1988 in the United Kingdom

Events from the year 1988 in the United Kingdom.

Incumbents

*Monarch - HM Queen Elizabeth II
*Prime Minister - Margaret Thatcher, Conservative

Events

* 3 February - Nurses throughout the UK strike for higher pay and more cash for the National Health Service. [cite web|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/february/3/newsid_2525000/2525639.stm|title="Nurses protest for better pay" BBC On This Day|accessdate=2008-02-02]
* 5 February - The first BBC Red Nose Day raises £15 million for charity.cite book|title=Penguin Pocket On This Day|publisher=Penguin Reference Library|isbn=0-141-02715-0|year=2006]
* 13 February–28 February - Great Britain and Northern Ireland compete at the 1988 Winter Olympics in Calgary, Canada, but do not win any medals.
* 3 March - The SDP merges with the Liberal Party to create the Social and Liberal Democratic Party.cite book |last=Palmer |first=Alan & Veronica |year=1992 |title= The Chronology of British History|publisher= Century Ltd|location=London|pages= 454-455|isbn= 0-7126-5616-2]
* 6 March - The SAS shoot dead 3 unarmed Provisional Irish Republican Army members in Gibraltar. [cite web|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/march/7/newsid_2516000/2516155.stm|title="IRA gang shot dead in Gibraltar" BBC On This Day|accessdate=2008-02-02]
* 10 March - The Prince of Wales narrowly avoids death in an avalanche while on a ski-ing holiday in Switzerland. Major Hugh Lindsay, former equerry to the Queen, is killed. [cite web|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/march/10/newsid_2566000/2566699.stm|title="Avalanche hits royal ski party" BBC On This Day|accessdate=2008-02-02]
* 16 March - Milltown Cemetery attack: An Ulster Freedom Fighters terrorist, Michael Stone attacks and kills six mourners at the funeral of the three IRA members who died in Gibraltar. [cite web|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/march/16/newsid_2523000/2523953.stm|title="Three shot dead at Milltown Cemetery" BBC On This Day|accessdate=2008-02-02]
* 19 March - Two British Army Corporals are killed by a mob after accidentally driving into a funeral cortege for the victims of the March 16 terrorist attack. [cite web|url=http://www.telegraph.co.uk/htmlContent.jhtml?html=/archive/1997/06/21/nkane21.html|title="Judges free man jailed over IRA funeral murders" "The Daily Telegraph"|accessdate=2008-02-02]
* 6 May - Graeme Hick makes English cricket history by scoring 405 runs in a county championship match. [cite web|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/may/6/newsid_2512000/2512037.stm|title="Hick makes cricketing history" BBC On This Day|accessdate=2008-02-02]
* 14 May - Wimbledon F.C., who have been Football League members for just 11 seasons and First Division members for two, win the FA Cup with a 1-0 win over league champions Liverpool at Wembley. Lawrie Sanchez scored the winning goal in the first half, while Liverpool's John Aldridge missed a penalty in the second half.
* 24 May - Albert Dock in Liverpool reopened by Prince Charles as a leisure and business centre including the Tate Liverpool art museum.
* 6 July
** Piper Alpha disaster oil rig in the North Sea explodes and results in the death of 167 workers. [cite web|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/july/6/newsid_3017000/3017294.stm|title="Piper Alpha oil rig ablaze" BBC On This Day|accessdate=2008-02-02]
** A contractor's relief driver pours 20 tonnes of aluminium sulphate into the wrong tank at a water treatment plant near Camelford in Cornwall, causing extensive pollution to the local water supply.
* 28 July - Paddy Ashdown is elected as leader of the Liberal Democrats. [cite web|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/july/28/newsid_2496000/2496725.stm|title="Ashdown to lead Britain's third party" BBC On This Day|accessdate=2008-02-02]
* 22 August - New licensing laws allow pubs to stay open for 24 hours in England and Wales.
* 29 August - 14-year-old Matthew Sadler becomes Britain's youngest international chess master.
* 9 September - The England cricket team's tour to India is cancelled after Captain Graham Gooch and seven other players are refused visas because of involvement in South African cricket during the apatheid boycott.
* 17 September–2 October - Great Britain and Northern Ireland compete at the 1988 Summer Olympics in Seoul, South Korea, and win 5 gold, 10 silver and 9 bronze medals.
* 30 September - A Gibraltar jury decides that the 3 IRA members killed on March 6 were killed "lawfully". [cite web|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/september/30/newsid_2542000/2542719.stm|title="'SAS killed lawfully' - Gibraltar jury" BBC On This Day|accessdate=2008-02-02]
* October - Vauxhall launches the third generation of its popular Cavalier family saloon.
* 12 October - As Pope John Paul II addresses the European Parliament, Ian Paisley heckles and denounces him as the Antichrist.
* 13 October - the House of Lords rules that extracts of the banned book "Spycatcher" can be published in the media. [cite web|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/october/13/newsid_2532000/2532583.stm|title="Government loses Spycatcher battle" BBC On This Day|accessdate=2008-02-02]
* 3 December - Health minister Edwina Currie provokes outrage by stating that most of Britain's egg production is infected with the salmonella bacteria, causing an immediate nationwide fall in egg sales. [cite web|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/december/3/newsid_2519000/2519451.stm|title="Egg industry fury over salmonella claim" BBC On This Day|accessdate=2008-02-02]
* 10 December - James W. Black wins the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine jointly with Gertrude B. Elion and George H. Hitchings "for their discoveries of important principles for drug treatment". [cite web|url=http://nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/medicine/laureates/1988/|title=The Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine 1988|accessdate=2008-02-02]
* 12 December - 35 people are killed in a collision between three trains at Clapham in London. [cite web|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/december/12/newsid_2547000/2547561.stm|title="35 dead in Clapham rail collision" BBC On This Day|accessdate=2008-02-02]
* 21 December - Pan Am Flight 103 explodes over the Scottish town of Lockerbie, Dumfries and Galloway and kills a total of 270 people - including all 259 who were on board. It is believed that the cause of the explosion was a terrorist bomb. [cite web|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/december/21/newsid_2539000/2539447.stm|title="Jumbo jet crashes onto Lockerbie" BBC On This Day|accessdate=2008-02-02]

Publications

* Iain M. Banks' novel "The Player of Games".
* Bruce Chatwin's novel "Utz".
* Physicist Stephen Hawking's book "A Brief History of Time".
* Terry Pratchett's Discworld novels "Sourcery" and "Wyrd Sisters".

Births

* 7 January - Alan Lowing, Scottish footballer
* 10 January - Michael Mcilorum, English rugby player
* 12 January - Chris Casement, Northern Irish footballer
* 25 January - Daniel Haynes, English footballer
* 8 August - Princess Beatrice of York, daughter of the Duke and Duchess of York
* 2 December
** Alfred Enoch, actor
** Edward Windsor, Lord Downpatrick

Deaths

* 2 January - E. B. Ford, geneticist (born 1901)
* 7 January - Trevor Howard, actor (born 1913)
* 13 January - Donald Healey, rally driver, automobile engineer and speed record holder (born 1898)
* 16 January - Ballard Berkeley, actor (born 1904)
* 18 March - Percy Thrower, gardener and broadcaster (born 1913)
* 12 April - Harry McShane, socialist (born 1891)
* 14 April - John Stonehouse, government minister noted for faking his own death (born 1925)
* 15 April - Kenneth Williams, comic actor (born 1926)
* 23 April - Michael Ramsey, Archbishop of Canterbury (born 1904)
* 11 May - Kim Philby, spy (born 1912)
* 16 May - Charles Keeping, illustrator (born 1924)
* 19 August - Frederick Ashton, choreographer (born 1904, Ecuador)
* 27 August - William Sargant, psychiatrist (born 1907)
* 20 September - Roy Kinnear, actor (born 1934)
* 1 October - Sacheverell Sitwell, writer (born 1897)
* 9 October - Jackie Milburn, footballer (born 1924)
* 15 October - Kaikhosru Shapurji Sorabji, composer and pianist (born 1892)
* 20 October - Sheila Scott, aviator (born 1927)

References

ee also