1953 in the United Kingdom
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.
| 1953 in the United Kingdom |
| Other years |
| 1951 | 1952 | 1953 | 1954 | 1955 |
| Constituent countries of the United Kingdom |
| Northern Ireland | Scotland | Wales |
| Popular culture |
Incumbents
Events
A breach at Erith after the North Sea flood
- 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 MV Princess Victoria, 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.
- 5 February – Rationing of sweets, introduced during World War II, ends.[4]
- 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.[5]
- 16 March – Josip Tito, the leader of Yugoslavia visits the UK, the first Communist leader to do so.[6]
- 24 March
- Queen Mary, consort of the late King George V, dies in her sleep at Marlborough House in London.[7]
- The 10 Rillington Place murders are uncovered in London.[8]
- 31 March – The funeral of Queen Mary takes place at St George's Chapel, Windsor Castle.[9]
- 13 April – Ian Fleming publishes his first James Bond novel, Casino Royale.[10]
- 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.[11]
- 16 April – The Queen launches the Royal Yacht Britannia at John Brown & Company shipbuilders on the Clyde.[12]
- 24 April – Prime Minister Winston Churchill receives a knighthood from the Queen.[8]
- 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".[13][14]
- 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.[15]
- 25 May – Whitsun bank holiday; many businesses postpone the holiday for a week.[16]
Coronation portrait of Elizabeth II and The Duke of Edinburgh, June
- 2 June
- The coronation of Queen Elizabeth II takes place at Westminster Abbey,[17] celebrated as a public holiday.
- The Times exclusively carries James Morris's scoop of the conquest of Mount Everest by a British expedition on 29 May.[18]
- 6 June – 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.[19]
- 23 June – Prime Minister Winston Churchill, 78, suffers a stroke at a dinner for the Italian Prime Minister Alcide De Gasperi.[20] On 27 June the public are told that he is suffering from fatigue.[21]
- 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.[22]
- 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.[23]
- 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.[22]
- 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
- The England cricket team under Len Hutton defeat Australia to win The Ashes for the first time in nineteen years.[8]
- Iranian coup d'état ("Operation Boot"): Overthrow of the democratically elected Prime Minister of Iran by Iranian military in favour of strengthening the rule of Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi with the support of the United States and UK.
- Autumn – Myxomatosis reaches the UK,[21] 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).[24]
- 26 September – End of post-war sugar rationing.[25]
- 6 October – The government sends troops to the colony of British Guiana, blaming Communists for causing unrest.[26]
- 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.[8]
- 17 November – Italian cargo steamer Vittoria Claudia sinks after collision with French motor vessel Perou in the English Channel, killing twenty Italian sailors.[27]
- 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.[8][28][29]
- 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.[30]
- 26 November – The House of Lords votes in favour of the government's proposals for commercial television.[31]
- 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
- Winston Churchill wins the Nobel Prize in Literature "for his mastery of historical and biographical description as well as for brilliant oratory in defending exalted human values".[32]
- Hans Adolf Krebs wins the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine "for his discovery of the citric acid cycle".[33]
- Pilkington Brothers take out their first patent for the float glass process developed by Alastair Pilkington.
Undated
- Michael Ventris deciphers the Minoan language Linear B.[34]
- First Italian espresso coffee bar opens in the UK, The Moka in Frith Street, Soho, London.[35]
- Jazz musician John Dankworth sets up his big band, the Johnny Dankworth Orchestra.[36]
- Laura Ashley sells her first printed fabrics.[37]
- J. C. Bamford of Rocester introduce the backhoe loader.
- E. Gomme introduce the popular G-Plan furniture range.[38]
- House of Fraser take over the Sunderland-based Binns group of department stores.[39]
- Some 25% of British households now own a television set, seventeen years after the first sets became available. Many families buy a set this year to watch the Coronation of Elizabeth II.[40]
Publications
- Agatha Christie's novels After the Funeral (Hercule Poirot) and A Pocket Full of Rye (Miss Marple).
- Gerald Durrell's first book, The Overloaded Ark.
- Lawrence Durrell's book Reflections on a Marine Venus.
- Islwyn Ffowc Elis's Welsh novel Cysgod y Cryman
- Ian Fleming's first James Bond novel, Casino Royale.
- L. P. Hartley's novel The Go-Between.
- C. S. Lewis' novel The Silver Chair.
- Evelyn Waugh's novel Love Among the Ruins. A Romance of the Near Future.
- Geoffrey Willans and Ronald Searle's Molesworth book Down With Skool.
- John Wyndham's novel The Kraken Wakes.
Births
- 1 January – Maureen Beattie, Irish-born Scottish actress
- 4 January
- Jackie Ballard, journalist and politician
- Richard Boden, director and producer
- Vicki Bruce, psychologist and academic
- 6 January - Malcolm Young, Scottish-born Australian guitarist (died 2017)
- 11 January – John Sessions, actor (died 2020)
- 19 January – Linda Hayden, actress
- 29 January
- Ronnie Moore, footballer and manager
- Richard Younger-Ross, politician
- 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 – John Howard, glam-pop singer-songwriter
- 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
- 26 April – David Reddaway, Canadian-English diplomat, British High Commissioner to Canada
- 6 May
- Tony Blair, Prime Minister (1997-2007)
- Graeme Souness, Scottish footballer and manager
- 7 May – Ian McKay, soldier, recipient of VC posthumously (killed 1982)
- 10 May – John Diamond, journalist (died 2001)
- 15 May – Mike Oldfield, musician
- 19 May – Victoria Wood, comic performer (died 2016)
- 21 May – Jim Devine, politician[41]
- 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)[42]
- 26 June – Neil Record, businessman, author and economist
- 1 July – Alan Sunderland, footballer
- 4 July – Francis Maude, politician
- 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)[43]
- 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
- Keith Allen, actor
- Patsy Rodenburg, voice coach
- 12 September – Fiona Mactaggart, educator and politician
- 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
- John Barton, English footballer and manager
- Andrew Turner, academic and politician
- David Wright, composer and music producer
- 26 October – Roger Allam, actor
- 27 October
- Paul Alcock, football referee (died 2018)
- Peter Firth, actor
- 28 October – Phil Dwyer, Welsh footballer (died 2021)[44]
- 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
- 26 November – Hilary Benn, politician
- 28 November – Alistair Darling, politician
- 29 November – Rose West, serial killer[45]
- 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
- Sir Norman MacEwen, RAF commander (born 1881)
- Sir Reginald Wingate, general and colonial administrator (born 1861)
- 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)
- 9 April – C. E. M. Joad, philosopher and broadcaster (born 1891)
- 25 May – Edmund Dulac, French-born illustrator and designer (Wilding series) (born 1882)
- 1 June – Alex James, footballer (born 1901)
- 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)[46]
- 29 July – Rosa May Billinghurst, suffragette (born 1875)
- 30 September
- Robert Mawdesley, stage and radio actor (born c. 1900)
- Lewis Fry Richardson, mathematical physicist (born 1881)
- 3 October – Sir Arnold Bax, composer (born 1883)
- 8 October
- Nigel Bruce, character actor (born 1895)
- Kathleen Ferrier, contralto (born 1912)
- 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)
- 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)[47]
References
- "Derek Bentley hanged for murder". On This Day. BBC. 28 January 1953. Archived from the original on 31 January 2008. Retrieved 10 January 2008.
- "130 die in ferry disaster". On This Day. BBC. 31 January 1953. Archived from the original on 8 January 2008. Retrieved 10 January 2008.
- "Violent storms claim hundreds of lives". On This Day. BBC. 1 February 1953. Archived from the original on 27 December 2007. Retrieved 10 January 2008.
- "Sweet rationing ends in Britain". On This Day. BBC. 5 February 1953. Archived from the original on 25 December 2007. Retrieved 10 January 2008.
- "Tommy Taylor". Legends. Manchester United. Retrieved 14 October 2020.
- "Marshal Tito makes historic visit to London". On This Day. BBC. 16 March 1953. Retrieved 10 January 2008.
- "Queen Mary dies peacefully after illness". On This Day. BBC. 24 March 1953. Archived from the original on 9 January 2008. Retrieved 10 January 2008.
- Penguin Pocket On This Day. Penguin Reference Library. 2006. ISBN 978-0-14-102715-9.
- "Queen Mary laid to rest in Windsor". On This Day. BBC. 31 March 1953. Retrieved 10 January 2008.
- "The Lost Decade Timeline". BBC. Archived from the original on 21 August 2006. Retrieved 10 January 2008.
- "Britain honours American hero". On This Day. BBC. 15 April 1953. Retrieved 2 July 2009.
- "Queen launches Royal Yacht Britannia". On This Day. BBC. 16 April 1953. Archived from the original on 21 January 2008. Retrieved 10 January 2008.
- Watson, J. D.; Crick, F. H. C. (1953). "Molecular structure of nucleic acids: a structure for deoxyribose nucleic acid". Nature. 171 (4356): 737–738. Bibcode:1953Natur.171..737W. doi:10.1038/171737a0. PMID 13054692. S2CID 4253007. Retrieved 30 March 2007.
- "Scientists describe 'secret of life'". On This Day. BBC. 25 April 1953. Archived from the original on 22 December 2007. Retrieved 10 January 2008.
- "1953 Blackpool". The FA Cup. Archived from the original on 22 January 2008.
- "The Quietest Ever Bank Holiday in the Midlands". Birmingham Gazette. 26 May 1953. p. 5.
- "Queen Elizabeth takes coronation oath". On This Day. BBC. 2 June 1953. Archived from the original on 15 December 2007. Retrieved 10 January 2008.
- Venables, Stephen (2003). To the top: the story of Everest. London: Walker Books. p. 63. ISBN 978-0-7445-8662-6.
- Gallagher, Brendan (4 June 2011). "1953: A golden year for sport". The Daily Telegraph. Retrieved 4 June 2011.
- Seldon, Anthony. "Winston Churchill's Indian Summer". The British Empire. Retrieved 3 April 2013.
- Kynaston, David (2009). Family Britain, 1951–57. London: Bloomsbury. ISBN 978-0-7475-8385-1.
- "Christie to hang for wife's murder". On This Day. BBC. 25 June 1953. Retrieved 10 January 2008.
- "Dinard – Viking". Simplon Postcards: The Passenger Ship Website. 2005. Retrieved 22 October 2012.
- Cannadine, David (2008). "The 'Last Night of the Proms' in historical perspective". Historical Research. 31 (212): 315–349. doi:10.1111/j.1468-2281.2008.00466.x.
- Palmer, Alan; Veronica (1992). The Chronology of British History. London: Century Ltd. pp. 406–407. ISBN 978-0-7126-5616-0.
- "Britain sends troops to Guiana". On This Day. BBC. 6 October 1953. Retrieved 10 January 2008.
- "Twenty die in Channel collision". On This Day. BBC. 17 November 1953. Retrieved 10 January 2008.
- Weiner, J. S.; Oakley, K. P.; Le Gros Clark, W. E. (20 November 1953). "The Solution of the Piltdown Problem". Bulletin of the British Museum (Natural History), Geology Series. 2 (3): 141–6.
- "Piltdown Man forgery". The Times. London. 21 November 1953. p. 6.
- "zoltech.net". www.zoltech.net.
- "Lords vote for commercial television". On This Day. BBC. 26 November 1953. Archived from the original on 28 November 2007. Retrieved 10 January 2008.
- "The Nobel Prize in Literature 1953". Retrieved 10 January 2008.
- "The Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine 1953". Retrieved 10 January 2008.
- The Hutchinson Factfinder. Helicon. 1999. ISBN 978-1-85986-000-7.
- "The Coming of the Cafes: 1953..." Classic Cafes. 1999–2008. Archived from the original on 23 March 2016. Retrieved 12 July 2010.
- "Johnny Dankworth discography". 2010. Archived from the original on 2 January 2007. Retrieved 1 September 2010.
- Baren, Maurice (1996). How It All Began Up the High Street. London: Michael O'Mara Books. pp. 82–3. ISBN 978-1-85479-667-7.
- Hyman, Basil; Braggs, Steven (1 December 2007). The G-Plan Revolution: a celebration of British Popular Furniture of the 1950s and 1960s. ISBN 978-1-86154-310-3.
- "House of Fraser archive project" (PDF). Retrieved 31 December 2010.
- Lambert, Tim. "Britain Since 1948". Retrieved 3 April 2013.
- "WPR - Jim Devine (Ex-MP)". 15 July 2011. Archived from the original on 15 July 2011.
- "John Stahl obituary". the Guardian. 31 March 2022. Retrieved 20 May 2022.
- Willie Donald: Former Scotland international cricketer dies age 69
- Phil Dwyer 1953-2021
- Norris, Phil (22 February 2019). "Timeline of police investigation into Fred and Rose West". GloucestershireLive.
- Booth children
- Mr. W. K. Haselden, Kindly Cartoonist, Obituary, The Times, 29 December 1953
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