December 1953

* December 1 - Hugh Hefner publishes the first issue of Playboy Magazine
* December 2 – The United Kingdom and Iran reform diplomatic relations (again?! Do we never learn?)
* December 6 – With the NBC Symphony Orchestra, conductor Arturo Toscanini performs what he claims is his favorite Beethoven symphony, Eroica, for the last time. The live performance is broadcast nationwide on radio, and later released on records and CD.
* December 7 - A Visit to Iran by American Vice President Richard Nixon sparks several days of riots. Three students are shot dead by police in Tehran. This event would become an annual commemoration.
* December 8 – U.S. president Dwight D. Eisenhower delivers his Atoms for Peace address to the UN General Assembly in New York City.
* December 10 – Albert Schweitzer is given the 1952 Nobel Peace Prize.
* December 17 – The Federal Communications Commission approves color television.
* December 23 – The Soviet Union announces officially that Lavrenti Beria has been executed.
* December 24 – Tangiwai disaster: A railway bridge collapses at Tangiwai, New Zealand, sending a fully loaded passenger train into the Whangaehu River; 151 are killed.
* December 25 – Amami Islands are returned to Japan after 8 years of United States Military occupation.
* December 26 - Hugh Merrow-Smith marries Margaret Morgan in Oxford.
* December 30 – The first color television sets go on sale in the US for about $1,175 (American dollars).

Hey, what a month!

Happy anniversary