1975 in the United Kingdom

1975 in the United Kingdom

Other years

1973 | 1974 | 1975 (1975) | 1976 | 1977

Individual countries of the United Kingdom

England | Northern Ireland | Scotland | Wales

Sport, Television and music

1975 British Grand Prix 1975 English cricket season Football: England | Scotland 1975 in British television 1975 in British music 1975 in British radio UK in the Eurovision Song Contest 1975

Events from the year 1975 in the United Kingdom.

Incumbents

• Monarch – Elizabeth II
• Prime Minister – Harold Wilson (Labour)

Events

January

• 6 January – Brian Clough, the former manager of Derby County and more recently Leeds United, was appointed manager of Football League Second Division strugglers Nottingham Forest.
• 14 January – Heiress Lesley Whittle (17), the daughter of late bus operator George Whittle (1905–1967), was kidnapped from her home near Bridgnorth in Shropshire by Donald Neilson.
• 24 January – Donald Coggan was enthroned as Archbishop of Canterbury.

February

• 6 February – Jensen, the luxury car maker, made 700 workers redundant - cutting its workforce by two thirds.
• 11 February – Margaret Thatcher defeated Edward Heath in the Conservative Party leadership election to become the party's first female leader. Mrs Thatcher, 49, was Education Secretary in Mr Heath's government from 1970 to 1974.
• 13 February – Britain's coal miners accepted a 35% pay rise offer from the government.
• 26 February – A fleeing IRA member shot and killed an off-duty Metropolitan Police officer, Stephen Tibble, 22, as he gave chase.
• 28 February – A major tube train crash at Moorgate station, London, killed 43 people.

March

• 1 March – Aston Villa, chasing promotion from the Football League Second Division, won the Football League Cup with the only goal of the Wembley final against Norwich City being scored by Ray Graydon.
• 4 March – Actor Charlie Chaplin, 85, was knighted by the Queen.
• 7 March – The body of teenage heiress Lesley Whittle, who disappeared from her Shropshire home in January, was discovered in Staffordshire. She had been strangled on a ledge in drains below Bathpool Park near Kidsgrove.
• 25 March – A large National Front rally in London protested against European integration.
• 26 March – British Leyland released their new family saloon, the Morris 18-22 wedge styled by Harris Mann to replace the ageing Austin 1800 Landcrab range. There were Austin, Morris and the luxury Wolseley versions at launch, However, in less than six months the entire range was rebranded as the Princess and the marque Wolseley was consigned to history.

April

• 5 April – Manchester United clinched promotion back to the First Division one season after relegation.
• 9 April – The comedy film Monty Python and the Holy Grail was released.
• 13 April – A 22-year-old woman was raped at her bedsit in Cambridge. Cambridgeshire Police believed that she was the sixth victim of a rapist who had been operating across the city since October last year. In June, Cambridgeshire Police arrested 47-year-old Peter Cook for the rapes; he was sentenced to life imprisonment in October.
• 24 April – Unemployment exceeded 1,000,000 for March 1975.
• 26 April
  • A conference of Labour Party members voted against continued membership of the EEC.
  • Derby County won the Football League First Division title for the second time in four seasons.

May

May

• Led Zeppelin returned to the UK to play five sold-out shows at Earls Court in London.
• 1 May – Vauxhall launched the Vauxhall Chevette, Britain's first production small hatchback, which was similar in concept to the Italian Fiat 127 and French Renault 5.
• 3 May – West Ham United won the second FA Cup of their history by defeating Fulham 2-0 in the Wembley final. Alan Taylor scores both goals.
• 16 May – Major reorganisation of local government in Scotland under the Local Government (Scotland) Act 1973.
• 27 May – Dibbles Bridge coach crash: a tour coach ran away following brake failure and falls off a bridge near Hebden, North Yorkshire, en route to Grassington, killing the driver and 31 women pensioners on board, the highest ever toll in a UK road accident.
• 28 May – Leeds United were beaten 2-0 by Bayern Munich of West Germany in the European Cup final in Paris, France. Peter Lorimer had a goal for Leeds disallowed and this sparked a riot by angry supporters, who invaded the pitch and tear seats away from the stands.
• 31 May
  • The European Space Agency was established with the UK being one of the ten founding members.
  • Jim'll Fix It, presented by Jimmy Savile, is first shown on BBC1 television.

June

• 5 June – 67% of voters supported continued membership of the EEC in a referendum.
• 9 June – Proceedings in Parliament were broadcast on radio for the first time.
• 13 June – UEFA placed a three-year ban on Leeds United from European competitions for the actions of their fans at last month's European Cup final.
• 14 June – Ambulance crews in the West Midlands staged a ban on non-emergency calls in a dispute over pay and hours.
• 17 June – Leeds United lodged an appeal against their ban from European competitions.
• 19 June – A coroner's court jury returned a verdict of wilful murder, naming Lord Lucan as the murderer, in the inquest on Sandra Rivett, the nanny who was found dead at his wife's London home seven months previously.
• 30 June – UEFA reduces Leeds United's ban from European competitions to one season on appeal.

July

July

• The Government and Trades Union Congress agreed a one-year cash limit on pay rises.
• 5 July – A 36-year-old Keighley woman Ann Rogulskyj was badly injured in a hammer attack in an alleyway in the West Yorkshire town.

August

• 1 August – The government's anti-inflation policy came into full effect. During the year, inflation reached 24.2% - the second highest since records began in 1750 and the highest since 1800. A summary of the White Paper Attack on Inflation is delivered to all households.
• 14 August – Hampstead entered the UK Weather Records with the Highest 155-min total rainfall at 169 mm.
• 15 August – A 46-year-old Halifax woman Olive Smelt was severely injured in a hammer attack in an alleyway in the town.
• 16 August – Football hooliganism struck on the opening day of the English league season, with hundreds of fans being arrested at games across the country - the total number of arrests exceeded seventy at the stadiums of Wolverhampton Wanderers and Leicester City.
• 19 August – Headingley cricket ground was vandalised by people campaigning for release from prison of the armed robber George Davis. A scheduled test match between England and Australia due to take place there had to be abandoned. This was the climax to a campaign in which the slogan George Davis is Innocent was widely sprayed throughout London.
• 21 August – 1.25 million are jobless
• 27 August – A 14-year-old, Tracy Browne, was badly injured in a hammer attack in a country lane at Silsden, near Keighley.
• 31 August – Cavalcade of steam locomotives at Shildon, County Durham, to mark the 150th anniversary of the Stockton and Darlington Railway.

September

September

• Chrysler UK launched its new Alpine five-door family hatchback, a modern front-wheel drive car to compete with the conventional Ford Cortina, Morris Marina and upcoming Vauxhall Cavalier rear-wheel drive saloons. The new car was also built in France as the Simca 1307.
• 5 September – The London Hilton hotel was bombed by the IRA killing two people and injuring 63 others.
• 19 September – The first episode of the popular sitcom Fawlty Towers was broadcast on BBC2 television.
• 24 September – Dougal Haston and Doug Scott became the first British people to climb Mount Everest.
• 27 September – The National Railway Museum was opened in York, becoming the first national museum outside London.
• 28 September – 3 October – The Spaghetti House siege, in which nine people were taken as hostages, took place in London.

October

October

• Vauxhall announced its second new model launch of the year - the Cavalier, which replaced the Victor, was based on the German Opel Ascona, and was a direct competitor for the big-selling Ford Cortina.
• Statistics show that Britain is now in a double-dip recession, as the economy contracted for the second and third quarters of this year.[11]
• 9 October – An IRA bomb explosion outside Green Park tube station near Piccadilly in London killed one and injured 20.
• 13 October – Norton Villiers, the Wolverhampton based motorcycle producer, closed down with the loss of 1,600 jobs after being declared bankrupt.
• 30 October – West Yorkshire Police launched a murder investigation after 28-year-old prostitute Wilma McCann was found dead in Leeds.
• 31 October – Queen's Bohemian Rhapsody was released.

November

• 3 November – A petroleum pipeline from Cruden Bay to Grangemouth across Scotland is formally opened by The Queen.
• 6 November – The first public performance by punk rock band the Sex Pistols took place.
• 12 November – The Employment Protection Act established ACAS to arbitrate industrial disputes, and legislated against unfair dismissal.
• 16 November – British and Icelandic ships clashed, marking the beginning of the third Cod War.
• 27 November – Ross McWhirter, co-founder with his twin of the Guinness Book of Records, was shot dead by the Provisional Irish Republican Army for offering reward money to informers.
• 29 November – Former racing driver Graham Hill, 46, died in an air crash in Hertfordshire.

December

December

• Donald Neilson, 39, was arrested in Mansfield, Nottinghamshire, on suspicion of being the "Black Panther" murderer who was believed to have carried out five murders in the last two years.
• 5 December – Government ends Internment of suspected terrorists in Northern Ireland.
• 6 – 12 December – Balcombe Street Siege: IRA members on the run from police broke into a London flat taking the residents hostage. The siege ended after six days with the gunmen giving themselves up to the police.
• 29 December – Two new laws, the Sex Discrimination Act 1975 and the Equal Pay Act 1970, came into force aiming to end unequal pay of men and women in the workplace.

Undated

• The Willis Building (Ipswich) was completed, a key early example of Foster Associates' 'high-tech' architectural style.
• The British National Oil Corporation was set up.
• First annual payment of Short Money made to the Official Opposition in the House of Commons to help with its costs for Parliamentary business (named after Edward Short, Leader of the House).
• Jackie Tabick became the first female rabbi in the British Isles.
• The white-tailed sea eagle was reintroduced to the UK, on the Isle of Rum.

Publications

• Malcolm Bradbury's novel The History Man.
• Agatha Christie's final Hercule Poirot novel Curtain.
• Shirley Conran's guide Superwoman.
• Richard Crossman's The Diaries of a Cabinet Minister (posthumous), after a legal battle with the Government which wished to suppress publication.
• Colin Dexter's first Inspector Morse novel Last Bus to Woodstock.
• Ruth Prawer Jhabvala's novel Heat and Dust.
• David Lodge’s novel Changing Places: A Tale of Two Campuses.
• Paul Scott's novel A Division of the Spoils, the final part of the Raj Quartet.
• Gerald Seymour's thriller Harry's Game.

Births

• 13 January – Shazia Mirza, comedian
• 15 January – Edith Bowman, Radio DJ
• 24 January – Lucy Montgomery, comedian, actress and writer
• 18 February
  • Keith Gillespie, footballer
  • Gary Neville, footballer
• 21 March – Mark Williams, snooker player
• 9 April – Robbie Fowler, footballer
• 2 May – David Beckham, footballer
• 18 May – John Higgins, snooker player
• 22 May – Kelly Morgan, badminton player
• 27 May – Jamie Oliver, chef and television personality
• 29 May – Melanie Brown, singer (Spice Girls)
• 4 June – Russell Brand, comedian and actor
• 19 June – Ed Coode, rower
• 12 July – Hannah Waterman, actress
• 15 July – Jill Halfpenny, actress
• 17 July – Konnie Huq, television presenter
• 30 July – Graham Nicholls, artist
• 31 July – Simon Hirst, DJ
• 22 August – Sheree Murphy, actress
• 18 September – Richard Appleby, football player
• 23 September – Chris Hawkins, radio personality
• 25 September – Declan Donnelly, TV presenter and one half of Ant and Dec
• 5 October – Kate Winslet, actress
• 9 October – Joe McFadden, actor
• 27 October – Zadie Smith, novelist
• 18 November – Anthony McPartlin, TV presenter and one half of Ant and Dec
• 5 December – Ronnie O'Sullivan, snooker player

Deaths

• 8 February – Robert Robinson, chemist, Nobel Prize laureate (born 1886)
• 14 February
  • Julian Huxley, biologist (born 1887)
  • P. G. Wodehouse, writer (born 1881)
• 26 February – Stephen Tibble, London police officer (shot) (born 1953)
• 3 March – T. H. Parry-Williams, poet (born 1887)
• 3 April – Mary Ure, actress (born 1933)
• 23 April – William Hartnell, actor (born 1908)
• 24 April – Pete Ham, musician (born 1947)
• 20 May – Barbara Hepworth, sculptor (born 1903)
• 21 May – A. H. Dodd, historian (born 1891)
• 2 July - James Robertson Justice, actor (born 1907)
• 7 August – Jim Griffiths, politician (born 1890)
• 10 September – George Paget Thomson, physicist, Nobel Prize laureate (born 1892)
• 25 November – Moyna Macgill, actress (born 1895)
• 27 November – Ross McWhirter, co–founder of the Guinness Book of Records (born 1925)
• 29 November
  • Tony Brise, racing driver (born 1952)
  • Graham Hill, race car driver (born 1929)