1945 in the United Kingdom
UK-related events during the year of 1945
Events from the year 1945 in the United Kingdom end of World War II and a landslide general election victory for the Labour Party .
Incumbents
Events
Churchill waves to the crowds on VE Day 8 May – eight days after the suicide of Adolf Hitler in Berlin and the collapse of Nazi rule in Europe, V-E Day is celebrated throughout the UK. Prime Minister Winston Churchill makes a victory speech and appears on the balcony of Buckingham Palace with George VI , Queen Elizabeth and Princesses Elizabeth and Margaret . Street parties take place throughout the country.[ 6]
9 May – German forces in the Channel Islands , the only occupied part of the British Isles , surrender.[ 7]
23 May – Churchill forms a "caretaker" Conservative Party administration, pending an election, officially ending the wartime Coalition government.[ 7]
27 May – basic food ration reduced.[ 8]
28 May – American-born Irish-raised William Joyce , known as "Lord Haw-Haw " is captured on the German border. He is later charged with high treason in London for his English-language wartime propaganda broadcasts on German radio. He is hanged in January 1946.
1 June – the UK takes over administration of Lebanon and Syria .
4 June – Churchill, in a broadcast election speech, claims that a future socialist government "would have to fall back on some form of Gestapo".
7 June – Benjamin Britten 's opera Peter Grimes Sadler's Wells Theatre in London with Peter Pears in the title role.[ 9]
13 June – Council for the Encouragement of Music and the Arts renamed Arts Council of Great Britain .
15 June – Parliament passes:
The Family Allowances Act to provide payments to families with children with effect from 1946.
The Law Reform (Contributory Negligence) Act , allowing an injured person to claim damages even though they were partly at fault, which was previously a complete bar to a claim. The damages may be reduced to reflect the share of responsibility.[ 10]
18 June – demobilisation of the wartime armed forces begins.
5 July – polling day for the first general election to be held since 1935 ; a few constituencies delay polling due to local Wakes weeks and the vote count is not made for another three weeks (see below) so that votes from service personnel overseas can be added to the total.[ 7]
17 July – Potsdam Conference – the three main Allied leaders begin their final summit of the war. The meeting will end on 2 August. Attlee with King George VI after Labour's landslide election victory 26 July – general election results are announced; Winston Churchill resigns as prime minister after his Conservative Party is soundly defeated by the Labour Party , who have a majority of 146 seats, and Clement Attlee becomes the new prime minister. However, Churchill will remain as Leader of the Conservative Party, in opposition. It will be the first time that a Labour government with a majority in the House of Commons has governed Britain.[ 6] members of parliament is 29-year-old Harold Wilson , MP for Ormskirk in Lancashire , who will become the next Labour Prime Minister in 1964.[ 11] Harold Macmillan , who has now lost the Stockton-on-Tees seat twice for the Conservative Party.[ 12] Ernest Brown , leader of the National Liberal Party , loses his seat at Leith to Labour and Sir Archibald Sinclair , leader of the Liberal Party , comes third in the poll at Caithness and Sutherland , while their parties are reduced to 11 and 12 seats respectively. Robert McIntyre loses his newly won Scottish National Party seat. On 27 July, Alfred Dobbs , newly elected as Labour MP for Smethwick , near Birmingham , is killed in a car crash. (Two other Labour MPs die before the end of the year.)
29 July – the BBC Light Programme radio station is launched, concentrating on the broadcasting of mainstream light music and entertainment , superseding the BBC General Forces Programme within the UK using its longwave frequency from the Droitwich Transmitting Station .[ 6]
2 August – Clement Davies replaces Sir Archibald Sinclair as leader of the Liberal Party.
5 August – the Giles family cartoon first appears in the Sunday Express [ 13]
13 August – Zionist World Congress approaches the British government to talk about the establishment of the state of Israel .
14 August
15 August – V-J Day is celebrated in the UK as the first of two days of national holiday, marking the end of World War II .
16 August – in the House of Commons , Leader of the Opposition Winston Churchill speaks of an "Iron Curtain " descending across Europe .
17 August – George Orwell 's political allegory Animal Farm
30 August – British sovereignty of Hong Kong restored following the end of the Japanese occupation of the territory.[ 2]
1 September – clothes ration reduced.[ 8]
2 September
Press censorship ends.
Lend-Lease from the United States terminates.
September – J. B. Priestley 's drama An Inspector Calls Leningrad .[ 15]
2 October – Piccadilly Circus tube station becomes the first to be lit by fluorescent light .[ 2]
24 October – the British government signs the United Nations Charter .
14 November – Harold Macmillan begins his third term as a Conservative MP, after winning the by-election in Bromley , Kent .[ 16]
15 November – Gainsborough Pictures releases the period melodrama The Wicked Lady Margaret Lockwood , Patricia Roc and James Mason .
26 November – J. Arthur Rank releases David Lean 's film of Noël Coward 's Brief Encounter Celia Johnson and Trevor Howard .
28 November – British fascist John Amery pleads guilty to treason and is immediately sentenced to hang .
December
10 December – forced repatriation of Liverpool Chinese seamen begins.[ 21]
31 December – Britain receives its first shipment of bananas since the beginning of the war.[ 6]
Undated – the grammar school at Windermere reorganises itself to become Britain's first comprehensive school .[ 22]
Publications
Births
3 January – David Starkey , English historian
6 January – Barry John , Welsh rugby union footballer (died 2024)
10 January
15 January – Princess Michael of Kent , German-born wife of Prince Michael of Kent
18 January – Rocco Forte , hotelier
21 January – Martin Shaw , English actor
23 January – Richard Dearlove , English intelligence officer
25 January – Dave Walker , rock musician
26 January
29 January – Jim Nicholson , Northern Irish Unionist politician and MEP for Northern Ireland
30 January – Mike Kenny , paralympian swimmer
31 January – Brenda Hale, Baroness Hale of Richmond , President of the Supreme Court of the United Kingdom
3 February – Roy 'Chubby' Brown , born Royston Vasey, stand-up comedian
5 February – Charlotte Rampling , English actress
7 February – Gerald Davies , Welsh rugby player
13 February
14 February – Martin Sorrell , businessman
15 February – John Helliwell , English saxophonist and keyboard player
16 February – Jeremy Bulloch , actor (died 2020)
20 February – Alan Hull , English folk rock singer-songwriter (died 1995)
25 February – Elkie Brooks , English singer
26 February – Michael Marmot , English epidemiologist
22 March – Peter Williams , English physicist and academic
30 March – Eric Clapton , English rock guitarist
2 April – Roger Bootle-Wilbraham, 7th Baron Skelmersdale , politician (died 2018)
6 April – Rodney Bickerstaffe , English trade union leader (died 2017)
7 April – Gerry Cottle , English circus owner (died 2021)
14 April – Ritchie Blackmore , English rock guitarist (Deep Purple )
19 April – Cleo Sylvestre , actress (died 2024)
20 April – Alistair Cooke, Baron Lexden , historian and author
21 April
29 April – Hugh Hopper , English rock guitarist (died 2009)
6 May – Hilary Dwyer , actress, businessperson and film producer (died 2020)
9 May
12 May
14 May – George Nicholls , English rugby league footballer
16 May – Nicky Chinn , English songwriter (Sweet and Suzi Quatro )
19 May
29 May
1 June – Ray Harford , footballer and manager (died 2003)
2 June – Lord David Dundas , musician and actor
3 June
8 June
10 June – Benny Gallagher , Scottish singer-songwriter and multi-instrumentalist (Gallagher and Lyle )
12 June – Pat Jennings , Northern Irish football goalkeeper
14 June – Rod Argent , singer and keyboardist
15 June – Nicola Pagett , actress (died 2021)
17 June – Ken Livingstone , politician
19 June – John Hind , English bishop and theologian
28 June
3 July – Iain MacDonald-Smith , English racing yachtsman
4 July – David McWilliams , Northern Irish singer-songwriter (died 2002)
7 July – Michael Ancram , Conservative politician and MP for Devizes
10 July
16 July – Barry Dudleston , English first-class cricketer and umpire
19 July – Richard Henderson , Scottish molecular biologist, Nobel Prize laureate
20 July – John Lodge , English rock singer/songwriter (The Moody Blues )
21 July
24 July – Martin Edwards , football executive
26 July
1 August – Laila Morse , English television actress
5 August – Martin Lambie-Nairn , production designer (died 2020)
6 August – Ron Jones , television director (died 1993)
8 August – Tom O'Carroll , paedophilia advocate
9 August – Posy Simmonds , English cartoonist and illustrator
13 August
14 August – Jennifer d'Abo , entrepreneur (died 2003)
19 August – Ian Gillan , English hard rock singer (Deep Purple )
24 August – Ken Hensley , singer-songwriter (Uriah Heep ) (died 2020)
31 August – Van Morrison , Northern Irish singer-songwriter
4 September – Bill Kenwright , English theatre producer (died 2023)
8 September – Kelly Groucutt , English rock guitarist (Electric Light Orchestra ) (died 2009)
14 September – Martin Tyler , sports broadcaster
18 September – John McAfee , British-American computer programmer and businessman (died 2021)[ 24]
21 September – Shaw Clifton , General of The Salvation Army
24 September
26 September – Bryan Ferry , pop rock singer and musician
27 September – Bob Spiers , television director (died 2008)
5 October
15 October – Dave Hill , actor
19 October – Angus Deaton , Scottish-born economist, Nobel Prize laureate
23 October
31 October – Al Jones , folk singer (died 2008)
10 November – Terence Davies , English film director and screenwriter (died 2023)
14 November – Louise Ellman , academic and politician
17 November – Gordon Phillips , English football player and manager (died 2018)
25 November – Bobby Knutt , English actor and comedian (died 2017)
26 November – John McVie , English rock bass guitarist (Fleetwood Mac )
30 November
7 December – Clive Russell , English actor
16 December – Tony Hicks , guitarist and singer (The Hollies
17 December
19 December – Ron Hunt , English footballer (died 2018)
24 December – Ian "Lemmy" Kilminster , bassist and singer (Motörhead ) (died 2015)
25 December
30 December – Davy Jones , English-born pop singer and actor (died 2012)
Deaths
2 January – Sir Bertram Ramsay , admiral; killed on active service (born 1883)
6 January – Herbert Lumsden , general; killed in action (born 1897)
9 January – Dennis O'Neill , Welsh child manslaughter victim (born 1932)
30 January – William Goodenough , admiral (born 1867)
21 January – Archibald Murray , Army general (born 1860)
31 January – Les Adams , rugby league player (born 1909)
21 February – Eric Liddell , athlete and missionary; died in Weixian Internment Camp (born 1902)
5 March – Albert Richards , war artist; killed on active service (born 1919)
7 March – Daniel Everett , RAF pilot; killed in action (born 1920)
8 March – Frederick Bligh Bond , architect, archaeologist and psychical researcher (born 1864)
20 March – Lord Alfred Douglas , poet and former lover of Oscar Wilde (born 1870)
23 March – Sir Napier Shaw , meteorologist (born 1854)
26 March – David Lloyd George , former prime minister (born 1863)
29 March – Jack Agazarian , spy; executed (born 1916)
7 April – Elizabeth Bibesco , writer and socialite (born 1897)
11 April – Cecil Griffiths , athlete, winner of gold medal in 4 × 400 m relay at the 1920 Summer Olympics (born 1901)
18 April – Sir John Ambrose Fleming , electrical engineer and physicist (born 1849)
3 May – Herbert Farjeon , man of the theatre (born 1887)
15 May
27 July – Alfred Dobbs , politician (born 1882)[ 26]
6 September – Maximilian von Herff , Waffen-SS officer and Knight's Cross recipient (born 1893 in Germany )
18 September – C. H. Middleton , gardening broadcaster (born 1886)
22 September – Thomas Burke , fiction writer (born 1886)
31 October
20 November – Francis William Aston , chemist, Nobel Prize laureate (born 1877)
4 December – Arthur Morrison , writer (born 1863)
5 December – Cosmo Gordon Lang , former archbishop of Canterbury (born 1864)
14 December – Princess Maud, Countess of Southesk , granddaughter of Edward VII (born 1893)
26 December
See also
References
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