1952 in the United Kingdom

none July 2022January 2013 1952 constituent countries England Scotland Wales Northern Ireland events and culture 1952 British Grand Prix 1952 English cricket season Football: England Scotland 1952 in British television 1952 in British radio 1952 in British music Events and occurrences from the year 1952 in the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland. This years' most significant event sees a change of monarch. Incumbents Monarch — George VI (until 6 February), Elizabeth II (starting 6 February)George VI Biography & Stammer https://www.britannica.com/biography/George-VI Encyclopædia Britannica 9 October 2020 Prime Minister — Winston Churchill (Conservative) Events Undated – Geoffrey Dummer proposes the integrated circuit.The Hutchinson Factfinder Helicon 1999 1-85986-000-1 January to April thumb|250px|The UK's first nuclear bomb 5 January – Prime Minister Winston Churchill arrives in the United States for an official visit and talks with President Harry S. Truman.https://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/january/5/newsid_3304000/3304505.stm Churchill renews 'special relationship' On This Day BBC 2007-12-04 5 January 1952 10 January – An Aer Lingus Douglas DC-3 aircraft on a London–Dublin flight crashes in Wales due to vertical draft in the mountains of Snowdonia, killing twenty passengers and the three crew.A. H. Yates Airflow over Mountains Flight 2 January 1953 63 2293 2–3 http://www.flightglobal.com/pdfarchive/view/1953/1953%20-%200002.html 2012-04-23 11 January 2013 https://web.archive.org/web/20130111071706/http://www.flightglobal.com/pdfarchive/view/1953/1953%20-%200002.html dead 16 January – Sooty, Harry Corbett's glove puppet teddy bear, first appears on BBC Television. He would get his own series three years later.David Kynaston David Kynaston Family Britain, 1951–57 London Bloomsbury 2009 978-0-7475-8385-1 registration https://archive.org/details/familybritain1950000kyna 30 January – British troops remain in Korea, where they have spent the last eighteen months, after a breakdown of talks aimed at ending the Korean War.https://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/january/30/newsid_3396000/3396891.stm Korea truce talks hit stalemate On This Day BBC 30 January 1952 2011-05-05 1 February – The first TV detector van is commissioned in the UK as the beginning of a clampdown on the estimated 150,000 British households that watch television illegally without a licence.https://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/february/1/newsid_2521000/2521357.stm Test drive for TV detector vans On This Day BBC 2007-12-04 1 February 1952 https://web.archive.org/web/20071227225207/http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/february/1/newsid_2521000/2521357.stm 27 December 2007 live 6 February – King George VI dies at Sandringham House, Norfolk, early that morning, aged 56. It is revealed that he had been suffering from lung cancer. He is immediately succeeded by his 25-year-old daughter, Princess Elizabeth, Duchess of Edinburgh, who ascends to the throne as Queen Elizabeth II.Penguin Pocket On This Day Penguin Reference Library 0-14-102715-0 2006 The new Queen is on a visit to Kenya at the time of her father's death, and returns to London the following day. She will eventually become the longest-lived and longest-reigning British monarch with a reign of 70 years. 8 February – Queen Elizabeth II is proclaimed Queen of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland at St James's Palace. 14–25 February – Great Britain and Northern Ireland compete at the Winter Olympics in Oslo and win one gold medal. 15 February – The funeral of King George VI takes place at St George's Chapel, Windsor Castle. His body has been lying in state in Westminster Hall since 11 February.King George VI dies in his sleep https://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/february/6/newsid_2711000/2711265.stm On This Day BBC 15 February 1952 2011-05-05 21 February – Compulsory identity cards, issued during World War II, are abolished. 26 February – Prime Minister Winston Churchill announces that the United Kingdom has an atomic bomb.Churchill discloses Britain has atom bomb and plant; Britain's atom plane undergoing tests; Churchill bares atom bomb plant https://www.nytimes.com/1952/02/27/archives/churchill-discloses-britain-has-atom-bomb-and-plant-britains-atom.html The New York Times 12 December 2021 27 February 1952 31 March – Computer scientist Alan Turing is convicted of 'gross indecency' after admitting to a consensual homosexual relationship in Regina v. Turing and Murray. He consents to undergo oestrogen treatment to avoid imprisonment. 29 April – The University of Southampton is chartered, the first post-war university established. May to August 2 May – The De Havilland Comet becomes the world's first jet airliner, with a maiden flight from London to Johannesburg. 3 May – Newcastle United F.C. win the FA Cup for a record fifth time. Last year's winners retain the trophy with a 1–0 win over Arsenal at Wembley Stadium. The only goal of the game is scored by Chilean-born forward George Robledo, the first foreigner to score in an FA Cup final.http://www.fa-cupfinals.co.uk/1952.htm https://web.archive.org/web/20070311074106/http://www.fa-cupfinals.co.uk/1952.htm 11 March 2007 Wembley – Saturday 3 May 21 May – Eastcastle Street robbery: a Post Office van is held up in the West End of London and £287,000 (worth £8,189,519 in 2019) stolen, Britain's largest post-war robbery up to this date;London Mail Robbery The Times London 1952-05-22 6 52318 the thieves are never caught. June – Reindeer reintroduced to the Cairngorms of Scotland.History Cairngorm Reindeer Herd Reindeer Company http://www.cairngormreindeer.co.uk/History/history_1.htm 2010-07-16 https://web.archive.org/web/20100722054509/http://www.cairngormreindeer.co.uk/History/history_1.htm 22 July 2010 dead 1 June – One shilling charge is introduced for prescription drugs dispensed under the National Health Service (NHS).http://www.rpsgb.org.uk/pdfs/prescriptioncharges.pdf Prescription Charges Royal Pharmaceutical Society 2009 2010-06-13 https://web.archive.org/web/20071018104426/http://www.rpsgb.org.uk/pdfs/prescriptioncharges.pdf 18 October 2007 dead 5 June – Elizabeth II attends Trooping the Colour for the first time as monarch. She rides a police horse named Winston to and from the ceremony.The Coronation Book of Queen Elizabeth II Odhams Press Limited 1953 144-145 5 July – The last of the original trams runs in London; people turn out in force to say farewell.Wheels of London Marshall, Prince 80, 93–96 The Sunday Times Magazine 1972 0-7230-0068-9 19 July–3 August – Great Britain and Northern Ireland compete at the Olympics in Helsinki and win one gold, two silver, and eight bronze medals. 19 July – Len Hutton is appointed as the England cricket team's first professional captain for 65 years. 24 July – Somali sailor Mahmood Mattan, 28, is convicted of the murder of pawnbroker Lily Volpert, and sentenced to death at Glamorgan Assizes; his conviction will be quashed 45 years later.https://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/law-report-4-march-1998-man-hanged-in-1952-for-murder-is-cleared-1148225.html Law Report: 4 March 1998: Man hanged in 1952 for murder is cleared The Independent 4 March 1998 4 August 2023 16 August – Lynmouth Flood: 34 people killed in a flood at Lynmouth in Devon. Many other people are injured and numerous buildings are damaged.https://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/august/16/newsid_2960000/2960180.stm Flood devastates Devon village On This Day BBC 2007-12-04 16 August 1952 https://web.archive.org/web/20071215054032/http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/august/16/newsid_2960000/2960180.stm 15 December 2007 live September to December 3 September – Mahmood Mattan becomes the last person to be hanged at Cardiff Prison.https://www.walesonline.co.uk/news/wales-news/unsolved-murder-pawnbroker-slashed-razor-24889630 How shopkeeper's unsolved murder saw an innocent man hanged Elizabeth Thomas 3 September 2022 Wales Online 4 August 2023 6 September – Farnborough Airshow DH.110 crash: 31 people are killed when a supersonic jet aeroplane breaks up over the crowd at the Farnborough Airshow.https://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/september/6/newsid_2981000/2981786.stm Dozens die in air show tragedy On This Day BBC 2007-12-04 6 September 1952 https://web.archive.org/web/20071025041453/http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/september/6/newsid_2981000/2981786.stm 25 October 2007 live 19 September – English film star Charlie Chaplin, sailing to the United Kingdom with his family for the premiere of his film Limelight (London, 16 October), is told that by instruction of J. Edgar Hoover he will be refused re-entry to the United States until he has been investigated by the U.S. Immigration Service. He chooses to remain in Europe.US Immigration slams door on Chaplin https://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/september/19/newsid_3102000/3102179.stm On This Day BBC 19 September 1952 2011-05-05 29 September The Manchester Guardian prints news, rather than advertisements, on its front page for the first time. Racing driver John Cobb, 52, is killed in a speedboat accident on Loch Ness while attempting to set a world record. 3 October – Operation Hurricane: The UK detonates its first atomic bomb in the Monte Bello Islands, Australia.https://www.bbc.co.uk/bbcfour/lostdecade/timeline_html.shtml The Lost Decade Timeline BBC 2007-12-04 dead https://web.archive.org/web/20060821133044/http://www.bbc.co.uk/bbcfour/lostdecade/timeline_html.shtml 21 August 2006 5 October – Tea rationing ends, after thirteen years, as announced by the Government two days earlier.Palmer Alan Palmer Veronica 1992 The Chronology of British History Century Ltd London 404–405 0-7126-5616-2 8 October – Harrow and Wealdstone rail crash in North London claims the lives of 108 people.https://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/october/8/newsid_3075000/3075197.stm Many die as three trains crash at Harrow On This Day BBC 2007-12-04 8 October 1952 9 October – Knowsley Hall shootings: Lady Derby and her cook are injured, and the butler and under-butler killed, when trainee footman Harold Winstanley fires a Schmeisser pistol at Knowsley Hall in Lancashire; Winstanley flees but is later arrested. 19 October A small militant Welsh republican group, Y Gweriniaethwyr, make an unsuccessful attempt to blow up a water pipeline leading from the Claerwen dam in mid Wales to Birmingham.Gethin Gruffydd Welsh Republican Movement 1946–1956: Time Line https://awnms.blogspot.com/2007/02/welsh-republican-movement-1946-1956.html Alternative Welsh Nationalist Archive 13 February 2007 2010-09-08 The Claerwen reservoir is officially opened on 23 October.Claerwen Dam Opened by the Queen: Birmingham's Link With Wales The Times London 24 October 1952 4 52451 John Bamford, aged 15, rescues victims of a house fire, and becomes the youngest person to be awarded the George Cross. November – Royal College of General Practitioners (RCGP) established. 4 November – Queen Elizabeth II opens Parliament for the first time, wearing her tiara, as she hasn't been crowned yet.The Coronation Book of Queen Elizabeth II Odhams Press Limited 1953 152-153 14 November – The magazine New Musical Express (launched on 7 March) publishes the first UK Singles Chart. 25 November – Agatha Christie's play The Mousetrap starts its run at the New Ambassadors Theatre in London. It will still be running in London as of 2022, having transferred next door to St Martin's Theatre in 1974.http://www.arthurlloyd.co.uk/NewAmbassadorsTheatre.htm New Ambassadors Theatre arthurlloyd.co.uk 2007-12-04 https://web.archive.org/web/20071109140822/http://www.arthurlloyd.co.uk/NewAmbassadorsTheatre.htm 9 November 2007 dead Performances were suspended during the COVID-19 pandemic in the United Kingdom. 29 November – First General Post Office (GPO) pillar box of the reign of Queen Elizabeth II to be erected in Scotland, on the Inch housing estate in Edinburgh, is attacked in protest at its bearing the Royal Cipher of Elizabeth II, considered historically incorrect in Scotland.Jean Young Farrugia The Letter Box: a history of Post Office pillar and wall boxes Fontwell Centaur Press 1969 0-900000-14-7 4–9 December – Great Smog blankets London, causing transport chaos and, it is believed, around 4,000 deaths.https://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/december/9/newsid_4506000/4506390.stm London fog clears after days of chaos On This Day BBC 2007-12-04 9 December 1952 https://web.archive.org/web/20071024172151/http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/december/9/newsid_4506000/4506390.stm 24 October 2007 live 10 December – Archer Martin and Richard Synge win the Nobel Prize in Chemistry "for their invention of partition chromatography".http://nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/chemistry/laureates/1952/ The Nobel Prize in Chemistry 1952 2007-12-04 12 December – BBC children's television series Flower Pot Men debuts. 16 December – Harold Winstanley, the perpetrator of the Knowsley Hall shootings, is found guilty but insane at Manchester Assizes, and sentenced to detention at Broadmoor Hospital. 25 December – The Queen makes her first Christmas speech to the United Kingdom and the British Commonwealth.https://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/december/25/newsid_3053000/3053271.stm Queen makes first Christmas speech On This Day BBC 2007-12-04 25 December 1952 https://web.archive.org/web/20071228100739/http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/december/25/newsid_3053000/3053271.stm 28 December 2007 live 30 December – A Royal Air Force (RAF) Avro Lancaster bomber crashes in Luqa, Malta, after an engine failure, killing three crew members and a civilian on the ground.Caruana Richard 60 years ago: Lancaster crashes into Luqa village https://timesofmalta.com/articles/view/60-years-ago-lancaster-crashes-into-luqa-village.451515 Times of Malta 30 December 2012 https://web.archive.org/web/20200215180324/https://timesofmalta.com/articles/view/60-years-ago-lancaster-crashes-into-luqa-village.451515 15 February 2020 December – 'Utility furniture' scheme ends.Paul Evans Doyle, Peter The 1940s Home Oxford Shire Publications 2009 978-0-7478-0736-0 Publications H. E. Bates' novel Love for Lydia. John Bingham's thriller My Name is Michael Sibley.H. R. F. Keating H. R. F. Keating Whodunit? – a guide to crime, suspense and spy fiction London Windward 1982 0-7112-0249-4 Henry Cecil's comic novel No Bail for the Judge. Agatha Christie's novels Mrs McGinty's Dead (Hercule Poirot) and They Do It with Mirrors (Miss Marple). Dorothy Edwards' children's stories My Naughty Little Sister. Richard Gordon's comic novel Doctor in the House. David Jones' epic poem The Anathemata: fragments of an attempted writing. C. S. Lewis' novel The Voyage of the Dawn Treader. Mary Norton's children's novel The Borrowers. Evelyn Waugh's novel Men at Arms, first of the Sword of Honour trilogy. Births 9 January – Hugh Bayley, English politician 10 January – George Turpin, English boxer 18 January – Michael Angelis, actor (died 2020) 29 January – Tim Healy, actor 4 February – Steve Smith, English political scientist and academic 12 February – Simon MacCorkindale, actor (died 2010) 14 February – Anton Lesser, actor 22 February – Bernard Silverman, English minister, statistician and academic 25 February – Joey Dunlop, Northern Irish motorcycle racer (died 2000) 28 February – Frank Warren, boxing promoter 4 March – David Richards, general, Chief of the Defence Staff 11 March Douglas Adams, writer (died 2001) James Fleet, actor 15 March – Howard Devoto, punk singer-songwriter 17 March – Barry Horne, animal rights activist (died 2001) 22 March – Des Browne, politician 26 March – David Amess, politician (died 2021) 28 March – Tony Brise, racing driver (died 1975) 11 April Michael Thomas, actor (died 2019) Peter Windsor, sports reporter Peter Windsor ESPN F1 http://en.espnf1.com/f1/motorsport/driver/2919.html 2011-02-05 26 September 2012 https://web.archive.org/web/20120926151017/http://en.espnf1.com/f1/motorsport/driver/2919.html dead 16 April Bob Humphrys, broadcaster (died 2008) Chaz Jankel, singer, lyricist, songwriter, and multi-instrumentalist (soloist, and Ian Fury and the Blockheads)Daniel Rachel The Art of Noise: Conversations with Great Songwriters https://books.google.com/books?id=hL1zAwAAQBAJ&pg=PA103 7 October 2014 St. Martin's Press 978-1-4668-6521-1 103 Charles Jeremy Jankel was born on 16 April 1952. 19 April – Simon Cowell, conservationist and television presenter (died 2024)Simon Cowell: Wildlife SOS presenter and conservationist dies aged 72 20 April Andrew Jaspan, English-Australian journalist and academic Eric Pickles, British politician 21 April – Cheryl Gillan, Welsh politician (died 2021) 29 April – David Icke, conspiracy theorist and broadcaster 3 May – Allan Wells, Scottish athlete 12 May – Nicholas Underhill, barrister and judge 14 May – David Byrne, musician 23 May Dillie Keane, cabaret performer Martin Parr, documentary colour photographer (died 2025) 7 June – Liam Neeson, Northern Irish actor 12 June Pete Farndon, English bass player and songwriter (died 1983) Oliver Knussen, Scottish composer (died 2018) 17 June – Estelle Morris, politician 20 June – Gordon Marshall, sociologist and academic 22 June Phil Nicholls, English professional footballer Alastair Stewart, newsreader 25 June – Alan Green, Northern Irish sportscaster 26 June Simon Mann, English mercenary and army officer (died 2025) Gordon McQueen, Scottish footballer (died 2023) 3 July – Andy Fraser, musician and songwriter (died 2015) 4 July – John Waite, rock singer, bass guitarist and songwriter 6 July – Hilary Mantel, novelist (died 2022)Hilary Mantel, celebrated author of Wolf Hall, dies aged 70 https://www.theguardian.com/books/2022/sep/23/hilary-mantel-author-wolf-hall-dies the Guardian 23 September 2022 en 23 September 2022 11 July – John Kettley, weather forecaster 14 July – Chris Cross, bass guitarist (died 2024)Ultravox star Chris Cross, who co-wrote smash hit Vienna, has died 15 July Ann Dowling, mechanical engineer Celia Imrie, actress 20 July – Adrian Biddle, cinematographer (died 2005) 7 August – Alexei Sayle, comedian 12 August – Charlie Whiting, motorsports director (died 2019)https://www.thetimes.com/sport/formula-one/article/charlie-whiting-obituary-d8tlqkhtl Charlie Whiting obituary The Sunday Times 15 March 2019 17 March 2018 18 August – Pete Richens, screenwriter (died 2018) 21 August – Joe Strummer, musician (The Clash) (died 2002) 24 August – Ian Grob, racing driver 25 August – Geoff Downes, keyboardist (Asia) 27 September – Katie Fforde, novelist 30 September – Jack Wild, child actor and singer (died 2006) 7 October – John Caudwell, businessman 9 October – Sharon Osbourne, television personality and music manager 18 October – Jim Ratcliffe, chemical engineer and businessman 19 October – Peter Bone, politician 25 October – Wendy Hall, computer scientist 26 October – Andrew Motion, Poet Laureate 16 November – Roger Bisby, journalist and TV presenter 21 November – Terry Lloyd, journalist (killed 2003) 24 November – Robin Aitken, journalist 1 December – Stephen Poliakoff, playwright and director 3 December – Mel Smith, comic actor and director (died 2013) 6 December – Charles Bronson, violent criminal 8 December – Richard Walsh, actor 9 December – C. J. Sansom, novelist (died 2024) 10 December – Clive Anderson, broadcast presenter, comedy writer and barrister 13 December – Karl Howman, actor 20 December – Jenny Agutter, actress 26 December – Jon Glover, actor Deaths 6 February – King George VI (born 1895) 19 February – Lawrence Grant, actor (born 1870) 4 March – Sir Charles Sherrington, physiologist, Nobel Prize laureate (born 1857) 15 March – Nevil Sidgwick, chemist (born 1873) 5 April – Charles Collett, chief mechanical engineer, Great Western Railway (born 1871) 19 April – Steve Conway, singer, of heart condition (born 1920)Steve Conway Biography, Songs, & Albums https://www.allmusic.com/artist/steve-conway-mn0000032317/biography 2021-09-23 AllMusic en 21 April Leslie Banks, actor (born 1890) Sir Stafford Cripps, Chancellor of the Exchequer (born 1889) 5 July – Alison Skipworth, actress (born 1863) 6 July – Marian Cripps, Baroness Parmoor, pacifist (born 1878) 4/5 August – Sir Jack Drummond, biochemist and nutritionist, murdered with family in France (Dominici affair) (born 1891) 6 September – Gertrude Lawrence, actress (born 1898) 7 September – Marion Gilchrist, pioneering Scottish medical doctor (born 1864) 29 September – John Cobb, racing car and motorboat driver, in speedboat accident (born 1899) 30 September – Waldorf Astor, 2nd Viscount Astor, American-born businessman and politician (born 1879) 20 October – Basil Radford, actor (born 1897) 23 October – Windham Wyndham-Quin, 5th Earl of Dunraven and Mount-Earl, politician, died in Ireland (born 1857) 28 October – Billy Hughes, Welsh-descended English-born Prime Minister of Australia (born 1862) 8 December – Charles Lightoller, merchant marine officer, second officer of Titanic (born 1874) 15 December – Sir William Goscombe John, Welsh-born sculptor (born 1860) 19 December – Colonel Sir Charles Close, cartographer (born 1865) 26 December – Lyn Harding, Welsh-born actor (born 1867) See also United Kingdom 1950s List of British films of 1952 References 1952 1952 1952 United Kingdom United Kingdom