Timeline December 1949

Events in December 1949 14

• 1937 – 1949 Writing The Lord of the Rings — twelve years Tolkien begins writing The Lord of the Rings in December 1937 and does not complete it until 1949 — twelve years of composition alongside full-time academic duties, the demands of wartime Oxford and the raising of four children. The book grows far beyond The Hobbit in scale, darkness and ambition; what begins as a children's sequel becomes a mythological epic. Tolkien writes and rewrites obsessively, getting stuck for months at a time. He reads chapters to the Inklings, who urge him on. Lewis's enthusiasm is particularly important: he tells Tolkien that if he doesn't finish it, Lewis will never speak to him again.
• 1946 – 1949 National Research Council of Canada Joined the National Research Council of Canada in Ottawa. While repeatedly breaking glass vacuum apparatus due to what he called 'impetuous haste', he began teaching himself theoretical chemistry, realising his future lay in applying mathematics to chemical phenomena.
• 1948 – 1949 Kyoto School of Arts Studied nihonga, a traditional Japanese painting style, at the Kyoto Municipal School of Arts and Crafts. Grew frustrated with the conventions of Japanese art and became fascinated by European and American avant-garde movements.
• 1949 Emigrated to the United States The Springer family immigrated to the United States, settling in the Kew Gardens neighbourhood of Queens, New York.
• 1949 Names his guitar "Lucille" Twist, Arkansas After narrowly escaping a fire that broke out during a dance in Twist, Arkansas — caused by a fight over a woman named Lucille — King ran back into the burning building to save his $30 guitar. He named it Lucille as a reminder never to be so reckless again, and every guitar he owned afterward carried the name.
• 1949 – 2024 Sebastian Pinera (1949-2024) Died 6 February 2024, aged 74 Chilean businessman and politician who served two terms as president of Chile.
• 1949 Nationalist government retreats to Taiwan Chiang Kai-shek relocates the Republic of China After losing the Chinese Civil War to the Communists, Chiang Kai-shek and the Nationalist government evacuated to the island of Taiwan, relocating the Republic of China there. The move created the divide between mainland China and Taiwan that persists today.
• 1949 Fats Domino records The Fat Man With Dave Bartholomew Often called one of the first rock and roll records.
• 1949 Birdland opens in New York Named after him A jazz club named after Bird.
• 1949 – 2003 Maurice Gibb (1949-2003) Died 12 January 2003, aged 53 Maurice Gibb was a singer, songwriter and multi-instrumentalist who with his brothers Barry and Robin formed the Bee Gees. The group sold more than 100 million records and defined the disco era with the 'Saturday Night Fever' soundtrack. He died of complications from a twisted intestine.
• 1949 – 2012 Robin Gibb (1949-2012) Died 20 May 2012, aged 62 British singer and songwriter, a member of the Bee Gees alongside his brothers. He died after a long illness involving cancer.
• 1949 Indonesia independence recognized End of Dutch colonial rule The Netherlands formally recognized Indonesian independence.
• 1949 Indonesian independence End of empire in the East After four years of war, the Netherlands recognises the independence of Indonesia, ending three and a half centuries of colonial presence in the East Indies.
• 1949 Netherlands transfers sovereignty to Indonesia End of the Indonesian National Revolution Following the Dutch-Indonesian Round Table Conference, the Netherlands formally recognized Indonesian independence and transferred sovereignty. The transfer ended more than four years of revolution and negotiation following Indonesia's 1945 declaration of independence.