1962

January

 * January 1
 * Western Samoa became independent from New Zealand.
 * The United States Navy SEALs, elite special forces, are activated. SEAL Team One is commissioned in the Pacific Fleet and SEAL Team Two in the Atlantic Fleet.
 * The Beatles audition for Decca Records but are rejected.
 * NBC introduces the "Laramie peacock" before a midnight showing of the series Laramie in the United States.
 * January 2 – NAACP Executive Secretary Roy Wilkins praises U.S. President John F. Kennedy's "personal role" in advancing civil rights.
 * January 3 – Pope John XXIII excommunicates Fidel Castro.
 * January 4 – New York City introduces a subway train that operates without a crew on board.
 * January 5 – The first album on which The Beatles play, My Bonnie, credited to "Tony Sheridan and the Beat Brothers" (recorded last June in Hamburg), is released by Polydor in the U.K.
 * January 8 – Harmelen train disaster: 93 die in the worst Dutch rail disaster.
 * January 9 – Cuba and the Soviet Union sign a trade pact.
 * January 10 – An avalanche on Nevado Huascarán in Peru causes 4,000 deaths.
 * January 12 – The Indonesian Army confirms that it has begun operations in West Irian.
 * January 13 – Albania allies itself with the People's Republic of China.
 * January 15 – Portugal abandons the U.N. General Assembly due to the debate over Angola.
 * January 16 – A military coup occurs in the Dominican Republic.
 * January 19 – A counter-coup occurs in the Dominican Republic; the old government returns except for the new president Rafael Filiberto Bonnelly.
 * January 22 – The Organization of American States suspends Cuba's membership. The suspension is lifted in 2009.
 * January 24
 * The East German government readopts conscription.
 * The Organisation de l'armée secrète (OAS) bombs the French Foreign Ministry.
 * January 26 – Ranger 3 is launched to study the Moon; it later misses the Moon by 22,000 miles.
 * January 27 – The Soviet government changed all place names honoring Molotov, Kaganovich and Georgy Malenkov.
 * January 30 – Two of the high-wire "Flying Wallendas" are killed, when their famous seven-person pyramid collapses during a performance in Detroit.
 * January – Stena Line established as a ferry operator by Sten A. Olsson in Gothenburg, Sweden.

February

 * February 3 – The United States embargo against Cuba is announced.
 * February 4 – The Sunday Times in the United Kingdom became the first paper to print a colour supplement.
 * February 4–February 5 – During a new moon and solar eclipse, an extremely rare grand conjunction of the classical planets occurs (it includes all five of the naked-eye planets plus the Sun and Moon), all of them within 16° of one another on the ecliptic.
 * February 5 – French President Charles de Gaulle calls for Algeria to be granted independence.
 * February 6 – Negotiations between U.S. Steel and the United States Department of Commerce begin.
 * February 7
 * The United States embargo against Cuba comes into effect, prohibiting all U.S.-related Cuban imports and exports.
 * Luisenthal Mine Disaster: A coal mine explosion in Saarland, West Germany kills 299.
 * February 9 – The Taiwan Stock Exchange Corporation opens.
 * February 10 – Captured American spy pilot Francis Gary Powers is exchanged for captured Soviet spy Rudolf Abel in Berlin.
 * February 11 – The inaugural 24 Hours of Daytona sports car endurance race is run as a 3-hour event at Daytona Beach, Florida.
 * February 12 – Six members of the Committee of 100 of the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament in the U.K. are found guilty of a breach of the Official Secrets Act.
 * February 14 – First Lady Jacqueline Kennedy takes television viewers on a tour of the White House.
 * February 15 – Urho Kekkonen is re-elected president of Finland.
 * February 16 – Heavy storms flood Germany's North Sea coast, mainly around Hamburg; more than 300 people die and thousands lose their homes.
 * February 20 – Project Mercury: While aboard Friendship 7, John Glenn became the first American to orbit the Earth, three times in 4 hours, 55 minutes.
 * February 21 – Margot Fonteyn and Rudolf Nureyev first dance together in a Royal Ballet performance of Giselle in London.

March

 * March 1
 * American Airlines Flight 1 (a Boeing 707) crashes on takeoff at New York International Airport, after a rudder malfunction causes an uncontrolled roll, resulting in the loss of control of the aircraft, with the loss of all 95 on board.
 * The S. S. Kresge Company opens its first Kmart discount store in Garden City, Michigan.
 * March 2
 * A military coup in Burma brings General Ne Win to power.
 * Wilt Chamberlain's 100-point game: Wilt Chamberlain scored 100 points in a single National Basketball Association basketball game.
 * March 7 – Ash Wednesday Storm: A snow storm batters the Mid-Atlantic.
 * March 8–12 – In Geneva, France and the Algerian FLN begin negotiations.
 * March 15 – Katangan Prime Minister Moise Tshombe begins negotiations to rejoin the Congo.
 * March 16 – Flying Tiger Line Flight 739, a Lockheed L-1049H Super Constellation chartered by the United States Military Air Transport Service and carrying mainly United States Army personnel bound for South Vietnam, vanishes over the western Pacific Ocean with the loss of all 107 on board. No wreckage or bodies are ever found.
 * March 18
 * Évian Accords: France and Algeria sign an agreement in Évian-les-Bains ending the Algerian War.
 * Un premier amour, sung by Isabelle Aubret (music by Claude-Henri Vic, lyrics by Roland Stephane Valade), wins the Eurovision Song Contest 1962 for France.
 * March 19
 * An armistice begins in Algeria; however, the OAS continues its terrorist attacks against Algerians.
 * Bob Dylan's debut album is released in the United States.
 * March 21 – Taco Bell fast food restaurant chain is founded by Glen Bell in Downey, California.
 * March 23 – The Scandinavian States of the Nordic Council sign the Helsinki Convention on Nordic Co-operation.
 * March 24 – OAS leader Edmond Jouhaud is arrested in Oran.
 * March 26
 * France shortens the term for military service from 26 months to 18.
 * Baker v. Carr: The U.S. Supreme Court rules that federal courts can order state legislatures to reapportion seats.

April

 * April 3 – Jawaharlal Nehru is elected de facto Prime Minister of India.
 * April 4 – James Hanratty is hanged in Bedford Gaol (England) for the A6 murder; many believe he was innocent.
 * April 6
 * Belgium reestablishes diplomatic relations with the Congo.
 * New York Philharmonic concert of April 6, 1962: Leonard Bernstein causes controversy with his remarks before a concert featuring Glenn Gould with the New York Philharmonic, when he (Bernstein) announces that although he disagrees with Gould's style of playing Brahms' Piano Concerto No. 1, he finds Gould's ideas fascinating and will conduct the piece anyway. Bernstein's action receives a withering review from The New York Times music critic Harold C. Schonberg.
 * April 7 – Milovan Đilas, author and former vice-president of Yugoslavia is re-arrested.
 * April 8 – In France, the Évian Accords are adopted in a referendum with a majority of 90%.
 * April 9 – The 34th Academy Awards ceremony is held; West Side Story wins Best Picture.
 * April 10 – In Los Angeles, the first MLB baseball game is played at Dodger Stadium.
 * April 13 – OAS leader Edmond Jouhaud is sentenced to death in France.
 * April 14 – A Cuban military tribunal convicts 1,179 Bay of Pigs attackers.
 * April 18 – The Commonwealth Immigration Bill in the United Kingdom removes free immigration from the citizens of member states of the Commonwealth of Nations.
 * April 20 – OAS leader Raoul Salan is arrested in Algiers.
 * April 21 – The Century 21 Exposition World's Fair opens in Seattle.
 * April 26 – The Ranger 4 spacecraft crashes into the Moon.

May

 * May – Larry Allen Abshier defects to North Korea becoming the first of six (possibly seven) American defectors to the country.
 * May 1
 * Norwich City F.C. wins the English Football League Cup, beating Rochdale in the final.
 * Dayton Hudson Corporation opens the first of its Target discount stores in Roseville, Minnesota.
 * May 2
 * An OAS bomb explodes in Algeria – this and other attacks kill 110 and injure 147.
 * S.L. Benfica beats FC Barcelona 5-3 at the Olympic Stadium (Amsterdam) to win the 1961–62 European Cup in association football.
 * May 3 – Mikawashima train crash: 160 die in a triple-train disaster near Tokyo.
 * May 5 – Twelve East Germans escape via a tunnel under the Berlin Wall.
 * May 6 – Antonio Segni is elected President of the Italian Republic.
 * May 14
 * Juan Carlos of Spain marries the Greek Princess Sophia in Athens.
 * Milovan Đilas is given a further sentence in Yugoslavia for publishing Conversations with Stalin.
 * May 22 – Continental Airlines Flight 11 crashes near Unionville, Missouri, after the in-flight detonation of a bomb near the rear lavatory. All 45 passengers and crew aboard are killed.
 * May 23
 * Drilling for the new Montreal subway commences.
 * Raoul Salan, founder of the French terrorist Organisation armée secrète, is sentenced to life imprisonment in France.
 * May 24 – Project Mercury: Scott Carpenter orbits the Earth 3 times in the Aurora 7 space capsule.
 * May 25 – The new Coventry Cathedral is consecrated in England.
 * May 26 – Acker Bilk's "Stranger on the Shore" becomes the first British recording to reach number one in the US Billboard Hot 100.
 * May 27 – The Centralia mine fire is ignited in Pennsylvania.
 * May 29 – Negotiations between the OAS and the FLA lead to a real armistice in Algeria.
 * May 30 – The beginning of the 1962 FIFA World Cup in Chile.
 * May 31 – Nazi Adolf Eichmann is hanged at a prison in Ramla, Israel. His body is cremated and his ashes scattered over the Mediterranean.

June

 * June 3 – Air France Flight 007 (a Boeing 707) crashes on take-off at Orly Airport in Paris; 130 of 132 people on board are killed, 2 flight attendants survive. Most victims are cultural and civic leaders of Atlanta.
 * June 6 – President John F. Kennedy gives the commencement address at the United States Military Academy at West Point, New York.
 * June 11
 * President John F. Kennedy gives the commencement address at Yale University.
 * Frank Morris, John Anglin and Clarence Anglin escape from the Alcatraz Island prison; the men are never heard from again.
 * June 15 – Students for a Democratic Society in the United States complete the Port Huron Statement.
 * June 17
 * The OAS signs a truce with the FLN in Algeria, but a day later announces that it will continue the fight on behalf of French Algerians.
 * Brazil beats Czechoslovakia 3–1 to win the 1962 FIFA World Cup.
 * June 22 – Air France Flight 117 (a Boeing 707 jet) crashes into terrain during bad weather in Guadeloupe, West Indies, killing all 113 on board, the airline's second fatal accident in just 3 weeks, and the third fatal 707 crash of the year.
 * June 25
 * Engel v. Vitale: The United States Supreme Court rules that mandatory prayers in public schools are unconstitutional.
 * MANual Enterprises v. Day: The United States Supreme Court rules that photographs of nude men are not obscene, decriminalizing nude male pornographic magazines.
 * İsmet İnönü of CHP forms the new government of Turkey (27th government, coalition partners; YTP and CKMP)
 * June 26 – A 2-day steel strike begins in Italy in support of increased wages and a five-day working week.
 * June 28 – The United Lutheran Church in America, Finnish Evangelical Lutheran Church of America, American Evangelical Lutheran Church and Augustana Evangelical Lutheran Church merge to form the Lutheran Church in America.
 * June 30 – The last soldiers of the French Foreign Legion leave Algeria.
 * June – Rachel Carson's Silent Spring begins serialization in The New Yorker; it is released as a book on September 27 in the U.S., giving rise to the modern environmentalist movement.

July

 * July 1
 * Rwanda and Burundi gain independence.
 * Algerian independence referendum, 1962: Supporters of Algerian independence win 99% majority in a referendum.
 * A heavy smog develops over London.
 * Helsinki Convention on Nordic Co-operation of March 23 comes into force in the Nordic countries.
 * July 2
 * Charles de Gaulle accepts Algerian independence; France recognizes it the next day.
 * The first Walmart store, at this time known as Wal-Mart (which remains the corporate name), opens for business in Rogers, Arkansas.
 * July 5 – Algeria becomes independent from France.
 * July 6 – Gay Byrne presents the first edition of The Late Late Show on RTÉ in the Republic of Ireland. Byrne goes on to present the show for 37 years, the longest period through which any individual hosts a televised talk show anywhere in the world, and the show itself becomes the world's second longest-running talk show.
 * July 9 – American artist Andy Warhol premieres his Campbell's Soup Cans exhibit in Los Angeles.
 * July 10 – AT&T's Telstar, the world's first commercial communications satellite, is launched into orbit and activated the next day.
 * July 12 – The Rolling Stones make their debut at London's Marquee Club, Number 165 Oxford Street, opening for Long John Baldry.
 * July 13 – In what the press dubs "the Night of the Long Knives", United Kingdom Prime Minister Harold Macmillan dismisses one-third of his Cabinet.
 * July 17 – Nuclear testing: The "Small Boy" test shot Little Feller I became the last atmospheric test detonation at the Nevada Test Site.
 * July 19 – The first annual Swiss & Wielder Hoop and Stick Tournament is held.
 * July 20 – France and Tunisia reestablish diplomatic relations.
 * July 22 – Mariner program: The Mariner 1 spacecraft flies erratically several minutes after launch and has to be destroyed.
 * July 23 – Telstar relayed the first live trans-Atlantic television signal.
 * July 25
 * The first armed helicopter company of the United States Army is formed at Okinawa, Japan.
 * The International Agreement on the Neutrality of Laos is signed in Geneva.
 * July 31
 * Algeria proclaims independence; Ahmed Ben Bella is the first President.
 * A crowd assaults the rally of Sir Oswald Mosley's right-wing Union Movement in London.

August

 * August 5
 * Death of Marilyn Monroe: Marilyn Monroe is found dead from an overdose of sleeping pills and chloral hydrate at her home in Brentwood, Los Angeles; officially ruled a "probable suicide" (the exact cause has been disputed).
 * Nelson Mandela is arrested by the South African government near Howick and charged with incitement to rebellion
 * August 6 – Jamaica becomes independent.
 * August 15 – The New York Agreement is signed, trading the West New Guinea colony to Indonesia.
 * August 16
 * Beatles drummer Pete Best is dismissed and replaced by Ringo Starr.
 * Algeria joins the Arab League.
 * August 17 – East German border guards kill 18-year-old Peter Fechter as he attempts to cross the Berlin Wall into West Berlin
 * August 22 – A failed assassination attempt is made against French President Charles de Gaulle.
 * August 23 – John Lennon marries Cynthia Powell in an unpublicised register office ceremony at Mount Pleasant, Liverpool.
 * August 24 – A group of armed Cuban exile terrorists fire at a hotel in Havana from a speedboat.
 * August 27 – NASA launches the Mariner 2 space probe.
 * August 31 – Trinidad and Tobago becomes independent.

September

 * September 1
 * A referendum in Singapore supports the Malayan Federation.
 * Typhoon Wanda strikes Hong Kong, killing at least 130 and injuring more than 600.
 * September 2 – The Soviet Union agrees to send arms to Cuba.
 * September 8 – Newly independent Algeria, by referendum, adopts a constitution.
 * September 12 – President John F. Kennedy, at a speech at Rice University, reaffirms that the U.S. will put a man on the moon by the end of the decade.
 * September 19 – Atlantic College opens its doors for the first time in Wales, marking the birth of the pioneering United World College educational movement.
 * September 21 – A border conflict between China and India erupts into fighting.
 * September 22 – 21-year-old Bob Dylan premieres one of his most preeminent songs, "A Hard Rain's a-Gonna Fall", in the U.S.
 * September 23 – The animated sitcom The Jetsons premieres on ABC in the U.S.
 * September 25 – Sonny Liston knocks out Floyd Patterson two minutes into the first round of his fight for the boxing world title in Chicago.
 * September 26 – North Yemen Civil War erupts.
 * September 27 – A flash flood in Barcelona, Spain, kills more than 440 people.
 * September 29 – The Canadian Alouette 1, the first satellite built outside the United States and the Soviet Union, is launched from Vandenberg Air Force Base in California.
 * September 30 – CBS broadcasts the final episodes of Suspense and Yours Truly, Johnny Dollar, marking the end of the Golden Age of Radio in the United States.

October

 * October 1
 * The first black student, James Meredith, registers at the University of Mississippi, escorted by Federal Marshals.
 * Johnny Carson takes over as permanent host of NBC's The Tonight Show in the U.S., a post he will hold for 30 years.
 * Lucille Ball and Vivian Vance returned to TV with The Lucy Show, two years after the end of I Love Lucy. (Vance was the first person to portray a divorcée on a weekly series.)
 * October 3 – Project Mercury: Mercury-Atlas 8 – Walter Schirra orbits the Earth six times in the Sigma 7 space capsule.
 * October 5
 * The French National Assembly censures the proposed referendum to sanction presidential elections by popular mandate; Prime Minister Georges Pompidou resigns, but President de Gaulle asks him to stay in office.
 * The Beatles' first single in their own right, "Love Me Do"/"P.S. I Love You", is released in the U.K. on EMI's Parlophone label. This version was recorded on September 4 at Abbey Road Studios in London with Ringo Starr as drummer.
 * Dr. No, the first James Bond film, premieres at the London Pavilion, featuring Sean Connery as the hero.
 * October 8
 * The German magazine Der Spiegel publishes an article about the Bundeswehr's poor preparedness; the Spiegel scandal erupts.
 * Algeria is accepted into the United Nations.
 * October 9 – Uganda becomes independent within the Commonwealth of Nations.
 * October 10 – The beginning of Sino-Indian War, a border dispute involving two of the world's largest nations (India and the People's Republic of China).
 * October 11 – Second Vatican Council: Pope John XXIII convenes the first ecumenical council of the Roman Catholic Church in 92 years.
 * October 12
 * The infamous Columbus Day Storm strikes the U.S. Pacific Northwest with wind gusts up to 170 mph (270 km/h); 46 are killed, 11 billion board feet (26 million m³) of timber is blown down, with $230 million U.S. in damages.
 * Jazz bassist/composer Charles Mingus invites the public to a live recording session at The Town Hall (New York City), but the public is expecting a formal concert. Along with technical problems the event is the worst moment of his career.
 * October 13 – Broadway debut of Edward Albee's drama Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?.
 * October 14 – The beginning of the Cuban Missile Crisis: A U-2 flight over Cuba in the Caribbean photographs Soviet nuclear weapons being installed. A stand-off then ensues for another 12 days after President Kennedy is told of the pictures, between the United States and the Soviet Union, threatening the world with nuclear war.
 * October 19 – Establishment of Thái Nguyên City, under Thái Nguyên, in Vietnam.
 * October 22 – Cuban Missile Crisis: In a televised address, U.S. President John F. Kennedy announces to the nation the existence of Soviet missiles in Cuba.
 * October 24 – Cuban Missile Crisis: First confrontation between the U.S. Navy and a Soviet cargo vessel. The vessel changes course.
 * October 26 – Spiegel scandal: German police occupy Der Spiegel offices in Hamburg.
 * October 28
 * The end of the Cuban Missile Crisis: Soviet Union leader Nikita Khrushchev announces that he has ordered the removal of Soviet missile bases in Cuba. In a secret deal between Kennedy and Khrushchev, Kennedy agrees to the withdrawal of U.S. missiles from Turkey. The fact that this deal was not made public makes it look as though the Soviets have backed down.
 * A referendum in France favors the election of the president by universal suffrage.
 * October 31 – The United Nations General Assembly asks the United Kingdom to suspend enforcement of the new constitution in Southern Rhodesia (now Zimbabwe), but it comes into effect on November 1.

November

 * November – Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn's novella One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich (Оди́н день Ива́на Дени́совича, Odin den' Ivana Denisovicha), the author's semi-autobiographical account of life in the gulag, is published in Novy Mir in an unprecedented acknowledgement of the Soviet Union's Stalinist past.
 * November 1
 * The Soviets begin dismantling their missiles in Cuba.
 * First appearance of comic book antihero Diabolik in Italy.
 * November 3 – Earliest recorded use of the term "personal computer" in the report of a speech by computing pioneer John Mauchly in The New York Times.
 * November 5
 * Franz Josef Strauß, the West German defense minister, is relieved of his duties over the Spiegel scandal, due to his alleged involvement in police action against the magazine.
 * Saudi Arabia breaks off diplomatic relations with Egypt, following a period of unrest partly caused by the defection of several Saudi princes to Egypt.
 * A coal mining disaster in Ny-Ålesund killed 21 people. The Norwegian government is forced to resign in the aftermath of this accident in August 1963.
 * November 6 – Apartheid: The United Nations General Assembly passes a resolution condemning South Africa's racist apartheid policies and calls for all UN member states to cease military and economic relations with the nation.
 * November 7 – Richard M. Nixon loses the California governor's race. In his concession speech, he states that this is "Richard Nixon's last press conference" and "you won't have Nixon to kick around any more".
 * November 17 – Dulles International Airport in Washington, D.C., dedicated by President John F. Kennedy.
 * November 20 – Cuban missile crisis: In response to the Soviet Union agreeing to remove its missiles from Cuba, President John F. Kennedy ends the blockade of the island.
 * November 21 – The Sino-Indian War ends with a Chinese ceasefire.
 * November 23 – United Airlines Flight 297 crashes in Columbia, Maryland, killing all 17 on board.
 * November 24 – The first episode of the groundbreaking satirical comedy program That Was the Week That Was, hosted by David Frost is broadcast on BBC Television in the U.K.
 * November 26
 * Spiegel scandal: German police end their occupation of Der Spiegel's offices.
 * Mies Bouwman starts presenting the first live TV-marathon fundraising show (Open Het Dorp in the Netherlands), which lasts 23 hours non-stop.
 * November 27 – French President Charles De Gaulle orders Georges Pompidou to form a government.
 * November 29 – An agreement is signed between Britain and France to develop the Concorde supersonic airliner.
 * November 30 – The United Nations General Assembly elects U Thant of Burma as the new Secretary-General of the United Nations.

December

 * December 2 – Vietnam War: After a trip to Vietnam at the request of U.S. President John F. Kennedy, U.S. Senate Majority Leader Mike Mansfield becomes the first American official to make a non-optimistic public comment on the war's progress.
 * December 7 – Rainier III, Prince of Monaco revises the principality's constitution, devolving some of his formerly autocratic power to several advisory and legislative councils.
 * December 8
 * The first period of the Second Vatican Council closes.
 * The North Kalimantan National Army revolts in Brunei, in the first stirrings of the Indonesian Confrontation.
 * The 1962–63 New York City newspaper strike begins, affecting all of the city's major newspapers; It will last for 114 days.
 * Queen Wilhelmina of the Netherlands, who died on November 28, is buried at the Nieuwe Kerk (Delft).
 * December 9 – Tanganyika (modern-day Tanzania) becomes a republic within the Commonwealth of Nations, with Julius Nyerere as president.
 * December 10 – David Lean's epic film Lawrence of Arabia, featuring Peter O'Toole, Omar Sharif, Alec Guinness, Jack Hawkins and Anthony Quinn, premieres in London. Six days later it opens in the U.S.
 * December 11
 * In West Germany, a coalition government of Christian Democrats, Christian Socialists and Free Democrats is formed.
 * The last execution by hanging in Canada
 * December 14
 * U.S. spacecraft Mariner 2 passes by Venus, becoming the first probe to transmit data successfully from another planet.
 * Leonardo da Vinci's early 16th-century painting the Mona Lisa is assessed for insurance purposed at US$100 million before touring the United States for several months, the highest insurance value for a painting in history. However, the Louvre, its owner, chooses to spend the money that would have been spent on the insurance premium on security instead.
 * December 15 – Storm over the North Sea: Belgian pirate radio station Radio Uylenspiegel is knocked off the airwaves, never to operate again.
 * December 19 – Britain acknowledged the right of Nyasaland (modern-day Malawi) to secede from the Central African Federation.
 * December 21 – Britain agrees to purchase Polaris missiles from the U.S.
 * December 22
 * Winter of 1962–63 in the United Kingdom: The "Big Freeze" begins; there are no frost-free nights until March 5, 1963.
 * Telstar (song) by The Tornados becomes the first single by a British Group to reach No.1 on the US charts, predating the first No.1 by The Beatles by thirteen months.
 * December 24 – Cuba releases the last 1,113 participants in the Bay of Pigs Invasion to the U.S., in exchange for food worth $53 million.
 * December 30
 * United Nations troops occupy the last rebel positions in Katanga; Moise Tshombe moves to South Rhodesia.
 * An unexpected storm buries Maine under five feet of snow, forcing the Bangor Daily News to miss a publication date for the only time in history. The same day, also the Netherlands were covered with several feet of snow.

Date unknown

 * American advertising man Martin K. Speckter invents the interrobang, a new English-language punctuation mark.
 * Publication of Helen Gurley Brown's Sex and the Single Girl in the U.S.
 * Irish folk band The Dubliners is formed at O'Donoghue's Pub in Dublin.
 * Invention of the Laser Diode.
 * Slavery in Yemen is abolished.
 * The introduction of The Banner of Freedom.
 * The introduction of the Communications satellite.

Births

 * January 5 – Suzy Amis, American actress and model
 * January 17 – Jim Carrey, Canadian actor and comedian
 * January 21 - Tyler Cowen, American economist
 * January 21 - Marie Trintignant, French actress (d. 2003)
 * January 22 - Mizan Zainal Abidin, current Yang di-Pertuan Agong of Malaysia
 * January 23 - Stephen Keshi, Nigerian footballer and manager (d. 2016)
 * January 23 - Richard Roxburgh, Australian actor
 * January 30 - King Abdullah II of Jordan
 * February 1 – Takashi Murakami, Japanese pop artist
 * February 2 – Andy Fordham, English darts player
 * February 5 – Jennifer Jason Leigh, American actress
 * February 6 – Axl Rose, American rock singer
 * February 7 - Garth Brooks, American country musician
 * February 7 - David Bryan, American keyboardist (Bon Jovi)
 * February 7 - Eddie Izzard - British actor and comedian
 * February 10 - Cliff Burton, American bassist (Metallica) (d. 1986)

Nobel Prizes
Nobel medal.png

Physics – Lev Landau

Chemistry – Max Perutz, John Kendrew

Physiology or Medicine – Francis Crick, James Watson, Maurice Wilkins

Literature – John Steinbeck

Peace – Linus Pauling

Music
Albums

Singles
 * 1) Coltrane "Live" at the Village Vanguard John Coltrane
 * 2) Waltz for Debby Bill Evans Trio
 * 3) Full House Wes Montgomery
 * 4) Requiem KV 626 Wiener Singverein/Berliner Philharmoniker/Herbert von Karajan
 * 5) Coltrane John Coltrane
 * 6) Tijuana Moods Charles Mingus
 * 7) Mosaic Art Blakey & The Jazz Messengers
 * 8) Oh Yeah Charles Mingus
 * 9) Go Dexter Gordon
 * 10) A German Requiem Philharmonia Orchestra / Philharmonia Chorus / Otto Klemperer / Elisabeth Schwarzkopf / Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau
 * 11) The Bridge Sonny Rollins
 * 12) Symphony No.7 in A major Berliner Philharmoniker/Herbert von Karajan
 * 13) Bob Dylan Bob Dylan
 * 14) Sentimentally Yours Patsy Cline
 * 15) Crying Roy Orbison
 * 16) Bo Diddley Bo Diddley
 * 17) Surfers' Choice Dick Dale and His Del-Tones
 * 18) Peace Be Still Reverend James Cleveland
 * 19) An Evening With Rev. Louis Overstreet: His Guitar, His Four Sons, and the Congregation of St. Luke Powerhouse Church of God in Christ Rev. Louis Overstreet
 * 20) Bustin' Surfboards The Tornadoes
 * 21) Bo Diddley's a Twister Bo Diddley
 * 22) The Ventures Play Telstar - The Lonely Bull The Ventures
 * 23) Pot Luck Elvis Presley
 * 24) Out of the Shadows The Shadows
 * 25) Lovers Who Wander Dion
 * 26) Mashed Potatoes and Gravy [aka The Ventures' Beach Party] The Ventures
 * 27) The Ventures' Twist Party Vol. 2 The Ventures
 * 28) Surfin' Safari The Beach Boys
 * 29) Black Nativity Various Artists


 * 1) Miserlou Dick Dale and The Del-Tones
 * 2) Green Onions Booker T. & the M.G.'s
 * 3) Bring It On Home to Me Sam Cooke
 * 4) My Baby Just Cares for Me Nina Simone
 * 5) Johnny B. Goode Chuck Berry
 * 6) Do You Love Me The Contours
 * 7) Telstar The Tornados
 * 8) Boom Boom John Lee Hooker
 * 9) Le temps de l'amour Françoise Hardy
 * 10) She's Got You Patsy Cline
 * 11) These Arms of Mine Otis Redding
 * 12) Pipeline The Chantays
 * 13) Happy Landing / You've Really Got a Hold on Me The Miracles
 * 14) The End of the World Skeeter Davis
 * 15) The Loco-Motion Little Eva
 * 16) Twistin' the Night Away Sam Cooke
 * 17) He's a Rebel The Crystals
 * 18) Love Letters Ketty Lester
 * 19) Monster Mash Bobby "Boris" Pickett and the Crypt-Kickers
 * 20) Sherry The Four Seasons
 * 21) The James Bond Theme The John Barry Seven and Orchestra
 * 22) Sealed With a Kiss Brian Hyland
 * 23) Shelia Tommy Roe
 * 24) Breaking Up Is Hard to Do Neil Sedaka
 * 25) Twist and Shout The Isley Brothers
 * 26) The Young Ones Cliff Richard and The Shadows
 * 27) The Stripper David Rose
 * 28) Johnny Angel Shelley Fabares
 * 29) Big Girls Don't Cry The Four Seasons
 * 30) She's Not You Elvis Presley
 * 31) Soldier Boy The Shirelles
 * 32) Dance On! The Shadows
 * 33) Wonderful Land The Shadows
 * 34) The Next Time/Bachelor Boy Cliff Richard
 * 35) Bobby's Girl Susan Maughan
 * 36) Don't Break the Heart That Loves You Connie Francis
 * 37) Roses Are Red (My Love) Bobby Vinton
 * 38) Forget Me Not Eden Kane
 * 39) Lovesick Blues Frank Ifield
 * 40) Let's Dance Chris Montez
 * 41) Love Me Do The Beatles
 * 42) Return to Sender Elvis Presley
 * 43) Monsters' Holiday Bobby "Boris" Pickett & The Crypt-Kickers
 * 44) Santa Claus Is Coming to Town The Four Seasons
 * 45) Silent Night, Holy Night Mahalia Jackson
 * 46) Santa Claus Is Watching You Ray Stevens
 * 47) Frosty (The Snow Man) Jan and Dean
 * 48) White Christmas Mahalia Jackson
 * 49) Nut Rocker B. Bumble and the Stingers
 * 50) It Might as Well Rain Until September Carole King
 * 51) A Picture of You Joe Brown
 * 52) West of the Wall Miss Toni Fisher
 * 53) Come Outside Mike Sarne

Christmas music

Singles

 * 1) Monsters' Holiday Bobby "Boris" Pickett & The Crypt-Kickers
 * 2) Santa Claus Is Coming to Town The Four Seasons
 * 3) Silent Night, Holy Night Mahalia Jackson
 * 4) Santa Claus Is Watching You Ray Stevens
 * 5) Frosty (The Snow Man) Jan and Dean
 * 6) White Christmas Mahalia Jackson
 * 7) Let It Snow! Let It Snow! Let It Snow! The Blue Diamonds
 * 8) Jingle Bells The Blue Diamonds
 * 9) Lonely Christmas Call George Jones
 * 10) Twelve Days of Christmas Burl Ives

Albums
The Classic Rock of 1962

Albums The Oldies of 1962
 * 1) Crying Roy Orbison
 * 2) Surfin' Safari The Beach Boys

Albums
 * 1) Sentimentally Yours Patsy Cline

Singles


 * 1) Le temps de l'amour Françoise Hardy
 * 2) Mashed Potato Time Dee Dee Sharp

Work Songs

Albums
 * 1) Maritime Folk Songs from the Collection of Helen Creighton Various artists
 * 2) Rollicking Sea Shanties Oscar Brand
 * 3) Shanties From the Seven Seas Stan Hugill

Singles

Hymns

Albums
 * 1) Whispering Hope Jo Stafford & Gordon MacRae

Singles
 * 1) Silent Night, Holy Night Mahalia Jackson

Gospel

Albums Rock music
 * 1) Peace Be Still Reverend James Cleveland
 * 2) An Evening With Rev. Louis Overstreet: His Guitar, His Four Sons, and the Congregation of St. Luke Powerhouse Church of God in Christ Rev. Louis Overstreet
 * 3) Odetta and the Blues Odetta

Albums
 * 1) Crying Roy Orbison
 * 2) Bo Diddley Bo Diddley
 * 3) Surfers' Choice Dick Dale and His Del-Tones
 * 4) Bustin' Surfboards The Tornadoes
 * 5) The Ventures Play Telstar and the Lonely Bull The Ventures
 * 6) Pot Luck Elvis Presley
 * 7) Out of the Shadows The Shadows
 * 8) Lovers Who Wander Dion
 * 9) Mashed Potatoes and Gravy [aka The Ventures' Beach Party] The Ventures
 * 10) The Ventures' Twist Party Vol. 2 The Ventures

Literature

 * A Clockwork Orange by Anthony Burgess
 * The Man in the High Castle by Philip K. Dick

Television

 * Combat!
 * The Beverly Hillbillies