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1976 in the United Kingdom:

Other years

1974 | 1975 | 1976 | 1977 | 1978

Sport and Music

British and Irish current events

1976 English cricket season

Football England | Scotland

1976 in British music

Events from the year 1976 in the United Kingdom.

Incumbents

• Monarch - HM Queen Elizabeth II
• Prime Minister - Harold Wilson, Labour Party (until 5 April), James Callaghan, Labour

Events

• 5 January - Ten Protestant men are killed in the Kingsmill massacre at South Armagh, Northern Ireland, by members of the Provisional Irish Republican Army, using the cover name "South Armagh Republican Action Force".^[1]
• 7 January - Cod War: British and Icelandic ships clash at sea.^[2]
• 18 January - The Scottish Labour Party is formed.
• 21 January - The first commercial Concorde flight takes off.^[3]
• 29 January - 12 Provisional Irish Republican Army bombs explode in London's West End.^[4]
• 4 February–15 February - Great Britain and Northern Ireland compete at the 1976 Winter Olympics in Innsbruck, Austria, and win one gold medal.
• 11 February - John Curry becomes Britain's first gold medalist in skating at the 1976 Winter Olympics.^[3]
• 19 February - Iceland breaks off diplomatic relations with Britain over the Cod War.^[3]
• 1 March - Merlyn Rees ends Special Category Status for those sentenced for crimes relating to the civil violence in Northern Ireland.
• 4 March
  • The Maguire Seven were found guilty of the offence of possessing explosives and were subsequently jailed for 14 years.^[5]
  • The Northern Ireland Constitutional Convention is formally dissolved in Northern Ireland resulting in direct rule of Northern Ireland from London via the British parliament.
• 16 March - Harold Wilson announces his resignation as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom,^[6] to take effect on 5 April.
• 19 March - Princess Margaret and Lord Snowdon announce that they are to separate after 16 years of marriage.^[7]
• April - British Leyland launches its innovative new Rover SD1, a large five-door hatchback that replaces the ageing P6 series.
• 5 April - James Callaghan becomes Prime Minister of the United Kingdom upon the retirement of Harold Wilson.^[8]
• 7 April - Cabinet minister John Stonehouse resigns from the Labour Party leaving the Government without a majority in the House of Commons.^[9]
• 9 April - Young Liberals president Peter Hain is cleared of stealing £490 from a branch of Barclays Bank.^[10]
• 10 May - Jeremy Thorpe resigns as leader of the Liberal party.^[11]
• 27 May - Harold Wilson's Resignation Honours List is published. It controversially awards honours to many wealthy businessmen, and comes to be known satirically as the "Lavender List".
• 1 June - UK and Iceland end the Cod War.^[3]
• 14 June - The trial begins at Oxford Crown Court of Donald Neilson, the killer known as the "Black Panther".
• 29 June - The Seychelles become independent of the UK.^[12]
• 3 July - The great heat wave in the United Kingdom, which is currently suffering from drought conditions, reaches its peak.
• 7 July - David Steel elected as new leader of the Liberal Party.^[11]
• 10 July - Three British and one American mercenaries were shot by firing squad in Angola.
• 17 July–1 August - Great Britain and Northern Ireland compete at the 1976 Summer Olympics in Montreal, Canada, and win 3 gold, 5 silver and 5 bronze medals.
• 21 July - Christopher Ewart-Biggs, UK ambassador to Ireland, and a civil servant, Judith Cooke, are killed by a landmine at Sandyford, Co. Dublin.
• 27 July - United Kingdom breaks diplomatic relations with Uganda.
• 29 July - A fire destroys the pierhead at Southend Pier.^[13]
• 5 August - The Great Clock of Westminster (or Big Ben) suffers internal damage and stops running for over nine months.^[3]
• 6 August - The last UK Postmaster General, John Stonehouse, is sentenced to seven years jail for fraud.
• 14 August - 10,000 Protestant and Catholic women demonstrate for peace in Northern Ireland.
• 30 August - 100 police officers and 60 canival-goers are injured during riots at the Notting Hill Carnival.^[14]
• September - Ford launches the new Fiesta, an entry-level three-door hatchback which will be built at the Dagenham plant in England as well as the Valencia plant in Spain.
• 1 September - Drought measures introduced in Yorkshire.^[15]
• 3 September - Riot at Hull Prison ends.^[16]
• 4 September - Peace March in Derry attracts 25,000 people in a call to end violence in Northern Ireland.^[11]
• 23 September - A fire on HMS Glasgow kills eight men.^[17]
• October - The Damned release New Rose - the first ever single released / marketed as "punk rock".
• 4 October - Intercity 125 trains introduced on railways between London and Bristol.^[18]
• 15 October - Two members of the Ulster Defence Regiment jailed for 35 years for murder of the members of the Republic of Ireland cabaret performers Miami Showband.^[19]
• 24 October - Racing driver James Hunt becomes Formula One world champion.^[3]
• 25 October - Opening of Royal National Theatre.^[20]
• 29 October - Opening of Selby Coalfield.^[21]
• 16 November - The seven perpetrators of an £8 million van robbery at the Bank of America in Mayfair sentenced to a total of 100 years in jail.^[22]
• 1 December - The Sex Pistols achieve public notoriety as they unleash several four-letter words live on Bill Grundy's TV show.
• 10 December - Betty Williams and Mairead Corrigan win the Nobel Peace Prize.^[23]

Undated

• Inflation stands at 16.5% - lower than last year's level, but still one of the highest since records began in 1750. [1]

Publications

• Kingsley Amis's novel The Alteration.
• Agatha Christie's last published novel, the final Miss Marple story Sleeping Murder (posthumous).
• Richard Dawkins' book The Selfish Gene.
• Terry Pratchett's novel The Dark Side of the Sun.

Births

• 19 January — Marsha Thomason, actress
• 21 January — Emma Bunton, musician
• 2 February — James Hickman, swimmer
• 10 February — Keeley Hawes, actress
• 20 February — Ed Graham, drummer (The Darkness)
• 23 March — Chris Hoy, Olympic gold medal winning cyclist
• 15 April — Steve Williams, rower
• 18 April — Sean Maguire, actor and singer
• 8 May — Ian Watkins, pop singer
• 14 May — Martine McCutcheon, actress and singer
• 6 June — Ross Noble, comedian
• 13 June — Jason 'J' Brown, musician (5ive)
• 16 June — Cian Ciaran, musician
• 25 June — Iestyn Harris, rugby player
• 8 July — Ellen MacArthur, yachtswoman
• 12 July — Anna Friel, actress
• 14 July — Geraint Jones, cricketer
• 9 August
  • Rhona Mitra, actress
  • Aled Haydn-Jones, radio producer
• 13 August — Roddy Woomble, musician
• 6 September — Naomie Harris, actress
• 8 September — Abi Titmuss, television presenter and model
• September 11 — Neil Willey, backstroke swimmer
• 16 September — Tina Barrett, singer (S Club 7)
• October 13 — Jennie Bimson, field hockey player
• 23 October — Cat Deeley, television presenter
• 25 October — Steve Jones, footballer
• 29 October — Stephen Craigan, footballer
• 7 November — Andrew Davies, cricketer
• 8 December — Dominic Monaghan, actor
• 12 December — Dan Hawkins, guitarist (The Darkness)
• December 18 — Jaime King, breaststroke swimmer
• 20 December — Adam Powell, inventor
• date unknown — Steffan Cravos, musician

Deaths

• 3 January - Mal Evans, Beatles' former roadie and patron of Badfinger (born 1935)
• 12 January - Agatha Christie, writer (born 1890)
• 13 January - Margaret Leighton, actress (born 1922)
• 11 February - Charlie Naughton, actor (born 1886)
• 12 February - John Lewis, Marxist philosopher (born 1889)
• 23 February - L. S. Lowry, artist (born 1887)
• 19 March - Paul Kossoff, guitarist (Free) (born 1950)
• 24 March - Bernard Montgomery, field marshal (born 1897)
• 22 April - Colin MacInnes, novelist (born 1914)
• 28 April – Richard Hughes, novelist (born 1900)
• 14 May - Keith Relf, musician (The Yardbirds) (born 1943)
• 9 June - Sybil Thorndike, actress (born 1882)
• 28 June - Sir Stanley Baker, actor (born 1928)
• 19 August - Alastair Sim, actor (born 1900)
• 30 August - David Rees-Williams, 1st Baron Ogmore, politician (born 1903)
• 14 October - Edith Evans, actress (born 1888)
• 4 December - Benjamin Britten, composer (born 1913)

References

See also