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Events of 1964
January
U.S. launched Echo 2 the communications satellite.
Kenneth Kaunda was sworn in as the Prime Minister of Northern Rhodesia.
Ranger 6 was launched to transmit television pictures before crash landing on the Moon. No images were transmitted due to a camera system failure.
February
The Australian destroyer “Voyager” sank after a collision with the aircraft carrier “Melbourne”.
Peter Sellers married Brit Ekland.
France and Britain held talks to build a tunnel beneath the English Channel.
Fighting broke out in Cyprus between the Greeks and the Turks.
Cassius Clay beat Sonny Liston for the heavyweight championship of the world.
March
A Dallas jury finds Jack Ruby guilty of Lee Harvey Oswald’s murder.
Trade Union Leader Jimmy Hoffa was convicted and sentenced to eight years.
Elizabeth Taylor the movie star got her fourth divorce this time from Eddie Fisher she then married Richard Burton.
April
The USSR launched Zond 1 to collect data from Venus.
The unmanned spacecraft Gemini 1 was launched.
Geraldine Mock of the United States was the first woman to fly solo around the world.
In the U.K. BBC 2 channel premiered the first show was for children “Play School”.
John Lennon's "In His Own Write" was published in the U.S.
The prime minister of Southern Rhodesia Winston Field resigned and Ian Smith formed a new government.
May
The Indian Prime Minister, Pandit Nehru died of a heart attack at the age of seventy four.
More than three hundred football fans were killed during riots and panic following an unpopular decision by the referee in a Peru verses Argentina football match.
June
South Africa sentenced Nelson Mandela to life imprisonment.
Spain beat USSR 2-1 in the Euro football cup final.
July
Donald Campbell broke the land speed record on Lake Eyre Salt Flats in central Australia.
Ranger 7 sent back the first close up television pictures before crash landing on the Moon.
August
United States launched the communication’s satellite Syncom 3 and the weather satellite Nimbus 1.
Gwynne Owen Evans and Peter Anthony Allen were hanged for the murder of John Alan West. These were the last executions which took place in Britain.
September
In Scotland the Forth Road Suspension Bridge opened.
Malta gained it’s independence from Britain.
In the U.K. the Sun Newspaper was published for the first time.
President Lyndon B. Johnson presented Walt Disney with the “Medal of Freedom” at the White House.
American athlete Ralph Boston set the long jump record at 27' 4".
October
Brezhnev & Kosygin replaced Khrushchev as head of the USSR.
China became the world's fifth nuclear power.
The large Sapphire the Star of India and other jewels including the Eagle Star and the De Long Ruby were stolen from the American Museum of Natural History in New York.
Craig Breedlove broke the land speed record of over 400 mph.
The USSR launched Voskhod 1 the first three man crew space craft (Feokistov, Komarov and Yegorov). They returned after completing sixteen orbits.
November
Paula Murphy set the female land speed record on Bonneville Salt Flats, Utah.
The world's longest suspension bridge "Verrazano Narrows" opened in New York.
Mariner 3 was launched to flyby Mars. It failed.
Mariner 4 was launched to flyby Mars and it returned with the first pictures of Mars surface.
The USSR launched Zond 2 to flyby Mars. Returned no pictures.
December
Donald Campbell (UK) set the world water speed record reaching an average speed of 276.33mph in his speedboat, Bluebird on Lake Dumbleyung in Perth, Western Australia. He was the first man to break the land and water speed record in the same year.
Movies of 1964
Cliff Robertson, George Chakiris and Harry Andrews 633 SQUADRON.
Richard Burton and Peter O'Toole BECKET.
Based on a novel by Harold Robbins THE CARPETBAGGERS.
Comedy film directed by Stanley Kubrick, starred Peter Sellers and George C. Scott
Dr. STRANGELOVE.
Sophia Loren in the epic film THE FALL OF THE ROMAN EMPIRE.
The Spaghetti Western A FISTFUL OF DOLLARS starred Clint Eastwood.
The third James Bond film GOLDFINGER.
A HARD DAY’S NIGHT The Beatles.
Julie Andrews and Dick Van Dyke MARY POPPINS.
The musical film MY FAIR LADY starred Audrey Hepburn and Rex Harrison.
Elvis Presley ROUSTABOUT.
ZULU featuring Jack Hawkins, Stanley Baker and Michael Caine.
Sixties Events 1964
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