* 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 )

They were: Susana Duijm — semi-finalist, Venezuela 1955 ; Corine Rottschäfer — semi-finalist, Holland 1958 ; Rosemarie Frankland — first runner-up, Wales 1961 ; Madeleine Hartog Bell — semi-finalist, Peru 1966 ; Eva Rueber-Staier — semi-finalist, Austria 1969 ; Helen Morgan — first runner-up, Wales 1974 ( dethroned ); Gina Swainson — first runner-up, Bermuda 1979 and Agbani Darego — semi-finalist, Nigeria 2001.

Gina Riley ( born 6 May 1961 in Melbourne, Australia ) is an Australian actress, writer, singer and comedian.

Construction of the Berlin Wall in 1961 and Cuban Missile Crisis the following year witnessed heightened alert for soldiers stationed at Fort Riley.

Movement in Squares, by Bridget Riley 1961

In 1961 they teamed up with Larry Tremaine, and became Larry Tremaine and the Renegades, a rock and roll cover band, consisting of: Larry Tremaine, Steve O ' Riley ( now deceased ), Marty DiGiovanni, Rick Henn, Eddy Medora ( now deceased ), and Vince Hozier ( now deceased ).

Linton High School's 74 – 68 victory over New York City's Power Memorial on December 29, 1961, is remembered mostly for its two stars: Power Memorial's Lew Alcindor ( who later changed his name to Kareem Abdul-Jabbar ); and his future coach with the Los Angeles Lakers, Linton's Riley.

Marc Riley ( born in Manchester, England, 10 July 1961 ) is a British musician, alternative rock critic and radio DJ on BBC Radio 6 Music.

Wald produced and wrote many films between the 1930s and 1960s including Stars Over Broadway ( 1935 ), The Roaring Twenties ( 1939 ), On Your Toes ( 1939, in collaboration with playwright Lawrence Riley ), They Drive by Night ( 1940 ), Navy Blues ( 1941 ), Across the Pacific ( 1942 ), The Man Who Came to Dinner ( 1942 ), Destination Tokyo ( 1943 ), Mildred Pierce ( 1945 ), Johnny Belinda ( 1948 ), Key Largo ( 1948 ), Always Leave Them Laughing ( 1949 ), The Glass Menagerie ( 1950 ), Perfect Strangers ( 1950 ), Two Tickets to Broadway ( 1951 ), The Blue Veil ( 1951 ), Peyton Place ( 1957 ), An Affair to Remember ( 1957 ), In Love and War ( 1958 ), The Sound and the Fury ( 1959 ), Sons and Lovers ( 1960 ), Return to Peyton Place ( 1961 ) and Wild in the Country ( 1961 ).

* Noel Harrison, The school that Riley built: The story of the Wellington Technical College from 1886 to the present day ( ASIN: B0007JSZJ2 ): The history of Wellington Technical College up to 1961.

* 1961 – 69 Riley 4 / 72

** 1961 – 1969 Wolseley Hornet ( similar to Riley Elf, based on Mini )

* George Riley aged 21 yrs on Thursday, 9 February 1961 ( Adeline Mary Smith )

* 1880 – Earle Page, Australian politician ( d. 1961 )

* 1961 – Jon Farriss, Australian drummer ( INXS )

* 1961 – Mikey Robins, Australian comedian

* 1961 – Andrew Lock, Australian mountaineer

Sir Earle Christmas Grafton Page, GCMG, CH ( 8 August 188020 December 1961 ) was the 11th Prime Minister of Australia, and is to date the second-longest serving federal parliamentarian in Australian history, with 41 years, 361 days in Parliament .< ref >

* 1961 – Mark Latham, Australian politician

* 1961 – Rick Price, Australian singer-songwriter and musician

* 1882 – Percy Grainger, Australian composer ( d. 1961 )

* 1961 – Andrew Thomson, Australian politician

* 1881 – Essington Lewis, Australian industrialist ( d. 1961 )

* 1961 – Simone Young, Australian conductor

* 1961 – Brett Kenny, Australian rugby league footballer

* 1961 – Dean Jones, Australian cricketer

* 1961 – Merv Hughes, Australian cricketer

* 1961 – Brian Mannix, Australian singer and actor

* 1908 – Harry Hooton, Australian poet ( d. 1961 )

The 1961 / 62 Australian season was purely a domestic one, with no touring international team.

* 1961 – Terry Lamb, Australian rugby player

* August 18 – Sibyl Morrison, Australian barrister ( d. 1961 )

The Australian obstetrician William McBride and the German pediatrician Widukind Lenz suspected a link between birth defects and the drug, a theory Lenz proved in 1961.

* Julia Gillard ( born 1961 ), Australian politician, Prime Minister

The Australian composer Peggy Glanville-Hicks wrote an opera entitled Nausicaa ( libretto by Robert Graves ), first performed in 1961 at the Athens Festival.