March 2 » In New York City the Martha Washington Hotel opens, becoming the first hotel exclusively for women.
June 19 » Benito Mussolini, at the time a radical Socialist, is arrested by Bern police for advocating a violent general strike.
July 19 » Maurice Garin wins the first Tour de France.
August 18 » German engineer Karl Jatho allegedly flies his self-made, motored gliding airplane four months before the first flight of the Wright brothers.
October 6 » The High Court of Australia sits for the first time.
October 31 » The Purdue Wreck, a railroad train collision in Indianapolis, kills 17 people, including 14 players of the Purdue University football team.
Day of death August 15, 1961
The temperature on August 15, 1961 was between 11.6 °C and 17.1 °C and averaged 14.1 °C. There was 4.0 mm of rain during 3.2 hours. There was 4.4 hours of sunshine (30%). The heavily clouded was. The average windspeed was 3 Bft (moderate breeze) and was prevailing from the west. Source: KNMI
January 31 » Project Mercury: Mercury-Redstone 2: Ham the Chimp travels into outer space.
February 4 » The Angolan War of Independence and the greater Portuguese Colonial War begin.
April 16 » In a nationally broadcast speech, Cuban leader Fidel Castro declares that he is a Marxist–Leninist and that Cuba is going to adopt Communism.
August 13 » Cold War: East Germany closes the border between the eastern and western sectors of Berlin to thwart its inhabitants' attempts to escape to the West, and construction of the Berlin Wall is started.
August 21 » Motown releases what would be its first #1 hit (in America), "Please Mr. Postman" by The Marvelettes.
September 12 » The African and Malagasy Union is founded.
When copying data from this family tree, please include a reference to the origin: Charles Olson, "Olson's Tree", database, Genealogy Online (https://www.genealogieonline.nl/olsons-tree/P25057.php : accessed January 17, 2026), "John Churchill (1903-1961)".
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