UK Number Ones

 

Artist	Song Title	Weeks at Number One	Date
The Beatles	I Feel Fine	5	08-12-1964
The Rolling Stones	Little Red Rooster	1	01-12-1964
The Supremes	Baby Love	2	17-11-1964
Roy Orbison	Oh Pretty Woman (2nd time)	1	10-11-1964
Sandie Shaw	Always Something There To Remind Me	3	20-10-1964
Roy Orbison	Oh Pretty Woman	2	06-10-1964
Hermans Hermits	Im Into Something Good	2	22-09-1964
The Kinks	You Really Got Me	2	08-09-1964
The Honeycombs	Have I The Right	2	25-08-1964
Manfred Mann	Do Wah Diddy Diddy	2	11-08-1964
The Beatles	A Hard Days Night	3	21-07-1964
The Rolling Stones	Its All Over Now	1	14-07-1964
The Animals	House Of The Rising Sun	1	07-07-1964
Roy Orbison	Its Over	2	23-06-1964
Cilla Black	Youre My World	4	26-05-1964
The Four Pennies	Juliet	1	19-05-1964
The Searchers	Dont Throw Your Love Away	2	05-05-1964
Peter and Gordon	World Without Love	2	21-04-1964
The Beatles	Cant Buy Me Love	3	31-03-1964
Billy J. Kramer and The Dakotas	Little Children	2	17-03-1964
Cilla Black	Anyone Who Had A Heart	3	25-02-1964
The Bachelors	Diane	1	18-02-1964
The Searchers	Needles and Pins	3	28-01-1964
The Dave Clark 5	Glad All Over	2	14-01-1964

Three Protest Songs

January, Only a pawn in their game, Bob Dylan

March, Mississippi Goddam, Nina Simone

December, A change is goona come, Sam Cooke (who died that month)

Anti-war Songs

In 1964 there were many anti-wr songs including
"There but for Fortune" "One More Parade" and "Talkin' Vietnam" by American Phil Ochs
"Universal Soldier" and "Now That The Buffalo's Gone" by Canadian Buffy Sainte-Marie
"With God on Our Side" by Bob Dylan
"Apache Tears" and "The Ballad of Ira Hayes" by Johnny Cash
"What Did You Learn in School Today?" by American Tom Paxton

Goldfinger

This year saw the release of the third James Bond film with Sean Connery in the tite role. The previous ones were Dr No and From Russia with love. Gold Finger was based on the 1959 novel of the same name by Ian Fleming. It also starred Honor Blackman as Bond girl Pussy Galore and Gert Fröbe as the title character Auric Goldfinger, along with Shirley Eaton as the iconic Bond girl Jill Masterson. It is said that Fleming took the name from architect Ernő Goldfinger. Shirley Bassey sang the song Goldfinger at the beginning.

Aswan Dam, Egypt

In 1964 the first dam construction stage was completed and the reservoir started filling

Mary Poppins

The American musical fantasy film Mary Poppins was released August 27, 1964, to critical acclaim and commercial success. It was the highest-grossing film of 1964 and, at one time, Disney's highest-grossing film ever. It received 13 Academy Awards nominations and won five (Best Actress [Julie Andrews]; Film Editing; Original Music Score; Visual Effects; Original Song [Chim Chim Cher-ee]). Mary Poppins is considered Walt Disney's crowning live-action achievement, and is the only one of his films which earned a Best Picture nomination in his lifetime.

Director: Robert Stevenson; Producer: Walt Disney; Songs written and composed by the Sherman Brothers; Screenplay: Bill Walsh and Don DaGradi. Based on P. L. Travers's book series Mary Poppins.

The film was shot entirely at Walt Disney Studios, Burbank, California, using painted London background scenes.

Richard Burton marries Elizabeth Taylor

The actors Richard Burton and Elizabeth Taylor married (for the first time) in Montreal, Canada, on March 15, 1964.

Boston Strangler Arrested

It was in this year that Albert Henry DeSalvo (1931-1973) was arrested. He was an American rapist and serial killer in Boston, Massachusetts, who purportedly confessed to being the "Boston Strangler," the murderer of 13 women in the Boston area from 1962 to 1964. In 1967, DeSalvo was imprisoned for life for committing a series of rapes. However, his murder confession has been disputed and debate continues as to which crimes he actually committed.

In 1968, a film about the murders, The Boston Strangler, was released, with DeSalvo being portrayed by Tony Curtis.

In July 2013, DNA was matched between seminal fluid found at the rape and murder of Mary Sullivan and DNA obtained from DeSalvo's nephew, linking DeSalvo to the murder of Sullivan and excluding 99.9% of the remaining population. Authorities exhumed DeSalvo's remains later that month and confirmed the DNA match.

Birth of Dan Brown

Daniel Gerhard Brown was born on June 22, 1964. He is an American author best known for his thriller novels, including the Robert Langdon novels Angels & Demons (2000), The Da Vinci Code (2003), The Lost Symbol (2009), Inferno (2013), and Origin (2017). His novels are treasure hunts which usually take place over a period of 24 hours and feature recurring themes - cryptography, art and conspiracy theories. His books have been translated into 57 languages and, as of 2012, have sold over 200 million copies. Three (Angels & Demons, The Da Vinci Code and Inferno have been adapted into films).

The Robert Langdon novels are deeply engaged with Christian themes and historical fiction, and have generated controversy. Brown states on his website that his books are not anti-Christian and he is on a "constant spiritual journey" himself. He claims that The Da Vinci Code is simply "an entertaining story that promotes spiritual discussion and debate" and suggests that the book may be used "as a positive catalyst for introspection and exploration of our faith." One doubts it.

Birth of Keanu Reeves

On September 2 the Canadian actor Keanu Reeves was born in Beirut. He was raised in Toronto.