* 1961 – Rory Bremner, Scottish comedian

* 1961 – The Russian ( Soviet ) cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin becomes the first human to travel into outer space and perform the first manned orbital flight, in Vostok 3KA-2 ( Vostok 1 ).

* 1961 – Enedina Arellano Félix, Mexican drug trafficker

* 1961 – Lisa Gerrard, Australian singer, musician, and composer ( Dead Can Dance )

* 1961 – Charles Mann, American football player

* 1961 – Magda Szubanski, Australian actress

* 1961 – K-19, the first Soviet nuclear submarine equipped with nuclear missiles, is commissioned.

* 1961 – Isiah Thomas, American basketball player

* 1961 – Yolanda Adams, American singer, producer, and actress

* 1961 – Tom Ford, American fashion designer and director

* 1961 – Helmut Winklhofer, German footballer

* 1881 – Leo Carrillo, American actor ( d. 1961 )

* 1961 – Brad Gilbert, American tennis player

* 1961 – John Key, New Zealand politician, 38th Prime Minister of New Zealand

* 1961 – Amy Stiller, American comedian and actress

* 1961 – East Germany closes the border between the eastern and western sectors of Berlin to thwart its inhabitants ' attempts to escape to the West.

* 1961 – Sam Champion, American weatherman

* 1961 – Christos Christodoulou, Greek basketball player

* 1961 – Dawnn Lewis, American actress

* 1961 – Stuart Maconie, English journalist, author, and broadcaster

* 1961 – Neil Mallender, England cricketer

* 1961 – Tom Perrotta, American novelist

* 1961 – Sunil Shetty, Indian actor and producer

* 1961 – Cary Stayner, American serial killer

* 1886 – John Alexander Douglas McCurdy Canadian pilot and engineer ( d. 1961 )

Editor's note: Sir Robert Watson-Watt wrote, on page 50 of SR Research for 4 March 1961::

The treaty, entering into force in 1961 and currently having 50 signatory nations, sets aside Antarctica as a scientific preserve, establishes freedom of scientific investigation and bans military activity on that continent.

In 1961, Capp, complaining of declining revenue, wanted to have Frazetta continue with a 50 % pay cut.

You Bet Your Life debuted in October 1947 on radio on ABC ( which aired it from 1947 – 49 ), sponsored by costume jewelry manufacturer Allen Gellman ; and then on CBS ( 1949 – 50 ), and finally NBC, continuing until May 1961 — on radio only, 1947 – 1950 ; on both radio and television, 1950 – 1960 ; and on television only, 1960-1961.

* 1961 – Nuclear testing: The Soviet Union detonates the hydrogen bomb Tsar Bomba over Novaya Zemlya ; at 50 megatons of yield, it is still the largest explosive device ever detonated, nuclear or otherwise.

Wilma Rudolph at the finish line during 50 yard dash at track meet in Madison Square Garden, 1961

His most important work is perhaps the trilogy The Human Predicament, of which only the first two volumes, The Fox in the Attic ( 1961 ) and The Wooden Shepherdess ( 1973 ), were complete when he died ; twelve chapters, under 50 pages, of the final volume are now published.

The level of violence in the South jumped dramatically in the fall of 1961, from 50 guerrilla attacks in September to 150 in October.

He estimated the rate of precession as 1 ° in 50 years ( Pannekoek 1961, p. 92 ).

Returning to Hamilton in 1961 – 62, he became a regular player on the team, scoring 24 goals and 43 points in 50 games.

In 1981, notes were issued in denominations of 10, 50, 100 and 500 krónur based on the law of 29 March 1961.

The title comes from Murder, She Said, which was the title of a 1961 film adaptation of Agatha Christie's Miss Marple novel 4: 50 from Paddington.

Also in 1961, the Soviet Union tested, but did not deploy, a three-stage 50 – 100 megaton device, Tsar Bomba.

Then, on 3 April 1961, a member of the species was rediscovered by naturalist Eric Wilkinson, and the first specimen in more than 50 years was captured later in the month.

In 1961, the currency was revalued again, but this time a new coinage was introduced in denominations of 1, 2, 3 and 5 kopeks in aluminium-bronze, and 10, 15, 20 and 50 kopeks and 1 ruble in cupro-nickel-zinc.

50 kopek and 1 ruble coins dated 1961 had plain edges, but starting in 1964, the edges were lettered with the denomination and date.

* Otto Kerner, Jr. ( D ), governor from 1961 to 1968 ; Stratton's successor and later a judge on the United States Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit, was convicted of 17 counts of bribery, conspiracy, perjury, and income-tax charges from his time as governor, and received 3 years in prison and a $ 50, 000 fine in 1973.

In 1961, Raul Hilberg estimated the number of the Jewish victims at 50, 000, though at the time other sources, including the camp museum, officially estimated 100, 000 Jewish victims and up to 200, 000 non-Jews killed.

It was first published in the UK by Jonathan Cape on 27 March 1961, where the initial print run of 50, 938 copies quickly sold out.

The largest nuclear weapon ever tested was the " Tsar Bomba " of the Soviet Union at Novaya Zemlya on October 30, 1961, with an estimated yield of around 50 megatons.

The most explicit example of this was the detonation of the largest nuclear bomb ever created, the 50 megaton Tsar Bomba, by the Soviet Union in 1961.

In February 2006, he acquired 50 % of Scuderia Toro Rosso in a business deal which saw Red Bull boss Dietrich Mateschitz purchase half of Berger Logistik, a road haulage company founded by Berger's father Johann in 1961.

: 1961: 50 cents

# The first edition was printed by Olympia Press in Paris, in 1961, as number 88 in the Traveller Companion Series and featured 182 pages arranged in 50 chapters of about 8 pages each.