* 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 )

His second wife was Nancy Deale ( 1961 – 1987, Greene's death ), with whom he had one child, Gillian Dania Greene, born January 6, 1968 in Los Angeles, California.

He married Gillian Lawley in 1961 in Manchester.

Gillian Lesley Gilbert ( born 27 January 1961 ) is an English musician, keyboardist, guitarist and singer, best known as a member of New Order and a founding member of The Other Two.

Gardiner married twice, in Bristol in 1961 to Gillian D Wells, with whom he had two sons and a daughter.

* 1961 – Eddie Gilbert, American wrestler ( d. 1995 )

* 1884 – Alfred Carlton Gilbert, American athlete, inventor, and businessman ( d. 1961 )

In November 1961 in Fortune magazine, an article by Gilbert Burck appeared that outlined the plans of Nelson Rockefeller, Edward Teller, Herman Kahn, and Chet Holifield for an enormous network of concrete lined underground fallout shelters throughout the United States sufficient to shelter millions of people to serve as a refuge in case of nuclear war.

* February 13 – Alfred Carlton Gilbert, American athlete and inventor ( d. 1961 )

After the expiration of the copyright on Gilbert and Sullivan works in 1961, and especially since the Sadler's Wells production and recording, various directors have experimented with restoring some or all of the cut material in place of the 1920s D ' Oyly Carte version.

There were Gilbert and Sullivan seasons at the Savoy Theatre in 1929 – 30, 1932 – 33, 1951, 1954, 1961 – 62, 1975, 2000, 2001, 2002 and 2003.

Gilbert struggled somewhat after the death of its founder in 1961.

These problems were compounded by the death of its founder, A. C. Gilbert in 1961.

After releasing family drama Old Mac and a potboiler mystery called Out of the Shadow in 1961, Winner brushed with Gilbert and Sullivan, writing the screenplay and directing a version of The Mikado entitled The Cool Mikado ( 1962 ), starring Frankie Howerd which was produced by Harold Baim.

Gilbert Layton ( November 5, 1899 – May 29, 1961 ) was a businessman and politician in Quebec, Canada.

He was preceded by Gilbert A. Peterson ( 1979 – 1999 ), Dr. Stuart E. Lease ( 1961 – 1979 ), Dr. William J. Randolph ( 1953 – 1961 ), and Dr. Henry J. Heydt ( 1933 – 1953 ).

In 1961 she went to England at the request of director Lewis Gilbert to star in The Greengage Summer opposite Kenneth More.

In addition he provided the English lyrics for " More " ( the theme from the film Mondo Cane, the lyrics of Shirley Bassey's 1961 number one it ' Reach For The Stars ' composed by Nini Oliviero and Riz Ortolani ), " This Is My Life " (" La vita "), written by Antonio Amurri and Bruno Canfora ), " The Importance of Your Love " (" Important C ' est La Rose ", by Gilbert Bécaud ), Monday Morning again (" Le lundi au soleil ", by Claude François ) and " Never, Never, Never " (" Grande, Grande Grande ").

He is not to be confused with silent film actor Billy Gilbert ( a. k. a. Little Billy Gilbert, born William V. Campbell, 1891 – 1961 ).

In 1961, when he was the chairman of the Psychology Department of Long Island University in Brooklyn, Gilbert was summoned to testify in the trial of Adolf Eichmann in Jerusalem.

Gilbert testified on 29 May 1961, describing how both Ernst Kaltenbrunner and Rudolf Höss tried in their conversations with him to put the responsibility for the extermination of the Jews on each other's doorstep.

Brad Gilbert ( born August 9, 1961 ) is an American tennis coach, a television tennis commentator, an author and former professional tennis player.

* 1960 – 1961 Gilbert White ( Dec )

Thomas Edward ( Eddie ) Gilbert, Jr. ( August 14, 1961 – February 18, 1995 ) was an American professional wrestler and booker, better known as " Hot Stuff " Eddie Gilbert.