January
3rd January - UK No.1 Cliff Richard & the Shadows "The Next Time"/"Bachelor Boy"
7th January – Granada Television first broadcasts World in Action.
13th January – BBC TV broadcasts the play The Madhouse on Castle Street in the Sunday-Night Theatre strand. The play co-stars David Warner, and a young American folk music singer named Bob Dylan, who closes the play with his song "Blowin' in the Wind."
23rd January – Double Agent Kim Philby disappears having defected to the Soviet Union.
24th January - UK No. 1 - The Shadows "Dance On!"
31st January - UK No.1 (3 weeks) Jet Harris and Tony Meehan "Diamonds"
FILM: This Sporting Life (with William Hartnell)
February
11th February - American-born poet Sylvia Plath (age 30) commits suicide by carbon monoxide poisoning in her London flat during the cold winter of 1962–63 in the United Kingdom about a month after publication of her only novel, the semi-autobiographical The Bell Jar.
14th February – The Labour Party elects 46-year-old Huyton MP Harold Wilson as its new leader, and Leader of the Opposition. Missing out in the leadership contest is Cardiff South East MP James Callaghan.
18th February: Summer Holiday
21st February - UK No.1 (3 weeks) Frank Ifield "The Wayward Wind"
Sydney Newman discusses with Donald Baverstock (Chief of Programmes, BBC1) and Joanna Spicer (Assistant Controller (Planning) Television) filling the Saturday early evening slot between GRANDSTAND and JUKE BOX JURY with something that will bridge the audiences of these two programmes and pull in the whole family, and outlines an idea for a Science-Fiction series...
MARCH - the Amazing Spider-Man #1
MARCH - the Amazing Spider-Man #1
14th March - UK No. 1 (2 weeks) Cliff Richard and The Shadows "Summer Holiday"
22nd March – The Beatles release their first album Please Please Me.
27th March – Chairman of British Railways Dr Richard Beeching issues a report calling for huge cuts to the UK's rail network. This is expected to result in the closure of more than 2,000 railway stations as well as the scrapping of some 8,000 coaches and the loss of up to 68,000 jobs. Today, Britain's rail network is a shambolic disgrace as a direct result.
28th March - UK No. 1 The Shadows "Foot Tapper"
April
Newman decides the older character will become the focal point of the series; he is "the Doctor", who has stolen the time machine from his own people, and advanced civilisation on a far-distant planet.
Donald Wilson is now Head of Serials, the department that will be responsible for making the new series.
4th April - UK No. 1 - Cliff Richard and The Shadows "Summer Holiday" (again!)
Donald Wilson is now Head of Serials, the department that will be responsible for making the new series.
4th April - UK No. 1 - Cliff Richard and The Shadows "Summer Holiday" (again!)
11th April - UK No.1 (3 weeks) Gerry & The Pacemakers "How Do You Do It?"
14th April 1963 - 35th Academy Awards - (Host: Frank Sinatra)
Best Film - Lawrence of Arabia
Best Director - David Lean (Lawrence of Arabia)
Best Actor - Gregory Peck (To Kill a Mockingbird)
Best Actress - Anne Bancroft (The Miracle Worker)
Best Supporting Actor - Ed Begley (Sweet Bird of Youth)
Best Supporting Actress - Patty Duke (The Miracle Worker)
15th April – 70,000 marchers arrive in London from Aldermarston, to demonstrate against nuclear weapons.
15th April – 70,000 marchers arrive in London from Aldermarston, to demonstrate against nuclear weapons.
May
Rex Tucker takes charge of Sydney Newman's new series ahead of the appointment of a permanent producer.
At this stage the characters are: Bridget (Biddy) - later Mandy then Sue, Miss McGovern (Lola), Cliff... and the Doctor.
Whilst under contract as a BBC Staff writer, the 1st story's author, Antony Coburn, proposes that the outward appearance of the time machine should be a police telephone box. Newman approves the idea.
2nd May – The Beatles reach number one in the singles chart for the first time.
Rex Tucker takes charge of Sydney Newman's new series ahead of the appointment of a permanent producer.
At this stage the characters are: Bridget (Biddy) - later Mandy then Sue, Miss McGovern (Lola), Cliff... and the Doctor.
Whilst under contract as a BBC Staff writer, the 1st story's author, Antony Coburn, proposes that the outward appearance of the time machine should be a police telephone box. Newman approves the idea.
2nd May – The Beatles reach number one in the singles chart for the first time.
UK No. 1 - (7 weeks) The Beatles "From Me to You"
11th May - The Beatles album Please Please Me goes to the top of the UK Albums Chart; my beloved Everton Football Club win the Football League First Division title.
25th May – Manchester United beat Leicester City 3-1 in the FA Cup final at Wembley Stadium with two goals from David Herd and another from Denis Law. It is United's first major trophy since eight of their players died in the Munich air disaster five years ago.
June
Rex Tucker approaches Tristram Cary to compose the new show's theme tune, and Hugh David to play the Doctor. The first story will see the travellers shrunk to an inch in height, while BBC staff writer Antony Coburn begins work on the 2nd story, where they will travel back to the stone age...
4th June: The Nutty Professor
5th June – John Profumo, Secretary of State for War, admits to misleading Parliament and resigns over his affair with Christine Keeler.
8th June – Profumo Affair: Stephen Ward charged with living on immoral earnings.
10th June - Sydney Newman's gone off "The Giants" and Coburn's stone age story is moved up to become the first story, with the first episode redrafted accordingly.
16th June - Verity Lambert is appointed producer by Newman and staff director Waris Hussein is assigned to Doctor Who's first story.
19th June: Jason and the Argonauts (featuring Patrick Troughton & Honor Blackman)
20th June - UK No. 1 (4 weeks) Gerry & The Pacemakers "I Like It"
20th June - UK No. 1 (4 weeks) Gerry & The Pacemakers "I Like It"
25th June – Rex Tucker holds auditions for the parts of "Susan" and "Miss McGovern".
July
Lambert casts her lead characters, including William Russell as Ian Chesterton, old friend Jacqueline Hill as Barbara Wright. The part of Susan eventually goes to Carole Ann Ford, and Lambert finally has her Doctor... William Hartnell.
The series starts to take shape, with new scripst commissioned from Terry Nation, and Ron Grainer approached to write the theme tune...
1st July – Kim Philby named as the 'Third Man' in the Burgess and Maclean spy ring.
4th July: The Great Escape (featuring William Russell in a small, unspoken role as one of the prisoners)
12th July – Pauline Reade, 16, is reported missing on her way to a dance in Gorton, Manchester, the first victim of the Moors murders.
16th July - A day after being admitted to hospital, C. S. Lewis suffers a heart attack; although later discharged, he dies four months later, at home.
Lambert casts her lead characters, including William Russell as Ian Chesterton, old friend Jacqueline Hill as Barbara Wright. The part of Susan eventually goes to Carole Ann Ford, and Lambert finally has her Doctor... William Hartnell.
The series starts to take shape, with new scripst commissioned from Terry Nation, and Ron Grainer approached to write the theme tune...
1st July – Kim Philby named as the 'Third Man' in the Burgess and Maclean spy ring.
4th July: The Great Escape (featuring William Russell in a small, unspoken role as one of the prisoners)
12th July – Pauline Reade, 16, is reported missing on her way to a dance in Gorton, Manchester, the first victim of the Moors murders.
16th July - A day after being admitted to hospital, C. S. Lewis suffers a heart attack; although later discharged, he dies four months later, at home.
18th July - UK No. 1 (2 weeks) Frank Ifield "Confessin' (That I Love You)"
20th July: Doctor in Distress (No, not that one!)
31st July: Cleopatra (starring Elizabeth Taylor & Richard Burton)
William Hartnell has his first make up and costume fitting; Delia Derbyshire realises the theme tune composed by Ron Grainer; Peter Brachacki designs the interior of the TARDIS; rehearsals begin for the first episode, "An Unearthly Child"...
1st August - UK No. 1 Elvis Presley "(You're the) Devil in Disguise"
8th August – The Great Train Robbery takes place in Buckinghamshire.
UK No.1 (2 weeks) The Searchers "Sweets for My Sweet"
9th August – Ready Steady Go! premieres on ITV.
14th August: Flipper
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22nd August - UK No. 1 (3 weeks) Billy J. Kramer & The Dakotas "Bad to Me"
August: Lord of the Flies
September
September: the Avengers #1
September: the Uncanny X-Men #1
5th September – Christine Keeler is arrested for perjury. On 6 December she is sentenced to 9 months in prison.
12th September – The Beatles reach number one for the second time with the single "She Loves You" (released on 23 August). (UK No. 1 for 4 weeks)
18th September: The Haunting
Newman rejects the first recorded version of "An Unearthly Child" and the episode is remounted with revisions made, particularly to soften the more abrasive edges of the Doctor...
10th October
Prime Minister Harold Macmillan announces his resignation on the grounds of ill health, and leaves office on the 18th.10th October
UK No. 1 (3 weeks) Brian Poole and The Tremeloes "Do You Love Me"
11th October: From Russia With Love (James Bond)
22nd October – The National Theatre Company, newly formed under artistic director Laurence Olivier, gives its first performance, with Peter O'Toole as Hamlet.
31st October - UK No. 1 (4 weeks) Gerry & the Pacemakers "You'll Never Walk Alone"
November
7th November: It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World
18th November – The Dartford Tunnel opens.
November: Carry On Jack (featuring Bernard Cribbins)
7th November: It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World
18th November – The Dartford Tunnel opens.
22nd November –
C. S. Lewis, the author most famous for the Narnia books (1950–1955), dies at the age of 65 in Oxford. However, media coverage of his death (as also that of Aldous Huxley in the U.S. on the same day) is overshadowed by the assassination of American President John F. Kennnedy, news of which reaches the U.K. just after 18:30 UTC.
The Beatles' second U.K. album, With the Beatles, is released.
23rd November - An Unearthly Child Part 1: An Unearthly Child
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Police in Ashton-under-Lyne, Lancashire, begin a missing persons investigation following the disappearance of 12-year-old John Kilbride.
25th November – The Duke of Edinburgh, Prime Minister Sir Alec Douglas-Home and Leader of the Opposition Harold Wilson attend the funeral of U.S. President John F Kennedy in Washington, D.C.
28th December – That Was The Week That Was airs for the last time.
30th November –
An Unearthly Child Part 2: The Cave of Skulls
After an unbroken 30-week spell at the top of the UK Albums Chart, The Beatles album Please Please Me is knocked off the top of the charts by the group's latest album With the Beatles.
November: The Servant
December
7th December
An Unearthly Child Part 3: The Forest of Fear
12th December -
Kenya gains independence from the United Kingdom, with Jomo Kenyatta as prime minister.
The Beatles reach number one for the third time with "I Want To Hold Your Hand" (released on 29 November).
14th December
An Unearthly Child Part 4: The Firemaker
21st December
The Daleks Part 1: The Dead Planet
The Daleks Part 2: The Survivors
...What else happened in 1963?
BOOKS:
Agatha Christie's Hercule Poirot novel The Clocks.
Margaret Drabble's first novel A Summer Bird Cage.
Ian Fleming's James Bond novel On Her Majesty's Secret Service.
John Fowles' novel The Collector.
The Group's poetry collection A Group Anthology edited by Edward Lucie-Smith and Philip Hobsbaum.
John le Carré's novel The Spy Who Came in From the Cold.
Alistair MacLean's thriller Ice Station Zebra.
C. P. Snow's novel Corridors of Power.
E. P. Thompson's social history The Making of the English Working Class.
ALSO ON TV...
Watch with Mother
Andy Pandy
Panorama
Picture Book
Sunday Night at the London Palladium,
Take Your Pick
Double Your Money
Dixon of Dock Green
Crackerjack
Opportunity Knocks
Armchair Theatre
What the Papers Say
The Sky at Night,
The Flintstones
Coronation Street
Songs of Praise
Compact
Steptoe and Son,
BIRTHS:
16 January – James May, English motoring journalist and television show host
19 January - Martin Bashir, British television journalist
26 January – Andrew Ridgely, English musician
10 February – Philip Glenister, actor
19 February – Seal, singer
11 March – Alex Kingston, English actress
16 March – Jerome Flynn, British actor
20 March – David Thewlis, English actor
6 April – Andrew Weatherall, English disc jockey
8 April – Julian Lennon, musician son of John Lennon
27 April - Russell T. Davies
11 May – Natasha Richardson, actress (died 2009)
6 June – Jason Isaacs, actor
23 June – Colin Montgomerie, Scottish golfer
25 June – George Michael, singer
27 June – Meera Syal, comedian, writer, singer, and actress
3 July – Tracey Emin, British artist
3 August – Tasmin Archer, English singer
30 August - Paul Oakenfold, disc jockey; Mark Strong, actor
19 September - Jarvis Cocker, English musician (Pulp), David Seaman, English footballer
26 September – Lysette Anthony, English actress
1 November – Mark Hughes, Welsh footballer and football manager
3 November - Ian Wright, English footballer and radio/TV personality
10 November – Hugh Bonneville, actor
5 December – Eddie 'the Eagle' Edwards, English ski jumper
24 December – Caroline Aherne, actress and writer
