Incumbents

• Monarch — King George VI
• Prime Minister — Clement Attlee
  Clement Attlee
  Clement Richard Attlee, 1st Earl Attlee, KG, OM, CH, PC, FRS was a British Labour politician who served as the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1945 to 1951, and as the Leader of the Labour Party from 1935 to 1955...
  
  , Labour Party
  Labour Party (UK)
  The Labour Party is a centre-left democratic socialist party in the United Kingdom. It surpassed the Liberal Party in general elections during the early 1920s, forming minority governments under Ramsay MacDonald in 1924 and 1929-1931. The party was in a wartime coalition from 1940 to 1945, after...
  
  ; Winston Churchill
  Winston Churchill
  Sir Winston Leonard Spencer-Churchill, was a predominantly Conservative British politician and statesman known for his leadership of the United Kingdom during the Second World War. He is widely regarded as one of the greatest wartime leaders of the century and served as Prime Minister twice...
  
  , Conservative Party
  Conservative Party (UK)
  The Conservative Party, formally the Conservative and Unionist Party, is a centre-right political party in the United Kingdom that adheres to the philosophies of conservatism and British unionism. It is the largest political party in the UK, and is currently the largest single party in the House...
  
  

Events

• January
  • British Board of Film Censors introduces X rating for films "Suitable for those aged 16 and over".
  • Ford Consul
    Ford Consul
    The Ford Consul is a car manufactured by Ford in Britain.Between 1951 and 1962 the Consul was the four-cylinder base model of the three-model Ford Zephyr range, comprising Consul, Zephyr and Zephyr Zodiac...
    
     car introduced.
• 1 January — Production run of the series The Archers
  The Archers
  The Archers is a long-running British soap opera broadcast on the BBC's main spoken-word channel, Radio 4. It was originally billed as "an everyday story of country folk", but is now described on its Radio 4 web site as "contemporary drama in a rural setting"...
  
  begins on the BBC Light Programme
  BBC Light Programme
  The Light Programme was a BBC radio station which broadcast mainstream light entertainment and music from 1945 until 1967, when it was rebranded as BBC Radio 2...
  
  . It will still be on the air 60 years later.
• 9 January — The government
  Government of the United Kingdom
  Her Majesty's Government is the central government of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland. The Government is led by the Prime Minister, who selects all the remaining Ministers...
  
   announces abandonment of the Tanganyika groundnut scheme
  Tanganyika groundnut scheme
  The Tanganyika Groundnut Scheme was a plan to cultivate tracts of what is now Tanzania with peanuts. It was a project of the British Labour government of Clement Attlee. It was abandoned in 1951 at considerable cost to the taxpayers when it did not become profitable...
  
   with the writing off of £36.5M.
• February — Ferranti
  Ferranti
  Ferranti or Ferranti International plc was a UK electrical engineering and equipment firm that operated for over a century from 1885 until it went bankrupt in 1993. Known primarily for defence electronics, the Company was once a constituent of the FTSE 100 Index but ceased trading in 1993.The...
  
   deliver their first Mark 1 computer
  Computer
  A computer is a programmable machine designed to sequentially and automatically carry out a sequence of arithmetic or logical operations. The particular sequence of operations can be changed readily, allowing the computer to solve more than one kind of problem...
  
   to the University of Manchester
  University of Manchester
  The University of Manchester is a public research university located in Manchester, United Kingdom. It is a "red brick" university and a member of the Russell Group of research-intensive British universities and the N8 Group...
  
  , the world's first commercially-available general-purpose electronic
  Electronics
  Electronics is the branch of science, engineering and technology that deals with electrical circuits involving active electrical components such as vacuum tubes, transistors, diodes and integrated circuits, and associated passive interconnection technologies...
  
   computer.
• 13 March — Pineapple Poll
  Pineapple Poll
  Pineapple Poll is a Gilbert and Sullivan-inspired comic ballet, created by choreographer John Cranko with arranger Sir Charles Mackerras. Pineapple Poll is based on "The Bumboat Woman's Story", one of W. S. Gilbert's Bab Ballads, written in 1870. The Gilbert and Sullivan opera H.M.S. Pinafore was...
  
  , a Gilbert and Sullivan
  Gilbert and Sullivan
  Gilbert and Sullivan refers to the Victorian-era theatrical partnership of the librettist W. S. Gilbert and the composer Arthur Sullivan . The two men collaborated on fourteen comic operas between 1871 and 1896, of which H.M.S...
  
  -inspired comic ballet
  Comic ballet
  Comic ballet is a subcategory of ballet, and denotes a dramatic work of a light or comic nature.Comic ballets include:* Cinderella* Coppélia* Don Quixote* La Fille Mal Gardée* Pineapple Poll* Pirates of Penzance - The Ballet!...
  
  , created by choreographer John Cranko
  John Cranko
  John Cyril Cranko was a choreographer with the Sadler's Wells Ballet and the Stuttgart Ballet....
  
   with arranger
  Arranger
  In investment banking, an arranger is a provider of funds in the syndication of a debt. They are entitled to syndicate the loan or bond issue, and may be referred to as the "lead underwriter". This is because this entity bears the risk of being able to sell the underlying securities/debt or the...
  
   Sir Charles Mackerras
  Charles Mackerras
  Sir Alan Charles Maclaurin Mackerras, AC, CH, CBE was an Australian conductor. He was an authority on the operas of Janáček and Mozart, and the comic operas of Gilbert and Sullivan...
  
   is premiered at Sadler's Wells Theatre
  Sadler's Wells Theatre
  Sadler's Wells Theatre is a performing arts venue located in Rosebery Avenue, Clerkenwell in the London Borough of Islington. The present day theatre is the sixth on the site since 1683. It consists of two performance spaces: a 1,500 seat main auditorium and the Lilian Baylis Studio, with extensive...
  
   by the Sadler's Wells Ballet.
• March — The character Dennis the Menace
  Dennis the Menace (UK)
  Dennis the Menace, later called Dennis the Menace and Gnasher and now Dennis and Gnasher, is a long-running comic strip in the British children's comic The Beano, published by D. C...
  
   first appears in The Beano
  The Beano
  The Beano is a British children's comic, published by D.C. Thomson & Co and is arguably their most successful.The comic first appeared on 30 July 1938, and was published weekly. During the Second World War,The Beano and The Dandy were published on alternating weeks because of paper and ink...
  
  comic
  Comic book
  A comic book or comicbook is a magazine made up of comics, narrative artwork in the form of separate panels that represent individual scenes, often accompanied by dialog as well as including...
  
  .
• 11 April — The Stone of Scone
  Stone of Scone
  The Stone of Scone , also known as the Stone of Destiny and often referred to in England as The Coronation Stone, is an oblong block of red sandstone, used for centuries in the coronation of the monarchs of Scotland and later the monarchs of England, Great Britain and the United Kingdom...
  
   is located in Forfar
  Forfar
  Forfar is a parish, town and former royal burgh of approximately 13,500 people in Angus, located in the East Central Lowlands of Scotland. Forfar is the county town of Angus, which was officially known as Forfarshire from the 18th century until 1929, when the ancient name was reinstated, and...
  
  , having been stolen by Scottish
  Scotland
  Scotland is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Occupying the northern third of the island of Great Britain, it shares a border with England to the south and is bounded by the North Sea to the east, the Atlantic Ocean to the north and west, and the North Channel and Irish Sea to the...
  
   Nationalists.
• 17 April
  • The submarine HMS Affray
    HMS Affray (P421)
    HMS Affray , a British Amphion-class submarine was the last Royal Navy submarine to be lost at sea, on 16 April 1951, with the loss of 75 lives...
    
     sinks, killing its 75 crew.
  • Seven unofficial dockers' leaders are acquitted of offences under a wartime regulation intended to prevent industrial disputes.
• 22–25 April — Korean War
  Korean War
  The Korean War was a conventional war between South Korea, supported by the United Nations, and North Korea, supported by the People's Republic of China , with military material aid from the Soviet Union...
  
  : Battle of the Imjin River
  Battle of the Imjin River
  The Battle of the Imjin River, also known as the Battle of Kumgul-san, P'ap'yong-san and Solma-ri or the Battle of Xuemali , took place 22–25 April 1951 during the Korean War. Forces from People’s Republic of China attacked UN positions on the lower Imjin River in an attempt to achieve a...
  
  : The 29th Infantry Brigade of the British Army
  British Army
  The British Army is the land warfare branch of Her Majesty's Armed Forces in the United Kingdom. It came into being with the unification of the Kingdom of England and Scotland into the Kingdom of Great Britain in 1707. The new British Army incorporated Regiments that had already existed in England...
  
   serving with the United Nations
  United Nations
  The United Nations is an international organization whose stated aims are facilitating cooperation in international law, international security, economic development, social progress, human rights, and achievement of world peace...
  
   put up brave but ultimately unsuccessful resistance to the Chinese advance, with 141 UN troops killed. The last stand of the 1st Battalion, The Gloucestershire Regiment (the "Glorious Glosters") at Hill 235 rapidly becomes part of modern military tradition.
• 23 April — Aneurin Bevan
  Aneurin Bevan
  Aneurin "Nye" Bevan was a British Labour Party politician who was the Deputy Leader of the Labour Party from 1959 until his death in 1960. The son of a coal miner, Bevan was a lifelong champion of social justice and the rights of working people...
  
  , recently appointed as Minister of Labour and National Service
  Secretary of State for Employment
  The Secretary of State for Employment was a position in the Cabinet of the United Kingdom. In 1995 it was merged with Secretary of State for Education to make the Secretary of State for Education and Employment...
  
  , together with John Freeman and Harold Wilson
  Harold Wilson
  James Harold Wilson, Baron Wilson of Rievaulx, KG, OBE, FRS, FSS, PC was a British Labour Member of Parliament, Leader of the Labour Party. He was twice Prime Minister of the United Kingdom during the 1960s and 1970s, winning four general elections, including a minority government after the...
  
  , resign from the government in protest at Hugh Gaitskell
  Hugh Gaitskell
  Hugh Todd Naylor Gaitskell CBE was a British Labour politician, who held Cabinet office in Clement Attlee's governments, and was the Leader of the Labour Party and Leader of the Opposition from 1955, until his death in 1963.-Early life:He was born in Kensington, London, the third and youngest...
  
  's announcement in the Budget of 10 April of prescription charges for dental care and spectacles (in order to meet the financial demands imposed by the Korean War
  Korean War
  The Korean War was a conventional war between South Korea, supported by the United Nations, and North Korea, supported by the People's Republic of China , with military material aid from the Soviet Union...
  
  ).
  
• 28 April — Newcastle United
  Newcastle United F.C.
  Newcastle United Football Club is an English professional association football club based in Newcastle upon Tyne, Tyne and Wear. The club was founded in 1892 by the merger of Newcastle East End and Newcastle West End, and has played at its current home ground, St James' Park, since the merger...
  
   win the FA Cup
  FA Cup
  The Football Association Challenge Cup, commonly known as the FA Cup, is a knockout cup competition in English football and is the oldest association football competition in the world. The "FA Cup" is run by and named after The Football Association and usually refers to the English men's...
  
   for the fourth time win a 2–0 win
  1951 FA Cup Final
  The 1951 FA Cup Final was contested by Newcastle United and Blackpool at Wembley on 28 April 1951. Newcastle won 2–0, with both goals scored by Jackie Milburn....
  
   over Blackpool
  Blackpool F.C.
  Blackpool Football Club are an English football club founded in 1887 from the Lancashire seaside town of Blackpool. They are competing in the 2011–12 season of the The Championship, the second tier of professional football in England, having been relegated from the Premier League at the end of the...
  
   at Wembley Stadium
  Wembley Stadium
  The original Wembley Stadium, officially known as the Empire Stadium, was a football stadium in Wembley, a suburb of north-west London, standing on the site now occupied by the new Wembley Stadium that opened in 2007...
  
  . Jackie Milburn
  Jackie Milburn
  John Edward Thompson 'Jackie' Milburn, , also known to fans as Wor Jackie and 'the first World Wor' in reference to his global fame, was a football player for Newcastle United and England...
  
   scores both goals in front of a 100,000 crowd.
• 3 May — George VI opens the Festival of Britain
  Festival of Britain
  The Festival of Britain was a national exhibition in Britain in the summer of 1951. It was organised by the government to give Britons a feeling of recovery in the aftermath of war and to promote good quality design in the rebuilding of British towns and cities. The Festival's centrepiece was in...
  
   in London, including the Royal Festival Hall
  Royal Festival Hall
  The Royal Festival Hall is a 2,900-seat concert, dance and talks venue within Southbank Centre in London. It is situated on the South Bank of the River Thames, not far from Hungerford Bridge. It is a Grade I listed building - the first post-war building to become so protected...
  
  , Dome of Discovery
  Dome of Discovery
  The Dome of Discovery was a temporary exhibition building designed by architect Ralph Tubbs for the Festival of Britain celebrations which took place on London's South Bank in 1951. The consulting engineers were Freeman Fox and Partners, in particular Oleg Kerensky The Dome of Discovery was a...
  
   and Skylon
  Skylon (tower)
  The Skylon was a futuristic-looking, slender, vertical, cigar-shaped steel tensegrity structure located by the Thames in London, that apparently floated above the ground, built in 1951 for the Festival of Britain....
  
  . In addition, the Lansbury Estate
  Lansbury Estate
  The Lansbury Estate is a public housing estate in the Poplar area of the London Borough of Tower Hamlets named after George Lansbury, a Poplar councillor and Labour party MP.It is one of the largest such estates in London...
  
   in Poplar
  Poplar, London
  Poplar is a historic, mainly residential area of the East End of London in the London Borough of Tower Hamlets. It is about east of Charing Cross. Historically a hamlet in the parish of Stepney, Middlesex, in 1817 Poplar became a civil parish. In 1855 the Poplar District of the Metropolis was...
  
   is begun this year as a housing showcase.
• 4 May–6 October — Festival Ship Campania
  HMS Campania (D48)
  HMS Campania was an escort aircraft carrier of the Royal Navy that saw service during World War II. After the war, the ship was used as a floating exhibition hall for the 1951 Festival of Britain and as the command ship for the 1952 Operation Hurricane, the test of the prototype British atomic...
  
   cruises the seaports.
• 28 May
  • First broadcast of The Goon Show
    The Goon Show
    The Goon Show was a British radio comedy programme, originally produced and broadcast by the BBC Home Service from 1951 to 1960, with occasional repeats on the BBC Light Programme...
    
    radio series.
  • The Princess Elizabeth opens the Exhibition of Industrial Power — the latest part of the Festival of Britain — in Glasgow
    Glasgow
    Glasgow is the largest city in Scotland and third most populous in the United Kingdom. The city is situated on the River Clyde in the country's west central lowlands...
    
    .http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/may/28/newsid_3005000/3005617.stm
• 29 May — The Easington Colliery explosion leaves 83 dead.
• 2 June — Workington F.C. are elected to the Football League in place of New Brighton A.F.C.
  New Brighton A.F.C.
  -Revived club:New Brighton A.F.C. were reborn in 1993, and joined the Birkenhead and Wirral League, which they won in their first season. In 1995 the club switched to the South Wirral League. After upgrading their new ground, the club were admitted to the Second Division of the West Cheshire League...
  
  , and will compete in the Football League Third Division North
  Football League Third Division North
  The Third Division North of The Football League was a tier in the English association football league system from 1921 to 1958. It ran parallel to Third Division South with clubs elected to the League or relegated from a higher division allocated to one or the other according to geographical position...
  
   for the 1951-52 season
  1951-52 in English football
  The 1951–52 season was the 72nd season of competitive football in England.-Honours:Notes = Number in parentheses is the times that club has won that honour...
  
  .
• 7–8 June — Guy Burgess
  Guy Burgess
  Guy Francis De Moncy Burgess was a British-born intelligence officer and double agent, who worked for the Soviet Union. He was part of the Cambridge Five spy ring that betrayed Western secrets to the Soviets before and during the Cold War...
  
   and Donald Maclean
  Donald Duart Maclean
  Donald Duart Maclean was a British diplomat and member of the Cambridge Five who were members of MI5, MI6 or the diplomatic service who acted as spies for the Soviet Union in the Second World War and beyond. He was recruited as a "straight penetration agent" while an undergraduate at Cambridge by...
  
   defect to the USSR.
• 26 June — Ealing Comedy
  Ealing Comedies
  For the film Ealing Comedy, see Ealing Comedy .The Ealing Comedies were a series of film comedies produced by Ealing Studios during the period 1947 to 1957....
  
   film The Lavender Hill Mob
  The Lavender Hill Mob
  The Lavender Hill Mob is a 1951 comedy film from Ealing Studios, written by T.E.B. Clarke, directed by Charles Crichton, starring Alec Guinness and Stanley Holloway and featuring Sid James and Alfie Bass...
  
  released.
• 10 July — Boxer Randy Turpin
  Randy Turpin
  Randolph Adolphus Turpin known as the Leamington Larruper, was an English boxer who was considered by some to be Europe's best middleweight boxer of the 1940s and 1950s.-Biography:...
  
   beats the American Sugar Ray Robinson
  Sugar Ray Robinson
  Sugar Ray Robinson was an African-American professional boxer. Frequently cited as the greatest boxer of all time, Robinson's performances in the welterweight and middleweight divisions prompted sportswriters to create "pound for pound" rankings, where they compared fighters regardless of weight...
  
   in a fight in London
  London
  London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
  
   to become world middleweight champion.
• 17 July — New Port Talbot Steelworks
  Port Talbot Steelworks
  Port Talbot Steelworks is an integrated steel production plant in Port Talbot, Wales capable of producing nearly 5 million tonnes of steel slab per annum. The majority of the slab is rolled on-site at Port Talbot and at the Newport Llanwern site to make a variety of steel strip products. The...
  
   opened at Margam
  Margam
  Margam is a suburb of Port Talbot in the Welsh county borough of Neath Port Talbot, Wales, close to junction 39 of the M4 motorway.- History :...
  
  , South Wales
  South Wales
  South Wales is an area of Wales bordered by England and the Bristol Channel to the east and south, and Mid Wales and West Wales to the north and west. The most densely populated region in the south-west of the United Kingdom, it is home to around 2.1 million people and includes the capital city of...
  
  .
• 15 August — The first Miss World
  Miss World
  The Miss World pageant is the oldest surviving major international beauty pageant. It was created in the United Kingdom by Eric Morley in 1951...
  
   beauty pageant is held as part of the Festival of Britain.
• 14 September — Clement Attlee
  Clement Attlee
  Clement Richard Attlee, 1st Earl Attlee, KG, OM, CH, PC, FRS was a British Labour politician who served as the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1945 to 1951, and as the Leader of the Labour Party from 1935 to 1955...
  
   opens the largest oil refinery in Europe at Fawley
  Fawley, Hampshire
  Fawley is a village and civil parish in Hampshire, England. It is situated in the New Forest on the western shore of the Solent, approximately 7 miles south of Southampton. Fawley is also the site of an oil refinery, operated by Exxon-Mobil, which is the largest facility of its kind in the United...
  
   on Southampton Water
  Southampton Water
  Southampton Water is a tidal estuary north of the Solent and the Isle of Wight in England. The city of Southampton lies at its most northerly point. Along its salt marsh-fringed western shores lie the New Forest villages of Hythe and "the waterside", Dibden Bay, and the Esso oil refinery at Fawley...
  
  .
• 23 September — George VI
  George VI of the United Kingdom
  George VI was King of the United Kingdom and the Dominions of the British Commonwealth from 11 December 1936 until his death...
  
   has an operation to remove part of his lung.
• 26 September — Rock and Ice Club formed by a group of climbers
  Climbing
  Climbing is the activity of using one's hands and feet to ascend a steep object. It is done both for recreation and professionally, as part of activities such as maintenance of a structure, or military operations.Climbing activities include:* Bouldering: Ascending boulders or small...
  
   in Manchester
  Manchester
  Manchester is a city and metropolitan borough in Greater Manchester, England. According to the Office for National Statistics, the 2010 mid-year population estimate for Manchester was 498,800. Manchester lies within one of the UK's largest metropolitan areas, the metropolitan county of Greater...
  
  .
• 30 September — Festival of Britain ends.
• 17 October — Austin A30
  Austin A30
  The A30 was a compact car produced by Austin Motor Company in the 1950s. Introduced in 1951 as the "New Austin Seven", it was Austin's answer to the Morris Minor...
  
   car introduced.
• 26 October — Conservative Party under Winston Churchill
  Winston Churchill
  Sir Winston Leonard Spencer-Churchill, was a predominantly Conservative British politician and statesman known for his leadership of the United Kingdom during the Second World War. He is widely regarded as one of the greatest wartime leaders of the century and served as Prime Minister twice...
  
   wins the general election
  United Kingdom general election, 1951
  The 1951 United Kingdom general election was held eighteen months after the 1950 general election, which the Labour Party had won with a slim majority of just five seats...
  
  , regaining (a month before his 77th birthday) the position of Prime Minister that he lost six years previously, with a majority of 17 seats, though slightly fewer votes than Labour
  Labour Party (UK)
  The Labour Party is a centre-left democratic socialist party in the United Kingdom. It surpassed the Liberal Party in general elections during the early 1920s, forming minority governments under Ramsay MacDonald in 1924 and 1929-1931. The party was in a wartime coalition from 1940 to 1945, after...
  
  .
• 31 October — Zebra crossing
  Zebra crossing
  A zebra crossing is a type of pedestrian crossing used in many places around the world. Its distinguishing feature is alternating dark and light stripes on the road surface, from which it derives its name. A zebra crossing typically gives extra rights of way to pedestrians.The use of zebra...
  
  s, a type of pedestrian crossing, introduced.
• 2 November — 6,000 British troops are sent to Egypt
  Egypt
  Egypt , officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, Arabic: , is a country mainly in North Africa, with the Sinai Peninsula forming a land bridge in Southwest Asia. Egypt is thus a transcontinental country, and a major power in Africa, the Mediterranean Basin, the Middle East and the Muslim world...
  
   to deal with anti-British disturbances at Fayid in the Suez Canal Zone.
• 3 November — Express Dairies
  Express Dairies
  Express Dairies is a subsidiary of Dairy Crest, specialising almost entirely in home deliveries of milk and other dairy products.-History:The company was founded by George Barham in 1864 as the Express County Milk Supply Company, named after the fact that they only used express trains to get their...
  
  , owned by 28-year-old Patrick Galvani, open Britain's first full-size supermarket
  Supermarket
  A supermarket, a form of grocery store, is a self-service store offering a wide variety of food and household merchandise, organized into departments...
  
   in Streatham Hill, London
  London
  London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
  
  .
• 7 November — UK Bank Rate, maintained at 2% since 26 October 1939, is raised.
• 20 November — More than 1,000 families of British servicemen begin to move out of the Suez Canal Zone of Egypt
  Egypt
  Egypt , officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, Arabic: , is a country mainly in North Africa, with the Sinai Peninsula forming a land bridge in Southwest Asia. Egypt is thus a transcontinental country, and a major power in Africa, the Mediterranean Basin, the Middle East and the Muslim world...
  
   after a shooting which claimed the lives of five British soldiers as well as nine Egyptian civilians.
• 20 November — The Prime Minister's Resignation Honours
  1951 Prime Minister's Resignation Honours
  The 1951 Prime Minister's Resignation Honours were officially announced in a supplement to the London Gazette of 27 November 1951, published on 30 November 1951, to mark the resignation of Prime Minister Clement Attlee.-Baron:*David Kirkwood, MP...
  
   are announced, to mark the resignation of Prime Minister Clement Attlee.
• 29 November — LEO becomes the world's first computer to run a full commercial business application, for the bakers J. Lyons and Co.
  J. Lyons and Co.
  J. Lyons & Co. was a market-dominant British restaurant-chain, food-manufacturing, and hotel conglomerate founded in 1887 as a spin-off from the Salmon & Gluckstein tobacco company....
  
  
• 1 December — Benjamin Britten
  Benjamin Britten
  Edward Benjamin Britten, Baron Britten, OM CH was an English composer, conductor, and pianist. He showed talent from an early age, and first came to public attention with the a cappella choral work A Boy Was Born in 1934. With the premiere of his opera Peter Grimes in 1945, he leapt to...
  
  ’s opera Billy Budd
  Billy Budd (opera)
  Billy Budd is an opera by Benjamin Britten, from a libretto by E. M. Forster and Eric Crozier, was first performed at the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden, London on 1 December 1951. It is based on the short novel Billy Budd by Herman Melville....
  
  is premiered at the Royal Opera House
  Royal Opera House
  The Royal Opera House is an opera house and major performing arts venue in Covent Garden, central London. The large building is often referred to as simply "Covent Garden", after a previous use of the site of the opera house's original construction in 1732. It is the home of The Royal Opera, The...
  
  , Covent Garden
  Covent Garden
  Covent Garden is a district in London on the eastern fringes of the West End, between St. Martin's Lane and Drury Lane. It is associated with the former fruit and vegetable market in the central square, now a popular shopping and tourist site, and the Royal Opera House, which is also known as...
  
  .
• 10 December — John Cockcroft
  John Cockcroft
  Sir John Douglas Cockcroft OM KCB CBE FRS was a British physicist. He shared the Nobel Prize in Physics for splitting the atomic nucleus with Ernest Walton, and was instrumental in the development of nuclear power....
  
   wins the Nobel Prize in Physics
  Nobel Prize in Physics
  The Nobel Prize in Physics is awarded once a year by the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences. It is one of the five Nobel Prizes established by the will of Alfred Nobel in 1895 and awarded since 1901; the others are the Nobel Prize in Chemistry, Nobel Prize in Literature, Nobel Peace Prize, and...
  
   jointly with Ernest Walton
  Ernest Walton
  Ernest Thomas Sinton Walton was an Irish physicist and Nobel laureate for his work with John Cockcroft with "atom-smashing" experiments done at Cambridge University in the early 1930s, and so became the first person in history to artificially split the atom, thus ushering the nuclear age...
  
   "for their pioneer work on the transmutation of atomic nuclei by artificially accelerated atomic particles".
• 25 December — King George VI makes the Christmas Speech to the Commonwealth, but it has been pre-recorded as he is still struggling to recover from his operation three months ago.http://www.royal.gov.uk/HistoryoftheMonarchy/The%20House%20of%20Windsor%20from%201952/QueenElizabethTheQueenMother/MemorialProject/Overview.aspx
• 31 December — Prime minister Winston Churchill
  Winston Churchill
  Sir Winston Leonard Spencer-Churchill, was a predominantly Conservative British politician and statesman known for his leadership of the United Kingdom during the Second World War. He is widely regarded as one of the greatest wartime leaders of the century and served as Prime Minister twice...
  
   sets off to the United States of America for talks with president Harry S. Truman
  Harry S. Truman
  Harry S. Truman was the 33rd President of the United States . As President Franklin D. Roosevelt's third vice president and the 34th Vice President of the United States , he succeeded to the presidency on April 12, 1945, when President Roosevelt died less than three months after beginning his...
  
  .http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/may/28/newsid_3005000/3005617.stm

Undated

• Trade union
  Trade union
  A trade union, trades union or labor union is an organization of workers that have banded together to achieve common goals such as better working conditions. The trade union, through its leadership, bargains with the employer on behalf of union members and negotiates labour contracts with...
  
   membership reaches an all-time peak, with 9.3 million members.
• GCE Ordinary Level examinations introduced, together with Advanced Level
  GCE Advanced Level
  The Advanced Level General Certificate of Education, commonly referred to as an A-level, is a qualification offered by education institutions in England, Northern Ireland, Wales, Cameroon, and the Cayman Islands...
  
  s replacing the Higher School Certificate
  Higher School Certificate
  The Higher School Certificate, or HSC, is the credential awarded to secondary school students who successfully complete senior high school level studies in New South Wales, Australia. It was first introduced in 1967, with the last major revision coming into effect in 2001. It is currently...
  
  .
• First residential tower block
  Tower block
  A tower block, high-rise, apartment tower, office tower, apartment block, or block of flats, is a tall building or structure used as a residential and/or office building...
  
  , a 10-storey point block, The Lawn, in Harlow New Town, is constructed to the design of Sir Frederick Gibberd
  Frederick Gibberd
  Sir Frederick Ernest Gibberd was an English architect and landscape designer.Gibberd was born in Coventry, the eldest of the five children of a local tailor, and was educated at the city's King Henry VIII School...
  
  .
• Snowdonia
  Snowdonia
  Snowdonia is a region in north Wales and a national park of in area. It was the first to be designated of the three National Parks in Wales, in 1951.-Name and extent:...
  
   and the Lake District
  Lake District
  The Lake District, also commonly known as The Lakes or Lakeland, is a mountainous region in North West England. A popular holiday destination, it is famous not only for its lakes and its mountains but also for its associations with the early 19th century poetry and writings of William Wordsworth...
  
   National Parks
  National parks of England and Wales
  The national parks of England and Wales are areas of relatively undeveloped and scenic landscape that are designated under the National Parks and Access to the Countryside Act 1949...
  
   are established.
• Performance of mystery play
  Mystery play
  Mystery plays and miracle plays are among the earliest formally developed plays in medieval Europe. Medieval mystery plays focused on the representation of Bible stories in churches as tableaux with accompanying antiphonal song...
  
  s revived at York
  York
  York is a walled city, situated at the confluence of the Rivers Ouse and Foss in North Yorkshire, England. The city has a rich heritage and has provided the backdrop to major political events throughout much of its two millennia of existence...
  
   and Chester
  Chester
  Chester is a city in Cheshire, England. Lying on the River Dee, close to the border with Wales, it is home to 77,040 inhabitants, and is the largest and most populous settlement of the wider unitary authority area of Cheshire West and Chester, which had a population of 328,100 according to the...
  
  .

Publications

• Agatha Christie
  Agatha Christie
  Dame Agatha Christie DBE was a British crime writer of novels, short stories, and plays. She also wrote romances under the name Mary Westmacott, but she is best remembered for her 66 detective novels and 14 short story collections , and her successful West End plays.According to...
  
  's novel They Came to Baghdad
  They Came to Baghdad
  They Came to Baghdad is a work of detective fiction by Agatha Christie, first published in the UK by the Collins Crime Club on March 5, 1951 and in the US by Dodd, Mead and Company later in the same year...
  
  .
• Graham Greene
  Graham Greene
  Henry Graham Greene, OM, CH was an English author, playwright and literary critic. His works explore the ambivalent moral and political issues of the modern world...
  
  's novel The End of the Affair
  The End of the Affair
  The End of the Affair is a novel by British author Graham Greene, as well as the title of two feature films that were adapted for the screen based on the novel....
  
  .
• C. S. Lewis
  C. S. Lewis
  Clive Staples Lewis , commonly referred to as C. S. Lewis and known to his friends and family as "Jack", was a novelist, academic, medievalist, literary critic, essayist, lay theologian and Christian apologist from Belfast, Ireland...
  
  ' novel Prince Caspian
  Prince Caspian
  Prince Caspian: The Return to Narnia is a novel for children by C. S. Lewis, written in late 1949 and first published in 1951. It is the second-published book in the Chronicles of Narnia series, although in the overall chronological sequence it comes fourth.-Plot summary:While standing on a...
  
  .
• Nicholas Monsarrat
  Nicholas Monsarrat
  Commander Nicholas John Turney Monsarrat RNVR was a British novelist known today for his sea stories, particularly The Cruel Sea and Three Corvettes , but perhaps best known internationally for his novels, The Tribe That Lost Its Head and its sequel, Richer Than All His Tribe.- Early life :Born...
  
  's novel The Cruel Sea.
• Iona and Peter Opie's reference work The Oxford Dictionary of Nursery Rhymes.
• Nikolaus Pevsner
  Nikolaus Pevsner
  Sir Nikolaus Bernhard Leon Pevsner, CBE, FBA was a German-born British scholar of history of art and, especially, of history of architecture...
  
  's guidebooks Cornwall, Nottinghamshire and Middlesex, first in the Buildings of England series.
• Anthony Powell
  Anthony Powell
  Anthony Dymoke Powell CH, CBE was an English novelist best known for his twelve-volume work A Dance to the Music of Time, published between 1951 and 1975....
  
  's novel A Question of Upbringing
  A Question of Upbringing
  A Question of Upbringing is the opening novel in Anthony Powell's masterpiece, A Dance to the Music of Time, a twelve-volume cycle spanning much of the 20th century....
  
  , first in the 12-volume cycle A Dance to the Music of Time
  A Dance to the Music of Time
  A Dance to the Music of Time is a twelve-volume cycle of novels by Anthony Powell, inspired by the painting of the same name by Nicolas Poussin. One of the longest works of fiction in literature, it was published between 1951 and 1975 to critical acclaim...
  
  .
• Ronald Ridout
  Ronald Ridout
  Ronald Ridout was a prolific English writer of school textbooks. His textbooks include the series English Today.-Quotations:...
  
  's First English Workbook, a textbook which sells five million copies.
• John Wyndham
  John Wyndham
  John Wyndham Parkes Lucas Beynon Harris was an English science fiction writer who usually used the pen name John Wyndham, although he also used other combinations of his names, such as John Beynon and Lucas Parkes...
  
  's novel The Day of the Triffids
  The Day of the Triffids
  The Day of the Triffids is a post-apocalyptic novel published in 1951 by the English science fiction author John Wyndham Parkes Lucas Beynon Harris, under the pen-name John Wyndham. Although Wyndham had already published other novels using other pen-name combinations drawn from his lengthy real...
  
  
• First edition of The Good Food Guide edited by Raymond Postgate
  Raymond Postgate
  Raymond William Postgate was an English socialist, journalist and editor, social historian, mystery novelist and gourmet.-Early life:...
  
  .

Births

• 5 January — Steve Arnold
  Steve Arnold (footballer)
  Stephen Frank Arnold is an English former professional footballer who played in the Football League as a midfielder for Crewe Alexandra, Liverpool, Southport, Torquay United and Rochdale.Arnold was born in Willesden, London...
  
  , footballer
• 30 January — Phil Collins
  Phil Collins
  Philip David Charles "Phil" Collins, LVO is an English singer-songwriter, drummer, pianist and actor best known as a drummer and vocalist for British progressive rock group Genesis and as a solo artist....
  
  , musician and producer
• 14 February — Kevin Keegan
  Kevin Keegan
  Joseph Kevin Keegan, OBE is a former international footballer and former manager of the England national football team and several English clubs, most notably Newcastle United....
  
  , footballer and football manager
• 15 February — Jane Seymour
  Jane Seymour (actress)
  Jane Seymour, OBE is an English actress best known for her performances in the James Bond film Live and Let Die , East of Eden , Onassis: The Richest Man in the World , and the American television series Dr. Quinn, Medicine Woman...
  
  , actress
• 20 February — Gordon Brown
  Gordon Brown
  James Gordon Brown is a British Labour Party politician who was the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom and Leader of the Labour Party from 2007 until 2010. He previously served as Chancellor of the Exchequer in the Labour Government from 1997 to 2007...
  
  , Prime Minister
  Prime Minister of the United Kingdom
  The Prime Minister of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland is the Head of Her Majesty's Government in the United Kingdom. The Prime Minister and Cabinet are collectively accountable for their policies and actions to the Sovereign, to Parliament, to their political party and...
  
  
• 27 February — Steve Harley
  Steve Harley
  Steve Harley is an English singer and songwriter, best known for his work with the 1970s rock group Cockney Rebel, with whom he still occasionally tours .-Biography:As a child, Harley suffered from polio, spending four years in hospital up to the...
  
  , musician (Cockney Rebel
  Steve Harley & Cockney Rebel
  Steve Harley & Cockney Rebel are an English rock band from the early 1970s. Their music covers a range of styles from pop to progressive rock. Over the years they have had five albums in the UK Albums Chart and twelve singles in the UK Singles Chart.-Career:...
  
  )
• 1 March — Mike Read
  Mike Read
  Michael David Kenneth Read is an English radio disc jockey, writer, journalist and television presenter.-Early life:...
  
  , television presenter and radio disc jockey
• 4 March — Kenny Dalglish
  Kenny Dalglish
  Kenneth Mathieson "Kenny" Dalglish MBE is a Scottish former footballer and the current manager of Liverpool F.C.. In a 22-year playing career, he played for two club teams, Celtic and Liverpool, winning numerous honours with both. He is the most capped Scottish player, with 102 appearances, and...
  
  , footballer and football manager
• 4 March — Chris Rea
  Chris Rea
  Chris Rea is an English singer-songwriter, recognisable for his distinctive, husky voice and slide guitar playing. The British Hit Singles & Albums stated that Rea was "one of the most popular UK singer-songwriters of the late 1980s. He was already a major European star by the time he finally...
  
  , singer and musician
• 13 April — Peter Davison
  Peter Davison
  Peter Davison is a British actor, best known for his roles as Tristan Farnon in the television version of James Herriot's All Creatures Great and Small and the fifth incarnation of the Doctor in Doctor Who, which he played from 1982 to 1984.-Early life:Davison was born Peter Moffett in Streatham,...
  
  , actor
• 14 April — Julian Lloyd Webber
  Julian Lloyd Webber
  Julian Lloyd Webber is a British solo cellist who has been described as the "doyen of British cellists".-Early life:Julian Lloyd Webber is the second son of the composer William Lloyd Webber and his wife Jean Johnstone . He is the younger brother of the composer Andrew Lloyd Webber...
  
  , cellist and composer
• 20 April — Louise Jameson
  Louise Jameson
  Louise Jameson is an English actress, best known for playing Leela, the leather-clad barbarian warrior companion of the fourth Doctor in Doctor Who. Jameson has also appeared on Emmerdale , The Omega Factor Louise Jameson (born 20 April 1951 in Wanstead, London) is an English actress, best known...
  
  , actress
• 25 April — Ian McCartney
  Ian McCartney
  Sir Ian McCartney is a former politician, who was the British Labour Party Member of Parliament for the Makerfield constituency between 1987 to 2010, and served in the Cabinet, from 2003 to 2007, when Gordon Brown became Prime Minister...
  
  , politician
• 8 June — Bonnie Tyler
  Bonnie Tyler
  Bonnie Tyler is a Welsh singer, most notable for her hits in the 1970s and 1980s including "It's a Heartache", "Holding Out for a Hero" and "Total Eclipse of the Heart".-Early life:...
  
  , singer
• 14 June — Paul Boateng
  Paul Boateng
  Paul Yaw Boateng, Baron Boateng is a British Labour Party politician, who was the Member of Parliament for Brent South from 1987 to 2005, becoming the UK's first black Cabinet Minister in May 2002, when he was appointed as Chief Secretary to the Treasury...
  
  , politician
• 28 June — Lalla Ward
  Lalla Ward
  Sarah Ward known as Lalla Ward, is an English actor, author and illustrator. As an actor, she is known for playing the part of Romana in the BBC science fiction television series Doctor Who. She is married to evolutionary biologist Richard Dawkins.-Early career:Ward's stage name, "Lalla", comes...
  
  , actress
• 24 July — Chris Smith
  Chris Smith, Baron Smith of Finsbury
  Christopher "Chris" Robert Smith, Baron Smith of Finsbury PC is a British Labour Party politician, and a former Member of Parliament and Cabinet Minister...
  
  , politician
• 19 August — John Deacon
  John Deacon
  John Richard Deacon is a retired English multi-instrumentalist and song writer, best known as the bassist for the rock band Queen. Of the four members of the band, he was the last to join and also the youngest, being only 19 years old when he was recruited by the other members of the band...
  
  , bassist (Queen
  Queen (band)
  Queen are a British rock band formed in London in 1971, originally consisting of Freddie Mercury , Brian May , John Deacon , and Roger Taylor...
  
  )
• 22 September — David Coverdale
  David Coverdale
  David 'Jack' Coverdale is an English rock singer, most famous for his work with the his own hard rock band Whitesnake which achieved massive commercial success.-Early life:...
  
  , singer
• 26 September — Stuart Tosh
  Stuart Tosh
  Stuart MacIntosh is a drummer, songwriter and vocalist.Also known as Stuart Tosh, MacIntosh recorded and toured with a succession of well-known and respected bands during the 1970s and 1980s, including Pilot, The Alan Parsons Project, 10cc and Camel. Stuart now lives in the Bridge of Don area of...
  
  , musician
• 27 September — Paul Craig
  Paul Craig
  Paul Craig is currently Professor of English Law at the University of Oxford and a Fellow of St John's College. Craig is a specialist in Administrative and EU Law....
  
  , professor of law
• 2 October — Sting, musician
• 15 November — Alamgir Hashmi
  Alamgir Hashmi
  Alamgir Hashmi is a major English poet of Pakistani origin in the latter half of the 20th century. Considered avant-garde, both his early and later works were published to universal critical acclaim and widespread influence...
  
  , poet
• 19 November — Lord Falconer of Thoroton, politician
• 8 December — Bill Bryson
  Bill Bryson
  William McGuire "Bill" Bryson, OBE, is a best-selling American author of humorous books on travel, as well as books on the English language and on science. Born an American, he was a resident of Britain for most of his adult life before moving back to the US in 1995...
  
  , American-born British author
• 10 December — Doug Allder
  Doug Allder
  Douglas Stewart Allder is an English former professional footballer. He played as a left winger, making 332 appearances in his career. He was capped for England at youth level....
  
  , footballer
• 20 December — Peter May
  Peter May (writer)
  Peter May is a Scottish television screenwriter, novelist and crime writer.- Early life :Peter was born in Glasgow. From an early age he was intent on becoming a novelist, but took up a career as a journalist as a way to start earning a living by writing. At the age of 21, he won the Fraser...
  
  , novelist and television dramatist

Deaths

• 25 February — Percy Malcolm Stewart
  Percy Malcolm Stewart
  Sir Percy Malcolm Stewart, 1st Baronet , was an English industrialist and philanthropist.Stewart was President of the Portland Cement company. Sir Percy Malcolm Stewart and his father, Sir Halley Stewart, believed in good working and living conditions for employees. They developed the model...
  
  , industrialist (born 1872
  1872 in the United Kingdom
  Events from the year 1872 in the United Kingdom.-Incumbents:*Monarch — Queen Victoria*Prime Minister — William Ewart Gladstone, Liberal-Events:* 1 January — C. P...
  
  )
• 6 March — Ivor Novello
  Ivor Novello
  David Ivor Davies , better known as Ivor Novello, was a Welsh composer, singer and actor who became one of the most popular British entertainers of the first half of the 20th century. Born into a musical family, his first successes were as a songwriter...
  
  , actor, musician, and composer (born 1893
  1893 in the United Kingdom
  Events from the year 1893 in the United Kingdom.-Incumbents:*Monarch — Queen Victoria*Prime Minister — William Ewart Gladstone, Liberal-Events:...
  
  )
• 6 April — Robert Broom
  Robert Broom
  Professor Robert Broom was a Scottish South African doctor and paleontologist. He qualified as a medical practitioner in 1895 and received his DSc in 1905 from the University of Glasgow...
  
  , paleontologist (born 1866
  1866 in the United Kingdom
  Events from the year 1866 in the United Kingdom.-Incumbents:*Monarch — Queen Victoria*Prime Minister — Lord John Russell, Liberal , Earl of Derby, Conservative-Events:...
  
  )
• 14 April — Ernest Bevin
  Ernest Bevin
  Ernest Bevin was a British trade union leader and Labour politician. He served as general secretary of the powerful Transport and General Workers' Union from 1922 to 1945, as Minister of Labour in the war-time coalition government, and as Foreign Secretary in the post-war Labour Government.-Early...
  
  , labour leader, politician, and statesman (born 1881
  1881 in the United Kingdom
  Events from the year 1881 in the United Kingdom.-Incumbents:*Monarch — Queen Victoria*Prime Minister — William Ewart Gladstone, Liberal-Events:* 1 January — Postal orders issued for the first time in Britain....
  
  )
• 22 April — Horace Donisthorpe
  Horace Donisthorpe
  Horace St. John Kelly Donisthorpe was an eccentric British myrmecologist and coleopterist, memorable in part for his enthusiastic championing of the renaming of the genus Lasius after him as Donisthorpea, and for his many claims of discovering new species of beetles and ants.He is often considered...
  
  , myrmecologist (born 1870
  1870 in the United Kingdom
  Events from the year 1870 in the United Kingdom.-Incumbents:*Monarch — Queen Victoria*Prime Minister — William Ewart Gladstone, Liberal-Events:* 28 January — General Post Office takes over business of private telegraph companies....
  
  )
• 24 April — James Maclay, 1st Baron Maclay
  James Maclay, 1st Baron Maclay
  Joseph Paton Maclay, 1st Baron Maclay PC , known as Sir Joseph Maclay, 1st Baronet, from 1914 to 1922, was a Scottish businessman and public servant....
  
  , businessman and public servant (born 1857
  1857 in the United Kingdom
  Events from the year 1857 in the United Kingdom. This is a General Election year.-Incumbents:*Monarch — Queen Victoria*Prime Minister — Viscount Palmerston, Liberal-Events:* 7 January — London General Omnibus Company begins operating....
  
  )
• 11 June — W. C. Sellar
  W. C. Sellar
  Walter Carruthers Sellar was a Scottish humourist who wrote for Punch. He is best known for the 1930 book 1066 and All That, a tongue-in-cheek guide to "all the history you can remember," which he wrote together with R. J...
  
  , humourist (born 1898
  1898 in the United Kingdom
  Events from the year 1898 in the United Kingdom.-Incumbents:*Monarch — Queen Victoria*Prime Minister — Robert Cecil, Marquess of Salisbury, Conservative-Events:...
  
  )
• 3 July — Gwendoline Davies
  Gwendoline Davies
  Gwendoline Elizabeth Davies, CH , was a granddaughter of the philanthropist David Davies Llandinam. Together with her sister Margaret, she is remembered as a patron of the arts in Wales and important collector of Impressionist and 20th-century art...
  
  , philanthropist (born 1882
  1882 in the United Kingdom
  Events from the year 1882 in the United Kingdom.-Incumbents:*Monarch — Queen Victoria*Prime Minister — William Ewart Gladstone, Liberal-Events:* 25 January — London Chamber of Commerce founded....
  
  )
• 21 August — Constant Lambert
  Constant Lambert
  Leonard Constant Lambert was a British composer and conductor.-Early life:Lambert, the son of Russian-born Australian painter George Lambert, was educated at Christ's Hospital and the Royal College of Music...
  
  , composer (born 1905
  1905 in the United Kingdom
  Events from the year 1905 in the United Kingdom.-Incumbents:*Monarch - King Edward VII*Prime Minister - Arthur Balfour, Conservative , Henry Campbell-Bannerman, Liberal-Events:...
  
  )
• 27 September — Robert Thomas
  Sir Robert Thomas, 1st Baronet
  Sir Robert John Thomas, 1st Baronet was a Welsh businessman and Liberal Party politician, who was twice elected to parliament. Thomas was a ship and insurance broker. He was Member of Parliament for Wrexham from 1918 to 1922, and for Anglesey from 1923 to 1929...
  
  , politician (born 1873
  1873 in the United Kingdom
  Events from the year 1873 in the United Kingdom.-Incumbents:*Monarch — Queen Victoria*Prime Minister — William Ewart Gladstone, Liberal-Events:...
  
  )
• 29 September — Evan Roberts
  Evan Roberts (minister)
  Evan John Roberts , was a leading figure of the 1904-1905 Welsh Revival who suffered many setbacks in his later life.His obituary in The Western Mail summed up his career thus:- Early life :...
  
  , preacher (born 1878
  1878 in the United Kingdom
  Events from the year 1878 in the United Kingdom.-Incumbents:*Monarch — Queen Victoria*Prime Minister — Benjamin Disraeli, Conservative-Events:* January — Cleopatra's Needle arrives in London....
  
  )
• 11 October — Donald Cameron of Lochiel
  Donald Cameron, 25th Lochiel
  Colonel Sir Donald Walter Cameron of Lochiel, KT, CMG, DL was a Scottish chieftain, the 25th chief of Clan Cameron....
  
  , Scottish chieftain (born 1876
  1876 in the United Kingdom
  Events from the year 1876 in the United Kingdom.-Incumbents:*Monarch — Queen Victoria*Prime Minister — Benjamin Disraeli, Conservative-Events:...
  
  )