1963

**1963** (MCMLXIII) was a common year starting on Tuesday in the Gregorian calendar.

## 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

- June 11 – Buddhist Monk, Thích Quảng Đức sets himself on fire and burns to death for part of the Vietnam War of the Buddhist crisis.
- July 15 – The Who drummer Doug Sandom is arrested on charges of homosexuality.
- 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
- Diazepam - first synthesized in this year by Leo Sternbach (Polish). It was approved for human use 20 years later in 1983

## Births

- January 2 - Edgar Martínez, American baseball player
- March 9 - Jean-Marc Vallée, Canadian director (d. 2021)
- April 9 - Roberto Casarin, Italian religious leades and guru.
- 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 (d. 2009)
- May 12 – Vanessa A. Williams, actress
- May 24 – Joe Dumars, basketball star
- May 25 – Mike Myers, actor, comedian
- May 30 - Tracey Childs, actress
- 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 6 – Kay Purcell, English actress (d. 2020)
- December 13 – Ilkka Remes, writer
- December 16 – Benjamin Bratt, actor
- December 18 – Brad Pitt, actor
- December 21  Russell Armstrong, attorney and venture capitalist (d. 2011)
- December 23 – Jim Harbaugh, American football player

### 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