1966 Giro D'Italia

Events

January

* January 1 – In a coup, Colonel Jean-Bédel Bokassa takes over as military ruler of the Central African Republic, ousting President David Dacko.
* January 3 – 1966 Upper Voltan coup d'état: President Maurice Yaméogo is deposed by a military coup in the Republic of Upper Volta (modern-day Burkina Faso).
* January 10
** Pakistani–Indian peace negotiations end successfully with the signing of the Tashkent Declaration, a day before the sudden death of Indian prime minister Lal Bahadur Shastri.
** The House of Representatives of the US state of Georgia refuses to allow African-American representative Julian Bond to take his seat, because of his anti-war stance.
* January 15 – 1966 Nigerian coup d'état: A bloody military coup is staged in Nigeria, deposing the civilian government and resulting in the death of Prime Minister Abubakar Tafawa Balewa.
* January 17
** The Nigerian coup is overturned by another faction of the military, led by Major General Johnson Aguiyi-Ironsi, leaving a military government in power and beginning a long period of military rule.
** 1966 Palomares B-52 crash: A U.S. Air Force B-52 bomber collides with a KC-135 Stratotanker over Spain, dropping three 70-kiloton hydrogen bombs near the town of Palomares, and one into the sea. Carl Brashear, the first African-American United States Navy diver, is involved in an accident during the recovery of the latter, which results in the amputation of his leg.
* January 19 – Indira Gandhi is elected Prime Minister of India; she is sworn in on January 24.
* January 21 – Italian Prime Minister Aldo Moro resigns due to a power struggle in his party.
* January 22 – The military government of Nigeria announces that ex-prime minister Abubakar Tafawa Balewa was killed during the coup a week previously.
* January 24 – Air India Flight 101 crashes into Mont Blanc, killing all 117 people on board, including Homi J. Bhabha, chairman of the Indian Atomic Energy Commission.
* January 26 – Disappearance of the Beaumont children: Three children disappear on their way to Glenelg, South Australia, never to be seen again. Their fate remains unknown.,1966 Liberal Party of Australia leadership election: Harold Holt is elected leader of the Liberal Party of Australia unopposed when Sir Robert Menzies retires after an unprecedented 16 years in office; consequently Holt becomes Prime Minister of Australia six days later.
* January 27
**The British government promises the U.S. that British troops in Malaysia will stay until more peaceful conditions occur in the region.
**Britain's Labour Party unexpectedly retains the parliamentary seat of Hull North in a by-election, with a swing of 4.5% to their candidate from the opposition Conservatives, and a majority up from 1,181 at the 1964 General Election to 5,351.
* January 31 – The United Kingdom ceases all trade with Rhodesia.

February

* February 1 – Around 2,600 political prisoners are released by East Germany, in return for "donations" worth approximately $10,000 a head from West Germany.
* February 3 – The unmanned Soviet Luna 9 spacecraft makes the first controlled rocket-assisted landing on the Moon.
* February 4 – All Nippon Airways Flight 60 plunges into Tokyo Bay; 133 people are killed.
* February 7
** The Great Fire of Iloilo, Philippines, breaks out in a lumber yard and burns for almost half a day, destroying nearly three-quarters of the City Proper area and causing 50 million pesos in total property damage.
** Lyndon B. Johnson of the United States and Nguyễn Cao Kỳ of South Vietnam convene with other officials in a summit in Honolulu, Hawaii to discuss the course of the Vietnam War.
* February 14 – The Australian dollar is introduced at a rate of 2 dollars per pound, or 10 shillings per dollar.
* February 19 – The naval minister of the United Kingdom, Christopher Mayhew, resigns over defence policy.
* February 20 – While Soviet author and translator Valery Tarsis is abroad, the Soviet Union negates his citizenship.
* February 23 – 1966 Syrian coup d'état: An intra-party military coup in Syria replaces the previous government of Amin al-Hafiz by one led by Salah Jadid.
* February 24 – A coup led by the police and military of Ghana raises the National Liberation Council to power while president Kwame Nkrumah is abroad.
* February 28 – British Prime Minister Harold Wilson calls a general election in the United Kingdom, to be held on March 31.

March

* March – The DKW automobile ceases production in Germany.
* March 1
**The British Government announces plans for the decimalisation of the pound sterling (hitherto denominated in 20 shillings and 240 pence to the £), to come into force on 15 February 1971 (Decimal Day).
**Soviet space probe ''Venera 3'' crashes on Venus, becoming the first spacecraft to land on another planet's surface.
**The Ba'ath Party takes power in Syria.
* March 2 – Kwame Nkrumah arrives in Guinea and is granted asylum.
* March 4
** Canadian Pacific Air Lines Flight 402 crashes during a night landing in poor visibility at Tokyo International Airport in Japan, killing 64 of 72 people on board.
**In an interview with ''London Evening Standard'' reporter Maureen Cleave, John Lennon of The Beatles states: "We're more popular than Jesus now."
* March 5
**BOAC Flight 911 crashes in severe clear-air turbulence over Mount Fuji soon after taking off from Tokyo International Airport in Japan, killing all 124 people on board.
**''Merci, Chérie'' by Udo Jürgens (music by Udo Jürgens, lyrics by Jürgens and Thomas Hörbiger) wins the Eurovision Song Contest 1966 (staged in Luxembourg) for Austria.
* March 7 – Charles de Gaulle asks U.S. President Lyndon B. Johnson for negotiations about the state of NATO equipment in France.
* March 8
**Anti-communist demonstrations occur at the Indonesian Foreign Ministry.
**Vietnam War: The U.S. announces it will substantially increase the number of its troops in Vietnam.
**Nelson's Pillar in O'Connell Street, Dublin, is clandestinely blown up by former Irish Republican Army volunteers marking this year's 50th anniversary of the Easter Rising.
* March 10 – Crown Princess Beatrix of the Netherlands marries Claus von Amsberg. Some spectators demonstrate against the groom because he is German.
* March 11
**Transition to the New Order in Indonesia: President Sukarno gives all executive powers to General Suharto by signing the Supersemar order.
**French President Charles de Gaulle states that French troops will be taken out of NATO and that all French NATO bases and headquarters must be closed within a year.
* March 16 – NASA spacecraft Gemini 8 (David Scott, Neil Armstrong) conducts the first docking in space, with an Agena target vehicle.
* March 20 – Football's FIFA World Cup Trophy is stolen while on exhibition in London; it is found seven days later by a mongrel dog named "Pickles" and his owner David Corbett, wrapped in newspaper in a south London garden.
* March 22 – in the Chinese city of Xingtai a magnitude 6.8 earthquake leaves more than 8,000 dead and 38,000 injured.
* March 24 – Pope Paul VI meets Michael Ramsey, the Archbishop of Canterbury, in Rome, and gives him an episcopal ring.
* March 26 – Demonstrations are held across the United States against the Vietnam War.
* March 28 – Cevdet Sunay becomes the fifth president of Turkey.
* March 29 – The 23rd Congress of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union is held: Leonid Brezhnev demands that U.S. troops leave Vietnam, and announces that Chinese-Soviet relations are not satisfactory.
* March 31
**The British Labour Party led by Harold Wilson wins the 1966 United Kingdom general election, gaining a 96-seat majority (compared with a single seat majority when the election was called on February 28).
** The Soviet Union launches Luna 10, which becomes the first space probe to enter orbit around the Moon.

April

* April 2 – The Indonesian army demands that the country rejoin the United Nations.
* April 3 – Luna 10 is the first manmade object to enter lunar orbit.
* April 5 – During the Buddhist Uprising, South Vietnamese military prime minister Nguyễn Cao Kỳ personally attempts to lead the capture of the restive city of Đà Nẵng before backing down.
* April 7 – The United Kingdom asks the United Nations Security Council for authority to use force to stop oil tankers that violate the embargo against Rhodesia (authority is given April 10).
* April 8
** Buddhists in South Vietnam protest against the fact that the new government has not set a date for free elections.
** Leonid Brezhnev becomes General Secretary of the Soviet Union, as well as Leader of the Communist Party of the U.S.S.R.
* April 14
** Kenyan Vice President Oginga Odinga resigns, saying "invisible government" representing foreign interests now runs the country. He will head a new party, the Kenya People's Union.
**The South Vietnamese government promises free elections in 3–5 months.
* April 15 – An anti-Nasser conspiracy is exposed in Egypt.
* April 18
** China declares that it will stop economic aid to Indonesia.
** The 38th Academy Awards ceremony is held in Santa Monica, California: ''The Sound of Music'' wins Best Picture.
* April 19 – Moors murders: Ian Brady and Myra Hindley go on trial at Chester Crown Court in north west England for the murders of 3 children who vanished between November 1963 and October 1965.
* April 21
** An artificial heart is installed in the chest of Marcel DeRudder in a Houston, Texas, hospital.
** The opening of the Parliament of the United Kingdom is televised for the first time.
** Haile Selassie visits Jamaica for the first time, meeting with Rasta leaders.
* April 24 – Uniform daylight saving time is first observed in most parts of North America.
* April 26
** A new government is formed in the Republic of the Congo, led by Ambroise Noumazalaye

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