1974 Oxford Street bombing

In August 1974, an IRA active service unit had been sent to England. They opened their campaign with two devastating bombs in Guildford pubs which killed four off-duty British soldiers, one civilian and injured over 60 people. In the run up to Christmas 1974, the unit carried out a string of attacks. On 11 December, the unit carried out a bomb attack on the Long Bar of the Naval and Military Club in Piccadilly. A few minutes later, other members of the unit carried out a gun attack on the Cavalry Club; nobody was injured in either attack. On 14 December, the unit carried out a gun attack on the Churchill Hotel in Portman Square, London; three people were injured. On 17 December, three time bombs exploded at telephone exchanges in London. In one of the explosions, George Arthur, a post office telephonist, was killed and another person was injured.[3]

On Thursday 19 December 1974 the IRA unit loaded a light blue Ford Cortina with 150 pounds (68 kg) of gelignite explosive into the boot of the car, the bomb was fitted with a pocket watch timing device and then primed. This was the largest IRA bomb used in England up to that point. The IRA members drove the bomb car into Oxford Street and parked it at the side of Selfridge's building. At around 20:40 the leader of the IRA unit Joe O'Connell telephoned a warning to the Daily Mirror in London, giving security and emergency services about 15 – 20 minutes to clear the area. Shortly after 21:00 the bomb exploded.[4] The blast could be heard up to 2 miles (3.2 km) away at St. Paul's Cathedral.[5] The explosion shattered glass and blew in doors in shop fronts hundreds of yards away. O'Connell had used 160 sticks of gelignite to construct the bomb, this had been the largest bomb the IRA had exploded in England up until that point and the explosion was later estimated to have caused £1.5 million worth of damage. Despite the warnings, nine people were injured and several people were treated for shock.[6][7][8]

Just outside Selfridges on Oxford Street yards from where the car bomb exploded

A ceasefire between the IRA and the British forces in Northern Ireland was called in February 1975 and extended to mainland Britain. The ceasefire in Britain broke down in August 1975 when the IRA bombed a pub in Caterham injuring 33 people. This signaled the renewal of the bombing campaign in England. Oxford Street was again bombed by the IRA unit on 28 August 1975; an undiscovered bomb that had been booby trapped exploded without any injuries.[9] The IRA unit was finally caught at the Balcombe St siege in December 1975, and the four man unit spent 23 years in prison before being released in 1998.[10]

Oxford Street was targeted by IRA bombs many other times: twice in 1975, 1976, 1977, 1981, 1991 1992 and several times in both 1993 and 1994.[11][12] The 26 October 1981 bombing killed 49 year old Kenneth Howorth, the Metropolitan Police explosives officer who was attempting to defuse the bomb which was planted in a basement toilet in a Wimpy Bar on Oxford Street.[13]

• "SYND 19 12 74 AFTERMATH OF OXFORD STREET BOMB BLAST - YouTube". youtube.com.

• Chronology of Provisional Irish Republican Army actions (1970–79)