WHAT ALL HAPPENED APRIL TO DECEMBER 1961
Find out what all happened April to December 1961

Algiers putsch by French generals. (23. April 1961)

The Pacific Electric Railway in Los Angeles, once the largest electric railway in the world, ends operations. (9. April 1961)

Robert Noyce is granted a patent for an integrated circuit. (25. April 1961)

The New Democratic Party of Canada is founded by the merger of the Cooperative Commonwealth Federation and the Canadian Labour Congress. (3. August 1961)

French military forces break the Tunisian siege of Bizerte. (20. July 1961)

The Sandinista National Liberation Front is founded in Nicaragua. (23. July 1961)

Venera program: Venera 1 becomes the first man-made object to fly-by another planet by passing Venus (the probe had lost contact with Earth a month earlier and did not send back any data). (19. May 1961)

Sierra Leone is granted its independence from the United Kingdom, with Milton Margai as the first Prime Minister. (27. April 1961)

Tanganyika becomes independent from Britain. (9. December 1961)

Cold War: the Antarctic Treaty, which sets aside Antarctica as a scientific preserve and bans military activity on the continent, comes into force after the opening date for signature set for the December 1, 1959. (23. June 1961)

U.S. Defense Secretary Robert McNamara orders the creation of the Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA), the nation's first centralized military espionage organization. (1. August 1961)

The Dick Van Dyke Show premieres on CBS-TV in the United States. (3. October 1961)

The Soviet cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin becomes the first human to travel into outer space and perform the first manned orbital flight, in Vostok 3KA-2 (Vostok 1). (12. April 1961)

RTÉ, Ireland's state broadcaster, launches its first national television service. (31. December 1961)

Tunisia imposes a blockade on the French naval base at Bizerte; the French would capture the entire town four days later. (19. July 1961)

Cyprus joins the Council of Europe. (24. May 1961)

Turkish voters approve the Turkish Constitution of 1961 in a referendum. (9. July 1961)

K-19, the first Soviet nuclear submarine equipped with nuclear missiles, is commissioned. (30. April 1961)

Foundation of the World Wildlife Fund. (11. September 1961)

East Germany closes the border between the eastern and western sectors of Berlin to thwart its inhabitants' attempts to escape to the West. (13. August 1961)