* 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 – Michaela Paetsch, American violinist

** Michaela Marie Prinzessin von Preußen ( born 5 March 1967 ), who married Jürgen Wessolly ( born 2 February 1961 ) on 14 February 2000, with issue:

* 1961 – Pete de Freitas, Spanish drummer ( Echo & the Bunnymen ) ( d. 1989 )

In 1961, President John F. Kennedy and First Lady Jacqueline Kennedy of the United States paid their respects at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier, accompanied by French President Charles de Gaulle.

Ivoirian members of the French Troupes de Marine who had been born in Côte d ' Ivoire were transferred to Abidjan in October 1961 to start establishing the armed forces.

This range consist of Junior ( basic model ) made from 1959 to 1961, Junior de Luxe ( a little enhanced ) from 1961 to 1963, F11 ( a little larger ) and F12 ( larger and bigger engine ) from 1963 to 1965 and F12 Roadster from 1964 to1965.

Some of the first films of this new genre were Godard's Breathless ( À bout de souffle, 1960 ), starring Jean-Paul Belmondo, Rivette's Paris Belongs to Us ( Paris nous appartient, 1958-distributed in 1961 ), starring Jean-Claude Brialy and Truffaut's The 400 Blows ( Les Quatre Cent Coups, 1959 ) starring Jean-Pierre Léaud.

The 1st Foreign Parachute Regiment ( 1 < sup > e </ sup > Régiment Étranger Parachutiste, 1 < sup > e </ sup > REP ) was established in 1955 during the Algerian War and disbanded in April 1961 as the entire regiment rose against the French government of Charles de Gaulle ( Algiers Putsch ), in protest against moves to negotiate an end to the Algerian War and providing Algeria's independence from France.

* 1961 – Askeladden og de gode hjelperne

* 1879 – Mazo de la Roche, Canadian author ( d. 1961 )

* 1961: La Princesse de Clèves directed by Jean Delannoy

* 1961: La Princesse de Clèves directed by Jean Delannoy

* 1961 – In France a referendum supports Charles de Gaulle's policies in Algeria.

* 1961 – The Portuguese luxury cruise ship Santa Maria is hijacked by foes of the Estado Novo regime with the intention of waging war until dictator António de Oliveira Salazar was overthrown.

* Robson, John Adam ( 1961 ), Wyclif and the Oxford Schools: The Relation of the " Summa de Ente " to Scholastic Debates at Oxford in the Later Fourteenth Century, Cambridge, England: Cambridge University Press.

Among the last bases to be closed were those at Kati, on 8 June 1961, Tessalit ( un base aérienne secondaire ), on 8 July 1961, Gao ( la base aérienne 163 de Gao ), on 2 August 1961, and Air Base 162 at Bamako ( la base aérienne 162 de Bamako ), on 5 September 1961.

Maurice Merleau-Ponty () ( 14 March 1908 – 3 May 1961 ) was a French phenomenological philosopher, strongly influenced by Karl Marx, Edmund Husserl, and Martin Heidegger in addition to being closely associated with Jean-Paul Sartre ( who later stated he had been " converted " to Marxism by Merleau-Ponty ) and Simone de Beauvoir.

He was awarded the Chair of Philosophy at the Collège de France from 1952 until his death in 1961, making him the youngest person to have been elected to a Chair.