1958 in the United Kingdom
UK-related events during the year of 1958
Events from the year 1958 in the United Kingdom
Incumbents
Events
6 January – Chancellor of the Exchequer Peter Thorneycroft together with junior Treasury Ministers Enoch Powell and Nigel Birch resign over Cabinet opposition to spending cuts, an event dismissed to the Press the following day by the Prime Minister as "little local difficulties".[ 1]
14 January – TWW , the ITV franchise for South Wales and the West of England goes on the air.
6 February – The Manchester United F.C. team plane flying back from a European Cup tie in Belgrade crashes on take-off after refuelling at Munich Airport in West Germany . 21 of the 44 people on board are killed. Seven of them are Manchester United players: captain and left-back Roger Byrne (aged 28), centre-half Mark Jones (aged 24), right-half Eddie Colman (aged 21), centre-forward Tommy Taylor (aged 26), full-back Geoff Bent (aged 25), left-winger David Pegg (aged 22), and inside-forward Billy Whelan (aged 22). Eight of the nine sports journalists travelling on the plane are also killed, including the former Manchester City and England national football team goalkeeper Frank Swift . Among the survivors are 10 United players and manager Matt Busby , who is reported to be seriously injured. Outside-right Johnny Berry and left-half Duncan Edwards are also reported to be in a serious condition.[ 2]
20 February – The government announces plans to close the 300-year-old naval dockyards at Sheerness on the Isle of Sheppey which would result in more than 2,500 workers losing their jobs.[ 3]
21 February – Duncan Edwards dies of his injuries in a Munich hospital fifteen days after the Munich air crash. Edwards, twenty-one years old and rated by many as the finest player in England, is the eighth Manchester United player to die.
25 February – Bertrand Russell launches the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament , initiated at a meeting called by Canon John Collins on 15 January.[ 4] peace symbol has been launched on 21 February by Gerald Holtom .
27 February – The final death toll of the Munich air disaster reaches 23 with the death of co-pilot Kenneth Rayment in hospital.[ 5]
28 February – The Victorian Society , the pressure group for Victorian architecture, holds its first meeting.
March – Removal of Derbyshire county administrative headquarters from Derby to Matlock begins.[ 6]
2 March – The British Commonwealth Trans-Antarctic Expedition led by Sir Vivian Fuchs completes the first crossing of the Antarctic using Sno-Cat caterpillar tractors and dogsled teams in 99 days.[ 7]
19 March – The official opening by Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh of the London Planetarium , the first of its kind in Britain.[ 8] [ 9]
24 March – Work on the M1 , Britain's first full-length motorway, begins. The first stretch of the motorway, due to open next year, will run from London to the Warwickshire -Northamptonshire border. During the 1960s, the remainder of the motorway will be built to give London an unbroken motorway link with Leeds some 200 miles away.[ 10]
29 March – Mary Elizabeth Wilson of Windy Nook in County Durham is convicted as a serial mariticide .[ 11]
1 April – The BBC Radiophonic Workshop is created.
4–7 April – The first protest march for the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament from Trafalgar Square to the Atomic Weapons Research Establishment at Aldermaston , Berkshire , demanding a ban on nuclear weapons.[ 12]
7 April – The Church of England gives its moral backing to family planning.
27 April – British Overseas Airways Corporation (BOAC)'s first de Havilland Comet 4 makes its maiden flight.
30 April
3 May – Bolton Wanderers win the FA Cup for the fourth time in their history with a 2–0 win over Manchester United at Wembley Stadium . Both goals are scored by centre-forward Nat Lofthouse .[ 14]
21 May – United Kingdom Postmaster General Ernest Marples announces that from December, Subscriber Trunk Dialling will be introduced in the Bristol area.[ 15]
27 May – 19-year-old Shelagh Delaney 's "kitchen sink drama " A Taste of Honey Joan Littlewood 's Theatre Workshop at the Theatre Royal Stratford East .[ 4]
May – Nuclear development: Dounreay materials test reactor in Scotland achieves criticality .
4 June – The Duke of Edinburgh's Award is presented for the first time at Buckingham Palace .[ 7]
7 June – Ian Donald publishes an article in The Lancet [ 16]
9 June – The Queen officially reopens Gatwick Airport which has been expanded at a cost of more than £7,000,000.
18 June – Benjamin Britten 's one-act children's opera Noye's Fludde Aldeburgh Festival .[ 17]
3 July
10 July – The UK's first parking meters are installed in the City of Westminster.[ 7]
17 July – British paratroopers arrive in Jordan : King Hussein has asked for help against pressure from Iraq.
18–26 July – The British Empire and Commonwealth Games are held in Cardiff .
26 July
The Queen gives her son Charles (the later King Charles III ) the heir apparent 's customary title of Prince of Wales , announcing this at the Cardiff games.
Abolition of the presentation of débutantes to the royal court.[ 7]
1 August
8 August – Sociologist Barbara Wootton, Baroness Wootton of Abinger , becomes the first female peer in her own right to obtain letters patent.[ 13]
28 August – The first Miss United Kingdom beauty pageant is held on Blackpool beach; Eileen Sheridan of Walton-on-Thames is the winner.[ 19]
29 August
30 August
1 September – The first Cod War between the UK and Iceland breaks out.
5 September – A severe storm over the South-East of England seriously disrupts communications.[ 23]
16 September – Relaxation of restrictions on hire purchase.
20 September – 1958 Syerston Avro Vulcan crash : During a high-speed flyby in an air show at RAF Syerston , Nottinghamshire , prototype Avro Vulcan bomber VX770 suffers total collapse of the starboard wing and crashes, killing its entire crew and three people on the ground.
30 September – Britain's last flying boat is withdrawn from commercial service when Aquila Airways terminates its service on the Southampton –Funchal (Madeira) route, on which it has been using Short Solent planes.
1 October – The UK transfers sovereignty of Christmas Island from Singapore to Australia.[ 7] [ 24]
4 October – BOAC de Havilland Comet 4 G-APDB makes the first commercial transatlantic flight by a jet airliner , from London Heathrow Airport to New York International Airport, Anderson Field via Gander .
11 October – First broadcast of the long-running BBC Television sports programme Grandstand [ 7]
16 October – First broadcast of the long-running BBC Television children's programme Blue Peter [ 7]
19 October – By finishing second in the Moroccan Grand Prix , Mike Hawthorn becomes the first British racing driver to win the Formula One World Championship .
21 October – The first life peers, including the first female peers, enter the House of Lords.[ 13] Stella Isaacs, Marchioness of Reading ) and Wootton (Barbara Wootton ) are the first women to take their seats as life peers, and Lord Parker of Waddington , the Lord Chief Justice of England, the first man to do so.
25 October – The Short SC.1 experimental VTOL aircraft makes its first free vertical flight.
28 October – The State Opening of Parliament is broadcast on television for the first time.[ 7]
10 November – Donald Campbell sets the world water speed record at 248.62 mph (400.12 km/h) on Coniston Water .[ 7]
24 November – An exhibition of computers held at Earl's Court , London, the first of its kind in the world.[ 1]
25 November – The Austin FX4 London taxi goes on sale, it will remain in production until 1997.
30 November – During the live broadcast of the Armchair Theatre Underground Gareth Jones has a fatal heart attack between scenes.
5 December
10 December – English biochemist Frederick Sanger wins his first Nobel Prize in Chemistry "for his work on the structure of proteins, especially that of insulin" (his second comes in 1980).[ 28]
24 December – 1958 Bristol Britannia 312 crash : a BOAC Bristol Britannia airliner crashes near Winkton in Hampshire on a routine test flight.
25 December – Christmas Day is a public holiday in Scotland for the first time.[ 29]
Undated
Publications
Births
2 January – Helen Goodman , English lawyer and politician
4 January – Julian Sands , English actor (died 2023)
9 January
10 January – Caroline Langrishe , English actress
12 January – Christiane Amanpour , journalist
24 January – Jools Holland , British musician
27 January – Alan Milburn , British Labour politician and MP for Darlington
29 January – Linda Smith , comedian (died 2006)
1 February – Eleanor Laing , British Conservative politician, MP for Epping Forest , and Shadow Minister for Women
6 February – Tim Dakin , English bishop and missionary
7 February – Matt Ridley , English science writer
10 February – Billy Thomson , Scottish footballer (d. 2023)
11 February – Michael Jackson , British broadcast executive
12 February – Steve Grand , English computer scientist
17 February – Steve Fox , footballer and gardener (died 2012)
19 February
20 February – James Wilby , actor
26 February – Paul Ackford , rugby player
28 February – Ian Burnett , Lord Chief Justice
1 March – Nik Kershaw , English pop singer-songwriter
3 March – Miranda Richardson , English actress
5 March – Andy Gibb , English-born pop singer-songwriter (died 1988)
7 March – Rik Mayall , comedian
8 March
10 March – Garth Crooks , English football player and pundit[ 33]
13 March
16 March – Chris Mole , British Labour politician and MP for Ipswich
18 March – Neil Brand , British writer and composer
21 March
29 March – Fiona Reynolds , civil servant and academic administrator
6 April
9 April – Nadey Hakim , British-Lebanese surgeon and sculptor[ 34]
11 April – Stuart Adamson , Scottish rock singer and guitarist (Big Country ) (d. 2001 )[ 35]
12 April – Will Sergeant , English rock guitarist (Echo & the Bunnymen )
14 April – Peter Capaldi , Scottish actor and director
15 April
18 April – Saviour Pirotta , British/Maltese children's author
22 April – Nick Danziger , British photo journalist
24 April – Brian Paddick, Baron Paddick , British police commander
25 April – Fish , Scottish rock singer
3 May – Sandi Toksvig , Danish-born comedian, author and broadcast presenter
4 May
8 May – Brooks Newmark , American-English businessman and politician, Lord of the Treasury
18 May – Toyah Willcox , actress and singer
20 May – Paul Whitehouse , Welsh comedian and actor
22 May – Denise Welch , English actress
25 May – Paul Weller , English singer-songwriter (The Jam , The Style Council )
26 May – Howard Goodall , English composer
3 June – Simon Fraser , diplomat
5 June – Graeme Crallan , heavy metal drummer (died 2008)
6 June – Paul Burrell , butler to Princess Diana
7 June – Ivan Henderson , British Labour politician and MP for Harwich
11 June – Barry Adamson , English singer and bass player
14 June – Nick Van Eede , pop rock singer-songwriter, frontman for Cutting Crew
18 June – Gary Martin , voice actor and actor
23 June – John Henry Hayes , British Conservative politician, MP for South Holland and The Deepings , and Chairman of the Cornerstone Group
30 June – Pam Royle , British television presenter, journalist and voice coach
July – Huw Dixon , Welsh economist
1 July – Les Morton , English racewalker
4 July – Carl Valentine , footballer in Canada
5 July – Paul Daniel , English conductor
6 July – Jennifer Saunders , comedy actress
9 July – Robin Kermode , English actor, author and communications coach
11 July – Mark Lester , child actor
15 July - Monica Grady , space scientist
17 July
24 July – Joe McGann , English actor
27 July
30 July
1 August – Adrian Dunbar , actor, director and singer
7 August – Bruce Dickinson , English heavy metal singer
10 August – Rosie Winterton , British Labour politician, MP for Doncaster Central and member of the Privy Council
13 August – Feargal Sharkey , Northern Irish punk rock lead singer of The Undertones
14 August – Philip Dunne , Conservative politician and MP for Ludlow
19 August – Gordon Brand Jnr , Scottish professional golfer (died 2019)
20 August – Nicholas Bell , English act2or based in Australia
29 August – Lenny Henry , entertainer
30 August – Muriel Gray , Scottish author, broadcaster and journalist
31 August – Stephen Cottrell , English Anglican bishop
13 September – Bobby Davro , actor, comedian and impressionist
18 September – Linda Lusardi , model, actress and television presenter
21 September – Simon Mayo , radio presenter
23 September – Danielle Dax , British experimental musician
27 September – Irvine Welsh , Scottish novelist
4 October – Anneka Rice , Welsh-born television presenter
14 October – Thomas Dolby , English musician
17 October – Craig Murray , UK Ambassador to Uzbekistan
20 October
25 October – Phil Daniels , English actor
26 October – Shaun Woodward , British Labour politician and MP for St Helens South
27 October – Simon Le Bon , English new wave singer-songwriter (Duran Duran )
1 November – Mark Austin , English newsreader (ITN )
2 November – Mark Phillip Hendrick , British Labour Co-operative politician and MP for Preston
6 November – Cath Kidston , English fashion designer and businesswoman
19 November – Isabella Blow , British fashion journalist (died 2007)
22 November – Bruce Payne , English actor and producer
24 November – Nick Knight , photographer
25 November – Kim Ashfield , model
1 December – Keith Chapman , English children's television programme creator
2 December – Andrew George , British Liberal Democrat politician and MP for St Ives
5 December – Dynamite Kid , English professional wrestler (died 2018)
6 December – Nick Park , filmmaker and animator
7 December – Tim Butler , musician (The Psychedelic Furs )
14 December
18 December
19 December
21 December – Kevin Blackwell , English football manager
Unknown date
Deaths
4 January – John Anderson, 1st Viscount Waverley , civil servant and politician (born 1882)
16 January – Aubrey Mather , actor (born 1885)
6 February – Manchester United F.C. players and associates in Munich air disaster :
7 February – Walter Kingsford , actor (born 1882)[ 36]
11 February – Ernest Jones , Welsh psychoanalyst (born 1879)[ 37]
13 February – Christabel Pankhurst , English suffragette (born 1880)
21 February – Duncan Edwards , Manchester United footballer, died in Munich air disaster (born 1936)
26 March – Phil Mead , English cricketer (born 1887)
16 April – Rosalind Franklin , British crystallographer (born 1920)
19 April – Billy Meredith , Welsh footballer (born 1874)
3 May – Frank Foster , English cricketer (born 1889)
19 May – Ronald Colman , English actor (born 1891)
22 May – Sir Richmond Palmer , lawyer and colonial administrator (born 1877)
9 June – Robert Donat , English film and stage actor (born 1905)
13 June – Edwin Keppel Bennett , British writer (born 1887)
28 June – Alfred Noyes , English poet (born 1880)
15 July – Julia Lennon , mother of John Lennon (born 1914)
20 July – Margaret Haig Thomas, 2nd Viscountess Rhondda , political campaigner and businesswoman (born 1883)
3 August – Peter Collins , British Formula 1 driver, died in German Grand Prix (born 1931)[ 38]
26 August – Ralph Vaughan Williams , British composer (born 1872)
3 September – Sir Giffard Le Quesne Martel , British army general (born 1889)
23 September – Alfred Piccaver , British-born American operatic tenor (born 1884)
25 September – Henry Arthur Evans , Welsh Conservative politician (born 1898)
2 October – Marie Stopes , birth control advocate, suffragette and palaeontologist (born 1880)
17 October – Charlie Townsend , English cricketer (born 1876)
24 October – G. E. Moore , philosopher, author of Principia Ethica
28 October – Stephen Butterworth , physicist and engineer (born 1885)
30 October – Rose Macaulay , novelist (born 1881)
24 November – Lord Robert Cecil , English politician and diplomat, recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize (born 1864)
30 November – Gareth Jones , Welsh-born television actor (born 1925)
2 December – Alan McKibbin , Northern Irish politician (born 1892)
5 December – Willie Applegarth , Olympic sprinter, died in United States (born 1890)
See also
References
^ a b Palmer, Alan; Palmer, Veronica (1992). The Chronology of British History . London: Century Ltd. pp. 413–414. ISBN 0-7126-5616-2 ^ "World Laments Manchester Loss" . The Sunday Sun . 7 February 1958. Retrieved 16 June 2011 .^ "Historic Sheerness docks to close" . BBC News . 20 February 1958. Archived from the original on 7 March 2008. Retrieved 27 January 2008 .^ a b c Marr, Andrew (2007). A History of Modern Britain . London: Macmillan. ISBN 978-1-4050-0538-8 ^ "Football: Dudley's jewel in the crown... Busby Babe Duncan Edwards died 50 years ago today, aged just 21. ROGER CLARKE gives his personal account of a sporting legend and the tragedy of Munich. – Free Online Library" .^ "Removal of County Headquarters". The Times ^ a b c d e f g h i j Penguin Pocket On This Day . Penguin Reference Library. 2006. ISBN 0-14-102715-0 ^ Lieut.-Commander R.B. Michell, "The London Planetarium" on p. 323 Record on Cambridge Core website Accessed 13 May 2017.^ The Observatory, Vol. 78, p. 91(1958) . Accessed 12 May 2017.^ "RoadsUK -- road histories -- berrygrove to crick: The birth of motorway 1" . Archived from the original on 9 September 2011. Retrieved 28 July 2011 .^ "The day I called on Mrs. Wilson". Newcastle Chronicle ^ Moorehead, Caroline (1987). Troublesome People: Enemies of War, 1916–1986 ISBN 978-0-241-12105-4 ^ a b c d "A Changing House: the Life Peerages Act 1958" . Archived from the original on 15 June 2008. Retrieved 18 March 2008 .^ "FA Cup Final 1958" . Archived from the original on 22 September 2008. Retrieved 4 December 2010 .^ "Trunk dialling heralds cheaper calls" . BBC News . 21 May 1958. Archived from the original on 7 March 2008. Retrieved 27 January 2008 .^ "Ian Donald's paper in The Lancet in 1958" . Archived from the original on 12 January 2008. Retrieved 27 January 2008 .^ Britten, Benjamin (2008). Reed, Philip; Cooke, Mervyn; Mitchell, Donald (eds.). Letters from a Life: The Selected Letters of Benjamin Britten, Volume IV, 1952–1957 . Woodbridge: The Boydell Press. pp. 555, 562. ISBN 978-1-84383-382-6 ^ Slee, Christopher (1994). The Guinness Book of Lasts . Enfield: Guinness Publishing. ISBN 0-85112-783-5 ^ "The beauty they gave away". Daily Herald ^ "Sold on Song Top 100" . BBC . Retrieved 18 November 2007 .^ "The Ian "Sammy" Samwell Story" . iansamwell.com . Archived from the original on 12 December 2007. Retrieved 18 November 2007 .^ " . Archived from the original on 18 June 2008. Retrieved 5 March 2008 .^ Kennedy, Rex. Ian Allan's 50 years of railways, 1942-1992 . p. 87. ^ Kerr, Alan (2009). A federation in these seas: An account of the acquisition by Australia of its external territories, with selected documents . Barton, ACT: Attorney General's Dept (Australia). p. 329. ISBN 1921241721 ^ "1958" . CBRD . Archived from the original on 20 September 2010. Retrieved 30 July 2010 .^ "Events in Telecommunications History – 1958" . Archived from the original on 7 October 2013. Retrieved 27 January 2008 .^ Leach, Nicholas (2003). Oakley Class Lifeboats: an Illustrated History of the RNLI's Oakley and Rother Lifeboats . Stroud: Tempus. ISBN 978-0-7524-2784-3 ^ "The Nobel Prize in Chemistry 1958" . Retrieved 27 January 2008 .^ Houston, Rab; Houston, Robert Allan (2008). Scotland: a very short introduction ISBN 978-0-19-923079-2 . Retrieved 29 February 2012 . ^ "Carnaby Street" . retrowow.co.uk. Archived from the original on 1 March 2009. Retrieved 22 February 2009 .^ "Timeline History of Reading" . Welcome to Reading . VisitorUK.com. Retrieved 10 January 2017 .^ The Bookseller. Archived 12 July 2010 at the Wayback Machine ^ Garth Anthony Crooks ^ McElroy, Damien (4 November 2020). "Anatomy of a Renaissance man: sculptor, musician ... pioneering surgeon" . The National . Archived from the original on 8 November 2021. Retrieved 22 April 2021 . ^ Allan Glen (1 May 2011). Stuart Adamson: In a Big Country ISBN 978-0-85790-026-5 ^ "Walter Kingsford Dies in Hollywood" . Appleton Post-Crescent Associated Press . 8 February 1958 – via Newspapers.com .^ ——— (2001). "Jones, Alfred Ernest" . Dictionary of Welsh Biography . Retrieved 25 March 2023 . ^ Nye, Doug (9 November 2016). "Inside the world of the incredible Peter Collins" . goodwood.com . Retrieved 28 March 2021 .
