Lynn Seymour creates the first of many roles for MacMillan, dancing the Adolescent in The Burrow

Irish dramatist Brendan Behan's play The Hostage is produced in Dublin

Chicken Soup with Barley begins a trilogy by English playwright Arnold Wesker

The Fire Raisers, by Swiss dramatist Max Frisch, is performed in Zürich

Vladimir Nabokov's novel Lolita is published in Paris

The national assembly in Paris grants de Gaulle six months of unrestricted power as president – his condition for returning to government

On his second day in power, de Gaulle visits Algiers to confront the settlers with an unwelcome message

The new hard-line Hungarian government headed by János Kádár tries and executes Imre Nagy

John Cranko's version of Romeo and Juliet, to Prokofiev's score, is premiered by La Scala Ballet in Venice

Irish writer Brendan Behan's autobiographical Borstal Boy is published

Polish film director Andrzej Wajda makes Ashes and Diamonds, starring the Polish actor Zbigniew Cybulski

English author Alan Sillitoe publishes his first novel, Saturday Night and Sunday Morning

18-year-old British pop singer Cliff Richard has his first hit single with Move It

French citizens approve the new constitution proposed by de Gaulle, thus introducing the Fifth Republic

The Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament (CND) is launched in Britain with Bertrand Russell as president

Harold Pinter's first play in London's West End, The Birthday Party, closes in less than a week

Angelo Roncalli is elected pope and takes the name John XXIII

Charles de Gaulle is elected first President of France's Fifth Republic

Soviet spacecraft Luna 1 goes into orbit round the sun, between the orbits of Earth and Mars

Pope John XXIII summons a second Vatican Council

Francis Poulenc and Jean Cocteau collaborate on La Voix Humaine, a concerto for soprano voice and orchestra

Australian soprano Joan Sutherland becomes a star overnight with her performance at Covent Garden in Lucia di Lammermoor

German novelist Günter Grass has an immediate success with his first novel, The Tin Drum

Vice-president Richard Nixon engages in a 'kitchen debate' with Soviet leader Nikita Khruschev at a US exhibition in Moscow

The Mini is launched, designed by Alec Issigonis, and becomes the best-selling British car of all time