1960

1960 (MCMLX) was .
Events
January - State of emergency is lifted in Kenya - Mau Mau Rebellion is officially over
January 1 - Independence of Cameroon
January 9 - Aswan High Dam construction begins in Egypt
January 14 - Ralph Chubb, the gay poet and printer, dies at Fair Oak Cottage in Hampshire.
January 14 - Reserve bank and Commonwealth Bank created (a)
January 23 - Jacques Piccard and Don Walsh in the bathyscaphe USS Trieste break a depth record when they descend to the bottom of Challenger Deep 35,820 feet (10,750 meters) below sea level in the Pacific Ocean
January 24 - A major insurrection in Algiers against French colonial policy
January 25 - The National Association of Broadcasters reacts to the Payola scandal by threatening fines for any disk jockeys who accepted money for playing particular records
February 1 - (Greensboro, N.C.) Four black students from North Carolina Agricultural and Technical College begin a sit-in at a segregated Woolworth's lunch counter. Although they are refused service, they are allowed to stay at the counter. The event triggers many similar nonviolent protests throughout the South. Six months later the original four protesters are served lunch at the same Woolworth's counter.
February 9 - Joanne Woodward receives the first star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame
February 9 - Adolph Coors III, chairman of the board of the Coors Brewing Company, is kidnapped and captors demand $500.000. Coors is later found killed and Joseph Corbett Jr is indicted
February 11 - The airship ZPG-3W is destroyed in a storm in Massachusetts
February 13 - Nuclear testing: France tests its first atomic bomb
February 29 - Earthquake totally destroys Agadir, Morocco.
March 21 - The Sharpeville Massacre occurs in South Africa.
April 4 - Senegal becomes independent.
April 27 - Togo becomes independent.
May 1 - A Lockheed U-2 piloted by Francis Gary Powers is shot down over the Soviet Union, making an international incident.
May 11 - Nazi politician Adolf Eichmann is captured in Buenos Aires, Argentina, by the Mossad.
May 22 - The Great Chilean Earthquake occurs.
June 26 - The British protectorate Somaliland becomes independent.
June 26 - Madagascar becomes independent.
June 30 - The present-day Democratic Republic of the Congo becomes independent.
July 1 - Somalia becomes independent.
July 1 - Ghana becomes a Republic.
August 1 - Benin becomes independent.
August 3 - Niger becomes independent.
August 5 - Upper Volta becomes independent. It is later renamed Burkina Faso.
August 11 - Chad becomes independent.
August 13 - The Central African Republic becomes independent.
August 15 - The Republic of the Congo becomes independent.
August 17 - Gabon becomes independent.
October 1 - Nigeria becomes independent.
October 24 - Zambia becomes independent.
November 8 - John F. Kennedy is elected President of the United States.
November 28 - Mauritania becomes independent.
Births
January 4 - Michael Stipe, singer for R.E.M.
January 6 - Nigella Lawson, celebrity chef, writer
January 6 - Howie Long, American football star
January 11 - Stanley Tucci, actor
January 12 - Oliver Platt, actor
January 13 - Kevin Anderson, actor
January 22 - Michael Hutchence, musician ("INXS") (d. 1997)
January 28 - Robert von Dassanowsky, cultural historian, writer, producer
January 29 - Greg Louganis, Olympics gold medalist in diving
February 7 - James Spader, actor (Pretty in Pink, Stargate, The Practice)
February 11 - Richard Mastracchio, astronaut
February 13 - Pierluigi Collina, football referee
February 14 - Jim Kelly, American football quarterback
February 19 - Prince Andrew, second son of Queen Elizabeth II
February 29 - Cheb Khaled, Algerian musician
February 29 - Tony Robbins, motivational speaker
March 4 - Mykelti Williamson, actor
March 7 - Joe Carter, baseball star
March 7 - Ivan Lendl, tennis player
March 13 - Adam Clayton, bassist for the rock band U2
March 18 - Richard Biggs, actor
March 21 - Ayrton Senna, automobile racer (d. 1994)
March 24 - Nena Kerner, German singer
March 26 - Marcus Allen, American football star
March 29 - Marina Sirtis, actress
April 2 - Linford Christie, British athlete
April 3 - Elizabeth Gracen, American actress, model, winner of 1982 Miss America pageant
April 4 - Jane Eaglin, English soprano
April 4 - Hugo Weaving, actor
April 12 - Dennis Bateman, American voice actor
April 14 - Brad Garrett, actor
April 15 - Crown Prince Philippe of Belgium
April 16 - Rafael Benitez, Spanish football manager
April 16 - Pierre Littbarski, German football player and manager
April 19 - Frank Viola, baseball player
April 26 - Roger Taylor, musician ("Duran Duran")
April 28 - Ian Rankin, Scottish writer
May 4 - Werner Faymann, Chancellor of Austria.
May 10 - Bono, singer of U2
May 18 - Jari Kurri, Hockey Hall of Famer
May 18 - Yannick Noah, tennis player
May 19 - Gadi Eizenkot, Israeli general
May 20 - John Billingsley, actor
May 21 - Jeffrey Dahmer, serial killer (d. 1994)
May 24 - Kristin Scott Thomas, British actress
June 6 - Gary Graham, actor
June 6 - Steve Vai, musician
June 8 - Mick Hucknall singer/songwriter of Simply Red
June 20 - John Taylor, musician, Duran Duran
June 28 - John Elway, Pro Football Hall of Famer
June 30 - Murray Cook, Australian musician (The Wiggles)
July 21 - Ezequiel Vinao, composer
August 4 - Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero, Prime Minister of Spain
August 7 - David Duchovny, actor (The X-Files)
August 10 - Antonio Banderas, actor (Desperado, Spy Kids)
August 19 - Morten Andersen, American football player
August 24 - Cal Ripken, Jr., baseball star
August 26 - Branford Marsalis, jazz musician
September 1 - Joseph Williams, American singer (Toto)
September 9 - Hugh Grant, English actor
September 10 - Colin Firth, actor
September 16 - John Franco, baseball relief pitcher
September 17 - Damon Hill, 1996 Formula 1 World Champion
September 26 - Jouke de Vries, Frisian politician and professor
October 5 - Daniel Baldwin, actor
October 7 - Kyosuke Himuro, Japanese rock singer
October 30 - Diego Maradona, football (soccer) player
November 3 - Karch Kiraly, volleyball star
November 9 - Andreas Brehme, German footballer
November 10 - Neil Gaiman, writer
November 25 - John F. Kennedy, Jr., lawyer and journalist (d. 1999)
November 25 - Amy Grant, contemporary Christian music star
November 27 - Tim Pawlenty, American politician
November 27 - Paul Robinson, writer
November 27 - Yulia Tymoshenko, Ukrainian politician
November 30 - Gary Lineker, English footballer.
December 2 - Rick Savage, bass guitarist (Def Leppard).
December 3 - Julianne Moore, actress
December 4 - Glynis Nunn, Australian heptathlete
December 9 - Caroline Lucas, British politician
December 10 - Kenneth Branagh, actor, movie director
December 18 - Kazuhide Uekusa, former Japanese professor of graduate school at Waseda University, economist
December 19 - Mike Lookinland, television actor
December 27 - Maryam d'Abo, actress
December 31 - John Allen Muhammad, convicted Beltway sniper
December 31 - Steve Bruce, English football player and manager
Deaths
January 4 - Albert Camus, French writer, Nobel Prize winner (b. 1913)
January 12 - Nevil Shute, English writer (b. 1899)
January 24 - Edwin Fischer, pianist and conductor (b. 1886)
February 3 - Fred Buscaglione, Italian singer and actor (b. 1921)
February 10 - Aloysius Stepinac, Roman Catholic prelate (b. 1898)
February 11 - Erno Dohnanyi, Hungarian conductor (b. 1877)
February 29 - Walter Yust, American editor-in-chief of the Encyclopaedia Britannica (b.1894)
March 2 - Stanislaw Taczak, Polish general (b. 1874)
April 1 - Tuanku Abdul Rahman ibni Almarhum Tuanku Muhammad, Yang di-Pertuan Besar of Negeri Sembilan and 1st Yang di-Pertuan Agong of Malaysia (b. 1895)
April 17 - Eddie Cochran, American musican (b. 1938)
May 8 - J. H. C. Whitehead, British mathematician (b. 1904).