1942 in the United Kingdom:

Other years

1940 | 1941 | 1942 | 1943 | 1944

World War II

UK during World War II

Events from the year 1942 in the United Kingdom.

Incumbents

• Monarch - George VI of the United Kingdom
• Prime Minister - Winston Churchill, coalition

Events

• 29 January - Desert Island Discs first broadcast on BBC radio.^[1]
• 7 February - soap rationing introduced.^[1]
• 15 February - World War II: Arthur Ernest Percival's forces surrender to the Japanese at the Battle of Singapore.^[1]
• 25 February - Princess Elizabeth registers for war service.
• 5 April - World War II: Japanese Navy attacks Colombo in Ceylon (Sri Lanka). Royal Navy Cruisers HMS Cornwall and HMS Dorsetshire are sunk southwest of the island.
• 9 April - World War II: Japanese Navy launches air raid on Trincomalee in Ceylon (Sri Lanka); Royal Navy Aircraft Carrier HMS Hermes and Royal Australian Navy Destroyer HMAS Vampire are sunk off the country's East Coast.
• 23 April
  • Exeter becomes the first city to bombed as part of the Baedeker Blitz in retaliation for the British bombing of Lübeck.
  • William Temple enthroned as Archbishop of Canterbury.
• 5 May–6 November - World War II, Battle of Madagascar: British commander Robert Sturges leads the invasion of Vichy French held Madagascar.
• 30 May - Over a thousand RAF bombers attack Cologne in Germany.^[1]
• 11 August - Traffic admitted onto the new Waterloo Bridge across the River Thames in London.^[1]
• 19 August - World War II: British and Canadian troops conduct the Dieppe Raid.^[1]
• 25 August - Prince George, Duke of Kent, the brother of King George VI is killed in an air crash near Caithness, Scotland.
• 30 August–2 September - World War II: At the Battle of Alam el Halfa in Egypt, General Montgomery leads the Eighth Army to victory over Field Marshal Rommel's Afrika Korps.^[1]
• 5 October - Oxford Committee for Famine Relief founded.^[2]
• 23 October - World War II: British and Commonwealth forces launch a major attack against German and Italian forces in the Second Battle of El Alamein in Egypt.^[1]
• 29 October - Holocaust: Leading clergymen and political figures hold a public meeting to register outrage over Nazi Germany's persecution of Jews.
• 3 November - World War II: Second Battle of El Alamein ends with German forces under Erwin Rommel forced to retreat during the night.^[1]
• 8 November - World War II: British and American troops invade French North Africa in Operation Torch.
• 1 December - Publication of the Beveridge Report into social insurance.^[1]
• 7 December - British commandos conduct Operation Frankton a raid on shipping in Bordeaux harbour.

Publications

• Agatha Christie's novels The Body in the Library (Miss Marple), Five Little Pigs (Hercule Poirot) and The Moving Finger (Miss Marple).
• C. S. Lewis' novel The Screwtape Letters.
• Evelyn Waugh's novel Put Out More Flags.

Births

January - April

• 3 January - John Thaw, English actor (died 2002)
• 8 January
  • Stephen Hawking, British physicist
  • George Passmore, English artist (Gilbert and George)
• 19 January - Michael Crawford, English singer and actor
• 31 January - Derek Jarman, English director and writer (died 1994)
• 1 February - Terry Jones, Welsh actor and writer
• 2 February - Graham Nash, English musician
• 28 February - Brian Jones, English musician (The Rolling Stones) (died 1969)
• 9 March - John Cale, Welsh composer and musician
• 25 March - Richard O'Brien, English actor and writer
• 27 March
  • John E. Sulston, British chemist, recipient of the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine
  • Michael York, English actor
• 28 March
  • Neil Kinnock, British statesman
  • Mike Newell, British film director
• 5 April - Peter Greenaway, Welsh filmmaker
• 8 April - Roger Chapman, British singer (Family, Streetwalkers)

May - August

• 8 May - Terry Neill, Northern Irish footballer and football manager
• 12 May - Ian Dury, British musician (died 2000)
• 18 May
  • Albert Hammond, English-born musician and composer
  • Nobby Stiles, English footballer
• 18 June - Paul McCartney, English musician and composer (The Beatles)
• 24 June - Mick Fleetwood, English drummer (Fleetwood Mac)
• 4 July - Prince Michael of Kent
• 23 July - Myra Hindley, English murderer (died 2002)
• 26 August - Dennis Turner, British politician

September - December

• 17 September - Desmond Lynam, British TV presenter
• 26 October - Bob Hoskins, English actor
• 24 November - Billy Connolly, Scottish comedian
• 29 November - Michael Craze, British actor (d. 1998)
• 4 December - Gemma Jones, British actress
• 31 December - Andy Summers, English musician

Deaths

• 16 January - Prince Arthur, Duke of Connaught and Strathearn- third eldest son of Queen Victoria (born 1850)
• 10 March - William Henry Bragg, English physicist, Nobel Prize laureate (born 1862)
• 16 April - Princess Alexandra of Edinburgh and Saxe-Coburg and Gotha, granddaughter of Queen Victoria (born 1878)
• 7 June - Alan Blumlein, English electronics engineer (born 1903)
• 22 July - Gilbert Cunningham Joyce, Bishop of Monmouth (born 1866)
• 28 July - William Matthew Flinders Petrie, English Egyptologist (born 1853)
• 10 August - Bob Kelso, Scottish footballer (born 1865)
• 25 August - Prince George, Duke of Kent, fourth eldest son of King George V (born 1902)
• 4 December - Hugh Gordon Malcolm, Scottish VC recipient (born 1917)
• 22 December - Elias Henry Jones, Welsh educationist and author (year of birth unknown)

References

See also