1969 in the United Kingdom:

Other years

1967 | 1968 | 1969 | 1970 | 1971

Sport and Music

British and Irish current events

1969 English cricket season

Football England | Scotland

1969 in British music

Events from the year 1969 in the United Kingdom.

[edit] Incumbents

• Monarch - HM Queen Elizabeth II
• Prime Minister - Harold Wilson, Labour Party

[edit] Events

• 2 January - Australian media baron Rupert Murdoch purchases the largest selling British Sunday newspaper The News of the World.^[1]
• 4 January - Guitarist Jimi Hendrix causes complaints of arrogance from television producers after playing an impromptu version of "Sunshine of your Love" past his allotted timeslot on the BBC1 show Happening for Lulu.
• 5 January - The Derry Riots leave over 100 people injured.
• 10 January - protestors in Northern Ireland defy police orders to abandon a planned march.^[2]
• 14 January - Sir Matt Busby, hugely successful manager of Manchester United F.C. for the last 24 years, announces his retirement as manager. He will become a director at the end of the season, and hand over first-team duties to current first team trainer and former player Wilf McGuinness.^[3]
• 18 January - Pete Best wins his defamation lawsuit against the Beatles. Best had originally sought $8 million, but ended up being awarded much less.
• 24 January - Violent protests by students close the London School of Economics, which does not re-open for three weeks.^[4]
• 27 January
  • London School of Economics students occupy the University of London Union building in Malet Street in protest at the closure of the LSE.^[5]
  • Reverend Ian Paisley, hardline Protestant leader in Northern Ireland, is jailed for 3 months for illegal assembly.
• 30 January - The Beatles give their last public performance, on the roof of Apple Records.^[6] The impromptu concert is broken up by the police.
• 18 February - Pop star Lulu, 20, marries Maurice Gibb of the Bee Gees.^[7]
• 2 March - Maiden flight of Concorde.^[6]
• 4 March - The Kray twins are both found guilty of murder; Ronnie of murdering George Cornell, Reggie of murdering Jack McVitie. Both will be sentenced later in the month.^[8]
• 7 March - Opening of the London Underground Victoria Line by the Queen.^[6]
• 12 March - Paul McCartney marries Linda Eastman.^[6]
• 17 March - The Longhope lifeboat in Scotland is lost; the entire crew of 8 die.
• 19 March
  • British paratroopers and Marines land on the island of Anguilla.
  • A 385 metre tall TV-mast at Emley Moor collapses because of icing.
• 20 March - The Kray twins, Ronald and Reginald, are found guilty of murder.
• 21 March - The Kray twins are sentenced to life imprisonment with a recommended minimum of 30 years which is expected to keep them behind bars until at least 1998.
• 25 March - John Lennon and Yoko Ono marry in Gibraltar.
• 29 March - The UK shares the win of the Eurovision Song Contest, in a four-way tie with France, Spain, and the Netherlands. Lulu represents the UK, singing "Boom bang-a-bang".
• 1 April - The Hawker Siddeley Harrier enters service with the RAF.
• 9 April - Sikh busmen in Wolverhampton win the right to wear turbans on duty.^[9]
• 17 April
  • Representation of the People Act 1969 lowers the voting age from 22 to 18.^[6]
  • Bernadette Devlin McAliskey wins the Mid Ulster by-election and becomes the youngest ever female MP at 21-years-old.^[6]
• 20 April - British troops arrive in Northern Ireland to reinforce the Royal Ulster Constabulary.
• 22 April - Robin Knox-Johnston becomes the first person to sail around the world solo without stopping.
• 24 April
  • British Leyland Motor Corporation launches its first hatchback car, the Austin Maxi, following a new European design concept started in 1965 by French carmaker Renault's R16 range.
  • Broadcast of the final episode of the long-running radio serial drama Mrs Dale's Diary.^[6]
• 2 May - The ocean liner Queen Elizabeth 2 departs on her maiden voyage to New York City.^[6]
• 24 June - The United Kingdom and Rhodesia sever diplomatic ties.
• 1 July - Charles, Prince of Wales, is invested with his title at Caernarfon.^[6]
• 3 July - Swansea granted city status.
• 10 July - The trimaran Teignmouth Electron of Donald Crowhurst is found drifting and unoccupied; Crowhurst might have committed suicide.
• 12 July - Golfer Tony Jacklin wins The Open Championship.^[6]
• 24 July - British lecturer Gerald Brooke freed from a Soviet prison in exchange for the spies Morris and Lona Cohen.^[10]
• 1 August - The pre-decimal halfpenny ceases to be legal tender.^[6]
• 12 August
  • Rioting breaks out in Derry, Northern Ireland in the Battle of the Bogside, the first major confrontation of The Troubles.
  • Jack Lynch, Taoiseach of the Republic of Ireland, makes a speech to the United Nations, in which he asks them to deploy a peace-keeping mission in Northern Ireland.
• 13 August–17 August - Sectarian rioting breaks out in Northern Ireland.
• 14 August - British troops are deployed in Northern Ireland to restore law and order.^[11]
• 19 August - Three-day long Isle of Wight pop music festival begins, attracting 150,000 fans.^[12]
• 11 September - Housing charity Shelter releases a report claiming that there are up to 3 million people in need of rehousing due to poor living conditions.^[13]
• 16 September - Iconic 1960s fashion store Biba reopens on Kensington High Street.^[6]
• 21 September - police evict squatters from the London Street Commune.^[14]
• 26 September - The Beatles release what will be their final album (Abbey Road) recorded together.
• 5 October - Monty Python's Flying Circus airs its first episode on the BBC.^[6]
• 10 October - The government accepts the recommendations of Lord Hunt's report on policing in Northern Ireland including the abolition of the Ulster Special Constabulary.^[15]
• 14 October - The new seven-sided 50p coin is introduced.^[16]
• 15 November - Regular colour television broadcasts begin on BBC1 and ITV.
• 25 November - John Lennon returns his OBE to protest against the British government's involvement in Biafra and support of the U.S. war in Vietnam.^[6]
• 10 December - Derek Harold Richard Barton wins the Nobel Prize in Chemistry jointly with Odd Hassel "for their contributions to the development of the concept of conformation and its application in chemistry".^[17]
• 18 December - The abolition of the death penalty for murder is made permanent by Parliament.^[6]

[edit] Publications

• Kingsley Amis's novel The Green Man.
• Agatha Christie's Hercule Poirot novel Hallowe'en Party.
• John Fowles' novel The French Lieutenant's Woman.
• P. H. Newby's novel Something to Answer For.

[edit] Births

• January - David Mitchell, author
• 13 January - Stephen Hendry, British snooker player
• February 19 — Stewart Faulkner, English long jumper
• 21 February - James Dean Bradfield, Welsh musician (Manic Street Preachers)
• 1 March - Dafydd Ieuan, Welsh drummer (Super Furry Animals)
• 6 May - Jim Magilton, Northern Irish footballer
• May 21 - Martin Harris, English backstroke swimmer
• 26 July - Tanni Grey-Thompson, British Paralympian
• 29 August - Joe Swail, Northern Irish snooker player
• September 20 — Jo Jennings, English high jumper
• 25 September - Catherine Zeta-Jones, Welsh actress
• 26 September - Paul Warhurst, English football player
• 13 November - Gerard Butler, Scottish actor
• 18 December - Irvin Duguid, Scottish keyboard player (Stiltskin)
• 19 December - Richard Hammond, British TV presenter
• 24 December - Ed Miliband, politician
• 30 December - Jay Kay, English singer (Jamiroquai)

[edit] Deaths

• 4 January - Violet and Daisy Hilton, English conjoined twin actresses (born 1908)
• 8 January - Albert Hill, British athlete (born 1889)
• 11 January - Richmal Crompton, writer (born 1890)
• 25 January - Irene Castle, English dancer (born 1893)
• 2 February - Boris Karloff, English actor (born 1887)
• 14 February - Kenneth Horne, comedian (born 1907)
• 11 March - John Wyndham, British author (born 1903)
• 25 March - Billy Cotton, British entertainer and bandleader (born 1899)
• 4 May - Osbert Sitwell, English writer (born 1892)
• 3 July - Brian Jones, British musician (The Rolling Stones) (born 1942)
• 9 August - Cecil Frank Powell, British physicist, Nobel Prize laureate (born 1903)
• 27 August - Ivy Compton-Burnett, English novelist (born 1884)
• 18 November - Ted Heath, bandleader (born 1902)
• 5 December - Princess Alice of Battenberg, wife of Prince Andrew of Greece and Denmark and mother of Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh (born 1885)

[edit] References

[edit] See also