Events of 1966

January

• January 1 – In a coup, Colonel Jean-Bédel Bokassa takes over as military ruler of the Central African Republic, ousting President David Dacko.

• January 2 – A strike of public transportation workers in New York City begins (it will end January 13).

• January 3 – The first Acid Test is conducted at the Fillmore, San Francisco.

• January 4 – A military coup occurs in Upper Volta (later Burkina Faso).

• January 4 – The prime ministers of India and Pakistan meet in Moscow.

• January 4 – A gas leak fire at the Feyzin oil refinery near Lyon, France kills 18 and injures 84.

• January 10 – Pakistani-Indian peace negotiations end successfully in Tashkent.

• January 10 – The French paper L'Express publishes a story of Georges Figon, who took part in the kidnapping of Mehdi Ben Barka.

• January 11 – A conference on Rhodesia begins in Lagos, Nigeria.

• January 11 – The first SR-71 Blackbird spy plane goes into service at Beale AFB.

• January 12 – United States President Lyndon Johnson states that the United States should stay in South Vietnam until Communist aggression there is ended.

• January 13 – Robert C. Weaver becomes the first African American Cabinet member, by being appointed United States Secretary of Housing and Urban Development.

• January 15 – A bloody military coup is staged in Nigeria, deposing the civilian government.

• January 17 – The Nigerian coup is overturned by another faction of the military, leaving a military government in power. This is the beginning of a long period of military rule.

• January 17 – A B-52 bomber collides with a KC-135 Stratotanker over Spain, dropping three 70-kiloton hydrogen bombs near the town of Palomares, and 1 into the sea, in the 1966 Palomares B-52 crash.

• January 17 – Carl Brashear, the first African American United States Navy diver, is involved in an accident during the recovery of a lost H-bomb which results in the amputation of his leg.

• January 18 – French police announce that Georges Figon has committed suicide, prior to his arrest for the kidnapping of Mehdi Ben Barka.

• January 18 – About 8,000 U.S. soldiers land in South Vietnam; U.S. troops now total 190,000.

• January 19 – Indira Gandhi is elected Prime Minister of India; she is sworn in January 24.

• January 20 – Demonstrations occur against high food prices in Hungary.

• January 21 – Italian Prime Minister Aldo Moro resigns due to a power struggle in his party.

• January 22 – The military government of Nigeria announces that ex-prime minister Abubakar Tafawa Balewa was killed during the coup.

• January 22 – The Chadian Muslim insurgent group FROLINAT is founded in Sudan, starting the Chadian Civil War.

• January 24 – Air India Flight 101 crashes at Mont Blanc kills 117, including Dr. Homi J. Bhabha, chairman Indian Atomic Energy Commission.

• January 26 – Harold Holt becomes Prime Minister of Australia when Robert Menzies retires.

• January 26 – Beaumont children disappearance: Three children disappear on their way to Glenelg, South Australia, never to be seen again.

• January 27 – The British government promises the U.S. that British troops in Malaysia will stay until more peaceful conditions occur in the region.

• January 29 – The first of 608 performances of Sweet Charity opens at the Palace Theatre in New York City.

• January 31 – The United Kingdom ceases all trade with Rhodesia.

February

• February 1 – West Germany procures some 2,600 political prisoners from East Germany.

• February 3 – The unmanned Soviet Luna 9 spacecraft makes the first controlled rocket-assisted landing on the Moon.

• February 4 – All Nippon Airways Flight 60 plunges into Tokyo Bay; 133 are killed.

• February 6 – Fidel Castro blames China for spreading anti-Soviet propaganda among Cuban soldiers.

• February 8 – The National Hockey League awarded Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania with a second NHL franchise, the Pittsburgh Penguins.

• February 10 – Soviet writers Yuli Daniel and Andrei Sinyavsky are sentenced to 5 and 7 years, respectively, for 'anti-Soviet' writings.

• February 11 – The Belgian government resigns.

• February 14 – The Australian dollar is introduced at a rate of 2 dollars per pound, or 10 shillings per dollar.

• February 19 – The naval minister of the United Kingdom, Christopher Mayhew, resigns.

• February 20 – While Soviet author and translator Valery Tarsis is abroad, the Soviet Union negates his citizenship.

• February 23 – A military coup in Syria replaces the previous government with a Ba'athist regime.

• February 24 – A military coup in Ghana raises sacked General Ankrah to power while president Kwame Nkrumah is abroad.

• February 26 – A curfew is declared in Jakarta, Indonesia.

• February 28 – U.S. astronauts Charles Bassett and Elliott See are killed in an aircraft accident in St. Louis, Missouri.

March

• March 1 – Soviet space probe Venera 3 crashes on Venus, becoming the first spacecraft to land on another planet's surface.

• March 1 – The Ba'ath Party takes power in Syria.

• March 2 – Kwame Nkrumah arrives in Guinea and is granted asylum.

• March 4 – The Beatles: In an interview published in The London Evening Standard, John Lennon comments, "We're more popular than Jesus now," eventually sparking a controversy in the United States.

• March 4 – Canadian Pacific Airlines Flight 402 crashes while landing at Tokyo International Airport in Japan, killing 64 of 72 persons on board.

• March 5 – A massive theft of nuclear materials is revealed in Brazil.

• March 5 – Merci Chérie by Udo Jürgens (music by Udo Jürgens, text by Udo Jürgens and Thomas Hörbiger) wins the Eurovision Song Contest 1966 for Austria.

• March 7 – Charles De Gaulle asks U.S. President Lyndon B. Johnson for negotiations about the state of NATO equipment in France.

• March 8 – Anti-communist demonstrations occur at the Indonesian Foreign Ministry.

• March 8 – Vietnam War: U.S. announces it will substantially increase its number of troops in Vietnam.

• March 8 – An Irish Republican Army bomb destroys Nelson's Pillar in Dublin.

• March 9 – Ronnie Kray murders George Cornell in East London's Blind Beggar pub, a crime for which he is finally convicted in 1969.

• March 10 – Crown Princess Beatrix of the Netherlands marries Claus von Amsberg. Some spectators demonstrate against the groom because he is German.

• March 11 – Indonesian President Sukarno gives all executive powers to General Suharto (see Transition to the New Order and Supersemar).

• March 11 – French President Charles De Gaulle states that French troops will be taken out of NATO and that all French NATO bases and HQ's must be closed within a year.

• March 12 – Bobby Hull of the Chicago Blackhawks sets the NHL single season scoring record against the New York Rangers, with his 51st goal.

• March 16 – Gemini 8 (David Scott, Neil Armstrong) docks with an Agena target vehicle.

• March 17 – More anti-communist demonstrations occur in Indonesia.

• March 17 – Off the coast of Spain in the Mediterranean, the DSV Alvin submarine finds a missing American hydrogen bomb.

• March 19 – The Texas Western Miners defeat the Kentucky Wildcats with 5 African-American starters, ushering in desegregation in athletic recruiting.

• March 20 – The World Cup Trophy (the "Jules Rimet") is stolen at an exhibition; it is later found by a dog named "Pickles" and his owner David Corbett.

• March 22 – In Washington, D.C., General Motors President James M. Roche appears before a Senate subcommittee, and apologizes to consumer advocate Ralph Nader for the company's intimidation and harassment campaign against him.

• March 23 – Pope Paul VI and Arthur Michael Ramsey, the Archbishop of Canterbury, meet in Rome.

• March 26 – Demonstrations are held across the United States against the Vietnam War.

• March 27 – In South Vietnam, 20,000 Buddhists march in demonstrations against the policies of the military government.

• March 28 – Indira Gandhi visits Washington, D.C.

• March 29 – The 23rd Communist Party Conference is held in the Soviet Union; Leonid Brezhnev demands that U.S. troops leave Vietnam, and announces that Chinese-Soviet relations are not satisfying.

• March 31 – The Labour Party under Harold Wilson wins the British General Election.

• March 31 – The Soviet Union launches Luna 10, which later becomes the first space probe to enter orbit around the Moon.

April

• April 2 – The Indonesian army demands that the country rejoin the United Nations.

• April 3 – The first manmade object Luna 10 enters lunar orbit.

• April 7 – The United Kingdom asks the United Nations Security Council for authority to use force to stop oil tankers that violate the embargo against Rhodesia (authority is given April 10).

• April 8 – Buddhists in South Vietnam protest against the fact that the new government has not set a date for free elections.

• April 9 – Norwich City F.C. captain Barry Butler is killed in a car accident.

• April 13 – United States president Lyndon Johnson signs the 1966 Uniform Time Act, dealing with daylight saving time.

• April 14 – The South Vietnamese government promises free elections in 3–5 months.

• April 15 – An anti-Nasser conspiracy is exposed in Egypt.

• April 18 – China declares that it will stop economic aid to Indonesia.

• April 18 – The 38th Academy Awards ceremony is held.

• April 19 – Bobbi Gibb becomes the first woman to run the Boston Marathon.

• April 19 – Mexican singer Javier Solis dies from complications following gall bladder surgery.

• April 21 – An artificial heart is installed in the chest of Marcel DeRudder in a Houston, Texas hospital.

• April 21 – The opening of the Parliament of the United Kingdom is televised for the first time.

• April 21 – Haile Selassie visits Jamaica for the first time, meeting with Rastafarian leaders.

• April 21 – Ian Brady and Myra Hindley go on trial at Chester Crown Court, for the murders of 3 children who vanished between November 1963 and October 1965.

• April 27 – Pope Paul VI and Soviet Foreign Minister Andrei Gromyko meet in the Vatican (the first meeting between leaders of the Roman Catholic Church and the Soviet Union).

• April 28 – In Rhodesia, security forces kill 7 ZANLA men in combat; Chimurenga, the ZANU rebellion, begins.

• April 29 – U.S. troops in Vietnam total 250,000.

• April 30 – Regular hovercraft service begins over the English Channel (discontinued in 2000 due to the Channel Tunnel).

• April 30 – The Church of Satan is formed by Anton Szandor LaVey in San Francisco

• April 30 – Uniform daylight saving time is first observed in most parts of North America.

May

• May 1 – Floods occur on the Finnish coast.

• May 3 – Swinging Radio England and Britain Radio commence broadcasting on AM, with a combined potential 100,000 watts, from the same ship anchored off the south coast of England in international waters.

• May 4 – Fiat signs a contract with the Soviet government to build a car factory in the Soviet Union.

• May 5 – The Montreal Canadiens defeat the Detroit Red Wings to win the Stanley Cup.

• May 6 – The Moors Murderers trial ends with Ian Brady being found guilty on all 3 counts of murder and sentenced to 3 concurrent terms of life imprisonment. Myra Hindley is convicted on 2 counts of murder and of being an accessory in the third murder committed by Brady, and receives 2 concurrent terms of life imprisonment and a 7-year fixed term for being an accessory.

• May 12 – African members of the UN Security Council say that the British army should blockade Rhodesia.

• May 12 – The Busch Memorial Stadium opens in St Louis, Missouri.

• May 12 – Radio Peking claims that U.S. planes have shot down a Chinese plane over Yunnan (the U.S. denies the story the next day).

• May 14 – Turkey and Greece intend to start negotiations about the situation in Cyprus.

• May 15 – Indonesia asks Malaysia for peace negotiations.

• May 15 – The South Vietnamese army besieges Da Nang.

• May 15 – Tens of thousands of anti-war demonstrators again picket the White House, then rally at the Washington Monument.

• May 16 – The Communist Party of China issues the 'May 16 Notice', marking the beginning of the Cultural Revolution.

• May 16 – A seamen's strike is called in Britain.

• May 16 – The legendary album Pet Sounds by The Beach Boys is released.

• May 16 – Bob Dylan's seminal album, Blonde on Blonde is released in the U.S.

• May 16 – In New York City, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. makes his first public speech on the Vietnam War.

• May 19 – Gertrude Baniszewski is found guilty of murdering and torturing Sylvia Likens and is sentenced to life in prison. (she is released on parole in December 1985).

• May 24 – Ugandan army troops arrest Mutesa II of Buganda and occupy his palace.

• May 24 – The Nigerian government forbids all political activity in the country until January 17, 1969.

• May 25 – Explorer program: Explorer 32 is launched.

• May 25 – In St. Louis, Missouri, U.S. Vice-President Hubert Humphrey and U.S. Secretary of the Interior Stewart Udall dedicate the Gateway Arch, as part of the Jefferson National Expansion Memorial.

• May 26 – Guyana achieves independence.

• May 28 – Fidel Castro declares martial law in Cuba because of a possible U.S. attack.

• May 28 – The Indonesian and Malaysian governments declare that the Indonesian Confrontation is over (a treaty is signed on August 11).

• May 31 – The Philippines reestablishes diplomatic relations with Malaysia.

June

• June 1 – The final new episode of The Dick Van Dyke Show airs (the first episode aired on October 3, 1961).

• June 2 – Éamon de Valera is re-elected as Irish president.

• June 2 – Surveyor program: Surveyor 1 lands in Oceanus Procellarum on the Moon, becoming the first U.S. spacecraft to soft-land on another world.

• June 2 – Four former cabinet ministers are executed in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, for alleged involvement in a plot to kill Mobutu Sese Seko.

• June 3 – Joaquín Balaguer is elected president of the Dominican Republic.

• June 5 – Gemini 9: Gene Cernan completes the second U.S. spacewalk (2 hours, 7 minutes).

• June 6 – Civil rights activist James Meredith is shot while trying to march across Mississippi.

• June 8 – An XB-70 Valkyrie prototype is destroyed in a mid-air collision with a F-104 Starfighter chase plane during a photo shoot. NASA pilot Joseph A. Walker and USAF test pilot Carl Cross are both killed.

• June 8 – Topeka, Kansas is devastated by a tornado that registers as an "F5" on the Fujita Scale, the first to exceed US $100 million in damages. Sixteen people are killed, hundreds more injured, and thousands of homes damaged or destroyed.

• June 13 – Miranda v. Arizona: The Supreme Court of the United States rules that the police must inform suspects of their rights before questioning them.

• June 14 – The Vatican abolishes the Index Librorum Prohibitorum (index of banned books).

• June 17 – An Air France personnel strike begins.

• June 18 – CIA chief William Raborn resigns; Richard Helms becomes his successor.

• June 20 – French President Charles De Gaulle starts his visit to the Soviet Union.

• June 21 – Opposition leader Arthur Calwell is shot after attending a political meeting in Mosman, Sydney, Australia.

• June 28 – In Argentina, a junta deposes president Arturo Umberto Illia in a coup, and appoints General Juan Carlos Ongania to lead.

• June 29 – A sailors' strike, organised by the National Union of Seamen, ends in the United Kingdom.

• June 29 – Vietnam War: U.S. planes begin bombing Hanoi and Haiphong.

• June 30 – France formally leaves NATO.

• June 30 – The National Organization for Women (NOW) is founded in Washington, DC.

July

• July 1 – Joaquin Balaguer becomes president of the Dominican Republic.

• July 3 – Rene Barrientos is elected president of Bolivia.

• July 4 – North Vietnam declares general mobilization.

• July 4 – President Lyndon B. Johnson signs the Freedom of Information Act, which goes into effect the following year.

• July 6 – Malawi becomes a republic.

• July 7 – A Warsaw Pact conference ends with a promise to support North Vietnam.

• July 8 – King Mwambutsa IV Bangiriceng of Burundi is deposed by his son Ntare V, who is in turn deposed by prime minister Michel Micombero.

• July 11 – The 1966 FIFA World Cup begins in England.

• July 12 – Indira Gandhi visits Moscow.

• July 12 – Zambia threatens to leave the Commonwealth of Nations because of British peace overtures to Rhodesia.

• July 14 – Israeli and Syrian jet fighters clash over the Jordan River.

• July 14 – Richard Speck murders 8 student nurses in their Chicago dormitory. He is arrested on July 17.

• July 14 – Gwynfor Evans becomes member of Parliament for Carmarthen, the first Plaid Cymru MP in the UK.

• July 16 – British Prime Minister Harold Wilson flies to Moscow to try to start peace negotiations about the Vietnam War (the Soviet government refutes his ideas).

• July 18 – Gemini 10 (John Young, Michael Collins) is launched. After docking with an Agena target vehicle, the astronauts then set a world altitude record of 474 miles (763 km).

• July 18 – The Hough Riots break out in Cleveland, Ohio, the city's first race riot.

• July 19 – A Chinese delegate in the Netherlands, Liu en-Tsiu, is declared persona non grata because of the death of a Chinese engineer in unclear circumstances; there are claims that he was kidnapped and taken to the delegate's office.

• July 22 – The Chinese government declares Dutch delegate G. J. Jongejans persona non grata, but tells him not to leave the country before a group of Chinese engineers has left the Netherlands.

• July 23 – Katangese troops in Stanleyville, Congo, revolt for several weeks in support of the exiled minister Moise Tshombe.

• July 24 – U.N. Secretary General U Thant visits Moscow.

• July 26 – Lord Gardiner issues the Practice Statement in the House of Lords, stating that the House is not bound to follow its own previous precedent.

• July 28 – The U.S. announces that a Lockheed U-2 reconnaissance plane has disappeared over Cuba.

• July 29 – The Nigerian army rebels and executes head of state General Aguiyi-Ironsi.

• July 29 – Bob Dylan is injured in a motorcycle accident near his home in Woodstock, New York. He is not seen in public for over a year.

• July 30 – England beats West Germany 4–2 to win the 1966 FIFA World Cup at Wembley after extra time.

August

• August 1 – Sniper Charles Whitman kills 13 people and wounds 31 from atop the University of Texas at Austin Main Building tower, after earlier killing his wife and mother.

• August 1 – A military coup occurs in Nigeria; General Yakubu Gowon takes over.

• August 2 – The Spanish government forbids overflights of British military aircraft.

• August 5 – Martin Luther King Jr. leads a civil rights march in Chicago, during which he is struck by a rock thrown from an angry white mob.

• August 5 – Caesars Palace hotel and casino opens in Las Vegas.

• August 5 – The Beatles release the legendary Revolver album in the United Kingdom.

• August 6 – Braniff Airlines Flight 250 crashes in Falls City, Nebraska, killing all 42 on board.

• August 6 – Rene Barrientos takes office as the president of Bolivia.

• August 6 – The Salazar Bridge (now the 25 de Abril Bridge) opens in Lisbon, Portugal.

• August 7 – Race riots occur in Lansing, Michigan.

• August 10 – An East German court sentences Günter Laudahn to life imprisonment for spying for the United States.

• August 10 – Lunar Orbiter 1, the first U.S. spacecraft to orbit another world, is launched.

• August 11 – The Beatles hold a press conference in Chicago, during which John Lennon apologizes for his "more popular than Jesus" remark, saying, "I didn't mean it as a lousy anti-religious thing."

• August 12 – Massacre of Braybrook Street: Harry Roberts, John Duddy and Jack Witney shoot dead 3 plainclothes policemen in London; they are later sentenced to life imprisonment.

• August 13 – In the People's Republic of China, Mao Zedong begins the Cultural Revolution to purge and reorganize China's Communist Party.

• August 13 – An earthquake in Turkey kills 2,394 and injures 10,000.

• August 15 – Syrian and Israeli troops clash over Lake Kinneret (also known as the Sea of Galilee) for 3 hours.

• August 15 – It is announced that the New York Herald Tribune will not resume publication.

• August 16 – Vietnam War: The House Un-American Activities Committee starts investigating Americans who have aided the Viet Cong, with the intent to make these activities illegal. Anti-war demonstrators disrupt the meeting and 50 are arrested.

• August 17 – Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Republic begin negotiations in Kuwait to end the war in Yemen.

• August 18 – Vietnam War – Battle of Long Tan: D Company, 6th Battalion of the Royal Australian Regiment, meets and defeats a Viet Cong force estimated to be 4 times larger, at the in Phuoc Tuy Province, Republic of Vietnam.

• August 19 – An earthquake in eastern Turkey destroys whole cities.

• August 21 – Seven men are sentenced to death in Egypt, for anti-Nasser agitation.

• August 22 – The United Farm Workers Organizing Committee (UFWOC), predecessor of the United Farm Workers of America (UFW), is formed.

• August 24 – The Doors recorded self-titled debut LP.

• August 26 – Riots occur in French Somaliland.

• August 26 – First battle between the South African Defense Force and the armed wing of SWAPO - PLAN takes place at Ongulumbashe in Northern Namibia.

• August 29 – The Beatles play their very last concert at Candlestick Park in San Francisco, California.

• August 30 – France offers independence to French Somaliland.

September

• September 1 – United Nations Secretary-General U Thant declares that he will not seek re-election, because U.N. efforts in Vietnam have failed.

• September 1 – 98 British tourists die in an air crash in Ljubljana, Yugoslavia.

• September 6 – In Cape Town, the South African architect of Apartheid, Prime Minister Hendrik Verwoerd, is stabbed to death by Dimitri Tsafendas during a parliamentary meeting.

• September 8 – Star Trek, the classic science fiction television series, debuts with its first episode, titled "The Man Trap."

• September 9 – NATO decides to move SHAPE headquarters to Belgium.

• September 12 – Gemini 11 (Richard Gordon, Pete Conrad) docks with an Agena target vehicle.

• September 12 – Balthazar Johannes Vorster becomes the new South African Prime Minister.

• September 13 – TASS reports on clashes between the Chinese Communist Party and the Red Guards.

• September 16 – In South Vietnam, Thich Tri Quang ends a 100-day hunger strike.

• September 16 – The Metropolitan Opera House opens at Lincoln Center in New York City to the world premiere of Samuel Barber's opera, Antony and Cleopatra.

• September 18 – Valerie Percy, the 21-year-old daughter of Senator Charles H. Percy, is stabbed and bludgeoned to death in the family mansion on Chicago's North Shore.

• September 19 – Scotland Yard arrests Ronald Edwards, suspected of involvement in the Great Train Robbery.

• September 30 – Baldur von Schirach and Albert Speer are released from Spandau Prison.

• September 30 – Botswana achieves independence.

October

• October – Bobby Seale and Huey P. Newton found the Black Panther Party.

• October 1 – West Coast Airlines Flight 956 crashes with 18 fatal injuries and no survivors south of Wemme, Oregon. This accident marks the first loss of a DC-9.

• October 3 – Tunisia severs diplomatic relations with the United Arab Republic.

• October 4 – Israel applies for the outer membership of the EEC.

• October 4 – Basutoland becomes independent and takes the name Lesotho.

• October 5 – UNESCO signs the Recommendation Concerning the Status of Teachers. This event is now celebrated as World Teachers' Day.

• October 7 – The Soviet Union declares that all Chinese students must leave the country before the end of October.

• October 9 – The Baltimore Orioles defeat the Los Angeles Dodgers in Game 4 of the World Series, 1–0, to sweep the series for their 1st World Championship.

• October 11 – France and the Soviet Union sign a treaty for cooperation in nuclear research.

• October 14 – The city of Montreal inaugurates its metro system (see Montreal Metro).

• October 15 – U.S. President Lyndon B. Johnson signs a bill creating the United States Department of Transportation.

• October 15 – The U.S. Congress passes a bill for the creation of Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore.

• October 15 – ABC-TV telecasts a highly acclaimed 90-minute television adaptation of the musical Brigadoon, starring Robert Goulet, Peter Falk, and Sally Ann Howes. It wins many Emmy Awards and inaugurates a short-lived series of special television adaptations of famous Broadway musicals on ABC. Goulet stars in all but one of these specials.

• October 16 – Grace Slick performs live for the first time with Jefferson Airplane.

• October 17 – Lesotho and Botswana are admitted to the United Nations.

• October 21 – The Aberfan disaster occurs in South Wales, United Kingdom.

• October 21 – The AFL-NFL merger is approved by the U.S. Congress.

• October 22 – British spy George Blake escapes from Wormwood Scrubs prison; he is next seen in Moscow.

• October 22 – Spain demands that the United Kingdom stop military flights to Gibraltar; Britain refuses the next day.

• October 24 – Negotiations about the Vietnam War begin in Manila, Philippines.

• October 25 – A military court in Jakarta sentences ex-foreign minister Subandrio to death.

• October 25 – Spain closes its Gibraltar border to non-pedestrian traffic.

• October 26 – NATO moves its HQ from Paris to Brussels.

• October 27 – The United Nations takes Namibia from South Africa.

• October 29 – The Guinean delegation to the OAU meeting in Ethiopia, become hostages of the Ghanaian government in Accra.

November

• Jack L. Warner sells Warner Bros. Pictures to Seven Arts Productions, which eventually becomes Warner Bros.-Seven Arts.

• November 2 – The Cuban Adjustment Act comes into force, allowing 123,000 Cubans the opportunity to apply for permanent residence in the United States.

• November 4 – The Arno river floods Florence, damaging many art treasures.

• November 5 – Thirty-eight African states demand that the United Kingdom use force against the Rhodesian government.

• November 6 – Lunar Orbiter 2 is launched.

• November 8 – Former Massachusetts Attorney General Edward Brooke becomes the first African American elected to the United States Senate since Reconstruction.

• November 8 – Actor Ronald Reagan, a Republican, is elected Governor of California.

• November 9 – John Lennon meets Yoko Ono at the Indica Gallery.

• November 11 – A mine kills 3 Israeli paratroopers on the West Bank border.

• November 11 – Spain declares general amnesty for crimes committed during the Spanish Civil War (effective only for the Falangists' side).

• November 15 – Gemini 12 (James A. Lovell, Buzz Aldrin), splashes down safely in the Atlantic Ocean, 600 km east of the Bahamas.

• November 15 – Harry Maurice Roberts, who killed 3 policemen in August, is caught near London.

• November 15 – A Boeing 727 carrying Pan Am Flight 708 crashes near Berlin, Germany, killing all three people on board.

• November 16 – U.S. doctor Sam Sheppard is acquitted in his second trial for the murder of his pregnant wife in 1954.

• November 17 – The U.N. General Assembly decides to found the United Nations Industrial Development Organization.

• November 17 – A spectacular Leonid meteor shower passes over Arizona, at the rate of 2,300 a minute for 20 minutes.

• November 21 – In Togo, the army crushes an attempted coup.

• November 24 – The Beatles begin recording sessions for their landmark Sergeant Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band album.

• November 26 – In Vancouver, the Saskatchewan Roughriders defeat the Ottawa Rough Riders to win the 54th Grey Cup.

• November 27 – The Washington Redskins defeat the New York Giants 72–41 in the highest scoring game in NFL history.

• November 28 – Truman Capote's Black and White Ball ('The Party of the Century') is held in New York City.

• November 30 – Barbados achieves independence.

December

• December 1 – Kurt Georg Kiesinger is elected Chancellor of West Germany.

• December 1 – British Prime Minister Harold Wilson and Rhodesian Prime minister Ian Smith negotiate on the HMS Tiger in the Mediterranean.

• December 2 – U Thant agrees to serve a second term as U.N. Secretary General.

• December 3 – Anti-Portuguese demonstrations occur in Macau; a curfew is declared the next day.

• December 7 – Syria offers weapons to rebels in Jordan.

• December 7 – Barbados is admitted to the United Nations.

• December 8 – The Typaldos Line's ferry Heraklion sinks in rough seas, in the Aegean Sea near Crete, leaving 217 dead.

• December 15 – Walt Disney dies while producing The Jungle Book, the last animated feature under his personal supervision.

• December 16 – The U.N. Security Council approves an oil embargo against Rhodesia.

• December 16 – The International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights and the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights are adopted by the General Assembly, as Resolution 2200 A (XXI).

• December 17 – South Africa does not join the trade embargo against Rhodesia.

• December 20 – Harold Wilson withdraws all his previous offers to the Rhodesian government, and announces that he will agree to independence only after the founding of a Black majority government.

• December 22 – Prime Minister Ian Smith declares that Rhodesia is already a republic.

• December 18 – How the Grinch Stole Christmas, narrated by Boris Karloff, is shown for the first time on CBS, becoming an annual Christmas tradition.

• December 26 – The first Kwanzaa is celebrated by Maulana Karenga, founder of Organization US (a black nationalist group) and later chair of Black Studies, at California State University, Long Beach from 1989 to 2002.

• December 31 – East German Premier Walter Ulbricht discusses negotiations about German reunification.

• December 31 – Thieves steal millions' worth of paintings from the Dulwich Art Gallery in London.

• December 31 – The Congolese government takes over the Union Minière du Haut Katanga.

Undated

• Konstantin Chernenko, later leader of the Soviet Union, becomes a candidate member of the Central Committee.

• Paramount Pictures Corporation becomes a wholly owned subsidiary of Gulf+Western Industries, Inc.

• The Surrealist Movement in the United States is founded by Franklin and Penelope Rosemont.

• Lise Meitner and Otto Hahn are awarded the Fermi Prize.

• The Congress of the United States creates the National Council for Marine Resources and Engineering Development.

• Martin Richards designs the BCPL programming language.

• The DKW automobile goes out of production.

• The World Buddhist Sangha Council is convened by Theravadins in Sri Lanka, with the hope of bridging differences and working together.

• Long-term potentiation (LTP), the putative cellular mechanism of learning and memory, is first observed by Terje Lømo in Oslo, Norway.

Ongoing

• First Sudanese Civil War (1955–72)

• Guatemalan Civil War (1960–96)

• Indochina Wars

• Indonesia-Malaysia confrontation (1962–76)

• Laotian Civil War (1962–75)

• North Yemen Civil War (1962–70)

• Portuguese Colonial War (1961–74)

• Shifta War (1963–67)

Births

January

• January 1 – Anna Burke, Australian politician and member for Chisholm in the House of Representatives

• January 1 – Crazy Legs, Puerto Rican breakdancer (Rock Steady Crew

• January 1 – Michael Imperioli, American actor

• January 3 – Martin Galway, Northern Irish composer

• January 4 – Deana Carter, American singer

• January 5 – Kate Schellenbach, American musician

• January 7 – Carolyn Bessette-Kennedy, American actress and model, wife of John F. Kennedy, Jr.
  (d. 1999)

• January 7 – Ehab Tawfik, Egyptian singer

• January 8 – Igor Vyazmikin, Russian ice hockey player

• January 12 – Rob Zombie, American rock musician, artist, and writer

• January 13 – Patrick Dempsey, American actor

• January 14 – Marco Hietala, Finnish rock bassist (Nightwish)

• January 17 – Shabba Ranks, Jamaican singer

• January 19 – Stefan Edberg, Swedish tennis player

• January 19 – Floris Jan Bovelander, Dutch field-hockey player

• January 20 – Stacey Dash, American actress

• January 20 – Tracii Guns, American guitarist

• January 21 – Wendy James, British rock singer (Transvision Vamp)

• January 22 – Jegath Gaspar Raj, Tamil Maiyam Founder

• January 24 – Jimeoin, Northern Irish-Australian comedian and actor

• January 29 – Romário, Brazilian footballer

• January 30 – Hans Tutschku, German composer

February

• February 1 – Michelle Akers, American footballer

• February 4 – Kyōko Koizumi, Japanese actress and singer

• February 5 – Jose Maria Olazabal, Spanish golfer

• February 6 – Rick Astley, British rock singer

• February 7 – Kristin Otto, German swimmer

• February 9 – Ellen van Langen, Dutch athlete

• February 10 – Daryl Johnston, American football player

• February 11 – Stephen Gregory, American actor

• February 18 – Richard A Collins, British scientist and author

• February 20 – Cindy Crawford, American model and actress

• February 22 – Rachel Dratch, American actress comedienne

• February 22 – Yahya Ayyash, Palestinian bombmaker

• February 22 – Brian Greig, Australian politician

• February 23 – Michael Arata, American actor

• February 24 – Billy Zane, American actor

• February 25 – Samson Kitur, Kenyan athlete

• February 25 – Tea Leoni, American actress

• February 26 – Najwa Karam, Lebanese singer

• February 27 – Alison Gertz, American AIDS activist (d. 1992)

March

• March 3 – Tone Lōc, American R&B musician

• March 4 – Daniela Amavia, American actress and international model

• March 4 – Kevin Johnson, American basketball player

• March 4 – Grand Puba, American rapper (Brand Nubian)

• March 4 – Patrick Hannan, English musician

• March 4 – Steve Bastoni, Australian actor

• March 4 – Dav Pilkey, American writer

• March 4 – Wash Westmoreland, British film director

• March 5 – Mark Z. Danielewski, American author

• March 5 – Michael Irvin, American football player

• March 6 – Maurice Ashley, American chess grandmaster

• March 6 – Yahya Ayyash, Palestinian terrorist (d. 1996)

• March 7 – Jeff Feagles, American football kicker

• March 7 – Atsushi Sakurai, Japanese singer (Buck-Tick)

• March 9 – Tony Lockett, Australian rules football

• March 9 – Michael Patrick MacDonald, American memorist

• March 10 – Edie Brickell, American singer

• March 10 – Mike Timlin, American baseball player

• March 16 – Rodney Peete, American football quarterback

• March 22 – Antonio Pinto, Portuguese long-distance runner

• March 25 – Tom Glavine, American baseball player

• March 25 – Jeff Healey, Canadian guitarist (d. 2008)

• March 25 – Anton Rogan, Northern Irish footballer

• March 29 – Krassimir Balakov, Bulgarian footballer

April

• April 1 – Chris Evans, British radio disc-jockey

• April 2 – Teddy Sheringham, British footballer

• April 3 – Miina Tominaga, Japanese seiyu (voice actress)

• April 4 – Riduan Isamuddin, Bali bombing suspect

• April 8 – Robin Wright Penn, American actress

• April 8 – Bobby Ologun, Nigerian television personality and martial artist

• April 11 – Dustin Rhodes, American professional wrestler

• April 11 – Lisa Stansfield, British soul singer

• April 13 – Ali Boumnijel, Tunisian footballer

• April 14 – David Justice, American baseball player

• April 14 – Greg Maddux, American baseball player

• April 14 – Lloyd Owen, British actor

• April 15 – Samantha Fox, British model and singer

• April 18 – Trine Hattestad, Norwegian athlete

• April 19 – El Samurai, Japanese professional wrestler

• April 20 – David Chalmers, Australian philosopher

• April 21 – Bubba the Love Sponge, American radio personality

• April 22 – Jeffrey Dean Morgan, American actor

• April 28 – John Daly, American golfer

• April 29 – Phil Tufnell, British cricketer

May

• May 1 – Anne Fletcher, American film director and choreographer

• May 3 – Firdous Bamji, Indian-American actor

• May 5 – Lyubov Yegorova, Russian cross-country skier

• May 6 – Andrea Chiesa, Swiss Formula One driver

• May 6 – Cindy Hsu, American Emmy-Award-winning anchor and reporter

• May 7 – Anderson Cummins, Canadian cricketer

• May 7 – Hill Harper, American film, television and stage actor

• May 7 – Jes Høgh, Danish footballer

• May 8 – Robert J. Behnen, American genealogist and a former member of the Missouri House of Representatives

• May 8 – Blag Dahlia, American musician, producer, and author

• May 8 – Rocko Schamoni, German entertainer, author, musician, club proprietor and member of the comedy ensemble Studio Braun

• May 8 – Kamil Kašťák, Czechoslovakian ice hockey player

• May 8 – Marta Sánchez, Spanish female vocalist, entertainer

• May 8 – Cláudio Taffarel, Brazilian goalkeeper

• May 10 – Mikael Andersson, Swedish ice hockey player

• May 10 – Frank T. Caprio, General Treasurer of Rhode Island

• May 10 – Wade Domínguez, American actor, model, singer and dancer (d. 1998)

• May 10 – Jonathan Edwards, British athlete

• May 10 – Anne Elvebakk, Norwegian biathlete

• May 10 – Genaro Hernandez, Mexican-American boxer

• May 11 – Christoph Schneider, German rock musician (Rammstein)

• May 12 – Stephen Baldwin, American actor

• May 12 – Bebel Gilberto, Brazilian popular singer

• May 13 – Nereus Acosta, Filipino politician, academician, and political scientist

• May 13 – Cheryl Dunye, Liberian-born film director, producer, screenwriter, editor and actress

• May 13 – Darius Rucker, American rock singer (Hootie & the Blowfish)

• May 13 – Alison Goldfrapp, English singer-songwriter

• May 13 – Jeffrey Scott Holland, American artist and musician

• May 16 – Juan Manuel Funes, Guatemalan footballer and coach

• May 16 – Janet Jackson, American singer

• May 16 – Thurman Thomas, American football player

• May 19 – Neil Campbell, British musician

• May 19 – Sophia Crawford, actress, stuntwoman and martial artist

• May 20 – Mindy Cohn, American actress

• May 20 – Joey Gamache, American boxer

• May 21 – Lisa Edelstein, American actress and playwright

• May 22 – Siri Eftedal, Norwegian team handball player and Olympic medalist

• May 22 – Johnny Gill, American singer

• May 23 – Graeme Hick, English cricketer

• May 24 – Russell Kun, Nauruan politician

• May 24 – Dan Abrams, American journalist

• May 24 – Eric Cantona, French footballer

• May 24 – Francisco Javier Cruz, Mexican football player

• May 24 – Ella Guru, American painter and musician

• May 25 – Ahmad Reza Abedzadeh, Iranian goalkeeper

• May 25 – Jeff Cross (American football), American football player

• May 26 – Helena Bonham Carter, English actress

• May 26 – Zola Budd, South African athlete

• May 27 – Heston Blumenthal, British chef

• May 27 – Carol Campbell (actress), Afro-German actress, model and presenter

• May 27 – Juan M. Garcia, Assistant Secretary of the Navy for Manpower and Reserve Affairs

• May 28 – Theo Bleckmann, German vocalist and composer

• May 28 – Larry Davis (criminal), American criminal (d. 2008)

• May 29 – Robert Anderson, American child murderer (executed) (d. 2006)

• May 30 – Frank Goosen, German cabaret artist and novel author

• May 30 – Thomas Häßler, German football player

• May 30 – Stephen Malkmus, American rock singer (Pavement)

June

• June 1 – Greg Schiano, American football coach

• June 2 – Candace Gingrich, American LGBT rights activist

• June 4 – Cecilia Bartoli, Italian mezzo-soprano

• June 4 – Tiffany Million, American actress

• June 6 – Faure Gnassingbé, President of Togo

• June 8 – Julianna Margulies, American actress

• June 8 – Doris Pearson, British R&B singer Five Star

• June 8 – Jens Kidman, Swedish musician

• June 14 – Matt Freeman, American musician

• June 15 – Daniel Pinchbeck, American author

• June 15 – Roberto Carnevale, Italian musician

• June 16 – Jan Železný, Czech javelin thrower

• June 17 – Christy Canyon, American porn actress

• June 18 – Kurt Browning, Canadian figure skater

• June 19 – Samuel West, British actor

• June 21 – Rudi Bakhtiar, American journalist

• June 22 – Michael Park, British rally co-driver (d. 2005)

• June 22 – Schooly D, American rapper

• June 22 – Emmanuelle Seigner, French actress

• June 23 – Richie Ren, Taiwanese musician

• June 25 – Dikembe Mutombo, Congolese basketball player

• June 27 – J. J. Abrams, American television writer and producer

• June 28 – Mary Stuart Masterson, American actress

• June 28 – John Cusack, American actor

• June 28 – Bobby Bare, Jr., American musician

• June 30 – Mike Tyson, American boxer

• June 30 – Marton Csokas, New Zealand actor

July

• July 1 – Enrico Annoni, Italian footballer

• July 3 – Moisés Alou, American baseball player

• July 5 – Kathryn Erbe, American actress

• July 5 – Claudia Wells, American actress

• July 5 – Gianfranco Zola, Italian footballer

• July 6 – Brian Posehn, American actor and comedian

• July 7 – Jim Gaffigan, American comedian

• July 7 – Gundula Krause, German violinist

• July 8 – Shadlog Bernicke, Nauruan politician

• July 10 – Gina Bellman, British actress

• July 11 – Melanie Appleby, British singer (d. 1990)

• July 11 – Mick Molloy, Australian comedian

• July 13 – Gerald Levert, American singer (d. 2006)

• July 14 – Tanya Donelly, American musician

• July 14 – Matthew Fox, American actor

• July 14 – Caressa Savage, American pornographic actress

• July 15 – Irène Jacob, French-born actress

• July 15 – Dimitris P. Kraniotis, Greek poet

• July 20 – Enrique Peña Nieto, Governor of the State of Mexico (2005–present)

• July 21 – Sarah Waters, British novelist

• July 22 – Tim Brown, American football player

• July 22 – Shawn Michaels, American professional wrestler

• July 28 – Miguel Angel Nadal, Spanish footballer

• July 28 – Troy Boyle, American comic book artist

• July 29 – Jeff Herrod, American Football Player

• July 29 – Martina McBride, American country singer

• July 29 – Richard Steven Horvitz, American voice actor

• July 30 – Murilo Bustamante, Brazilian mixed martial artist

• July 30 – Allan Langer, Australian rugby league footballer

• July 31 – Dean Cain, American actor

August

• August 2 – Tim Wakefield, American baseball player

• August 3 – Brent Butt, Canadian comedian and TV producer (Corner Gas)

• August 4 – Kensuke Sasaki, Japanese professional wrestler

• August 7 – Jimmy Wales, American co-founder of Wikipedia"The Wikipedia project was founded in January 2001 by Internet entrepreneur Jimmy Wales and philosopher Larry Sanger," quoted from the April 25th, 2004 first-ever press release issued by the Wikimedia Foundation.

• August 10 – Charlie Dimmock, English TV celebrity gardener and horticulturalist

• August 10 – Hossam Hassan, Egyptian footballer

• August 11 – Juan Maria Solare, Argentine composer

• August 12 – Les Ferdinand, English footballer

• August 14 – Halle Berry, American actress

• August 14 – Freddy Rincon, Colombian footballer

• August 15 – Scott Brosius, American baseball player

• August 17 – Rodney Mullen, famous flatland skateboarder

• August 18 – Gustavo Charif, Argentine artist

• August 19 – Lilian Garcia, American singer and wrestling ring announcer

• August 19 – Lee Ann Womack, American musician

• August 20 – Dimebag Darrell, American rock guitarist (Pantera, Damageplan) (d. 2004)

• August 22 – GZA/Genius, American rapper (Wu-Tang Clan)

• August 23 – Rik Smits, Dutch basketball player

• August 25 – Derek Sherinian, American keyboardist

• August 25 – Robert Maschio, USA Actor

• August 26 – Jacques Brinkman, Dutch field hockey player

• August 26 – Shirley Manson, Scottish rock musician (Garbage)

• August 28 – Priya Dutt, Indian social worker and politician

September

• September 1 – Tim Hardaway, American basketball player

• September 2 – Salma Hayek, Mexican-American actress

• September 4 – Yanka Dyagileva, Russian singer

• September 6 – Eduardo Maruri, Ecuadorian business man and politician

• September 7 – Vladimir Andreyev, Russian race walker

• September 7 – Gunda Niemann-Stirnemann, German speed skater

• September 8 – Carola Häggkvist, Swedish pop singer

• September 9 – Georg Hackl, German luger

• September 9 – Adam Sandler, American actor and comedian (Saturday Night Live)

• September 12 – Princess Akishino, Japanese princess

• September 12 – Ben Folds, American piano rock artist

• September 17 – Doug E. Fresh, American rapper, record producer, and beatboxer

• September 22 – Mike Richter, American ice hockey player

• September 22 – Moustafa Amar, Egyptian pop star

• September 24 – Michael J. Varhola, American author and publisher

October

• October 1 – George Weah, Liberian politician and football player

• October 2 – Rodney Anoa'i, Samoan-American professional wrestler (d. 2000)

• October 3 – Rabbi Binyamin Ze'ev Kahane, Israeli settler leader (d. 2000)

• October 5 – Inessa Kravets, Ukrainian athlete

• October 6 – Niall Quinn, Irish footballer.

• October 7 – Sherman Alexie, Native American author

• October 8 – Aaron Callaghan, Irish football club executive

• October 9 – David Cameron, British politician

• October 10 – Tony Adams, English footballer

• October 10 – Elana Meyer, South African athlete

• October 11 – Stephen Williams (politician), British politician

• October 12 – Brian Kennedy, Irish musician and author

• October 14 – Savanna Samson, American porn star

• October 15 – Jorge Campos, Mexican footballer and coach

• October 17 – Mark Gatiss, English actor and writer

• October 19 – Jon Favreau, American actor and director

• October 19 – Sinitta, American pop singer

• October 24 – Roman Abramovich, Russian oil magnate

• October 26 – Jeanne Zelasko, American baseball host

• October 27 – Matt Drudge, American conservative Internet journalist

• October 28 – Steve Atwater, American football player

• October 31 – Koji Kanemoto, Japanese professional wrestler

November

• November 2 – David Schwimmer, American actor (Friends)

• November 2 – Yoshinari Ogawa, Japanese professional wrestler

• November 3 – Joe Hachem, Lebanese-born Australian poker player

• November 6 – Peter DeLuise, American actor

• November 6 – Paul Gilbert, American musician

• November 6 – Christian Lorenz, German rock musician (Rammstein)

• November 7 – Lin Xiaochieh, Burmese leader

• November 8 – Gordon Ramsay, British chef

• November 13 – Susanna Haapoja, Finnish politician (d. 2009)

• November 14 – Curt Schilling, American baseball player

• November 15 – Rachel True, American actor

• November 17 – Jeff Buckley, American singer (d. 1997)

• November 17 – Sophie Marceau, French actress

• November 19 – Shmuley Boteach, American rabbi

• November 20 – Kevin Gilbert, American singer, composer, and instrumentalist

• November 21 – Troy Aikman, American football player

• November 23 – Vincent Cassel, French actor

• November 28 – Narumi Yasuda, Japanese actress

• November 29 – John Bradshaw Layfield, American professional wrestler

• November 30 – Wil Mara, American author

• November 30 – David Nicholls, English novelist and screenwriter

December

• December 1 – Larry Walker, Canadian Major League Baseball player

• December 7 – C. Thomas Howell, American actor

• December 7 – Linn Ullmann, Norwegian journalist and author

• December 8 – Sinéad O'Connor, Irish pop singer

• December 9 – Kirsten Gillibrand, American politician

• December 11 – Leon Lai, Hong Kong singer and actor

• December 12 – Último Dragón, Japanese professional wrestler

• December 12 – Royce Gracie, Brazilian martial artist

• December 12 – Greg Long, Contemporary Christian artist

• December 13 – Don Roff, American writer and filmmaker

• December 14 – Bill Ranford, Canadian hockey player

• December 15 – Katja von Garnier, German film director

• December 16 – Dennis Wise, English footballer

• December 17 – Milos Tichy, Czech astronomer

• December 19 – Alberto Tomba, Italian alpine skier

• December 20 – Ed de Goeij, Dutch footballer

• December 20 – Chris Robinson, American rock singer (Black Crowes)

• December 21 – Kiefer Sutherland, Canadian actor

• December 22 – Dmitry Bilozerchev, Soviet gymnast

• December 24 – Diedrich Bader, American actor and comedian

• December 25 – Stephen Twigg, British politician

• December 27 – Wendy Coakley-Thompson, American author

• December 27 – Bill Goldberg, American professional wrestler

• December 27 – John Harrington, American photographer

• December 30 – Eric Kot, Hong Kong singer and actor

Deaths

January–March

• January 1 – Vincent Auriol, President of France (b. 1884)

• January 3 – Marguerite Higgins, American journalist (b. 1920)

• January 3 – Rex Lease, American actor (b. 1903)

• January 11 – Alberto Giacometti, Swiss sculptor (b. 1901)

• January 11 – Hannes Kolehmainen, Finnish runner (b. 1889)

• January 14 – Bill Carr, American athlete (b. 1909)

• January 15 – Sergei Korolev, Russian space scientist (b. 1907)

• January 15 – Samuel Ladoke Akintola, Nigerian premier of the Western region and Aare Ona Kakanfo XIII of the Yoruba (b. 1910)

• January 17 – Vincent J. Donehue, American stage director (b. 1917)

• January 18 – Kathleen Norris, American writer (b. 1880)

• January 22 – Herbert Marshall, English actor (b. 1890)

• January 31 – Elizabeth Patterson, American actress (b. 1875)

• February 1 – Buster Keaton, American actor and film director (b. 1895)

• February 1 – Hedda Hopper, American gossip columnist (b. 1885)

• February 3 – June Walker, American actress (b. 1900)

• February 6 – Narcisa de Leon, Filipino film mogul (b. 1877)

• February 9 – Sophie Tucker, American singer (b. 1884)

• February 10 – Billy Rose, American composer and band leader (b. 1899)

• February 10 – Lal Bahadur Shastri, Prime Minister of India (b. 1904)

• February 15 – Gerard Ciołek, Polish architect and historian of gardens (b. 1909)

• February 17 – Hans Hofmann, German-American painter (b. 1880)

• February 18 – Robert Rossen, American film director (b. 1908)

• February 20 – Chester Nimitz, American admiral (b. 1885)

• February 26 – Gino Severini, Italian painter (b. 1883)

• February 28 – Jonathan Hale, American actor (b. 1891)

• March 1 – Fritz Houtermans, German physicist (b. 1903)

• March 3 – Maxfield Parrish, American artist (b. 1870)

• March 3 – Alice Pearce, American actress (b. 1917)

• March 3 – Joseph Fields, American playwright (b. 1895)

• March 3 – William Frawley, American actor (I Love Lucy) (b. 1887)

• March 5 – Anna Akhmatova, Russian poet (b. 1889)

• March 8 – William Waldorf Astor, 3rd Viscount Astor, British politician (b. 1907)

• March 10 – Frank O'Connor, Irish writer (b. 1903)

• March 10 – Frits Zernike, Dutch physicist, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1888)

• March 27 – Helen Menken, American actress (b. 1901)

• March 30 – Erwin Piscator, German theater director (b. 1893)

April–June

• April 1 – Flann O'Brien, Irish humorist (b. 1911)

• April 2 – C.S. Forester, English author (b. 1899)

• April 3 – Battista Farina, Italian car designer (b. 1893)

• April 6 – Julia Faye, American actress (b. 1893)

• April 10 – Evelyn Waugh, English author (b. 1903)

• April 11 – Maximiliano Hernández Martínez, Salvadorian military dictator (assassinated) (b. 1882)

• April 13 – Georges Duhamel, French author (b. 1884)

• April 13 – Abdul Salam Arif, President of Iraq (b. 1921)

• April 19 – Javier Solis, Mexican ranchera & bolero singer (b. 1931)

• April 21 – Sepp Dietrich, Nazi German military leader (b. 1892)

• April 23 – Georges Ohsawa, Japanese diet founder (b. 1893)

• April 29 – Eugene O'Brien, American actor (b. 1880)

• May 8 – Erich Pommer, German film producer (b. 1889)

• May 21 – Patrick H. O'Malley, Jr., American actor (b. 1890)

• May 22 – Tom Goddard, English cricketer (b. 1900)

• May 23 – Demchugdongrub, Mongolian politician (b. 1902)

• May 24 – Jim Barnes, English golf champion (b. 1886)

• May 26 – Don Castle, American actor (b. 1917)

• May 29 – James Woolf, British film producer (b. 1919)

• June 1 – Papa Jack Laine, American jazz musician (b. 1873)

• June 6 – Ethel Clayton, American actress (b. 1882)

• June 7 – Jean Arp, Alsatian sculptor, painter, and poet (b. 1887)

• June 8 – Anton Melik, Slovenian geographer (b. 1890)

• June 11 – Delmore Schwartz, American poet (b. 1913)

• June 11 – Wallace Ford, English-born American actor (b. 1898)

• June 12 – Hermann Scherchen, Austrian conductor (b. 1891)

• June 19 – Ed Wynn, American actor (b. 1886)

• June 30 – Giuseppe Farina, Italian race car driver (b. 1906)

July–September

• July 2 – Jan Brzechwa, Polish poet (b. 1900)

• July 3 – Deems Taylor, American composer (b. 1885)

• July 5 – George de Hevesy, Hungarian chemist, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1885)

• July 6 – Sad Sam Jones, American baseball player (b. 1892)

• July 6 – Anne Nagel, American actress (b. 1915)

• July 14 – Julie Manet, French painter (b. 1878)

• July 23 – Douglass Montgomery, American actor (b. 1907)

• July 24 – Montgomery Clift, American actor (b. 1920)

• July 25 – Frank O'Hara, American poet (b. 1926)

• July 31 – Bud Powell, American jazz pianist (b. 1924)

• August 3 – Lenny Bruce, American comedian (b. 1925)

• August 6 – Cordwainer Smith, American author (b. 1913)

• August 15 – Jan Kiepura, Polish tenor and actor (b. 1902)

• August 15 – Seena Owen, American actress (b. 1894)

• August 23 – Francis X. Bushman, American actor (b. 1883)

• August 26 – Art Baker, American actor (b. 1898)

• September 5 – Dezső Lauber, Hungarian sportsman and architect (b. 1879)

• September 6 – Margaret Sanger, American birth control advocate (b. 1879)

• September 6 – Hendrik Verwoerd, Dutch-born Prime Minister of South Africa (b. 1901)

• September 11 – C. E. Woolman, American Airlines founder (b. 1889)

• September 14 – Gertrude Berg, American actress (b. 1899)

• September 17 – Fritz Wunderlich, German tenor (b. 1930)

• September 21 – Paul Reynaud, French politician (b. 1878)

• September 26 – Helen Kane, American singer (b. 1904)

• September 28 – Andre Breton, French writer (b. 1896)

• September 28 – Eric Fleming, American actor (b. 1925)

• September – Hiram Wesley Evans, American leader of the Ku Klux Klan (b. 1881)

October–December

• October 7 – Smiley Lewis, African-American R&B musician (b. 1913)

• October 10 – Wilfrid Lawson, English actor (b. 1900)

• October 13 – Clifton Webb, American actor (b. 1889)

• October 16 – George O'Hara, American actor (born 1899)

• October 18 – Elizabeth Arden, Canadian-born beautician and cosmetics entrepreneur (b. 1878)

• October 23 – Claire McDowell, silent screen actress (b. 1877)

• October 24 – Hans Dreier, German art director (b. 1885)

• October 26 – Alma Cogan, English singer (b. 1932)

• October 28 – Robert Charpentier, French Olympic cyclist (b. 1916)

• November 2 – Peter Debye, Dutch chemist, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1884)

• November 2 – Mississippi John Hurt, African-American singer and guitarist (b. 1893)

• November 4 – Dietrich von Choltitz, Nazi German military governor of Paris in World War II (b. 1894)

• November 12 – Shakeb Jalali, Pakistani poet (b. 1934)

• November 19 – Arthur Haynes, English comedian (b. 1914)

• November 23 – Seán T. O'Kelly, second President of Ireland (b. 1882)

• December 14 – Verna Felton, American actress (b. 1890)

• December 14 – Richard Whorf, American actor (b. 1906)

• December 15 – Walt Disney, American animated film producer and founder of The Walt Disney Company and Disneyland Resort (b. 1901)

• December 22 – Harry Beaumont, American film director (b. 1888)

• December 22 – Robert Keith, American actor (b. 1898)

• December 30 – Christian Herter, United States Secretary of State (b. 1895)

Nobel Prizes

• Physics – Alfred Kastler

• Chemistry – Robert S. Mulliken

• Physiology or Medicine – Peyton Rous, Charles Brenton Huggins

• Literature – Shmuel Yosef Agnon, Nelly Sachs

• Peace – not awarded

Academy Awards

• Best Picture: The Sound of Music, Robert Wise, producer

• Best Director: Robert Wise, The Sound of Music

• Best Actor: Lee Marvin, Cat Ballou

• Best Actress: Julie Christie, Darling

• Best Supporting Actor: Martin Balsam, A Thousand Clowns

• Best Supporting Actress: Shelley Winters, A Patch of Blue

• Best Original Screenplay: Darling written by Frederic Raphael

• Best Adapted Screenplay: Doctor Zhivago, screenplay by Robert Bolt

• Best Original Song: The Sandpiper, Johnny Mandel (music); Paul Francis Webster (lyrics); For the song "The Shadow of Your Smile"

• Best Original Score: Doctor Zhivago, by Maurice Jarre