istoryworld
Events relating to europe
Frederick Ashton choreographs Symphonic Variations, to music by César Franck
David Lean directs Trevor Howard and and Celia Johnson in Noel Coward's Brief Encounter
Sonatine, for flute and piano, brings early success to French composer Pierre Boulez
Victor Emmanuel III abdicates in favour of his son a month before a referendum on the Italian monarchy
Bulgarian bass Boris Christoff makes his debut in Puccini's La Bohème in Reggio Calabria
Communist leader Enver Hoxha begins nearly 40 years as dictator of Albania
Benjamin Britten bases his Young Person's Guide to the Orchestra on a theme by Purcell
The Indochina War breaks out in Vietnam between the French colonial forces and the Vietminh
Rationing in Britain gets worse rather than better, with bread and potatoes now added to the list
Titus Groan begins British author Mervyn Peake's trilogy of gothic novels
British conductor Thomas Beecham founds the third orchestra of his career, calling it the Royal Philharmonic
Winston Churchill, in a speech in Fulton, Missouri, expresses the harsh truth that an iron curtain has descended across Europe
An election campaign in Poland, marked by violence and the use of terror, brings a Communist landslide
English author and alcoholic Malcolm Lowry publishes an autobiographical novel, Under the Volcano
Capa, Cartier-Bresson and others found Magnum, a cooperative of leading photographers running their own picture agency
Francis Poulenc makes an opera of Guillaume Apollinaire's play Les Mamelles de Tirésias ('The Breasts of Tiresias')
Hungarian-born British engineer Dennis Gabor creates the first three-dimensional image from reflected light, subsequently known as a hologram
In granting independence to India, Britain partitions the subcontinent along sectarian lines into Pakistan and the republic of India
Jawaharlal Nehru becomes prime minister of the newly independent republic of India
Muslim leader Mohammed Ali Jinnah becomes the first governor-general of the new state of Pakistan
J.B. Priestley challenges audiences with An Inspector Calls, a play in which moral guilt spreads like an infection
French designer Christian Dior introduces the 'New Look', a lavish feminine style of dress welcomed by all after wartime austerity
Italian author Primo Levi publishes If This Is a Man, based on his experiences in Auschwitz
Jean-Louis Barrault and his wife Madeleine Renaud establish their own company at the Théâtre Marigny in Paris
British dancer Robert Helpmann choreographs the ballet scenes in the film The Red Shoes, featuring Moira Shearer
