// Workers AI · dad joke modeWhy was 1963 in Northern Ireland a great year? It had a 'republic' of opportunities.

← 1962 1961 1960 1963 in Northern Ireland → 1964 1965 1966
Centuries:	20th 21st
Decades:	1940s 1950s 1960s 1970s 1980s
See also:	1963 in the United Kingdom 1963 in Ireland Other events of 1963 List of years in Northern Ireland

Events during the year 1963 in Northern Ireland.

Incumbents

• Governor - The Lord Wakehurst
• Prime Minister - Basil Brooke (until 25 March), Terence O'Neill (from 25 March)

Events

• 17 January – Prototype Short SC.7 Skyvan short-haul freighter first flies.
• 25 March – Terence O'Neill succeeds Viscount Brookeborough as Prime Minister of Northern Ireland.
• 23 September – British Enkalon synthetic fibre factory opens in Antrim.
• 2 October – Second Short SC.1 VTOL research aircraft (XG905), flying from Belfast Harbour Airport, crashes due to a control malfunction, killing the pilot, J. R. Green.
• 28 October – Belfast Aldergrove opened as the principal airport for Northern Ireland, civilian facilities transferring from Nutts Corner.

Sport

Football

• Irish League

Winners: Distillery

• Irish Cup

Winners: Linfield 2 – 1 Distillery

Golf

• British Ladies Amateur Golf Championship is held at Royal County Down Golf Club, (winner: Brigitte Varangot).

Births

• 10 July – Conor Murphy, Sinn Féin MP and MLA.
• 30 July – Thomas Buchanan, Democratic Unionist Party MLA.
• 9 August – Sam Storey, boxer.
• 25 August – Candida Doyle, keyboard player.
• 12 October – Alan McDonald, footballer and football manager.
• 27 October – Johnny Adair, loyalist paramilitary.
• 11 December
  • Tom Elliott, Ulster Unionist Party MLA.
  • David Hilditch – Democratic Unionist Party MLA.
• 15 December – Christopher "Crip" McWilliams, Chief of Staff of the Irish National Liberation Army.
• Richard English, historian.
• Siobhán O'Hanlon, Sinn Féin official (died 2006).

Deaths

• 22 November – C. S. Lewis, novelist and author of The Chronicles of Narnia (born 1898).
• 30 November – Dehra Parker, longest serving woman MP in Northern Ireland and first woman to serve in the Northern Ireland Cabinet.
• December – Andy Kennedy, footballer (born 1897).

See also

• 1963 in Scotland
• 1963 in Wales