1942 in the United Kingdom

Events from the year 1942 in the United Kingdom. The year was dominated by the Second World War.

Incumbents

Monarch – George VI
Prime Minister – Winston Churchill

Events

1 January
* Sneyd Colliery Disaster: An underground explosion in the North Staffordshire Coalfield kills 55.
* Book Production War Economy Agreement comes into force.
9–29 January – 1942 Betteshanger miners' strike in the Kent Coalfield.
10 January – World War II: Liverpool Blitz ends with German bombs dropped in the Stanhope Street area of the city, with nine people dying and many more suffering injuries. Among the houses destroyed in the bombing is the former home of Adolf Hitler's half-brother Alois. Four more people die as a result of their injuries the following day.
26 January – World War II: First United States troops for the European theatre arrive in the UK, at Belfast.
29 January – radio programme Desert Island Discs first broadcast on the BBC Forces Programme, presented by Roy Plomley; Austrian-born revue performer Vic Oliver is the first castaway. The programme will still be running 80 years later.
January – Mildenhall Treasure discovered by ploughman Gordon Butcher in Suffolk.
February–April – Liverpool Chinese seamen strike for improved pay.
7 February – soap rationing introduced.
15 February – World War II: General Arthur Percival's forces surrender to the Japanese at the Battle of Singapore.
16 February – National Service Act introduces conscription to the Home Guard.
19 February – Clement Attlee is appointed first Deputy Prime Minister of the United Kingdom.
25 February – Princess Elizabeth registers for war service.
April – Women's Timber Corps set up.
5 April – World War II: Japanese Navy attacks Colombo in Ceylon. Royal Navy Cruisers and are sunk southwest of the island.
9 April – World War II: Japanese Navy launches air raid on Trincomalee in Ceylon ; Royal Navy aircraft carrier HMS Hermes and Royal Australian Navy destroyer HMAS Vampire are sunk off the island's east coast.
23 April
* World War II: Exeter becomes the first city bombed as part of the "Baedeker Blitz" in retaliation for the British bombing of Lübeck.
* Exeter-born William Temple is enthroned as Archbishop of Canterbury in succession to Cosmo Gordon Lang.
24 April – Barnburgh Main Colliery collapse: 4 killed.
25–27 April – World War II: "Baedeker Blitz" – Bath Blitz: three bombing raids on Bath kill 417; among the buildings destroyed or badly damaged the Assembly Rooms are gutted.
1 May – destroyer sinks after collision with battleship in Arctic waters with 49 fatalities.
5 May–6 November – World War II: Battle of Madagascar; British commander Robert Sturges leads the invasion of Vichy French-held Madagascar.
6 May – The Radio Doctor makes his first BBC radio broadcast giving avuncular health care advice.
30 May – World War II: First RAF "thousand bomber raid" sets off to carry out the bombing of Cologne in Germany.
15 June – propaganda film The Next of Kin is commercially released by Ealing Studios.
July–August – J. Arthur Rank's Odeon Cinemas purchase UK sites of Paramount Cinemas.
July
* Military scientists begin testing of anthrax as a biological warfare agent on the Scottish island of Gruinard.
* Total evacuation of Stanford Training Area on Breckland in Norfolk.
* Canned dried eggs from the United States become available to British consumers.
10 July – the patriotic Academy Award-winning drama film Mrs. Miniver, starring Greer Garson, is released in London.
26 July – rationing of sweets and chocolate begins.
11 August – traffic admitted onto the new Waterloo Bridge across the River Thames in London.
19 August – World War II: British and Canadian troops conduct the Dieppe Raid.
25 August – Dunbeath air crash: Prince George, Duke of Kent, brother of George VI, is among 14 killed in a military air crash near Caithness, Scotland.
30 August–2 September – World War II: At the Battle of Alam el Halfa in Egypt, General Montgomery leads the Eighth Army to victory over Field Marshal Rommel's Afrika Korps.
September – The Brains Trust first broadcast under this title on BBC Home Service radio.
12 September – World War II: British transport ship RMS Laconia torpedoed and sunk by a German U-boat in the Atlantic, west of Africa, with the loss of around 2,000 lives, mainly Italian prisoners of war.
13 September – World War II:
* The RAF and the Soviet Air Force bomb oil wells and refining facilities at Ploeşti in Romania causing extensive damage.
* The RAF carries out its 100th bombing raid on the German city of Bremen.
17 September – Noël Coward's film In Which We Serve premieres.
23 September
* The British Council of Churches, an ecumenical organisation, is established, as is the Council of Christians and Jews.
* World War II: British forces capture the capital of Madagascar, Antananarivo.
2 October
* British cruiser Curaçao collides with troopship off the coast of Donegal and sinks: 338 drown.
* World War II: Japanese troopship Lisbon Maru sinks following a torpedo attack the previous day by submarine off the coast of China: 829 are killed, mostly British prisoners of war who are being held on board.
5 October – Oxford Committee for Famine Relief founded.
9 October – the Statute of Westminster Adoption Act passed by the Parliament of Australia formalises Australian autonomy from the U.K.
23 October – World War II: British and Commonwealth forces launch a major attack against German and Italian forces in the Second Battle of El Alamein in Egypt.
25 October – the milk ration is cut to two and a half pints a week.
29 October – a public meeting presided over by the Archbishop of Canterbury and with international political figures in attendance at the Royal Albert Hall in London registers outrage over The Holocaust.
30 October – World War II: British sailors board German submarine U-559 as it sinks in the Mediterranean and retrieve its Enigma machine and codebooks.
31 October – World War II: Canterbury is bombed by the German Luftwaffe, apparently in reprisal for an RAF 1,000 bomber raid on Cologne.
4 November – World War II: Second Battle of El Alamein effectively ends with Erwin Rommel forced to order German forces to retreat this evening in the face of pressure from General Montgomery's Eighth Army. Clearing up operations continue until 11 November.
6 November – the Church of England archbishops announce relaxation of the custom that women should wear hats in church.
8 November – World War II: British and American troops invade French North Africa in Operation Torch.
13 November – World War II: Allied troops recapture Tobruk.
17 November – World War II: Admiral Max Horton takes over from Percy Noble as Commander-in-Chief, Western Approaches, with responsibility for the safety of Atlantic convoys.
1 December – publication of the Beveridge Report into social insurance. It is so popular that people queue overnight to buy it and the government issues a brief threepenny version.
7 December – World War II: British commandos conduct Operation Frankton, a raid on shipping in Bordeaux harbour.
16 December – the Trade Union Congress backs the Beveridge Report.
30 December – British insurance companies attack the Beveridge Report.
World War II
* Maunsell Forts erected in the Thames Estuary.
* The National Loaf, a fortified wholemeal bread, becomes the only variety available from bakers.

Publications

"Flying Officer X" 's short story collection The Greatest People in the World.
"BB"'s children's story The Little Grey Men.
Enid Blyton's children's story Five on a Treasure Island, first in The Famous Five series.
Joyce Carey's novel To Be a Pilgrim.
Agatha Christie's novels The Body in the Library, Five Little Pigs and The Moving Finger.
T. S. Eliot's poem Little Gidding, last of the Four Quartets.
Richard Hillary's wartime autobiography The Last Enemy.
C. S. Lewis' novel The Screwtape Letters.
Alker Tripp's text Town Planning and Road Traffic.
Evelyn Waugh's novel Put Out More Flags.

Births

January – April

3 January – John Thaw, English actor
5 January – Jan Leeming, TV presenter and newsreader
8 January
* Robin Ellis, English actor
* Stephen Hawking, English cosmologist
* George Passmore, English artist
19 January – Michael Crawford, English singer and actor
21 January – George Foulkes, Labour MP and peer
31 January – Derek Jarman, English director and writer
1 February – Terry Jones, Welsh actor, writer and director
2 February – Graham Nash, English musician
5 February – Susan Hill, English author
7 February – Gareth Hunt, English actor
10 February – John Clarke, British physicist, winner of the Nobel Prize in Physics
11 February – Charles Harrison, British art historian
12 February – Norma Major, philanthropist and spouse of John Major
15 February – Glyn Johns, English recording engineer
19 February – Howard Stringer, Welsh businessman
22 February – Peter Abbs, English poet and academic
24 February – Paul Jones, singer
27 February – Mike Bailey, British footballer
28 February – Brian Jones, English rock musician
9 March – John Cale, Welsh composer and musician
13 March – Geoffrey Hayes, English television presenter and actor
14 March – Rita Tushingham, English actress
25 March
* Richard O'Brien, English actor and writer
* Kim Woodburn, English television personality
27 March
* Michael Jackson, English writer about beer and whisky
* John Sulston, English molecular biologist, recipient of the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine
* Michael York, English actor
28 March
* Neil Kinnock, Welsh-born politician
* Janet Nelson, English historian
* Mike Newell, British film director
29 March – Julie Goodyear, English actress
1 April
*Brian Binley, businessman and politician
*Roderick Floud, historian and academic
5 April – Peter Greenaway, Welsh filmmaker
8 April
* Roger Chapman, English rock singer
* Tony Banks, Baron Stratford, Labour Party MP and Minister for Sport
12 April – Bill Bryden, Scottish-born theatre director
16 April – Sir Frank Williams, Formula One team owner
17 April – David Bradley, English actor
19 April
* David Fanshawe, English composer
* Alan Price, English musician
20 April – Giles Henderson, English lawyer and academic

May – August

4 May – Sandy Bruce-Lockhart, Baron Bruce-Lockhart, politician
8 May
* Norman Lamont, politician, Chancellor of the Exchequer
* Terry Neill, Northern Irish footballer and football manager
11 May – Rachel Billington, writer
12 May – Ian Dury, British musician
13 May – Jeff Astle, British footballer
18 May – Nobby Stiles, England footballer
20 May – Lynn Davies, Welsh long jump Olympic champion
24 May – Sir Fraser Stoddart, Scottish-born scientist, recipient of the Nobel Prize in Chemistry
25 May – Brian Davison, rock drummer
29 May – Charlotte Johnson Wahl, artist, mother of Boris Johnson
2 June – Tony Buzan, popular psychologist
8 June – Doug Mountjoy, Welsh snooker player
9 June – Ossie Clark, fashion designer
10 June – Gordon Burns, television presenter
18 June
*Pat Hutchins, English illustrator and writer
*Paul McCartney, English musician and composer
20 June
*Andrew Graham, economist and academic
*Valerie Myerscough, mathematician and astrophysicist
23 June – Martin Rees, Baron Rees of Ludlow, cosmologist and astrophysicist
24 June – Dustin Gee, British comedian
25 June – Patricia Brake, English actress
1 July – Julia Higgins, polymer scientist
4 July – Prince Michael of Kent
7 July – Tom Blundell, scientist
12 July – Tam White, Scottish musician and actor
16 July – Frank Field, Baron Field of Birkenhead, politician
17 July
* Peter Sissons, English newsreader and journalist
* Zoot Money, vocalist, keyboardist and bandleader
23 July – Myra Hindley, English murderer
27 July
* Mystic Meg, born Margaret Lake, astrologer
* Ernie Ross, Scottish politician
31 July – James Douglas-Hamilton, Baron Selkirk of Douglas, politician
7 August – Richard Sykes, microbiologist and businessman
16 August – John Challis, English actor and comedian
24 August – Peter Gummer, Baron Chadlington, English businessman
25 August – Howard Jacobson, novelist and journalist
26 August – Dennis Turner, British politician

September – December

15 September – Philip Harris, entrepreneur and educationist
17 September – Des Lynam, Irish-born TV sports presenter
18 September – Alex Stepney, footballer and coach
24 September – Gerry Marsden, Merseybeat singer-songwriter
27 September
* Tessa Blackstone, English academic administrator, public servant and Labour politician
* Alvin Stardust, born Bernard Jewry, English pop singer
29 September - Ian McShane, English actor
30 September – Gus Dudgeon, English record producer
21 October – John Stevens, Baron Stevens of Kirkwhelpington, English police officer
23 October – Anita Roddick, English businesswoman and environmentalist
26 October – Bob Hoskins, English actor
27 October – Phil Chisnall, footballer
28 October – Freddie Williams, Scottish businessman
7 November – Jean Shrimpton, English fashion model and actress
23 November – Jane Lumb, English fashion model and actress
24 November
* Billy Connolly, Scottish comedian
* Craig Thomas, Welsh thriller writer
29 November – Michael Craze, English actor
2 December – Dennis Kirkland, English television producer
4 December
* Tim Boswell, farmer and politician
* Gemma Jones, English character actress
6 December – Richard Shepherd, politician
8 December – Robin Medforth-Mills, professor
12 December – Morag Hood, Scottish actress
13 December
* Howard Brenton, playwright and screenwriter
* Charles R. Burton, English explorer
21 December – Frances Ritchie, nurse and religious sister
31 December – Andy Summers, English rock musician

Deaths

16 January – Prince Arthur, Duke of Connaught and Strathearn, third eldest son of Queen Victoria
10 March – Sir William Henry Bragg, physicist, Nobel Prize laureate
27 March – Vernon Kell, first director of MI5
16 April – Princess Alexandra of Edinburgh and Saxe-Coburg and Gotha, granddaughter of Queen Victoria, in Germany
17 April – Laura Annie Willson, mechanical engineer and suffragette
23 May – Charles Robert Ashbee, designer
7 June – Alan Blumlein, electronics engineer
18 June – Sutherland Macdonald, tattoo artist
22 July
* Gilbert Joyce, Bishop of Monmouth
* Conrad Noel, vicar and socialist
28 July – Sir Flanders Petrie, Egyptologist
10 August – Bob Kelso, Scottish footballer
25 August – Prince George, Duke of Kent, fourth eldest son of George V
4 December – Hugh Malcolm, Scottish Royal Air Force officer, posthumous recipient of the Victoria Cross
22 December – E. H. Jones, Welsh army officer, educationist and writer