April 1961 calendar

Events

• 01 Apr 1961 Jim Bakker marries Tammy Faye
• 03 Apr 1961 Happiest Girl in the World opens at Martin Beck NYC for 97 performances
• 05 Apr 1961 Barbra Streisand appears on Jack Paar Show
• 08 Apr 1961 British liner Dara explodes in Persian Gulf, kills 236
• 09 Apr 1961 The Pacific Electric Railway in Los Angeles, once the largest electric railway in the world, ends operations.
• 10 Apr 1961 Adolf Eichmann tried as a war criminal in Israel
• 11 Apr 1961 Adolf Eichmann trial begins in Israel
• 12 Apr 1961 Yuri Alexeyevich Gagarin becomes 1st person to orbit Earth
• 13 Apr 1961 Carnival! opens at Imperial Theater NYC for 719 performances
• 14 Apr 1961 US element 103 (Lawrencium) discovered.
• 15 Apr 1961 Music Man closes at Majestic Theater in New York City after 1375 performances.
• 16 Apr 1961 15th Tony Awards: Becket and Bye Bye Birdie win.
• 17 Apr 1961 33rd Academy Awards - Apartment, Burt Lancaster and Elizabeth Taylor win.
• 18 Apr 1961 CONCP is founded in Casablanca as a united front of African movements opposing Portuguese colonial rule.
• 19 Apr 1961 65th Boston Marathon won by Eino Oksanen of Finland in 2:23:39.
• 20 Apr 1961 American Harold Graham makes first rocket belt flight.
• 21 Apr 1961 French army revolts in Algeria
• 22 Apr 1961 Uprising of French parachutist of General Salan/Challe in Algeria.
• 23 Apr 1961 Tenderloin closes at 46th St. Theater NYC after 216 performances
• 24 Apr 1961 JFK accepts sole responsibility following Bay of Pigs
• 25 Apr 1961 Mercury / Atlas rocket lifted off with an electronic mannequin
• 26 Apr 1961 Roger Maris hits 1st of 61 homers in 1961
• 27 Apr 1961 NASA launches Explorer 11 into Earth orbit to study gamma rays.
• 28 Apr 1961 Lt Col Gueorgui Mossolov takes E-66A to 34,714 m altitude
• 30 Apr 1961 1st shuttle flights between Washington DC, Boston and NYC begin

Famous Birthday

• Eddie Murphy

  American actor, signed with Saturday Night Live and NBC when he was 19 years old.

• Susan Boyle

  Scottish singer who rose to fame on a British talent show.

• Moana Pozzi

  Italian porno film who made a political bid, running on the same political ticket as Cicciolina.

• David Servan-Schreiber

  French physician, neuroscientist and author.

• Véronique Mourousi
• Vincent Gallo

  American actor singer director producer and screenwriter.

• Pascal Olmeta

  French football/soccer goalkeeper, who played for Olympique de Marseille and Olympique Lyonnais in the 1990s.

• Robert Carlyle

  Scottish actor who never appears to play similar parts twice.

• Éric Dupond-Moretti
• George Lopez

  Mexican-American actor, stand-up comedian and former disc jockey on MEGA 92.

• Christopher Meloni

  American television and film actor, a ruggedly handsome man of Italian and French-Canadian descent whose best-known character is detective...

• Lisa Gerrard

  Australian singer-songwriter (Dead Can Dance).

• Sébastien El Chato
• Christophe de Cène
• Isiah Thomas

  American basketball star, a guard for the Detroit Pistons team.

• José Touré
• Jane Leeves

  British actress.

• Axel Bauer

  French pop singer, son of radio speaker and jazzman Franck Bauer.

• Michele Baraldi
• José Anigo

  French football defender, who played for Marseille (1979–1987) and Nîmes (1987–1990).

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Famous Deaths

• Gail Russell

  Chicago, Illinois -- Actress (Uninvited, Moonrise, Unseen).

• Lee Moran

  American actor director and screenwriter (d. 1961).

• Cisco Houston

  American folk singer (Born 1918).

• August Defresne

  Dutch director (Anno Christi 969), dies at 67.

• Nils-Eric Fougstedt

  Composer, dies at 50.

• Philippine "Pine" Belder [Mary de Klerk]

  Actress, dies at 93.

• Hans F Blunck

  Writer.

• Irene Warfield

  Silent screen actress (Satan Sanderson), dies at 65.

• Roy Del Ruth

  Director (About Face, Folies Bergere), dies at 67.

• King Zog

  of Albania (Born 1895).

• Wallingford Riegger

  US composer (Bacchangle), dies at age 75.

• Jules J B V Bordet

  Belgian bacteriologist (Nobel Prize 1919), dies at age 90.

• Zog I [Ahmed Zogu]

  King of Albania (1925-39), dies at age 65.

• Maria Radulphus [Adrian Hermus]

  Cura?ao school inspector, dies at age 91.

• Simion Stoilow

  Romanian mathematician (Born 1873).

• John A Bennett

  American convicted rapist (Born 1935).

• Marian Jordan

  Radio comedienne (Fibber McGee & Molly), dies at 62.

• Jesus Guridi

  Composer, dies at 74.

• James Melton

  American operatic tenor (The Ziegfield Follies of the Air, The Intimate Review, Bell Telephone Hour, Harvest of Stars, The Texaco Star...

• Yusef Greiss

  Composer, dies at 61.

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Top #5 songs in the USA

1. Elvis Presley - Surrender
2. The Marcels - Blue Moon
3. Del Shannon - Runaway
4. Chubby Checker - Pony Time
5. Jorgen Ingmann and His Guitar - Apache

Top #5 songs in the UK

1. Elvis Presley - Wooden Heart
2. The Marcels - Blue Moon
3. Allisons - Are You Sure
4. The Temperance Seven - You're Driving Me Crazy
5. Bobby Darin - Lazy River