1966 in the United Kingdom

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1966 in the United Kingdom:

Sport and Music

British and Irish current events

1966 English cricket season

Football England | Scotland

1966 in British music

Events from the year 1966 in the United Kingdom.

Incumbents

• Monarch - HM Queen Elizabeth II
• Prime Minister - Harold Wilson, Labour

Events

• 12 January - Three British MPs visiting Rhodesia (Christopher Rowland, Jeremy Bray and David Ennals) assaulted by supporters of Rhodesian Prime Minister Ian Smith.^[1]
• 31 January - United Kingdom ceases all trade with Rhodesia.
• 9 February - a Prototype Fast Reactor nuclear reactor opens in Dounreay on the north coast of Scotland.^[2]
• 19 February - Naval minister, Christopher Mayhew, resigns.
• 1 March - Chancellor of the Exchequer James Callaghan announces decision to embrace decimalisation of the pound (which was effected on 15 February 1971).^[3]
• 4 March - The Beatles: In an interview published in The Evening Standard, John Lennon comments, "We're more popular than Jesus now,".
• 5 March - BOAC Flight 911 crashes near Mount Fuji in Japan killing 124 passengers and crew.^[4]
• 8 March - Ronald Kray, one of the Kray twins, shoots rival gangster George Cornell; the incidents leads to the brothers' incarceration.
• 20 March - Theft of the football World Cup whilst on exhibition in London.^[4]

Archbishop of Canterbury meeting the Pope

• 23 March - Pope Paul VI and Arthur Michael Ramsey, the Archbishop of Canterbury, meet in Rome — the first official meeting for 400 years between the Roman Catholic and Anglican Churches.
• 31 March - The Labour Party under Harold Wilson win the general election.^[5]
• 7 April - The United Kingdom asks the UN Security Council authority to use force to stop oil tankers that violate oil embargo against Rhodesia. Authority is given April 10.
• 9 April - Footballer Barry Butler, the 31-year-old Norwich City F.C. captain, is killed in a car accident.
• 21 April - The opening of Parliament of the United Kingdom is televised for the first time.
• 30 April - regular hovercraft service begins over the English Channel (discontinued 2000 due to Channel Tunnel.)
• 3 May - Swinging Radio England and Britain Radio commence broadcasting on AM with a combined potential 100,000 watts from the same ship anchored off the south coast of England in international waters.
• 6 May - The Moors Murderers Ian Brady and Myra Hindley sentenced to life imprisonment for three child murders committed between November 1963 and October 1965. Brady is guilty of all three murders and receives three concurrent terms of life imprisonment, while Hindley is found guilty of two murder charges and an accessory charge which her receive two concurrent life sentences alongside a seven-year fixed term.^[6]
• 12 May - African members of the UN Security Council say that British army should blockage Rhodesia.
• 16 May–1 July - Seamen's strike.^[7]
• 26 May - Guyana achieves independence from the United Kingdom.^[8]
• 29 June
  • Sailors' strike, organised by the National Union of Seamen ends.
  • Barclays Bank introduces the first British credit card.^[9]
• 3 July - 31 arrests made after a protest against the Vietnam war outside US embassy turns violent.^[10]
• 12 July - Zambia threatens to leave the Commonwealth of Nations because of British peace overtures to Rhodesia.
• 14 July - Gwynfor Evans becomes member of Parliament for Carmarthen, the first ever Plaid Cymru MP after his victory at the Carmarthen by-election.
• 15 July - a ban on black workers at Euston railway station overturned.^[11]
• 16 July - Prime Minister Harold Wilson flies to Moscow to try to start peace negotiations about Vietnam War — Soviet Government refutes his ideas.
• 26 July - Lord Gardiner issues the Practice Statement in the House of Lords stating that the House is not bound to follow its own previous precedent.
• 30 July - England beat West Germany 4-2 to win the 1966 World Cup at Wembley.^[12]
• 2 August - Spanish government forbids overflights of British military aircraft.
• 5 August - The Beatles release the album Revolver.^[13]
• 18 August - Tay Road Bridge opens.^[9]
• 29 August - The Beatles play their very last concert at Candlestick Park in San Francisco, California.
• 16 September - Britain's first Polaris submarine, HMS Resolution, launched.^[4]
• 19 September - Scotland Yard arrests Ronald Edwards suspected of being involved of the great train robbery.
• 30 September - Botswana achieves independence.^[14]
• 4 October - Basutoland becomes independent and takes the name Lesotho.^[14]
• 21 October - Aberfan disaster in South Wales, 144 (including 116 children) killed by collapsing coal slag heap.^[15]
• 22 October
  • British spy George Blake escapes from Wormwood Scrubs prison; he is next seen in Moscow.^[16]
  • Spain demands that United Kingdom stop military flights to Gibraltar — Britain says no the next day.
• 25 October - Spain closes its Gibraltar border against non-pedestrian traffic.
• 5 November - 38 African states demand that the United Kingdom use force against Rhodesian government.
• 15 November - Harry Roberts, wanted for the murder of three London policemen who were shot dead in August, is caught near London.
• 30 November - Barbados achieves independence.^[17]
• 1 December - Prime Minister Harold Wilson and Rhodesian Prime minister Ian Smith negotiate on HMS Tiger in Mediterranean.
• 12 December - Harry Roberts and two other men are sentenced to life imprisonment (each with a recommended minimum of 30 years) for the murder of three policemen in London earlier this year.
• 20 December - Harold Wilson withdraws all his previous offers to Rhodesian government and announces that he agrees to the independence only after the founding of black majority government.
• 22 December - Rhodesian Prime minister Ian Smith declares that he considers that Rhodesia is already a republic.
• 31 December - Thieves steal millions worth of paintings from Dulwich Art Gallery in London.

Undated

• London School of Contemporary Dance founded.^[14]
• Mathematician Michael Atiyah wins a Fields Medal.^[14]

Publications

• Agatha Christie's Hercule Poirot novel Third Girl.
• Ian Fleming's James Bond short story collection Octopussy and The Living Daylights.
• Mary Renault's novel The Mask of Apollo.
• Paul Scott's novel The Jewel in the Crown, first in the Raj Quartet.

Births

January - March

• 3 January - Martin Galway, Northern Irish composer
• 6 February - Rick Astley, British singer
• 4 March - Patrick Hannan, English pop drummer with The Sundays
• 6 March - Alan Davies, comedian and actor
• 8 March - Gregory Barker, British Conservative politician and MP for Bexhill and Battle
• 17 March - Andrew Rosindell, British Conservative politician and MP for Romford
• 24 March - Mark Williams, Welsh Liberal Democrat politician, Shadow Minister for Wales, and MP for Ceredigion
• 25 March - Anton Rogan, Northern Irish footballer
• 31 March - Roger Black, British athlete

April - June

• 1 April
  • Chris Evans, British radio disc-jockey
  • Sharon Hodgson, British Labour politician and MP for Gateshead East and Washington West
• 11 April - Lisa Stansfield, British soul singer
• 15 April - Samantha Fox, British model and singer
• 29 April - Phil Tufnell, British cricketer
• 10 May - Jonathan Edwards, British athlete
• 26 May
  • Helena Bonham Carter, English actress
  • Zola Budd, South African athlete
• 4 June - Bill Wiggin, British Conservative politician, Shadow Minister for Agriculture & Fisheries, and MP for Leominster
• 3 June - Jonathan Shaw, British Labour politician and MP for Chatham and Aylesford
• 7 June - Mark Ravenhill, English playwright (Shopping and Fucking)
• 19 June - Samuel West, British actor
• 22 June - Michael Park, British rally co-driver (d.2005)

July - September

• 25 July - Diana Johnson, British Labour politician and MP for Kingston upon Hull North
• 7 August - John David Cairns, Scottish Labour politician, Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Scotland and MP for Inverclyde
• 12 August - Tobias Ellwood, British Conservative politician and MP for Bournemouth East
• 26 August - Shirley Manson, Scottish musician and Garbage frontwoman
• 23 September - Adam Price, Welsh Plaid Cymru politician and MP for Carmarthen East and Dinefwr

October - December

• 9 October - David Cameron, British Conservative Party leader, Leader of the Opposition in the House of Commons and MP for Witney
• 10 October - Tony Adams, English footballer
• 11 October - Stephen Williams, British Liberal Democrat politician and MP for Bristol West
• 26 October - Steve Valentine, British actor
• 1 November - Jeremy Hunt, British Conservative politician and MP for South West Surrey
• 21 December - Kiefer Sutherland, Canadian actor
• 22 December - David Wright, British Labour politician and MP for Telford

Deaths

• 8 March - William Waldorf Astor, 3rd Viscount Astor, politician (born 1907)
• 2 April - C.S. Forester, author (born 1899)
• 10 April - Evelyn Waugh, author (born 1903)
• 14 May - Megan Lloyd George MP, politician (born 1902)
• 22 May - Tom Goddard, cricketer (born 1900)
• 13 July- Princess Beatrice of Edinburgh and Saxe-Coburg-Gotha (born 1884), granddaughter of Queen Victoria.
• 26 October - Alma Cogan, singer (born 1932)

References

See also