1970 in the United Kingdom

Events from the year 1970 in the United Kingdom.

Incumbents

*Monarch - HM Queen Elizabeth II
*Prime Minister - Harold Wilson ( – 19 June), Labour Party ; Edward Heath, Conservative Party (19 June – )

Events

*1 January - Half crown coin ceases to be legal tender.cite book|title=Penguin Pocket On This Day|publisher=Penguin Reference Library|isbn=0-141-02715-0|year=2006]
*22 January - A Boeing 747 lands at Heathrow Airport, the first jumbo jet to land in Britain. [cite web|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/january/22/newsid_3725000/3725963.stm"|title="Heathrow welcomes first 'jumbo jet'", BBC On This Day|accessdate=2008-02-02]
*2 March - Ian Smith declares Rhodesia a republic breaking all ties with the British Crown, four years after the declaration of independence. Wilson's government refuses to recognise the new state. [cite web|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/march/2/newsid_2514000/2514683.stm|title="Ian Smith declares Rhodesia a republic", BBC On This Day|accessdate=2008-02-02]
*6 March - the importation of pets banned after an outbreak of rabies in Newmarket, Suffolk. [cite web|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/march/6/newsid_2515000/2515497.stm|title="Rabies ban on British pet imports", BBC On This Day|accessdate=2008-02-02]
*13 March - the Bridgwater by-election becomes the first election in which 18-year-olds could vote. Tom King won the election for the Conservative Party. [cite web|url= http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/march/13/newsid_2826000/2826787.stm|title="Conservative victory in first teen election", BBC On This Day|accessdate=2008-02-02]
*16 April - Dr Ian Paisley enters the Parliament of Northern Ireland after winning the Bannside by-election. [cite web|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/april/16/newsid_2487000/2487907.stm |title="Paisley victory rattles NI parliament", BBC On This Day|accessdate=2008-02-02]
*22 May - A cricket tour by the South African cricket team called off after several African and Asian countries threatened to boycott the Commonwealth Games. [cite web|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/may/22/newsid_2504000/2504573.stm|title="South Africa cricket tour called off", BBC On This Day|accessdate=2008-02-02]
*24 May - the Menai Suspension Bridge is badly damaged by fire.
*1 June - Harold Wilson hit in the face with an egg thrown by a Young Conservative demonstrator. [cite web|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/june/1/newsid_3995000/3995083.stm|title="British Prime Minister hit by flying egg", BBC On This Day|accessdate=2008-02-02]
*4 June - Tonga becomes independent of the UK.
*17 June - The bodies of two children are found buried in shallow graves in woodland at Waltham Abbey, Essex. They are believed to be those of Susan Blatchford (11) and Gary Hanlon (12), who were last seen alive near their homes in North London on 31 March this year. [cite web|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/june/17/newsid_4306000/4306139.stm|title="1970: 'Babes in the wood' bodies found", BBC On This Day|accessdate=2008-02-13]
*19 June - The General election won by Edward Heath's Conservative Party. [ cite web|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/june/19/newsid_3829000/3829819.stm|title="Shock election win for Heath", BBC On This Day|accessdate=2008-02-02]
*21 June - British golfer Tony Jacklin wins the U.S. Open.
*26 June - Riots break out in Derry over the arrest of Mid-Ulster MP Bernadette Devlin. [cite web|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/june/26/newsid_2519000/2519711.stm|title="Violence flares as Devlin is arrested", BBC On This Day|accessdate=2008-02-02]
*4 July - 112 people are found dead among the wreckage of a British Airways Manchester to Barcelona aeroplane that went missing yesterday. The wreckage was found in the mountains of Northern Spain, and there are no survivors. [cite web|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/july/3/newsid_2492000/2492087.stm|title="1970: Holiday jet goes missing over Spain", BBC On This Day|accessdate=2008-02-02]
*15 July Dockers vote to strike leading to the docks strike of 1970. cite web | title=1970: State of emergency called over dock strike | url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/july/16/newsid_2504000/2504223.stm | work=On this Day | date=16 July 1978 | accessdate=2008-04-09 | publisher=BBC ]
*16 July - a state of emergency declared to deal with a dockers' strike.
*16–25 July - 1970 British Commonwealth Games held in Edinburgh.
*17 July - Lord Pearson proposes settlement of docks strike.
*30 July - Docks strike settled.
*20 August - England national football team captain Bobby Moore is cleared of stealing a bracelet while on World Cup duty in Colombia. [cite web|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/august/20/newsid_4537000/4537235.stm|title="1970: Bobby Moore cleared of stealing", BBC On This Day|accessdate=2008-02-02]
*21 August - Moderate Social Democratic and Labour Party established in Northern Ireland.cite book |last=Palmer |first=Alan & Veronica |year=1992 |title= The Chronology of British History|publisher= Century Ltd|location=London|pages= 430-431|isbn= 0-7126-5616-2]
*9 September - BOAC Flight 775 hijacked by the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine after taking off from Bahrain — the first time a British plane is hijacked.
*18 September - American rock star Jimi Hendrix, 27, dies in London from a suspected drug-induced heart attack. [cite web|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/september/18/newsid_3528000/3528692.stm|title="1970: Rock legend Hendrix dies after party", BBC On This Day|accessdate=2008-02-02]
*19 September - the first Glastonbury Festival held.
*19 October - British Petroleum discovers a large oil field in the North Sea. [cite web|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/october/19/newsid_3769000/3769639.stm|title="1970: Large oil field found in North Sea", BBC On This Day|accessdate=2008-02-13]
*17 November - the first Page Three girl appears in The Sun.
*27 November - The Gay Liberation Front organises its first march in London. [cite web|url=http://www.yourlondon.gov.uk/articles/2007/june/pridelondon.jsp|title=Your London|accessdate=2008-04-02]
*10 December - Bernard Katz wins the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine jointly with Ulf von Euler and Julius Axelrod "for their discoveries concerning the humoral transmittors in the nerve terminals and the mechanism for their storage, release and inactivation". [cite web|url=http://nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/medicine/laureates/1970/|title=The Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine 1970|accessdate=2008-02-02]
*26 December - Athlete Lillian Board, 22, dies in Munich, West Germany, after a three-month battle against cancer.

Undated

* Mathematician Alan Baker wins a Fields Medal. [cite book |title= The Hutchinson Factfinder |publisher= Helicon |year= 1999 |isbn= 1-85986-000-1 ]
*Ford launches its Cortina MK3 range of saloons and estates which will be built at the Dagenham plant. It is virtually identical to the Taunus, which is being built at the Cologne plant in West Germany.
*Chrysler UK launches its new Hillman Avenger small family car, which will be built at the Ryton plant near Coventry and will compete with the likes of the Ford Escort and Vauxhall Viva.
*British Leyland creates a niche in the four-wheel drive market with its luxurious Range Rover, which is to be marketed as a more upmarket alternative to the utilarian Land Rover that has been in production since 1948.

Publications

*Agatha Christie's novel "Passenger to Frankfurt".
*James Gordon Farrell's novel "Troubles".
*Germaine Greer's book "The Female Eunuch".
*Ted Hughes' poetry collection "Crow".
*Bernice Rubens' novel "The Elected Member".
* The complete New English Bible (the New Testament having been published in 1961).

Births

*7 January - Andrew Burnham, politician
*19 January - Tim Foster, rower
*20 January - Mitch Benn, comedian and songwriter
*31 January - Minnie Driver, actress
*10 February - Rob Shearman, television and radio scriptwriter
*14 February - Simon Pegg, comedian, writer and actor
*2 March - James Purnell, politician
*9 March - Stuart Neild, author
*27 April - Kylie Travis, actress and model
*6 May - Chris Adams, cricketer
*20 May - Louis Theroux, TV personality, author
*22 May - Naomi Campbell, model and actress
*27 May - Joseph Fiennes, actor
*19 June - MJ Hibbett, singer-songwriter
*20 June - Russell Garcia, field hockey player
*25 June - Lucy Benjamin, actress
*2 July - Steve Morrow, footballer
*6 July - Martin Smith, singer and songwriter
*7 July - Wayne McCullough, boxer
*10 July
**Jason Orange, singer
**John Simm, actor
*11 July - Saj Karim, politician
*29 July - Andi Peters, TV presenter and producer
*30 July - Christopher Nolan, writer and director
*31 July - Ben Chaplin, actor
*13 August - Alan Shearer, footballer
*27 August - Peter Ebdon, snooker player
*18 September - Darren Gough, cricketer
*29 September - Emily Lloyd, actress
*4 October - Richard Hancox, footballer
*10 October - Sir Matthew Pinsent, Olympic winning rower
*11 October - Andy Marriott, footballer
*7 November - Neil Hannon, musician (The Divine Comedy)
*12 November - Harvey Stephens, child-actor
*22 November - Stel Pavlou, novelist and screenwriter
*23 November - Zoë Ball, television and radio presenter
*29 December - Aled Jones, singer and television presenter

Deaths

*29 January - Basil Liddell Hart, military historian (born 1895)
*2 February - Bertrand Russell, logician and philosopher, recipient of the Nobel Prize in Literature (born 1872)
*14 February - Herbert Strudwick, cricketer (born 1880)
*28 February - Arthur Henry Knighton-Hammond, painter (born 1875)
*7 June - E. M. Forster, writer (born 1879)
*7 July - Allen Lane, publisher (born 1902)
*29 July - John Barbirolli, conductor (born 1899)
*5 September - Jesse Pennington, footballer (born 1883)
*26 December - Lillian Board, Olympic athlete (born 1948)

References

ee also