1964 (MCMLXIV) was .

Events

 January 1 – Top of the Pops is first shown on BBC television.
 January 3 – Footage of The Beatles performing a concert in Bournemouth, England is shown on The Jack Paar Show.
 January 15 – Vee Jay Records files a lawsuit against Capitol Records and Swan Records over manufacturing and distribution rights to Beatles albums. On April 9, Capitol Records is granted an court order stopping Vee Jay Records from further manufacturing, distributing or advertising recordings by the Beatles.
 January 18 – The Beatles appear on the Billboard magazine charts for the first time.
 February 1 – Indiana Governor Welsh declares the song "Louie Louie" by the Kingsmen pornographic. He requests that the Indiana Broadcasters Association ban the record. Governor Welsh claimed that his "ears tingle" when he heard the song. Publisher Max Firetag offers $1,000 to anyone that can find anything "suggestive" in the song's lyrics.
 February 7 – The Beatles arrive in the United States and are greeted by thousands of screaming fans at New York's John F. Kennedy International Airport.
 March – Columbia Records is bombarded with requests for heavyweight boxing champion Cassius Clay's album, I Am the Greatest, following Clay's defeat of Sonny Liston in February.
 March 21 – For the first time in history, all Top Ten singles on the U.K. chart are by British acts.
 March 27 – A major earthquake strikes southern Alaska.
 April 4 – The Beatles hold all five top positions on Billboard's Top Pop Singles chart with their singles "Can't Buy Me Love", "Twist and Shout", "She Loves You", "I Want to Hold Your Hand", and "Please Please Me".
 April 11 – The Beatles hold 14 positions on the Billboard Hot 100 chart. Previously, the highest number of concurrent singles by one artist on the Hot 100 was nine by Elvis Presley, December 19, 1956.
 April 20 – BBC 2 is launched.
 April 26 – The Rolling Stones release their eponymous first album.
 April 26 – Tanzania is formed by uniting Zanzibar and Tanganyika.
 May 2 – In the United States, The Beatles' Second Album climbs to the #1 spot on the LP charts in only its second week of release, making it the first album ever to reach #1 that quickly.
 July 31 – Country singer Jim Reeves dies in an airplane crash near Nashville.
 September 21 – Malta becomes independent.
 September 22 – Fiddler on the Roof opens on Broadway.
 October 14 – Martin Luther King, Jr. wins the Nobel Peace Prize.
 October 15 – Nikita Krushchev is overthrown in the Soviet Union.
 October 16 – Harold Wilson becomes Prime Minister of the United Kingdom.
 October 27 - Ronald Reagan delivers "A Time for Choosing" speech at a campaign ceremony for Barry Goldwater. 
 November 3 – US President Lyndon B. Johnson defeats Barry Goldwater in the Presidential election.

Births 

 January 3 - Rendor Ács, Hungarian politician and actor
 January 7 – Nicolas Cage, American actor
 January 12 – Jeff Bezos, American entrepreneur
 January 12 - Clare Holman, British actress
 January 13 – Bill Bailey, British comedian
 January 14 – Mark Addy, English actor
 January 17 – Michelle Obama, First lady and wife of the 44th President of the United States, Barack Obama
 January 18 – Jane Horrocks, British actress
 January 23 – Mariska Hargitay, American actress
 January 23 – Bharrat Jagdeo, President of Guyana
 January 26 – Torkil Nielsen, Faroese footballer and chess player
 January 27 – Bridget Fonda, American actress
 February 10 – Francesca Neri, Italian actress
 February 10 – Glenn Beck, American broadcaster
 February 11 – Sarah Palin, 11th Governor of Alaska
 February 16 – Christopher Eccleston, English actor
 February 18 – Matt Dillon, American actor
 February 25 – Lee Evans, British comedian
 March 1 – Paul Le Guen, French football manager
 March 6 – Sandro Rosell, Spanish football manager
 March 9 – Juliette Binoche, French actress
 March 10 – Prince Edward, Earl of Wessex
 March 17 – Rob Lowe, American actor
 March 29 – Elle Macpherson, Australian model and actress
 April 2 – Hirobumi Zaima, Japanese footballer
 April 6 – David Woodard, American writer and conductor
 April 7 – Russell Crowe, New Zealand-born Australian actor
 April 14 – Stuart Duncan, American musician
 April 14 – Gina McKee, English actress
 April 17 – Maynard James Keenan, American singer
 April 20 – François Bourdoncle, French businessman
 April 20 – Andy Serkis, English actor
 April 25 – Hank Azaria, American actor and comedian
 May 13 – Stephen Colbert, American actor and comedian
 May 26 – Lenny Kravitz, American musician
 June 15 – Courteney Cox, American actress
 June 15 – Michael Laudrup, Danish footballer
 June 19 — Boris Johnson, British Prime Minister
 June 21 – Oleg Kononenko, Russian cosmonaut
 June 22 – Dan Brown, American writer
 June 23 – Joss Whedon, American television and movie director
 July 3 – Yeardley Smith, American actress
 July 9 – Courtney Love, American musician, singer and actress
 July 10 – Urban Meyer, American football manager
 July 15 – Tetsuji Hashiratani, Japanese football manager
 July 19 – Masashi Hachuda, Japanese football manager
 July 22 – John Leguizamo, Colombian/Puerto Rican American actor and comedian
 July 24 – Barry Bonds, American baseball player
 July 26 – Sandra Bullock, American actress
 July 30 – Jürgen Klinsmann, German footballer
 August 2 – Mary-Louise Parker, American actress
 August 3 – Abhisit Vejjajiva, Prime Minister of Thailand
 August 8 – Klaus Ebner, Austrian writer
 September 2 – Keanu Reeves, American actor
 September 9 – John Hughes, Scottish football manager
 September 14 – Faith Ford, American actress
 September 28 – Paul Jewell, English football manager
 September 30 – Monica Bellucci, Italian actress
 October 22 – Craig Levein, Scottish football manager
 October 23 – Robert Trujillo, American musician
 October 30 – Jean-Marc Bosman, Belgian footballer
 October 31 – Marco van Basten, Dutch footballer and coach
 November 1 - Kerry Peers, Welsh actress
 November 11 – Calista Flockhart, American actress
 November 16 – Diana Krall, Canadian jazz singer
 November 27 – Roberto Mancini, Italian footballer and manager
 November 29 – Don Cheadle, American actor
 December 1 – Salvatore Schillaci, Italian footballer
 December 4 – Sertab Erener, Turkish singer
 December 8 – Teri Hatcher, American actress
 December 9 – Hape Kerkeling, German comedian
 December 13 – Hide, Japanese musician (d. 1998)
 December 18 – Robson Green, British actor
 December 18 – Stone Cold Steve Austin, American professional wrestler
 December 23 – Eddie Vedder, American singer

Deaths 

 January 1 – Bechara El Khoury, President of Lebanon (born 1890)
 February 6 – Emilio Aguinaldo, President of the Philippines (born 1869)
 March 20 – Brendan Behan, Irish writer (born 1923)
 April 24 – Gerhard Domagk, German bacteriologist (born 1895)
 May 2 – Nancy Astor, Viscountess Astor, American-British politician (born 1879)
 May 21 – James Franck, German-born physicist (born 1882)
 May 27 – Jawaharlal Nehru, Prime Minister of India (born 1889)
 July 31 – Jim Reeves, American country singer (born 1923)
 August 7 – Aleksander Zawadzki, President of Poland (born 1899)
 August 12 – Ian Fleming, British writer (born 1908)
 September 2 – Francisco Craveiro Lopes, Portuguese President (born 1894)
 September 28 – Harpo Marx, American comedian and actor (born 1888)
 October 10 – Eddie Cantor, American actor, comedian and dancer (born 1892)
 October 15 – Cole Porter, American composer (born 1891)
 October 20 – Herbert Hoover, 31st President of the United States (born 1874)
 December 9 – Edith Sitwell, English poet (born 1887)
 December 17 – Victor Francis Hess, Austrian-born physicist (born 1883)
 December 21 – Carl Van Vechten, American writer and photographer (born 1880)

Nobel prizes
 Nobel Prize in Physics shared by Charles Hard Townes, Nicolay Gennadiyevich Basov and Aleksandr Mikhailovich Prokhorov for work that led to the development of laser and maser
 Nobel Prize in Chemistry won by Dorothy Crowfoot Hodgkin, British biochemist
 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine won by Konrad Bloch,  German American biochemist, and Feodor Lynen,  German biochemist
 Nobel Prize in Literature won by Jean-Paul Sartre, a French philosopher
 Nobel Peace Prize won by Martin Luther King Jr., an American Baptist minister and activist

Movies released 

 Dr. Strangelove
 The Night of the Iguana
 The Carpetbaggers based on the novel by Harold Robbins
 A Fistful of Dollars starring Clint Eastwood and Marianne Koch
 Goldfinger starring Sean Connery
 A Hard Day's Night starring The Beatles
 Hush...Hush, Sweet Charlotte starring Bette Davis, Olivia de Havilland, and Joseph Cotten
 Mary Poppins, winning Academy Award for Best Actress for Julie Andrews
 My Fair Lady, winning Academy Award for Best Picture
 A Shot in the Dark starring Peter Sellers and Elke Sommer
 Viva Las Vegas

Hit songs 
 "Baby Love" – The Supremes
 "Can't Buy Me Love" – The Beatles
 "Chug-A-Lug" – Roger Miller
 "Dancin' In The Street" – Martha & the Vandellas
 "Dawn" – Frankie Valli & The Four Seasons
 "Fun Fun Fun" – The Beach Boys
 "Glad All Over" – Dave Clark Five
 "Go Now" – The Moody Blues
 "Goldfinger" – Shirley Bassey
 "A Hard Day's Night" – The Beatles
 "Hello Dolly" recorded by Louis Armstrong
 "House Of The Rising Sun" – The Animals
 "I Feel Fine"/"She's A Woman" – The Beatles
 "I Get Around" – The Beach Boys
 "I Guess I'm Crazy" – Jim Reeves
 "Welcome To My World" – Jim Reeves
 "It's Over" – Roy Orbison
 "Needles And Pins" – The Searchers
 "Rag Doll" – Frankie Valli & The Four Seasons
 "She's Not There" – The Zombies
 "Oh, Pretty Woman" – Roy Orbison
 "Twist and Shout" – The Beatles
 "Under The Boardwalk" – The Drifters
 "Walk on By" – Dionne Warwick
 "Welcome To My World" – Jim Reeves
 "Wishin' and Hopin'" – Dusty Springfield
 "You Really Got Me" – The Kinks

New Books

Albert Angelo – B.S. Johnson
Armageddon  –  Leon Uris
Charlie and the Chocolate Factory – Roald Dahl
Chitty Chitty Bang Bang – Ian Fleming
The Defense – Vladimir Nabokov
The Farm Book  –  Jan Pfloog
Fortunate Pilgrim – Mario Puzo
Funeral in Berlin  –  Len Deighton
Herzog  –  Saul Bellow
The Jealous God – John Braine
Flowers for Hitler – Leonard Cohen
Julian  – Gore Vidal
Little Big Man  –  Thomas Berger
The Man  –  Irving Wallace
The Martyred  –  Richard E. Kim
A Moveable Feast  –  Ernest Hemingway
Nigger: An Autobiography – Dick Gregory
One-Dimensional Man – Herbert Marcuse
A Purple Place For Dying – John D. MacDonald
Rascal  –  Sterling North
The Rector of Justin  –  Louis Auchincloss
Second Generation – Raymond Williams
Shadow and Act  –  Ralph Ellison
Shadow of a Bull  –  Maia Wojciechowska
A Song of Six Pence  –  A.J. Cronin
The Valley of Bones – Anthony Powell
When the Lion Feeds  –  Wilbur Smith
Why We Can't Wait   –  Martin Luther King, Jr.
You Only Live Twice  –  Ian Fleming
The Splendid Belt of Mr. Big – Sara Bulette

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