1963 in the United Kingdom

none January 2020 January 2013 1963 Constituent countries of the United Kingdom England Northern Ireland Scotland Wales Popular culture 1963 British Grand Prix 1963 English cricket season Football: England Scotland 1963 in British television 1963 in British music 1963 in British radio UK in the Eurovision Song Contest 1963 Events from the year 1963 in the United Kingdom. This year sees changes in the leadership of both main political parties, the Profumo affair and the rise of The Beatles as well as the launch of the long-running sci-fi series Doctor Who. Incumbents Monarch – Elizabeth II Prime Minister - Harold Macmillan (Conservative) (until 18 October), Alec Douglas-Home (Conservative) (starting 19 October) Events January–April – Winter of 1963: The UK experiences the worst winter since 1946–47. Low temperatures keep snow lying around until early-April in some areas. 7 January – Granada Television first broadcasts World in Action, its influential investigative current affairs series, which will run for thirty-five years. 11 January – Musical film Summer Holiday starring Cliff Richard premieres in London. 16 January – The Macmillan-led Conservative government announces that a new town will be developed in Shropshire. Dawley New Town will incorporate existing communities including: Dawley, Ironbridge and Madeley, and is intended to be largely used as an overspill town for Birmingham and Wolverhampton.Telford http://www.idoxplc.com/idox/athens/ntr/ntr/cd1/html/txt/u5193600.htm 7 July 2012 17 March 2012 https://web.archive.org/web/20120317110404/http://www.idoxplc.com/idox/athens/ntr/ntr/cd1/html/txt/u5193600.htm dead 18 January – The Labour Party leader, Hugh Gaitskell, dies suddenly aged 56 in London.Palmer Alan Palmer Veronica 1992 The Chronology of British History Century Ltd London 420–421 0-7126-5616-2 23 January – Double agent Kim Philby disappears from Beirut having defected to the Soviet Union.Penguin Pocket On This Day Penguin Reference Library 0-14-102715-0 2006 29 January – Charles de Gaulle, President of France, vetoes the UK's entry into the European Economic Community. February – The Royal Air Force deploys Blue Steel nuclear standoff missiles to arm its V bomber force.http://www.bcar.org.uk/blue-steel-missile Avro Blue Steel Nuclear Missile Bomber County Aviation Resource 2021-10-09 11 February – The Beatles record their debut album Please Please Me in a single day at the Abbey Road Studios in London. 14 February – The Labour Party elects 46-year-old Huyton MP, Harold Wilson as its new leader and Leader of the Opposition. Missing out in the leadership contest is Cardiff South East MP James Callaghan. Opinion polls are currently showing strong support for the Labour Party, with a general election due before the end of next year.Labour's PMs of the past http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/3107623.stm BBC News 30 July 2003 7 July 2012 16 February – Opinion polls indicate that in a general election Labour would defeat the Conservatives, who have governed since 1951.Wilson Coming https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=JhggAAAAIBAJ&pg=4803,4343808&dq=opinion+poll+macmillan&hl=en Lewiston Daily Sun 16 February 1963 7 July 2012 March – The divorce case of the Duke and Duchess of Argyll takes place. 15 March – Ridge v. Baldwin, a landmark case in the law of judicial review, is decided on appeal: a public official is held to be wrongfully dismissed because he had no notice of the grounds on which the decision was made, and no opportunity to be heard in his own defence.Gary Slapper The cases that changed Britain: 1955–1971 The Times http://business.timesonline.co.uk/tol/business/law/article4197113.ece 24 June 2008 15 June 2011 12 October 2008 https://web.archive.org/web/20081012150229/http://business.timesonline.co.uk/tol/business/law/article4197113.ece dead 22 March – The Beatles release their debut album, Please Please Me. 27 March – Chairman of British Railways Dr. Richard Beeching issues a report calling for huge cuts to the UK's rail network.http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/march/27/newsid_2804000/2804441.stm 1963: Railways to be slashed by a quarter BBC News 11 February 2008 27 March 1963 https://web.archive.org/web/20080307114642/http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/march/27/newsid_2804000/2804441.stm 7 March 2008 live This is expected to result in the closure of more than 2,000 railway stations as well as the loss of up to 68,000 jobs and the scrapping of some 8,000 coaches.1963 https://www.expressandstar.com/days/1950-75/1963.html Express & Star Wolverhampton 7 July 2012 14 February 2012 https://web.archive.org/web/20120214072143/http://www.expressandstar.com/days/1950-75/1963.html c. April – Engineering Building at the University of Leicester is completed, the first major work by James Stirling with James Gowan, and a leading example of Brutalist architecture.Elain Harwood England: a Guide to Post-War Listed Buildings rev. London Batsford 2003 0-7134-8818-2 168–71 6 April – Polaris Sales Agreement with the United States, leading to commencement of construction of nuclear submarine facilities at Faslane Naval Base.Andrew Andrew Marr Marr A History of Modern Britain London Macmillan 2007 978-1-4050-0538-8 239 9 April – Sir Winston Churchill becomes an honorary citizen of the United States. 15 April – 70,000 protesters arrive in London, having marched 50 miles (80 km) from Aldermaston to demonstrate against nuclear weapons. 24 April – Princess Alexandra of Kent marries the Hon. Angus Ogilvy at Westminster Abbey. 30 April – The Bristol Bus Boycott arises, due to the refusal of the Bristol Omnibus Company to employ Black or Asian bus crews in the city of Bristol, and lasts for 4 months. 2 May The Beatles reach #1 in the UK Singles chart for the first time with "From Me to You".http://www.jpgr.co.uk/stats_no1_s.html The U.K. Singles Chart Number Ones JPGR: Facts, Feats and Statistics of The Beatles 2009 30 March 2012 The Rootes Group's new car plant at the town of Linwood, Renfrewshire is opened by The Duke of Edinburgh for the production of its new rear-engined mini-car – the Hillman Imp – to compete against BMC's Mini.http://www.uniquecarsandparts.com.au/lost_marques_rootes.htm Lost Marques: Rootes 30 March 2012 Unique Cars and Parts It has an economical 875cc engine, and is expected to be developed into luxury Singer and sporty Sunbeam variants in the near future.http://www.rootes-chrysler.co.uk/car-development/dev-imp.html Mini Steps Backwards Rootes-Chrysler.co.uk 30 March 2012 https://web.archive.org/web/20070204050054/http://www.rootes-chrysler.co.uk/car-development/dev-imp.html 4 February 2007 dead It is the first new car to be produced in Scotland for thirty years. 7–13 May – The last servicemen are released from conscription as National Service ends.National Service: Conscription in Britain, 1945–1963 Richard Vinen London Allen Lane 2014 978-1-846-14387-8 377 11 May The Beatles album Please Please Me goes to the top of the UK Albums Chart. Everton F.C. win the Football League First Division title.Everton FC History – Goodison Park 11th May 1963 http://www.vintagebluekipper.com/history/1962_63/fulham.htm bluekipper.com 2004 27 April 2011 https://web.archive.org/web/20100609130342/http://www.vintagebluekipper.com/history/1962_63/fulham.htm 9 June 2010 usurped 15 May – Tottenham Hotspur become the first British football team to win a European trophy when a 5–1 win over Atlético Madrid in Rotterdam gives them the European Cup Winners' Cup. 25 May – Manchester United F.C. beat Leicester City 3–1 in the FA Cup final at Wembley Stadium with two goals from David Herd and another from Denis Law. It is Manchester United's first major trophy since eight of their players died in the Munich air disaster five years earlier.1963 http://www.fa-cupfinals.co.uk/1963.htm fa-cupfinals.co.uk 27 April 2012 https://web.archive.org/web/20120427172545/http://www.fa-cupfinals.co.uk/1963.htm 4 June – The high society nightclub Annabel's opens at 44 Berkeley Square, Mayfair.Goldsmith Annabel https://www.vanityfair.com/news/2004/12/london-cafes An Unconventional Heart December 2004 Vanity Fair https://web.archive.org/web/20220707023204/https://www.vanityfair.com/news/2004/12/london-cafes 10 October 2022 7 July 2022 5 June – Profumo affair: John Profumo, Secretary of State for War, admits to misleading Parliament and resigns over his affair with Christine Keeler.http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/june/5/newsid_2660000/2660375.stm 1963: Profumo resigns over sex scandal BBC News 11 February 2008 5 June 1963 https://web.archive.org/web/20080307114559/http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/june/5/newsid_2660000/2660375.stm 7 March 2008 live 8 June – Profumo affair: Stephen Ward is charged with living on immoral earnings.http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/june/8/newsid_3011000/3011137.stm 1963: Ward charged over 'immoral earnings' BBC News 11 February 2008 8 June 1963 https://web.archive.org/web/20080307114616/http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/june/8/newsid_3011000/3011137.stm 7 March 2008 live 17 June – The Profumo affair has done the Conservative government no favours in the opinion polls, which continue to show that a Labour victory would be inevitable at a general election.Macmillan Awaits Debate on Scandal https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=mClIAAAAIBAJ&pg=989,6514656&dq=opinion+poll+macmillan&hl=en Meriden Record Connecticut 17 June 1963 7 July 2012 1 July – Kim Philby named as the "Third Man" in the Burgess and Maclean spy ring. 12 July – Pauline Reade, 16, is reported missing on her way to a dance in Gorton, Manchester, the first victim of the Moors murders. 31 July – Water Resources Act provides for the regulation of water abstraction, principally through the establishment of regional river authorities.Water Resources Act August – Race riots in Dudley.The Black Country Album Graham Gough Stroud The History Press 2012 9780752479743 5 August – The United States, United Kingdom and Soviet Union sign a nuclear test ban treaty. 8 August – The Great Train Robbery takes place in Buckinghamshire.http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/august/8/newsid_2714000/2714055.stm 1963: Train robbers make off with millions BBC News 11 February 2008 8 August 1963 https://web.archive.org/web/20080307114511/http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/august/8/newsid_2714000/2714055.stm 7 March 2008 live 20 August – The Royal Shakespeare Company introduces its performance cycle of Shakespeare's history plays under the title The War of the Roses, adapted and directed by John Barton and Peter Hall, at the Royal Shakespeare Theatre, Stratford-upon-Avon. September First Leeds International Piano Competition: Michael Roll is the winner. The Sindy fashion doll is first marketed by Pedigree.Sindy doll 'set to be a Christmas hit' National Newswire Press Association 6 July 2006 5 September – Christine Keeler is arrested for perjury. On 6 December, she is sentenced to nine months in prison. 7 September – Geophysicists Fred Vine and Drummond Matthews publish proof of seafloor spreading on the Atlantic Ocean floor. 12 September – The Beatles reach #1 for the second time, with the single "She Loves You" (released on 23 August). 17 September – RAF Fylingdales radar station on the North York Moors begins operation as part of the United States Ballistic Missile Early Warning System. 18 September – Rioters burn down the British Embassy in Jakarta to protest against the formation of Malaysia. 23 September – The Robbins Report (the report of the Committee on Higher Education, chaired by Lord Robbins) is published.Committee on Higher Education Higher education: report of the Committee appointed by the Prime Minister under the Chairmanship of Lord Robbins 1961–63 23 September 1963 London HMSO Cmnd. 2154 It recommends immediate expansion of universities, and that university places "should be available to all who were qualified for them by ability and attainment". Its conclusions are accepted by the government on 24 October. 25 September – The Denning Report on the Profumo affair is published. 26 September – Vauxhall launches the new Viva, a small family saloon, similar in size to BMC's 1100 and the Ford Anglia.Jon Excell This week in… 1963 – The Vauxhall Viva HA http://www.theengineer.co.uk/news/this-week-in-1963-the-vauxhall-viva-ha/302344.article The Engineer London 2 October 2007 7 July 2012 11 October 2014 https://web.archive.org/web/20141011085621/http://www.theengineer.co.uk/news/this-week-in-1963-the-vauxhall-viva-ha/302344.article dead 29 September The University of East Anglia opens in Norwich. Release of the film Tom Jones. 2 October – Ford Motor Company begins production of its Ford Anglia car at their new Halewood Body & Assembly plant on Merseyside. 10 October Prime Minister Harold Macmillan announces his resignation after nearly seven years in office, at the age of 69, on the grounds of ill health. From Russia with Love, the second James Bond film, premieres at Odeon Leicester Square in London. 17 October – Two British scientists (Alan Lloyd Hodgkin and Andrew Fielding Huxley) and an Australian (John Carew Eccles) are announced in Stockholm as winners of the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine "for their discoveries concerning the ionic mechanisms involved in excitation and inhibition in the peripheral and central portions of the nerve cell membrane".http://nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/medicine/laureates/1963/ The Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine 1963 11 February 2008 18 October – Macmillan resigns as Prime Minister. 19 October – Alec Douglas-Home replaces Macmillan as Prime Minister following discussion among members of the Cabinet,Howard Anthony Anthony Howard (journalist) 1987 RAB – The Life of R. A. Butler London Jonathan Cape 0-224-01862-0 registration https://archive.org/details/rablifeofrabutle0000howa renouncing his peerage. 22 October – The National Theatre Company, newly formed under artistic director Laurence Olivier,http://www.nationaltheatre.org.uk/?lid=1876 National Theatre : About the NT 11 February 2008 gives its first performance, with Peter O'Toole as Hamlet at The Old Vic in London. November – Publication of Traffic in Towns, a report on urban transport planning policy produced for the Department of Transport by a team headed by Colin Buchanan.Peter Hall Peter Hall (urbanist) http://www.oxforddnb.com/view/article/76552 Buchanan, Sir Colin Douglas (1907–2001) 2007 10.1093/ref:odnb/76552 24 January 2011 18 November – The Dartford Tunnel opens. 22 November – C. S. Lewis, the author most famous for the Narnia books (1950–1955), dies aged 65 in Oxford. However, media coverage of his death (as also that of Aldous Huxley in the United States on the same day) is overshadowed by the assassination of American President John F. Kennedy, news of which reaches the UK just after 18:30 UTC. 23 November First episode of the BBC Television science fiction series Doctor Who is broadcast with William Hartnell as the First Doctor. The series runs until 1989 and is revived from 2005. Police in Ashton-under-Lyne, Lancashire, begin a missing persons investigation following the disappearance of 12-year-old John Kilbride; he is the second victim of the Moors murders. 25 November – The Duke of Edinburgh, Prime Minister Sir Alec Douglas-Home and Leader of the Opposition Harold Wilson attend the funeral of U.S. President John F. Kennedy in Washington, D.C. 30 November – After an unbroken 30-week spell at the top of the UK Albums Chart, The Beatles album Please Please Me is knocked off the top of the charts by the group's latest album With the Beatles (released on 22 November). 12 December Kenya gains independence from the United Kingdom, with Jomo Kenyatta as Prime Minister.The Hutchinson Factfinder Helicon 1999 1-85986-000-1 The Beatles reach #1 for the third time with "I Want to Hold Your Hand" (released on 29 November). 19 December – Zanzibar gains independence from the United Kingdom, as a constitutional monarchy under Sultan Jamshid bin Abdullah. 21 December – First episode of the seven-part serial The Daleks broadcast in the Doctor Who series, introducing the alien Daleks (revealed fully in the following week's episode). Undated BMC's new Rover P6 luxury saloon is the first winner of the prestigious European Car of the Year award. S. Hille & Co market the Polypropylene stacking chair designed by Robin Day.http://vads.ac.uk/large.php?uid=91302 Polypropylene stacking chair – The Frederick Parker Collection vads London Metropolitan University 12 July 2010 5 October 2011 https://web.archive.org/web/20111005162001/http://vads.ac.uk/large.php?uid=91302 dead The launch of the Astro or lava lamp by the founder of Mathmos, Edward Craven-Walker. The motorway network continues to grow with the opening of the first section of the M4 in Berkshire, the M6 between Warrington and Preston in Lancashire, and the M2 in Kent.1963 cbrd http://www.cbrd.co.uk/histories/chronologymaps/1963.shtml 8 June 2012 3 June 2012 https://web.archive.org/web/20120603061641/http://www.cbrd.co.uk/histories/chronologymaps/1963.shtml dead Economic growth for the year reaches a postwar high of 7.5% (slightly above the previous record of 7.2% in 1959), with GDP reaching 4.3% in the second quarter of the year. Publications Agatha Christie's Hercule Poirot novel The Clocks. Margaret Drabble's first novel A Summer Bird Cage. Ian Fleming's James Bond novel On Her Majesty's Secret Service. John Fowles' novel The Collector. The Group's poetry collection A Group Anthology edited by Edward Lucie-Smith and Philip Hobsbaum. John le Carré's novel The Spy Who Came in From the Cold. Alistair MacLean's thriller Ice Station Zebra. Sylvia Plath's only novel The Bell Jar (under the pseudonym Victoria Lucas). John Robinson (bishop of Woolwich)'s controversial religious book Honest to God. C. P. Snow's novel Corridors of Power. E. P. Thompson's social history The Making of the English Working Class. The Sunday Pictorial newspaper is rebranded as the Sunday Mirror. Births January – April 1 January – Linda Henry, actress 3 January – Matthew Taylor, Liberal Democrat politician and MP for Truro and St Austell 6 January – Ian Lavery, English trade unionist and politician 11 January – Jason Connery, actor, voice actor and director 15 January – Conrad Lant, English singer-songwriter and bass playerhttp://karsmakers.nl/metal-e-zine/venom.htm Interview with Venom Karsmakers.nl 2014-07-29 16 January Simon Johnson, English-born economistThe Sveriges Riksbank Prize in Economic Sciences in Memory of Alfred Nobel 2024 https://www.nobelprize.org/prizes/economic-sciences/2024/press-release/ 2024-10-14 2024-10-19 NobelPrize.org en-US James May, English motoring journalist and television presenterMy Secret Life: James May, TV presenter, age 45 https://www.independent.co.uk/news/people/profiles/my-secret-life-james-may-tv-presenter-age-45-943442.html https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20220501/https://www.independent.co.uk/news/people/profiles/my-secret-life-james-may-tv-presenter-age-45-943442.html 2022-05-01 subscription live The Independent London 2018-01-16 2008-09-27 18 January – Ian Crook, English footballer 19 January Martin Bashir, British television journalist John Bercow, English Conservative politician, MP for Buckingham and Speaker of the House of Commonshttps://membership.theguardian.com/event/john-bercow-in-conversation-86799360223 John Bercow in conversation The Guardian 12 January 2020 Caron Wheeler, British singer-songwriter (Soul II Soul) 22 January – Huw Irranca-Davies, Welsh Labour politician and MP for Ogmore 26 January Jazzie B, DJ and music producer (Soul II Soul) Andrew Ridgeley, English musicianhttp://www.rttnews.com/Media/SlideShow/SlideShow.aspx?ID=1141&Slide=5 1963 – Andrew Ridgeley Born Rttnews.com 24 December 2012 dead https://web.archive.org/web/20150924121437/http://www.rttnews.com/Media/SlideShow/SlideShow.aspx?ID=1141&Slide=5 24 September 2015 27 January – George Monbiot, British journalist and weekly columnist for The Guardian 2 February – Stephen McGann, actor, author and science communicator 3 February – Sarah Raven, gardener and writer 6 February – Quentin Letts, journalist 10 February – Philip Glenister, actor 13 February – John King, English long jumper 17 February – Alison Hargreaves, British mountain climber (died 1995) 19 February – Seal, singer 22 February – Andrew Adonis, Baron Adonis, English journalist and politician, Secretary of State for Transport 7 March – Russell Williams, British-born Canadian military colonel and serial killer 11 March – Alex Kingston, English actress 12 March – Ian Holloway, English football player and manager 14 March – Michael John Foster, English Labour politician and MP for Worcester 16 March – Jerome Flynn, British actor 20 March – David Thewlis, English actor 22 March Deborah Bull, British dancer and life peer Susan Ann Sulley, British musician 3 April – Karl Beattie, director, husband of Yvette Fielding 4 April – Martin Firrell, public artist and activist 6 April – Andrew Weatherall, English disc jockey (died 2020) 7 April – Nick Herbert, Conservative politician and MP for Arundel and South Downs 8 April – Julian Lennon, musician son of John Lennon 11 April – Mark Thomas, comedian and activist 13 April – Mo Johnston, Scottish footballer 20 April – Rachel Whiteread, artist 22 April – Sean Lock, comedian and actor (died 2021) 25 April – David Moyes, Scottish football player and manager 27 April – Russell T Davies, Welsh screenwriter and television producer May – August 9 May Barry Douglas Lamb, musician, author and preacher Richard Moore, diplomat 10 May – Debbie Wiseman, composer 11 May – Natasha Richardson, actress (died 2009) 15 May – Inga Beale, insurance executive 26 May – Simon Armitage, poet laureate 1 June – David Westhead, actor and producer 6 June Jason Isaacs, actor James Palumbo, Baron Palumbo of Southwark, businessman and politician 11 June Chic Charnley, Scottish footballer Andy Street, businessman and metropolitan mayor 13 June – Sarah Connolly, operatic mezzo-soprano 18 June – Adam Hargreaves, children’s author 23 June – Colin Montgomerie, Scottish golfer 25 June – George Michael, pop singer (died 2016) 27 June – Meera Syal, comedian, writer, singer and actress 29 June Tom Butcher, actor Errol Christie, boxer (died 2017) 1 July Mike Joyce, drummer Kenneth Erskine, serial killer 2 July – Mark Kermode, film critic 3 July – Tracey Emin, artist 4 July – Alex Younger, intelligence officer (died 2026) 6 July – Stuart Garrard, English guitarist 7 July – Alister Jack, politician 9 July Adrian Flook, politician John Mark Ainsley, English lyric tenor 20 July – John Simmit, actor and stand-up comedian 25 July – Julian Hodgson, English chess grandmaster 29 July – Graham Poll, English football referee 31 July Fatboy Slim (born Quentin Leo Cook), English musician Fergus Henderson, English chef 1 August Laura Janner-Klausner, Reform rabbi Amber Rudd, politician 3 August – Tasmin Archer, English singer 5 August – Mark Strong, actor 7 August – Wendy van der Plank, actress 15 August – Simon Hart, politician 17 August – James Whitbourn, composer 30 August Phil Mills, race car driver Paul Oakenfold, disc jockey Mark Strong, actor September – December 3 September – Malcolm Gladwell, writer 6 September – Pat Nevin, Scottish footballer 19 September Jarvis Cocker, English musician (Pulp) David Seaman, English footballer 26 September – Lysette Anthony, English actress 5 October Hugh Morris, cricketer (died 2025) Nick Robinson, journalist 12 October Dave Legeno, English actor and mixed martial artist (died 2014) Alan McDonald, Northern Irish footballer (died 2012) 31 October Sanjeev Bhaskar, comic actor Sarah Brown, wife of Gordon Brown Johnny Marr, English musician 1 November Rick Allen, British musician (Def Leppard) Mark Hughes, Welsh footballer and football manager 3 November – Ian Wright, English footballer and radio/TV personality 4 November – Lena Zavaroni, Scottish entertainer (died 1999) 5 November – Jo Malone, perfumer and businesswoman 8 November – Paul McKenna, hypnotist 10 November – Hugh Bonneville, English actorChase's Calendar of Events 2020: The Ultimate Go-to Guide for Special Days, Weeks and Months 24 September 2019 Rowman & Littlefield 978-1-64143-316-7 551 https://books.google.com/books?id=6dKpDwAAQBAJ&pg=PA551 en 14 November – Keith Curle, English footballer, football manager and football coach 15 November – Andrew Castle, English tennis player and broadcaster 19 November – Jon Potter, British field hockey player and businessman 20 November – William Timothy Gowers, British mathematician 21 November – Nicollette Sheridan, English actress 26 November – Joe Lydon, English rugby league footballer of the 1980s and 1990s, rugby union coach of the 2000s and 2010s 28 November – Armando Iannucci, Scottish satirist 5 December – Eddie 'the Eagle' Edwards, English ski jumper 7 December Mark Bowen, Welsh footballer Paul Dobson, voice actor 8 December – Brian McClair, Scottish footballer and football coach 22 December Bryan Gunn, Scottish footballer and football coach Russell Lewis, television writer and former child actor 24 December – Caroline Aherne, comic television actress/writer (died 2016) 29 December – Dave McKean, English artist and filmmaker Deaths 15 January – Morgan Phillips, general secretary of the Labour Party (born 1902) 18 January Hugh Gaitskell, leader of the Labour Party (born 1906) Edward Charles Titchmarsh, mathematician (born 1899) 22 January – Lily Montagu, pioneer of reform Judaism (born 1873) 30 January – Cecil McGivern, broadcasting executive and writer (born 1907) 11 February – Sylvia Plath, American poet and writer, suicide (born 1932)Sylvia Plath Biography, Poems, Books, Death, & Facts https://www.britannica.com/biography/Sylvia-Plath Encyclopedia Britannica 27 July 2021 en 5 March – Cyril Smith, Scottish actor, heart attack (born 1892) 16 March – William Beveridge, economist and social reformer (born 1879) 18 March – Sir Hubert Gough, general (born 1870) 31 March – Sir Harold Franklyn, general (born 1885) 25 April – Christopher Hassall, actor, dramatist, librettist, lyricist and poet (born 1912)John Wakeman, Stanley Kunitz, World Authors, 1950-1970: A Companion Volume to Twentieth Century Authors Wilson (publisher), 1975, page 619 26 April – Roland Pertwee, playwright, screenwriter, director and actor (born 1885) 7 May – Max Miller, music hall comedian (born 1894) 29 May – Netta Muskett, novelist (born 1887) 5 June – Sir Adrian Carton de Wiart VC, general (born 1880 in Belgium) 12 June – Andrew Cunningham, admiral (born 1883) 17 June Alan Brooke, 1st Viscount Alanbrooke, field marshal (born 1883) John Cowper Powys, novelist, lecturer and philosopher (born 1872) Williams Herbert John Cowper Powys Seren Bridgend, Wales 1997 9781854111968 156 4 July – Bernard Freyberg, 1st Baron Freyberg, general and Governor-General of New Zealand (born 1889) 10 July – Teddy Wakelam, sports broadcaster and rugby union player (born 1893) 16 August – Joan Eardley, painter (born 1921) 22 August – William Morris, 1st Viscount Nuffield, founder of Morris Motors and philanthropist (born 1877) 30 August – Guy Burgess, spy, one of the Cambridge Five, in Moscow (born 1911) 3 September – Louis MacNeice, poet and playwright (born 1907) 20 September – Peter Craven, English motorcycle racer, in racing accident (born 1934) 22 November Aldous Huxley, novelist (born 1894) Chevalier Tracy Encyclopedia of the essay Fitzroy Dearborn Publishers London Chicago 1997 9781884964305 416 C.S. Lewis, Irish-born British writer (born 1898)C. S. Lewis – A Life: Eccentric Genius, Reluctant Prophet McGrath Alister Tyndale House Publishers, Inc 2013 358 30 November – Cyril Newall, 1st Baron Newall, air marshal and Governor-General of New Zealand (born 1886) 21 December – Jack Hobbs, cricketer (born 1882) December – Andy Kennedy, Northern Irish footballer (born 1897) See also 1963 in British music 1963 in British television List of British films of 1963 References 2 1963 Category:Years of the 20th century in the United Kingdom Category:1963 by country Category:1960s in the United Kingdom Category:1963 in Europe