1956 in the United Kingdom

1956 in the United Kingdom
Events from the year 1956 in the United Kingdom. The year is dominated by the Suez Crisis.
Incumbents
Monarch – Elizabeth II
Prime Minister – Anthony Eden (Conservative)
Parliament – 41st
Events
1 January – Possession of heroin becomes fully criminalised.
4 January – Eight months after winning the general election and barely a year after becoming Prime Minister, Anthony Eden's position is looking under threat as opinion polls show Labour (now led by Hugh Gaitskell) are in the lead.
24 January – Plans are announced for the construction of thousands of new homes in the Barbican area of London, devastated by the Luftwaffe during the Second World War.
26 January–5 February – Great Britain and Northern Ireland compete at the Winter Olympics in Cortina d'Ampezzo, Italy, but do not win any medals.
February
The Duke of Edinburgh's Award launched.
Release of Shirley Bassey's first single, "Burn My Candle (At Both Ends)".
5 February – First showing of documentary films by the Free Cinema movement, at the National Film Theatre, London.
8 February
The first AEC Routemaster bus in London starts public service, on route 2.
The Treaty of London (1956) is signed to set up an independent Federation of Malaya
11 February – Two of the "Cambridge spies", Guy Burgess and Donald Maclean, appear in Moscow after vanishing as diplomats in mysterious circumstances in 1951.
12 February – Double yellow lines to prohibit parking introduced in Slough.
23 February – A fire at Eastwood Mills, Keighley, West Yorkshire, kills eight employees.
9 March – Archbishop Makarios is deported from Cyprus to the Seychelles by the British authorities.
10 March – Fairey Aviation test pilot Peter Twiss sets a new airspeed record in the Fairey Delta 2, also becoming the first person to exceed 1,000 mph (1,610 km/h) in level flight. His top speed is 1,132 mph (1,821 km/h), 310 mph (499 km/h) in excess of the previous (U.S.) record.
14 March – A memorial to Karl Marx is unveiled at the new site of his grave in Highgate Cemetery, London, by Harry Pollitt, General Secretary of the Communist Party of Great Britain.
24 March – In the Grand National, Devon Loch, owned by Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother and ridden by Dick Francis, is in a clear lead when the horse inexplicably collapses fifty yards (45 m) from the finish, giving victory to E.S.B. at 100/7, ridden by Dave Dick and trained by Fred Rimell. Stan Mellor is the second placed jockey.
7 April – Manchester United, with an average team age of just 24, win the Football League First Division title.
17 April
In his Budget speech, Chancellor of the Exchequer Harold Macmillan announces the launch of Premium Bonds, which will go on sale on 1 November, with a £1,000 prize available from the first draw in June next year.
Chew Valley Lake in Somerset is inaugurated as a reservoir for the Bristol area by the Queen.
19 April – Diver Lionel Crabb (working for MI6) dives into Portsmouth Harbour to investigate visiting Soviet cruiser Ordzhonikidze and vanishes during a state visit by Nikita Khrushchev and Nikolai Bulganin. On 9 May Anthony Eden, who had refused permission for the operation, makes a statement refusing to reveal any details surrounding the mystery of Crabb's disappearance.
20 April – Humphrey Lyttelton and his band record his trad jazz composition "Bad Penny Blues" in London with sound engineer Joe Meek. This will be the first British jazz record to get into the Top Twenty.
22 April – The 2i's Coffee Bar opens in Old Compton Street, Soho (London); its basement rapidly becomes a pioneering venue for rock and roll music in Britain.
27 April – Doubts about the future of Anthony Eden as Prime Minister continue as his personal ratings in opinion polls remain low.
3 May – Granada Television launched with a base in Manchester.
5 May – Manchester City F.C. win the FA Cup with a 3–1 win over Birmingham City at Wembley Stadium. German-born goalkeeper Bert Trautmann plays through the game despite an injury 15 minutes from time diagnosed on 9 May as a broken neck.
7 May – Minister of Health Robin Turton rejects a call for the government to lead an anti-smoking campaign, arguing that no ill-effects have yet been proven.
8 May – First performance of John Osborne's play Look Back in Anger by the newly formed English Stage Company at the Royal Court Theatre. Alan Bates has his first major role as Cliff. The theatre's press release describes the dramatist as among the angry young men of the time.
9 May – The Gower Peninsula of Wales becomes the first area in the British Isles to be designated an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty.
1 June – Elsie Stephenson becomes founding Director of the Nurse Teaching Unit, University of Edinburgh, the first nurse teaching unit within a British university.
3 June
Third class accommodation on British Railways trains redesignated as second class (also applies on Great Northern Railway in Northern Ireland).
Prime ministers Jawaharlal Nehru of India and Sidney Holland of New Zealand are made Freemen of the City of London.
4 July – The National Library of Scotland's first purpose-built premises are opened on George IV Bridge in Edinburgh.
5 July – Parliament passes the Clean Air Act in response to the Great Smog of 1952.
9 July – Mettoy introduce Corgi Toys model cars, manufactured in South Wales.
10 July – A private member's bill to abolish the death penalty is vetoed in the House of Lords; however, no capital punishment is carried out in the UK this year.
22 July – The first UK Albums Chart is published, in Record Mirror (Frank Sinatra's Songs for Swingin' Lovers! tops it for the first two weeks.)
26 July – Egyptian leader Gamal Abdel Nasser announces the nationalisation of the Suez Canal triggering the Suez Crisis.
27 July – First Berni Inn steakhouse opens in Bristol.
31 July – Jim Laker sets a record by taking 19 wickets in a first class cricket match, at Old Trafford in the fourth Test between England and Australia.
9 August–9 September – Art exhibition This Is Tomorrow, featuring principally the interdisciplinary ICA Independent Group, at the Whitechapel Art Gallery, London. Among the exhibits is Richard Hamilton's collage Just What Is It that Makes Today's Homes So Different, So Appealing?, considered to be one of the earliest works of pop art.
17 August – Scotland Yard are called to Eastbourne to investigate the activities of society doctor John Bodkin Adams. The case is reported around the world and press reports claim up to 400 patients may have been murdered.
4 September – Opening of the first Welsh-medium secondary school in Wales – Ysgol Glan Clwyd, Rhyl.
10 September – Guy Mollet visits London and proposes a merger of France and the United Kingdom. However, the idea is rejected by Anthony Eden.
12 September – Manchester United become the first English team to compete in the European Cup, a competition for the champions of domestic leagues across Europe, when they play the first leg of the preliminary round in Belgium and beat R.S.C. Anderlecht 2–0.
25 September – The TAT-1 transatlantic telephone cable between the UK and North America inaugurated.
26 September – Manchester United qualify for the first round of the European Cup in style with a 10–0 win over R.S.C. Anderlecht at Maine Road in the second leg of the preliminary round.
28 September – Eden considers allowing France to join the Commonwealth of Nations, but this idea is also rejected.
15 October – The RAF retires its last Lancaster bomber.
17 October – The Queen opens the world's first commercial nuclear power station at Calder Hall.
24 October – Protocol of Sèvres, a secret agreement between the UK, France and Israel allowing the latter to invade Sinai with the support of the two former governments. Eden subsequently denies existence of an agreement.
5 November
Jo Grimond replaces Clement Davies as leader of the Liberal Party.
Long-running television programme What the Papers Say airs for the first time.
6 November – British and French forces seize control of two major ports in the Suez Canal in Egypt before declaring a ceasefire.
9 November – At the Lord Mayor's Show in London, the first AEC Routemaster forms part of the procession, advertised as "London's Bus of the Future".
15 November – The Manchester Guardian calls for the resignation of Anthony Eden as Prime Minister, despite his improvement in opinion poll showings.
21 November – DIDO heavy water enriched uranium nuclear reactor opens at the Atomic Energy Research Establishment, Harwell, Oxfordshire.
22 November–8 December – Great Britain and Northern Ireland compete at the Olympics in Melbourne, Australia, and win 6 gold, 7 silver and 11 bronze medals.
29 November – Petrol rationing introduced because of petrol blockades from the Middle East due to the Suez Crisis.
10 December – Cyril Norman Hinshelwood wins the Nobel Prize in Chemistry jointly with Nikolay Semyonov "for their researches into the mechanism of chemical reactions".
12 December – The Irish Republican Army launches its Border Campaign in Northern Ireland with co-ordinated attacks on official premises.
19 December
Six people die and several more are injured in car crashes caused by heavy fog in northern England.
Eastbourne GP Dr John Bodkin Adams is arrested for the murder of patient Edith Alice Morrell.
21 December – The Government of Northern Ireland under Basil Brooke uses the Special Powers Act to intern several hundred republican suspects without trial.
23 December – British and French troops withdraw from Suez under United Nations and United States pressure.
25 December – PG Tips launches its long-running ITV advertising campaign using a chimpanzees' tea party (with voices provided by Peter Sellers).
31 December – The Flanders and Swann revue At the Drop of a Hat opens in London.
Undated
Opening of the first Jewish seminary for Liberal and Reform Judaism in England – Leo Baeck College, as the Jewish Theological College of London at West London Synagogue; its first two students are Lionel Blue and Michael Leigh.
Tesco opens its first self-service stores in St Albans and Maldon.
The Collared dove first breeds in the UK.
Death of the last Agapemonite.
Publications
Agatha Christie's Hercule Poirot novel Dead Man's Folly.
Anthony Crosland's book The Future of Socialism.
Gerald Durrell's memoir My Family and Other Animals.
Ian Fleming's James Bond novel Diamonds Are Forever.
William Golding's novel Pincher Martin.
C. S. Lewis' novel The Last Battle.
Rose Macaulay's novel The Towers of Trebizond.
Nancy Mitford's book Noblesse Oblige: an Enquiry into the Identifiable Characteristics of the English Aristocracy, illustrated by Osbert Lancaster.
Samuel Selvon's novel The Lonely Londoners.
Dodie Smith's children's novel The Hundred and One Dalmatians.
Angus Wilson's novel Anglo-Saxon Attitudes.
Colin Wilson's study The Outsider.
The Movement's poetry anthology New Lines edited by Robert Conquest.
Births
2 January – Storm Constantine, science fiction and fantasy author
4 January – Bernard Sumner, guitarist (Joy Division and New Order)
6 January
Angus Deayton, actor and television presenter
Justin Welby, Archbishop of Canterbury
7 January – Johnny Owen, né Owens, Welsh bantamweight boxer (died 1980)
9 January – Imelda Staunton, English actress
14 January – Ronan Bennett, Northern Irish writer
17 January – Paul Young, pop singer and guitarist
21 January – Ian McMillan, poet
29 January – Anton Otulakowski, footballer
31 January – John Lydon (Johnny Rotten), punk rock singer-songwriter (Sex Pistols)
2 February – Philip Franks, actor and director
4 February – Jon Walmsley, television actor and guitarist
8 February – Richard Sharp, banker and Chairman of the BBC
12 February – Joe Dever, fantasy author (died 2016)
13 February – Peter Hook, bass guitar player (Joy Division and New Order)
16 February – Paul Gilroy, academic
19 February – Dave Wakeling, rock singer-songwriter
22 February – Stuart Peach, Air Chief Marshal
24 February – Fiona Graham-Mackay, née Bain, portrait painter
25 February – Davie Cooper, Scottish footballer (died 1995)
28 February – Terry Leahy, businessman
7 March – Andrea Levy, novelist (died 2019)
8 March – Lesley Regan, gynaecologist
11 March – Helen Rollason, television sports presenter (died 1999)
12 March
Steve Harris, bass guitar player, founding member of Iron Maiden
Lesley Manville, actress
17 March – Frank McGarvey, footballer (died 2023)
20 March – Catherine Ashton, Baroness Ashton of Upholland, politician
23 March
Rosa Beddington, biologist (died 2001)
Andrew Mitchell, soldier and politician, Secretary of State for International Development
Jeremy Wade, biologist and author
19 April
Sue Barker, tennis player and television presenter
Anne Glover, Scottish biologist
25 April – Greg Richards, decathlete
26 April – Koo Stark, actress
13 May – Richard Madeley, television presenter
14 May – Hazel Blears, politician
15 May – Kjartan Poskitt, author
18 May – John Godber, dramatist
24 May – Joe Casely-Hayford, fashion designer (died 2019)
26 May
Neil Parish, politician
Fiona Shackleton, lawyer
6 June – Christopher Adamson, film actor
20 June – Simon Bryant, air marshal
5 July – Terry Chimes, rock drummer (The Clash)
15 July – Ian Curtis, post-punk singer-songwriter (Joy Division) (died 1980)
19 July – Nikki Sudden, guitarist and singer-songwriter (Swell Maps) (died 2006)
26 July – Andy Goldsworthy, sculptor and photographer
29 July – Viv Anderson, footballer
8 August – Chris Foreman, rock guitarist
17 August – Dave Jones, footballer and manager
21 August – Kim Cattrall, screen actress
7 September – Robert Reed, Baron Reed of Allermuir, Scottish judge, President of the Supreme Court of the UK
14 September – Ray Wilkins, footballer and coach (died 2018)
18 September – Tim McInnerny, actor
29 September – Sebastian Coe, athlete, co-ordinator of London 2012 Olympic Games
1 October – Theresa May, Prime Minister, Conservative Party leader, MP for Maidenhead
20 October – Danny Boyle, film director
27 October – Hazell Dean, singer
30 October – Juliet Stevenson, actress
November – Teresa Borsuk, architect
5 November – Rob Fisher, keyboardist and songwriter (Climie Fisher) (died 1999)
8 November – Richard Curtis, screenwriter
23 November – Jimmy Hibbert, comedian and scriptwriter
26 November – John McCarthy, journalist and hostage
28 November – Lucy Gutteridge, film actress
7 December – Anna Soubry, politician
19 December – Jimmy Cauty, electronic musician (The KLF), graphic and performance artist
23 December
Dave Murray, guitarist (Iron Maiden)
Simon Wessely, psychiatrist
28 December – Nigel Kennedy, violinist
29 December – Fred MacAulay, Scottish comedian
Deaths
4 January – R. Williams Parry, Welsh poet (born 1884)
13 January – Wickham Steed, journalist, editor and historian (born 1871)
14 January – Sheila Kaye-Smith, novelist (born 1887)
31 January – A. A. Milne, author (born 1882)
10 February – Hugh Trenchard, 1st Viscount Trenchard, marshal of the Royal Air Force (born 1873)
25 March – Robert Newton, film actor (born 1905)
30 March – Edmund Clerihew Bentley, writer (born 1875)
24 April – Henry Stephenson, character actor (born 1871)
29 April – Harold Bride, Titanic survivor (born 1890)
2 May – Violet Gibson, Irish-born attempted assassin (born 1876)
3 May
Rodney Collin, writer (born 1909)
Peter Watson, art collector and benefactor (born 1908)
17 May – Austin Osman Spare, magician (born 1886)
18 May – Maurice Tate, cricketer (born 1895)
20 May – Max Beerbohm, theatre critic (born 1872)
24 May – Martha Annie Whiteley, chemist and mathematician (born 1866)
6 June – Margaret Wycherly, actress (born 1881)
11 June – Frank Brangwyn, artist (born 1867)
22 June – Walter de la Mare, poet and fiction writer (born 1873)
28 June – Claud Schuster, 1st Baron Schuster, civil servant (born 1869)
11 July – Dorothy Wellesley, Duchess of Wellington, socialite, author, poet and literary editor (born 1889)
5 August – J. M. Andrews, second Prime Minister of Northern Ireland (born 1871)
19 August – Bernard Griffin, Cardinal of the Roman Catholic Church; Archbishop of Westminster from 1943 until his death (born 1873)
6 September – Michael Ventris, co-decipherer of Linear B (car accident) (born 1922)
7 September – C. B. Fry, cricketer (born 1872)
22 September – Frederick Soddy, chemist, Nobel Prize laureate (born 1877)
16 October – Jack Southworth, footballer (born 1866)
17 October – Anne Crawford, film actress (leukemia) (born 1920)
22 October – Hannah Mitchell, socialist and suffragette (born 1872)
19 November – Francis L. Sullivan, actor (born 1903)
24 November – Sir Lionel Whitby, haematologist, clinical pathologist, pharmacologist and army officer (born 1895)
6 December – Helen Duncan, Scottish medium (born 1897)
9 December – Charles Joughin, Titanic survivor (born 1878)
13 December
Sir Arthur Grimble, colonial civil servant and travel writer (born 1888)
Anthony Moorhouse, soldier (murdered in Egypt) (born 1935)
16 December – Nina Hamnett, artist (born 1890)
See also
1956 in British music
1956 in British television
List of British films of 1956
References
Years of the 20th century in the United Kingdom
1956 by country
1950s in the United Kingdom
1956 in Europe