1989 in the United Kingdom

Events from the year 1989 in the United Kingdom.

Incumbents

Monarch – Elizabeth II
Prime Minister – Margaret Thatcher

Events

January

4 January – A memorial service is held for the 270 people who died in the Lockerbie air disaster two weeks ago. Margaret Thatcher and several other world political leaders are among more than 200 people present in the church service at the village of Old Dryfesdale near Lockerbie.
8 January – 44 people are killed in the Kegworth air disaster.
11 January
* Accident investigators say that the Kegworth air disaster was caused when pilot Kevin Hunt, who survived the crash, accidentally shut down the wrong engine.
* Abbey National building society offers free shares to its 5,500,000 members.
14 January – Muslims demonstrate in Bradford against The Satanic Verses, a book written by Salman Rushdie, burning copies of the book in the city streets.
19 January – Unemployment fell by 66,000 in December, to a nine-year low of just over 2 million. It was last at this level in 1980.
25 January – John Cleese wins a libel case after the Daily Mirror described him as having become like his character Basil Fawlty in the sitcom Fawlty Towers.
27 January – Aviation pioneer Sir Thomas Sopwith dies aged 101 at his home in Hampshire.

February

5 February – At 6pm, the world's first commercial DBS system, Sky Television goes on air. Three new services – Sky News, Sky Movies and Eurosport – with the fourth being Sky Channel.
11 February – ITV airs the first episode of Home and Away, an Australian soap which was launched in its homeland last year.
12 February – Belfast lawyer Pat Finucane is murdered by the Ulster Defence Association.
14 February – Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini of Iran places a fatwa with an order to kill on author Salman Rushdie following the publication of his controversial book The Satanic Verses, which has caused outrage among the Islamic community of Britain.
19 February – The Industrial Society offices at 3 Carlton House Terrace in London is severely damaged by fire.
20 February – Clive Barracks is damaged in a bombing.
23 February
* By-elections are held in Richmond (North Yorkshire) and [1989 1989 Pontypridd by-election|Pontypridd by-election|Pontypridd] in Wales following the departure of Conservative MP Leon Brittan to the European Commission, and the death of Labour MP Brynmor John on Boxing Day 1988 respectively. 27-year-old William Hague wins Richmond for the Conservatives, and Kim Howells wins Pontypridd for Labour.
* Den Watts, the hugely popular character played by Leslie Grantham in the BBC's soap opera EastEnders, departs from the series as the character fakes his death in an episode watched by over 20 million viewers.

March

4 March – Purley rail crash: two trains collide at Purley, Surrey killing six people.
6 March – Two people are killed in the Glasgow Bellgrove rail accident.
7 March – Iran breaks off diplomatic relations with the UK over Salman Rushdie's controversial book The Satanic Verses.
16 March – Unemployment is now below 7% for the first time in eight years, but still remains marginally over 2 million.
17 March – The three men convicted of murdering paperboy Carl Bridgewater in Staffordshire 10 years ago have their appeals rejected. A fourth man convicted in connection with the killing died in prison in 1981.
20 March – Chief Superintendent Harry Breen and Superintendent Bob Buchanan of the Royal Ulster Constabulary are killed by the IRA.
26 March – Nigel Mansell wins the Brazilian Grand Prix.

April

5 April – 500 workers on the Channel Tunnel go on strike in a protest against pay and working conditions.
6 April – The government announces an end to the legislation which effectively guarantees secure work for more than 9,000 dockers over the remainder of their working lives.
10 April – Nick Faldo becomes the first English winner of the Masters Tournament in golf.
14 April – Ford launches the third generation of its Fiesta, the first to offer a 5-door version which is being built at the Dagenham plant in England and the Valencia plant in Spain.
15 April – 94 people are killed in the Hillsborough disaster during the FA Cup semi-final at the Hillsborough Stadium in Sheffield during the FA Cup semi-final between Nottingham Forest FC and Liverpool F.C.; three more will die later of serious injuries received and around 300 others are hospitalised. The death toll is the worst of any sporting disaster in Britain. The youngest victim is a 10-year-old boy, the oldest is 67-year-old Gerard Baron, brother of the late former Liverpool player Kevin Baron. Not until 1996 does a second coroner's inquest determine these to be unlawful killings.
16 April – Denis Howell, a former Labour sports minister, urges that the FA Cup final should go ahead this season despite consideration by the Football Association for it to be cancelled due to the Hillsborough disaster.
17 April – Home Secretary Douglas Hurd announces plans to make all-seater stadiums compulsory for all Football League First Division clubs to reduce the risk of a repeat of the Hillsborough tragedy.
18 April
* The European Commission accuses Britain of failing to meet standards on drinking water.
* The Hillsborough disaster claims its 95th victim when 14-year-old Lee Nicol dies in hospital as a result of his injuries. He had been visited in hospital by Diana, Princess of Wales, hours before he died.
* Tottenham Hotspur remove perimeter fencing from their White Hart Lane stadium as the first step towards avoiding a repeat of the Hillsborough disaster in English football.
19 April
* The Sun newspaper sparks outrage on Merseyside about the Hillsborough Disaster with an article entitled "The Truth", supported by South Yorkshire police and locally based news agencies, which claims that spectators robbed and injured dead spectators, and attacked police officers when they were helping the injured and dying. Other newspapers including the Daily Star and Daily Mirror, as well as several regional newspapers, have also printed similar allegations.
* Channel Tunnel workers end their 14-day strike.
* Novelist Dame Daphne du Maurier dies aged 81 at her home in Par, Cornwall.
20 April
* The London Underground is at virtual standstill for a day as most of the workers go on strike in protest against plans for driver-only operated trains.
* A MORI poll shows Conservative and Labour support equal at 41%.
24 April – The BBC's Ceefax teletext is running only as a partial service today due to a strike by broadcasting unions.
27 April – Security Service Act for the first time places MI5 on a statutory basis.
28 April
* John Cannan, of Sutton Coldfield, is sentenced to life imprisonment with a recommendation that he should never be released after being found guilty of murdering one woman and sexually assaulting two others. The prime suspect also in the disappearance of Suzy Lamplugh, he will die in prison in 2024.
* Fourteen Liverpool fans are convicted of manslaughter and receive prison sentences of up to three years in Brussels, Belgium, in connection with the Heysel disaster at the 1985 European Cup Final in which 39 spectators died. A further eleven Liverpool fans are cleared.

May

1–3 May – 54 prisoners stage a three-day protest on the roof of Risley Detention Centre before giving themselves up.
4 May – Margaret Thatcher completes ten years as Prime Minister – the first British Prime Minister of the 20th century to do so.
5 May – The Vale of Glamorgan constituency in South Wales is seized by the Labour Party in a by-election after 38 years of Conservative control.
8 May – More than 3,000 British Rail employees launch an unofficial overtime ban, walking out in protest at the end of their eight-hour shifts.
14 May – A public inquiry, headed by Lord Justice Taylor of Gosforth, begins into the Hillsborough disaster.
18 May – Unemployment is now below 2,000,000 for the first time since 1980. The Conservative government's joy at tackling unemployment is, however, marred by the findings of a MORI poll which shows Labour slightly ahead of them for the first time in almost three years.
19 May – Walshaw Dean Lodge, West Yorkshire, enters the UK Weather Records with the Highest 120-min total rainfall at 193 mm. As of July 2006 this record still stands.
20 May – Liverpool win the FA Cup final with a 3–2 victory over their Merseyside rivals Everton. It is the second all-Merseyside cup final in four seasons, and as happened in 1986, Ian Rush is on the scoresheet for Liverpool twice. It is their fourth title in the competition.
24 May
* Sonia Sutcliffe, wife of "Yorkshire Ripper" Peter Sutcliffe, is awarded £600,000 in High Court damages against the satirical magazine Private Eye.
* A police raid on a suspected drugs operation at a public house in the Heath Town district of Wolverhampton, leads to a riot in which up to 500 people throw missiles and petrol bombs at police officers.
26 May – Arsenal F.C. win the First Division league title against Liverpool, with a goal from Michael Thomas in the last minute of the last game of the season. Arsenal have now won nine league titles, ending an 18 year wait to be crowned champions of England. Their win denied Liverpool of a domestic double.
30 May – Passport office staff in Liverpool begin an indefinite strike in protest against staffing levels.

June

13 June – The sixteenth James Bond film, Licence to Kill, premieres in London.
15 June – By-elections are held in Glasgow Central and Vauxhall, caused by the death of Labour MP Bob McTaggart on 23 March and the resignation of Labour MP Stuart Holland, respectively. Labour holds both seats.
19 June – Labour wins 45 of Britain's 78 European Parliament constituencies in the European elections, with the Conservatives gaining 32 seats. The Green Party of England and Wales gains 2,300,000 votes but fails to gain a single seat. This is the first national election won by the Labour Party since its last general election win 15 years ago.
22 June
* Police arrest 260 people celebrating the summer solstice at Stonehenge.
* London Underground workers stage their second one-day strike of the year.
24 June – A riot takes place in Dewsbury.

July

1 July – Fears of a property market downturn are heightened when it is reported that many homeowners looking to move are cutting the asking price of their homes by up to 20% in an attempt to speed up the sale of their property, following the property boom of the last 3 years where the price of many homes doubled at the very least.
2 July – An IRA bomb kills a British soldier in Hanover, West Germany.
10 July – House prices in the south of England have fallen for the second successive quarter, but are continuing to rise in Scotland as well as the north of England.
11 July
* Britain's dock workers go on strike in protest against the abolition of the Dock Labour Scheme.
* Actor Laurence Olivier, Lord Olivier, dies aged 82 at his home in Ashurst, West Sussex.
13 July – The fall in unemployment continues, with the tally now standing at slightly over 1,800,000 – the lowest in nearly a decade.
17 July – 1,500 British tourists are delayed for up to eight hours by French air traffic control strikes.
19 July – The BBC programme Panorama accuses Shirley Porter, Conservative Leader of Westminster City Council, of gerrymandering.
20 July – Labour's lead in the opinion polls has increased substantially, with the latest MORI poll putting them nine points ahead of the Conservatives on 45%.
25 July – The Princess of Wales opens the Landmark Aids Centre, a day centre for people with AIDS, in London.
28 July – The industrial action by British Rail drivers is reported to be coming to an end as most of the train drivers have ended their overtime ban.

August

1 August – Charlotte Hughes of Marske-by-the-Sea in Cleveland, believed to be the oldest living person in England, celebrates her 112th birthday.
4 August – David Duckenfield, the chief superintendent who took control of the FA Cup semi-final game where the Hillsborough disaster occurred on 15 April this year, is suspended from duty on full pay after an inquiry by Lord Justice Taylor blames him for the tragedy in which 95 people died. Two victims of the tragedy, Andrew Devine and Tony Bland are still unconscious in hospital.
5 August – A train derails near West Ealing station in London, but the passengers escape without serious injuries.
14 August – The West Midlands Police Serious Crime Squad is disbanded when 50 CID detectives are transferred or suspended after repeated allegations that the force has fabricated confessions.
17 August – Introduction of electronic tagging to monitor and supervise crime suspects.
18 August – Manchester United chairman Martin Edwards agrees to sell the club to Michael Knighton for £10million.
20 August – Marchioness disaster: A pleasure boat is in collision with a dredger on the Thames in London in the early hours; 51 people are killed.
26 August – Betteshanger, the last colliery in Kent, closes, signalling the end of the Kent Coalfield after 93 years.
29 August – Stone-throwing youths cause mayhem at the Notting Hill Carnival in London, in which many innocent bystanders are injured.
30 August – The National Trust's house at Uppark in West Sussex is severely damaged by fire.
31 August – Buckingham Palace confirms that The Princess Royal and Captain Mark Phillips are separating after 16 years of marriage.

September

2 September – Economy experts warn that a recession could soon be about to hit the United Kingdom. This would be the second recession in a decade.
7 September – Heidi Hazell, the 26-year-old wife of a British soldier, is shot dead in Dortmund, West Germany.
8 September – The IRA admits responsibility for the murder of Heidi Hazell. The act is condemned as "evil and cowardly" by British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher and as "the work of a psychopath" by Opposition Leader Neil Kinnock.
12 September – 19,000 ambulance crew members across Britain go on strike.
15 September – SLDP leader Paddy Ashdown addresses his party's annual conference in Brighton with a vow to "end Thatcherism" and achieve a long-term aim of getting the SLDP into power.
22 September – Eleven people are killed in the Deal barracks bombing.
27 September – David Owen, leader of the Social Democratic Party "rump" which rejected a merger with the Social and Liberal Democrats, admits that his party is no longer a national force.
29 September – House prices in London have fallen by 3.8% since May, and are now 16% lower than they were at the height of the property boom last year.

October

2 October – Three clergy from the British Council of Protestants cause a disturbance at an Anglican church service in Rome at which the Archbishop of Canterbury Robert Runcie is preaching in protest at his suggestion that the Pope could become the spiritual leader of a united church, while Ian Paisley joins protests outside the service.
8 October – The latest CBI findings spark fear of a recession.
10 October – The World Wrestling Federation holds its first UK event, at the London Arena.
11 October
* The Rover Group, Britain's largest independent carmaker, launches its new medium-sized hatchback, the second generation 200 Series which replaces the small four-door saloon of the same name and gives buyers a more modern and upmarket alternative to the ongoing Maestro range which has declined in popularity recently.
* The England national football team qualifies for next Summer's FIFA World Cup in Italy when drawing 0–0 with Poland in Warsaw.
12 October – Michael Knighton drops his bid to buy Manchester United.
15 October – Recession fears deepen as stock market prices continue to fall dramatically.
16 October – The Social and Liberal Democrats, formed last year from the merger of the Social Democratic Party and Liberal Party, are renamed the Liberal Democrats.
19 October
* The Guildford Four are released from prison after the High Court quashes their convictions for the 1975 terrorist atrocity.
* Labour now has a 10-point lead over the Conservatives in the last MORI poll, with 48% of the vote.
21 October – Thousands of people attend a memorial service for Laurence Olivier at Westminster Abbey, during which his ashes are laid to rest in Poets' Corner.
23 October – The police force are now taking medical emergency 999 calls in London due to the ongoing strike by ambulance crews.
26 October – Nigel Lawson resigns as Chancellor of the Exchequer; replaced by John Major, while Douglas Hurd becomes Foreign Secretary.
31 October – British Rail announces that the proposed high-speed rail link to the Channel Tunnel is being postponed for at least one more year.

November

4 November – First showing of the clay animation film A Grand Day Out, introducing the characters Wallace and Gromit, at a film festival in Bristol.
7 November – General Assembly of the Church of England votes to allow ordination of women.
8 November – British Army and Royal Air Force troops are now manning London's ambulance services as the regular ambulance crews are still on strike.
10 November – Margaret Thatcher visits Berlin the day after the fall of the Berlin Wall, which brings the reunification of Germany forward after Germans were allowed to travel between West and East Berlin for the first time since the wall was built in 1961, and between West and East Germany for the first time since the partition of the country after the war.
14 November – The Merry Hill Shopping Centre on the Dudley Enterprise Zone in the West Midlands becomes fully operational with the opening of the final shopping mall. The development, which now employs around 6,000 people, first opened to retailers four years ago with several retail warehousing units, and has gradually expanded to become Europe's largest indoor shopping centre. Construction has now begun on the Waterfront office and leisure complex, also within the Enterprise Zone and overlooking the shopping centre, which will open to its first tenants next year. On 7 November, Don and Roy Richardson, the Centre's developers, had announced plans to build the world's tallest building – a 2,000-foot tower including a hotel and nightclub – on land adjacent to the shopping complex; this never takes place.
16 November – Children Act alters the law in regard to children in England and Wales; in particular, it introduces the notion of parental responsibility in access and custody matters.
21 November
* The House of Commons is televised live for the first time.
* Nigel Martyn, 23, becomes Britain's first £1million goalkeeper when he is transferred from Bristol Rovers to Crystal Palace.
23 November – 69-year-old backbencher Sir Anthony Meyer challenges Margaret Thatcher's leadership of the Conservative Party, reportedly fearing that the party will lose the next general election after falling behind Labour in several recent opinion polls. Her leadership has never been challenged before in almost 15 years as party leader, more than 10 of which have been spent as prime minister.
30 November – Russell Shankland and Dean Hancock, serving eight-year prison sentences for the manslaughter of taxi driver David Wilkie in South Wales during the miners strike, are released from prison on the fifth anniversary of the crime.

December

December
* The M42 motorway is completed when the final section opens, giving the town of Bromsgrove in Worcestershire a direct link with the M5. Also completed this month is the section of the M40 between Warwick and the interchange with the M42 just south of Solihull. The rest of the M40, between Warwick and Oxford, will open next winter.
* Last coypu in the wild in Britain is trapped in East Anglia.
* The Beer Orders restrict the number of tied pubs that can be owned by large brewery groups to two thousand and require large brewer landlords to allow a guest ale to be sourced by tenants from someone other than their landlord.
3 December
* Margaret Thatcher, along with American president George Bush and Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev, declare the end of the Cold War after over 40 years.
* 9,000 workers at British carmaker Vauxhall threaten to go on strike.
* A new-look Band Aid forms for a new version of the Do They Know It's Christmas? charity single for African famine relief.
5 December – Margaret Thatcher defeats Anthony Meyer in a leadership election for the Conservative Party, but 60 MPs do not vote for her.
6 December – The original run of Doctor Who is ended by the BBC after 26 years.
8 December – ITV attracts a new record audience of nearly 27,000,000 for the episode of Coronation Street in which Alan Bradley is fatally run over by a Blackpool tram.
12 December – Shares in newly privatised regional water industry utility companies achieve premiums of up to 68% in the first day of trading on the Stock Exchange.
18 December
* The Labour Party abandons its policy on closed shops.
* The second phase of the M40 motorway, linking north Oxfordshire with the Warwickshire/Worcestershire border on the outskirts of the West Midlands conurbation, is opened. The final phase, which links this new motorway with the original London-Oxford section, is due to open within the next year.
23 December – Band Aid II gain the Christmas Number One with their charity record. 5 years ago, the original Band Aid single reached number 1 and achieved the highest sales of any single ever released in the UK.
24 December – The iconic British Airways Face advert is first aired. Made by advertising firm Saatchi & Saatchi, having been written by Graham Fink and Jeremy Clarke, with Hugh Hudson as director, it is often considered to became a classic television commercial.
27 December – SDP leader David Owen predicts another 10 years of Conservative rule, despite Neil Kinnock's Labour Party having a seven-point lead over the Conservatives with 46% of the vote in the final MORI poll of the decade.
30 December – 22 people involved in the Lockerbie disaster are among those recognised in the New Year's Honours list, while there are knighthoods for former Liberal leader David Steel and the actress Maggie Smith becomes a Dame. Recipients of sporting honours include the boxer Frank Bruno and the golfer Tony Jacklin, both of whom are credited with MBEs.

Undated

Inflation increases significantly this year, standing at 7.8% – the highest for seven years.
Fears of a recession are deepened by the economy's overall growth rate dropping to 1.7%, the lowest since 1981.
House prices in London fall to an average of £86,800 this year – a 10% decrease on the 1988 average.
After spending most of the decade closed down, Whiteleys in London reopens as a shopping centre.
Remains of The Rose and Globe Theatre discovered in London.
Permanent gates are installed across Downing Street in London by the end of the year.
Red kites reintroduced to England and Scotland.
A record of more than 2.3 million new cars are sold in Britain this year. The Ford Escort is Britain's best selling car for the eighth year running, managing more than 180,000 sales, while the Volkswagen Golf is Britain's most popular foreign car with well over 50,000 sales. Ford achieves the largest sales of any carmaker in Britain for the 15th year in a row, helped by the launch of the third-generation Fiesta in April while Vauxhall has now overtaken the Rover Group as Britain's second best selling carmaker. The UK new car sales record has been broken six times in the last seven years.
Britain experiences its worst flu epidemic since the winter of 1975–76, with cases peaking in mid-November. Over a million infections are recorded by December, with an increase in flu-related deaths, while hospitals are forced to cancel surgery.

Publications

Iain Banks' novel Canal Dreams.
Julian Barnes' novel A History of the World in 10½ Chapters.
Julie Burchill's novel Ambition.
William Golding's novel Fire Down Below, third in the To the Ends of the Earth trilogy.
Roger Penrose's book The Emperor's New Mind: Concerning Computers, Minds and The Laws of Physics.
Terry Pratchett's Discworld novels Pyramids and Guards! Guards!; and The Bromeliad novel Truckers.
Rose Tremain's novel ''Restoration''

Births

1 January – Zoe Boyle, actress
3 January
* Alex Hales, cricketer
* Anthony Wordsworth, footballer
6 January – Andy Carroll, English footballer
9 January – Jordan Turner, English rugby league player
11 January – Chris Perry-Metcalf, actor
13 January – Matt Stokoe, English actor
17 January – Hollie-Jay Bowes, actress
21 January – Katie Griffiths, actress
23 January – April Pearson, actress
26 January
* Hannah Arterton, actress
* Imogen Cairns, gymnast
27 January – Daisy Lowe, fashion model
28 January – Carly Paoli, mezzo-soprano
7 February – Louisa Lytton, English actress and dancer
8 February – Dani Harmer, actress
17 February – Rebecca Adlington, Olympic gold medal-winning swimmer
24 February – Daniel Kaluuya, actor and screenwriter
27 February
* Lloyd Rigby, footballer
* Sam Sweeney, folk musician
2 March
* Nathalie Emmanuel, actress
* Chris Woakes, cricketer
13 March
* Peaches Geldof, performer
* Harry Melling, English actor
16 March – Theo Walcott, footballer
17 March – Morfydd Clark, actress
18 March – Lily Collins, actress
21 March – Rochelle Humes, singer and TV presenter
25 March – Scott Sinclair, English footballer
26 March – Sam Pepper, internet personality
28 March – David Goodwillie, Scottish footballer
1 April – Royce Pierreson, actor
5 April – Lily James, English actress
8 April – Matty Healy, singer-songwriter
19 April – Sam Tordoff, racing driver
22 April
* Catherine Banner, author
* Thomas James Longley, actor
* James McClean, Northern Irish footballer
4 May – Rory McIlroy, golfer
5 May – Larissa Wilson, actress
9 May – Ellen White, footballer
21 May – Kate Phillips, actress
31 May – Sean Thornley, tennis player
3 June – Imogen Poots, actress
8 June – Richard Fleeshman, actor
12 June – Dale Stephens, footballer
23 June – Lauren Bennett, singer, dancer, painter, photographer and model
25 June – Sam Ryder, singer-songwriter
26 June – Magid Magid, Somali-born British politician and activist
27 June
* Matthew Lewis, actor
* Cameron Menzies, darts player
1 July
*Mitch Hewer, actor
*Hannah Murray, actress
2 July – Tom Zanetti, DJ and rapper
11 July – Aden Flint, footballer
16 July – Gareth Bale, Welsh footballer
21 July
* Jasmine Cephas Jones
* Juno Temple, actress
* Jamie Waylett, actor
23 July – Daniel Radcliffe, actor
9 August – Lucy Dixon, English actress
20 August – Judd Trump, snooker player
21 August – Rob Knox, English actor
29 August – Charlotte Ritchie, actress and singer
1 September – Daniel Sturridge, footballer
7 September
* Holly Colvin, cricketer
* Hugh Mitchell, actor
10 September – Matt Ritchie, Scottish footballer
14 September – Jessica Brown Findlay, actress
18 September – Chris Eubank Jr, boxer
21 September – Ben Mee, footballer
22 September – Michael Heaver, English politician, MEP
25 September – Vick Hope, television and radio presenter
26 September
* Emma Rigby, actress
* Kieran Gibbs, English footballer
* Jonny Bairstow, English cricketer
15 October – Anthony Joshua, boxer
20 October – Jess Glynne, pop singer-songwriter
30 October – Ashley Barnes, footballer
3 November
* Elliott Tittensor, actor
* Luke Tittensor, actor
5 November – Andrew Boyce, English footballer
9 November
* Jennifer Pike, violinist
* Murugan Thiruchelvam, chess player
10 November – Taron Egerton, Welsh actor, born in England
15 November – Joe Westerman, rugby league player
18 November – Marc Albrighton, English footballer
21 November – Fabian Delph, English footballer
26 November – Junior Stanislas, footballer
27 November – Freddie Sears, footballer
28 November
* Claire Brookin, darts player
* Ayesha Gwilt, actress
* Martin Hare, handball player
7 December – Nicholas Hoult, actor
12 December – Harry Eden, actor
15 December – Lady Leshurr, rapper, singer and producer
18 December – Emily Atack, actress
28 December – Harry Arter, footballer
Unknown date – Roshonara Choudhry, Islamic terrorist convicted of the attempted murder of MP Stephen Timms

Deaths

January

1 January – Joseph Petre, 17th Baron Petre, peer
3 January – Errol Le Cain, artist
6 January – Rhoda Sutherland, linguist
7 January – Frank Adams, mathematician
10 January – Beatrice Lillie, actress, singer and comedic performer
11 January
* George Abell, civil servant
* Peter Nichols, journalist
* Sir Geoffrey Tuttle, RAF air marshal
14 January – Richard Warner, actor
15 January – Wendy Foster, architect
16 January – Joseph Henry Lynch, artist
18 January – Bruce Chatwin, novelist and travel writer
19 January – Norma Varden, actress
20 January – John Harding, 1st Baron Harding of Petherton, Army general
21 January – Chris Greenham, film sound engineer
23 January
* John Lyon-Dalberg-Acton, 3rd Baron Acton, peer and soldier
* Michael Layton, 2nd Baron Layton, peer
* Angus Morrison, pianist
27 January
* Arthur Marshall, writer and broadcaster
* Sir Thomas Sopwith, aviation pioneer and yachtsman
31 January – Audrey Beecham, poet, teacher and historian

February

1 February – Sir James Drake, civil engineer
3 February – Sir John Davis, RAF air marshal
11 February
* T. E. B. Clarke, screenwriter
* Margery Hurst, businesswoman
12 February – Pat Finucane, Northern Irish lawyer
14 February – Vincent Crane, musician
17 February – Ian Fraser, Baron Fraser of Tullybelton, judge
18 February
* John Bailey, actor
* Dixie Deans, RAF pilot
* Ann Davidson Kelly, social worker
21 February – Denys Corley Smith, author and journalist
22 February – Sir Raymond Gower, Conservative Party MP
25 February – Richard Sidney Sayers, economist and historian
26 February – Joseph Fenton, Northern Irish estate agent
28 February – Sir Douglas Kendrew, Army major-general and rugby player

March

5 March – Alice Garnett, geographer
6 March – Harry Andrews, actor
12 March – Maurice Evans, actor
13 March – L. E. Baynes, aeronautical engineer
15 March – Henry Cass, film director
16 March
* Alan Redpath, clergyman and author
* Marcus Morris, publisher and Anglican priest
18 March – Sir Harold Jeffreys, mathematician
19 March – Charles Lamb, actor
22 March
* Margaret Kidd, lawyer and politician
* Peta Taylor, cricketer
23 March – Bob McTaggart, Labour Party MP
24 March – Sir Edmund Stockdale, banker

April

1 April
* Richard Austin, orchestral conductor
* George Robledo, Chilean-born footballer based in Britain
4 April
* Keith Andrews, art historian
* John Gretton, 3rd Baron Gretton, peer
* John W. Todd, physician
5 April – Geoffrey Binnie, civil engineer
10 April – Joan Barry, actress
11 April – Sir Alexander Giles, colonial administrator
12 April – Gerald Flood, actor
15 April – William Samuel Fyffe, Northern Irish politician
19 April – Dame Daphne du Maurier, novelist
20 April – Lydia Sherwood, actress
22 April – Paul Beard, violinist
25 April
* George Coulouris, actor
* Alan Robertson, geneticist
28 April – Stanley Roy Badmin, artist
29 April – Leonard Redshaw, shipbuilder

May

3 May – Roland Robinson, 1st Baron Martonmere, Conservative politician and Governor of Bermuda
8 May – Mariga Guinness, architectural conservationist
10 May – Stewart Perowne, diplomat and archaeologist
17 May – Jeffrey Thomas, Labour politician
18 May
* Geoffrey Gilbert, flautist
* Felicity Shaw, writer
19 May – C. L. R. James, writer and journalist
20 May – John Hicks, economist, Nobel Prize laureate
22 May – George Ian Scott, Scottish ophthalmic surgeon
24 May – George Lambert, 2nd Viscount Lambert, politician
26 May – Don Revie, footballer, manager of Leeds United and the England national football team
27 May – Ronald Gibson, physician
29 May – Nora Barlow, Lady Barlow, botanist and geneticist
30 May – James Harry Lacey, World War II air ace and Battle of Britain veteran

June

4 June – Cecil Collins, artist
6 June – Richard Kahn, Baron Kahn, economist
7 June – Steve Henshaw, motorcycle racer
9 June – James Lawrence Isherwood, artist
11 June – Ronald Eric Bishop, aircraft engineer and designer
14 June
* Pete de Freitas, rock musician, drummer with band Echo and the Bunnymen
* William Stephenson, psychologist
15 June
* Geoffrey Alexander, actor
* Richard Byron, 12th Baron Byron, peer and Army officer
16 June – John Westbrook, actor
25 June – Idris Cox, Welsh communist activist and journalist
27 June
* Sir Alfred Ayer, philosopher
* Samuel Newby Curle, mathematician

July

1 July
* Joan Cooper, actress and wife of Arthur Lowe
* Dora Gaitskell, widow of Labour Party leader Hugh Gaitskell
2 July – Ben Wright, actor
4 July – Jack Haig, actor
5 July – Berthold Wolpe, German-born calligrapher, typographer and illustrator
10 July – Tommy Trinder, comedian and actor
11 July – Laurence Olivier, actor, director and producer
14 July – Frank Bell, linguist and academic
15 July
* Laurie Cunningham, English footballer based in Spain
* Leonard Harrison, RAF officer
* Dennis Wilson, composer
16 July – Sir Brynmor Jones, academic
19 July
* J. M. Cohen, translator
* Colin Crowe, diplomat
23 July
* Charles Edward Foister, botanist
* Henry Raynor, musicologist
* Michael Sundin, Blue Peter presenter
28 July – B. V. Bowden, Baron Bowden, scientist
31 July – Francis Lane Fox, Army lieutenant-colonel

August

1 August – John Ogdon, pianist
2 August – Euphemia Cunningham, munitions worker in World War I
4 August
* Maurice Colbourne , actor
* Geoffrey Cross, Baron Cross of Chelsea, judge
8 August
* Brian Naylor, racing driver
* Audrey Russell, journalist
10 August – Isabella Forshall, pediatric surgeon
15 August – William Sydney Atkins, engineer and entrepreneur
17 August – Harry Corbett, magician, puppeteer and television presenter, creator of Sooty
22 August – Charles Hill, Baron Hill of Luton, physician and politician
23 August – R. D. Laing, psychiatrist
24 August
* Marjorie Pratt, Countess of Brecknock, courtier and socialite
* Feliks Topolski, artist
29 August – Peter Scott, ornithologist, conservationist and painter, son of Captain Robert Falcon Scott

September

2 September – Clifton Parker, composer
4 September – William Taylor, ophthalmologist
5 September
* Philip Baxter, chemical engineer
* William Mann, music critic
8 September – Ann George, actress
10 September – James Shaw, Baron Kilbrandon, judge
13 September
* Kathleen Bliss, theologian
* Jenny Hyslop, community leader
14 September – Raymond Codling, police inspector
17 September – Sir Richard Hull, Army field marshal
18 September – Alexander Fletcher, Conservative politician
19 September
* Vera Barclay, author and Scouting pioneer
* Philip Sayer, actor
25 September – Nowell Myres, archaeologist
27 September – Dorothea Ramsey, social worker
28 September – Francis Ronald Swain, RAF air commodore

October

1 October
* Eric Ball, composer
* David Lindesay-Bethune, 15th Earl of Lindsay, peer and soldier
4 October – Graham Chapman, comedian
7 October – George Green, trade union leader
8 October – Anne Dawson, World War I spy
17 October – R. A. B. Mynors, classicist and mediaevalist
19 October – Albert Geldard, footballer
20 October – Sir Anthony Quayle, actor
22 October – Ewan MacColl, singer-songwriter and activist
27 October – Allan Campbell McLean, writer and political activist
28 October – Henry Hall, bandleader
31 October – Roger Scott, radio presenter

November

1 November
* Peter Childs, actor
* Leslie Runciman, 2nd Viscount Runciman of Doxford, peer
2 November – Frederick Gordon-Lennox, 9th Duke of Richmond, peer
7 November – Alec Mango, actor
8 November – Olive Henry, artist
11 November – Nicholas Freeman, Conservative politician
13 November
* Stewart Chalmers, footballer
* Arthur Hutchings, composer and musicologist
14 November – Jimmy Murphy, footballer and coach
15 November – Jeremy Flint, contract bridge writer
16 November – Oliver Smedley, businessman and activist
17 November – David Blundy, journalist
21 November
* Edward Bawden, artist
* Peter Burton, actor
22 November – Billy Milton, actor
25 November – William Stratton, Army lieutenant-general
26 November – Morrice James, Baron Saint Brides, diplomat
29 November – Gubby Allen, Australian-born England cricketer and cricket administrator

December

2 December – William Taylour, archaeologist
4 December
* Elwyn Jones, Baron Elwyn-Jones, Labour politician
* Kathleen Manners, Duchess of Rutland, aristocrat
5 December – Sir John Pritchard, conductor
6 December – Joyce Howard Barrell, composer
7 December – Sirima, singer
10 December – Sam Barkas, footballer
11 December – Howard Lang, actor
13 December – Roderick Mackenzie, 4th Earl of Cromartie, Scottish peer and soldier
15 December – Edward Underdown, actor
16 December – Marjorie Westbury, actress
17 December
* Edward Boyd, scriptwriter
* J. Alastair Montgomerie, businessman
* Sir Charles Norris, Royal Navy vice-admiral
19 December – Stella Gibbons, novelist, journalist, poet and short-story writer
21 December
* Sir Hugh Elliott, 3rd Baronet, ornithologist and conservationist
* Elsie Griffin, opera singer
23 December
* Peter Bennett, actor
* John Cavendish, 5th Baron Chesham, politician
24 December – Charles Moore, 11th Earl of Drogheda, peer
26 December
* Sir Lennox Berkeley, composer
* Walter Bromley-Davenport, Conservative politician
* Sybil Cholmondeley, Marchioness of Cholmondeley, aristocrat
* Denis Garrett, mycologist and plant pathologist
* Paul Jennings, author and humorist
* Peggy Thorpe-Bates, actress
27 December
* John Monteath Robertson, Scottish chemist
* Edmund Warwick, actor
28 December – William Scott, Ulster Scots painter
30 December – Madoline Thomas, actress
31 December – Margaret Gordon, illustrator