1951 in the United Kingdom

none March 2021 January 2013 1951 Constituent countries of the United Kingdom Northern Ireland Scotland Wales Popular culture 1951 British Grand Prix 1951 English cricket season Football: England Scotland 1951 in British television 1951 in British radio 1951 in British music In 1951 the Festival of Britain was held in the United Kingdom, and a general election returned Winston Churchill to power. Incumbents Monarch – George VI Prime Minister – Clement Attlee (Labour) (until 26 October), Winston Churchill (Conservative) (starting 26 October) Events January British Board of Film Censors introduces X rating for films "Suitable for those aged 16 and over". The Ford Consul introduced. 1 January – The radio series The Archers begins on the BBC Light Programme. It will still be on the air 75 years later.Donovan Paul 1991 The Radio Companion London Grafton 8 9 January – The government announces abandonment of the Tanganyika groundnut scheme, writing off £36,500,000.The Times London 10 January 1951 6 51895 Groundnuts Plan Modified February – Ferranti deliver their first Mark 1 computer to the University of Manchester, the world's first commercially available general-purpose electronic computer.Lavington Simon A History of Manchester Computers 1998 2nd British Computer Society Swindon 978-0-902505-01-8 15 February – Iron and Steel Corporation of Great Britain takes shareholdings of principal steelmakers into state ownership. 21 February – An English Electric Canberra (with Rolls-Royce Avon engines) becomes the first jet to make an unrefuelled Transatlantic flight, taking 4 hours 37 minutes from RAF Aldergrove in Northern Ireland to Gander in Newfoundland.John Hutchinson Can-do Canberra The Magazine Rolls-Royce 150 September 2016 62–4 26 February – Film noir Pool of London is released, the first British film with a major role for a black actor, Bermuda-born Earl Cameron. 12 March (dated 17 March) – The character Dennis the Menace first appears in The Beano comic.David Kynaston David Kynaston Austerity Britain 1945–1951 London Bloomsbury 2007 978-0-7475-7985-4 13 March – Pineapple Poll, a Gilbert and Sullivan-inspired comic ballet, created by choreographer John Cranko with arranger Sir Charles Mackerras, is premiered at Sadler's Wells Theatre by the Sadler's Wells Ballet.The Hutchinson Factfinder Helicon 1999 1-85986-000-1 11 April – The Stone of Scone is located at Arbroath Abbey, having been stolen from Westminster Abbey by Scottish nationalists on Christmas Day 1950.Penguin Pocket On This Day Penguin Reference Library 0-14-102715-0 2006 17 April The submarine HMS Affray sinks, killing all 75 crew members.https://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/april/17/newsid_2847000/2847935.stm Fears for crew of lost British submarine BBC News 2008-02-03 17 April 1951 https://web.archive.org/web/20080307120444/http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/april/17/newsid_2847000/2847935.stm 7 March 2008 live Seven unofficial dockers' leaders are acquitted of offences under a wartime regulation intended to prevent industrial disputes.Jack Dash Jack Dash Good Morning, Brothers! London Lawrence & Wishart 1969 0-85315-193-8 The Peak District is established as the first of the national parks of the United Kingdom. The Lake District is designated so in May,National Park in Lake District The Times 11 May 1951 4 51998 and designations of Snowdonia and Dartmoor come into effect on 20 November. 22–25 April – Korean War: Battle of the Imjin River: the 29th Infantry Brigade of the British Army serving with the United Nations put up brave but ultimately unsuccessful resistance to the Chinese advance, with 141 UN troops killed. The last stand of the 1st Battalion, The Gloucestershire Regiment (the "Glorious Glosters") at Hill 235 rapidly becomes part of modern military tradition.Andrew Andrew Marr Marr A History of Modern Britain London Macmillan 2007 978-1-4050-0538-8 102 23 April – Aneurin Bevan, recently appointed as Minister of Labour and National Service, together with John Freeman and Harold Wilson, resign from the government in protest at Hugh Gaitskell's announcement in the Budget of 10 April to introduce prescription charges for dental care and spectacles (in order to meet the financial demands imposed by the Korean War). 28 April – Newcastle United win the FA Cup for the fourth time with a 2–0 win over Blackpool at Wembley Stadium. Jackie Milburn scores both goals in front of a crowd of 100,000 spectators.http://www.fa-cupfinals.co.uk/1951.htm 1951 fa-cupfinals.co.uk 2011-01-01 https://web.archive.org/web/20080523234626/http://www.fa-cupfinals.co.uk/1951.htm 23 May 2008 dead250px|right|thumb|Stamps marking the Festival of Britain, with Festival icon on the 4d issue 3 May – George VI opens the Festival of Britain in London, including the Royal Festival Hall, Dome of Discovery and Skylon.https://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/may/3/newsid_2481000/2481099.stm King George opens Festival of Britain BBC News 2008-02-03 3 May 1951 https://web.archive.org/web/20080307120423/http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/may/3/newsid_2481000/2481099.stm 7 March 2008 live This would be the last major public event attended by the King and Queen together.Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother – Activities as Queen http://www.royal.gov.uk/HistoryoftheMonarchy/The%20House%20of%20Windsor%20from%201952/QueenElizabethTheQueenMother/ActivitiesasQueen.aspx The official website of The British Monarchy The Royal Household 2013-04-17 10 October 2012 https://web.archive.org/web/20121010062814/http://www.royal.gov.uk/HistoryoftheMonarchy/The%20House%20of%20Windsor%20from%201952/QueenElizabethTheQueenMother/ActivitiesasQueen.aspx dead Festival Gardens and a fun fair are opened in Battersea Park and the Lansbury Estate in Poplar is begun this year as a housing showcase. 4 May–6 October – Festival Ship Campania cruises the seaports. 14 May – The first volunteer-run passenger trains run on the Talyllyn Railway in Wales. 25–26 May – Spies Guy Burgess and Donald Maclean leave Britain to defect to the Soviet Union. This places suspicion on two other members of the 'Cambridge Five', Kim Philby and John Cairncross who are obliged to resign their official positions.Christopher Andrew (historian) Christopher Andrew The Defence of the Realm London Penguin Books 2009 2010 978-0-141-02330-4 425–6 28 May First broadcast of The Goon Show radio series. Princess Elizabeth opens the Exhibition of Industrial Power, the latest part of the Festival of Britain, in Glasgow.Glasgow powers up for the Festival https://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/may/28/newsid_3005000/3005617.stm BBC News 28 May 1951 2013-04-17 29 May – The Easington Colliery explosion leaves 83 people dead. 2 June – Workington F.C. are elected to the Football League in place of New Brighton A.F.C. and will compete in the Football League Third Division North for the 1951-52 season.https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=IQxUAAAAIBAJ&sjid=aDkNAAAAIBAJ&pg=4485,284342&dq=football+new-brighton&hl=en Soccer moguls drop one team Leader-Post Regina 2 June 1951 17 2013-04-17 7 June – George VI is too ill to attend Trooping the Colour, so Princess Elizabeth leads the ceremony in his place. 26 June – Ealing comedy film The Lavender Hill Mob is released.The Great British Films 147–149 Jerry Vermilye 1978 Citadel Press 0-8065-0661-X 10 July – Boxer Randy Turpin beats the American Sugar Ray Robinson in a fight in London to become world middleweight champion. 17 July – New Port Talbot Steelworks opened at Margam, South Wales.http://beehive.thisissouthwales.co.uk/default.asp?WCI=SiteHome&ID=5906&PageID=72584 Port Talbot Historical Society Time Line 20th C 2010-08-18 dead https://web.archive.org/web/20110720074732/http://beehive.thisissouthwales.co.uk/default.asp?WCI=SiteHome&ID=5906&PageID=72584 20 July 2011 27 July – The first Miss World beauty pageant is held as a bikini contest as part of the Festival of Britain, at the Lyceum Ballroom, London; Kiki Håkansson of Sweden is the winner.Kiki the Policeman's Daughter is World Bikini Girl No. 1 Alan Dick Daily Herald London 1951-07-28 3 14 September – Clement Attlee opens the largest oil refinery in Europe at Fawley on Southampton Water.https://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/september/14/newsid_3051000/3051902.stm Refinery opens as oil row continues BBC News 2008-02-03 14 September 1951 https://web.archive.org/web/20080307120431/http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/september/14/newsid_3051000/3051902.stm 7 March 2008 live 22 September – The Colony of Singapore (modern-day Singapore) is granted city status through royal charter conferred by George VI. 23 September – George VI has an operation to remove part of his lung.https://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/september/23/newsid_3083000/3083301.stm King has lung operation BBC News 2008-02-03 23 September 1951 https://web.archive.org/web/20080307120409/http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/september/23/newsid_3083000/3083301.stm 7 March 2008 live 26 September – Rock and Ice Club formed by a group of climbers in Manchester. 30 September – Festival of Britain ends.https://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/september/30/newsid_3161000/3161521.stm Festival closes to applause 2008-02-03 30 September 1951 BBC News https://web.archive.org/web/20080307120418/http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/september/30/newsid_3161000/3161521.stm 7 March 2008 live October – Exercise Surprise Packet, the largest British peacetime military exercise. 5 October – With three weeks to go before the second general election in less than two years, opinion polls suggest that the Conservative Party led by previous wartime Prime Minister Winston Churchill, will oust Clement Attlee's Labour government from power after six years, with a majority of 75 to 100 seats and a share of the vote of up to 50%.Polls Give Churchill Big Lead https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=-_VlAAAAIBAJ&sjid=p4kNAAAAIBAJ&pg=880,766853&dq=opinion+poll&hl=en The Vancouver Sun 5 October 1951 3 2013-04-17 17 October – Austin A30 introduced. 26 October – The Conservative Party led by Winston Churchill wins the General Election, regaining (a month before his seventy-seventh birthday) the position of Prime Minister that he lost six years previously, with a majority of seventeen seats,https://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/october/26/newsid_3687000/3687425.stm Churchill wins general election BBC News 2008-02-03 26 October 1951 https://web.archive.org/web/20080307120503/http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/october/26/newsid_3687000/3687425.stm 7 March 2008 live though with slightly fewer votes than the Labour Party which wins the most votes of any party at any UK general election until 1992 and highest percentage vote sharehttp://www.ukpolitical.info/1951.htm https://web.archive.org/web/20030820033659/http://www.ukpolitical.info/1951.htm dead 20 August 2003 1951 General election results summary UK Political Info 2011-04-19 but will not return to government until 1964. The Liberal Party receives its lowest-ever share of the popular vote. Four Ulster Unionist candidates are returned unopposed in Northern Ireland, the last general election in which any candidate is so returned.https://web.archive.org/web/20080223222448/http://www.election.demon.co.uk/geresults.html http://www.election.demon.co.uk/geresults.html General Election Results 1885–1979 election.demon.co.uk 2008-02-23 2020-11-26 dead Wayback Machine This is also the last election in which the Conservatives achieve a stronger result in Scotland than in England. 31 October Zebra crossings, a type of pedestrian crossing, is introduced for the first time. Egypt unilaterally abrogates the Anglo-Egyptian treaty of 1936. 2 November – 6,000 British troops are sent to Egypt to deal with anti-British disturbances at Fayid in the Suez Canal Zone.https://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/november/2/newsid_3167000/3167115.stm 6,000 British troops flown into Egypt BBC News 2008-01-06 2 November 1951 3 November – Express Dairies, owned by 28-year-old Patrick Galvani, open Britain's first full-size supermarket in Streatham Hill, London.Helen Gregory It's a super anniversary The Grocer 3 November 2001 http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_hb5245/is_7528_224/ai_n28873842/ 2011-04-19 20 March 2012 https://web.archive.org/web/20120320185037/http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_hb5245/is_7528_224/ai_n28873842/ 7528 224 usurped Also this year, Fine Fare opens its first supermarket, in Welwyn Garden City. 7 November – UK bank rate, maintained at 2% since 26 October 1939, is raised.The Guinness Book of Answers Enfield Guinness Superlatives 3rd 1980 0-85112-202-7 259 20 November More than 1,000 families of British servicemen begin to move out of the Suez Canal Zone of Egypt after a shooting, which claimed the lives of five British soldiers as well as nine Egyptian civilians.https://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/november/20/newsid_3204000/3204331.stm 1951: British families leave Egypt's Canal Zone BBC News 2008-02-03 20 November 1951 https://web.archive.org/web/20080307120436/http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/november/20/newsid_3204000/3204331.stm 7 March 2008 live The Prime Minister's Resignation Honours are announced, to mark the resignation of Prime Minister Clement Attlee.The Times 30 November 1951 6 52172 The Resignation Honours: Earldom For Lord Jowitt 24 November – Beinn Eighe in Scotland becomes Britain's first national nature reserve. 29 November – LEO becomes the world's first computer to run a full commercial business application, for the bakers J. Lyons and Co.Ferry Georgina 2004 A Computer Called LEO: Lyons Tea Shops and the World's First Office Computer London Harper Perennial 1-84115-186-6 4 1 December – Benjamin Britten's opera Billy Budd is premiered at the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden.Kennedy Michael Benjamin Britten Holden, Amanda The New Penguin Opera Guide London Penguin 2001 0-14-029312-4 registration https://archive.org/details/isbn_9780140514759 10 December – John Cockcroft wins the Nobel Prize in Physics jointly with Ernest Walton "for their pioneer work on the transmutation of atomic nuclei by artificially accelerated atomic particles".http://nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/physics/laureates/1951/ The Nobel Prize in Physics 1951 2008-02-03 25 December – George VI makes his Christmas Speech to the Commonwealth for the final time, but it has been pre-recorded as he is still struggling to recover from his operation three months ago. 31 December – Prime Minister Winston Churchill sets off to the United States for talks with President Harry S. Truman.Churchill sets sail for talks with Truman https://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/december/31/newsid_2559000/2559997.stm BBC News 31 December 1951 2013-04-17 Undated Trade union membership reaches an all-time peak, with 9,300,000 members. GCE Ordinary Level examinations introduced, together with Advanced Levels replacing the Higher School Certificate. First residential tower block in Britain, a 10-storey point block, The Lawn, in Harlow New Town in Essex, is constructed to the design of Sir Frederick Gibberd.1271496 The Lawn 20 June 2010 Performance of medieval mystery plays revived at York and Chester. Publications Agatha Christie's adventure novel They Came to Baghdad. Graham Greene's novel The End of the Affair. Jacquetta Hawkes' landscape study A Land. C. S. Lewis' children's fantasy novel Prince Caspian, second published in The Chronicles of Narnia. Nicholas Monsarrat's wartime novel The Cruel Sea. Iona and Peter Opie's reference work The Oxford Dictionary of Nursery Rhymes. Nikolaus Pevsner's guidebooks Cornwall, Nottinghamshire and Middlesex, first in the Buildings of England series. Anthony Powell's novel A Question of Upbringing, first in the 12-volume cycle A Dance to the Music of Time. Ronald Ridout's First English Workbook, a textbook which sells five million copies.Nicholas Parsons The Book of Literary Lists London Sidgwick & Jackson 1985 0-283-99171-2 John Wyndham's post-apocalyptic novel The Day of the Triffids. First edition of The Good Food Guide edited by Raymond Postgate. Births 2 January – Piers Merchant, politician (died 2009) 5 January – Steve Arnold, footballer 7 January – Helen Worth, soap actress 9 January – Andy Qunta, singer-songwriter, composer and musician 15 January – Biff Byford, rock singer (Saxon) 19 January Graham James, bishop Arthur Taxier, Scottish-American actor 20 January – Ian Hill, rock bassist (Judas Priest) 21 January – Rosemary Shrager, chef and TV personality 26 January Roy Goodman, English conductor and violinist Anne Mills, English economist and academic 30 January – Phil Collins, musician and producer 1 February Christina Dodwell, explorer Andrew Smith, politician, Secretary of State for Work and Pensions 2 February – Ken Bruce, radio broadcaster 6 February – Kevin Whately, actor 12 February – Howard Davies, economist 14 February – Kevin Keegan, footballer and football manager (died 2026) 15 February – Jane Seymour, actress 20 February – Gordon Brown, Prime MinisterGordon Brown prime minister of United Kingdom Britannica https://www.britannica.com/biography/Gordon-Brown www.britannica.com 20 March 2022 en 24 February – Derek Randall, cricketer 26 February – Steve Bell, cartoonist 27 February – Steve Harley, glam rock singer-songwriter (Cockney Rebel) (died 2024)Martin C. Strong 2000 The Great Rock Discography 5th Mojo Books Edinburgh 424–25 1-84195-017-3 4 March Kenny Dalglish, footballer and manager Chris Rea, singer-songwriter and guitarist (died 2025) 1 April – Kay Davies, geneticist, anatomist and academic 13 April – Peter Davison, actor 14 April Julian Lloyd Webber, cellist and composer Greg Winter, biochemist, recipient of the Nobel Prize in Chemistry 16 April – David Nutt, psychiatrist and academic 20 April – Louise Jameson, actress 25 April – Ian McCartney, politician 11 May Kay Mellor, television scriptwriter (died 2022) Mike Slemen, English rugby player and educator (died 2020) 13 May Selina Scott, journalist and television presenter James Whale, radio presenter 15 May – David Almond, writer 27 May – John Conteh, light heavyweight boxer 1 June – Lola Young, Baroness Young of Hornsey, actress and author 7 June – Ralph Palmer, 12th Baron Lucas, accountant and politician 8 June – Bonnie Tyler, singer (died 2026) 11 June – Matthew Engel, journalist and authorWisden Cricketers' Almanack Berry, Scyld John Wisden & Co. 146th 407 Births and Deaths – Other Cricketing Notables 978-1-905625-16-1 14 June – Paul Boateng, politician 15 June – John Redwood, politician 16 June – John Salthouse, actor 27 June – Gilson Lavis, drummer (died 2025) 28 June – Lalla Ward, actress 30 June – Steve Waller, guitarist (died 2000) 1 July – Joanna Korner, judge 17 July – Doug Allan, wildlife photographer and cameraman (died 2026) 24 July Fiona Reid, English-born Canadian actress Chris Smith, politician 28 July Ray Kennedy, footballer (died 2021)Ray Kennedy obituary 2021-12-01 The Guardian https://web.archive.org/web/20230603175451/https://www.theguardian.com/football/2021/dec/01/ray-kennedy-obituary 2023-06-03 live https://www.theguardian.com/football/2021/dec/01/ray-kennedy-obituary Barbara Stocking, civil servant and academic 29 July – Susan Blackmore, writer and broadcaster 2 August – Gerald Suster, revisionist historian and novelist (died 2001) 15 August – Dave Needham, boxer (died 2008) 17 August Alan Minter, middleweight boxer (died 2020) Jonathan Ruffer, investor and philanthropist 19 August – John Deacon, rock bassist (Queen) 21 August – Glenn Hughes, rock musician 23 August – Philip Wilkinson, cricketer 25 August – Rob Halford, rock singer (Judas Priest) 28 August – Colin White, military historian (died 2008) 1 September – David Bairstow, English cricketer (died 1998) 14 September – Duncan Haldane, English-born condensed-matter physicist, recipient of the Nobel Prize in Physics 15 September – Gavin Muir, actor (died 2002) 22 September – David Coverdale, singer 26 September – Stuart Tosh, musician 27 September Paul Craig, professor of law Steve Soper, racing driver 30 September – John Lloyd, comedy producer 2 October – Sting, rock musician 3 October – Clive Charles, footballer (died 2003) 17 October – Colin Beattie, Scottish politician 6 November – Nigel Havers, English actorEngland & Wales, Civil Registration Birth Index, 1916–2007, Name: Nigel A Havers Registration Date: Oct 1951 [Nov 1951][Dec 1951] Registration Quarter: Oct–Nov–Dec Registration district: Edmonton Inferred County: Essex Mother's Maiden Name: Lay Volume Number: 5e Page Number: 422 15 November – Alamgir Hashmi, poet 17 November – Jack Vettriano, painter (died 2025) 19 November – Lord Falconer of Thoroton, politician 23 November – David Rappaport, English actor (died 1990) 8 December – Bill Bryson, American-born British non-fiction author 10 December – Doug Allder, footballer 18 December - Robin Millar, record producer 20 December Kate Atkinson, writer Denise Deegan, author and playwright Lynne Featherstone, blogger and politician Christopher Le Brun, painter and sculptor Peter May, novelist and television dramatist Nuala O'Loan, Baroness O'Loan, lawyer 21 December – Nick Gilder, English-Canadian singer-songwriter 22 December – Gerald Grosvenor, 6th Duke of Westminster, landowner and aristocrat (died 2016) Deaths 2 January – Edith New, suffragette (born 1877) 25 February – Sir Percy Malcolm Stewart, industrialist (born 1872) 6 March – Ivor Novello, actor, musician and composer (born 1893) 6 April – Robert Broom, paleontologist (born 1866) 14 April – Ernest Bevin, labour leader, politician and statesman (born 1881) 22 April – Horace Donisthorpe, myrmecologist (born 1870) 24 April – Joseph Maclay, 1st Baron Maclay, Glasgow shipowner and Minister of Shipping, 1916–1921 (born 1857) 2 May – Tufton Beamish, British admiral and politician (born 1874) 11 June – W. C. Sellar, humourist (born 1898) 3 July – Gwendoline Davies, philanthropist (born 1882) 21 August – Constant Lambert, composer (born 1905) 27 September – Robert Thomas, politician (born 1873) 29 September – Evan Roberts, preacher (born 1878) 11 December – Christopher Addison, anatomist and politician (born 1869) See also 1951 in British music 1951 in British television List of British films of 1951 References 1951 Category:Years of the 20th century in the United Kingdom Category:1951 by country Category:1950s in the United Kingdom Category:1951 in Europe