Born in 1960
Turns 66 in 2026
Gifts for someone born in 1960
1960 Front PageTheir name. The news from their year.Unframed from £21.50Add their name
Their birth chartThe sky as astrology reads it, cast for one birth.Unframed from £21.50
The Years We Were BornThe whole family, together in years.Unframed from £21.50
Our Story timelineTheir life, told in your words.Unframed from £21.50
Front Page: United Kingdom edition. The year is filled in; add their name in the editor. “Your name” is a placeholder. Light news is selected. A new keepsake, not an original newspaper.
BACK TO 1960 · United Kingdom
A little history to go with their gift.
Four Black freshmen began the Greensboro sit-in at a segregated Woolworth lunch counter on 1 February, and other students joined similar protests. In September, John F. Kennedy and Richard Nixon met in Chicago for a presidential debate carried to audiences by television.
What happened in 1960?
Four freshmen sit down at a Greensboro lunch counter
Four Black freshmen began a sit-in at a segregated Woolworth lunch counter in Greensboro, North Carolina.
Kennedy and Nixon debate before a television audience
John F. Kennedy and Richard Nixon faced one another in televised debates during the closely fought 1960 presidential campaign.
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Wilma Rudolph wins three Olympic track gold medals
Wilma Rudolph won three track and field gold medals at the Rome 1960 Olympic Games.
U.S. Olympic & Paralympic Museum · Olympic Studies Centre, International Olympic Committee
Joe Walker takes the X-15 past 2,190 miles per hour
On August 4, 1960, NASA test pilot Joseph Walker flew the X-15 at about 2,196 miles per hour.
NASA Flight Research Center; NASA Technical Reports Server · TIME
Firsts and new ideas
The first laser changes optical technology
Theodore Maiman demonstrated the first working laser in 1960, producing a concentrated beam from a ruby crystal.
Stanford University School of Engineering · Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory
TIROS-1 sends cloud pictures down from orbit
TIROS-1 launched from Cape Canaveral on April 1, 1960, and sent cloud images from orbit.
NASA Science · National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration
Number ones and music in 1960
Chart positions belong to the country and chart named in each record.
Elvis takes “It’s Now or Never” to No. 1
Elvis Presley reshaped the melody of “O Sole Mio” into a pop recording that reached No. 1 in the United States and the United Kingdom during 1960.
Official Charts Company · Billboard (scan hosted by Lesve archive)
Paul Hewson, known as Bono, is born
Hewson’s birthday entry marks the future singer’s arrival in Dublin during May 1960.
Prices and everyday money in 1960
United Kingdom figures in the money of the time. Units and sources matter: these are not today's prices.
| Item or measure | Then | Unit and source |
|---|---|---|
| Average weekly earnings per person in the United Kingdom (Bank of England series) | £9 9s 7d per week | GBP per week Bank of England (series republished by Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis FRED) |
| sugar (October average) | 8d | equivalent 1 lb (calculated from ONS per kg) Office for National Statistics |
| flour (October average) | 1s 2d | equivalent 2 lb (calculated from ONS per 1.5 kg) Office for National Statistics |
| bread (October observation) | 6½d | equivalent 1 lb (calculated from ONS 800 g source measure; not historical loaf size) Office for National Statistics |
Planning the birthday
Someone born in 1960 turns 66 in 2026. Before their birthday they are one year younger. Choose the birth year for the print; add the full date in the editor if you know it.
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