Events from the year 1982 in the United Kingdom. The year was dominated by the Falklands War.
Incumbents Monarch – Elizabeth II Prime Minister – Margaret Thatcher (Conservative)
Events
January 1 January – ITV launches three regional TV stations – Central, TVS (Television South) and TSW (Television South West), replacing ATV Midlands, Southern Television and Westward Television respectively. 2 January The Welsh Army of Workers claims responsibility for a bomb explosion at the Birmingham headquarters of Severn Trent Water. British Rail retires its last Class 55 Deltic diesel-electric locomotives from service. 10–15 January – The lowest ever UK temperature of −27.2 °C is recorded at Braemar, in Aberdeenshire. This equals the record set in the same place in 1895, and the record will be equalled again at Altnaharra in 1995. 11 January – Mark Thatcher, son of the Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher, disappears in the Sahara desert during the Paris-Dakar rally. 14 January – Mark Thatcher is found safe and well in the Sahara, six days after going missing. 18 January – "A Complaint of Rape", the third episode of BBC One fly on the wall documentary Police, showing police treating a female complainant dismissively, is broadcast, leading to changes in police treatment of rape allegations. 21 January – Miners vote against strike action and accept the National Coal Board offer of a 9.3% pay rise. 26 January – Unemployment in the United Kingdom is recorded at over 3,000,000 people for the first time since the 1930s. However, the 11.5% of the workforce currently unemployed is approximately half of the record percentage which was reached half a century ago.
February February – Korean cars are imported to Britain for the first time with the launch of the Hyundai Pony, a range of three and five-door hatchbacks similar in size to the Ford Escort. 1 February – Sales of tabloid newspapers are reported to have been boosted substantially since last summer by the introduction of bingo. The Sun has reportedly enjoyed the biggest rise in sales, now selling more than 4,000,000 copies a day on a regular basis. 5 February – Laker Airways collapses, leaving 6,000 passengers stranded, with debts of £270,000,000. 6 February – The Queen commemorates her Pearl Jubilee. 12 February – Opening of the first Next clothing store, a rebranding of the merged Joseph Hepworth and Kendall chains masterminded by George Davies. It specialises in women's clothing. 19 February – The DeLorean car factory in Belfast is put into receivership. 22 February – The Apostolic Delegation is promoted to the Apostolic Nunciature to Great Britain by Pope John Paul II; the first pro-nuncio is Bruno Heim. 23 February – The Glasgow-registered coal ship St. Bedan is bombed and sunk by an IRA unit driving a hijacked pilot boat on Lough Foyle in Northern Ireland. 25 February – The European Court of Justice rules that schools in Britain cannot allow corporal punishment against the wishes of parents. 27 February – The D'Oyly Carte Opera Company gives its last Gilbert and Sullivan performance at the end of a final London season, having been in near-continuous existence since 1875.
March 3 March – The Queen opens the Barbican Centre, a performing arts venue in the City of London. 12 March – Closure of Queen Street Mill, Burnley, the last steam-driven weaving shed to work commercially. 18 March A legal case brought by Mary Whitehouse against the National Theatre concerning alleged obscenity in the play The Romans in Britain ends after the Attorney General intervenes. An Argentine scrap metal dealer raises the Argentine flag in South Georgia, Falkland Islands – a British overseas colony. 19 March – Argentines land on South Georgia Island, precipitating the Falklands War. 25 March – The Hillhead by-election in Glasgow is held as a result of the death of sitting Conservative MP Sir Tam Galbraith on 2 January. It is won by Roy Jenkins for the Social Democratic Party, whose dream of an electoral breakthrough looks strong as they still head most of the opinion polls. 29 March – Royal assent in London to the Canada Act 1982 sets the stage for the repatriation of the Canadian Constitution.
April 1 April – A twelve-year-old unnamed Birmingham boy becomes one of the youngest people in England and Wales to be convicted of murder after he admits murdering an eight-year-old boy, and is sentenced to be detained indefinitely. 2 April – Falklands War begins as Argentina invades the Falkland Islands. 4 April – Falklands War: The British Falkland Islands government surrenders, placing the islands in Argentine control. 5 April – Falklands War: Royal Navy task force sets sail to the Falklands from Portsmouth. 7 April – Britain declares a 200-mile "exclusion zone" around the Falklands. 15 April – Actor Arthur Lowe dies suddenly of a stroke aged 66 after collapsing in his dressing room at The Alexandra, Birmingham, the previous day. 17 April – By proclamation of the Queen of Canada on Parliament Hill, Canada repatriates its constitution, granting full political independence from the United Kingdom; included is the country's first entrenched bill of rights. 21 April – Walsall F.C.'s hopes of becoming the first Football League club to ground-share are dashed when officials condemn their plans to sell their Fellows Park stadium and become tenants at the Molineux (home of Wolverhampton Wanderers). 23 April The first British serviceman dies in the Falklands conflict, when his Sea King helicopter crashes. 24 April The Eurovision Song Contest is held in Harrogate, Yorkshire and is won by Germany. 25 April – Falklands War: Royal Marines recapture South Georgia. 29 April – Daniel and Christopher Smith, Britain's first twins conceived through in vitro fertilisation, are born to Josephine and Stewart Smith at the Royal Free Hospital in London. 30 April – The Conservatives return to the top of the opinion polls for the first time since late-1979, with the latest MORI poll showing that they have 43% of the vote, ahead of the SDP–Liberal Alliance.
May 1 May – Falklands War: Operation Black Buck – A Royal Air Force Vulcan bomber takes off from Ascension Island and bombs Port Stanley Airport. 2 May – Falklands War: nuclear submarine HMS Conqueror sinks the Argentine cruiser General Belgrano. 3 May – The cruise ship Queen Elizabeth 2 is converted into a troop ship to help in the Falklands War. 4 May – Falklands War: Type 42 destroyer HMS Sheffield is badly damaged by an Exocet missile. It sinks on 10 May. 21 May Falklands War: Royal Marines and paratroopers from the British Task Force land at San Carlos Bay on the Falkland Islands and raise the Union Jack. The Haçienda nightclub opens in Manchester. 21 May – Falklands War: frigate is sunk by Argentine aircraft in Falkland Sound, killing 22 sailors. 22 May – FA Cup holders Tottenham Hotspur draw 1–1 with Queen's Park Rangers in the Wembley final, forcing a replay. Tottenham are without their Argentine players Ossie Ardiles and Ricardo Villa, who have been temporarily removed from the team following barracking from rival fans over their home country's involvement in the war with Britain. 23 May – Falklands War: frigate HMS Antelope is hit by Argentine aircraft and explodes. 25 May – Falklands War: destroyer and requisitioned container ship are sunk; Coventry by two Argentine A-4C Skyhawks and Atlantic Conveyor by two Exocets. 26 May – Official opening of Kielder Water, a reservoir in Northumberland. It is the largest artificial lake in the UK by capacity (200 billion litres) and is surrounded by Kielder Forest; the largest planted woodland in Europe. 27 May The Beaconsfield by-election is held as a result of the death of sitting Conservative MP Sir Ronald Bell on 27 February. Tim Smith retains the seat for the Conservatives with a comfortable majority of 13,053 votes against the SDP–Liberal Alliance candidate Paul Tyler. Future Labour Prime Minister, Tony Blair finishes in third place with 3,886 votes, the only election of his political career that he will lose. Tottenham Hotspur win the FA Cup beating Queens Park Rangers 1–0 in a replay. A sixth-minute penalty from Glenn Hoddle is the only goal of the game which equals Aston Villa's record of seven FA Cup triumphs. 28 May Pope John Paul II's visit to the United Kingdom, the first by a reigning pope, begins at Gatwick Airport; he later meets the Queen in London. Falklands War: Battle of Goose Green commences, the first land battle of the war. Lieutenant-Colonel H. Jones is killed in an action for which he is awarded a posthumous Victoria Cross. British troops reach Darwin, Falkland Islands. 29 May Pope John Paul II's visit to the UK. Pope John Paul II visits Canterbury, the first time a pontiff has done so. Falklands War: Battle of Goose Green concludes when British paratroopers defeat a larger force of Argentine troops. 31 May – Falklands War: Battle of Stanley. May – Alternative rock band The Smiths formed in Manchester by Johnny Marr and Morrissey.
June June – All restrictions on hire purchase lifted. 3 June Israeli ambassador to the UK Shlomo Argov is shot in London, an event which provokes the 1982 Lebanon War; he dies in 2003 in Israel without regaining full consciousness. The Mitcham and Morden by-election is held as a result of the sitting Labour MP (Bruce Douglas-Mann) transferring his allegiance to the new SDP. Angela Rumbold gains the seat for the Conservatives, the first gain achieved by a ruling party at a by-election since 1961 and the last until 2017. 8 June U.S. President Ronald Reagan becomes the first American chief executive to address a joint session of Parliament. Falklands War: 48 British servicemen are killed when two supply ships are bombed by Argentine air strikes off Bluff Cove. 9 June – Twenty pence coin first issued into circulation. 11-12 June – Falklands War: Last battles of the war, at Mount Longdon, Mount Harriet and Two Sisters. Sergeant Ian McKay is killed at Mount Longdon, after which he is awarded a posthumous Victoria Cross. 14 June – Falklands War ends as British forces reach the outskirts of Stanley after "yomping" across East Falkland from San Carlos Bay. They arrive to find the Argentine forces flying white flags of surrender. The formal Argentine surrender in the Falklands War is signed this evening. 16 June – Welsh miners go on strike to support health workers demanding a 12% pay rise. 19 June – The body of "God's Banker", Roberto Calvi, chairman of Banco Ambrosiano, is found hanging beneath Blackfriars Bridge in London. 21 June – The first child of The Prince and Princess of Wales is born at St Mary's Hospital, London (Paddington), the first birth in direct line of succession to the British throne to take place in a hospital. 22 June – A British Airways Boeing 747 suffers a temporary four-engine flameout and damage to the exterior of the plane, after flying through the otherwise undetected ash plume from Indonesia's Galunggung. 23 June – Support for the Conservative government continues to rise, mainly due to the success of the Falklands campaign, with a MORI opinion poll showing that they have a 51% approval rating. 24 June – The Coatbridge and Airdrie by-election in Scotland is held as a result of the death of sitting Labour MP James Dempsey on 12 May; Tom Clarke holds the seat for Labour. 25 June – Northern Ireland defeat hosts Spain 1–0 in the World Cup, later being knocked out in the quarter-finals.
July 2 July – Roy Jenkins is elected as Leader of the SDP (Social Democratic Party). 3 July – ASLEF train drivers in the United Kingdom go on strike over hours of work, returning to work on July 18. 4 July – Fugitive murderer Barry Prudom, 37, commits suicide at Malton to escape arrest after a 17-day manhunt by North Yorkshire Police.