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

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Trivia
Sixties Academy Awards 1960 Academy Awards - The 'Oscars'
Best Actor: Burt Lancaster (Elmer Gantry)  
Best Actress: Elizabeth Taylor (Butterfield 8)
Best Film: The Apartment 
Sixties City Eurovision
Winner:
France
Jacqueline Boyer 'Tom Pillibi'
Sixties average weekly wage
Average Weekly Wage
£14.10s.8d
UK Population
52,373,000
World Population
3,039,433,944
Sixties City Olympics
1960 Rome Summer Olympics
- British Gold Medal Winners
Don Thompson - 50km Walk  Anita Lonsborough - 200metres Breaststroke
Sixties Prices
1960 Prices
Sixties Births
Notable 1960 Births
Sixties Deaths
Notable 1960 Deaths

UK Involvement in Military Actions:
Malayan Emergency (1948-1960) Victory: Communist retreat from Malaya, Malayan independence
Mau Mau Uprising (1952-1960) Victory: Defeat of Mau Mau, Kenyan independence
Cypriot intercommunal violence (1955-1960) Military victory, EOKA political victory: Cyprus became an independent republic in 1960 with Britain retaining control of two Sovereign Base Areas, at Akrotiri and Dhekelia.
Irish Border Campaign (1956-1962)

GENERAL 1960 UK Births: 918,286 1960 UK Deaths: 603,328
NEWS Retail Price Index (RPI) 1.8% Index 12.6 Interest Rate (gross) on Savings Accounts 3.38%
1960 Communist China and the Soviet Union split in conflict over communist ideology UK average house price £2,530
Senegal, Ghana, Nigeria, Madagascar, and Zaire (Belgian Congo) gain independence Berry Gordy forms the Tamla and Motown record labels
Automatic pin-spotters for bowling alleys are introduced into the U.K. Sony market the first all-transistor television set
'Cathy's Clown' by the Everly Brothers is WB1 - Warner Brothers first U.K. release France tests its first atomic bomb in the Sahara desert
Cliff Richard makes his first U.S. tour There are 900 U.S. military advisers in South Vietnam
Elvis gets his first U.K. gold disc for 'It's Now Or Never' - his 35th in total Mao Tse-Tung issues his 'little red book'
Bobby Darin marries Alexandra Zuck, better known as Sandra Dee U.K. unemployment quoted at 355,000
Vaccines are introduced for measles and rubella Teflon is patented
Miss World is Norma Cappagli (Miss Argentina) The inertia seat belt is invented and marketed by Britax
The Royal Shakespeare Company is formed Miss Universe is Linda Bement (Miss U.S.A.)
Pentel invent the fibre tipped pen The ball & racket sport 'Speed-Ball' is invented by an Egyptian, Mr. Mohamed Lotfy
Actor Tommy Sands marries Nancy Sinatra
The first 'Airfix Magazine' was produced. Airfix was one of the very few toy companies to have their own magazine - the first issue cost one shilling (5p)
   Dave Dee in 1958
On April 17th 1960 Dave Dee was a police cadet who attended the scene of the car accident in which singer Eddie Cochran died and Gene Vincent was injured when a burst tyre caused their taxi to crash into a lamppost near Chippenham, Wiltshire.
Dee managed to salvage Cochran's Gretsch guitar which he held on to for several weeks during which time he 'had a good strum on it' before returning it to Cochran's family in America.

January

   
1960 Prices

800g Unsliced white loaf - 11.5d (4.8p)
Litre of petrol - 5.76d (2.4p)
Pint of milk - 8d (3.3p)
Pint of beer - 8.5d (3.6p)
12 size 2 eggs - 5s 11d (29.5p)
1kg Cheddar cheese - 6s 2d (31p)
1kg Granulated sugar - 1s 5.5d (7.4p)
1.5kg Flour - 1s 11.5d (9.8p)

250g of butter - 2s 5d (12p)
20 king-size cigarettes - 4s (20p)
1kg potatoes - 6d (2.5p)
125g loose tea - 1s 8d (8.3p)
Fish and chips - 1s 2d (6p)
Belling Electric Cooker - £51
Lavalux washing machine - £87 3s
Hoover steam iron - £4 12s 1d
2nd class rail return to Glasgow ££8 8s

Average house price £2,530


UK inflation rate 1.1%



1960 Births


January 3 Joan Chen, actress
January 4 Michael Stipe, singer for R.E.M.
January 6 Nigella Lawson, writer
January 11 Stanley Tucci, actor
January 12 Oliver Platt, actor
January 13 Kevin Anderson, actor
January 22 Michael Hutchence, musician with INXS
January 28 Robert von Dassanowsky, writer, producer
January 29 Greg Louganis, Olympic diving gold medalist
February 7 James Spader, actor
February 11 Richard Mastracchio, astronaut
February 13 Pierluigi Collina, football referee
February 14 Jim Kelly, American football quarterback
February 19 Prince Andrew, second son of Queen Elizabeth II
March 4 Mykelti Williamson, actor
March 7 Ivan Lendl, tennis player
March 13 Adam Clayton, bassist with U2
March 18 Richard Biggs, actor
March 21 Ayrton Senna, F1 racing driver
March 24 Nena Kerner, German singer
March 26 Marcus Allen, American football star
March 29 Marina Sirtis, Star Trek actress
April 2 Linford Christie, British track athlete
April 3 Elizabeth Gracen, actress, model
April 4 Jane Eaglin, English soprano
April 4 Hugo Weaving, actor
April 14 Brad Garrett, actor
April 26 Roger Taylor, musician with Duran Duran
May 10 Bono, singer with U2
May 18 Jari Kurri, Hockey Hall of Fame
May 18 Yannick Noah, tennis player
May 20 John Billingsley, actor
May 21 Jeffrey Dahmer, serial killer
June 6 Gary Graham, actor
June 6 Steve Vai, musician
June 8 Mick Hucknall singer/songwriter with Simply Red
June 20 John Taylor, musician with Duran Duran
June 28 John Elway, American Football Hall of Fame
August 7 David Duchovny, X-Files actor
August 10 Antonio Banderas, actor
August 19 Morten Andersen, American football player
August 24 Cal Ripken, Jr., Baseball star
August 26 Branford Marsalis, jazz musician
September 9 Hugh Grant, actor
September 10 Colin Firth, actor
September 17 Damon Hill, F1 racing driver
October 5 Daniel Baldwin, actor
October 7 Kyosuke Himuro, Japanese rock singer
October 30 Diego Maradona, football player
November 3 Karch Kiraly, volleyball player
November 10 Neil Gaiman, author
November 25 John F. Kennedy, Jr., lawyer and journalist
December 4 Glynis Nunn, Australian heptathlete
December 10 Kenneth Branagh, actor, film director
December 27 Maryam d'Abo, actress


1960 Deaths

January 4 Albert Camus, French author, Nobel Prize winner
January 12 Nevil Shute, writer
January 24 Edwin Fischer, pianist and conductor
February 3 Fred Buscaglione, Italian singer and actor
February 11 Ernst von Dohnanyi, Hungarian conductor
March 2 Stanislaw Taczak, Polish genera
April 17 Eddie Cochran, singer / guitarist
May 8 J. H. C. Whitehead, British mathematician
May 30 Boris Pasternak, Russian novelist
June 19 British F1 drivers, Chris Bristow and Alan Stacey
June 23 Frantisek Omelka, Czech pedagogue
June 27 Lottie Dod, English athlete
July 6 Aneurin 'Nye' Bevan, politician
August 23 Oscar Hammerstein II
August 28 John O'Hara, U.S. cardinal
August 29 Vicki Baum, Jewish writer
October 15 Henny Porten, German film producer
November 2 Dimitri Mitropoulos, Greek conductor/pianist/composer
November 5 Mack Sennett, producer/director
November 5 Ward Bond, actor
November 5 Johnny Horton, singer
November 16 Clark Gable, actor

December 26 Watsuji Tetsuro, Japanese ethicist and philosopher

1st
4th

8th
10th
12th
12th
20th
20th
23rd

31st
In January 1960, the Mini Van is launched
Cameroon gains independence
The EFTA Treaty is signed in Stockholm by Austria, Denmark, Norway, Portugal, Sweden, Switzerland and the United Kingdom
David Cooper Nelson becomes the first (and last) convict to be executed in New Mexico's gas chamber
President Nasser lays the foundation stone of the Aswan High Dam
Author Nevil Shute dies aged 60
The only feature film made in Smell-O-Vision, 'Scent of Mystery', opens in Chicago
The government announces curbs on the sale of 'pep-pills'
The Soviet Union successfully test-fires its first ICBM, the R-7 Semyorka
Jacques Piccard and Don Walsh break a depth record in the bathyscaphe USS Trieste,descending 35,820 feet to the bottom of Challenger Deep in the Pacific Ocean
Gene Vincent walks out of a Bradford concert after audience heckling
Smell-O-Vision System

 


February


5th
8th
14th

17th
17th
18th
19th
21st
22nd
24th
24th
26th
Joe Meek launches the 'Triumph' record label with William Barrington-Coupe
The CERN particle accelerator is inaugurated in Geneva, Switzerland
The Hollywood 'Walk Of Fame' is dedicated
The United Kingdom signs a new treaty of protection with the Maldives, which has been a British protectorate since 1887
Elvis Presley achieves his first 'Gold' album
The UK and USA announce that a missile warning system will be constructed at RAF Fylingdales, Yorks.
The 1960 Winter Olympics open in Squaw Valley, Idaho U.S.A.
Prince Andrew is born, the first to a reigning British monarch since 1857
Fidel Castro nationalises all American owned businesses in Cuba
The government announces plans to build a supersonic airliner
The first American ICBM is given its first test, launched from Cape Canaveral
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration approves the use of the tranquilizer chlordiazepoxide (Librium)
Princess Margaret's engagement to Anthony Armstrong-Jones is announced
Joe Meek

March


2nd
5th
6th
10th
11th
14th
17th
18th
21st
24th
25th

Elvis Presley visits the U.K. for the only time while his plane is refuelled in Scotland
Elvis gets his discharge papers from the U.S. Army
President Eisenhower announces that 3,500 American troops will be posted to South Vietnam
Record Retailer / Music Week publishes the first U.K. L.P. chart and the first U.K. top 50 singles chart
Pioneer V is launched from Cape Canaveral to orbit the sun between the Earth and Venus
The government announces plans for a Thames Barrier to prevent floods
The Bank of England issues a new £1 note with a portrait of Queen Elizabeth II on it

Last naming of a British steam locomotive takes place
The Sharpeville massacre in Witwatersrand, South Africa, results in over 200 deaths and injuries
Chuck Berry is jailed and fined in the U.S.A.
The head of Oliver Cromwell is reburied in an undisclosed location at Sidney Sussex College, Cambridge

Elvis lands in the UK

April




1st
6th
9th
9th
13th
13th
17th
21st
21st
23rd
25th
First increase in tobacco duty since 1956
The Everly Brothers visit Britain for the first time
Tiros 1 the first meteorological satellite is launched from Cape Canaveral, built by RCA
The Short SC1 VTOL aircraft made its first transition from vertical to horizontal flight and back
The British Musicians' Union bans performances by members in South Africa
South Africa's Prime Minister Hendrik Verwoerd is shot and seriously wounded by white farmer David Pratt
Stirling Moss receives a 1 year ban for dangerous driving
The British Government announces plans to scrap the 'Blue Streak' project
Eddie Cochran dies after a car crash near Chippenham. Gene Vincent and Sharon Sheeley are also hurt
Pirate radio ship 'Veronica' begins broadcasting
Brasilia succeeds Rio de Janeiro as capital of Brazil
Jack Good's Wham! debuts on ABC
The USS Triton (SSRN-586) completes the first submerged circumnavigation of the globe
Tiros 1 satellite

May

1st
6th
5th
16th
17th
18th
22nd
23rd
30th
American film star Tommy Sands starts his national service in the U.S.A.F.
The Cavern Club books its first pop acts: Cass and The Casanovas and Rory Storme and The Hurricanes
Gary Powers is shot down in a U2 spy plane over Sverdlovsk
29 year old Princess Margaret marries Anthony Armstrong-Jones
The Beetals (Beatles) fail an audition to become Billy Fury's backing band
Krushchev kills Paris Summit Conference because of U-2
The Queen Mother opens the Kariba Dam on the Zambesi river
Real Madrid win football's European Cup for the 5th time in a row
Midas 2, the first infra red 'spy' satellite, is launched
Adolf Eichmann is found living in Argentina and captured by the Israelis
Nobel Prize winning author Boris Pasternak dies aged 70
Gary Powers with the U2 and its designer Kelly Johnson
 

June


   

4th

7th
9th
19th
19th

20th
23rd
23rd
29th
B.B.C.s Desert Island Discs celebrates its 500th edition
ABC cancels Wham! Jack Good: "ABC thinks there is no longer a public for teenage rock-'n'-roll type programmes"
The first N.H.S. hearing aids are issued
Armstrong-Siddeley cars announces that it is to cease production
Jaguar takes over the Daimler Motor Company
Two British drivers, Chris Bristow and Alan Stacey are killed in the Belgian Grand Prix. Other Grand Prix standard drivers killed in 1960 were Harry Blanchard and Harry Schell
Floyd Patterson defeats Ingemar Johansson to become World Heavyweight Boxing Champion
The Royalty theatre opens in London
BOAC signs a contract for the Vickers VC-10
The B.B.C. Television Centre in West London opens
Floyd Patterson
 

July


   
1st
6th
6th
7th
11th
12th
18th
20th
20th
21st
23rd
27th

Ghana becomes a republic, with Prime Minister Kwame Nkrumah as its first President
A Soviet MiG fighter shoots down a six-man RB-47 plane north of Murmansk in the Barents Sea
Politician Aneurin 'Nye' Bevan dies aged 62
The laser is first demonstrated by Theodore Maiman at Hughes Research Laboratory
Harper Lee's classic novel To Kill a Mockingbird is first published
The Etch-A-Sketch is first manufactured, licensed to the Ohio Art Company
Kruschev vows to back Cuba in expulsion of U.S. from its Guantanamo naval base
Donald Campbell makes the first test run in the new £1 million Bluebird car
Ceylon (Sri Lanka) elects Sirimavo Bandaranaike Prime Minister, the world's first female head of government
Francis Chichester sets a new cross-Atlantic sailing record of 40 days in Gypsy Moth II
The Soviet Union launches a space capsule with two dogs, Pchelka and Mushka. They don't survive
Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) founded

Donald Campbell's 'Bluebird'
 

August


6th
7th
10th

12th
13th
16th
18th


20th
17th
18th

19th
19th
23rd
24th

25th
29th

Skynet, in a joint experiment with NASA, launches the Echo satellite
In response to a United States embargo against Cuba, Fidel Castro nationalises foreign-owned property
The Bluebell Railway, in Sussex, England, begins regular operation
Discoverer 13 launched, the first successful test (after 12 failures) of the CORONA system that returned film to Earth in a canister
Echo 1, the first communications satellite, is successfully launched by NASA
East Germany closes its border with West Berlin
Cyprus gains independence. Archbishop Makarios is elected the first President
The CORONA satellite launched, orbiting Earth for a day taking high-res images of the Soviet Union and returning them to Earth on the 19th.
More images were taken in this one day than during the entire 'U2' program
Belka and Strelka, launched on the 19th in Sputnik 5, are the first dogs to return alive from a space shot
The Beatles begin performing at the Indra Club, Hamburg
'The Pill' goes on sale in the U.S.A. after the American FDA approves the use of Enovid-10. The U.K. has to wait another 12 months
Penguin books are prosecuted for obscenity over plans to publish 'Lady Chatterley's Lover'
Gary Powers sentenced to prison for 10 years - freed in February 1962 in exchange for Soviet spy
Oscar Hammerstein II dies
The lowest temperature ever recorded is -126.9 F (-88.3 C) 11,500 feet above sea level, at the Russian station of Vostok
The 1960 Summer Olympic Games open in Rome
Hazza Majali, the Prime Minister of Jordan, is assassinated by a time bomb

Berlin Wall Construction

Belka and Strelka

September


5th
8th
10th
12th
14th
16th
19th
24th
25th
26th
27th
30th
30th

Cassius Clay wins a gold medal in the Olympic light heavyweight boxing competition
President Eisenhower formally dedicates the Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama
Color television broadcasting began in Japan
The M.O.T. test for vehicles over 10 years old is introduced
OPEC (Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries) is founded
BMC announce two new estate versions of the Mini - the Traveller and the Austin Seven Countryman
Traffic wardens and parking tickets are seen for the first time in London. 344 tickets are issued
The U.S.S. Enterprise, the first nuclear-powered aircraft carrier, is launched
Geothermal energy is used to generate electricity for the first time in the USA at The Geysers in California
The first televised presidential debate between Kennedy and Nixon is broadcast
The first 'travelator' opens at Bank underground station
Nigeria gains independence
The Flintstones premieres on the ABC TV channel in the USA

Kennedy and Nixon

October



1st
1st
2nd
3rd
5th
9th
21st
24th
25th

29th
29th

The Hawker-Siddeley VTOL P1127 'Harrier' makes its first flight
Nigeria gains independence - Nnamdi Azikiwe is the first native Governor General
Melody Maker announces the arrival of Sony transistor radios
Anthony Wedgwood-Benn resigns from Labour's National Executive Committee
Brigitte Bardot leaves hospital following a suicide attempt
In the South African republic referendum, white South Africans vote to make the country a republic
Southern England is hit by the worst flooding since 1953
Britain's first nuclear submarine H.M.S. Dreadnought is launched
An R-16 ICBM explodes at Baikonur, USSR. Over 100 are killed, including Marshal Mitrofan Nedelin
The Severn Railway Bridge at Sharpness is destroyed - two spans drop onto two tanker barges which are swept into it whilst bound for Sharpness in thick fog
Britain's first urban motorway, the M62, opens in Manchester
Cassius Clay wins his first professional fight, against Tunney Hunsaker, in Louisville, Kentucky

P1127 Harrier jump jet

November

   
1st
2nd
5th
5th
5th
8/9th
10th
10th
13th

15th
16th
28th
30th

Prime Minister Macmillan announces that the US will use the UK for Polaris bases
The courts decide that 'Lady Chatterley's Lover' can be published
Comedian Mack Sennett dies
Actor Ward Bond of 'Wagon Train' dies
33 year old singer Johnny Horton is killed in a car crash
John F. Kennedy is elected 35th President of the United States
The Royal Shakespeare Company is formed under director Peter Hall
Penguin's initial print run of 200,000 of 'Lady Chatterley's Lover' sells out on the first day
Sammy Davis Jr marries Mai Britt despite death threats from the Ku Klux Klan. At this time, interracial marriage is still illegal in 31 US states out of 50
The Polaris missile is test launched
Actor Clark Gable dies aged 59
Mauritania becomes independent of France after more than 50 years under French rule
The last 2,049 men are inducted into the armed forces as National Servicemen


December

1st

2nd
4th
5th
9th
14th
16th

19th

20th
20th
27th
31st
31st
31st

The Archbishop of Canterbury, Geoffrey Francis Fisher, talked with Pope John XXIII in the Vatican. It was the first time in more than 500 years that the head of the Anglican church had visited the Pope
Vivien Leigh and Laurence Olivier become divorced
The admission of Mauritania to the United Nations is vetoed by the USSR
Leyland Motors announces that it is to take over Standard-Triumph International
The first episode of Coronation Street is shown on television
The Australia vs West Indies test match ends in the first ever 'tied' game
U.S. Secretary of State Christian Herter announced that the USA would commit five atomic submarines and 80 Polaris missiles to NATO by the end of 1963
A fire aboard U.S.S. Constellation, the U.S.'s largest aircraft carrier, while it is under construction in a Brooklyn Navy Yard, kills 50 and injures a further 150
Richard Baer, the last Kommandant of Auschwitz, is arrested in West Germany
Discoverer XIX is launched into polar orbit from Vandenberg Air Force Base, to measure radiation
France detonates its third nuclear test blast at its atomic proving grounds at Reggane in Algeria
Chas Newby plays bass for the last of 4 engagements with The Beatles, deciding to return to university
The official end of National Service is declared in the U.K.
The farthing (quarter penny) ceases to be legal tender in Britain

USS Constellation fire 1960

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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