1961

Published on Sunday, December 23rd 2007. Edited by Gem Nappayjig, Exeter, United Kingdom.

Centuries: 19th century – 20th century – 21st century

Decades: 1930s 1940s 1950s – 1960s – 1970s 1980s 1990s

Years: 1958 1959 1960 – 1961 – 1962 1963 1964

Year 1961 (MCMLXI) was a common year starting on Sunday (link will display full calendar) of the Gregorian calendar.

As MAD Magazine pointed out on its cover for the March 1961 issue, this was the first “upside-up” year—i.e., one in which the numerals that form the year look the same as when the numerals are rotated upside down—since 1881, and the last until 6009.

Events of 1961

January

January 1 – The farthing, used since the 13th century, ceases to be legal tender in the United Kingdom.
January 3
President Dwight Eisenhower announces that the United States has severed diplomatic and consular relations with Cuba.
At the National Reactor Testing Station near Idaho Falls, Idaho, SL-1, an atomic reactor explodes, killing 3 military technicians.

January

Mo Tu We Th Fr Sa Su

2 3 4 5 6 7 8

9 10 11 12 13 14 15

16 17 18 19 20 21 22

23 24 25 26 27 28 29

30 31

January 5 – Italian sculptor Alfredo Fioravanti marches into the U.S. Consulate in Rome, and confesses that he was part of the team that forged the Etruscan terracotta warriors in the Metropolitan Museum of Art.
January 7 – Following a 4-day conference in Casablanca, 5 African chiefs of state announce plans for a NATO-type African organization to ensure common defense. The Charter of Casablanca involves the Casablanca Group – Morocco, the United Arab Republic, Ghana, Guinea, and Mali.
January 8 – In France, a referendum supports Charles de Gaulle’s policies in Algeria.
January 9 – British authorities announce that they have discovered a large Soviet spy ring in London.
January 17
President Dwight Eisenhower gives his final State of the Union Address to Congress. In a Farewell Address the same day, he warns of the increasing power of a “military-industrial complex”.
Patrice Lumumba is assassinated.

Jan. 20: John F. Kennedy inaugurated as President of the U.S.

January 20 – John F. Kennedy becomes the 35th President of the United States.
January 24
A U.S. B-52 Stratofortress, with two roughly 2.4 megaton nuclear bombs, crashes near Goldsboro, North Carolina.
January 25 – In Washington, DC John F. Kennedy delivers the first live presidential news conference. In it, he announces that the Soviet Union has freed the 2 surviving crewmen of a USAF RB-47 reconnaissance plane shot down by Soviet flyers over the Barents Sea July 1, 1960. (see RB-47H shot down)
January 25 – Acting to halt ‘leftist excesses,’ a junta composed of 2 army officers and 4 civilians takes over El Salvador, ousting another junta that had ruled for 3 months.
January 26 – John F. Kennedy appoints Janet G. Travell to be his physician, the first woman to hold this appointment.
January 30 – President John F. Kennedy delivers his first State of the Union Address.
January 31 – Ham, a 37 pound male chimpanzee, is rocketed into space aboard Mercury-Redstone 2, in a test of the Project Mercury capsule, designed to carry United States astronauts into space.

February

Mo Tu We Th Fr Sa Su

1 2 3 4 5

6 7 8 9 10 11 12

13 14 15 16 17 18 19

20 21 22 23 24 25 26

27 28

February 3 – China buys grain from Canada for $60 million.
February 4 – The Portuguese Colonial War begins in Angola.
February 5 – February 9 – In Congo, President Joseph Kasavubu names Joseph Ileo as the new Prime Minister.
February 9 – The Beatles perform for their first time at the Cavern Club.
February 12 – U.S.S.R. launches Venera 1 towards Venus.
February 13 – The Congo government announces that villagers have killed Patrice Lumumba.
February 14 – Discovery of the chemical elements: Element 103, Lawrencium, is first synthesized in Berkeley, California.
February 15 – A Sabena Boeing 707 crashes near Brussels, Belgium, killing 73, including the entire United States figure skating team and several coaches.
February 25 – The last public tram operates in Sydney, Australia, bringing to an end the Southern Hemisphere’s largest tramway network.
February 26 – Hassan II is pronounced King of Morocco.

March

Mo Tu We Th Fr Sa Su

1 2 3 4 5

6 7 8 9 10 11 12

13 14 15 16 17 18 19

20 21 22 23 24 25 26

27 28 29 30 31

March 1
President of the United States John F. Kennedy establishes the Peace Corps.
Uganda becomes self-governing by holding its first general elections.
March 3 – Hassan II is crowned King of Morocco.
March 8
Max Conrad circumnavigates the earth in 8 days, 18 hours and 49 minutes, setting a new world record.
The first U.S. Polaris submarines arrive at Holy Loch.
March 13
Black and white £5 notes cease to be legal tender in the UK.
A dam bursts on the Dnieper River in the USSR, killing 145.
USA delegate to the UNSC Adlai Stevenson votes against Portuguese policies in Africa.
March 15
South Africa withdraws from the Commonwealth of Nations.
The Union of Peoples of Angola, led by Holden Roberto, attacks strategic locations in the north of Angola. These events result in the beginning of the colonial war with Portugal.
March 18 – A ceasefire takes effect in the Algerian War of Independence.
March 18 – Nous les amoureux by Jean-Claude Pascal (music by Jacques Datin, text by Maurice Vidalin) wins the Eurovision Song Contest 1961 for Luxembourg.
March 29 – The Twenty-third Amendment to the United States Constitution is ratified, allowing residents of Washington, DC to vote in presidential elections.

April

Mo Tu We Th Fr Sa Su

1 2

3 4 5 6 7 8 9

10 11 12 13 14 15 16

17 18 19 20 21 22 23

24 25 26 27 28 29 30

April 5 – The New Guinea Council of Western Papua is installed.
April 11 – The trial of Adolf Eichmann begins in Jerusalem.
April 12
Vostok 1: Yuri Gagarin, a Soviet cosmonaut, becomes the first human in space.
Albert Kalonji takes the title Emperor Albert I Kalonji of South Kasai.
April 13 – Portugal: failed coup attempt against Salazar.
April 17
The Bay of Pigs Invasion of Cuba begins; it fails by April 19.
33rd Academy Awards ceremony
April 18 – Portugal sends to Angola the first military reinforcement.
April 20 – Fidel Castro announces that the Bay of Pigs invasion has been defeated.
April 22 – Algiers putsch: Four French generals who oppose de Gaulle’s policies in Algeria fail in a coup attempt.
April 23 – Judy Garland performs in a legendary comeback concert at Carnegie Hall in New York City.
April 24 – Regalskeppet Vasa is removed from the water after being sunk 333 years earlier.

May

Mo Tu We Th Fr Sa Su

1 2 3 4 5 6 7

8 9 10 11 12 13 14

15 16 17 18 19 20 21

22 23 24 25 26 27 28

29 30 31

May 3 – French phenomenological philosopher Maurice Merleau-Ponty dies, age 53, of a stroke, apparently while preparing for a class on Descartes.
May 4 – Freedom Riders: 13 black and white students with the Congress of Racial Equality (CORE) leave Washington DC on 2 buses, to test integration laws in bus stations throughout the deep South.
May 5 – Mercury program: Alan Shepard becomes the first American in space aboard Mercury-Redstone 3.
May 6 – Tottenham Hotspur F.C. become the first team in the 20th century to win the league and cup double.
May 8 – Briton George Blake is sentenced to 42 years imprisonment for spying.
May 14 – American civil rights movement: A Freedom Riders bus is fire-bombed near Anniston, Alabama and the civil rights protestors are beaten by an angry mob.
May 16 – A military coup in South Korea – Park Chung Hee takes over.
May 19 – Venera program: Venera 1 becomes the first man-made object to fly-by another planet by passing Venus (however, the probe had lost contact with Earth a month earlier and did not send back any data).
May 21 – American civil rights movement: Alabama Governor John Patterson declares martial law in an attempt to restore order after race riots break out.
May 24 – American civil rights movement: Freedom Riders are arrested in Jackson, Mississippi for “disturbing the peace” after disembarking from their bus.
May 25 – Apollo program: President Kennedy announces before a special joint session of Congress his goal to put a man on the Moon before the end of the decade.
May 27 – Tunku Abdul Rahman, Prime Minister of Malaya, holds a press conference in Singapore, announcing his idea to form the Federation of Malaysia, comprising Malaya, Singapore, Sarawak, Brunei and North Borneo (Sabah).
May 28 – Peter Benenson’s article “The Forgotten Prisoners” is published in several internationally read newspapers. This will later be thought of as the founding of the human rights organization Amnesty International.
May 30 – Rafael Leónidas Trujillo, totalitarian despot of the Dominican Republic since 1930, is killed in an ambush, putting an end to the second longest-running dictatorship in Latin American history.
May 31
South Africa officially leaves the Commonwealth of Nations.
President John F. Kennedy and Charles De Gaulle meet in Paris.

June

Mo Tu We Th Fr Sa Su

1 2 3 4

5 6 7 8 9 10 11

12 13 14 15 16 17 18

19 20 21 22 23 24 25

26 27 28 29 30

June 4 – Vienna summit: John F. Kennedy and Nikita Khrushchev meet during 2 days in Vienna. They discuss nuclear tests, disarmament and Germany.
June 17 – A Paris-to-Strasbourg train derails near Vitry-le-François; 24 are killed, 109 injured.
June 17 – The New Democratic Party of Canada is founded with the merger of the Cooperative Commonwealth Federation (CCF) and the Canadian Labour Congress.
June 19 – The British protectorate ends in Kuwait and it becomes an emirate.
June 21 – Russian ballet dancer Rudolf Nureyev requests asylum in France while in Paris with the Kirov Ballet.
June 22 – Moise Tshombe is released for lack of evidence of connection to the murder of Patrice Lumumba.
June 24 – The Ayrshire (Earl of Carrick’s Own) Yeomanry, a British Yeomanry Cavalry Regiment is presented its first Guidon by General Sir Horatius Murray KBE CB DSO at Culzean Castle, Ayrshire.
June 25
U.S. philanthropist George Washington Vanderbilt III is found dead at the base of a San Francisco skyscraper.
Iraqi president Abdul Karim Kassem announces he is going to annex Kuwait.
June 27 – Kuwait requests British help; the United Kingdom sends in troops.

July

Mo Tu We Th Fr Sa Su

1 2

3 4 5 6 7 8 9

10 11 12 13 14 15 16

17 18 19 20 21 22 23

24 25 26 27 28 29 30

July 2 – Ernest Hemingway commits suicide by gunshot in Ketchum, Idaho.
July 4 – The Soviet submarine K-19 reactor leak occurs in the North Atlantic.
July 5 – The first Israeli rocket, Shavit 2, is launched.
July 8 – A mine explosion in Czechoslovakia leaves 108 dead.
July 13 – Charlie Brown successfully flies his kite
July 21 – Mercury program: Gus Grissom, piloting the Mercury-Redstone 4 capsule Liberty Bell 7, becomes the second American to go into space (sub-orbital). Upon splashdown, the hatch prematurely opens, and the capsule sinks (it will be recovered in 1999).
July 31
At Fenway Park in Boston, Massachusetts, the first All-Star Game tie in major league baseball history occurs when the game is stopped in the 9th inning due to rain. It will be the only tie (until 2002) in MLB All-Star Game history.
Ireland submits the first ever application to join the then European Economic Community.

August

Mo Tu We Th Fr Sa Su

1 2 3 4 5 6

7 8 9 10 11 12 13

14 15 16 17 18 19 20

21 22 23 24 25 26 27

28 29 30 31

August 5 – The Six Flags over Texas theme park officially opens to the public.
August 10 – Britain applies for membership in the European Economic Community.
August 13 – Construction of the Berlin Wall begins, restricting movement between East Berlin and West Berlin and forming a clear boundary between West Germany and East Germany, Western Europe and Eastern Europe.
August 21 – Jomo Kenyatta is released from prison in Kenya.

September

Mo Tu We Th Fr Sa Su

1 2 3

4 5 6 7 8 9 10

11 12 13 14 15 16 17

18 19 20 21 22 23 24

25 26 27 28 29 30

September 10 – During the F1 Italian Grand Prix on the circuit of Monza, the German driver Wolfgang Von Trips in a Ferrari crashes into a stand killing 14 spectators and himself.
September 14 – The new military government of Turkey sentences 15 members of the previous government to death.
September 17 – Military rulers in Turkey hang former president Adnan Menderes.
September 17-September 18 – UN Secretary-General Dag Hammarskjöld dies in an air crash en route to Katanga, Congo.
September 21 – In France, OAS slips an anti-de Gaulle message into TV programming.
September 24 – The old Deutsche Opernhaus in the Berlin neighbourhood of Charlottenburg is returned to its newly rebuilt house as the Deutsche Oper Berlin.
September 28 – A military coup in Damascus, Syria effectively ends the United Arab Republic, the union between Egypt and Syria.

October

Mo Tu We Th Fr Sa Su

2 3 4 5 6 7 8

9 10 11 12 13 14 15

16 17 18 19 20 21 22

23 24 25 26 27 28 29

30 31

October 1 – Baseball player Roger Maris of the New York Yankees hits his 61st home run in the last game of the season, against the Boston Red Sox, beating the 34-year-old record held by Babe Ruth.
October 9 – Digital photography invented by Eugene F. Lally presented in a technical paper at the American Rocket Society’s Space Flight Report to the Nation in New York.
October 10 – A volcanic eruption on Tristan da Cunha causes the whole population to be evacuated.
October 12 – The death penalty is abolished in New Zealand.
October 17 – Paris massacre of 1961: French police attack in Paris about 30,000 protesting a curfew applied solely to Algerians. The official death toll is 3, but human rights groups claim 240 dead.
October 19 – The Arab League takes over protecting Kuwait; the last British troops leave.
October 25 – The first edition of Private Eye, the British satirical magazine, is published.
October 27
An armistice begins in Katanga, Congo.
Mongolia and Mauritania join the United Nations.
A standoff between Soviet and American tanks in Berlin, Germany heightens Cold War tensions.
October 29 – RBS Channel 7, the Philippines' third TV station, is launched.
October 30 – Nuclear testing: The Soviet Union detonates a 58 megaton yield hydrogen bomb known as Tsar Bomba over Novaya Zemlya. It remains the largest ever (man-made) explosion.
October 31
Hurricane Hattie devastates Belize City, Belize killing over 270. After the hurricane, the capital moves to the inland city of Belmopan.
Joseph Stalin’s body is removed from the Lenin Mausoleum.

November

Mo Tu We Th Fr Sa Su

1 2 3 4 5

6 7 8 9 10 11 12

13 14 15 16 17 18 19

20 21 22 23 24 25 26

27 28 29 30

November – The Fantastic Four #1 debuts, launching the Marvel Universe and revolutionizing the American comic book industry.
November 1 – The Interstate Commerce Commission’s federal order banning segregation at all interstate public facilities officially comes into effect.
November 2 – Kean opens at Broadway Theatre New York City for 92 performances.
November 3 – The UN General Assembly unanimously elects U Thant acting Secretary General.
November 6 – The U.S. government issues a stamp honoring the 100th birthday of James Naismith.
November 9 – Neil Armstrong records a world record speed in a rocket plane of 6,587km/h flying a X-15.
November 10 – Catch-22 is first published by Joseph Heller.
November 11
Congolese soldiers murder 13 Italian United Nations pilots.
Stalingrad is renamed Volgograd.
November 17 – Michael Rockefeller, son of New York Governor, and later Vice President Nelson Rockefeller, disappears in the jungles of New Guinea.
November 18 – U.S. President John F. Kennedy sends 18,000 military advisors to South Vietnam.
November 20 – The funeral of longtime House Speaker Sam Rayburn is held in Washington, DC. Two former Presidents (Truman, Eisenhower) and one future one (Lyndon B. Johnson) join President Kennedy in paying their respects.
November 30 – The Soviet Union vetoes Kuwait’s application for United Nations membership.

December

Mo Tu We Th Fr Sa Su

1 2 3

4 5 6 7 8 9 10

11 12 13 14 15 16 17

18 19 20 21 22 23 24

25 26 27 28 29 30 31

December 1 – Netherlands New Guinea raises the new Morning Star flag and changes its name to West Papua.
December 2 – Cold War: In a nationally broadcast speech, Cuban leader Fidel Castro declares he is a Marxist-Leninist, and that Cuba will adopt Communism.
December 5 – U.S. President John F. Kennedy gives support to the Volta Dam project in Ghana.
December 9
Tanganyika gains independence and declares itself a republic, with Julius Nyerere as its first President.
The Australian government of Robert Menzies is re-elected for a sixth term.
December 10
The Soviet Union severs diplomatic relations with Albania.
Nobel Prize: Melvin Calvin is awarded the Nobel Prize for the process of photosynthesis.
December 11
The Vietnam War officially begins, as the first American helicopters arrive in Saigon along with 400 U.S. personnel.
Adolf Eichmann is pronounced guilty of crimes against humanity by a panel of 3 Israeli judges.
December 15 – An Israeli war crimes tribunal sentences Adolf Eichmann to die for his part in the Jewish Holocaust.
December 17
India occupies Goa.
Circus tent fire in Niteroi, Brazil kills 323.
December 18 – India occupies Portuguese colonies of Goa, Damao and Diu
December 19
Goa is officially ceded to India after 400 years of Portuguese rule.
Sukarno announces that he will take West Irian by force if necessary.
December 21 – In Congo, Katangan prime minister Moise Tshombe recognizes the Congolese constitution.
December 23 – Luxembourg’s national holiday, the Grand Duke’s Official Birthday, is set on June 23 by Grand Ducal decree.
December 30 – Congolese troops capture Albert Kalonji of South Kasai (who soon escapes).
December 31
The Marshall Plan expires, after having distributed more than $12 billion in foreign aid to rebuild Europe.
Ireland’s first national television station, Telefís Éireann (later RTÉ), begins broadcasting.

Undated

“Barbie” gets a boyfriend when the “Ken” doll is introduced.

Ongoing

Marshall Plan

Births

1961 in other calendars

Gregorian calendar 1961 MCMLXI

Ab urbe condita 2714

Armenian calendar 1410 ԹՎ ՌՆԺ

Bahá'í calendar 117 – 118

Berber calendar 2911

Buddhist calendar 2505

Burmese calendar 1323

Chinese calendar 4597/4657-11-15 (庚子年十一月十五日)

— to —

4598/4658-11-24 (辛丑年十一月廿四日)

Coptic calendar 1677 – 1678

Ethiopian calendar 1953 – 1954

Hebrew calendar 5721 – 5722

Hindu calendars

- Vikram Samvat 2016 – 2017

- Shaka Samvat 1883 – 1884

- Kali Yuga 5062 – 5063

Holocene calendar 11961

Iranian calendar 1339 – 1340

Islamic calendar 1380 – 1381

Japanese calendar Shōwa 36 (昭和36年)

Korean calendar 4294

Thai solar calendar 2504

January-February

January 1 – Mark Wingett, British actor
January 2
Gabrielle Carteris, American actress
Todd Haynes, American film director
January 5 – Iris DeMent, American singer-songwriter
January 8 – Calvin Smith, American athlete
January 11 – Karl von Habsburg-Lothringen (Károly), Archduke, Prince Imperial of Austria, Prince Royal of Hungary
January 13 – Julia Louis-Dreyfus, American actress
January 13 – Suggs, British singer (Madness)
January 17 – Maia Chiburdanidze, Georgian chess player
January 18 – Mark Messier, Canadian hockey player
January 24 – Nastassja Kinski, German-born actress
January 26 – Wayne Gretzky, Canadian hockey player (“The Great One”)
January 30 – Dexter Scott King, son of Martin Luther King, Jr.
January 31 – Lloyd Cole, British singer and songwriter
February 1 – Volker Fried, German field hockey player
February 3
Jim Balsillie, Canadian CEO and philanthropist
Gretel Killeen, Australian author and TV presenter (Big Brother)
February 8 – Vince Neil, American singer
February 9
John Kruk, baseball player and commentator
Jussi Lampi, Finnish musician and actor
February 10 – George Stephanopoulos, American political consultant and commentator
February 11
Mary Docter, American speed skater
Carey Lowell, American actress
February 13
Henry Rollins, American musician
Richard Tyson, American actor
February 14 – Latifa, Tunisian singer
February 16 – Andy Taylor, British musician (Duran Duran)
February 22 – Akira Takasaki, Japanese guitarist
February 25 – Davey Allison, American race car driver (d. 1993)
February 27 – James Worthy, American basketball player and analyst

March-April

March – Reggie Fils-Aime, American businessperson (Nintendo)
March 4
Ray Mancini, American boxer
Steven Weber, American actor
Roger Wessels, South African golfer
March 8 – Camryn Manheim, American actress
March 10
Mike Bullard (ice hockey), American hockey player
Laurel Clark, astronaut (d. 2003)
Mitch Gaylord, American gymnast
Bobby Petrino, American football coach
March 14 – Gary Dell'Abate, radio producer (The Howard Stern Show)
March 16 – Brett Kenny, Australian rugby league player
March 17 – Umayya Abu-Hanna, Palestine-born Finnish writer and politician
March 21 – Lothar Matthäus, German footballer
March 23 – Helmi Johannes, Indonesian television newscaster
March 27
Ellery Hanley, English rugby league player and coach
Tak Matsumoto, Japanese guitarist (B'z)
March 29
Amy Sedaris, American actress, comedian and writer
Gerardo Teissonniere, Puerto Rican pianist
April 2 – Christopher Meloni, American actor
April 3 – Eddie Murphy, American actor and comedian
April 5 – Lisa Zane, American actress
April 6 – Gene Eugene, Canadian actor and singer (Adam Again)
April 12 – Lisa Gerrard, Australian musician
April 14 – Neil Dougherty, basketball coach
April 17 – Frank J. Christensen, American labor leader
April 18 – Jane Leeves, English actress
April 20
Don Mattingly, American baseball player
Konstantin Lavronenko, Russian actor
April 23 – George Lopez, American actor and comedian
April 26 – Anthony Cumia, American radio personality (The Opie and Anthony Show)
April 29 – Fumihiko Tachiki, Japanese seiyuu
April 30 – Isiah Thomas, American basketball player, coach, and team owner

May-June

May 2 – Steve James, English snooker player
May 6 – George Clooney, American actor
May 7 – Robert Spano, American conductor and pianist
May 8 – Janet McTeer, British actress
May 12 – Billy (William H) Duffy, English guitarist (The Cult)
May 13 – Dennis Rodman, American basketball player and actor
May 14 – Tim Roth, English actor
May 17 – Enya (Eithne Patricia Ní Bhraonáin), Irish musician
May 27 – Peri Gilpin, American actress
May 29 – Melissa Etheridge, American musician
May 31
Ray Cote, Canadian ice hockey player
Justin Madden, Australian footballer and politician
Lea Thompson, American actress
June 1 – Paul Coffey, Canadian hockey player
June 2 – Dez Cadena, American musician
June 3 – Lawrence Lessig, Professor and Free Culture activist
June 5
Anthony Burger, American musician and singer (d. 2006)
Rosie Kane, member of Scottish Parliament
June 6 – Tom Araya, Chilean-born musician (Slayer)
June 9 – Michael J. Fox, Canadian actor
June 10 – Kim and Kelley Deal, American musicians
June 14 – “Boy George” O'Dowd, British musician and producer
June 15
Kai Eckhardt, German bass guitarist
Dave McAuley, Northern Irish boxer
June 18 – Andrés Galarraga, Venezuelan Major League Baseball player
June 23
Zoran Janjetov, Serbian comic artist
David Leavitt, American novelist
June 25
Ricky Gervais, English comedian
Mike Breen, American broadcaster
June 26 – Greg LeMond, American cyclist
June 27 – Meera Syal, British-Indian comedian and actress
June 28 – Jeff Malone, American basketball player
June 29 – Greg Hetson American guitarist for Bad Religion and Circle Jerks, among others.

July-August

July 1
Kalpana Chawla, astronaut (d. 2003)
Diana, Princess of Wales (d. 1997)
Carl Lewis, American athlete
July 2 – Michael Lindsay, Voice actor
July 6 – Rick Price, singer/songwriter
July 10 – Jacky Cheung, Hong Kong singer and actor
July 12 – Ray Gillen, American singer (d. 1993)
July 14 – Jackie Earle Haley, American actor
July 17 – Jonathan Potts, Canadian actor
July 19 – Maria Filatova, Soviet gymnast
July 19 – Benoît Mariage, Belgian film director
July 23 – Martin Gore, English musician and songwriter (Depeche Mode)
July 26 – Keiko Matsui, Japanese pianist and composer
July 30 – Laurence Fishburne, American actor
August 3 – Nick Harvey, English politician
August 4
Barack Obama, US Senator, author
Lauren Tom, American actress
August 5 – Clayton Rohner, American actor
August 7
Brian Conley, English TV presenter, comedian, singer & actor
Yelena Davydova, Soviet gymnast
August 8
Bruce Matthews, American football player
The Edge (David Howell Evans), Irish guitarist (U2)
August 14 – Susan Olsen, American actress
August 18 – Bob Woodruff, American television journalist
August 21 – Stephen Hillenburg, animation writer and artist
August 25 – Billy Ray Cyrus, American singer and actor
August 29 – Carsten Fischer, German field hockey player

September-October

September 1 – Cécilia Rhode, Miss Sweden
September 2
Eric Dickerson, American football player
Carlos Valderrama, Colombian footballer
September 5 – Karim Abdul Razak, Ghanaian footballer
September 6
Paul Waaktaar-Savoy, Norwegian guitarist (a-ha)
Scott Travis, American drummer (Judas Priest)
September 11
Elizabeth Daily, American actress
Virginia Madsen, American actress
September 12 – Mylene Farmer, Canadian singer and songwriter
September 13 – Dave Mustaine, former Metallica guitarist, frontman of Megadeth
September 15
Dan Marino, American football player
Lidia Yusupova, Chechen human-rights lawyer
September 18 – James Gandolfini, American actor
September 22
Scott Baio, American actor
Bonnie Hunt, American actress, comedian, writer, director and television producer.
Catherine Oxenberg, British actress
September 23 – William C. McCool, US Army Commander and astronaut (d. 2003)
September 25 – Heather Locklear, American actress
September 26 – Edward Kennedy Jr, son of U.S. Senator Ted Kennedy
September 27 – Andy Lau, Hong Kong actor and singer
September 30 – Sally Yeh, Hong Kong singer and actress
October 2 – Edmond Yu, Chinese student (d. 1997)
October 5 – Matthew Kauffman, American journalist and George Polk Award winner
October 11
Steve Young, American football player
Amr Diab, Egyptian singer
Neil Buchanan, English television presenter
October 13 – Doc Rivers, American basketball player and coach
October 16 – Randy Vasquez, American actor
October 18
Wynton Marsalis, American trumpeter and composer
Rick Moody, American writer
October 25 – Pat Sharp, host of the British version of Fun House, radio DJ
October 26 – Dylan McDermott, American actor
October 29 – Randy Jackson, American musician
October 31
Alonzo Babers, American runner
Peter Jackson, New Zealand film director
Larry Mullen, Jr., Irish drummer (U2)

November-December

November 1 – Anne Donovan, American basketball player
November 2 – k.d. lang, Canadian singer and songwriter
November 4
Daron Hagen, American composer
Edward Knight, American composer
Ralph Macchio, American actor
Nigel Worthington, Northern Irish footballer and football manager
November 5 – Gina Mastrogiacomo, American actress (d. 2001)
November 11 – Jan Kuehnemund, American guitarist, Vixen
November 13 – Klayton, musician
November 14 – Jurga Ivanauskaitė, Lithuanian writer (d. 2007)
November 15 – Ian Reid, Australian educator
November 18 – Anthony Warlow, Australian singer
November 19 – Meg Ryan, American actress
November 20 – Dave Watson, English footballer
November 22
Mariel Hemingway, American actress
Randal L. Schwartz, American computer programmer
December 3 – Marcelo Fromer, Brazilian guitarist
December 4 – Frank Reich, American football player
December 8 – Ann Coulter, American author, political commentator and attorney
December 11 – Dave King, Irish-American singer
December 12
Sarah Sutton, British actress
Daniel O'Donnell, Irish singer
December 15 – Karin Resetarits, Austrian journalist and politician
December 16 – Bill Hicks, American comedian (d. 1994)
December 19
Matthew Waterhouse, British actor
Eric Allin Cornell, American physicist, Nobel Prize laureate
Reggie White, American football player (d. 2004)
December 20 – Mohammad Fouad, Arab singer and actor
December 21 – Francis Ng, Hong Kong actor
December 25 – Ingrid Betancourt, Colombian senator
December 26 – John Lynch, Northern Irish actor
December 29 – Jim Reid, Scottish musician
December 30
Douglas Coupland, Canadian author
Sean Hannity, American talk radio host and conservative commentator
Ben Johnson, Canadian athlete

Deaths

January – June

January 4 – Erwin Schrödinger, Austrian physicist, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1887)
January 9 – Emily Greene Balch, American writer and pacifist, recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize (b. 1867)
January 10 – Dashiell Hammett, American writer (b. 1894)
January 21 – Blaise Cendrars, Swiss writer (b. 1887)
January 24 – Alfred Carlton Gilbert, American swimmer and inventor (b. 1884)
January 26 – Stan Nichols, English cricketer (b. 1900)
February 17 – Nita Naldi, American actress (b. 1897)
February 20 – Percy Grainger, Australian composer (b. 1882)
February 22 – Nick LaRocca, American jazz musician (b. 1889)
February 26 – King Mohammed V of Morocco (b. 1909)
March 3 – Paul Wittgenstein, Austrian-born pianist (b. 1887)
March 6 – George Formby, British singer, comedian & actor (b. 1904)
March 8
Sir Thomas Beecham, English conductor (b. 1879)
Gala Galaction, Romanian writer (b. 1879)
March 17 – Susanna M. Salter, first woman mayor in the United States (b. 1860)
March 23 – Valentin Bondarenko, cosmonaut (b. 1937)
March 26 – Carlos Duarte Costa, founder of the Brazilian Catholic Apostolic Church (b. 1888)
April 6 – Jules Bordet, Belgian immunologist and microbiologist, recipient of the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine (b. 1870)
April 7 – Vanessa Bell, English artist and interior designer (b. 1879)
April 9 – Ahmet Zog, King of Albania (b. 1895)
May 6 – Lucian Blaga, Romanian poet and philosopher (b. 1895)
May 13 – Gary Cooper, American actor (b. 1901)
May 14 – Albert Sévigny, Canadian politician (b. 1881)
May 16 – George A. Malcolm, American jurist & educator (b. 1881)
May 30 – Rafael Leónidas Trujillo, dictator of the Dominican Republic (b. 1891)
May 31 – Walter Little, Canadian politician (b. 1877)
June 2 – George S. Kaufman, American playwright (b. 1889)
June 6 – Carl Jung, Swiss psychiatrist (b. 1875)
June 16 – Marcel Junod, Swiss physician (b. 1904)
June 17 – Jeff Chandler, American actor (b. 1918)
June 30 – Lee DeForest, American inventor (b. 1873)

July – December

July 1 – Louis-Ferdinand Céline, French writer (b. 1894)
July 2 – Ernest Hemingway, American writer, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1899)
July 6 – Woodall Rodgers, Mayor of Dallas, Texas (b. 1890)
July 17 – Ty Cobb, baseball player (b. 1886)
August 8 – Méi Lánfāng, Beijing opera star (b. 1894)
August 20 – Percy Williams Bridgman, American physicist, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1882)
September 17 – Adnan Menderes, Turkish prime minister (executed) (b. 1899)
September 18 – Dag Hammarskjöld, Swedish Secretary General of the United Nations, recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize (b. 1905)
September 25 – Frank Fay, American actor (b. 1897)
October 4 – Metropolitan Benjamin (Fedchenkov), Orthodox missionary and writer, Exarch of Russian Church in North America (b. 1880)
October 11 – Chico Marx, American comedian (b. 1887)
October 13 – Dun Karm Psaila, Maltese writer (b. 1871)
October 14 – Harriet Shaw Weaver, English political activist (b. 1876)
October 13 – Maya Deren, Russian-born filmmaker (b. 1917)
November 1 – Mordecai Ham, American evangelist (b. 1877)
November 2 – James Thurber, American humorist (b. 1894)
November 16 – Sam Rayburn, Speaker of the United States House of Representatives (b. 1882)
December 20
Moss Hart, American dramatist (b. 1904)
Earle Page, eleventh Prime Minister of Australia (b. 1880)
December 25 – Otto Loewi, German-born pharmacologist, recipient of the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine (b. 1873)
December 29 – Sibyl Morrison, first female barrister in New South Wales, Australia (b. 1895)

Retrieved from “http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1961”