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

## Births 
 in 2003]]

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

### February
*February 13 &ndash; Henry Rollins, American musician and activist (Black Flag)

### March
*March 3 &ndash; John Matteson, Pulitzer Prize-winning American biographer
*March 7 &ndash; 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 &ndash; Viscount Dunrossil, Australian Governor-General (b. 1893)
* February 9 &ndash; Carlos Luz, 19th President of Brazil (b. 1894)
* March 3 &ndash; Paul Wittgenstein, Austrian-born pianist (b. 1887)
* March 23 &ndash; Valentin Bondarenko, Russian cosmonaut (b. 1937)
* April 9 &ndash; Ahmet Zog, King of Albania (b. 1895)
* May 30 &ndash; Rafael Leónidas Trujillo, President of the Dominican Republic (b. 1891)
* June 6 &ndash; Carl Jung, Swiss psychiatrist (b. 1875)
*July 2 – Ernest Hemingway, American writer (b. 1899)
* August 20 &ndash; 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 &ndash; Ferdinand Bie, Norwegian athlete (b.  1888)
* December 20 &ndash; 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
 in West Side Story]]
* *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
 in 1957]]
*"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
 in 2007]]
**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