The Doctor Who Years: 1966

January

1st January
The Daleks' Master Plan 8: "Volcano"

3rd January
British Rail begins full electric passenger train services over the West Coast Main Line from Euston to Manchester and Liverpool with 100 mph (160 km/h) operation from London to Rugby. 
Stop-motion children's television series Camberwick Green first shown on BBC1. It is the first BBC television programme to be shot in colour.

4th January
More than 4,000 people attend a memorial service at Westminster Abbey for the broadcaster Richard Dimbleby, who died last month aged 52.

6th January
The Beatles "Day Tripper" / "We Can Work It Out" UK No.1 (for 2 more weeks, having already occupied the number 1 spot for the last 3 weeks of 1965)

8th January
The Daleks' Master Plan 9:"Golden Death"

9th January
FILM: "Dracula: Prince of Darkness" starring Christopher Lee

12th January
Three British MPs visiting Rhodesia (Christopher Rowland, Jeremy Bray and David Ennals) are assaulted by supporters of Rhodesian Prime Minister Ian Smith.

14th January
Young singer David Jones changes his last name to Bowie to avoid confusion with Davy Jones (later of the Monkees).

15th January
The Daleks' Master Plan 10:"Escape Switch"

16th January
FILM: "Our Man Flint" starring James Coburn

17th January – Simon & Garfunkel release album Sounds of Silence

20th January
The Spencer Davis Group "Keep On Running" UK No. 1

The Queen commutes the death sentence on a black prisoner in Rhodesia, two months after its abolition in Britain.
Radio Caroline South pirate radio ship MV Mi Amigo runs aground on the beach at Frinton.

22nd January
The Daleks' Master Plan 11:"The Abandoned Planet"

27th January
The Overlanders "Michelle" UK No.1 for 3 weeks

29th January
The Daleks' Master Plan 12:"The Destruction of Time"

31st January
The United Kingdom ceases all trade with Rhodesia.

February

4th February
FILM: "Winnie the Pooh and the Honey Tree"

5th February

The Massacre 1: "War of God"

6th February
The Animals appear a fifth time on The Ed Sullivan Show to perform their iconic Vietnam-anthem hit "We Gotta Get Out of this Place".

9th February
A prototype Fast Reactor nuclear reactor opens at Dounreay on the north coast of Scotland.

12th February
The Massacre 2: "The Sea Beggar"

17th February
Nancy Sinatra "These Boots Are Made for Walkin'" UK No. 1 for 4 weeks

Brian Wilson starts recording Good Vibrations with The Wrecking Crew, continuing for several months and marking a beginning to the famed Smile sessions.

19th February
The Massacre 3: "Priest of Death"

Jefferson Airplane and Big Brother and the Holding Company with Janis Joplin perform at the Fillmore.

23rd February
FILM: "Harper" starring Paul Newman, Robert Wagner, Lauren Bacall, Pamela Tiffin, Julie Harris, Arthur Hill, Janet Leigh

26th February
The Massacre 4: "Bell of Doom"

28th February
Harold Wilson calls a general election for 31 March, in hope of increasing his single-seat majority.

March

1st March
Chancellor of the Exchequer James Callaghan announces decision to embrace decimalisation of the pound (which will be effected on 15 February 1971).

3rd March
The BBC announces plans to begin broadcasting television programmes in colour from next year.

4th March
The Beatles' John Lennon is quoted in The Evening Standard as saying that the band was now more popular than Jesus. In August, following publication of this remark in Datebook, there are Beatles protests and record burnings in the Southern US's Bible Belt.

5th March
The Ark 1: "The Steel Sky"

BOAC Flight 911 crashes in severe clear-air turbulence over Mount Fuji soon after taking off from Tokyo International Airport in Japan, killing all 124 on board.

The UK's Kenneth McKellar, singing "A Man Without Love", finishes 9th in the 11th Eurovision Song Contest, which is won by Udo Jürgens of Austria.

6th March
In the UK, 5,000 fans of the Beatles sign a petition urging British Prime minister Harold Wilson to reopen Liverpool's Cavern Club.

9th March
Ronnie, one of the Kray twins, shoots George Cornell (an associate of rivals The Richardson Gang) dead at The Blind Beggar pub in Whitechapel, east London, a crime for which he is finally convicted in 1969.

12th March
The Ark 2: "The Plague"

17th March
The Walker Brothers "The Sun Ain't Gonna Shine Anymore" UK No. 1 for 4 weeks

19th March 
The Ark 3: "The Return"

20th March
The World Cup is stolen from an exhibition at Central Hall, Westminster, where it was on show in the run-up to this summer's World Cup in England.

26th March
The Ark 4: "The Bomb"

27th March
The World Cup is recovered by Pickles, a mongrel dog, in South London.

30th March
Opinion polls show that the Labour government is on course to win a comfortable majority in the general election tomorrow.

31st March
The Labour Party under Harold Wilson win the general election with a majority of 96 seats. At the 1964 election they had a majority of five but subsequent by-election defeats had led to that being reduced to just one seat before this election.

Also this month:
FILM: "Alfie" directed by Lewis Gilbert, starring Michael Caine, Shelley Winters, Millicent Martin

April

2nd April

The Celestial Toymaker 1: "The Celestial Toyroom"

4th April
FILM: "The Great St Trinian's Train Robbery" starring Frankie Howerd and Dora Bryan

5th April
The Money Programme debuts on BBC2. It continues to air to the present day.

6th April

Hoverlloyd inaugurate the first Cross-Channel hovercraft service, from Ramsgate harbour to Calais using passenger-carrying SR.N6 craft.

7th April
The United Kingdom asks the UN Security Council authority to use force to stop oil tankers that violate the oil embargo against Rhodesia. Authority is given on 10 April.

9th April
The Celestial Toymaker 2: "The Hall of Dolls"

Footballer Barry Butler, the 31-year-old Norwich City F.C. captain, is killed in a car accident.

11th April
The Marquess of Bath, in conjunction with Jimmy Chipperfield, opens Longleat Safari Park, with "the lions of Longleat", at his Longleat House, the first such drive-through park outside Africa.

14th April
The Spencer Davis Group "Somebody Help Me" UK No. 1 for 2 weeks

15th April
The Rolling Stones album "Aftermath" released

Time magazine uses the phrase "Swinging London".

16th April
The Celestial Toymaker 3: "The Dancing Floor"

Liverpool seal the First Division title for the seventh time in their history with a 2–0 home win over Stoke City.

19th April
Ian Brady and Myra Hindley go on trial at Chester Crown Court, charged with the three Moors Murders.

23rd April
The Celestial Toymaker 4: "The Final Test"

28th April
Dusty Springfield "You Don't Have to Say You Love Me" UK No. 1

30th April
The Gunfighters 1: "A Holiday for the Doctor"

Regular hovercraft service begins over the English Channel (discontinued 2000 due to Channel Tunnel.)
Liverpool win the Football League First Division title for the second time in three seasons.

Also this month: Herb Alpert & the Tijuana Brass set a world record by placing five albums simultaneously on Billboard's Pop Album Chart, with four of them the Top 10. Their music outsells The Beatles by a margin of two-to-one... over 13 million recordings. They win 4 Grammys this year.

May

1st May
The Beatles, The Rolling Stones and the Who perform at the New Musical Express' poll winners' show in London. The show is televised, but The Beatles' and The Stones' segments are omitted because of union conflicts.

3rd May
Swinging Radio England and Britain Radio commence broadcasting on AM with a combined potential 100,000 watts from the same ship anchored off the south coast of England in international waters.

5th May
Manfred Mann "Pretty Flamingo" UK No. 1 for 3 weeks

6th May
The Moors Murderers Ian Brady and Myra Hindley are sentenced to life imprisonment for three child murders committed between November 1963 and October 1965. Brady is guilty of all three murders and receives three concurrent terms of life imprisonment, while Hindley is found guilty of two murder charges and an accessory charge which receives two concurrent life sentences alongside a seven-year fixed term.

7th May

The Gunfighters 2: "Don't Shoot the Pianist"

11th May
The Small Faces album "The Small Faces" released

12th May
African members of the UN Security Council say that the British army should blockade Rhodesia.

13th May
The Rolling Stones release "Paint It, Black", which becomes the first number one hit single in the US and UK to feature a sitar (in this case played by Brian Jones).

14th May

The Gunfighters 3: "Johnny Ringo"

Everton win the FA Cup with a 3–2 win over Sheffield Wednesday in the final at Wembley Stadium, despite going 2–0 down in the 57th minute.

16th May 
The Beach Boys album "Pet Sounds" released

A strike called by the National Union of Seamen starts ending on 16 July.

17th May – Bob Dylan and the Hawks (later The Band) perform at the Free Trade Hall, Manchester, England. Dylan is booed by the audience because of his decision to tour with an electric band, the boos culminating in the famous "Judas" shout.

18th May
Home Secretary Roy Jenkins announces that the number of police forces in England and Wales will be cut to 68.

21st May
The Gunfighters 4: "The OK Corral"

26th May
The Rolling Stones "Paint It, Black" UK No. 1 
Guyana achieves independence from the United Kingdom.

28th May
The Savages 1

30th May
Them, fronted by Van Morrison, begin a three-week stint as the headliner act at the Whisky a Go Go. On the last night June 18, they were joined on stage by that week's opening act The Doors. Van and Jim Morrison sang "Gloria" together.

June

2nd June
Frank Sinatra "Strangers in the Night" UK No 1 for 3 weeks

4th June
The Savages 2

6th June
BBC1 television sitcom Till Death Us Do Part begins its first series run.

At Gallatin, Tennessee, 25-year-old Claudette Frady-Orbison, while motorcycycle riding with her husband Roy Orbison, is killed when her motorcycle was struck by a pickup truck.

11th June
The Savages 3

18th June
The Savages 4

22nd June
FILM: "Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?" directed by Mike Nichols, starring Elizabeth Taylor, (Best Actress Oscar), Richard Burton, George Segal, Sandy Dennis

23rd June
The Beatles "Paperback Writer" UK No.1 for 2 weeks

25th June
The War Machines 1

27th June
Bob Dylan album "Blonde on Blonde"

The Mothers of Invention "Freak Out!"

29th June
Barclays Bank introduces the Barclaycard, the first British credit card.

July

2nd July
The War Machines 2

The Beatles become the first musical group to perform at the Nippon Budokan Hall in Tokyo. The performance ignites protests from local citizens who felt that it was inappropriate for a rock and roll band to play at Budokan.

3rd July
31 arrests made after a protest against the Vietnam War outside US embassy turns violent.

7th July
The Kinks "Sunny Afternoon" UK No. 1 for 2 weeks

9th July
The War Machines 3

11th July
England, as the host nation, begin their World Cup campaign with a goalless draw against Uruguay at Wembley Stadium.

12th July
Zambia threatens to leave the Commonwealth because of British peace overtures to Rhodesia.

13th July
FILM: "How To Steal a Million" directed by William Wyler, starring Audrey Hepburn and Peter O'Toole

14th July
Gwynfor Evans becomes member of Parliament for Carmarthen, the first ever Plaid Cymru MP, after his victory at a by-election.

15th July
A ban on black workers at Euston railway station is overturned.

16th July
The War Machines 4 [end of Season 3]

England's World Cup campaign continues with a 2–0 win over Mexico (goals coming from Bobby Charlton and Roger Hunt) that moves them closes to qualifying for the next stage of the competition.

Prime Minister Harold Wilson flies to Moscow to try to start peace negotiations over the Vietnam War. The Soviet Government refutes his ideas.

20th July
Start of 6-month wage and price freeze.
England qualify for the next stage of the World Cup with a 2–0 win over France in their final group game. Roger Hunt scores both of England's goals.

21st July
Georgie Fame and the Blue Flames "Getaway" UK No. 1

22nd July
John Mayall album "Blues Breakers with Eric Clapton" released

23rd July
England beat Argentina 1–0 in the World Cup quarter-final thanks to a goal by Geoff Hurst.

26th July
England reach the World Cup final by beating Portugal 2–1 in the semi-final. Bobby Charlton scores both of England's goals.

28th July
Chris Farlowe "Out of Time" UK No. 1

29th July
Bob Dylan is involved in a motorcycle accident. Or is he...?

FILM: "Lt. Robin Crusoe, U.S.N." starring Dick Van Dyke and Nancy Kwan

30th July

England beat West Germany 4-2 to win the 1966 World Cup at Wembley. Geoff Hurst scores a hat-trick and Martin Peters scores the other English goal in a game which attracts an all-time record UK television audience of more than 32,000,000.

FILM: "Batman" starring Adam West, Burt Ward, Burgess Meredith, Cesar Romero, Lee Meriwether, Frank Gorshin

Some time over the summer -
Patrick McGoohan quits the popular spy series Danger Man after filming only two episodes of the fourth season, in order to produce and star in The Prisoner, which begins filming in September.

August

1st August
Everton sign Blackpool's World Cup winning midfield player Alan Ball, Jr. for a national record fee of £110,000.
"Midsummer Serenades: A Mozart Festival" is held – the first Mostly Mozart Festival.

2nd August
Spanish government forbids overflights of British military aircraft.

4th August
The Troggs "With a Girl Like You" UK No. 1 for 2 weeks

The Kray Twins are questioned in connection with a murder in London.

5th August
The Beatles album "Revolver" released

FILM: "Daleks - Invasion Earth 2150 AD" starring Peter Cushing

10th August
George Brown succeeds Michael Stewart as Foreign Secretary.

11th August
John Lennon holds a press conference in Chicago, Illinois to apologize for his remarks the previous March. "I suppose if I had said television was more popular than Jesus, I would have gotten away with it. I'm sorry I opened my mouth. I'm not anti-God, anti-Christ, or anti-religion. I was not knocking it. I was not saying we are greater or better."

12th August
Three policemen are shot dead in Shepherd's Bush, West London, while sitting in their patrol car in Braybrook Street.

15th August
John Whitney is arrested and charged with the murder of three West London policemen.

16th August
FILM: "Carry On Screaming!" starring Harry H. Corbett and Kenneth Williams.

17th August
John Duddy is arrested in Glasgow and charged with the murder of three West London policemen.
The Moscow Radio Symphony Orchestra becomes the first major overseas orchestra to perform at The Proms.

18th August
The Beatles "Yellow Submarine" / "Eleanor Rigby" UK No.1 for 4 weeks

24th August
Tom Stoppard's Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead is first staged, at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe.

FILM: "Fantastic Voyage" directed by Richard Fleischer, starring Stephen Boyd and Raquel Welch

29th August
The Beatles perform their last official concert at Candlestick Park in San Francisco, California.

September

3rd September
Barely five months after the death of Barry Butler, a second Football League player this year dies in a car crash; 30-year-old John Nicholson, a Doncaster Rovers centre-half who previously played for Port Vale and Liverpool.

5th September
Selective Employment Tax imposed.

10th September

The Smugglers 1 [start of Season 4]

12th September
The first episode of The Monkees is broadcast on NBC Television.


15th September
Small Faces "All or Nothing" UK No. 1

Britain's first Polaris submarine, HMS Resolution, launched at Barrow-in-Furness.

16th September
Eric Burdon records a solo album after leaving The Animals and appears on "Ready, Steady, Go", singing "Help Me Girl", a UK #14 solo hit. Also on the show are Otis Redding and Chris Farlowe.

FILM: "Fahrenheit 451" directed by François Truffaut, starring Julie Christie and Oskar Werner 

17th September
The Smugglers 2

19th September
Scotland Yard arrests Ronald "Buster" Edwards, suspected of being involved in the Great Train Robbery (1963).

22nd September
Jim Reeves "Distant Drums" UK No. 1 for 5 weeks

24th September
The Smugglers 3

28th September
FILM: "The Bible: In The Beginning", directed by John Huston, starring Stephen Boyd, Franco Nero, Ava Gardner, Richard Harris, Peter O'Toole

October

2nd October

The Smugglers 4

The four-part serial Talking to a Stranger, acclaimed as one of the finest British television dramas of the 1960s, begins transmission in the Theatre 625 strand on BBC2.

9th October
The Tenth Planet 1

10th October
Simon & Garfunkel album "Parsley, Sage, Rosemary and Thyme" released.

16th October
The Tenth Planet 2

18th October
The Ford Cortina MK2 is launched.

20th October
437,229 people are reported to be unemployed in Britain – a rise of some 100,000 on last month's figures.

21st October
Aberfan disaster in South Wales, 144 (including 116 children) killed by collapsing coal spoil tip.

22nd October
The Tenth Planet 3

British spy George Blake escapes from Wormwood Scrubs prison; he is next seen in Moscow.Spain demands that United Kingdom stop military flights to Gibraltar – Britain says "no" the next day.

25th October
Spain closes its Gibraltar border against vehicular traffic.

27th October
Four Tops "Reach Out I'll Be There" UK No. 1 for 3 weeks

28th October
The Kinks album "Face to Face" released

29th October
The Tenth Planet 4

William Hartnell makes his last regular appearance as the Doctor in the concluding moments. Patrick Troughton briefly appears as the Second Doctor.

November

5th November

The Power of the Daleks 1

Thirty-eight African states demand that the United Kingdom use force against Rhodesian government.

9th November
John Lennon meets Yoko Ono when he attends a preview of her art exhibition at the Indica Gallery in London.
The Rootes Group launches the Hillman Hunter, a four-door family saloon to compete with the Austin 1800, Ford Cortina and Vauxhall Victor.

12th November
The Power of the Daleks 2

15th November
Harry Roberts is arrested near London and charged with the murder of three policemen in August.

16th November
The BBC television drama Cathy Come Home, filmed in a docudrama style, is broadcast on BBC1 in The Wednesday Play anthology strand. Viewed by a quarter of the British population, it is considered influential on public attitudes to homelessness and the related social issues it deals with.

17th November
The Beach Boys "Good Vibrations" UK No.1 for 2 weeks

19th November
The Power of the Daleks 3

24th November
Unemployment sees another short rise, now standing at 531,585.

26th November

The Power of the Daleks 4

30th November
Barbados achieves independence.

December

1st December
Tom Jones "Green, Green Grass of Home" UK No.1 for 7 weeks

Prime Minister Harold Wilson and Rhodesian Prime minister Ian Smith negotiate on HMS Tiger in Mediterranean.

3rd December

The Power of the Daleks 5

5th December
Buffalo Springfield album "Buffalo Springfield"

9th December
Cream album "Fresh Cream"

The Who album "A Quick One"

10th December
The Power of the Daleks 6

 

12th December
Harry Roberts, John Whitney and John Duddy are sentenced to life imprisonment (each with a recommended minimum of thirty years) for the murder of three policemen in West London.

14th December
FILM: "A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum" directed by Richard Lester, starring Zero Mostel, Jack Gilford, Phil Silvers, Michael Crawford

16th December
The Jimi Hendrix Experience release their first single in the UK, "Hey Joe".

17th December
The Highlanders 1

20th December
Harold Wilson withdraws all his previous offers to Rhodesian government and announces that he agrees to independence only after the founding of black majority government.

22nd December
Rhodesian Prime minister Ian Smith declares that he considers that Rhodesia is already a republic.

24th December
The Highlanders 2

28th December
Alice in Wonderland, a TV film starring John Gielgud, Peter Cook, Peter Sellers is broadcast

30th December
FILM: "One Million Years B.C." starring Raquel Welch

31st December
The Highlanders 3

Thieves steal millions of pounds worth of paintings from Dulwich Art Gallery in London.