1980 in the United Kingdom

Events from the year 1980 in the United Kingdom.

Incumbents

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

Events

* 2 January - Workers at British Steel go on a nationwide strike over pay. [cite web|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/january/2/newsid_2478000/2478393.stm|title="1980: Steel workers strike over pay", BBC On This Day|accessdate=2008-01-14]
* 14 February–23 February - Great Britain and Northern Ireland compete at the 1980 Winter Olympics in Lake Placid, New York, United States and win one gold medal.
* 25 February - first episode of the popular political sitcom "Yes Minister" broadcast by the BBC.
* 20 March - Radio Caroline, the pirate radio station, forced to cease transmission when the ship on which it was based sank.cite book|title=Penguin Pocket On This Day|publisher=Penguin Reference Library|isbn=0-141-02715-0|year=2006]
* 25 March
** The British Olympic Association vote to defy the government, and send athletes to the Olympic Games to be held in Moscow, USSR in the summer of 1980. [cite web|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/march/25/newsid_2531000/2531175.stm|title="1980: Britain will go to Moscow Olympics", BBC On This Day|accessdate=2008-01-14]
** Robert Runcie enthroned as Archbishop of Canterbury.
* 27 March - The Alexander Kielland North Sea accommodation platform for oil workers collapses into the sea, killing 123 oil workers. A massive wave hit one of the legs of the platform, causing it to break and fall into the water. [cite web|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/march/27/newsid_2531000/2531091.stm|title="1980: North Sea platform collapses", BBC On This Day|accessdate=2008-01-14]
* 10 April - The UK reaches agreement with Spain to re-open the Spain-Gibraltar border.
* 18 April - Zimbabwe becomes independent of the United Kingdom.
* 30 April - The Iranian Embassy Siege begins. A six-man terrorist team calling itself the "Democratic Revolutionary Movement for the Liberation of Arabistan" (DRMLA) captures the Embassy of Iran in Prince's Gate, Knightsbridge, central London, taking 26 hostages.
* 1 May - British Aerospace privatised.cite book |last=Palmer |first=Alan & Veronica |year=1992 |title= The Chronology of British History|publisher= Century Ltd|location=London|pages= 443-444|isbn= 0-7126-5616-2]
* 5 May - The SAS storm the Iranian Embassy building, kill 5 out of the 6 terrorists and free all the hostages. [cite web|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/may/5/newsid_2510000/2510873.stm|title="1980: SAS rescue ends Iran embassy siege", BBC On This Day|accessdate=2008-01-14]
* 27 May - Inquest into the death of Blair Peach returns a verdict of misadventure, sparking a public outcry. [cite web|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/may/27/newsid_3023000/3023595.stm|title="1980: Peach death was 'misadventure'", BBC On This Day|accessdate=2008-01-14]
* June - British Leyland launches its Morris Ital range of family saloons and estates, which are a reworking of the nine-year-old Marina that was one of Britain's most popular cars during the 1970s. It will be produced for up to four years until an all-new front-wheel drive model is launched.
* 17 June - Secretary of State for Defence, Francis Pym reveals to the House of Commons that US nuclear cruise missiles would be located at RAF Greenham Common, Berkshire, and the disused RAF Molesworth in Cambridgeshire. [cite web|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/june/17/newsid_2514000/2514879.stm|title="1980: Government announces missile sites", BBC On This Day|accessdate=2008-01-14]
* 19 June - Gunmen attack the British embassy in Iraq, three unknown attackers shot dead by Iraqi security forces. [cite web|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/june/19/newsid_2515000/2515855.stm|title="1980: Gunbattle at British embassy in Iraq", BBC On This Day|accessdate=2008-01-14]
* 30 June - the pre-decimal Sixpence withdrawn from circulation.
* July - Alexandra Palace in London destroyed by fire. [cite book |title=The London Encyclopaedia|author=Ben Weinreb & Christopher Hibbert|publisher= Macmillan|year= 1995|isbn =0-333-57688-8|pages=288]
* 19 July–3 August - Great Britain and Northern Ireland compete at the 1980 Summer Olympics in Moscow and win 5 gold, 7 silver and 9 bronze medals.
* 1 September - Ford launches one of the most important new cars of the year - the mark 3 Escort, which is a technological innovation in the small family car market, spelling the end of the traditional rear-wheel drive saloon in favour of the front-wheel drive hatchback. An estate version is also available.
* 11 September- The Marlborough diamond is stolen in London. [cite web|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/september/11/newsid_2514000/2514065.stm|title="1980: Famous gem grabbed in armed raid", BBC On This Day|accessdate=2008-01-14]
* 13 September - Hercules the bear who had gone missing on a Scottish island filming a Kleenex advert is found. [cite web|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/september/13/newsid_2516000/2516041.stm|title="1980: Missing Scottish bear is found", BBC On This Day|accessdate=2008-01-14]
* 21 September - First CND rally at RAF Greenham Common.
* 8 October - British Leyland launches the Austin Metro, a small hatchback which uses the much of the Mini's mechanical design but an entirely different body which offers more space and practicality. Production of the 21-year-old Mini, however, is set to continue for the foreseeable future.
* 10 October - Margaret Thatcher makes her famous "The lady's not for turning" speech to the Conservative Party conference. [cite web|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/october/10/newsid_2541000/2541071.stm|title="1980: Thatcher 'not for turning'", BBC On This Day|accessdate=2008-01-14]
* 17 October - Queen Elizabeth II makes history by becoming the first British monarch to make a state visit to the Vatican. [cite web|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/october/17/newsid_3966000/3966411.stm|title="1980: Pope welcomes Queen to the Vatican", BBC On This Day|accessdate=2008-01-14]
* 10 November - Michael Foot is elected Leader of the Labour Party. [cite web|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/november/10/newsid_4699000/4699939.stm|title="1980: Michael Foot is new Labour leader", BBC On This Day|accessdate=2008-01-14]
* 8 December - John Lennon is shot dead in New York. [cite web|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/december/8/newsid_2536000/2536321.stm|title="1980: John Lennon shot dead", BBC On This Day|accessdate=2008-01-14]
* 10 December - Frederick Sanger wins his second Nobel Prize in Chemistry, jointly with Walter Gilbert, "for their contributions concerning the determination of base sequences in nucleic acids". [cite web|url=http://nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/chemistry/laureates/1980/|title=The Nobel Prize in Chemistry 1980|accessdate=2008-01-14]
* 28 December - The Independent Broadcasting Authority award contracts for commercial broadcasting on ITV. TV-am is awarded the first ever breakfast TV contract, and is set to go on air by 1983. [cite web|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/december/28/newsid_2547000/2547031.stm|title="1980: Green light for breakfast television", BBC On This Day|accessdate=2008-01-14]

Publications

* The Alternative Service Book.
* Douglas Adams' novel "The Restaurant at the End of the Universe".
* Anthony Burgess's novel "Earthly Powers".
* William Golding's novel "Rites of Passage", first of the "To the Ends of the Earth" trilogy.
* David Lodge's novel "How Far Can You Go?".
* Iris Murdoch's novel "Nuns and Soldiers".

Births

* 2 January - Rebekah Teasdale, model and journalist
* 20 January - Jenson Button, racecar driver
* 10 February - Steve Tully, footballer
* 8 April - Ben Freeman, actor
* 30 May - Steven Gerrard, footballer
* 1 June - Oliver James, actor
* 29 June - Katherine Jenkins, soprano
* 28 October - Alan Smith, footballer
* 19 November - Adele Silva , actress
* 6 December - Steve Lovell, footballer
* 7 December - John Terry, footballer
* 20 December - Ashley Cole, footballer
* 25 December - Laura Sadler, television actress (died 2003)

Deaths

* 11 January - Barbara Pym, novelist (born 1913)
* 18 January - Sir Cecil Beaton, photographer (born 1904)
* 17 February - Graham Sutherland, artist (born 1903)
* 19 February - Bon Scott, singer (AC/DC) (born 1946)
* 1 March - Dixie Dean, football player (born 1907)
* 29 April - Alfred Hitchcock, film director (born 1899)
* 14 May - Hugh Griffith, actor (born 1912)
* 18 May - Ian Curtis, musician and singer (Joy Division) (born 1956)
* 7 June - Elizabeth Craig, writer (born 1883)
* 12 June - Billy Butlin, founder of Butlins (born 1899, South Africa)
* 23 June - John Laurie, actor (born 1897)
* 1 July - C. P. Snow, novelist and physicist (born 1905)
* 24 July - Peter Sellers, actor (born 1925)
* 26 July - Kenneth Tynan, theatre critic (born 1927)
* 24 August - Yootha Joyce, actress (born 1927)
* 25 September - John Bonham, drummer (Led Zeppelin) (born 1948)
* 6 October - Hattie Jacques, Carry On films actress (heart attack) (born 1922)
* 4 November - Johnny Owen, boxer (born 1956)
* 22 November - Norah McGuinness, painter and illustrator (born 1901)
* 26 November - Rachel Roberts, actress (suicide) (born 1927)
* 3 December - Oswald Mosley, leader of the British Union of Fascists (born 1896)
* 8 December - John Lennon, singer, songwriter, and guitarist (The Beatles) (murdered) (born 1940)

References

ee also