From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Events from the year 1974 in the United Kingdom.
[edit] Incumbents
-
[edit] Events
- 1 January - Northern Ireland Power-sharing Executive set up in Belfast.[1]
- 7 January–7 March - Three-Day Week introduced by the Conservative Government as a measure to conserve electricity during a period of industrial action by coal miners.[2]
- 3 February - The second Bathurst Gaol riots; prisoners destroy much of the facility with petrol bombs.
- 4 February - M62 coach bombing: 11 people are killed in a bomb explosion on a coach on the M62 motorway in West Yorkshire. Eight of the dead were off-duty soldiers, and two were children. 12 other people have been injured.[3]
- 7 February
- Prime Minister Edward Heath calls a general election in an attempt to end the dispute over the miners' strike.[4]
- Grenada becomes independent of the United Kingdom.[5]
- 8 February - The M62 motorway bombing death toll reaches 12 with the death in hospital of an 18-year-old soldier who had been seriously injured in the bombing.
- 28 February - The general election results in an almost dead-heat. Harold Wilson becomes Prime Minister again, despite his Labour Party (UK) having received fewer votes than the Conservative Party (UK).
- 6 March - the miners' strike comes to an end due an improved pay offer by the new Labour government.[6]
- 10 March - Ten miners die in a methane gas explosion at Golborne Colliery near Wigan, Lancashire.
- 11 March - convicted armed robbers Kenneth Littlejohn and his brother Keith, who claimed to be British spies in the Republic of Ireland, escape from Mountjoy Prison in Dublin.[7]
- 15 March - Architect John Poulson jailed for five years for corruption.[8]
- 18 March - Oil embargo crisis: Most OPEC nations end a 5-month oil embargo against the United States, Europe and Japan.
- 20 March - Ian Ball fails in his attempt to kidnap Her Royal Highness Princess Anne and her husband Captain Mark Phillips in The Mall, outside Buckingham Palace.
- 29 March - Government re-established direct rule over Northern Ireland after declaring a state of emergency.[1]
- 1 April - The Local Government Act 1972 comes into effect in England and Wales, creating six new metropolitan counties and comprehensively redrawing the administrative map.
- 17 May - the Loyalist paramilitary group Ulster Volunteer Force carries out the Dublin and Monaghan bombings in the Republic of Ireland.[9]
- 28 May - power-sharing in the Northern Ireland Assembly collapses following a strike by unionists.[10]
- 1 June - Flixborough disaster: An explosion at a chemical plant in Flixborough, UK, kills 28 people.
- 15 June - The Red Lion Square disorders: Members of the fascist National Front clash with leftist counter-protesters in London's West End; one student is killed.[11]
- 17 June - A bomb explodes at the Houses of Parliament in London, damaging Westminster Hall. The Irish Republican Army claims responsibility for planting the bomb.[5]
- 24 June - The government admits testing a nuclear weapon in the United States causing a rift in the Labour Party.[12]
- 17 July - A bomb planted by the Provisional Irish Republican Army (PIRA) explodes in the White Tower at the Tower of London, killing one person and injuring 41. Another bomb explodes outside a government building in South London.[13]
- 21 July - 10,000 Greek-Cypriots protest in London against the Turkish invasion of Cyprus.[14]
- 23 September - Ceefax is started by the BBC - one of the first public service information systems.[5]
- 5 October - The Guildford pub bombings at The Horse and Groom and The Seven Stars kill five people.[15]
- 10 October - The second general election of the year results in a narrow victory for Labour, still led by Harold Wilson.[16]
- 16 October - rioting prisoners set fire to the Maze Prison in Belfast.[17]
- 22 October - the Provisional IRA bomb Brooks's club in London.[18]
- 28 October - the wife and son of Sports Ministers Denis Howell survive a PIRA bomb attack on their car.[19]
- 4 November - Judith Ward sentenced to life imprisonment for the M62 coach bombing.[20]
- 7 November
- 11 November - Opening of the New Covent Garden Market in Nine Elms.[22]
- 21 November - Birmingham pub bombings: In Birmingham, two pubs are bombed, killing 21 people and injuring many others.[23]
- 24 November - the Birmingham Six charged for the Birmingham pub bombings.[24]
- 25 November - Home Secretary Roy Jenkins announces the government's intention to outlaw the IRA in the UK.[5]
- 27 November - The Prevention of Terrorism Act is passed.
- 5 December - Party Political Broadcast, the final episode of Monty Python's Flying Circus, is broadcast on BBC 2.
- 10 December
- 15 December - new speed limits introduced on Britain's roads in an attempt to save fuel at a time of Arab fuel embargoes following the Yom Kippur War.[27]
- 18 December - the government pays £42,00 to families of vicitims of Bloody Sunday riots in Northern Ireland.[28]
- 22 December - The London home of Conservative Party leader and former Prime Minister of the United Kingdom Edward Heath is bombed in a suspected PIRA attack. Mr Heath had been away from home when the bomb exploded, but returned just 10 minutes afterwards.[29]
- 24 December - former government minister John Stonehouse found living in Australia having faked his own death.[30]
[edit] Undated
[edit] Publications
[edit] Births
- 12 January - Melanie Chisholm, singer
- 16 January - Kate Moss, English model
- 30 January - Christian Bale, Welsh actor
- 31 January - Ian Huntley, English murderer
- 13 February - Robbie Williams, English singer
- 14 February - Lynden David Hall, British singer (died 2006)
- 22 February
- 28 March
- 17 April - Victoria Beckham, English singer (Spice Girls)
- 24 April - Dave Vitty, aka Comedy Dave, British television host
- 21 June - Natasha Desborough, British radio personality
- 14 July - David Mitchell, comedian and actor
- 31 July - Emilia Fox, English actress
- 23 August - Ray Park, Scottish actor
- 2 September - Lisa Snowdon, English television presenter
- 6 September - Tim Henman, English tennis player
- 18 September - Sol Campbell, English footballer
- 29 October - Michael Vaughan, English cricketer
- 4 November - Louise Redknapp, English singer
- 13 December
- 29 December - Jenny Barker, British radio presenter
[edit] Deaths
- 12 January - Princess Patricia of Connaught (born 1886)
- 29 January - H. E. Bates, novelist (born 1905)
- 4 July - Georgette Heyer, English novelist (born 1902)
- 13 July - Patrick Blackett, English physicist, Nobel Prize laureate (born 1897)
- 24 July - James Chadwick, English physicist, Nobel Prize laureate (born 1891)
- 1 August - James Henry Govier, British artist (born 1910)
- 22 August - Jacob Bronowski, Polish-born mathematician, and television presenter (born 1908)
- 29 August - Judith Furse, actress (born 1912)
- 24 November - Nick Drake, British musician (born 1948)
[edit] References
- ^ a b Palmer, Alan & Veronica (1992). The Chronology of British History. London: Century Ltd, 435-436. ISBN 0-7126-5616-2.
- ^ British Economics and Trade Union politics 1973-1974. The National Archives (UK Government records).
- ^ "1974: Soldiers and children killed in coach bombing", BBC On This Day. Retrieved on 2008-02-10.
- ^ "1974: Heath calls snap election over miners", BBC On This Day. Retrieved on 2008-02-10.
- ^ a b c d (2006) Penguin Pocket On This Day. Penguin Reference Library. ISBN 0-141-02715-0.
- ^ "1974: Miners' strike comes to an end", BBC On This Day. Retrieved on 2008-02-10.
- ^ "1974: 'Anti-IRA spies' break out of jail", BBC On This Day. Retrieved on 2008-02-10.
- ^ "1974: Architect jailed over corruption", BBC On This Day. Retrieved on 2008-02-10.
- ^ "1974: Bombs devastate Dublin and Monaghan", BBC On This Day. Retrieved on 2008-02-10.
- ^ "1974: Strikes topple NI power-sharing body", BBC On This Day. Retrieved on 2008-02-10.
- ^ "1974: Man dies in race rally clashes", BBC On This Day. Retrieved on 2008-02-10.
- ^ "1974: Labour rift over nuclear test", BBC On This Day. Retrieved on 2008-02-10.
- ^ "1974: Bomb blast at the Tower of London", BBC On This Day. Retrieved on 2008-02-10.
- ^ "1974: Cyprus conflict spills into London", BBC On This Day. Retrieved on 2008-02-10.
- ^ "1974: Four dead in Guildford bomb blasts", BBC On This Day. Retrieved on 2008-02-10.
- ^ "1974: Labour scrapes working majority", BBC On This Day. Retrieved on 2008-02-10.
- ^ "1974: Maze prison goes up in flames", BBC On This Day. Retrieved on 2008-02-10.
- ^ "1974: Bomb blast in London club", BBC On This Day. Retrieved on 2008-02-10.
- ^ "1974: Minister's wife survives bomb attack", BBC On This Day. Retrieved on 2008-02-10.
- ^ "1974: M62 bomber jailed for life", BBC On This Day. Retrieved on 2008-02-10.
- ^ "1974: Police hunt Lord Lucan after murder", BBC On This Day. Retrieved on 2008-02-10.
- ^ History of Covent Garden Market. Retrieved on 2008-03-28.
- ^ "1974: Birmingham pub blasts kill 19", BBC On This Day. Retrieved on 2008-02-10.
- ^ "1974: Six charged over Birmingham pub bombs", BBC On This Day. Retrieved on 2008-02-10.
- ^ Bank of Sweden (1974). The Sveriges Riksbank Prize in Economic Sciences in Memory of Alfred Nobel 1974.
- ^ The Nobel Prize in Physics 1974
- ^ "1974: New speed limit to curb fuel use", BBC On This Day. Retrieved on 2008-02-10.
- ^ "1974: Compensation for Bloody Sunday victims", BBC On This Day. Retrieved on 2008-02-10.
- ^ "1974: Heath's home is bombed", BBC On This Day. Retrieved on 2008-02-10.
- ^ "1974: 'Drowned' Stonehouse found alive", BBC On This Day. Retrieved on 2008-02-10.
- ^ "Pandas 'sparked diplomatic fears'", BBC News. Retrieved on 2007-11-24.
[edit] See also