1961

**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
Byzantine calendar	7469 – 7470
Chinese calendar	庚子年十一月十五日; (4597/4657-11-15) — to — 辛丑年十一月廿四日; (4598/4658-11-24)
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
	v • d • e

	1961 by topic:
	Subject: Archaeology - Architecture - Art
	Aviation - Film - Literature (Poetry); Meteorology - Music (Country); Rail transport - Radio - Science - Spaceflight
	Sports - Television
	Countries: Australia - Canada - India - Ireland - Malaysia - New Zealand - Norway - Pakistan - Singapore - South Africa - Soviet Union - UK - United States - Zimbabwe
	Leaders: Sovereign states - State leaders
	Religious leaders - Law
	Categories: Births - Deaths - Works - Introductions
	Establishments - Disestablishments - Awards v • d • e

Millennium:	2nd millennium
Centuries:	19th century - 20th century - 21st century
Decades:	1930s 1940s 1950s - 1960s - 1970s 1980s 1990s
Years:	1958 1959 1960 - 1961 - 1962 1963 1964

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This article is about the year. For other uses, see 1961 (disambiguation).

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

Contents:
Events of 1961 - Jan. ^. Feb. ^. March ^. April - May ^. June ^. July ^. Aug. - Sept. ^. Oct. ^. Nov. ^. Dec. - Undated ^. Ongoing ^. - World population Births Deaths Nobel Prizes See also - Notes - External links

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.

[edit] Events of 1961

[edit] 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.
January 3 - At the National Reactor Testing Station near Idaho Falls, Idaho, atomic reactor SL-1 explodes, killing 3 military technicians.

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 on independence for 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".
January 17 - 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 nuclear bombs, crashes near Goldsboro, North Carolina.
January 24 - Musician Bob Dylan reportedly makes his way to New York City after bumming a ride in Madison, Wisconsin. Dylan is likely on his way to visit his idol Woody Guthrie. He later finds fame in the Greenwich Village protest folk music scene.
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 the Chimp, a 37 pound male, is rocketed into space aboard Mercury-Redstone 2, in a test of the Project Mercury capsule, designed to carry United States astronauts into space.

[edit] February

February 1 - The United States launches its first test of the Minuteman I intercontinental ballistic missile.[1]
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 - The 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 - President Kennedy warns the Soviet Union to avoid interfering with the United Nations pacification of the Congo.[2]
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 trams in Sydney, Australia, cease operation, bringing to an end the Southern Hemisphere's largest tramway network.
February 26 - Hassan II is pronounced King of Morocco.

[edit] March

March 1 - President of the United States John F. Kennedy establishes the Peace Corps.
March 1 - 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.
March 8 - 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.
March 13 - A dam bursts on the Dnieper River in the USSR, killing 145.
March 13 - United States delegate to the UNSC Adlai Stevenson votes against Portuguese policies in Africa.
March 13 - President of the United States John F. Kennedy proposes a long-term "Alliance for Progress" between the United States and Latin America.[3]
March 15 - South Africa withdraws from the Commonwealth of Nations.
March 15 - 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, D.C. to vote in presidential elections.
March 30 - The Single Convention on Narcotic Drugs is signed at New York.

[edit] April

April 5 - The New Guinea Council of Western Papua is installed.
April 11 - The trial of Nazi Adolf Eichmann begins in Jerusalem.
April 12 - Vostok 1: Soviet cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin becomes the first human in space.
April 12 - Albert Kalonji takes the title Emperor Albert I Kalonji of South Kasai.
April 13 - In Portugal, a coup attempt against António de Oliveira Salazar fails.
April 17 - The Bay of Pigs Invasion of Cuba begins; it fails by April 19.
April 17 - The 33rd Academy Awards ceremony is held.
April 18 - Portugal sends to Angola its 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 - The Swedish ship Regalskeppet Vasa is removed from the water after being sunk 333 years earlier.
April 27 - President Kennedy a delivers revealing speech: The President and the Press: Address before the American Newspaper Publishers Association[4]

[edit] May

May 4 - U.S. Freedom Riders begin interstate bus rides to test the new U.S. Supreme Court integration decision.
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 15 Heinrich Matthaei alone performs the Poly-U-Experiment and is the first human to recognize and understand the genetic code. This is the birthdate of modern genetics. Hans-Jörg Rheinberger, "Experimentalsysteme - Eine Geschichte der Proteinsynthese im Reagenzglas" Wallstein ISBN 3-89244-454-4
May 16 - Park Chung Hee takes over in a military coup in South Korea.
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 does 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 is later considered 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 - In France, rebel generals Maurice Challe and Andre Zelelr are sentenced to 15 years in prison.
May 31 - South Africa officially leaves the Commonwealth of Nations.
May 31 - President John F. Kennedy and Charles De Gaulle meet in Paris.

[edit] June

June 1 - Ethiopia experiences her most devastating earthquake of the 20th century, with a magnitude of 6.7. The town of Majete is destroyed, 45% of the houses in Karakore collapse, 17 kilometers of the main road north of Karakore are damaged by landslides and fissures, and 5,000 inhabitants in the area are left homeless.
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 - Iraqi president Abdul Karim Kassem announces he is going to annex Kuwait.
June 27 - Kuwait requests British help; the United Kingdom sends in troops.

[edit] July

July 4 - The Soviet submarine K-19 reactor leak occurs in the North Atlantic.
July 5 - The first Israeli rocket, Shavit 2, is launched.^[1]^[2]
July 10- Al hermansen was born
July 8 - A mine explosion in Czechoslovakia leaves 108 dead.
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 is 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 (the only tie until 2002 in MLB All-Star Game history).
July 31 - Ireland submits the first ever application to join the then European Economic Community.

[edit] August

August - USA founds Alliance for Progress.
August 5 - The Six Flags over Texas theme park officially opens to the public.
August 6 - Vostok 2: Soviet cosmonaut Gherman Titov becomes the second human in space in more than one day.
August 7 - Vostok 2 with Titov onboard lands in Soviet Union.
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.

[edit] September

September 10 - During the F1 Italian Grand Prix on the circuit of Monza, German Wolfgang Von Trips, driving 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 19 - The first Grey alien is reported.
September 21 - In France, the OAS slips an anti-de Gaulle message into TV programming.
September 24 - The old Deutsche Opernhaus in the Berlin neighborhood 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.

[edit] October

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) is 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 in Paris attack 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.
October 27 - Mongolia and Mauritania join the United Nations.
October 27 - 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.
October 31 - Joseph Stalin's body is removed from the Lenin Mausoleum.

[edit] November

November - The Fantastic Four #1 comic debuts, launching the Marvel Universe and revolutionizing the American comic book industry.
November 1 - The Hungry generation Movement is launched in Calcutta, India.
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 Theater in 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.
November 11 - 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.

[edit] December

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.
December 9 - The Australian government of Robert Menzies is re-elected for a sixth term.
December 10 - The Soviet Union severs diplomatic relations with Albania.
December 10 - 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.
December 11 - 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.
December 17 - A circus tent fire in Niteroi, Brazil kills 323.
December 18 - India occupies the Portuguese colonies of Goa, Damao and Diu.
December 19 - Goa is officially ceded to India after 400 years of Portuguese rule.
December 19 - Indonesian president 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.
December 31 - Ireland's first national television station, Telefís Éireann (later RTÉ), begins broadcasting.

[edit] Undated

"Barbie" gets a boyfriend when the "Ken" doll is introduced.

[edit] Ongoing

Marshall Plan

[edit] Births

[edit] January–February

January 1 - Mark Wingett, British actor
January 1 - Sam Backo, Australian rugby league footballer
January 2 - Gabrielle Carteris, American actress
January 2 - 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 rock singer (Madness)
January 14 - Mike Tramp, Danish rock singer (White Lion)
January 17 - Maia Chiburdanidze, Georgian chess player
January 18 - Mark Messier, Canadian hockey player
January 24 - Guido Buchwald, German football player
January 24 - Nastassja Kinski, German-born actress
January 26 - Wayne Gretzky, Canadian hockey player
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
February 3 - Gretel Killeen, Australian author and TV presenter
February 8 - Vince Neil, American singer
February 9 - John Kruk, American baseball player and commentator
February 9 - Jussi Lampi, Finnish musician and actor
February 10 - George Stephanopoulos, American political consultant and commentator
February 11 - Mary Docter, American speed skater
February 11 - Carey Lowell, American actress
February 13 - Henry Rollins, American musician
February 13 - Richard Tyson, American actor
February 14 - Latifa, Tunisian singer
February 16 - Andy Taylor, British rock 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
February 28 - Mark Latham, Australian politician

[edit] March–April

March - Reggie Fils-Aime, American businessperson
March 4 - Ray Mancini, American boxer
March 4 - Steven Weber, American actor
March 4 - Roger Wessels, South African golfer
March 8 - Camryn Manheim, American actress
March 9 - Rick Steiner, American professional wrestler
March 10 - Mike Bullard (ice hockey), American hockey player
March 10 - Laurel Clark, American astronaut (d. 2003)
March 10 - Mitch Gaylord, American gymnast
March 10 - Bobby Petrino, American football coach
March 14 - Gary Dell'Abate, American radio producer
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
March 27 - Tak Matsumoto, Japanese guitarist (B'z)
March 28 - Byron Scott, American basketball player and coach
March 29 - Amy Sedaris, American actress, comedian and writer
March 29 - 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
April 7 - Thurl Bailey, American basketball player
April 12 - Lisa Gerrard, Australian musician
April 14 - Neil Dougherty, American basketball coach
April 17 - Frank J. Christensen, American labor leader
April 18 - Jane Leeves, English actress
April 20 - Don Mattingly, American baseball player
April 20 - Konstantin Lavronenko, Russian actor
April 23 - George Lopez, American actor and comedian
April 26 - Anthony Cumia, American radio personality
April 27 - Moana Pozzi, Italian porn actress (d. 1994)
April 28 - Futoshi Matsunaga, Japanese serial killer
April 29 - Fumihiko Tachiki, Japanese seiyuu
April 30 - Isiah Thomas, American basketball player, coach, and team owner

[edit] May–June

May 2 - Steve James, English snooker player
May 3 - Joe Murray, American animator
May 5 - Hiroshi Hase, Japanese professional wrestler
May 6 - George Clooney, American actor
May 7 - Robert Spano, American conductor and pianist
May 8 - Janet McTeer, British actress
May 8 - Akira Taue, Japanese professional wrestler
May 10 - Danny Carey, American rock drummer
May 12 - Billy (William H) Duffy, English rock 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
May 31 - Justin Madden, Australian footballer and politician
May 31 - Lea Thompson, American actress
June 1 - Paul Coffey, Canadian hockey player
June 2 - Dez Cadena, American musician
June 3 - Lawrence Lessig, American academic and political activist
June 5 - Anthony Burger, American musician and singer (d. 2006)
June 5 - Rosie Kane, member of Scottish Parliament
June 6 - Tom Araya, Chilean-born rock 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 (Culture Club)
June 15 - Kai Eckhardt, German bass guitarist
June 15 - Dave McAuley, Northern Irish boxer
June 18 - Andrés Galarraga, Venezuelan Major League Baseball player
June 21 - Manu Chao, French singer
June 23 - Zoran Janjetov, Serbian comic artist
June 23 - David Leavitt, American novelist
June 25 - Ricky Gervais, English comedian
June 25 - 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 rock guitarist (Bad Religion, Circle Jerks)

[edit] July–August

July 1 - Kalpana Chawla, American astronaut (d. 2003)
July 1 - Diana, Princess of Wales (d. 1997)
July 1 - Carl Lewis, American athlete
July 2 - Michael Lindsay, American voice actor
July 6 - Rick Price, Australian singer/songwriter
July 7 - Eric Jerome Dickey, American writer
July 8 - Toby Keith, American country music singer
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 rock 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, U.S. President
August 4 - Lauren Tom, American actress
August 5 - Clayton Rohner, American actor
August 7 - Brian Conley, English TV presenter, comedian, singer & actor
August 7 - Yelena Davydova, Soviet gymnast
August 8 - Bruce Matthews, American football player
August 8 - The Edge (David Howell Evans), Irish rock guitarist (U2)
August 14 - Susan Olsen, American actress
August 15 - Matt Johnson, English singer-songwriter
August 18 - Bob Woodruff, American television journalist
August 21 - Stephen Hillenburg, American animation writer and artist
August 25 - Billy Ray Cyrus, American singer and actor
August 26 - Daniel Lévi, French singer-songwriter, composer and pianist
August 29 - Carsten Fischer, German field hockey player

[edit] September–October

September 1 - Cécilia Rhode, Miss Sweden
September 2 - Eric Dickerson, American football player
September 2 - Carlos Valderrama, Colombian footballer
September 5 - Karim Abdul Razak, Ghanaian footballer
September 6 - Paul Waaktaar-Savoy, Norwegian rock guitarist (a-ha)
September 6 - Scott Travis, American metal drummer (Judas Priest)
September 11 - Elizabeth Daily, American actress
September 11 - Virginia Madsen, American actress
September 12 - Mylene Farmer, Canadian singer and songwriter
September 13 - Dave Mustaine, American metal singer, guitarist (Megadeth)
September 15 - Dan Marino, American football player
September 15 - Lidia Yusupova, Chechen human-rights lawyer
September 18 - James Gandolfini, American actor
September 22 - Scott Baio, American actor
September 22 - Bonnie Hunt, American actress, comedian, writer, director and television producer
September 22 - Catherine Oxenberg, British actress
September 23 - William C. McCool, U.S. 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 28 - Yordanka Donkova, Bulgarian athlete
September 29 - Julia Gillard, Australian politician
September 30 - Sally Yeh, Hong Kong singer and actress
October 1 - Gary Ablett, Australian rules footballer
October 1 - Robert Rey, Brazilian-American plastic surgeon and television personality
October 1 - Rico Constantino, American professional wrestler
October 2 - Edmond Yu, Chinese student (d. 1997)
October 4 - Philippe Russo, French singer
October 5 - Matthew Kauffman, American journalist and George Polk Award winner
October 6 - Mark Shasha, American artist, author, illustrator
October 8 - Ted Kooshian, American jazz pianist
October 11 - Steve Young, American football player
October 11 - Amr Diab, Egyptian singer
October 11 - 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
October 18 - Rick Moody, American writer
October 24 - Dave Meltzer, American wrestling journalist
October 25 - Pat Sharp, British radio DJ and host
October 26 - Dylan McDermott, American actor
October 29 - Randy Jackson, American musician
October 31 - Alonzo Babers, American runner
October 31 - Peter Jackson, New Zealand film director
October 31 - Larry Mullen, Jr., Irish rock drummer (U2)

[edit] November–December

November 1 - Anne Donovan, American basketball player
November 2 - k.d. lang, Canadian singer and songwriter
November 4 - Daron Hagen, American composer
November 4 - Edward Knight, American composer
November 4 - Ralph Macchio, American actor
November 4 - Nigel Worthington, Northern Irish footballer and football manager
November 5 - Gina Mastrogiacomo, American actress (d. 2001)
November 11 - Jan Kuehnemund, American guitarist (Vixen)
November 12 - Nadia Comaneci, Romanian gymnast
November 13 - Klayton, American rock 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
November 22 - Randal L. Schwartz, American computer programmer
December 3 - Marcelo Fromer, Brazilian guitarist
December 4 - Frank Reich, American football player
December 4 - Roy Dennis, American boy
December 8 - Ann Coulter, American author, conservative commentator and attorney
December 11 - Dave King, Irish-American singer
December 12 - Sarah Sutton, British actress
December 12 - 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
December 19 - Eric Allin Cornell, American physicist, Nobel Prize laureate
December 19 - 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
December 30 - Sean Hannity, American radio/television host and conservative commentator
December 30 - Ben Johnson, Canadian athlete

[edit] Deaths

[edit] 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 3 - Viscount Dunrossil, Australian governor-general (b. 1893)
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)
March 8 - Gala Galaction, Romanian writer (b. 1879)
March 17 - Susanna M. Salter, first woman mayor in the United States (b. 1860)
March 23 - Valentin Bondarenko, Russian 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 3 - Maurice Merleau-Ponty, French phenomenological philosopher (b. 1908)
May 6 - Lucian Blaga, Romanian poet and philosopher (b. 1895)
May 13 - Gary Cooper, American actor (High Noon) (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 25 - George Washington Vanderbilt III, American philanthropist (b. 1914)
June 30 - Lee DeForest, American inventor (b. 1873)

[edit] July–December

July 1 - Louis-Ferdinand Céline, French writer (b. 1894)
July 2 - Ernest Hemingway, American writer, Nobel Prize laureate (suicide) (b. 1899)
July 6 - Woodall Rodgers, Mayor of Dallas, Texas (b. 1890)
July 17 - Ty Cobb, American 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 6 - Frantz Fanon, philosopher (b. 1925)
December 20 - Moss Hart, American dramatist (b. 1904)
December 20 - Earle Page, 11th 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)

[edit] Notes

^ "Missile Overview" (html). Nuclear Threat Initiative. http://www.nti.org/e_research/profiles/Egypt/Missile/index.html. Retrieved on 2007-12-18.
^ "July 1961" (html). NASA. http://www.hq.nasa.gov/office/pao/History/Timeline/1961-3.html. Retrieved on 2007-12-18.

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: 1961

[edit] External links

[0] "Missile Overview" (html). Nuclear Threat Initiative. http://www.nti.org/e_research/profiles/Egypt/Missile/index.html. Retrieved on 2007-12-18.

[1] "July 1961" (html). NASA. http://www.hq.nasa.gov/office/pao/History/Timeline/1961-3.html. Retrieved on 2007-12-18.

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