Title: 1963 Content: 1963 (MCMLXIII) was . == Events == * January 5 – The Beach Boys record one of their trademark songs, "Surfin' USA" * February 11 – The Beatles record 10 songs for the album "Please Please Me" * June 1 – Jomo Kenyatta becomes the first Prime Minister of Kenya * September 15 – "Birmingham Sunday" when a bomb killed 4 black girls in a church in Birmingham, Alabama * September – The X-Men make their debut * November 22 – John F. Kennedy assassinated, Lyndon Johnson sworn in as President * November 23 – Doctor Who airs for the first time in the United Kingdom * December 12 - Kenya is officially independent from the United Kingdom * December 31 – The Central African Federation breaks apart. It eventually became Zambia, Malawi and Rhodesia * The cassette tape was invented == Births == * January 2 - Edgar Martínez, American baseball player * March 9 - Jean-Marc Vallée, Canadian director (d. 2021) * March 21 – Shawn Lane, American musician * May 8 – Helena Blagne Zaman, Slovene singer * May 8 - Anthony Field, Australian musician (The Wiggles) * May 9 – Barry Douglas Lamb, rock musician, writer, Christian preacher * May 11 – Natasha Richardson, actress * May 12 – Vanessa A. Williams, actress * May 24 – Joe Dumars, basketball star * May 25 – Mike Myers, actor, comedian * June 6 – Jason Isaacs, actor * June 9 – Johnny Depp, actor * June 13 – Bettina Bunge, tennis player. * June 17 – Greg Kinnear, TV host and actor * June 18 – Bruce Smith, American football player * June 23 – Colin Montgomerie, golfer. * June 25 – George Michael, singer * June 27 – Meera Syal, comedian, writer, playwright, singer, journalist and actress * July 9 – Johnny Depp, American actor * July 16 – Phoebe Cates, actress * July 17 - Regina Belle, American singer * July 24 – Karl Malone, basketball * July 30 – Lisa Kudrow, American actress * August 3 – James Hetfield, Metallica frontman and co-founder * August 6 – Kevin Mitnick, computer cracker * August 19 – Joey Tempest, Europe frontman * August 19 – John Stamos, actor * August 23 – Kenny Wallace, NASCAR race car driver * August 24 – Hideo Kojima, video game director * August 30 – Paul Oakenfold, DJ * September 7 – Eazy-E, American rapper * September 10 – Randy Johnson, baseball pitcher, five-time Cy Young Award winner * September 21 – Cecil Fielder, baseball player * September 29 – Dave Andreychuk, NHL player * October 1 – Mark McGwire, baseball star * October 4 – Mark Powley, English actor * October 10 – Daniel Pearl, journalist (d. 2002) * October 22 – Brian Boitano, figure skater * October 26 – Natalie Merchant, singer/songwriter/musician * October 31 – Fred McGriff, baseball player * November 13 – Vinny Testaverde, American football quarterback * November 18 – Dante Bichette, baseball player * November 19 – Terry Farrell, actress * November 21 – Nicolette Sheridan, actress * November 24 – Iris Erlingsdottir, OMD, writer, journalist * December 2 – John Kennedy Morrisey, entertainer/athlete/storyteller * December 13 – Ilkka Remes, writer * December 16 – Benjamin Bratt, actor * December 18 – Brad Pitt, actor * December 23 – Jim Harbaugh, American football player == Deaths == === January === * January 2 – Dick Powell, American actor (b. 1904) * January 2 – Al Mamaux, American baseball player (b. 1894) * January 2 – Jack Carson, American actor (b. 1910) * January 5 – Rogers Hornsby, American baseball manager (b. 1896) * January 13 – Sylvanus Olympio, President of Togo (b. 1902) * January 18 – Edward Charles Titchmarsh, British mathematician (b. 1899) * January 22 – Alf Henry Andresen, Norwegian opera singer (b. 1891) * January 23 – Muhammad Ali Bogra, Prime Minister of Pakistan (b. 1909) * January 29 – Robert Frost, American poet (b. 1874) * January 30 – Francis Poulenc, French composer (b. 1899) === February === * February 11 – Sylvia Plath, American poet and novelist (suicide) (b. 1932) * February 28 – Rajendra Prasad, 1st President of India (b. 1884) * February 28 – Eppa Rixey, American baseball player (b. 1891) * February 28 – Alba Chrétien-Vaguet, French singer (b. 1872) === March === * March 4 – William Carlos Williams, American writer (b. 1883) * March 5 – Patsy Cline, American singer (b. 1932) * March 11 – Alpha Brumage, American football player (b. 1880) * March 18 – Wanda Hawley, American actress (b. 1895) === April === * April 6 – Otto Struve, Russian-American astronomer (b. 1897) * April 9 – Eddie Edwards, American jazz musician (b. 1891) * April 23 – Yitzhak Ben-Zvi, President of Israel (b. 1884) === May === * May 12 – Bobby Kerr, Canadian runner (b. 1882) * May 31 – Edith Hamilton, educator and writer (b. 1867) === June === * June 3 – Pope John XXIII head of the Catholic Church (b. 1881) * June 11 – Thích Quảng Đức, Vietnamese Bhuddist monk (b. 1897) * June 18 – Pedro Armendariz, Mexican actor (b. 1912) === July === * July 1 – Ezzel Dine Zulficar, Egyptian film director (b. 1919) === August === * August 5 – Theodore Roethke, American poet (b. 1908) * August 6 – Gottfried Klaus, Swiss politician (b. 1899) * August 23 – Glen Gray, American saxophonist (b. 1906) * August 31 – Georges Braque, French painter (b. 1882) === September === * September 11 – Suzanne Duchamp, French painter (b. 1889) === October === * October 11 – Édith Piaf, French singer (b. 1915) * October 11 – Jean Cocteau, French writer (b. 1889) === November === * November 1 – Ngo Dinh Diem, President of South Vietnam (b. 1901) * November 5 – Luis Cernuda, Spanish writer (b. 1902) * November 15 – Fritz Reiner, Hungarian conductor (b. 1888) * November 22 – John F. Kennedy, 35th President of the United States (b. 1917) * November 22 – J. D. Tippit, Police officer (b. 1924) * November 22 – Aldous Huxley, English novelist (b. 1894) * November 22 – C. S. Lewis, English novelist (b. 1898) * November 24 – Lee Harvey Oswald (b. 1939) * November 27 – Kikuji Ishimoto, Japanese architect (b. 1894) * November 28 – Tryambak Shankar Shejwalkar, Indian historian (b. 1895) === December === * December 1 – Amy Elizabeth Thorpe, British-American spy (b. 1910) * December 2 – Thomas Hicks, American marathon runner (b. 1875) * December 5 – Huseyn Shaheed Suhrawardy, Prime Minister of Pakistan (b. 1892) * December 5 – Karl Amadeus Hartmann, German composer (b. 1905) * December 8 – Sarit Thanarat, Prime Minister of Thailand (b. 1908) * December 12 – Theodor Heuss, President of Germany (b. 1884) * December 14 – Dinah Washington, American singer (b. 1924) * December 28 – Paul Hindemith, German composer (b. 1895) == Nobel Prizes == * Nobel Prize in Physics – Eugene Paul Wigner, Maria Goeppert-Mayer, J. Hans D. Jensen * Chemistry – Karl Ziegler, Giulio Natta * 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 == Movies released == * 8½, an Italian movie directed by Federico Fellini * An Actor's Revenge * La Baie des anges * The Birds, directed by Alfred Hitchcock * Blood Feast * Bye Bye Birdie, a musical comedy * Charade * Cleopatra, starring Elizabeth Taylor, Rex Harrison, and Richard Burton * From Russia With Love, the second James Bond movie * Fun in Acapulco * The Great Escape * How the West Was Won * Hud, winning Academy Award for Best Actress for Patricia Neal and Best Supporting Actor for Melvyn Douglas * Irma La Douce * It Happened at the World's Fair * It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World * Lawrence of Arabia starring Peter O'Toole * The Longest Day * The Mask * Mépris, Le * The Nutty Professor * Son of Flubber * The Sword in the Stone, an animated movie by Walt Disney Productions * Tom Jones, winning both Academy Award for Best Picture and Academy Award for Best Director * The V.I.P.s, winning Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress for Margaret Rutherford * Zuo ye meng hun zhong == Hit songs == * "Dominique" – The Singing Nun * "Please Please Me" – The Beatles * "She Loves You" – The Beatles * "Love Me Do" – The Beatles * "I Want To Hold Your Hand" – The Beatles * "From Me To You" – The Beatles * "In Dreams" – Roy Orbison * "Blue Bayou" – Roy Orbison * "Mean Woman Blues" – Roy Orbison * "Pretty Paper" – Roy Orbison * "Hey Paula" – Paul & Paula * "He's So Fine" – The Chiffons * "Bo Diddley" – Buddy Holly * "Brown Eyed Handsome Man" – Buddy Holly * "Surf City" – Jan & Dean * "It's My Party" – Lesley Gore * "Twenty Four Hours From Tulsa" – Gene Pitney * "Be My Baby" – The Ronettes * "Wipe Out" – The Surfaris * "If I Had A Hammer" – Trini Lopez * "Da Doo Ron Ron" – The Crystals * "Pipeline" – The Chantays * "Walk Like A Man" – Frankie Valli & The Four Seasons * "Heat Wave" – Martha & the Vandellas * "Up On The Roof" – The Drifters * "I Can't Stay Mad At You" – Skeeter Davis * "Only In America" – Jay & the Americans * "Who Stole The Keeshka?" – Matys Brothers * "Wonderful Summer" – Robin Ward * "I Only Want to Be With You" – Dusty Springfield * "The Folk Singer" – Tommy Roe * "Guilty" – Jim Reeves * "Is This Me" – Jim Reeves == New books == * The Bell Jar – Sylvia Plath * Benefactor – Susan Sontag * Caravans – James A. Michener * Cat's Cradle – Kurt Vonnegut * City of Night – John Rechy * The Collector – John Fowles * Elizabeth Appleton – John O'Hara * False Colours – Georgette Heyer * John Cleland's Memoirs of a Woman of Pleasure – John Cleland * The Glass-Blowers – Daphne du Maurier * Gradmother and the Priests – Taylor Caldwell * The Group – Mary McCarthy * Happiness Is a Warm Puppy – Charles M. Schulz * The Making of the English Working Class – E. P. Thompson * On Her Majesty's Secret Service – Ian Fleming * Planet of the Apes (La Planète des Singes) – Pierre Boulle * The Rise of the West – William H. McNeill * The Sand Pebbles – Richard McKenna * Second Skin – John Hawkes * The Shoes of the Fisherman – Morris West * Six Easy Pieces – Richard P. Feynman * The Spy who Came in from the Cold – John le Carré * That Summer in Paris – Morley Callaghan