1955 in the United Kingdom

1955 in the United Kingdom:

Other years

1953 | 1954 | 1955 | 1956 | 1957

Individual countries of the United Kingdom

England | Northern Ireland | Scotland | Wales

Sport, Television and music

1955 British Grand Prix 1955 English cricket season Football: England | Scotland 1955 in British television 1955 in British music

Events from the year 1955 in the United Kingdom. The year is marked by changes of leadership for both principal political parties.

Incumbents

• Monarch – Elizabeth II
• Prime Minister – Winston Churchill (Conservative) (until 6 April), Anthony Eden (Conservative) (starting 6 April)

Events

• 1 January – The U.K's first atomic bomber unit, No. 138 Squadron RAF, is formed, flying Vickers Valiants from RAF Gaydon in Warwickshire.^[1]
• 7 January – U.K. release of the Halas and Batchelor film animation of George Orwell's Animal Farm (completed April 1954), the first full-length British-made animated feature on general theatrical release.^[2][3]
• 23 January – Sutton Coldfield rail crash: an express train takes a sharp curve too fast and derails at Sutton Coldfield railway station: 17 killed, 43 injured.^[4]
• 27 January – Michael Tippett's opera The Midsummer Marriage is premiered at the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden in London, with designs by Barbara Hepworth and choreography by John Cranko; it arouses controversy.^[5]
• 24 February – A big freeze across Britain results in more than 70 roads being blocked with snow, and in some parts of the country rail services have been cancelled for several days. The Royal Air Force works to deliver food and medical supplies to the worst affected areas.^[6]
• 25 February – Aircraft carrier HMS Ark Royal (launched 1950) commissioned, the first constructed with an angled flight deck and steam catapults from new.^[7]
• 29 March – Associated Society of Locomotive Engineers and Firemen calls a strike which continues until 14 June, leading to a state of emergency being declared on 31 May.
• 1 April – EOKA A starts a terrorist campaign against British rule in the Crown colony of Cyprus, leading to a state of emergency being declared by the Governor on 26 November.
• 2 April – Duncan Edwards, the 18-year-old Manchester United left-half, becomes the youngest full England international in a 7-2 win over Scotland at Wembley. Dudley-born Edwards is already being tipped by many observers to become the next England captain upon the eventual retirement of Billy Wright.^[8]
• 5 April – Resignation of Winston Churchill as Prime Minister due to ill-health at the age of 80.^[9]
• 6 April – Foreign Secretary Anthony Eden is named as the new Prime Minister. Eden, 58, has held government and shadow cabinet ministerial roles for the last 20 years, and was first tipped for the role of prime minister as long ago as Stanley Baldwin's resignation.^[10]
• 16 April – Release of Laurence Olivier's film Richard III.
• 21 April – National newspapers published for the first time after a month-long strike by maintenance workers.^[11]
• 23 April – Chelsea F.C., who have previously never won the league title nor the FA Cup, are Football League First Division champions, and will be England's first entrants into UEFA's new European Cup next season if they accept the invitation to compete.^[12]
• 1 May – The last Cornish engine pumping in the metalliferous mines of Cornwall is shut down at South Crofty.
• 4–6 May – A severe gale strips topsoil across Norfolk.^[13]
• 5 May – American virologist Dr Jonas Salk promotes a polio vaccine in Britain, with the 500,000th person receiving a vaccine against the disease.^[14]
• 7 May – Newcastle United secure the FA Cup for the sixth time with a 3-1 win over Manchester City at Wembley Stadium.^[15]
• 24 May
  • Film The Dam Busters released.
  • With three days to go before the general election, all major opinion polls show the Conservative government well placed for re-election.^[16]
• 25 May – Joe Brown and George Band are the first to attain the summit of Kanchenjunga, as part of a British team led by Charles Evans.
• 27 May – Anthony Eden wins the general election for the Conservative Party with a majority of 31 seats,^[17] an improvement on the 17-seat majority gained by his predecessor Sir Winston Churchill four years ago.^[18] Between them the Conservative and Labour parties take 96.1% of the popular vote.
• 6 June – Children and Young Persons (Harmful Publications) Act comes into effect, with intention of protecting children from horror comics.
• 16 June – Submarine HMS Sidon sinks in Portland Harbour with the loss of thirteen crew following an explosion caused by a faulty torpedo on board.
• 30 June – A Gloster Meteor jet fighter crashes on takeoff from RAF West Malling in Kent, killing both crew and two fruit-pickers on the ground.^[19] On the same day, two Hawker Sea Hawk jet fighters flying from RNAS Lossiemouth in Scotland independently crash into the North Sea; one pilot is killed.
• Summer – Heat wave and associated drought.^[20]
• July – Unemployment stands at a modern low of just over 215,000, meaning that barely 1% of the workforce is currently without a job.^[21]
• 9 July – Bertrand Russell issues the Russell-Einstein Manifesto highlighting the dangers posed by nuclear weapons.
• 13 July – Ruth Ellis becomes the last woman to be hanged in the UK, at HM Prison Holloway, for shooting dead a lover, David Blakely, outside a pub in Hampstead (north London) on 10 April (Easter Sunday).^[22]
• 17 July – Stirling Moss becomes the first English winner of the British Grand Prix at Aintree Motor Racing Circuit.^[23]
• 18 July – Winterborne St Martin enters the UK Weather Records with the highest 24-hour total rainfall at 279 mm – a record which stands until November 2009.
• 25–27 July – 'Operation Sandcastle': The first load of deteriorating captured Nazi German bombs filled with Tabun (nerve agent) is shipped from Cairnryan on the SS Empire Claire for scuttling in the Atlantic Ocean.
• 26 July - Chelsea F.C. withdraws from the new European Cup on the instructions of the Football League.
• 30 July – Philip Larkin makes a train journey from Hull to Grantham which inspires his poem The Whitsun Weddings.^[24]
• 3 August
  • Ministry of Housing and Local Government issues Circular 42/55 inviting local planning authorities to establish green belts.
  • English language premiere of Samuel Beckett's play Waiting for Godot, directed by Peter Hall, opens at the Arts Theatre, London.
• 26 August – Hammer Film Productions' The Quatermass Xperiment released.
• 27 August – Guinness Book of Records first published.^[22]
• 4 September – Richard Baker and Kenneth Kendall become the first BBC Television newsreaders to be seen reading the news.^[7]
• 7 September – Meld wins the Fillies Triple Crown having finished first in the 1,000 Guineas Stakes, Epsom Oaks and St. Leger Stakes.^[25]
• 14 September – Airfix produce their first scale model aircraft kit, of the Supermarine Spitfire at 1/72 scale.^[26]
• 18 September
  • The People newspaper makes public that Guy Burgess and Donald Maclean, who defected to the Soviet Union in 1951, were spies and not merely diplomats as previously reported.^[27]
  • United Kingdom annexes Rockall.^[28]
• 22 September – The Independent Television Authority's first ITV franchise begins broadcasting the UK's first commercial television in London ending the 18-year monopoly of the BBC.^[29] The first advertisement shown is for Gibbs SR toothpaste. On the same day, the popular BBC Radio serial The Archers kills off the character Grace Archer.
• 26 September – Clarence Birdseye begins selling fish fingers in Britain.^[7]
• October – Dame Evelyn Sharp appointed Permanent Secretary at the Ministry of Housing and Local Government, the first woman Civil Servant to attain this most senior position within a UK Ministry.^[30]
• 23 October – Kim Philby is named as the "Third Man" of the Cambridge Spy Ring in the U.S. press.^[27]
• 31 October – Princess Margaret announces that she does not intend to marry Group Captain Peter Townsend.^[31]
• 7 November – The Prime Minister denies in Parliament that Kim Philby is the "Third Man" of the Cambridge Spy Ring.^[27]
• 19 November – C. Northcote Parkinson first articulates "Parkinson's Law", the semi-serious adage Work expands so as to fill the time available for its completion.^[32]
• 20 November – Milton rail crash: an excursion train takes a crossover too fast and derails at Milton, near Didcot: 11 killed, 157 injured.
• Late November – Lonnie Donegan's 1954 skiffle recording of Rock Island Line is released: it becomes a major hit in 1956.
• 2 December – Barnes rail crash, Barnes, South London: collision due to signal error and consequent fire: 13 killed, 35 injured.
• 7 December – Clement Attlee resigns as leader of the Labour Party after twenty years.^[33][34]
• 8 December – Ealing Comedy film The Ladykillers released.^[35]
• 9 December – Cumbernauld, Scotland, designated as a New town.^[36]
• 12 December – Christopher Cockerell patents his design of hovercraft.
• 14 December – Hugh Gaitskell becomes leader of the Labour Party. The 49-year-old MP was previously the treasurer of the party and served as chancellor during the final year of the previous Labour government.^[34][37]
• 16 December – The Queen opens a new terminal at London Airport.^[38]
• 20 December – Cardiff becomes the official capital of Wales.^[39]

Publications

• Kingsley Amis's comic novel That Uncertain Feeling.
• Derrick Sherwin Bailey's study Homosexuality and the Western Christian Tradition.
• Henry Cecil's comic novel Brothers in Law.
• Agatha Christie's Hercule Poirot novel Hickory Dickory Dock.
• G. R. Elton's history England Under the Tudors.
• Ian Fleming's James Bond novel Moonraker.
• Graham Greene's novel The Quiet American.
• W. G. Hoskins' historical geography The Making of the English Landscape.
• Aldous Huxley's novel The Genius and the Goddess.
• Philip Larkin's poetry collection The Less Deceived.
• C. S. Lewis' novel The Magician's Nephew and spiritual autobiography Surprised by Joy.
• Alistair MacLean's novel HMS Ulysses.
• J. J. Marric's novel Gideon's Day.
• J. R. R. Tolkien's novel The Return of the King, third and final part of The Lord of the Rings.
• A. Wainwright's first hand-drawn guidebook A Pictorial Guide to the Lakeland Fells, Book 1: The Eastern Fells.
• Evelyn Waugh's novel Officers and Gentlemen, second of the Sword of Honour trilogy.
• John Wyndham's novel The Chrysalids.

Births

January–June

• 1 January – Mary Beard, classicist
• 3 January – Helen O'Hara, rock violinist
• 6 January – Rowan Atkinson, comedian and actor
• 15 January – Nigel Benson, author and illustrator
• 19 January – Simon Rattle, orchestral conductor
• 25 January – Terry Chimes, rock drummer (The Clash)
• 27 January – Alexander Stuart, novelist and screenwriter in the United States
• 3 February
  • Sue Ion, born Susan Burrows, nuclear scientist
  • Kirsty Wark, Scottish television presenter
• 9 February – Charles Shaughnessy, television actor in the United States and peer
• 10 February – Chris Adams, wrestler (died 2001)
• 23 February – Howard Jones, pop keyboardist and singer-songwriter
• 28 February – Bob Kerslake, head of the home civil service
• 1 March – Timothy Laurence, admiral and second husband of Anne, Princess Royal
• 19 March – John Burnside, Scottish poet and fiction writer
• 28 March – John Alderdice, Alliance Party of Northern Ireland politician and Speaker of the Northern Ireland Assembly
• 29 March – Marina Sirtis, television actress in the United States
• 3 April – Michael Burleigh, historian
• 5 April – Janice Long, born Janice Chegwin, radio disc jockey
• 11 April – Piers Sellers, English-born meteorologist and astronaut
• 23 April – Tony Miles, chess player (died 2001)
• 25 April – John Nunn, chess player and mathematician
• 28 April – Eddie Jobson, rock keyboardist and violinist
• 1 May – Nick Feldman, rock musician
• 2 May – Willie Miller, Scottish footballer
• 6 May – John Hutton, Labour politician
• 16 May – Hazel O'Connor, singer
• 21 May – Paul Barber, field hockey player
• 22 May – Dale Winton, broadcast presenter
• 30 May – Topper Headon, born Nicholas Headon, rock drummer (The Clash)
• 31 May – Lynne Truss, writer
• 4 June – Val McDermid, Scottish crime novelist
• 8 June – Tim Berners-Lee, inventor of the World Wide Web
• 13 June – Alan Hansen, Scottish footballer and television presenter
• 14 June
  • Gillian Bailey, child actress
  • Paul O'Grady, talk show host and comedian
• 26 June – Mick Jones, rock guitarist (The Clash)

July–December

• 4 July – John Waite, rock singer, bass guitarist and songwriter
• 6 July – Michael Boyd, theatre director
• 18 July – Terry Chambers, rock drummer
• 21 July – Henry Priestman, English pop singer-songwriter, keyboardist and producer
• 25 July – Jem Finer, folk rock banjoist, composer and multimedia artist
• 29 July – Stephen Timms, Labour politician
• 6 August – Gordon J. Brand, golfer
• 14 August – Gillian Taylforth, television actress
• 1 September – Bruce Foxton, rock bass guitarist and vocalist
• 3 September – Steve Jones, guitarist (Sex Pistols)
• 5 September – John Bentley, rugby football player
• 16 September – Janet Ellis, children's television presenter
• 20 September – David Haig, actor
• 2 October
  • Philip Oakey, pop singer-songwriter
  • Nancy Rothwell, physiologist
• 9 October – Steve Ovett, athlete
• 18 October – Timmy Mallett, television presenter
• 29 October – Roger O'Donnell, rock keyboardist
• 30 October – Jeremy Black, historian
• 14 November – Philip Egan, bishop
• 17 November – Peter Cox, pop singer-songwriter
• 24 November – Ian Botham, cricketer
• 30 November – Billy Idol, born William Broad, rock singer
• 15 December – Paul Simonon, rock bass guitarist (The Clash)
• 23 December – Carol Ann Duffy, Scottish poet

Deaths

• 7 January – Lamorna Birch, painter (born 1869)
• 10 January – Annette Mills, television presenter (born 1894)
• 29 January – Sir Rhys Rhys-Williams, Welsh politician (born 1865)
• 11 March – Sir Alexander Fleming, Scottish-born bacteriologist, recipient of the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine (born 1881)
• 22 April – Herbert MacNair, Scottish artist (born 1868)
• 27 April – Ambrose Bebb, author (born 1894)
• 9 May – Kate Booth, Salvation Army officer (born 1858)
• 11 May – Gilbert Jessop, cricketer (born 1874)
• 14 June – Jacob Moritz Blumberg, surgeon, gynaecologist and radium therapist (born 1873 in Germany)
• 3 July – Beatrice Chase, writer (born 1874)
• 13 July – Ruth Ellis, Welsh-born murderer (born 1926)
• 18 July – Billy McCandless, Irish footballer (born 1894)
• 16 September – Leo Amery, politician (born 1873)
• 28 September – Lionel Rees, Welsh airman, Victoria Cross recipient (born 1883)
• 11 October – Hector McNeil, Scottish politician (born 1907)
• 14 October – Harry Parr-Davies, Welsh songwriter (born 1914)
• 15 October – Thomas Jones (T. J.), Welsh educationalist (born 1870)
• 25 November – Sir Arthur Tansley, botanist and ecologist (born 1871)
• 27 December – Alfred Carpenter, soldier, Victoria Cross recipient (born 1881)

References

1. Crosby, Francis (2006). The Complete Guide to Fighters & Bombers of the World: An Illustrated History of the World's Greatest Military Aircraft, From the Pioneering Days of Air Fighting in World War I Through the Jet Fighters and Stealth Bombers of the Present Day. London: Hermes House. p. 288. ISBN 9781846810008.
2. McFarlane, Brian, ed. (2003). The Encyclopedia of British Film. London: Methuen; BFI. p. 48. ISBN 9780413773012.
3. Leab, Daniel J. (2007). Orwell Subverted. Pennsylvania State Press. p. xiii-xiv. ISBN 978-0-271-02979-5.
4. "Express train crashes killing 14". BBC News. 23 January 1955. Archived from the original on 7 March 2008. Retrieved 2008-02-11.
5. Gloag, Kenneth (2013). "Tippett's operatic world: from The Midsummer Marriage to New Year". In Gloag, Kenneth; Jones, Nicholas. The Cambridge Companion to Michael Tippett. Cambridge University Press. pp. 230–31. ISBN 978-1-107-60613-5.
6. "Britain's big freeze". BBC News. 24 February 1955. Retrieved 2009-12-05.
7. Penguin Pocket On This Day. Penguin Reference Library. 2006. ISBN 0-14-102715-0.
8. "Duncan Edwards: A prodigious talent cut down in his prime". Mirror Football. Daily Mirror. Retrieved 2012-02-10.
9. "Sir Winston Churchill resigns". BBC News. 5 April 1955. Archived from the original on 7 March 2008. Retrieved 2008-02-11.
10. "Anthony Eden 1955". The Cabinet Papers 1915-1981. Kew: The National Archives. Retrieved 2012-01-24.
11. "Fleet Street papers back after strike". BBC News. 21 April 1955. Archived from the original on 22 January 2008. Retrieved 2008-02-11.
12. "Trophy - 1955 League Title". chelseaafc.com. Chelsea Football Club. 11 July 2002. Retrieved 2012-02-10.
13. Simons, Paul (2008). Since Records Began. London: Collins. pp. 36–8. ISBN 978-0-00-728463-4.
14. "Dr Salk promotes polio vaccine in UK". BBC News. 5 May 1955. Retrieved 2009-12-05.
15. "1955". The FA Cup. Archived from the original on 22 May 2010. Retrieved 2011-02-04.
16. "British Public Opinion Polls Predict Conservative Victory". The Palm Beach Post (Florida). 24 May 1955. Retrieved 2012-07-07.
17. "Election victory for Tories under Eden". BBC News. 27 May 1955. Archived from the original on 7 March 2008. Retrieved 2008-02-11.
18. "1951 General election results summary". UK Political Info. Retrieved 2012-02-10.
19. "Four Killed In Air Crash". The Times (53261) (London). 1955-07-01. p. 10.
20. "Severe droughts in Yorkshire". 2002. Retrieved 2009-10-30.
21. "Whatever happened to full employment?". BBC News. 13 October 2011. Retrieved 5 November 2011.
22. "The Lost Decade Timeline, BBC". Retrieved 2008-02-11.
23. "Moss claims first Grand Prix victory". BBC News. 17 July 1955. Archived from the original on 7 March 2008. Retrieved 2008-02-11.
24. Contrary to his later recollection of the event. Burnett, Archie, ed. (2012). The Complete Poems of Philip Larkin. London: Faber. p. 411. ISBN 978-0-571-24006-7.
25. Craig, Dennis (1964). Breeding Racehorses from Cluster Mares. London: J.A. Allen.
26. Pietrobon, Steven S. (24 June 2005). "Airfix’s First Aircraft Kit: The Spitfire BTK". Retrieved 2010-11-06.
27. Macintyre, Ben (2014). A Spy Among Friends: Kim Philby and the Great Betrayal. London: Bloomsbury. ISBN 978-1-4088-6192-9.
28. "Britain claims Rockall". BBC News. 21 September 1955. Archived from the original on 7 March 2008. Retrieved 2008-02-11.
29. "New TV channel ends BBC monopoly". BBC News. 22 September 1955. Archived from the original on 7 March 2008. Retrieved 2008-02-11.
30. "Baroness Sharp" (Obituaries). The Times (London). 4 September 1985. (62234), col F, p. 14.
31. "Princess Margaret cancels wedding". BBC News. 31 October 1955. Archived from the original on 7 March 2008. Retrieved 2008-02-11.
32. Parkinson, C. Northcote (19 November 1955). "Parkinson's Law". The Economist. Retrieved 5 October 2010.
33. "Attlee steps down as Labour leader". BBC News. 7 December 1955. Archived from the original on 7 March 2008. Retrieved 2008-02-11.
34. Boothroyd, David (2005). "Leaders of the Labour Party". United Kingdom Election Results. Retrieved 2010-11-22.
35. "Ladykillers, The (1955)". screenonline.org.uk. BFI. Retrieved 2010-07-09.
36. "Cumbernauld Town Centre". Retrieved 2010-07-18.
37. "Gaitskell elected Labour leader". BBC News. 14 December 1955. Archived from the original on 7 March 2008. Retrieved 2008-02-11.
38. "1955: Queen opens London Airport terminal". BBC News. 16 December 1955. Archived from the original on 7 March 2008. Retrieved 2008-02-11.
39. "Capital claims – A city's struggle". BBC News. 22 April 2003. Retrieved 2011-02-07.

See also