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

 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