About the day » Saturday December 23, 1961Calender converter

• Magreet Zwiers († 1979)
• Elizabeth Margaret (Ellie) Boer, Grand Rapids, Kent County, Michigan, VS († 2000)
• Luc Goignard, Sint-Truiden, België († 2022)
• Jeffrey Alan Klein († 2004)
• Gianfranco Federico Parnisari († 2009)
• Mark Lewis Todd, Ft Campbell, Kentucky, Verenigde Staten († 2003)
• Keith A. McChesney, Minneapolis, Hennepin County, Minnesota, Verenigde Staten († 2015)
• Dorothea Snippe, Gramsbergen, Overijssel, Nederland († 2016)

• Alida Albertha Agatha Tissot van Patot  (81), 's-Gravenhage
• Albert Frieling (83), Eenrum
• Carl Theodor PLOEN (86), Cedar Co (US/IA)
• Aukje OLDENBORG (78), Amsterdam, Nederland
• Beatrix Agatha Baas (90), Alkmaar, Noord-Holland, Nederland
• Alice Sawford Palmer (98), Launceston
• Adrianus Catharina (Adrie) Besems (22), Tilburg Noord-Brabant Nederland
• Anna Catharina (dite Tiny) CORMANN (51), Montzen-Plombières, Province de Liège, Belgique
• Cornelia van Broekhoven (88), Zevenbergen, Noord-Brabant, Nederland
• Barbara Tetteroo (85), Pijnacker, 2641, Nederland

• 1961 » Carol Smillie, Scottish model and actress
• 1961 » Ezzat el Kamhawi, Egyptian journalist and author
• 1961 » Ketan J. Patel, Kenyan-English biologist and academic
• 1961 » Lorna Tolentino, Filipino actress and producer
• 1962 » Bertrand Gachot, Belgian race car driver
• 1962 » Kang Je-gyu, South Korean director, producer, and screenwriter
• 1962 » Keiji Mutoh, Japanese wrestler and actor
• 1962 » Stefan Hell, Romanian-German physicist and chemist, Nobel Prize laureate
• 1963 » Jess Harnell, American singer-songwriter
• 1963 » Jim Harbaugh, American football player and coach

• 1950 » Vincenzo Tommasini, Italian composer (b. 1878)
• 1953 » Lavrentiy Beria, Georgian-Russian general and politician, Russian Minister of Internal Affairs (b. 1899)
• 1954 » René Iché, French soldier and sculptor (b. 1897)
• 1961 » Carolyn Sherwin Bailey, American author (b. 1875)
• 1961 » Kurt Meyer, German general (b. 1910)
• 1970 » Aleksander Warma, Estonian lieutenant and politician, Prime Minister of Estonia in exile (b. 1890)
• 1970 » Charles Ruggles, American actor (b. 1886)
• 1972 » Andrei Tupolev, Russian engineer, designed the Tupolev Tu-95 and Tupolev Tu-104 (b. 1888)
• 1973 » Charles Atlas, Italian-American bodybuilder and model (b. 1892)
• 1973 » Irna Phillips, American screenwriter, created Guiding Light and As the World Turns (b. 1901)

• 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.
• February 3 » The United States Air Forces begins Operation Looking Glass, and over the next 30 years, a "Doomsday Plane" is always in the air, with the capability of taking direct control of the United States' bombers and missiles in the event of the destruction of the SAC's command post.
• February 16 » Explorer program: Explorer 9 (S-56a) is launched.
• March 24 » Quebec Board of the French Language is established.
• 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 » The South African Constitution of 1961 becomes effective, thus creating the Republic of South Africa, which remains outside the Commonwealth of Nations until 1 June 1994, when South Africa is returned to Commonwealth membership.
• October 29 » Syria exits from the United Arab Republic.

The temperature on December 23, 1961 was between -7.0 °C and -2.8 °C and averaged -5.3 °C. There was 6.9 hours of sunshine (89%). The almost cloudless was. The average windspeed was 3 Bft (moderate breeze) and was prevailing from the east-northeast.