1962 in the United Kingdom
List of events
Events from the year 1962 in the United Kingdom
Incumbents
Events
January–April – An outbreak of smallpox spreading from Cardiff infects 45 people and kills 19 in South Wales; 900,000 people in the region are vaccinated against the disease.[ 1]
2 January – BBC Television broadcasts the first episode of Z-Cars
5 January – The first album on which The Beatles play, My Bonnie Tony Sheridan (recorded last June in Hamburg ), is released by Polydor .[ 2] [ 3]
11 January–12 February – Bradford smallpox outbreak of 1962 .[ 4]
15 January – UK weather reports begin to quote the temperature in degrees Celsius in addition to Fahrenheit.[ 5]
18 January – Union-Castle Line ship RMS Transvaal Castle (1961) makes her maiden voyage Southampton –Durban , perhaps the last major British ship built to enter the regular passenger ocean liner trade.
22 January – James Hanratty goes on trial for the A6 murder. He denies the murder of 36-year-old Michael Gregsten and the attempted murder of Mr Gregsten's mistress Valerie Storie, who is paralysed by a gunshot wound.[ 6]
4 February – The Sunday Times [ 7]
10 February – End of the Queen's 10th regnal year . From this year, Acts of Parliament are dated by calendar year.
12 February – Six members of the Committee of 100 of the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament are found guilty of a breach of the Official Secrets Act .
16 February – The 430-ft high 275kV Tyne Crossing power lines collapse on the same day that the British highest wind speed of 177mph on Lowther Hill in south-west Scotland is recorded.[ 8] [ 9] [ 10]
21 February – Margot Fonteyn and Rudolf Nureyev first dance together, in a Royal Ballet performance of Giselle
26 February – The Irish Republican Army officially calls off its Border Campaign in Northern Ireland .[ 11]
1 March – British nuclear testing in the United States begins with "Pampas", Britain's first underground test, at the Nevada Test Site , the first of 24 critical tests up to 1991.
6 March – Accrington Stanley , members of the Football League Fourth Division , resign from the Football League due to huge debts.[ 12]
7 March
13 March – 1962 Blackpool North by-election : the Blackpool North seat is retained by the Conservative Party.
14 March (Wednesday) – Parliamentary by elections in England (the last to be held on a day other than Thursday):
29 March – Education Act 1962 requires local education authorities to pay the tuition fees of students attending full-time first degree (or comparable) courses and to provide them with a maintenance grant, superseding the former system of state scholarships .[ 15]
2 April – Panda crossings are introduced (in London) but their complex sequences of pulsating and flashing lights cause confusion amongst drivers and pedestrians.[ 16]
4 April – James Hanratty is hanged at HM Prison Bedford for the A6 murder, despite protests from many people who believe he is innocent, and the late introduction into his trial of witnesses who claim to have seen him in Rhyl , North Wales , on the day of the murder.
12 April – British New Wave film A Kind of Loving John Schlesinger , is released.
18 April – Commonwealth Immigrants Act in the United Kingdom removes free immigration from the citizens of member states of the Commonwealth of Nations , requiring proof of employment in the UK. This comes into effect on 1 July.[ 17]
23 April – This year's Aldermaston March culminates in a 150,000-strong demonstration against proliferation of nuclear weapons in Hyde Park, London .[ 5]
26 April – Ariel 1 , the UK's first satellite , is launched from the United States.[ 18]
27 April – Opinion polls show that less than half of voters now approve of Harold Macmillan as Prime Minister.[ 19]
28 April – Ipswich Town win the Football League First Division title in their first season at that level.[ 20]
5 May – Tottenham Hotspur retain the FA Cup with a 3–1 win over Burnley at Wembley Stadium , with goals from Jimmy Greaves , Bobby Smith and captain Danny Blanchflower .[ 21]
8 May – The last trolleybuses in London are run.[ 22]
11 May – Prince Charles starts at Gordonstoun school in Scotland.[ 5]
25 May – The new Coventry Cathedral is consecrated.[ 7] Benjamin Britten 's War Requiem
26 May – Acker Bilk 's 1961 instrumental recording "Stranger on the Shore " becomes the first British recording to reach number one in the US Billboard Hot 100.
31 May
2 June
6 June – The Beatles play their first session at Abbey Road Studios in London, having signed with EMI 's Parlophone label on 9 May.[ 3]
14 June
1 July – Another heavy smog develops over London .
3 July – Opening of Chichester Festival Theatre , Britain's first large modern theatre with a thrust stage . Laurence Olivier is the first artistic director .
11 July – Live television broadcast from the US to Britain for the first time, via the Telstar communications satellite and Goonhilly Satellite Earth Station .[ 26]
12 July – The Rolling Stones make their debut at London's Marquee Club , Number 165 Oxford Street, opening for Long John Baldry .
13 July – In what the press dubs "the Night of the Long Knives ", the prime minister Harold Macmillan dismisses one-third of his Cabinet .
20 July – The world's first regular passenger hovercraft service is introduced between Rhyl in North Wales and Wallasey .[ 7]
22 July – Advertising Standards Authority set up.[ 27]
23 July – First live public transatlantic television broadcasts of full-length programmes, via the Telstar satellite.[ 28]
29 July – Race riots break out in Dudley , West Midlands.[ 29] [ 30] [ 31] [ 32] [ 33]
31 July – A crowd assaults a rally of the right-wing Union Movement of Sir Oswald Mosley in London.[ 34]
4 August – Cymdeithas yr Iaith Gymraeg , the Welsh Language Society, is founded.
6 August – Jamaica becomes independent from the United Kingdom.[ 27]
12 August – The BMC ADO16 economy car series, best known as the Austin/Morris 1100, is launched; this becomes Britain's best selling car for most of the 1960s.
17 August – The Tornados ' recording of Joe Meek 's instrumental "Telstar " is released.
18 August – The Beatles play their first live engagement with the line-up of John , Paul , George and Ringo , at Hulme Hall, Port Sunlight .[ 3]
23 August – John Lennon marries Cynthia Powell at an unpublicised register office ceremony at Mount Pleasant, Liverpool , with Paul McCartney as best man.[ 5]
31 August
1 September – Channel Television , the ITV franchise for the Channel Islands , goes on air.
2 September – Glasgow Corporation Tramways runs its last tramcars in normal service, leaving the Blackpool tramway as the only remaining one in the UK.
6 September – Archaeologist Peter Marsden discovers the first of a set of Roman shipwrecks at Blackfriars in London, known as the Blackfriars Ships .
8–11 September – Last Gentlemen v Players cricket match played, at Scarborough , as the MCC abolishes the distinction between amateurs and professionals.[ 26]
14 September – Wales West and North Television (Teledu Cymru) goes on air to the North and West Wales region, extending ITV to the whole of the United Kingdom.
20 September – The Ford Motor Company launches the Cortina , a family saloon costing £573 (equivalent to £12,500 in 2022) and similar in size to the Vauxhall Victor , Hillman Minx and Morris Oxford Farina .[ 35]
21 September – First broadcast of the long-running television quiz programme University Challenge Granada Television with Bamber Gascoigne as quizmaster.[ 7]
1 October – Elizabeth Lane takes her seat as the first female county court judge .
5 October
9 October – Uganda gains independence from the United Kingdom.[ 27]
17 October – The Beatles make their first televised appearance, on Granada television 's north west local news programme People and Places .[ 7]
21 October – The first American Folk Blues Festival European tour plays its only UK date at the Free Trade Hall , Manchester ; artists include Sonny Terry , Brownie McGhee and T-Bone Walker . It will be influential on the British R&B scene, with the audience including: Mick Jagger , Keith Richards and Brian Jones of The Rolling Stones with Jimmy Page , Paul Jones , John Mayall and other musicians, and with a second show filmed and shown on Independent Television.[ 38]
22 October
John Vassall , a former clerical officer in naval intelligence, is sentenced to 18 years imprisonment after admitting to passing secret material to the Soviet Union.[ 39] Manchester Ringway Airport opens the first hub and pier terminal in Europe.
24 October – GCHQ 's interception station at Scarborough is the first to detect that Soviet merchant ships implicated in the Cuban Missile Crisis are returning to their bases.[ 40]
26 October – St Andrew's Hall, a concert hall in Glasgow , is destroyed in a fire thought to have been caused by a cigarette discarded during a Scotland versus Romania boxing match the previous day. The surviving facade is later incorporated into the Mitchell Library .[ 41]
31 October – The United Nations General Assembly asks the United Kingdom to suspend enforcement of the new constitution in Southern Rhodesia (later Zimbabwe ), but the constitution comes into effect on 1 November.
November – John Charnley makes the world's first successful whole hip replacement operation at Wrightington Hospital , Wigan .[ 42]
2 November – Greville Wynne , a British trader acting as a courier for MI6 , is arrested by the KGB in Budapest and imprisoned in Moscow after confessing to espionage.[ 43]
17 November – Seaham life-boat George Elmy capsizes entering harbour after service to coble Economy : all five crew and four of the five survivors are killed.
22 November – 1962 Chippenham by-election : the Conservatives are narrowly re-elected in Chippenham , Wiltshire , ahead of a challenge from the Liberals.
24 November – The first episode of influential satire show That Was the Week That Was David Frost , is broadcast on BBC Television .[ 26]
29 November – An agreement is signed between Britain and France to develop the Concorde [ 7]
2–7 December – Severe smog in London causes numerous deaths.[ 26]
6 December – The last permanent inhabitants leave the Scottish Island of Stroma .
9 December – Tanganyika (modern-day Tanzania ) becomes a republic within the Commonwealth, with Julius Nyerere as president.
10 December
16 December – Anglo–French talks regarding the UK's admission to the European Economic Community end in stalemate.[ 5]
19 December – Britain acknowledges the right of Nyasaland (later Malawi ) to secede from the Central African Federation .
21 December – Nassau Agreement : Britain agrees to buy the Polaris missile system from the United States.[ 46]
22 December
"Big Freeze" in Britain: no frost-free nights until 5 March 1963.
"Telstar" , by The Tornados , becomes the first single by a British group to reach No. 1 on the US charts, predating The Beatles by 13 months.
30 December – United Nations troops occupy the last rebel positions in Katanga ; Moise Tshombe moves to Southern Rhodesia .
Undated
Publications
Births
January – Richard Leonard , Leader of the Scottish Labour Party (2017-21).
3 January – Guy Pratt , English musician and songwriter
4 January – Robin Guthrie , Scottish guitarist and producer (Cocteau Twins )
5 January – Andrew Rawnsley , English journalist and broadcaster
11 January
20 January – Sophie Thompson , English actress
25 January – Emma Freud , English broadcaster and cultural commentator
28 January – Hamish McColl , comedian, writer and actor
2 February – Andy Fordham , English darts player (died 2021)
4 February – Stephen Hammond , English banker and politician
7 February – Eddie Izzard , British actor and comedian
8 February
12 February – Jimmy Kirkwood , field hockey player
13 February – Hugh Dennis , British actor, comedian and writer (The Now Show
17 February – Sarah Wollaston , physician and politician
21 February
25 February – John Lanchester , British journalist and novelist
26 February – Pen Hadow , Arctic explorer
4 March
9 March
12 March – Graham Stuart , British Conservative politician, MP for Beverley and Holderness
17 March – Clare Grogan , Scottish actress and singer
23 March – Steve Redgrave , English rower
26 March – Sarah Mullally (née Bowser), Chief Nursing Officer for England , later first woman Bishop of London )
27 March – John O'Farrell , British author and broadcaster
April – Sarah Gilbert , English vaccinologist
1 April – Phillip Schofield , British television presenter
9 April – Imran Sherwani , British field hockey player
15 April
19 April – Dorian Yates , English professional bodybuilder
22 April – Ann McKechin , Scottish Labour politician, MP for Glasgow North
23 April – John Hannah , Scottish actor
24 April
26 April – Colin Anderson , English footballer
29 April – Polly Samson , English journalist and writer
2 May – Jimmy White , British snooker player
6 May – Tom Brake , British Liberal Democrat politician, MP for Carshalton and Wallington
9 May
12 May – Gregory H. Johnson , American astronaut
14 May – Ian Astbury , British singer (The Cult )
17 May
20 May – Claire Horton , charity executive
26 May – Black , English singer-songwriter (died 2016)
29 May – Perry Fenwick , English actor
6 June – Mark Bright , English footballer, radio presenter and television pundit
8 June – Nick Rhodes , English rock keyboardist (Duran Duran )
13 June – Mark Frankel , actor (died 1996)
15 June – Chris Morris , English comedian, writer, director, actor, voice actor and producer
25 June – Phill Jupitus , comedian and broadcaster
27 June – Michael Ball , singer
29 June – Amanda Donohoe , English actress
30 June – Julianne Regan , singer/songwriter
1 July – Dominic Keating , English actor
4 July – Neil Morrissey , English actor
12 July – Dean Wilkins , English football manager
21 July – Victor Adebowale, Baron Adebowale , social entrepreneur
30 July – Lavinia Greenlaw , poet and novelist
1 August – Robert Clift , Welsh field hockey player
2 August – Lee Mavers , English musician
7 August – Doon Mackichan , British actress and comedian
9 August – Yinka Shonibare , artist
11 August – John Micklethwait , English journalist, editor-in-chief of The Economist
13 August – Heidi Thomas , screenwriter and playwright
20 August – Sophie Aldred , British actress and television presenter
23 August – Shaun Ryder , English musician, singer-songwriter and actor
24 August – Ali Smith , writer
30 August – Alexander Litvinenko , British citizen, previously KGB colonel and FSB lieutenant-colonel (killed 2006)
Keir Starmer 2 September – Keir Starmer , Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 2024
5 September – Peter Wingfield , Welsh actor
8 September – Daljit Dhaliwal , British newsreader and television presenter
15 September – Steve Punt , British actor, comedian and writer (The Now Show
18 September – John Fashanu , English football player and commentator
21 September – Nick Knowles , English television presenter
24 September
26 September – Tracey Thorn , British singer
30 September – Tony Morris , newsreader (d. 2020 )
October – Micky Flanagan , comedian
5 October – Caron Keating , television presenter (died 2004)
7 October – Micky Flanagan , English comedian
8 October – Richard Lintern , English actor
11 October – Nicola Bryant , actress
14 October
18 October – Naive John , Stuckist artist and figurative painter
19 October – Claude Callegari , English YouTube personality (d. 2021 )[ 49]
20 October
25 October – Nick Hancock , British actor and television presenter
26 October – Cary Elwes , English actor
3 November
11 November – Alan Yau , Hong Kong-born restaurateur (Wagamama food chain)
12 November – Mariella Frostrup , journalist and television presenter
15 November – Maggie O'Neill , actress
21 November – Alan Smith , footballer
24 November – John Kovalic , Anglo-American cartoonist
27 November
29 November – Ronny Jordan , guitarist (died 2014)
2 December – Steve Huison , actor
3 December – Richard Bacon , British Conservative politician, MP for South Norfolk
6 December
7 December – Jeffrey Donaldson , Northern Irish politician, leader of the Democratic Unionist Party
17 December – Paul Dobson , English footballer
22 December – Ralph Fiennes , English actor
31 December – Heather McCartney , born Heather See, adopted daughter of Sir Paul McCartney
Unknown dates
Deaths
16 January – R. H. Tawney , English historian and social critic (born 1880)
26 January – George Jeffreys , Welsh Pentecostalist (born 1889)
13 February – Hugh Dalton , Labour politician, Chancellor of the Exchequer (1945–1947) (born 1887)
16 March – Fred Pentland , footballer and coach (born 1883)
23 March – Clement Davies , Welsh Liberal politician (born 1884)
4 April – James Hanratty , murderer, one of the last people to be hanged in the UK (born 1936)
10 April – Stuart Sutcliffe , English artist and musician (The Beatles ) (born 1940)
19 April – Sir Harold Yarrow, 2nd Baronet , industrialist (born 1884)
21 April – Sir Frederick Handley Page , English aircraft manufacturer (born 1885)
30 April – Sir Jameson Adams , Antarctic explorer, Royal Navy officer and civil servant (born 1880)
5 May – Ernest Tyldesley , English cricketer (born 1889)
2 June – Vita Sackville-West , English writer and landscape gardener (born 1892)
12 June – John Ireland , English composer (born 1879)
13 June – Sir Eugene Goossens , English composer (born 1893)
21 July – G. M. Trevelyan , English historian (born 1876)
27 July – Richard Aldington , English poet (born 1892)
15 August – Bob McIntyre , Scottish motorcycle racer (born 1928; died of injuries received in motorcycle race)
7 September – Graham Walker , English motorcycle racer (born 1896)
23 September
30 September – Sir Bernard Rawlings , British admiral (born 1889)
21 October – Hugh Franklin , English activist for women's suffrage (born 1889)
4 November – Saxon Sydney-Turner , English civil servant, eccentric, member of the Bloomsbury Group (born 1880)
5 November – Percy Cudlipp , Welsh-born journalist (born 1905)
15 December – Charles Laughton , English actor and director (born 1899)
21 December – Gary Hocking , Welsh motorcycle racer (born 1937; died in automobile racing accident)
December – Ethel Carnie Holdsworth , English working class novelist and campaigner (born 1886)
See also
References
^ "1962 south Wales smallpox outbreak memories recorded" . BBC News . Retrieved 12 June 2012 .^ Everett, Walter (2001). The Beatles as Musicians: The Quarry Men through Rubber Soul 100 . ISBN 978-0-19-514105-4 ^ a b c Spitz, Bob (2005). The Beatles: The Biography ISBN 978-0-316-80352-6 ^ Tovey, Derrick (May 2004). "The Bradford smallpox outbreak in 1962: a personal account" . Journal of the Royal Society of Medicine . 97 (5): 244– 247. doi :10.1177/014107680409700512 . ISSN 0141-0768 . PMC 1079469 PMID 15121819 .^ a b c d e Gross, Nigel; et al. (1999). Collins Gem 1960s . London: HarperCollins. ISBN 0-00-472310-4 ^ "1962: 'A6 murder' trial begins" . BBC News . 22 January 1962. Archived from the original on 17 January 2008. Retrieved 2 February 2008 .^ a b c d e f g Penguin Pocket On This Day . Penguin Reference Library. 2006. ISBN 978-0-14-102715-9 ^ Newcastle Evening Chronicle 16 February 1962, p. 1.^ Newcastle Journal 17 February 1962, p. 11.^ The Times 17 February 1962, p. 8.^ The United Irishman March 1962 p. 1.^ Burnton, Simon (6 March 2010). "6 March 1962: Accrington Stanley resign from the Football League" . The Guardian ^ Marr, Andrew (2007). A History of Modern Britain . London: Macmillan. p. 239. ISBN 978-1-4050-0538-8 ^ "NED planners go into action". Daily Mirror ^ Anderson, Robert (8 February 2016). "University fees in historical perspective" . History & Policy . Retrieved 19 July 2016 . ^ "1962: New pedestrian crossings cause chaos" . BBC News . 2 April 1962. Archived from the original on 7 March 2008. Retrieved 2 February 2008 .^ Roche, T. W. E. (1969). The Key in the Lock: a history of immigration control in England from 1066 to the present day 205–17 . ISBN 978-0-7195-1907-9 ^ "Ariel 1 Launch/Orbital Information" . NASA Space Science Data Coordinated Archive . Retrieved 24 March 2020 .^ "Polls Show Macmillan Losing Hold in Britain" . Daily News Texan . Vol. 10, no. 100. Hurst. 27 April 1962. p. 2. Retrieved 16 December 2015 .^ "Ipswich Town, Dundee win English, Scottish Soccer Titles" . Montreal Gazette . Retrieved 16 December 2015 .^ "1962 FA Cup Final" . FA Cup Finals . Archived from the original on 28 March 2008. Retrieved 16 December 2015 .^ Marshall, Prince (1972). Wheels of London . London: The Sunday Times Magazine. p. 109. ISBN 978-0-7230-0068-6 ^ Wallace, Elisabeth (Summer 1962). "The West Indies Federation: Decline and Fall". International Journal . 17 (3). Canadian International Council: 269– 288. doi :10.1177/002070206201700305 . JSTOR 40198636 . S2CID 147144900 . ^ "1962: To the brink of war..." Wolverhampton: Express & Star .^ Brodetsky, Martin (19 July 2012). "Timeline" . Oxford United F.C. Retrieved 16 December 2015 . ^ a b c d Palmer, Alan; Palmer, Veronica (1992). The Chronology of British History . London: Century Ltd. pp. 419– 420. ISBN 978-0-7126-5616-0 ^ a b c d The Hutchinson Factfinder . Helicon. 1999. ISBN 978-1-85986-000-7 ^ "Early Satellite Relays to/from Britain" . British TV History . Archived from the original on 27 October 2010. Retrieved 6 October 2010 .^ "Mr. F. McEvoy and Mr. H. Reeve (Sentences) (Hansard, 20 January 1964)" . Parliamentary Debates (Hansard) Archived from the original on 2 July 2009. Retrieved 10 May 2009 .^ Gough, Graham (2012). The Black Country Album . Stroud: The History Press. ISBN 9780752479743 ^ "Alleged race riot in Dudley" . The National Archives . Home Office. Retrieved 22 March 2022 .^ "Midlands News: 31.07.1962: Dudley Race Riots" . MACE Archive . 23 June 2017. Retrieved 22 March 2022 .^ BCLM (12 August 2022). "Understanding Dudley's Race Riots: pt.1 - What Happened" . Black Country Living Museum . Retrieved 7 August 2024 . ^ "1962: Violence flares at Mosley rally" . BBC News . 31 July 1962. Archived from the original on 7 March 2008. Retrieved 2 February 2008 .^ "Ford Cortina (1962–1982): a National Institution" . Yahoo! Cars . Retrieved 16 June 2011 .^ "Dr. No (1962)" . MI6 . Retrieved 1 September 2010 .^ New Musical Express ^ "American Folk Blues Festival Live In Manchester 1962" . Manchester: Piccadilly Records. 2020. Retrieved 9 September 2020 .^ Martland, Peter (2004). "Vassall [later Phillips], (William) John Christopher (1924–1996)". Oxford Dictionary of National Biography doi :10.1093/ref:odnb/64068 .(Subscription or UK public library membership required.) ^ Corera, Gordon (21 October 2019). "Scarborough's Cuban missile crisis role revealed" . BBC News . Retrieved 21 October 2019 .^ Ann Fotheringham (28 November 2022). "Remembering the world-famous Glasgow concert hall destroyed by fire" . Glasgow Times. Retrieved 5 April 2024 . ^ Waugh, William (1990). John Charnley: The Man and the Hip . London: Springer-Verlag. pp. 122– 4. ISBN 978-3-540-19587-0 ^ "Wynne confesses to charges of spying for West" The Guardian ^ "The Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine 1962" . Retrieved 2 February 2008 .^ "The Nobel Prize in Chemistry 1962" . Retrieved 2 February 2008 .^ "1962: America to sell Polaris to Britain" . BBC News . 21 December 1962. Archived from the original on 7 March 2008. Retrieved 2 February 2008 .^ "1962" . CBRD . Retrieved 3 July 2012 .^ Harrison, Ian (2003). The Book of Firsts 45 . ISBN 978-1-84403-201-3 ^ "Tierney Is Better Than Robertson & Claude Lives On!" . AFTV . 2 April 2021. Event occurs at 16:59. Archived from the original on 13 November 2021 – via YouTube.
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