1939 in the United Kingdom

none May 2020 January 2013 1939 Constituent countries of the United Kingdom Northern Ireland Scotland Wales Popular culture 1939 English cricket season Football: England Scotland 1939 in British radio 1939 in British television 1939 in British music Events from the year 1939 in the United Kingdom. This year sees the start of the Second World War, ending the Interwar period. Incumbents Monarch – George VI Prime Minister – Neville Chamberlain (Coalition) Events January–June 2 January – the all-time highest attendance for a British association football league game is set as 118,567 people watch Rangers beat Celtic in an "Old Firm derby" played at Ibrox Park in Glasgow.https://www.fifa.com/news/y=2009/m=2/news=old-firm-enduring-appeal-1023776.html https://web.archive.org/web/20150927174808/http://www.fifa.com/news/y=2009/m=2/news=old-firm-enduring-appeal-1023776.html dead 27 September 2015 Old Firm's enduring appeal FIFA.com FIFA 16 April 2016 13 June 2018 The clubs [Celtic and Rangers] also hold the British record attendance for a league match - 118,567 at Ibrox on 2 January 1939 16 January – the Irish Republican Army (IRA) begins its S-Plan bombing campaign against public utilities on the British mainland with bombs exploding in London and Manchester (where one person is killed).https://www.irishexaminer.com/opinion/commentanalysis/arid-20283375.html 75 years since the IRA bombed Coventry Ryle Dwyer 2014-08-25 Irish Examiner 2026-04-19 23 January – "Dutch War Scare": Admiral Wilhelm Canaris of the Abwehr leaks misinformation to the effect that Germany plans to invade the Netherlands in February, with the aim of using Dutch airfields to launch a strategic bombing offensive against Britain. The "Dutch War Scare" leads to a major change in British policies towards Europe.Watt Donald Cameron 1989 How War Came: Immediate Origins of the Second World War, 1938–1939 https://archive.org/details/howwarcameimmedi00dona registration New York Pantheon 978-0-67973-093-4 101 4 February – the IRA plants bombs at two London Underground stations, Tottenham Court Road and Leicester Square, injuring seven, two seriously.Bodwen Tom 1976 The IRA and the changing tactics of terrorism Political Quarterly 47 4 425–437 10.1111/j.1467-923X.1976.tb02203.x 25 February – the first Anderson shelter (a household air raid shelter) is built in London.Penguin Pocket OnThis Day Penguin Reference Library 0-14-102715-0 2006 27 February – Borley Rectory, a reputed haunted house in Essex, is destroyed by fire. 31 March – Britain pledges support to Poland in the event of an invasion.Palmer Alan Palmer Veronica 1992 The Chronology of British History Century Ltd London 385–386 0-7126-5616-2 4 April – the Royal Armoured Corps is formed. 11 April – the Women's Royal Naval Service is re-established.The WRNS: a history of the Women's Royal Naval Service Marjorie H. Fletcher London Batsford 1989 0-7134-6185-3 90 13 April – 11 IRA S-Plan campaign chemical bombs explode in public conveniences in London and Birmingham. 27 April – the Military Training Act (coming into force 3 June) introduces conscription: men aged 20 and 21 must undertake six months military training.https://www.bbc.co.uk/history/ww2peopleswar/timeline/factfiles/nonflash/a1138664.shtml?sectionId=1&articleId=1138664 WW2 People's War Timeline BBC 2008-03-02 May–September – the Sutton Hoo treasure – an Anglo-Saxon ship burial – is excavated. On 28 July the Sutton Hoo helmet is uncovered. The principal treasures are presented to the British Museum by the landowner, Edith Pretty, at this time its largest ever gift from a living donor.https://muse.jhu.edu/article/202958 Libraries & Culture Stanley Chodorow To Represent Us Truly: The Job and Context of Preserving the Cultural Record 41 2006 372-80 5 May – IRA S-Plan tear gas bombs explode in two Liverpool cinemas, causing 15 injuries, with a further four bombs exploding in Coventry and two in London. 6 May Dorothy Garrod is elected to the Disney Professorship of Archaeology in the University of Cambridge, the first woman to hold an Oxbridge chair.Jane Callander Garrod, Dorothy Annie Elizabeth (1892–1968) 2004 http://www.oxforddnb.com/view/article/37443 10.1093/ref:odnb/37443 2011-02-14 German anti-Nazi Carl Friedrich Goerdeler tells the British government that the German and Soviet governments are secretly beginning a rapprochement, with the aim of dividing Eastern Europe between them. Goerdeler also informs the British of German economic problems which he states threaten the survival of the Nazi regime, and advises that if a firm stand is made for Poland, then Hitler will be deterred from war. 15 May – the film Goodbye, Mr. Chips is released, for which actor Robert Donat will win the Academy Award for Best Actor. 17 May – George VI and Queen Elizabeth arrive in Quebec City to begin the first-ever visit to Canada by a reigning British sovereign. 19 May – IRA S-Plan timed incendiary bombs cause fires to break out in eight hotels.Thorne Kathleen 2019 Echoes of Their Footsteps 3 Oregon Generation Organization 614 978-0-692-04283-0 29–30 May – IRA S-Plan magnesium and tear gas bombs explode during Birmingham and Liverpool cinema shows.Enno Stephan 1963 Spies in Ireland Macdonald London 41 1 June – submarine HMS Thetis sinks during trials in Liverpool Bay. 99 men are lost.C. E. T. Warren James Benson "The Admiralty regrets ...": the story of His Majesty's submarine Thetis and Thunderbolt London Harrap 1958 7 June – George VI and Queen Elizabeth visit New York City on the first visit to the United States by a reigning British sovereign. 9–10 June – IRA S-Plan letter bombs explode in London, Birmingham and Manchester postboxes and other postal facilities. 14 June–20 August – Tientsin Incident: the Imperial Japanese Army blockades British trading settlements in the north China treaty port of Tientsin. 28 June – the Women's Auxiliary Air Force is created, absorbing the forty-eight RAF companies of the Auxiliary Territorial Service which have been formed since 1938.Narracot A.H. How The R.A.F. Works Frederick Muller Ltd 1941 108 (n115) 9 – Woman in Blue https://archive.org/details/howtherafworks030792mbp 2009-07-30 30 June – the Mersey Ferry stops running to Rock Ferry. July–September 1 July – Women's Land Army re-formed to work in agriculture.Twinch Carol Women on the Land: their story during two World Wars Cambridge Lutterworth Press 1990 0-7188-2814-3 67 8 July – Pan American Airways Boeing 314 flying boat Yankee Clipper inaugurates the world's first heavier-than-air North Atlantic air passenger service between the United States and Britain (Southampton). 22 July – royal visit to Britannia Royal Naval College, Dartmouth, during which the young Princess Elizabeth first meets her future husband Prince Philip of Greece.Heald, Tim (1991). The Duke: A Portrait of Prince Philip. London: Hodder and Stoughton. 0-340-54607-7. p. 57. 26 July IRA bombs explode at London King's Cross and Victoria stations with severe injuries and one death. Following these attacks, Prevention of Violence legislation is expedited through Parliament.https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/17597931 Crushing I.R.A.: Quick Passage For Bill The Sydney Morning Herald 28 July 1939 12 2026-04-19 The Barber Institute of Fine Arts at the University of Birmingham, designed by Robert Atkinson, is officially opened by Queen Mary.Spencer-Longhurst Paul Oxford Dictionary of National Biography Atkinson, Robert (1883–1952) http://www.oxforddnb.com/view/article/38347 2010-12-31 2004 Oxford University Press 10.1093/ref:odnb/38347 subscription 5 August – weekly transatlantic flights scheduled by Imperial Airways; suspended in September.August 2015 15 August – first personnel of the Government Code and Cypher School move to Bletchley Park. 19 August – Sir Malcolm Campbell sets the water speed record in Blue Bird K4 on Coniston Water. 23 August–2 September – most paintings from the National Gallery in London are evacuated to Wales.Suzanne Bosman The National Gallery in Wartime London National Gallery Company 2008 978-1-85709-424-4 25 24 August – as details of the previous day's Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact become public, Parliament is recalled several weeks early; the Emergency Powers (Defence) Act 1939 gives full authority to defence regulations, Army reservists are called up, Civil Defence workers are placed on alert and the government advises remaining British citizens in Germany to return home. 25 August 1939 Coventry bombing: An Irish Republican Army bicycle bomb explodes in Coventry, killing 5 and injuring 70. In London, police defuse two similar bombs and arrest four terrorists.Dick Kirby IRA Terror on Britain's Streets, 1939–1940 Barnsley Pen & Sword 2021 9781526786425 Two bombs also explode in Liverpool. Chamberlain gives the senior Polish military officer his "ironclad guarantee" of assistance if Poland is attacked by Germany. 30 August – Royal Navy proceeds to war stations. 1 September German invasion of Poland. A British ultimatum is delivered to Germany. "Operation Pied Piper": 4-day evacuation of children from London and other major U.K. cities begins.The Evacuated Children of the Second World War Laura Clouting http://www.iwm.org.uk/history/the-evacuated-children-of-the-second-world-war Imperial War Museum London 2015-08-19 Blackout imposed across Britain. The Army is officially mobilised. The BBC Home Service begins broadcasting but BBC Television shuts down at 12:35 p.m. until 1946. The Administration of Justice (Emergency Provisions) Act reduces the size of juries from 12 to 7 in most cases and abolishes trial by jury in most civil cases. 2 September – British Expeditionary Force headquarters formed. 3 September – World War II: Declaration of war by the United Kingdom on Nazi Germany. Shortly after 11.00, Chamberlain announces this news on BBC Radio, speaking from 10 Downing Street. Twenty minutes later, air raid sirens sound in London (a false alarm). Parliament has a rare Sunday sitting. Chamberlain creates a small war cabinet which includes Winston Churchill as First Lord of the Admiralty. General mobilisation of the armed services begins. The signal "Total Germany" is sent to ships. National Service (Armed Forces) Act passed by Parliament introduces National Service for all men aged 18 to 41.http://www.spartacus.schoolnet.co.uk/2WWconscription.htm Conscription Spartacus Educational 2008-03-02 https://web.archive.org/web/20020218035548/http://www.spartacus.schoolnet.co.uk/2WWconscription.htm 18 February 2002 usurped British liner Athenia 1922 6 becomes the first civilian casualty of the war when she is torpedoed and sunk by U-30 1936 6 between Rockall and Tory Island. Of the 1,418 aboard, 98 passengers and 19 crew are killed.Brennecke Jochen The Hunters and the Hunted Naval Institute Press 2003 15–16 1-59114-091-9 In the week beginning today 400,000 pets are euthanised.Hilda Kean Hilda Kean The Great Cat and Dog Massacre University of Chicago Press 2017 978-0-226-31832-5 4 September – first bombing of Wilhelmshaven in World War II by Royal Air Force Vickers Wellingtons. 5 September – National Registration Act.1939: An emergency population count in wartime http://2011.census.gov.uk/1939:-An-emergency-population-count-in-wartime 2011 Census 2011 2011-02-13 https://web.archive.org/web/20110718064146/http://2011.census.gov.uk/1939:-An-emergency-population-count-in-wartime 18 July 2011 dead 9 September – British Expeditionary Force crosses to France. 10 September – British submarine Triton N15 6 torpedoes and sinks another British submarine, Oxley, off the coast of Norway, believing her to be a German U-boat, with the loss of 52 crew. 16 September – the Duke of Windsor is appointed a major-general attached to the British Military Mission to France.Colin Matthew Matthew H. C. G. 2004 http://www.oxforddnb.com/view/article/31061 Edward VIII, later Prince Edward, duke of Windsor (1894–1972) 10.1093/ref:odnb/31061 2012-03-08 17 September – aircraft carrier Courageous 50 6 is torpedoed and sunk by U-29 1936 6 in the Western Approaches with the loss of 519 crew, the first British warship loss of the War. 18 September – American-born fascist politician William Joyce, at this time holding a British passport, begins broadcasting Nazi propaganda to Britain from Berlin, inheriting the nickname Lord Haw-Haw. 19 September – popular radio comedy show It's That Man Again with Tommy Handley first broadcast on the BBC Home service, following trial broadcasts from 12 July. 24 September – petrol rationing introduced. 26 September – flying from Ark Royal 91 6 in the North Sea, Lieutenant B. S. McEwen of the Fleet Air Arm scores the first British victory over a German aircraft of the war, shooting down a flying boat. The aircraft carrier comes under air attack but survives.Sturtivant Ray British Naval Aviation: The Fleet Air Arm, 1917-1990 Annapolis, Maryland Naval Institute Press 1990 0-87021-026-2 33–34 registration https://archive.org/details/britishnavalavia00rays/page/33 27 September – first war tax is revealed by the Cabinet, including a significant rise in income taxes. 29 September – national register of citizens compiled to support the introduction of identity cards and rationing. 30 September – Identity cards introduced. October–December 1 October – call-up proclamation: All men aged 20–21 must register with the military authorities. 7 October – cruiser Emerald D66 6 departs Plymouth in convoy for Halifax, Nova Scotia, carrying £2M in gold bar to be used for purchase of military materiel in North America, a predecessor of Operation Fish.Draper Alfred Operation Fish: The Fight to Save the Gold of Britain, France and Norway from the Nazis 1979 General Publishing Don Mills 9780773600683 14 October – HMS Royal Oak sunk by a German U-boat in Scapa Flow, Orkney Islands with the loss of 833 crew. 16 October – first enemy aircraft shot down by RAF Fighter Command, a Junkers Ju 88 brought down into the sea by Spitfires following an attack on Rosyth Naval Dockyard in Scotland.George Duncan Lesser-Known Facts of World War II http://members.iinet.net.au/~gduncan/index.html 2012-01-19 17 October – first bomb lands in the U.K., at Hoy in the Orkney Islands.Peter Doyle ARP and Civil Defence in the Second World War Oxford Shire Publications 2010 978-0-7478-0765-0 9 21 October – registration of men aged 20 to 23 for National Service begins. 28 October – "Humbie Heinkel": A Heinkel He 111 bomber is the first German aircraft to be shot down on British soil by RAF Fighter Command, near Humbie in East Lothian, Scotland.https://602squadronmuseum.org.uk/history/ww2.php History of the 602 Squadron – WW2 602 (City of Glasgow) Squadron Museum Association 2013 2024-09-28 30 October – British battleship Nelson 28 6 is unsuccessfully attacked by U-56 1938 2 under the command of captain Wilhelm Zahn off Orkney and is hit by three torpedoes, none of which explode; Winston Churchill (First Lord of the Admiralty), Admiral of the Fleet Dudley Pound (First Sea Lord) and Admiral Charles Forbes (Commander-in-Chief Home Fleet) are on board.No Phoney War Stephen Flower Stroud Amberley 2011 978-1-84868-960-2 4 November – Stewart Menzies is appointed head of the Secret Intelligence Service. 8 November – Venlo Incident: two British agents of SIS are captured by the Germans. 23 November – British armed merchantman Rawalpindi is sunk in the GIUK gap in an action against the German battleships German battleship Scharnhorst 2 and German battleship Gneisenau 2. 24 November – British Overseas Airways Corporation formed by merger of Imperial Airways and British Airways Ltd. effective from 1 April 1940. 4 December Nelson 28 6 strikes a mine (laid by U-31 1936 2) off the coast of Scotland and is laid up for repairs until August 1940. German submarine U-36 is torpedoed and sunk by British submarine HMS Salmon off Stavanger, the first enemy submarine lost to a British one during the War. 9 December – first soldier of the British Expeditionary Force killed: Corporal Thomas Priday triggers a French land mine. 12 December – escorting destroyer Duchess H64 sinks after a collision with battleship Barham 04 off the Mull of Kintyre in heavy fog with the loss of 124 men.English John Amazon to Ivanhoe: British Standard Destroyers of the 1930s 1993 World Ship Society Kendal 0-905617-64-9 13 December – the Battle of the River Plate takes place between Exeter 68 6, Ajax 22 6, Achilles 70 6 and the German cruiser Admiral Graf Spee, forcing the latter to scuttle herself on 17 December. 18 December – Battle of the Heligoland Bight: RAF Bomber Command, on a daylight mission to attack Kriegsmarine ships in the Heligoland Bight, is repulsed by Luftwaffe fighter aircraft. December – the Pilgrim Trust establishes a Committee for the Encouragement of Music and the Arts, predecessor of the Arts Council. Undated Greggs bakery is founded by John Gregg on Tyneside.https://www.thenorthernecho.co.uk/news/7009154.takeaway-market-holds-key-greggs-future/ Takeaway market holds key to Greggs' future The Northern Echo Darlington 2003-11-18 2024-06-09 Publications H. E. Bates' short story collection My Uncle Silas. Joyce Carey's novel Mister Johnson. James Hadley Chase's thriller No Orchids for Miss Blandish. Agatha Christie's novels Murder Is Easy and And Then There Were None. Aleister Crowley's Eight Lectures on Yoga (The Equinox vol. IV no. 3, published 21 March by Ordo Templi Orientis, London). Henry Green's novel Party Going. Aldous Huxley's novel After Many a Summer. Richard Llewellyn's novel How Green Was My Valley. Jan Struther's short story collection Mrs. Miniver. Poetry London: a Bi-Monthly of Modern Verse and Criticism, founded by Tambimuttu, first published (January/February). Births 8 January – Alan Wilson, mathematician and academic 9 January – Susannah York, actress (died 2011) 11 January – Phil Williams, Welsh politician (died 2003) 15 January – Neil Cossons, industrial archaeologist and museum director 20 January – Chandra Wickramasinghe, Ceylonese-born British astronomer and poet 29 January – Tony Green, sportscaster (died 2024) 5 February – Derek Wadsworth, jazz trombonist and composer (died 2008) 10 February – Peter Purves, actor and television presenter 18 February – Ray Lovejoy, film editor (died 2001) 20 February – Frank Arundel, footballer (died 1994) 3 March – Bill Frindall, cricket statistician (died 2009) 4 March John Moreno, actor Keith Skues, radio disc jockey 5 March – Samantha Eggar, actress (died 2025) 8 March – Robert Tear, opera singer (died 2011) 9 March – John Howard Davies, child screen actor and television comedy director (died 2011) 10 March Len Ashurst, football player and manager (died 2021) Hugh Johnson, wine and gardening writer 17 March – Robin Knox-Johnston, yachtsman 18 March – Ron Atkinson, footballer and football manager 23 March Robin Herd, engineer and businessman (died 2019) Terry Paine, footballer 24 March – Lynda Baron, actress (died 2022)Open All Hours actor Lynda Baron dies aged 82 2022-03-07 The Guardian https://web.archive.org/web/20230708113722/https://www.theguardian.com/tv-and-radio/2022/mar/07/open-all-hours-actor-lynda-baron-dies-aged-82 2023-07-08 live https://www.theguardian.com/tv-and-radio/2022/mar/07/open-all-hours-actor-lynda-baron-dies-aged-82 4 April – Danny Thompson, musician (died 2025) 5 April – David Winters, English-born American actor, choreographer and director (died 2019) 7 April – David Frost, television personality (died 2013)https://www.theguardian.com/tv-and-radio/2013/sep/01/sir-david-frost Sir David Frost obituary The Guardian Stuart Jeffries 1 September 2013 13 June 2018 10 April – Penny Vincenzi, novelist (died 2018)https://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/books/10899025/Penny-Vincenzi-I-never-plot-what-will-happen.html Penny Vincenzi: 'I never plot what will happen' The Telegraph 16 June 2014 17 December 2016 12 April – Alan Ayckbourn, playwright 13 April – Seamus Heaney, Irish poet, winner of the Nobel Prize in Literature (died 2013)https://www.theguardian.com/books/2013/aug/30/seamus-heaney Seamus Heaney obituary The Guardian Neil Cocoran 30 August 2013 13 June 2018 15 April – Marty Wilde, actor and rock 'n' roll singer 22 April John Chilcot, civil servant (died 2021)Sir John Chilcot obituary 2021-10-05 The Guardian https://web.archive.org/web/20230407145528/https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2021/oct/05/sir-john-chilcot-obituary 2023-04-07 live https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2021/oct/05/sir-john-chilcot-obituary Mark Jones, actor (died 2010) Ann Mitchell, English actress Alex Murphy, rugby league footballer and coach 25 April – Patrick Anson, 5th Earl of Lichfield, photographer and aristocrat (died 2005) 1 May – Lady Susan Hussey, courtier 2 May Peter Dean, actor Mairi Hedderwick, illustrator and author 4 May – Neil Fox, rugby league footballer 5 May – Terry Walsh, actor and stuntman (died 2002) 7 May – David Hatch, radio broadcaster and actor (died 2007) 10 May – Bill Cash, English lawyer and politician 19 May – James Fox, English actor 25 May – Sir Ian McKellen, English actorIan McKellen https://www2.bfi.org.uk/films-tv-people/4ce2b9ee9add0 https://web.archive.org/web/20160329084259/http://www.bfi.org.uk/films-tv-people/4ce2b9ee9add0 dead 29 March 2016 BFI 8 January 2022 en 27 May – Sarah Caudwell, barrister and author (died 2000) 30 May – Tim Waterstone, businessman 31 May Andrew Ray, actor (died 2003) Terry Waite, humanitarian, author and hostage 4 June – George Reid, Scottish politician (died 2025) 5 June – Margaret Drabble, novelist and biographer 8 June Francis Jacobs, English lawyer and judge Gordon Reid, Scottish actor (died 2003) 11 June Rachael Heyhoe Flint, England cricketer (died 2017) Jackie Stewart, Scottish racing driver 14 June Peter Mayle, writer (died 2018) Colin Thubron, writer 19 June – Michael Standing, actor 26 June – Arthur Sutton, cricketer 30 June John Fortune, actor and satirist (died 2013) Tony Hatch, musical theatre and television composer 2 July – Ferdinand Mount, journalist and novelist 7 July – Stanley Henig, academic and politician 10 July – John Dunlop, racehorse trainer (died 2018) 11 July – John Walters, musician and radio presenter (died 2001) 15 July – Reg Pridmore, motorcycle road racing national champion 16 July – Corin Redgrave, actor and political activist (died 2010) 17 July – Spencer Davis, Welsh beat musician, multi-instrumentalist (The Spencer Davis Group) (died 2020 in the United States) 18 July – Brian Auger, jazz and rock keyboardist 22 July – Robert Phelps, modern pentathlete 28 July – Richard Johns, air marshal 4 August – Jack Cunningham, politician 10 August Mick Ives, racing cyclisthttp://www.fibrax.com/mickivesracing Mick Ives Racing Fibrax 8 August 2012 https://web.archive.org/web/20160303210812/http://www.fibrax.com/mickivesracing 3 March 2016 dead Kate O'Mara, English actress (died 2014)Kate O'Mara obituary https://www.theguardian.com/tv-and-radio/2014/mar/30/kate-omara The Guardian 7 April 2022 en 30 March 2014 11 August – Naseem Khan, journalist (died 2017) 15 August Norma Waterson, folk musician (died 2022) Bill Wratten, air chief marshal 16 August Sir Trevor McDonald, Trinidadian-born British journalist and broadcaster Carole Shelley, actress (died 2018) 19 August Alan Baker, mathematician (died 2018)https://www.theguardian.com/science/2018/apr/09/alan-baker-obituary Alan Baker obituary The Guardian London Gisbert Wüstholz 9 April 2018 13 June 2018 Ginger Baker, rock drummer (died 2019) 25 August – John Bardon, actor (died 2014) 30 August – John Peel, disc jockey and radio presenter (died 2004) 12 September – John Pearse, guitarist (died 2008) 18 September – Maurice Colbourne, actor (died 1989) 19 September Bruce Bastin, musicologist and author Louise Botting, businesswoman and radio presenter 22 September Bette Bourne, actor, drag queen, campaigner and activist (died 2024) Jean Golding, epidemiologist 23 September – Henry Blofeld, cricket commentator 25 September – Leon Brittan, politician (died 2015) 26 September - Ricky Tomlinson, actor 27 September – Nicky Haslam, interior designer 29 September – Rhodri Morgan, Welsh politician (died 2017) 1 October – Geoffrey Whitehead, actor 6 October – Melvyn Bragg, media arts presenter, critic and novelist 7 October – Harry Kroto, organic chemist, winner of the Nobel Prize in Chemistry (died 2016) 9 October – Nicholas Grimshaw, architect (died 2025) 19 October – David Clark, Baron Clark of Windermere, Scottish politician 21 October – Peter Vere-Jones, English-born New Zealand actor (died 2021) 22 October – George Cohen, English footballer (died 2022) 23 October – Peter Armitage, English actor (died 2018) 24 October – John Adye, intelligence officer 25 October – Dave Simmonds, road racer (died 1972) 26 October – Willie Stevenson, Scottish football player and manager (died 2025) 27 October – John Cleese, comic actor 31 October – Tom O'Connor, entertainer and comedian (d. 2021)Shafer Ellise 2021-07-18 Tom O'Connor, Comedian and Veteran Game Show Host, Dies at 81 https://variety.com/2021/tv/news/tom-oconnor-dead-dies-comedian-game-show-host-1235022362/ live https://web.archive.org/web/20210718162409/https://variety.com/2021/tv/news/tom-oconnor-dead-dies-comedian-game-show-host-1235022362/ 2021-07-18 2021-07-19 Variety en-US 4 November – Michael Meacher, politician (died 2015).https://www.scotsman.com/news/obituaries/obituary-michael-meacher-politician-1-3924002 Obituary: Michael Meacher, politician The Scotsman Alasdair Steven 22 October 2015 13 June 2018 13 June 2018 https://web.archive.org/web/20180613234930/https://www.scotsman.com/news/obituaries/obituary-michael-meacher-politician-1-3924002 dead 8 November – Liz Dawn, actress (died 2017) 11 November – Alf Adams, physicist 12 November – Terry McDonald, footballer and coach 16 November – Michael Billington, drama critic 17 November – Auberon Waugh, journalist (died 2001) 18 November Bill Giles, weather forecaster Margaret Jay, Baroness Jay of Paddington, née Callaghan, politician Ian McCulloch, actor 20 November – Geoff Foulds, snooker player (died 2025) 3 December – David Phillips, chemist 13 December Andrew Carter, composer (died 2026) Eric Flynn, singer-songwriter (died 2002) 16 December – Gordon Miller, Olympic high jumper 20 December Tony Bentley, footballer (died 2024) Jim Herriot, footballer (died 2025) 26 December – Carol Black, physician and academic Deaths 9 January – Edwin Farley, mayor (born 1864) 2 March – Howard Carter, archaeologist (born 1874) 29 March – Ernest Hanbury Hankin, English bacteriologist and naturalist (born 1865)Who was who: A Companion to "Who's Who". https://books.google.com/books?id=qA3YAAAAMAAJ 1960 A. & C. Black 588 18 April – Ishbel Hamilton-Gordon, Marchioness of Aberdeen and Temair, patron and promoter of women's interests (born 1857)Ewan Elizabeth Pipes Rose Rendall Jane Reynolds Siân The new biographical dictionary of Scottish women 2018 Edinburgh University Press 9781474436281 3 9 May – Sophie Williams, previously Mary, Lady Heath, aviator and athlete (born 1896) 25 May – Sir Frank Dyson, astronomer (born 1868)Frank Watson Dyson 1868-1939) 25 June – Richard Seaman, racing driver (car crash) (born 1913)The Times 1939-06-27 Obituary: Mr Richard Seaman 16 https://www.thetimes.com/archive/article/1939-06-27/16/9.html subscription 26 June – Ford Madox Ford, novelist, poet, critic and editor (born 1873) 20 July – Sir Dan Godfrey, conductor (born 1868)Sean Street Ray Carpenter The Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra, 1893-1993: a centenary celebration https://books.google.com/books?id=r5EDAQAAMAAJ 1 January 1993 Dovecote Press 978-1-874336-10-5 43 6 September – Arthur Rackham, illustrator (born 1867) 13 September – Henry Halcro Johnston, botanist, physician, rugby union international and Deputy Lieutenant for Orkney (born 1856) 18 September - Gwen John, artist (born 1876)Gwen John Michael Holroyd Anthony d'Offay (Firm) Gwen John, 1876-1939 https://books.google.com/books?id=93VIAQAAIAAJ 1982 Anthony d'Offay 9780950398938 19 September – Ethel M. Dell, romantic fiction writer (born 1881) 26 September - Leif Jones, politician (born 1862)https://biography.wales/article/s3-JONE-LEI-1862 Jones, Leifchild Stratten (1862-1939), Liberal politician and temperance advocate Llewelyn Gwyn Chambers Dictionary of Welsh Biography National Library of Wales 5 September 2019 3 December – Princess Louise, Duchess of Argyll, daughter of Queen Victoria (born 1848) 15 December – Len Cundell, English racehorse trainer (born 1879) 19 December – Eric Fogg, composer and conductor (killed by train) (born 1903)The Listener https://books.google.com/books?id=m15BAQAAIAAJ July 1939 British Broadcasting Corporation 1270 See also List of British films of 1939 Military history of the United Kingdom during World War II References 1939 Category:Years of the 20th century in the United Kingdom Category:1939 by country Category:1930s in the United Kingdom Category:1939 in Europe