1969 in the United Kingdom

Events from the year 1969 in the United Kingdom. The year is dominated by the beginnings of the Troubles in Northern Ireland.

Incumbents

• Monarch – Elizabeth II
• Prime Minister – Harold Wilson (Labour)
• Parliament – 44th

Events

January

• • Secretary of State for Employment and Productivity Barbara Castle published a White Paper In Place of Strife proposing powers of intervention in advance of industrial action. This proved unacceptable to the Trades Union Congress.^[1][2][3]
  • The Space hopper toy was introduced to Britain.^[4]
• 2 January – Australian media mogul Rupert Murdoch purchased the best-selling UK Sunday newspaper The News of the World.^[5]
• 4 January – Guitarist Jimi Hendrix caused complaints of arrogance from television producers after playing an impromptu version of "Sunshine of your Love" past his allotted timeslot on the BBC One programme Happening for Lulu.
• 5 January – Derry Riots left over one hundred people injured.
• 10 January – Protestors in Northern Ireland defied police orders to abandon a planned march.^[6]
• 14 January – Sir Matt Busby, hugely successful manager of Manchester United F.C. for the last twenty-four years, announced his retirement as manager. He would become a director at the end of the season, and hand over first-team duties to current first team trainer and former player Wilf McGuinness.^[7]
• 18 January – Pete Best won his defamation lawsuit against the Beatles. He had originally sought $8,000,000 but is awarded considerably less.
• 24 January
  • Violent protests by students about the installation of steel security gates, closed the London School of Economics, which did not reopen for three weeks.^[8]
  • Launch of the Ford Capri, a four-seater sporting coupe designed to compete with the likes of the MG B and which Ford expects to become a top 10 seller in Britain.^[9]
• 27 January
  • London School of Economics students occupied the University of London Union building in Malet Street in protest at the closure of the LSE.^[10]
  • Reverend Ian Paisley, the hard line Protestant leader in Northern Ireland, was jailed for three months for illegal assembly.
• 30 January – The Beatles' rooftop concert: The Beatles performed together for the final time, on the rooftop of Apple Records in London;^[11] the impromptu concert was broken up by the police.

February

• 18 February – Pop star Lulu, 20, married Maurice Gibb of the Bee Gees at St James Church, Gerrards Cross.^[12]

March

• March – The first B&Q DIY superstore was set up in Southampton by Richard Block and David Quayle.^[13][14]
• 4 March – The Kray twins were both found guilty of murder: Ronnie of murdering George Cornell; Reggie of murdering Jack "the Hat" McVitie.^[15] On 5 March, they are sentenced to life imprisonment with a recommended minimum of thirty years by Mr Justice Melford Stevenson.^[16]
• 7 March – The London Underground Victoria line was opened by The Queen.^[11]
• 12 March – Paul McCartney married Linda Eastman at Marylebone register office in London.^[11]
• 17 March – The Longhope life-boat from Orkney was lost; all eight crew members on board perished.
• 19 March
  • British paratroopers and Marines landed on the island of Anguilla.
  • The 385-metre tall Emley Moor transmitting station television mast in West Yorkshire collapsed because of icing.
• 25 March – John Lennon and Yoko Ono married in Gibraltar.
• 27 March – First ordination of a woman in the Church of Scotland, Catherine McConnachie by the Presbytery of Aberdeen.^[17]
• 29 March – Lulu, representing the UK with the song "Boom Bang-a-Bang", shared first place in the Eurovision Song Contest in a four-way tie with France, the Netherlands and the host country, Spain.

April

• April – The Raleigh Chopper children's wheelie bike was launched.
• 1 April – The Hawker Siddeley Harrier GR.1 V/STOL "Jump Jet" fighter entered service with the Royal Air Force.
• 9 April
  • The British prototype Concorde airliner first flew, from Bristol Filton Airport (the first French flight was on 2 March).^[11]
  • Sikh busmen in Wolverhampton win the right to wear their turbans whilst on duty.^[18]
• 17 April
  • Representation of the People Act lowered the voting age from 21 to 18^[11] with effect from February 1970. It also permitted candidates to have a party label included on the ballot paper, and removed the right (theoretically restored in 1967) of convicted prisoners to vote in Parliamentary elections.
  • Bernadette Devlin won the Mid Ulster by-election and became the youngest female MP at this date at 21 years old.^[11]
• 20 April – British troops arrived in Northern Ireland to reinforce the Royal Ulster Constabulary.
• 22 April – Robin Knox-Johnston became the first person to make a solo non-stop global circumnavigation under sail.
• 24 April
  • British Leyland Motor Corporation launched Britain's first production hatchback car, the Austin Maxi, designed to compete with family saloons like the Ford Cortina and following a new European design concept started in 1965 by French carmaker Renault's R16 range.^[19]
  • The final episode of the long-running BBC Radio serial drama Mrs Dale's Diary was broadcast.^[11]
• 26 April – Manchester City F.C. won the FA Cup with a 1-0 win over Leicester City in the Wembley final.^[20]
• 28 April – Leeds United won the Football League First Division title for the first time in their history.^[21]

May

• 2 May – Ocean liner RMS Queen Elizabeth 2 departed from Southampton on her maiden voyage to New York.^[11]
• 23 May – The Who released the concept album Tommy.
• 29 May – Carry On Camping was released, becoming the year's most popular film at the UK box office.^[22]

June

• 14 June – The black horse Burmese, ridden by the Queen, made her first appearance at Trooping the Colour; she would continue in this role until 1986.
• 21 June –
  • The showing of television documentary The Royal Family, attracted more than 30,600,000 viewers; which was more than half of the entire population of the United Kingdom at the time, which is an all-time British record for a non-current event programme.^[23]
  • Patrick Troughton made his final appearance as the Second Doctor in Doctor Who in the final episode of The War Games which was also the last episode to be recorded in black and white.
• 24 June – After a referendum in Rhodesia voted in favour of becoming a Republic, the Governor of Southern Rhodesia Sir Humphrey Gibbs left Government House, severing the last diplomatic relationship with the United Kingdom.
• 30 June – Two members of the Mudiad Amddiffyn Cymru (Movement for the Defence of Wales) were killed whilst placing a bomb outside government offices in Abergele in an attempt to disrupt the following day's events.^[24]

July

• 1 July
  • Charles, Prince of Wales, was invested with his title at Caernarfon.
  • John Lennon, Yoko Ono and their children were hospitalised at Golspie in Scotland following a car accident while on holiday.^[25]
• 3 July – Swansea was granted city status.
• 5 July – The Rolling Stones performed at the free festival The Stones in the Park outdoors in Hyde Park, London, in front of at least a quarter of a million fans, two days after the death of founder Brian Jones.
• 10 July – Donald Crowhurst's sailing trimaran Teignmouth Electron was found drifting and unoccupied in mid-Atlantic; it was presumed that Crowhurst committed suicide (or fell overboard) at sea earlier in the month having falsified his progress in the solo Sunday Times Golden Globe Race.^[26]
• 12 July – Golfer Tony Jacklin won The Open Championship.^[11]
• 20–21 July – BBC television continues broadcasting overnight to provide coverage of the Apollo 11 moon landing; Neil Armstrongs first steps on the surface take place at 03:56 British Summer Time on 21 July. Television coverage to Europe is transmitted via Goonhilly Satellite Earth Station in Cornwall.^[27]
• 23 July – BBC Two television first aired the Pot Black snooker tournament.
• 24 July – British lecturer Gerald Brooke was freed from a Soviet prison in exchange for the spies Morris and Lona Cohen.^[28]

August

• 1 August – the pre-decimal halfpenny ceased to be legal tender.^[11]
• 12 August – Rioting broke out in Derry, Northern Ireland in the Battle of the Bogside, the first major confrontation of The Troubles.
• 13–17 August – Sectarian rioting in Northern Ireland.
• 13 August – The Taoiseach of the Republic of Ireland, Jack Lynch, made a speech on Teilifís Éireann saying that his government "can no longer stand by" and requesting a United Nations peacekeeping force for Northern Ireland.^[29]
• 14 August – British troops were deployed in Northern Ireland to restore law and order.^[30]
• 30–31 August – The second Isle of Wight Festival attracted 150,000 pop music fans, with the appearance of Bob Dylan a major draw.^[31]

September

• 11 September – The housing charity Shelter released a report claiming that there are up to 3,000,000 people in need of rehousing due to poor living conditions.^[32]
• 16 September – Iconic 1960s fashion store Biba reopened on Kensington High Street.^[11]
• 21 September – Police evicted squatters of the London Street Commune from 144 Piccadilly.^[33]
• 26 September – The Beatles released what would be their final album (Abbey Road) recorded together.
• 28 September – The National Trust acquired ownership of the island of Lundy.

October

• 1 October – The Post Office became a statutory corporation.
• 5 October – The first episode of Monty Python's Flying Circus was broadcast on the BBC.^[11]
• 10 October – The Government accepted the recommendations of Lord Hunt's report on policing in Northern Ireland including the abolition of the Ulster Special Constabulary.^[34]
• 14 October
  • The new seven-sided 50p coin was introduced as replacement for the 10-shilling note, to a mixed reception from the British public, with many people complaining that it was easily confused with the 10p coin.^[35]
  • With a general election due within the next eighteen months, opinion polls showed that the Conservatives were comfortably ahead of Labour, by up to 24 points.^[36]
• 16 October – Peter Nichols' black comedy The National Health was premiered by the National Theatre at the Old Vic in London.^[37]

November

• November – Ken Loach's film Kes was released at the London Film Festival.
• 15 November – Regular colour television broadcasts began on BBC One and ITV.^[38]
• 16 November – BBC One first aired the children's television series Clangers, made by Oliver Postgate and Peter Firmin's Smallfilms in stop motion animation.
• 17 November – The Sun newspaper was relaunched as a tabloid under the ownership of Rupert Murdoch.
• 25 November – John Lennon returned his MBE to protest against the British Government's involvement in Biafra and support of the U.S. war in Vietnam.^[11]

December

• 10 December – Derek Harold Richard Barton won the Nobel Prize in Chemistry jointly with Odd Hassel "for their contributions to the development of the concept of conformation and its application in chemistry".^[39]
• 15 December – Martins Bank was purchased by Barclays.
• 17 December – Constitutional law case of Anisminic Ltd v Foreign Compensation Commission decided in the House of Lords established in English administrative law the "collateral fact doctrine", that any error of law made by a public body will make its decision a nullity and that a statutory exclusion clause does not deprive the courts from their jurisdiction in judicial review unless it expressly states this.
• 18 December
  • The abolition of the death penalty for murder was made permanent by Parliament.^[11]
  • The sixth James Bond film – On Her Majesty's Secret Service – was released in UK cinemas. Bond is played (uniquely in this film) by Australian-born model George Lazenby for the only time, after Sean Connery quit the role following You Only Live Twice. Starring alongside him is Yorkshire-born actress Diana Rigg.^[40]
• 26 December – A fire at the Rose and Crown Hotel, Saffron Walden, killed eleven.^[41]

Undated

• The Chancellor of the Exchequer Roy Jenkins introduced Mortgage Interest Relief at Source (MIRAS) to encourage home ownership; it allowed borrowers tax relief for interest payments on their mortgage.^[42]
• Golden eagles were found to be nesting in England for the first time in modern history, at Haweswater in the Lake District.^[43]
• Completion of the Castle Vale estate in Birmingham, the largest postwar housing estate in Britain. The new estate predominantly consists of council housing, including 34 tower blocks - the largest number on any single British housing estate. The first residents moved onto Castle Vale in 1964 when the first houses and flats were completed.^[44]

Publications

• Kingsley Amis's novel The Green Man.
• Agatha Christie's Hercule Poirot novel Hallowe'en Party.
• John Fowles' novel The French Lieutenant's Woman.
• Antonia Fraser's biography Mary Queen of Scots.
• George MacDonald Fraser's novel Flashman.
• P. H. Newby's novel Something to Answer For.
• The anthology Children of Albion: Poetry of the Underground in Britain edited by Michael Horovitz.

Births

January – March

• 1 January – Nicholas Gleaves, actor and playwright
• 4 January – Mary Macleod, lawyer and politician
• 12 January – David Mitchell, author
• 13 January – Stephen Hendry, Scottish snooker player
• 19 February – Stewart Faulkner, English long jumper
• 21 February – James Dean Bradfield, Welsh musician (Manic Street Preachers)
• 1 March – Dafydd Ieuan, Welsh drummer (Super Furry Animals)
• March – Jez Butterworth, dramatist and screenwriter

April – June

• 4 April – Karren Brady, English sporting business executive
• 9 April – Tracie Andrews, English criminal convicted of murdering her fiancé
• 26 April – Kate Hardie, actress, director and screenwriter
• 27 April
  • Tess Daly, English television presenter
  • Mica Paris, born Michelle Wallen, soul singer, presenter and actress
• 6 May – Jim Magilton, Northern Irish footballer
• June – Emma Walmsley, English business executive
• 2 June
  • Cy Chadwick, English actor and producer
  • Jamie Thraves, English film writer, director and music video director
• 21 May – Martin Harris, English backstroke swimmer
• 22 June – Simon Taylor, English graphic artist

July – September

• 26 July – Tanni Grey-Thompson, British Paralympian
• 7 August – Domino Harvey, British bounty hunter (died 2005)
• 29 August – Joe Swail, Northern Irish snooker player
• 20 September – Jo Jennings, English high jumper
• 22 September – Sue Perkins, English comedy performer
• 25 September – Catherine Zeta-Jones, Welsh actress
• 26 September – Paul Warhurst, English football player

October – December

• 9 October
  • PJ Harvey, English rock singer-songwriter and instrumentalist
  • Steve McQueen, black British film director
• 15 October – Dominic West, English actor
• 13 November – Gerard Butler, Scottish actor
• 19 November – Michael Lee, English rock drummer (died 2008)
• 5 December – Sajid Javid, English Conservative politician, Home Secretary
• 12 December – Rodney P (Panton), MC, "godfather of British hip hop"
• 18 December – Irvin Duguid, Scottish rock keyboard player (Stiltskin)
• 19 December – Richard Hammond, English TV presenter
• 24 December – Ed Miliband, English politician, leader of the Labour Party
• 30 December – Jay Kay, English jazz-funk singer-songwriter (Jamiroquai)

Deaths

January – March

• 4 January – Violet and Daisy Hilton, English conjoined twin actresses (born 1908)
• 8 January – Albert Hill, British athlete (born 1889)
• 11 January – Richmal Crompton, fiction writer (born 1890)
• 2 February – Boris Karloff, English actor (born 1887)
• 14 February – Kenneth Horne, radio comedy performer (born 1907)
• 16 February – Kingsley Martin, political editor (born 1897)
• 11 March – John Wyndham, British science fiction writer (born 1903)
• 25 March – Billy Cotton, British bandleader and entertainer (born 1899)

April – June

• 4 May – Sir Osbert Sitwell, English writer (born 1892)
• 23 May – Sir Owen Williams, civil engineer (born 1890)
• 22 June – Judy Garland, American film actress and singer (born 1922)

July – September

• 3 July – Brian Jones, British musician (The Rolling Stones) (born 1942)
• 9 August – Cecil Frank Powell, British physicist, Nobel Prize laureate (born 1903)
• 27 August – Ivy Compton-Burnett, English novelist (born 1884)
• 25 September – Frank Inglis, British air vice marshal (born 1899)

October – December

• 18 November – Ted Heath, bandleader (born 1902)
• 5 December – Princess Alice of Battenberg, wife of Prince Andrew of Greece and Denmark and mother of The Duke of Edinburgh (born 1885)

See also

• 1969 in British music
• 1969 in British television
• List of British films of 1969

References

External links