Timeline January 1959

Events in January 1959 17

• 1881 – 1959 Cecil B. DeMille (1881-1959) Died 21 January 1959, aged 77 DeMille was a pioneering Hollywood director and producer whose epics included The Ten Commandments and The Greatest Show on Earth. He was a co-founder of the studio that became Paramount Pictures. His grand, spectacle-driven style helped define early American cinema.
• 1929 – 1959 Mike Hawthorn The Bow Tie Driver 1958 World Champion and Britain’s first-ever F1 champion.
• 1959 Australian Open 1959 Men: Alex Olmedo · Women: Mary Carter Reitano
• 1959 1959: Jack Brabham Cooper Australian Brabham won the first of his three titles in the revolutionary rear-engined Cooper, famously pushing his car across the finish line at the season finale at Sebring after running out of fuel.
• 1959 – 2026 Abdul Ahad Mohmand (1959-2026) Died 21 June 2026, aged 67 Afghan pilot and cosmonaut, the first Afghan citizen to travel into space.
• 1959 – 1963 Art Blakey's Jazz Messengers Joined Art Blakey's hard-bop Jazz Messengers in 1959, becoming the group's principal composer and musical director during a five-year tenure.
• 1959 Cuban Revolution triumphs Batista flees, Castro's rebels seize power Fulgencio Batista fled Cuba as Fidel Castro's rebel forces advanced on Havana. Castro's 26th of July Movement took control of the government within days, ending Batista's dictatorship. The revolution set Cuba on a path toward a Marxist-Leninist state allied with the Soviet Union.
• 1959 First Marriage and Beauty Titles Married high school sweetheart James Welch, taking his surname. Had already won several teen beauty titles including Miss Photogenic and Miss La Jolla.
• 1959 First New York Solo Show: Infinity Nets Held her first solo exhibition in New York at the Brata Gallery, showing a series of enormous white net paintings — canvases sometimes over 30 feet long, entirely covered in a hypnotic sequence of tiny loops. Donald Judd reviewed the show enthusiastically; both Judd and Frank Stella bought paintings.
• 1959 First prison concert San Quentin, New Year's Day Performed his first prison concert at San Quentin State Prison on New Year's Day — among the inmates that day was a young Merle Haggard, who later credited the performance as inspiring his own music career. It began a lifelong tradition of prison concerts.
• 1959 – 1963 Kyoto University Studied chemistry at Kyoto University, graduating with a BS in 1963. In his senior year, became fascinated with the molecular biology revolution and the molecules of life.
• 1959 Moved to London Moved to London, where he appeared in West End shows including Oliver! The move would shape his international career.
• 1959 – 1963 National Theatre School of Canada Studied at the National Theatre School of Canada, graduating in 1963 with a BFA. Joined the Crest Theatre repertory company in Toronto, performing live theatre.
• 1959 – 1968 Nine-Year Courtship with Sonja Haraldsen Began a relationship with Sonja Haraldsen, a commoner and the daughter of a clothing merchant. King Olav and the government opposed the match for nine years, insisting he marry a woman of royal blood. Harald reportedly told his father he would never marry if he could not marry Sonja.
• 1959 Alaska becomes a U.S. state Admitted as the 49th state of the Union Alaska was formally admitted to the United States as its 49th state. The territory had been purchased from Russia in 1867 and pursued statehood for decades before Congress approved it. Its admission was followed months later by Hawaii.
• 1959 Charles de Gaulle inaugurated President of France Fifth French Republic begins Charles de Gaulle was sworn in as the first President of France's Fifth Republic, under a new constitution granting the presidency greater power. His inauguration ended years of political instability under the Fourth Republic. De Gaulle would lead France for the next decade.
• 1959 Berry Gordy founds Tamla Records Label that grew into Motown launches in Detroit Berry Gordy founded Tamla Records in Detroit with an $800 loan from his family. The label, soon operating alongside its sister label Motown, became a dominant force in American popular music through the 1960s. It launched the careers of artists including Smokey Robinson and The Miracles.