January 1962 - January 1, 1962 (Monday)

January 1, 1962 (Monday)

• Western Samoa (now called Samoa) became independent from New Zealand. The two fautua (advisers), Malietoa Tanumafili II and Tupua Tamasese Mea'ole were named as the two heads of state.
• The People's Revolutionary Party was founded as a Marxist-Leninist political party in South Vietnam, and its leaders receiving instruction directly from the Lao Dong Party of North Vietnam.
• The Beatles auditioned unsuccessfully for Decca Records with John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison and, at that time, drummer Pete Best. The first song of 15 performed between 11:00 am and noon was "Like Dreamers Do". The audition tape was officially released in 1982. Decca opted instead to sign the other group that auditioned that day-- Brian Poole and the Tremeloes. Both groups would have a hit recording of the song Twist and Shout, with the Tremeloes hitting #1 in the U.K. and the Beatles #4 in the U.S.
• The Anglican Church of Australia became autocephalous, separate from the Church of England, and was headed by its own primate, the Archbishop of Brisbane, Sir Reginald Halse.
• The far-right National Fellowship Party was founded in the UK.
• The University of New Zealand was broken up into four universities (Otago, Canterbury, Auckland and Victoria University) and two agricultural colleges at Canterbury and Massey.
• 1961 college football season: #1 ranked Alabama defeated #9 Arkansas in the Sugar Bowl, 10-3, in New Orleans.
• Died: Diego Martínez Barrio, 78, former President of the Second Spanish Republic (in 1936); and Hans von Salmuth, 73, German World War II general later convicted of war crimes at Nuremberg