| STATEHOOD | Hawaii achieved it in 1959 |
| EXILE | The Dalai Lama went into it in 1959 |
| SERENASLAM | Tennis feat named for the athlete who achieved it in 2003 and 2015 |
| EGOT | *Acronym that spiked in usage in February, when Viola Davis achieved it by winning a Grammy |
| ABOLITION | Wilberforce achieved it, changing oil in boat |
| RETICULE | Cruel, tie that's achieved, it being in the bag (8) |
| NAGOYA | A castle in which Japanese city was built in 1612, destroyed in 1945, and rebuilt in 1959? (6) |
| CONANOBRIEN | Late night host who filmed in Cuba in 2015, the first to do so since Jack Paar in 1959 |
| VISA | Debuting as Bank-Americard in California in 1959, what was it later named? (4) |
| ISLAND | ___ Records, founded in Jamaica in 1959 (6) |
| ALASKA | It became the 49th US state in 1959 (6) |
| SKOL | Danish beer brand that originated in Scotland in 1959 |
| DETOMASO | Italian car-manufacturing company founded in Modena in 1959 |
| ORPHEUS | Palme d'Or winner in 1959, this Brazilian film retold the myth of Eurydice in the favelas of Rio, Bl |
| BUDDY | Mr. Holly, singer/songwriter who died in a plane crash in 1959 (5) |
| JUKEBOXJURY | BBC programme which started in 1959 in which a celebrity panel reviewed new record releases (4,3,4) |
| HOLLY | US songwriter killed in plane crash in 1959 (5,5) |
| BIKEL | Theodore ?, folk singer-actor who created the role of Captain Georg von Trapp in The Sound of Music on Broadway in 1959 (5) |
| MILES | Bernard ?, actor who opened the Mermaid Theatre in London in 1959 (5) |
| TITUSALONE | Novel by Mervyn Peake published in 1959 and the fourth in his Gormenghast series (5,5) |
