1951 in the United Kingdom

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1951 in the United Kingdom

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1949 | 1950 | 1951 | 1952 | 1953

British and Irish current events

Sport and Music

1951 English cricket season

Football England | Scotland

1951 in British music

Events from the year 1951 in the United Kingdom.

[edit] Incumbents

• Monarch - King George VI of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland
• Prime Minister - Clement Attlee Labour Party, Winston Churchill Conservative Party

[edit] Events

• 11 April - The Stone of Scone is located in Forfar, having been stolen by Scottish Nationalists.^[1]
• 17 April - the submarine HMS Affray sinks, killing its 75 crew.^[2]
• March - Pineapple Poll, a Gilbert and Sullivan inspired comic ballet, created by choreographer John Cranko with arranger Sir Charles Mackerras is premiered at Sadler's Wells Theatre by the Sadler's Wells Ballet.^[3]
• 3 May - George VI opens the Festival of Britain.^[4]
• 28 May - first broadcast of The Goon Show radio series.^[1]. Princess Elizabeth opens the Exhibition of Industrial Power - the latest part of the Festival of Britain - in Glasgow. [1]
• 7–8 June - Guy Burgess and Donald Maclean defect to the USSR.^[5]
• 10 July - Boxer Randy Turpin beats the American Sugar Ray Robinson in a fight in London to become world middleweight champion.
• 15 August - the first Miss World beauty pageant is held as part of the Festival of Britain.^[5]
• 14 September - Clement Attlee opens the largest oil refinery in Europe at Fawley on Southampton Water.^[6]
• 23 September - George VI has an operation to remove part of his lung.^[7]
• 30 September - Festival of Britain ends.^[8]
• 26 October - Conservative Party under Winston Churchill wins the general election, regaining the position of Prime Minister that he lost five years previously.^[9]
• 31 October - Zebra crossings, a type of pedestrian crossing, introduced.^[1]
• 2 November - 6,000 British troops are sent to Egypt to deal with anti-British disturbances at Fayid in the Suez Canal Zone of the country.^[10]
• 20 November - More than 1,000 families of British servicemen begin to move out of the Suez Canal Zone of Egypt after a shooting which claimed the lives of five British soldiers as well as nine Egyptian civilians.^[11]
• 20 November - The 1951 Prime Minister's Resignation Honours are announced, to mark the resignation of Prime Minister Clement Attlee.^[12]
• 10 December - John Cockcroft wins the Nobel Prize in Physics jointly with Ernest Walton "for their pioneer work on the transmutation of atomic nuclei by artificially accelerated atomic particles".^[13]
• 25 December - King George VI makes the Christmas Speech to the Commonwealth, but it has been pre-recorded due to his ill health as he is still struggling to recover from an operation three months ago in which he had part of a lung removed. [2]
• 31 December - Prime minister Winston Churchill sets off to the United States of America for talks with president Harry S. Truman. [3]

[edit] Undated

• The first three National parks of England and Wales are established: Snowdonia, the Peak District and the Lake District.

[edit] Publications

• Agatha Christie's novel They Came to Baghdad.
• Graham Greene's novel The End of the Affair.
• C. S. Lewis' novel Prince Caspian.
• Nicholas Monsarrat's novel The Cruel Sea.
• Anthony Powell's novel A Question of Upbringing, first in the 12-volume cycle A Dance to the Music of Time.
• John Wyndham's novel The Day of the Triffids.

[edit] Births

• 5 January - Steve Arnold, footballer
• 30 January - Phil Collins, musician and producer
• 14 February - Kevin Keegan, footballer and football manager
• 15 February - Jane Seymour, actress
• 20 February - Gordon Brown, Prime Minister
• 27 February - Steve Harley, musician (Cockney Rebel)
• 1 March - Mike Read, television presenter and radio disc jockey
• 4 March - Kenny Dalglish, footballer and football manager
• 4 March - Chris Rea, singer and musician
• 13 April - Peter Davison, actor
• 14 April - Julian Lloyd Webber, cellist and composer
• 20 April - Louise Jameson, actress
• 25 April - Ian McCartney, politician
• 8 June - Bonnie Tyler, singer
• 14 June - Paul Boateng, politician
• 28 June - Lalla Ward, actress
• 24 July - Chris Smith, politician
• 19 August - John Deacon, bassist (Queen)
• 22 September - David Coverdale, singer
• 26 September - Stuart Tosh, musician
• 27 September - Paul Craig, professor of law
• 2 October - Sting, musician
• 15 November - Alamgir Hashmi, poet
• 19 November - Lord Falconer of Thoroton, politician
• 8 December - Bill Bryson, American-born British author
• 10 December - Doug Allder, footballer
• 20 December - Peter May, novelist and television dramatist

[edit] Deaths

• 25 February - Percy Malcolm Stewart, industrialist (born 1872)
• 6 March - Ivor Novello, actor, musician, and composer (born 1893)
• 6 April - Robert Broom, paleontologist (born 1866)
• 14 April - Ernest Bevin, labour leader, politician, and statesman (born 1881)
• 22 April - Horace Donisthorpe, myrmecologist (born 1870)
• 24 April - James Maclay, 1st Baron Maclay, businessman and public servant (born 1857)
• 11 June - W. C. Sellar, humourist (born 1898)
• 3 July - Gwendoline Davies, philanthropist (born 1882)
• 21 August - Constant Lambert, composer (born 1905)
• 27 September - Robert Thomas, politician (born 1873)
• 29 September - Evan Roberts, preacher (born 1878)
• 11 October - Donald Cameron, 25th Lochiel, Scottish chieftain (born 1876)

[edit] References

[edit] See also