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All Events
The French colony of Chad becomes independent with François Tombalbaye as president
Neo-Pentecostalism, also known as Charismatic Renewal, becomes an important element within many Christian denominations
US novelist John Barth publishes The Sot-Weed Factor, a picaresque life of Edmund Cook set on a family tobacco plantation in Maryland
The French colony of Gabon becomes independent with Léon M'ba as president
The French colony of Ubangi-Shari becomes independent and takes the name Central African Republic
The French Congo becomes independent as the republic of Congo, with Fulbert Youlou as president
Mobutu Sese Seko takes power in a military coup in the midst of chaos in the Congo
Paul Scofield plays Thomas More in Robert Bolt's A Man for All Seasons
The French colony of Senegal becomes independent, with Léopold Senghor as the new nation's first president
Nigeria wins independence, with Abubakar Tafawa Balewa as prime minister, but its stability is threatened by tribal and regional factions
Patrice Lumumba, the dismissed prime minister of the Congo, is arrested on the orders of the army chief of staff, Mobutu Sese Seko
British artist Anthony Caro begins welding and painting abstract metal sculpture
The French colony of Mauritania becomes independent, with Moktar Ould Daddah as president
US author John Updike begins to chart the fictional progress of Harry Angstrom, known as Rabbit, in Rabbit, Run
Keith Holyoake begins twelve unbroken years as New Zealand's prime minister
Albert Luthuli, president of the ANC in South Africa, is awarded the Nobel Peace Prize
Democrat candidate John F. Kennedy defeats Republican Richard Nixon in the US presidential election
The Vietcong, or NLF, is formed as a guerrilla force to liberate South Vietnam from the US-backed government
The remaining part of Whitton Tower or Whitton Castle, a gothic tower built in the grounds of Whitton Park in the 1740s, is demolished.
Penguin Books are prosecuted for obscenity for publishing D.H. Lawrence's novel Lady Chatterley's Lover, and are acquitted
British artist Bridget Riley creates patterns that produce unexpected optical effects, in a style that becomes known as op art
The Baal teshuva movement begins in the USA, with young Jews from secular families choosing to define themselves by a return to strict Orthodox Judaism
It is estimated that during this year the population of the world reached three billion
Britain formally tables an application to join the European Economic Community
Marshall Nirenberg and Heinrich Matthaei unravel the secrets of the genetic code, by which genetic material is translated into proteins
