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UK-related events during the year of 1942
Events from the year
1942 in the
United Kingdom . The year was dominated by the
Second World War .
Incumbents
Events
1 January
9–29 January –
1942 Betteshanger miners' strike in the
Kent Coalfield .
10 January –
World War II :
Liverpool Blitz ends with German bombs dropped in the Stanhope Street area of the city, with nine people dying and many more suffering injuries. Among the houses destroyed in the bombing is the former home of
Adolf Hitler 's half-brother Alois. Four more people die as a result of their injuries the following day.
26 January – World War II: First United States troops for the
European theatre arrive in the UK, at
Belfast .
[4]
29 January – radio programme
Desert Island Discs first broadcast on the
BBC Forces Programme , presented by
Roy Plomley ; Austrian-born revue performer
Vic Oliver (the Prime Minister's son-in-law) is the first castaway.
[5] The programme will still be running 75 years later.
January –
Mildenhall Treasure discovered by ploughman Gordon Butcher in
Suffolk .
February–April –
Liverpool Chinese seamen strike for improved pay.
[6]
7 February – soap
rationing introduced.
[5]
15 February – World War II: General
Arthur Percival 's forces surrender to the Japanese at the
Battle of Singapore .
[5]
19 February –
Clement Attlee is appointed first
Deputy Prime Minister of the United Kingdom .
25 February – Princess Elizabeth (later Queen
Elizabeth II ) registers for war service.
April –
Women's Timber Corps set up.
[7]
5 April – World War II:
Japanese Navy attacks
Colombo in
Ceylon (
Sri Lanka ).
Royal Navy
Cruisers
HMS Cornwall and
HMS Dorsetshire are sunk southwest of the island.
9 April – World War II: Japanese Navy launches air raid on
Trincomalee in Ceylon (Sri Lanka); Royal Navy
aircraft carrier
HMS Hermes and
Royal Australian Navy
destroyer
HMAS Vampire are sunk off the island's east coast.
23 April
24 April –
Barnburgh Main Colliery collapse: 4 killed.
[8]
25–27 April – World War II: "Baedeker Blitz" –
Bath Blitz : three bombing raids on
Bath kill 417; among the buildings destroyed or badly damaged the
Assembly Rooms are gutted.
1 May – destroyer
HMS Punjabi sinks after collision with battleship
HMS King George V in Arctic waters with 49 fatalities.
5 May–6 November – World War II:
Battle of Madagascar ; British commander
Robert Sturges leads the invasion of
Vichy French -held
Madagascar .
6 May – The Radio Doctor (
Charles Hill ) makes his first
BBC radio broadcast giving avuncular health care advice.
30 May – World War II: First
RAF "thousand bomber raid" sets off to carry out the
bombing of Cologne in Germany.
[5]
15 June – propaganda film
The Next of Kin is commercially released by
Ealing Studios .
July–August –
J. Arthur Rank 's
Odeon Cinemas purchase UK sites of
Paramount Cinemas .
July
10 July – the patriotic
Academy Award -winning
drama film
Mrs. Miniver , starring
Greer Garson , is released in
London .
[11]
11 August – traffic admitted onto the new
Waterloo Bridge across the
River Thames in London.
[5]
19 August – World War II: British and Canadian troops conduct the
Dieppe Raid .
[5]
25 August –
Dunbeath air crash :
Prince George, Duke of Kent , brother of
George VI , is among 14 killed in a military air crash near
Caithness ,
Scotland .
30 August–2 September – World War II: At the
Battle of Alam el Halfa in
Egypt ,
General Montgomery leads the
Eighth Army to victory over
Field Marshal Rommel 's
Afrika Korps .
[5]
September –
The Brains Trust first broadcast under this title on
BBC Home Service radio.
[12]
12 September – World War II: British transport ship
RMS Laconia torpedoed and sunk by a German U-boat in the Atlantic, west of Africa, with the loss of around 2,000 lives, mainly Italian prisoners of war.
13 September – World War II:
The RAF and the Soviet Air Force bomb oil wells and refining facilities at
Ploeşti in
Romania causing extensive damage.
The RAF carries out its 100th bombing raid on the German city of
Bremen .
17 September –
Noël Coward 's film
In Which We Serve premieres.
23 September
2 October
British
cruiser Curaçao collides with troopship
RMS Queen Mary off the coast of
Donegal and sinks: 338 drown.
World War II: Japanese troopship
Lisbon Maru sinks following a torpedo attack the previous day by submarine
USS Grouper off the coast of China: 829 are killed, mostly British prisoners of war who (unknown to the attacker) are being held on board.
5 October –
Oxford Committee for Famine Relief founded.
[13]
9 October – the
Statute of Westminster Adoption Act passed by the
Parliament of Australia formalises Australian autonomy from the U.K.
23 October – World War II: British and Commonwealth forces launch a major attack against German and Italian forces in the
Second Battle of El Alamein in Egypt.
[5]
25 October – the milk ration is cut to two and a half pints a week.
29 October – a public meeting presided over by the Archbishop of Canterbury and with international political figures in attendance at the
Royal Albert Hall in London registers outrage over
The Holocaust .
[14]
30 October – World War II: British sailors board
German submarine U-559 as it sinks in the
Mediterranean and retrieve its
Enigma machine and codebooks.
31 October – World War II: Canterbury is bombed by the German Luftwaffe, apparently in reprisal for an RAF 1,000 bomber raid on Cologne.
4 November – World War II:
Second Battle of El Alamein effectively ends with
Erwin Rommel forced to order German forces to retreat this evening in the face of pressure from
General Montgomery 's Eighth Army.
[5] Clearing up operations continue until 11 November.
6 November – the Church of England archbishops announce relaxation of the custom that women should wear hats in church.
[15]
8 November – World War II: British and American troops invade
French North Africa in
Operation Torch .
13 November – World War II: Allied troops recapture
Tobruk .
17 November – World War II: Admiral
Max Horton takes over from
Percy Noble as
Commander-in-Chief, Western Approaches , with responsibility for the safety of
Atlantic
convoys .
1 December – publication of the
Beveridge Report into social insurance.
[5]
7 December – World War II: British commandos conduct
Operation Frankton , a raid on shipping in
Bordeaux harbour.
16 December – the
Trade Union Congress backs the
Beveridge Report .
30 December – British insurance companies attack the
Beveridge Report .
World War II –
Maunsell Forts erected in the
Thames Estuary .
Publications
Births
January – April
3 January –
John Thaw , English actor (died 2002)
5 January –
Jan Leeming , TV presenter and newsreader
8 January
19 January –
Michael Crawford , English singer and actor
21 January –
George Foulkes , Labour MP and peer
31 January –
Derek Jarman , English director and writer (died 1994)
1 February –
Terry Jones , Welsh actor, writer and director (died 2020)
2 February –
Graham Nash , English musician
7 February –
Gareth Hunt , English actor (died 2007)
11 February –
Charles Townsend Harrison , British art historian (died 2009)
12 February –
Norma Major , philanthropist and spouse of
John Major
15 February –
Glyn Johns , English recording engineer
19 February –
Howard Stringer , Welsh businessman
22 February –
Peter Abbs , English poet and academic (died 2020)
27 February –
Mike Bailey , British footballer
28 February –
Brian Jones , English rock musician (
The Rolling Stones ) (died 1969)
9 March –
John Cale , Welsh composer and musician
13 March –
Geoffrey Hayes , English television presenter and actor (died 2018)
14 March –
Rita Tushingham , English actress
25 March –
Richard O'Brien , English actor and writer
27 March
28 March
29 March –
Julie Goodyear , English actress
1 April
5 April –
Peter Greenaway , Welsh filmmaker
8 April
12 April –
Bill Bryden , Scottish-born theatre director (died 2022)
16 April –
Sir Frank Williams , Formula One team owner (died 2021)
[16]
19 April –
David Fanshawe , English composer (died 2010)
20 April –
Giles Henderson , English lawyer and academic
May – August
4 May –
Sandy Bruce-Lockhart, Baron Bruce-Lockhart , politician (died 2008)
8 May
Norman Lamont , politician, Chancellor of the Exchequer
Terry Neill , Northern Irish footballer and football manager (died 2022)
12 May –
Ian Dury , British musician (died 2000)
13 May –
Jeff Astle , British footballer (died 2002)
18 May –
Nobby Stiles , England footballer (died 2020)
20 May –
Lynn Davies , Welsh long jump Olympic champion
[17]
24 May –
Sir Fraser Stoddart , Scottish-born scientist, recipient of the
Nobel Prize in Chemistry
25 May –
Brian Davison , rock drummer (died 2008)
29 May –
Charlotte Johnson Wahl , artist, mother of
Boris Johnson
[18]
2 June –
Tony Buzan , popular psychologist (died 2019)
8 June –
Doug Mountjoy , Welsh snooker player (died 2021)
9 June –
Ossie Clark , fashion designer (murdered 1996)
10 June –
Gordon Burns , television presenter
18 June
20 June
24 June –
Dustin Gee , British comedian (died 1986)
25 June –
Patricia Brake , English actress (died 2022)
[19]
1 July –
Julia Higgins , polymer scientist
4 July –
Prince Michael of Kent
7 July –
Tom Blundell , scientist
12 July –
Tam White , Scottish musician and actor (died 2010)
16 July –
Frank Field, Baron Field of Birkenhead , politician (died 2024)
17 July
23 July –
Myra Hindley , English murderer (died 2002)
27 July
31 July –
James Douglas-Hamilton, Baron Selkirk of Douglas , politician (died 2023)
[21]
7 August –
Richard Sykes , microbiologist and businessman
16 August –
John Challis , English actor and comedian (died 2021)
24 August –
Peter Gummer, Baron Chadlington , English businessman
25 August –
Howard Jacobson , novelist and journalist
26 August –
Dennis Turner , British politician (died 2014)
September – December
15 September –
Philip Harris , entrepreneur and educationist
17 September –
Des Lynam , Irish-born TV sports presenter
18 September –
Alex Stepney , footballer and coach
24 September –
Gerry Marsden , Merseybeat singer-songwriter (died 2021)
27 September
Tessa Blackstone , English academic administrator, public servant and Labour politician
Alvin Stardust , born Bernard Jewry, English pop singer (died 2014)
29 September -
Ian McShane , English actor
30 September –
Gus Dudgeon , English record producer (died 2002)
21 October –
John Stevens, Baron Stevens of Kirkwhelpington , English police officer
26 October –
Bob Hoskins , English actor (died 2014)
27 October –
Phil Chisnall , footballer (died 2021)
28 October –
Freddie Williams , Scottish businessman (died 2008)
7 November –
Jean Shrimpton , English fashion model and actress
23 November –
Jane Lumb , English fashion model and actress (died 2008)
24 November
29 November –
Michael Craze , English actor (died 1998)
2 December –
Dennis Kirkland , English television producer (died 2006)
4 December
6 December –
Richard Shepherd , politician (died 2022)
8 December –
Robin Medforth-Mills , professor (died 2002)
12 December –
Morag Hood , Scottish actress (died 2002)
13 December –
Charles R. Burton , English explorer (died 2002)
21 December –
Frances Ritchie , nurse and religious sister
31 December –
Andy Summers , English rock musician
Deaths
16 January –
Prince Arthur, Duke of Connaught and Strathearn , third eldest son of
Queen Victoria (born 1850)
10 March – Sir
William Henry Bragg , physicist,
Nobel Prize laureate (born 1862)
27 March –
Vernon Kell ('K'), first director of MI5 (born 1873)
16 April –
Princess Alexandra of Edinburgh and Saxe-Coburg and Gotha , granddaughter of
Queen Victoria , in Germany (born 1878)
17 April –
Laura Annie Willson , mechanical engineer and suffragette (born 1877)
23 May –
Charles Robert Ashbee , designer (born 1863)
7 June –
Alan Blumlein , electronics engineer (born 1903; killed in military aircraft accident)
18 June –
Sutherland Macdonald , tattoo artist (born 1860)
22 July
28 July –
Sir Flanders Petrie , Egyptologist (born 1853)
10 August –
Bob Kelso , Scottish footballer (born 1865)
25 August –
Prince George, Duke of Kent , fourth eldest son of
George V (born 1902; killed on active service in military aircraft accident)
4 December –
Hugh Malcolm , Scottish Royal Air Force officer, posthumous recipient of the
Victoria Cross (born 1917; killed in action)
22 December –
E. H. Jones , Welsh army officer, educationist and writer (born 1883)
[22]
See also
References