THE YEAR OF 1961
Born : JAN 8 Calvin Smith, US athlete.
Born : 13 Suggs McPherson, singer. (Madness)
Born : 23 Paula Hamilton, model.
Born : 24 Nastassja Kinski, German film actress.
Born : 31 Lloyd Cole, singer.
Died : 10 Dashiell Hammett, US detective story writer.
20 John F Kennedy inaugurated as US president, first Roman Catholic
30 The contraceptive pill went on sale in Britain.
31 Ham the chimp is the first animal sent into space by the US.
Born : FEB 9 David Rotheray, pop guitarist. (Beautiful South)
Born : 10 George Stephanopoulos, TV personality.
Born : 16 Andy Taylor, rock musician. (Duran Duran)
Born : 20 Imogen Stubbs, actress.
Died : 20 Percy Grainger, Australian-born composer.
1 First Intercontinental Ballistic Missile (ICBM), the Minuteman,
launched from the Nevada Desert.
5 The Sunday Telegraph was first published.
12 USSR launches Venera 1 toward Venus
14 Element 103, lawrencium, first produced in Berkeley California
Born : MAR 3 Eddie Murphey, actor.
Born : 3 Fatima Whitbread, English javelin champion.
Born : 7 Kim Ung-Yong, Korean who could speak 3 languages by the age of 4.
Born : 26 William Hague, conservative party leader.
Died : 6 George Formby, British comedian.
Died : 8 Thomas Beecham, English conductor.
1 President Kennedy establishes the Peace Corps.
9 Sputnik 9 carries Laika (dog) into orbit.
14 The New English Bible was published.
29 23rd Amendment ratified, Washington DC can vote for the president
Born : APR 2 Karen Woodward, singer. (Bananarama)
Born : 3 Eddie Murphy, US film actor.
Born : 6 Rory Bremner, impressionist.
Born : 10 Nicky Campbell, broadcaster.
Born : 14 Robert Carlyle, actor.
Born : 20 Nicholas Lyndhurst, actor.
Born : 26 Joan Chen, actress.
Died : 6 Jules Bordet, Belgian bacteriologist.
3 Aldermaston anti-nuclear march ends Trafalgar Sq., 850 arrests.
11 Nazi war criminal Adolf Eichmann went on trial in Jerusalem
after being kidnapped in Argentina, where he fled after WWI.
12 Yuri Gagarin becomes first man to orbit the planet in Vostok I.
17 Bay of Pigs, or how not to run an invasion, USA 'invades' Cuba with over 1500 Cuban exiles.
APR 25 Mercury/Atlas rocket lifts off with an electronic mannequin.
25 Robert Noyce is granted a patent for the integrated circuit.
27 Sierra Leone became independent within the Commonwealth.
Born : MAY 6 George Clooney, actor.
Born : 11 Harry Enfield, funnyman.
Born : 14 Tim Roth, actor.
Born : 17 Enya (Eithne Ni Bhraonain), Irish singer. (Clannad)
Born : 20 Nick Heyward, singer.
Born : 30 Harry Enfield, comedian.
Died : 13 Gary Cooper, US actor.
1 Betting shops became legal in Britain.
1 The Peace Corps was founded in the USA.
3 Former British diplomat George Blake jailed for 42 years
after pleading guilty to spying for Russia.
5 Alan Shepard becomes first American in space (onboard Freedom 7).
6 Tottenham Hotspur first team to win both FA and League cups.
MAY 8 UK diplomat George Blake Jailed for 42 years. (spying for Russia)
31 South Africa became independent republic, C R Stewart president.
Born : JUN 6 Chris O'Donnell, actor.
Born : 9 Michael J Fox, actor.
Born : 12 Neil "Doctor" Fox, DJ.
Born : 14 Boy George, singer.
Born : 18 Alison Moyet, singer.
Died : 6 Carl Gustav Jung, Swiss analytical psychologist.
16 Rudolf Nureyev,Kirov ballet dancer,defects to the west in Paris
Born : JUL 1 Carl Lewis, US athlete.
Born : 1 Diana Spencer, later Princess of Wales.
Born : 3 Suzanne Dando, TV presenter.
Born : 15 Lolita Davidovitch, actress.
Born : 18 Elizabeth McGovern, actress.
Born : 23 Martin Gore, pop artist. (Depeche Mode)
Born : 23 Woody Harrelson, actor.
Died : 2 Ernest Hemingway, US novelist, shot himself.
Died : 12 Mazo de la Roche, Canadian novelist.
19 First In-flight movie is shown (on TWA).
21 Mercury 4 is launched into sub-orbital flight
Born : AUG 5 Tawney Kitaen, actress.
Born : 7 Brian Conley, comedian / actor.
Born : 7 David Duchovney, actor.
Born : 8 David Evans (The Edge), guitarist with U2.
Born : 14 Sarah Brightman , singer .
Born : 22 Debbie Peterson, pop artist. (The Bangles)
Born : 28 Emma Samms, actress.
12 The Berlin Wall started going up, separating East and West.
13 Barbed wire goes up along the east-west border in Berlin,
starting the Berlin Wall.
Born : SEP 2 k d lang, singer.
Born : 18 James Gandolfini, actor.
Born : 22 Catherine Oxenburg , actress .
Born : 24 Jack Dee, comedian.
Born : 25 Heather Locklear , actress .
Born : 30 Eric Stoltz, actor.
Died : 18 Dag Hammarskjold, Swedish UN secretary-general.
17 Ban the Bomb demo ends in 830 arrests, incl. Vannessa Redgrave.
20 Argentinian Antonio Abertondo started the first succesful
non stop swim across the English Channel and back. (43 hr 5 min)
26 Bob Dylan debuts New Yorks Greenwich Village, Gerdies Folk City.
Born : OCT 10 Martin Kemp, actor. (ex-singer with 1980's Spandau Ballet)
Born : 18 Erin Moran, actress.
Born : 18 Jean-Claude Van Damme, actor.
Born : 29 Randy Jackson, singer.
Born : 31 Larry Mullen, rock drummer, of U2.
Born : 31 Peter Jackson, movie director. (Lord of the Rings)
Died : 11 'Chico' Marx, US comedian.
Died : 31 Augustus John, Welsh painter.
7 The last steam train ran on the London underground.
10 Volcanic eruption on South Atlantic isle of Tristan Da Cunha,the entire population was later relocated to Britain.
15 Amnesty International was founded, for prisoners of conscience.
15 The World Wildlife Fund started, for animals.
15 Weight Watchers started in the USA by 214 lb Jean Nidetch.
OCT 25 The British satirical magazine Private Eye was first published.
27 First Saturn makes an unmanned flight test
28 Russian and US tanks face each other in East and West Berlin.
30 Soviet Union detonates a 58 megaton hydrogen bomb
30 The Soviet Party Congress unanimously approves a resolution
removing Josef Stalin's body from Lenin's tomb in Red Square.
Born : NOV 2 k d lang, singer, songwriter.
Born : 9 Jill Dando, TV presenter.
Born : 12 Nadia Comaneci, Olympic gymnast, in Romania
Born : 16 Frank Bruno, British boxer.
Born : 19 Meg Ryan, actress.
Born : 22 Mariel Hemingway, actress.
Born : 28 Martin Clunes, actor, comedian.
Died : 2 James Thurber, US humorous writer and cartoonist.
29 Mercury 5 launches a chimp (Ham/Enos)
Born : DEC 3 Daryl Hannah, actress.
Born : 10 Nia Peeples, actress.
Born : 11 Darryl Jones, rock musician. (Rolling Stones)
Born : 17 Sarah Dallin, singer. (Bananarama)
Born : 23 Carol Smillie, TV personality.
Born : 30 Ben Johnson, Canadian athlete.
Died : 13 Grandma Moses, US primitive painter. (aged 101).
Died : 22 James Davies, military advisor, first US soldier to die in Vietnam
Died : 24 Frank Richards, English writer.
3 The Museum of Modern Art in New York hung Matisse's painting
Le Bateau the right way up, after 46 days the wrong way up.
4 Birth control pills became available on the British NHS.
9 Tanganyika gains independence from Britain
DEC 11 Adolf Eichmann found guilty of crimes against humanity (Israel).
15 Nazi official Adolph Eichmann found guilty of crimes against
the Jewish people, sentenced to death after a trial in Jerusalem.
18 India annexes Portuguese colonies of Goa, Damao & Diu
27 First plane hijack, by Marxist guerrillas, diverted to Cuba.
27 Margaret Thatcher's first govt. job at the Ministry of Pensions.
27 Satyrical magazine Private Eye issued for the first time.
31 Marshall Plan expires after distributing more than $12 billion