1980 in the United Kingdom

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

1980 in the United Kingdom:
Other years
1978 \| 1979 \| 1980 \| 1981 \| 1982
Sport and Music
British and Irish current events
1980 English cricket season
Football England \| Scotland
1980 in British music

Events from the year 1980 in the United Kingdom.

1 Incumbents
2 Events
3 Publications
4 Births
5 Deaths
6 References
7 See also

[edit] Incumbents

Monarch - HM Queen Elizabeth II
Prime Minister - Margaret Thatcher, Conservative

[edit] Events

2 January - Workers at British Steel go on a nationwide strike over pay.^[1]
14 February–23 February - Great Britain and Northern Ireland compete at the 1980 Winter Olympics in Lake Placid, New York, United States and win one gold medal.
25 February - first episode of the popular political sitcom Yes Minister broadcast by the BBC.
20 March - Radio Caroline, the pirate radio station, forced to cease transmission when the ship on which it was based sank.^[2]
25 March
- The British Olympic Association vote to defy the government, and send athletes to the Olympic Games to be held in Moscow, USSR in the summer of 1980.^[3]
- Robert Runcie enthroned as Archbishop of Canterbury.^[2]
27 March - The Alexander Kielland North Sea accommodation platform for oil workers collapses into the sea, killing 123 oil workers. A massive wave hit one of the legs of the platform, causing it to break and fall into the water.^[4]
10 April - The UK reaches agreement with Spain to re-open the Spain-Gibraltar border.
18 April - Zimbabwe becomes independent of the United Kingdom.^[2]
30 April - The Iranian Embassy Siege begins. A six-man terrorist team calling itself the "Democratic Revolutionary Movement for the Liberation of Arabistan" (DRMLA) captures the Embassy of Iran in Prince's Gate, Knightsbridge, central London, taking 26 hostages.^[2]
1 May - British Aerospace privatised.^[5]
5 May - The SAS storm the Iranian Embassy building, kill 5 out of the 6 terrorists and free all the hostages.^[6]
27 May - Inquest into the death of Blair Peach returns a verdict of misadventure, sparking a public outcry.^[7]
June - British Leyland launches its Morris Ital range of family saloons and estates, which are a reworking of the nine-year-old Marina that was one of Britain's most popular cars during the 1970s. It will be produced for up to four years until an all-new front-wheel drive model is launched.
17 June - Secretary of State for Defence, Francis Pym reveals to the House of Commons that US nuclear cruise missiles would be located at RAF Greenham Common, Berkshire, and the disused RAF Molesworth in Cambridgeshire.^[8]
19 June - Gunmen attack the British embassy in Iraq, three unknown attackers shot dead by Iraqi security forces.^[9]
30 June - the pre-decimal Sixpence withdrawn from circulation.^[2]
July - Alexandra Palace in London destroyed by fire.^[10]
19 July–3 August - Great Britain and Northern Ireland compete at the 1980 Summer Olympics in Moscow and win 5 gold, 7 silver and 9 bronze medals.
1 September - Ford launches one of the most important new cars of the year - the mark 3 Escort, which is a technological innovation in the small family car market, spelling the end of the traditional rear-wheel drive saloon in favour of the front-wheel drive hatchback. An estate version is also available.
11 September- The Marlborough diamond is stolen in London.^[11]
13 September - Hercules the bear who had gone missing on a Scottish island filming a Kleenex advert is found.^[12]
21 September - First CND rally at RAF Greenham Common.^[5]
8 October - British Leyland launches the Austin Metro, a small hatchback which uses the much of the Mini's mechanical design but an entirely different body which offers more space and practicality. Production of the 21-year-old Mini, however, is set to continue for the foreseeable future.
10 October - Margaret Thatcher makes her famous "The lady's not for turning" speech to the Conservative Party conference.^[13]
17 October - Queen Elizabeth II makes history by becoming the first British monarch to make a state visit to the Vatican.^[14]
10 November - Michael Foot is elected Leader of the Labour Party.^[15]
8 December - John Lennon is shot dead in New York.^[16]
10 December - Frederick Sanger wins his second Nobel Prize in Chemistry, jointly with Walter Gilbert, "for their contributions concerning the determination of base sequences in nucleic acids".^[17]
28 December - The Independent Broadcasting Authority award contracts for commercial broadcasting on ITV. TV-am is awarded the first ever breakfast TV contract, and is set to go on air by 1983.^[18]