1991 in the United Kingdom

Events from the year 1991 in the United Kingdom.

Incumbents

*Monarch - HM Queen Elizabeth II
*Prime Minister - John Major, Conservative

Events

* 3 January - The UK expels all Iraqi diplomats from the country due to Iraq's invasion of Kuwait five months ago. [cite web|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/january/3/newsid_2492000/2492781.stm|title="1991: Britain expels Iraqi diplomats", BBC On This Day|accessdate=2008-02-01]
* 8 January - A train crash at Cannon Street station in London kills one person and injures over 500. [cite web|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/january/8/newsid_4091000/4091741.stm|title="1991: One dead as train crashes into buffers", BBC On This Day|accessdate=2008-02-01]
* 17 January - The Gulf War begins, as the Royal Air Force joins Allied aircraft in bombing raids on Iraq. [cite web|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/january/17/newsid_2530000/2530375.stm|title="1991: 'Mother of all Battles' begins", BBC On This Day|accessdate=2008-02-01]
* 7 February - The Provisional Irish Republican Army launch a mortar attack against 10 Downing Street, blowing in all the windows of the cabinet room, during a session of the War Cabinet.
* 18 February - The IRA explodes bombs in the early morning at both Paddington station and Victoria station in London.
* 25 February - Alan Green, Director of Public Prosecution, announces that the Birmingham Six could soon be free from prison after 17 years as their convictions for terrorism and mass murder are no longer considered safe and satisfactory. [cite web|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/february/25/newsid_2516000/2516525.stm|title="1991: Birmingham Six on verge of freedom", BBC On This Day|accessdate=2008-02-01]
* 28 February - Iraq accepts a provisional ceasefire, and British troops halt their advance on Baghdad.cite book |last=Palmer |first=Alan & Veronica |year=1992 |title= The Chronology of British History|publisher= Century Ltd|location=London|pages=459|isbn= 0-7126-5616-2]
* 14 March - The Birmingham Six are freed after the Court of Appeal quashes their convictions over the 1974 pub bombings in Birmingham which killed 21 people and injured more than 160 others. [cite web|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/march/14/newsid_2543000/2543613.stm|title="1991: Birmingham Six freed after 16 years", BBC On This Day|accessdate=2008-02-01]
* 23 March - The Government launches its Citizen's Charter campaign. [cite web|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/march/23/newsid_2531000/2531293.stm|title="1991: Tories launch 'citizen charter'", BBC On This Day|accessdate=2008-02-01]
* 28 March - An inquest in Sheffield into the Hillsborough disaster records a verdict of accidental death on the 95 people who died as a result of the tragedy almost two years ago. Many of the victims' families criticise the verdict, as many of them had been hoping for a verdict of unlawful killing against the police officers who patrolled the game. [cite web|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/march/28/newsid_2531000/2531015.stm|title="1991: Family anger at Hillsborough verdict", BBC On This Day|accessdate=2008-02-01]
* 4 April - Social services in the Orkney Islands are criticised for their handling of more than 100 children who have returned to their families after being taken away over allegations of child abuse. [cite web|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/april/4/newsid_2521000/2521067.stm|title="1991: Orkney 'abuse' children go home", BBC On This Day|accessdate=2008-02-01]
* 19 April - George Carey enthroned as Archbishop of Canterbury.
* 23 April - Government announces that the unpopular Poll Tax is to be replaced by a new Council Tax.
* 18 May
** Helen Sharman becomes the first Briton in space. [cite web|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/may/18/newsid_2380000/2380649.stm|title="1991: Sharman becomes first Briton in space", BBC On This Day|accessdate=2008-02-01]
** Paul Gascoigne suffers cruciate knee ligament damage in Tottenham Hotspur's 2-1 FA Cup final victory over Nottingham Forest, which puts his proposed transfer to Italian side Lazio on hold, and is expected to rule him out for up to a year.
* 29 May - The Poll Tax saga which has plagued Britain for last 14 months results in the latest of several objectors being jailed. Martin Blatchford, a disabled 31-year-old father-of-three from Dudley in the West Midlands, is sentenced to 14 days in prison.
* 3 June - The British Army kill three IRA gunmen in Northern Ireland. [cite web|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/june/3/newsid_2495000/2495753.stm|title="1991: IRA men shot dead by British army", BBC On This Day|accessdate=2008-02-01]
* 10 June - The National Gallery opens its new Sainsbury Wing to the public.
* 5 July - The Bank of England closes down the Bank of Credit and Commerce International amid fraud allegations. Several local authorities in the UK lose millions of pounds in investments held with the bank. [cite web|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/july/5/newsid_2495000/2495017.stm|title="1991: International bank closed in fraud scandal", BBC On This Day|accessdate=2008-02-01]
* 11 July - Labour Party MP, Terry Fields, joins the list of people jailed for refusal to pay Poll Tax after he receives a 60-day prison sentence. He is the first MP to be jailed for refusing to pay the controversial tax which was introduced early last year. [cite web|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/july/11/newsid_2500000/2500365.stm|title="1991: Anti-poll tax MP jailed", BBC On This Day|accessdate=2008-02-01]
* 23 July - The Ministry of Defence proposes the merge of 22 army regiments as part of a general reform programme.
* 30 July - Italian opera singer Luciano Pavarotti sings to a 100,000-strong crowd in London's Hyde Park to commemorate 30 years in opera. [cite web|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/july/30/newsid_2491000/2491731.stm|title="1991: Pavarotti sings in the British rain", BBC On This Day|accessdate=2008-02-01]
* 6 August - Tim Berners-Lee establishes the first website at CERN.cite book|title=Penguin Pocket On This Day|publisher=Penguin Reference Library|isbn=0-141-02715-0|year=2006]
* 8 August - John McCarthy, a British hostage held in Lebanon for over 5 years is freed. [cite web|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/august/8/newsid_2492000/2492499.stm|title="1991: Beirut hostage John McCarthy freed", BBC On This Day|accessdate=2008-02-01]
* 13 August - Prince Charles resigns as patron of Scotland's National Museum over a competition to design a new building. [cite web|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/august/13/newsid_2529000/2529117.stm|title="1991: Prince quits in museum design row", BBC On This Day|accessdate=2008-02-01]
* 25 September - Kidnappers in Beirut release hostage Jackie Mann after over 2 years in captivity.
* October - Vauxhall launches the third generation of its popular Astra family hatchback and estate, with saloon and cabriolet variants due next year.
* 3 October - The 1991 Rugby World Cup begins in England.
* 9 October - The first Sumo tournmament to be held oustide Japan is hosted at the Royal Albert Hall in London.
* 5 November - Robert Maxwell, owner of numerous business interests including the "Daily Mirror" newspaper, is found dead off the coast of Tenerife; his cause of death is unconfirmed, but reports suggest that he has committed suicide. [cite web|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/november/5/newsid_2514000/2514649.stm|title="1991: Publisher Robert Maxwell dies at sea", BBC On This Day|accessdate=2008-02-01]
* 9 November - first ever controlled and substantial production of fusion energy achieved at the Joint European Torus in Oxford. [cite web|url=http://www.jet.efda.org/documents/jetpressrelease/press-release-1991.html|title=JET Achieves Fusion Power Press Release|accessdate=2008-02-01]
* 18 November - Terry Waite, a British hostage held in Lebanon, is freed after four-and-a-half years in captivity. [cite web|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/november/18/newsid_2520000/2520055.stm|title="1991: Church envoy Waite freed in Beirut", BBC On This Day|accessdate=2008-02-01]
* 23 November - Freddie Mercury, the lead singer of rock band Queen, announces that he is suffering from AIDS. The British media had been speculating about 45-year-old Mercury's health since last year.
* 24 November - Freddie Mercury dies at his home in London, just 24 hours after going public with the news that he was suffering from AIDS. [cite web|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/november/24/newsid_2546000/2546945.stm|title="1991: Giant of rock dies", BBC On This Day|accessdate=2008-02-01]
* 25 November - Winston Silcott has his conviction for the murder of PC Keith Blakelock quashed. Silcott had been jailed for life in 1987 for the murder of PC Blakelock in the Tottenham riots of 1985, but he will remain imprisoned as he is serving a second life sentence for another unconnected crime. [cite web|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/november/25/newsid_2546000/2546177.stm|title="1991: Silcott not guilty of PC's murder", BBC On This Day|accessdate=2008-02-01]
* 28 November - First performance of Alan Bennett's play "The Madness of George III" in London.
* 5 December - The Robert Maxwell Business Empire goes into receivership with £1billion+ debts, exactly one month after Robert Maxwell's death. The Daily Mirror today reported that Maxwell had wrongly removed £350million from its pension fund shortly before he died. [cite web|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/december/5/newsid_2528000/2528991.stm|title="1991: Maxwell business empire faces bankruptcy", BBC On This Day|accessdate=2008-02-01]
* 10 December - Ronald Coase wins the Nobel Prize in Economics "for his discovery and clarification of the significance of transaction costs and property rights for the institutional structure and functioning of the economy". [cite web|url=http://nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/economics/laureates/1991/index.html|title=The Sveriges Riksbank Prize in Economic Sciences in Memory of Alfred Nobel 1991|accessdate=2008-02-01]
* 16 December - Stella Rimington announced as the first female director general of MI5. [cite web|url=http://hansard.millbanksystems.com/written_answers/1992/jan/13/prime-minister|title=Hansard|accessdate=2008-04-07]
* 23 December - Bohemian Rhapsody returns to the top of the British singles charts after 16 years, with the re-release's proceeds being donated to the Terence Higgins Trust.

Undated

* The economy is in severe recession. [cite book |title= The Hutchinson Factfinder |publisher= Helicon |year= 1999 |isbn= 1-85986-000-1|pages=665]

Publications

* Martin Amis's novel "Time's Arrow".
* Beryl Bainbridge's novel "The Birthday Boys".
* Iain M. Banks' short story collection "The State of the Art".
* Pat Barker's novel "Regeneration".
* Louis de Bernières' novel "Señor Vivo and the Coca Lord".
* Terry Pratchett's Discworld novels "Reaper Man" and "Witches Abroad".

Births

* 17 February - Bonnie Wright, actress
* 23 March - George William Carnegie, second son of the Earl of Southesk and grandson of the Duke of Fife.
* 27 April - Rebecca Ryan, actress
* 8 June - Charlotte Boyle, princess of kingsley
* 14 July - Lewis McGibbon, actor
* 5 September - Skandar Keynes, actor

Deaths

* 14 January - Donald Coleman, politician (born 1925)
* 8 January - Steve Clark, guitarist (Def Leppard) (born 1960)
* 21 February - Margot Fonteyn, ballet dancer (born 1919)
* 21 March - George Abecassis, race car driver (born 1913)
* 20 April - Steve Marriott, singer, musician (Small Faces and Humble Pie) (born 1947)
* 24 March - Maudie Edwards, actress and singer (born 1906)
* 16 April - David Lean, film director and producer (born 1908)
* 31 May - Angus Wilson, novelist and short story writer (born 1913)
* 14 June
** Peggy Ashcroft, actress (born 1907)
** Bernard Miles, actor and director (born 1907)
* 15 June - Arthur Lewis, economist, Nobel Prize laureate (born 1915)
* 12 August - Edward George Bowen, CBE, physicist (born 1911)
* 30 August - Cyril Knowles, footballer (born 1944)
* 27 September - Roy Fuller, poet (born 1912)
* 13 October - Donald Houston, actor (born 1923)
* 27 October - George Barker, poet (born 1913)
* 5 November - Robert Maxwell, media proprietor (born 1923, Czechoslovakia)
* 14 November - Tony Richardson, film director (born 1928)
* 24 November - Freddie Mercury, singer (Queen) (born 1946)
* 6 December - Richard Stone, economist, Nobel Prize laureate (born 1913)

References

ee also