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January 1 - The farthing coin, used since the 13th century, ceases to be legal tender in the United Kingdom.

January 3 - President Dwight Eisenhower announces that the United States has severed diplomatic and consular relations with Cuba.

January 3 - SL-1, an atomic reactor, explodes at National Reactor Testing Station in Idaho Falls, Idaho, killing 3 military technicians.

January 5 - Italian sculptor Alfredo Fioravanti marches into the U.S. Consulate in Rome, and confesses that he was part of the team that forged the Etruscan terracotta warriors in the Metropolitan Museum of Art.

January 7 - Following a four-day conference in Casablanca, five African chiefs of state announce plans for a NATO-type African organization to ensure common defense. The Charter of Casablanca involves Morocco, the United Arab Republic, Ghana, Guinea, and Mali.

January 8 - In France, a referendum supports Charles de Gaulle's policies in Algeria.

January 9 - British authorities announce that they have discovered a large Soviet spy ring in London.

January 17 - President Dwight Eisenhower gives his final State of the Union Address to Congress. In a Farewell Address the same day, he warns of the increasing power of a "military-industrial complex".

January 17 - Patrice Lumumba is assassinated.

January 20 - John F. Kennedy becomes the 35th President of the United States.

January 24 - A U.S. B-52 bomber, with two roughly 2.4 megaton nuclear bombs, crashes near Goldsboro, North Carolina.

January 24 - Musician Bob Dylan is said to have made his way to New York City after bumming a ride in Madison, Wisconsin. Dylan is likely on his way to visit his idol Woody Guthrie. He later finds fame in the Greenwich Village protest folk music scene.

January 25 - In Washington, DC John F. Kennedy delivers the first live presidential news conference. In it, he announces that the Soviet Union has freed the two surviving crewmen of a USAF RB-47 reconnaissance plane shot down by Soviet flyers over the Barents Sea July 1, 1960. (see RB-47H shot down)

January 25 - Acting to halt 'leftist excesses,' a junta comprised of 2 army officers and 4 civilians takes over the rule of El Salvador, ousting another junta that had ruled for 3 months.

January 26 - John F. Kennedy appoints Janet G. Travell to be his physician, the first woman to hold this appointment.

January 26 - Wayne Gretzky, professional hockey player (Known as "The Great One") is born in Brantford, Ontario, Canada.

January 30 - President John F. Kennedy delivers his first State of the Union Address.

January 30 - Martin Luther King Jr. has a son - Dexter Scott King.

January 31 - Ham, a 37 pound male chimpanzee, is rocketed into space aboard Mercury-Redstone 2, in a test of the Project Mercury capsule, designed to carry U.S. astronauts into space.

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February 3 - China buys grain from Canada for $60 million.

February 4 - The Portuguese Colonial War begins in Angola.

February 5 - February 9 - In Congo, President Joseph Kasavubu names Joseph Ileo as the new Prime Minister.

February 13 - The Congo government announces that villagers have killed Patrice Lumumba.

February 14 - Discovery of the chemical elements: Element 103, Lawrencium, is first synthesized in Berkeley, California.

February 15 - A Sabena Boeing 707 crashes near Brussels, Belgium, killing 73, including the entire United States figure skating team and several coaches.

February 25 - The last public tram operates in Sydney, Australia, bringing to an end the Southern Hemisphere's largest tramway network.

February 26 - Hassan II is pronounced King of Morocco.

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March 1 - President of the United States John F. Kennedy establishes the Peace Corps.

March 1 - Uganda becomes self-governing by holding its first general elections.

March 3 - Hassan II is crowned King of Morocco.

March 8 - Max Conrad circumnavigates the earth in 8 days, 18 hours and 49 minutes, setting a new world record.

March 8 - The first US Polaris submarines arrive at Holy Loch.

March 13 - Black and white £5 notes cease to be legal tender in the UK.

March 13 - A dam bursts on the Dnieper River in the USSR, killing 145.

March 15 - South Africa withdraws from the Commonwealth of Nations.

March 18 - A ceasefire takes effect in the Algerian War of Independence.

March 18 - Nous les amoureux by Jean-Claude Pascal (music by Jacques Datin, text by Maurice Vidalin) wins Eurovision Song Contest 1961 for Luxembourg.

March 29 - The Twenty-third Amendment to the United States Constitution is ratified, allowing residents of Washington, DC to vote in presidential elections.

March 30 - The Single Convention on Narcotic Drugs is signed at New York.

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April 5 - The New Guinea Council of Western Papua is installed.

April 11 - The trial of Adolf Eichmann begins in Jerusalem.

April 12 - Albert Kalonji takes the title Emperor Albert I Kalonji of South Kasai.

April 12 - Yuri Gagarin, a Soviet cosmonaut, becomes the first human in space.

April 17 - The Bay of Pigs Invasion of Cuba begins, ending in failure April 19.

April 20 - Fidel Castro announces that the Bay of Pigs invasion has been defeated.

April 22 - Algiers putsch: Four French generals who oppose de Gaulle's policies in Algeria fail in a coup attempt.

April 23 - Judy Garland performs in a legendary comeback concert at Carnegie Hall in New York City.

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May 4 - Freedom Riders: 13 black and white students with the Congress of Racial Equality (CORE) leave Washinton DC on two buses, to test integration laws in bus stations throughout the deep South.

May 5 - Alan B. Shepard becomes the first American in space aboard Mercury-Redstone 3.

May 8 - British George Blake is sentenced to 42 years imprisonment for spying.

May 14 - American civil rights movement: A Freedom Riders bus is fire-bombed near Anniston, Alabama and the civil rights protestors are beaten by an angry mob.

May 16 - A military coup in South Korea - Park Chung Hee takes over.

May 19 - Venera program: Venera 1 becomes the first man-made object to fly-by another planet by passing Venus (however, the probe had lost contact with Earth a month earlier and did not send back any data).

May 21 - American civil rights movement: Alabama Governor John Patterson declares martial law in an attempt to restore order after race riots break out.

May 24 - American civil rights movement: Freedom Riders are arrested in Jackson, Mississippi for "disturbing the peace" after disembarking from their bus.

May 25 - Apollo program: President Kennedy announces before a special joint session of Congress his goal to initiate a project to put a man on the Moon before the end of the decade.

May 27 - Tunku Abdul Rahman, Prime Minister of Malaya, holds a press conference in Singapore, announcing his idea of formation of the Federation of Malaysia, comprising Malaya, Singapore, Sarawak, Brunei and North Borneo(Sabah).

May 28 - Peter Benenson's article "The Forgotten Prisoners" is published in several internationally read newspapers. This will later be thought of as the founding of the human rights organization Amnesty International.

May 30 - Rafael Leónidas Trujillo, totalitarian despot of the Dominican Republic since 1930, is killed in an ambush, putting an end to the second longest-running dictatorship in Latin American history.

May 31 - In France, rebel generals Maurice Challe and Andre Zelelr are sentenced to 15 years in prison.

May 31 - South Africa officially leaves the Commonwealth of Nations.

May 31 - President John F. Kennedy and Charles De Gaulle meet in Paris.

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June 4 - John F. Kennedy and Nikita Khrushchev meet during 2 days in Vienna. They discuss nuclear tests, disarmament and Germany.

June 17 - A Paris-to-Strassbourg train derails near Ventyr-le-Francois; 24 are killed, 109 injured.

June 17 - The New Democratic Party of Canada is founded with the merger of the Cooperative Commonwealth Federation (CCF) and the Canadian Labour Congress.

June 19 - The British protectorate ends in Kuwait and it becames an emirate.

June 21 - Russian ballet dancer Rudolf Nureyev requests asylum in France while in Paris with the Kirov Ballet.

June 22 - Moise Tshombe is released for lack of evidence of connection to the murder of Patrice Lumumba.

June 25 - U.S. philanthropist George Washington Vanderbilt III is found dead at the base of a San Francisco skyscraper.

June 25 - Iraqi president Abdul Karim Kassem announces he is going to annex Kuwait.

June 27 - Kuwait requests British help; the United Kingdom sends in troops.

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July 2 - Ernest Hemingway commits suicide by gunshot in Sun Valley, Idaho.

July 4 - The Soviet submarine K-19 reactor leak occurs in the North Atlantic.

July 5 - The first Israeli rocket, Shavit 2, is launched.

July 8 - A mine explosion in Czechoslovakia leaves 108 dead.

July 21 - Mercury program: Gus Grissom, piloting the Mercury-Redstone 4 capsule Liberty Bell 7, becomes the second American to go into space (sub-orbital). Upon splashdown, the hatch prematurely opens, and the capsule sinks (it will be recovered in 1999).

July 31 - At Fenway Park in Boston, Massachusetts, the first All-Star Game tie in major league baseball history occurs when the game is stopped in the 9th inning due to rain. It will be the only tie (until 2002) in MLB All-Star Game history.

July 31 - Ireland submits the first ever application to join the then EEC.

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August 10 - Britain applies for membership in the EEC.

August 13 - Construction of the Berlin Wall begins. Movement between East Berlin and West Berlin remains restricted for the next 28 years, until November 9, 1989.

August 21 - Jomo Kenyatta is released from prison in Kenya.

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September 14 - The new military government of Turkey sentences 15 members of the previous government to death.

September 17 - Military rulers in Turkey publicly hang former president Adnan Menderes.

September 17-18 - Dag Hammarskjöld dies in an air crash en route to Katanga, Congo.

September 21 - In France, OAS slips an anti-de Gaulle message into TV programming.

September 24 - The old Deutsche Opernhaus in the Berlin neighborhood of Charlottenburg is returned to its newly rebuilt house as the Deutsche Oper Berlin.

September 28 - A military coup in Damascus, Syria effectively ends the United Arab Republic, the union between Egypt and Syria.

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October 1 - Baseball player Roger Maris of the New York Yankees hits his 61st home run in the last game of the season, against the Boston Red Sox, beating the 34-year-old record held by Babe Ruth.

October 10 - A volcanic eruption on Tristan da Cunha causes the whole population to be evacuated.

October 12 - The death penalty is abolished in New Zealand.

October 17 - "Battle of Paris": French police attack in Paris about 30,000 protesting a curfew applied solely to Algerians. The official death toll is 3, but human rights groups claim 240 dead.

October 19 - The Arab League takes over protecting Kuwait - the last British troops leave.

October 25 - The first edition of Private Eye, the British satirical magazine, is published.

October 27 - An armistice begins in Katanga, Congo.

October 27 - Mongolia and Mauritania join the United Nations.

October 27 - A standoff between Soviet and American tanks in Berlin, Germany heightens Cold War tensions.

October 29 - RBS Channel 7, the Philippines' third TV station is launched

October 30 - Nuclear testing: The Soviet Union detonates a 58 megaton yield hydrogen bomb known as Tsar Bomba over Novaya Zemlya. It remains the largest ever (man-made) explosion.

October 31 - Hurricane Hattie devastates Belize City, Belize killing over 270. After the hurricane, the capital moves to the inland city of Belmopan.

October 31 - Joseph Stalin's body is removed from the Lenin Mausoleum.

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November 1 - The Interstate Commerce Commission's federal order banning segregation at all interstate public facilities officially comes into effect.

November 2 - Kean opens at Broadway Theater New York City for 92 performances.

November 3 - The UN General Assembly unanimously elects U Thant acting Secretary General.

November 6 - The U.S. government issues a stamp honoring the 100th birthday of James Naismith.

November 9 - Neil Armstrong records a world record speed in a rocket plane of 6,587km/h flying a X-15.

November 10 - Catch-22 is first published by Joseph Heller.

November 11 - Congolese soldiers murder 13 Italian United Nations pilots.

November 11 - Stalingrad is renamed Volgograd.

November 18 - Gay Life opens at Shubert Theater in New York City, for 113 performances.

November 18 - U.S. President John F. Kennedy sends 18,000 military advisors to South Vietnam.

November 20 - The funeral of longtime House Speaker Sam Rayburn is held in Washington, DC. Two former Presidents (Truman, Eisenhower) and one future one (Lyndon B. Johnson) join President Kennedy in paying their respects.

November 30 - The Soviet Union vetoes Kuwait's application for United Nations membership.

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December 1 - Netherlands New Guinea raises the new Morning Star flag and changes its name to West Papua. December 2 - Cold War: In a nationally broadcast speech, Cuban leader Fidel Castro declares he is a Marxist-Leninist, and that Cuba will adopt Communism. December 5 - U.S. President John F. Kennedy gives support to the Volta Dam project in Ghana. December 9 - Tanganyika gains independence and declares itself a republic, with Julius Nyerere as its first President. December 9 - The Australian government of Robert Menzies is re-elected for a sixth term. December 10 - The Soviet Union severs diplomatic relations with Albania. December 11 - The Vietnam War officially begins, as the first American helicopters arrive in Saigon along with 400 U.S. personnel. December 11 - Adolf Eichmann is pronounced guilty of crimes against humanity by a panel of 3 Israeli judges. December 11 - Nobel Prize: Malvin Calvin is awarded the Nobel Prize for the process of photosynthesis. December 15 - An Israeli war crimes tribunal sentences Adolf Eichmann to die for his part in the Jewish holocaust. December 17 - India occupies Goa. December 19 - Goa is officially ceded to India after 400 years of Portuguese rule. December 19 - Sukarno announces that he will take West Irian by force if necessary. December 21 - In Congo, Katangan prime minister Moise Tshombe recognizes the Congolese constitution. December 23 - Luxembourg's national holiday, the Grand Duke's Official Birthday, is set on June 23 by Grand Ducal decree. December 30 - Congolese troops capture Albert Kalonji of South Kasai (who soon escapes). December 31 - The Marshall Plan expires, after having distributed more than $12 billion in foreign aid to rebuild Europe. December 31 - Ireland's first national television station, Teilifís Éireann (later RTÉ), begins broadcasting.

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John F. Kennedy begins the Apollo program of U.S. manned spaceflight.

The first quasar is discovered by Allan Sandage at Mt Palomar, California

World population reaches 3 billion

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January 1 - Mark Wingett, British actor

January 2 - Gabrielle Carteris, American actress

January 2 - Todd Haynes, American film director

January 8 - Calvin Smith, American athlete

January 13 - Julia Louis-Dreyfus, American actress

January 13 - Suggs, British singer (Madness)

January 17 - Maia Chiburdanidze, Georgian chess player

January 18 - Mark Messier, Canadian hockey player

January 24 - Nastassja Kinski, German-born actress

January 26 - Wayne Gretzky, Canadian hockey player

January 31 - Lloyd Cole, British singer and songwriter

February 1 - Volker Fried, German field hockey player

February 3 - Jim Balsillie, Canadian CEO and philanthropist

February 9 - John Kruk, baseball player and commentator

February 10 -George Stephanopoulos, American political consultant and commentator

February 11 -Mary Docter, American speed skater

February 11- Carey Lowell, American actress

February 13 -Henry Rollins, American musician

February 16 -Andy Taylor, British musician (Duran Duran)

February 25 -Davey Allison, American race car driver (d. 1993)

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March 4 - Ray Mancini, American boxer

March 4 - Steven Weber, American actor

March 8 - Camryn Manheim, American actress

March 10 - Laurel Clark, astronaut (d. 2003)

March 14 - Gary Dell'Abate, radio producer (The Howard Stern Show)

March 16 - Brett Kenny, Australian rugby league player

March 17 - Umayya Abu-Hanna, Palestine-born Finnish writer and politician

March 21 - Lothar Matthäus, German footballer

March 23 - Helmi Johannes, Indonesian television newscaster

March 27 - Tak Matsumoto, Japanese guitarist (B'z)

March 29 - Gerardo Teissonniere, Puerto Rican pianist

April 2 - Christopher Meloni, American actor

April 3 - Eddie Murphy, American actor and comedian

April 5 - Lisa Zane, American actress

April 6 - Gene Eugene, Canadian actor and singer (Adam Again)

April 12 - Lisa Gerrard, Australian musician

April 18 - Jane Leeves, English actress

April 20 - Don Mattingly, baseball player

April 23 - George Lopez, American actor and comedian

April 27 - Moana Pozzi, Italian porn actress (d. 1994)

April 30 - Isiah Thomas, American basketball player, coach, and team owner

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May 6 - George Clooney, American actor

May 12 - Billy (William H) Duffy, English guitarist (The Cult)

May 13 - Dennis Rodman, American basketball player and actor

May 14 - Tim Roth, English actor

May 27 - Peri Gilpin, American actress

May 29 - Melissa Etheridge, American musician

May 31 - Justin Madden, Australian footballer and politician

June 1 - Paul Coffey, Canadian hockey player

June 2 - Dez Cadena. American musician

June 3 - Lawrence Lessig, Professor and Free Culture activist

June 5 - Rosie Kane, member of Scottish Parliament

June 6 - Tom Araya, Chilean-born musician (Slayer)

June 9 - Michael J. Fox, Canadian actor

June 14 - Boy George, British musician and producer

June 15 - Dave McAuley, Northern Irish boxer

June 18 - Andrés Galarraga, Venezuelan Major League Baseball player

June 22 - Stephen Batchelor, British field hockey player

June 23 - Zoran Janjetov, Serbian comic artist

June 25 - Ricky Gervais, English comedian

June 26 - Greg LeMond, American cyclist

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July 1 - Kalpana Chawla, astronaut (d. 2003)

July 1 - Diana, Princess of Wales (d. 1997)

July 1 - Carl Lewis, American athlete

July 12 - Ray Gillen, American singer (d. 1993)

July 14 - Jackie Earle Haley, American actor

July 19 - Maria Filatova, Soviet gymnast

July 19 - Benoît Mariage, Belgian film director

July 26 - Keiko Matsui, Japanese pianist and composer

July 30 - Laurence Fishburne, American actor

August 1 - Steven F. Zambo, film producer, director and screenwriter

August 3 - Nicholas Harvey, English politician

August 4 - Barack Obama, US Senator, author

August 5 - Clayton Rohner, American actor

August 7 - Yelena Davydova, Soviet gymnast

August 8 - The Edge, Irish guitarist (U2)

August 14 - Susan Olsen, American actress

August 21 - Stephen Hillenburg, animation writer and artist

August 25 - Billy Ray Cyrus, American singer and actor

August 29 - Carsten Fischer, German field hockey player

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September 2 - Eric Dickerson, American football player

September 2 - Carlos Valderrama, Colombian footballer

September 6 - Paul Waaktaar-Savoy, Norwegian guitarist (a-ha)

September 6 - Scott Travis, American drummer (Judas Priest)

September 11 - Elizabeth Daily, American Actress

September 12 - Mylene Farmer, Canadian singer and songwriter

September 13 - Dave Mustaine, former Metallica guitarist, frontman of Megadeth

September 15 - Dan Marino, American football player

September 18 - James Gandolfini, American actor

September 22 - Scott Baio, American actor

September 23 - William C. McCool, US Army Commander and astronaut (d. 2003)

September 25 - Heather Locklear, American actress

September 26 - Edward Kennedy Jr, son of U.S. Senator Ted Kennedy

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October 2 - Edmond Yu, Chinese student (d. 1997)

October 11 - Steve Young, American football player

October 11 - Amr Diab, Egyptian singer

October 16 - Randy Vasquez, American Actor

October 18 - Wynton Marsalis, American trumpeter and composer

October 18 - Rick Moody, American writer

October 26 - Dylan McDermott, American actor

October 29 - Randy Jackson, American musician

October 31 - Alonzo Babers, American runner

October 31 - Peter Jackson, New Zealand film director

October 31 - Larry Mullen, Jr., Irish drummer (U2)

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November 1 - Anne Donovan, American basketball player

November 2 - k.d. lang, Canadian singer and songwriter

November 4 - Daron Hagen, American composer

November 4 - Ralph Macchio, American actor

November 4 - Nigel Worthington, Northern Irish footballer and football manager

November 5 - Gina Mastrogiacomo, American actress (d. 2001)

November 18 - Anthony Warlow, Australian stage performer

November 19 - Meg Ryan, American actress

November 20 - Dave Watson, English footballer

November 22 - Mariel Hemingway, American actress

November 22 - Randal L. Schwartz, American computer programmer

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December 4 - Frank Reich, American football player

December 8 - Ann Coulter, American author, political commentator and attorney

December 12 - Sarah Sutton, British actress

December 15 - Karin Resetarits, Austrian journalist and politician

December 16 - Bill Hicks, American comedian (d. 1994)

December 19 - Matthew Waterhouse, British actor

December 19 - Eric Allin Cornell, American physicist, Nobel Prize laureate

December 19 - Reggie White, American football player (d. 2004)

December 25 - Ingrid Betancourt, Colombian senator

December 26 - John Lynch, Northern Irish actor

December 29 - Jim Reid, Scottish musician

December 30 - Douglas Coupland, Canadian author

December 30 - Sean Hannity, American talk radio host and conservative commentator

December 30 - Ben Johnson, Canadian athlete

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January 4 - Erwin Schrödinger, Austrian physicist, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1887)

January 9 - Emily Greene Balch, American writer and pacifist, recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize (b. 1867)

January 10 - Dashiell Hammett, American writer (b. 1894)

January 21 - Blaise Cendrars, Swiss writer (b. 1887)

January 24 - Alfred Carlton Gilbert, American swimmer and inventor (b. 1884)

January 26 - Stan Nichols, English cricketer (b. 1900)

February 17 - Nita Naldi, American actress (b. 1897)

February 20 - Percy Grainger, Australian composer (b. 1882)

February 22 - Nick LaRocca, American jazz musician (b. 1889)

February 26 - King Mohammed V of Morocco (b. 1909)

March 3 - Paul Wittgenstein, Austrian-born pianist (b. 1887)

March 6 - George Formby, British singer, comedian & actor (b. 1904)

March 8 - Thomas Beecham, English conductor (b. 1879)

March 8 - Gala Galaction, Romanian writer (b. 1879)

March 23 - Valentin Bondarenko, Russian Cosmonaut (b. 1937)

April 6 - Jules Bordet, Belgian immunologist and microbiologist, recipient of the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine (b. 1870)

April 7 - Vanessa Bell, English artist and interior designer (b. 1879)

April 9 - Ahmet Zog, King of Albania (b. 1895)

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May 13 - Gary Cooper, American actor (b. 1901)

May 30 - Rafael Leónidas Trujillo, dictator of the Dominican Republic (b. 1891)

May 31 - Walter Little, Canadian politician (b. 1877)

June 1 - Melvin Jones, American founder of Lions Clubs International (b. 1879)

June 6 - Carl Jung, Swiss psychiatrist (b. 1875)

June 16 - Marcel Junod, Swiss physician (b. 1904)

June 17 - Jeff Chandler, American actor (b. 1918)

June 30 - Lee DeForest, American inventor (b. 1873)

July 1 - Louis-Ferdinand Céline, French writer (b. 1894)

July 2 - Ernest Hemingway, American writer, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1899)

July 6 - Woodall Rodgers, Mayor of Dallas, Texas (b. 1890)

July 17 - Ty Cobb, baseball player (b. 1886)

August 20 - Percy Williams Bridgman, American physicist, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1882)

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September 17 - Adnan Menderes, Turkish prime minister (executed) (b. 1899)

September 18 - Dag Hammarskjöld, Swedish Secretary General of the United Nations, recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize (b. 1905)

September 25 - Frank Fay, American actor (b. 1897)

October 11 - Chico Marx, American comedian (b. 1887)

October 13 - Maya Deren, Russian-born filmmaker (b. 1917)

November 1 - Mordecai Ham, American evangelist (b. 1877)

November 2 - James Thurber, American humorist (b. 1894)

November 16 - Sam Rayburn, Speaker of the United States House of Representatives (b. 1882)

December 20 - Moss Hart, American dramatist (b. 1904)

December 20 - Earle Page, eleventh Prime Minister of Australia (b. 1880)

December 25 - Otto Loewi, German-born pharmacologist, recipient of the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine (b. 1873)

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Empress Menen of Ethiopia, wife of Haile Selassie

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Physics - Robert Hofstadter, Rudolf Ludwig Mössbauer

Chemistry - Melvin Calvin

Physiology or Medicine - Georg von Békésy

Literature - Ivo Andric

Peace - Dag Hammarskjöld - awarded posthumously