1957 News and Interesting History Tidbits

2 Million Volkswagen Beetle's
The Volkswagen Beetle reached it's 2 millionth vehicle .

The Treaty of Rome Signed
25th March, 1957: France, West Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, Belgium, and Luxembourg sign the treaty in Rome establishing the European Economic Community (EEC), also known as the Common Market.

Link Between Smoking and Lung Cancer
A report by the British Medical Research Council has found there is a direct link between smoking and lung cancer, and the British government will launch an educational campaign to raise awareness on the dangers of smoking.
Tobacco firms who sell cigarettes have rejected the findings saying they are merely a 'matter of opinion'.

"American Bandstand"
"American Bandstand," which featured teenagers dancing to Top 40 chart music hosted by Dick Clark, makes its network debut on ABC. The show had been running as a local show since it was introduced on Philadelphia television station WFIL-TV (Channel 6, now WPVI-TV) on October 7, 1952 and ran until the show ended in 1989.

Wham-O Company Begins production of the Pluto Platter / Frisbee
Wham-O begins begins production of the Pluto Platters ( Changed Name to "Frisbee" in June 57 ). following the name change sales rocketed as the Frisbee took off as a sport rather than the original marketing as a toy.

Mayflower Replica Sets Sail
A replica of the original Mayflower which transported Pilgrims to the New World Mayflower II recreating the original voyage sets sail from from Brixton, England, across the Atlantic arriving in Plymouth, Massachusetts on 13th June 1957.
The Mayflower II was an exact copy of the original with no engine which took 55 days to complete the journey, The Mayflower II is currently at Plimoth Plantation Museum at Plymouth, Massachusetts.

The Quarrymen
Paul McCartney meets John Lennon at a Quarrymen gig in June and Lennon invites McCartney to join the group. McCartney makes his debut with the group in October at a local Conservative Club social in Liverpool. In January 1958 they played their first gig at the The Cavern as the Quarrymen and by March a schoolfriend of Paul McCartney's George Harrison joins the group.
Following a fallout with other band members the Quarrymen slowly disintegrated but by 1960 John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison, Stuart Sutcliffe, and Pete Best, had formed The Beatles for their first performances in Hamburg in August 1960.

In 1962 following the death of Stuart Sutcliffe and the dismissal of Pete Best they bought in Ringo Starr as the drummer which became the lineup for The Beatles who are considered one of the most commercially successful and critically acclaimed bands in the history of popular music.

Singapore Gets Self Rule
Ghana a former british Colony gains independence from Britain in 1957

House for Un-American Activities Committee
The House for Un-American Activities Committee (HUAC) convicts the playwright Arthur Miller of contempt of Congress for refusing to reveal the names of alleged Communist writers with whom he had attended five or six meetings in New York.

Countries Begin Testing The H Bomb
Britain and Russia begin tests on the first hydrogen bombs, and the arms race between countries around the world continues to escalate as each country tests bigger and more destructive nuclear devices.

Ghana Gains Independence
The British government allows the island colony of Singapore to govern itself under a new constitution agreed in London. Great Britain will continue to control external affairs and defense.

Hurricane Audrey
Hurricane Audrey hits Gulf Coast which kills 390 people. Water on the coast reached as high as 15 feet above the normal high-tide mark. Boats were washed ashore by the tremendous waves. The towns of Cameron, Creole and Grand Chenier were devastated by the hurricane. Only one building survived in Creole and only two were left standing in Cameron.

Suez Canal reopened
The Suez Canal which connects the Mediterranean and the Red Sea is reopened to international traffic by Egypt after Israel withdraws from occupied Egyptian territory

The Year 1957 In Focus
Car Fins on American Cars Get Bigger Every Week

First space satellite Sputnik 1 launched By Russia

Kids Played With Slinkys and Hula Hoops ( 50 years later and they still entrance kids

The First Nuclear Electricity Comes From Plant in Pennsylvania

The Suez canal Re-opens

The Peak of The Baby Boomer Years as more couples find housing, jobs and peace they set about having children

Treaty Of Rome EEC Is Formed

Nationwide resistance to racial segregation and discrimination in the US

Cars found for sale in 57
Hudson Hornet
Jaguar XK140
Dodge Pickup
Buick Century
Nash Airflyte
Cadillac Coupe De Ville
Ford Country Sedan
Chevrolet Corvette
Ford Thunderbird
Nash Ambassador


Music
The Start of The Beatnik Era
Little Richard
Elvis Presley
Dean Martin
The Platters


Movies
Twelve Angry Men
The Bridge Over the River Kwai
The Ten Commandments
Jailhouse Rock


Prices in 1957

New House Average Price $12,220

Wages Average $4.550

Gallon of Gas 24 Cents

Chrome Dinette Set 7 piece $99.50

Mechanical Adding Machine $3.98

Paperback Book 25 cents

Food
Dozen Eggs 28 Cents

Bananas 14 cents Lb

Campbells Tomato Soup 10 cents

Hamburger Meat 30 Cents Lb

Sirloin Steak 59 Cents Lb


Cars
Ford Fairline From $2,250

Packard Clipper From $2,730

Renault From $1,780

Nash Ambassador From $2,586


Clothes
Mens All Wool Suits $28.90

Boys Leather Jacket $4.88

Denim Jeans $2.49

Electrical
GE portable food mixer $18.95

Steam iron $9.99

Automatic Washer and Dryer $320

Philco Black and White TV 20 inches $229.95

From Our This Year In History 1957

Radar Devices Used To Enforce Speed Limits
More Police forces throughout the United States are to buy and use a greater number of portable speed radar checking devices to enforce speed limits

East German Visas Required
In an attempt to push the West to recognize them, East Germany ruled that travellers to their territory had to possess East German visas instead of Soviet ones. This law was imposed on diplomats and travellers from Allied countries.

Foot and Mouth epidemic
The Foot and Mouth epidemic in Britain reaches an all time high as the Norths largest abattoir is closed down due to 20 cases of foot-and-mouth disease found in carcasses. All remaining cattle, sheep and pigs at the abattoir will now be slaughtered under supervision of Ministry of Agriculture vets. In it's battle against the disease Over 30,000 animals have been slaughtered so far during this epidemic.

First US Commercial Nuclear Power Plant
The US first large scale civilian atomic power plant at Shippingport, Pa., starts generating electricity for consumers in the Pittsburgh area

Elvis Presley Receives Draft Notice
Elvis Presley receives his draft notice for the United States Army on December 20th.

Toyota Begins Selling Cars In US
In 1957 Toyota started selling the Toyopet Crown and sold 288 that year

In August this year Toyota sold 233,471 units

In just 50 years who would have thought it, I can remember my parents telling me all Japanese cars were built like cr?? when I was a kid now people buy Japanese cars because of the high quality

Windscale Nuclear Power Plant Accident
Part of the radioactive core at pile 1 at Windscale Nuclear Plant in West Cumbria used to make to make weapons-grade plutonium cathches fire and as there had never been a similar experience it was a best guess as to how to distinguish the fire, but a combination of water pumped in to the reactor and turning off the air supply to the reactor worked. The combination of a lack of oxygen and gallons of water did the trick and the fire was eventually put out.
The fire caused the release of substantial amounts of radioactive contamination into the surrounding area and the event, known as the Windscale fire, was the world's worst reactor accident until the Three Mile Island accident in 1979.

An inquiry into a fire on October 10th at Windscale nuclear power plant blames the accident on a combination of human error, poor management and faulty instruments.

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