1966 in the United Kingdom

Incumbents

• Monarch – Elizabeth II
• Prime Minister – Harold Wilson
• Parliament
• * 43rd
• * 44th

  Events

January–March

• 3 January
• *British Rail begins full electric passenger train services over the West Coast Main Line from Euston to Manchester and Liverpool with operation from London to Rugby. Services officially inaugurated 18 April.
• *Stop-motion children's television series Camberwick Green first shown on BBC1 as part of Watch with Mother.
• 4 January – More than 4,000 people attend a memorial service at Westminster Abbey for the broadcaster Richard Dimbleby, who died last month aged 52.
• 12 January – Three British MPs visiting Rhodesia are assaulted by supporters of Rhodesian Prime Minister Ian Smith.
• 20 January
• *the Queen commutes the death sentence on a Black prisoner in Rhodesia, two months after its abolition in the UK.
• *Radio Caroline South pirate radio ship runs aground on the beach at Frinton.
• 21 January – The White minority-ruled regime in Rhodesia rejects the royal prerogative commuting death sentences on two Africans.
• 30 January – Action Man toy action figure launched in the UK.
• 31 January – The United Kingdom ceases all trade with Rhodesia.
• 9 February – A prototype Fast Reactor nuclear reactor opens at Dounreay on the north coast of Scotland.
• 17 February – The UK protests to South Africa over its supplying of petrol to Rhodesia.
• 19 February – Naval minister Christopher Mayhew resigns.
• 28 February – Harold Wilson calls a snap general election for 31 March, in hope of increasing his vulnerable single-seat majority in Parliament.
• 1 March – Chancellor of the Exchequer James Callaghan announces the decision to embrace decimalisation of the pound.
• 4 March
• *In an interview published in The Evening Standard, John Lennon of The Beatles comments, "We're more popular than Jesus now".
• *The UK gives recognition to the new regime in Ghana.
• 5 March – BOAC Flight 911 crashes in severe clear-air turbulence over Mount Fuji soon after taking off from Tokyo International Airport in Japan, killing all 124 on board.
• 9 March – Ronnie Kray, one of the Kray twins, shoots George Cornell dead at The Blind Beggar pub in Whitechapel, East London, a crime for which he is finally convicted in 1969.
• 11 March – Chi-Chi, the London Zoo's giant panda, is flown to Moscow for a union with An-An of the Moscow Zoo.
• 20 March – Theft of football's Jules Rimet Trophy whilst on exhibition in London.
• 23 March – Pope Paul VI and Michael Ramsey, the Archbishop of Canterbury, meet in Rome.
• 27 March – Pickles, a mongrel dog, finds the FIFA World Cup Trophy wrapped in newspaper in a garden in south London.
• 30 March – Opinion polls show that the Labour government is on course to significantly increase its parliamentary majority at the general election tomorrow.
• 31 March – The Labour Party led by Harold Wilson win the general election with a significantly increased majority of 96 seats. At the 1964 election held just two years earlier, Labour had a narrow majority of five seats but subsequent by-election defeats had led to that being reduced to just one seat prior to this election. The Birmingham Edgbaston seat is retained for the Conservatives by Jill Knight in succession to Edith Pitt, the first time two female MPs have followed each other in the same constituency.

  April–June

• 1 April – Significant changes to the boundaries of Somerset and adjacent counties.
• 6 April – Hoverlloyd inaugurate the first regular hovercraft service across the English Channel, from Ramsgate harbour to Calais using passenger-carrying SR.N6 craft.
• 7 April – The United Kingdom asks the UN Security Council authority to use force to stop oil tankers that violate the oil embargo against Rhodesia. Authority is given on 10 April.
• 11 April – the Marquess of Bath, in conjunction with Jimmy Chipperfield, opens Longleat Safari Park, with "the lions of Longleat", at his Longleat House, the first such drive-through safari park outside of Africa.
• 15 April – Time magazine uses the phrase 'Swinging London'.
• 19 April – Ian Brady and Myra Hindley go on trial at Chester Crown Court, charged with murdering two children and a teenager in the highly publicised Moors murders which came to light six months ago.
• 30 April – Liverpool F.C. win the Football League First Division title for the second time in three seasons.
• 1 May – The Beatles play their last conventional live concert in Britain, at the Empire Pool on the bill alongside The Rolling Stones and The Who.
• 3 May – Swinging Radio England and Britain Radio commence broadcasting on AM with a combined potential 100,000 watts from the same ship anchored off the south coast of England in international waters.
• 6 May – The Moors murderers Ian Brady and Myra Hindley are sentenced to life imprisonment for three child murders committed between November 1963 and October 1965. Brady is guilty of all three murders and receives three concurrent terms of life imprisonment, while Hindley is found guilty of two murder charges and an accessory charge in connection to the third murder which receives two concurrent life sentences alongside a seven-year fixed term.
• 12 May – African members of the UN Security Council say that the British Army should blockade Rhodesia.
• 14 May – Everton F.C. defeat Sheffield Wednesday 3-2 in the FA Cup final at Wembley Stadium, overturning a 2-0 Sheffield Wednesday lead during the final 16 minutes of the game.
• 16 May – A strike is called by the National Union of Seamen, ending on 16 July.
• 17 May – Bob Dylan is called "Judas" during his at the Manchester Free Trade Hall.
• 18 May – Home Secretary Roy Jenkins announces that the number of police forces in England and Wales will be cut to 68.
• 26 May – Guyana achieves independence from the United Kingdom.
• 6 June – BBC1 television sitcom Till Death Us Do Part begins its first series run.
• 23 June – The Beatles go on top of the British singles charts for the tenth time with "Paperback Writer".
• 29 June – Barclays Bank introduces the Barclaycard, the first British credit card.

  July–September

• 3 July – 31 arrests made after a protest against the Vietnam War outside the US embassy turns violent.
• 12 July – Zambia threatens to leave the Commonwealth because of British peace overtures to Rhodesia.
• 14 July – Gwynfor Evans is elected as the Member of Parliament for Carmarthen, the first ever Plaid Cymru MP, after his victory at a by-election.
• 15 July – West Indian-born Asquith Xavier is appointed as a guard at Euston railway station after the opposition of the local staff committee is overturned, ending a colour bar in Euston Station that is rumoured to have been in place for the last 12 years.
• 16 July – Prime Minister Harold Wilson flies to Moscow to try to start peace negotiations over the Vietnam War. The Soviet Government rejects his ideas.
• 20 July – Start of six-month wage and price freeze.
• 26 July – Lord Gardiner issues the Practice Statement in the House of Lords stating that the House is not bound to follow its own previous precedent.
• 30 July – England beats West Germany 4–2 to win the 1966 World Cup at Wembley. Geoff Hurst scores a hat-trick, and Martin Peters scores the other English goal, in a game which attracts an all-time record UK television audience of more than 32,000,000.
• 1 August – Everton sign Blackpool's World Cup winning midfield player Alan Ball, Jr. for a national record fee of £110,000.
• 2 August – Spanish government forbids overflights of British military aircraft.
• 4 August – the Kray Twins are questioned in connection with a murder in London.
• 5 August – the Beatles release the album Revolver.
• 10 August – George Brown succeeds Michael Stewart as Foreign Secretary.
• 12 August – Three policemen are shot dead in Shepherd's Bush, West London, while sitting in their patrol car in Braybrook Street.
• 15 August – John Whitney is arrested and charged with the murder of three West London policemen.
• 17 August – John Duddy is arrested in Glasgow and charged with the murder of three West London policemen.
• 18 August – Tay Road Bridge opens.
• 24 August – Tom Stoppard's Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead is first staged, at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe.
• 29 August – the Beatles play their very last concert at Candlestick Park in San Francisco, California.
• 3 September – barely five months after the death of Barry Butler, a second Football League player this year dies in a car crash; 30-year-old John Nicholson, a Doncaster Rovers centre-half who previously played for Port Vale and Liverpool.
• 5 September – Selective Employment Tax imposed.
• 15 September – Britain's first Polaris submarine, HMS Resolution, launched at Barrow-in-Furness.
• 17 September – Oberon-class submarine HMCS Okanagan launched at Chatham Dockyard, the last warship to be built there.
• 19 September – Scotland Yard arrests Ronald 'Buster' Edwards, suspected of being involved in the Great Train Robbery.
• 27 September – BMC makes 7,000 employees redundant.
• 30 September – The Bechuanaland Protectorate in Africa achieves independence from the UK as Botswana.

  October–December

• 4 October – Basutoland becomes independent and takes the name "Lesotho".
• 18 October – the Ford Cortina Mk2 is launched.
• 20 October – In economic news, 437,229 people are reported to be unemployed in the UK – a rise of some 100,000 on last month's figures.
• 21 October – Aberfan disaster in South Wales, 144 killed by collapsing coal spoil tip.
• 22 October
• *British spy George Blake escapes from Wormwood Scrubs prison; he is next seen in Moscow.
• *Spain demands that the United Kingdom stop military flights to Gibraltar, the UK rejects this idea the following day.
• 25 October – Spain closes its Gibraltar border against vehicular traffic.
• 5 November – 38 African states demand that the United Kingdom use force against the Rhodesian government.
• 9 November – the Rootes Group launches the Hillman Hunter, a four-door family saloon to compete with the Austin 1800, Ford Cortina, and Vauxhall Victor.
• 15 November – Harry Roberts is arrested near London and charged with the murder of three policemen in August.
• 16 November – the BBC television drama Cathy Come Home, filmed in a docudrama style, is broadcast on BBC1. Viewed by a quarter of the British population, it is considered influential on public attitudes to homelessness and the related social issues it deals with.
• 24 November – Unemployment sees another short rise, now standing at 531,585.
• 30 November – Barbados achieves independence.
• 1 December – UK Prime Minister Harold Wilson and Rhodesian Prime Minister Ian Smith negotiate on board HMS Tiger in the Mediterranean Sea.
• 12 December – Harry Roberts, John Whitney and John Duddy are sentenced to life imprisonment for the murder of three West London policemen in August.
• 20 December – Harold Wilson withdraws all his previous offers to the Rhodesian government and announces that he agrees to independence only after the founding of Black majority government.
• 22 December – Rhodesian Prime minister Ian Smith declares that he considers that Rhodesia is already a republic.
• 31 December – Thieves steal millions of pounds worth of paintings from Dulwich Art Gallery in London.

  Undated

• 1966 GP Contract agreed.
• Centre Point, a 32-floor office building at St Giles Circus in London, designed by Richard Seifert for property speculator Harry Hyams, is completed. It remains empty for around a decade.
• London School of Contemporary Dance founded.
• Mathematician Michael Atiyah wins a Fields Medal.
• The motorway network continues to grow as the existing M1, M4, and M6 motorways are expanded, and new motorways emerge in the shape of the M32 linking the M4 with Bristol, and the M74 near Hamilton in Scotland.
• Japanese manufacturer Nissan begins importing its range of Datsun branded cars to the United Kingdom.

  Publications

• Agatha Christie's Hercule Poirot novel Third Girl.
• Len Deighton's novel Billion-Dollar Brain.
• Ian Fleming's James Bond short story collection Octopussy and The Living Daylights.
• Seamus Heaney's poetry collection Death of a Naturalist.
• Alistair MacLean's novel When Eight Bells Toll.
• Mary Renault's novel The Mask of Apollo.
• Jean Rhys's novel Wide Sargasso Sea.
• Paul Scott's novel The Jewel in the Crown, first in the Raj Quartet.
• Leslie Thomas' comic novel The Virgin Soldiers.
• Soft-core pornographic magazine Fiesta.

  Births

January–March

• 3 January – Martin Galway, Northern Irish composer
• 25 January – Donal MacIntyre, Irish born journalist
• 29 January – Keith Dublin, English footballer
• 6 February – Rick Astley, British singer
• 8 February – Sarah Montague, journalist and radio host
• 24 February – Ben Miller, English comedian, actor and director
• 4 March – Patrick Hannan, English pop drummer with The Sundays
• 6 March – Alan Davies, comedian and actor
• 8 March – Gregory Barker, British Conservative politician and MP for Bexhill and Battle
• 9 March – Melanie Dawes, civil servant
• 13 March – Alastair Reynolds, science fiction author
• 17 March – Andrew Rosindell, British Conservative politician and MP for Romford
• 19 March – Nigel Clough, English footballer and football manager
• 24 March – Mark Williams, Welsh Liberal Democrat politician, Shadow Minister for Wales, and MP for Ceredigion
• 25 March – Anton Rogan, Northern Irish footballer
• 26 March
• *Lilian Greenwood, British Labour politician, Chair of the Finance Committee and MP for Nottingham South
• *Nick Wirth, English engineer, founded Wirth Research
• 31 March – Roger Black, British athlete

  April–June

• 1 April
• *Chris Evans, British radio disc-jockey
• *Sharon Hodgson, British Labour politician and MP for Gateshead East and Washington West
• 2 April – Teddy Sheringham, English footballer
• 10 April – Steve Claridge, English footballer
• 11 April – Lisa Stansfield, British soul singer
• 15 April – Samantha Fox, British model and singer
• 29 April – Phil Tufnell, British cricketer
• 10 May – Jonathan Edwards, British athlete
• 26 May
• *Helena Bonham Carter, English actress
• *Zola Budd, South African athlete
• 4 June – Bill Wiggin, British Conservative politician, Shadow Minister for Agriculture & Fisheries, and MP for Leominster
• 3 June – Jonathan Shaw, British Labour politician and MP for Chatham and Aylesford
• 7 June – Mark Ravenhill, English playwright
• 19 June – Samuel West, British actor
• 22 June – Michael Park, British rally co-driver

  July–September

• 12 July – Tamsin Greig, actress
• 16 July – Johnny Vaughan, journalist and critic
• 25 July – Diana Johnson, British Labour politician and MP for Kingston upon Hull North
• 28 July – Paul Loughlin, English rugby player
• August – Simon Stevens, chief executive of NHS England
• 7 August – David Cairns, Scottish Labour politician, Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Scotland and MP for Inverclyde
• 12 August – Tobias Ellwood, British Conservative politician and MP for Bournemouth East
• 26 August – Shirley Manson, Scottish alternative rock singer and Garbage frontwoman
• 23 September – Adam Price, Welsh Plaid Cymru politician and MP for Carmarthen East and Dinefwr

  October–December

• 9 October – David Cameron, British Conservative Party leader, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, MP for Witney and previously Leader of the Opposition in the House of Commons.
• 10 October – Tony Adams, English footballer
• 11 October – Stephen Williams, British Liberal Democrat politician and MP for Bristol West
• 26 October – Steve Valentine, British actor
• 1 November – Jeremy Hunt, British Conservative politician and MP for South West Surrey
• 8 November – Gordon Ramsay, Scottish-born chef
• 12 December – Ian Paisley, Jr., Northern Irish politician
• 14 November – Charles Hazlewood, English orchestral conductor
• 16 December – Dennis Wise, English footballer and football manager
• 21 December
• *Martin Bayfield, rugby player, actor and stuntman
• *Kiefer Sutherland, English-born Canadian actor
• 22 December – David Wright, British Labour politician and MP for Telford
• 29 December – Martin Offiah, English rugby league and, briefly, rugby union footballer of the 1980s, 1990s and 2000s

  Deaths

• 20 January – Gordon Macdonald Welsh politician, last colonial governor of Newfoundland
• 27 January – Ronald Armstrong-Jones, barrister
• 10 February – J. F. C. Fuller, army officer and strategist
• 18 February – Thomas Williams, 1st Baron Williams, Welsh-born politician
• 7 March – George Camsell, footballer
• 8 March – Viscount Astor, politician
• 11 March – Clara Rackham, women's suffrage activist
• 2 April – C. S. Forester, novelist
• 9 April – Barry Butler, footballer
• 10 April – Evelyn Waugh, novelist
• 14 May – Megan Lloyd George, Welsh politician
• 22 May – Tom Goddard, cricketer
• 27 June – Arthur Waley, orientalist
• 30 June – Margery Allingham, detective novelist
• 1 July – Pauline Boty, pop art painter
• 13 July – Princess Beatrice, granddaughter of Queen Victoria, married into the Spanish royal family
• 7 October – Johnny Kidd, rock singer/songwriter
• 26 October – Alma Cogan, pop singer
• 14 November – Peter Baker, soldier, author and politician
• 24 December – Sir Donald MacGillivray, Scottish colonial administrator, last governor of Malaya