1983 in the United Kingdom explained
Events from the year 1983 in the United Kingdom.
Incumbents
Events
January
- 1 January – The British Nationality Act 1981 comes into effect creating five classes of British nationality.
- 3 January – Children's ITV is launched as a new branding for the late afternoon programming block on the ITV network.
- 5 January – Two policemen and a policewoman drown at Blackpool after going into the sea to rescue a man who entered the sea to save his dog (both of whom also drown).
[News: Blackpool PCS remembered 30 years after sea deaths. BBC News. 5 January 2013. ]
- 6 January – Danish fishermen defy the British government's prohibition on non-UK boats fishing in its coastal waters.
- 14 January – Shooting of Stephen Waldorf: Armed policemen shoot and severely injure an innocent car passenger in London, believing him to be escaped prisoner David Martin.
- 17 January – The first British breakfast television programme, Breakfast Time, is launched on BBC One at 6:30AM.
- 19 January – The two policemen who wounded Stephen Waldorf are charged with attempted murder and released on bail; they are suspended from duty pending further investigation.
- 23 January – The prohibition on non-British boats fishing in British waters is lifted as the European Economic Community's Common Fisheries Policy comes into effect.[1]
- 25 January – The Infrared Astronomical Satellite, the first-ever space-based observatory to perform a survey of the entire sky at infrared wavelengths, is launched. The satellite is a joint project between the American space agency NASA, the Netherlands Agency for Aerospace Programmes and the UK's Science and Engineering Research Council.[2]
- 26 January – Red rain falls in the UK, caused by sand from the Sahara Desert in the droplets.
- 28 January – Escaped prisoner David Martin (for whom Stephen Waldorf was mistaken) is rearrested.
- 31 January – Seatbelt use for drivers and front seat passengers becomes mandatory, 11 years after becoming compulsory equipment in new cars.[3]
February
- February – Work begins on extending the Piccadilly line of London Underground at Heathrow Airport to serve the new Terminal 4.[4]
- 1 February – TV-am launches on ITV.[3]
- 3 February – Unemployment stands at a record high of 3,224,715 – though the previous high reached in the Great Depression of the early 1930s accounted for a higher percentage of the workforce.
- 10 February – Dismembered sets of human remains are found at a block of flats in Muswell Hill, North London. 37-year-old civil servant Dennis Nilsen is arrested on suspicion of murder.
- 11 February – Dennis Nilsen is charged with the murder of 20-year-old Stephen Sinclair, who was last seen alive in January. Police are working to identify the other sets of human remains found at Nilsen's flat, in order to press further murder charges against Nilsen; his trial will open in October.
- 14 February – Roger Hargreaves' Little Miss TV series was first broadcast on BBC1, The Mr. Men Series was also broadcast on BBC1 for reruns, however, only 13 episodes were broadcast due to the first 13 Little Miss books were released.
- 15 February – The Austin Metro is now Britain's best selling car, having outsold every other new car registered in the UK during January.
- 24 February – Bermondsey by-election: Simon Hughes (Liberal) defeats Peter Tatchell (Labour) with the largest by-election swing in British political history (44.2%) following a campaign characterised by homophobia.[5] [6] The Official Monster Raving Loony Party first contests an election under this label.
- 26 February – Pat Jennings, 37-year-old Arsenal and Northern Ireland goalkeeper, becomes the first player in the English game to appear in 1,000 senior football matches.
March
April
- April – Vauxhall launches the Nova supermini with a range of three-door hatchbacks and two-door saloons. It is the first Vauxhall to be built outside the United Kingdom, being assembled at the Zaragoza plant in Spain where it was launched seven months ago as the Opel Corsa, but plans to launch it on the British market had been attacked by trade unions who were angry at the fact that it would not be built in Britain. Its launch is expected to result in the end of Vauxhall Chevette production in Britain.[9]
- 1 April
- Thousands of protesters form a 14-mile human chain in reaction to the siting of American nuclear weapons in British military bases.[10]
- The government expels three Russians named as KGB agents by a Soviet defector.
- 4 April – The biggest cash haul in British history sees gunmen escape with £7 million from a Security Express van in East London.
- 11 April – Richard Attenborough's 1982 film Gandhi wins eight Academy Awards.[3]
- 21 April – The one pound coin introduced in England and Wales.[3]
May
- 9 May – Margaret Thatcher calls a general election for 9 June. Opinion polls show her on course for victory with the Tories 8–12 points ahead of Labour, and they are widely expected to form a significant overall majority due to the split in left-wing votes caused by the Alliance, who are now aiming to take Labour's place in opposition.[11]
- 11 May - Aberdeen F.C. beat Real Madrid 2–1 (after extra time) to win the European Cup Winner's Cup. They are currently (as of 2023) the last team to beat Real Madrid in a European Final.
- 14 May – Dundee United F.C. are crowned Scottish football champions for the first time in their history by winning the Scottish Premier Division, on the final day of the league season at the home of their city rivals Dundee F.C., Dens Park.
- 16 May – Wheel clamps are first used to combat illegal parking in London.[12]
- 21 May – Manchester United and Brighton & Hove Albion draw 2–2 in the FA Cup final at Wembley Stadium. The replay will be held in five days time.[13]
- 26 May
- Manchester United defeat Brighton & Hove Albion 4–0 in the FA Cup final replay at Wembley Stadium. Bryan Robson scores two of the goals, with the other two coming from Arnold Muhren and 18-year-old Norman Whiteside.[13]
- Opinion polls suggest that the Conservatives are looking set to be re-elected with a landslide. A MORI poll puts them on 51%, 22 points ahead of Labour.[14]
June
- 1 June
- 6 June – The thirteenth James Bond film – Octopussy – is released in UK cinemas. It is the sixth of seven films to star Roger Moore as James Bond.
- 9 June – 1983 UK general election: Margaret Thatcher, Conservative Prime Minister of the United Kingdom since 1979, wins a landslide victory with a majority of 144 seats (through just 42% of the popular vote) over Michael Foot, who led a highly divided and weakened Labour Party which earned only 28% of the vote.[8] Among the new members of parliament are three Labour MP's who will be future party leaders, Tony Blair for Sedgefield in County Durham,[15] Gordon Brown for Dunfermline East in Scotland[16] and Jeremy Corbyn for Islington North in London. The election is also a disappointment for the SDP–Liberal Alliance, who come close behind Labour in votes but are left with a mere 23 MPs in the new parliament compared to Labour's[17] 209.[18] The new 650-seat parliament will have 397 Conservative MP's, whereas Labour now has just 209. The election also sees the retirement of former prime minister Harold Wilson after 38 years as a Labour MP.[19]
- 10 June – Computer tycoon Clive Sinclair is knighted.
- 12 June – Michael Foot resigns as leader of the Labour Party. Neil Kinnock, shadow spokesman for education and MP for Islwyn in South Wales, is tipped to succeed him; however, the successor will not be confirmed until this autumn.
- 14 June – Roy Jenkins resigns as leader of the Social Democratic Party and is succeeded by David Owen. Although the SDP gained 25% (around 7 million) of the votes and fell just short of Labour in terms of votes, they attained only a fraction of the number of seats won by Labour.[8]
- 15 June – The first episode of the historical sitcom Blackadder, is broadcast on BBC One.
- 16 June – National Museum of Photography, Film and Television opens in Bradford.[20]
July
- 7 July – New chancellor Nigel Lawson announces public spending cuts of £500 million.
- 13 July
- 15 July – Much of the country embraces a heatwave as temperatures reach 33 °C in London.
- 16 July – Twenty people are killed in the 1983 British Airways Sikorsky S-61 crash in the Celtic Sea.
- 19 July – A large new model of a flesh-eating dinosaur is erected at the Natural History Museum.http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/july/19/newsid_2515000/2515185.stm
- 21 July – Former prime minister Harold Wilson is one of 17 life peerages announced today, having stood down from parliament last month after 38 years as MP for Huyton, near Liverpool.
- 22 July – Production of the Ford Orion four-door saloon begins. The Orion is the saloon version of the Escort, but is also aimed at buyers of larger family saloon cars like the recently discontinued Cortina. It goes on sale this Autumn and is produced at the Halewood plant in Liverpool as well as the Valencia plant in Spain which also produces the smaller Fiesta.
- 26 July – A Catholic mother of ten, Victoria Gillick, loses a case in the High Court of Justice against the DHSS. Her application sought to prevent the distribution of contraceptives to children under the age of 16 without parental consent. The case goes to the House of Lords in 1985 when it is decided that it is legal for doctors to prescribe contraceptives to under-16s without parental consent in exceptional circumstances ("Gillick competence").[21]
- 29 July – Actor and novelist David Niven dies aged 73 at his home in Château d'Œx, Switzerland.
- 1 to 31 July – The two hundredth anniversary of the previous hottest month in the CET series sees a new record for heat with a monthly mean CET of 19.51NaN1 – 0.71NaN1 hotter than July 1783.[22]
August
- 1 August – The new A-prefix car registration plates are launched, helping spur on the recovery in car sales following the slump at the start of the decade caused by the recession.
- 5 August – 22 Provisional Irish Republican Army (IRA) members receive sentences totalling over 4,000 years from a Belfast Court.[3]
- 18 August – Architectural historian Sir Nikolaus Pevsner dies aged 81 at his home in Hampstead, London.
- 19 August – Temperatures reach 30 °C in London, as hot weather embraces the United Kingdom.
- 29 August – ITV launches Blockbusters, a gameshow hosted by Bob Holness and featuring sixth formers as its contestants.
September
October
November
December
- 4 December – An SAS undercover operation ends in the shooting and killing of two IRA gunmen, a third is injured.[30]
- 6 December – First heart and lung transplant carried out in Britain at Harefield Hospital.[31]
- 8 December – The House of Lords votes to allow television broadcast of its proceedings.[32]
- 10 December – William Golding wins the Nobel Prize in Literature "for his novels which, with the perspicuity of realistic narrative art and the diversity and universality of myth, illuminate the human condition in the world of today".[33]
- 15 December – The second of two James Bond films not produced by Eon Productions – Never Say Never Again – is released in UK cinemas. An adaptation of the novel Thunderball (which had previously been adapted by Eon in the 1965 film of the same name), it marks Sean Connery's return as James Bond for his seventh and final overall outing.
- 17 December – Six people are killed in the Harrods bombing.
- 25 December (Christmas Day) – A second IRA bomb explodes in Oxford Street, but this time nobody is injured.[19]
Undated
Publications
Births
- 1 January – Calum Davenport, footballer
- 17 January – Christopher Stalford, Northern Irish politician (died 2022)
- 21 January – Wes Streeting, politician
- 24 January – Shaun Maloney, Scottish football player and manager
- 27 January – Douglas Ross, Scottish politician
- 31 January – James Sutton, actor
- 16 February – Agyness Deyn, model and actress
- 18 February
- 22 February – Dominic Lyne, author
- 23 February – Emily Blunt, actress
- 24 February – Sophie Howard, glamour model
- 26 February – Andrew Baggaley, English table tennis player
- 27 February – Hayley Angel Holt, actress
- 28 February – Terry Bywater, basketball player
- 4 March – Adam Deacon, actor
- 9 March – Bryony Afferson, actress and musician
- 12 March – Roxy Shahidi, actress[38]
- 14 March
- 15 March – Sean Biggerstaff, actor
- 21 March – Bruno Langley, actor
- 28 March – Ryan Ashington, footballer
- 29 March - Ed Skrein, actor and rapper
- 31 March – Meinir Gwilym, Welsh folk singer
- 6 April – James Wade, darts player
- 13 April – Marvin Morgan, footballer (died 2021)
- 14 April – Simon Burnett, swimmer
- 5 May – Henry Cavill, actor
- 6 May – Magdalen Berns, YouTuber, boxer and software developer (d. 2019)
- 8 May – Matt Willis, singer-songwriter
- 13 May – Natalie Cassidy, actress
- 18 May
- 19 May – Jessica Fox, actress
- 20 May – Emma Williams, actress
- 22 May – Connie and Cassie Powney, twin actresses
- 26 May – Henry Holland, fashion designer
- 28 May – Toby Hemingway, British/American actor
- 30 May – Jennifer Ellison, actress
- 31 May – Reggie Yates, actor, television presenter, and radio DJ
- 2 June – Lisa Hammond, actress
- 6 June – Gemma Bissix, actress
- 8 June – Allan Dick, Scottish field hockey goalkeeper
- 17 June
- 19 June
- 22 June – Sally Nicholls, children's author
- 24 June – Christian Day, English rugby union player
- 25 June – Todd Cooper, swimmer
- 30 June – Cheryl Cole, singer
- 6 July – David Price, boxer
- 19 July – Helen Skelton, TV presenter
- 20 July – Rory Jennings, actor
- 22 July – Jodi Albert, actress and singer
- 5 August - Kara Tointon, actress
- 6 August – Neil Harvey, English-Barbadian footballer
- 7 August - Tina O'Brien, actress
- 9 August – David Ames, actor
- 11 August – Sammy Glenn, actress
- 18 August – Kris Boyd, football player and pundit
- 21 August – Chantelle Houghton, reality TV star
- 22 August – Julie Kilpatrick, Scottish field hockey player
- 23 August – Fiona Onasanya, Labour Member of Parliament and criminal convicted of perverting the course of justice[39]
- 24 August – Christopher Parker, actor
- 1 September - Mohammed Marban, Model
- 4 September – Jennifer Metcalfe, actress
- 13 September – James Bourne, singer-songwriter
- 14 September – Amy Winehouse, singer-songwriter (died 2011)
- 17 September – Catherine Tyldesley, English actress and model
- 18 September – Naomi Folkard, archer[40]
- 30 September – Louise Munn, Scottish field hockey defender
- 1 October – Tom Dillon, English rugby union player
- 14 October
- 17 October – Felicity Jones, actress
- 28 October – Joe Thomas, actor
- 10 November – Jo Ellis, English field hockey forward
- 15 November – Sophia Di Martino, actress
- 17 November – Harry Lloyd, actor
- 18 November – Robert Kazinsky, actor and model
- 24 November
- 28 November
- 6 December – Francesca Jackson, musical theatre actress
- 19 December – Bridget Phillipson, politician
- 20 December – Lucy Pinder, model
- 26 December – Alex Phillips, television presenter and politician
- date unknown
Deaths
January
- 2 January
- 5 January
- 6 January
- 7 January
- 8 January
- 9 January – Ernest Entwistle Cheesman, botanist (born 1898)
- 10 January
- 13 January
- 14 January – Margie Morris, film actress (born 1892)
- 17 January
- John Dunn, Scottish-born American cartoon writer (born 1919)
- John Rawlence, cricketer and Army colonel (born 1915)
- 18 January
- 20 January – Basil Brooke, Royal Navy vice-admiral (born 1895)
- 22 January – Walter Citrine, 1st Baron Citrine, trade unionist (born 1887)
- 23 January
- 24 January – Catherine Dean, artist (born 1905)
- 25 January – Betty Trask, novelist (born 1893)
- 28 January – Billy Fury, rock singer-songwriter (born 1940)
- 29 January – Francis Northey Richardson, Army lieutenant-colonel and brewer (born 1894)
- 30 January – Sir Alan Cunningham, Army general in World War II (born 1887)
February
- 1 February – Howard Gaunt, schoolteacher and cricketer (born 1902)
- 3 February
- 4 February
- 7 February – Thomas Nicol, anatomist (born 1900)
- 8 February
- 9 February – Sam Smith, toy maker (born 1908)
- 10 February – Michael Roberts, politician (born 1927)
- 11 February – Anne Anderson, physiologist and author (born 1937)
- 13 February – Edward Fletcher, Labour Member of Parliament (born 1911)
- 18 February
- 19 February – George Rogers, politician (born 1906)
- 20 February – Peter Glaze, comedian (born 1917)
- 21 February – Jaqueline Tyrwhitt, town planner (born 1905)
- 22 February
- 23 February
- 24 February – Herbert Hannam, police officer (born 1908)
- 25 February – Lancelot Joynson-Hicks, 3rd Viscount Brentford, peer and politician (born 1902)
- 26 February – Ken Brooke, magician (born 1920)
- 27 February
- 28 February
March
- 2 March
- 5 March
- 6 March
- 8 March
- 12 March – Michael Noble, politician (born 1935)
- 13 March – Zoe Palmer, actress (born 1903)
- 15 March – Dame Rebecca West, writer (born 1892)
- 16 March
- 20 March
- 21 March
- 22 March
- 23 March
- 25 March – Francis Long, RAF vice-marshal (born 1899)
- 26 March
- 27 March – James Hayter, actor (born 1907)
- 29 March
- 30 March
- 31 March
April
- 1 April – John R. Buckmaster, actor (suicide) (born 1915)
- 3 April
- 5 April
- 8 April – Sir Harold Mitchell, 1st Baronet, businessman and politician (born 1900)
- 10 April – James Langley, Army lieutenant-colonel (born 1916)
- 11 April – Eric Walker, World War I air ace (born 1896)
- 12 April
- 13 April
- 14 April
- 16 April
- 17 April
- 19 April – Robert MacIntyre Gordon, World War I air ace and physician (born 1899)
- 20 April
- 20 April
- 21 April – Georgiana Maxwell, 26th Baroness de Ros, peeress (born 1933)
- 22 April
- 26 April
- 27 April – Christina Larner, historian (born 1933)
- 28 April – Martin Redmayne, Baron Redmayne, politician (born 1910)
May
- 1 May – Tom Harris, botanist (born 1903)
- 2 May – Charles Geddes, Baron Geddes of Epsom, trade unionist (born 1897)
- 3 May
- 5 May – John Williams, actor (born 1903)
- 6 May – Pat Smythe, jazz pianist (born 1923)
- 7 May – Keith Stewartson, mathematician (born 1925)
- 8 May – Frank Hodgson, motorcyclist (born 1908)
- 9 May – Gertrude Hermes, wood engraver (born 1901)
- 10 May – Margaret K. Knight, psychologist (born 1903)
- 12 May – Kenneth Peppiatt, banker, Chief Cashier of the Bank of England (1934–1949)
- 15 May – Harry Lawson, legal scholar (born 1897)
- 17 May – Sir Gordon Willmer, judge (born 1899)
- 18 May – Sir Roger Fulford, journalist and historian (born 1902)
- 20 May – Violet Grantham, politician, first woman Lord Mayor of Newcastle upon Tyne (born 1893)
- 21 May
- 22 May
- 23 May – Eve Gray, actress (born 1900)
- 25 May – Sydney Box, film producer (born 1907)
- 26 May
- 28 May – Muriel Nichol, politician (born 1893)
- 31 May – Donald Britton, ballet dancer (born 1929)
June
- 1 June
- 2 June – Margaret Innes-Ker, Duchess of Roxburghe, peeress (born 1918)
- 3 June – Moses Blackman, crystallographer (born 1908, South Africa)
- 5 June – Sir Anthony Lewis, musicologist (born 1915)
- 6 June
- 7 June – David Westbury, physician (born 1923)
- 9 June – John A. Mackay, theologian (born 1889)
- 10 June – Sir Paul Travers, Army lieutenant-general (born 1927)
- 12 June
- 17 June – George Benson, actor (born 1911)
- 18 June
- 21 June – Angus Fulton, civil engineer (born 1900)
- 22 June
- 23 June – John Gavin Bone, cyclist (born 1914)
- 25 June – John Reeve, Army major-general (born 1891)
- 28 June – Dorothy Annan, painter, potter and muralist (born 1900)
- 29 June
July
- 1 July – Gordon McIntyre, Lord Sorn, lawyer and judge (born 1896)
- 2 July – Jacqueline Townshend, pianist and violinist (born 1912)
- 3 July – Brian Jackson, educator (born 1932)
- 4 July
- 6 July – Hugh Clegg, physician (born 1900)
- 9 July – Keith Wickenden, Conservative politician (born 1932)
- 11 July – Geoffrey Paul, Anglican prelate (born 1921)
- 12 July
- 14 July
- 15 July – Leslie Hunter, second Bishop of Sheffield (born 1890)
- 16 July
- 17 July – John Leonard, Baron Leonard, politician (born 1909)
- 18 July – Don Cockell, boxer (born 1928)
- 19 July
- 20 July – Clement Clapton Chesterman, physician and author (born 1894)
- 21 July – Norman Chappell, actor (born 1925)
- 23 July – Karl Britton, philosopher (born 1909)
- 24 July – Sinclair Thomson, artist (born 1915)
- 27 July
- 29 July – David Niven, film actor (born 1910)
- 30 July – Lynn Fontanne, actress (born 1887)
- 31 July
August
- 1 August – Peter Arne, actor (born 1924)[42]
- 3 August
- 5 August – Joan Robinson, economist (born 1903)
- 7 August – Sir Geoffrey Follows, colonial administrator (born 1896)
- 11 August – George Wigg, Baron Wigg, politician (born 1900)
- 12 August – Wavell Wakefield, 1st Baron Wakefield of Kendal, politician and rugby union player (born 1898)
- 13 August – Sir Sidney Ford, trade union leader (born 1909)
- 14 August
- 16 August – May Baird, physician (born 1901)
- 18 August – Sir Nikolaus Pevsner, architectural historian (The Buildings of England) (born 1902, German Empire)
- 23 August – William Evans, trade unionist (born 1899)
- 26 August
- 29 August
- 30 August – Sir Dennis Proctor, civil servant (born 1905)
- 31 August
September
- 1 September – Tasha Douty, waitress (murdered in Australia) (born 1943)
- 2 September – Jimmy Aubrey, actor (born 1887)
- 3 September – Leonard Burt, police officer (born 1892)
- 5 September
- 6 September – David Gray, sports journalist (born 1927)
- 7 September – Sir Gilbert Nicholetts, RAF air marshal (born 1902)
- c. 8 September – Peter Sedgwick, writer and socialist activist (born 1934)
- 9 September – Dunstan Curtis, lawyer and politician (born 1910)
- 10 September – Norah Lofts, novelist (born 1904)
- 11 September – Ralph Murray, journalist and diplomat (born 1908)
- 13 September – John Cobbold, businessman (born 1927)
- 14 September – Michael Scott, Anglican priest and anti-apartheid campaigner (born 1907)
- 15 September – Beverley Nichols, author (born 1898)
- 16 September – Burnaby Drayson, politician (born 1913)
- 17 September – Sir Denis Follows, sports administrator (born 1908)
- 19 September
- 20 September
- 23 September
- 24 September
- 26 September – Eileen Betsy Tranmer, chess player (born 1910)
- 28 September – Michael Finn, economic historian (born 1917)
- 29 September
October
- 1 October
- 2 October – Frances Horovitz, poet and broadcaster (born 1938)
- 6 October – Elizabeth Brunner, economist (born 1920)
- 7 October – Sir Charles Husband, civil engineer (born 1908)
- 11 October – Sir Anthony Mather-Jackson, colliery owner and cricketer (born 1899)
- 10 October – Ralph Richardson, actor (born 1902)
- 13 October – Joe Thompson, rugby league and rugby union player (born 1902)
- 14 October
- 15 October – Christopher Eastwood, civil servant (born 1905)
- 17 October – Sir Dennis White, colonial administrator (born 1910)
- 18 October – Don Curtis, golfer (born 1904)
- 19 October – Dorothy Stuart Russell, pathologist (born 1895, Australia)
- 20 October
- 22 October
- 24 October – Andrew MacGregor, RAF air vice-marshal (born 1897)
- 27 October – Hedley Burrows, Anglican priest (born 1887)
November
- 1 November – Rupert Byron, 11th Baron Byron, peer and politician (born 1903)
- 2 November
- 7 November – Sir Paget Bourke, judge (born 1906)
- 8 November
- 9 November – Lionel Keir Robinson, bookseller (born 1897)
- 12 November – Clifford Grossmark, physician and football administrator (born 1914)
- 13 November
- 14 November – Barney Bubbles, graphic artist (suicide) (born 1942)
- 15 November
- 16 November
- 17 November – Geoffrey Clifton-Brown, politician (born 1899)
- 19 November – Tom Evans, musician (suicide) (born 1947)
- 20 November
- 22 November – Grahame Farr, maritime historian (born 1912)
- 23 November – Sir Evelyn Barker, Army general (born 1894)
- 25 November – Sir Anton Dolin, dancer and choreographer (born 1904)
- 26 November – Sir Hedley Atkins, surgeon (born 1905)
- 28 November – Richard Scott, physician (born 1914)
- 30 November – Richard Llewellyn, novelist (born 1906)
December
- 2 December – Muriel St. Clare Byrne, historian (born 1895)
- 4 December
- 5 December – Lyndall Urwick, management consultant (born 1891)
- 6 December – Kenneth Farnhill, Royal Navy rear-admiral (born 1913)
- 7 December
- Norah Blaney, comedienne and pianist (born 1893)
- Edgar Graham, Northern Irish politician (murdered by the IRA) (born 1954)
- 8 December – Monica Harrison, opera singer (born 1897)
- 10 December – Saville Garner, diplomat (born 1908)
- 11 December
- 13 December – Mary Renault, novelist (born 1905)
- 15 December
- 16 December – Robert King, Army major-general (born 1904)
- 17 December – Edith Wightman, archaeologist (murdered in Canada) (born 1938)
- 18 December
- 19 December – Cameron Hall, actor (born 1897)
- 20 December – Bill Brandt, photojournalist (born 1904, German Empire)
- 22 December
- 23 December
- 24 December
- 26 December – Violet Carson, actress (born 1898)
- 27 December – Donald Caskie, Scottish Presbyterian minister (born 1902)
- 29 December – Janet Webb, actress (born 1930)
- 30 December – Violette Cordery, racing driver (born 1900)
- 31 December – Sir Harold Warris Thompson, chemist and spectroscopist (born 1908)
See also
Notes and References
- Web site: 1983: Danes raid British fishing grounds. On This Day. 2007-11-25. BBC News. 1983-01-06. https://web.archive.org/web/20071227033315/http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/january/6/newsid_2477000/2477785.stm. 2007-12-27. live.
- News: Gilliland. Ben. Science & Discovery. Metro. 16 January 2009.
- Book: Penguin Pocket On This Day. Penguin Reference Library. 0-14-102715-0. 2006.
- Book: Green, Oliver. The London Underground – An Illustrated History. Ian Allan. 1988. 63. 0-7110-1720-4.
- News: The Battle for Bermondsey. 2021-02-22. Southwark News. 2015-03-04.
- News: The 'homophobic' campaign that helped win Bermondsey. Grice. Andrew. 2006-01-27. The Independent. one of the dirtiest election campaigns in recent memory.... London. dead. https://web.archive.org/web/20090527140903/http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/the-homophobic-campaign-that-helped-win-bermondsey-524703.html. 2009-05-27.
- Web site: Compact Disc: 1983. Electric Dreams. BBC. 2019-03-11. https://web.archive.org/web/20130605014528/http://www.bbc.co.uk/electricdreams/1980s/compactdisc. 2013-06-05. dead.
- Book: Williams, Hywel. Cassell's Chronology of World History. London. Weidenfeld & Nicolson. 2005. 0-304-35730-8. 605–607.
- Web site: Opel Corsa hatchback.
- News: 1983: Human chain links nuclear sites . BBC News. 2007-11-29. 1 April 1983. https://web.archive.org/web/20080106182839/http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/april/1/newsid_2520000/2520753.stm. 6 January 2008 . live.
- Web site: Why wait? Thatcher calls election for June. The Montreal Gazette. 1983-05-10. A-9. 2018-04-20. Google News.
- Book: Palmer, Alan. Palmer . Veronica. 1992. The Chronology of British History. Century Ltd. London. 448–449. 0-7126-5616-2.
- Web site: FA Cup Final 1983. https://web.archive.org/web/20090524011933/http://www.fa-cupfinals.co.uk/1983.htm. 2009-05-24. live. 2009-05-29.
- Web site: Voting Intention in Great Britain: 1976–present. https://web.archive.org/web/20120923031349/http://www.ipsos-mori.com/researchpublications/researcharchive/poll.aspx?oItemId=103. dead. 2012-09-23. Ipsos MORI. 2010-06-21. 2019-04-24. WebCite.
- Web site: Tony Blair | Number10.gov.uk . 23 December 2010 . https://web.archive.org/web/20101227064403/http://www.number10.gov.uk/history-and-tour/prime-ministers-in-history/tony-blair . 27 December 2010 . dead .
- Web site: Gordon Brown | Number10.gov.uk . 2009-06-21 . dead . https://web.archive.org/web/20100515034523/http://www.number10.gov.uk/history-and-tour/prime-ministers-in-history/gordon-brown . 15 May 2010 .
- Web site: British General Elections. History Learning Site. 2012-03-21. https://web.archive.org/web/20110607232502/http://www.historylearningsite.co.uk/british_general_elections.htm. 7 June 2011. dead.
- News: 1983: Thatcher wins landslide victory. BBC News. 9 June 1983. 10 April 2011.
- Web site: 1983. Those were the days. Express & Star. Wolverhampton. 2014-08-01.
- Book: The Hutchinson Factfinder. Helicon. 1999. 1-85986-000-1.
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