1961 in the United Kingdom

Events from the year 1961 in the United Kingdom.

Incumbents

Monarch – Elizabeth II
Prime Minister – Harold Macmillan

Events

January–March

1 January
*The farthing coin, used since the thirteenth century, ceases to be legal tender in the United Kingdom.
*The Conservative Monday Club is established.
*Betting and Gaming Act 1960 comes into force, permitting operation of commercial bingo halls.
7 January
*Members of the Soviet Portland spy ring are arrested in London.
*The Avengers television series first screened on ITV.
5 February – The Sunday Telegraph newspaper first published.
9 February – The Beatles at The Cavern Club: Lunchtime – The Beatles perform under this name at The Cavern Club for the first time following their return to Liverpool from Hamburg, George Harrison's first appearance at the venue. On 21 March they begin regular performances here; in June/July Stu Sutcliffe leaves the group; and on 9 November their future manager Brian Epstein sees them for the first time at The Cavern.
19 February – Police break up a demonstration outside the Belgian embassy in London protesting about the murder of the ex-Congolese Prime Minister, Patrice Lumumba.
8 March – Edwin Bush is arrested in London for the capital stabbing of Mrs. Elsie May Batten. He is the first British criminal identified by the Identikit facial composite system.
9 March – "Water towers" speech: The Minister of Health, Enoch Powell, in a speech to a Conservative Party conference, proposes closing down of large, traditional psychiatric hospitals in favour of more community-based care.
13 March
*The five members of the Portland spy ring go on trial at the Old Bailey accused of passing nuclear secrets to the Soviet Union.
*Black and white £5 notes cease to be legal tender.
15 March – The Jaguar E-Type, a sports car capable of reaching speeds of 150 mph, is launched as a two-seater roadster or 2+2 coupé. On 3 April it makes its racing debut by winning at Oulton Park.
20 March – Shakespeare Memorial Theatre, Stratford-upon-Avon, becomes the Royal Shakespeare Theatre and its company the Royal Shakespeare Company.

April–June

1 April – The schoolboy character Winker Watson is introduced in The Dandy comic.
17 April – Tottenham Hotspur win the Football League First Division for the second time, with a 2–1 win over Sheffield Wednesday, an achievement they do not repeat.
27 April – Sierra Leone gains independence from the UK.
1 May
*Betting shops become legal under terms of the Betting and Gaming Act 1960.
*A fire at the Top Storey Club in Bolton results in nineteen deaths. A new Licensing Act is rapidly passed to improve fire safety.
2 May – The United Kingdom becomes a member of the OECD.
6 May – Tottenham Hotspur becomes the first English football team this century, and only the third in history, to win the double of the league title and FA Cup, with a 2–0 victory over Leicester City in the FA Cup Final.
8 May – George Blake is sentenced to 42 years imprisonment for spying, having been found guilty of being a double agent in the pay of the Soviet Union, the longest non-life sentence ever handed down by a British court.
17 May – Consecration of Guildford Cathedral.
28 May – Peter Benenson's article "The Forgotten Prisoners" is published in several internationally read newspapers. This will later be thought of as the founding of the human rights organisation Amnesty International.
8 June – Prince Edward, Duke of Kent, marries Katharine Worsley at York Minster.
14 June – The Government unveils new "panda" crossings with push button controls for pedestrians, due to concerns about the increasing volume of traffic. The new crossings first appear on British streets in April 1962.
19 June – The British protectorate ends in Kuwait and it becomes an emirate.
27 June
*Michael Ramsey enthroned as the hundredth Archbishop of Canterbury, in succession to Geoffrey Fisher.
*Kuwait requests help from the UK and British troops are sent.

July–September

4 July – Barclays open their "No. 1 Computer Centre" in Drummond Street, London, with an EMI mainframe computer, Britain's first bank with an in-house computing centre.
8 July – At an all-British women's final to The Championships, Wimbledon in tennis, Angela Mortimer beats Christine Truman.
21 July – The Runcorn Widnes Bridge over the River Mersey opened by Princess Alexandra.
25 July
*The Government calls for a voluntary "pay pause" in wage increases.
*The Lancashire-set film Whistle Down the Wind, starring Hayley Mills and Alan Bates, opens.
3 August – Suicide Act 1961 decriminalises acts of, or attempts at suicide in England and Wales.
10 August – The UK applies for membership of the EEC.
16 August – The play Lady Chatterley by John Harte – based on D. H. Lawrence's novel – opens at the Arts Theatre in London and is well-reviewed by West End theatre critic Harold Hobson.
19–20 August – Race riots in Middlesbrough.
21 August – Goya's Portrait of the Duke of Wellington is stolen from the National Gallery in London, three weeks after first going on display there, intended as ransom in Kempton Bunton's campaign for free television licences for pensioners. It is returned 4 years later.
23 August – Police launch a manhunt for the perpetrator of the A6 murder, who shot dead 36-year-old Michael Gregsten and paralysed Valerie Storie.
25 August – Murder of Jacqueline Thomas: Police in Birmingham launch a murder inquiry after the strangled body of a missing teenager is found on an allotment in the Alum Rock area of the city. The probable murderer is not identified until 2007 but cannot be tried.
31 August – Premiere of the film Victim, notable as the first in English to use the word "homosexual".
4 September – James Pitman's Initial Teaching Alphabet is tested in a number of schools.
14 September
* Film A Taste of Honey, including themes of interracial relationship, unmarried pregnancy and homosexuality, is released.
* First Mothercare shop opens, as Mother-and-Child Centre in Kingston upon Thames.
16 September – Three people die and 35 are injured when a stand collapses during a Glasgow Rangers football match at Ibrox Park.
17 September – Police arrest over 1,300 protesters in Trafalgar Square during a CND rally.

October–December

October – Acker Bilk's clarinet instrumental "Stranger on the Shore" is released.
1 October – Religious programme Songs of Praise first broadcast on BBC Television; it will still be running sixty years later.
9 October – Skelmersdale, a small Lancashire town fifteen miles north-east of Liverpool, is designated as a new town and its population will expand over the coming years, bolstered by large council housing developments to rehouse families from inner city slums on Merseyside.
10 October – A volcanic eruption on the South Atlantic British overseas territory of Tristan da Cunha causes the island's entire population to be evacuated to Surrey, where they will remain until 1963.
25 October – The first edition of Private Eye, the satirical magazine, is published in London.
8 November – In a referendum on Sunday opening of public houses in Wales, the counties of Anglesey, Cardiganshire, Caernarfonshire, Carmarthenshire, Denbighshire, Merionethshire, Montgomeryshire and Pembrokeshire all vote to stay "dry", that is, opposed to the Sunday sale of alcohol.
9 November – At the Lyceum Theatre, London, Miss United Kingdom, Welsh-born Rosemarie Frankland, becomes the first British winner of the Miss World beauty pageant.
27 November – The RAF participates in air drops of food to flood victims in Somalia.
4 December – Birth control pills become available to married women on the NHS after their availability is backed by Health Minister Enoch Powell.
9 December – Tanganyika gains independence from the United Kingdom.

Undated

Park Hill Flats, Sheffield, opened.
Release of short documentary film Seawards the Great Ships, which will be the first Scottish film to win an Academy Award.

Publications

Agatha Christie's novel The Pale Horse.
Ian Fleming's James Bond novel Thunderball.
Richard Hughes' novel The Fox in the Attic.
John le Carré's first novel Call for the Dead, introducing the character George Smiley.
Iris Murdoch's novel A Severed Head.
Muriel Spark's short novel The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie.
Derek Tangye's first novel Gull on the Roof, first of The Minack Chronicles.
Evelyn Waugh's novel Unconditional Surrender, last of the Sword of Honour trilogy.
Raymond Williams's cultural history The Long Revolution.
Parker Morris Committee's report Homes for Today and Tomorrow.

Births

January–April

1 January
*Fiona Phillips, journalist and television presenter
*Mark Wingett, British actor
2 January – Neil Dudgeon, English actor
6 January – Peter Whittle, British politician, author, journalist and broadcaster
8 January – Keith Arkell, English chess player
11 January – Jasper Fforde, fantasy novelist
12 January
*Sean Blowers, actor
*Simon Russell Beale, actor, born in Malaysia
13 January
* Wayne Marshall, musician
* Suggs, British ska singer
16 January – Peter Tanfield, concert violinist
18 January – Peter Beardsley, English footballer and football coach
19 January – Wayne Hemingway, English designer
20 January – Janey Godley, Scottish comedian and writer
27 January – Gillian Gilbert, new wave keyboard player
31 January – Lloyd Cole, English rock singer-songwriter
14 February – Alison Saunders, Director of Public Prosecutions
16 February – Andy Taylor, English rock guitarist and musician
17 February
*Angela Eagle, politician, Shadow Leader of the House of Commons
*Maria Eagle, politician, Shadow Secretary of State for Transport
19 February – Justin Fashanu, black British footballer
20 February – Imogen Stubbs, British actress
24 February – John Grogan, British Labour politician
1 March – Michael Sundin, trampolinist and television presenter
3 March – Fatima Whitbread, British javelin thrower and Olympic medallist
12 March – Betty Sworowski, English racewalker
14 March – Marc Koska, English businessman and inventor
22 March – Giles Worsley, English architectural historian
26 March – William Hague, British statesman
27 March – Ellery Hanley, English rugby league footballer and coach
29 March – Michael Winterbottom, British filmmaker
1 April
* Susan Boyle, Scottish singer
* Edward Dutkiewicz, British visual artist
3 April – Edward Highmore, English actor
6 April – Rory Bremner, impressionist, comedian and playwright
10 April – Nicky Campbell, broadcaster
11 April – Nigel Pulsford, rock guitarist and musician
14 April – Robert Carlyle, Scottish actor
16 April – Linda Ruth Williams, film studies academic
17 April – Bella Freud, British fashion designer and columnist
18 April – Jane Leeves, English-born actress
19 April – Richard Phelps, English pentathlete
20 April – Nicholas Lyndhurst, English actor
28 April – Grenville Davey, English sculptor

May–August

2 May
* Steve James, English snooker player
* Phil Vickery, celebrity chef
4 May
* Jay Aston, English pop singer
* Chris Packham, naturalist and television presenter
7 May – Sue Black, forensic anthropologist
8 May – Janet McTeer, actress
12 May – Billy Duffy, English hard rock guitarist
14 May
* Ian Blackford, Scottish politician
* Tim Roth, English actor
15 May – Katrin Cartlidge, actress
20 May – Clive Allen, footballer
28 May – Roland Gift, rock singer
30 May – Harry Enfield, English comedian
3 June – Ed Wynne, psychedelic rock guitarist
5 June – Rosie Kane, member of Scottish Parliament
6 June – George Mountbatten, 4th Marquess of Milford Haven, English polo player and businessman
10 June – Maxi Priest, born Max Elliott, reggae singer
12 June – Angie Hobbs, philosopher
13 June – Bob Crow, trade union leader
14 June – Boy George, English new wave singer-songwriter
15 June
* Dave McAuley, Northern Irish boxer
17 June – Muslimgauze, ethnic electronica and experimental musician
18 June – Alison Moyet, English new wave singer-songwriter
22 June
* Stephen Batchelor, English field hockey player and coach
* Bobby Gillespie, Scottish singer-songwriter
24 June
*Iain Glen, Scottish actor
*Curt Smith, pop-rock singer-songwriter-keyboardist
25 June – Ricky Gervais, English comedian
26 June – Margaret McDonagh, Baroness McDonagh, politician
27 June
*Meera Syal, comic actress and writer
*Tim Whitnall, English playwright, screenwriter and actor
1 July
*Diana, Princess of Wales,
*Ivan Kaye, English actor
*Jefferson King, bodybuilder and wrestler
3 July – Suzanne Dando, English Olympic gymnast
5 July – Gareth Jones, Welsh television presenter
8 July – Andy Fletcher, English musician
10 July
* Carol Anne Davis, Scottish crime writer
* Ian Mercer, English actor
12 July – Mark McGann, English actor, director, writer and musician
17 July – Jeremy Hardy, English comedian and broadcaster
24 July – Vicki Pepperdine, English comedy actress and writer
26 July – David Heyman, English film producer
31 July – Frank Gardner, English journalist
3 August – Nick Harvey, English politician
5 August – Janet McTeer, English actress
7 August
*Brian Conley, English comedian, television presenter, singer and actor
*Walter Swinburn, English flat racing jockey and trainer
8 August
*The Edge, rock guitarist
*Simon Weston, Welsh war hero
12 August – Lawrence, alternative rock musician
16 August
*Saskia Reeves, actress
*Angela Smith, academic and politician
18 August – Huw Edwards, Welsh television journalist and news presenter
20 August – Joe Pasquale, English comedian
22 August
* Iain Coucher, English businessman
* Roland Orzabal, English singer-songwriter
23 August – Gary Mabbutt, footballer
24 August – Jared Harris, English actor
29 August – Dale Vince, green energy industrialist

September–December

7 September – Kevin Kennedy, actor
13 September – Tom Holt, author
20 September – Caroline Flint, English Labour politician
22 September – Liam Fox, Conservative politician, Defence Secretary
24 September – Jack Dee, comedian
25 September – Steve Scott, journalist and presenter
26 September – Will Self, English novelist, reviewer and columnist
29 September – Julia Gillard, Welsh-born Prime Minister of Australia
30 September – Mel Stride, English Conservative politician
9 October – Julian Bailey, Formula 1 driver
10 October – Martin Kemp, actor and musician
11 October – Neil Buchanan, English television presenter
13 October – Rachel De Thame, English gardener and television presenter
14 October – Jim Burns, British science-fiction illustrator
16 October – Paul Vaessen, English footballer
19 October – Jayne-Anne Gadhia, businesswoman
20 October – Ian Rush, Welsh footballer and football manager
25 October – Pat Sharp, English radio DJ
November – Sarah Holland, romantic novelist, actress and singer
3 November – David Armstrong-Jones, 2nd Earl of Snowdon, chairman of Christie's U.K. auction house
4 November – Nigel Worthington, Northern Irish footballer and football manager
9 November
*Jill Dando, television newsreader
*Jackie Kay, Scottish poet and novelist
16 November – Frank Bruno, British boxer
18 November – Steven Moffat, Scottish screenwriter
20 November – Dave Watson, English footballer
22 November – Stephen Hough, classical pianist
25 November – Simon Fisher-Becker, actor
26 November
* Karan Bilimoria, Baron Bilimoria, British Asian entrepreneur and university chancellor
* Helen Browning, farmer
28 November – Martin Clunes, actor
4 December – Gerard Woodward, British novelist and poet
5 December – Laura Flanders, British-born American journalist
11 December – Marco Pierre White, chef and restaurateur
12 December
*Philip Parkin, Welsh golfer
*Sarah Sutton, British actress
19 December – Matthew Waterhouse, British actor
20 December – Keith Brown, Scottish politician
23 December – Carol Smillie, Scottish television presenter
24 December – Simon Woolley, Baron Woolley of Woodford, political activist and life peer
28 December – Helen Newlove, Baroness Newlove, community activist and life peer
29 December – Jim Reid, Scottish alternative rock singer-songwriter
31 December
*Sharon Gibson, English javelin thrower
*Jeremy Heywood, Cabinet Secretary and Head of the Home Civil Service

Unknown dates

Sexton Ming, British artist, poet and musician
Winsome Pinnock, black British playwright

Deaths

26 January – Stan Nichols, English cricketer
30 January – John Duncan Fergusson, Scottish Colourist painter
4 February – Sir Philip Game, British Army officer, colonial governor and police officer
6 February – Lawrence Dundas, 2nd Marquess of Zetland, English politician
6 March – George Formby, Lancashire comic singer and performer
8 March – Sir Thomas Beecham, English orchestral conductor
12 March
*Victor d'Arcy, English sprinter
*Belinda Lee, English screen actress, killed in automobile accident in the United States
18 March – E. Arnot Robertson, English novelist
7 April – Vanessa Bell, English artist and interior designer, member of the Bloomsbury Group
9 April – Oliver Onions, English novelist and ghost story writer
10 April – Sir John Hope Simpson, English public servant and politician
13 April – Dickie Dale, English motorcycle road racer, died as result of racing accident in Germany
22 April – Joanna Cannan, English pony book writer and detective novelist
4 June – William Astbury, English physicist and molecular biologist
28 June – Huw Menai, Welsh poet
3 September – Richard Mason, English explorer, killed in Brazil
27 September – Bentley Purchase, London coroner
1 October – Sir William Reid Dick, Scottish sculptor
13 October
*Augustus John, Welsh painter
*John MacCormick, Scottish lawyer
14 October – Harriet Shaw Weaver, English political activist
3 November – Thomas Flynn, English Roman Catholic bishop of Lancaster
25 November – Adelina de Lara, English classical pianist and composer
2 December – Herbert Pitman, English merchant seaman, third officer on
24 December – Charles Hamilton, prolific English children's story writer