At A Glance
21 January 1961 at a glance
- Day of the week
- 21 January 1961 was a Saturday.
- Billboard Hot 100 No. 1
- The Billboard Hot 100 No. 1 was “Wonderland by Night” by Bert Kaempfert.
- Top Film of 1961
- The highest-grossing film worldwide released in 1961 was One Hundred and One Dalmatians.
- Bestselling Novel of 1961
- “The Agony and the Ecstasy” by Irving Stone was No. 1 on Publishers Weekly's US fiction list for 1961.
- Top-Rated TV Show
- “Wagon Train” (NBC) was No. 1 in the Nielsen ratings for the 1961–62 season.
- Star sign
- The star sign for 21 January is Aquarius.
- Chinese zodiac
- In the Chinese zodiac, 21 January 1961 fell in the Year of the Rat.
- Birthstone
- The birthstone for January is Garnet.
- Moon phase
- The moon phase on 21 January 1961 was Waxing Crescent.
On this day: 21 January
- 1954 The first nuclear-powered submarine, the USS Nautilus, is launched in Groton, Connecticut by Mamie Eisenhower, the First Lady of the United States.
- 1960 Little Joe 1B, a Mercury spacecraft, lifts off from Wallops Island, Virginia, with Miss Sam, a female rhesus monkey, on board.
- 1963 The Chicago North Shore and Milwaukee Railroad ends operation.
- 1968 Vietnam War, Battle of Khe Sanh: One of the most publicized and controversial battles of the war begins.
- 1971 The current Emley Moor transmitting station, the tallest free-standing structure in the United Kingdom, begins transmitting UHF broadcasts.
Famous people born on January 21
- Ingrid Alexandra, Crown Princess of Norway (born 2004)
- Geena Davis, American actress and producer (born 1956)
- Grigori Rasputin, Russian mystic (1869–1916)
- IShowSpeed, American YouTuber and online streamer (born 2005)
Source: Wikipedia (CC BY-SA 4.0)
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Events of 1961 in the United States
A selection from Wikipedia's '1961 in the United States'. Not a complete list.
- January 25 – Disney's animated film, One Hundred and One Dalmatians, is released. Its financial success pulling the studio out of another financial slump from the initial underperformance of Sleeping Beauty.
- February 14 – Discovery of the chemical elements: Element 103, Lawrencium, is first synthesized in Berkeley, California.
- March 1 – President of the United States John F. Kennedy establishes the Peace Corps.
Life in the US in 1961
President
John F. Kennedy
Gas (per gallon)
$0.31
Loaf of Bread
$0.21
Average House
$12,500
Weekly Wage
$89
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Famous Faces Born in the 1960s
Well-known people born in the same decade as you, not on your birthday.
Sources: Wikidata and Wikipedia (CC BY-SA 4.0)
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