1953 in the United Kingdom explained
Events from the year 1953 in the United Kingdom. This is the year of the coronation of Queen Elizabeth II and the North Sea flood.
Incumbents
Events
- 28 January – Nineteen-year old Derek Bentley is hanged at Wandsworth Prison in London for his part in the murder of PC Sidney Miles.[1]
- 31 January – Car ferry, sailing from Stranraer, Scotland, to Larne, Northern Ireland, sinks in the Irish Sea killing 133 people on board. Among the dead are: Northern Ireland Finance Minister and Deputy Prime Minister Major Maynard Sinclair, and Sir Walter Smiles, the Ulster Unionist MP for North Down.[2]
- 31 January–1 February – The North Sea flood of 1953 kills 307 people on the east coast of Britain, with more at sea.[3] A corvette and a submarine sink at their moorings in HM Dockyard Sheerness.
- 1 February – Pool petrol, introduced during World War II, is replaced by individual brands.
- 3 February – Contralto Kathleen Ferrier premieres a critically acclaimed production of Gluck's Orfeo at the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden, but a repeat 3 days later will be her last public performance as terminal cancer (not made public) cuts her career short at age 40.[4] [5]
- 5 February – Rationing of sweets, introduced during World War II, ends.[6]
- 28 February – James D. Watson and Francis Crick announce that they have discovered the structure of the DNA molecule.
- 4 March – Tommy Taylor, 21-year-old centre forward, becomes Britain's most expensive footballer in a £29,999 transfer from Barnsley to Manchester United.[7]
- 16 March – Josip Tito, the leader of Yugoslavia visits the UK, the first Communist leader to do so.[8]
- 24 March
- 31 March – The funeral of Queen Mary takes place at St George's Chapel, Windsor Castle.[11]
- 1 April – First record by any UK act to reach number one in the UK Singles Chart, The Stargazers' recording of "Broken Wings".[12]
- 13 April – Ian Fleming publishes his first James Bond novel, Casino Royale.[13]
- 15 April – Britain awards the George Medal to 22-year-old American airman Reis Leming who rescued 27 people in last winter's floods in East Anglia.[14]
- 16 April – The Queen launches the Royal Yacht Britannia at John Brown & Company shipbuilders on the Clyde.[15]
- 24 April – Prime Minister Winston Churchill receives a knighthood from the Queen.[10]
- 25 April – Francis Crick and James D. Watson publish their description of the double helix structure of DNA in the paper "Molecular structure of Nucleic Acids".[16] [17]
- 2 May – Blackpool F.C. win the FA Cup final with a 4–3 victory over Bolton Wanderers, who have been 3–1 ahead until the final quarter of the game. Stan Mortensen scores a hat-trick, but the 38-year-old winger Stanley Matthews is instrumental in winning the game for Blackpool, who have never won a major trophy before.[18]
- 25 May – Whitsun bank holiday; many businesses postpone the holiday for a week.[19]
- 2 June
- 6 June
- The Prevention of Crime Act comes into effect, making the carrying of an offensve weapon in a public place a criminal offence.
- The Epsom Derby is won by Pinza, the only Derby victory for Gordon Richards at his 28th attempt, days after becoming the only jockey to be made a knight. The Queen's horse, Aureole, finishes second.[22]
- 23 June – Prime Minister Winston Churchill, 78, suffers a stroke at a dinner for the Italian Prime Minister Alcide De Gasperi.[23] On 27 June the public are told that he is suffering from fatigue.[24]
- 25 June – John Christie, a 54-year-old Londoner, is sentenced to death for the murder of his wife Ethel Christie. A total of eight bodies have been found at Christie's home, 10 Rillington Place in Notting Hill, including those of the wife and daughter of Timothy Evans who had been hanged in 1950 for his daughter's murder.[25]
- 26 June – Eskdalemuir enters the UK Weather Records for the highest rainfall in a 30-minute period with 80mm, a record that will remain for at least sixty years.
- 30 June – First roll-on/roll-off ferry crossing of the English Channel, Dover–Boulogne.[26]
- 15 July – John Christie is hanged at Pentonville Prison, where a crowd of some two hundred people stand to wait for the notice of execution to be posted.[25]
- 18 July – The Quatermass Experiment, first of the Quatermass science-fiction serials by Nigel Kneale, begins its run on BBC Television.
- 20 July – The Good Old Days, filmed at the Leeds City Varieties, begins its 30-year run on BBC Television.
- 19 August
- Autumn – Myxomatosis reaches the UK,[24] first being illegally introduced onto an estate in West Sussex.
- 19 September – Sir Hubert Parry's 1916 setting of William Blake's "Jerusalem" first appears as a permanent feature of the Last Night of the Proms (televised).[27]
- 26 September – End of post-war sugar rationing.[28]
- 6 October – The government sends troops to the colony of British Guiana, blaming Communists for causing unrest.[29]
- 10 October – RAF officers Monty Burton with Don Gannon win the speed section of the 1953 London to Christchurch air race in an English Electric Canberra, with under 23 hours flying time.[30] [31]
- 27 October – Arbroath life-boat Robert Lindsay capsizes on service: six crew killed.
- November – The first production Blue Danube atomic bomb, the first British-developed and -built nuclear weapon, is delivered to the Bomber Command stockpile at RAF Wittering, concluding the High Explosive Research project to develop it.
- 2 November – The Samaritans telephone counselling service for the suicidal is started by Rev. Chad Varah in London.
- 11 November – Current affairs series Panorama first airs on BBC Television, it will still be running more than seventy years later.[10]
- 17 November – Italian cargo steamer Vittoria Claudia sinks after collision with French motor vessel Perou in the English Channel, killing twenty Italian sailors.[32]
- 20 November – The Piltdown Man, which was discovered in 1912 and thought to be the fossilised remains of a hitherto unknown form of early human, is exposed as a hoax.[10] [33] [34]
- 25 November – Match of the Century: England v Hungary football match at Wembley Stadium results in a 6–3 defeat suffered by the England national football team against Hungary, ending a 90-year unbeaten home run against sides from outside the British Isles.[35]
- 26 November – The House of Lords votes in favour of the government's proposals for commercial television.[36]
- 30 November – Kabaka crisis: Edward Mutesa II, the kabaka (king) of Buganda, is deposed and exiled to London by Sir Andrew Benjamin Cohen, Governor of Uganda.
- c. December – Matchbox toy vehicles are introduced by Lesney Products of London.
- 10 December
Undated
Publications
Births
- 1 January – Maureen Beattie, Irish-born Scottish actress
- 4 January
- 6 January – Malcolm Young, Scottish-born Australian guitarist (died 2017)
- 11 January – John Sessions, actor (died 2020)
- 19 January – Linda Hayden, actress
- 29 January
- 17 February – Norman Pace, actor and comedian
- 18 February – Ian Jenkins, archaeologist and curator (died 2020)
- 22 February – Geoffrey Perkins, comedy producer, writer and performer (died 2008)
- 27 February – Gavin Esler, journalist and television presenter
- 3 March – Robyn Hitchcock, alternative rock singer-songwriter
- 26 March – Christopher Fowler, thriller writer
- 4 April – Sammy Wilson, Northern Irish politician
- 9 April
- 11 April – Andrew Wiles, mathematician known for proving Fermat's Last Theorem
- 13 April – Stephen Byers, politician
- 18 April – Steven Pimlott, theatre director (died 2007)
- 20 April – Sebastian Faulks, novelist
- 24 April – Tim Woodward, screen actor (died 2023)
- 26 April – David Reddaway, Canadian-English diplomat, British High Commissioner to Canada
- 6 May
- 7 May – Ian McKay, soldier, recipient of VC posthumously (killed 1982)
- 10 May – John Diamond, journalist (died 2001)
- 15 May
- 19 May – Victoria Wood, comic performer (died 2016)
- 21 May – Jim Devine, politician[47]
- 24 May – Alfred Molina, actor
- 26 May – Michael Portillo, politician
- 31 May – Linda Riordan, politician
- 2 June – Dave Boy Green, boxer and businessman
- 3 June – John Moulder-Brown, actor
- 7 June – Johnny Clegg, mbaqanga and Afro-pop musician and musical anthropologist (died 2019)
- 8 June – Billy Hayes, trade union leader
- 19 June – Hilary Jones, physician, television host and media personality
- 23 June – John Stahl, Scottish actor (died 2022)[48]
- 26 June – Neil Record, businessman, author and economist
- 1 July – Alan Sunderland, footballer
- 4 July – Francis Maude, politician
- 7 July – Robert McCrum, writer and editor
- 15 July – John Denham, politician
- 21 July – David Ervine, leader of the Progressive Unionist Party (died 2007)
- 24 July – Julian Brazier, politician
- 29 July – Willie Donald, Scottish cricket player and administrator (died 2022)[49]
- 2 August – Anthony Seldon, educator and historian
- 8 August – Nigel Mansell, racing driver
- 9 August – Roberta Tovey, actress
- 15 August – Carol Thatcher, journalist, and Mark Thatcher
- 16 August – David Spiegelhalter, statistician
- 18 August – Patrick Cowdell, English boxer
- 23 August – Bobby G (Robert Gubby), singer (Bucks Fizz)
- 2 September
- 12 September – Fiona Mactaggart, educator and politician
- 23 September – Nicholas Witchell, broadcaster and journalist
- 27 September – Diane Abbott, politician
- 10 October – Janet Bloomfield, disarmament campaigner (died 2007)
- 12 October – Les Dennis, television presenter, actor and comedian
- 13 October – John Simpson, lexicographer and scholar
- 21 October – Peter Mandelson, politician
- 24 October
- 26 October – Roger Allam, actor
- 27 October
- 28 October – Phil Dwyer, Welsh footballer (died 2021)[50]
- 4 November – Peter Lord, British film producer and director
- 7 November – Lucinda Green, equestrian
- 11 November – Andy Partridge, rock singer-songwriter
- 16 November – Griff Rhys Jones, comedian, actor and writer
- 21 November – Tina Brown, journalist and editor
- 26 November – Hilary Benn, politician
- 28 November – Alistair Darling, politician, Chancellor of the Exchequer (died 2023)
- 29 November – Rose West, serial killer[51]
- 2 December – David Anderson, English miner and politician
- 6 December – Geoff Hoon, politician
- 13 December – Jim Davidson, comedian
Deaths
- 13 January – Sir Edward Marsh, polymath and civil servant (born 1872)
- 28 January – Derek Bentley, criminal (born 1933) (hanged)
- 29 January
- 1 February – William Sydney Marchant, colonial official (born 1894)
- 9 February – Cecil Hepworth, film director (born 1874)
- 23 February – Sir Cecil Hunter-Rodwell, colonial administrator (born 1874)
- 24 March – Queen Mary, consort of King George V, grandmother of Queen Elizabeth II (born 1867)
- 6 April – Idris Davies, Welsh poet (born 1905) (cancer)
- 9 April – C. E. M. Joad, philosopher and broadcaster (born 1891) (cancer)
- 3 May – John Erskine, Lord Erskine, soldier and politician (born 1895)
- 15 May – Mabel Love, dancer and actress (born 1874)
- 25 May – Edmund Dulac, French-born illustrator and designer (Wilding series) (born 1882)
- 1 June – Alex James, Scottish footballer (born 1901) (cancer)
- 16 June – Margaret Bondfield, politician and trade unionist (born 1873)
- 9 July – Annie Kenney, suffragette (born 1879)
- 15 July – John Christie, serial killer (born 1899) (hanged)
- 16 July – Hilaire Belloc, writer (born 1870)
- 18 July – Lucy Booth, Salvationist, fifth daughter of William and Catherine Booth (born 1868)[52]
- 29 July – Rosa May Billinghurst, suffragette (born 1875)
- 30 September
- 3 October – Sir Arnold Bax, composer (born 1883)
- 8 October
- Nigel Bruce, character actor (born 1895)
- Kathleen Ferrier, contralto (born 1912) (cancer)
- 14 October – Arthur Wimperis, illustrator and playwright (born 1874)
- 20 October – Sir Robert Brooke-Popham, air chief marshal (born 1878)
- 21 October – Sir Muirhead Bone, etcher (born 1876)
- 27 October – Thomas Wass, cricketer (born 1873)
- 9 November – Dylan Thomas, Welsh poet and author (born 1914) (pneumonia)
- 27 November – T. F. Powys, novelist (born 1875)
- 29 November – Ernest Barnes, mathematician, scientist, theologian and Bishop of Birmingham (born 1874)
- 25 December – William Haselden, cartoonist (born 1872)[53]
See also
Notes and References
- Web site: Derek Bentley hanged for murder. BBC. On This Day. 10 January 2008. 28 January 1953. https://web.archive.org/web/20080131130900/http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/january/28/newsid_3393000/3393807.stm. 31 January 2008. live.
- Web site: 130 die in ferry disaster. BBC. On This Day. 10 January 2008. 31 January 1953. https://web.archive.org/web/20080108160829/http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/january/31/newsid_2505000/2505913.stm. 8 January 2008. live.
- Web site: Violent storms claim hundreds of lives. BBC. On This Day. 10 January 2008. 1 February 1953. https://web.archive.org/web/20071227033300/http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/february/1/newsid_3749000/3749771.stm. 27 December 2007. live.
- Barbirolli, John (1954). "Kathleen ... The Last Years". In Cardus, Neville (ed). Kathleen Ferrier: A Memoir. London: Hamish Hamilton. p 107.
- News: Miss Kathleen Ferrier Suffering From Strain. The Guardian. Manchester. 5. 10 February 1953.
- Web site: Sweet rationing ends in Britain. BBC. On This Day. 10 January 2008. 5 February 1953. https://web.archive.org/web/20071225083426/http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/february/5/newsid_2737000/2737731.stm. 25 December 2007. live.
- Web site: Tommy Taylor. Manchester United. Legends. 2020-10-14.
- Web site: Marshal Tito makes historic visit to London. BBC. On This Day. 10 January 2008. 16 March 1953.
- Web site: Queen Mary dies peacefully after illness. BBC. On This Day. 10 January 2008. 24 March 1953. https://web.archive.org/web/20080109201233/http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/march/24/newsid_2785000/2785265.stm. 9 January 2008. live.
- Book: Penguin Pocket On This Day. Penguin Reference Library. 978-0-14-102715-9. 2006.
- Web site: Queen Mary laid to rest in Windsor. BBC. On This Day. 10 January 2008. 31 March 1953.
- Book: Rice, Jo. The Guinness Book of 500 Number One Hits. Guinness Superlatives. 1982. 0-85112-250-7. 1st. Enfield. 8.
- Web site: The Lost Decade Timeline. BBC. 10 January 2008. dead . https://web.archive.org/web/20060821133044/http://www.bbc.co.uk/bbcfour/lostdecade/timeline_html.shtml . 21 August 2006.
- Web site: Britain honours American hero. BBC. On This Day. 2 July 2009. 15 April 1953.
- Web site: Queen launches Royal Yacht Britannia. BBC. On This Day. 10 January 2008. 16 April 1953. https://web.archive.org/web/20080121004217/http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/april/16/newsid_2846000/2846801.stm. 21 January 2008. live.
- 10.1038/171737a0. Watson. J. D.. Crick, F. H. C.. 1953. Molecular structure of nucleic acids: a structure for deoxyribose nucleic acid. Nature. 171. 4356. 737–738. 13054692. 1953Natur.171..737W. 4253007. 30 March 2007. 29 November 2005. https://web.archive.org/web/20051129041112/http://www.nature.com/genomics/human/watson-crick/index.html. dead.
- Web site: Scientists describe 'secret of life'. BBC. On This Day. 10 January 2008. 25 April 1953. https://web.archive.org/web/20071222124939/http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/april/25/newsid_2932000/2932793.stm. 22 December 2007. live.
- Web site: 1953 Blackpool. https://web.archive.org/web/20080122050521/http://www.fa-cupfinals.co.uk/1953.htm. dead. 2008-01-22. The FA Cup.
- News: The Quietest Ever Bank Holiday in the Midlands. Birmingham Gazette. 1953-05-26. 5.
- Web site: Queen Elizabeth takes coronation oath. BBC. On This Day. 10 January 2008. 2 June 1953. https://web.archive.org/web/20071215085020/http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/june/2/newsid_2654000/2654501.stm. 15 December 2007. live.
- Book: Venables, Stephen. Stephen Venables. To the top: the story of Everest. Walker Books. 2003. London. 63. 978-0-7445-8662-6.
- News: Brendan. Gallagher. 1953: A golden year for sport. The Daily Telegraph. 4 June 2011. 4 June 2011.
- Web site: Anthony. Seldon. Anthony Seldon. Winston Churchill's Indian Summer. The British Empire. 3 April 2013.
- Book: Kynaston, David. David Kynaston. Family Britain, 1951–57. London. Bloomsbury. 2009. 978-0-7475-8385-1. registration.
- Web site: Christie to hang for wife's murder. BBC. On This Day. 10 January 2008. 25 June 1953.
- Web site: Dinard – Viking. Simplon Postcards: The Passenger Ship Website. 2005. 22 October 2012.
- The 'Last Night of the Proms' in historical perspective. David Cannadine. David. Cannadine. 2008. 31. 212. 315–349. 10.1111/j.1468-2281.2008.00466.x. Historical Research.
- Book: Palmer, Alan. Palmer . Veronica. 1992. The Chronology of British History. Century Ltd. London. 406–407. 978-0-7126-5616-0.
- Web site: Britain sends troops to Guiana. BBC. On This Day. 10 January 2008. 6 October 1953.
- Web site: Air of Authority - A History of RAF Organisation. R A F Records. 2011-07-19. dead. https://web.archive.org/web/20110812152044/http://www.rafweb.org/Records.htm. 2011-08-12.
- Web site: British Military Aviation in 1953. Royal Air Force Museum. 2011-07-19.
- Web site: Twenty die in Channel collision. BBC. On This Day. 10 January 2008. 17 November 1953.
- The Solution of the Piltdown Problem. Weiner, J. S.. Kenneth Oakley. Oakley, K. P.. Wilfrid Le Gros Clark. Le Gros Clark, W. E.. Bulletin of the British Museum (Natural History), Geology Series. 2. 3. 141–6. 20 November 1953.
- News: Piltdown Man forgery. The Times. London. 21 November 1953. 6.
- Web site: zoltech.net. www.zoltech.net. 11 August 2010. 21 July 2011. https://web.archive.org/web/20110721141747/http://www.zoltech.net/h/hufoci.html. dead.
- Web site: Lords vote for commercial television. BBC. On This Day. 10 January 2008. 26 November 1953. https://web.archive.org/web/20071128151834/http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/november/26/newsid_4032000/4032711.stm. 28 November 2007. live.
- Web site: The Nobel Prize in Literature 1953. 10 January 2008.
- Web site: The Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine 1953. 10 January 2008.
- Book: The Hutchinson Factfinder. Helicon. 1999. 978-1-85986-000-7.
- Web site: The Coming of the Cafes: 1953.... Classic Cafes. 1999–2008. 12 July 2010. dead. https://web.archive.org/web/20160323201633/http://www.classiccafes.co.uk/History.html. 23 March 2016.
- Web site: Johnny Dankworth discography. 2010. 1 September 2010. https://web.archive.org/web/20070102063422/http://vzone.virgin.net/davidh.taylor/dankwort.htm. 2 January 2007. dead.
- Book: Baren, Maurice. How It All Began Up the High Street. London. Michael O'Mara Books. 1996. 978-1-85479-667-7. 82–3.
- Book: Hyman, Basil. The G-Plan Revolution: a celebration of British Popular Furniture of the 1950s and 1960s. Braggs, Steven. 978-1-86154-310-3. 2007-12-01.
- Web site: House of Fraser archive project. 31 December 2010 .
- Web site: Tim. Lambert. Britain Since 1948. 3 April 2013.
- Book: Andrews . Allen . Lowry . Laurence Stephen . The life of L. S. Lowry: 1887-1976 . 1977 . Jupiter Books . London . 978-0-904041-60-6 . 85.
- Web site: WPR - Jim Devine (Ex-MP). https://web.archive.org/web/20110715044446/http://www.parliamentaryrecord.com/content/profiles/mp/Jim-Devine/Livingston/766. dead. 2011-07-15. 15 July 2011.
- Web site: John Stahl obituary . the Guardian . 20 May 2022 . en . 31 March 2022.
- https://www.pressandjournal.co.uk/fp/sport/other/5037109/willie-donald-former-scotland-international-cricketer-dies-age-69/ Willie Donald: Former Scotland international cricketer dies age 69
- Web site: Phil Dwyer 1953-2021 . 1 December 2021 . 1 December 2021 . https://web.archive.org/web/20211201201651/https://www.faw.cymru/en/news/phil-dwyer-1953-2021/ . dead .
- Web site: Timeline of police investigation into Fred and Rose West. Phil. Norris. 22 February 2019. GloucestershireLive.
- https://www.salvationarmy.org.uk/about-us/international-heritage-centre/virtual-heritage-centre/people/booth-children Booth children
- Mr. W. K. Haselden, Kindly Cartoonist, Obituary, The Times, 29 December 1953