January • January – Britain enters its first post-war recession after statistics show that the economy contracted during the third and fourth quarters of last year. * 1 January •
New Year's Day is celebrated as a
public holiday for the first time. • The
Northern Ireland Power-sharing Executive is set up in
Belfast. • 1 January–7 March – The
Three-Day Week is introduced by the
Conservative Government as a measure to conserve electricity during the period of industrial action by coal miners. • 25 January – The travel writer and royal biographer
James Pope-Hennessy, 57, is murdered at his flat in
Ladbroke Grove, London, by a gang of young men.
February • 4 February –
M62 coach bombing: A
Provisional Irish Republican Army bomb planted on a coach carrying off-duty soldiers and their families kills 11. On 8 February the toll reaches 12 with the death in hospital of an 18-year-old soldier seriously injured in the bombing. • 7 February • The Prime Minister,
Edward Heath, calls a general election for 28 February in an attempt to end the dispute over the miners' strike. During the campaign, the
Labour Party and
Trades Union Congress agree a '
Social Contract' intended to produce
wage restraint. •
Grenada becomes independent of the United Kingdom. • 12 February –
BBC1 first airs the children's television series
Bagpuss, made by
Peter Firmin and
Oliver Postgate's
Smallfilms in
stop motion animation. Despite only 13 episodes being made, it becomes fondly remembered and gains a cult following. • 14 February •
Bob Latchford, the
Birmingham City centre forward, becomes Britain's most expensive footballer in a £350,000 move to
Everton. • Opinion polls show the Conservative government in the lead. • 27 February –
Enoch Powell, the controversial Conservative MP who was dismissed from the shadow cabinet in 1968 for his "
Rivers of Blood" speech opposing mass immigration, announces his resignation from the Conservative Party in protest against
Edward Heath's decision to take Britain into the EEC. • 28 February – The
general election results in the first hung parliament since 1929, with the
Conservative government having 297 seats – four fewer than Labour, who have 301 – and the largest number of votes. Prime Minister
Edward Heath hopes to form a coalition with the
Liberal Party in order to remain in power.
March • 3 March – 180 Britons are among the dead when
Turkish Airlines Flight 981 travelling from
Paris to London crashes in a wood near Paris, killing all 346 passengers and crew on board. • 4 March – Heath fails to convince the Liberals to form a coalition and announces his resignation as Prime Minister, paving the way for
Harold Wilson to become Prime Minister for the second time as Labour forms a minority government.[http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/vote_2005/basics/4393301.stm • 6 March – The miners' strike comes to an end due an improved pay offer by the new Labour government. • 7 March – The Three-Day Week comes to an end. • 10 March – Ten miners die in a
methane gas explosion at
Golborne Colliery near
Wigan,
Lancashire. • 11 March – Convicted armed robbers
Kenneth Littlejohn and his brother Keith, who claim to be British spies in the
Republic of Ireland, escape from
Mountjoy Prison in
Dublin. • 15 March – Architect
John Poulson is jailed for five years for corruption. • 18 March –
Oil embargo crisis: Most
OPEC nations end a 5-month
oil embargo against the United States,
Europe and Japan. • 20 March – Ian Ball fails in his attempt to kidnap HRH
Princess Anne and her husband Captain
Mark Phillips in
The Mall, outside
Buckingham Palace. • 29 March – The government re-establishes direct rule over
Northern Ireland after declaring a
state of emergency. • 1 April – The
Local Government Act 1972 comes into effect in
England and Wales, creating six new
metropolitan counties and comprehensively redrawing the administrative map. The Act confirms the boundaries of Wales by including most of
Newport and
Monmouthshire in the new county of
Gwent, and abolishes all the 13 counties created by the
Statute of Rhuddlan and the
Laws in Wales Acts 1535 and 1542 to create eight new counties. West Midlands metropolitan county is created, centred on the cities of
Birmingham and
Coventry as well as towns including
Dudley,
Wolverhampton,
West Bromwich and
Walsall, covering areas which were all previously in
Staffordshire,
Worcestershire or
Warwickshire.
Greater Manchester is also created, centred on the city of
Manchester and taking in areas including
Oldham,
Rochdale and
Stockport, which were previously in
Lancashire or
Cheshire.
Merseyside is formed from the city of
Liverpool along with neighbouring parts of Lancashire and Cheshire.
Tyne and Wear is created from parts of
Northumberland and
County Durham.
Cleveland is created from parts of
Yorkshire and
County Durham, and
Humberside from parts of Yorkshire and
Lincolnshire. The remaining parts of Yorkshire are divided into
West Yorkshire,
South Yorkshire and
North Yorkshire.
Avon is created from the city of
Bristol and nearby areas which were previously in
Gloucestershire and
Somerset. The historic county of
Sussex is divided into
West Sussex and
East Sussex. The historic counties of
Cumberland and
Westmorland are dissolved and merged to form
Cumbria, which also takes in areas previously in Lancashire and Yorkshire. • 6 April – The 19th Eurovision Song Contest is held at the Dome in Brighton, produced and transmitted by the BBC. Katie Boyle hosts the event for the fourth time. Sweden wins the contest with the song "
Waterloo", performed by
ABBA, who become the first group to win the contest and go on to achieve huge international success. • 24 April –
Leeds United win their second
Football League First Division title. • 27 April –
Manchester United are relegated from the
Football League First Division where they have played continuously since 1938. Their relegation is confirmed when they lose 1–0 at home to
their neighbours City in the penultimate game of the
league season and the only goal of the game comes from former United striker
Denis Law.
May • 1 May –
Alf Ramsey, who guided the
England national football team to victory in the
1966 FIFA World Cup, is dismissed by
the Football Association after 11 years in charge. • 2 May – The
National Front gains more than 10% of the vote in several parts of
London in council elections, but fails to net any councillors. • 4 May –
Liverpool win the
FA Cup for the second time, beating
Newcastle United 3–0 in the
Wembley final, with
Kevin Keegan scoring twice and
Steve Heighway scoring the other goal. • 17 May – The Loyalist paramilitary
Ulster Volunteer Force carries out the
Dublin and Monaghan bombings in the Republic of Ireland, killing 34 people. • 20 May – The
Centre for Policy Studies, a Conservative social market
think tank established by
Keith Joseph,
Margaret Thatcher and
Alfred Sherman, holds its first meeting. • 28 May – Power-sharing in the
Northern Ireland Assembly collapses following a strike by unionists. • 29 May – Television producer
James MacTaggart, 46, dies unexpectedly of a heart attack before finishing the film
Robinson Crusoe.
June • 1 June – 28 people are killed in the
Flixborough disaster. • 5 June –
Snow Knight wins the
Epsom Derby at odds of 50/1 ridden by
Brian Taylor • 8 June –
Jon Pertwee leaves
Doctor Who in the final episode of
Planet of the Spiders citing the death of his close acting friend
Roger Delgado (who played 'The Master') the previous year as the reason. He is replaced by
Tom Baker. • 10 June – The
Queen's last surviving royal uncle,
Prince Henry, Duke of Gloucester, dies at his home in Northamptonshire, seven years after his last public appearance. His funeral is held at
Windsor Castle on 14 June. His younger, but only surviving, son,
Prince Richard, Duke of Gloucester, succeeds to the title. • 15 June – The
Red Lion Square disorders see the National Front clash with counter-protesters in
London's West End; 21-year-old Kevin Gateley, a university student, is killed. • 17 June – A bomb explodes at the
Houses of Parliament in
London, damaging
Westminster Hall. The
Provisional Irish Republican Army (IRA) claims responsibility for planting the bomb.
July • 3 July –
Don Revie, the manager of Football League champions
Leeds United since 1961, accepts the Football Association's £200,000-a-year deal to become the new England manager. • 12 July –
Bill Shankly, manager of FA Cup holders
Liverpool, stuns the club by announcing his retirement after 15 years as manager. Shankly, 62, had arrived at Liverpool when they were in the
Football League Second Division and transformed them into one of the world's top club sides with three top division titles, two FA Cups and a
UEFA Cup triumph. • 17 July – A bomb planted by the
IRA explodes in the
Tower of London's White Tower, killing one person and injuring 41. Another bomb explodes outside a government building in South
London. • 20 July – Leeds United appoint
Brighton & Hove Albion manager
Brian Clough, formerly of
Derby County as their new manager. • 21 July – 10,000 Greek-Cypriots protest in
London against the
Turkish invasion of Cyprus. • 26 July – Liverpool appoint 55-year-old first team coach
Bob Paisley as their new manager. • 28 July – Last production of steel by the
Bessemer process in Britain, at
Workington. • 31 July – Town and Country Amenities Act passed.
August • 15 August – Collapse of
Court Line and its subsidiaries
Clarksons and Horizon Holidays leaves 100,000 holidaymakers stranded abroad. • 29 August –
Thames Valley Police break up the
Windsor Free Festival.
September • 12 September – Brian Clough is dismissed after 44 days as manager of defending league champions Leeds United following a disappointing start to the
Football League season. • 18 September – Harold Wilson confirms that a second general election for the year will be held on 10 October. • 23 September –
Ceefax is started by the
BBC – one of the first public service information systems.
October • October – Five previously all-male
Colleges of the University of Oxford admit women
undergraduates for the first time. • 5 October –
Guildford pub bombings: Bombs planted by the IRA at pubs patronised by off-duty soldiers, The Horse and Groom and The Seven Stars, kill five people. • 10 October – The second
general election of the year results in a narrow victory for
Harold Wilson, giving Labour a majority of three seats. It is widely expected that
Edward Heath's leadership of the Conservative Party will soon be at an end, as he has now lost three of the four General Elections that he has contested in almost a decade as leader. The
Scottish National Party secures its highest Westminster party representation to date with 11 seats.
Enoch Powell is returned to Parliament standing for the
Ulster Unionist Party in
Northern Ireland. Powell, who was dismissed from the Conservative Shadow Cabinet in April 1968 following his controversial
Rivers of Blood speech on immigration, had left the Conservative Party at the general election on 28 February and recently rejected an offer to stand as a candidate for the
National Front. • 16 October – Rioting prisoners set fire to the
Maze Prison in
Belfast. • 19 October –
Keith Joseph makes a speech in
Edgbaston on the cycle of deprivation; the controversy it provokes has the effect of ruling him out of high office in the Conservative Party. • 22 October – The
IRA bombs
Brooks's club in London. • 28 October – The wife and son of Sports Minister
Denis Howell survive an IRA bomb attack on their car.
November • 4 November – Judith Ward is sentenced to life imprisonment for the
M62 coach bombing; her conviction is overturned nearly 18 years later. • 7 November •
Lord Lucan disappears after the murder of his children's nanny. • A Provisional IRA bomb explodes at the
Kings Arms, Woolwich. • 11 November – The
New Covent Garden Market in
Nine Elms is opened. • 13 November –
McDonald's opens its first UK restaurant in Woolwich, South East London. • 21 November – 21 people are killed in the
Birmingham pub bombings. • 24 November – The
Birmingham Six are charged with the Birmingham pub bombings. • 25 November –
Home Secretary Roy Jenkins announces the government's intention to outlaw the IRA in the UK. •
Martin Ryle and
Antony Hewish win the
Nobel Prize in Physics "for their pioneering research in radio astrophysics: Ryle for his observations and inventions, in particular of the aperture synthesis technique, and Hewish for his decisive role in the discovery of pulsars". • 15 December – New speed limits are introduced on Britain's roads in an attempt to save fuel at a time of Arab fuel embargoes following the
Yom Kippur War. • 18 December – The government pays £42,000 to families of victims of
Bloody Sunday riots in
Northern Ireland. • 19 December – The ninth
James Bond film,
The Man with the Golden Gun, premieres in
London. It is the second of seven films to star
Roger Moore as
James Bond. • 22 December – The
London home of
Conservative Party leader and former Prime Minister
Edward Heath is bombed in a suspected Provisional IRA attack. He is away from home when the bomb explodes, but returns just 10 minutes afterwards. • 24 December – Former Cabinet Minister
John Stonehouse is found living in Australia having faked his own death in Miami. He is quickly arrested by Australian police, who initially believe that he is Lord Lucan. • 31 December –
Roger Hargreaves'
Mr. Men TV series is first broadcast on
BBC1.
Undated • Inflation soars to a 34-year high of 17.2% but the unemployment rate of 3.7% will not fall lower until 2022. • The
Department of Health and Social Security produces a report recommending that infants be
breastfed for the first 4–6 months of life. •
China gives two
giant pandas, Ching-Ching and Chia-Chia, to Britain. •
Japanese carmaker
Mitsubishi begins importing cars to Britain under the
Colt brand, bringing the number of Japanese carmakers selling cars in Britain to five. • Investor Gold Index, a predecessor of
IG Group, a global
online financial trading service, is founded in
London. == Publications ==