January 4 » Topsy, an elephant, is electrocuted by the owners of Luna Park, Coney Island. The Edison film company records the film Electrocuting an Elephant of Topsy's death.
February 23 » Cuba leases Guantánamo Bay to the United States "in perpetuity".
June 11 » A group of Serbian officers stormed the royal palace and assassinated King Alexander Obrenović and his wife, Queen Draga.
July 19 » Maurice Garin wins the first Tour de France.
August 2 » The Ilinden–Preobrazhenie Uprising against the Ottoman Empire begins.
December 17 » The Wright brothers make the first controlled powered, heavier-than-air flight in the Wright Flyer at Kitty Hawk, North Carolina.
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 9 » British authorities announce they have uncovered the Soviet Portland Spy Ring in London.
February 12 » The Soviet Union launches Venera 1 towards Venus.
May 21 » American civil rights movement: Alabama Governor John Malcolm Patterson declares martial law in an attempt to restore order after race riots break out.
August 1 » U.S. Defense Secretary Robert McNamara orders the creation of the Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA), the nation's first centralized military espionage organization.
December 2 » In a nationally broadcast speech, Cuban leader Fidel Castro declares that he is a Marxist–Leninist and that Cuba is going to adopt Communism.
December 19 » India annexes Daman and Diu, part of Portuguese India.
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 10, 2026), "John Churchill (1903-1961)".
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