MultiEducator · The 20th Century Almanac
HistoryCentral Est. 1996
6020th C.
1960
The 20th Century Almanac · The Sixties

1960

Major Events · Sports · Music · Screen · Prizes

An American U-2 spy plane was shot down over the USSR, wrecking the Paris summit, while four students sat in at a Greensboro lunch counter and sit-ins spread across the South. Seventeen African nations won independence, the laser was invented, and The Apartment won Best Picture.

A Year in Review
Best Picture
The Apartment
Nobel · Literature
Saint-John Perse (Pen-Name Of Lƒger
World Series
Pittsburgh Olympics
No. 1 Song
El Paso
Top TV
Gunsmoke (CBS)
Academy · Actor
Burt Lancaster

Major Events of 1960

9 events
Failed summit in ParisSino-Soviet splitSyngman Rhee resignsNigeria Becomes IndependentBelgium Congo IndependentU-2 DowndedPolaris Missile FiredUSS Enterprise LaunchedPlanes Collide Over New York

Sports Highlights

Champions of 1960

Champions

NBABoston Celtics
NCAA FootballMinnesota
Heisman TrophyJoe Bellino
Stanley CupMontreal Canadienss:
World SeriesPittsburgh Olympics

Top Music of 1960

The year on the charts

Top Songs

  1. El Paso Marty Robbins
  2. Running Bear Johnny Preston
  3. Teen Angel Mark Dinning
  4. Theme from "A Summer Place Percy Faith
  5. Stuck on You Elvis Presley
  6. Cathy's Clown Everly Brothers
  7. Everybody's Somebody's Fool Connie Francis
  8. Alley-Oop The Hollywood Argyles"
  9. I'm Sorry Brenda Lee
  10. Itsy Bitsy Teenie Weenie Yellow Polka Dot Bikini Brian Hyland

Grammy Awards

Record of the Year
"Theme form A Summer Place"... Percy Faith
Song of the Year
"Theme of Exodus"...Ernest Grant
Album of the Year
"Button Down Mind"...Bob Newhart Male Vocalist: Ray Charles..."The Genius of Ray Charles" Female Vocalist: Ella Fitzgerald... Mack the Knife, Ella in Berlin"

Screen & Television

At the box office & on the air

Top Movies

  1. Ben-Hur
  2. Psycho
  3. Operation Petticoat
  4. Suddenly, Last Summer
  5. On the Beach
  6. Solomon and Sheba
  7. The Apartment
  8. From the Terrace
  9. Please Don't Eat the Daisies
  10. Ocean 11

Top Television

  1. Gunsmoke (CBS)
  2. Wagon Train (NBC)
  3. Have Gun Will Travel (CBS)
  4. The Andy Griffith Show (CBS)
  5. The Real McCoys (ABC)
  6. Rawhide (CBS)
  7. Candid Camera (CBS)
  8. The Untouchables (ABC)
  9. The Price is Right (NBC)
  10. The Jack Benny Show (CBS) (adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []).push({}); © 1996-2025

Academy Awards

Honoring 1960
Best Picture
The Apartment
Best Director
Billy Wilder
The Apartment
Best Actor
Burt Lancaster
Elmer Gantry" Elizabeth Taylor

Nobel & Pulitzer Prizes

The year in letters & science

Nobel Prizes

Chemistry
LIBBY, WILLARD FRANK, U.S.A., University of California, Los Angeles, CA, b. 1908, d. 1980: "for his method to use carbon-14 for age determination in archaeology, geology, geophysics, and other branches of science" ••••••••••••••••••••••••••
Literature
SAINT-JOHN PERSE (pen-name of LƒGER, ALEXIS), France, b. 1887, (on Guadelope Island), d. 1975: "for the soaring flight and the evocative imagery of his poetry which in a visionary fashion reflects the conditions of our time" •••••••••••••••
Peace
ALBERT JOHN LUTULI , President of the South African liberation movement, the African National Congress. ••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••
Physiology or Medicine
The prize was awarded jointly to: BURNET, Sir FRANK MACFARLANE, Australia, Walter and Eliza Hall Institute for Medical Research, Melbourne, b. 1899, d. 1985; and MEDAWAR, Sir PETER BRIAN, Great Britain, University College, London, b. 1915 (
Physics
GLASER, DONALD A., U.S.A., University of California, Berkeley, CA, b. 1926: "for the invention of the bubble chamber"

Pulitzer Prizes

Drama
Jerome Weidman & Geroge Abbot... "Fiorello!"
Fiction
Allen Druray..."Advise and Consent"
History
Margaret Leech..."In the Days of McKinley" International Reporting:A.M. Rosenthal..."New York Times" National Reporting: Vance Trimble..."Scripps-Howard Newspaper Alliance"
Public Service
Los Angeles Times