* 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 )

In 1961 The Beatles ( comprising Lennon, McCartney, Harrison, and Pete Best ), who had met Sheridan during their first visit to Hamburg in 1960, worked with him on their second.

Alternatively, the comic book story " Mickey's Strange Mission " from Walt Disney's Comics & Stories # 245 ( 1961, by Carl Fallberg and Paul Murry ) suggests a cultured ancestry for Pete, giving his full name as the genteel Percy P. Percival.

The Pete Craig designed course was completed in 1961.

Although Mancini developed such a close partnership with Manne that he was using him for practically all his scores and other music at this time, the drummer still found time to perform on movie soundtracks and in TV shows with music by others, including the series Richard Diamond ( music by Pete Rugolo, 1959 – 1960 ), and Checkmate ( music by John Williams, 1959 – 1962 ), and the film version of Leonard Bernstein's West Side Story ( 1961 ).

He also presented popular music on the BBC Light Programme, notably in Pete Murray's Party from 1958 to 1961, and hosted one of BBC Television's earliest pop music programmes, the skiffle-based Six-Five Special ( 1957 – 1958 ).

Nazareth formed in December 1968 in Dunfermline, Scotland, from the remaining members of semi-professional local group The Shadettes ( formed in 1961 ) by vocalist Dan McCafferty, guitarist Manny Charlton ( ex Mark V and The Red Hawks ), bassist Pete Agnew, and drummer Darrell Sweet.

Pete Louis Vincent de Freitas ( 2 August 1961 – 14 June 1989 ) was a musician and producer, best known as a drummer with Echo & the Bunnymen, and whose drumming skills have been compared to Dave Grohl's.

Jaffe co-starred in the American TV series Ben Casey as Dr. David Zorba from 1961 to 1965 alongside Vince Edwards and had many guest starring roles on other series, including Batman as Mr. Zoltan Zorba, and the western Alias Smith and Jones starring Pete Duel and Ben Murphy.

Ruth Jones, her husband Dr. Crawford Jones, brother David Major and Pete McGarvey organized the first Mariposa Folk Festival in August 1961.

# Pete Seeger, American Favorite Ballads: Tunes and Songs as sung by Pete Seeger ( 1961 ), p. 56, " Froggie Went A-Courtin '" ( 1 text, 1 tune )

* 1961 – Michaela Dornonville de la Cour, Swedish singer and actress ( Army of Lovers )

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.