1928 in the United Kingdom

Events from the year 1928 in the United Kingdom.

Incumbents

Monarch – George V
Prime Minister – Stanley Baldwin

Events

January – Frederick Griffith reports the results of Griffith's experiment, indirectly proving the existence of DNA.
1 January – Abolition of domestic slavery in the British Protectorate of Sierra Leone comes into effect.
6–7 January – River Thames floods in London; 14 drown. On 7 January, the moat at the Tower of London is completely refilled by the river.
29 January – The country's leading World War general, Douglas Haig, 1st Earl Haig, dies of a heart attack in London aged 66.
3 February – Funeral ceremony of Earl Haig takes place at Westminster Abbey.
8 February – John Logie Baird broadcasts a transatlantic television signal from London to Hartsdale, New York.
11–19 February – Great Britain and Northern Ireland compete at the Winter Olympics in St. Moritz, Switzerland and win one bronze medal.
12 February
* An underground explosion at Haig Pit, Whitehaven, in the Cumberland Coalfield, kills thirteen miners undertaking clearance after an earlier fatal accident.
* Heavy hailstorms kill eleven in England.
18 February – The Australian sport of motorcycle speedway is competitively demonstrated for the first time in the UK with a meet at High Beach in Epping Forest.
12 March – Malta becomes a British dominion.
1 April – Cinematograph Films Act 1927 comes into force, setting a minimum quota for British films to be shown in UK cinemas.
19 April – Publication of the original Oxford English Dictionary is completed after 70 years with issue of the last section in Oxford.
May – The Scottish county of Forfarshire resolves to revert to its historic name of Angus.
1 May – The London and North Eastern Railway's Flying Scotsman steam-hauled express train begins to run non-stop over the of the East Coast Main Line from London King's Cross to Edinburgh.
5 May – William Ralph "Dixie" Dean finishes the football season with a Football League record of 60 goals for First Division champions Everton.
16 May – Opening of Royal Tweed Bridge, Berwick-upon-Tweed, constructed from reinforced concrete to the design of L. G. Mouchel & Partners.
17 May–12 August – Great Britain and Northern Ireland compete at the Olympics in Amsterdam and win 3 gold, 10 silver and 7 bronze medals.
13 June – Savidge Inquiry issues its final report, recommending improvements in police procedures for questioning, particularly of women.
27 June – Darlington rail crash: a head-on collision kills 25 people.
2 July – Representation of the People (Equal Franchise) Act 1928 given royal assent and comes into effect, lowering the voting age for women from 30 to 21 and removing remaining property qualifications from them, giving them equal suffrage with men.
3 July – John Logie Baird demonstrates the world's first colour television transmission in Glasgow.
27 July – Tich Freeman becomes the only bowler ever to take 200 wickets in first-class cricket before the end of July.
26 August – In Paisley, May Donoghue finds the remains of a snail in her ginger beer, leading to the landmark negligence case Donoghue v. Stevenson.
15 September – Tich Freeman sets all-time record for number of wickets taken in an English cricket season.
28 September
* Scottish-born microbiologist Alexander Fleming, at St Mary's Hospital, London, accidentally rediscovers the antibiotic which he will call Penicillin.
* Dangerous Drugs Act 1925 comes into effect, placing restrictions on the use of cannabis.
10 October – Tyne Bridge opens, connecting Newcastle upon Tyne and Gateshead.
9–16 November – Radclyffe Hall's novel The Well of Loneliness is tried and convicted on the grounds of obscenity due to its theme of lesbian love, following a campaign by James Douglas in the Sunday Express newspaper.
12 November – Randall Davidson becomes the first Archbishop of Canterbury to retire, having served for twenty-five years, the longest in this office since the Reformation. He is created 1st Baron Davidson of Lambeth three days later.
15 November – The Mary Stanford life-boat capsizes on service in Rye Harbour: all 17 crew lost.
22 November – Following passage of the Currency and Banknotes Act on 2 July, the Bank of England resumes responsibility for issue of banknotes from HM Treasury and issues pound and ten shilling notes, the first to be printed in colour and on both sides.
23–25 November – A windstorm affects parts of northwestern Europe and kills 38 people, mainly in England.
4 December – Cosmo Lang enthroned as Archbishop of Canterbury, the first bachelor to be appointed in 150 years.
20 December – The first Harry Ramsden's fish and chip shop opens in Yorkshire.
24 December – The first Festival of Nine Lessons and Carols to be broadcast from King's College Chapel, Cambridge, by BBC Radio.

Undated

Mond–Turner talks between industrialist Sir Alfred Mond and chairman of the Trades Union Congress Ben Turner on consensual approaches to industrial relations.
First high-voltage electricity pylon for the National Grid is erected, near Edinburgh.
Owen Willans Richardson wins the 1928 Nobel Prize in Physics "for his work on the thermionic phenomenon and especially for the discovery of the law named after him". This award is announced on 12 November 1929.
British Home Stores opens its first department store at Brixton, London.
Uffa Fox launches his first planing sailing dinghy, Avenger, in the International 14 class and wins 52 out of 57 races. He sails Avenger across the Channel and competes in some races in Cherbourg Harbour.

Sport

Everton F.C. win the Championship.
Blackburn Rovers F.C. 3 Huddersfield F.C. 1
René Lacoste Wimbledon Men's Champion
Helen Wills Wimbledon Women's Champion
Swinton win rugby league's All Four Cups in season 1927–28

Publications

Edmund Blunden's autobiographical Undertones of War.
Elizabeth Bowen's novel The Hotel.
Joyce Lankester Brisley's children's collection Milly-Molly-Mandy Stories, introducing the title character in book form.
Leslie Charteris's first Simon Templar novel Meet the Tiger.
Agatha Christie's Hercule Poirot novel The Mystery of the Blue Train.
Ford Madox Ford's novel Last Post, last of the Parade's End tetralogy.
Radclyffe Hall's novel The Well of Loneliness.
Aldous Huxley's novel Point Counter Point.
D. H. Lawrence's novel Lady Chatterley's Lover published in Italy; it will not be published in Britain until 1960.
Compton MacKenzie's satirical novel Extraordinary Women.
W. Somerset Maugham's short stories Ashenden: Or the British Agent.Oxford English Dictionary completed.
Dorothy L. Sayers' Lord Peter Wimsey novel The Unpleasantness at the Bellona Club and collected short stories Lord Peter Views the Body.
Evelyn Waugh's satirical novel Decline and Fall.
Clough Williams-Ellis' tract England and the Octopus.
Virginia Woolf's novel Orlando: A Biography.

Births

2 January – Harry Hyams, property speculator
3 January – Michael Barratt, television presenter
5 January – Denise Bryer, voice actress
11 January – Alan Bowness, art historian
17 January
* Matt McGinn, Scottish folk musician, writer and entertainer
* Vidal Sassoon, cosmetologist
18 January – Terence Higgins, athlete and politician
19 January – Joan Regan, singer
21 January – Barbara Harvey, medieval historian
24 January – Desmond Morris, anthropologist and writer
28 January – Stan Barstow, novelist
29 January – Peter Byrne, actor and director
2 February – Felix Pirani, theoretical physicist
8 February – Osian Ellis, Welsh harpist
10 February
* Anthony Dawes, character actor
* John Ringham, actor and playwright
13 February – Jack Lewis, Baron Lewis of Newnham, chemist and academic
14 February
* Mark Eden, actor
* David Kimche, British-born Israeli diplomat
17 February – Seán Mac Stíofáin, IRA terrorist
21 February – Cecil Sandford, English motorcycle racer
22 February – Bruce Forsyth, entertainer
23 February – David Somerset, 11th Duke of Beaufort, peer
29 February
* Joss Ackland, actor
* Jean Adamson, children's writer and illustrator
* Michael Henshall, bishop
2 March – Katharine Whitehorn, journalist
4 March – Alan Sillitoe, writer
5 March – Diana Coupland, actress
6 March – Glyn Owen, actor
10 March – Arthur Milton, cricketer and footballer
12 March – Philip Jones, trumpeter
13 March – Jane Grigson, cookery writer
16 March
*Victor Maddern, actor
*George Styles, army lieutenant-colonel, George Cross winner
17 March
*Eunice Gayson, actress
*Katharine Whitehorn, newspaper columnist
23 March
*Alf Morris, politician
*Geoffrey Smith, gardener and television presenter
*Raymond Wilson, physicist
26 March – John H. Edwards, geneticist
29 March – Philip Locke, actor
30 March – Tom Sharpe, author
31 March – Dilys Hamlett, actress
2 April – April Cantelo, soprano
3 April – Jennifer Paterson, chef and broadcaster
4 April – Jimmy Logan, actor and producer
5 April – Michael Bryant, actor
6 April – Peter Townsend, sociologist
7 April – James White, science fiction writer
8 April – Eric Porter, actor
9 April – Ian Ward, physicist
13 April – Alan Clark, politician and diarist
14 April
* Cyril Mango, Byzantine scholar
* John Roberts, historian
19 April – Alexis Korner, musician
23 April – Bill Cotton, television executive
24 April – Tommy Docherty, football player and manager
25 April
* Jack Fitzmaurice, snooker player
* James MacTaggart, television producer
30 April
* Dickie Davies, sports presenter
* Alf Lomas, politician
1 May – Desmond Titterington, racing driver
8 May – John Bennett, actor
9 May – Colin Chapman, automotive engineer
10 May – John Forbes-Robertson, actor
12 May – Gordon Shattock, British veterinarian, Conservative politician and survivor of the Brighton hotel bombing
18 May
* John Abineri, actor
* Peter Hammersley, rear admiral
23 May – Jeannie Carson, actress
27 May – Thea Musgrave, Scottish composer
29 May – Frederick Jaeger, actor
31 May – Derek Ufton, cricketer and footballer
1 June – Bob Monkhouse, comedian and game show host
3 June – Archie Hind, novelist
4 June – Paul Greening, naval officer and courtier
5 June – Tony Richardson, film director
6 June
*Nicolas Rea, 3rd Baron Rea, physician and politician
*R. D. Wingfield, novelist and radio dramatist
7 June
* Ken McKinlay, racing cyclist
* Reg Park, bodybuilder
8 June – John Russell, 27th Baron de Clifford, aristocrat
14 June – Rosemary Rue, physician
15 June – Adele Leigh, opera singer
17 June – Basil McIvor, politician
19 June
*Margaret Maughan, paralympian
*Ray Powell, politician
*Barry Took, comedian, scriptwriter and television presenter
21 June – Maurice Line, librarian
25 June – Peter Sawyer, historian
28 June
* Stan Barstow, novelist
* Harold Evans, newspaper editor
29 June – Ian Bannen, Scottish actor
30 June – Tony Conyers, journalist
1 July – Jim Hankinson, footballer
2 July – John Timpson, journalist and radio presenter
3 July – Evelyn Anthony, writer
4 July – Patrick Tilley, science fiction author
5 July – Jeremy Moore, officer in the Royal Marines
6 July
*Peter Glossop, opera singer
*Antony Hignell, cricketer and javelin thrower
7 July – Pat Hitchcock, actress
8 July – Gordon Hill, football player
10 July – Patsy Burt, racing driver
11 July
* Jane Gardam, writer
* Greville Janner, politician, barrister and writer
12 July
* Alastair Burnet, journalist and broadcaster
* Kathy Staff, actress
14 July
* Haydn Morris, British and Irish Lions international rugby union wing three-quarter
* Moira Redmond, actress
* William Rees-Mogg, journalist and editor
16 July – Anita Brookner, novelist and art historian
20 July – Peter Ind, jazz double bassist and record producer
21 July
* Jervis Percy, modern pentathlete
* George Brian Sinclair, army officer
22 July – Jimmy Hill, footballer and television sports presenter
26 July – Sally Oppenheim-Barnes, politician
5 August – Carla Lane, born Romana Barrack, television comedy scriptwriter
6 August – Vince Powell, scriptwriter
7 August – Owen Luder, architect
8 August – Alfred Hayes, wrestler and wrestling announcer
10 August – Henry Sandon, tv antiques expert
12 August – Maureen Colquhoun, economist and politician
15 August – Nicolas Roeg, film director
19 August – Bernard Levin, writer and journalist
21 August
* Chris Brasher, athlete
* Gillian Sheen, Olympic champion fencer
* Barbara Steveni, conceptual artist
28 August – Charles Gray, actor
29 August – Peter Miles, actor
5 September – Joyce Hatto, pianist
6 September – Norman Holwell, speed skater
14 September – Angus Ogilvy, businessman
17 September – Roddy McDowall, actor
22 September – Eric Broadley, race car builder, founder of Lola Cars
27 September – Geoffrey Martin, historian
1 October – Jim Radford, peace activist and folk singer
8 October – Bill Maynard, comic actor
10 October – Sheila Walsh, novelist
11 October – Geoffrey Tordoff, politician
14 October – Peter Jackson, politician
17 October – Michael Palmer, senior British Army officer
18 October – Dick Taverne, politician
20 October – Michael O'Donnell, physician, journalist, medical campaigner and broadcaster
21 October – Ken Major, architect
28 October – Bill Rodgers, politician, member of the "Gang of Four"
29 October – Cecil Humphery-Smith, genealogist and heraldist
30 October
*Charles Brett, architectural historian
*Peter Wales, Sussex cricketer
31 October – Michael J. Bird, writer
2 November – Paul Johnson, journalist, historian and author
5 November – John Bailey, lawyer and public servant
7 November – Arthur Davidson, politician
8 November – Edward Goldsmith, environmentalist and philosopher
12 November – Maureen Gardner, athlete
15 November – John Orchard, actor
17 November – Don Lawrence, comic book artist
22 November
*Tim Beaumont, politician and Anglican priest
*Pat Smythe, show jumper
26 November
* John Acland, major-general
* John Barton, theatre director
6 December – Stanley Clinton-Davis, English politician, solicitor
10 December – Jeremy Morse, English banker, academic and crossword compiler
11 December
*Paul Bircher, rower
*Peter Firmin, children's stop-motion animator
12 December – Lionel Blair, Canadian-born English actor, choreographer, dancer and television presenter
19 December – Antony Buck, politician
20 December – Donald Adams, actor and opera singer
29 December
* Bernard Cribbins, comic actor
* Piers Dixon, Conservative politician

Deaths

11 January – Thomas Hardy, novelist and poet
21 January – Sir John de Robeck, admiral
29 January – Douglas Haig, 1st Earl Haig, soldier
15 February – H. H. Asquith, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom
21 March – Edward Walter Maunder, astronomer
24 March – Charlotte Mew, poet, suicide
5 April – Roy Kilner, cricketer
10 April – Stanley J. Weyman, novelist
15 April – Jane Ellen Harrison, scholar, linguist and feminist
1 May – Sir Ebenezer Howard, urban planner
3 May – Walter Biggar Blaikie, astronomer, engineer, historian and printer
5 May – Barry Pain, writer
16 May – Edmund Gosse, poet and critic
10 June – Dennis Eadie, Scottish-born character actor
13 June – Charles Wynn-Carington, 1st Marquess of Lincolnshire, politician and colonial governor
14 June – Emmeline Pankhurst, suffragette
1 July – John Elmes Beale, politician and merchant
6 July – Frederick Green, footballer
21 July – Dame Ellen Terry, actress
17 August – Sir George Trevelyan, 2nd Baronet, statesman and author
19 August – Richard Haldane, 1st Viscount Haldane, politician and lawyer
30 August – Sir Hugh Evan-Thomas, admiral
27 November – Frank Hedges Butler, wine merchant, founding member of the Aero Club of Great Britain
1 December – Arthur Gore, tennis player
2 December – Hallam Tennyson, 2nd Baron Tennyson, 2nd Governor-General of Australia
10 December – Charles Rennie Mackintosh, Scottish-born architect
17 December – Eglantyne Jebb, human rights activist, co-founder of Save the Children