2011 in the United Kingdom

Events from the year 2011 in the United Kingdom.

Incumbents

Monarch – Elizabeth II
Prime Minister – David Cameron

Events

January

1 January – Inmates riot at Ford Open Prison near Arundel, West Sussex. Windows are smashed and part of the prison is set on fire by prisoners, whose rioting was believed to have been sparked by staff attempts to breathalyse prisoners, amid allegations that alcohol had been smuggled into the prison.
2 January – The Montenegrin Embassy in London writes to Scottish Labour leader Iain Gray, correcting factual inaccuracies and asking him to explain comments he made during First Minister's Questions in December 2010, about the country being involved in "war crimes", "ethnic cleansing" and "a United Nations peace-keeping mission"
4 January – Value-added tax increased to 20% from 17.5%.
5 January – Music retailer HMV announces the closure of 60 stores following disappointing Christmas sales – a move which will see the firm lose 10% of its stores and will cost up to 900 people their jobs.
7 January
* The England cricket team wins The Ashes series 3–1 in Australia.
* Former Labour MP David Chaytor is jailed for 18 months for fraudulently claiming more than £20,000 in expenses.
* The film The King's Speech, with Colin Firth playing the role of the stuttering George VI, is released in the UK. It won four Academy Awards, including Best Picture, on 27 February.
9 January – An investigation by The Guardian reveals details of how Metropolitan police officer Mark Kennedy infiltrated dozens of protest groups in 22 countries using the pseudonym Mark Stone.
13 January – 2011 Oldham East and Saddleworth by-election: Debbie Abrahams for Labour holds the seat with a 42.1% vote share and a majority of 3,558 against the Liberal Democrats. The by-election was triggered after previous MP Phil Woolas was found guilty of making false statements against an opponent during the original campaign.
15 January – Three former Church of England bishops are ordained as priests in the new Roman Catholic Personal Ordinariate of Our Lady of Walsingham at Westminster Cathedral.
18 January – A gay couple win a discrimination case against Christian hoteliers who refused to let them stay in a double room.
21 January
* News of the World phone hacking affair: Andy Coulson, the former editor of the News of the World, resigns from his position as David Cameron's communications director, citing "continued coverage of events connected to my old job at the News of the World".
* Tony Blair appears before the Chilcot Inquiry into the Iraq War.
* Alan Johnson resigns as Shadow Chancellor, he is succeeded by Ed Balls.
25 January
* Statistics reveal that the UK economy contracted by 0.5% during the final quarter of last year.
* Sky Sports presenter Andy Gray is sacked for sexist comments made about a female football official.
26 January
* Prime Minister David Cameron announces that Sinn Féin's Gerry Adams has resigned from the House of Commons by accepting the notional office of profit under the Crown of Crown Steward and Bailiff of the Manor of Northstead. Speaker John Bercow later clarifies that Adams has been appointed to the role following a denial of his acceptance.
* Yemshaw v London Borough of Hounslow is decided in the Supreme Court, giving legal recognition to the concept of abusive power and control.

February

1 February – ZH v Secretary of State for the Home Department is decided in the Supreme Court, requiring the best interests of children to be taken into account in deportation cases.
2 February – BBC executive Craig Oliver is chosen to replace Andy Coulson as Prime Minister David Cameron's Director of Communications.
5 February – David Cameron criticises "state multiculturism" in his first speech as prime minister on radicalisation and causes of terrorism.
9 February
*Former head teacher Jean Else has her Damehood revoked by the Queen, having previously being found guilty of misconduct. She is the first person to have the honour revoked.
*Project Merlin, an agreement on aspects of banking activity in the United Kingdom, is agreed between the coalition government and the country's four major high street banks.
*Welsh becomes an official language of the United Kingdom.
10 February
*Former Labour MP Jim Devine is convicted of two counts of fraud for falsely claiming £8,385 in expenses. Devine is the first MP to stand trial in the United Kingdom parliamentary expenses scandal and is later sentenced to 16 months imprisonment.
*The House of Commons votes 234–22 against prisoners receiving the right to vote.
22 February – Four British are among the hundreds of people killed by the 6.3 magnitude earthquake in New Zealand's second largest city of Christchurch.

March

3 March
* 2011 Barnsley Central by-election: Dan Jarvis for Labour holds the seat with a 60.8% vote share and a majority of 11,771, with the Liberal Democrats finishing in sixth place.
* 2011 Welsh devolution referendum: Voters in Wales approve plans to give the Welsh Assembly more powers.
9 March – The Serious Fraud Office arrests Robert and Vincent Tchenguiz in connection with the collapse of the Icelandic Kaupthing Bank.
11 March – Light aircraft carrier HMS Ark Royal (1981), flagship of the Royal Navy, is decommissioned, as part of the naval restructuring portion of the 2010 Strategic Defence and Security Review.
18 March – Former British Airways software engineer Rajib Karim, of Newcastle upon Tyne is jailed for 30 years after he was earlier convicted of plotting to blow up a plane.
19 March – Operation Unified Protector: British, French and American military initiate air strikes in Libya following United Nations Security Council Resolution 1973.
26 March – Hundreds of thousands of people march in London against government budget cuts, with the protests later turning violent.
27 March
*The 2011 United Kingdom census is conducted.
*A 47-year-old taxi driver, Christopher Halliwell, is charged with the murder of Sian O'Callaghan.
30 March – The landmark case of Jones v Kaney is decided in the Supreme Court: an expert witness can be sued for professional negligence.
31 March – is decommissioned in Belfast.

April

1 April – The Daily Sport and Sunday Sport tabloid newspapers cease publication and enter administration.
3 April – The UK's last circus elephant is retired.
4 April – As part of the government's package of welfare reforms, the one-and-a-half million people in the UK who are claiming Incapacity Benefit begin to receive letters asking them to attend a work capability assessment. The tests are part of government plans to reduce the number of long-term claimants and will take until 2014 to complete.
5 April – Police investigating the murder of Sian O'Callaghan identify human remains found at a second site as those of Swindon woman Becky Godden-Edwards, who was last seen alive in 2002 at the age of 20.
6 April
*The mandatory retirement age begins to be phased out, and will be fully abolished by 1 October.
*The Competition Commission release their investigation order designed to prevent future mis-selling of payment protection insurance ; most rules will come into force in October.
13 April – 53-year-old actor Brian Regan, most famous for his role as Terry Sullivan in the former Channel 4 TV soap Brookside, is charged – along with another man – with the murder of a man who was fatally shot in Aigburth, Merseyside, on 24 February.
24 April – Senior Liberal Democrat minister Chris Huhne threatens legal action over "untruths" told by Conservative MP's opposed to the Alternative Vote System, 11 days before the referendum. He also warns that the dispute could damage the coalition government.
27 April – The Office for National Statistics reveals that the economy had returned to growth during the first quarter of the year, growing by 0.5%.
29 April – Prince William, Duke of Cambridge and Catherine Middleton marry in Westminster Abbey. A public holiday is held to celebrate the day, which in conjunction with the May bank holiday, makes a four-day weekend.

May

5 May
*Elections are held for the Scottish Parliament, Welsh Assembly and the Northern Ireland Assembly. Local elections are held on the same day together with the referendum on whether to adopt the Alternative Vote electoral system for elections to the House of Commons of the United Kingdom.
*Claude Choules, the oldest living British born male and the last combat veteran of World War I, dies aged 110 in Australia, where he has lived since 1926. His death leaves 110-year-old Norfolk woman Florence Green, a Women's Royal Air Force waitress, as the conflict's last verified veteran of any status.
6 May
*2011 Scottish Parliament election: The Scottish National Party secure a victory, winning an overall majority in the Scottish parliament.
*2011 United Kingdom Alternative Vote referendum: Voters reject proposals to introduce the alternative voting system in the UK by a two-thirds majority.
*2011 Leicester South by-election: Labour candidate Jonathan Ashworth wins the seat with a vote share of 57.8% and a majority of 12,078.
*2011 United Kingdom local elections: The counting of votes in local elections in England and Northern Ireland continues with the Labour Party making gains and the Liberal Democrats losing seats.
7 May
*2011 Northern Ireland Assembly election: Counting finishes with the DUP winning 38 of the 108 seats, and Sinn Féin following with 29 seats.
*2011 National Assembly for Wales election: The Welsh Labour Party win 30 of the 60 Welsh Assembly seats in Thursday's election and plan to form a one-party government.
12 May – Queen Elizabeth II becomes the second-longest-reigning British monarch.
13 May – The Roman Catholic Church in England and Wales announces a reinstatement of the rule of abstinence from eating red meat on Fridays for its followers. The practice, last observed officially in 1984, will be reintroduced on 16 September to coincide with the first anniversary of the Pope Benedict XVI's visit to the United Kingdom.
14 May – The city of Manchester celebrates as Manchester United seal their record 19th top division league title and Manchester City win the FA Cup to end their 35-year wait for a major trophy.
17–20 May – Queen Elizabeth II makes a state visit to the Republic of Ireland, the first by a reigning monarch of the United Kingdom to Dublin since 1911.
22 May – The Royal Navy ends its training role in Iraq, concluding the British military Operation Telic there.
28 May – In a repeat of the 2009 final, Manchester United lose 3–1 to FC Barcelona in the 2011 UEFA Champions League final at Wembley Stadium, London.

June

10 June – 2011 Belfast West by-election: Sinn Féin's Paul Maskey wins the seat.
15 June
*St Paul's Cathedral completes its £40 million restoration project. The 15-year programme of cleaning and repair was among the largest restoration projects ever undertaken in the UK.
*The National Union of Teachers and the Association of Teachers and Lecturers confirm a co-ordinated strike across England and Wales on 30 June as part of a dispute over changes to pensions.
23 June – Levi Bellfield, three years into a life sentence for the murder of two young women and the attempted murder of a third, is found guilty of murdering Amanda Dowler, the Surrey teenager who disappeared in March 2002 and whose remains were found in Hampshire six months later.
24 June
* Levi Bellfield receives an additional life sentence for the murder of Amanda Dowler. The jury fails to reach a verdict on the attempted abduction of another girl and the judge orders that the charge should remain on file.
* Household furnishings retailer Habitat goes into administration. 30 of its 33 outlets are affected by the administration, as the three central London stores are being sold to Home Retail Group in a £24.5 million deal which will safeguard a total of 150 jobs.
30 June
* Hundreds of thousands of public sector workers go on strike across the UK over planned pension changes.
*The cheque guarantee card scheme is withdrawn after operating for over 40 years. The scheme ensured some cheques were honoured even if the account holder did not have sufficient funds in their account.

July

July – The British economy grew by 0.2% during the second quarter of the year, down from 0.5% in the first quarter.
1 July – 2011 Inverclyde by-election: The Labour Party's Iain McKenzie wins the by-election with a majority reduced from 14,416 in 2010 to 5,838.
7 July – Following recent allegations that its journalists had hacked into the mobile phones of celebrities, politicians and high-profile crime victims over the last decade, it is announced that the News of the World will cease publication after its final edition on Sunday 10 July, having been in circulation for 168 years.
8 July – Rushden & Diamonds F.C. goes out of business after 19 years in existence, having recently been expelled from the Blue Square Premier League because of their huge debts. The Northamptonshire club had been members of the Football League from 2001 until 2006.
12 July – A Scottish ticket scooped €185m in the EuroMillions jackpot, the biggest ever jackpot win in its history.
15 July – Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows – Part 2, the final instalment in the Harry Potter film series, is released in UK cinemas.
18 July – Sean Hoare, the former News of the World reporter who made phone-hacking allegations against the newspaper which contributed to its recent demise, is found dead in Watford. His death is being treated as "unexplained but not suspicious" by police.
23 July – The singer-songwriter Amy Winehouse, 27, is found dead at her London home.
27 July – Autoclenz Ltd v Belcher, a landmark case in UK labour law, is decided in the Supreme Court: Inequality of bargaining power must be taken into account in deciding whether a person counts as an employee for the purpose of defining employment rights.
29 July – Wolverhampton man Bilal Zaheer Ahmad, 23, is sentenced to 12 years in prison for making calls on an internet blog for MPs who backed the war in Iraq to be murdered.

August

4 August – Downing Street launches a new e-petition website to encourage the public to prompt parliamentary debate on topics they feel are important. Several of the initial petitions concerned proposals for and against restoring the death penalty, last used in the UK in 1964.
6 August – The 2011 English riots begin.
7 August – The Metropolitan Police struggle to restore order in Tottenham, London after a riot the previous evening.
8 August
* Prime Minister David Cameron cuts short his holiday to chair a meeting of the COBRA Committee as rioting in London continues into its third day and violence spreads across England with Birmingham, Liverpool, Nottingham and Bristol also affected.
*The Royal Navy appoints its first female warship commander. Lieutenant Commander Sarah West, 39, will take control of HMS Portland in May 2012.
9 August – Further sporadic violence breaks out in several towns and cities around England, although London stays largely quiet overnight. Police say that the fatal shooting of a 26-year-old man in Croydon, London, may be linked to the rioting in the area.
10 August
*Police from Scotland are sent to England to help combat riots and disorder. There are three fatalities in Birmingham, all Muslim men who were run over in the Winson Green district of the city while protecting their neighbourhood from the rioting.
*Say What?!, English video game is released.
11 August – Parliament is recalled due to riots and disorder.
12 August – The number of deaths in the recent wave of rioting across England reaches five when 68-year-old Richard Bowes died in hospital from injuries suffered when he was attacked while trying to put out flames during rioting in Ealing, London, four days ago.
20 August – A pilot dies when an RAF Red Arrows aeroplane crashed at the Bournemouth Air Festival following a display.
23 August – An e-petition calling for the British Government to release cabinet documents relating to the Hillsborough disaster collects 100,000 signatures – enough for MPs to consider a House of Commons debate on the matter. It is the first government e-petition to reach the target.
31 August – Mobile internet use reaches 50% in the UK, according to the Office for National Statistics.

September

September – Official figures show that UK unemployment rose by 80,000 to 2.51 million, the largest increase in nearly two years, in the three months to July.
12 September
*The Independent Commission on Banking recommends that British banks should separate their retail banking divisions from investment banking arms to safeguard against riskier banking activities.
*Bernard Hogan-Howe is named as the new Commissioner of London's Metropolitan Police.
15 September
*The Fixed-term Parliaments Act is passed, requiring general elections to take place at fixed five-year intervals, starting with 7 May 2015, removing the prerogative of Prime Ministers to select a date.
*Gleision Colliery mining accident: An explosion in a drift mine kills four miners in the South Wales Coalfield.
20 September – The UK's first commercial hydrogen filling station opens in Swindon.
21 September – An energy firm which has been test drilling for controversial shale gas in Lancashire says it has found vast gas resources underground.
26 September – Labour Party delegates vote to scrap the tradition of Shadow Cabinet elections at their annual conference in Liverpool.
29 September – The Department for Transport announce a consultation process on raising the motorway speed limit in England and Wales to 80 mph.

October

1 October – A new record is set for the highest temperature recorded in October – at 29.9 °C.
3 October – The UK government pledges £50 million towards developing spin-off technologies from the super-strong material graphene.
5 October – The world's largest solar bridge project gets underway in London.
6 October – The Bank of England says it will inject a further £75 billion into the economy through quantitative easing, but holds interest rates at 0.5%.
9 October – Former Beatle Sir Paul McCartney marries American heiress Nancy Shevell at a ceremony in London.
10 October – The trial of Vincent Tabak, accused of murdering British landscape architect Joanna Yeates, begins at Bristol Crown Court.
12 October – A government ban on non-EU foreign spouses under the age of 21 coming to the UK is ruled unlawful by the UK Supreme Court.
13 October – BP is given the go-ahead to proceed with a new £4.5 billion oil project west of the Shetland Islands.
14 October – Liam Fox resigns as Defence Secretary after a week of allegations over his working relationship with friend and self-styled adviser Adam Werritty.
17 October – Former Defence Secretary Liam Fox broke the ministerial code in his dealings with his friend Adam Werritty, an official report says.
18 October
*The final episode of Doctor Who spin-off The Sarah Jane Adventures airs following Elisabeth Sladen’s death. It is named “The man who never was”.
*The Stone Roses announce their reunion tour after splitting in 1996.
21 October – London's St Paul's Cathedral is forced to close its doors to visitors for the first time since the Second World War after Occupy London protesters set up camp on its doorstep.
27 October
*The serial killer Robert Black is convicted of the 1981 murder of Northern Ireland schoolgirl Jennifer Cardy.
*As police prepare to remove protestors from the grounds of St Paul's Cathedral, Giles Fraser resigns as its canon chancellor, saying he could not condone the use of violence against the demonstrators.
28 October
*Dutch engineer Vincent Tabak is convicted of the murder of landscape artist Joanna Yeates and is sentenced to life imprisonment.
*As St Paul's Cathedral re-opens to visitors, the City of London Corporation announces plans to launch legal action to evict protesters from the cathedral's grounds.
31 October – Graeme Knowles resigns as Dean of St Paul's as protestors by Occupy London demonstrators continue.

November

1 November – Junior Individual Savings Accounts replace Child Trust Funds.
3 November
* Two Acts of Parliament receive Royal Assent:
**Pensions Act 2011, bringing the state pension qualifying age of 65 for women forward to 2018 and raising it for men and women to 66 by October 2020.
**Armed Forces Act 2011, providing for the Defence Secretary to make an annual report on progress towards 'rebuilding' the Armed Forces Covenant.
4 November
*Ruth Davidson becomes the new leader of the Scottish Conservative Party.
*Seven people die and 51 are injured after 34 vehicles collided – many bursting into flames – on the M5 motorway near Taunton in Somerset.
6 November – A public opinion poll carried out for the BBC Politics Show about Scotland's constitutional future indicates that devo-max is the most popular option with Scottish voters but 'no further constitutional change' is the most popular option with English voters. In Scotland, 33% backed devo-max, 28% supported Scottish independence and 29% backed 'no further constitutional change', while in England, 14% supported devo-max, 24% supported Scottish independence and 40% backed 'no further constitutional change'.
9 November – Supreme Court decides Kernott v Jones giving Patricia Jones a 90% interest in a family home owned jointly with her former cohabitee but to which he had not contributed since their relationship ended, a leading case on unmarried couples' property rights in England and Wales.
16 November – New official figures show that unemployment has risen to more than 2,600,000 – the highest level since 1994 – during September. Sir Mervyn King, governor of the Bank of England, warns that the UK is now at a great risk from the Eurozone debt crisis. Youth unemployment has also passed the 1,000,000 mark for the first time since 1986.
17 November
*Scotland's First Minister Alex Salmond is named The Spectator magazine's 2011 politician of the year.
*The UK Government sell the Northern Rock Bank – which was nationalised in 2008 – to Virgin Money for £747m.
19 November – Four Metropolitan Police officers are stabbed while chasing a suspect in Kingsbury, north London. Two officers are seriously injured, and a 32-year-old suspect is arrested for attempted murder.
22 November – Median survival periods for cancer in England and Wales have risen from 12 months to nearly six years since the 1970s, but with little change in some cancers, figures show.
27 November
*Iran's parliament vote by a large majority to downgrade diplomatic relations with the UK. The move comes after the UK Treasury imposed sanctions on Iranian banks.
*Wales national football team manager Gary Speed, 42, is found dead at his home in Chester. Speed, who had previously managed Sheffield United, had been a prominent footballer who was one of his country's most capped players with 85 appearances at senior level and also won a league title with Leeds United and was an FA Cup runner-up twice with Newcastle United.
28 November – The OECD warns that the UK and the Eurozone could be on the brink of another recession barely two years after the previous one.
30 November – Public sector workers stage a strike over government plans to make their members pay more and work longer to earn their pensions.

December

8 December – The Prime Minister, David Cameron, vetos a European Union treaty concerning the Eurozone crisis.
16 December – 2011 Feltham and Heston by-election: The Labour Party's Seema Malhotra retains the seat in south-west London for the party in a by-election sparked by the death of the previous MP.
17 December
*Opinion polls show that the Conservatives have established a lead of up to six points ahead of Labour, who had narrowly led most of the polls this year, since David Cameron's veto on the European Union treaty last week.
*Johann Lamont becomes leader of the Scottish Labour Party.
23 December – Prince Philip, the Duke of Edinburgh, is treated in hospital for a blocked coronary artery.

Undated

2011 was the second warmest year on record for the UK, according to the Met Office. Only 2006, with an average temperature of 9.73C, was warmer than 2011's average temperature of 9.62C.
The UK population rose by 470,000 between 2009 and 2010, according to new figures from the Office for National Statistics – the biggest increase in nearly 50 years.

Publications

Julian Barnes' novel The Sense of an Ending
Roger Hargreaves' children's book Little Miss Princess celebrates the 40th anniversary of the Mr. Men series.

Births

30 September – Jamie Duffy, Thai footballer

Deaths

January

1 January – Sir Robin Carnegie, Army general
2 January – Pete Postlethwaite, actor
3 January – Jill Haworth, actress
4 January
*John Gray, physiologist
*Mick Karn, musician
*Dick King-Smith, author
*Gerry Rafferty, singer-songwriter
*Jack Richardson, chemical engineer
5 January
*David Hart, political activist
*Helene Palmer, actress
*Brian Rust, jazz discographer
6 January
*John Bendor-Samuel, missionary and linguist
*Gary Mason, boxer
*Reg Ward, first chief executive of the London Docklands Development Corporation
7 January – Derek Gardner, racing car designer
9 January
*Richard Butcher, footballer
*Peter Yates, film director
10 January
*John Gross, writer and critic
*A. W. B. Simpson, legal historian
11 January – Dame Barbara Clayton, pathologist
12 January – Kenneth Stevenson, Anglican prelate, Bishop of Portsmouth
15 January
*Kenneth Grant, occultist
*Michael Langham, actor and theatre director
*Nat Lofthouse, footballer
*Susannah York, actress
16 January – Julian Asquith, 2nd Earl of Oxford and Asquith, peer and diplomat, Governor of the Seychelles
17 January
*Brian Boobbyer, rugby union player
*David Bradby, theatre academic
*Sir Bernard Crossland, engineer
18 January – John Herivel, World War II codebreaker at Bletchley Park
20 January – Maurice Brown, RAF fighter pilot
21 January – Wally Hughes, footballer and coach
22 January – Sir Chandos Blair, Army general
24 January – Phil Gallie, Conservative & Unionist MP and MSP
25 January
*Vincent Cronin, writer and historian
*Alison Geissler, glass engraver
*R. F. Langley, poet and diarist
27 January – Diana Norman, writer and journalist
28 January
*Raymond Cohen, violinist
*Dame Margaret Price, opera singer
29 January
*Raymond McClean, physician and politician, Mayor of Derry
*Dorothy Thompson, historian
*Norman Wilkinson, footballer
30 January
*John Barry, composer
*Raymond Challinor, Marxist historian
*Ian R. Porteous, mathematician
31 January
*Stuart Hood, television producer
*Mark Ryan, musician
*Norman Uprichard, footballer

February

1 February
*Lennox Fyfe, Baron Fyfe of Fairfield, politician and life peer
*Derek Rawcliffe, Anglican prelate, Bishop of Glasgow and Galloway
*Les Stubbs, footballer
2 February
*Ian Anderson, politician
*Jimmy Fell, footballer
*Rodney Hill, mathematician
*Margaret John, actress
3 February
*Tony Levin, jazz drummer
*Neil Young, footballer
5 February – Brian Jacques, author
6 February – Gary Moore, rock guitarist
7 February – Eric Parsons, footballer
10 February – Trevor Bailey, cricketer
11 February – John Clay, cricketer
13 February
*Paul Marcus, television director
*Brian Shaw, rugby league player
14 February
*Peter Pilkington, Baron Pilkington of Oxenford, teacher and life peer
*Sir George Shearing, musician
15 February – Cyril Stein, businessman
16 February – Alfred Burke, actor
17 February
*Ron Hickman, inventor
*Vivien Noakes, biographer and critic
18 February – Marshall Stoneham, physicist
19 February – Norman Corner, footballer
20 February
*Barbara Harmer, aviator, first woman Concorde pilot
*Tony Kellow, footballer
22 February
*Brian Bonsor, composer and music teacher
*Nicholas Courtney, actor
23 February – Matthew Carr, artist
25 February – Peter Hildreth, Olympic athlete
26 February – Dean Richards, footballer
27 February – Margaret Eliot, musician and music teacher

March

4 March
*Vivienne Harris, founder of the Jewish Telegraph
*Charles Jarrott, film director
6 March
*Louie Ramsay, actress
*Edward Ullendorff, scholar and historian
8 March – Richard Campbell, cellist and viola da gamba player
11 March – Val Ffrench Blake, Army officer and author
12 March – John Nettleship, teacher
13 March – Sir Michael Gray, Army general
14 March
*Leslie Collier, virologist
*Bob Greaves, journalist and broadcaster
15 March
*Keith Fordyce, radio and television presenter
*Peter Loader, cricketer
*Smiley Culture, reggae singer and DJ
16 March - Dennis Taylor, former president of the George Formby Society
17 March
*Michael Gough, actor
*Murdoch Mitchison, zoologist
*J. B. Steane, musicologist and music critic
18 March
*Arthur Charles Evans, World War II soldier
*Jet Harris, musician
19 March
*Raymond Garlick, poet
*Leonard Webb, politician
20 March – Johnny Pearson, composer and pianist
22 March – George Alfred Walker, businessman, founder of Brent Walker
23 March
*Frank Lampl, Czech-born businessman
*Richard Leacock, film director
*Elizabeth Taylor, actress
*Fred Titmus, cricketer
26 March – Diana Wynne Jones, English writer
27 March – H. R. F. Keating, writer
29 March – Robert Tear, operatic tenor
31 March
*Ishbel MacAskill, Scottish Gaelic singer
*Edward Stobart, haulage company owner

April

1 April
*Jane Gregory, Olympic equestrian
*Brynle Williams, Welsh politician and activist
3 April – Martin Horton, cricketer
4 April
*John Niven, Scottish footballer
*Craig Thomas, Welsh thriller writer
6 April
*Johnny Morris, footballer
*F. Gordon A. Stone, chemist
7 April – Hugh FitzRoy, 11th Duke of Grafton, peer
9 April – Nicholas Goodhart, rear-admiral and aviator
10 April – Phil Solomon, music executive
11 April
*Jimmy Briggs, footballer
*Billy Gray, footballer
*Simon Milton, politician
*Doug Newlands, footballer
*Angela Scoular, actress
12 April
*Lee Bradley Brown, tourist
*Ronnie Coyle, footballer
13 April – Danny Fiszman, businessman
14 April – Trevor Bannister, actor
17 April
*Bob Block, scriptwriter
*Alan Haines, actor
*Eddie Leadbeater, cricketer
*Ken Taylor, scriptwriter
18 April – Bob Plant, World War II soldier
19 April
*Anne Blonstein, poet and translator
*Lisa Head, soldier
*Elisabeth Sladen, actress
20 April
*Allan Brown, footballer
*Tim Hetherington, journalist
* Tul Bahadur Pun, Nepalese World War II soldier
21 April
*Reginald C. Fuller, Roman Catholic priest and writer
*W. J. Gruffydd, poet and former Archdruid of Wales
23 April
*James Casey, comedian
*Terence Longdon, actor
*Geoffrey Russell, 4th Baron Ampthill, peer and businessman
*John Sullivan, writer
24 April – Denis Mahon, art historian
25 April
*John Cooke, RAF officer
*Lawrence Lee, stained glass artist
*Poly Styrene, rock musician
26 April
*Henry Leach, Admiral of the Fleet
*Islwyn Morris, Welsh actor
29 April – David Mason, trumpeter
30 April
*Richard Holmes, military historian
*Eddie Turnbull, footballer and football manager

May

1 May
*Sir Henry Cooper, boxer
*Ted Lowe, snooker commentator
2 May – Eddie Lewis, footballer
4 May – Sammy McCrory, footballer
5 May
*Leslie Audus, botanist
*Claude Choules, Royal Navy seaman, last living World War I combat veteran
*Dana Wynter, German-born actress
6 May
*Sir Geoffrey Dhenin, air marshal and physician
*Bill Hopkins, novelist
7 May – Big George, musician and broadcaster
8 May
*Wallace Clark, sailor and author
*Ronald Waterhouse, judge
9 May – David Cairns, Labour MP for Inverclyde
10 May – David Weston, artist
11 May – Elisabeth Svendsen, animal welfare advocate, founder of the Donkey Sanctuary
12 May – Noreen Murray, molecular geneticist
13 May – Bob Litherland, politician
15 May – Martin Woodhouse, scriptwriter
16 May
*Ralph Barker, writer
*Edward Hardwicke, actor
17 May – Frank Upton, footballer
19 May – Kathy Kirby, singer
20 May – William Elliott, Baron Elliott of Morpeth, politician and life peer
21 May – Gordon McLennan, politician
22 May – Suzanne Mizzi, Malta-born model, artist and interior designer
24 May
*Glyn Hughes, English poet, novelist and artist, cancer
*Blair Stewart-Wilson, courtier
25 May – Leonora Carrington, British-born Mexican artist
27 May
*Janet Brown, comedian and impressionist
*Michael Willoughby, 12th Baron Middleton, peer
28 May
*Ann McPherson, physician
*Dame Barbara Mills, barrister
29 May
*Simon Brint, musician
*Billy Crook, footballer
31 May
*John Martin, Royal Navy officer
*Hugh Stewart, film editor
*Jennifer Worth, nurse and author

June

2 June
*Josephine Hart, Irish-born writer
*Philip Rahtz, archaeologist
3 June
*Pat Jackson, film director
*Miriam Karlin, actress
*Ray Pahl, sociologist
4 June
*Donald Hewlett, actor
*Ian Mitchell, cricketer
*Martin Rushent, record producer
5 June
*John Glasby, writer
*Gordon Lorenz, songwriter and record producer
6 June – John Boswall, actor
8 June
*John Mackenzie, film director
*Roy Skelton, television actor
9 June – Idwal Robling, sports commentator
10 June – Sir Patrick Leigh Fermor, World War II soldier and author
11 June – Jack Smith, artist
12 June
*Christopher Neame, screenwriter
*John Wilton, diplomat
14 June
*Ambrose Griffiths, Roman Catholic prelate
*Badi Uzzaman, actor
15 June
*Hugh John Beazley, World War II fighter pilot
*John Ehrman, historian
16 June – James Allason, politician
17 June – Jacquie de Creed, stunt woman
18 June
*Brian Haw, activist
*Robin Nash, television producer
20 June – Ottilie Patterson, jazz singer
21 June
*Arthur Budgett, racehorse trainer
*Bruce Kinloch, Army officer and author
22 June
*Cyril Ornadel, composer and conductor
*Mike Waterson, singer
23 June – Basil Mitchell, philosopher
24 June
*Michelle Brunner, bridge player and teacher
*Richard Webster, author and historian
*A. H. Woodfull, plastic products designer
25 June
*Anne Field, Army officer
*Goff Richards, brass band arranger and composer
*Margaret Tyzack, actress
26 June – Alan Rodger, Baron Rodger of Earlsferry, judge
27 June – Mike Doyle, footballer
29 June – David Dunseith, journalist and broadcaster
30 June – Sir David Loram, admiral

July

1 July – Willie Fernie, footballer
2 July – Oliver Napier, politician
3 July
*Iain Blair, author
*Francis King, author
*Anna Massey, actress
*Roy Redgrave, Army officer
4 July
*John Davies Evans, archaeologist
*Scott McLaren, soldier
5 July – Hanna Segal, psychoanalyst
7 July
*Bill Boddy, motor sport journalist
*Frank Brenchley, diplomat
8 July – Norman Hampson, historian
9 July
*Peter Newmark, translator
*Würzel, guitarist
11 July
*Helen Crummy, social activist
*Michael Evans, Roman Catholic prelate, Bishop of East Anglia
*Alex Hay, golfer and golf instructor
*George Lascelles, 7th Earl of Harewood, peer
12 July – Peter Crampton, politician
14 July – Eric Delaney, bandleader
15 July
*John Crook, ethologist
*Ray Horrocks, businessman, chief executive of British Leyland
*Googie Withers, Indian-born actress
16 July – Geraint Bowen, poet
17 July – Sean Hoare, entertainment reporter
19 July
*Sheila Burrell, actress
*Sir Julian Oswald, admiral
*Cec Thompson, rugby league player
20 July – Lucian Freud, German-born artist
21 July – Jack Thompson, politician
23 July
*Terence Boston, Baron Boston of Faversham, politician and life peer
*Conrad Meyer, Anglican prelate
*Richard Pike, chemist
*Amy Winehouse, singer-songwriter
26 July – John Read, film maker
27 July
*Hilary Evans, librarian and author
*John Rawlins, Surgeon Vice Admiral
*Richard Rutt, Anglican prelate, Bishop of Leicester
*John Stott, Anglican priest and theologian
29 July – Richard Marsh, Baron Marsh, politician and Chairman of British Rail
30 July – R. E. G. Davies, aviation historian
31 July – John Hoyland, abstract artist

August

2 August – Richard Pearson, actor
3 August
*Andrew McDermott, singer
*Allan Watkins, cricketer
4 August
*Alan Blackshaw, mountaineer and skier
*Michael Bukht, television chef
*Mark Duggan, crime suspect
5 August – Stan Willemse, footballer
6 August – John Wood, actor
7 August – Nancy Wake, New Zealand-born agent
10 August – Selwyn Griffith, poet
11 August
*David Holbrook, writer
*Paul Wilkinson, political scientist and terrorism expert
12 August – Robert Robinson, television and radio broadcaster
13 August – Chris Lawrence, racing driver
15 August
*Colin Harvey, writer
*Michael Legat, writer
*Betty Thatcher, lyricist
16 August – Huw Ceredig, actor
17 August – Frank Munro, international footballer
18 August – Peter George Davis, Royal Marines officer
19 August – Jimmy Sangster, screenwriter
20 August – Jon Egging, RAF flight lieutenant and Red Arrows pilot
22 August – John Howard Davies, child screen actor and television comedy director
23 August
*Clare Hodges, cannabis activist
*David Lunn-Rockliffe, businessman
25 August – Anne Sharp, opera singer
26 August
*George Band, mountaineer
*C. K. Barrett, theologian
*John McAleese, soldier involved in the Iranian Embassy siege
27 August
*John Parke, footballer
*N. F. Simpson, playwright
28 August
*Billy Drake, World War II fighter pilot
*Len Ganley, snooker referee
*Tony Sale, computer museum curator
29 August
*John Bancroft, architect
*Mark Ovendale, footballer
31 August
*Dave Petrie, politician
*Peter Twiss, test pilot

September

1 September – Mark Blackburn, numismatist
6 September – Ted Longshaw, businessman
7 September – Max Boisot, architect
8 September – Sir Hilary Synnott, diplomat
9 September
*Graham Collier, jazz bassist
*Laurie Hughes, footballer
*Herbert Lomas, poet
*Peter Sneath, microbiologist
11 September
*Douglas Allen, Baron Croham, civil servant and life peer
*Ralph Gubbins, footballer
*Andy Whitfield, actor
13 September – Richard Hamilton, artist
14 September – Frank Parkin, sociologist and novelist
16 September
*Sir Brian Burnett, Royal Air Force Air Secretary
*Sir William Hawthorne, aeronautical engineer
17 September – Peter Wright, police officer, Chief Constable of South Yorkshire Police
18 September – Paul Bach, journalist and editor
19 September – Ginger McCain, horse trainer
20 September
*Michael Jarvis, horse trainer
*Robert Whitaker, photographer
21 September – John Du Cann, rock guitarist
22 September – Jonathan Cecil, actor
23 September – Douglas Stuart, 20th Earl of Moray, peer
24 September
*Emanuel Litvinoff, writer and activist
*George Palliser, Battle of Britain air ace
25 September – Gusty Spence, Ulster loyalist politician
27 September – David Croft, television writer, director and producer
28 September – Patrick Collinson, historian
29 September – Iain Sproat, politician
30 September – Arthur Norman, industrialist

October

1 October
*David Bedford, composer
*Georgina Cookson, actress
5 October
*Graham Dilley, cricketer
*Bert Jansch, guitarist
6 October
*Alasdair Turner, computer scientist
*Phil Walker, newspaper editor
7 October
*George Baker, Bulgarian-born actor
*Frederick Cardozo, World War II soldier
*David Macey, translator and historian
8 October – Dorothy Heathcote, academic
9 October – Mark Kingston, actor
11 October
*Adrian Cowell, film maker
*Derrick Ward, footballer
12 October – Peter Hammond, actor
13 October – Sheila Allen, actress
14 October – Adam Hunter, golfer
15 October – Betty Driver, actress
16 October
*Henry Bathurst, 8th Earl Bathurst, peer and politician
*Antony Gardner, politician
*Stanley Mitchell, translator
*Caerwyn Roderick, politician
*Dan Wheldon, racing driver
18 October
*Bob Brunning, blues musician
*Donald McCallum, industrialist
20 October
*Sue Lloyd, actress
*Peter Taylor, botanist
21 October
*George Daniels, horologist
*Digby Jacks, trade unionist
*Edmundo Ros, Trinidadian-born singer, musician and bandleader
23 October – John Makin, singer
24 October – Alan Morgan, Anglican prelate
25 October
*Shirley Becke, police officer, first woman police commander in Britain
*Bernard Verdcourt, botanist
*Norrie Woodhall, actress
28 October
*Campbell Christie, former general secretary of the Scottish Trades Union Congress
*Beryl Davis, big band singer and actress
29 October – Sir Jimmy Savile, DJ and television presenter
30 October – Cyril Parfitt, artist
31 October – Mick Anglo, comic book writer and artist, creator of Marvelman

November

1 November – Richard Gordon, horror film producer
3 November
*Timothy Raison, politician
*John Young, politician
5 November – Sir Gordon Higginson, academic and engineer
6 November
*Gordon Beck, jazz pianist and composer
*Philip Gould, Baron Gould of Brookwood, politician
8 November
*Jimmy Adamson, footballer
*Sean Cunningham, RAF flight lieutenant and Red Arrows pilot
*Katherine Grant, 12th Countess of Dysart, peer
*Sir David Jack, pharmacologist
9 November
*Wilfred G. Lambert, archaeologist
*Sir Robin Mountfield, civil servant
10 November – Alan Keen, politician, Labour MP for Feltham and Heston
11 November – Michael Garrick, jazz pianist and composer
12 November – Alun Evans, football administrator
14 November
*Richard Douthwaite, economist and ecologist
*Neil Heywood, businessman
*Jackie Leven, musician
15 November
*Dulcie Gray, Malaysian-born actress
*John Hart, teacher, first male winner of Mastermind
16 November – Maureen Swanson, actress
17 November – Peter Reading, poet
18 November
*Mark Blaug, Dutch-born economist
*David Langdon, cartoonist
19 November
*Basil D'Oliveira, South African-born cricketer
*John Neville, British-born actor
20 November
*Shelagh Delaney, writer
*Malcolm Mackintosh, civil servant
21 November
*Syd Cain, film production designer
*Jim Lewis, Olympic footballer
23 November
*Sir Peter Buchanan, admiral and Naval Secretary
*Gerald Laing, pop artist and sculptor
24 November
*Ross McManus, musician
*David Seely, 4th Baron Mottistone, peer
*Johnny Williams, footballer
25 November – Hugh Burnett, television producer
26 November
*Keef Hartley, drummer and bandleader
*Patrick Mollison, haematologist
27 November
*Gary Speed, footballer and manager
*Ken Russell, film director
28 November – Jon Driver, neuroscientist
30 November – Peter Lunn, Alpine skier and spymaster

December

1 December – Eric Arnott, eye surgeon
2 December – Christopher Logue, poet
3 December – Dev Anand, Indian-born actor
4 December – Allan Cameron, soldier and curler
5 December
*Peter Gethin, racing driver
*Celia Whitelaw, Viscountess Whitelaw, philanthropist and horticulturalist
7 December – Peter Croker, footballer
8 December
*Gilbert Adair, author
*Peter Brown, footballer
*Anthony Harbord-Hamond, 11th Baron Suffield, peer, soldier and politician
9 December – Roy Tattersall, cricketer
12 December – John Gardner, composer
14 December
*Graham Booth, politician
*Don Sharp, Australian-born film director
15 December – Christopher Hitchens, author and journalist
16 December
*Henry Kitchener, 3rd Earl Kitchener, soldier and peer, last holder of the title
*Nicol Williamson, actor and singer
17 December – Charles Chester, rugby player
18 December
*Donald Neilson, convicted burglar, robber, kidnapper and serial killer
*John Rex, South African-born sociologist
*Ronald Wolfe, scriptwriter
20 December – Hugh Carless, diplomat and explorer
21 December – Robert Simons, cricketer
25 December
*Sue Carroll, columnist
*Sir Roger Jowell, social statistician
*George Robb, footballer
26 December – John Mackintosh Howie, mathematician
27 December
*Sir Michael Dummett, philosopher
*Sir Iwan Raikes, admiral and Naval Secretary
29 December – Ron Howells, footballer
30 December
*Sir Robert Horton, businessman
*Ronald Searle, artist and cartoonist
31 December
*Sir David Hirst, jurist
*Penny Jordan, romantic novelist
*Michael Mann, Anglican prelate, Dean of Windsor