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Events from the year 1969 in the United Kingdom.
[edit] Incumbents
[edit] Events
- January 1 - Australian media baron Rupert Murdoch purchases the largest selling British Sunday newspaper The News of the World.
- January 4 - Guitarist Jimi Hendrix causes complaints of arrogance from television producers after playing an impromptu version of "Sunshine of your Love" past his allotted timeslot on the BBC1 show Happening for Lulu.
- January 5 - The Derry Riots leave over 100 people injured.
- January 14 - Sir Matt Busby, hugely successful manager of Manchester United F.C. for the last 24 years, announces his retirement as manager. He will 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. [1]
- January 18 - Pete Best wins his defamation lawsuit against the Beatles. Best had originally sought $8 million, but ended up being awarded much less.
- January 24 - Violent protests by students close the London School of Economics, which does not re-open for three weeks.
- January 27 - Reverend Ian Paisley, hardline Protestant leader in Northern Ireland, is jailed for 3 months for illegal assembly.
- January 30 - The Beatles give their last public performance, on the roof of Apple Records. [1] The impromptu concert is broken up by the police.
- February 18 - Pop star Lulu, 20, marries Maurice Gibb of the Bee Gees. [2]
- 2 March - Maiden flight of Concorde. [1]
- 7 March - Opening of the London Underground Victoria Line by the Queen. [1]
- March 12 - Paul McCartney marries Linda Eastman. [1]
- March 17 - The Longhope lifeboat in Scotland is lost; the entire crew of 8 die.
- March 19
- British paratroopers and Marines land on the island of Anguilla.
- A 385 metre tall TV-mast at Emley Moor collapses because of icing.
- March 20 - The Kray twins, Ronald and Reginald, are found guilty of murder.
- March 21 - The Kray twins are sentenced to life imprisonment with a recommended minimum of 30 years which is expected to keep them behind bars until at least 1998.
- March 25 - John Lennon and Yoko Ono marry in Gibraltar.
- 29 March - The UK shares the win of the Eurovision Song Contest, in a four-way tie with France, Spain, and the Netherlands. Lulu represents the UK, singing "Boom bang-a-bang".
- April 1 - The Hawker Siddeley Harrier enters service with the RAF.
- April 9 - Sikh busmen in Wolverhampton win the right to wear turbans on duty.
- April 20 - British troops arrive in Northern Ireland to reinforce the Royal Ulster Constabulary.
- April 22 - Robin Knox-Johnston becomes the first person to sail around the world solo without stopping.
- April 24 - British Leyland Motor Corporation launches its first hatchback car, the Austin Maxi, following a new European design concept started in 1965 by French carmaker Renault's R16 range.
[edit] Unknown dates
[edit] Births
- January - David Mitchell, author
- January 13 - Stephen Hendry, British snooker player
- February 21 James Dean Bradfield, Welsh musician (Manic Street Preachers)
- March 1 - Dafydd Ieuan, Welsh drummer (Super Furry Animals)
- May 6 - Jim Magilton, Northern Irish footballer
- July 26 - Tanni Grey-Thompson, British Paralympian
- August 29 - Joe Swail, Northern Irish snooker player
- September 25 - Catherine Zeta-Jones, Welsh actress
- September 26 - Paul Warhurst, English football player
- November 13 - Gerard Butler, Scottish actor
- December 18 - Irvin Duguid, Scottish keyboard player (Stiltskin)
- December 19 - Richard Hammond, British TV presenter
- 24 December - Ed Miliband, politician
- December 30 - Jay Kay, English singer (Jamiroquai)
[edit] Deaths
- January 4 - Violet and Daisy Hilton, English conjoined twin actresses (b. 1908)
- January 8 - Albert Hill, British athlete (b. 1889)
- 11 January - Richmal Crompton, writer (b. 1890)
- January 25 - Irene Castle, English dancer (b. 1893)
- February 2 - Boris Karloff, English actor (b. 1887)
- 14 February - Kenneth Horne, comedian (b. 1907)
- March 11 - John Wyndham, British author (b. 1903)
- March 25 - Billy Cotton, British Entertainer & Bandleader (b. 1899)
- May 4 - Osbert Sitwell, English writer (b. 1892)
- July 3 - Brian Jones, British musician (The Rolling Stones) (b. 1942)
- August 9 - Cecil Frank Powell, British physicist, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1903)
- August 27 - Ivy Compton-Burnett, English novelist (b. 1884)
- December 5 - Princess Alice of Battenberg, wife of Prince Andrew of Greece and Denmark and mother of Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh (b. 1885)
[edit] References
