July 1966: that was the month that was

From Fab Four to 21 mile Chunnel, Vietnam to Gemini 10, we take a retrospective daily look back to an eventful month half a century past.

1966 July 1: Manuel Santana becomes first Spaniard to win Wimbledon.

2: Billie Jean King wins first of six Wimbledon singles championships to start 12 Grand Slam event wins.

The Beatles (seen in our retro clip arriving in Japan) become first group to perform at Tokyo's Nippon Budokan Hall, fueling protests from locals who deemed it inappropriate.

France launches first of 44 nuclear weapon tests in South Pacific Ocean.

3: More than 30 protesters were arrested at a violent demo by estimated 4,000 anti-Vietnam War objectors outside London's US Embassy.

4: The Queen and Prince Philip escape injury when a woman smashes a beer bottle against their Rolls-Royce then two minutes later a 30-pound concrete block, hurled from fourth floor of a Belfast building, hits the limo bonnet.

5 Public shares of fast food franchise McDonald's Corporation open at $32 each on New York Stock Exchange.

6: East African nation Malawi becomes republic, two years after being granted independence from UK.

7: Air-to-air missiles are used for first time in combat as American F-105 fighters are fired upon by MiG-21 jet rockets over North Vietnam.

8: Prime Minister Harold Wilson and French Premier Georges Pompidou conclude three days of London conferences by agreeing to build 21 mile long tunnel underneath the English Channel.

9: British Open golf tournament at Muirfield was won by Jack Nicklaus, first of three victories in the tournament, to help him become only fourth player to win Grand Slam.

10: Six-day heat wave begins across The States, killing hundreds of Americans as temperatures remain above 100 degrees Fahrenheit.

11: World Cup begins on home soil with hosts England and Uruguay locked in 0-0 bore draw before 75,000 Wembley crowd.