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Events from the year 1987 in the United Kingdom. At the beginning of the year, the Archbishop of Canterbury's envoy Terry Waite was kidnapped in Lebanon and remained a hostage until 1991. The major political event of this year was the re-election of Margaret Thatcher in June, making her the longest continuously serving Prime Minister since Lord Liverpool in the early 19th century. The year was also marked by a number of disasters — the sinking of the ferry M/S Herald of Free Enterprise, the Hungerford massacre, the "Great Storm", the Remembrance Day Bombing in Northern Ireland and the King's Cross fire.
[edit] Incumbents
[edit] Events
- January 13 - Prince Edward quits the Royal Marines just three months after joining.
- January 20 - Terry Waite, the special envoy of the Archbishop of Canterbury in Lebanon, disappears in Beirut while negotiating for the release of hostages.[1]
- February 11 - British Airways is privatised and listed on the London Stock Exchange.[2]
- February 11 - Cynthia Payne is acquitted of controlling prostitutes in her London home.[3]
- February 26 - Church of England's General Synod voted to allow ordination of women.[4]
- March 6 - British ferry M/S Herald of Free Enterprise capsized while leaving the harbour of Zeebrugge, Belgium, killing 193 on board.[5]
- March 30 - Christie's auction house in London sells one of Vincent van Gogh's Sunflowers paintings for £24,750,000.[1]
- April 3 - The jewellery of the late Wallis, Duchess of Windsor sold at auction for £31 million, six times the expected value.[1]
- April 16 - Conservative MP Harvey Proctor appeared in Court charged with gross indecency.[6]
- June 11 - The 1987 General Election sees Margaret Thatcher secure her third term in office.[7]
- 12 July - £60 million stolen during the Knightsbridge Security Deposit robbery.[8]
- July 22 - Palestinian cartoonist Naji al-Ali is murdered in London.[9]
- July 24 - Novelist and former Conservative MP Jeffrey Archer wins a libel case against The Daily Star over allegations that he was involved in a vice ring.[10]
- July 31 - Attorney General instituted legal proceedings against The Daily Telegraph to prevent it publishing details from the book Spycatcher.[11]
- July 31 - The Queen opens the Docklands Light Railway, the first driverless railway in Great Britain, in London.[12]
- August 6 - Dr David Owen resigns as leader of the Social Democratic Party after its members vote to merge with the Liberal Party.[13]
- August 19 - Order of the Garter is opened to women.[14]
- August 19 - Michael Ryan shoots dead 16 people in the Berkshire town of Hungerford before taking his own life with a rifle.[15]
- August 27 - Robert Maclennan replaces David Owen as leader of the Social Democratic Party.[16]
- September 9 - twenty-five Liverpool football fans are extradited to Belgium to face charges of manslaughter in connection with the Heysel Stadium disaster more than two years ago.[17]
- September 23 - An Australian court lifts the ban on the publication of Spycatcher.[18]
- October 11 - £1 million pound Operation Deepscan in Loch Ness fails to locate the legendary Loch Ness Monster.[19]
- October 15 - Following a coup, Fiji becomes a republic with the resignation of the Governor-General.[20]
- October 15–October 16 - Hurricane force winds batter much of south-east England, killing 23 people and causing extensive damage to property.[21]
- October 19 - Black Monday Wall Street crash leads to £50billion being wiped of the value of shares on the London stock exchange.[22]
- October 23 - Retired English jockey Lester Piggott is jailed for 3 years after being convicted of tax evasion.[23]
- October 25 - Peugeot begins production of its second car - the 405 four-door saloon - at the Ryton plant near Coventry. The first customers are set to take delivery of their cars after Christmas. A French-built estate version will be launched next year.
- November 8 - Enniskillen bombing: Eleven people killed by a Provisional Irish Republican Army bomb at a Remembrance Day service at Enniskillen.[24]
- November 18 - A fire at Kings Cross on the London Underground kills 31 people.[25]
- December - The British-built Peugeot 405 is European Car of the Year, and Peugeot's first winner of the award for nearly 20 years.
- December 15 - Channel Tunnel construction is initiated, with completion targeted within seven years.[26]
[edit] Births
[edit] Deaths
- February 2 - Alistair MacLean, writer (heart attack) (born 1922)
- February 4 - Wynford Vaughan-Thomas, writer and broadcaster (b. 1908)
- March 28 - Patrick Troughton, actor (b. 1920)
- April 4 - Richard Ithamar Aaron, philosopher (b. 1901)
- April 26 - John Ernest Silkin, politician (b. 1923)
- May 22 - Keidrych Rhys, poet and editor (b. 1915)
- June 6 - Fulton Mackay, actor (b. 1922)
- June 22 - John Hewitt, poet (b. 1907)
- September 4 - Bill Bowes, cricketer (b. 1908)
- September 11 - Hugh David, television director (b. 1925)
- September 17 - Harry Locke, actor (b. 1913)
- September 25 - Emlyn Williams, dramatist and actor (b. 1905)
- October 19 - Jacqueline du Pré, cellist (b. 1945)
- December 22 - Henry Cotton, golfer (b. 1907)
- December 27 - Anna Eliza Williams, oldest documented person in the world (b. 1873)
[edit] References
- ^ a b c (2006) Penguin Pocket On This Day. Penguin Reference Library. ISBN 0-141-02715-0.
- ^ The History Of The British Airways Museum - 1987. Retrieved on 2007-07-02.
- ^ "Mrs Payne is no brothel Madam", BBC. Retrieved on 2007-07-02.
- ^ "Synod says 'yes' to women priests", BBC. Retrieved on 2007-07-02.
- ^ "Hundreds trapped as car ferry capsizes", BBC. Retrieved on 2007-07-02.
- ^ "MP on gay sex charges", BBC. Retrieved on 2007-07-02.
- ^ "Thatcher wins record third term", BBC. Retrieved on 2007-07-02.
- ^ "Flying Squad foils £80m robbery", BBC. Retrieved on 2007-08-04.
- ^ "Cartoonist shot in London street", BBC. Retrieved on 2007-07-02.
- ^ "Archer wins record damages", BBC. Retrieved on 2007-07-02.
- ^ "Newspaper caught in Spycatcher row", BBC. Retrieved on 2007-07-02.
- ^ DLR history timeline. Retrieved on 2007-07-02.
- ^ Williams, Hywel (2005). Cassell's Chronology of World History. Weidenfeld & Nicolson, 614–616. ISBN 0-304-35730-8.
- ^ Information about the Order of the Garter, the most senior British order of chivalry. The Official website of the British Monarchy. Retrieved on 2007-07-02.
- ^ "Gunman kills 14 in Hungerford rampage", BBC. Retrieved on 2007-07-02.
- ^ "Maclennan replaces Owen in SDP", BBC. Retrieved on 2007-07-02.
- ^ Liverpool fans to stand trial in Belgium. BBC. Retrieved on 2007-07-02.
- ^ Ban lifted on MI5 man's memoirs. BBC. Retrieved on 2007-07-02.
- ^ "Search ends for Loch Ness monster", BBC. Retrieved on 2007-07-02.
- ^ "Fiji one step closer to a republic", BBC. Retrieved on 2007-07-02.
- ^ "Hurricane winds batter southern England", BBC. Retrieved on 2007-07-02.
- ^ "Shares plunge after Wall Street crash", BBC. Retrieved on 2007-07-02.
- ^ "Lester Piggott jailed for three years", BBC. Retrieved on 2007-07-02.
- ^ "Bomb kills 11 at Enniskillen", BBC. Retrieved on 2007-07-02.
- ^ "King's Cross station fire 'kills 27'", BBC. Retrieved on 2007-07-02.
- ^ Our history. Eurotunnel. Retrieved on 2007-07-02.
