1981 in the United Kingdom

Events from the year 1981 in the United Kingdom.

Incumbents

Monarch – Elizabeth II
Prime Minister – Margaret Thatcher

Events

January

3 January – Princess Alice, Countess of Athlone, daughter of Prince Leopold, Duke of Albany, and last surviving grandchild of Queen Victoria, dies at Kensington Palace aged 97.
4 January – British Leyland workers vote to accept a peace formula in the Longbridge plant strike.
5 January
* Peter Sutcliffe, a 34-year-old lorry driver from Bradford arrested on 2 January in Sheffield, is charged with being the notorious serial killer known as the "Yorkshire Ripper", who is believed to have murdered thirteen women and attacked seven others across northern England since 1975.
* BBC Two's The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy television adaptation begins airing; it subsequently receives a Royal Television Society award as "Most Original Programme" of the year.
* Cabinet reshuffle: Norman St John-Stevas and Angus Maude leave the Cabinet while Leon Brittan and Norman Fowler join the Cabinet.
7 January – A parcel bomb addressed to the Prime Minister is intercepted at the sorting office.
8 January
* A terrorist bomb attack takes place on the RAF base at Uxbridge.
* The report of the Royal Commission on criminal procedure is published.
9 January – The funeral of Princess Alice, Countess of Athlone, takes place at St George's Chapel, Windsor Castle, before her burial at Frogmore.
13 January – The prison officers' overtime ban ends.
14 January – The British Nationality Bill is published.
15 January – Two soldiers are found guilty of murder in Northern Ireland.
16 January
* Northern Ireland civil rights campaigner and former Westminster MP Bernadette McAliskey is shot at her home in County Tyrone.
* Inflation has fallen to 16.1%.
* 78% of British Steel Corporation workers vote in favour of the chairman's "survival" plan.
18 January – Ten people are killed in the New Cross house fire. On 25 January, another victim dies in hospital.
21 January
* Sir Norman Stronge, 86, and his son James, 48, both former Stormont MPs, are killed by the Provisional Irish Republican Army.
* Two divers trapped below the North Sea are brought to safety to the surface.
22 January – Australian newspaper owner Rupert Murdoch agrees to buy The Times provided an agreement can be reached with the unions.
24 January – A Labour Party conference at Wembley votes for election of the party leader by electoral college with 40% votes for unions, 30% Labour MPs and 30% constituencies.
25 January – The Limehouse Declaration: four right-wing Labour MPs, Shirley Williams, Roy Jenkins, Bill Rodgers and David Owen, announce plans to form a separate political party – the Social Democratic Party. On 26 January, nine more Labour MPs declare their support for the new party.
26 January – Sir Keith Joseph, Secretary of State for Industry, announces further financial support for British Leyland.
27 January – Bill Rodgers resigns from the Shadow Cabinet following his defection to the newly formed SDP. He is replaced by Tony Benn.
28 January
* Sir Hugh Fraser is removed as Chairman of the House of Fraser.
* Fresh damage is caused in cells at HM Prison Maze in Northern Ireland.
29 January – The UK Government welcomes plans by the Japanese car firm Nissan to build Datsun cars in Britain.
30 January – David Owen tells his constituency party that he will not stand again as Labour candidate.

February

2 February – The report on the Brixton prison escape is released and the Governor is transferred to an administrative post.
4 February – Margaret Thatcher announces that the Government will sell half of its shares in British Aerospace.
5 February – Actor Lord Olivier, cancer researcher Sir Peter Medawar and humanitarian Leonard Cheshire are admitted into the Order of Merit as announced in the New Year Honours list.
6 February
* The Liverpool-registered coal ship Nellie M is bombed and sunk by an IRA unit driving a hijacked pilot boat in Lough Foyle.
* The Government drops two controversial clauses of the Nationality Bill.
* The Canadian Minister warns British MPs against delaying changes in the Canadian constitution.
9 February – Shirley Williams resigns from Labour's national executive committee.
11 February – Closure of the Talbot car plant in Linwood, Scotland, is announced.
12 February
* Purchase of The Times and The Sunday Times from The Thomson Corporation by Rupert Murdoch's News International is confirmed. Murdoch also announces that an agreement with the unions has been reached about manning levels and new technology.
* Ian Paisley is suspended from the House of Commons for four days after calling the Northern Ireland Secretary a liar.
* The National Union of Students calls off a 5-week strike.
13 February – The National Coal Board announces widespread pit closures.
15 February – The first Sunday games of the Football League take place.
16 February – Two are jailed in connection with the death of industrialist Thomas Niedermayer.
17 February – Princess Anne is elected Chancellor of London University.
18 February
* The Government withdraws plans to close 23 mines after negotiations with the National Union of Mineworkers.
* Harold Evans is appointed editor of The Times.
20 February
* Four more MPs announce their intention to leave the Labour Party.
* Peter Sutcliffe is charged with the murder of thirteen women in the north of England.
21 February – 30,000 people march in an unemployment protest in Glasgow.
24 February – The engagement of the 32-year-old Prince of Wales, and 19-year-old Lady Diana Spencer is officially announced.
25 February
* Margaret Thatcher arrives in Washington, D.C., for a four-day visit with U.S. President Ronald Reagan.
* The Observer is taken over by "Tiny" Rowland, head of Lonrho.
26 February
* The English cricket team withdraws from the Second Test after the Guyanese government serves a deportation order on Robin Jackman.
* El Salvador dominates the first day of talks between Thatcher and Reagan.
27 February
* Three British missionaries released from Iran land in Athens.
* Sir Harold Wilson, former Prime Minister announces his retirement from Parliament at the next general election.
* The Archbishop of Canterbury advises the church to see homosexuality as a handicap not a sin.
* The Observer takeover is referred to the Monopolies Commission.

March

3 March – Homebase opens its first DIY and garden centre superstore, at Croydon, Surrey.
5 March – The ZX81, a pioneering British home computer, is launched by Sinclair Research, going on to sell over 1.5 million units worldwide.
9 March
* John Lambe, a 37-year-old lorry driver, is sentenced to life imprisonment for the rape of twelve women in the space of less than four years.
* Thousands of civil servants hold a one-day strike over pay.
17 March – The Conservative Government's budget is met with uproar due to further public spending cuts.
21 March
* Home Secretary William Whitelaw allows Wolverhampton council to place a fourteen-day ban on political marches in the West Midlands town, which has a growing problem of militant race riots and was faced with the threat of a National Front march in two days time.
* After seven years and the longest time playing the title role, Tom Baker leaves Doctor Who and is replaced by Peter Davison in the final episode of Logopolis.
* Unemployment now stands at 2,400,000 or 10% of the workforce.
* Motorcycle racer Mike Hailwood, known as 'Mike the Bike' and fourteen times winner of the Isle of Man TT, is seriously injured in a car crash at Tanworth-in-Arden in Warwickshire; he dies of his injuries two days later.
22 March – It is reported that a minority of Conservative MPs are planning to challenge the leadership of Margaret Thatcher in an attempt to reverse the party's declining popularity and fight off the challenge from Labour and the SDP.
23 March – The Government imposes a ban on animal transportation on the Isle of Wight and southern Hampshire after an outbreak of foot and mouth disease in cattle.
24 March – Barbados police rescue Great Train Robber Ronnie Biggs after his kidnapping in Brazil.
26 March – Social Democratic Party formed by the so-called "Gang of Four": Shirley Williams, Bill Rodgers, Roy Jenkins, and David Owen, who have all defected from the Labour Party.
28 March – Enoch Powell, Ulster Unionist MP warns of "racial civil war" in Britain.
29 March – The first London Marathon is held.
30 March – Academy Award-winning film Chariots of Fire released.

April

2 April – The effects of the recession continue to claim jobs as Midland Red, the iconic Birmingham-based bus operator, closes down its headquarters in the city with the loss of some 170 jobs.
4 April
* Bucks Fizz representing the United Kingdom win the Eurovision Song Contest with the song Making Your Mind Up.
* Susan Brown, a 23-year-old Biology student at Oxford University, becomes the first female cox in a winning Boat Race crew.
* Bob Champion, a 32-year-old cancer survivor, is the popular winner of the Grand National with his horse Aldaniti.
5 April – The 1981 UK Census is conducted.
10 April – Bobby Sands, an IRA member on hunger strike in the Maze prison, Northern Ireland, is elected MP for Fermanagh and South Tyrone in a by election.
11 April – More than 300 people are injured and extensive damage is caused to property in the Brixton riot.
13 April
* Home Secretary William Whitelaw announces a public inquiry, to be conducted by Lord Scarman, into the disturbances in Brixton.
* Enoch Powell warns that Britain "has seen nothing yet" with regards to racial unrest.
* Further rioting breaks out in Brixton.
20 April
* 23-year-old Steve Davis wins the World Snooker Championship for the first time.
* More than 100 people are arrested and 15 police officers are injured in clashes with black youths in the Finsbury Park, Forest Green and Ealing areas of London.
21 April – The county administrative headquarters of Northumberland move from Newcastle upon Tyne to Morpeth.
23 April – Unemployment passes the 2,500,000 mark for the first time in nearly 50 years.
29 April – Peter Sutcliffe admits to the manslaughter of 13 women on the grounds of diminished responsibility, but the judge rules that a jury should rule on Sutcliffe's state of mind before deciding whether to accept his plea or find him guilty of murder.

May

May – Peugeot closes the Talbot car plant at Linwood, Scotland which was opened by the Rootes Group 18 years ago as Scotland's only car factory. The closure of the factory also results in the end of the last remaining Rootes-developed product, the Avenger, after 11 years, as well as the four-year-old Sunbeam supermini. There are no plans to replace the Avenger, but a French-built small car based on the Peugeot 104 will replace the Sunbeam in the next few months.
5 May
* Bobby Sands, a 27-year-old republican, dies in Northern Ireland's Maze Prison after a 66-day hunger strike.
* The trial of Peter Sutcliffe begins at the Old Bailey; he stands charged with 13 murders and seven attempted murders dating back to 1975.
7 May – Ken Livingstone becomes leader of the GLC after Labour wins the GLC elections.
9 May – The 100th FA Cup final ends with a 1–1 draw between Manchester City and Tottenham Hotspur at Wembley Stadium.
11 May – The first performance of the Andrew Lloyd Webber musical Cats takes place at the New London Theatre.
12 May – Francis Hughes becomes the second IRA hunger striker to die in Northern Ireland.
13 May – An inquest returns an open verdict on the thirteen people who died as a result of their injuries in the New Cross fire.
14 May – Tottenham Hotspur win the FA Cup for the sixth time in their history with a 3–2 win over Manchester City in the final replay at Wembley.
15 May
* The inquiry into the Brixton riots opens.
* the Queen's second grandchild, a girl, is born to Princess Anne and her husband Capt Mark Phillips.
19 May – Peter Sutcliffe is found guilty of being the Yorkshire Ripper after admitting 13 charges of murder and a further seven of attempted murder. He will be sentenced later this week.
21 May – The IRA hunger strike death toll reaches four with the deaths of Raymond McCreesh and Patrick O'Hara.
22 May – Peter Sutcliffe is sentenced to life imprisonment with a recommendation that he should serve at least 30 years before parole can be considered.
27 May – Liverpool F.C. win the European Cup for the third time by defeating Real Madrid of Spain 1–0 in the final at Parc des Princes in Paris. Alan Kennedy scores the only goal of the game. Although they have yet to equal Spanish side Real Madrid's record of six European Cups, they are the first British side to win the trophy three times.
30 May – More than 100,000 people from across Britain march to Trafalgar Square in London for the TUC's March For Jobs.

June

3 June – Shergar wins the Epsom Derby.
9 June – King Khaled of Saudi Arabia arrives in Britain on a state visit.
11 June
*The NatWest Tower is formally opened by the Queen.
*Britain's first Urban Enterprise Zone is created in Lower Swansea Valley, Wales.
13 June – Marcus Sarjeant fires six blank cartridges at the Queen as she enters Horse Guards Parade.
13–14 June – More than 80 arrests are made during clashes between white power skinheads and black people in Coventry, where the National Front is planning a march later this month, on the same day as an anti-racist concert by The Specials.
15 June – Lord Scarman opens an enquiry into the Brixton riots.
16 June – Liberal Party and SDP form an electoral pact – the SDP-Liberal Alliance.
17 June – General and war hero Sir Richard O'Connor dies in London shortly before his 92nd birthday.
20 June
* Rioting breaks out in Peckham, South London.
* HMS Ark Royal is launched.
21 June – A fire at Goodge Street tube station kills one person and injures 16.
23 June – Unemployment reaches 2,680,977, and Margaret Thatcher is warned that a further rise is likely.
24 June – The twelfth James Bond film – For Your Eyes Only – is released in UK cinemas. It is the fifth of seven films to star Roger Moore as James Bond and the final Bond film to be solely distributed by United Artists.
26 June – A Hawker Siddeley HS 748 operated by Dan-Air on a night mail flight crashes near Nailstone in Leicestershire, killing all three on board.

July

2 July – Four members of an Asian Muslim family are killed by arson at their home in Walthamstow, London; the attack is believed to have been racially motivated.
3 July – Hundreds of Asians and skinheads riot in Southall, London, following disturbances at the Hamborough Tavern public house, which is severely damaged by fire.
5 July – Toxteth riots break out in Liverpool and first use is made of CS gas by British police. Less serious riots occur in the Handsworth district of Birmingham as well as Wolverhampton city centre, parts of Coventry, Leicester and Derby, and also in the Buckinghamshire town High Wycombe.
7 July – 43 people are charged with theft and violent disorder following a riot in Wood Green, North London.
8 July
* Joe McDonnell becomes the fifth IRA hunger striker to die.
* Inner-city rioting continues when a riot in Moss Side, Manchester, sees more than 1,000 people besiege the local police station. However, the worst rioting in Toxteth has now ended.
* British Leyland ends production of the Austin Maxi, one of its longest-running cars, after 12 years.
9 July – Rioting breaks out in Woolwich, London.
10 July
* Rioting breaks out in London, Birmingham, Leeds, Leicester, Ellesmere Port, Luton, Sheffield, Portsmouth, Preston, Newcastle-upon-Tyne, Derby, Southampton, Nottingham, High Wycombe, Bedford, Edinburgh, Wolverhampton, Stockport, Blackburn, Huddersfield, Reading, Chester and Aldershot.
* Two days of rioting in Moss Side, Manchester, draw to a close, during which there has been extensive looting of shops. Princess Road, the main road through the area, will be closed for several days while adjacent buildings and gas mains damaged by rioting and arson are made safe.
11 July – A further wave of rioting breaks out in Bradford, West Yorkshire.
13 July
* The IRA hunger strike death toll reaches six when Martin Hurson dies.
* Margaret Thatcher announces that police will be able to use rubber bullets, water cannons and armoured vehicles against urban rioters. Labour leader Michael Foot blames the recent wave of rioting on the Conservative government's economic policies, which have seen unemployment rise by more than 70% in the last two years.
15 July – Police clash with black youths in Brixton once again, this time after police raid properties in search of petrol bombs which are never found.
16 July – Labour narrowly hang on to the Warrington seat in a by-election, fighting off a strong challenge from Roy Jenkins for the Social Democratic Party.
17 July – Official opening of the Humber Bridge by the Queen.
20 July – Michael Heseltine tours Merseyside to examine the problems in the area, which has been particularly badly hit by the current recession.
25 July – Around 1,000 motorcyclists clash with police in Keswick, Cumbria.
27 July
* British Telecommunications Act separates British Telecom from the Royal Mail with effect from 1 October.
* The two-month-old daughter of Princess Anne and her husband Capt Mark Phillips is christened Zara Anne Elizabeth.
28 July – Margaret Thatcher blames IRA leaders for the recent IRA hunger striker deaths.
29 July – The wedding of Prince Charles and Lady Diana Spencer takes place at St Paul's Cathedral. More than 30 million viewers watch the wedding on television – the second highest television audience of all time in Britain.

August

Unknown date – Japanese carmaker Suzuki follows up the British success of its motorcycles by importing passenger cars to Britain for the first time, with first imported model being the Suzuki Alto, a small hatchback available with three or five doors and marketed as a competitor for the Mini and Citroen 2CV.
1 August – Kevin Lynch becomes the seventh IRA hunger striker to die.
2 August – Within 24 hours of Kevin Lynch's death, Kieran Doherty becomes the eighth IRA hunger striker to die.
8 August – The IRA hunger strike claims its ninth hunger striker so far with the death of Thomas McElwee.
9 August – Broadmoor Hospital falls under heavy criticism after the escape of a second prisoner in three weeks. The latest absconder is 32-year-old Alan Reeve, a convicted double murderer.
17 August – An inquiry opens in the Moss Side riots.
20 August
* The tenth IRA hunger striker, Michael Devine, dies in prison.
* Inflation has fallen to 10.9% – the lowest under this government.
* Minimum Lending Rate ceases to be set by the Bank of England.
24 August – Mark David Chapman is sentenced to 20 years to life in prison for killing John Lennon.
25 August – Britain's largest Enterprise Zone is launched on deindustrialised land on Tyneside.
26 August – Vauxhall launches the second generation Cavalier, built on General Motors J-Car platform, available for the first time with front-wheel drive and a hatchback.
27 August – Moira Stuart, 31, is appointed the BBC's first black newsreader.

September

September – Little Miss Bossy, the first book in the Little Miss series is first published.
1 September – Filling stations start selling motor fuel by the litre.
8 September
* Greenham Common Women's Peace Camp set up by women who have walked from Cardiff to RAF Greenham Common to protest at plans to site US nuclear missiles there.
* Sixteen Islington Labour councillors join the SDP following the defection of Labour MP Michael O'Halloran.
* The first episode of the long-running and iconic sitcom Only Fools and Horses is broadcast on BBC1.
10 September – Another Enterprise Zone is launched, the latest being in Wakefield, West Yorkshire.
14 September – Cecil Parkinson is appointed chairman of the Conservative Party.
16 September – The children's series Postman Pat is first broadcast on BBC1.
17 September – A team of divers begins removing gold ingots worth £40 million from the wreck of HMS Edinburgh, sunk off the coast of Norway in 1942.
18 September – David Steel tells delegates at the Liberal Party conference to "go back to your constituencies and prepare for government", hopes of which are boosted by the fact that most opinion polls now show the SDP-Liberal Alliance in the lead.
21 September – Belize is granted independence
23 September – Vauxhall launch their successful replacement for the Cavalier Mk1 the Cavalier Mk2.
25 September – Ford announces that its best-selling Cortina will be discontinued next year and its replacement will be called the Sierra.
29 September – Football mourns the legendary former Liverpool manager Bill Shankly, who dies that day at the age of 68 after suffering a heart attack.

October

1 October – Bryan Robson, 24-year-old midfielder, becomes Britain's most expensive footballer in a £1.5million move from West Bromwich Albion to Manchester United.
3 October – Hunger strikes at the Maze Prison in Northern Ireland end after seven months. The final six hunger strikers have been without food for between 13 and 55 days.
5 October – Depeche Mode release their debut album Speak & Spell.
7 October – British Leyland launches the Triumph Acclaim, a four-door small family saloon built in collaboration with Japanese car and motorcycle giant Honda at the Cowley plant in Oxford. It is based on the Japanese Honda Ballade, has front-wheel drive, is powered by a 1.3-litre 70 bhp petrol engine and is between the Ford Escort and Ford Cortina in terms of size.
10 October – Chelsea Barracks bombed by the Provisional Irish Republican Army, killing two people.
12 October – British Leyland announces the closure of three factories – a move which will cost nearly 3,000 people their jobs.
12 October – 22 December – Original run of Granada Television serial Brideshead Revisited.
13 October – Opinion polls show that Margaret Thatcher is still unpopular as Conservative leader due to her anti-inflationary economic measures, which have now come under fire from her predecessor Edward Heath.
15 October – Norman Tebbit tells fellow Conservative MPs: "I grew up in the thirties with an unemployed father. He didn't riot. He got on his bike and looked for work and he kept looking until he found it".
19 October
* British Telecom announces that the telegram will be discontinued next year after 139 years in use.
* Scottish Celtic footballer Johnny Doyle, 30, is accidentally electrocuted while building his new home.
22 October
* The case of Dudgeon v United Kingdom is decided by the European Court of Human Rights, which rules that the continued existence of laws in Northern Ireland criminalising consensual gay sex is in contravention of the European Convention on Human Rights.
* The Croydon North West by-election takes place following the death of the sitting Conservative MP Robert Taylor on 18 June; the Liberal candidate Bill Pitt wins with a large majority.
23 October – The Liberal-SDP Alliance tops a MORI poll on 40%, putting them ahead of Labour on 31% and the Conservatives on 27%.
24 October – CND anti-nuclear march in London attracts over 250,000 people.
26 October – Rock band Queen release their Greatest Hits compilation album; it becomes the all-time best-selling album in the United Kingdom.
29 October – A patient dies of pneumocystis pneumonia at the Royal Brompton Hospital, London. He is the first person in the UK to die of an AIDS related illness. An investigation by ITN in 2021 will identify him as John Eaddie of Bournemouth.
30 October – Nicholas Reed, chief of the Euthanasia charity Exit, is jailed for years for aiding and abetting suicides.

November

1 November
* The West Indian island nation of Antigua and Barbuda becomes independent of the United Kingdom.
* British Leyland's 58,000-strong workforce begins a strike over pay.
2 November – The TV licence increases in price from £34 to £46 for a colour TV, and £12 to £15 for black and white.
13 November – The Queen opens the final phase of the Telford Shopping Centre, nearly a decade after development began on the first phase of what is now one of the largest indoor shopping centres in Europe in the Shropshire new town.
16 November – Production of the Vauxhall Astra commences in Britain at the Ellesmere Port plant in Cheshire. The Astra was launched a year ago but until now has been produced solely at the Opel plant in West Germany.
18 November – The England national football team beats Hungary 1–0 at Wembley Stadium to qualify for the World Cup in Spain next summer, with the only goal being scored by Ipswich Town striker Paul Mariner. It is the first time they have qualified for the tournament since 1970.
23 November – 1981 United Kingdom tornado outbreak, the largest recorded tornado outbreak in European history.
25 November – A report into the Brixton Riots, which scarred inner-city London earlier this year, points the finger of blame at the social and economic problems which have been plaguing Brixton and many other inner-city areas across England.
26 November – The Crosby by-election, caused by the death of the sitting MP Graham Page on 1 October, is held; Shirley Williams wins the seat for the SDP, overturning a Conservative majority of nearly 20,000 votes.

December

8 December
* Severe snow storms hit the UK as temperatures plummet to the lowest in any December on record since 1874 and the heaviest snow falls since 1878. The snow storms continue in waves until 26/27 December.
*Arthur Scargill becomes leader of the National Union of Mineworkers.
9 December – Michael Heseltine announces a £95 million aid package for the inner cities.
11 December – Seer Green rail crash: a train crash in Seer Green near Gerrards Cross, Buckinghamshire kills four people and seriously injures five others. The crash was caused by a combination of the severe blizzards and human error.
12 December – The first case of AIDS in the UK is diagnosed.
19 December – An opinion poll shows that Margaret Thatcher is now the most unpopular postwar British prime minister and that the SDP-Liberal Alliance has the support of up to 50% of the electorate.
19 December – Penlee lifeboat disaster: The crew of the MV Union Star and the life-boat Solomon Browne sent to rescue them are all killed in heavy seas off Cornwall; some of the bodies are never found.

Undated

Inflation has fallen to 11.9%, the second lowest annual level since 1973, but has been largely achieved by the mass closure of heavy industry facilities that have contributed to the highest postwar levels of unemployment.
In spite of the continuing rise in employment, the British economy improves from 4% contraction last year to 0.8% overall growth this year.
First Urban Development Corporations set up in London Docklands and Merseyside.
First purpose-built Hindu temple in the British Isles formally opens in Slough.
The London department store Whiteleys closes, after 107 years in business.
Last manufacture of coal gas, at Millport, Isle of Cumbrae.
Perrier Comedy Awards first presented to the best shows on the Edinburgh Festival Fringe.
Suzuki, the Japanese manufacturer famous for producing motorcycles, imports passenger cars to the United Kingdom for the first time. The first model sold in Britain is the entry-level Alto, with the SJ four-wheel drive set to go on sale in 1982.
In spite of the continued rise in unemployment, the British economy improved with 1.8% overall growth for the year compared to 3% overall contraction in 1980.
New car sales in the United Kingdom fall to just over 1.4 million. The Ford Cortina enjoys its 10th year as Britain's best-selling car since 1967, while the new front-wheel drive Ford Escort is close behind in second place. British Leyland's new Metro is Britain's fourth most popular new car with nearly 100,000 sales. The Datsun Cherry, eighth in the sales charts, is the most popular foreign car in Britain this year.

Publications

Alasdair Gray's novel Lanark: A Life in Four Books.
Terry Pratchett's novel Strata.
Salman Rushdie's novel Midnight's Children.
D. M. Thomas' novel The White Hotel.
Roger Hargreaves' children's book Little Miss Bossy, first of the Little Miss series.

Births

6 January – Andrew Britton, novelist
11 January
* Jamelia, singer
* Tom Meighan, singer-songwriter
19 January – Thaila Zucchi, singer and actress
22 January
* Richard Butcher, footballer
* Guy Wilks, rally driver
25 January – Alex Partridge, rower
29 January – Rachna Khatau, actress
30 January – Peter Crouch, footballer
31 January – Gemma Collins, media personality and businesswoman
1 February – Rob Austin, racing driver
8 February – Ralf Little, actor and footballer
9 February – Tom Hiddleston, actor
10 February – Holly Willoughby, television presenter
16 February – Alison Rowatt, Scottish field hockey midfielder
17 February – Andrew Stephenson, politician
26 March – Tim Dunn, British railway historian, TV presenter, geographer and travel editor
27 March – Terry McFlynn, Northern Irish footballer
1 April – Hannah Spearritt, pop singer and actress
3 April – Arfius Arf, artist
10 April – Liz McClarnon, pop singer
23 April – Gemma Whelan, actress and comedian
25 April – John McFall, paralympic sprinter
3 May – Charlie Brooks, actress
5 May – Craig David, singer
13 May – Luciana Berger, Labour Member of Parliament
15 May – Zara Phillips, equestrienne, daughter of Anne, Princess Royal
16 May
* Joseph Morgan, actor
* Jim Sturgess, actor
17 May – Leon Osman, footballer
20 May – Sean Conlon, musician
22 May – Sara Pascoe, writer and comedian
26 May – James Wong, ethnobotanist, broadcaster and garden designer
29 May – Rochelle Clark, English rugby union player
9 June
* Helen Don-Duncan, English backstroke swimmer
* Alex Neil, Scottish football player and manager
* Anoushka Shankar, sitar player
11 June – Alistair McGregor, Scottish field hockey goalkeeper
23 June – Antony Costa, singer
25 June – Sheridan Smith, actress
27 June – Sam Hoare, actor and director
28 June – Joanne Ellis, field hockey midfielder
30 June – Tom Burke, actor
9 July – Jamie Thomas King, actor
14 July – Lee Mead, actor and singer
8 August – Bradley McIntosh, pop singer
11 August – Sandi Thom, Scottish singer & songwriter
17 August
* Johnny Mercer, army officer and Conservative Member of Parliament
* Chris New, actor
20 August – Ben Barnes, actor
27 August – Olivia Lee, comedian, actress and writer
28 August – Kezia Dugdale, Scottish Labour leader
2 September – Chris Tremlett, cricketer
3 September – Fearne Cotton, television presenter
7 September – Natalie McGarry, SNP Member of Parliament convicted of embezzlement
11 September – Mark Rhodes, singer, runner up from Pop Idol series 2 and TV host
15 September – Richard Alexander, English field hockey defender
16 September – David Mitchell, Scottish field hockey defender
21 September – Sarah Whatmore, English singer-songwriter
23 September – Helen Richardson, field hockey defender
29 September – Suzanne Shaw, actress and singer
1 October – [Deborah James Stronge (Mid-Armagh MP)|James (journalist)|Deborah James], journalist and cancer campaigner
9 October
* Rupert Friend, actor, producer and screenwriter
* Jess Phillips, politician
10 October – Stinson Hunter, filmmaker and journalist
13 October
*Ryan Ashford, footballer
*Kele Okereke, singer and guitarist
25 October – Shaun Wright-Phillips, footballer
31 October – Kate Granger, physician and fundraiser
7 November – George Pilkington, footballer
13 November – Tom Ferrier, racing driver
15 November – Jared O'Mara, politician and fraudster
17 November – Sarah Harding, pop singer
20 November
* Scott Hutchison, Scottish singer-songwriter and guitarist
* Andrea Riseborough, actress
* Kimberley Walsh, singer
26 November – Natasha Bedingfield, singer
27 November – Gary Lucy, actor and model
29 November – Tom Hurndall, photographer
30 November – Lisa Head, soldier
1 December – Kathryn Drysdale, actress
9 December – Gemma Fay, Scottish international football goalkeeper
15 December
* Michelle Dockery, actress
* Victoria Summer, actress
21 December – Sajid Mahmood, English cricketer
28 December – Frank Turner, punk and folk singer-songwriter
29 December – Charlotte Riley, actress
Undated – Sunjeev Sahota, novelist

Deaths

January

1 January – Sir John Stacey, RAF air chief marshal
2 January – Victor Carin, actor
3 January
* Princess Alice, Countess of Athlone, member of the royal family
* Edith Marguerite Harrington, grandmother of Queen Camilla
4 January – Gordon Charles Steele, Royal Navy captain and Victoria Cross recipient
5 January – Sir James Martin, aircraft engineer
6 January
* Ernestine Bowes-Lyon, aristocrat and cousin of the Queen Mother
* A. J. Cronin, Scottish novelist
* Tom Litterick, politician
7 January – Alvar Lidell, broadcaster and journalist
9 January
* Ronald Brittain, Army sergeant-major
* Sammy Davies, racing driver
* William MacTaggart, Scottish artist
11 January
* Hubert Hunt, World War I air ace
* Malcolm MacDonald, politician and diplomat, son of Ramsay MacDonald
12 January
* Isobel Elsom, actress
* Sir John Fearns Nicoll, colonial administrator
* Joseph Sparks, trade unionist and politician
13 January – Herbert Henry Farmer, Presbyterian minister
15 January – Graham Whitehead, racing driver
16 January
* Bernard Lee, actor
* Lady Delia Peel, courtier
17 January
* Euston Baker, Army brigadier
* Sir Thomas Jacomb Hutton, Army lieutenant-general
18 January – David Stirling Anderson, engineer
19 January
* Eric Boon, boxer
* Charles Hampton Johnston, politician
* William John McCallien, geologist
20 January – Derick Heathcoat-Amory, 1st Viscount Amory, politician, Chancellor of the Exchequer
21 January
* Cuth Harrison, racing driver
* B. T. Hopkins, Welsh poet
* James Stronge, Northern Irish politician and son of Sir Norman Stronge
* Sir Norman Stronge, 8th Baronet, Northern Irish politician and father of James Stronge
* Tommy Weston, jockey
22 January
* Gladys Vasey, artist
* Sir Arnold Waters, World War I soldier and Victoria Cross recipient
23 January
* Sir Andrew Shonfield, economist
* Christopher Simcox, convicted murderer
27 January
* Roger Burford, screenwriter and novelist
* Brenda Colvin, landscape architect
* Cecil Davidge, lawyer and academic
29 January
* John Cecil Kelly-Rogers, aviator
* Vernon Stewart Laurie, stockbroker and Army colonel

February

2 February – Jack Parsons, English cricketer
4 February
* Percival Beale, banker, Chief Cashier of the Bank of England
* Joan Ingram, tennis player
* Douglas McAlpine, neurologist
* Sir John Whitworth-Jones, RAF air chief marshal
5 February – Sir William Scotter, Army general
6 February – Gilbert Ashton, English cricketer
10 February – Sir Hubert Shirley-Smith, civil engineer
11 February
* Sir Charles Daniel, Royal Navy admiral
* Franz Sondheimer, German-born British-Israeli chemist
12 February
* Murray Deloford, tennis player
* Bruce Fraser, 1st Baron Fraser of North Cape, admiral in both World Wars
13 February – Eric Whelpton, writer, teacher and traveller
17 February – David Garnett, writer and publisher
18 February – Peter Cavanagh, comic impressionist
19 February
* Islwyn Davies, Anglican priest
* Olive Gilbert, actress and singer
* Leonard Plugge, radio entrepreneur and politician
20 February – Brian Sellers, English cricketer and manager
22 February – Guy Butler, Olympic athlete
25 February – Mary Sykes, lawyer and politician
26 February
* Robert Aickman, writer and conservationist
* Gerald Cross, actor
* Roger Tonge, actor
* Sir William Oliver, Army lieutenant-general
27 February – Alexander Boyd Stewart, organic chemist
28 February – Talbot Rothwell, screenwriter

March

1 March – Martyn Lloyd-Jones, Welsh Congregationalist minister and physician
4 March
* Nancy Elder, chess player
* Ian Engelmann, television producer
* Torin Thatcher, actor
5 March
* Winifred Nicholson, artist
* Totti Truman Taylor, actress
6 March
* George Geary, English cricketer
* Garry Marsh, actor
* Roland Stobbart, motorcycle racer
8 March
* Nigel Birch, Baron Rhyl, politician
* Joseph Henry Woodger, biologist
10 March
* Bill Hopkins, composer
* Lewis Pugh, Army major-general
11 March – Sir Maurice Oldfield, intelligence chief
12 March – William Denholm Barnetson, newspaper proprietor and television executive
13 March
* Wrey Gardiner, writer and poet
* Sir Patrick Hennessy, industrialist
* Robin Maugham, 2nd Viscount Maugham, peer and author
14 March
* Ken Barrington, English cricketer
* Billie Bristow, screenwriter
17 March
* Nicholas Stuart Gray, actor and playwright
* Q. D. Leavis, literary critic
18 March – Pat Mullins, greyhound trainer
19 March – John Deane Potter, journalist
22 March – Dudley Carew, journalist, writer and critic
23 March
* Sir Claude Auchinleck, field marshal
* Mike Hailwood, motorcycle racer
* Beatrice Tinsley, British-born New Zealand astronomer
* Bob Wall, football administrator
24 March – George Charles Gray, organist
25 March – Frank Harold Cleobury, Anglican priest
26 March – C. D. Darlington, biologist, mycologist and geneticist
28 March
* Gordon Halland, police officer, first commandant of Hendon Police College
* Bernard Hollowood, writer, cartoonist and economist
* Helen Adelaide Lamb, artist
29 March
* Clive Sansom, British-born Australian poet
* David Prophet, racing driver
30 March – Douglas Lowe, Olympic athlete
31 March – Enid Bagnold, author and playwright

April

1 April – Dennis Feltham Jones, science fiction writer
3 April – Will Owen, politician
4 April – Donald Tyerman, journalist
7 April
* Lorne Carr-Harris, ice hockey player
* Kit Lambert, record producer
8 April
* Eric Rogers, film composer
* Edward Russell, 2nd Baron Russell of Liverpool, peer, lawyer and writer
13 April
* Albert Burdon, actor and comedian
* Gwyn Thomas, novelist
14 April – Christian Darnton, composer
15 April – Blake Butler, actor
16 April
* George Cambridge, 2nd Marquess of Cambridge, member of the royal family
* Peggy Duff, political activist and journalist
* Eric Hollies, English cricketer
* J. E. Meredith, Presbyterian minister and writer
* Sir Gerald Thesiger, judge
17 April – Francis Rex Parrington, palaeontologist
19 April
* Irene Baird, British-Canadian novelist and journalist
* Colin Jackson, politician
20 April – John Alan Lyde Caunter, Army brigadier-general
21 April
* Dorothy Eady, antiques caretaker and folklorist
* Ivor Newton, pianist
* Lesley Souter, electrical engineer
22 April – Philip Rea, 2nd Baron Rea, peer, politician and banker
23 April – Sir James Angus Gillan, Olympic rower
24 April – J. C. P. Miller, mathematician and computing pioneer
25 April – Isaline Blew Horner, Indologist
26 April – Robert Garioch, poet and translator
28 April
* Steve Currie, bassist of T. Rex
* Philip Lincoln, RAF air commodore
* Marjorie Rackstraw, educationalist and social worker
29 April
* Sir Richard Goodbody, Army general
* Bernard Mason, businessman

May

1 May – Barry Jones, actor
2 May
* Joseph Foster Cairns, Northern Irish politician
* Sir Walter Couchman, Royal Navy admiral
4 May – Alan William Greenwood, zoologist and geneticist
5 May
* Sir Martin Lindsay, 1st Baronet, polar explorer and Army colonel
* Bobby Sands, volunteer in the Provisional Irish Republican Army and member of parliament
6 May – Gordon Parry, film director
9 May
* Ralph Allen, footballer
* Doris Harcourt, socialite
* Lechmere Thomas, Army major-general
10 May – Geoffrey Stevens, politician
15 May – Margery Corbett Ashby, politician
16 May – Keith Murray, ceramic and glass artist
17 May
* Alan Gowen, rock keyboardist
* W. K. C. Guthrie, classical scholar
* Sir Manley Laurence Power, Royal Navy admiral
18 May
* Verity Bargate, novelist
* Reginald Capell, 9th Earl of Essex, peer
* Sir Graham Savage, civil servant
19 May – Collingwood Ingram, ornithologist and gardener
23 May
* Rayner Heppenstall, writer and radio producer
* Donald Macintyre, Royal Navy captain and historian
24 May – Jack Warner, actor
27 May
* Kit Pedler, medical scientist and author
* Anne Pennington, philologist
28 May
* Manuel Kissen, Lord Kissen, lawyer
* Charles Lamb, Royal Navy commander
* Sir Matthew Stevenson, civil servant
* John Bryan Ward-Perkins, archaeologist
29 May – John Dykes Bower, organist
31 May – Barbara Ward, Baroness Jackson of Lodsworth, economist and writer

June

1 June – Robert Appleby Bartram, Army colonel
3 June – Audrey Smith, cryobiologist
8 June – Lydia Lopokova, ballet dancer and widow of John Maynard Keynes
10 June
* John Boyd, Army brigadier and bacteriologist
* Sir Trevor Evans, Welsh journalist
13 June – Joan Benham, actress
14 June – Sir Ronald Holmes, colonial administrator
15 June
* Rhoda Birley, gardener
* Robert Sidney Cahn, chemist
* Philip Toynbee, author and communist
16 June – Hans Coper, potter
17 June
* Ike Fowler, Welsh rugby player
* Sir Richard O'Connor, Army general
18 June
* Stan Brogden, rugby player
* Richard Goolden, actor
* Pamela Hansford Johnson, novelist, playwright and poet
* Robert Taylor, politician
20 June – Gordon Lang, Welsh preacher and politician
22 June – Sir Robert George Howe, diplomat
24 June
* Leslie Bennington, Royal Navy captain
* Josh Cooper, cryptographer
* Graeme Haldane, Scottish engineer
27 June
* Paul Brunton, author
* Gordon Fraser, publisher
* Charles Jewson, businessman
* Arthur Wait, football chairman

July

4 July – Herbert Blagrave, English cricketer
6 July – Alix Liddell, writer and Guide leader
9 July – Leonard Crawley, golfer, cricketer and journalist
11 July – John Beeching Frankenburg, lawyer and politician
12 July – C. B. Williams, entomologist
13 July – Sir Robert Hinde, Army major-general
14 July – Sir Hugh Pughe Lloyd, RAF air chief marshal
17 July
* Sam Bartram, English footballer and manager
* John Gloag, writer on design
18 July – Janet Craxton, oboist
19 July
* David Belchem, Army major-general
* Louis Cheslock, British-born American violinist and composer
20 July – Sir Henry William Barnard, judge
21 July – Sir John Eaton, Royal Navy vice-admiral
23 July – Goronwy Roberts, Baron Goronwy-Roberts, politician
25 July – Alice Head, journalist and businesswoman
26 July
* Hope Rotherham, croquet player
* John Widgery, Baron Widgery, judge
28 July – Jack L. Bracelin, Wiccan priest
29 July – Sydney Kyte, bandleader

August

2 August – Mary Alexander Cook, museum curator
5 August
* Molly Holden, poet
* Sir Bernard Keen, soil scientist
* Reginald Kell, clarinettist
9 August – Ralph Bankes, landowner, last private owner of Corfe Castle and Kingston Lacy
10 August
* Sir Alan Lascelles, courtier and civil servant
* James Parkes, Anglican clergyman, historian and social activist
11 August – Sir George Dick-Lauder, 12th Baronet, author and soldier
12 August
* Howard Bone, Royal Navy captain
* John Hely-Hutchinson, 7th Earl of Donoughmore, peer
14 August – Bob Lilley, World War II soldier
15 August – Sir Humphrey Waldock, lawyer
16 August – Denys Coop, cinematographer
18 August – Athol Forbes, World War II air ace
19 August – Jessie Matthews, actress, singer and dancer
20 August – Sir Charles Woolley, colonial administrator
21 August – J. R. L. Anderson, journalist
22 August – Mairi Chisholm, World War I nurse
24 August – Margery Blackie, physician
25 August – Aileen Despard, actress
26 August
* Cresswell Clementi, RAF air vice-marshal
* Peter Eckersley, television producer
28 August – Guy Stevens, record producer and band manager
29 August
* Joyce Gardner, billiards player
* James Ralston Kennedy Paterson, radiologist
30 August
* Gerald Bridgeman, 6th Earl of Bradford, peer
* T. B. W. Reid, philologist
* Rita Webb, actress
31 August – Dave Potter, motorcycle racer

September

3 September – Alec Waugh, novelist and brother of Evelyn Waugh
4 September
* Kenneth Cooper, Army major-general
* David Peel, actor
5 September
* Emery Reves, writer, publisher and literary agent
* Donald Sinclair, hotel owner
* Peter J. Young, astrophysicist
6 September – David Crawford, diplomat
7 September – Kathleen Guthrie, artist
8 September – Bill Shankly, Scottish-born football manager
9 September – Sir Gilmour Jenkins, civil servant
11 September
* Harold Bennett, actor
* Molly, Lady Huggins, activist and philanthropist
* Sir Rob Lockhart, Army general
* Henry Spence, politician
14 September – Mary Potter, painter
17 September – Edward Barrington de Fonblanque, Army major-general and aide-de-camp to King George VI
18 September – Brinley Richards, Welsh poet and author
19 September – Ruth Tongue, storyteller and writer
20 September – Hugh Blandford, chess player
21 September
* George Nelson, 8th Earl Nelson, peer and businessman
* Nigel Patrick, actor
22 September – C. W. Hume, animal welfare worker and writer
23 September – Sam Costa, crooner, radio actor and disc jockey
24 September – John Ruddock, actor
27 September – Sir Stanley Davidson, physician
28 September – Edward Boyle, Baron Boyle of Handsworth, politician
29 September
* Ron Maudsley, legal scholar
* Tommy Moore, rock drummer
* Frances Yates, historian
30 September
* Roy John, Welsh rugby union player
* Boyd Neel, orchestral conductor
* Sir John Rennie, intelligence officer

October

1 October
* John Collier Frederick Hopkins, mycologist
* Sir Graham Page, lawyer and politician
6 October – Sir Eric Eastwood, radar engineer
7 October – Dennis Leston, entomologist
8 October – Arthur Allen, politician
12 October
* Robert McKenzie, political analyst
* Enzo Plazzotta, sculptor
13 October – Samuel Hood, 6th Viscount Hood, peer and diplomat
15 October – Philip Fotheringham-Parker, racing driver
19 October – Johnny Doyle, Scottish footballer
20 October
* Sir Alec Coryton, RAF air chief marshal
* Catherwood Learmonth, legal administrator
* James S. Meadows, politician
21 October – David Llewellyn, Welsh miner and trade unionist
22 October – David Cecil, 6th Marquess of Exeter, peer and Olympic athlete
23 October – Reg Butler, sculptor
24 October – Inger K. Frith, archer
25 October
* Cynthia Harnett, children's author
* Eric Woodburn, actor
26 October – Kenneth Howorth, Metropolitan Police officer
27 October
* Herbert Cecil Benyon Berens, accountant
* Sir Randle Feilden, Army major-general
* Richard Llewelyn-Davies, Baron Llewelyn-Davies, architect
* John Warburton, actor
30 October
* Terry Bishop, screenwriter and film director
* Maurice Fogel, mentalist
* Denys Rhodes, writer
31 October – Charles Murison, Army major-general

November

1 November
* Cyril Carr, politician
* Richard Howard, Anglican priest and author
* Patrick Dunbar Ritchie, chemist and artist
2 November – Kenneth Oakley, physical anthropologist
5 November
* Helen Blackler, phycologist and botanical collector
* Sir Harold Vincent, English cricketer
6 November
* Digby George Gerahty, novelist
* Douglas Vernon Hubble, physician
* Beryl Hutchinson, World War I nurse
7 November
* Arthur Lovegrove, actor and playwright
* Robert Maxwell Ogilvie, classical scholar
* Sidney Robertson-Rodger, war artist
8 November
* Tim Brookshaw, jockey
* Lionel Heald, lawyer and politician
9 November – Willis Grant, organist
12 November – Sir Gilbert Rennie, colonial administrator
14 November – Robert Bradford, Northern Irish politician
17 November – Colin Winter, Anglican bishop
22 November – Sir Hans Adolf Krebs, physician, biochemist and Nobel laureate
23 November – Sir Olaf Caroe, colonial administrator
24 November – Archibald Thomas John Dollar, geologist and seismologist
26 November – Vincent Bladen, British-Canadian economist
27 November – Richard S. Lambert, biographer and broadcaster
29 November
* Isabella Carrie, suffragette and teacher
* T. H. Marshall, sociologist
* William Vale, World War II air ace
30 November
* Val Gielgud, actor, director and broadcaster, brother of John Gielgud
* Charles Eric Maine, science fiction writer
* Sir Philip Southwell, industrialist

December

1 December – Sir James Monteith Grant, Scottish herald, Lord Lyon King of Arms
2 December – Leslie Baker, film executive
3 December – Charles Harvard Gibbs-Smith, historian
4 December
* Enid Welsford, writer
* Sir Robert Wright, surgeon
7 December – Gordon Rattray Taylor, author and journalist
8 December – Bob Lord, chairman of Burnley Football Club
9 December
* Brian McTigue, rugby player
* C. P. Taylor, playwright
10 December – John D. Eshelby, metallurgist
12 December – Sir Thomas Hobart Ellis, colonial administrator
13 December – Cornelius Cardew, composer and musician
14 December – Cyril Ayden Fisk, Methodist chaplain
15 December – Claud Cockburn, journalist
16 December
* Frank McLardy, Nazi collaborator
* Rose Winslade, engineering manager
17 December
* Sybil Gordon, opera singer
* Colin William MacLeod, classical scholar
* George Moon, actor
18 December
* Anthony Chaplin, 3rd Viscount Chaplin, peer
* Philip Lucas, aviator
* George Wilks, motorcycle racer
23 December – Paul Chambers, industrialist
26 December – Amber Reeves, feminist writer and scholar
27 December
* Sir Charles Evans, Royal Navy vice-admiral
* Reginald Harding, Army major-general