October 1962

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

The following events occurred in October, 1962

October 1, 1962 (Monday)

• 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 Tonight Show, a post he would hold for 30 years.

October 2, 1962 (Tuesday)

• A twin-engined Saudi Air Force Fairchild C-123 Provider, laden with US-made arms and ammunition said to have been sent by Prince Hassan to Royal supporters in Yemen, defects to Egypt. Its three crew members are granted political asylum.
• Born: Brian Holm, Danish road cyclist, in Copenhagen
• Died: Heinrich Deubel, 72, former commandant of Dachau concentration camp

October 3, 1962 (Wednesday)

• Two Saudi Arabian pilots land an air force training plane in upper Egypt and are granted political asylum, the second such defection in two days.
• Born: Tommy Lee, American musician, in Athens, Greece (as Thomas Lee Bass)

October 4, 1962 (Thursday)

• Born: Marc Minkowski, French orchestral conductor, in Paris

October 5, 1962 (Friday)

• 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.
• Dr. No, the first James Bond film, is premièred in UK cinemas.
• The Beatles release their first single for EMI, Love Me Do.
• North Yemen Civil War: A battalion of Special Forces (Saaqah), sent by Egypt to act as personal guards for new leader Abdullah as-Sallal, arrive at Hodeida.
• Born: Caron Keating, Northern Irish television presenter (died 2004), in Fulham, London, England, to Gloria Hunniford and Don Keating

October 6, 1962 (Saturday)

• The Chinese leadership convenes to hear a report from Lin Biao that PLA intelligence units had determined that Indian units might assault Chinese positions at Thag La on 10 October (Operation Leghorn). The Chinese leadership and the Central Military Council decide upon war to launch a large-scale attack to punish perceived military aggression from India. The result is the Sino-Indian War.
• The U.S. Marine Corps and U.S. Navy suffer their first helicopter fatalities in Vietnam when a Marine Corps UH-34 Seahorse crashes 15 miles (24 km) from Tam Ky, South Vietnam, killing five Marines and two Navy personnel.

October 7, 1962 (Sunday)

• In an episode of Candid Camera broadcast on this date, veteran comedian Buster Keaton poses as a gas station attendant cleaning customers' windshields.
• Died: Henri Oreiller, 36, French alpine ski racer, killed when his Ferrari crashes at the Linas-Montlhéry autodrome.

October 8, 1962 (Monday)

• 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.
• The wreck of the Bremen cog is discovered in the Weser River during dredging operations.
• Hurricane Daisy strikes the Canadian province of Nova Scotia.

October 9, 1962 (Tuesday)

• Uganda becomes independent within the Commonwealth of Nations.
• A military parade in the Polish city of Szczecin ends in a road traffic accident in which a T-54 tank of the Polish People's Army hits a crowd of bystanders, killing seven children and injuring others.
• The MCC cricket team arrives in Fremantle, Western Australia, to begin its 1962–63 tour.

October 10, 1962 (Wednesday)

• Anaasa wins the 4.30, the last race ever to be run at Hurst Park Racecourse, Surrey, before the course is sold and re-developed.
• Died: Edmund H. Hansen, 67, American Academy Award-winning sound engineer

October 11, 1962 (Thursday)

• The Second Vatican Council opens, under Pope John XXIII.
• Born: Joan Cusack, American actress, in Evanston, Illinois

October 12, 1962 (Friday)

• Columbus Day Storm of 1962: Typhoon Freda hits Victoria, British Columbia, and other locations on the west coast of North America. At Oregon's Cape Blanco, an anemometer (minus one of its cups) registers wind gusts in excess of 145 mph (233 km/h); some reports put the peak velocity at 179 mph (288 km/h). The resultant damage is estimated at around $230 million to $280 million for California, Oregon and Washington combined.
• Jazz bassist/composer Charles Mingus gives a disastrous concert at Town Hall, New York City. Earlier in the day, Mingus had punched Jimmy Knepper in the mouth while the two men were working together at Mingus's apartment, with the result that Knepper was unable to perform.
• Born: Amanda Castro, Honduran poet, in Tegucigalpa (died 2010)
• Died: Alberto Teisaire, 71, former Vice President of Argentina

October 13, 1962 (Saturday)

• Edward Albee's new drama Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? opens on Broadway, starring Uta Hagen as Martha and Arthur Hill as George.
• Oakland, California, sets an all-time calendar day record with 4.52 inches (11.5 cm) of rain, resulting from the previous night's storm.

October 14, 1962 (Sunday)

• Cuban Missile Crisis begins: A U-2 flight over Cuba takes photos of Soviet nuclear weapons being installed. A stand-off then ensues the next day between the United States and the Soviet Union, threatening the world with nuclear war.

October 15, 1962 (Monday)

• Born: Morten Abel, Norwegian musician, in Bodø; Per-Erik Burud, Norwegian billionaire entrepreneur, in Drammen

October 16, 1962 (Tuesday)

• The New York Yankees defeat the San Francisco Giants at Candlestick Park to win the 1962 World Series baseball competition.
• Died: Princess Helen of Serbia, 77

October 17, 1962 (Wednesday)

• The Canadian city of Edmonton holds municipal elections.
• The British International Motor Show opens at Earl's Court in London. The Triumph Spitfire is among new vehicles showcased during the event.
• Born: Kathryn Paterson, Chief Censor of New Zealand 1994-99 (died 1999), in Umina, Australia; Yvon Pouliquen, French footballer and manager, in Morlaix
• Died: Mogok Sayadaw (Venerable Sayadawgyi U Wimala), 62, Burmese Theravada Buddhist monk and vipassana meditation master

October 18, 1962 (Thursday)

• Born: Min Ko Naing, Burmese student leader and political dissident, in Yangon

October 19, 1962 (Friday)

• Anime pioneer Tatsuo Yoshida founds the company Tatsunoko Production in Tokyo.

October 20, 1962 (Saturday)

• Sino-Indian War: Chinese troops launch an attack on the southern banks of the Namka Chu River; elsewhere, the Chinese take Chip Chap Valley, Galwan Valley, and Pangong Lake.

October 21, 1962 (Sunday)

• Ranger 5, a spacecraft designed to transmit pictures of the lunar surface to Earth stations during a period of 10 minutes of flight prior to impacting on the Moon, malfunctions, runs out of power and ceases operation, having passed within 725 km of the Moon.
• The Norwegian passenger ship MV Sanct Svithun runs aground off the Vikna Islands; the ship is refloated but then sinks with the loss of 33 of its 79 passengers and crew.

October 23, 1962 (Tuesday)

• Art Blakey begins recording Caravan at the Plaza Sound Studio in New York City; it is his first album for Riverside Records, with whom he signed earlier in the month.

October 24, 1962 (Wednesday)

• Mars 2MV-4 No.1 (or Sputnik 22) is launched by the Soviet Union, with the intention of making a flyby of the planet Mars and transmitting back images to the earth. The craft explodes and pieces of debris fall to earth over a period up to February 1963.

October 25, 1962 (Thursday)

• Tropical Storm Harriet is first observed by the Joint Typhoon Warning Center, just off the east coast of Thailand. It crosses into the Indian Ocean. During landfall its storm surge floods the Laem Talumphuk peninsula in Nakhon Si Thammarat Province. At least 769 residents of Thailand's southern provinces are killed as a result of the storm.
• Uganda is admitted to membership of the United Nations.
• Born: Borys Kolesnikov, Ukrainian politician, in Mariupol

October 26, 1962 (Friday)

• Born: Cary Elwes, English actor, in Westminster, the son of Dominick Elwes and Tessa Georgina Kennedy

October 27, 1962 (Saturday)

• A U.S. Air Force U-2 is shot down over Cuba. The US Joint Chiefs recommended to President John F. Kennedy that the USA should attack Cuba within 36 hours to destroy the Soviet missiles.
• Heart of Midlothian F.C. defeat Kilmarnock F.C. 1-0 in the 1962 Scottish League Cup Final at Hampden Park, Glasgow.

October 28, 1962 (Sunday)

• Cuban Missile Crisis: The confrontation between the USA and the Soviet Union ends when President John F. Kennedy and United Nations Secretary-General U Thant reach both a public and a private agreement with Soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev.
• In France, a referendum is held to decide on the election of the President of France through universal suffrage. 62.25% of those voting approve the proposal for constitutional change.
• The ferry SS Lisieux catches fire on a voyage between Newhaven, East Sussex (UK) and Dieppe (France). It is escorted into Dieppe at reduced speed.
• A. J. Foyt wins the Golden State 100 motor race at California State Fairgrounds Race Track.

October 29, 1962 (Monday)

• British airline East Anglian Flying Services is renamed Channel Airways.
• The bodies of Leutnant Günther Mollenhauer and several other Germans shot down over the UK during the Second World War, are disinterred from a local cemetery for re-burial at Cannock Chase German war cemetery.
• Died: George Matthew Adams, 84, American journalist and newspaper proprietor; Einar Gundersen, 66, Norwegian footballer

October 30, 1962 (Tuesday)

• Tropical Storm Harriet hits Bangladesh, shortly prior to dissipating.

October 31, 1962 (Wednesday)

• Jawaharlal Nehru, Prime Minister of India, temporarily takes on the role of Minister of Defence, following the resignation of V. K. Krishna Menon.
• Died: Thomas Holenstein, 66, Swiss politician