It was also a year which saw Fred Trueman play cricket at Sheffield United’s Bramall Lane, and saw Sheffield Wednesday start to recover from by a coach crash the team suffered on Boxing Day the previous year.
The Star covered these at these at the time, sending out our photographers.
But the reports and pictures of those memorable events in The Star were in black and white – we would not print the paper with colour pictures for around another 30 years.
But the world around us was still as bright and colourful as it is today.
However, modern technology now allows us to transform some of those pictures into colour. We have used pictures showing people and places, including West Street, Fargate and The Moor.
We have used technology to transform them and breathe fresh life into them.
It means you can now see them close to how they would have looked at the time, in a era before Joe Cocker had rocked Woodstock.
We have put together 32 pictures in gallery, which means you can now see these pictures in a way you never could before.
9. The Palace
'The Palace', Union Street, Sheffield, July 1961. The cinema was the first designed for that purpose. It opened in August 1910 and closed in October 1964. Later demolished. Picture: Sheffield Newspapers Photo: Sheffield Newspapers
10. Fargate
A look at the Christmas lights in Fargate in 1961. Picture: Sheffield Newspapers Photo: Sheffield Newspapers
11. Castle Street
Samuel Osborne's retired employees on Castle Street, Sheffield, ready for a day out to Cleethorpes. On the extreme right is Sir Samuel Osborne and director Mr Frank A. Hurst. The pensioners' ages ranged from 65 to 91, in total their years of service totalled 1,663 years, June 5, 1961. Picture: Sheffield Newspapers Photo: Sheffield Newspapers
12. Flats
Labour Party leader Hugh Gaitskell (centre) opening Hyde Park Flats, Sheffield, in 1961 . Picture: Sheffield Newspapers Photo: Sheffield Newspapers