From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Events from the year 1949 in the United Kingdom.
[edit] Incumbents
[edit] Events
- January - a national sex survey is carried out into the sexual behaviour of 4,000 Britons.[1] The results were considered outrageous and suppressed for over 50 years.[2]
- 4 January - RMS Caronia of the Cunard Line departs Southampton for New York on her maiden voyage.
- 15 March - Post-War rationing of clothes ends.[3]
- 25 March - Laurence Olivier's film Hamlet becomes the first British film to win an Oscar.[4]
- 4 April - Britain signs the North Atlantic Treaty, creating NATO.[3]
- 20 April
- May - EDSAC, the first stored-program computer, begins operation at University of Cambridge.
- 24 April - Wartime rationing of sweets and chocolate ends, but is re-instituted shortly thereafter as shortages return.[4]
- 1 May - the gas industry is nationalised.[4]
- 8 June - George Orwell's book Nineteen Eighty-Four is published.
- 7 June to 25 June - Dock strike forces the government to use troops to unload goods.[3]
- 27 July - maiden flight of the British-built de Havilland Comet, the world's first passenger jet, at Hatfield, Hertfordshire.[3]
- 31 July - Captain Kerans of the HMS Amethyst decides to make a break after nightfall under heavy fire from the Chinese People's Liberation Army both sides of the Yangtze River and successfully rejoins the fleet at Woosung the next day.
- 2 September - release of the film The Third Man with screenplay by Graham Greene. The film wins 1949 Grand Prix at the Cannes Film Festival.
- 19 September - the pound devalued by 30% against the United States dollar.[1]
- 21 September - the first comprehensive school is opened in Holyhead, Anglesey.[4]
- 30 September - The Berlin Airlift comes to an end, during which 17 American and 7 British planes had crashed delivering supplies to Soviet blockaded Berlin.[4]
- 12 October - John Boyd Orr, 1st Baron Boyd-Orr wins the Nobel Peace Prize.[5]
- 16 December - Parliament Act given royal assent; cuts the House of Lords veto to one year.[3]
[edit] Undated
[edit] Publications
[edit] Births
- 19 January - Robert Palmer, singer (died 2003)
- 29 January - Andrew Carter, middle distance runner
- 16 February - Lyn Paul, singer
- 2 March - J. P. R. Williams, rugby player
- 6 March - Martin Buchan, footballer
- 3 April - Richard Thompson, musician and songwriter
- 2 May - Alan Titchmarsh, television presenter
- 13 May - Zoë Wanamaker, actress
- 18 May - Rick Wakeman, musician and songwriter (Yes)
- 2 June - Heather Couper, astronomer
- 4 May - Graham Swift, novelist
- 14 June - Jimmy Lea, musician (Slade)
- 21 June - John Agard, writer
- 15 July - Trevor Horn, singer and producer
- 26 July - Roger Taylor, musician (Queen)
- 6 August - Alan Campbell, clergyman
- 12 August - Mark Knopfler, guitarist (Dire Straits)
- 15 August - Richard Deacon, sculptor
- 25 August - Martin Amis, novelist
- 9 September - John Curry, figure skater (died 1994)
- 18 September
- 19 September - Twiggy, model
- 14 October - Katy Manning, actress
- 6 November - Nigel Havers, actor
- 24 November - Nicholas Richard Ainger, politician
- December 4 — Paul Dickenson, English hammer thrower
- 12 December - Bill Nighy, actor
- 13 December - Robert Lindsay, actor
- 17 December - Paul Rodgers, singer (Free)
[edit] Deaths
[edit] References
[edit] See also
1949 in the United Kingdom: 
England | 
Scotland
