Born in 1963

What things cost in 1963

1963 figures are annual averages of the published monthly (or quarterly) values. “Today’s dollars” uses the Consumer Price Index for September 2026; “latest” is the most recent published price. Sources: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, U.S. Census Bureau, U.S. Department of Labor, via FRED.

Who was in charge in 1963

United States

John F. Kennedy, then Lyndon B. Johnson (President)

United Kingdom

Elizabeth II (Queen); Harold Macmillan, then Alec Douglas-Home (Prime minister)

Soviet Union

Nikita Khrushchev (General Secretary); Leonid Brezhnev (Chairman of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet); Nikita Khrushchev (Chairman of the Council of Ministers)

People's Republic of China

Mao Zedong (Chairman; Paramount Leader); Liu Shaoqi (President); Zhou Enlai (Premier)

France

Charles de Gaulle (President); Georges Pompidou (Prime minister)

East Germany

Walter Ulbricht (Chairmen of the State Council); Otto Grotewohl (Chairman)

West Germany

Heinrich Lübke (President); Konrad Adenauer, then Ludwig Erhard (Chancellor)

Japan

Hirohito (Emperor)

Republic of India

Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan (President); Jawaharlal Nehru (Prime minister)

From Wikipedia’s List of state leaders in the 20th century (1951–2000) (revision 1371751893), each name checked against Wikidata. Every country in 1963 →

No. 1 songs of 1963

1. “Telstar” — The Tornados (1 week)
2. “Go Away Little Girl” — Steve Lawrence (2 weeks)
3. “Walk Right In” — The Rooftop Singers (2 weeks)
4. “Hey Paula” — Paul & Paula (3 weeks)
5. “Walk Like a Man” — The Four Seasons (3 weeks)
6. “Our Day Will Come” — Ruby & the Romantics (1 week)
7. “He's So Fine” — The Chiffons (4 weeks)
8. “I Will Follow Him” — Little Peggy March (3 weeks)
9. “If You Wanna Be Happy” — Jimmy Soul (2 weeks)
10. “It's My Party” — Lesley Gore (2 weeks)
11. “Sukiyaki” — Kyu Sakamoto (3 weeks)
12. “Easier Said Than Done” — The Essex (2 weeks)
13. “Surf City” — Jan and Dean (2 weeks)
14. “So Much in Love” — The Tymes (1 week)
15. “Fingertips (Part II)” — Little Stevie Wonder (3 weeks)
16. “My Boyfriend's Back” — The Angels (3 weeks)
17. “Blue Velvet” — Bobby Vinton (3 weeks)
18. “Sugar Shack” — Jimmy Gilmer and the Fireballs (5 weeks)
19. “Deep Purple” — Nino Tempo & April Stevens (1 week)
20. “I'm Leaving It Up to You” — Dale & Grace (2 weeks)
21. “Dominique” — The Singing Nun (4 weeks)

Weeks at No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 with issue dates in 1963, from List of Billboard Hot 100 number ones of 1963 (Wikipedia revision 1357528700).

Famous people born in 1963

• January 26 – José Mourinho, Portuguese football manager source
• August 9 – Whitney Houston, African American R&B vocalist, wife of Bobby Brown (died 2012) source
• March 2 – Anthony Albanese, 31st Prime Minister of Australia source
• February 17 – Michael Jordan, American basketball player source
• June 9 – Johnny Depp, actor, producer and musician source
• January 7 – Rand Paul, U.S. Senator from Kentucky from 2011 source
• April 18 – Conan O'Brien, American television entertainer and talk show host source
• April 30 – Michael Waltrip, race car driver source
• September 6 – Geert Wilders, Dutch politician and critic of Islam source
• December 23 – Jim Harbaugh, American football player and coach source
• 27 April – Russell T Davies, Welsh screenwriter and television producer source
• December 8 – Lee Jae-myung, president of South Korea source
• March 27 – Quentin Tarantino, American actor, director, writer and producer source
• September 26 – Joe Nemechek, stock car driver source
• June 25 – George Michael, British singer-songwriter (died 2016) source

What happened in 1963

• January 19 – Soviet spy Gheorghe Pintilie is removed from his position as Deputy Interior Minister of the Romanian People's Republic, as a step in ensuring Romania's political independence; the Workers' Party Politburo discusses way of neutralizing "Soviet intelligence networks [...] which Gheorghe Pintilie had coordinated." source
• January 2 – Vietnam War – Battle of Ap Bac: The Viet Cong win their first major victory. source
• January 9 – A total penumbral lunar eclipse is visible in the Americas, Europe, Africa and Asia, and is the 56th lunar eclipse of Lunar Saros 114. Gamma has a value of −1.01282. It occurs on the night between Wednesday, January 9 and Thursday, January 10, 1963. source
• 15 February – The first TV station was launched on Channel 5. Regular television transmissions only started from 2 April. source
• 18 March – The president of the United States John F. Kennedy began a three-day visit to Costa Rica to meet with the presidents of Central America to promote his Alliance for Progress programme to resist the influence of communism, from Cuba and the Soviet Union, by providing American economic aid to promote economic development and political reform in Latin America. source
• 1 February – Two airplanes collided over Ankara. 87 deaths source
• 13 February – Daniel Auster (born 1893), Austro-Hungarian (Galicia)-born Israeli politician, the first Jewish Mayor of Jerusalem. source
• January 29 – French President Charles de Gaulle vetoes the United Kingdom's entry into the European Common Market. source