1950

1950
Stanley Houghton's Hindle Wakes broadcast.
The first episode of Robbery Under Arms broadcast on The Light Programme.
His House In Order - starring Margaret Lockwood - broadcast in The Light Programme's Curtain Up! strand.
Danny Kaye On Gramophone Records broadcast.
The first eisode of Bert Palmer & The Critic broadcast.
An adaptation of Twelfth Night broadcast.
Malcolm Ian Macdoland born in Fulham. The Third Round of the FA Cup saw big victories for Sunderland (six-nil over Huddersfield Town), Derby County (five-three at Manchester City), Newcastle United (seven-two at Oldham Athletic), West Ham United (five-one against Ipswich Town) and Manchester United (four-nil over non-league Weymouth). Bury beat Rotherham United five-four, Leeds united won five-two at Carlisle United and Grimsby Town won four-three at Luton Town. The only major surprise was Second Division Swansea Town's easy three-nil victory over First Division Birmingham City.
An adaptation of Patrick Hamilton's Rope broadcast. David MacKane's The Gorbals Story - starring Howard Connell, Marjorie Thomson, Betty Henderson, Roddy McMillan and Russell Hunter - premiered.
Norman Lee's The Girl Who Couldn't Quite - starring Bill Owen, Elizabeth Henson, Iris Hoey and Betty Stockfeld - premiered.
Paul L Stein's The Twenty Questions Murder Mystery - starring Robert Beatty, Rona Anderson and Clifford Evans - premiered.
Frank Richardson's Bait - starring Diana Napier, John Bentley, Patricia Owens and Willoughby Goddard - premiered. First Division West Bromwich Albion lost one-nil at home to Second Division Cardiff City in an FA Cup replay. Two second tier sides, Southampton and Preston North End, also went out to lower-league opposition (Northampton Town and Watford respectively).
Cecil H Williamson's Hangman's Wharf - starring John Witty, Genine Graham, Patience Rentoul and Campbell Singer - premiered.
Otto Preminger's Whirlpool - starring Gene Tierney - and Thor Heyerdahl's documentary Kon-Tiki premiered.
Charlie Mitten's goal gave Manchester United victory over Chelsea in the First Division and took The Red Devils top of the First Division, with Liverpool losing, three-two, at Bolton Wanderers.
The first episode of The Home Service's Country Questions - featuring Eric Hobbis, Maxwell Knight, Ralph Wightman and Jack Longland broadcast.
'Are you sitting comfortably? Then I'll begin ...' The first episode of Listen With Mother broadcast on The Light Programme.
Francis Searle's adaptation of BBC radio's Appointment With Fear, The Man In Black - starring Betty Ann Davies, Sheila Burrell, Sid James, Anthony Forwood and, in the title role, Valentine Dyall - premiered. Sharon Duce born in Sheffield.
Jenny Twigge born in Colchester.
Anthony Armstrong's Ten Minute Alibi broadcast. Louise Elizabeth Goddard born in Smethwick. Basil Dearden's The Blue Lamp - starring Jimmy Hanley, Dirk Bogarde and Robert Flemyng - premiered. The Blue Lamp introduced the character PC George Dixon, played by Jack Warner. Although Dixon was murdered in the movie the character would, subsequently, be revived for a long-running TV series.
The first episode of Breakfast With Braden - starring Bernard Braden and written by Frank Muir and Dennis Norden - broadcast on The Home Service. In the First Division, the largest score of the day was Sunderland's six-one victory over Derby County. Dickie Davis scored a hat-trick.
Pamela Fortunee Salem born in Bombay.
Paul Stein's The Twenty Questions Murder Mystery - starring Robert Beatty, Rona Anderson and Clifford Evans - premiered.
The Whole World Over broadcast.
Christopher Papazoglou born in Bayswater.
Alexander Hugh Norton born in Glasgow.
The highlights of the FA Cup Fourth Round were Tottenham Hotspur's five-one victory over Sunderland and Chelse's three-nil win against Newcastle United. Chesterfield knocked-out First Division Middlesbrough three-two at Saltergate. Portsmouth thrashed Grimsby Town five-nil. Harry Catterick scored twice as Everton won two-one at West Ham United.
Trespass broadcast. The first episode of Jennifer's Journeys broadcast on The Home Service.
The first episode of The Commedia Puppets adaptation of Winnie-The-Pooh broadcast.
In a series of dramatic FA Cup Fourth Round replays, Derby County beat Bury five-two, Wolves won four-three at Sheffield United (for won Harry Brook scored a hat-trick), Cardiff defeated Chalrton Athletic two-nil and Leeds United won three-two at Bolton. Ronald Neame's Golden Salamander - starring Trevor Howard, Anouk Aimée, Herbert Lom and Jacques Sernas - premiered.
The first UK broadcast of Secret Agent K Seven.
Pamela Franklin born in Yokohama, Japan.
John Guillermin's Paper Gallows (aka Torment) - starring Dermot Walsh, Rona Anderson and John Bentley - premiered.
Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger's The Elusive Pimpernel - starring David Niven and Margaret Leighton - premiered.
The first episode of The Centre Show - later renamed The Services Show - broadcast.
The Scarlet Pimpernel broadcast.
Manchester United and Portsmouth drew three-all in a classic FA Cup Fifth Round tie. United won the replay three-one four days later. Albert Stubbins scored a late winner as Liverpool came from ebhind to win at Third Division Stockport County. Denis Compton was on-target as Arsenal beat Burnley twoi-nil.
The first episode of Maurice Brown's Portrait Of James Joyce broadcast on The Third Programme.
Disney's Cinderella premiered.
Professor WB Stanford's Ulysses - From Homer To Joyce broadcast on The Third Programme. David Lean's Madeleine - starring Ann Todd, Ivan Desny and Norman Wooland - premiered.
John Ford's When Willie Comes Marching Home - starring Dan Dailey - premiered. Prunella Mary Gee born in London.
TS Eliot's The Family Reunion broadcast.
Flotsam's Follies broadcast. Henry Cass's No Place For Jennifer - Leo Genn, Rosamund John, Beatrice Campbell, Guy Middleton, Janette Scott and Anthony Nicholls - premiered.
Roy Ward Baker's Morning Departure - starring John Mills, Richard Attenborough, Bernard Lee, Kenneth More, Nigel Patrick and George Cole - premiered.
The the 1950 General Erection was the first to be televised. Labour won. Alfred Hitchcock's Stage Fright - starring Jane Wyman, Marlene Dietrich, Michael Wilding and Richard Todd - premiered.
Manchester United's two-one victory at Charlton Athletic took them to the top of the First Division, ahead of Liverpool who lost four-one at Middlesbrough. Ithe Tord Division (South), Aldershot had a re-letter day, winning seven-two at Leyton Orient with Charlie Mortimore scoring five. Notts County also scored seven, without reply, against Newport County.
Carmen Du Sautoy born in London.
John E Blakeley's The Second Mate - starring Gordon Harker and Graham Moffatt - premiered.
The German-born theoretical physicist Klaus Fuchs, working at Harwell Atomic Energy Research Establishment, was convicted of espionage after confessing to supplying information on the atomic bomb to the Soviet Union.
Terence Fisher and Antony Darnborough's The Astonished Heart - starring Celia Johnson, Noël Coward and Margaret Leighton - premiered.
The Five Smith Brothers' 'We Want Muffin (Muffin The Mule)'/'The Song Version Of The Harry Lime Theme' released.
West Bromwich Albion's one-all draw with Wolverhampton Wanderers saw the club debut of Ronnie Allen - the first of four hundred and fifty eight games for The Throstles in a career that lasted until 1961. In the FA Cup Sixth Round, there were wins for Liverpool (two-one against Blackpool), Everton (two-one at Derby), Chelsea (two-nil against Manchester United) and Arsenal (one-nil over Leeds United). Sixty eight thousand were at Roker Park to watch the Wear-Tyne derby end in a two-all draw (Len Shackelton and Ivor Broadis scoring for the home side, Frank Houghton and Ernie Taylor replying for The Magpies). Promotion-chasing Rochdale beat Mansfield Town seven-one in the Third Division (North) including a Jack Livesey hat-trick. George Wilbert also scored three for Gateshead in their five-one win over Tranmere Rovers.
The first episode of The Sunday Night Theatre - an adaptation of Chekov's The Seagull - broadcast.
Robert Montgomery's Your Witness - starring Leslie Banks, Felix Aylmer, Andrew Cruickshank, Patricia Wayne and Ann Stephens - premiered.
An adapted translation of Lady Precious Stream broadcast.
Manchester United consolidated their position at the top of the First Division, beating Aston Villa seven-nil. Charlie mitten scored four and Johnny Downie two. Frank Launder's The Happiest Days of Your Life - starring Alastair Sim, Margaret Rutherford, Guy Middleton, Joyce Grenfell and Edward Rigby - premiered.
Christopher Fry's The Lady's Not For Burning broadcast in The Sunday Night Theatre strand.
Arsenal and Chelsea drew two-two in the first FA Cup Semi-Final. In the First Division, leaders Manchester United lost two-one at home to second placed Blackpool (Stan Mortensen scoring both goals). Wolverhampton Wanderers won two=-nil at Liverpol. Runaway Second Division leaders, Tottenham, lost two-nil at Barnsley.
Anthony Bushell's The Angel With The Trumpet - starring Eileen Herlie - premiered.
Mary Tamm born in Bradford. Roy Kellino's Guilt Is My Shadow - starring Elizabeth Sellars, Patrick Holt, Peter Reynolds and Lana Morris - premiered. George Formby's 'Come Hither With Your Zither'/'Auntie Maggie's Remedy' released. Freddie Cox scored the winner as Arsenal beat Chelsea in the FA Cup Semi-Final replay at White Hart Lane.
Liverpool beat Everton two-nil in the FA Cup Semi-Final at Maine Road. Bob Paisley scored the opening goal although he was, infamously, dropped for the final in place of Bill Jones. In the Second Division, promotion-chasing Sheffield United and neighbours Wednesday both had big wins (five-one at Bury and five=two at home to Leeds United respectively). Nearly half-a-million people packed into Aintree for the first royal Grand National since the War. Interest centred on Monaveen, the third-favourite who was jointly owned by the Queen and Princess Elizabeth. Despite leading the field, Monaveen made a bad mistake at The Chair, nearly unseating his jockey and losing significant ground. The race was won by Freebooter, the joint-favourite ridden by Irish jockey Jimmy Power and trained by Bobby Renton for owner Lurline Brotherton. In second place was Wot No Sun. Acthon Major finished third and Rowland Roy fourth.
Terence Young's They Were Not Divided - starring Edward Underdown, Ralph Clanton, Helen Cherry and Stella Andrew - premiered.
David Jackson born in Clapham. Anthony Robert McMillan born in Rutherglen.
The Poltergeist broadcast.
Marjorie Deans' The Girl Is Mine - starring Patrick Macnee, Pamela Deeming and Lionel Murton - premiered.
Sally Thomsett born in Plumpton, East Sussex.
Jules Dassin's Night & The City - starring Richard Widmark, Gene Tierney, Googie Withers and Herbert Lom - premiered.
Francis Searle's Someone At The Door - starring Michael Medwin, Garry Marsh and Yvonne Owen - premiered.
The British TV debut of Jacques Cousteau in Men Of The Seabed. The largest league attendance of the season, seven one thousand eight punters, were at Goodison Park to watch Everton defeat Blackpool three-nil. First Division leaders Manchester United lost at home to Birmingham City allowing Liverpool, who won two-nil at Burnley, to return to the top of the table. Ivor Broadis scored twice as Sunderland beat Middlesbrough two-nil. Tottenham's goaless draw with Hull City saw Spurs crowned Second Division champions with six games left in the season.
Huddersfield Town's two-nil win over Derby County in the First Division took place at Elland Road, fire having damaged the Main Stand at Huddersfield's Leeds Road ground a week earlier. Newcastle United thrashed Liverpool five-one sending Sunderland (who won three-nil at Fulham) to the top of the league.
HW Gribble's March Hares broadcast.
The first episode of Mister Pastry Gets A Job - with Richard Hearne - broadcast as part of the Kaleidoscope strand. The first issue of The Eagle comic was published and sold almost a million copies. The main attraction was the strip, Dan Dare, Pilot of the Future, a British war hero in space. Its high-quality colour artwork combined with exciting futuristic storylines, highlighting strong moral values, proved extremely popular throughout the decade. The stories were even turned into a radio serial, broadcast five times a week on Radio Luxembourg in the year following the comic's launch. England's under-fifteen schoolboy team made their first appearance at Wembley Stadium, in beating Scotland eight-two. Johnny Haynes scored twice. Dave Mackay, future double-winner with Tottenham Hotspur, was in the Scottish team.
England beat Scotland one-nil at Hampden Park with win the Home International chamionship and, also, qualify for the World Cup finals for the first time. Scotland, as runners-up, had also been offered a place in the finals by FIFA but, stroppily, the Scottish FA declined to take part since they did not win the Home Internationals outright. Roy Bentley scored the winning goal. Portsmouth won two-nil at Manchester United to go top of the First Division. Sunderland lost ground, losing two-one at home to Manchester City. George Formby's 'Leanin' On A Lampost'/'When I'm Cleaning Windows' released.
Michael Barry's Promise Of Tomorrow broadcast.
The first episode of Puffney Post Office - starring Jon Pertwee - broadcast on The Home Serivce.
John Ford's Wagon Master premiered. Portsmouth remained at the top of the First Division, beating Liverpool two-one at Fratton Park. Wolverhampton Wanderers went second, with a three-nil defeat of Arsenal. Manchester United lost ground, losing two-one at Newcastle, as did Sunderland who were defeateed three-one at Huddersfield. Doncaster Rovers were champions of the Thirds Division (North) after picking up a point at Barow. Notts County moved to the brink of the Third Division (South) championship, beating neighbours Nottingham Forest two-nil in front of the season's largest crowd for the division, forty six thousand.
The first episode of Children's Newsreel broadcast.
The first episode of Such Is Life - featuring the TV début of Graham Crowden - broadcast. Bernard Miles's Chance Of A Lifetime - starring Basil Radford, Niall MacGinnis, Kenneth More, Geoffrey Keen, Josephine Wilson and Patrick Troughton - premiered.
Jane Hayward born in Rickmansworth.
No Sad Songs For Me - starring Margaret Sullavan and Natalie Wood - premiered.
Arsenal beat Liverpool two-nil in the FA Cup Final at Wembley. Reg Lewis scored both goals. A goalless draw at The Hawthorns wasn't enough for either side as both West Bromwich Albion and Manchester City were relegated from the First Division. Neither could catch Everton, despite The Toffees' four-two defeat at Sunderland. Wolves four-two victory at Bolton took them level with Portsmouth (who had no game) at the top of the table. Newcastle won three-one at Chelsea and Manchester United completed their season's fixtures with a three-nil win over Fulham. Sheffield United's five-nil defeat of Hull City left The Blades waiting for rivals Wednesday for the Second Division's second promotion place. One hundred and twenty one goals were scored across all four divisions.
Ken Annakin's Double Confession - starring Derek Farr, Joan Hopkins, William Hartnell, Peter Lorre and Naughton Wayne and Bernard Knowles' The Reluctant Widow - starring Jean Kent, Guy Rolfe, Paul Dupuis and Lana Morris - premiered.
Maclean Rogers' Paul Temple's Triumph - starring John Bentley, Dinah Sheridan, Barbara Couper and Jack Livesey and Fergus McDonell's Prelude To Fame - starring Guy Rolfe, Kathleen Byron and Kathleen Ryan - premiered.
Doncaster Rovers one-all draw with Tranmere Rovers in the Third Division (North) saw the debut of twenty year old centre-half Charlie Williams, the son of a Bajan immigrant who had settled in Yorkshire after the First World War. It was the first of one hundred and seventy three appearances for Rovers in a career that lasted until 1959. Charlie later became a popular stand-up comedian and television personality in the 1970s. Henry Cass's Last Holiday - starring Alec Guinness, Beatrice Campbell, Kay Walsh, Bernard Lee, Wilfrid Hyde-White, Helen Cherry, Jean Colin, Muriel George and Sid James - premiered.
Portsmouth retained the First Division title, finishing level on points with Wolverhampton Wanderers but winning the league on goal average (their five-one win against Aston Villa on the final day, including a Duggie Reid hat-trick, ensured this despite Wolves thrashing Birmingham City six-one). Sunderland (four-one winners over Chelsea) finished a single point behind the leading duo, with Manchester United and Newcastle United (who beat Blackpool three-nil) completing the top five. Sixth placed Arsenal, the 1948 champions, ended four points off the top of the table, winning five-two at Stoke. Thirty eight goals were scored in just eight First Division games. Relegated Manchester City and Birmingham City were replaced by Second Division champions Tottenham Hotspur and Sheffield Wednesday, whose point at Spurs on the final day was enough to snatch away promotion from city neighbours United. Grimsby Town's Tommy Briggs was the league top scorer with thirty five goals. George Irving born in South Shields.
Val Guest's The Body Said No! - starring Michael Rennie, Yolande Donlan, Hy Hazell, Jon Pertwee and Valentine Dyall - premiered.
David Allan Kelly born in Davyhulme, Lancashire.
Sally Cann born in Chiswick.
Richard Whorf's Champagne For Caesar - starring Richard Colman, Vincent Price and Celeste Holm and Mario Soldati's Her Favourite Husband - starring Jean Kent, Robert Beatty, Gordon Harker, Margaret Rutherford and Rona Anderson - premiered. Jeremy Dickson Paxman born in Leeds.
Tommy Cooper's TV début on an episode of Music-Hall. The first race in the inaugural Formula One World Championship was held at Silverstone. It was won by Italy's Nino Farina driving an Alfa Romeo. Luigi Fagioli finished second and Reg Parnell third, both also driving Alfa Romeos. Steveland Hardaway Judkins born in Saginaw, Michigan.The baby was six weeks premature and developed detached retinas in both eyes due to the additional oxygen in his incubator. His blindness, however, did not stop him from becoming one of the greatest singer-songwriters of all time.
England beat Portugal five-three in a friendly international in Lisbon. Tom Finney scored four (including two penalties) whilst Stan Mortensen added a fifth. This was England's first match since the surprise decision of Neil Franklin to leave the UK to play for Independiente Santa Fe in Colombia along with his Stoke City teammate George Mountford and Manchester United's Charlie Mitten. Liverpool's Bill Jones made his international debut in Franklin's place.
Godfrey Grayson's Room To Let - starring Jimmy Hanley, Valentine Dyall, Christine Silver and Merle Tottenham - premiered.
Nicholas Ray's In A Lonely Place - starring Humphrey Bogart and Gloria Grahame - premiered. Catherine Howe born in Halifax.
Vincente Minnelli's Father Of The Bride - starring Spencer Tracy and Elizabeth Taylor and Joseph Kane's Rock Island Trail - starring Forrest Tucker and Adele Mara - premiered. England beat Belgium four-one in a friendly international in Brussels. The goals were scored by Jimmy Mullen, Stan Mortensen, Wilf Mannion and Roy Bentley. Mullen became the first player to appear as a substitute for England, replacing the injured Jackie Milburn after ten minutes. The inquest into eighty deaths in, what had been at the time, the world's worst air disaster considered the suggestion that it had been caused by the pilot's seat sliding out of position. Two months earlier, a chartered flight from Dublin to RAF Llandow, fifteen miles West of Cardiff, had stalled and crashed when approaching its landing, killing all but three people seated at the rear of the plane. The passengers had been to watch the rugby international between Ireland and Wales in Belfast. A verdict of accidental death was returned by the jury, with the cause thought to be related to the additional seating installed for the flights, plus the extra luggage taken onto the plane, impacting its balance as the pilot tried to negotiate a safe landing.
Caged - starring Eleanor Parker and Agnes Moorhead - premiered.
The opening of the BBC's Lime Grove studio broadcast as part of the For The Children strand. Juan Manuel Fangio of the Alfa Romeo team won the Monaco Grand Prix. Alberto Ascari finished second for Ferrari.
Bernard Vorhaus's So Young, So Bad - starring Paul Henreid, Catherine McLeod and Anne Francis - premiered.
David MacDonald's Cairo Road - starring Eric Portman, Laurence Harvey, Maria Mauban and Harold Lang - premiered.
Julia Mary Walters born in Edgbaston.
Henry Koster's Wabash Avenue - starring Betty Grable and Victor Mature - premiered.
Eric Cecil Deacon born in Oxford. Sally Watts born in Somerset.
The first episode of In The News broadcast. Regular contributors included Michael Foot, Bob Boothby, historian AJP Taylor, Lady Astor and Barbara Castle.
Terence Fisher and Anthony Darnborough's So Long At The Fair- starring Dirk Bogarde and Jean Simmons and Alexander Hall's Louisa - starring Ronald Reagan - premiered.
John Huston's The Asphalt Jungle - starring Sterling Hayden, Jean Hagan and Marilyn Monroe and Ivan Barnett's The Fall Of The House Of Usher - starring Gwendoline Watford, Kaye Tendeter, Irving Steen and Vernon Charles - premiered. Rita Gemma Gabriel born in Dublin.
Cambridge Versus Birmingham, An Inter-University Debate broadcast, introduced by Anthony Wedgwood Benn. Bernard B Ray's Timber Fury - starring David Bruce, Laura Lee and Nicla Di Bruno - premiered. The Football League was expanded from eighty eight to ninety two clubs for the coming season, with Scunthorpe & Lindsey United and Shrewsbury Town joining the, now twenty four team, Third Division (North) and Colchester United and Gillingham joining the Third Division (South). Gillingham were re-admitted twelve years after being voted out at the expense of Ipswich Town. The bottom four clubs of the Third Division's (North and South) - Halifax Town, York City, Newport County and Millwall - were also re-elected.
Susan Kay Quatro born in Detroit.
Mario Zampi's Come Dance With Me - starring Anne Shelton, Max Wall, Derek Roy and The Zither Man - premiered.
Godfrey Grayson's What The Bulter Saw - starring Edward Rigby and Mercy Haystead - premiered.
Twelve Thousand broadcast. The first episode of Educating Archie broadcast on The Light Programme. Alexander Hall's Love That Brute - starring Paul Douglas, Jean Peters and Cesar Romero and Herbert Wilcox's Odette - starring Anna Neagle, Trevor Howard, Marius Goring, Bernard Lee and Peter Ustinov - premiered.
The first episode of Prudence Kitten broadcast. Anthony Mann's Winchester 73 - starring James Stewart and Shelley Winters - premiered.
Charles Crichton's Dance Hall - Donald Houston, Bonar Colleano, Petula Clark, Natasha Parry, Jane Hylton and Diana Dors - premiered.
David Troughton born in Hampstead.
The Admirable Crichton broadcast.
England won the first of a four test series against the West Indies tourists at Old Trafford by two hundred and two runs. Godfrey Evans scored a century in England's first innings whilst Bob Berry (on his test debut) took nine wickets in the match and Eric Hollies took eight. George Doggart also made his test debut as did the West Indies spinners Sonny Ramadhin and Alf Valentine (the latter taking eleven wickets). Elia Kazan's Panic In The Streets - starring Richard Widmark, Barbara Bel Geddes and Jack Palance - premiered.
Jeremy Mahony Sinden born in London.
Sharon Gurney Rhodes born in London.
Vivan Milroy's Don't Say Die - starring Charles Heslop, Sandra Dorne, Desmond Walter-Ellis and Constance Smith - premiered.
Byron Haskin's Treasure Island - starring Robert Newton, Basil Sydney, Walter Fitzgerald, Denis O'Dea, Finlay Currie, Ralph Truman, Geoffrey Keen, Geoffrey Wilkinson, John Laurie, Francis de Wolff and Bobby Driscoll - premiered. Sharon Patricia Maughan born in Liverpool.
Henry King's The Gunfighter - starring Gregory Peck - premiered. Sally Louise Geeson born in Cuckfield, West Sussex. Cheryl Hall born in London. Trudy Geraldine Gardiner born in Windsor.
Ralph Smart's Bitter Springs - Tommy Trinder, Chips Rafferty and Gordon Jackson - premiered.
England won their first ever match in a World Cup finals, two-nil against Chile at the Maracanã in Rio de Janeiro. Stan Mortensen and Wilf Mannion were on target. Liverpool's Laurie Hughes made his international debut. Due to the altitude, the entire team used oxygen masks during half-time. Chile's side included George Robledo who hit the post (he was reportedly told by one of the England team: 'Steady, George, you're not playing for Newcastle now, you know!') Nitza Saul born in Tel A Viv. The Korean War began when North Korean forces crossed the thirty eighth parallel into South Korea. So began three years of fighting in which three million people lost their lives and which nobody won.
John Paddy Carstairs' Tony Draws A Horse - starring Cecil Parker, Anne Crawford, Derek Bond and Barbara Murray - premiered.
Irving Pichel's Destination Moon premiered.
Spin wizardry by 'those little pals o'mine' Sonny Ramadhin and Alf Valentine and a classy century by Clyde Walcott helped the West Indies to crush England by three hundred and twenty six runs in the second test at Lord's, their first ever victory in England. Lord Beginner wrote the calypso 'Victory Test Match (Cricket Lovely Cricket)' in celebration of these historic events. Cyril Washbrook scored a century for England whilst spinner Roly Jenkins took nine wickets. Gilbert Parkhouse made his test debut. At the Estádio Independência, Belo Horizonte, in the biggest act of giant-killing in football history the United States beat England in a World Cup group game. Perhaps fortunately, since it occurred so far away in a world before mass telecommunications, most people in the UK didn't even notice. Haitian-born Larry Gaetjens scored the game's only goal. Coach Water Winterbottom had wanted to play Stanley Matthews who missed the game against Chile four days earlier and the FA's Sir Stanley Rous argued the case for him with the chairman of the selectors, a Grimsby fish merchant called Arthur Drewry, who had been appointed the sole selector for the World Cup. 'My policy is that I never change a winning team,' Drewry was reported to have said. Good call, Arthur. Elliott Nugent's The Skipper Surprised His Wife - starring Robert Walker, Joan Leslie and Leon Ames - premiered. Three days after crossing the border, North Korean forces captured the South Korean capital of Seoul. About nine hours earlier, approximately eight hundred people, mostly refugees, fleeing from the North, were killed when the Hangang Bridge was blown up in a desperate attempt to prevent the North Koreans from entering the city.
Lewis Gilbert's Once A Sinner - starring Pat Kirkwood, Jack Watling, Joy Shelton, Sydney Tafler, Thora Hird, Humphrey Lestocq and Harry Folwer - premiered.
England were knocked out of the World Cup losing one-nil to Spain in Rio. Blackburn Rovers' Bill Eckersley and Tottenham's Eddie Baily both made their international debuts. Jackie Milburn had what seemed a legitimate-looking equaliser ruled off-side and Tom Finney appeared to be fouled in the box, twice, but the Italian referee (who, obviously wasn't a complete and utter cheat - oh no, very hot water) was having none of it. Chi;e's five=-two victory over The United States meant that England were eliminated on goal average. In another group game, Urugay beat Boliva eight-nil. The body of former Sussex county cricketer, seventy eight-year-old Cyril Bland, was found in a canal drain at Cowbridge, near Boston. His hands and ankles were tied, but having previously attempted to take his own life, his inquest recorded a verdict of suicide. A notorious episode of Twenty Questions broadcast on The Light Programme; the host Gilbert Harding reportedly bought produced Ian Messiter a triple gin and tonic to 'loosen him up' before recording, which Messiter refused, so Harding drank it himself. Having not been ready at the time the show went live, during the twenty seven minutes the programme was on-air the frequently 'difficult' Harding managed to insult panellists Richard Dimbleby ('the BBC's sacred cow') and Joy Adamson ('Joy by name, but not by nature') and failed to recognise that the panel had correctly identified 'a peony' after question seven and went on to announce the answer after twenty. Harding barked: 'Serves them right - they shouldn't take this silly game so seriously. Let's get on with the next object.' He closed the episode three minutes early with the diatribe: 'I'm fed up with this idiotic game. As for the score, if you've been listening you won't need it. If you haven't, you won't want it. I'm going home.' He was suspended from the show amid much publicity and replaced by the far-less-likely-to-get-sozzled-on-the-airwaves Kenneth Horne.
Aldous Huxley's The World Of Light broadcast.
Geraldine James born in Maidenhead. Ralph Smart's Bitter Spring - starring Tommy Trinder, Chips Rafferty, Gordon Jackson and Jean Blue - premiered.
The first episode of Historic Houses Of England broadcast. Otto Preminger's Where The Sidewalk Ends - starring Dana Andrews and Gene Tierney - premiered.
Sarah Mary Kennedy born in East Grinstead.
Jacques Tourneur's The Flame & The Arrow - starring Burt Lancaster and Virginia Mayo - premiered.
The first episode of Andy Pandy broadcast, subsequently part of the Watch With Mother strand.
The first episode of Don't Look Now broadcast. Richard Thorpe's Three Little Words - starring Fred Astaire - premiered.
The first episode of Saturday-Night Revue broadcast.
Uruguay beat hosts (and favourites) Brazil two-one in the final of the World Cup at Estádio do Maracanã. Brazil took the lead shortly after half-time woth a goal by Friaça, but Juan Alberto Schiaffino equalised. Alcides Ghiggia scored the winner with ten minutes remaining top, reportedly, send Brazil into national mourning.
George Sidney's Annie Get Your Gun - starring Betty Hutton and Howard Keel - premiered.
Simon John Cadell born in London. Harold French's The Dancing Years - starring Dennis Price, Gisèle Préville, Patricia Dainton and Anthony Nicholls and Jack Raymond's Up For The Cup - starring Albert Modley, Mae Bacon, Helen Christie and Harold Berens - premiered.
The first episode of Women Of Today broadcast. Delmer Daves's Broken Arrow - starring James Stewart and Fred Zinnemann's The Men- starring Marlong Brando - premiered.
Anthony Mann's The Furies - starring Barbara Stanwyck and Walter Huston - premiered.
Cheryl Hall born in London.
West Indies won the third test at Trent Bridge by ten wickets. For the tourists Frank Worrell scored an imperious two hundred and sixty one and also took three wickets in England's first innings. Cyril Washbrook scored his second century of the series whilst Doug Insole and Derek Shackelton made their test debuts.
Susan Melody George born in Surbiton. Michael Anderson and Peter Ustinov's Waterfront - starring Robert Newton, Kathleen Harrison, Susan Shaw and Richard Burton - premiered.
Our Very Own - staring Ann Blyth - premiered. Simon Jones born in Charlton Park, Wiltshire.
John Sturges's Mystery Street - starring Ricardo Montalban, Sally Forrest and Elsa Lancaster - premiered.
Adventure Story broadcast.
Susan Wooldridge born in London.
Ken Annakin and Harold French's Trio - starring James Hayter, Kathleen Harrison, Nigel Patrick, Wilfred Hyde-White, Jean Simmons, Michael Rennie and Roland Culver - premiered.
Francis Searle's The Lady Craved Excitement - starring Hy Hazell, Michael Medwin, Sidney James, Thelma Grigg and Andrew Keir - premiered.
Aubrey Danvers-Walkers' Heaven & Charing Cross broadcast.
John Baxter's The Dragon of Pendragon Castle - starring Leslie Bradley, David Hannaford, Lily Lapidus, Hubert Leslie and Graham Moffatt - premiered.
Billy Wilder's Sunset Boulevard - starring William Holden and Gloria Swanson - premiered.
Ellen Jane Carr born in Loughton.
Peter Frazer's A Man Of Two Minds broadcast.
West Indies won the fourth test at The Oval by an innings and fifty six runs to secure a three-one series victory. Frank Worrell and Allan Rae scored centuries in the tourists five hundred and three. England failed to avoid the follow on despite Len Hutton's double century and Ramadin and Valentine spun West Indies to victory on the final afternoon. David Sheppard, Arthur McIntyre and Malcolm Hilton made their test debuts. Joseph Manciewicz's No Way Out - starring Richard Widmark and Sidney Poitier - premiered.
Jennifer Bond born in Hitchin. The football season started with big wins in the First Division for Chelsea (four-nil against newly promoted Sheffield Wednesday), Blackpool (four-one at newly promoted Tottenham) and Charlton (four-three over Bolton, for whom Nat Lofrthouse scored a hat-trick). Newcastle won two-one at Stoke with Jackie Milburn scoring both. Everton beat Huddersfield three-two and Wolves defeated Liverpool two-nil. Champions Portsmouth drew one=all against Middlesbrough. Relegated Manchester City got off to a good start in the Second Division, winning four-two at Preston. In the Third Division (North) Gateshead thumped Accrington Stanley seven-nil (Jimmy Kendall scored four), Tranmere Rovers beat York City seven-two (Abe Rosenthal scoring four) whilst there were also nine goals at Boundry Park, where Rotherham, in what was to be a memroable season for The Millers, defeated Oldham five-four. There were also four goals for Billy Elliot in Bradford Park Avenue's five-nil victory over Barrow.
Wolf Rilla's adaptation of Wild Justice broadcast.
Gregory Ratoff's My Daughter Joy - starring Edward G Robinson, Peggy Cummins and Richard Greene - premiered.
James Birdie's The Switchback broadcast.
Jean Devaivre's Vendetta En Camargue - starring Jean Pâqui, Jean Tissier and Brigitte Auber - premiered.
Annette Badland born in Edgbaston.
Television Crosses The Channel featured the first live outside broadcast link-up between Britain and France by way of the Eurovision TV network.
Arsenal, Charlton, Huddersfield and Newcastle were the early pace-setters in the First Division though champions, Portsmouth, who'd had something of a stuttering start got back to winning ways in fine style with a four-one thumping of Sheffield Wednesday.
David Whitelaw's Ships That Pass broadcast. The Black Rose - starring Tyrone Power and Orson Welles and Alan Le May's High Lonesome - starring John Drew Barrymore, Chill Wills, John Archer, Lois Butler and Kristine Miller - premiered.
Maclean Rogers' Something In The City - starring Richard Hearne, Garry Marsh, Ellen Pollock and Betty Sinclair - premiered.
Robert S Baker's Blackout - starring Maxwell Reed, Dinah Sheridan and Patric Doonan - premiered.
Mario Zampi's Shadow of The Past - starring Joyce Howard, Terence Morgan and Michael Medwin - premiered.
Mario Soldati's Her Favourite Husband - starring Jean Kent, Robert Beatty, Gordon Harker, Margaret Rutherford and Rona Anderson - premiered.
Arsenal's two-one victory over Everton kept them at the top of the First Division with Newcastle united (who thumped Huddersfield Town six-nil) close behind. Derby County beat Charlton Athletic five-nil. Grimsby Town and Manchester City shared eight goals in the Second Division.
Henry Hathaway's The Black Rose - starring Tyrone Power, Orson Welles, Cécile Aubry and Jack Hawkins - premiered.
8 September to 27 October no issues of Radio Times were published, due to a printing dispute. John Gilling's No Trace - starring Hugh Sinclair, Dinah Sheridan, John Laurie and Barry Morse - premiered.
Sidney Gilliat's State Secret - starring Douglas Fairbanks Jr, Glynis Johns and Jack Hawkins and Sidney Salkow's Shadow Of The Eagle - starring Richard Greene, Valentina Cortese and Greta Gynt - premiered.
Lloyd Bacon's The Fuller Brush Girl - starring Lucille Ball and Eddie Albert - premiered.
Sherrie Lynn Hutchinson born in Beeston.
Assassin For Hire broadcast. Norman Taurog's The Toast Of New Orleans - starring Mario Lanza, David Niven and Kathryn Grayson - premiered.
Charles Bennett's Madness of The Heart - starring Margaret Lockwood, Paul Dupuis and Kathleen Byron - premiered. England's World Cup XI met the Football Association's Canadian Touring XI in the FA Charity Shield match at Stamford Bridge. The England side won four-two with goals from Wilf Mannion, Stan Mortensen, Eddie Baily and Jimmy Mullen. Nat Lofthouse and Harry Johnston replied for the FA side which included the likes of Chesterfield's Stan Milburn, Portsmouth's Reg Flewin, Derby VCounty's Tim Ward and Notts County's Jackie Sewell. Laurie Hughes was badly injured in the match, and never played for England again.
Basil Dearden's Cage Of Gold - starring Jean Simmons, David Farrar, James Donald and Herbert Lom and Hugo Fregonese's Saddle Tramp - starring Joel McCrea, Wanda Hendrix and John Russell - premiered.
Newcastle United were top of the First Division, beating Arsenal two-one thanks to goals from Jackie Milburn and Ernie Taylor in front of sixty seven thousand at St James' Park. Elsewhere Portsmouth won five-one at Everton, Sheffield Wednesday defeated Huddersfield Town four-three at Leeds Road, Charlton beat Wolves three-two and Manchester United had a two-one victory at Middlesbrough.
Harriet Mary Walter born in London.
Mario Soldati's Her Favourite Husband - Jean Kent, Robert Beatty, Gordon Harker, Margaret Rutherford, Rona Anderson and Max Adrian - premiered.
Roger MacDougall's The Gentle Gunman Or Johnny Was A Hero broadcast.
The TV debut of Raymond Baxter presenting Museum Visit: Progress Of Flight. Linda Ann Fredericks born in West Ham.
The first episode of Come Dancing broadcast. (Some sources suggest the show was first broadcast in 1949 but this appears to be the first time it was mentioned in the Radio Times.) Edmund Goulding's Mister Eight Eighty - starring Burt Lancaster and Dorthy McGuire - premiered.
Test Flight: Television Takes Wings broadcast containing the first live outside broadcast from a Bristol Freighter aeroplane. Victoria Tennant born in London. Middlesbrough beat Huddersfield Town eight-nil in the First Division with both Wilf Mannion and Alex McCrae scoring hat-tricks. Jack Stamps scored four in Derby County's four-one defeat of Blackpool. Ivor Broadis also got a hat-trick in Sunderland's four-two victory over Charlton Athletic. Queens Park Rangewrs beat Grimsby Town seven-one in the Second Division and Nottingham Forest thumped Aldershot seven=nil in the Third Division (South).
J Lee Thompson's Murder Without Crime - starring Dennis Price, Derek Farr, Patricia Plunkett and Joan Dowling - premiered.
Alan Turing's paper Computing Machinery & Intelligence, proposing The Turing Test, was first published in the academic journal Mind. Ian McNeice born in Basingstoke. Godfrey Grayson's Dick Barton At Bay - starring Don Stannard, Tamara Desni and George Ford - premiered.
Triple Bill broadcast featuring three one-act plays, JD Beresford's Professional Pride, JM Barrie's Half A Hour and Margery Sharp's Table Seventeen. Anthony Asquith's The Woman In Question - starring Jean Kent, Dirk Bogarde, John McCallum, Susan Shaw, Hermione Baddeley, Charles Victor, Duncan Macrae, Lana Morris, Joe Linnane and Vida Hope - premiered.
Ladislao Vajda's The Women With No Name - starring Phyllis Calvert, Edward Underdown, Helen Cherry, Richard Burton, Anthony Nicholls, Amy Veness, Patrick Troughton and Terence Alexander - premiered.
England beat Northern Ireland four-one at Windsor Park in the Home International Championship. Eddie Baily scored twice with further goals from Billy Wright and debutant Jackie Lee of Derby County. Manchester United centre-half Allenby Chilton also made his first England appearance. Barnsley's Eddie McMorran scored for Ireland. In the First Division, Harry Catterick netted three in Everton's five-one win at Fulham. Arsenal's three-one win at Charlton too The Gunners back to the top of the table. The Trapp Family Singers began their British tour by performing at the Royal Albert Hall. The stepmother of the original seven children, Maria von Trapp, who had three more children with their father, Georg, wrote a book about their lives, detailing them fleeing Austria in 1938 after it had been annexed by the Nazis. The story became a successful Broadway musical and, later, the Oscar-winning 1965 movie, The Sound Of Music.
Cecil H Williamson's Soho Conspiracy - starring Zena Marshall, Jacques Labrecque, Peter Gawthorne and John Witty - premiered.
Robert Pugh born in Cilfynydd, Pontypridd.
Robin Mark Askwith born in Southport.
Joseph Mankiewicz's All About Eve - starring Bette Davis, Anne Baxter, George Sanders and Marilyn Monroe premiered.
George Sidney's The Red Danube - starring Walter Pidgeon, Ethel Barrymore, Angela Lansbury, Peter Lawford and Janet Leigh - premiered.
CS Lewis's The Lion, The Witch & The Wardrobe published. Jack Lee's The Wooden Horse - starring Leo Genn, David Tomlinson, Bryan Forbes and Anthony Steel - premiered.
The first episode of Made By Hand broadcast.
Charles Frend's The Magnet - starring Stephen Murray, Kay Walsh and James Fox - premiered.
Newcastle United's two-nil win at Bolton Wanderers took them level on points with First Division leaders Arsenal (who drew at Aston Villa). Tottenham Hotspur beat Stoke City six-one. Chelsea remained bototm of the table, beaten two-one at Wolverhampton Wanderers. Manchester City led the Second Division with a three-two win at Swansea Town.
Lesley Selander's The Kangaroo Kid - starring Jock Mahoney and Veda Ann Borg - premiered.
Sunderland broke the British transfer record, signing Welsh international centre forward Trevor Ford from Aston Villa for thirty thousand pounds.
Forty one goals were scored in eleven First Division matches with major wins for Wolves (four-one at Portsmouth), Manchester United (four-one at Everton), Newcastle United (four-two against Blackpool - George Robeldo scoring three) and Sheffield Wednesday (four-one over Liverpool, with a Redfern Froggatt hat-trick). Arsenal stayed top with a three-one win over Derby Country. Jimmy Bloomer scored four as Grimsby beat Southampton four-two in the Second Division. Plymouth Argyle thrashed Colchester United seven-one in the Third Division (South).
Jean Negulesco's The Mudlark - starring Irene Dunne, Alec Guinness, Andrew Ray, Beatrice Campbell, Finlay Currie, Anthony Steel, Raymond Lovell, Marjorie Fielding and Constance Smith and The Boulting Brothers' Seven Days Till Noon - starring Barry Jones, Olive Sloane, André Morell, Sheila Manahan and Hugh Cross - premiered.
Ben R Hunt's Dangerous Assignment - starring Lionel Murton, Pamela Deeming and Ivan Craig - premiered.
Charles Saunders' Dark Interval - starring Zena Marshall, Andrew Osborn, John Barry and John Le Mesurier and Max Anderson's Four Men In Prison - starring William Mervyn and Arthur Mullard - premiered.
Three hat-tricks were scored in the First Division. Eddie Baily (in Spurs five-one defeat of Portsmouth), Trevor Ford (in Sunderland five-one victory against Sheffield Wednesday) and George Robledo (in Newcastle four-two win at Liverpool). Eighteen year old Tommy Taylor also hit three for Barnsley in their seven-nil victory over Queens Park Rangers in the Second Division. As did Les Wildon for Hartlepools United in a six-one hammering of Barrow in the Third Division (North) and Les Blackman for Reading in a three-nil Third Division (South) win at Crystal Palace.
Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger's Gone To Earth (released in the US as The Wild Heart) - starring Jennifer Jones, David Farrar, Cyril Cusack, Sybil Thorndike and George Cole - premiered.
Lindsay Vere Duncan born in Edinburgh.
King Solomon's Mines - starring Deborah Kerr and Stewart Granger - premiered.
Carol Leader born in Colchester.
The British Legion Festival Of Remembrance broadcast for the first time on television. Port Vale's one-all draw at Gillingham in the Third Division (South) saw the league debut of Roy Sproson - the first of eight hundred and thirty seven games for The Valiants in a career that lasted until 1972. In the process he broke Harry Poole's appearance record for the club, established in 1968. Having scored three the previous wek, Les Blackman hit five for Reading as they thrashed Brighton & Hove Albion seven-nil. Grimsby Town also hit seven, beating Brentford seven-two, despite which they remained in the Second Division relegation zone. First Division leaders Arsenal beat Suinderland five-one with Doug Lishman scoring four.
Lance Comfort's Portrait of Clare - starring Margaret Johnston, Richard Todd, Robin Bailey and Ronald Howard - premiered.
The Adventures Of Sir Percy Howsey - starring Bobby Howes, Ferdy Mayne and Hattie Jacques - broadcast. Television Sports Magazine was broadcast from The Richmond Ice Rink presented by Peter Dimmock. England beat Wales four-two at Roker Park in the Home International championship, with two goals for Eddie Baily and further strikes by Wilf Mannion and Jackie Milburn. Injured Billy Wright missed the game after thirty three successive matches; Alf Ramsey took over as skipper. Arsenal centre-half Leslie Compton made his England debut at the age of thirty-eight alongside county cricket colleague Sunderland's Willie Watson. Compton's Arsenal team-mate, Lionel Smith also played his first international as did Tottenham Hotspur winger Les Medley. Trevor Ford recently signed by Sunderland scored twice for the Welsh for whom Swansea town's Ivor Allchurch made his debut. The England team stayed at the Seaburn Hotel in Whitley Bay and trained at North Shields's Appleby Park, prior to the match. The inquiry into the Knockshinnoch Castle Colliery disaster in Ayrshire, two months earlier, continued to deliberate on the causes; thirteen miners had died when a huge underground lake of peat and moss sank into the mine, creating a surface crater that covered two acres to a depth of up to forty five feet. One hundred and sixteen men escaped, but were trapped underground for over two days before being rescued. Less than two years later, a dramatised film of the disaster, The Brave Don't Cry, premiered.
John Ford's Rio Grande - starring John Wayne and Maureen O'Hara - and John Sturges's Right Cross - starring June Alyson, Ricardo Montablan, Dick Powell and Marilyn Monroe - premiered.
Marc Allégret 's The Naked Heart - starring Michèle Morgan, Kieron Moore and Françoise Rosay - premiered.
George Cukor's Adam's Rib - starring Spencer Tracy and Katharine Hepburn - premiered. Seven thousand watched Tottenham Hotspur beat Newcastle seven-nil in the First Division. There were goals galore in the Third Division (South). League Leaders Nottingham Forest spanked Gillingham nine-two (Tommy Capel scored four, Wally Ardon three and Tom Johnson two). Maurice Tadman scored four as Plymouth Argyle won six-nil at Brighton & Hove Albion whilst Reading, who a week earlier had been handing Brighton another hiding, lost five-nil at Newport County. Torquay United defeated Bristol City four-one.
An adaptation of JB Priestley's Time & The Conways broadcast.
Kenneth MacDonald born in Manchester. John E Blakeley's Over The Garden Wall - starring Norman Evans, Jimmy James and Dan Young - premiered.
William Douglas Home's Master Of Arts broadcast. Ralph Thomas's The Clouded Yellow - starring Jean Simmons, Trevor Howard, Sonia Dresdel, Barry Jones, Kenneth More, Geoffrey Keen and André Morell - premiered.
England drew two-two with Yugoslavia at Highbury in an internatonal friendly. Debutant Nat Lofthouse of Bolton Wanderers scored both England's goals. Leslie Compton put through his own net and the equalier was scored twelve minutes from time by Todor Živanović after catastrophic mix-up between Alf Ramsey and Bert Williams. Twenty five-year-old Patrick Cooney was sentenced to five years in prison for the manslaughter of Rotherham Grammar School woodwork teacher, Kenneth Crowe, four months earlier. Crowe had been dressed in his wife's clothing and had propositioned Cooney in the street. After they kissed, Cooney realised that Crowe was a man and was so incensed by this that he beat and strangled the teacher to death in a shockingly violent attack. The court took into account his previous 'good character' and considered that it was 'extreme provocation.'
Pet's Parlour - with Petula Clark - and Arthur C Clarke's Voyage To The Moon broadcast.
The first episode of the fortnightly Whirligig and Eric Maschwitz's Carissima broadcast. Queens Park Rangers' three-two defeat against Doncaster Rovers in the Second Division saw the league debut of Tony Ingham, the first of a club record five hundred and forty eight games for Rangers in a career that lasted until 1963. In the First Round of the FA Cup, John Shaw scored five for Rotherham Untied in their seven-two win at Darlington. Elsewhere, there were a few near-shocks, Bishop Auckland drawing against York City, Llanely forcing Bristol Rovers to a replay, Brighton & Hove Albion narrowly survivng a tricky tie at Tooting & Mitchum United and Hartlepools United coming from behind to win at Worcester City. West Cumberland League Cleator Moor Celtic lost five-nil at home to Tranmere Rovers whilst Nottingham Forest were in the goals again, beating Torquay United six-one. Maurice Tadman scored his second hat-trick in as many games as Plymouth Argyle won three-nil at Gainsborough Trinity. The only real giant-killing act of the day was Northern League Ashington's three-two win at Third Division Halifax Town. In the First Division, the top three (Arsenal, Middlesbrough and Newcastle) all won. With Manchester City losing at home to Southampton, Coventry City went to the Second Division after a entertaining three-three draw with Barnsley.
Norman Foster's Woman On The Run - starring Ann Sheridan and Dennis O'Keefe - premiered.
Daniel Birt's She Shall Have Murder - starring Rosamund John, Derrick De Marney, Mary Jerrold, Felix Aylmer and Joyce Heron - premiered.
With Arsneal losing at Bolton and Middlesbrough invovled in a three-all draw at Spurs, Newcastle closed the gap on the top two, winning two-one at Manchester United. Forty one goals were scored in eleven First Division matches.
Australia won the first Ashes test at Brisbane by seventy runs. On a sticky wicket badly affected by rain, the highest score in the game was Neil Harvey's seventy four in Australia's first innings score of two hundred and twenty eight. Alec Bedser and Trevor Bailey both took seven wickets in the match but England's batting was - twice - undone by the spin of Bill Johnston and Jack Iverson with only Len Hutton making fifty in either innings. For Denis Compton it was the start of a miserable tour in which he averaged just seven per innings in four tests. Henry Koster's Harvey - starring James Stewart - premiered.
The Five Smith Brothers' 'Goodnight Irene'/'Can Anyone Explain?' released.
Roy Ward Baker's Highly Dangerous - starring Margaret Lockwood, Dane Clark, Marius Goring and Naunton Wayne - premiered.
Arthur Crabtree's Lilli Marlene - starring Lisa Daniely, Hugh McDermott, Richard Murdoch and Stanley Baker - premiered.
All of the surviving lower-league sides were knocked out of the FA Cup at the Second Round stage (Ashington, Chelmsford City, Hereford United, Nelson, Dartford and Rhyl). It was another goal-packed day in the First Division with Arsenal and Blackpool drawn four-all at Highbury, Middlesbrough beating Charlton Athletic seven-three and Manchester United winning three-two at Huddersfield. Manchester City were still top of the Second Division after a five-three victory over Sheffield United.
James Birdie's Jonah broadcast.
Ralph Reader's The Gang Show broadcast for the first time on television.
The first episode of Little Women and Donald Henderson's Mister Bowling Buys A Newspaper broadcast.
Michelle Vicki Nathan born in Chigwell. Anulka Maria Dziubinska born in Preston.
The match of the day in the First Division took place at the Baseball ground where Derby County beat Sunderland six-five. For the home side, Jack Lee scored four. Wilf Mannion's two goals set Middlesbrough on their way to a three-one win over Portsmouth, as the Boro went top of the league. Newcastle defeated Stoke three-one and Wolves won four-one at Liverpool. Four hat-tricks were scored in the Second Division; Birmingham's Cyril Trigg, Cardiff City's Wilf Grant, Doncaster's Peter Doherty and Leicester City's Arthur Rowley.
Michael Maurice Cashman born in London.
John Sturges's The Magnificent Yankee - starring Louis Calhern - premiered. TS Eliot expressed concerns about 'the television habit' in a letter to The Times.
Carolyn Jane Onslow How born in London.
Roy Del Ruth's The West Point Story - starring James Cagney, Virginia Mayo and Doris Day - premiered.
The first UK TV showing of Hal Roach's Captain Fury. Gala Variety - with Tommy Cooper - was the first programme to be broadcast from the former Gainsborough Studios in Lime Grove.
A Soldier For Christmas broadcast.
The Stone of Scone, the traditional coronation stone of Scottish, English and, more recently British, monarchs was stolen from London's Westminster Abbey by a group of Scottish students. George Cukor's Born Yesterday - starring Judy Holliday - premiered. Middlesbrough were top of the First Division, two-one winners of the Tees-Tyne derby. Bob Stokoe scored for Newcastle on his debut. In the Second Division, Charlie Wayman scored four as fast-improving Preston North End won four-one at Queens Park Rangers. Terry Woodgate hit a hat-trick in West Ham United's three-one defeat of Leeds United. Port Vale's goalless draw with Bristol Rovers in the Third Division (South) was played at nearby Stoke due to ongoing drainage issued at Vale Park.
The Cruise of The Toytown Belle broadcast. Desmond Carrington's adaptation of The Third Man broadcast on The Home Service. Horace Washes It Out - featuring Peter Sellers, Bob Monkhouse and Jean Carson - broadcast on The Light Programme. Ralph Thomas's Traveller's Joy - starring Eric Pohlmann, Googie Withers, John McCallum and Yolande Donlan - premiered. Sunderland won a Boxing Day thriller at Old Trafford, beating Manchester United five-three. Duggie Reid scored a hat-trick as Portsmouth won four-one at Chelsea. Billy Dare scored all four for Brentford in their Second Division victory over Southampton.
Australia narrowly won the second Ashes test at Melbourne. In another low-scoring match, the top score on either side was England's captain Freddie Brown making sixty two (he also took four wickets in Australia's second innings). Set a target of one hundred and seventy nine, England fell agonisingly short, being bowled out by Ray Lindwall and Bill Johnston twenty nine runs from victory. Michael Miles' House Party brodcast. Herbert Wilcox's Into The Blue - starring Michael Wilding, Odile Versois and Jack Hulbert - premiered.
The Story Of Clara & The Nutcracker Prince broadcast.
Ninety Degrees South broadcast.
Vic Oliver Introduces broadcast. Libel broadcast in The Light Programme's Saturday-Night Theatre strand. Tottenham Hotspur went top of the First Division, Sonny Walters scoring the winner as they beat Charlton one-nil.
The first episode of Richard Hearne's Mister Pastry's Progress broadcast. John E Blakeley's Let's Have A Murder - starring Jimmy Jewel, Ben Warriss, June Elvin and Lesley Osmond and Gordon Parry's Midnight Episode - starring Stanley Holloway, Leslie Dwyer, Reginald Tate, Meredith Edwards, Wilfrid Hyde-White, Sebastian Cabot, Joy Shelton, Raymond Young, Leslie Perrins, Campbell Copelin and Natasha Parry - premiered.