1960

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1960 (MCMLX) was a leap year starting on Friday of the Gregorian calendar, the 1960th year of the Common Era (CE) and Anno Domini (AD) designations, the 960th year of the 2nd millennium, the 60th year of the 20th century, and the 1st year of the 1960s decade.

Events

• January – State of emergency is lifted in Kenya – Mau Mau Rebellion is officially over
• January 1 – Independence of Cameroon
• January 9 – Aswan High Dam construction begins in Egypt
• January 14 – Ralph Chubb, the gay poet and printer, dies at Fair Oak Cottage in Hampshire.
• January 14 – Reserve bank and Commonwealth Bank created (a)
• January 23 – Jacques Piccard and Don Walsh in the bathyscaphe USS Trieste break a depth record when they descend to the bottom of Challenger Deep 35,820 feet (10,750 meters) below sea level in the Pacific Ocean
• January 24 – A major insurrection in Algiers against French colonial policy
• January 25 – The National Association of Broadcasters reacts to the Payola scandal by threatening fines for any disk jockeys who accepted money for playing particular records
• February 1 – (Greensboro, N.C.) Four black students from North Carolina Agricultural and Technical College 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 South. Six months later the original four protesters are served lunch at the same Woolworth's counter.
• 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 killed and Joseph Corbett Jr is indicted
• February 11 – The airship ZPG-3W is destroyed in a storm in Massachusetts
• February 13 – Nuclear testing: France tests its first atomic bomb
• February 29 – Earthquake totally destroys Agadir, Morocco.
• March 21 – The Sharpeville Massacre occurs in South Africa.
• April 4 – Senegal becomes independent.
• April 27 – Togo becomes independent.
• May 1 – A Lockheed U-2 piloted by Francis Gary Powers is shot down over the Soviet Union, making an international incident.
• May 11 – Nazi politician Adolf Eichmann is captured in Buenos Aires, Argentina, by the Mossad.
• May 22 – The Great Chilean Earthquake occurs.
• June 26 – The British protectorate Somaliland becomes independent.
• June 26 – Madagascar becomes independent.
• June 30 – The present-day Democratic Republic of the Congo becomes independent.
• July 1 – Somalia becomes independent.
• July 1 – Ghana becomes a Republic.
• August 1 – Benin becomes independent.
• August 3 – Niger becomes independent.
• August 5 – Upper Volta becomes independent. It is later renamed Burkina Faso.
• August 11 – Chad becomes independent.
• August 13 – The Central African Republic becomes independent.
• August 15 – The Republic of the Congo becomes independent.
• August 17 – Gabon becomes independent.
• October 1 – Nigeria becomes independent.
• October 24 – Zambia becomes independent.
• November 8 – John F. Kennedy is elected President of the United States.
• November 28 – Mauritania becomes independent.

Births

• January 4 – Michael Stipe, singer for R.E.M.
• January 6 – Nigella Lawson, celebrity chef, writer
• January 6 – Howie Long, American football star
• January 11 – Stanley Tucci, actor
• January 12 – Oliver Platt, actor
• January 13 – Kevin Anderson, actor
• January 22 – Michael Hutchence, musician ("INXS") (d. 1997)
• January 27 – Samia Suluhu, President of Tanzania
• January 28 – Robert von Dassanowsky, cultural historian, writer, producer
• January 29 – Greg Louganis, Olympics gold medalist in diving
• February 7 – James Spader, actor (Pretty in Pink, Stargate, The Practice)
• 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
• February 29 – Cheb Khaled, Algerian musician
• February 29 – Tony Robbins, motivational speaker
• March 4 – Mykelti Williamson, actor
• March 26 – Marcus Allen, former American football running back, television personality, actor, and crewman
• March 7 – Joe Carter, baseball star
• March 7 – Ivan Lendl, tennis player
• March 13 – Adam Clayton, bassist for the rock band U2
• March 18 – Richard Biggs, actor
• March 21 – Ayrton Senna, automobile racer (d. 1994)
• March 24 – Nena Kerner, German singer
• March 26 – Marcus Allen, American football star
• May 26 – Rob Murphy, American baseball player
• March 29 – Marina Sirtis, actress
• April 2 – Linford Christie, British athlete
• April 3 – Elizabeth Gracen, American actress, model, winner of 1982 Miss America pageant
• April 4 – Jane Eaglin, English soprano
• April 4 – Hugo Weaving, actor
• April 12 - Dennis Bateman, American voice actor
• April 14 – Brad Garrett, actor
• April 15 – Crown Prince Philippe of Belgium
• April 16 – Rafael Benitez, Spanish football manager
• April 16 – Pierre Littbarski, German football player and manager
• April 19 – Frank Viola, baseball player
• April 26 – Roger Taylor, musician ("Duran Duran")
• April 28 – Ian Rankin, Scottish writer
• May 4 – Werner Faymann, Chancellor of Austria.
• May 10 – Bono, singer of U2
• May 18 – Jari Kurri, Hockey Hall of Famer
• May 18 – Yannick Noah, tennis player
• May 19 – Gadi Eizenkot, Israeli general
• May 20 – John Billingsley, actor
• May 21 – Jeffrey Dahmer, serial killer (d. 1994)
• May 24 – Kristin Scott Thomas, British actress
• June 6 – Gary Graham, actor
• June 6 – Steve Vai, musician
• June 8 – Mick Hucknall singer/songwriter of Simply Red
• June 15 – Michèle Laroque, French actress
• June 20 – John Taylor, musician, Duran Duran
• June 28 – John Elway, Pro Football Hall of Famer
• June 30 - Murray Cook, Australian musician (The Wiggles)
• July 21 – Ezequiel Viñao, composer
• July 27 – Uddhav Thackeray, Indian Politician
• August 4 – José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero, Prime Minister of Spain
• August 7 – David Duchovny, actor (The X-Files)
• August 7 – Rosana Pastor, Spanish actress
• August 10 – Antonio Banderas, actor (Desperado, Spy Kids)
• August 19 – Morten Andersen, American football player
• August 24 – Cal Ripken, Jr., baseball star
• August 26 – Branford Marsalis, jazz musician
• August 30 – Hassan Nasrallah, Leader of Hezbollah
• September 1 - Joseph Williams, American singer (Toto)
• September 9 – Hugh Grant, English actor
• September 10 – Colin Firth, actor
• September 16 – John Franco, baseball relief pitcher
• September 17 - Annabelle Apsion, actress
• September 17 – Damon Hill, 1996 Formula 1 World Champion
• September 26 – Jouke de Vries, Frisian politician and professor
• October 5 – Daniel Baldwin, actor
• October 7 – Kyosuke Himuro, Japanese rock singer
• October 30 – Diego Maradona, football (soccer) player
• November 3 – Karch Kiraly, volleyball star
• November 9 – Andreas Brehme, German footballer
• November 10 – Neil Gaiman, writer
• November 25 – John F. Kennedy, Jr., lawyer and journalist (d. 1999)
• November 25 – Amy Grant, contemporary Christian music star
• November 27 – Tim Pawlenty, American politician
• November 27 – Paul Robinson, writer
• November 27 – Yulia Tymoshenko, Ukrainian politician
• November 30 – Gary Lineker, English footballer.
• December 2 – Rick Savage, bass guitarist (Def Leppard).
• December 3 – Julianne Moore, actress
• December 4 – Glynis Nunn, Australian heptathlete
• December 9 – Caroline Lucas, British politician
• December 10 – Kenneth Branagh, actor, movie director
• December 18 – Kazuhide Uekusa, former Japanese professor of graduate school at Waseda University, economist
• December 19 – Mike Lookinland, television actor
• December 27 – Maryam d'Abo, actress
• December 31 – John Allen Muhammad, convicted Beltway sniper
• December 31 – Steve Bruce, English football player and manager

Deaths

• January 4 – Albert Camus, French writer, Nobel Prize winner (b. 1913)
• January 12 – Nevil Shute, English writer (b. 1899)
• January 24 – Edwin Fischer, pianist and conductor (b. 1886)
• February 3 – Fred Buscaglione, Italian singer and actor (b. 1921)
• February 10 – Aloysius Stepinac, Roman Catholic prelate (b. 1898)
• February 11 – Ernö Dohnányi, Hungarian conductor (b. 1877)
• February 29 – Walter Yust, American editor-in-chief of the Encyclopædia Britannica (b.1894)
• March 2 – Stanisław Taczak, Polish general (b. 1874)
• April 1 – Tuanku Abdul Rahman ibni Almarhum Tuanku Muhammad, Yang di-Pertuan Besar of Negeri Sembilan and 1st Yang di-Pertuan Agong of Malaysia (b. 1895)
• April 17 - Eddie Cochran, American musician (b. 1938)
• May 8 – J. H. C. Whitehead, British mathematician (b. 1904).
• May 30 – Boris Pasternak, Russian novelist (b. 1890)
• May 31 – Walther Funk, German Nazi politician (b. 1890)
• June 23 – Frantisek Omelka, Czech educator (b. 1904)
• June 25 – Tommy Corcoran, baseball player (b. 1869)
• June 27 – Lottie Dod, English athlete (b. 1871)
• August 5 – Arthur Meighen, Prime Minister of Canada (b. 1874)
• August 28 – John O'Hara, U.S. Roman Catholic cardinal (b. 1888)
• August 29 – Vicki Baum, Jewish writer (b. 1888)
• September 1 – Hisamuddin Alam Shah ibni Almarhum Sultan Alaeddin Sulaiman Shah, Sultan of Selangor and 2nd Yang di-Pertuan Agong of Malaysia (b. 1898)
• September 9 – Jussi Björling, Swedish tenor (b. 1911)
• October 15 – Henny Porten, German movie producer
• November 2 – Dimitri Mitropoulos, Greek conductor, pianist, and composer (b. 1896)
• November 5 – Mack Sennett, Canadian movie producer and director (b. 1880)
• November 16 – Clark Gable, American actor (b. 1901)
• December 26 – Watsuji Tetsuro, Japanese philosopher (b. 1889)

Movies released

• Exodus
• Spartacus
• Swiss Family Robinson
• The Apartment
• The Alamo
• Toby Tyler
• Pollyanna
• Psycho

Hit songs

• "Only The Lonely" – Roy Orbison
• "Today's Teardrops" – Roy Orbison, written by Gene Pitney
• "I'm Sorry" – Brenda Lee
• "True Love Ways" – Buddy Holly
• "Chain Gang" – Sam Cooke
• "Save The Last Dance For Me" – The Drifters
• "Stay" – Maurice Williams & the Zodiacs
• "Walk, Don't Run" – The Ventures
• "Rubber Ball" – Bobby Vee
• "Itsy Bitsy Teenie Weenie Yellow Polka Dot Bikini" – Brian Hyland
• "Cathy's Clown" – The Everly Brothers
• "Sink the Bismarck" – Johnny Horton
• "North To Alaska" – Johnny Horton
• "Everybody's Somebody's Fool" – Connie Francis
• "Good Timin'" – Jimmy Jones
• "You're Sixteen" – Johnny Burnette
• "You Talk Too Much" – Joe Jones
• "Georgia On My Mind" – Ray Charles
• "It's Now Or Never" – Elvis Presley
• "Road Runner" – Bo Diddley
• "Exodus" – Ferrante & Teicher
• "Dreamin' " – Johnny Burnette
• "Alley-Oop" – Hollywood Argyles
• "Mission Bell" – Donnie Brooks
• "What In the World's Come Over You" – Jack Scott
• "Burning Bridges" – Jack Scott
• "T'Aimer Follement" – Dalida
• "L'Arlequin de Tolède" – Dalida
• "Les Enfants du Pirée" – Dalida
• "Romantica" – Dalida
• "Itsi Bitsi Petit Bikini" – Dalida
• "'O Sole Mio" – Dalida
• "Tall Oak Tree" – Dorsey Burnette
• "Wild One" – Bobby Rydell
• "Teen Angel" – Mark Dinning
• "Mule Skinner Blues" – The Fendermen
• "Corinna, Corinna" – Ray Peterson
• "Tell Laura I Love Her" – Ray Peterson

New books

• Border Country – Raymond Williams
• Casanova's Chinese Restaurant – Anthony Powell
• The Chapman Report – Irving Wallace
• Clea – Lawrence Durrell
• Critique of Dialectical Reason – Jean-Paul Sartre
• Don't Tell Alfred – Nancy Mitford
• For Your Eyes Only – Ian Fleming
• Green Eggs and Ham – Dr. Seuss
• Hunters in a Narrow Street – Jabra Ibrahim Jabra
• The Many Colored Coat – Morley Callaghan
• New Maps of Hell – Kingsley Amis (non-fiction)
• The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich – William L. Shirer
• Take a Girl Like You – Kingsley Amis
• Tintin in Tibet- Hergé
• To Kill A Mockingbird – Harper Lee
• The Torch – Wilder Penfield
• Truth and Method – Hans-Georg Gadamer
• The Violent Bear It Away – Flannery O'Connor
• The White Stone – Carlo Coccioli
• What Ever Happened to Baby Jane? – Henry Farrell

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