1960.html



Year 1960 (MCMLX) was a leap year starting on Friday (link will display full calendar) of the Gregorian calendar. The year 1960 is known as the "Year of Africa."

Events of 1960

January

• January - The state of emergency is lifted in Kenya — the Mau Mau Uprising is officially over.

Bathyscaphe Trieste, before dive into Marianas Trench

• January 1 - Cameroon gains its independence.
• January 3 - U.S. Senator John F. Kennedy (D-MA) announces his candidacy for the Democratic presidential nomination .
• January 9-January 11 - Aswan High Dam construction begins in Egypt.
• January 10 - British Prime Minister Harold Macmillan makes the Wind of Change speech for the first time (see February 3).
• January 14 - Reserve Bank and Commonwealth Bank are created in Australia.
• January 19 - The Treaty of Mutual Cooperation and Security between the United States and Japan is signed in Washington, DC.
• January 21 - A mine collapses at Coalbrook, South Africa, killing 437.
• January 22 - In France, President Charles de Gaulle fires Jacques Massu, commander-in-chief for the French troops in Algeria.
• January 23 - Jacques Piccard and Don Walsh descend into the Marianas Trench in the bathyscaphe Trieste, reaching the depth of 10,916 meters.
• January 24 - A major insurrection occurs in Algiers against French colonial policy.
• January 25 - In Washington, DC, the National Association of Broadcasters reacts to the payola scandal by threatening fines for any disc jockeys who accepted money for playing particular records.

February

• February 1 - In Greensboro, North Carolina, four black students from North Carolina Agricultural and Technical State University begin a sit-in at a segregated Woolworth's lunch counter. Although they are refused service, they are allowed to stay at the counter. The event triggers many similar nonviolent protests throughout the Southern United States, and 6 months later the original 4 protesters are served lunch at the same counter.

Woolworth's lunch counter from Greensboro, NC (in Smithsonian Institution)

• February 3 - Prime Minister of the United Kingdom Harold Macmillan makes the Wind of Change speech to the South African Parliament in Cape Town (although he had first made the speech, to little publicity, in Accra, Gold Coast - now Ghana - on January 10 the same year).

• February 5 - The CERN particle accelerator is inaugurated in Geneva, Switzerland.
• February 9 - Joanne Woodward receives the first star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.
• February 9 - Adolph Coors III, chairman of the board of the Coors Brewing Company, is kidnapped and captors demand $500,000. Coors is later found dead and Joseph Corbett, Jr. is indicted.
• February 10 - A conference about the independence of the Belgian Congo begins in Brussels.
• February 11 - The airship ZPG-3W is destroyed in a storm in Massachusetts.
• February 11 - Twelve Indian soldiers die in clashes with Chinese troops at their common border.
• February 13 - Nuclear testing: France tests its first atomic bomb in the Sahara.
• February 18 - The 1960 Winter Olympics open in Squaw Valley, California.
• February 29 - An earthquake totally destroys Agadir, Morocco.

March

• March 3 - Elvis Presley returns home from Germany, after being away on duty for 2 years.
• March 6 - Vietnam War: The United States announces that 3,500 American soldiers will be sent to Vietnam.
• March 6 - The Canton of Geneva in Switzerland gives women the right to vote.
• March 17 - Northwest Orient Airlines flight 710 crashes near Tell City, Indiana killing all 63 on board.
• March 21 - The Sharpeville massacre in South Africa kills more than 69 people, wounds 300.
• March 22 - Arthur Leonard Schawlow & Charles Hard Townes receive the first patent for a laser.
• March 23 - Nikita Khrushchev meets Charles De Gaulle in Paris.
• March 25 - Tom Pillibi by Jacqueline Boyer (music by André Popp, text by Pierre Cour) wins the Eurovision Song Contest 1960 for France.

April

• April 1 - Tuanku Abdul Rahman ibni Almarhum Tuanku Muhammad, 1st Yang di-Pertuan Agong of Malaysia, dies in office. He is replaced by Hisamuddin Alam Shah ibni Almarhum Sultan Alaeddin Sulaiman Shah, Sultan of Selangor.
• April 1 - The United States launches the first weather satellite, TIROS-1.
• April 4
  • The first 3 female priests are ordained in Sweden.
  • 32nd Academy Awards ceremony
• April 12 - Eric Peugeot, youngest son of the founder of Peugeot, is kidnapped in Paris. Kidnappers release him April 15 in exchange for $300,000 ransom.
• April 13 - The United States launches navigation satellite Transit I-b.
• April 13 - The Blue Streak missile is cancelled.
• April 16 - Gunman David Pratt attacks South African Prime Minister Henrik Verwoerd in Johannesburg, wounding him seriously.
• April 19 - In the April Revolution, South Korean students hold a nationwide pro-democracy protest against president Syngman Rhee, eventually leading him to resign.
• April 21 - In Brazil, the country's capital (Federal District) is shifted from Rio de Janeiro to Brasília. The Guanabara State is founded to succeed Rio de Janeiro as the Brazilian Federal District.
• April 27 - Togo gains independence from French-administered UN trusteeship.

May

• May 1 - A Soviet missile shoots down an American Lockheed U2 spy plane; the pilot Francis Gary Powers is captured.
• May 1 - In India, May 1st is declared as 'Maharashtra Divas', i.e., Maharashtra Day (the same day is also celebrated as 'Kaamgaar Divas', i.e., Workers Day).
• May 4 - West German refugee minister Theodor Oberländer is fired because of his Nazi past.
• May 6 - President Dwight Eisenhower signs the Civil Rights Act of 1960 into law.
• May 9 - The U.S. FDA announces that it will approve birth control as an additional indication for Searle's Enovid, making it the world's first approved oral contraceptive pill.
• May 10 - The nuclear submarine USS Triton completes the first underwater circumnavigation of the Earth.
• May 11 - In Buenos Aires, 4 Mossad agents abduct fugitive Nazi Adolf Eichmann, who was using the alias "Ricardo Klement".
• May 13 - A Swiss/Austrian expedition makes the first ascent of Dhaulagiri, the world's 7th highest mountain.
• May 14 - The Kenyan African National Congress Party is founded in Kenya, when 3 political parties join forces.
• May 15 - Sputnik 4 is launched into Earth orbit.
• May 16 - Nikita Khrushchev demands an apology from U.S. President Dwight D. Eisenhower for U-2 spy plane flights over the Soviet Union, thus ending a Big Four summit in Paris.
• May 16 - Theodore Maiman operates the first laser.
• May 20 - In Japan, police carry away Socialist members of the Diet; Parliament then approves a security treaty with the United States.
• May 22 - Great Chilean Earthquake: Chile's subduction fault ruptures from Talcahuano to Taitao Peninsula, causing a tsunami and one of the greatest earthquakes on record. Seismographs in Valdivia crash.
• May 23 - Prime Minister of Israel David Ben-Gurion announces that Nazi war criminal Adolf Eichmann has been captured.
• May 27 - In Turkey, a bloodless military coup d'état removes President Celal Bayar and installs General Cemal Gürsel as head of state.

June

• June 1 - New Zealand's first television transmission occurs when a switch is flicked in Shortland Street, Auckland
• June 4 - The Lake Bodom murders occur in Finland.
• June 6 - U.S. Senator John F. Kennedy wins the California Democratic primary.
• June 9 - Typhoon Mary kills 1,000,000 in the Fukien province of China.
• June 15 - Violent demonstrations at Tokyo University result in 182 arrests, 589 injuries.
• June 15 - BC Ferries, the second largest ferry operator in the world, starts service between Tsawwassen and Swartz Bay.
• June 19 - The Associated Broadcasting Company is founded in the Philippines.
• June 20 - The Mali Federation between Senegal and Sudanese Republic (now Mali) gains independence from France.
• June 23 - Japanese prime minister Nobusuke Kishi announces his resignation.
• June 24 - Joseph Kasavubu is elected the first president of independent Congo.
• June 24 - Avro 748 makes its first flight at Woodford, UK.
• June 26 - British Somaliland gains independence from the United Kingdom; 5 days later it unites with the former Italian Somaliland to create the modern Somali Republic.
• June 28 - The University of Novi Sad is founded.
• June 29 - The Kanlaon Broadcasting System (KBS), the fourth TV station in the Philippines, is launched.
• June 30 - Belgian Congo gains independence from Belgium; civil war follows.
• June 30 - Public demonstrations by democratic and left forces, against Italian government support of the post-fascist Italian Social Movement, are heavily suppressed by police.

July

• July 1 - Ghana becomes a Republic and Kwame Nkrumah becomes its first President as Queen Elizabeth II of the United Kingdom ceases to be the Head of state.
• July 1 - A Soviet MiG fighter north of Murmansk in the Barents Sea shoots down a 6-man RB-47. Two United States Air Force officers survive and are imprisoned in Moscow's dreaded Lubyanka prison.
• July 1 - Italian Somailand Gains it's Independence from Italy, 5 days after the British Somailand
• July 4 - Following the admission of Hawaii as the 50th U.S. state the previous year, the 50-star flag of the United States debuts in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
• July 10 - The Soviet Union beats Yugoslavia 2-1 to win the first European Football Championship.
• July 11 - Moise Tshombe declares the Congolese province of Katanga independent; he receives Belgian help.
• July 11 - U.S. Senator John F. Kennedy is nominated for President at the Democratic National Convention in Los Angeles, California.
• July 11 - Harper Lee releases her critically acclaimed novel To Kill a Mockingbird.
• July 12 - Orlyonok, the main Young Pioneer camp of the Russian SFSR, is founded.
• July 14 - The United Nations decides to send troops to Katanga to oversee Belgian troops withdrawal.
• July 20 - Sri Lanka (then Ceylon) elects Sirimavo Bandaranaike Prime Minister, the world's first elected female head of government.
• July 21 - Francis Chichester, English navigator and yachtsman, arrives in New York aboard Gypsy Moth II — he has made a record solo Atlantic crossing in 40 days.
• July 25 - The Woolworth's counter in Greensboro, North Carolina, the subject of a sit-in which sparked sit-ins and pickets across the southern United States in February 1960, serves its first black customer.
• July 25-July 28 - In Chicago, the Republican National Convention nominates U.S. Vice President Richard M. Nixon for President and Henry Cabot Lodge, Jr. for Vice President.
• July 27 - The OECD is founded in Paris.

August

• August 1 - Benin become independent from France, under the name Dahomey.
• August 5 - Burkina Faso (Upper Volta) declares independence from France.
• August 6 - Cuban Revolution: In response to a United States embargo, Cuba nationalizes American and foreign-owned property in the nation.
• August 6 - In the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Albert Kalonji declares the independence of the Autonomous State of South Kasai.
• August 7 - Côte d'Ivoire becomes independent.
• August 11 - Chad becomes independent.
• August 13 - Central African Republic becomes independent.
• August 15 - Congo-Brazzaville becomes independent.
• August 16 - Joseph Kittinger parachutes from a balloon over New Mexico at 102,800 feet (31,333 m). He sets unbeaten (as of 2005) world records for: high-altitude jump; free-fall by falling 16 miles (25.7 km) before opening his parachute; and fastest speed by a human without motorized assistance, 982 km/h (614 mi/h).
• August 16 - Cyprus gains its independence from the United Kingdom.
• August 17 - The newly named Beatles begin a forty-eight night residency at the Indra Club in Hamburg, West Germany.
• August 17 - Gabon gains independence from France.
• August 17 - The trial of U-2 pilot Francis Gary Powers begins in Moscow.
• August 19 - Cold War: In Moscow, downed American U-2 pilot Francis Gary Powers is sentenced to 10 years imprisonment by the Soviet Union for espionage.
• August 19 - Sputnik program: The Soviet Union launches Sputnik 5, with the dogs Belka and Strelka (Russian for "Squirrel" and "Little Arrow"), 40 mice, 2 rats and a variety of plants. The spacecraft returns to earth the next day and all animals are recovered safely.
• August 20 - Senegal breaks away from the Mali Federation, declaring independence.
• August 25 - The 1960 Summer Olympics are open in Rome.
• August 25 - The USS Seadragon (SSN-584) surfaces at the North Pole, where the crew plays softball.
• August 29 - Hurricane Donna kills 50 in Florida and New England.

September

• September 1 - Sultan Hisamuddin Alam Shah, Sultan of Selangor and 2nd Yang di-Pertuan Agong of Malaysia, dies in office. He is replaced by Tuanku Syed Putra, Raja of Perlis.
• September 1 - Disgruntled railroad workers effectively halt operations of the Pennsylvania Railroad, marking the first shutdown in the company's history (the event lasts 2 days).
• September 2 - The first election of the Parliament of the Central Tibetan Administration, in history of Tibet, took place the September 2, 1960. The Tibetan community observes this date as the Democracy Day.
• September 5 - 1960 Summer Olympics: Cassius Clay wins the gold medal in boxing.
• September 5 - Congo president Joseph Kasavubu fires Patrice Lumumba's government and places him under house arrest.
• September 8 - In Huntsville, Alabama, U.S. President Dwight D. Eisenhower formally dedicates the Marshall Space Flight Center (which NASA had already activated on July 1).
• September 14 - Colonel Joseph Mobutu takes power in Congo in a military coup.
• September 14 - Iran, Iraq, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia and Venezuela form OPEC.
• September 22 - Mali, sole remaining member of the Mali Federation following the withdrawal of Senegal a month earlier, declares full independence as the Republic of Mali.
• September 26 - The 2 leading U.S. presidential candidates, Richard M. Nixon and John F. Kennedy, participate in the first televised presidential debate.

October

• October 1 - Nigeria gains independence; Nnamdi Azikiwe is the first native Governor General.
• October 3 - Jânio Quadros is elected president of Brazil for a 5-year term.
• October 5 - White South Africans vote to make the country a republic.
• October 12 - Cold War: Nikita Khrushchev pounds his shoe on a table at a United Nations General Assembly meeting, to protest at the discussion of Soviet Union policy toward Eastern Europe.
• October 12 - Otoya Yamaguchi assassinates Inejiro Asanuma, chairman of the Japanese Socialist Party.
• October 14 - U.S. presidential candidate John F. Kennedy first suggests the idea for the Peace Corps.
• October 24 - A rocket explodes in the Baikonur Space Center during fueling, killing 91.
• October 26 - Robert F. Kennedy calls Coretta Scott King, wife of Dr. Martin Luther King, and secures his release from jail on a traffic violation in Atlanta, Georgia.
• October 29 - In Louisville, Kentucky, Cassius Clay (later Muhammad Ali) wins his first professional fight.
• October 30 - Michael Woodruff performs the first successful kidney transplant in the United Kingdom, at the Edinburgh Royal Infirmary.

November

November 15: Polaris missile test

• November 2 - Penguin Books is found not guilty of obscenity in the Lady Chatterley's Lover case.
• November 8 - United States presidential election, 1960: In a close race, John F. Kennedy is elected over Richard M. Nixon, becoming the youngest (43) man elected to that office.
• November 13 - Sammy Davis, Jr. marries Swedish actress May Britt.
• November 14 - Belgium threatens to leave the United Nations over criticism of its Congo policy.
• November 14 - A collision between two trains in Pardubice, Czechoslovakia kills 117 people.
• November 15 - The Polaris missile is test-launched.
• November 22 - The United Nations supports the government of Joseph Kasavubu and Joseph Mobutu in Congo.
• November 24 - Wilt Chamberlain grabs 55 rebounds
• November 28 - Mauritania becomes independent of France.
• November 30 - Production of the DeSoto automobile brand ceases.

December

• December 1 - Patrice Lumumba, the deposed premier of the Congo, is arrested by troops of Colonel Joseph Mobutu.
• December 1 - A 5-ton Soviet spacecraft containing animals, insects and plants is launched into orbit; it burns up upon re-entry.
• December 2 - The Archbishop of Canterbury, the Most Rev. Geoffrey Francis Fisher, talks with Pope John XXIII for about an hour in the Vatican. It is the first time in more than 500 years that a head of the Anglican Church had visited the Pope.
• December 2 - U.S. President Dwight D. Eisenhower authorizes the use of $1M for the relief and resettlement of Cuban refugees, who have been arriving in Florida at the rate of 1,000 a week.
• December 4 - The admission to the United Nations of Mauritania is vetoed by the USSR.
• December 5 - Pierre Lagaillarde, who led 1958 and 1960 insurrections in Algeria, fails to appear in a Paris court. He has reportedly fled with 4 fellow defendants to Spain en route to Algeria.
• December 7 - The United Nations Security Council is called into session by the Soviet Union, to consider Soviet demands that the U.N. seek the immediate release of former Congolese Premier Patrice Lumumba.
• December 9 - French President Charles de Gaulle's visit to Algeria is marked by bloody riots by European and Muslim mobs in Algeria's largest cities, killing 127 people.
• December 9 - First Episode of long-running drama Coronation Street airs. It was originally planned to be a 16-part drama but became such a success that it is still running 5 times or more per week.
• December 12 - The U.S. Supreme Court upholds a Federal Court ruling that Louisiana's segregation laws are unconstitutional.
• December 13 - While Emperor Haile Selassie I of Ethiopia visits Brazil, his Imperial Bodyguard revolts unsuccessfully against his rule. The rebels proclaim the emperor's son, Crown Prince Asfa Wossen, as Emperor.
• December 13 - Guatemala, El Salvador, Nicaragua and Honduras found the Central American Common Market.
• December 13 - Navy Commander Leroy Heath (Pilot) and Lieutenant Larry Monroe (Bombardier/Navigator) establish a world altitude record of 91,450.8 feet (27,874.2 metres) in an A3J Vigilante carrying a 1,000 kilogram payload, besting the previous record by over 4 miles.
• December 14 - Antoine Gizenga proclaims in Stanleyville, Congo, that he has assumed the premiership.
• December 14 - The OECD is formed in Paris.
• December 15 - King Mahendra of Nepal deposes the government and takes power into his own hands.
• December 15 - King Baudouin of Belgium marries Doña Fabiola de Mora y Aragon.
• December 16 - U.S. Secretary of State Christian Herter announces that the United States will commit 5 atomic submarines and 80 Polaris missiles to NATO by the end of 1963.
• December 16 - 1960 New York air disaster: United Airlines DC-8 collides with a TWA Lockheed Constellation over Staten Island, New York City. All 128 passengers and crew on both planes are killed, as are 6 persons on the ground.
• December 17 - Troops loyal to Haile Selassie I in Ethiopia suppress the revolt that began December 13, giving power back to their leader upon his return from Brazil. Haile Selassie absolves his son of any guilt.
• December 19 - Fire sweeps through the USS Constellation, the largest U.S. aircraft carrier, while it is under construction at a Brooklyn Navy Yard pier, killing 50 and injuring 150.
• December 20 - Discoverer XIX is launched into polar orbit from Vandenberg Air Force Base, to measure radiation.
• December 27 - France sets off its third nuclear test blast at its atomic proving grounds at Reggane, Algeria.

Ongoing

• Computer Age
• Cold War.

World population

• World population: 3,021,475,000
  • Africa: 277,398,000
  • Asia: 1,701,336,000
  • Europe: 604,401,000
  • Latin-America: 218,300,000
  • Northern America: 204,152,000
  • Oceania: 15,888,000

Births

January-February

• January 2 - Naoki Urasawa, Japanese manga author and artist
• January 3 - Sandeep Marwah, Founder of Noida Film City
• January 4 - Michael Stipe, American singer (R.E.M.)
• January 6 - Kari Jalonen, Finnish ice hockey player
• January 6 - Nigella Lawson, British chef and writer
• January 6 - Howie Long, American football player
• January 6 - Miriam O'Callaghan, Irish television current affairs broadcaster
• January 10 - Samira Said, Moroccan singer
• January 12 - Oliver Platt, Canadian actor
• January 12 - Dominique Wilkins, American basketball player
• January 13 - Kevin Anderson, American actor
• January 20 - Will Wright, American computer game designer best known for games such as The Sims, Sim City, and Spore
• January 22 - Michael Hutchence, Australian musician (INXS) (d. 1997)
• January 23 - Patrick de Gayardon, French skydiver and skysurfing pioneer (d. 1998)
• January 28 - Robert von Dassanowsky, American cultural historian, writer, and producer
• January 29 - Greg Louganis, American diver
• January 29 - Gia Carangi, American model (d. 1986)
• January 29 - Sean Kerly, British field hockey player
• February 2 - Jari Porttila, Finnish sports journalist
• February 4 - Tim Booth, British singer (James)
• February 13 - Pierluigi Collina, Italian football (soccer) referee
• February 13 - Gary Patterson, American football coach
• February 14 - Jim Kelly, American football player
• February 16 - Cherie Chung, Hong Kong actress
• February 19 - Prince Andrew, Duke of York
• February 20 - Kee Marcello, Swedish guitarist (Easy Action, Europe)
• February 21 - Henry G. Brinton, American writer and minister
• February 23 - Naruhito, Crown Prince of Japan
• February 27 - Andrés Gómez, Ecuadorian tennis player
• February 28 - Dorothy Stratten, Canadian model and actress (d. 1980)

March-April

• March 2 - Hector Calma, Filipino basketball player
• March 4 - Mikko Kuustonen, Finnish singer and songwriter
• March 4 - John Mugabi, Ugandan boxer and world Junior Middleweight champion
• March 4 - Mykelti Williamson, American actor
• March 7 - Joe Carter, baseball player
• March 7 - Ivan Lendl, Czech tennis player
• March 8 - Finn Carter, American actress
• March 10 - Anne MacKenzie, British broadcaster
• March 12 - Minoru Niihara, Japanese singer
• March 12 - Maki Nomiya, Japanese singer (Pizzicato Five)
• March 13 - Adam Clayton, Irish bassist (U2)
• March 13 - Joe Ranft, American animator (d. 2005)
• March 14 - Kirby Puckett, baseball player (d. 2006)
• March 16 - Jenny Eclair (British comedian, actress and novelist
• March 18 - Richard Biggs, American actor (d. 2004)
• March 20 - Norm Magnusson, American artist
• March 21 - Ayrton Senna, Brazilian race car driver (d. 1994)
• March 23 - Nicol Stephen, Scottish politician
• March 24 - Nena Kerner, German singer
• March 26 - Marcus Allen, American football player
• March 27 - Hans Pflügler, German footballer
• March 27 - Renato Russo, Brazilian singer (Legião Urbana) (d. 1996)
• April 1 - Michael Praed, British actor
• April 2 - Linford Christie, British athlete
• April 3 - Elizabeth Gracen, American beauty queen, actress, and model
• April 4 - Jane Eaglen, English soprano
• April 4 - Hugo Weaving, Australian actor
• April 11 - Jeremy Clarkson, English journalist and television show host
• April 14 - Brad Garrett, American actor
• April 16 - Rafael Benitez, Spanish football manager
• April 16 - Wahab Akbar, Filipino politician (d. 2007)
• April 18 - Neo Rauch, German painter
• April 19 - Frank Viola, baseball player
• April 23 - Steve Clark, English guitarist (Def Leppard)
• April 23 - Valerie Bertinelli, American actress
• April 24 - Paula Yates, British television presenter (d. 2000)
• April 25 - Michael Lohan, American stock broker and reality television star, father of Lindsay Lohan
• April 26 - Roger Taylor, English musician (Duran Duran)
• April 28 - John Cerutti, baseball player and announcer (d. 2004)

May-June

• May 4 - Andrew Denton, Australian television presenter and comedian
• May 6 - John Flansburgh, American musician (They Might Be Giants)
• May 6 - Roma Downey, Irish-born actress
• May 10 - Bono, Irish singer (U2)
• May 14 - Ronan Tynan, Irish tenor
• May 18 - Jari Kurri, Finnish hockey player
• May 18 - Yannick Noah, French tennis player
• May 20 - John Billingsley, American actor
• May 21 - Jeffrey Dahmer, American serial killer (d. 1994)
• May 22 - Hideaki Anno, Japanese director
• May 23 - Linden Ashby, American actor
• May 31 - Greg C. Adams, Canadian ice hockey player
• June 4 - Bradley Walsh, English comedian and actor
• June 6 - Steve Vai, American guitarist
• June 8 - Mick Hucknall, English singer and songwriter (Simply Red)
• June 12 - Corynne Charby, French model, actress and singer
  • Meredith Brooks, American singer
• June 14 - Peter Mitchell, Australian news reader
• June 16 - Peter Sterling, Australian rugby player
• June 17 - Michael Monroe, Finnish singer (Hanoi Rocks)
• June 18 - Kevin Drinkell, English footballer
• June 20 - John Taylor, English musician (Duran Duran)
• June 21 - Kevin Harlan, American sports announcer
• June 28 - John Elway, American football player
• June 30 - Tony Bellotto, Brazilian guitarist and writer

July-August

• July 3 - Vince Clarke, English songwriter (Depeche Mode, Yazoo, and Erasure)
• July 5 - Pruitt Taylor Vince, American actor
• July 7 - Kevin A. Ford, American NASA astronaut
• July 9 - Charles Gavin, Brazilian drummer and producer
• July 13 - Ian Hislop, British broadcaster and editor
• July 14 - Kyle Gass, American music singer-song-writer-guitarist/actor
• July 17 - Robin Shou, Hong Kong actor
• July 17 - Jan Wouters, Dutch football player and manager
• July 21 - Ezequiel Viñao, Argentine-born composer
• July 21 - Fritz Walter, German footballer
• July 22 - Jon Oliva, American vocalist and pianist (Savatage)
• August 1 - Chuck D, American rapper, leader of Public Enemy
• August 4 - José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero, Prime Minister of Spain
• August 7 - David Duchovny, American actor
• August 8 - Ulrich Maly, German politician and Mayor of Nuremberg
• August 10 - Antonio Banderas, Spanish actor
• August 10 - Todd David Hess, USAF Colonel and surgeon
• August 10 - Kenny Perry, American golfer
• August 13 - Phil Taylor, English darts player
• August 14 - Sarah Brightman, English soprano singer and actress
• August 17 - Sean Penn, American actor
• August 19 - Morten Andersen, American football player
• August 24 - Cal Ripken, Jr., American baseball player
• August 26 - Branford Marsalis, American musician
• August 30 - Chalino Sanchez, Mexican musician (d. 1992)

September-October

• September 2 - John S. Hall, American poet and spoken-word artist
• September 6 - Bob Stoops, American football coach
• September 9 - Hugh Grant, English actor
• September 10 - Colin Firth, English actor
• September 12 - Robert John Burke, American actor
• September 14 - Callum Keith Rennie, Canadian actor
• September 16 - John Franco, American baseball player
• September 19 - Yolanda Saldívar, American murderer of tejano singer Selena Quintanilla-Perez
• September 22 - Joan Jett, U.S. musician, vocalist & leader of "Joan Jett & The Blackhearts"
• October 4 - Billy Hatcher, baseball player
• October 6 - Richard Jobson Scottish singer-songwriter (Skids) and film-maker, best known as a television presenter
• October 7 - Kyosuke Himuro, Japanese singer
• October 12 - Alexei Kudrin, a Russian statesman and the Russian Minister of Finance
• October 17 - Guy Henry, English actor
• October 18 - Jean-Claude Van Damme, Belgian actor
• October 24 - Jaime Garzón, Colombian journalist and comedian (d. 1999)
• October 28 - Landon Curt Noll, American astronomer, cryptographer, and mathematician
• October 29 - Finola Hughes, British actress
• October 30 - Diego Armando Maradona, Argentine footballer

November-December

• November 3 - Karch Kiraly, American volleyball player
• November 4 - Frl. Menke, German pop singer
• November 5 - Tilda Swinton, British actress
• November 9 - Joëlle Ursull, a Guadeloupean singer
• November 10 - Neil Gaiman, English author
• November 11 - Peter Parros, American actor
• November 11 - Stanley Tucci, American actor and film director
• November 17 - Neil Flynn, American actor
• November 17 - Jonathan Ross, English television presenter
• November 18 - Kim Wilde, English singer and gardener
• November 20 - Marc Labrèche, Canadian actor and television host
• November 25 - Amy Grant, American musician
• November 25 - John F. Kennedy, Jr., American lawyer and journalist (d. 1999)
• November 26 - Harold Reynolds, baseball player and broadcaster
• November 27 - Yulia Tymoshenko, Prime Minister of Ukraine
• November 30 - Rich Fields, American television personality
• December 2 - Rick Savage, English bassist (Def Leppard)
• December 3 - Daryl Hannah, American actress
• December 4 - Glynis Nunn, Australian athlete
• December 5 - Brian Bromberg American Jazz bassist and composer
• December 10 - Kenneth Branagh, Northern Irish actor and director
• December 10 - Michael Schoeffling, American actor and model
• December 14 - Bob Paris, American bodybuilder and gay rights advocate
• December 18 - Kazuhide Uekusa, Japanese economist
• December 24 - Carol Vorderman, British television presenter
• December 24 - Eva Tamargo, American actress
• December 27 - Maryam d'Abo, British actress
• December 28 - John Fitzgerald, Australian tennis player
• December 29 - Dave Pelzer, American author
• December 31 - John Allen Muhammad, American serial killer
• December 31 - Steve Bruce, English footballer

Deaths

January-June

• January 1 - Margaret Sullavan, American actress (b. 1909)
• January 4 - Albert Camus, French writer, Nobel Prize (b. 1913)
• January 9 - Elsie J. Oxenham, British children's novelist (b. 1880)
• January 12 - Nevil Shute, English writer (b. 1899)
• January 24 - Edwin Fischer, Swiss pianist and conductor (b. 1886)
• January 27 - Osvaldo Aranha, Brazilian politician (b. 1894)
• January 30 - J. C. Kumarappa, Indian economist (b. 1892)
• February 2 - Jagadguru Swami Sri Bharati Krishna Tirthaji Maharaja, Hindu teacher (b. 1884)
• February 3 - Fred Buscaglione, Italian singer and actor (b. 1921)
• February 9 - Jaroslav Joseph Polivka, Czech structural engineer (b. 1886)
• February 10 - Aloysius Stepinac, Catholic prelate (b. 1898)
• February 11 - Ernő Dohnányi, Hungarian conductor (b. 1877)
• February 20 - Sir Leonard Woolley, British archaeologist (b. 1880)
• February 21 - Edwina Mountbatten, Countess Mountbatten of Burma (b. 1901), last Vicereine of India
• February 29 - Walter Yust, American encyclopedia editor (b. 1894)
• March 2 - Stanisław Taczak, Polish general (b. 1874)
• March 9 - Jack Beattie, Irish politician (b. 1886)
• April 1 - Tuanku Abdul Rahman ibni Almarhum Tuanku Muhammad, King of Malaysia (b. 1895)
• April 17 - Eddie Cochran, American singer (b. 1938)
• April 24 - Max von Laue, German physicist, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1879)
• May 3 - Masa Niemi, Finnish actor (b. 1914)
• May 8 - J. H. C. Whitehead, British mathematician (b. 1904)
• May 11 - John D. Rockefeller Jr., American philanthropist (b. 1874)
• May 23 - Georges Claude, French inventor (b. 1870)
• May 27 - Edward Brophy, American actor (b. 1895)
• May 30 - Boris Pasternak, Russian writer, Nobel Prize laureate (declined) (b. 1890)
• May 31 - Walther Funk, German Nazi politician (b. 1890)
• June 4 - Józef Haller de Hallenburg, Polish general (b. 1873)
• June 14 - Ana Pauker, Romanian politician (b. 1893)
• June 18 - Shalva Aleksi-Meskhishvili, Georgian politician (b. 1884)
• June 25 - Tommy Corcoran, baseball player (b. 1869)
• June 27 - Lottie Dod, English athlete (b. 1871)

July-December

• July 6 - Aneurin Bevan, Welsh politician (b. 1897)
• July 14 - Maurice, 6th duc de Broglie, French physicist (b. 1875)
• July 15 - Anton Giulio Bragaglia, Italian cinematographer (b. 1890)
• July 15 - Set Persson, Swedish politician (b. 1897)
• July 16 - John P. Marquand, American novelist (b. 1893)
• August 23 - Oscar Hammerstein II, writer and lyricist (b. 1895)
• August 27 - Stanley Clifford Weyman, U.S. impostor (b. 1890)
• August 29 - Vicki Baum, Austrian writer (b. 1888)
• September 1 - Hisamuddin Alam Shah ibni Almarhum Sultan Alaeddin Sulaiman Shah, King of Malaysia (b. 1898)
• September 8 - Feroze Gandhi, Indian politician (b. 1912)
• September 9 - Jussi Björling, Swedish tenor (b. 1911)
• September 20 - Ida Rubinstein, iconic Russian ballet dancer (b. 1885)
• September 24 - Mátyás Seiber, Hungarian composer (b. 1905)