1985 in the United Kingdom

none January 2020 February 2012 1985 Constituent countries of the United Kingdom England Northern Ireland Scotland Wales Popular culture 1985 British Grand Prix 1985 English cricket season Football: England Scotland 1985 in British television 1985 in British music 1985 in British radio UK in the Eurovision Song Contest 1985 Events from the year 1985 in the United Kingdom. Incumbents Monarch – Elizabeth II Prime Minister – Margaret Thatcher (Conservative) Events thumb|300px|The official photograph of the Queen, the Prime Minister and all her living predecessors at 10 Downing Street on 4 December 1985 January January The Fraud Investigation Group is set up for cases of financial and commercial fraud. The Waterside Inn at Bray, Berkshire, founded by the brothers Michel and Albert Roux, becomes the first establishment in the UK to be awarded three Michelin Guide stars, a distinction which it retains for at least twenty-five years.Roux brothers win another star Robin Young The Times London 31 January 1985 3 62050 The first mobile phone network in the UK is launched by Vodafone. (The second would be Cellnet, on 7 January.)Institution of Electrical Engineers. Power Division IEEE Power Engineering Society Second International Conference on Developments in Distribution Switchgear, 14-16 May 1986 https://books.google.com/books?id=OaknAQAAMAAJ 1986 IEE 978-0-85296-328-9 4 7 January – Nine striking coalminers are jailed for arson. 10 January The Sinclair C5, a battery-assisted recumbent tricycle, designed by the British inventor Clive Sinclair is launched.Penguin Pocket On This Day Penguin Reference Library 0-14-102715-0 2006 Eight people are killed in an explosion in Putney.https://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/january/10/newsid_4045000/4045495.stm Gas blast kills eight in Putney BBC News 29 January 2008 10 January 1985 https://web.archive.org/web/20080115192932/http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/january/10/newsid_4045000/4045495.stm 15 January 2008 live 16 January – London's Dorchester Hotel is bought by the Sultan of Brunei. 17 January – British Telecom announces it is going to phase out its iconic red telephone boxes. 23 January – A debate in the House of Lords is televised for the first time. 25 January – The politician and diplomat David Ormsby-Gore, 5th Baron Harlech, 66, is seriously injured in a car accident at Montford Bridge, Shropshire, and dies the following day. 29 January – Margaret Thatcher becomes the first post-war Prime Minister to be publicly refused an honorary degree by Oxford University.https://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/january/29/newsid_2506000/2506019.stm Thatcher snubbed by Oxford dons BBC News 29 January 2008 29 January 1985 https://web.archive.org/web/20080201140335/http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/january/29/newsid_2506000/2506019.stm 1 February 2008 live February 10 February – Nine people are killed in a multiple crash on the M6 motorway. 14 February – Barbadian-born actress Eva Mottley is found dead aged 31 in her flat in Maida Vale, London. Her death is later confirmed as suicide by overdose. 16 February – Civil servant Clive Ponting resigns from the Ministry of Defence after his acquittal of breaching section 2 of the Official Secrets Act 1911 concerning the leaking of documents relating to the sinking of the ARA General Belgrano during the Falklands War.https://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/february/16/newsid_2545000/2545907.stm Falklands' row civil servant resigns BBC News 29 January 2008 16 February 1985 https://web.archive.org/web/20080219223052/http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/february/16/newsid_2545000/2545907.stm 19 February 2008 live 19 February – EastEnders, the BBC One soap opera set in the fictional London Borough of Walford, debuts. 25 February – UK miners' strike (1984–85): Nearly 4,000 striking coalminers return to work, meaning that only just over half of the miners are now on strike. 26 February – Following his trial and conviction at St Albans Crown Court, Malcolm Fairley, the sex attacker known as The Fox, is handed six life sentences.https://wearsideonline.com/malcolm-fairley-aka-the-fox/ Malcolm Fairley AKA The Fox | Serial Rapist From Sunderland Oct 12, 2018 Jan 23, 2021 28 February – 1985 Newry mortar attack: The Provisional Irish Republican Army carries out a mortar attack on the Royal Ulster Constabulary police station in Newry, killing nine officers in the highest loss of life for the RUC on a single day. March 3 March – The UK Miners' Strike, involving at its peak 142,000 coalminers, ends after one year.https://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/march/3/newsid_2515000/2515019.stm Miners call off year-long strike BBC News 29 January 2008 3 March 1985 https://web.archive.org/web/20080203135144/http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/march/3/newsid_2515000/2515019.stm 3 February 2008 live 7 March – Two IRA members are jailed for 35 years at the Old Bailey for plotting the bombing campaign across London during 1981. 11 March – Mohammed Al Fayed buys the London-based department store company Harrods. 13 March – Rioting breaks out at the FA Cup quarter-final between Luton Town and Millwall at Kenilworth Road, Luton; hundreds of hooligans tear seats from the stands and throw them onto the pitch before a pitch invasion takes place, resulting in 81 people (31 of them police officers) being injured. The carnage continues in the streets near the stadium, resulting in major damage to vehicles and property. Luton Town win the game 1–0. 19 March After beginning the year with a lead of up to eight points in the opinion poll, the Conservatives suffer a major blow as the latest MORI poll puts them four points behind Labour, who have a 40% share of the vote.http://www.ipsos-mori.com/researchpublications/researcharchive/poll.aspx?oItemId%3D103 Ipsos MORI | Trend | Voting Intention in Great Britain: 1976-present 4 April 2011 dead https://web.archive.org/web/20120923031349/http://www.ipsos-mori.com/researchpublications/researcharchive/poll.aspx?oItemId=103 23 September 2012 Ford launches the third generation of its Granada. It is sold only as a hatchback, in contrast to its predecessor which was sold as a saloon or estate and in continental Europe it will be known as the Scorpio.https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=du09AAAAIBAJ&pg=4343,3941632&dq=ford-granada+scorpio&hl=en The Glasgow Herald – Google News Archive Search News.google.com 6 November 2017 21 March – Actor Sir Michael Redgrave dies aged 77 of Parkinson's disease in a nursing home at Denham. April 11 April – An eighteen-month-old boy becomes the youngest person in the UK to die of HIV/AIDS. 22 April – Construction of Japanese carmaker Nissan's new factory at Sunderland, Tyne and Wear, begins. The first cars are expected to be produced next year.http://www.itnsource.com/shotlist//ITN/1985/04/22/130513/?s=Nissan+car+factory https://web.archive.org/web/20110719190725/http://www.itnsource.com/shotlist//ITN/1985/04/22/130513/?s=Nissan+car+factory dead 19 July 2011 NISSAN UNION DEAL 19 July 2011 6 November 2017 30 April – Bernie Grant, born in Guyana, becomes the first black council leader when he is elected as leader of the Labour-controlled London Borough of Haringey council. May 2 May – The SDP–Liberal Alliance makes big gains in local council elections. 11 May 56 people are killed in the Bradford City stadium fire. A 14-year-old boy is killed, 20 people are injured and several vehicles are wrecked when Leeds United football hooligans riot at the Birmingham City stadium and cause a wall to collapse.http://www.contrast.org/hillsborough/history/worldwide.shtm Worldwide Disasters – Hillsborough Football Disaster Contrast.org 6 November 2017 13 May – The Dire Straits album Brothers in Arms is released; it becomes the first compact disc to sell over 1,000,000 copies.https://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/entertainment/3940669.stm BBC News Tom Bishop Is music safe on compact disc? 27 August 2004 10 May 2011 15 May – Everton, who have already clinched their first Football League title for fifteen years, win the European Cup Winners' Cup, their first European trophy, with a 3–1 win over Rapid Vienna in Rotterdam. English clubs have now won 25 European trophies since 1963. Everton are also in contention for a treble of major trophies, as they take on Manchester United in the FA Cup final in three days. 16 May Two South Wales miners are sentenced to life imprisonment for the murder of taxi driver David Wilkie. Dean Hancock and Russell Shankland, both twenty-one years old, dropped a concrete block on Mr. Wilkie's taxi from a road overbridge in November last year. Scientists of the British Antarctic Survey discover the ozone hole. 18 May – Manchester United win the FA Cup for the sixth time in their history with a 1–0 win over Everton in the final at Wembley Stadium. The only goal of the game is scored by twenty-year-old Northern Irish forward Norman Whiteside, who scored in United's last FA Cup triumph two years earlier. 29 May – In the Heysel Stadium disaster at the European Cup final in Brussels, 39 football fans die and hundreds are injured. Despite the tragedy, the match is played and Juventus beat Liverpool 1–0. 31 May – The Football Association bans all English football clubs from playing in Europe until further notice in response to the Heysel riots. Thatcher supports the ban and calls for judges to hand out stiffer sentences to convicted football hooligans.https://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/may/31/newsid_2481000/2481723.stm 1985: English teams banned after Heysel 31 May 1985 6 November 2017 News.bbc.co.uk June 1 June – Battle of the Beanfield, Britain's largest mass arrest and the effective end of Stonehenge Free Festivals.https://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/june/1/newsid_2493000/2493267.stm Hippies clash with police at Stonehenge BBC News 29 January 2008 1 June 1985 https://web.archive.org/web/20080307120556/http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/june/1/newsid_2493000/2493267.stm 7 March 2008 live 2 June – In response to the Heysel Stadium disaster four days ago, UEFA bans all English football clubs from European competitions for an indefinite period, recommending that Liverpool should serve an extra three years of exclusion once all other English clubs have been reinstated.https://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/june/2/newsid_2494000/2494963.stm 1985: Uefa bans English clubs from Europe 2 June 1985 6 November 2017 News.bbc.co.uk 6 June – Birmingham unveils its bid to host the 1992 Summer Olympics, which includes plans for a new £66,000,000 stadium.https://www.expressandstar.com/days/1976-2000/1985.html Those were the days Expressandstar.com 6 November 2017 13 June – The fourteenth James Bond film – A View to a Kill – is released, marking the seventh and final appearance by Roger Moore as the fictional secret agent after six films since 1973.http://www.mi6.co.uk/sections/movies/avtak.php3 MI6 :: A View to a Kill (1985) :: James Bond 007 1 October 2010 https://web.archive.org/web/20081116043737/http://www.mi6.co.uk/sections/movies/avtak.php3 16 November 2008 usurped 22 June – Police arrest thirteen suspects in connection with the Brighton hotel bombing of 1984.https://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/june/25/newsid_2519000/2519673.stm Police hunt IRA resort bombs BBC News 29 January 2008 25 June 1985 https://web.archive.org/web/20080106162408/http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/june/25/newsid_2519000/2519673.stm 6 January 2008 live 29 June – Patrick Magee is charged with the murder of the people who died in the Brighton bombing eight months ago. July 4 July 13-year-old Ruth Lawrence achieves a first in Mathematics at the University of Oxford, becoming the youngest British person ever to earn a first-class degree and the youngest known graduate of the university.https://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/july/4/newsid_2492000/2492853.stm Teenage genius gets a first BBC News 29 January 2008 4 July 1985 https://web.archive.org/web/20080307120833/http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/july/4/newsid_2492000/2492853.stm 7 March 2008 live Unemployment for June falls to 3,178,582 from May's total of 3,240,947, the best fall in unemployment of the decade so far. The Brecon and Radnor by-election, caused by the death of the sitting Conservative MP Tom Hooson on 8 May, is held. The seat is won by the Liberal candidate Richard Livsey, representing the SDP–Liberal Alliance. 13 July – Live Aid pop concerts in London and Philadelphia raise over £50,000,000 for famine relief in Ethiopia.https://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/july/13/newsid_2502000/2502735.stm Live Aid makes millions for Africa BBC News 29 January 2008 13 July 1985 https://web.archive.org/web/20071221123905/http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/july/13/newsid_2502000/2502735.stm 21 December 2007 live 24 July – Country code top-level domain .uk registered. 25 July–4 August – The World Games take place in London.Bell Daniel Encyclopedia of International Games 17 March 2016 McFarland 978-1-4766-1527-1 517 https://books.google.com/books?id=gjPECwAAQBAJ&pg=PA517 en 29 July – Despite unemployment having fallen since October last year, it has increased in 73 Conservative constituencies, according to government figures. August 7 August – Five people are found killed in the White House Farm murders in Essex. Nevill and June Bamber, a couple in their sixties, are found shot dead, as is their 27-year-old adoptive daughter Sheila Caffell and her six-year-old twin sons Daniel and Nicholas. The crime is initially treated by the police and reported by the media as a murder-suicide committed by Sheila Caffell, who had a long history of mental health issues. 13 August The first UK heart-lung transplant is carried out at the Harefield Hospital in Middlesex. The patient is three-year-old Jamie Gavin.https://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/august/13/newsid_2495000/2495213.stm Heart-lung transplant makes history BBC News 29 January 2008 13 August 1985 https://web.archive.org/web/20080307120649/http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/august/13/newsid_2495000/2495213.stm 7 March 2008 live The Sinclair C5 ceases production after just seven months and fewer than 17,000 units. 22 August – 55 people are killed in the Manchester air disaster at Manchester International Airport when a British Airtours Boeing 737 bursts into flames after the pilot aborts the take-off. 24 August – Five-year-old John Shorthouse is shot dead by police at his family's house in Birmingham, where they were arresting his father on suspicion of an armed robbery committed in South Wales.http://www.4wardever.org/#/john-shorthouse/4528337227 www.4wardever.org – このドメインはお名前.comで取得されています。 4wardever.org 6 November 2017 September September SEAT, the Spanish carmaker originally a subsidy of Fiat but now under controlling interest from Volkswagen, begins importing cars to the United Kingdom. Its range consists of the Marbella (a rebadged version of the Fiat Panda), the Ibiza hatchback and Malaga saloon.http://www.perrys.co.uk/car-news/blog/2010/09/25-years-of-seat-in-the-uk-1780.php 25 years of Seat in the UK – Car News, Reviews & Buyers Guides 1 September 2010 Perrys.co.uk 6 November 2017 https://web.archive.org/web/20111002184240/http://www.perrys.co.uk/car-news/blog/2010/09/25-years-of-seat-in-the-uk-1780.php 2 October 2011 dead United Kingdom BSE outbreak: Earliest confirmed case of bovine spongiform encephalopathy in British cattle, by post-mortem examination of a cow from Sussex, although not confirmed as such until June 1987.The BSE Inquiry Phillips Nick Bridgeman June Ferguson-Smith Malcolm October 2000 http://webarchive.nationalarchives.gov.uk/20060802142310/http://www.bseinquiry.gov.uk/ 2 August 2006 http://www.bseinquiry.gov.uk/ dead 3 13 May 2021 §1.7. 1 September – A joint French-American expedition locates the wreck of the Titanic in the North Atlantic. 2 September – England win the 1985 Ashes series in cricket. 4 September – The first photographs and films of the RMS Titanic'''s wreckage are taken, 73 years after it sank.https://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/september/4/newsid_2498000/2498635.stm 1985: Titanic wreck captured on film 4 September 1985 6 November 2017 News.bbc.co.uk 6 September – The Scottish Exhibition and Conference Centre opens in Glasgow. The first Toys R Us stores in the UK in Woking, Wood Green and Basildon. 7 September – Welsh fashion designer Laura Ashley, 60, is seriously injured in a fall at her daughter's home near Coventry. She dies of her injuries ten days later. 8 September – Jeremy Bamber is arrested on suspicion of murdering his adoptive parents, sister and two nephews in last month's White House Farm murders. 9 September – Rioting, mostly motivated by racial tension, breaks out in the Handsworth area of Birmingham.https://www.bbc.co.uk/birmingham/content/articles/2005/09/05/handsworth_riots_20years_feature.shtml BBC – Birmingham – Your Community : Handsworth Riots – Twenty years on Bbc.co.uk 6 November 2017 10 September The riots in Handsworth escalate, with mass arson and looting resulting in thousands of pounds worth of damage, leaving several people injured, and resulting in the deaths of two people when the local post office is petrol-bombed, one of the fatalities being its owner. Scotland national football team manager Jock Stein, 62, collapses and dies from a heart attack at the end of his team's 1–1 draw with Wales at Ninian Park, Cardiff, which secured Scotland's place in the World Cup qualification play-off.https://news.bbc.co.uk/sport2/hi/scotland/4221034.stm Remembering Jock Stein 6 September 2005 6 November 2017 News.bbc.co.uk 11 September The rioting in Handsworth ends, with the final casualty toll standing at 35 injuries and two deaths. A further two people are unaccounted for. Enoch Powell, the controversial former-Conservative MP who was dismissed from the Shadow Cabinet seventeen years earlier for his Rivers of Blood speech on immigration, states that the riots in Handsworth were a vindication of the warnings he voiced in 1968. November 2017 The England national football team secures qualification for next summer's World Cup in Mexico with a 1–1 draw against Romania at Wembley. Tottenham midfielder Glenn Hoddle scores England's only goal. 17 September – Margaret Thatcher's hopes of winning a third term in office at the next general election are thrown into doubt by the results of an opinion poll, which shows the Conservatives in third place on 30%, Labour in second place on 33% and the SDP–Liberal Alliance in the lead on 35%.https://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/politics/8280050.stm Poll tracker: Interactive guide to the opinion polls 29 September 2009 6 November 2017 News.bbc.co.uk 28 September A riot in Brixton erupts in response to Metropolitan Police shooting Dorothy "Cherry" Groce in her home during a raid. One person dies in the riot, fifty are injured and more than 200 are arrested.https://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/september/28/newsid_2540000/2540397.stm Riots in Brixton after police shooting BBC News 29 January 2008 28 September 1985 https://web.archive.org/web/20080307120715/http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/september/28/newsid_2540000/2540397.stm 7 March 2008 live Manchester United's excellent start to the Football League First Division season sees them win their tenth league game in succession, leaving them well-placed to win their first league title since 1967. 29 September – Jeremy Bamber is rearrested upon his return to England after two weeks on holiday in France and charged with the five White House Farm murders. October 1 October Neil Kinnock makes a speech at the Labour Party Conference in Bournemouth attacking the entryist Militant group in Liverpool.Andrew Andrew Marr Marr A History of Modern Britain London Macmillan 2007 978-1-4050-0538-8 Economists predict that unemployment will remain above the 3,000,000 mark for the rest of the decade. 3 October – South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands are separated from the Falkland Islands Dependencies. 5 October – Mrs. Cythnia Jarrett, a 49-year-old black woman, dies after falling over during a police search of her home on the Broadwater Farm estate in Tottenham, London.https://www.theguardian.com/uk/1985/oct/07/ukcrime.garethparry Policeman killed in riot Gareth Parry John Ezard Andrew Rawnsley 7 October 1985 6 November 2017 The Guardian 6 October – PC Keith Blakelock is fatally stabbed during the Broadwater Farm Riot in Tottenham, London, which began after the death of Cynthia Jarrett yesterday. Two of his colleagues are treated in hospital for gunshot wounds, as are three journalists.https://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/october/6/newsid_4094000/4094928.stm Policeman killed in Tottenham riots BBC News 29 January 2008 6 October 1985 https://web.archive.org/web/20080307120633/http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/october/6/newsid_4094000/4094928.stm 7 March 2008 live 15 October – The SDP-Liberal Alliance's brief lead in the opinion polls is over, with the Conservatives now back in the lead by a single point over Labour in the latest MORI poll. 17 October – The House of Lords decides the legal case of Gillick v West Norfolk and Wisbech Area Health Authority,http://www.bailii.org/uk/cases/UKHL/1985/7.html 1985 3 All ER 402 (HL) Bailii.org 6 November 2017 which sets the significant precedent of Gillick competence, i.e. that a child of sixteen or under may be competent to consent to contraception or – by extension – other medical treatment without requiring parental permission or knowledge. 24 October – Members of Parliament react to the recent wave of rioting, by saying that unemployment is an unacceptable excuse for the riots. 28 October – Production of the Peugeot 309 begins at the Ryton car factory near Coventry. The 309, a small family hatchback, is the first "foreign" car to be built in the UK. It was originally going to be badged as the Talbot Arizona, but Peugeot has decided that the Talbot badge will be discontinued on passenger cars after next year and that the Ryton plant will then be used for the production of its own products, including a larger four-door saloon (similar in size to the Ford Sierra) which is due in two years. 30 October – Unemployment is reported to have risen in nearly 70% of the Conservative held seats since October 1984. 31 October – The two miners who killed taxi driver David Wilkie in South Wales eleven months earlier, have their life sentences for murder reduced to eight years for manslaughter on appeal. November 1 November Aircraft carrier HMS Ark Royal is commissioned by the Queen Mother.http://www.mod.uk/DefenceInternet/DefenceNews/HistoryAndHonour/HmsArkRoyalCelebratesSilverJubilee.htm HMS Ark Royal celebrates Silver Jubilee Ministry of Defence 6 July 2010 9 November 2014 Unemployment for September falls by nearly 70,000 to less than 3,300,000. 5 November – Mark Kaylor defeats Errol Christie to become the middleweight boxing champion, after the two brawl in front of the cameras at the weigh-in. 9 November – The Prince and Princess of Wales (Charles and Diana) arrive in the United States for a visit to Ronald Reagan in Washington, D.C.https://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/november/9/newsid_4396000/4396846.stm America welcomes Charles and Diana On This Day BBC 9 November 1985 9 November 2014 15 November – Anglo-Irish Agreement signed at Hillsborough Castle. Treasury Minister Ian Gow resigns in protest at the deal.https://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/november/15/newsid_2539000/2539849.stm Anglo-Irish agreement signed BBC News 29 January 2008 15 November 1985 https://web.archive.org/web/20080307120742/http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/november/15/newsid_2539000/2539849.stm 7 March 2008 live 17 November – The Confederation of British Industry calls for the government to invest £1,000,000,000 in unemployment relief – a move which would cut unemployment by 350,000 and potentially bring it below 3,000,000 for the first time since late-1981. 18 November – A coach crash on the M6 motorway near Birmingham kills two people and injures 51 others.1985 https://www.expressandstar.com/days/1976-2000/1985.html Express & Star Wolverhampton 9 November 2014 19 November – The latest MORI poll shows that Conservative and Labour support is almost equal at around 36%, with the SDP–Liberal Alliance's hopes of electoral breakthrough left looking bleak as they have polled only 25% of the vote.Poll tracker https://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/politics/8280050.stm BBC 2010 9 November 2014 22 November – Margaret Thatcher is urged by her MPs to call a general election for June 1987, despite the deadline not being until June 1988 and recent opinion polls frequently showing Labour and the Alliance equal with the Conservatives, although the Conservative majority has remained well into triple figures. 25 November – Department store chains British Home Stores and Habitat announce a £1,500,000,000 amalgamation. 27 November – Labour Party leader Neil Kinnock suspends the Liverpool District Labour Party amid allegations that the Trotskyist Militant group is attempting to control it.Kinnock moves against Militant https://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/november/27/newsid_2528000/2528725.stm On This Day 27 November 1985 9 November 2014 29 November A gas explosion kills four people in Glasgow.https://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/november/29/newsid_2527000/2527321.stm 'Gas blast' kills five in Glasgow BBC News 29 January 2008 29 November 1985 https://web.archive.org/web/20080307120657/http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/november/29/newsid_2527000/2527321.stm 7 March 2008 live Gérard Hoarau, exiled political leader from the Seychelles, is assassinated in London. December December – Builders Alfred McAlpine complete construction of Nissan's new car factory at Sunderland. Nissan can now install machinery and factory components and car production is expected to begin by the summer of next year. 2 December – Author and librarian Philip Larkin dies of cancer aged 61 in Kingston upon Hull. 4 December The Queen and all the five living former Prime Ministers attend an official dinner hosted by Denis and Margaret Thatcher at 10 Downing Street to mark the 250th anniversary of the building becoming the Prime Minister's official residence. Scotland's World Cup qualification is secured by a goalless draw with Australia in the play-off second leg in Sydney.http://www.londonhearts.com/scotland/games/19851204.html 19851204 Wed 04 Dec 1985 Australia 0 Scotland 0 Londonhearts.com 6 November 2017 5 December It is announced that unemployment fell in November, for the third month running. It now stands at 3,165,000. November 2017 The Tyne Bridge by-election, caused by the death of the sitting Labour MP Harry Cowans on 3 October, is held. David Clelland holds the seat for Labour. 7 December – Poet, author and critic Robert Graves dies aged 90 at his home at Deià on the Spanish island of Majorca. 25 December – Charitable organisation Comic Relief is launched. 26 December A siege at a flat in Northolt, London, comes to an end after 29 hours when armed police storm the property and arrest 29-year-old Errol Walker, who had stabbed a woman to death and was holding her daughter hostage. The dramatic conclusion is captured by television cameras.Roman Rollnick https://www.upi.com/Archives/1985/12/27/Police-free-4-year-old-hostage/1109504507600/ Police free 4-year-old hostage – UPI Archives UPI 27 December 1985 16 December 2023 Rock star Phil Lynott (36), formerly a member of the band Thin Lizzy, is rushed to hospital after collapsing from a suspected heroin overdose at his home in Berkshire. He will die on 4 January 1986. December – After three successive monthly falls in unemployment, the jobless count for this month has increased by nearly 15,000 to 3,181,300.Figures announced 9 January 1986. Undated Inflation stands at 6.1% – the highest since 1982, but still low compared to the highs reached in the 1970s.http://www.parliament.uk/commons/lib/research/rp99/rp99-020.pdf Archived copy 7 December 2009 https://web.archive.org/web/20100216052013/http://www.parliament.uk/commons/lib/research/rp99/rp99-020.pdf 16 February 2010 dead Peak year for British oil production: 127,000,000 tonnes. A record of more than 1.8 million new cars have been sold in Britain during this year, beating the previous record set in 1983. The Ford Escort is Britain's most popular new car for the fourth year running and all of the top 10 best-selling new cars are produced by Ford, Vauxhall or Austin Rover. Continental and Japanese manufacturers enjoy a good-sized percentage of the new car market though, with Fiat, Nissan, Peugeot, Renault, Volkswagen and Volvo all doing well. These figures are announced on 7 January 1986 by the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders.http://classics.honestjohn.co.uk/news/archive/1986-01/escort-wins-cut-price-car-war/ Escort wins cut price car war | January 1986 | News Archive | Honest John The first retailers move into the Merry Hill Shopping Centre near Dudley, West Midlands. A new shopping centre is scheduled to open alongside the developing retail park in April 1986 and it is anticipated to grow into Europe's largest indoor shopping centre with further developments set to be completed by 1990, as well as including a host of leisure facilities.http://www2.dudley.gov.uk/documents/Brierley_Hill_Area_Action_Plan_Baseline_Report/chapter_234.html Brierley Hill Area Action Plan - Baseline Report - Retail and Commercial 1 August 2011 https://web.archive.org/web/20111007113721/http://www2.dudley.gov.uk/documents/Brierley_Hill_Area_Action_Plan_Baseline_Report/chapter_234.html 7 October 2011 dead Publications Margaret Atwood's novel The Handmaid's Tale. Iain Banks's novel Walking on Glass. Jilly Cooper's novel Riders, first of the Rutshire Chronicles. Tony Harrison's poem V. Jeanette Winterson's novel Oranges Are Not the Only Fruit. Births thumb|135px|Lewis Hamilton thumb|135px|Karima Adebibe thumb|135px|Keira Knightley thumb|135px|Drew McIntyre thumb|135px|Marina Diamandis thumb|135px|Wayne Rooney January 1 January – Steven Davis, footballer 4 January – Lenora Crichlow, actress 6 January – Hugh Skinner, actor 7 January Lewis Hamilton, Formula One racing driver Wayne Routledge, English footballer 9 January – James Acaster, comedian 11 January – Newton Faulkner, rock musician 16 January – Craig Jones, motorcycle racer (died 2008) 20 January – Olivia Hallinan, actress 24 January – Ian Henderson, footballer 26 January Rusko, musician Heather Stanning, rower 28 January – Tom Hopper, actor February 1 February – Dean Shiels, footballer 5 February – Emma Barnett, broadcaster and journalist 10 February – Cath Rae, Scottish field hockey goalkeeper 14 February – Karima Adebibe, actress and model 16 February – Simon Francis, footballer 17 February – Duane Goodfield, Welsh rugby union player 20 February – Michael Oliver, football referee March 3 March – Sam Morrow, footballer 5 March – David Marshall, footballer 7 March – Gerwyn Price, darts player 11 March – Richard Hoden, politician 17 March – Dominic Adams, actor and model 26 March – Keira Knightley, actress29 March 2013 Monitor Entertainment Weekly 1252 30 27 March - Julia Goulding, actress April 1 April – Beth Tweddle, gymnast 3 April – Leona Lewis, singer 7 April – Humza Yousaf, Scottish politician 8 April – Gareth Rees, cricketer 20 April – Amanda Fahy, actress May 2 May – Lily Allen, singer 9 May – Jason Arday, sociologist (died 2026) 15 May – James Dean, footballer (died 2021) 21 May Mutya Buena, urban singer (Sugababes) Alison Carroll, artistic gymnast, actress and model Mark Cavendish, road racing cyclist Alex Danson, field hockey player 22 May – Stuart Tomlinson, footballer and wrestler 28 May – Carey Mulligan, actress June 6 June – Drew McIntyre, wrestler 7 June Charlie Simpson, singer-songwriter Simon Whaley, footballer 15 June Nadine Coyle, singer 20 June - Miaoux Miaoux, keyboardist (Franz Ferdinand) 24 June – Tom Kennedy, footballer 25 June – Scott Brown, football player and manager 28 June – Phil Bardsley, footballer July 3 July – Dean Cook, actor 5 July – Nick O'Malley, musician 7 July – Georgina Baillie, singer, actor and artist 9 July – Ashley Young, footballer 13 July – Charlotte Dujardin, dressage riderhttps://www.olympic.org/charlotte-dujardin Charlotte Dujardin IOC 12 January 2021 14 July – Phoebe Waller-Bridge, comic actress and screenwriter 22 July – Blake Harrison, actor 30 July – Aml Ameen, actor August 12 August – Charlotte Salt, actress 15 August – Verity Rushworth, actress September 3 September – Scott Carson, footballer 19 September – Sarah Hunter, rugby player 21 September – Joe Wicks, fitness coach and television presenter 24 September – Kimberley Nixon, actress 26 September – Talulah Riley, actress 28 September – Luke Chambers, football player and manager 29 September – Mark Fletcher, politician October 1 October – Emerald Fennell, screen actress and director 5 October - Nicola Roberts, singer and songwriter 6 October – Mitchell Cole, footballer (died 2012) 9 October – Frankmusik, electropop musician 10 October – Marina Diamandis 24 October – Wayne Rooney, footballer 25 October Reanne Evans, snooker player Sophie Gradon, model and marketing manager (died 2018) 29 October – Janet Montgomery, film and television actress November 7 November – Paul Terry, actor 8 November – Jack Osbourne, actor 12 November – Ben Aldridge, actor 22 November – James Roby, rugby league player 28 November – Ryan Sampson, actor December 2 December – Seann Walsh, comedian and actor 10 December – Ollie Bridewell, motorcycle racer (died 2007) 17 December – Greg James, radio and television presenter 19 December – Gary Cahill, English footballer 21 December – Tom Sturridge, actor 22 December – Kae Tempest, performance artist 23 December – Harry Judd, pop rock drummer (McFly) Deaths January thumb|upright|135px|Brian Horrocks thumb|upright|135px|David Ormsby-Gore, 5th Baron Harlech 1 January – William Ernest Bowman, engineer and writer (born 1911) 2 January – Sir Basil Bartlett, actor and screenwriter (born 1905) 4 January Sir Brian Horrocks, Army general (born 1895) Russell Page, gardener (born 1906) 5 January – William Gidley Emmett, chemist and educationist (born 1887) 7 January – Edith Batten, educationist (born 1905) 8 January – Sir Harold Hillier, horticulturalist (born 1905) 9 January William Arthur Harland, physician (born 1926) Sir Robert Mayer, philanthropist (born 1879, German Empire) 11 January Kenny Clare, jazz drummer (born 1929) Errol White, geologist (born 1901) 12 January – Paul Luty, wrestler and actor (born 1932) 13 January – Kenneth O'Connor, soldier, lawyer and judge (born 1896) 14 January – Alfred Allen, Baron Allen of Fallowfield, trade unionist and BBC governor (born 1914) 16 January – Saidie Patterson, Northern Irish trade unionist and peace activist (born 1906) 17 January – James Frederic Riley, physician and radiologist (born 1912) 18 January Wilfrid Brambell, Irish-born actor (born 1912) Noel Lytton, 4th Earl of Lytton, peer, soldier and writer (born 1900) John Wolfenden, Baron Wolfenden, educationist and compiler of the Wolfenden Report (born 1906) 19 January – Joan Hutt, artist (born 1913) 20 January – Thomas Balogh, Baron Balogh, economist (born 1905, Austria-Hungary) 21 January – Arthur Ernest Hagg, aircraft designer (born 1888) 22 January – Sir Arthur Bryant, historian (born 1899) 23 January – Mark Hodson, Anglican prelate (born 1907) 25 January – Ralph Broome, Army lieutenant-colonel (born 1889) 26 January James Cameron, journalist (born 1911) David Ormsby-Gore, 5th Baron Harlech, peer and politician (born 1918; road accident) 27 January – Robert McLellan, Scottish poet and dramatist (born 1907) 29 January Neil Cameron, Baron Cameron of Balhousie, RAF air marshal (born 1920) Joyce Daniel, birth control activist (born 1890) Chic Murray, comedian (born 1919) February thumb|upright|135px|Sydney Cozens thumb|upright|135px|William Lyons thumb|upright|135px|Iain Moncreiffe of that Ilk 1 February – Robert Chartham, author (born 1911) 5 February Sydney Cozens, cyclist (born 1908) Neil McCarthy, actor (born 1933) 6 February – James Hadley Chase, writer (born 1906) 7 February – George Edward Briggs, botanist (born 1893) 8 February Ursula Edgcumbe, sculptor and painter (born 1900) Sir William Lyons, automobile engineer and designer, founder of Jaguar Cars (born 1901) Sir Guy Salisbury-Jones, Army officer and military attaché (born 1896) 9 February – Humphrey Trevelyan, colonial administrator and writer (born 1905) 14 February Eva Mottley, actress (suicide) (born 1953, Barbados) Frances Richards, artist (born 1903) 16 February Josephine Bradley, ballroom dancer (born 1893) Frederick Smith, 3rd Earl of Birkenhead, peer, writer and historian (born 1936) 17 February – George Coppard, World War I veteran (born 1898) 18 February Douglas Johnston, Lord Johnston, judge (born 1907) Thurston Williams, architect (born 1924) 19 February – Dorothy Black, actress (born 1899, South Africa) 21 February – Louis Hayward, actor (born 1909) 22 February David Hunt, ornithologist (born 1934; killed by tiger in India) Florence Tunks, suffragette and nurse (born 1891) 25 February – Bill Branch, golfer (born 1911) 26 February – Douglas Muggeridge, radio controller (born 1928) 27 February Sir Iain Moncreiffe of that Ilk, genealogist and Officer of Arms (born 1919) J. Pat O'Malley, actor (born 1904) 28 February David Byron, singer (born 1947) Ray Ellington, singer, drummer and bandleader (born 1916) D. W. Lucas, classical scholar (born 1905) March thumb|upright|135px|F. S. Northedge thumb|upright|135px|Michael Redgrave thumb|upright|135px|Irene Savidge 2 March Arthur Champion, Baron Champion, Labour politician (born 1897) Alexander Watt, botanist (born 1892) 3 March Alan Beaney, Labour politician (born 1905) F. S. Northedge, political scientist (born 1918) 6 March – David Templeton Gibson, chemist (born 1899) 7 March Wilfred Brown, Baron Brown, businessman (born 1908) Clara Winsome Muirhead, Scottish botanist (born 1916) 8 March Reuben Goodstein, mathematician (born 1912) Charles Guy Parsloe, historian and Liberal politician (born 1900) 9 March Harry Catterick, footballer and football manager (born 1919) John Tudor Jones, Welsh scholar, broadcaster and translator (born 1903) 10 March – Victor Hervey, 6th Marquess of Bristol, peer (born 1915) 11 March – William Bailey, Royal Navy officer (born 1918, Portugal) 15 March Morry Davis, politician (born 1894) Alan A. Freeman, record producer (born 1920)General Register Office; United Kingdom; Volume: 15; Page: 284. England & Wales, Civil Registration Death Index, 1916-2007 [database on-line].1985-03-20 Obituary for ALAN ALBERT FREEMAN.-On https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-daily-telegraph-obituary-for-alan-al/173750190/ 2025-06-03 The Daily Telegraph 36 16 March Archibald Lamont, Scottish geologist, palaeontologist, writer and politician (born 1907) Jean Purdy, nurse and embryologist (born 1945) 19 March – Anthony Nelson Keys, film producer (born 1911) 21 March – Sir Michael Redgrave, actor (born 1908) 23 March – Doctor Richard Beeching, railway executive (born 1913) 25 March – Horace Birks, Army major-general (born 1897) 26 March Irene Savidge, factory worker (born 1905) Henry J. Wilson, Army colonel and farmer (born 1904) 27 March – Lydia Manley Henry, physician (born 1891) 29 March Sir Fife Clark, journalist and civil servant (born 1907) Joseph Symonds, Labour politician (born 1900) Janet Watson, geologist (born 1927) 30 March – John Jolliffe, librarian at the Bodleian (born 1929) April thumb|upright|135px|Annis Gillie thumb|upright|135px|Olga Tufnell thumb|upright|135px|Cecil Manning 1 April Alec Clifton-Taylor, historian, writer and television presenter (born 1907) Julian Thornton-Duesbery, clergyman and academic (born 1902) 4 April Raymond Briggs, Army major-general (born 1895) Kate Roberts, author (born 1891) 6 April – Terence Sanders, Olympic rower (born 1904) 5 April – Arthur Negus, broadcaster and antiques specialist (born 1903) 7 April David Loveday, Anglican prelate (born 1896) Willie McRae, lawyer, politician and anti-nuclear campaigner (born 1923) 10 April David Blair, Scottish golfer (born 1917) Dame Annis Gillie, physician (born 1900) 11 April Bunny Ahearne, businessman and ice hockey administrator (born 1900) John Gilroy, artist (born 1898) Olga Tufnell, archaeologist (born 1905) Fred Uhlman, German-English writer, painter and lawyer (born 1901) 12 April – Cecil Manning, Labour politician (born 1892) 13 April Sir Clavering Fison, businessman and Conservative politician (born 1892) Oscar Nemon, sculptor (born 1906, Austria-Hungary) 14 April Noele Gordon, actress (born 1919) Kate Roberts, author (born 1891) 17 April John Selwyn Bromley, naval historian (born 1913) Basil Bunting, poet (born 1900) 18 April – Gertrude Caton Thompson, archaeologist (born 1888) 19 April – Jack Broome, Royal Navy captain (born 1901) 20 April William Fisher Cassie, civil engineer (born 1905) Ralph Dutton, 8th Baron Sherborne, peer (born 1898) 21 April John Dutton, trade union leader (born 1909) Francis Eaton, 4th Baron Cheylesmore, peer (born 1893) John Welsh, actor (born 1914, Ireland) Sir Owen Temple-Morris, lawyer and Conservative politician (born 1896) 22 April A. C. Gimson, phonetician (born 1917) Sir Thomas Parry, Welsh author (born 1904) Syd Scott, golfer (born 1913) 23 April – Patrick Wilkinson, classical scholar (born 1907) 25 April – Richard Haydn, actor (born 1905) 27 April James Dunn, Labour politician (born 1926) Gordon Ross, journalist (born 1917) 30 April Sir Max Aitken, 2nd Baronet, Conservative politician, press baron and World War II air ace, son of Lord Beaverbrook (born 1910) Edgar Mountain, athlete (born 1901) Mike Sangster, tennis player (born 1940) May thumb|upright|135px|Bridget D'Oyly Carte thumb|upright|135px|Donald Bailey 1 May – Denise Robins, romantic novelist (born 1897) 2 May Phyllis Bedells, ballerina (born 1893) Dame Bridget D'Oyly Carte, manager of the D'Oyly Carte Opera Company (1948–1982) (born 1908) 3 May R. D. Smith, lecturer and radio producer (born 1914) Foster Neville Woodward, chemist (born 1905) 5 May – Sir Donald Bailey, civil engineer (born 1901) 7 May Dawn Addams, actress (born 1930) Sir John Woodall, Army lieutenant-general (born 1897) 9 May Reginald Dixon, theatre organist (born 1904) Leslie Hale, Baron Hale, politician (born 1902) 10 May – Sir Peter Foster, judge (born 1912) 15 May – Nigel Henderson, artist (born 1917) 16 May Hugh Burden, actor and playwright (born 1913) Harry Earnshaw, cyclist (born 1915) 19 May Ellen McCullough, trade unionist (born 1908) Sir Rodney Moore, Army general (born 1905) 20 May – Hilary Stratton, sculptor (born 1906) 22 May Gerald Case, actor (born 1905) Henry Raeburn Dobson, Scottish artist (born 1901) Sir Alister Hardy, marine biologist (born 1896) 24 May – Geoffrey Gorer, anthropologist and author (born 1905) 28 May – Roy Plomley, radio broadcaster, producer, playwright and novelist, founder of Desert Island Discs'' (born 1914) 30 May – George K. Arthur, actor and producer (born 1899) June thumb|upright|135px|Lord George-Brown thumb|upright|135px|Sidney Montagu, 11th Duke of Manchester 1 June – Richard Greene, actor (born 1918) 2 June – George Brown, politician (born 1914) 3 June Harry Kershaw, trade unionist (born 1906) Sidney Montagu, 11th Duke of Manchester, peer (born 1929) 4 June – Samuel Segal, Baron Segal, Labour politician (born 1902) 7 June John Percival Morton, civil servant (born 1911) Gordon Rollings, British actor (born 1926) 8 June – Sir Henry Clay, 6th Baronet, engineer (born 1909) 9 June – Clifford Evans, actor (born 1912) 13 June – Dorothy Donaldson Buchanan, Scottish civil engineer (born 1899) 15 June Percy Fender, cricketer (born 1892) Felix Greene, journalist (born 1909) Rodney Hallworth, journalist (born 1929) Martin Willoughby Parr, colonial administrator (born 1892) 17 June John Boulting, film director (born 1913) James Cyriax, physician (born 1904) 22 June – Patricia Ward Hales, tennis player (born 1929) 24 June – Valentine Dyall, actor (born 1908) 27 June William D. Clark, civil servant and economist (born 1916) William Evans, Baron Energlyn, geologist (born 1912) 28 June – Denis Martin Cowley, judge (born 1919) 30 June – Sir Anthony Miers, Royal Navy rear-admiral (born 1906) July thumb|upright|135px|Henry Mollison 2 July Hector Nicol, comedian, actor and singer (born 1920) David Purley, racing driver (born 1945; air accident) 3 July – Patricia Hornsby-Smith, Baroness Hornsby-Smith, Conservative politician (born 1914) 5 July – Bladen Hawke, 9th Baron Hawke, peer and politician (born 1901) 8 July Roger Baxter-Jones, mountaineer and alpine guide (born 1950; accident while climbing) Frank Hampson, illustrator (born 1918) Leslie Paul, writer (born 1905, Ireland) 9 July – Jimmy Kinnon, founder of Narcotics Anonymous (born 1911) 11 July – Gilbert Dempster Fisher, Scottish broadcaster (born 1906) 12 July Sir Robertson Crichton, judge (born 1912) Lettice Ramsey, photographer (born 1898) Thomas Galbraith, 1st Baron Strathclyde, Scottish politician (born 1891) 16 July Ursula Kathleen Hicks, Irish-born economist (born 1896) Elsie Wagstaff, actress (born 1899) 18 July – Robert Raglan, actor (born 1909) 19 July – Henry Mollison, actor (born 1905) 21 July – Dorian Williams, equestrian, author and arts patron (born 1914) 22 July – Sir Peter Roberts, 3rd Baronet, Conservative politician (born 1912) 23 July Rose Smith, communist activist (born 1891) Johnny Wardle, cricketer (born 1923) 24 July – William Hall, 2nd Viscount Hall, businessman, first chairman of the Post Office (born 1913) 25 July – Stephen Knight, author and journalist (born 1951) 26 July – Sir Oliver Simmonds, aviation engineer and Conservative politician (born 1897) 30 July – Peter Knight, composer (born 1917) August thumb|upright|135px|Arnold Wilkins thumb|upright|135px|Joanne Cole 1 August – D. H. Turner, art historian (born 1931) 2 August Richard Walker, angler and writer on angling (born 1918) Ralph Younger, Army major-general (born 1904) 3 August Eileen Beldon, actress (born 1901) Robert Deakin, Anglican prelate (born 1917) 4 August Maurice Petherick, Conservative politician (born 1894) Pierre Young, mathematician and developer of Concorde (born 1926) 5 August – Arnold Wilkins, radar pioneer (born 1907) 6 August – William Anstruther-Gray, Baron Kilmany, Scottish soldier and politician (born 1905) 7 August Joanne Cole, artist (born 1934) Alan Fitch, Labour politician (born 1915) 11 August – Hector Grey, street trader and company director (born 1904) 12 August – Sir Harry Godwin, botanist and ecologist (born 1901) 13 August Shiva Naipaul, journalist and brother of V. S. Naipaul (born 1940, Trinidad) Paul Edward Paget, architect (born 1901) 14 August – Alfred Hayes, screenwriter (born 1911) 17 August – Lord Avon (Nicholas Eden), Conservative Member of Parliament and son of the late prime minister Anthony Eden (born 1930) 19 August – Edward Cooper, World War I veteran and VC recipient (born 1896) 21 August – Maxwell Shaw, actor (born 1929) 24 August Colin Crompton, comedian (born 1931) Noel Martin, Army brigadier-general (born 1892) 28 August – Hugh Norman-Walker, colonial official (born 1916) 29 August Evelyn Ankers, actress (born 1918) Patrick Barr, actor (born 1908) 30 August Taylor Caldwell, British-born American author (born 1900) Sir Euan Miller, Army lieutenant-general (born 1897) September thumb|upright|135px|Isabel Jeans thumb|upright|135px|Jock Stein thumb|upright|135px|Joan Fry 1 September Saunders Lewis, writer and founder of the Welsh National Party (Plaid Cymru) (born 1893)World Book, Inc. Staff The World Book Year Book https://books.google.com/books?id=9EN9g4G5d3YC February 1986 World Book, Incorporated 978-0-7166-0486-0 516 Sir James Pitman, writer, civil servant and Conservative politician (born 1901) Evelyn Sharp, Baroness Sharp, civil servant (born 1903) 3 September – Jocelyn Bonham-Carter, cricketer and Army officer (born 1904) 4 September – Isabel Jeans, actress (born 1891) 6 September – Rodney Robert Porter, biochemist, recipient of the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine (born 1917) 7 September – Sir Ellis Waterhouse, art historian and museum director (born 1905) 9 September – John Baker, Baron Baker, scientist and structural engineer (born 1901) 10 September Guy Thompson Griffith, ancient historian (born 1908) Jock Stein, footballer and manager of Scotland (born 1922) 11 September William Alwyn, composer (born 1905) Henrietta Barnett, WRAF officer (born 1905) 17 September Laura Ashley, designer (born 1925) John Bowle, historian (born 1905) 18 September Gerald Holtom, artist and designer (born 1914) John Kingsley Read, far-right politician (born 1936) 22 September – Dickie Henderson, entertainer (born 1922) 26 September John Patrick Micklethwait Brenan, botanist (born 1917) Peter Craigie, Biblical scholar (born 1938; car accident) 27 September Leonard Gribble, novelist (born 1908) G. P. Wells, zoologist and author (born 1901) 28 September – Brian "Little Legs" Clifford, criminal (murdered) (born 1940) 29 September Joan Fry, tennis player (born 1906) Victor Gold, chemist (born 1922, Austria) Aubrey Rodway Johnson, Hebrew scholar (born 1901) Christine Campbell Thomson, horror fiction writer (born 1897) October thumb|upright|135px|John Greenlees Semple 1 October J. Grant Anderson, Scottish actor (born 1897) Ninian Sanderson, Scottish racing driver (born 1925) 6 October – Keith Blakelock, Metropolitan Police officer (murdered) (born 1945) 9 October – Lionel George Higgins, lepidopterist (born 1891) 10 October – Doris Reynolds, geologist (born 1899) 11 October – Dorothy O'Grady, Nazi sympathiser (born 1897) 13 October – Sir Neville Faulks, barrister and judge (born 1908) 14 October Kenneth Diplock, Baron Diplock, barrister and judge (born 1907) Doris Odlum, psychiatrist (born 1890) 16 October – George Odey, Conservative politician (born 1900) 18 October – George Darling, Labour politician (born 1905) 23 October – John Greenlees Semple, mathematician (born 1904) 25 October – Gary Holton, singer-songwriter (born 1952) 26 October – Cecil Langley Doughty, comics artist (born 1913) 27 October – Walter Segal, architect (born 1907, German Empire) 28 October – Harold Davies, Baron Davies of Leek, Labour politician (born 1904) 29 October – Charles Douglas-Home, journalist (born 1937) 30 October David Oxley, actor (born 1920) Guy Pentreath, clergyman, teacher and writer (born 1902) November thumb|upright|135px|Frances Davidson, Viscountess Davidson 1 November – John Phillips, Anglican prelate (born 1910) 2 November – William Lummis, British military historian (born 1886) 3 November – Sir John Eldridge, Army general (born 1898) 4 November – Hilda Vaughan, novelist (born 1892) 5 November Alexander Lloyd, 2nd Baron Lloyd, Conservative politician (born 1912) William Tweddell, golfer (born 1897) 6 November Hans Keller, Austrian-born British musician and writer (born 1919) Sara Woods, crime fiction writer (born 1922) 7 November – Mary McCallum Webster, botanist (born 1906) 9 November – L. H. C. Tippett, statistician (born 1902) 10 November – Sir Peveril William-Powlett, Royal Navy vice-admiral (born 1898) 11 November – James Hanley, author (born 1897) 18 November – Sir Hugh Lucas-Tooth, Conservative politician (born 1903) 19 November – Evan Meredith Jenkins, colonial governor (born 1896) 21 November – Derek Jewell, journalist (born 1927) 23 November – Leslie Mitchell, announcer (born 1905) 25 November Frances Davidson, Viscountess Davidson, Conservative politician (born 1894) Geoffrey Grigson, author and poet (born 1905) 27 November – Peter Bessell, Liberal politician (born 1921) 29 November – Victor Henry, actor (born 1943) December thumb|upright|135px|Philip Larkin thumb|upright|135px|Robert Graves thumb|upright|135px|Harold Whitlock 2 December Sir Charles Hughes-Hallett, Royal Navy vice-admiral (born 1898) Philip Larkin, poet (born 1922) 3 December Sir Conolly Abel Smith, Royal Navy vice-admiral (born 1899) Bill Cox, golfer (born 1910) 7 December Malcolm Dixon, biochemist (born 1899) John Fallon, Scottish golfer (born 1913) Robert Graves, writer, died on Majorca (born 1895) 8 December Jack Pye, wrestler and film actor (born 1903) Sir Harry Trusted, judge (born 1888) 9 December – Donald John Dean, Army colonel and VC recipient (born 1897) 10 December – Leslie Bonnet, RAF group captain, writer and duck breeder (born 1902) 11 December – Charles Armstrong, Army brigadier-general (born 1897) 12 December Barry MacKay, actor (born 1906) Ian Stewart, musician (born 1938) 13 December – Sir Hugh Forbes, judge (born 1917) 16 December – Claude Wardlaw, botanist (born 1901) 17 December – Sir Iain Maxwell Stewart, industrialist (born 1916) 22 December Sir Neil Marten, Conservative politician (born 1916) Michael Henry Wilson, musician, scientist and translator (born 1901) 23 December Martin Beale, mathematician (born 1928) Philip Mackie, screenwriter (born 1918) 24 December – John F. Carrington, missionary and translator (born 1914) 25 December – Sir James Marshall-Cornwall, Army general and historian (born 1887) 26 December – Maxwell Staniforth, railwayman and clergyman (born 1893) 27 December – Harold Whitlock, Olympic athlete (born 1903) 31 December – Jocelyn Toynbee, archaeologist and art historian (born 1897) See also 1985 in British music 1985 in British television List of British films of 1985 References 1985 Category:Years of the 20th century in the United Kingdom United Kingdom