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

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