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1962 in the United Kingdom:

Other years

1960 | 1961 | 1962 | 1963 | 1964

Sport and Music

British and Irish current events

1962 English cricket season

Football England | Scotland

1962 in British music

Events from the year 1962 in the United Kingdom.

Incumbents

• Monarch - HM Queen Elizabeth II
• Prime Minister - Harold Macmillan, Conservative Party

Events

• 5 January - The Beatles' first record , "My Bonnie" with Tony Sheridan, is released by Polydor.
• 22 January - James Hanratty goes on trial for the A6 murder. He denies the murder of 36-year-old Michael Gregsten and the attempted murder of Mr Gregsten's mistress Valerie Storie, who was paralysed by a gunshot wound.^[1]
• 4 February - The Sunday Times becomes the first paper to print a colour supplement.^[2]
• 23 February - Twelve European countries form the European Space Agency.
• 13 March - A by-election is held in Blackpool North.
• 14 March - A by-election is held in Middlesbrough East.
• 15 March - The Orpington by-election of 1962, often described as the start of the Liberal Party revival in the UK, has Liberal Eric Lubbock upsetting the expected winner, Conservative candidate Peter Goldman for the seat in Orpington.
• 2 April - Panda crossings are introduced but cause confusion amongst drivers and pedestrians.^[3]
• 4 April - James Hanratty is hanged at Bedford Prison for the A6 murder, despite protestations from many people who believed he was innocent, and the late introduction of witnesses who claimed to have seen him in Rhyl, North Wales, on the day of the murder.
• 18 April - The Commonwealth Immigration Bill in the United Kingdom removes free immigration from the citizens of member states of the Commonwealth of Nations.
• 5 May - Tottenham Hotspur retain the FA Cup with a 3-1 win over Burnley at Wembley Stadium.
• 25 May - The new Coventry Cathedral is consecrated.^[2]
• 31 May - The Northern Ireland general election again produces a large majority for the Ulster Unionist Party, winning 34 out of 51 seats, though the Nationalist Party gains two seats for a total of 9.
• 1 July - Another heavy smog develops over London.
• 11 July - Live television broadcast from the USA to Britain for the first time, via the Telstar satellite.^[4]
• 12 July - The Rolling Stones make their debut at London's Marquee Club, Number 165 Oxford Street, opening for Long John Baldry.
• 13 July - In what the press dubs the "the Night of the Long Knives", United Kingdom Prime Minister Harold Macmillan dismisses one-third of his Cabinet.
• 20 July - the world's first regular passenger hovercraft service introduced between Rhyl in North Wales and Wallasey.^[2]
• 28 July - Race riots break out in Dudley, Worcestershire.^[5]
• 31 July - A crowd assaults the rally of the right-wing Union Movement of Sir Oswald Mosley in London.^[6]
• 4 August - Cymdeithas yr Iaith Gymraeg, the Welsh Language Society, is founded.
• 6 August - Jamaica becomes independent.^[7]
• 23 August - John Lennon secretly marries Cynthia Powell.
• 31 August
  • Trinidad and Tobago gains its independence.^[7]
  • Mountaineers Chris Bonington and Ian Clough becomes the first Britons to climb the north face of the Eiger.^[2]
• 21 September
  • New Musical Express publishes a story about two 13-year-old schoolgirls, Sue and Mary, releasing a disc on Decca, and adds, "A Liverpool group, The Beatles, have recorded 'Love Me Do' for Parlophone, set for October 5 release."
  • First broadcast of the long-running quiz programme University Challenge.^[2]
• 5 October - Dr No, the first James Bond film, is released, with 32-year-old Sean Connery playing the starring character, a British Secret Service secret agent. [ http://www.mi6.co.uk/sections/movies/dn.php3]
• 9 October - Uganda gains its independence.^[7]
• 17 October - The Beatles make their first televised appearance on People and Places.^[2]
• 31 October - The UN General Assembly asks the United Kingdom to suspend enforcement of the new constitution in Southern Rhodesia (now Zimbabwe), but the constitution comes into effect on November 1.
• 22 November - A by-election is held in Chippenham, Wiltshire.
• 24 November - The first episode of influential satire show That Was The Week That Was broadcast on the BBC.^[4]
• 29 November - An agreement is signed between Britain and France to develop the Concorde supersonic airliner.^[2]
• 2 December to 7 December - severe smog in London causes numerous deaths.^[4]
• 9 December - Tanganyika (now Tanzania) becomes a republic within the Commonwealth, with Julius Nyerere as president.
• 10 December
  • Britons Francis Crick and Maurice Wilkins, along with American James D. Watson, win the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine "for their discoveries concerning the molecular structure of nucleic acids and its significance for information transfer in living material".^[8]
  • British biochemists Max Perutz and John Cowdery Kendrew win the Nobel Prize in Chemistry for their work in investigating the structure of haem-containing proteins.^[9]
• 19 December - Britain acknowledges the right of Nyasaland (now Malawi) to secede from the Central African Federation.
• 21 December - Britain agrees to buy the Polaris missile system from the United States.^[10]
• 22 December - "Big Freeze" in Britain: no frost-free nights until 5 March 1963.
• 30 December - United Nations troops occupy the last rebel positions in Katanga; Moise Tshombe moves to South Rhodesia.

Undated

• Advertising Standards Authority founded.^[7]
• Ford launches its new Cortina family car, which will be built at the Dagenham plant in London.

Publications

• Anthony Burgess's novel A Clockwork Orange.
• Agatha Christie's Miss Marple novel The Mirror Crack'd from Side to Side.
• Ian Fleming's James Bond novel The Spy Who Loved Me.
• Aldous Huxley's novel Island.
• Doris Lessing's novel The Golden Notebook.

Births

January - April

• 25 January - Emma Freud, English broadcaster and cultural commentator
• 7 February - Eddie Izzard, British actor and comedian
• 8 February - Malorie Blackman, British author
• 12 February - Jimmy Kirkwood, Irish-born field hockey player
• 21 February - Vanessa Feltz, British television presenter
• 25 February - John Lanchester, British journalist and novelist
• 4 March - Simon Bisley, British comic book artist
• 12 March - Graham Charles Stuart, British Conservative politician and MP for Beverley and Holderness
• 17 March - Clare Grogan, Scottish actress and singer
• 23 March - Steve Redgrave, English rower
• 1 April - Phillip Schofield, British TV presenter
• 9 April - Imran Sherwani, British field hockey player
• 22 April - Ann McKechin, British Labour politician and MP for Glasgow North
• 23 April - John Hannah, Scottish actor
• April 24 — Roald Bradstock, English javelin thrower
• 26 April - Colin Anderson, English footballer

May - August

• 2 May - Jimmy White, British snooker player
• 6 May - Tom Brake, British Liberal Democrat politician and MP for Carshalton and Wallington
• 9 May - David Gahan, English singer (Depeche Mode)
• 14 May - Ian Astbury, British singer (The Cult)
• 17 May
  • Craig Ferguson, Scottish actor and television presenter
  • Alan Johnston, journalist
• 8 June - Nick Rhodes, English musician (Duran Duran)
• 25 June - Phill Jupitus, comedian and broadcaster
• 27 June - Michael Ball, singer
• 29 June - Amanda Donohoe, English actress
• 4 July - Neil Morrissey, English actor
• 1 August - Robert Clift, British field hockey player
• 15 August - Attracta, English lady
• 20 August - Sophie Aldred, British actress and television presenter
• 30 August - Alexander Litvinenko, British citizen, ex-KGB colonel and ex-FSB lieutenant-colonel (died 2006)

September - December

• 5 September - Peter Wingfield, Welsh actor
• 24 September
  • Jack Dee, British comedian
  • Ally McCoist, Scottish footballer and TV pundit and A Question of Sport team captain
• 26 September - Tracey Thorn, British singer
• 5 October - Caron Keating, British TV presenter (died 2004)
• 11 October - Nicola Bryant, British actress
• 18 October - Naive John, British Stuckist artist and figurative painter
• 25 October - Nick Hancock, British actor and television presenter
• 26 October - Cary Elwes, British actor
• 3 November
  • Marilyn, British musician
  • Jacqui Smith, politician
• 12 November - Mariella Frostrup, British journalist and television presenter
• 24 November - John Kovalic, Anglo-American cartoonist
• 27 November - Samantha Bond, British actress
• 3 December - Richard Bacon, British Conservative politician and MP for South Norfolk
• 17 December - Paul Dobson, English footballer
• 22 December - Ralph Fiennes, English actor
• 31 December - Heather McCartney (born Heather Louise See), stepdaughter of Sir Paul McCartney

Unknown dates

• Daljit Dhaliwal, British newsreader and television presenter
• Hugh Dennis, British actor, comedian and writer (The Now Show)
• Steve Punt, British actor, comedian and writer (The Now Show)
• Boothby Graffoe, English comedian, singer, songwriter and playwright
• Randy Lerner, American entrepreneur and owner of Aston Villa
• John Micklethwait, British journalist and editor-in-chief of The Economist magazine
• Saskia Reeves, British actress
• Colin Salmon, British actor
• Polly Samson, British journalist and writer
• Alan Yau, British restaurateur (Wagamama food chain)

Deaths

• 10 April - Stuart Sutcliffe, English artist and musician (The Beatles) (born 1940)
• 5 May - Ernest Tyldesley, English cricketer (born 1889)
• 2 June - Vita Sackville-West, English writer and landscape gardener (born 1892)
• 12 June - John Ireland, English composer (born 1879)
• 13 June - Eugène Aynsley Goossens, English composer (born 1893)
• 21 July - G.M. Trevelyan, English historian (born 1876)
• 27 July - Richard Aldington, English poet (born 1892)
• 15 December - Charles Laughton, English actor and director (born 1899)

See also

• UK No.1 Hits of 1962
• List of Statutory Instruments of the United Kingdom, 1962
• Society of Film and Television Arts Television Awards 1962

References

See also