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Songs for Swingin' Lovers by Fank Sinatra. Order it now from Amazon.

Carousel - The original film soundtrack. Order it now from Amazon.

Oklahoma The original film soundtrack. Order it now from Amazon.

1956

This history starts with the creation of the British album chart in July 1956. Frank Sinatra's Songs for swinging lovers being the first number one.

The number one single at the time was Why do fools fall in love by The Teenagers featuring Frankie Lymon. The singles chart had only recently been increased to a Top 30 (in April 1956). Bill Haley and the Comets had a number one in November 1955 with Rock around the clock. Dickie Valentine's Christmas alphabet replaced it for three weeks over Christmas but by January Haley was back at number one. This was the year that Rock 'n' Roll took over the world.

The year was dominated by two big world stories - the Suez crisis and the uprising in Hungary.

Dwight D. Eisenhower was elected for a second term as president in the USA.

In sport, Jim Laker took 19 wickets in a test against Australia. Manchester took the honours in football - United champions, City won the FA Cup beating Birmingham City 3-1 in the final. The first ever European Cup was won by Real Madrid, beating Stade Reims in the final 4-3. In rugby league, St. Helens beat Halifax 13-2 to win the challenge cup in front of over 79,000 at Wembley. Hull were champions. The Olympics were held in Melbourne, Australia.

Celebrities born this year include actor Tom Hanks, actress Kim Cattrall, footballer Ray Wilkins, tennis player Martina Navratilova and novellist Patricia Cornwell.

On TV, you would have been watching Dixon of Dock Green on the BBC or the Crazy Gang and Robin Hood on the young ITV.

Around The World In Eighty Days (starring David Niven) , beating The king and I, The ten commandments and Giant. Yul Bryner won best actor for The king and I.