1951 in the United Kingdom
1951 in the United Kingdom |
Other years |
1949 | 1950 | 1951 | 1952 | 1953 |
Constituent countries of the United Kingdom |
Northern Ireland | Scotland | Wales |
Popular culture |
In 1951 the Festival of Britain was held in the United Kingdom, and a general election returned Winston Churchill to power.
Incumbents
- Monarch – George VI
- Prime Minister – Clement Attlee (Labour) (until 26 October), Winston Churchill (Conservative) (starting 26 October)
Events
- January
- British Board of Film Censors introduces X ratingfor films "Suitable for those aged 16 and over".
- The Ford Consul introduced.
- 1 January – The radio series The Archers begins on the BBC Light Programme. It will still be on the air 70 years later.[1]
- 9 January – The government announces abandonment of the Tanganyika groundnut scheme, writing off £36,500,000.[2]
- February – Ferranti deliver their first Mark 1 computer to the University of Manchester, the world's first commercially available general-purpose electronic computer.[3]
- 15 February – Iron and Steel Corporation of Great Britain takes shareholdings of principal steelmakers into state ownership.
- 21 February – An
- 26 February – Earl Cameron.
- 12 March (dated 17 March) – The character
- 13 March – arranger Sir Charles Mackerras, is premiered at Sadler's Wells Theatre by the Sadler's Wells Ballet.[6]
- 11 April – The Stone of Scone is located at Arbroath Abbey, having been stolen by Scottish nationalists on Christmas Day 1950.[7]
- 17 April
- The submarine HMS Affray sinks, killing all 75 crew members.[8]
- Seven unofficial dockers' leaders are acquitted of offences under a wartime regulation intended to prevent industrial disputes.[5][9]
- The Peak District is established as the first of the national parks of the United Kingdom. The Lake District is designated so in May,[10] and designations of Snowdonia and Dartmoor come into effect on 20 November.
- 22–25 April –
- 23 April – Aneurin Bevan, recently appointed as Minister of Labour and National Service, together with John Freeman and Harold Wilson, resign from the government in protest at Hugh Gaitskell's announcement in the Budget of 10 April to introduce prescription charges for dental care and spectacles (in order to meet the financial demands imposed by the Korean War).[5][15]
- 28 April – 2–0 win over Blackpool at Wembley Stadium. Jackie Milburn scores both goals in front of a crowd of 100,000 spectators.[16], with Festival icon on the 4d issue
- 3 May – George VI opens the Skylon.[17] This would be the last major public event attended by the King and Queen together.[18] Festival Gardens and a fun fair are opened in Battersea Park and the Lansbury Estate in Poplarbegun this year as a housing showcase.
- 4 May–6 October – Festival Ship Campania cruises the seaports.
- 14 May – The first volunteer-run passenger trains run on the Talyllyn Railway in Wales.
- 25–26 May – Spies Guy Burgess and Donald Maclean leave Britain to defect to the Soviet Union. This places suspicion on two other members of the 'Cambridge Five', Kim Philby and John Cairncross who are obliged to resign their official positions.[19]
- 28 May
- First broadcast of The Goon Show radio series.[7]
- Princess Elizabeth opens the Exhibition of Industrial Power, the latest part of the Festival of Britain – in Glasgow.[20]
- 29 May – Tye Easington Colliery explosion leaves 83 people dead.[5]
- 2 June – Football League in place of New Brighton A.F.C. and will compete in the Football League Third Division North for the 1951-52 season.[21]
- 26 June – Ealing comedy film The Lavender Hill Mob is released.[22]
- 10 July – Boxer world middleweight champion.
- 17 July – New Port Talbot Steelworks opened at Margam, South Wales.[23]
- 27 July – The first bikini contest as part of the Festival of Britain, at the Lyceum Ballroom, London, Kiki Håkansson of Sweden is the winner.[24]
- 14 September – Clement Attlee opens the largest oil refinery in Europe at Fawley on Southampton Water.[25]
- 22 September- A royal charter by George VI conferred the Colony of Singapore, now Singapore, city status
- 23 September – George VI has an operation to remove part of his lung.[26]
- 26 September – Rock and Ice Club formed by a group of climbers in Manchester.
- 30 September – Festival of Britain ends.[27]
- October – Exercise Surprise Packet, the largest British peacetime military exercise.
- 5 October – With three weeks to go before the second general election in less than two years, opinion polls suggest that the Conservative Party led by previous wartime Prime Minister Winston Churchill, will oust Clement Attlee's Labour government from power after six years, with a majority of 75 to 100 seats and a share of the vote of up to 50%.[28]
- 17 October – Austin A30 introduced.
- 26 October – The Conservative Party led by Winston Churchill wins the General Election, regaining (a month before his seventy-seventh birthday) the position of Prime Minister that he lost six years previously, with a majority of seventeen seats,[29] though with slightly fewer votes than the Labour Party which wins the most votes of any party at any UK general election until 1992 and highest percentage vote share[30] but will not return to government until 1964. The Liberal Party receives its lowest-ever share of the popular vote. Four Ulster Unionist candidates are returned unopposed in Northern Ireland, the last general election in which any candidate is so returned.[31] This is also the last election in which the Conservatives achieve a stronger result in Scotland than in England.
- 31 October
- Zebra crossings, a type of pedestrian crossing, is introduced for the first time.[7]
- Egypt unilaterally abrogates the Anglo-Egyptian treaty of 1936.
- 2 November – 6,000 British troops are sent to Suez Canal Zone.[32]
- 3 November – Streatham Hill, London.[33] Also this year, Fine Fare opens its first supermarket, in Welwyn Garden City.
- 7 November – UK bank rate, maintained at 2% since 26 October 1939, is raised.[34]
- 20 November
- More than 1,000 families of British servicemen begin to move out of the
- The Prime Minister's Resignation Honours are announced, to mark the resignation of Prime Minister Clement Attlee.[36]
- 24 November – Beinn Eighe in Scotland becomes Britain's first national nature reserve.
- 29 November – LEO becomes the world's first computer to run a full commercial business application, for the bakers J. Lyons and Co.[37]
- 1 December – Benjamin Britten's opera Billy Budd is premiered at the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden.[38]
- 10 December – John Cockcroft wins the Nobel Prize in Physics jointly with Ernest Walton "for their pioneer work on the transmutation of atomic nuclei by artificially accelerated atomic particles".[39]
- 25 December – George VI makes his Christmas Speechto the Commonwealth for the final time, but it has been pre-recorded as he is still struggling to recover from his operation three months ago.
- 31 December – Prime Minister Winston Churchill sets off to the United States for talks with President Harry S. Truman.[40]
Undated
- Trade union membership reaches an all-time peak, with 9,300,000 members.[5]
- Higher School Certificate.
- First residential tower block in Britain, a 10-storey point block, The Lawn, in Harlow New Town in Essex, is constructed to the design of Sir Frederick Gibberd.[41][42][43]
- Performance of medieval mystery plays revived at York and Chester.
Publications
- Agatha Christie's adventure novel They Came to Baghdad.
- Graham Greene's novel The End of the Affair.
- Jacquetta Hawkes' landscape study A Land.
- C. S. Lewis' children's fantasy novel Prince Caspian, second published in The Chronicles of Narnia.
- Nicholas Monsarrat's wartime novel The Cruel Sea.
- Iona and Peter Opie's reference work The Oxford Dictionary of Nursery Rhymes.
- Buildings of Englandseries.
- Anthony Powell's novel A Question of Upbringing, first in the 12-volume cycle A Dance to the Music of Time.
- Ronald Ridout's First English Workbook, a textbook which sells five million copies.[44]
- John Wyndham's post-apocalyptic novel The Day of the Triffids.
- First edition of The Good Food Guide edited by Raymond Postgate.[5]
Births
- 2 January – Piers Merchant, politician (died 2009)
- 5 January – Steve Arnold, footballer
- 7 January – Helen Worth, soap actress
- 9 January – Andy Qunta, singer-songwriter, composer and musician
- 15 January – Biff Byford, rock singer (Saxon)
- 19 January
- Graham James, bishop
- Arthur Taxier, Scottish-American actor
- 20 January – Ian Hill, rock bassist (Judas Priest)
- 21 January – Rosemary Shrager, chef and TV personality
- 26 January
- Roy Goodman, English conductor and violinist
- Anne Mills, English economist and academic
- 30 January – Phil Collins, musician and producer
- 1 February – Andrew Smith, politician, Secretary of State for Work and Pensions
- 2 February – Ken Bruce, radio broadcaster
- 12 February – Howard Davies, economist
- 14 February – Kevin Keegan, footballer and football manager
- 15 February – Jane Seymour, actress
- 20 February – Gordon Brown, Prime Minister[45]
- 26 February – Steve Bell, cartoonist
- 27 February – Steve Harley, glam rock singer-songwriter (Cockney Rebel) (died 2024)[46]
- 1 March – Mike Read, television presenter and radio disc jockey
- 4 March
- Kenny Dalglish, footballer and manager
- Chris Rea, singer and musician
- 1 April – Kay Davies, geneticist, anatomist and academic
- 13 April – Peter Davison, actor
- 14 April
- Julian Lloyd Webber, cellist and composer
- Greg Winter, biochemist, recipient of the Nobel Prize in Chemistry
- 16 April – David Nutt, psychiatrist and academic
- 20 April – Louise Jameson, actress
- 25 April – Ian McCartney, politician
- 11 May
- Kay Mellor, television scriptwriter (died 2022)
- Mike Slemen, English rugby player and educator (died 2020)
- 13 May
- Selina Scott, journalist and television presenter
- James Whale, radio presenter
- 27 May – John Conteh, light heavyweight boxer
- 1 June – Lola Young, Baroness Young of Hornsey, actress and author
- 7 June – Ralph Palmer, 12th Baron Lucas, accountant and politician
- 8 June – Bonnie Tyler, singer
- 11 June – Matthew Engel, journalist and author[47]
- 14 June – Paul Boateng, politician
- 15 June – John Redwood, politician
- 28 June – Lalla Ward, actress
- 1 July – Joanna Korner, judge
- 15 July – David Almond, writer
- 24 July
- Fiona Reid, English-born Canadian actress
- Chris Smith, politician
- 28 July
- Ray Kennedy, footballer (died 2021)[48]
- Barbara Stocking, civil servant and academic
- 2 August – Gerald Suster, revisionist historian and novelist (died 2001)
- 15 August – Dave Needham, boxer (died 2008)
- 17 August
- Alan Minter, middleweight boxer (died 2020)
- Jonathan Ruffer, investor and philanthropist
- 19 August – John Deacon, rock bassist (Queen)
- 21 August – Glenn Hughes, rock musician
- 25 August – Rob Halford, rock singer (Judas Priest)
- 28 August – Colin White, military historian (died 2008)
- 1 September – David Bairstow, English cricketer (died 1998)
- 14 September – Duncan Haldane, English-born condensed-matter physicist, recipient of the Nobel Prize in Physics
- 15 September – Gavin Muir, actor (died 2002)
- 22 September – David Coverdale, singer
- 26 September – Stuart Tosh, musician
- 27 September
- Paul Craig, professor of law
- Steve Soper, racing driver
- 30 September – John Lloyd, comedy producer
- 2 October – Sting, rock musician
- 3 October – Clive Charles, footballer (died 2003)
- 17 October – Colin Beattie, Scottish politician
- 6 November – Nigel Havers, English actor[49]
- 15 November – Alamgir Hashmi, poet
- 17 November – Jack Vettriano, painter
- 19 November – Lord Falconer of Thoroton, politician
- 23 November – David Rappaport, English actor (died 1990)
- 8 December – Bill Bryson, American-born British non-fiction author
- 10 December – Doug Allder, footballer
- 18 December - Robin Millar, record producer
- 20 December
- Kate Atkinson, writer
- Denise Deegan, author and playwright
- Lynne Featherstone, blogger and politician
- Christopher Le Brun, painter and sculptor
- Peter May, novelist and television dramatist
- Nuala O'Loan, Baroness O'Loan, lawyer
- 21 December – Nick Gilder, English-Canadian singer-songwriter
Deaths
- 2 January – Edith New, suffragette (born 1877)
- 25 February – Sir Percy Malcolm Stewart, industrialist (born 1872)
- 6 March – Ivor Novello, actor, musician and composer (born 1893)
- 6 April – Robert Broom, paleontologist (born 1866)
- 14 April – Ernest Bevin, labour leader, politician and statesman (born 1881)
- 22 April – Horace Donisthorpe, myrmecologist (born 1870)
- 24 April – Joseph Paton Maclay, 1st Baron Maclay, Glasgow shipowner and Minister of Shipping, 1916-1921 (born 1857)
- 2 May – Tufton Beamish, British admiral and politician (born 1874)
- 11 June – W. C. Sellar, humourist (born 1898)
- 3 July – Gwendoline Davies, philanthropist (born 1882)
- 21 August – Constant Lambert, composer (born 1905)
- 27 September – Robert Thomas, politician (born 1873)
- 29 September – Evan Roberts, preacher (born 1878)
- 11 December – Christopher Addison, anatomist and politician (born 1869)
See also
References
- ^ Donovan, Paul (1991). The Radio Companion. London: Grafton. p. 8.
- ^ "Groundnuts Plan Modified". The Times. No. 51895. London. 10 January 1951. p. 6.
- ISBN 978-0-902505-01-8.
- ^ Hutchinson, John (September 2016). "Can-do Canberra". The Magazine (150). Rolls-Royce: 62–4.
- ^ ISBN 978-0-7475-7985-4.
- ISBN 1-85986-000-1.
- ^ ISBN 0-14-102715-0.
- ^ "Fears for crew of lost British submarine". BBC News. 17 April 1951. Archived from the original on 7 March 2008. Retrieved 3 February 2008.
- ISBN 0-85315-193-8.
- ^ "National Park in Lake District". The Times. No. 51998. 11 May 1951. p. 4.
- ISBN 978-1-4050-0538-8.
- ISBN 978-1-84513-408-2.
- ISBN 0-7181-2068-X.
- ISBN 1-57488-334-8.
- ISBN 1-873534-16-7.
- ^ "1951". fa-cupfinals.co.uk. Archived from the original on 23 May 2008. Retrieved 1 January 2011.
- ^ "King George opens Festival of Britain". BBC News. 3 May 1951. Archived from the original on 7 March 2008. Retrieved 3 February 2008.
- ^ "Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother – Activities as Queen". The official website of The British Monarchy. The Royal Household. Retrieved 17 April 2013.
- ISBN 978-0-141-02330-4.
- ^ "Glasgow powers up for the Festival". BBC News. 28 May 1951. Retrieved 17 April 2013.
- Leader-Post. Regina. 2 June 1951. p. 17. Retrieved 17 April 2013.
- ISBN 0-8065-0661-X.
- ^ Port Talbot Historical Society. "Time Line 20th C". Archived from the original on 20 July 2011. Retrieved 18 August 2010.
- ^ Dick, Alan (28 July 1951). "Kiki the Policeman's Daughter is World Bikini Girl No. 1". Daily Herald. London. p. 3.
- ^ "Refinery opens as oil row continues". BBC News. 14 September 1951. Archived from the original on 7 March 2008. Retrieved 3 February 2008.
- ^ "King has lung operation". BBC News. 23 September 1951. Archived from the original on 7 March 2008. Retrieved 3 February 2008.
- ^ "Festival closes to applause". BBC News. 30 September 1951. Archived from the original on 7 March 2008. Retrieved 3 February 2008.
- The Vancouver Sun. 5 October 1951. p. 3. Retrieved 17 April 2013.
- ^ "Churchill wins general election". BBC News. 26 October 1951. Archived from the original on 7 March 2008. Retrieved 3 February 2008.
- ^ "1951 General election results summary". UK Political Info. Retrieved 19 April 2011.
- ^ "General Election Results 1885–1979". election.demon.co.uk. Archived from the original on 23 February 2008. Retrieved 26 November 2020 – via Wayback Machine.
- ^ "6,000 British troops flown into Egypt". BBC News. 2 November 1951. Retrieved 6 January 2008.
- ^ Gregory, Helen (3 November 2001). "It's a super anniversary". The Grocer. Retrieved 19 April 2011.
- ISBN 0-85112-202-7.
- ^ "1951: British families leave Egypt's Canal Zone". BBC News. 20 November 1951. Archived from the original on 7 March 2008. Retrieved 3 February 2008.
- ^ "The Resignation Honours: Earldom For Lord Jowitt". The Times. No. 52172. 30 November 1951. p. 6.
- ISBN 1-84115-186-6.
- ISBN 0-14-029312-4.
- ^ "The Nobel Prize in Physics 1951". Retrieved 3 February 2008.
- ^ "Churchill sets sail for talks with Truman". BBC News. 31 December 1951. Retrieved 17 April 2013.
- ^ Historic England. "The Lawn (1271496)". National Heritage List for England. Retrieved 20 June 2010.
- ^ "The Lawn, Harlow, Essex". Heritage Explorer. English Heritage. Retrieved 12 November 2012.
- ^ "Redeveloping Essex's fallen utopia". BBC News. 16 January 2007. Retrieved 20 June 2010.
- ISBN 0-283-99171-2.
- ^ "Gordon Brown | prime minister of United Kingdom | Britannica". www.britannica.com. Retrieved 20 March 2022.
- ISBN 1-84195-017-3.
- ISBN 978-1-905625-16-1.
- ^ "Ray Kennedy obituary". The Guardian. 1 December 2021. Archived from the original on 3 June 2023.
- ^ England & Wales, Civil Registration Birth Index, 1916–2007, Name: Nigel A Havers Registration Date: Oct 1951 [Nov 1951][Dec 1951] Registration Quarter: Oct–Nov–Dec Registration district: Edmonton Inferred County: Essex Mother's Maiden Name: Lay Volume Number: 5e Page Number: 422