2004 in the United Kingdom

Events from the year 2004 in the United Kingdom.

Incumbents

Monarch – Elizabeth II
Prime Minister – Tony Blair

Events

January

1 January – Papers released under the Thirty-year rule reveal that, contrary to what was believed at the time, Princess Margaret would not have lost her title nor Civil list payments had she married Group Captain Peter Townsend, a divorced War II|War] hero, in the 1950s.
3 January – The BBC cancels the appearance of Coca-Cola sponsorship credits in the music charts on its BBC One Top of the Pops show, after criticism from politicians and health campaigners that it would be promoting junk food and unhealthy drink products to teenagers.
6 January
* The coroner's inquest into the death of Diana, Princess of Wales and her lover Dodi Al-Fayed is officially opened.
* The Daily Mirror publishes the blacked out portion of a letter wherein Diana, Princess of Wales alleged that someone was trying to kill her.
7 January – It is announced that a record of nearly 2,600,000 new cars were sold in the United Kingdom during 2003.
8 January – is christened by Elizabeth II.
13 January
* Labour politician Robin Cook says that the British Museum's Parthenon Marbles should be returned to Greece.
* Serial killer Dr. Harold Shipman is found dead in his cell one day prior to his fifty-eighth birthday following his suicide by hanging.
* The Bichard Inquiry into events preceding the Soham murders formally opens.
14 January – A 45-year-old Sudanese man travelling from Washington Dulles International Airport to Dubai Airport is arrested en route at London's Heathrow Airport on suspicion of carrying five bullets in his coat pocket.
19 January – The English Court of Appeal calls for an end to the prosecution of parents whose babies may have died of Sudden Infant Death Syndrome in cases where the only evidence is contended expert testimony.
21 January – The Secretary of State for Defence publishes a White paper Delivering Security in a Changing World, detailing wide-ranging reform of the country's armed forces.
27 January – The vote of Scottish Labour MPs, whose constituents are unaffected by the legislation, help Prime Minister Tony Blair narrowly defeat a rebellion in his own party over the Higher Education Bill – a highly controversial bill to reform higher education funding in England, including the introduction of increased and variable tuition fees – in the House of Commons by 316 votes to 311.
28 January – The Hutton Inquiry into the circumstances of the death of Dr. David Kelly is published. This is taken by most of the press to be a strong condemnation of the BBC's handling of the affair and to exonerate the government; the BBC's Director-General, Greg Dyke, chairman of the Board of Governors, Gavyn Davies, and the journalist at the centre of the controversy, Andrew Gilligan, resign. The UK media, in general, condemns the report as a whitewash.

February

1 February – Media sources and victim support groups across Britain condemn the £11,000 payouts to the families of the two girls who were murdered at Soham in August 2002 as a "pittance". The compensation was paid out by the Criminal Injuries Compensation Authority.
3 February – Foreign Secretary Jack Straw announces an independent inquiry, to be chaired by Lord Butler, to examine the reliability of intelligence on weapons of mass destruction in Iraq.
5–6 February – A party of Chinese cockle pickers is caught by the tides at night in Morecambe Bay, Lancashire, drowning 23 people. 21 bodies are recovered.
6 February – The Home Office confirms that Maxine Carr, convicted with Ian Huntley concerning the Soham murders of August 2002, could be released from prison in the next few days.
11 February – Richard Desmond, the owner of the Daily Express and Daily Star tabloids, confirms that he has made a bid for the troubled broadsheet The Daily Telegraph.
15 February
* The government are reported to have drawn up plans to break up the BBC in the wake of the Hutton inquiry.
* Tebay rail accident: four railway workers are killed and five injured on the West Coast Main Line in Cumbria when a goods wagon carrying steel breaks loose from its train and runs backwards.
19 February – Foreign Secretary Jack Straw announces that five of the nine Britons held without trial as terror suspects at the Guantanamo Bay prison camp in Cuba, along with a Danish national, are to be released.
21 February – Prime Minister Tony Blair comes under pressure from British human rights groups and MPs because of the government's sweeping powers under the Anti-Terrorism Crime and Security Act, which have allowed the detention of fourteen foreign terrorist suspects in the UK at what has been described as "Britain's Guantanamo Bay".
24 February – The British Olympic Association prohibits European 100 metres champion Dwain Chambers from competing in the Olympic Games for life for a positive test for the designer steroid THG.
25 February – Katharine Gun, formerly an employee of British spy agency GCHQ, has a charge of breaching the Official Secrets Act dropped after prosecutors offer no evidence, apparently on the advice of the Attorney General for England and Wales. Gun has admitted leaking American plans to bug UN delegates to a newspaper.
26 February – Clare Short, former Cabinet Minister, alleges on the BBC Today radio programme that British spies regularly intercept UN communications, including those of Kofi Annan, the UN Secretary-General.
29 February – Middlesbrough F.C. win their first trophy in their 128-year history by defeating Bolton Wanderers F.C. in the Football League Cup Final.

March

March – Vauxhall launches the fifth generation of its popular Astra family hatchback. It is initially available only as a five-door hatchback, with a three-door "Sporthatch" and a five-door estate due later in the year.
11 March – Support for the Conservatives and Labour is equal at 35% for the second time in nine months, raising the spectre of a hung parliament at the 2005 [United Kingdom general election|next general election] which is expected within a year.
16 March – 15-year-old Scottish boy Kriss Donald is abducted, tortured and murdered by a Pakistani gang in a racially motivated attack in Glasgow.
21 March – Architect Zaha Hadid becomes the first female recipient of the Pritzker Prize.
28 March – The actor, author, diplomat and Chancellor of Durham University, Peter Ustinov, dies of heart failure aged 82 at a hospital in Switzerland.
30 March
* Operation Crevice, the arrest of a group of British Islamists, 5 of whom are subsequently convicted of conspiring to cause explosions likely to endanger life.
* The English-born American journalist Alistair Cooke dies of lung cancer at his home in New York City aged 95, only four weeks after his last broadcast of Letter from America.

April

19 April – In a change of government policy, Tony Blair announces there will be a referendum on the proposed EU Constitution.
28 April – Landmark office building 30 St Mary Axe in the City of London, designed by Norman Foster, opens.

May

7 May – BBC Two airs The Simpsons for the final time with "Behind the Laughter" being the final episode, having lost terrestrial rights to air the show to Channel 4.
10 May – Maxine Carr is released from prison with a new identity after serving half of her sentence for perverting the course of justice in the Soham murders case.
11 May – Stockline Plastics factory explosion: Nine people die in an explosion at a factory in Glasgow.
14 May – Piers Morgan is dismissed as editor of the Daily Mirror after the newspaper published fake pictures of Iraqi prisoner abuse.
15 May – Arsenal F.C. become the first team in history to win a Premier League undefeated. They are also the first to win a top flight title unbeaten since Preston North End in 1889.
19 May – Fathers 4 Justice stage a protest in the House of Commons at Prime Minister's Questions by throwing purple powder at Tony Blair.
22 May – Manchester United F.C. beat Millwall 3–0 in the FA Cup final.
27 May – The MP for Leicester South, Jim Marshall, dies triggering a by-election.
31 May – Long-running children's animated television series Peppa Pig premieres on the Nick Jr. Channel and Five.

June

2 June – José Mourinho, the Portuguese coach who led FC Porto to the UEFA Champions League title on 26 May, is named as the new manager of Chelsea F.C. on a three-year contract.
6 June – Sixtieth anniversary of D-Day. Last minute pressure forces First Minister of Scotland Jack McConnell to attend commemorations. Rhodri Morgan, the First Minister of Wales is criticised for not doing the same.
10 June
* A bumper election day takes place, dubbed "Super Thursday":
** 2004 United Kingdom local elections: Labour are dealt with significant blows, with a net loss of 464 councillors and 8 councils; while the Conservatives make a net gain of 13 councils and 288 councillors. There are mixed results for the Liberal Democrats as their vote share is down 3% and they lose 2 councils, but gain 123 councillors.
** 2004 European Parliament election: UKIP make big gains, gaining 10 seats bringing their total up to 12, indicating an increase in Euroscepticism; while both Labour and the Conservatives perform poorly, losing 6 and 8 seats respectively.
** 2004 London mayoral election: Ken Livingstone is re-elected as London mayor, beating Conservative rival Steven Norris in the second round of voting, albeit with a slightly reduced majority.
** 2004 London Assembly election: Labour and the Greens make losses, both the Liberal Democrats and UKIP make gains, while the Conservatives remain almost exactly level with the previous result.
* A rebranding of the Football League sees Division One become the Football League Championship, Division Two become League One and Division Three become League Two.
11 June – The incumbent Ken Livingstone is announced as the winner of the election for Mayor of London.
14 June – Results of the 2004 European elections are announced. UK Independence Party are the main gainers, increasing from 3 to 12 MEPs.
16 June – Liverpool F.C. appoint the Spaniard Rafael Benítez as their new manager.
21 June – The Football League club Wimbledon, who relocated to Milton Keynes from South London last autumn, are renamed Milton Keynes Dons to reflect their new location.
24 June – England are knocked out of UEFA Euro 2004 in the quarter-finals by host nation Portugal on penalties, following a 2–2 draw after extra time in Lisbon.
29 June – Islamic terrorist Kamel Bourgass, an illegal immigrant from Algeria, is convicted of the 2003 murder of Stephen Oake and the attempted murder of two other police officers. The crimes occurred in Manchester, with Oake stabbed eight times.

July

2 July
* An openly gay cleric, Jeffrey John, is installed as the Dean of St Albans.
* A court rules that Humberside Police Authority must suspend the Chief Constable, David Westwood, in accordance with the Home Secretary 's demands.
2 July – Premier Inn is formed by merger of the Travel Inn and Premier Lodge brands.
6 July – The Queen unveils a memorial fountain to Diana, Princess of Wales in London.
8 July – Marks & Spencer turn down a takeover bid by retail tycoon Philip Green.
12 July – Chancellor of the Exchequer Gordon Brown announces the massive loss of 100,000 civil service jobs in the UK; the savings to be put into frontline services such as Health and Education.
13 July
* The Public Administration Committee of the House of Commons recommends massive changes to the British Honours System including scrapping knighthoods and renaming the Order of the British Empire to the "Order of British Excellence".
* The Countryside Agency publicises a new Countryside Code in advance of the "Right to Roam" coming into effect in September across England and Wales.
* The House of Lords makes a hostile amendment to the Constitutional Reform Bill that would retain the name of the office of Lord Chancellor.
14 July – The Butler Inquiry releases its report, mildly criticising the government in their use of intelligence relating to Weapons of Mass Destruction in Iraq.
15 July
* 2004 Leicester South by-election: Parmjit Singh Gill of the Liberal Democrats gains the seat, overturning a Labour majority of 13,243.
* 2004 Birmingham Hodge Hill by-election: Liam Byrne narrowly holds the seat for Labour, just 460 votes ahead of the Liberal Democrats's Nicola Davies. Labour's majority was 13,243 at the 2001 general election.
18 July – North Yorkshire police launch a murder hunt after 27-year-old twin sisters Claire and Diane Sanderson are found dead in a flat in Camblesforth, near Selby.
19 July – The government announces backing for the Crossrail project.
20 July – The government publishes the results of a review into Council Tax in England.
23 July – Tony Blair announces that Peter Mandelson is to become Britain's new European Commissioner.

August

1 August – The University of Surrey Roehampton becomes Roehampton University.
9 August
* West Bromwich Albion F.C. terminate the contract of striker Lee Hughes as he is sentenced to six years in prison after being found guilty of causing death by dangerous driving, having killed a 56-year-old man in a collision near Coventry on 22 November 2003.
* Home Office Circular 46/2004 is issued giving guidance concerning the review of police injury pensions.
12 August – Police are investigating whether a couple, John and Joan Stirland, were victims of a revenge killing. Both were found shot dead at their home in Trusthorpe, Lincolnshire on 8 August, having fled their home in Nottingham after Mrs Stirland's son was convicted of a gangland murder.
13–29 August – Great Britain participates in the 2004 Summer Olympics in Athens winning a total of 9 gold, 9 silver and 12 bronze medals.
16 August – Boscastle flood of 2004: flash floods destroy buildings and wash cars out to sea in Cornwall.
28 August – Kelly Holmes wins her second gold medal at the 2004 Summer Olympics.

September

13 September – A Fathers 4 Justice campaigner dressed as Batman breaches security at Buckingham Palace.
15 September – Parliament is suspended after pro-hunt campaigners break into the House of Commons.

October

1 October – Tony Blair confirms he will seek a third term as Prime Minister, but rules out a possible fourth term, meaning if Labour win the next general election, he will resign before the next election after that.
2 October – The first parkrun, known at this time as Bushy Park Time Trial, takes place in Bushy Park, London.
7 October – British hostage Ken Bigley of Liverpool, is beheaded by militants in Iraq.
9 October – Scottish Parliament Building in Edinburgh, designed by Enric Miralles, is opened.
19 October – British aid worker Margaret Hassan is taken hostage in Iraq.
24 October – Arsenal F.C's 49-league game unbeaten run, the longest in the history of English football, comes to an end following a 2-0 defeat away to Manchester United.
26 October – Selby Coalfield production ceases.
28 October – Companies (Audit, Investigations and Community Enterprise) Act 2004 regulates company auditing and financial record keeping and introduces the community interest company.
29 October – Princess Alice, Duchess of Gloucester dies at Kensington Palace aged 102, making her the oldest British royal in history.

November

4 November – 2004 North East England devolution referendum: Voters resoundingly reject proposals to establish an elected assembly for the region, 77.93% to 22.07%.
5 November
* The funeral of Princess Alice takes place at St George's Chapel, Windsor.
* Philanthropist the Earl of Shaftesbury, 66, goes missing while on holiday in Nice, France. He is found murdered in a family dispute in 2005.
6 November – Ufton Nervet rail crash: Seven people are killed when a train is derailed by a car deliberately left on a level crossing in Berkshire.
15 November – Children Act clarifies most official responsibilities for children, notably bringing all local government functions for children's welfare and education under the authority of local Directors of Children's Services.
16 November
* The government announces plans to prohibit smoking in most enclosed public places within the next three years.
* It is reported that Margaret Hassan is dead after her family receive a video recording supposedly showing her being killed.
18 November – Parliament passes the Hunting Act 2004 prohibiting fox hunting in England and Wales; the Civil Partnership Act, granting civil partnerships for same-sex couples from 2005; and the Civil Contingencies Act, providing for local arrangements for civil protection and national emergency powers.
20 November – Launch of the Swift Gamma-Ray Burst Mission, a joint United States, UK and Italian-developed spacecraft, designed to study gamma-ray bursts.
28 November – Wales Millennium Centre in Cardiff is opened.

December

December – Ford launches the second generation of its best-selling Focus family car that was originally launched in September 1998.
2 December – David Bieber, a 38-year-old former United States marine, is found guilty of murdering PC Ian Broadhurst in Leeds on Boxing Day last year. He is sentenced to life imprisonment, and the trial judge recommends that he should never be released from prison. After his conviction, it is revealed that Bieber was wanted in connection with a 1995 murder in Florida. It is also revealed that he had entered the UK by using the alias Nathan Wayne Coleman – who was discovered to be a child that had died in infancy in 1968.
14 December – Millau Viaduct in France, designed by British architect Norman Foster, is opened.
15 December – David Blunkett resigns as Home Secretary after three-and-a-half years in the role.
20 December – Northern Bank robbery: A gang of thieves steal £26.5 million worth of currency from Northern Bank's Donegall Square West headquarters in Belfast, one of the largest bank robberies in British history; no-one is ever found directly responsible for the crime.
26 December
* 150 British people are among thousands of people killed by the devastating 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami in across the South and Southeast Asia during a Christmas holiday and Boxing Day celebration.
* The Queen's cousin-in-law, businessman Sir Angus Ogilvy, dies of cancer aged 76 in hospital at Kingston upon Thames, London.

Full date unknown

Forces Children's Trust British charity is established.

Publications

Iain M. Banks' novel The Algebraist.
Louis de Bernières' novel Birds Without Wings.
Susanna Clarke's novel Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell.
Alan Hollinghurst's novel The Line of Beauty.
Andrea Levy's novel Small Island.
David Mitchell's novel Cloud Atlas.
Terry Pratchett's Discworld novels A Hat Full of Sky and Going Postal.
The Liberal Democrat tract The Orange Book: Reclaiming Liberalism edited by Paul Marshall and David Laws.

Births

11 January – James Rew, English cricketer
2 February – Shola Shoretire, English footballer
8 February – Hannah Moncur, Scottish actress
19 February – Millie Bobby Brown, actress and model
8 March – Kit Connor, actor
9 April – TommyInnit, internet personality
19 June – Millie Gibson, English actress
2 July – Jordan James, Welsh footballer
2 September – Desharne Bent-Ashmeil, British diver
25 September – Prince Odysseas-Kimon of Greece and Denmark
1 October – Jimi Gower, Malaysian footballer
9 November – Mohammad Sahil Saeed, kidnap victim
21 November
* Jack Henderson, Scottish graphic artist and charity fundraiser
* Rico Lewis, footballer
9 December – Nico Parker, actress
21 December – Estella Taylor, daughter of Lady Helen Taylor

Deaths

January

3 January – Lillian Beckwith, writer
4 January
* Joan Aiken, writer
* Brian Gibson, film director
* Jeff Nuttall, actor, poet, and painter
5 January – Norman Heatley, biologist and biochemist
6 January
* John Evans, footballer
* Reg Smith, footballer and football manager
11 January – Mervyn Pike, Baroness Pike, politician
13 January
* Tom Hurndall, political activist
* Harold Shipman, serial killer
21 January
* Kenneth Hubbard, RAF pilot
* John T. Lewis, Welsh physicist
26 January
* Wilhelmina Barns-Graham, artist
* Hugh Jenkins, Baron Jenkins of Putney, politician
27 January
* Rikki Fulton, comedian and actor
* Hugh Scanlon, trade union leader
29 January
* M. M. Kaye, writer
* James Saunders, playwright
30 January – George Bennions, Battle of Britain Spitfire pilot

February

1 February –
* Ally MacLeod, former manager of the Scotland national football team
* Bob Stokoe, former footballer and football manager
2 February – Alan Bullock, Baron Bullock, historian
4 February – William MacQuitty, film producer
5 February
* Nicholas Evans, artist
* Frances Partridge, writer and last surviving member of the Bloomsbury Group
6 February – Humphry Osmond, psychiatrist
7 February – Norman Thelwell, cartoonist
12 February – Martin Booth, poet
13 February – Peter Gellhorn, pianist and conductor
18 February – Ivor Stanbrook, politician and barrister
20 February
* Fred Brown, virologist
* Ted Paige, physicist
22 February – Colin Eaborn, molecular biologist
23 February – Neil Ardley, jazz composer

March

4 March
* John McGeoch, rock guitarist
* Sir Malcolm Pasley, literary scholar
6 March – Sandy Glen, explorer
8 March
* Keith Hopkins, sociologist and historian
* Robin Hunter, actor
9 March – Tony Lee, jazz pianist
10 March – David Shoenberg, physicist
13 March – Sydney Carter, poet and songwriter
15 March – John Pople, chemist, Nobel Prize laureate
18 March – Richard Marner, actor
19 March – Ted Walker, poet and dramatist
22 March – David Oates, archaeologist
27 March
* Lionel Sackville-West, 6th Baron Sackville, peer and stockbroker
* Larry Trask, professor of linguistics
28 March – Sir Peter Ustinov, actor, writer, dramatist and raconteur
30 March
* Alistair Cooke, broadcaster and writer
* Hubert Gregg, actor and broadcaster
31 March – John Paul, colonial administrator

April

1 April
* Paul Atkinson, rock guitarist
* Arthur Halestrap, one of the last surviving British soldiers of World War I
4 April – Alwyn Williams, geologist
7 April – Robert Sangster, racehorse owner
8 April – Adrian Beers, double bass player
10 April – Ben Pimlott, historian
13 April – Caron Keating, television presenter
14 April
* Micheline Charest, television producer
* Robin Popplestone, computer scientist
17 April – Geraint Howells, politician
19 April
* Philip Locke, actor
* John Maynard Smith, biologist and geneticist
* Norris McWhirter, political activist and television presenter, twin brother of Ross McWhirter
* Ronnie Simpson, footballer and football manager
20 April – Ian Robinson, publisher
23 April – Len Vale-Onslow, motorcycle manufacturer
24 April
* Brian Manning, historian
25 April – Thom Gunn, poet
29 April – John Henniker-Major, 8th Baron Henniker, politician and diplomat
30 April – Jeffrey Alan Gray, psychiatrist

May

3 May
* Anthony Ainley, actor
* Andrew Cavendish, 11th Duke of Devonshire, peer
4 May – Erik Smith, record producer
5 May – John Cornforth, architectural historian
7 May – Douglas John Foskett, librarian
9 May – Percy M. Young, composer and musicologist
10 May – Dennis Wilshaw, footballer
11 May – Danny McLennan, footballer and coach
14 May
* Anna Lee, actress
* Shaun Sutton, television executive
15 May – Clint Warwick, bassist
16 May – Peter Hill-Norton, Baron Hill-Norton, Admiral of the Fleet
20 May – Len Murray, Baron Murray of Epping Forest, trade union leader
23 May
* Sally Gilmour, ballerina
* Adele Leigh, opera singer
27 May
* Jim Marshall, politician
* Ronald Smith, pianist
29 May – Jack Rosenthal, playwright

June

3 June – Frances Shand Kydd, mother of Diana, Princess of Wales and grandmother of Princes William and Harry
5 June – Iona Brown, violinist and conductor
6 June – Judy Campbell, actress
7 June – Don Potter, sculptor and potter
12 June
* Stanley O'Toole, film producer
* Geoffrey Thompson, businessman
13 June – Stuart Hampshire, philosopher
15 June – J. Gwyn Griffiths, poet and Egyptologist
18 June – Frederick Jaeger, actor
19 June – Colin McCormack, actor
23 June – Doris Thompson, businesswoman, owner of Blackpool Pleasure Beach
26 June – Muriel Angelus, actress
27 June – Hugh B. Cave, science fiction writer
28 June – Anthony Buckeridge, writer

July

1 July
* Peter Barnes, playwright and screenwriter
* Richard May, judge
3 July – John Barron, actor
5 July – Robert Burchfield, lexicographer
6 July – Peter Birks, academic lawyer
14 July – Arnold Ziff, businessman and philanthropist
16 July – Frank Farmer, physicist
17 July – Pat Roach, wrestler and actor
18 July – Paul Foot, journalist and nephew of former Labour Party leader Michael Foot
21 July – Julian Ridsdale, politician
23 July – Alan Cook, physicist
28 July
* Francis Crick, scientist, discoverer of the structure of DNA
* Margo McLennan, actress

August

1 August – Laurence Stark, World War II flying ace
4 August – Robert Yewdall Jennings, judge
7 August
* Colin Bibby, ornithologist
* Bernard Levin, writer and journalist
* Gordon Smith, footballer
12 August
* Sir Godfrey Hounsfield, electrical engineer and inventor, recipient of the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine
* Peter Woodthorpe, actor
14 August – Trevor Skeet, lawyer
16 August – Stephen Terrell, barrister and politician
17 August – Sheila Callender, physician
18 August – Hugh Manning, actor
20 August – Leslie Shepard, author and archivist
25 August – Donald M. Ashton, film director
30 August – Derek Johnson, athlete
31 August – Carl Wayne, singer

September

1 September – Gordon Parry, Baron Parry, politician
2 September – Brian Scarlett, physicist
4 September – Caroline Pratt, equestrian
7 September – Fritha Goodey, actress
9 September
* Ian Cochrane, novelist
* Thomas Kerr, aerospace engineer
10 September – Glyn Owen, actor
12 September – John Buller, composer
13 September – Eric Sams, musicologist and Shakespeare scholar
14 September – John Seymour, author and self-sufficiency campaigner
17 September – Katharina Dalton, physician
19 September
* Stanley Clarke, businessman and philanthropist
* Kenneth Sandford, opera singer
20 September – Brian Clough, footballer and football manager
23 September
* Nigel Nicolson, writer and politician
* Maurice Michael Stephens, World War II flying ace
25 September – Michael Davies, writer on Roman Catholicism
30 September – Michael Relph, film producer and film director

October

4 October – Michael Grant, ancient historian
6 October
* William Clark, Baron Clark of Kempston, politician
* Pete McCarthy, broadcaster and travel writer
7 October
* Kenneth Bigley, civil engineer
* Tony Lanfranchi, racing driver
* Rosemary Murray, chemist and professor
9 October – Bryan R. Wilson, author of religious books
11 October
* Paul Bryan, politician
* Peter Kerr, 12th Marquess of Lothian, peer and landowner
13 October
* Bernice Rubens, novelist
* Ivor Wood, television animator
14 October – Sheila Keith, actress
15 October – Bill Eyden, jazz drummer
16 October
* Vincent Brome, writer
* Harold Perkin, social historian
18 October – Nancy Carline, artist
20 October – Lynda Lee-Potter, Daily Mail columnist
23 October – Bill Nicholson, footballer and football manager
25 October – John Peel, DJ and radio presenter
29 October
* Princess Alice, Duchess of Gloucester, member of the Royal Family and last surviving aunt of The Queen

November

1 November – James Hanson, Baron Hanson, industrialist
4 November – Robert Heaton, songwriter and drummer
5 November – Basil McIvor, politician
c. 5 November – Anthony Ashley-Cooper, 10th Earl of Shaftesbury, peer
6 November
* Fred Dibnah, steeplejack and television personality
* Robert Lang, actor
9 November – Emlyn Hughes, footballer, football manager and TV gameshow captain
13 November
* John Balance, English singer-songwriter
* Keith Weller, footballer
14 November – David Stanley Evans, astronomer
19 November – John Robert Vane, pharmacologist, recipient of the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine
22 November
* Reginald Coates, civil engineer
* Arthur Hopcraft, screenwriter
24 November – Janet Kear, ornithologist
25 November – Denis Richards, historian
26 November – C. Walter Hodges, writer, artist and Shakespearean scholar
27 November – John Dunn, radio presenter
28 November – Molly Weir, actress
30 November – Bill Brown, football goalkeeper

December

1 December – Norman Newell, record producer and lyricist
2 December
* Kevin Coyne, singer and composer
* Alicia Markova, ballerina
6 December
* Frank Reginald Carey, World War II air ace
* Adrian Morris, artist
8 December – Leslie Scarman, Baron Scarman, judge
13 December – David Wheeler, computer scientist
14 December – Harry Bowcott, rugby union player and manager
15 December
* Harry Errington, only London firefighter to receive the George Cross in World War II
* Sidonie Goossens, harpist
17 December – Dick Heckstall-Smith, saxophonist
18 December – Anthony Sampson, writer and journalist
23 December
* Richard Abel Smith, army officer
* John W. Duarte, composer and guitarist
* Ifor James, horn player
24 December
* Richard Annand, soldier, first recipient of the Victoria Cross during World War II
* Anthony Meyer, former Conservative MP who unsuccessfully challenged Margaret Thatcher's leadership in 1989
* Dame Rosemary Rue, physicist and civil servant
26 December
* Garard Green, actor
* Sir Angus Ogilvy, husband of Princess Alexandra
* Frank Pantridge, physician
29 December – John Bridgeman, sculptor