Events from the year 1934 in the United Kingdom.
Incumbents Monarch – George V Prime Minister – Ramsay MacDonald (Coalition)
Events 1 January – Establishment of the National Council for Civil Liberties by Ronald Kidd and Sylvia Crowther-Smith. 21 January – Ten thousand people attend a British Union of Fascists rally in Birmingham, organised by Oswald Mosley. 16 February – A Commission of Government for the Dominion of Newfoundland is sworn in as a form of return to direct colonial rule by the UK forced by the island's economic collapse. 27 March – The Betting and Lotteries Act 1934 is passed. Part 1 (betting) is designed to restrict betting on racecourses and tracks to a maximum of 104 days. Part 2 (lotteries) prohibits the sale of lottery tickets, primarily directed against the Irish Free State Hospitals' Sweepstake. April – Meccano Ltd introduce the first Dinky Toys. 3 April – Percy Shaw patents the cat's eye road-safety device. 6 April – Rudyard Kipling and William Butler Yeats are awarded the Gothenburg Prize for Poetry. 21 April The "surgeon's photograph" of the Loch Ness Monster, much later admitted to be a hoax, is published in the Daily Mail. David Low's cartoon character Colonel Blimp first appears in the London Evening Standard. May – The London Zoo penguin pool, designed by Berthold Lubetkin's Tecton Architectural Group with Ove Arup, one of the most significant examples of modern architecture in Britain, is opened. 4 May – 54-year-old grandmother Mrs G. E. Alington becomes the first woman in Britain to complete a parachute jump, skydiving from 1500 feet over Brooklands Aerodrome. 28 May – Opening of the first Glyndebourne Festival Opera season. 29 May – First regular domestic airmail service, inaugurated by Highland Airways between Inverness and Kirkwall. 12 July – Petroleum (Production) Act vests ownership of all U.K. subterranean oil and natural gas in the Crown. 18 July – Opening of the Queensway Tunnel beneath the River Mersey by King George V. 19 July – 41 squadrons added to the Royal Air Force as part of a new air defence program. 4–11 August – British Empire Games held at Wembley Park, London. 6 September – The BBC's most powerful long-wave transmitter, Droitwich Transmitting Station, starts transmitting regularly at 200 kilohertz, following test transmissions from 8 May. 10 September – The British Graham Land Expedition sets out to explore Graham Land in Antarctica. 22 September – Gresford disaster: a gas explosion takes place at Gresford Colliery in Wrexham, north-east Wales, which leads to the death of 266 miners and rescuers, one of the worst tragedies in Welsh mining history. 26 September – Launch of the liner at Clydebank. 29 September – Stanley Matthews makes his debut for the England national football team, beginning a record 23-year international career. 29 November – Marriage of Prince George, Duke of Kent, to Princess Marina of Greece and Denmark, the first this century, and last, foreign-born princess to marry into the British royal family; the wedding is the first to be broadcast live on radio. 30 November – London and North Eastern Railway steam locomotive Class A3 4472 Flying Scotsman becomes the first officially to exceed 100 miles per hour (160.9 km/h) on test in England. 10 December – Arthur Henderson wins the Nobel Peace Prize. 21 December – Special Areas Act provides grants from central government funds to assist regions with high unemployment.
Undated The "British Committee for Relations with Other Countries", which will become the British Council, is set up to foster cultural relations. Aero Pictorial, a British aerial photography company is founded. EKCO introduces its distinctive round bakelite radio cabinets.
Publications John Betjeman's guidebook Cornwall, first of the Shell Guides. Agatha Christie's novels Murder on the Orient Express (featuring Hercule Poirot) and Why Didn't They Ask Evans?. Robert Graves' novel I, Claudius. A. P. Herbert's satirical novel Holy Deadlock. James Hilton's novel Goodbye, Mr. Chips. George Orwell's memoir Burmese Days. J. B. Priestley's travelogue English Journey. Dorothy L. Sayers' Lord Peter Wimsey novel The Nine Tailors. Dylan Thomas' first collection 18 Poems, including "The Force that Through the Green Fuse Drives the Flower". P. L. Travers' first children's story Mary Poppins. Geoffrey Trease's children's story Bows against the Barons. Evelyn Waugh's novel A Handful of Dust. P. G. Wodehouse's Thank You, Jeeves and Right Ho, Jeeves, the first Jeeves stories written as full-length novels. V. M. Yeates' war novel Winged Victory.
Births 3 January – Bryan Kelly, musician (died 2026) 6 January – Sylvia Syms, actress (died 2023) 8 January – Roy Kinnear, actor (died 1988) 11 January – Tony Hoare, computer scientist (died 2026) 12 January – Mick Sullivan, English rugby league footballer (died 2016) 14 January Richard Briers, actor (died 2013) Priscilla Morgan, actress 18 January – Raymond Briggs, writer and illustrator (died 2022) 19 January – Ron Newman, British-born American soccer player and manager (died 2018) 20 January – Tom Baker, actor 22 January – Graham Kerr, TV cook 25 January – George William Coventry, 11th Earl of Coventry, peer (died 2002) 29 January – Noel Harrison, singer, actor and Olympic skier (died 2013) 2 February – Hugh McIlvanney, sports journalist (died 2019) 6 February – Roger Becker, tennis player (died 2017) 11 February – John Surtees, racing driver and motorcyclist (died 2017) 12 February – Anthony Howard, journalist (died 2010) 17 February – Alan Bates, actor (died 2003) 18 February – Geraldine Newman, actress 19 February – David Jones, film director (died 2008) 21 February – Michael Grylls, politician (died 2001) 24 February – Ray Honeyford, head teacher (died 2012) 25 February Bernard Bresslaw, actor (died 1993) Nicholas Edwards, Baron Crickhowell, politician (died 2018) 28 February – Ronnie Moran, football captain (Liverpool F.C.) (died 2017) 4 March – John Dunn, radio presenter (died 2004) 5 March – Nicholas Smith, actor (died 2015) 6 March – John Noakes, children's television presenter (died 2017) 7 March – Zena Walker, actress (died 2003) 8 March Gawaine Baillie, race car driver and industrialist (died 2003) John McLeod, Scottish composer (died 2022) 11 March – Dilys Laye, actress and screenwriter (died 2009) 15 March – Richard Layard, Baron Layard, economist 16 March – Roger Norrington, conductor (died 2025) 20 March – Eric Hebborn, art forger (died 1996) 22 March – Larry Martyn, comic actor (died 1994) 26 March Richard Harris, scriptwriter Norman Reynolds, production designer and film director (died 2023) 28 March – Laurie Taitt, Olympic sprint hurdler (died 2006) 29 March – Delme Bryn-Jones, baritone (died 2001) 1 April – Marie Patterson, English trade union leader (died 2021) 2 April – Brian Glover, actor and wrestler (died 1997) 3 April – Jane Goodall, primatologist (died 2025) 6 April – Brian Cosgrove, animator 7 April Ian Richardson, actor (died 2007) Roger Webb, jazz musician (died 2002) 8 April – Bernard Donoughue, Baron Donoughue, politician and academic 11 April – Ron Pember, actor and dramatist (died 2022) 16 April Vince Hill, singer (died 2023) Michael Jackson, British-born American radio broadcaster (died 2022) Richard Kershaw, journalist (died 2014) Geoffrey Owen, journalist, academic and businessman 3 May – Henry Cooper, boxer (died 2011) 5 May – Jim Reid, folk musician (died 2009) 8 May – David Williamson, Baron Williamson of Horton, English soldier and politician (died 2015) 9 May Alan Bennett, playwright, screenwriter, actor and author David Plastow, English businessman (died 2019) Peter Ramsden, rugby league player (died 2002) 14 May – Alasdair Macintosh Geddes, infectious diseases expert (died 2024) 15 May John Keegan, military historian (died 2012) George Roper, comedian (died 2003) 16 May Victor Emery, physicist (died 2002) Nicholas Goodison (died 2021) 24 May Barry Rose, choir director and organist Margaret Tebbit, nurse (died 2020) 26 May Jeffrey Alan Gray, psychologist (died 2004) Mike Rawson, track and field athlete (died 2000) 29 May – Nanette Newman, actress 5 June – Bryon Butler, sports journalist (died 2001) 6 June – Joanne Cole, artist (died 1985) 11 June – Lady Annabel Goldsmith, socialite (died 2025) 12 June – John Townend, politician (died 2018) 15 June – Eileen Atkins, actress 19 June Terence Clark, soldier and diplomat, British Ambassador to Iraq Brian London, boxer (died 2021)Boxer Brian London who fought Muhammad Ali for world title dies 20 June Brian Barder, diplomat (died 2017) Keith Hopkins, historian and sociologist (died 2004) 21 June Maggie Jones, actress (died 2009) Ken Matthews, race walker (died 2019) 23 June – Keith Sutton, bishop (died 2017) 24 June Rodney Peppé, author and illustrator (died 2022) Peter Stoddart, English cricketer (died 2019) 26 June – Jeremy Wolfenden, journalist and spy (died 1965) 30 June – Richard Jolly, development economist 1 July Paddy Jones, salsa dancer Jean Marsh, actress (died 2025) Ian Robinson, publisher (died 2004) 2 July – Tom Springfield, songwriter and record producer (died 2022)Fifth Seeker and songwriter dead at 88 4 July – James Hamilton, 5th Duke of Abercorn, British nobleman, peer and politician 5 July – Philip Madoc, actor (died 2012) 7 July Robert McNeill Alexander, zoologist (died 2016) Richard Taylor, medical doctor, politician and Royal Air Force officer (died 2024) 8 July – Marty Feldman, writer, comedian and actor (died 1982) 9 July – John Clegg, Indian-born English actor (died 2024) 11 July – Helen Cresswell, writer (died 2005) 13 July – Gordon Lee, football player and manager (died 2022)EVERTON DEEPLY SADDENED TO LEARN OF GORDON LEE PASSING 14 July – John Tyndall, politician (died 2005) 15 July – Harrison Birtwistle, composer (died 2022) 21 July – Jonathan Miller, polymath theatre director (died 2019) 23 July – Tony Lee, jazz pianist (died 2004) 26 July – Anthony Gilbert, composer (died 2023) 27 July – John Pardoe, politician and businessman 28 July Pat Douthwaite, artist (died 2002) Ron Flowers, footballer (died 2021) 31 July – Julia Bodmer, geneticist (died 2001) 6 August Chris Bonington, mountaineer Billy Boston, rugby league player (died 2026) 8 August – Keith Barron, actor (died 2017) 14 August - Trevor Bannister, actor (died 2011) 16 August Angela Buxton, tennis player (died 2020) Diana Wynne Jones, English writer (died 2011) 18 August – Michael de Larrabeiti, writer (died 2008) 19 August – Ronald Jones, track and field athlete (died 2021) 20 August – Tom Mangold, journalist and author 2 September – Allen Carr, writer and anti-smoking campaigner (died 2006) 4 September Tony Book, football player and manager (died 2025) Clive Granger, economist, Nobel Prize laureate (died 2009) 5 September – Russell Harty, television presenter (died 1988) 8 September – Peter Maxwell Davies, composer (died 2016) 11 September Ian Abercrombie, English-American actor (died 2012) Kallistos Ware, Eastern Orthodox theologian and bishop (died 2022)Kallistos Ware: Theologian Who Explained the Orthodox Way to Other Christians Cedric Price, architect and writer (died 2003) 19 September Brian Epstein, manager of The Beatles (died 1967) Austin Mitchell, politician (died 2021) 20 September – David Marquand, academic and politician (died 2024) 21 September – David J. Thouless, Scottish-born condensed-matter physicist, Nobel Prize laureate (died 2019) 24 September Tommy Anderson, Scottish footballer (died 2018) Robert Lang, English stage, television actor (died 2004) 26 September – Dick Heckstall-Smith, jazz saxophonist (died 2004) 30 September Alan A'Court, English footballer (died 2009) Anna Kashfi, Welsh actress (died 2015)