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1989 in the United Kingdom

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1989 in the United Kingdom
Other years
1987 | 1988 | 1989 (1989) | 1990 | 1991
Constituent countries of the United Kingdom
England | Northern Ireland | Scotland | Wales
Popular culture

Events from the year 1989 in the United Kingdom.

Incumbents

Events

January

  • 4 January – A memorial service is held for the 270 people who died in the Lockerbie air disaster two weeks ago. Margaret Thatcher and several other world political leaders are among more than 200 people present in the church service at the village of Old Dryfesdale near Lockerbie.
  • 8 January – 44 people are killed in the Kegworth air disaster.
  • 11 January
    • Accident investigators say that the Kegworth air disaster was caused when pilot Kevin Hunt, who survived the crash, accidentally shut down the wrong engine.
    • Abbey National building society offers free shares to its 5,500,000 members.
  • 14 January – Muslims demonstrate in Bradford against The Satanic Verses, a book written by Salman Rushdie, burning copies of the book in the city streets.
  • 19 January – Unemployment fell by 66,000 in December, to a nine-year low of just over 2 million. It was last at this level in 1980.
  • 25 January – John Cleese wins a libel case after the Daily Mirror described him as having become like his character Basil Fawlty in the sitcom Fawlty Towers.[1]

February

March

April

  • 5 April – 500 workers on the Channel Tunnel go on strike in a protest against pay and working conditions.
  • 6 April – The government announces an end to the legislation which effectively guarantees secure work for more than 9,000 dockers over the remainder of their working lives.[10]
  • 10 April – Nick Faldo becomes the first English winner of the Masters Tournament.[1]
  • 14 April – Ford launches the third generation of its Fiesta, the first to offer a 5-door version which is being built at the Dagenham plant in England and the Valencia plant in Spain.
  • 15 April – 94 people were killed that day in the Hillsborough disaster during the FA Cup semi-final at the Hillsborough Stadium in Sheffield during the FA Cup semi-final between Nottingham Forest FC and Liverpool F.C.; three more will die later of serious injuries received and around 300 others are hospitalized. The death toll is the worst of any sporting disaster in Britain.[1][11] The youngest victim is a 10-year-old boy,[12] the oldest is 67-year-old Gerard Baron, brother of the late former Liverpool player Kevin Baron.[13]
  • 16 April – Denis Howell, a former Labour sports minister, urges for the FA Cup final to go ahead this season despite consideration by the Football Association for it to be cancelled due to the Hillsborough disaster.[14]
  • 17 April – Home Secretary Douglas Hurd announces plans to make all-seater stadiums compulsory for all Football League First Division clubs to reduce the risk of a repeat of the Hillsborough tragedy.
  • 18 April
    • The European Commission accuses Britain of failing to meet standards on drinking water.[15]
    • The Hillsborough disaster claims its 95th victim when 14-year-old Lee Nicol dies in hospital as a result of his injuries. He had been visited in hospital by Diana, Princess of Wales, hours before he died.[16]
    • Tottenham Hotspur remove perimeter fencing from their White Hart Lane stadium as the first step towards avoiding a repeat of the Hillsborough disaster in English football.[17]
  • 19 April
    • The Sun newspaper sparks outrage on Merseyside about the Hillsborough Disaster with an article entitled "The Truth", supported by South Yorkshire police and locally based news agencies, which claims that spectators robbed and injured dead spectators, and attacked police officers when they were helping the injured and dying. Other newspapers including the Daily Star and Daily Mirror, as well as several regional newspapers, have also printed similar allegations.
    • Channel Tunnel workers end their 14-day strike.
  • 20 April
  • 24 April – The BBC's Ceefax teletext is only running as a partial service today due to a strike by broadcasting unions.[19]
  • 27 April – Security Service Act for the first time places MI5 on a statutory basis.[20]
  • 28 April
    • John Cannan, of Sutton Coldfield, is sentenced to life imprisonment with a recommendation that he should never be released after being found guilty of murdering one woman and sexually assaulting two others.[21]
    • Fourteen Liverpool fans are convicted of manslaughter and receive prison sentences of up to three years in Brussels, Belgium, in connection with the Heysel disaster at the 1985 European Cup Final in which 39 spectators (most of them Italian) died. A further eleven Liverpool fans are cleared.

May

  • 1–3 May – 54 prisoners stage a three-day protest on the roof of Risley Detention Centre before giving themselves up.[22]
  • 4 May – Margaret Thatcher completes ten years as Prime Minister – the first British Prime Minister of the 20th century to do so.
  • 5 May – The Vale of Glamorgan constituency in South Wales is seized by the Labour Party in a by-election after 38 years of Conservative control.
  • 8 May – More than 3,000 British Rail employees launch an unofficial overtime ban, walking out in protest at the end of their eight-hour shifts.
  • 14 May – A public inquiry, headed by Lord Justice Taylor of Gosforth, begins into the Hillsborough disaster.[23]
  • 18 May – Unemployment is now below 2,000,000 for the first time since 1980. The Conservative government's joy at tackling unemployment is, however, marred by the findings of a MORI poll which shows Labour slightly ahead of them for the first time in almost three years.[5]
  • 19 May – Walshaw Dean Lodge, West Yorkshire, enters the UK Weather Records with the Highest 120-min total rainfall at 193 mm. As of July 2006 this record still stands.[24]
  • 20 May – Liverpool win the FA Cup final with a 3–2 victory over their Merseyside rivals Everton. It is the second all-Merseyside cup final in four seasons, and as happened in 1986, Ian Rush is on the scoresheet for Liverpool twice. Liverpool have won the trophy four times now.[25]
  • 24 May
  • 26 May – Arsenal win the First Division league title against Liverpool, with a goal from Michael Thomas in the last minute of the last game of the season. Arsenal have now been league champions 9 times but until now hadn't been league champions for 18 years.[28]
  • 30 May – Passport office staff in Liverpool begin an indefinite strike in protest against staffing levels.

June

July

  • 1 July – Fears of a property market downturn are heightened when it is reported that many homeowners looking to move are cutting the asking price of their homes by up to 20% in an attempt to speed up the sale of their property, following the property boom of the last 3 years where the price of many homes doubled at the very least.
  • 2 July – An IRA bomb kills a British soldier in Hanover, West Germany.
  • 10 July – House prices in the south of England have fallen for the second successive quarter, but are continuing to rise in Scotland as well as the north of England.
  • 11 July – Britain's dock workers go on strike in protest against the abolition of the Dock Labour Scheme.
  • 13 July – The fall in unemployment continues, with the tally now standing at slightly over 1,800,000 – the lowest in nearly a decade.
  • 17 July – 1,500 British tourists are delayed for up to eight hours by French air traffic control strikes.
  • 19 July – The BBC programme Panorama accuses Shirley Porter, Conservative Leader of Westminster City Council, of gerrymandering.
  • 20 July – Labour's lead in the opinion polls has increased substantially, with the latest MORI poll putting them nine points ahead of the Conservatives on 45%.[6]
  • 25 July – The Princess of Wales opens the Landmark Aids Centre, a day centre for people with AIDS, in London.[31]
  • 28 July – The industrial action by British Rail drivers is reported to be coming to an end as most of the train drivers have ended their overtime ban.

August

September

  • 2 September – Economy experts warn that a recession could soon be about to hit the United Kingdom. This would be the second recession in a decade.
  • 7 September – Heidi Hazell, the 26-year-old wife of a British soldier, is shot dead in Dortmund, West Germany.
  • 8 September – The IRA admits responsibility for the murder of Heidi Hazell. The act is condemned as "evil and cowardly" by British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher and as "the work of a psychopath" by Opposition Leader Neil Kinnock.
  • 12 September – 19,000 ambulance crew members across Britain go on strike.
  • 15 September – SLDP leader Paddy Ashdown addresses his party's annual conference in Brighton with a vow to "end Thatcherism" and achieve a long-term aim of getting the SLDP into power.
  • 22 September – Eleven people are killed in the Deal barracks bombing.
  • 27 September – David Owen, leader of the Social Democratic Party "rump" which rejected a merger with the Social and Liberal Democrats, admits that his party is no longer a national force.
  • 29 September – House prices in London have fallen by 3.8% since May, and are now 16% lower than they were at the height of the property boom last year.[38]

October

  • 2 October – Three clergy from the British Council of Protestants cause a disturbance at an Anglican church service in Rome at which the Archbishop of Canterbury Robert Runcie is preaching in protest at his suggestion that the Pope could become the spiritual leader of a united church, while Ian Paisley joins protests outside the service.[39]
  • 8 October – The latest CBI findings spark fear of a recession.
  • 10 October – The World Wrestling Federation holds its first UK event, at the London Arena.
  • 11 October
    • The Rover Group, Britain's largest independent carmaker, launches its new medium-sized hatchback, the second generation 200 Series which replaces the small four-door saloon of the same name and gives buyers a more modern and upmarket alternative to the ongoing Maestro range which has declined in popularity recently.
    • The England national football team qualifies for next Summer's FIFA World Cup in Italy when drawing 0–0 with Poland in Warsaw.
  • 12 October – Michael Knighton drops his bid to buy Manchester United.
  • 15 October – Recession fears deepen as stock market prices continue to fall dramatically.
  • 16 October – The Social and Liberal Democrats, formed last year from the merger of the Social Democratic Party and Liberal Party, are renamed the Liberal Democrats.[40]
  • 19 October
    • The Guildford Four are released from prison after the High Court quashes their convictions for the 1975 terrorist atrocity.[41]
    • Labour now has a 10-point lead over the Conservatives in the last MORI poll, with 48% of the vote.[7]
  • 23 October – The police force are now taking medical emergency 999 calls in London due to the ongoing strike by ambulance crews.
  • 26 October – Nigel Lawson resigns as Chancellor of the Exchequer; replaced by John Major, while Douglas Hurd becomes Foreign Secretary.[2]
  • 31 October – British Rail announces that the proposed high-speed rail link to the Channel Tunnel is being postponed for at least one more year.

November

  • 4 November – First showing of the clay animation film A Grand Day Out, introducing the characters Wallace and Gromit, at a film festival in Bristol.
  • 7 November – General Assembly of the Church of England votes to allow ordination of women.[2]
  • 8 November – British Army and Royal Air Force troops are now manning London's ambulance services as the regular ambulance crews are still on strike.
  • 10 November – Margaret Thatcher visits Berlin the day after the fall of the Berlin Wall, which brings the reunification of Germany forward after Germans were allowed to travel between West and East Berlin for the first time since the wall was built in 1961, and between West and East Germany for the first time since the partition of the country after the war.
  • 14 November – The Merry Hill Shopping Centre on the Dudley Enterprise Zone in the West Midlands becomes fully operational with the opening of the final shopping mall. The development, which now employs around 6,000 people, first opened to retailers four years ago with several retail warehousing units, and has gradually expanded to become Europe's largest indoor shopping centre. Construction has now begun on the Waterfront office and leisure complex, also within the Enterprise Zone and overlooking the shopping centre, which will open to its first tenants next year.[42] On 7 November, Don and Roy Richardson, the Centre's developers, had announced plans to build the world's tallest building – a 2,000-foot tower including a hotel and nightclub – on land adjacent to the shopping complex; this never takes place.[43]
  • 16 November – Children Act alters the law in regard to children in England and Wales; in particular, it introduces the notion of parental responsibility in access and custody matters.
  • 21 November
  • 23 November – 69-year-old backbencher Sir Anthony Meyer challenges Margaret Thatcher's leadership of the Conservative Party, reportedly fearing that the party will lose the next general election after falling behind Labour in several recent opinion polls. Her leadership has never been challenged before in almost 15 years as party leader, more than 10 of which have been spent as prime minister.
  • 30 November – Russell Shankland and Dean Hancock, serving eight-year prison sentences for the manslaughter of taxi driver David Wilkie in South Wales during the miners strike, are released from prison on the fifth anniversary of the crime.[45]

December

Undated

  • Inflation increases significantly this year, standing at 7.8% – the highest for seven years.[11]
  • Fears of a recession are deepened by the economy's overall growth rate dropping to 1.7%, the lowest since 1981.[12]
  • House prices in London fall to an average of £86,800 this year – a 10% decrease on the 1988 average.
  • After spending most of the decade closed down, Whiteleys in London reopens as a shopping centre.
  • Remains of The Rose and Globe Theatre discovered in London.[50]
  • Permanent gates are installed across Downing Street in London by the end of the year.[51]
  • Red kites reintroduced to England and Scotland.[52]
  • A record of more than 2.3 million new cars are sold in Britain this year. The Ford Escort is Britain's best selling car for the eighth year running, managing more than 180,000 sales, while the Volkswagen Golf is Britain's most popular foreign car with well over 50,000 sales. Ford achieves the largest sales of any carmaker in Britain for the 15th year in a row, helped by the launch of the third-generation Fiesta in April while Vauxhall has now overtaken the Rover Group as Britain's second best selling carmaker. The UK new car sales record has been broken six times in the last seven years.
  • Britain experiences its worst flu epidemic since the winter of 1975–76, with cases peaking in mid-November. Over a million infections are recorded by December, with an increase in flu-related deaths, while hospitals are forced to cancel surgery.

Publications

Births

Gareth Bale
Daniel Radcliffe

Deaths

Harry Andrews
John Hicks
Laurence Olivier

See also

References

  1. ^ a b c d Penguin Pocket On This Day. Penguin Reference Library. 2006. ISBN 0-14-102715-0.
  2. ^ a b c d Palmer, Alan; Veronica (1992). The Chronology of British History. London: Century Ltd. p. 456. ISBN 0-7126-5616-2.
  3. ^ McManus, Darragh (10 February 2009). "Darragh McManus on how Home and Away made it to 20". The Guardian.
  4. ^ "1989: Belfast lawyer Finucane murdered". BBC News. 12 February 1989. Archived from the original on 7 March 2008. Retrieved 12 February 2008.
  5. ^ "1989: Ayatollah sentences author to death". BBC News. 14 February 1989. Archived from the original on 17 February 2008. Retrieved 12 February 2008.
  6. ^ "Rt Hon William Hague". Archived from the original on 25 June 2012. Retrieved 1 July 2011.
  7. ^ Sabbagh, Dan (8 February 2010). "Is EastEnders the lifeblood of the BBC?". The Guardian. London. Retrieved 1 July 2011.
  8. ^ "1989: Six die in Purley rail crash". BBC News. 4 March 1989. Archived from the original on 26 February 2008. Retrieved 12 February 2008.
  9. ^ "1989: Senior RUC men die in gun attack". BBC News. 20 March 1989. Archived from the original on 7 March 2008. Retrieved 12 February 2008.
  10. ^ "1989: Dockers' 'jobs for life' scrapped". BBC News. 6 April 1989. Archived from the original on 22 January 2008. Retrieved 12 February 2008.
  11. ^ Conn, David; Vinter, Robyn (28 July 2021). "Liverpool fan's death ruled as 97th victim of Hillsborough disaster". The Guardian. London. Retrieved 29 July 2021.
  12. ^ "Liverpool Echo: Latest Liverpool and Merseyside news, sports and what's on". www.liverpooldailypost.co.uk.
  13. ^ Echo, Liverpool (15 April 2009). "Gerard Baron Snr, 67".
  14. ^ [1][permanent dead link]
  15. ^ "Those were the days". static.expressandstar.com.
  16. ^ Echo, Liverpool (15 April 2009). "Lee Nicol, 14".
  17. ^ [2][permanent dead link]
  18. ^ "Poll tracker". BBC.
  19. ^ "Teletext Gallery". The Teletext Museum.
  20. ^ Security Service Act 1989.
  21. ^ "Those were the days". static.expressandstar.com.
  22. ^ "1989: The Risley prisoners' uprising". libcom.org. Retrieved 3 April 2018.
  23. ^ [3][permanent dead link]
  24. ^ "Extreme weather". Met Office. Archived from the original on 29 December 2010. Retrieved 9 April 2008.
  25. ^ "1989 FA Cup Final Match – Liverpool vs Everton". www.fa-cupfinals.co.uk.
  26. ^ "1989: Yorkshire Ripper's wife wins damages". BBC News. 24 May 1989. Archived from the original on 7 March 2008. Retrieved 12 February 2008.
  27. ^ Dorn, Nicholas; Murji, Karim; South, Nigel (25 January 1992). Traffickers: Drug Markets and Law Enforcement. Psychology Press. ISBN 9780415035378 – via Google Books.
  28. ^ "Thomas strike seals title at Anfield | Graham's Glory Years | History | Arsenal.com". Archived from the original on 23 April 2011. Retrieved 29 May 2014.
  29. ^ "Licence to Kill". AFI Catalog of Feature Films. American Film Institute. Retrieved 8 November 2021.
  30. ^ Hallett, Emma (20 June 2014). "Summer solstice: How the Stonehenge battles faded". England. BBC News. Retrieved 7 November 2021.
  31. ^ "1989: Diana opens Landmark Aids Centre". BBC News. 25 July 1989. Archived from the original on 15 February 2008. Retrieved 12 February 2008.
  32. ^ "1989: Britain's oldest person turns 112". BBC News. 1 August 1989. Archived from the original on 7 March 2008. Retrieved 12 February 2008.
  33. ^ "Photo of 50025 at West Ealing, August 1989". Rail Blue. Retrieved 16 March 2016.
  34. ^ "1989: Man U sold in record takeover deal". BBC News. 18 August 1989. Archived from the original on 1 February 2008. Retrieved 12 February 2008.
  35. ^ Sophie Elmhirst, "After the coal rush", New Statesman, 22 June 2011.
  36. ^ "The Discovery of Coal in Kent". Archived from the original on 28 September 2011. Retrieved 28 July 2011.
  37. ^ "1989: Royal couple to separate". BBC News. 31 August 1989. Retrieved 30 March 2011.
  38. ^ "What were the papers saying before, during and after the last house price crash?". HousePriceCrash.co.uk. Retrieved 2 November 2010.
  39. ^ "1989: Anglican anger over united church". BBC News. 2 October 1989. Archived from the original on 7 March 2008. Retrieved 12 February 2008.
  40. ^ Duffett, Helen (4 July 2010). "The coalition "marriage" – should we keep our name?". Liberal Democrat Voice. Archived from the original on 13 July 2010. Retrieved 2 November 2010.
  41. ^ "1989: Guildford Four released after 15 years". BBC News. 19 October 1989. Archived from the original on 7 March 2008. Retrieved 12 February 2008.
  42. ^ "Our New Website is Under Construction" (PDF). richardsons.co.uk. Archived from the original (PDF) on 26 August 2011. Retrieved 7 December 2009.
  43. ^ [4][permanent dead link]
  44. ^ "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 1 October 2007. Retrieved 30 December 2009.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  45. ^ "Blunkett told of 'Valleys drug menace'". BBC News. 1 October 2002. Retrieved 10 February 2011.
  46. ^ Baker, Simon (2006). "The eradication of coypus (Myocastor coypus) from Britain". In Koike, Fumito; et al. (eds.). Assessment and Control of Biological Invasion Risks (PDF). Kyoto: Shoukadoh. pp. 142–7. ISBN 978-4-87974-604-7. Archived from the original (PDF) on 22 July 2011. Retrieved 27 August 2010.
  47. ^ "1989: Thatcher beats off leadership rival". BBC News. 5 December 1989. Archived from the original on 7 March 2008. Retrieved 12 February 2008.
  48. ^ "Doctor Who – The Doctor Who Site". www.thedoctorwhosite.co.uk.
  49. ^ "1989: Labour's union U-turn". BBC News. 18 December 1989. Archived from the original on 7 March 2008. Retrieved 12 February 2008.
  50. ^ a b The Hutchinson Factfinder. Helicon. 1999. ISBN 1-85986-000-1.
  51. ^ Department of the Official Report (Hansard), House of Commons, Westminster. "House of Commons Hansard Debates for 9 Jan 1990". Publications.parliament.uk.
  52. ^ "Red Kite". RSPB Conservation. Retrieved 26 October 2009.
  53. ^ "Ones to watch in Delhi: Rebecca Adlington". BBC News. 30 September 2010. Retrieved 8 January 2022.
  54. ^ "Daniel Radcliffe". BFI. Retrieved 9 January 2022.
  55. ^ Bingham, Gordon Rayner and John (2 November 2010). "Stephen Timms stabbing: how internet sermons turned quiet student into fanatic". The Telegraph.
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