1958
 
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  • Civil war breaks out in Lebanon; U.S. Marines land at Beirut.
  • Egypt and Syria form the United Arab Republic.
  • Mohamed Ayub Khan seizes control in Pakistan.
  • PM Hendrik Verwoerd extends South Africa's apartheid laws
  • Charles de Gaulle becomes President of France
  • Nikita Kruschev becomes sole Premier of USSR
  • Explorer 1 & 111 (US satellites)
  • Pioneer 1, 11 & 111 (US moon probes)
  • US nuclear submarine Nautilus reaches the North Pole
  • First trans-Atlantic passenger jet service
  • First heart pacemaker
  • First stereo records
  • First "black box" flight recorder invented by David Warren
  • Elvis Presley drafted
  • Allegations of rigging end US TV game shows (Twenty-one, Dotto, The $64,000 Question and The $64,000 Challenge)
  • Pogo stick craze
  • Skateboard invented
  • Commonwealth Games in Cardiff
  • Equal pay for women and 3 weeks annual leave legislation in NSW
  • The Australian Customs Department published a list of banned books (previously, even the list was banned). Most remained banned until the early 1970s.

    The banned list included:

    • Down & Out in Paris & London (George Orwell)
    • The Postman Always Rings Twice (James N Cain)
    • Forever Amber (Kathleen Windsor)
    • God's Little Acre (Erskne Caldwell)
    • Butterfield 8 (John O'Hara)
    • Redheap (Norman Lindsay)
    • Borstal Boy (Brendan Behan)
    • Peyton Place (Grace Metalious)
    • Lady Chatterly's Lover (DH Lawrence)
    • The Decameron (Bocaccio)
    • Works of Rebelais (paperback edition only)

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 Charles de Gaulle

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Elvis Presley drafted

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The Menzies Era 1958
 
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