1957 in the United Kingdom
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Events from the year 1957 in the United Kingdom.
Contents |
[edit] Incumbents
- Monarch - HM Queen Elizabeth II
- Prime Minister - Anthony Eden and Harold Macmillan, Conservative Party
[edit] Events
- 9 January - resignation of Anthony Eden as Prime Minister due to ill-health. [1]
- 10 January - Harold Macmillan succeeds Eden as Prime Minister. [2]
- 16 January - Royal Ballet granted a Royal Charter. [3]
- 16 January - Cavern Club opens in Liverpool. [3]
- 6 March - Ghana becomes independent of the United Kingdom. [4]
- 1 April - the BBC broadcasts a spoof documentary showing spaghetti being harvested in Switzerland, believed to be the first April Fool's Day joke on television. [5]
- 11 April - The British Government agrees to allow Singapore its independence. [6]
- 14 May - end of petrol rationing following the Suez Crisis. [7]
- 15 May - Operation Grapple: Britain tests its first hydrogen bomb. [8]
- 23 July - a strike by bus drivers becomes violent. [9]
- 31 August - the Federation of Malaya becomes independent from Britain. [10]
- 4 September - publication of the Wolfenden report recommending "homosexual behaviour between consenting adults in private should no longer be a criminal offence". [11]
- 10 October - the graphite core of the nuclear reactor at Windscale, Cumbria, caught fire, releasing substantial amounts of radioactive contamination into the surrounding area. [12]
- 28 December - a case of Foot-and-mouth disease found at an abattoir in Liverpool. [13]
- Alexander R. Todd, Baron Todd wins the Nobel Prize in Chemistry "for his work on nucleotides and nucleotide co-enzymes". [14]
- Jodrell Bank Observatory becomes operational.
[edit] Births
- 15 January - Patrick Dixon, business guru and author
- 24 January - Adrian Edmondson, comedian
- 9 February - John Axon, railwayman
- 9 February - Gordon Strachan, footballer and manager
- 12 March - Steve Harris, bassist (Iron Maiden)
- 17 March - Mal Donaghy, footballer
- 29 April - Daniel Day-Lewis, actor
- 3 May - Jo Brand, comedian
- 10 May - Sid Vicious, bassist (Sex Pistols) (d. 1979)
- 27 May - Siouxsie Sioux, singer (Siouxsie and the Banshees)
- 11 July - Peter Murphy, singer (Bauhaus)
- 17 July - Fern Britton, television presenter
- 17 August - Robin Cousins, figure skater
- 20 August - Simon Donaldson, mathematician
- 22 August - Steve Davis, snooker player
- 24 August - Stephen Fry, comedian, author, and actor
- 31 August - Glenn Tilbrook, Squeeze singer songwriter
- 12 September - Rachel Ward, actress
- 7 October - Jayne Torvill, ice skater
- 11 October - Dawn French, comedian
- 30 November - Colin Mochrie, comedian
- 8 December - Phil Collen, singer and guitarist (Def Leppard)
- 20 December - Billy Bragg, singer
[edit] Deaths
- 9 February - John Axon, railwayman (born 1900)
- 16 February - Leslie Hore-Belisha, 1st Baron Hore-Belisha, statesman after whom Belisha beacons are named (born 1893)
- 17 June - Dorothy Richardson, feminist writer (b. 1873)
- 27 June - Malcolm Lowry, novelist (b. 1909)
- 19 August - David Bomberg, painter (b. 1890)
- 1 September - Dennis Brain, French horn player (b. 1921)
- 4 November - William Haywood, architect (b. 1876)
- 21 December - Eric Coates, composer (b. 1886)
[edit] References
- ^ Sir Anthony Eden resigns
- ^ Macmillan becomes Prime Minister
- ^ a b (2006) Penguin Pocket On This Day. Penguin Reference Library. ISBN 0-141-02715-0.
- ^ Ghana celebrates independence
- ^ BBC fools the nation
- ^ Britain agrees to Singapore self-rule
- ^ Cheers as petrol rationing ended
- ^ Britain drops its first H-bomb
- ^ Bus dispute turns violent
- ^ Malaya celebrates independence
- ^ Homosexuality 'should not be a crime'
- ^ Inquiry publishes cause of nuclear fire
- ^ Foot-and-mouth shuts down abattoir
- ^ The Nobel Prize in Chemistry 1957
