1979 in the United Kingdom

yearbox
in?= in the United Kingdom
cp=19th century
c=20th century
cf=21st century

yp1=1976
yp2=1977
yp3=1978
year=1979
ya1=1980
ya2=1981
ya3=1982

dp3=1940s
dp2=1950s
dp1=1960s
d=1970s
dn1=1980s
dn2=1990s
dn3=2000s
Events from the year 1979 in the United Kingdom.

Incumbents

* Monarch - HM Queen Elizabeth II
* Prime Minister - James Callaghan, Labour (until 4 May), Margaret Thatcher, Conservative

Events

* 10 January - Prime Minister James Callaghan returns from an international summit to a Britain in a state of industrial unrest. "The Sun" newspaper reported his comments with a famous headline: "Crisis? What Crisis?" [cite web|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/january/10/newsid_2518000/2518957.stm|title="'No chaos here' declares Callaghan" BBC On This Day|accessdate=2008-01-27]
* 22 January - tens of thousands of public-workers strike in the beginning of what became known as the Winter of Discontent. [cite web|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/january/22/newsid_2506000/2506715.stm|title="Public sector strike paralyses country" BBC On This Day|accessdate=2008-01-27]
* 9 February - Trevor Francis signs for Nottingham Forest in British football's first £1 million deal. [cite web|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/february/9/newsid_2538000/2538513.stm|title="Forest break football transfer record" BBC On This Day|accessdate=2008-01-27]
* 22 February - Saint Lucia becomes independent of the United Kingdom.cite book|title=Penguin Pocket On This Day|publisher=Penguin Reference Library|isbn=0-141-02715-0|year=2006]
* 1 March
** Scottish devolution referendum: Scotland votes narrowly for home rule, which is not implemented due to a condition that at last 40% of the electorate must support the proposal.
** Welsh devolution referendum: Wales votes against devolution.
** Conservative candidate David Waddington wins the Clitheroe by-election.
* 18 March - An explosion at the Golborne colliery in Golborne, Greater Manchester, kills three men. [cite web|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/march/18/newsid_4226000/4226271.stm|title="Three die in Golborne mine blast" BBC On This Day|accessdate=2008-01-27]
* 22 March - Sir Richard Sykes, ambassador to the Netherlands, shot dead by Provisional Irish Republican Army (IRA) in The Hague. [cite web|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/march/22/newsid_2543000/2543867.stm|title="British ambassador assassinated in Holland" BBC On This Day|accessdate=2008-01-27]
* 28 March - James Callaghan's government loses a motion of confidence by one vote, forcing a general election. [cite web|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/march/28/newsid_2531000/2531007.stm|title="Early election as Callaghan defeated" BBC On This Day|accessdate=2008-01-27]
* 30 March - Airey Neave, World War Two veteran and Conservative Northern Ireland spokesman, is killed by an Irish National Liberation Army bomb in the House of Commons parking lot. [cite web|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/march/30/newsid_2783000/2783877.stm|title="Car bomb kills Airey Neave" BBC On This Day|accessdate=2008-01-27]
* 31 March - The Royal Navy withdraws from Malta.
* 23 April - Fighting in London between the Anti-Nazi League and the Metropolitan Police's Special Patrol Group results in the death of protestor Blair Peach. [cite web|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/april/23/newsid_2523000/2523959.stm|title="Teacher dies in Southall race riots" BBC On This Day|accessdate=2008-01-27]
* 1 May - The London Underground Jubilee line inaugurated. [cite web|url=http://www.tfl.gov.uk/tfl/corporate/modesoftransport/tube/linefacts/?line=jubilee|title=Jubilee line facts, Transport for London website|accessdate=2008-01-27]
* 4 May - Conservatives win the general election and Margaret Thatcher becomes the first female Prime Minister of Britain. [cite web|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/may/4/newsid_2503000/2503195.stm|title="Election victory for Margaret Thatcher" BBC On This Day|accessdate=2008-01-27]
* 15 May - Government abolishes the Prices Commission.cite book |last=Palmer |first=Alan & Veronica |year=1992 |title= The Chronology of British History|publisher= Century Ltd|location=London|pages= 442-443|isbn= 0-7126-5616-2]
* 25 May - price of milk increases more than 10% to 15 pence a pint. [cite web|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/may/25/newsid_2991000/2991847.stm|title="Price of milk shoots up" BBC On This Day|accessdate=2008-01-27]
* 7 June - First election for the European Parliament.
* 22 June - former Liberal Party leader Jeremy Thorpe cleared in court of the allegations of attempted murder which ruined his career. [cite web|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/june/22/newsid_2518000/2518667.stm|title="Thorpe cleared of murder charges" BBC On This Day|accessdate=2008-01-27]
* 5 July - The Queen attends the 1000th annual sitting of the Isle of Man's Parliament, the Tynwald. [cite web|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/july/5/newsid_2494000/2494861.stm |title="Queen oversees Manx millennium" BBC On This Day|accessdate=2008-01-27]
* 12 July - Kiribati (formerly Gilbert Islands) becomes independent of the United Kingdom.
* 17 July - Athlete Sebastian Coe sets a record time for running a mile, completing it in 3 minutes 48.95 seconds.
* 9 August - The first British nudist beach is established in Brighton. [cite web|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/august/9/newsid_3906000/3906605.stm|title="Brighton bares all" BBC On This Day|accessdate=2008-01-27]
* 14 August
** A storm in the Irish Sea hits the Fastnet yacht race. Three lives and dozens of yachts are lost. [cite web|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/august/14/newsid_3886000/3886877.stm|title="Freak storm hits yacht race" BBC On This Day|accessdate=2008-01-27]
** disgraced MP John Stonehouse released from jail. [cite web|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/august/14/newsid_2534000/2534073.stm|title="Disgraced ex-MP released from jail" BBC On This Day|accessdate=2008-01-27]
* 27 August
** Lord Mountbatten and three others are assassinated by the Provisional Irish Republican Army (IRA). He was an admiral, statesman and an uncle of Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh. [cite web|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/august/27/newsid_2511000/2511545.stm|title="IRA bomb kills Lord Mountbatten" BBC On This Day|accessdate=2008-01-27]
** Warrenpoint ambush: eighteen British soldiers killed in Northern Ireland by IRA. [cite web|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/august/27/newsid_3891000/3891055.stm|title="Soldiers die in Warrenpoint massacre" BBC On This Day|accessdate=2008-01-27]
* 2 September - Police discover a woman's body in an alleyway near Bradford city centre. The woman, 20-year-old student Barbara Leach, is believed to be the 12th victim of the mysterious Yorkshire Ripper mass murderer. [cite web|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/september/2/newsid_2493000/2493531.stm|title="Ripper suspected of 12th murder" BBC On This Day|accessdate=2008-01-27]
* 5 September - The Queen leads the mourning at the funeral of Lord Mountbatten. [cite web|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/september/5/newsid_2499000/2499279.stm|title="Mountbatten buried after final parade" BBC On This Day|accessdate=2008-01-27]
* 21 September - a Royal Air Force Harrier jet crashes into a house in Wisbech, Cambridgeshire killing two men and a boy. [cite web|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/september/21/newsid_2525000/2525419.stm|title="Harrier crash kills three" BBC On This Day|accessdate=2008-01-27]
* 11 October - Godfrey Hounsfield wins the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine jointly with Allan McLeod Cormack "for the development of computer assisted tomography". [cite web|url=http://nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/medicine/laureates/1979/|title=The Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine 1979|accessdate=2008-01-27]
* 27 October - Saint Vincent and the Grenadines gains independence. [cite web|url=https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/geos/vc.html|title=CIA Factbook entry for Saint Vincent and the Grenadines|accessdate=2008-01-27]
* 28 October - Chairman Hua Guofeng becomes the first Chinese leader to visit Britain. [cite web|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/october/28/newsid_4114000/4114964.stm|title="Chairman Hua arrives in London" BBC On This Day|accessdate=2008-01-27]
* 9 November - Four men are found guilty over the killing of paperboy Carl Bridgewater, who was shot dead at a farmhouse in the Staffordshire countryside 14 months ago. James Robinson and Vincent Hickey receive life sentences with a recommended minimum of 25 years for murder, Michael Hickey (also guilty of murder) receives an indefinite custodial sentence, while Patrick Molloy is guilty of manslaughter and jailed for 12 years.
* 13 November - "The Times" published for the first time in nearly a year after a dispute between management and unions over staffing levels and new technology. [cite web|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/november/13/newsid_2539000/2539795.stm|title="Times returns after year-long dispute" BBC On This Day|accessdate=2008-01-27]
* 14 November - Vauxhall launches its first-ever front-wheel drive car - the Astra range of hatchbacks and estates - to compete in the growing family hatchback sector. It replaces the traditional rear-wheel drive Viva saloon, which had been produced in three incarnations since 1963. Initial production of the Astra will take place at the Opel factory in West Germany, with production set to be transferred to Britain by 1981.
* 16 November - Anthony Blunt named as the fourth man in the Cambridge Spy Ring. [cite web|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/november/16/newsid_3907000/3907233.stm|title="Blunt revealed as 'fourth man'" BBC On This Day|accessdate=2008-01-27]
* 23 November - In Dublin, Ireland, Irish Republican Army member Thomas McMahon is sentenced to life in prison for the assassination of Lord Mountbatten.
* 4 December - The Hastie Fire in Hull leads to the deaths of 3 boys and begins the hunt for Bruce George Peter Lee, the UK's most prolific killer.
* 7 December - Lord Soames appointed as the transitional governor of Rhodesia to oversee its move to independence. [cite web|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/december/7/newsid_2535000/2535763.stm|title="Lord Soames to govern Rhodesia" BBC On This Day|accessdate=2008-01-27]
* 10 December
** William Arthur Lewis wins the Nobel Prize in Economics with Theodore Schultz "for their pioneering research into economic development research with particular consideration of the problems of developing countries". [cite web|url=http://nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/economics/laureates/1979/|title=The Sveriges Riksbank Prize in Economic Sciences in Memory of Alfred Nobel 1979|accessdate=2008-01-27]
** Daredevil Eddie Kidd performs an 80ft jump on a motorcycle. [cite web|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/december/10/newsid_2544000/2544025.stm|title="Daredevil Kidd's 80ft river jump" BBC On This Day|accessdate=2008-01-27]
* 20 December - Thatcher government publishes Housing Bill which would give Council House tenants the right to buy their homes from next year. [cite web|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/december/20/newsid_4017000/4017019.stm|title="Council tenants will have 'right to buy'" BBC On This Day|accessdate=2008-01-27]

Publications

* Douglas Adams' novel "The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy".
* J. G. Ballard's novel "The Unlimited Dream Company".
* Penelope Fitzgerald's novel "Offshore".
* William Golding's novel "Darkness Visible".
* V. S. Naipaul's novel "A Bend in the River".

Births

* 27 January - Rosamund Pike, actress
* 12 March - Pete Doherty, singer and guitarist (The Libertines and Babyshambles)
* 10 April - Sophie Ellis-Bextor, singer
* 25 May - Jonny Wilkinson, rugby union player
* 25 July - Allister Carter, snooker player
* 26 July - Johnson Beharry, war hero
* 30 July - Graeme McDowell, professional golfer
* 5 August - David Healy, footballer
* 20 August - Jamie Cullum, singer
* 14 September - Stuart Fielden, rugby league player
* 8 November - Aaron Hughes, footballer
* 29 November - Simon Amstell, comedian and television presenter
* 3 December - Daniel Bedingfield, pop singer and songwriter
* 14 December - Michael Owen, footballer

Deaths

* 2 February - Sid Vicious, musician (Sex Pistols) (drug overdose) (born 1957)
* 14 February - Reginald Maudling, politician (born 1917)
* 19 March - Richard Beckinsale, actor (born 1947)
* 23 March - Ted Anderson, footballer (born 1911)
* 30 March - Airey Neave, politician (assassinated) (born 1916)
* 8 June - Norman Hartnell, fashion designer (born 1901)
* 16 July - Alfred Deller, countertenor (born 1912)
* August - Ivon Hitchens, painter (born 1893)
* 8 August - Nicholas Monsarrat, novelist (born 1910)
* 11 August - James Gordon Farrell, novelist (born 1935)
* 27 August - Earl Mountbatten, last Viceroy of India (assassinated) (born 1900)
* 27 September - Gracie Fields, singer and comedian (born 1898)
* 10 October - Dr Christopher Evans, psychologist and computer scientist (born 1931)
* 13 October - Rebecca Helferich Clarke, composer and violist (born 1886)
* 30 October - Barnes Wallis, aeronautical engineer (born 1887)
* 23 November - Merle Oberon, actress (born 1911)
* 30 November - Joyce Grenfell, actress, comedian and singer-songwriter (born 1910)

References

ee also