1953 - The year the 21st Century began

I was born on Thursday, February 12, 1953 in Wadi Sir, Amman, Jordan.

And my full name is Nabil Mohammed Moses Maher Shaban Tatar Naghawei....and as Michael Caine would say "Not many people know that."

Top News Headlines on the Day I was born:
Feb 12 - USSR breaks relations with Israel

Other famous people with the same birthday as me, February 12:

1809 - Abraham Lincoln,
Hodgenville KY, (R) 16th President (1861-65)

1809 - Charles Darwin ,
Shrewsbury England, discovered evolution (Origin of species)

1915 - Lorne Greene, Ottawa Canada, actor in "Bonanza", the first Western I ever saw on TV.
1926 - Paul Hamlyn , English publisher/multi-millionaire (Octopus). His books helped teach me all about Astronomy, Zoology, Fossils etc
1933 - Costa-Gavras , film director of "Z" (1969),
"Missing" (1982), "Betrayed" (1988), "The Music Box" (1989), "Mad City" (1997)
1941 - Naomi Uemura , mountain climber (1st Japanese to scale Everest)

Unfortunately, for the cheated British electorate and innocent killed and maimed men, women and children of Iraq..... Tony Blair, future "war-mongering" Prime Minister, was born in my year, on 6 May 1953.

However, "Toady" Blair was only following in the footsteps of his mentor, Margaret Thatcher , the most destructive Prime Minister, Britain ever had in recent history, and 1953 was also a dark year as the future Iron Lady began her evil climb up the greasy pole when she wins the London seat of Finchley.

What an evil looking woman!

Since both Thatcher and Blair have sold Britain to the United States, making us the 53rd state.....

Reagan and Thatcher - "Tell the CIA not to worry, Ronnie. The Euro-sceptics will preserve our Special Relationship"

Blair and Bush - the Laurel and Hardy of the Military-Industrial Empire

....it is now us Brits' patriotic duty to know who in 1953 was US President -
Yep, in the year I was born it was Gen. Dwight D. Eisenhower (otherwise known as "Ike")
inaugurated President in Jan. 20.

"Every gun that is made, every warship launched, every rocket fired signifies, in the final sense, a theft from those who hunger and are not fed, those who are cold and are not clothed. The world in arms is not spending money alone. It is spending the sweat of its laborers, the genius of its scientists, the hopes of its children... This is not a way of life at all, in any true sense. Under the cloud of threatening war, it is humanity hanging from a cross of iron." -- Dwight D. Eisenhower, April 16, 1953

The US Vice President was Richard M. Nixon (otherwise known as "Tricky Dickie")

In 1953 the Prime Minister of Great Britain was Harold Macmillan, Tory

...and the Leader of the Opposition was Clement Atlee, Labour

1953 Man of the Year:
Konrad Adenauer

The coronation of Queen Elizabeth II on 2 June 1953.

The floods of 1953

England: East Coast Floods 1953 During Saturday 31st January 1953, freak winds drove a storm tide surge down the North Sea.
By evening this had reached the East coast of England where sea defences were over-topped and damaged by the huge waves. Breaches occurred in 1200 places resulting in disastrous floods and one of the worst peace-time disasters ever - comparable only to some of the heaviest nights of the blitz.
The damage was high - 307 people died, 24,000 homes were damaged or destroyed, over 30,000 people were evacuated.

And in my month of February, 1953 is in Dutch history the disaster year, where floods of national disaster proportions strike the lowlands.

World Events
East Berliners rise against Communist rule; quelled by tanks (June 17).
Korean armistice signed (July 27).
Moscow announces explosion of hydrogen bomb (Aug. 20).
Tito becomes president of Yugoslavia.
Julius and Ethel Rosenberg (the so-called "Atom Spies"), executed in Sing Sing prison (June 19).
Personally, the Rosenbergs did the world a favour. Had America continued to be the only country with nuclear weapons, we would all be dead by now.
Alleged Communist Charlie Chaplin leaves U.S. for good. Justice Dept. warns him any attempt to re-enter the country will be challenged.
Egypt becomes a republic (June 18).

Edmund Hillary of New Zealand and Tenzing Norgay of Nepal reach the top of Mt. Everest (May 29).

First successful open-heart surgery is performed in Philadelphia.

The year 1953 could be said to mark, in biology at least, the end of history. Rosalind Franklin (England), Francis Crick (England), and James Watson (US) discover the double-helical structure of DNA, paving the way for genetic engineering and genetic cleansing .

Lunar Crash of 1953:
Earth's Moon was on the receiving end of an asteroid-sized body that slammed into the lunar surface.

Famous People who Died in 1953:

Joseph Stalin dies (March 5), the Dictator Mass Murderer
who gave Communism a bad name

Harry S. Truman, the thirty-third President of the United States (1945-1953)

Sergey Prokofiev (1891 - 1953) , Russian composer. His death in 1953, on the same day as Stalin, deprived him of the enjoyment of the subsequent relaxation in musical censorship that then took place.

Edwin Hubble 1889-1953, astronomer

Dylan Thomas 1914-1953, poet

Eugene O'Neill (1888-1953), Irish playwrite

Queen Mary

However, it wasn't all doom and gloom in 1953...at least not for boys and men who needed masturbation material - Playboy magazine hits news-stands. A nude Marilyn Monroe graces the cover.

Click on Image for bigger Picture

1953 Prices in Yankland
(sorry I don't have data for UK.
Unfortunately, 90% of info on the Internet is Yank dominated)

Bread: $0.16/loaf
Milk: $0.94/gal
Eggs: $0.75/doz
Car: $1,850
Gas: $0.29/gal
House: $17,400
Stamp: $0.03/ea
Avg Income: $4,706/yr
Min Wage: $0.75/hr
DOW Avg: 281

Hot New Toys in 1953
Plastic Army Men first arrived in 1953
(Maybe this synchronicity with Tony Blair's birth is why he still likes playing with soldiers.
Hmmm, but I was also born in 1953. Well, lucky, I'm not Prime Minister)

These other toys were still very popular in 1953.
View-Master
Matchbox Cars
Monopoly (1949)
Legos

Top Books in 1953
British Publications of the year

Ian Fleming Casino Royale, first of the Bond novels

L. P. Hartley The Go-between

Enid Blyton Go Ahead, Secret Seven (1953)

William Burroughs, Junkie
Ann Nolan Clark Secret of the Andes
Meyer Howard Abrams The Mirror and the Lamp
James Baldwin Go Tell It on the Mountain
Saul Bellow The Adventures of Augie March

Whilest these recent books were still very popular
Invisible Man (1952) by Ralph Ellison
The Circus of Adventure (1952) by Enid Blyton
From Here to Eternity (1951) by James Jones
The Catcher in the Rye (1951) by J. D. Salinger
Noddy (1949) by Enid Blyton
1984 (1948) by George Orwell

The Nobel Prize in Literature 1953.
Sir Winston Leonard Spencer Churchill. United Kingdom. b. 1874 d. 1965.
"....for his mastery of historical and biographical description as well as for brilliant oratory in defending exalted human values"

Emmy Award for Best Play: The Crucible by Arthur Miller

Pulitzer Prizes: Fiction: The Old Man and the Sea by Ernest Hemingway

Top Songs for 1953
Rags to Riches by Tony Bennett
St. George and the Dragonet by Stan Freberg
The Doggie In the Window by Patti Page
Song from Moulin Rouge by Percy Faith
Don't Let the Stars Get In Your Eyes by Perry Como

Greatest Films of 1953
Academy Award Winners Best Picture: From Here To Eternity Directed By Fred Zinnemann
Best Actor: William Holden in Stalag 17
Best Actress: Audrey Hepburn in Roman Holiday

Other popular films of 1953
The Band Wagon (1953), D: Vincente Minnelli
The Beast From 20,000 Fathoms
The Big Heat (1953), D: Fritz Lang
Calamity Jane
The Cruel Sea
Gentlemen Prefer Blondes
House of Wax (1953), D: Andre de Toth
Julius Caesar (1953), D: Joseph L. Mankiewicz
Kiss Me Kate
Knights of the Round Table
The Naked Spur (1953), D: Anthony Mann
Niagara (1953), D: Henry Hathaway
Peter Pan
Walt Disney The Robe (1953), D: Henry Koster
Shane (1953), D: George Stevens
Titanic (1953), D: Jean Negulesco
The Titfield Thunderbolt
The Wild One (1953), D: Laslo Benedek

1953 continued the "Cold War" inspired taste for "bug-eyed" alien movies.
War of the Worlds (1953), D: Byron Haskin
Invaders From Mars (1953)
It Came From Outer Space

UFO Sightings in 1953 http://www.bibleufo.com/ufos912.htm

One final note:

Did you know, according to Buddhist traditions, 12th February is or will be the Birthday of Maitreya (Mi Lo Fwo), the coming Buddha, or next Buddha-to-be (Mahayana) - - If you think I've made this up, check out this site; http://www.zip.com.au/~lyallg/BudFestival2002.htm

Email me at jinghiz53@yahoo.com in the meantime.
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