1966

**1966** (MCMLXVI) was a common year starting on Saturday in the Gregorian calendar.

## Events

- January 8 – _Shindig!_ airs for the last time on ABC, with musical guests the Kinks and the Who.
- January 12 – _Batman_ debuts on ABC (1966-1968).
- February 23 – Television is first broadcast in Greece when ERT went on the air.
- April 5 – _The Money Programme_ debuts on BBC2 (1966-present).
- June 27 – The first episode of the supernatural soap opera _Dark Shadows_ airs on ABC, introducing Victoria Winters (Alexandra Moltke) to the viewing audience as she applies for a job at the Collinwood Manor.
- July 1 – First Canadian color television broadcast.
- September – ABC switches to the color standard, meaning that all three US networks are now broadcasting in color regularly.
- September 3 – The last new episode of the television series _The Adventures of Ozzie and Harriet_ airs.
- September 7 – The final episode of _The Dick Van Dyke Show_ airs (the first episode aired on October 3, 1961).
- September 8 – The first episode of _Star Trek_ airs (1966-1969).
- September 12 – _The Monkees_ premieres (1966-1968).
- October 2 – The four-part serial _Talking to a Stranger_, acclaimed as one of the finest British television dramas of the 1960s, begins transmission in the _Theatre 625_ strand on BBC2.
- October 27 – _It's the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown_ airs for the first time on CBS.
- November 16 – _Cathy Come Home_, possibly the best-known play ever to be broadcast on British television, is transmitted in BBC1's _The Wednesday Play_ anthology strand.
- December 15 – Walt Disney, founder of Disney Brothers Studios, dies from lung cancer at the age of 65.
- December 18 – _Dr. Seuss_' _How the Grinch Stole Christmas_, narrated by Boris Karloff, airs for the first time on CBS. It became a Christmas tradition.

## Births

- February 6 – Rick Astley, British singer
- March 10 – Omer Tarin, Pakistani poet, scholar and mystic
- April 8 – Robin Wright, American actress
- April 15 – Samantha Fox, British supermodel & singer
- April 25 – Femke Halsema, Dutch politician and writer
- May 16 – Janet Jackson, American singer & actress
- June 30 – Mike Tyson, American professional boxer
- August 3 – Brent Butt, Canadian actor and comedian
- August 7 – Jimmy Wales, American founder of Wikipedia
- September 9 – Adam Sandler, American comedian and actor
- October 2 – Rodney Anoa'i, American professional wrestler (died 2000)
- October 9 — David Cameron, British Prime Minister
- October 11 – Luke Perry, American actor (died 2019)
- December 21 – Kiefer Sutherland, Canadian actor

### January

- January 1 – Vincent Auriol, President of France (b. 1884)
- January 11 – Alberto Giacometti, Swiss sculptor (b. 1901)
- January 11 – Hannes Kolehmainen, Finnish runner (b. 1889)
- January 11 – Lal Bahadur Shastri, Prime Minister of India (b. 1904)
- January 14 – Sergei Korolev, Soviet rocket engineer and spacecraft designer (b. 1907)
- January 22 – Herbert Marshall, English actor (b. 1890)

### February

- February 1 – Buster Keaton, American actor (b. 1895)
- February 1 - Hedda Hopper, American actress and columnist (b. 1885)

### March

- March 3 – William Frawley, American actor (b. 1887)

### April

- April 9 – Sutan Sjahrir, Prime Minister of Indonesia (b. 1909)
- April 13 – Georges Duhamel, French writer (b. 1884)
- April 13 - Abdul Salam Arif, 2nd President of Iraq (b. 1921)

### May

- May 4 – Edmond Locard, French forensic scientist (b. 1877)
- May 7 – Stanisław Jerzy Lec, Polish writer (b. 1909)
- May 12 – Felix Steiner, German SS commander (b. 1896)
- May 15 – Venceslau Brás, President of Brazil (b. 1868)
- May 30 – Wäinö Aaltonen, Finnish artist and sculptor (b. 1894)

### June

- June 4 – Chang Myon, 2nd, 7th Prime Minister of South Korea (b. 1899)

### July

- July 23 – Montgomery Clift, American actor (b. 1920)

### August

- August 3 – Lenny Bruce, American comedian (b. 1925)

### September

- September 14 – Cemal Gürsel, President of Turkey (b. 1895)

### November

- November 17 – James Jabara, American Air Force pilot (b. 1923)

### December

- December 15 – Walt Disney, American animator (b. 1901)

## Nobel Prizes

- The 1966 Nobel Prize in Literature was won by Shmuel Yosef Agnon and Nelly Sachs.
- The 1966 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine was won by Peyton Rous and Charles Brenton Huggins.
- The 1966 Nobel Prize in Chemistry was won by Robert S. Mulliken.
- The 1966 Nobel Prize in Physics was won by Alfred Kastler.
- The Nobel Peace Prize was not awarded in 1966.