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Events from the year 1953 in the United Kingdom.
[edit] Events
Queen Elizabeth II her coronation robes
- January 28 - Derek Bentley is executed at Wandsworth Prison in London for his part in the murder of PC Sidney Miles. [1]
- January 31 - The car ferry, MV Princess Victoria sailing from Stranraer, Scotland to Larne, Northern Ireland, sinks in the Irish Sea killing 133 people onboard. Among the dead included Northern Ireland Finance Minister and Deputy Prime Minister Major Maynard Sinclair, and Sir Walter Smiles, the Ulster Unionist MP for North Down. [2]
- January 31/February 1 - The North Sea flood of 1953 kills hundreds of people on the east coast of Britain. [3]
- February 5 - The rationing of sweets, introduced during World War II, ends. [4]
- February 28 - James D. Watson and Francis Crick announce that they have discovered the structure of the DNA molecule.
- March 16 - Josip Tito, the Communist leader of Yugoslavia visits the UK, the first Communist leader to do so. [5]
- March 24 - Queen Mary, the consort of the late King George V dies in her sleep at Marlborough House. [6]
- March 31 - The funeral of Queen Mary takes place at St. George's Chapel, Windsor Castle. [7]
- April 13 - Ian Fleming publishes his first James Bond novel, Casino Royale. [8]
- April 16 - The Queen launches the Royal Yacht Britannia at the John Brown & Company shipbuilders on the Clyde.
[9]
[edit] Undated
[edit] Births
- February 17 - Norman Pace, British actor and comedian
- 11 April - Andrew Wiles, mathematician known for proving Fermat's Last Theorem
- April 20 - Sebastian Faulks, English novelist
- May 6 - Tony Blair, Prime Minister
- May 19 - Victoria Wood, British comic actress
- May 24 - Alfred Molina, English actor
- May 26 - Michael Portillo, English politician
- July 21 - David Ervine, leader of the Progressive Unionist Party (died 2007)
- August 18 - Patrick Cowdell, English boxer
- October 27 - Peter Firth, British actor
- Christopher Fowler, thriller writer
[edit] Deaths
[edit] References
- ^ "Derek Bentley hanged for murder", BBC On This Day
- ^ "130 die in ferry disaster", BBC On This Day
- ^ "Violent storms claim hundreds of lives", BBC On This Day
- ^ "Sweet rationing ends in Britain", BBC On This Day
- ^ "Marshal Tito makes historic visit to London", BBC On This Day
- ^ "Queen Mary dies peacefully after illness", BBC On This Day
- ^ "Queen Mary laid to rest in Windsor", BBC On This Day
- ^ The Lost Decade Timeline, BBC
- ^ "Queen launches Royal Yacht Britannia", BBC On This Day
- ^ Watson, J. D. and Crick, F. H. C. (1953). Molecular structure of nucleic acids: a structure for deoxyribose nucleic acid. Nature 171, 737-738.
- ^ "Scientists describe 'secret of life'", BBC On This Day
- ^ "Queen Elizabeth takes coronation oath", BBC On This Day
- ^ "Christie to hang for wife's murder", BBC On This Day
- ^ "Britain sends troops to Guiana", BBC On This Day
- ^ "Twenty die in Channel collision", BBC On This Day
- ^ (1999) The Hutchinson Factfinder. Helicon. ISBN 1-85986-000-1.
- ^ The Nobel Prize in Literature 1953
- ^ The Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine 1953
1953 in the United Kingdom: 
England | 
Scotland
