1956 in the United Kingdom

none October 2020 January 2013 1956 Constituent countries of the United Kingdom Northern Ireland Scotland Wales Popular culture 1956 British Grand Prix 1956 English cricket season Football: England Scotland 1956 in British television 1956 in British radio 1956 in British music Events from the year 1956 in the United Kingdom. The year is dominated by the Suez Crisis. Incumbents Monarch – Elizabeth II Prime Minister – Anthony Eden (Conservative) Events 1 January – Possession of heroin becomes fully criminalised.http://www.esrc.ac.uk/ESRCInfoCentre/about/CI/CP/Our_Society_Today/Spotlights_2006/heroin.aspx Sophie Goodchild Half a Century Since Heroin Banned Society Today ESRC 2010-08-17 dead https://web.archive.org/web/20101025083800/http://www.esrc.ac.uk/ESRCInfoCentre/about/CI/CP/Our_Society_Today/Spotlights_2006/heroin.aspx 25 October 2010 4 January – Eight months after winning the General Election and barely a year after becoming Prime Minister, Anthony Eden's position is looking under threat as opinion polls show Labour (now led by Hugh Gaitskell) are in the lead.https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=715gAAAAIBAJ&sjid=4XENAAAAIBAJ&pg=3177,714767&dq=opinion+poll+eden&hl=en Eden's Popularity Reported Falling Wilmington Morning Star North Carolina 1956-01-05 10 2015-03-11 24 January – Plans are announced for the construction of thousands of new homes in the Barbican area of London, devastated by the Luftwaffe during the Second World War.https://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/january/24/newsid_3390000/3390271.stm Plans unveiled for homes in Barbican BBC On This Day 2010-01-31 24 January 1956 26 January–5 February – Great Britain and Northern Ireland compete at the Winter Olympics in Cortina d'Ampezzo, Italy, but do not win any medals. February The Duke of Edinburgh's Award launched.http://www.dofe.org/en/content/cms/about-us/patron https://web.archive.org/web/20110529015255/http://www.dofe.org/en/content/cms/about-us/patron/ dead 2011-05-29 Patron – the DofE The Duke of Edinburgh's Award Release of Shirley Bassey's first single, "Burn My Candle (At Both Ends)". 5 February – First showing of documentary films by the Free Cinema movement, at the National Film Theatre, London.444789 Free CinemaMay 2024 8 February The first AEC Routemaster bus in London starts public service, on route 2.Marshall, Prince 1972 Wheels of London The Sunday Times Magazine 0-7230-0068-9 108 The Treaty of London (1956) is signed to set up an independent Federation of Malaya 11 February – Two of the "Cambridge spies", Guy Burgess and Donald Maclean, appear in Moscow after vanishing as diplomats in mysterious circumstances in 1951.https://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/february/11/newsid_2721000/2721413.stm Cambridge spies' surface in Moscow BBC On This Day 2007-12-04 11 February 1956 12 February – Double yellow lines to prohibit parking introduced in Slough.Penguin Pocket On This Day Penguin Reference Library 978-0-14-102715-9 2006 17 February – The Midlands becomes the first region outside of London to receive ITV when ATV Midlands begins broadcasting; ABC, the weekend station, launches the following day. 23 February – A fire at Eastwood Mills, Keighley, West Yorkshire, kills eight employees.http://www.valendale.myby.co.uk/mills.html https://web.archive.org/web/20060510142827/http://www.valendale.myby.co.uk/mills.html dead 2006-05-10 Mills & Work Places Vale and Dale Keighley 2007 2011-01-19 9 March – Archbishop Makarios is deported from Cyprus to the Seychelles by the British authorities. 10 March – Fairey Aviation test pilot Peter Twiss sets a new airspeed record in the Fairey Delta 2, also becoming the first person to exceed 1,000 mph (1,610 km/h) in level flight. His top speed is 1,132 mph (1,821 km/h), 310 mph (499 km/h) in excess of the previous (US) record. 14 March – A memorial to Karl Marx is unveiled at the new site of his grave in Highgate Cemetery, London, by Harry Pollitt, General Secretary of the Communist Party of Great Britain.The posthumous life of Karl Marx, Highgate Cemetery http://thelondondead.blogspot.co.uk/2014/07/the-posthumous-life-of-karl-marx.html The London Dead 2014-07-07 2015-07-14 Bingham David 24 March – In the Grand National, Devon Loch, owned by Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother and ridden by Dick Francis, is in a clear lead when the horse inexplicably collapses 50 yd m in from the finish, giving victory to E.S.B. at 100/7, ridden by Dave Dick and trained by Fred Rimell. Stan Mellor is the second placed jockey.Philip Robert https://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/horseracing/3025365/Grand-National-Devon-Lochs-place-in-history.html Grand National: Devon Loch's place in history The Daily Telegraph 5 April 2002 2010-06-30 7 April – Manchester United, with an average team age of just 24, win the Football League First Division title.https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=0CpgAAAAIBAJ&sjid=XG8NAAAAIBAJ&pg=3327,1084270&dq=manchester-united&hl=en Manchester United Clinches First Division Soccer Title Saskatoon Star-Phoenix 9 April 1956 2012-10-13 17 April In his Budget speech, Chancellor of the Exchequer Harold Macmillan announces the launch of Premium Bonds which will go on sale on 1 November, with a £1,000 prize available from the first draw in June next year.Palmer Alan Palmer Veronica 1992 The Chronology of British History Century Ltd London 410–411 978-0-7126-5616-0 Chew Valley Lake (1200 acre km2 on) in Somerset is inaugurated as a reservoir for the Bristol area by the Queen. 19 April – Diver Lionel Crabb (working for MI6) dives into Portsmouth Harbour to investigate visiting Soviet cruiser Ordzhonikidze and vanishes during a state visit by Nikita Khrushchev and Nikolai Bulganin. On 9 May, Anthony Eden who had refused permission for the operation, makes a statement refusing to reveal any details surrounding the mystery of Crabb's disappearance.https://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/may/9/newsid_4741000/4741060.stm Mystery of missing frogman deepens BBC On This Day 2007-12-04 9 May 1956 https://web.archive.org/web/20080112161533/http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/may/9/newsid_4741000/4741060.stm 2008-01-12 live 20 April – Humphrey Lyttelton and his band record his trad jazz composition "Bad Penny Blues" in London with sound engineer Joe Meek. This will be the first British jazz record to get into the Top Twenty. 22 April – The 2i's Coffee Bar opens in Old Compton Street, Soho (London); its basement rapidly becomes a pioneering venue for rock and roll music in Britain. 27 April – Doubts about the future of Anthony Eden as Prime Minister continue as his personal ratings in opinion polls remain low.https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=AFYvAAAAIBAJ&sjid=2qsFAAAAIBAJ&pg=4053,2443858&dq=opinion+poll+eden&hl=en Eden Loses Ground Owosso Argus-Press Michigan 1956-04-27 4 2016-02-05 3 May – Granada Television begins broadcasting with a base in Manchester, extending ITV's coverage to Northern England and later Yorkshire. 5 May – Manchester City F.C. win the FA Cup with a 3–1 win over Birmingham City at Wembley Stadium. German-born Manchester goalkeeper Bert Trautmann plays through the game despite an injury 15 minutes from timehttp://www.fa-cupfinals.co.uk/1956.htm 1956 The FA Cup 2016-02-05 dead https://web.archive.org/web/20100310142116/http://www.fa-cupfinals.co.uk/1956.htm 10 March 2010 diagnosed on 9 May as a broken neck.Bert Trautmann http://www.football-england.com/bert_trautmann.html football-england.com 2012-02-13 2012-01-04 7 May – Minister of Health Robin Turton rejects a call for the government to lead an anti-smoking campaign, arguing that no ill-effects have yet been proven.https://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/may/7/newsid_2518000/2518245.stm Minister rejects anti-smoking lobby BBC On This Day 2007-12-04 7 May 1956 8 May – First performance of John Osborne's play Look Back in Anger by the newly formed English Stage Company at the Royal Court Theatre. Alan Bates has his first major role as Cliff. The theatre's press release describes the dramatist as among the angry young men of the time. 9 May – The Gower Peninsula of Wales becomes the first area in the British Isles to be designated an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty.https://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/wales/south_west/4750575.stm Gower national park status call BBC News 9 May 2006 2010-01-31 1 June – Elsie Stephenson becomes founding Director of the Nurse Teaching Unit, University of Edinburgh, the first nurse teaching unit within a British university. 3 June Third class accommodation on British Rail trains redesignated as second class (also applies on Great Northern Railway in Northern Ireland). Prime Ministers Jawaharlal Nehru of India and Sidney Holland of New Zealand are made Freemen of the City of London.https://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/july/3/newsid_2777000/2777357.stm Commonwealth heads honoured BBC On This Day 2010-01-31 3 July 1956 4 July – The National Library of Scotland's first purpose-built premises are opened on George IV Bridge in Edinburgh.Bute Collection for Scotland: Library Opening by The Queen The Times London 5 July 1956 12 53575 5 July – Parliament passes the Clean Air Act in response to the Great Smog of 1952.The London Encyclopaedia Ben Weinreb Christopher Hibbert London Macmillan 1995 978-0-333-57688-5 9 July – Mettoy introduce Corgi Toys model cars, manufactured in South Wales.http://www.corgi-toys.com/history.html Corgi History 2010-08-17 6 October 2011 https://web.archive.org/web/20111006012904/http://www.corgi-toys.com/history.html dead 10 July – A private member's bill to abolish the death penalty is vetoed in the House of Lords; however, no capital punishment is carried out in the UK this year. 22 July – The first UK Albums Chart is published, in Record Mirror.Warwick, Neil Kutner, Jon Brown, Tony 2004 The Complete Book of the British Charts: Singles and Albums 3rd London Omnibus Press 978-1-84449-058-5 Frank Sinatra's Songs for Swingin' Lovers! tops it for the first two weeks. 26 July – Egyptian leader Gamal Abdel Nasser announces the nationalisation of the Suez Canal triggering the Suez Crisis.https://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/july/26/newsid_2701000/2701603.stm Egypt seizes Suez Canal BBC On This Day 2007-12-04 26 July 1956 https://web.archive.org/web/20071214214805/http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/july/26/newsid_2701000/2701603.stm 14 December 2007 live 27 July – First Berni Inn steakhouse opens in Bristol.http://www.westerndailypress.co.uk/brothers-revolutionised-ate/story-21087678-detail/story.html Brothers Frank and Aldo Berni revolutionised how we ate out with their 'Temperance Bars' Western Daily Press Bristol 2014-05-13 2015-03-28 https://web.archive.org/web/20141129040328/http://www.westerndailypress.co.uk/brothers-revolutionised-ate/story-21087678-detail/story.html 29 November 2014 dead 31 July – Jim Laker sets a record by taking 19 wickets in a first class cricket match, at Old Trafford in the fourth Test between England and Australia. 9 August–9 September – Art exhibition This Is Tomorrow, featuring principally the interdisciplinary ICA Independent Group, at the Whitechapel Art Gallery, London. Among the exhibits is Richard Hamilton's collage Just What Is It that Makes Today's Homes So Different, So Appealing?, considered to be one of the earliest works of pop art.Livingstone Marco 1990 Pop Art: a Continuing History New York Harry N. Abrams, Inc. 17 August – Scotland Yard are called to Eastbourne to investigate the activities of society doctor John Bodkin Adams. The case is reported around the world and press reports claim up to 400 patients may have been murdered.Cullen Pamela V. A Stranger in Blood: the Case Files on Dr John Bodkin Adams London Elliott & Thompson 2006 978-1-904027-19-5 4 September – Opening of the first Welsh-medium secondary school Ysgol Glan Clwyd in Rhyl.Teaching through Welsh Western Mail 4 September 1956 Cardiff 5 10 September – Guy Mollet visits London and proposes a merger of France and the United Kingdom. However, the idea is rejected by Anthony Eden.https://www.theguardian.com/uk_news/story/0,,1990795,00.html France and UK considered 1950s 'merger' The Guardian 2007-12-04 London 16 January 2007 https://web.archive.org/web/20071119044740/http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk_news/story/0%2C%2C1990795%2C00.html 19 November 2007 live 12 September – Manchester United become the first English team to compete in the European Cup, a competition for the champions of domestic leagues across Europe, when they play the first leg of the preliminary round in Belgium and beat R.S.C. Anderlecht 2–0.Manchester United vs Anderlecht – 12 Sep 1956 http://www.aboutmanutd.com/man-u-matches/12-09-1956-anderlecht.html 21 October 2012 dead https://web.archive.org/web/20121010013924/http://www.aboutmanutd.com/man-u-matches/12-09-1956-anderlecht.html 10 October 2012 25 September – The TAT-1 transatlantic telephone cable between the UK and North America is inaugurated. 26 September – Manchester United qualify for the first round of the European Cup in style with a 10–0 win over R.S.C. Anderlecht at Maine Road in the second leg of the preliminary round.http://www.manutd.com/en/News-And-Features/Features/2011/Sep/united-v-anderlecht-10-0.aspx Reds' record win 2011-09-26 Adam Marshall Manchester United 2016-02-05 1 August 2013 https://web.archive.org/web/20130801042856/http://www.manutd.com/en/News-And-Features/Features/2011/Sep/united-v-anderlecht-10-0.aspx dead 28 September – Anthony Eden considers allowing France to join the Commonwealth of Nations, but this idea is also rejected. 11 October – Kite test: a Vickers Valiant jet bomber of No. 49 Squadron RAF piloted by Squadron Leader Ted Flavell drops the UK's first live air-dropped atomic bomb, a Blue Danube, over Maralinga, South Australia, as part of the 'Operation Buffalo' British nuclear tests at Maralinga by a team of Australian, British and Canadian scientists.Nuclear Weapons Archive British Nuclear Testing http://nuclearweaponarchive.org/Uk/UKTesting.html 2010-04-30 15 October – The RAF retires its last Lancaster bomber. 17 October – The Queen opens the world's first commercial nuclear power station at Calder Hall.http://www.sellafieldsites.com/page/sellafield-site-operations/site-history Sellafield Sites, Site history 2007-12-04 https://web.archive.org/web/20080509131037/http://www.sellafieldsites.com/page/sellafield-site-operations/site-history 9 May 2008 dead 24 October – Protocol of Sèvres, a secret agreement between the UK, France and Israel allowing the latter to invade Sinai with the support of the two former governments. Anthony Eden subsequently denies existence of an agreement.Ian Black Secrets and lies at the heart of Britain's Middle Eastern folly https://www.theguardian.com/uk/2006/jul/11/egypt.past The Guardian London 11 July 2006 2012-05-27 5 November Jo Grimond replaces Clement Davies as leader of the Liberal Party. The long-running television programme What the Papers Say airs for the first time on ITV. 6 November – British and French forces seize control of two major ports in the Suez Canal in Egypt before declaring a ceasefire.https://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/november/6/newsid_3115000/3115888.stm Allied forces take control of Suez BBC On This Day 2007-12-04 6 November 1956 https://web.archive.org/web/20071109051444/http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/november/6/newsid_3115000/3115888.stm 9 November 2007 live 9 November – At the Lord Mayor's Show in London, the first AEC Routemaster forms part of the procession, advertised as "London's Bus of the Future". 15 November – The Manchester Guardian calls for the resignation of Anthony Eden as Prime Minister, despite his improvement in opinion poll showings. 21 November – DIDO heavy water enriched uranium nuclear reactor opens at the Atomic Energy Research Establishment, Harwell, Oxfordshire.New Atomic Reactor Opens Birmingham Daily Post 22 November 1956 24 22 November–8 December – Great Britain and Northern Ireland compete at the Olympics in Melbourne, Australia and wins 6 gold, 7 silver and 11 bronze medals. 29 November – Petrol rationing introduced because of petrol blockades from the Middle East due to the Suez Crisis.https://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/november/29/newsid_3247000/3247805.stm Motorists panic as petrol rations loom BBC On This Day 2007-12-04 29 November 1956 https://web.archive.org/web/20071215054144/http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/november/29/newsid_3247000/3247805.stm 15 December 2007 live 10 December – Cyril Norman Hinshelwood wins the Nobel Prize in Chemistry jointly with Nikolay Semyonov "for their researches into the mechanism of chemical reactions".http://nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/chemistry/laureates/1956/ The Nobel Prize in Chemistry 1956 2007-12-04 12 December – The Irish Republican Army launches its Border Campaign in Northern Ireland with co-ordinated attacks on official premises.Hanley Brian Miller Scott The Lost Revolution: The Story of the Official IRA and the Workers' Party Dublin Penguin Ireland 2009 14 19 December Six people die and several more are injured in car crashes caused by heavy fog in Northern England.https://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/december/19/newsid_3280000/3280473.stm Thick fog causes death on roads BBC On This Day 2007-12-04 19 December 1956 https://web.archive.org/web/20071221123840/http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/december/19/newsid_3280000/3280473.stm 21 December 2007 live Eastbourne GP Dr John Bodkin Adams is arrested for the murder of patient Edith Alice Morrell. 21 December – The Government of Northern Ireland under Basil Brooke uses the Special Powers Act to intern several hundred republican suspects without trial. 23 December – British and French troops withdraw from Suez under United Nations and United States pressure.https://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/december/23/newsid_3294000/3294305.stm Jubilation as allied troops leave Suez BBC On This Day 2007-12-04 23 December 1956 https://web.archive.org/web/20071226115923/http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/december/23/newsid_3294000/3294305.stm 26 December 2007 live 25 December – PG Tips launches its long-running ITV advertising campaign using a chimpanzees' tea party with voices provided by Peter Sellers. 31 December – The Flanders and Swann revue At the Drop of a Hat opens in London. Undated Opening of the first Jewish seminary for Liberal and Reform Judaism in England, Leo Baeck College, as the Jewish Theological College of London at West London Synagogue; its first two students are Lionel Blue and Michael Leigh. The National Loaf is abolished, but bakers are obliged to fortify white bread.http://www.bakersfederation.org.uk/20th_century.aspx The 20th Century Federation of Bakers 2007 2024-09-18 dead https://web.archive.org/web/20070711215658/http://www.bakersfederation.org.uk/20th_century.aspx 2007-07-11 Tesco opens its first self-service stores in St Albanshttp://www.corporatewatch.org.uk/?lid=252 Tesco Plc: Overview 2007-08-17 https://web.archive.org/web/20070730065200/http://www.corporatewatch.org.uk/?lid=252 30 July 2007 dead and Maldon.http://www.tescocorporate.com/plc/about_us/tesco_story Tesco: Our History 2007-03-27 tescocorporate.com Tesco plc https://web.archive.org/web/20100502081316/http://www.tescocorporate.com/plc/about_us/tesco_story 2 May 2010 dead The Collared dove first breeds in the UK.The Birds of the Western Palearctic Snow D. W. Perrins, C. M. Concise 1998 Oxford University Press 978-0-19-854099-1 Death of the last Agapemonite.Evans Roger Blame it on the vicar 31 2006 Halsgrove 9781841145686 Publications Sybille Bedford's semi-autobiographical novel A Legacy. Agatha Christie's Hercule Poirot novel Dead Man's Folly. Anthony Crosland's book The Future of Socialism.Kevin Jeffreys Tony Crosland, The Future of Socialism and New Labour http://www.historytoday.com/MainArticle.aspx?m=31527&amid=30229338 History Review 37–38 March 2006 17 July 2009May 2024 Gerald Durrell's memoir My Family and Other Animals. Ian Fleming's James Bond novel Diamonds Are Forever. William Golding's novel Pincher Martin. C. S. Lewis' novel The Last Battle. Rose Macaulay's novel The Towers of Trebizond. Nancy Mitford's book Noblesse Oblige: an Enquiry into the Identifiable Characteristics of the English Aristocracy, illustrated by Osbert Lancaster. The Movement's poetry anthology New Lines edited by Robert Conquest. Mary Renault's historical novel The Last of the Wine. Samuel Selvon's novel The Lonely Londoners. Dodie Smith's children's novel The Hundred and One Dalmatians. Angus Wilson's novel Anglo-Saxon Attitudes. Colin Wilson's study The Outsider. Births 30em 2 January – Storm Constantine, science fiction and fantasy author (died 2021) 4 January – Bernard Sumner, guitarist (Joy Division and New Order) 6 January Angus Deayton, actor and television presenter Justin Welby, Archbishop of Canterbury Clive Woodward, rugby union player and coach 7 January – Johnny Owen, né Owens, Welsh bantamweight boxer (died 1980) 9 January – Imelda Staunton, English actressImelda Staunton https://www2.bfi.org.uk/films-tv-people/4ce2ba295d590 https://web.archive.org/web/20160311210951/http://www.bfi.org.uk/films-tv-people/4ce2ba295d590 dead 11 March 2016 BFI 10 June 2022 en 14 January – Ronan Bennett, Northern Irish writer 17 January – Paul Young, pop singer and guitarist 21 January – Ian McMillan, poet 29 January – Anton Otulakowski, footballer 31 January – John Lydon (Johnny Rotten), punk rock singer-songwriter (Sex Pistols) 1 February – Lucy Irvine, adventurer and author 2 February – Philip Franks, actor and director 4 February – Jon Walmsley, television actor and guitarist 8 February – Richard Sharp, banker and Chairman of the BBC 12 February – Joe Dever, fantasy author (died 2016) 13 February – Peter Hook, bass guitar player (Joy Division and New Order) 16 February – Paul Gilroy, academic 19 February – Dave Wakeling, rock singer-songwriter 22 February – Stuart Peach, Air Chief Marshal 24 February – Fiona Graham-Mackay, née Bain, portrait painter 25 February – Davie Cooper, Scottish footballer (died 1995) 28 February – Terry Leahy, businessman 7 March – Andrea Levy, novelist (died 2019) 8 March – Lesley Regan, gynaecologist 11 March – Helen Rollason, television sports presenter (died 1999) 12 March Steve Harris, bass guitar player, founding member of Iron Maiden Lesley Manville, actress 17 March – Frank McGarvey, footballer (died 2023) 20 March – Catherine Ashton, Baroness Ashton of Upholland, politician 23 March Rosa Beddington, biologist (died 2001) Andrew Mitchell, soldier and politician, Secretary of State for International Development Jeremy Wade, biologist and author 9 April – Nigel Slater, food writer 10 April – Carol Robinson, chemist 19 April Sue Barker, tennis player and television presenter Anne Glover, Scottish biologist 25 April – Greg Richards, decathlete 26 April – Koo Stark, actress 7 May – Nicholas Hytner, theatre director 13 May – Richard Madeley, television presenter 14 May – Hazel Blears, politician 15 May – Kjartan Poskitt, author 18 May – John Godber, dramatist 24 May – Joe Casely-Hayford, fashion designer (died 2019) 26 May Neil Parish, politician Fiona Shackleton, lawyerDyer Clare She can give people straight answers, often ones they don't want to hear, in such a way that they take it from her https://www.theguardian.com/music/2008/feb/15/law 24 September 2012 guardian.co.uk 3 May 2021 6 June – Christopher Adamson, film actor 20 June – Simon Bryant, air marshal 5 July – Terry Chimes, rock drummer (The Clash) 14 July – Cornelia Parker, visual artist 15 July – Ian Curtis, post-punk singer-songwriter (Joy Division) (died 1980) 16 July – Anthony Julius, solicitor advocate 19 July – Nikki Sudden, guitarist and singer-songwriter (Swell Maps) (died 2006) 25 July – Andy Goldsworthy, sculptor and photographer 28 July – Robert Swan, polar explorer 29 July – Viv Anderson, footballer 8 August – Chris Foreman, rock guitarist 14 August – Jonathan Powell, civil servant and diplomat 17 August – Dave Jones, footballer and manager 19 August – Louise Gold, puppeteer, actress and singer 21 August – Kim Cattrall, screen actress 2 September – Angelo Fusco, Provisional IRA member 7 September – Robert Reed, Baron Reed of Allermuir, Scottish judge, President of the Supreme Court of the UK 14 September – Ray Wilkins, footballer and coach (died 2018) 15 September – Ross J. Anderson, computer security expert (died 2024) 18 September – Tim McInnerny, actor 20 September – John Harle, saxophonist 29 September – Sebastian Coe, athlete, co-ordinator of London 2012 Olympic Games 1 October – Theresa May, Prime Minister, Conservative Party leader, MP for Maidenhead 10 October – David Hempleman-Adams, adventurer 20 October – Danny Boyle, film director 27 October – Hazell Dean, singer 29 October – Mina Smallman, Anglican priest 30 October – Juliet Stevenson, actress November – Teresa Borsuk, architect 5 November – Rob Fisher, keyboardist and songwriter (Climie Fisher) (died 1999) 8 November – Richard Curtis, screenwriter 23 November – Jimmy Hibbert, comedian and scriptwriter 26 November – John McCarthy, journalist and hostage 28 November – Lucy Gutteridge, film actress 7 December – Anna Soubry, politician 8 December – Michael C. Burgess, actor and editor 15 December – William Orbit, musician and record producer (died 2026) 17 December – Patrick Murray, actor (died 2025) 19 December – Jimmy Cauty, electronic musician (The KLF), graphic and performance artist 23 December Dave Murray, guitarist (Iron Maiden) Simon Wessely, psychiatrist 24 December – Ralph Moore, jazz saxophonist 28 December – Nigel Kennedy, violinist 29 December – Fred MacAulay, Scottish comedian Deaths 4 January – R. Williams Parry, Welsh poet (born 1884) 13 January – Wickham Steed, journalist, editor and historian (born 1871) 14 January – Sheila Kaye-Smith, novelist (born 1887) 31 January – A. A. Milne, author (born 1882) 10 February – Hugh Trenchard, 1st Viscount Trenchard, marshal of the Royal Air Force (born 1873) 25 March – Robert Newton, film actor (born 1905) 30 March – Edmund Clerihew Bentley, writer (born 1875) 24 April – Henry Stephenson, character actor (born 1871) 29 April – Harold Bride, Titanic survivor (born 1890) 2 May – Violet Gibson, Irish-born attempted assassin (born 1876) 3 May Rodney Collin, writer (born 1909) Peter Watson, art collector and benefactor (born 1908) 17 May – Austin Osman Spare, magician (born 1886) 18 May – Maurice Tate, cricketer (born 1895) 20 May – Max Beerbohm, theatre critic (born 1872) 24 May – Martha Annie Whiteley, chemist and mathematician (born 1866) 6 June – Margaret Wycherly, actress (born 1881) 11 June – Frank Brangwyn, artist (born 1867) 22 June – Walter de la Mare, poet and fiction writer (born 1873) 28 June – Claud Schuster, 1st Baron Schuster, civil servant (born 1869) 11 July – Dorothy Wellesley, Duchess of Wellington, socialite, author, poet and literary editor (born 1889) 5 August – J. M. Andrews, second Prime Minister of Northern Ireland (born 1871) 19 August – Bernard Griffin, Cardinal of the Roman Catholic Church; Archbishop of Westminster from 1943 until his death (born 1873) 6 September – Michael Ventris, co-decipherer of Linear B (car accident) (born 1922) 7 September – C. B. Fry, cricketer (born 1872) 21 September – Jack de Leon, Panamanian-born theatre manager, impresario and playwright (heart attack) (born 1902)C. M. P. Taylor Leon, Jack de 10.1093/ref:odnb/74652 22 September – Frederick Soddy, chemist, Nobel Prize laureate (born 1877) 16 October – Jack Southworth, footballer (born 1866) 17 October – Anne Crawford, film actress (leukemia) (born 1920) 22 October – Hannah Mitchell, socialist and suffragette (born 1872) 19 November – Francis L. Sullivan, actor (born 1903) 24 November – Sir Lionel Whitby, haematologist, clinical pathologist, pharmacologist and army officer (born 1895) 6 December – Helen Duncan, Scottish medium (born 1897) 9 December – Charles Joughin, Titanic survivor (born 1878) 13 December Sir Arthur Grimble, colonial civil servant and travel writer (born 1888) Anthony Moorhouse, soldier (murdered in Egypt) (born 1935) 16 December – Nina Hamnett, artist (born 1890) See also 1956 in British music 1956 in British television List of British films of 1956 References 1956 Category:Years of the 20th century in the United Kingdom Category:1956 by country Category:1950s in the United Kingdom Category:1956 in Europe