1996 in the United Kingdom

Events from the year 1996 in the United Kingdom.
This year is noted for the Dunblane Massacre, the divorces of the Duke and Duchess of York and of the Prince and Princess of Wales and the birth of Dolly the sheep.

Fandom ukb:1996

Incumbents

Monarch – Elizabeth II
Prime Minister – John Major

Events

January

10 January – Terry Venables announces that he will resign as manager of the England national football team after this summer's European Championships, which will be hosted in England.
13 January – National Union of Mineworkers' leader Arthur Scargill announces that he is defecting from the Labour Party to set up his own Socialist Labour Party.
19 January
* The first MORI poll of 1996 shows Labour still comfortably ahead of the Conservatives with a showing of 55% and a lead of 26 points.
* Ian and Kevin Maxwell, sons of the late media mogul Robert Maxwell, are cleared of fraud at the Old Bailey after a trial lasting eleven days.
23–26 January – Much of Britain is struck with sub-zero temperatures and snowstorms. Schools and transport are disrupted.

February

4 February – The first two passenger train operating companies begin operation of their service franchises as part of the privatisation of British Rail: South West Trains and Great Western Trains.
5 February – The first genetically modified food products go on sale in the UK.
9 February
* The Provisional Irish Republican Army carry out the Docklands bombing in London, a lorry bomb which kills two men and injures 39 people. This incident ends the 17-month ceasefire in Northern Ireland.
* The Parole Board announces that Moors murderer Myra Hindley could soon be transferred to an open prison. Hindley, 53 and in her thirtieth year of imprisonment, is currently being held at Durham Prison, but if Home Secretary Michael Howard backs the Parole Board's recommendation, Hindley could soon be transferred to a prison with a more relaxed regime.
15 February – A report on the Arms-to-Iraq affair is critical of government ministers.
18 February – An IRA bomb explodes on a bus in Central London, killing the transporter, Edward O'Brien, and injuring eight other people, including the driver.
19–20 February – Approximately 1,000 passengers are trapped in the Channel Tunnel when two Eurostar trains break down due to electronic failures caused by snow and ice.
22 February – Conservative MP Peter Thurnham announces his resignation from the House of Commons, reducing the Conservative Government's majority to just two seats. Resignations and by-election defeats have cost the Conservatives nineteen seats since the general election just under four years ago.
28 February
* Diana, Princess of Wales, agrees to give the Prince of Wales a divorce, more than three years after separating.
* Sandra Gregory, a British teacher, is sentenced to 25 years in prison in Thailand for drug smuggling, three years after her arrest at Bangkok Airport. Her co-accused, Robert Lock, is cleared of the same charge and returns home.

March

13 March – A gunman kills sixteen children, a teacher and himself in the Dunblane massacre in Scotland. The killer is quickly identified as 43-year-old former scout leader Thomas Hamilton. It is the worst killing spree in the United Kingdom since the Hungerford massacre in 1987.
17 March – Legoland Windsor opens its doors for the public. It becomes the second Legoland in Europe.
20 March
* Home Secretary Michael Howard unveils plans to give courts the power to hand down heavier prison sentences, including sending burglars to prison for at least three years after a third offence and all drug dealers to prison for at least six years. The plans spark controversy, with some critics pointing out that it will increase the prison population by at least 20%.
* United Kingdom BSE outbreak: Secretary of State for Health Stephen Dorrell announces a link between the potentially-fatal variant Creutzfeldt–Jakob disease and the eating of beef infected with bovine spongiform encephalopathy.
22 March – The European Union prohibits exports of British beef because of the BSE crisis.
29 March – Three British soldiers are sentenced to life imprisonment in Cyprus for the abduction, attempted rape and manslaughter of Danish woman Louise Jensen. The three soldiers are Allan Ford from Birmingham, Justin Fowler from Falmouth and Jeffrey Pernell from Oldbury.

April

1 April – The Local Government etc. (Scotland) and Local Government (Wales) Acts of 1994 come into effect, creating new unitary authorities.
16 April – South East Staffordshire by-election: In a 22-point swing, Labour wins the Staffordshire South East seat from the Conservative Party at a by-election, cutting the Conservative Government's majority to just three seats almost exactly four years after they began the current term of Parliament with a 21-seat majority.
17 April – The [Prince Andrew, Prince Andrew, Duke of York|Duke of York|Duke] and Duchess of York are divorced after ten years of marriage and four years after their separation.

May

2 May
* The Conservatives lose 578 seats in local council elections, while Labour increases its total number of councillors nationally to almost 11,000.
* The Football Association announces that Glenn Hoddle, the current Chelsea manager, will succeed Terry Venables as manager of the England national football team after next month's European Championships, which England is hosting for the first time.
5 May – Manchester United win the FA Premier League title for the third time in four seasons.
11 May – Manchester United win the FA Cup for a record ninth time by beating Liverpool 1–0 and become the first team to win the double of the league title and FA Cup twice.
17 May – Timothy Morss and Brett Tyler are found guilty of the murder of Daniel Handley, a nine-year-old who disappeared near his London home in October 1994 and whose body was found near Bristol five months later. The Old Bailey trial judge sentences them to life imprisonment and recommends that neither of them is ever released.
20 May – Actor and comedian Jon Pertwee dies aged 76 of a heart attack in Connecticut, United States, shortly after the release of the Doctor Who television film.
30 May
* The Duke and Duchess of York complete their divorce proceedings. The former Duchess loses the title HRH and becomes Sarah, Duchess of York.
* Sara Thornton, a Warwickshire woman who was jailed for life in 1990 for the murder of her abusive husband Malcolm the previous year, is released from prison after the Court of Appeal reduces her conviction to manslaughter.

June

8 June – The European Football Championships begin in England, with the host nation drawing 1–1 with Switzerland in the opening game.
13 June – The parliament of Guernsey, Channel Islands, votes to legalise abortion 86 years after it was outlawed.
15 June
* 1996 Manchester bombing: The Provisional Irish Republican Army detonates a massive lorry bomb in Manchester city centre, causing considerable damage but no fatalities.
* England and Scotland meet for the first time in a major football tournament when they play their group match at Euro '96. England win the match 2–0.
16 June – Launch of The Planet on Sunday, a new Sunday tabloid focusing on environmental issues. Publication of the newspaper ceases after one edition because the owner is unhappy with its content.
19 June – The government selects the Greenwich Peninsula site on the banks of the River Thames as the location for the Millennium Dome exhibition which is set to open for the year 2000.
21 June – The latest MORI poll shows the Conservatives on 31%, their best showing for three years, but they are still 21 points behind Labour with just under a year to go before the next general election is due to be held.
26 June – England's hopes of being European champions of football for the first time are ended with a penalty shootout defeat to Germany after a 1–1 draw in the semi-final.
30 June – Germany wins the European Championship final with a 2–1 victory over the Czech Republic at Wembley.

July

5 July – Dolly the sheep, the first mammal to have been successfully cloned from an adult cell, is born at the Roslin Institute in Scotland.
12 July – South African President Nelson Mandela visits the UK.
15 July – A Provisional Irish Republican Army unit plotting to disrupt the London electricity supply is arrested in Operation AIRLINES.
18 July – Howard Hughes, 31, is found guilty of the murder of Sophie Hook, 7, in Llandudno, North Wales, twelve months ago. He is sentenced to life imprisonment at Chester Crown Court and the trial judge Mr Justice Curtis recommends that he is never released.
19 July–9 August – Great Britain and Northern Ireland compete at the 1996 Summer Olympics in Atlanta, Georgia, United States, and win 1 Gold, 8 Silver and 6 Bronze medals. The only gold medal is won by Matthew Pinsent and Steve Redgrave in rowing.
30 July – Alan Shearer becomes the most expensive footballer in the world in a £15,000,000 transfer from Blackburn Rovers to Newcastle United F.C.

August

9 August – Sir Frank Whittle, inventor of the turbojet engine, dies of cancer at his home in Columbia, Maryland, United States, aged 89.
14 August – Unemployment has fallen to 2,126,200 – its lowest level since the summer of 1991.
28 August – The Prince and Princess of Wales complete their divorce proceedings after fifteen years of marriage. Their separation was first announced nearly four years ago. The former Princess of Wales loses her style of Royal Highness and assumes the style Diana, Princess of Wales.
29 August – Ketamine is legalised in the United Kingdom for the first time.

September

September
* Ford launches its new Ka city car, which makes use of a shortened Fiesta chassis. A revamped Mondeo goes on sale next month.
* Launch of the second generation Nissan Primera, built at Nissan's Sunderland factory.
4 September – BBC2 shows the first episode of lifestyle reality television show Changing Rooms.
5 September – Matthew Harding, vice-chairman of Chelsea FC, makes a £1,000,000 donation to the Labour Party – the largest donation made to the party by any individual.
20 September – Jockey Willie Carson is injured by a horse at Newbury, Berkshire.
24 September – Cadbury launches the Fuse chocolate bar. 40 million bars are sold this week, by December 1996 it became the UK's favourite confectionary.

October

2 October – Lawyer and politician John Taylor is made a Life Peer as Baron Taylor of Warwick, the first black Conservative peer.
7 October – The Thiepval barracks bombing in Lisburn injures many people, including a soldier who later dies from his injuries.
12 October – The Conservative government's majority has dwindled to a single seat following the defection of Peter Thurnham to the Liberal Democrats.
13 October
* Racing driver Damon Hill wins the Japanese Grand Prix, thus clinching the Drivers' World Championship.
* The Queen opens Durham County Cricket Club's new Riverside Ground in Chester-le-Street, the first new purpose-built first-class county cricket ground in the UK for over 100 years.
16 October – The government announces plans to make possession of handguns illegal in the UK, following the Dunblane massacre.

November

3 November – Barry Porter, Conservative MP for Wirral South, dies of cancer aged 57.
8 November – With the next general election no more than six months away, Labour still look set for a return to power after eighteen years in opposition, but the Conservatives have cut their lead to seventeen points in the latest MORI opinion poll – one of the narrowest gaps seen between the two leading parties in any opinion poll over the last three years.
13 November – The Stone of Scone is taken away from King Edward's Chair in Westminster Abbey, its location since 1296, and returned to Scotland.
18 November – Channel Tunnel fire: The Channel Tunnel is closed when a truck on a transporter wagon catches fire, disrupting Eurotunnel Shuttle and Eurostar services.
24 November – BBC1 airs The Simpsons for the first time with "There's No Disgrace Like Home" being the first episode shown.
30 November – The Stone of Scone is installed in Edinburgh Castle 700 years after it was removed from Scotland by King Edward I of England.

December

7 December – Sir John Gorst, 68-year-old Conservative MP for Hendon North in London, resigns the party whip, leaving the Conservative Party without a majority in the House of Commons.
10 December
* James Mirrlees wins the Nobel Prize in Economics jointly with William Vickrey "for their fundamental contributions to the economic theory of incentives under asymmetric information".
* Harold Kroto wins the Nobel Prize in Chemistry jointly with Robert Curl and Richard Smalley "for their discovery of fullerenes".
11 December – Comedian Willie Rushton dies aged 59 in hospital in Kensington, London, of a heart attack, ten years after jokingly predicting it.
18 December – Unemployment has fallen below 2,000,000 for the first time in almost six years, four years since it peaked at nearly 3,000,000 during the recession. Despite the strong economic recovery and falling unemployment, the Conservatives are still trailing behind Labour in the opinion polls, a stark contrast to their performance at the last election, where they retained power despite Britain being in recession.

Undated

Remaining provincial branches of the Bank of England, at Leeds, Newcastle, Manchester, Birmingham and Bristol, are closed.
More than 4% of the UK population now have internet access.
New car sales in the United Kingdom are above 2,000,000 for this year, a level last seen in 1990.
Panathlon Foundation is formed by Ashley Iceton.

Publications

Iain M. Banks's novel Excession.
Seamus Deane's novel Reading in the Dark.
Terry Pratchett's Discworld novels Feet of Clay and Hogfather; and his Johnny Maxwell novel Johnny and the Bomb.
Graham Swift's novel Last Orders.
Meera Syal's semi-autobiographical novel Anita and Me.

Births

January

3 January – Florence Pugh, British actress
4 January – Jade Jones, athlete
5 January – Maxim Baldry, actor
8 January – Hiram Boateng, footballer
10 January – Lauren McCrostie, actress
11 January – Charlie Coulson, footballer
17 January – Kirsty Hickey, actor, singer and dancer
21 January – Kyle Lander, footballer
22 January – Angus Gunn, footballer
23 January – Ruben Loftus-Cheek, footballer
26 January – Tyger Drew-Honey, actor
29 January – Megan Jossa, actress
31 January – Gavin Whyte, footballer

February

1 February
* Josh Bates, motorcycle speedway rider
* Dionne Bromfield, singer-songwriter and television presenter
7 February – Nathan Curtis, footballer
14 February – Bethany Firth, swimmer
20 February – Patrick Brough, footballer
21 February – Sophie Turner, actress

March

11 March – William Lenney, YouTuber
12 March – Byron Lawrence, footballer
16 March – Ivan Toney, footballer
17 March – Lydia Lloyd-Henry, actress
19 March – Kaiya Jones, Scottish-born Australian actress
20 March – Charley Hull, golfer
21 March – Adam Ellis, French-born grasstrack and speedway rider
22 March
* Jonathan Mason, actor
* Izzy Meikle-Small, actress
31 March – Barney Gibson, cricketer

April

1 April – Samuel Blenkin, actor and director
3 April – Anna Jobarteh, actress
5 April – Lowri Shone, ballerina
11 April – Dele Alli, footballer
12 April – Georgia Hall, golfer
17 April – Lorna Fitzgerald, actress
23 April – Charlie Rowe, actor
25 April
* Bryn Morris, footballer
* Brad Walker, footballer

May

3 May – Danielle Alakija, athlete
15 May – Birdy, musician
16 May – Jermaine Anderson, footballer
31 May – Martha Thomas, footballer

June

1 June – Tom Holland, actor and dancer
4 June – Ruby Harrold, gymnast
11 June – Hakeeb Adelakun, footballer
23 June – Charlie Jones, actor
24 June – Harris Dickinson, actor, writer and director
27 June – James Forde, actor
28 June – William Miller, actor
30 June – Gregor Ramsay, racing driver

July

9 July – Scott McMann, footballer
11 July – Ross Stewart, footballer
13 July – Ché Adams, footballer
15 July – Mason Bennett, footballer
16 July – Daniel Pearson, actor and presenter
20 July – Martin James Bartlett, pianist
24 July – Jordan McGhee, footballer
26 July
* Olivia Breen, athlete
* CDawgVA, youtuber
28 July
* Anya Chalotra, actress
* Samuel Chatto, son of Sarah Chatto and Daniel Chatto

August

1 August – Katie Boulter, tennis player
2 August – Robert Madge, actor
5 August – Hannah Russell, paralympic swimmer
9 August – Céline Buckens, Belgian-born actress
20 August – Sophie Kamlish, paralympic
22 August
* Jessica-Jane Applegate, swimmer
* Shannon Flynn, actress
26 August – Tom Harwood, journalist
29 August – Nadia Whittome, Labour Member of Parliament

September

2 September – Hannah Jones, snooker player
11 September – Swarmz, rapper
17 September – Ella Purnell, actress
20 September – Jerome Sinclair, footballer
25 September
* Jake Pratt, actor
* John Souttar, footballer
28 September – Aiden Moffat, racing driver

October

4 October - Ella Balinska, actress
7 October – Lewis Capaldi, Scottish singer-songwriter
11 October – Hollie Doyle, flat racing jockey
16 October – Sam Thornton, diver
19 October
* Daniel Goodfellow, diver
* Samuel Honywood, actor
21 October – Alicia Blagg, diver
22 October – Mason Holgate, footballer
25 October – Georgia Lock, actress and presenter
26 October – Rebecca Tunney, gymnast
31 October – Connor Wilkinson, actor

November

11 November – Ryan Kent, footballer
12 November
* Scott McKenna, footballer
* Alexander Ogilvy, son of James Ogilvy
20 November – Jack Harrison, footballer
23 November – James Maddison, footballer
24 November – Harry Lewis, YouTuber
28 November – Peter Moore, trombonist

December

9 December – Deji Olatunji, YouTuber and brother of KSI
18 December – Devaanshi Mehta, started the Asian Donor Campaign
21 December – Ben Chilwell, footballer
26 December – Cassius Taylor, son of Lady Helen Taylor

Full date unknown

Maz Totterdell, singer-songwriter

Deaths

January

3 January – Terence Cuneo, painter and conservationist
6 January
* Henry Hopkinson, 1st Baron Colyton, politician and diplomat
* John Philipps Kenyon, historian
7 January – Seton Lloyd, archaeologist
8 January
* Joyce McCartan, Northern Irish community worker and peace activist
* Norrie McCathie, Scottish footballer ; poisoning
9 January – Ronnie Bell, physical chemist
11 January
* Harold Walter Bailey, linguist
* Eric Hebborn, painter and author
15 January – Richard Cobb, historian and professor
16 January – Harry Potts, footballer and manager
17 January
* Charles Madge, poet, journalist and sociologist
* Harry Robertson, musician and composer
18 January – John Hope, 1st Baron Glendevon, peer and politician
21 January – Peter Stadlen, pianist
23 January – Norman MacCaig, poet and teacher
27 January – Barbara Skelton, socialite
29 January – Terence Reese, bridge player and writer

February

6 February
* Renee Roberts, actress
* Patsy Smart, actress
9 February
* Sir Stephen Hope Carlill, Royal Navy admiral
* Gerald Savory, playwright and screenwriter
* Sir George Trevelyan, 4th Baronet, educational pioneer
10 February – Giovanni Pontiero, scholar
11 February
* Cyril Poole, cricketer
* Bob Shaw, Northern Irish science fiction writer
14 February
* Lady Caroline Blackwood, writer
* Eva Hart, fifth-last survivor of the sinking of the Titanic
* Čeněk Kottnauer, chess player, International Master
* Bob Paisley, footballer and manager
15 February – Margaret Courtenay, actress
16 February – Kenneth Robinson, politician
17 February – Evelyn Laye, actress
19 February – Brenda Bruce, actress
20 February
* Walter Marshall, Baron Marshall of Goring, physicist
* Jeffrey Quill, RAF test pilot
22 February – George Christopher Archibald, economist
26 February – John Dalrymple, 13th Earl of Stair, Scottish peer
27 February
* Iain Murray, 10th Duke of Atholl, Scottish peer
* Pat Smythe, show jumper

March

5 March – Joshua Compston, art curator ; drug overdose
6 March
* Simon Cadell, actor
* Douglas Jay, Baron Jay, politician
7 March – Willie Fraser, Scottish footballer
8 March – Jack Churchill, British Army officer
11 March
* Sir Granville Beynon, physicist
* Paul Crossley, English footballer
* Sir Charles Oatley, physicist
15 March – Helen Chadwick, sculptor
16 March – Dennis Jennings, English footballer
18 March – Jacquetta Hawkes, prehistoric archaeologist
19 March
* W. H. Murray, mountaineer and writer
* Alan Ridout, composer
22 March – Ron Hayward, politician
25 March – John Snagge, radio personality
29 March – Gordon Pask, psychologist
30 March – Frederick Miller, paediatrician

April

4 April
* Brian Abel-Smith, economist
* Winifred Shotter, actress
6 April – Greer Garson, actress
7 April – Berkely Mather, writer
8 April – Donald Adams, operatic bass-baritone, brain tumour
13 April
* George Mackay Brown, Scottish poet and dramatist
* Denis Sargan, econometrician
14 April – Mervyn Levy, artist and writer on art
18 April – Mike Leander, songwriter and record producer
19 April – John Martin, spree killer ; executed in Singapore
20 April – Christopher Robin Milne, author and bookseller
23 April – P. L. Travers, novelist
24 April
* Donald Cammell, Scottish screenwriter and film director ; suicide
* Preston Lockwood, actor
25 April – John Lorne Campbell, Scottish historian
27 April – Joan Sterndale-Bennett, actress

May

1 May – Eric Houghton, English footballer and manager
2 May
* Douglas Houghton, Baron Houghton of Sowerby, politician, last Cabinet minister born in the 19th century
* Peter Swales, businessman and football chairman
5 May – Beryl Burton, racing cyclist
6 May – Wally Nightingale, guitarist
7 May
* Albert Meltzer, anarchist writer
* Howard Smith, diplomat
14 May – Vera Chapman, writer
19 May – Margaret Rawlings, actress
20 May – Jon Pertwee, actor
23 May – Patrick Cargill, actor
24 May
* John Abbott, actor
* Sir Harry Campion, statistician
25 May – John Morrison, 1st Baron Margadale, peer and politician
29 May – Jeremy Sinden, actor
30 May
* John Cameron, Lord Cameron, Scottish judge
* Heather Canning, actress

June

2 June – Leon Garfield, children's fiction writer
3 June – Peter Glenville, actor and director
7 June – Percy Edwards, animal impersonator
8 June – Phyllis Stedman, Baroness Stedman, politician
15 June
* Allenby Chilton, footballer and football manager
* Sir Fitzroy Maclean, 1st Baronet, Scottish soldier, writer and politician
17 June – James Hamilton, disc jockey and journalist
19 June – Vivian Ellis, composer and lyricist
20 June – John Buchan, 2nd Baron Tweedsmuir, peer
21 June – Cyril Holmes, Olympic sprinter
25 June – Ray Howard-Jones, painter
29 June – Pamela Mason, actress and screenwriter

July

1 July – Alfred Marks, actor and comedian
7 July – Michael McGoldrick, Northern Irish taxi driver ; murdered
8 July – Ernest Armstrong, politician
9 July – Christopher Casson, actor
12 July – Walter Hassan, automotive engineer
14 July – Richard Ripley, athlete
17 July
* Chas Chandler, musician and record producer
* Sir Geoffrey Jellicoe, landscape architect
19 July – Mervyn Cowie, conservationist
20 July – Colin Mitchell, Army soldier and politician
21 July – Wolfe Morris, actor
22 July – Rob Collins, musician ; died in a car accident
23 July – Jessica Mitford, author, one of the Mitford sisters
24 July – Jock Wallace, Scottish footballer and manager
27 July – Jane Drew, writer, architect and academic
29 July – Hilary Pritchard, actress

August

4 August – Geoff Hamilton, television presenter
5 August – Frank Marcus, playwright
6 August
* Ossie Clark, fashion designer ; murdered
* Charles Hadfield, historian
7 August – Anne Kristen, actress
8 August – Sir Neville Francis Mott, physicist
9 August – Sir Frank Whittle, RAF officer and inventor
10 August – Rex Tucker, television director
12 August – Anthony Parsons, diplomat
14 August – Albert Neuberger, biochemist
18 August
* Geoffrey Dearmer, poet
* Hugo Gryn, rabbi
24 August – Eric Heaton, priest and scholar
27 August – Abram Games, graphic designer
29 August – Phyllis Pearsall, cartographer and creator of the ''A–Z''

September

3 September – Julian Amery, Baron Amery of Lustleigh, politician
4 September – Joan Clarke, cryptanalyst and numismatist
10 September
* Ray Coleman, journalist and author
* Plantagenet Somerset Fry, historian ; suicide
11 September – Brenda Forbes, actress
13 September – Jane Baxter, actress
19 September
* George Hunt, English footballer
* Douglas Hyde, journalist and writer
22 September – Brook Bernacchi, lawyer
23 September – Stuart Piggott, archaeologist
24 September
* I. E. S. Edwards, Egyptologist
* Mark Frankel, actor ; accidentally killed
26 September – Sir Geoffrey Wilkinson, chemist
29 September – Leslie Crowther, comedian and TV presenter
30 September – Kenneth Muir, literary scholar

October

3 October – Eustace Roskill, Baron Roskill, lawyer and judge
6 October – Winifred Drinkwater, aviator and aeroplane engineer
7 October – Richard Clarkson, aeronautical engineer
8 October – Geoffrey Finsberg, politician
9 October
* Nigel Fisher, politician
* George F. Kerr, screenwriter
* Roy Lewis, writer and small press printer
11 October – Terry Patchett, politician
13 October – Beryl Reid, actress
14 October – William John Hooper, cartoonist
16 October
* Sir Anthony Griffin, Royal Navy admiral
* Eric Malpass, novelist
17 October
* Chris Acland, rock drummer and songwriter ; suicide
* Berthold Goldschmidt, composer
* Bert Hopwood, motorcycle designer
19 October – John Hillaby, travel writer and explorer
21 October – Eric Halsall, author and television presenter
22 October – helicopter crash:
* John Bauldie, journalist
* Matthew Harding, businessman
24 October
* Sir Roderick Barclay, diplomat
* Gladwyn Jebb, diplomat and politician
26 October – Derek Tangye, novelist
28 October – Robert Hankey, 2nd Baron Hankey, peer and diplomat

November

3 November – Barry Porter, politician
6 November – Tommy Lawton, footballer
8 November
* Laurence Baxter, statistician
* Peter Fowler, physicist
* Sydney Selwyn, physician
9 November – Roger Makins, 1st Baron Sherfield, diplomat
10 November – Marjorie Proops, journalist
11 November – Janice Adair, film actress
13 November – Margaret Steuart Pollard, bard of the Cornish Gorsedd, philanthropist, oriental scholar and eccentric
14 November – Derek Marlowe, playwright, novelist and painter
16 November
* Reginald Bevins, politician
* Jack Popplewell, playwright
18 November
* Douglas Guest, organist and conductor
* Charles Hare, tennis player
* John Vassall, Soviet spy
21 November – Bernard Rose, organist, soldier and academic
24 November – Sorley MacLean, Scottish Gaelic poet
26 November – Michael Bentine, comedian and comic actor
28 November – Anna Pollak, operatic mezzo-soprano
29 November – Denis Jenkinson, motorsports journalist

December

9 December
* Mary Leakey, archaeologist
* Diana Morgan, playwright and screenwriter
* Ivor Roberts-Jones, sculptor
* Raphael Samuel, Marxist historian
11 December
* Willie Rushton, comedian, actor and cartoonist
* W. G. G. Duncan Smith, World War II air ace
13 December
* Edward Blishen, author and broadcaster
* Sir James Cassels, Army field marshal
* Arthur Jacobs, musicologist
15 December – Dave Kaye, pianist
16 December
* Quentin Bell, biographer and art historian
* Joe Coral, entrepreneur and founder of Coral bookmakers
17 December – Ruby Murray, Northern Irish singer
18 December – Gwilym Hugh Lewis, World War I air ace
19 December – Ronald Howard, actor and writer
23 December
* Ronnie Scott, jazz musician and club owner
* Emrys Thomas, Welsh politician
29 December – Alma Birk, Baroness Birk, politician and journalist
30 December – Michael Roberts, historian