2016 in the United Kingdom

2016 in the United Kingdom:

Other years

2014 | 2015 | 2016 (2016) | 2017 | 2018

Individual countries of the United Kingdom

England | Northern Ireland | Scotland | Wales

Sport, Television and music

Football: England | Scotland | Wales 2016 British Grand Prix 2016 English cricket season 2016 in British television 2016 in British music 2016 in British radio UK in the Eurovision Song Contest 2016

Events from the year 2016 in the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland.

Incumbents

• Monarch – Elizabeth II
• Prime Minister – David Cameron (Conservative)

Events

January

• 2 January – Rail fares in England, Scotland and Wales rise by 1.1%, in line with current inflation rates.
• 3 January – Islamic State militants release a video that depicts the killing of five men who it says were spying for Britain, and also threatened attacks in the UK. The main figure in the video was subsequently believed to be Siddhartha Dhar, a British radical Islamist.
• 4 January –
  • As strong winds and heavy rain continue to batter parts of Scotland, with more than 30 flood warnings issued by SEPA, the owner of historic Abergeldie Castle is forced to evacuate the 16th century tower house in Aberdeenshire after the River Dee sweeps away land behind the property, leaving it only a few feet from the water.
  • It is announced that strikes for three days in January and February by junior doctors in England are back on after talks with the government break down.
• 6 January – Labour MPs Jonathan Reynolds and Stephen Doughty quit over the sacking of the shadow Europe minister Pat McFadden, after party leader Jeremy Corbyn reshuffles his shadow cabinet and makes controversial changes within his team.
• 9 January –
  • Arthur Simpson-Kent, the partner of former EastEnders actress Sian Blake who was murdered alongside her two sons in December, is arrested in Ghana on suspicion of her murder.
  • Scotland's First Minister, Nicola Sturgeon, announces that every household, business or charity in the country directly affected by flood water will get a grant of £1,500.
• 11 January – In the aftermath of Jeremy Corbyn's reshuffle of the Labour Party, Shadow Attorney General Catherine McKinnell resigns, citing party infighting, family reasons and the desire to speak in Parliament beyond her legal portfolio.
• 12 January – Junior doctors in England providing non-emergency care strike for 24 hours in a dispute with Health Secretary Jeremy Hunt over pay and working hours.
• 13 January – MPs give initial support to the idea of England adopting an official national anthem.
• 14 January –
  • The gang of "brazen burglars" involved in the £14m Hatton Garden jewellery heist, dubbed the "largest burglary in English legal history", face jail after the final three are convicted of involvement.
  • The Metropolitan Police announce that an extra 600 armed officers are to be trained and patrols more than doubled to help counter the threat of a terrorist attack in London.
• 15 January – Tim Peake conducts the first ever spacewalk by an "official" British astronaut, stepping outside an ISS airlock just after 13:00 GMT.
• 17 January – For the first time, the typical pay of a Scottish worker rises above those in England, according to a new study by the Resolution Foundation.
• 20 January – Unemployment rates fall to 5.1%, their lowest level in almost a decade, but figures show that wage growth has slowed.
• 21 January –
  • An inquiry finds that the murder of British ex-Russian spy Alexander Litvinenko in 2006 in London was "probably" approved by Russian President Vladimir Putin.
  • Figures show that murders and killings in England and Wales have increased to their highest level for five years, largely due to an abnormally high number of deaths in June when 75 people were killed.
• 28 January – After three weeks of appeals, Camelot receive a "valid claim" for the record breaking £33m Lotto jackpot prize drawn on 9 January.
• 29 January – The last Land Rover Defender rolls off the production line at Solihull, ending 68 years of production.

February

• 1 February – Scientists are given the go-ahead by regulators to genetically modify human embryos which were to be destroyed in seven days.
• 2 February – Supermarket retailer Sainsbury's announces it will offer £1.3 billion to the home retailer Argos to win control over its home retail group.
• 3 February – The High Court gives permission for Lord Lucan to be declared dead, and for a death certificate to be issued 42 years after his disappearance.
• 6 February – Britain's most famous steam locomotive, the Flying Scotsman, returns to public service after a 10-year restoration project.
• 8 February – Storm Imogen hits Britain, causing thousands of power outages and structural damage across the country, along with disruption for many commuters.
• 10 February – Junior doctors walk out in their second recent strike over Saturday working arrangements, causing disruption to medical services.
• 12 February –
  • After many years as print newspapers, it is announced that the UK newspapers The Independent and the Independent on Sunday will cease to print and become online-only at the end of March. Its stablemate, the i, will be sold to Johnston Press.
  • Work begins to join the Leicestershire and Nottinghamshire sections of the preserved Great Central Railway, by filling in the Loughborough Gap.
  • A temporary footbridge is opened over the River Wharfe at Tadcaster, North Yorkshire, reuniting the town following the damage done to the original bridge in the December 2015 floods.
• 13 February – All four members of British indie pop group, Viola Beach, along with the band's manager, are killed in a car crash in Sweden.
• 15 February – A Virgin Atlantic flight heading for New York turns back to London Heathrow Airport after a laser beam is shone into the plane's cockpit and injures one of the co-pilots.
• 16 February – BBC Three becomes the first UK television network to become online only, having broadcast for its final night after 13 years as a television channel.
• 19 February – Royal Mail announce that the price of first class stamps will increase by one penny.
• 20 February – David Cameron announces that Britain will hold a referendum on the United Kingdom's membership of the European Union on 23 June.
• 21 February – Mayor of London Boris Johnson controversially announces he is to defy David Cameron, and campaign for the UK to leave the European Union.
• 22 February – The pound hits its lowest level against the dollar, falling down as much as 2.4%, in almost seven years amid concerns about a possible exit from the European Union.
• 23 February –
  • A major incident is declared as one person dies, and three are left missing after an explosion at Didcot Power Station in Oxfordshire.
  • Ebola nurse Pauline Cafferkey is admitted to hospital again for the third time after first contracting the virus in Sierra Leone in 2014.
  • It is announced that the new Crossrail line in London will be called the "Elizabeth Line", after Queen Elizabeth II.
• 26 February –
  • Six Rotherham individuals, including three brothers and their uncle, who systematically groomed, sexually assaulted and raped fifteen teenage girls are sentenced to a combined 103 years in prison.
  • Three British tourists fall to their deaths after being taken to the Datanla waterfalls by an unlicensed tour guide in Da Lat, Vietnam.

March

• 4 March – MPs vote narrowly against abolishing God Save the Queen and replacing it with an England-only anthem at football and rugby matches involving England.
• 7 March –
  • A teenager who stabbed 16-year old Bailey Gwynne to death at Cults Academy secondary school in Aberdeen in October 2015, is found guilty of culpable homicide.
  • Official tourist figures for 2015 show the British Museum remains the most popular attraction in the United Kingdom.
• 9 March –
  • Four of the gang of "brazen burglars" involved in the Hatton Garden jewellery heist are sentenced to seven years' imprisonment, while a fifth is given six years.
  • Junior doctors strike for the third time over new contracts, with NHS England saying that more than 5,000 operations have been cancelled as a result.
• 11 March – The OECD warns the "Brexit" will be bad for the UK and Europe and the global marketplace as the organisation predicts the UK will cease to be as attractive a destination for inward investment if it leaves the EU.
• 15 March – A blaze damages the roof and upper floor of Wythenshawe Hall, a historic house in Greater Manchester.
• 16 March – Chancellor George Osborne announces the Budget for 2016 and the year ahead.
• 18 March – Iain Duncan Smith resigns as Secretary of State for Work and Pensions claiming that he came under pressure from the Treasury to "salami slice" welfare, and voicing his objection to £4bn of planned cuts to disability benefits announced in the Budget. His resignation comes as the government signals its intention to retreat on the proposals. Duncan Smith is succeeded in the post by Stephen Crabb.
• 19 March – England win the Six Nations Grand Slam—their first since 2003—after defeating France to become the 2016 champions.
• 20 March – Five people from Derry in Northern Ireland are drowned after a car plunges into Lough Swilly off the pier at Buncrana in the Irish Republic.
• 21 March –
  • Clayton Williams, the car thief who ran over and killed PC Dave Phillips in Merseyside in October 2015, is found guilty of manslaughter and sentenced to 20 years in jail.
  • Brian Reader, the ringleader in the Hatton Garden jewellery heist, and the last of the gang to be sentenced, is given more than six years in jail.
• 22 March – The Foreign Office warns against all but essential travel to Brussels, Belgium following three bombings in the city carried out by ISIL, in which at least two British people were injured. Security at airports, ports, Tube and major railway stations in the UK is stepped up as Prime Minister David Cameron warns of "a very real terror threat".
• 23 March – Drivers on London Underground's Piccadilly line go on strike for 24 hours over "bullying".
• 25 March – The Foreign Office confirms that one Briton, David Dixon from Nottingham, was killed in the Brussels bombings on 22 March.
• 26 March – An investigation is launched after an audience member was injured by a chain that fell from production rigging during an Adele concert at Glasgow's SSE Hydro.
• 27 March – The Cambridge University men's rowing eight beat their Oxford counterparts to win the 162nd Boat Race, while in the women's race Cambridge are defeated by Oxford.
• 28 March – Storm Katie rips through parts of Britain through the Easter weekend and many parts of the country suffer damage. The storm causes disruption with many flights cancelled or diverted as a result.
• 29 March – British nationals are involved in the hijacking of Egypt Air Flight 181 by an Egyptian-born professor who was in a dispute over his ex-wife seeking asylum.
• 30 March – British steel maker Tata Steel reports that it will sell off its British operations in a move to save money, leaving many thousands of jobs at risk, including those at the large Port Talbot steelworks in Wales.
• 31 March – Prime Minister David Cameron and his fellow MPs cut short their spring break and return to the UK for an emergency meeting on the planned closure of the Tata Steel works.

April

• 1 April – A new national living wage comes into force in the United Kingdom, requiring employers to pay all workers over 25 years old at least £7.20 per hour.
• 2 April – Robin Knox-Johnson, founder of the Clipper Round the World Yacht Race, promises an investigation after a participant, 40-year-old Sarah Young from London, was washed overboard and killed while participating in the race. Young, who died the previous day, will be buried at sea because of her boat's current distance from landfall.
• 3 April – Prime Minister David Cameron comes under scrutiny over tax havens after the leaking of the Panama Papers, which show British companies are using the Panama-based law firm Mossack Fonseca to fund their offshore accounts and hide their tax funds from HMRC. Labour suggests direct rule over the British Overseas Territories if they do not comply with the existing tax laws.
• 6 April – The 2016 Dog Microchipping Legislation comes into force, requiring every dog in England, Scotland and Wales to be micro-chipped if they are over eight weeks old. (This law had already been introduced in Northern Ireland, in 2012).
• 7 April –
  • A junior doctors' strike over pay disputes enters its second day, with over 5,000 operations and procedures being postponed.
  • Prime Minister David Cameron, and his wife Samantha, admit that they owned shares in an offshore trust set up by Ian Cameron, David's late father, before selling them in 2010 for £30,000.
• 9 April – Rule The World, ridden by David Mullins and trained by Mouse Morris, wins the 2016 Grand National.
• 10 April – English golfer Danny Willett wins the 2016 Masters Tournament, the first time a Briton has won the tournament since Nick Faldo in 1996.
• 12 April –
  • Prime Minister David Cameron comes out to say that wealth is 'not a dirty word' following the tax row over his earnings forcing him to reveal his financial affairs.
  • A memorial service is held at Westminster Abbey for the British victims of the 2015 Sousse attacks, attended by the Prime Minister and Prince Harry.
• 13 April – Stoke Gifford Parish Council in Gloucestershire becomes the first council in the UK to charge runners who use one of its parks and those who participate in the weekly park fun run events.
• 14 April – In the final report following the Shoreham Airshow disaster in August 2015, the Civil Aviation Authority tightens the rules of all future airshows over safety fears.
• 15 April – The European Union membership referendum campaign gets underway in the UK as both sides prepare to persuade voters to decide whether they want to leave or remain in the EU when the referendum takes place in June.
• 16 April – Thousands of people take part in a protest against austerity cuts in central London, including the Shadow Chancellor, John McDonnell.
• 17 April – Archaeologists record the well-preserved remains of a Roman villa at Brixton Deverill in Wiltshire, which had previously been noticed when a homeowner, while digging to lay electric cables, accidentally discovered the remains on his land in February 2015.
• 18 April –
  • Thousands, including several celebrities, turn up to pay their final respects to the late comedian Ronnie Corbett at his funeral at Shirley in south London.
  • It is confirmed that at least one Briton, 33-year-old nun Sister Clare Theresa Crockett from Derry in Northern Ireland, was killed in the 2016 Ecuador earthquake.
• 21 April – Queen Elizabeth II marks her 90th birthday.
• 22 April – The Bank of England announces that artist William Turner is to appear on the reverse of the English £20 note in 2020.
• 25 April –
  • The Royal Bank of Scotland announces that author Nan Shepherd is to appear on the obverse of its £5 note, making her the second woman to appear on RBS notes after Mary Somerville.
  • The British high street retailer British Home Stores (BHS) files for administration, putting thousands of jobs at risk.
• 26 April –
  • A jury at a coroner's court in Warrington declares that the victims of the Hillsborough disaster of 1989 were unlawfully killed.
  • Junior doctors go on strike again, this time including those providing emergency care for the first time.
  • The British menswear retailer Austin Reed files for administration, putting 1,200 jobs at risk.
• 27 April – Naz Shah, the Labour MP for Bradford West, is suspended from the Party after making disparaging comments about Israel on Facebook.
• 28 April –
  • An influential think-tank calls for a wholesale privatisation of the BBC to combat its left-wing bias.
  • The Labour Party's anti-Semitism row intensifies as Ken Livingstone is suspended from the Party after making comments in defence of Naz Shah.
• 29 April –
  • Philip Hammond becomes the first UK Foreign Secretary to visit Cuba since 1959, where he says he is "keen to forge links".
  • British police state their belief that Madeleine McCann was abducted during a botched robbery, and may still be alive.
  • Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn announces the launch of an independent inquiry into allegations of anti-Semitism within the party.

May

• 2 May – For the first time in its history, Leicester City wins the 2016 Premier League, defying all odds.
• 3 May – Thousands of parents illegally take their children out of classes as part of an unprecedented one-day pupils’ “strike” over new, tougher tests for seven-year-olds.
• 5 May – UK local and Police and crime commissioner elections, as well as elections to the Northern Ireland Assembly, Welsh Assembly and Scottish Parliament are held.
• 7 May – The Labour MP Sadiq Khan is sworn in as mayor of London, succeeding Boris Johnson and becoming London's first Muslim mayor.
• 12 May – The Prime Minister, David Cameron, announces that foreign firms who own property in the UK must declare their assets publicly in a bid to stamp out corruption, ahead of a meeting of world leaders in London.
• 12–15 May – A special celebration takes place in the grounds of Windsor Castle in celebration of the Queen's 90th birthday.
• 14 May – In women's association football, Arsenal Ladies beat Chelsea Ladies 1–0 to win the 2016 FA Women's Cup Final, the fourteenth time Arsenal have won the competition.
• 15 May –
  • Manchester United's final match of the 2015–16 Premier League season, against Bournemouth is abandoned after a suspect package is found at Old Trafford requiring the stadium to be evacuated. The package turns out to have been part of a training exercise staged at Old Trafford some days before the match. The game, rescheduled for 17 May, sees Man U defeat Bournemouth 3–1. An estimated 35,000 seats were left unfilled, a record for matches in the Premier League.
  • At least seventeen people are injured after a number 18 bus crashes into a shop front in Harlesden, west London.
• 18 May – The government's planned new laws are set out by the Queen in her annual speech, which include a large overhaul on prison laws and support for a spaceport and driverless cars.
• 20 May –
  • Foreign Secretary Phillip Hammond confirms that at least one Briton is among the 66 passengers aboard the EgyptAir flight MS804 that mysteriously crashed on 19 May.
  • One woman is left critically ill and three others seriously injured after they are stabbed by a man near a Sainsbury's branch car park in Hampton, west London.
  • The convicted murderer who scaled the walls of Buckingham Palace on 18 May is jailed for four months on counts of trespassing and criminal damage.
• 24 May –
  • Bus drivers in Greater Manchester stage a one-day strike in dispute over pay and conditions over their working hours.
  • The Blackwall Tunnel in London is closed after petrol spills from an articulated lorry in the tunnel, causing major traffic queues.
• 25 May – A digger falls off a lorry at Rutherglen near Glasgow, crushing a car 'filled with passengers'.
• 31 May – A service is held at St Magnus Cathedral at Kirkwall in Orkney to mark the centenary of the Battle of Jutland.

June

• 1 June –
  • Archaeologists identify a Roman object found during construction of Bloomberg's new offices in the City of London as the oldest known hand-written document in the United Kingdom, dating back to AD 54.
  • A coroner rules that inquests into the deaths of 21 people in the 1974 Birmingham pub bombings are to be reopened, due to a "wealth of evidence that still has not been heard".
• 10–12 June – National commemorations to mark the Queen's 90th birthday.
• 23 June – A referendum will be held in the UK and Gibraltar on the United Kingdom's membership of the European Union.

October

• Contactless payment will be available across all London cabs and will be accepted on most taxis across the capital from October.

Publications

• Steve Cole's Heads You Die, the second novel in the Young Bond series.
• Lindsey Davis' crime novel The Graveyard of the Hesperides.
• Owen Hatherley's The Ministry of Nostalgia.
• Stuart MacBride's novel In the Cold Dark Ground.
• China Miéville's fantasy novella This Census Taker.
• Beatrix Potter's children's story The Tale of Kitty-in-Boots, discovered after 100 years.
• Rosa Prince's Comrade Corbyn, the biography of Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn.

Deaths

Main article: Deaths in 2016

January

File:Matt Hobden.JPG

Matt Hobden (1993–2016)

David Bowie (1947–2016) in 2002

Alan Rickman (1946–2016), acclaimed stage and screen actor, in 2011

Sir Terry Wogan (1938–2016) at his investiture in 2005

• 1 January – Mark B, 45, hip-hop record producer.
• 2 January –
  • Matt Hobden, 22, cricketer (Sussex).
  • Thomas Johnstone McWiggan, 97, aviation engineer.
  • Leonard White, 99, television producer and actor.
• 3 January –
  • Olwyn Hughes, 87, literary agent (Ted Hughes).
  • Peter Powell, 83, kite maker.
  • Tommy Sale, 97, rugby league player (Leigh, Widnes).
• 4 January –
  • Tom Allin, 28, cricket player (Warwickshire).
  • Robert Balser, 88, animator (Yellow Submarine, Heavy Metal, The Jackson 5ive).
  • Colin Butler, 102, entomologist.
  • John Roberts, 69, footballer (Arsenal, Birmingham, Wrexham).
  • Robert Stigwood, 81, band manager (Bee Gees, Cream) and film producer (Grease, Saturday Night Fever, Evita).
• 5 January –
  • Sian Blake, 43, actress (EastEnders) (body discovered).
  • Percy Freeman, 70, footballer (Lincoln City, West Bromwich Albion, Reading).
  • Albert Gubay, 87, businessman (Kwik Save).
• 7 January –
  • Paddy Doherty, 89, Irish civil rights activist.
  • Alan Haven, 80, jazz organist.
  • Sir Christopher Wallace, 73, army general, Commandant Royal College of Defence Studies (2001–2005)
• 8 January – Ida Gaskin, 96, teacher and quiz show contestant.
• 9 January –
  • Ed Stewart, 74, radio presenter.
  • Gareth Hoskins, 48, architect.
  • Mike McGinnity, football chairman (Coventry City).
• 10 January –
  • David Bowie, 69, singer-songwriter ("Space Oddity", Ziggy Stardust, Station to Station), record producer and actor (Labyrinth).
  • Anthony Mellows, 79, barrister and academic, Lord Prior of the Order of St John (2008–2014).
  • John Stokes, 70, soldier and mountaineer.
• 11 January –
  • Elizabeth Aston, 67, author.
  • Sir Kenneth Corfield, 91, camera engineer, inventor of the Corfield Periflex.
  • John Easter, 70, squash player and cricketer.
• 12 January –
  • Robert Black, 68, serial killer and kidnapper.
  • Tommy Mulgrew, 86, footballer (Southampton).
  • John Stevens, 86, journalist.
• 13 January –
  • Brian Bedford, 80, actor (Robin Hood, Nixon, Much Ado About Nothing).
  • Sir Albert McQuarrie, 98, Scottish politician, MP for East Aberdeenshire (1979–1983) and Banff and Buchan (1983–1987).
  • Conrad Phillips, 90, television and film actor (The Adventures of William Tell).
  • Mike Salmon, 82, racing driver.
• 14 January –
  • Glyn W. Humphreys, 61, neuropsychologist.
  • Alan Rickman, 69, actor (Harry Potter, Die Hard, Love Actually).
  • Robert Banks Stewart, 84, television writer (Doctor Who, Bergerac, Shoestring).
• 15 January –
  • Robin Fletcher, 93, academic administrator and Olympic field hockey player.
  • Charles Harbord-Hamond, 12th Baron Suffield, 62, nobleman.
• 17 January –
  • Dale Griffin, 67, drummer (Mott the Hoople).
  • Delphine Parrott, 87, immunologist.
  • Angus Ross, 49, darts player.
• 18 January –
  • Terence Cook, 88, rugby union and rugby league footballer.
  • Andy Dog Johnson, 57, artist, designer of the The The record sleeves.
  • Mike MacDowel, 83, racing driver.
• 19 January –
  • Robert M. Carter, 73, marine geologist and climate skeptic.
  • Laurence Lerner, 90, literary critic.
  • Sheila Sim, Lady Attenborough, 93, actress (A Canterbury Tale, Pandora and the Flying Dutchman, West of Zanzibar).
• 20 January –
  • Stuart Cowden, 90, footballer (Stoke City).
  • Brian Key, 68, politician, MEP for Yorkshire South (1979–1984).
  • George Weidenfeld, Baron Weidenfeld, 96, publisher, philanthropist, and newspaper columnist.
• 21 January –
  • Michael Sheringham, literary academic, Marshal Foch Professor of French Literature at Oxford University (2004–2015).
  • Gerald Williams, 86, tennis commentator.
• 22 January –
  • Jack Bannister, 85, cricket player (Warwickshire) and commentator.
  • Tommy Bryceland, 76, footballer (St Mirren, Norwich, Oldham Athletic).
  • John Dowie, 60, footballer (Fulham, Celtic).
  • Ian Murray, 83, Roman Catholic prelate, Bishop of Argyll and the Isles (1999–2008).
  • Denise Newman, 91, Olympic diver (1948).
  • Cecil Parkinson, Lord Parkinson, 84, Conservative politician and cabinet minister, Secretary of State for Trade and Industry (1983), Secretary of State for Energy (1987–1989), Secretary of State for Transport (1989–1990), and Chairman of the Conservative Party (1997–1998).
  • Anthony Simmons, 93, screenwriter and film director (The Optimists of Nine Elms, Black Joy).
  • Alec Wishart, 76, musician (Hogsnort Rupert).
• 23 January –
  • Jimmy Bain, 68, bassist (Rainbow, Dio).
  • Grahame Hodgson, 79, rugby union player (Wales).
  • Hugh Mortimer, 66, diplomat.
• 24 January –
  • Christine Jackson, 53, cellist
  • Eric Webster, 84, footballer (Manchester City) and football manager (Stockport County).
  • Henry Worsley, 55, adventurer.
• 26 January –
  • Black, 53, singer-songwriter ("Wonderful Life").
  • Ray Pointer, 79, footballer (Burnley, Coventry City, Portsmouth).
• 27 January –
  • Peter Baker, 84, footballer (Tottenham Hotspur).
  • Bernard Cookson, 79, cartoonist.
  • John F. G. Howe, 85, air marshal.
• 28 January –
  • Tommy O'Hara, 62, footballer (Queen of the South, Washington Diplomats, Motherwell).
  • Nigel Peel, 48, cricketer (Cheshire).
  • Dave Thomson, 77, footballer (Dunfermline Athletic).
• 29 January –
  • Gordon Goody, 86, criminal, mastermind of the Great Train Robbery.
  • John Roper, Baron Roper, 80, politician.
  • Donald I. Williamson, 94, biologist.
• 30 January –
  • Tony Beard, 79, radio announcer (BBC Radio Devon).
  • Frank Finlay, 89, actor (Othello, The Pianist, The Three Musketeers).
• 31 January –
  • Gillian Avery, 89, children's novelist and historian.
  • Sir Terry Wogan, 77, broadcaster (Wogan, Children in Need, Blankety Blank, Come Dancing) and BBC presenter of the Eurovision Song Contest (1971–2008).

February

Sir Christopher Zeeman (1925–2016) in 2009

File:Viola Beach.jpg

All four members of Viola Beach (2013–2016), and their manager died in a car accident

File:Lord-Avebury-2006.jpg

Eric Lubbock, 4th Baron Avebury (1928–2016) in 2006

File:Eric Brown 2015 (cropped).jpg

Eric Brown (1919–2016) in 2015

• 1 February –
  • Francis Ormsby-Gore, 6th Baron Harlech, 61, nobleman.
  • Tom Pugh, 78, cricketer.
  • Sir Peter Whiteley, 95, General in the Royal Marines, Lieutenant Governor of Jersey (1979–1984).
• 2 February – Seth Cardew, 81, studio potter.
• 4 February –
  • William Gaskill, 85, theatre director.
  • Harry Glasgow, 76, footballer (Clyde).
  • Harry Harpham, 61, politician, MP for Sheffield Brightside and Hillsborough (since 2015).
  • Sir Jeremy Morse, 87, banker and crossword compiler.
  • David Sloan, 74, footballer (Scunthorpe United, Oxford United, Walsall).
• 6 February –
  • Alastair Biggar, 69, rugby union player (Scotland, British and Irish Lions, London Scottish).
• 8 February –
  • John Disley, 87, steeplechase runner, Olympic bronze medallist (1952), and co-founder of the London Marathon.
  • Margaret Forster, 77, novelist (Georgy Girl) and biographer.
  • Norman Hudis, 93, screenwriter (Carry On).
• 9 February –
  • Wayne England, artist (Magic: The Gathering).
  • Michael Hanlon, 51, science journalist.
  • Roy Harris, 82, folk singer.
  • Graham Moore, 74, footballer (Charlton Athletic, Cardiff City).
• 10 February –
  • Ian Cowap, 65, cricketer (Cheshire).
  • Phil Gartside, 63, businessman and football chairman (Bolton Wanderers).
• 11 February –
  • Les Belshaw, 88, rugby league footballer of the 1950s
  • Sir Timothy Bevan, 88, banker, chairman of Barclays (1981–1987).
  • Peter Wood, 90, theatre director.
• 12 February –
  • Barbara Hardy, 92, author.
  • Keith Jeffery, 64, historian.
• 13 February –
  • Flakey Dove, 30, racehorse, winner of the 1994 Champion Hurdle.
  • Sir Christopher Zeeman, 91, mathematician.
  • Members of the band Viola Beach killed in a car accident:
    • Jack Dakin, 19, drummer.
    • Kris Leonard, 20, singer and guitarist.
    • Tomas Lowe, 27, bassist.
    • River Reeves, 19, guitarist.
    • Craig Tarry, 32, manager.
• 14 February –
  • Ali Brownlee, 56, radio sports broadcaster (Middlesbrough F.C. on BBC Tees).
  • Drewe Henley, 75, actor (Star Wars).
  • David Hey, 77, historian.
  • Eric Lubbock, 4th Baron Avebury, 87, politician, MP for Orpington (1962–1970).
• 15 February – Walter McGowan, 73, boxer, world champion (1966).
• 16 February –
  • Ronnie Blackman, 90, footballer (Reading).
  • Jim Pleass, 92, cricketer (Glamorgan).
• 18 February –
  • Sir Tony Durant, 88, politician, MP (1974–1997).
  • Brendan Healy, 59, actor and musician.
  • Bruce Lacey, 89, artist and actor.
  • Johnny Miller, 65, footballer (Ipswich Town).
  • Don Rossiter, 80, footballer and politician.
• 19 February –
  • Freddie Goodwin, 82, football player (Manchester United, Leeds United) and manager (Birmingham City).
  • Sir Anthony Hidden, 79, judge.
  • Sir William O'Brien, 99, admiral, Naval Secretary (1964–1966).
  • Vi Subversa, 80, musician (Poison Girls).
• 20 February – Jon Rollason, 84, actor (The Avengers, Coronation Street, Doctor Who).
• 21 February –
  • Eric Brown, 97, test pilot.
  • Roger Chorley, 2nd Baron Chorley, 85, nobleman.
  • Vlasta Dalibor, 94, puppeteer (Pinky and Perky).
  • David Duffield, 84, sports commentator and cyclist.
  • Andrew Herxheimer, 90, physician and clinical pharmacologist.
  • Peter Marlow, 63, news photographer.
• 22 February – Douglas Slocombe, 103, cinematographer (Indiana Jones, The Lion in Winter, Jesus Christ Superstar).
• 24 February –
  • Jim McFadzean, 77, footballer (Kilmarnock, Heart of Midlothian).
  • S. F. C. Milsom, 92, barrister and legal historian.
• 25 February –
  • John Chilton, 83, jazz musician and writer.
  • Jim Clark, 84, film editor (The World Is Not Enough, The Killing Fields, Marathon Man), Oscar winner (1985).
• 26 February –
  • Antony Gibbs, 90, film editor (Tom Jones, Fiddler on the Roof, Ronin).
  • Michael S. Longuet-Higgins, 90, mathematician and oceanographer.
• 27 February –
  • Michael Bowes-Lyon, 18th Earl of Strathmore and Kinghorne, 58, nobleman and soldier.
  • Dick Bradsell, 56, bartender.
  • Steven Rumbelow, 66, theatre and film director (Autumn).
• 28 February –
  • Paul Colinvaux, 85, ecologist and author (Fates of Nations).
  • John Cameron, Lord Coulsfield, 81, judge (Pan Am Flight 103 bombing trial), Senator of the College of Justice (1987–1992).
  • John Jones, 91, author and academic.
• 29 February – Louise Rennison, 64, author (Angus, Thongs and Full-Frontal Snogging).

March

Sir George Martin (1926–2016), often referred to as the "Fifth Beatle", in 2006

Keith Emerson (1944–2016)

Sir Peter Maxwell Davies (1934–2016) in 2012

Paul Daniels (1938–2016), a world renowned magician and television performer, in 2013

Ronnie Corbett (1930–2016), acclaimed for his work on The Two Ronnies with comedy partner Ronnie Barker

Dame Zaha Hadid (1950–2016)

File:Denise Robertson opens Durham railway station information office 1.jpg

Denise Robertson (1932–2016), dubbed "the best agony aunt in the business"

• 1 March –
  • Peter Mathias, 88, economic historian.
  • Louise Plowright, 59, actress (Mamma Mia!, EastEnders, Families).
  • Tony Warren, 79, television scriptwriter (Coronation Street).
• 2 March –
  • Arthur Keily, 94, marathon runner.
  • Paul Webley, 62, educator, president of SOAS, University of London (2006–2015).
• 3 March –
  • Lord James Blears, 92, professional wrestler.
  • Anthony Carrigan, 35, academic.
  • Cyril Denis, 71, land developer (London Docklands) and hotelier.
  • Andrew Derbyshire, 92, architect.
  • Tony Dyson, 68, film prop designer (R2-D2).
  • Gwyneth George, 95, concert cellist and music academic.
  • John Thomas, 63, guitarist (Budgie).
• 4 March –
  • John Brooks, Baron Brooks of Tremorfa, 88, politician and boxing executive, President of the British Boxing Board of Control and Welsh Sports Hall of Fame.
  • Alistair Stuart, 89, newspaper editor (Scotland on Sunday).
• 5 March –
  • John Douglas, 21st Earl of Morton, 88, nobleman.
  • John Evans, Baron Evans of Parkside, 85, politician, MP for Newton (1974–1983) and St Helens North (1983–1997).
  • Alan Henry, 68, motorsport journalist.
  • Henry Hobhouse, 91, author (Seeds of Change: Five Plants That Transformed Mankind).
• 6 March –
  • Wally Bragg, 86, footballer (Brentford).
  • Ernest George Mardon, 87, historian.
• 7 March –
  • Leonard Berney, 95, military officer, a liberator of Bergen-Belsen.
  • Scott Goodall, 80, comic book writer.
  • Bryan Knights, 72, radio commentator (BBC Radio Suffolk) and football broadcaster (Ipswich Town).
  • Michael White, 80, film and theatre producer (Monty Python and the Holy Grail, The Rocky Horror Picture Show), Tony Award-winner (1971, 1972 and 1976), and subject of The Last Impresario.
• 8 March –
  • Jack Jones, 90, Olympic water polo player (1952, 1956).
  • Sir George Martin, 90, record producer (The Beatles), composer, arranger and engineer, six times Grammy Award winner.
• 9 March –
  • Bryan Coombs, 81, academic and shorthand expert (Pitman shorthand).
  • Jon English, 66, musician and actor.
• 10 March –
  • Sir Ken Adam, 95, production designer (Dr. Strangelove, James Bond, The Madness of King George), Oscar winner (1975, 1994).
  • Anita Brookner, 87, novelist (Hotel du Lac) and art historian, Man Booker Prize winner (1984).
  • Keith Emerson, 71, progressive rock and rock keyboardist (The Nice, Emerson, Lake & Palmer).
• 11 March –
  • Doreen Massey, 72, geographer.
  • Billy Ritchie, 79, footballer (Rangers, Partick Thistle).
• 14 March – Sir Peter Maxwell Davies, 81, composer and conductor, Master of the Queen's Music (2004–2014).
• 15 March –
  • Sylvia Anderson, 88, television producer and voice actress (Thunderbirds).
  • Asa Briggs, Baron Briggs, 94, historian, codebreaker and life peer.
  • Sebastian Rahtz, 61, digital humanities researcher.
• 16 March –
  • Cliff Michelmore, 96, television presenter and producer (Tonight, 24 Hours, Holiday).
  • Alan Spavin, 74, footballer (Preston North End, Dundalk).
• 17 March –
  • Paul Daniels, 77, magician and television presenter (The Paul Daniels Magic Show, Odd One Out, Every Second Counts, Wipeout, Wizbit).
  • DJ Derek, 73, disc jockey. (death reported on this date).
  • Sandy McDonald, 78, Church of Scotland minister, Moderator of the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland (1997–1998).
• 18 March – Barry Hines, 76, author (A Kestrel for a Knave).
• 19 March –
  • David Green, 76, cricketer (Lancashire, Gloucestershire).
  • Jack Mansell, 88, footballer and football coach.
• 20 March –
  • Jon Beazley, television executive (BBC) and producer (Strictly Come Dancing).
  • Jack Boxley, 84, footballer (Bristol City, Coventry City).
  • Mark Sutton, 46, rugby union player (Dunvant).
• 21 March – Robert McNeill Alexander, 81, zoologist.
• 22 March – Petra Davies, 85, actress.
• 23 March –
  • David Blackburn, 76, artist.
  • Sir Richard George, 71, food manufacturer (Weetabix Limited).
  • Desmond McKeown, 79, rugby league player (Oldham). (death reported on this date).
  • Sir Peter Moores, 83, businessman (Littlewoods), and chairman of Everton (1960–1965).
• 24 March – Brendan Sloan, 67, Gaelic football player (Down).
• 25 March –
  • Ken Barr, 83, artist.
  • Terry Brain, 60, animator (The Trap Door).
  • David Snellgrove, 95, Tibetologist.
• 26 March –
  • Michael MccGwire, 92, foreign policy analyst.
  • Bernard Neal, 93, structural engineer and croquet player.
• 28 March –
  • Peggy Fortnum, 96, illustrator (Paddington Bear).
  • Derek Robertson, 64, football executive (Dundee United). (death reported on this date)
• 30 March –
  • Denys Carnill, 90, field hockey player, Olympic bronze medalist (1952).
  • John King, 77, football player and manager (Tranmere).
  • Andy Newman, 73, pianist (Thunderclap Newman).
• 31 March –
  • Ian Britton, 61, footballer (Chelsea, Blackpool, Burnley) and manager (Nelson).
  • Ronnie Corbett, 85, actor and comedian (The Two Ronnies, The Frost Report, Sorry!).
  • Sir Robert Finch, 71, Lord Mayor of London (2003).
  • Dame Zaha Hadid, 65, Iraqi-born architect.
  • Denise Robertson, 83, writer and television broadcaster (This Morning).
  • Jimmy Toner, 92, footballer (Dundee, Leeds United).
  • Kris Travis, 33, professional wrestler.
  • Douglas Wilmer, 96, actor (Sherlock Holmes, Octopussy, Cleopatra).

April

File:Martin Lampkin Trial Sant Llorenç 1978.jpg

Motorcyclist Martin Lampkin (1950–2016) at the Trial Sant Llorenç in 1978

Howard Marks (1945–2016) in 2000

File:Arnold Wesker.jpg

Sir Arnold Wesker (1932–2016) at the Durham Book Festival in 2008

Victoria Wood (1953–2016) in Laos

Sir Harry Kroto (1939–2016) in 2010

• 1 April – Alan Carter, 86, civil servant, Director of Immigration of Hong Kong (1983–1989).
• 3 April –
  • John Vane, 11th Baron Barnard, 92, nobleman.
  • Martin Lampkin, 65, motorcycle trials rider.
  • John Waite, 74, footballer (Grimsby).
• 4 April –
  • Royston Nash, 82, conductor (D'Oyly Carte Opera Company).
  • Ken Waterhouse, 85, footballer (Preston North End, Rotherham United).
• 5 April –
  • Henry Hobhouse, 91, journalist and historian (Seeds of Change: Five Plants That Transformed Mankind).
  • Mick Sullivan, 82, rugby league footballer (Wigan), world champion (1954, 1960).
• 6 April – Sid Nathan, 93, boxer and referee (death reported on this date).
• 7 April –
  • Adrian Greenwood, 42, art dealer and author.
  • Rachel Johnson, 93, last native of the Scottish island of St Kilda (death reported on this date).
  • Garry Jones, 65, footballer (Bolton Wanderers).
  • Charles Thomas, 87, archaeologist.
  • Ruth Westbrook, 85, cricket player and coach (England).
• 8 April –
  • Mildred Gordon, 92, politician, MP for Bow and Poplar (1987–1997).
  • Fred Middleton, 85, footballer (Lincoln City).
  • David Swift, 85, actor (Drop the Dead Donkey).
• 9 April –
  • Patrick (Paddy) J. O'Donnell, 68, academic.
  • Martin Roberts, 48, rugby union player (Gloucester Rugby).
• 10 April –
  • Howard Marks, 70, cannabis smuggler, writer and campaigner.
  • Adrian St John, 22, cricketer.
• 11 April –
  • Emile Ford, 78, singer (Emile Ford and the Checkmates).
  • Nicholas Gargano, 81, boxer, Olympic bronze medallist (1956).
  • Dame Marion Kettlewell, 102, naval officer, Director of the Wrens (1966–1970).
• 12 April –
  • Alan Loveday, 88, violinist (Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, Academy of St Martin in the Fields).
  • Sir Arnold Wesker, 83, playwright.
• 13 April –
  • Srinivas Aravamudan, 54, academic.
  • Steve Quinn, 64, rugby league player (York Wasps, Featherstone Rovers).
  • Jock Scot, 64, poet and recording artist.
  • Gareth Thomas, 71, actor (Blake's 7, Children of the Stones, Star Maidens).
  • Gwyn Thomas, 79, poet and academic, National Poet of Wales (2006–2008).
• 14 April –
  • Martin Fitzmaurice, 75, darts personality.
  • Ted Gundry, 81, radio broadcaster (BBC).
  • Sir David MacKay, 48, author, scientist and professor (University of Cambridge).
  • Phil Sayer, 62, voice artist ("Mind the gap").
• 15 April –
  • Morag Siller, 46, actress (Emmerdale, Memphis Belle, Casualty).
  • Guy Woolfenden, 78, composer and conductor.
• 16 April –
  • Richard Smith, 84, painter.
  • Kit West, 79, special effects artist (Raiders of the Lost Ark, Dragonheart, Return of the Jedi, Enemy at the Gates), Oscar winner (1982).
• 18 April –
  • Adrian Berry, 4th Viscount Camrose, 78, peer and journalist.
  • Barry Davies, 71, soldier and extractor of Lufthansa Flight 181 hostages.
  • Karina Huff, 55, actress (The House of Clocks, Time for Loving, Voices from Beyond) and television personality.
  • Sir John Leslie, 4th Baronet, 99, aristocrat and media personality.
• 19 April –
  • Harry Elderfield, 72, geochemist and professor (University of Cambridge).
  • Billy Redmayne, 25, motorcycle racer.
• 20 April –
  • Guy Hamilton, 93, film director (James Bond, Battle of Britain, Evil Under the Sun).
  • Avril Henry, 81, academic.
  • Victoria Wood, 62, comedian and actress (New Faces, Victoria Wood As Seen on TV, Dinnerladies).
• 21 April – John Walton, Baron Walton of Detchant, 93, peer.
• 22 April –
  • David Beresford, 68, journalist.
  • John Lumsden, 55, footballer (Stoke City).
  • Sir Denys Wilkinson, 93, nuclear physicist.
• 23 April –
  • Patrick George, 92, painter.
  • Sir Richard Parsons, 88, diplomat, Ambassador to Hungary, Spain and Sweden.
  • Maurice Peston, Baron Peston, 85, peer, politician and economist.
• 26 April – Mark Farmer, 53, actor (Grange Hill, Minder, Johnny Jarvis).
• 27 April –
  • Harold Cohen, 87, computer artist (AARON).
  • Angela Flanders, 88, perfumer.
  • Herta Groves, 96, milliner.
• 28 April –
  • Sir Edward Ashmore, 96, Royal Naval officer, First Sea Lord (1974–1977).
  • Jenny Diski, 68, writer (Nothing Natural, Rainforest, London Review of Books).
  • Barry Howard, 78, actor (Hi-de-Hi!).
• 29 April –
  • Tim Bacon, 52, restauranteur and actor (Sons and Daughters).
  • Alyson Bailes, 67, diplomat, ambassador to Finland (2000–2002).
  • Dave Robinson, 67, footballer (Birmingham City, Walsall).
• 30 April –
  • Sir Harry Kroto, 76, chemist, winner of the Nobel Prize in Chemistry (1996).
  • Phil Ryan, 69, keyboardist (Man).

May

File:Christopher Mitchell - Schottland U-21 (1).jpg

Chris Mitchell (1988–2016) in 2009

Joe Temperley (1929–2016) (left) performing with Gary Smulyan in 2005

David Rendel (1949–2016) at the Newbury declaration during the 2005 general election

• 1 May – Richard Gilpin, 76, Anglican vicar, Archdeacon of Totnes (1996–2005).
• 2 May –
  • Basil Blackshaw, 84, artist.
  • Jonathan Cainer, 58, astrologer (Daily Mail).
  • Richard Davis, 66, radio astronomer.
  • Paul McDowell, 84, actor and singer (The Temperance Seven).
  • Roger Millward, 68, rugby league player (Hull Kingston Rovers, Castleford Tigers, Great Britain).
• 3 May – Kristian Ealey, 38, actor (Brookside, Hollyoaks) and musician.
• 4 May – Michael Caborn-Waterfield, 86, businessman (Ann Summers).
• 5 May – Matt Irwin, 36, photographer.
• 6 May –
  • Lakshmi Holmström, 81, author and translator.
  • Chris Mitchell, 27, footballer (Queen of the South, Clyde).
• 7 May –
  • John Krish, 92, film director.
  • George Ross, 73, footballer (Preston North End).
• 8 May – Sir Iain Glidewell, 91, jurist, Lord Justice of Appeal (1985–1995).
• 9 May –
  • Comply or Die, 17, thoroughbred racehorse, winner of the 2008 Grand National.
  • Gareth Gwenlan, 79, television producer (One Foot in the Grave, Only Fools and Horses, The Fall and Rise of Reginald Perrin, To the Manor Born).
  • Bill MacIlwraith, 88, playwright and screenwriter (Two's Company).
  • Dennis Nineham, 94, theologian.
  • John Warr, 88, cricketer (Middlesex).
• 10 May –
  • Sally Brampton, 60, writer and magazine editor (Elle).
  • Sarah Corp, 41, television news producer.
  • Nicholas Fisk, 92, children's author.
• 11 May –
  • Seb Adeniran-Olule, 20, rugby union player (Harlequins).
  • Bobby Carroll, 77, footballer (Celtic).
  • David King, 73, graphic designer, art collector and writer (The Commissar Vanishes).
  • Joe Temperley, 86, jazz saxophonist (Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra).
• 14 May –
  • Tony Barrow, 80, press officer (The Beatles).
  • John Coyle, 83, footballer (Dundee United, Clyde).
  • Malachi Mitchell-Thomas, 20, motorcycle racer.
• 15 May – Bobby McIlvenny, 89, footballer (Oldham Athletic).
• 16 May –
  • Sir Gavyn Farr Arthur, 64, judge, Lord Mayor of London (2002–2003).
  • Ken Cameron, 74, trade unionist.
  • John O. Hughes, 97, football administrator.
  • David Rendel, 67, politician, MP for Newbury (1993–2005).
• 18 May – Adrian Flowers, 89, photographer.
• 19 May –
  • Hugh Honour, 88, art historian.
  • Donald Snelgrove, 91, Anglican clergyman, Bishop of Hull (1981–1994).
• 20 May – Malvina Cheek, 100, war artist.
• 21 May –
  • Jane Fawcett, 95, codebreaker at Bletchley Park during the Second World War, and key figure in the sinking of the Bismarck.
  • Sir Denys Henderson, 83, businessman, chairman of ICI (1987–1995).
  • Alan Lewis, 61, footballer (Reading, Derby County, Peterborough United).
  • Chris Meek, 86, racing driver and businessman, owner of Mallory Park.
• 24 May – Burt Kwouk, 85, actor (The Pink Panther, Last of the Summer Wine, Goldfinger).
• 25 May –
  • Ian Gibson, 73, footballer (Cardiff City, Coventry City, Middlesbrough).
  • Peggy Spencer, 96, dancer.
  • John Webster, 60, theologian.
• 28 May –
  • Patrick Neill, Baron Neill of Bladen, 89, barrister and life peer.
  • Edward O'Hara, 78, politician, MP for Knowsley South (1990–2010).
• 29 May – Berrick Saul, 91, economist and academic administrator (death reported on this date).
• 31 May – Carla Lane, 87, television writer (The Liver Birds, Butterflies, Bread).