From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
UK-related events during the year of 1963
Events from the year
1963 in the
United Kingdom . This year sees changes in the leadership of both main political parties, the
Profumo affair and the rise of
The Beatles as well as the launch of the long-running sci-fi series
Doctor Who .
Incumbents
Events
January–April –
Winter of 1963 : The UK experiences the worst winter since 1946–47. Low temperatures keep snow lying around until early-April in some areas.
7 January –
Granada Television first broadcasts
World in Action , its influential investigative
current affairs series, which will run for thirty-five years.
11 January – Musical film
Summer Holiday starring
Cliff Richard premieres in London.
16 January – The
Macmillan-led Conservative government announces that a
new town will be developed in
Shropshire .
Dawley New Town will incorporate existing communities including:
Dawley ,
Ironbridge and
Madeley , and is intended to be largely used as an overspill town for
Birmingham and
Wolverhampton .
[1]
18 January – The
Labour Party leader,
Hugh Gaitskell , dies suddenly aged 56 in London.
[2]
23 January – Double agent
Kim Philby disappears from
Beirut having defected to the
Soviet Union .
[3]
29 January –
Charles de Gaulle ,
President of France , vetoes the UK's entry into the
European Economic Community .
February – The
Royal Air Force deploys
Blue Steel
nuclear
standoff missiles to arm its
V bomber force.
[4]
11 February –
The Beatles record their debut album
Please Please Me in a single day at the
Abbey Road Studios in London.
14 February – The Labour Party elects 46-year-old
Huyton
MP ,
Harold Wilson as its new leader and
Leader of the Opposition .
[2] Missing out in the leadership contest is
Cardiff South East MP
James Callaghan . Opinion polls are currently showing strong support for the Labour Party, with a general election due before the end of next year.
[5]
16 February – Opinion polls indicate that in a general election Labour would defeat the Conservatives, who have governed since
1951 .
[6]
March – The divorce case of the
Duke and
Duchess of Argyll takes place.
15 March –
Ridge v. Baldwin , a landmark case in the law of
judicial review , is decided on appeal: a public official is held to be wrongfully dismissed because he had no notice of the grounds on which the decision was made, and no opportunity to be heard in his own defence.
[7]
22 March –
The Beatles release their debut album,
Please Please Me .
27 March – Chairman of
British Railways Dr.
Richard Beeching issues a report calling for
huge cuts to the UK's rail network.
[8] This is expected to result in the closure of more than 2,000 railway stations as well as the loss of up to 68,000 jobs and the scrapping of some 8,000 coaches.
[9]
c. April – Engineering Building at the
University of Leicester is completed, the first major work by
James Stirling with
James Gowan , and a leading example of
Brutalist architecture .
[10]
6 April –
Polaris Sales Agreement with the United States, leading to commencement of construction of
nuclear submarine facilities at
Faslane Naval Base .
[11]
9 April – Sir
Winston Churchill becomes an
honorary citizen of the United States .
15 April – 70,000 protesters arrive in London, having marched 50 miles (80 km) from
Aldermaston to demonstrate against
nuclear weapons .
24 April –
Princess Alexandra of Kent marries the Hon.
Angus Ogilvy at
Westminster Abbey .
30 April – The
Bristol Bus Boycott arises, due to the refusal of the Bristol Omnibus Company to employ Black or Asian bus crews in the city of Bristol, and lasts for 4 months.
2 May
7–13 May – The last servicemen are released from
conscription as National Service ends.
[15]
11 May
15 May –
Tottenham Hotspur become the first British football team to win a European trophy when a 5–1 win over
Atlético Madrid in
Rotterdam gives them the
European Cup Winners' Cup .
25 May –
Manchester United F.C. beat
Leicester City 3–1 in the
FA Cup
final at
Wembley Stadium with two goals from
David Herd and another from
Denis Law . It is Manchester United's first major trophy since eight of their players died in the
Munich air disaster five years earlier.
[17]
4 June – The high society nightclub
Annabel's opens at 44 Berkeley Square, Mayfair.
[18]
5 June –
Profumo affair :
John Profumo ,
Secretary of State for War , admits
to misleading Parliament and resigns over his affair with
Christine Keeler .
[19]
8 June – Profumo affair:
Stephen Ward is charged with living on immoral earnings.
[20]
17 June – The Profumo affair has done the Conservative government no favours in the opinion polls, which continue to show that a Labour victory would be inevitable at a general election.
[21]
1 July –
Kim Philby named as the "Third Man" in the
Burgess and
Maclean spy ring.
[2]
12 July – Pauline Reade, 16, is reported missing on her way to a dance in
Gorton , Manchester, the first victim of the
Moors murders .
31 July – Water Resources Act provides for the regulation of water abstraction, principally through the establishment of regional river authorities.
[22]
August – Race riots in
Dudley .
[23]
[24]
[25]
5 August – The United States, United Kingdom and Soviet Union sign a
nuclear test ban treaty .
[3]
8 August –
The Great Train Robbery takes place in
Buckinghamshire .
[26]
20 August – The
Royal Shakespeare Company introduces its performance cycle of
Shakespeare 's
history plays under the title
The War of the Roses , adapted and directed by
John Barton and
Peter Hall , at the
Royal Shakespeare Theatre ,
Stratford-upon-Avon .
September
5 September –
Christine Keeler is arrested for
perjury . On 6 December, she is sentenced to nine months in prison.
7 September – Geophysicists
Fred Vine and
Drummond Matthews publish proof of
seafloor spreading on the Atlantic Ocean floor.
[30]
12 September – The Beatles reach #1 for the second time, with the single "
She Loves You " (released on 23 August).
[12]
17 September –
RAF Fylingdales
radar station on the
North York Moors begins operation as part of the United States
Ballistic Missile Early Warning System .
18 September – Rioters burn down the British Embassy in
Jakarta to protest against the formation of
Malaysia .
23 September – The
Robbins Report (the report of the Committee on Higher Education, chaired by
Lord Robbins ) is published.
[31] It recommends immediate expansion of universities, and that university places "should be available to all who were qualified for them by ability and attainment". Its conclusions are accepted by the government on 24 October.
25 September – The Denning Report on the
Profumo affair is published.
26 September –
Vauxhall launches the new
Viva , a small family saloon, similar in size to
BMC 's
1100 and the
Ford Anglia .
[32]
29 September
2 October –
Ford Motor Company begins production of its
Ford Anglia car at their new
Halewood Body & Assembly plant on
Merseyside .
10 October
17 October – Two British scientists (
Alan Lloyd Hodgkin and
Andrew Fielding Huxley ) and an Australian (
John Carew Eccles ) are announced in
Stockholm as winners of the
Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine "for their discoveries concerning the ionic mechanisms involved in excitation and inhibition in the peripheral and central portions of the nerve cell membrane".
[33]
18 October – Macmillan resigns as Prime Minister.
[3]
19 October –
Alec Douglas-Home replaces Macmillan as Prime Minister following discussion among members of the Cabinet,
[34] renouncing his
peerage .
[2]
22 October – The
National Theatre Company , newly formed under artistic director
Laurence Olivier ,
[35] gives its first performance, with
Peter O'Toole as
Hamlet .
[2]
November – Publication of
Traffic in Towns , a report on
urban
transport planning policy produced for the
Department of Transport by a team headed by
Colin Buchanan .
[36]
[37]
18 November – The
Dartford Tunnel opens.
[3]
22 November –
C. S. Lewis , the author most famous for the
Narnia books (1950–1955), dies aged 65 in
Oxford . However, media coverage of his death (as also that of
Aldous Huxley in the United States on the same day) is overshadowed by the
assassination of American
President John F. Kennedy , news of which reaches the UK just after 18:30
UTC .
23 November
25 November –
The Duke of Edinburgh , Prime Minister
Sir Alec Douglas-Home and Leader of the Opposition
Harold Wilson attend the funeral of U.S. President
John F. Kennedy in Washington, D.C.
30 November – After an unbroken 30-week spell at the top of the UK Albums Chart, The Beatles album Please Please Me is knocked off the top of the charts by the group's latest album
With the Beatles (released on 22 November).
12 December
19 December –
Zanzibar gains independence from the United Kingdom, as a
constitutional monarchy under Sultan
Jamshid bin Abdullah .
21 December – First episode of the seven-part serial
The Daleks broadcast in the
Doctor Who series, introducing the alien
Daleks (revealed fully in the following week's episode).
Undated
Publications
Births
January – April
1 January –
Linda Henry , actress
3 January –
Matthew Taylor , Liberal Democrat politician and MP for
Truro and St Austell
6 January –
Ian Lavery , English trade unionist and politician
11 January –
Jason Connery , actor, voice actor and director
15 January –
Conrad Lant , English singer-songwriter and bass player
[40]
16 January –
James May , English motoring journalist and television
18 January –
Ian Crook , English footballer
19 January
22 January –
Huw Irranca-Davies , Welsh Labour politician and MP for
Ogmore
26 January
27 January –
George Monbiot , British journalist and weekly columnist for
The Guardian
2 February –
Stephen McGann , actor, author and science communicator
6 February –
Quentin Letts , journalist
10 February –
Philip Glenister , actor
13 February –
John King , English long jumper
17 February –
Alison Hargreaves , British mountain climber (died 1995)
19 February –
Seal , singer
22 February –
Andrew Adonis, Baron Adonis , English journalist and politician,
Secretary of State for Transport
7 March –
Russell Williams , British-born Canadian military colonel and serial killer
11 March –
Alex Kingston , English actress
12 March –
Ian Holloway , English football player and manager
14 March –
Michael John Foster , English Labour politician and MP for
Worcester
16 March –
Jerome Flynn , British actor
20 March –
David Thewlis , English actor
22 March
3 April –
Karl Beattie , director, husband of
Yvette Fielding
4 April –
Martin Firrell , public artist and activist
6 April –
Andrew Weatherall , English disc jockey (died 2020)
7 April –
Nick Herbert , Conservative politician and MP for
Arundel and South Downs
8 April –
Julian Lennon , musician son of
John Lennon
11 April -
Mark Thomas , comedian and activist
13 April –
Mo Johnston , Scottish footballer
20 April –
Rachel Whiteread , artist
22 April –
Sean Lock , comedian and actor (died 2021)
25 April –
David Moyes , Scottish football player and manager
27 April –
Russell T Davies , Welsh screenwriter and television producer
May – August
9 May
10 May –
Debbie Wiseman , composer
11 May –
Natasha Richardson , actress (died 2009)
15 May –
Inga Beale , insurance executive
26 May –
Simon Armitage , poet laureate
1 June –
David Westhead , actor and producer
6 June
11 June
13 June –
Sarah Connolly , operatic mezzo-soprano
18 June –
Adam Hargreaves , children’s author
23 June –
Colin Montgomerie , Scottish golfer
25 June –
George Michael , pop singer (died 2016)
27 June –
Meera Syal , comedian, writer, singer and actress
29 June
1 July –
2 July –
Mark Kermode , film critic
3 July –
Tracey Emin , artist
6 July –
Stuart Garrard , English guitarist
7 July –
Alister Jack , politician
9 July
20 July –
John Simmit , actor and stand-up comedian
25 July –
Julian Hodgson , English chess grandmaster
29 July –
Graham Poll , English football referee
31 July
1 August
3 August –
Tasmin Archer , English singer
5 August –
Mark Strong , actor
7 August –
Wendy van der Plank , actress
15 August –
Simon Hart , politician
17 August –
James Whitbourn , composer
30 August
September – December
3 September –
Malcolm Gladwell , writer
6 September –
Pat Nevin , Scottish footballer
19 September
26 September –
Lysette Anthony , English actress
5 October –
Nick Robinson , journalist
12 October
31 October
1 November
3 November –
Ian Wright , English footballer and radio/TV personality
4 November –
Lena Zavaroni , Scottish entertainer (died 1999)
5 November –
Jo Malone , perfumer and businesswoman
8 November –
Paul McKenna , hypnotist
10 November –
Hugh Bonneville , English actor
[43]
14 November –
Keith Curle , English footballer, football manager and football coach
15 November –
Andrew Castle , English tennis player and broadcaster
19 November –
Jon Potter , British field hockey player and businessman
20 November –
William Timothy Gowers , British mathematician
21 November –
Nicollette Sheridan , English actress
26 November –
Joe Lydon , English rugby league footballer of the 1980s and 1990s, rugby union coach of the 2000s and 2010s
28 November –
Armando Iannucci , Scottish satirist
5 December –
Eddie 'the Eagle' Edwards , English ski jumper
7 December
8 December –
Brian McClair , Scottish footballer and football coach
22 December
24 December –
Caroline Aherne , comic television actress/writer (died 2016)
29 December –
Dave McKean , English artist and filmmaker
Deaths
15 January –
Morgan Phillips , general secretary of the Labour Party (born 1902)
18 January
22 January –
Lily Montagu , pioneer of reform Judaism (born 1873)
30 January –
Cecil McGivern , broadcasting executive and writer (born 1907)
11 February –
Sylvia Plath , American poet and writer, suicide (born 1932)
[44]
5 March –
Cyril Smith , Scottish actor, heart attack (born 1892)
16 March –
William Beveridge , economist and social reformer (born 1879)
18 March – Sir
Hubert Gough , general (born 1870)
31 March – Sir
Harold Franklyn , general (born 1885)
25 April –
Christopher Hassall , actor, dramatist, librettist, lyricist and poet (born 1912)
[45]
26 April –
Roland Pertwee , playwright, screenwriter, director and actor (born 1885)
7 May –
Max Miller , music hall comedian (born 1894)
29 May –
Netta Muskett , novelist (born 1887)
12 June –
Andrew Cunningham , admiral (born 1883)
17 June
4 July –
Bernard Freyberg, 1st Baron Freyberg , general and Governor-General of New Zealand (born 1889)
10 July –
Teddy Wakelam , sports broadcaster and rugby union player (born 1893)
16 August –
Joan Eardley , painter (born 1921)
22 August –
William Morris, 1st Viscount Nuffield , founder of
Morris Motors and philanthropist (born 1877)
30 August –
Guy Burgess , spy, one of the
Cambridge Five , in Moscow (born 1911)
3 September –
Louis MacNeice , poet and playwright (born 1907)
20 September –
Peter Craven , English motorcycle racer, in racing accident (born 1934)
22 November
30 November –
Cyril Newall, 1st Baron Newall , air marshal and Governor-General of New Zealand (born 1886)
21 December –
Jack Hobbs , cricketer (born 1882)
December –
Andy Kennedy , Northern Irish footballer (born 1897)
See also
References
^
"Telford" . Archived from
the original on 17 March 2012. Retrieved 7 July 2012 .
^
a
b
c
d
e
f Palmer, Alan; Palmer, Veronica (1992). The Chronology of British History . London: Century Ltd. pp. 420–421.
ISBN
0-7126-5616-2 .
^
a
b
c
d
e Penguin Pocket On This Day . Penguin Reference Library. 2006.
ISBN
0-14-102715-0 .
^
"Avro Blue Steel Nuclear Missile" . Bomber County Aviation Resource . Retrieved 9 October 2021 .
^
"Labour's PMs of the past" .
BBC News . 30 July 2003. Retrieved 7 July 2012 .
^
"Wilson Coming" .
Lewiston Daily Sun . 16 February 1963. Retrieved 7 July 2012 .
^ Slapper, Gary (24 June 2008).
"The cases that changed Britain: 1955–1971" .
The Times . Archived from
the original on 12 October 2008. Retrieved 15 June 2011 .
^
"1963: Railways to be slashed by a quarter" . BBC News . 27 March 1963.
Archived from the original on 7 March 2008. Retrieved 11 February 2008 .
^
"1963" .
Express & Star . Wolverhampton. Archived from
the original on 14 February 2012. Retrieved 7 July 2012 .
^ Harwood, Elain (2003). England: a Guide to Post-War Listed Buildings (rev. ed.). London: Batsford. pp. 168–71.
ISBN
0-7134-8818-2 .
^
Marr, Andrew (2007). A History of Modern Britain . London: Macmillan. p. 239.
ISBN
978-1-4050-0538-8 .
^
a
b
c
"The U.K. Singles Chart Number Ones" . JPGR: Facts, Feats and Statistics of The Beatles . 2009. Retrieved 30 March 2012 .
^
"Lost Marques: Rootes" . Unique Cars and Parts . Retrieved 30 March 2012 .
^
"Mini Steps Backwards" . Rootes-Chrysler.co.uk . Archived from
the original on 4 February 2007. Retrieved 30 March 2012 .
^ Vinen, Richard (2014). National Service: Conscription in Britain, 1945–1963 . London: Allen Lane. p. 377.
ISBN
978-1-846-14387-8 .
^
"Everton FC History – Goodison Park 11th May 1963" . bluekipper.com . 2004. Archived from
the original on 9 June 2010. Retrieved 27 April 2011 .
^
"1963" . fa-cupfinals.co.uk . Archived from
the original on 27 April 2012.
^ Goldsmith, Annabel (December 2004).
"An Unconventional Heart" .
Vanity Fair . Archived from
the original on 7 July 2022. Retrieved 10 October 2022 .
^
"1963: Profumo resigns over sex scandal" . BBC News . 5 June 1963.
Archived from the original on 7 March 2008. Retrieved 11 February 2008 .
^
"1963: Ward charged over 'immoral earnings' " . BBC News . 8 June 1963.
Archived from the original on 7 March 2008. Retrieved 11 February 2008 .
^
"Macmillan Awaits Debate on Scandal" .
Meriden Record . Connecticut. 17 June 1963. Retrieved 7 July 2012 .
^
Water Resources Act
^ 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 . MACE Archive. 23 June 2017. Retrieved 22 March 2022 .
^
"1963: Train robbers make off with millions" . BBC News . 8 August 1963.
Archived from the original on 7 March 2008. Retrieved 11 February 2008 .
^ "Sindy doll 'set to be a Christmas hit' ". National Newswire . Press Association. 6 July 2006.
^ Gillian, Lesley (22 November 2003). "The return of a living doll: The new look Sindy will cause collectors to rethink". FT Weekend – Collecting . p. 8.
^ Sindy: Every little girl's dream come true (Vinyl back cover). Pedigree Dolls Ltd. 1963.
^
a
b The Hutchinson Factfinder . Helicon. 1999.
ISBN
1-85986-000-1 .
^ Committee on Higher Education (23 September 1963), Higher education: report of the Committee appointed by the Prime Minister under the Chairmanship of Lord Robbins 1961–63 , Cmnd. 2154, London: HMSO
^ Excell, Jon (2 October 2007).
"This week in… 1963 – The Vauxhall Viva HA" .
The Engineer . London. Archived from
the original on 11 October 2014. Retrieved 7 July 2012 .
^
"The Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine 1963" . Retrieved 11 February 2008 .
^
Howard, Anthony (1987).
RAB – The Life of R. A. Butler . London: Jonathan Cape.
ISBN
0-224-01862-0 .
^
"National Theatre : About the NT" . Retrieved 11 February 2008 .
^
Hall, Peter (2007).
"Buchanan, Sir Colin Douglas (1907–2001)" .
Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (online ed.). Oxford University Press.
doi :
10.1093/ref:odnb/76552 . Retrieved 24 January 2011 . (Subscription or
UK public library membership required.)
^
"Professor Sir Colin Buchanan" . Colin Buchanan and Partners Ltd. Archived from
the original on 28 September 2007. Retrieved 24 January 2011 .
^
"Polypropylene stacking chair – The Frederick Parker Collection" . vads . London Metropolitan University. Archived from
the original on 5 October 2011. Retrieved 12 July 2010 .
^
"1963" . cbrd . Archived from
the original on 3 June 2012. Retrieved 8 June 2012 .
^
"Interview with Venom" . Karsmakers.nl. Retrieved 29 July 2014 .
^
"John Bercow in conversation" . The Guardian . Retrieved 12 January 2020 .
^
"1963 – Andrew Ridgeley Born" . Rttnews.com. Archived from
the original on 24 September 2015. Retrieved 24 December 2012 .
^
Chase's Calendar of Events 2020: The Ultimate Go-to Guide for Special Days, Weeks and Months . Rowman & Littlefield. 24 September 2019. p. 551.
ISBN
978-1-64143-316-7 .
^
"Sylvia Plath | Biography, Poems, Books, Death, & Facts" . Encyclopedia Britannica . Retrieved 27 July 2021 .
^
John Wakeman ,
Stanley Kunitz , World Authors, 1950-1970: A Companion Volume to Twentieth Century Authors Wilson (publisher), 1975, page 619
^ Williams, Herbert (1997). John Cowper Powys . Bridgend, Wales: Seren. p. 156.
ISBN
9781854111968 .
^ Chevalier, Tracy (1997). Encyclopedia of the essay . London Chicago: Fitzroy Dearborn Publishers. p. 416.
ISBN
9781884964305 .
^ McGrath, Alister (2013). C. S. Lewis – A Life: Eccentric Genius, Reluctant Prophet . Tyndale House Publishers, Inc. p. 358.