1st The Beatles' audition at Decca Records is unsuccessful

1st Western Samoa becomes independent from New Zealand

3rd Pope John XXIII excommunicates Fidel Castro

8th Leonardo da Vinci's Mona Lisa is exhibited in the U.S.A. for the first time

9th A trade pact is agreed between Cuba and the Soviet Union

9th The DeHavilland Trident (right) makes its maiden flight

13th Albania allies itself with the People's Republic of China

15th Yves Saint-Laurent, protégé of Christian Dior sets up his Paris fashion house

15th British weather services begin issuing centigrade temperatures with Fahrenheit equivalents

26th The U.S. spacecraft Ranger 3 goes off course, missing the moon by 20,000 miles

29th Britain and America walk out of Nuclear test ban talks with the Soviet Union in Geneva

30th Two of the high-wire "Flying Wallendas" are killed when their famous seven-person        pyramid collapses during a performance in Detroit, U.S.A.

Duane Eddy marries singer Miriam Johnson

Don Everly marries Hollywood starlet Venetia Stevenson

2nd Neptune and Pluto align for the first time in 400 years

3rd US announces a trade embargo on Cuba

4th The Sunday Times becomes the first paper to print a colour supplement

9th Taiwan Stock Exchange Corporation opened

10th American spy pilot Gary Powers is exchanged for Soviet spy Rudolf Abel

11th An Essex schoolboy claims the world record for 'The Twist' after dancing non-stop for 33 hours

14th Jackie Kennedy (right) conducts a televised tour of the White House

17th James Hanratty is sentenced to death for the 'A6' murder

20th John Glenn in the Mercury 'Friendship 7' becomes the first American to orbit the Earth

24th Football League founder members Accrington Stanley play their last game,
       versus Rochdale, at Peel Park before winding up with debts of £60,000

26th The Commonwealth Immigrants Bill is passed in London, establishing a quota system

The Beatles make their radio debut on 'Teenager's Turn - Here We Go'

1st An American Airlines Boeing 707 crashes on takeoff at NY International Airport, killing all on board

2nd In India, President Nehru's Congress Party wins the general election

2nd There is a military coup in Burma

3rd The British Antarctic Territory is created in the South Atlantic

4th Malta becomes fully independent

7th The Beatles record their debut performance for BBC Manchester wearing matching suits

16th The first Russian 'Cosmos' satellite (right) is launched

18th France and Algeria sign an agreement in Evian ending the Algerian War

19th A 300 year-old skull is discovered beneath 10 Downing Street

23rd Scandinavian States of Nordic Council sign the Helsinki Convention on Nordic Co-operation

1st The Income Tax Act, 1961 comes into force

2nd Push-button 'Panda' road crossings are introduced

4th James Hanratty is executed at Bedford Prison for the A6 murder

4th Two London gangs, the Mussies from Muswell Hill and the Finchley Boys, have a       battle resulting in several stabbings. Mussie Peter Quaife (later of The Kinks)       escapes by clinging to the underside of a parked car.

10th Stuart Sutcliffe dies of a brain haemorrhage in Hamburg

22nd Jerry Lee Lewis' 3 year old son accidentally drowns in their swimming pool

22nd Chuck Berry is transferred to Leavenworth Federal Prison

22nd Brian "Liquorice" Locking replaces Jet Harris in the Shadows

23rd Stirling Moss is seriously injured crashing his Lotus 7 in a race at Goodwood

24th President Kennedy announces U.S.A. are resuming atmospheric atomic testing

26th The first British satellite 'Ariel' is launched

26th The American spacecraft Ranger 4 crashes on the dark side of the moon

3rd Britain's first legal casino is opened at The Metropole, Brighton

3rd Only two stewardesses survive an air crash (right) at Orly Airport in Paris - 130 die

6th The Beatles successfully audition for George Martin at EMI's Abbey Road studios

10th England lose the football World Cup quarter final 3-1 to Brazil in Chile

12th Three prisoners dig their way out of Alcatraz using spoons

17th Brazil retain the World Cup beating Czechoslovakia 3-1 in Santiago

30th Police 5 is seen on television for the first time

The 137th and last annual 'Players vs Gentlemen' cricket match is held at Lord's

1st The government's Immigration Bill becomes law

1st Rwanda and Burundi gain independence

5th Algeria becomes independent from France.

10th The first motorway opens in Ireland

10th Telstar, the first proper telecommunications satellite (right) , is put into orbit

11th The first signals are beamed between U.S.A. and France via Telstar

11th Fred Baldasare becomes the first man to swim The Channel underwater

11th The "Small Boy" nuclear test Little Feller I becomes the last atmospheric
        test detonation at the Nevada Test Site

12th The Rolling Stones make their first appearance at the Marquee Club, Soho

20th The world's first experimental hovercraft passenger service opens
        between Moreton, Wirral and Rhyl, using a 24-seater VA3

22nd The Mariner 1 spacecraft flies erratically after launch and has to be destroyed

23rd An 18 minute live transmission is beamed to 16 European countries via Telstar

5th Marilyn Monroe, aged 36, is found dead from a drink and drugs overdose

6th Jamaica becomes independent

11th An experimental hovercraft service is launched between Portsmouth and Ryde

11th Soviet cosmonaut Andrian Nikolayev begins a 94-hour flight

12th Two Soviet Vostok spacecraft orbit simultaneously

14th The last 10 feet of the 7.5 mile Mont Blanc tunnel is completed

16th Ringo Starr becomes the drummer for The Beatles

17th East German border guards kill 18-year-old Peter Fechter as he attempts to cross the Berlin        Wall into West Berlin (right top)

21st British Fascist leader Colin Jordan is jailed for nine months for inciting a riot during a speech

23rd Beatle John Lennon secretly marries Cynthia Powell (right bottom)

26th The spacecraft Mariner II is launched towards Venus

28th An assassination attempt is made on General de Gaulle in Paris

31st Trinidad and Tobago becomes independent

2nd London sees fierce street battles between East Enders and Moseley's Fascists (right)

2nd The Soviet Union agrees to send arms to Cuba

4th The Beatles have their first official recording session with George Martin, in London

9th A U2 spy plane used by Taiwan is shot down in China

12th President Kennedy declares the USA will put a man on the moon by the end of the decade

14th Distillers agree to pay £250,000 for research into damage done by Thalidomide

18th 29 refugees escape by tunnelling under the Berlin Wall

25th Sonny Liston beats Floyd Patterson to become World Heavyweight Boxing Champion

26th Civil war breaks out in Yemen

29th Alouette 1, the first Canadian satellite, is launched

The Beatles release their first record for E.M.I. 'Love Me Do'

Alf Ramsey succeeds Walter Winterbottom as England football manager

1st The first black student James Meredith (rt bottom) registers at the University of Mississippi

5th The first James Bond film 'Dr. No' premieres in London

8th Elizabeth Lane becomes the first female high court judge

9th Uganda becomes independent within the Commonwealth

10th Spacecraft Mariner II reveals the existence of solar 'winds'

14th A U-2 flight over Cuba takes photos of Soviet nuclear weapons being installed

14th Martin Luther King Jr. is named the Nobel Peace Prize winner in Stockholm

15th A stand-off between the United States and the Soviet Union over Cuba puts the
       world under threat of a nuclear war

17th The Hyde Park underpass opens in London, causing huge traffic jams

17th The Beatles make their first television appearance

21st Cliff Richard debuts on the Ed Sullivan Show

22nd The spy William Vassall is jailed for 18 years

22nd President Kennedy appears on U.S. television to announce the siting
of Soviet missiles in Cuba, 90 miles from the U.S.A.

22nd The trial of Nelson Mandela (right top) begins

28th Kruschev capitulates and orders the Cuban rockets to be dismantled
and returned to the Soviet Union, ending the 'Cuban Missile Crisis'

31st Singer Michelle Phillips marries film star Dennis Hopper - it only lasts a couple of weeks

Prince Philip opens the Commonwealth Games in Perth, Australia

1st The Soviet Union launches the first spacecraft to Mars

1st The Soviets begin dismantling their missiles in Cuba

5th The government halves the purchase tax on cars in a bid to boost the economy

5th Saudi Arabia breaks off diplomatic relations with Egypt

6th The UN passes a resolution condemning South Africa's racist apartheid policies

7th Eleanor Roosevelt (right) dies

7th Richard M. Nixon loses the California governor's race

7th Nelson Mandela is sentenced to 5 years imprisonment

17th President J.F.Kennedy dedicates Dulles International Airport in Washington DC

20th The Cuban Missile Crisis ends and sanctions on Cuba are lifted

28th Queen Wilhelmina of The Netherlands dies

29th An agreement is signed between Britain and France to develop Concorde

30th The UN elects U Thant of Burma as the new United Nations Secretary-General

The Rolling Stones are formed

DJ Alan Freed (right, top) goes on trial in New York on 'payola' charges

3rd Start of the four-day smog cloud which brings London to a standstill

7th Bill Wyman joins the Rolling Stones

8th The North Kalimantan National Army revolts in Brunei

9th Tanganyika (Tanzania) becomes a republic within the Commonwealth, with Julius Nyerere as President

14th Mariner II sends back the first close-up pictures of Venus

15th Actor Charles Laughton dies

19th Britain acknowledges Nyasaland's right (Malawi) to secede from the Central African Federation

19th Daman and Diu and Goa are freed from the Portuguese by the Indian Army

21st The U.S.A. agrees to sell Polaris missiles to Britain

22nd The "Big Freeze" commences in Britain - there are no frost-free nights until March 5 1963

28th Blond guitarist Heinz Burt announces he is leaving The Tornados to pursue a solo career

30th The 'Top Ten' club (not to be confused with the Hamburg 'Top Ten' club, right) opens in Carnaby Street

January 5 Joe Monzo, microtonal composer and tuning-theorist
January 14 Michael McCaul, American politician
January 17 Jim Carrey, actor, comedian
January 21 Marie Trintignant, French actress
February 4 Clint Black, country musician
February 5 Jennifer Jason Leigh, actress
February 6 Axl Rose, singer with Guns'n'Roses
February 7 Garth Brooks, country music
February 7 Eddie Izzard, actor and comedian
February 10 Bobby Czyz, boxer
February 10 Cliff Burton, bassist with Metallica
February 11 Sheryl Crow, singer
February 11 Scott Kolden, actor
February 17 Lou Diamond Phillips, actor
February 21 Vanessa Feltz, TV presenter
February 21 David Foster Wallace, writer
February 22 Steve Irwin, Australian TV personality
February 24 Michelle Shocked, musician
March 2 Jon Bon Jovi, singer, songwriter, actor
March 3 Jackie Joyner-Kersee, American athlete
March 3 Herschel Walker, American football player
March 12 Darryl Strawberry, baseball player
March 15 Terence Trent D'Arby, singer
March 17 Clare Grogan, Scottish actress and singer
March 20 Stephen Sommers, film director
March 21 Matthew Broderick, actor
March 21 Rosie O'Donnell, comedian, actress
March 23 Steve Redgrave, five times Olympic gold-medallist rower
March 26 John Stockton, basketball player
March 30 MC Hammer, rap artist
April 2 Mark Shulman, children's author
April 11 Vincent Gallo, actor
April 15 Nawal El Moutawakel, Moroccan hurdler
April 16 Ian MacKaye, musician
April 19 Al Unser, Jr., two time Indianapolis 500 winner
April 23 John Hannah, actor
May 9 David Gahan, singer with Depeche Mode
May 10 David Fincher, film director
May 12 Emilio Estevez, actor
May 24 Gene Anthony Ray, actor
May 27 Ravi Shastri, Indian cricketer
June 2 Clyde Drexler, basketball player
June 8 Nick Rhodes, musician with Duran Duran
June 10 Gina Gershon, actress
June 13 Ally Sheedy, actress
June 19 Paula Abdul, dancer, choreographer and singer
June 29 Amanda Donohoe, actress
July 3 Tom Cruise, actor
July 19 Anthony Edwards, actor
July 31 Wesley Snipes, actor
August 6 Michelle Yeoh, actress
August 9 Kevin Mack, American football player
August 29 Rebecca De Mornay, actress
September 1 Ruud Gullit, Dutch footballer
September 11 Elizabeth Daily, actress
September 24 Jack Dee, comedian
September 25 Aida Turturro, actress
September 26 Melissa Sue Anderson, actress
September 26 Tracey Thorn, singer
October 1 Esai Morales, actor
October 11 Joan Cusack, actress and comedienne
October 13 Kelly Preston, actress
October 13 Jerry Rice, American football player
October 16 Flea, bassist with Red Hot Chili Peppers
October 19 Evander Holyfield, heavyweight champion boxer
October 25 Nick Hancock, actor and television presenter
October 26 Cary Elwes, actor
October 30 Courtney Walsh, West Indian cricketer
November 3 Marilyn, musician
November 11 Demi Moore, actress
November 19 Jodie Foster, actress and director
November 27 Samantha Bond, actress
November 28 Jon Stewart, actor, comedian
November 29 Andrew McCarthy, actor
November 30 Bo Jackson, American football and baseball star
November 30 Daniel Keys Moran, science fiction writer
December 9 Felicity Huffman, actress
December 12 Tracy Austin, tennis player
December 22 Ralph Fiennes, actor
December 28 Michel Petrucciani, French jazz player
December 30 Alessandra Mussolini, Italian politician