1946 in the United Kingdom

none September 2020 1946 Constituent countries of the United Kingdom England Northern Ireland Scotland Wales Popular culture 1946 English cricket season Football: England Scotland 1946 in British radio 1946 in British television 1946 in British music Events from the year 1946 in the United Kingdom. thumb|Searchlights at London Victory Parade, June 1946 thumb|1946 Avro Anson, now in the Shuttleworth Collection, 2013 photo. Incumbents Monarch – George VI Prime Minister – Clement Attlee (Labour) Events thumb|The Bank of England's head office at Threadneedle Street, in the City of London.|alt= Undated Cinemagoing reaches an all-time peak, with 1,635 million admissions during the year. Lifting the prohibition on married women working in the Civil Service. Fred Pontin opens the first Pontins holiday camp, at Brean Sands, Burnham-on-Sea in Somerset. The University of Bristol establishes the first university drama department in the UK.http://www.bristol.ac.uk/university/history/ Bristol University history Bristol.ac.uk University of Bristol 2007-05-13 live https://web.archive.org/web/20070616190353/http://www.bristol.ac.uk/university/history/ 2007-06-16 Bush DAC90 bakelite radio introduced: it becomes the best-selling model for some years. January & February 1 January The first international flight from London Heathrow Airport, to Buenos Aires. Atomic Energy Research Establishment established at Harwell, near Oxford. 4 January – Theodore Schurch is hanged at HM Prison Pentonville by Albert Pierrepoint, the only British soldier executed for treachery committed during World War II and the last person to be executed in Britain for an offence other than murder. 10 January – First United Nations General Assembly convenes at Methodist Central Hall Westminster. 17 January – The United Nations Security Council holds its first meeting at Church House in London. 14 February – The Bank of England is nationalised. 15 February – American dance craze, the Jitterbug, sweeps Britain.https://www.bbc.co.uk/bbcfour/lostdecade/timeline_html.shtml The Lost Decade Timeline, BBC 29 January 2008 dead https://web.archive.org/web/20060821133044/http://www.bbc.co.uk/bbcfour/lostdecade/timeline_html.shtml 21 August 2006 20 February – Royal Opera House in Covent Garden re-opens after the WarPalmer Alan Palmer Veronica 1992 The Chronology of British History Century Ltd London 395–396 0-7126-5616-2 with The Royal Ballet (relocated from Sadler's Wells Theatre) performing The Sleeping Beauty. March & April 5 March – Winston Churchill delivers his "Iron Curtain" speech at Westminster College in Fulton, Missouri, United States.Penguin Pocket On This Day Penguin Reference Library 0-14-102715-0 2006 9 March – Burnden Park disaster: A stadium disaster at Bolton Wanderers F.C.'s Burnden Park in Bolton kills 33 and injures hundreds. 10 March – British troops begin withdrawal from Lebanon. 15 March – Labour Prime Minister Clement Attlee announces that Britain is granting India's wish for independence. On 24 March, the 1946 Cabinet Mission to India arrives in New Delhi for discussions. 22 March – The Treaty of London grants the British mandate of the Emirate of Transjordan its independence. 24 March – BBC Home Service radio broadcasts Alistair Cooke's first American Letter. As Letter from America, the programme would continue until a few weeks before Cooke's death in 2004. 27 April – 1946 FA Cup Final: the first postwar FA Cup final is won by Derby County, who beat Charlton Athletic 4–1 at Wembley Stadium.http://www.fa-cupfinals.co.uk/1946.htm FA Cup Final 1946 fa-cupfinals.co.uk dead https://web.archive.org/web/20080521034526/http://www.fa-cupfinals.co.uk/1946.htm 2008-05-21 May & June 4 May – First-class cricket returns, having been suspended during the War. 20 May – The House of Commons votes through the Coal Industry Nationalisation Act 1946 to nationalise British coal mines. 23 May – Terence Rattigan's drama The Winslow Boy premieres in London.Plays Terence Rattigan http://www.terencerattigan.com/html/home.html https://web.archive.org/web/20160303172440/http://www.terencerattigan.com/html/home.html dead 3 March 2016 16 July 2010 31 May – London Heathrow Airport opened fully for civilian use. 1 June – Television licence introduced. 7 June – Television broadcasting by the BBC, suspended during World War II, resumes. 8 June – A victory parade is held in London to celebrate the end of World War II.https://www.bbc.co.uk/history/ww2peopleswar/stories/40/a4768040.shtml Victory Celebrations, 8th June 1946 by Ron Goldstein, BBC 29 January 2008 A certificate is issued to all schoolchildren.Austin J. Ruddy The Home Front 1939–1945 in 100 Objects Barnsley Frontline Books 2019 9-781-52674-086-1 198–9 27 June – Government imposes bread rationing.David Kynaston David Kynaston Austerity Britain 1945–1951 London Bloomsbury 2007 978-0-7475-7985-4 July & August July – Homeless families squat in a former Army camp at Scunthorpe.Andrew Andrew Marr Marr A History of Modern Britain London Macmillan 2007 978-1-4050-0538-8 71–2 August – Arthur Horner, a member of the Communist Party, becomes General Secretary of the National Union of Mineworkers. 1 August Finance Act receives Royal Assent,http://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/Geo6/9-10/64/introduction Finance Act 1946 1 August 1946 18 March 2011 including the establishment of the National Land Fund to secure culturally significant property for the nation as a memorial to the dead of World War II.http://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/Geo6/9-10/64/section/48/enacted Finance Act 1946–48 The National Land Fund 1 August 1946 18 March 2011 Atomic Energy Act of 1946 in the United States ends co-operation between the U.K. and U.S. on development of nuclear technology. 6 August Family allowance introduced, a cash benefit paid to mothers, under terms of the Family Allowances Act 1945 (passed under the Churchill caretaker ministry). Free milk (1 3 pint daily) provided in UK state schools to all pupils under the age of 18. 9 August – Arts Council incorporated by royal charter. 31 August – League football returns, having been suspended during World War II. September & October September–November – Britain Can Make It exhibition at the Victoria and Albert Museum in London, promoted by the Council of Industrial Design and the Board of Trade to show off good domestic and industrial design.Paul Evans Doyle Peter The 1940s Home Oxford Shire Publications 2009 978-0-7478-0736-0 8 September – Mass squat by homeless families at the Ivanhoe Hotel and other empty properties in London organised by the Communist Party. 15 September – Marshal of the Royal Air Force Sir Arthur Harris, Commander-in-Chief of RAF Bomber Command, retires. 16 September – Popular quiz show Have A Go! with Wilfred Pickles is first broadcast nationally on BBC Radio. 29 September – BBC Third Programme begins broadcasting. 1 October – English premiere of J. B. Priestley's drama An Inspector Calls at the New Theatre, London, starring Ralph Richardson.Samantha Ellis JB Priestley's An Inspector Calls, October 1946 https://www.theguardian.com/stage/2003/may/07/theatre.samanthaellis The Guardian 7 May 2003 18 July 2011 7 October – The BBC Light Programme transmits the first episode of the daily radio magazine programme Woman's Hour (initially presented by Alan Ivimey) which will still be running 80 years later and of the daily adventure serial Dick Barton – Special Agent. 10 October – First community arts centre opened, at Bridgwater in Somerset. November & December 1 November – First Royal Command Performance at a public cinema, the Empire, Leicester Square: premiere of the Powell and Pressburger film A Matter of Life and Death starring David Niven.Patrick Robertson The Shell Book of Firsts London Ebury Press 1974 0-7181-1279-2 158 9 November – Shooting of Margaret Cook in Carnaby Street, London. 10 November – Peter Scott opens the Slimbridge Wetland Reserve in Gloucestershire. 11 November – Stevenage, a village in Hertfordshire, is designated by the Attlee government as Britain's first new town to relieve overcrowding and replace bombed homes in London. The new town is set to have around 60,000 residents once it is completed and the first homes are expected to be ready by 1952 and the town fully developed by the early 1960s. The town's centerpiece will be a revolutionary pedestrianised central shopping area.http://www.stevenage.gov.uk/leisureandculture/museum/historyofstevenage/stevenagethroughtheages/stevenagenewtown Stevenage New Town Stevenage Borough Council dead https://web.archive.org/web/20090614051824/http://www.stevenage.gov.uk/leisureandculture/museum/historyofstevenage/stevenagethroughtheages/stevenagenewtown 2009-06-14 17 November – Eight British Army servicemen are killed in Jerusalem by Jewish terrorists. 22 November – Tony Benn is elected as Treasurer of the Oxford Union. 29 November Premiere of educational documentary film The Instruments of the Orchestra containing Benjamin Britten's composition The Young Person's Guide to the Orchestra (concert premiere 15 October conducted by Malcolm Sargent with the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic in the Philharmonic Hall, Liverpool). BBC Television begins airing Pinwright's Progress, the world's first regular half-hour situation comedy.Radio Times Guide to TV Comedy Mark Lewisohn BBC Worldwide Ltd 2003 26 December – David Lean's film of Great Expectations, based on the Charles Dickens novel, and featuring John Mills, Valerie Hobson, Martita Hunt, Alec Guinness, Francis L. Sullivan, Jean Simmons, and Finlay Currie, is released to great acclaim. Publications January – launch of Penguin Classics under the editorship of E. V. Rieu, whose translation of the Odyssey is the first published in the seriesPenguin Classics in translation http://www.bristol.ac.uk/penguinarchiveproject/research/classics/ Penguin Archive Project University of Bristol 17 August 2009 21 August 2011 and will be the country's best-selling book over the next decade.John Sutherland John Sutherland (author) Pick up a Penguin? The Guardian 24 January 2005 5 W. V. Awdry's children's book Thomas the Tank Engine, first in The Railway Series. Enid Blyton's girl school story First Term at Malory Towers, first in the Malory Towers series. Agatha Christie's Hercule Poirot novel The Hollow. R. G. Collingwood's collected philosophical lectures The Idea of History (posthumous). John Stewart Collis' memoir While Following the Plough. Stella Gibbons' novel Westwood. Philip Larkin's novel Jill. George Mikes' book How to be an Alien. Mervyn Peake's novel Titus Groan, first in the Gormenghast series. Thomas Sharp's book The Anatomy of the Village. Joint Committee of the Building Research Board and the Fire Offices' Committee's first report on fire safety General Principles and Structural Precautions.History of Fire Safety http://fire.org.uk/history-of-fire-safety.html FireNet 2009 19 January 2011 https://web.archive.org/web/20101215182743/http://fire.org.uk/history-of-fire-safety.html 15 December 2010 dead Births January 3 January – John Paul Jones, bassist (Led Zeppelin) 6 January – Syd Barrett, guitarist and singer (Pink Floyd) (died 2006) 7 January – Mike Wilds, racing driver and pilot 14 January – Harold Shipman, serial killer (died 2004) 19 January – Julian Barnes, novelist 25 January – Pete Price, Merseyside radio disc jockey 26 January – Timothy Clifford, art historian 28 January – David Duckham, rugby union player (died 2023) 30 January – John Bird, Baron Bird, social entrepreneur and life peer February 1 February – Elisabeth Sladen, television actress (died 2011) 5 February – Charlotte Rampling, actress 7 February Brian Patten, Liverpool poet Pete Postlethwaite, actor (died 2011) 9 February – Seán Neeson, Alliance Party of Northern Ireland politician 11 February – Malcolm Walker, English businessman 13 February – Colin Matthews, composer 15 February – Clare Short, politician 16 February – Ian Lavender, actor (died 2024) 20 February – Brenda Blethyn, actress 21 February – Alan Rickman, actor (died 2016)Alan Rickman obituary https://www.theguardian.com/film/2016/jan/14/alan-rickman-obituary The Guardian 14 January 2021 en 14 January 2016 26 February – Colin Bell, footballer (died 2021) 28 February – Robin Cook, Labour politician (died 2005) March 1 March – Tony Ashton, rock pianist and music producer (died 2001) 4 March Michael Ashcroft, entrepreneur Harvey Goldsmith, performing arts promoter John Virgo, snooker player and commentator (died 2026) 5 March – Murray Head, actor and singer 6 March David Gilmour, singer and guitarist (Pink Floyd) Richard Noble, entrepreneur and land speed record holder 7 March – Matthew Fisher, singer-songwriter and producer 15 March – David Wall, ballet dancer (died 2013) 19 March – Steve Halliwell, actor (died 2023) 21 March – Timothy Dalton, actor 22 March – Richard Faulkner, Baron Faulkner of Worcester, journalist and politician 23 March – Alan Bleasdale, screenwriter 25 March – Cliff Balsam, footballer 27 March – Patrick Richardson, travel writer and authorBBC Excess Baggage Program April 2 April Raymond Gubbay, English impresario Sue Townsend, novelist and playwright (died 2014) 4 April – Dave Hill, guitarist (Slade) 5 April – Jane Asher, actress and author 9 April Les Gray, vocalist (Mud) (died 2004) Alan Knott, cricketerAshley Alexander Mallett Eleven: The Greatest Eleven of the 20th Century https://books.google.com/books?id=-HnJQ16XracC&pg=PA93 2001 Univ. of Queensland Press 978-0-7022-3258-9 93 Sara Parkin, Scottish activist and politicianElizabeth Sleeman The International Who's Who of Women 2002 https://books.google.com/books?id=6J8xDWDqOkEC&pg=PA435 2001 Psychology Press 978-1-85743-122-3 435 11 April – Bob Harris, radio disc jockey 12 April – George Robertson, Scottish politician 15 April – Hugh Laddie, judge (died 2008) 17 April – Clare Francis, sailor and writer 19 April – Tim Curry, actor, voice artist, singer and composer (died 2026) 24 April – Piers Gough, architect 25 April – John Fox, statistician 27 April – Nicholas Serota, art curator 28 April – Linda Knowles, high jumper 29 April – Humphrey Carpenter, children's writer and broadcaster (died 2005) May 1 May – Joanna Lumley, actress 2 May – David Suchet, actor 4 May – John Watson, Northern Irish racing driver 7 May – Michael Rosen, writer and poet 8 May – Ruth Padel, poet and writer 10 May Donovan, Scottish musician Maureen Lipman, actress, columnist and comedian Dave Mason, rock singer-songwriter and guitarist (Traffic) 11 May – David Varney, civil servant 13 May – Tim Pigott-Smith, actor (died 2017) 16 May – Robert Fripp, rock guitarist 19 May – Trevor Adams, actor (died 2000) 20 May – Paul Hirst, sociologist (died 2003) 22 May – George Best, Northern Irish footballer (died 2005) 23 May – Stephen Marks, English businessman 27 May – Lewis Collins, actor (died 2013) June 1 June – Brian Cox, Scottish actor 2 June – Peter Sutcliffe, serial killer (died 2020) 3 June – Penelope Wilton, actress 11 June – Jenny Pitman, horse trainer and author 14 June – Ernie Graham, Northern Irish singer-songwriter (died 2001) 15 June – Noddy Holder, rock singer-songwriter (Slade) 19 June – Michael Jay, Baron Jay of Ewelme, English politician and diplomat, British Ambassador to France 20 June – Nigel Kalton, mathematician and academic (died 2010) 21 June – Kate Hoey, politician Maurice Saatchi, Baron Saatchi, businessman 22 June – Sheila Hollins, Baroness Hollins, psychiatrist 23 June – Kathy Wilkes, philosopher (died 2003) 25 June Buzz Goodbody, English theatre director (died 1975) Ian McDonald, musician (died 2022) 26 June – Clive Francis, actor and caricaturist 28 June – Jamie Cann, politician (died 2001) July 1 July – Mick Aston, archaeologist (died 2013) 5 July Gwyneth Powell, actress (died 2022) Paul Smith, fashion designer 9 July Mike Hancock, politician Mitch Mitchell, drummer (died 2008) 12 July – Robert Fisk, writer and journalist (died 2020) 14 July – Sue Lawley, broadcaster 30 July – Dixie Deans, footballer (died 2025) August 3 August – Jack Straw, politician 6 August Ron Davies, politician Allan Holdsworth, guitarist and composer (died 2017) 15 August Tony Robinson, actor and broadcaster William Waldegrave, Baron Waldegrave of North Hill, academic and politician, Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster 23 August Keith Moon, rock drummer (The Who) (died 1978) Willy Russell, playwright 26 August – Alison Steadman, actress 27 August – Peter Tobin, serial killer (died 2022) September 1 September – Barry Gibb, Manx-born pop singer-songwriter 5 September – Freddie Mercury (born Farrokh Bulsara in Zanzibar), rock singer (Queen) (died 1991) 9 September – Adrian Smith, statistician, President of the Royal Society 10 September – Don Powell, drummer (Slade) 11 September Mike Bull, Northern Irish pole vaulter and decathlete Anthony Browne, author and illustrator John Roberts, Welsh footballer and manager (died 2016) Jim Shoulder, footballer and manager 12 September – Neil Lyndon, journalist and authorhttps://www.telegraph.co.uk/men/thinking-man/from-trump-to-ranieri-is-this-the-era-of-the-older-man/ From Trump to Ranieri: is this the era of the older man? Neil Lyndon 10 May 2016 The Daily Telegraph 19 October 2017 17 September – Billy Bonds, footballer (died 2025) 19 September Michael Elphick, actor (died 2002) Oliver Foot, actor (died 2008) 22 September – John Tomlinson, operatic bass 25 September – Felicity Kendal, actressNewcomb Horace Encyclopedia of Television 3 February 2014 Routledge 978-1-135-19472-7 1246 https://books.google.com/books?id=NUXIAgAAQBAJ&pg=PA1246 en 28 September – Tom Bower, writer and journalist 29 September – Patricia Hodge, actress October 8 October – Bel Mooney, author, journalist, advice columnist 10 October Charles Dance, actor Raymond Tallis, writer and poet Chris Tarrant, television and radio presenter 12 October – Chris Nicholl, football player and manager (died 2024)Chris Nicholl, hard-tackling footballer who won silverware with Aston Villa – obituary 13 October – Edwina Currie, Conservative politician, author and radio personalityRubinstein William D. Jolles Michael Rubinstein Hilary L. The Palgrave Dictionary of Anglo-Jewish History 22 February 2011 Palgrave Macmillan 978-1-4039-3910-4 189 https://books.google.com/books?id=hJc8afOZV0QC&pg=PA189 enMay 2024 14 October Justin Hayward, singer and songwriter (Moody Blues) Peter Jonas, opera director Katy Manning, English-Australian actress and production managerBirth Indices General Register Office for England and Wales General Register Office for England and Wales 1946 Parliament of the United Kingdom Surrey 5g 1388 Birth:1946, Dec Qtr, Catherine A Mannin maiden surname Jenkins 17 October Cameron Mackintosh, theatre producer Vicki Hodge, actress 18 October – Dafydd Elis-Thomas, Welsh politician (died 2025)Former Plaid Cymru leader has died, aged 78 19 October – Philip Pullman, author 22 October Eileen Gordon, Labour politician Kelvin MacKenzie, media executive and newspaper editor 29 October – Peter Green, blues rock guitarist and singer-songwriter (died 2020) 31 October – Stephen Rea, Northern Irish actor November 1 November – Ric Grech, bassist (Family, Blind Faith, Traffic (died 1990) 5 November Caroline Jackson, politician Ken Whaley, Austrian-English bass player and songwriter (died 2013)Cross Nigel Kenneth John Whaley (obit) http://www.shagratrecords.com/shagrat_kenwhaley.html# Shagrat Records 15 June 2013 6 November – Susie Orbach, psychotherapist 7 November – Martin Barre, musician (Jethro Tull) 12 November – P. P. Arnold, born Patricia Ann Cole, American-born soul singer 14 November – Carola Dunn, English writer 18 November Andrea Allan, Scottish actress Chris Rainbow, Scottish singer-songwriter and producer (died 2015) 21 November – Marina Warner, writer 22 November – Brian Cookman, musician and composer (died 2005) 23 November – Diana Quick, actress December 4 December – Angela Browning, Conservative politician and MP for Tiverton and Honiton 12 December – Barrie Rutter, actor and director 14 December Antony Beevor, military historian Jane Birkin, English-born actress and singer (died 2023) Peter Lorimer, Scottish footballer (died 2021) 16 December Christopher Ellison, actor Trevor Pinnock, harpsichordist and conductor 20 December – Lesley Judd, actress and television presenter 25 December – Christopher Frayling, cultural historian 27 December Janet Street-Porter, broadcast journalist Polly Toynbee, journalist and writer 29 December – Marianne Faithfull, English singer and actress (died 2025) 31 December – Roy Porter, medical historian (died 2002) date unknown Alun Armstrong, actor Graham Gouldman, guitarist and songwriter (10cc) Howard Kendall, footballer and football manager Christopher Strauli, comedy actor Deaths 2 January Eleanor Rathbone, social campaigner and politician (born 1872) Will Thorne, trade unionist and politician (born 1857) 3 January – William Joyce, Irish American fascist propagandist (born 1906) (hanged at Wandsworth Prison for treason) 4 January – Theodore Schurch, British-born soldier and collaborator (born 1918) (hanged at Pentonville Prison for treachery) 23 January – Sir Frank MacKinnon, judge (born 1871) 5 February – George Arliss, English film actor (born 1868) 8 March – Frederick W. Lanchester, automotive engineer (born 1868) 3 April – Alf Common, English footballer (born 1880) 21 April – John Maynard Keynes, economist (born 1883) 9 May – Connie Gilchrist, Countess of Orkney, child actress and model (born 1865) 25 May – Ernest Rhys, writer (born 1859) 26 May Sir Francis Lacey, cricket administrator (born 1859) Arthur Winnington-Ingram, Bishop of London (born 1858) 14 June – John Logie Baird, Scottish-born television pioneer (born 1888) 11 July – Paul Nash, artist (born 1889) 15 July – Razor Smith, English cricketer (born 1877) 23 July – James Maxton, Scottish socialist, leader of the Independent Labour Party (born 1885) 13 August – H. G. Wells, English novelist (born 1866) 16 August – Sir Granville Bantock, classical composer and conductor (born 1868) 31 August – Harley Granville-Barker, actor, playwright and critic (born 1877) 16 September – Sir James Jeans, physicist, astronomer and mathematician (born 1877) 2 November – John Barrett, Roman Catholic bishop (born 1878) 17 November – Helen Lavinia Cochrane, artist (born 1868) 18 November – Donald Meek, actor (born 1878) 17 December – Constance Garnett, translator (born 1861) See also List of British films of 1946 The Winter of 1946–47 in the U.K. References 30em 1946 Category:Years of the 20th century in the United Kingdom Category:1946 by country Category:1940s in the United Kingdom Category:1946 in Europe