1959 in the United Kingdom

1959 in the United Kingdom:

Other years

1957 | 1958 | 1959 | 1960 | 1961

Individual countries of the United Kingdom

England | Northern Ireland | Scotland | Wales

Sport, Television and music

1959 British Grand Prix 1959 English cricket season Football: England | Scotland 1959 in British television 1959 in British music UK in the Eurovision Song Contest 1959

Events from the year 1959 in the United Kingdom.

Incumbents

• Monarch – Elizabeth II
• Prime Minister – Harold Macmillan (Conservative)

Events

• 15 January – Tyne Tees Television, the ITV franchise for North East England, goes on air.
• 29 January – Dense fog brings chaos to Britain.^[1]
• 19 February – The United Kingdom grants Cyprus its independence.
• 23 February – Prime Minister Harold Macmillan holds talks with the Soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev on a visit to the USSR.^[2]
• 7 March – Independence movement leader Kanyama Chiume, wanted in the British territory of Nyasaland, flees to London and goes into hiding.^[3]
• 30 March – 20,000 demonstrators attend a CND rally in Trafalgar Square.
• 1 April – The official name of the administrative county of Hampshire is changed from 'County of Southampton' to 'County of Hampshire'.
• 2 April – United Dairies merges with Cow & Gate Ltd (of Guildford) to form Unigate Dairies.^[4]
• 22 April – Ballerina Margot Fonteyn is released from prison in Panama having been suspected of involvement in a planned coup against the government of president Ernesto de la Guardia.^[5]
• 30 April – Icelandic gunboat fires on British trawlers in the first of the 'Cod Wars' over fishing rights.
• May – First Ten Tors event held on Dartmoor.
• 2 May
  • The Chapelcross nuclear power station in Scotland opens.^[6]
  • Nottingham Forest beat Luton Town 2-1 in the FA Cup final at Wembley Stadium.^[7]
• 7 May – Scientist and novelist C. P. Snow delivers an influential Rede Lecture on The Two Cultures, concerning a perceived breakdown of communication between the sciences and humanities, in the Senate House, University of Cambridge. It is subsequently published as The Two Cultures and the Scientific Revolution.
• 24 May – British Empire Day becomes Commonwealth Day.
• 28 May – Mermaid Theatre opens in the City of London.
• June – Import tariffs lifted in the United Kingdom.
• 1 June – First showing on BBC Television of Juke Box Jury chaired by David Jacobs.^[8]
• 3 June – Singapore is granted self-governing status.
• 11 June – Christopher Cockerell's invention the hovercraft officially launched.^[9]
• 22 June – Harrods enters talks with Debenhams over a possible £34 million merger.
• 23 June – Klaus Fuchs released from Wakefield prison having served over nine years for giving British nuclear secrets to the Soviet Union.^[6]
• July – Cliff Richard and The Drifters release a recording of the song "Living Doll" written by Lionel Bart.
• 28 July – UK postcodes are introduced for the first time, as an experiment, in the city of Norwich.^[10]
• 29 July
  • Mental Health Act becomes law, modernising the care of mental disorder.
  • Obscene Publications Act becomes law.
  • Legitimacy Act becomes law, permitting the legitimisation of a child, one of whose parents was married to a third person at the time of their birth, by subsequent marriage of the parents.
• 4 August – Barclays become the first bank to install a computer.^[11]
• 24 August – House of Fraser wins the bidding war for Harrods in a £37million deal.^[12]
• 26 August – The first Mini goes on sale.^[6]
• 31 August – Harold Macmillan and United States president Dwight Eisenhower make a joint television broadcast from Downing Street.^[13]
• 18 September – Auchengeich mining disaster: 47 miners die as the result of an underground fire at Auchengeich Colliery, Lanarkshire, Scotland.^[14]
• 7 October – 300 people need to be rescued when a fire breaks out on Southend Pier.^[15]
• 8 October – General Election results in a record third successive Conservative victory,^[16] with the slogan "Life's better with the Conservatives", following a heated elections campaign by the Tories and the Labour opposition, who contested their first general election until the leadership of Hugh Gaitskell.^[17] Harold Macmillan increases the Conservative majority to 100 seats.^[18] Among the new members of parliament is Margaret Thatcher, who turns 34 on 13 October and represents Finchley in North London.^[19]
• 12 October – Large-scale diamond robbery in London.
• 21 October – Mau Mau leader Dedan Kimathi is arrested in Nyeri, Kenya.
• 30 October – Ronnie Scott's Jazz Club opens in the Soho district of London.
• 2 November – The first section of the M1 motorway is opened^[6] between Watford and Rugby. It is set to be extended over the next few years, southwards to Edgware and northwards to Leeds.
• 5 November – Philip John Noel-Baker wins the Nobel Peace Prize.^[20]
• 11 November – London Transport introduces the production Routemaster double-decker bus into public service.
• 14 November – The nuclear Dounreay Fast Reactor in Scotland achieves criticality.^[21]
• 17 November – Prestwick and Renfrew Airports become the first in the U.K. with duty-free shops.^[22]
• 20 November – Britain becomes a founder member of the European Free Trade Association.
• December – Health enthusiast Dr. Barbara Moore walks from Edinburgh to London.
• 6 December – Aberdeen trawler George Robb runs aground at Duncansby Head in Scotland in a severe gale with the loss of all 12 crew.^[23]
• 8 December – Broughty Ferry life-boat Mona capsizes on service to North Carr Lightship in Scotland: all eight life-boat crew are lost.
• 28 December – Associated-Rediffusion first airs the children's television series Ivor the Engine, made by Oliver Postgate and Peter Firmin's Smallfilms in stop motion animation using cardboard cut-outs.

Undated

• London County Council completes first portion of Alton Estate in Roehampton, southwest London, considered a model of post-war public housing.^[24]
• "Aluminium War": Concluding the first hostile takeover of a public company in the UK, Tube Investments (under its chairman Ivan Stedeford), allied with Reynolds Metals of the United States and advised by Siegmund Warburg of S. G. Warburg & Co., secure control of British Aluminium.^[25]
• The iconic Bush TR82 transistor radio, by Ogle Design, is launched.
• North of Scotland Hydro-Electric Board's Sloy-Awe Hydro-Electric Power Scheme becomes fully operational.
• Car ownership in Britain now exceeds 30% of households.^[26]
• Economic growth for the year is a very strong 7.2% while the Retail Price Index shows a zero percentage change over the year.^[27]
• Approximate date – Ballads and Blues folk club founded by Ewan MacColl and others in a London pub in Soho as part of the second British folk revival.^[28]

Publications

• Agatha Christie's novel Cat Among the Pigeons.
• Ian Fleming's novel Goldfinger.
• Colin MacInnes' novel Absolute Beginners.
• Iona and Peter Opie's study The Lore and Language of Schoolchildren.
• Mervyn Peake's novel Titus Alone, last completed of the Gormenghast series.
• Alan Sillitoe's story The Loneliness of the Long Distance Runner.
• Keith Waterhouse's novel Billy Liar.

Births

January – February

• 7 January – Angela Evans Smith, British Labour Co-operative politician and MP for Basildon
• 16 January – Sade Adu, Nigerian-born British singer, composer, songwriter and record producer
• 30 January – Alex Hyde-White, English actor
• 3 February – Lol Tolhurst, cofounder and former drummer/keyboardist of The Cure
• 23 February – Richard Dodds, British field hockey player
• 27 February – Simon Critchley, British philosopher

March – April

• 1 March – Nick Griffin, British politician and chairman of the British National Party (BNP)
• 9 March – Mark Carwardine, British zoologist
• 15 March – Ben Okri, Nigerian-born poet and novelist.
• 20 March – Steve McFadden, British actor
• 21 March – Colin Jones, Welsh boxer
• 5 April – Ian Pearson, British Labour politician and MP for Dudley South
• 15 April – Emma Thompson, English actress, comedian, and screenwriter.
• 16 April – Alison Ramsay, Scottish field hockey player
• 21 April – Robert Smith, British musician (The Cure)
• 25 April – Adrian Sanders, British Liberal Democrat politician and MP for Torbay
• 27 April – Sheena Easton, Scottish singer

May – June

• 3 May – Ben Elton, British comedian and writer
• 5 May – Ian McCulloch, English singer (Echo & the Bunnymen)
• 12 May
  • Mark Davies, bishop
  • Deborah Warner, director and producer
• 15 May – Andrew Eldritch, musician (The Sisters of Mercy)
• 16 May – Tracy Hyde, English actress and model
• 17 May – Paul Whitehouse, Welsh comedian and actor
• 22 May – Morrissey, singer
• 29 May
  • Rupert Everett, English actor
  • Adrian Paul, actor
• 1 June
  • Martin Brundle, English motor racing and former Formula One driver
  • Peter Skinner, British Labour politician and MEP for South East England
• 6 June – Lindsay Posner, English director and manager
• 11 June – Hugh Laurie, English actor, comedian and writer
• 19 June – Sophie Grigson, British cookery writer and celebrity chef
• 21 June – John Baron, British Conservative politician and MP for Billericay
• 26 June – Lucy Kellaway, British columnist at the Financial Times
• 27 June – Clint Boon, British musician (Inspiral Carpets)
• 29 June – Richard Vranch, British comedian, actor, and TV panel show participant

July – August

• 3 July
  • Julie Burchill, journalist
  • Graham Roberts, footballer and manager
• 13 July – Richard Leman, field hockey player
• 31 July – Kim Newman, journalist, film critic and fiction writer
• 1 August – Joe Elliott, singer (Def Leppard)
• 5 August – Pete Burns, singer
• 20 August – Andrew Pelling, Conservative politician and MP for Croydon Central
• 24 August – Meg Munn, Labour Co-operative politician and MP for Sheffield Heeley
• 27 August – Jeanette Winterson, novelist

September – October

• 18 September – Ian Arkwright, English footballer
• 7 October – Simon Cowell, English music producer and television talent show judge
• 10 October – Kirsty MacColl, British singer and songwriter (died 2000)
• 15 October
  • Sarah, Duchess of York
  • Tibor Fischer, British novelist and short story writer
• 16 October
  • Gary Kemp, English pop artist (Spandau Ballet)
  • John Whittingdale, British Conservative politician and MP for Maldon and Chelmsford East
• 20 October – Niamh Cusack, Irish-born actress
• 26 October – Brian Bovell, British actor

November – December

• 1 November – Susanna Clarke, British writer
• 2 November – Peter Mullan, Scottish actor
• 9 November – Frances O'Grady, British trades union leader
• 14 November – Paul McGann, British actor
• 18 November – Jimmy Quinn, Irish footballer and football manager
• 25 November – Charles Kennedy, Scottish Liberal Democrat politician (died 2015)
• 30 November – Lorraine Kelly, British presenter and journalist
• 2 December – Gwyneth Strong, British actress
• 6 December – Stephen Hepburn, British Labour politician and MP for Jarrow
• 10 December – Kevin Ash, journalist and author (d. 2013)
• 12 December – Jasper Conran, English fashion designer
• 28 December – Andy McNab, British soldier turned novelist
• 29 November – Richard Borcherds, mathematician
• 30 December – Tracey Ullman, English comedian, actress, singer, dancer, screenwriter and author

Unknown dates

• Dilly Braimoh, African-British television presenter and producer
• Amanda Craig, British novelist
• Peter Doig, British painter
• Mick Hume, British journalist and former organiser of the Revolutionary Communist Party
• Mick Manning, British children's author and illustrator
• Jasper Morrison, English product and furniture designer

Deaths

• 22 January – Mike Hawthorn, English race car driver (born 1929)
• 15 February – Owen Willans Richardson, British physicist, Nobel Prize laureate (born 1879)
• 21 February – Kathleen Freeman, classical scholar (born 1897)
• 11 July – Charlie Parker, English cricketer (born 1882)
• 5 August – Edgar Guest, English poet (born 1881)
• 19 August
  • Jacob Epstein, American-born British sculptor (born 1880)
  • Claude Grahame-White, English aviator (born 1879)
• 6 September – Kay Kendall, English actress (born 1926) (leukaemia)
• 21 September – Agnes Nicholls, operatic soprano (born 1877)
• 25 September – Gerard Hoffnung, German-born humorist (born 1925)
• 15 November – Charles Thomson Rees Wilson, Scottish physicist, Nobel Prize laureate (born 1869)
• 26 November – Albert Ketèlbey, pianist, conductor and composer (born 1875)
• 14 December – Stanley Spencer, painter (born 1891)

See also

References

1. "1959: Fog brings transport chaos". BBC News. 29 January 1959. Retrieved 2009-07-02.
2. "1959: Macmillan and Khrushchev talk peace". BBC News. 23 February 1959. Archived from the original on 26 February 2008. Retrieved 2008-02-05.
3. "1959: African activist flees to UK". BBC News. 7 March 1959. Retrieved 2009-07-02.
4. "Cow & Gate Limited". The Times. 1 April 1959.
5. "1959: Dame Margot Fonteyn released from jail". BBC News. 22 April 1959. Retrieved 2009-07-02.
6. Penguin Pocket On This Day. Penguin Reference Library. 2006. ISBN 0-14-102715-0.
7. "FA Cup Final Results". FA Cup Finals. Retrieved 27 November 2015.
8. "June anniversaries". The BBC Story. BBC. Archived from the original on 28 January 2011. Retrieved 2011-03-03.
9. "1959: Hovercraft marks new era in transport". BBC News. 11 June 1959. Archived from the original on 6 January 2008. Retrieved 2008-02-05.
10. "Norwich to use postal codes – Experimenting in automation", The Times, 29 July 1959
11. "1959". Those were the days. Wolverhampton: Express & Star. Retrieved 2014-07-23.
12. "1959: Harrods in £34m merger talks". BBC News. 22 June 1959. Retrieved 2009-07-02.
13. "1959: Anglo-US TV debate makes history". BBC News. 31 August 1959. Archived from the original on 3 February 2008. Retrieved 2008-02-05.
14. "Community pays tribute to Auchengeich mining disaster victims". Kirkintilloch Herald. 11 September 2007. Retrieved 2010-07-14.
15. "1959: Southend Pier fire traps hundreds". BBC News. 7 October 1959. Archived from the original on 7 March 2008. Retrieved 2008-02-05.
16. "1959: 'Supermac' leads Tories to victory". BBC News. 9 October 1959. Archived from the original on 7 March 2008. Retrieved 2008-02-05.
17. Rees, Nigel (1987). Sayings of the Century. London: Unwin Paperbacks. ISBN 0-04-440080-2.
18. "1959 General election results summary". UK Political Info. Retrieved 2014-07-23.
19. "History of Baroness Margaret Thatcher". GOV.UK. Retrieved 27 November 2015.
20. "The Nobel Peace Prize 1959". Retrieved 2008-02-05.
21. The Hutchinson Factfinder. Helicon. 1999. ISBN 1-85986-000-1.
22. "Chronology of Scottish History". A Timeline of Scottish History. Rampant Scotland. Retrieved 2014-07-23.
23. "MFV George Robb (A406)". WreckSite. 2012. Retrieved 2014-07-23.
24. Harwood, Elain (2003). England: a Guide to Post-War Listed Buildings (rev. ed.). London: Batsford. ISBN 0-7134-8818-2.
25. "Outsider who changed the City". Management Today. 1 November 1998. Retrieved 2010-07-09.
26. Lambert, Tim. "Britain Since 1948". A World History Encyclopedia. Retrieved 2014-07-23.
27. "Consumer Price Indices - RPI annual percentage change: 1948 to 2015". Office for National Statistics. 2015-03-24. Retrieved 2015-03-24.
28. Boyes, Georgina (1993). The Imagined Village: Culture, Ideology, and the English Folk Revival. Manchester University Press. p. 231. ISBN 0-7190-2914-7.