1961 in the United Kingdom:

Other years

1959 | 1960 | 1961 | 1962 | 1963

Sport and Music

British and Irish current events

1961 English cricket season

Football England | Scotland

1961 in British music

Events from the year 1961 in the United Kingdom.

Incumbents

• Monarch - HM Queen Elizabeth II
• Prime Minister - Harold Macmillan, Conservative Party

Events

• 1 January - The farthing coin, used since the 13th century, ceases to be legal tender in the United Kingdom.
• 9 January - British authorities announce that they have discovered a large Soviet spy ring in London.
• 5 February - Sunday Telegraph first published.^[1]
• 19 February - Police break up a demonstration outside the Belgian embassy in London protesting about the murder of the ex-Prime Minister of the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Patrice Lumumba.^[2]
• 13 March
  • the five members of the Portland Spy Ring go on trial at the Old Bailey accused of passing nuclear secrets to the Soviet Union.^[3]
  • Black and white £5 notes cease to be legal tender.^[1]
• 21 March - The Beatles perform at the legendary Cavern Club for the first time.
• 27 April - Sierra Leone gains independence from the UK.^[4]
• 1 May - Betting shops are legalised.^[5]
• 8 May - George Blake is sentenced to 42 years imprisonment for spying, having been found guilty of being a double agent who was in the pay of the Soviet Union.
• 28 May - Peter Benenson's article "The Forgotten Prisoners" is published in several internationally read newspapers. This will later be thought of as the founding of the human rights organization Amnesty International.
• 19 June - The British protectorate ends in Kuwait and it becomes an emirate.^[1]
• 27 June
  • Michael Ramsey enthroned as the 100th Archbishop of Canterbury.^[1]
  • Kuwait requests British help; the United Kingdom sends in troops.
• 21 July - the Runcorn Widnes Bridge (later known as the Silver Jubilee Bridge) over the River Mersey opened by Princess Alexandra.^[1]
• 10 August - Britain applies for membership in the EEC.
• 16 August - The play "Lady Chatterley" by John Harte - based on D.H.Lawrence's novel - opened at The Arts Theatre in London and was well reviewed by west end theatre critic Harold Hobson.
• 23 August - Police launch a man hunt for the perpetrator of the A6 murder, who killed 36-year-old Michael Gregsten and paralysed his mistress Valerie Storie.^[6]
• 4 September - James Pitman's Initial Teaching Alphabet tested in a number of schools.^[1]
• 17 September - Police arrest over 1,300 protesters in Trafalgar Square during a CND rally.^[5]
• 10 October - the population of the South Atlantic island of Tristan da Cunha evacuated to Britain because of a volcanic eruption.^[1]
• 25 October - The first edition of Private Eye, the British satirical magazine, is published.^[1]
• 27 November - Royal Air Force participates in air drops of food to flood victims in Somalia.^[7]
• 4 December - Birth control pills become available on the National Health Service after their availability is backed by Health Minister Enoch Powell.^[8]
• 9 December - Tanganyika gains independence from the UK.^[9]

Undated

• Jaguar launches its new E Type sports car, available as a two-seater roadster and 2+2 coupe.

Publications

• Agatha Christie's novel The Pale Horse.
• Ian Fleming's James Bond novel Thunderball.
• Richard Hughes' novel The Fox in the Attic.
• Iris Murdoch's novel A Severed Head.
• Muriel Spark's novel The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie.
• Evelyn Waugh's novel Unconditional Surrender, last of the Sword of Honour trilogy.

Births

January - April

• 1 January - Mark Wingett, British actor
• 12 January - Simon Russell Beale, British actor
• 13 January - Suggs, British singer (Madness)
• 31 January - Lloyd Cole, British singer and songwriter
• 16 February -Andy Taylor, British musician (Duran Duran)
• 20 February - Imogen Stubbs, British actress
• 24 February - John Grogan, British Labour politician
• 3 March - Fatima Whitbread, British javelin thrower and Olympic medalist
• 29 March - Michael Winterbottom, British filmmaker
• 14 April - Robert Carlyle, Scottish actor
• 17 April - Bella Freud, British fashion designer and columnist
• 18 April - Jane Leeves, English actress
• 20 April - Nicholas Lyndhurst, actor

May - August

• 2 May - Phil Vickery, British celebrity chef
• 8 May - Janet McTeer, British actress
• 12 May - Billy (William H) Duffy, English guitarist (The Cult)
• 14 May - Tim Roth, English actor
• 30 May - Harry Enfield, English comedian
• 5 June - Rosie Kane, member of Scottish Parliament
• 13 June - Bob Crow, British trade union leader
• 14 June - Boy George, English musician
• 15 June - Dave McAuley, Northern Irish boxer
• 25 June - Ricky Gervais, English comedian
• 27 June - Meera Syal, British comedian and writer
• 1 July - Diana, Princess of Wales (d. 1997)
• 17 July - Jeremy Hardy, English comedian, radio panelist, and singer
• 3 August - Nicholas Harvey, English politician
• 22 August - Roland Orzabal, English musician Tears for Fears)

September - December

• 13 September - Tom Holt, British author
• 22 September - Liam Fox, British Conservative politician and Shadow Defence Secretary
• 26 September - Will Self, English novelist, reviewer and columnist
• 3 November - David Armstrong-Jones, Viscount Linley, chairman of Christie's U.K. auction house
• 4 November - Nigel Worthington, Northern Irish footballer and football manager
• 9 November - Jill Dando, television newsreader (died 1999)
• 16 November - Frank Bruno, British boxer
• 20 November - Dave Watson, English footballer
• 26 November - Karan Bilimoria, Baron Bilimoria, British Asian entrepreneur and university chancellor
• 28 November - Martin Clunes, actor
• 11 December - Marco Pierre White, British chef and restaurateur
• 12 December
  • Sarah Sutton, British actress
  • Philip Parkin, Welsh golfer
• 19 December - Matthew Waterhouse, British actor
• 29 December - Jim Reid, Scottish musician

Unknown dates

• Sexton Ming, British artist, poet and musician
• Graham Taylor, British clergyman and author
• Gerard Woodward, British novelist and poet

Deaths

• 26 January - Stan Nichols, English cricketer (born 1900)
• 6 March - George Formby, British singer, comedian and actor (born 1904)
• 8 March - Thomas Beecham, English conductor (born 1879)
• 7 April - Vanessa Bell, English artist and interior designer (born 1879)

References

See also

• UK No.1 Hits of 1961
• List of Statutory Instruments of the United Kingdom, 1961
• Society of Film and Television Arts Television Awards 1961