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1965 Trivia, History and Fun Facts |
Quick Facts from 1965Table of Contents |
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Top Ten Baby Names of 1965Lisa, Mary, Karen, Kimberly, Susan, Michael, John, David, James, Robert |
The Hotties, Fashion Icons, and Sex SymbolsUrsula Andress, Brigitte Bardot, Carroll Baker, Claudia Cardinale, Julie Christie, Yvonne Craig, Catherine Deneuve, Angie Dickinson, Shirley Eaton, Barbara Eden, Jane Fonda, Virna Lisi, Sophia Loren, Tina Louise, Ann-Margret, Julie Newmar, Kim Novak, Sue Peterson, Diana Rigg, Tura Satana, Edie Sedgwick, Elke Sommer, Stella Stevens, Monica Vitti |
Sex Symbols, Leading Men, and Hollywood HunksSean Connery, Mick Jagger, Robert Redford, Tom Jones, Elvis Presley |
“The Quotes”“Sorry about that, Chief” “Caution: Cigarette Smoking May Be Hazardous To Your Health” “Turn on, tune in, and drop out” |
Time Magazine’s Man of the YearWilliam Westmoreland |
Miss AmericaVonda Van Dyke (Phoenix, AZ) |
Miss USASue Ann Downey (Ohio) |
US PoliticsJanuary 20, 1965 (Wednesday) Second inauguration of Lyndon B. Johnson. The US had no Vice President for all of 1964. Lyndon Johnson never named a replacement. Hubert Humphrey became VP when he was inaugurated in 1965. A US Senate subcommittee predicted that by the year 2000 Americans would be working 20 hours a week and vacationing 7+ weeks a year. |
ScandalPete Best released an album in 1965 called Best of the Beatles that contained no Beatles music but fooled so many people into buying it that it was investigated for consumer fraud. The case was dropped because no fraud had been committed because he was Best, of the Beatles. |
The Beatles At Shea StadiumIt was the first single-band mega-concert. The Beatles played at Shea Stadium in New York. Before this, people performed for much smaller audiences, even Elvis or Frank Sinatra. The Beatles went on stage at 9:02 p.m. and were finished by 9:36 p.m. 34 Minutes. There was only the stadium sound system and a few hundred watts of sound for the band, who did not have monitors to hear each other. Three days later at their concert in Atlanta, a local audio company set up stage monitors for the band, a first. During The Beatles’ 1964 and 1965 tours of North America, the concerts would often end with Paul’s wild vocal version of Little Richard’s hit-song Long Tall Sally. Paul McCartney had played the song Long Tall Sally to impress John Lennon when the two met for the very first time. The Beatles also refused to play to a segregated audience as stipulated in their contract in 1965. |
1965 Pop Culture Facts & History:
The Tongan Castaways were six boys who stole a boat and were stranded on a deserted island in 1965, staying there for 15 months before rescue. Called a real-life Lord of the Flies, the boys built a “commune” with a garden, permanent fire, gym, and badminton court. The snowboard was invented on Christmas Day, 1965, in Muskegon, Michigan, by Sherman Poppen, who was trying to distract his kids from his pregnant wife. It was originally called The Snurfer. The flag of Canada was adopted on February 15, 1965. Cosmonaut Alexei Leonov was the first person to ‘walk’ in space on March 18th, next to the Voskhod 2. Astronaut John Young smuggled an illegal corned beef sandwich onboard the Gemini 3 spacecraft in 1965. He was given the first reprimand in NASA space mission history, and his snack remains the only contraband sandwich ever to make it into space. On December 16, 1965, astronauts Wally Schirra and Tom Stafford became the first people to perform music in space when they played Jingle Bells on harmonica and bells that they smuggled onto the Gemini VI. NASA, as a practical joke, played a parody of Hello Dolly, one of the biggest hits of the year, to wake the Gemini 6 crew in 1965. That started the tradition of waking astronauts up with songs. After being rejected by 20 publishers, Frank Herbert’s 1965 sci-fi classic Dune was finally picked up by Chilton Books. The publisher was previously known only for those big car repair manuals sold in auto parts stores. Oceanic Airlines was at the center of Lost, but Oceanic has been mentioned dozens of times in Pop Culture, starting with a 1965 episode of Flipper. Julie Andrews was the lead in the original Broadway production of My Fair Lady, but not in the 1964 film due to not being well-known enough; the role eventually went to Audrey Hepburn. Julie won the 1965 Best Actress Oscar over Hepburn for playing Mary Poppins. Slumber Party Barbie dolls came with a diet book entitled How to Lose Weight telling her “Don’t eat!” and a bathroom scale set at 110 lbs. In May 1965, Minnesota’s “Twin Cities” were at different times for two weeks when St. Paul and Minneapolis disagreed on when to start Daylight Saving Time. The most successful Bond movie ever is Thunderball, released in 1965. The movie made over $141 million, over $1 billion today when inflation is adjusted. James Russell invented the compact disc in 1965, although the public first got the first taste of this invention in 1980. The first use of the F-word on television was on November 13, 1965, by literary agent Kenneth Tynan during a satirical discussion show on the BBC. The first-ever “swear word” heard on American prime-time network TV was “damn” by “Miss Pringle” and was uttered on an episode of Favorite Martian in 1965. Al Primo, news director of Philadelphia’s KYW Channel 3, coined the term “Eyewitness News.” In 1965, Bob Dylan said that if he ever sold out to a commercial interest, it would be “ladies’ garments.” In 2007, he and his music appeared in a Victoria’s Secret commercial. One of Aretha Franklin’s most popular songs, Respect, is a cover and was originally recorded by Otis Redding in 1965. |
On The Rolling Stones record sleeves between 1963 and 1965, the band used the songwriter pseudonym “Nanker/Phelge” for collaborations where all band members took equal credit. The lyrics from The Byrds’ 1965 song Turn! Turn! Turn! is taken almost verbatim from the book of Ecclesiastes in the King James Bible. Joseph Licklider’s 1962 idea became a reality with his Intergalactic Computer Network in 1965, the first internet. The largest newspaper to ever be printed for one day was the New York Times. It was a Sunday, October 17, 1965. The paper had 15 sections with 946 pages and weighed 7 1/2 lbs. Mammoth Bone Hut’ is the oldest house structure in the world – it is 15,000 years old and was found in 1965 near Kyiv, Ukraine. The first T.G.I. Friday’s restaurant opened in Manhattan. Pickleball is a game that combines elements of badminton, tennis, and ping pong and has been around since 1965. Gatorade was developed by the University of Florida in 1965 to give its players a competitive boost. The name comes from the UoF mascot, the Florida Gators. Dick Butkus was drafted by both the Chicago Bears (NFL) and the Denver Broncos (AFL) in 1965, then had a few days to decide where to play. He chose the Bears for less money. |
Vietnam WarMilton Olive III sacrificed his own life to save a group of soldiers by jumping onto a live grenade. He was posthumously awarded the Medal of Honor award, becoming the first African American of the Vietnam War to do so. A Quaker named Norman Morrison set himself on fire in the parking lot of the Pentagon to protest the Vietnam War. |
Lurleen Wallace (September 19, 1926 – May 7, 1968)Lurleen Wallace was the first female governor of Alabama. Elected in 1967 and died 18 months later in office from cancer. Diagnosed in 1961, the doctor (as was the custom at that time) told her husband, Gov. George Wallace, who then kept the information secret from her until 1965. |
The HabitsBouncing Wham-O’s Super-balls, Troll Dolls (Year 3) |
1st Appearances & 1965’s Most Popular Christmas Gifts, Toys and PresentsOperation, Moon McDare action figures, James Bond Aston Martin from Corgi, Aurora Models, Green Ghost Game, Bash! Game, Flea Circus, Super Ball (which could bounce at 92% of the prior bounce), Rock Em’ Sock Em’ Robots, Mystery Date |
Best Film Oscar WinnerMy Fair Lady (presented in 1965) |
Broadway ShowMan of La Mancha (Musical) Opened on November 22, 1965, and closed on June 26, 1971 |
Popular and Best-selling Books From 1965The Ambassador by Morris West |
1965 Most Popular TV Shows1. Bonanza (NBC) |
1965 Billboard Number One SongsDecember 26, 1964 – January 15, 1965: January 16 – January 22: January 23 – February 5: February 6 – February 19: February 20 – March 5: March 6 – March 12: March 13 March 26: March 27 – April 9: April 10 – April 23: April 24 – April 30: May 1 – May 21: May 22 – May 28: May 29 – June 11: June 12 – June 18: June 19 – June 25: June 26 – July 2: July 3 – July 9: July 10 – August 6: August 7 – August 13: August 14 – September 3: September 4 – September 24: September 25 – October 1: October 2 – October 8: October 9 – November 5: November 6 – November 19: November 20 – December 3: December 4 – December 24: December 25, 1965 – December 31, 1965: |
SportsWorld Series Champions: Los Angeles Dodgers |
More 1965 Facts & History Resources:Most Popular Baby Names (BabyCenter.com) |
