1959 in the United Kingdom

Events from the year 1959 in the United Kingdom.

Incumbents

*Monarch - HM Queen Elizabeth II
*Prime Minister - Harold Macmillan, Conservative Party

Events

* 19 February - The United Kingdom grants Cyprus its independence.
* 23 February - Prime Minister Harold Macmillan holds talks with the Soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev on a visit to the USSR. [cite web|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/february/23/newsid_2752000/2752737.stm|title="1959: Macmillan and Khrushchev talk peace", BBC On This Day|accessdate=2008-02-05]
* 30 March - 20,000 demonstrators attend a CND rally in Trafalgar Square.
* 30 April - Icelandic gunboat fires on British trawlers in the Cod Wars.
* May - First Ten Tors event held in Dartmoor.
* 2 May - the Chapelcross nuclear power station in Scotland opens.cite book|title=Penguin Pocket On This Day|publisher=Penguin Reference Library|isbn=0-141-02715-0|year=2006]
* late May / early June - import tariffs lifted in the United Kingdom.
* 24 May - British Empire Day becomes Commonwealth Day.
* 28 May - Mermaid Theatre opens in the City of London.
* 3 June - Singapore granted self-governing status.
* 11 June - Christopher Cockerell's invention the Hovercraft officially launched. [cite web|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/june/11/newsid_4333000/4333329.stm|title="1959: Hovercraft marks new era in transport", BBC On This Day|accessdate=2008-02-05]
* 23 June - Klaus Fuchs released from Wakefield prison having served over nine years for giving British nuclean secrets to the Soviet Union.
* 29 June - Obscene Publications Act becomes law.
* 28 July - UK postcodes introduced.
* 26 August - The first Mini goes on sale.
* 31 August - Harold Macmillan and United States president Dwight Eisenhower make a joint television broadcast from Downing Street. [cite web|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/august/31/newsid_3034000/3034678.stm|title="1959: Anglo-US TV debate makes history", BBC On This Day|accessdate=2008-02-05]
* 7 October - three hundred people need to be rescued when a fire breaks out on Southend Pier. [cite web|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/october/7/newsid_3151000/3151625.stm|title="1959: Southend Pier fire traps hundreds", BBC On This Day|accessdate=2008-02-05]
* 8 October - General Election results in a Conservative victory, with Macmillan increasing his majority. [cite web|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/october/9/newsid_3095000/3095531.stm|title="1959: 'Supermac' leads Tories to victory", BBC On This Day|accessdate=2008-02-05]
* 12 October - Large scale diamond robbery in London.
* 21 October - Mau Mau leader Dedan Kimathi is arrested in Nyeri, Kenya.
* 2 November - The first section of the M1 motorway is opened between Watford and Rugby. It is set to be extended over the next few years, southwards to Edgware and northwards to Leeds.
* 5 November - Philip John Noel-Baker wins the Nobel Peace Prize. [cite web|url=http://nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/peace/laureates/1959/|title=The Nobel Peace Prize 1959|accessdate=2008-02-05]
* 20 November - Britain becomes a founder member of the European Free Trade Association.
* November - The nuclear Dounreay Fast Reactor comes on line. [cite book |title= The Hutchinson Factfinder |publisher= Helicon |year= 1999 |isbn= 1-85986-000-1 ]

Publications

* Agatha Christie's Hercule Poirot novel "Cat Among the Pigeons".
* Ian Fleming's James Bond novel "Goldfinger".
* Colin MacInnes' novel "Absolute Beginners".
* Mervyn Peake's novel "Titus Alone".
* Alan Sillitoe's story "The Loneliness of the Long Distance Runner".

Births

January - February

* 7 January - Angela Evans Smith, British Labour Co-operative politician and MP for Basildon
* 16 January - Sade Adu, Nigerian-born British singer, composer, songwriter and record producer
* 30 January - Alex Hyde-White, English actor
* 3 February - Lol Tolhurst, cofounder and former drummer/keyboardist of The Cure
* 23 February - Richard Dodds, British field hockey player
* 27 February - Simon Critchley, British philosopher

March - April

* 9 March - Mark Carwardine, British zoologist
* 15 March - Ben Okri,Nigerian-born poet and novelist.
* 20 March - Steve McFadden, British actor
* 21 March - Colin Jones, Welsh boxer, who represented Great Britain at the 1976 Summer Olympics
* 5 April - Ian Pearson,British Labour politician and MP for Dudley South
* 15 April - Emma Thompson, English actress, comedian, and screenwriter.
* 16 April - Alison Ramsay, Scottish field hockey player
* 21 April - Robert Smith, British musician (The Cure)
* 25 April - Adrian Sanders, British Liberal Democrat politician and MP for Torbay
* 27 April - Sheena Easton, Scottish singer

May - June

* 3 May - Ben Elton, British comedian and writer
* 5 May - Ian McCulloch, English singer (Echo & the Bunnymen)
* 15 May - Andrew Eldritch, British musician (The Sisters of Mercy)
* 16 May - Tracy Hyde, English actress and model
* 17 May - Paul Whitehouse, Welsh comedian and actor
* 22 May - Steven Morrissey, British singer
* 29 May
** Rupert Everett, English actor
** Adrian Paul, British actor
* 1 June
** Martin Brundle, English motor racing and former Formula One driver
** Peter Skinner, British Labour politician and MEP for South East England
* 11 June - Hugh Laurie , English actor, comedian and writer
* 19 June - Sophie Grigson, British cookery writer and celebrity chef
* 21 June - John Baron, British Conservative politician and MP for Billericay
* 27 June - Clint Boon, British musician (Inspiral Carpets)
* 29 June - Richard Vranch, British comedian, actor, and TV panel show participant

July - August

* 3 July - Julie Burchill, British journalist
* 13 July - Richard Leman, British field hockey player
* 31 July - Kim Newman, English journalist, film critic, and fiction writer
* 1 August - Joe Elliott, British singer (Def Leppard)
* 5 August - Pete Burns, singer
* 20 August - Andrew Pelling, British Conservative politician and MP for Croydon Central
* 24 August - Meg Munn, British Labour Co-operative politician and MP for Sheffield Heeley
* 27 August - Jeanette Winterson, British novelist

eptember - October

* 18 September - Ian Arkwright, English footballer
* 7 October - Simon Cowell, English music producer and television talent show judge
* 10 October - Kirsty MacColl, British singer and songwriter (d.2000)
* 15 October - Sarah Ferguson, Duchess of York
* 16 October
** Gary Kemp, English pop artist (Spandau Ballet)
** John Whittingdale, British Conservative politician and MP for Maldon and Chelmsford East
* 20 October - Niamh Cusack, Irish-born actress
* 26 October - Brian Bovell, British actor

November - December

* 1 November - Susanna Clarke, British writer ("Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell")
* 2 November - Peter Mullan, Scottish actor
* 14 November - Paul McGann, British actor
* 15 November - Tibor Fischer, British novelist and short story writer
* 18 November - Jimmy Quinn, Irish footballer and football manager
* 25 November - Charles Kennedy, British Liberal Democrat politician
* 30 November - Lorraine Kelly, British presenter and journalist
* 2 December - Gwyneth Strong, British actress
* 6 December - Stephen Hepburn, British Labour politician and MP for Jarrow
* 12 December - Jasper Conran, English fashion designer
* 28 December - Andy McNab, British soldier turned novelist
* 29 November - Richard Borcherds, mathematician
* 30 December - Tracey Ullman, English comedian, actress, singer, dancer, screenwriter and author

Unknown dates

* Dilly Braimoh, African-British television presenter and producer
* Amanda Craig, British novelist
* Peter Doig, British painter
* Mick Hume, British journalist and former organiser of the Revolutionary Communist Party
* WPC Yvonne Fletcher, British policewoman shot and killed during a protest outside the Libyan embassy (died 1984)
* Nick Griffin, British politician and chairman of the British National Party (BNP)
* Lucy Kellaway, British columnist at the "Financial Times"
* Mick Manning, British children's author and illustrator
* Jasper Morrison, English product and furniture designer

Deaths

* 22 January - Mike Hawthorn, English race car driver (born 1929)
* 15 February - Owen Willans Richardson, British physicist, Nobel Prize laureate (born 1879)
* 11 July - Charlie Parker, English cricketer (born 1882)
* 5 August - Edgar Guest, English poet (born 1881)
* 19 August - Jacob Epstein, American-born British sculptor (born 1880)
* 15 November - Charles Thomson Rees Wilson, Scottish physicist, Nobel Prize laureate (born 1869)
* 14 December - Stanley Spencer, painter (born 1891)

References

ee also