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Events from the year 1957 in the United Kingdom.
[edit] Incumbents
[edit] Events
- 9 January - resignation of Anthony Eden as Prime Minister due to ill-health.[1]
- 10 January - Harold Macmillan succeeds Eden as Prime Minister.[2]
- 16 January
- 6 March - Ghana becomes independent of the United Kingdom.[4]
- 1 April - the BBC broadcasts a spoof documentary showing spaghetti being harvested in Switzerland, believed to be the first April Fool's Day joke on television.[5]
- 11 April - The British Government agrees to allow Singapore its independence.[6]
- 15 April - suspected serial killer John Bodkin Adams is controversially found not guilty at the Old Bailey after Britain's longest murder trial. Political interference is suspected.[7]
- 24 April - first broadcast of the long-running BBC astronomy programme The Sky at Night presented by Patrick Moore.
- 14 May - end of petrol rationing following the Suez Crisis.[8]
- 15 May - Operation Grapple: Britain tests its first hydrogen bomb.[9]
- 1 June - the first Premium Bond winners selected by the computer ERNIE.[3]
- 3 June - Actor and playright Noel Coward returns to Britain from the West Indies amid criticism that he is living abroad to avoid having to pay tax. [1]
- 27 June - A report by the Medical Research Council reveals that there is evidence to support a link between tobacco smoking and lung cancer.[10]
- 20 July - Prime minister Harold Macmillan makes an optimistic speech to his fellow party members, telling them that "most of our people have never had it so good". [2]
- 23 July - a strike by bus drivers becomes violent.[11]
- 31 July - The Tryweryn Bill, permitting Liverpool City Council to build a reservoir which will drown the village of Capel Celyn, becomes law.
- 31 August - the Federation of Malaya becomes independent from Britain.[12]
- 4 September - publication of the Wolfenden report recommending "homosexual behaviour between consenting adults in private should no longer be a criminal offence".[13]
- 1 October - Britain introduces a vaccine against Asian Flu, which has already killed thousands of people worldwide. [3]
- 10 October - the graphite core of the nuclear reactor at Windscale, Cumbria, catches fire, releasing substantial amounts of radioactive contamination into the surrounding area.[14]
- 11 October - Jodrell Bank Observatory becomes operational.[3]
- 30 October - The government unveils plans which will allow women to join the House of Lords for the first time. [4]
- 8 November - An inquiry into last month's fire at Windscale nuclear power plant blames the accident on a combination of human error, poor management and faulty instruments. [5]
- 4 December - The Lewisham rail crash kills ninety people and injures 173.[15]
- 10 December - Alexander R. Todd, Baron Todd wins the Nobel Prize in Chemistry "for his work on nucleotides and nucleotide co-enzymes".[16]
- 12 December - Wales gets its own minister of state in the Westminster government for the first time.
- 25 December - The Royal Christmas Message is broadcast on television for the first time.[3]
- 28 December - a case of foot-and-mouth disease found at an abattoir in Liverpool.[17]
[edit] Publications
[edit] Births
- 6 January — Michael Foale, astronaut
- 15 January — Patrick Dixon, business guru and author
- 24 January — Adrian Edmondson, comedian
- 9 February — Gordon Strachan, footballer and manager
- 12 March — Steve Harris, bassist (Iron Maiden)
- 17 March — Mal Donaghy, footballer
- March 25 — Christina Boxer, English middle distance runner
- 1 April — David Gower, cricket player and commentator
- 17 April — Nick Hornby, novelist
- 29 April — Daniel Day-Lewis, actor
- 3 May — Jo Brand, comedian
- 10 May — Sid Vicious, bassist (Sex Pistols) (died 1979)
- 27 May — Siouxsie Sioux, singer (Siouxsie and the Banshees)
- 9 July
- 11 July — Peter Murphy, singer (Bauhaus)
- 17 July — Fern Britton, television presenter
- 17 August — Robin Cousins, figure skater
- 20 August — Simon Donaldson, mathematician
- 22 August — Steve Davis, snooker player
- 24 August — Stephen Fry, comedian, author and actor
- 31 August — Glenn Tilbrook, Squeeze singer songwriter
- September 10 — Mark Naylor, English high jumper
- 12 September — Rachel Ward, actress
- 7 October — Jayne Torvill, ice skater
- 11 October — Dawn French, comedian
- 13 November — Stephen Baxter, science fiction author
- 30 November — Colin Mochrie, comedian
- 8 December — Phil Collen, singer and guitarist (Def Leppard)
- 20 December — Billy Bragg, singer
[edit] Deaths
- January - Harry Gordon, popular entertainer (born 1893)
- 9 February - John Axon, railwayman (born 1900)
- 16 February - Leslie Hore-Belisha, 1st Baron Hore-Belisha, statesman after whom Belisha beacons are named (born 1893)
- 7 March - Wyndham Lewis, painter and author (born 1882, Canada)
- 21 March - Charles Kay Ogden, linguist, philosopher and writer (born 1889)
- 21 April - John Graham Kerr, embryologist and politician (born 1869)
- 17 June - Dorothy Richardson, feminist writer (born 1873)
- 27 June - Malcolm Lowry, novelist (born 1909)
- 19 August - David Bomberg, painter (born 1890)
- 20 August - Edward Evans, 1st Baron Mountevans, explorer and admiral (born 1880)
- 1 September - Dennis Brain, French horn player (born 1921)
- 4 November - William Haywood, architect (born 1876)
- 9 December - Llewellyn Henry Gwynne, first bishop of Egypt and Sudan (born 1863)
- 13 December - Michael Sadleir, novelist (born 1888)
- 21 December - Eric Coates, composer (born 1886)
[edit] References
- ^ ""Sir Anthony Eden resigns", BBC On This Day". http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/january/9/newsid_2800000/2800833.stm. Retrieved on 2007-12-04.
- ^ ""Macmillan becomes Prime Minister", BBC On This Day". http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/january/10/newsid_3783000/3783251.stm. Retrieved on 2007-12-04.
- ^ a b c d e Penguin Pocket On This Day. Penguin Reference Library. 2006. ISBN 0-141-02715-0.
- ^ ""Ghana celebrates independence", BBC On This Day". http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/march/6/newsid_2515000/2515459.stm. Retrieved on 2007-12-04.
- ^ ""BBC fools the nation", BBC On This Day". http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/april/1/newsid_2819000/2819261.stm. Retrieved on 2007-12-04.
- ^ ""Britain agrees to Singapore self-rule", BBC On This Day". http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/april/11/newsid_2828000/2828903.stm. Retrieved on 2007-12-04.
- ^ Pamela Cullen, "Stranger in Blood: The case files on Doctor John Bodkin Adams", 2006
- ^ ""Cheers as petrol rationing ended", BBC On This Day". http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/may/14/newsid_2511000/2511733.stm. Retrieved on 2007-12-04.
- ^ "Britain drops its first H-bomb", BBC On This Day". http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/may/15/newsid_2510000/2510335.stm. Retrieved on 2007-12-04.
- ^ ""Smoking 'causes lung cancer'", BBC On This Day". http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/june/27/newsid_2956000/2956618.stm. Retrieved on 2007-12-04.
- ^ ""Bus dispute turns violent", BBC On This Day". http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/july/23/newsid_2943000/2943084.stm. Retrieved on 2007-12-04.
- ^ ""Malaya celebrates independence", BBC On This Day". http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/august/31/newsid_3534000/3534340.stm. Retrieved on 2007-12-04.
- ^ ""Homosexuality 'should not be a crime'", BBC On This Day". http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/september/4/newsid_3007000/3007686.stm. Retrieved on 2007-12-04.
- ^ ""Inquiry publishes cause of nuclear fire", BBC On This Day". http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/november/8/newsid_3181000/3181342.stm. Retrieved on 2007-12-04.
- ^ ""Lewisham rail crash dead honoured", BBC News". http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/england/london/7123687.stm. Retrieved on 2007-12-04.
- ^ "The Nobel Prize in Chemistry 1957". http://nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/chemistry/laureates/1957/. Retrieved on 2007-12-04.
- ^ ""Foot-and-mouth shuts down abattoir", BBC On This Day". http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/december/28/newsid_3304000/3304747.stm. Retrieved on 2007-12-04.
[edit] See also