1954 in the United Kingdom
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 1954 in the United Kingdom |
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| 1954 English cricket season |
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| 1954 in British music |
Events from the year 1954 in the United Kingdom.
Contents |
[edit] Incumbents
- Monarch - HM Queen Elizabeth II
- Prime Minister - Winston Churchill Conservative Party
[edit] Events
- 10 January - A British Airways comet jet flying from Singapore to London crashes in the Mediterranean, killing 35 people.[1]
- 25 January - First broadcast of Dylan Thomas's radio play Under Milk Wood, two months after its author's death.
- 12 February
- United Kingdom Atomic Energy Authority founded.[2]
- British Medical Committee report suggests the existence of a link between smoking and lung cancer.[3]
- 3 April - Oxford wins the 100th Boat Race.[4]
- 6 May - Roger Bannister becomes the first person to break the four-minute mile.[5]
- 6 June
- J. R. R. Tolkien's The Lord of the Rings first published.[6]
- First broadcast on the Eurovision Network founded by Britain, Belgium, France, West Germany, Italy, the Netherlands and Switzerland of a message from Pope Pius XII.[7]
- 4 July - fourteen years of rationing following World War II comes to an end.[8]
- 15 July - Donald McGill, a publisher of saucy seaside postcards, found guilty of breaching the Obscene Publications Act of 1857.[6]
- 4 August - Maiden flight of the English Electric Lightning P-1 supersonic fighter plane.[7]
- 3 September - the National Trust for Scotland acquires Fair Isle.[9]
- 13 October - Chris Chataway breaks the world record for the 5000 metres by five seconds.[10]
- 14 October - the Ethiopian emperor Haile Selassie visits the United Kingdom.[11]
- 19 October - Britain agrees to end its military occupation of the Suez Canal.[7]
- 2 November - Radio comedy series Hancock's Half Hour first aired.[7]
- 30 November - Sir Winston Churchill becomes the first serving British Prime Minister to reach their 80th birthday while still in office.
[edit] Publications
- Kingsley Amis's novel Lucky Jim.
- William Golding's novel Lord of the Flies.
- Agatha Christie's novel Destination Unknown.
- Ian Fleming's James Bond novel Live and Let Die.
- C. S. Lewis' novel The Horse and His Boy.
- Iris Murdoch's novel Under the Net.
- J. R. R. Tolkien's The Fellowship of the Ring and The Two Towers, the first two volumes of the The Lord of the Rings.
[edit] Births
- 4 January - Dave Ulliott, professional poker player
- 6 January - Anthony Minghella, film director (died 2008)
- 9 February - Kevin Warwick, scientist
- 16 February - Iain Banks, writer
- 20 February - Anthony Stewart Head, actor
- 4 March - Willie Thorne, snooker player
- 8 March - David Wilkie, swimmer
- 13 March - Valerie Amos, Baroness Amos, politician
- 17 March - Lesley-Anne Down, actress
- 19 April - Trevor Francis, footballer
- 1 May - Archie Norman, politician and businessman
- 10 July - Neil Tennant, musician
- 2 August - Sammy McIlroy, Northern Irish footballer and football manager
- 11 August - Joe Jackson, singer
- 25 August - Elvis Costello, singer
- September 15 - Colin Cunningham, swimmer
- 3 November - Adam Ant, singer
- 8 November - Kazuo Ishiguro, Japanese-born author
- 5 December - Hanif Kureishi, novelist and screenwriter
- 8 December - Louis de Bernières, author
- 25 December - Annie Lennox, singer
- 31 December - Alex Salmond, Scottish National Party leader
[edit] Deaths
- 18 January - Sydney Greenstreet, actor (born 1879)
- 20 January - Fred Root, cricketer (born 1890)
- 8 February - Ronald Niel Stuart, Royal Navy Captain (born 1886)
- 6 May - B.C. Forbes, Scottish-born publisher (born 1880)
- 7 June - Alan Turing, mathematician, logician and cryptographer (born 1912)
- 11 July - Henry Valentine Knaggs, physician and author (born 1859)
- 24 September - Edward Pilgrim, victim of bureaucracy (born 1904)
- 20 December - James Hilton, novelist (born 1900)
[edit] References
- ^ "Comet jet crashes with 35 on board", BBC On This Day. Retrieved on 2008-01-05.
- ^ "New authority for atomic energy", BBC On This Day. Retrieved on 2008-02-06.
- ^ Palmer, Alan & Veronica (1992). The Chronology of British History. London: Century Ltd, 407-408. ISBN 0-7126-5616-2.
- ^ "Oxford wins 100th Boat Race", BBC On This Day. Retrieved on 2008-02-06.
- ^ "Bannister breaks four-minute mile", BBC On This Day. Retrieved on 2008-02-06.
- ^ a b The Lost Decade Timeline, BBC. Retrieved on 2008-02-06.
- ^ a b c d (2006) Penguin Pocket On This Day. Penguin Reference Library. ISBN 0-141-02715-0.
- ^ "Housewives celebrate end of rationing", BBC On This Day. Retrieved on 2008-02-06.
- ^ "National Trust buys remote island", BBC On This Day. Retrieved on 2008-02-06.
- ^ "Chataway beats 5,000m world record", BBC On This Day. Retrieved on 2008-02-06.
- ^ "Ethiopian emperor visits UK", BBC On This Day. Retrieved on 2008-02-06.
