1942 in the United Kingdom

1942 in the United Kingdom:

Other years

1940 | 1941 | 1942 (1942) | 1943 | 1944

World War II

UK during World War II

Events from the year 1942 in the United Kingdom. This year is dominated by World War II.

Contents 1 Incumbents 2 Events 2.1 Unknown date 3 Publications 4 Births 4.1 January – April 4.2 May – August 4.3 September – December 5 Deaths 6 References 7 See also

Incumbents

• Monarch – King George VI
• Prime Minister – Winston Churchill, coalition

Events

• 1 January – An underground explosion at Sneyd Colliery in the North Staffordshire Coalfield kills 55.^[1][2]
• 26 January – World War II: First US troops for the European Theatre arrive in the UK, at Belfast.^[3]
• 29 January – Radio programme Desert Island Discs first broadcast on the BBC Forces Programme, presented by Roy Plomley. Vic Oliver is the first castaway.^[4]
• January – Mildenhall Treasure discovered by ploughman Gordon Butcher in Suffolk.
• February–April – Liverpool Chinese seamen strike for improved pay.^[5]
• 7 February – Soap rationing introduced.^[4]
• 15 February – World War II: Arthur Ernest Percival's forces surrender to the Japanese at the Battle of Singapore.^[4]
• 25 February – The Princess Elizabeth (now Elizabeth II, Queen of the United Kingdom and 15 other Commonwealth realms) registers for war service.
• April – Women's Timber Corps set up.^[6]
• 5 April – World War II: Japanese Navy attacks Colombo in Ceylon (Sri Lanka). Royal Navy Cruisers HMS Cornwall and HMS Dorsetshire are sunk southwest of the island.
• 9 April – World War II: Japanese Navy launches air raid on Trincomalee in Ceylon (Sri Lanka); Royal Navy Aircraft Carrier HMS Hermes and Royal Australian Navy Destroyer HMAS Vampire are sunk off the country's East Coast.
• 23 April
  • Exeter becomes the first city bombed as part of the Baedeker Blitz in retaliation for the British bombing of Lübeck.
  • William Temple enthroned as Archbishop of Canterbury.
• 5 May–6 November – World War II, Battle of Madagascar: British commander Robert Sturges leads the invasion of Vichy French-held Madagascar.
• 6 May – The Radio Doctor (Charles Hill) makes his first BBC radio broadcast giving avuncular health care advice.
• 30 May – Over a thousand RAF bombers attack Cologne in Germany.^[4]
• July – Military scientists begin testing of anthrax as a biological warfare agent on the Scottish island of Gruinard.^[7]
• 10 July – The patriotic Academy Award-winning drama film Mrs. Miniver, starring Greer Garson, is released in London.^[8]
• 11 August – Traffic admitted onto the new Waterloo Bridge across the River Thames in London.^[4]
• 19 August – World War II: British and Canadian troops conduct the Dieppe Raid.^[4]
• 25 August – Prince George, Duke of Kent, the brother of King George VI is killed in an air crash near Caithness, Scotland.
• 30 August–2 September – World War II: At the Battle of Alam el Halfa in Egypt, General Montgomery leads the Eighth Army to victory over Field Marshal Rommel's Afrika Korps.^[4]
• September – The Brains Trust first broadcast under this title on BBC Home Service radio.^[9]
• 17 September – Noël Coward's film In Which We Serve premieres.
• 2 October – British cruiser Curaçao collides with the liner Queen Mary off the coast of Donegal and sinks: 338 drown.
• 5 October – Oxford Committee for Famine Relief founded.^[10]
• 23 October – World War II: British and Commonwealth forces launch a major attack against German and Italian forces in the Second Battle of El Alamein in Egypt.^[4]
• 29 October – Holocaust: Leading clergymen and political figures hold a public meeting to register outrage over Nazi Germany's persecution of Jews.
• 3 November – World War II: Second Battle of El Alamein ends with German forces under Erwin Rommel forced to retreat during the night.^[4]
• 8 November – World War II: British and American troops invade French North Africa in Operation Torch.
• 1 December – Publication of the Beveridge Report into social insurance.^[4]
• 7 December – British commandos conduct Operation Frankton a raid on shipping in Bordeaux harbour.

Unknown date

• World War II: Maunsell Forts erected in the Thames Estuary.
• Radical politician Sir Charles Trevelyan donates his family home, Wallington Hall, Northumberland, to the National Trust, its first such stately home acquisition.
• The British Council of Churches, an ecumenical organisation, is established.
• J. Arthur Rank purchases UK sites of Paramount Cinemas.

Publications

• "Flying Officer X" (H. E. Bates)'s short story collection The Greatest People in the World.
• "BB"'s children's story The Little Grey Men.
• Enid Blyton's children's story Five on a Treasure Island, first in The Famous Five series.
• Joyce Carey's novel To Be a Pilgrim.
• Agatha Christie's novels The Body in the Library (Miss Marple), Five Little Pigs (Hercule Poirot) and The Moving Finger (Miss Marple).
• T. S. Eliot's poem Little Gidding, last of the Four Quartets (in October New English Weekly).
• C. S. Lewis' novel The Screwtape Letters.
• Evelyn Waugh's novel Put Out More Flags.

Births

January – April

• 3 January – John Thaw, English actor (died 2002)
• 8 January
  • Stephen Hawking, British physicist
  • George Passmore, English artist (Gilbert and George)
• 19 January – Michael Crawford, English singer and actor
• 31 January – Derek Jarman, English director and writer (died 1994)
• 1 February – Terry Jones, Welsh actor and writer
• 2 February – Graham Nash, English musician
• 28 February – Brian Jones, English musician (The Rolling Stones) (died 1969)
• 9 March – John Cale, Welsh composer and musician
• 25 March – Richard O'Brien, English actor and writer
• 27 March
  • John E. Sulston, British chemist, recipient of the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine
  • Michael York, English actor
• 28 March
  • Neil Kinnock, British statesman
  • Mike Newell, British film director
• 5 April – Peter Greenaway, Welsh filmmaker
• 8 April – Roger Chapman, British singer (Family, Streetwalkers)
• 19 April – David Fanshawe, English composer (died 2010)

May – August

• 8 May – Terry Neill, Northern Irish footballer and football manager
• 12 May – Ian Dury, British musician (died 2000)
• 18 May
  • Albert Hammond, English-born musician and composer
  • Nobby Stiles, English footballer
• 18 June – Paul McCartney, English musician and composer (The Beatles)
• 24 June – Mick Fleetwood, English drummer (Fleetwood Mac)
• 4 July – Prince Michael of Kent
• 23 July – Myra Hindley, English murderer (died 2002)
• 26 August – Dennis Turner, British politician

September – December

• 7 September - Richard Block, Co-founder of B&Q(Retail)Ltd.

• 17 September – Desmond Lynam, British TV presenter
• 26 October – Bob Hoskins, English actor
• 24 November – Billy Connolly, Scottish comedian
• 29 November – Michael Craze, British actor (d. 1998)
• 4 December – Gemma Jones, British actress
• 31 December – Andy Summers, English musician

Deaths

• 16 January – Prince Arthur, Duke of Connaught and Strathearn- third eldest son of Queen Victoria (born 1850)
• 10 March – William Henry Bragg, English physicist, Nobel Prize laureate (born 1862)
• 16 April – Princess Alexandra of Edinburgh and Saxe-Coburg and Gotha, granddaughter of Queen Victoria (born 1878)
• 7 June – Alan Blumlein, English electronics engineer (born 1903)
• 22 July – Gilbert Cunningham Joyce, Bishop of Monmouth (born 1866)
• 28 July – William Matthew Flinders Petrie, English Egyptologist (born 1853)
• 10 August – Bob Kelso, Scottish footballer (born 1865)
• 25 August – Prince George, Duke of Kent, fourth eldest son of King George V (born 1902)
• 4 December – Hugh Gordon Malcolm, Scottish VC recipient (born 1917)
• 22 December – Elias Henry Jones, Welsh educationist and author (year of birth unknown)

References

See also

Years in the United Kingdom Years in the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland 1801 1802 1803 1804 1805 1806 1807 1808 1809 1810 1811 1812 1813 1814 1815 1816 1817 1818 1819 1820 1821 1822 1823 1824 1825 1826 1827 1828 1829 1830 1831 1832 1833 1834 1835 1836 1837 1838 1839 1840 1841 1842 1843 1844 1845 1846 1847 1848 1849 1850 1851 1852 1853 1854 1855 1856 1857 1858 1859 1860 1861 1862 1863 1864 1865 1866 1867 1868 1869 1870 1871 1872 1873 1874 1875 1876 1877 1878 1879 1880 1881 1882 1883 1884 1885 1886 1887 1888 1889 1890 1891 1892 1893 1894 1895 1896 1897 1898 1899 1900 1901 1902 1903 1904 1905 1906 1907 1908 1909 1910 1911 1912 1913 1914 1915 1916 1917 1918 1919 1920 1921 1922 1923 1924 1925 1926 Years in the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland 1927 1928 1929 1930 1931 1932 1933 1934 1935 1936 1937 1938 1939 1940 1941 1942 1943 1944 1945 1946 1947 1948 1949 1950 1951 1952 1953 1954 1955 1956 1957 1958 1959 1960 1961 1962 1963 1964 1965 1966 1967 1968 1969 1970 1971 1972 1973 1974 1975 1976 1977 1978 1979 1980 1981 1982 1983 1984 1985 1986 1987 1988 1989 1990 1991 1992 1993 1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012