1947 in the United Kingdom

Events from the year 1947 in the United Kingdom.

Incumbents

Monarch – George VI
Prime Minister – Clement Attlee

Events

1 January – The government nationalises the coal industry in the UK and Cable & Wireless.
2 January – British coins cease to include any silver content.
8 January – A Cabinet sub-committee approves High Explosive Research, a civil project to develop an independent British atomic bomb.
5 February – The Minister of Food, John Strachey, announces the £25,000,000 Tanganyika groundnut scheme.
10 February – Major cuts in power supply due to shortages of fuel under severe winter conditions are imposed in England and Wales. The BBC Television Service is temporarily suspended until 11 March.
20 February – Earl Mountbatten of Burma is appointed as the last Viceroy of India.
23 February – Ealing Studios release the film Hue and Cry, regarded as the first of the Ealing Comedies.
February – The coldest February in the CET series with an average of features the coldest Central England maximum temperature for any month since records began in 1878 at.
4 March – Treaty of Dunkirk signed with France providing for mutual assistance in the event of attack.
14 March – Thames flood and other widespread flooding as the exceptionally harsh winter ends in a thaw.
March – Postwar boom in births reaches peak.
April – English country houses at Arundel, Chatsworth and Longleat reopen to the visiting public, after wartime use.
1 April – Raising of school leaving age to fifteen.
3 April – The private healthcare firm BUPA is founded.
9 April – How Does Your Garden Grow? first broadcast on BBC Radio. As Gardeners' Question Time, it will still be running more than seventy-five years later.
15 April – A large bomb planted by members of Israeli militant group Lehi at the Colonial Office building in Whitehall fails to explode.
18 April – In the largest non-nuclear single explosive detonation in history, the Royal Navy sets off 6,800 tonnes of surplus ammunition in an attempt to destroy Heligoland, Germany.
23 April – Mumbles life-boat RNLB Edward, Prince of Wales capsizes on service to Liberty ship SS Samtampa off South Wales: all 8 lifeboat and 39 steamship crew are lost.
26 April – Charlton Athletic who lost the FA Cup final last year, win this year's final 1–0 against Burnley.
May – The Conservative Party publishes its Industrial Charter.
6 May – East Kilbride designated as the first New Town in Scotland under powers of the New Towns Act 1946.
11–15 June – First Llangollen International Musical Eisteddfod is held.
15 June – Restrictions on foreign travel imposed during World War II lifted.
June – Retail Prices Index begins.
10 July – Princess Elizabeth announces her engagement to Lt. Philip Mountbatten.
15 July–20 August – "Convertibility Crisis": Pound sterling fully convertible into United States Dollars, leading to loss of currency reserves.
27–28 July – English endurance swimmer Tom Blower becomes the first person to swim the North Channel, from Donaghadee in Northern Ireland to Portpatrick in Scotland.
31 July – Fire Services Act returns fire services in the United Kingdom from the National Fire Service to control of local authorities and provides the legislative basis for their organisation for more than fifty years.
First few days of August – anti-Jewish riots, primarily in North West England, following 'the Sergeants affair' in Mandatory Palestine.
5 August – Release of Holiday Camp, first of the popular Huggetts Trilogy of comedy films.
14 & 15 August – Pakistan and India gain independence from the UK, remaining Dominions with the Commonwealth of Nations under King George VI.
15 August
* A mining accident at William Pit, Whitehaven, in the Cumberland Coalfield, kills 104 people.
* "GLEEP" experimental nuclear reactor runs for the first time at the Atomic Energy Research Establishment, Harwell, near Oxford, the first reactor to operate in Western Europe.
24 August – First Edinburgh Festival of the Arts opens. On 31 August, the first Edinburgh International Film Festival opens as part of the overall festival; it will become the world's oldest continually running film festival.
September – The University of Cambridge votes to allow women to become full students.
29 September – Harold Wilson is appointed President of the Board of Trade at thirty-one years old; he is the youngest member of the Cabinet this century.
October – Snoek is imported as a food fish from South Africa.
10 November – Decision of the Court of Appeal in Associated Provincial Picture Houses Ltd v Wednesbury Corp, a leading case in the law of judicial review, establishing a standard of unreasonableness of public-body decisions that makes them liable to be quashed on review.
12 November – Chancellor of the Exchequer Hugh Dalton inadvertently reveals some of the contents of his Budget while on his way to the House of Commons to deliver his speech, effectively finishing his political career.
16 November – The British Army begins to withdraw troops from Palestine.
18 November – Tommy Lawton, 28-year-old centre-forward, becomes Britain's first £20,000 footballer in a move from Chelsea to Notts County.
19 November – Philip Mountbatten created Duke of Edinburgh, Earl of Merioneth and Baron Greenwich with the style His Royal Highness.
20 November – Wedding of Princess Elizabeth and Philip Mountbatten, Duke of Edinburgh: Princess Elizabeth, daughter of George VI marries The Duke of Edinburgh at Westminster Abbey, London. The procession is watched by an estimated 400,000 television viewers and is the oldest surviving telerecording in Britain.
25 November – New Zealand ratifies the Statute of Westminster and thus becomes independent of legislative control by the United Kingdom.
29 November – The United Nations approves the Partition Plan for Palestine thus ending the British Mandate of Palestine.
6 December – Women are admitted to full membership of the University of Cambridge.
December
* Edward Victor Appleton wins the Nobel Prize in Physics "for his investigations of the physics of the upper atmosphere especially for the discovery of the so-called Appleton layer".
* Robert Robinson wins the Nobel Prize in Chemistry "for his investigations on plant products of biological importance, especially the alkaloids"
* The Friends Service Council wins the Nobel Peace Prize.
* First permanent Oxfam charity shop begins trading, in Broad Street, Oxford.

Undated

Discovery of the pion, a subatomic particle, by Cecil Frank Powell at the University of Bristol.
Discovery of the kaon, a subatomic particle, by George Rochester and C. C. Butler.
Poliomyelitis epidemic in the UK begins.
Royal Military Academy Sandhurst established by merger of the Royal Military College, Sandhurst, and the Royal Military Academy, Woolwich.
Robert Wiseman Dairies founded by Robert Wiseman with a horse and cart used for doorstep deliveries in East Kilbride.
Soft toilet paper first goes on sale in the UK, at Harrods.
The avocet resumes breeding in England, at Havergate Island and Minsmere RSPB reserve.

Publications

Malcolm Lowry's novel Under the Volcano.
Compton Mackenzie's comic novel Whisky Galore.
Stephen Potter's book The Theory and Practice of Gamesmanship: Or, The Art of Winning Games Without Actually Cheating.

Births

4 January – Rick Stein, chef, author and restaurateur
5 January – Chris Cutler, drummer and songwriter
6 January – Sandy Denny, folk rock singer
8 January – David Bowie, born David Jones, rock singer
10 January
* Patricia Hodgson, broadcaster, educationalist and academic
* Matthew Oakeshott, Baron Oakeshott of Seagrove Bay, banker and politician
15 January – Pete Waterman, record producer and songwriter
16 January
* Magdalen Nabb, author
* Harvey Proctor, Conservative Member of Parliament
* Jamie Reid, visual artist
23 January – Mary Arden, lawyer and judge
27 January – Philip Sugden, historian and author
30 January
*Les Barker, poet
*Steve Marriott, rock singer and guitarist
3 February – Dave Davies, singer-songwriter and guitarist
10 February – Nicholas Owen, newsreader
20 February – Peter Osgood, footballer
26 February – Sandie Shaw, pop singer
28 February – Stephanie Beacham, actress
1 March – Mike Read, television presenter and radio disc jockey
6 March – Kiki Dee, pop singer
7 March – Jane Relf, singer
10 March – Piers Corbyn, weather forecaster and political activist
11 March – Alan Yentob, television executive
14 March
* Pam Ayres, comic verse writer and performer
* Peter Skellern, singer-songwriter
18 March – Susan Sheridan, actress
24 March
* Mike Kellie, rock musician
* Alan Sugar, entrepreneur
25 March – Elton John, born Reginald Dwight, rock musician
28 March – Peter Hennessy, historian
16 April – Gerry Rafferty, singer-songwriter
20 April – David Leland, actor, director, and screenwriter
23 April – Bernadette Devlin McAliskey, Member of Parliament for Mid Ulster
30 April – Leslie Grantham, actor and murderer
2 May – James Dyson, inventor and entrepreneur
6 May – Kit Martin, architect and author
8 May
*Felicity Lott, soprano
*John Reid, Labour politician, Home Secretary
20 May – Greg Dyke, media executive, Director-General of the BBC
27 May – Felix Dennis, publisher and philanthropist
31 May – Diane Langton, actress, singer and dancer
1 June
* Jonathan Pryce, Welsh actor
* Ronnie Wood, rock guitarist
3 June – Mickey Finn, percussionist
5 June
* Tom Evans, rock singer-songwriter
* David Hare, playwright
6 June – David Blunkett, Labour politician, Home Secretary
7 June – Annette Brooke, educator and politician
11 June – Richard Palmer-James, singer-songwriter and guitarist
17 June – Paul Young, pop singer-songwriter
21 June – Joey Molland, songwriter and guitarist
22 June
* Trevor Blades, cricketer
* David Jones, Northern Irish golfer
23 June – Anne Owers, chief inspector of prisons
24 June
* Mick Fleetwood, rock drummer
* Clarissa Dickson Wright, chef and television personality
25 June – John Hilton, English table tennis player
28 June – Stephen Whittaker, actor
2 July
* Elizabeth Anionwu, nurse and healthcare administrator
* Ann Taylor, Labour politician
3 July – Adrian Bird, geneticist and academic
6 July – Richard Beckinsale, actor
7 July – Rob Townsend, rock drummer
12 July
* Gareth Edwards, Welsh rugby player
* Wilko Johnson, musician
13 July
* Colin Thurston, record producer
* Edward Wilson, actor
15 July – Peter Banks, guitarist and songwriter
17 July
* Queen Camilla of the United Kingdom, née Shand
* Phil Cordell, musician
* Mick Tucker, musician
19 July – Brian May, rock guitarist
23 July – David Essex, actor and singer
24 July
* Geoff McQueen, screenwriter and producer
* Chris Townson, musician
31 July – Richard Griffiths, actor
9 August – Roy Hodgson, football manager
12 August – William Hartston, journalist and chess player
14 August – Christopher Hughes, quizzer and television personality
16 August – Katharine Hamnett, fashion designer
23 August
*Willy Russell, playwright
*Rowena Wallace, English-born Australian actress
28 August – Emlyn Hughes, footballer
10 September – David Pountney, theatre and opera director
16 September – Roger Millward, English rugby league footballer and coach
17 September – Tessa Jowell, Labour politician, Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport
18 September – Paul Seed, television director and former actor
21 September – Rupert Hine, musician, songwriter, and record producer
27 September – Barbara Dickson, singer and actress
28 September – Jon Snow, journalist and trelevision presenter
30 September – Marc Bolan, musician
1 October – Larry Lamb, actor
4 October – Ann Widdecombe, Conservative politician
5 October – Brian Johnson, rock singer
7 October – Pip Williams, record producer
16 October
* Nicholas Day, actor
* Terry Griffiths, snooker player
* Ken Woodward, footballer
2 November – Dave Pegg, folk musician, bass player
6 November – Jim Rosenthal, ITV sport presenter
8 November – Jenny Boyd, model
10 November – Greg Lake progressive rock singer-songwriter
21 November – Nickolas Grace, actor
1 December – Bob Fulton, English-Australian rugby league footballer and coach
2 December
*Michael P. Green, businessman
*Tommy Jenkins, footballer and manager
*Andy Rouse, racing driver
6 December – Geoffrey Hinton, English-born cognitive psychologist and computer scientist
7 December – Anne Fine, writer
8 December – John MacDougall, politician
12 December – Will Alsop, architect
16 December – Ben Cross, actor
20 December – Roger Alton, journalist
26 December – Liz Lochhead, poet and playwright

Deaths

17 January – Arthur Headlam, theologian and Bishop of Gloucester
30 January – Frederick Blackman, plant physiologist
6 February – Ellen Wilkinson, socialist
11 February – Ernest Terah Hooley, financial fraudster
13 February – Pauline Johnson, silent film actress
21 February – Richard Barry Parker, architect and urban planner
2 March – Stanhope Forbes, painter of the Newlyn school
6 March – Sir Halford Mackinder, geographer
13 March – Angela Brazil, school-story writer for girls
16 May – Sir Frederick Hopkins, biochemist, recipient of the Nobel Prize for Physiology or Medicine
6 June – James Agate, author and critic
24 July – Ernest Austin, composer
25 July – Kathleen Scott, sculptor, widow of Capt. Scott
23 August – Roy Chadwick, aircraft designer
13 October – Sidney Webb, political economist
28 November – James Miller, Scottish architect
1 December
* Samuel Courtauld, art collector
* Aleister Crowley, occultist
* G. H. Hardy, mathematician
14 December
*Stanley Baldwin, former Prime Minister
*Will Fyffe, Scottish music hall entertainer
15 December – Arthur Machen, Welsh journalist, novelist and short-story writer
17 December – Bernard Spilsbury, forensic pathologist
30 December – Alfred North Whitehead, mathematician and philosopher