January 1965

January – February – March – April – May – June – July – August – September – October – November – December

The following events occurred in January, 1965.

January 1, 1965 (Friday)

• Vietnam War: The Battle of Bình Gia concludes, as the Viet Cong withdraw while in a superior position.
• Luis Muñoz Marín, Governor of Puerto Rico since 1945, is succeeded in the post by Roberto Sánchez Vilella.
• Trans-Canada Airlines is renamed Air Canada.
• The ship SS Catala is driven onto the beach in Ocean Shores, Washington, USA, stranding her.

January 2, 1965 (Saturday)

• President Ayub Khan defeats Fatima Jinnah in Pakistan's presidential election.
• Denis Healey, the United Kingdom Secretary of Defence, cancels the nation's fighter and military transport programmes and orders the purchase of the US-built F-4 Phantom and C-130 Hercules in their place.
• Long-running British TV sports series World of Sport is launched.

January 3, 1965 (Sunday)

• In his first public appearance of the year, Pope Paul VI gives a homily at a Mass for the Italian University.^[1]

January 4, 1965 (Monday)

• U.S. President Lyndon B. Johnson proclaims his "Great Society" during his State of the Union Address.
• The Fender Musical Instruments Corporation is sold to CBS for $13 million.
• Died: T. S. Eliot, 76, American-born writer, Nobel Prize laureate

January 5, 1965 (Tuesday)

• Launch of the Renault 16, the world's first production hatchback car.^[2]

January 6, 1965 (Wednesday)

• Hassan al-Amri, "the General of Yemen", becomes Prime Minister of the Yemen Arab Republic for the second time, in a military government.^[3]

January 7, 1965 (Thursday)

• Identical twin brothers Ronnie and Reggie Kray, 31, are arrested on suspicion of running a protection racket in London.^[4]

January 8, 1965 (Friday)

• The 1965 PGA Tour begins with the Los Angeles Open golf tournament at Rancho Park Golf Course.

January 9, 1965 (Saturday)

• The Mirzapur Cadet College formally opens for academic activities in East Pakistan (now Bangladesh).
• Born: Haddaway, German singer, in Port of Spain, Trinidad

January 10, 1965 (Sunday)

• Died: Antonín Bečvář, 63, Czech astronomer^[5]

January 11, 1965 (Monday)

• Coton Hill rail crash: A heavily loaded freight train runs out of control on the 1 in 100 Hencote incline, near Shrewsbury, UK, and is derailed on a set of trap points, eventually demolishing a signal box. The signalman on duty is killed, and the driver of the train seriously injured.^[6]

January 12, 1965 (Tuesday)

• Wanda Beach Murders: The bodies of two 15-year-olds, Christine Sharrock and Marianne Schmidt, are found at Wanda Beach, Sydney.

January 13, 1965 (Wednesday)

• In the US 15th National Basketball Association All-Star Game, played in St Louis, Missouri, the Eastern Conference team is victorious by one point overall.

January 14, 1965 (Thursday)

• The Prime Minister of Northern Ireland and the Taoiseach of the Republic of Ireland meet for the first time in 43 years.
• The 27th Legislative Assembly of Quebec enters its third session.
• Died: Jeanette MacDonald, 61, American actress and singer

January 15, 1965 (Friday)

• US President Lyndon Johnson contacts Martin Luther King, Jr, to discuss his proposal to "to have a Negro in the Cabinet".^[7]
• Born: James Nesbitt, Northern Irish actor, in Ballymena

January 16, 1965 (Saturday)

• The Canada-United States Automotive Agreement is signed.
• British part-time soldier Brian Spillett^[8][9] enters a neighbour's house to try to save him from a fire. He fails, and both men die. Spillett is posthumously awarded the George Cross for his bravery.

January 17, 1965 (Sunday)

• Born: Manolo, Spanish footballer, in Cáceres

January 18, 1965 (Monday)

• End of the Mizo People’s Convention (MPC/1965, Document for Manipur Mizo Integration Council, signed by Holkhomang Haokip, General Secretary and KT Lalla, Chairman of the Council), held at Kawnpui in Churachandpur on the issue of "Territorial Integrity", with the aim of creating one Administrative Unit for the Kuki-Mizo people called Mizoram State. This began the Mizo National Front movement.^[10]
• An Australian women's tennis team successfully defends their Federation Cup title against the USA.
• The last Atlas F test launch takes place at Vandenberg Air Force Base, USA.

January 19, 1965 (Tuesday)

• The unmanned Gemini 2 is launched on a suborbital test of various spacecraft systems.
• Ramón José Castellano resigns as Archbishop of Córdoba.

January 20, 1965 (Wednesday)

• Lyndon B. Johnson is sworn in for his own full term as U.S. President.
• Born: Sophie, Countess of Wessex, member of the British royal family, as Sophie Rhys-Jones, in Oxford.
• Died: Alan Freed, 43, American disc jockey (uremia and cirrhosis brought on by alcoholism)

January 21, 1965 (Thursday)

• The Shalom Meir Tower in Tel Aviv, Israel, officially opens, becoming the tallest building in the Middle East (standing at 142 m).
• In the Leyton by-election, Ronald Buxton wins the seat for the UK Conservative Party, with a swing from Labour of 8.7%.^[11]

January 22, 1965 (Friday)

• UK tanker SS Hindsia runs aground in the Oslo Fjord, Norway.^[12] Refloated 1 February.^[13]
• Born: DJ Jazzy Jeff, American rapper and actor, as Jeffrey Allen Townes,^[14] in Philadelphia

January 23, 1965 (Saturday)

• Sir Edric Bastyan, Governor of South Australia, officially opens Kensington's Olympic sports arena.^[15]
• Born: Michael Schade, Canadian operatic tenor, in Geneva, Switzerland

January 24, 1965 (Sunday)

• Syria announces that it has captured the Israeli spy Eli Cohen.
• Liberian cargo ship SS San Nicola sinks in the Pacific 750 nautical miles (1,390 km) north west of Honolulu, Hawaii. All 30 crew are rescued by Maria and taken to Japan.^[16]
• Died: Winston Churchill, 90, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, recipient of the Nobel Prize in Literature

January 25, 1965 (Monday)

• British liner RMS Queen Elizabeth 2 runs aground off Cherbourg, France, but is refloated undamaged shortly afterwards.^[17]

January 26, 1965 (Tuesday)

• 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
• President Humberto de Alencar Castelo Branco of Brazil decides that the Brazilian Air Force henceforth will control all Brazilian fixed-wing military aircraft, including those aboard the aircraft carrier Minas Gerais, and that the Brazilian Navy will control all seagoing rotary-wing aircraft. Key Brazilian naval personnel resign in protest.^[18]

January 27, 1965 (Wednesday)

• Austen Albu is appointed Minister of State for Economic Affairs in the UK government by Prime Minister Harold Wilson.

January 28, 1965 (Thursday)

• Queen Elizabeth II proclaims the new Canadian flag.

January 29, 1965 (Friday)

• Belgian ship MV Congo Moko collides with the Norwegian ship MV Kongsvang in the River Scheldt near Vlissingen. It is repaired and returned to service.

January 30, 1965 (Saturday)

• The state funeral of Sir Winston Churchill takes place with the largest assembly of statesmen in the world until the 2005 funeral of Pope John Paul II.^[19]

January 31, 1965 (Sunday)

• Yugoslavian cargo ship SS Rascisce sinks in the Ionian Sea, and all 30 crew are rescued.^[20]

References