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1953 in the United Kingdom
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Events from the year 1953 in the United Kingdom.
Incumbents
Events
- 28 January - Derek Bentley is executed at Wandsworth Prison in London for his part in the murder of PC Sidney Miles.[1]
- 31 January - The car ferry, MV Princess Victoria sailing from Stranraer, Scotland to Larne, Northern Ireland, sinks in the Irish Sea killing 133 people onboard. Among the dead included Northern Ireland Finance Minister and Deputy Prime Minister Major Maynard Sinclair, and Sir Walter Smiles, the Ulster Unionist MP for North Down.[2]
- 31 January/1 February - The North Sea flood of 1953 kills hundreds of people on the east coast of Britain.[3]
- 5 February - The rationing of sweets, introduced during World War II, ends.[4]
- 28 February - James D. Watson and Francis Crick announce that they have discovered the structure of the DNA molecule.
- 16 March - Josip Tito, the Communist leader of Yugoslavia visits the UK, the first Communist leader to do so.[5]
- 24 March
- 31 March - The funeral of Queen Mary takes place at St. George's Chapel, Windsor Castle.[8]
- 13 April - Ian Fleming publishes his first James Bond novel, Casino Royale.[9]
- 16 April - The Queen launches the Royal Yacht Britannia at the John Brown & Company shipbuilders on the Clyde.[10]
- 24 April - Winston Churchill receives a knighthood from the Queen.[7]
- 25 April - Francis Crick and James D. Watson publish their description of the double helix structure of DNA in the paper Molecular structure of Nucleic Acids.[11][12]
- 2 June - The coronation of Queen Elizabeth II takes place at Westminster Abbey.[13]
- 25 June - John Christie, a 54-year-old London man, is sentenced to death for the murder of his wife Ethel Christie.[14]
- 26 June - Eskdalemuir enters the UK Weather Records for the highest rainfall in a 30 minute period with 80mm. As of July 2006 this record remains.
- 15 July - John Christie is hanged at Pentonville Prison.
- 19 August - the England cricket team defeat Australia to win The Ashes for the first time in 19 years.[7]
- 26 September - End of post-War sugar rationing.[15]
- 6 October - Government sends troops to the colony of British Guiana blaming communists for causing unrest.[16]
- 11 November - Long running current affairs television series Panorama first airs.[7]
- 17 November - An Italian steamer collides with a French motor vessel in the English Channel, killing 20 people.[17]
- 21 November - The Piltdown Man, which was discovered in 1912 and thought to be the fossilised remains of a hitherto unknown form of early human, exposed as a hoax.[7]
- 26 November - The House of Lords votes in favour of the government's proposals for commercial television.[18]
- 10 December
Undated
Publications
Births
- 17 February - Norman Pace, British actor and comedian
- 11 April - Andrew Wiles, mathematician known for proving Fermat's Last Theorem
- 13 April - Stephen Byers, politician
- 20 April - Sebastian Faulks, English novelist
- 6 May - Tony Blair, Prime Minister
- 19 May - Victoria Wood, British comic actress
- 24 May - Alfred Molina, English actor
- 26 May - Michael Portillo, English politician
- 15 July - John Yorke Denham, politician
- 21 July - David Ervine, leader of the Progressive Unionist Party (died 2007)
- 8 August - Nigel Mansell, racing driver
- 18 August - Patrick Cowdell, English boxer
- 21 October - Peter Mandelson, politician
- 27 October - Peter Firth, British actor
- 7 November - Lucinda Green, equestrian
- 16 November - Griff Rhys Jones, comedian, actor and writer
- 26 November - Hilary Benn, politician
- 28 November - Alistair Darling, politician
- 6 December - Geoff Hoon, politician
- Christopher Fowler, thriller writer
Deaths
References
- ^ "Derek Bentley hanged for murder", BBC On This Day. Retrieved on 2008-01-10.
- ^ "130 die in ferry disaster", BBC On This Day. Retrieved on 2008-01-10.
- ^ "Violent storms claim hundreds of lives", BBC On This Day. Retrieved on 2008-01-10.
- ^ "Sweet rationing ends in Britain", BBC On This Day. Retrieved on 2008-01-10.
- ^ "Marshal Tito makes historic visit to London", BBC On This Day. Retrieved on 2008-01-10.
- ^ "Queen Mary dies peacefully after illness", BBC On This Day. Retrieved on 2008-01-10.
- ^ a b c d e (2006) Penguin Pocket On This Day. Penguin Reference Library. ISBN 0-141-02715-0.
- ^ "Queen Mary laid to rest in Windsor", BBC On This Day. Retrieved on 2008-01-10.
- ^ The Lost Decade Timeline, BBC. Retrieved on 2008-01-10.
- ^ "Queen launches Royal Yacht Britannia", BBC On This Day. Retrieved on 2008-01-10.
- ^ Watson, J. D. and Crick, F. H. C. (1953). Molecular structure of nucleic acids: a structure for deoxyribose nucleic acid. Nature 171, 737-738.
- ^ "Scientists describe 'secret of life'", BBC On This Day. Retrieved on 2008-01-10.
- ^ "Queen Elizabeth takes coronation oath", BBC On This Day. Retrieved on 2008-01-10.
- ^ "Christie to hang for wife's murder", BBC On This Day. Retrieved on 2008-01-10.
- ^ Palmer, Alan & Veronica (1992). The Chronology of British History. London: Century Ltd, 406-407. ISBN 0-7126-5616-2.
- ^ "Britain sends troops to Guiana", BBC On This Day. Retrieved on 2008-01-10.
- ^ "Twenty die in Channel collision", BBC On This Day. Retrieved on 2008-01-10.
- ^ "1953: Lords vote for commercial television", BBC On This Day. Retrieved on 2008-01-10.
- ^ The Nobel Prize in Literature 1953. Retrieved on 2008-01-10.
- ^ The Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine 1953. Retrieved on 2008-01-10.
- ^ (1999) The Hutchinson Factfinder. Helicon. ISBN 1-85986-000-1.
See also
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