1952 in the United Kingdom

Events from the year 1952 in the United Kingdom.

Incumbents

*Monarch - King George VI of the United Kingdom (until 6 February), Elizabeth II of the United Kingdom
*Prime Minister - Winston Churchill Conservative Party

Events

* 5 January - Prime Minister Winston Churchill arrives in the United States for an official visit and talks with President Harry S. Truman. [cite web|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/january/5/newsid_3304000/3304505.stm|title="Churchill renews 'special relationship'" BBC On This Day|accessdate=2007-12-04]
* 1 February - The first TV Detector van is commissioned in Britain, as the beginning of a clampdown on the estimated 150,000 British households which have unlicenced televisions. [cite web|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/february/1/newsid_2521000/2521357.stm|title="Test drive for TV detector vans", BBC On This Day|accessdate=2007-12-04]
* 6 February - King George VI dies of cancer aged 56. He is succeeded by his 25-year-old daughter, The Princess Elizabeth, Duchess of Edinburgh, who ascends to the throne as Queen Elizabeth II.cite book|title=Penguin Pocket On This Day|publisher=Penguin Reference Library|isbn=0-141-02715-0|year=2006] The new Queen was on a Royal visit to Kenya at the time of her father's death.
* 8 February - Queen Elizabeth II proclaimed Queen of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland at St James's Palace.
* 14 February–25 February - Great Britain and Northern Ireland compete at the 1952 Winter Olympics in Oslo and win one gold medal.
* 15 February - Funeral of King George VI takes place.
* 21 February - Compulsory identity cards, issued during World War II, abandoned.
* 2 May - The De Havilland Comet becomes the world's first jet airliner, with a maiden flight from London to Johannesburg.
* 19 July–3 August - Great Britain and Northern Ireland compete at the 1952 Summer Olympics in Helsinki and win 1 gold, 2 silver and 8 bronze medals.
* 16 August - 34 people killed in a flood in Lynmouth, Devon. [cite web|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/august/16/newsid_2960000/2960180.stm|title="Flood devastates Devon village" BBC On This Day|accessdate=2007-12-04]
* 6 September - 1952 Farnborough Airshow DH.110 crash: 31 people killed in an air crash at the Farnborough Airshow. [cite web|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/september/6/newsid_2981000/2981786.stm|title="Dozens die in air show tragedy" BBC On This Day|accessdate=2007-12-04]
* 3 October
** The government announces an end to tea rationing after 13 years. [cite web|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/october/3/newsid_3122000/3122485.stm|title="Tea rationing to end" BBC On This Day|accessdate=2007-12-04]
** Operation Hurricane- the UK explodes its first atomic bomb in the Monte Bello Islands, Australia.cite web|url=http://www.bbc.co.uk/bbcfour/lostdecade/timeline_html.shtml|title=The Lost Decade Timeline, BBC|accessdate=2007-12-04]
* 5 October - Post-War tea rationing ends.cite book |last=Palmer |first=Alan & Veronica |year=1992 |title= The Chronology of British History|publisher= Century Ltd|location=London|pages= 404-405|isbn= 0-7126-5616-2]
* 8 October - A rail crash in North London claims the lives of 108 people. [cite web|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/october/8/newsid_3075000/3075197.stm|title="Many die as three trains crash at Harrow" BBC On This Day|accessdate=2007-12-04]
* 14 November - "NME" music magazine publishes the first UK Singles Chart.
* 25 November - Agatha Christie's play "The Mousetrap" starts its run at the New Ambassadors Theatre in London, where it is still showing. [cite web|url=http://www.arthurlloyd.co.uk/NewAmbassadorsTheatre.htm|title=New Ambassadors Theatre website|accessdate=2007-12-04]
* 4 December - Great Smog of 1952: fog speads across London. [cite web|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/december/9/newsid_4506000/4506390.stm|title="London fog clears after days of chaos" BBC On This Day|accessdate=2007-12-04]
* 9 December - The Great Smog in London finishes after five days of chaos which are believed to have caused around 4,000 deaths.
* 10 December - Archer John Porter Martin and Richard Laurence Millington Synge win the Nobel Prize in Chemistry "for their invention of partition chromatography". [cite web|url=http://nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/chemistry/laureates/1952/|title=The Nobel Prize in Chemistry 1952|accessdate=2007-12-04]
* 25 December - The Queen makes her first Christmas speech to the Commonwealth. [cite web|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/december/25/newsid_3053000/3053271.stm|title="Queen makes first Christmas speech" BBC On This Day|accessdate=2007-12-04]

Undated

* Geoffrey Dummer proposes the integrated circuit. [cite book |title= The Hutchinson Factfinder |publisher= Helicon |year= 1999 |isbn= 1-85986-000-1 ]

Publications

* Agatha Christie's novels "Mrs McGinty's Dead" (Hercule Poirot) and "They Do It with Mirrors" (Miss Marple)
* C. S. Lewis' novel "The Voyage of the Dawn Treader".
* Mary Norton's children's novel "The Borrowers".
* Evelyn Waugh's novel "Men at Arms", first of the Sword of Honour trilogy.

Births

* 10 January - George Turpin, English boxer
* 1 February - Andrew Smith, politician
* 25 February - Joey Dunlop, Northern Irish motorcycle racer (died 2000)
* 11 March - Douglas Adams, author (died 2001)
* 22 March - Des Browne, politician
* 28 March - Tony Brise, racing driver (died 1975)
* 11 April - Peter Windsor, sports reporter
* 3 May - Allan Wells, Scottish athlete
* 7 June - Liam Neeson, Northern Irish actor
* 17 June - Estelle Morris, politician
* 21 August - Joe Strummer, musician (The Clash) (died 2002)
* 30 September - Jack Wild, actor (died 2006)
* 3 December - Mel Smith, comic actor and director
* 20 December - Jenny Agutter, actress

Deaths

* 6 February - King George VI (born 1895)
* 4 March - Charles Scott Sherrington, physiologist, Nobel Prize laureate (born 1857)
* 15 March - Nevil Sidgwick, chemist (born 1873)
* 21 April - Sir Stafford Cripps, Chancellor of the Exchequer (born 1889)
* 6 September - Gertrude Lawrence, actress (born 1898)
* 29 September - John Cobb, racecar and motorboat driver (born 1899)
* 30 September - Waldorf Astor, 2nd Viscount Astor, businessman and politician (born 1879)
* 23 October - Windham Wyndham-Quin, 5th Earl of Dunraven and Mount-Earl, politician (born 1857)
* 28 October - William Morris Hughes, Welsh-descended Prime Minister of Australia (born 1862)
* 15 December - Sir William Goscombe John, sculptor (born 1860)

References

ee also