Events from the year 1955 in the United Kingdom. The year is marked by changes of leadership for both principal political parties.
Incumbents Monarch – Elizabeth II Prime Minister – Winston Churchill (Conservative) (until 6 April), Anthony Eden (Conservative) (starting 6 April)
Events 1 January – The UK's first atomic bomber unit, No. 138 Squadron RAF, is formed, flying Vickers Valiant jets from RAF Gaydon in Warwickshire. 7 January – UK release of the Halas and Batchelor film animation of George Orwell's Animal Farm (completed April 1954), the first full-length British-made animated feature on general theatrical release, covertly funded by the CIA. 11 January – 1955 RAF Shackleton aircraft disappearance: Two Royal Air Force Avro Shackleton maritime patrol aircraft flying from RAF St Eval in Cornwall disappear without trace during a routine patrol. 23 January – Sutton Coldfield rail crash: a diverted express train takes a sharp curve too fast and derails at Sutton Coldfield railway station: 17 killed, 43 injured. 27 January – Michael Tippett's opera The Midsummer Marriage is premiered at the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden in London with designs by Barbara Hepworth and choreography by John Cranko; it arouses controversy. 24 February – A big freeze across Britain results in more than 70 roads being blocked with snow and in some parts of the country, rail services are cancelled for several days. The Royal Air Force works to deliver food and medical supplies to the worst affected areas. 25 February – Aircraft carrier HMS Ark Royal (launched 1950) commissioned, the first constructed with an angled flight deck and steam catapults from new. 1 April The Central Electricity Authority takes over management and operation of the electricity supply industry in England and Wales from the British Electricity Authority. EOKA starts a terrorist campaign against British rule in the Crown colony of Cyprus, leading to a state of emergency being declared by the Governor on 26 November. 2 April – Duncan Edwards, the 18-year-old Manchester United left-half, becomes the youngest full England international in a 7–2 win over Scotland at Wembley. Dudley-born Edwards is already being tipped by many observers to become the next England captain upon the eventual retirement of Billy Wright. 5 April – Winston Churchill resigns as Prime Minister due to ill-health at the age of 80. 6 April – Foreign Secretary Anthony Eden is named as the new Prime Minister. Eden, 58, has held government and shadow cabinet ministerial roles for the last 20 years and was first tipped for the role of Prime Minister as long ago as Stanley Baldwin's resignation. Eden's previous office of Deputy Prime Minister is not refilled. 16 April – Laurence Olivier's film Richard III is released. 21 April – National newspapers published for the first time after a month-long strike by maintenance workers. 23 April – Chelsea F.C. who have previously never won the league title nor the FA Cup, are Football League First Division champions and will be England's first entrants into UEFA's new European Cup next season if they accept the invitation to compete. 30 April – Pietro Annigoni's portrait of the Queen is unveiled. 1 May – The last Cornish engine pumping in the metalliferous mines of Cornwall is shut down at South Crofty. 4–6 May – A severe gale strips topsoil across Norfolk. 5 May – American virologist Dr Jonas Salk promotes a polio vaccine in Britain, with the 500,000th person receiving a vaccine against the disease. 7 May – Newcastle United secure the FA Cup for the sixth time with a 3-1 win over Manchester City at Wembley Stadium. 14 May – Warrington win the Rugby League Championship title for the third time; they will not win it again within the following 70 years. 24 May Wartime film The Dam Busters is released. With three days to go before the General Election, all major opinion polls show the Conservative government well placed for reelection. 25 May – Joe Brown and George Band are the first to climb Kanchenjunga, as part of the 1955 British Kanchenjunga expedition led by Charles Evans. 27 May – Anthony Eden wins the General Election for the Conservative Party with a majority of 31 seats, an improvement on the 17-seat majority gained by his predecessor Sir Winston Churchill four years ago. Between them, the Conservative and Labour parties take 96.1% of the popular vote. Notable newcomers to the Conservative benches in the House of Commons include William Whitelaw and Geoffrey Rippon. 29 May – Associated Society of Locomotive Engineers and Firemen (ASLEF) calls a strike on British Railways which continues until 14 June, leading to a state of emergency being declared on 31 May. 6 June – Children and Young Persons (Harmful Publications) Act comes into effect, with intention of protecting children from horror comics. 16 June – Submarine HMS Sidon sinks in Portland Harbour with the loss of thirteen crew following an explosion caused by a faulty torpedo on board. 30 June A Gloster Meteor jet fighter crashes on takeoff from RAF West Malling in Kent, killing both crew and two fruit-pickers on the ground. On the same day, two Hawker Sea Hawk jet fighters flying from RNAS Lossiemouth in Scotland independently crash into the North Sea; one pilot is killed. The Simonstown Agreement provides for control of the naval base at Simon's Town to transfer from the British Royal Navy to the South African Navy. Summer – Heat wave and associated drought. July – Unemployment stands at a modern low of just over 215,000, meaning that barely 1% of the workforce is currently without a job. 9 July Bertrand Russell issues the Russell-Einstein Manifesto highlighting the dangers posed by nuclear weapons. Police procedural Dixon of Dock Green, starring Jack Warner, makes its debut on the BBC Television Service, it will run for 21 years. 13 July – Ruth Ellis becomes the last woman to be hanged in the UK, at HM Prison Holloway, for shooting dead a lover, David Blakely, outside a pub in Hampstead (north London) on 10 April (Easter Sunday). 17 July – Stirling Moss becomes the first English winner of the British Grand Prix at Aintree Motor Racing Circuit. 18 July – Winterborne St Martin (in Dorset) enters the UK Weather Records with the highest 24-hour total rainfall at 279mm. 25–27 July – 'Operation Sandcastle': The first load of deteriorating captured Nazi German bombs filled with Tabun (nerve agent) is shipped from Cairnryan on the for scuttling in the Atlantic Ocean. 26 July – Chelsea F.C. withdraws from the new European Cup on the instructions of the Football League. 30 July – Philip Larkin makes a train journey from Hull to Grantham which inspires his poem The Whitsun Weddings.Contrary to his later recollection of the event. 3 August Ministry of Housing and Local Government issues Circular 42/55 inviting local planning authorities to establish green belts. English language premiere of Samuel Beckett's play Waiting for Godot, directed by Peter Hall, opens at the Arts Theatre, London. 26 August – Hammer Film Productions' The Quatermass Xperiment is released. 27 August – The Guinness Book of Records is first published. 18 August – British tourist Janet Marshall is murdered in France. 29 August – A Royal Air Force English Electric Canberra jet engined medium bomber sets a new world altitude record of 65,876ft (20,079m). 4 September – Richard Baker and Kenneth Kendall become the first BBC Television newsreaders to be seen reading the news. 7 September – Meld wins the Fillies Triple Crown having finished first in the 1,000 Guineas Stakes, Epsom Oaks and St. Leger Stakes. 14 September – Airfix produce their first scale model aircraft kit of the Supermarine Spitfire at 1/72 scale. 18 September The People newspaper makes public that Guy Burgess and Donald Maclean, who defected to the Soviet Union in 1951, were spies and not merely diplomats as previously reported. The United Kingdom annexes Rockall. 22 September – The Independent Television Authority's first ITV franchise begins broadcasting the UK's first commercial television station in London, ending the 18-year monopoly of the BBC. The first advertisement shown is for Gibbs SR toothpaste. On the same day, the popular BBC Radio serial The Archers kills off the character Grace Archer. 23 September – Barbara Mandell becomes Britain's first female newsreader, presenting ITN's Midday News bulletin on ITV. 26 September – Clarence Birdseye begins selling fish fingers in Britain. October – Dame Evelyn Sharp appointed Permanent Secretary at the Ministry of Housing and Local Government, the first woman Civil Servant to attain this most senior position within a UK Ministry. 23 October – Kim Philby is named as the "Third Man" of the Cambridge Spy Ring in the US press, a claim repeated on 25 October in the House of Commons by Marcus Lipton. 31 October – Princess Margaret announces that she does not intend to marry divorced Group Captain Peter Townsend. 7 November – The Foreign Secretary denies in Parliament that Kim Philby is the "Third Man" of the Cambridge Spy Ring. 19 November – C. Northcote Parkinson first articulates "Parkinson's Law", the semi-serious adage Work expands so as to fill the time available for its completion. 20 November – Milton rail crash: an excursion train takes a crossover too fast and derails at Milton, near Didcot: 11 killed, 157 injured. Late November – Lonnie Donegan's 1954 skiffle recording of Rock Island Line is released as a single; it becomes a major hit in 1956. 2 December – Barnes rail crash at Barnes, South London, a collision due to signal error and consequent fire: 13 killed, 35 injured. 7 December – Clement Attlee resigns as leader of the Labour Party after twenty years at the age of 72. 8 December – The Ealing comedy film The Ladykillers is released. 9 December – Cumbernauld, Scotland, is designated as a New town. 12 December – Christopher Cockerell patents his design of hovercraft. 14 December – Hugh Gaitskell becomes leader of the Labour Party. The 49-year-old MP was previously the treasurer of the party and served as chancellor during the final year of the previous Labour government. 16 December – The Queen opens a new terminal at London Airport. 20 December – Cardiff becomes the official capital of Wales. Mary Quant opens her first fashion boutique, Bazaar, in the King's Road, Chelsea.
Publications Kingsley Amis's comic novel That Uncertain Feeling. Derrick Sherwin Bailey's study Homosexuality and the Western Christian Tradition. Henry Cecil's comic novel Brothers in Law. Agatha Christie's Hercule Poirot novel Hickory Dickory Dock. G. R. Elton's history England Under the Tudors. Ian Fleming's James Bond novel Moonraker. Graham Greene's novel The Quiet American. W. G. Hoskins' historical geography The Making of the English Landscape. Aldous Huxley's novel The Genius and the Goddess. Philip Larkin's poetry collection The Less Deceived. C. S. Lewis' high fantasy Narnia novel The Magician's Nephew and spiritual autobiography Surprised by Joy. Alistair MacLean's adventure novel HMS Ulysses. J. J. Marric's police procedural novel Gideon's Day. Ian Nairn's special issue of Architectural Review, "Outrage". J. R. R. Tolkien's high fantasy novel The Return of the King, third of The Lord of the Rings trilogy. Alfred Wainwright's first hand-drawn guidebook A Pictorial Guide to the Lakeland Fells, Book 1: The Eastern Fells. Evelyn Waugh's novel Officers and Gentlemen, second of the Sword of Honour trilogy. Donald J. West's study Homosexuality. John Wyndham's science fiction novel The Chrysalids.
Births January–June 1 January Mary Beard, classicist Simon Schaffer, academic and historian of science and philosophy 3 January – Helen O'Hara, rock violinist 5 January – Jimmy Mulville, comedian, actor, producer and screenwriter, co-founder of Hat Trick Productions