* 1966 – Young Man Kang, Korean director

* 1966 – The Church of Satan is established at the Black House in San Francisco, California.

* 1966 – Jeff Brown, Canadian ice hockey player

* 1966 – Dave Meggett, American football player

* 1884 – Vincent Auriol, French politician, 16th President of the French Republic ( d. 1966 )

* 1899 – C. S. Forester, English author ( d. 1966 )

* 1909 – Sylvère Maes, Belgian cyclist ( d. 1966 )

* 1966 – Jeroen Duyster, Dutch rower

* 1966 – Juhan Parts, Estonian politician, 14th Prime Minister of Estonia

* 1966 – Braniff Airlines Flight 250 crashes in Falls City, Nebraska killing all 42 on board.

* 1918 – Giles Cooper Irish playwright ( d. 1966 )

* 1966 – Vinny Del Negro, American basketball player and coach

* 1966 – Shayne Corson, Canadian ice hockey player

* 1966 – Sean Hood, American screenwriter

* 1966 – Takayuki Iizuka, Japanese wrestler

* 1966 – M. V. Sridhar, Indian cricketer

* 1966 – Tim Wakefield, American baseball player

* 1966 – Flann O ' Brien, Irish humorist ( b. 1911 )

* 1966 – Charles Whitman kills 16 people at the University of Texas at Austin before being killed by the police.

* 1966 – Purges of intellectuals and imperialists becomes official China policy at the beginning of the Cultural Revolution.

* 1885 – George de Hevesy, Hungarian chemist and Nobel Prize laureate ( d. 1966 )

* 1966 – James St. James, American club promoter and author

* 1966 – Brent Butt, Canadian actor

* 1966 – Eric Esch, American boxer

* 1966 – Lenny Bruce, American comedian ( b. 1925 )

* 1966 – Uche Okechukwu, Nigerian footballer

* Nigerian Military Juntas ( 1966 – 1979 and 1983 – 1998 )

They include Executive Committee Member of Mambili Party, Accra ( 1935 – 37 ); General Secretary of National Council of Nigerian and the Cameroons ( 1944 – 45 ); President of the NCNC ( 1946 – 60 ); Vice-President of the Nigerian National Democratic Party ( 1947 – 60 ); Member for Lagos in the Legislative Council of Nigeria ( 1947 – 51 ); Member for Lagos and Leader of the Opposition in the Western House of Assembly ( 1952 – 53 ) Member for Onitsha in the Eastern House of Assembly ( 1954 – 60 ); Minister of Internal Affairs ( Jan .– September 1954 ); Minister of Internal Affairs, Eastern Region ( 1954 ); Member of His Excellency Privy Council, Eastern Nigeria ( 1954 – 59 ); Primer of Eastern Nigeria ( 1954 – 59 ); President of the Senate of the Federation ( Jan .- November 1960 ); Governor-General and Commander-in-Chief of Nigeria ( 1960 – 63 ); President of the Republic of Nigeria ( 1963 – 1966 ); and Chairman and Presidential candidate of the Nigeria People ’ s Party ( 1978 – 83 ).

Ojukwu served as the military governor of the Eastern Region of Nigeria in 1966, the leader of the breakaway Republic of Biafra from 1967 to 1970 and a Nigerian politician from 1983 to 2011, when he died, aged 78.

A military coup against the civilian Nigerian federal government in January 1966 and a counter coup in July 1966 by different military factions, perceived to be ethnic coups, resulted in pogroms in Northern Nigeria in which Igbos were predominantly killed.

He took part in talks to seek an end to the hostilities by seeking peace with the then Nigerian military leadership, headed by General Yakubu Gowon ( Nigeria's head of state following the July 1966 counter coup ).

* Festus Okotie-Eboh ( 1919 – 1966 ), Nigerian politician and former minister for finance during the administration of Abubakar Tafawa Balewa

Mohammed opposed the regime of Johnson Aguiyi-Ironsi which took power after a coup d ' etat on January 15, 1966 carried out mainly by Christian Igbo from the south, in which several northern Nigerian leaders had been killed under gruesome circumstances.

* First Nigerian Republic ( 1963 – 1966 )

Alhaji Sir Abubakar Tafawa Balewa, KBE ( December 1912 – January 15, 1966 ) was a Nigerian politician, and the only prime minister of an independent Nigeria.

He was known as a stabilizing force in Nigerian politics, particularly in 1966 after the assassination of Ahmadu Bello, the Premier of Northern Nigeria.

* National Council of Nigeria and the Cameroons, a Nigerian political party from 1944 to 1966

Babatunde " Tunde " Idiagbon ( 14 September 1942-24 March 1999 ) was a Nigerian army officer and a one-time member of the Nigerian military juntas of 1966 – 1979 and 1983-1998 Nigerian military junta which ruled that country.

Major General Johnson Thomas Umunnakwe Aguiyi-Ironsi ( March 3, 1924, Umuahia-July 29, 1966, Lalupon, Oyo State ) was a Nigerian soldier.

During his career as a Foreign Service Officer, Tarnoff served as Executive Secretary of the Department of State and Special Assistant to Secretaries of State Edmund Muskie and Cyrus Vance ( 1977 – 1981 ); Director, Office of Research and Analysis for Western Europe ( 1975 – 76 ); Special Assistant to Ambassador-at-Large Henry Cabot Lodge, Jr. ( 1967 ); and Nigerian Analyst in the Bureau of Intelligence and Research ( 1966 – 67 ).

Efuru is a novel by Flora Nwapa which was published in 1966, making it the first book written by a Nigerian woman to be published.

HRH Prince, Dr. A. A. Nwafor Orizu ; president of the Nigerian Senate in the First Republic and later, the Acting President before the first coup d ’ etat of 1966, M. C. K.

National Council of Nigeria and the Cameroons ( NCNC ), was a Nigerian political party from 1944 to 1966.

Following a military coup in Nigeria in 1966, the federal system was abolished, and the posts of the Agent-General of Nigerian Regions in London were subsumed in the Nigerian High Commission.