight of which was Manchester United's six-four victory at Aston Villa. Second Division Southampton beat First Division Sunderland at The Dell. Arsenal's shock home defeat to Bradford Park Avenue was broadcast. There were also wins for Lierpool (four-one over Nottingham Forest), Chelsea (five-nil against Barrow) and the holders Chalrotn Athletic (two-one against Newcastle United in a repeat of the previous year's Semi-Final). Donald Jay Fagen born in Passaic, New Jersey.
Fistfights broke out in the French National Assembly with blokes getin' sparked an aal sorts. The Communists broke up the session by shouting and fighting in the aisles after the Assembly rejected their demand that Jacques Duclos be re-elected first vice-president. Mahatma Gandhi began fasting for a 'reunion of hearts' between the Muslims, Hindus and Sikhs of India.
Eric Fawcett's adaptation of The Adding Machine broadcast. Harold Huth's Night Beat - starring Anne Crawford, Maxwell Reed, Ronald Howard, Hector Ross, Christine Norden and Sid James - premiered.
Jerusalem was shaken by a massive explosion on the roof of a food store near the Western Wall. I Walk Alone -starring Burt Lancaster, Lizabeth Scott and Kirk Douglas - premiered.
Eighty three thousand two hundred and sixty people watched Manchester United draw one-one with Arsenal at Maine Road in the first division (Old Trafford was still closed to due bomb damage). This figure remains a national record for a league game.
Anthony Colin Gerald Andrews born in Finchley.
Truman Capote's Other Voices, Other Rooms published.
Republican politician John Foster Dulles accused the Soviet Union of trying 'by every art short of war' to 'ruin' Europe. Dulles urged Congress to set up a European aid plan that would bind western Europe into a mutual defence pact to contain the Soviets. Bernard Knowles' Easy Money - starring Greta Gynt, Dennis Price, Jack Warner, Petula Clark and Mervyn Johns - premiered.
First Lord of the Admiralty Viscount Hall announced the scrapping of the battleships Queen Elizabeth, Valiant, Nelson and Rodney and the cruiser Renown.
Julien Duvivier's adaptation of Anna Karenina - starring Vivien Leigh, Kieron Moore, Sally Ann Howes, Martita Hunt and Ralph Richardson - premiered.
Soviet Deputy Foreign Minister Andrei Gromyko sent a note informing the United Nations that its Korea commission would not be allowed to enter the Soviet-controlled zone of Korea. Lance Comfort's Daughters of Darkness - starring Anne Crawford, Maxwell Reed, Siobhán McKenna and Barry Morse - premiered.
The first episode of Algernon Blackwood's Saturday-Night Story broadcast. Fulham beat Bristol Rovers five-two in the FA Cup Fourth Round. Manchester United's three-nil victory over Liverpool was another highlight.

The first of a four test series between West Indies and England at Bridgetown was drawn. Robert Christiani scored ninety nine for the hosts whilst Joe Hardstaff top-scored for England with ninety eight. Winston Place, Dennis Brookes, Gerald Smithson, Maurice Tremlett and Jim Laker (who took seven wickets in West Indies first innings) all made their test debuts, as did Clyde Walcott and Everton Weekes for the hosts.
The first episode of Television Dancing Club - presented by Victor Sylvester - broadcast.
Ben R Hunt's River Patrol - starring John Blythe, Lorna Dean, Wally Patch and Stan Paskin and Peter Ustinov's Vice Versa - starring Roger Livesey, Anthony Newley, Petula Clark and Kay Walsh - premiered.
John Baxter's Nothing Venture - starring The Artemus Boys, Terry Randall, Patric Curwen and Michael Aldridge - premiered.
Mahatma Gandhi was assassinated by militant Hindu nationalist Nathuram Godse on the steps of the Birla House in New Delhi. The 1948 Winter Olympics, the first to be held after World War II, opened in St Moritz, Switzerland. An Avro Tudor of British South American Airways disappeared whilst flying from the Azores to Bermuda with thirty one on board. Speculation about what happened to the flight helped develop the legend of The Bermuda Triangle.
Eric Maschwitz and Norman Hackworth's Between Ourselves broadcast.
Charles Crichton's Against The Wind - starring Robert Beatty, Simone Signoret, Jack Warner and Gordon Jackson - premiered.

Roger Williamson born in Ashby-de-la-Zouch.
The first episode of Here Come The Boys broadcast. Sunderland broke the English football transfer record signing Len Shackleton from local rivals Newcastle United. Vincent Damon Furnier born in Detroit.
US Attorney General Tom C Clark testified before a House Un-American Activities subcommittee in Washington that he opposed outlawing the American Communist Party but endorsed the idea of requiring communists to register as agents of a foreign power. Sven-Göran Eriksson born in Sunne, Sweden. Thomas Geoffrey Wilkinson born in Wharfdale, Yorkshire. Christopher Haden-Guest born in New York. Johannes Blaskowitz, the former German general committed suicide by breaking away from his guards and throwing himself off the balcony of the Nuremberg court building during his trial for war crimes. Harold French's My Brother Jonathan - starring Michael Denison, Dulcie Gray and Ronald Howard - premiered.
Clement Attlee made a radio broadcast encouraging the people to support the government's wage stabilisation programme, warning that failure of the drive to increase production and exports would mean mass unemployment and 'real, desperate hunger.'
Former British Union of Fascists leader and despicable old stinker Baronet Oswald Ernald Mosley announced the creation of The Union Movement, a merger of fifty-one different organisations. Speaking at a rally in a London school building before about three hundred assembled scum, Mosley attempted to distance his new public image from the Fascist movement by wearing a grey suit instead his old black shirt, although the BUF logo of a lightning bolt in a circle was retained. If You Knew Susie - starring Eddie Cantor and Joan Davis - premiered. In the FA Cup Fifth Round there were big wins for Blackpool (five-nil over Colchester United) and Tottenham Hotspur (five-two against Leicester City) whilst Manchester United knocked-out holders Charlton.
An adaptation of Pygmalion broadcast.
The Central Committee of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union issued a decree criticising the composers Dmitri Shostakovich, Sergei Prokofiev and Aram Katchaturian for failing to heed warnings and instructions for the elimination of 'bourgeois' influences in their music.
Sunderland broke the British transfer record paying local rivals Newcastle United twenty thousand five hundred pounds for inside forward Len Shackleton. The ashes of Mahatma Gandhi were cast upon the Ganges at Allahabad. John Clements and Ladislao Vajda's Call Of The Blood - starring John Clements, Kay Hammond, John Justin and Hilton Edwards - premiered.
A London policeman was killed for the first time in twenty-eight years when Constable Nathaniel Edgar was shot by a suspect he was questioning about a recent spate of burglaries in Southgate. The murder wopuld subseqently inspire the 1950 movie The Blue Lamp. A Barr-Smith's Death In The Hand - starring Esme Percy, Ernest Jay, Cecile Chevreau, Carleton Hobbs and, in his film debut, John Le Mesurier - premiered.
The United States and Britain agreed to permit German manufacturers to produce virgin aluminium, which had been prohibited under the Potsdam Agreement.
The Royal Navy cruiser HMS Nigeria was sent to the Falkland Islands after Argentina and Chile rejected British protests against setting up posts and naval bases on territories that the British considered theirs. Anita Graham born in London.
Miranda, the smallest and innermost of Uranus's five round satellites, was discovered by Gerard Kuiper at McDonald Observatory in Texas and was named after Miranda from William Shakespeare's The Tempest. (Uranus's four largest moons - Titania and Oberon, discovered in 1787 and Ariel and Umbriel, discovered in 1851 - were also named after Shakespeare characters.) The second test at Port of Spain was drawn. For England Billy Griffiths (on his debut) scored a century in the first innings as did Jack Robertson in the second. Andy Ganteaume also hit a hundred for West Indies whilst Wilf Ferguson took eleven wickets in the match. Johnny Wardle made his test debut, as did Frank Worrell.
Éamon de Valera's sixteen-year premiership of Ireland came to an end when he was voted out of office by the Dáil. John Costello was elected Taoiseach of Ireland's first coalition government. In Moscow, the Soviet Union and Hungary signed a twenty-year 'mutual assistance and co-operation pact.' The Ides Of March by Thornton Wilder published. Sinéad Moira Cusack born in Dalkey, Dublin.
Marc Allégret's Blanche Fury - starring Valerie Hobson, Stewart Grainger and Michael Gough and Oscar Bunr's Castle Sinister - starring Mara Russell-Tavernan, Robert Essex and Karl Meir. premiered. Anthony Frank Iommi born in Birmingham.
The second BBC adaptation of The Ghost Train broadcast.
The Czechoslovak coup d'état began. President Edvard Beneš issued a statement regarded as recognising the Communists' right to head the government but barring them from establishing a totalitarian regime. His letter explained that any new government would still be led by Klement Gottwald, but that Beneš' duty as President was 'to convince the political parties not to separate but to work together.' 'I'm Looking Over A Four Leaf Clover' by Art Mooney & His Orchestra made number one on the Billboard singles charts.
AP Dearsley's Fly Away Peter broadcast.
The first episode of Old Songs For New broadcast.
Dorothy L Sayers' Where Do We Go From Here? broadcast in The Light Programme's Mystery Playhouse strand. Dennis Waterman born in Clapham.
The Czechoslovak coup d'état ended when President Beneš capitulated to the Communists.
The Argentine foreign ministry said that Argentina would refuse to negotiate with Britain over the Falkland Islands, which it claimed to be 'unquestionably Argentine territory. They were, politely, told to fuck off. Roberta Alexandra Mary Roberts born in West Ham.
The Accra riots began in the British colony of the Gold Coast after police broke up a protest march of unarmed ex-servicemen demanding the pensions they'd been promised for their service in World War II. Michael Figgis born in Carlisle.
Joseph Mankiewicz's Escape - starring Rex Harrison, Peggy Cummins, William Hartnell, Patrick Troughton and Peter Croft - premiered.
A Douglas DC-3 of the Belgian airline Sabena crashed at Heathrow Airport killing twenty of the twenty two on board. The first episode of Among Your Souvenirs - presented by Christopher Stone - broadcast on The Light Programme. William Rory Gallagher born in Balyshannon.
John Sturges's The Sign Of The Ram - starring Susan Peters and lewis Allen's So Evil My Love - starring Ray Milland, Ann Todd and Geraldine Fitzgerald - premiered.
A second BBC adaptation of RUR broadcast. Jules Dasin's noir classic The Naked City premiered. In London, exiled former King Michael of Romania commented in public for the first time since abdicating the throne. In front of a gathering of reporters he read a statement explaining that his abdication 'was imposed on me by force by a government installed and maintained in power by a foreign country, a government utterly unrepresentative of the will of the Romanian people.' Michael Barratt born in Cardiff. Behind a green door. Probably.

Edmond Montague Grant born in Plaisance, British Guiana.
West Indies won the third test at Georgetown by seven wickets, thanks largely to a brilliant century from Frank Worrell. The US Atomic Energy Commission announced a three million dollar programme to encourage research into the use of radioactive materials for treating cancer. Derby County beat Queens Park Rangers five-nil in an FA Cup Sixth Round replay.
In accordance with the terms of the Treaty of Peace with Italy, the Dodecanese Islands were returned to Greece for the first time since 1522.
George Stevens's I Remember Mama - starring Irene Dunn and Barbara Bel Geddes - premiered.
Walter Lang's Sitting Pretty - starring Maureen O'Hara and Robert Young - premiered. Stewart John Llewellyn Bevan born in London.
American movie producers agreed to end a boycott of the British market that had been in place since August because of a seventy five percent ad valorem tax imposed upon imported films. Britain promised to eliminate the tax in exchange for American producers agreeing not to withdraw from Britain any profits above seventeen million dollars.
James Vernon Taylor born in Boston.
The FA Cup Semi-Finals saw Blackpool beat Tottenham Hotspur three-one at Villa Park with a hat-trick from Stan Mortensen. Manchester United defeated Derby Count by the same score at Hillsborough, Stan Pearson scoring all three goals.
Alec Coppel's I Killed The Count and Soccer For Boys broadcast.
Clement Attlee told Parliament that known or suspected Communists or Fascists in the Civil Service would be dismissed from posts vital to national security. Alberto Cavalcanti's The First Gentleman - Jean-Pierre Aumont, Joan Hopkins and Cecil Parker - premiered.
The Miracle Of The Bells - starring Fred MacMurray, Alida Valli, Frank Sinatra and Lee J Cobb - premiered. The first episode of Wor Cheor, Geordie broadcast in The Home Service North's Variety strand from the BBC's Regional Studios in Newcastle.
Belgium, France, Luxembourg, the Netherlands and the United Kingdom signed the Treaty of Brussels, providing for mutual defence as well as economic, social and cultural collaboration. The Hells Angels motorcycle gang was founded in California. Herbert Wilcox's Spring In Park Lane - starring Anna Neagle, Michael Wilding, Tom Walls and Peter Graves and John E Blakeley's Holiday With Pay - starring Frank Randle, Tessie O'Shea, Dan Young and Josef Locke - premiered.
John E Blakeley's Cup-Tie Honeymoon - starring Sandy Powell, Dan Young, Betty Jumel and Patricia Pilkington - premiered.
Oswald Mitchell's The Greed Of William Hart - starring Tod Slaughter, Henry Oscar, Jenny Lynn and Aubrey Woods - premiered.
The Twentieth Academy Awards were held at the Shrine Auditorium in Los Angeles. Gentleman's Agreement won three Oscars including Best Picture.
Peter Sallis's TV début in scenes from Twelfth Night and MacBeth broadcast in the For The Children strand. Men Of Darkness broadcast. The Zhoucun–Zhangdian Campaign ended in Communist victory.
The Civil War in Mandatory Palestine had one of its worst days when Jews blew up two areas in the Arab quarter of Haifa, killing seventeen and wounding at least one hundred and fifty. Arabs responded with mortar shelling of the Jewish business quarter, killing a constable when four bombs fell on a British police station. Sixty more were killed at Hartuv when British troops shelled Arab positions in the hills. A group of civil rights leaders including Philip Randolph met with President Truman about integrating the US military. 'In my recent travels around the country I found Negroes not wanting to shoulder a gun to fight for democracy abroad unless they get democracy at home,' Randolph told reporters after the meeting. 'The President was disturbed by that statement. More than that, he was strongly moved. It was most unwelcome news to him, as it was to me.' Wolf Isaac Blitzer born in Augsburg. Andrew Lloyd Webber born in Kensington.
The first episode of Frank Muir and Denis Norden's Take It From Here broadcast on The Light Programme. Pilot John Cunningham set a new flight altitude record of fifty nine thousand feet in a modified de Havilland Vampire fighter jet. Fred Zinnemann's The Search - starring Montgomery Clift - premiered.
Mister Blandings Builds His Dream House premiered.
John Ford's Fort Apache - starring John Wayne, Henry Fonda and Shirley Temple - premiered. King Farouk of Egypt laid down the foundation stone of the Aswan Dam.
An adaptation of JB Priestley's Jenny Villiers broadcast. Peter Graham Matthew Corbett born in Guiseley, Yorkshire.
'Nature Boy' by Nat King Cole was released on Capitol Records.
The Soviets began restricting ground traffic to Western Berlin by announcing plans to inspect all motor vehicles and trains moving between Berlin and Western Germany in order to hunt for spies and 'illegal' shipments of machinery to the West. Edmund Patrick Jordan born in Dublin.
West Indies won the fourth and final test at Kingston to take the series two-nil. Everton Weekes scored one hundred and forty one or the hosts whilst Hines Johnson took ten wickets in the match. For England, Winston Place scored one hundred and seven. The UK electricity industry was nationalised. James Chambers born in Jamaica.
BF's Daughter - starring Barbara Stanwyck - premiered.
President Truman signed the Foreign Assistance Act formalising the Marshall Plan.
Derek Thompson born in Belfast.
The World Health Organisation was established.
The inquest into the death of jockey Raymond Cain returned a verdict of death by misadventure. Four weeks earlier, at Doncaster, he had been thrown clear when his horse, Woolpack, had fallen at the second hurdle of a handicap race, but as the horse rose, another horse caught it and it fell again, onto Cain. He died the next day from his injuries. The horse resisted all attempts to catch it and ran around the course twice. This prompted tests to be made to see if it had been doped which was the view of the jury and there were traces of benzedrine in the horse's sweat sample, however this was not enough for them to conclude that the doping had caused the horse to fall when it did.
The Einsatzgruppen trial ended in Nuremberg. Fourteen of the twenty defendants were sentenced to death. A crowd of one hundred and thirty five thousand, three hundred and seventy six saw England beat Scotland two-nil at Hamden Park to retain the Home International championship. Tom Finney and Stan Mortensen scored whilst Manchester United's Stan Pearson made his international debut. England's goalkeeper Frank Swfit played the second-half with two broken ribs and collapsed in the dressing room after the match. One contemporary report suggested: 'The Scots kicked everything that moved and often it wasn't the ball!'
The first UK broadcast of Okkie Gingernut. Maria O'Brien born in East Ham.
Jeremy James Anthony Gibson-Beadle born in Hackney. Terence Young's film debut Corridor Of Mirrors - starring Eric Portman, Edana Romney, Barbara Mullen, Alan Wheatley and, in his first movie, Christopher Lee - premiered.
Philip Johnson's Lovers' Leap broadcast. St John Legh Clowes' No Orchids For Miss Blandish - starring Jack La Rue, Hugh McDermott, Linden Travers and Walter Crisham - premiered.
The House of Commons approved a five-year moratorium on capital punishment. Ken Annakin and Michael C Chorlton's Broken Journey - starring Phyllis Calvert, James Donald, Margot Grahame, Francis L Sullivan, Raymond Huntley, Derek Bond and Guy Rolfe - premiered.
Pippa Steel born in Flensburg, Germany.
José Arce of Argentina was elected President of the United Nations General Assembly. Janina Faye Smigielski born in Hammersmith. Anita Carey born in Halifax.
Two goals from Frank Houghton all-but secured Newcastle United's return to the top flight of English football after fourteen years with a four-two win over Sheffield Wednesday in front of a crowd of over sixty six thousand at St James Park. Houghton broke his arm, scoring his second. George Stobbart and Joe Harvey got United's other goals. The Magpies were joined in the First Division by Birmingham City who clinched the Second Division title with a two-nil win at home to Cardiff City. The Daily Herald published a telegram apparently signed by thirty-seven Labour Party MPs wishing success to Pietro Nenni, an Italian socialist politician whose party was in an alliance with the Communists for the upcoming election. When reached for comment, fifteen of the MPs in question would either say that they did not sign the telegram, claim that they only did so through a misunderstanding, or withdraw their support.
Ken Annakin's Broken Journey - starring Phyllis Calvert, James Donald, Margot Grahame, Francis L Sullivan and Raymond Huntley - premiered.
At the Army Cup Final played at Aldershot, a lightning-strike resulted in the deaths of two players; Ken Hill of the Royal Armoured Corps was killed instanly whilst eighteen year old Bert Boardley of the One Hundred and Twenty First Training Regiment lapsed into a coma and died in hospital six days later. Before being called up, Boardley had signed profesional terms with Barrow FC.
The Battle of Haifa began as Haganah forces launched an attack on Arab neighbourhoods. The United Nations Security Council adopted Resolution Forty Seven on the Kashmir conflict, recommending a three-step progress for the resolution of the dispute.
Carol Drinkwater born in London.
Tessa Wyatt born in Woking.
Manchester United beat Blackpool four-two in the FA Cup final with two goals from Jack Rowley and further strikes from Stan Pearson and John Anderson. Eddie Shimwell and Stan Mortensen scored for Blackpool.
Former Egyptian Prime Minister Mostafa El-Nahas survived an assassination attempt when three men dressed in police uniforms blew up a car packed with explosives at his home and escaped in a second car. Terence Young's One Night With You - starring Nino Martini, Patricia Roc, Bonar Colleano and Stanley Holloway - premiered.
King George VI and Queen Elizabeth celebrated their silver wedding anniversary with a service at St Paul's Cathedral followed by a twenty two-mile procession around London. Alan James Clarke born in Oldham. Leslie Arliss' Idol Of Paris - starring Beryl Baxter, Michael Rennie, Christine Norden, Andrew Cruickshank, Kenneth Kent, Margaretta Scott and Miles Malleson - premiered.
John Faithful Fortescue Platts-Mills was expelled from the Labour Party for being the primary organiser of the Nenni Telegram. Max Ophüls's Letter From An Unknown Woman - starring Joan Fontaine and Louis Jordan and David MacDonald's Good-Time Girl - starring Jean Kent, Dennis Price, Herbert Lom, Flora Robson, Beatrice Varley, Griffith Jones, Jill Balcon, Jack Raine, Diana Dors and Michael Hordern - premiered. Terence David John Pratchett born in Beaconsfield.
A court in Gdańsk sentenced Nazi Gauleiter Albert Forster to death for crimes against humanity.
Billy Wilder's The Emperor Waltz - starring Bing Crosby and Joan Fontaine and Frank Capra's State Of The Union - starring Spencer Tracy, Katharine Hepburn, Van Johnson and Angela Lansbury - premiered.
Arsenal, the most successful English club side of the 1930s, picked up their first post-war silverware, finishing top of the First Division by seven points. Their nearest rivals were Manchester United. Burnley finished level on points with Matt Busby's team with Derby County fourth. Defending champions Liverpool were a disappointing eleventh. The division's top scorer was Arsenal's Ronnie Rooke with thirty three goals. Grimsby Town were relegated, fourteen points adrift of safety and were joined in the Second Division by Blackburn Rovers. The Korean People's Committee in the Soviet-controlled Northern zone of Korea announced the establishment of a People's Republic, claiming jurisdiction over all Korea and adopting a Soviet-style constitution. US Lieutenant General John Hodge, commander of the Southern zone, immediately issued a message indicating that he did not recognise the People's Committee as a legitimate government and did not intend to negotiate with it.
David MacDonald's Snowbound - starring Robert Newton, Dennis Price, Stanley Holloway, Herbert Lom, Marcel Dalio, Guy Middleton and Mila Parély - premiered.
Laurence Olivier's adaptation of Hamlet premiered.
The Naked & The Dead by Norman Mailer published.
The Hague Congress met in the Congress of Europe, bringing together about six hundred delegates representing a broad political spectrum. Winston Churchill delivered a speech appealing to Europeans to forget 'the hatreds of the past' and create a united Europe centred on 'the idea of a Charter of Human Rights, guarded by freedom and sustained by law.'
The Golani Brigade of the Haganah launched Operation Gideon with the objective of capturing Beisan, clearing the surrounding area and blocking one of the possible entry routes for Transjordanian forces. Alfred J Goulding's Dick Barton: Special Agent - starring Don Stannard, George Ford, Jack Shaw and Gillian Maude - premiered.
Queen Wilhelmina of the Netherlands announced that she would be abdicating the throne in favour of her daughter Juliana in September after the celebration of her Golden Jubilee. The Iron Curtain - starring Dana Andrews and Gene Tierney and S Sylvan Simon's The Fuller Brush Man - starring Red Skelton, Janet Blair, Hillary Brooke and Trudy Marshall - premiered. Stephen Lawrence Winwood born in Handsworth.
The Kfar Etzion massacre took place after a two-day battle in which Jewish Kibbutz residents and Haganah militia defended Kfar Etzion from Arab forces.
The Israeli Declaration of Independence was proclaimed. The RAND Corporation was formed. Robert Andrew Woolmer born in Kanpur.
Brian Peter George St John Le Baptiste De La Salle Eno born in Woodbridge, Suffolk. The Australian touring cricket team set a world record for the most runs scored in a single day in a match against Essex at Southend. Bill Brown, Don Bradman, Sam Loxton and Ron Saggers all hit centuries as the Aussies piled on seven hundred and twenty one against the helpless Essex attack (including Trevor Bailey and Peter Smith). Bradman scored one hundred and eighty seven in a little over two hours. Even the scoreboard was unprepared for the assault, as it only went up to six hundred and ninety nine. Bowling Essex out twice on the second day, Australia won by an innings and four hundred and fifty one runs. The Arab–Israeli War began as a coalition of Arab states attacked under the overall command of King Abdullah of Transjordan. The Battle of Nirim was fought, with Egyptian forces failing to take the kibbutz of Nirim and the Battles of the Kinarot Valley began. The Murder of June Anne Devaney occurred when a three year girl was abducted from her cot at Queen's Park Hospital in Blackburn, raped and murdered. Her killer - Peter Griffiths - would eventually be arrested, convicted and hanged following the first mass fingerprinting exercise to solve a murder in UK history. Veronica Doran born in Carlisle.
England beat Italy four-nil in a friendly international in Turin to celebrate the golden anniversary of the Italian Football Association. Tom Finney scored twice with further goals from Stan Mortensen and Tommy Lawton. Jack Howe of Derby County made his international debut. The England team trained in Stresa, overlooking Lake Maggiore, before staying at the Hotel Piedmonte in Turin the day before the match. The Italian side included seven of the gifted Torino team that were tragically killed in an air crash a year later, including skipper Valentino Mazzola, whose two sons later went on to play for Italy.
The US Supreme Court refused to review the cases of seventy four Germans for a massacre of unarmed American prisoners during the Battle of the Bulge. Paul L Stein's Counterblast - starring Robert Beatty, Mervyn Johns, Nova Pilbeam and Margaretta Scott and Compton Bennett's Daybreak - starring Eric Portman, Ann Todd, Bill Owen and Maxwell Reed - premiered.
Zachary Crebbin's Angel, read by its author Nigel Kneale, broadcast as part of The Light Programme's The Mid-Morning Story strand. US Secretary of State George Marshall said during a press conference that Stalin's sincerity in promoting understanding between Russia and the United States would be demonstrated by showing co-operation on outstanding world issues before the United Nations and other international agencies. The US House of Representatives passed the Mundt-Nixon Communist Control Bill, which proposed regulating Communist organisations as well as providing stiff jail terms and fines for subversive activities. Christopher John Chittell born in Aldershot.
Dodie Smith's Call It A Day broadcast. Vincente Minnelli's The Pirate - starring Gene Kelly and Judy Garland - premiered.
Gerard Hugh Sayer born in Shoreham-By-Sea. Elizabeth Oakleigh-Walker born in Guildford.
James Ronald Gordon Copeland born in Clydebank. Denis Kavanagh's Night Comes Too Soon - starring Valentine Dyall, Anne Howard and Alec Faversham and Ken Annakin's Miranda - starring Glynis Johns, Googie Withers, Griffith Jones, Margaret Rutherford, John McCallum and David Tomlinson - premiered.
Gordon Parry's Bond Street - starring Jean Kent, Roland Young, Kathleen Harrison, Derek Farr and Hazel Court - premiered.
The Time Of Your Life - starring James Cagney and Arthur Crabtree's The Calendar - starring Greta Gynt, John McCallum and Sonia Holm - premiered. Stephanie Lynn Nicks born in Phoenix.
Disney's Melody Time premiered.
Unity Mitford, the socialite and fascist died aged thirty three from meningitis caused by the cerebral swelling around a bullet from her self-inflicted gunshot wound in 1939. George Marshall's Hazard - starring Paulette Goddard, Macdonald Carey and Fred Clark - premiered.
Henry Caldwell's Halesapoppin! broadcast. Israeli forces commenced Operation Pleshet, aimed at capturing Isdud and stopping the Egyptian advance.
Edgar Wallace's On The Spot broadcast.The town of Vanport, Oregon was permanently destroyed when a section of the dike holding back the Columbia Review collapsed during a flood.
John Henry Bonham born in Redditch. Meredith Lee Hughes born in Montreal, Canada.
Israeli planes bombed Amman in the first attack on an Arab capital city. Israel and the Arab League both announced that they were willing to accept the UN's request for a four-week ceasefire. Twenty one-year old Mary Virginia Carpenter went missing in Denton, Texas in a much-publicised case that remains unsolved. Sports goods brand, Puma was founded in West Germany by Rudolf Dassler after his split from his and his brother, Adolf's company, Gebrüder Dassler Schuhfabrik. Powers Allen Boothe born in Snyder. Richard Grey's A Gunman Has Escaped - starring John Harvey, Maria Charles and Jane Arden and Vernon Sewell's Uneasy Terms - starring Michael Rennie, Moira Lister, Faith Brook and Joy Shelton - premiered.
The UN Security Council decided that both Israel and the Arab states had accepted unconditionally its demand for a four-week truce despite reservations by both sides, and asked the UN mediator Folke Bernadotte to set a time for the ceasefire order to go into effect.
Construction of the Crazy Horse Memorial in the Black Hills near Custer, South Dakota began with the first dynamite blast.
Daniel François Malan became the third Prime Minister of South Africa and, with that, the era of apartheid began.
The United States Atomic Energy Commission announced plans to build the world's largest atom-smasher at Los Alamos, New Mexico.
Cyril Fletcher and Betty Astell's The Magpies broadcast. Terence Fisher's A Song For Tomorrow - starring Evelyn Maccabe, Ralph Michael, James Hayter and Christopher Lee - premiered.
The first vehicle to bear the Porsche name was registered: the Porsche 356 sports car. Harold Huth's My Sister & I - starring Sally Ann Howes, Barbara Mullen, Dermot Walsh, Hazel Court and Martita Hunt - premiered.
A rhesus monkey named Albert became the first primate astronaut when he was launched inside a V-2 rocket in White Sands, New Mexico with virtually no publicity. He died of suffocation during the flight. Which was bad news for the US space programmes. And, even worse news for Albert.
Riots broke out between the Arab and Jewish communities of Tripoli. The Women's Armed Services Integration Act was enacted in the United States, allowing women to permanently serve in the US military.
Berkeley Square broadcast.

Russian authorities in Germany halted shipment of coal from the British occupation zone to Berlin and closed the Elbe River bridge on the main Berlin-Helmstedt highway, allegedly for 'repairs.' Half of London's dockworkers began a wildcat strike in protest of eleven dockers being punished for refusing to handle a 'dirty' cargo of zinc oxide unless they were paid more.
Gerard Tyrrell's Celestial Fire broadcast. Abbott & Costello Meet Frankenstein premiered. Australia won the first Ashes test at Trent Bridge by eight wickets. Don Bradman scored one hundred and thirty eight for the tourists whilst Denis Compton hit one hundred and eighty four for England. Abbott & Costello Meet Frankenstein and Alan Cullimore's The Clouded Crystal - starring Patrick Waddington and Lind Joyce - premiered.
The twelve-year guerrilla war known as The Malayan Emergency began between British Commonwealth forces and the Malayan National Liberation Army. The first overt act of the war occurred when three European plantation managers were killed at Sungai Siput by members of the Malayan Communist Party.
The US Senate shelved the controversial Mundt-Nixon bill after deciding there was not enough time left to consider it during that congressional session. The bill would be revived in 1950 as the Mundt–Ferguson Communist Registration Bill.
The United Nations Commission on Human Rights completed over two years of work on a draft for a Universal Declaration of Human Rights. UN mediator Folke Bernadotte arrived on Rhodes to begin negotiations with Jewish and Arab delegations for a permanent peace settlement in Palestine.
After a nineteen-hour overnight filibuster in the US Senate, the House passed a stop-gap bill for the induction of twenty one months of military service for men aged nineteen to twenty five. Fighting Father Dunne - starring Pat O'Brien - premiered. Nicholas Rodney Drake born in Rangoon.
The first of the series of Cairo bombings occurred. The new Deutsche Mark was introduced in Western Germany, replacing the Reichsmark. The TV variety program The Ed Sullivan Show premiered on CBS under its original title, Toast Of The Town.
The Manchester Baby, the world's first electronic stored-program computer, ran its first series of programs. Columbia Records held a press conference at the Waldorf Astoria, New York to announce a new format of record - the LP, containing up to twenty two minutes of music per side running at thirty three and a third revolutions per minute. The Gathering Storm, the first volume in Winston Churchill's historical book series The Second World War, was published. The British troopship HMT Empire Windrush arrived at the Port of Tilbury. The passengers on board include one of the first large groups of post-war West Indian immigrants to the UK. Tim Whelan's This Was A Woman - starring Sonia Dresdel, Walter Fitzgerald and Emrys Jones - premiered.
David Lean's adaptation of Oliver Twist - starring Alec Guinness, Robert Newton and John Howard Davies - premiered at the Odeon Leicester Square. Todd Harry Rundgren born in Upper Darby, Pennsylvania.
The Berlin Blockade began. Russian authorities cut off electricity to Berlin's Western zones and halted rail transport between Western Germany and the city as well, claiming 'technical difficulties.' Britain retaliated by banning the shipment of Ruhr coal and steel to the Soviet occupation zone. Thomas E Dewey was unanimously chosen Republican nominee for president on the third ballot at the National Convention.
Joe Louis retained the world heavyweight boxing title with an eleventh-round knockout of Jersey Joe Walcott at Yankee Stadium. Golda Meir was named Israel's minister plenipotentiary to the Soviet Union. Michael Curtiz's Romance On The High Seas - starring Doris Day - premiered.
The Berlin Airlift began with thirty two flights by US C-47s in West Germany to the Tempelhof Airport in Berlin. Eighty tons of provisions were delivered on the first day.
King George proclaimed a state of emergency throughout the UK as the London dock strike threatened to spread to other ports. Clement Attlee gave a radio address telling the revolting strikers, 'This is not a strike against capitalists or employers. It is a strike against your mates; a strike against the housewife; a strike against the common people who have difficulties enough.' A Cominform Resolution accused the Communist Party of Yugoslavia of departing from Communism by 'undertaking an entirely wrong policy on the principal question of foreign and internal politics.' Following the resolution, the Party was expelled from Cominform and the Informbiro period began in Yugoslavia. Columbia Records released the first LP, a recording of the Mendelssohn Violin Concerto by Nathan Milstein and the New York Philharmonic. Ronald Reagan got a divorce from his first wife, Jane Wyman. Maclean Rogers' Calling Paul Temple - starring John Bentley, Dinah Sheridan and Margaretta Scott - premiered.
Australia won the second Ashes test at Lord's by four hundred and nine runs. Centuries from Arthur Morris in the first innings and Sid Barnes in the second and seven wickets from Ray Lindwall were too much for an under par England side. Alec Coxon made his test debut.
Easter Parade - starring Judy Garland and Fred Astaire, Billy Wilder's A Foreign Affair - starring Jean Arthur and Marlene Dietrich and Gordon Kyle and Lionel Tomlinson's Who Killed Van Loon? - starring Raymond Lovell and Kay Bannerman - premiered.
Soviet representatives withdrew from the Allied Kommandatura in Berlin, ending the last vestige of co-operation between the four powers in Germany. A law banning pinball machines and other gaming devices went into effect in New York. The ban would remain in effect until 1976.
Billy Wilder's The Emperor Waltz - starring Bing Crosby and Joan Fontaine - premiered.
The Australian tourists made their highest score of the tour - seven hundred and seventy four for seven declared against Gloucestershire at Bristol. Arthur Morris scored two hundred and ninety. They won the match by an innings and three hundred and sixty three runs. Louise Brough defeated fellow American Doris Hart in the Ladies' Singles Final at Wimbledon. 'The Woody Woodpecker Song' by Kay Kyser & His Orchestra topped the Billboard singles charts.
The Northwood mid-air collision occurred when a Douglas DC-6 of Scandinavian Airlines System collided with an Avro York. Three hundred and sixty two US and British planes airlifted nearly three thousand tons of food into Berlin in twenty two-hours, the highest tonnage carried and number of planes used since the Berlin Airlift began. René Alexandre Arnoux born in Pontcharra, France.
The National Health Service began operation, giving the right to universal healthcare, free at point of use. Changes to the National Insurance social insurance scheme also came into effect.
Robert Jordan Hall's Bless 'Em All - starring Hal Monty and Max Bygraves - premiered.
Israeli forces in the North of Palestine commenced Operation Dekel with the objective of capturing Nazareth and the Lower Galilee, while the Givati Brigade launched Operation An-Far with the goal of gaining control of approaches in Southern Judea and blocking the advance of the Egyptian army.
Fighting resumed in the Arab-Israeli War when the four-week truce expired. UN mediator Folke Bernadotte said that Israel had been willing to extend the truce but that the Arabs had refused. Israeli forces launched Operation Danny to capture territory East of Tel Aviv. A six-year ban on prostitution in Reno, Nevada was lifted after a judge reversed a lower court conviction of a woman for the offence, ruling that the wartime 'emergency' period was over.
The first episode of Inspector Playfair's Notebook broadcast. Sally-Jane Spencer born in Buckinghamshire.
Martin Rushent born in Enfield.

The Heart Of The Matter by Graham Greene published. Daniel Birt's The Three Weird Sisters - starring Nancy Price, Mary Clare, Mary Merrall, Raymond Lovell and Nova Pilbeam - premiered.
Edgar Wallace's The Case Of The Frightened Lady broadcast. The third Ashes test at Old Trafford ended in a draw after most of the last two days were washed out. George Emmett and Jack Crapp made their test debuts.
Thirty five Alabama and Mississippi delegates - none of who, obviously, were odious racist shitscum. Oh, no, very hot water - walked out of the Democratic National Convention in protest against Truman's new mandate and the party's civil rights platform.
The Democratic National Convention ended after Harry Truman won two-thirds of the delegates. Kentucky Senator Alben Barkley was chosen as Truman's running mate.
John Huston's Key Largo - starring Humphrey Bogart, Edward G Robinson and Lauren Bacall - premiered. A commercial aircraft was hijacked for the first time when the Cathay Pacific Catalina seaplane Miss Macao was taken over by pirates seeking robbery and ransom. The plane crashed at Jiuzhou Yang; the leader of the hijacking plot as the only survivor when he jumped out the emergency exit just before the crash. Nazareth surrendered to the Israelis in Operation Dekel. Israeli forces launched Operation Death To The Invader in the Negev desert. Italian Communists called off the general strike due to lack of popular support for it. The Vickers Viscount airliner had its first flight. David Sibley born in London.
Southern Democrats from thirteen states met in Birmingham, Alabama to create their own segregationist faction called the States' Rights Democratic Party. South Carolina Governor Strom Thurmond was elected as the party's presidential candidate. Israeli forces tried to capture East Jerusalem in Operation Kedem.
James Faulkner born in Hampstead. Philip Jackson born in Retford.
Marshal Tito made a speech at the Fifth Congress of the Communist Party of Yugoslavia accusing the Cominform of attempting to provoke a civil war in Yugoslavia. Steven Demetre Georgiou born in London.
The Chiles-Whitted UFO encounter occurred near Montgomery, Alabama when two commercial pilots claimed to see a 'glowing object' pass by their plane.
SS-Obersturmbannführer Otto Skorzeny escaped from a German prison camp. Hiding out on a Bavarian farm for eighteen months, he would then spend time in Paris and Salzburg before eventually settling in Francoist Spain. In 1953 he became a military advisor to Egyptian President Mohammed Naguib. Gino Bartali of Italy won the Tour de France.
The Babe Ruth Story, starring William Bendix and Claire Trevor and widely considered amongst the worst movies ever made, premiered at the Astor Theatre in New York. Babe Ruth himself left the hospital to attend the premiere where he received a standing ovation, but he fell ill again and had to leave before the movie was over. Slim Hand's Penny & The Pownall Case - starring Ralph Michael, Peggy Evans, Diana Dors and Christopher Lee and another film with a reputation lower than rattlesnakes piss also premiered.
Set four hundred and four runs to win the fourth Ashes test at Headingley, Australia easily made their target for the loss of only three wickets. Cyril Washbrook had made one hundred and forty three in England's first innings of four hundred and ninety six and Bill Edrich added one hundred and eleven. Australia replied with four hundred and fifty eight, Neil Harvey scoring one hundred and twelve and Sam Loxton ninety three. England pushed for a declaration, making three hundred and sixty five for eight. Arthur Morris and Don Bradman hit centuries as the tourists broke the test record for the highest fourth innings run chase.
Coverage of the Opening Ceremony of the London Olympics broadcast. A record fifty nine nations were represented, although Germany and Japan were not allowed to participate and the Soviet Union chose not to send any athletes. The Stoke Mandeville Games were held for the first time, the predecessor of the modern Paralympics.
The IG Farben Trial ended at Nuremberg. Ten of the twenty-three defendants were acquitted while the other thirteen were found extremely guilty of at least one charge. Elizabeth Bentley, a confessed American spy for the Russians, testified before a Senate subcommittee that she had received classified information during the war from thirty to fifty informants in key government posts. Among those she named were William Remington, an important member of the Department of Commerce. The Representation of the People Act, most notable for abolishing plural voting, received Royal Assent.
The first episode of Rooftop Rendezvous broadcast. Elizabeth Bentley continued her testimony and accused wartime presidential aide Lauchlin Currie and former Assistant Treasury Secretary Harry Dexter White of indirectly providing her with classified information.
Kid Flanagan broadcast. Terence Fisher's Colonel Bogey - starring Jack Train, Mary Jerrold, Jane Barrett and John Stone - premiered.
Time magazine editor Whittaker Chambers testified before the House Un-American Activities Committee that he had been part of a Communist underground organisation prior to his leaving the movement in 1937. Chambers implicated a number of government officials as being part of his underground ring, including Alger and Donald Hiss, Nathan Witt and Lee Pressman.
Former US State Department official Alger Hiss appeared before the House Un-American Activities Committee and denied under oath that he had ever been a Communist or known anybody by the name of Whittaker Chambers. President Truman said at a press conference that the Congressional spy hearings were yielding no information that had 'not long been known to the FBI' and were just a 'red herring' to distract the public from the Congress not getting anything done about the country's inflation problem. Julia Misbehaves - starring Greer Garson and Walter Pidgeon - premiered.
The Netherlands' Fanny Blankers-Koen won the Olympic two hundred metres final, narrowly beating Britain's Audrey Williamson. Egypt rejected Israel's proposal for direct peace negotiations on the Palestine situation. During Glamorgan's cricket county championship match against Gloucestershire at Eugene Cross Park Ebbw Vale, play was stopped due to mountain mist around the ground and a flock of sheep wandering onto the pitch. The match ended in a draw.
The Light Programme's Sunday Cinema - presented by Desmond Carrington - featured reviews of Kind Hearts & Coronets and The Treasure Of The Sierra Madre. Torrential flooding of the Min River in the Chinese province of Fujian drowned one thousand people.
AA Milne's The Dover Road broadcast. Lorna Heilbron born in Glasgow.
An adaptation of Powell and Pressburger's A Matter Of Life & Death broadcast on The Light Programme. Dickie Burnell and Bertie Bushnell won a gold medal in the rowing double skulls at the Olympics at Henley. Soon afterwards, John Wilson and Ran Laurie - Hugh's dad - also won gold in the coxless pairs. In Quito, delegates representing Colombia, Panama, Venezuela and Ecuador signed a charter for a new customs union. Alfred Roome's My Brother's Keeper - starring Jack Warner, Jane Hylton, David Tomlinson, George Cole and Yvonne Owen - premiered.
Nick Stringer born in Torquay.
Fanny Blankers-Koen won her fourth Olympic gold medal of the games in the sprint relay. Which was one more gold than the entire British team managed.
David Bond and Stewart Morris won Britain's third - and last - Olympic gold medal in sailing. An international incident began when consular employee Oksana Kasenkina jumped from a third-floor window of the Soviet consulate in New York, injuring herself. Kasenkina, who had been in New York for three years as a tutor for the consulate's children, was taken to Roosevelt Hospital where she regained consciousness several hours later and told police that she did not want to see anyone from the consulate. She was subsequently granted asylum in the US. Sidney Gilliat's London Belongs To Me - starring Richard Attenborough, Alastair Sim, Wylie Watson, Joyce Carey, Fay Compton, Stephen Murray and Susan Shaw - premiered.

Don Bradman played his final test innings for Australia against England at The Oval. Needing to score only four runs to finish his career with a test average of one hundred, he was bowled for a duck by Eric Hollies. Desmond Davis's adaptation of Jolly Roger, Or The Admiral's Daughter and the Olympic Closing Ceremony also broadcast. The States' Rights Democratic Party formally adopted its platform at Oklahoma City, affirming its pro-segregation policy and condemning the Democratic civil rights programme. Joseph Marcell born in Castries, Saint Lucia.
The Front Page broadcast.
Australia won the first Ashes test by an innings and one hundred and forty nine runs. On the first morning England were skittled for fifty two, Ray Lindwall taking six for twenty. Australia replied with three hundred and eighty nine - Bradman's duck notwithstanding. Arthur Morris was the outstanding contributor with one hundred and ninety six (the next highest score was sixty one). Bill Johnston took four wickets as England made one hundred and eighty eight in their second innings. Johnny Dewes and Allan Watkins made their test debuts. Steve Sekely's Hollow Triumph - starring Paul Henreid and Joan Bennett - premiered.
At the intersection of the Soviet, American and British zones of Berlin's Potsdamer Platz, police from the Soviet sector opened fire on a crowd of black marketers who were resisting arrest by throwing stones at the fuzz. About twenty people were injured.
Robert Anthony Plant born in West Bromwich. John Eldridge's Waverley Steps: A Day in Edinburgh premiered.
Axis Sally, Mildred Gillars was flown under guard in a military transport plane from Frankfurt to Washington, DC to face charges of treason for broadcasting Nazi propaganda during the war. Ray Sprigle, who spent a month disguised as a black man in the Southern United States, concluded a twelve-day series of articles about his experience published in the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. The Football League season began with thirty five goals across eleven First Division fixtures. Over sixty thousand were at Stamford Bridge to see Chelsea defeat Middlesbrough. Trevor Ford scored twice as Aston Villa beat Liverpool two-one whilst newly promoted newcastle shared a thrilling three-all draw with Everton at Goodison Park. Champions Arsenal drew at Huddersfield. Leciester City started the Second Divsion season with a banged, beating Leeds United six-two. In the Thrd Division (North) Hartlepools united won six-one against Rochdale whilst, down South, Ipswich Town won six-one at Bristol Rovers whilst there were five-one victories for both Exeter City (against Northampton) and Reading (over Crystal Palace). In the Scottish First Division, Rangers beat Celtic one-nil in the Glasgow derby. The game saw the debut of Tommy Docherty, the first of four hundred and fifty games for Celtic, Preston North End, Arsena, Chelsea and Scotland in a career that last until 1962.
The prototype McDonnell XF-85 Goblin fighter plane had its first flight, but would never go into full production. Charles Vidor's The Loves of Carmen - starring Rita Hayworth - premiered.
Jean-Michel André Jarre born in Lyon. Ernst Lubitsch's That Lady In Ermine - starring Betty Grable, Douglas Fairbanks Jr and Cesar Romero - premiered.
The first episode of The Chronicles Of Ben broadcast. Alger Hiss and Whittaker Chambers jointly testified before the House Un-American Activities Committee and stuck to their conflicting stories. Lawrence Huntington's Mister Perrin & Mister Traill - starring Marius Goring, David Farrar, Greta Gynt, Raymond Huntley and Edward Chapman - premiered.
Alfred Hitchcock's Rope - starring James Stewart and Farley Grainger - premiered in New York. Howard Hawks's Red River - starring John Wayne and Montgomery Clift - premiered.
In Cheltenham, at the final session of the International Congress on Population and World Resources in Relation to the Family, a four-nation committee (US, Britain, the Netherlands and Sweden) was established to promote birth control on an international scale.
The House Un-American Activities Committee issued an interim report claiming that numerous Communist espionage rings had infiltrated the American government during World War II. Wolverhampton Wanderers enjoyed a thumping five-nil victory at Bolton Wanderers in the First Division (Johnny Hancocks and Jimmy Mullen both scoring twice), whilst Preston North End won five-two at Newcastle. Liverpool beat Sunderland four-nil (with Billy Liddell and Joe Fagan both on the scoresheet). Derby County, winners of all three of their opening games, lead the table. Blackburn Rovers' five-three victory over Basrnsley was a highlight in the Second Division where Fulham beat Nottingham Forest four-nil (Jimmy Jinks scored twice). Crewe Alexandra and Stockport County shared six goals in the Third Division (North) whilst Darlington won four-three at Rochdale and Rotherham beat Tranmere Rovers seven-nil. Ipswich Town's five-one victory over Newport County was the top score in the Third Division (South).
Despite losing their final county championship game of the season by an innings and thirty eight runs at Leicester, Glamorgan won the title for the first time by four points over runners-up Surrey. Middlesex finished third and Yorkshire fourth. Kent's Arthur Fagg was the leading first class run-scorer with two thousand four hundred and four runs. Warwickshire's Tom Pritchard finished the season as the leading championship wicket-taker (one hundred and sixty three). Other leading batsmen of the season included Lancashire's Cyril Washbrook, Yorkshire's Len Hutton, Middlesex duo Denis Compton and Bill Edrich and Gloucestershire's Jack Crapp. Amongst the bowlers who took more than one hundred wickets were the Derbyshire pair of Cliff Gladwin and George Pope, Glamorgan's Len Muncer, Johnny Wardle of Yorkshire, Jack Walsh of Leicester and Hampshire's Jim Bailey. Sheffield United's two-one defeat against Liverool saw the league debut of Joe Shaw - the first of seven hundred and thirteen games for The Blades in a career that lasted until 1965. In the process he broke Ernest Needham's appearance record for the club, established in 1910.
Robert Mitchum, actress Lila Leeds and two others were busted by The Fuzz in a raid on a house in Laurel Canyon and charged with possession of marijuana.
Sorry, Wrong Number - starring Barbara Stanwyck and Burt Lancaster - premiered.

The World Council of Churches called on its one hundred and fifty member bodies to denounce anti-Semitism as 'absolutely irreconcilable with the profession and practice of the Christian faith' and 'a sin against God and man.' Terence Fisher's To The Public Danger - starring Dermot Walsh, Susan Shaw, Barry Letts and Frederick Piper - premiered.
Queen Wilhelmina of the Netherlands abdicated the Dutch throne in favour of her daughter, Juliana. Another high-scoring day in the First Division saw big away wins for Birmingham City (five-nil at Everton) and Newcastle United (three-nil at Burnley, Andy Donaldson scoring twice). And sizeable home wins for Preston North End (six-one against Middlesbrough, Bobby Beattie scoring a hat-trick) and Manchester United (four-one over Huddersfield Town). Charlton beat Manchester City three-two. Tottneham Hotspur, Leeds United and Bradford Park Avenue all scored four in the Second Division (against Chesterfield, Coventury City and Luton Town respectively) whilst Southampton beat Queens Park Rangers three-nil. Carlisle Unite'ds six-two hammering of Crewe Alexandra was a highlight in the Third Division (North). Reading defeated Bournemouth & Boscombe Athletic four-two at Elm Park in the Third Division (South).
Flying the de Havilland DH 108, John Derry became the first British pilot to break the sound barrier. Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger's The Red Shoes - starring Moira Shearer, Anton Walbrook and Robert Helpmann - premiered.
The government of French Prime Minister Robert Schuman was toppled after just two days in power when it lost a narrow confidence vote in the National Assembly.
Harold French's The blind Goddess - starring Eric Portman, Anne Crawford, Hugh Williams, Michael Denison and, in her movie debut, Claire Bloom - premiered.
The Australian cricket team ended their tour of England with a draw against HDG Leveson-Gower's XI at Scarborough. Their tour record was played thirty one first class matches, winning twenty three and drawing the other eight, thus earning the nickname 'The Invincibles.' Judith Amanda Geeson born in Arundel.
Iain David McGeachy born in New Malden. Everton were rooted to the foot of the First Division with a mere three points from their seven games after losing six-nil at Chelsea. Aston Villa, three-one losers at Arsenal were also in the relegation zone. Portsmouth, who beat Charlton Athletic three-one lead the table. Bury were the surprise leaders of the Second Division after a two-nil victory over West Ham United. The highest aggregate score of the day came at The Den where Millwall beat Brighton & Hove Albion six-two in the Third Division (South).
Johnny Belinda - starring Jane Wyman - premiered.
Henry Koster's The Luck of The Irish - starring Tyrone Power and Anne Baxter - premiered.
The first episode of Rocket To The Stars broadcast on The Light Programme.
Diplomat Folke Bernadotte was assassinated in Jerusalem when members of the Jewish Zionist group Lehi opened fire on a UN convoy. Bernadotte and French UN observer André Serot were transported to Hadassah Hospital on Mount Scopus but were found to be dead on arrival.
John Van Druten's London Wall broadcast. Two hundred arrests were made in Jerusalem and Tel Aviv in connection with the assassination of Count Bernadotte. The Indian integration of Hyderabad was completed. The armed conflict known as The Madiun Affair between the Indonesian government and the left-wing People's Democratic Front began in East Java. Rachel & The Stranger - starring Loretta Young, William Holden and Robert Mitchum - premiered. It was a day of truly massive attendances in the Football League. The highest gate of the season, seventy eight thousand five hundred and ninety nine were crushed into Goodison to watch the Merseyside derby end in a one-all draw. Over sixty four thousand were at Roker Park as Sunderland and Arsenal also shared the spoils whilst more than fifty six thousand at The Valley witnessed a goalless draw between Charlton and Newcastle. There were also fifty thousand-plus crowds at Maine Road and Molineux. Nine of the First Division's eleven games were drawn (including Aston Villa and Huddersfield Town sharing six goals). Only Preston (who beat Chelsea three-two) and Stoke City (three-nil victors over Middlesbrough) gained full points. In the Second Division, sixty thousand saw Tottenham beat league leaders Bury three-one. Sheffield Wednesday won a seven-goal thriller at Coventry. Even in the Third Division (South) there was a gate of thirty thousand for the Bristol derby (Rovers beating City three-one). Fred Richardson scored a hat-trick for Hartlepools United as they beat Crewr Alexandra four-one in the Third Division (North). Division leaders Rotherham United won four-nil at Wrexham.
Jeremy John Irons born in Cowes, Isle Of Wight.
As a last-ditch effort to settle the Berlin dispute in a framework of four-party talks, identical notes from Britain, the United States and France were dispatched to the Soviet Union demanding a clear-cut statement on Soviet intentions. Roy Ward Baker's The Weaker Sex - starring Ursula Jeans, Cecil Parker, Joan Hopkins, Derek Bond and Lana Morris and Ian Dalrymple and Peter Proud's Esther Waters - starring Kathleen Ryan, Dirk Bogarde, Cyril Cusack, Ivor Barnard and Fay Compton - premiered.
The Israeli Air Force launched Operation Velvetta, a secret mission to transport Supermarine Spitfires purchased in Czechoslovakia to Israel. The actor Rex Ingram was arrested on charges of violating the Mann Act with a fifteen-year old white girl from Kansas.
Portsmouth remained at the top of the First Division with a three-nil win over Sheffield United. Charlie Mitten scored twice in Manchester united's victory over Aston Villa by the same score. Everton lifted themselves off the foot of the table, defeating Preston North End four-one, Jock Dodds scoring a hat-trick. West Bromwich Albion's two-one victory over Leciester City saw The Throstles close bthe gap on Bury at the top of the Second Division. The leaders of the Third Division's North and South both had four-nil victory's (Rotherham over Halifax Town and Sawansea Town at Torquay United, respectively). Fifty-year-old Sarah Shenton fell from a station platform at Morecambe Station between two carriages of a train and was killed.
Olivia Newton-John born in Cambridge. England played a goalless draw against Denmark in Copenhagen in a British Exhibition Friendly. The game was attended by the King Frederick and Queen Ingrid of Denmark, as well as the Duke and Duchess of Gloucester. Manchester United's Johnny Aston, Jimmy Hagan of Sheffield United and Sunderland's Len Shackelton all made their international debuts. Two minutes from the end Danish winger Johan Ploeger fired a shot which went through the legs of Frank Swift, but the linesman's flag was up for offside.
Intruder In The Dust by William Faulkner was published. Michele Dotrice born in Cleethorpes.
Defence Ministers of Britain, France, Belgium, the Netherlands and Luxembourg announced from Paris an agreement to establish a permanent common defence organisation for Western Europe. A vicar who pulled down the trousers of two choir boys and smacked them on the bare arse pleaded very guilty at Liverpool to assaulting the boys. The Reverend William McMillin Watt, Vicar of All Saints, Toxteth Park, was fined twenty knicker. The Bishop of Liverpool, Doctor Clifford Martin, said the vicar had 'an unblemished character' and was 'highly respected.' Robert Flaherty's Louisiana Story and Edmond T Gréville's Noose - starring Carole Landis, Derek Farr, Joseph Calleia, Stanley Holloway and Nigel Patrick - premiered.
The United States Atomic Energy Commission barred the unions United Public Workers of America and United Electrical, Radio and Machine Workers of America from nuclear energy plants because of suspected Communist affiliation.
Carol Reed's The Fallen Idol - starring Ralph Richardson, Bobby Henrey, Michèle Morgan, Denis O'Dea and Jack Hawkins - premiered.
The Supreme Court of California decided Perez Versus Sharp, striking down the state's ban on interracial marriage as a violation of the Fourteenth Amendment to the Constitution. The UFO incident known as The Gorman Dogfight occurred over Fargo, North Dakota. The Young Lions by Irwin Shaw published. Alfred J Goulding's The Dark Road (aka There Is No Escape) - starring 'Charles Stuart' (Stanley Thurston), Mackenzie Ward, Veronica Rose, Joyce Linden and Michael Ripper - premiered.
Hilda Vaughan and Laurie Lister's She Too Was Young broadcast in The Home Service's Saturday-Night Theatre strand. A Short Sandringham flying boat crashed during a landing attempt in the bay near Hommelvik, Norway, killing nineteen of the forty five aboard. The philosopher Bertrand Russell was among the survivors. Wolverhampton Wanderers thrashed Huddersfield Town seven-one in the First Division, Jesse Pye scoring three. Leaders Portsmouth beat Newcastle United one-nil at Fratton Park thanks to Les Phillips late strike. Aston Villa beat Sheffield united four-three whilst Stan Mortensen and Stanley Matthews were both on the scoresheet as Blackpool won three-one at Preston. Three form sides in the Second Division, Spurs, Fulham and West Bromwich Albion all enjoyed victories (against Blackburn Rovers, Queens Park Rangers and Leeds United, respectively). Gateshead beat Carlisle United three-nil in the Third Division (North) whilst thirty thousand punters watched Doncaster Rovers and Hull City played a goalless draw. Swansea Town remained at the top of the Third Division (South), Frank Scrine scoring a hat-trick in the five-nil win over Bristol Rovers.
Another adaptation of The Rose Without A Thorn broadcast.
Field Marshal Sir Bernard Montgomery was named head of the Western European defence organisation. Basil Dearden's Saraband For Dead Lovers - starring Stewart Granger and Joan Greenwood, Richard Grey's A Gunman Has Escaped - starring John Harvey, Maria Charles and Jane Arden and Oswald Mitchell's House Of Darkness - starring Henry Oscar, Lesley Osmond and, in his film debut, Laurence Harvey - premiered.
The Ashgabat earthquake occurred in Turkmenistan.
John Paddy Carstairs' Sleeping Car To Trieste - starring Jean Kent, Albert Lieven, Derrick De Marney, Paul Dupuis, Rona Anderson and David Tomlinson - premiered.
Orson Welles's adaptation of Macbeth premiered in Boston.
John William Cummings born in Queens, New York.
Lady Luck broadcast. England beat Northern Ireland six-two in the Home International championship at Windsor Park. Stan Mortensen scored a hat-trick with further goals from Stanley Matthews, Stan Pearson and debutant Jackie Milburn of Newcastle United. Davy Walsh scored twice for Ireland. Billy Wright captained England for the first time. In the First Division the Wear-Tyne derby ended one-all, George Hair equalising Len Shackelton's first-half goal. Clyde Jackson Browne born in Heidelberg.
Vanessa Tolhurst born in Shoreham-By-Sea. The Conservative Party Conference in Llandudno ended with its leader, Winston Churchill, urging the United States not to scrap its nuclear weapons whilst the Soviets were blockading West Berlin and forcing western nations to drop supplies into the city by air.
The first episode of Any Questions? broadcast on The Home Service. Richard John Parfitt born in Woking.
Night Has A Thousand Eyes - starring Edward G Robinson, Gail Russell and John Lund and Terence Young's Woman Hater - starring Stewart Granger and Edwige Feuillère - premiered.
The West German Constituent Assembly meeting in Bonn decided that the new West German state would be named the Federal Republic of Germany. Johnny Belinda - starring Jane Wyman, Lew Ayres and Charles Bickford - premiered.
A denazification court in Munich declared Adolf Hitler's will invalid and ordered his property and assets to be confiscated. Lew Landers' Inner Sanctum - starring Mary Beth Hughes, Charles Russell and Billy House - premiered.
Over seventy seven thousand saw Chelsea and Blackpool shared six-goals in the First Division. Newcastle beat Wolves thr-eeone, with Jackie Milburn scoring twice. Micky Fenton netted a hat-trick in Middlesbrough's five-nil defeat of Bolton Wanderers whilst Portsmouth remained top after a three-nil win over Sunderland. Jackie Stamps' late winner for Derby County at Everton kept The Rams close on Pompey's heels. West Bromwich Albion, three=nil victors over Plythmouth Argyle, returned to the top of the Second Division. Accrington Stanley defeated new Brighton five-one in the third Division (North) whilst Mansfield beat Crewe Alexandra by the same score and Barrow also netted five against York City. Thirty six thousand were at Meadown Lane to watch Notts County thrash Exeter City nine-nil in the Third Division (South). Jackie Sewell and Tommy Lawton scored four each. Bournemouth & Boiscombe Athletic moved into the promotion places with a five-two victory over Northampton Town.
Michael Barry's adaptation of Take Back Your Freedom broadcast.
Sheila Susan White born in Highgate.
George Sidney's The Three Musketeers - starring Gene Kelly, Van Heflin, June Allyson, Vincent Price, Lana Turner and Angela Lansbury - premiered. Sandra Searles born in Washington DC.
A new UN-brokered ceasefire began in the Arab–Israeli War, the third since the conflict started.
The four hundred and fiftieth episode of The Home Service's In Town Tonight included, for the first time, the popular outside broadcast feature Let's Go Somewhere presented by Brian Johnston. Forty goals were scored in eleven First Division fixtures. Arsenal beat Everton five-nil whilst Newcastle United won five-one ta Bolton Wanderers. Liverpool defeated Middlesbrough four-nil and Aston Villa had a four-three victory over Charlton Athletic. Wolverhampton Wanderers beat league leaders Portsmouth three-nil. Charlie Wayman scored five for Southampton in their six-nil win over Leicester city in the Second Division.
Daniel Burt's No Room At The Inn - starring Freda Jackson, Ann Stephens, Joan Dowling, Joy Shelton and Hermione Baddeley - premiered.
Michael Allan Warren born in Wimbledon. The anthology film Quartet - starring Cecil Parker, Dirk Bogarde, George Cole, Honor Blackman, Linden Travers, Basil Radford, Naunton Wayne, Jack Watling and Susan Shaw and Anthony Kimmins' Bonnie Prince Charlie - starring David Niven, Margaret Leighton, Judy Campbell, John Laurie and Jack Hawkins - premiered.
Roy Boulting's The Guinea Pig - starring Richard Attenborough, Sheila Sim, Bernard Miles and Joan Hickson - premiered. In one of the worst air pollution events in US history, a fog began building up in the mill town of Donora, Pennsylvania which would kill twenty people and sicken seven thousand over the next few days.
Bretaigne Windust's June Bride - starring Bette Davis, Robert Montgomery, Fay Bainter and Betty Lynn - premiered. Israeli forces launched Operation Hiram, aimed at capturing the Upper Galilee region. Lucy Kate Jackson born in Birmingham, Alabama.
The Eilabun massacre took place when fourteen men from the Christian village of Eilabun were executed by Israeli forces after the village had surrendered. Luton Town's one-nil victory at West Ham United in the Second Division saw the league debut of Bob Morton - the first of five hundred and sixty two games for The Hatters in a career that lasted until 1964. In the process he broke Fred Hawkes's appearance record for the club, established in 1920. In the First Division, Manchester United won six-one at Preston, Stoke City beat Aston Villa four-two and Manchester City and Wolves ahared six goal at Maine Road. Sixty seven thousand, the day's biggest gate, were at St James Park to see Jackie Milburn snatch a dramatic winner for Newcastle against Liverpool. His cousin and namesake, Jack Milburn was on target from a penalty for Leeds United in their six-three win over Girmsby Town in the Second Division. Tottneham Hotspur beat Bradford Park Avenue five-one. George Wilbert scored a hat-trick for Gateshead in their four-one vicotry at Wrexham in the Third Division (North). Swansea Town remained top of the Third Division (South), thumping Exeter City six-nil.
Michael Roy Kitchen born in Leicester.
The TV début of Tony Hancock on New To You. Norman Lee's The Monkey's Paw - starring Milton Rosmer, Michael Martin Harvey, Joan Seton and Megs Jenkins and Charles Saunders' Trouble In The Air - starring Freddie Frinton, Jimmy Edwards, Joyce Golding and Bill Owen - premiered.
The United States presidential erection was held. Incumbent Democrat Harry Truman defeated Republican Thomas Dewey in one of the most surprising results in American political history, as almost every pre-election forecast indicated that Truman would be defeated. The Liaoshen Campaign ended in Communist victory as Manchuria fell to the Communists. Kansas voted to repeal its sixty-eight year prohibition on the manufacture and sale of alcohol. John Irwin's A Piece Of Cake - starring Cyril Fletcher, Betty Astell, Laurence Naismith and Jon Pertwee - premiered.
Maria McDonald McLaughlin Lawrie born in Lennoxtown. The Chicago Tribune published the erroneous front-page headline Dewey Defeats Truman based on early election returns. Two days later, President Truman made a public appearance in St Louis where he posed for photographs while holding up a copy of the infamous issue. Francis Searle's Things Happen At Night - starring Gordon Harker, Alfred Drayton, Robertson Hare and Garry Marsh - premiered.
The Snake Pit - starring Olivia de Havilland and Mark Stevens - premiered in New York.
Leni Riefenstahl was cleared by a German denazification court, much to the displeasure of the German press which complained that the film director had gotten off lightly. The decision was appealed and Riefenstahl would have to go through the process three more times until finally being cleared in 1952. William Witney's Grand Canyon Trail - starring Gene Autry, Jane Frazee and Trigger and Charles Martin's My Dear Secretary - starring Laraine Day and Kirk Douglas - premiered.

'Buttons & Bows' by Dinah Shore topped the Billboard singles charts. Hartlepools United's two-all draw with Wrexham in the Third Division (North) saw the league debut of Watty Moore - the first of four hundred and seventy two games for Pools in a career that lasted until 1960. In the process he broke Ray Thompson's appearance record for the club, established in 1958. Moore's record was, subsequently, beaten by Ritchie Humhreys in 2011. Forty one goals were scored in eleven First Division matches. Malcolm Barrass scored four for Bolton Wanderers in their five-one win over Manchester City. Chelsea won four-three at Hundderfield. Sheffield United beat Preston three-two, Newcastle won three-one at Blackpool and Liverpool beat Portsmouth by the same score. Derby leapfrogged Pompey to the top of the table with a two-nil win over Middlesbrough. The day's largest gate was sixty one thousand at Highbury where Arsenal defeated Birmingham City two-nil. In the Second Division, Blackburn Rovers thrashed Lincoln City seven-one. Dicky Leeman's A Date With A Dream - starring Terry-Thomas and Jeannie Carson - premiered.
Anthony Asquith's The Winslow Boy - starring Robert Donat, Sir Cedric Hardwicke, Margaret Leighton, Basil Radford, Kathleen Harrison, Francis L Sullivan, Marie Lohr, Jack Watling, Neil North, Hugh Dempster, Stanley Holloway, Mona Washbourne, Ernest Thesiger, Wilfrid Hyde-White, Lewis Casson, Cyril Ritchard and Dandy Nichols - premiered.
Israeli forces carried out Operation Shmone, successfully capturing the Egyptian-held police fort of Iraq Suwaydan.
The International Military Tribunal for the Far East declared Japan very guilty of waging a war of aggression against the United States, the British Commonwealth, the Netherlands and France. England beat Wales one-nil at Villa Park in the Home International championship with a goal from Tom Finney. England played the majority of the game with ten men after Laurie Scott suffered a knee injury. The BBC's usual commentator, Raymond Glendenning was unavailable so Kenneth Wolstenholme was engaged as a replacement: 'This [was] the first international I ever commentated on. What a forward line: Matthews, Mortensen, Milburn, Shackleton and Finney.' It was reported the following day that most of the ten thousand men who did not turn up for work at Birmingham factories were believed to have watched the England versus Wales international. 'At one of the city's largest factories, it is understood, dismissal notices are under consideration in the case of several workers who absented themselves to go to the match.' Walter Lang's When My Baby Smiles At Me - starring Betty Grable, Lewis Gilbert's The Little Ballerina - starring Yvonne Marsh and Marian Chapman and Jeffrey Dell's It's Hard To Be Good - starring Jimmy Hanley, Anne Crawford and Raymond Huntley - premiered.
At the United Nations in Paris, Chinese delegate Tsiang Tingfu claimed that fifty thousand Japanese prisoners of war had been armed by the Soviets and were being sent into battle on the side of the Communists in the Civil War. Soviet Deputy Foreign Minister Andrey Vyshinsky called the accusation dirty slander.' Victor Fleming's adaptation of Joan Of Arc - starring Ingrid Bergman - premiered.
Hideki Tojo and his twenty-four co-defendants were all extremely convicted of war crimes by the International Military Tribunal for the Far East. Tojo and six others were sentenced to death while sixteen others received life in prison. Ayshea Hague born in Highgate.
Riots broke out in several Paris suburbs in connection with a one-day Communist-ordered general strike. In the First Division, Boltn continued their recent improved form with a four-one vicotry at Charlton. Liverpool also scored four away from home, winning at Manchester City. Burley beat Sinderland three-one and Newcastle defeated league leaders Derby County three-nil to move third in the table, behind The Rams and Portsmouth (who drew with Blackpool). In a tense relegation four-pointer, Evert beat Sheffield United two-one. West Brom and Spurs continues their impressive form in the Second Division, winning against Barnsley and luton respectively. At the top of the Third Division (North), Rotherham slammed Crewe six-one and Hull remained close behind The Millers with a five-one victory over Southprt. There was a remarkable game at Fellows Park where visitors Millwall beat Wallsall six-five.
The Jaguar XS 120, the world's fastest production car, was unveiled at the first post-war Motor Show at Earl's Court. Charles Philip Arthur George Windsor born in London.
The Lynskey tribunal opened in London, investigating allegations of bribery and corruption within the British government.
Paul Jerricho born in London.
John E Blakeley's Somewhere In Politics - starring Frank Randle, Tessie O'Shea, Josef Locke and Jimmy Clitheroe - premiered.
Bertrand Russell told a London conference of schoolchildren and teachers that the West must either fight Russia before it developed an atomic bomb or 'lie down and let them govern us.' Sixty eight thousand watched Newcastle United win, one-nil, at Arsenal. Derby remained top of the First Division with a victory by the same score over Portsmouth. Third Division (North) leaders Rotherham suffered a surprise six-one hammering at York City, Alf Patrick scoring five.
Israeli forces launched Operation Lot with the objective of creating a land corridor to the isolated Dead Sea enclave. King George VI missed his first public engagement when he canceled a visit to the Royal Naval College in Greenwich due to a blood clot in his right leg. Clement Attlee announced in the House of Commons that the King's royal tour of Australia and New Zealand would be postponed. The Evening News reported that five Essex schoolgirls - Molly Abbott, aged twelve, her fourteen year old sister Freda, their neighbour Kathleen Turner, fourteen, Edna Lee and Sylvia Austin both aged thirteen - were playing truant with their parents' consent from Brentwood Senior School after being caned. Three weeks previously the Herongate Girls were singing 'Roll Out The Barrel' and 'Run, Rabbit, Run' on the bus on their way home. 'But Dawn Bloomfield, our prefect, reported us,' said Molly. 'Two days afterwards Miss James, the headmistress, sent for seven or eight of us and gave us the cane. Dawn was not at school that day, but when she came back three of us - including me - hit her. I pulled her hair for being a tell-tale. Her sister went to the school and told Miss James. Then eight of us were put on the stage in the hall and Miss James caned us in front of all the other girls. We ran home and I haven't been back to school since.' Molly's mother, said: 'I don't think it's fair that the headmistress should cane the girls for such a simple thing as singing on the bus.' Kathleen's mother, added that her daughter had only six weeks or so to remain at school, before she was due to leave. 'I would have taken her back to school today but her cousin told me that Miss James has paraded the whole school and from the stage told them that she had not finished with the Herongate Girls yet.'
Vittorio De Sica's Bicycle Thieves (Ladri Di Biciclette) - starring Lamberto Maggiorani and Ken Annakin's Here Come The Huggets - starring Jack Warner, Kathleen Harrison, Jane Hylton, Susan Shaw and Petula Clark - premiered. Aitken Hutchison born in Leslie, Fife.
The Dáil Éireann passed the Republic of Ireland bill, severing Ireland's last remaining ties to the British Crown.
Jack Basford scored four as Crewe Alexandra beat Northern League Billingham Symphonia in a First Round of the FA Cup which, for once, featured nothing in the way of giant-killing feats. Jack Rowley hit a hat-trick for Manchester United in their four-one win at Middlesbrough. Derby County stayed top of the First Division despite losing at Manchester City. Peter Doherty also netted three for Huddersfield, who won four-two at Newcastle and Ray Harrison for Burnley, who beat Bolton three-nil. In the Second Division, Lincoln City and Luton Town shared eight goals at Sincil Bank.
Charles Frend's Scott Of The Antarctic - starring John Mills, Diana Churchill, Harold Warrender and Anne Firth and Charles Saunders' Fly Away Peter - starring Frederick Piper, Kathleen Boutall, Nigel Buchanan and Elspet Gray - premiered.
Fergus McDonell's The Small Voice - starring Valerie Hobson, James Donald, Howard Keel and Michael Balfour - premiered.
John Ford's Three Godfathers premiered. A meeting of Palestinian leaders in Jericho proclaimed King Abdullah of Jordan as 'King of all Palestine.' The move worsened ongoing riots in Damascus and Syrian Prime Minister Jamil Mardam Bey resigned. Albert Alexander, the Minister of Defence, announced that the National Service Act 1948 was to be amended to increase the term of service from twelve to eighteen months.

Postponed from the previous day due to heavy fog, England beat Switzerland six-nil in a friendly international at Highbury. Three debutants were among England's scorers, West Bromwich Albion's Jack Haines and Johnny Hancocks of Wolves both scoring twice whilst Manchester United's Jack Rowley was also on target as was Jackie Milburn, playing his third international. Tottenham Hotspur's Ted Ditchburn and Alf Ramsey of Southampton also made their international debuts in an England team missing Stan Mortensen, Wilf Mannion and Tom Finney. It was the magic of Stanley Matthews that, once again, stood out. The mercurial winger running the Swiss defenders ragged.
The House Un-American Activities Committee announced that it had 'definite proof of one of the most extensive espionage rings in the history of the United States' - microfilms of secret pre-war State Department papers submitted by Whittaker Chambers that he had hidden in a hollowed-out pumpkin on his Maryland farm. John Michael Osbourne born in Birmingham.
AR Rawlinson and Michael Pertwee's Chain Male broadcast. Maine Road had the largest First Division gate of the day, seventy thousand watching Manchester United and Newcastle draw one-all. Derby County beat Charlton Athletic five-one and Bolton defeated Prsston five-three. In the Second Division, Bradford won six-three at Lincoln. Ted Bates scored for Southampton in the narrow one-nil victory over Chesterfield. The saints closed on the Second Division's top two, West Brom (who lost at a George Robledo-inspired Barnsley) and Spurs (who could only draw at Fulham). Wally Ardon and Tom Lowder both scored hat-tricks for Rotherham in their eight-one victory at Carlisle United in the Third Division (North).
Michael Gordon's An Act Of Murder - starring Fredric March, Edmond O'Brien, Florence Eldridge and Geraldine Brooks - premiered.
John Gilling's Escape From Broadmoor - starring John Stuart, Victoria Hopper and John Le Mesurier - premiered.
The first UK TV showing of Hidden Crime.
Thornton Freeland's Brass Monkey - starring Carroll Levis, Carole Landis and Herbert Lom and Harold Huth's Look Before You Love - starring Margaret Lockwood, Griffith Jones and Norman Wooland - premiered.
John Beattie Dempsey born in Selkirk.
Parents in Scunthorpe, protested against the caning of thirty Grammar School boys as a punishment for playing truant the previous week, when Scunthorpe United played Halifax in an FA Cup First Round replay. It was alleged that the boys were given 'six of the best,' four were put into lower forms and one older boy lost his prefecture. In the match, Scunthorpe won one-nil. The United Nations General Assembly adopted the Genocide Convention.
The 1948 Nobel Prizes were presented in Stockholm. The recipients were Lord Patrick Blackett (United Kingdom) for Physics, Arne Tiselius (Sweden) for Chemistry, Paul Hermann Müller (Switzerland) for Physiology or Medicine and TS Eliot (United Kingdom) for Literature. The Peace Prize was not awarded.
Enchantment - starring David Niven and Teresa Wright - premiered. The First Division's top scorers were Middlesbrough who handed Aston Villa six-nil hiding. Stoke City beat leaders Derby four-two enabling Newcastle (three-two winners against Sheffield United) to close the gap at the top. Jimmy Bowie and Roy Bentley both scored twice for Chelsea in their four-one win over Wolves. Forty five goals were scored in ten top flight games, only Birmingham and Sunderland letting the side with with a drab goalless draw. Cyril Williams scored three for West Bromwich Albion in their five-two victory over Grimsby Town in the Second Division. In the Third Division (North)'s only game, Jimmy Sherratt scored twice for Hartlepools United who won two-one at Accrington Stanley.
Gerard Tyrell's adaptation of Celestial Fire broadcast. Lindsay Raymond Jackson born in Wallsend. Italy and the Soviet Union signed a series of trade and reparations agreements in Moscow. Italy conceded all assets in Romania, Hungary and Bulgaria as reparations. The three-year trade agreement was worth thirty billion lire. William C Hammond's The Secret Tunnel - starring Tony Wager, Ivor Bowyer, Gerald Pring and Murray Matheson - premiered.
An eleven-million peso fraud scandal broke in Argentina. Fourteen men were ordered arrested for involvement in a plot to obtain a government loan for transfer of a non-existent aluminium plant from Italy to Argentina in exchange for bribes. Three members of President Juan Perón's inner circle were among those implicated.
Leslie Conway Bangs born in Escondido, California.
Former State Department official Alger Hiss was indicted by federal grand jury on two counts of perjury for denying that he or his wife had ever turned over confidential papers to Whittaker Chambers. Zoé, France's first atomic reactor, began operation at Fort de Châtillon. The Northrop X-4 Bantam prototype twin-jet aircraft had its first flight. Terence Fisher's Portrait Of Life - starring Mai Zetterling, Robert Beatty, Guy Rolfe, Herbert Lom and Patrick Holt - premiered.
The United Nations ratified the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. The story of the Heronate Girls - who were alleged to have behaved 'more like Amazons than schoolgirls' - returned to the news when four parents were summoned for failing to make them attend school. The girls had been on strike for a month from Brentwood Secondary Girls' School as a protest against a caning for singing on the school bus. A Morgan, prosecuting for the Essex Education Committee, said complaints had been made to the headmistress, Miss James, that some of the pupils had been 'excessively boisterous.' Several girls were subsequently caned by the headmistress. On 8 November, when a prefect left from the bus, the girls dragged her across the road and 'set on her in a ferocious manner.' The girls were, again, caned in front of the whole school for what, it was submitted, was 'a grave breach of discipline.' From that day the girls had been absent from school. Inquiries to the parents only resulted in 'continuous obstruction' and two parents, Mrs Austin and Mrs Lee, visited the school and were 'extremely abusive to the headmistress,' whom they threatened to assault. Morgan claimed that each time the headmistress administered one slight stroke of the cane on each of the girls' hands and Miss James would say there were no tears - in fact there were 'traces of smiles' on the girls' faces. Christopher Kenneth Biggins born in Oldham.
William Nelson born in Wakefield. Ernie Taylor scored the winner as Newcastle United went top of the First Division for the first time since 1933 with a victory over Everton. Nat Lofthouse scored twice for Bolton, who beat Sunderland four-one.
Michael Barry's adaptation of Toad Of Toad Hall - starring Cameron Hall, Kenneth More, Andrew Osborn and Patrick Troughton - broadcast.
England won the first of a five test series against South Africa at Durban by two wickets. In a low-scoring game, Len Hutton top-scored with eighty three. Reg Simpson, George Mann and Roly Jenkins made their test debuts. An Hour Of Slapstick Comedy broadcast, including the first TV showing of Laurel and Hardy's Another Fine Mess. The government issued a White Paper calling for four more years of austerity measures to make Britain self-supporting by the end of the Marshall Plan. Charles Crichton's Another Shore - starring Robert Beatty, Moira Lister and Stanley Holloway - premiered.
James Laver's Dressing Up broadcast. Samuel Leroy Jackson born in Washingtoin DC.
Preparing For Christmas - introduced by Joan Gilbert - broadcast. Herbet Wilcox's Elizabeth Of Ladymead - starring Anna Neagle, Hugh Williams and Bernard Lee - premiered.
Ben Travers's Potter broadcast.

Dorothy L Sayers' He That Should Come broadcast. The Paleface -starring Bob Hope and Jane Russell and Adventures Of Don Juan - starring Eroll Flynn and Viveca Lindfors - premiered.
Herbert Prentice's adaptation of Alice's Adventures In Wonderland & Through The Looking Glass - starring Margaret Barton as Alice - broadcast. Command Decision - starring Clark Gable, Walter Pidgeon, Van Johnson and Brian Donlevy - and Portrait Of Jennie - starring Jennifer Jones and Joseph Cotton - premiered. Peter Harris scored twice for Portsmotuh who returned to the top of the First Division with victory at Chelsea. Frank Bowyer hit a hat-trick for Stoek, who won three-one at Burnley. There was little Christmas joy for Crystal Palace, stuck at the botom of the Third Division (South) and on the end of a five-nil hiding at Newport. An astonishing fifty four thousand-plus watched the Third Division (North) top of the table clashed between Hull City and Rotherham United (the home side winning three-two).
The first Reith Lecture - given by Bertrand Russell - broadcast on The Home Service. Emlyn Williams's The Light Of Heart - starring Margaret Johnston and James Donald - broadcast. The Hungarian government arrested Cardinal József Mindszenty, an outspoken opponent of the Communist regime, on charges of plotting against the government, spying, treason and black market dealings.
The annual Television Pantomime was a broadcast of Cinderella starring Jack Hulbert as Buttons and Lois Green in the title role. Marshal Tito threatened to divert Yugoslavia's resources toward the capitalist West if the Soviet bloc countries persisted in violating their agreements to deliver heavy equipment to help industrialise the country. The Boy With Green Hair - starring Robert Ryan, Pat O'Brien and Dean Stockwell - premiered. Gérard Xavier Marcel Depardieu born in Châteauroux. Boxing Day First Divsion goal madness, with big wins for Portsmouth (five-two against Chelsea), Bolton Wanderers (six-one over Sheffield United) and bottom club Aston Villa (five-one at home to Wolves with Trevor Ford scoring four). Jackie Milburn kept Newcastle hot on Portsmouth's tail with a one-nil win against Birmingham City. A fraction under sixty thousand watched the Second Division leaders West Bromwich lose two-one at Sheffiled Wednesday.
The first UK TV showing of Rollin' Home To Texas - starring Tex Ritter. The Battles of the Sinai began when Israeli forces entered the Sinai Peninsula. Frank McDonald's Gun Smugglers - starring Tim Holt - premiered.
The second test at Johannesburg was drawn. England scored six hundred and eight, with Cyril Washbrook making one hundred and ninety five, Len Hutton one hundred and fifty eight and Denis Compton one hundred and fourteen. In reply Eric Rowan hit one hundred and fifty six in South Africa's second innings. The first UK TV showing of Little Lord Fauntleroy - starring Mickey Rooney. The original Broadway production of Kiss Me, Kate by Bella and Samuel Spewack with music and lyrics by Cole Porter (additional material, William Shakespeare) opened at the New Century Theatre.
Give My Regards To Leicester Square broadcast. LaDonna Adrian Gaines born in Boston. Edmond T Gréville's But Not In Vain - starring Martin Benson, Bruce Lester, Raymond Lovell, Jan Retèl, Carol Van Derman, John Van Dreelen and Matthieu Van Eysden and Val Guest's William Comes To Town - starring William Graham, Garry Marsh and Jane Welsh - premiered.