1961

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1961

Year 1961 (MCMLXI
Roman numerals

Roman numerals are a numeral system of ancient Rome based on letters of the alphabet, which are combined to signify the sum of their values. The system is decimal but not directly Positional notation and does not include a zero....
) was a common year starting on Sunday

Common year starting on Sunday

This is the calendar for any common year starting on Sunday or for any year in which ?Doomsday rule? is Tuesday. Examples: Gregorian calendar years 1995 & 2006 or Julian calendar year 1917....
(link will display full calendar) of the Gregorian calendar

Gregorian calendar

The Gregorian calendar is the internationally accepted civil calendar. It was first proposed by the Calabrian doctor Aloysius Lilius, and decreed by Pope Gregory XIII, after whom it was named, on 24 February 1582 by the papal bull Inter gravissimas....
.

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.

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Encyclopedia

Common year starting on Sunday

Gregorian calendar

Events of 1961

January

January 1 - The farthing
British Farthing coin

File:Edward_I_farthing_quarter_of_a_penny.jpgA farthing was an English coinage worth one quarter of a Penny and 1/960 of a pound sterling. Such coins were first minted in England in the 13th century, and continued to be used until 31 December 1960, when they ceased to be legal tender....
, used since the 13th century
13th century

As a means of recording the passage of time, the 13th century was that century which lasted from 1201 through 1300 in accordance with the Julian calendar in the Christian Era/Common Era....
, ceases to be legal tender
Legal tender

Legal tender or forced tender is payment that, by law, cannot be refused in settlement of a debt.Legal tender is variously defined in different jurisdictions....
in the United Kingdom
United Kingdom

The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom , the UK or Britain,is a sovereign state located off the northwestern coast of continental Europe....
.
January 3 - President Dwight Eisenhower announces that the United States
United States

The United States of America is a Federal government constitutional republic comprising U.S. state and a federal district. The country is situated mostly in central North America, where its Contiguous United States and Washington, D.C., the Capital districts and territories, lie between the Pacific Ocean and Atlantic Oceans, Borders of the U...
has severed diplomatic and consular relations with Cuba
Cuba

The Republic of Cuba is a country in the Caribbean. It consists of the island of Cuba , the island of Isla de la Juventud, and several adjacent small islands....
.
January 3 - At the National Reactor Testing Station near Idaho Falls, Idaho
Idaho Falls, Idaho

Idaho Falls is the county seat and largest city of Bonneville County, Idaho, Idaho, United States. As of the 2000 United States Census, the population of Idaho Falls was 50,730, with a metro population of 119,396....
, atomic reactor SL-1
SL-1

The SL-1, or Stationary Low-Power Reactor Number One, was a United States Army experimental nuclear reactor which underwent a steam explosion and nuclear meltdown in January 1961, killing its three operators....
explodes, killing 3 military technicians.
January 5 - Italian sculptor Alfredo Fioravanti
Alfredo Fioravanti

Alfredo Fioravanti was an Italy sculptor , who was part of the team that forged the Etruscan terracotta warriors in the Metropolitan Museum of Art....
marches into the U.S. Consulate in Rome
Rome

Rome is the capital city of Italy and Lazio, and is Italy's largest and most populous city, with 2,724,347 residents in an urban area of some ....
, and confesses that he was part of the team that forged the Etruscan terracotta warriors
Etruscan terracotta warriors

The three Etruscan terracotta warriors are art forgery, statues made to resemble work of ancient Etruscans. The New York Metropolitan Museum of Art bought them between 1915 and 1921....
in the Metropolitan Museum of Art
Metropolitan Museum of Art

The Metropolitan Museum of Art is an art museum located on the eastern edge of Central Park, along what is known as Museum Mile, New York City in New York City, USA....
.
January 7 - Following a 4-day conference in Casablanca
Casablanca

Casablanca is a city in western Morocco, located on the Atlantic Ocean. It is the capital of the Greater Casablanca region.With a population of 3.1 million ??????)...
, 5 African chiefs of state announce plans for a NATO
NATO

The North Atlantic Treaty Organization , also called the Atlantic Alliance, is a military alliance established by the signing of the North Atlantic Treaty on 4 April 1949....
-type African organization to ensure common defense. The Charter of Casablanca involves the Casablanca Group
Casablanca group

The Casablanca Group was an organization of "progressive states" founded in 1961. It gathered Gamal Abdel-Nasser's Egypt, Ghana — led by Kwame Nkrumah, leading proponent of Pan-Africanism —, S?kou Tour?'s Guinea, Mali, Libya or Morocco for a short period — left-wing Morocco prime minister Abdallah Ibrahim had just been dismi...
: Morocco
Morocco

Morocco , officially the Kingdom of Morocco , is a country located in North Africa with a population of nearly 34 million and an area just under 447,000 km2....
, the United Arab Republic
United Arab Republic

The United Arab Republic , often abbreviated as the U.A.R., was a union between Egypt and Syria. The union began in 1958 and existed until 1961 when Syria seceded from the union....
, Ghana
Ghana

The Republic of Ghana is a country in West Africa. It borders C?te d'Ivoire to the west, Burkina Faso to the north, Togo to the east, and the Gulf of Guinea to the south....
, Guinea
Guinea

Guinea, officially Republic of Guinea , is a country in West Africa formerly known as French Guinea. The country's current population is estimated at 10,211,437 ....
, and Mali
Mali

Mali, officially the Republic of Mali, is a landlocked nation in West Africa. Mali is the seventh largest country in Africa, bordering Algeria on the north, Niger on the east, Burkina Faso and the C?te d'Ivoire on the south, Guinea on the south-west, and Senegal and Mauritania on the west....
.
January 8 - In France
France

France , officially the French Republic , is a country whose Metropolitan France is located in Western Europe and that also comprises various Overseas departments and territories of France....
, a referendum
Referendum

A referendum , ballot question, or plebiscite is a direct vote in which an entire Constituency is asked to either accept or reject a particular proposal....
supports Charles de Gaulle
Charles de Gaulle

Charles Andr? Joseph Marie de Gaulle , , was a French people general and statesman who led the Free French Forces during World War II. He later founded the French Fifth Republic in 1958 and served as its first President of France from 1959 to 1969....
's policies on independence for Algeria
Algeria

Algeria , officially the People's Democratic Republic of Algeria, is a country located in North Africa. It is the largest country of the Mediterranean sea, second largest in the Arab World, and the second largest on the African continent and the eleventh-largest country in the world in terms of land area....
.
January 9 - British
United Kingdom

The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom , the UK or Britain,is a sovereign state located off the northwestern coast of continental Europe....
authorities announce that they have discovered a large Soviet
Soviet Union

The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics was a Constitution of the Soviet Union socialist state that existed in Eurasia from 1922 to 1991.The name is a translation of the , romanization of Russian Soyuz Sovetskikh Sotsialisticheskikh Respublik, abbreviated ????, SSSR....
spy
SPY

SPY may refer to:* SPY , ticker symbol for Standard & Poor's Depositary Receipts* Spy , a satirical monthly, trademarked all-caps* SPY , airport code for San P?dro, C?te d'Ivoire...
ring in London
London

London is the capital of both England and the United Kingdom, and the most populous municipality in the European Union. An important settlement for two millennia, History of London goes back to its founding by the Roman Empire....
.
January 17 - President Dwight Eisenhower gives his final State of the Union Address
State of the Union Address

The State of the Union is an annual address presented before a joint session of Congress and held in the United States House of Representatives chamber at the U.S....
to Congress. In a Farewell Address the same day, he warns of the increasing power of a "military-industrial complex
Military-industrial complex

A military-industrial complex is a concept commonly used to refer to policy relationships between governments, national armed forces, and industry support they obtain from the commercial sector in political approval for research, development, production, use, and support for military training, weapons, equipment, and facilities within the n...
".
January 17 - Patrice Lumumba
Patrice Lumumba

Patrice ?mery Lumumba was an African anti-colonial leader and the first legally elected Prime Minister of the Republic of the Congo after he helped to win its independence from Belgium in June 1960....
is assassinated.

* January 20 - John F. Kennedy

John F. Kennedy

John Fitzgerald "Jack" Kennedy , often referred to by his initials JFK, was the List of Presidents of the United States President of the United States, serving from 1961 until John F....
becomes the 35th President of the United States

President of the United States

The President of the United States is the head of state and head of government of the United States and is the highest political official in the United States by influence and recognition....
.

January 24 - A U.S. B-52 Stratofortress
B-52 Stratofortress

The Boeing B-52 Stratofortress is a long-range, subsonic, jet engine, strategic bomber operated by the United States Air Force since 1955.Beginning with the successful contract bid on 5 June 1946, the B-52 went through several design steps; from a straight wing aircraft powered by six turboprop engines to the final prototype YB-52, with ei...
, with two nuclear bombs, crashes
1961 Goldsboro B-52 crash

The 1961 Goldsboro B-52 crash refers to an accident that occurred near Goldsboro, North Carolina on 24 January 1961 when a B-52 Stratofortress carrying two nuclear bombs broke up in mid-air, dropping its nuclear payload in the process....
near Goldsboro, North Carolina
Goldsboro, North Carolina

Goldsboro is a city in Wayne County, North Carolina, North Carolina, United States. The population was 39,043 at the 2000 census, and estimated to be 38,023 in 2006....
.
January 24 - Musician Bob Dylan reportedly makes his way to New York City
New York City

The City of New York is the List of United States cities by population in the United States, while the New York metropolitan area ranks among the List of urban areas by population....
after bumming a ride in Madison, Wisconsin
Madison, Wisconsin

Madison is the List of U.S. state capitals of the U.S. state of Wisconsin and the county seat of Dane County, Wisconsin. It is also home to the University of Wisconsin–Madison....
. Dylan is likely on his way to visit his idol Woody Guthrie
Woody Guthrie

Woodrow Wilson "Woody" Guthrie is best known as an United States singer-songwriter and folk musician, whose musical legacy includes hundreds of political, Traditional music and children's songs, ballads and improvised works....
. He later finds fame in the Greenwich Village
Greenwich Village

Greenwich Village , often simply called the Village, is a largely residential area on the lower west side of southern Manhattan in New York City....
protest folk music scene.
January 25 - In Washington, DC John F. Kennedy
John F. Kennedy

John Fitzgerald "Jack" Kennedy , often referred to by his initials JFK, was the List of Presidents of the United States President of the United States, serving from 1961 until John F....
delivers the first live presidential
President of the United States

The President of the United States is the head of state and head of government of the United States and is the highest political official in the United States by influence and recognition....
news conference
News conference

A news conference or press conference is a media event in which newsmakers invite journalists to hear them speak and, most often, ask questions....
. In it, he announces that the Soviet Union
Soviet Union

The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics was a Constitution of the Soviet Union socialist state that existed in Eurasia from 1922 to 1991.The name is a translation of the , romanization of Russian Soyuz Sovetskikh Sotsialisticheskikh Respublik, abbreviated ????, SSSR....
has freed the 2 surviving crewmen of a USAF RB-47 reconnaissance plane shot down by Soviet flyers over the Barents Sea
Barents Sea

The Barents Sea is a part of the Arctic Ocean located north of Norway and Russia. It is a rather deep Continental shelf sea , bordered by the shelf edge towards the Norwegian Sea in the west, the island of Svalbard in the northwest, and the islands of Franz Josef Land and Novaya Zemlya in the northeast and east....
July 1, 1960 (see RB-47H shot down).
January 25 - Acting to halt 'leftist excesses,' a junta
Military dictatorship

A military dictatorship is a form of government wherein the political power resides with the military. It is similar but not identical to a stratocracy, a state ruled directly by the military....
composed of 2 army officers and 4 civilians takes over El Salvador
El Salvador

El Salvador is the smallest country in the Americas and Central America by size, and the most densely populated nation in Central America. It borders on the Pacific Ocean between Guatemala and Honduras....
, ousting another junta that had ruled for 3 months.
January 26 - John F. Kennedy
John F. Kennedy

John Fitzgerald "Jack" Kennedy , often referred to by his initials JFK, was the List of Presidents of the United States President of the United States, serving from 1961 until John F....
appoints Janet G. Travell
Janet G. Travell

Janet Graeme Travell was an American physician.She developed and popularized the diagnosis and treatment of myofascial pain syndrome secondary to trigger points....
to be his physician, the first woman to hold this appointment.
January 30 - President John F. Kennedy
John F. Kennedy

John Fitzgerald "Jack" Kennedy , often referred to by his initials JFK, was the List of Presidents of the United States President of the United States, serving from 1961 until John F....
delivers his first State of the Union Address
State of the Union Address

The State of the Union is an annual address presented before a joint session of Congress and held in the United States House of Representatives chamber at the U.S....
.
January 31 - Ham the Chimp
Ham the Chimp

Ham , also known as Ham the Chimp and Ham the Astrochimp, was the first Great ape launched into outer space. Ham's name is an acronym for the lab that prepared him for his historic mission ? the Holloman Aerospace Medical Center, located at Holloman Air Force Base in New Mexico....
, a 37 pound male, is rocketed into space aboard Mercury-Redstone 2
Mercury-Redstone 2

Mercury program-Redstone rocket 2 was a rocket mission, launched at 16:55 UTC on January 31, 1961 from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station Launch Complex 5 at Cape Canaveral, Florida....
, in a test of the Project Mercury
Project Mercury

Project Mercury was the first human spaceflight program of the United States. It ran from 1959 through 1963 with the goal of putting a human in orbit around the Earth....
capsule, designed to carry United States
United States

The United States of America is a Federal government constitutional republic comprising U.S. state and a federal district. The country is situated mostly in central North America, where its Contiguous United States and Washington, D.C., the Capital districts and territories, lie between the Pacific Ocean and Atlantic Oceans, Borders of the U...
astronaut
Astronaut

An astronaut or cosmonaut is a person trained by a List of human spaceflight programs to command, pilot, or serve as a crew member of a spacecraft....
s into space.

February

February 1 - The United States
United States

The United States of America is a Federal government constitutional republic comprising U.S. state and a federal district. The country is situated mostly in central North America, where its Contiguous United States and Washington, D.C., the Capital districts and territories, lie between the Pacific Ocean and Atlantic Oceans, Borders of the U...
launches its first test of the Minuteman I intercontinental ballistic missile.
February 3 - China
China

China is a Culture of China, an ancient civilization, and, depending on perspective, a national or multinational entity extending over a large area in East Asia....
buys grain from Canada
Canada

Canada is a country occupying most of northern North America, extending from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west and northward into the Arctic Ocean....
for $60 million.
February 4 - The Portuguese Colonial War begins in Angola
Angola

Angola, officially the Republic of Angola , is a country in south-central Africa bordering Namibia to the south, Democratic Republic of the Congo to the north, and Zambia to the east, and with a west coast along the Atlantic Ocean....
.
February 5 - February 9 - In Congo
Republic of the Congo (Léopoldville)

The Republic of the Congo was an independent republic established following the independence granted to the former colony of the Belgian Congo in 1960....
, 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
Venera 1

On February 12 1961, 00:34:36 Coordinated Universal Time, the first planetary probe was launched to Venus by the Soviet Union. The Venus-1 Automatic Interplanetary Station, or Venera 1, was a 643.5 kg probe consisting of a cylindrical body 1.05 meter in diameter topped by a dome, totaling 2.035 meters in height....
towards Venus
Venus

Venus is the second-closest planet to the Sun, orbiting it every 224.7 Earth days. The planet is named after Venus , the Roman mythology goddess of love....
.
February 13 - The Congo
Republic of the Congo (Léopoldville)

The Republic of the Congo was an independent republic established following the independence granted to the former colony of the Belgian Congo in 1960....
government announces that villagers have killed Patrice Lumumba
Patrice Lumumba

Patrice ?mery Lumumba was an African anti-colonial leader and the first legally elected Prime Minister of the Republic of the Congo after he helped to win its independence from Belgium in June 1960....
.
February 14 - Discovery of the chemical elements: Element 103, Lawrencium
Lawrencium

Lawrencium is a radioactive synthetic element with the symbol Lr and atomic number 103.Its most stable known isotope is 262Lr, with a half-life of approximately 3.6 hours....
, is first synthesized in Berkeley, California
Berkeley, California

Berkeley is a city on the east shore of San Francisco Bay in Northern California, in the United States. Its neighbors to the south are the cities of Oakland, California and Emeryville, California....
.
February 15 - President Kennedy
John F. Kennedy

John Fitzgerald "Jack" Kennedy , often referred to by his initials JFK, was the List of Presidents of the United States President of the United States, serving from 1961 until John F....
warns the Soviet Union
Soviet Union

The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics was a Constitution of the Soviet Union socialist state that existed in Eurasia from 1922 to 1991.The name is a translation of the , romanization of Russian Soyuz Sovetskikh Sotsialisticheskikh Respublik, abbreviated ????, SSSR....
to avoid interfering with the United Nations
United Nations

The United Nations is an international organization whose stated aims are to facilitate cooperation in international law, international security, economic development, Social change, human rights and achieving world peace....
pacification of the Congo
Republic of the Congo (Léopoldville)

The Republic of the Congo was an independent republic established following the independence granted to the former colony of the Belgian Congo in 1960....
.
February 15 - A Sabena
Sabena

SABENA was the national airline of Belgium from 1923 to 2001, with its base at Brussels Airport. After its bankruptcy in 2001, the newly-formed SN Brussels Airlines took over part of SABENA's assets in February 2002, which then became Brussels Airlines....
Boeing 707
Boeing 707

The Boeing 707 is a four-engine commercial passenger jet airliner developed by Boeing Commercial Airplanes in the early 1950s. Its name is most commonly spoken as "Seven Oh Seven"....
crashes near Brussels
Brussels

Brussels , officially the Brussels Capital-Region, is the de facto capital city of the European Union and the largest urban area in Belgium....
, Belgium
Belgium

* A small German-speaking Community of Belgium exists in eastern Wallonia. Belgium's linguistic diversity and related political and cultural conflicts are reflected in the history of Belgium and a complex Communities and regions of Belgium....
, killing 73, including the entire United States
United States

The United States of America is a Federal government constitutional republic comprising U.S. state and a federal district. The country is situated mostly in central North America, where its Contiguous United States and Washington, D.C., the Capital districts and territories, lie between the Pacific Ocean and Atlantic Oceans, Borders of the U...
figure skating
Figure skating

Figure skating is a sport in which individuals, pairs, or groups perform figure skating spins, figure skating jumps, moves in the field and other intricate and challenging moves on ice....
team and several coaches.
February 25 - The last public trams in Sydney
Trams in Sydney

Sydney, the largest city in Australia, once had the largest tram system in Australia, the second largest in the Commonwealth , and one of the largest in the world....
, Australia
Australia

Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the southern hemisphere comprising the Australia of the world's smallest continent, the major island of Tasmania, and numerous list of islands of Australia in the Indian Ocean and Pacific Oceans....
, cease operation, bringing to an end the Southern Hemisphere's largest tramway network.
February 26 - Hassan II
Hassan II of Morocco

King Hassan II ????? ??????)}}, class. pron. [s?hibu l-jal?lati l-m?liku] l-hasan uth-th?n?, dial. [s?hibu l-jal?la el-m?lik] el-hasan ett?ni); July 9, 1929?July 23, 1999) was Monarch of Morocco from 1961 until his death in 1999....
is pronounced King of Morocco
Morocco

Morocco , officially the Kingdom of Morocco , is a country located in North Africa with a population of nearly 34 million and an area just under 447,000 km2....
.

March

March 1 - President of the United States
President of the United States

The President of the United States is the head of state and head of government of the United States and is the highest political official in the United States by influence and recognition....
John F. Kennedy
John F. Kennedy

John Fitzgerald "Jack" Kennedy , often referred to by his initials JFK, was the List of Presidents of the United States President of the United States, serving from 1961 until John F....
establishes the Peace Corps
Peace Corps

The Peace Corps was established by Executive order 10924 on March 1, 1961, and authorized by United States Congress on September 22, 1961, with passage of the Peace Corps Act ....
.
March 1 - Uganda
Uganda

The Republic of Uganda is a landlocked country in East Africa. It is bordered on the east by Kenya, on the north by Sudan, on the west by the Democratic Republic of the Congo, on the southwest by Rwanda, and on the south by Tanzania....
becomes self-governing by holding its first general elections.
March 3 - Hassan II
Hassan II of Morocco

King Hassan II ????? ??????)}}, class. pron. [s?hibu l-jal?lati l-m?liku] l-hasan uth-th?n?, dial. [s?hibu l-jal?la el-m?lik] el-hasan ett?ni); July 9, 1929?July 23, 1999) was Monarch of Morocco from 1961 until his death in 1999....
is crowned King of Morocco
Morocco

Morocco , officially the Kingdom of Morocco , is a country located in North Africa with a population of nearly 34 million and an area just under 447,000 km2....
.
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
UGM-27 Polaris

The Polaris missile was a submarine-launched, two-stage solid-fuel nuclear-armed ballistic missile built during the Cold War by Lockheed Corporation for the United States Navy....
submarine
Submarine

A submarine is a watercraft capable of independent operation below water. It differs from a submersible, which has only limited underwater capability....
s arrive at Holy Loch
Holy Loch

The Holy Loch is a sea loch in Argyll and Bute, Scotland. Open to the Firth of Clyde at its eastern end, the loch is approximately one mile wide and between two and three miles long, varying with the tide....
.
March 13 - Black and white £
Pound sterling

----The pound sterling , subdivided into 100 pence , is the currency of the United Kingdom, its Crown dependency and the British Overseas Territories of South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands and British Antarctic Territory....
5 notes cease to be legal tender
Legal tender

Legal tender or forced tender is payment that, by law, cannot be refused in settlement of a debt.Legal tender is variously defined in different jurisdictions....
in the UK
United Kingdom

The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom , the UK or Britain,is a sovereign state located off the northwestern coast of continental Europe....
.
March 13 - A dam bursts on the Dnieper River
Dnieper River

The Dnieper River , is one of the major rivers in Europe that flows from Russia, through Belarus and Ukraine, to the Black Sea. Its total length is , of which lie within Russia, within Belarus, and within Ukraine....
in the USSR, killing 145.
March 13 - United States
United States

The United States of America is a Federal government constitutional republic comprising U.S. state and a federal district. The country is situated mostly in central North America, where its Contiguous United States and Washington, D.C., the Capital districts and territories, lie between the Pacific Ocean and Atlantic Oceans, Borders of the U...
delegate to the UNSC Adlai Stevenson votes against Portuguese
Portugal

Portugal , officially the Portuguese Republic , is a country on the Iberian Peninsula. Located in southwestern Europe, Portugal is the westernmost country of mainland Europe and is bordered by the Atlantic Ocean to the west and south and by Spain to the north and east....
policies in Africa
Africa

Africa is the world's second-largest and second most-populous continent, after Asia. At about 30.2 million km? including adjacent islands, it covers 6% of the Earth's total surface area and 20.4% of the total land area....
.
March 13 - President of the United States
President of the United States

The President of the United States is the head of state and head of government of the United States and is the highest political official in the United States by influence and recognition....
John F. Kennedy
John F. Kennedy

John Fitzgerald "Jack" Kennedy , often referred to by his initials JFK, was the List of Presidents of the United States President of the United States, serving from 1961 until John F....
proposes a long-term "Alliance for Progress" between the United States and Latin America.
March 15 - South Africa
South Africa

The Republic of South Africa, also known by Official names of South Africa, is a country located at the southern tip of the continent of Africa....
withdraws from the Commonwealth of Nations
Commonwealth of Nations

The Commonwealth of Nations, also known as the Commonwealth or the British Commonwealth, is an intergovernmental organization of fifty-three independent member states....
.
March 15 - The Union of Peoples of Angola, led by Holden Roberto, attacks strategic locations in the north of Angola
Angola

Angola, officially the Republic of Angola , is a country in south-central Africa bordering Namibia to the south, Democratic Republic of the Congo to the north, and Zambia to the east, and with a west coast along the Atlantic Ocean....
. These events result in the beginning of the colonial war with Portugal
Portugal

Portugal , officially the Portuguese Republic , is a country on the Iberian Peninsula. Located in southwestern Europe, Portugal is the westernmost country of mainland Europe and is bordered by the Atlantic Ocean to the west and south and by Spain to the north and east....
.
March 18 - A ceasefire
Ceasefire

A ceasefire is a temporary stoppage of any armed conflict, where each side of the conflict agrees with the other to suspend aggressive actions....
takes effect in the Algerian War of Independence
Algerian War of Independence

The Algerian War , also known as Algerian War of Independence, led to Algeria's independence from France. An important decolonization war, it was a complex conflict characterized by guerrilla warfare, maquis fighting, terrorism against civilians, use of torture on both sides and counter-terrorism operations by the French Army....
.
March 18 - Nous les amoureux by Jean-Claude Pascal (music by Jacques Datin, text by Maurice Vidalin) wins the Eurovision Song Contest 1961
Eurovision Song Contest 1961

The Eurovision Song Contest 1961 was the sixth Eurovision Song Contest. A total of sixteen countries took part in the Contest, including the three debuting countries: Finland in the Eurovision Song Contest, Spain in the Eurovision Song Contest, and Yugoslavia in the Eurovision Song Contest....
for Luxembourg
Luxembourg

Luxembourg , officially the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg , is a small landlocked country in western Europe, bordered by Belgium, France, and Germany....
.
March 29 - The Twenty-third Amendment to the United States Constitution
Twenty-third Amendment to the United States Constitution

Amendment XXIII was the twenty-third List of amendments to the United States Constitution to the United States Constitution which permits the Washington, D.C....
is ratified, allowing residents of Washington, D.C.
Washington, D.C.

Washington, D.C. , formally the District of Columbia and commonly referred to as Washington, the District, or simply D.C., is the Capital of the United States, founded on July 16, 1790....
to vote in presidential
President of the United States

The President of the United States is the head of state and head of government of the United States and is the highest political official in the United States by influence and recognition....
elections.
March 30 - The Single Convention on Narcotic Drugs
Single Convention on Narcotic Drugs

The Single Convention on Narcotic Drugs is an international treaty to prohibit production and supply of specific drugs and of drugs with similar effects except under licence for specific purposes, such as medicine treatment and research....
is signed at New York
New York

The State of New York is a U.S. state in the Mid-Atlantic States and Northeastern United States regions of the United States and is the nation's List of U.S....
.

April

April 5 - The New Guinea Council of Western Papua is installed.
April 11 - The trial of Nazi Adolf Eichmann
Adolf Eichmann

Karl Adolf Eichmann , sometimes referred to as "the architect of the Holocaust", was a Nazism and Schutzstaffel-Obersturmbannf?hrer . Due to his organizational talents and ideological reliability, he was charged by Obergruppenf?hrer Reinhard Heydrich with the task of facilitating and managing the logistics of mass deportation of J...
begins in Jerusalem
Jerusalem

Jerusalem is the capital of Israel and its List of Israeli cities in both population and area, with a population of 747,600 residents over an area of if Positions on Jerusalem East Jerusalem is included....
.
April 12 - Vostok 1
Vostok 1

Vostok 1 was the first human spaceflight. The Vostok 3KA spacecraft was launched on April 12, 1961, taking into space Yuri Gagarin, a astronaut from the Soviet Union....
: Soviet cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin
Yuri Gagarin

Yuri Alexeyevich Gagarin , Hero of the Soviet Union, was a Soviet Union cosmonaut. On 12 April 1961, he became the first human in space and the first to orbit the Earth....
becomes the first human in space.
April 12 - Albert Kalonji takes the title Emperor Albert I Kalonji of South Kasai
South Kasai

South Kasai was a secessionist region in the area of south central Republic of the Congo during the early 1960s. The region sought independence in similar circumstances to neighboring Katanga during the political turmoil arising from the decolonization of Belgian Congo....
.
April 13 - In Portugal
Portugal

Portugal , officially the Portuguese Republic , is a country on the Iberian Peninsula. Located in southwestern Europe, Portugal is the westernmost country of mainland Europe and is bordered by the Atlantic Ocean to the west and south and by Spain to the north and east....
, a coup attempt against António de Oliveira Salazar
António de Oliveira Salazar

Ant?nio de Oliveira Salazar, Order of Infante D. Henrique, Order of the Tower and Sword, Order of St. James of the Sword, pronunciation....
fails.
April 17 - The Bay of Pigs Invasion
Bay of Pigs Invasion

The Bay of Pigs Invasion, was an unsuccessful attempt by a U.S.-trained force of Cuban exiles to invade southern Cuba with support from U.S. government armed forces to overthrow the Cuban government of Fidel Castro....
of Cuba
Cuba

The Republic of Cuba is a country in the Caribbean. It consists of the island of Cuba , the island of Isla de la Juventud, and several adjacent small islands....
begins; it fails by April 19.
April 17 - The 33rd Academy Awards
33rd Academy Awards

The 33rd Academy Awards, honoring the 1960 in film, were held on April 17, 1961 at the Santa Monica Civic Auditorium in Santa Monica, California....
ceremony is held.
April 18 - Portugal
Portugal

Portugal , officially the Portuguese Republic , is a country on the Iberian Peninsula. Located in southwestern Europe, Portugal is the westernmost country of mainland Europe and is bordered by the Atlantic Ocean to the west and south and by Spain to the north and east....
sends to Angola
Angola

Angola, officially the Republic of Angola , is a country in south-central Africa bordering Namibia to the south, Democratic Republic of the Congo to the north, and Zambia to the east, and with a west coast along the Atlantic Ocean....
its first military reinforcement.
April 20 - Fidel Castro
Fidel Castro

Fidel Alejandro Castro Ruz is a Cuban revolutionary leader who was prime minister of Cuba from February 1959 to December 1976 and then president, premier until his resignation from the office in February 2008....
announces that the Bay of Pigs invasion
Bay of Pigs Invasion

The Bay of Pigs Invasion, was an unsuccessful attempt by a U.S.-trained force of Cuban exiles to invade southern Cuba with support from U.S. government armed forces to overthrow the Cuban government of Fidel Castro....
has been defeated.
April 22 - Algiers putsch
Algiers putsch

File:Raoul Salan on TIME Magazine, 26 January 1962-cropped.jpgThe Algiers putsch , also known as the Generals' putsch , took place from the afternoon of 21 April to the 26 April 1961 in the midst of the Algerian War ....
: Four French generals who oppose de Gaulle
Charles de Gaulle

Charles Andr? Joseph Marie de Gaulle , , was a French people general and statesman who led the Free French Forces during World War II. He later founded the French Fifth Republic in 1958 and served as its first President of France from 1959 to 1969....
's policies in Algeria
Algeria

Algeria , officially the People's Democratic Republic of Algeria, is a country located in North Africa. It is the largest country of the Mediterranean sea, second largest in the Arab World, and the second largest on the African continent and the eleventh-largest country in the world in terms of land area....
fail in a coup attempt.
April 23 - Judy Garland
Judy Garland

Judy Garland was an American actress and alto singer. Through a career that spanned 45 of her 47 years, Garland attained international stardom as an actress in musical and dramatic roles, as a recording artist and on the concert stage....
performs in a legendary comeback concert at Carnegie Hall
Carnegie Hall

Carnegie Hall is a concert venue in Midtown Manhattan in New York City located at 881 Seventh Avenue , occupying the east stretch of Seventh Avenue between West 56th Street and West 57th Street , two blocks south of Central Park....
in New York City
New York City

The City of New York is the List of United States cities by population in the United States, while the New York metropolitan area ranks among the List of urban areas by population....
.
April 24 - The Swedish ship Regalskeppet Vasa
Regalskeppet Vasa

Vasa was a warship that was built for King Gustavus Adolphus of Sweden of Sweden from 1626 to 1628. The ship foundered and sank after sailing less than a nautical mile into her maiden voyage on 10 August 1628....
is removed from the water after being sunk 333 years earlier.
April 27 - President Kennedy
John F. Kennedy

John Fitzgerald "Jack" Kennedy , often referred to by his initials JFK, was the List of Presidents of the United States President of the United States, serving from 1961 until John F....
a delivers revealing speech: The President and the Press: Address before the American Newspaper Publishers Association

May

May 4 - U.S.
United States

The United States of America is a Federal government constitutional republic comprising U.S. state and a federal district. The country is situated mostly in central North America, where its Contiguous United States and Washington, D.C., the Capital districts and territories, lie between the Pacific Ocean and Atlantic Oceans, Borders of the U...
Freedom Riders begin interstate
Interstate

Interstate may refer to:*Interstate commerce*Interstate Highway System, a system of high speed, limited access highways in the United States....
bus rides to test the new U.S. Supreme Court integration
Discrimination

Discrimination toward or against a person or group is the treatment or consideration based on class or category rather than individual merit. It is usually associated with prejudice....
decision
Boynton v. Virginia

Boynton v. Virginia, Case citation was a decision by the Supreme Court of the United States. The case overturned a judgment conviction an African American law student for trespassing by being in a restaurant in a bus terminal which was "whites only." It held that Race racial segregation in public transportation was illegal because su...
.
May 5 - Mercury program
Mercury program

Mercury Program might refer to:*the first successful American manned spaceflight program, Project Mercury*an American post-rock band, The Mercury Program...
: Alan Shepard
Alan Shepard

Alan Bartlett Shepard, Jr. was the second person and the first United States in space. He later commanded the Apollo 14 mission, and was the List of Apollo astronauts....
becomes the first American in space aboard Mercury-Redstone 3
Mercury-Redstone 3

Mercury-Redstone 3 was a United States Mercury program manned space mission launched on May 5, 1961 using a Redstone , from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station Launch Complex 5 at Cape Canaveral, Florida....
.
May 6 - Tottenham Hotspur F.C.
Tottenham Hotspur F.C.

Tottenham Hotspur Football Club, , is an English professional association football club which currently plays in the Premier League. Commonly referred to as Spurs, the club's home stadium is White Hart Lane, Tottenham, in the London Borough of Haringey N postcode area....
become the first team in the 20th century to win the league and cup double.
May 8 - Briton George Blake
George Blake

George Blake is a former United Kingdom espionage known for having been a double agent in service of the Soviet Union. He escaped from Wormwood Scrubs in 1966....
is sentenced to 42 years imprisonment for spying.
May 14 - American civil rights movement: A Freedom Riders bus is fire-bombed near Anniston, Alabama
Anniston, Alabama

Anniston is a city in Calhoun County, Alabama in the U.S. state of Alabama, United States. As of the United States Census 2000, the population of the city is 24,276....
and the civil rights
Civil rights

Civil and political rights are a class of rights ensuring things such as the protection of peoples' physical integrity; procedural fairness in law; protection from discrimination based on sexism, religious intolerance, Racism, Homophobia, etc; individual freedom of freedom of belief, freedom of speech, freedom of association, and freedom...
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
Genetic code

The genetic code is the set of rules by which information encoded in genetic material is Translation into proteins by living cell s. The code defines a mapping between tri-nucleotide sequences, called codons, and amino acids....
. This is the birthdate of modern genetics
Genetics

Genetics , a discipline of biology, is the science of heredity and Genetic variation in living organisms. The fact that living things inherit traits from their parents has been used since prehistoric times to improve crop plants and animals through selective breeding....
. 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
South Korea

South Korea, officially the Republic of Korea , ), often referred to as Korea and the "names of Korea#Revival of the names", is a Semi-presidential system republic in East Asia, located in the southern half of the Korean Peninsula....
.
May 19 - Venera program: Venera 1
Venera 1

On February 12 1961, 00:34:36 Coordinated Universal Time, the first planetary probe was launched to Venus by the Soviet Union. The Venus-1 Automatic Interplanetary Station, or Venera 1, was a 643.5 kg probe consisting of a cylindrical body 1.05 meter in diameter topped by a dome, totaling 2.035 meters in height....
becomes the first man-made object to fly-by another planet by passing Venus
Venus

Venus is the second-closest planet to the Sun, orbiting it every 224.7 Earth days. The planet is named after Venus , the Roman mythology goddess of love....
(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
Alabama

Alabama is a state located in the Southern United States of the United States of America. It is bordered by Tennessee to the north, Georgia to the east, Florida and the Gulf of Mexico to the south, and Mississippi to the west....
Governor John Patterson declares martial law
Martial law

Martial law is the system of rules that takes effect when the military takes control of the normal administration of justice.Martial law is sometimes imposed during wars or occupied territory in the absence of any other civil government....
in an attempt to restore order after race riot
Race riot

A race riot or racial riot is an outbreak of violent civil disorder in which Race is a key factor. The term had entered the English language in the United States by the 1890s....
s break out.
May 24 - American civil rights movement: Freedom Riders are arrested in Jackson, Mississippi
Jackson, Mississippi

Jackson is the Capital and the most populous city of the U.S. Mississippi. It is one of two county seats in Hinds County, Mississippi; the town of Raymond, Mississippi is the other....
for "disturbing the peace" after disembarking from their bus.
May 25 - Apollo program: President Kennedy
John F. Kennedy

John Fitzgerald "Jack" Kennedy , often referred to by his initials JFK, was the List of Presidents of the United States President of the United States, serving from 1961 until John F....
announces before a special joint session of Congress his goal to put a man on the Moon
Moon

The Moon is Earth's only natural satellite and the List of natural satellites by diameter satellite in the Solar System. The average centre-to-centre distance from the Earth to the Moon is km, about thirty times the diameter of the Earth....
before the end of the decade.
May 27 - Tunku Abdul Rahman
Tunku Abdul Rahman

Tunku Abdul Rahman Putra Al-Haj ibni Almarhum Sultan Abdul Hamid Halim Shah, Order of Australia, Order of the Companions of Honour usually known as "the Tunku" , and also called Bapa Kemerdekaan or Bapa Malaysia , was Chief Minister of the Federation of Malaya from 1955, and the country's first Prime Minister from independence in 19...
, Prime Minister of Malaya
Federation of Malaya

The Federation of Malaya , is the name given to a federation of 11 states that existed from 31 January 1948 until 16 September 1963. Comprising the nine Malay states and the United Kingdom Straits Settlements of Penang and Malacca, it was eventually superseded by Malaysia....
, holds a press conference in Singapore
Singapore

Singapore , officially the Republic of Singapore, is an island country microstate located at the southern tip of the Malay Peninsula. It lies 137 kilometres north of the equator, south of the Malaysian state of Johor and north of Indonesia's Riau Islands....
, announcing his idea to form the Federation of Malaysia
Malaysia

Malaysia is a federation that consists of States of Malaysia in Southeast Asia with a total landmass of . The capital city is Kuala Lumpur, while Putrajaya is the seat of the federal government....
, comprising Malaya, Singapore
Singapore

Singapore , officially the Republic of Singapore, is an island country microstate located at the southern tip of the Malay Peninsula. It lies 137 kilometres north of the equator, south of the Malaysian state of Johor and north of Indonesia's Riau Islands....
, Sarawak
Sarawak

Sarawak is one of two Malaysian states on the island of Borneo. Known as Bumi Kenyalang , it is situated on the north-west of the island. It is the largest state in Malaysia; the second largest, Sabah, lies to the northeast....
, Brunei
Brunei

Brunei Darussalam, officially the State of Brunei, Abode of Peace , is a country located on the north coast of the island of Borneo, in Southeast Asia....
and North Borneo (Sabah
Sabah

Sabah is a Malaysian States of Malaysia located on the northern portion of the island of Borneo . It is the second largest state in Malaysia after Sarawak, which it borders on its south-west....
).
May 28 - Peter Benenson
Peter Benenson

Peter Benenson was an England lawyer and the founder of human rights group Amnesty International ....
's article "The Forgotten Prisoners" is published in several internationally read newspaper
Newspaper

A newspaper is a publication containing news, information and advertising, usually printed on low-cost paper called newsprint. General-interest newspapers often feature articles on Politics, crime, business, art/entertainment, society and sports....
s. This is later considered the founding of the human rights
Human rights

Human rights refer to the "basic rights and freedom to which all humans are entitled." Examples of rights and freedoms which have come to be commonly thought of as human rights include civil and political rights, such as the right to life and liberty, freedom of speech, and equality before the law; and social, cultural and economic rights, i...
organization Amnesty International
Amnesty International

Amnesty International is an international non-governmental organization which defines its mission as "to conduct research and generate action to prevent and end grave abuses of human rights and to demand justice for those whose rights have been violated." Founded in London, England in 1961, AI draws its attention to human rights abuses and...
.
May 30 - Rafael Leónidas Trujillo
Rafael Leónidas Trujillo

Rafael Le?nidas Trujillo ruled the Dominican Republic from 1930 until his assassination in 1961. Officially, he was president only from 1930 to 1938 and again from 1942 to 1952, ruling for the rest of the time as an unelected military Dictator....
, totalitarian despot of the Dominican Republic
Dominican Republic

The Dominican Republic is a nation on the island of Hispaniola, part of the Greater Antilles archipelago in the Caribbean region. The western third of the island is occupied by the nation of Haiti, making Hispaniola one of two Caribbean islands that are List of divided islands, Saint Martin being the other....
since 1930, is killed in an ambush, putting an end to the second longest-running dictatorship in Latin America
Latin America

Latin America is a region of the Americas where Romance languages ? particularly Spanish language and Portuguese language, and variably French language ? are primarily spoken....
n history.
May 31 - In France
France

France , officially the French Republic , is a country whose Metropolitan France is located in Western Europe and that also comprises various Overseas departments and territories of France....
, rebel generals Maurice Challe and Andre Zelelr are sentenced to 15 years in prison.
May 31 - South Africa
South Africa

The Republic of South Africa, also known by Official names of South Africa, is a country located at the southern tip of the continent of Africa....
officially leaves the Commonwealth of Nations
Commonwealth of Nations

The Commonwealth of Nations, also known as the Commonwealth or the British Commonwealth, is an intergovernmental organization of fifty-three independent member states....
.
May 31 - President John F. Kennedy
John F. Kennedy

John Fitzgerald "Jack" Kennedy , often referred to by his initials JFK, was the List of Presidents of the United States President of the United States, serving from 1961 until John F....
and Charles De Gaulle
Charles de Gaulle

Charles Andr? Joseph Marie de Gaulle , , was a French people general and statesman who led the Free French Forces during World War II. He later founded the French Fifth Republic in 1958 and served as its first President of France from 1959 to 1969....
meet in Paris
Paris

Paris is the Capital of France and the country's largest city. It is situated on the river Seine, in northern France, at the heart of the ?le-de-France Regions of France ....
.

June

June 1 - Ethiopia
Ethiopia

Ethiopia , officially the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia, is a landlocked country situated in the Horn of Africa. Ethiopia is bordered by Eritrea to the north, Sudan to the west, Kenya to the south, Somalia to the east and Djibouti to the northeast....
experiences her most devastating earthquake of the 20th century, with a magnitude of 6.7. The town of Majete
Majete

Majete is a town in northeastern Ethiopia. Located in the Semien Shewa Zone of the Amhara Region, this town has a latitude and longitude of ....
is destroyed, 45% of the houses in Karakore
Karakore

Karakore is a town in northeastern Ethiopia. Located in the Semien Shewa Zone of the Amhara Region, this town has a latitude and longitude of with an elevation of 1696 meters above sea level....
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
Vienna summit

1961 Vienna Summit was where President of the United States John F. Kennedy and Soviet Premier Nikita Khrushchev met at a summit conference....
: John F. Kennedy
John F. Kennedy

John Fitzgerald "Jack" Kennedy , often referred to by his initials JFK, was the List of Presidents of the United States President of the United States, serving from 1961 until John F....
and Nikita Khrushchev
Nikita Khrushchev

Nikita Sergeyevich Khrushchev served as General Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union from 1953 to 1964, following the death of Joseph Stalin, and Premier of the Soviet Union from 1958 to 1964....
meet during 2 days in Vienna
Vienna

Vienna is the Capital of Republic of Austria and also one of the nine states of Austria. Vienna is Austria's primary city, with a population of about 1.7 million...
. They discuss nuclear tests, disarmament
Disarmament

Disarmament refers to the act of reducing, limiting, or abolishing weapons. Disarmament." The American Heritage The context of disarmament generally refers to a country's military or specific type of weaponry....
and Germany
Germany

Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a country in Central Europe. It is bordered to the north by the North Sea, Denmark, and the Baltic Sea; to the east by Poland and the Czech Republic; to the south by Austria and Switzerland; and to the west by France, Luxembourg, Belgium, and the Netherlands....
.
June 17 - A Paris
Paris

Paris is the Capital of France and the country's largest city. It is situated on the river Seine, in northern France, at the heart of the ?le-de-France Regions of France ....
-to-Strasbourg
Strasbourg

Strasbourg is the capital and principal city of the Alsace Regions of France in northeastern France. With 702,412 inhabitants in 2007, its metropolitan area is the Aire urbaine....
train derails near Vitry-le-François
Vitry-le-François

Vitry-le-Fran?ois is a Communes of France in the Marne Departments of France in northeastern France....
; 24 are killed, 109 injured.
June 17 - The New Democratic Party
New Democratic Party

The New Democratic Party is a political party in Canada with a progressivism social democracy philosophy that contests elections at both the federal and provincial levels....
of Canada is founded with the merger of the Cooperative Commonwealth Federation (CCF) and the Canadian Labour Congress.
June 19 - The British protectorate
Protectorate

A protectorate, in international law, is an autonomous territory that is protected diplomatically or militarily against third parties by a stronger state or entity, in exchange for which the protectorate usually accepts specified obligations, which may vary greatly, depending on the real nature of their relationship....
ends in Kuwait
Kuwait

The State of Kuwait is a sovereign Arab emirate on the coast of the Persian Gulf, enclosed by Saudi Arabia to the south and Iraq to the north and west....
and it becomes an emirate
Emirate

An emirate is a political territory that is ruled by a dynastic Arab Monarch styled emir....
.
June 21 - Russian ballet dancer Rudolf Nureyev
Rudolf Nureyev

File:Rudolph Nureyev.jpgRudolf Khametovich Nureyev was a Tatar dancer from the Soviet Union, primarily known for his work in ballet....
requests asylum in France
France

France , officially the French Republic , is a country whose Metropolitan France is located in Western Europe and that also comprises various Overseas departments and territories of France....
while in Paris with the Kirov Ballet.
June 22 - Moise Tshombe
Moise Tshombe

Mo?se Kapenda Tshombe was a Republic of the Congo politician....
is released for lack of evidence of connection to the murder of Patrice Lumumba
Patrice Lumumba

Patrice ?mery Lumumba was an African anti-colonial leader and the first legally elected Prime Minister of the Republic of the Congo after he helped to win its independence from Belgium in June 1960....
.
June 24 - The Ayrshire (Earl of Carrick's Own) Yeomanry
Ayrshire (Earl of Carrick's Own) Yeomanry

The Ayrshire Yeomanry was a Regiment of the British Yeomanry and is now an armoured Squadron of the Queen's Own Yeomanry , part of the British Territorial Army....
, a British
United Kingdom

The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom , the UK or Britain,is a sovereign state located off the northwestern coast of continental Europe....
Yeomanry
Yeomanry

Yeomanry is a designation used by a number of units or sub-units of the British Territorial Army, descended from volunteer cavalry regiments. Today Yeomanry units may serve in a variety of different military roles....
Cavalry
Cavalry

The Cavalry is the second oldest of the Combat Arms, and as soldiers or warriors who fought mounted on horseback in combat, it represents the mobility and offensive power of the armed forces....
Regiment
Regiment

A regiment is a military unit, composed of variable numbers of battalions, commanded by a Colonel. Depending on the nation, military branch, mission, and organization, a modern regiment resembles a brigade, in that both range in size from a few hundred to 5,000 soldiers ....
, is presented its first Guidon
Guidon

Guidon may refer to:*guidon, a type of heraldic flag*guidon ...
by General Sir Horatius Murray KBE CB DSO at Culzean Castle
Culzean Castle

Culzean Castle is a castle near Maybole, Carrick, Scotland on the Ayrshire coast of Scotland. It is the former home of the Marquess of Ailsa but is now owned by the National Trust for Scotland....
, Ayrshire
Ayrshire

Ayrshire is a registration county, and former counties of Scotland in south-west Scotland, located on the shores of the Firth of Clyde. Its principal towns include Ayr, Kilmarnock and Irvine, North Ayrshire....
.
June 25 - Iraq
Iraq

Iraq , officially the Republic of Iraq , is a country in Western Asia spanning most of the northwestern end of the Zagros Mountains, the eastern part of the Syrian Desert and the northern part of the Arabian Desert....
i president Abdul Karim Kassem announces he is going to annex Kuwait
Kuwait

The State of Kuwait is a sovereign Arab emirate on the coast of the Persian Gulf, enclosed by Saudi Arabia to the south and Iraq to the north and west....
.
June 27 - Kuwait requests British help; the United Kingdom
United Kingdom

The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom , the UK or Britain,is a sovereign state located off the northwestern coast of continental Europe....
sends in troops.

July

July 4 - The Soviet
Soviet Union

The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics was a Constitution of the Soviet Union socialist state that existed in Eurasia from 1922 to 1991.The name is a translation of the , romanization of Russian Soyuz Sovetskikh Sotsialisticheskikh Respublik, abbreviated ????, SSSR....
submarine K-19 reactor leak occurs in the North Atlantic.
July 5 - The first Israeli rocket, Shavit 2
Shavit 2

Shavit 2 was the first sounding rocket which Israel launched on 5 July 1961 for meteorological research.Full details of the rocket are still classified....
, is launched.
July 10- Al hermansen was born
July 8 - A mine explosion in Czechoslovakia
Czechoslovakia

Czechoslovakia was a sovereign state in Central Europe that existed from October 1918 until 1992 . On January 1, 1993, Czechoslovakia dissolution of Czechoslovakia into the Czech Republic and Slovakia....
leaves 108 dead.
July 21 - Mercury program
Mercury program

Mercury Program might refer to:*the first successful American manned spaceflight program, Project Mercury*an American post-rock band, The Mercury Program...
: Gus Grissom
Gus Grissom

Virgil Ivan Grissom, more widely known as Gus Grissom, was one of the original NASA Project Mercury astronauts and a United States Air Force Aviator....
, piloting the Mercury-Redstone 4
Mercury-Redstone 4

Mercury-Redstone 4 was a Project Mercury manned space mission launched on July 21, 1961 using a Redstone .Its capsule was named Liberty Bell 7 and performed a Sub-orbital spaceflight flight piloted by astronaut Virgil Grissom....
capsule Liberty Bell 7, becomes the second American
United States

The United States of America is a Federal government constitutional republic comprising U.S. state and a federal district. The country is situated mostly in central North America, where its Contiguous United States and Washington, D.C., the Capital districts and territories, lie between the Pacific Ocean and Atlantic Oceans, Borders of the U...
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
Fenway Park

Fenway Park is a stadium located near busy Kenmore Square in Boston, Massachusetts, in the Fenway-Kenmore neighborhood. The stadium's address is 4 Yawkey Way....
in Boston, Massachusetts
Boston, Massachusetts

Boston is the State capital and largest city of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, and is one of the oldest cities in the United States. The largest city in New England, Boston is considered the economic and cultural center of the region, and is sometimes regarded as the unofficial "Capital of New England." Boston city proper had a 2007 est...
, the first All-Star Game
All-star game

An all-star game is an exhibition game played by the best players in their sports league. The players are often chosen by a popular vote of fans of the sport and the game often occurs at the halfway point of the regular season, although this is not the case for some all-star games ....
tie in major league baseball
Baseball

Baseball is a bat-and-ball sport played between two team sport of nine players each. The goal of baseball is to score run by hitting a thrown Baseball with a baseball bat and touching a series of four markers called base arranged at the corners of a ninety-foot square, or diamond. Players on one team take turns hitting against...
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
European Economic Community

The European Economic Community was an international organisation created in 1957 to bring about economic integration between Belgium, France, Germany, Italy, Luxembourg and the Netherlands....
.

August

August - USA founds Alliance for Progress
Alliance for Progress

The Alliance for Progress initiated by United States President of the United States John F. Kennedy in 1961 aimed to establish economic cooperation between North and South America....
.
August 5 - The Six Flags over Texas
Six Flags Over Texas

Six Flags Over Texas is a major amusement park located in Arlington, Texas, Texas , east of Fort Worth, Texas and about west of Dallas, Texas. It is the oldest park of the Six Flags chain....
theme park officially opens to the public.
August 6 - Vostok 2
Vostok 2

Vostok 2 was a Soviet Union space mission which carried astronaut Gherman Titov into orbit for a full day in order to study the effects of a more prolonged period of weightlessness on the human body....
: Soviet cosmonaut Gherman Titov
Gherman Titov

Gherman Stepanovich Titov was a Soviet Union astronaut and the second human to orbit the Earth....
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
European Economic Community

The European Economic Community was an international organisation created in 1957 to bring about economic integration between Belgium, France, Germany, Italy, Luxembourg and the Netherlands....
.
August 13 - Construction of the Berlin Wall
Berlin Wall

The Berlin Wall was a physical separation barrier separating West Berlin from the German Democratic Republic , including East Berlin. The longer inner German border demarcated the border between East and West Germany....
begins, restricting movement between East Berlin
East Berlin

East Berlin was the name given to the eastern part of Berlin between 1949 and 1990. It consisted of the Soviet Union Allied Occupation Zones in Germany of Berlin that was established in 1945....
and West Berlin
West Berlin

West Berlin was the name given to the western part of Berlin between 1949 and 1990. It consisted of the American, British, and French occupation sectors established in 1945....
and forming a clear boundary between West Germany
West Germany

West Germany was the common English name for the Germany , from its formation in May 1949 to German reunification in October 1990, when East Germany was dissolved and its States of Germany became part of the Federal Republic, ending the more than 40-year division of Germany....
and East Germany, Western Europe
Western Europe

Western Europe refers to the countries in the western most half of Europe. This concept has had different meanings, political and cultural as well as geographical issues have influenced the area....
and Eastern Europe
Eastern Europe

Eastern Europe is a term that applies to the geopolitical region encompassing the easternmost part of the Europe. Throughout history and to a lesser extent today, parts of Eastern Europe has been distinguishable from Western Europe and other regions due to cultural, religious, economic, and historical reasons, even though there i...
.
August 21 - Jomo Kenyatta
Jomo Kenyatta

Jomo Kenyatta served as the first Prime Minister and President of Kenya. He is considered the Father of the Nation of the Kenyan nation....
is released from prison in Kenya
Kenya

The Republic of Kenya is a country in East Africa. It is bordered by Ethiopia to the north, Somalia to the northeast, Tanzania to the south, Uganda to the west, and Sudan to the northwest, with the Indian Ocean running along the southeast border....
.

September

September 10 - During the F1 Italian Grand Prix
1961 Italian Grand Prix

The 1961 Italian Grand Prix was a Formula One race held on 10 September 1961 at Autodromo Nazionale Monza.The race was marked by one of the most terrible accidents in the history of Formula One, when on lap 2 the German driver Wolfgang Von Trips lost control of his Scuderia Ferrari and crashed against a stand full of spectators, killing 14...
on the circuit of Monza
Autodromo Nazionale Monza

Autodromo Nazionale Monza is a motorsport race track near the town of Monza, Italy, north of Milan. It is one of the most historic motor racing circuits in the world....
, German Wolfgang Von Trips, driving a Ferrari
Ferrari

Ferrari S.p.A. is an Italian sports car manufacturer based in Maranello, Italy. Founded by Enzo Ferrari in 1928 as Scuderia Ferrari, the company sponsored drivers and manufactured race cars before moving into production of street-legal vehicles in 1947 as Ferrari Joint stock company....
, crashes into a stand, killing 14 spectators and himself.
September 14 - The new military government of Turkey
Turkey

Turkey , known officially as the Republic of Turkey , is a Eurasian country that stretches across the Anatolian peninsula in southwest Asia and Thrace in the Balkans region of Southern Europe....
sentences 15 members of the previous government to death.
September 17 - Military rulers in Turkey
Turkey

Turkey , known officially as the Republic of Turkey , is a Eurasian country that stretches across the Anatolian peninsula in southwest Asia and Thrace in the Balkans region of Southern Europe....
hang former president Adnan Menderes
Adnan Menderes

Ali Adnan Ertekin Menderes was a Turkish people Liberalism statesman and the first democratically elected leader in Turkish history. He served as Turkish Prime Minister between 1950?1960....
.
September 17 - September 18 - UN Secretary-General Dag Hammarskjöld
Dag Hammarskjöld

Dag Hjalmar Agne Carl Hammarskj?ld was a Swedish diplomat, Christian mystic, and the second United Nations Secretary-General of the United Nations....
dies in an air crash en route to Katanga, Congo
Republic of the Congo (Léopoldville)

The Republic of the Congo was an independent republic established following the independence granted to the former colony of the Belgian Congo in 1960....
.
September 19 - The first Grey alien is reported.
September 21 - In France
France

France , officially the French Republic , is a country whose Metropolitan France is located in Western Europe and that also comprises various Overseas departments and territories of France....
, the OAS
Organisation armée secrète

The Organisation de l'arm?e secr?te was a short-lived, French far-right nationalist militant and underground organization during the Algerian War ....
slips an anti-de Gaulle
Charles de Gaulle

Charles Andr? Joseph Marie de Gaulle , , was a French people general and statesman who led the Free French Forces during World War II. He later founded the French Fifth Republic in 1958 and served as its first President of France from 1959 to 1969....
message into TV programming.
September 24 - The old Deutsche Opernhaus in the Berlin
Berlin

Berlin is the Capital of Germany city and one of sixteen States of Germany of Germany. With a population of 3.4 million within its city limits, Berlin is the country's largest city....
neighborhood of Charlottenburg
Charlottenburg

Charlottenburg is a locality of Berlin within the Boroughs of Berlin of Charlottenburg-Wilmersdorf, named after Queen Sophia Charlotte of Hanover ....
is returned to its newly rebuilt house as the Deutsche Oper Berlin
Deutsche Oper Berlin

The Deutsche Oper Berlin is an opera company located in Berlin, Germany, in what was formerly West Berlin. The resident building, also called Deutsche Oper Berlin, also is home to the Staatsballett Berlin....
.
September 28 - A military coup in Damascus
Damascus

Damascus is the capital and largest city of Syria. It is List of oldest continuously inhabited cities and its current population is estimated at about 4,000,000....
, Syria
Syria

Syria , officially the Syrian Arab Republic , is an Arab-majority country in Southwest Asia, bordering Lebanon and the Mediterranean Sea to the west, Israel to the southwest, Jordan to the south, Iraq to the east, and Turkey to the north....
effectively ends the United Arab Republic
United Arab Republic

The United Arab Republic , often abbreviated as the U.A.R., was a union between Egypt and Syria. The union began in 1958 and existed until 1961 when Syria seceded from the union....
, the union between Egypt
Egypt

Egypt is a country mainly in North Africa, with the Sinai Peninsula forming a land bridge in Western Asia. Covering an area of about , Egypt borders the Mediterranean Sea to the north, the Gaza Strip and Israel to the northeast, the Red Sea to the east, Sudan to the south and Libya to the west....
and Syria
Syria

Syria , officially the Syrian Arab Republic , is an Arab-majority country in Southwest Asia, bordering Lebanon and the Mediterranean Sea to the west, Israel to the southwest, Jordan to the south, Iraq to the east, and Turkey to the north....
.

October

October 1 - Baseball player Roger Maris
Roger Maris

Roger Eugene Maris was an United States right fielder in Major League Baseball who is primarily remembered for breaking Babe Ruth's single-season home run record , in 1961 Major League Baseball season, a record that would stand for 37 years....
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
New York

The State of New York is a U.S. state in the Mid-Atlantic States and Northeastern United States regions of the United States and is the nation's List of U.S....
.
October 10 - A volcanic eruption on Tristan da Cunha
Tristan da Cunha

Tristan da Cunha is a remote volcanic group of islands in the south Atlantic Ocean, 2,816 km from South Africa and 3,360 km from South America....
causes the whole population to be evacuated.
October 12 - The death penalty is abolished in New Zealand
New Zealand

New Zealand is an island country in the south-western Pacific Ocean comprising two main landmasses , and numerous Islands of New Zealand, most notably Stewart Island/Rakiura and the Chatham Islands....
.
October 17 - Paris massacre of 1961
Paris massacre of 1961

The Paris massacre of 1961 refers to a Wiktionary:massacre in Paris on 17 October 1961, during the Algerian War . Under orders from the Prefecture of Police, Maurice Papon, the French National Police attacked an unarmed and peaceful demonstration of some 30,000 Algerians....
: French police in Paris
Paris

Paris is the Capital of France and the country's largest city. It is situated on the river Seine, in northern France, at the heart of the ?le-de-France Regions of France ....
attack about 30,000 protesting a curfew applied solely to Algeria
Algeria

Algeria , officially the People's Democratic Republic of Algeria, is a country located in North Africa. It is the largest country of the Mediterranean sea, second largest in the Arab World, and the second largest on the African continent and the eleventh-largest country in the world in terms of land area....
ns. The official death toll is 3, but human rights groups claim 240 dead.
October 19 - The Arab League
Arab League

The Arab League , officially called the League of Arab States , is a regional organization of Arab states in Southwest Asia, and North Africa and Horn of Africa....
takes over protecting Kuwait
Kuwait

The State of Kuwait is a sovereign Arab emirate on the coast of the Persian Gulf, enclosed by Saudi Arabia to the south and Iraq to the north and west....
; the last British troops leave.
October 25 - The first edition of Private Eye
Private eye

A private eye is a nickname for a private investigator. It may also refer to:*Private Eye, a fortnightly British satirical magazine-newspaper, edited by Ian Hislop...
, the British satirical magazine, is published.
October 27 - An armistice
Armistice

An armistice is a situation in a war where the warring parties agree to stop fighting. It is not necessarily the end of a war, but may be just a cessation of hostilities while an attempt is made to negotiate a lasting peace....
begins in Katanga, Congo
Republic of the Congo (Léopoldville)

The Republic of the Congo was an independent republic established following the independence granted to the former colony of the Belgian Congo in 1960....
.
October 27 - Mongolia
Mongolia

Mongolia is a landlocked country in East Asia and Central Asia. It borders Russia to the north and People's Republic of China to the south, east and west....
and Mauritania
Mauritania

Mauritania , officially the Islamic Republic of Mauritania, is a country in northwest Africa. It is bordered by the Atlantic Ocean on the west, by Senegal on the southwest, by Mali on the east and southeast, by Algeria on the northeast, and by the Morocco-controlled Western Sahara on the northwest....
join the United Nations
United Nations

The United Nations is an international organization whose stated aims are to facilitate cooperation in international law, international security, economic development, Social change, human rights and achieving world peace....
.
October 27 - A standoff between Soviet and American
United States

The United States of America is a Federal government constitutional republic comprising U.S. state and a federal district. The country is situated mostly in central North America, where its Contiguous United States and Washington, D.C., the Capital districts and territories, lie between the Pacific Ocean and Atlantic Oceans, Borders of the U...
tanks in Berlin
Berlin

Berlin is the Capital of Germany city and one of sixteen States of Germany of Germany. With a population of 3.4 million within its city limits, Berlin is the country's largest city....
, Germany
Germany

Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a country in Central Europe. It is bordered to the north by the North Sea, Denmark, and the Baltic Sea; to the east by Poland and the Czech Republic; to the south by Austria and Switzerland; and to the west by France, Luxembourg, Belgium, and the Netherlands....
heightens Cold War
Cold War

The Cold War was the continuing state of conflict, tension and competition that existed between a number of world powers, including the United States, the Soviet Union, People's Republic of China, France, United Kingdom and those countries' respective allies from the mid-1940s to the early 1990s....
tensions.
October 29 - RBS Channel 7, the Philippines' third TV station, is launched.
October 30 - Nuclear testing
Nuclear testing

File:Damage and Destruction of nuclear tests.oggNuclear weapons tests are experiments carried out to determine the effectiveness, yield and explosive capability of nuclear weapons....
: The Soviet Union
Soviet Union

The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics was a Constitution of the Soviet Union socialist state that existed in Eurasia from 1922 to 1991.The name is a translation of the , romanization of Russian Soyuz Sovetskikh Sotsialisticheskikh Respublik, abbreviated ????, SSSR....
detonates a 58-megaton yield hydrogen bomb known as Tsar Bomba
Tsar Bomba

Tsar Bomba , literally "Tsar-bomb", is the nickname for the RDS-220 hydrogen bomb —the largest, most powerful nuclear weapon ever detonated....
over Novaya Zemlya
Novaya Zemlya

Novaya Zemlya Novaya Zemlya consists of two major islands, separated by the narrow Matochkin Strait, and a number of smaller ones. The two main islands are Severny Island and Yuzhny Island ....
. It remains the largest ever man-made explosion.
October 31 - Hurricane Hattie
Hurricane Hattie

Hurricane Hattie was a powerful Category 5 tropical cyclone that hit Central America on Halloween during the 1961 Atlantic hurricane season. It caused millions of US dollars in damages and killed around 275 people....
devastates Belize City
Belize City

Belize City is the largest city of the Central American nation Belize.Unofficial estimates place the population of Belize City at 70,800 or more people....
, Belize
Belize

Belize , formerly British Honduras, is a country in Central America. Once part of the Maya civilization, and very briefly the Spanish Empire, it was most recently affiliated with the British Empire, prior to gaining its independence in 1981....
killing over 270. After the hurricane, the capital moves to the inland city of Belmopan
Belmopan

Belmopan , estimated population 16,400, is the Capital of Belize.Belmopan is located at , at an altitude of 76 metres above sea level. Belmopan was constructed just to the east of Belize River, 80 km inland from the former capital, the port of Belize City, after that city's near destruction by a hurricane in 1961....
.
October 31 - Joseph Stalin
Joseph Stalin

Joseph Stalin was the General Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union's Central Committee of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union from 1922 until his death in 1953....
's body is removed from the Lenin Mausoleum.

November

November - The Fantastic Four
Fantastic Four

The Fantastic Four is a fictional superhero team appearing in comic books published by Marvel Comics. The group debuted in The Fantastic Four #1 , which helped to usher in a new naturalism in the mass media....
#1 comic debuts, launching the Marvel Universe
Marvel Universe

The Marvel Universe is the universe where the stories published by Marvel Comics take place.The Marvel Universe actually exists within a Multiverse consisting of thousands of separate universes, all of which are the creations of Marvel Comics and all of which are, in a sense, "Marvel universes"....
and revolutionizing the American comic book
American comic book

An American comic book is a small magazine originating in the United States and containing a narrative in the form of comics. The standard dimensions are 17 x 26 cm , although they were larger in the past....
industry.
November 1 - The Hungry generation
Hungry generation

Hungry GenerationThe Hungry Generation was a literary movement in the Bengali language launched by what is known today as the Hungryalist quartet, i.e....
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
U Thant

U Thant was a Burma diplomat and the third United Nations Secretary General of the United Nations, from 1961 to 1971. He was chosen for the post when his predecessor Dag Hammarskj?ld was killed in an aviation accidents and incidents in September 1961....
acting Secretary General.
November 6 - The U.S. government issues a stamp honoring the 100th birthday of James Naismith
James Naismith

James Naismith was a sports coach and innovator. Naismith was born and raised in Canada and invented the sport of basketball in 1891 and is often credited with introducing the first Football helmet....
.
November 9 - Neil Armstrong
Neil Armstrong

Neil Alden Armstrong is a former American astronaut, test pilot, university professor, and United States Naval Aviator. He is List of Apollo astronauts#People who have walked on the Moon Moon....
records a world record speed in a rocket plane of 6,587km/h flying a X-15.
November 10 - Catch-22
Catch-22

Catch-22 is a Satire, Historical fiction novel by the United States author Joseph Heller, first published in 1961. The novel, set during the later stages of World War II from 1943 onwards, is frequently cited as one of the great literary works of the twentieth century....
is first published by Joseph Heller.
November 11 - Congolese soldiers murder 13 Italian United Nations
United Nations

The United Nations is an international organization whose stated aims are to facilitate cooperation in international law, international security, economic development, Social change, human rights and achieving world peace....
pilots.
November 11 - Stalingrad is renamed Volgograd
Volgograd

Volgograd , geographical renaming Tsaritsyn and Stalingrad is a types of inhabited localities in Russia and the administrative center of Volgograd Oblast, Russia....
.
November 17 - Michael Rockefeller
Michael Rockefeller

Michael Clark Rockefeller , was the youngest son of New York Governor of New York Nelson Aldrich Rockefeller and Mary Rockefeller and a fourth generation member of the Rockefeller family....
, son of New York Governor, and later Vice President
Vice President of the United States

The Vice President of the United States is the holder of a public office in the United States of America created by the Constitution of the United States....
Nelson Rockefeller
Nelson Rockefeller

Nelson Aldrich Rockefeller was the List of Vice Presidents of the United States Vice President of the United States, the 49th governor of New York, a philanthropist, and a businessperson....
, disappears in the jungles of New Guinea
New Guinea

New Guinea, located just north of Australia, is the List of islands by area, having become separated from the Australian mainland when the area now known as the Torres Strait flooded after the last glacial period....
.
November 18 - U.S. President John F. Kennedy
John F. Kennedy

John Fitzgerald "Jack" Kennedy , often referred to by his initials JFK, was the List of Presidents of the United States President of the United States, serving from 1961 until John F....
sends 18,000 military advisors to South Vietnam.
November 20 - The funeral of longtime House Speaker Sam Rayburn
Sam Rayburn

Samuel Taliaferro Rayburn was a Democratic Party politician from Bonham, Texas. "Mr. Sam", as he was widely known, served as the Speaker of the United States House of Representatives for seventeen years, and is regarded by some historians as the most effective Speaker in history....
is held in Washington, DC. Two former Presidents (Truman
Harry S. Truman

Harry S. Truman was the List of Presidents of the United States President of the United States . As the List of Vice Presidents of the United States Vice President of the United States, he succeeded Franklin D....
, Eisenhower
Dwight D. Eisenhower

Dwight David ?Ike? Eisenhower was the List of Presidents of the United States President of the United States from 1953 until 1961 and a General of the Army in the United States Army....
) and one future one (Lyndon B. Johnson
Lyndon B. Johnson

Lyndon Baines Johnson , often referred to as LBJ, was the List of Presidents of the United States President of the United States and List of Vice Presidents of the United States Vice President of the United States ....
) join President Kennedy
John F. Kennedy

John Fitzgerald "Jack" Kennedy , often referred to by his initials JFK, was the List of Presidents of the United States President of the United States, serving from 1961 until John F....
in paying their respects.
November 30 - The Soviet Union
Soviet Union

The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics was a Constitution of the Soviet Union socialist state that existed in Eurasia from 1922 to 1991.The name is a translation of the , romanization of Russian Soyuz Sovetskikh Sotsialisticheskikh Respublik, abbreviated ????, SSSR....
vetoes Kuwait
Kuwait

The State of Kuwait is a sovereign Arab emirate on the coast of the Persian Gulf, enclosed by Saudi Arabia to the south and Iraq to the north and west....
's application for United Nations
United Nations

The United Nations is an international organization whose stated aims are to facilitate cooperation in international law, international security, economic development, Social change, human rights and achieving world peace....
membership.

December

December 1 - Netherlands New Guinea
Netherlands New Guinea

Netherlands New Guinea was the official name of Western New Guinea while it was a colonial possession of the Kingdom of the Netherlands. It was commonly known as Dutch New Guinea....
raises the new Morning Star flag and changes its name to West Papua.
December 2 - Cold War
Cold War

The Cold War was the continuing state of conflict, tension and competition that existed between a number of world powers, including the United States, the Soviet Union, People's Republic of China, France, United Kingdom and those countries' respective allies from the mid-1940s to the early 1990s....
: In a nationally broadcast speech, Cuba
Cuba

The Republic of Cuba is a country in the Caribbean. It consists of the island of Cuba , the island of Isla de la Juventud, and several adjacent small islands....
n leader Fidel Castro
Fidel Castro

Fidel Alejandro Castro Ruz is a Cuban revolutionary leader who was prime minister of Cuba from February 1959 to December 1976 and then president, premier until his resignation from the office in February 2008....
declares he is a Marxist-Leninist, and that Cuba will adopt Communism
Communism

Communism is a socioeconomic structure and political ideology that promotes the establishment of an egalitarianism, classlessness, stateless society based on common ownership and control of the means of production and property in general....
.
December 5 - U.S. President John F. Kennedy
John F. Kennedy

John Fitzgerald "Jack" Kennedy , often referred to by his initials JFK, was the List of Presidents of the United States President of the United States, serving from 1961 until John F....
gives support to the Volta Dam
Akosombo Dam

The Akosombo Hydroelectric Project , usually referred to as the Akosombo Dam, is a hydroelectric dam in southeastern Ghana. The dam is specifically located at the Akosombo gorge, on the Volta River....
project in Ghana
Ghana

The Republic of Ghana is a country in West Africa. It borders C?te d'Ivoire to the west, Burkina Faso to the north, Togo to the east, and the Gulf of Guinea to the south....
.
December 9 - Tanganyika
Tanganyika

Tanganyika is an East African territory lying between the largest of the African great lakes: Lake Victoria, Lake Malawi and Lake Tanganyika....
gains independence and declares itself a republic, with Julius Nyerere
Julius Nyerere

Julius Kambarage Nyerere served as the first President of Tanzania and previously Tanganyika, from the country's founding in 1964 until his retirement in 1985....
as its first President.
December 9 - The Australia
Australia

Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the southern hemisphere comprising the Australia of the world's smallest continent, the major island of Tasmania, and numerous list of islands of Australia in the Indian Ocean and Pacific Oceans....
n government of Robert Menzies
Robert Menzies

Sir Robert Gordon Menzies, Order of the Thistle, Order of Australia, Order of the Companions of Honour, Queen's Counsel , Australian politician, was the twelfth Prime Minister of Australia....
is re-elected for a sixth term.
December 10 - The Soviet Union
Soviet Union

The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics was a Constitution of the Soviet Union socialist state that existed in Eurasia from 1922 to 1991.The name is a translation of the , romanization of Russian Soyuz Sovetskikh Sotsialisticheskikh Respublik, abbreviated ????, SSSR....
severs diplomatic relations with Albania
Albania

Albania , officially the Republic of Albania , is a country in Balkans. It is bordered by Greece to the south-east, Montenegro to the north, Kosovo to the northeast, and the Republic of Macedonia to the east....
.
December 10 - Nobel Prize
Nobel Prize

The Nobel Prize , established in the 1895 will of Swedish chemist Alfred Nobel; it was first awarded in Nobel Prize in Physics, Nobel Prize in Chemistry, Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine, Nobel Prize in Literature, and Nobel Peace Prize in 1901....
: Melvin Calvin is awarded the Nobel Prize for the process of photosynthesis.
December 11 - The Vietnam War
Vietnam War

The Vietnam War, also known as the Second Indochina Wars, the Vietnam Conflict, or often in Vietnam the American War occurred in Vietnam, Laos and Cambodia from 1959 to April 30, 1975....
officially begins, as the first American helicopters arrive in Saigon along with 400 U.S. personnel.
December 11 - Adolf Eichmann
Adolf Eichmann

Karl Adolf Eichmann , sometimes referred to as "the architect of the Holocaust", was a Nazism and Schutzstaffel-Obersturmbannf?hrer . Due to his organizational talents and ideological reliability, he was charged by Obergruppenf?hrer Reinhard Heydrich with the task of facilitating and managing the logistics of mass deportation of J...
is pronounced guilty of crimes against humanity by a panel of 3 Israel
Israel

Israel officially the State of Israel , is a country in the Middle East located on the eastern shore of the Mediterranean Sea. It borders Lebanon in the north, Syria in the northeast, Jordan in the east, and Egypt on the southwest, and contains geographically diverse features within its relatively small area....
i judges.
December 15 - An Israeli war crimes tribunal sentences Adolf Eichmann
Adolf Eichmann

Karl Adolf Eichmann , sometimes referred to as "the architect of the Holocaust", was a Nazism and Schutzstaffel-Obersturmbannf?hrer . Due to his organizational talents and ideological reliability, he was charged by Obergruppenf?hrer Reinhard Heydrich with the task of facilitating and managing the logistics of mass deportation of J...
to die for his part in the Jewish Holocaust.
December 17 - India
India

India, officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and outlying territories by total area country by geographical area, the List of countries by population country, and the most populous liberal democracy in the world....
occupies Goa
Goa

Goa is India's smallest states and territories of India in terms of area and the List of states and territories of India by population. Located on the west coast of India in the region known as the Konkan, it is bounded by the state of Maharashtra to the north, and by Karnataka to the east and south, while the Arabian Sea forms its western...
.
December 17 - A circus
Circus

File:Faroe stamp 416 circus.jpgA circus is commonly a traveling company of performers that may include acrobatics, clowns, trained animals, trapeze acts, hoopers, tightrope walkers, juggling, unicyclists and other stunt-oriented artists....
tent fire in Niteroi
Niterói

Niter?i is a city, and a munic?pio , in the state of Rio de Janeiro State, Southeast Region, Brazil of Brazil. This city was founded on November 22, 1573 by the Tupi people Indigenous Peoples of the Americas chief Ararib?ia ....
, Brazil
Brazil

Brazil , officially the Federative Republic of Brazil , is a country in South America. It is the List of countries and outlying territories by total area country by geographical area, occupying nearly half of South America, the List of countries by population country, and the fourth most populous democracy in the world....
kills 323.
December 18 - India
India

India, officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and outlying territories by total area country by geographical area, the List of countries by population country, and the most populous liberal democracy in the world....
occupies the Portuguese
Portugal

Portugal , officially the Portuguese Republic , is a country on the Iberian Peninsula. Located in southwestern Europe, Portugal is the westernmost country of mainland Europe and is bordered by the Atlantic Ocean to the west and south and by Spain to the north and east....
colonies of Goa
Goa

Goa is India's smallest states and territories of India in terms of area and the List of states and territories of India by population. Located on the west coast of India in the region known as the Konkan, it is bounded by the state of Maharashtra to the north, and by Karnataka to the east and south, while the Arabian Sea forms its western...
, Damao and Diu
Diu

Diu or DIU may mean:* Diu, India, city in India* Battle of Diu* Diu , a Cantonese profanity.* Dresden International University, Germany...
.
December 19 - Goa
Goa

Goa is India's smallest states and territories of India in terms of area and the List of states and territories of India by population. Located on the west coast of India in the region known as the Konkan, it is bounded by the state of Maharashtra to the north, and by Karnataka to the east and south, while the Arabian Sea forms its western...
is officially ceded to India
India

India, officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and outlying territories by total area country by geographical area, the List of countries by population country, and the most populous liberal democracy in the world....
after 400 years of Portuguese rule.
December 19 - Indonesian president Sukarno
Sukarno

Sukarno, born Kusno Sosrodihardjo was the first President of Indonesia. He helped the country win its independence from Netherlands and was President from 1945 to 1967, presiding with mixed success over the country's turbulent transition to independence....
announces that he will take West Irian by force if necessary.
December 21 - In Congo
Republic of the Congo (Léopoldville)

The Republic of the Congo was an independent republic established following the independence granted to the former colony of the Belgian Congo in 1960....
, Katangan prime minister Moise Tshombe
Moise Tshombe

Mo?se Kapenda Tshombe was a Republic of the Congo politician....
recognizes the Congolese constitution.
December 23 - Luxembourg
Luxembourg

Luxembourg , officially the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg , is a small landlocked country in western Europe, bordered by Belgium, France, and Germany....
's national holiday
National Day

The National Day is a designated date on which celebrations mark the nationhood of a nation or non-sovereign country. Often the National Day will be a Public holiday....
, the Grand Duke's Official Birthday
Grand Duke's Official Birthday

The Grand Duke's Official Birthday is celebrated as the annual National Day of Luxembourg. It is celebrated on 23 June, although this has never been the actual birthday of any ruler of Luxembourg....
, is set on June 23 by Grand Ducal decree.
December 30 - Congolese troops capture Albert Kalonji of South Kasai
South Kasai

South Kasai was a secessionist region in the area of south central Republic of the Congo during the early 1960s. The region sought independence in similar circumstances to neighboring Katanga during the political turmoil arising from the decolonization of Belgian Congo....
(who soon escapes).
December 31 - The Marshall Plan
Marshall Plan

The Marshall Plan was the primary plan of the United States for rebuilding and creating a stronger foundation for the countries of Western Europe, and repelling communism after World War II....
expires, after having distributed more than $12 billion in foreign aid to rebuild Europe
Europe

Europe is, conventionally, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally divided from Asia to its east by the water divide of the Ural Mountains, the Ural , the Caspian Sea, and by the Caucasus Mountains to the southeast....
.
December 31 - Ireland's first national television station, Telefís Éireann (later RTÉ
RTE

RTE may mean any of:...
), begins broadcasting.

Undated

"Barbie
Barbie

Barbie is a fashion doll manufactured by Mattel and launched in March 1959. USA businesswoman Ruth Handler is credited with the creation of the doll using a Germany doll called Bild Lilli doll as her inspiration....
" gets a boyfriend when the "Ken" doll is introduced.

Ongoing

Marshall Plan
Marshall Plan

The Marshall Plan was the primary plan of the United States for rebuilding and creating a stronger foundation for the countries of Western Europe, and repelling communism after World War II....

Births

January–February

January 1 - Mark Wingett
Mark Wingett

Mark Wingett , is an England actor. He is most known for playing the role of Jim Carver in the ITV1 police procedural The Bill.Career...
, British actor
January 1 - Sam Backo
Sam Backo

Sam Backo is an Australian former professional rugby league footballer of the 1980s who represented Queensland Maroons and Australian Kangaroos....
, Australian rugby league footballer
January 2 - Gabrielle Carteris
Gabrielle Carteris

Gabrielle Anne Carteris is an United States actor known for her role as Andrea Zuckerman on the early seasons of the 1990s in television television series Beverly Hills 90210....
, American actress
January 2 - Todd Haynes
Todd Haynes

Todd Haynes is an award-winning United States film director best known for the films Poison , Academy Award-nominated Far From Heaven, and I'm Not There....
, American film director
January 5 - Iris DeMent
Iris DeMent

Iris DeMent is an United States singer and songwriter. DeMent's musical style encompasses the genres Country music and folk music....
, American singer-songwriter
January 8 - Calvin Smith
Calvin Smith

Calvin Smith is a former Sprint Athletics from the United States. He is a former World Record holder in the 100 metre sprint, and was twice World Champion over 200 metres....
, American athlete
January 11 - Karl von Habsburg-Lothringen (Károly)
Karl Habsburg-Lothringen

Archduke Karl of Austria Prince Imperial of Austria, Prince Royal of Hungary, Croatia and Bohemia, is the son of Otto von Habsburg and Regina, Crown Princess of Austria and the grandson of the last Austrian emperor, Karl of Austria....
, Archduke, Prince Imperial of Austria, Prince Royal of Hungary
January 13 - Julia Louis-Dreyfus
Julia Louis-Dreyfus

Julia Scarlett Elizabeth Louis-Dreyfus is an United States actress and comedienne best known for her roles as Elaine Benes on the NBC sitcom Seinfeld in the 1990s, and as Christine Campbell on the current CBS sitcom The New Adventures of Old Christine....
, American actress
January 13 - Suggs
Suggs (singer)

Graham McPherson , better known as Suggs, is an England singing, actor, former radio station Disc jockey, television celebrity, and most famous as the frontman of the band Madness ....
, British rock singer (Madness
Madness (band)

Madness are an English Pop music/ska band from Camden Town, London, that formed in 1976. As of 2008, the band have continued to perform with their most recognised lineup of seven members, although their lineup has varied slightly over the years....
)
January 14 - Mike Tramp
Mike Tramp

Mike Tramp is a Denmark singer and songwriter who is best known for his work with the hard rock bands White Lion and Freak of Nature . He has released 14 albums, including six solo albums....
, Danish rock singer (White Lion
White Lion

White Lion is an United States/Denmark glam metal band that formed in New York City in 1983 by Denmark vocalist Mike Tramp and United States guitarist Vito Bratta....
)
January 17 - Maia Chiburdanidze
Maia Chiburdanidze

Maia Chiburdanidze is a Georgia chess Grandmaster , and the seventh Women's World Chess Champion. She is the only chess player in the history who has won nine Chess Olympiads....
, Georgian chess player
January 18 - Mark Messier
Mark Messier

Mark John Douglas Messier is a former ice hockey Centre of the National Hockey League. He spent a quarter of a century in the NHL with the Edmonton Oilers, New York Rangers, and Vancouver Canucks....
, Canadian hockey player
January 24 - Guido Buchwald
Guido Buchwald

Guido Buchwald is a Germany former football defender and manager.The best game of Buchwald's career was probably the final of the 1990 FIFA World Cup when he effectivelly marked the skilled footballer, Diego Maradona, earning him the nickname 'Diego'....
, German football player
January 24 - Nastassja Kinski
Nastassja Kinski

'Nastassja Kinski' is a German Actor, who has appeared in more than 60 international movies. Her starring roles include her Golden Globe Award-winning portrayal of 'Tess Durbeyfield' in Roman Polanski's film Tess, her roles in two erotic films , and her parts in Wim Wenders' films The Wrong Move, Paris, Texas , and Faraway, So Close!...
, German-born actress
January 26 - Wayne Gretzky
Wayne Gretzky

Wayne Douglas Gretzky, Order of Canada is a retired Canada professional ice hockey player. He is the current part-owner, head of hockey operations, and coach of the Phoenix Coyotes of the National Hockey League ....
, Canadian hockey player
January 30 - Dexter Scott King
Dexter Scott King

Dexter Scott King is the second son of civil rights leaders Martin Luther King, Jr. and Coretta Scott King. His siblings are Martin Luther King III, the Reverend Bernice Albertine King, and the late Yolanda King....
, son of Martin Luther King, Jr.
Martin Luther King, Jr.

Martin Luther King, Jr. was an United States pastor, activist and prominent leader in the African-American African-American Civil Rights Movement ....
January 31 - Lloyd Cole
Lloyd Cole

Lloyd Cole is an England singer and songwriter, known for his role as lead singer of Lloyd Cole and the Commotions from 1984 to 1989, and for his subsequent solo work....
, British singer and songwriter
February 1 - Volker Fried
Volker Fried

Volker Fried is a former field hockey player from West Germany, who competed at four consecutive Summer Olympics for West and the reunified Germany....
, German field hockey player
February 3 - Jim Balsillie
Jim Balsillie

James Laurence Balsillie is a Canada Chartered Accountant and co-CEO of Research In Motion. He was born in Seaforth, Ontario, Canada, and raised in Peterborough, Ontario, where his family relocated in 1966....
, Canadian CEO and philanthropist
Philanthropist

A philanthropist is someone who engages in philanthropy; that is, someone who donates his or her time, money, and/or reputation to charitable organization....
February 3 - Gretel Killeen
Gretel Killeen

Gretel Killeen is an Australian Presenter, comedian, newspaper columnist, author and voice acting. Killeen is best known for being the primary host of Big Brother Australia from its inception in Big Brother Australia 2001 until the Big Brother Australia 2007 season ....
, Australian author and TV presenter
February 8 - Vince Neil
Vince Neil

Vincent Neil Wharton is the lead singer for United States glam metal band M?tley Cr?e....
, American singer
February 9 - John Kruk
John Kruk

John Martin Kruk is an United States former Major League Baseball player and current baseball analyst for ESPN....
, American baseball player and commentator
February 9 - Jussi Lampi
Jussi Lampi

Jussi Lampi is a Finland musician and long-time actor. Lampi has appeared in many films and TV shows, including V2 - j??tynyt enkeli , Matti , Pelikaanimies , R?lli ja mets?nhenki , Ansa ja Oiva and Ruusun aika....
, Finnish musician and actor
February 10 - George Stephanopoulos
George Stephanopoulos

George Robert Stephanopoulos is an United States broadcaster and former political adviser. He is currently ABC News's Chief Washington Correspondent and the host of American Broadcasting Company's Sunday morning news show This Week ....
, American political consultant and commentator
February 11 - Mary Docter
Mary Docter

Mary Angela Docter is an United States speed skating from Madison, Wisconsin. She competed in four Olympic Games , mainly in the 3,000 meter event....
, American speed skater
February 11 - Carey Lowell
Carey Lowell

Carey Lowell is an United States actor and former Model ....
, American actress
February 13 - Henry Rollins
Henry Rollins

Henry Rollins is an United Statesn singer-songwriter, spoken word, stand-up comedian, author, actor, activist and publisher.After joining the short-lived Washington, D.C....
, American musician
February 13 - Richard Tyson
Richard Tyson

Richard Martin Tyson is an American actor.His most prominent role was as the villain Cullen Crisp, Sr. in Kindergarten Cop co-starring alongside Arnold Schwarzenegger....
, American actor
February 14 - Latifa
Latifa

Latifa Bint Alayah Al Arfaoui , better known as Latifa , is an Arab pop music singer.The word Latifa is Arabic for "Soft", "Delicate", "Gentle" or "Sensitive"....
, Tunisian singer
February 16 - Andy Taylor
Andy Taylor (guitarist)

Andy Taylor is an England guitarist, singer, and songwriter, best known as a member of Duran Duran and Power Station . He has also performed as a solo artist, and served as a record producer for several other artists....
, British rock musician (Duran Duran
Duran Duran

Duran Duran are an English music group from Birmingham, United Kingdom. They were one of the most commercially successful of the 1980s bands and a leading band in the MTV-driven "Second British Invasion" of the United States....
)
February 22 - Akira Takasaki
Akira Takasaki

is the lead guitarist and founding member of the Japanese heavy metal music band, Loudness .He first started his music career as a member of the band Lazy with Munetaka Higuchi....
, Japanese guitarist
February 25 - Davey Allison
Davey Allison

David Carl "Davey" Allison was a NASCAR race car driver, best known as the driver of the Robert Yates Racing #28Texaco-Havoline Ford. Born in Hollywood, Florida, he was the eldest of four children born to NASCAR driver Bobby Allison and wife Judy....
, American race car driver (d. 1993)
February 27 - James Worthy
James Worthy

James Ager Worthy , is a retired Basketball Hall of Fame United States college and professional basketball player. One of the Top 50 NBA Players of All Time, "Big Game James" was a seven time NBA All-Star and three time NBA champion....
, American basketball player and analyst
February 28 - Mark Latham
Mark Latham

Mark William Latham , a former Australian politician, was leader of the Federal Parliamentary Australian Labor Party and Opposition from December 2003 to January 2005....
, Australian politician

March–April

March - Reggie Fils-Aime, American businessperson
March 4 - Ray Mancini
Ray Mancini

Ray "Boom Boom" Mancini is an Italian-American former boxing. He held the World Boxing Association lightweight championship for two years in the 1980s....
, American boxer
March 4 - Steven Weber
Steven Weber (actor)

Steven Robert Weber is an United States actor....
, American actor
March 4 - Roger Wessels
Roger Wessels

Roger Mark Wessels is a South Africa golfer.Wessels was born in Port Elizabeth. he turned professional in 1987. He won the South African PGA Championship in 1991....
, South African golfer
March 8 - Camryn Manheim
Camryn Manheim

Camryn Manheim is an United States Emmy Award- and Golden Globe Award-winning actress known primarily for her roles as attorney Ellenor Frutt on American Broadcasting Company's The Practice and Delia Banks on CBS's Ghost Whisperer....
, American actress
March 9 - Rick Steiner
Rick Steiner

Robert Rechsteiner better known by his ring name Rick Steiner, is an United States Professional wrestling.Steiner is best known for his appearances with the National Wrestling Alliance, World Championship Wrestling, World Wrestling Entertainment, and Total Nonstop Action Wrestling, both as a singles wrestler and one half of the tag...
, American professional wrestler
March 10 - Mike Bullard (ice hockey), American hockey player
March 10 - Laurel Clark, American astronaut (d. 2003)
March 10 - Mitch Gaylord
Mitch Gaylord

Mitchell Jay Gaylord is an United States gymnastics and Olympic gold medalist.While attending UCLA, he won the All-Around in the 1983 and 1984 U.S....
, American gymnast
March 10 - Bobby Petrino
Bobby Petrino

Bobby Petrino is an American college football coach and the current head coach of the Arkansas Razorbacks football. He previously served a majority of the 2007 season as head coach of the Atlanta Falcons and four seasons at the University of Louisville....
, American football coach
March 14 - Gary Dell'Abate
Gary Dell'Abate

Gary Patrick Angelo Dell'Abate is the Radio producer of The Howard Stern Show and co-host of The Wrap Up Show on Sirius/XM Radio....
, American radio producer
March 16 - Brett Kenny
Brett Kenny

Brett Kenny is an Australian former professional rugby league footballer of the 1980s and 90s. He was a rugby league positions#Stand-off for the Australia national rugby league team, the New South Wales Rugby League team representative side and the Parramatta Eels....
, Australian rugby league
Rugby league

Rugby league football is a competitive Full-contact sport team sport played with a spheroid-shaped ball by two teams of thirteen on a rectangular grass field....
player
March 17 - Umayya Abu-Hanna, Palestine-born Finnish writer and politician
March 21 - Lothar Matthäus
Lothar Matthäus

Lothar Herbert Matth?us , is a Germany former association football player and now manager, currently managing Israeli club Maccabi Netanya F.C.....
, German footballer
March 23 - Helmi Johannes
Helmi Johannes

Helmi Johannes is an Indonesian television news presenter and executive producer. Helmi Johannes now works for the Indonesian service of the Voice of America , based in Washington, DC....
, Indonesian television newscaster
March 27 - Ellery Hanley
Ellery Hanley

Ellery Hanley Order of the British Empire is an English former rugby league footballer of the 1970s, 80s and 90s, and former head coach of Great Britain national rugby league team, St Helens RLFC and Doncaster RLFC....
, English rugby league player and coach
March 27 - Tak Matsumoto
Tak Matsumoto

is a Japanese guitarist, producer, arranger, composer and songwriter. In addition to guitarist and lead arranger for the hard rock band B'z, he has also a successful solo career....
, Japanese guitarist (B'z
B'z

is a Japanese hard rock duo, comprising and Koshi Inaba .They have released 41 consecutive #1 singles, 23 #1 albums, and sold more than 77 million records in Japan alone....
)
March 28 - Byron Scott
Byron Scott (basketball)

Byron Antom Scott is a retired United States National Basketball Association player and current head coach of the NBA's New Orleans Hornets. He attended Arizona State University....
, American basketball player and coach
March 29 - Amy Sedaris
Amy Sedaris

Amy Sedaris is an United States actor, author and comedienne. She is perhaps best known for playing the character Jerri Blank in the Comedy Central television series Strangers with Candy....
, American actress, comedian and writer
March 29 - Gerardo Teissonniere
Gerardo Teissonniere

Gerardo Teissonni?re is a Puerto Rico pianist and teacher....
, Puerto Rican pianist
April 2 - Christopher Meloni
Christopher Meloni

Christopher Peter Meloni is an United States Emmy-nominated actor known for his near opposite roles as the protective and committed Detective Elliot Stabler on the NBC drama series Law & Order: Special Victims Unit, and as the bisexual serial killer Chris Keller on Home Box Office Oz ....
, American actor
April 3 - Eddie Murphy
Eddie Murphy

Bold text'Edward Regan "Eddie" Murphy is an United States actor, film director, Film producer, comedian and "singer". Murphy ranks as the highest grossing film star in history, having a total of 37 films to date, his films grossing over $3.4 billion in the US alone, averaging $104 million per film....
, American actor and comedian
April 5 - Lisa Zane
Lisa Zane

Elizabeth Frances "Liza" Zane is an American actress who has starred on stage, in film and television....
, American actress
April 6 - Gene Eugene
Gene Eugene

Gene "Eugene" Andrusco was a Canada born actor, record producer, engineer, composer and musician. Andrusco was best known as the leader of the funk/rock music band Adam Again, a member of The Swirling Eddies and as a founding member of the Traditional music supergroup Lost Dogs....
, Canadian actor and singer
April 7 - Thurl Bailey
Thurl Bailey

Thurl Lee Bailey is a retired American professional basketball player in the NBA, whose career spanned from 1983 to 1999 with the Utah Jazz and the Minnesota Timberwolves....
, American basketball player
April 12 - Lisa Gerrard
Lisa Gerrard

Lisa Gerrard is an Australian musician, singer and composer who rose to prominence as part of the music group Dead Can Dance with former music partner Brendan Perry....
, Australian musician
April 14 - Neil Dougherty
Neil Dougherty

Cornelius Aaron "Neil" Dougherty is an American basketball coach, who was most recently the Head coach at Texas Christian University in Fort Worth, Texas....
, American basketball coach
April 17 - Frank J. Christensen
Frank J. Christensen

Frank J. Christensen is an United States trade union leader. He is the long-serving Business Manager of Elevator Constructors Local 2, a Vice President of the International Union of Elevator Constructors, and Chairman of the Illinois Elevator Safety Board since 2003....
, American labor leader
April 18 - Jane Leeves
Jane Leeves

Jane Leeves is an England actress.After beginning her career in the Benny Hill Show, Leeves moved to the United States, where she performed in small roles until she secured a recurring part in the television sitcom Murphy Brown....
, English actress
April 20 - Don Mattingly
Don Mattingly

Donald Arthur Mattingly was a first baseman who played for the New York Yankees of the American League from 1982-1995. He also served as the Yankees hitting coach from 2004 to 2006 and Joe Torre's Coach in 2007....
, American baseball player
April 20 - Konstantin Lavronenko
Konstantin Lavronenko

Konstantin Nikolaevich Lavronenko is a Russian actor of Ukrainians ancestry most commonly accredited for his performance as the mysterious father of two boys in 2003 film Vozvrashcheniye ....
, Russian actor
April 23 - George Lopez
George Lopez

George Lopez is a Mexican American comedian and actor. He is one of the most prominent Mexican-Americans from within the Latino community to be recognized in mainstream North American popular culture....
, American actor and comedian
April 26 - Anthony Cumia, American radio personality
April 27 - Moana Pozzi
Moana Pozzi

Moana Pozzi, often called simply Moana, complete name was Anna Moana Rosa Pozzi was an Italian pornographic actress. She was sometimes credited in the early films as Linda Heveret....
, Italian porn actress (d. 1994)
April 28 - Futoshi Matsunaga
Futoshi Matsunaga

is a Japanese people serial killer who also fraud and tortured his victims. He murdered at least seven people, including two children, between 1996 and 1998....
, Japanese serial killer
April 29 - Fumihiko Tachiki
Fumihiko Tachiki

is a male seiyu and narrator....
, Japanese seiyuu
April 30 - Isiah Thomas
Isiah Thomas

Isiah Lord Thomas III is a retired United States professional basketball player who played point guard for the Detroit Pistons of the National Basketball Association from 1981 until 1994....
, American basketball player, coach, and team owner

May–June

May 2 - Steve James
Steve James (snooker player)

Stephen James is an England professional snooker player....
, English snooker
Snooker

Snooker is a cue sport that is played on a large baize-covered snooker table with pockets in each of the four corners and in the middle of each of the long side cushions....
player
May 3 - Joe Murray
Joe Murray

Joe Murray is an animator, best known as the creator of Rocko's Modern Life and Camp Lazlo....
, American animator
May 5 - Hiroshi Hase, Japanese professional wrestler
May 6 - George Clooney
George Clooney

George Timothy Clooney is an Academy Award- and Golden Globe Award-winning United States of America actor, Film director, film producer and screenwriter....
, American actor
May 7 - Robert Spano
Robert Spano

Robert Spano is an United States Conductor and pianist. Since 2001 he has been Music Director of the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra , and he served as Music Director of the Brooklyn Philharmonic from 1996 to 2004....
, American conductor and pianist
May 8 - Janet McTeer
Janet McTeer

Janet McTeer, Order of the British Empire is an award-winning United Kingdom actress.Born in Newcastle upon Tyne, England, McTeer attended the Royal Academy of Dramatic Arts and began her successful theatrical career with the Royal Exchange Theatre after graduating....
, British actress
May 8 - Akira Taue
Akira Taue

is a Japanese professional wrestler, who works for Pro Wrestling Noah....
, Japanese professional wrestler
May 10 - Danny Carey
Danny Carey

Daniel Edwin "Danny" Carey is the drummer for the progressive rock band Tool , as well as Pigmy Love Circus and VOLTO! . He has also contributed to albums by artists such as ZAUM, Green Jell?, Pigface , Skinny Puppy , Adrian Belew of King Crimson , Carole King , Collide , The Wild Blue Yonder, Free Mars , and the The Melvins....
, American rock drummer
May 12 - Billy (William H) Duffy
Billy Duffy

Billy Duffy is a hard rock and alternative rock guitarist best known for his role in post punk band The Cult. His fusion of punk and rock riffs had a dark, mystic vibe....
, English rock guitarist (The Cult
The Cult

The Cult are an England Rock music band which gained a dedicated following in their native Britain with mid-1980s singles like "She Sells Sanctuary" before breaking into the American metal market in the late '80s with "Love Removal Machine"....
)
May 13 - Dennis Rodman
Dennis Rodman

Dennis Keith Rodman is a retired United States professional basketball player of the National Basketball Association's Detroit Pistons, San Antonio Spurs, Chicago Bulls, Los Angeles Lakers and Dallas Mavericks....
, American basketball player and actor
May 14 - Tim Roth
Tim Roth

Tim Roth is an England film actor and film director, best known for his roles in Reservoir Dogs, Pulp Fiction , The Incredible Hulk , and Rob Roy , for which he received an Academy Award Nomination for Best Supporting Actor....
, English actor
May 17 - Enya
Enya

Enya is an Ireland singer, instrumentalist and composer. She began her musical career in 1980, when she briefly joined her family band Clannad, before leaving to pursue her solo career....
(Eithne Patricia Ní Bhraonáin), Irish musician
May 27 - Peri Gilpin
Peri Gilpin

Peri Gilpin is an United Statesn actress.She portrayed Roz Doyle on the U.S. television series Frasier from 1993 until 2004. Along with the principal cast, Gilpin won two Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a Comedy Series in 2000 and 2004....
, American actress
May 29 - Melissa Etheridge
Melissa Etheridge

Melissa Lou Etheridge is an Academy Award-winning and two-time Grammy Award-winning United States rock music singer-songwriter and musician....
, American musician
May 31 - Ray Cote
Ray Cote

Ray Cote is a former professional ice hockey forward. He spent his junior career with the Calgary Wranglers of the Western Hockey League, and signed a free agent contract with the Edmonton Oilers in 1981 after going undrafted....
, Canadian ice hockey player
May 31 - Justin Madden
Justin Madden

Justin Mark "Harry" Madden was an Australian rules football player turned politician. He rose to prominence as a highly successful player with the Carlton Football Club, after an early stint with Essendon Football Club....
, Australian footballer and politician
May 31 - Lea Thompson
Lea Thompson

Lea Katherine Thompson is an American actress and Film director. She is best known for her lead character in the 1990s NBC series Caroline in the City and her part as Marty McFly's mother in the Back to the Future trilogy....
, American actress
June 1 - Paul Coffey
Paul Coffey

Paul Douglas Coffey is a retired professional Hockey Hall of Fame ice hockey Defenceman in the National Hockey League. Known for his speed and scoring prowess, Coffey ranks second all-time among NHL defensemen in career Goal , Assist s, and Point s....
, Canadian hockey player
June 2 - Dez Cadena
Dez Cadena

Dez Paul Cadena is an United States singer and guitarist. He was the third vocalist and later rhythm guitarist for hardcore punk musical ensemble Black Flag ....
, American musician
June 3 - Lawrence Lessig
Lawrence Lessig

Lawrence Lessig is an United States Academia and political activist. He is a professor of law at Stanford Law School and founder of its Stanford Center for Internet and Society, and will soon re-join the faculty at Harvard Law School....
, American academic and political activist
June 5 - Anthony Burger
Anthony Burger

Anthony John Burger was an United States musician and singer, most closely associated with Southern Gospel music....
, American musician and singer (d. 2006)
June 5 - Rosie Kane
Rosie Kane

Rosie Kane is a Scottish Socialist Party politician, and former Member of the Scottish Parliament for the Glasgow .She entered politics after becoming involved in a campaign against the extension of the M77 motorway....
, member of Scottish Parliament
June 6 - Tom Araya
Tom Araya

Tom Araya is the Chilean American bassist and vocalist of the American thrash metal band Slayer. Araya's family moved to the United States in 1966, and at the age of eight Araya started playing bass guitar, performing renditions of songs by the Beatles and The Rolling Stones with his older brother....
, Chilean-born rock musician (Slayer
Slayer

Slayer is an American thrash metal band from Huntington Park, California, formed in 1981. The band was founded by guitarists Jeff Hanneman and Kerry King....
)
June 9 - Michael J. Fox
Michael J. Fox

Michael J. Fox is a Canadian American actor. His roles include Marty McFly from the Back to the Future trilogy trilogy ; Alex P. Keaton from Family Ties , for which he won four Emmy Awards and a Golden Globe Award; and Mike Flaherty from Spin City , for which he won an Emmy, three Golden Globes, and two Screen Actors Guild Awar...
, Canadian actor
June 10 - Kim
Kim Deal

Kimberly Ann Deal is an United States singer, songwriter and musician, best known as the bassist of the alternative rock band the Pixies. Deal first joined the Pixies in January 1986 as the band's bassist, adopting the stage name Mrs....
and Kelley Deal
Kelley Deal

Kelley Deal is the lead guitarist of The Breeders and the twin sister of musician Kim Deal....
, American musicians
June 14 - "Boy George
Boy George

Boy George is an England singer-songwriter who was part of the English New Romantic movement which emerged in the early 1980s. He helped give androgyny an international stage with the success of Culture Club during the 1980s....
" O'Dowd, British musician and producer (Culture Club
Culture Club

Culture Club were a Grammy Award-winning United Kingdom Pop music group that formed in the early 1980s. The band consisted of Boy George , Mikey Craig , Roy Hay , and Jon Moss ....
)
June 15 - Kai Eckhardt
Kai Eckhardt

Kai Eckhardt is a Germans musician and composer who plays bass, best known for his work with John McLaughlin , the band Garaj Mahal and Billy Cobham....
, German bass guitarist
June 15 - Dave McAuley
Dave McAuley

Dave McAuley, born June 15 1961 in Larne, Northern Ireland is a former professional Boxing. During his professional career he held the International Boxing Federation world title in the Flyweight category.He was arguably the UK's greatest ever Flyweight....
, Northern Irish boxer
June 18 - Andrés Galarraga
Andrés Galarraga

Andr?s Jos? Padovani Galarraga , is a former Major League Baseball first baseman who played for the Montreal Expos , St. Louis Cardinals , Colorado Rockies , Atlanta Braves , Texas Rangers , San Francisco Giants and Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim ....
, Venezuelan Major League Baseball
Major League Baseball

Major League Baseball is the highest level of play in American professional baseball. Specifically, Major League Baseball refers to the organization that operates the National League and the American League, by means of a joint organizational structure that has developed gradually between them since 1903 ....
player
June 21 - Manu Chao
Manu Chao

Manu Chao is a France-born singing and political activism of Spanish people origin. He sings mainly in Spanish language, French language, English language and Portuguese language and occasionally in a number of other languages....
, French singer
June 23 - Zoran Janjetov
Zoran Janjetov

Zoran Janjetov is a Serbian Portal:Comics artist. He lives in Novi Sad. Janjetov is best known as the illustrator of The Technopriests, written by Alejandro Jodorowsky....
, Serbian comic artist
June 23 - David Leavitt
David Leavitt

David Leavitt is an United States novelist....
, American novelist
June 25 - Ricky Gervais
Ricky Gervais

Ricky Dene Gervais is an England comedian, author, actor, Television director, Television producer, screenwriter and former pop music musician....
, English comedian
June 25 - Mike Breen
Mike Breen

Mike Breen is a play-by-play commentator for the NBA on ABC and the lead commentator for New York Knicks games on the MSG network. He also works NBA games for ESPN, and was formerly a play-by-play announcers for New York Giants preseason games, as well as for regular season National Football League games on both NFL on FOX and NFL on NBC...
, American broadcaster
June 26 - Greg LeMond
Greg LeMond

Gregory James "Greg" LeMond is a former professional road bicycle racer from the United States and a three-time winner of the Tour de France. He was born in Lakewood, California, California....
, American cyclist
June 27 - Meera Syal
Meera Syal

Meera Syal Order of the British Empire is a British comedian, writer, playwright, singer, journalist, producer and actor, rising to prominence as one of the team that created Goodness Gracious Me and becoming one of the UK's best-known Indian personalities....
, British-Indian comedian and actress
June 28 - Jeff Malone
Jeff Malone

Jeffrey Nigel Malone is a retired United States professional basketball player. He played college basketball at Mississippi State University, and is mostly known for his time with the Washington Bullets of the National Basketball Association, where he was an National Basketball Association All-Star Game twice, playing in the shooting guard...
, American basketball player
June 29 - Greg Hetson
Greg Hetson

Greg Hetson is an United States guitarist. He was born in Brooklyn, New York and has lived in Los Angeles, California since he was 2 years old....
, American rock guitarist (Bad Religion
Bad Religion

Bad Religion is an United States punk band, founded in Southern California in 1980 by Jay Bentley , Greg Graffin , Brett Gurewitz and Jay Ziskrout ....
, Circle Jerks
Circle Jerks

The Circle Jerks are an American punk band, formed circa 1979 in Hermosa Beach, California. It was formed by Black Flag 's original singer, Keith Morris, and future Bad Religion guitarist Greg Hetson....
)

July–August

July 1 - Kalpana Chawla
Kalpana Chawla

Kalpana Chawla , was an Indian-American astronaut and space shuttle mission specialist. She was one of seven crewmembers killed in the Space Shuttle Columbia disaster....
, American astronaut (d. 2003)
July 1 - Diana, Princess of Wales
Diana, Princess of Wales

Diana, Princess of Wales, was the first wife of Charles, Prince of Wales. Their sons, Princes Prince William of Wales and Prince Henry of Wales , are second and third Line of succession to the British throne of the British monarchy and fifteen other Commonwealth Realms....
(d. 1997)
July 1 - Carl Lewis
Carl Lewis

Frederick Carlton Lewis is a retired American Athletics athlete who won 10 Olympic Games medals including 9 golds, and 10 IAAF World Championships in Athletics medals, of which 8 were golds, in a career that spanned from 1979 when he first achieved a world ranking to 1996 when he last won an Olympic title and subsequently retired....
, American athlete
July 2 - Michael Lindsay
Michael Lindsay

Michael Lindsay is a voice actor. Lindsay has also been credited under the name Dylan Tully....
, American voice actor
July 6 - Rick Price
Rick Price

Rick Price is an Australian singer and songwriter....
, Australian singer/songwriter
July 7 - Eric Jerome Dickey
Eric Jerome Dickey

Eric Jerome Dickey is a New York Times best-selling United States author best known for his novels about contemporary African-American life. He is also known for writing several crime novels involving grifters, ex cons, and assassins, the latter novels having more diverse settings, moving from Los Angeles to the UK to the West Indies, each...
, American writer
July 8 - Toby Keith
Toby Keith

Toby Keith Covel is an American country music singer-songwriter, record producer, and actor. Keith released his first four studio albums ? 1993's Toby Keith , 1994's Boomtown , 1996's Blue Moon and 1997's Dream Walkin, plus a Greatest Hits package "Noogies for Liberals" for various divisions of Mercury Records before ex...
, American country music singer
July 10 - Jacky Cheung
Jacky Cheung

Jacky Cheung Hok-Yau is a Hong Kong singer and actor from the mid-1980s to the present. The Chinese language media refer to him, Aaron Kwok, Andy Lau and Leon Lai as the Cantopop Four Heavenly Kings ...
, Hong Kong singer and actor
July 12 - Ray Gillen
Ray Gillen

Ray Gillen was a singer best known for his work with the bands Black Sabbath, Badlands and Phenomena....
, American singer (d. 1993)
July 14 - Jackie Earle Haley
Jackie Earle Haley

Jackie Earle Haley is an Academy Award-nominated United States actor....
, American actor
July 17 - Jonathan Potts
Jonathan Potts

Jonathan Potts is a Canadian actor whose career began in the late 1980s. His earliest work was as the voice of Troy Jeffries in the animated television series Beverly Hills Teens....
, Canadian actor
July 19 - Maria Filatova
Maria Filatova

Maria Evgenievna Filatova is a retired Soviet gymnast who competed at the 1976 and 1980 Olympics.Filatova began competing for the USSR junior team in 1974....
, Soviet gymnast
July 19 - Benoît Mariage
Benoît Mariage

Beno?t Mariage is a Belgian film director.External links...
, Belgian film director
July 23 - Martin Gore
Martin Gore

Martin Gore is an English songwriter, lyricist, singer, guitarist and keyboardist. He is a founding member of Depeche Mode. His work now spans three decades, but he is best known as the composer of chart-topper such as "Personal Jesus" and "Enjoy the Silence"....
, English rock musician and songwriter (Depeche Mode
Depeche Mode

Depeche Mode is an electronic music band formed in 1980, in Basildon, Essex, England. The group's original line-up was Dave Gahan , Martin Gore , Andrew Fletcher and Vince Clarke ....
)
July 26 - Keiko Matsui
Keiko Matsui

, born in Tokyo as Keiko Doi on July 26, 1961, is a Japanese smooth jazz/new age music keyboardist and composer whose career spans three decades, during which time she has released twenty compact disc and has received international acclaim....
, Japanese pianist and composer
July 30 - Laurence Fishburne
Laurence Fishburne

Laurence John Fishburne III is an Academy Award-nominated and Tony Award-winning United States actor of film and theater, as well as playwright, film director, and Film producer....
, American actor
August 3 - Nick Harvey
Nick Harvey

Nicholas Barton "Nick" Harveyis a United Kingdom politician. He is the Liberal Democrats Member of Parliament for North Devon ....
, English politician
August 4 - Barack Obama
Barack Obama

Barack Hussein Obama II is the List of Presidents of the United States and current President of the United States. He is the first African American to hold the office....
, U.S. President
August 4 - Lauren Tom
Lauren Tom

Lauren Tom is an United States actor best known for her roles as Amy Wong on Futurama and List of characters in King of the Hill on King of the Hill....
, American actress
August 5 - Clayton Rohner
Clayton Rohner

Clayton Rohner is an United States actor. He is well known for his role as Rick Morehouse in the 1985 comedy movie Just One of the Guys. He also starred in the 1986 film Modern Girls as Clifford and Bruno X....
, American actor
August 7 - Brian Conley
Brian Conley

Brian Conley is an England comedian, television presenter, singer and actor....
, English TV presenter, comedian, singer & actor
August 7 - Yelena Davydova
Yelena Davydova

Yelena Victorovna Davydova , is a Russian gymnastics. She is the 1980 Olympic Games All-Around Champion....
, Soviet gymnast
August 8 - Bruce Matthews, American football player
August 8 - The Edge
The Edge

David Howell Evans , more widely known by his nickname and stage name The Edge , is a British people Irish people musician known best as the guitarist, keyboardist, and main backing vocalist for the Ireland rock band U2....
(David Howell Evans), Irish rock guitarist (U2
U2

U2 are a rock music band from Dublin, Republic of Ireland. The band consists of Bono , The Edge , Adam Clayton and Larry Mullen, Jr. .The band formed in 1976 when the members were teenagers with limited musical proficiency....
)
August 14 - Susan Olsen
Susan Olsen

Susan Marie Olsen is an United States television actress. She was born in Santa Monica, California, California, the youngest of four children, with two older brothers Larry and Christopher and a sister Diane....
, American actress
August 15 - Matt Johnson
Matt Johnson (singer)

Matt Johnson is the founder and only constant member of the multimedia band , The The.Matt Johnson / The The rose out of the post-punk industrial music scene of late 1970s Great Britain....
, English singer-songwriter
August 18 - Bob Woodruff
Bob Woodruff

Robert Warren "Bob" Woodruff is an American television journalist. Although his journalism career dates back to 1989, he is most widely known for briefly succeeding Peter Jennings as co-anchor of ABC News' weekday news Broadcasting, World News Tonight in January 2006 ? and, later that month, becoming the first American news anchor to be woun...
, American television journalist
August 21 - Stephen Hillenburg
Stephen Hillenburg

Stephen Hillenburg is an United States animator and is perhaps most notable as the creator of SpongeBob SquarePants....
, American animation writer and artist
August 25 - Billy Ray Cyrus
Billy Ray Cyrus

Billy Ray Cyrus is a Grammy Award-nominated American country music singer, songwriter and actor from Flatwoods, Kentucky, best known for his Number One single "Achy Breaky Heart." Cyrus, a Music recording sales certification, has scored a total of eight top-ten singles on the U.S....
, American singer and actor
August 26 - Daniel Lévi
Daniel Lévi

Daniel L?vi is a France singer-songwriter, composer and pianist....
, French singer-songwriter, composer and pianist
August 29 - Carsten Fischer
Carsten Fischer

Carsten Fischer is a former field hockey player from West Germany, who competed at three Summer Olympics for his native country. He won the golden medal with his team at the 1992 Summer Olympics in Barcelona, after securing silver at the two previous Olympics in Los Angeles and Seoul ....
, German field hockey player

September–October

September 1 - Cécilia Rhode
Cécilia Rhode

C?cilia Catharina Bj?rnsdotter Rodhe was a model, Miss Sweden 1978 and has also competed in the Miss Universe 1978 pageant, held in Mexico, 24 July....
, Miss Sweden
September 2 - Eric Dickerson
Eric Dickerson

Eric Demetric Dickerson is a former professional running back in the National Football League who in his career played for the St. Louis Rams, Indianapolis Colts, Oakland Raiders, and Atlanta Falcons....
, American football player
September 2 - Carlos Valderrama, Colombian footballer
September 5 - Karim Abdul Razak
Karim Abdul Razak

Karim Abdul Razak Tanko is a Ghanaian football coach and former midfielder who played for several clubs in the 1970s and 1980s, notably local club Asante Kotoko and the New York Cosmos in the defunct North American Soccer League ....
, Ghanaian footballer
September 6 - Paul Waaktaar-Savoy
Paul Waaktaar-Savoy

Paul Waaktaar-Savoy is the guitarist and primary songwriter of Norway pop band a-ha. He has written most of the band's biggest hits, including "The Sun Always Shines on T.V.", "Hunting High and Low", "Take On Me" and the ballad "Summer Moved On"....
, Norwegian rock guitarist (a-ha
A-ha

a-ha is a band from Norway. They initially rose to fame during the 1980s and have had continued success in the 1990s and 2000s.a-ha achieved their biggest success with their debut album and single in 1985....
)
September 6 - Scott Travis
Scott Travis

Scott Travis is the drummer for legendary British Heavy metal music band Judas Priest and American hard rock band Racer X ....
, American metal drummer (Judas Priest
Judas Priest

Judas Priest is an England Heavy metal music band formed in 1969 in Birmingham. Judas Priest's core line-up consists of bass player Ian Hill, vocalist Rob Halford and guitarists Glenn Tipton and K....
)
September 11 - Elizabeth Daily
Elizabeth Daily

Elizabeth Ann Guttman , better known by her stage names of Elizabeth Daily and E.G. Daily, is an United States voice acting, actor, singing, songwriter, and musician....
, American actress
September 11 - Virginia Madsen
Virginia Madsen

Virginia Madsen is an United States actor. She came to fame during the 1980s, having appeared in several films aimed at a teenage audience. During the 2000s, she once again became known after an Academy Award- and Golden Globe-nominated role in the film Sideways....
, American actress
September 12 - Mylene Farmer
Mylène Farmer

Myl?ne Farmer born Myl?ne Jeanne Gautier is a France singer, songwriter, occasional actress and author. She has sold more than 25 million records and is among the most successful recording artists of all time in France....
, Canadian singer and songwriter
September 13 - Dave Mustaine
Dave Mustaine

David Scott Mustaine is the lead guitarist, songwriter, and vocalist for the heavy metal music band Megadeth. Mustaine grew up in various Southern California suburbs....
, American metal singer, guitarist (Metallica
Metallica

Metallica is an American heavy metal music band that formed in 1981 in Los Angeles. Founded when drummer Lars Ulrich posted an advertisement in a local newspaper, Metallica's line-up has primarily consisted of Ulrich, rhythm guitarist and vocalist James Hetfield, and lead guitarist Kirk Hammett, while going through a number of bassists....
, Megadeth
Megadeth

Megadeth is an American Heavy metal music band led by founder, front man, guitarist, and songwriter Dave Mustaine. Formed in 1983 by Mustaine and bass player David Ellefson following Mustaine's departure from Metallica, the band has since released eleven studio albums, six live albums, two Extended play, thirty single , thirty-two music video...
)
September 15 - Dan Marino
Dan Marino

Daniel Constantine Marino, Jr. is an United States Pro Football Hall of Fame quarterback who played for the Miami Dolphins in the National Football League....
, American football player
September 15 - Lidia Yusupova, Chechen human-rights lawyer
September 18 - James Gandolfini
James Gandolfini

James J. Gandolfini, Jr. is an American actor. He is best known for his highly acclaimed role as Tony Soprano in the hit Home Box Office television program The Sopranos, about a troubled crime boss struggling to balance his family life and his career in the American Mafia....
, American actor
September 22 - Scott Baio
Scott Baio

Scott Vincent James Baio is an United States actor, best known for his work on the sitcoms Happy Days and Charles in Charge. He recently appeared in his own VH1 reality series titled Scott Baio Is 45...and Single followed by Scott Baio Is 46...and Pregnant....
, American actor
September 22 - Bonnie Hunt
Bonnie Hunt

Bonnie Lynn Hunt is a two-time Golden Globe– and an Emmy Award-nominated United States actor, comedienne, writer, television director, television producer and TV host of The Bonnie Hunt Show....
, American actress, comedian, writer, director and television producer
September 22 - Catherine Oxenberg
Catherine Oxenberg

Catherine Oxenberg is an United States actress, best known for her performance as Amanda Carrington on the 1980s United States prime time soap opera Dynasty ....
, British actress
September 23 - William C. McCool
William C. McCool

William Cameron "Willie" McCool was a United States Navy Commander, NASA astronaut and the Space Shuttle aviation of Space Shuttle Columbia mission STS-107....
, U.S. Army Commander and astronaut (d. 2003)
September 25 - Heather Locklear
Heather Locklear

'Heather Deen Locklear' is an American actor. She is primarily known for her television work, her most notable roles being "Sammy Jo Carrington" on the 1980s soap opera Dynasty , "Officer Stacy Sheridan" on the 1980s cop drama T.J....
, American actress
September 26 - Edward Kennedy Jr, son of U.S. Senator Ted Kennedy
Ted Kennedy

Edward Moore "Ted" Kennedy is the Senior Senator United States Senate from Massachusetts and a member of the Democratic Party . In office since November 1962, Kennedy is the list of current United States Senators by seniority member of the Senate, after President pro tempore of the United States Senate Robert Byrd of West Virginia....
September 27 - Andy Lau
Andy Lau

Andy Lau Tak-Wah Medal of Honour, Justice of the Peace is a Hong Kong China Cantopop star, movie actor, and Film producer. He has been one of Hong Kong's most commercially successful film actors since the 1990s....
, Hong Kong actor and singer
September 28 - Yordanka Donkova
Yordanka Donkova

Yordanka Donkova is a former hurdling Athletics notable for winning an Olympic gold medal and bronze medal as well as 9 medals at European European Indoor Championships in Athletics and European Championships in Athletics championships....
, Bulgarian athlete
September 29 - Julia Gillard
Julia Gillard

Julia Eileen Gillard is the Deputy Prime Minister of Australia and deputy leader of the federal Australian Labor Party .Julia Gillard has been an ALP member of the Australian House of Representatives since October 1998, representing the Division of Lalor, Victoria ....
, Australian politician
September 30 - Sally Yeh
Sally Yeh

Sally Yeh , sometimes written as Sally Yip or Sin-Man Yip, is a Cantopop singer in the Hong Kong music industry and an actress in the cinema of Hong Kong....
, Hong Kong singer and actress
October 1 - Gary Ablett
Gary Ablett

Gary Robert Ablett, senior is a retired professional Australian rules football player, best known as a prolific goalkicker and spectacular marker of the ball....
, Australian rules footballer
October 1 - Robert Rey
Robert Rey

Roberto Miguel Rey J?nior , best known as Robert Rey, is a Brazilian plastic surgery featured on the E! reality series Dr. 90210.He is in private practice in Beverly Hills and specializes in cosmetic surgery....
, Brazilian-American plastic surgeon and television personality
October 1 - Rico Constantino
Rico Constantino

Amarico Sebastiano Constantino , better known as Rico Constantino or Rico, is an United States retired professional wrestler and Manager of Italian people origin....
, American professional wrestler
October 2 - Edmond Yu
Edmond Yu

Edmond Wai-Hong Yu was a former medical student whose death at the hands of the Toronto Police Service sparked debates about the police's use of force, mental illness, and the treatment of those diagnosed with a mental illness....
, Chinese student (d. 1997)
October 4 - Philippe Russo
Philippe Russo

Philippe Russo is a French singer-songwriter . He had a hit in 1987 in France with his single "Magie noire", devoted to the discoth?ques, which peaked at #10 on the SNEP Singles Chart....
, French singer
October 5 - Matthew Kauffman
Matthew Kauffman

Matthew Kauffman is an United States investigative journalist and Pulitzer Prize finalist.From a very young age, Kauffman was fascinated with journalism, earning him a job at his local newspaper....
, American journalist and George Polk Award winner
October 6 - Mark Shasha
Mark Shasha

Mark Shasha is an American artist. He is also an author, illustrator and educator. His subjects are often familiar and are usually inspired by the textures and light found along the New England coast where he lives and works....
, American artist, author, illustrator
October 8 - Ted Kooshian
Ted Kooshian

Ted Kooshian is a New York jazz pianist and keyboardist who has performed with artists that include Aretha Franklin, Chuck Berry, Toni Braxton, Marvin Hamlisch, Sarah Brightman, and Blood, Sweat, and Tears....
, American jazz pianist
October 11 - Steve Young, American football player
October 11 - Amr Diab
Amr Diab

Amr Abdel Basset Abdel Azeez Diab is an Egyptian singer and composer of jeel music.The most popular singer in the Middle East. Diab has become one of the highest selling Middle Eastern artists of all time, as he was awarded "The World Music Award" 3 times; 1998, 2002 and 2007, as being the best selling Middle Eastern singer....
, Egyptian singer
October 11 - Neil Buchanan
Neil Buchanan

Neil Buchanan is a British people actor best known mainly for his work on CITV on the program Art Attack, a television program that he presented during its run from 1990 to 2007....
, English television presenter
October 13 - Doc Rivers
Doc Rivers

Glenn Anton Rivers , commonly referred to as Doc Rivers, is a retired American basketball player and the current head coach of the National Basketball Association's Boston Celtics....
, American basketball player and coach
October 16 - Randy Vasquez
Randy Vasquez

Randy Vasquez is an United States actor.Vasquez has made several appearances in TV series, most notably Marcos in Acapulco H.E.A.T. and as Gunnery Sargent Victor Galindez in JAG....
, American actor
October 18 - Wynton Marsalis
Wynton Marsalis

Wynton Learson Marsalis is an United States trumpeter and composer. He is among the most prominent jazz musicians of the modern era and is also a well-known instrumentalist in European classical music....
, American trumpeter and composer
October 18 - Rick Moody
Rick Moody

Rick Moody is an United States novelist and short story writer best known for the 1994 novel The Ice Storm, a chronicle of the dissolution of two suburban Connecticut families over Thanksgiving weekend in 1973, which brought widespread acclaim, became a bestseller, and was made into a The Ice Storm ....
, American writer
October 24 - Dave Meltzer
Dave Meltzer

Dave Meltzer is the editing of the #Wrestling Observer Newsletter . Sports Illustrated senior writer Frank Deford has praised Meltzer's work, saying that "Meltzer, I believe, is the most accomplished reporter in sports journalism." Meltzer has written for the The Oakland Tribune, the Los Angeles Times, and The National ....
, American wrestling journalist
October 25 - Pat Sharp
Pat Sharp

Pat Sharp is a British radio presenter and television presenter and disc jockey, currently presenting drive on Heart 103 radio in Cambridge. He also presents a show on Saturday afternoons from 12pm to 3pm to most of the stations on The One Network....
, British radio DJ and host
October 26 - Dylan McDermott
Dylan McDermott

Dylan McDermott is an United States actor, known for his role as lawyer and law firm head Bobby Donnell on the television legal drama The Practice....
, American actor
October 29 - Randy Jackson
Randy Jackson (musician)

Steven Randall "Randy" Jackson is an United States singer and musician, a member of the Jackson 5. Nicknamed "Little Randy", he was the ninth out of ten Jackson children to be born and is the youngest son in the Jackson family....
, American musician
October 31 - Alonzo Babers
Alonzo Babers

Alonzo C. Babers is a former United States of America athletics , winner of two gold medals at the 1984 Summer Olympics, in the 400 m and the 4x400 m relay....
, American runner
October 31 - Peter Jackson
Peter Jackson

Peter Robert Jackson, New Zealand Order of Merit is a three-time Academy Award-winning New Zealand filmmaker, film producer and screenwriter, best known for The Lord of the Rings film trilogy trilogy adapted from the The Lord of the Rings by J....
, New Zealand film director
October 31 - Larry Mullen, Jr., Irish rock drummer (U2
U2

U2 are a rock music band from Dublin, Republic of Ireland. The band consists of Bono , The Edge , Adam Clayton and Larry Mullen, Jr. .The band formed in 1976 when the members were teenagers with limited musical proficiency....
)

November–December

November 1 - Anne Donovan
Anne Donovan

Anne Donovan is one of the most decorated figures in women's basketball, both as a college player and as a head coach in the Women's National Basketball Association....
, American basketball player
November 2 - k.d. lang
K.D. Lang

k.d. lang Order of Canada is a Canada pop music and country music singer-songwriter. The artist gives her name in lowercase letters, with the given names contracted to initials and no space between these initials....
, Canadian singer and songwriter
November 4 - Daron Hagen
Daron Hagen

Daron Aric Hagen is an United States composer of contemporary classical music and opera....
, American composer
November 4 - Edward Knight
Edward Knight (composer)

Edward Knight is an American composer. His work eschews easy classification, moving freely between jazz and concert worlds.His music has been performed on five continents by groups ranging from the Dutch-based American Voices ensemble to the New York Philharmonic, in venues as varied as the "Meet in Beijing" Festival to Carnegie Hall to t...
, American composer
November 4 - Ralph Macchio
Ralph Macchio

Ralph George Macchio is an United Statesactor of Italians ancestry. His most notable role was as List of The Karate Kid characters#Daniel LaRusso in the The Karate Kid series....
, American actor
November 4 - Nigel Worthington
Nigel Worthington

Nigel Worthington is a Northern Ireland Association football coach and former player. He is currently manager of the Northern Ireland national football team....
, Northern Irish footballer and football manager
November 5 - Gina Mastrogiacomo
Gina Mastrogiacomo

Gina Mastrogiacomo was an Italian-American actress born in Great Neck, New York. She moved to New York City when she was 18 years old. She later became an actress, gaining fame for her role as Janice Rossi in Martin Scorsese's film Goodfellas....
, American actress (d. 2001)
November 11 - Jan Kuehnemund
Jan Kuehnemund

Jan 'Lynn' Kuehnemund is an United States hard rock guitarist best known for her work with Vixen . Originally from St. Paul, Minnesota, Jan is the original founding member of the band....
, American guitarist (Vixen
Vixen (band)

Vixen is an all-female United States hard rock musical ensemble which achieved some commercial success during the late 1980s and early 1990s as part of the Los Angeles, California, California glam metal scene....
)
November 12 - Nadia Comaneci
Nadia Comaneci

Nadia Elena Comaneci is a Romanian gymnastics, winner of five Olympic Games gold medals, and the first gymnast to be awarded a perfect score of 10 in an Olympic gymnastic event....
, Romanian gymnast
November 13 - Klayton
Klayton

Scott Albert , better known as Klayton, is an Industrial metal musician, who has performed under a variety of stage names over his career, and is best known as being the frontman for his latest project, Celldweller....
, American rock musician
November 14 - Jurga Ivanauskaite
Jurga Ivanauskaite

Jurga Ivanauskaite was a Lithuanian writer.Studying at the Vilnius Art Academy, her first book was The Year of the Lilies of the Valley, published in 1985....
, Lithuanian writer (d. 2007)
November 15 - Ian Reid
Ian Reid (educator)

Dr Ian Reid is an Australian educator who specailises in Online Education. He also has a background in mathematics education. He is currently the Manager of Education at the Joanna Briggs Institute....
, Australian educator
November 18 - Anthony Warlow
Anthony Warlow

Anthony Warlow is an Australian opera and musical theatre performer, noted for his character acting and immense vocal range .Anthony Warlow has been married to Celia for several years, and they have a daughter, Phoebe Rose....
, Australian singer
November 19 - Meg Ryan
Meg Ryan

Margaret Mary Emily Anne Hyra , professionally known as Meg Ryan, is a Golden Globe Awards American film actor whose lead roles in five 1990s Romantic comedy film - When Harry Met Sally..., Sleepless in Seattle, French Kiss , City of Angels and You've Got Mail - grossed over $870 million worldwide....
, American actress
November 20 - Dave Watson
Dave Watson

David "Dave" Watson is an England former professional Association football who made 12 appearances for the England national football team. He is now the youth team coach at Wigan Athletic F.C.....
, English footballer
November 22 - Mariel Hemingway
Mariel Hemingway

Mariel Hadley Hemingway is an Academy Award- and Golden Globe-nominated United States actor....
, American actress
November 22 - Randal L. Schwartz
Randal L. Schwartz

Randal L. Schwartz is an United States author, system administrator and programming consultant. Schwartz is the co-author of several widely used books about Perl, a programming language, and has written regular columns about Perl for several computer magazines....
, American computer programmer
December 3 - Marcelo Fromer
Marcelo Fromer

Marcelo Fromer was the guitarist of Brazilian rock band Tit?s. One of the founding members and also the band's manager, he died in 2001, after being hit by a motorcycle while jogging....
, Brazilian guitarist
December 4 - Frank Reich
Frank Reich

Frank Michael Reich is a former American football quarterback in the National Football League for the Buffalo Bills, Carolina Panthers, New York Jets, and the Detroit Lions....
, American football player
December 8 - Ann Coulter
Ann Coulter

Ann Hart Coulter is an United States political commentator, syndicated columnist, and best-selling author. She frequently appears on television, radio, and as a speaker at public and private events....
, American author, conservative commentator and attorney
December 11 - Dave King, Irish-American singer
December 12 - Sarah Sutton
Sarah Sutton

Sarah Sutton is a United Kingdom actress best known for her role as Nyssa of Traken in the BBC science fiction television series Doctor Who....
, British actress
December 12 - Daniel O'Donnell
Daniel O'Donnell (Irish singer)

Daniel Francis Noel O?Donnell, MBE is an Irish people singer. He has sold over 10 million records to date.ng his schooling years, Daniel considered pursuing a career in the bank....
, Irish singer
December 15 - Karin Resetarits
Karin Resetarits

Karin Resetarits is an Austrian journalist and politician. She has been a Member of the European Parliament since 2004....
, Austrian journalist and politician
December 16 - Bill Hicks
Bill Hicks

William Melvin Hicks was an American stand up comedy in the 1980s and early 1990s. He challenged mainstream beliefs, aiming to "enlighten people to think for themselves." Hicks used a ribald approach to express his material, describing himself as "Noam Chomsky with dick jokes." His jokes included general discussions about society, religion...
, American comedian (d. 1994)
December 19 - Matthew Waterhouse
Matthew Waterhouse

Matthew Waterhouse is a United Kingdom actor best known for his role as Adric in the BBC science fiction television series Doctor Who. He is from Haywards Heath, West Sussex....
, British actor
December 19 - Eric Allin Cornell
Eric Allin Cornell

Eric Allin Cornell is a physicist who, along with Carl E. Wieman, was able to synthesize the first Bose-Einstein condensate in 1995. For their efforts, Cornell, Wieman, and Wolfgang Ketterle shared the Nobel Prize in Physics in 2001....
, American physicist, Nobel Prize
Nobel Prize

The Nobel Prize , established in the 1895 will of Swedish chemist Alfred Nobel; it was first awarded in Nobel Prize in Physics, Nobel Prize in Chemistry, Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine, Nobel Prize in Literature, and Nobel Peace Prize in 1901....
laureate
December 19 - Reggie White
Reggie White

Reginald Howard "Reggie" White was a professional American football player who played defensive end for 17 seasons in the National Football League for the Philadelphia Eagles, Green Bay Packers and Carolina Panthers becoming one of the most decorated players in NFL history....
, American football player (d. 2004)
December 20 - Mohammad Fouad
Mohammad Fouad

Mohamed Fouad Abd El Hamid Hassan Mohamed Fouad is a popular Arab singer, actor and songwriter. He rose to prominence in the 1980s when he released his first album Habeina....
, Arab singer and actor
December 21 - Francis Ng
Francis Ng

Francis Ng Chun-Yu is a Hong Kong actor....
, Hong Kong actor
December 25 - Ingrid Betancourt
Íngrid Betancourt

Ingrid Betancourt Pulecio is a Colombian-French politician, former Senate of Colombia, anti-Political corruption activist and Nobel Peace Prize nominee....
, Colombian senator
December 26 - John Lynch
John Lynch (actor)

John Lynch is an actor from Northern Ireland....
, Northern Irish actor
December 29 - Jim Reid
Jim Reid

Jim Reid is the lead singer for critically acclaimed British alternative rock band The Jesus and Mary Chain, which he formed with his elder brother and guitarist William Reid ....
, Scottish musician
December 30 - Douglas Coupland
Douglas Coupland

Douglas Coupland is a Canadian novelist. His fiction is complemented by recognised works in design and visual art arising from his early formal training....
, Canadian author
December 30 - Sean Hannity
Sean Hannity

Sean Patrick Hannity is an American radio personality and television host, author, and Conservatism in the United States political commentator....
, American radio/television host and conservative commentator
December 30 - Ben Johnson
Ben Johnson (athlete)

Benjamin Sinclair Johnson, Order of Canada is a Canadian former Athletics , who enjoyed a high-profile career during most of the 1980s, winning two Olympic Bronze medals, and an Olympic Gold which was subsequently List of stripped Olympic medals....
, Canadian athlete

Deaths

January–June

January 4 - Erwin Schrödinger
Erwin Schrödinger

Erwin Rudolf Josef Alexander Schr?dinger was an Austrian theoretical physicist who achieved fame for his contributions to quantum mechanics, especially the Schr?dinger equation, for which he received the Nobel Prize in 1933....
, Austrian physicist, Nobel Prize
Nobel Prize

The Nobel Prize , established in the 1895 will of Swedish chemist Alfred Nobel; it was first awarded in Nobel Prize in Physics, Nobel Prize in Chemistry, Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine, Nobel Prize in Literature, and Nobel Peace Prize in 1901....
laureate (b. 1887)
January 9 - Emily Greene Balch
Emily Greene Balch

Emily Greene Balch was an United States academic, writer, and pacifist who received the Nobel Peace Prize in 1946 , notably for her work with the Women's International League for Peace and Freedom ....
, American writer and pacifist, recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize
Nobel Peace Prize

The Nobel Peace Prize is one of five Nobel Prizes bequeathed by the Swedish industrialist and inventor Alfred Nobel. According to Nobel's will , the Peace Prize should be awarded "to the person who shall have done the most or the best work for :wikt:fraternity between nations, for the abolition or reduction of standing armies and for the h...
(b. 1867)
January 10 - Dashiell Hammett
Dashiell Hammett

Samuel Dashiell Hammett was an United States author of hardboiled detective fiction novels and short stories. Among the enduring characters he created are Sam Spade , Nick and Nora Charles , and the Continental Op ....
, American writer (b. 1894)
January 21 - Blaise Cendrars
Blaise Cendrars

Fr?d?ric Louis Sauser , better known as Blaise Cendrars, was a Swiss novelist and poet naturalized France in 1916. A writer of considerable influence in the modernist movement....
, Swiss writer (b. 1887)
January 24 - Alfred Carlton Gilbert
Alfred Carlton Gilbert

Alfred Carlton Gilbert was an United States inventor, Athletics , toy-maker and businessman. Born in Salem, Oregon and died in Boston, Massachusetts, Gilbert is best known as the inventor of the Erector Set....
, American swimmer and inventor (b. 1884)
January 26 - Stan Nichols
Stan Nichols

Stan Nichols was the leading all-rounder in English cricket for much of the 1930s.In his youth primarily a Football goalkeeper who played for some time with Queen's Park Rangers, Nichols' prowess at cricket during the summer brought him to the attention of the Essex County Cricket Club committee during the early 1920s, who recommended hi...
, English cricketer (b. 1900)
February 3 - Viscount Dunrossil
William Morrison, 1st Viscount Dunrossil

William Shepherd Morrison, 1st Viscount Dunrossil, Order of St Michael and St George, Military Cross, Venerable Order of St John, Privy Council of the United Kingdom, Queen's Counsel , 14th Governor-General of Australia, was born in Scotland and educated at George Watson's College and the University of Edinburgh....
, Australian governor-general (b. 1893)
February 17 - Nita Naldi
Nita Naldi

Nita Naldi was an United States silent film actress. One of the most successful actresses in Hollywood during the "Roaring Twenties", she was often cast in the role of the "femme fatale"/"Vamp_", a Stock character first popularized by actress Theda Bara....
, American actress (b. 1897)
February 20 - Percy Grainger
Percy Grainger

George Percy Grainger was an Australian-born composer, pianist and champion of the saxophone and the concert band, who worked under the stage name of Percy Aldridge Grainger....
, Australian composer (b. 1882)
February 22 - Nick LaRocca
Nick LaRocca

Dominic James "Nick" La Rocca was an early jazz cornetist and trumpeter and the leader of the Original Dixieland Jass Band. According to La Rocca himself, he was "The Creator of Jazz", "The Christopher Columbus of Music", and "The most lied about person in history since Jesus"....
, American jazz musician (b. 1889)
February 26 - King Mohammed V of Morocco
Mohammed V of Morocco

Mohammed V was Sultan of Morocco of Morocco from 1927 to 1953, exiled from 1953-55, where he was again recognized as Sultan upon his return, and King of Morocco from 1957 to 1961....
(b. 1909)
March 3 - Paul Wittgenstein
Paul Wittgenstein

Paul Wittgenstein was an Austrian-born concert pianist, who became known for his ability to play with just his left hand, after he lost his right arm during the World War I....
, Austrian-born pianist (b. 1887)
March 6 - George Formby, British singer, comedian & actor (b. 1904)
March 8 - Sir Thomas Beecham
Thomas Beecham

Sir Thomas Beecham, 2nd Baronet, Order of the Companions of Honour was a British people Conducting and impresario. From the early twentieth century until his death, Beecham was a major influence on the musical life of Britain and, according to Neville Cardus, was the first British conductor to have a regular international career....
, English conductor (b. 1879)
March 8 - Gala Galaction
Gala Galaction

Gala Galaction was a Romanian Romanian Orthodox Church clergyman and Christian theology, writer, journalist, left-wing activist, as well as a political figure of the Communist Romania....
, Romanian writer (b. 1879)
March 17 - Susanna M. Salter
Susanna M. Salter

Susanna "Dora" Madora Salter was a U.S. politician and activist. She served as mayor of Argonia, Kansas, becoming the first woman elected as mayor and the first women elected to any political office in the United States....
, first woman mayor in the United States (b. 1860)
March 23 - Valentin Bondarenko
Valentin Bondarenko

Valentin Vasiliyevich Bondarenko was a Soviet Union fighter pilot and cosmonaut with a Ukrainians background. He died during a training accident in 1961....
, Russian cosmonaut (b. 1937)
March 26 - Carlos Duarte Costa
Carlos Duarte Costa

Carlos Duarte Costa was the founder and first patriarch of the Brazilian Catholic Apostolic Church and its international extension, the Worldwide Communion of Catholic Apostolic National Churches....
, founder of the Brazilian Catholic Apostolic Church (b. 1888)
April 6 - Jules Bordet
Jules Bordet

File:Jules Bordet pi.pngJules Jean Baptiste Vincent Bordet was a Belgium immunologist and microbiologist. The Genus Bordetella is named for him....
, Belgian immunologist and microbiologist, recipient of the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine
Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine

The Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine is awarded once a year by the Swedish Karolinska Institutet. It is one of the five Nobel Prizes established by the will of Alfred Nobel in 1895, awarded for outstanding contributions in Nobel Prize in Physics, Nobel Prize in Chemistry, Nobel Prize in Literature, Nobel Peace Prize, and Physiology or Medic...
(b. 1870)
April 7 - Vanessa Bell
Vanessa Bell

Vanessa Bell was an England Painting and interior designer, a member of the Bloomsbury group, and the sister of Virginia Woolf....
, English artist and interior designer (b. 1879)
April 9 - Ahmet Zog
Zog of Albania

Zog I, Skanderbeg III of the Albanians was King of Albania from 1928 to 1939. He was previously Prime Minister of Albania and President of Albania ....
, King of Albania
King of Albania

While the medieval Angevin Kingdom of Albania was a monarchy, it did not encompass the entirety of the modern state of Albania. The latter has been a kingdom on two occasions....
(b. 1895)
May 3 - Maurice Merleau-Ponty
Maurice Merleau-Ponty

Maurice Merleau-Ponty was a France Phenomenology philosopher, strongly influenced by Edmund Husserl and Martin Heidegger in addition to being closely associated with Jean-Paul Sartre and Simone de Beauvoir....
, French phenomenological philosopher (b. 1908)
May 6 - Lucian Blaga
Lucian Blaga

Lucian Blaga was a Romania poet, playwright, and philosopher....
, Romanian poet and philosopher (b. 1895)
May 13 - Gary Cooper
Gary Cooper

Frank James ?Gary? Cooper was an Cinema of the United States film actor and iconic star. He was renowned for his quiet, understated acting style and his stoic, individualistic, emotionally restrained, but at times intense screen persona, which was particularly well suited to the many Western movie he made....
, American actor (High Noon) (b. 1901)
May 14 - Albert Sévigny
Albert Sévigny

Albert S?vigny, Queen's Privy Council for Canada was a Canada politician.S?vigny opened a law practice in Quebec City in 1905. Two years later, he was a candidate for the Quebec Conservative Party in a provincial by-election, but was defeated....
, Canadian politician (b. 1881)
May 16 - George A. Malcolm
George A. Malcolm

George A. Malcolm was an United States lawyer who emerged as an influential figure in the development of the practice of law in the Philippines in the 20th century....
, American jurist & educator (b. 1881)
May 30 - Rafael Leónidas Trujillo
Rafael Leónidas Trujillo

Rafael Le?nidas Trujillo ruled the Dominican Republic from 1930 until his assassination in 1961. Officially, he was president only from 1930 to 1938 and again from 1942 to 1952, ruling for the rest of the time as an unelected military Dictator....
, dictator of the Dominican Republic (b. 1891)
May 31 - Walter Little
Walter Little

Walter Little was a Canada politician. He represented the electoral district of Timiskaming in the Canadian House of Commons from 1935 to 1953. He was a member of the Liberal Party of Canada....
, Canadian politician (b. 1877)
June 2 - George S. Kaufman
George S. Kaufman

George Simon Kaufman was an American playwright, theatre director and theatre producer, humorist, and drama critic....
, American playwright (b. 1889)
June 6 - Carl Jung
Carl Jung

Carl Gustav Jung was a Swiss psychiatrist, an influential thinker and the founder of Analytical psychology. Jung's approach to psychology has been influential in the field of depth psychology and in counterculture movements across the globe....
, Swiss psychiatrist (b. 1875)
June 16 - Marcel Junod
Marcel Junod

Marcel Junod was a Switzerland doctor and one of the most accomplished field delegates in the history of the International Committee of the Red Cross ....
, Swiss physician (b. 1904)
June 17 - Jeff Chandler
Jeff Chandler (actor)

Jeff Chandler was an United States film actor and singer in the 1950s....
, American actor (b. 1918)
June 25 - George Washington Vanderbilt III
George Washington Vanderbilt III

George Washington Vanderbilt III was a yachtsman and a scientific explorer who was a member of the prominent United States Vanderbilt family....
, American philanthropist (b. 1914)
June 30 - Lee DeForest, American inventor (b. 1873)

July–December

July 1 - Louis-Ferdinand Céline
Louis-Ferdinand Céline

Louis-Ferdinand C?line was the pen name of French writer and Physician Louis-Ferdinand Destouches . The name C?line was chosen after his grandmother's forename....
, French writer (b. 1894)
July 2 - Ernest Hemingway
Ernest Hemingway

Ernest Miller Hemingway was an American novelist, short story author, and journalist. He was part of the 1920s expatriate community in Paris, France, and one of the veterans of World War I later known as "the Lost Generation"....
, American writer, Nobel Prize
Nobel Prize in Literature

The Nobel Prize in Literature is awarded annually, since 1901, to an author from any country who has, in the words from the will of Alfred Nobel, produced "in the field of literature the most outstanding work in an ideal direction" ....
laureate (suicide) (b. 1899)
July 6 - Woodall Rodgers
Woodall Rodgers

James Woodall Rodgers was an attorney, businessman and mayor of Dallas.He received his B.A. degree from Vanderbilt University in 1912 and his LL.B....
, Mayor of Dallas, Texas (b. 1890)
July 17 - Ty Cobb
Ty Cobb

Tyrus Raymond "Ty" Cobb , nicknamed "The Georgia Peach," was a Major league baseball player and is regarded by historians and journalists as the best player of the dead-ball era and as one of the greatest players of all time....
, American baseball player (b. 1886)
August 8 - Méi Lánfang
Méi Lánfang

Mei Lanfang was one of the most famous Beijing opera artists in modern history, exclusively known for his qingyi roles, a type of Dan role....
, Beijing opera star (b. 1894)
August 20 - Percy Williams Bridgman
Percy Williams Bridgman

Percy Williams Bridgman was an American List of physicists who won the 1946 Nobel Prize in Physics for his work on the physics of high pressures....
, American physicist, Nobel Prize
Nobel Prize in Physics

The Nobel Prize in Physics is awarded once a year by the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences. It is one of the five Nobel Prizes established by the will of Alfred Nobel in 1895 and awarded since 1901; the others are the Nobel Prize in chemistry, Nobel Prize in literature, Nobel Peace Prize, and Nobel Prize in physiology or medicine....
laureate (b. 1882)
September 17 - Adnan Menderes
Adnan Menderes

Ali Adnan Ertekin Menderes was a Turkish people Liberalism statesman and the first democratically elected leader in Turkish history. He served as Turkish Prime Minister between 1950?1960....
, Turkish prime minister (executed) (b. 1899)
September 18 - Dag Hammarskjöld
Dag Hammarskjöld

Dag Hjalmar Agne Carl Hammarskj?ld was a Swedish diplomat, Christian mystic, and the second United Nations Secretary-General of the United Nations....
, Swedish Secretary General of the United Nations, recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize
Nobel Peace Prize

The Nobel Peace Prize is one of five Nobel Prizes bequeathed by the Swedish industrialist and inventor Alfred Nobel. According to Nobel's will , the Peace Prize should be awarded "to the person who shall have done the most or the best work for :wikt:fraternity between nations, for the abolition or reduction of standing armies and for the h...
(b. 1905)
September 25 - Frank Fay, American actor (b. 1897)
October 4 - Metropolitan Benjamin (Fedchenkov)
Benjamin (Fedchenkov)

Metropolitan Benjamin or Veniamin , born Iv?n Afan?sevich F?dchenkov was a Bishop of Russian Orthodox Church, Orthodox Christianity missionary and writer....
, Orthodox
Orthodox Christianity

KAHThe term Orthodox Christianity may refer to:* The Eastern Orthodox Church: the Eastern Christianity churches of Byzantine Rite tradition that adhere to the first seven Ecumenical Councils, and are in full communion with the Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople and with each other....
missionary
Missionary

A 'missionary' is a member of a religion who works to convert those who do not share the missionary's faith; someone who Proselytism. The word "mission" is derived from the Latin missioninimus...
and writer, Exarch
Exarch

In the Byzantine Empire, an exarch, from Greek language , was governor with extended authority of a province at some remove from the capital Constantinople....
of Russian Church
Russian Orthodox Church

The Russian Orthodox Church ; or The Moscow Patriarchate , also known as the Orthodox Christian Church of Russia, is a body of Christianity who constitute an Autocephaly Eastern Orthodox Church under the jurisdiction of the List of Metropolitans and Patriarchs of Moscow, in full communion with the other Eastern Orthodox Churches....
in North America (b. 1880)
October 11 - Chico Marx
Chico Marx

Leonard Marx, known as Chico, was one of the Marx Brothers.He was originally nicknamed Chicko for his reputation as a ladies' man, or a "chicken chaser" in the popular slang of the day....
, American comedian (b. 1887)
October 13 - Dun Karm Psaila
Dun Karm Psaila

Dun Karm was a Malta writer and poet, sometimes called 'the bard of Malta' He was educated at the Seminary between the years 1885 and 1894 and then proceeded to study philosophy in 1888 and theology in 1890 the University of Malta....
, Maltese writer (b. 1871)
October 14 - Harriet Shaw Weaver
Harriet Shaw Weaver

Harriet Shaw Weaver was a Activism and a journal Editing. She also became the patronage of James Joyce.Harriet Shaw Weaver was born in Frodsham, Cheshire, the daughter of Frederic Poynton Weaver, a Physician, and Mary Wright, who had inherited a fortune from her father....
, English political activist (b. 1876)
October 13 - Maya Deren, Russian-born filmmaker (b. 1917)
November 1 - Mordecai Ham
Mordecai Ham

Mordecai Ham was an USA evangelist and temperance movement supporter. He entered the ministry in 1901 and in 1936 began his long radio evangelistic career....
, American evangelist (b. 1877)
November 2 - James Thurber
James Thurber

James Grover Thurber was an United States author, cartoonist and celebrated wit.Thurber was best known for his contributions to The New Yorker magazine....
, American humorist (b. 1894)
November 16 - Sam Rayburn
Sam Rayburn

Samuel Taliaferro Rayburn was a Democratic Party politician from Bonham, Texas. "Mr. Sam", as he was widely known, served as the Speaker of the United States House of Representatives for seventeen years, and is regarded by some historians as the most effective Speaker in history....
, Speaker of the United States House of Representatives
Speaker of the United States House of Representatives

The Speaker of the United States House of Representatives is the Speaker of the United States House of Representatives. The current Speaker is Nancy Pelosi, a Democratic Party representing California's 8th congressional district....
(b. 1882)
December 6 - Frantz Fanon
Frantz Fanon

Frantz Fanon was a psychiatrist, philosophy, revolutionary, and author from Martinique. He was influential in the field of post-colonial studies and was perhaps the pre-eminent thinker of the 20th century on the issue of decolonization and the psychopathology of colonization....
, philosopher (b. 1925)
December 20 - Moss Hart
Moss Hart

Moss Hart was an American playwright and theatre director of plays and musical theater....
, American dramatist (b. 1904)
December 20 - Earle Page
Earle Page

Sir Earle Christmas Grafton Page, Order of St Michael and St George, Order of the Companions of Honour , Australian politician, was the eleventh Prime Minister of Australia, and is to date the List of longest-serving members of the Australian House of Representatives in Australian history with 41 years, 361 days in Parliament....
, 11th Prime Minister of Australia
Prime Minister of Australia

The Prime Minister of Australia is the head of government of the Australia, holding office on commission from the Governor-General of Australia....
(b. 1880)
December 25 - Otto Loewi
Otto Loewi

Otto Loewi was a Germany pharmacology whose discovery of acetylcholine helped enhance medical therapy. The discovery earned for him the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine in 1936 which he shared with Sir Henry Dale....
, German-born pharmacologist, recipient of the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine
Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine

The Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine is awarded once a year by the Swedish Karolinska Institutet. It is one of the five Nobel Prizes established by the will of Alfred Nobel in 1895, awarded for outstanding contributions in Nobel Prize in Physics, Nobel Prize in Chemistry, Nobel Prize in Literature, Nobel Peace Prize, and Physiology or Medic...
(b. 1873)
December 29 - Sibyl Morrison
Sibyl Morrison

Sibyl Enid Vera Munro Morrison was the first female barrister in New South Wales, Australia. She graduated LL.B from the University of Sydney's law school in 1924....
, first female barrister in New South Wales, Australia (b. 1895)

1961

Events of 1961

January

February

March

April

May

June

July

August

September

October

November

December

Undated

Ongoing

Births

January–February

March–April

May–June

July–August

September–October

November–December

Deaths

January–June

July–December

External links