1965

Published on Monday, April 30th 2007. Edited by Jam Foobinspa, Melbourne, Australia.

Centuries: 19th century – 20th century – 21st century

Decades: 1930s 1940s 1950s – 1960s – 1970s 1980s 1990s

Years: 1962 1963 1964 – 1965 – 1966 1967 1968

Year 1965 (MCMLXV) was a common year starting on Friday

Events of 1965

January

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January

January 1 – The ship S.S. Catala is driven onto the beach in Ocean Shores, Washington, stranding her.
January 4 – U.S. President Lyndon B. Johnson proclaims his “Great Society” during his State of the Union Address.
January 14 – The Prime Minister of Northern Ireland and the Taoiseach of the Republic of Ireland meet for the first time in 43 years.
January 19 – The unmanned Gemini 2 is launched on a suborbital test of various spacecraft systems.
January 20 – Lyndon B. Johnson is sworn in for his own full term as U.S. President.
January 24 – Winston Churchill dies at the age of 90, as the result of a stroke he suffered on January 15.
January 26 – Anti-Hindi agitations break out in India because of which Hindi does not get “National Language” status and remains one of the 23 Official Languages of India.
January 30 – Winston Churchill’s funeral is held in London.

February

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The newly adopted Flag of Canada

February 6 – Sir Stanley Matthews plays his final First Division game, at the record age of 50 years and 5 days.
February 7 – The U.S. begins the regular bombing of North Vietnamese towns and villages.
February 15 – A new red and white maple leaf design is inaugurated as the flag of Canada, replacing the Union Flag and the Canadian Red Ensign.
February 18 – The Gambia becomes independent from the United Kingdom.
February 20 – Ranger 8 crashes into the Moon, after a successful mission of photographing possible landing sites for the Apollo program astronauts.
February 22 – A new, revised, colour production of Rodgers and Hammerstein’s Cinderella airs on CBS. Lesley Ann Warren makes her TV debut in the title role. The show becomes an annual tradition.

March

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March 7 – Bloody Sunday in Selma, Alabama: Some 200 Alabama State Troopers clash with 525 civil rights demonstrators.
March 8 – Vietnam War: 3,500 United States Marines arrive in South Vietnam, becoming the first American combat troops in Vietnam.
March 9 – The second attempt to march from Selma to Montgomery, Alabama, under the leadership of Martin Luther King, Jr., stops at the bridge that was the site of Bloody Sunday, to hold a prayer service and return to Selma, in obedience to a court restraining order. White supremacists beat up white Unitarian Universalist minister James J. Reeb later that day in Selma.
March 10 – Goldie, a London Zoo golden eagle, is recaptured after 13 days of freedom.
March 11 – White Unitarian Universalist minister James J. Reeb, beaten by White supremacists in Selma, Alabama on March 9 following the second march from Selma, dies in a hospital in Birmingham, Alabama.
March 16 – Police clash with 600 SNCC marchers in Montgomery, Alabama.
March 17 – In Montgomery, Alabama, 1,600 civil rights marchers demonstrate at the Courthouse.
March 17 – In response to the events of March 7 and 9 in Selma, Alabama, President Johnson sends a bill to Congress that forms the basis for the Voting Rights Act of 1965. It will be passed by the Senate May 26, the House July 10, and signed into law by President Johnson Aug. 6.
March 18 – Cosmonaut Aleksei Leonov, leaving his spacecraft Voskhod 2 for 12 minutes, becomes the first person to walk in space.
March 18 – A U.S. federal judge rules that SCLC has the lawful right to march to Montgomery, Alabama to petition for ‘redress of grievances’.
March 19 – Wreck of the SS Georgiana, reputed to have been the most powerful Confederate cruiser ever built and owned by the real Rhett Butler, is discovered off Isle of Palms, South Carolina, by teenage diver E. Lee Spence exactly 102 years after she was sunk with a million dollar cargo while attempting to run past the Union blockade into Charleston.
March 20 – Poupée de cire, poupée de son sung by France Gall (music and text by Serge Gainsbourg) wins the Eurovision Song Contest 1965 for Luxembourg.
March 20 – First fighting in the Indo-Pakistani War of 1965.
March 21 – Ranger program: NASA launches Ranger 9, which is the last in a series of unmanned lunar space probes.
March 21 – Martin Luther King, Jr. leads 3,200 Civil rights activists in the third march from Selma, Alabama to the capitol in Montgomery.
March 22 – Nicolae Ceauşescu becomes first secretary of the Romanian Communist Party.
March 23 – Gemini 3: NASA launches the United States‘ first 2-person crew (Gus Grissom, John Young) into Earth orbit.
March 24-March 25 – Students for a Democratic Society (SDS) organizes the first teach-in against the Vietnam War, with 2,500 participants, at the University of Michigan.
March 25 – Martin Luther King, Jr. and 25,000 civil rights activists successfully end the 4-day march from Selma, Alabama, to the capitol in Montgomery.

April

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April 5 – At the 37th Academy Awards, My Fair Lady received 8 Academy Awards, including Best Picture and Best Director. Rex Harrison won an Oscar for Best Actor. Mary Poppins took home 5 Oscars. Julie Andrews won an Academy Award for Best Actress, for her portrayal in the role. Sherman Brothers receive two Oscars including Best Song, “Chim Chim Cher-ee.
April 6 – The Early Bird communications satellite is launched. It becomes operational May 2 and is placed in commercial service in June.
April 9 – The West German parliament extends the statute of limitations on Nazi war crimes.
April 9 – In Houston, Texas, the Harris County Domed Stadium (more commonly known as the Astrodome) opens.
April 9 – 100th anniversary of the end of the American Civil War.
April 9 – Charlie Brown and the Peanuts Gang appeared in a cover of Time Magazine.
April 11 – The Palm Sunday tornado outbreak of 1965: An estimated 51 tornadoes (47 confirmed) hit in 6 Midwestern states, killing between 256 to 271 people and injuring some 1,500 more.
April 17 – The first SDS march against the Vietnam War draws 25,000 protestors to Washington, DC.
April 21 – The NY World’s Fair in Flushing Meadows, NY, reopens.
April 23 – The Pennine Way officially opens.
April 24 – 1965 Yerevan demonstrations start in Yerevan, demanding recognition of the Armenian Genocide.
April 24 – The bodies of Portuguese opposition politician Humberto Delgado and his secretary Arajaryr Moreira de Campos are found in a forest near Villanueva del Fresno, Spain (they were killed February 12).
April 24 – In the Dominican Republic, officers and civilians loyal to deposed President Juan Bosch mutiny against the right-wing junta running the country, setting up a provisional government. Forces loyal to the deposed military-imposed government stage a countercoup the next day, and civil war breaks out, although the new government retains its hold on power.
April 28 – U.S. troops are sent to the Dominican Republic by President Lyndon B. Johnson, “for the stated purpose of protecting U.S. citizens and preventing an alleged Communist takeover of the country”, thus thwarting the possibility of “another Cuba”.
April 28 – Vietnam War: Prime Minister of Australia Robert Menzies announces that the country will substantially increase its number of troops in South Vietnam, supposedly at the request of the Saigon government. It is later revealed that Menzies had asked the leadership in Saigon to send the request at the behest of the Americans.
April 29 – Australia announces that it is sending an infantry battalion to support the South Vietnam government.

May

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May 1 – Bob (later Sir Robert) Askin replaces Jack Renshaw as Premier of New South Wales.
May 1 – The Battle of Dong-Yin occurred as a conflict between ROC and PRC.
May 1 – Liverpool win the FA Cup Final beating Leeds Utd 2 – 1
May 5 – The first draft card burnings take place at the University of California, Berkeley, and a coffin is marched to the Berkeley Draft Board.
May 12 – West Germany and Israel establish diplomatic relations.
May 12 – Italian liner T/S Michelangelo enters in service.
May 13 – A West German court of appeals condemns the behaviour of ex-defense minister Franz Joseph Strauss during the Spiegel scandal.
May 17 – Trent Reznor, music artist, is born. Nine Inch Nails
May 21 – The largest teach-in to date begins at Berkeley, California, attended by 30,000. The next day, several hundred participants again march to the Draft Board and burn more cards, and Lyndon Johnson in effigy.
May 29 – A mining accident in Dhanbad, India kills 274.
May 31 – Racing driver Jim Clark wins the Indianapolis 500, and later wins the Formula One world driving championship in the same year.

June

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Green Library at Florida International University in Miami, FL

June 1 – Florida International University is founded in Miami, FL.
June 1 – Explosion in a coal mine in Fukuoka, Japan kills 237.
June 2 – Vietnam War: The first contingent of Australian combat troops arrives in South Vietnam.
June 3 – Gemini 4: Astronaut Edward Higgins White makes the first U.S. space walk.
June 7 – A mining accident in Kakanj, Bosnia and Herzegovina, results in 128 deaths.
June 10 – Vietnam War: The Battle of Dong Xoai begins – About 1,500 Vietcong mount a mortar attack on Dong Xoai, overrunning its military headquarters and the adjoining militia compound.
June 16 – A planned anti-war protest at The Pentagon becomes a teach-in, with demonstrators distributing 50,000 leaflets in and around the building.
June 19 – Houari Boumédienne’s Revolutionary Council ousts Ahmed Ben Bella, in a bloodless coup in Algeria.
June 20 – Police in Algiers break up demonstrations by people who have taken to the streets chanting slogans in support of deposed President Ben Bella.
June 22 – The Treaty on Basic Relations between Japan and the Republic of Korea is signed in Tokyo.
June 24 – Freddie Mills, former British boxing champion, is found shot in his car in Soho.
June 25 – A U.S. Air Force Boeing C135-A bound for Okinawa crashes just after takeoff at MCAS El Toro in Orange County, CA, killing all 85 on board.

July

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July 14 – U.S. spacecraft Mariner 4 flies by Mars, becoming the first spacecraft to return images from the Red Planet.
July 15 – Greek Prime minister George Papandreou and his government are dismissed by King Constantine II.
July 16 – The Mont Blanc Tunnel is inaugurated by presidents Giuseppe Saragat and Charles de Gaulle.
July 22 – Sir Alec Douglas-Home resigns as leader of the British Conservative Party.
July 24 – Vietnam War: Four F-4C Phantoms escorting a bombing raid at Kang Chi are targeted by antiaircraft missiles, in the first such attack against American planes in the war. One is shot down and the other 3 sustain damage.
July 25 – Bob Dylan elicits controversy among folk purists by “going electric” at the Newport Folk Festival.
July 26 The Maldives receives full independence from Great Britain.
July 27 – Edward Heath becomes Leader of the British Conservative Party.
July 28 – Vietnam War: U.S. President Lyndon B. Johnson announces his order to increase the number of United States troops in South Vietnam from 75,000 to 125,000, and to double the number of men drafted per month from 17,000 to 35,000.
July 29 – Vietnam War: The first 4,000 101st Airborne Division paratroopers arrive in Vietnam, landing at Cam Ranh Bay.
July 30 – War on Poverty: U.S. President Lyndon B. Johnson signs the Social Security Act of 1965 into law, establishing Medicare and Medicaid.
July 31 – J.K Rowling is born.

August

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August 1 – Cigarette advertising is banned on British television.
August 6 – U.S. President Lyndon B. Johnson signs the Voting Rights Act of 1965 into law.
August 7 – Tunku Abdul Rahman, Prime Minister of Malaysia, recommends the expulsion of Singapore from the Federation of Malaysia, negotiating its separation with Lee Kuan Yew, Prime Minister of the State of Singapore.
August 9 – Singapore is expelled from the Federation of Malaysia, which recognizes it as a sovereign nation. Lee Kuan Yew announces Singapore’s independence and assumes the position of Prime Minister of the new island nation.
August 9 – An explosion at an Arkansas missile plant kills 53.
August 9 – Indonesian president Sukarno collapses in public.
August 11 – The Watts Riots begin in Los Angeles, California.
August 13 – Jefferson Airplane debuts at the Matrix in San Francisco, California and begins to appear there regularly.
August 15 – The Beatles performed the first stadium concert in the history of rock, playing at Shea Stadium in New York
August 18 – Vietnam War: Operation Starlite begins as 5,500 United States Marines destroy a Viet Cong stronghold on the Van Tuong peninsula in Quang Ngai Province, in the first major American ground battle of the war. The Marines were tipped-off by a Viet Cong deserter who said that there was an attack planned against the U.S. base at Chu Lai.
August 19 – At the Auschwitz trial in Frankfurt, 66 ex-SS personnel receive life sentences, 15 others smaller ones.
August 20 – Jonathan Myrick Daniels, an Episcopal seminarian from Keene, New Hampshire, is murdered in Hayneville, Alabama while working in the American civil rights movement.
August 21 – Gemini 5 (Gordon Cooper, Pete Conrad) is launched on the first 1-week flight, as well as the first test of fuel cells for electrical power.
August 30 – Casey Stengel announces his retirement after 55 years in baseball.
August 30 – Rock musician Bob Dylan releases his influential album Highway 61 Revisited, featuring the song “Like a Rolling Stone.”
August 30 – An avalanche buries a dam construction site at Saas-Fee, Switzerland killing 90 workers.
August 31 – President Johnson signs a law penalizing the burning of draft cards with up to 5 years in prison and a $1,000 fine.

September

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September 2 – Pakistani troops enter the Indian sector of Kashmir.
September 6 – Indian troops invade Lahore.
September 7 – The People’s Republic of China announces that it will reinforce its troops on the Indian border.
September 7 – Vietnam War: In a follow-up to August’s Operation Starlite, United States Marines and South Vietnamese forces initiate Operation Piranha on the Batangan Peninsula, 23 miles south of the Chu Lai Marine base.
September 8 – India opens 2 additional fronts against Pakistan.
September 9 – Sandy Koufax pitches a perfect game in a baseball match against the Chicago Cubs. The opposing pitcher, Bob Hendley, allowed only 1 run, which was unearned.
September 9 – U.N. Secretary General U Thant negotiates with Pakistan President Ayub Khan.
September 9 – U Thant recommends China for United Nations membership.
September 9 – Hurricane Betsy roars ashore near New Orleans, Louisiana with winds of 145 MPH, causing 76 deaths and $1.42 billion in damage. The storm is the first hurricane to cause $1 billion in unadjusted damages, giving it the nickname “Billion Dollar Betsy”. It will be the last major hurricane to strike New Orleans until Hurricane Katrina 40 years later.
September 13 – The Congress of Arab Countries begins in Casablanca; Habib Bourguiba of Tunisia boycotts the meeting.
September 14 – The fourth and final period of the Second Vatican Council opens.
September 15 – Mary Poppins comes out in theaters in France
September 16 – China protests against Indian provocations in its border region.
September 16 – In Iraq, Prime Minister Arif Abd ar-Razzaq’s attempted coup fails.
September 17 – King Constantine II of Greece forms a new government with Prime Minister Stephanos Stephanopoulos, in an attempt to end a 2-year-old political crisis.
September 18 – In Denmark, Palle Sørensen shoots 4 policemen in pursuit; he is apprehended the same day.
September 18 – Comet Ikeya-Seki is first sighted by Japanese astronomers.
September 18 – Soviet Premier Alexey Kosygin invites the leaders of India and Pakistan to meet in the Soviet Union to negotiate.
September 22 – Radio Peking announces that Indian troops have dismantled their equipment on the Chinese side of the border.
September 24 – Fighting resumes between Indian and Pakistani troops.
September 24 – The British governor of Aden cancels the constitution and takes direct control of the protectorate, due to the bad security situation.
September 27 – The largest tanker ship at the time, Tokyo Maru, is launched in Yokohama, Japan.
September 28 – Fidel Castro announces that anyone who wants to can emigrate to the United States.
September 28 – Taal Volcano in Luzon, Philippines, erupts, killing hundreds.
September 30 – The Indonesian army, led by General Suharto, crushes an alleged communist coup attempt (see Transition to the New Order).

October

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October 1 – The Indonesian army takes effective control.
October 3 – Fidel Castro announces that Che Guevara has resigned and left the country.
October 3 – U.S. President Lyndon B. Johnson signs an immigration bill which abolishes quotas based on national origin.
October 4 – At least 150 killed, a commuter train derailed at outskirt of Durban, KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa.
October 4 – Prime minister Ian Smith of Rhodesia and Arthur Bottomley of the Commonwealth of Nations begin negotiations in London
October 4 – Pope Paul VI visits the United States. He appears for a Mass in Yankee Stadium and makes a speech at the United Nations.
October 4 – The University of California, Irvine opens its doors.
October 5 – Pakistan severs diplomatic relations with Malaysia because of the disagreement in the UN.
October 7 – Seven Japanese fishing boats sank off Guam by super typhoon Carmen, 209 are killed.
October 8 – The Indonesian army arrests and executes communists.
October 8 – The International Olympic Committee admits East Germany as a member.
October 8 – The Post Office Tower opens in London.
October 9 – Yale University presents the “Vinland map”.
October 9 – A brigade of South Korean soldiers arrive in South Vietnam.
October 10 – The first group of Cuban refugees travels to the U.S.
October 12 – Per Borten forms a government in Norway.
October 12 – The UN General Council recommends that the United Kingdom try everything to stop a rebellion in Rhodesia.
October 13 – Congo President Joseph Kasavubu fires Prime Minister Moise Tshombe and forms a provisional government, with Evariste Kimba in a leading position.
October 15 – Vietnam War: The student-run National Coordinating Committee to End the War in Vietnam stages the first public burning of a draft card in the United States to result in arrest under the new law.
October 16 – Anti-war protests draw 100,000 in 80 U.S. cities and around the world.
October 16 – Suharto takes power in Indonesia.
October 17 – The NY World’s Fair at Flushing Meadows, NY, closes. Due to financial losses, some of the projected site park improvements fail to materialize.
October 18 – The Indonesian government outlaws the Communist Party.
October 20 – Ludwig Erhard is elected Chancellor of West Germany.
October 21 – Comet Ikeya-Seki approaches perihelion, passing 450,000 kilometers from the sun.
October 21 – The OAU meets in Accra, Ghana.
October 22 – French authors André Figueras and Jacques Laurent are fined for their comments against Charles De Gaulle.
October 22 – African countries demand that the United Kingdom use force to prevent Rhodesia from declaring unilateral independence.
October 22 – Second coup of colonel Christophe Soglo in Dahomey.
October 24 – British Prime Minister Harold Wilson and Commonwealth Secretary Arthur Bottomley travel to Rhodesia for negotiations.
October 25 – The Soviet Union declares its support of African countries in case Rhodesia unilaterally declares independence.
October 26 – Anti-government demonstrations occur in the Dominican Republic.
October 27 – Brazilian president Humberto de Alencar Castelo Branco removes power from parliament, legal courts and opposition parties.
October 28 – French Foreign Minister Couve de Murville travels to Moscow.
October 28 – In St. Louis, Missouri, the 630-foot-tall parabolic steel Gateway Arch is completed.
October 29 – Mehdi Ben Barka, a Moroccan politician, is kidnapped in Paris and never seen again.
October 30 – Vietnam War: Near Da Nang, United States Marines repel an intense attack by Viet Cong forces, killing 56 guerrillas. Among the dead, a sketch of Marine positions is found on the body of a 13-year-old Vietnamese boy who sold drinks to the Marines the day before.
October 30 – In Washington, DC, a pro-Vietnam War march draws 25,000.
October 31 – The Indonesian army announces that it is fighting with communist guerillas in Java.

November

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November 2 – Republican John Lindsay is elected mayor of New York City.
November 3 – French President Charles De Gaulle announces that he will stand for re-election.
November 5 – Martial law is announced in Rhodesia. The UN General Assembly accepts British intent to use force against Rhodesia if necessary by a vote of 82-9.
November 6 – Freedom Flights begin: Cuba and the United States formally agree to start an airlift for Cubans who want to go to the United States (by 1971 250,000 Cubans take advantage of this program).
November 8 – The 173rd Airborne is ambushed by over 1,200 Viet Cong in Operation Hump during the Vietnam War.
November 8 – The British Indian Ocean Territory is created, consisting of Chagos Archipelago, Aldabra, Farquhar and Des Roches islands (on June 23, 1976 Aldabra, Farquhar and Des Roches are returned to Seychelles).
November 8 – The Murder (Abolition of the Death Penalty) Act 1965 is given Royal Assent, formally abolishing the death penalty in the United Kingdom.
November 8 – The soap opera Days of our Lives debuts on NBC.
November 9 – Northeast Blackout of 1965: Several U.S. states (VT, NH, MA, CT, RI, NY and portions of NJ) and parts of Canada are hit by a series of blackouts lasting up to 13½ hours.
November 9 – Vietnam War: In New York City, 22-year-old Catholic Worker Movement member Roger Allen LaPorte sets himself on fire in front of the United Nations building in protest of the war (the second such incident in a week; on November 2 32-year-old Quaker member Norman Morrison did the same thing in front of The Pentagon).
November 11 – In Rhodesia (modern-day Zimbabwe), the white-minority government of Ian Smith unilaterally declares independence.
November 12 – A UN Security Council resolution (voted 10-0) recommends that other countries not recognize independent Rhodesia.
November 13 – The SS Yarmouth Castle burns and sinks 60 miles off Nassau, with the loss of 90 lives.
November 14 – Vietnam War: Battle of the Ia Drang begins – In the Ia Drang Valley of the Central Highlands in Vietnam, the first major engagement of the war between regular United States and North Vietnamese forces begins.
November 15 – U.S. racer Craig Breedlove sets a new land speed record of 600.601 mph.
November 16 – Venera program: The Soviet Union launches the Venera 3 space probe from Baikonur, Kazakhstan toward Venus (on March 1, 1966 it became the first spacecraft to reach the surface of another planet).
November 20 – The UN Security Council recommends that all states stop trading with Rhodesia.
November 22 – Man of La Mancha opens in a Greenwich Village theatre in New York and eventually becomes one of the greatest musical hits of all time, winning a Tony Award for its star, Richard Kiley.
November 23 – Soviet general Mikhail Kazakov assumes command of the Warsaw Pact.
November 24 – Congolese lieutenant general Mobutu ousts Joseph Kasavubu and declares himself president.
November 26 – At the Hammaguira launch facility in the Sahara Desert, France launches a Diamant-A rocket with its first satellite, Asterix-1 on board, becoming the third country to enter space.
November 27 – Tens of thousands of Vietnam War protesters picket the White House, then march on the Washington Monument.
November 27 – Vietnam War: The Pentagon tells U.S. President Lyndon B. Johnson that if planned major sweep operations to neutralize Viet Cong forces during the next year are to succeed, the number of American troops in Vietnam will have to be increased from 120,000 to 400,000.
November 28 – Vietnam War: In response to U.S. President Lyndon B. Johnson’s call for “more flags” in Vietnam, Philippines President Elect Ferdinand Marcos announces he will send troops to help fight in South Vietnam.
November 29 – Canadian satellite Alouette 2 is launched.

December

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December 1 – The Border Security Force is established in India as a special force to guard the borders.
December 3 – The first British aid flight arrives in Lusaka; Zambia had asked for British help against Rhodesia.
December 3 – Members of the Organization of African Unity decide to sever diplomatic relations with the United Kingdom, unless the British government ends the rebellion of Rhodesia by mid-December.
December 5 – Charles de Gaulle is re-elected as French president with 10,828,421 votes.
December 8 – Rhodesian prime minister Ian Smith warns that Rhodesia would resist trade embargo by neighboring countries with force.
December 8 – The Second Vatican Council closes.
December 9 – A Charlie Brown Christmas, the first Peanuts television special, debuts on CBS, quickly becoming an annual tradition.
December 15 – Tanzania and Guinea sever diplomatic relations with the United Kingdom.
December 15 – Gemini 6 and Gemini 7 perform the first controlled rendezvous in Earth orbit.
December 17 – The British government begins an oil embargo against Rhodesia; the United States joins the effort.
December 21 – The Soviet Union announces that it has shipped rockets to North Vietnam.
December 21 – Soviet scientists condemn Trofim Lysenko for pseudoscience.
December 21 – In West Germany, Konrad Adenauer resigns as chairman of the Christian Democratic Party.
December 21 – A new, one-hour German-American production of The Nutcracker, with an international cast that includes Edward Villella in the title role, makes its U.S. TV debut. It will be repeated annually by CBS over the next three years, but after that, will be virtually forgotten.
December 22 – A military coup occurs in Dahomey.
December 22 – A 70 mph speed limit is imposed on British roads.
December 25 – The Yemeni Nasserite Unionist People’s Organisation is founded in Taiz.
December 27 – The British oil platform Sea Gem collapses in the North Sea.
December 28 – Italian Foreign Minister Amintore Fanfani resigns.
December 30 – President Kenneth Kaunda of Zambia announces that Zambia and the United Kingdom have agreed a deadline before which the Rhodesian white government should be ousted.
December 30 – Ferdinand Marcos becomes President of the Philippines.
December 31 – Bokassa takes the power in Central Africa Republic.

Undated

Tokyo officially becomes the largest city of the world, taking the lead from New York City.
The Council for National Academic Awards is established in the UK
TAT-4 cable goes into operation.
Aborigines given vote in Queensland

Ongoing

Angolan War of Independence 1961-1974
Colombian Civil War
North Yemen Civil War 1962-1970

Births

1965 in other calendars

Gregorian calendar 1965 MCMLXV

Ab urbe condita 2718

Armenian calendar 1414 ԹՎ ՌՆԺԴ

Bahá'í calendar 121 – 122

Berber calendar 2915

Buddhist calendar 2509

Burmese calendar 1327

Chinese calendar 4601/4661-11-29 (甲辰年十一月廿九日)

— to —

4602/4662-12-9 (乙巳年十二月初九日)

Coptic calendar 1681 – 1682

Ethiopian calendar 1957 – 1958

Hebrew calendar 5725 – 5726

Hindu calendars

- Vikram Samvat 2020 – 2021

- Shaka Samvat 1887 – 1888

- Kali Yuga 5066 – 5067

Holocene calendar 11965

Iranian calendar 1343 – 1344

Islamic calendar 1384 – 1385

Japanese calendar Shōwa 40 (昭和40年)

Korean calendar 4298

Thai solar calendar 2508

January-February

January 1 – Laura Ingraham, American talk show host and author
January 4 – Julia Ormond, British actress
January 6 – Konnan, professional wrestler
January 9 – Joely Richardson, British actress
January 12 – Nikolai Borschevsky, Russian professional ice hockey player (retired)
January 14 – Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall, British chef
January 14 – Shamil Basayev, Chechen rebel (d. 2006)
January 14 – Marc Delissen, Dutch field hockey player
January 14 – Bob Essensa, Canadian ice hockey player
January 14 – Slick Rick, British-American rapper
January 15 – Adam Jones, American musician (Tool)
January 15 – James Nesbitt, Northern Irish actor
January 18 – Dave Attell, American comedian
January 20 – Greg Kriesel, American musician (The Offspring)
January 20 – Sophie, Countess of Wessex
January 22 – Steven Adler, American musician (Guns N' Roses)
January 22 – DJ Jazzy Jeff, American rapper and actor
January 22 – Diane Lane, American actress
January 25 – Esa Tikkanen, Finnish ice hockey player
January 26 – Natalia Yurchenko, Soviet gymnast
January 27 – Alan Cumming, Scottish actor
January 29 – Dominik Hašek, Czech hockey player
February 1 – Sherilyn Fenn, American actress
February 1 – Brandon Lee, American actor (d. 1993)
February 1 – Princess Stéphanie of Monaco
February 3 – Maura Tierney, American actress
February 4 – Jerome Brown, American football player (d. 1992)
February 7 – Chris Rock, American actor and comedian
February 11 – Stephen Gregory, American actor
February 18 – Dr. Dre, American rapper and music producer
February 22 – Dean Karr, American director and photographer
February 23 – Michael Dell, American computer manufacturer
February 25 – Brian Baker Bad Religion guitarist
February 27 – Joakim Sundström, Swedish sound editor, sound designer and musician

March-April

March 1 – Booker T, professional wrestler, 5 Time WCW world champion
March 1 – Stewart Elliott, Canadian jockey
March 4 – Andrew Collins, British radio DJ and journalist
March 4 – Gary Helms, American kickboxer
March 4 – Paul W.S. Anderson, British filmmaker, producer and screenwriter
March 4 – WestBam (Maximillian Lenz), German rave techno DJ
March 7 – Jesper Parnevik, Swedish golfer
March 8 – Kenny Smith, American basketball player, 2 time NBA Champion
March 9 – Benito Santiago, baseball player
March 10 – Rod Woodson, American football player
March 11 – Jesse Jackson, Jr., American politician
March 11 – Lawrence Llewelyn-Bowen, British television presenter
March 12 – Steve Finley, baseball player
March 12 – Liza Umarova, Chechen singer and actress
March 14 – Kevin Brown, baseball player
March 14 – Aamir Khan, Bollywood actor
March 25 – Sarah Jessica Parker, American actress
March 25 – Stefka Kostadinova, Bulgarian high jumper and president of the Bulgarian Olympic Committee
March 25 – Avery Johnson, American basketball player and coach
April 1 – Robert Steadman, English composer
April 3 – Nazia Hassan, First South Asian Pop Singer (d.2000)
April 4 – Robert Downey Jr., American actor
April 6 – Frank Black, American musician
April 7 – Bill Bellamy, American actor and comedian
April 12 – Tom O'Brien (II) (actor), American actor-producer
April 13 – The Real Darren Stevens, Canadian radio personality
April 13 – Patricio Pouchulu, Argentinean architect
April 15 – Linda Perry, American musician
April 16 – Martin Lawrence, American actor, comedian, and producer
April 19 – Suge Knight, American record producer
April 21 – Ed Belfour, Canadian hockey player
April 23 – Jamling Tenzing Norgay, Indian mountain climber
April 26 – Kevin James, American comedian and actor

May-June

May 3 – Gary Mitchell, Irish playwright
May 4 – Aykut Kocaman, Turkish footballer
May 7 – Owen Hart, Canadian professional wrestler (d. 1999)
May 9 – Steve Yzerman, Canadian hockey player
May 11 – Monsour del Rosario, Filipino Olympic athlete and actor
May 13 – José Antonio Delgado, Venezuelan mountain climber (d. 2006)
May 13 – Hikari Ota, Japanese comedian
May 14 – Eoin Colfer, Irish writer
May 16 – Krist Novoselic, American bassist (Nirvana)
May 17 – Trent Reznor, American musician (Nine Inch Nails)
May 23 – Manuel Sanchís Hontiyuelo, Spanish footballer
May 24 – Shinichiro Watanabe, Japanese anime director
May 24 – John C. Reilly, American actor (Chicago (2002 film))
May 28 – Chris Ballew, American musician (The Presidents of the United States of America)
May 31 – Brooke Shields, American actress
June 1 – Nigel Short, English chess player
June 2 – Steve and Mark Waugh, Australian cricketers
June 4 – Mick Doohan, Australian motorcycle racer
June 7 – Mick Foley, American professional wrestler and author
June 8 – Chris Chavis, American professional wrestler (Tatanka)
June 10 – Elizabeth Hurley, English actress
June 11 – Manuel Uribe, One of the world’s heaviest people
June 10 – Scott Graham, American sportscaster
June 15 – Bernard Hopkins, American boxer
June 23 – Paul Arthurs, British guitarist (Oasis)
June 26 – Mike Breen, American sports announcer

July-August

July 1 – Harald Zwart, Norwegian film director
July 4 – Jo Whiley, British radio DJ
July 5 – Eyran Katsenelenbogen, a famous international jazz pianist
July 11 – Ernesto Hoost, Dutch kickboxer
July 17 – Craig Morgan, American singer
July 19 – Stuart Scott, American sports reporter
July 19 – Evelyn Glennie, Scottish virtuoso percussionist
July 21 – Guðni Bergsson, Icelandic footballer
July 22 – Michael Hickenbottom aka Shawn Michaels, American professional wrestler
July 23 – Slash (Saul Hudson), American musician (Guns N' Roses)
July 24 – Brian Blades, former National Football League wide receiver
July 26 – Jeremy Piven, American Actor
July 31 – J. K. Rowling, English author
August 2 – Hisanobu Watanabe, Japanese baseball player and coach
August 4 – Fredrik Reinfeldt, Swedish Prime Minister
August 4 – Dennis Lehane, American crime writer
August 6 – David Robinson, American basketball player
August 6 – Mark Speight, British television presenter (d. 2008)
August 10 – Mike E. Smith, American jockey
August 10 – John Starks, American basketball player
August 14 – Emmanuelle Béart, French actress
August 18 – Koji Kikkawa, Japanese singer
August 23 – Roger Avary, Academy Award winning writer/director/producer
August 24 – Reggie Miller, American basketball player
August 28 – Amanda Tapping, Canadian actress
August 28 – Shania Twain, Canadian singer and songwriter
August 30 – Peter Grant, Scottish footballer and football manager

September-October

September 2 – Lennox Lewis, British boxer
September 2 – Partho Sen-Gupta, Indian independent filmmaker
September 3 – Charlie Sheen, American actor
September 9 – Constance Marie, American actress
September 10 – Marco Pastors, Dutch politician
September 11 – Moby, American musician
September 11 – Paul Heyman, American wrestling promoter, ECW
September 16 – Katy Kurtzman, American actress, director, and producer
September 17 – Kyle Chandler, American actor
September 20 – Robert Rusler, American actor
September 21 – Cheryl Hines, American actress
September 25 – Scottie Pippen, American basketball player
September 26 – Alexandra Lencastre, Portuguese actress
September 27 – Peter MacKay, Canadian politician
October 1 – Andreas Keller, German field hockey player
October 1 – Cliff Ronning, Canadian ice hockey player
October 4 – John Melendez, announcer for the Tonight Show with Jay Leno
October 5 – Mario Lemieux, Canadian ice hockey player
October 5 – Patrick Roy, Canadian ice hockey player
October 8 – C-Jay Ramone, American bassist (The Ramones)
October 10 – Chris Penn, American actor (d. 2006)
October 14 – Steve Coogan, British comedian and actor
October 14 – Constantine Koukias, Australian composer
October 16 – Steve Lamacq, British radio DJ
October 17 – Aravinda de Silva, Sri Lankan cricketer
October 18 – Curtis Stigers, American jazz vocalist and saxophonist
October 19 – Ty Pennington, American design team leader from Extreme Makeover: Home Edition
October 20 – Jil Caplan, French singer and songwriter
October 20 – Mikhail Shtalenkov, Russian ice hockey player
October 26 – Aaron Kwok, Hong Kong singer and actor
October 26 – Kelly Rowan, Canadian actress
October 26 – Kenneth Rutherford, New Zealand cricketer
October 28 – Luigi Miraglia, Italian Latinist
October 29 – Christy Clark, British Columbian politician
October 30 – Gavin Rossdale, English musician
October 31 – Rob Rackstraw, voice actor

November-December

November 2 – Shahrukh Khan, Indian actor
November 3 – Ann Scott, French novelist
November 4 – Wayne Static, American singer (Static-X)
November 4 – Pata, Japanese Guitarist of X Japan
November 4 – Jeff Scott Soto, musician
November 5 – Famke Janssen, Dutch model and actress
November 6 – Greg Graffin, American singer (Bad Religion)
November 7 – Sigrun Wodars, German athlete
November 9 – Bryn Terfel, Welsh baritone
November 10 – Eddie Irvine, Northern Irish racecar driver
November 19 – Paulo Barreto, Brazilian cryptographer
November 20 – Yoshiki Hayashi, compositor, piano and drums of the band X Japan
November 21 – Björk, Icelandic singer, songwriter, and musician
November 21 – Alexander Siddig, Sudanese-born English actor
November 23 – Don Frye, American professional wrestler and mixed martial arts fighter
November 25 – Cris Carter, American football player
November 25 – Tim Armstrong, American singer and musician
November 28 – Peter Beagrie, English footballer
November 30 – Ben Stiller, American actor
November 30 – Tashi Tenzing, Indian mountaineer
December 3 – Steve Harris, American actor
December 3 – Katarina Witt, German figure skater
December 5 – John Rzeznik, American singer (The Goo Goo Dolls)
December 5 – Carlton Palmer, English footballer
December 8 – Carina Lau Kar-ling, Chinese actress
December 18 – John Moshoeu, South African football (soccer) player
December 19 – Jessica Steen, Canadian actress
December 21 – Andy Dick, American actor
December 22 – Lee Berger Explorer and Paleoanthropologist
December 27 – Salman Khan, Indian actor
December 29 – Dexter Holland, American singer (The Offspring)
December 30 – Zoe Kelli Simon, American actress
December 31 – Nicholas Sparks, American author
December 31 – Gong Li, Chinese actress

Date unknown

Paudge Behan, Irish actor
Bradley Joseph, American composer, pianist, and keyboardist
Paul Seawright, Irish photographer
Lucy Noland, Vietnamese-American journalist
Tommy DeCarlo, American singer

Deaths

January – March

January 4 – T. S. Eliot, American-born writer, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1888)
January 12 – Lorraine Hansberry, American writer (b. 1930)
January 14 – Jeanette MacDonald, American actress and singer (b. 1903)
January 20 – Alan Freed, American disc jockey (b. 1922)
January 24 – Winston Churchill, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, recipient of the Nobel Prize in Literature (b. 1874)
January 28 – Maxime Weygand, French soldier (b. 1867)
January 28 – Tich Freeman, English cricketer (b. 1888)
February 13 – Gloria Morgan-Vanderbilt, Swiss-born socialite (b. 1906)
February 15 – Nat King Cole, American singer and musician (b. 1919)
February 22 – Felix Frankfurter, U.S. Supreme Court Justice (b. 1882)
February 23 – Stan Laurel, British actor (b. 1890)
February 26 – George Adamski, Polish-born UFO traveler (b. 1891)
March 6 – Margaret Dumont, American actress (b. 1889)
March 13 – Corrado Gini, Italian statistician (b. 1884)
March 13 – Fan S. Noli, Albanian bishop, poet, and political figure (b. 1882)
March 17 – Amos Alonzo Stagg, American baseball, basketball, and American football player and coach (b. 1862)
March 18 – King Farouk I of Egypt (b. 1920)
March 28 – Jack Hoxie, American actor, rodeo performer (b. 1885)
March 28 – Mary, Princess Royal and Countess of Harewood (b. 1897)
March 28 – Richard Beesly, British Olympic gold medal-winning rower. (b. 1907)
March 30 – Philip Showalter Hench, American physician, recipient of the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine (b. 1896)

April – June

April 3 – Ernst Kirchweger, Austrian communist and resistance fighter
April 18 – Guillermo González Camarena, Mexican inventor (b. 1917)
April 25 – Owney Madden, English born Gangster (b. 1891)
April 21 – Edward Victor Appleton, English physicist, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1892)
April 27 – Edward R. Murrow, American journalist (b. 1908)
May 19 – Tu'i Malila, the oldest tortoise or living animal ever, of natural causes (b. 1777)
May 22 – Christopher Stone, first disc jockey in the United Kingdom (b. 1882)
May 23 – Earl Webb, baseball player (b. 1897)
May 25 – Sonny Boy Williamson, American blues musician (b. 1899)
June 15 – E. A. Speiser, American Bible scholar (b. 1902)
June 28 – Red Nichols, American jazz cornettist (b. 1905)

July – September

July 1 – Wally Hammond, English cricketer (b. 1903)
July 7 – Moshe Sharett, second Prime Minister of Israel (b. 1894)
July 28 – Rampo Edogawa, Japanese author and criti (b. 1894)
July 30 – Jun'ichirō Tanizaki, Japanese writer (b. 1886)
August 6 – Nancy Carroll, American actress (b. 1903)
August 8 – Shirley Jackson, American author (b. 1916)
August 27 – Le Corbusier, Swiss architect (b. 1887)
August 28 – Giulio Racah, Israeli physicist (b. 1909)
September 4 – Albert Schweitzer, Alsatian physician and missionary, recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize (b. 1875)
September 8 – Hermann Staudinger, German chemist, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1881)
September 8 – Dorothy Dandridge, Carmen Jones actress (b. 1922)
September 14 – J.W. Hearne, English cricketer (b. 1891)
September 15 – Steve Brown, American musician (b. 1890)

October – December

October 11 – Walther Stampfli, member of the Swiss Federal Council (b. 1884)
October 12 – Paul Hermann Müller, Swiss chemist, recipient of the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine (b. 1899)
October 17 – John Barton King, American cricketer (b. 1873)
October 26 – Sylvia Likens, American murder victim (b. 1949)
October 30 – Arthur Schlesinger, Sr., American historian (b.1888)
November 6 – Edgard Varèse, French-born composer (b. 1883)
November 6 – Clarence Williams, American musician (b. 1893)
November 8 – Dorothy Kilgallen, American newspaper columnist (b. 1913)
November 12 – Syedna Taher Saifuddin, Bohra Spiritual Leader (b. 1888)
November 16 – W. T. Cosgrave, Irish politician (b. 1880)
November 18 – Henry A. Wallace, Vice President of the United States (b. 1888)
November 24 – Abdullah III Al-Salim Al-Sabah, Emir of Kuwait (b. 1895)
November 25 – Dame Myra Hess, English pianist (b. 1890)
December 5 – Joseph Erlanger, American physiologist, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1874)
December 16 – W. Somerset Maugham, English writer (b. 1874)
December 24 – William M. Branham Christian minister (b. 1909)

Ship events

List of ship launches in 1965
List of ship commissionings in 1965

Nobel prizes

Physics – Sin-Itiro Tomonaga, Julian Schwinger, Richard P. Feynman
Chemistry – Robert Burns Woodward
Physiology or Medicine – François Jacob, André Lwoff, Jacques Monod
Literature – Michail Aleksandrovich Sholokhov
Peace – United Nation’s Children’s Fund (UNICEF)

Academy Awards

Best Picture: My Fair Lady, Jack Warner, producer
Best Director: George Cukor, My Fair Lady
Best Actor: Rex Harrison, My Fair Lady
Best Actress: Julie Andrews, Mary Poppins
Best Supporting Actor: Peter Ustinov, Topkapi
Best Supporting Actress: Lila Kedrova, Zorba the Greek
Best Original Screenplay: Father Goose written by Frank Tarloff, Peter Stone and S.H.Barnett
Best Adapted Screenplay: Becket, by Edward Anhalt
Best Original Song: Mary Poppins, Richard M. Sherman and Robert B. Sherman
Best Original Score: Mary Poppins by Richard M. Sherman and Robert B. Sherman