1963

history

1963 (MCMLXIII) was a common year starting on Tuesday (link will display full calendar) of the Gregorian calendar. __TOC__

Events of 1963

January

  • January-February - Heavy snow results in many houses and buildings collapsed by heavy snow on roofs in northwestern Japan. At least 231 reported died. (from January to February). An express train delayed 106 hours 30 minutes arrived at Tokyo, because of heavy snow and adverse weather.
  • January 1 – Osamu Tezuka's Tetsuwan Atomu (Astro Boy), Japan's first serialized animated series based on the popular manga, debuts on Japanese television station Fuji TV.
  • January 1 – Bogle-Chandler case: CSIRO scientist Dr. Gilbert Bogle and Mrs. Margaret Chandler are found dead (presumed poisoned), in bushland near the Lane Cove River, Sydney.
  • January 14
  • January 22 – France and Germany sign the Elysée Treaty.
  • January 26 – The Australia Day shootings rock Perth, Western Australia; 2 people are shot dead and 3 others injured by Eric Edgar Cooke.
  • January 28 – African American student Harvey Gantt enters Clemson University in South Carolina, the last U.S. state to hold out against racial integration.
  • January 29 – French President Charles de Gaulle vetoes the United Kingdom's entry into the EEC.

February

  • February 8 – Travel, financial and commercial transactions by United States citizens to Cuba are made illegal by the John F. Kennedy Administration.
  • February 10 – Five Japanese cities located on the northernmost part of Kyūshū are merged and become the city of Kitakyūshū, with a population of more than 1 million.
  • February 11 – The CIA's Domestic Operations Division is created.
  • February 12 – Northwest Airlines flight 705 crashes in the Florida Everglades killing everyone aboard.
  • February 19 – The publication of Betty Friedan's The Feminine Mystique launches the reawakening of the Women's Movement in the United States as women's organizations and consciousness-raising groups spread.
  • February 21 – An earthquake destroys the village of Barce, Libya, killing 900.
  • February 27
  • February 28 – Dorothy Schiff resigns from the New York Newspaper Publisher's Association, feeling that the city needs at least one paper. Her paper, the New York Post, resumes publication on March 4.
: Alcatraz closes]]

March

  • March
  • March 4 – In Paris, 6 people are sentenced to death for conspiring to assassinate President Charles de Gaulle. De Gaulle pardons 5 of them but the other conspirator is executed by firing squad a few days later.
  • March 5 – In Camden, Tennessee, country music superstar Patsy Cline (Virginia Patterson Hensley) is killed in a plane crash along with fellow performers Hawkshaw Hawkins, Cowboy Copas and Cline's manager and pilot Randy Hughes, while returning from a benefit performance in Kansas City, Kansas for country radio disc jockey "Cactus" Jack Call.
  • March 16 – Mount Agung erupts on Bali, killing 11,000.
  • March 18 – Gideon v. Wainwright: The U.S. Supreme Court rules that the poor must have lawyers.
  • March 21 – The Alcatraz Island federal penitentiary in San Francisco Bay closes; the last 27 prisoners are transferred elsewhere at the order of Attorney General Robert F. Kennedy.
: British Rail network, as it would have become, if "Beeching axe" plans had been fully implemented (only bolded rail lines would have remained).]]
  • March 22 – The Beatles release their first album Please Please Me.
  • March 23 – Dansevise by Grethe & Jørgen Ingmann (music by Otto Francker, text by Sejr Volmer-Sørensen) wins the Eurovision Song Contest 1963 for Denmark.
  • March 27 – In Britain, Dr. Beeching issues a report calling for huge cuts to the UK's rail network.
  • March 31 – The 1962 New York City newspaper strike ends after 114 days.

April

May

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  • May 1 – The Coca-Cola Company debuts its first diet drink, TaB cola.
  • May 2
    • Thousands of African Americans, many of them children, are arrested while protesting segregation in Birmingham, Alabama. Public Safety Commissioner Eugene "Bull" Connor later unleashes fire hoses and police dogs on the demonstrators.
    • Berthold Seliger launches near Cuxhaven a 3 stage rocket with a maximum flight altitude of more than 62 miles (the only sounding rocket developed in Germany).
  • May 4 – The Le Monde Theater fire in Dioirbel, Senegal kills 64.
  • May 8
    • Dr. No, the first James Bond film, is shown in U.S. theaters.
    • Hue Vesak shootings: The Army of the Republic of Vietnam opens fire on Buddhists who defy a ban on the flying of the Buddhist flag on Vesak, the birthday of Gautama Buddha, killing nine. Earlier, President Ngo Dinh Diem allowed the flying of the Vatican flag in honour of his brother, Archibishop Ngo Dinh Thuc.
  • May 13 – A smallpox outbreak hits Stockholm, Sweden, lasting until July.
  • May 15 – Mercury program: NASA launches Gordon Cooper on Mercury 9, the last mission (on June 12 NASA Administrator James E. Webb tells Congress the program is complete).
  • May 23 – Fidel Castro visits the Soviet Union.
  • May 25 – The Organisation of African Unity is established in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.
  • May 27 – The Freewheelin' Bob Dylan is singer-songwriter Bob Dylan's second studio album, and most influential, released by Columbia Records.

June

July

  • July 1 – ZIP Codes are introduced in the U.S.
  • July 5
    • Diplomatic relations between the Israeli and the Japanese governments are raised to embassy level.
    • The Roman Catholic Church accepts cremation as a funeral practice.
  • July 7 – Double Seven Day scuffle: Secret police loyal to Ngo Dinh Nhu, brother of President Ngo Dinh Diem, attack American journalists including Peter Arnett and David Halberstam at a demonstration during the Buddhist crisis.
  • July 12 – Pauline Reade, 16, is abducted by Myra Hindley and Ian Brady in Manchester, England.
  • July 19 – American test pilot Joe Walker, flying the X-15, reaches an altutude of 65.8 miles (105.9 kilometers), making it a sub-orbital spaceflight by recognized international standards.
  • July 26
  • July 30 – The Soviet newspaper Izvestia reports that Kim Philby has been given asylum in Moscow.

August

September

October

  • October 1
  • October 4 – Hurricane Flora, one of the worst Atlantic storms in history, hits Hispaniola and Cuba killing nearly 7,000 people.
  • October 8 – Sam Cooke and his band are arrested after trying to register at a "whites only" motel in Louisiana. In the months following, he records A Change Is Gonna Come (song).
  • October 9 – In northeast Italy, over 2,000 people are killed when a large landslide behind the Vajont Dam causes a giant wave of water to overtop it.
  • October 10
    • The nuclear test ban treaty, signed on August 5, takes effect.
    • The second James Bond film, From Russia with Love, opens in the UK.
  • October 14 – A revolution starts in Radfan, South Yemen against British colonial rule.
  • October 19 – Alec Douglas-Home succeeds Harold Macmillan as British Prime Minister.
  • October 28 – Demolition of the 1910 Pennsylvania Station begins in New York City. Demolition continues until 1966.
  • October 30 – Car manufacturing firm Lamborghini is founded.
  • October 31 – 74 die in a gas explosion during a Holiday on Ice show at the Indiana State Fair Coliseum in Indianapolis.

November

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: Lyndon Baines Johnson is sworn in as U.S. President after assassination of John F. Kennedy.]]
  • November 22
    • The Beatles' second U.K. album, With The Beatles, is released
    • John F. Kennedy assassination: In Dallas, Texas, United States President John F. Kennedy is assassinated, Texas Governor John B. Connally is seriously wounded, and Vice President Lyndon Baines Johnson becomes the 36th President. All television coverage for the next three days is devoted to the assassination, its aftermath, the procession of the horsedrawn casket to the Capitol Rotunda, and the funeral of President Kennedy. Stores and businesses shut down for the entire weekend and Monday, in tribute.
  • November 23
  • November 24 – Lee Harvey Oswald, alleged assassin of John F. Kennedy, is shot dead by Jack Ruby in Dallas, Texas on live national television. Later that night, a hastily arranged program, A Tribute to John F. Kennedy from the Arts, featuring actors, opera singers, and noted writers, all performing dramatic readings and/or music, is telecast on ABC-TV.
  • November 24 – Vietnam War: New U.S. President Lyndon B. Johnson confirms that the United States intends to continue supporting South Vietnam militarily and economically.
  • November 25 – U.S. President Kennedy is buried at Arlington National Cemetery. Schools around the nation do not have class on that day, millions watch the funeral on live international television.
  • November 29 – U.S. President Lyndon B. Johnson establishes the Warren Commission to investigate the assassination of President Kennedy.
  • November 29 – Trans-Canada Airlines Flight 831, a Douglas DC-8 carrying 118, crashes into a wooded hillside after taking-off from Dorval International Airport near Montreal, killing all on board (the worst air disaster for many years in Canada's history).

December

  • December 3 – The Warren Commission begins its investigation.
  • December 4 – The second period of Second Vatican Council closes.
  • December 5 – The Seliger Forschungs-und-Entwicklungsgesellschaft mbH demonstrates rockets for military use to military representatives of non-NATO-countries near Cuxhaven. Although these rockets land via parachute at the end of their flight and no allied laws are violated, the Soviet Union protests this action.
  • December 8
  • December 10 – In the United States, the X-20 Dyna-Soar spaceplane program is cancelled. Also on this date: Chuck Yeager "while testing an NF-104A rocket-augmented aerospace trainer, he narrowly escaped death when his aircraft went out of control at 108,700 feet (nearly 21 miles up) and crashed. He parachuted to safety at 8,500 feet after vainly battling to gain control of the powerless, rapidly falling craft. In this incident he became the first pilot to make an emergency ejection in the full pressure suit needed for high altitude flights.”
  • December 12 – Kenya becomes independent, with Jomo Kenyatta as prime minister.
  • December 19 – Zanzibar gains independence from Great Britain as a constitutional monarchy, under Sultan Jamshid bin Abdullah.
  • December 21 – Cyprus Emergency: Inter-communal fighting erupts between Greek Cypriots and Turkish Cypriots.
  • December 22 – The cruise ship Lakonia burns 180 miles north of Madeira, with the loss of 128 lives.
  • December 25
    • Walt Disney releases his 18th feature-length animated motion picture The Sword in the Stone, about the boyhood of King Arthur. It is the penultimate animated film personally supervised by Disney.
    • İsmet İnönü of CHP forms the new government of Turkey (28th government, coalition partners; independents, İnönü has served 10 ten times as a prime minister, this is his last government)
  • December 26 – I Want to Hold Your Hand and I Saw Her Standing There are released in the U.S., marking the beginning of full-scale Beatlemania.

Undated

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Births

January

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February

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March

  • March 1 – Russell Wong, American actor
  • March 2 – Tuff Hedeman, American PRCA World Champion Bull Rider
  • March 3 – Martin Fiz, Spanish long-distance runner
  • March 4 – Daniel Roebuck, American actor
  • March 5 – Joel Osteen, American televangelist and son of John Osteen
  • March 6 – Gary L. Stevens, American jockey
  • March 7 – Kim Ung-yong, Korean child prodigy
  • March 12 – Joaquim Cruz, Brazilian runner
  • March 13 – Fito Páez, Argentine musician
  • March 14 – Bruce Reid, Australian cricketer
  • March 15 – Bret Michaels, American rock singer (Poison)
  • March 17 – Alex Fong, Hong Kong actor
  • March 18 – Vanessa L. Williams, American beauty queen, actress, and singer
  • March 20
    • Paul Annacone, American tennis player and coach
    • Kathy Ireland, American model and actress
  • March 21 – Ronald Koeman, Dutch football player and manager
  • March 22 – Susan Ann Sulley, British musician
  • March 26 – Natsuhiko Kyogoku, Japanese writer
  • March 27
    • Charly Alberti, Argentinian musician
    • Quentin Tarantino, American actor, director, writer, and producer
    • Xuxa, Brazilian television personality
  • March 29 – Elle Macpherson, Australian supermodel

April

May

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  • May 1 – Benjamin LaGuer, American prisoner proclaiming innocence for more than two decades
  • May 2 – Ray Traylor, American professional wrestler ("Big Bossman") (d. 2004)
  • May 5 – James LaBrie, Canadian vocalist (Dream Theater)
  • May 9 – Gary Daniels, British martial artist and actor
  • May 11 – Natasha Richardson, English actress (d. 2009)
  • May 12 – Jerry Trimble, American actor and martial artist
  • May 16
  • May 19 – Yazz, English singer
  • May 23 – Wally Dallenbach Jr., American race car driver and announcer
  • May 24 – Joe Dumars, American basketball player
  • May 24 – Rich Rodriguez, American football coach
  • May 25 – Mike Myers, Canadian actor and comedian
  • May 25 – Eha Rünne, Estonian shot putter and discus thrower
  • May 26 – Clive Cowdery, English insurance entrepreneur

June

July

August

  • August 1 – Coolio, American rapper
  • August 2 – Laura Bennett, American fashion designer
  • August 3 – James Hetfield, American musician (Metallica)
  • August 6 – Kevin Mitnick, American computer hacker
  • August 7 – Patrick Bouvier Kennedy, son of U.S. President John F. Kennedy and First Lady Jacqueline Kennedy (d. 1963)
  • August 8 – Stephen Walkom, Canadian ice hockey official and executive
  • August 9 – Whitney Houston, American singer
  • August 19 - John Stamos, American actor
  • August 22 – Tori Amos, American singer
  • August 23
    • Hans-Henning Fastrich, German field hockey player
    • Kenny Wallace, American race car driver
  • August 24 – Hideo Kojima, Japanese video-game director
  • August 26
    • Michael Tao, Hong Kong actor
    • Liu Huan, Chinese singer
  • August 30 – Michael Chiklis, American actor
  • August 30 – Phil Mills, British race car driver
  • August 31 – Todd Carty, British actor
  • August 31 – The Egyptian Lover, American Rapper, DJ, Producer

September

October

November

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December

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Deaths

January

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February

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  • February 1 – Wyndham Standing, English actor (b. 1880)
  • February 6 – Piero Manzoni, Italian artist (b. 1933)
  • February 8 – George Dolenz, American actor (b. 1908)
  • February 9 – Abd al-Karim Qasim, Prime minister of Iraq (b. 1914)
  • February 11 – Sylvia Plath, American poet and novelist (suicide) (b. 1932)
  • February 16 – László Lajtha, Hungarian composer, ethnomusicologist and conductor (b. 1892)
  • February 18
    • Monte Blue, American actor (b. 1887)
    • Tokugawa Iemasa, Japanese politician, 17th head of the former Tokugawa shogunate (b. 1884)
  • February 20 – Ferenc Fricsay, Hungarian conductor (b. 1914)
  • February 28 – Eppa Rixey, American baseball player (b. 1891)

March

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  • March 4 – William Carlos Williams, American writer (b. 1883)
  • March 5 – Patsy Cline, American singer (air crash) (b. 1932)
  • March 10 – Frits Zernike, Dutch physicist, Nobel prize winner (b. 1888)
  • March 11 – Ignat Bednarik, Romanian painter (b. 1882)
  • March 16 – Archduchess Elisabeth Marie of Austria (b. 1883)
  • March 18 – Wanda Hawley, American actress (b. 1895)
  • March 22 – Cilly Aussem, German tennis champion (b. 1909)
  • March 23 – Thoralf Skolem, Norwegian mathematician (b. 1887)

April

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May

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June

  • June 1 – Alfred V. Kidder, American archaeologist (b. 1885)
  • June 3
  • June 7 – ZaSu Pitts, American actress (b. 1900)
  • June 9 – Jacques Villon, French painter (b. 1875)
  • June 10 – Anita King, American actress and race car driver (b. 1884)
  • June 11 – Thich Quang Duc, Vietnamese Buddhist monk (suicide) (b. 1897)
  • June 12 – Medgar Evers, African-American civil rights activist (b. 1925)
  • June 18 – Pedro Armendariz, Mexican actor (suicide) (b. 1912)
  • June 27 – John Maurice Clark, American economist (b. 1884)

July

  • July 6 – Georg, Duke of Mecklenburg, head of the House of Mecklenburg-Strelitz (b. 1899)
  • July 10 – Teddy Wakelam, English sports broadcaster and rugby union player (b. 1893)
  • July 12 – Slatan Dudow, Bulgarian film director (b. 1903)
  • July 18 – Jack Solomon, American restaurateur (b. 1896)

August

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September

  • September 3 – Louis MacNeice, Irish poet (b. 1907)
  • September 11 – Suzanne Duchamp, French painter (b. 1889)
  • September 12 – Modest Altschuler, Belarus-born American composer (b. 1873)
  • September 17 – Eduard Spranger, German philosopher and psychologist (b. 1882)
  • September 19 – David Low, New Zealand cartoonist (b. 1891)
  • September 25
    • Alexander Sakharoff, Russian dancer and choreographer (b. 1886)
    • Kurt Zeitzler, German Army officer (b. 1895)

October

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November

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December

Nobel Prizes

Academy Awards

Notes

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