1959 in the United Kingdom

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1959 in the United Kingdom:

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1957 | 1958 1959 | 1960 | 1961

Sport and Music

British and Irish current events

1959 English cricket season

Football England | Scotland

1959 in British music

Events from the year 1959 in the United Kingdom.

Contents 1 Incumbents 2 Events 2.1 Unknown dates 3 Births 3.1 January - February 3.2 March - April 3.3 May - June 3.4 July - August 3.5 September - October 3.6 November - December 3.7 Unknown date 4 Deaths 5 References

[edit] Incumbents

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

[edit] Events

• February 19 - The United Kingdom grants Cyprus its independence.
• May - First Ten Tors event held in Dartmoor.
• late May / early June - import tariffs lifted in the United Kingdom.
• May 24 - British Empire Day becomes Commonwealth Day.
• October 12 - Large scale diamond robbery in London.
• October 21 - Mau Mau leader Dedan Kimathi is arrested in Nyeri, Kenya.
• November 2 - The first section of the M1 motorway was opened between the present junctions 5 and 18.
• November 8 - Leeds City Tramways closes down
• November - The nuclear Dounreay Fast Reactor comes on line.^[1]

[edit] Unknown dates

• Philip John Noel-Baker wins the Nobel Peace Prize. ^[2]

[edit] Births

[edit] January - February

• 7 January - Angela Evans Smith, British Labour Co-operative politician and MP for Basildon
• 16 January - Sade Adu, Nigerian-born British singer, composer, songwriter and record producer
• 30 January - Alex Hyde-White, English actor
• February 3 - Laurence Tolhurst, cofounder and former drummer/keyboardist of The Cure
• February 23 - Richard Dodds, British field hockey player
• 27 February - Simon Critchley, British philosopher

[edit] March - April

• 9 March - Mark Carwardine, British zoologist
• 15 March - Ben Okri,Nigerian-born poet and novelist.
• March 20 - Steve McFadden, British actor
• 21 March - Colin Jones, Welsh boxer, who represented Great Britain at the 1976 Summer Olympics
• 5 April - Ian Pearson,British Labour politician and MP for Dudley South
• 15 April - Emma Thompson, English actress, comedian, and screenwriter.
• April 16 - Alison Ramsay, Scottish field hockey player
• April 21 - Robert Smith, British musician (The Cure)
• 25 April - Adrian Sanders, British Liberal Democrat politician and MP for Torbay
• April 27 - Sheena Easton, Scottish singer

[edit] May - June

• May 3 - Ben Elton, British comedian and writer
• May 5 - Ian McCulloch, English singer (Echo & the Bunnymen)
• May 15 - Andrew Eldritch, British musician (The Sisters of Mercy)
• 17 May - Paul Whitehouse, Welsh comedian and actor
• May 22 - Steven Morrissey, British singer
• 29 May - Rupert Everett, English actor
• May 29 - Adrian Paul, British actor
• 1 June - Martin Brundle, English motor racing and former Formula One driver
• 1 June - Peter Skinner, British Labour politician and MEP for South East England
• 11 June - Hugh Laurie , English actor, comedian and writer
• 19 June - Sophie Grigson, British cookery writer and celebrity chef
• 21 June - John Baron, British Conservative politician and MP for Billericay
• June 27 - Clint Boon, British musician (Inspiral Carpets)
• 29 June - Richard Vranch, British comedian, actor, and TV panel show participant

[edit] July - August

• July 3 - Julie Burchill, British journalist
• July 13 - Richard Leman, British field hockey player
• 26 July - Kevin Spacey, American actor and director
• 31 July - Kim Newman, English journalist, film critic, and fiction writer
• August 1 - Joe Elliott, British singer (Def Leppard)
• 20 August - Andrew Pelling, British Conservative politician and MP for Croydon Central
• 24 August - Meg Munn, British Labour Co-operative politician and MP for Sheffield Heeley
• 27 August - Jeanette Winterson, British novelist.

[edit] September - October

• September 18 - Ian Arkwright, English footballer
• October 7 - Simon Cowell, English music producer and television talent show judge
• October 10 - Kirsty MacColl, British singer and songwriter (d.2000)
• October 15 - Sarah Ferguson, Duchess of York
• 16 October - Gary Kemp, English pop artist (Spandau Ballet)
• 16 October - John Whittingdale, British Conservative politician and MP for Maldon and Chelmsford East
• 20 October - Niamh Cusack, Irish-born actress
• October 26 - Brian Bovell, British actor

[edit] November - December

• November 14 - Paul McGann, British actor
• 15 November - Tibor Fischer, British novelist and short story writer
• November 18 - Jimmy Quinn, Irish footballer and football manager
• November 25 - Charles Kennedy, British Liberal Democrat politician
• November 30 - Lorraine Kelly, British presenter and journalist
• 2 December - Gwyneth Strong, British actress
• 6 December - Stephen Hepburn, British Labour politician and MP for Jarrow
• 12 December - Jasper Conran, English fashion designer
• 28 December - Andy McNab, is a British soldier turned novelist
• 29 November - Richard Borcherds, mathematician
• 30 December - Tracey Ullman, is an English comedian, actress, singer, dancer, screenwriter, and author

[edit] Unknown date

• Dilly Braimoh, African-British television presenter and producer.
• Amanda Craig, British novelist.
• Susanna Clarke, British writer (Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell)
• Peter Doig, British painter.
• Mick Hume, British journalist and former organiser of the Revolutionary Communist Party
• WPC Yvonne Fletcher, British policewoman shot and killed during a protest outside the Libyan embassy (d. 1984)
• Nick Griffin, British politician and chairman of the British National Party (BNP).
• Lucy Kellaway, British columnist at the Financial Times
• Mick Manning, British children's author and illustrator
• Peter Mullan, Scottish actor
• Jasper Morrison, English product and furniture designer.
• Yvonne Ridley, British journalist and Respect Party politician

[edit] Deaths

• January 22 - Mike Hawthorn, English race car driver (b. 1929)
• February 15 - Owen Willans Richardson, British physicist, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1879)
• July 11 - Charlie Parker, English cricketer (b. 1882)
• August 5 - Edgar Guest, English poet (b. 1881)
• November 15 - Charles Thomson Rees Wilson, Scottish physicist, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1869)
• December 22 - Gilda Gray, Polish-born dancer and actress (b. 1901)

[edit] References

• BBC News On This Day for 1959