Timeline October 1956

Events in October 1956 11

• 1889 – 1956 Risto Ryti Wartime President The 5th President, who sacrificed his career and reputation to sign a pact with Germany to save Finland from Soviet occupation.
• 1920 – 1956 Stan Ockers The Belgian Hero 1955 World Champion; a hero of post-war Belgian cycling.
• 1956 – present Christoph Waltz Double Oscar Winner Acclaimed actor who won two Academy Awards for his work with director Quentin Tarantino.
• 1956 Calder Hall nuclear power station opens World's first commercial nuclear power station opens Calder Hall in Cumbria, England, opened as the world's first commercial nuclear power station to supply electricity to a national grid. Queen Elizabeth II officially inaugurated the plant. It marked the beginning of civilian nuclear power generation.
• 1956 – present Martina Navratilova The Iron Lady Won a combined 59 Grand Slam titles across singles, doubles, and mixed doubles.
• 1956 – 2003 Carlo Urbani (1956-2003) Died 29 March 2003, aged 46 Carlo Urbani was an Italian physician and infectious disease specialist with the World Health Organization who recognised SARS as a dangerous new disease in a patient in Hanoi and raised the alarm that led to a coordinated global response. He contracted the virus and died weeks later.
• 1956 – 2016 Carrie Fisher (1956-2016) Died 27 December 2016, aged 60 Fisher was an American actress and writer best known for playing Princess Leia in the Star Wars film series. She was also an acclaimed author and screenwriter, and an outspoken advocate for mental health awareness after publicly discussing her bipolar disorder. She died days after suffering a cardiac event on a flight, and her mother, Debbie Reynolds, died the following day.
• 1956 Hungarian Revolution of 1956 Uprising against Soviet rule crushed by the Red Army A nationwide uprising against Soviet-imposed policies and the Hungarian communist government broke out, briefly establishing a reformist government under Imre Nagy. Soviet forces invaded and crushed the revolution after Nagy announced Hungary's withdrawal from the Warsaw Pact. Thousands were killed and over 200,000 Hungarians fled the country as refugees.
• 1956 Suez Crisis Israel, Britain and France invade Egypt over the canal Israel invaded the Sinai Peninsula, followed by British and French military intervention, after Egypt nationalized the Suez Canal. International pressure, particularly from the United States and the Soviet Union, forced the withdrawal of the invading forces. The crisis marked a decline in British and French global influence and a rise in American and Soviet dominance.
• 1956 Egyptian MiG-15s fight in the Suez Crisis Sinai Egyptian MiG-15s clash with Israeli aircraft over Sinai, shooting down a Meteor and a Piper Cub before Anglo-French strikes destroy much of Egypt's air force on the ground.
• 1956 Paul McCartney's mother Mary dies Aged 14 His mother's death later inspires Let It Be.