1950 in the United Kingdom

Events from the year 1950 in the United Kingdom.

Incumbents

*Monarch - George VI of the United Kingdom
*Prime Minister - Clement Attlee Labour Party

Events

* 26 January - India becomes a republic, severing all ties with the United Kingdom. [cite web|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/january/26/newsid_3475000/3475569.stm|title="India becomes a republic", BBC On This Day|accessdate=2008-01-29]
* 24 February - Clement Attlee wins the general election, giving Labour a second term in government after their election triumph in 1945. [cite web|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/february/24/newsid_2756000/2756707.stm|title="Labour wins slim majority", BBC On This Day|accessdate=2008-01-29]
* 1 March - Klaus Fuchs convicted of supplying nuclear secrets to the Soviet Union. [cite web|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/march/1/newsid_4222000/4222261.stm|title="Communist spy jailed for 14 years", BBC On This Day|accessdate=2008-01-29]
* 6 March–8 March - The 1950 World Figure Skating Championships are held in London.
* 8 March - Carmaker Rover tests a revolutionary new turbine-powered concept car. [cite web|url= http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/march/8/newsid_2516000/2516271.stm|title="Gas turbine car gets road test", BBC News|accessdate=2008-01-06]
* 12 March - 80 of the 83 people on board an Avro Tudor V aircraft are killed when it crashes at Llandow in Glamorgan, making it the world's worst air disaster for the time.
* 13 May - First Grand Prix held at Silverstone.cite web|url=http://www.bbc.co.uk/bbcfour/lostdecade/timeline_html.shtml|title=The Lost Decade Timeline, BBC|accessdate=2008-01-29]
* 26 May - Motor fuel rationing comes to an end after 11 years, marking another phasing-out of rationing that was introduced as a result of the Second World War. [cite web|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/may/26/newsid_2502000/2502691.stm|title="UK drivers cheer end of fuel rations", BBC On This Day|accessdate=2008-01-29]
* 7 June - pilot episode of the long-running radio series "The Archers" broadcast.cite book|title=Penguin Pocket On This Day|publisher=Penguin Reference Library|isbn=0-141-02715-0|year=2006]
* 11 July - first broadcast of the popular BBC children's programme "Andy Pandy".
* 31 July - Sainsbury's opens the first purpose-built supermarket, at Croydon.cite book |last=Palmer |first=Alan & Veronica |year=1992 |title= The Chronology of British History|publisher= Century Ltd|location=London|pages= 401-402|isbn= 0-7126-5616-2]
* 27 August - the BBC makes its first television broadcast from the European continent.
* 29 August - 4,000 British troops are sent to Korea. [cite web|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/august/29/newsid_3053000/3053107.stm|title="British troops arrive in Korea", BBC On This Day|accessdate=2008-01-29]
* 8 September - 116 miners trapped underground in a landslide at Knockshinnoch Castle colliery at New Cumnock in Ayrshire, Scotland. [cite web|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/september/8/newsid_2995000/2995048.stm|title="Miners trapped underground by landslide", BBC On This Day|accessdate=2008-01-29]
* 9 September - Post-War soap rationing ends.
* 26 October - The rebuilt House of Commons, following its destruction by bombing in World War II, is used for the first time.
* 10 December
** Bertrand Russell wins the Nobel Prize in Literature "in recognition of his varied and significant writings in which he champions humanitarian ideals and freedom of thought". [cite web|url=http://nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/literature/laureates/1950/|title=The Nobel Prize in Literature 1950|accessdate=2008-01-29]
** Cecil Frank Powell wins the Nobel Prize in Physics "for his development of the photographic method of studying nuclear processes and his discoveries regarding mesons made with this method". [cite web|url=http://nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/physics/laureates/1950/|title=The Nobel Prize in Physics 1950|accessdate=2008-01-29]
* 25 December - The Stone of Scone, the traditional coronation stone of Scottish monarchs, English monarchs and more recently British monarchs, was stolen from London's Westminster Abbey by a group of four Scottish students. It later turned up in Scotland on 11 April 1951.

Undated

* The Festival Ballet, later to become the English National Ballet founded by Alicia Markova and Anton Dolincite book |title= The Hutchinson Factfinder |publisher= Helicon |year= 1999 |isbn= 1-85986-000-1 ]

* Alan Turing's paper "Computing machinery and intelligence" proposes the Turing test.

Publications

* Agatha Christie's Miss Marple novel "A Murder is Announced".
* Graham Greene's novel "The Third Man".
* Doris Lessing's novel "The Grass is Singing".
* C. S. Lewis's novel "The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe", first of "The Chronicles of Narnia" series.
* Mervyn Peake's novel "Gormenghast".
* Barbara Pym's novel "Some Tame Gazelle".
* Evelyn Waugh's novel "Helena".

Births

* 4 February - Pamela Franklin, actress
* 13 February - Peter Gabriel, musician
* 16 February - Peter Hain, politician
* 19 February - Andy Powell, musician (Wishbone Ash)
* 22 February - Julie Walters, actress
* 27 March - Terry Yorath, footballer and football manager
* 30 March - Robbie Coltrane, actor and comedian
* 3 April - Sally Thomsett, actress
* 22 April - Peter Frampton, musician
* 1 May - Danny McGrain, footballer
* 3 May - Mary Hopkin, singer
* 11 May - Jeremy Paxman, television presented and author
* 17 May - Alan Johnson, politician
* 22 May - Bernie Taupin, songwriter
* 22 May - Mary Tamm, actress
* 1 June - Tom Robinson, singer and musician
* 13 June - Nick Brown, politician
* 14 June - Rowan Williams, Archbishop of Canterbury
* 14 July - Bruce Oldfield, fashion designer
* 18 July - Richard Branson, entrepreneur
* 19 July - Simon Cadell, actor
* 26 July - Susan George, actress
* 30 July - Harriet Harman, politician
* 15 August - Anne, Princess Royal
* 14 September - Paul Kossoff, guitarist (Free) (died 1976)
* 21 September - Charles Clarke, politician
* 6 December - Helen Liddell, politician

Deaths

* 21 January - George Orwell, author (born 1903)
* 9 March - Timothy Evans hanged by Albert Pierrepoint for the murder of his baby daughter and later pardoned (born 1924)
* 19 March - Walter Haworth, chemist, Nobel Prize laureate (born 1883)
* 30 March - Joe Yule, Scottish-born comedian (born 1894)
* 6 September - Olaf Stapledon, author and philosopher (born 1886)
* 21 September - Arthur Milne, physicist (born 1896)
* 2 November - George Bernard Shaw, playwright (born 1856)
* 28 November - James Corbitt hanged for murder by Albert Pierrepoint (born c. 1913)

References

ee also