WHAT ALL HAPPENED APRIL TO AUGUST 1964
Find out what all happened April to August 1964

World War II veteran Walter Seifert runs amok in an elementary school in Cologne, Germany, killing at least eight children and two teachers and seriously injuring several more with a home-made flamethrower and a lance. (11. June 1964)

Vietnam War: Operation Pierce Arrow – American aircraft from carriers USS Ticonderoga and USS Constellation bomb North Vietnam in retaliation for strikes against U.S. destroyers in the Gulf of Tonkin. (5. August 1964)

Charlie Wilson, one of the Great Train Robbers, escapes from Winson Green Prison in Birmingham, England, United Kingdom. (12. August 1964)

Ranger program: Ranger 7 sends back the first close-up photographs of the moon, with images 1,000 times clearer than anything ever seen from earth-bound telescopes. (31. July 1964)

A Transit-5bn satellite fails to reach orbit after launch; as it re-enters the atmosphere, 2.1 pounds (0.95 kg) of radioactive plutonium in its SNAP RTG power source is widely dispersed. (21. April 1964)

Malawi declares its independence from the United Kingdom. (6. July 1964)

BBC Two launches with a power cut because of the fire at Battersea Power Station. (20. April 1964)

First ascent of Shishapangma the fourteenth highest mountain in the world and the lowest of the Eight-thousanders. (2. May 1964)

The 1964-1965 New York World's Fair opens for its first season. (22. April 1964)

Vietnam War: 5,000 more American military advisers are sent to South Vietnam bringing the total number of United States forces in Vietnam to 21,000. (27. July 1964)

American civil rights movement: civil rights workers Michael Schwerner, Andrew Goodman and James Chaney are found dead in Mississippi after disappearing on June 21. (4. August 1964)

Vietnam War: Viet Cong forces attack the capital of Dinh Tuong Province, Cai Be, killing 11 South Vietnamese military personnel and 40 civilians (30 of which are children). (20. July 1964)

Anti-apartheid activist and ANC leader Nelson Mandela is sentenced to life in prison for sabotage in South Africa. (12. June 1964)

Prometheus, a bristlecone pine and the world's oldest tree, is cut down. (6. August 1964)

Peter Allen and Gwynne Evans are hanged for the Murder of John Alan West becoming the last people executed in the United Kingdom. (13. August 1964)

At the Academy Awards, Sidney Poitier becomes the first African-American male to win the Best Actor award for the 1963 film Lilies of the Field. (13. April 1964)

The Philadelphia race riot begins. (28. August 1964)

Tanganyika and Zanzibar merge to form Tanzania. (26. April 1964)

The Beatles occupy the top five positions on the Billboard Hot 100 pop chart. (4. April 1964)

The U.S. President Lyndon B. Johnson announces the goals of his Great Society social reforms to bring an "end to poverty and racial injustice" in America. (22. May 1964)