1966
1966 (
MCMLXVI) was a
common year starting on Saturday (the link is to a full 1966 calendar).
January
*
January 1 - In a coup, Colonel
Jean-Bédel Bokassa ousts President
David Dacko and takes over the
Central African Republic.
*
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 - Military coup occurs in
Upper Volta (later
Burkina Faso).
*
January 4 - The prime ministers of
India and
Pakistan meet in
Moscow.
*
January 4 - Fire breaks out due to a
gas leak, at the
Feyzin oil refinery near
Lyon,
France - 18 dead, 84 injured.
*
January 10 -
Pakistani-
Indian peace negotiations end successfully in
Moscow.
*
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 about the situation in
Rhodesia begins in
Lagos,
Nigeria.
*
January 11 - Indian prime minister
Lal Bahadur Shastri dies.
*
January 12 -
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 violent military
coup is staged in
Nigeria.
*
January 15 -
Moscow announces the death of rocket designer
Sergei Korolev.
*
January 17 - The Nigerian
coup is overturned.
*
January 17 - A
B-52 bomber collides with a
KC-135 jet tanker over
Spain, dropping three 70-kiloton
hydrogen bombs near the town of
Palomares, and one into the sea.
*
January 17 -
Carl Brashear, the first
African American United States Navy diver, is involved in an accident on a routine mission which amputates his leg.
*
January 18 - French police announce that
Georges Figon has committed suicide, just before his arrest in 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 19 - Australian Prime Minister
Robert Menzies resigns.
*
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 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 Beach,
South Australia, never to be seen again.
*
January 27 - The British government promises the USA that British troops in
Malaysia will stay until more peaceful conditions in the region occur.
*
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.
* January - The first
SR-71 spy plane goes into service.
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 - A Japanese passenger jet crashes into
Tokyo Bay - 133 dead.
*
February 6 -
Fidel Castro blames China for spreading anti-Soviet propaganda among
Cuban soldiers.
*
February 10 - Soviet writers
Yuli Daniel and
Andrei Sinyavsky are sentenced for five and seven years, respectively, for 'anti-Soviet' writings.
*
February 11 - The
Belgian government resigns.
*
February 14 - The Australian Dollar is introduced at a rate of two dollars per pound, or ten shillings per dollar.
*
February 19 - The naval minister of the
United Kingdom,
Christopher Mayhew, resigns.
*
February 20 - While Soviet author and translator
Valeri 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 5 - A massive theft of nuclear materials is revealed in
Brazil.
*
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 -
Ronald Kray, one of the
Kray twins, shoots rival gangster
George Cornell; the incident leads to the brother's incarceration.
*
March 8 -
Vietnam War:
Australia announces it is going to substantially increase its number of troops in
Vietnam.
*
March 8 - An
IRA bomb destroys
Nelson's Pillar in
Dublin.
*
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.
*
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 16 -
Gemini 8 (with astronauts
David Scott and
Neil Armstrong on board) docks with an
Agena target satellite.
*
March 17 - More anti-communist demonstrations occur in
Indonesia.
*
March 17 - Off the coast of
Spain in the
Mediterranean, the
Alvin submarine finds a missing American
hydrogen bomb.
*
March 19 - The
Texas Western Miners defeat the
Kentucky Wildcats with five black starters, ushering in desegregation in athletic recruiting.
*
March 22 - In
Washington, DC,
General Motors President
James Roche appears before a Senate subcommittee, and apologizes to consumer advocate
Ralph Nader for the company's campaign of intimidation and harrassment against him.
*
March 23 -
Pope Paul VI and
Arthur Michael Ramsey, the
Archbishop of Canterbury, meet in Rome - the first official meeting for 400 years between the
Roman Catholic and
Anglican Churches.
*
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, DC.
*
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.
*
March 31 -
Chatham High School is opened in
Taree,
New South Wales.
April
*
April 2 - The
Indonesian army demands that the country rejoin the
United Nations.
*
April 4 -
Luna 10 enters orbit around the
Moon.
*
April 7 - The
United Kingdom asks the
UN 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 FC captain
Barry Butler is killed in a car accident.
*
April 12 -
Jan Berry of
Jan & Dean suffers brain damage in a serious automobile accident in Beverly Hills, California.
*
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 21 - An
artificial heart is installed in the chest of
Marcel DeRudder in a
Houston hospital.
*
April 21 - The opening of
Parliament of the United Kingdom is televised for the first time.
*
April 27 -
Pope Paul VI and Soviet Premier
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 2000 due to
Channel Tunnel).
*
April 30 - The
Church of Satan is formed by
Anton Szandor LaVey in
San Francisco.
May
*
May 1 -
Floods occur on the
Finnish coast.
*
May 1 - The first event of the
Society for Creative Anachronism is held.
*
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 6 - The
Moors Murderers,
Ian Brady and
Myra Hindley, are sentenced to life imprisonment.
*
May 12 - African members of the UN Security Council say that the British army should blockade Rhodesia.
*
May 12 -
Busch Memorial Stadium in
St. Louis, Missouri opens.
*
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 negotiation.s
*
May 15 - The
South Vietnamese army besieges
Da Nang.
*
May 16 -
July 1 - A seamen's strike is called in Britain.
*
May 16 - The legendary album
Pet Sounds by the
Beach Boys is released.
*
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 delcares
martial law in Cuba because of a possible U.S. attack.
*
May 28 -
Indonesian and
Malayan governments declare that the
Indonesian Confrontation is over. A treaty is signed in
August 11.
*
May 31 - The
Philippines reestablishes
diplomatic relations with
Malaysia.
June
*
June 2 -
Eamon de Valera is re-elected as Irish president.
*
June 2 -
Surveyor program:
Surveyor 1 lands in Oceanus Procellarum on the
Moon, becoming the first
spacecraft to soft land on another world.
*
June 2 - Four former cabinet ministers are executed in
Zaire, for alleged involvement in a plot to kill
Mobutu Sese Seko.
*
June 3 -
Joaquín Balaguer is elected president of the
Dominican Republic.
*
June 5 -
Gene Cernan completes second U.S. spacewalk (which lasted 2 hours, 7 minutes) on the
Gemini 9 mission.
*
June 6 -
James Meredith,
civil rights activist, 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. [
1]
*
June 13 - The
U.S. Supreme Court rules in
Miranda v. Arizona that the police must inform
suspects of their rights before questioning them.
*
June 14 - The
Vatican announces the abolition of the
Index Librorum Prohibitorum (index of banned books).
*
June 17 - An
Air France personnel strike begins.
*
June 18 -
CIA chief
William F. Raborn resigns -
Richard Helms becomes his successor.
*
June 20-
July 1 - French President
Charles De Gaulle visits 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: US planes begin bombing
Hanoi and
Haiphong.
*
June 30 -
France formally leaves
NATO.
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 into law. The act goes into effect the following year.
*
July 6 -
Malawi becomes a republic.
*
July 7 - A conference of the
Warsaw Pact ends with a promise to support North Vietnam.
*
July 12 -
Indira Gandhi visits Moscow.
*
July 12 -
Zambia threatens to leave the
Commonwealth of Nations because of British peace overtures to
Rhodesia.
*
July 12 - U.S. Lieutenant Major
W.H. Whalen is arrested for spying.
*
July 14 -
Israeli and
Syrian jet fighters clash over the
Jordan River.
*
July 14 - In
Chicago, Illinois,
Richard Speck murders eight student nurses in their dormitory.
*
July 14 -
Gwynfor Evans becomes member of Parliament for
Carmarthen, the first
Plaid Cymru MP in the
UK.
*
July 16 - Ann and Don McLeod of Bedford, Nova Scotia, are married in Downsview, Ontario.
*
July 16 - British Prime Minister
Harold Wilson flies to Moscow to try to start peace negotiations about
Vietnam War - the Soviet government refutes his ideas.
*
July 17 -
Richard Speck is arrested - he tries to commit suicide but fails.
*
July 18 -
Gemini 10 lifts off for earth orbit with astronauts
John Young and
Michael Collins, setting a world altitude record of 474 miles.
*
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 in support of the exiled minister
Moise Tschombe. The
mutiny lasts several weeks.
*
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
U-2 reconnaissance plane has disappeared over Cuba.
*
July 29 - The
Nigerian army rebels and executes head of state
General Aguiyi-Ironsi.
*
July 30 -
England beats
West Germany 4-2 to win the
1966 World Cup at
Wembley.
August
*
August 1 - Sniper
Charles Whitman kills 13 from the
University of Texas at Austin Main Building.
*
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 -
The Beatles release
Revolver (album) in the
United Kingdom.[
2]
*
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
Tagus River Bridge opens in
Lisbon,
Portugal.
*
August 7 - Race riots occur in
Lansing, Michigan.
*
August 8 -
The Beatles release
Revolver (album) in the
United States.[
3]
*
August 10 - An East German court sentences
Günter Laudahn to life imprisonment for espionage 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 - In the
Massacre of Braybrook Street, Harry Roberts, John Duddy and Jack Witney shoot dead three plain clothes policemen in
London - they are later sentenced to life imprisonment.
*
August 13 - China begins the
Cultural Revolution.
*
August 13 - An
earthquake occurs in
Turkey - 2,394 dead, 10,000 injured.
*
August 15 -
Syrian and
Israeli troops clash over
Lake Genesaret for three hours.
*
August 15 - The
New York Herald Tribune stops publication.
*
August 16 -
Vietnam War: The
House Un-American Activities Committee begins investigations of Americans who have aided the
Viet Cong, with the intent to introduce legislation making 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: D Company, 6th Battalion of the
Royal Australian Regiment, meets and defeats a
Viet Cong force estimated to be four times larger, at the
Battle of Long Tan 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 26 - Riots occur in
French Somaliland.
*
August 29 - The British rock band
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 is not going to seek re-election, because U.N. efforts in Vietnam have failed.
*
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 7 - The final new episode of
The Dick Van Dyke Show airs (the first episode aired on
October 3,
1961).
*
September 8 - "
The Man Trap", the first episode of the science fiction television series
Star Trek, airs.
*
September 9 -
NATO decides to move
SHAPE headquarters to
Belgium.
*
September 12-15 -
Gemini 11 astronauts
Richard Gordon and
Pete Conrad dock with an
Agena target vehicle.
*
September 13 -
Balthazar Johannes Vorster becomes the new South African Prime Minister.
*
September 13 -
TASS reports on clashes between members of the Chinese Communist Party and the Red Guards.
*
September 16 - In South Vietnam,
Thich Tri Quang begins a 100-day hunger strike.
*
September 16 - The
Metropolitan Opera House opens in
New York City.
*
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 being involved in the Great Train Robbery.
*
September 30 -
October 1 (midnight) -
Baldur von Schirach and
Albert Speer are released from
Spandau Prison.
*
September 30 -
Botswana achieves independence.
October
*
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 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 17 -
Lesotho and
Botswana are admitted to the
United Nations.
*
October 21 - The
Aberfan disaster occurs in
South Wales,
United Kingdom.
*
October 22 - British spy
George Blake escapes from
Wormwood Scrubs prison; he is next seen in
Moscow.
*
October 22 -
Spain demands that
United Kingdom stop military flights to
Gibraltar - Britain says no 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 against 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
*
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 11 - A mine kills three
Israeli paratroopers on the
West Bank border.
*
November 11 -
Spain declares general amnesty for crimes committed during the
Spanish Civil War (effectively only for
Falangists side).
*
November 15 -
Gemini program:
Gemini 12, carrying astronauts
James A. Lovell and
Buzz Aldrin, splashes down safely in the
Atlantic Ocean, 600 km east of the
Bahamas.
*
November 15 -
Harry Maurice Roberts, who had killed three policemen in August, is caught near
London.
*
November 16 - U.S. doctor
Samuel 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 2300 a minute for 20 minutes.
*
November 21 - The army crushes an attempted coup in
Togo.
*
November 28 -
Truman Capote's Black and White Ball - dubbed 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
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 - 217 dead.
*
December 15 -
Walt Disney dies of lung cancer at age 65.
*
December 16 - The U.N. Security Council approves an
oil embargo against
Rhodesia.
*
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 26 - The first
Kwanzaa is celebrated by
Maulana Karenga, the chair of
Black Studies, at
California State University, Long Beach.
*
December 31 - East German Premier
Walter Ulbricht discusses negotiations about
German unification.
*
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.
Unknown dates
* In
Burundi, King
Mwambutsa IV is deposed by his son
Ntare V, who is in turn deposed by prime minister
Michel Micombero.
*
Bobby Seale and
Huey P. Newton found
Black Panther Party.
*
Haile Selassie visits
Jamaica for the first time, meeting with
Rastafarian leaders
*
Konstantin Chernenko, later leader of
Soviet Union, becomes candidate member of the
Central Committee.
*
Surrealist Movement in the United States founded by
Franklin and
Penelope Rosemont.
*
Lise Meitner and
Otto Hahn are awarded the
Fermi Prize.
*
Congress of the United States creates
National Council for Marine Resources and Engineering Development.
*
Will Lang Jr. begins
Life (magazine)'s investigation into the assassination of
John F. Kennedy and the
Warren Commission. Will Lang Jr. is stopped by
Holland McCombs a few months later.
*
Martin Richards designs the
BCPL programming language.
* The
DKW automobile goes out of production.
* World
Buddhist Sangha Council 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.
* Actress
Saira Banu marries actor
Dilip Kumar.
January
*
January 1**
Anna Burke,
Australian politician and member for
Chisholm in the
House of Representatives**
Michael Imperioli, American actor
*
January 3 -
Martin Galway, Northern Irish composer
*
January 7 -
Carolyn Bessette-Kennedy, American actress and model, wife of
John F. Kennedy, Jr. (died
1999)
*
January 12 -
Rob Zombie, American musician, artist, and writer
*
January 13 -
Patrick Dempsey, American actor
*
January 17 -
Shabba Ranks, Jamaican singer
*
January 19 -
Stefan Edberg, Swedish tennis player
*
January 19 -
Floris Jan Bovelander, Dutch field hockey player
*
January 20 -
Tracii Guns, American guitarist
*
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 soccer player
*
February 6 -
Rick Astley, British singer
*
February 9 -
Ellen van Langen, Dutch athlete
*
February 11 -
Stephen Gregory, American actor
*
February 11 -
Anthony Parker, American football player
*
February 20 -
Cindy Crawford, American model
*
February 22 -
Brian Greig, Australian statesman
*
February 24 -
Billy Zane, American actor
*
February 25 -
Samson Kitur, Kenyan athlete
March
*
March 3 -
Tone-Loc, American musician
*
March 4 -
Kevin Johnson, American basketball player
*
March 4 -
Grand Puba (Brand Nubian), American rapper
*
March 4 -
Dav Pilkey, American author and illustrator
*
March 4 -
Patrick Hannan, English pop drummer (
The Sundays)
*
March 6 -
Yahya Ayyash, Palestinian terrorist (died
1996)
*
March 10 -
Edie Brickell, American singer
*
March 10 -
Mike Timlin, baseball player
*
March 25 -
Tom Glavine, baseball player
*
March 25 -
Tatjana Patitz, model
*
March 25 -
Anton Rogan, Northern Irish footballer
*
March 31 -
Roger Black, British athlete
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 suspects
*
April 8 -
Robin Wright Penn, American actress
*
April 8 -
Bobby Ologun, Nigerian television personality and martial artist
*
April 11 -
Lisa Stansfield, British soul singer
*
April 14 -
Greg Maddux, American baseball player
*
April 15 -
Samantha Fox, British model and singer
*
April 18 -
Trine Hattestad, Norwegian athlete
*
April 21 -
Bubba the Love Sponge, American radio personality
*
April 28 -
John Daly, American golfer
*
April 29 -
Phil Tufnell, British cricketer
May
*
May 8 -
Kamil Kašťák, Czechoslovakian ice hockey player
*
May 8 -
Cláudio Taffarel, Brazilian goalkeeper
*
May 8 -
Marta Sánchez, Spanish female vocalist, entertainer
*
May 10 -
Jonathan Edwards, British athlete
*
May 11 -
Christoph Schneider, German musician (
Rammstein)
*
May 12 -
Stephen Baldwin, American actor
*
May 13 -
Darius Rucker, American singer (
Hootie & the Blowfish)
*
May 16 -
Janet Jackson, American singer
*
May 16 -
Thurman Thomas, American football player
*
May 24 -
Eric Cantona, French footballer
*
May 26 -
Helena Bonham Carter, English actress
*
May 26 -
Zola Budd, South African athlete
*
May 30 -
Stephen Malkmus, American singer (
Pavement),(
Stephen Malkmus)
June
*
June 4 -
Cecilia Bartoli, Italian mezzo-soprano
*
June 4 -
Tiffany Million, American actress
*
June 8 -
Julianna Margulies, American actress
*
June 13-
Rod Walker, American poet
*
June 18 -
Kurt Browning, Canadian figure skater
*
June 21 -
Rudi Bakhtiar, American journalist
*
June 22 -
Michael Park, British rally co-driver (died
2005)
*
June 25 -
Dikembe Mutombo, Congolese basketball player
*
June 27 -
J.J. Abrams, American television writer and producer
*
June 28 -
John Cusack, American actor
*
June 30 -
Mike Tyson, American boxer
July
*
July 3 -
Moises Alou, baseball player
*
July 5 -
Gianfranco Zola, Italian football (soccer) player
*
July 7 -
Gundula Krause, German violinist
*
July 13 -
Gerald Levert, American singer
*
July 14 -
Matthew Fox, American actor
*
July 15 -
Irène Jacob, French-born actress
*
July 29 -
Martina McBride, American singer
*
July 29 -
Richard Steven Horvitz, American voice actor
*
July 31 -
Dean Cain, American actor
August
*
August 7 -
Jimmy Wales, American founder of Wikipedia
*
August 11 -
Juan Maria Solare, Argentine composer
*
August 14 -
Halle Berry, American actress
*
August 17 -
William E. Dudley, American poet
*
August 19 -
Lee Ann Womack, American musician
*
August 20 -
Dimebag Darrell, Guitarist for
Pantera and
Damageplan*
August 23 -
Rik Smits, Dutch basketball player
*
August 26 -
Jacques Brinkman, Dutch field hockey player
*
August 26 -
Shirley Manson, Scottish musician and
Garbage frontwoman
September
*
September 2 -
Salma Hayek, Mexican-born actress
*
September 4 -
Yanka Dyagileva, Russian singer
*
September 9 -
Georg Hackl, German luger
*
September 9 -
Adam Sandler, American actor and comedian
*
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 Anoai, WWF Champion, Yokozuna (died
2000)
*
October 3 - Rabbi
Binyamin Ze'ev Kahane, Israeli settler leader (died
2000)
*
October 8 -
Aaron Callaghan, Irish football club executive
*
October 8 -
Teddy Riley, American R&B and hip-hop singer
*
October 9 -
David Cameron,
British politician*
October 10 -
Tony Adams, English footballer
*
October 12 -
Brian Kennedy, Irish musician and author
*
October 13 -
Javier Lopez Cantu, American Latino painter
*
October 24 -
Roman Abramovich, Russian oil magnate
*
October 26 -
Steve Valentine, British actor
*
October 27 -
Matt Drudge, American Internet journalist
*
October 28 -
Steve Atwater, American football player
November
*
November 6 -
Peter DeLuise, American actor
*
November 12 -
David Schwimmer, American actor
*
November 14 -
Curt Schilling, baseball player
*
November 16 -
Christian Lorenz, German musician (
Rammstein)
*
November 17 -
Jeff Buckley, American singer (died
1997)
*
November 17 -
Sophie Marceau, French actress
*
November 20 -
Kevin Gilbert, American singer, composer, and instrumentalist
*
November 21 -
Troy Aikman, American football player
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 14 -
Bill Ranford, Canadian hockey player
*
December 21 -
Kiefer Sutherland, English-born actor
*
December 22 -
Dmitry Bilozerchev, Soviet gymnast
*
December 27 -
Wendy Coakley-Thompson author
*
December 27 -
Bill Goldberg, American professional wrestler
*
December 27 -
John Harrington photographer and author
January-March
*
January 1 -
Vincent Auriol,
President of France (born
1884)
*
January 11 -
Alberto Giacometti, Swiss sculptor (born
1901)
*
January 11 -
Hannes Kolehmainen, Finnish runner (born
1889)
*
January 14 -
Barry Fitzgerald, Irish actor (born
1888)
*
January 14 -
Bill Carr, American athlete (born
1909)
*
January 15 -
Sergei Korolev, Russian space scientist (born
1906)
*
January 18 -
Kathleen Norris, American writer (born
1880)
*
February 1 -
Buster Keaton, American actor and film director (born
1895)
*
February 1 -
Hedda Hopper, American gossip columnist (born
1885)
*
February 10 -
Billy Rose, American composer and band leader (born
1899)
*
February 10 -
Lal Bahadur Shastri,
Prime Minister of India (born
1904)
*
February 15 -
Gerard Ciołek, Polish architect and historian of gardens (born
1909)
*
February 20 -
Chester Nimitz, American admiral (born
1885)
*
March 1 -
Fritz Houtermans, German physicist (born
1903)
*
March 3 -
Maxfield Parrish, American artist (born
1870)
*
March 3 -
William Frawley, American actor (born
1887)
*
March 5 -
Anna Akhmatova, Russian poet (born
1889)
*
March 8 -
William Waldorf Astor, 3rd Viscount Astor, British politican (born
1907)
*
March 10 -
Frits Zernike, Dutch physicist,
Nobel Prize laureate (born
1888)
April-June
*
April 1 -
Flann O'Brien, Irish humorist (born
1911)
*
April 2 -
C.S. Forester, English author (born
1899)
*
April 3 -
Battista Pininfarina, Italian car designer (born
1893)
*
April 10 -
Evelyn Waugh, English author (born
1903)
*
April 11 -
Maximiliano Hernández Martínez, military dictator of El Salvador (assassinated) (born
1882)
*
April 13 -
Georges Duhamel, French author (born
1884)
*
April 13 -
Abdul Salam Arif,
President of Iraq (born
1921)
*
April 23 -
Georges Ohsawa, Japanese diet founder (born
1893)
*
May 22 -
Tom Goddard, English cricketer (born
1900)
*
May 23 -
Demchugdongrub, Mongolian politician (born
1902)
*
June 1 -
Papa Jack Laine, American jazz musician (born
1873)
*
June 7 -
Jean Arp, Alsatian sculptor, painter, and poet (born
1887)
*
June 8 -
Anton Melik, Slovenian geographer (born
1890)
*
June 11 -
Delmore Schwartz, American poet (born
1913)
*
June 12 -
Hermann Scherchen, Austrian conductor (born
1891)
*
June 19 -
Ed Wynn, American actor (born
1886)
*
June 30 -
Giuseppe Farina, Italian race car driver (born
1906)
July-September
*
July 2 -
Jan Brzechwa, Polish poet (born
1900)
*
July 5 -
George de Hevesy, Hungarian chemist,
Nobel Prize laureate (born
1885)
*
July 6 -
Sad Sam Jones, baseball player (born
1892)
*
July 24 -
Montgomery Clift, American actor (born
1920)
*
August 3 -
Lenny Bruce, American comedian (born
1925)
*
August 6 -
Cordwainer Smith, American author (born
1913)
*
September 5 -
Dezső Lauber, Hungarian sportsman and architect (born
1879)
*
September 6 -
Margaret Sanger, American birth control advocate (born
1879)
*
September 6 -
Hendrik Verwoerd, Dutch-born
Prime Minister of South Africa (born
1901)
*
September 11 -
C. E. Woolman, American Airlines founder (born
1889)
*
September 17 -
Fritz Wunderlich, German tenor (born
1930)
*
September 28 -
Andre Breton, French writer (born
1896)
*
September Hiram Wesley Evans, American leader of the Ku Klux Klan (born
1881)
October-December
*
October 7 -
Smiley Lewis, American R&B musician (born
1913)
*
October 16 -
George O'Hara, American actor (born
1899)
*
October 18 -
Elizabeth Arden, Canadian-born beautician and cosmetics entrepreneur (born
1878)
*
October 26 -
Alma Cogan, English singer (born
1932)
*
November 2 -
Peter Debye, Dutch chemist,
Nobel Prize laureate (born
1884)
*
November 2 -
Mississippi John Hurt, American singer and guitarist (born
1893)
*
November 23 -
Sean T. O'Kelly, second
President of Ireland (born
1882)
*
December 15 -
Walt Disney, American animated film producer (born
1901)
*
Physics -
Alfred Kastler*
Chemistry -
Robert S. Mulliken*
Physiology or Medicine -
Peyton Rous,
Charles Brenton Huggins*
Literature -
Shmuel Yosef Agnon,
Nelly Sachs*
Peace - not awarded
