* 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 )

* 1961 – David Morales, American DJ and producer

* 1961 – David Servan-Schreiber, French physician, neuroscientist, and author ( d. 2011 )

Dwight David " Ike " Eisenhower ( pronounced, ; October 14, 1890 – March 28, 1969 ) was the 34th President of the United States from 1953 until 1961.

* 1961 – David Wild, American writer

* 1961 – David Lovering, American drummer ( Pixies )

* 1961 – David Anthony Higgins, American actor

In 1961, an EDSAC 2 version of Autocode, an ALGOL-like high-level programming language for scientists and engineers, was developed by David Hartley.

Having completed her excavations at Jericho in 1958, Kenyon excavated in Jerusalem from 1961 to 1967, concentrating on the ' City of David ' to the immediate south of the Temple Mount.

David Pears and Brian McGuinness ( 1961 ), Routledge, hardcover: ISBN 0-7100-3004-5, 1974 paperback: ISBN 0-415-02825-6, 2001 hardcover: ISBN 0-415-25562-7, 2001 paperback: ISBN 0-415-25408-6 ; ** Philosophische Untersuchungen ( 1953 ) or Philosophical Investigations, translated by G. E. M.

* 1961 – David Vitter, American politician

* 1961 – David Winning, Canadian director

Nominalism has been endorsed or defended by many, including William of Ockham, Peter Abelard, D. C. Williams ( 1953 ), David Lewis ( 1983 ), and arguably H. H. Price ( 1953 ) and W. V. O. Quine ( 1961 ).

* David Pears and Brian McGuinness ( 1961 ), Routledge, hardcover: ISBN 0-7100-3004-5, 1974 paperback: ISBN 0-415-02825-6, 2001 hardcover: ISBN 0-415-25562-7, 2001 paperback: ISBN 0-415-25408-6

* The 2009 horror film directed by David DeCoteau bears little resemblance to the original story but, like the 1961 version, utilizes the large swinging pendulum in the penultimate scene.

They had two children, both born by Caesarean section at Margaret's request: David, Viscount Linley in 1961 and Lady Sarah in 1964.

* 1961: David McClleland: An entrepreneur is a person with a high need for achievement.

UPI reporters and photographers have won ten Pulitzer Prizes: Russell Jones ( International Reporting, 1957 ), Andrew Lopez ( News Photography, 1960 ), Yasushi Nagao ( News Photography, 1961 ), Merriman Smith ( National Reporting, 1964 ), Kyoichi Sawada ( News Photography, 1966 ), Toshio Sakai ( Feature Photography, 1968 ), Lucinda Franks and Thomas Powers ( National Reporting, 1971 ), and David Hume Kennerly ( Feature Photography, 1972 ).

Since 1961 David Sutherland has drawn the strip, and has drawn roughly 2100 strips.

* Minar, David M. ( 1961 ) " Ideology and Political Behavior ", Midwest Journal of Political Science.

The first film of indri was obtained by using tape lures, on an expedition forming the basis of David Attenborough's 1961 BBC series Zoo Quest to Madagascar

David Dean Rusk ( February 9, 1909 – December 20, 1994 ) was the United States Secretary of State from 1961 to 1969 under presidents John F. Kennedy and Lyndon B. Johnson.

* David Thompson ( Barbadian politician ) ( 1961 – 2010 ), Prime Minister of Barbados

* 1961: Charles Sumner and the Coming of the Civil War by David Donald

* The Guns of Navarone ( film )-a 1961 film starring Gregory Peck, David Niven, and Anthony Quinn, based on the novel