1952 Calendar

January 27, 1952 – New Year’s Day in Chinese calendar. Start of the year of the Water Dragon in Chinese astrology.

April 28, 1952 – Dwight D. Eisenhower resigns as Supreme Allied Commander of NATO.

May 3, 1952 – The Kentucky Derby is televised nationally for the first time on the CBS network.

May 7, 1952 – The concept of the integrated circuit, the basis for all modern computers, is first published by Geoffrey W.A. Dummer.

August 15, 1952 – A flash flood drenches the town of Lynmouth, England, killing 34 people.

August 22, 1952 – The penal colony on Devil’s Island is permanently closed.

November 1, 1952 – Operation Ivy – The United States successfully detonates the first large hydrogen bomb, codenamed “Mike” [“M” for megaton], in the Eniwetok atoll, located in the Marshall Islands in the central Pacific Ocean. The explosion had a yield of 10 megatons.

November 19, 1952 – Greek Field Marshal Alexander Papagos becomes the 152nd Prime Minister of Greece.

November 25, 1952 – Agatha Christie’s murder-mystery play The Mousetrap opens at the Ambassadors Theatre in London later becoming the longest continuously-running play in history.

May 3, 1952 – Caitlin Clarke. American actress (d. 2004)

May 25, 1952 – Gordon Smith, American politician

June 4, 1952 – Parker Stevenson, American actor and director

July 14, 1952 – Eric Laneuville, American director, actor and producer

July 31, 1952 – Chris Ahrens, American ice hockey player

August 8, 1952 – Jostein Gaarder, Norwegian author

August 25, 1952 – Geoff Downes, English keyboardist (The Buggles, Yes, Asia)

October 5, 1952 – Gigi Sabani, Italian TV host (d. 2007)

November 8, 1952 – John Denny, American baseball player

November 13, 1952 – Art Malik, Pakistani-born English actor