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1979 in the United Kingdom
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Events from the year 1979 in the United Kingdom.
Incumbents
Events
- 10 January - Prime Minister James Callaghan returns from an international summit to a Britain in a state of industrial unrest. The Sun newspaper reported his comments with a famous headline: "Crisis? What Crisis?"[1]
- 22 January - tens of thousands of public-workers strike in the beginning of what became known as the Winter of Discontent.[2]
- 9 February - Trevor Francis signs for Nottingham Forest in British football's first £1 million deal.[3]
- 22 February - Saint Lucia becomes independent of the United Kingdom.[4]
- 1 March
- 18 March - An explosion at the Golborne colliery in Golborne, Greater Manchester, kills three men.[5]
- 22 March - Sir Richard Sykes, ambassador to the Netherlands, shot dead by Provisional Irish Republican Army (IRA) in The Hague.[6]
- 28 March - James Callaghan's government loses a motion of confidence by one vote, forcing a general election.[7]
- 30 March - Airey Neave, World War Two veteran and Conservative Northern Ireland spokesman, is killed by an Irish National Liberation Army bomb in the House of Commons parking lot.[8]
- 31 March - The Royal Navy withdraws from Malta.
- 23 April - Fighting in London between the Anti-Nazi League and the Metropolitan Police's Special Patrol Group results in the death of protestor Blair Peach.[9]
- 1 May - The London Underground Jubilee line inaugurated.[10]
- 4 May - Conservatives win the general election and Margaret Thatcher becomes the first female Prime Minister of Britain.[11]
- 15 May - Government abolishes the Prices Commission.[12]
- 25 May - price of milk increases more than 10% to 15 pence a pint.[13]
- 7 June - First election for the European Parliament.[12]
- 22 June - former Liberal Party leader Jeremy Thorpe cleared in court of the allegations of attempted murder which ruined his career.[14]
- 5 July - The Queen attends the 1000th annual sitting of the Isle of Man's Parliament, the Tynwald.[15]
- 12 July - Kiribati (formerly Gilbert Islands) becomes independent of the United Kingdom.[4]
- 17 July - Athlete Sebastian Coe sets a record time for running a mile, completing it in 3 minutes 48.95 seconds.[4]
- 9 August - The first British nudist beach is established in Brighton.[16]
- 14 August
- 27 August
- 2 September - Police discover a woman's body in an alleyway near Bradford city centre. The woman, 20-year-old student Barbara Leach, is believed to be the 12th victim of the mysterious Yorkshire Ripper mass murderer.[21]
- 5 September - The Queen leads the mourning at the funeral of Lord Mountbatten.[22]
- 21 September - a Royal Air Force Harrier jet crashes into a house in Wisbech, Cambridgeshire killing two men and a boy.[23]
- 11 October - Godfrey Hounsfield wins the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine jointly with Allan McLeod Cormack "for the development of computer assisted tomography".[24]
- 27 October - Saint Vincent and the Grenadines gains independence.[25]
- 28 October - Chairman Hua Guofeng becomes the first Chinese leader to visit Britain.[26]
- 9 November - Four men are found guilty over the killing of paperboy Carl Bridgewater, who was shot dead at a farmhouse in the Staffordshire countryside 14 months ago. James Robinson and Vincent Hickey receive life sentences with a recommended minimum of 25 years for murder, Michael Hickey (also guilty of murder) receives an indefinite custodial sentence, while Patrick Molloy is guilty of manslaughter and jailed for 12 years.
- 13 November - The Times published for the first time in nearly a year after a dispute between management and unions over staffing levels and new technology.[27]
- 14 November - Vauxhall launches its first-ever front-wheel drive car - the Astra range of hatchbacks and estates - to compete in the growing family hatchback sector. It replaces the traditional rear-wheel drive Viva saloon, which had been produced in three incarnations since 1963. Initial production of the Astra will take place at the Opel factory in West Germany, with production set to be transferred to Britain by 1981.
- 16 November - Anthony Blunt named as the fourth man in the Cambridge Spy Ring.[28]
- 23 November - In Dublin, Ireland, Irish Republican Army member Thomas McMahon is sentenced to life in prison for the assassination of Lord Mountbatten.
- 4 December - The Hastie Fire in Hull leads to the deaths of 3 boys and begins the hunt for Bruce George Peter Lee, the UK's most prolific killer.
- 7 December - Lord Soames appointed as the transitional governor of Rhodesia to oversee its move to independence.[29]
- 10 December
- 20 December - Thatcher government publishes Housing Bill which would give Council House tenants the right to buy their homes from next year.[32]
Publications
Births
- 27 January - Rosamund Pike, actress
- 12 March - Pete Doherty, singer and guitarist (The Libertines and Babyshambles)
- 10 April - Sophie Ellis-Bextor, singer
- 25 May - Jonny Wilkinson, rugby union player
- 25 July - Allister Carter, snooker player
- 26 July - Johnson Beharry, war hero
- 30 July - Graeme McDowell, professional golfer
- 5 August - David Healy, footballer
- 20 August - Jamie Cullum, singer
- 14 September - Stuart Fielden, rugby league player
- 8 November - Aaron Hughes, footballer
- 29 November - Simon Amstell, comedian and television presenter
- 3 December - Daniel Bedingfield, pop singer and songwriter
- 14 December - Michael Owen, footballer
Deaths
- 2 February - Sid Vicious, musician (Sex Pistols) (drug overdose) (born 1957)
- 14 February - Reginald Maudling, politician (born 1917)
- 19 March - Richard Beckinsale, actor (born 1947)
- 23 March - Ted Anderson, footballer (born 1911)
- 30 March - Airey Neave, politician (assassinated) (born 1916)
- 8 June - Norman Hartnell, fashion designer (born 1901)
- 16 July - Alfred Deller, countertenor (born 1912)
- August - Ivon Hitchens, painter (born 1893)
- 8 August - Nicholas Monsarrat, novelist (born 1910)
- 11 August - James Gordon Farrell, novelist (born 1935)
- 27 August - Earl Mountbatten, last Viceroy of India (assassinated) (born 1900)
- 27 September - Gracie Fields, singer and comedian (born 1898)
- 10 October - Dr Christopher Evans, psychologist and computer scientist (born 1931)
- 13 October - Rebecca Helferich Clarke, composer and violist (born 1886)
- 30 October - Barnes Wallis, aeronautical engineer (born 1887)
- 23 November - Merle Oberon, actress (born 1911)
- 30 November - Joyce Grenfell, actress, comedian and singer-songwriter (born 1910)
References
See also
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