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1940 in the United Kingdom:

Other years

1938 | 1939 | 1940 | 1941 | 1942

World War II

UK during World War II

Events from the year 1940 in the United Kingdom.

Incumbents

• Monarch - George VI of the United Kingdom
• Prime Minister - Neville Chamberlain, national coalition (until 10 May), Winston Churchill, coalition

Events

• 8 January - Food rationing introduced.^[1]
• 16 February - Royal Navy destroyer HMS Cossack pursues German freighter Altmark into Jossingfjord in southwestern Norway, resulting in freedom for 290 British sailors and seamen held as prisoners.
• 29 March - Metal security threads added to £1 notes to prevent forgeries.^[1]
• 31 March - 33 fascist sympathisers, including Oswald Mosley, interned.^[2]
• 9 April - The British campaign in Norway is commences following the German invasion of Denmark and Norway.
• 12 April - British troop occupy the Faroe Islands, following the invasion of Denmark, to avert a possible German occupation of the islands.
• 9 May - Guy Lloyd wins the East Renfrewshire by-election.
• 10 May - Neville Chamberlain resigns as Prime Minister, and is replaced by Winston Churchill.^[1]
• 13 May - Winston Churchill, makes his famous "I have nothing to offer you but blood, toil, tears, and sweat" speech to the House of Commons.
• 14 May
  • Queen Wilhelmina of the Netherlands and her government arrive in London following the German invasion of France and the Low Countries.
  • Recruitment begins for a home defense force - the Local Defence Volunteers, later known as the Home Guard.^[1]
• 22 May - Parliament passes the Emergency Powers Act 1940 giving the government full control over all persons and property.
• 26 May to 4 June - The Dunkirk evacuation of British Expeditionary Force takes place. 300,000 troops are evacuated from France to England.

A Supermarine Spitfire, used by the RAF during the Battle of Britain.

• 4 June - Churchill makes his We shall fight on the beaches speech to the House of Commons.^[1]
• 9 June - The British Commandos are created.
• 10 June - Italy declares war on France and the United Kingdom.
• 18 June
  • Churchill makes his Battle of Britain speech to the House of Commons, "...the Battle of France is over. The Battle of Britain is about to begin... This was their finest hour."
  • Charles de Gaulle broadcasts an appeal to the French people from London.
• 30 June - German forces land in Guernsey marking the start of the 5-year Occupation of the Channel Islands
• 9 July - The Battle of Britain begins.
• 19 July - Adolf Hitler makes peace appeal to the UK in an address to the Reichstag. Lord Halifax, British foreign minister, flatly rejects peace terms in a broadcast reply on July 22.
• 9 August - Birmingham Blitz: Heavy bombing of Birmingham begins.
• 20 August - Churchill pays tribute to the Royal Air Force: "Never in the field of human conflict was so much owed by so many to so few."^[1]
• 24 August - First aid raid on London takes place.
• 26 August - World War II: The RAF bomb Berlin for the first time.^[1]
• 7 September - The Blitz begins. This will be the first of 57 consecutive nights of strategic bombing on London.^[1]
• 15 September - RAF command claims victory over the Luftwaffe in the Battle of the Britain; this day is thereafter known as "Battle of Britain Day".^[3]
• 23 September - King George VI announces the creation of the George Cross decoration during a radio broadcast.^[1]
• 31 October - The Battle of Britain ends.
• 11 November - Battle of Taranto - The Royal Navy launches the first aircraft carrier strike in history, on the Italian fleet at Taranto.
• 14 November - Coventry Blitz: Coventry is destroyed by 500 German Luftwaffe bombers (150,000 fire bombs, 503 tons of high explosives, 130 parachute mines leveled 60,000 of the city's 75,000 buildings; 568 people were killed).^[1]
• 23 November - Southampton Blitz: Southampton is bombed.^[4]
• 24 November - Bristol Blitz: beginning of the bombing of Bristol.
• 12 December–15 December - Sheffield Blitz: the city of Sheffield is heavily bombed.
• 20 December - Liverpool Blitz: Liverpool is heavily bombed.
• 22 December - Manchester Blitz: Manchester is heavily bombed.
• 29 December - Heavy bombing in London causes the Second Great Fire of London.^[1]

Publications

• Agatha Christie's Hercule Poirot novels Sad Cypress and One, Two, Buckle My Shoe.
• Graham Greene's novel The Power and the Glory.
• Michael Sadleir's novel Fanny by Gaslight.
• C. P. Snow's novel George Passant.

Births

• 4 January - Professor Brian Josephson, scientist
• 14 January - Trevor Nunn, stage and film director
• 22 January - John Hurt, actor
• 23 January
  • Brian Labone, footballer (died 2006)
  • Ted Rowlands, politician
• 2 February - David Jason, actor
• 6 February - Jimmy Tarbuck, comedian
• 20 February - Jimmy Greaves, footballer and television pundit
• 24 February
  • Denis Law, Scottish footballer
  • John Lyall, football player and manager (died 2006)
• 1 March - David Broome, show jumping champion
• 15 March - Frank Dobson, politician
• 2 April - Penelope Keith, actress
• 15 April - Jeffrey Archer, Baron Archer of Weston-super-Mare, English author and former politician
• 17 April - Billy Fury, singer songwriter (died 1983)
• 7 May - Angela Carter, novelist and journalist (died 1992)
• 13 May - Bruce Chatwin, novelist and travel writer (died 1989)
• 16 May - Sir Gareth Roberts, physicist (died 2007)
• 7 June - Tom Jones, singer
• 8 June - Carole Ann Ford, actress
• 20 June - John Mahoney, actor
• 23 June
  • Adam Faith, actor and singer (died 2003)
  • Lord Irvine of Lairg, Lord Chancellor of England
• 29 June - John Dawes, rugby player
• 7 July - Ringo Starr, English drummer (The Beatles)
• 13 July - Patrick Stewart, actor
• 17 July - Tim Brooke-Taylor, English radio and television personality
• 9 October - John Lennon, musician and singer (The Beatles) (died 1980)
• 14 October - Cliff Richard, singer and actor
• 19 October - Sir Michael Gambon, actor
• 14 November - Freddie Garrity, singer (died 2006)
• 22 December - Noel Jones, British Ambassador to Kazakhstan (died 1995)

Deaths

• 11 February - John Buchan, novelist and politician (born 1875)
• 17 June - Arthur Harden, chemist, Nobel Prize laureate (born 1865)
• 22 August - Oliver Joseph Lodge, physicist (born 1851)
• 30 August - J.J. Thomson, physicist, Nobel Prize laureate (born 1856)
• 26 September - W. H. Davies, poet and author (born 1871)
• 9 October - Sir Wilfred Grenfell, medical missionary to Newfoundland and Labrador (born 1865)
• 2 November - Archie McKellar, fighter ace (killed in Battle of Britain)
• 9 November - Neville Chamberlain, former Prime Minister (born 1869)
• date unknown - William Wallace, composer

References

See also