A great tapestry by Graham Sutherland hangs above the altar in the newly consecrated Coventry cathedral

Benjamin Britten's War Requiem, setting poems by Wilfred Owen, is first performed in the rebuilt Coventry Cathedral

British author Doris Lessing publishes an influential feminist novel, The Golden Notebook

David Lean directs Peter O'Toole in the title role of the film Lawrence of Arabia

17-year-old English cellist Jacqueline du Pré creates a stir playing Elgar's concerto in the Royal Festival Hall

British author P.D. James's first novel, Cover Her Face, introduces her poet detective Adam Dalgleish

Anthony Burgess publishes A Clockwork Orange, a novel depicting a disturbing and violent near-future

British surgeon John Charnley pioneers the technique of joint replacement, giving a patient a new hip in a small hospital in Wrightington

US poet Sylvia Plath commits suicide in London

English author John Le Carré publishes a Cold-War thriller The Spy Who Came in from the Cold

British choreographer Frederick Ashton creates Marguerite and Armand for Margot Fonteyn and her new partner, Rudolf Nureyev

Young British architects Norman Foster and Richard Rogers work together as Team 4

British diplomat Kim Philby defects to the USSR and is discovered to have been a Soviet spy

English author Margaret Drabble publishes her first novel, A Summer Birdcage

The Partial Test Ban Treaty, signed by the USA, USSR and UK, is the first of many international attempts to limit the threat of nuclear war

Sexual intercourse begins in this year, according to Philip Larkin's 1974 poem Annus Mirabilis

British film stars Richard Burton and Elizabeth Taylor marry

Anthony Dowell and Antoinette Sibley begin a famous partnership in Ashton's The Dream

Roald Dahl publishes a fantasy treat for a starving child, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory

In a match at the Oval, England cricketer Freddie Trueman becomes the first bowler to take 300 Test wickets

English author A.S. Byatt publishes her first novel, Shadow of a Sun

The Beatles reach number one in both the UK and the US with their single 'Can't Buy Me Love'

Margot Fonteyn and Rudolf Nureyev dance together in the premiere of Kenneth MacMillan's Romeo and Juliet

Winston Churchill dies, and lies in state in London's ancient Westminster Hall

David Lean directs Omar Sharif and Julie Christie in a film of Pasternak's Dr Zhivago