1964

Millennium:	2nd millennium
Centuries:	19th century – 20th century – 21st century
Decades:	1930s  1940s  1950s  – 1960s –  1970s  1980s  1990s
Years:	1961 1962 1963 – 1964 – 1965 1966 1967

1964 (MCMLXIV) was a leap year that began on a Wednesday, in accordance with the Gregorian calendar.

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 Kennedy 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 debut 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.
• November 3 – US President Lyndon B. Johnson defeats Barry Goldwater in the Presidential election.

Births

• January 7 – Nicolas Cage, American actor
• January 12 – Jeff Bezos, American entrepreneur
• 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 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 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 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)

Movies released

• Dr. Strangelove'
• A Fistful of Dollars
• Goldfinger
• A Hard Day's Night
• Hush...Hush, Sweet Charlotte
• My Fair Lady
• Mary Poppins
• The Pink Panther
• A Shot in the Dark
• 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

Nobel prizes

• Nobel Prize in Physics - Charles Hard Townes, Nicolay Gennadiyevich Basov and Aleksandr Mikhailovich Prokhorov
• Nobel Prize in Chemistry - Dorothy Crowfoot Hodgkin
• Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine - Konrad Bloch and Feodor Lynen
• Nobel Prize in Literature - Jean-Paul Sartre
• Nobel Peace Prize - Martin Luther King Jr.