From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
1966 (MCMLXVI) was a common year starting on Saturday (link will display full calendar) of the 1966 Gregorian calendar.
[edit] Events of 1966
[edit] 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 violent 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.
[edit] February
- 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.
- 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 Detriot 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 delcares 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 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. [1]
- 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 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.
[edit] 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 Gennesaret (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 15 – The Beatles launch 'The Beatles 1965 USA Tour [2] at Shea Stadium.
- 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 29 – The Beatles play their very last concert at Candlestick Park in San Francisco, California.
- August 30 – France offers independence to French Somaliland.
[edit] 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.
[edit] October
[edit] 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.
[edit] 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 23 – 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 1989-2002.
- 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.
[edit] Undated
[edit] Ongoing
[edit] Births
[edit] 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 24 – Jimeoin, Northern Irish-Australian comedian and actor
- January 29 – Romário, Brazilian footballer
- January 30 – Hans Tutschku, German composer
[edit] 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
- 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 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 – 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 1 – Anne Fletcher, American film director and choreographer
- May 3 – Firdous Bamji, 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 – 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, Democratic member of the Texas House of Representatives
- 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 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 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 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 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
[edit] 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[2]
- August 10 – Charlie Dimmock, English TV celebrity gardener and horticulturalist
- 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
[edit] 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
[edit] 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
[edit] 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 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
[edit] 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 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
[edit] Deaths
[edit] January–March
- January 1 – Vincent Auriol, President of France (b. 1884)
- January 11 – Alberto Giacometti, Swiss sculptor (b. 1901)
- January 11 – Hannes Kolehmainen, Finnish runner (b. 1889)
- January 14 – Barry Fitzgerald, Irish actor (b. 1888)
- 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 18 – Kathleen Norris, American writer (b. 1880)
- February 1 – Buster Keaton, American actor and film director (b. 1895)
- February 1 – Hedda Hopper, American gossip columnist (b. 1885)
- February 6 – Narcisa de Leon, Filipino film mogul (b. 1877)
- 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 20 – Chester Nimitz, American admiral (b. 1885)
- 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 – 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 – Frits Zernike, Dutch physicist, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1888)
[edit] 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 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 23 – Georges Ohsawa, Japanese diet founder (b. 1893)
- May 22 – Tom Goddard, English cricketer (b. 1900)
- May 23 – Demchugdongrub, Mongolian politician (b. 1902)
- June 1 – Papa Jack Laine, American jazz musician (b. 1873)
- 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 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)
[edit] July–September
- July 2 – Jan Brzechwa, Polish poet (b. 1900)
- July 5 – George de Hevesy, Hungarian chemist, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1885)
- July 6 – Sad Sam Jones, American baseball player (b. 1892)
- July 14 – Julie Manet, French painter (b. 1878
- July 24 – Montgomery Clift, American actor (b. 1920)
- August 3 – Lenny Bruce, American comedian (b. 1925)
- August 6 – Cordwainer Smith, American author (b. 1913)
- 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 28 – Andre Breton, French writer (b. 1896)
- September – Hiram Wesley Evans, American leader of the Ku Klux Klan (b. 1881)
[edit] October–December
- October 7 – Smiley Lewis, African-American R&B musician (b. 1913)
- 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 26 – Alma Cogan, English singer (b. 1932)
- November 2 – Peter Debye, Dutch chemist, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1884)
- November 2 – Mississippi John Hurt, African-American singer and guitarist (b. 1893)
- 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 15 – Walt Disney, American animated film producer and founder of The Walt Disney Company and Disneyland Resort (b. 1901)
[edit] Nobel Prizes
[edit] 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
[edit] External links
[edit] Table of contents
