- 1953 in the United Kingdom
Events from the year
1953 in theUnited Kingdom .Incumbents
*Monarch -
Elizabeth II of the United Kingdom
*Prime Minister -Winston Churchill Conservative PartyEvents
*
28 January -Derek Bentley is executed atWandsworth Prison in London for his part in the murder of PC Sidney Miles. [cite web|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/january/28/newsid_3393000/3393807.stm|title="Derek Bentley hanged for murder", BBC On This Day|accessdate=2008-01-10]
*31 January - The car ferry, MV "Princess Victoria" sailing fromStranraer ,Scotland toLarne ,Northern Ireland , sinks in theIrish Sea killing 133 people onboard. Among the dead included Northern Ireland Finance Minister and Deputy Prime Minister MajorMaynard Sinclair , and SirWalter Smiles , theUlster Unionist MP forNorth Down . [cite web|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/january/31/newsid_2505000/2505913.stm|title="130 die in ferry disaster", BBC On This Day|accessdate=2008-01-10]
*31 January /1 February - TheNorth Sea flood of 1953 kills hundreds of people on the east coast of Britain. [cite web|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/february/1/newsid_3749000/3749771.stm|title="Violent storms claim hundreds of lives", BBC On This Day|accessdate=2008-01-10]
*5 February - The rationing ofsweets , introduced during World War II, ends. [cite web|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/february/5/newsid_2737000/2737731.stm|title="Sweet rationing ends in Britain", BBC On This Day|accessdate=2008-01-10]
*28 February -James D. Watson andFrancis Crick announce that they have discovered the structure of theDNA molecule.
*16 March - Josip Tito, the Communist leader ofYugoslavia visits the UK, the first Communist leader to do so. [cite web|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/march/16/newsid_2808000/2808379.stm|title="Marshal Tito makes historic visit to London", BBC On This Day|accessdate=2008-01-10]
*24 March
** Queen Mary, the consort of the late King George V dies in her sleep atMarlborough House . [cite web|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/march/24/newsid_2785000/2785265.stm|title="Queen Mary dies peacefully after illness", BBC On This Day|accessdate=2008-01-10]
** The10 Rillington Place murders are uncovered.cite book|title=Penguin Pocket On This Day|publisher=Penguin Reference Library|isbn=0-141-02715-0|year=2006]
*31 March - The funeral of Queen Mary takes place at St. George's Chapel,Windsor Castle . [cite web|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/march/31/newsid_4325000/4325305.stm|title="Queen Mary laid to rest in Windsor", BBC On This Day|accessdate=2008-01-10]
*13 April -Ian Fleming publishes his firstJames Bond novel, "Casino Royale".cite web|url=http://www.bbc.co.uk/bbcfour/lostdecade/timeline_html.shtml|title=The Lost Decade Timeline, BBC|accessdate=2008-01-10]
*16 April - The Queen launches the Royal Yacht Britannia at theJohn Brown & Company shipbuilders on the Clyde. [cite web|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/april/16/newsid_2846000/2846801.stm|title="Queen launches Royal Yacht Britannia", BBC On This Day|accessdate=2008-01-10]
*24 April -Winston Churchill receives a knighthood from the Queen.
*25 April -Francis Crick andJames D. Watson publish their description of thedouble helix structure ofDNA in the paper "Molecular structure of Nucleic Acids ". [Watson, J. D. and Crick, F. H. C. (1953). [http://www.nature.com/genomics/human/watson-crick/index.html Molecular structure of nucleic acids: a structure for deoxyribose nucleic acid] . "Nature" 171, 737-738.] [cite web|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/april/25/newsid_2932000/2932793.stm|title="Scientists describe 'secret of life'", BBC On This Day|accessdate=2008-01-10]
*2 June - The coronation of Queen Elizabeth II takes place atWestminster Abbey . [cite web|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/june/2/newsid_2654000/2654501.stm|title="Queen Elizabeth takes coronation oath", BBC On This Day|accessdate=2008-01-10]
*25 June - John Christie, a 54-year-oldLondon man, is sentenced to death for the murder of his wife Ethel Christie. [cite web|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/june/25/newsid_3721000/3721267.stm|title="Christie to hang for wife's murder", BBC On This Day|accessdate=2008-01-10]
*26 June -Eskdalemuir enters theUK Weather Records for the highest rainfall in a 30 minute period with 80mm. As of July 2006 this record remains.
*15 July - John Christie is hanged atPentonville Prison .
*19 August - theEngland cricket team defeat Australia to winThe Ashes for the first time in 19 years.
*26 September - End of post-Warsugar rationing.cite book |last=Palmer |first=Alan & Veronica |year=1992 |title= The Chronology of British History|publisher= Century Ltd|location=London|pages= 406-407|isbn= 0-7126-5616-2]
*6 October - Government sends troops to the colony ofBritish Guiana blaming communists for causing unrest. [cite web|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/october/6/newsid_3168000/3168299.stm|title="Britain sends troops to Guiana", BBC On This Day|accessdate=2008-01-10]
*11 November - Long running current affairs television series "Panorama" first airs.
*17 November - An Italian steamer collides with a French motor vessel in the English Channel, killing 20 people. [cite web|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/november/17/newsid_3190000/3190340.stm|title="Twenty die in Channel collision", BBC On This Day|accessdate=2008-01-10]
*21 November - ThePiltdown Man , which was discovered in 1912 and thought to be the fossilised remains of a hitherto unknown form of early human, exposed as a hoax.
*26 November - TheHouse of Lords votes in favour of the government's proposals for commercial television. [cite web|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/november/26/newsid_4032000/4032711.stm|title="1953: Lords vote for commercial television", BBC On This Day|accessdate=2008-01-10]
*10 December
**Winston Churchill wins theNobel Prize in Literature "for his mastery of historical and biographical description as well as for brilliant oratory in defending exalted human values". [cite web|url=http://nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/literature/laureates/1953/|title=The Nobel Prize in Literature 1953|accessdate=2008-01-10]
**Hans Adolf Krebs wins theNobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine "for his discovery of thecitric acid cycle ". [cite web|url=http://nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/medicine/laureates/1953/|title=The Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine 1953|accessdate=2008-01-10]Undated
*
Michael Ventris deciphers the Minoan languageLinear B . [cite book |title= The Hutchinson Factfinder |publisher= Helicon |year= 1999 |isbn= 1-85986-000-1 ]Publications
*
Agatha Christie 's novels "After the Funeral " (Hercule Poirot ) and "A Pocket Full of Rye " (Miss Marple ).
*Ian Fleming 's firstJames Bond novel, "Casino Royale ".
*L. P. Hartley 's novel "The Go-Between ".
*C. S. Lewis ' novel "The Silver Chair ".
*Evelyn Waugh 's novel "Love Among the Ruins. A Romance of the Near Future ".
*John Wyndham 's novel "The Kraken Wakes ".Births
*
17 February -Norman Pace , British actor and comedian
*11 April -Andrew Wiles , mathematician known for provingFermat's Last Theorem
*13 April -Stephen Byers , politician
*20 April -Sebastian Faulks , English novelist
*6 May -Tony Blair , Prime Minister
*19 May -Victoria Wood , British comic actress
*24 May -Alfred Molina , English actor
*26 May -Michael Portillo , English politician
*15 July -John Yorke Denham , politician
*21 July -David Ervine , leader of theProgressive Unionist Party (died 2007)
*8 August -Nigel Mansell , racing driver
*18 August -Patrick Cowdell , English boxer
*21 October -Peter Mandelson , politician
*27 October -Peter Firth , British actor
*7 November -Lucinda Green , equestrian
*16 November -Griff Rhys Jones , comedian, actor and writer
*26 November -Hilary Benn , politician
*28 November -Alistair Darling , politician
*6 December -Geoff Hoon , politician
*Christopher Fowler , thriller writerDeaths
*
28 January -Derek Bentley , murderer (born1933 ) (hanged)
*29 January -Norman MacEwen , RAF commander
*24 March - Queen Mary, consort of King George V, and grandmother of the Queen (born 1867)
*6 April -Idris Davies , poet
*1 June - Alex James, footballer (born1901 )
*8 October -Kathleen Ferrier , contralto (born 1912)
*27 October -Thomas Wass , cricketer (born 1873)
*9 November -Dylan Thomas , Welsh poet and author (born 1914)References
ee also
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