1949 in the United Kingdom
Encyclopedia
Events from the year 1949 in the United Kingdom
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...

.

Incumbents

  • Monarch - King George VI
    George VI of the United Kingdom
    George VI was King of the United Kingdom and the Dominions of the British Commonwealth from 11 December 1936 until his death...

  • Prime Minister - Clement Attlee
    Clement Attlee
    Clement Richard Attlee, 1st Earl Attlee, KG, OM, CH, PC, FRS was a British Labour politician who served as the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1945 to 1951, and as the Leader of the Labour Party from 1935 to 1955...

    , Labour
    Labour Party (UK)
    The Labour Party is a centre-left democratic socialist party in the United Kingdom. It surpassed the Liberal Party in general elections during the early 1920s, forming minority governments under Ramsay MacDonald in 1924 and 1929-1931. The party was in a wartime coalition from 1940 to 1945, after...


Events

  • January - A national sex survey is carried out into the sexual behaviour
    Human sexual behavior
    Human sexual activities or human sexual practices or human sexual behavior refers to the manner in which humans experience and express their sexuality. People engage in a variety of sexual acts from time to time, and for a wide variety of reasons...

     of 4,000 Britons. The results are considered outrageous and suppressed for over 50 years.
  • 1 January - Peacetime conscription in the United Kingdom
    Conscription in the United Kingdom
    Conscription in the United Kingdom has existed for two periods in modern times. The first was from 1916 to 1919, the second was from 1939 to 1960, with the last conscripted soldiers leaving the service in 1963...

     is regularised under the National Service Act 1947. Men aged 18–26 in England, Scotland and Wales are obliged to serve full-time in the armed forces for 18 months.
  • 4 January - of the Cunard Line
    Cunard Line
    Cunard Line is a British-American owned shipping company based at Carnival House in Southampton, England and operated by Carnival UK. It has been a leading operator of passenger ships on the North Atlantic for over a century...

     departs Southampton
    Southampton
    Southampton 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...

     for New York
    New York
    New York is a state in the Northeastern region of the United States. It is the nation's third most populous state. New York is bordered by New Jersey and Pennsylvania to the south, and by Connecticut, Massachusetts and Vermont to the east...

     on her maiden voyage.
  • 1 February - Women's Auxiliary Air Force
    Women's Auxiliary Air Force
    The Women's Auxiliary Air Force , whose members were invariably referred to as Waafs , was the female auxiliary of the Royal Air Force during World War II, established in 1939. At its peak strength, in 1943, WAAF numbers exceeded 180,000, with over 2,000 women enlisting per week.A Women's Royal Air...

     renamed as the Women's Royal Air Force
    Women's Royal Air Force
    The Women's Royal Air Force was a women's branch of the Royal Air Force which existed in two separate incarnations.The first WRAF was an auxiliary organization of the Royal Air Force which was founded in 1918. The original intent of the WRAF was to provide female mechanics in order to free up men...

    .
  • 15 March - Post-War rationing
    Rationing
    Rationing is the controlled distribution of scarce resources, goods, or services. Rationing controls the size of the ration, one's allotted portion of the resources being distributed on a particular day or at a particular time.- In economics :...

     of clothes ends.
  • 25 March - Laurence Olivier
    Laurence Olivier
    Laurence Kerr Olivier, Baron Olivier, OM was an English actor, director, and producer. He was one of the most famous and revered actors of the 20th century. He married three times, to fellow actors Jill Esmond, Vivien Leigh, and Joan Plowright...

    's film Hamlet
    Hamlet (1948 film)
    Hamlet is a 1948 British film adaptation of William Shakespeare's play Hamlet, adapted and directed by and starring Sir Laurence Olivier. Hamlet was Olivier's second film as director, and also the second of the three Shakespeare films that he directed...

    becomes the first British film to win a 'Best Picture' Oscar
    Academy Award for Best Picture
    The Academy Award for Best Picture is one of the Academy Awards of Merit presented annually by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences to artists working in the motion picture industry. The Best Picture category is the only category in which every member of the Academy is eligible not only...

    .
  • 28 March - Astronomer
    Astronomer
    An astronomer is a scientist who studies celestial bodies such as planets, stars and galaxies.Historically, astronomy was more concerned with the classification and description of phenomena in the sky, while astrophysics attempted to explain these phenomena and the differences between them using...

     Fred Hoyle
    Fred Hoyle
    Sir Fred Hoyle FRS was an English astronomer and mathematician noted primarily for his contribution to the theory of stellar nucleosynthesis and his often controversial stance on other cosmological and scientific matters—in particular his rejection of the "Big Bang" theory, a term originally...

     coins the term Big Bang
    Big Bang
    The Big Bang theory is the prevailing cosmological model that explains the early development of the Universe. According to the Big Bang theory, the Universe was once in an extremely hot and dense state which expanded rapidly. This rapid expansion caused the young Universe to cool and resulted in...

    during a BBC Third Programme
    BBC Third Programme
    The BBC Third Programme was a national radio network broadcast by the BBC. The network first went on air on 29 September 1946 and became one of the leading cultural and intellectual forces in Britain, playing a crucial role in disseminating the arts...

     radio broadcast.
  • 1 April - The Marquess of Bath
    Henry Thynne, 6th Marquess of Bath
    Henry Frederick Thynne, 6th Marquess of Bath JP , styled Lord Henry Thynne until 1916 and Viscount Weymouth between 1916 and 1946, was a British politician, aristocrat and landowner.-Background and education:...

     opens Longleat House to paying visitors, the first privately-owned stately home
    Stately home
    A stately home is a "great country house". It is thus a palatial great house or in some cases an updated castle, located in the British Isles, mostly built between the mid-16th century and the early part of the 20th century, as well as converted abbeys and other church property...

     to be so opened.
  • 4 April - Britain signs the North Atlantic Treaty
    North Atlantic Treaty
    The North Atlantic Treaty is the treaty that brought NATO into existence, signed in Washington, D.C. on 4 April 1949. The original twelve nations that signed it and thus became the founding members of NATO were:...

    , creating NATO.
  • 20 April
    • Royal Navy
      Royal Navy
      The 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...

       frigate
      Frigate
      A frigate is any of several types of warship, the term having been used for ships of various sizes and roles over the last few centuries.In the 17th century, the term was used for any warship built for speed and maneuverability, the description often used being "frigate-built"...

       HMS Amethyst
      HMS Amethyst (U16)
      HMS Amethyst was a Modified Black Swan-class sloop of the Royal Navy. She was laid down by Alexander Stephens and Sons of Linthouse, Govan Scotland on 25 March 1942, launched on 7 May 1943 and commissioned on 2 November 1943, with the pennant number U16...

       goes up the Yangtze River
      Yangtze River
      The Yangtze, Yangzi or Cháng Jiāng is the longest river in Asia, and the third-longest in the world. It flows for from the glaciers on the Tibetan Plateau in Qinghai eastward across southwest, central and eastern China before emptying into the East China Sea at Shanghai. It is also one of the...

       to evacuate British Commonwealth
      Commonwealth of Nations
      The Commonwealth of Nations, normally referred to as the Commonwealth and formerly known as the British Commonwealth, is an intergovernmental organisation of fifty-four independent member states...

       refugees escaping the advance of the Mao's communist forces. Under heavy fire it runs aground off Rose Island
      Rose Island
      - In Canada :*Rose Island in Georgian Bay of Lake Huron, Ont.*Rose Island in the South Arm Marshes of the Fraser River delta, also known as Rose-Kirkland Island, B.C....

      . After an aborted rescue attempt at April 26 it anchors 10 miles upstream. Negotiations with the communist forces to let the ship leave drag on for weeks.
    • The first Badminton Horse Trials
      Badminton Horse Trials
      The Badminton Horse Trials is a three-day event, one of only six annual Concours Complet International Four Star **** events as classified by the Fédération Équestre Internationale , which takes place in April or May each year in the park of Badminton House, the seat of the Dukes of Beaufort in...

       are held at Badminton House
      Badminton House
      Badminton House is a large country house in Gloucestershire, England, and has been the principal seat of the Dukes of Beaufort since the late 17th century, when the family moved from Raglan Castle, which had been ruined in the English Civil War...

       in Gloucestershire
      Gloucestershire
      Gloucestershire is a county in South West England. The county comprises part of the Cotswold Hills, part of the flat fertile valley of the River Severn, and the entire Forest of Dean....

      .
  • 30 April - Wolverhampton Wanderers
    Wolverhampton Wanderers F.C.
    Wolverhampton Wanderers Football Club is an English professional association football club that represents the city of Wolverhampton in the West Midlands region. They are members of the Premier League, the highest level of English football. The club was founded in 1877 and since 1889 has played at...

     win the FA Cup
    FA Cup
    The Football Association Challenge Cup, commonly known as the FA Cup, is a knockout cup competition in English football and is the oldest association football competition in the world. The "FA Cup" is run by and named after The Football Association and usually refers to the English men's...

     for the first time in 41 years
    1908 FA Cup Final
    The 1908 FA Cup Final was contested by Wolverhampton Wanderers and Newcastle United at Crystal Palace Park. Newcastle had just finished fourth in the First Division during this season, after two successive league titles and this was their third FA Cup final appearance in four years...

     with a 3-1 win
    1949 FA Cup Final
    The 1949 FA Cup Final was contested by Wolverhampton Wanderers and Leicester City at Wembley Stadium. Wolves finished 6th in the First Division during that season, and boasted several England internationals among their ranks, while Leicester City had struggled to avoid relegation in the Second...

     over Leicester City
    Leicester City F.C.
    Leicester City Football Club , also known as The Foxes, is an English professional football club based at the King Power Stadium in Leicester...

     at Wembley Stadium
    Wembley Stadium
    The original Wembley Stadium, officially known as the Empire Stadium, was a football stadium in Wembley, a suburb of north-west London, standing on the site now occupied by the new Wembley Stadium that opened in 2007...

    .
  • April
    • First women appointed King’s Counsel
      Queen's Counsel
      Queen's Counsel , known as King's Counsel during the reign of a male sovereign, are lawyers appointed by letters patent to be one of Her [or His] Majesty's Counsel learned in the law...

      : Rose Heilbron
      Rose Heilbron
      Dame Rose Heilbron, DBE, QC was one of the outstanding barristers of the post-war period in the United Kingdom, whose career included many 'firsts' for a woman - she was the first woman to win a scholarship to Gray's Inn, the first woman to be appointed King's Counsel in England, the first to lead...

       and Helena Normanton
      Helena Normanton
      Helena Florence Normanton, KC was the first woman to practise as a barrister in the UK. In 1922 she was called to the Bar of England and Wales at the Middle Temple, following the example set by Ivy Williams earlier that year....

      .
    • Manchester Mark 1
      Manchester Mark 1
      The Manchester Mark 1 was one of the earliest stored-program computers, developed at the Victoria University of Manchester from the Small-Scale Experimental Machine or "Baby" . It was also called the Manchester Automatic Digital Machine, or MADM...

       computer operable at the University of Manchester
      University of Manchester
      The University of Manchester is a public research university located in Manchester, United Kingdom. It is a "red brick" university and a member of the Russell Group of research-intensive British universities and the N8 Group...

      .
  • May - Council for Wales and Monmouthshire, set up as a government advisory body, first meets.
  • 6 May - EDSAC
    EDSAC
    Electronic Delay Storage Automatic Calculator was an early British computer. The machine, having been inspired by John von Neumann's seminal First Draft of a Report on the EDVAC, was constructed by Maurice Wilkes and his team at the University of Cambridge Mathematical Laboratory in England...

    , the first practicable stored-program computer, runs its first program at Cambridge University
    University of Cambridge
    The University of Cambridge is a public research university located in Cambridge, United Kingdom. It is the second-oldest university in both the United Kingdom and the English-speaking world , and the seventh-oldest globally...

    .
  • 10 May - First self-service launderette
    Self-service laundry
    A self-service laundry is a facility where clothes are washed and dried. They are known in the United Kingdom as launderettes or laundrettes, and in the United States, Canada, and Australia as laundromats or washaterias...

     opens, in Queensway (London)
    Queensway (London)
    Queensway is a bustling cosmopolitan street in the Bayswater district of west London. It contains many restaurants , pubs, letting agents, and high street stores...

    .
  • 24 April - Wartime rationing of sweets and chocolate ends, but is re-instituted shortly thereafter as shortages return.
  • 1 May - The gas industry is nationalised.
  • 8 June - George Orwell
    George Orwell
    Eric Arthur Blair , better known by his pen name George Orwell, was an English author and journalist...

    's book Nineteen Eighty-Four
    Nineteen Eighty-Four
    Nineteen Eighty-Four by George Orwell is a dystopian novel about Oceania, a society ruled by the oligarchical dictatorship of the Party...

    is published.
  • 7 June to 25 June - Dock strike forces the government to use troops to unload goods.
  • 16 June - Ealing Comedy
    Ealing Comedies
    For the film Ealing Comedy, see Ealing Comedy .The Ealing Comedies were a series of film comedies produced by Ealing Studios during the period 1947 to 1957....

     film Whisky Galore!
    Whisky Galore! (film)
    Whisky Galore! was a 1949 Ealing comedy film based on the novel of the same name by Compton MacKenzie. Both the movie and the novel are based on the real-life 1941 shipwreck of the S.S. Politician near the island of Eriskay and the unauthorized taking of its cargo of whisky...

    released.
  • 21 June - Ealing Comedy film Kind Hearts and Coronets
    Kind Hearts and Coronets
    Kind Hearts and Coronets is a 1949 British black comedy feature film. The plot is loosely based on the 1907 novel Israel Rank: The Autobiography of a Criminal by Roy Horniman, with the screenplay written by Robert Hamer and John Dighton and the film directed by Hamer...

    released.
  • 27 July - Maiden flight of the British-built de Havilland Comet
    De Havilland Comet
    The de Havilland DH 106 Comet was the world's first commercial jet airliner to reach production. Developed and manufactured by de Havilland at the Hatfield, Hertfordshire, United Kingdom headquarters, it first flew in 1949 and was a landmark in aeronautical design...

    , the world's first passenger jet, at Hatfield, Hertfordshire
    Hatfield, Hertfordshire
    Hatfield is a town and civil parish in Hertfordshire, England in the borough of Welwyn Hatfield. It has a population of 29,616, and is of Saxon origin. Hatfield House, the home of the Marquess of Salisbury, is the nucleus of the old town...

    .
  • 31 July - Captain Kerans of the HMS Amethyst decides to make a break after nightfall under heavy fire from the Chinese People's Liberation Army both sides of the Yangtze River
    Yangtze River
    The Yangtze, Yangzi or Cháng Jiāng is the longest river in Asia, and the third-longest in the world. It flows for from the glaciers on the Tibetan Plateau in Qinghai eastward across southwest, central and eastern China before emptying into the East China Sea at Shanghai. It is also one of the...

     and successfully rejoins the fleet at Woosung
    Wusong
    Wusong,Chinese: s , t , p Wúsōng. formerly Woosung, was a port town located fourteen miles downriver from Shanghai.The Battle of Woosung occurred on 16 June 1842 between British and Chinese forces during the First Opium War. It was the site of China's first telegraph wires and first railroad, both...

     the next day.
  • 24 August - Old Trafford
    Old Trafford
    Old Trafford commonly refers to two sporting arenas:* Old Trafford, home of Manchester United F.C.* Old Trafford Cricket Ground, home of Lancashire County Cricket ClubOld Trafford can also refer to:...

     football stadium, home of Manchester United
    Manchester United F.C.
    Manchester United Football Club is an English professional football club, based in Old Trafford, Greater Manchester, that plays in the Premier League. Founded as Newton Heath LYR Football Club in 1878, the club changed its name to Manchester United in 1902 and moved to Old Trafford in 1910.The 1958...

    , is re-opened following a comprehensive rebuild due to bomb damage by the Luftwaffe
    Luftwaffe
    Luftwaffe 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....

     eight years ago.
  • 2 September - Film The Third Man
    The Third Man
    The Third Man is a 1949 British film noir, directed by Carol Reed and starring Joseph Cotten, Alida Valli, Orson Welles, and Trevor Howard. Many critics rank it as a masterpiece, particularly remembered for its atmospheric cinematography, performances, and unique musical score...

    , with screenplay by Graham Greene
    Graham Greene
    Henry 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...

    , released. The film wins 1949 Grand Prix at the Cannes Film Festival
    Cannes Film Festival
    The Cannes International Film Festival , is an annual film festival held in Cannes, France, which previews new films of all genres including documentaries from around the world. Founded in 1946, it is among the world's most prestigious and publicized film festivals...

    .
  • 19 September - The pound devalued
    Devaluation
    Devaluation is a reduction in the value of a currency with respect to those goods, services or other monetary units with which that currency can be exchanged....

     by 30% against the United States dollar
    United States dollar
    The United States dollar , also referred to as the American dollar, is the official currency of the United States of America. It is divided into 100 smaller units called cents or pennies....

    .
  • 21 September - The first comprehensive school in Wales
    Holyhead High School
    Holyhead High School was the first comprehensive school in England and Wales, opening in 1949 as Holyhead County School.-History:The school was formed in 1949 with the amalgamation of Holyhead Grammar and St Cybi Secondary school. Ysgol Syr Thomas Jones, Amlwch is said to claim the title of the...

     is opened in Holyhead
    Holyhead
    Holyhead is the largest town in the county of Anglesey in the North Wales. It is also a major port adjacent to the Irish Sea serving Ireland....

    , Anglesey
    Anglesey
    Anglesey , also known by its Welsh name Ynys Môn , is an island and, as Isle of Anglesey, a county off the north west coast of Wales...

    .
  • 30 September - The Berlin Airlift comes to an end, during which 17 American
    United States
    The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

     and 7 British planes had crashed delivering supplies to Soviet
    Soviet Union
    The Soviet Union , officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics , was a constitutionally socialist state that existed in Eurasia between 1922 and 1991....

     blockaded Berlin
    Berlin
    Berlin is the capital city of Germany and is one of the 16 states of Germany. With a population of 3.45 million people, Berlin is Germany's largest city. It is the second most populous city proper and the seventh most populous urban area in the European Union...

    .
  • 12 October - John Boyd Orr, 1st Baron Boyd-Orr
    John Boyd Orr, 1st Baron Boyd-Orr
    John Boyd Orr, 1st Baron Boyd-Orr CH, DSO, MC, FRS , known as Sir John Boyd Orr from 1935 to 1949, was a Scottish teacher, doctor, biologist and politician who received the Nobel Peace Prize for his scientific research into nutrition and his work as the first Director-General of the United Nations...

     wins the Nobel Peace Prize
    Nobel Peace Prize
    The Nobel Peace Prize is one of the five Nobel Prizes bequeathed by the Swedish industrialist and inventor Alfred Nobel.-Background:According to Nobel's will, the Peace Prize shall be awarded to the person who...

    .
  • 26 October - Ealing Comedy
    Ealing Comedies
    For the film Ealing Comedy, see Ealing Comedy .The Ealing Comedies were a series of film comedies produced by Ealing Studios during the period 1947 to 1957....

     film Passport to Pimlico
    Passport to Pimlico
    Passport to Pimlico is a 1949 British comedy film made by Ealing Studios and starred Stanley Holloway, Margaret Rutherford, and Hermione Baddeley. It was directed by Henry Cornelius....

    released.
  • 4 November - Cwmbran
    Cwmbran
    Cwmbrân is a new town in Wales. Today forming part of the county borough of Torfaen and lying within the historic boundaries of Monmouthshire, Cwmbrân was established in 1949 to provide new employment opportunities in the south eastern portion of the South Wales Coalfield. Cwmbrân means Crow...

     designated as the first New Town
    New towns in the United Kingdom
    Below is a list of some of the new towns in the United Kingdom created under the various New Town Acts of the 20th century. Some earlier towns were developed as Garden Cities or overspill estates early in the twentieth century. The New Towns proper were planned to disperse population following the...

     in Wales
    Wales
    Wales is a country that is part of the United Kingdom and the island of Great Britain, bordered by England to its east and the Atlantic Ocean and Irish Sea to its west. It has a population of three million, and a total area of 20,779 km²...

     under powers of the New Towns Act 1946
    New Towns Act 1946
    The New Towns Act 1946 was an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom which allowed the government to designate areas as new towns, and passing development control functions to a Development Corporation. Several new towns were created in the years following its passing...

    .
  • 16 December - Parliament Act
    Parliament Act 1949
    The Parliament Act 1949 is an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom.This Act must be construed as one with the Parliament Act 1911...

     given royal assent; cuts the House of Lords
    House of Lords
    The House of Lords is the upper house of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. Like the House of Commons, it meets in the Palace of Westminster....

     veto to one year.
  • 17 December - Sutton Coldfield transmitting station begins transmitting
    Transmitter
    In electronics and telecommunications a transmitter or radio transmitter is an electronic device which, with the aid of an antenna, produces radio waves. The transmitter itself generates a radio frequency alternating current, which is applied to the antenna. When excited by this alternating...

     BBC Television
    BBC One
    BBC One is the flagship television channel of the British Broadcasting Corporation in the United Kingdom. It was launched on 2 November 1936 as the BBC Television Service, and was the world's first regular television service with a high level of image resolution...

     to the English Midlands
    English Midlands
    The Midlands, or the English Midlands, is the traditional name for the area comprising central England that broadly corresponds to the early medieval Kingdom of Mercia. It borders Southern England, Northern England, East Anglia and Wales. Its largest city is Birmingham, and it was an important...

    , the first broadcasts to be seen outside the London
    London
    London 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...

     area.

Undated

  • Legal Aid and Advice Act establishes a system of Legal aid in England and Wales.
  • T. S. Eliot
    T. S. Eliot
    Thomas 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 comedy The Cocktail Party
    The Cocktail Party
    The Cocktail Party is a play by T. S. Eliot. Elements of the play are based on Alcestis, by the Ancient Greek playwright Euripides. The play was the most popular of Eliot's seven plays in his lifetime, although his 1935 play, Murder in the Cathedral, is better remembered today.The Cocktail Party...

    premieres at the Edinburgh Festival
    Edinburgh Festival
    The Edinburgh Festival is a collective term for many arts and cultural festivals that take place in Edinburgh, Scotland each summer, mostly in August...

    .
  • Christopher Fry
    Christopher Fry
    Christopher Fry was an English playwright. He is best known for his verse dramas, notably The Lady's Not for Burning, which made him a major force in theatre in the 1940s and 1950s.-Early life:...

    's verse drama The Lady's Not for Burning
    The Lady's Not for Burning
    The Lady's Not for Burning is a 1948 play by Christopher Fry.A romantic comedy in three acts, set in verse, it is set in the Middle Ages, it reflects the world's "exhaustion and despair" following World War II, with a war-weary soldier who wants to die, and an accused witch who wants to live...

    premieres in London.

Publications

  • W. V. Awdry's children's book Thomas the Tank Engine.
  • Enid Blyton
    Enid Blyton
    Enid Blyton was an English children's writer also known as Mary Pollock.Noted for numerous series of books based on recurring characters and designed for different age groups,her books have enjoyed huge success in many parts of the world, and have sold over 600 million copies.One of Blyton's most...

    's children's books Little Noddy Goes to Toyland, the first to introduce the title character; and The Secret Seven, first in the eponymous series
    The Secret Seven
    The Secret Seven or "Secret Seven Society" are a fictional group of child detectives created by Enid Blyton. They appear in one of several juvenile detective series Blyton wrote....

    .
  • Agatha Christie
    Agatha Christie
    Dame 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 novel Crooked House
    Crooked House
    Crooked House is a work of detective fiction by Agatha Christie first published in the US by Dodd, Mead and Company in March 1949 and in the UK by the Collins Crime Club on May 23 of the same year. The US edition retailed at $2.50 and the UK edition at eight shillings and sixpence .The action takes...

    .
  • Nancy Mitford
    Nancy Mitford
    Nancy Freeman-Mitford, CBE , styled The Hon. Nancy Mitford before her marriage and The Hon. Mrs Peter Rodd thereafter, was an English novelist and biographer, one of the Bright Young People on the London social scene in the inter-war years...

    's novel Love in a Cold Climate
    Love in a Cold Climate
    Love in a Cold Climate is a novel by Nancy Mitford, first published in 1949. The title is a direct quotation from George Orwell's novel Keep The Aspidistra Flying .-Plot summary:...

    .
  • George Orwell
    George Orwell
    Eric Arthur Blair , better known by his pen name George Orwell, was an English author and journalist...

    's novel Nineteen Eighty-Four
    Nineteen Eighty-Four
    Nineteen Eighty-Four by George Orwell is a dystopian novel about Oceania, a society ruled by the oligarchical dictatorship of the Party...

    .

Births

  • 7 January - Brian Haw
    Brian Haw
    Brian William Haw was an English protester and peace campaigner who lived for almost ten years in a camp in London's Parliament Square from 2001, in a protest against UK and US foreign policy...

    , protestor and peace campaigner. (died 2011
    2011 in the United Kingdom
    Events from the year 2011 in the United Kingdom.-Incumbents:*Monarch - HM Queen Elizabeth II *Prime Minister - David Cameron, Conservative Party-January:...

    )
  • 19 January - Robert Palmer, singer (died 2003
    2003 in the United Kingdom
    Events 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....

    )
  • 29 January - Andy Carter, middle distance runner
  • 16 February - Lyn Paul
    Lyn Paul
    Lyn Paul is an English pop singer and actress. She came to fame as a member of the international chart-topping pop group The New Seekers in the early 1970s...

    , singer
  • 2 March - J. P. R. Williams
    J. P. R. Williams
    Mr John Peter Rhys Williams, MBE, FRCS , is a British surgeon who was a very successful rugby union player. He was known universally as J.P.R. Williams . He played for Wales between 1969 and 1981...

    , rugby player
  • 6 March - Martin Buchan
    Martin Buchan
    Martin McLean Buchan is a Scottish former footballer. Buchan was a central defender for Manchester United in 1972–1983, and captained the late 1970s teams for six years...

    , footballer
  • 28 March - Kevin Lloyd
    Kevin Lloyd
    Kevin Reardon Lloyd was a British actor, born in Derby, and trained at East 15 Acting School, London. Best known for his part of DC Alfred "Tosh" Lines in Thames Television's The Bill....

    , actor (died 1998
    1998 in the United Kingdom
    Events from the year 1998 in the United Kingdom.-Incumbents:*Monarch - Elizabeth II*Prime Minister - Tony Blair, Labour Party-January:* 5 January - The UK takes over the Presidency of the EC's Council of Ministers until 30 June.-February:...

    )
  • 3 April - Richard Thompson, musician and songwriter
  • 2 May - Alan Titchmarsh
    Alan Titchmarsh
    Alan Fred Titchmarsh, MBE DL is an English gardener, broadcaster and novelist. After working as a professional gardener and a garden journalist, he established himself as a media personality through appearances on gardening programmes...

    , television presenter
  • 13 May - Zoë Wanamaker
    Zoe Wanamaker
    Zoë Wanamaker, CBE is an American-British actress. She has performed with the Royal Shakespeare Company; in films, including the Harry Potter series; and in a number of television productions, including a long-time role as Susan Harper in the sitcom My Family.-Early life and family:Wanamaker was...

    , actress
  • 18 May - Rick Wakeman
    Rick Wakeman
    Richard Christopher Wakeman is an English keyboard player, composer and songwriter best known for being the former keyboardist in the progressive rock band Yes...

    , musician and songwriter (Yes
    Yes (band)
    Yes are an English rock band who achieved worldwide success with their progressive, art, and symphonic style of rock music. Regarded as one of the pioneers of the progressive genre, Yes are known for their lengthy songs, mystical lyrics, elaborate album art, and live stage sets...

    )
  • 2 June - Heather Couper
    Heather Couper
    Heather Anita Couper CBE CPhys is a British astronomer who popularized astronomy in the 1980s and 1990s on British television. She is a former president of the British Astronomical Association from 1984 to 1986.-Early life:...

    , astronomer
  • 4 May - Graham Swift
    Graham Swift
    Graham Colin Swift FRSL is a British author. He was born in London, England and educated at Dulwich College, London, Queens' College, Cambridge, and later the University of York. He was a friend of Ted Hughes...

    , novelist
  • 24 May - Jim Broadbent
    Jim Broadbent
    James "Jim" Broadbent is an English theatre, film, and television actor. He is known for his roles in Iris, Moulin Rouge!, Topsy-Turvy, Hot Fuzz, and Bridget Jones' Diary...

    , actor
  • 14 June - Jimmy Lea, musician (Slade
    Slade
    Slade are an English rock band from Wolverhampton, who rose to prominence during the glam rock era of the early 1970s. With 17 consecutive Top 20 hits and six number ones, the British Hit Singles & Albums names them as the most successful British group of the 1970s based on sales of singles...

    )
  • 21 June - John Agard
    John Agard
    John Agard is an Afro-Guyanese playwright, poet and children's writer, now living in the United Kingdom.-Background:...

    , writer
  • 15 July - Trevor Horn
    Trevor Horn
    Trevor Charles Horn CBE is an English pop music record producer, songwriter, musician and singer. He was born in Houghton-le-Spring in north-east England....

    , singer and producer
  • 26 July - Roger Taylor
    Roger Meddows-Taylor
    Roger Meddows Taylor , known as Roger Taylor, is a British musician, singer-songwriter and multi-instrumentalist. He is best known as the drummer, backing vocalist and occasional lead vocalist of British rock band Queen. As a drummer he is known for his "big" unique sound and is considered one of...

    , musician (Queen
    Queen (band)
    Queen are a British rock band formed in London in 1971, originally consisting of Freddie Mercury , Brian May , John Deacon , and Roger Taylor...

    )
  • 6 August - Alan Campbell
    Alan Campbell (pastor)
    Pastor Alan Campbell is the Pentecostal pastor of the Cregagh Covenant People's Fellowship in Belfast, Northern Ireland, co-director of Open Bible Ministries with Glyn Jones, and a prominent scholar and lecturer in the British Israel movement. Campbell is also popular in Historicist circles because...

    , clergyman
  • 12 August - Mark Knopfler
    Mark Knopfler
    Mark Freuder Knopfler, OBE is a Scottish-born British guitarist, singer, songwriter, record producer and film score composer. He is best known as the lead guitarist, vocalist, and songwriter for the British rock band Dire Straits, which he co-founded in 1977...

    , guitarist (Dire Straits
    Dire Straits
    Dire Straits were a British rock band active from 1977 to 1995, composed of Mark Knopfler , his younger brother David Knopfler , John Illsley , and Pick Withers .Dire Straits' sound drew from a variety of musical influences, including jazz, folk, blues, and came closest...

    )
  • 15 August - Richard Deacon, sculptor
  • 25 August - Martin Amis
    Martin Amis
    Martin Louis Amis is a British novelist, the author of many novels including Money and London Fields . He is currently Professor of Creative Writing at the Centre for New Writing at the University of Manchester, but will step down at the end of the 2010/11 academic year...

    , novelist
  • 9 September - John Curry
    John Curry
    John Anthony Curry, OBE was a British figure skater. He was the 1976 Olympic and World Champion. He was famous for combining ballet and modern dance influences into his skating.-Early life:...

    , figure skater (died 1994
    1994 in the United Kingdom
    Events from the year 1994 in the United Kingdom. It is noted for the opening of the Channel Tunnel.-Incumbents:*Monarch – Elizabeth II*Prime Minister – John Major, Conservative-January:...

    )
  • 18 September
    • Mo Mowlam
      Mo Mowlam
      Marjorie "Mo" Mowlam was a British Labour Party politician. She was the Member of Parliament for Redcar from 1987 to 2001 and served in the Cabinet as Secretary of State for Northern Ireland, Minister for the Cabinet Office and Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster.Mowlam's time as Northern...

      , politician (died 2005
      2005 in the United Kingdom
      Events from the year 2005 in the United Kingdom. The year is dominated by the 7/7 London bombings.-Incumbents:*Monarch – Elizabeth II*Prime Minister – Tony Blair -January:* 1 January...

      )
    • Peter Shilton
      Peter Shilton
      Peter Leslie Shilton OBE is a former English footballer who played as a goalkeeper. He currently holds the record for playing more games for England than anyone else, earning 125 caps....

      , footballer
  • 19 September - Twiggy
    Twiggy
    Lesley Lawson née Hornby known as Twiggy is an English model, actress, and singer. In the early-1960s she became a prominent British teenage model of swinging sixties London with others such as Penelope Tree....

    , model
  • 14 October - Katy Manning
    Katy Manning
    Katy Manning is an English actress best known for her part as the companion Jo Grant in the BBC science fiction television series Doctor Who. She has also made many theatre appearances, and is now a citizen of Australia. She is myopic...

    , actress
  • 6 November - Nigel Havers
    Nigel Havers
    Nigel Allan Havers is an English actor. He is probably best known for his BAFTA-nominated role as Lord Andrew Lindsay in the 1981 British film Chariots of Fire, and for his role as Dr. Tom Latimer in the British TV comedy series Don't Wait Up...

    , actor
  • 24 November - Nicholas Richard Ainger, politician
  • 27 November - Brumas, polar bear
    Polar Bear
    The polar bear is a bear native largely within the Arctic Circle encompassing the Arctic Ocean, its surrounding seas and surrounding land masses. It is the world's largest land carnivore and also the largest bear, together with the omnivorous Kodiak Bear, which is approximately the same size...

     (first born at London Zoo
    London Zoo
    London Zoo is the world's oldest scientific zoo. It was opened in London on 27 April 1828, and was originally intended to be used as a collection for scientific study. It was eventually opened to the public in 1847...

    )
  • 4 December - Paul Dickenson
    Paul Dickenson
    Derek Paul Dickenson is a retired male hammer thrower from England, who represented the United Kingdom at two consecutive Summer Olympics, starting in 1976 . His best Olympic result was finishing in 14th place at the 1976 Summer Olympics, throwing 68.52 metres...

    , hammer thrower
  • 12 December - Bill Nighy
    Bill Nighy
    William Francis "Bill" Nighy is an English actor and comedian. He worked in theatre and television before his first cinema role in 1981, and made his name in television with The Men's Room in 1991, in which he played the womanizer Prof...

    , actor
  • 13 December - Robert Lindsay
    Robert Lindsay (actor)
    Robert Lindsay is an English actor who is best known for his television work, especially his roles of Wolfie Smith in Citizen Smith, Michael Murray in G.B.H., Captain Sir Edward Pellew in Hornblower and Ben Harper in My Family which has been on television screens since 2000.-Early life:Lindsay was...

    , actor
  • 17 December - Paul Rodgers
    Paul Rodgers
    Paul Bernard Rodgers is an English rock singer-songwriter, best known for his success in the 1970s as a member of Free and Bad Company. After stints in two less successful bands in the 1980s and early 1990s, The Firm and The Law, he became a solo artist. He has recently toured and recorded with...

    , singer (Free
    Free (band)
    Free were an English rock band, formed in London in 1968, best known for their 1970 signature song "All Right Now". They disbanded in 1973 and lead singer Paul Rodgers went on to become a frontman of the band Bad Company along with Simon Kirke on drums; lead guitarist Paul Kossoff died from a...

    )

Deaths

  • 11 February - John Buchan, Scottish novelist (born 1875
    1875 in the United Kingdom
    Events from the year 1875 in the United Kingdom.-Incumbents:*Monarch — Queen Victoria*Prime Minister — Benjamin Disraeli, Conservative-Events:...

    )
  • 18 April - Will Hay
    Will Hay
    William Thomson "Will" Hay was an English comedian, actor, film director and amateur astronomer.-Early life:He was born in Stockton-on-Tees, in north east England, to William R...

    , comedian and actor (born 1888
    1888 in the United Kingdom
    Events from the year 1888 in the United Kingdom.-Incumbents:*Monarch — Queen Victoria*Prime Minister — Robert Cecil, Marquess of Salisbury, Conservative-Events:* 26 January — The Lawn Tennis Association is founded....

    )
  • 30 August - Arthur Fielder
    Arthur Fielder
    Arthur Fielder was the leading fast bowler in English cricket for the decade before World War I and one of the key contributors to Kent's four County Championship successes between 1906 and 1913.In some ways the founder of modern fast bowling, Fielder was the first fast bowler to rely on swing...

    , cricketer (born 1877
    1877 in the United Kingdom
    Events from the year 1877 in the United Kingdom.-Incumbents:*Monarch — Queen Victoria*Prime Minister — Benjamin Disraeli, Conservative-Events:...

    )
  • 26 September - W. H. Davies
    W. H. Davies
    William 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 1871
    1871 in the United Kingdom
    Events from the year 1871 in the United Kingdom.-Incumbents:*Monarch — Queen Victoria*Prime Minister — William Ewart Gladstone, Liberal-Events:...

    )
  • 9 October - Sir Wilfred Grenfell
    Wilfred Grenfell
    Sir 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 1865
    1865 in the United Kingdom
    Events from the year 1865 in the United Kingdom.-Incumbents:*Monarch — Queen Victoria*Prime Minister — Viscount Palmerston, Liberal , Lord John Russell, Liberal-Events:...

    )
  • 24 October - Thomas Rowland Hughes
    Thomas Rowland Hughes
    Thomas Rowland Hughes , was a Welsh novelist, dramatist and poet He was the son of a quarryman from Llanberis, Caernarvonshire , in northern Wales...

    , writer (born 1903
    1903 in the United Kingdom
    Events from the year 1903 in the United Kingdom.-Incumbents:*Monarch - King Edward VII*Prime Minister - Arthur Balfour, Conservative-Events:* 1 January - Edward VII is proclaimed Emperor of India....

    )
  • 16 December - George Maitland Lloyd Davies
    George Maitland Lloyd Davies
    George Maitland Lloyd Davies was a Welsh pacifist and Member of Parliament for the University of Wales.Davies, who had originally volunteered as an officer in the Territorial Army, but was imprisoned during World War I as a conscientious objector, was the grandson of a noted Welsh preacher, John...

    , pacifist politician (born 1880
    1880 in the United Kingdom
    Events from the year 1880 in the United Kingdom.-Incumbents:* Monarch—Queen Victoria* Prime Minister—Benjamin Disraeli, Conservative , William Ewart Gladstone, Liberal-Events:...

    )
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