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

 Deaths 
 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)

 October 

 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.

References