1961

**1961** (MCMLXI) was a common year starting on Sunday in the Gregorian calendar.

Its rendering using the Hindu-Arabic numeral system creates a numeral which looks the same when put upside down. The next such year will be 6009.

## Events

- John F. Kennedy becomes President of the United States.
- _The Fantastic Four_ make their debut.
- Yuri Gagarin becomes the first human in space.
- Sierra Leone becomes independent.
- The Berlin Wall is built.
- The Vietnam War begins.
- Bay of Pigs invasion
- Rockband Golden Earring was founded

### January

- January 1 - Mark Wingett, British actor
- January 26 – Wayne Gretzky, Retired Canadian NHL player
- January 28 – Arnaldur Indridason, Icelandic writer

### February

- February 13 – Henry Rollins, American musician and activist (Black Flag)

### March

- March 3 – John Matteson, Pulitzer Prize-winning American biographer
- March 7 – Sanae Takaichi, Prime Minister of Japan

### April

- April 1 – Susan Boyle, Scottish singer

### May

- May 6 – George Clooney, American actor

### June

- June 4 – Ferenc Gyurcsany, former Prime Minister of Hungary
- June 9 – Michael J. Fox, Canadian actor
- June 14 – Boy George, British singer
- June 18 – Alison Moyet, British singer
- June 25 – Ricky Gervais, British comedian and actor

### July

- July 1 – Diana, Princess of Wales (d. 1997)
- July 1 – Carl Lewis, American athlete
- July 23 – Woody Harrelson, American actor
- July 30 – Laurence Fishburne, American actor
- July 31 - Peter O'Brien, American drummer (Orleans)

### August

- August 4 – Barack Obama, forty-fourth President of the United States of America
- August 8 – The Edge, Irish musician (U2)
- August 9 – John Key, Prime Minister of New Zealand

### September

- September 28 - George Rossi, Scottish actor (d. 2022)
- September 29 – Julia Gillard, Prime Minister of Australia

### October

- October 11 – Amr Diab, Egyptian singer
- October 25 - Chad Smith, American drummer (Red Hot Chili Peppers)
- October 26 – Uhuru Kenyatta, President of Kenya

### November

- November 12 – Nadia Comaneci, Romanian gymnast
- November 19 – Meg Ryan, American actress
- November 24 – Arundhati Roy, Indian activist and writer

### December

- December 24 – Ilham Aliyev, President of Azerbaijan
- December 25 – Ingrid Betancourt, Colombian senator
- December 26 - Abubakar Atiku Bagudu, Nigerian senator
- December 27 – Guido Westerwelle, German politician
- December 30 – Ben Johnson, Canadian athlete

## Deaths

- January 4 – Erwin Schroedinger, Austrian physicist (b. 1887)
- January 9 – Emily Greene Balch, recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize (b. 1867)
- January 17 – Patrice Lumumba, Congolese politician (b. 1925)
- February 3 – Viscount Dunrossil, Australian Governor-General (b. 1893)
- February 9 – Carlos Luz, 19th President of Brazil (b. 1894)
- March 3 – Paul Wittgenstein, Austrian-born pianist (b. 1887)
- March 23 – Valentin Bondarenko, Russian cosmonaut (b. 1937)
- April 9 – Ahmet Zog, King of Albania (b. 1895)
- May 30 – Rafael Leónidas Trujillo, President of the Dominican Republic (b. 1891)
- June 6 – Carl Jung, Swiss psychiatrist (b. 1875)
- July 2 – Ernest Hemingway, American writer (b. 1899)
- August 20 – Percy Williams Bridgman, American physicist, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1882)
- September 10 – Wolfgang von Trips, German racing driver (b. 1928)
- September 18 – Dag Hammarskioeld, UN Secretary-General (b. 1905)
- October 30 – Luigi Einaudi, Italian politician (b. 1874)
- November 9 – Ferdinand Bie, Norwegian athlete (b.  1888)
- December 20 – Earle Page, 11th Prime Minister of Australia (b. 1880)

## Nobel Prizes

- Nobel Prize in Physics won by Robert Hofstadter, American physicist, and Rudolf Mössbauer, German physicist
- Nobel Prize in Chemistry won by Melvin Calvin, American biochemist
- Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine won by Georg von Békésy, Hungarian biophysicist
- Nobel Prize in Literature won by Ivo Andrić, Yugoslav novelist, poet and short story writer
- Nobel Peace Prize won by Dag Hammarskjöld (posthumously), Swedish diplomat

## Movies released

- _101 Dalmatians_, an animated movie
- _The Absent-Minded Professor_ by Walt Disney Productions
- _Breakfast at Tiffany's_ starring Audrey Hepburn
- _El Cid_ starring Charlton Heston and Sophia Loren
- _La Dolce Vita_ starring Marcello Mastroianni and Anita Ekberg
- _The Guns of Navarone_ with Gregory Peck and Anthony Quinn
- _The Hustler_ starring Paul Newman and Jackie Gleason
- _Lover Come Back_ starring Doris Day and Rock Hudson
- _The Parent Trap_ starring Hayley Mills
- _West Side Story_ winning 10 Academy Awards

## Hit songs

- "I Fall to Pieces" – Patsy Cline
- "Crazy" – Patsy Cline
- "Where the Boys Are" – Connie Francis
- "Running Scared" – Roy Orbison
- "Crying" – Roy Orbison
- "(I Wanna) Love My Life Away" – Gene Pitney
- "Town Without Pity" – Gene Pitney
- "The Lion Sleeps Tonight" – The Tokens
- "Calcutta" – Lawrence Welk
- "Runaround Sue" – Dion
- "Let's Go Trippin'" – Dick Dale's first local hit, regarded as first surf rock instrumental
- "Tossin' & Turnin' " – Bobby Lewis
- "Runaway" – Del Shannon
- "Garde-Moi la Dernière Danse" – Dalida
- "Nuits d'Espagne" – Dalida
- "Blue Moon" – The Marcels
- "Will You Still Love Me Tomorrow" – The Shirelles
- "There's No Other Like My Baby" – The Crystals' first hit
- "Please Mr. Postman" – The Marvelettes
- "Quarter To Three" – Gary U.S. Bonds
- "Shop Around" – The Miracles
- "Travelin' Man" – Ricky Nelson
- "Hello Mary Lou" – Ricky Nelson
- "Stand By Me" – Ben E. King
- "The Wanderer" – Dion
- "The Mountain's High"  –  Dick and Deedee
- "Big River, Big Man" – Claude King
- "The Commancheros" – Claude King
- "Moody River" – Pat Boone
- "I Love How You Love Me" – The Paris Sisters

## New books

- _Border Country_ – Raymond Williams
- _Casanova's Chinese Restaurant_ – Anthony Powell
- _The Chapman Report_ – Irving Wallace
- _Clea_ – Lawrence Durrell

- _Don't Tell Alfred_ – Nancy Mitford

- _For Your Eyes Only_ – Ian Fleming
- _Green Eggs and Ham_  –  Dr. Seuss
- _Hunters in a Narrow Street_ – Jabra Ibrahim Jabra
- _The Insolences of Brother Anonymous_ – Jean-Paul Desbiens
- _The Many Colored Coat_ – Morley Callaghan
- _Take a Girl Like You_ – Kingsley Amis
- _To Kill A Mockingbird_ – Harper Lee
- _The Torch_ – Wilder Penfield
- _The Violent Bear It Away_ – Flannery O'Connor
- _The White Stone_ – Carlo Coccioli
- _What Ever Happened to Baby Jane?_ – Henry Farrell

## Related pages

- 1961 in sports