1965 in the United Kingdom

Incumbents

• Monarch – Elizabeth II
• Prime Minister – Harold Wilson
• Parliament – 43rd

  Events

• 1 January – introduction of the new "Worboys Committee" road signs.
• 7 January – identical twin brothers Ronnie and Reggie Kray, 31, are arrested on suspicion of running a protection racket in London.
• 14 January – the Prime Ministers of Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland meet for the first time in 43 years.
• 15 January – Sir Winston Churchill is reported to be seriously ill after suffering a stroke.
• 24 January – Sir Winston Churchill dies aged ninety at Chartwell, his Kent home of more than forty years.
• 30 January – thousands attend Winston Churchill's state funeral in London. During the three days of lying-in-state, 321,000 people file past the catafalque, and the funeral procession travels from Westminster Hall to the service at St Paul's Cathedral, attended by HM the Queen, Prime Minister Harold Wilson, and representatives of 112 countries. He is buried privately at Bladon near his family's ancestral home in Oxfordshire.
• 31 January – National Health Service prescription charges end.
• 1 February – the Queen and the Duke of Edinburgh arrive in Ethiopia on a state visit.
• 4 February – Confederation of British Industry founded.
• 6 February – Sir Stanley Matthews plays his final First Division game, at the record age of 50 years and 5 days.
• 16 February – the British Railways Board publishes The Development of the Major Trunk Routes proposing which lines should receive investment.
• 18 February – The Gambia becomes independent from the United Kingdom.
• 3 March – the remains of Roger Casement, from Pentonville Prison, are reburied in Dublin.
• 7 March – debut of BBC Radio comedy Round the Horne hosted by Kenneth Horne. The fourth programme introduces the camp pair Julian and Sandy, introducing the gay and theatrical cant Polari to a regular audience which builds to 15 million.
• 11 March – Goldie, a London Zoo golden eagle, is recaptured after thirteen days of freedom.
• 19 March – a record price of 760,000 guineas is paid at Christie's for Rembrandt's Titus.
• 23 March – Dr. Dorothy Hodgkin is appointed a member of the Order of Merit.
• 1 April
• * The Greater London Council comes into its powers, replacing the London County Council and greatly expanding the metropolitan area of the city.
• * Finance Act introduces corporation tax, replacing income tax for corporate institutions.
• 6 April – government publicly announces cancellation of the BAC TSR-2 nuclear bomber aircraft project.
• 23 April – the Pennine Way long distance footpath officially opens.

• 26 April – Manchester United win the Football League First Division title.
• 1 May – Liverpool win the FA Cup for the first time in their history, beating Leeds United 2–1 at Wembley Stadium. Roger Hunt and Ian St John score for Liverpool, while Billy Bremner scores the consolation goal for Leeds.
• 7 May – the Rhodesian Front under Prime Minister Ian Smith wins a landslide election victory in Rhodesia from the white minority electorate.
• 11 May – the National Trust officially launches its long-term Enterprise Neptune project to acquire or put under covenant a substantial part of the Welsh, English and Northern Irish coastline. Whiteford Burrows on the Gower Peninsula is considered the first property to be acquired under the campaign although its purchase was announced on 1 January.
• 13 May – the Conservatives make big gains at the UK local government elections.
• 17 May – an underground explosion at Cambrian Colliery in Clydach Vale kills 31.
• 18 May – the Queen and the Duke of Edinburgh begin a 10-day state visit to the Federal German Republic.
• 19 May – West Ham United F.C. become the second British club to win a European trophy, defeating West German 1860 Munich 2–0 at Wembley Stadium.
• June – Certificate of Secondary Education first examined as a school-leaving qualification in England, Wales and Northern Ireland.
• 3 June – the bank rate is reduced to 6 per cent.
• 17 June – London premiere of Frank Marcus' farce The Killing of Sister George, one of the first mainstream British plays with lesbian characters. Beryl Reid plays the title role. The play previewed in April at the Bristol Old Vic.
• 18 June – the government announces plans for the introduction of a blood alcohol limit for drivers in its clampdown on drink driving.
• 22 June – the 700th anniversary of Parliament is celebrated.
• 6 July – 1965 Little Baldon Hastings accident: a Royal Air Force Handley Page Hastings crashes at Little Baldon, Oxfordshire, just after takeoff from RAF Abingdon on a parachute training exercise, killing all 41 men on board.
• 8 July – Great Train Robber Ronnie Biggs escapes from Wandsworth Prison.
• 12 July – the Secretary of State for Education and Science, Tony Crosland, issues Circular 10/65 requesting local authorities to convert their schools to the Comprehensive system.
• 22 July – Sir Alec Douglas-Home suddenly resigns as Leader of the Conservative Party.
• 24 July – Freddie Mills, former British boxing champion, is found shot in his car in Soho, dying the next day.
• 27 July – Edward Heath becomes Leader of the Conservative Party following its first leadership election by secret ballot.
• 29 July – the Beatles film Help! debuts in London.
• 1 August
• *Cigarette advertising is banned from British television.
• *Radio and television licence fees are increased.
• 3 August – "The Queen's Award to Industry" for export and technological advancements is created.
• 5 August – Redundancy Payments Act gives statutory rights to redundancy payments.
• 6 August
• *Elizabeth Lane appointed as the first female High Court judge, assigned to the Family Division.
• *Peter Watkins' The War Game, a television docu-drama depicting the aftermath of a nuclear attack on the UK, is pulled from its planned transmission as BBC1's The Wednesday Play for political reasons. It will go on to win the 1966 Academy Award for Best Documentary Feature. It would eventually be broadcast twenty years later.
• 20 August – the Rolling Stones' " Satisfaction" is released in the UK.
• 21 August – Charlton Athletic F.C. player Keith Peacock becomes the first substitute to appear in a Football League match.
• 2 September – Sir Harry Hylton-Foster, Speaker of the House of Commons, dies in office.
• 16 September – UK release of the film Darling starring Julie Christie.
• 21 September – British Petroleum's oil platform Sea Gem strikes natural gas in the North Sea oil field.
• 24 September – the British governor of Aden cancels the Aden constitution and takes direct control of the protectorate, due to the bad security situation.
• 30 September – first episode of ATV 'Supermarionation' series Thunderbirds airs.
• October – Corgi Toys introduce the all-time best-selling model car, James Bond's Aston Martin DB5 from the film Goldfinger.
• 7 October – Ian Brady, a 27-year-old stock clerk from Hyde in Cheshire, is charged with the murder of 17-year-old apprentice electrician Edward Evans at a house on the Hattersley overspill housing estate last night.
• 8 October – the Post Office Tower opens in London.
• 15 October – 150 police officers are drafted in to search Saddleworth Moor for the bodies of up to 11 missing people, mostly children or teenagers, who are believed to be buried there. The suspect in the murders is Ian Brady, charged with the murder of 17-year-old Edward Evans eight days ago. His 23-year-old girlfriend Myra Hindley has also since been charged with the murder, having been arrested on 11 October.
• 16 October – police find a girl's body on Saddleworth Moor.
• 17 October – the body found on Saddleworth Moor yesterday is identified as that of 10-year-old Lesley Ann Downey, who disappeared on Boxing Day last year from a fairground in the Ancoats area of Manchester.
• 18 October – The Magic Roundabout premieres on BBC One at 17.50 local time.
• 20 October – it is reported in the regional and national media that suspected mass murderer Ian Brady tortured his victims and tape-recorded the attacks on them. Detectives in Brady's native Scotland are also reportedly investigating the disappearance of 12-year-old Moira Anderson in Lanarkshire eight years ago as a possible link to Brady.
• 21 October – Ian Brady and Myra Hindley are charged with the murder of Lesley Ann Downey and remanded in custody.
• 22 October
• * African countries demand that the United Kingdom use force to prevent Rhodesia from declaring unilateral independence.
• * Ian Brady and Myra Hindley are charged with the murder of Lesley Ann Downey.
• 24 October
• * Prime Minister Harold Wilson and Arthur Bottomley travel to Rhodesia for negotiations.
• * Police find the decomposed body of a boy buried on Saddleworth Moor. The body is identified as that of 12-year-old John Kilbride, who disappeared from Ashton-Under-Lyne in November 1963.
• 29 October – Ian Brady and Myra Hindley are charged with the murder of John Kilbride.
• 31 October – the police search of Saddleworth Moor concludes after 16 days, although media reports suggests that police suspect that more bodies may be buried on the moors. Ian Brady and Myra Hindley are expected to be tried for three murders next spring.
• 1 November – the uncompleted Ferrybridge C electricity generating station in West Yorkshire collapse in high winds.
• 5 November – martial law is announced in Rhodesia. The UN General Assembly accepts British intent to use force against Rhodesia if necessary by a vote of 82–9.
• 8 November
• * The Murder Act suspends capital punishment for murder in England, Scotland and Wales, for five years in the first instance, replacing it with a mandatory sentence of life imprisonment.
• * The Race Relations Act makes it a civil offence to discrimate in serving people in "places of public resort" on the grounds of colour, race, ethnicity or nationality and creates the offence of "incitement to racial hatred".
• * The British Indian Ocean Territory is created, consisting of Chagos Archipelago, Aldabra, Farquhar and Des Roches islands.
• 11 November – in Rhodesia, the white minority regime of Ian Smith unilaterally declares independence.
• 13 November – the word "fuck" is spoken for the first time on British television by the theatre critic Kenneth Tynan.
• 20 November – the UN Security Council recommends that all states stop trading with Rhodesia.
• 29 November – Mary Whitehouse founds the National Viewers' and Listeners' Association.
• December
• * EMI release Jacqueline du Pré's recording of Elgar's Cello Concerto with John Barbirolli and the London Symphony Orchestra.
• * National Coal Board closes the last deep coal mine in the Forest of Dean.
• 3 December – the first British aid flight arrives in Lusaka; Zambia has asked for British help against Rhodesia.
• 12 December – the Beatles' final live UK tour concludes with two performances at the Capitol, Cardiff.
• 15 December – Tanzania and Guinea sever diplomatic relations with the United Kingdom.
• 17 December – the UK government begins an oil embargo against Rhodesia; the United States joins the effort.
• 22 December
• * A 70 mph speed limit is imposed on UK roads.
• * A reorganisation of the cabinet sees Roy Jenkins appointed Home Secretary and Barbara Castle as Minister of Transport.
• 24 December – a meteorite shower falls on Barwell, Leicestershire.
• 27 December – the British oil platform Sea Gem collapses in the North Sea, killing thirteen of the 32 men aboard it.
• 30 December – President Kenneth Kaunda of Zambia announces that Zambia and the United Kingdom have agreed to a deadline before which the Rhodesian white minority-rule government should be ousted.

  Undated

• The Council for National Academic Awards begins validation of degree courses outside the university sector.
• Rent Act passed.
• First national Building Regulations for England and Wales are made.
• Mary Quant introduces the miniskirt from her shop Bazaar on the Kings Road in Chelsea, London.
• The motorway network continues to expand with the Preston-Lancaster section of the M6 opening in January, the M4 being expanded from Slough to London in March, a motorway section of the A1 opening in County Durham in May, the M1 being expanded from Rugby to Kegworth in November, along with a four-mile stretch of the M5 west of Birmingham, as well as the first phase of motorway in Scotland with the M8 as well as the expansion of the M2 through Kent.
• The Rotunda landmark office building completed in Birmingham city centre.
• Asda opens its first supermarket in Castleford, Yorkshire.
• PizzaExpress opens its first restaurant, in London.
• German carmaker Audi begins importing cars to Britain, with its F103 range of family saloon cars.
• Toyota, the Japanese industrial giant, begins importing passenger cars to the United Kingdom when its Corona family saloon – similar in size to the Ford Cortina – is launched.
• The first hatchback production car, the French built Renault 16, goes on sale in Britain.
• In fiction – Ian Chesterton and Barbara Wright return to the earth after travelling with The Doctor.

  Publications

• Agatha Christie's Miss Marple novel At Bertram's Hotel.
• Ian Fleming's James Bond novel The Man with the Golden Gun.
• John Fowles's novel The Magus.
• David Lodge's novel The British Museum Is Falling Down.
• W. Keble Martin's Flora The Concise British Flora in Colour.
• Men's magazine Mayfair.

  Births

• 4 January
• *Beth Gibbons, trip hop singer
• *Cait O'Riordan, Nigeria-born British-Irish folk punk bass guitar player and songwriter
• *Julia Ormond, actress
• *Rob Wilson, politician
• 5 January – Vinnie Jones, footballer and actor
• 6 January – Laurence Hurst, biologist and academic
• 9 January – Joely Richardson, actress
• 14 January
• *Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall, chef
• *Slick Rick, British-American rapper
• 15 January – James Nesbitt, Northern Irish actor
• 16 January – Rufus Norris, theatre director
• 20 January – Sophie, Countess of Wessex, née Rhys-Jones
• 27 January – Alan Cumming, Scottish actor
• February – Alison Brittain, née Hopkins, business executive
• 2 February – Carl Airey, footballer
• 5 February – Martha Fiennes, film director
• 26 February – Alison Armitage, English model and actress
• 28 February – Norman Smiley, wrestler
• 4 March
• *Paul W. S. Anderson, filmmaker, producer and screenwriter
• *Andrew Collins, radio DJ and journalist
• 11 March – Lawrence Llewelyn-Bowen, television presenter
• 14 March – Caroline Foot, butterfly swimmer
• 15 March – Michael Watson, boxer
• 26 March – Kerry McCarthy, Labour politician and MP for Bristol East
• 28 March – Steve Bull, footballer
• 30 March – Piers Morgan, tabloid journalist
• 1 April – Robert Steadman, composer
• 4 April – Sean Wilson, actor
• 27 April – Anna Chancellor, actress
• 1 May – Alice Beer, television presenter
• 3 May – Michael Marshall Smith, novelist, screenwriter and short story writer
• 10 May – Darren Matthews, professional wrestler
• 15 May – Christina Lamb, journalist
• 17 May – Jeremy Vine, BBC radio and television presenter
• 31 May – Steve White, drummer
• 1 June – Nigel Short, chess player
• 3 June – Jonathan Djanogly, lawyer and politician
• 7 June – Damien Hirst, artist
• 10 June – Elizabeth Hurley, model and actress
• 19 June – Sadie Frost, fashion designer and actress
• 30 June – Gary Pallister, footballer
• 4 July – Jo Whiley, radio DJ
• 11 July – Tony Cottee, footballer
• 15 July – David Miliband, Labour MP
• 16 July – Dinah Rose, QC
• 18 July – Steve Webb, English academic and politician
• 31 July – J. K. Rowling, born Joanne Rowling, English author
• 1 August – Sam Mendes, English stage and film director
• 4 August – Adam Afriyie, Conservative politician and MP for Windsor
• 6 August – Mark Speight, television presenter
• 28 August – Paul Brummell, diplomat and Ambassador to Kazakhstan
• 2 September – Lennox Lewis, boxer
• 29 September – Phylis Smith, athlete and Olympic medallist
• 14 October – Steve Coogan, comedian and actor
• 15 October – Stephen Tompkinson, actor
• 16 October – Steve Lamacq, radio DJ
• 22 October – John Wesley Harding, born Wesley Stace, singer-songwriter
• 30 October – Gavin Rossdale, English musician
• 31 October – Denis Irwin, footballer
• 4 November – Shaun Williamson, actor
• 10 November
• *Sean Hughes, comedian
• *Eddie Irvine, Northern Irish racecar driver
• 12 November – Eddie Mair, BBC radio and television presenter
• 14 November – Greg Hands, politician
• 16 November – Mark Benton, actor
• 21 November – Alexander Siddig, Sudanese-born actor
• 29 November – Lauren Child, children's fiction writer and illustrator
• 9 December – Paul Jenkins, comic book writer
• 12 December – Will Carling, English rugby player
• 13 December – Kate Peyton, journalist
• 25 December – Edward Davey, Liberal Democrat politician, MP for Kingston and Surbiton

  Deaths

• 4 January – T. S. Eliot, American-born writer, Nobel Prize laureate
• 24 January – Winston Churchill, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, recipient of the Nobel Prize in Literature
• 28 January – Tich Freeman, English cricketer
• 23 February – Stan Laurel, English-born comic film actor
• 10 March – Beatrice Harrison, cellist
• 28 March
• *Mary, Princess Royal and Countess of Harewood, 6th Princess Royal
• *Richard Beesly, British Olympic gold medal rower
• 21 April – Sir Edward Victor Appleton, English physicist, Nobel Prize laureate
• 3 May – Howard Spring, Welsh-born novelist
• 21 May – Sir Geoffrey de Havilland, aircraft designer
• 5 June – Eleanor Farjeon, children's writer
• 8 June – Cecil L'Estrange Malone, British politician, first communist Member of Parliament
• 1 July – Wally Hammond, English cricketer
• 25 July – Freddie Mills, English boxer
• 2 September – Harry Hylton-Foster, Speaker of the House of Commons
• 14 September – J. W. Hearne, English cricketer
• 20 September – Arthur Holmes, geologist
• 25 September – Major-General Sir Henry Hugh Tudor, British soldier
• 22 October – William Williams, Victoria Cross recipient
• 4 November – Ifor Williams, academic
• 8 November – George Hall, politician
• 25 November – Dame Myra Hess, English pianist
• 16 December – W. Somerset Maugham, English writer
• 17 December – Hastings Ismay, 1st Baron Ismay, army officer
• 22 December – Richard Dimbleby, journalist and broadcaster
• 26 December – Llewelyn Alberic Emilius Price-Davies, Victoria Cross recipient
• 28 December – Jeremy Wolfenden, journalist and spy
• 30 December – Lilias Margaret Frances, Countess Bathurst, newspaper proprietor