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1960 Events
1961 Events
1962 Events
1963 Events
1964 Events
1961 Sixties City Events of the month in this year of the 60s
listed by month and date

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1965 Events
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1967 Events
1968 Events
1969 Events

Trivia
Sixties Academy Awards 1961 Academy Awards - The 'Oscars'
Best Actor:
Maximilian Schell (Judgement At Nuremberg)
Best Actress: Sophia Loren (Two Women)
Best Film: West Side Story
Sixties City Eurovision
Winner: Luxembourg
Jean Claude Pascal 'Nous, Les Amoureux'
Sixties average weekly wage
Average Weekly Wage
£15.6s.10d
UK Population
52,807,000
World Population
3,080,063,747
Sixties Prices
1961 Prices
Sixties Births
Notable 1961 Births
Sixties Deaths
Notable 1961 Deaths

UK Involvement in Military Actions:
Irish Border Campaign (1956-1962)

GENERAL
1961 UK Births: 944,365 1961 UK Deaths: 631,788
NEWS
Retail Price Index (RPI) 4.4% Index 13.2 Interest Rate (gross) on Savings Accounts 3.56%
1961
Viscount Linley is born to Princess Margaret
UK average house price £2,770
Philips develop the first mini tape cassette
Scientists discover Continental Drift
Grand Prix drivers Giulio Cabianca, Peter Ryan and Wolfgang von Trips die in crashes
The police 'identikit' is launched
The maximum wage is abolished in professional football
The World Wildlife Fund is formed
Johnny Haynes becomes the first £100 a week footballer
Petula Clark marries Claude Wolff
The first successful test of a 3-stage 'Minuteman' ICBM is made by The United States
Quasars are discovered by Allan Sandage at Mt Palomar, California
  Miss World is Rosemarie Frankland (Miss United Kingdom) Miss Universe is Marlene Schmidt (Miss Germany)
Denis Law moves from Manchester City to Torino, the first £100,000 transfer
Letraset art lettering is developed
The Vietnam War officially begins as the first American helicopters arrive in Saigon
Weight Watchers is founded in the USA
In-flight movies are introduced by TWA
Euston Arch in London is demolished
The E-Type Jaguar is launched
South Africa withdraws from the British Commonwealth
Ultrasound is invented in Australia by scientists at the Commonwealth Health Department
August sees budget increases in tobacco and alcohol duties
  MIT student Steve Russell, creates SPACEWARS, the first interactive computer game, on a Digital PDP-1 (Programmed Data Processor-1) mainframe computer. Limited by computer technology, ASCII text characters are the 'graphics' and people can only play the game on a device that takes up the floorspace of a small house.
January

   


1961 Prices


Average house price £2,770

UK inflation rate 2.9%



1961 Births

January 1 Marcia Cross, actress
January 2 Sara Stewart, actress
January 5 Suzy Amis, actress
January 8 Calvin Smith, American athlete
January 13 Julia Louis-Dreyfus, actress
January 26 Wayne Gretzky, Hockey Hall of Fame
January 31 Lloyd Cole, British singer / songwriter
February 9 John Kruk, baseball player, commentator
February 11 Mary Docter, American speed skater
February 11 Becky LeBeau, singer
February 11 Carey Lowell, actress
February 13 Henry Rollins, musician
February 16 - Andy Taylor, musician with Duran Duran
February 25 Davey Allison, automobile racer
March 4 Ray Mancini, boxer
March 8 Camryn Manheim, actress
March 14 Kirby Puckett, Baseball Hall of Fame
March 15 Fabio, model
March 21 Lothar Matthaeus, German footballer
March 27 Tak Matsumoto, Japanese guitarist
April 3 Eddie Murphy, actor and comedian
April 6 Gene Eugene, actor, lead singer of Adam Again
April 18 Jane Leeves, actress
April 23 George Lopez, actor, comedian
April 26 Joan Chen, actress
April 30 Isiah Thomas, basketball player, coach, owner
May 6 George Clooney, actor
May 13 Dennis Rodman, basketball player, actor
May 14 Tim Roth, actor
May 17 Enya, singer, songwriter
May 27 Peri Gilpin, actress
May 29 Melissa Etheridge, rock musician
May 31 Justin Madden, Australian Rules Footballer, politician
June 14 Boy George, musician and producer
June 26 Greg LeMond, cyclist, 3-time Tour de France winner
July 1 Diana, Princess of Wales
July 1 Carl Lewis, American track-and-field athlete
July 12 Ray Gillen, American rock singer
July 30 Laurence Fishburne, actor
August 8 The Edge, guitarist with U2
August 14 Susan Olsen, television actress
September 2 Eric Dickerson, American football Hall of Fame
September 2 Carlos Valderrama, footballer
September 13 Dave Mustaine, musician with Metallica and Megadeth
September 15 Dan Marino, American football player
September 22 Scott Baio, actor
September 25 Heather Locklear, actress
October 9 Jean Sagal, actress
October 9 Liz Sagal, actress
October 18 Wynton Marsalis, musician
October 26 Dylan McDermott, actor
October 29 Randy Jackson, musician
October 31 Alonzo Babers, American runner
October 31 Peter Jackson, director
October 31 Larry Mullen, Jr., drummer with U2
November 2 K.D. Lang, singer, songwriter
November 19 Meg Ryan, actress
November 22 Mariel Hemingway, actress
December 4 Frank Reich, American football quarterback
December 8 Ann Coulter, author, political commentator, attorney
December 15 Karin Resetarits, Austrian journalist and politician
December 25 Ingrid Betancourt, Colombian senator
December 30 Douglas Coupland, author
December 30 - Sean Hannity, talk radio host, political commentator
December 30 - Ben Johnson, Canadian athlete


1961 Deaths

January 10 Dashiell Hammett, writer
January 17 Patrice Lumumba, ex-Prime Minister of the Democratic Republic of Congo (executed)
January 21 Blaise Cendrars, writer
January 24 Alfred Carlton Gilbert, Olympic gold medallist and inventor of Erector Set
February 11 Eduard R Verkade, Dutch actor/director
February 22 Nick LaRocca, jazz musician
February 26 King Mohammed V of Morocco
March 3 Paul Wittgenstein, pianist
March 6 George Formby, entertainer
March 8 Sir Thomas Beecham, musical conductor
April 6 Jules Bordet, Belgian immunologist and microbiologist
April 9 Ahmet Zog, King of Albania
April 10 Stuart Sutcliffe, artist/musician with The Beatles
May 13 Gary Cooper, actor
May 30 Rafael Trujillo, dictator of the Dominican Republic
June 1 Melvin Jones, founder of Lions Clubs International
June 6 Carl Jung, Swiss psychiatrist
June 17 Jeff Chandler, actor
June 30 Lee DeForest - inventor
July 2 Ernest Hemingway - writer
July 17 Ty Cobb, Baseball Hall of Fame
September 18 - Dag Hammarskjold, Secretary General of the UN
October 11 Chico Marx, member of the Marx Brothers
October 13 Zoltan Korda, director
December 20 Earle Page, eleventh Prime Minister of Australia

1st
3rd
6th
10th
12th
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17th
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24th
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27th
30th
31st
31st

Frank Sinatra announces the launch of the 'Reprise' record label
The farthing, a coin in use since the 13th century, ceases to be legal tender in the U.K.
The United States breaks off diplomatic relations with Cuba
John F. Kennedy is formally elected as the 35th President of the United States
Author Dashiell Hammett dies aged 66
The first Italian space rocket is launched
Motown Records sign The Supremes to their first recording contract
Patrice Lumumba, ex-premier of the Democratic Republic of Congo, is executed by firing squad
John F. Kennedy is inaugurated as President of the United States of America
A B-52 bomber with two 24-megaton nuclear bombs crashes in the U.S.A.
Mel Blanc, the voice of Bugs Bunny, is seriously injured in a head-on collision in Los Angeles
'The Pill' brand-named 'Conovid' becomes available in the U.K. on a limited basis
The Soviet submarine S-80, with a crew of 68, vanishes in the Barents Sea
Marilyn Monroe is granted a divorce from playwright Arthur Miller
Ham, a 37lb male chimpanzee, is sent into space aboard a test flight for Project Mercury
James Meredith, an African-American, applies for admission to the all-white University of Mississippi

Ham, the Project Mercury chimpanzee

 


February

4th
4th
5th
5th
6th
8th
9th
14th
15th
15th
25th
26th

The government announces plans to build the Post Office Tower
The Portuguese Colonial War begins in Angola
Sputnik 7 is launched by the Soviet Union
The first automatic half barrier is introduced on a level crossing in Uttoxeter, Staffs
The first issue of the Sunday Telegraph is published
Danny Blanchflower is the first person to refuse to appear on 'This Is Your Life'
The BBC announces that it is to drop 'Children's Hour' from radio in April. It started in 1922
The Beatles play their first engagement as 'The Beatles' in the Cavern Club
The Zuid-Afrikaanse Rand (ZAR) becomes the official currency of South Africa
The entire United States figure skating team die in a Boeing 707 crash in Belgium
Singer Jackie Wilson is shot in his New York apartment by 28 year old Juanita Jones
Kennedy appoints Henry Kissinger as a National Security Advisor
Hassan II is pronounced King of Morocco

Jackie Wilson

March


1st
2nd
4th
6th
6th
6th
7th
8th
8th
11th
13th
13th
13th
15th
17th
25th
29th
31st

President John F. Kennedy establishes the Peace Corps
Artist Pablo Picasso, 79, marries 35 year old Jacqueline Roque
The Soviet Union makes its first successful test of the V-1000 anti-ballistic missile system
Carline introduce the first minicabs, in Wimbledon
George Formby dies aged 56
The British soap opera Coronation Street is fully networked by ITV
Flying an X-15, U.S. Air Force Captain Robert White becomes the first person to exceed Mach 4
Conductor Sir Thomas Beecham dies
The first US Polaris submarine, USS Patrick Henry, arrives at Holy Loch in Scotland
Black and white £5 notes cease to be legal tender
'Ken', a doll to accompany 'Barbie', is introduced by Mattel at the American International Toy Fair
A dam bursts on the Dnieper river in the USSR - 145 dead
The 22,349 foot high Himalayan mountain Ama Dablam is climbed for the first time
Hendrik Verwoerd announces that South Africa is withdrawing from the British Commonwealth
Albert DeSalvo, 'The Boston Strangler', is arrested while trying to break into a house
A charity concert in Hawaii is Elvis's last live appearance for nearly 10 years
The Twenty-third Amendment to the United States Constitution is ratified
The Ayatollah Seyyed Hossein Borujerdi, leader of Iran's Shiite Muslims, dies aged 86

Polaris submarine and missile launch

April
1st
2nd
6th
6th
7th
8th
9th
11th
12th
13th

17th
18th
24th
25th
25th
27th
29th
29th
29th
30th

Shirley Bassey has her tonsils removed at The London Clinic
Thalidomide goes on sale for the first time in Canada
Forty biblical scrolls are found in a cave in Judaea
NY Governor Nelson Rockefeller signs the bill authorising construction of the World Trade Center
Graduated pensions are introduced in the UK
The United Nations votes 83-0 to censure South Africa over its racist policies
British passenger ship MV Dara explodes off Dubai, leading to the deaths of 238 passengers and crew
The last of the Los Angeles streetcars is retired
The trial of Adolf Eichmann begins in Jerusalem
27 year old Major Yuri Gagarin becomes the first man to safely orbit the Earth
Former Private 1st Class John A. Bennett is the last American serviceman to receive the death penalty following a court-martial
The ill-fated Bay of Pigs 'invasion' of Cuba begins
Russian spy George Blake is charged under the Official Secrets Act
The 17th century ship HMS Vasa is raised in Stockholm harbour after 333 years
Robert Noyce, founder of Intel, is granted the first patent for an integrated circuit
An unmanned American Atlas rocket is destroyed by ground control 40 seconds after launch
Sierra Leone is granted independence from the United Kingdom
Luciano Pavarotti makes his operatic debut in a production of La bohème at Reggio Emilia
The Union of African States is created as Mali joins the existing union between Ghana and Guinea
Westward Television becomes the holder of the independent television franchise for SW England
Soviet submarine K-19, the first Russian nuclear-powered submarine, is commissioned.

Adolf Eichmann on trial

HMS Vasa

May

1st
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8th
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13th
16th
17th
18th
19th
21st
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25th
26th
30th
31st

Gene Vincent is the first American star to appear on 'Thank Your Lucky Stars'
Off-course betting is legalised following the passing of the Betting and Gaming Act
Alan B. Shepard becomes the first American in space in a 19 minute sub-orbital 'hop'
Tottenham Hotspur achieve football's first League and Cup Double of the 20th century
Newly-elected M.P. Tony Benn is refused entry to the House of Commons due to his peerage
38 year old spy, George Blake, is sentenced to 42 years imprisonment
The B-52 Stratofortress enters service in the United States Air Force
Actor Gary Cooper dies aged 60
Do Young Tsang takes power in a military coup in South Korea
The new Guildford cathedral is consecrated
Lionel Bart opens his own publishing company, Apollo Music, in Shaftesbury Avenue
Venera 1 becomes the first man-made object to fly by another planet, by-passing Venus
Alabama Governor John Patterson declares martial law to restore order after race riots
Toni Gardiner from Stratford marries King Hussein of Jordan
President Kennedy announces his goal to put a "man on the moon" before the end of the 60s
A fire at Ember Records in London destroys their tape collection
Dominican dictator Rafael Trujillo is assassinated
The Union of South Africa, formerly part of the Commonwealth, becomes the Republic of South Africa

Alan B. Shepard
 

June


   
1st
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4th
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8th
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17th
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19th
21st
23rd

25th
26th
27th
27th
30th

The birth control pill is introduced in West Germany, as Anovlar
SS Canberra, the largest British liner built since WW2, departs Southampton on its maiden voyage
John F. Kennedy and Nikita Khrushchev talk about nuclear tests and disarmament in Vienna
Carl Gustav Jung dies aged 85 in Kuessnacht on Lake Lucerne
The Duke of Kent marries Katherine Worsley at York Minster
Rudolf Nureyev, 23, defects from the Kirov Ballet at Le Bourget Airport in France
Actor Jeff Chandler dies following emergency surgery
Britain ends its protectorate of the oil-rich sheikhdom of Kuwait
A stone with the name 'Pontius Pilate' on it is found at an Italian dig in Caesarea
Russian ballet dancer Rudolf Nureyev requests asylum while in Paris with the Kirov Ballet
USAF Major Robert M. White becomes the first person to fly an X-15 plane faster than one mile per second (3,600 mph) and the first to exceed Mach 5
U.S. philanthropist George Vanderbilt is found dead at the base of a skyscraper in San Francisco
African National Congress leader Nelson Mandela issues the manifesto 'The Struggle Is My Life'
Dr. Arthur Michael Ramsey becomes the 100th Archbishop of Canterbury
The British army send troops to protect Kuwait, under threat of Iraqi annexation
An Australian Census shows a population of 5,333,179

Rudolf Nureyev and Margot Fonteyn
 

July


   
1st
1st
2nd
5th
8th
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12th
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18th
19th
21st
25th
25th
31st

Bill Harry publishes the first edition of 'Mersey Beat' pop newspaper
Diana Frances Spencer , future Princess of Wales is born
British troops land in Kuwait in anticipation of an attack by Iraq
Author and adventurer Ernest Hemingway shoots himself
The first Israeli rocket, Shavit 2, is launched
John Profumo, the British Secretary of State for War, is introduced to Christine Keeler at a party
Defector Lee Harvey Oswald requests the return of his U.S. Passport in the Moscow U.S. Embassy
Lech Walesa, aged 17, begins work at the Lenin Shipyard in Gdansk, Poland
Yuri Gagarin, the first man in space, visits Britain
The Basque separatist group ETA carries out its first act of terrorism by sabotaging a train
The first regularly scheduled in-flight movie service begins on a TWA flight from New York to Los Angeles
Gus Grissom, in Mercury 4 'Liberty Bell 7', is the second American to orbit the Earth
A mini-budget puts 4d on cigarettes and 3d on a gallon of petrol
French MPs introduce legislation to ban rock concerts
The IBM Selectric typewriter is placed on the market by International Business Machines

Ernest Hemingway
 

August


4th
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31st

M.P.s approve Britain's application to join the Common Market
Barack Obama, 44th President of the United States, is born in Honolulu, Hawaii
Gherman Titov becomes the second Russian into orbit
The Fantastic Four team of superheroes is introduced by Marvel Comics
Queen Elizabeth II makes the first visit to Northern Ireland by a UK monarch since 1690
Britain formally applies for membership of the EEC
Construction of the Berlin Wall begins with the erection of a barbed-wire fence
The Brandenburg Gate is closed at 1:00 pm by East Berlin police
A 5ft concrete wall replaces the wire between East and West Berlin
Jomo Kenyatta is fully released in Kenya, nine years after his arrest
Francisco Goya's 1812 portrait of the Duke of Wellington is stolen from the National Gallery in London
Western powers place tanks and 1,000 troops along the Berlin Wall
In the A6 murder case Michael Gregsten is killed at Deadman's Hill near the village of Clophill, Beds
The earliest Roman mosaics in Britain are discovered at Fishbourne
The first launch of a 'Minuteman' missile from an underground silo at Cape Canaveral ends in failure
The Soviet Union announces the end of a three-year worldwide moratorium on nuclear testing

Jomo Kenyatta

September


4th
4th
5th
8th
10th
11th
14th
18th

18th
20th
20th
21st
22nd
26th
27th

The Renault 4 is the first 'hatchback' car
The TUC expels the Electrical Trades Union for ballot rigging
Richard Nixon, future President of the United States, makes a hole-in-one at the Bel-Air Country Club
President Kennedy announces that the USA will also end its 3-year moratorium on nuclear testing
France's President Charles de Gaulle escapes an assassination attempt to blow up his car in transit
A Ferrari car crash in the Italian Grand Prix at Monza kills 15 spectators and driver Wolfgang von Trips
The World Wildlife Fund (now known as the World Wide Fund for Nature) is founded
The first Mothercare store opens in Kingston
850 are arrested, including Vanessa Redgrave and George Melly, as 15,000 'Ban the Bomb' marchers protest in Trafalgar Square
U.N. Secretary-General Dag Hammarskjold dies in a plane crash
The Central Intelligence Agency begins moving into its new headquarters in Langley, Virginia
The Mini-Cooper is launched
Dick James opens his own music publishing company, Suite 2, in Charing Cross Road, WC2
Antonio Abertondo becomes the first person to swim the English Channel and straight back again
The Executive Committee of FIFA suspend South Africa from international football competitions
Sierra Leone becomes the 100th member of the United Nations

Crash at Monza grand prix

October


1st
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8th
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10th
11th
12th
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13th
14th

19th
19th

24th
24th
25th
31st
31st

The last steam train is used on the London underground
Drummer Brian Bennett replaces Tony Meehan in 'The Shadows'
The first escape to the West is made in Berlin through a sewer running underneath the Berlin Wall
James Hanratty is arrested in Blackpool for the A6 murder

A volcano thought to be extinct erupts on Tristan da Cunha
Leonard 'Chico' Marx dies
New, smaller 10 shilling notes come into circulation
The death penalty is abolished in New Zealand
Two new 'Mini' variations are announced - the Riley Elf and the Wolseley Hornet
Film director Zoltan Korda dies
All commercial flights in the US and Canada are grounded for 12 hours in order to conduct the NORAD exercise Operation Sky Shield II
The Arab League takes over protection of Kuwait - last British troops leave.
The Beatles and Gerry and The Pacemakers temporarily join forces to play as 'The Beatmakers' at Litherland Town Hall, Liverpool
Malta gains independence
The Soviet Union detonates a 58 megaton yield hydrogen bomb over Novaya Zemlya
The first edition of Private Eye, the British satirical magazine, is published
Josef Stalin's body is removed from the Lenin Mausoleum and reburied outside the Kremlin
Hurricane Hattie hits Belize, killing 400, with 65,000 made homeless

Josef Stalin's embalmed body

November

   
1st
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3rd
7th
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8th
9th
9th
12th
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14th
16th
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25th
26th
29th
29th

Jimmie Rodgers is the first member elected to Nashville's Country Music Hall of Fame
The government announces plans to introduce an Immigration Bill
Lenin's mausoleum re-opens after the removal of Stalin's body
United Artists announce the selection of Sean Connery to play James Bond in the film Dr. No
Konrad Adenauer is elected for a fourth term as West German Chancellor
France secretly sets off its first underground nuclear test explosion
U.S. Amateur golf champion Jack Nicklaus announces that he is turning professional
The Professional Golfers Association amends its constitution, ending membership only to white people
Brian Epstein sees The Beatles perform at the Cavern for the first time
Stalingrad is renamed Volgograd
Vladimir Yefimovich Semichastny succeeds Aleksandr Nikolayevich Shelepin as head of the KGB
Ray Charles is arrested on drug charges in Indianapolis
The British Conservative government introduces the Commonwealth Immigration Bill
The first successful launch from an underground missile silo was achieved by the United States
The USS Enterprise, the world's first nuclear-powered aircraft carrier, is commissioned
West German manufacturer Grünenthal GmbH is the first company to take thalidomide off the market
The government issues a white paper outlining plans for the abolition of London County Council
Mercury-Atlas 5 is launched, with Enos the chimpanzee aboard, orbiting the Earth twice

Enos the chimpanzee and Mercury-Atlas 5

December

1st
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22nd
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27th
27th
31st
31st

Britannia Airways is set up in the UK under the name Euravia (London)
Cuban leader Fidel Castro declares that Cuba is going to adopt Communism
The L.C.C. approves the building of 300ft tower blocks in Hammersmith
'The Pendletones' release their first record, 'Surfin' / 'Luau', as 'The Beach Boys'
Tanganyika gains independence with Julius Nyerere as its first President
The USSR severs relations with Albania
Brian Epstein becomes manager of The Beatles
Cliff Richard's film 'The Young Ones' premieres
Tanganyika (the future Tanzania) is admitted to the United Nations
An Israeli war crimes tribunal sentences nazi Adolph Eichmann to death
Goa is ceded to India after 400 years of Portuguese rule
The last legal execution in Ireland takes place as Robert McGladdery is executed for murder in Belfast
James Davis is officially, although not actually, the first U.S. soldier to be killed in Vietnam
The Soviet Passport office grants visas to Lee Harvey Oswald and his wife to travel to the United States
The first successfully hijacked aircraft lands in Havana after being diverted by its Cuban hijacker
The Empire State Building, tallest building in the world, is sold to a group of investors for $65,000,000
Ireland's first national television station, Telefís Éireann (later RTÉ), begins broadcasting
In Britain, major snowstorms blanket the nation, closing roads and cancelling New Year's Eve shows

James Davis

Whilst efforts have been made to check accuracy, this site can only provide a general overview of Sixties events. Sixties City cannot accept liability for any inaccuracies, or issues arising therefrom. I recommend that you double-check if accuracy is important. If you wish to correct an entry, please e-mail



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