1958 in the United Kingdom

1958 in the United Kingdom

Other years

1956 | 1957 | 1958 (1958) | 1959 | 1960

Individual countries of the United Kingdom

England | Northern Ireland | Scotland | Wales

Sport, Television and music

1958 British Grand Prix 1958 English cricket season Football: England | Scotland 1958 in British television 1958 in British music

Events from the year 1958 in the United Kingdom.

Incumbents

• Monarch – Elizabeth II
• Prime Minister – Harold Macmillan (Conservative)

Events

• 6 January – Chancellor of the Exchequer Peter Thorneycroft resigns over opposition to spending cuts, an event dismissed the following day by the Prime Minister as "little local difficulties".
• 14 January – TWW, the ITV franchise for South Wales and the West Of England goes on the air.
• 6 February – The Manchester United F.C. team plane flying back from a European Cup tie in Belgrade crashes on take-off after refuelling at Munich Airport in West Germany. 21 of the 44 people on board are killed. Seven of them are Manchester United players: captain and left-back Roger Byrne (aged 28), centre-half Mark Jones (aged 24), right-half Eddie Colman (aged 21), centre-forward Tommy Taylor (aged 26), full-back Geoff Bent (aged 25), left-winger David Pegg (aged 22), and inside-forward Billy Whelan (aged 22). Eight of the nine sports journalists travelling on the plane are also killed, including the former Manchester City and England national football team goalkeeper Frank Swift. Among the survivors are 10 United players and manager Matt Busby, who is reported to be seriously injured. Outside-right Johnny Berry and left-half Duncan Edwards are also reported to be in a serious condition.
• 20 February – The government announces plans to close the 300-year-old dockyards at Sheerness on the Isle of Sheppey, which would result in more than 2,500 workers losing their jobs.
• 21 February – Duncan Edwards dies of his injuries in a Munich hospital 15 days after the Munich air crash. Edwards, who was 21 and rated by many as the finest player in England, is the eighth Manchester United player to die.
• 25 February – Bertrand Russell launches the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament, initiated at a meeting called by Canon John Collins on 15 January.
• 27 February – The final death toll of the Munich air disaster reaches 23 with the death of co-pilot Kenneth Rayment in hospital.
• 28 February – The Victorian Society, the pressure group for Victorian architecture, holds its first meeting.
• March – Removal of Derbyshire county administrative headquarters from Derby to Matlock begins.
• 2 March – A British team led by Sir Vivian Fuchs completes the first crossing of the Antarctic using Sno-Cat caterpillar tractors and dogsled teams in 99 days.
• 21 March – Opening of the London Planetarium, the first planetarium in Britain.
• 24 March – Work on the M1, Britain's first full length motorway, begins. The first stretch of the motorway, due to open next year, will run from London to the Warwickshire-Northamptonshire border. During the 1960s, the remainder of the motorway will be built to give London an unbroken motorway link with Leeds some 200 miles away.
• 1 April – BBC Radiophonic Workshop created.
• 4 April–7 April – The first protest march for the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament from Hyde Park, London to Aldermarston, Berkshire, demanding a ban on nuclear weapons.
• 7 April – The Church of England gives its moral backing to family planning.
• 27 April – BOAC's first de Havilland Comet 4 makes its maiden flight.
• 30 April
  • The Life Peerages Act receives Royal Assent; the Act allows the creation of life peers who can sit in the House of Lords. As life peerages could be bestowed on women, this Act allows for women to sit in the House of Lords for the first time.
  • The musical My Fair Lady, starring Rex Harrison and Audrey Hepburn, opens in London's Drury Lane theatre.
• 3 May – Bolton Wanderers win the FA Cup for the fourth time in their history with a 2-0 win over Manchester United at Wembley Stadium. Both goals are scored by centre-forward Nat Lofthouse.
• 21 May – United Kingdom Postmaster General Ernest Marples announces that from December, Subscriber Trunk Dialling will be introduced in the Bristol area.
• 27 May – Shelagh Delaney's A Taste of Honey staged by Theatre Workshop at the Theatre Royal Stratford East.
• 4 June – The Duke of Edinburgh's Award presented for the first time at Buckingham Palace.
• 7 June – Ian Donald publishes an article in The Lancet which describes the diagnostic use of ultrasound.
• 9 June – The Queen officially re-opens Gatwick Airport, which has been expanded at a cost of more than £7million.
• 3 July – Last débutante formally presented to the Queen, at Holyroodhouse in Edinburgh.
• 10 July – First parking meters installed in Britain.
• 17 July – British paratroopers arrive in Jordan; King Hussein has asked for help against pressure from Iraq.
• 18–26 July – British Empire and Commonwealth Games held in Cardiff.
• 24 July – The first life peerage is created.
• 26 July
  • The Queen gives her son Charles the customary title of Prince of Wales.
  • Abolition of the presentation of débutantes to the royal court.
• 1 August
  • Ian Fraser, Baron Fraser of Lonsdale becomes the first life peer.
  • Premiere of Carry on Sergeant, the first Carry On film.
• 8 August – Barbara Wootton, Baroness Wootton of Abinger becomes the first female peer.
• 29 August – Release of Cliff Richard's debut single Move It, which reaches No. 2 in the charts. It is credited with being one of the first authentic rock and roll songs produced outside the United States.
• 30 August–31 August – Riots between blacks and whites in Notting Hill, London.
• August – The first United States Thor missiles are deployed in the UK, operated by No. 77 Squadron RAF at RAF Feltwell.
• 1 September – The First Cod War between UK and Iceland breaks out.
• 5 September – A severe storm over south east England seriously disrupts communications.
• 16 September – Relaxation of restrictions on hire purchase.
• 1 October – The sovereignty of Christmas Island is transferred from the UK to Australia.
• 4 October – BOAC uses new Comet jets to become the first airline to fly jet passenger services across the Atlantic.
• 11 October – First broadcast of the long-running BBC Television sports programme Grandstand.
• 16 October – First broadcast of the long-running BBC Television children's programme Blue Peter.
• 21 October – The first life peers, including the first women peers, enter the House of Lords. The Baronesses Swanborough (Stella Isaacs, Marchioness of Reading) and Wooton (Barbara Wooton) are the first women to take their seats.
• 25 October – The Short SC.1 experimental VTOL aircraft makes its first free vertical flight.
• 28 October – The State Opening of Parliament is broadcast on television for the first time.
• 10 November – Donald Campbell sets the world water speed record at 248.62 mph.
• 24 November – Exhibition of computers held at Earl's Court, London; the first of its kind in the world.
• 1 December – The Preston Bypass, Britain's first motorway, is opened by prime minister Harold Macmillan.
• 5 December
  • Subscriber Trunk Dialling (STD) is inaugurated by The Queen when she dials a call from Bristol to Edinburgh and speaks to the Lord Provost.
  • First service by a Royal National Lifeboat Institution Oakley-class self-righting life-boat, RNLB J.G. Graves of Sheffield (ON 942) at Scarborough.
• 10 December – English biochemist Frederick Sanger wins his first Nobel Prize in Chemistry "for his work on the structure of proteins, especially that of insulin" (his second comes in 1980).
• 24 December – 1958 Bristol Britannia 312 crash: A BOAC Bristol Britannia airliner crashes near Winkton in Hampshire on a routine test flight.

Undated

• First boutique, His Clothes, to be opened in Carnaby Street, London, by John Stephen.
• British Nylon Spinners introduce the name Bri-Nylon.
• German-born British mathematician Klaus Roth wins the Fields Medal for his work on the Thue–Siegel–Roth theorem.

Publications

• H. E. Bates' novel The Darling Buds of May, first in the Larkin family series.
• John Betjeman's anthology Collected Poems.
• Michael Bond's children's story A Bear Called Paddington.
• Agatha Christie's novel Ordeal by Innocence.
• Lawrence Durrell's novels Balthazar and Mountolive from The Alexandria Quartet.
• Ian Fleming's James Bond novel Dr. No.
• Graham Greene's novel Our Man in Havana.
• Dr D. G. Hessayon's guide Be Your Own Gardening Expert, first in the best selling gardening book series in history.
• Alan Sillitoe's first novel Saturday Night and Sunday Morning.
• T.H. White's novel The Once and Future King.
• Raymond Williams' book Culture and Society

Births

• 24 January – Jools Holland, British musician
• 27 January – Alan Milburn, British Labour politician and MP for Darlington
• 29 January – Linda Smith, comedian (died 2006)
• 1 February – Eleanor Laing, British Conservative politician, MP for Epping Forest, and Shadow Minister for Women
• 7 February – Matt Ridley, English science writer
• 11 February – Michael Jackson, British broadcast executive
• 12 February – Steve Grand, English computer scientist
• 20 February – James Wilby, British actor
• 1 March – Nik Kershaw, English singer
• 3 March – Miranda Richardson, English actress
• 5 March – Andy Gibb, English-born singer (died 1988)
• 8 March – Gary Numan, British singer
• 13 March – Caryl Phillips, British writer
• 16 March – Chris Mole, British Labour politician and MP for Ipswich
• 18 March – Neil Brand, British writer and composer
• 21 March – Gary Oldman, English actor
• 6 April
  • Graeme Base, Australian children's illustrator and author
  • Jackie Gallagher, English footballer
• 12 April – Will Sergeant, English guitarist (Echo & the Bunnymen)
• 14 April – Peter Capaldi, Scottish actor and director
• 15 April
  • Benjamin Zephaniah, British writer and musician
  • Abu Hamza al-Masri, Muslim cleric convicted of inciting racial hatred and murder
  • Sir Robert Smith, 3rd Baronet, British Liberal Democrat politician and MP for West Aberdeenshire and Kincardine
• 24 April – Brian Paddick, British police commander
• 25 April – Fish, Scottish singer
• 3 May – Sandi Toksvig, Danish-born comedian, author, and radio presenter
• 4 May
  • Caroline Spelman, British Conservative politician, MP for Meriden, Shadow Secretary of State for Local and Devolved Government Affairs
  • Jane Kennedy, British Labour politician, MP for Liverpool Wavertree
• 18 May – Toyah Willcox, actress and singer
• 25 May – Paul Weller, English singer-songwriter (The Jam, The Style Council)
• 7 June – Ivan Henderson, British Labour politician and MP for Harwich
• 23 June – John Henry Hayes, British Conservative politician, MP for South Holland and The Deepings, and Chairman of the Cornerstone Group
• 1July – Les Morton, English racewalker
• 6 July – Jennifer Saunders, British comedienne
• 30 July
  • Kate Bush, British singer and songwriter
  • Daley Thompson, athlete and Olympic champion
• 7 August – Bruce Dickinson, English musician
• 10 August – Rosie Winterton, British Labour politician, MP for Doncaster Central, and member of the Privy Council
• 13 August – Feargal Sharkey, Northern Irish musician, former lead singer of The Undertones.
• 14 August – Philip Dunne, British Conservative politician and MP for Ludlow
• 16 August – Madonna, American-born singer, songwriter, and actress
• 29 August – Lenny Henry, British entertainer
• 18 September – Linda Lusardi, British model, actress, and television presenter
• 21 September – Simon Mayo, British radio presenter
• 23 September – Danielle Dax, British musician
• 27 September – Irvine Welsh, Scottish novelist
• October – Craig Murray, former UK Ambassador to Uzbekistan
• 14 October – Thomas Dolby, English musician
• 20 October – Dave Finlay, Northern Irish professional wrestler
• 26 October – Shaun Woodward, British Labour politician and MP for St Helens South
• 27 October – Simon Le Bon, English musician (Duran Duran)
• 1 November – Mark Austin, English newsreader (ITN)
• 2 November – Mark Phillip Hendrick, British Labour Co-operative politician and MP for Preston
• 25 November – Kim Ashfield, British model
• 2 December – Andrew George, British Liberal Democrat politician and MP for St Ives
• 6 December – Nick Park, English filmmaker and animator

Unknown date

• Tim Bevan, New Zealand-born film producer (Working Title Films)
• Omar Bakri Muhammad, Syrian-born Muslim cleric

Deaths

• 6 February – Manchester United F.C. players and associates in the Munich air disaster:
  • Roger Byrne team captain (born 1929)
  • Geoff Bent (born 1932)
  • Eddie Colman (born 1936)
  • Mark Jones (born 1933)
  • David Pegg (born 1935)
  • Tommy Taylor (born 1932)
  • Liam Whelan (born 1935)
  • Frank Swift (born 1913), journalist and former Manchester City F.C. and England goalkeeper
• 11 February – Ernest Jones, Welsh psychoanalyst (born 1879)
• 13 February – Christabel Pankhurst, English suffragette (born 1880)
• 21 February – Duncan Edwards, Manchester United footballer (born 1936)
• 26 March – Phil Mead, English cricketer (born 1887)
• 16 April – Rosalind Franklin, British crystallographer (born 1920)
• 19 April – Billy Meredith, Welsh footballer (born 1874)
• 3 May – Frank Foster, English cricketer (born 1889)
• 19 May – Ronald Colman, English actor (born 1891)
• 9 June – Robert Donat, English film and stage actor (born 1905)
• 13 June – Edwin Keppel Bennett, British writer (born 1887)
• 28 June – Alfred Noyes, English poet (born 1880)
• 20 July – Margaret Haig Thomas, Viscountess Rhondda, political campaigner and businesswoman (born 1883)
• 26 August – Ralph Vaughan Williams, British composer (born 1872)
• 25 September – Henry Arthur Evans, Welsh Conservative politician (born 1898)
• 2 October – Marie Stopes, birth control advocate, suffragette and palaeontologist (born 1880)
• 17 October – Charlie Townsend, English cricketer (born 1876)
• 24 October – G. E. Moore, British philosopher, author of Principia Ethica (born 1873)
• 30 October – Rose Macaulay, novelist (born 1881)
• 24 November – Lord Robert Cecil, English politician and diplomat, recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize (born 1864)
• 2 December – Alan McKibbin, Northern Irish politician (born 1892)