- Jan 1 Beatles' Decca audition is unsuccessful
- Jan 1 Rwanda granted internal self-government by Belgium
- Jan 1 Western Samoa gains independence from New Zealand Susuga Malietoa Tanumafili II becomes co-chief of Western Samoa
- Jan 1 United States Navy SEALs established.
- Jan 1 48th Rose Bowl: #6 Minnesota beats #16 UCLA, 21-3
- Jan 1 28th Sugar Bowl: #1 Alabama beats #9 Arkansas, 10-3`
- Jan 1 28th Orange Bowl: #4 LSU beats #7 Colorado, 25-7
- Jan 2 Nighttime version of "Password" with Allen Ludden premieres on CBS
- Jan 3 Ground is broken for the Houston Astrodome
Excommunication
Jan 3 Pope John XXIII excommunicates Fidel Castro
Fidel Castro
John XXIII
- Jan 4 1st automated (unmanned) subway train in New York City
Event of Interest
Jan 5 Tony Sheridan & Beatles produce "My Bonnie" & "The Saints"
Tony Sheridan
- Jan 7 1st AFL All Star Game, Balboa Stadium, SD: Western Division beats Eastern Division, 47-27; MVP Cotton Davidson, Dallas Texans, QB
Event of Interest
Jan 8 21 year old future Hall of Fame golfer Jack Nicklaus makes his first professional appearance; tied 50th in Los Angeles Open
Jack Nicklaus
Agent Orange in Vietnam
Jan 12 Operation Ranch Hand begins, a US Air Force operation to spray South Vietnamese forests with defoliants such as Agent Orange
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Event of Interest
Jan 13 Philadelphia center Wilt Chamberlain scores 73 points in Warriors' 135-117 win over Chicago Packers; at the time, most points scored in NBA regulation game, and remains tied for 3rd-highest total
Wilt Chamberlain
The Twist Dance Craze
Jan 13 Chubby Checker's song "The Twist", credited with starting the Twist dance craze, goes to #1 in the charts two years after first reaching number one spot
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NFL Pro Bowl
Jan 14 12th NFL Pro Bowl, LA Memorial Coliseum: Western Conference beats Eastern Conference, 31-30; MVPs: Jim Brown, Cleveland Browns, RB; Henry Jordan, Green Bay Packers, DT
Jim Brown
- Jan 15 Dutch & Indonesian navy encounter in Etna Bay New Guinea
Event of Interest
Jan 15 Coco the Clown [Nicolai Poliakoff] is the subject of the BBC TV programme "This is Your Life"
Coco the Clown
- Jan 15 50th Australian Championships Women's Tennis: Margaret Smith beats Jan Lehane O'Neill in the final for 3rd straight year 6-0, 6-2
Australian Men's Tennis Open
Jan 15 50th Australian Championships Men's Tennis: Rod Laver takes the 1st leg of his 1st Grand Slam; beats fellow Queenslander Roy Emerson 8-6, 0-6, 6-4, 6-4
Rod Laver
Roy Emerson
NBA All-Star Game
Jan 16 12th NBA All-Star Game, St. Louis Arena, St. Louis, Mo: West beats East, 150-130; MVP: Bob Pettit, St. Louis Hawks, C; All-Star record 27 rebounds
Bob Pettit
Event of Interest
Jan 17 NASA civilian pilot Neil Armstrong takes X-15 to 40,690m
Neil Armstrong
- Jan 17 Roy Harris' 8th Symphony, premieres in San Francisco
- Jan 18 Southern University closed due to demonstrations
- Jan 18 US begins spraying foliage in Vietnam to reveal Viet Cong guerrillas
- Jan 18 US performs nuclear test at Nevada Test Site
- Jan 20 "Kean" closes at Broadway Theater NYC after 92 performances
John F. Kennedy
Event of Interest
Jan 23 British intelligence officer Kim Philby defects to USSR
Kim Philby
Contract of Interest
Jan 24 Brian Epstein signs management contract with the Beatles
Brian Epstein
Hall of Fame
Jan 24 Jackie Robinson is 1st African American elected to Baseball's Hall of Fame. Bob Feller is also elected.
Jackie Robinson
Event of Interest
Jan 26 Bishop Burke of Buffalo Catholic dioceses declares Chubby Checker's "The Twist" to be impure and bans it from all Catholic schools
Chubby Checker
- Jan 26 Canadian Marine Service renamed Coast Guard
- Jan 26 David Diamond's 7th Symphony, premieres in Philadelphia
- Jan 26 US launches Ranger 3, misses Moon by 22,000-mi (37,000-km)
- Jan 27 "Family Affair" opens at Billy Rose Theater NYC for 65 performances
- Jan 28 Johanne Relleke gets stung by bees 2,443 times in Rhodesia & survives
- Jan 30 UN General Assembly censures Portugal over Angola
- Jan 30 US performs nuclear test at Nevada Test Site
- Jan 30 2 members of Flying Wallendas' high-wire act killed when their 7-person pyramid collapsed during a performance in Detroit
- Jan 30 Laughter epidemic begins at a girls' mission school in Kashasha, Tanganyika, goes on to affect 14 schools and over 1000 people
- Jan 31 General Charles P Cabell, USAF, ends term as deputy director of CIA
- Jan 31 Samuel Gravely assumes command of destroyer escort "USS Falgout", first African American to command a combat ship