At A Glance

24 May 1961 at a glance

Day of the week
24 May 1961 was a Wednesday.
Billboard Hot 100 No. 1
The Billboard Hot 100 No. 1 was “Mother-in-Law” by Ernie K-Doe.
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 24 May is Gemini.
Chinese zodiac
In the Chinese zodiac, 24 May 1961 fell in the Year of the Ox.
Birthstone
The birthstone for May is Emerald.
Moon phase
The moon phase on 24 May 1961 was Waxing Gibbous.

On this day: 24 May

  • 1956 The first Eurovision Song Contest is held in Lugano, Switzerland.
  • 1958 United Press International is formed through a merger of the United Press and the International News Service.
  • 1960 Following the 1960 Valdivia earthquake, the largest ever recorded earthquake, Cordón Caulle begins to erupt.
  • 1961 American civil rights movement: Freedom Riders are arrested in Jackson, Mississippi, for "disturbing the peace" after disembarking from their bus.
  • 1962 Project Mercury: American astronaut Scott Carpenter orbits the Earth three times in the Aurora 7 space capsule.

Famous people born on May 24

  • Queen Victoria (1819–1901)
  • Bob Dylan, American singer-songwriter, guitarist, artist, writer, and producer; Nobel Prize laureate (born 1941)
  • Priscilla Presley, American actress and businesswoman (born 1945)
  • Alfred Molina, English actor (born 1953)

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

Or

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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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