1988 in the United Kingdom
Encyclopedia
Events from the year 1988 in the United Kingdom
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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...
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Incumbents
- Monarch - Elizabeth II
- Prime Minister - Margaret ThatcherMargaret ThatcherMargaret Hilda Thatcher, Baroness Thatcher, was Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1979 to 1990...
, ConservativeConservative Party (UK)The Conservative Party, formally the Conservative and Unionist Party, is a centre-right political party in the United Kingdom that adheres to the philosophies of conservatism and British unionism. It is the largest political party in the UK, and is currently the largest single party in the House...
Events
- 3 January - Margaret ThatcherMargaret ThatcherMargaret Hilda Thatcher, Baroness Thatcher, was Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1979 to 1990...
becomes the longest serving British prime minister this century, having been in power for eight years and 244 days. - 4 January - Sir Robin Butler replaces Sir Robert ArmstrongRobert ArmstrongRobert Armstrong may refer to:*Robert Archibald Armstrong , Gaelic lexicographer*Robert Armstrong , American professional baseball player*Robert Armstrong , film actor...
as Cabinet Secretary, on the same day that Margaret Thatcher makes her first state visit to AfricaAfricaAfrica is the world's second largest and second most populous continent, after Asia. At about 30.2 million km² including adjacent islands, it covers 6% of the Earth's total surface area and 20.4% of the total land area...
when she arrives in KenyaKenyaKenya , officially known as the Republic of Kenya, is a country in East Africa that lies on the equator, with the Indian Ocean to its south-east...
. - 5 January - Actor Rowan AtkinsonRowan AtkinsonRowan Sebastian Atkinson is a British actor, comedian, and screenwriter. He is most famous for his work on the satirical sketch comedy show Not The Nine O'Clock News, and the sitcoms Blackadder, Mr. Bean and The Thin Blue Line...
launches the new Comic ReliefComic ReliefComic Relief is an operating British charity, founded in 1985 by the comedy scriptwriter Richard Curtis and comedian Lenny Henry in response to famine in Ethiopia. The highlight of Comic Relief's appeal is Red Nose Day, a biennial telethon held in March, alternating with sister project Sport Relief...
charity appeal. - 7 January - Labour PartyLabour 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...
leader Neil KinnockNeil KinnockNeil Gordon Kinnock, Baron Kinnock is a Welsh politician belonging to the Labour Party. He served as a Member of Parliament from 1970 until 1995 and as Labour Leader and Leader of Her Majesty's Loyal Opposition from 1983 until 1992 - his leadership of the party during nearly nine years making him...
calls for a further £1.3billion to made available for the National Health ServiceNational Health ServiceThe National Health Service is the shared name of three of the four publicly funded healthcare systems in the United Kingdom. They provide a comprehensive range of health services, the vast majority of which are free at the point of use to residents of the United Kingdom...
. - 9 January - One of the worst incidents of football hooliganismFootball hooliganismFootball hooliganism, sometimes referred to by the British media as the English Disease, is unruly and destructive behaviour—such as brawls, vandalism and intimidation—by association football club fans...
this season1987-88 in English footballThe 1987–88 season was the 120th season of competitive football in England.- First Division :Liverpool won the league title with a comfortable nine-point margin and just two defeats all season....
sees 41 suspected hooligans arrested at the FA CupFA CupThe 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...
third round tie between ArsenalArsenal F.C.Arsenal Football Club is a professional English Premier League football club based in North London. One of the most successful clubs in English football, it has won 13 First Division and Premier League titles and 10 FA Cups...
and MillwallMillwall F.C.Millwall Football Club is an English professional football club based in South Bermondsey, south east London, that plays in the Football League Championship, the second tier of English football. Founded as Millwall Rovers in 1885, the club has retained its name despite having last played in the...
at HighburyArsenal StadiumArsenal Stadium was a football stadium in Highbury, North London, which was the home ground of Arsenal Football Club between 6 September 1913 and 7 May 2006...
. - 11 January - The government announces that inflammable foam furniture will be banned from March next year.
- 14 January - Unemployment figures are released for the end of 1987, showing the 18th successive monthly fall. Just over 2,600,000 people are now jobless in the United Kingdom - the lowest total for seven years. More than 500,000 of the unemployed found jobs during 1987.
- 22 January - Colin PitchforkColin PitchforkColin Pitchfork is a British criminal, the first convicted of murder based on DNA fingerprinting evidence, and the first to be caught as a result of mass DNA screening. Pitchfork raped and murdered two girls, the first in Narborough, Leicestershire, in November 1983, and the second in Enderby,...
is sentenced to life imprisonmentLife imprisonmentLife imprisonment is a sentence of imprisonment for a serious crime under which the convicted person is to remain in jail for the rest of his or her life...
after admitting the rapeRapeRape is a type of sexual assault usually involving sexual intercourse, which is initiated by one or more persons against another person without that person's consent. The act may be carried out by physical force, coercion, abuse of authority or with a person who is incapable of valid consent. The...
and murderMurderMurder is the unlawful killing, with malice aforethought, of another human being, and generally this state of mind distinguishes murder from other forms of unlawful homicide...
of two girls in LeicestershireLeicestershireLeicestershire is a landlocked county in the English Midlands. It takes its name from the heavily populated City of Leicester, traditionally its administrative centre, although the City of Leicester unitary authority is today administered separately from the rest of Leicestershire...
in 1983 and 1986, the first conviction for murder in the UK based on DNA fingerprinting evidence. - 23 January - David SteelDavid SteelDavid Martin Scott Steel, Baron Steel of Aikwood, KT, KBE, PC is a British Liberal Democrat politician who served as the Leader of the Liberal Party from 1976 until its merger with the Social Democratic Party in 1988 to form the Liberal Democrats...
announces that he will not stand for the leadership of the new Social and Liberal Democratic PartyLiberal DemocratsThe Liberal Democrats are a social liberal political party in the United Kingdom which supports constitutional and electoral reform, progressive taxation, wealth taxation, human rights laws, cultural liberalism, banking reform and civil liberties .The party was formed in 1988 by a merger of the...
. - 24 January - Arthur ScargillArthur ScargillArthur Scargill is a British politician who was President of the National Union of Mineworkers from 1982 to 2002, leading the union through the 1984–85 miners' strike, a key event in British labour and political history...
is re-elected as leader of the National Union of Mineworkers by a narrow majority. - 28 January - The Birmingham SixBirmingham SixThe Birmingham Six were six men—Hugh Callaghan, Patrick Joseph Hill, Gerard Hunter, Richard McIlkenny, William Power and John Walker—sentenced to life imprisonment in 1975 in the United Kingdom for the Birmingham pub bombings. Their convictions were declared unsafe and quashed by the Court of...
lose an appeal against their convictions. - January - Elizabeth Butler-SlossElizabeth Butler-Sloss, Baroness Butler-SlossAnne Elizabeth Oldfield Butler-Sloss, Baroness Butler-Sloss, GBE, PC is a retired English judge. She was the first female Lord Justice of Appeal and, until 2004, was the highest-ranking female judge in the United Kingdom. Until June 2007, she chaired the inquests into the deaths of Diana, Princess...
becomes the first woman to be appointed a Lord Justice of AppealLord Justice of AppealA Lord Justice of Appeal is an ordinary judge of the Court of Appeal of England and Wales, the court that hears appeals from the High Court of Justice, and represents the second highest level of judge in the courts of England and Wales-Appointment:...
. - 1 February - Victor MillerVictor MillerVictor Miller may refer to:* Victor A. Miller, Attorney General of Wisconsin* Victor J. Miller, Mayor of Saint Louis* Victor S. Miller, independent co-creator of elliptic curve cryptography* Victor Miller , television and film writer...
, a 33-year-old warehouse worker from WolverhamptonWolverhamptonWolverhampton is a city and metropolitan borough in the West Midlands, England. For Eurostat purposes Walsall and Wolverhampton is a NUTS 3 region and is one of five boroughs or unitary districts that comprise the "West Midlands" NUTS 2 region...
, confesses to the murder of 14-year-old Stuart Gough, who was found dead in WorcestershireWorcestershireWorcestershire is a non-metropolitan county, established in antiquity, located in the West Midlands region of England. For Eurostat purposes it is a NUTS 3 region and is one of three counties that comprise the "Herefordshire, Worcestershire and Warwickshire" NUTS 2 region...
last month. - 3 February - Nurses throughout the UK strike for higher pay and more cash for the National Health ServiceNational Health ServiceThe National Health Service is the shared name of three of the four publicly funded healthcare systems in the United Kingdom. They provide a comprehensive range of health services, the vast majority of which are free at the point of use to residents of the United Kingdom...
. - 4 February - Nearly 7,000 ferry workers go on strike in Britain, paralysing the nation's seaports.
- 5 February - The first BBCBBCThe British Broadcasting Corporation is a British public service broadcaster. Its headquarters is at Broadcasting House in the City of Westminster, London. It is the largest broadcaster in the world, with about 23,000 staff...
Red Nose Day raises £15 million for charity. - 7 February - It is reported that more than 50% of men and 80% of women working full time in London are earning less than the lowest sum needed to buy the cheapest houses in the capital.
- 13 February–28 February - Great Britain and Northern Ireland compete at the Winter Olympics1988 Winter OlympicsThe 1988 Winter Olympics, officially known as the XV Olympic Winter Games, were a winter multi-sport event celebrated in and around Calgary, Alberta, Canada from 13 to 28 February 1988. The host was selected in 1981 after having beat Falun, Sweden and Cortina d'Ampezzo, Italy...
in CalgaryCalgaryCalgary is a city in the Province of Alberta, Canada. It is located in the south of the province, in an area of foothills and prairie, approximately east of the front ranges of the Canadian Rockies...
, 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...
, but do not win any medals. - 15 February - Norman FowlerNorman FowlerNorman Fowler, Baron Fowler, PC is a British Conservative politician who was from 1981 to 1990 a member of Margaret Thatcher's Cabinet.-Early life:...
, Secretary of State for Employment, announces plans for a new training scheme which the government hopes will give jobs to up to 600,000 people who are currently unemployed. - 16 February - Thousands of nurses and co-workers form picket lines outside British hospitals as they go on strike in protest against what they see as inadequate NHS funding.
- 26 February - Multiple rapist and murderer John DuffyJohn DuffyJohn Duffy is the name of:* John A. Duffy , American bishop* John Duffy , American soccer player* John Duffy and David Mulcahy , the Railway Rapists, British rapists and murderers...
is sentenced to life imprisonmentLife imprisonmentLife imprisonment is a sentence of imprisonment for a serious crime under which the convicted person is to remain in jail for the rest of his or her life...
with a recommendation that he should never be releasedWhole life tariffThis is a list of prisoners who have received a whole life tariff through some mechanism in jurisdictions of the United Kingdom.Eight of these prisoners have since died in prison, while three of them have had their sentences reduced on appeal, meaning that there are currently at least 48 prisoners...
. - 1 March - British AerospaceBritish AerospaceBritish Aerospace plc was a UK aircraft, munitions and defence-systems manufacturer. Its head office was in the Warwick House in the Farnborough Aerospace Centre in Farnborough, Hampshire...
launches a takeover bid for the government-owned Rover GroupRover GroupThe Rover Group plc was the name given in 1986 to the British state-owned vehicle manufacturer previously known as British Leyland or BL. Owned by British Aerospace from 1988 to 1994, when it was sold to BMW, the Group was broken up in 2000 with the Rover and MG marques being acquired by the MG...
, the largest British-owned carmaker. - 3 March - The SDPSocial Democratic Party (UK)The Social Democratic Party was a political party in the United Kingdom that was created on 26 March 1981 and existed until 1988. It was founded by four senior Labour Party 'moderates', dubbed the 'Gang of Four': Roy Jenkins, David Owen, Bill Rodgers and Shirley Williams...
merges with the Liberal PartyLiberal Party (UK)The Liberal Party was one of the two major political parties of the United Kingdom during the 19th and early 20th centuries. It was a third party of negligible importance throughout the latter half of the 20th Century, before merging with the Social Democratic Party in 1988 to form the present day...
to create the Social and Liberal Democratic Party. Its interim leaders are David SteelDavid SteelDavid Martin Scott Steel, Baron Steel of Aikwood, KT, KBE, PC is a British Liberal Democrat politician who served as the Leader of the Liberal Party from 1976 until its merger with the Social Democratic Party in 1988 to form the Liberal Democrats...
and Robert Maclennan. - 4 March - Halifax Building Society reveals that year-on-year house prices rose by 16.9% last month.
- 6 March - The SASSpecial Air ServiceSpecial Air Service or SAS is a corps of the British Army constituted on 31 May 1950. They are part of the United Kingdom Special Forces and have served as a model for the special forces of many other countries all over the world...
shoot dead 3 unarmed Provisional Irish Republican ArmyProvisional Irish Republican ArmyThe Provisional Irish Republican Army is an Irish republican paramilitary organisation whose aim was to remove Northern Ireland from the United Kingdom and bring about a socialist republic within a united Ireland by force of arms and political persuasion...
members in GibraltarGibraltarGibraltar is a British overseas territory located on the southern end of the Iberian Peninsula at the entrance of the Mediterranean. A peninsula with an area of , it has a northern border with Andalusia, Spain. The Rock of Gibraltar is the major landmark of the region...
. - 7 March - Margaret Thatcher announces a £3billion regeneration scheme to improve a series of inner city areas by the year 2000.
- 9 March - It is revealed that the average price of a house in Britain reached £60,000 at the end of last year, compared to £47,000 in December 1986.
- 10 March - The Prince of WalesCharles, Prince of WalesPrince Charles, Prince of Wales is the heir apparent and eldest son of Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh. Since 1958 his major title has been His Royal Highness The Prince of Wales. In Scotland he is additionally known as The Duke of Rothesay...
narrowly avoids death in an avalanche while on a skiing holiday in SwitzerlandSwitzerlandSwitzerland name of one of the Swiss cantons. ; ; ; or ), in its full name the Swiss Confederation , is a federal republic consisting of 26 cantons, with Bern as the seat of the federal authorities. The country is situated in Western Europe,Or Central Europe depending on the definition....
. Major Hugh LindsayHugh Lindsay (equerry)Major Hugh Lindsay, LVO , was Equerry to Queen Elizabeth II of the United Kingdom from 1983 to 1986.Lindsay was educated at the Millfield. He was a career soldier who served in the 9th/12th Royal Lancers...
, former equerry to the Queen, is killed. - 15 March - Chancellor Nigel LawsonNigel LawsonNigel Lawson, Baron Lawson of Blaby, PC , is a British Conservative politician and journalist. He was a Member of Parliament representing the constituency of Blaby from 1974–92, and served as the Chancellor of the Exchequer in the government of Margaret Thatcher from June 1983 to October 1989...
announces that the standard rate of income tax will be cut to 25p in the pound, while the maximum rate of income tax will be cut to 40p from 60p in the pound. - 16 March - Milltown Cemetery attackMilltown Cemetery attackThe Milltown Cemetery attack The Milltown Cemetery attack The Milltown Cemetery attack (also known as the Milltown Cemetery killings or Milltown Massacre took place on 16 March 1988 in Belfast's Milltown Cemetery...
: An Ulster Freedom Fighters member, Michael StoneMichael Stone (loyalist paramilitary)Michael Stone is a Northern Irish loyalist who was a volunteer in the Ulster Defence Association . Stone was born in England but raised in the Braniel estate in East Belfast, Northern Ireland. Convicted of killing three people and injuring more than sixty in an attack on mourners at Milltown...
attacks and kills six mourners at the funeral of the three IRA members who died in Gibraltar. - 17 March - The fall in unemployment continues with just over 2,500,000 people now registered as unemployed in the UK. However, there is a blow for the city of DundeeDundeeDundee is the fourth-largest city in Scotland and the 39th most populous settlement in the United Kingdom. It lies within the eastern central Lowlands on the north bank of the Firth of Tay, which feeds into the North Sea...
, when Ford Motor CompanyFord Motor CompanyFord Motor Company is an American multinational automaker based in Dearborn, Michigan, a suburb of Detroit. The automaker was founded by Henry Ford and incorporated on June 16, 1903. In addition to the Ford and Lincoln brands, Ford also owns a small stake in Mazda in Japan and Aston Martin in the UK...
scraps plans to build a new electronics plant in the city - a move which ends hopes of 1,000 new jobs being created for this city which has high unemployment. - 19 March - Two British Army CorporalsCorporals killingsThe corporals killings was the killing of corporals David Robert Howes and Derek Tony Wood, two British Army soldiers of the Royal Corps of Signals killed on 19 March 1988 in Belfast, Northern Ireland. The non-uniformed soldiers were killed by the Provisional Irish Republican Army , after they...
are killed by a mob after accidentally driving into a funeral cortege for the victims of the 16 March Milltown Cemetery attack. - 29 March - Plans are unveiled for EuropeEuropeEurope is, by convention, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally 'divided' from Asia to its east by the watershed divides of the Ural and Caucasus Mountains, the Ural River, the Caspian and Black Seas, and the waterways connecting...
's tallest skyscraper to be built at Canary WharfCanary WharfCanary Wharf is a major business district located in London, United Kingdom. It is one of London's two main financial centres, alongside the traditional City of London, and contains many of the UK's tallest buildings, including the second-tallest , One Canada Square...
. The office complex will cost around £3billion to build and is set to open in 1992. - 9 April - The house price boom is reported to have boosted wealth in London and the south-east by £39billion over the last four years, compared with an £18billion slump in Scotland and north-west England.
- 10 April - GolfGolfGolf is a precision club and ball sport, in which competing players use many types of clubs to hit balls into a series of holes on a golf course using the fewest number of strokes....
er Sandy LyleSandy LyleAlexander Walter Barr "Sandy" Lyle, MBE is a Scottish professional golfer. Lyle has won two major championships during his career. Along with Nick Faldo and Ian Woosnam, he became one of Britain's top golfers during the 1980s...
becomes the first British winner of the US Masters. - 21 April - The government announces that nurses will receive a 15% pay rise, at a cost of £794million which will be funded by the Treasury.
- May - The first 16-year olds sit General Certificate of Secondary EducationGeneral Certificate of Secondary EducationThe General Certificate of Secondary Education is an academic qualification awarded in a specified subject, generally taken in a number of subjects by students aged 14–16 in secondary education in England, Wales and Northern Ireland and is equivalent to a Level 2 and Level 1 in Key Skills...
examinations, replacing both the O-levelGeneral Certificate of EducationThe General Certificate of Education or GCE is an academic qualification that examination boards in the United Kingdom and a few of the Commonwealth countries, notably Sri Lanka, confer to students. The GCE traditionally comprised two levels: the Ordinary Level and the Advanced Level...
and CSECertificate of Secondary EducationThe Certificate of Secondary Education was a school leaving qualification awarded between 1965 and 1987 in England, Wales, and Northern Ireland....
. The new qualifications are marked against objective standards rather than relatively. - 2 May - Three off-duty British servicemen are killed in The Netherlands by the IRAProvisional Irish Republican ArmyThe Provisional Irish Republican Army is an Irish republican paramilitary organisation whose aim was to remove Northern Ireland from the United Kingdom and bring about a socialist republic within a united Ireland by force of arms and political persuasion...
. - 6 May - Graeme HickGraeme HickGraeme Ashley Hick MBE is a Zimbabwean-born cricketer who played 65 Test matches and 120 One Day Internationals for England. He played county cricket for Worcestershire for his entire English domestic career, a period of well over twenty years, and in 2008 he surpassed Graham Gooch's record for...
makes English cricketCricketCricket is a bat-and-ball game played between two teams of 11 players on an oval-shaped field, at the centre of which is a rectangular 22-yard long pitch. One team bats, trying to score as many runs as possible while the other team bowls and fields, trying to dismiss the batsmen and thus limit the...
history by scoring 405 runs in a county championship match. - 7 May - The proposed Poll taxPoll taxA poll tax is a tax of a portioned, fixed amount per individual in accordance with the census . When a corvée is commuted for cash payment, in effect it becomes a poll tax...
, which is expected to come into force next year, will see the average house rise in value by around 20%, according to a study. - 14 May - Wimbledon F.C.Wimbledon F.C.Wimbledon Football Club was an English professional association football club from Wimbledon, south-west London. Founded in 1889 as Wimbledon Old Central Football Club, the club spent most of its history in amateur and semi-professional non-League football before being elected to the Football...
, who have been Football League members for just 11 seasons and First DivisionFootball League First DivisionThe First Division was a division of The Football League between 1888 and 2004 and the highest division in English football until the creation of the Premier League in 1992. The secondary tier in English football has since become known as the Championship....
members for two, win the FA CupFA CupThe 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...
with a 1-0 win over league champions LiverpoolLiverpool F.C.Liverpool Football Club is an English Premier League football club based in Liverpool, Merseyside. Liverpool has won eighteen League titles, second most in English football, seven FA Cups and a record seven League Cups...
at Wembley. Lawrie SanchezLawrie SanchezLawrence Philip "Lawrie" Sanchez is a former Northern Irish football manager, and a former player. He is currently the manager of League Two side Barnet...
scored the winning goal in the first half, while Liverpool's John AldridgeJohn AldridgeJohn William Aldridge is a former Republic of Ireland international footballer and football manager...
missed a penalty in the second half. In ScotlandScotlandScotland is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Occupying the northern third of the island of Great Britain, it shares a border with England to the south and is bounded by the North Sea to the east, the Atlantic Ocean to the north and west, and the North Channel and Irish Sea to the...
, CelticCeltic F.C.Celtic Football Club is a Scottish football club based in the Parkhead area of Glasgow, which currently plays in the Scottish Premier League. The club was established in 1887, and played its first game in 1888. Celtic have won the Scottish League Championship on 42 occasions, most recently in the...
beat Dundee United 2-1 in the Scottish CupScottish CupThe Scottish Football Association Challenge Cup,, commonly known as the Scottish Cup or the William Hill Scottish Cup for sponsorship purposes, is the main national cup competition in Scottish football. It is a knockout cup competition run by and named after the Scottish Football Association.The...
final with two late goals from Frank McAvennieFrank McAvennieFrancis "Frank" McAvennie is a former Scottish football striker best known as a player with West Ham United and Celtic, having had two spells with both of these clubs.-Early life:...
to complete the Scottish double. - 19 May
- Unemployment is now below 2,500,000 for the first time since early 1981.
- House prices in NorwichNorwichNorwich is a city in England. It is the regional administrative centre and county town of Norfolk. During the 11th century, Norwich was the largest city in England after London, and one of the most important places in the kingdom...
, one of the key beneficiaries of the current economic boom, have risen by 50% in the last year.
- 24 May
- Local Government ActLocal Government Act 1988The United Kingdom Local Government Act of 1988 was famous for introducing the controversial Section 28 into law. In terms of the section 28 of the Local Government Act 1988, Local Authorities were prohibited from promoting in specified category of schools, "the teaching of the acceptability of...
becomes law. The controversial Section 28Section 28Section 28 of the Local Government Act 1988 caused the controversial addition of Section 2A to the Local Government Act 1986 , enacted on 24 May 1988 and repealed on 21 June 2000 in Scotland, and on 18 November 2003 in the rest of Great Britain by section 122 of the Local Government Act 2003...
prevents local authorities from "promoting homosexuality". Local authorities are also obliged to outsourceOutsourcingOutsourcing is the process of contracting a business function to someone else.-Overview:The term outsourcing is used inconsistently but usually involves the contracting out of a business function - commonly one previously performed in-house - to an external provider...
more services, and dog licenceDog licenceA dog licence is required in some jurisdictions to be the keeper of a dog. Usually a dog-licence identifying number is issued to the owner, along with a dog tag bearing the identifier and a contact number for the registering organization...
s are abolished (except in Northern IrelandNorthern IrelandNorthern Ireland is one of the four countries of the United Kingdom. Situated in the north-east of the island of Ireland, it shares a border with the Republic of Ireland to the south and west...
). - Albert DockAlbert DockThe Albert Dock is a complex of dock buildings and warehouses in Liverpool, England. Designed by Jesse Hartley and Philip Hardwick, it was opened in 1846, and was the first structure in Britain to be built from cast iron, brick and stone, with no structural wood...
in 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...
reopened by Prince CharlesCharles, Prince of WalesPrince Charles, Prince of Wales is the heir apparent and eldest son of Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh. Since 1958 his major title has been His Royal Highness The Prince of Wales. In Scotland he is additionally known as The Duke of Rothesay...
as a leisure and business centre including the Tate LiverpoolTate LiverpoolTate Liverpool is an art gallery and museum in Liverpool, Merseyside, England, and part of Tate, along with Tate St Ives, Cornwall, Tate Britain, London, and Tate Modern, London. The museum was an initiative of the Merseyside Development Corporation...
art museum.
- Local Government Act
- 2 June - President Ronald ReaganRonald ReaganRonald Wilson Reagan was the 40th President of the United States , the 33rd Governor of California and, prior to that, a radio, film and television actor....
of the United States of America makes a visit to Britain. - 11 June - Some 80,000 people attend a concert at Wembley StadiumWembley StadiumThe 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...
in honour of Nelson MandelaNelson MandelaNelson Rolihlahla Mandela served as President of South Africa from 1994 to 1999, and was the first South African president to be elected in a fully representative democratic election. Before his presidency, Mandela was an anti-apartheid activist, and the leader of Umkhonto we Sizwe, the armed wing...
, the South AfricaSouth AfricaThe Republic of South Africa is a country in southern Africa. Located at the southern tip of Africa, it is divided into nine provinces, with of coastline on the Atlantic and Indian oceans...
n anti-apartheid campaigner who turns 70 today and has been in prison since 1964. - 15 June - Five British soldiers are killed by the IRA in LisburnLisburnDemographicsLisburn Urban Area is within Belfast Metropolitan Urban Area and is classified as a Large Town by the . On census day there were 71,465 people living in Lisburn...
. - 16 June - More than 100 English football fans are arrested in West GermanyWest GermanyWest Germany is the common English, but not official, name for the Federal Republic of Germany or FRG in the period between its creation in May 1949 to German reunification on 3 October 1990....
in connection with incidents of football hooliganism during the European Championships. - 18 June - England's participation in the European Football Champions ends when they finished bottom of their group having lost all three games.
- 23 June - Three gay rights activists invade the BBCBBCThe British Broadcasting Corporation is a British public service broadcaster. Its headquarters is at Broadcasting House in the City of Westminster, London. It is the largest broadcaster in the world, with about 23,000 staff...
television studios during the six o'clock bulletin of the BBC NewsBBC NewsBBC News is the department of the British Broadcasting Corporation responsible for the gathering and broadcasting of news and current affairs. The department is the world's largest broadcast news organisation and generates about 120 hours of radio and television output each day, as well as online...
. - July - FreezeFreeze (exhibition)Freeze is the title of an art exhibition that took place in July 1988 in an empty London Port Authority building at Surrey Docks in London Docklands. Its main organiser was Damien Hirst. It was significant in the subsequent development of the Young British Artists.-Organisation:Freeze was...
art exhibitionArt exhibitionArt exhibitions are traditionally the space in which art objects meet an audience. The exhibit is universally understood to be for some temporary period unless, as is rarely true, it is stated to be a "permanent exhibition". In American English, they may be called "exhibit", "exposition" or...
held at Surrey Docks in London Docklands, organised by Damien HirstDamien HirstDamien Steven Hirst is an English artist, entrepreneur and art collector. He is the most prominent member of the group known as the Young British Artists , who dominated the art scene in Britain during the 1990s. He is internationally renowned, and is reportedly Britain's richest living artist,...
and significant in the development of the Young British ArtistsYoung British ArtistsYoung British Artists or YBAs is the name given to a loose group of visual artists who first began to exhibit together in London, in 1988...
. - 5 July - The Church of EnglandChurch of EnglandThe Church of England is the officially established Christian church in England and the Mother Church of the worldwide Anglican Communion. The church considers itself within the tradition of Western Christianity and dates its formal establishment principally to the mission to England by St...
announces that it will allow women priests in its churches from 1992. - 6 July
- Piper Alpha disasterPiper AlphaPiper Alpha was a North Sea oil production platform operated by Occidental Petroleum Ltd. The platform began production in 1976, first as an oil platform and then later converted to gas production. An explosion and resulting fire destroyed it on 6 July 1988, killing 167 men, with only 61...
oil rig in the North SeaNorth SeaIn the southwest, beyond the Straits of Dover, the North Sea becomes the English Channel connecting to the Atlantic Ocean. In the east, it connects to the Baltic Sea via the Skagerrak and Kattegat, narrow straits that separate Denmark from Norway and Sweden respectively...
explodes and results in the death of 167 workers. - A contractor's relief driver pours 20 tonnes of aluminium sulphateAluminium sulfateAluminium sulfate, alternatively spelt aluminum sulfate, aluminium sulphate, or aluminum sulphate; is a chemical compound with the formula Al23...
into the wrong tank at a water treatment plant near CamelfordCamelfordCamelford is a town and civil parish in north Cornwall, United Kingdom, situated in the River Camel valley northwest of Bodmin Moor. The town is approximately ten miles north of Bodmin and is governed by Camelford Town Council....
in CornwallCornwallCornwall is a unitary authority and ceremonial county of England, within the United Kingdom. It is bordered to the north and west by the Celtic Sea, to the south by the English Channel, and to the east by the county of Devon, over the River Tamar. Cornwall has a population of , and covers an area of...
, causing extensive pollution to the local water supply.
- Piper Alpha disaster
- 18 July - Paul GascoignePaul GascoignePaul John Gascoigne , commonly referred to as Gazza, is a retired English professional footballer.Playing in the position of midfield, Gascoigne's career included spells at Newcastle United, Tottenham Hotspur, Lazio, Rangers, Middlesbrough, Everton and Gansu Tianma, where he scored at least a goal...
, 21-year-old midfielder, becomes the first £2million footballer signed by a British club when he leaves Newcastle United and joins Tottenham Hotspur.http://www.soccerbase.com/players_details.sd?playerid=2775 - 28 July - Paddy AshdownPaddy AshdownJeremy John Durham Ashdown, Baron Ashdown of Norton-sub-Hamdon, GCMG, KBE, PC , usually known as Paddy Ashdown, is a British politician and diplomat....
, MP for YeovilYeovilYeovil is a town and civil parish in south Somerset, England. The parish had a population of 27,949 at the 2001 census, although the wider urban area had a population of 42,140...
in SomersetSomersetThe ceremonial and non-metropolitan county of Somerset in South West England borders Bristol and Gloucestershire to the north, Wiltshire to the east, Dorset to the south-east, and Devon to the south-west. It is partly bounded to the north and west by the Bristol Channel and the estuary of the...
, is elected as the first leader of the Social and Liberal Democratic Party. - 29 July - Most provisions of the Education Reform ActEducation Reform Act 1988The Education Reform Act 1988 is widely regarded as the most important single piece of education legislation in England, Wales and Northern Ireland since the 'Butler' Education Act 1944...
come into effect in EnglandEnglandEngland is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
, WalesWalesWales 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...
and Northern IrelandNorthern IrelandNorthern Ireland is one of the four countries of the United Kingdom. Situated in the north-east of the island of Ireland, it shares a border with the Republic of Ireland to the south and west...
. The Act introduces Grant-maintained schoolGrant-maintained schoolGrant-maintained schools were state schools in England and Wales between 1988 and 1998 that had opted out of local government control, being funded directly by a grant from central government...
s and Local Management of Schools, allowing schools to be taken out of the direct control of local governmentLocal governmentLocal government refers collectively to administrative authorities over areas that are smaller than a state.The term is used to contrast with offices at nation-state level, which are referred to as the central government, national government, or federal government...
; a National Curriculum with Key StageKey StageA Key Stage is a stage of the state education system in England, Wales, Northern Ireland and the British Territory of Gibraltar setting the educational knowledge expected of students at various ages...
s; an element of parental preference in the choice of schools; published league tableLeague tableA league table, standings, ranking chart, or ladder is a chart or list which compares sports teams, institutions, nations or companies by ranking them in order of ability or achievement. A league table may list several related statistics, but they are generally sorted by the primary one that...
s of school examination results; controls on the use of the word 'degreeAcademic degreeAn academic degree is a position and title within a college or university that is usually awarded in recognition of the recipient having either satisfactorily completed a prescribed course of study or having conducted a scholarly endeavour deemed worthy of his or her admission to the degree...
' by UK institutions; and abolition of tenureTenureTenure commonly refers to life tenure in a job and specifically to a senior academic's contractual right not to have his or her position terminated without just cause.-19th century:...
for new academics. - 31 July - Economists warn that the house price boom is likely to end next year.
- 1 August - A British ArmyBritish ArmyThe British Army is the land warfare branch of Her Majesty's Armed Forces in the United Kingdom. It came into being with the unification of the Kingdom of England and Scotland into the Kingdom of Great Britain in 1707. The new British Army incorporated Regiments that had already existed in England...
soldier is killed by IRA terrorists at Inglis Barracks in North LondonNorth LondonNorth London is the northern part of London, England. It is an imprecise description and the area it covers is defined differently for a range of purposes. Common to these definitions is that it includes districts located north of the River Thames and is used in comparison with South...
. - 2 August - Everton F.C.Everton F.C.Everton Football Club are an English professional association football club from the city of Liverpool. The club competes in the Premier League, the highest level of English football...
pay £2.3million for West Ham United striker Tony CotteeTony CotteeAnthony Richard "Tony" Cottee is a former football player who now works as a television football commentator...
, 22, breaking the national record set six weeks ago by Paul Gascoigne's transfer.http://www.soccerbase.com/players_details.sd?playerid=1679 - 8 August - The first child (a girl) of TRH The DukePrince Andrew, Duke of YorkPrince Andrew, Duke of York KG GCVO , is the second son, and third child of Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh...
and DuchessSarah, Duchess of YorkSarah, Duchess of York is a British charity patron, spokesperson, writer, film producer, television personality and former member of the British Royal Family. She is the former wife of Prince Andrew, Duke of York, whom she married from 1986 to 1996...
of York is born at Portland HospitalPortland HospitalThe Portland Hospital for Women and Children, usually referred to simply as the Portland Hospital, is a hospital in Great Portland Street, London...
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...
. She has been fifth in line to the throne ever since. - 18 August - Ian RushIan RushIan James Rush, MBE, is a retired football player from Flint, Wales. He is best remembered as a player for Liverpool, where he was among the top strikers in the English game in the 1980s and 1990s. He also had spells playing at Chester City, Juventus, Leeds United, Newcastle United, Sheffield...
becomes the most expensive player to join a British club when he returns to Liverpool F.C.Liverpool F.C.Liverpool Football Club is an English Premier League football club based in Liverpool, Merseyside. Liverpool has won eighteen League titles, second most in English football, seven FA Cups and a record seven League Cups...
for £2.7million after a year at Juventus in 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...
.http://www.soccerbase.com/players_details.sd?playerid=6935 - 20 August - Six British soldiers are killed by an IRA bomb near BelfastBelfastBelfast is the capital of and largest city in Northern Ireland. By population, it is the 14th biggest city in the United Kingdom and second biggest on the island of Ireland . It is the seat of the devolved government and legislative Northern Ireland Assembly...
. 27 other people are injured. - 22 August
- New licensing laws allow pubsPublic houseA public house, informally known as a pub, is a drinking establishment fundamental to the culture of Britain, Ireland, Australia and New Zealand. There are approximately 53,500 public houses in the United Kingdom. This number has been declining every year, so that nearly half of the smaller...
to stay open all day in England and Wales. - The Duke and Duchess of York's 14-day-old daughter is named Beatrice Elizabeth MaryPrincess Beatrice of YorkPrincess Beatrice of York is the elder daughter of Prince Andrew, Duke of York, and Sarah, Duchess of York...
.
- New licensing laws allow pubs
- 29 August - 14-year-old Matthew SadlerMatthew Sadler (chess player)Matthew Sadler is an International Grandmaster of chess, and a chess writer.Sadler won the British Championship in 1995 at the age of 21 and again in 1997...
becomes Britain's youngest international chess masterChess masterA chess master is a chess player of such skill that he/she can usually beat chess experts, who themselves typically prevail against most amateurs. Among chess players, the term is often abbreviated to master, the meaning being clear from context....
. - 31 August - Postal workers walk out on strike1988 United Kingdom postal workers strikeThe 1988 United Kingdom postal workers strike was a strike in the United Kingdom in August and September 1988. It was the country's first national postal strike for 17 years, and began after postal workers at Royal Mail walked out in protest over bonuses being paid to recruit new workers in London...
over a dispute concerning bonuses paid to recruit new workers in London and the South East. - 3 September - Economic experts warn that the recent economic upswing for most of the developed world is almost over, and that these countries - including 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...
- face a recessionRecessionIn economics, a recession is a business cycle contraction, a general slowdown in economic activity. During recessions, many macroeconomic indicators vary in a similar way...
in the near future. - 9 September - The England cricket team's tour to IndiaIndiaIndia , officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country with over 1.2 billion people, and the most populous democracy in the world...
is cancelled after Captain Graham GoochGraham GoochGraham Alan Gooch OBE DL is a former cricketer who captained Essex and England. He was one of the most successful international batsmen of his generation, and through a career spanning from 1973 until 2000, he became the most prolific run scorer of all time with 67,057 runs...
and seven other players are refused visas because of involvement in South AfricaSouth AfricaThe Republic of South Africa is a country in southern Africa. Located at the southern tip of Africa, it is divided into nine provinces, with of coastline on the Atlantic and Indian oceans...
n cricket during the apartheid boycott. - 13 September - Royal MailRoyal MailRoyal Mail is the government-owned postal service in the United Kingdom. Royal Mail Holdings plc owns Royal Mail Group Limited, which in turn operates the brands Royal Mail and Parcelforce Worldwide...
managers and Union of Communication WorkersUnion of Communication WorkersThe Union of Communication Workers was a trade union in the United Kingdom for workers in the post office and telecommunications industries. It was founded in 1919 as the Union of Post Office Workers by the merger of the Postmen's Federation, Postal and Telegraph Clerks' Association and the...
representatives agree a settlement to end the postal workers strike1988 United Kingdom postal workers strikeThe 1988 United Kingdom postal workers strike was a strike in the United Kingdom in August and September 1988. It was the country's first national postal strike for 17 years, and began after postal workers at Royal Mail walked out in protest over bonuses being paid to recruit new workers in London...
. - 17 September–2 October - Great Britain and Northern IrelandGreat Britain and Northern Ireland at the 1988 Summer OlympicsThe United Kingdom competed as Great Britain at the 1988 Summer Olympics in Seoul, Korea. 345 competitors, 219 men and 126 women, took part in 191 events in 22 sports...
compete at the Olympics1988 Summer OlympicsThe 1988 Summer Olympics, officially known as the Games of the XXIV Olympiad, were an all international multi-sport events celebrated from September 17 to October 2, 1988 in Seoul, South Korea. They were the second summer Olympic Games to be held in Asia and the first since the 1964 Summer Olympics...
in SeoulSeoulSeoul , officially the Seoul Special City, is the capital and largest metropolis of South Korea. A megacity with a population of over 10 million, it is the largest city proper in the OECD developed world...
, South KoreaSouth KoreaThe Republic of Korea , , is a sovereign state in East Asia, located on the southern portion of the Korean Peninsula. It is neighbored by the People's Republic of China to the west, Japan to the east, North Korea to the north, and the East China Sea and Republic of China to the south...
, and win 5 gold, 10 silver and 9 bronze medals. - 24 September - The house price boom is reported to be slowing as a result of increased mortgage rates.
- 30 September - A Gibraltar jury decides that the 3 IRA members killed on March 6 were killed "lawfully".
- October - VauxhallVauxhall MotorsVauxhall Motors is a British automotive company owned by General Motors and headquartered in Luton. It was founded in 1857 as a pump and marine engine manufacturer, began manufacturing cars in 1903 and was acquired by GM in 1925. It has been the second-largest selling car brand in the UK for...
launches the third generation of its popular CavalierVauxhall CavalierThe Vauxhall Cavalier is a large family car sold primarily in the UK by Vauxhall Motors, the British division of General Motors , from 1975 to 1995...
family saloon. - 9 October - Labour MP and Shadow Chancellor John Smith, 50, is hospitalised with a heart attack in EdinburghEdinburghEdinburgh is the capital city of Scotland, the second largest city in Scotland, and the eighth most populous in the United Kingdom. The City of Edinburgh Council governs one of Scotland's 32 local government council areas. The council area includes urban Edinburgh and a rural area...
. - 12 October - As Pope John Paul IIPope John Paul IIBlessed Pope John Paul II , born Karol Józef Wojtyła , reigned as Pope of the Catholic Church and Sovereign of Vatican City from 16 October 1978 until his death on 2 April 2005, at of age. His was the second-longest documented pontificate, which lasted ; only Pope Pius IX ...
addresses the European ParliamentEuropean ParliamentThe European Parliament is the directly elected parliamentary institution of the European Union . Together with the Council of the European Union and the Commission, it exercises the legislative function of the EU and it has been described as one of the most powerful legislatures in the world...
, Ian PaisleyIan PaisleyIan Richard Kyle Paisley, Baron Bannside, PC is a politician and church minister in Northern Ireland. As the leader of the Democratic Unionist Party , he and Sinn Féin's Martin McGuinness were elected First Minister and deputy First Minister respectively on 8 May 2007.In addition to co-founding...
heckles and denounces him as the AntichristAntichristThe term or title antichrist, in Christian theology, refers to a leader who fulfills Biblical prophecies concerning an adversary of Christ, while resembling him in a deceptive manner...
. - 13 October - The House of LordsHouse of LordsThe 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....
rules that extracts of the banned book SpycatcherSpycatcherSpycatcher: The Candid Autobiography of a Senior Intelligence Officer , is a book written by Peter Wright, former MI5 officer and Assistant Director, and co-author Paul Greengrass. It was published first in Australia...
can be published in the media. - 18 October - Jaguar unveils its new Jaguar XJ220Jaguar XJ220The Jaguar XJ220 is a mid-engined supercar produced by Jaguar in collaboration with Tom Walkinshaw Racing as Jaguar Sport between 1992 and 1994. It held the record for the highest top speed of a production car , until the arrival of the McLaren F1 in 1994...
supercar at the Motor Show. It is set go into production in 1990, costing £350,000 and being the world's fastest production car with a top speed of 220 mph. - 27 October - Three IRA supporters are found guilty of conspiracy to murder in connection with a plot to kill Secretary of State for Northern Ireland Tom KingTom King, Baron King of BridgwaterThomas Jeremy King, Baron King of Bridgwater, CH, PC , is a British politician. A member of the Conservative Party, he served in the Cabinet from 1983–92, and was the Member of Parliament for the constituency of Bridgwater in Somerset from 1970-2001...
. - 28 October - British RailBritish RailBritish Railways , which from 1965 traded as British Rail, was the operator of most of the rail transport in Great Britain between 1948 and 1997. It was formed from the nationalisation of the "Big Four" British railway companies and lasted until the gradual privatisation of British Rail, in stages...
announces a 21% rise in the cost of long distance season tickets. - 2 November - Victor Miller is sentenced to life imprisonmentLife imprisonmentLife imprisonment is a sentence of imprisonment for a serious crime under which the convicted person is to remain in jail for the rest of his or her life...
for the murder of Stuart Gough. - 4 November - Margaret ThatcherMargaret ThatcherMargaret Hilda Thatcher, Baroness Thatcher, was Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1979 to 1990...
presses for freedom for the people of PolandPolandPoland , officially the Republic of Poland , is a country in Central Europe bordered by Germany to the west; the Czech Republic and Slovakia to the south; Ukraine, Belarus and Lithuania to the east; and the Baltic Sea and Kaliningrad Oblast, a Russian exclave, to the north...
on her visit to GdanskGdanskGdańsk is a Polish city on the Baltic coast, at the centre of the country's fourth-largest metropolitan area.The city lies on the southern edge of Gdańsk Bay , in a conurbation with the city of Gdynia, spa town of Sopot, and suburban communities, which together form a metropolitan area called the...
. - 9 November - The government unveils plans for a new identity cardIdentity documentAn identity document is any document which may be used to verify aspects of a person's personal identity. If issued in the form of a small, mostly standard-sized card, it is usually called an identity card...
scheme in an attempt to clamp down on football hooliganism. - 30 November -
- - A government report reveals that up to 50,000 people in Britain may be HIVHIVHuman immunodeficiency virus is a lentivirus that causes acquired immunodeficiency syndrome , a condition in humans in which progressive failure of the immune system allows life-threatening opportunistic infections and cancers to thrive...
positive, and that by the end of 1992 up to 17,000 people may have died from AIDSAIDSAcquired immune deficiency syndrome or acquired immunodeficiency syndrome is a disease of the human immune system caused by the human immunodeficiency virus...
. - - A bronze statue of former prime minister Clement Attle, who died in 1967, is unveiled outside LimehouseLimehouseLimehouse is a place in the London Borough of Tower Hamlets. It is on the northern bank of the River Thames opposite Rotherhithe and between Ratcliff to the west and Millwall to the east....
Library 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...
by fellow former prime minister Harold WilsonHarold WilsonJames Harold Wilson, Baron Wilson of Rievaulx, KG, OBE, FRS, FSS, PC was a British Labour Member of Parliament, Leader of the Labour Party. He was twice Prime Minister of the United Kingdom during the 1960s and 1970s, winning four general elections, including a minority government after the...
.
- - A government report reveals that up to 50,000 people in Britain may be HIV
- 3 December - Health minister Edwina CurrieEdwina CurrieEdwina Jonesnée Cohen is a former British Member of Parliament. First elected as a Conservative Party MP in 1983, she was a Junior Health Minister for two years, before resigning in 1988 over the controversy over salmonella in eggs...
provokes outrage by stating that most of Britain's egg production is infected with the salmonellaSalmonellaSalmonella is a genus of rod-shaped, Gram-negative, non-spore-forming, predominantly motile enterobacteria with diameters around 0.7 to 1.5 µm, lengths from 2 to 5 µm, and flagella which grade in all directions . They are chemoorganotrophs, obtaining their energy from oxidation and reduction...
bacteria, causing an immediate nationwide fall in egg sales. - 6 December - The last shipbuilding facilities on WearsideWearsideWearside is an area of north east England, centred on the continuous urban area formed by Sunderland, Seaham and other settlements by the River Wear. Mackems is a nickname used for the people of Wearside....
, once the largest shipbuilding area in the world, are to close with the loss of 2,400 jobs. - 10 December - James W. BlackJames W. BlackSir James Whyte Black, OM, FRS, FRSE, FRCP was a Scottish doctor and pharmacologist. He spent his career both as researcher and as an academic at several universities. Black established the physiology department at the University of Glasgow, where he became interested in the effects of adrenaline...
wins the Nobel Prize in Physiology or MedicineNobel Prize in Physiology or MedicineThe Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine administered by the Nobel Foundation, is awarded once a year for outstanding discoveries in the field of life science and medicine. It is one of five Nobel Prizes established in 1895 by Swedish chemist Alfred Nobel, the inventor of dynamite, in his will...
jointly with Gertrude B. Elion and George H. Hitchings "for their discoveries of important principles for drug treatment". - 12 December - 35 people are killed in a collision between three trains at ClaphamClaphamClapham is a district in south London, England, within the London Borough of Lambeth.Clapham covers the postcodes of SW4 and parts of SW9, SW8 and SW12. Clapham Common is shared with the London Borough of Wandsworth, although Lambeth has responsibility for running the common as a whole. According...
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...
. - 15 December - Unemployment is now only just over 2,100,000 - the lowest level for almost eight years.
- 16 December - Edwina Currie resigns as Health minister.http://www.expressandstar.com/days/1976-2000/1988.html
- 19 December
- The Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors publishes its house price survey, revealing a deep recession in the housing market.
- PC Gavin Carlton, 29, is shot dead in 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...
in a siege by two armed bank robbers. His colleague DC Leonard Jakeman is also shot but survives. One of the gunmen gives himself up to police, while the other shoots himself dead.
- 20 December - The three-month-old daughter of the Duke and Duchess of York is christenedChristeningChristening is a naming ceremony associated with:*Baptism*Infant baptism*Ship naming and launching...
Beatrice Elizabeth MaryPrincess Beatrice of YorkPrincess Beatrice of York is the elder daughter of Prince Andrew, Duke of York, and Sarah, Duchess of York...
. - 21 December - Pan Am Flight 103Pan Am Flight 103Pan Am Flight 103 was Pan American World Airways' third daily scheduled transatlantic flight from London Heathrow Airport to New York's John F. Kennedy International Airport...
explodes over the Scottish town of LockerbieLockerbieLockerbie is a town in the Dumfries and Galloway region of south-western Scotland. It lies approximately from Glasgow, and from the English border. It had a population of 4,009 at the 2001 census...
, Dumfries and GallowayDumfries and GallowayDumfries and Galloway is one of 32 unitary council areas of Scotland. It was one of the nine administrative 'regions' of mainland Scotland created in 1975 by the Local Government etc. Act 1973...
and kills a total of 270 people - including all 259 who were on board. It is believed that the cause of the explosion was a terrorist bomb.
Undated
- Inflation remains low for the seventh year running, now standing at 4.9%.http://www.parliament.uk/commons/lib/research/rp99/rp99-020.pdf
Publications
- 17 May - Hello!Hello!Hello is a weekly magazine specializing in celebrity news and human-interest stories, published in the United Kingdom since 1988. Hello is sister magazine to ¡Hola!, the Spanish weekly magazine launched in Spain in 1944...
magazine launched in the UK. - Iain M. Banks' novel The Player of GamesThe Player of GamesThe Player of Games is a science fiction novel by Scottish writer Iain M. Banks, first published in 1988. It was the second published Culture novel...
. - 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...
's novel UtzUtz (novel)Utz is a novel written by British author Bruce Chatwin. It was first published in 1988. The novel follows the fortunes of Kaspar Utz who lives in Czechoslovakia during the Cold War. Utz is a collector of Meissen porcelain and finds way to travel outside the eastern bloc to acquire new pieces...
. - Physicist Stephen HawkingStephen HawkingStephen William Hawking, CH, CBE, FRS, FRSA is an English theoretical physicist and cosmologist, whose scientific books and public appearances have made him an academic celebrity...
's book A Brief History of TimeA Brief History of TimeA Brief History of Time is a popular science book written by renown physicist Stephen Hawking and first published by the Bantam Dell Publishing Group in 1988. It became a best-seller and has sold more than 10 million copies...
. - David LodgeDavid Lodge (author)David John Lodge CBE, is an English author.In his novels, Lodge often satirises academia in general and the humanities in particular. He was brought up Catholic and has described himself as an "agnostic Catholic". Many of his characters are Catholic and their Catholicism is a major theme...
’s novel Nice WorkNice WorkNice Work is a novel by British author David Lodge. It won the Sunday Express Book of the Year award in 1988 and was also shortlisted for the Booker prize. In 1989 it was made into a four-part BBC television series directed by Christopher Menaul and starring Warren Clarke and Haydn Gwynne...
. - Terry PratchettTerry PratchettSir Terence David John "Terry" Pratchett, OBE is an English novelist, known for his frequently comical work in the fantasy genre. He is best known for his popular and long-running Discworld series of comic fantasy novels...
's DiscworldDiscworldDiscworld is a comic fantasy book series by English author Sir Terry Pratchett, set on the Discworld, a flat world balanced on the backs of four elephants which, in turn, stand on the back of a giant turtle, Great A'Tuin. The books frequently parody, or at least take inspiration from, J. R. R....
novels SourcerySourcerySourcery is the fifth Discworld novel by Terry Pratchett, published in 1988. On the Discworld, sourcerers - wizards who are sources of magic, and thus immensely more powerful than normal wizards – were the main cause of the great mage wars that left areas of the disc uninhabitable. Men born the...
and Wyrd SistersWyrd SistersWyrd Sisters is Terry Pratchett's sixth Discworld novel, published in 1988, and re-introduces Granny Weatherwax of Equal Rites.- Plot :...
.
Births
- 7 January - Alan LowingAlan LowingAlan Alexander Lowing is a Scottish professional footballer currently playing for Fram Reykjavik.-Rangers:...
, Scottish footballer - 10 January - Michael McilorumMichael McilorumMichael David J. McIlorum is an English rugby league player who currently plays for English club Wigan Warriors in the Super League competition...
, English rugby player - 12 January - Chris CasementChris CasementChris Casement is a Northern Irish professional footballer who plays with Linfield.-Club career:After accomplished displays in the FA Cup, most notably against Swansea City and Watford in January 2007, Casement moved out on loan to Millwall for three months...
, Northern Irish footballer - 25 January - Daniel Haynes, English footballer
- 9 March - David WheatleyDavid WheatleyDavid Wheatley is an Irish poet and critic. He studied at Trinity College, Dublin where he edited Icarus. Wheatley is the author of four volumes of poetry with Gallery Press, as well as several chapbooks...
, English pianist and composer - 8 August - Princess Beatrice of YorkPrincess Beatrice of YorkPrincess Beatrice of York is the elder daughter of Prince Andrew, Duke of York, and Sarah, Duchess of York...
, daughter of the DukePrince Andrew, Duke of YorkPrince Andrew, Duke of York KG GCVO , is the second son, and third child of Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh...
and Duchess of YorkSarah, Duchess of YorkSarah, Duchess of York is a British charity patron, spokesperson, writer, film producer, television personality and former member of the British Royal Family. She is the former wife of Prince Andrew, Duke of York, whom she married from 1986 to 1996... - 24 August - Rupert GrintRupert GrintRupert Alexander Lloyd Grint is an English actor, who rose to prominence playing Ron Weasley, one of the three main characters in the Harry Potter film series. Grint was cast as Ron at the age of 11, having previously acted only in school plays and at his local theatre group...
, Actor Ron WeasleyRon WeasleyRonald Bilius "Ron" Weasley is a fictional character and one of the three protagonists in the Harry Potter book series written by J. K. Rowling. His first appearance was in the first book of the series, Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone as the best friend of Harry Potter and Hermione Granger...
in the Harry PotterHarry PotterHarry Potter is a series of seven fantasy novels written by the British author J. K. Rowling. The books chronicle the adventures of the adolescent wizard Harry Potter and his best friends Ron Weasley and Hermione Granger, all of whom are students at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry...
Flims - 25 August
- Ray QuinnRay QuinnRaymond Arthur "Ray" Quinn is an English actor, singer, and dancer. He finished second in talent show The X Factor in 2006, and won the 2009 series of Dancing on Ice. He also appeared as victimised teenager Anthony Murray in the Channel 4 soap opera Brookside...
, singer and actor - Alexandra BurkeAlexandra BurkeAlexandra Imelda Cecelia Ewen Burke is a British R&B and pop recording artist who rose to fame after winning the fifth series of British television series The X Factor in 2008...
, singer
- Ray Quinn
- 20 November - Mz BrattMz BrattCleopatra Humphrey , better known by her stage name Mz. Bratt, is an English electro-grime recording artist.-History:...
, electro/grime artist - 2 December
- Alfred EnochAlfred EnochAlfred "Alfie" Lewis Enoch is a British actor. He is known for his portrayal of Dean Thomas in the Harry Potter films. He currently attends Oxford University.-Life and career:...
, actor - Edward Windsor, Lord Downpatrick
- Alfred Enoch
- 30 December - Leon JacksonLeon JacksonLeon Jackson is a Scottish singer-songwriter. He won the fourth series of British talent show The X Factor in 2007. Following his win, Jackson was the main star of his on-web series entitled Leon's Life, which ran from 2007 until 2008...
, singer
Deaths
- 2 January - E. B. Ford, geneticist (born 19011901 in the United KingdomEvents from the year 1901 in the United Kingdom. This year marks the transition from the Victorian to the Edwardian era.-Incumbents:*Monarch — Queen Victoria , King Edward VII...
) - 7 January - Trevor HowardTrevor HowardTrevor Howard , born Trevor Wallace Howard-Smith, was an English film, stage and television actor.-Early life:...
, actor (born 19131913 in the United KingdomEvents from the year 1913 in the United Kingdom.-Incumbents:*Monarch - King George V*Prime Minister - H. H. Asquith, Liberal-Events:* 1 January - British Board of Film Censors receives the authority to classify and censor films....
) - 13 January - Donald HealeyDonald HealeyDonald Mitchell Healey CBE was a noted English rally driver, automobile engineer, and speed record holder.- Early life :...
, rally driver, automobile engineer and speed record holder (born 18981898 in the United KingdomEvents from the year 1898 in the United Kingdom.-Incumbents:*Monarch — Queen Victoria*Prime Minister — Robert Cecil, Marquess of Salisbury, Conservative-Events:...
) - 16 January - Ballard Berkeley, actor (born 19041904 in the United KingdomEvents from the year 1904 in the United Kingdom.-Incumbents:*Monarch - King Edward VII*Prime Minister - Arthur Balfour, Conservative-Events:* 1 January - Number plates are introduced as cars are licensed for the first time...
) - 18 March - Percy ThrowerPercy ThrowerPercy John Thrower MBE was a British gardener, horticulturist, broadcaster and writer born at Horwood House in the village of Little Horwood in Buckinghamshire....
, gardener and broadcaster (born 19131913 in the United KingdomEvents from the year 1913 in the United Kingdom.-Incumbents:*Monarch - King George V*Prime Minister - H. H. Asquith, Liberal-Events:* 1 January - British Board of Film Censors receives the authority to classify and censor films....
) - 12 April - Harry McShaneHarry McShaneHarry McShane was a Scottish socialist, and a close colleague of John Maclean. Born into a Roman Catholic family, he became a Marxist...
, socialist (born 18911891 in the United KingdomEvents from the year 1891 in the United Kingdom.-Incumbents:*Monarch — Queen Victoria*Prime Minister — Robert Cecil, Marquess of Salisbury, Conservative-Events:...
) - 14 April - John StonehouseJohn StonehouseJohn Thomson Stonehouse was a British politician and minister under Harold Wilson. Stonehouse is perhaps best remembered for his unsuccessful attempt at faking his own death in 1974...
, government minister noted for faking his own death (born 19251925 in the United KingdomEvents from the year 1925 in the United Kingdom.-Incumbents:*Monarch - King George V*Prime Minister - Stanley Baldwin, Conservative-Events:...
) - 15 April - Kenneth WilliamsKenneth WilliamsKenneth Charles Williams was an English comic actor and comedian. He was one of the main ensemble in 26 of the Carry On films, and appeared in numerous British television shows, and radio comedies with Tony Hancock and Kenneth Horne.-Life and career:Kenneth Charles Williams was born on 22 February...
, comic actor (born 19261926 in the United KingdomEvents from the year 1926 in the United Kingdom. The year is dominated by the General Strike.-Incumbents:*Monarch – King George V*Prime Minister – Stanley Baldwin, Conservative-Events:...
) - 23 April - Michael RamseyMichael RamseyArthur Michael Ramsey, Baron Ramsey of Canterbury PC was the 100th Archbishop of Canterbury. He was appointed on 31 May 1961 and was in office from June 1961 to 1974.-Career:...
, Archbishop of CanterburyArchbishop of CanterburyThe Archbishop of Canterbury is the senior bishop and principal leader of the Church of England, the symbolic head of the worldwide Anglican Communion, and the diocesan bishop of the Diocese of Canterbury. In his role as head of the Anglican Communion, the archbishop leads the third largest group...
(born 19041904 in the United KingdomEvents from the year 1904 in the United Kingdom.-Incumbents:*Monarch - King Edward VII*Prime Minister - Arthur Balfour, Conservative-Events:* 1 January - Number plates are introduced as cars are licensed for the first time...
) - 11 May - Kim PhilbyKim PhilbyHarold Adrian Russell "Kim" Philby was a high-ranking member of British intelligence who worked as a spy for and later defected to the Soviet Union...
, spy (born 19121912 in the United KingdomEvents from the year 1912 in the United Kingdom.-Incumbents:*Monarch - King George V*Prime Minister - H. H. Asquith, Liberal-Events:* 1 January - Post Office takes over National Telephone Company....
) - 16 May - Charles KeepingCharles KeepingCharles William James Keeping was a British illustrator, children's book author and lithographer. He first came to prominence with his illustrations for Rosemary Sutcliff's historical novels for children, and he created more than twenty picture books...
, illustrator (born 19241924 in the United KingdomEvents from the year 1924 in the United Kingdom. This is a General Election year.-Incumbents:*Monarch - King George V*Prime Minister - Stanley Baldwin, Conservative , Ramsay MacDonald, Labour , Stanley Baldwin, Conservative-Events:* 1 January - Meteorological Office issues its first broadcast...
) - 19 August - Frederick AshtonFrederick AshtonSir Frederick William Mallandaine Ashton OM, CH, CBE was a leading international dancer and choreographer. He is most noted as the founder choreographer of The Royal Ballet in London, but also worked as a director and choreographer of opera, film and theatre revues.-Early life:Ashton was born at...
, choreographer (born 1904, Ecuador) - 27 August - William SargantWilliam SargantWilliam Walters Sargant was a controversial British psychiatrist who is remembered for the evangelical zeal with which he promoted treatments such as psychosurgery, deep sleep treatment, electroconvulsive therapy and insulin shock therapy.Sargant studied medicine at St John's College, Cambridge,...
, psychiatrist (born 19071907 in the United KingdomEvents from the year 1907 in the United Kingdom.-Incumbents:*Monarch - King Edward VII*Prime Minister - Henry Campbell-Bannerman, Liberal-Events:* January - The steamship Pengwern founders in the North Sea: crew and 24 men lost....
) - 20 September - Roy KinnearRoy KinnearRoy Mitchell Kinnear was an English character actor. He is best remembered for playing Veruca Salt's father, Mr. Salt, in Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory.-Early life:...
, actor (born 19341934 in the United KingdomEvents from the year 1934 in the United Kingdom.-Incumbents:*Monarch - King George V*Prime Minister - Ramsay MacDonald, national coalition-Events:...
) - 1 October - Sacheverell SitwellSacheverell SitwellSir Sacheverell Sitwell, 6th Baronet CH was an English writer, best known as an art critic and writer on architecture, particularly the baroque. He was the younger brother of Dame Edith Sitwell and Sir Osbert Sitwell....
, writer (born 18971897 in the United KingdomEvents from the year 1897 in the United Kingdom. This is the Queen's Diamond Jubilee year.-Incumbents:* Monarch—Queen Victoria* Prime Minister—Robert Cecil, Marquess of Salisbury, Conservative-Events:...
) - 9 October - Jackie MilburnJackie MilburnJohn Edward Thompson 'Jackie' Milburn, , also known to fans as Wor Jackie and 'the first World Wor' in reference to his global fame, was a football player for Newcastle United and England...
, footballer (born 19241924 in the United KingdomEvents from the year 1924 in the United Kingdom. This is a General Election year.-Incumbents:*Monarch - King George V*Prime Minister - Stanley Baldwin, Conservative , Ramsay MacDonald, Labour , Stanley Baldwin, Conservative-Events:* 1 January - Meteorological Office issues its first broadcast...
) - 15 October - Kaikhosru Shapurji SorabjiKaikhosru Shapurji SorabjiKaikhosru Shapurji Sorabji was an English composer, music critic, pianist, and writer.-Biography:...
, composer, music critic and pianist (born 18921892 in the United KingdomEvents from the year 1892 in the United Kingdom.-Incumbents:*Monarch — Queen Victoria*Prime Minister — Robert Cecil, Marquess of Salisbury, Conservative , William Ewart Gladstone, Liberal-Events:...
) - 20 October - Sheila ScottSheila ScottSheila Scott OBE , was an English aviatrix.Born Sheila Christine Hopkins in Worcester, Worcestershire, England in 1922, educated at the Alice Ottley School, she broke over 100 aviation records through her long distance flight endeavours, which included a "world and a half" flight in 1971...
, aviator (born 19271927 in the United KingdomEvents from the year 1927 in the United Kingdom.1927 saw the renaming of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland into the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, recognising in name the Irish free state's independence, it having come into existence with the Anglo-Irish Treaty...
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