1949 in the United Kingdom

1949 in the United Kingdom:

Other years

1947 | 1948 | 1949 (1949) | 1950 | 1951

Individual countries of the United Kingdom

England | Northern Ireland | Scotland | Wales

Sport, Television and music

1949 British Grand Prix 1949 English cricket season Football: England | Scotland 1949 in British television

Events from the year 1949 in the United Kingdom.

Incumbents

• Monarch – George VI
• Prime Minister – Clement Attlee (Labour)

Events

• January – Mass Observation carries out a national survey into the sexual behaviour and attitudes of 4,000 British people, "Little Kinsey". The results remain largely unpublished for over fifty years.
• 1 January
  • Peacetime conscription in the United Kingdom is regularised under the National Service Act 1947. Men aged 18–26 in England, Scotland and Wales are obliged to serve full-time in the armed forces for 18 months.
  • The British Nationality Act 1948 comes into effect, creating the status of "Citizen of the United Kingdom and Colonies", superseding the shared status of "Commonwealth citizen".
• 4 January – RMS Caronia of the Cunard Line departs Southampton for New York on her maiden voyage.
• 1 February – Women's Auxiliary Air Force renamed as the Women's Royal Air Force.
• 15 March – Post-War rationing of clothes ends.
• 25 March – Laurence Olivier's film Hamlet (1948) becomes the first British film to win a 'Best Picture' Oscar.
• 28 March – Astronomer Fred Hoyle coins the term Big Bang during a BBC Third Programme radio broadcast.
• 1 April – The Marquess of Bath opens Longleat House to paying visitors, the first privately owned stately home to be so opened.
• 4 April – Britain signs the North Atlantic Treaty, creating NATO.
• 20 April
  • Royal Navy frigate HMS Amethyst goes up the Yangtze River to evacuate British Commonwealth refugees escaping the advance of the Mao's communist forces. Under heavy fire, it runs aground off Rose Island. After an aborted rescue attempt on 26 April, it anchors 10 miles upstream. Negotiations with the communist forces to let the ship leave drag on for weeks, during which time its cat, Simon, raises the crew's morale.
  • The first Badminton Horse Trials are held at Badminton House in Gloucestershire.
• 30 April – 1949 FA Cup Final: Wolverhampton Wanderers F.C. win the FA Cup for the first time in 41 years, and the third time in their history, with a 3–1 win over Leicester City at Wembley Stadium.
• April
  • First women appointed King's Counsel: Rose Heilbron and Helena Normanton.
  • Manchester Mark 1 computer operable at the University of Manchester.
• May – Council for Wales and Monmouthshire, set up as a government advisory body, first meets.
• 6 May – EDSAC, the first practicable stored-program computer, runs its first program at Cambridge University.
• 10 May – First self-service launderette opens, in Queensway (London).
• 11 May – Christopher Fry's verse drama The Lady's Not for Burning premieres in London.
• 24 April – Wartime rationing of sweets and chocolate ends, but is re-instituted shortly thereafter as shortages return.
• 1 May – The gas industry is nationalised.
• 8 June – George Orwell's dystopian novel Nineteen Eighty-Four is published in London by Secker & Warburg.
• 7 to 25 June – Dock strike forces the government to use troops to unload goods.
• 16 June – Ealing Comedy film Whisky Galore! released.
• 21 June – Ealing Comedy film Kind Hearts and Coronets released.
• 27 July – Maiden flight of the British-built de Havilland Comet, the world's first passenger jet, at Hatfield, Hertfordshire.
• 30 July – Legal Aid and Advice Act establishes a much-extended system of Legal aid in England and Wales (with the Legal Aid and Solicitors (Scotland) Act applying similarly in Scotland).
• 31 July – Captain Kerans of HMS Amethyst decides to make a break after nightfall under heavy fire from the Chinese People's Liberation Army both sides of the Yangtze River and successfully rejoins the fleet at Woosung the next day.
• 22 August – T. S. Eliot's comedy The Cocktail Party premieres at the Edinburgh Festival.
• 24 August – Old Trafford football stadium, home of Manchester United F.C., is re-opened following a comprehensive rebuild due to bomb damage by the Luftwaffe eight years ago.
• 2 September – Film The Third Man, with screenplay by Graham Greene, released. The film wins the 1949 Grand Prix at the Cannes Film Festival.
• 19 September – The pound devalued by 30% against the United States dollar.
• 21 September – The first comprehensive school in Wales is opened in Holyhead, Anglesey.
• 30 September – The Berlin Airlift comes to an end, during which 17 American and 7 British planes have crashed delivering supplies to Soviet blockaded Berlin.
• 12 October – John Boyd Orr, 1st Baron Boyd-Orr wins the Nobel Peace Prize.
• 26 October
  • Ealing Comedy film Passport to Pimlico released.
  • How Do You View?, the first comedy series on British television, starring Terry-Thomas, is first broadcast on BBC Television.
• 4 November – Cwmbran designated as the first New Town in Wales under powers of the New Towns Act 1946.
• 16 December – Parliament Act given royal assent; cuts the House of Lords veto to one year.
• 17 December – Sutton Coldfield transmitting station begins transmitting BBC Television to the English Midlands, the first broadcasts to be seen outside the London area.

Undated

• The number of workforce deaths in the coal industry is reported to have fallen to a record low since nationalisation two years ago.
• With an average Central England temperature of 10.64 °C or 51.15 °F, the record for the hottest year in that series set in 1834 and equalled in 1921 was broken. 1949’s record stood until 1990 by when anthropogenic global warming had come largely to control temperatures.

Publications

• Enid Blyton's children's books Little Noddy Goes to Toyland, the first to introduce the title character; and The Secret Seven, first in the eponymous series.
• Agatha Christie's novel Crooked House.
• H. F. Ellis' humorous collection The Papers of A.J. Wentworth B.A.
• Graham Greene's novella The Third Man.
• Nancy Mitford's novel Love in a Cold Climate.
• George Orwell's novel Nineteen Eighty-Four.

Births

• 7 January – Brian Haw, protestor and peace campaigner (died 2011)
• 19 January
  • Robert Palmer, singer (died 2003)
  • Andrew Samuels, psychologist and academic
• 23 January – Joan Walley, politician
• 29 January – Andy Carter, middle distance runner
• 16 February – Lyn Paul, pop singer
• 2 March – J. P. R. Williams, Welsh rugby player
• 6 March – Martin Buchan, footballer
• 28 March – Kevin Lloyd, actor (died 1998)
• 3 April – Richard Thompson, rock guitarist and songwriter
• 25 April – James Fenton, poet
• 2 May – Alan Titchmarsh, television presenter
• 13 May – Zoë Wanamaker, actress (born in New York)
• 18 May – Rick Wakeman, rock keyboard player and songwriter (Yes)
• 2 June – Heather Couper, astronomer
• 4 May – Graham Swift, novelist
• 24 May – Jim Broadbent, actor
• 14 June – Jim Lea, rock musician (Slade)
• 21 June – John Agard, writer
• 22 June – Brian Leveson, judge
• 7 July – Bob Stewart, colonel and politician
• 15 July – Trevor Horn, pop singer and producer
• 26 July – Roger Taylor, rock drummer (Queen)
• 6 August – Alan Campbell, clergyman
• 12 August – Mark Knopfler, rock guitarist and singer-songwriter (Dire Straits)
• 15 August – Richard Deacon, sculptor
• 25 August – Martin Amis, novelist
• 9 September – John Curry, figure skater (died 1994)
• 18 September
  • Mo Mowlam, Labour politician, Secretary of State for Northern Ireland (died 2005)
  • Peter Shilton, footballer
• 19 September – Twiggy, born Lesley Hornby, model
• 14 October – Katy Manning, actress
• 1 November – Gerald Ratner, businessman
• 6 November – Nigel Havers, actor
• 24 November
  • Nick Ainger, Labour politician
  • Sally Davies, Chief Medical Officer
• 27 November – Brumas, polar bear (first born at London Zoo)
• 4 December – Paul Dickenson, hammer thrower
• 12 December
  • Chris Baillieu, rower and lawyer
  • Bill Nighy, actor
• 13 December – Robert Lindsay, actor
• 17 December – Paul Rodgers, rock singer (Free)

Deaths

• 2 January – Jock McNab, footballer (born 1894)
• 11 February – John Buchan, Scottish novelist (born 1875)
• 18 April – Will Hay, comedian and actor (born 1888)
• 28 April – Sir Robert Robertson, chemist (born 1869)
• 30 August – Arthur Fielder, cricketer (born 1877)
• 26 September – W. H. Davies, poet and author (born 1871)
• 9 October – Sir Wilfred Grenfell, medical missionary to Newfoundland and Labrador (born 1865)
• 24 October – Thomas Rowland Hughes, writer (born 1903)
• 13 December – John Deans Hope, Liberal politician (born 1860)
• 16 December – George Maitland Lloyd Davies, pacifist politician (born 1880)