1937 in the United Kingdom

none July 2020 January 2013 1937 Constituent countries of the United Kingdom England Northern Ireland Scotland Wales Popular culture 1937 English cricket season Football: England Scotland 1937 in British radio 1937 in British television 1937 in British music Events from the year 1937 in the United Kingdom. The coronation of King George VI took place on 12 May, after he had ascended to the throne at the end of the previous year. Incumbents Monarch – George VI Prime Minister - Stanley Baldwin (Coalition) (until 28 May), Neville Chamberlain (Coalition) (starting 28 May) Events 1 January – safety glass in vehicle windscreens becomes mandatory in the United Kingdom. 25 February – UK première of the historical film Fire Over England, providing the first pairing of Laurence Olivier and Vivien Leigh. 8 March – Prince Edward, the former King Edward VIII, is created Duke of Windsor. 19 March – Regency Act 1937 provides for the minority, incapacity or absence abroad of any future monarch. 12 April – Frank Whittle ground-tests the world's first jet engine designed to power an aircraft, at Rugby. 27 April – National Maritime Museum opened at Greenwich in former Royal Hospital School premises. April – the Royal Mint introduces the twelve-sided nickel-brass threepence coin, superseding the earlier round silver coin. May – the Georgian Group is set up as part of the Society for the Protection of Ancient Buildings in England. 1–27 May – London's bus drivers and conductors go on strike.http://archive.commercialmotor.com/article/21st-may-1937/68/what-london-bus-strike-is-costing What London Bus Strike Is Costing Commercial Motor (archive) 21 May 1937 12 May – Coronation of George VI and Elizabeth takes place at Westminster Abbey, London. The BBC makes its first television outside broadcast covering the event.Penguin Pocket On This Day Penguin Reference Library 0-14-102715-0 2006 The newly formed social research organisation Mass Observation makes its first survey of social attitudes on this day. 23 May – nearly 4000 Basque (and other) child refugees of the Spanish Civil War arrive at Southampton. 27 May – George VI passes letters patent denying the style of Royal Highness to the wife and descendants of the Duke of Windsor. 28 May – Neville Chamberlain becomes Prime Minister after Baldwin's retirement.Palmer Alan Palmer Veronica 1992 The Chronology of British History Century Ltd London 382–383 0-7126-5616-2 3 June – the Duke of Windsor marries Wallis Simpson in the Château de Candé. 1 July Ministers of the Crown Act 1937 for the first time formally recognises the offices of Prime Minister, the Cabinet and the Leader of the Opposition and provides them with official salaries (in addition to their stipends as MPs). The 999 emergency telephone number is introduced. 2 July – Holditch Colliery Disaster, a coal mining accident in Chesterton, Staffordshire, in which thirty men die following a fire and explosions.Holditch, Charles. "Disaster at Holditch Colliery 1937 https://web.archive.org/web/20160304100523/http://www.holdiches.com/2013/11/disaster-at-holditch-colliery-1937/ 4 March 2016 ". The Holdiches. Retrieved 10 November 2015 6 July – Littlewoods, the pools company formed fourteen years ago by Liverpool businessman John Moores, expands to create a department store in Blackpool, Lancashire.Report - Littlewoods Pools, Liverpool https://www.28dayslater.co.uk/threads/littlewoods-pools-liverpool-august-2011.64147/ 2011-08-31 28DaysLater 2020-11-11 7 July – Peel Commission proposes partition of the British Mandate of Palestine into separate Arab and Jewish states.League of Nations Mandates - Palestine: Report of the Palestine Royal Commission https://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/History/peel1.html 2012-03-08 July 1937 23 July – Matrimonial Causes Act adds insanity and desertion to infidelity as legitimate grounds for divorce. 28 July – assassination attempt on King George VI in Belfast by the Irish Republican Army.C. Peter Chen George VI World War II Database http://ww2db.com/person_bio.php?person_id=244 2014-12-09 4 August – return of the British Graham Land Expedition from Antarctica. 27 August – Benjamin Britten's string orchestral work Variations on a Theme of Frank Bridge, Op. 10, receives its concert première at the Salzburg Festival, bringing the composer to international attention.http://www.musicweb-international.com/classRev/2005/Aug05/Britten_Frank_Bridge_variations_Naxos8557200.htm BRITTEN Frank Bridge Variations etc. NAXOS 8.557200 [KS]: Classical CD Reviews- August 2005 MusicWeb-International www.musicweb-international.com 7 September – Witley Court in Worcestershire is gutted by fire.https://sometimes-interesting.com/2014/08/07/stately-in-abandonment-witley-court/#:~:text=Destroyed%20by%20Fire,a%20carpet%20manufacturer%20from%20Kidderminster Stately in Abandonment: Witley Court Sometimes Interesting 2014-08-07 2020-08-11 30 September – last issue of The Morning Post newspaper before it is absorbed by The Daily Telegraph. October–December – Croydon typhoid outbreak of 1937: 341 cases of typhoid fever (43 fatal) result from a polluted well. 6 October – the fictional character 'Mrs. Miniver' first appears in the column on domestic life written by 'Jan Struther' for The Times.http://www.reelclassics.com/Movies/Miniver/miniver.htm Mrs. Miniver (1942) Reel Classics 2008-04-28 https://web.archive.org/web/20080502151933/http://www.reelclassics.com/Movies/Miniver/miniver.htm 2 May 2008 live 16 October – Jimmy McGrory plays his last match with Celtic F.C., achieving a United Kingdom record of 550 goals scored during his senior career.John McManus Jimmy McGrory Lives and Times The Scotsman http://news.scotsman.com/topics.cfm?tid=1018&id=1575302006 28 October 2006 2012-10-19 4 December – the first issue of children's comic The Dandy, including the character Desperate Dan, is published. 10 December Nobel Prizes announced: Lord Robert Cecil wins the Nobel Peace Prize.http://nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/peace/laureates/1937/ The Nobel Peace Prize 1937 2007-11-25 https://web.archive.org/web/20071015044157/http://nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/peace/laureates/1937/ 15 October 2007 live George Thomson wins the Nobel Prize in Physics jointly with Clinton Davisson "for their experimental discovery of the diffraction of electrons by crystals".http://nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/physics/laureates/1937/ The Nobel Prize in Physics 1937 2007-11-25 https://web.archive.org/web/20071022153550/http://nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/physics/laureates/1937/ 22 October 2007 live Walter Haworth wins half of the Nobel Prize in Chemistry "for his investigations on carbohydrates and vitamin C".http://nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/chemistry/laureates/1937/ The Nobel Prize in Chemistry 1937 2007-11-25 https://web.archive.org/web/20071012030911/http://nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/chemistry/laureates/1937/ 12 October 2007 live Castlecary rail crash: an express on the Edinburgh to Glasgow line collides into the rear of a local train standing at Castlecary in the snow, due primarily to a signalman's error; 35 are killed.Accident at Castlecary on 10th December 1937 Railways Archive http://www.railwaysarchive.co.uk/eventsummary.php?eventID=104 2014-07-21 16 December – the musical Me and My Girl opens in the West End Victoria Palace Theatre; the dance number "The Lambeth Walk" becomes popular.Peace and 'The Lambeth Walk' The Times 18 October 1938 15 December – The Hawker Hurricane enters service with the Royal Air Force as its first monoplane fighter aircraft (with No. 111 Squadron at Northolt).Crosby Francis The Complete Guide to Fighters & Bombers of the World: An Illustrated History of the World's Greatest Military Aircraft, From the Pioneering Days of Air Fighting in World War I Through the Jet Fighters and Stealth Bombers of the Present Day London Anness Publishing 2006 978-1-84476-917-9 21. Undated The sugar-coated chocolate sweets Smarties are first marketed under this name by Rowntree's of York.Berry Steve Norman Phil A History of Sweets in 50 Wrappers 2014 The Friday Project London 9780007575480 84–85 Kensal House in Ladbroke Grove, London, two low-rise blocks of modernist flats for the working class designed by Maxwell Fry, is completed as a prototype for modern urban living.Kensal House https://www.open.edu/openlearn/history-the-arts/history/heritage/kensal-house 2020-07-06 Open University 2001-11-26 Publications 21 May – Penguin Books launches its Pelican Books sixpenny paperback non-fiction imprint with a 2-volume edition of Bernard Shaw's The Intelligent Woman's Guide to Socialism and Capitalism.Pelican Books Penguin First Editions http://www.penguinfirsteditions.com/index.php?cat=pelican001-099 2013 2015-07-16 Agatha Christie's Hercule Poirot novels Dumb Witness and Death on the Nile. A. J. Cronin's medical novel The Citadel. C. S. Forester's first Horatio Hornblower novel The Happy Return. David Jones' World War I epic In Parenthesis. George Orwell's social reportage and political polemic The Road to Wigan Pier. J. R. R. Tolkien's children's fantasy novel The Hobbit. Births 1 January Anne Aubrey, actress John Fuller, poet and author 2 January – Terence Rigby, actor (died 2008) 7 January – Ian La Frenais, English screenwriter and producer 8 January – Shirley Bassey, Welsh-born singer 9 January Malcolm Cecil, jazz bassist and record producer (died 2021)Malcolm Cecil, influential producer and Stevie Wonder collaborator, has died Michael Nicholson, journalist and author (died 2016)https://www.telegraph.co.uk/obituaries/2016/12/16/michael-nicholson-war-correspondent-worked-vietnam-falklands/ Michael Nicholson, war correspondent who worked in Vietnam, the Falklands and Iraq – obituary The Daily Telegraph London 16 December 2016 16 December 2016 14 January – Ken Higgs, English cricketer (died 2016) 18 January – John Hume, Northern Irish SDLP politician, recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize (died 2020) 19 January – Ian Samwell, rock guitarist, singer-songwriter and record producer (died 2003) 21 January – Ursula Owen, editor and publisher 27 January – John Ogdon, pianist (died 1989) 29 January – Jeff Clyne, jazz bassist (died 2009) 30 January – Vanessa Redgrave, actress 7 February – Peter Jay, economist, broadcaster and diplomat (died 2024) 10 February – Anne Anderson, Scottish physiologist (died 1983) 11 February – Ian Gow, Member of Parliament for Eastbourne (assassinated by the IRA 1990)https://api.parliament.uk/historic-hansard/people/mr-ian-gow/index.html Mr Ian Gow (Hansard) api.parliament.uk 12 February – Roland Boyes, Labour politician (died 2006) 16 February – Peter Hobday, radio presenter and journalist (died 2020) 17 February Peter Beet, general practitioner and railway preservationist (died 2005) Benjamin Whitrow, actor (died 2017) 21 February – Jilly Cooper, novelist (died 2025) 25 February – Tom Courtenay, actor 16 March – Ben Aris, actor (died 2003) 22 March – Foo Foo Lammar, drag queen (died 2004) 24 March – Benjamin Luxon, baritone (died 2024) 6 April Angus Grossart, businessman (died 2022) Terrence Hardiman, actor (died 2023) 9 April Barrington J. Bayley, science fiction author (died 2008) Valerie Singleton, television presenter 10 April – Stan Mellor, National Hunt jockey and trainer (died 2020) 11 April - Jill Gascoine, actress (died 2020) 12 April – Edward Hide, jockey (died 2023) 13 April – Edward Fox, actor 18 April Jan Kaplický, Czech-born British architect (died 2009) Teddy Taylor, politician (died 2017) 29 April – Jill Paton Walsh, novelist (died 2020) 30 April – Tony Harrison, poet and playwright (died 2025) 1 May Tamsyn Imison, illustrator and educator (died 2017) Una Stubbs, actress (died 2021) 5 May – Delia Derbyshire, electronic music composer (died 2001) 6 May – Paul Stephenson, civil rights campaigner (died 2024) 12 May Beryl Burton, racing cyclist (died 1996) Susan Hampshire, actress 13 May Trevor Baylis, inventor of the wind-up radio (died 2018) John Cope, Baron Cope of Berkeley, accountant and politician, Treasurer of the Household 19 May – Pat Roach, wrestler and actor (died 2004) 22 May – Charles Beare, luthier and violin expert (died 2025) 26 May – Neil Ardley, composer (died 2004) 2 June – Rosalyn Higgins, born Rosalyn C. Cohen, President of the International Court of Justice 3 June – Valerie Masterson, opera singer 8 June – Gillian Clarke, Welsh poet and playwright 15 June – Alan Thornett, Trotskyist activist 16 June – Charmian May, actress (died 2002) 21 June John Edrich, cricketer (died 2020) Averil Mansfield, surgeon 23 June – Sir Nicholas Shackleton, geologist (died 2006) 26 June – Len Worley, English footballer 2 July – Dee Palmer, born David Palmer, composer, arranger and progressive rock keyboardist 3 July Brian Garvey, English footballer (died 2026) Tom Stoppard, Czech-born playwright (died 2025) 4 June – Richard Robson, English-born chemist, recipient of the Nobel Prize in Chemistry 9 July – David Hockney, artist (died 2026) 13 July – Ghillean Prance, botanist and ecologist 14 July David Lytton Cobbold, 2nd Baron Cobbold, aristocrat and rock festival promoter (died 2022) Duncan MacKay, Scottish footballer (died 2019) 16 July Tommy Bruce, singer (died 2006) Jeremy Spenser, actor 17 July – Alan Hopper, English footballer 18 July – Peter Smith, Scottish footballer 21 July – Neville Bannister, footballer 22 July – Jon Price, cricketer 25 July – Colin Renfrew, archaeologist (died 2024) 27 July – Anna Dawson, actress 2 August – Jim McLean, football player and manager (died 2020) 3 August – Steven Berkoff, actor and writer 4 August – Dave Pearson, painter (died 2008) 5 August – Alan Howard, actor (died 2015) 6 August – Barbara Windsor, actress (died 2020)Obituary: Dame Barbara Windsor https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-24954672 BBC News 11 December 2020 11 December 2020 18 August Willie Rushton, comedian, actor and writer (died 1996) Peter Usborne, publisher (died 2023) 19 August – Richard Ingrams, journalist and editor 20 August – Jim Bowen, born Peter Williams, stand-up comedian and television host (died 2018) 21 August – Donald Dewar, First Minister of Scotland (died 2000)MacAskill Ewen Donald Dewar https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2000/oct/11/scotlanddevolution.devolution7 The Guardian 16 February 2023 11 October 2000 9 May 2014 https://web.archive.org/web/20140509053911/http://www.theguardian.com/politics/2000/oct/11/scotlanddevolution.devolution7 live 28 August – Ian Campbell, 12th Duke of Argyll, peer (died 2001) 1 September – Allen Jones, pop artist 2 September John Cornforth, architectural historian (died 2004) Derek Fowlds, actor (died 2020) 5 September – Dick Clement, screenwriter 7 September – Clive Everton, sports commentator (died 2024) 13 September – Jessica Mann, crime novelist (died 2018) 16 September – Keith Bosley, broadcaster, poet and translator (died 2018) 20 September – Geoffrey Dear, Baron Dear, police officer 27 September – Valerie Gearon, actress (died 2003) 1 October – Matthew Carter, type designer 4 October – Jackie Collins, romance novelist (died 2015 in the United States) 7 October – Christopher Booker, journalist (died 2019) 9 October – Brian Blessed, actor 11 October – Bobby Charlton, England footballer (died 2023) 17 October – Paxton Whitehead, English actor (died 2023 in the United States) 24 October – Barry Davies, English journalist and sportscaster 3 November – Christopher Leaver, businessman and lord mayor of London 8 November – Paul Foot, journalist (died 2004) 9 November – Roger McGough, Liverpool poet 15 November – Ron Yeats, Scottish footballer (died 2024) 16 November – Alan Budd, economist and academic (died 2023) 17 November – Peter Cook, comedian and writer (died 1995) 19 November – Penelope Leach, psychologist 23 November – Geoffrey Hinsliff, actor (died 2024) 27 November – Rodney Bewes, television actor (died 2017) 28 November – Matisyahu Salomon, English-born American rabbi (died 2024 in the United States) 30 November Frank Ifield, yodelling singer (died 2024 in Australia) Ridley Scott, film director 7 December – Kenneth Colley, actor (died 2025) 10 December – Scott Baker, lawyer and judge 18 December – Anne Wood, children's television producer 20 December – Paddy McNally, businessman and racing driver (died 2026) 21 December – Jimmy Collins, Scottish footballer (died 2018) 22 December – Charlotte Lamb, novelist (died 2000) 26 December – John Horton Conway, mathematician (died 2020 in the United States) 29 December – Barbara Steele, actress 30 December – Gordon Banks, English goalkeeper (died 2019) 31 December – Anthony Hopkins, Welsh actor Deaths 5 January – Marie Booth, third daughter of William and Catherine Booth (born 1864) 10 January – Bertie Crewe, theatre architect (born 1860) 18 January – Isaac Barr, Anglican clergyman, promoter of colonial settlement schemes (born 1847) 28 January – Dame Agnes Jekyll, artist, writer on domestic matters and philanthropist (born 1861) 19 February – Edward Garnett, critic (born 1868) 20 February – Sir Percy Cox, army general and colonial administrator (born 1864) 27 February – Douglas Carnegie, politician (born 1870) 13 March – Elihu Thomson, engineer and inventor in the United States (born 1853) 16 March – Sir Austen Chamberlain, statesman, recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize (born 1863) 20 March – Harry Vardon, golf professional (born 1870) 22 March Alfred Dyke Acland, military officer (born 1858) Mary Russell, Duchess of Bedford, aviator, ornithologist, in plane crash (born 1865) 25 March – John Drinkwater, poet and dramatist (born 1882) 8 April Billy Bassett, footballer (born 1869) Sir William Henry Hadow, educationalist (born 1859) 19 April – Martin Conway, 1st Baron Conway of Allington, art critic, politician and mountaineer (born 1856) 24 April – Lucy Beaumont, actress (born 1869) 10 May – Sir James Blindell, politician (born 1884) 12 May Sir Henry Birchenough, businessman and public servant (born 1853) Cecil Meares, explorer (born 1877) 15 May – Philip Snowden, 1st Viscount Snowden, politician, Chancellor of the Exchequer (born 1864) 5 June – Owen Philipps, 1st Baron Kylsant, shipowner 11 June – R. J. Mitchell, aeronautical engineer (born 1895) 19 June – J. M. Barrie, novelist and dramatist (born 1860) 22 June – Sir Eric Geddes, transport manager and politician (born 1875) 12 July – Hugo Charteris, 11th Earl of Wemyss, politician, public servant (born 1857) 17 July – Percy Gardner, archaeologist (born 1846) 18 July – Julian Bell, poet, killed in Spanish Civil War (born 1908) 14 August – H. C. McNeile (Sapper), novelist and soldier (born 1888) 22 August – Albert Goodman, politician (born 1880) 24 August – Gervase Beckett, politician (born 1866) 31 August – Ruth Baldwin, socialite (born 1905) 6 September – Harry Charles Purvis Bell, civil servant, commissioner (born 1851) 15 September – Clifford Heatherley, actor (born 1888) 16 October – William Sealy Gosset, statistician (born 1876) 17 October – J. Bruce Ismay, shipowner (born 1862) 30 October – Sir Herbert Maxwell, Scottish novelist, essayist, artist, antiquarian, horticulturalist and Conservative politician (born 1845) 4 November – William Bennett, politician (born 1873) 6 November – Johnston Forbes-Robertson, stage actor (born 1853) 9 November – Ramsay MacDonald, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom (born 1866) 25 November – Lilian Baylis, theatrical producer (born 1874) 9 December — Lilias Armstrong, phonetician (born 1882) 14 December - Lord Edward Gleichen, army officer (born 1863) 22 December – Joseph Darby, spring jumper (born 1861) 26 December Ivor Gurney, war poet and composer, of tuberculosis (born 1890) Mittie Frances Clarke Point, American novelist (born 1850) 27 December – Sir Coote Hedley, army officer and sportsman (born 1865) 28 December – Herbert Bullmore, Scottish Rugby Union international (born 1874) See also List of British films of 1937 References 1937 Category:Years of the 20th century in the United Kingdom Category:1937 by country Category:1930s in the United Kingdom Category:1937 in Europe