About the day » Wednesday May 31, 1961Calender converter

• Roy Francis Stikkel, Buffalo, Erie County, New York, Verenigde Staten († 1994)
• Elly Schoenmakers, Tilburg, Noord-Brabant, Nederland († 1989)
• Dinie van de Langemeen († 2014)
• Guido Karel Wuyts, Lier († 2022)
• Ruijgrok, Delft († 1961)
• helena cornelia maria (lenie) van der velden, helden
• Linda Hamerpagt († 2010)
• Cornelia Antonetta van Caam, Roosendaal en Nispen, Noord-Brabant, Nederland († 2005)
• philippe tiesset († 1979)
• Harm Hendrik Hakvoort, Harskamp, Gelderland, Nederland († 2000)

• Antonius Broers (74), Gilze en Rijen
• Cornelia de Kievit (65), Dordrecht, Zuid-Holland, Nederland
• Christina Diederika van der Crab (68), Leiden
• Antonius Broers (74), Gilze en Rijen
• Charles John Frederick Rother (66), Magill, South Australia, Australia
• Christina Maria Hermsen (76), Apeldoorn
• Adrianus Mastenbroek (77), Delft, Delft, Zuid-Holland, Netherlands
• Aaltje Kok (89)
• Arnoldina Wilhelmina Pohlman (84), Rotterdam, Zuid-Holland, Nederland
• Alice de Weerd (58), Sioux Center, Sioux County, Iowa, Verenigde Staten

• 1959 » Andrea de Cesaris, Italian racing driver († 2014)
• 1959 » Phil Wilson, English politician
• 1960 » Chris Elliott, American actor, comedian, and screenwriter
• 1960 » Greg Adams, Canadian ice hockey player and businessman
• 1960 » Peter Winterbottom, English rugby player
• 1961 » Justin Madden, Australian footballer and politician
• 1961 » Lea Thompson, American actress, director, and producer
• 1961 » Ray Cote, Canadian ice hockey player
• 1962 » Corey Hart, Canadian singer-songwriter and producer
• 1963 » David Leigh, holder of the Sir Samuel Hall Chair of Chemistry at the University of Manchester

• 1945 » Odilo Globocnik, Italian-Austrian SS officer (b. 1904)
• 1954 » Antonis Benakis, Greek art collector and philanthropist, founded the Benaki Museum (b. 1873)
• 1957 » Leopold Staff, Polish poet and academic (b. 1878)
• 1957 » Stefanos Sarafis, Greek general and politician (b. 1890)
• 1960 » Walther Funk, German economist, journalist, and politician, German Minister of Economics (b. 1890)
• 1960 » Willem Elsschot, Flemish author and poet (b. 1882)
• 1962 » Henry F. Ashurst, American lawyer and politician (b. 1874)
• 1967 » Billy Strayhorn, American pianist and composer (b. 1915)
• 1970 » Terry Sawchuk, Canadian-American ice hockey player (b. 1929)
• 1976 » Jacques Monod, French biologist and geneticist, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1910)

• 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.
• January 31 » Project Mercury: Mercury-Redstone 2: Ham the Chimp travels into outer space.
• February 12 » The Soviet Union launches Venera 1 towards Venus.
• September 10 » In the Italian Grand Prix, a crash causes the death of German Formula One driver Wolfgang von Trips and 13 spectators who are hit by his Ferrari, the deadliest accident in F1 history.
• September 16 » Typhoon Nancy, with possibly the strongest winds ever measured in a tropical cyclone, makes landfall in Osaka, Japan, killing 173 people.
• September 20 » Greek general Konstantinos Dovas becomes Prime Minister of Greece.
• December 9 » Tanganyika becomes independent from Britain.

The temperature on May 31, 1961 was between 8.4 °C and 12.7 °C and averaged 10.5 °C. There was 0.9 mm of rain during 2.4 hours. There was -0.1 hours of sunshine (0%). The almost completely overcast was. The average windspeed was 2 Bft (weak wind) and was prevailing from the northwest.