1978 in the United Kingdom

none May 2020 January 2013 1978 Constituent countries of the United Kingdom England Northern Ireland Scotland Wales Popular culture 1978 British Grand Prix 1978 English cricket season Football: England Scotland 1978 in British television 1978 in British music 1978 in British radio UK in the Eurovision Song Contest 1978 Events from the year 1978 in the United Kingdom. Incumbents Monarch – Elizabeth II Prime Minister – James Callaghan (Labour) Events January 1 January – The otter becomes a protected species, ending hunting of it. 11 January – A North Sea storm surge ruins four piers in the UK: Herne Bay, Margate, Hunstanton and Skegness. 16 January – The firefighters strike ends after three months when fire crews accept an offer of a 10% pay rise and reduced working hours. 18 January – The European Court of Human Rights finds the United Kingdom government guilty of mistreating prisoners in Northern Ireland, but not guilty of torture. 30 January – Opposition leader Margaret Thatcher says that many Britons fear being "swamped by people with a different culture". 31 January – 18-year-old prostitute Helen Rytka is murdered in Huddersfield; she is believed to be the eighth victim of the Yorkshire Ripper.The Attacks And Murders – Helen Rytka. February 9 February – Gordon McQueen, 25-year-old Scotland central defender, becomes Britain's first £500,000 footballer in a transfer from Leeds United to Manchester United.£500,000 McQueen https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=c45AAAAAIBAJ&sjid=2qQMAAAAIBAJ&pg=6539,1944277&dq=gordon-mcqueen&hl=en Glasgow Herald 10 February 1978 8 March 2012 13 February Anna Ford becomes the first female newsreader on ITN.https://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/february/13/newsid_4151000/4151459.stm 1978: Ford makes her ITN debut 27 January 2008 13 February 1978 BBC News https://web.archive.org/web/20080307123909/http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/february/13/newsid_4151000/4151459.stm 7 March 2008 live An opinion poll conducted for the Daily Mail shows the Conservative opposition 11 points ahead of the Labour government, with an election due by October next year. The turnaround in fortunes for the Conservatives, who last month were narrowly behind Labour, is attributed to Margaret Thatcher's recent comments on immigration.https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=53FkAAAAIBAJ&sjid=630NAAAAIBAJ&pg=4075,1097850&dq=opinion+poll+thatcher&hl=en Thatcher would halt immigration to U.K Calgary Herald 1978-02-13 C4 2019-08-11 17 February – Twelve people are killed in the La Mon restaurant bombing in Belfast. 18 February – Twenty suspects are arrested in connection with the La Mon restaurant bombing.https://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/february/18/newsid_2550000/2550869.stm 1978: Belfast bomb suspects rounded up 27 January 2008 18 February 1978 BBC News https://web.archive.org/web/20080109093424/http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/february/18/newsid_2550000/2550869.stm 9 January 2008 live 20 February – Severe blizzards hit the south west of England. March 8 March – The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy first broadcast by BBC Radio 4.Penguin Pocket On This Day Penguin Reference Library 978-0-14-102715-9 2006 26 March – The body of 21-year-old prostitute and mother-of-two Yvonne Pearson, who was last seen alive on 21 January, is found in Leeds. The Yorkshire Ripper is believed to have been responsible.The Attacks And Murders – Yvonne Pearson 30 March – Conservative Party recruit advertising agency Saatchi & Saatchi to revamp their image.https://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/march/30/newsid_2530000/2530933.stm 1978: Tories recruit advertisers to win votes 27 January 2008 30 March 1978 BBC News https://web.archive.org/web/20080120014601/http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/march/30/newsid_2530000/2530933.stm 20 January 2008 live April April – First official naturist beach opens at Fairlight Glen in Covehurst Bay near Hastings.http://www.hastingschronicle.net/cpChronicle.html#1970s Hastings Country Park: The Chronicle The Hastings Chronicle 2011 8 March 2012 https://web.archive.org/web/20120330182645/http://www.hastingschronicle.net/cpChronicle.html#1970s 30 March 2012 dead 3 April – Permanent radio broadcasts of proceedings in the House of Commons begin.http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/releases/2008/december/events1978.htm Significant events of 1978 The National Archives 14 August 2011 6 April 2012 https://web.archive.org/web/20120406002733/http://nationalarchives.gov.uk/releases/2008/december/events1978.htm dead 6 April – State Earnings-Related Pension Scheme introduced.Andrew Andrew Marr Marr A History of Modern Britain London Macmillan 2007 978-1-4050-0538-8 353 23 April – Nottingham Forest win the Football League First Division title for the first time in their history. Their manager Brian Clough, who guided their East Midlands rivals Derby County to the title six years ago, becomes only the third manager in history to lead two different clubs to top division title glory; the others were Tom Watson with Sunderland and Liverpool before WWI, and Herbert Chapman with Huddersfield Town and Arsenal during the interwar years.Clough does it again https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=pPg9AAAAIBAJ&sjid=JUkMAAAAIBAJ&pg=6337,5511835&dq=nottingham-forest&hl=en Glasgow Herald 10 February 1978 8 March 2012 May 1 May – Early May Bank Holiday observed for the first time.Pyer Doug 2015-12-18 Briefing paper - Bank and public holidays http://researchbriefings.files.parliament.uk/documents/SN06170/SN06170.pdf House of Commons Library 2021-05-03 4 May – Altab Ali is murdered in East London in a racially motivated attack which mobilises the British Bangladeshi community to protest. 6 May – Ipswich Town win the FA Cup for the first time by beating Arsenal 1–0 in the Wembley final. 10 May – Liverpool F.C. retain the European Cup with a 1–0 win over Club Brugge K.V., the Belgian champions, at Wembley Stadium. 16 May – 40-year-old prostitute Vera Millward is found stabbed to death in the grounds of the Manchester Royal Infirmary Hospital; she is believed to have been the tenth woman to die at the hands of the Yorkshire Ripper. Both of the victims killed outside Yorkshire have been killed in Manchester.The Attacks And Murders – Vera Millward 17 May – Charlie Chaplin's coffin, stolen 11 weeks previously, is found in a field about a mile away from the Chaplin home in Corsier near Lausanne, Switzerland.https://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/may/17/newsid_2512000/2512129.stm BBC On This Day 16 November 2016 BBC News 25 May – Liberal Party leader David Steel announces that the Lib–Lab pact will be dissolved at the end of the current Parliamentary session by mutual consent, leaving Britain with a minority Labour government. 31 May – Labour wins the Hamilton by-election, retaining it in the face of a strong challenge from the Scottish National Party in that seat. June 1 June – William Stern is declared bankrupt with debts of £118 million, the largest bankruptcy in British history at the time.Charles James The 10 worst property investments ever The Times UK 25 June 2008 http://timesbusiness.typepad.com/money_weblog/2008/06/post.html https://web.archive.org/web/20100707144709/http://timesbusiness.typepad.com/money_weblog/2008/06/post.html 7 July 2010 dead 3 June – Freddie Laker is knighted. 8 June Naomi James becomes the first woman to sail around the world single-handedly. St Mary's Church in Barnes, London is gutted by fire.Weinreb Ben The London Encyclopaedia Hibbert Christopher Macmillan 1992 reprint 757 Christopher Hibbert 13–16 June – The Romanian dictator Nicolae Ceaușescu and his wife Elena pay a state visit to the United Kingdom. He is made a Knight of the Order of the Bath, and she an honorary professor of the Polytechnic of Central London.Hardman Robert https://www.spectator.co.uk/2019/06/why-ceausescus-1978-state-visit-was-far-more-humiliating-than-trumps-ever-could-be/ Why Ceausescu's 1978 state visit was far more humiliating than Trump's ever could be The Spectator 1 June 2019 24 July 2019 https://web.archive.org/web/20191114131420/https://www.spectator.co.uk/2019/06/why-ceausescus-1978-state-visit-was-far-more-humiliating-than-trumps-ever-could-be/ 14 November 2019 dead 17 June – Media reports suggest that a general election will be held this autumn as the minority government led by James Callaghan and Labour appears to be nearing the end of its duration. Callaghan's chances of an election win are now looking brighter than they were four months ago, as the 11-point Conservative lead has evaporated.https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=moMsAAAAIBAJ&sjid=tM0EAAAAIBAJ&pg=6949,4101978&dq=opinion+poll+thatcher&hl=en Callaghan Government Appears Near End of Road Spartanburg Herald-Journal 1978-06-19 A5 2019-08-11 19 June – Cricketer Ian Botham becomes the first man in the history of the game to score a century and take eight wickets in one innings of a Test match.https://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/june/19/newsid_2940000/2940656.stm 1978: Botham bowls into cricket history 27 January 2008 19 June 1978 BBC News https://web.archive.org/web/20080307123949/http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/june/19/newsid_2940000/2940656.stm 7 March 2008 live 21 June An outbreak of shooting between Provisional IRA members and the British Army leaves one civilian and three IRA men dead.https://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/june/21/newsid_2518000/2518375.stm 1978: Four dead in post office shootings 27 January 2008 21 June 1978 BBC News https://web.archive.org/web/20080106211705/http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/june/21/newsid_2518000/2518375.stm 6 January 2008 live The Andrew Lloyd Webber musical Evita opens at the Prince Edward Theatre in London. July 6 July – Eleven people are killed in the Taunton train fire. 7 July – Solomon Islands are annexed to the Crown and become independent from the United Kingdom. 15 July – The Picnic at Blackbushe Aerodrome, Camberley, Surrey, a concert featuring Bob Dylan, Eric Clapton and Joan Armatrading, attracts some 200,000 people.The Picnic at Blackbushe Aerodrome 1978 www.ukrockfestivals.com https://www.ukrockfestivals.com/blackbushe.html 2022-10-08 25 July Louise Brown becomes the world's first human born from in vitro fertilisation, in Oldham.https://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/july/25/newsid_2499000/2499411.stm 1978: First 'test tube baby' born 27 January 2008 25 July 1978 BBC News https://web.archive.org/web/20071221044857/http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/july/25/newsid_2499000/2499411.stm 21 December 2007 live Motability, a charity which provides cars to disabled people, founded.https://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/july/25/newsid_2500000/2500373.stm 1978: Motability gets moving in the UK 27 January 2008 25 July 1978 BBC News https://web.archive.org/web/20080307124021/http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/july/25/newsid_2500000/2500373.stm 7 March 2008 live August 10 August – Financially troubled carmaker Chrysler agrees to sell its European operations, including the former Rootes Group factories in Britain, to French carmaker Peugeot with effect from 1 January 1979. 20 August – Gunmen open fire on an Israeli El Al airline bus in London. 25 August – U.S. Army Sergeant Walter Robinson "walks" across the English Channel in 11 hours 30 minutes, using homemade water shoes. September 7 September Prime Minister James Callaghan announces that he will not call a general election for this autumn, and faces accusations from Tory leader Margaret Thatcher and Liberal leader David Steel of "running scared", in spite of many opinion polls showing that Labour (currently a minority government) could win an election now with a majority, safeguarding its place in government until 1983. Callaghan also announces that the Lib-Lab pact, formed 18 months ago when the government lost its majority, has reached its end.https://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/september/7/newsid_2502000/2502781.stm BBC On This Day Callaghan accused of running scared 1978-09-07 Bulgarian dissident Georgi Markov, 49, is stabbed with a poison-tipped umbrella as he walks across Waterloo Bridge, London, probably on orders of Bulgarian intelligence; he dies 4 days later.https://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/september/11/newsid_2514000/2514187.stm 1978: Umbrella stab victim dies 27 January 2008 11 September 1978 BBC News https://web.archive.org/web/20080307123955/http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/september/11/newsid_2514000/2514187.stm 7 March 2008 live 15 September – German terrorist Astrid Proll arrested in London.https://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/september/15/newsid_2518000/2518649.stm 1978: German terror suspect arrested in UK 27 January 2008 15 September 1978 BBC News https://web.archive.org/web/20080215062312/http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/september/15/newsid_2518000/2518649.stm 15 February 2008 live 19 September – British Police launch a massive murder hunt, following the discovery of the dead body of newspaper boy Carl Bridgewater (13) at a farmhouse near Kingswinford in the West Midlands. Carl is believed to have been shot dead after disturbing a burglary at the property.https://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/september/20/newsid_2524000/2524697.stm 1978: Police hunt Bridgewater killers 27 January 2008 20 September 1978 BBC News https://web.archive.org/web/20071223110635/http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/september/20/newsid_2524000/2524697.stm 23 December 2007 live 26 September – 23 Ford car plants are closed across Britain due to strikes. October 17 October – A cull of Grey seals in the Orkney and Western Islands reduced after a public outcry.https://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/october/17/newsid_2491000/2491329.stm 1978: Grey seal cull dramatically reduced 27 January 2008 17 October 1978 BBC News https://web.archive.org/web/20080129165440/http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/october/17/newsid_2491000/2491329.stm 29 January 2008 live 23 October – The government announces plans for a new single exam to replace O Levels and CSEs. 25 October – A ceremony marks the completion of Liverpool Cathedral, for which the foundation stone was laid in 1904. 27 October – Four people die and four others are wounded in a shooting spree which began in a residential street in West Bromwich and ends at a petrol station some 20 miles away in Nuneaton.https://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/october/27/newsid_2478000/2478217.stm BBC On This Day Gunman runs amok in West Midlands 1978-10-27 28 October – Barry Williams, aged 36, is arrested in Derbyshire and charged with the previous day's shootings following a high-speed police chase.https://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/october/27/newsid_2478000/2478217.stm On This Day BBC November 3 November – Dominica gains its independence from the United Kingdom. 4 November – Many British bakeries impose bread rationing after a baker's strike led to panic buying of bread.Those were the days 5 November – Rioters sack the British Embassy in Tehran. 10 November – Panic buying of bread stops as most bakers go back to work. 18 November – The British leg of the 1978 Kangaroo tour concludes with Australia winning the Ashes series by defeating Great Britain in the third and deciding Test match in Leeds. 20 November – Buckingham Palace announces that The Prince Andrew is to join the Royal Navy. 23 November – Pollyanna's nightclub in Birmingham is forced to lift its ban on black and Chinese revellers, after a one-year investigation by the Commission for Racial Equality concludes that the nightclub's entry policy was racist. 29 November – Viv Anderson, the 22-year-old Nottingham Forest defender, becomes England's first black international footballer when he appears in 1–0 friendly win over Czechoslovakia at Wembley Stadium – six months after he became the first black player to feature in an English league championship winning team and was also on the winning side in the final of the Football League Cup.https://www.sporting-heroes.net/football-heroes/displayhero_international.asp?HeroID=36335 Viv Anderson – England International Footballer Football-Heroes.net 30 November – An industrial dispute closes down The Times newspaper (until 12 November 1979).Palmer Alan Palmer Veronica 1992 The Chronology of British History Century Ltd London 441–442 978-0-7126-5616-0 December Four men aged between 17 and 50 are charged with the murder of newspaper boy Carl Bridgewater at a farmhouse near Stourbridge in September this year. They are also accused of other armed robberies including a raid on a farmhouse near Halesowen and another at a Tesco supermarket on Birmingham's Castle Vale estate. 10 December – Peter D. Mitchell wins the Nobel Prize in Chemistry "for his contribution to the understanding of biological energy transfer through the formulation of the chemiosmotic theory".https://nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/chemistry/laureates/1978/ The Nobel Prize in Chemistry 1978 27 January 2008 14 December – The Labour minority government survives a vote of confidence. 21–22 December – The BBC is hit by a series of strikes. From Thursday 21 December, BBC One and BBC Two television are taken off air, as the BBC members of the ABS union strike over pay. On 22 December, the ABS union calls its radio members out on strike, which leads to the merging of BBC Radio 1, 2, 3 and 4 into one national radio network, which from 4.00 pm that day provides a management-run schedule of news and music. With the strike called so close to Christmas, the BBC does not want their festive television programming to be interrupted (Bill Cotton, the controller of BBC One, has prepared two Christmas schedules for BBC One, one if there is no strike, and one filled with repeats and films if there is), and so the BBC and ABS go to the government's conciliation service ACAS, and a deal is reached by 10.00 pm on 22 December, with the unions getting a 15% pay rise. BBC One and Two return to normal service by lunchtime on Saturday 23 December, with all BBC radio stations resuming normal programming at breakfast time of the same day.https://boggenstrovia.blogspot.com/2013/12/the-christmas-that-nearly-wasnt-bbc.html The Christmas that Nearly wasn't Boggenstrovia's Bit 2015 2019-08-11 23 December – The Marxist writer Malcolm Caldwell is shot dead in Cambodia shortly after meeting Pol Pot. Undated Inflation reaches a six-year low of 8.3%,Inflation: the Value of the Pound 1750–1998 http://www.parliament.uk/commons/lib/research/rp99/rp99-020.pdf House of Commons Library 23 February 1999 8 March 2012 Research paper 99/20 dead https://web.archive.org/web/20060219130455/http://www.parliament.uk/commons/lib/research/rp99/rp99-020.pdf 19 February 2006 although unemployment is at a postwar high of 1,500,000.Ruth King http://www.ruthfullyyours.com/2011/06/30/andrew-roberts-republicans-and-the-thatcher-legacy/ Andrew Roberts: Republicans and the Thatcher legacy Ruthfully Yours 30 June 2011 8 March 2012 West midlands motorcycle manufacturer Norton Villiers Triumph is liquidated. Concrete Cows first erected in Milton Keynes. Publications J. G. Farrell's novel The Singapore Grip. Ken Follett's novel Eye of the Needle. Graham Greene's novel The Human Factor. Ian McEwan's novel The Cement Garden. Iris Murdoch's novel The Sea, the Sea. Roger Hargreaves' children’s books Timbuctoo (first twelve of a series of 25 books). Births 1 January – Alex Leigh, model 1 January – Phillip Mulryne, footballer 7 January – Dean Cosker, cricketer 17 January Warren Feeney, footballer Ricky Wilson, singer-songwriter 12 February – Gethin Jones, Welsh rugby player and television host 20 February – Jakki Degg, model 22 February – Jenny Frost, English singer and dancer 16 March – Anneliese Dodds, politician 22 March – Samantha Judge, Scottish field hockey forward 27 March – Romesh Ranganathan, comedian and broadcaster 31 March – Stephen Clemence, footballer 3 April – Matthew Goode, actor 7 April – Duncan James, actor and singer in boyband Blue 9 April – Rachel Stevens, singer 21 April – Carl Greenidge, cricketer 24 April – Beth Storry, field hockey goalkeeper 14 May – Emma Rochlin, Scottish field hockey defender 22 May – Katie Price, model and television personality 26 May – Laurence Fox, actor and political activist 29 May - Adam Rickitt, actor and singer June – Miranda Grell, Labour Councillor and first person to be found guilty of making false statements under the Representation of the People Act 1983 6 June – Carl Barât, singer and guitarist of rock band The Libertines 9 June – Matt Bellamy, lead singer of rock band Muse 14 June – Camilla Tominey, journalist and broadcaster 20 June – Frank Lampard, footballer 21 June – Tom Lister, actor 22 June – Dan Wheldon, racing driver (died 2011)https://www.independent.co.uk:80/news/obituaries/dan-wheldon-one-of-the-few-british-racing-drivers-to-win-the-indy-500-2371986.html Dan Wheldon: One of the few British racing drivers to win the Indy 500 Maume Chris 18 October 2011 The Independent January 2, 2022 https://web.archive.org/web/20111021084325/http://www.independent.co.uk/news/obituaries/dan-wheldon-one-of-the-few-british-racing-drivers-to-win-the-indy-500-2371986.html 21 October 2011 dead dmy-all 30 June – Romesh Ranganathan, comedian 2 July Paul Danan, actor (died 2025) Owain Yeoman, actor 9 July – Olivia Poulet, actress 23 July – Stuart Elliott, footballer 25 July – Louise Brown, first human born through in vitro fertilisation 31 July Will Champion, musician Justin Wilson, racing driver (died 2015) 5 August – Michael Bridges, football player and manager 19 August – Callum Blue, actor 22 August – James Corden, actor 23 August – Neil Gladwin, cricketer 27 August – Suranne Jones, actress 18 September – Ryan Lowe, football player and manager 23 September – Andy Fanton, cartoonist & writer 25 September – Jodie Kidd, model 2 October – Matt Hancock, Conservative politician 3 October – Christian Coulson, actor 5 October – Mark Gower, English footballer 6 October – Ricky Hatton, boxer (died 2025)https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/live/c201x6891e8t Boxing champion Ricky Hatton found dead aged 46 BBC News 14 September 2025 7 October Alison Balsom, classical trumpeter Jake Humphrey, television presenter 14 October – Paul Hunter, snooker player (died 2006)Snooker: Paul Hunter loses battle with cancer aged 27 Burnton Simon The Guardian 9 August 2025 https://www.theguardian.com/sport/2006/oct/10/snooker.simonburnton https://web.archive.org/web/20170123051835/https://www.theguardian.com/sport/2006/oct/10/snooker.simonburnton 23 January 2017 live 20 October – Anthony Taylor, football referee 25 October – Russell Anderson, footballer 26 October – Jimmy Aggrey, footballer 10 November – Ruth Davidson, politician 18 November – Damien Johnson, footballer 19 November – Paul Anderson, actor 6 December – Jack Thorne, screenwriter and playwright 7 December – Suzannah Lipscomb, historian 7 December - Dr Ali Smith, Material Scientist 16 December – Joe Absolom, actor 23 December – Jodie Marsh, model 27 December – Simon Case, civil servant 29 December Jake Berry, politician Kieron Dyer, football player and manager Deaths 14 January – Harold Abrahams, athlete (born 1899) 18 January – Walter H. Thompson, Scotland Yard detective, bodyguard of Winston Churchill (born 1890) 22 January – Herbert Sutcliffe, cricketer (born 1894) 24 February – Mrs Mills (Gladys Mills), pianist (born 1918) 1 March – Paul Scott, novelist, playwright and poet (born 1920) 4 April – Sir Morien Morgan, aeronautics engineer (born 1912) 9 April – Sir Clough Williams-Ellis, architect (born 1883) 21 April – Sandy Denny, singer (born 1947) 11 May – Philip Ray, actor (born 1898) 16 May – Diana Hay, 23rd Countess of Erroll, noblewoman (born 1926 in Kenya) 18 May – Selwyn Lloyd, politician (born 1904) 7 June – Ronald George Wreyford Norrish, chemist, Nobel Prize laureate (born 1897) 23 July – Tommy McLaren, footballer (born 1949) 30 July – John Mackintosh, politician (born 1929) 31 July – Carleton Hobbs, actor (born 1898) 1 August – W. E. Butler, occultist (born 1898) 14 August Nicolas Bentley, writer and illustrator (born 1907) Norman Feather, nuclear physicist (born 1904) 19 August – Sir Max Mallowan, archaeologist, second husband of Agatha Christie (born 1904) 24 August – Dame Kathleen Kenyon, archaeologist of the Middle East and college principal (born 1906) 28 August – Robert Shaw, actor and novelist (born 1927) 4 September – Leonora Cohen, suffragette, trade unionist and feminist (born 1873) 7 September – Keith Moon, drummer (The Who) (drug overdose) (born 1946) 9 September – Hugh MacDiarmid, Scottish poet (born 1892) 13 September – George Beck, English Roman Catholic prelate, Archbishop of Liverpool (born 1904)http://www.catholic-hierarchy.org/bishop/bbeckg.html Archbishop George Andrew Beck Catholic-Hierarchy David M. Cheney 8 February 2021 10 March 2022 March 10, 2022 https://web.archive.org/web/20220310094916/http://www.catholic-hierarchy.org/bishop/bbeckg.html live March 2022 15 September – Edmund Crispin, writer and composer (born 1921) 17 October – Alison Chadwick-Onyszkiewicz, mountain climber (died on Annapurna) (born 1942) 28 October – Geoffrey Unsworth, cinematographer (born 1914) 8 November - Terence Mitford, archaeologist of the Near East (born 1905). 1 December – David Nixon, magician and television personality (born 1919) 23 December – Malcolm Caldwell, academic and writer (murdered) (born 1931) See also List of British films of 1978 References 30em 1978 Category:Years of the 20th century in the United Kingdom Category:1970s in the United Kingdom Category:1978 in Europe Category:1978 by country