* 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 )

He also appeared as himself on The Ed Sullivan Show, Sid Caesar's Your Show of Shows, The Red Skelton Show, The Merv Griffin Show, The Mike Douglas Show, and guested on Ralph Edwards ' This Is Your Life on February 12, 1961 with honoree Peter Palmer.

Capp has appeared as himself on The Ed Sullivan Show, Sid Caesar's Your Show of Shows, The Today Show, The Red Skelton Show, The Merv Griffin Show, The Mike Douglas Show, and on This Is Your Life on February 12, 1961 with host Ralph Edwards and honoree Peter Palmer.

Sandover Medalists: ( 16 total ) 1921: Cyril Hoft, 1943: Terry Moriarty, 1945: George Bailey, 1948: Merv McIntosh, 1953: Merv McIntosh, 1954: Merv McIntosh, 1961: Neville Beard, 1964: Barry Cable, 1968: Barry Cable, 1970: Pat Dalton, 1972: Ian Miller, 1973: Barry Cable, 1983: Bryan Cousins 1983, 1987: Mark Watson, 1999: Gus Seebeck, 2009: Ross Young

Hughes and Plath had two children, Frieda Rebecca ( 1960 ) and Nicholas Farrar ( 1962 ) and in 1961, bought the house Court Green, in North Tawton, Devon.

In his authoritative ' Godliness and Good Learning ' ( Cassell 1961 ), D. H. Newsome points out that muscular Christianity developed after Arnold's time at Rugby and that " although ' Tom Brown's School Days ' is one of the earliest examples of the delight in athleticism, the ideal there expressed is not that of Arnold but of Thomas Hughes author " ( page 80 ).

Syncom ( for " synchronous communication satellite ") started as a 1961 NASA program for active geosynchronous communication satellites, all of which were developed and manufactured by Hughes Space and Communications.

* The Carpetbaggers ( 1961 ) by Harold Robbins is a fictionalized version of the early Hollywood exploits of Howard Hughes and actress Jean Harlow.

* Joyce Hughes, class of 1961, first Black female tenure track law professor at a majority white law school.

He then began acting in daytime TV, appearing in soap operas such as The Edge of Night ( as Ben Schultz, 1961 ) and As the World Turns ( as Tom Hughes, 1966 – 67 ), which were broadcast from his native Manhattan.

The first use of the term " golden parachute " is credited to a 1961 attempt by creditors to oust Howard Hughes from control of TWA airlines.

In 1961 EMI issued an LP of selections with Barbara Leigh, David Hughes, Andy Cole and Maggie Fitzgibbon ( Cole and Fitzgibbon had appeared together in a 1961 London revival ).

Mervyn Gregory Hughes ( born 23 November 1961 ) is a former Australian cricketer.

* Leonard Spigelgass ' A Majority of One ( 1959 ) with Cedric Hardwicke and Barnard Hughes – she reprised her role ( as " Essie Rubin ") in the 1961 film adaptation ;

In As the World Turns, Tom Hughes was born on screen in 1961.

In 1961, when his recording career was in decline, Bradford joined the cast of the off-Broadway show Black Nativity, based on the writings of Langston Hughes, which toured Europe in 1962.

In 1961 the two Aerospace Group divisions were reformed as Hughes Space and Communications Company.

* Boys in White: Student Culture in Medical School with Blanche Geer, Everett C. Hughes and Anselm Strauss ( Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1961 ).

After stepping down as Secretary of Labor, Mitchell was chosen the Republican candidate for Governor of New Jersey in a bitter primary over State Senators Walter H. Jones and Wayne Dumont, Jr. with 43. 7 % of the vote in 1961, but lost a close general election to the Democratic candidate, Richard J. Hughes by 1, 084, 194 to 1, 049, 274 ; a margin of 34, 920.

* John Hughes ( writer ) ( born 1961 ), Australian writer and essayist

* Tom Hughes ( pitcher, born 1884 ) ( 1884 – 1961 ), Major League Baseball pitcher 1906 – 1918

In 1961, Hughes decided to retire from acting and began working as a receptionist in a plastic surgeon's office, although she continued her appearances in nightclubs.

According to Arnold Rampersad, a Hughes scholar, Hughes had “ virtually pioneered ” the black gospel musical, first with Black Nativity ( 1961 ) and then with Jericho-Jim Crow.