World Events and News during Berkoff's Life By frankieandsean Aug 3, 1937 Steven Berkoff is born Sep 3, 1939 World War II Begins Jun 6, 1944 D-Day Apr 30, 1945 Hitler Commits Suicide and Germans Surrender Jan 1, 1948 The Big Bang Theory is formulated Apr 4, 1949 NATO established Jun 2, 1953 Princess Elizabeth crowned as Queen Apr 15, 1955 McDonalds is founded Sep 17, 1955 Disneyland Opened Sep 30, 1955 James Dean dies in a car accident Dec 1, 1955 Rosa Parks refuses to give up her seat on a bus Apr 14, 1956 Brecht dies Oct 4, 1957 Space Race begins Sputnik launches the space race Oct 1, 1958 NASA is founded Dec 9, 1960 Coronation Street first aired Aug 13, 1961 Berlin Wall Built Aug 24, 1961 First person killed trying to cross the Berlin Wall- Gunter Liftin He was 24 years old and was shot by police, near the railway station of Berlin Friedrichstrasse, when he tried to get into the West. Aug 5, 1962 Marilyn Monroe dies Aug 28, 1963 Matin Luther King "I had a dream" speech Jul 30, 1966 England win World Cup Dec 17, 1967 Australian Prime Minister- Harold Holt- disappears Jul 21, 1969 Neill Armstrong becomes the first man on the moon Dec 31, 1970 The Beatles break up Sep 6, 1972 Munich Massacre at the Olympics Apr 30, 1973 U.S. pulls out of Vietnam War Apr 4, 1975 Microsoft Founded Aug 16, 1977 Elvis Presley found dead May 4, 1979 Margaret Thatcher becomes first female Prime Minister of Engand Dec 11, 1979 Mother Theresa wins Nobel Peace Prize Apr 2, 1982 The Falkland Islands are invaded Jun 11, 1982 E.T. released Jan 1, 1987 Metamorphosis aired as a TV film on BBC Jul 11, 1989 Laurence Olivier dies (one of Berkoffs influences) Nov 9, 1989 Berlin Wall Demolished Feb 11, 1990 Mandela freed from life imprisonment May 10, 1994 Mandela voted President of South Africa Sep 6, 1994 Sean Reilly is born Sep 22, 1994 Friends is aired Feb 24, 1995 Frankie Chilvers is born Aug 31, 1997 Princess Diana dies in Paris Sep 11, 2001 9/11 bombings Mar 19, 2003 Iraq War starts- causes global protests. Aug 5, 2003 McFLY formed Oct 28, 2003 Facebook is created by Mark Zuckerburg Dec 26, 2004 Tsunami in Asia Jul 7, 2005 7/7 bombings in London Nov 5, 2008 Barack Obama becomes first black American President May 2, 2011 Osama Bin Laden announced dead