The Doctor Who Years: 1965

January

2nd January 
World of Sport premieres on ITV with Eamonn Andrews as its first presenter.

The Rescue 1:"The Powerful Enemy"

7th January – Identical twin brothers Ronnie and Reggie Kray, 31, are arrested on suspicion of running a protection racket in London.

9th January The Rescue 2: "Desperate Measures"

14th January – The Prime Ministers of Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland meet for the first time in 43 years.
Georgie Fame "Yeh Yeh" UK No. 1 for 2 weeks

15th January - The Rolling Stones' 2nd album "The Rolling Stones No. 2" released.

16th January The Romans 1: "The Slave Traders"

17th January – The Rolling Stones drummer Charlie Watts' book, Ode to a High Flying Bird, a tribute to jazz great Charlie Parker, is published.

21st January - The Animals' show at New York's Apollo Theater is canceled after the U.S. Immigration Department forces the group to leave the theatre. The Rolling Stones and Roy Orbison travel to Sydney to begin their Australian tour.

23rd January – The Romans 2: "All Roads Lead to Rome"

"Downtown" hits #1 in the US singles chart, making Petula Clark the first British female vocalist to reach the coveted position since the arrival of The Beatles.

24th January – The Animals appear a second time on The Ed Sullivan Show.

27th January – Paul Simon broadcasts on BBC radio for the first time, on the Five to Ten show, discussing and playing thirteen songs, twelve of which would appear on his May-recorded and August-released UK-only solo album, The Paul Simon Song Book.

28th January - The Moody Blues "Go Now" UK No. 1

30th January - The Romans 3: "Conspiracy"

Thousands attend Winston Churchill's state funeral. During the three days of lying-in-state, 321,000 people file past the catafalque, and the funeral procession travels from Westminster Hall to the service at St Paul's Cathedral, attended by the Queen, Prime Minister Harold Wilson, and representatives of 112 countries.

February

4th February - The Righteous Brothers "You've Lost That Lovin' Feelin'" UK No. 1 for 2 weeks

6th February The Romans 4: "Inferno"

Sir Stanley Matthews plays his final First Division game, at the record age of 50 years and 5 days.
Donovan gets his widest audience so far when he makes the first of three appearances on "Ready, Steady, Go!".

12th February – NME reports that the Beatles will star in a film adaptation of Richard Condon's novel A Talent for Loving. The story is about a 2,253-kilometer (1,400 mi) horse race that takes place in the old west. The film is never made.

13th February The Web Planet 1: "The Web Planet"

15th February - George Stevens' production of The Greatest Story Ever Told, a retelling of the account of Jesus Christ, premieres in New York City, New York. It was a flop with critics and audiences and it discouraged production of religious epics for many years. It's notable today for its impressive landscapes, powerful and provocative cinematography, Max von Sydow's American film debut performance, and final film performance of Claude Rains.

16th February – The British Railways Board (chairman: Richard Beeching) publishes The Development of the Major Trunk Routes proposing which lines should receive investment (and, by implication, which should not), sowing the seeds of chronic underinvestment and contempt for passengers that have resulted in Britain's railways of the present day being an embarrassment to the nation and a painful daily insult to its long suffering and eyewateringly overcharged victims customers.

18th February - The Kinks "Tired of Waiting for You" UK No. 1

20th February The Web Planet 2: "The Zarbi"

24th February – The Beatles begin filming their second film, Help!

25th February - The Seekers "I'll Never Find Another You" UK No. 1 for 2 weeks

27th February The Web Planet 3: "Escape to Danger"

March

2nd March - The Rodgers and Hammerstein film adaptation of The Sound of Music, directed by Robert Wise and starring Julie Andrews and Christopher Plummer, premieres. It quickly became a worldwide phenomenon and an instant classic. It successfully displaced Gone with the Wind to become, at the time, the highest-grossing film of all-time. The Sound of Music is credited as the film that saved and restored Twentieth Century-Fox from bankruptcy after suffering from ridiculously high production costs and low revenue of Cleopatra, two years prior.

5th March - album: "Kinda Kinks" by the Kinks

6th March - The Web Planet 4: "Crater of Needles"

8th March - album: "Today!" by the Beach Boys

10th March – Goldie, a London Zoo golden eagle, is recaptured after 13 days of freedom.

11th March - Tom Jones "It's Not Unusual" UK No. 1

13th March The Web Planet 5: "Invasion"

18th March - The Rolling Stones "The Last Time" UK No. 1 for 3 weeks

On the same date Mick Jagger, Brian Jones, and Bill Wyman are fined five pounds for urinating on the wall of a London petrol station. The band had asked to use the toilets, but they were out of order.

20th March The Web Planet 6: "The Centre"

Kathy Kirby, singing the UK entry "I Belong", finishes second in the 10th Eurovision Song Contest in Naples, Italy, behind France Gall, representing Luxembourg.

23rd March - Benjamin Britten is appointed to the Order of Merit (OM).

27th March The Crusade 1: "The Lion"

album: Bob Dylan's "Bringing It All Back Home"

April

1st April - Finance Act introduces corporation tax, replacing income tax for corporate institutions.

3rd April The Crusade 2: "The Knight of Jaffa"

6th April – Government publicly announces cancellation of the BAC TSR-2 nuclear bomber aircraft project.

8th April - Unit 4 + 2 "Concrete and Clay" UK No. 1

10th April The Crusade 3: "The Wheel of Fortune"

11th April – The New Musical Express poll winners' concert takes place featuring performances by The Beatles, The Animals, The Rolling Stones, Freddie and the Dreamers, the Kinks, the Searchers, Herman's Hermits, The Moody Blues, Wayne Fontana and the Mindbenders, Donovan, Cilla Black, Dusty Springfield and Tom Jones.

15th April - Cliff Richard "The Minute You're Gone" UK No. 1

17th April The Crusade 4: "The Warlords"

22nd April - The Beatles "Ticket to Ride" UK No. 1 for 3 weeks

23rd April – The Pennine Way officially opens.

24th April The Space Museum 1: "The Space Museum"

26th April – Sadly, Manchester United win the Football League First Division title.

May

1st May - The Space Museum 2: "The Dimensions of Time"

Liverpool win the FA Cup for the first time in their history, beating Leeds United 2-1 at Wembley Stadium. Roger Hunt and Ian St John score for Liverpool, while Billy Bremner scores the consolation goal for Leeds.

5th May – Alan Price leaves The Animals, to be replaced temporarily by Mick Gallagher and permanently by Dave Rowberry.

6th May – Keith Richards and Mick Jagger begin work on "Satisfaction" in their Clearwater, Florida hotel room. Richards came up with the classic guitar riff while playing around with his brand new Gibson "Fuzz box".

7th May – The Rhodesian Front under Prime Minister Ian Smith win a landslide election victory in Rhodesia. 

8th May The Space Museum 3: "The Search"

11th May – The National Trust officially launches its long-term Enterprise Neptune project to acquire or put under covenant a substantial part of the Welsh, English and Northern Irish coastline.  Whiteford Burrows on the Gower Peninsula is considered the first property to be acquired under the campaign although its purchase was announced on 1 January.

13th May - Roger Miller "King of the Road" UK No. 1

15th May The Space Museum 4: "The Final Phase"

17th May – An underground explosion at Cambrian Colliery in Clydach Vale kills 31.

19th May – West Ham United become the second British club to win a European trophy, defeating West German 1860 Munich 2-0 at Wembley Stadium.

20th May - Jackie Trent "Where Are You Now (My Love)" UK No. 1

22nd May The Chase 1: "The Executioners"

27th May - Sandie Shaw "Long Live Love" UK No. 1 for 3 weeks

29th May The Chase 2: "The Death of Time"

30th May – The Animals appear for a third time on The Ed Sullivan Show.

June

5th June The Chase 3: "Flight Through Eternity"

12th June The Chase 4: "Journey into Terror"

The Beatles are appointed Members of the British Empire (MBE) by the Queen. With no tradition of awarding popular entertainers such honours, a number of previous recipients complain and protest.

17th June - Elvis Presley "Crying in the Chapel" UK No. 1

18th June – The government announces plans for the introduction of a blood alcohol limit for drivers in its clampdown on drink-driving.

19th June The Chase 5: "The Death of Doctor Who"

24th June - The Hollies "I'm Alive" UK No. 1

26th June The Chase 6: "The Planet of Decision"

July

1st July - Elvis Presley's "Crying in the Chapel" climbs back up to the UK No. 1 spot.
Blake Edwards's epic comedy The Great Race, starring Tony Curtis, Jack Lemmon, Natalie Wood, Peter Falk, and Keenan Wynn, premieres. Initially a flop with critics and audiences to begin with, it is now today considered to be one of the finest slapstick comedy films ever made, due to Edwards' direction, acting by its ensemble cast (particularly Lemmon's), Henry Mancini's wonderful music, production values, its comedy, and its climatic pie fight.

3rd July The Time Meddler 1: "The Watcher"

5th July - Maria Callas gives her last operatic performance, as Tosca at the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden.
album: "For Your Love" by The Yardbirds

album: "Summer Days (and Summer Nights!!)" by The Beach Boys

8th July - The Hollies "I'm Alive" takes back the UK No. 1 spot from Elvis.

Great Train Robber Ronald Biggs escapes from Wandsworth Prison.

10th July The Time Meddler 2: "The Meddling Monk"

12th July – The Secretary of State for Education and Science, Tony Crosland, issues Circular 10/65 requesting local authorities to convert their schools to the Comprehensive system.

13th July - The Beatles receive a record five Ivor Novello Awards.

17th July The Time Meddler 3: "A Battle of Wits"

22nd July - The Byrds "Mr. Tambourine Man" UK No.1 for 2 weeks

album: "The Magnificent Moodies" by The Moody Blues

Sir Alec Douglas-Home suddenly resigns as a head of the British Conservative Party.

24th July The Time Meddler 4: "Checkmate" [End of Season Two]

Freddie Mills, former British boxing champion, is found shot in his car in Soho.

27th July – Edward Heath becomes leader of the British Conservative Party following its first leadership election by secret ballot.

29th July – The Beatles film Help! debuts in London.

30th July - album: "Out of Our Heads" by The Rolling Stones

Also in July... John Cale, with his new collaborators Lou Reed and Sterling Morrison, makes a demo tape which he tries to pass on to Marianne Faithfull. These are the beginnings of the Velvet Underground.

August

1st August – Cigarette advertising is banned on British television.

5th August - The Beatles "Help!" UK No. 1 for 3 weeks

6th August - The Small Faces release "Whatcha Gonna Do About It", their first single.

The Beatles release the soundtrack to their second movie Help!

Peter Watkins' The War Game, a television drama-documentary depicting the aftermath of a nuclear attack on the UK, is pulled from its planned transmission as BBC1's The Wednesday Play for political reasons. It will go on to win the 1966 Academy Award for Best Documentary Feature.

21st August – Charlton Athletic F.C. player Keith Peacock becomes the first substitute to appear in a Football League match.

23rd August - Dr. Who and the Daleks starring Peter Cushing released in cinemas...

26th August - Sonny & Cher "I Got You Babe" UK No. 1 for 2 weeks

27th August – The Beatles visit Elvis Presley at his home in Bel-Air. It is the only time the band and the singer meet.

30th August - album: "Highway 61 Revisited" by Bob Dylan

Also in August... Elizabeth Lane is appointed as the first female High Court judge, assigned to the Family Division.

September

9th September - The Rolling Stones "(I Can't Get No) Satisfaction" UK No.1 for 2 weeks

11th September [SEASON THREE] Galaxy 4 (1): "Four Hundred Dawns"

The Last Night of The Proms is conducted by Sir Malcolm Sargent, with Josephine Veasey as soloist for the traditional rendition of "Rule, Britannia."

18th September Galaxy 4 (2): "Trap of Steel"

23rd September - The Walker Brothers "Make It Easy on Yourself" UK No. 1

25th September Galaxy 4 (3): "Air Lock"

30th September - Ken Dodd "Tears" UK No.1 for 5 weeks

First episode of ATV 'Supermarionation' series Thunderbirds airs.

Donovan appears on Shindig! in the U.S. and plays Buffy Sainte-Marie's "Universal Soldier".

October

2nd October Galaxy 4 (4): "The Exploding Planet"

6th October – Ian Brady, a 27-year-old stock clerk from Hyde in Cheshire, is arrested for allegedly hacking 17-year-old apprentice electrician Edward Evans to death at a house on the Hattersley housing estate.

8th October – The Post Office Tower opens in London.

9th October "Mission to the Unknown"

16th October The Myth Makers 1: "Temple of Secrets"

Police find a girl's body on Saddleworth Moor near Oldham in Lancashire. The body is quickly identified as that of Lesley Ann Downey, who disappeared on Boxing Day last year from a fairground in the Ancoats area of Manchester, at the age of 10. Ian Brady, arrested last week for the murder of a 17-year-old man in nearby Hattersley, is suspected of murdering Lesley, as is his 23-year-old girlfriend Myra Hindley, who on 11 October was also charged with the murder of Edward Evans. Police suspect that other missing people from the Manchester area, including 12-year-old John Kilbride (who was last seen alive nearly three years ago) could be also be buried there; some reports state that as many as 11 murder victims may have been buried in the area.

17th October – The Animals appear for a fourth time on The Ed Sullivan Show.

20th October - It is reported that suspected mass murderer Ian Brady tortured his victims and tape-recorded the attacks on them. Detectives in Brady's native Scotland are also reportedly investigating the disappearance of 12-year-old Moira Anderson in Lanarkshire eight years ago as a possible link to Brady.

21st October – Ian Brady and Myra Hindley are charged with the murder of Lesley Ann Downey and remanded in custody.

22nd October – African countries demand that the United Kingdom use force to prevent Rhodesia from declaring unilateral independence.

23rd October The Myth Makers 2: "Small Prophet, Quick Return"

24th October - Prime Minister Harold Wilson and Arthur Bottomley travel to Rhodesia for negotiations.

Police find the decomposed body of a boy on Saddleworth Moor. The body is identified as that of John Kilbride.

29th October – Ian Brady and Myra Hindley appear in court, charged with the murders of Edward Evans (17), Lesley Ann Downey (10) and John Kilbride (12).

30th October The Myth Makers 3: "Death of a Spy"

Also in October – Corgi Toys introduce the all-time best selling model car, James Bond's Aston Martin DB5 from the film Goldfinger.

November

1st November – Three cooling towers at the uncompleted Ferrybridge C electricity generating station in West Yorkshire collapse in high winds.

4th November - The Rolling Stones "Get Off of My Cloud" UK No. 1 for 3 weeks

5th November – Martial law is announced in Rhodesia. The UN General Assembly accepts British intent to use force against Rhodesia if necessary by a vote of 82-9.

6th November The Myth Makers 4: "Horse of Destruction"

8th November - The Murder (Abolition of Death Penalty) Act suspends capital punishment for murder in England, Scotland and Wales, for five years in the first instance, replacing it with a mandatory sentence of life imprisonment.

The Race Relations Act outlaws public racial discrimination.
album: The Beach Boys "Beach Boys Party!"

11th November – In Rhodesia (modern-day Zimbabwe), the white minority regime of Ian Smith unilaterally declares independence.

13th November The Daleks' Master Plan 1: "The Nightmare Begins"

The word "fuck" is spoken for the first time on British television by the theatre critic Kenneth Tynan. Not in relation to aforementioned Master Plan.

20th November The Daleks' Master Plan 2: "Day of Armageddon"

The UN Security Council recommends that all states stop trading with Rhodesia.

25th November - The Seekers "The Carnival Is Over" UK No. 1 for 3 weeks

27th November The Daleks' Master Plan 3: "Devil's Planet "

29th November – Mary Whitehouse founds the National Viewers' and Listeners' Association. To this day, she can still see, in her mind's eye "Dr. Who" having his head held under water for a whole week in the cliffhanger to part 3 of The Deadly Assassin, which is quite the achievement, as she died in 2001. On 23rd November, no less.

December

3rd December – The Beatles release their groundbreaking album Rubber Soul, along with the double A-sided single "Day Tripper / We Can Work It Out". 

The first British aid flight arrives in Lusaka; Zambia had asked for British help against Rhodesia.
album: "My Generation" by The Who

4th December The Daleks' Master Plan 4: "The Traitors"

11th December The Daleks' Master Plan 5: "Counter Plot"

15th December – Tanzania and Guinea sever diplomatic relations with the United Kingdom.

16th December - The Beatles "Day Tripper" / "We Can Work It Out" UK No. 1 for 5 weeks

17th December – The British government begins an oil embargo against Rhodesia; the United States joins the effort.

18th December The Daleks' Master Plan 6: "Coronas of the Sun"

22nd December - A 70 mph speed limit is imposed on British roads.

A reorganisation of the cabinet sees Roy Jenkins appointed Home Secretary and Barbara Castle as Minister of Transport.

David Lean's film adaptation of Boris Pasternak's Doctor Zhivago, starring Omar Sharif, Julie Christie, Rod Steiger, and Alec Guinness, premieres and, like The Sound of Music, quickly became a worldwide phenomenon. Its moral story and message of a love and the human spirit that defied against the communist Soviet Union have made the film a true classic by the critics and audiences and, later, the American Film Institute. In a decade of very difficult times for its studio, Zhivago became the most successful and acclaimed Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer film since How the West Was Won and the greatest MGM film since Ben-Hur.

24th December – A meteorite shower falls on Barwell, Leicestershire. Exact distance from Stockbridge not known.

25th December The Daleks' Master Plan 7: "The Feast of Steven"

27th December – The British oil platform Sea Gem collapses in the North Sea, killing 13 of the 32 men on it.

29th December - Thunderball (James Bond)

30th December – President Kenneth Kaunda of Zambia announces that Zambia and the United Kingdom have agreed to a deadline before which the Rhodesian white government should be ousted.

Also in December... 

EMI release Jacqueline du Pré's recording of Elgar's Cello Concerto with John Barbirolli and the London Symphony Orchestra.
National Coal Board closes the last deep coal mine in the Forest of Dean (Northern United at Cinderford).

Books

Agatha Christie's Miss Marple novel At Bertram's Hotel.
Ian Fleming's James Bond novel The Man with the Golden Gun.
John Fowles's novel The Magus.
David Lodge’s novel The British Museum Is Falling Down.

Births

4 January - Julia Ormond, British actress
Beth Gibbons, English singer (Portishead)
5 January – Vinnie Jones, British footballer and actor
9 January – Joely Richardson, British actress
14 January - Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall, English chef
Slick Rick, British-American rapper
15 January – James Nesbitt, Northern Irish actor
20 January – Sophie, Countess of Wessex
27 January – Alan Cumming, Scottish actor
4 March - Andrew Collins, British radio DJ, and journalist
Paul W.S. Anderson, British filmmaker, producer and screenwriter
11 March – Lawrence Llewelyn-Bowen, British television presenter
14 March – Caroline Foot, British butterfly swimmer
30 March – Piers Morgan, British tabloid journalist
1 April – Robert Steadman, English composer
4 April – Sean Wilson, British actor
27 April – Anna Chancellor, British actress
1 May – Alice Beer, British television presenter
3 May – Michael Marshall Smith, novelist, screenwriter and short story writer
17 May – Jeremy Vine, British BBC radio and television presenter
31 May – Steve White, English drummer (The Style Council)
1 June – Nigel Short, English chess player
7 June – Damien Hirst, English artist
10 June – Elizabeth Hurley, English model and actress
19 June – Sadie Frost, English fashion designer and actress
30 June - Gary Pallister, English footballer
4 July – Jo Whiley, British Radio DJ
11 July - Tony Cottee, English footballer
15 July – David Miliband, MP of Labour Party
31 July – J. K. Rowling, English author
1 August – Sam Mendes, English stage and film director
4 August – Adam Afriyie, British Conservative politician and MP for Windsor
6 August – Mark Speight, British television presenter (d. 2008)
28 August – Paul Brummell, British diplomat and Ambassador to Kazakhstan
2 September – Lennox Lewis, British boxer
29 September – Phylis Smith, British athlete and Olympic medallist
14 October – Steve Coogan, British comedian and actor
15 October – Stephen Tompkinson, British actor
16 October – Steve Lamacq, British Radio DJ
22 October – John Wesley Harding (born Wesley Stace), British singer-songwriter
30 October – Gavin Rossdale, English musician
4 November – Shaun Williamson, British actor
10 November - Sean Hughes, comedian
Eddie Irvine, Northern Irish racecar driver
12 November – Eddie Mair, British BBC radio and television presenter
21 November – Alexander Siddig, Sudanese-born actor
9 December – Paul Jenkins, British comic book writer
25 December – Edward Davey, British Liberal Democrat politician, Shadow Trade and Industry Secretary, and MP for Kingston and Surbiton

Deaths

4 January – T. S. Eliot, American-born writer, Nobel Prize laureate (born 1888)
24 January – Winston Churchill, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, recipient of the Nobel Prize in Literature (born 1874)
23 February – Stan Laurel, British actor (born 1890)
21 April – Edward Victor Appleton, English physicist, Nobel Prize laureate (born 1892)
21 May – Geoffrey de Havilland, aircraft designer (born 1882)
8 June – Cecil L'Estrange Malone, British politician and Britain's first communist Member of Parliament (born 1890)
16 December – W. Somerset Maugham, English writer (born 1874)
22 December – Richard Dimbleby, journalist and broadcaster (born 1913)
28 December – Jeremy Wolfenden, journalist and spy (born 1934)

Debuts

BBC1
9 January – Not Only... But Also (1965–1970)
31 March – Going for a Song (1965–1977)
7 July – Tomorrow's World (1965–2003)
22 July – Till Death Us Do Part (1956–1975)
4 October – United! (1965–1967)
18 October – The Magic Roundabout (1965–1977)
13 December – Jackanory (1965–1996, 2006–present)

BBC2
17 October – Call My Bluff (1965–1988, 1994, 1996–2005)

ITV
2 January – World of Sport (1965–1985)
23 January – Public Eye (1965–1975)
30 September – Thunderbirds (1965–1966)