May 1963
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The following events occurred in May 1963:


May 1, 1963 (Wednesday)

*American mountaineer
Jim Whittaker James W. Whittaker (born February 10, 1929), also known as Jim Whittaker, is an American mountaineer and mountain guide. Born and raised in Seattle, Washington, on May 1, 1963 he became the first American to reach the summit of Mount Everest as a ...
and Sherpa guide
Nawang Gombu Nawang Gombu (1 May 1936 – 24 April 2011) was a Sherpa mountaineer who was the first man in the world to have climbed Mount Everest twice. Gombu was born in Minzu, Tibet and later became an Indian citizen, as did many of his relatives inclu ...
became the fifth and sixth people to successfully reach the top of Mount Everest, following Edmund Hillary and Tenzing Norgay (May 29, 1953), and Ernst Reiss and Fritz Luchsinger (May 18, 1957). Whittaker, a 32-year-old resident of
Redmond, Washington Redmond is a city in King County, Washington, United States, located east of Seattle. The population was 73,256 at the 2020 census, up from 54,144 in 2010. Redmond is best known as the home of Microsoft and Nintendo of America. With an an ...
, became the first American to accomplish the feat. * McDonnell Aircraft Corporation began tests to qualify the " attitude control and maneuver electronics" (ACME) system for the
Gemini spacecraft Project Gemini () was NASA's second human spaceflight program. Conducted between projects Mercury and Apollo, Gemini started in 1961 and concluded in 1966. The Gemini spacecraft carried a two-astronaut crew. Ten Gemini crews and 16 individual ...
, after completing development testing. The subject of the qualification tests was the first production prototype ACME unit received from Minneapolis-Honeywell. * West New Guinea, the last remaining Netherlands possession in what had been the Dutch East Indies, was formally transferred to Indonesian control by the United Nations in ceremonies at Hollandia. The Indonesians renamed the territory West Irian, and Hollandia was renamed
Kotabaru Kotabaru Regency is one of the eleven regencies in the Indonesian province of South Kalimantan. It consists of two parts; the smaller but more populated part comprises Laut Island , the largest island off the coast of Kalimantan, together with t ...
. *Former U.S. Vice-President (and future President)
Richard M. Nixon Richard Milhous Nixon (January 9, 1913April 22, 1994) was the 37th president of the United States, serving from 1969 to 1974. A member of the Republican Party, he previously served as a representative and senator from California and was t ...
continued his retirement from politics with the announcement that he would join the New York City law firm of Mudge, Stern, Baldwin & Todd on June 1. *
Sir Winston Churchill Sir Winston Leonard Spencer Churchill (30 November 187424 January 1965) was a British statesman, soldier, and writer who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom twice, from 1940 to 1945 during the Second World War, and again from 1 ...
announced his retirement from politics at the age of 88, for reasons of health. He pledged that he would remain an M.P. until Parliament was dissolved but would not stand for re-election. *Died:
Lope K. Santos Lope K. Santos (born Lope Santos y Canseco, September 25, 1879 – May 1, 1963) was a Filipino Tagalog-language writer and former senator of the Philippines. He is best known for his 1906 socialist novel, '' Banaag at Sikat'' and to his contrib ...
, 83, Filipino writer and politician


May 2, 1963 (Thursday)

*Hundreds of
African Americans African Americans (also referred to as Black Americans and Afro-Americans) are an ethnic group consisting of Americans with partial or total ancestry from sub-Saharan Africa. The term "African American" generally denotes descendants of ens ...
, including children, were arrested during the Birmingham campaign as they set out from the Sixteenth Street Baptist Church in Birmingham, Alabama, to protest segregation. There were 959 people taken on the first day. Two days later, Public Safety Commissioner Eugene "Bull" Connor would order the use of dogs and fire hoses to repel new demonstrators, images of which were picked up by news media around the world. *Near
Cuxhaven Cuxhaven (; ) is an independent town and seat of the Cuxhaven district, in Lower Saxony, Germany. The town includes the northernmost point of Lower Saxony. It is situated on the shore of the North Sea at the mouth of the Elbe River. Cuxhaven has ...
in West Germany, Berthold Seliger launched a three-stage rocket with a maximum flight altitude of more than . This was the only
sounding rocket A sounding rocket or rocketsonde, sometimes called a research rocket or a suborbital rocket, is an instrument-carrying rocket designed to take measurements and perform scientific experiments during its sub-orbital flight. The rockets are used to ...
developed in Germany. *Died: Jack A. Bade, 42, American World War II flying ace and test pilot, was killed in the mid-air collision of two F-105 Thunderchiefs over the
Catskill Mountains The Catskill Mountains, also known as the Catskills, are a physiographic province of the larger Appalachian Mountains, located in southeastern New York. As a cultural and geographic region, the Catskills are generally defined as those areas c ...
in New York. The other pilot, Don Seaver, was also killed.


May 3, 1963 (Friday)

*In Brazil, 37 of the 50 people on a Cruzeiro do Sul airliner were killed as the
Convair CV-340 The Convair CV-240 is an American airliner that Convair manufactured from 1947 to 1954, initially as a possible replacement for the ubiquitous Douglas DC-3. Featuring a more modern design with cabin pressurization, the 240 series made some inroa ...
was attempting to return to São Paulo shortly after its takeoff from the Congonhas Airport. The plane had been bound for Rio de Janeiro but its right engine caught fire. In its final approach to the runway, the aircraft nosed up to a 45-degree angle, stalled and struck a house on the Avenida Piassang. *Development testing of the Gemini Agena Model 8247 main engine at Arnold Engineering Development Center (AEDC) began, with an objective of verifying the engine's ability to start at least five times. Two major problems, turbine overspeed and gas generator valve failure in high temperature operations, were found. *
Condingup Condingup is a town in the Goldfields–Esperance region of Western Australia, in the Shire of Esperance local government area, southeast of the state capital, Perth. At the 2016 census, it and the surrounding region had a population of 278. ...
, Western Australia, was declared a townsite.


May 4, 1963 (Saturday)

*All 55 people on an Air Afrique airliner died when the Douglas DC-6 crashed into Mount Cameroon less than half an hour after takeoff from Douala in Cameroon, bound for Lagos in Nigeria. Blame for the accident was placed on the pilot's decision to descend from to while flying toward the high mountain. One passenger, a U.S. diplomatic courier, initially survived the crash, but would die of his injuries on May 10. *New York Governor
Nelson Rockefeller Nelson Aldrich Rockefeller (July 8, 1908 – January 26, 1979), sometimes referred to by his nickname Rocky, was an American businessman and politician who served as the 41st vice president of the United States from 1974 to 1977. A member of t ...
secretly married his girlfriend, Margaretta "Happy" Murphy, despite being advised that his remarriage, after divorcing the year before, would hurt his chances for the Republican Party nomination for the U.S. presidency. Television comedian Carol Burnett, 28, married television producer Joe Hamilton in a ceremony in Juarez, Mexico, on the same day, after Hamilton had obtained "a quickie Mexican divorce". *The sinking of a motor launch on the
Nile River The Nile, , Bohairic , lg, Kiira , Nobiin: Áman Dawū is a major north-flowing river in northeastern Africa. It flows into the Mediterranean Sea. The Nile is the longest river in Africa and has historically been considered the longest rive ...
drowned more than 185 people in Egypt, nearly all of them Muslim pilgrims who were beginning the journey to Mecca from the city of Maghagha. The boat's capacity was only 80 people, but more than 200 people crowded on board to make the trip. Among the 15 people who survived were the boat's captain, its owner and its conductor, who were all jailed while the matter was investigated. *Police used high-pressure water hoses and police dogs to disperse a crowd of more than 1,000 African-American protesters in Birmingham, Alabama. *A fire at the Le Monde Theater in
Diourbel Diourbel ( ar, ديوربل; Serer: ''Jurbel'', Wolof: ''Njaaréem'') is a town in Senegal lying east of Thiès. It is known for its mosque and local groundnut industry and is the capital of the Diourbel Region. The population in 2013 was 1 ...
, Senegal, killed 64 people. *Died: Dickey Kerr, 69, American baseball pitcher for the Chicago White Sox, praised later for remaining honest during the corrupt Black Sox Scandal in 1919.


May 5, 1963 (Sunday)

*After 18 years of denial, the Soviet Union confirmed that it had recovered and identified the burned remains of Adolf Hitler on April 30, 1945. Marshal
Vasily Sokolovsky Vasily Danilovich Sokolovsky (russian: Васи́лий Дани́лович Соколо́вский; July 21, 1897 – May 10, 1968) was a Soviet general and Marshal of the Soviet Union who led Red Army forces on the Eastern Front (World War II) ...
, the Chief of Operations during the
Battle of Berlin The Battle of Berlin, designated as the Berlin Strategic Offensive Operation by the Soviet Union, and also known as the Fall of Berlin, was one of the last major offensives of the European theatre of World War II. After the Vistula– ...
, publicly disclosed the details to American researcher Cornelius Ryan and allowed him unprecedented access to classified documents, and allowed him and English historian
John Erickson John Erickson may refer to: * John E. Erickson (Montana politician) (1863–1946), American politician from Montana * John E. Erickson (basketball) (1927–2020), American basketball coach and executive, Wisconsin politician * John P. Erickson (1 ...
to interview fifty top-ranking officials. Sokolovsky told Ryan, "You should be informed that the Soviet Union officially regards Hitler as dead." Previously, the official Soviet position had been that of the Soviet commander, Georgy Zhukov, who had said, "We have found no body definitely identified as Hitler's. For all we know, he may be in Spain or Argentina." *Celebrations were held in the city of Huế in
South Vietnam South Vietnam, officially the Republic of Vietnam ( vi, Việt Nam Cộng hòa), was a state in Southeast Asia that existed from 1955 to 1975, the period when the southern portion of Vietnam was a member of the Western Bloc during part of th ...
, to honor the ordination of
Ngo Dinh Thuc A non-governmental organization (NGO) or non-governmental organisation (see spelling differences) is an organization that generally is formed independent from government. They are typically nonprofit entities, and many of them are active in h ...
, elder brother of President Ngo Dinh Diem, as the Roman Catholic Archbishop of Huế. In advance of the event, the President decreed that religious banners could not be displayed above the national flag, a rule that would lead to tragedy at a Buddhist celebration three days later. * NASA awarded a $6,700,000 contract to
North American Aviation North American Aviation (NAA) was a major American aerospace manufacturer that designed and built several notable aircraft and spacecraft. Its products included: the T-6 Texan trainer, the P-51 Mustang fighter, the B-25 Mitchell bomber, the F ...
for the Paraglider Landing System Program, intended to allow NASA spacecraft to come down on land rather than splashing down at sea. The final contract would be completed on September 25. *The 4th Pan American Games drew to a close in São Paulo, Brazil. *Born:
Kimiyasu Kudō is a Japanese former professional baseball pitcher and the former manager of the Fukuoka SoftBank Hawks of Nippon Professional Baseball. Known for his longevity as a player, he holds the NPB records for longest career with 29 seasons played, m ...
, former Japanese professional baseball pitcher and manager; in
Nagoya City is the largest city in the Chūbu region, the fourth-most populous city and third most populous urban area in Japan, with a population of 2.3million in 2020. Located on the Pacific coast in central Honshu, it is the capital and the most pop ...


May 6, 1963 (Monday)

*Graduate student Beverly Samans, 23, became the tenth murder victim of Albert DeSalvo. Unlike the first nine
Boston Strangler The Boston Strangler is the name given to the murderer of 13 women in the Boston, Massachusetts, area during the early 1960s. The crimes were attributed to Albert DeSalvo based on his confession, details revealed in court during a separate case, ...
victims, Samans was stabbed repeatedly, although he repeated his
modus operandi A ''modus operandi'' (often shortened to M.O.) is someone's habits of working, particularly in the context of business or criminal investigations, but also more generally. It is a Latin phrase, approximately translated as "mode (or manner) of op ...
of strangling a woman with her own stocking. Her body would be discovered three days later. *Notable civil rights activist and comedian Dick Gregory was beaten and jailed by police while participating in the Birmingham campaign. *The Gemini Program Planning Board approved the
Air Force Systems Command The Air Force Systems Command (AFSC) is an inactive United States Air Force Major Command. It was established in April 1951, being split off from Air Materiel Command. The mission of AFSC was Research and Development for new weapons systems. Ove ...
development plan for the Gemini/ Titan II improvement program. *The Limitation Bill came before the UK parliament to amend the statute of limitations. The resulting act would not be fully repealed until 1980. * Timothy Leary was dismissed from his post at Harvard University for failing to carry out his duties. *Born: Alessandra Ferri, Italian ballerina; in Milan *Died: ** Theodore von Kármán, 81, Hungarian mathematician, engineer and physicist ** Ted Weems, 61, American bandleader; of emphysema **
Monty Woolley Edgar Montilion "Monty" Woolley (August 17, 1888May 6, 1963) was an American film and theater actor.Obituary ''Variety'', May 8, 1963, page 223. At the age of 50, he achieved a measure of stardom for his role in the 1939 stage play ''The Man Wh ...
, 75, American actor


May 7, 1963 (Tuesday)

*The communications satellite Telstar II was launched into Earth orbit to replace the first Telstar satellite, which had stopped functioning on February 21 because of damage by the Van Allen radiation belts. As with the first Telstar, the satellite amplified the signals that it was receiving from ground station transmitters. * Aerojet-General delivered the first flight engines for the Gemini 1 rocket to Martin-Baltimore. Tests were completed May 27. *Died: Max Miller, 68, Stand-up comedian


May 8 Events Pre-1600 * 453 BC – Spring and Autumn period: The house of Zhao defeats the house of Zhi, ending the Battle of Jinyang, a military conflict between the elite families of the State of Jin. * 413 – Emperor Honorius signs a ...
, 1963 (Wednesday)

*The Hue Vesak shootings took place when soldiers of the
Army of the Republic of Vietnam The Army of the Republic of Vietnam (ARVN; ; french: Armée de la république du Viêt Nam) composed the ground forces of the Republic of Vietnam Military Forces, South Vietnamese military from its inception in 1955 to the Fall of Saigon in April ...
(ARVN) shot and killed eight people while firing on Buddhists who had defied a ban on the flying of the Buddhist flag on Vesak, the birthday of Gautama Buddha. Earlier, South Vietnam's President Ngo Dinh Diem allowed the flying of the
Vatican flag The flag of Vatican City was adopted on 7 June 1929, the year Pope Pius XI signed the Lateran Treaty with Italy, creating a new independent state governed by the Holy See. The Vatican City flag is modeled on the 1808 yellow and white flag of the ...
, symbolic of Roman Catholicism, in honor of his brother, Archbishop
Ngo Dinh Thuc A non-governmental organization (NGO) or non-governmental organisation (see spelling differences) is an organization that generally is formed independent from government. They are typically nonprofit entities, and many of them are active in h ...
. *The '' James Bond'' film, '' Dr. No'', premiered in the United States. The film had been seen in Europe since its premiere in London on October 5, 1962. * CVS Pharmacy, originally named the Consumer Value Stores from 1963 to 1969, was founded in Lowell, Massachusetts. *Born: Anthony Field, Australian musician, leader of The Wiggles; in Kellyville, New South Wales


May 9, 1963 (Thursday)

*Testing of the Gemini parachute recovery system began at El Centro, California, as a welded steel mock-up of the Gemini reentry section was dropped from a C-130 aircraft at to duplicate dynamic pressure and altitude at which actual spacecraft recovery would be initiated. The main problem, parachute tucking (which had appeared to be resolved earlier) recurred in two drops and the Gemini Project Office would suspend testing until the condition could be corrected. Qualification testing resumed August 8. *After the first six attempts at a successful launch of the MIDAS ( Missile Defense Alarm System) satellite failed, ''MIDAS 7'' was successfully placed into a polar orbit. During the first three years of attempts, three satellites failed to reach orbit, while the other three suffered power failures. ''MIDAS 7'' would operate for 47 days and would detect nine Soviet missile launches. *The
1963 Cannes Film Festival The 16th Cannes Film Festival was held from 9 to 23 May 1963. The Palme d'Or went to the ''Il Gattopardo'' by Luchino Visconti. The festival opened with '' The Birds'', directed by Alfred Hitchcock. Jury The following people were appointed as the ...
opened.


May 10 Events Pre-1600 * 28 BC – A sunspot is observed by Han dynasty astronomers during the reign of Emperor Cheng of Han, one of the earliest dated sunspot observations in China. *1291 – Scottish nobles recognize the authority of Edw ...
, 1963 (Friday)

*A settlement was reached between the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC) and the leading business owners of Birmingham, Alabama, with the SCLC agreeing to call off its boycott of local retailers, who in return "agreed to desegregate lunch counters, rest rooms, fitting rooms and drinking fountains" and to hire more African-Americans for sales and clerical jobs. *Author
Maurice Sendak Maurice Bernard Sendak (; June 10, 1928 – May 8, 2012) was an American author and illustrator of children's books. He became most widely known for his book ''Where the Wild Things Are'', first published in 1963.Turan, Kenneth (October 16, 200 ...
, working on his first book for children, made the decision to abandon his original title, ''Where the Wild Horses Are'', after concluding that horses were too difficult to draw, and changed the characters in the book to friendly monsters. The book, ''
Where the Wild Things Are ''Where the Wild Things Are'' is a 1963 children's picture book written and illustrated by American writer and illustrator Maurice Sendak, originally published in hardcover by Harper & Row. The book has been adapted into other media several tim ...
'', would become a Caldecott Medal winning bestseller and launch Sendak's career. *Born:
Sławomir Skrzypek Sławomir Stanisław Skrzypek (10 May 1963 – 10 April 2010) was the President of the National Bank of Poland (NBP) from 2007 until his death in 2010. He died in the 2010 Polish Air Force Tu-154 crash, when a plane transporting a number of Polish ...
, Polish financier; in
Katowice Katowice ( , , ; szl, Katowicy; german: Kattowitz, yi, קאַטעוויץ, Kattevitz) is the capital city of the Silesian Voivodeship in southern Poland and the central city of the Upper Silesian metropolitan area. It is the 11th most popul ...
(killed in plane crash, 2010) *Died: ** Eugene "Big Daddy" Lipscomb, 31, American NFL player for the Pittsburgh Steelers; of a heroin overdose **
Léonce Crenier Léonce Crenier (1888 – May 10, 1963) was a Catholic monk who promoted the theological-political concept of precarity. Early years Léonce Crenier was born in Ceton, a small village of the diocese of Séez, in Savoie, France, July 31, 1888. Acc ...
, 74, French Catholic monk who promoted the theological/political concept of
Precarity Precarity (also precariousness) is a precarious existence, lacking in predictability, job security, material or psychological welfare. The social class defined by this condition has been termed the ''precariat''. Catholic origins Léonce Crenier, ...


May 11 Events 1601–1900 *1812 – Prime Minister Spencer Perceval is Assassination of Spencer Perceval, assassinated by John Bellingham in the lobby of the British House of Commons. *1813 – William Lawson (explorer), William Lawson, Grego ...
, 1963 (Saturday)

*Canada's new Prime Minister, Lester B. Pearson, agreed to allow American nuclear weapons to be placed in Canada, following a two-day meeting with U.S. President John F. Kennedy at the President's private estate in
Hyannis Port, Massachusetts Hyannis Port (or Hyannisport) is a small residential village located in Barnstable, Massachusetts, United States. It is an affluent summer community on Hyannis Harbor, 1.4 miles (2.3 km) to the south-southwest of Hyannis. Community It has ...
. *Born:
Natasha Richardson Natasha Jane Richardson (11 May 1963 – 18 March 2009) was an English actress of stage and screen. A member of the Redgrave family, Richardson was the daughter of actress Vanessa Redgrave and director/producer Tony Richardson and the granddaugh ...
, English actress, daughter of Vanessa Redgrave and Tony Richardson (d. 2009); in Marylebone *Died:
Herbert Spencer Gasser Herbert Spencer Gasser (July 5, 1888 – May 11, 1963) was an American physiologist, and recipient of the Nobel Prize for Physiology or Medicine in 1944 for his work with action potentials in nerve fibers while on the faculty of Washington Unive ...
, 74, American neurophysiologist and 1944 Nobel Prize laureate


May 12, 1963 (Sunday)

*Dr. Charles A. Berry, chief medical officer of the Manned Spacecraft Center (MSC), cleared Gordon Cooper as being in excellent mental and physical condition for the upcoming
Mercury 9 Mercury-Atlas 9 was the final crewed space mission of the U.S. Mercury program, launched on May 15, 1963, from Launch Complex 14 at Cape Canaveral, Florida. The spacecraft, named ''Faith 7'', completed 22 Earth orbits before splashing down in t ...
mission. The first of 1,020 members of the news media from the U.S. and other nations began arriving at
Cape Canaveral , image = cape canaveral.jpg , image_size = 300 , caption = View of Cape Canaveral from space in 1991 , map = Florida#USA , map_width = 300 , type =Cape , map_caption = Location in Florida , location ...
the same day to cover Cooper's mission. *Scheduled to make his nationwide television debut on '' The Ed Sullivan Show'', folk singer Bob Dylan refused to perform after censors at the CBS network would not clear him to sing " Talkin' John Birch Paranoid Blues". Dylan would go on to greater fame, singing with Joan Baez in August during the " March on Washington". *
Kenji Kimihara is a retired Japanese long-distance runner. He competed in the marathon at the 1964, 1968 and 1972 Olympics and finished in eighth, second and fifth place, respectively. He won two gold medals in the marathon at the Asian Games in 1966 and 1 ...
of Japan won the
Lake Biwa Marathon The was a marathon race held in Otsu, Shiga, Japan. It was one of the prominent marathons in Japan. It was a male only competition and had IAAF Gold Label status.Nakamura, Ken (2010-03-07)Tsegay takes Lake Biwa crown IAAF. Retrieved on 2010-03-08 ...
, Japan's oldest annual marathon race.


May 13 Events Pre-1600 *1373 – Julian of Norwich has visions of Jesus while suffering from a life-threatening illness, visions which are later described and interpreted in her book '' Revelations of Divine Love''. * 1501 – Amerigo Vespu ...
, 1963 (Monday)

*The U.S. Supreme Court decided the case of ''
Brady v. Maryland ''Brady v. Maryland'', 373 U.S. 83 (1963), was a landmark United States Supreme Court case that established that the prosecution must turn over all evidence that might exonerate the defendant (exculpatory evidence) to the defense.
'', setting the principle that in before trial in a criminal case, the prosecution disclose any
exculpatory evidence Exculpatory evidence is evidence favorable to the defendant in a criminal trial that exonerates or tends to exonerate the defendant of guilt. It is the opposite of inculpatory evidence, which tends to present guilt. In many countries, including ...
(which might exonerate the defendant) to the defense team. Named for accused killer John Leo Brady, the "
Brady disclosure ''Brady'' disclosure consists of exculpatory or impeaching information and evidence that is material to the guilt or innocence or to the punishment of a defendant. The term comes from the 1963 U.S. Supreme Court case ''Brady v. Maryland'', in wh ...
" is now a requirement for prosecutors. Brady, who had been sentenced to death in the original 1958 case, would be afforded a new trial, resulting in a sentence of life imprisonment, from which he would eventually be paroled. *A smallpox outbreak was first detected in
Stockholm Stockholm () is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in Sweden by population, largest city of Sweden as well as the List of urban areas in the Nordic countries, largest urban area in Scandinavia. Approximately 980,000 people liv ...
in
Sweden Sweden, formally the Kingdom of Sweden,The United Nations Group of Experts on Geographical Names states that the country's formal name is the Kingdom of SwedenUNGEGN World Geographical Names, Sweden./ref> is a Nordic country located on ...
and would not be under control until July. *The comic strip '' Modesty Blaise'' made its debut in England as part of the ''Evening Standard'' of London.


May 14 Events Pre-1600 * 1027 – Robert II of France names his son Henry I as junior King of the Franks. *1097 – The Siege of Nicaea begins during the First Crusade. * 1264 – Battle of Lewes: Henry III of England is captured and forc ...
, 1963 (Tuesday)

*The scheduled launch of Mercury 9 was halted after the countdown had reached T-60 minutes, because of difficulty in the fuel pump of the diesel engine that would pull the gantry away during liftoff. After a delay of more than two hours for repairs, countdown resumed but was halted again at T-13 minutes, when the Bermuda tracking station reported a failure of a computer converter important in the orbital insertion decision, forcing the launch to be scrubbed. At 6:00 p.m. local time, MSC's
Walter C. Williams Walter Charles Williams (July 30, 1919 – October 7, 1995) was an American engineer, leader of the National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics (NACA) group at Edwards Air Force Base in the 1940s and 1950s, and a NASA deputy associate administra ...
reported that the Bermuda equipment had been repaired, and the launch was rescheduled for the next day. *In Denmark, the
Frederick IX Bridge The King Frederick IX bridge ( da, Kong Frederik den 9's Bro; named for King Frederick IX of Denmark) is a combined road and railway bridge carrying the Danish national road 9 as well as Sydbanen and Lollandsbanen railway lines across the Guldborg ...
was officially opened, spanning the Guldborgsund strait between the islands of Falster and Lolland. * The Rolling Stones signed their first recording contract, after talent scout Dick Rowe asked them to audition for
Decca Records Decca Records is a British record label established in 1929 by Edward Lewis (Decca), Edward Lewis. Its U.S. label was established in late 1934 by Lewis, Jack Kapp, American Decca's first president, and Milton Rackmil, who later became American ...
. *The new office of Parliamentary Secretary was created in the Canadian government. * Kuwait became the 111th member of the United Nations, over the objections of Iraq. *Died:
Harold Stanley Harold Stanley (October 2, 1885 – May 14, 1963) was an American businessman and one of the founders of Morgan Stanley in 1935. For 20 years, he ran Morgan Stanley until he left the firm in 1955. Early life Stanley was born in Great Barring ...
, 77, American businessman and one of the founders of Morgan Stanley in 1935


May 15, 1963 (Wednesday)

*At 8:04 a.m. at (1304 UTC), NASA launched
Mercury 9 Mercury-Atlas 9 was the final crewed space mission of the U.S. Mercury program, launched on May 15, 1963, from Launch Complex 14 at Cape Canaveral, Florida. The spacecraft, named ''Faith 7'', completed 22 Earth orbits before splashing down in t ...
from Cape Canaveral, with
astronaut An astronaut (from the Ancient Greek (), meaning 'star', and (), meaning 'sailor') is a person trained, equipped, and deployed by a human spaceflight program to serve as a commander or crew member aboard a spacecraft. Although generally r ...
L. Gordon Cooper Leroy Gordon "Gordo" Cooper Jr. (March 6, 1927 – October 4, 2004) was an American aerospace engineer, test pilot, United States Air Force pilot, and the youngest of the seven original astronauts in Project Mercury, the first human spac ...
in the capsule designated '' Faith 7''. Cooper's 22-orbit mission was the last for the Mercury program. Cooper entered the spacecraft at 5:33 a.m. (1033 UTC) for an 8:00 launch, and took a brief nap while awaiting liftoff. At T-minus 11 minutes and 30 seconds the countdown was halted for a problem in the guidance equipment, and another hold was called at T-0:19 to determine whether automatic sequencing was working. Liftoff happened four minutes after the original time, and visual tracking was possible for two minutes. Five minutes after liftoff at 8:09 a.m., ''Faith 7'' was inserted into an orbit that ranged from to above the Earth and reached a maximum orbital speed of . Temperatures inside the capsule ranged from to , uncomfortable but tolerable, before cooling down. During his third orbit, Cooper became the first human to launch an object (the beacon) from an orbiting spacecraft. Cooper was able to see the flashing beacon on the night side of the fourth orbit. *Housewife
Jean Nidetch Jean Evelyn Nidetch (née Slutsky, October 12, 1923 – April 29, 2015) was an American business entrepreneur who was the founder of the Weight Watchers organization. Early life Jean Nidetch was born on October 12, 1923 in the New York City boro ...
founded the
Weight Watchers Weight Watchers or WW may refer to: * Weight Watchers (diet), a comprehensive weight loss program and diet * WW International WW International, Inc., formerly Weight Watchers International, Inc., is a global company headquartered in the U.S. tha ...
company, with the first meeting held at a loft above a movie theater in
Little Neck Little is a synonym for small size and may refer to: Arts and entertainment * ''Little'' (album), 1990 debut album of Vic Chesnutt * ''Little'' (film), 2019 American comedy film *The Littles, a series of children's novels by American author John P ...
, a neighborhood in the New York City borough of Queens.


May 16 Events Pre-1600 * 946 – Emperor Suzaku abdicates the throne in favor of his brother Murakami who becomes the 62nd emperor of Japan. *1204 – Baldwin IX, Count of Flanders is crowned as the first Emperor of the Latin Empire. * 1364 ...
, 1963 (Thursday)

*Astronaut Gordon Cooper returned to Earth safely after making 22 orbits and traveling in the '' Faith 7'' capsule. During reentry operation, Cooper fired the retrorockets manually and attained the proper re-entry attitude by using his observation window scribe marks to give proper reference with the horizon and to determine if he were rolling. From the command ship in the Pacific Ocean off the Japanese coast,
John Glenn John Herschel Glenn Jr. (July 18, 1921 – December 8, 2016) was an American Marine Corps aviator, engineer, astronaut, businessman, and politician. He was the third American in space, and the first American to orbit the Earth, circling ...
advised Cooper when to jettison the retropack. The main chute deployed at . ''Faith 7'' splashed down from the prime recovery ship, , at 2323 UTC after 34 hours, 19 minutes, and 49 seconds in space flight. *Died:
Oleg Penkovsky Oleg Vladimirovich Penkovsky (russian: link=no, Олег Владимирович Пеньковский; 23 April 1919 – 16 May 1963), codenamed HERO, was a Soviet military intelligence (GRU) colonel during the late 1950s and early 1960s. Pen ...
, 44, formerly a Soviet Army colonel and spy, was executed five days after being sentenced to death by a military tribunal for passing secrets to the United States and the United Kingdom.


May 17, 1963 (Friday)

*A U.S. Army OH-23 helicopter with two men on board, Captains Ben W. Stutts and Charleton W. Voltz, was shot down by North Korean ground forces after straying north of the Demilitarized Zone. The two men would be freed, after 365 days of imprisonment, on May 16, 1964, following the United Nations Command agreeing to sign a statement that Stutts and Voltz had committed espionage. North Korea declined to return the helicopter. *Challenger Bruno Sammartino faced champion Buddy Rogers of the World Wide Wrestling Federation (now WWE) in a professional wrestling match at New York's Madison Square Garden. Sammartino, using his signature move, "the Italian backbreaker", defeated Rogers in only 48 seconds, and would reign as the WWWF champion for the next eight years.


May 18 Events Pre-1600 * 332 – Emperor Constantine the Great announces free distributions of food to the citizens in Constantinople. * 872 – Louis II of Italy is crowned for the second time as Holy Roman Emperor at Rome, at the age of 4 ...
, 1963 (Saturday)

*An accident killed 27 people, 12 of them children, who all drowned when their bus they were on was sideswiped by a passing pickup truck, and plunged into the deep
Hillsboro Canal The Hillsboro Canal is located in the southeastern portion of Florida within the South Florida Water Management District, and for much of its length forms the border between Broward and Palm Beach counties; however, its western end was entirel ...
near Belle Glade, Florida. Only the driver and 14 people survived. The victims were African-American farm laborers and their families, on their way home from a day of work of harvesting beans at the Kirchman Brothers Farm. * Rocketdyne successfully tested a thrust chamber assembly (TCA) for the Gemini reentry control system. The development of a suitable ablative thrust chamber, however, remained a major problem, and testing was incomplete. Rocketdyne was already three months late in delivering TCA hardware to McDonnell, and completion of testing took three months longer than predicted. *
Sukarno Sukarno). (; born Koesno Sosrodihardjo, ; 6 June 1901 – 21 June 1970) was an Indonesian statesman, orator, revolutionary, and nationalist who was the first president of Indonesia, serving from 1945 to 1967. Sukarno was the leader of ...
(sometimes referred to as Ahmed Sukarno) was named as President for Life of Indonesia. Sukarno, who had ruled since 1945, would serve for another four years before being deposed, and would spend the rest of his life afterward under house arrest, dying on June 21, 1970. *Died:
Ernie Davis Ernest Davis (December 14, 1939 – May 18, 1963) was an American football player who won the Heisman Trophy in 1961 and was its first African-American recipient. Davis played college football for Syracuse University and was the first pick in the ...
, 23, African-American football star who won the 1961 Heisman Trophy at Syracuse University; of leukemia. He had been diagnosed after signing with the NFL's Cleveland Browns.


May 19, 1963 (Sunday)

*Astronaut Gordon Cooper appeared at a national televised press conference to answer questions about the Mercury 9 mission. During the flight, he had seen the haze layer previously reported by Wally Schirra of Mercury 8 and John Glenn's "fireflies" seen on Mercury 6. Cooper's most astonishing revelation was his ability visually to distinguish objects on the earth, including an African town where the flashing light experiment was conducted; several Australian cities including large oil refineries at Perth; and wisps of smoke from rural houses in Asia. At the same conference, Dr.
Robert C. Seamans Robert Channing Seamans Jr. (October 30, 1918 – June 28, 2008) was an MIT professor who served as NASA Deputy Administrator and 9th United States United States Secretary of the Air Force, Secretary of the Air Force. Birth and education He wa ...
said that a
Mercury 10 Mercury-Atlas 10 (MA-10) was a cancelled early crewed space mission, which would have been the last flight in NASA, NASA's Mercury program. It was planned as a three-day extended mission, to launch in late 1963; the spacecraft, ''Freedom 7-II'', w ...
flight was "quite unlikely." *British driver Bob Anderson won the
1963 Rome Grand Prix The 15th Rome Grand Prix was a motor race, run to Formula One rules, held on 19 May 1963 at the ACI Vallelunga Circuit, near Rome in Italy. The race was run over two heats of 40 laps of the circuit, both of which were won by British driver Bob A ...
.


May 20, 1963 (Monday)

* Tigran Petrosian won the World Chess Championship, defeating fellow Soviet grandmaster and world champion
Mikhail Botvinnik Mikhail Moiseyevich Botvinnik, ( – May 5, 1995) was a Soviet and Russian chess grandmaster. The sixth World Chess Champion, he also worked as an electrical engineer and computer scientist and was a pioneer in computer chess. Botvinnik ...
, to , to win the match after 22 games. Under the rules, Petrosian's five wins (worth one point each) and 15 draws ( point each) brought him to points first to win the series. *African-American civil rights activist Medgar Evers went on the air on the WLBT-TV News in Jackson, Mississippi, to deliver an editorial in favor of integration and civil rights. WLBT allowed the unprecedented use of its airtime after pressure from the Federal Communications Commission to permit a response to segregationists. Evers would be murdered at his home three weeks later, on
June 12 Events Pre-1600 * 910 – Battle of Augsburg: The Hungarians defeat the East Frankish army under King Louis the Child, using the famous feigned retreat tactic of the nomadic warriors. * 1240 – At the instigation of Louis IX of Fr ...
. *The members of NASA Astronaut Group 2 completed a
zero-gravity Weightlessness is the complete or near-complete absence of the sensation of weight. It is also termed zero gravity, zero G-force, or zero-G. Weight is a measurement of the force on an object at rest in a relatively strong gravitational fi ...
indoctrination program at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base near Dayton, Ohio, in a modified KC-135 aircraft which carried the astronauts on two flights each. Each flight included 20 zero-gravity parabolas, each lasting 30 seconds. *The Dutch Wonderland Family Amusement Park was opened by potato broker Earl Clark opened near
Lancaster, Pennsylvania Lancaster, ( ; pdc, Lengeschder) is a city in and the county seat of Lancaster County, Pennsylvania. It is one of the oldest inland cities in the United States. With a population at the 2020 census of 58,039, it ranks 11th in population amon ...
. *Born:
David Wells David Lee Wells (born May 20, 1963) is an American former baseball pitcher who played 21 seasons in Major League Baseball (MLB) for nine teams, most notably the Toronto Blue Jays and New York Yankees. Nicknamed "Boomer", Wells was considered on ...
, American baseball player; in Torrance, California


May 21, 1963 (Tuesday)

* Zalman Shazar was elected by the Knesset as the third President of Israel, winning 67–33 over Peretz Bernstein. As with the first two Presidents of Israel ( Chaim Weizmann and
Yitzhak Ben-Zvi Yitzhak Ben-Zvi ( he, יִצְחָק בֶּן־צְבִי‎ ''Yitshak Ben-Tsvi''; 24 November 188423 April 1963) was a historian, Labor Zionism, Labor Zionist leader and the longest-serving President of Israel. Biography Born in Poltava in the ...
), Shazar was a native of Russia. He had been born as Shneur Zalman Rubashov in Mir, now part of Belarus. *Representatives of NASA, the U.S. Air Force Space Systems Division, and Lockheed established new rules for revising Agena development and delivery schedules, moving the Agena target vehicle rendezvous to April 1965, more than seven months after the original date. The first Atlas target launch vehicle was to be delivered in December 1964, and the Agena was to be delivered in January 1965. *MSC began the Gemini
atmospheric reentry Atmospheric entry is the movement of an object from outer space into and through the gases of an atmosphere of a planet, dwarf planet, or natural satellite. There are two main types of atmospheric entry: ''uncontrolled entry'', such as the entr ...
simulation study to evaluate manual control of the Gemini spacecraft during reentry, before beginning the centrifuge program to be conducted at
Naval Air Development Center Naval Air Warfare Center Warminster was a U.S. Navy military installation located in Warminster, Pennsylvania and Ivyland, Pennsylvania. For most of its existence (1949–1993), the base was known as the Naval Air Development Center (NADC) Warm ...
. *Born: Kevin Shields, American-born Irish musician, singer-songwriter, composer and producer, best known as the vocalist and guitarist of the band My Bloody Valentine; in Queens


May 22 Events Pre-1600 * 192 – Dong Zhuo is assassinated by his adopted son Lü Bu. * 760 – Fourteenth recorded perihelion passage of Halley's Comet. * 853 – A Byzantine fleet sacks and destroys undefended Damietta in Egypt. * 11 ...
, 1963 (Wednesday)

*Greek anti-Fascist politician Grigoris Lambrakis was assassinated shortly after delivering the keynote speech at an anti-war meeting in Thessaloniki. Lambrakis was run down by a ''trikyklo'' (a three-wheeled delivery truck) and then clubbed to death by hired killers. He suffered brain injuries and died in the hospital five days later. The assassination would become the basis for a novel by Vassilis Vassilikos, which later was adapted to the 1969 film '' Z''. * Lamar Hunt, owner of the
American Football League The American Football League (AFL) was a major professional American football league that operated for ten seasons from 1960 until 1970, when it merged with the older National Football League (NFL), and became the American Football Conference. ...
's champion, the
Dallas Texans Dallas Texans may refer to: American football *Dallas Texans (NFL), 1952 team in the National Football League *Dallas Texans (AFL), 1960–1962 team that is now the Kansas City Chiefs * Dallas Texans (arena), 1990–1993 Arena Football League team ...
, moved the team to
Kansas City, Missouri Kansas City (abbreviated KC or KCMO) is the largest city in Missouri by population and area. As of the 2020 census, the city had a population of 508,090 in 2020, making it the 36th most-populous city in the United States. It is the central ...
, where they would be renamed the Kansas City Chiefs. The AFL trustees approved the move a week later. *Born: David Bloom, American television journalist for NBC News, who died of a pulmonary embolism while covering the Iraq War (d. 2003); in Edina, Minnesota


May 23, 1963 (Thursday)

*The first successful interception of an orbiting satellite by a ground-based missile took place as part of the American program, Project MUDFLAP. A Nike-Zeus missile, launched from
Kwajalein Atoll Kwajalein Atoll (; Marshallese: ) is part of the Republic of the Marshall Islands (RMI). The southernmost and largest island in the atoll is named Kwajalein Island, which its majority English-speaking residents (about 1,000 mostly U.S. civilia ...
, passed close enough to an orbiting Lockheed Agena-D satellite to have disabled it with an explosion. Seven other tests would be made, ending on January 13, 1966. *The prototype of the onboard
Gemini Guidance Computer The Gemini Guidance Computer (sometimes Gemini Spacecraft On-Board Computer (OBC)) was a digital, serial computer designed for Project Gemini, America's second human spaceflight project. The computer, which facilitated the control of mission maneu ...
completed integration and was delivered by International Business Machines Corporation (IBM) to McDonnell Aircraft for further tests. * AS Monaco won the Coupe de France soccer football competition, defeating
Olympique Lyonnais Olympique Lyonnais (), commonly referred to as simply Lyon () or OL, is a men and women's French professional football club based in Lyon in Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes. The men play in France's highest football division, Ligue 1. Founded in 1950, th ...
2–0 at
Parc des Princes Parc des Princes () is an all-seater stadium, all-seater Association football, football stadium in Paris, France, in the south-west of the French capital, inside the 16th arrondissement of Paris, 16th arrondissement, near the Stade Jean-Bouin ...
.


May 24 Events Pre-1600 * 919 – The nobles of Franconia and Saxony elect Henry the Fowler at the Imperial Diet in Fritzlar as king of the East Frankish Kingdom. * 1218 – The Fifth Crusade leaves Acre for Egypt. * 1276 – Magnus La ...
, 1963 (Friday)

*The ''
New York Journal-American :''Includes coverage of New York Journal-American and its predecessors New York Journal, The Journal, New York American and New York Evening Journal'' The ''New York Journal-American'' was a daily newspaper published in New York City from 1937 t ...
'' reported in a copyrighted story that NASA had revealed in a closed session of a congressional subcommittee that there had been five fatalities in the Soviet cosmonaut program, all of which had been covered up. According to the source, Serenty Shiborin had been the first man in space, launched in February 1959 and was "never heard of again after 28 minutes when the signals went dead". Other failed launches were said to have been Piotr Dolgov on October 11, 1960; Vassilievitch Zowodovsky in April 1961; and two persons, possibly a man and a woman, launched together on May 17, 1961. Alexei Adzhubei, the editor of the newspaper ''Izvestia'' and the son-in-law of Soviet Premier Nikita Khrushchev, denied the reports of four of the five deaths in the newspaper's May 27 edition, saying that the people had been "technicians working on space equipment" and that two of them were still alive, although no denial was made about the alleged 1959 death of Siborin. *U.S. Attorney General Robert F. Kennedy invited
James Baldwin James Arthur Baldwin (August 2, 1924 – December 1, 1987) was an American writer. He garnered acclaim across various media, including essays, novels, plays, and poems. His first novel, '' Go Tell It on the Mountain'', was published in 1953; de ...
and other Black leaders to discuss race relations at his apartment in Manhattan. The turbulent meeting gained wide publicity and had a significant impact on Kennedy. * Project Emily ended in the UK as the last squadron of Thor nuclear missile stations, located at RAF Hemswell, was disbanded. *Born: Michael Chabon, American novelist ('' The Mysteries of Pittsburgh''); in Washington, D.C. *Died: Elmore James, 45, American blues musician; of a heart attack


May 25, 1963 (Saturday)

*At the track and field competition for six universities in what is now the
Pac-12 Conference The Pac-12 Conference is a collegiate List of NCAA conferences, athletic conference, that operates in the Western United States, participating in 24 sports at the NCAA Division I level. Its College football, football teams compete in the NCAA D ...
,
Phil Shinnick Phillip Kent Shinnick (born April 21, 1943) is an American track and field athlete, known primarily for the long jump. He represented the United States at the 1964 Olympics. He qualified for the Olympics by finishing third at the 1964 United St ...
jumped in the long jump, ahead of the world record set by
Igor Ter-Ovanesyan Igor Aramovich Ter-Ovanesyan (russian: Игорь Арамович Тер-Ованесян, born 19 May 1938) is a Ukrainian former competitor and coach in the long jump. Competing for the Soviet Union, he was a five-time European and two-time O ...
, but "two officials, whose only duty was to place the wind gauge on the long jump runway and watch it to make sure the wind was blowing at less than the allowable limit, were not paying attention", so the mark was not submitted as a world record. *The Organization of African Unity (OAU) was established in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, by representatives from 32 African nations. On July 9, 2002, the OAU, by then with 53 members, would be replaced by the
African Union The African Union (AU) is a continental union consisting of 55 member states located on the continent of Africa. The AU was announced in the Sirte Declaration in Sirte, Libya, on 9 September 1999, calling for the establishment of the Africa ...
. *President Antonio Segni asked Aldo Moro to become the new Prime Minister of Italy. *Born: Mike Myers, Canadian comedian and TV and film actor known for ''
Wayne's World "Wayne's World" was originally a recurring sketch from the NBC television series ''Saturday Night Live''. It evolved from a segment titled "Wayne's Power Minute" (1987) on the CBC Television series '' It's Only Rock & Roll'', as the main characte ...
'', '' Austin Powers'' and '' Shrek'' series of films; in
Scarborough, Ontario Scarborough (; 2021 Census 629,941) is a district of Toronto, Ontario, Canada. It is situated atop the Scarborough Bluffs in the eastern part of the city. Its borders are Victoria Park Avenue to the west, Steeles Avenue to the north, Rouge R ...


May 26 Events Pre-1600 * 17 – Germanicus celebrates a triumph in Rome for his victories over the Cherusci, Chatti, and other German tribes west of the Elbe. * 451 – Battle of Avarayr between Armenian rebels and the Sasanian Empire take ...
, 1963 (Sunday)

*Less than two years after he had been released from years of imprisonment,
Jomo Kenyatta Jomo Kenyatta (22 August 1978) was a Kenyan anti-colonial activist and politician who governed Kenya as its Prime Minister from 1963 to 1964 and then as its first President from 1964 to his death in 1978. He was the country's first indigenous ...
was assured to become the first Prime Minister of Kenya when his Kenya African National Union won 83 of the 129 seats in the National Assembly in the Kenyan national election. *A rare case of two independent tornadic thunderstorms, near Oklahoma City, yielded data that would lead to the recognition of "a new stage in the development of thunderstorms: the severe/right-moving, or SR, stage". * Afghanistan and Pakistan agreed to resume diplomatic relations that had been severed on September 6, 1960, following a conference between officials in Tehran at the invitation of the Shah of Iran. *The
1963 Monaco Grand Prix The 1963 Monaco Grand Prix was a Formula One motor race held at Monaco on 26 May 1963. It was race 1 of 10 in both the 1963 World Championship of Drivers and the 1963 International Cup for Formula One Manufacturers. The 100-lap race was won b ...
was won by
Graham Hill Norman Graham Hill (15 February 1929 – 29 November 1975) was a British racing driver and team owner, who was the Formula One World Champion twice, winning in and as well as being runner up on three occasions (1963, 1964 and 1965). Despite ...
. *Born: ** Mary Nightingale, English newsreader and television presenter; in
Scarborough, North Yorkshire Scarborough () is a seaside town in the Borough of Scarborough in North Yorkshire, England. Scarborough is located on the North Sea coastline. Historic counties of England, Historically in the North Riding of Yorkshire, the town lies between 10 ...
** Simon Armitage, British poet, playwright and novelist; in Huddersfield


May 27 Events Pre-1600 * 1096 – Count Emicho enters Mainz, where his followers massacre Jewish citizens. At least 600 Jews are killed. * 1120 – Richard III of Capua is anointed as Prince two weeks before his untimely death. * 1153 &ndash ...
, 1963 (Monday)

*North American began testing the half-scale two test vehicle (HSTTV) for the Paraglider Landing System Program to investigate paraglider liftoff characteristics, helicopter tow techniques, and the effects of wind-bending during high-speed tows. *
Columbia Records Columbia Records is an American record label owned by Sony Music, Sony Music Entertainment, a subsidiary of Sony Corporation of America, the North American division of Japanese Conglomerate (company), conglomerate Sony. It was founded on Janua ...
released '' The Freewheelin' Bob Dylan'', singer-songwriter Bob Dylan's second and most influential studio album, which opened with the song " Blowin' in the Wind". *Died: Grigoris Lambrakis, 50, Greek politician, physician and Olympic athlete, died five days after being attacked. More than 500,000 people attended his funeral the next day and marched in protest against Greece's right-wing government.


May 28, 1963 (Tuesday)

*A
cyclone In meteorology, a cyclone () is a large air mass that rotates around a strong center of low atmospheric pressure, counterclockwise in the Northern Hemisphere and clockwise in the Southern Hemisphere as viewed from above (opposite to an anti ...
killed 22,000 people in and around the city of Comilla in East Pakistan (now Bangladesh). Winds as high as ripped the countryside, and "the many offshore islands were literally swept clean of people";
Chittagong Chittagong ( /ˈtʃɪt əˌɡɒŋ/ ''chit-uh-gong''; ctg, চিটাং; bn, চিটাগং), officially Chattogram ( bn, চট্টগ্রাম), is the second-largest city in Bangladesh after Dhaka and third largest city in B ...
and
Cox's Bazar Cox's Bazar (; bn, কক্সবাজার, Kôksbajar; ) is a city, fishing port, tourism centre, and district headquarters in Southeastern Bangladesh. It is located south of the city of Chittagong. Cox's Bazar is also known by the na ...
lost 5,000 people each, and waves were powerful enough to send ships inland, including four ocean liners. *Born:
Gavin Harrison Gavin Richard Harrison (born 28 May 1963) is an English musician. He is best known for playing with the progressive rock bands Porcupine Tree (2002–2010; 2021–present), King Crimson (2008, and 2014–present) and The Pineapple Thief (2016 ...
, British drummer; in
Harrow Harrow may refer to: Places * Harrow, Victoria, Australia * Harrow, Ontario, Canada * The Harrow, County Wexford, a village in Ireland * London Borough of Harrow, England ** Harrow, London, a town in London ** Harrow (UK Parliament constituency) ...
*Died: Klaus Clusius, 60, German physical chemist


May 29, 1963 (Wednesday)

*Titan II flight N-20, the 19th in the series of Air Force research and development flights, failed 55 seconds after liftoff from Cape Canaveral and yielded no data. The U.S. Air Force announced that no further Titan II development flights would carry the POGO fix, but the decision was reversed and POGO fix was flown again on Titan II flight N-25 and two later flights. *The vertical test facility (VTF) at Martin-Baltimore was activated with a tower and an adjacent three-story blockhouse with ground equipment similar to that used at NASA's
Complex 19 Launch Complex 19 (LC-19) is a deactivated launch site on Cape Canaveral Space Force Station, Florida used by NASA to launch all of the Gemini crewed spaceflights. It was also used by uncrewed Titan I and Titan II missiles. LC-19 was in use fro ...
. After systems tests concluded, the launch vehicle was presented to the U.S. Air Force for acceptance. *On the 50th anniversary of its stormy premiere, '' The Rite of Spring'' was performed by the London Symphony Orchestra, conducted by 88-year-old
Pierre Monteux Pierre Benjamin Monteux (; 4 April 18751 July 1964) was a French (later American) conductor. After violin and viola studies, and a decade as an orchestral player and occasional conductor, he began to receive regular conducting engagements in ...
at the
Royal Albert Hall The Royal Albert Hall is a concert hall on the northern edge of South Kensington, London. One of the UK's most treasured and distinctive buildings, it is held in trust for the nation and managed by a registered charity which receives no govern ...
. The composer, 81-year-old
Igor Stravinsky Igor Fyodorovich Stravinsky (6 April 1971) was a Russian composer, pianist and conductor, later of French (from 1934) and American (from 1945) citizenship. He is widely considered one of the most important and influential composers of the ...
, was in the audience as an honored guest. * Jim Reeves was welcomed to Ireland by show band singers Maisie McDaniel and Dermot O'Brien, at the start of his tour of Ireland, and conducted a week-long tour of U.S. military bases in England. *The U.S. Department of Defense submitted its report on the Mercury 9 mission. *Born: ** Tom Burnett, American businessman who was one of the passengers who fought with terrorists during the hijacking of United Airlines Flight 93 during the September 11 attacks (d. 2001); in
Bloomington, Minnesota Bloomington is a suburban city in Hennepin County, Minnesota, on the north bank of the Minnesota River, above its confluence with the Mississippi River, south of downtown Minneapolis. As of the 2020 census, the city's population was 89,987, ma ...
Williams, Brandt (May 2, 2002)
"Minnesotan hailed as a hero of Sept. 11 buried at Fort Snelling "
Minnesota Public Radio.
** Lisa Whelchel, American TV actress and Contemporary Christian singer, best known as Blair Warner on '' The Facts of Life''; in Littlefield, Texas *Died: Vissarion Shebalin, 61, Soviet classical composer


May 30 Events Pre-1600 * 70 – Siege of Jerusalem: Titus and his Roman legions breach the Second Wall of Jerusalem. Jewish defenders retreat to the First Wall. The Romans build a circumvallation, cutting down all trees within fifteen kilometres ...
, 1963 (Thursday)

* More than 500 monks demonstrated in front of South Vietnam's National Assembly building in
Saigon , population_density_km2 = 4,292 , population_density_metro_km2 = 697.2 , population_demonym = Saigonese , blank_name = GRP (Nominal) , blank_info = 2019 , blank1_name = – Total , blank1_ ...
, evading a ban on public assembly by hiring four buses and pulling the blinds down. It was the first open protest against President
Ngô Đình Diệm Ngô Đình Diệm ( or ; ; 3 January 1901 – 2 November 1963) was a South Vietnamese politician. He was the final prime minister of the State of Vietnam (1954–1955), and then served as the first president of South Vietnam (Republic of ...
's regime since he came into power eight years earlier. *The Coca-Cola Company publicly announced its first diet drink, " TaB cola", with "one calorie per six-ounce serving" made with saccharin instead of sugar. * Parnelli Jones of the United States won the
1963 Indianapolis 500 The 47th International 500-Mile Sweepstakes was held at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway in Speedway, Indiana on Thursday, May 30, 1963. Rufus Parnell Jones, also known as "Parnelli," took his only Indy 500 win. This win was controversial because ...
, finishing 34 seconds ahead of
Jim Clark James Clark Jr. OBE (4 March 1936 – 7 April 1968) was a British Formula One racing driver from Scotland, who won two World Championships, in 1963 and 1965. A versatile driver, he competed in sports cars, touring cars and in the Indianapol ...
of Scotland."Parnelli Jones Stunned, Dazed And Lot Richer", ''Miami News'', May 31, 1963, p. 1C.


May 31, 1963 (Friday)

*The
ABC Theatre ABC are the first three letters of the Latin script known as the alphabet. ABC or abc may also refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Broadcasting * American Broadcasting Company, a commercial U.S. TV broadcaster ** Disney–ABC Television ...
, created by Associated British Cinemas, opened at the English seaside resort of
Blackpool, Lancashire Blackpool is a seaside resort in Lancashire, England. Located on the northwest coast of England, it is the main settlement within the borough also called Blackpool. The town is by the Irish Sea, between the Ribble and Wyre rivers, and is ...
, beginning with the ''Holiday Carnival'' summer season stage show, starring Cliff Richard and The Shadows. *The USAF's Winslow Air Force Station in Winslow, Arizona, ceased operations. *Died: Edith Hamilton, 95, German-born American classical scholar best known for her authorship of '' Mythology: Timeless Tales of Gods and Heroes''


References

{{Events by month links
1963 Events January * January 1 – Bogle–Chandler case: Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation scientist Dr. Gilbert Bogle and Mrs. Margaret Chandler are found dead (presumed poisoned), in bushland near the Lane Cov ...
*1963-05 *1963-05