"Top of the Pops"
Jan 1 "Top of the Pops", British pop music television program premieres; acts performing include Dusty Springfield; The Rolling Stones; Dave Clark Five: The Hollies; Swinging Blue; and The Beatles
- Jan 1 30th Orange Bowl: #6 Nebraska beats #5 Auburn, 13-7
- Jan 1 30th Sugar Bowl: #8 Alabama beats #7 Mississippi, 12-7
- Jan 1 50th Rose Bowl: #3 Illinois beats Washington, 17-7
- Jan 1 Federation of Rhodesia & Nyasaland dissolved
- Jan 1 KNMT TV channel 12 in Walker, MN (CBS) begins broadcasting
- Jan 1 KTVS TV channel 3 in Sterling, CO (CBS) begins broadcasting
Kwame Nkrumah
Jan 2 Failed assassination attempt on President Kwame Nkrumah of Ghana
- Jan 5 AFL Championship, Balboa Stadium, San Diego: San Diego Chargers beat Boston Patriots, 51-10; Chargers RB Keith Lincoln rushes for 206 yards, 2 TDs
"War on Poverty"
Jan 8 President Lyndon B. Johnson declares "War on Poverty"
- Jan 9 Anti-US rioting broke out in Panama Canal Zone
- Jan 10 Battles between Muslims & Hindus in Calcutta
- Jan 10 Panama severs diplomatic relations with US
- Jan 10 US version of "That Was The Week That Was" premieres
- Jan 10 Vee-Jay Records releases "Introducing the Beatles", the 1st Beatles album released in the US
- Jan 11 First government report by US Surgeon General Luther Terry warning that smoking may be hazardous
She Loves Me
Jan 11 Jerry Bock and Sheldon Harnick's musical "She Loves Me", based on the film "The Shop Around the Corner", closes at Eugene O'Neill Theater, NYC, after 302 performances and a Tony Award for Jack Cassidy
- Jan 11 Panama ends diplomatic relations with US
- Jan 11 The Beatles single "I Want to Hold Your Hand" reaches #80 in US (Cashbox)
Western Defeats Eastern Conference
Jan 12 14th NFL Pro Bowl, LA Memorial Coliseum: Western Conference beats Eastern Conference, 31-17; MVPs: Johnny Unitas, Baltimore Colts, QB; Gino Marchetti, Baltimore Colts, DE
- Jan 12 Revolution overthrows Sultan of Zanzibar, 1 month after independence
Emerson Retains Title
Jan 13 Australian Championships Men's Tennis: Roy Emerson retains title; beats fellow Australian Fred Stolle 6-3, 6-4, 6-2
- Jan 13 Australian Championships Women's Tennis: Australian Margaret Smith beats doubles partner Lesley Turner 6-3, 6-2 for her 5th Australian singles crown
- Jan 13 Hindu-Muslim rioting breaks out in the Indian city of Calcutta - now Kolkata - resulting in the deaths of more than 100 people.
Future Pope Made Archbishop
Jan 13 John Paul II [Karol Wojtyla] becomes archbishop of Kraków
14th NBA All-Star Game
Jan 14 14th NBA All-Star Game, Boston Garden: East beats West, 111-107; MVP: Oscar Robertson, Cincinnati Royals, PG
- Jan 14 Bapu Nadkarni 32-27-5-0 v England, 21 maiden overs in a row
Jacqueline Kennedy Appearance
Jan 14 Jacqueline Kennedy's 1st public appearance (TV) since US President JFK's assassination
- Jan 15 MLB executives vote to hold a free agent amateur draft, officially known as Major League Baseball First-Year Player Draft in NYC
Willie Mays Highest Paid
Jan 15 San Francisco Giants make champion outfielder Willie Mays the highest-paid player in baseball when they sign him to a new $105,000 per season contract
- Jan 15 Teamsters negotiate 1st national labor contract
- Jan 16 AL owners vote 9-1 against Charlie Finley moving KC A's to Louisville
- Jan 16 Jerry Herman's musical "Hello, Dolly!", starring Carol Channing, opens at St James Theatre, NYC; runs for 2,844 performances and wins 10 Tony Awards
- Jan 18 Plans for World Trade Center announced (NYC)
- Jan 18 The Beatles make their first appearance on US Billboard Chart with single "I Want to Hold Your Hand" at #45
- Jan 19 3rd AFL All Star Game, Balboa Stadium, SD: Western Division beats Eastern Division, 27-24; MVPs: Keith Lincoln, LA Chargers, RB; Archie Matsos, Oakland Raiders, LB
- Jan 19 KFME TV channel 13 in Fargo, North Dakota (PBS) begins broadcasting
- Jan 20 Capitol Records releases "Meet The Beatles" album by the Beatles, in US
- Jan 21 Carl Rowan named director of US Information Agency
- Jan 22 Kenneth Kaunda becomes the first President of Northern Rhodesia (Zambia)
- Jan 22 World's largest cheese (15,723 kg) manufactured in Wisconsin for New York's World Fair
- Jan 23 24th Amendment to the United States Constitution ratified, barring poll tax in federal elections
After the Fall
Jan 23 Arthur Miller's play "After the Fall" premieres in NYC
- Jan 24 24th Amendment to the US Constitution "The Elimination of Poll Taxes" goes into effect, removing states ability to deny voting rights due to failure to pay taxes
- Jan 24 CBS purchases 1964 and 1965 NFL TV rights for $28.2 million
- Jan 24 Dutch comic strip "Eric de Noorman" by Hans G. Kresse ends
One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest
Jan 25 Dale Wasserman's stage play "One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest", adapted from the novel by Ken Kesey, starring Kirk Douglas, Ed Ames; Joan Tetzel, and Gene Wilder, closes at Cort Theatre, NYC, after 82 performances
- Jan 25 Echo 2, US communications satellite launched
- Jan 25 Nike athletics company founded in Oregon as Blue Ribbon Sports by University of Oregon track athlete Phil Knight and his coach, Bill Bowerman [1]
- Jan 25 The Beatles get their first US #1, "I Want to Hold your Hand" (Cashbox)
- Jan 27 Barlow & Graeme Pollock complete 341 stand at Adelaide Oval
- Jan 27 Margaret Chase Smith (Sen-R-Maine) tries for Republican President bid
"Dr Strangelove"
Jan 29 "Dr Strangelove", directed by Stanley Kubrick and starring Peter Sellers and George C. Scott, premieres
- Jan 29 IX Winter Olympic Games open in Innsbruck, Austria
- Jan 29 Most lopsided high-school basketball score 211-29 (Louisiana)
- Jan 29 NBC purchases AFL 5 year (1965-69) TV rights for $36 million
- Jan 29 The Beatles record in German language versions of their hits "Komm, Gib Mir Deine Hand" ("I Want to Hold Your Hand") and "Sie Liebt Dich" (She Loves You") at EMI's Pathé Marconi Studios in Paris, France
- Jan 29 Unmanned Apollo 1 Saturn launcher test attains Earth orbit
- Jan 30 Military coup of Gen Nguyen Khanh in South Vietnam
- Jan 30 Ranger 6 launched; makes perfect flight to Moon, but cameras fail
- Jan 31 A rigged constitutional referendum in Ghana sees 99.91% vote in favor, turning the country into a one-party state and making Kwame Nkrumah president for life
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