1982 in the United Kingdom

Events from the year 1982 in the United Kingdom. The year was dominated by the Falklands War.

Incumbents

Monarch – Elizabeth II
Prime Minister – Margaret Thatcher

Events

January

1 January – ITV launches three regional TV stations – Central, TVS (Television South) and TSW (Television South West), replacing ATV Midlands, Southern Television and Westward Television respectively.
2 January
*The Welsh Army of Workers claims responsibility for a bomb explosion at the Birmingham headquarters of Severn Trent Water.
*British Rail retires its last Class 55 Deltic diesel-electric locomotives from service.
10–15 January – The lowest ever UK temperature of −27.2 °C is recorded at Braemar, in Aberdeenshire. This equals the record set in the same place in 1895, and the record will be equalled again at Altnaharra in 1995.
11 January – Mark Thatcher, son of the Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher, disappears in the Sahara desert during the Paris-Dakar rally.
14 January – Mark Thatcher is found safe and well in the Sahara, six days after going missing.
18 January – "A Complaint of Rape", the third episode of BBC One fly on the wall documentary Police, showing police treating a female complainant dismissively, is broadcast, leading to changes in police treatment of rape allegations.
21 January – Miners vote against strike action and accept the National Coal Board offer of a 9.3% pay rise.
26 January – Unemployment in the United Kingdom is recorded at over 3,000,000 people for the first time since the 1930s. However, the 11.5% of the workforce currently unemployed is approximately half of the record percentage which was reached half a century ago.

February

February – Korean cars are imported to Britain for the first time with the launch of the Hyundai Pony, a range of three and five-door hatchbacks similar in size to the Ford Escort.
1 February – Sales of tabloid newspapers are reported to have been boosted substantially since last summer by the introduction of bingo. The Sun has reportedly enjoyed the biggest rise in sales, now selling more than 4,000,000 copies a day on a regular basis.
5 February – Laker Airways collapses, leaving 6,000 passengers stranded, with debts of £270,000,000.
6 February – The Queen commemorates her Pearl Jubilee.
12 February – Opening of the first Next clothing store, a rebranding of the merged Joseph Hepworth and Kendall chains masterminded by George Davies. It specialises in women's clothing.
19 February – The DeLorean car factory in Belfast is put into receivership.
22 February – The Apostolic Delegation is promoted to the Apostolic Nunciature to Great Britain by Pope John Paul II; the first pro-nuncio is Bruno Heim.
23 February – The Glasgow-registered coal ship St. Bedan is bombed and sunk by an IRA unit driving a hijacked pilot boat on Lough Foyle in Northern Ireland.
25 February – The European Court of Justice rules that schools in Britain cannot allow corporal punishment against the wishes of parents.
27 February – The D'Oyly Carte Opera Company gives its last Gilbert and Sullivan performance at the end of a final London season, having been in near-continuous existence since 1875.

March

3 March – The Queen opens the Barbican Centre, a performing arts venue in the City of London.
12 March – Closure of Queen Street Mill, Burnley, the last steam-driven weaving shed to work commercially.
18 March
* A legal case brought by Mary Whitehouse against the National Theatre concerning alleged obscenity in the play The Romans in Britain ends after the Attorney General intervenes.
* An Argentine scrap metal dealer raises the Argentine flag in South Georgia, Falkland Islands – a British overseas colony.
19 March – Argentines land on South Georgia Island, precipitating the Falklands War.
25 March – The Hillhead by-election in Glasgow is held as a result of the death of sitting Conservative MP Sir Tam Galbraith on 2 January. It is won by Roy Jenkins for the Social Democratic Party, whose dream of an electoral breakthrough looks strong as they still head most of the opinion polls.
29 March – Royal assent in London to the Canada Act 1982 sets the stage for the repatriation of the Canadian Constitution.

April

1 April – A twelve-year-old unnamed Birmingham boy becomes one of the youngest people in England and Wales to be convicted of murder after he admits murdering an eight-year-old boy, and is sentenced to be detained indefinitely.
2 April – Falklands War begins as Argentina invades the Falkland Islands.
4 April – Falklands War: The British Falkland Islands government surrenders, placing the islands in Argentine control.
5 April – Falklands War: Royal Navy task force sets sail to the Falklands from Portsmouth.
7 April – Britain declares a 200-mile "exclusion zone" around the Falklands.
15 April – Actor Arthur Lowe dies suddenly of a stroke aged 66 after collapsing in his dressing room at The Alexandra, Birmingham, the previous day.
17 April – By proclamation of the Queen of Canada on Parliament Hill, Canada repatriates its constitution, granting full political independence from the United Kingdom; included is the country's first entrenched bill of rights.
21 April – Walsall F.C.'s hopes of becoming the first Football League club to ground-share are dashed when officials condemn their plans to sell their Fellows Park stadium and become tenants at the Molineux.
23 April
* The first British serviceman dies in the Falklands conflict, when his Sea King helicopter crashes.
24 April
* The Eurovision Song Contest is held in Harrogate, Yorkshire and is won by Germany.
25 April – Falklands War: Royal Marines recapture South Georgia.
29 April – Daniel and Christopher Smith, Britain's first twins conceived through in vitro fertilisation, are born to Josephine and Stewart Smith at the Royal Free Hospital in London.
30 April – The Conservatives return to the top of the opinion polls for the first time since late-1979, with the latest MORI poll showing that they have 43% of the vote, ahead of the SDP–Liberal Alliance.

May

1 May – Falklands War: Operation Black Buck – A Royal Air Force Vulcan bomber takes off from Ascension Island and bombs Stanley Airport.
2 May – Falklands War: nuclear submarine HMS Conqueror sinks the Argentine cruiser General Belgrano.
3 May – The cruise ship Queen Elizabeth 2 is converted into a troop ship to help in the Falklands War.
4 May – Falklands War: Type 42 destroyer HMS Sheffield is badly damaged by an Exocet missile. It sinks on 10 May.
21 May
* Falklands War: Royal Marines and paratroopers from the British Task Force land at San Carlos Bay on the Falkland Islands and raise the Union Jack.
* The Haçienda nightclub opens in Manchester.
21 May – Falklands War: frigate is sunk by Argentine aircraft in Falkland Sound, killing 22 sailors.
22 May – FA Cup holders Tottenham Hotspur draw 1–1 with Queen's Park Rangers in the Wembley final, forcing a replay. Tottenham are without their Argentine players Ossie Ardiles and Ricardo Villa, who have been temporarily removed from the team following barracking from rival fans over their home country's involvement in the war with Britain.
23 May – Falklands War: frigate HMS Antelope is hit by Argentine aircraft and explodes.
25 May – Falklands War: destroyer and requisitioned container ship are sunk; Coventry by two Argentine A-4C Skyhawks and Atlantic Conveyor by two Exocets.
26 May – Official opening of Kielder Water, a reservoir in Northumberland. It is the largest artificial lake in the UK by capacity and is surrounded by Kielder Forest; the largest planted woodland in Europe.
27 May
* The Beaconsfield by-election is held as a result of the death of sitting Conservative MP Sir Ronald Bell on 27 February. Tim Smith retains the seat for the Conservatives with a comfortable majority of 13,053 votes against the SDP–Liberal Alliance candidate Paul Tyler. Future Labour Prime Minister, Tony Blair finishes in third place with 3,886 votes, the only election of his political career that he will lose.
* Tottenham Hotspur win the FA Cup beating Queens Park Rangers 1–0 in a replay. A sixth-minute penalty from Glenn Hoddle is the only goal of the game which equals Aston Villa's record of seven FA Cup triumphs.
28 May
* Pope John Paul II's visit to the United Kingdom, the first by a reigning pope, begins at Gatwick Airport; he later meets the Queen in London.
* Falklands War: Battle of Goose Green commences, the first land battle of the war. Lieutenant-Colonel H. Jones is killed in an action for which he is awarded a posthumous Victoria Cross. British troops reach Darwin, Falkland Islands.
29 May
* Pope John Paul II's visit to the UK. Pope John Paul II visits Canterbury, the first time a pontiff has done so.
* Falklands War: Battle of Goose Green concludes when British paratroopers defeat a larger force of Argentine troops.
31 May – Falklands War: Battle of Stanley.
May – Alternative rock band The Smiths formed in Manchester by Johnny Marr and Morrissey.

June

June – All restrictions on hire purchase lifted.
3 June
* Israeli ambassador to the UK Shlomo Argov is shot in London, an event which provokes the 1982 Lebanon War; he dies in 2003 in Israel without regaining full consciousness.
* The Mitcham and Morden by-election is held as a result of the sitting Labour MP transferring his allegiance to the new SDP. Angela Rumbold gains the seat for the Conservatives, the first gain achieved by a ruling party at a by-election since 1961 and the last until 2017.
8 June
* U.S. President Ronald Reagan becomes the first American chief executive to address a joint session of Parliament.
* Falklands War: 48 British servicemen are killed when two supply ships are bombed by Argentine air strikes off Bluff Cove.
9 June – Twenty pence coin first issued into circulation.
11-12 June – Falklands War: Last battles of the war, at Mount Longdon, Mount Harriet and Two Sisters. Sergeant Ian McKay is killed at Mount Longdon, after which he is awarded a posthumous Victoria Cross.
14 June – Falklands War ends as British forces reach the outskirts of Stanley after "yomping" across East Falkland from San Carlos Bay. They arrive to find the Argentine forces flying white flags of surrender. The formal Argentine surrender in the Falklands War is signed this evening.
16 June – Welsh miners go on strike to support health workers demanding a 12% pay rise.
19 June – The body of "God's Banker", Roberto Calvi, chairman of Banco Ambrosiano, is found hanging beneath Blackfriars Bridge in London.
21 June – The first child of The Prince and Princess of Wales is born at St Mary's Hospital, London, the first birth in direct line of succession to the British throne to take place in a hospital.
22 June – A British Airways Boeing 747 suffers a temporary four-engine flameout and damage to the exterior of the plane, after flying through the otherwise undetected ash plume from Indonesia's Galunggung.
23 June – Support for the Conservative government continues to rise, mainly due to the success of the Falklands campaign, with a MORI opinion poll showing that they have a 51% approval rating.
24 June – The Coatbridge and Airdrie by-election in Scotland is held as a result of the death of sitting Labour MP James Dempsey on 12 May; Tom Clarke holds the seat for Labour.
25 June – Northern Ireland defeat hosts Spain 1–0 in the World Cup, later being knocked out in the quarter-finals.

July

2 July – Roy Jenkins is elected as Leader of the SDP.
3 July – ASLEF train drivers in the United Kingdom go on strike over hours of work, returning to work on July 18.
4 July – Fugitive murderer Barry Prudom, 37, commits suicide at Malton to escape arrest after a 17-day manhunt by North Yorkshire Police.
5 July – England draw 0–0 with hosts Spain and are eliminated from the World Cup in the second group stage. Ron Greenwood retires as England manager after five years and is succeeded by Ipswich Town manager Bobby Robson.
9 July – Michael Fagan breaks into Buckingham Palace and is apprehended after entering the royal bedroom.
15 July – Geoffrey Prime, a British GCHQ civil servant, is remanded in custody on charges under the Official Secrets Act 1911.
19 July – Home Secretary William Whitelaw announces that Michael Trestrail has resigned from the Metropolitan Police Service over a relationship with a male prostitute.
20 July – Hyde Park and Regents Park bombings: the Provisional IRA detonates two bombs in Central London, killing eight soldiers, wounding 47 people, and leading to the deaths of seven horses.
21 July – HMS Hermes, the Royal Navy flagship during the Falklands War, returns home to Portsmouth to a hero's welcome.
22 July
* Production of the Ford Cortina ends after twenty years and five generations, the final two of which were virtually identical. The Cortina's successor, the Sierra, will be built at Dagenham and in Belgium and will go on sale in the Autumn, though in slightly lower volumes than the smaller Escort which is now Ford's best-selling car.
* Exclusion zone around the Falklands is lifted.
* Margaret Thatcher rejects calls in parliament for a return of the death penalty for terrorist murder.
23 July – A coroner's jury returns a verdict of suicide on Roberto Calvi.

August

1 August – The government creates Britoil as the privatised successor to the British National Oil Corporation.
3 August – The Queen Elizabeth 2 returns to civilian use.
4 August – The first child of The Prince and Princess of Wales is christened William Arthur Philip Louis.
6 August – The Kessock Bridge in Inverness is opened by the Queen Mother.
28 August – Caryl Churchill's play Top Girls premieres at the Royal Court Theatre, London.
29 August – 65-year-old American Ashby Harper becomes the oldest person to swim the English Channel.
30 August – St David's Hall opens in Cardiff as the National Concert Hall and Conference Centre of Wales.

September

5 September – Air ace and war hero Sir Douglas Bader dies suddenly of heart failure aged 72 whilst being driven through Chiswick, London.
7 September – Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher expresses her concern at the growing number of children living in single-parent families, but says that she is not opposed to divorce.
16 September – The Gower by-election in Wales is held as a result of the death of sitting Labour MP Ifor Davies on 6 June; Gareth Wardell holds the seat for Labour.
22 September – An estimated 14% of the workforce is now reported to be unemployed.
23 September – Nigel Lawson announces that no industry should remain in state ownership unless there is an "overwhelming" case.
27 September – General Motors launches the Spanish-built Opel Corsa which will be sold in Britain from April next year as the Vauxhall Nova. The new front-wheel drive range of small hatchbacks and saloons will effectively replace the Chevette. However, the transport workers union has thrown the future of the new car which is expected to sell around 50,000 units a year, into jeopardy by blocking imports to Britain.
30 September
* Lord Denning delivers his last judgement as Master of the Rolls.
* After well over 100 years, the UK Inland Telegram service closes. Telegram figures peaked after the First World War with over 100m sent annually; by the time the service closes the annual figure is down to less than 3 million.

October

8 October – With the economy now climbing out of recession after more than two years, Margaret Thatcher vows to stick to her neoliberal economic policies, and blames previous governments for the decline that she inherited when entering power more than three years ago.
11 October – The Mary Rose, flagship of Henry VIII of England that sank in 1545, is raised from the Solent.
12 October – The London Victory Parade of 1982 is held to mark the end of the Falklands war.
15 October – The Ford Sierra is launched as a replacement for the long-running Cortina and its ultra-modern aerodynamic styling causes controversy among potential buyers who for years had been drawn to the conventional Cortina but it soon goes on to be a sales success.
21 October – Sinn Féin win their first seats on the Northern Ireland Assembly, with Gerry Adams winning the Belfast West seat.
27 October
* The Homosexual Offences (Northern Ireland) Order 1982 comes into effect, decriminalising homosexuality in Northern Ireland for those aged 18 or older.
* Three RUC officers are killed by an IRA bomb near Lurgan in Northern Ireland.
28 October – By-elections are held in Birmingham Northfield and Peckham as a result of the deaths of sitting Conservative MP Jocelyn Cadbury on 31 July and sitting Labour MP Harry Lamborn on 21 August. In a blow to the ruling Conservatives, Labour win both by-elections; the new MPs are John Spellar and Harriet Harman.

November

November – The Government announces that more than 400,000 council houses have been sold off under the right-to-buy scheme within the last three years.
1 November
* The Welsh language television station, S4C, launches in Wales. The first programme broadcast being SuperTed.
* Opinion polls show the Conservatives still firmly in the lead, suggesting that a general election will be held by next summer.
2 November – The fourth terrestrial television channel, Channel 4, begins broadcasting, the first programme broadcast being the game show Countdown, hosted by Richard Whiteley. Another flagship programme is the Liverpool-based soap opera Brookside.
7 November – The Thames Barrier is first publicly demonstrated.
12 November – Express Lift Tower in Northampton officially opened.
15 November – Unemployment remains in excess of 3,000,000 people – 13.8% of the workforce.
16 November – Comedian and actor Arthur Askey dies aged 82 in London only four months after his final performance.
28 November – Opinion polls show the Conservative government with an approval rating of up to 44% and well on course for a second successive electoral victory, 13 points ahead of Labour. Support for the Alliance has halved in the space of a year.

December

2 December – The Queen's Park by-election in Glasgow is held as a result of the death of sitting Labour MP Frank McElhone on 22 September. His widow, Helen McElhone, holds the seat for Labour.
3 December
* UK release of the film Gandhi. This will win eight Academy Awards, including Best Picture, Best Director and Best Actor four months later.
* UK release of the film animation The Plague Dogs based on the novel of the same name by Richard Adams; the film is controversial as it contains some violence.
6 December – Droppin Well bombing: The Irish National Liberation Army kills seventeen people in a bomb attack at the Droppin Well Inn, Ballykelly, County Londonderry.
10 December
* British chemist Aaron Klug wins the Nobel Prize in Chemistry "for his development of crystallographic electron microscopy and his structural elucidation of biologically important nucleic acid-protein complexes".
* John Robert Vane wins the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine jointly with Sune Bergström and Bengt I. Samuelsson "for their discoveries concerning prostaglandins and related biologically active substances".
12 December – Greenham Common Women's Peace Camp: 30,000 women hold hands and form a human chain around the 9-mile perimeter fence.
15 December – The British colony of Gibraltar gains a pedestrian link to Spain, as the gates which separated the two states are re-opened by the Spanish government after thirteen years.
23 December – More than 1,200 jobs are lost in the West Midlands when the Round Oak Steelworks at Brierley Hill closes after 125 years.

Undated

Inflation has fallen to a 10-year low of 8.6%, although some 1,500,000 jobs have reportedly been lost largely due to Government policy in attaining this end.
Vauxhall drops the Opel symbol from its cars.

Publications

Douglas Adams' comic novel Life, the Universe and Everything.
William Boyd's novel An Ice-Cream War.
Bruce Chatwin's novel On the Black Hill.
Shirley Conran's novel Lace.
Richard Dawkins' book The Extended Phenotype.
Sue Townsend's comic novel The Secret Diary of Adrian Mole, Aged 13¾.

Births

1 January
* Luke Rodgers, footballer
*Gemma Hunt, television host
4 January – Richard Logan, footballer
6 January – Eddie Redmayne, actor
9 January
* Catherine, Princess of Wales
* Robert Jenrick, politician
13 January – Ruth Wilson, actress
16 January – Preston, singer
19 January – Shaun Wallis, ice hockey player
21 January – Nick Duncombe, rugby union player
31 January – Allan McGregor, footballer
11 February – Natalie Dormer, actress
25 February – Chris Baird, footballer
26 February – Lisa Mason, gymnast
9 March – Paul 'Des' Ballard, children's television presenter
5 April – Hayley Atwell, actress
7 April – Kelli Young, singer
24 April – Laura Hamilton, children's television presenter
26 April – Jon Lee, singer and actor
28 April – Nikki Grahame, reality TV star
1 May – Jamie Dornan, Northern Irish actor
3 May – Rebecca Hall, actress and filmmaker
4 May – John Robins, comedian and radio presenter
9 May - Mark Bedworth, rugby union footballer
10 May – Adebayo Akinfenwa, footballer
15 May – Douglas Simpson, Scottish field hockey forward
19 May – Kevin Amankwaah, footballer
7 June – Amy Nuttall, actress and singer
12 June – James Tomlinson, English cricketer
17 June
*Arthur Darvill, British actor
*Jodie Whittaker, British actor
20 June – Example, rapper and singer-songwriter
21 June – William, Prince of Wales
8 July – James Graham, playwright
9 July – Toby Kebbell, actor
13 July – Simon Clist, footballer
18 July – Andrew Alexander, actor
28 July – Michael Rose, footballer
30 July – James Anderson, cricketer
6 August - Karl Davies, actor
10 August – Shaun Murphy, snooker player
14 August – Benjamin Cohen journalist, founder of PinkNews.co.uk
7 September – David Dawson, actor
12 September – Layla Moran, Liberal Democrat politician
22 September – Billie Piper, singer and actress
26 September – Rob Burrow, rugby league player and motor neurone disease campaigner
30 September – Michelle Marsh, model
4 October – YolanDa Brown, jazz saxophonist
7 October - Jermain Defoe, footballer
8 October – Glenn Kirkham, field hockey player
10 October – Dan Stevens, actor
21 October – David Mansouri, Scottish field hockey defender
26 October – Nicola Adams, boxer
28 October – Matt Smith, actor
4 November – Neil Mellor, footballer
9 November – Kieran Darlow, footballer
13 November – Adam Shantry, cricketer
14 November – Stephen Hughes, Scottish footballer
27 November – Tommy Robinson, political activist
30 November – Tony Bellew, boxer
5 December – Craig Farrell, English footballer
7 December – Jack Huston, actor
12 December – Louise Carroll, Scottish field hockey defender
14 December – Steve Sidwell, footballer
15 December - Charlie Cox, actor

Deaths

January

1 January – Margot Grahame, actress
2 January – Sir Tam Galbraith, politician
3 January
* Edward Russell, 26th Baron de Clifford, peer
* Wilfred Wood, World War I soldier and Victoria Cross recipient
4 January
* John Cordeaux, politician
* Wykeham Cornwallis, 2nd Baron Cornwallis, peer and cricketer
6 January – Sir John Bradley, RAF air marshal
7 January – Lady Pamela Smith, socialite
10 January
* Edward Colville, Army major-general
* Raymond Toole Stott, bibliographer
11 January
* Ronald Lewis, actor
* Sir Kenneth Strong, Army major-general
* Ivor Owen Thomas, politician and trade unionist
* Leslie Arthur Wilcox, artist
12 January
* Dorothy Howell, composer
* Frank Crowther Roberts, Army major-general and Victoria Cross recipient
14 January
* John Pennycuick, lawyer, judge and tennis player
* George Wood, Army major-general
15 January
* Sir Douglas Glover, Army colonel and politician
* Arthur Verney Hammond, Army major-general
* Robert Lynn, film and television director
16 January
* George Pargiter, Baron Pargiter, politician
* Sir Thomas Shirley, RAF vice-marshal
17 January – William Price, World War I air ace
18 January – Alec Robertson, music critic
19 January – Harry Hanan, cartoonist
21 January – Penelope Dudley-Ward, actress
24 January – Julian Snow, Baron Burntwood, politician
26 January – Ginger Lees, motorcycle racer
27 January – Frank John William Goldsmith, RMS Titanic survivor
29 January
* Philip Sargant Florence, economist
* Sir Rudolph Peters, biochemist
30 January
* Katherine Bacon, pianist
* Stanley Holloway, actor, comedian, singer and poet
31 January
* Ritchie Calder, journalist and academic
* Cyril Edward Gourley, Army captain and Victoria Cross recipient

February

1 February – Sir John Foster, politician
4 February
* Alex Harvey, Scottish-born blues/rock musician
* Anne Gillespie Shaw, Scottish engineer and businesswoman
5 February
* Ernest Bader, businessman and philanthropist
* Peter Opie, folklorist
* Ronald Welch, author
6 February
* Ben Nicholson, painter
* Frank Wilde, tennis player
7 February
* Roy W. Chappell, RAF air commodore
* Robert Lyell Mitchell, chemist
8 February
* Henry Drummond Wolff, politician
* Sir Cedric Morris, 9th Baronet, artist and art teacher
9 February – Phyllis Morris, actress and children's writer
11 February – Alfred Spinks, chemist and biologist
12 February
* Geoffrey Bullough, literary scholar
* Sir Philip Livingston, RAF air marshal
16 February – Sir Christopher Masterman, civil servant
17 February
* Sir Peter Cazalet, Royal Navy vice-admiral
* Iris Wedgwood, writer
18 February – J. M. Robson, geneticist and physicist
19 February – Dame Margery Perham, Africanist
20 February
* Alfhild Hovdan, Norwegian journalist who introduced the Trafalgar Square Christmas tree in 1947
* Isobel Wylie Hutchison, Arctic traveller and botanist
* Derek Jackson, physicist
21 February – W. E. Shewell-Cooper, gardener and gardening writer
22 February
* Annie Barnes, suffragist
* Wilfrid Westall, Anglican prelate
23 February – Elisabeth Kyle, journalist and author
24 February – Keith Henderson, artist
25 February – Sir Martin Flett, civil servant
26 February – Sir Robert Heatlie Scott, civil servant
27 February – Henry Gage, 6th Viscount Gage, peer

March

2 March – Sir Donald Hardman, air chief marshal
3 March – Ivy Cavendish-Bentinck, Duchess of Portland, aristocrat
7 March – John Hare, 1st Viscount Blakenham, politician
8 March – Rab Butler, politician
9 March – William Johnson, police officer
10 March – Harry Carter, typographer
11 March – Edmund Cooper, author and poet
13 March – William Fairhurst, bridge designer and chess player
14 March – Alfred Fairbank, calligrapher and author on handwriting
15 March – Edgell Rickword, poet and critic
16 March
* Walter Rangeley, Olympic athlete
* Sir Geoffrey Vickers, lawyer, administrator, writer and scientist
18 March – Barbara Tennant, actress
20 March – Roy Fox, bandleader and conductor
21 March
* Harry H. Corbett, actor
* Helena Rosa Wright, family planning pioneer
22 March
* Bob Foster, motorcycle racer
* Harold Goldblatt, Northern Irish actor and theatre director
* W. H. Marwick, economic historian
25 March – Thomas Lionel Hodgkin, Marxist historian
26 March
* John Gretton, 2nd Baron Gretton, peer and politician
* F. E. Halliday, academic, author and painter
* Sam Kydd, actor
27 March – Ted Lewis, crime fiction writer
29 March – Frederick George Mann, organic chemist
31 March
* Thomas Cadett, journalist
* Dave Clement, footballer

April

2 April – Arnold Benington, ornithologist
4 April – E. J. H. Nash, Anglican clergyman
5 April – Alexander Spearman, politician
9 April – Tom Dresser, World War I soldier and Victoria Cross recipient
10 April – Richard Walker, aerospace engineer
11 April – Barbara Strang, linguist
12 April
* Norman Denny, writer and translator
* Tony Greenwood, Baron Greenwood of Rossendale, politician
13 April – John Drummond, 15th Baron Strange, peer
15 April
* Arthur Lowe, actor
* Terry Parry, firefighter and trade unionist
17 April – Bridget Monckton, 11th Lady Ruthven of Freeland, peeress
24 April – Hilda Stewart Reid, novelist and historian
25 April – Celia Johnson, actress
28 April
* Nobby Clark, English cricketer
* Hiram Wild, botanist
30 April – Vernon Willey, 2nd Baron Barnby, peer and politician

May

1 May – William Primrose, violist
2 May
* Frederick William Anderson, geologist
* James Fitton, artist
4 May – Barnett Janner, Baron Janner, politician
5 May
* Sir Ian George Wilson Hill, physician
* Bob Shankly, Scottish footballer and manager
6 May
* Jennie Eirian Davies, Welsh politician and magazine editor
* Rosamond Harding, music scholar and writer
10 May
* Frank Lake, psychiatrist
* Ivy Pinchbeck, historian
11 May – Sir David Follett, curator, director of the Science Museum
12 May
* James Dempsey, politician
* Edward Ramsden Hall, racing driver
* Sir Ronald Bodley Scott, haematologist
* Humphrey Searle, composer
13 May – Billy Steel, Scottish footballer
14 May – Robert James, teacher
15 May – John Newbold, motorcycle racer
17 May
* Peter Boardman, mountaineer
* Joe Tasker, mountaineer
18 May – Ralph Reader, actor and songwriter
19 May
* Elwyn Jones, television writer and producer
* Frank Winnold Prentice, RMS Titanic crew member and survivor
* Corbet Woodall, television newsreader
21 May
* Jean Coleman, World War II spy
* Sir Arthur Norrington, publisher, creator of the Norrington Table
23 May – Sir Thomas Dalling, veterinarian
24 May
* Richard Hall, composer
* Sidney H. Haughton, British-born South African palaeontologist and geologist
* Meyer Oppenheim, Scottish financier
26 May
* Robert Armitage, Royal Navy commander and George Cross recipient
* Richard Battle, plastic surgeon
* Bessie Williamson, distillery manager
28 May – Lieutenant-Colonel H. Jones, Falklands War casualty and posthumous recipient of Victoria Cross
30 May
* Sir Harry Barnes, artist
* Doris Leslie, novelist
31 May – Eryl Davies, Welsh teacher

June

2 June
* Reginald Leonard Haine, Army lieutenant-colonel and Victoria Cross recipient
* George E. A. Hallett, aviator
* Willie Smith, billiards player
3 June – Ronald Duncan, writer and poet
6 June – Ifor Davies, politician
8 June – Alan Coddington, academic
9 June – Richard St. Barbe Baker, botanist, activist and writer
10 June
* Margaret Bastock, zoologist
* Captain Gavin Hamilton, Falklands War casualty
12 June
* Ian McKay, Falklands War casualty and posthumous recipient of Victoria Cross
* Dame Marie Rambert, Polish-born British ballet dancer and teacher
16 June
* James Honeyman-Scott, lead guitarist of the Pretenders
* Margaret Thomson, physician and prisoner of war
17 June – Walter James, 4th Baron Northbourne, peer and Olympic rower
18 June – Denise Lester, teacher
19 June
* Joan Clarkson, actress
* Dennis Herbert, 2nd Baron Hemingford, peer
* Albert Samuels, politician
20 June – Ishbel MacDonald, daughter of Prime Minister Ramsay MacDonald
21 June
* Chrystabel Procter, gardener and horticulturalist
* Anne Wignall, socialite and author
22 June – Alan Webb, actor
25 June – Alex Welsh, jazz musician
26 June
* Geoffrey Bourne, Baron Bourne, Army general
* Kingsley Kennerley, snooker player
* Sandy Powell, comedian
29 June
* Michael Brennan, actor
* Donald MacLeod, bagpiper and composer of bagpipe music
30 June – Malcolm Saville, children's author

July

1 July
* Alexander Reid, playwright
* Sir Raphael Tuck, lawyer and politician
4 July
* Terry Higgins, early British casualty of AIDS
* Barry Prudom, criminal
5 July – Geoffrey Keynes, surgeon and author
6 July
* Sir Christopher Cox, educationist
* Alma Reville, screenwriter and wife of Sir Alfred Hitchcock
7 July – Edgar Lobel, classicist and papyrologist
8 July – Edward Wolfe, artist
10 July
* Gwilym Jenkins, statistician and systems engineer
* G. E. L. Owen, classicist and philosopher
11 July – Susan Littler, actress
12 July – Kenneth More, actor
13 July
* Nesta Maude Ashworth, Scouting pioneer
* David Brown, Bishop of Guildford
* Evan Thomas, actor
14 July – John Cecil-Wright, RAF officer and politician
15 July
* James Crawford, trade unionist
* Enid Lorimer, actress, director and producer
19 July
* John Harvey, actor
* Lord Rupert Nevill, chairman of the British Olympic Association
21 July – John Bertram Phillips, Anglican clergyman and Bible translator
22 July
* Sir Robert Birley, teacher and anti-apartheid activist
* Edward Albert Gibbs, Royal Navy captain
* George Lingham, World War I air ace
27 July
* Joseph Oscar Irwin, statistician
* Hilda James, Olympic swimmer
* Jack Powell, Olympic runner
29 July
* Laurence Boutwood, Royal Navy rear-admiral
* Maysie Chalmers, engineer and aviator
* Sir Richard Gale, Army general
30 July – Jocelyn Cadbury, politician
31 July – George Cyril Allen, economist

August

2 August
* Cathleen Nesbitt, actress
* Sir Raymond Phillips, judge
3 August – David Carritt, art historian
5 August
* Sir John Charnley, orthopaedic surgeon
* Allan Gwynne-Jones, painter
6 August – Vivian Pitchforth, war artist
7 August – Frederick Cundiff, businessman and politician
8 August
* Eric Brandon, motor racing driver
* Tom Chatto, actor
* Dorothy Edwards, children's author
* Sir Arthur Gosling, civil servant and forester
9 August – Geoffrey Marshall, physician
10 August
* Sir Geoffrey de Freitas, politician and diplomat
* John Howard, politician
* John Tiltman, Army brigadier
11 August – Catherine Gardiner, actress and artist
14 August
* Patrick Magee, Northern Irish actor
* Dorothy Whitelock, historian
15 August
* Jacqueline Nearne, World War II spy
* Jock Taylor, motorcycle racer
19 August – Russell Waters, film actor
21 August
* Harry Lamborn, politician
* Jack Rutherford, actor
22 August – John Boxer, actor
24 August – Sir Lawrence Robson, accountant
25 August – Ernest Fahmy, obstetrician and gynaecologist
28 August
* Ifor Evans, Baron Evans of Hungershall, academic
* Nan Marriott-Watson, actress
29 August – Ingrid Bergman, film actress
30 August – David Eirwyn Morgan, Welsh journalist and politician
31 August – Hugh Trevor Lambrick, archaeologist and historian

September

1 September
* Sir Clifford Curzon, pianist
* Lady Iris Mountbatten, actress and model
2 September
* George Bolton, banker
* Sir George Chetwynd, politician and public servant
3 September – Sir Claud Seton, barrister and judge
4 September – Frank Jefferson, World War II soldier and Victoria Cross recipient
5 September
* Douglas Bader, World War II fighter pilot
* Lawrence Stenhouse, educational therapist
6 September – Norman Collins, radio and television executive
7 September – Sir Gerald Fitzmaurice, judge
9 September – Peter Hunter Blair, historian
10 September
* Winifred Griffiths, politician
* Jane Ingham, botanist and scientific translator
20 September – Bob Willis, trade unionist
21 September
* Constantine Walter Benson, ornithologist
* John O'Brien, politician
22 September – Frank McElhone, politician
23 September
* Jeannie Saffin, victim of spontaneous human combustion
* Lena Wood, violist
24 September – Sarah Churchill, actress
27 September – Lady Mary Lygon, aristocrat
28 September – Stella Jane Reekie, inter-faith worker
29 September
* Letitia Chitty, aeronautical engineer
* Lucy Griffiths, actress
* A. L. Lloyd, folk song collector
30 September – Sir Edmund Bacon, 13th Baronet, businessman

October

1 October – Sir Ian Bowater, Army lieutenant-colonel and Lord Mayor of London
2 October
* Erskine Nicolson, 3rd Baron Carnock, peer
* Robert Westwater, mining engineer and explosives expert
3 October – Vivien Merchant, actress
4 October – Macdonald Hastings, journalist
5 October – Sir William Gordon Bennett, politician
6 October
* Margaret Davies, conservationist and archaeologist
* Alastair Hugh Graham, honorary attaché
* Philip Green, composer
8 October
* Philip Noel-Baker, politician and Nobel Peace Prize winner
* Erik Routley, musician and hymn writer
9 October
* Charles E. Brown, photographer
* Sir Reginald Champion, colonial administrator
11 October – Andrew Cudworth, Army major and medical researcher
14 October
* Alice Walker, scholar
* Peter Gordon Williams, businessman
15 October – Elsie Randolph, actress
16 October
* Rory McEwen, artist
* Alister Watson, mathematician and spy
17 October – Harry Slack, zoologist
18 October
* A. R. B. Haldane, social historian
* Idwal Jones, politician
* Leslie Jones, lawyer and orchestral conductor
* Kenneth Mackessack, Scottish cricketer
19 October – Iorwerth Peate, Welsh poet and scholar
20 October
* Jimmy McGrory, Scottish footballer
* Cedric Wallis, Army brigadier-general
22 October – Frederic Laurence, World War I air ace
23 October – Lionel Finch, Army major-general
24 October – Jim Hookway, greyhound trainer
25 October
* Sir Godwin Michelmore, Army major-general
* G. B. Newe, Northern Irish politician
* Sir Charles Normand, meteorologist
26 October – Sybil Leek, witch and psychic
28 October
* Robert d'Escourt Atkinson, astronomer and physicist
* Phyllis Covell, tennis player
29 October
* Sir Sidney Kirkman, Army general
* William Lloyd Webber, composer and father of Andrew Lloyd Webber

November

1 November
* Dorothy Gow, composer
* Leighton Lucas, composer
2 November
* Sir Felix Brunner, 3rd Baronet, politician
* Sir John William Sutton Pringle, zoologist
3 November
* E. H. Carr, historian and journalist
* Alan Parks, surgeon and president of the Royal College of Surgeons
4 November
* Stephen Roskill, Royal Navy captain and author
* Joseph Sieff, businessman
6 November
* Frank Baker, novelist
* Sir Thomas Elmhirst, air marshal and Lieutenant Governor of Guernsey
* Frank Swinnerton, novelist, critic and biographer
* Sir Neville Pearson, 2nd Baronet, newspaper publisher
7 November – Murdo Macfarlane, Scottish Gaelic poet and songwriter
8 November
* Geoffrey Allen, Anglican prelate
* Jimmy Dickinson, footballer
* Sydney Harland, botanist
* David Wyn Roberts, architect
* Henry Thackthwaite, Army major
* William Wynne-Jones, Baron Wynne-Jones, chemist
12 November – Dorothy Round, tennis player
13 November – Chesney Allen, entertainer and singer
16 November
* Arthur Askey, comedian
* Peter Forster, actor
* Peter Yates, architect
17 November
* Robert Bridgeman, 2nd Viscount Bridgeman, peer and Army officer
* Sir Allan Noble, Royal Navy commander
19 November – Leslie John Witts, physician
20 November – John Redcliffe-Maud, Baron Redcliffe-Maud, civil servant and diplomat
21 November
* Harold Hailstone, war artist
* John Hargrave, writer and spiritual healer
24 November – Jean Nunn, civil servant
26 November – Robert Coote, actor
27 November – Harald Leslie, Lord Birsay, Scottish judge
28 November
* Sir Norman Frederick Frome, ornithologist
* Hugh O'Neill, 1st Baron Rathcavan, Northern Irish politician
30 November – Eric Thompson, actor and scriptwriter

December

1 December – Thomas Halliwell, Anglican priest
2 December
* Marty Feldman, comedian and actor
* Geoffrey Timms, mathematician
3 December – Ralph Pugh, historian
4 December
* Henry Price, company director and politician
* Ivor Williams, artist
5 December – Reza Fallah, exiled businessman
6 December – Raymond Greene, physician and mountaineer
8 December
* Philip Nash, English cricketer and civil servant
* Isabel Wilson, psychiatrist
9 December – Sir Godfrey Mitchell, construction engineer
12 December – William McMullen, Northern Irish politician
16 December – Colin Chapman, automotive engineer
17 December – Richarda Morrow-Tait, first woman to fly an aircraft round the world
18 December – Sir Richard Sheppard, architect
19 December
* Lawrance Collingwood, composer, conductor and record producer
* Terence O'Brien, Olympic rower
* Michael Strickland, Army major-general
20 December – Jane Arden, film actress and director
21 December – Gladys Henson, film actress
24 December
* Noel Holmes, Army major-general and tennis player
* Sir John Valentine Wistar Shaw, colonial administrator
26 December – Leslie Fox, World War II hero and George Cross recipient
27 December – Sir Sebag Shaw, judge
28 December – William Grasar, Roman Catholic prelate
29 December – Jack Brett, motorcycle racer
30 December – Philip Hall, mathematician
31 December
* John Collins, Anglican clergyman
* Johnny Curley, boxer
* Derek Ridgewell, convicted robber