1954

Two of The Open's greatest legacies can be traced back to one week in 1954.

The 83rd Open represented the first time golf’s original championship was staged at Royal Birkdale. Since then no other venue aside from St Andrews has hosted more.

Those three days, from 7 to 9 July, also marked the start of Peter Thomson’s incredible era of dominance, the Australian winning the first of his five Claret Jugs, and the first in a sequence of four triumphs in five years. His stature as one of the game's finest ever champions is forever secure.

While 1954 was a year of firsts for The Open, huge stories were also being written elsewhere – particularly in the world of sport and entertainment.

Ahead the Championship’s return to Southport in July, we take a look at what was happening across the globe the year Birkdale made its Open debut.

Major winners in 1954

• The Open: Peter Thomson

• The US Open: Ed Furgol

• PGA Championship: Chick Harbert

• The Masters: Sam Snead

The world of sport in 1954

• Sam Snead is triumphant at The Masters for the third time, his seventh major.

• Roger Bannister runs the first four-minute mile at Iffley Road Track, Oxford.

• Both UEFA and the Asian Football Confederation were founded.

• West Germany win the FIFA World Cup with a 3-2 victory over Hungary in the final in Bern, Switzerland.

• Cleveland Browns are victorious in the NFL Championship Game – the precursor to the Super Bowl – to deny the Detroit Lions a three-peat.

Notable births in 1954

• Oprah Winfrey

• Matt Groening

• John Travolta

• David Wilkie

• Hollis Stacy

• Jerry Seinfeld

• Jackie Chan

• Bernard Hinault

• Ray Liotta

• Chris Evert

• Denzel Washington

• Annie Lennox

News and entertainment in 1954

• Marilyn Monroe and Joe DiMaggio are married at San Francisco City Hall.

• Elvis Presley’s first official recording session takes place in Memphis, Tennessee.

• The BBC broadcasts a televised news bulletin for the first time.

• Bill Haley & His Comets release No.1 hit Rock Around the Clock.

• The Fellowship of The Ring is published by J.R.R. Tolkien.

• Sports Illustrated magazine is published for the first time.

• The Tonight Show - the first late-night talk show - is aired on NBC.

• The electric drip brew coffee maker is patented in Germany.

• The Godzilla movie premieres in Tokyo.

• Burger King opens its first restaurant in Miami, Florida.