Historical Events in 1963

Events 1 - 200 of 602

• Jan 1 G Woods succeeds Eugene Black as president of the World Bank
• Jan 1 WTEV (now WLNE) TV channel 6 in Providence RI begins broadcasting

• Jan 1 49th Rose Bowl: #1 Southern California beats #2 Wisconsin, 42-37
• Jan 1 29th Sugar Bowl: #3 Mississippi beats #6 Arkansas, 17-13
• Jan 1 29th Orange Bowl: #5 Alabama beats #8 Oklahoma, 17-0
• Jan 3 WOUB TV channel 20 in Athens, OH (PBS) begins broadcasting
• Jan 4 Soviet Luna (4) reaches Earth orbit but fails to reach Moon
• Jan 5 "Camelot" closes at Majestic Theater NYC after 873 performances
• Jan 5 "Carnival!" closes at Imperial Theater NYC after 719 performances
• Jan 5 San Diego beats Boston 51-10 in AFL championship game
• Jan 6 "Mutual of Omaha's Wild Kingdom" with Marlin Perkins begins on NBC
• Jan 6 "Oliver!" opens at Imperial Theater NYC for 774 performances
• Jan 7 1st class postage raised from 4 cents to 5 cents

• Jan 8 "Mona Lisa", on loan, unveiled in America's National Gallery of Art

• Jan 11 Beatles release "Please Please Me" & "Ask Me Why"
• Jan 12 "Go Away Little Girl" by Steve Lawrence peaks at #1
• Jan 12 Spin bowler Bobby Simpson takes 5-57 for Australia v England
• Jan 13 2nd AFL All Star Game, Balboa Stadium, SD: Western Division beats Eastern Division, 21-14; MVPs: Curtis McClinton, Dallas Texans, RB; Earl Faison, LA Chargers, DE

• Jan 14 "The Bell Jar" by Sylvia Path is published by Heinemann in the UK, the author commits suicide a month later

• Jan 16 Los Angeles night club and music venue The Whiskey A-Go-Go opens (inducted into Rock and Roll Hall of Fame 2006)
• Jan 17 Joe Walker takes X-15 to altitude of 82 km

• Jan 18 Reinier Paping wins Dutch 11-Cities Skating Race (10:59)

• Jan 19 Australian Championships Women's Tennis: Margaret Court beats Jan Lehane O'Neill for 4th consecutive year 6-2, 6-2

• Jan 24 Buddy Rogers & Lou Thesz wrestle in Toronto, Rogers becomes WWF wrestling champ & Thesz becomes NWA champion


• Jan 26 "Milk & Honey" closes at Martin Beck Theater NYC after 543 performances
• Jan 26 Major League Rules Committee votes to expand strike zone
• Jan 27 Yevgeni Grishin skates world record 500m in 39.6 sec
• Jan 27 Sam Rice, Eppa Rixey, Elmer Flick, & John Clarkson elected to Baseball Hall of Fame
• Jan 28 -34°F (-37°C), Cynthiana, Kentucky (state record)
• Jan 28 "Still" single released by Bill Anderson (Billboard no. 1 U.S. Hot Country Singles 1963)

• Feb 1 Nyasaland (now Malawi) becomes self-governing under Hastings Banda
• Feb 2 Helen Shapiro begins tour (Beatles are part of undercard)
• Feb 5 Maarten Schmidt discovers enormous red shifts in quasars
• Feb 5 Soviet lunar probe failure
• Feb 8 1st transmission of Clandestine Voice of Iraqi People (Communist)
• Feb 8 AFL's Dallas Texans become KC Chiefs
• Feb 8 US performs nuclear test at Nevada Test Site
• Feb 9 1st flight of Boeing 727 jet
• Feb 9 7th largest snowfall in NYC history (42.4 cm, 16.7")
• Feb 10 US female Figure Skating championship won by Lorraine Hanlon
• Feb 10 US male Figure Skating championship won by Thomas Litz
• Feb 11 Beatles tape 10 tracks for their 1st album
• Feb 11 CIA Domestic Operations Division created
• Feb 11 American chef Julia Child's show "The French Chef" premieres

• Feb 14 US launches communications satellite Syncom 1

• Feb 15 1st US female world figure skating champ (Tenley Albright)
• Feb 15 Ken Lynch records "Misery," 1st Lennon-McCartney song by someone else
• Feb 16 1st round-trip swim of Strait of Messina, Italy (Mary Revell of US)
• Feb 16 Beatles top British rock charts with "Please, Please Me"
• Feb 16 C & A Building in Amsterdam burns down

• Feb 17 Toru Terasawa runs world record marathon (2:15:15.8

• Feb 20 End of the Test Cricket careers of Neil Harvey & Alan Davidson

• Feb 21 US performs nuclear test at Nevada Test Site
• Feb 22 Beatles begin their own music publishing company (Northern Songs)

• Feb 24 5th Daytona 500: Tiny Lund driving for Wood Bros Racing, wins on 4 pit stops as first 10 laps run under caution flag because of rain
• Feb 25 Beatles release their 1st single in US "Please Please Me"

• Mar 1 200,000 French mine workers strike
• Mar 2 10th ACC Men's Basketball Tournament, Reynolds Coliseum, Raleigh, NC: Duke beats Wake Forest, 68-57
• Mar 3 Senegal adopts a new constitution
• Mar 5 Beatles record "From Me to You" & "Thank You Girl"

• Mar 8 Syrian Arab Rep Revolution Day - Military coup in Syria
• Mar 9 Beatles began 1st British tour, supporting Tommy Roe & Chris Montez

• Mar 10 Wilt Chamberlain of NBA SF Warriors scores 70 points vs Syracuse


• Mar 11 Somalia drops diplomatic relations with Great Britain

• Mar 13 Two Russian reconnaissance flights over Alaska
• Mar 13 Hindemith & Wilder's opera "Long Christmas Dinner" premieres in NYC
• Mar 13 Indonesia & Netherlands reinstate diplomatic relations
• Mar 14 San Francisco Guy Rogers ties NBA record with 28 assists
• Mar 15 WFAN TV channel 14 in Washington, D.C. (IND) begins broadcasting
• Mar 16 England edges Scotland, 10-8 at Twickenham, London to win its 17th Five Nations Rugby Championship

• Mar 17 Elizabeth Ann Seton of NY beatified (canonized in 1975)
• Mar 17 Eruptions of Mount Agung on Bali, kills 1,900 Balinese
• Mar 18 "Tovarich" opens at Broadway Theater NYC for 264 performances
• Mar 18 France performs underground nuclear test at Ecker, Algeria
• Mar 18 WGSF TV channel 31 in Newark, OH (PBS) begins broadcasting
• Mar 20 1st "Pop Art" exhibition (NYC)

• Mar 21 David Hendon & Douglas Cross' musical premieres in London
• Mar 22 Beatles release 1st album, "Please Please Me"
• Mar 22 British Minister of War John Profumo denies having sex with Christine Keeler
• Mar 23 25th NCAA Men's Basketball Championship: Loyola-Chicago beats Cincinnati, 60-58 (OT); Ramblers' first title in first title game
• Mar 23 Rolf Hochhuth's play "Der Stellvertreter" (The Representative) premieres in Berlin
• Mar 23 8th Eurovision Song Contest: Grethe and Jorgen Ingmann for Denmark win singing "Dansevise" in London
• Mar 25 KWHY TV channel 22 in Los Angeles, CA (IND) begins broadcasting
• Mar 27 Beeching axe: Dr. Richard Beeching issues a report calling for huge cuts to the United Kingdom's rail network.
• Mar 28 AFL's NY Titan's become the NY Jets
• Mar 29 Final episode of soap opera "Young Doctor Malone"
• Mar 30 France performs underground nuclear test at Ecker Algeria
• Mar 30 117th Grand National: 19-year old jockey Pat Buckley aboard 66/1 outsider Ayala wins by 3/4 of a length from Carrickbeg
• Mar 31 LA ends streetcar service after 90 years


• Apr 1 NY Mets purchase future Baseball Hall of Fame outfielder Duke Snider from the LA Dodgers for $40,000; Snider had starred for the Brooklyn Dodgers 1947-57
• Apr 1 NYC's newspapers resume publishing after a 114 day strike
• Apr 1 Soap operas "General Hospital" & "Doctors" premiere on ABC TV
• Apr 2 Explorer 17 attains Earth orbit (254/914 km)
• Apr 2 USSR launches Luna 4; missed Moon by 8,500 km
• Apr 5 Beatles receive their 1st silver disc (Please Please Me)
• Apr 5 Susuga Malietoa Tanumafili II becomes chief of Western Samoa

• Apr 7 Yugoslavia proclaimed a Socialistic republic
• Apr 7 Public stock offering of 115,000 shares in Milwaukee Braves withdrawn after only 13,000 shares are sold to 1,600 new investors

• Apr 8 Tigers claim young pitcher Denny McLain from the White Sox for $25,000

• Apr 10 USS Thresher, a nuclear powered submarine, sinks 220 miles east of Boston killing 129 men, including 17 civilians
• Apr 10 US performs nuclear test at Nevada Test Site

• Apr 11 US performs nuclear test at Nevada Test Site
• Apr 11 Milwaukee Braves future Baseball Hall of Fame pitcher Warren Spahn beats NY Mets, 6-1 for his 328th win; most by a left-hander in MLB history
• Apr 12 Beatles "From Me to You" is released in UK
• Apr 12 Police in Birmingham, Alabama, use dogs & cattle prods on peaceful demonstrators
• Apr 13 Pete Rose triples for his 1st major league base hit
• Apr 13 Pirate's Bob Friend balks 4 times in a game

• Apr 15 "Sophie" opens at Winter Garden Theater NYC for 8 performances
• Apr 15 67th Boston Marathon won by Aurèle Vandendriessche of Belgium in race record 2:18:58
• Apr 18 Dr James Campbell performed the 1st human nerve transplant
• Apr 18 Stanley Cup Final, Maple Leaf Gardens, Toronto, ON: Toronto Maple Leafs go back-to-back with a 3-1 Game 5 win over Detroit Red Wings for a 4-1 series victory
• Apr 19 "Hot Spot" opens at Majestic Theater NYC for 43 performances

• Apr 20 "Sophie" closes at Winter Garden Theater NYC after 8 performances


• Apr 20 -30] All Africa Conferences of Churches opens in Kampala Uganda
• Apr 20 10th National Film Awards (India): "Dada Thakur" wins the Golden Lotus

• Apr 21 The Universal House of Justice of the Bahá'í Faith is elected for the first time

• Apr 23 Jerry Bock and S. Harnick's musical "She Loves Me" opens at Eugene O'Neill Theater NYC for 302 performances
• Apr 24 17th NBA Championship: Boston Celtics beat LA Lakers, 4 games to 2
• Apr 24 US performs nuclear test at Nevada Test Site
• Apr 27 "Jopie" Pengel forms government in Suriname

• Apr 28 17th Tony Awards: "Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?" and "A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum" win

• Apr 29 KRE-AM in Berkeley CA changes call letters to KPAT
• May 1 1st American (James Whittaker) conquers Mount Everest
• May 1 Indonesia takes control of Irian Jaya (west New Guinea) from Neth
• May 1 First one-day cricket competition is played (Gillette Cup); Lancashire beats Leicestershire by 101 at Old Trafford

• May 3 Leslie Narum is only Baltimore Oriole to homer on his 1st at bat
• May 3 Birmingham officials turn high pressure hoses and dogs on children's crusade protest against segregation prompting widespread condemnation
• May 4 89th Kentucky Derby: Braulio Baeza aboard Chateaugay wins in 2:01.8
• May 4 Pitcher Bob Shaw sets record of 5 balks in a game
• May 6 Pulitzer prize awarded to Barbara Tuchman (Guns of August)
• May 7 Bruno Sammartino becomes WWF champ
• May 7 SETC Telstar 2 launched (apogee 6,700 miles (10,800 km))
• May 8 "Dr No" premieres in US
• May 8 JFK offers Israel assistance against aggression
• May 9 US performs nuclear test at Nevada Test Site
• May 10 Decca signs Rolling Stones on advice of Beatle George Harrison
• May 11 "Puff (The Magic Dragon)" by Peter, Paul & Mary hits #2

• May 11 Racial bomb attacks in Birmingham Alabama

• May 12 Race riot in Birmingham, Alabama
• May 14 Kuwait is 111th member of the United Nations
• May 15 Last Project Mercury flight, L Gordon Cooper in Faith 7, launched
• May 15 Peter, Paul & Mary win their 1st Grammy (If I Had a Hammer)
• May 15 Tottenham Hotspur of England win 3rd European Cup winner's Cup against Atlético Madrid of Spain 5-1 at Rotterdam

• May 16 "Beast in Me" opens at Plymouth Theater NYC for 4 performances
• May 16 Gordon Cooper completes 22 orbits in Faith 7, ends US Proj Mercury
• May 17 Bruno Sammartino beats Buddy Rogers in NY, to become WWF champ
• May 17 Houston Colt .45's Don Notterbart no-hits Phillies, 4-1
• May 17 US performs nuclear Test at Nevada Test Site
• May 18 "Beast in Me" closes at Plymouth Theater NYC after 4 performances
• May 18 "If You Wanna Be Happy" by Jimmy Soul hits #1
• May 18 88th Preakness: Bill Shoemaker aboard Candy Spots wins in 1:56.2

• May 22 Greek parliament leader Lambrakis injured

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