About the day » Sunday December 17, 1961Calender converter

• Hendrika Roest, Geervliet
• Johannes Theodorus Broekman, Hamersveld (Leusden) († 1981)
• Tina Luyks († 1986)
• Alwyn Petrus Myburgh, Stella, Phokwani, Transvaal, South Africa († 1980)
• Geertje Annie (Gea) ROP, Stadskanaal (NL/GR) († 2009)

• Adriana Maria van den Burg (70), Valkenswaard, Noord-Brabant, Nederland
• Cornelis Hoendervangers (91), Rucphen, Noord-Brabant, Nederland
• Cornelis Adrianus HOPSTAKEN (60), Tilburg, Noord-Brabant, Nederland
• Cornelis Johannes Thie (49), Amsterdam
• Camillus Teerlynck (81), Brugge (St.-Kruis), West-Vlaanderen, België
• Anthonij de Groot (68), Harderwijk
• Cornelis Noordzij (63), Rotterdam
• Ariena Kemink (76), Pernis, Rotterdam
• Alphons van Britsom (74), Kruibeke (B)
• Cornelis Benedictus Brohm (64), 's-Hertogenbosch, North Brabant, Netherlands

• 1957 » Bob Ojeda, American baseball player and coach
• 1957 » Wendy Hoyte, English sprinter
• 1958 » Mike Mills, American bass player, songwriter, and producer
• 1959 » Bob Stinson, American songwriter and guitarist († 1995)
• 1961 » Mansoor al-Jamri, Bahraini journalist and author
• 1962 » Galina Malchugina, Russian sprinter
• 1962 » Paul Dobson, English footballer
• 1962 » Rocco Mediate, American golfer and journalist
• 1964 » Frank Musil, Czech ice hockey player and coach
• 1964 » Joe Wolf, American basketball player and coach

• 1942 » Allen Bathurst, Lord Apsley, English lieutenant and politician (b. 1895)
• 1947 » Christos Tsigiridis, Greek engineer (b. 1877)
• 1956 » Eddie Acuff, American actor (b. 1903)
• 1957 » Dorothy L. Sayers, English author, poet, and playwright (b. 1893)
• 1962 » Thomas Mitchell, American actor (b. 1892)
• 1964 » Victor Francis Hess, Austrian-American physicist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1883)
• 1967 » Harold Holt, Australian lawyer and politician, 17th Prime Minister of Australia (b. 1908)
• 1970 » Oliver Waterman Larkin, American historian, author, and educator (b. 1896)
• 1978 » Don Ellis, American trumpet player, composer, and bandleader (b. 1934)
• 1981 » Antiochos Evangelatos, Greek composer and conductor (b. 1903)

1. Johannes
2. Jan
3. Peter
4. Cornelis
5. Robert
6. Hendrik
7. John
8. Willem
9. Pieter
10. Gerrit
11. Ronald
12. Paul
13. Michael
14. Petrus
15. Wilhelmus
16. Dirk

1. Maria
2. Johanna
3. Elisabeth
4. Anna
5. Cornelia
6. Catharina
7. Yvonne
8. Karin
9. Jacqueline
10. Wilhelmina
11. Ingrid
12. Monique
13. Adriana
14. Petronella
15. Marianne
16. Anita

• Koningin Juliana (Huis van Oranje-Nassau) was from September 4, 1948 till April 30, 1980 sovereign of the Netherlands (also known as Koninkrijk der Nederlanden)
• In The Netherlands , there was from May 19, 1959 to July 24, 1964 the cabinet De Quay, with Prof. dr. J.E. de Quay (KVP) as prime minister.
• The Netherlands had about 11.6 million citizens.
• April 9 » The Pacific Electric Railway in Los Angeles, once the largest electric railway in the world, ends operations.
• May 4 » Malcolm Ross and Victor Prather attain a new altitude record for manned balloon flight ascending in the Strato-Lab V open gondola to 113,740 feet (34.67km).
• May 31 » In Moscow City Court, the Rokotov–Faibishenko show trial begins, despite the Khrushchev Thaw to reverse Stalinist elements in Soviet society.
• July 20 » French military forces break the Tunisian siege of Bizerte.
• August 15 » Border guard Conrad Schumann flees from East Germany while on duty guarding the construction of the Berlin Wall.
• September 1 » The Eritrean War of Independence officially begins with the shooting of Ethiopian police by Hamid Idris Awate.

The temperature on December 17, 1961 was between -7.7 °C and -2.5 °C and averaged -5.3 °C. There was 6.2 hours of sunshine (80%). The average windspeed was 2 Bft (weak wind) and was prevailing from the east-southeast.