1965 in the United Kingdom

1965 in the United Kingdom:

Other years

1963 | 1964 | 1965 (1965) | 1966 | 1967

Individual countries of the United Kingdom

England | Northern Ireland | Scotland | Wales

Sport, Television and music

1965 British Grand Prix 1965 English cricket season Football: England | Scotland 1965 in British television 1965 in British music 1965 in British radio UK in the Eurovision Song Contest 1965

Events of the year 1965 in the United Kingdom.

Incumbents

• Monarch – Elizabeth II
• Prime Minister – Harold Wilson (Labour)

Events

• 1 January – Introduction of the new "Worboys Committee" road signs.
• 7 January – Identical twin brothers Ronnie and Reggie Kray, 31, are arrested on suspicion of running a protection racket in London.
• 14 January – The Prime Ministers of Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland meet for the first time in 43 years.
• 15 January – Sir Winston Churchill is reported to be seriously ill after suffering a stroke.
• 24 January – Sir Winston Churchill dies aged 90 at Chartwell, his Kent home of more than 40 years.
• 30 January – Thousands attend Winston Churchill's state funeral in London. During the three days of lying-in-state, 321,000 people file past the catafalque, and the funeral procession travels from Westminster Hall to the service at St Paul's Cathedral, attended by the Queen, Prime Minister Harold Wilson, and representatives of 112 countries. He is buried privately at Bladon near his family's ancestral home in Oxfordshire.
• 31 January – National Health prescription charges end.
• 1 February – The Queen and the Duke of Edinburgh arrive in Ethiopia on a state visit.
• 4 February – Confederation of British Industry founded.
• 6 February – Sir Stanley Matthews plays his final First Division game, at the record age of 50 years and 5 days.
• 16 February – The British Railways Board (chairman: Richard Beeching) publishes The Development of the Major Trunk Routes proposing which lines should receive investment (and, by implication, which should not).
• 18 February – The Gambia becomes independent from the United Kingdom.
• 3 March – The remains of Roger Casement, from Pentonville Prison, are reburied in Dublin.
• 11 March – Goldie, a London Zoo golden eagle, is recaptured after 13 days of freedom.
• 19 March – A record price of 760,000 guineas is paid at Christie's for Rembrandt's Titus.
• 23 March – Dr Dorothy Hodgkin is awarded the Order of Merit.
• 1 April
  • The Greater London Council comes into its powers, replacing the London County Council and greatly expanding the metropolitan area of the city.
  • Finance Act introduces corporation tax, replacing income tax for corporate institutions.
• 6 April – Government publicly announces cancellation of the BAC TSR-2 nuclear bomber aircraft project.
• 23 April – The Pennine Way officially opens.

Red velvet minidress, c. 1965

• 26 April – Manchester United win the Football League First Division title.
• 1 May – Liverpool win the FA Cup for the first time in their history, beating Leeds United 2-1 at Wembley Stadium. Roger Hunt and Ian St John score for Liverpool, while Billy Bremner scores the consolation goal for Leeds.
• 7 May – The Rhodesian Front under Prime Minister Ian Smith wins a landslide election victory in Rhodesia.
• 11 May – The National Trust officially launches its long-term Enterprise Neptune project to acquire or put under covenant a substantial part of the Welsh, English and Northern Irish coastline. Whiteford Burrows on the Gower Peninsula is considered the first property to be acquired under the campaign although its purchase was announced on 1 January.
• 13 May – The Conservatives make big gains in the UK local government elections.
• 17 May – An underground explosion at Cambrian Colliery in Clydach Vale kills 31.
• 18 May – The Queen and the Duke of Edinburgh begin a 10-day state visit to the Federal German Republic.
• 19 May – West Ham United F.C. become the second British club to win a European trophy, defeating West German 1860 Munich 2-0 at Wembley Stadium.
• 3 June – The bank rate is reduced to 6 per cent.
• 17 June – London premiere of Frank Marcus' farce The Killing of Sister George (at the Duke of York's Theatre), one of the first mainstream British plays with lesbian characters. Beryl Reid plays the title role. The play previewed in April at the Bristol Old Vic.
• 18 June – The government announces plans for the introduction of a blood alcohol limit for drivers in its clampdown on drink-driving.
• 22 June – The 700th anniversary of Parliament is celebrated.
• 6 July – 1965 Little Baldon Hastings accident: A Royal Air Force Handley Page Hastings crashes at Little Baldon, Oxfordshire, just after takeoff from RAF Abingdon on a parachute training exercise, killing all 41 men on board.
• 8 July – Great Train Robber Ronnie Biggs escapes from Wandsworth Prison.
• 12 July – The Secretary of State for Education and Science, Tony Crosland, issues Circular 10/65 requesting local authorities to convert their schools to the Comprehensive system.
• 22 July – Sir Alec Douglas-Home suddenly resigns as a head of the British Conservative Party.
• 24 July – Freddie Mills, former British boxing champion, is found shot in his car in Soho. He died the next day.
• 27 July – Edward Heath becomes leader of the British Conservative Party following its first leadership election by secret ballot.
• 29 July – The Beatles film Help! debuts in London.
• 1 August
  • Cigarette advertising is prohibited on British television.
  • Radio and television licence fees are increased.
• 3 August – "The Queen's Award to Industry" for export and technological advancements is created.
• 6 August
  • Elizabeth Lane appointed as the first female High Court judge, assigned to the Family Division.
  • Peter Watkins' The War Game, a television drama-documentary depicting the aftermath of a nuclear attack on the UK, is pulled from its planned transmission as BBC1's The Wednesday Play for political reasons. It will go on to win the 1966 Academy Award for Best Documentary Feature. It would eventually be broadcast 20 years later.
• 20 August – The Rolling Stones' "(I Can't Get No) Satisfaction" is released in the UK.
• 21 August – Charlton Athletic F.C. player Keith Peacock becomes the first substitute to appear in a Football League match.
• 2 September – Sir Harry Hylton-Foster, Speaker of the House of Commons, dies in office.
• 16 September – UK Release of the film Darling starring Julie Christie.
• 21 September – British Petroleum's oil platform Sea Gem strikes natural gas in the North Sea oil field.
• 24 September – The British governor of Aden cancels the Aden constitution and takes direct control of the protectorate, due to the bad security situation.
• 30 September – First episode of ATV 'Supermarionation' series Thunderbirds airs.
• October – Corgi Toys introduce the all-time best selling model car, James Bond's Aston Martin DB5 from the film Goldfinger.
• 7 October – Ian Brady, a 27-year-old stock clerk from Hyde in Cheshire, is charged with the murder of 17-year-old apprentice electrician Edward Evans to death at a house on the Hattersley housing estate last night.
• 8 October – The Post Office Tower opens in London.
• 16 October – Police find a girl's body on Saddleworth Moor near Oldham in Lancashire. The body is quickly identified as that of Lesley Ann Downey, who disappeared on Boxing Day last year from a fairground in the Ancoats area of Manchester, at the age of 10. Ian Brady, arrested last week for the murder of a 17-year-old man in nearby Hattersley, is suspected of murdering Lesley, as is his 23-year-old girlfriend Myra Hindley, who on 11 October was also charged with the murder of Edward Evans. Police suspect that other missing people from the Manchester area, including 12-year-old John Kilbride (who was last seen alive nearly three years ago) could also be buried there; some reports state that as many as 11 murder victims may have been buried in the area.
• 20 October – It is reported that suspected mass murderer Ian Brady tortured his victims and tape-recorded the attacks on them. Detectives in Brady's native Scotland are also reportedly investigating the disappearance of 12-year-old Moira Anderson in Lanarkshire eight years ago as a possible link to Brady.
• 21 October – Ian Brady and Myra Hindley are charged with the murder of Lesley Ann Downey and remanded in custody.
• 22 October – African countries demand that the United Kingdom use force to prevent Rhodesia from declaring unilateral independence.
• 24 October
  • Prime Minister Harold Wilson and Arthur Bottomley travel to Rhodesia for negotiations.
  • Police find the decomposed body of a boy on Saddleworth Moor. The body is identified as that of John Kilbride, a 12-year-old boy who disappeared from Ashton-Under-Lyne in November 1963.
• 29 October – Ian Brady and Myra Hindley appear in court, charged with the murders of Edward Evans (17), Lesley Ann Downey (10) and John Kilbride (12).
• 1 November – Three cooling towers at the uncompleted Ferrybridge C electricity generating station in West Yorkshire collapse in high winds.
• 5 November – Martial law is announced in Rhodesia. The UN General Assembly accepts British intent to use force against Rhodesia if necessary by a vote of 82-9.
• 8 November
  • The British Indian Ocean Territory is created, consisting of Chagos Archipelago, Aldabra, Farquhar and Des Roches islands (on 23 June 1976 Aldabra, Farquhar and Des Roches are returned to Seychelles).
  • The Murder (Abolition of Death Penalty) Act suspends capital punishment for murder in England, Scotland and Wales, for five years in the first instance, replacing it with a mandatory sentence of life imprisonment.
  • The Race Relations Act outlaws public racial discrimination.
• 10 November – The British pharmaceutical company United Medical successfully develops the first Man-Armadillo hybrid.
• 11 November – In Rhodesia, the white minority regime of Ian Smith unilaterally declares independence.
• 13 November – The word "fuck" is spoken for the first time on British television by the theatre critic Kenneth Tynan.
• 20 November – The UN Security Council recommends that all states stop trading with Rhodesia.
• 29 November – Mary Whitehouse founds the National Viewers' and Listeners' Association.
• December
  • EMI release Jacqueline du Pré's recording of Elgar's Cello Concerto with John Barbirolli and the London Symphony Orchestra.
  • National Coal Board closes the last deep coal mine in the Forest of Dean (Northern United at Cinderford).
• 3 December – The first British aid flight arrives in Lusaka; Zambia has asked for British help against Rhodesia.
• 12 December – The Beatles' last live U.K. tour concludes with two performances at the Capitol, Cardiff.
• 15 December – Tanzania and Guinea sever diplomatic relations with the United Kingdom.
• 17 December – The British government begins an oil embargo against Rhodesia; the United States joins the effort.
• 22 December
  • A 70 mph speed limit is imposed on British roads.
  • A reorganisation of the cabinet sees Roy Jenkins appointed Home Secretary and Barbara Castle as Minister of Transport.
• 24 December – A meteorite shower falls on Barwell, Leicestershire.
• 27 December – The British oil platform Sea Gem collapses in the North Sea, killing 13 of the 32 men on it.
• 30 December – President Kenneth Kaunda of Zambia announces that Zambia and the United Kingdom have agreed to a deadline before which the Rhodesian white government should be ousted.

Undated

• The Certificate of Secondary Education (CSE) is introduced as a school-leaving qualification in England, Wales and Northern Ireland.
• The Council for National Academic Awards is established.
• Redundancy Payments Act gives statutory rights to redundancy payments.
• Rent Act passed.
• First national Building Regulations for England and Wales are made.
• Mary Quant introduces the miniskirt from her shop Bazaar on the Kings Road in Chelsea, London.
• The motorway network continues to expand with the Preston-Lancaster section of the M6 opening in January, the M4 being expanded from Slough to London in March, a motorway section of the A1 opening in County Durham in May, the M1 being expanded from Rugby to Kegworth (Leicestershire) in November, along with a four-mile stretch of the M5 west of Birmingham, as well as the first phase of motorway in Scotland with the M8 as well as the expansion of the M2 through Kent.[1]
• The Rotunda landmark office building completed in Birmingham city centre.
• Toyota, the Japanese industrial giant, begins importing passenger cars to the United Kingdom when its Corona family saloon – similar in size to the Ford Cortina – is launched.
• Asda opens its first supermarket in Castleford, Yorkshire.

Publications

• Agatha Christie's Miss Marple novel At Bertram's Hotel.
• Ian Fleming's James Bond novel The Man with the Golden Gun.
• John Fowles's novel The Magus.
• David Lodge’s novel The British Museum Is Falling Down.
• W. Keble Martin's Flora The Concise British Flora in Colour.
• Men's magazine Mayfair (begins August).

Births

• 4 January
  • Julia Ormond, actress
  • Beth Gibbons, singer (Portishead)
• 5 January – Vinnie Jones, footballer and actor
• 9 January – Joely Richardson, actress
• 14 January
  • Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall, chef
  • Slick Rick, British-American rapper
• 15 January – James Nesbitt, Northern Irish actor
• 20 January – Sophie, Countess of Wessex
• 27 January – Alan Cumming, Scottish actor
• 2 February – Carl Airey, English footballer
• 5 February – Martha Fiennes, film director
• 26 February – Alison Armitage, English model and actress
• 28 February – Norman Smiley, wrestler
• 4 March
  • Andrew Collins, radio DJ and journalist
  • Paul W. S. Anderson, filmmaker, producer and screenwriter
• 11 March – Lawrence Llewelyn-Bowen, television presenter
• 14 March – Caroline Foot, butterfly swimmer
• 15 March – Michael Watson, boxer
• 26 March – Kerry McCarthy, Labour politician and MP for Bristol East
• 28 March - Steve Bull, professional footballer
• 30 March – Piers Morgan, tabloid journalist
• 1 April – Robert Steadman, composer
• 4 April – Sean Wilson, actor
• 27 April – Anna Chancellor, actress
• 1 May – Alice Beer, television presenter
• 3 May – Michael Marshall Smith, novelist, screenwriter and short story writer
• 10 May – Darren Matthews, professional wrestler
• 17 May – Jeremy Vine, BBC radio and television presenter
• 31 May – Steve White, drummer (The Style Council)
• 1 June – Nigel Short, chess player
• 7 June – Damien Hirst, artist
• 10 June – Elizabeth Hurley, model and actress
• 19 June – Sadie Frost, fashion designer and actress
• 30 June - Gary Pallister, footballer
• 4 July – Jo Whiley, Radio DJ
• 11 July - Tony Cottee, English footballer
• 15 July – David Miliband, MP of Labour Party
• 16 July – Dinah Rose, QC
• 31 July – J. K. Rowling, born Joanne Rowling, English author
• 1 August – Sam Mendes, English stage and film director
• 4 August – Adam Afriyie, Conservative politician and MP for Windsor
• 6 August – Mark Speight, television presenter (d. 2008)
• 28 August – Paul Brummell, diplomat and Ambassador to Kazakhstan
• 2 September – Lennox Lewis, boxer
• 29 September – Phylis Smith, athlete and Olympic medallist
• 14 October – Steve Coogan, comedian and actor
• 15 October – Stephen Tompkinson, actor
• 16 October – Steve Lamacq, Radio DJ
• 22 October – John Wesley Harding, born Wesley Stace, singer-songwriter
• 30 October – Gavin Rossdale, English musician
• 4 November – Shaun Williamson, actor
• 10 November
  • Sean Hughes, comedian
  • Eddie Irvine, Northern Irish racecar driver
• 12 November – Eddie Mair, BBC radio and television presenter
• 21 November – Alexander Siddig, Sudanese-born actor
• 9 December – Paul Jenkins, comic book writer
• 12 December – Will Carling, English rugby player
• 25 December – Edward Davey, Liberal Democrat politician, MP for Kingston and Surbiton

Deaths

• 4 January – T. S. Eliot, American-born writer, Nobel Prize laureate (born 1888)
• 24 January – Winston Churchill, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, recipient of the Nobel Prize in Literature (born 1874)
• 28 January – Tich Freeman, English cricketer (born 1888)
• 23 February – Stan Laurel, English-born comic film actor (born 1890)
• 28 March
  • Mary, Princess Royal and Countess of Harewood, 6th Princess Royal (born 1897)
  • Richard Beesly, British Olympic gold medal rower. (born 1907)
• 21 April – Edward Victor Appleton, English physicist, Nobel Prize laureate (born 1892)
• 3 May – Howard Spring, Welsh-born novelist (born 1889)
• 21 May – Geoffrey de Havilland, aircraft designer (born 1882)
• 8 June – Cecil L'Estrange Malone, British politician and Britain's first communist Member of Parliament (born 1890)
• 1 July – Wally Hammond, English cricketer (born 1903)
• 25 July – Freddie Mills, English boxer (born 1919)
• 2 September – Harry Hylton-Foster, Speaker of the British House of Commons (born 1905)
• 14 September – J.W. Hearne English cricketer (born 1891)
• 25 September – Major-General Sir Henry Hugh Tudor, British soldier (born 1871)
• 22 October – William Williams, Victoria Cross recipient (born 1890)
• 4 November – Ifor Williams, academic (born 1881)
• 8 November – George Henry Hall, politician (born 1881)
• 25 November – Dame Myra Hess, English pianist (born 1890)
• 16 December – W. Somerset Maugham, English writer (born 1874)
• 17 December – Hastings Ismay, 1st Baron Ismay, army officer (born 1887)
• 22 December – Richard Dimbleby, journalist and broadcaster (born 1913)
• 26 December – Llewelyn Alberic Emilius Price-Davies, Victoria Cross recipient (born 1878)
• 28 December – Jeremy Wolfenden, journalist and spy (born 1934)