- 1940 in the United Kingdom
Events from the year
1940 in theUnited Kingdom .Incumbents
* Monarch -
George VI of the United Kingdom
* Prime Minister -Neville Chamberlain , national coalition (until10 May ),Winston Churchill , coalitionEvents
*
8 January -Food rationing introduced.cite book|title=Penguin Pocket On This Day|publisher=Penguin Reference Library|isbn=0-141-02715-0|year=2006]
*16 February -Royal Navy destroyer HMS "Cossack" pursues German freighter "Altmark" intoJossingfjord in southwesternNorway , resulting in freedom for 290 British sailors and seamen held as prisoners.
*29 March - Metalsecurity thread s added to £1 notes to prevent forgeries.
*31 March - 33 fascist sympathisers, includingOswald Mosley , interned.cite book |last=Palmer |first=Alan & Veronica |year=1992 |title= The Chronology of British History|publisher= Century Ltd|location=London|pages= 386-387|isbn= 0-7126-5616-2]
*9 April - TheBritish campaign in Norway is commences following the German invasion ofDenmark andNorway .
*12 April - British troop occupy theFaroe Islands , following the invasion ofDenmark , to avert a possible German occupation of the islands.
*9 May -Guy Lloyd wins the East Renfrewshire by-election.
*10 May -Neville Chamberlain resigns as Prime Minister, and is replaced byWinston Churchill .
*13 May -Winston Churchill , makes his famous "I have nothing to offer you butblood, toil, tears, and sweat " speech to the House of Commons.
*14 May
**Queen Wilhelmina of theNetherlands and her government arrive in London following the German invasion of France and the Low Countries.
** Recruitment begins for a home defense force - theLocal Defence Volunteers , later known as the Home Guard.
*22 May - Parliament passes theEmergency Powers Act 1940 giving the government full control over all persons and property.
*26 May to4 June - TheDunkirk evacuation ofBritish Expeditionary Force takes place. 300,000 troops are evacuated from France to England.
*4 June - Churchill makes his "We shall fight on the beaches " speech to the House of Commons.
*9 June - TheBritish Commandos are created.
*10 June -Italy declareswar onFrance and theUnited Kingdom .
*18 June
** Churchill makes his Battle of Britain speech to the House of Commons, "...theBattle of France is over. TheBattle of Britain is about to begin...This was their finest hour ."
**Charles de Gaulle broadcasts an appeal to the French people fromLondon .
*30 June - German forces land inGuernsey marking the start of the 5-yearOccupation of the Channel Islands
*9 July - TheBattle of Britain begins.
*19 July -Adolf Hitler makes peace appeal to the UK in an address to the Reichstag.Lord Halifax , British foreign minister, flatly rejects peace terms in a broadcast reply onJuly 22 .
*9 August -Birmingham Blitz : Heavy bombing ofBirmingham begins.
*20 August - Churchill pays tribute to theRoyal Air Force : "Never in the field of human conflict was so much owed by so many to so few."
*24 August - First aid raid onLondon takes place.
*26 August - World War II: TheRAF bomb Berlin for the first time.
*7 September -The Blitz begins. This will be the first of 57 consecutive nights ofstrategic bombing on London.
*15 September - RAF command claims victory over theLuftwaffe in the Battle of the Britain; this day is thereafter known as "Battle of Britain Day". [cite web|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/4257084.stm|title="Monument marks Battle of Britain", BBC News|accessdate=2008-03-07]
*23 September - King George VI announces the creation of theGeorge Cross decoration during a radio broadcast.
*31 October - TheBattle of Britain ends.
*11 November -Battle of Taranto - TheRoyal Navy launches the firstaircraft carrier strike in history, on the Italian fleet atTaranto .
*14 November -Coventry Blitz :Coventry is destroyed by 500 GermanLuftwaffe bombers (150,000fire bomb s, 503 tons of high explosives, 130 parachute mines leveled 60,000 of the city's 75,000 buildings; 568 people were killed).
*23 November -Southampton Blitz :Southampton is bombed. [cite web|url=http://www.plimsoll.org/Southampton/Southamptonatwar/southamptonsblitz/default.asp|title=Southampton's Blitz|accessdate=2007-10-03]
*24 November -Bristol Blitz : beginning of the bombing ofBristol .
*12 December –15 December -Sheffield Blitz : the city ofSheffield is heavily bombed.
*20 December -Liverpool Blitz :Liverpool is heavily bombed.
*22 December -Manchester Blitz :Manchester is heavily bombed.
*29 December - Heavy bombing inLondon causesthe Second Great Fire of London .Publications
*
Agatha Christie 'sHercule Poirot novels "Sad Cypress " and "One, Two, Buckle My Shoe".
*Graham Greene 's novel "The Power and the Glory ".
*Michael Sadleir 's novel "Fanny by Gaslight".
*C. P. Snow 's novel "George Passant ".Births
*
4 January - ProfessorBrian Josephson , scientist
*14 January -Trevor Nunn , stage and film director
*22 January -John Hurt , actor
*23 January
**Brian Labone , footballer (died 2006)
** Ted Rowlands, politician
*2 February -David Jason , actor
*6 February -Jimmy Tarbuck , comedian
*20 February -Jimmy Greaves , footballer and television pundit
*24 February
**Denis Law , Scottish footballer
**John Lyall , football player and manager (died 2006)
*1 March -David Broome , show jumping champion
*15 March -Frank Dobson , politician
*2 April -Penelope Keith , actress
*15 April - Jeffrey Archer, Baron Archer of Weston-super-Mare, English author and former politician
*17 April -Billy Fury , singer songwriter (died 1983)
*7 May -Angela Carter , novelist and journalist (died 1992)
*13 May -Bruce Chatwin , novelist and travel writer (died 1989)
*16 May - Sir Gareth Roberts, physicist (died2007 )
*7 June - Tom Jones, singer
*8 June -Carole Ann Ford , actress
*20 June -John Mahoney , actor
*23 June
**Adam Faith , actor and singer (died 2003)
**Lord Irvine of Lairg , Lord Chancellor of England
*29 June -John Dawes , rugby player
*7 July -Ringo Starr , English drummer (The Beatles )
*13 July -Patrick Stewart , actor
*17 July -Tim Brooke-Taylor , English radio and television personality
*9 October -John Lennon , musician and singer (The Beatles ) (died 1980)
*14 October -Cliff Richard , singer and actor
*19 October - SirMichael Gambon , actor
*14 November -Freddie Garrity , singer (died 2006)
*22 December -Noel Jones , British Ambassador to Kazakhstan (died 1995)Deaths
*
11 February - John Buchan, novelist and politician (born 1875)
*17 June -Arthur Harden , chemist, Nobel Prize laureate (born 1865)
*22 August -Oliver Joseph Lodge , physicist (born 1851)
*30 August -J.J. Thomson , physicist, Nobel Prize laureate (born 1856)
*26 September -W. H. Davies , poet and author (born 1871)
*9 October - SirWilfred Grenfell , medical missionary to Newfoundland and Labrador (born 1865)
*2 November -Archie McKellar , fighter ace (killed in Battle of Britain)
*9 November -Neville Chamberlain , former Prime Minister (born 1869)
* "date unknown" - William Wallace, composerReferences
See also
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