1940 in the United Kingdom
Encyclopedia
Events from the year 1940 in the United Kingdom
. This year is dominated by World War II
.
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
. This year is dominated by World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
.
Incumbents
- Monarch - King George VIGeorge VI of the United KingdomGeorge VI was King of the United Kingdom and the Dominions of the British Commonwealth from 11 December 1936 until his death...
- Prime Minister - Neville ChamberlainNeville ChamberlainArthur Neville Chamberlain FRS was a British Conservative politician who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from May 1937 to May 1940. Chamberlain is best known for his appeasement foreign policy, and in particular for his signing of the Munich Agreement in 1938, conceding the...
, national coalition (until 10 May), Winston ChurchillWinston ChurchillSir Winston Leonard Spencer-Churchill, was a predominantly Conservative British politician and statesman known for his leadership of the United Kingdom during the Second World War. He is widely regarded as one of the greatest wartime leaders of the century and served as Prime Minister twice...
, coalition
Events
- 8 January - Food rationing introduced.
- 16 February - Royal NavyRoyal NavyThe Royal Navy is the naval warfare service branch of the British Armed Forces. Founded in the 16th century, it is the oldest service branch and is known as the Senior Service...
destroyer HMS CossackHMS CossackSix ships of the Royal Navy have borne the name HMS Cossack, after the Cossack people of Eastern Europe, whilst another was begun but was cancelled while building:...
pursues GermanGermanyGermany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...
freighter Altmark into Jossingfjord in southwestern NorwayNorwayNorway , officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic unitary constitutional monarchy whose territory comprises the western portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula, Jan Mayen, and the Arctic archipelago of Svalbard and Bouvet Island. Norway has a total area of and a population of about 4.9 million...
, resulting in freedom for 290 British sailors and seamen held as prisoners. - 3–9 March - RMS Queen ElizabethRMS Queen ElizabethRMS Queen Elizabeth was an ocean liner operated by the Cunard Line. Plying with her running mate Queen Mary as a luxury liner between Southampton, UK and New York City, USA via Cherbourg, France, she was also contracted for over twenty years to carry the Royal Mail as the second half of the two...
makes her maiden voyage on delivery from ClydebankClydebankClydebank is a town in West Dunbartonshire, in the Central Lowlands of Scotland. Situated on the north bank of the River Clyde, Clydebank borders Dumbarton, the town with which it was combined to form West Dunbartonshire, as well as the town of Milngavie in East Dunbartonshire, and the Yoker and...
to New YorkNew York CityNew York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
. - 16 March - First civilian casualty of bombing in the UK, on Orkney.
- 29 March - Metal security threadSecurity threadA security thread is a security feature of many bank notes to protect against counterfeiting, consisting of a thin ribbon that is threaded through the note's paper....
s added to £1 noteBank of England note issuesThe Bank of England, which is now the Central Bank of the United Kingdom, has issued banknotes since 1694. Since 1970, its new series of notes have featured portraits of British historical figures. Of the eight banks authorised to issue banknotes in the UK, only the Bank of England can issue...
s to prevent forgeries. - 31 March - 33 fascistFascismFascism is a radical authoritarian nationalist political ideology. Fascists seek to rejuvenate their nation based on commitment to the national community as an organic entity, in which individuals are bound together in national identity by suprapersonal connections of ancestry, culture, and blood...
sympathisers, including Oswald MosleyOswald MosleySir Oswald Ernald Mosley, 6th Baronet, of Ancoats, was an English politician, known principally as the founder of the British Union of Fascists...
, are interned. - 9 April - The British campaign in Norway commences following the German invasion of DenmarkDenmarkDenmark is a Scandinavian country in Northern Europe. The countries of Denmark and Greenland, as well as the Faroe Islands, constitute the Kingdom of Denmark . It is the southernmost of the Nordic countries, southwest of Sweden and south of Norway, and bordered to the south by Germany. Denmark...
and NorwayNorwayNorway , officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic unitary constitutional monarchy whose territory comprises the western portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula, Jan Mayen, and the Arctic archipelago of Svalbard and Bouvet Island. Norway has a total area of and a population of about 4.9 million...
. - 12 April - British troop occupy the Faroe IslandsFaroe IslandsThe Faroe Islands are an island group situated between the Norwegian Sea and the North Atlantic Ocean, approximately halfway between Scotland and Iceland. The Faroe Islands are a self-governing territory within the Kingdom of Denmark, along with Denmark proper and Greenland...
, following the invasion of DenmarkDenmarkDenmark is a Scandinavian country in Northern Europe. The countries of Denmark and Greenland, as well as the Faroe Islands, constitute the Kingdom of Denmark . It is the southernmost of the Nordic countries, southwest of Sweden and south of Norway, and bordered to the south by Germany. Denmark...
, to avert a possible German occupation of the islands. - 9 May - Guy Lloyd wins the East Renfrewshire by-electionEast Renfrewshire by-election, 1940The East Renfrewshire by-election, 1940 was a parliamentary by-election held on 9 May 1940 for the British House of Commons constituency of East Renfrewshire in Scotland.- Previous MP :...
. - 10 May - Neville ChamberlainNeville ChamberlainArthur Neville Chamberlain FRS was a British Conservative politician who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from May 1937 to May 1940. Chamberlain is best known for his appeasement foreign policy, and in particular for his signing of the Munich Agreement in 1938, conceding the...
resigns as Prime Minister, and is replaced by Winston ChurchillWinston ChurchillSir Winston Leonard Spencer-Churchill, was a predominantly Conservative British politician and statesman known for his leadership of the United Kingdom during the Second World War. He is widely regarded as one of the greatest wartime leaders of the century and served as Prime Minister twice...
. - 13 May - Winston ChurchillWinston ChurchillSir Winston Leonard Spencer-Churchill, was a predominantly Conservative British politician and statesman known for his leadership of the United Kingdom during the Second World War. He is widely regarded as one of the greatest wartime leaders of the century and served as Prime Minister twice...
, makes his famous "I have nothing to offer you but blood, toil, tears, and sweatBlood, toil, tears, and sweatThe famous phrase Blood, toil, tears and sweat was first uttered on 2 July 1849 by Giuseppe Garibaldi when rallying his revolutionary forces in Rome. Theodore Roosevelt also uttered the phrase in an address to the Naval War College on June 2, 1897, following his appointment as Assistant Secretary...
" speech to the House of CommonsBritish House of CommonsThe House of Commons is the lower house of the Parliament of the United Kingdom, which also comprises the Sovereign and the House of Lords . Both Commons and Lords meet in the Palace of Westminster. The Commons is a democratically elected body, consisting of 650 members , who are known as Members...
. - 14 May
- Queen WilhelminaWilhelmina of the NetherlandsWilhelmina was Queen regnant of the Kingdom of the Netherlands from 1890 to 1948. She ruled the Netherlands for fifty-eight years, longer than any other Dutch monarch. Her reign saw World War I and World War II, the economic crisis of 1933, and the decline of the Netherlands as a major colonial...
of the NetherlandsNetherlandsThe Netherlands is a constituent country of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, located mainly in North-West Europe and with several islands in the Caribbean. Mainland Netherlands borders the North Sea to the north and west, Belgium to the south, and Germany to the east, and shares maritime borders...
and her government arrive in London following the German invasion of France and the Low Countries. - Recruitment begins for a home defense force - the Local Defence Volunteers, renamed as the Home GuardBritish Home GuardThe Home Guard was a defence organisation of the British Army during the Second World War...
from 23 July.
- Queen Wilhelmina
- 22 May - Parliament passes the Emergency Powers Act giving the government full control over all persons and property.
- 26 May to 4 June - The Dunkirk evacuation of British Expeditionary ForceBritish Expeditionary Force (World War II)The British Expeditionary Force was the British force in Europe from 1939–1940 during the Second World War. Commanded by General Lord Gort, the BEF constituted one-tenth of the defending Allied force....
takes place. 300,000 troops are evacuated from France to England.
- 4 June - Churchill makes his We shall fight on the beachesWe shall fight on the beachesWe Shall Fight on the Beaches is a common title given to a speech delivered by Winston Churchill to the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom on 4th June 1940...
speech to the House of Commons. - 9 June - The CommandosBritish CommandosThe British Commandos were formed during the Second World War in June 1940, following a request from the British Prime Minister, Winston Churchill, for a force that could carry out raids against German-occupied Europe...
are created. - 10 June - ItalyItalyItaly , officially the Italian Republic languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Italy's official name is as follows:;;;;;;;;), is a unitary parliamentary republic in South-Central Europe. To the north it borders France, Switzerland, Austria and...
declares warWarWar is a state of organized, armed, and often prolonged conflict carried on between states, nations, or other parties typified by extreme aggression, social disruption, and usually high mortality. War should be understood as an actual, intentional and widespread armed conflict between political...
on FranceFranceThe French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
and the United KingdomUnited KingdomThe United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
. - 17 June - HMT LancastriaRMS LancastriaThe RMS Lancastria was a British Cunard liner sunk on 17 June 1940 during World War II with the loss of an estimated 4,000 plus lives. It is the worst single loss of life in British maritime history and the bloodiest single engagement for UK forces , in the whole conflict and claimed more lives...
is bombed and sunk while evacuating British troops and nationals from St. Nazaire with the loss of 4,000 lives, the largest single UK loss in any World War II event. - 18 June
- Churchill makes his Battle of Britain speech to the House of Commons, "...the Battle of FranceBattle of FranceIn the Second World War, the Battle of France was the German invasion of France and the Low Countries, beginning on 10 May 1940, which ended the Phoney War. The battle consisted of two main operations. In the first, Fall Gelb , German armoured units pushed through the Ardennes, to cut off and...
is over. The Battle of BritainBattle of BritainThe Battle of Britain is the name given to the World War II air campaign waged by the German Air Force against the United Kingdom during the summer and autumn of 1940...
is about to begin... This was their finest hourThis was their finest hourThe This was their finest hour speech was delivered by Winston Churchill to the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom on 18 June 1940...
." - Charles de GaulleCharles de GaulleCharles André Joseph Marie de Gaulle was a French general and statesman who led the Free French Forces during World War II. He later founded the French Fifth Republic in 1958 and served as its first President from 1959 to 1969....
broadcasts an appeal to the French people from LondonLondonLondon is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
.
- Churchill makes his Battle of Britain speech to the House of Commons, "...the Battle of France
- 23 June - BBC Forces ProgrammeBBC Forces ProgrammeThe BBC Forces Programme was a BBC radio station which operated from 7 January 1940 until 26 February 1944.-Foundation:Upon the outbreak of World War II, the BBC closed the existing BBC National Programme and BBC Regional Programme, combining the two to form a single channel known as the BBC Home...
begins broadcasting Music While You WorkMusic While You WorkMusic While You Work was a daytime radio programme of continuous live popular music broadcast in the United Kingdom twice daily on workdays from June 1940 until September 1967 by the BBC, initially in the Forces / General Forces Programme, and after the war in the BBC Light Programme and, in the...
. - 30 June - GermanGermanyGermany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...
forces land in GuernseyGuernseyGuernsey, officially the Bailiwick of Guernsey is a British Crown dependency in the English Channel off the coast of Normandy.The Bailiwick, as a governing entity, embraces not only all 10 parishes on the Island of Guernsey, but also the islands of Herm, Jethou, Burhou, and Lihou and their islet...
marking the start of the 5-year Occupation of the Channel IslandsOccupation of the Channel IslandsThe Channel Islands were occupied by Nazi Germany for much of World War II, from 30 June 1940 until the liberation on 9 May 1945. The Channel Islands are two British Crown dependencies and include the bailiwicks of Guernsey and Jersey as well as the smaller islands of Alderney and Sark...
. - 2 July - British-owned , carrying civilian interneeCivilian InterneeCivilian Internee is a special status of a prisoner under the Fourth Geneva Convention. Civilian Internees are civilians who are detained by a party to a war for security reasons...
s and POWs of ItalianItalian peopleThe Italian people are an ethnic group that share a common Italian culture, ancestry and speak the Italian language as a mother tongue. Within Italy, Italians are defined by citizenship, regardless of ancestry or country of residence , and are distinguished from people...
and German origin from LiverpoolLiverpoolLiverpool is a city and metropolitan borough of Merseyside, England, along the eastern side of the Mersey Estuary. It was founded as a borough in 1207 and was granted city status in 1880...
to CanadaCanadaCanada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...
, is torpedoTorpedoThe modern torpedo is a self-propelled missile weapon with an explosive warhead, launched above or below the water surface, propelled underwater towards a target, and designed to detonate either on contact with it or in proximity to it.The term torpedo was originally employed for...
ed and sunk by off northwest IrelandIrelandIreland is an island to the northwest of continental Europe. It is the third-largest island in Europe and the twentieth-largest island on Earth...
with the loss of around 865 lives. - 3 July
- British naval units sink or seize ships of the French fleet anchored in the AlgeriaAlgeriaAlgeria , officially the People's Democratic Republic of Algeria , also formally referred to as the Democratic and Popular Republic of Algeria, is a country in the Maghreb region of Northwest Africa with Algiers as its capital.In terms of land area, it is the largest country in Africa and the Arab...
n ports of OranOranOran is a major city on the northwestern Mediterranean coast of Algeria, and the second largest city of the country.It is the capital of the Oran Province . The city has a population of 759,645 , while the metropolitan area has a population of approximately 1,500,000, making it the second largest...
and Mers-el-KebirMers-el-KébirMers-el-Kébir is a port town in northwestern Algeria, located by the Mediterranean Sea near Oran, in the Oran Province.-History:Originally a Roman port, Mers-el-Kébir became an Almohad naval arsenal in the 12th century, fell under the rulers of Tlemcen in the 15th century, and eventually became a...
. The following day, Vichy FranceVichy FranceVichy France, Vichy Regime, or Vichy Government, are common terms used to describe the government of France that collaborated with the Axis powers from July 1940 to August 1944. This government succeeded the Third Republic and preceded the Provisional Government of the French Republic...
breaks off diplomatic relations with BritainUnited KingdomThe United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
. - CardiffCardiffCardiff is the capital, largest city and most populous county of Wales and the 10th largest city in the United Kingdom. The city is Wales' chief commercial centre, the base for most national cultural and sporting institutions, the Welsh national media, and the seat of the National Assembly for...
bombed for the first time.
- British naval units sink or seize ships of the French fleet anchored in the Algeria
- 9 July - The Battle of BritainBattle of BritainThe Battle of Britain is the name given to the World War II air campaign waged by the German Air Force against the United Kingdom during the summer and autumn of 1940...
begins. - 19 July - Adolf HitlerAdolf HitlerAdolf Hitler was an Austrian-born German politician and the leader of the National Socialist German Workers Party , commonly referred to as the Nazi Party). He was Chancellor of Germany from 1933 to 1945, and head of state from 1934 to 1945...
makes a peace appeal to the UK in an address to the ReichstagReichstag (German Empire)The Reichstag was the parliament of the North German Confederation , and of the German Reich ....
. Lord Halifax, British foreign minister, flatly rejects peace terms in a broadcast reply on 22 July. - 9 August - Birmingham BlitzBirmingham BlitzThe Birmingham Blitz was the heavy bombing by the Nazi German Luftwaffe of the city of Birmingham in the United Kingdom, beginning on 9 August 1940 and ending on 23 April 1943...
: Heavy bombing of BirminghamBirminghamBirmingham is a city and metropolitan borough in the West Midlands of England. It is the most populous British city outside the capital London, with a population of 1,036,900 , and lies at the heart of the West Midlands conurbation, the second most populous urban area in the United Kingdom with a...
begins. - 20 August - Churchill pays tribute to the Royal Air ForceRoyal Air ForceThe Royal Air Force is the aerial warfare service branch of the British Armed Forces. Formed on 1 April 1918, it is the oldest independent air force in the world...
: "Never in the field of human conflict was so much owed by so many to so fewNever was so much owed by so many to so fewNever was so much owed by so many to so few was a wartime speech made by the British Prime Minister Winston Churchill on 20 August 1940. The name stems from the specific line in the speech, Never in the field of human conflict was so much owed by so many to so few, referring to the ongoing efforts...
." - 24 August
- First aid raid on LondonLondonLondon is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
takes place. - Howard Florey and a team including Ernst Chain, Arthur Duncan Gardner, Norman HeatleyNorman HeatleyNorman George Heatley was a member of the team of Oxford University scientists who developed penicillin.He was born in Woodbridge, Suffolk, and as a boy was an enthusiastic sailor of a small boat on the River Deben; an experience which gave him a lifelong love of sailing...
, M. Jennings, J. Orr-Ewing and G. Sanders at the Sir William Dunn School of PathologySir William Dunn School of PathologyThe Sir William Dunn School of Pathology is a Department within the University of Oxford . Its research programme includes the cellular and molecular biology of pathogens, the immune response, cancer and cardiovascular disease...
, University of OxfordUniversity of OxfordThe University of Oxford is a university located in Oxford, United Kingdom. It is the second-oldest surviving university in the world and the oldest in the English-speaking world. Although its exact date of foundation is unclear, there is evidence of teaching as far back as 1096...
, publish their laboratory results showing the in vivoIn vivoIn vivo is experimentation using a whole, living organism as opposed to a partial or dead organism, or an in vitro controlled environment. Animal testing and clinical trials are two forms of in vivo research...
bactericidal action of penicillinPenicillinPenicillin is a group of antibiotics derived from Penicillium fungi. They include penicillin G, procaine penicillin, benzathine penicillin, and penicillin V....
. They have also purified the drug.
- First aid raid on London
- 26 August - The RAF bomb Berlin for the first time.
- 7 September - The BlitzThe BlitzThe Blitz was the sustained strategic bombing of Britain by Nazi Germany between 7 September 1940 and 10 May 1941, during the Second World War. The city of London was bombed by the Luftwaffe for 76 consecutive nights and many towns and cities across the country followed...
begins. This will be the first of 57 consecutive nights of strategic bombingStrategic bombingStrategic bombing is a military strategy used in a total war with the goal of defeating an enemy nation-state by destroying its economic ability and public will to wage war rather than destroying its land or naval forces...
on London. - 15 September - RAF command claims victory over the LuftwaffeLuftwaffeLuftwaffe is a generic German term for an air force. It is also the official name for two of the four historic German air forces, the Wehrmacht air arm founded in 1935 and disbanded in 1946; and the current Bundeswehr air arm founded in 1956....
in the Battle of the Britain; this day is thereafter known as "Battle of Britain Day". - 17–18 September - is torpedoTorpedoThe modern torpedo is a self-propelled missile weapon with an explosive warhead, launched above or below the water surface, propelled underwater towards a target, and designed to detonate either on contact with it or in proximity to it.The term torpedo was originally employed for...
ed by in the AtlanticAtlantic OceanThe Atlantic Ocean is the second-largest of the world's oceanic divisions. With a total area of about , it covers approximately 20% of the Earth's surface and about 26% of its water surface area...
with the loss of 248 of the 406 on board, including child evacueeEmergency evacuationEmergency evacuation is the immediate and rapid movement of people away from the threat or actual occurrence of a hazard. Examples range from the small scale evacuation of a building due to a bomb threat or fire to the large scale evacuation of a district because of a flood, bombardment or...
s bound for CanadaCanadaCanada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...
. The sinking results in cancellation of the Children's Overseas Reception BoardChildren's Overseas Reception BoardThe Children's Overseas Reception Board was a British organisation that between July and September 1940 evacuated British children from that country in order to escape the Blitz . The children were sent to mainly to Canada, but also to Australia, New Zealand, and South Africa...
's plan to relocate British children abroad. - 23 September - King George VIGeorge VI of the United KingdomGeorge VI was King of the United Kingdom and the Dominions of the British Commonwealth from 11 December 1936 until his death...
announces the creation of the George CrossGeorge CrossThe George Cross is the highest civil decoration of the United Kingdom, and also holds, or has held, that status in many of the other countries of the Commonwealth of Nations...
decoration during a radio broadcast. - 31 October - The Battle of BritainBattle of BritainThe Battle of Britain is the name given to the World War II air campaign waged by the German Air Force against the United Kingdom during the summer and autumn of 1940...
ends. - 11 November - Battle of TarantoBattle of TarantoThe naval Battle of Taranto took place on the night of 11–12 November 1940 during the Second World War. The Royal Navy launched the first all-aircraft ship-to-ship naval attack in history, flying a small number of obsolescent biplane torpedo bombers from an aircraft carrier in the Mediterranean Sea...
- The Royal NavyRoyal NavyThe Royal Navy is the naval warfare service branch of the British Armed Forces. Founded in the 16th century, it is the oldest service branch and is known as the Senior Service...
launches the first aircraft carrierAircraft carrierAn aircraft carrier is a warship designed with a primary mission of deploying and recovering aircraft, acting as a seagoing airbase. Aircraft carriers thus allow a naval force to project air power worldwide without having to depend on local bases for staging aircraft operations...
strike in history, on the ItalianItalyItaly , officially the Italian Republic languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Italy's official name is as follows:;;;;;;;;), is a unitary parliamentary republic in South-Central Europe. To the north it borders France, Switzerland, Austria and...
fleet at TarantoTarantoTaranto is a coastal city in Apulia, Southern Italy. It is the capital of the Province of Taranto and is an important commercial port as well as the main Italian naval base....
. - 14 November - Coventry BlitzCoventry BlitzThe Coventry blitz was a series of bombing raids that took place in the English city of Coventry. The city was bombed many times during the Second World War by the German Air Force...
: The centre of CoventryCoventryCoventry is a city and metropolitan borough in the county of West Midlands in England. Coventry is the 9th largest city in England and the 11th largest in the United Kingdom. It is also the second largest city in the English Midlands, after Birmingham, with a population of 300,848, although...
is destroyed by 500 GermanGermanyGermany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...
LuftwaffeLuftwaffeLuftwaffe is a generic German term for an air force. It is also the official name for two of the four historic German air forces, the Wehrmacht air arm founded in 1935 and disbanded in 1946; and the current Bundeswehr air arm founded in 1956....
bombers: 150,000 fire bombs, 503 tons of high explosives and 130 parachute mines level 60,000 of the city's 75,000 buildings; 568 people are killed. - 23 November - Southampton BlitzSouthampton BlitzThe Southampton Blitz was the heavy bombing of Southampton by the Nazi German Luftwaffe during World War II. It was targeted mainly in the first phase of the Blitz....
: SouthamptonSouthamptonSouthampton is the largest city in the county of Hampshire on the south coast of England, and is situated south-west of London and north-west of Portsmouth. Southampton is a major port and the closest city to the New Forest...
is bombed. - 24 November - Bristol BlitzBristol BlitzBristol was the fifth most heavily bombed British city of World War II. The presence of Bristol Harbour and the Bristol Aeroplane Company made it a target for bombing by the Nazi German Luftwaffe who were able to trace a course up the River Avon from Avonmouth using reflected moonlight on the...
: beginning of the bombing of BristolBristolBristol is a city, unitary authority area and ceremonial county in South West England, with an estimated population of 433,100 for the unitary authority in 2009, and a surrounding Larger Urban Zone with an estimated 1,070,000 residents in 2007...
. - 27 November–1 December - Oil storage depot fire at Turnchapel, PlymouthPlymouthPlymouth is a city and unitary authority area on the coast of Devon, England, about south-west of London. It is built between the mouths of the rivers Plym to the east and Tamar to the west, where they join Plymouth Sound...
, caused by bombing. - 12–15 December - Sheffield BlitzSheffield BlitzThe Sheffield Blitz is the name given to the worst nights of German Luftwaffe bombing in Sheffield, England during the Second World War. It took place over the nights of 12 December and 15 December 1940....
: the city of SheffieldSheffieldSheffield is a city and metropolitan borough of South Yorkshire, England. Its name derives from the River Sheaf, which runs through the city. Historically a part of the West Riding of Yorkshire, and with some of its southern suburbs annexed from Derbyshire, the city has grown from its largely...
is heavily bombed. - 20 December - Liverpool BlitzLiverpool BlitzThe Liverpool Blitz was the heavy and sustained bombing of the British city of Liverpool and its surrounding area, at the time mostly within the counties of Lancashire and Cheshire but commonly known as Merseyside, during the Second World War by the German Luftwaffe.Liverpool, Bootle, and the...
: LiverpoolLiverpoolLiverpool is a city and metropolitan borough of Merseyside, England, along the eastern side of the Mersey Estuary. It was founded as a borough in 1207 and was granted city status in 1880...
is heavily bombed. - 22 December - Manchester BlitzManchester BlitzThe Manchester Blitz was the heavy bombing of the city of Manchester and its surrounding areas in North West England during the Second World War by the Nazi German Luftwaffe...
: ManchesterManchesterManchester is a city and metropolitan borough in Greater Manchester, England. According to the Office for National Statistics, the 2010 mid-year population estimate for Manchester was 498,800. Manchester lies within one of the UK's largest metropolitan areas, the metropolitan county of Greater...
is heavily bombed. - 29 December - Heavy bombing in LondonLondonLondon is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
causes the Second Great Fire of LondonThe Second Great Fire of LondonThe "Second Great Fire of London" is a name used at the time to refer to one of the most destructive air raids of the London Blitz, over the night of 29/30 December 1940. Between 6pm and 6am the next day, more than 24,000 high explosive bombs and 100,000 incendiary bombs were dropped...
.
Publications
- Michael FootMichael FootMichael Mackintosh Foot, FRSL, PC was a British Labour Party politician, journalist and author, who was a Member of Parliament from 1945 to 1955 and from 1960 until 1992...
, Frank OwenFrank Owen (politician)Humphrey Frank Owen was a British journalist and Liberal Member of Parliament. He was a Lloyd Georgite Liberal MP for Hereford between 1929 and 1931...
and Peter HowardPeter Howard (journalist)Peter Dunsmore Howard was a British journalist, playwright, captain of the England national rugby union team and the head of the spiritual movement Moral Re-Armament from 1961 to 1965.-Biography:...
’s political tract Guilty MenGuilty MenGuilty Men was a book published in Great Britain in 1940 that attacked British public figures for their appeasement of Nazi Germany in the 1930s...
(published under the pseudonymPseudonymA pseudonym is a name that a person assumes for a particular purpose and that differs from his or her original orthonym...
"Cato"). - Joyce CareyJoyce CareyJoyce Carey, OBE was a British actress, best known for her long professional and personal relationship with Noël Coward. Her stage career lasted from 1916 until 1984, and she was performing on television in her nineties. Though never a star, she was a familiar face both on stage and screen...
's novel Charley is My Darling. - Agatha ChristieAgatha ChristieDame Agatha Christie DBE was a British crime writer of novels, short stories, and plays. She also wrote romances under the name Mary Westmacott, but she is best remembered for her 66 detective novels and 14 short story collections , and her successful West End plays.According to...
's Hercule PoirotHercule PoirotHercule Poirot is a fictional Belgian detective created by Agatha Christie. Along with Miss Marple, Poirot is one of Christie's most famous and long-lived characters, appearing in 33 novels and 51 short stories published between 1920 and 1975 and set in the same era.Poirot has been portrayed on...
novels Sad CypressSad CypressSad Cypress is a work of detective fiction by Agatha Christie and first published in the UK by the Collins Crime Club in March 1940 and in the US by Dodd, Mead and Company later in the same year...
and One, Two, Buckle My ShoeOne, Two, Buckle My Shoe (novel)One, Two, Buckle My Shoe is a work of detective fiction by Agatha Christie and first published in the United Kingdom by the Collins Crime Club in November 1940 and in US by Dodd, Mead and Company in February 1941 under the title of The Patriotic Murders. A paperback edition in the US by Dell books...
. - T. S. EliotT. S. EliotThomas Stearns "T. S." Eliot OM was a playwright, literary critic, and arguably the most important English-language poet of the 20th century. Although he was born an American he moved to the United Kingdom in 1914 and was naturalised as a British subject in 1927 at age 39.The poem that made his...
's poem East CokerEast Coker (poem)East Coker is the second poem of T. S. Eliot's Four Quartets. It was started as a way for Eliot to get back into writing poetry and was modeled after Burnt Norton. It was finished during early 1940 and printed for the Easter edition of the 1940 New English Weekly...
, second of the Four QuartetsFour QuartetsFour Quartets is a set of four poems written by T. S. Eliot that were published individually over a six-year period. The first poem, "Burnt Norton", was written and published with a collection of his early works following the production of Eliot's play Murder in the Cathedral...
(in March New English WeeklyNew English WeeklyThe New English Weekly was a leading review of "Public Affairs, Literature and the Arts."It was founded in April 1932 by Alfred Richard Orage shortly after his return from Paris...
). - Graham GreeneGraham GreeneHenry Graham Greene, OM, CH was an English author, playwright and literary critic. His works explore the ambivalent moral and political issues of the modern world...
's novel The Power and the GloryThe Power and the GloryThe Power and the Glory is a novel by British author Graham Greene. The title is an allusion to the doxology often added to the end of the Lord's Prayer: "For thine is the kingdom, the power, and the glory, now and forever , amen." This novel has also been published in the US under the name The...
. - Michael SadleirMichael SadleirMichael Sadleir was a British novelist and book collector.-Biography:He was born Michael Sadler, though upon beginning to publish novels he altered the spelling of his name to differentiate himself from his father, Michael Ernest Sadler, a historian and Vice-Chancellor of the University of Leeds...
's novel Fanny by GaslightFanny by Gaslight (novel)Fanny by Gaslight is the best known novel of Michael Sadleir. Written in 1940 and filmed in 1944, it is a fictional exploration of prostitution in Victorian London. In 1981 it was turned into a four-part BBC television series Fanny by Gaslight with Chloe Salaman in the title role....
. - Thomas SharpThomas Wilfred SharpThomas Wilfred Sharp was an English urban planner and writer. He was born in Bishop Auckland in County Durham, England. He attended the local grammar school and then spent four years working for the borough surveyor...
's Pelican book Town Planning. - C. P. SnowC. P. SnowCharles Percy Snow, Baron Snow of the City of Leicester CBE was an English physicist and novelist who also served in several important positions with the UK government...
's novel George PassantGeorge PassantGeorge Passant is the first published of C. P. Snow's series of novels Strangers and Brothers, but the second according to the internal chronology. It was first published under the name Strangers and Brothers....
. - C. Henry Warren's account England is a Village illustrated by Denys Watkins-PitchfordDenys Watkins-PitchfordDenys James Watkins-Pitchford MBE was a British naturalist, children's writer, and illustrator who wrote under the pseudonym "BB".-Early life:...
.
Births
- 4 January - Professor Brian Josephson, scientist
- 14 January - Trevor NunnTrevor NunnSir Trevor Robert Nunn, CBE is an English theatre, film and television director. Nunn has been the Artistic Director for the Royal Shakespeare Company, the Royal National Theatre, and, currently, the Theatre Royal, Haymarket. He has directed musicals and dramas for the stage, as well as opera...
, stage and film director - 22 January - John HurtJohn HurtJohn Vincent Hurt, CBE is an English actor, known for his leading roles as John Merrick in The Elephant Man, Winston Smith in Nineteen Eighty-Four, Mr. Braddock in The Hit, Stephen Ward in Scandal, Quentin Crisp in The Naked Civil Servant and An Englishman in New York...
, actor - 23 January
- Brian LaboneBrian LaboneBrian Leslie Labone was an English footballer who played for and captained Everton. A one-club man, Labone's professional career lasted from 1958 to 1971, during which he won the Football League championship twice and the FA Cup once...
, footballer (died 20062006 in the United KingdomEvents from the year 2006 in the United Kingdom.-Incumbents:* Monarch - HM Queen Elizabeth II* Prime Minister - Anthony Blair, Labour Party-January:...
) - Ted RowlandsTed Rowlands, Baron RowlandsEdward "Ted" Rowlands, Baron Rowlands, CBE is a Welsh politician, who served as a Labour Party Member of Parliament for over thirty years and as a junior minister in the 1960s and 1970s.-Education:...
, politician
- Brian Labone
- 2 February - David JasonDavid JasonSir David John White, OBE , better known by his stage name David Jason, is an English BAFTA award-winning actor. He is best known as the main character Derek "Del Boy" Trotter on the BBC sit-com Only Fools and Horses from 1981, the voice of Mr Toad in The Wind In The Willows and as detective Jack...
, actor - 6 February - Jimmy TarbuckJimmy TarbuckJimmy Tarbuck OBE or Tarby is an English comedian. Growing up he was a schoolmate of John Lennon.His first television show was It's Tarbuck 65! on ITV in 1964. He has also hosted numerous quiz shows, including Winner Takes All, Full Swing, and Tarby's Frame Game...
, comedian - 20 February - Jimmy GreavesJimmy GreavesJames Peter 'Jimmy' Greaves is an English former football player, England's third highest international goalscorer, the highest goalscorer in the history of Tottenham Hotspur football club, the highest goalscorer in the history of English top flight football and more recently a television pundit -...
, footballer and television pundit - 24 February
- Denis LawDenis LawDenis Law is a retired Scottish football player, who enjoyed a long and successful career as a striker from the 1950s to the 1970s....
, Scottish footballer - John LyallJohn LyallJohn Angus Lyall was an English footballer and manager of Scottish descent. His mother, Catherine, was from the Isle of Lewis, his father, James, was from Kirriemuir. He was born in Ilford, Essex.- Youth team career :...
, football player and manager (died 2006)
- Denis Law
- 1 March - David BroomeDavid BroomeDavid McPherson Broome CBE is a retired Welsh show jumping champion.Broome was born in Wales, attended Monmouth School and still maintains his stables at Mount Ballan Manor, Crick, near Chepstow in Monmouthshire...
, show jumping champion - 15 March - Frank DobsonFrank DobsonFrank Gordon Dobson, is a British Labour Party politician who has been the Member of Parliament for Holborn and St. Pancras since 1979...
, politician - 2 April - Penelope KeithPenelope KeithPenelope Anne Constance Keith, CBE, DL is an English actress.Having started her television career in the 1950s, Penelope Keith became a household name in the United Kingdom in the 1970s when she played Margo Leadbetter in the sitcom The Good Life...
, actress - 15 April - Jeffrey ArcherJeffrey Archer, Baron Archer of Weston-super-MareJeffrey Howard Archer, Baron Archer of Weston-super-Mare is a best-selling English author and former politician whose political career ended with his conviction and subsequent imprisonment for perjury and perverting the course of justice.Alongside his literary work, Archer was a Member of...
, politician, novelist and perjurer - 17 April - Billy FuryBilly FuryBilly Fury, born Ronald William Wycherley , was an internationally successful English singer from the late-1950s to the mid-1960s, and remained an active songwriter until the 1980s. Rheumatic fever, which he first contracted as a child, damaged his heart and ultimately contributed to his death...
, singer songwriter (died 19831983 in the United KingdomEvents from the year 1983 in the United Kingdom.-Incumbents:* Monarch - Elizabeth II* Prime Minister - Margaret Thatcher, Conservative-Events:...
) - 7 May - Angela CarterAngela CarterAngela Carter was an English novelist and journalist, known for her feminist, magical realism, and picaresque works...
, novelist and journalist (died 19921992 in the United KingdomEvents from the year 1992 in the United Kingdom.-Overview:1992 in the United Kingdom is notable for a fourth term General Election victory for the Conservative Party; "Black Wednesday" , the suspension of Britain's membership of the European Exchange Rate Mechanism; and an Annus Horribilis for the...
) - 13 May - Bruce ChatwinBruce ChatwinCharles Bruce Chatwin was an English novelist and travel writer. He won the James Tait Black Memorial Prize for his novel On the Black Hill...
, novelist and travel writer (died 19891989 in the United KingdomEvents from the year 1989 in the United Kingdom.-Incumbents:* Monarch - Elizabeth II* Prime Minister - Margaret Thatcher, Conservative-Events:...
) - 16 May - Gareth Roberts, physicist (died 2007)
- 7 June - Tom JonesTom Jones (singer)Sir Thomas John Woodward, OBE , known by his stage name Tom Jones, is a Welsh singer.Since the mid 1960s, Jones has sung many styles of popular music – pop, rock, R&B, show tunes, country, dance, techno, soul and gospel – and sold over 100 million records...
, singer - 8 June - Carole Ann FordCarole Ann FordCarole Ann Ford is a British actress best known for her role as Susan Foreman in the BBC science fiction television series Doctor Who. She also appeared in the 1962 film version of The Day of the Triffids....
, actress - 20 June - John MahoneyJohn MahoneyJohn Mahoney is a British born American actor, known for playing Martin "Marty" Crane, the retired police officer, father of Kelsey Grammer's Dr...
, actor - 23 June
- Adam FaithAdam FaithTerence "Terry" Nelhams-Wright, known as Adam Faith was a Teen idol English singer, actor and later financial journalist. He was one of the most charted acts of the 1960s. He became the first UK artist to lodge his initial seven hits in the Top 5...
, actor and singer (died 20032003 in the United KingdomEvents from the year 2003 in the United Kingdom.-Incumbents:* Monarch - HM Queen Elizabeth II* Prime Minister - Tony Blair, Labour Party-Events:* January - Toyota launches an all-new Avensis to be built at TMUK....
) - Derry Irvine, Lord Chancellor of EnglandLord ChancellorThe Lord High Chancellor of Great Britain, or Lord Chancellor, is a senior and important functionary in the government of the United Kingdom. He is the second highest ranking of the Great Officers of State, ranking only after the Lord High Steward. The Lord Chancellor is appointed by the Sovereign...
- Adam Faith
- 29 June - John DawesJohn DawesSydney John Dawes OBE is a former Welsh rugby union player, playing at centre, and later coach. He captained London Welsh, Wales, the Barbarians and the British Lions...
, rugby player - 7 July - Ringo StarrRingo StarrRichard Starkey, MBE better known by his stage name Ringo Starr, is an English musician and actor who gained worldwide fame as the drummer for The Beatles. When the band formed in 1960, Starr was a member of another Liverpool band, Rory Storm and the Hurricanes. He became The Beatles' drummer in...
, English drummer (The BeatlesThe BeatlesThe Beatles were an English rock band, active throughout the 1960s and one of the most commercially successful and critically acclaimed acts in the history of popular music. Formed in Liverpool, by 1962 the group consisted of John Lennon , Paul McCartney , George Harrison and Ringo Starr...
) - 13 July - Patrick StewartPatrick StewartSir Patrick Hewes Stewart, OBE is an English film, television and stage actor, who has had a distinguished career in theatre and television for around half a century...
, actor - 17 July - Tim Brooke-TaylorTim Brooke-TaylorTimothy Julian Brooke-Taylor OBE is an English comic actor. He became active in performing in comedy sketches while at Cambridge University, and became President of the Footlights club, touring internationally with the Footlights revue in 1964...
, English radio and television personality - 9 October - John LennonJohn LennonJohn Winston Lennon, MBE was an English musician and singer-songwriter who rose to worldwide fame as one of the founding members of The Beatles, one of the most commercially successful and critically acclaimed acts in the history of popular music...
, musician and singer (The BeatlesThe BeatlesThe Beatles were an English rock band, active throughout the 1960s and one of the most commercially successful and critically acclaimed acts in the history of popular music. Formed in Liverpool, by 1962 the group consisted of John Lennon , Paul McCartney , George Harrison and Ringo Starr...
) (died 1980) - 14 October - Cliff RichardCliff RichardSir Cliff Richard, OBE is a British pop singer, musician, performer, actor, and philanthropist who has sold over an estimated 250 million records worldwide....
, singer and actor - 19 October - Michael GambonMichael GambonSir Michael John Gambon, CBE is an Irish actor who has worked in theatre, television and film. A highly respected theatre actor, Gambon is recognised for his roles as Philip Marlowe in the BBC television serial The Singing Detective, as Jules Maigret in the 1990s ITV serial Maigret, and as...
, actor - 4 November - Daniel SperberDaniel SperberDaniel Sperber is a professor of Talmud at Bar-Ilan University in Israel, and an expert in classical philology, history of Jewish customs, Jewish art history, Jewish education and Talmudic studies.-Biography:...
, Welsh-born Israeli author, university professor and scholar. - 14 November - Freddie GarrityFreddie GarrityFreddie Garrity was a singer and actor who was frontman and comical element in the 1960s pop band, Freddie and the Dreamers.-Biography:...
, singer (died 2006) - 22 December - Noel JonesNoel JonesNoel Andrew Stephen Jones was an Indian-born British diplomat, British ambassador to Kazakhstan from 1993 to 1995...
, British Ambassador to Kazakhstan (died 19951995 in the United KingdomEvents from the year 1995 in the United Kingdom.-Incumbents:*Monarch - Elizabeth II*Prime Minister - John Major, Conservative-January:* 1 January - South Korean industrial giant Daewoo announces plans to build a new car factory in the United Kingdom within the next few years, costing up to...
)
Deaths
- 11 February - John BuchanJohn Buchan, 1st Baron TweedsmuirJohn Buchan, 1st Baron Tweedsmuir was a Scottish novelist, historian and Unionist politician who served as Governor General of Canada, the 15th since Canadian Confederation....
, novelist and politician (born 18751875 in the United KingdomEvents from the year 1875 in the United Kingdom.-Incumbents:*Monarch — Queen Victoria*Prime Minister — Benjamin Disraeli, Conservative-Events:...
) - 17 June - Arthur HardenArthur HardenSir Arthur Harden FRS was an English biochemist. He shared the Nobel Prize in Chemistry in 1929 with Hans Karl August Simon von Euler-Chelpin for their investigations into the fermentation of sugar and fermentative enzymes....
, chemist, Nobel PrizeNobel Prize in ChemistryThe Nobel Prize in Chemistry is awarded annually by the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences to scientists in the various fields of chemistry. It is one of the five Nobel Prizes established by the will of Alfred Nobel in 1895, awarded for outstanding contributions in chemistry, physics, literature,...
laureate (born 18651865 in the United KingdomEvents from the year 1865 in the United Kingdom.-Incumbents:*Monarch — Queen Victoria*Prime Minister — Viscount Palmerston, Liberal , Lord John Russell, Liberal-Events:...
) - 24 June - Alfred FowlerAlfred FowlerAlfred Fowler, FRS was an English astronomer. Not to be confused with American astrophysicist William Alfred Fowler....
, astronomer (born 18681868 in the United KingdomEvents from the year 1868 in the United Kingdom.-Incumbents:*Monarch — Queen Victoria*Prime Minister — Earl of Derby, Conservative , Benjamin Disraeli, Conservative , William Ewart Gladstone, Liberal...
) - 22 August - Oliver Lodge, physicist (born 18511851 in the United KingdomEvents from the year 1851 in the United Kingdom.-Incumbents:*Monarch — Queen Victoria*Prime Minister — Lord John Russell, Liberal-Events:...
) - 30 August - J.J. Thomson, physicist, Nobel PrizeNobel Prize in PhysicsThe Nobel Prize in Physics is awarded once a year by the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences. It is one of the five Nobel Prizes established by the will of Alfred Nobel in 1895 and awarded since 1901; the others are the Nobel Prize in Chemistry, Nobel Prize in Literature, Nobel Peace Prize, and...
laureate (born 18561856 in the United KingdomEvents from the year 1856 in the United Kingdom.-Incumbents:*Monarch — Queen Victoria*Prime Minister — Lord Palmerston, Liberal-Events:...
) - 26 September - W. H. DaviesW. H. DaviesWilliam Henry Davies or W. H. Davies was a Welsh poet and writer. Davies spent a significant part of his life as a tramp or vagabond in the United States and United Kingdom, but became known as one of the most popular poets of his time...
, poet and author (born 18711871 in the United KingdomEvents from the year 1871 in the United Kingdom.-Incumbents:*Monarch — Queen Victoria*Prime Minister — William Ewart Gladstone, Liberal-Events:...
) - 9 October - Sir Wilfred GrenfellWilfred GrenfellSir Wilfred Thomason Grenfell, KCMG was a medical missionary to Newfoundland and Labrador.He was born at Parkgate, Wirral, England, the son of Algernon Grenfell, headmaster of Mostyn House School, and Jane Georgiana Hutchison and married Anne Elizabeth Caldwell MacClanahan of Chicago, Illinois, in...
, medical missionary to Newfoundland and Labrador (born 18651865 in the United KingdomEvents from the year 1865 in the United Kingdom.-Incumbents:*Monarch — Queen Victoria*Prime Minister — Viscount Palmerston, Liberal , Lord John Russell, Liberal-Events:...
) - 2 November - Archie McKellarArchie McKellarFlight Lieutenant Archibald Ashmore McKellar DSO DFC & Bar , was a top fighter ace of the Royal Air Force during the Battle of Britain in World War II .Most of McKellar's victories were scored in the Hawker Hurricane....
, fighter ace (killed in Battle of Britain) - 9 November - Neville ChamberlainNeville ChamberlainArthur Neville Chamberlain FRS was a British Conservative politician who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from May 1937 to May 1940. Chamberlain is best known for his appeasement foreign policy, and in particular for his signing of the Munich Agreement in 1938, conceding the...
, former Prime MinisterPrime Minister of the United KingdomThe Prime Minister of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland is the Head of Her Majesty's Government in the United Kingdom. The Prime Minister and Cabinet are collectively accountable for their policies and actions to the Sovereign, to Parliament, to their political party and...
(born 18691869 in the United KingdomEvents from the year 1869 in the United Kingdom.-Incumbents:*Monarch — Queen Victoria*Prime Minister — William Ewart Gladstone, Liberal-Events:* 6 March — The first international cycle race is held at Crystal Palace, London....
) - date unknown - William WallaceWilliam Wallace (Scottish composer)William Wallace was notable as a Scottish classical composer and writer; he first became an ophthalmic surgeon. He served as Dean of the Faculty of Music in the University of London.-Early life and education:...
, composer