1983 in the United Kingdom


Events from the year 1983 in the United Kingdom.

Incumbents

Events

January

  • 1 January – The British Nationality Act 1981 comes into effect creating five classes of British nationality.
  • 3 January – Children's ITV is launched as a new branding for the late afternoon programming block on the ITV network.
  • 5 January – Two policemen and a policewoman drown at Blackpool after going into the sea to rescue a man who entered the sea to save his dog.
  • 6 January – Danish fishermen defy the British government's prohibition on non-UK boats fishing in its coastal waters.
  • 14 January – Shooting of Stephen Waldorf: Armed policemen shoot and severely injure an innocent car passenger in London, believing him to be escaped prisoner David Martin.
  • 17 January – The first British breakfast television programme, Breakfast Time, is launched on BBC One at 6:30AM.
  • 19 January – The two policemen who wounded Stephen Waldorf are charged with attempted murder and released on bail; they are suspended from duty pending further investigation.
  • 23 January – The prohibition on non-British boats fishing in British waters is lifted as the European Economic Community's Common Fisheries Policy comes into effect.
  • 25 January – The Infrared Astronomical Satellite, the first-ever space-based observatory to perform a survey of the entire sky at infrared wavelengths, is launched. The satellite is a joint project between the American space agency NASA, the Netherlands Agency for Aerospace Programmes and the UK's Science and Engineering Research Council.
  • 26 January – Red rain falls in the UK, caused by sand from the Sahara Desert in the droplets.
  • 28 January – Escaped prisoner David Martin is rearrested.
  • 31 January – Seatbelt use for drivers and front seat passengers becomes mandatory, 11 years after becoming compulsory equipment in new cars.

February

March

April

  • April – Vauxhall launches the Nova supermini with a range of three-door hatchbacks and two-door saloons. It is the first Vauxhall to be built outside the United Kingdom, being assembled at the Zaragoza plant in Spain where it was launched seven months ago as the Opel Corsa, but plans to launch it on the British market had been attacked by trade unions who were angry at the fact that it would not be built in Britain. Its launch is expected to result in the end of Vauxhall Chevette production in Britain.
  • 1 April
  • * Thousands of protesters form a 14-mile human chain in reaction to the siting of American nuclear weapons in British military bases.
  • * The government expels three Russians named as KGB agents by a Soviet defector.
  • 4 April – The biggest cash haul in British history sees gunmen escape with £7 million from a Security Express van in East London.
  • 11 April – Richard Attenborough's 1982 film Gandhi wins eight Academy Awards.
  • 21 April – The one pound coin introduced in England and Wales.

May

June

July

August

  • 1 August – The new A-prefix car registration plates are launched, helping spur on the recovery in car sales following the slump at the start of the decade caused by the recession.
  • 5 August – 22 Provisional Irish Republican Army members receive sentences totalling over 4,000 years from a Belfast Court.
  • 18 August – Architectural historian Sir Nikolaus Pevsner dies aged 81 at his home in Hampstead, London.
  • 19 August – Temperatures reach 30 °C in London, as hot weather embraces the United Kingdom.
  • 29 August – ITV launches Blockbusters, a gameshow hosted by Bob Holness and featuring sixth formers as its contestants.

September

October

November

December

Undated

  • Designer and entrepreneur James Dyson produces his prototype vacuum cleaner.
  • Hanson Trust takes over United Drapery Stores to realise the assets of its high street shops.
  • Thames Water shuts down the reciprocating stationary steam engines at its Waddon pumping station in Croydon, the last in Britain to pump drinking water by steam.
  • Despite unemployment remaining in excess of 3 million, the battle against inflation which has largely contributed to mass unemployment is being won as inflation falls to 4.6% – the lowest level since 1966.
  • The economic recovery continues with 4.7% overall growth for the year, the highest since 1973. The year also sees unbroken growth for the first time since 1978.
  • Japanese carmaker Nissan, which plans to open a factory in Britain by 1986, drops the Datsun marque on British registered cars after nearly two decades and adopts the Nissan brand in its place.

Publications

Births

Deaths

January

February

March

April

May

June

July

August

September

October

November

December