What else happened in 1961?

400 years since the Progress of Queen Elizabeth I through Ipswich.

January 20. John Fitzgerald Kennedy becomes the 35th President of the United States of America. Prime Minister in Britain at this time is Harold Macmillan; First Secretary of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union is Nikita Khrushchev.

April 11 1961. Adolf Eichmann's trial before the Jerusalem District Court for his part in the mass murder of Jewish families, begins. He is eventually found guilty of crimes against humanity, war crimes, and crimes against Poles, Slovenes and Gypsies.

April 12. The Soviets put the first man in space, Yuri Gagarin, followed by the USA in May with Alan Shepard.

April 17-19. A 1,500 CIA-trained force of Cuban exiles mounts a disastrous invasion of southern Cuba in an attempt to overthrow Fidel Castro, President of Cuba, known as the Bay of Pigs (Bahia de Cochinos).

6 May. The 1961 FA Cup Final took place at Wembley with Tottenham Hotspur beating Leicester City 2-0. Spurs became the first club to secure the League and Cup Double since Aston Villa achieved it in 1897.

7 July. Wimbledon lawn tennis finals. Women: Angela Mortimer defeats Christine Truman (4-6 6-4 7-5); men: Rod Laver defeats Chuck McKinley (6-3 6-1 6-4).

July. Amnesty International started by English labour lawyer, Peter Benenson.

August 13th. German Democratic Republic (GDR, East Germany) closes the border with West Germany and installs barbed wire entanglements and fences. August 17th - the first concrete elements and large blocks are put in place to create the Berlin Wall.

11 September. The World Wildlife Fund (WWF, now The World Wide Fund for Nature) started.

Britain, Ireland and Denmark apply for membership of the EEC (they did not succeed until 1973).

October 29. USSR detonates 50-megaton hydrogen bomb in the largest man-made explosion in history.

Last journey of The Orient Express, Paris - Bucharest.

Members of The UK Portland Spy Ring are found guilty of selling plans of the HMS Dreadnought, Britain's first nuclear submarine to the Russians.

Pampers, the first disposable nappy, is introduced in the USA.

The farthing coin, used in Britain since the 13th century, ceases to be legal tender. The black-and-white 5-pound notes cease to be legal tender in the UK.

British satirical magazine Private Eye is published for first time.

Popular films: The Guns of Navarone, The Parent Trap, The Absent-Minded Professor, 101 Dalmatians, Breakfast at Tiffany's, El Cid, The Misfits, The Hustler, West Side Story.

Popular TV: Wagon Train, Bonanza, Gunsmoke, Perry Mason, Candid Camera, My Three Sons, Alfred Hitchcock Presents, The Twilight Zone, Mister Ed, The Avengers debuts in the UK.

Books: Joseph Heller, Catch 22; Henry Miller, Tropic of Cancer; V. S. Naipaul, A House for Mr. Biswas.

Goffin & King's Will You Still Love Me Tomorrow recorded by the Shirelles is released.

Top of the pop charts: Elvis Presley- Are you lonesome tonight?, The Temperance Seven- You're driving me crazy, John Leyton: Johnny remember me, The Shadows- Kon-Tiki.

Births. August 4: Barack Obama, November 12: Frank Bruno, May 6: George Clooney, October 18: Wynton Marsalis.

Deaths: Sir Thomas Beecham, Carl Jung, Chico Marx.

See also Fore Street maps showing Listed buildings and Public houses.