Events Date 1961 August | History by KabAstro

Cricket History

Aug 1 Australian cricket captain Richie Benaud takes 6 for 70 in England's 2nd innings for a 54 run 4th Test win at Old Trafford

Aug 1 German DR limits traffic to West Berlin
Aug 1 New San Francisco Hall of Justice opens
Aug 1 Whitney Young Jr named executive director of National Urban League
Aug 2 Cyrille Adula becomes premier of Congo
Aug 2 St Louis Cardinals (NFL) beat Toronto Argonauts (CFL) 36-7 in an exhibition game in Toronto, Canada
Aug 2 The Beatles 1st gig as house band of Liverpool's Cavern Club
Aug 3 Pittsburgh Pirates rout the St. Louis Cardinals, 19-0, the largest lopsided shutout in NL history
Aug 4 28th NFL Chicago College All-Star Game: Philadelphia 28, All-Stars 14, 66,000 at Soldier Field
Aug 4 Spokane, Washington reaches August record 108°F
Aug 5 118°F (48°C), Ice Harbor Dam, Washington (state record)
Aug 5 Chicago Bears (NFL) beat Montreal Alouettes (CFL), 34-16 in a pre-season exhibition at Molson Stadium in Montreal
Aug 6 1st case of motion sickness in space reported
Aug 6 British auto racer Sterling Moss scores his 16th and final Formula 1 victory in the German Grand Prix at the Nürburgring
Aug 6 Gherman S. Titov is the 2nd Russian in space aboard Vostok 2 (17 orbits)
Aug 7 Cosmonaut Gherman Titov circles Earth for a full day in Vostok 2

Event of Interest

Aug 7 Soviet premier Khrushchev predicts USSR economy will surpass US

Soviet First Secretary Nikita Khrushchev

Aug 8 Ham Tigercats (CFL) beat Buff Bills (NFL) 38-21 in Hamilton, Ontario
Aug 8 Verne Gagne beats Gene Kiniski in Minneapolis, to become NWA champ
Aug 9 James Benton Parsons is 1st African American to be nominated to a US Federal District Court
Aug 10 UK applies for membership of the European Common Market

Sports History

Aug 11 Milwaukee Braves future Baseball HOF pitcher Warren Spahn records career victory #300; beats Cubs, 2-1 at County Stadium, Milwaukee

Baseball Hall of Fame Pitcher Warren Spahn

Aug 13 Construction of the Berlin Wall begins in East Germany
Aug 14 Philadelphia Phillies crash, 9-2 to Chicago Cubs for 17th straight defeat; 11th straight time opposing pitcher throws complete game against Phillies
Aug 15 Keiyo Road is specified as the first driveway in Japan
Aug 16 250,000 West Berliners demonstrate against the division of East Berlin

Event of Interest

Aug 16 Martin Luther King Jr. protests for black voting rights in Miami, Florida

Civil Rights Activist Martin Luther King Jr.

Aug 17 Kennedy administration establishes Alliance for Progress

Event of Interest

Aug 19 US vice-president Lyndon B. Johnson visits West Berlin

Aug 20 22nd Venice Film Festival: "Last Year at Marienbad" directed by Alain Resnais wins Golden Lion
Aug 20 East Germany begins erecting 5' high wall along the border with the west to replace the barbed wire put up Aug 13
Aug 20 Philadelphia Phillies beat Milwaukee Braves, 7-4 at County Stadium; end losing streak with dubious MLB record of 23 straight loses

Crazy

Aug 21 American country singer Patsy Cline records then-struggling songwriter Willie Neslon's song "Crazy", in Nashville, Tennessee

Kenyatta Freed from Jail

Aug 21 Kenyan political activist Jomo Kenyatta released from jail after 9 years. Imprisoned during 1952 Mau Mau rebellion with other nationalist leaders by British authorities

Baseball Record

Aug 22 New York Yankee Roger Maris hits his 50th of 61 homers

Aug 23 Belgium sends troops to Rwanda-Urundi
Aug 23 East Germany imposed new curbs on travel between West & East Berlin
Aug 23 US lunar probe Ranger 1 reaches 190 km from Earth, falls back
Aug 24 Former South African nazi leader Johannes Vorster becomes South Africa's minister of justice
Aug 24 Windward Islands' Airways International (Winair) forms
Aug 25 Brazilian president Janio Quadros, resigns
Aug 26 Official International Hockey Hall of Fame opens in Toronto
Aug 27 Francis the Talking Mule is mystery guest on "What's My Line"
Aug 30 James Benton Parsons is confirmed as 1st African American judge of a US District Court
Aug 30 Last Spanish troops leave Morocco