1957 in the United Kingdom

Events from the year 1957 in the United Kingdom.

Incumbents

* Monarch - HM Queen Elizabeth II
* Prime Minister - Anthony Eden and Harold Macmillan, Conservative Party

Events

* 9 January - resignation of Anthony Eden as Prime Minister due to ill-health. [cite web|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/january/9/newsid_2800000/2800833.stm|title="Sir Anthony Eden resigns", BBC On This Day|accessdate=2007-12-04]
* 10 January - Harold Macmillan succeeds Eden as Prime Minister. [cite web|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/january/10/newsid_3783000/3783251.stm|title="Macmillan becomes Prime Minister", BBC On This Day|accessdate=2007-12-04]
* 16 January
** Royal Ballet granted a Royal Charter.cite book|title=Penguin Pocket On This Day|publisher=Penguin Reference Library|isbn=0-141-02715-0|year=2006]
** Cavern Club opens in Liverpool.
* 6 March - Ghana becomes independent of the United Kingdom. [cite web|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/march/6/newsid_2515000/2515459.stm|title="Ghana celebrates independence", BBC On This Day|accessdate=2007-12-04]
* 1 April - the BBC broadcasts a spoof documentary showing spaghetti being harvested in Switzerland, believed to be the first April Fool's Day joke on television. [cite web|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/april/1/newsid_2819000/2819261.stm|title="BBC fools the nation", BBC On This Day|accessdate=2007-12-04]
* 11 April - The British Government agrees to allow Singapore its independence. [cite web|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/april/11/newsid_2828000/2828903.stm|title="Britain agrees to Singapore self-rule", BBC On This Day|accessdate=2007-12-04]
* 15 April - suspected serial killer John Bodkin Adams is controversially found not guilty at the Old Bailey after Britain's longest murder trial. Political interference is suspected. [Pamela Cullen, "Stranger in Blood: The case files on Doctor John Bodkin Adams", 2006]
* 24 April - first broadcast of the long-running BBC astronomy programme "The Sky at Night" presented by Patrick Moore.
* 14 May - end of petrol rationing following the Suez Crisis. [cite web|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/may/14/newsid_2511000/2511733.stm|title="Cheers as petrol rationing ended", BBC On This Day|accessdate=2007-12-04]
* 15 May - Operation Grapple: Britain tests its first hydrogen bomb. [cite web|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/may/15/newsid_2510000/2510335.stm|title=Britain drops its first H-bomb", BBC On This Day|accessdate=2007-12-04]
* 1 June - the first Premium Bond winners selected by the computer ERNIE.
* 27 June - A report by the Medical Research Council reveals that there is evidence to support a link been Tobacco smoking and Lung cancer. [cite web|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/june/27/newsid_2956000/2956618.stm|title="Smoking 'causes lung cancer'", BBC On This Day|accessdate=2007-12-04]
* 23 July - a strike by bus drivers becomes violent. [cite web|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/july/23/newsid_2943000/2943084.stm|title="Bus dispute turns violent", BBC On This Day|accessdate=2007-12-04]
* 31 July - The Tryweryn Bill, permitting Liverpool City Council to build a reservoir which will drown the village of Capel Celyn, becomes law.
* 31 August - the Federation of Malaya becomes independent from Britain. [cite web|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/august/31/newsid_3534000/3534340.stm|title="Malaya celebrates independence", BBC On This Day|accessdate=2007-12-04]
* 4 September - publication of the Wolfenden report recommending "homosexual behaviour between consenting adults in private should no longer be a criminal offence". [cite web|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/september/4/newsid_3007000/3007686.stm|title="Homosexuality 'should not be a crime'", BBC On This Day|accessdate=2007-12-04]
* 10 October - the graphite core of the nuclear reactor at Windscale, Cumbria, caught fire, releasing substantial amounts of radioactive contamination into the surrounding area. [cite web|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/november/8/newsid_3181000/3181342.stm|title="Inquiry publishes cause of nuclear fire", BBC On This Day|accessdate=2007-12-04]
* 11 October - Jodrell Bank Observatory becomes operational.
* 4 December - The Lewisham rail crash kills ninety people and injures 173. [cite web|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/england/london/7123687.stm|title="Lewisham rail crash dead honoured", BBC News|accessdate=2007-12-04]
* 10 December - Alexander R. Todd, Baron Todd wins the Nobel Prize in Chemistry "for his work on nucleotides and nucleotide co-enzymes". [cite web|url=http://nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/chemistry/laureates/1957/|title=The Nobel Prize in Chemistry 1957|accessdate=2007-12-04]

* 12 December - Wales gets its own minister of state in the Westminster government for the first time.
* 25 December - The Royal Christmas Message is broadcast on television for the first time.
* 28 December - a case of Foot-and-mouth disease found at an abattoir in Liverpool. [cite web|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/december/28/newsid_3304000/3304747.stm|title="Foot-and-mouth shuts down abattoir", BBC On This Day|accessdate=2007-12-04]

Publications

* John Braine's novel "Room at the Top".
* Agatha Christie's Miss Marple novel "4.50 From Paddington".
* Lawrence Durrell's novel "Justine", first of "The Alexandria Quartet".
* Ian Fleming's James Bond novel "From Russia with Love".
* Stevie Smith's poem "Not Waving but Drowning".
* Evelyn Waugh's novel "The Ordeal of Gilbert Pinfold".
* John Wyndham's novel "The Midwich Cuckoos".

Births

* 6 January - Michael Foale, astronaut
* 15 January - Patrick Dixon, business guru and author
* 24 January - Adrian Edmondson, comedian
* 9 February - Gordon Strachan, footballer and manager
* 12 March - Steve Harris, bassist (Iron Maiden)
* 17 March - Mal Donaghy, footballer
* 1 April - David Gower, cricket player and commentator
* 17 April - Nick Hornby, novelist
* 29 April - Daniel Day-Lewis, actor
* 3 May - Jo Brand, comedian
* 10 May - Sid Vicious, bassist (Sex Pistols) (died 1979)
* 27 May - Siouxsie Sioux, singer (Siouxsie and the Banshees)
* 9 July
** Marc Almond, singer
** Paul Merton, actor and comedian
* 11 July - Peter Murphy, singer (Bauhaus)
* 17 July - Fern Britton, television presenter
* 17 August - Robin Cousins, figure skater
* 20 August - Simon Donaldson, mathematician
* 22 August - Steve Davis, snooker player
* 24 August - Stephen Fry, comedian, author and actor
* 31 August - Glenn Tilbrook, Squeeze singer songwriter
* 12 September - Rachel Ward, actress
* 7 October - Jayne Torvill, ice skater
* 11 October - Dawn French, comedian
* 13 November - Stephen Baxter, science fiction author
* 30 November - Colin Mochrie, comedian
* 8 December - Phil Collen, singer and guitarist (Def Leppard)
* 20 December - Billy Bragg, singer

Deaths

* January - Harry Gordon, popular entertainer (born 1893)
* 9 February - John Axon, railwayman (born 1900)
* 16 February - Leslie Hore-Belisha, 1st Baron Hore-Belisha, statesman after whom Belisha beacons are named (born 1893)
* 7 March - Wyndham Lewis, painter and author (born 1882, Canada)
* 21 March - Charles Kay Ogden, linguist, philosopher and writer (born 1889)
* 21 April - John Graham Kerr, embryologist and politician (born 1869)
* 17 June - Dorothy Richardson, feminist writer (born 1873)
* 27 June - Malcolm Lowry, novelist (born 1909)
* 19 August - David Bomberg, painter (born 1890)
* 20 August - Edward Evans, 1st Baron Mountevans, explorer and admiral (born 1880)
* 1 September - Dennis Brain, French horn player (born 1921)
* 4 November - William Haywood, architect (born 1876)
* 9 December - Llewellyn Henry Gwynne, first bishop of Egypt and Sudan (born 1863)
* 13 December - Michael Sadleir, novelist (born 1888)
* 21 December - Eric Coates, composer (born 1886)

References

ee also