1972 in the United Kingdom
Events from the year 1972 in the United Kingdom.
| 1972 in the United Kingdom |
| Other years |
| 1970 | 1971 | 1972 | 1973 | 1974 |
| Constituent countries of the United Kingdom |
| England | Northern Ireland | Scotland | Wales |
| Popular culture |
Incumbents
Events
January
- 4 January – Rose Heilbron became the first female judge to sit at the Old Bailey.
- 9 January – The National Union of Mineworkers held a strike ballot in which 58.8% voted in favour of industrial action.[1] Coal miners begin a strike which lasts for seven weeks,[2] including picketing of Saltley coke depot in Birmingham.
- 20 January – Unemployment exceeded the 1,000,000 mark for the first time since the 1930s,[3]- almost double the 582,000 who were unemployed when Edward Heath's Conservative government came to power less than two years ago.[4]
- 30 January – 'Bloody Sunday' in Northern Ireland: fourteen killed when troops open fire on unarmed demonstrators in Derry.
February
- 2 February – Protesters burned down the British Embassy in Dublin.[5]
- 3–13 February – Great Britain and Northern Ireland competed at the Winter Olympics in Sapporo, Japan, but did not win any medals.
- 5 February – 91 people are hurt and 122 arrested as mounted police charge protestors in London.[6]
- 9 February – A state of emergency was declared by Heath as a result of the miners' strike.
- 22 February – An Official Irish Republican Army bomb killed six people in the Aldershot Barracks bombing.[7]
- 25 February – The miners' strike ended after seven weeks.[8]
March
- March – Ford announced its new Granada model, available as a saloon, coupé or estate car, which would be built at the Dagenham plant in England as well as the Cologne plant in West Germany. It was designed to compete with the likes of the Rover P6 and Vauxhall Victor, and would be sold as the Ford Consul in mainland Europe.
- 21 March – Chancellor Anthony Barber announced a £1,200,000,000 tax reduction in the Budget.
- 26 March – The UK's last trolleybus system, in Bradford, was closed.[9]
- 30 March – The Troubles: The Parliament of Northern Ireland was suspended.
- 31 March – A CND demonstration was held protesting against the nuclear base at Aldermaston.[10]
April
- 1 April – William Whitelaw was appointed as the first Northern Ireland Secretary.[5]
- 6 April – Ford launches a new flagship saloon model, the Granada, which replaces the Zephyr on the UK market and will be produced at the Dagenham plant as well as Ford's Cologne plant in West Germany.[11]
- 11 April – The BBC Radio 4 parodic panel show I'm Sorry I Haven't a Clue was broadcast for the first time.
- 19 April – A report into the Bloody Sunday shootings by the Lord Chief Justice, Lord Widgery, exonerated the British troops of blame because the demonstration had been illegal.[12] This report was later completely discredited by the Saville Inquiry. His report was published on 15 June 2010. The British prime minister David Cameron addressed the House of Commons that afternoon where he acknowledged, among other things, that the paratroopers had fired the first shot, had fired on fleeing unarmed civilians, and shot and killed one man who was already wounded. He then apologised on behalf of the British Government
- 30 April – The Brighton Belle Pullman car train made its final journey from London to Brighton.[13]
May
- 3 May
- In the first UEFA Cup final, Tottenham Hotspur beat Wolverhampton Wanderers 2–1 in the first leg at the Molineux.
- The General Synod of the Church of England failed to agree union with the Methodist Church.
- 6 May – Leeds United won the FA Cup for the first time with a 1–0 win over last year's winners Arsenal at Wembley Stadium. The only goal is a header by Allan Clarke from a Mick Jones pass.[14]
- 8 May – Derby County won the Football League First Division title for the first time in their history.[15]
- 12 May – Crown Court established by the Courts Act 1971 to replace the courts of Assize and Quarter Sessions in England and Wales. Property qualifications requiring jurors to be householders are abolished.[16]
- 17 May – Tottenham Hotspur completed a 3-2 aggregate win over Wolverhampton Wanderers at White Hart Lane to win the first UEFA Cup.[17]
- 18 May
- Queen Elizabeth II met her uncle, Edward, Duke of Windsor for the last time, at his home in Paris.
- Four troopers of the Special Air Service and Special Boat Service were parachuted onto the ocean liner Queen Elizabeth 2 1,000 miles (1,600 km) across the Atlantic after a bomb threat and a ransom demand which turned out to be bogus.
- 22 May – The Dominion of Ceylon became the Republic of Sri Lanka.
- 24 May
- The final stretch of the M6 motorway opened between junctions 6 (Spaghetti Junction) and 7 north of Birmingham, with the fully operational motorway stretching more than 200 miles from Rugby to Carlisle, more than a decade after the first sections were opened.[18]
- Glasgow-based team Rangers F.C. won the UEFA Cup Winners' Cup, defeating FC Dynamo Moscow 3–2 in the final at Camp Nou in Barcelona. A pitch invasion by their supporters led to the team being banned from defending the trophy the following season.
- 26 May – The state-owned travel company Thomas Cook & Son is privatised.[19]
- 28 May – Edward, Duke of Windsor, dies of cancer at his home in France aged 77, 35 years after his abdication from the throne.
- 30 May
- Official Irish Republican Army declares a ceasefire in Northern Ireland.[20]
- Battersea Park funfair disaster: Five children die and 13 are injured when a haulage rope on the Big Dipper roller coaster snaps causing a car to roll backwards and crash.[21]
June
- 1 June – Hotels and boarding houses became required to obtain certification under the Fire Precautions Act 1971.
- 3 June – A Protestant demonstration in Derry turned into a battle.[22]
- 5 June – The funeral of The Duke of Windsor (formerly King Edward VIII) is held at Windsor Castle.[23]
- 18 June – British European Airways Flight 548 crashed near Staines and 118 people are killed, making it the UK's worst air disaster at this date. The only two survivors both die by the time they reach a hospital.[24]
- 23 June – The Chancellor of the Exchequer Anthony Barber announced a decision to float the Pound.[25]
July
- 1 July – The first official gay pride march in London was held.[26]
- 21 July – Bloody Friday: Nine people died and over a hundred were injured in a series of IRA explosions in Belfast city centre.[27]
- 28 July – A strike by thousands of dockers led to the government announcing a state of emergency on 4 August.[28]
- 31 July – The Troubles in Northern Ireland:
- Operation Motorman, 4:00 AM: British Army began to regain control of the "no-go areas" established by Irish republican paramilitaries in Belfast, Derry ("Free Derry") and Newry.[27]
- Claudy bombing ("Bloody Monday"), 10:00 AM: Three car bombs in Claudy, County Londonderry, killed nine. It became public knowledge only in 2010 that a local Catholic priest was an IRA officer believed to be involved in the bombings but his role was covered up by the authorities.[29]
August
- 6 August – Idi Amin, dictator of Uganda, announced that 50,000 Asians with British passports are to be expelled from Uganda to the United Kingdom within the next three months as they are "sabotaging the Ugandan economy".
- 9 August – The Tim Rice and Andrew Lloyd Webber musical Jesus Christ Superstar made its West End debut.[13]
- 26 August – 10 September: Great Britain and Northern Ireland competed at the Olympics in Munich, West Germany, and win 4 gold, 5 silver and 9 bronze medals.
- 28 August – Prince William of Gloucester, a cousin of the Queen, is killed in an air crash near Wolverhampton. He was thirty years old, a bachelor and ninth-in-line to the British throne at the time.[30]
September
- 1 September – Raising of school leaving age in England and Wales from fifteen to sixteen for pupils leaving school at the end of the academic year began. Many temporary new buildings were erected in secondary modern and comprehensive schools to accommodate the older pupils, while some authorities raised the secondary school transfer age from 11 to 12 or 13.[31][32] The age was also raised in Scotland and Northern Ireland.[33]
- 11 September – The BBC1 television quiz programme Mastermind was broadcast for the first time.[13]
- 12 September – The sinking of two British trawlers by an Icelandic gunboat triggered the second Cod War.[13]
- 13 September – Hypermarkets make their debut in the United Kingdom some twenty years after their debut in France, when French retail giant Carrefour opens a hypermarket in Caerphilly, South Wales.[34]
- 18 September – Thousands of Ugandan Asians arrived in the UK after being deported by Idi Amin.[35]
- 19 September – A parcel bomb killed a diplomat at the Israeli embassy in London.[36]
October
- Three previously all-male Colleges of the University of Cambridge admitted female undergraduates.
- The lifting of restrictions on broadcasting hours permits extension of daytime television.
- 10 October – John Betjeman was appointed Poet Laureate.[13]
- 13 October – Bank rates were abolished and replaced with the Minimum Lending Rate.[13]
- 16 October – The first episode of Emmerdale Farm, a soap opera set in rural Yorkshire, was broadcast on ITV produced by Yorkshire Television.[37]
- 19 October – Royce Ryton's play about the Abdication Crisis of Edward VIII, Crown Matrimonial, premiered at the Theatre Royal, Haymarket, London, for the first time includes the portrayal of a living member of the Royal Family (Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother as The Duchess of York) on the legitimate stage.
- 22 October – Gordon Banks, the England national football team goalkeeper, suffered a serious eye injury in a car crash in Staffordshire.[38]
- 23 October – Access credit cards were introduced.[13]
November
- 6 November – The Government introduces price and pay freezes to counter inflation.[39]
- 18 November – England women's national football team played its first official association football match, against Scotland in Greenock, 100 years after the equivalent men's match.
- November – Formation in Coventry of the PEOPLE Party, predecessor of the Green Party and the first political party in Europe to promote Green politics.[40]
December
- 10 December
- John Hicks was awarded the Nobel Prize in Economics with Kenneth Arrow for "pioneering contributions to general economic equilibrium theory and welfare theory."[41]
- Rodney Robert Porter won the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine jointly with Gerald Edelman "for their discoveries concerning the chemical structure of antibodies".[42]
- December – White Paper Education: A Framework for Expansion was published by Margaret Thatcher, Secretary of State for Education, announcing planned increases in nursery provision and of polytechnics and other higher and further education institutions.
Undated
- Aardman Animations was founded.[43]
- Inflation fell slightly during the year to 6.4% from 8.6%.[44]
- Marriage rates peaked.[45]
- United Reformed Church was formed by merger of most of the Congregational Church in England and Wales with the Presbyterian Church of England.[46]
- British car production peaked at more than 1,900,000 units, despite regular strikes and increasing competition from overseas.
- Honda, the Japanese manufacturer whose motorcycles were already popular with British buyers, began importing passenger cars to the United Kingdom, beginning only with its small Civic hatchback – one of the first medium-sized cars sold in Europe to feature this bodystyle – which competed with similar sized saloons including the Ford Escort.[47] A larger hatchback and saloon model was due within the next four years to compete with the likes of the Ford Cortina.[48]
- Japanese carmaker Nissan enjoyed a surge in sales of its Datsun badged cars, with more than 30,000 cars sold in Britain this year compared to less than 7,000 in 1971. Popularity of imported Japanese products from Mazda and Toyota was also rising.
Publications
- Richard Adams novel Watership Down.
- John Berger's novel G.
- Agatha Christie's Hercule Poirot novel Elephants Can Remember.
- Archie Cochrane's Effectiveness and Efficiency: Random Reflections on Health Services, drawing attention to collective ignorance about the outcomes of health care.[49]
- John Yudkin's book on the dangers of sugar in the diet Pure, White and Deadly.
- A Blueprint for Survival first published as a special edition of The Ecologist magazine (January).[50]
Births
January–March
- 5 January – Philip Davies, politician
- 23 January – Gavin Barwell, politician
- 27 January
- Wynne Evans, Welsh operatic tenor
- Mark Owen, pop singer (Take That)
- 9 February - Darren Ferguson, footballer
- 11 February – Steve McManaman, footballer
- 16 February – Vicki Butler-Henderson, motoring journalist (Auto Express, What Car?), TV presenter (Fifth Gear) and racing driver
- 19 February – Malky Mackay, footballer
- 20 February – Gareth Unwin, film producer[51]
- 6 March – Terry Murphy, snooker player
- 20 March – Alex Kapranos, rock singer and guitarist (Franz Ferdinand)
- 24 March – Charlie Creed-Miles, actor
- 28 March – Nick Frost, actor
April–June
- 16 April – John McGuinness, motorcycle racer
- 17 April – Vicky Lupton, English racewalker
- 22 April – Sarah Patterson, actress
- 2 May – Paul Adcock, footballer
- 3 May – Katya Adler, broadcast journalist
- 5 May – James Cracknell, Olympic winning rower
- 15 May – Richard Blackwood, comedian, actor and rapper
- 23 May – Martin Saggers, cricketer and umpire
- 31 May – Archie Panjabi, screen actress
- 1 June – Daniel Casey, actor
- 3 June – Steve Crane, footballer
- 4 June – Debra Stephenson, actress
- 7 June – Curtis Robb, athlete
- 27 June – Marc Iliffe, strongman (died 2003)
July–September
- 1 July – Christopher Smiyh, film director and screenwriter
- 6 July – Mark Gasser, concert pianist[52]
- 10 July – Peter Serafinowicz, actor, voice actor, comedian, and writer
- 12 July – Jake Wood, actor
- 21 July – Justin Edwards, actor and writer
- 6 August – Geri Halliwell, singer (Spice Girls)
- 7 August – Sarah Cawood, television presenter
- 15 August – Jonathan Slinger, actor
- 17 August – David Ralph, Scottish field hockey forward
- 18 August – Victoria Coren Mitchell, writer, presenter and champion poker player
- 6 September
- Idris Elba, actor
- Martin Gooch, filmmaker
- 9 September – Natasha Kaplinsky, newsreader
- 18 September – David Jefferies, motorcycle racer (died 2003)
- 21 September
- Liam Gallagher, singer (Oasis)
- Richard Maden, breaststroke swimmer
- 29 September – Robert Webb, comic actor
October–December
- 20 October – Debbie McLeod, Scottish field hockey goalkeeper
- 27 October – Lee Clark, English footballer
- 2 November – Samantha Janus, actress
- 7 November – Danny Grewcock, rugby player
- 6 November – Thandiwe Newton, actress
- 30 November – Dan Jarvis, army officer and politician
- 6 December – Ewan Birney, scientist
- 12 December – Nicky Eaden, English footballer and coach
- 14 December
- Miranda Hart, actress, comedian
- Jonathan Slinger, actor
- 20 December – Sarah Jones, politician
- 21 December – Gloria De Piero, English journalist and politician, Shadow Minister for Women and Equalities
- 29 December – Jude Law, actor
Deaths
January–March
- 19 February – John Grierson, documentary film maker (born 1898)
- 25 February – S. O. Davies, Welsh miner, trade union official and politician (born 1883 or 1886)[53]
- 29 February – Violet Trefusis, writer and socialite (born 1894)
- 13 March – Tony Ray-Jones, photographer (born 1941)
- 21 March – David McCallum Sr., violinist and the father of David McCallum (born 1897)
- 29 March – J. Arthur Rank, industrialist and film producer (born 1888)
April–June
- 11 May – E. V. Rieu, poet (born 1887)
- 22 May
- Cecil Day-Lewis, poet (born 1904)
- Margaret Rutherford, actress (born 1892)
- 28 May – the Duke of Windsor (formerly Edward VIII; born 1894)
July–September
- 26 August – Francis Chichester, aviator and sailor (born 1901)[54]
- 28 August – Prince William of Gloucester (air crash) (born 1941)
- 15 September – Geoffrey Fisher, Archbishop of Canterbury (born 1887)[55]
October–December
- 1 October – Louis Leakey, palaeontologist (born 1903)[56]
- 2 October – Syd Puddefoot, footballer (born 1894)
- 15 October – Douglas Smith, broadcaster (born 1924)
- 28 November – Havergal Brian, composer (born 1876)[57]
- 30 November – Sir Compton Mackenzie, novelist and Scottish nationalist (born 1883)[58]
- 6 December – Janet Munro, actress (born 1934)[59]
- 13 December – L. P. Hartley, writer (born 1895)[60]
- 24 December – Gisela Richter, art historian (born 1882)
References
- Becket, Andy. When the Lights Went Out. p. 63.
- "Miners strike against government". BBC News. 9 January 1972. Archived from the original on 12 January 2008. Retrieved 27 January 2008.
- "UK unemployment tops one million". BBC News. 20 January 1972. Archived from the original on 23 January 2008. Retrieved 27 January 2008.
- "Unemployment in the 1930s and Now". Socialist Studies. Retrieved 10 February 2012.
- Palmer, Alan; Veronica (1992). The Chronology of British History. London: Century Ltd. pp. 433–434. ISBN 0-7126-5616-2.
- "91 Hurt in London in Ulster Protest". The New York Times. 6 February 1972.
- "IRA bomb kills six at Aldershot barracks". BBC News. 22 February 1972. Archived from the original on 7 March 2008. Retrieved 27 January 2008.
- "Miners call off crippling coal strike". BBC News. 25 February 1972. Archived from the original on 13 January 2008. Retrieved 27 January 2008.
- King, Stanley (1994). Bradford Trolleybuses. Glossop: Venture. ISBN 1-898432-03-1.
- "CND begins march to Aldermaston". BBC News. 31 March 1972. Retrieved 10 February 2012.
- "New Big Ford the Granada". MotorSport: 31. April 1972. Retrieved 21 July 2019.
- "'Bloody Sunday' report excuses Army". BBC News. 19 April 1972. Archived from the original on 6 January 2008. Retrieved 27 January 2008.
- Penguin Pocket On This Day. Penguin Reference Library. 2006. ISBN 0-14-102715-0.
- "1972 Leeds United". The FA Cup. Archived from the original on 20 January 2007. Retrieved 21 July 2019.
- "Derby Take Title". The Sydney Morning Herald. 10 May 1972. Retrieved 10 February 2012.
- Mount, Ferdinand (2004). Mind the Gap: the new class divide in Britain. London: Short Book. ISBN 1904095941.
- "European Club Football Finals (1970s)". sporting-heroes.net. Retrieved 10 February 2012.
- "M6 Junction 6". Route 6: The A6 and M6 Website. Retrieved 10 February 2012.
- "Thomas Cook packaged and sold". BBC News. 26 May 1972. Archived from the original on 5 January 2008. Retrieved 27 January 2008.
- "Official IRA declares ceasefire". BBC News. 30 May 1972. Archived from the original on 2 January 2008. Retrieved 27 January 2008.
- "London's 'forgotten' rollercoaster disaster". BBC News. Retrieved 27 April 2022.
- "Protestant march ends in battle". BBC News. 3 June 1972. Archived from the original on 7 March 2008. Retrieved 27 January 2008.
- "Duke of Windsor laid to rest". BBC News. 5 June 1972. Archived from the original on 13 January 2008. Retrieved 27 January 2008.
- "UK's worst air crash kills 118". BBC News. 18 June 1972. Archived from the original on 7 March 2008. Retrieved 27 January 2008.
- "Chancellor orders pound flotation". BBC News. 23 June 1972. Archived from the original on 7 March 2008. Retrieved 27 January 2008.
- "Your London". Retrieved 2 April 2008.
- CAIN: Chronology of the Conflict – 1972
- "National dock strike begins". BBC News. 28 July 1972. Archived from the original on 11 January 2008. Retrieved 27 January 2008.
- "Claudy bomb: conspiracy allowed IRA priest to go free". BBC News Northern Ireland. 24 August 2010. Archived from the original on 25 August 2010. Retrieved 25 August 2010.
- "1972: Prince William killed in plane crash". BBC News. 28 August 1972.
- "Attendance FAQs". DfES.gov.uk. 26 August 2009. Archived from the original on 11 May 2008. Retrieved 25 August 2010.
- "Education leaving age". Politics.co.uk. 12 June 2007. Archived from the original on 23 December 2007. Retrieved 25 August 2010.
- Legislation dated 20 January and 14 April respectively.
- "The Hypermarket – Gold mine or white elephant". International Journal of Retail & Distribution Management. MCB. 1 (6): 42–44. doi:10.1108/eb017761. Retrieved 18 April 2011.
- "Expelled Ugandans arrive in UK". BBC News. 18 September 1972. Archived from the original on 7 March 2008. Retrieved 27 January 2008.
- "Parcel bomb attack on Israeli embassy. It was one of eight such bombs issued to diplomats, the other 7 being discovered". BBC News. 19 September 1972. Archived from the original on 7 March 2008. Retrieved 27 January 2008.
- "Emmerdale Farm Episode 1". 2002. Archived from the original on 15 December 2010. Retrieved 10 February 2012.
- "Gordon Banks, englandcaps.co.uk". Archived from the original on 28 September 2010. Retrieved 11 October 2010.
- "Pay and price freeze aims to curb inflation". BBC News. 6 November 1972. Archived from the original on 7 March 2008. Retrieved 27 January 2008.
- Encyclopedia of Ecology and Environmental Management. John Wiley & Sons. 2009. p. 220. ISBN 978-1-4443-1324-6.
- "The Sveriges Riksbank Prize in Economic Sciences in Memory of Alfred Nobel 1972". Retrieved 27 January 2008.
- "The Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine 1972". Retrieved 27 January 2008.
- "Aardman History". Culture. Retrieved 15 January 2022.
- "Inflation: the Value of the Pound 1750–1998" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 19 February 2006. Retrieved 11 October 2010.
- Marr, Andrew (2007). A History of Modern Britain. London: Macmillan. p. 273. ISBN 978-1-4050-0538-8.
- United Reformed Church Act 1972.
- "30 Years of the Honda Civic". CarPages. 23 February 2002. Retrieved 10 February 2012.
- "Accord (1976–1982)". www.hondaclassiccars.co.uk. Archived from the original on 19 February 2004. Retrieved 21 July 2019.
- "About the Cochrane Library". The Cochrane Library. Archived from the original on 5 January 2011. Retrieved 25 January 2011.
- "About The Ecologist". The Ecologist. Retrieved 21 January 2011.
- 83rd Academy Awards Official Website.
- ""Over 200 Famous or Infamous People and Characters with Local Connections who have Contributed to Sheffield's fame and fortune" .pdf". sheffield.gov.uk. sheffield.gov.uk/libraries. Archived from the original on 20 February 2008. Retrieved 27 November 2007.
- https://biography.wales/article/s6-DAVI-OWE-1886
- Whitaker's Almanack. J. Whitaker & Sons. 1973. p. 560.
- Webster, Alan. "Fisher, Geoffrey Francis, Baron Fisher of Lambeth", Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University Press, 2004. Retrieved 5 December 2019 (subscription or UK public library membership required)
- Reed Business Information (8 September 1977). New Scientist. Reed Business Information. p. 573.
- Malcolm MacDonald (1983). The Symphonies of Havergal Brian: Symphonies 30-32, survey, and summing-up. Taplinger Publishing Company. p. 63. ISBN 978-0-8008-7528-2.
- Harold Orel (1 January 1992). Popular Fiction in England, 1914-1918. University Press of Kentucky. p. 91. ISBN 0-8131-1789-5.
- "Obituary". Variety. 13 December 1972. p. 63.
- Jones, Edward T. (1978). L.P. Hartley. G.K. Hall & Co.: Twayne Publishers. pp. 13–200. ISBN 978-0805767032.
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