October 1962

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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)

• Born: Brian Holm, Danish road cyclist, in Copenhagen
• Died: Heinrich Deubel, 72, former commandant of Dachau concentration camp

October 3, 1962 (Wednesday)

• Born: Tommy Lee, American musician, in Athens, Greece (as Thomas Lee Bass)

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.
• 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 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.

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 11, 1962 (Wednesday)

• 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.
• 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)

• Died: Princess Helen of Serbia, 77

October 17, 1962 (Wednesday)

• The Canadian city of Edmonton holds municipal elections.
• 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 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.

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 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.
• 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.
• Heart of Midlothian F.C. defeat Kilmarnock F.C. 1-0 in the 1962 Scottish League Cup Final at Hampden Park, Glasgow.

October 30, 1962 (Tuesday)

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

October 31, 1962 (Wednesday)

• Died: Thomas Holenstein, 66, Swiss politician