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1968 in the United Kingdom:

Other years

1966 | 1967 | 1968 | 1969 | 1970

Sport and Music

British and Irish current events

1968 English cricket season

Football England | Scotland

1968 in British music

Events from the year 1968 in the United Kingdom.

Incumbents

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

Events

• January - The 'I'm Backing Britain' campaign encouraging workers to work extra hours without pay, or take other actions to help competitiveness, spreads across Britain.
• 4 February - 96 Indians and Pakistanis arrive in Britain from Kenya. Some 1,500 Asians have now arrived in Britain from Kenya, where they were forced out by increasingly draconian immigration laws. [1]
• 6 February–18 February - Great Britain and Northern Ireland compete at the 1968 Winter Olympics in Grenoble, France, but do not win any medals.
• 29 February - announcement of the discovery of the first pulsar by astronomer Jocelyn Bell Burnell at University of Cambridge.^[1]
• 12 March - Mauritius achieves independence from British Rule.^[2]
• 15 March - George Brown, British Foreign Secretary, resigns.
• 17 March - A demonstration in London's Grosvenor Square against U.S. involvement in the Vietnam War leads to violence - 91 police injured, 200 demonstrators arrested.
• 1 April - Thames Valley Police is formed by the amalgamation of Berkshire Constabulary, Buckinghamshire Constabulary, Oxford City Police, Oxfordshire Constabulary and Reading Borough Police.
• 7 April - Motor Racing world champion Jim Clark, 32, is killed when his car leaves the track at 170 mph and smashes into a tree during a Formula 2 race at Hockenheim.^[3]
• 18 April - London Bridge sold to American entrepreneur Robert P. McCulloch who rebuilt it in Arizona.^[1]
• 20 April - Enoch Powell makes his controversial Rivers of Blood Speech.^[4]
• 22 April - Enoch Powell is dismissed from the Shadow Cabinet by Opposition leader Edward Heath due to the Rivers of Blood Speech, despite several opinion polls stating that Mr Powell's views were popular with many British voters.
• 23 April - The five and ten pence coins introduced in the run-up to Decimalisation.^[1]
• 3 May - Mr Frederick West (aged 45) becomes Britain's first heart transplant patient. [2]
• 8 May - The Kray Twins, 34-year-old Ronnie and Reggie, are among 18 men arrested in dawn raids across London. They stand accused of a series of crimes including murder, fraud, blackmail and assault. Their 41-year-old brother Charlie Kray is one of the other men under arrest.^[5]
• 16 May - Ronan Point tower block at Newham in East London collapses after a Gas explosion, killing four occupants.^[6]
• 18 May - West Bromwich Albion win the FA Cup for the fifth time, with Jeff Astle scoring the only goal of the game against Everton at the Wembley Stadium.
• 29 May - Manchester United become the first English winners of the European Cup after beating Benfica 4-1 in extra-time at Wembley Stadium.^[7]
• 8 June - Martin Luther King, Jr.'s killer, James Earl Ray, arrested in London.^[1]
• 10 June - NHS re-introduces prescription charges.^[6]
• 18 June - Frederick West, Britain's first heart transplant, dies 46 days after his operation.
• 20 June - Austin Currie, Member of Parliament (MP) at Stormont in Northern Ireland, along with others, squats a house in Caledon to protest discrimination in housing allocations.
• 4 July - Alec Rose returns from a 354-day single-handed round-the-world trip for which he received a knighthood the following day.^[8]
• 17 July - The Beatles animated film Yellow Submarine debuts in London.^[1]
• 31 July - The BBC sitcom Dad's Army is first aired on television.
• 11 August - The last steam passenger train service runs in Britain. A British Rail steam locomotive makes the 314-mile journey from Liverpool to Carlisle and returns to Liverpool before being dispatched to the wrecking yard or preservation (the train was hauled by several engines along its route).
• September - The new school year sees the first local authorities adopt three tier education, where 5-7 infant, 7-11 junior schools are replaced by 5-8 or 5-9 first schools and 8-12 or 9-13 middle schools, with the transfer age to grammar and secondary modern schools being increased to 12 or 13. [3]
• 8 September - Tennis player Virginia Wade wins the 1968 U.S. Open Women's Singles event.^[1]
• 16 September - General Post Office divides post into first-class and second-class services.^[6]
• 26 September - Theatres Act 1968 ends censorship of the theatre.^[2][9]
• 27 September - the musical Hair opens in London following the removal of theatre censorship.^[10]
• 2 October - a woman from Birmingham gives birth to the first recorded instance of live Sextuplets in the UK.^[11]
• 5 October - A civil rights march in Derry, Northern Ireland, which included several Stormont and British MPs, is batoned off the streets by the Royal Ulster Constabulary.^[12]
• 6 October - British racing drivers Jackie Stewart, Graham Hill and John Surtees take 1st, 2nd and 3rd place at the United States Grand Prix.^[1]
• 12 October–27 October - Great Britain and Northern Ireland compete at the 1968 Summer Olympics in Mexico City and win 5 gold, 5 silver and 3 bronze medals.
• 13 October - The rebuilt Euston railway station opens.^[1]
• 27 October - police and protestors clash at an anti-Vietnam War protest outside the Embassy of the United States in London.^[13]
• 26 November - The Race Relations Act is passed, making it illegal to refuse housing, employment or public services to people in Britain because of their ethnic background. [4]
• 30 November - the Trade Descriptions Act 1968 comes into force, preventing shops and traders from describing goods in a misleading way.^[14]
• 17 December - Mary Bell, an 11-year-old girl from Newcastle-upon-Tyne, is sentenced to life detention for the manslaughter of two small boys.^[15]

Undated

• Japanese carmaker Nissan begins importing its range of Datsun badged family cars to Britain.

Publications

• Agatha Christie's novel By the Pricking of My Thumbs.
• Arthur C. Clarke's novel A Space Odyssey.
• Paul Scott's novel The Day of the Scorpion, second of the Raj Quartet.
• John Wyndham's novel Chocky.

Births

• 12 January - Heather Mills, British campaigner and estranged wife of the former Beatle Sir Paul McCartney
• 27 January - Tricky (born Adrian Thaws), English rapper and musician
• 16 February - Warren Ellis, British comic-book and graphic-novel writer
• 18 February - Tommy Scott, British musician and frontman of 1990s Britpop group Space
• 2 March - Daniel Craig, British actor
• 4 March - Patsy Kensit, English actress
• 5 March - Theresa Villiers, British Conservative politician and MP for Chipping Barnet
• 18 March - Paul Marsden, British Labour/Liberal Democrat politician
• 21 March - Jaye Davidson, British actor
• 23 March
  • Mike Atherton, English cricketer
  • Damon Albarn, English musician (Blur and Gorillaz)
• 26 March - Chris Ward, British chess Grandmaster, chess coach, and author
• 28 March - Nasser Hussain, English cricketer
• 8 April - Jenny Powell, British television presenter
• 22 April - Amanda Mealing, British actress
• 23 April - Ricky Groves, English actor
• 28 April - Howard Donald, singer
• 4 May - Julian Barratt, English comedian and actor
• 8 May - Rachel Jordan, British artist
• 9 May - Ruth Kelly, British Labour politician, Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, and MP for Bolton West
• 12 May - Catherine Tate, comedienne
• 27 May - Rebekah Wade, British journalist and editor of The Sun
• 29 May
  • Torquhil Ian Campbell, 13th Duke of Argyll, Scottish peer
  • Jessica Morden, British Labour politician and MP for Newport East
• 2 June - John Culshaw, English comedian and impressionist
• 5 June - Edward Vaizey, British Conservative politician and MP for Wantage
• 13 June - Marcel Theroux, British novelist and broadcaster, and son of American writer Paul Theroux
• 26 June - Iwan Roberts, Welsh footballer
• 28 June - Adam Woodyatt, British actor
• 20 July - Julian Rhind-Tutt, English film, television and radio actor
• 22 July - Rhys Ifans, Welsh actor
• 26 July - Olivia Williams, English actress
• 5 August - Colin McRae, Scottish rally driver (died 2007)
• 14 August
  • Darren Clarke, Northern Irish golfer
  • Adrian Lester, British actor
• 22 August - Elisabeth Murdoch, Australian-born business executive
• 26 August - Chris Boardman, English racing cyclist
• 9 September
  • Anas Altikriti, British Anti-War activist
  • Julia Sawalha, English actress
• 14 September - Grant Shapps, British Conservative politician and MP for Welwyn Hatfield
• 20 September - Phillipa Forrester, British TV presenter
• 28 September - Naomi Watts, English-born actress
• 29 September - Luke and Matt Goss, twin singers, members of Bros
• 1 October - Mark Durden-Smith, British television presenter
• 2 October - Victoria Derbyshire, British Radio presenter
• 3 October - Paul Crichton, English footballer
• 7 October - Thom Yorke, British singer/songwriter
• 14 October
  • Matthew Le Tissier, English footballer
  • Roger Moorhouse, British historian and author
• 27 October - Martin Clark, English snooker player
• 10 November - Steve Brookstein, British singer
• 18 November - Barry Hunter, Northern Irish footballer and football manager
• 22 November - Andrew Gilligan, British journalist
• 20 December - Phil Andrews, British race car driver
• 23 December - Siôn Simon, British Labour politician and MP for Birmingham Erdington
• December 28 — Pauline Robertson, Scottish field hockey player

Unknown dates

• Moazzam Begg, British Islamist once held in extrajudicial detention in the US Guantanamo Bay detainment camp
• James Brokenshire, British Conservative politician and MP for Hornchurch
• Matthew d'Ancona, British journalist and editor of The Spectator
• Andrew O'Hagan, Scottish writer and novelist
• Chris Ofili, English painter
• Paul Rowen, British Liberal Democrat politician and MP for Rochdale

Deaths

• 6 February - Gomer Berry, 1st Viscount Kemsley, Welsh journalist (born 1883)
• 17 February - Donald Wolfit, actor-manager (born 1902)
• 20 February - Anthony Asquith, British director and writer (born 1902)
• 7 April - Jimmy Clark, Scottish race car driver (born 1936)
• 3 May - Ness Edwards, Welsh politician (born 1897)
• 7 May - Mike Spence British race car driver (born 1936)
• 21 June - W. E. Johns, writer, creator of Biggles (born 1893)
• 24 June - Tony Hancock, British comedian (born 1924)
• 13 July - R. J. Yeatman, humorist (born 1897)
• 16 July - William Evans, Welsh-language poet (born 1883)
• 23 July - Henry Hallett Dale, English scientist, recipient of the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine (born 1875)
• 19 August - George Gamow, Ukrainian-born physicist (born 1904)
• 27 August - Princess Marina, Duchess of Kent (born 1906)
• 12 September - Tommy Armour, Scottish golfer (born 1894)
• 13 October - Stanley Unwin, publisher (born 1884)
• 20 October - Bud Flanagan, comedian and singer (born 1896)
• 17 November - Mervyn Peake, writer and illustrator (born 1911)
• 28 November - Enid Blyton, children's writer (born 1897)
• 14 December - David James Jones (Gwenallt), Welsh-language poet (born 1899)

References

See also