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Events from the year 1948 in the United Kingdom.
[edit] Incumbents
[edit] Events
- 1 January - British Rail created when the government nationalises the railway industry.[1]
- 4 January - Burma gains its independence from the United Kingdom.[2]
- 12 January - The London Co-operative Society opens Britain's first supermarket, in Manor Park, London.[3]
- 30 January–8 February - Great Britain and Northern Ireland compete at the 1948 Winter Olympics in St. Moritz, Switzerland, and win 2 bronze medals.
- 4 February - Ceylon (later renamed Sri Lanka) becomes independent within the British Commonwealth.[4] King George VI becomes King of Ceylon.
- 17 March - Britain signs the Treaty of Brussels with Belgium, France, Luxembourg and the Netherlands.[5]
- 14 May - The murder of a three-year-old girl in Blackburn leads to the fingerprinting of more than 40,000 men in the city in an attempt to find the murderer.
- 21 June - Manchester Small-Scale Experimental Machine, the world's first stored-program computer, ran its first program.[5]
- 22 June
- 5 July - The National Health Service is founded, giving Britons the right to universal healthcare, free at point of use.[1]
- 15 July - First London chapter of Alcoholics Anonymous.[5]
- 25 July - End of Post-War bread rationing.[3]
- 29 July–14 August
- 30 July - Gas Boards created as the government nationalises the gas industry.[3]
- 18 August - Jockey Lester Piggott, aged 12, wins his first race at Haydock Park Racecourse.[5]
- September - The first comprehensive schools open in Potters Bar and Hillingdon.[3]
- 6 September - Flying the de Havilland DH 108, John Derry becomes the first British pilot to break the sound barrier.[5]
- October - The Morris Minor and Land Rover both go on sale.[3]
- 8 November- The King issues Letters Patent granting the title of Prince or Princess of the United Kingdom, with the style Royal Highness, to the children of The Duke of Edinburgh and The Princess Elizabeth, Duchess of Edinburgh.
- December - Patrick Blackett wins the Nobel Prize in Physics "for his development of the Wilson cloud chamber method, and his discoveries therewith in the fields of nuclear physics and cosmic radiation".[6]
- 10 December - T. S. Eliot wins the Nobel Prize in Literature "for his outstanding, pioneer contribution to present-day poetry".[7]
[edit] Publications
[edit] Births
- 2 January — Deborah Watling, actress
- February 11 — Roger Mills, race walker
- 22 March — Andrew Lloyd Webber, composer
- 1 April — Peter Law, politician (died 2006)
- 4 April — Derek Thompson, Northern Irish actor
- 12 April — Jeremy Beadle, television presenter, writer and producer (died 2008)
- April 12 — Ian Richards, English race walker
- 28 April — Terry Pratchett, fantasy and science fiction author
- 31 May — John Bonham, drummer (Led Zeppelin) (died 1980)
- 4 June — Bob Champion, jump jockey
- 21 June — Ian McEwan, novelist
- 19 September — Jeremy Irons, actor
- 26 September — Olivia Newton-John, singer
- 27 September — Michele Dotrice, actress
- 3 November — Lulu, singer and entertainer
- 14 November — Prince Charles of Edinburgh, later The Prince of Wales, eldest son of Queen Elizabeth II
- 25 November — Paul Murphy, politician
- 2 December — Patricia Hewitt, politician
[edit] Deaths
[edit] References
[edit] See also
1948 in the United Kingdom: 
England | 
Scotland
