August 1962

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

The following events occurred in August, 1962

August 1, 1962 (Wednesday)

• A Nepal Airlines RNA Douglas C-47A-DL (9N-AAH), en route from Kathmandu-Gaucher Airport to New Delhi, crashes near Tulachan Dhuri. The wreckage is discovered eight days later on a mountain top at 11,200 feet. All four crew and six passengers are killed.
• A cabinet reshuffle in Malaysia results in the appointment of Dato’ Dr. Ismail bin Dato’ Abdul Rahman as Minister of Interior Security and Minister of Home Affairs.
• The 182F Skylane variant of the Cessna 182 aircraft is certified.
• In the UK, the Tenbury and Bewdley Railway is closed to passengers, under the Beeching Axe.
• Died: General Gordon Bennett, 75, Australian military leader

August 2, 1962 (Thursday)

• Cominco Binani Zinc Ltd. is established on the banks of the Periyar River in Kerala, India.
• Born: Brian France, American businessman, CEO of NASCAR, son of Bill France, Jr.

August 3, 1962 (Friday)

• The Urdu film Aulaad, Waheed Murad's directorial debut, is released in Pakistan.
• Died: Dean Cromwell, 82, American athletics coach, nicknamed "Maker of Champions"

August 4, 1962 (Saturday)

• Crown Prince Vong Savang of Laos marries Princess Mahneelai.

August 5, 1962 (Sunday)

• The South African government arrests Nelson Mandela in Howick, and charges him with incitement to rebellion.
• Graham Hill wins the 1962 German Grand Prix at the Nürburgring.
• Died: Marilyn Monroe, 36, American actress. Monroe dies from an overdose of sleeping pills and chloral hydrate, officially ruled a "probable suicide". However, the exact cause of death has been disputed.

August 6, 1962 (Monday)

• Jamaica becomes independent.
• Died: Ángel Borlenghi, 58, Argentine labour leader and politician

August 7, 1962 (Tuesday)

• Patsy Cline releases her final studio album, Sentimentally Yours

August 8, 1962 (Wednesday)

• The 3rd Nippon Jamboree comes to an end in Gotenba, Shizuoka Prefecture, Japan.
• Born: Charmaine Crooks, Canadian athlete, in Mandeville, Jamaica

August 9, 1962 (Thursday)

• William Joseph Browne leaves the office of Solicitor General of Canada; the position remains vacant for nearly a year. Donald Fleming becomes the new Minister of Justice and Attorney General.
• Died: Hermann Hesse, 85, German-Swiss poet, novelist, and painter

August 10, 1962 (Friday)

• Marvel Comics publishes Amazing Fantasy#15, which features the first published appearance of the superhero character of Spider-Man, created by Stan Lee and Steve Ditko.
• The Bell 533 research helicopter makes its first flight at Bell's Fort Worth, Texas headquarters.

August 11, 1962 (Saturday)

• Andriyan Nikolayev becomes the third Soviet cosmonaut when Vostok 3 is launched from Baikonur Cosmodrome.
• Pyotr Bolotnikov of the Soviet Union breaks his own world record for the 10,000 metres, in Moscow.

August 12, 1962 (Sunday)

• Vostok 4 is launched from Baikonur Cosmodrome, with cosmonaut Pavel Popovich on board — the first time that more than one manned spacecraft were in orbit at the same time. The two Vostok capsules came within 6.5 km (4.0 mi) of one another and ship-to-ship radio contact was established.
• Masten Gregory of the USA wins the 8th Kanonloppet motor race at the Karlskoga Circuit in Sweden.

August 13, 1962 (Monday)

• Renato Daguin and Giovanni Ottin make the first complete ascent of the west face of the Matterhorn. This was the last fact to have been completely ascended.
• The Metz Accord is made between the Holy See and the Russian Orthodox Church.
• A thief starts a fire at Mangurian Furniture in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, USA. The fire completely destroys the building and causes over $315,000 in damage, and as a result leads to more stringent fire codes to be implemented in the city.
• Finnish actor Elis Sella marries actress Seela Sella Virtanen.
• The Bob James trio record their album, Bold Conceptions.
• Jean Marie Bertrand becomes Administrator Superior of Wallis and Futuna.
• Born: Leonidas Donskis, Lithuanian politician and philosopher, in Klaipėda; John Slattery, American actor and director, in Boston, Massachusetts
• Died: Mabel Dodge Luhan, 83, American patron of the arts

August 14, 1962 (Tuesday)

• Born: Ikililou Dhoinine, President of Comoros, in Djoièzi
• Died: Rudi Arnstadt, 35, East German border guard, shot by Hans Plüschke, a 23-year-old West German border guard, who claimed to be returning fire after his patrol was shot at

August 15, 1962 (Wednesday)

• The New York Agreement is signed trading the West New Guinea colony to Indonesia.
• A penumbral lunar eclipse takes place.
• The 1962 Central American and Caribbean Games open in Kingston, Jamaica.
• Vostok 3 lands at 06:52 UTC at 42°2′N 75°45′E, near Karaganda. Pilot Andrian Nikolayev ejects and parachutes to earth, having set a record of 64 orbits over nearly four days in space.

August 16, 1962 (Thursday)

• Beatles drummer Pete Best is fired and replaced by Ringo Starr.
• Algeria joins the Arab League.
• Died: Phillip Kastel, 69, American gangster

August 17, 1962 (Friday)

• The British Royal Navy frigate HMS Penelope is launched at Vickers-Armstrongs (Shipbuilders) Ltd, Newcastle. The ship would one day be involved in the Falklands War.
• Died: Peter Fechter, 18, killed by East German border guards as he attempts to cross the Berlin Wall into West Berlin.

August 18, 1962 (Saturday)

• The 1962 European Aquatics Championships open in Leipzig.
• Ringo Starr makes his first appearance as a full member of the Beatles, at a Horticultural Society dance at Port Sunlight.

August 19, 1962 (Sunday)

• The first Mediterranean Grand Prix is held at the Autodromo di Pergusa, Sicily, and won by Lorenzo Bandini.

August 20, 1962 (Monday)

• Foy D. Kohler is appointed to the key diplomatic position of US ambassador to the Soviet Union

August 21, 1962 (Tuesday)

• C.D. Guadalajara win the 1962 CONCACAF Champions' Cup.

August 22, 1962 (Wednesday)

• A failed assassination attempt is made against French President Charles De Gaulle.

August 23, 1962 (Thursday)

• Mohammad Ichsan and Abdul Wahab Surjoadiningrat are appointed to the Third Working Cabinet of President Sukarno in Indonesia.
• John Lennon secretly marries Cynthia Powell at Mount Pleasant Register office in Liverpool. Lennon's fellow Beatles, Paul McCartney and George Harrison, attend the ceremony, and their manager Brian Epstein is best man.

August 24, 1962 (Friday)

• A group of armed Cuban exile terrorists fire at a hotel in Havana from a speedboat.
• The 1962 Asian Games open in Jakarta, Indonesia.

August 25, 1962 (Saturday)

• Venera 2MV-1 No.1, or Sputnik 19, is launched from the Baikonur Cosmodrome, with the aim of being the first craft to land on Venus. It never succeeds in leaving low earth orbit.
• Born: Rajiv Kapoor, Indian actor and film-maker, in Mumbai, the son of Raj Kapoor; Taslima Nasrin, Bangladeshi doctor, author and human rights activist, in Mymensingh

August 26, 1962 (Sunday)

• The 1962 Danish Grand Prix is won by Jack Brabham.
• Died: Vilhjalmur Stefansson, 82, Canadian Arctic explorer and ethnologist; Edward Turnour, 6th Earl Winterton, 79, English politician

August 27, 1962 (Monday)

• NASA launches the Mariner 2 space probe.

August 28, 1962 (Tuesday)

• Enrico Dante is appointed Titular Archbishop of Carpasia.
• Died: Edmond Privat, 73, Swiss Esperantist, historian, academic, journalist and peace activist

August 29, 1962 (Wednesday)

• FC Nuremberg defeat Fortuna Düsseldorf in the final of the 1961–62 DFB-Pokal.

August 30, 1962 (Thursday)

• The Supremes record their fourth single, "Let Me Go the Right Way", at Hitsville U.S.A. (Studio A)
• Died: Aaslaug Aasland, 72, Norwegian politician

August 31, 1962 (Friday)

• Trinidad and Tobago becomes independent.