From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Events of the year 1960 in the United Kingdom.
[edit] Incumbents
- HM Queen Elizabeth II
- Harold Macmillan, Conservative Party
[edit] Events
- January - The state of emergency is lifted in Kenya — the Mau Mau Uprising is officially over.
- 5 January - closure of the Swansea and Mumbles Railway.[1]
- January 10 - British Prime Minister Harold Macmillan makes the Wind of Change speech for the first time (see February 3).
- February 3 - Prime Minister of the United Kingdom Harold Macmillan makes the Wind of Change speech to the South African Parliament in Cape Town (although he had first made the speech, to little publicity, in Accra, Gold Coast - now Ghana - on January 10 the same year).
- 14 March - Jodrell Bank Observatory makes contact with the American Pioneer 5 over a record-breaking distance of 407,000 miles.[2]
- April 16 - The Times of London abandons use of the term "Imperial and Foreign News", replacing it with "Overseas News", and changes its house style from "to-day" to "today".
- 18 April - 60,000 protestors stage a demonstration in London against nuclear weapons.[3]
- 27 April - first production of Harold Pinter's play The Caretaker at the Arts Theatre in London.[4]
- 6 May - Princess Margaret marries Antony Armstrong-Jones, 1st Earl of Snowdon in the first televised Royal marriage. [5]
- June 24 - Avro 748 makes its first flight at Woodford.
- June 26 — British Somaliland gains independence from the United Kingdom; 5 days later it unites with the former Italian Somaliland to create the modern Somali Republic.[6]
- 28 June - 38 miners killed at a pit explosion in Monmouthshire.[7]
- July 21 — Francis Chichester, English navigator and yachtsman, arrives in New York aboard Gypsy Moth II — he has made a record solo Atlantic crossing in 40 days.
- July 27 - In a Cabinet reshuffle, Selwyn Lloyd is appointed Chancellor of the Exchequer and Lord Home becomes Foreign Secretary.[8]
- August 16 - Cyprus gains its independence from the United Kingdom.[9]
- 1 October - Nigeria gained its independence from the United Kingdom.[10]
- October 7 — The second notable flood occurs in Horncastle, Lincolnshire.
- October 21 - The Queen launches Britain's first nuclear submarine, the HMS Dreadnought.[11]
- October 30 — Michael Woodruff performs the first successful kidney transplant in the United Kingdom, at the Edinburgh Royal Infirmary.
- November 2 — Penguin Books is found not guilty of obscenity in the Lady Chatterley's Lover case.
- 10 November - Lady Chatterley's Lover sells 200,000 copies in one day following its publication since being banned since 1928.[12]
- 16 November - Controversial TV personality Gilbert Harding dies of a heart attack aged 53.[13]
- 31 December
[edit] Undated
[edit] Births
[edit] January - February
[edit] March - April
- March 10 - Anne MacKenzie, British broadcaster
- March 23 - Nicol Stephen, Scottish politician
- March 29 - Marina Sirtis, British actress
- April 2 - Linford Christie, British athlete
- April 4 - Jane Eaglin, English soprano
- April 11 - Jeremy Clarkson, English journalist and television show host
- 13 April - Lyn Carol Brown, British Labour politician and MP for West Ham
- 22 April - Gary Rhodes, British restaurateur and celebrity chef
- April 26 - Roger Taylor, English musician (Duran Duran)
- April 29 - Phil King, British bassist
- April 30 - Colonel Tim Collins Northern Irish-born British Commander in Iraq
[edit] May - June
[edit] July - August
- July 3 - Vince Clarke, English songwriter (Depeche Mode, Yazoo, and Erasure)
- July 13 - Ian Hislop, British broadcaster and editor
- 18 July - Simon Heffer, English journalist
- 22 July - Barbara Cassani, American-born business executive
- August 14 - Sarah Brightman, English soprano singer and actress
- 30 August - Ben Bradshaw, British Labour politician, the Minister for Local Environment, Marine and Animal Welfare, and MP for Exeter
[edit] September - October
- 3 September - Nick Gibb, British Conservative politician, Shadow Minister of State for Schools, and MP for Bognor Regis and Littlehampton
- September 9 - Hugh Grant, English actor
- September 10 - Colin Firth, English actor
- 16 September - Danny John-Jules, English dancer and actor
- September 17 - Damon Hill, English race car driver
- 29 September - Andrew Slaughter, British Labour politician and MP for Ealing, Acton and Shepherd's Bush
- October 29 - Finola Hughes, British actress
[edit] November - December
- November 10 - Neil Gaiman, English author
- November 17 - Jonathan Ross, English television presenter
- November 18 - Kim Wilde, English singer and gardener
- 28 November - John Galliano, British fashion designer
- 30 November - Gary Lineker, English footballer
- December 2 - Rick Savage, English bassist (Def Leppard)
- December 10 - Kenneth Branagh, Northern Irish actor and director
- December 24 - Carol Vorderman, British television presenter
- 26 December - Andrew Graham-Dixon, British art historian and television presenter
- December 27 - Maryam d'Abo, British actress
[edit] Deaths
[edit] References
