Incumbents

• Monarch - Elizabeth II
• Prime Minister - Margaret Thatcher
  Margaret Thatcher
  Margaret Hilda Thatcher, Baroness Thatcher, was Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1979 to 1990...
  
  , Conservative
  Conservative 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...
  
   (until 28 November), John Major
  John Major
  Sir John Major, is a British Conservative politician, who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom and Leader of the Conservative Party from 1990–1997...
  
  , Conservative

Events

• January - Vauxhall
  Vauxhall
  -Demography:Many Vauxhall residents live in social housing. There are several gentrified areas, and areas of terraced townhouses on streets such as Fentiman Road and Heyford Avenue have higher property values in the private market, however by far the most common type of housing stock within...
  
   enters the coupé segment of the car market with the launch of its Cavalier-based Calibra, which is the first coupé built by General Motors
  General Motors
  General Motors Company , commonly known as GM, formerly incorporated as General Motors Corporation, is an American multinational automotive corporation headquartered in Detroit, Michigan and the world's second-largest automaker in 2010...
  
   in Europe since the demise of the Opel Manta in 1988.
• 1 January - Glasgow
  Glasgow
  Glasgow is the largest city in Scotland and third most populous in the United Kingdom. The city is situated on the River Clyde in the country's west central lowlands...
  
   begins 1990 as the Culture Capital of Europe.
• 2 January - Controversial judge James Pickles
  James Pickles
  Judge James Pickles was an English Circuit judge famed for his "no nonsense" approach and many controversial decisions, who later became a tabloid columnist.-Early life:...
  
   sentences 19-year-old Huddersfield
  Huddersfield
  Huddersfield is a large market town within the Metropolitan Borough of Kirklees, in West Yorkshire, England, situated halfway between Leeds and Manchester. It lies north of London, and south of Bradford, the nearest city....
  
   supermarket cashier Tracey Scott, who has a 10-week-old baby, to six months in prison after she admitted helping shoplifters. Judge Pickles defends his controversial decision to jail Ms Scott by saying that he needed to let women know that they could not avoid custody just by becoming pregnant.
• 13 January - Some 50,000 people demonstrate on the streets of London support of Britain's ambulance workers, as the ongoing ambulance crew strike has yet to end four months after it began.
• 16 January - Tracey Scott is freed after serving 14 days of her prison sentence.
• 18 January - The first MORI poll of the decade shows that Labour have a 12-point lead over the Conservatives with 48% of the vote. Liberal support is at its lowest for more than a decade as the Liberal Democrats
  Liberal Democrats
  The 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...
  
   gain just 5% of the vote.
• 19 January - Police in Johannesburg
  Johannesburg
  Johannesburg also known as Jozi, Jo'burg or Egoli, is the largest city in South Africa, by population. Johannesburg is the provincial capital of Gauteng, the wealthiest province in South Africa, having the largest economy of any metropolitan region in Sub-Saharan Africa...
  
  , South Africa
  South Africa
  The 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...
  
   break up a demonstration against the cricket match played by rebel English cricketers led by Mike Gatting
  Mike Gatting
  Michael "Mike" William Gatting OBE is a former English cricketer, who played first-class cricket for Middlesex and for England from 1977 to 1995, captaining the national side in twenty-three Test matches between 1986 and 1988...
  
  .
• 25 January - Burns' Day storm
  Burns' Day storm
  The Burns' Day Storm occurred on 25–26 January, 1990, over north-western Europe, and is one of the strongest storms on record. This storm has received different names as there is no official list of such events in Europe. It is also known as Daria. Starting on the birthday of Scottish poet...
  
  : hurricane-force winds are reported to have killed 39 people in England and Wales
  England and Wales
  England and Wales is a jurisdiction within the United Kingdom. It consists of England and Wales, two of the four countries of the United Kingdom...
  
  .
• 29 January - Lord Justice Taylor publishes his report in the Hillsborough disaster, which claimed the lives of 95 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...
  
   supporters on 15 April last year. He recommends that all top division stadiums are all-seater by 1994 and that the rest of the Football League follows suit by 1999, but rules out the government's proposed ID card scheme to combat football hooliganism
  Football hooliganism
  Football 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...
  
   as "unworkable".
• 9 February - Ayatollah Khomeini of Iran renews his fatwa on British author Salman Rushdie, which he imposed last year following controversy over the author's book The Satanic Verses
  The Satanic Verses
  The Satanic Verses is Salman Rushdie's fourth novel, first published in 1988 and inspired in part by the life of Prophet Muhammad. As with his previous books, Rushdie used magical realism and relied on contemporary events and people to create his characters...
  
  .
• 15 February
  • The UK and Argentina restore diplomatic links after eight years. Diplomatic ties were broken off links in response to Argentina's invasion of the Falkland Islands
    Falkland Islands
    The Falkland Islands are an archipelago in the South Atlantic Ocean, located about from the coast of mainland South America. The archipelago consists of East Falkland, West Falkland and 776 lesser islands. The capital, Stanley, is on East Falkland...
    
     in 1982.
  • Neil Kinnock
    Neil Kinnock
    Neil 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...
    
    's dream of being prime minister is looking closer to becoming reality as the latest MORI poll shows Labour on 51% with a 17-point lead over the Conservatives.http://www.ipsos-mori.com/researchpublications/researcharchive/poll.aspx?oItemId=103
• 20 February - Three people are injured in Leicester
  Leicester
  Leicester is a city and unitary authority in the East Midlands of England, and the county town of Leicestershire. The city lies on the River Soar and at the edge of the National Forest...
  
   city centre by a bomb explosion.
• 26 February - Fourteen people are killed as storms hit Britain. One of the worst-hit areas is Towyn
  Towyn
  Towyn , is a seaside resort in the County Borough of Conwy, Wales.It is located between Rhyl, in Denbighshire, and Abergele in Conwy. According to the 2001 Census, together with neighbouring Kinmel Bay , it had a population 7,864, of which 10.7% could speak Welsh...
  
   in North Wales
  North Wales
  North Wales is the northernmost unofficial region of Wales. It is bordered to the south by the counties of Ceredigion and Powys in Mid Wales and to the east by the counties of Shropshire in the West Midlands and Cheshire in North West England...
  
  , where approximately 2,000 people are evacuated from their homes after huge waves smash a 200-yard hole in the sea wall and cause a major flood.
• 27 February - Economists warn that house prices could fall by up to 10% this year.
• 1 March - The Official Secrets Act 1989
  Official Secrets Act 1989
  The Official Secrets Act 1989 is an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. It repeals and replaces section 2 of the Official Secrets Act 1911. It is said to have removed the public interest defence created by that section....
  
   comes into force.
• 7 March - Halifax Building Society reveals that house prices rose by 0.3% last month - the first monthly rise since July last year.
• 9 March - 37 people are arrested and 10 police officers injured in Brixton
  Brixton
  Brixton is a district in the London Borough of Lambeth in south London, England. It is south south-east of Charing Cross. The area is identified in the London Plan as one of 35 major centres in Greater London....
  
  , 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...
  
  , during rioting against the new Community Charge
  Community Charge
  The Community Charge, popularly known as the "poll tax", was a system of taxation introduced in replacement of the rates to part fund local government in Scotland from 1989, and England and Wales from 1990. It provided for a single flat-rate per-capita tax on every adult, at a rate set by the...
  
  .
• 13 March - The ambulance crew dispute ends after six months when workers agree to a 17.6% pay rise.
• 15 March
  • Iraq hangs British journalist Farzad Bazoft
    Farzad Bazoft
    Farzad Bazoft was an Iranian-born journalist who settled in the United Kingdom in the mid-1970s. He worked as a freelance reporter for The Observer. He was arrested by Iraqi authorities and executed in 1990 after being convicted of spying for Israel while working in Iraq.Bazoft relocated to the...
    
     for spying. Daphne Parish, a British nurse, is sentenced to fifteen years in prison for being an accomplice to Mr Bazoft.
  • Britain's unemployment is now down to 1,610,000 - the lowest since 1978. However, it is a drop of just 2,000 on January's total and economists fear that a sharp rise in unemployment could soon begin as there are widespread fears of a recession.
• 21 March - Allan Roberts
  Allan Roberts
  Allan Roberts was a British politician who was a Labour Member of Parliament from 1979 until his death. A teacher and social worker before his election, he was a member of the left-wing of the party.-Early life:...
  
  , Labour MP for Bootle
  Bootle (UK Parliament constituency)
  Bootle is a borough constituency represented in the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. It elects one Member of Parliament by the first past the post system of election. Since 1990 the MP has been Joe Benton of the Labour Party...
  
  , dies of cancer aged 46.
• 23 March - The Duke
  Prince Andrew, Duke of York
  Prince 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
  Sarah, Duchess of York
  Sarah, 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's second child, another daughter, is born.
• 31 March - 200,000 protesters in Poll Tax Riots
  Poll Tax Riots
  The UK Poll Tax Riots were a series of mass disturbances, or riots, in British towns and cities during protests against the Community Charge , introduced by the Conservative government led by Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher...
  
   in London in the week preceding official introduction of the Community Charge
  Community Charge
  The Community Charge, popularly known as the "poll tax", was a system of taxation introduced in replacement of the rates to part fund local government in Scotland from 1989, and England and Wales from 1990. It provided for a single flat-rate per-capita tax on every adult, at a rate set by the...
  
  .
• 1 April - Strangeways Prison riot
  1990 Strangeways Prison riot
  The 1990 Strangeways Prison riot was a 25-day prison riot and rooftop protest at Strangeways Prison in Manchester, England. The riot began on 1 April 1990 when prisoners took control of the prison chapel, and the riot quickly spread throughout most of the prison...
  
   in Manchester
  Manchester
  Manchester is a city and metropolitan borough in Greater Manchester, England. According to the Office for National Statistics, the 2010 mid-year population estimate for Manchester was 498,800. Manchester lies within one of the UK's largest metropolitan areas, the metropolitan county of Greater...
  
   which does not end until 25 April.
• 2 April - An earthquake
  1990 Bishop's Castle earthquake
  The 1990 Bishop's Castle earthquake was an earthquake that hit near the town of Bishop's Castle, Shropshire, England on 2 April 1990.-Location, date and time:...
  
   measuring 5.1 on the Richter scale and centred on the Shropshire
  Shropshire
  Shropshire is a county in the West Midlands region of England. For Eurostat purposes, the county is a NUTS 3 region and is one of four counties or unitary districts that comprise the "Shropshire and Staffordshire" NUTS 2 region. It borders Wales to the west...
  
   town of Bishop's Castle
  Bishop's Castle
  Bishop's Castle is a small market town in Shropshire, England, and formerly its smallest borough. According to the 2001 census it had a population of 1,630. Bishop's Castle is east of the Wales-England border, about north-west of Ludlow and about south-west of Shrewsbury. To the south is Clun...
  
   is felt throughout much of England
  England
  England 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...
  
   and 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...
  
  .
• 3 April - The government forces twenty local councils to cut their proposed Community Charge levels.
• 4 April - Dr Raymond Crockett is struck off the medical register for using kidneys from Turkish immigrants who had been paid to donate them.
• 9 April - Four Ulster Defence Regiment
  Ulster Defence Regiment
  The Ulster Defence Regiment was an infantry regiment of the British Army which became operational in 1970, formed on similar lines to other British reserve forces but with the operational role of defence of life or property in Northern Ireland against armed attack or sabotage...
  
   soldiers are killed by an IRA bomb in County Down
  County Down
  -Cities:*Belfast *Newry -Large towns:*Dundonald*Newtownards*Bangor-Medium towns:...
  
  .
• 10 April - With nineteen inmates at Strangeways Prison in Manchester still staging a rooftop protest against prison conditions, rioting has broken out at prisons in Cardiff
  Cardiff
  Cardiff is the capital, largest city and most populous county of Wales and the 10th largest city in the United Kingdom. The city is Wales' chief commercial centre, the base for most national cultural and sporting institutions, the Welsh national media, and the seat of the National Assembly for...
  
   and Bristol
  Bristol
  Bristol is a city, unitary authority area and ceremonial county in South West England, with an estimated population of 433,100 for the unitary authority in 2009, and a surrounding Larger Urban Zone with an estimated 1,070,000 residents in 2007...
  
  .
• 11 April - Customs and Excise
  Her Majesty's Customs and Excise
  HM Customs and Excise was, until April 2005, a department of the British Government in the UK. It was responsible for the collection of Value added tax , Customs Duties, Excise Duties, and other indirect taxes such as Air Passenger Duty, Climate Change Levy, Insurance Premium Tax, Landfill Tax and...
  
   officers seize parts of an Iraqi supergun
  Project Babylon
  Project Babylon was a project commissioned by the Iraqi president Saddam Hussein to build a series of superguns. The design was based on research from the 1960s Project HARP led by the Canadian artillery expert Gerald Bull...
  
   in Middlesbrough
  Middlesbrough
  Middlesbrough is a large town situated on the south bank of the River Tees in north east England, that sits within the ceremonial county of North Yorkshire...
  
  .
• 19 April - Labour now have a 23-point lead over the Conservatives in the latest MORI poll.http://www.ipsos-mori.com/researchpublications/researcharchive/poll.aspx?oItemId=103
• 28 April - 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...
  
   are champions of the Football League for a record 18 time.
• 29 April
  • Stephen Hendry
    Stephen Hendry
    Stephen Gordon Hendry, MBE is a Scottish professional snooker player. In 1990, he was the youngest-ever snooker World Champion, at the age of 21. He has won the World Championship a record seven times and was snooker's world number one for eight consecutive years between 1990 and 1998, and again...
    
    , 21, becomes the youngest ever world snooker
    Snooker
    Snooker is a cue sport that is played on a green baize-covered table with pockets in each of the four corners and in the middle of each of the long side cushions. A regular table is . It is played using a cue and snooker balls: one white , 15 worth one point each, and six balls of different :...
    
     champion.
  • Nottingham Forest
    Nottingham Forest F.C.
    Nottingham Forest Football Club is an English Association Football club based in West Bridgford, Nottingham, that plays in the Football League Championship...
    
     equal Liverpool's record of four Football League Cup wins by defeating Oldham Athletic 1-0 in the final 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...
    
    . 21-year-old striker Nigel Jemson
    Nigel Jemson
    Nigel Jemson is an English footballer, who represented his country at the Under-21 level and was the manager of Ilkeston Town, until May 2008...
    
     scores the only goal of the game.
• May -
  • - Rover Group
    Rover Group
    The 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...
    
     launches a heavily facelifted version of its Metro, which has been the best-selling car of the combine previously known as British Leyland and more recently Austin Rover since its 1980 launch.
    • - The second phase of the landmark Nissan car factory near Sunderland
      City of Sunderland
      The City of Sunderland is a local government district of Tyne and Wear, in North East England, with the status of a city and metropolitan borough...
      
       is opened, four years after the first phase, to prepare for production of the Bluebird
      Nissan Bluebird
      Although Nissan's own materials indicate that the Bluebird name emerged in 1959, some records show that the name first adorned a 988 cc, four-door sedan in 1957, which was part of the company's 210 series...
      
       replacement, the Primera
      Nissan Primera
      The Nissan Primera is a medium sized family car produced by the Japanese automaker Nissan for the Japanese domestic and European markets.-Nissan Primera P10 :...
      
      , which goes on sale this autumn. It is also set to be joined by the first British-built Micra when the new version of the company's entry-level Europe
      Europe
      Europe 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...
      
      an model is launched in two years.
• 3 May - The end of House price inflation is declared by Halifax Building Society, two years after the housing market peaked.
• 4 May - The local council elections see Labour win more local council seats than the Conservatives. Neil Kinnock's hopes of victory in the next general election are further boosted by the fact that Labour have finished ahead in most of the last year's opinion polls.
• 7 May - The Prince
  Charles, Prince of Wales
  Prince 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...
  
   and Princess
  Diana, Princess of Wales
  Diana, Princess of Wales was the first wife of Charles, Prince of Wales, whom she married on 29 July 1981, and an international charity and fundraising figure, as well as a preeminent celebrity of the late 20th century...
  
   of Wales travel to Budapest
  Budapest
  Budapest is the capital of Hungary. As the largest city of Hungary, it is the country's principal political, cultural, commercial, industrial, and transportation centre. In 2011, Budapest had 1,733,685 inhabitants, down from its 1989 peak of 2,113,645 due to suburbanization. The Budapest Commuter...
  
   for the first postwar British royal visit there.
• 8 May - Billy Cartman, a 33-year-old grouter, becomes the sixth Briton to die in the construction of the Channel Tunnel
  Channel Tunnel
  The Channel Tunnel is a undersea rail tunnel linking Folkestone, Kent in the United Kingdom with Coquelles, Pas-de-Calais near Calais in northern France beneath the English Channel at the Strait of Dover. At its lowest point, it is deep...
  
   when he is crushed by heavy machinery.
• 11 May - Inflation
  Inflation
  In economics, inflation is a rise in the general level of prices of goods and services in an economy over a period of time.When the general price level rises, each unit of currency buys fewer goods and services. Consequently, inflation also reflects an erosion in the purchasing power of money – a...
  
   now stands at 9.4% - the highest level for eight years.
• 12 May - The FA Cup final ends in a 3-3 draw between Manchester United and Crystal Palace FC, an extra time equaliser from United striker Mark Hughes
  Mark Hughes
  Leslie Mark Hughes, OBE , is a former Welsh international footballer. As an international footballer, he made 72 appearances and scored 16 goals....
  
   forcing a replay.
• 17 May - Manchester United equal the record total for FA Cup wins by winning the final replay 1-0 against Crystal Palace. Defender Lee Martin scores the only goal of the game.
• 19 May
  • British agriculture Minister John Gummer
    John Gummer
    John Selwyn Gummer, Baron Deben, PC is a British Conservative Party politician, formerly Member of Parliament for Suffolk Coastal, now a member of the House of Lords. He is Chairman of the environmental consultancy company Sancroft International and Chairman of Veolia Water...
    
     feeds a hamburger to his 5-year-old daughter to counter rumours about the spread of Bovine spongiform encephalopathy
    Bovine spongiform encephalopathy
    Bovine spongiform encephalopathy , commonly known as mad-cow disease, is a fatal neurodegenerative disease in cattle that causes a spongy degeneration in the brain and spinal cord. BSE has a long incubation period, about 30 months to 8 years, usually affecting adult cattle at a peak age onset of...
    
     and its transmission to humans.
  • Unemployment is reported to have risen for the first time in four years, though it is still only just over 1,600,000 compared to the high of more than 3,000,000 that was on record in 1986.
• 24 May - Bobby Robson
  Bobby Robson
  Sir Robert William "Bobby" Robson, CBE was an English footballer and manager, who coached seven European clubs and the England national team during his career....
  
   announces that he will be leaving his job as England football manager after this summer's World Cup to take charge of the Dutch club PSV Eindhoven.
• 25 May - The "rump" Social Democratic Party (consisting of members who backed out of the merger with the Liberal Party which formed the Liberal Democrats
  Liberal Democrats
  The 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...
  
   two years ago) finishes behind the Monster Raving Loony Party in the Bootle
  Bootle
  Bootle is a town within the Metropolitan Borough of Sefton in Merseyside, England, and a 'Post town' in the L postcode area. Formally known as Bootle-cum-Linacre, the town is 4 miles  to the north of Liverpool city centre, and has a total resident population of 77,640.Historically part of...
  
   by-election, where Labour retain power under new MP Michael Carr
  Michael Carr
  Michael Carr or Mike Carr may refer to:*Michael Carr , British politician, MP for Ribble Valley 1991-92*Michael Carr , British politician, MP for Bootle in 1990...
  
  .
• 28 May - Swindon Town, managed by the former Tottenham Hotspur and Argentina footballer Ossie Ardiles, win promotion to the Football League First Division
  Football League First Division
  The 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....
  
   for the first time in their history by defeating Sunderland 1-0 in the Second Division playoff final at Wembley Stadium.
• 30 May - France bans British beef and live cattle imports as a precaution against fears of BSE being spread.
• 1 June - An army recruit is shot dead and two others are wounded by two suspected IRA gunmen in Lichfield
  Lichfield
  Lichfield is a cathedral city, civil parish and district in Staffordshire, England. One of eight civil parishes with city status in England, Lichfield is situated roughly north of Birmingham...
  
  , Staffordshire
  Staffordshire
  Staffordshire is a landlocked county in the West Midlands region of England. For Eurostat purposes, the county is a NUTS 3 region and is one of four counties or unitary districts that comprise the "Shropshire and Staffordshire" NUTS 2 region. Part of the National Forest lies within its borders...
  
  .
• 3 June - The Social Democratic Party is wound up after nine years in existence.
• 7 June
  • France
    France
    The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
    
    , Italy
    Italy
    Italy , 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...
    
     and West Germany
    West Germany
    West 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....
    
     lift bans on British beef imposed during the BSE
    Bovine spongiform encephalopathy
    Bovine spongiform encephalopathy , commonly known as mad-cow disease, is a fatal neurodegenerative disease in cattle that causes a spongy degeneration in the brain and spinal cord. BSE has a long incubation period, about 30 months to 8 years, usually affecting adult cattle at a peak age onset of...
    
     outbreak.
  • Swindon Town are found guilty on 36 charges of financial irregularities and their promotion to the First Division is replaced with relegation to the Third Division, with Sunderland being promoted in their place and their place in the Second Division being given to Tranmere Rovers.
• 14 June
  • The proposed high speed rail link between London and the Channel Tunnel is shelved.
  • Unemployment rises for the second month running, though by just over 4,000 to a total of 1,611,000 in May.
• 17 June - Over 20,000 Swindon Town football fans demonstrate on the streets of Swindon
  Swindon
  Swindon is a large town within the borough of Swindon and ceremonial county of Wiltshire, in South West England. It is midway between Bristol, west and Reading, east. London is east...
  
   in a bid for promotion to the First Division to be restored.
• 20 June - Chancellor of the Exchequer
  Chancellor of the Exchequer
  The Chancellor of the Exchequer is the title held by the British Cabinet minister who is responsible for all economic and financial matters. Often simply called the Chancellor, the office-holder controls HM Treasury and plays a role akin to the posts of Minister of Finance or Secretary of the...
  
   John Major
  John Major
  Sir John Major, is a British Conservative politician, who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom and Leader of the Conservative Party from 1990–1997...
  
   proposes the "hard ecu
  European Currency Unit
  The European Currency Unit was a basket of the currencies of the European Community member states, used as the unit of account of the European Community before being replaced by the euro on 1 January 1999, at parity. The ECU itself replaced the European Unit of Account, also at parity, on 13...
  
  ", a currency which would ciruclate into parallel with national currencies as an alternative to full monetary union.
• 22 June - Housing Minister Michael Spicer announces a £15million plan to tackle homelessness.
• 2 July
  • Girobank
    Girobank
    Girobank was a British public sector financial institution founded in 1968 by the General Post Office. Itstarted life as the National Giro but went through several name changes, becoming National Girobank, then Girobank Plc , before merging into Alliance & Leicester Commercial Bank...
    
     Plc privatised
    Privatization
    Privatization is the incidence or process of transferring ownership of a business, enterprise, agency or public service from the public sector to the private sector or to private non-profit organizations...
    
     by sale to the Alliance & Leicester
    Alliance & Leicester
    Alliance & Leicester was a former UK-based bank and PLC, which in later years operated as a trading name of Santander UK before being rebranded as Santander. Alliance & Leicester was legally acquired in May 2010 by Santander UK, and was fully incorporated by 2011...
    
     Group.
  • Swindon Town Football Club
    Swindon Town F.C.
    Swindon Town Football Club are a team based in Swindon, Wiltshire. Currently in League Two, Swindon have been managed by Paolo Di Canio since 23 May 2011...
    
     are allowed to remain in the Second Division
    Football League Second Division
    From 1892 until 1992, the Football League Second Division was the second highest division overall in English football.This ended with the creation of the FA Premier League, prior to the start of the 1992–93 season, which caused an administrative split between The Football League and the teams...
    
     after a successful appeal to the Football Association.
• 4 July - England's chances of winning the World Cup are ended by a penalty shoot-out defeat at the hand of West Germany in the semi-finals.
• 10 July - FIFA announces that the ban on English clubs following the Heysel disaster five years ago will be lifted following the good behaviour of English fans at the World Cup; however, not all of the English league's European places will be restored immediately. Aston Villa
  Aston Villa F.C.
  Aston Villa Football Club is an English professional association football club based in Witton, Birmingham. The club was founded in 1874 and have played at their current home ground, Villa Park, since 1897. Aston Villa were founder members of The Football League in 1888. They were also founder...
  
  , the league runners-up, will be England's sole entrants in the UEFA Cup
  UEFA Cup
  The UEFA Europa League is an annual association football cup competition organised by UEFA since 1971 for eligible European football clubs. It is the second most prestigious European club football contest after the UEFA Champions League...
  
  , while FA Cup winners Manchester United will compete in the European Cup Winners' Cup and league champions Liverpool - the team whose rioting at the 1985 European Cup final resulted in the ban - will have to serve at least one extra year, meaning that there will be no English representation at the 1990-91 European Cup.
• 11 July - Labour MP's accuse the Conservative government of "fraud" amid allegations that the 1,600,000 fall in unemployment since 1986 included a million people leaving the list without finding work.
• 14 July - Trade and Industry Secretary Nicholas Ridley
  Nicholas Ridley, Baron Ridley of Liddesdale
  Nicholas Ridley, Baron Ridley of Liddesdale, PC was a British Conservative Party politician and government minister.-Personal life:...
  
   resigns following an interview in The Spectator in which he likened the European Union
  European Union
  The European Union is an economic and political union of 27 independent member states which are located primarily in Europe. The EU traces its origins from the European Coal and Steel Community and the European Economic Community , formed by six countries in 1958...
  
   to Hitler's Germany.
• 15 July - The Football Association names Graham Taylor as the new England manager. Taylor, 46, recently took Aston Villa to second place in the English league, and also reached an FA Cup final with his previous club Watford.
• 16 July
  • An official report reveals that High Street sales are at their lowest since 1980, sparking further fears of a recession.
  • Nigel Mansell
    Nigel Mansell
    Nigel Ernest James Mansell OBE is a British racing driver who won both the Formula One World Championship and the CART Indy Car World Series...
    
    , Britain's most successful racing driver of the last 10 years, announces that he is to retire from Grand Prix races at the end of the 1990 season.
• 17 July - German food superstore chain Aldi
  ALDI
  ALDI Einkauf GmbH & Co. oHG, doing business as ', short for "Albrecht Discount", is a discount supermarket chain based in Germany...
  
   opens its first British store in Birmingham
  Birmingham
  Birmingham is a city and metropolitan borough in the West Midlands of England. It is the most populous British city outside the capital London, with a population of 1,036,900 , and lies at the heart of the West Midlands conurbation, the second most populous urban area in the United Kingdom with a...
  
   and plans to have up to 200 stores across the country by 1993.
• 19 July - Saddam Hussein
  Saddam Hussein
  Saddam Hussein Abd al-Majid al-Tikriti was the fifth President of Iraq, serving in this capacity from 16 July 1979 until 9 April 2003...
  
  , dictator of Iraq, frees Daphne Parish from prison for "humanitarian reasons" and she returns to Britain.
• 20 July
  • An IRA bomb explodes at Stock Exchange Tower
    Stock Exchange Tower
    The Stock Exchange Tower is a high-rise building located in the City of London at 125 Old Broad Street.-History:Standing at tall, with 26 floors, the tower was completed by Trollope & Colls in 1970 and opened by the Queen in 1972. It served as the headquarters and offices for the London Stock...
    
    , the base of the London Stock Exchange
    London Stock Exchange
    The London Stock Exchange is a stock exchange located in the City of London within the United Kingdom. , the Exchange had a market capitalisation of US$3.7495 trillion, making it the fourth-largest stock exchange in the world by this measurement...
    
    .
  • Michael Car, Labour MP for Bootle, dies after just 57 days in parliament from a heart attack at the age of 43.
• 24 July - A Roman Catholic nun and three police officers are killed by an IRA landmine in County Armagh
  County Armagh
  -History:Ancient Armagh was the territory of the Ulaid before the fourth century AD. It was ruled by the Red Branch, whose capital was Emain Macha near Armagh. The site, and subsequently the city, were named after the goddess Macha...
  
  .
• 30 July - IRA car bomb kills British MP Ian Gow
  Ian Gow
  Ian Reginald Edward Gow TD was a British Conservative politician and solicitor. While serving as Member of Parliament for Eastbourne, he was assassinated by the Provisional Irish Republican Army who exploded a bomb under his car outside his home in East Sussex.-Life:Ian Gow was born at 3 Upper...
  
  , a staunch unionist, after he assured the IRA that the British government would never surrender to them.
• 31 July
  • The England cricket team defeats the India national cricket team in a high-scoring Lord
    Lord's Cricket Ground
    Lord's Cricket Ground is a cricket venue in St John's Wood, London. Named after its founder, Thomas Lord, it is owned by Marylebone Cricket Club and is the home of Middlesex County Cricket Club, the England and Wales Cricket Board , the European Cricket Council and, until August 2005, the...
    
    's test match totalling 1,603 runs.
  • Aldershot FC
    Aldershot F.C.
    Aldershot Football Club was an English Football League club, which was wound up in the High Court in March 1992. They became the first Football League club since Accrington Stanley to resign from the League during the course of a season. The club was nicknamed the Shots for both the last syllable...
    
    , members of the Football League Fourth Division, are wound up in the High Court "hopelessly insolvent" with debts of £495,000.
• August - Sadler's Wells Royal Ballet company is renamed Birmingham Royal Ballet
  Birmingham Royal Ballet
  Birmingham Royal Ballet is one of the three major ballet companies of the United Kingdom, alongside the Royal Ballet and the English National Ballet....
  
   on relocation to a residency at the Birmingham Hippodrome
  Birmingham Hippodrome
  The Birmingham Hippodrome is a theatre situated on Hurst Street in the Chinese Quarter of Birmingham, England.Although best known as the home stage of the Birmingham Royal Ballet, it also hosts a wide variety of other performances including visiting opera and ballet companies, touring West End...
  
  .
• 1 August - British Airways Flight 149
  British Airways Flight 149
  British Airways Flight 149 was a flight from London Heathrow Airport to Sultan Abdul Aziz Shah Airport, , via Kuwait City and Madras operated by British Airways Boeing 747-136...
  
   is seized by the Iraqi Army at Kuwait International Airport following the Iraqi invasion of Kuwait.
• 3 August - Heat wave
  1990 United Kingdom heat wave
  The 1990 heat wave in the United Kingdom was a particularly severe heat event with temperatures hitting record highs of 37.1°C on 3 August. The temperature was recorded at Nailstone, Leicestershire, and was a full degree Celsius above the previous record, set in 1911...
  
   peaks with a temperature of 37.1°C (99°F) recorded at Nailstone
  Nailstone
  Nailstone is a village and civil parish in the Hinckley and Bosworth district of Leicestershire, England, situated to the west of Leicester and north-east of Market Bosworth. According to the 2001 census the parish had a population of 521....
  
  , Leicestershire
  Leicestershire
  Leicestershire 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...
  
  .
• 5 August - Margaret Thatcher announces her desire for a new Magna Carta to guarantee basic rights for all European citizens.
• 7 August - The winding-up order on Aldershot FC is lifted when 19-year-old property developer Spencer Trethewy pledges a £200,000 rescue package for the Hampshire
  Hampshire
  Hampshire is a county on the southern coast of England in the United Kingdom. The county town of Hampshire is Winchester, a historic cathedral city that was once the capital of England. Hampshire is notable for housing the original birthplaces of the Royal Navy, British Army, and Royal Air Force...
  
  -based club.
• 14 August - A survey carried out by the BBC
  BBC
  The 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...
  
   reveals that 20% of taxpayers in England and Wales
  England and Wales
  England and Wales is a jurisdiction within the United Kingdom. It consists of England and Wales, two of the four countries of the United Kingdom...
  
   had not paid their Community Charge
  Community Charge
  The Community Charge, popularly known as the "poll tax", was a system of taxation introduced in replacement of the rates to part fund local government in Scotland from 1989, and England and Wales from 1990. It provided for a single flat-rate per-capita tax on every adult, at a rate set by the...
  
   by 30 June this year.
• 16 August - A MORI poll shows that Labour now has a 15-point lead over the Conservatives with 50% of the vote, while support to the Liberal Democrats has doubled to 10% over the last seven months.
• 23 August -
  • - British hostages in Iraq are paraded on TV.
    • - Ford
      Ford Motor Company
      Ford 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...
      
       launches the new version of its Escort
      Ford Escort
      Ford Escort may refer to:* Ford Escort , a vehicle manufactured by Ford Motor Company's European division from 1968 through 2003* Ford Escort , a compact car that was manufactured by the Ford Motor Company for the North American market...
      
       hatchback, estate and cabriolet, and Orion
      Ford Orion
      The Ford Orion is a saloon car built by the automaker Ford for the European market from 22 July 1983 until 19 September 1993. A total of 3,534,239 Orions were sold throughout the car's 10-year life....
      
       saloon. Sales begin in Britain and the rest of Europe
      Europe
      Europe 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...
      
       next month.
• 24 August - Irish hostage Brian Keenan is released in Beirut
  Beirut
  Beirut is the capital and largest city of Lebanon, with a population ranging from 1 million to more than 2 million . Located on a peninsula at the midpoint of Lebanon's Mediterranean coastline, it serves as the country's largest and main seaport, and also forms the Beirut Metropolitan...
  
  , Lebanon
  Lebanon
  Lebanon , officially the Republic of LebanonRepublic of Lebanon is the most common term used by Lebanese government agencies. The term Lebanese Republic, a literal translation of the official Arabic and French names that is not used in today's world. Arabic is the most common language spoken among...
  
  , after being held a hostage there for more than four years.
• 25 August - Marks & Spencer
  Marks & Spencer
  Marks and Spencer plc is a British retailer headquartered in the City of Westminster, London, with over 700 stores in the United Kingdom and over 300 stores spread across more than 40 countries. It specialises in the selling of clothing and luxury food products...
  
   closes its Dudley
  Dudley
  Dudley is a large town in the West Midlands county of England. At the 2001 census , the Dudley Urban Sub Area had a population of 194,919, making it the 26th largest settlement in England, the second largest town in the United Kingdom behind Reading, and the largest settlement in the UK without...
  
   and West Bromwich
  West Bromwich
  West Bromwich is a town within the Metropolitan Borough of Sandwell, in the West Midlands, England. It is north west of Birmingham lying on the A41 London-to-Birkenhead road. West Bromwich is part of the Black Country...
  
   stores, the latest casualties in the new trend of leading retailers abandoning traditional town centres for out-of-town relocations; a replacement for both stores will open at the nearby Merry Hill Shopping Centre
  Merry Hill Shopping Centre
  Westfield Merry Hill is a shopping centre in Brierley Hill near Dudley, West Midlands, England. It was developed between 1985 and 1990, with several expansion and renovation projects taking place since. The original developers and owners were Richardson Developments but the Centre has had a number...
  
   on 23 October.
• 27 August
  • Four found guilty in the Guinness share-trading fraud
    Guinness share-trading fraud
    The Guinness share-trading fraud was a famous British business scandal of the 1980s. It involved an attempt to manipulate the stock market on a massive scale to inflate the price of Guinness shares and thereby assist a £2.7 billion take-over bid for the Scottish drinks company Distillers...
    
     trial.
  • The BBC begins broadcasting on Radio 5
    BBC Radio 5 (former)
    BBC Radio 5 was a BBC radio network that carried sport, children's and educational programmes.It was transmitted via analogue radio on 693 and 909 kHz, and lasted for three years and eight months. The success of BBC Radio 4's coverage of the Gulf War, on a service known as Scud FM,...
    
    , its first new station for 23 years.
• 29 August - Home Secretary David Waddington
  David Waddington, Baron Waddington
  David Charles Waddington, Baron Waddington, GCVO, DL, QC, PC , is a British politician. A member of the Conservative Party, he served as a Member of Parliament in the House of Commons from 1968 to 1990, and was then made a life peer...
  
   announces that the case of the Birmingham Six
  Birmingham Six
  The 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...
  
   will be referred to the Court of Appeal
  Court of Appeal of England and Wales
  The Court of Appeal of England and Wales is the second most senior court in the English legal system, with only the Supreme Court of the United Kingdom above it...
  
  .
• 3 September - Most British secondary schools begin the new adademic year with a continuous year numbering system; with year groups renumbered as 7, 8, 9, 10 and 11 in place of the traditional first, second, third, fourth and fifth years. Although some schools still retain the traditional year numbers, most are expected to follow suit over the next few years.
• 4 September
  • A fire causes severe damage to the historic town centre of Totnes
    Totnes
    Totnes is a market town and civil parish at the head of the estuary of the River Dart in Devon, England within the South Devon Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty...
    
     in Devon
    Devon
    Devon is a large county in southwestern England. The county is sometimes referred to as Devonshire, although the term is rarely used inside the county itself as the county has never been officially "shired", it often indicates a traditional or historical context.The county shares borders with...
    
    .
  • The large Meadowhall Centre, the second largest shopping complex in Britain, opens on a former steelworks site in Sheffield
    Sheffield
    Sheffield is a city and metropolitan borough of South Yorkshire, England. Its name derives from the River Sheaf, which runs through the city. Historically a part of the West Riding of Yorkshire, and with some of its southern suburbs annexed from Derbyshire, the city has grown from its largely...
    
    , South Yorkshire
    South Yorkshire
    South Yorkshire is a metropolitan county in the Yorkshire and the Humber region of England. It has a population of 1.29 million. It consists of four metropolitan boroughs: Barnsley, Doncaster, Rotherham, and City of Sheffield...
    
    .http://www.emeraldinsight.com/Insight/viewContentItem.do;jsessionid=87274AF3C9F4A26F6E0D56AB1259B437?contentType=Article&hdAction=lnkpdf&contentId=856982
• 10 September - Pegasus, a leading British travel operator, goes bankrupt.
• 18 September - Air Chief Marshal Sir Peter Terry
  Peter Terry
  Air Chief Marshal Sir Peter David George Terry GCB is a retired senior Royal Air Force commander.-Royal Air Force career:...
  
   survives a murder attempt by IRA terrorists at his home near Stafford
  Stafford
  Stafford is the county town of Staffordshire, in the West Midlands region of England. It lies approximately north of Wolverhampton and south of Stoke-on-Trent, adjacent to the M6 motorway Junction 13 to Junction 14...
  
  .http://www.expressandstar.com/days/1976-2000/1990.html
• 19 September - The IRA try to assassinate Air Chief Marshal Sir Peter Terry at his home near Stafford. Hit by at least nine bullets, the former Governor of Gibraltar
  Governor of Gibraltar
  The Governor and Commander-in-Chief of Gibraltar is the representative of the British monarch in the British overseas territory of Gibraltar. The Governor is appointed by the British Monarch on the advice of the British Government...
  
   survives.
• 22 September - John Banham
  John Banham
  Sir John Banham is a British business leader. He has been the chairman of Whitbread, a major brewer since 2000, and is also chairman of ECI Ventures and Johnson Matthey.- Biography :...
  
  , a leading British industrial minister, warns that most of Britain is now affected by a recession and that there is worse to come. The latest CBI
  Confederation of British Industry
  The Confederation of British Industry is a British not for profit organisation incorporated by Royal charter which promotes the interests of its members, some 200,000 British businesses, a figure which includes some 80% of FTSE 100 companies and around 50% of FTSE 350 companies.-Role:The CBI works...
  
   prediction is also the gloomiest since 1980, the last time Britain was in recession
  Early 1980s recession
  The early 1980s recession describes the severe global economic recession affecting much of the developed world in the late 1970s and early 1980s. The United States and Japan exited recession relatively early, but high unemployment would continue to affect other OECD nations through at least 1985...
  
  . Fears of a recession
  Recession
  In economics, a recession is a business cycle contraction, a general slowdown in economic activity. During recessions, many macroeconomic indicators vary in a similar way...
  
   have been growing across most of the world since the autumn of last year. However, chancellor John Major
  John Major
  Sir John Major, is a British Conservative politician, who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom and Leader of the Conservative Party from 1990–1997...
  
   denies that Britain is on the verge of a recession.
• 26 September - Margaret Thatcher joins in with the politicians who are denying that the British economy is slumping into recession, despite manufacturers reporting their biggest drop in output since 1982 and a growing number of bankruptcies.
• 2 October - Neil Kinnock cites education and training as key areas needing an improvement in standards when he addresses his party's conference in Blackpool
  Blackpool
  Blackpool is a borough, seaside town, and unitary authority area of Lancashire, in North West England. It is situated along England's west coast by the Irish Sea, between the Ribble and Wyre estuaries, northwest of Preston, north of Liverpool, and northwest of Manchester...
  
  .
• 8 October
  • Pound Sterling
    Pound sterling
    The pound sterling , commonly called the pound, is the official currency of the United Kingdom, its Crown Dependencies and the British Overseas Territories of South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands, British Antarctic Territory and Tristan da Cunha. It is subdivided into 100 pence...
    
     joins the Exchange Rate Mechanism.
  • First members of the Women's Royal Naval Service
    Women's Royal Naval Service
    The Women's Royal Naval Service was the women's branch of the Royal Navy.Members included cooks, clerks, wireless telegraphists, radar plotters, weapons analysts, range assessors, electricians and air mechanics...
    
     to serve officially on an operational warship board Type 22 frigate
    Type 22 frigate
    The Type 22 Broadsword class is a class of frigate built for the British Royal Navy. Fourteen of the class were built in total, with production divided into three batches. With the decommissioning of HMS Cornwall on 30 June 2011, the final Type 22 of the Royal Navy was retired from service...
    
     HMS Brilliant
    HMS Brilliant (F90)
    HMS Brilliant was a Type 22 frigate of the Royal Navy.She was part of the Task Force that took part in the Falklands War, with Captain John Coward in command...
    
    .
• 18 October - Eastbourne by-election in East Sussex
  East Sussex
  East Sussex is a county in South East England. It is bordered by the counties of Kent, Surrey and West Sussex, and to the south by the English Channel.-History:...
  
  .
• 19 October - David Bellotti
  David Bellotti
  David Frank Bellotti is a Liberal Democrat politician in the United Kingdom who was Member of Parliament for the Eastbourne constituency from 1990 to 1992....
  
   for the Liberal Democrats wins the "safe" Eastbourne
  Eastbourne
  Eastbourne is a large town and borough in East Sussex, on the south coast of England between Brighton and Hastings. The town is situated at the eastern end of the chalk South Downs alongside the high cliff at Beachy Head...
  
   Conservative seat.
• 23 October
  • Treasury officials speak of their belief that a "brief, technical" recession in the British economy is now inevitable.
  • Edward Heath
    Edward Heath
    Sir Edward Richard George "Ted" Heath, KG, MBE, PC was a British Conservative politician who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom and as Leader of the Conservative Party ....
    
    , the former British prime minister, leaves Baghdad
    Baghdad
    Baghdad is the capital of Iraq, as well as the coterminous Baghdad Governorate. The population of Baghdad in 2011 is approximately 7,216,040...
    
     on a plane bound for Heathrow Airport with 33 freed hostages. Saddam Hussein has promised to release a further 30 hostages in the near future.
• 27 October - Economists predict that the current economic downturn will be confined to the second half of this year.
• November
  • British Sky Broadcasting
    British Sky Broadcasting
    British Sky Broadcasting Group plc is a satellite broadcasting, broadband and telephony services company headquartered in London, United Kingdom, with operations in the United Kingdom and the Ireland....
    
     founded as a merger between Sky Television
    Sky Television plc
    Sky Television plc was a public limited company which operated its four-channel satellite television service, launched by Rupert Murdoch's News International on 5 February 1989...
    
     and British Satellite Broadcasting
    British Satellite Broadcasting
    British Satellite Broadcasting was a British television company which provided direct broadcast satellite television services to the United Kingdom...
    
    .
  • Government produces Planning Policy Guidance 16: Archaeology and Planning
    PPG 16
    Planning Policy Guidance 16: Archaeology and Planning commonly abbreviated as PPG 16, was a document produced by the British Government to advise local planning authorities on the treatment of archaeology within the planning process...
    
    to advise local authorities on the treatment of archaeology
    Archaeology
    Archaeology, or archeology , is the study of human society, primarily through the recovery and analysis of the material culture and environmental data that they have left behind, which includes artifacts, architecture, biofacts and cultural landscapes...
    
     within the planning process. Site developers are required to contract with archaeological teams to have sites investigated in advance of development.
  • Neil Kinnock
    Neil Kinnock
    Neil 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...
    
    , who has been leader of the Labour Party since October 1983, is now the longest serving opposition leader in British political history.
• 1 November
  • Geoffrey Howe
    Geoffrey Howe
    Richard Edward Geoffrey Howe, Baron Howe of Aberavon, CH, QC, PC is a former British Conservative politician. He was Margaret Thatcher's longest-serving Cabinet minister, successively holding the posts of Chancellor of the Exchequer, Foreign Secretary, and finally Leader of the House of Commons...
    
    , Deputy Prime Minister
    Deputy Prime Minister of the United Kingdom
    The Deputy Prime Minister of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland is a senior member of the Cabinet of the United Kingdom. The office of the Deputy Prime Minister is not a permanent position, existing only at the discretion of the Prime Minister, who may appoint to other offices...
    
    , resigns over the government's European policy.
  • Broadcasting Act
    Broadcasting Act 1990
    The Broadcasting Act 1990 is a law of the British parliament, often regarded by both its supporters and its critics as a quintessential example of Thatcherism. The aim of the Act was to reform the entire structure of British broadcasting; British television, in particular, had earlier been...
    
     makes bidding for independent television franchises more commercially-based and relaxes regulation of television and radio broadcasting.
• 2 November - Neil Kinnock announces his support for the adoption of a single European currency.
• 8 November - The second Bootle by-election of the year sees Labour hold onto the seat once more with new MP Joe Benton
  Joe Benton
  Joseph Edward Benton is a British Labour Party politician who has been the Member of Parliament for Bootle since 1990.-Early life:...
  
   gaining nearly 80% of the votes.
• 12 November - The Football Association penalises Arsenal
  Arsenal 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...
  
   two points and Manchester United one point and fines both clubs £50,000 for a mass player brawl in a Football League match between the two clubs last month at Old Trafford.
• 13 November - Geoffrey Howe makes a dramatic resignation speech in the House of Commons, attacking the Prime Minister, Margaret Thatcher's hostility towards the EC.
• 14 November -
  • The CBI confirms that the whole of Britain is now in recession, with every region now reporting a fall in output.
  • Former cabinet minister Michael Heseltine announces that he will challenge Margaret Thatcher's leadership.
• 15 November - Despite constant disputes in the government and widespread doubt over Mrs Thatcher's position as prime minister and party leader, as well as the economy sliding into recession, the Conservatives have cut Labour's lead in the opinion polls to four points as they gain 41% of the vote in the latest MORI poll.
• 19 November - Major job cuts are reported to be on the way at the Rover Group as the recession affects demand for the company's Rover and Land Rover products.
• 20 November - Margaret Thatcher fails to win outright victory in a leadership contest for the Conservative Party
  Conservative 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...
  
  .
• 22 November - Margaret Thatcher announces she will resign as Leader of the Conservative Party and therefore as Prime Minister. She will be the longest-serving premier of the century.
• 26 November - Plastic surgeons Michael Masser and Kenneth Patton are murdered in Wakefield
  Wakefield
  Wakefield is the main settlement and administrative centre of the City of Wakefield, a metropolitan district of West Yorkshire, England. Located by the River Calder on the eastern edge of the Pennines, the urban area is and had a population of 76,886 in 2001....
  
  , West Yorkshire
  West Yorkshire
  West Yorkshire is a metropolitan county within the Yorkshire and the Humber region of England with a population of 2.2 million. West Yorkshire came into existence as a metropolitan county in 1974 after the passage of the Local Government Act 1972....
  
  .
• 27 November - John Major
  John Major
  Sir John Major, is a British Conservative politician, who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom and Leader of the Conservative Party from 1990–1997...
  
   is elected Leader of the Conservative Party, defeating Douglas Hurd
  Douglas Hurd
  Douglas Richard Hurd, Baron Hurd of Westwell, CH, CBE, PC , is a British Conservative politician and novelist, who served in the governments of Margaret Thatcher and John Major between 1979 and his retirement in 1995....
  
   and Michael Heseltine
  Michael Heseltine
  Michael Ray Dibdin Heseltine, Baron Heseltine, CH, PC is a British businessman, Conservative politician and patron of the Tory Reform Group. He was a Member of Parliament from 1966 to 2001 and was a prominent figure in the governments of Margaret Thatcher and John Major...
  
  .
• 28 November - John Major appointed Prime Minister by the Queen.
• 1 December
  • Channel Tunnel
    Channel Tunnel
    The Channel Tunnel is a undersea rail tunnel linking Folkestone, Kent in the United Kingdom with Coquelles, Pas-de-Calais near Calais in northern France beneath the English Channel at the Strait of Dover. At its lowest point, it is deep...
    
     workers from 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...
    
     and France
    France
    The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
    
     meet 40 meters beneath the English Channel
    English Channel
    The English Channel , often referred to simply as the Channel, is an arm of the Atlantic Ocean that separates southern England from northern France, and joins the North Sea to the Atlantic. It is about long and varies in width from at its widest to in the Strait of Dover...
    
     seabed, establishing the first land connection between 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...
    
     and the mainland of Europe
    Europe
    Europe 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...
    
     for around 8,000 years.
  • The CBI predicts that the recession will last longer than predicted, and that GDP
    Gross domestic product
    Gross domestic product refers to the market value of all final goods and services produced within a country in a given period. GDP per capita is often considered an indicator of a country's standard of living....
    
     is likely to fall by at least 1% in 1991.
• 3 December - The mother of Gail Kinchin is awarded £8,000 in High Court
  High Court of Justice
  The High Court of Justice is, together with the Court of Appeal and the Crown Court, one of the Senior Courts of England and Wales...
  
  , a decade after her pregnant 16-year-old daughter was killed by a police marksman who intervened with a siege at the Birmingham
  Birmingham
  Birmingham is a city and metropolitan borough in the West Midlands of England. It is the most populous British city outside the capital London, with a population of 1,036,900 , and lies at the heart of the West Midlands conurbation, the second most populous urban area in the United Kingdom with a...
  
   flat where she was being held hostage by her boyfriend.http://www.expressandstar.com/days/1976-2000/1990.html
• 6 December
  • Saddam Hussein announces that all British hostages in Iraq are to be released.
  • House price inflation has returned and stands at 0.2% for November, the first year-on-year rise in house prices since February.
• 8 December - The UK grinds to a halt following heavy snow
  Winter of 1990–1991 in Western Europe
  The winter of 1990–1991 was a particularly cold winter in Western Europe, noted especially for its effect on the United Kingdom, and for two significantly heavy falls of snow which occurred in December 1990 and February 1991. Sandwiched in between was a period of high winds and heavy rain which...
  
   overnight. Large parts of the country are without power after snowfall brings down power lines, disrupting the electricity supply. Many rural areas are cut off for several days, while the Army is called out to help restore power. There is grim news for the retail industry as a CBI survey reports that retail sales have hit a standstill and High Street employment will fall.
• 11 December
  • The first British hostages in Iraq released by Saddam Hussein arrive back in the UK.
  • The government makes £42million compensation available to the 1,200 British haemophiliacs infected with the AIDS virus through blood transfusions.
• 12 December - The new chancellor Norman Lamont
  Norman Lamont
  Norman Stewart Hughson Lamont, Baron Lamont of Lerwick, PC is a British politician and former Conservative MP for Kingston-upon-Thames. He is best-known for his period serving as Chancellor of the Exchequer, from 1990 until 1993...
  
   rules out an early cut in interest rates which critics, including opposition MP's, claim would be a quick route out of recession.
• 13 December
  • Russell Bishop is sentenced to life imprisonment (with a recommended minimum of 15 years) for the abduction, indecent assault and attempted murder of a seven-year-old girl in Brighton
    Brighton
    Brighton is the major part of the city of Brighton and Hove in East Sussex, England on the south coast of Great Britain...
    
     earlier this year. Bishop, 24, was cleared of murdering two other girls in 1987.
  • Poundland
    Poundland
    Poundland is a British-based variety store chain which sells every item in its stores for £1. Established in April 1990 by Dave Dodd and Stephen Smith, Poundland stock a variety of around 3,000 home and kitchen-ware, gifts, healthcare and other products, across 16 categories many of which are brand...
    
    , a supermarket chain selling all items for £
    Pound sterling
    The pound sterling , commonly called the pound, is the official currency of the United Kingdom, its Crown Dependencies and the British Overseas Territories of South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands, British Antarctic Territory and Tristan da Cunha. It is subdivided into 100 pence...
    
    1, opens its first store at Burton-upon-Trent, Staffordshire
    Staffordshire
    Staffordshire is a landlocked county in the West Midlands region of England. For Eurostat purposes, the county is a NUTS 3 region and is one of four counties or unitary districts that comprise the "Shropshire and Staffordshire" NUTS 2 region. Part of the National Forest lies within its borders...
    
    .
  • Netto
    Netto
    Netto is Danish/Norwegian/Swedish/Dutch/German for "net" . In most European languages the word "netto" refers to net worth or net pay.It may also refer to:...
    
    , a Swedish
    Sweden
    Sweden , officially the Kingdom of Sweden , is a Nordic country on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. Sweden borders with Norway and Finland and is connected to Denmark by a bridge-tunnel across the Öresund....
    
     discount food supermarket chain, opens its first store in Britain in Leeds
    Leeds
    Leeds is a city and metropolitan borough in West Yorkshire, England. In 2001 Leeds' main urban subdivision had a population of 443,247, while the entire city has a population of 798,800 , making it the 30th-most populous city in the European Union.Leeds is the cultural, financial and commercial...
    
    .
  • The sharpest rise in unemployment since 1981 has taken unemployment to more than 1,700,000, with 155,000 jobs having being lost in Britain since April. Economists blame high interest rates, a government method to combat inflation.
• 19 December - Tony Adams
  Tony Adams (footballer)
  Tony Alexander Adams, MBE is an English football manager and former player.Adams spent his entire playing career of 22 years as a defender at Arsenal. He is considered one of the greatest Arsenal players of all time by the club's own fans and was included in the Football League 100 Legends...
  
  , the Arsenal captain and England defender, is sentenced to four months in prison for a drink-driving offence committed in Southend-on-Sea on 6 May this year.
• 20 December
  • British women Karyn Smith (aged 19) and Patricia Cahill (aged 20) receive 25-year prison sentences in Thailand
    Thailand
    Thailand , officially the Kingdom of Thailand , formerly known as Siam , is a country located at the centre of the Indochina peninsula and Southeast Asia. It is bordered to the north by Burma and Laos, to the east by Laos and Cambodia, to the south by the Gulf of Thailand and Malaysia, and to the...
    
     for heroin smuggling. Their lawyers are planning to ask for a Royal pardon.
  • An era ends in the Rhondda
    Rhondda
    Rhondda , or the Rhondda Valley , is a former coal mining valley in Wales, formerly a local government district, consisting of 16 communities built around the River Rhondda. The valley is made up of two valleys, the larger Rhondda Fawr valley and the smaller Rhondda Fach valley...
    
    , South Wales, when the last coalmine closes after more than 100 years of heavy coalmining in the region. 300 miners have lost their jobs and just seventeen will remain employed in the industry elsewhere.
• 23 December - The nine-month-old daughter of the Duke and Duchess of York is christened
  Christening
  Christening is a naming ceremony associated with:*Baptism*Infant baptism*Ship naming and launching...
  
   Eugenie Victoria Helena
  Princess Eugenie of York
  Princess Eugenie of York Eugenie Victoria Helena; born 23 March 1990) is the younger daughter of Prince Andrew, Duke of York, and Sarah, Duchess of York...
  
  .
• 25 December - Storms on Christmas Day leave more than 100,000 British homes without power.
• 26 December - The fatwa
  Fatwa
  A fatwā in the Islamic faith is a juristic ruling concerning Islamic law issued by an Islamic scholar. In Sunni Islam any fatwā is non-binding, whereas in Shia Islam it could be considered by an individual as binding, depending on his or her relation to the scholar. The person who issues a fatwā...
  
   (order to kill) against Satanic Verses
  Satanic Verses
  The Satanic Verses was a purported incident where a small number of apparently pagan verses were temporarily included in the Qur'an by the Islamic prophet Muhammad, only to be later removed...
  
  author Salman Rushdie is upheld by Ayatollah
  Ayatollah
  Ayatollah is a high ranking title given to Usuli Twelver Shī‘ah clerics. Those who carry the title are experts in Islamic studies such as jurisprudence, ethics, and philosophy and usually teach in Islamic seminaries. The next lower clerical rank is Hojatoleslam wal-muslemin...
  
   Ali Khamenei
  Ali Khamenei
  Ayatollah Seyed Ali Hoseyni Khāmene’i is the Supreme Leader of Iran and the figurative head of the Muslim conservative establishment in Iran and Twelver Shi'a marja...
  
  , more than one year after it was first issued. Rushdie is still living in hiding.
• 27 December - The latest MORI poll shows that Conservative support has been boosted by the appointment of John Major, with his party now just four points behind Labour - eight months after Labour had peaked with a 23-point lead.http://www.ipsos-mori.com/researchpublications/researcharchive/poll.aspx?oItemId=103
• 29 December - Leading economists warn that the recession creeping upon Britain will deepen during 1991 and unemployment is likely to increase to well over 2,000,000 from the current total of over 1,700,000.
• 30 December - An opinion poll shows Labour slightly ahead of the Conservatives for the first time since John Major became prime minister.
• 31 December - 88-year-old authoress Barbara Cartland
  Barbara Cartland
  Dame Barbara Hamilton Cartland, DBE, CStJ , was an English author, one of the most prolific authors of the 20th century...
  
   becomes a Dame in the New Year's Honours.

Publications

• Iain M. Banks' novel Use of Weapons
  Use of Weapons
  Use of Weapons is a science fiction novel by Scottish writer Iain M. Banks, first published in 1990 as the third novel in the Culture series.-Plot introduction:...
  
  .
• Louis de Bernières
  Louis de Bernières
  Louis de Bernières is a British novelist most famous for his fourth novel, Captain Corelli's Mandolin. In 1993 de Bernières was selected as one of the "20 Best of Young British Novelists", part of a promotion in Granta magazine...
  
  ' novel The War of Don Emmanuel's Nether Parts
  The War of Don Emmanuel's Nether Parts
  The War of Don Emmanuel's Nether Parts is a novel by Louis de Bernières, first published in 1990. It is the first of his Latin American trilogy. The other two parts are Señor Vivo and the Coca Lord and The Troublesome Offspring of Cardinal Guzman.It is de Bernières' first published novel, but is...
  
  .
• A. S. Byatt
  A. S. Byatt
  Dame Antonia Susan Duffy, DBE is an English novelist, poet and Booker Prize winner...
  
  's novel Possession: A Romance
  Possession: A Romance
  Possession: A Romance is a 1990 bestselling novel by British writer A. S. Byatt. It is a winner of the Man Booker Prize.Part historical as well as contemporary fiction, the title Possession refers to issues of ownership and independence between lovers, the practice of collecting historically...
  
  .
• Hanif Kureishi
  Hanif Kureishi
  Hanif Kureishi CBE is an English playwright, screenwriter and filmmaker, novelist and short story writer. The themes of his work have touched on topics of race, nationalism, immigration, and sexuality...
  
  's novel The Buddha of Suburbia.
• Ian McEwan
  Ian McEwan
  Ian Russell McEwan CBE, FRSA, FRSL is a British novelist and screenwriter, and one of Britain's most highly regarded writers. In 2008, The Times named him among their list of "The 50 greatest British writers since 1945"....
  
  's novel The Innocent
  The Innocent (novel)
  -Summary:The novel takes place in 1955-56 Berlin at the beginning of the Cold War and centres on the joint CIA/MI6 operation to build a tunnel from the American sector of Berlin into the Russian sector to tap the phone lines of the Soviet High Command. Leonard Marnham is a 25-year-old Englishman...
  
  .
• Terry Pratchett
  Terry Pratchett
  Sir 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 Discworld
  Discworld
  Discworld 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 Eric
  Eric (novel)
  Eric, also known as Faust Eric, is the ninth Discworld novel by Terry Pratchett. It was originally published in 1990 as a "Discworld story", in a larger format than the other novels and illustrated by Josh Kirby...
  
  and Moving Pictures
  Moving Pictures (novel)
  Moving Pictures is the name of the tenth Discworld novel by Terry Pratchett, published in 1990. The book takes place in Discworld's most famous city, Ankh-Morpork and a town called "Holy Wood"...
  
  and The Bromeliad
  The Bromeliad
  The Nome Trilogy, also known in the US as The Bromeliad Trilogy, is a trilogy of children's books by Terry Pratchett, consisting of#Truckers #Diggers #Wings...
  
   novels Diggers and Wings.
• Terry Pratchett
  Terry Pratchett
  Sir 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...
  
   and Neil Gaiman
  Neil Gaiman
  Neil Richard Gaiman born 10 November 1960)is an English author of short fiction, novels, comic books, graphic novels, audio theatre and films. His notable works include the comic book series The Sandman and novels Stardust, American Gods, Coraline, and The Graveyard Book...
  
  's novel Good Omens
  Good Omens
  Good Omens: The Nice and Accurate Prophecies of Agnes Nutter, Witch is a World Fantasy Award nominated novel written in collaboration between the English authors Terry Pratchett and Neil Gaiman....
  
  .

Births

• 23 March - Princess Eugenie of York
  Princess Eugenie of York
  Princess Eugenie of York Eugenie Victoria Helena; born 23 March 1990) is the younger daughter of Prince Andrew, Duke of York, and Sarah, Duchess of York...
  
  , daughter of The Duke
  Prince Andrew, Duke of York
  Prince 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 York
  Sarah, Duchess of York
  Sarah, 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...
  
  
• 15 April - Emma Watson
  Emma Watson
  Emma Charlotte Duerre Watson is an English actress and model.Watson rose to prominence playing Hermione Granger in the Harry Potter film series. Watson was cast as Hermione at the age of nine, having previously acted only in school plays. From 2001 to 2011, she starred in all eight Harry Potter...
  
  , actress
• 23 April - Dev Patel
  Dev Patel
  Dev Patel is a British actor. He is best known for playing Jamal Malik in Danny Boyle's Slumdog Millionaire , for which Patel won a number of awards, including a Critics' Choice Award and a Screen Actors Guild Award...
  
  , actor
• 16 May - Thomas Sangster
  Thomas Sangster
  Thomas Brodie Sangster is an English film and television actor, best known for his roles in Love Actually, Nanny McPhee, The Last Legion, and voice of Ferb Fletcher in Phineas and Ferb.-Personal life:...
  
  , actor
• 26 December - Aaron Ramsey
  Aaron Ramsey
  Aaron James Ramsey is a Welsh professional footballer who plays for the premier league club Arsenal and is the captain of the Wales national football team...
  
  , footballer

Deaths

• 6 January - Ian Charleson
  Ian Charleson
  Ian Charleson was a Scottish stage and film actor. He is best known internationally for his starring role as Olympic athlete and missionary Eric Liddell, in the Oscar-winning 1981 film Chariots of Fire. He is also well known for his portrayal of Rev...
  
  , actor (born 1949
  1949 in the United Kingdom
  Events from the year 1949 in the United Kingdom.-Incumbents:*Monarch - King George VI*Prime Minister - Clement Attlee, Labour-Events:* January - A national sex survey is carried out into the sexual behaviour of 4,000 Britons...
  
  )
• 7 January - Robert McAlpine, Baron McAlpine of Moffat
  Robert McAlpine, Baron McAlpine of Moffat
  Edwin McAlpine, Baron McAlpine of Moffat, Bt , grandson of Sir Robert McAlpine, 1st Baronet, was a British construction magnate who headed Sir Robert McAlpine Ltd....
  
  , construction magnate (born 1907
  1907 in the United Kingdom
  Events 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....
  
  )
• 8 January - Terry-Thomas
  Terry-Thomas
  Thomas Terry Hoar Stevens was a distinctive English comic actor, known as Terry-Thomas. He was famous for his portrayal of disreputable members of the upper classes, especially cads and toffs, with the trademark gap in his front teeth, cigarette holder, smoking jacket, and catch-phrases such as...
  
  , actor (born 1911
  1911 in the United Kingdom
  Events from the year 1911 in the United Kingdom. This is a Coronation and Census year.-Incumbents:*Monarch - King George V*Prime Minister - H. H...
  
  )
• 14 January - Gordon Jackson
  Gordon Jackson (actor)
  Gordon Cameron Jackson, OBE was a Scottish Emmy Award-winning actor best remembered for his roles as the butler Angus Hudson in Upstairs, Downstairs and George Cowley, the head of CI5, in The Professionals....
  
  , actor (born 1923
  1923 in the United Kingdom
  Events from the year 1923 in the United Kingdom.-Incumbents:*Monarch - King George V*Prime Minister - Andrew Bonar Law, Conservative Party , Stanley Baldwin, Conservative-Events:...
  
  )
• 2 February -
  • - Kathleen Hamilton, Duchess of Abercorn
    Kathleen Hamilton, Duchess of Abercorn
    Kathleen Hamilton, Duchess of Abercorn, DCVO was Mistress of the Robes to Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother from 1964 to her death in 1990...
    
    , the Mistress of the Robes
    Mistress of the Robes
    The Mistress of the Robes is the senior lady of the British Royal Household. Formerly responsible for the Queen's clothes and jewellery, the post now has the responsibility for arranging the rota of attendance of the Ladies in Waiting on the Queen, along with various duties at State ceremonies...
    
     to Queen Elizabeth, the Queen Mother (born 1905
    1905 in the United Kingdom
    Events from the year 1905 in the United Kingdom.-Incumbents:*Monarch - King Edward VII*Prime Minister - Arthur Balfour, Conservative , Henry Campbell-Bannerman, Liberal-Events:...
    
    )
    • - Harold McCusker
      Harold McCusker
      James Harold McCusker was a Northern Ireland Ulster Unionist Party politician who served as his party's deputy leader....
      
      , Ulster Unionist Member of Parliament (born 1940
      1940 in the United Kingdom
      Events from the year 1940 in the United Kingdom. This year is dominated by World War II.- Incumbents :* Monarch - King George VI* Prime Minister - Neville Chamberlain, national coalition , Winston Churchill, coalition- Events :...
      
      )
• 15 March - Farzad Bazoft
  Farzad Bazoft
  Farzad Bazoft was an Iranian-born journalist who settled in the United Kingdom in the mid-1970s. He worked as a freelance reporter for The Observer. He was arrested by Iraqi authorities and executed in 1990 after being convicted of spying for Israel while working in Iraq.Bazoft relocated to the...
  
  , journalist (born 1958)
• 20 March - Victor Rothschild, 3rd Baron Rothschild
  Victor Rothschild, 3rd Baron Rothschild
  Nathaniel Mayer Victor Rothschild, 3rd Baron Rothschild, GBE, GM, FRS was a biologist by training, a cricketer and a member of the prominent Rothschild family...
  
   (born 1910
  1910 in the United Kingdom
  Events from the year 1910 in the United Kingdom.-Incumbents:*Monarch - King Edward VII , King George V*Prime Minister - H. H...
  
  )
• 21 March - Allan Roberts
  Allan Roberts
  Allan Roberts was a British politician who was a Labour Member of Parliament from 1979 until his death. A teacher and social worker before his election, he was a member of the left-wing of the party.-Early life:...
  
  , Labour Member of Parliament (born 1943
  1943 in the United Kingdom
  Events from the year 1943 in the United Kingdom. This year is dominated by World War II.-Incumbents:*Monarch – King George VI*Prime Minister – Winston Churchill, coalition-Events:* 1 January – Utility furniture first becomes available....
  
  )
• 8 May - Tomás Ó Fiaich, cardinal (born 1923)
• 25 June - Sean Hughes
  Sean Hughes (politician)
  Sean Francis Hughes was a British history teacher and Labour politician. He was the local successor to Sir Harold Wilson as a Member of Parliament, and served as a whip and a spokesman on defence issues for his party...
  
  , Labour Member of Parliament (born 1946
  1946 in the United Kingdom
  Events from the year 1946 in the United Kingdom.-Incumbents:*Monarch - King George V*Prime Minister - Clement Attlee, Labour-Events:* 1 January** The first international flight from London Heathrow Airport, to Buenos Aires....
  
  )
• 30 June - Brian Tiler
  Brian Tiler
  Brian Tiler was an English footballer. Tiler, a central defender, began his career at his hometown club Rotherham United where he made his debut in 1962-63...
  
  , football director and former player and manager (born 1943
  1943 in the United Kingdom
  Events from the year 1943 in the United Kingdom. This year is dominated by World War II.-Incumbents:*Monarch – King George VI*Prime Minister – Winston Churchill, coalition-Events:* 1 January – Utility furniture first becomes available....
  
  ); died in Italy
  Italy
  Italy , 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...
  
  
• 20 July - Michael Carr
  Michael Carr
  Michael Carr or Mike Carr may refer to:*Michael Carr , British politician, MP for Ribble Valley 1991-92*Michael Carr , British politician, MP for Bootle in 1990...
  
  , Labour Member of Parliament for 57 days (born 1947
  1947 in the United Kingdom
  Events from the year 1947 in the United Kingdom.-Incumbents:*Monarch – King George VI*Prime Minister – Clement Attlee, Labour-Events:* January – One of the most severe winters on record in the UK....
  
  )
• 30 July - Ian Gow
  Ian Gow
  Ian Reginald Edward Gow TD was a British Conservative politician and solicitor. While serving as Member of Parliament for Eastbourne, he was assassinated by the Provisional Irish Republican Army who exploded a bomb under his car outside his home in East Sussex.-Life:Ian Gow was born at 3 Upper...
  
  , Conservative Member of Parliament (born 1937
  1937 in the United Kingdom
  Events from the year 1937 in the United Kingdom.-Incumbents:*Monarch – King George VI*Prime Minister – Stanley Baldwin, national coalition , Neville Chamberlain, national coalition-Events:...
  
  )
• 9 August - Joe Mercer
  Joe Mercer
  Joseph 'Joe' Mercer, OBE was an English football player and manager.-Playing career:Mercer was born in Ellesmere Port, Cheshire, the son of a former Nottingham Forest and Tranmere Rovers footballer, also named Joe. Joe Mercer senior died, following health problems resulting from a gas attack...
  
  , former footballer and football manager (born 1914)
• 6 September - Len Hutton
  Len Hutton
  Sir Leonard "Len" Hutton was an English Test cricketer, who played for Yorkshire County Cricket Club and England in the years around the Second World War as an opening batsman. He was described by Wisden Cricketer's Almanack as one of the greatest batsmen in the history of cricket...
  
  , cricketer (born 1916
  1916 in the United Kingdom
  Events from the year 1916 in the United Kingdom. This year is dominated by World War I.-Incumbents:*Monarch - King George V*Prime Minister - H. H...
  
  )
• 7 September - A.J.P. Taylor, historian (born 1906
  1906 in the United Kingdom
  Events from the year 1906 in the United Kingdom.-Incumbents:*Monarch - King Edward VII*Prime Minister - Henry Campbell-Bannerman, Liberal-Events:...
  
  )
• 5 October - Peter Taylor
  Peter Thomas Taylor
  Peter Thomas Taylor was an English football goalkeeper and more notably, a football manager. His name is closely associated with that of Brian Clough, with whom he served as assistant manager at various clubs in the 1960s, 1970s and 1980s.Playing twenty years of professional football, he started...
  
  , football manager (born 1928
  1928 in the United Kingdom
  Events from the year 1928 in the United Kingdom.-Incumbents:*Monarch - King George V*Prime Minister - Stanley Baldwin, Conservative-Events:...
  
  )
• 4 November - David Stirling
  David Stirling
  Colonel Sir Archibald David Stirling, DSO, DFC, OBE was a Scottish laird, mountaineer, World War II British Army officer, and the founder of the Special Air Service.-Life before the war:...
  
  , founder of the SAS (born 1915)
• 5 November - Erich Heller
  Erich Heller
  Erich Heller was a British essayist, known particularly for his critical studies in German-language philosophy and literature of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries.- Biography :...
  
  , essayist (born 1911
  1911 in the United Kingdom
  Events from the year 1911 in the United Kingdom. This is a Coronation and Census year.-Incumbents:*Monarch - King George V*Prime Minister - H. H...
  
  )
• 7 November - Lawrence Durrell
  Lawrence Durrell
  Lawrence George Durrell was an expatriate British novelist, poet, dramatist, and travel writer, though he resisted affiliation with Britain and preferred to be considered cosmopolitan...
  
  , writer (born 1912
  1912 in the United Kingdom
  Events 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....
  
  )
• 14 November - Malcolm Muggeridge
  Malcolm Muggeridge
  Thomas Malcolm Muggeridge was an English journalist, author, media personality, and satirist. During World War II, he was a soldier and a spy...
  
  , journalist, author and media personality (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....
  
  )
• 23 November - Roald Dahl
  Roald Dahl
  Roald Dahl was a British novelist, short story writer, fighter pilot and screenwriter.Born in Wales to Norwegian parents, he served in the Royal Air Force during the Second World War, in which he became a flying ace and intelligence agent, rising to the rank of Wing Commander...
  
  , author (born 1916
  1916 in the United Kingdom
  Events from the year 1916 in the United Kingdom. This year is dominated by World War I.-Incumbents:*Monarch - King George V*Prime Minister - H. H...
  
  )
• 24 November - Dodie Smith
  Dodie Smith
  Dorothy Gladys "Dodie" Smith was an English novelist and playwright. Smith is best known for her novel The Hundred and One Dalmatians. Her other works include I Capture the Castle and The Starlight Barking....
  
  , novelist and playwright (born 1896
  1896 in the United Kingdom
  Events from the year 1896 in the United Kingdom.-Incumbents:*Monarch — Queen Victoria*Prime Minister — Robert Cecil, Marquess of Salisbury, Conservative-Events:...
  
  )
• date unknown - Victor Cavendish-Bentinck, 9th Duke of Portland
  Victor Cavendish-Bentinck, 9th Duke of Portland
  Victor Frederick William Cavendish-Bentinck, 9th Duke of Portland , the younger brother of Ferdinand William Cavendish-Bentinck, 8th Duke of Portland, was a British diplomat and held the post of Ambassador to Poland...
  
  , diplomat (born 1897
  1897 in the United Kingdom
  Events 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:...
  
  )