Britain and the World 1966

BRITAIN AND THE WORLD SINCE 1953

Home | 1954 | 1955 | 1956 | 1957 | 1958 | 1959 | 1960 | 1961 | 1962 | 1963 | 1964 | 1965 | 1966 | 1967 | 1968 | 1969 | 1970 | 1971 | 1972 | 1973 | 1974 | 1975 | 1976 | 1977 | 1978 |1979 | 1980 | 1981 | 1982 | 1983 | 1984 | 1985 | 1986 | 1987 | 1988 | 1989 | 1990 | 1991 | 1992 | 1993 | 1994 | 1995 | 1996 | 1997 | 1998 | 1999 | 2000 | 2001 | 2002 | 2003

	1966
Jan1	President David Dacko of the Central African Republic was overthrown in a coup by Jean-Bedel Bokassa.
Jan17	U.S. B-52 bomber collided in midair with a refueling tanker over Spain; eight were killed and the bomber released its H-bomb into the Atlantic.
Jan19	Australian Prime Minister Robert Menzies resigns
Jan24	Mrs. Indira Gandhi, daughter of Nehru, was sworn in as Indian prime minister following the death of Sri Shastri.
Feb1	Buster Keaton dies
Feb3	Soft landing on moon by unmanned USSR Luna 9
Feb8	Freddie Laker forms cut-price transatlantic airline
Feb20	USSR negates the citizenship of author and translator Valeri Tarsis whilst he is on a trip abroad
Feb24	A coup in Ghana deposes President Kwame Nkrumah
Feb28	Liverpool's Cavern Club, where the Beatles made their name, went into liquidation
Feb29	The price of a 45 rpm disk rises 7d to 7s 3d (36 pence)
Mar6	UK Government announces that the UK will convert its currency to a decimal system by 1971
Mar10	Beatrice the Crown Princess of the Nederlands marries the German diplomat Claus von Armsberg. Given the atrocities perpetrated on the Dutch people 25 years earlier by the Germans, the country is not totally happy with the marriage
Mar11	President Charles De Gaulle states that French troops will be taken out of NATO and that all French NATO bases and HQ's must be closed within a year
Mar13	Ernesto Miranda is arrested for theft and rape in Arizona, U.S.A. The legal complications arising out of the case lead to the enactment of "Miranda Rights"
Mar15	Racial riots erupt in the Watts district of Los Angeles
Mar23	The first official meeting for 400 years between the Catholic and the Anglican churches took place in Rome.
Mar27	Pickles recovers the Jules Rimmet Trophy (Football's World Cup) from a garden
Mar31	The Labour Party under Harold Wilson score a landslide victory in the General Election
Apr7	US recovers lost H-bomb from Mediterranean seabed
Apr21	The opening of Parliament is televised for the first time
Apr30	The first regular Channel hovercraft service begins between Dover and calais (it ceased operation 2000)
May1	Last British concert by the Beatles at the Empire Pool in Wembley
May6	The Moors Murderers Ian Brady and Myra Hindley are jailed for life for a series of child murders
May16	Seamen's strike (ended 1 July)
May30	Lieut. Col. C. O. Ojukwu proclaims the formation of the Republic of Biafra
Jun5	Black Civil Rights leader James Meredith Meredith, a Columbia University law student, and a few companions, began a walk from Memphis, Tenn. to Jackson, Miss. to encourage African Americans to register and vote. He called it a "march against fear." On June 6 he was wounded with a shotgun blast.
Jun24	Period of relative peace following WW II exceeds that following WW I
Jun27	In Jackson, Mississippi:speakers at the conclusion of a civil rights march begin using the phrase, "Black Power."
Jun30	France formally leaves NATO
Jul2	The French test an H-Bomb at Mururoa Atoll in the Pacific
Jul4-5	Manila, Phillipines: The Beatles misunderstand an invitation to visit the Marcos Family as optional. An organised mob harasses the Beatles and their entourage in Manila airport, beating and kicking Brian Epstein, Mal Evans, and Alf Bicknell (their chauffeur)
Jul6	The British Protectorate of Nyasaland gains independence and becomes the republic of Malawi
Jul27	Parliament votes to nationalize UK's steel industry
Jul30	The eighth World Cup Final is won by England at Wembley (4-2 in extra time v West Germany)
Aug1	Charles Whitman climbs University of Texas tower & shoots 12 dead
	General Yakubo Gocwon organises a military coup in Nigeria
Aug12	Three unarmed plain clothed policeman were gunned down in Braybrook Street Shepherds Bush London. After a massive police search three criminals John Whitney John Duddy and Harry Roberts were arresated and charged with the murders. All were found guilty and given life sentences
Aug13	Chairman Mao Tse-Tung announces the Cultural revolution in China
	An earthquake in Turkey leaves 2394 dead and over 10000 injured
Aug27	Francis Chichester begins the first solo sail around the world
Aug29	Before an audience of 25,000 The Beatles play their last live concert in Candlestick Park San Francisco.
Sep6	Premier Henrik Verwoerd the architect of apartheid and the setting up of "homelands" was killed in parliament by Dimtric Tsafondas, a parliamentary messenger. He is succeeded by Johannes Vorster
Sep8	First Severn Road Bridge opens
Oct21	Aberfan disaster - an unstable slag heap slips kills 144 people including 116 children. The official report of the disaster places the blame on the NCB management who through ignorance and neglect allowed a situation to develop that claimed so many innocent lives
Oct22	George Blake who was sentenced to 42 years imprisonment in 1961 for espionage escapes, with the help of others, from Wormwood Scrubs Prison in London
Nov4	The worst floods in Italy's history affected a third of the country. Florence was cut off and many of the city's art treasures were damaged.
Oct22	George Blake who was sentenced to 42 years for espionage escapes from Wormwood Scrubs. He arrives in Berlin on Nov20
Nov8	Movie actor Ronald Reagan elected Governor of California
Dec1	First Christmas stamps issued in Britain
Dec15	The death of Walt Disney. Despite rumours that he was cryogenically frozen he is cremated two days later
Dec18	An heir to the Guinness business Tara Browne is killed in a car crash in London - immortalised later by Lennon "he blew his mind out in a car, he didn't notice that the lights had changed"

Last Updated 24/02/03 10:04

Return to Main HomePage