1962 Burmese coup d'état
The 1962 Burmese coup d'état on 2 March 1962 marked the beginning of one-party rule and the political dominance of the army in Burma (now Myanmar) which spanned the course of 26 years. In the coup, the military replaced the civilian AFPFL-government, headed by Prime Minister U Nu, with the Union Revolutionary Council, Chaired by General Ne Win.


1962 Burmese coup d'état
In the first 12 years following the coup, the country was ruled under martial law, and saw a significant expansion in the military's role in the national economy, politics, and state bureaucracy. Following the constitution of 1974, the Revolutionary Council handed over power to the elected government, consisting of a single-party, the Burma Socialist Programme Party, which had been founded by the council in 1962.


1962 Burmese coup d'état
The elected government remained hybrid between civilian and military, until 18 September 1988, when the military again took over power as the State Law and Order Restoration Council (then renamed the State Peace and Development Council) following the nationwide 8888 Uprising and virtual breakdown of the socialist regime. The military junta retained power for 23 years until 2011, when it was transferred to the Union Solidarity and Development Party.


1962 Burmese coup d'état, Background
After the end of the Second World War and Burma's independence in 1948, Burma became a democratic socialist country and joined the Non-Aligned Movement. The elected Prime Minister U Nu appointed Ne Win as Chief of Staff of the Armed Forces, on 1 February 1949, and was given total control of the army, replacing General Smith Dun, an ethnic Karen.


1962 Burmese coup d'état, Background
However, the degraded economy and social disorder placed emphasis on the military. In October 1958, when instability in society rose to a level approaching a national security crisis, the civilian government and Prime Minister U Nu asked the military and Ne Win to step in as a temporary caretaker government. Once the political order had been restored, the caretaker government was expected to execute general elections and restore civilian rule.


1962 Burmese coup d'état, Background
Public support for the army was strengthened after the army facilitated the 1960 elections and acknowledged the authority of the elected civil government Anti- Fascist People's Freedom League (AFPFL), led by U Nu.


1962 Burmese coup d'état, Background
Yet the general public continued to perceive the elected government as corrupt, inept at ruling the country, and unable to restore law and order in a Burmese society characterised by ever-increasing crime rates. The military continued to be perceived as crucial to ensuring social stability, which was a high priority among the Burmese people following years of colonialism and World War II.


1962 Burmese coup d'état, Coup d'état
Less than two years after the caretaker government had handed power back to the AFPFL-government, on 2 March 1962, Ne Win again seized power in a military-staged coup d'état. Ne Win became head of state as Chairman of the Union Revolutionary Council and also Prime Minister. He arrested U Nu, Sao Shwe Thaik, and several others, and declared a socialist state run by a "Revolutionary Council" of senior military officers. Sao Shwe Thaik's son, Sao Mye Thaik, was shot dead in what was generally described as a "bloodless" coup by the world's media. Thibaw Sawbwa Sao Kya Seng also disappeared mysteriously after being stopped at a checkpoint near Taunggyi.


1962 Burmese coup d'état, Coup d'état
Following riots at Rangoon University in July 1962, troops were sent to restore order. They fired on protesters and destroyed the student union building. Shortly afterward, Ne Win addressed the nation in a five-minute radio speech which concluded with the statement: "If these disturbances were made to challenge us, I have to declare that we will fight sword with sword and spear with spear." On 13 July 1962, less than a week after the speech, Ne Win left for Austria, Switzerland, and the United Kingdom "for a medical check up".


1962 Burmese coup d'état, Coup d'état
All universities were closed for more than two years until September 1964.


1962 Burmese coup d'état, Coup d'état
In 1988, 26 years later, Ne Win denied any involvement in the dynamiting of the Student Union building, stating that his deputy Brigadier Aung Gyi, who by that time had fallen out with Ne Win and been dismissed, had given the order to dynamite the building. Ne Win further stated that he himself, as a "revolutionary leader", had to take responsibility for the incident by giving the "sword with sword and spear with spear" speech.


1962 Burmese coup d'état, Coup d'état, Strategy
Due to the AFPFL-government's weak position in society, the coup was not unexpected, and Ne Win had been urged to seize power by members of the army. Several foreign governments considered the military takeover a logical, if not positive, development.


1962 Burmese coup d'état, Coup d'état, Strategy
The coup was executed with the arrest of Prime Minister U Nu, five other cabinet members, the Chief of Justice, and around thirty politicians and former leaders from the states of Shan and Kayah. Only one person was killed, the son of general Sao Shwe Thaik, which is why the coup has been described as bloodless.


1962 Burmese coup d'état, Coup d'état, Strategy
The descriptions of the coup vary in the scholarly literature, when it comes to how militarily coordinated the coup was. According to historian Robert H. Taylor, Ne Win assumed power in secrecy, without the knowledge of even the deputy commander of the armed forced, Brigadier General Aung Gyi. Just 28 officers were involved in the operation, and only Ne Win knew the date of the coup.


1962 Burmese coup d'état, Coup d'état, Strategy
In contrast, historian Mary P. Callahan describes the coup as a highly coordinated military accomplishment that "deployed troops and tanks in an overt seizure of power." Whereas Taylor ascribes greater influence to Ne Win as an individual in staging the coup, Callahan mentions Ne Win as one amongst a number of agents, including field commanders, tank commanders, and administrative personnel, who were involved in the coup. In fact, Callahan argues that the coup illustrated that the military acted as a united, bureaucratised entity, and that it might be this unity that explains the durability of the authoritarian rule that followed.


1962 Burmese coup d'état, Causes for the coup
There have been various explanations to why the military, headed by Ne Win, staged the military coup less than two years after acknowledging the authority of the civilian government.


1962 Burmese coup d'état, Causes for the coup
A reason, which is highlighted by multiple historians, is that the coup was a response to a growing fear within the army that the Union of Burma was drifting towards disintegration under the AFPFL-Government.


1962 Burmese coup d'état, Causes for the coup
This explanation resonates with the one given by the army in the official press release following the coup. By 1962 the integrity of the country was seen as threatened by the two minorities, the Shan and Kayah, who were claiming their right, given by the 1947 constitution, to withdraw from the Union. On top of this the Shan leaders were beginning to form an armed opposition against Yangon to claim Shan "national determination".


1962 Burmese coup d'état, Causes for the coup
The army and Ne Win saw it as their responsibility to protect the cohesion of the Union and in the official press release the coup was presented as a necessity due to the policies of the AFPFL-government. Especially problematic was U Nu's attempt to make Buddhism the state religion, since it contributed to the Christian minorities' motivation to fight for autonomy.


1962 Burmese coup d'état, Causes for the coup
Furthermore, the army believed that the federal system and parliament-style government was inherently weak and encouraged local autonomy. The multiple voices represented in parliament were seen as evoking instability and enhancing ethnic differences that would bring down the Union. The army thus argued that there was a need for a strong central government to secure the integration of the nation.


1962 Burmese coup d'état, Causes for the coup
Furthermore, the military rule justified the abolition of the political system by saying that multi-party democracy served the wealthy in society in being open to politicians representing capitalists and landlords. This critique of the political system served both as a reason for conducting the coup but also as a justification of the state structures and policies that were implemented in the subsequent years.


1962 Burmese coup d'état, Causes for the coup
The increased autonomy in peripheral areas was also seen as problematic in terms of external threats. The army believed that if the areas got too independent they would attract foreign powers – a risk that seemed great with the Cold War context of 1962. In 1962 it was clear that the United States had a great interest in Asian countries bordering communist powers, which meant that Burma was a possible subject of interest with the country's borders to China.


1962 Burmese coup d'état, Causes for the coup
If the union dissolved and the Shan and Kayah States claimed autonomy it meant that the states could pursue independent foreign policy and engage in alliances with powerful states like the United States. Due to the international security status an alliance like this would create a significant security threat to the rest of the country, with an increased risk of a conflict between the United States and China on Burmese territory.


1962 Burmese coup d'état, Causes for the coup
Furthermore, the regional context served as argument to prevent the union from dissolving. The instability of divided Vietnam and Laos underlined the need to retain central control with the frontier states. In this scenario of external threats and an internal threat of disintegration, the civilian government was perceived as inadequate to protect the country.


1962 Burmese coup d'état, Causes for the coup
Additionally, personal rivalry in the government damaged the cohesion and the power of the already weak AFPFL. In turn, Ne Win and the army feared that a split in the party would induce further instability. This fear was enhanced when U Nu announced that he would not run for office in the following election, which in turn increased the incentive to stage the coup.


1962 Burmese coup d'état, Causes for the coup
Historians differ when it comes to the importance of Ne Win as an individual leader in explaining why the coup was established and successfully executed. Aung Thwin & Aung Thwin argue that Ne Win possessed political legitimacy founded in Burmese culture and history, which enabled him to seize power in the 1962 coup. Ne Win's political credentials were based on his fighting for the country in the 1940s and the fact that he served as a trusted lieutenant to Aung San, who was considered to be a national hero.


1962 Burmese coup d'état, Causes for the coup
In contrast Callahan argues that neither the specific character of Ne Win nor the threat of disintegration were the decisive causes for the staging of the coup, since these factors were present throughout the 1950s, without them leading to an army intervention. Instead Callahan suggests that the coup was a result of inter-elite conflicts over the state structures, and who possessed the legitimate claim on the state. Long-term structural development led to shifting fortunes of the military and political elites, which created: "...winners and losers, rulers and ruled, citizens and enemies."


1962 Burmese coup d'état, Causes for the coup
By the time of the coup in 1962 the state was structured in favour of the military, which had developed into a "bureaucratized, and central institution, capable of eliminating such challenges to its claims over state power."


1962 Burmese coup d'état, Causes for the coup
The consolidation of the military was a result of lengthy periods of wars, as well as intra-military struggles, which led to a purge of army commanders who had tense relationships with Ne Win. In this way Callahan argues that Ne Win seized power at a time where there were no genuine obstacles due to the strong character of the military.


1962 Burmese coup d'état, Political system, Revolutionary council
Immediately after the coup Ne Win and a number of senior military officers formed the Revolutionary Council, which consisted of sixteen senior military officers and Ne Win as the council's chairman. Furthermore, the Revolutionary Government Cabinet was established with eight senior military officers from the Council. Ne Win also chaired this group. The aim of Revolution Council was to lead an anti-colonial revolution and reassert the state.


1962 Burmese coup d'état, Political system, Revolutionary council
Revolutionary council replaced the AFPFL-government and the day after the establishing of the new governmental body, the council abolished fundamental state institutions established with the 1947 constitution. This included the two houses of the Hluttaw (the parliament), the central legislature and the regional councils – the channel of communication from the ethnic states to Yangon. The bureaucratic power embedded in these institutions was transferred to the Revolutionary Council and Ne Win.


1962 Burmese coup d'état, Political system, Revolutionary council
The concentration of power in the hands of Ne Win continued on 5 March 1962 when he undertook all executive, legislate and judicial authority by virtue of being the Chairman of the Revolutionary Council. As head of both the Revolutionary Council and the Revolutionary Government Cabinet Taylor argues that: "...Ne Win in theory possessed all state power and thus achieved a position of formal dominance within the state unprecedented since 1885."


1962 Burmese coup d'état, Political system, Revolutionary council
The Revolutionary Council's political dominance was further ensured by making all institutions that were not eliminated by law dependent on the council either through their personnel or through finances, which prevented them from organising any opposition.


1962 Burmese coup d'état, Political system, Revolutionary council
The coup created a policy vacuum, where the Revolutionary Council and Ne Win could realise their ideas for society, but Ne Win needed a rationale for implementing his political agenda that would resonate with the population. This led to the formulation of the Burmese Way to Socialism, which was presented to the public on 7 May 1962.


1962 Burmese coup d'état, Political system, The Burmese Way to Socialism
The state ideology The Burmese Way to Socialism had the aim of centralising the economy and limiting foreign influence on businesses. The anti-communist military resorting to a leftist ideology was perceived a surprising by external agents. But according to Historian Maung A. Myoe the inclusion of Marxism strengthened and prolonged the political dominance of the army, since it enabled the neutralisation of the communism, while projecting the army as revolutionary institution that could ensure the population's socialists' demands.


1962 Burmese coup d'état, Political system, The Burmese Way to Socialism
In a security perspective the leftist state ideology furthermore minimised the risk of Chinese attacks, which in 1962 constituted the largest external threat to Myanmar.


1962 Burmese coup d'état, Political system, The Burmese Way to Socialism
To secure public support of the ideology the Marxist elements were supplemented with Buddhist concepts to create ideological objectives that were compatible with the morals of the country's Buddhist majority. The socialism applied thus became a localised version, fitted to the Burmese identity. The priorities in the ideological framework were the establishing of a socialist economy and the interests of the peasants, who comprised the largest group in society, and potentially the biggest threat to the government. To distinguish the Burmese Way to Socialism from communism, Ne Win argued that the socialist system of Burma should benefit all people of society and that the business class was not seen as the enemy, as long as they supported the Revolutionary Council.


1962 Burmese coup d'état, Political system, The Burmese Way to Socialism
In this sense the objective was a national social revolution across classes. However, since the peasants made up the largest group in society and since this class was perceived as having been neglected under colonial rule as well as by the post-colonial governments, policies to improve the economy and conditions of peasants were prioritised. Furthermore, it was believed that by focusing on the peasants in terms of a coherent social class rather than ethnicity the integration of society could be improved. The notion of ethnicity should be neutralised by developing new community affiliations based on a national cultural identity and a shared public history founded in a Buddhist past.


1962 Burmese coup d'état, Political system, The Burmese Way to Socialism
The implementation of the new ideology was Leninist in its implementation, in the sense that the Revolutionary Council wanted to form a single, legal political party through which all participatory processes would take place. In a meeting on 17 May between the revolutionary council and the civilian party leaders, the leaders announced that they would not participate in establishing a single political party and refused to endorse the Burmese Way to Socialism.


1962 Burmese coup d'état, Political system, The Burmese Way to Socialism
According to Taylor it has been debated if the party leaders thought the military would eventually give up its power to the civilian parties, like they had done following the elections in 1960. It has also been suggested that the AFPFL may have expected that the military would, in one way or another, share power with the party, whom it had cooperated with prior to the coup. With the rejection of the civilian parties to conform to the Burmese Way of Socialism, the Revolutionary Council began the building of a party consisting of the political elite, and on 4 July 1962 the Burma Socialist Programme Party (BSPP) was presented. All remaining parties were banned by law.


1962 Burmese coup d'état, Political system, Burma Socialist Programme Party
Initially the BSPP was only made up by members of the Revolutionary Council but eventually it also attracted politicians, especially the left-oriented. Furthermore, Ne Win included civil servants and former politicians who were ready to conform to the military rule in the BSPP. Aung Thwin and Aung Thwin argue that the inclusion of individuals, who were a part of the previous administration, is a trait that can be seen in the behaviour of Burmese Kings prior to the colonial rule. The kings used ministers that have served under previous royal opponents.


1962 Burmese coup d'état, Political system, Burma Socialist Programme Party
Aung Thwin and Aung Thwin thus suggest that this strategy of engaging people from the former administration in the new political organs is an indigenous historical feature in Myanmar. The opportunity to be a part of BSPP was especially popular among the people, who had been kept outside the power elite of the AFPFL-government.


1962 Burmese coup d'état, Political system, Burma Socialist Programme Party
The objective of the BSPP was to be the main channel for participation and mobilisation of people to support the state. The political orientation of the BSPP was described as the middle way between social democracy and communism, and the party should represent all working people. Thus the party was conceived as an alternative to the parties, which made up the previous governments and was categorised in terms of being either right or left oriented. By claiming to represent all the people the party also aimed at distinguishing itself from communism, which formed an opposition to the landlords and capitalists.


1962 Burmese coup d'état, Political system, Burma Socialist Programme Party
In the first decade following the formation of the BSPP the revolutionary council enjoyed the supremacy over the party. This was in accordance with the party's constitution, which stated that he Revolutionary Council was "the supreme authority of the party during the transitional period of its construction". This hierarchy should later be reversed so the BSPP would lead the Revolutionary Council, and in 1974 with the formation of a new constitution the party took the political leadership in the general elections.


1962 Burmese coup d'état, Aftermath and effects
Multiple scholars, including Aung Thwin & Aung Thwin and Taylor, describe how the coup at first didn't affect the lives of the general population in Myanmar. To the majority of the population who worked in agriculture the coup initially improved the living conditions due to the military regimes egalitarian politics which prioritised the peasant. One obvious change for people, though, was that the new power elite would consist of army generals and the channel to obtain status was a military career.


1962 Burmese coup d'état, Aftermath and effects
Due to the public trust in the military's capabilities as a keeper of law and order and with the historical precedence from the election in 1960, which suggested that the military would act professionally and hand back power to a civilian government when the time was right, the military coup was met with little objection – neither from domestic nor international actors. According to Aung Thwin & Aung Thwin: "There were no riots or demonstration against it; no country broke diplomatic relations or recalled their ambassadors to reprimand them and certainly no sanctions were imposed."


1962 Burmese coup d'état, Aftermath and effects
For foreign actors like the United States the coup and the military's anti-communist agenda was considered timely and beneficial, since the military was considered to be able to curb communism and restore political order. Furthermore, no foreign powers opposed the coup since the Revolutionary Council reassured that Myanmar's foreign policy of neutrality in the Cold War would continue.


1962 Burmese coup d'état, Aftermath and effects
Despite the limited immediate implication for society at large the military coup resulted in comprehensive societal changes in the subsequent years with the Revolutionary Council's implementation of their policies founded in the Burmese Way to Socialism.


1962 Burmese coup d'état, Aftermath and effects
As stated above the coup resulted in the abolition of the 1947 constitution, which eliminated major state institutions and concentrated the power in the Revolutionary Council. From its powerful position the council began a vast nationalisation of the economy, a declaration that all political opposition to the regime was illegal, elimination of institutions rivalling the state and direct government control over legal, cultural and educational institutions as well as all publishing in Myanmar. Furthermore, the military implemented secular policies and broke the tradition of cooperation with the Buddha Sasana Council.


1962 Burmese coup d'état, Aftermath and effects
To re-establish what was considered the indigenous Burmese culture and to distinguish the country from its colonial past it became a political objective to move away from values and culture that was considered foreign and external. Concretely the government made Burmese the official language of the Union – as opposed to English. Other initiatives were the promotion of Burmese literature and the changing of street names that referred to prominent British individuals into names of famous Burmese persons. Even Western funding programmes such as the Fulbright scholarship programmes were shut down to ensure that no channels of external influence remained. These policies continue to have implications in Burma today, where English is spoken to a very narrow degree in the general public.


1962 Burmese coup d'état, Aftermath and effects
Burma also turned away from the outside world when it came to the economic policies. By the mid 1960s Myanmar's foreign trade declined and the ratio of foreign trade to GDP declined from 40 per cent in 1960 to 26 per cent in 1970.


1962 Burmese coup d'état, Aftermath and effects
The economic policies focused on realising the objective of creating a socialist economy, but initially the question of the nationalisation of the economy constituted a point of conflict within the Revolutionary Council. On 24 April the council met for a two-day meeting to discuss the Burmese Way of Socialism in detail before publishing the statement, and the issue which caused the most negotiations was the question of nationalisation.


1962 Burmese coup d'état, Aftermath and effects
On 1 January 1963 the Burmese oil industry was nationalised, but only when council member Aung Gyi, who had been pro private businesses, resigned on 8 February 1963 did a comprehensive nationalisation of both foreign and domestic trade as well as the manufacturing and banking sector begin. By March 1964 – two years after the coup – the main part of Myanmar's economy was nationalised.


1962 Burmese coup d'état, Aftermath and effects
Due to the Burmese Way to Socialism's focus on improving the lives of the peasants the government chose to prioritise agriculture over industry and manufacturing by initiating policies that directed investment and resources towards the agricultural sector. But during the 26 years of military rule this shift in focus away from the industrial sector had great repercussion for the Burmese economy. By the mid 1980s the neglect of the industrial sector and policies of protecting the peasants from over-taxation and land-seizure meant that the state had limited ability to generate capital to maintain even the most basic services in society.


1962 Burmese coup d'état, Aftermath and effects
Despite promising the opposite the government demonetised the kyat in 1985 which damaged the public trust in the government. The combination of the demonetisation and the drop in the price of rice and timber severely harmed the population and the agrarian economy. People began taking money out of the banks as yet another demonetisation occurred, which resulted in protests amongst the urban population. The economic downturn meant that the state could not pay its foreign loans, which led to the UN's categorisation of Burma as the Least Developed Country in 1987.


1962 Burmese coup d'état, Aftermath and effects
According to Taylor, the lack of economic and democratic development in Burma during the 26 years of military rule under Ne Win resulted in the uprising of 1988, where people in a nationwide demonstration opposed the military dominance in the name of democracy.


1962 Burmese coup d'état, Significance of the 1962 coup
Different aspects of the coup can be highlighted as significant depending on how the historical events following the coup are being read and analysed. From the scholarly literature three different narratives of the period following the coup can be deduced:


1962 Burmese coup d'état, Significance of the 1962 coup
A common understanding of the coup is the framing of the coup and the decades that followed as a period of autocracy. In this narrative the significance of the coup becomes the military's ability to retain power and suppress democratisation for 26 years. One scholar who to a large extent framed the significance of the coup within this narrative is Callahan, who investigates how the coup brought civilian rule in Burma to "such a definitive end," when authoritarian regimes in neighbouring countries got replaced with more or less democratic political systems. Callahan describes the period that follows the coup as one characterised by significant military presence in society.


1962 Burmese coup d'état, Significance of the 1962 coup
Another narrative can be characterised as cosmopolitan and frames the significance of the coup in terms of the following isolation from the international society and disconnectedness due to the state's economic and cultural detachment from the outside. Elements of this narrative are evident in Taylor's account, where the period from 1962 to 1988 is described as one where: "...the state in Burma appeared to much of the rest of the world as isolated and sui generis." Furthermore, Taylor describes how the state practised an economic as well as "general disengagement" from the world, where the Revolutionary Council turned inward to build a new state structure.


1962 Burmese coup d'état, Significance of the 1962 coup
Finally the military's decisions to implement policies that distanced Burma from the external world can be understood as period of genuine independence, where the significance of the coup is to be found in the emotional autonomy that came from being economic and cultural independent from British colonial rule. An example of this narrative is found in Aung Thwin & Aung Thwin's analysis, where it is said that the cultural policies of the Revolutionary council were formulated to restore the Burmese culture and "...reject (perhaps forget) the humiliating colonial past." In the same way the policies which protected the peasants from over-taxation and land-seizure are suggested to be a response to the colonial rulers hard taxation of peasants. Within this narrative the significance of the coup is the genuine independence and autonomy that it facilitated.


1962 CFL season
The 1962 Canadian Football League season is considered to be the ninth season in modern-day Canadian football, although it is officially the fifth Canadian Football League season.


1962 CFL season, CFL News in 1962
The Canadian Football Hall of Fame was established in Hamilton.


1962 CFL season, CFL News in 1962
The 50th Grey Cup game, nicknamed "The Fog Bowl", was postponed due to fog on Saturday, December 1. The final 9 minutes and 29 seconds was played on Sunday as the Winnipeg Blue Bombers defeated the Hamilton Tiger-Cats, 28–27 to win their third championship in four years.


1962 CFL season, CFL News in 1962
This was the most recent CFL season with average attendance of under 20,000 spectators per game.


1962 CFL season, Regular season standings, Final regular season standings
Note: GP = Games Played, W = Wins, L = Losses, T = Ties, PF = Points For, PA = Points Against, Pts = Points


1962 CFL season, Playoff bracket, Grey Cup Championship
50th Annual Grey Cup Game: Exhibition Stadium – Toronto, Ontario


1962 CONCACAF Champions' Cup
The 1962 CONCACAF Champions' Cup was the 1st edition of the annual international club football competition held in the CONCACAF region (North America, Central America and the Caribbean), the CONCACAF Champions' Cup. It determined that year's club champion of association football in the CONCACAF region.


1962 CONCACAF Champions' Cup
The tournament was contested by eight teams from seven different nations: Netherlands Antilles, Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Haiti, Honduras and Mexico. The tournament was played from 25 March 1962 to 21 August 1962.


1962 CONCACAF Champions' Cup
The tournament was split in three zones (North American, Central American and Caribbean), each one qualifying the winner to the final tournament, where the winners of the Central and Caribbean groups played a semi-final to decide who was going to play against the Northern group champion in the final. All the matches in the tournament were played under the home/away match system.


1962 CONCACAF Champions' Cup
CD Guadalajara won that final, and became the first CONCACAF club champion.


1962 CONCACAF Youth Tournament
The 1962 CONCACAF Youth Tournament was the first international association football championship tournament for youth national teams in the CONCACAF region, North and Central America and the Caribbean. This tournament is the forerunner of the current CONCACAF Under-20 Championship. The tournament took place in Panama City, Panama and was won by Mexico.


1962 Cache Valley earthquake
The 1962 Cache Valley earthquake was a magnitude Mw5.9 earthquake that occurred on Thursday, 30 August 1962 at approximately 6:35 AM MT north of Richmond, Utah, United States, at the border between Utah and Idaho. No people were killed in the quake. The quake caused between US$1–2 million in damages.


1962 Cache Valley earthquake, Earthquake
The 1962 Cache Valley earthquake occurred on Thursday, 30 August 1962 at 6:35 AM MT at the border of Utah and Idaho, north of Richmond, Utah in the United States. In addition to Utah and Idaho, the quake was felt in Colorado, Montana, Nevada, and Wyoming.


1962 Cache Valley earthquake, Earthquake, Magnitude and intensity
There is disagreement on the size of this earthquake. The United States Geological Survey report shows a magnitude Mw5.9, and the report from the Intermountain Seismic Belt Historical Earthquake Project at the University of Utah shows a magnitude of Mw5.7. At least one news outlet stated the University of Utah recorded the quake as being a magnitude Mw5.5. The intensity was reported as VII ("Very Strong").


1962 Cache Valley earthquake, Destruction
Property damages were estimated between US$1–2 million (US$8.5–17 million in 2020). At the time of the quake, it was the most costly in the history of Utah. Most of the damage was in Richmond, but the nearby towns of Logan, Franklin, Lewiston, and Preston also had some damage.


1962 Cache Valley earthquake, Destruction
The building with the most significant damage was the LDS Benson Stake Tabernacle in Richmond, which was eventually torn down due to the extensive structural issues caused by the quake. Several older houses also had to be torn down due to the damage received. There was extensive damage to North Cache High School, headstones in the cemetery were knocked over, and many houses had collapsed chimneys and masonry, broken windows, and cracked walls. The high school had to be closed for repairs.


1962 Cache Valley earthquake, Destruction
No people were killed in the quake. One person was cut on her foot by a broken bottle.


1962 Cache Valley earthquake, Legacy
A commemorative event was held in Richmond on 30 August 2012.


1962 Cal Poly Mustangs football team
The 1962 Cal Poly Mustangs football team represented California Polytechnic State University during the 1962 NCAA College Division football season. Cal Poly competed in the California Collegiate Athletic Association (CCAA).


1962 Cal Poly Mustangs football team
The team was led by first-year head coach Sheldon Harden and played home games at Mustang Stadium in San Luis Obispo, California. They finished the season with a record of four wins and five losses (4–5, 3–3 CCAA).


1962 Cal Poly Mustangs football team, Team players in the NFL
No Cal Poly Mustangs were selected in the 1963 NFL Draft.


1962 Cal Poly Mustangs football team, Team players in the NFL
The following finished their college career in 1962, were not drafted, but played in the NFL.


1962 Cal Poly Pomona Broncos football team
The 1962 Cal Poly Pomona Broncos football team represented Cal Poly Kellogg-Voorhis Unit during the 1962 NCAA College Division football season. Cal Poly played as an independent in 1962.


1962 Cal Poly Pomona Broncos football team
Cal Poly Pomona was led by sixth-year head coach Don Warhurst. They played home games at Kellogg Field in Pomona, California. The Broncos finished the season with a record of nine wins and one loss (9–1). Overall, the team outscored its opponents 219–74 for the season. They were ranked as high as 12 in the UPI Small College poll, and finished the year ranked #13.


1962 Cal Poly Pomona Broncos football team, Team players in the NFL
No Cal Poly Pomona players were selected in the 1963 NFL Draft.


1962 Calgary Stampeders season
The 1962 Calgary Stampeders finished in 2nd place in the Western Conference with a 9–6–1 record. They were defeated in the Western Finals by the Winnipeg Blue Bombers.


1962 California Golden Bears football team
The 1962 California Golden Bears football team was an American football team that represented the University of California, Berkeley in the Athletic Association of Western Universities (AAWU) during the 1962 NCAA University Division football season. In its fourth year under head coach Marv Levy, the team compiled a 1–9 record (0–4 against AAWU opponents), finished in last place in the AAWU, and was outscored by its opponents by a combined total of 247 to 143.


1962 California Golden Bears football team
The team's statistical leaders included Craig Morton with 905 passing yards, Alan Nelson with 334 rushing yards, and Bill Turner with 537 receiving yards. Morton was later inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame.


1962 California gubernatorial election
The 1962 California gubernatorial election was held on November 6, 1962. The Democratic incumbent, Pat Brown, ran for re-election against former Vice President and 1960 Republican presidential nominee Richard Nixon. In his concession speech, Nixon accused the media of favoring his opponent Brown, stating that it was his "last press conference" and "You won't have Nixon to kick around any more." Six years later, Nixon was elected President of the United States.


1962 California gubernatorial election, Election background
Edmund G. (Pat) Brown Sr. was a relatively popular Democratic governor in California who was first elected in 1958. At the time, California was generally considered a Republican stronghold, with Republican governors and senators from the end of World War II until the election of Democrat Clair Engle to the Senate in 1958, and Brown's election as governor the same year. The state voted for Eisenhower in 1952 and 1956, and Nixon carried the state over John F. Kennedy in the 1960 Presidential election.


1962 California gubernatorial election, Election background
In 1962, with popular incumbent Senator Thomas Kuchel essentially guaranteed to win re-election, the Republican Party felt it could also gain the governorship and win the state back from the Democrats. They turned to former Vice President Richard Nixon, the biggest name at the time in the California Republican Party. Having been elected Senator in 1950 and carrying the state against Kennedy in 1960, they also felt a convincing win could be a springboard for Nixon to challenge Kennedy again in 1964, since he narrowly lost to him in 1960.


1962 California gubernatorial election, Election background
However, the conservative Joe Shell challenged Nixon in the primary, and received support from the John Birch Society. Although Nixon beat Shell in the primary, 1,285,151 votes (65.4 percent) to Shell's 656,542 (33.4 percent), the contest was bitter, and Nixon did not reach out to conservative Shell supporters, which weakened him in the general election.


1962 California gubernatorial election, Election background
In a bitter and expensive campaign, Brown and Nixon campaigned with great zeal and effort. Nixon had a lead in the polls early on, but Brown lessened the margin as time went on. Still, come election day, Nixon was favored to win a relatively close election. Brown not only won, but he won by a surprising 5%.


1962 California gubernatorial election, Election background
A stunned and frustrated Nixon announced he was retiring from politics ("You won't have Nixon to kick around anymore"), a promise he would later rescind after running for president again in 1968; he won that election, and was later re-elected, but he resigned in disgrace in 1974 due to the Watergate scandal.


1962 California gubernatorial election, General election results, Results by county
Brown is the last Democratic gubernatorial nominee to have won Colusa and Modoc Counties.


1962 California lieutenant gubernatorial election
The 1962 California lieutenant gubernatorial election was held on November 6, 1962. Democratic incumbent Glenn M. Anderson narrowly defeated Republican nominee George Christopher with 51.42% of the vote.


1962 Cambodian general election
General elections were held in Cambodia on 10 June 1962. Only candidates of the Sangkum party were allowed to contest the election, although more than one candidate could run in a constituency. As a result, the party won all 77 seats.


1962 Campeonato Argentino de Rugby
The Campeonato Argentino de Rugby 1962 was won by the selection of Buenos Aires that beat in the final the selection of Unión de Rugby de Rosario. For the first time the final was played outside of Buenos Aires in Rosario.


1962 Campeonato Argentino de Rugby, Semifinals
Buenos Aires:  E. García, E. España, J. Orengo, J. Seaton, R. Abalos, A. Robson, 0. Aletta, W. Villar, J. Imhoff, A. Paván, M. Bouza, H. Ferraro, J. Gómez Kenny, J. Fernández Bussy, R. Esmondi. Mar del Plata   :  O. Sastre, G. Beverino, E. Corbacho, L. Prieto, A. Verde, C. Alonso, R. Meyes, L. Ferrari, A. Salinas, E. Ferrari, C. Olivera, J. Biffaretti, 0. Arroyo, J. Casanegra, S. Vial.


1962 Campeonato Argentino de Rugby, Semifinals
Buenos Aires:  F. Villamil, H. Goti, J. Queirolo, M. Molina, C. Blaksley, J. Lavayén, A. Etchegaray, D. Hogg, G. Montes de Oca, C. Álvarez, R. Schmidt, L. Varela, M. López Marti, H. Vidou, F. Álvarez. Cordoba  : H. Garutti, L. Rodríguez, E. Quetglas, J. Ramírez, J. Astrada, C. Feretti, J. Riciardello, R. Carballo, R. Loyola, E. Freguglia, J. Imas, A. González, R. Larrinaga, A. Gener, J. Cocco.


1962 Campeonato Argentino de Rugby, Semifinals, Final
Rosario: E. García, R. Abalos, J. Orengo, J. Seaton, E. España, A. Robson (capt. ), 0. Aletta, W. Villar, M. Paván, J. Imhoff, H. Ferraro, M. Bouza, R. Esmendi, F. Alonso, J. Gómez Kenny. Buenos Aires :  F. Villamil, H. Goti, M. Molina Berro, J. Queirolo, C. Blaksley, J. Lavayén, E. González del Solar, C. Álvarez, R. Hogg (capt. ), G. Montes de Oca, R. Schmidt, L. Varela, F. Álvarez, H. Vidou, M. López Martí.


1962 Campeonato Brasileiro Série A
The 1962 Campeonato Brasileiro Série A (officially the 1962 Taça Brasil) was the 4th edition of the Campeonato Brasileiro Série A. It began on September 2, 1962, and ended on April 2, 1963.


1962 Campeonato Brasileiro Série A, Format
The competition was a single elimination knockout tournament featuring two-legged ties, with a Tie-Break (play-off) if the sides were tied on points (however, if the tie-break was a draw, the aggregate score of the first two legs was used to determine the winner).


1962 Campeonato Carioca
The 1962 edition of the Campeonato Carioca kicked off on June 30, 1962 and ended on December 16, 1962. It was organized by FCF (Federação Carioca de Futebol, or Carioca Football Federation). Thirteen teams participated. Botafogo won the title for the 12th time. no teams were relegated.


1962 Campeonato Carioca, System
The tournament would be disputed in a double round-robin format, with the team with the most points winning the title.


1962 Campeonato Ecuatoriano de Fútbol
The 1962 Campeonato Ecuatoriano de Fútbol (English: Ecuadorian Football Championship) was the 4th national championship for football teams in Ecuador.


1962 Campeonato Ecuatoriano de Fútbol
Guayaquilean club Everest won their first national title, and earned a berth in the 1963 Copa de Campeones. To date, this is Everest's only national title.


1962 Campeonato Paulista
The 1962 Campeonato Paulista da Divisão Especial, organized by the Federação Paulista de Futebol, was the 61st season of São Paulo's top professional football league. Santos won the title for the 7th time. Taubaté was relegated and the top scorer was Santos's Pelé with 37 goals.


1962 Campeonato Paulista, Championship
The championship was disputed in a double-round robin system, with the team with the most points winning the title and the team with the fewest points being relegated.


1962 Campeonato Profesional
The 1962 Campeonato Profesional was the 15th season of Colombia's top-flight football league. 12 teams competed against one another. Millonarios won the league for the 7th time in its history, defending successfully the title won in the previous season.


1962 Campeonato Profesional, Background
The same 12 teams from the last tournament competed in this one. Millonarios won the championship for the seventh time. The runners-up were Deportivo Cali.


1962 Campeonato Profesional, League system
Every team played four games against each other team, two at home and two away. Teams received two points for a win and one point for a draw. If two or more teams were tied on points, places were determined by goal difference. The team with the most points is the champion of the league.


1962 Canada Cup
The 1962 Canada Cup took place 8–11 November at Jockey Club Golf in San Isidro, Buenos Aires, Argentina. It was the 10th Canada Cup event, which became the World Cup in 1967. The tournament was a 72-hole stroke play team event with 34 teams. These were the same teams that had competed in 1961 but without Paraguay and with the addition of Ecuador and Panama. Each team consisted of two players from a country. The combined score of each team determined the team results. The American team of Arnold Palmer and Sam Snead won by two strokes over the Argentine team of Fidel de Luca and Roberto De Vicenzo. The individual competition was won by Roberto De Vicenzo, who finished two shots ahead of Englishman Peter Alliss and Arnold Palmer.


1962 Canada Cup, Teams
Cerdá was representing Mexico, having played for Argentina from 1953 to 1957.


1962 Canadian federal election
The 1962 Canadian federal election (formally the 25th Canadian general election) was held on June 18, 1962 to elect members  of the House of Commons of Canada of the 25th Parliament of Canada. The governing Progressive Conservative (PC) Party had candidates elected to a plurality of seats in this election and its majority government reduced to a minority government.


1962 Canadian federal election
When the election was called, PC Prime Minister John Diefenbaker had governed for four years with the then-largest majority in the House of Commons in Canadian history.


1962 Canadian federal election
This election reduced the PCs to a tenuous minority government as a result of economic difficulties such as high unemployment and a slumping Canadian dollar, as well as unpopular decisions such as the cancellation of the Avro Arrow. Despite the Diefenbaker government's difficulties, the Liberal Party, led by Lester B. Pearson, was unable to make up enough ground in the election to defeat the government. For Social Credit, routed from the Commons just four years earlier, this election proved to be their most successful ever—they would never better the 30 seats won; for example, they lost seats in 1963 despite gaining a slightly better share of the vote.


1962 Canadian federal election
This was the first election in which all adult Canada's Indigenous Peoples had the right to vote after the passage on March 31, 1960 of a repeal of certain sections of the Canada Elections Act.


1962 Canadian federal election
For the first time ever, the entire land mass of Canada was covered by federal electoral districts (the former Mackenzie River riding was expanded to cover the entire Northwest Territories).


1962 Canadian federal election
This was also the first general election contested by the New Democratic Party.


1962 Canadian federal election, Overview
During its term of office, the Diefenbaker government had introduced reforms to social programs, a Canadian Bill of Rights, and other changes. The Tories tried to defend the decline in the Canadian dollar by pointing out the benefits to the tourism industry, exports, manufacturing and farming, and employment. They denied that the devaluation affected the price of bread, beef, gasoline and fruit and vegetables, saying that these prices were either set in Canada or were influenced by other factors.


1962 Canadian federal election, Overview
The Liberals campaigned under the slogan, "Take a stand for tomorrow", and attempted to portray the Diefenbaker government as "feeble", with a divided cabinet. The Liberals criticized the PCs for their "reckless mismanagement of finances", the slowdown in the Canadian economy, a lack of confidence in government policies, job losses, and a lower standard of living than in 1956. The Liberals also argued that the steep devaluation in the Canadian dollar was increasing the cost of living for Canadians.


1962 Canadian federal election, Overview
The 1962 election was the first contested by the social democratic New Democratic Party, which had been formed from an alliance between the old Co-operative Commonwealth Federation (CCF) and the Canadian Labour Congress. The party chose longtime Premier of Saskatchewan Tommy Douglas as its first leader. The new party recovered ground lost by the CCF in the 1958 federal election, when it was nearly wiped out. It won almost 50% more votes than the CCF had ever managed, but it failed to achieve the major breakthrough that had been hoped for when the party was created.


1962 Canadian federal election, Overview
The NDP was shut out in Saskatchewan, its political base, where Douglas failed to win his own seat. Douglas' campaign was hurt by chaos in Saskatchewan brought about by the introduction of Medicare and a resulting strike by the province's doctors. Douglas was forced to enter the House of Commons through a by-election in British Columbia. Despite the initial problems, medicare proved popular, spread throughout the country, and is considered the NDP's (and Douglas') major contribution to the Canadian social fabric.


1962 Canadian federal election, Overview
Social Credit returned to the House of Commons after being shut out in the 1958 election. While leader Robert N. Thompson and three other Socreds were elected in the party's traditional base in western Canada, the party's real success came in Quebec. Réal Caouette led the party's Quebec wing to victory in 26 ridings. Indeed, their win of 30 seats overall represented the party's greatest federal showing ever. They would never again equal, let alone surpass, that number—though the party gained its highest share of the vote in the 1963 election (1962 being its second-highest by a very close margin), it had a net loss of six seats.


1962 Canadian federal election, Overview
The Socreds' success in Quebec was the result of several factors. Diefenbaker's poor French impaired the Tories' ability to communicate their message to francophone voters. In 1958, the PC's had successfully compensated for this handicap by utilizing the powerful electoral machine of the Union Nationale government under Maurice Duplessis. By 1962, Duplessis was dead and the Union Nationale was out of government. Nevertheless, many francophone Quebecers remained hostile to the Liberal Party.


1962 Canadian federal election, Overview
French-speaking voters had not yet warmed to the anglophone Pearson, and the controversy surrounding the new Liberal provincial government's radical agenda badly hurt the Liberal brand in rural Quebec. Nevertheless, while the Liberals actually lost significant vote share in Quebec (they scored more than six percentage points less compared to 1958), the split in the centre-right vote meant they still managed a plurality there both in popular vote and seats—the Liberals actually gained ten seats in the province, despite the decline in vote share.


1962 Canadian federal election, Overview
In the end, despite their large losses the Tories' major saving grace was that the Liberals could win only seven seats west of Ontario; this election thereby began a pattern of the Tories dominating the provinces west of Ontario by large margins (with only occasional breakthroughs by the Liberals and NDP) and the Liberals being forced to rely on Ontario, Quebec and the Atlantic provinces, until the Tories' eventual demise as a party of government three decades later.


1962 Canadian federal election, Overview
The Tories were thus able to remain in power with the tacit support of the Socreds, as the two parties held enough seats between them to command a parliamentary majority. However, Diefenbaker declined to negotiate a more formal alliance between the two parties, something that would ultimately prove costly and result in the fall of his government the following year.


1962 Cannes Film Festival
The 15th Cannes Film Festival was held from 7 to 23 May 1962. The Palme d'Or went to the O Pagador de Promessas by Anselmo Duarte. The festival opened with Les Amants de Teruel, directed by Raymond Rouleau.


1962 Cannes Film Festival
During the Cannes Film Festival of 1961, Robert Favre le Bret, Artistic Director of the Cannes Film Festival, with the agreement of the French Union of Film Critics, had decided to establish the International Critics' Week during the next Festival. In 1962, this parallel section of the Festival took place for the first time. Its goal was to showcase first and second works by directors from all over the world, not succumbing to commercial tendencies.


1962 Cannes Film Festival, Jury
The following people were appointed as the Jury of the 1962 competition:


1962 Cannes Film Festival, Official selection, Films out of competition
The following films were selected to be screened out of competition:


1962 Cannes Film Festival, Official selection, Short film competition
The following short films competed for the Short Film Palme d'Or:


1962 Cannes Film Festival, Parallel section, International Critics' Week
The following feature films were selected to be screened for the 1st International Critics' Week (1e Semaine de la Critique):


1962 Cannes Film Festival, Awards, Official awards
The following films and people received the 1962 Official selection awards:


1962 Cape Grand Prix
The 5th Cape Grand Prix was a motor race, run to South African Formula One-style rules, held on 2 January 1962 at Killarney Motor Racing Complex, Cape Town, South Africa. The race was run over 60 laps of the circuit, and was won by British driver Trevor Taylor, in his Lotus 21.


1962 Cape Grand Prix
There were no great differences between the local rules to which this race was run and the international Formula One rules, but for example sports car bodies were permitted, such as the Porsche special driven by Jennings.


1962 Cape Grand Prix
The race was dominated by Taylor and Jim Clark, and they swapped the lead several times during the race, after Jo Bonnier had led for the first three laps. After Clark spun, Taylor was able to keep the lead for the last ten laps to take the victory.


1962 Cape Grand Prix
Local driver Vic Proctor's homebuilt car with its Alfa Romeo engine was deemed unraceworthy by the race organisers, and was excluded before Proctor set a time in practice.


1962 Central American and Caribbean Games
The 9th Central American and Caribbean Games were held in Kingston, the capital city of Jamaica from August 15 to August 28, 1962. This games included 1,559 athletes from fifteen nations. It took place days after the country had gained independence from the United Kingdom. It is the first and so far only Central American and Caribbean Games to be held in a non-Spanish-speaking country.


1962 Central Michigan Chippewas football team
The 1962 Central Michigan Chippewas football team represented Central Michigan University in the Interstate Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (IIAC) during the 1962 NCAA College Division football season. In their 12th season under head coach Kenneth "Bill" Kelly, the Chippewas compiled a 6–4 record (4–0 against IIAC opponents), won the IIAC championship, and outscored their opponents by a combined total of 209 to 195.


1962 Central Michigan Chippewas football team
The team's statistical leaders included quarterback Dick Moffit with 1,109 passing yards, Bill Shuple with 640 rushing yards, and halfback Gary Finnin with 361 receiving yards. Offensive guard Ralph Sofferdine and halfback Larry Moore received the team's most valuable player award. Five Central Michigan players (Moffit, Sofferdine, Moore, and defensive tackles George Alward and Uwe Wiese) received first-team honors on the All-IIAC team.


1962 Central Norfolk by-election
The Central Norfolk by-election of 1962 was held on 22 November 1962 after the death of the incumbent Conservative MP, Richard Collard. It was retained by the Conservative candidate Ian Gilmour.


1962 Central Norfolk by-election
Andrews serving in the British Armed Forces. The law stated that, on standing in a Parliamentary election, he would be released from the Forces; this was, therefore, a way to receive an early honourable discharge, for the cost of a lost deposit. The practice was banned the following year.


1962 Central State Bronchos football team
The 1962 Central State Bronchos football team represented Central State College—now known as the University of Central Oklahoma—during the 1962 NAIA football season. The team was led by head coach Al Blevins. They played their home games at Central Field in Edmond, Oklahoma. The Central squad finished the season with an undefeated record of 11–0, and won the NAIA Football National Championship over Lenoir–Rhyne in the Camellia Bowl.


1962 Ceylonese coup d'état attempt
The 1962 Ceylonese coup d'état attempt (also known as the Colonels' coup ) was a failed military coup d'état planned in Ceylon (Sri Lanka). A group of Christian officers in the military and police planned to topple the government of Prime Minister Sirima Bandaranaike during the night of 27 January 1962.


1962 Ceylonese coup d'état attempt
Organised by Colonel F. C. de Saram (Deputy Commandant, Ceylon Volunteer Force), Colonel Maurice De Mel, (Commandant, Ceylon Volunteer Force), Rear Admiral Royce de Mel (former Captain of the Royal Ceylon Navy), C.C. Dissanayake (DIG, Range I), Sydney de Zoysa (retired DIG) and Douglas Liyanage (Deputy Director of Land Development), it was to take place in the night of 27 January 1962, but was called off as the government gained information in the afternoon and initiated arrests of the suspected coup leaders before the coup was carried out.


1962 Ceylonese coup d'état attempt
The arrested conspirators were tried under a special law, convicted and jailed. Their sentences were overruled later on appeal as it found the new law violated the Ceylon constitution and denied fair trial. During the trial it was revealed that the coup had the backing of several former statesmen, and brought out the brewing conflict between the entrenched elites and the newly emerging elites in post-independence Sri Lanka.


1962 Ceylonese coup d'état attempt, Background
Ceylon gained independence from Britain in 1948 and was renamed the Dominion of Ceylon, marking the beginning of self-rule for the local population. However, much of the political, governmental and military leadership of the country was passed down from the British to the Ceylonese Christian elite, who had risen to positions of power largely owing to their education and religion. As a result, all of the high offices of state were held by these elites.


1962 Ceylonese coup d'état attempt, Background
In 1956 S.W.R.D. Bandaranaike, an Anglican who converted to Buddhism, was elected after a nationalistic movement in which he gathered the support of the Buddhist Sinhalese people majority of the country, who were considered underprivileged compared to the Christian minority. As promised during the election Bandaranaike began a rapid Sinhalisation of all parts of the government, which culminated in the passage of the controversial Sinhala Only Act. At the same time, he had the last of the British military bases in Ceylon removed and led a move towards a socialist form of economy.


1962 Ceylonese coup d'état attempt, Background
Prior to these changes, the officer corps of the army were composed of three-fifths Christian, one-fifth Tamil, and one-fifth Burgher. Bandaranaike moved to balance this by increasing the number of Buddhist Sinhalese officers. After sending the serving Inspector General of Police (IGP)  Osmund de Silva on compulsorily retirement for refusing to carryout Bandaranaike's orders which de Silva considered to be unlawful, Bandaranaike appointed a Buddhist civil servant, M. Walter F. Abeykoon from the Lands Settlement Department, over three other senior Christian police officers. This caused much resentment among these senior police officers, who tendered their resignations, which were later withdrawn.


1962 Ceylonese coup d'état attempt, Background
In 1959, Bandaranaike was assassinated leading to a period of political turmoil that resulted in his widow, Sirima Bandaranaike emerging as the leader of his party and gaining a majority in parliament, thus becoming the first female prime minister in the world in 1960. She continued her husband's policies, with Felix Dias Bandaranaike and N. Q. Dias serving as her close advisers.


1962 Ceylonese coup d'état attempt, Background
By 1961 resentment was building up among the Christians, who felt that they were systematically being eliminated. The regime appear to have targeted minority communities by taking over and renaming Catholic schools, whilst at the same time some of the elite Anglican schools were not targeted. Already by this point many Christians were leaving Ceylon mainly to the UK. The country's economy worsened, resulting in increasing cost of living and rising unemployment. The military coup by General Ayub Khan in Pakistan inspired a group of disenchanted officers to take action.


1962 Ceylonese coup d'état attempt, Background
In February 1961, the Federal Party launched a Satyagraha against the language policy of the government. The government responded by dispatching army units to the Jaffna District and declaring a state of emergency under the Public Security Act. Several Tamil leaders were arrested under emergency regulations and the Satyagraha came to a halt. The emergency regulations was in force till January 1963. This allowed the government to keep volunteer units (reservists) mobilized and used these units during trade union strikes and civil disturbance.


1962 Ceylonese coup d'état attempt, Background
In 1961, volunteer units were placed on compulsory leave without pay, reducing expenditure and retaining the units in mobilized state so that they could be recalled mpore quickly than in a mobilization. In October 1961, Felix Dias Bandaranaike Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of External Affairs issued an order to the service commanders to prepare for a series of strikes and rioting by Leftist and trade unions. The government at this stage delayed implementation of wage revisions based on the P. O. Fernando Committee Report on port labor, and the Wilmot Perera Report on the Public Service.


1962 Ceylonese coup d'état attempt, Background
This resulted in several strike action by port workers and the Ceylon Transport Board in November and December 1961, which was followed by a general strike. The Ceylon Volunteer Force was deployed and restored much of the operations. On 13 December 1961, Dr N. M. Perera said in parliament that Felix Dias Bandaranaike was making arrangements to rule the country with the army and navy. On 9 January 1962 Pieter Keuneman stated that there a situation was developing to create the basis for permanent military rule in the island; and on 12 January 1962 a statement by Wijeyananda Dahanayake claimed that someone in the government was preparing to set up a military dictatorship.


1962 Ceylonese coup d'état attempt, Events, 27 January 1962
The first indications of a threat to overthrow the government came on Saturday 27 January 1962, when the IGP Walter Abeykoon, who was at the Orient Club playing bridge was visited by Patrick de Silva Kularatne who had hurried to Colombo from Ambalangoda after receiving a call from his daughter Maya.


1962 Ceylonese coup d'état attempt, Events, 27 January 1962
Early that day, Kularatne's son-in-law, Stanley Senanayake, the Superintendent of Police (SP) (Colombo) in-charge of police for the city of Colombo had a morning walk at Galle Face Green with C.C. Dissanayake, the Deputy Inspector General of Police (DIG) for Range I. During the walk Dissanayake had approached Senanayake for his assistance in a secret operation that was due to take place that night. As chief of police for Colombo, his cooperation was vital for the operation to succeed.


1962 Ceylonese coup d'état attempt, Events, 27 January 1962
Returning home, Senanayake was uneasy with the nature of the operation and confided in his wife Mala Senanayake the details which had been shared with him by Dissanayake. Mala Senanayake immmediately called her father Kularatne who was a member of parliament and a founder of the Sri Lanka Freedom Party. Kularatne shared with Abeykoon all the information he had. Abeykoon called and informed the head of the Criminal Investigation Department (CID) S. A. Dissanayake and went back to his game of bridge.


1962 Ceylonese coup d'état attempt, Events, 27 January 1962
S. A. Dissanayake (who was DIG (CID) and younger brother of C. C. Dissanayake) was not on talking terms with his brother. At the time the CID was tasked with internal security duties. S. A. Dissanayake understanding the depth of the situation, discussed the matter with John Attygalle, SP (CID); given the nature of the threat and not knowing the extent of the conspiracy, they both decided to approach Felix Dias Bandaranaike, who was the Minister of Finance and Parliamentary Secretary for Defence and External Affairs.


1962 Ceylonese coup d'état attempt, Events, 27 January 1962
Being the nephew of the prime minister, he was her principal adviser at the time. The CID officers met the minister at his residence at 7.00pm where the police officers gave the Minister all known information. Felix Dias Bandaranaike wanted to act quickly to stop the potential coup and left for the Prime Minister's official residence, Temple Trees with the two CID officers.


1962 Ceylonese coup d'état attempt, Events, 27 January 1962
The information took the Prime Minister by shock, however under the directions of Felix Dias Bandaranaike, all service commanders, Major General Gerard Wijekoon, Commodore Rajan Kadiragamar, Air Commodore John Barker and the IGP Abeykoon were called to Temple Trees for an emergency meeting. Stanley Senanayake was also summoned to Temple Trees and was questioned by Bandaranaike and THE CID officers to reveal everything he knew.


1962 Ceylonese coup d'état attempt, Events, 27 January 1962
A list of possible coup members were made and Bandaranaike ordered the junior police and army officers who were known to be acting under the orders of the coup leaders to be summoned to Temple Trees, where they were questioned by Bandaranaike personally and the CID.


1962 Ceylonese coup d'état attempt, Events, 27 January 1962
It was revealed that the coup's military element was led by Colonel Fredrick C. de Saram (a cousin of S.W.R.D. Bandaranaike) and Colonel Maurice De Mel, the Commandant of the Volunteer Force (second most senior officer in the Army); the police element was led by DIG C. C. Dissanayake, (second most senior officer in the Police) and Sydney de Zoysa (a retired DIG), who was responsible for coordination between the services; the coup had been planned by Douglas Liyanage of the Ceylon Civil Service and supported by Rear Admiral Royce de Mel, recently retired Captain of the Navy and brother of Colonel Maurice de Mel.


1962 Ceylonese coup d'état attempt, Events, 27 January 1962
The coup was to be carried out by troops from the 3rd Field Regiment and the 2nd Volunteer Anti-aircraft Regiment of the Ceylon Artillery (almost the entire officer corps of these regiments were later found to be involved), 2nd (V) Field/Plant Regiment, Ceylon Engineers; 2nd Volunteer Signals Regiment, Ceylon Signals Corps and Armoured cars of the Sabre Troop of the Ceylon Armoured Corps. Involved were Captain Nimal Jayakody and Captain Tony Anghie of 3rd Field Artillery Regiment, Ceylon Artillery, members of the first batch of officer cadets of the Ceylon Army who had been trained at Royal Military Academy Sandhurst.


1962 Ceylonese coup d'état attempt, Events, 27 January 1962
At this time, the first and only arrest of the coup was to be effected at 9.30pm when Neal de Alwis, Member of Parliament for Baddegama was arrested from his residence and taken to the Galle Police Station and held there for nine hours. At this point C. C. Dissanayake received a call at his official quarters that the plan had been compromised and the leaders decided to call off the coup. Temple Trees was informed that the duty officer for the night at Police headquarters ASP V.T. Dickman had been replaced by a known conspirator.


1962 Ceylonese coup d'état attempt, Events, 27 January 1962
At 11:15pm a teletype message was sent out by DIG CID to Colombo and all police stations stating that a coup had been staged against the government by senior police officer and not to carry out any orders other than those of the DIG CID. Having decided that no officers of the Royal Ceylon Air Force were connected to the coup, a security cordon around Temple Trees was deployed from airforce personnel, since no one was sure how deeply the conspiracy had penetrated the ranks of the army, navy and police. The prime minister ordered the arrest of Dissanayake and J. F. Bede Johnpillai (ASP Traffic). They were arrested that night by teams made up personnel from all three services and the police.


1962 Ceylonese coup d'état attempt, Events, 28 January 1962
The following day arrest warrants were issued for Colonel F. C. de Saram, Colonel Maurice de Mel and Rear Admiral Royce de Mel. Colonel de Saram drove to Temple Trees where he was arrested, Colonel de Mel was arrested at home and Admiral de Mel went into hiding. In the Sunday afternoon of 28 January 1962, Radio Ceylon aired a special news bulletin interrupting its scheduled programs, announcing that a conspiracy by a group of senior police and armed services officers to stage a coup d'état had been foiled and seven police and army officers had been arrested. News then broke-out in the evening editions. The initial detainees were housed in an annexe at Temple Trees, while CID and Special Branch carried out investigations to identify other conspirators. Felix Dias Bandaranaike's continued personal involvement in the investigation was termed by some as an inquisition.


1962 Ceylonese coup d'état attempt, Operation Holdfast
The plan of the coupe which was code-named Operation Holdfast, came to light based on the statements given the arrested officers and was published in a parliamentary white paper on 13 February 1962. The plan called for quick deployment of troops to seize strategic positions and installations, cordon off Colombo preventing troops from the Panagoda Cantonment reaching Colombo. In the process detain the Prime Minister and government leaders. The service commanders and the IGP were kept unaware of the plan.


1962 Ceylonese coup d'état attempt, Operation Holdfast
It would be initiated by C. C. Dissanayake at 10:00pm on the 27 January 1962 by issuing a take post order to his men. Thereafter ASP Johnpillai, ASP Traffic would have all main roads and highways cleared within 30 mins. This will facilitate the rapid movement of troop convoys from their barracks to predetermined destinations under the command of de Saram and de Mel starting at 11:00pm and to be completed by 1:00am on the 28 January 1962.


1962 Ceylonese coup d'état attempt, Operation Holdfast
In this move, the Prime Minister was to be placed under house arrest. Senior Ministers, government officials and key advisers, were to be arrested and taken to Army Headquarters. This included Felix Dias Bandaranaike, N. Q. Dias, S. A. Dissanayake, John Attygalle, Rajan Kadiragamar. There they would be held in the ammunition magazine, which was an underground bunker and were to be held there until further instructions.


1962 Ceylonese coup d'état attempt, Operation Holdfast
Major General H. Winston G. Wijeyekoon, Commander of the Army and Colonel B. R. Heyn, Chief of staff of the army, the IGP and the Air Force Commander were to be prevented from leaving their houses as well as several cabinet ministers and important officials having been placed under house arrest. Government members of parliament were to be detained at the Sravasti, the hostel for MPs, while others were to be detained at their homes. Selected members of parliament living out of Colombo were to be arrested and detained at the local police stations.


1962 Ceylonese coup d'état attempt, Operation Holdfast
Key to the success of the coup would be to prevent, troops loyal to the government from staging a counter-coup. To this end, it was deemed that troops from the Panagoda Cantonment, were to be prevented from entering Colombo at all cost. The primary threat the coup leaders feared was the 1st Battalion, Ceylon Light Infantry, which was based at the cantonment. The other infantry regiment of the army, the 1st Battalion, Ceylon Sinha Regiment was deployed in Jaffna at the time. Therefore, troops from the coup with armoured cars were to be stationed at the two Kelani river bridges, the Wellawatte-Dehiwela bridge and the Kirillapone bridge.


1962 Ceylonese coup d'état attempt, Operation Holdfast
Soon after midnight police cars equipped with loud hailers were to be sent out to announce an immediate curfew in Colombo city limits. The Central Telegraph Office and other city telephone exchanges were to be taken over and put out of operation. Shortly after mid-night Police Headquarters and the CID office in fort were to be taken over. Newspaper office buildings of the Lake House and Times of Ceylon were to be taken over and publications to be stopped for several days.


1962 Ceylonese coup d'état attempt, Operation Holdfast
Signals Corps despatch riders, fully armed on motorcycles, were standing by from about 11pm at Torrington (Independence) Square to storm Radio Ceylon once the password 'Holdfast' was given. A special direct telephone line had been laid the previous day, from Army Headquarters at Lower Lake Road to the Echelon Barracks, for use by army personnel.


1962 Ceylonese coup d'état attempt, Operation Holdfast
Colonel Maurice de Mel would command operations from Army headquarters, while Colonel de Saram would position himself at Temple Trees and direct operations from there. The password would be British Grenadier. C. C. Dissanayake would take up position at Queens House and direct operations from there till police headquarters was taken over. The password would be Dowbiggin.


1962 Ceylonese coup d'état attempt, Operation Holdfast
Once the corp was complete the leaders would meet at the Queen's House where they would have the Governor General Sir Oliver Goonetilleke to dissolve parliament and take direct control of the state. He would be assisted by a governing council of former Prime Ministers made up of Dudley Senanayake and Sir John Kotelawala, with Wijayananda Dahanayake also invited to join. The coup leaders had intended to send Sirima Bandaranaike to the United Kingdom by plan with her family to join her daughter who was studying at Oxford at the time.


1962 Ceylonese coup d'état attempt, Aftermath, Internal security
The government's concern was to understand the depth of the conspiracy and identify conspirators. This task was led by Felix Dias Bandaranaike with the CID undertaking the investigations. Security of the Prime Minister and Minister Felix Dias Bandaranaike were increased by police and armed forces, while their country seats in their constituencies were supplemented by local party volunteers. Felix Dias Bandaranaike called for regular security briefings for the prime minister which were held at Temple Trees, Horagolla Walauwa and at Weke Walawwa.


1962 Ceylonese coup d'état attempt, Aftermath, Changes in government
Dr N. M. Perera revealed the details of the attempted coup in Parliament on 13 February 1962 and published a white paper with its details. On 18 February 1962, Felix Dias Bandaranaike stated in Parliament that Sir Oliver Goonetilleke's up in the investigations. Goonetilleke indicated he had no objection to be questioned by the police, however the  Bandaranaikes wanted to replace the Governor-General. Bradman Weerakoon, secretary to the prime minister was dispatched London to present the Prime Minister's request to the Queen to replace her Governor-General in Ceylon.


1962 Ceylonese coup d'état attempt, Aftermath, Changes in government
On 26 February 1962, Radio Ceylon announced that the Queen had accepted the request of the Government of Ceylon to appoint William Gopallawa (the Prime Minister's uncle) as Governor-General of Ceylon succeeding Sir Oliver Goonetilleke with effect from 20 March 1962. Goonetilleke quietly left Queen's House on 2 March and left the country. Other changes followed, N. Q. Dias was appointed as Permanent Secretary to the Ministry of Defense and External Affairs. In this capacity Dias began a program of recruitment of Sinhalese Buddhist officers to the army, while recruitment in the navy was stopped.


1962 Ceylonese coup d'état attempt, Aftermath, Changes in the armed forces and police
Colonel Richard Udugama was recalled from Jaffna, where he was serving as Commander Troops, Jaffna to take over as Chief of Staff of the army, while Colonel B. R. Heyn took over as Commandant of the Ceylon Volunteer Force. In April 1963, Walter Abeykoon was replaced by S. A. Dissanayake as IGP and John Attygalle was promoted DIG (CID). The following December General Winston Wijekoon retired and Colonel Udugama succeeded him as Army Commander.


1962 Ceylonese coup d'état attempt, Aftermath, Changes in the armed forces and police
The command of the air force was shifted to Ceylonese officers from RAF officers on secondment, with Temporary Air Commodore Rohan Amerasekera taking over as Commander of the RCyAF in November 1962 from Air Vice Marshal John Barker. Temporary Commodore Rajan Kadiragamar remained Captain of the Navy with his appointed confirmed in 1964.


1962 Ceylonese coup d'état attempt, Aftermath, Changes in the armed forces and police
Both General Winston Wijekoon and Colonel Heyn were not aware of the coup and their regiment, the 1st Battalion, Ceylon Light Infantry, based in Panagoda, was the unit the plotters had wanted to prevent coming to the aid of the Government.


1962 Ceylonese coup d'état attempt, Aftermath, Changes in the armed forces and police
A restructuring followed with officers and men linked to the coup being discharged. The 1st Heavy Anti-aircraft Regiment (the primary unit involved in the coup), the 2nd (V) Anti -aircraft Regiment and the 3rd Field Regiment of the Ceylon Artillery were disbanded in disgrace and remaining officers and men transferred to form the 4th Regiment, Ceylon Artillery. It was then moved to the Panagoda Cantonment from its traditional home, Rock House.


1962 Ceylonese coup d'état attempt, Aftermath, Changes in the armed forces and police
The 2nd (V) Field/Plant Regiment of the Ceylon Engineers and the 2nd (V) Signal Regiment of the Ceylon Signals Corps were also disbanded in disgrace and the remaining men of the latter were brought to form the Ceylon National Guard. In 1999, the 2nd (V) Sri Lanka Signals Corps was formed, but none of the other regiments were reformed even during the height of the Sri Lankan Civil War when the Sri Lankan Army saw a major expansion.


1962 Ceylonese coup d'état attempt, Aftermath, Arrests and detentions
In all 31 persons were arrested, these included officers from the Army and the Navy, gazetted officers from the police, civil servants and several civilians. All arrested military officers were stripped of their ranks, while the police officers and civil servants were interdicted pending trial. Since no shots were fired and no troops deployed, the government soon discovered that there were no provisions within the penal code to prosecute the accused. So they were remanded, pending trial, in a special section of the Welikada Prison called the Magazine Section. To guard these officers, a special security detachment called the composite guard was selected from the Ceylon Light Infantry with Major A. Hulangamuwa in charge. The officers were held in solitary confinement in the hope of getting confessions. The conditions were improved later.


1962 Ceylonese coup d'état attempt, Aftermath, Criminal Law Special Provision Act of 1962
In the meantime the government passed a new law called Criminal Law (Special Provisions) Act, No. 1 of 1962 which gave additional provisions for prosecution beyond the limitations of the Evidence Ordinance, such as the use of hearsay as evidence; to bring the coup case under the new law it was given retrospective effect from January 1, 1962. The law was opposed in parliament by the United National Party and the Lanka Sama Samaja Party, but the latter was convinced by the government to support the bill by an assurance that it would be used only for the prosecution of the members of the coup.


1962 Ceylonese coup d'état attempt, Aftermath, Trial
… whether a criminal act is done or not, the agreement, and not the act, is what is penalized. ‘The conspirators may repent and stop or they may either have no opportunity or may be prevented, or may even fail. Nevertheless, the crime is complete and was complete when they agreed.


1962 Ceylonese coup d'état attempt, Aftermath, Trial
In June 1962, the Attorney General of Ceylon, Douglas Jansze, QC filed charges against 24 on three counts of attempting to


1962 Ceylonese coup d'état attempt, Aftermath, Trial
The Minister of Justice, under the new law, appointed a Trial-at-Bar made up of three Supreme Court Judges. Of the 24 charged, all were Christians; in terms of ethnicity, there were 12 Sinhalese, six Tamils and six Burghers among them. The remaining five were not prosecuted due to lack of evidence or having turned crown witness.


1962 Ceylonese coup d'état attempt, Aftermath, Trial
In the trial of Queen v. Liyanage and others, the accused were defended by some of the top lawyers of the time including G.G. Ponnambalam, QC; H. W. Jayewardene, QC; S. J. Kadirgamar and K. N. Choksy. The prosecution was led by Attorney General Jansze, who relied heavy on the confession given by Colonel de Saram assuming full responsibility and on witness accounts. The judges dissolved the court saying that they were appointed by the Executive, when the latter had no constitutional right to do so. The Criminal Law Act was then amended to get the Supreme Court to appoint the judges. The second court also dissolved itself because of one of the judges, Hon. Justice A.W.H. Abeyesundere, QC, in his earlier post as Attorney General, had assisted the investigation of the case.


1962 Ceylonese coup d'état attempt, Aftermath, Trial
A Third Court sat for 324 days from 3 June 1963, and convicted 11 of the 24 accused including Col. de Saram, Col. de Mel, Rear Admiral de Mel, Douglas Liyanage, Sidney de Zoysa, Wilmot Abraham, B. I. Loyola, Wilton White, Nimal Jayakody, Noel Matthysz, Victor Joseph, Basil Jesudason, John Felix, David Tambyah, Samuel Jackson and Rodney de Mel. The sentence was ten years in jail and confiscation of property. Wilmot Abraham later died in prison in 1964.


1962 Ceylonese coup d'état attempt, Aftermath, Involvement of former prime ministers
The names of Sir Oliver Goonetilleke, and former Prime Ministers Dudley Senanayake and Colonel Sir John Kotelawala had come up in the investigation and trial. Goonetilleke was removed from his position as Governor General and replaced by William Gopallawa on 20 March 1962 and went into exile in London. He was tried and sentenced in absentia for exchange control offences by the Criminal Justice Commission in 1972 and was pardoned following the repeal of the Criminal Justice Commissions Act in 1977. No moves against Senanayake or Kotelawala were made, but years later J. R. Jayewardene stated that at a meeting on 13 April 1966 he was told by Colonel Sir John Kotelawala that he and Dudley Senanayake had been aware of the coup.


1962 Ceylonese coup d'état attempt, Aftermath, Appeal to the Privy Council
The Acts offended against the Constitution in that they amounted to a direction to convict the men or to a legislative plan to secure their conviction and severe punishment and thus constituted an unjustifiable assumption of judicial power, by the legislature, or an interference with judicial power, which was outside the legislature's competence and was inconsistent with the severance of power between legislature, executive and judiciary which the constitution ordained.


1962 Ceylonese coup d'état attempt, Aftermath, Appeal to the Privy Council
However, the condemned appealed to the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council. In its ruling given on 21 December 1965, it held the Special Act of 1962 was ultra vires of the Ceylon constitution and that the Act had denied fair trial. According to the Privy Council, the law had been specially enacted to convict the men; under trial they did not have the protections that they would have had under general criminal law. It acquitted all the eleven.


1962 Ceylonese coup d'état attempt, Aftermath, Appeal to the Privy Council
Of the accused, De Saram returned to his family law firm and legal practice, Douglas Liyanage was appointed Secretary to the Ministry of State in the early 1980s, Capt. John Felix went on to become the Commissioner-General of Inland Revenue and Lt. Col. Basil Jesudasan became the Chairman of Carson Cumberbatch PLC.


1962 Ceylonese coup d'état attempt, Impact and effects of the coup
The primary result of the coup attempt was that it led Sirima Bandaranaike to develop a distrust of the military. Senior appointments in the armed services and the police were made from officers trusted by the government and not on seniority as such as in the case of the IGP and the Army Commander. In the latter, B. R. Heyn was overlooked in favor of Richard Udugama. This practice was continued by successive governments and had a negative effect on the professionalism and impartiality of the armed forces and the police.


1962 Ceylonese coup d'état attempt, Impact and effects of the coup
Funding for the services were cut drastically in the immediate aftermath, greatly affecting its growth and disabling its ability of defending Ceylon in the long term. Military hardware procurements limited. The Navy was hard hit, many of its ships were sold and its blue water capability lost, it would not regain it former ability until the 1980s and 1990s. Inter service cooperation in the form of joint operations were suspended. Following the Bandaranaike government's electoral defeat in 1965, Dudley Senanayake became Prime Minister.


1962 Ceylonese coup d'état attempt, Impact and effects of the coup
To prevent a future coup he empowered the Special Branch of the Ceylon Police Force charged with internal security. Sirima Bandaranaike's distrust continued into her second term in 1970, fearful of another military coup, she had the police units such as the Special Branch reorganized and appointed her cousin Anuruddha Ratwatte as commanding officer of the Army's Field Security Detachment tasked with identifying leaders of a potential coup. As a result, the military was under strength and ill-equipped to deal with the 1971 JVP Insurrection, which took the Bandaranaike government by complete surprise.


1962 Ceylonese coup d'état attempt, Impact and effects of the coup
To overcome the perislous situation Ceylon had to rely on help from other countries. Finally when Bandaranaike government introduced a new constitution in 1972, it declared Sri Lanka as a republic breaking the last remaining links to the British Empire, including the final level of judicial appeal to the Privy Council.


1962 Chadian parliamentary election
Parliamentary elections were held in Chad on 4 March 1962, following a change to the constitution which had made the country a one-party state with the Chadian Progressive Party as the sole legal party. It therefore won all seats in the National Assembly. Voter turnout was 87.5%.


1962 Channel Airways Dakota accident
The 1962 Channel Airways Dakota accident occurred on 6 May 1962 when a Channel Airways  Douglas C-47A Dakota, registered G-AGZB and operating a scheduled passenger flight from Jersey to Portsmouth, collided with a cloud-covered hill at St Boniface Down, near Ventnor on the Isle of Wight. The aircraft had previously been owned by British European Airways, and was named "Robert Smith-Barry". The aircraft was destroyed, and twelve of the eighteen occupants were killed (all three crew members and nine out of 15 passengers, including three infants).


1962 Channel Airways Dakota accident, Accident
The Dakota was on a scheduled flight from Jersey to Southend with a stop at Portsmouth. There were 15 passengers aboard. With low cloud and drizzle in the Portsmouth/Isle of Wight area, the aircraft notified the controller that they were descending from 3,000 to 1,000 feet. The aircraft was seen flying low over Ventnor just before it crashed, fifty feet below the summit of St Boniface Down and close to a disused Royal Air Force radar site. The aircraft bounced and smashed through a ten-foot high perimeter fence of the radar site and burst into flames. Both pilots and eight of the passengers were killed instantly.


1962 Channel Airways Dakota accident, Accident
The first man on the scene, a farm worker, helped two badly burned girls from the wreckage. After leading two other men to safety, he ran up the road to find help. There he found a group of seven amateur radio operators broadcasting as G3GWB/p  who were taking part in a competition. The radiomen alerted another amateur radio operator in Southampton (G3NIM in Netley), who contacted the emergency services. The seven injured were taken to local hospitals at Ryde and Newport; two of them, a stewardess and a passenger, subsequently died.


1962 Channel Airways Dakota accident, Aftermath
A coroner's inquest was opened and then adjourned for two months on the Isle of Wight on 8 May. The Channel Airways chief pilot said it was the company's first fatal accident in 17 years of operation. The coroner paid tribute to those who took part in the rescue operation, and in particular Edward Price, the farmworker who was first on the scene.


1962 Channel Airways Dakota accident, Probable cause
The probable cause of the accident was flying below a safe altitude in cloudy, rainy weather.


1962 Chatham Cup
The 1962 Chatham Cup was the 35th annual nationwide knockout football competition in New Zealand.


1962 Chatham Cup
The competition was run on a regional basis, with regional associations each holding separate qualifying rounds. Other teams known to have taken part in the final rounds included North Shore United, Kahukura (Rotorua), Riverina (Gisborne), Hastings City, Wanganui Athletic, and St. Andrews (Manawatu), Moturoa AFC (New Plymouth), Seatoun AFC (Wellington).


1962 Chatham Cup, The 1962 final
Hamilton Technical Old Boys, captained by Arthur Leong, became the first team from outside the four main centres to win the cup. The Northern side contained three brothers - George, John, and Phillip Little. Northern goalkeeper Jim Stephenson became the first person to play in six Chatham Cup finals, a feat which was to eventually be surpassed by Tony Sibley in 1982.


1962 Chatham Cup, The 1962 final
The match is regarded as the best final of the 1960s - and one of the best finals ever. George Little opened the scoring for Northern after just four minutes adding to goals he had scored in the 1958 and 1961 finals, but Paul Nevison equalised within seconds. The Hamilton side were 2-1 up after just seven minutes, with a goal by Trevor Jones. Jones added a second in the 37th minute, and the scoring was completed by a second Nevison strike seven minutes into the second period.


1962 Chattanooga Moccasins football team
The 1962 Chattanooga Moccasins football team was an American football team that represented the University of Chattanooga (now known as the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga) during the 1962 NCAA College Division football season. In their 32nd year under head coach Scrappy Moore, the team compiled a 5–5 record.


1962 Chicago Bears season
The 1962 Chicago Bears season was their 43rd regular season completed in the National Football League. The team finished with a 9–5 record, earning them a third-place finish in the NFL Western Conference. This was the first season that the wishbone "C" appeared on the helmets (albeit in white; it would not adopt its more familiar burnt orange color until 1974).


1962 Chicago Bears season, Standings
Note: Tie games were not officially counted in the standings until 1972.


1962 Chicago Cubs season
The 1962 Chicago Cubs season was the 91st season of the Chicago Cubs franchise, the 87th in the National League and the 47th at Wrigley Field. In the second season under their College of Coaches, the Cubs finished ninth in the National League with a record of 59–103, 42½ games behind the NL Champion San Francisco Giants. The Cubs finished ahead of the expansion New York Mets and behind the expansion Houston Colt .45s in the NL's first 162-game season.


1962 Chicago Cubs season, Player stats, Batting, Starters by position
Note: Pos = Position; G = Games played; AB = At bats; H = Hits; Avg. = Batting average; HR = Home runs; RBI = Runs batted in


1962 Chicago Cubs season, Player stats, Batting, Other batters
Note: G = Games played; AB = At bats; H = Hits; Avg. = Batting average; HR = Home runs; RBI = Runs batted in


1962 Chicago Cubs season, Player stats, Pitching, Starting pitchers
Note: G = Games pitched; IP = Innings pitched; W = Wins; L = Losses; ERA = Earned run average; SO = Strikeouts


1962 Chicago Cubs season, Player stats, Pitching, Other pitchers
Note: G = Games pitched; IP = Innings pitched; W = Wins; L = Losses; ERA = Earned run average; SO = Strikeouts


1962 Chicago Cubs season, Player stats, Pitching, Relief pitchers
Note: G = Games pitched; W = Wins; L = Losses; SV = Saves; ERA = Earned run average; SO = Strikeouts


1962 Chicago Cubs season, Farm system
LEAGUE CHAMPIONS: WenatcheeSalt Lake City affiliation shared with Cleveland Indians


1962 Chicago White Sox season
The 1962 Chicago White Sox season was the team's 62nd season in the major leagues, and its 63rd season overall. They finished with a record 85–77, good enough for fifth place in the American League, 11 games behind the first-place New York Yankees.


1962 Chicago White Sox season, Player stats, Batting
Note: G=Games played; AB=At Bats; R=Runs scored; H=Hits; 2B=Doubles; 3B=Triples; HR=Home runs; RBI=Runs batted in; BB=Base on balls; SO=Strikeouts; AVG=Batting average; SB=Stolen bases


1962 Chicago White Sox season, Player stats, Pitching
Note: W=Wins; L=Losses; ERA=Earned run average; G=Games pitched; GS=Games started; SV=Saves; IP=Innings pitched; H=Hits allowed; R=Runs allowed; ER=Earned runs allowed; HR=Home runs allowed; BB=Walks allowed; K=Strikeouts


1962 Chicago White Sox season, Farm system
Savannah franchise moved to Lynchburg, August 26, 1962; Harlan affiliation shared with New York Yankees


1962 Chico State Wildcats football team
The 1962 Chico State Wildcats football team represented Chico State College during the 1962 NCAA College Division football season. Chico State competed in the Far Western Conference in 1962. They played home games at College Field in Chico, California.


1962 Chico State Wildcats football team
The 1962 Wildcats were led by fifth-year head coach George Maderos. Chico State finished the season with a record of four wins, four losses and one tie (4–4–1, 2–3 FWC). The Wildcats were outscored by their opponents 120–149 for the season.


1962 Chico State Wildcats football team, Team players in the NFL
No Chico State players were selected in the 1963 NFL Draft.


1962 Chippenham by-election
A by-election was held for the British House of Commons constituency of Chippenham, Wiltshire, England, on 22 November 1962.


1962 Chippenham by-election
Jerome, Naylor and Smith were all serving in the British Armed Forces. The law stated that, on standing in a Parliamentary election, they would be released from the Forces; this was, therefore, a way to receive an early honourable discharge, for the cost of a lost deposit. The practice was banned soon afterwards.


1962 Chippenham by-election
The election was won by the Conservative Party candidate, Daniel Awdry, who won a narrow majority over the Liberal Party's then Economic Spokesperson, Christopher Layton.


1962 Christchurch mayoral election
The 1962 Christchurch mayoral election was part of the New Zealand local elections held that same year. In 1962, election were held for the Mayor of Christchurch plus other local government positions. The polling was conducted using the standard first-past-the-post electoral method.


1962 Christchurch mayoral election, Background
Sitting mayor George Manning was re-elected for a third term, greatly increasing his majority against deputy mayor Harold Smith. There was a large swing to the Labour Party on the city council as well, with Labour gaining seven of the nineteen council seats.


1962 Cincinnati Bearcats football team
The 1962 Cincinnati Bearcats football team represented University of Cincinnati during the 1962 NCAA University Division football season. The Bearcats, led by head coach Chuck Studley, participated in the Missouri Valley Conference (MVC) and played their home games at Nippert Stadium.


1962 Cincinnati Reds season
The 1962 Cincinnati Reds season was a season in American baseball the team finished in third place in the National League standings, with a record of 98–64, 3½ games behind the NL Champion San Francisco Giants. The Reds were managed by Fred Hutchinson, and played their home games at Crosley Field.


1962 Cincinnati Reds season
The Reds entered the season as the defending NL Champions, having won the '61 pennant by 4 games over the second-place Dodgers. The Reds' lineup returned intact, although sophomore Leo Cárdenas was set to replace veteran Eddie Kasko at shortstop, putting the versatile Kasko in a "super-sub" role. That all changed in spring training when slugging third-baseman Gene Freese broke his ankle during an intra-squad game and missed virtually the entire season. The light-hitting Kasko was moved to third base and played well, but the Reds sorely missed the 26 home runs and 87 RBI that Freese had provided the year before. The lack of Freese's big bat severely hurt the Reds' chances to repeat as National League champions.


1962 Cincinnati Reds season
The Dodgers and Giants dominated the National League most of the year, with the Reds a distant third. Aided by two expansion teams (the Houston Colt .45s and the New York Mets), the top NL teams were winning at a very high rate. By June 6, Giants were 40-16 (.714) and the Dodgers 40-17 (.702).