Timeline February 1964

Events in February 1964 7

• 1963 – 1964 "Hello, Dolly!" -- Number 1 at 62 Armstrong records 'Hello, Dolly!' in December 1963 -- a cheerful, swinging version of the title song from the Broadway musical. Released in February 1964, it reaches Number 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 in May 1964 -- displacing the Beatles at the height of Beatlemania and making Armstrong, at 62, the oldest artist ever to have a Number 1 single. The achievement is both commercially remarkable and musically apt: Armstrong's voice has become the most recognisable in American popular music, and 'Hello, Dolly!' captures its warmth and vitality perfectly.
• 1964 1964 Winter Olympics IX Winter Games - Innsbruck The army had to bring in 20,000 ice blocks due to lack of snow. Winner: Soviet Union.
• 1964 The Detours become The Who Shepherd's Bush, London Daltrey, Townshend and Entwistle rename their band. Keith Moon joins in the spring.
• 1964 Ed Sullivan Show appearance 73 million viewers — February 9, 1964 The Beatles appeared on The Ed Sullivan Show on February 9, 1964, watched by an estimated 73 million Americans — 34% of the US population. It launched the British Invasion and transformed American pop culture overnight.
• 1964 G.I. Joe action figure launched Hasbro introduces the first "action figure" Hasbro debuted G.I. Joe at the American International Toy Fair, coining the term "action figure" to market a poseable doll to boys. It became one of the best-selling toy lines of the twentieth century.
• 1964 – 1997 Chris Farley (1964-1997) Died 18 December 1997, aged 33 Chris Farley was an American comedian and Saturday Night Live cast member known for physical comedy sketches and films including Tommy Boy and Black Sheep. He died of a drug overdose in Chicago at age 33. His death drew comparisons to that of his idol John Belushi.
• 1964 Cassius Clay defeats Sonny Liston for the heavyweight title Clay later adopts the name Muhammad Ali The 22-year-old Clay upset the heavily favoured Liston in Miami Beach to win the world heavyweight boxing championship. Days later he announced his conversion to the Nation of Islam and adopted the name Muhammad Ali.