Background Information
This Schools selection was originally chosen by SOS Children for schools in the developing world without internet access. It is available as a intranet download. Before you decide about sponsoring a child, why not learn about different sponsorship charities first?
1963 by topic |
Subject: Archaeology – Architecture – Art – Aviation – Comics – Film – Literature ( Poetry) – Meteorology – Music ( Country) – Rail transport – Radio – Science – Spaceflight – Sports – Television |
Countries: Australia – Canada – People's Republic of China – Ecuador – France – Germany – Greece – India – Ireland – Israel – Italy – Japan – Luxembourg – Malaysia – Mexico – New Zealand – Norway – Pakistan – Philippines – Singapore – South Africa– Soviet Union – UK – USA |
Leaders: Sovereign states – State leaders – Religious leaders – Law |
Categories: Births – Deaths – Works – Introductions – Establishments – Disestablishments – Awards |
|
Year 1963 (MCMLXIII) was a common year starting on Tuesday (link will display full calendar) of the Gregorian calendar.
Events of 1963
January |
Mo |
Tu |
We |
Th |
Fr |
Sa |
Su |
|
1 |
2 |
3 |
4 |
5 |
6 |
7 |
8 |
9 |
10 |
11 |
12 |
13 |
14 |
15 |
16 |
17 |
18 |
19 |
20 |
21 |
22 |
23 |
24 |
25 |
26 |
27 |
28 |
29 |
30 |
31 |
|
|
|
January
- January 14 - George C. Wallace becomes governor of Alabama. In his inaugural speech, he defiantly proclaims "segregation now, segregation tomorrow, and segregation forever!"
- January 14 - The Flying Scotsman in its British Railways guise as No. 60103 makes its last scheduled run before going into the hands of Sir Alan Pegler for preservation.
- January 22 - France and Germany sign the Elysée Treaty.
- January 28 - Black 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 |
Mo |
Tu |
We |
Th |
Fr |
Sa |
Su |
|
|
|
|
1 |
2 |
3 |
4 |
5 |
6 |
7 |
8 |
9 |
10 |
11 |
12 |
13 |
14 |
15 |
16 |
17 |
18 |
19 |
20 |
21 |
22 |
23 |
24 |
25 |
26 |
27 |
28 |
|
|
|
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 became the city of Kitakyūshū, with a population of more than one million.
- February 12 - Northwest Airlines flight 705 crashes in the Florida Everglades killing everyone aboard.
- February 11 - The CIA's Domestic Operations Division is created.
- February 21 - An earthquake destroys the village of Barce, Libya, killing 500.
- February 27 - Juan Bosch takes office as the 41st president of the Dominican Republic.
- February 27 - Female suffrage is enacted in Iran.
March 21: Alcatraz closes
March |
Mo |
Tu |
We |
Th |
Fr |
Sa |
Su |
|
|
|
|
1 |
2 |
3 |
4 |
5 |
6 |
7 |
8 |
9 |
10 |
11 |
12 |
13 |
14 |
15 |
16 |
17 |
18 |
19 |
20 |
21 |
22 |
23 |
24 |
25 |
26 |
27 |
28 |
29 |
30 |
31 |
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 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.
March 27: 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 the 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.
April |
Mo |
Tu |
We |
Th |
Fr |
Sa |
Su |
1 |
2 |
3 |
4 |
5 |
6 |
7 |
8 |
9 |
10 |
11 |
12 |
13 |
14 |
15 |
16 |
17 |
18 |
19 |
20 |
21 |
22 |
23 |
24 |
25 |
26 |
27 |
28 |
29 |
30 |
|
|
|
|
|
April
- April 3 - SCLC volunteers kick off the Birmingham campaign against segregation with a sit-in.
- April 7 - Yugoslavia is proclaimed to be a Socialist republic, and Josip Broz Tito is named President for Life.
- April 8 - 35th Academy Awards ceremony
- April 10 - The U.S. nuclear submarine Thresher sinks 220 miles east of Cape Cod with all hands (129 dead).
- April 12 - Martin Luther King, Jr., Ralph Abernathy, Fred Shuttlesworth and others are arrested in a Birmingham protest for "parading without a permit".
- April 12 - The Soviet nuclear powered submarine K-33 collides with the Finnish merchant vessel M/S Finnclipper in the Danish straits. Although both vessels are severely damaged both can make it to port.
- April 15 - 70,000 marchers arrive in London from Aldermaston, to demonstrate against nuclear weapons.
- April 16 - Martin Luther King, Jr. issues his " Letter from Birmingham Jail".
- April 20 – In Quebec, Canada, members of the Quebec terrorist group, the Front de libération du Québec, bomb a Canadian Army recruitment centre, killing night watchman Wilfred V. O'Neill.
- April 21- April 23 - First election of the Supreme Institution of the Bahá'í Faith, known as the Universal House of Justice whose Seat is at the Bahá'í World Centre on Mount Carmel in Haifa, Israel.
- April 22 - Lester B. Pearson becomes Canada's 14th prime minister.
- April 28 - A general election is held in Italy.
- April 29- Buddy Rogers becomes first WWF Champion.
May
May |
Mo |
Tu |
We |
Th |
Fr |
Sa |
Su |
|
|
1 |
2 |
3 |
4 |
5 |
6 |
7 |
8 |
9 |
10 |
11 |
12 |
13 |
14 |
15 |
16 |
17 |
18 |
19 |
20 |
21 |
22 |
23 |
24 |
25 |
26 |
27 |
28 |
29 |
30 |
31 |
|
|
- 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. Sheriff Eugene "Bull" Connor later unleashes fire hoses and police dogs on the demonstrators.
- May 2 - 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 - Le Monde Theatre fire, Dioirbel, Senegal, 64 killed.
- May 8 - Dr. No, the first James Bond film, was shown in U.S. theaters.
- May 13 - A smallpox outbreak was recognized at Stockholm, Sweden, lasting until July that year.
- 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
June |
Mo |
Tu |
We |
Th |
Fr |
Sa |
Su |
|
|
|
|
|
1 |
2 |
3 |
4 |
5 |
6 |
7 |
8 |
9 |
10 |
11 |
12 |
13 |
14 |
15 |
16 |
17 |
18 |
19 |
20 |
21 |
22 |
23 |
24 |
25 |
26 |
27 |
28 |
29 |
30 |
- June 3 - Pope John XXIII dies.
- June 4 - President John F. Kennedy signs Executive Order 11110.
- June 5 - First annual NHL draft is held in Montreal, Quebec.
- June 10 - University of Central Florida established by Florida legislature.
- June 11 - In Saigon, Buddhist monk Thích Quảng Ðức commits self-immolation to protest the oppression of Buddhists by the Ngo Dinh Diem administration.
- June 11 - Alabama Governor George C. Wallace stands in the door of the University of Alabama to protest against integration, before stepping aside and allowing African Americans James Hood and Vivian Malone to enroll.
- June 11 - President John F. Kennedy makes a historic civil rights speech, in which he promises a Civil Rights Bill, and asks for "the kind of equality of treatment that we would want for ourselves."
- June 12 - Medgar Evers is murdered in Jackson, Mississippi (his killer is convicted in 1994).
- June 13 - Cancellation of Mercury 10 effectively ends the Mercury program of United States manned spaceflight.
- June 16 - Vostok 6 carries Soviet cosmonaut Valentina Tereshkova, the first woman, into space.
- June 17 - Abington School District v. Schempp: The U.S. Supreme Court rules that state-mandated Bible reading in public schools is unconstitutional.
- June 21 - Pope Paul VI (Giovanni Battista Montini) succeeds Pope John XXIII as the 262nd pope.
July
July |
Mo |
Tu |
We |
Th |
Fr |
Sa |
Su |
1 |
2 |
3 |
4 |
5 |
6 |
7 |
8 |
9 |
10 |
11 |
12 |
13 |
14 |
15 |
16 |
17 |
18 |
19 |
20 |
21 |
22 |
23 |
24 |
25 |
26 |
27 |
28 |
29 |
30 |
31 |
|
|
|
|
- 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.
- July 5 - The Roman Catholic Church accepts cremation as a funeral practice.
- July 26 - An earthquake in Skopje, Yugoslavia leaves 1,800 dead.
- July 26 - NASA launches Syncom, the world's first geostationary ( synchronous) satellite.
- July 27 – Indonesian Confrontation: Indonesian president-for-life Sukarno declares that he will crush Malaysia.
- July 30 - The Soviet newspaper Izvestia reports that Kim Philby has been given asylum in Moscow.
August
August |
Mo |
Tu |
We |
Th |
Fr |
Sa |
Su |
|
|
|
1 |
2 |
3 |
4 |
5 |
6 |
7 |
8 |
9 |
10 |
11 |
12 |
13 |
14 |
15 |
16 |
17 |
18 |
19 |
20 |
21 |
22 |
23 |
24 |
25 |
26 |
27 |
28 |
29 |
30 |
31 |
|
- August 5 - The United States, United Kingdom, and Soviet Union sign a nuclear test ban treaty.
- August 8 - The Great Train Robbery of 1963 takes place in Buckinghamshire, England.
- August 18 - American civil rights movement: James Meredith becomes the first black person to graduate from the University of Mississippi.
- August 21 - Xa Loi Pagoda raids: The Army of the Republic of Vietnam Special Forces loyal to Ngo Dinh Nhu, brother of President Ngo Dinh Diem, vandalises Buddhist pagodas across the country, arresting thousands and leaving an estimated hundreds dead.
- August 28 - Martin Luther King, Jr. delivers his " I Have A Dream" speech on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial to an audience of at least 250,000 during the March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom.
September
September |
Mo |
Tu |
We |
Th |
Fr |
Sa |
Su |
|
|
|
|
|
|
1 |
2 |
3 |
4 |
5 |
6 |
7 |
8 |
9 |
10 |
11 |
12 |
13 |
14 |
15 |
16 |
17 |
18 |
19 |
20 |
21 |
22 |
23 |
24 |
25 |
26 |
27 |
28 |
29 |
30 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
- September 6 - The Centre for International Industrial Property Studies (CEIPI) is founded.
- September 7 - The Pro Football Hall of Fame opens in Canton, Ohio with 17 charter members.
- September 10 - Mafia boss Bernardo Provenzano is indicted for murder (he is captured 43 years later, on April 11, 2006).
- September 15 - American civil rights movement: The 16th Street Baptist Church bombing, in Birmingham, Alabama, kills 4 and injures 22.
- September 16 - Malaysia is formed through the merging of the Federation of Malaya and the British crown colony of Singapore, North Borneo (renamed Sabah) and Sarawak.
- September 16 - In Fort-Lamy, Chad, demonstrations are quelled with 300 dead.
- September 18 - Rioters burn down the British Embassy in Jakarta, to protest the formation of Malaysia.
- September 23 - King Fahd University for Petroleum and Minerals is established by a Saudi Royal Decree as the College of Petroleum and Minerals.
- September 24 - The U.S. Senate ratifies the nuclear test ban treaty.
- September 25 - The Denning Report on the Profumo affair is published in Great Britain.
- September 29 - The second period of Second Vatican Council in Rome opens.
October
October |
Mo |
Tu |
We |
Th |
Fr |
Sa |
Su |
|
1 |
2 |
3 |
4 |
5 |
6 |
7 |
8 |
9 |
10 |
11 |
12 |
13 |
14 |
15 |
16 |
17 |
18 |
19 |
20 |
21 |
22 |
23 |
24 |
25 |
26 |
27 |
28 |
29 |
30 |
31 |
|
|
|
- October 1 - Nigeria becomes a republic; The 1st Republican Constitution is established
- 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 were arrested after trying to register at a "whites only" motel in Louisiana. In the months following, he recorded 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.
- October 10 - From Russia With Love is shown in UK cinemas.
- October 31 - 74 die in a gas explosion at a coliseum in Indianapolis, United States.
November
November |
Mo |
Tu |
We |
Th |
Fr |
Sa |
Su |
|
|
|
|
1 |
2 |
3 |
4 |
5 |
6 |
7 |
8 |
9 |
10 |
11 |
12 |
13 |
14 |
15 |
16 |
17 |
18 |
19 |
20 |
21 |
22 |
23 |
24 |
25 |
26 |
27 |
28 |
29 |
30 |
|
- November 1 - Arecibo Observatory officially begins operation.
- November 2 - 1963 South Vietnamese coup: South Vietnamese President Ngo Dinh Diem is assassinated following a military coup.
- November 6 - Vietnam War: Coup leader General Duong Van Minh takes over as leader of South Vietnam.
- November 7 - Wunder von Lengede: In Germany, 11 miners are rescued from a collapsed mine after 14 days.
- November 9 - Miike Coal Mine explosion: In Japan, a coal mine explosion kills 458 and sends 839 carbon monoxide poisoning victims to the hospital.
- November 9 -A triple-train disaster in Yokohama, Japan kills 161.
- November 14 - A volcanic eruption under the sea near Iceland creates a new island, Surtsey.
- November 15 - Conductor Fritz Reiner dies. On his next Young People's Concert, scheduled to be telecast November 29, Leonard Bernstein, a former pupil of Reiner's, will pay tribute to him.
- November 16 - A newspaper strike begins in Toledo, Ohio.
- November 18 - The Dartford Tunnel opens in the U.K.
Nov.22:
Lyndon Johnson is sworn in as U.S. President after assassination of John F. Kennedy.
- November 22 - 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 B. 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 - The first episode of the BBC television series Doctor Who is broadcast in the United Kingdom. A reference to this date was later included in one episode of the spinoff Torchwood
- November 23 - The Golden Age Nursing Home Fire kills 63 elderly people near Fitchville, Ohio.
- November 24 - Alleged assassin of John F. Kennedy, Lee Harvey Oswald, 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 |
Mo |
Tu |
We |
Th |
Fr |
Sa |
Su |
|
|
|
|
|
|
1 |
2 |
3 |
4 |
5 |
6 |
7 |
8 |
9 |
10 |
11 |
12 |
13 |
14 |
15 |
16 |
17 |
18 |
19 |
20 |
21 |
22 |
23 |
24 |
25 |
26 |
27 |
28 |
29 |
30 |
31 |
|
|
|
|
|
- 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 - A lightning strike causes the crashing of Pan Am Flight 214 near Elkton, Maryland, killing 81 people.
- December 10 - In the United States, the X-20 Dyna-Soar spaceplane program is cancelled.
- 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 next-to-last animated film personally supervised by Disney, but it has not become one of his greatest hits.
- 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.
- December 26 - The Beatles hold their first concert in the United States at the Washington Coliseum in Washington D.C.
.
Births
1963 in other calendars
Gregorian calendar |
1963 MCMLXIII |
Ab urbe condita |
2716 |
Armenian calendar |
1412 ԹՎ ՌՆԺԲ |
Assyrian calendar |
6713 |
Bahá'í calendar |
119–120 |
Bengali calendar |
1370 |
Berber calendar |
2913 |
British Regnal year |
11 Eliz. 2 – 12 Eliz. 2 |
Buddhist calendar |
2507 |
Burmese calendar |
1325 |
Byzantine calendar |
7471–7472 |
Chinese calendar |
壬寅年十二月初六日 (4599/4659-12-6) — to — 癸卯年十一月十六日 (4600/4660-11-16) |
Coptic calendar |
1679–1680 |
Ethiopian calendar |
1955–1956 |
Hebrew calendar |
5723–5724 |
Hindu calendars |
|
- Vikram Samvat |
2019–2020 |
- Shaka Samvat |
1885–1886 |
- Kali Yuga |
5064–5065 |
Holocene calendar |
11963 |
Igbo calendar |
|
- Ǹrí Ìgbò |
963–964 |
Iranian calendar |
1341–1342 |
Islamic calendar |
1382–1383 |
Japanese calendar |
Shōwa 38 (昭和38年) |
Juche calendar |
52 |
Julian calendar |
Gregorian minus 13 days |
Korean calendar |
4296 |
Minguo calendar |
ROC 52 民國52年 |
Thai solar calendar |
2506 |
|
January-February
- January 2 - David Cone, baseball player
- January 2 - Edgar Martínez, baseball player
- January 4 - Till Lindemann, German musician ( Rammstein)
- January 13 - Tim Kelly, American musician; lead guitar player for Slaughter (band) from 1988 to 1998 (d. 1998)
- January 14 - Steven Soderbergh, American film director
- January 16 - James May, English motoring journalist and television show host
- January 18 - Ian Crook, English footballer
- January 21 - Hakeem Olajuwon, Nigerian basketball player
- January 21 - Detlef Schrempf, German basketball player
- January 23 - Gail O'Grady, American actress
- January 24 - Arnold Vanderlyde, Dutch boxer
- January 26 - José Mourinho, Portuguese football manager
- January 26 - Andrew Ridgely, English musician
- January 30 - Thomas Brezina, Austrian author
- February 2 - Eva Cassidy, American vocalist (d. 1996)
- February 9 - Travis Tritt, American singer
- February 11 - Diane Franklin, American actress
- February 17 - Michael Jordan, American basketball player
- February 17 - Larry the Cable Guy, American comedian
- February 18 - Martin Treanor, Irish writer
- February 19 - Seal, English singer
- February 20 - Charles Barkley, American basketball player
- February 21 - William Baldwin, American actor
- February 22 - Vijay Singh, Fiji golfer
March-April
- March 1 - Dan Michaels, American record producer and saxophonist ( The Choir and The Swirling Eddies)
- March 2 - Tuff Hedeman, 4-Time PRCA World Champion Bull Rider
- March 4 - Jason Newsted, American bassist ( Voivod)
- March 4 - Daniel Roebuck, American actor
- March 4 - Janey Lee Grace, UK-based singer, author, television presenter and radio disc jockey
- March 6 - Gary Stevens, American jockey
- March 12 - Joaquim Cruz, Brazilian runner
- March 13 - Fito Páez, Argentine musician
- March 14 - Bruce Reid, Australian cricketer
- March 15 - Bret Michaels, American singer ( Poison)
- March 17 - Nick Peros, Canadian composer
- March 17 - Michael Ivins, American bassist ( The Flaming Lips)
- March 18 - Vanessa L. Williams, American beauty queen, actress, and singer
- March 20 - Paul Annacone, American tennis player and coach
- March 20 - Kathy Ireland, American model and actress
- March 21 - Ronald Koeman, Dutch football player and manager.
- March 21 - Shawn Lane, American guitar virtuoso (d. 2003)
- March 22 - Susan Ann Sulley, British musician
- March 26 - Natsuhiko Kyogoku, Japanese writer
- March 27 - Charly Alberti, Argentinian musician
- March 27 - Quentin Tarantino, American actor, director, writer, and producer.
- March 27 - Xuxa, Brazilian television personality
- March 29 - Elle Macpherson, Australian supermodel
- March 30 - Eli-Eri Moura, Brazilian composer, conductor and music theorist
- April 3 - Criss Oliva, American metal guitarist ( savatage)
- April 4 - Jack Del Rio, American football player and coach
- April 4 - Graham Norton, Irish comedian and talk show host
- April 4 - Frank Yallop, Canadian footballer
- April 6 - Andrew Weatherall, English disc jockey
- April 8 - Julian Lennon, musician son of John Lennon
- April 9 - Joe Scarborough, American newscaster
- April 10 - Warren DeMartini, American guitarist ( Ratt)
- April 10 - Doris Leuthard, Swiss Federal Councillor
- April 11 - Chris Ferguson, American poker player
- April 12 - Michael English, American singer
- April 13 - Garry Kasparov, Russian chess player
- April 16 - Jimmy Osmond, American singer
- April 17 - Joel Murray, American actor
- April 18 - Eric McCormack, Canadian actor
- April 18 - Conan O'Brien, American television entertainer
- April 21 - Ken Caminiti, American baseball player (d. 2004)
- April 21 - Roy Dupuis, Canadian actor
- April 24 - Tõnu Trubetsky, Estonian musician ( Vennaskond)
- April 26 - Jet Li, Chinese martial artist and actor
- April 26 - Colin Scotts, Australian-born American football player
- April 27 - Cali Timmins, Canadian actress
- April 30 - Michael Waltrip, American race car driver
May-June
- May 1 - Benjamin LaGuer, Massachusetts inmate proclaiming innocence for more than two decades
- May 2 - Ray Traylor, former American professional wrestler who went by the name Big Bossman (d. 2004)
- May 5 - James LaBrie, Canadian vocalist ( Dream Theatre)
- May 9 - Barry Douglas Lamb, English musician, author, and preacher
- May 11 - Natasha Richardson, English-born actress
- May 16 - Jon Coffelt, American artist
- May 16 - Mercedes Echerer, Austrian actress and politician
- 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 31 - Teresa Cheung, Hong Kong socialite & actress
- June 5 - Joe Rudán, Hungarian heavy metal singer
- June 6 - Jason Isaacs, British actor
- June 9 - Johnny Depp, American actor
- June 13 - Bettina Bunge, German tennis player
- June 16 - James Fullington, American professional wrestler who goes by The Sandman
- June 17 - Greg Kinnear, American actor
- June 18 - Bruce Smith, American football player
- June 20 - Amir Derakh, American musician
- June 22 - Randy Couture, American mixed martial artist
- June 23 - Colin Montgomerie, Scottish golfer
- June 24 - Mike Wieringo, American comic book artist (d. 2007)
- June 24 - Preki, Serbia-born American soccer player
- June 25 - Doug Gilmour, Canadian hockey player
- June 25 - George Michael, English singer
- June 26 - Mikhail Khodorkovsky, a Russian businessman, a former Komsomol activist who became one of Russia's oligarchs
- June 30 - Yngwie Malmsteen, Swedish guitarist, composer, and bandleader
July-August
- July 4 - Christopher George Kennedy, son of Robert F Kennedy
- July 16 - Norman Cook aka Fatboy Slim, English Big Beat musician
- July 16 - Phoebe Cates, American actress
- July 17 - Letsie III, King of Lesotho
- July 18 - Allen Sarven, American professional wrestler who goes by the name Al Snow
- July 24 - Julie Krone, American jockey
- July 24 - Karl Malone, American basketball player
- July 26 - Andy Timmons, American guitarist
- July 29 - Graham Poll, English football referee
- July 29 - Jim Beglin, Irish football commentator
- July 30 - Lisa Kudrow, American actress
- July 30 - Chris Mullin, American basketball player and executive
- August 1 - Coolio, American rapper
- August 2 - Laura Bennett, American fashion designer and finalist of Project Catwalk cycle 3
- August 3 - Tasmin Archer, English singer
- August 3 - James Hetfield, American singer ( Metallica)
- August 4 - Gary King, British disc jockey
- August 6 - Kevin Mitnick, American computer hacker
- August 8 - Stephen Walkom, Canadian ice hockey official and executive
- August 9 - Whitney Houston, American singer
- August 19 - John Stamos, American actor
- August 19 - Joey Tempest, Swedish singer ( Europe)
- August 22 - Tori Amos, American singer
- August 23 - Hans-Henning Fastrich, German field hockey player
- August 23 - Kenny Wallace, American race car driver
- August 24 - Hideo Kojima, Japanese video game director
- August 30 - Michael Chiklis, American actor
- August 30 - Paul Oakenfold, British disc jockey
- August 30 - Phil Mills, British race car driver
- August 31 - Reb Beach, American guitarist ( Winger, Whitesnake)
- August 31 - Todd Carty, British actor
September-October
- September 1 - Carola Smit, Dutch musician
- September 6 - Geert Wilders, Dutch politician
- September 6 - Mark Chesnutt, Country Musician
- September 7 - Eazy-E, American rapper (d. 1995)
- September 10 - Randy Johnson, baseball player
- September 11 - Joey Dedio, Actor
- September 19 - Jarvis Cocker, English musician ( Pulp)
- September 21 - Cecil Fielder, baseball player
- September 21 - Angus MacFadyen, Scottish actor
- September 23 - Jackie Pearcey, English politician
- September 28 - Steve Blackman, American professional wrestler
- September 29 - Dave Andreychuk, Canadian hockey player
- September 29 - Les Claypool, American bassist and singer ( Primus)
- October 1 - Mark McGwire, American baseball player
- October 5 - Laura Davies, English golfer
- October 5 - Ronni Le Tekro, Norwegian guitarist
- October 6 - Elisabeth Shue, American actress
- October 10 - Anita Mui, Hong Kong singer (d. 2003)
- October 10 - Daniel Pearl, American journalist (d. 2002)
- October 10 - Jolanda de Rover, Dutch swimmer
- October 12 - Satoshi Kon, Japanese anime director
- October 12 - Alan McDonald, Northern Irish footballer
- October 17 - Norm MacDonald, Canadian comedian
- October 22 - Brian Boitano, American figure skater
- October 26 - Natalie Merchant, American singer, songwriter, and musician
- October 27 - Feyyaz Uçar, Turkish footballer
- October 28 - Lauren Holly, American actress
- October 30 - Kristina Wagner, American actress
- October 31 - Fred McGriff, baseball player
November-December
- November 1 - Rick Allen, British musician ( Def Leppard)
- November 1 - Katja Riemann, German actress
- November 2 - Craig Saavedra, American filmmaker
- November 4 - Lena Zavaroni, Scottish entertainer (d. 1999)
- November 11 - Kip James, American professional wrestler
- November 13 - Vinny Testaverde, American football player
- November 15 - Benny Elias, Australian rugby player
- November 18 - Dante Bichette, baseball player
- November 19 - Terry Farrell, American actress
- November 19 - Jon Potter, British field hockey player
- November 19 - Peter Schmeichel Football player
- November 21 - Nicolette Sheridan, English actress
- November 22 - Winsor Harmon, American actor
- November 23 - Troy Hurtubise, Canadian inventor
- November 25 - Holly Cole, Canadian jazz singer
- November 25 - Bernie Kosar, American football player
- December 2 - Ann Patchett, American novelist
- December 3 - Terri Schiavo, American right-to-die cause célèbre (d. 2005)
- December 7 - Mark Bowen, Welsh footballer
- December 13 - Jake White, South African rugby coach
- December 14 - Cynthia Gibb, American actress
- December 16 - Benjamin Bratt, American actor
- December 16 - Jeff Carson, American singer
- December 18 - Pauline Ester, French singer
- December 18 - Brad Pitt, American actor
- December 21 - Jacques Simonet, Belgian politician (d. 2007)
- December 22 - Bryan Gunn, Scottish footballer
- December 22 - Luna H. Mitani, Japanese American Surrealism Painter
- December 23 - Jim Harbaugh, American football player
- December 23 - Donna Tartt, American author
- December 26 - Lars Ulrich, Danish-born drummer ( Metallica)
- December 29 - Francisco Bustamante, Filipino billiard player
- December 29 - Sean Payton, American football coach
Deaths
January - June
- January 2 - Jack Carson, Canadian actor (b. 1910)
- January 2 - Dick Powell, American actor (b. 1904)
- January 5 - Rogers Hornsby, baseball player (b. 1896)
- January 18 - Edward Charles Titchmarsh, British mathematician (b. 1899)
- January 23 - Józef Gosławski, Polish sculptor and medallic artist (b. 1908)
- January 29 - Robert Frost, American poet (b. 1874)
- January 30 - Francis Poulenc, French composer (b. 1899)
- February 11 - Sylvia Plath, American poet and novelist (suicide) (b. 1932)
- February 20 - Ferenc Fricsay, Hungarian conductor (b. 1914)
- February 28 - Eppa Rixey, baseball player (b. 1891)
- March 4 - William Carlos Williams, American writer (b. 1883)
- March 5 - Patsy Cline, American singer (b. 1932) (air crash)
- March 11 - Ignat Bednarik, Romanian painter (b. 1882)
- April 6 - Otto Struve, Russian-born astronomer (b. 1897)
- April 7 - Amedeo Maiuri, Neapolitan archaeologist (b. 1886))
- April 9 - Eddie Edwards, American jazz trombonist (b. 1891)
- May 1 - Lope K. Santos, Filipino writer, Father of Philippine National Language and Grammar (b. 1879)
- May 11 - Herbert Spencer Gasser, American physiologist, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1888)
- May 12 - Bobby Kerr, Canadian runner (b. 1882)
- May 12 - Aiden Wilson Tozer, American Protestant pastor (b. 1897)
- May 31 - Edith Hamilton, German-born author (b. 1867)
- June 3 - Pope John XXIII (b. 1881)
- June 3 - Nazim Hikmet, Turkish poet (b. 1901)
- June 11 - Thich Quang Duc, Vietnamese Buddhist monk (suicide) (b. 1897)
- June 12 - Medgar Evers, American civil rights activist (b. 1925)
- June 18 - Pedro Armendariz, Mexican actor (suicide) (b. 1912)
July - December
- July 10 - Teddy Wakelam, English sports broadcaster and rugby union player (b. 1893)
- July 18 - Jack Solomon, American restaurateur (b. 1896)
- August 1 - Theodore Roethke, American poet (b. 1908)
- August 9 - Patrick Bouvier Kennedy, infant son of President and Mrs. Kennedy (b. 1963)
- August 10 - Ernst Wetter, Swiss Federal Councillor (b. 1877)
- August 23 - Glen Gray, American saxophonist and conductor (b. 1900)
- August 27 - Allama Inayatullah Khan Mashriqi, Indian founder of the Khaksar Movement (b. 1888)
- August 31 - Georges Braque, French painter (b. 1882)
- September 3 - Louis MacNeice, Irish poet (b. 1907)
- September 11 - Suzanne Duchamp, French painter (b. 1889)
- September 19 - David Low, New Zealand cartoonist (b. 1891)
- September 25 - Alexander Sakharoff, Russian dancer and choreographer (b. 1886)
- October 10 - Édith Piaf, French singer (b. 1915)
- October 11 - Jean Cocteau, French writer (b. 1889)
- November 1 - Le Quang Tung, Vietnamese military leader (b. 1923) (assassinated)
- November 2 - Ngo Dinh Diem, President of South Vietnam (b. 1901)
- November 15 - Fritz Reiner, Hungarian conductor (b. 1888)
- November 21 - Robert Stroud, prisoner and Alcatraz "Birdman" (b. 1890)
- November 22 - Aldous Huxley, English writer (b. 1894)
- November 22 - John F. Kennedy, 35th President of the United States (assassinated) (b. 1917)
- November 22 - C. S. Lewis, Irish-born British writer (b. 1898)
- November 24 - Lee Harvey Oswald, American alleged assassin of President John F. Kennedy (b. 1939) (shot)
- November 26 - Amelita Galli-Curci, Italian opera singer (b. 1882)
- December 2 - Thomas J. Hicks, American runner (b. 1875)
- December 5 - Karl Amadeus Hartmann, German composer (b. 1905)
- December 5 - Sri Deep Narayan Mahaprabhuji, Hindu saint (b. 1828)
- December 14 - Dinah Washington, American jazz/blues singer (b. 1924)
- December 28 - A. J. Liebling, American journalist (b. 1904)
- December - Andy Kennedy, Northern Ireland footballer (b. 1897)
Nobel prizes
- Physics - Eugene Paul Wigner, Maria Goeppert-Mayer, J. Hans D. Jensen
- Chemistry - Karl Ziegler, Giulio Natta
- Physiology or Medicine - Sir John Carew Eccles, Alan Lloyd Hodgkin, Andrew Fielding Huxley
- Literature - Giorgos Seferis
- Peace - International Committee of the Red Cross, League of Red Cross Societies