1992 in the United Kingdom

1992 in the United Kingdom:
Other years
1990 \| 1991 \| 1992 (1992) \| 1993 \| 1994
Individual countries of the United Kingdom
England \| Northern Ireland \| Scotland \| Wales
Sport, Television and music
1992 British Grand Prix 1992 English cricket season Football: England \| Scotland 1992 in British television 1992 in British music 1992 in British radio UK in the Eurovision Song Contest 1992

Events from the year 1992 in the United Kingdom.

Overview

1992 in the United Kingdom is notable for a fourth term General Election victory for the Conservative Party; "Black Wednesday" (16 September), the suspension of Britain's membership of the European Exchange Rate Mechanism; and an Annus Horribilis for the Royal Family.

Incumbents

Monarch - Elizabeth II
Prime Minister – John Major (Conservative)

Events

January

January - Statistics show that economic growth returned during the final quarter of 1991 after five successive quarters of contraction.^[1]
9 January
- Liberal Democrat leader Paddy Ashdown proposes a £3billion package which would create 400,000 jobs in 12 months.
- Alison Halford, Britain's most senior policewoman, is suspended from duty for a second time following a police authority meeting.^[2]
10 January - The first full week of 1992 sees some 4,000 jobs lost across Britain, as the nation's recession continues. Almost 20% of those job cuts have been by GEC, Britain's leading telecommunications manufacturer, where 750 redundancies are announced today.
14 January - The Bank of Credit and Commerce International goes into liquidation.
17 January
- In a Provisional Irish Republican Army (IRA) bomb attack near Omagh, seven construction workers are killed and seven others injured. This is the highest number of casualties in an IRA attack since 1988.
- The first MORI poll of 1992 shows the Conservatives three points ahead of Labour on 42%, while the Liberal Democrats have their best showing yet with 16% of the vote.^[3]
18 January - John Major announces that the general election will be held on 9 April.
29 January - The Department of Health reveals that AIDS cases among heterosexuals increased by 50% between 1990 and 1991.
30 January - John Major agrees a weapons control deal with new Russian premier Boris Yeltsin at 10 Downing Street.

February

2 February - Neil Kinnock, Labour leader, denies reports that he had a "Kremlin connection" during the 1980s.
6 February - The Queen celebrates her Ruby Jubilee.
7 February - Signature of the Maastricht Treaty.^[4]
8 February–23 February - Great Britain and Northern Ireland compete at the Winter Olympics in Albertville, France, but do not win any medals.
9 February - Prime Minister John Major speaks of his hopes that the recession will soon be over as the economy is now showing signs of recovery.
15 February - Neil Kinnock, Labour Party leader, speaks of his belief that the Conservative government's failure to halt the current recession will win his party the forthcoming general election.
18 February - David Stevens, head of community relations, blames the recession for the recent rise in crime across Britain - most of all in deprived areas.
20 February - Hopes of an end to the recession are dashed by government figures which reveal that GDP fell by 0.3% in the final quarter of 1991.
23 February - The London Business School predicts an economic growth rate of 1.2% for this year, sparking hopes that the recession is nearing its end.
March - Toyota launches the TMUK-built Carina E at the Geneva Motor Show.

March

6 March - Parliament passes the Further and Higher Education Act, allowing polytechnics to become new universities. Legislation passed under the Act on 4 June allows them to award degrees of their own, and they thus reopen in September for the new academic year with the status of universities.^[5]
11 March
- John Major announces that the election will be held on 9 April.
- Shadow Chancellor John Smith condemns the recent Budget as a "missed opportunity" by the Conservatives, saying that they did "nothing" for jobs, training, skills, construction or economic recovery.
13 March - The first ecumenical church in Britain, the Christ the Cornerstone Church in Milton Keynes is opened.^[6]
17 March - Shadow Chancellor John Smith announces that there will be no tax reductions this year if Labour win the election.
19 March
- Buckingham Palace announces that Duke and Duchess of York are to separate after six years of marriage.^[7]
- Unemployment has reached 2,647,300 - 9.4% of the British workforce, the highest level since late 1987.
24 March
- Election campaigning becomes dominated by the "War of Jennifer's Ear".
- The editors of Punch, Britain's oldest satirical magazine, announce that it will be discontinued due to massive losses. In circulation since 1841, it publishes its last issue on 8 April.^[8]
26 March - Television entertainer Roy Castle (59), who currently presents Record Breakers, announces that he is suffering from lung cancer.
29 March - John Spencer, 8th Earl Spencer and father of Princess Diana, dies suddenly from pneumonia at the age of 68.^[9]

April

April – Statistics show that the first quarter of this year saw the economy grow for the second quarter running, the sequel to five successive quarters of detraction, though the growth is still too narrow for the recession to be declared over.
1 April - The latest opinion polls show a narrow lead for Labour, which would force a hung parliament in the election next week.
4 April - Party Politics becomes the tallest horse to win the Grand National.
5 April - At his pre-election speech, Neil Kinnock promises a strong economic recovery if he leads the Labour party to election victory on Thursday.
6 April - Women's Royal Army Corps disbanded, its members being fully absorbed into the regular British Army.
7 April - The final MORI poll before the general election shows Labour one point ahead of the Conservatives on 39%, while the Liberal Democrats continue to enjoy a surge in popularity with 20% of the vote. Most opinion polls show a similar situation, hinting at either a narrow Labour majority or a hung parliament.^[3]
9 April - General Election: The Conservative Party are re-elected for a fourth successive term, in their first election under John Major's leadership. Their majority is reduced to 21 seats but they have attracted more than 14,000,000 votes - the highest number of votes ever attracted in a general election. Notable retirements from parliament at this election include Margaret Thatcher (Conservative prime minister for over eleven years until her resignation seventeen months ago) and the former Labour Party leader Michael Foot.^[4]
10 April
- Provisional Irish Republican Army detonates two bombs at the Baltic Exchange in central London, killing three.^[6]
- With the government's victory in the election confirmed, John Major assures the public that he will lead the country out of recession that has blighted it for nearly two years.
11 April - Publication of The Sun newspaper's iconic front page headline 'It's The Sun Wot Won It', as the tabloid newspaper claims it won the general election for the Conservatives with its anti-Kinnock front page headline on election day.
13 April
- Neil Kinnock resigns as leader of the Labour Party following the defeat of his party in the General Election.^[10] he had led the party for eight-and-a-half years since October 1983, and is the longest serving opposition leader in British political history.^[11]
- The Princess Royal announces her divorce from Capt Mark Phillips after 18 years of marriage, having separated in 1989.
16 April - Unemployment has now risen 23 months in succession, but the March rise in unemployment is the smallest monthly rise so far.
17–20 April - Lost Gardens of Heligan in Cornwall first opened to the public.^[12]
27 April - Betty Boothroyd, 62-year-old Labour MP for West Bromwich West in the West Midlands, is elected as Speaker of the House of Commons, the first woman to hold the position.^[4]

May

5 May - UEFA awards the 1996 European Football Championships to England.
6 May - John Major promises British voters improved services and more money to spend.
12 May - Plans are unveiled for a fifth terminal at Heathrow Airport, which is now the busiest airport in the world.
May - Twenty-two "Maastricht Rebels" vote against the government on the second reading of the European Communities (Amendment) Bill.
17 May - Nigel Mansell gains the 26th Grand Prix win of his racing career at Imola, San Marino. He is now the most successful British driver in Grand Prix races, and the fourth worldwide.

June

June - Cones Hotline introduced enabling members of the public to complain about traffic cones being deployed on a road for no apparent reason.
7 June - A controversial new biography of Diana, Princess of Wales, Diana: Her True Story, written by Andrew Morton, is published, revealing that she has made five suicide attempts following her discovery that The Prince of Wales had resumed an affair with his previous girlfriend Mrs Parker-Bowles shortly after Prince William's birth in 1982.^[13]
17 June - Almost 2,700,000 people are now out of work as unemployment continues to rise.
25 June - GDP is reported to have fallen by 0.5% in the first quarter of this year as the recession continues.
30 June - Margaret Thatcher takes her place in the House of Lords as Baroness Thatcher, nineteen months after resigning as Prime Minister.^[14]

July

July - Statistics show that the economy contracted during the second quarter of this year.
2 July - The IRA admits to murdering three men whose bodies were found by the army at various locations around Armagh last night. The men are believed to have been informers employed by MI5.^[15]
10 July - One of the first major signs of economic recovery is shown as inflation falls from 4.3% to 3.9%.
17 July
- John Smith is elected leader of the Labour Party.
- Official opening of Manchester Metrolink, the first new-generation light rail system with street running in the British Isles.
21 July - British Airways announces a takeover of USAir.
23 July - Three months after losing the general election, Labour finish four points ahead of the Conservatives in a MORI poll, with 43% of the vote.^[3]
25 July–9 August - Great Britain and Northern Ireland compete at the Olympics in Barcelona and win 5 gold, 3 silver and 12 bronze medals.
27 July - Alan Shearer becomes Britain's most expensive footballer in a £3.6 million transfer from Southampton to Blackburn Rovers. Shearer, who turns 22 next month, was a member of England's Euro 92 national squad, having scored on his debut in a friendly international against France earlier this year.^[16]

August

6 August - Lord Hope, the Lord President of the Court of Session, Scotland's most senior judge, permits the televising of appeals in both criminal and civil cases, the first time that cameras have been allowed into courts in the United Kingdom.^[17]
20 August - Intimate photographs of the Duchess of York and a Texan businessman, John Bryan, are published in the Daily Mirror.^[18]
27 August - Hugh McKiben (aged 19) becomes the 3,000th victim of the sectarian violence in Northern Ireland which began in 1969.

September

5 September - Italian supercar manufacturer Ferrari announces that its Formula One division will be designing and manufacturing cars in Britain.
13 September - Nigel Mansell announces his retirement from Formula One racing.
16 September - "Black Wednesday" sees the government suspending Britain's membership of the European Exchange Rate Mechanism following a wave of speculation against the Pound.^[19]
17 September - There is more bad news for the economy as unemployment is at a five-year high of 2,845,508, and experts warn that it will soon hit 3,000,000 for the first time since early 1987.
18 September - The latest MORI poll shows the Labour Party four points ahead of the Conservatives at 43%, following the events of Black Wednesday two days earlier.
24 September - David Mellor resigns as Heritage Minister amid tabloid press speculation that he had been conducting an adulterous affair with actress Antonia de Sancha.^[20]
30 September - The Royal Mint introduces a new 10-pence coin which is lighter and smaller than the previous coin.

October

October
- First Cochrane Centre opens.^[21]
- Statistics show a return to economic growth for the third quarter of this year.^[22]
9 October - Two suspected IRA bombs explode in London, but there are no injuries.
13 October - The government announces the closure of a third of Britain's deep coal mines, with the loss of 31,000 jobs.^[23]
14 October - The England football team begins its qualification campaign for the 1994 FIFA World Cup with a 1-1 draw against Norway at Wembley Stadium.
15 October - The value of the pound sterling is reported to have dipped further as the recession deepens.
16 October - The government attempts to tackle the recession by cutting the base interest rate to 8% - the lowest since June 1988.
19 October - John Major announces that only ten deep coal mines will be closed.
25 October - Around 100,000 people protest in London against the government's pit closure plans.
26 October - British Steel announces a 20% production cut as a result in falling demand from its worldwide customer base.
30 October - IRA terrorists force a taxi driver to drive to Downing Street at gunpoint and once there they detonate a bomb, but there are no injuries.

November

11 November - The Church of England votes to allow women to become priests.^[24]
12 November
- British Telecom reports a £1.03 billion profit for the half year ending 30 September - a fall of 36.2% on the previous half year figure, as a result of the thousands of redundancies it has made this year due to the recession.
- Unemployment has continued to climb and is now approaching 2,900,000. It has risen every month since June 1990, when it was below 1,700,000. The current level has not been seen since mid-1987.
16 November - Hoxne Hoard discovered by metal detectorist Eric Lawes in Suffolk.
19 November - The High Court rules that doctors can disconnect feeding tubes from Tony Bland, a 21-year-old man who has been in a coma since the Hillsborough disaster on 15 April 1989. Mr Bland, of Liverpool, suffered massive brain damage in the disaster which claimed the lives of 95 people and doctors treating him say that there is no reasonable possibility that he could recover consciousness and in his current condition would be unlikely to survive more than five years.^[25]
20 November - Fire breaks out in Windsor Castle, badly damaging the castle and causing over £50 million worth of damage.^[26]
24 November - The Queen describes this year as an Annus Horribilis (horrible year) due to various scandals damaging the image of the Royal Family, as well as the Windsor Castle fire.
26 November
- The Queen is to be taxed from next year, marking the end of almost 60 tax-free years for the British monarchy.^[27]
- Pepper v Hart, a landmark case, is decided in the House of Lords on the use of legislative history in statutory interpretation, establishing the principle that when primary legislation is ambiguous then, under certain circumstances, the courts may refer to statements made during its passage through Parliament in an attempt to interpret its intended meaning, an action previously regarded as a breach of parliamentary privilege.^[28]
29 November - Ethnic minorities now account for more than 3,000,000 (over 5%) of the British population.

December

1 December - The first episode of the children's series The Animals of Farthing Wood.
3 December - 1992 Manchester bombing: 65 people are injured by an IRA bomb in Manchester city centre but there are no fatalities.^[29]
9 December - The separation of Charles, Prince of Wales and Diana, Princess of Wales is announced following months of speculation about their marriage, but there are no plans for a divorce and prime minister John Major announces that Diana could still become Queen.^[4]
11 December - The last MORI poll of 1992 shows Labour thirteen points ahead of the Conservatives on 47%, just three months after several polls had shown the latter in the lead. Black Wednesday, which has damaged much of the government's reputation for monetary excellence, is largely blamed for the fall in Conservative support.^[3]
12 December - Marriage of Anne, Princess Royal, and Timothy Laurence.^[4]
16 December
- Four people are injured by IRA bombs in Oxford Street, London.
- Japanese carmaker Toyota opens a factory at Burnaston, near Derby, which produces the Carina family saloon.^[30]
17 December
- The national unemployment level has risen to more than 2,900,000, with the unemployment rate in the south-east of England now above 10% for the first time.
- Jonathan Zito is stabbed to death by Christopher Clunis, a partially treated schizophrenic patient.
23 December - The Queen's Royal Christmas Message is leaked in The Sun newspaper, 48 hours ahead of its traditional Christmas Day broadcast on television.^[31]
31 December
- The ORACLE teletext service is discontinued on ITV and Channel 4 to be replaced by a new service operated by the Teletext Ltd. consortium. It had been launched on ITV in 1974 and used by Channel 4 since its inception in 1982.
- The economy has grown in the final quarter of this year - the second successive quarter of economic growth - but the recovery is still too weak for the end of the recession to be declared.^[32]

Undated

Inflation has fallen to a six-year low to 3.7%.^[33]
The Saatchi Gallery in London stages the Young British Artists exhibition, featuring Damien Hirst's "shark", The Physical Impossibility of Death in the Mind of Someone Living.^[34]^[35]
Stella Rimington is appointed as the first female Director General of MI5.
Barbara Mills is appointed as the first female Director of Public Prosecutions.
Graham Norton debuts on the Edinburgh Festival Fringe.
Most leading retailers, including WH Smith, withdraw vinyl records from stock due to a sharp decline in sales brought on by the rising popularity of compact discs and audio cassettes.^[36]

Publications

Douglas Adams' novel Mostly Harmless.
Iain Banks' novel The Crow Road.
Louis de Bernières' novel The Troublesome Offspring of Cardinal Guzman.
Alasdair Gray's novel Poor Things
Nick Hornby's novel Fever Pitch.
Ian McEwan's novel Black Dogs.
Terry Pratchett's Discworld novels Small Gods and Lords and Ladies; and his Johnny Maxwell novel Only You Can Save Mankind.
Adam Thorpe's novel Ulverton.
Barry Unsworth's novel Sacred Hunger.

Births