Events from the year 1961 in the United Kingdom.
Incumbents Monarch – Elizabeth II Prime Minister – Harold Macmillan (Conservative)
Events
January–March 1 January The farthing coin, used since the thirteenth century, ceases to be legal tender in the United Kingdom. The Conservative Monday Club is established. Betting and Gaming Act 1960 comes into force, permitting operation of commercial bingo halls. 7 January Members of the Soviet Portland spy ring are arrested in London (and charged 2 days later). The Avengers television series first screened on ITV. 16 January – 12-year-old Linda Smith is murdered in Essex. 5 February – The Sunday Telegraph newspaper first published. 9 February – The Beatles at The Cavern Club: Lunchtime – The Beatles perform under this name at The Cavern Club for the first time following their return to Liverpool from Hamburg, George Harrison's first appearance at the venue. On 21 March they begin regular performances here; in June/July Stu Sutcliffe leaves the group; and on 9 November their future manager Brian Epstein sees them for the first time at The Cavern. 19 February – Police break up a demonstration outside the Belgian embassy in London protesting about the murder of the ex-Congolese Prime Minister, Patrice Lumumba. 8 March – Edwin Bush is arrested in London for the capital stabbing of Mrs. Elsie May Batten (for which he will be convicted and hanged). He is the first British criminal identified by the Identikit facial composite system. 9 March – "Water towers" speech: The Minister of Health, Enoch Powell, in a speech to a Conservative Party conference, proposes closing down of large, traditional psychiatric hospitals in favour of more community-based care. 13 March The five members of the Portland spy ring go on trial at the Old Bailey accused of passing nuclear secrets to the Soviet Union. Black and white £5 notes cease to be legal tender. 15 March – The Jaguar E-Type, a sports car capable of reaching speeds of 150 mph, is launched as a two-seater roadster or 2+2 coupé (at the Geneva Motor Show). On 3 April it makes its racing debut by winning at Oulton Park. 20 March – Shakespeare Memorial Theatre, Stratford-upon-Avon, becomes the Royal Shakespeare Theatre and its company the Royal Shakespeare Company (Peter Hall (director)).
April–June 1 April – The schoolboy character Winker Watson is introduced in The Dandy comic. 17 April – Tottenham Hotspur win the Football League First Division for the second time, with a 2–1 win over Sheffield Wednesday, an achievement they do not repeat. 27 April – Sierra Leone gains independence from the UK. 1 May Betting shops become legal under terms of the Betting and Gaming Act 1960. A fire at the Top Storey Club in Bolton results in nineteen deaths.Bolton Evening News, 2 May 1961. A new Licensing Act is rapidly passed to improve fire safety. 2 May – The United Kingdom becomes a member of the OECD. 6 May – Tottenham Hotspur becomes the first English football team this century, and only the third in history, to win the double of the league title and FA Cup, with a 2–0 victory over Leicester City in the FA Cup Final. (The last previous team to achieve this were Aston Villa in 1897.) 8 May – George Blake is sentenced to 42 years imprisonment for spying, having been found guilty of being a double agent in the pay of the Soviet Union, the longest non-life sentence ever handed down by a British court. 17 May – Consecration of Guildford Cathedral. 28 May – Peter Benenson's article "The Forgotten Prisoners" is published in several internationally read newspapers. This will later be thought of as the founding of the human rights organisation Amnesty International. 8 June – Prince Edward, Duke of Kent, marries Katharine Worsley at York Minster. 14 June – The Government unveils new "panda" crossings with push button controls for pedestrians, due to concerns about the increasing volume of traffic. The new crossings first appear on British streets in April 1962. 19 June – The British protectorate ends in Kuwait and it becomes an emirate. 27 June Michael Ramsey enthroned as the hundredth Archbishop of Canterbury, in succession to Geoffrey Fisher. Kuwait requests help from the UK and British troops are sent.
July–September 4 July – Barclays open their "No. 1 Computer Centre" in Drummond Street, London, with an EMI mainframe computer, Britain's first bank with an in-house computing centre. 8 July – At an all-British women's final to The Championships, Wimbledon in tennis, Angela Mortimer beats Christine Truman. 21 July – The Runcorn Widnes Bridge (later known as the Silver Jubilee Bridge) over the River Mersey opened by Princess Alexandra. 25 July The Government calls for a voluntary "pay pause" in wage increases (continuing to April 1962). The Lancashire-set film Whistle Down the Wind, starring Hayley Mills and Alan Bates, opens. 3 August – Suicide Act 1961 decriminalises acts of, or attempts at suicide in England and Wales. 10 August – The UK applies for membership of the EEC. 16 August – The play Lady Chatterley by John Harte – based on D. H. Lawrence's novel – opens at the Arts Theatre in London and is well-reviewed by West End theatre critic Harold Hobson. 19–20 August – Race riots in Middlesbrough. 21 August – Goya's Portrait of the Duke of Wellington is stolen from the National Gallery in London, three weeks after first going on display there, intended as ransom in Kempton Bunton's campaign for free television licences for pensioners. It is returned 4 years later. 23 August – Police launch a manhunt for the perpetrator of the A6 murder, who shot dead 36-year-old Michael Gregsten and paralysed Valerie Storie. 25 August – Murder of Jacqueline Thomas: Police in Birmingham launch a murder inquiry after the strangled body of a missing teenager is found on an allotment in the Alum Rock area of the city. The probable murderer is not identified until 2007 but cannot be tried. 31 August – Premiere of the film Victim, notable as the first in English to use the word "homosexual". 4 September – James Pitman's Initial Teaching Alphabet is tested in a number of schools. 14 September Film A Taste of Honey, including themes of interracial relationship, unmarried pregnancy and homosexuality, is released. First Mothercare shop opens, as Mother-and-Child Centre in Kingston upon Thames. 16 September – Three people die and 35 are injured when a stand collapses during a Glasgow Rangers football match at Ibrox Park. 17 September – Police arrest over 1,300 protesters in Trafalgar Square during a CND rally.
October–December October – Acker Bilk's clarinet instrumental "Stranger on the Shore" is released. 1 October – Religious programme Songs of Praise first broadcast on BBC Television; it will still be running sixty years later. 9 October – Skelmersdale, a small Lancashire town fifteen miles north-east of Liverpool, is designated as a new town and its population will expand over the coming years, bolstered by large council housing developments to rehouse families from inner city slums on Merseyside. 10 October – A volcanic eruption on the South Atlantic British overseas territory of Tristan da Cunha causes the island's entire population to be evacuated to Surrey, where they will remain until 1963. 25 October – The first edition of Private Eye, the satirical magazine, is published in London. 8 November – In a referendum on Sunday opening of public houses in Wales, the counties of Anglesey, Cardiganshire, Caernarfonshire, Carmarthenshire, Denbighshire, Merionethshire, Montgomeryshire and Pembrokeshire all vote to stay "dry", that is, opposed to the Sunday sale of alcohol. 9 November – At the Lyceum Theatre, London, Miss United Kingdom, Welsh-born Rosemarie Frankland, becomes the first British winner of the Miss World beauty pageant. 27 November – The RAF participates in air drops of food to flood victims in Somalia. 4 December – Birth control pills become available to married women on the NHS after their availability is backed by Health Minister Enoch Powell. 9 December – Tanganyika gains independence from the United Kingdom.Tanzania. The World Factbook. Central Intelligence Agency. Retrieved 10 February 2008.
Undated Park Hill Flats, Sheffield, opened. Release of short documentary film Seawards the Great Ships, which will be the first Scottish film to win an Academy Award.
Publications Agatha Christie's novel The Pale Horse. Ian Fleming's James Bond novel Thunderball. Richard Hughes' novel The Fox in the Attic. John le Carré's first novel Call for the Dead, introducing the character George Smiley. Iris Murdoch's novel A Severed Head. Muriel Spark's short novel The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie. Derek Tangye's first novel Gull on the Roof, first of The Minack Chronicles. Evelyn Waugh's novel Unconditional Surrender, last of the Sword of Honour trilogy. Raymond Williams's cultural history The Long Revolution. Parker Morris Committee's report Homes for Today and Tomorrow.
Births
January–April 1 January Fiona Phillips, journalist and television presenter Mark Wingett, British actor 2 January – Neil Dudgeon, English actor 6 January – Peter Whittle, British politician, author, journalist and broadcaster 8 January – Keith Arkell, English chess player 11 January – Jasper Fforde, fantasy novelist 12 January Sean Blowers, actor Simon Russell Beale, actor, born in Malaysia 13 January Wayne Marshall, musician Suggs, British ska singer (Madness) 16 January – Peter Tanfield, concert violinist 18 January – Peter Beardsley, English footballer and football coach 19 January – Wayne Hemingway, English designer 20 January – Janey Godley, Scottish comedian and writer (died 2024) 27 January – Gillian Gilbert, new wave keyboard player 31 January – Lloyd Cole, English rock singer-songwriter 14 February – Alison Saunders, Director of Public Prosecutions (England and Wales) 16 February – Andy Taylor, English rock guitarist and musician (Duran Duran) 17 February Angela Eagle, politician, Shadow Leader of the House of Commons Maria Eagle, politician, Shadow Secretary of State for Transport 19 February – Justin Fashanu, black British footballer (suicide 1998) 20 February – Imogen Stubbs, British actress 24 February – John Grogan, British Labour politician 1 March – Michael Sundin, trampolinist and television presenter (died 1989) 3 March – Fatima Whitbread, British javelin thrower and Olympic medallist 12 March – Betty Sworowski, English racewalker 14 March – Marc Koska, English businessman and inventor 22 March Simon Furman, comic book writerInterview with Simon Furman at http://www.bwtf.com. Accessed on 22 May 2020. Giles Worsley, English architectural historian (died 2006) 26 March – William Hague, British statesman 27 March – Ellery Hanley, English rugby league footballer and coach 29 March – Michael Winterbottom, British filmmaker 1 April Susan Boyle, Scottish singer Edward Dutkiewicz, British visual artist (died 2007) 3 April – Edward Highmore, English actor 6 April – Rory Bremner, impressionist, comedian and playwright 10 April – Nicky Campbell, broadcaster 11 April – Nigel Pulsford, rock guitarist and musician (Bush) 14 April – Robert Carlyle, Scottish actor 16 April – Linda Ruth Williams, film studies academic 17 April – Bella Freud, British fashion designer and columnist 18 April – Jane Leeves, English-born actress 19 April – Richard Phelps, English pentathlete 20 April – Nicholas Lyndhurst, English actor 28 April – Grenville Davey, English sculptor
May–August 2 May Steve James, English snooker player Phil Vickery, celebrity chef 4 May Jay Aston, English pop singer Chris Packham, naturalist and television presenter 7 May – Sue Black, forensic anthropologist 8 May – Janet McTeer, actress 12 May – Billy Duffy, English hard rock guitarist (The Cult) 14 May Ian Blackford, Scottish politician Tim Roth, English actor 15 May – Katrin Cartlidge, actress (died 2002) 20 May – Clive Allen, footballer