1942 in the United Kingdom

1942 in the United Kingdom:

Other years

1940 | 1941 | 1942 (1942) | 1943 | 1944

World War II

UK during World War II

Events from the year 1942 in the United Kingdom. This year is dominated by World War II.

Incumbents

• Monarch – George VI
• Prime Minister – Winston Churchill, coalition

Events

• 1 January – An underground explosion at Sneyd Colliery in the North Staffordshire Coalfield kills 55.^[1][2]
• 26 January – World War II: First United States troops for the European Theatre arrive in the UK, at Belfast.^[3]
• 29 January – Radio programme Desert Island Discs first broadcast on the BBC Forces Programme, presented by Roy Plomley. Vic Oliver is the first castaway.^[4]
• January – Mildenhall Treasure discovered by ploughman Gordon Butcher in Suffolk.
• February–April – Liverpool Chinese seamen strike for improved pay.^[5]
• 7 February – Soap rationing introduced.^[4]
• 15 February – World War II: Arthur Ernest Percival's forces surrender to the Japanese at the Battle of Singapore.^[4]
• 25 February – The Princess Elizabeth (now Elizabeth II, Queen of the United Kingdom and 15 other Commonwealth realms) registers for war service.
• April – Women's Timber Corps set up.^[6]
• 5 April – World War II: Japanese Navy attacks Colombo in Ceylon (Sri Lanka). Royal Navy Cruisers HMS Cornwall and HMS Dorsetshire are sunk southwest of the island.
• 9 April – World War II: Japanese Navy launches air raid on Trincomalee in Ceylon (Sri Lanka); Royal Navy Aircraft Carrier HMS Hermes and Royal Australian Navy Destroyer HMAS Vampire are sunk off the country's East Coast.
• 23 April
  • Exeter becomes the first city bombed as part of the Baedeker Blitz in retaliation for the British bombing of Lübeck.
  • Exeter-born William Temple is enthroned as Archbishop of Canterbury.
• 5 May–6 November – World War II, Battle of Madagascar: British commander Robert Sturges leads the invasion of Vichy French-held Madagascar.
• 6 May – The Radio Doctor (Charles Hill) makes his first BBC radio broadcast giving avuncular health care advice.
• 30 May – Over a thousand RAF bombers attack Cologne in Germany.^[4]
• July – Military scientists begin testing of anthrax as a biological warfare agent on the Scottish island of Gruinard.^[7]
• 10 July – The patriotic Academy Award-winning drama film Mrs. Miniver, starring Greer Garson, is released in London.^[8]
• 11 August – Traffic admitted onto the new Waterloo Bridge across the River Thames in London.^[4]
• 19 August – World War II: British and Canadian troops conduct the Dieppe Raid.^[4]
• 25 August – Prince George, Duke of Kent, brother of George VI, is killed in an air crash near Caithness, Scotland.
• 30 August–2 September – World War II: At the Battle of Alam el Halfa in Egypt, General Montgomery leads the Eighth Army to victory over Field Marshal Rommel's Afrika Korps.^[4]
• September – The Brains Trust first broadcast under this title on BBC Home Service radio.^[9]
• 17 September – Noël Coward's film In Which We Serve premieres.
• 2 October – British cruiser Curaçao collides with the liner Queen Mary off the coast of Donegal and sinks: 338 drown.
• 5 October – Oxford Committee for Famine Relief founded.^[10]
• 23 October – World War II: British and Commonwealth forces launch a major attack against German and Italian forces in the Second Battle of El Alamein in Egypt.^[4]
• 29 October – Holocaust: Leading clergymen and political figures hold a public meeting to register outrage over Nazi Germany's persecution of Jews.
• 3 November – World War II: Second Battle of El Alamein ends with German forces under Erwin Rommel forced to retreat during the night.^[4]
• 8 November – World War II: British and American troops invade French North Africa in Operation Torch.
• 17 November – Admiral Max Horton takes over from Percy Noble as Commander-in-Chief, Western Approaches, with responsibility for the safety of Atlantic convoys.
• 1 December – Publication of the Beveridge Report into social insurance.^[4]
• 7 December – British commandos conduct Operation Frankton, a raid on shipping in Bordeaux harbour.

Unknown date

• World War II: Maunsell Forts erected in the Thames Estuary.
• Radical politician Sir Charles Trevelyan donates his family home, Wallington Hall, Northumberland, to the National Trust, its first such stately home acquisition.
• The British Council of Churches, an ecumenical organisation, is established.
• J. Arthur Rank purchases UK sites of Paramount Cinemas.

Publications

• "Flying Officer X" (H. E. Bates)'s short story collection The Greatest People in the World.
• "BB"'s children's story The Little Grey Men.
• Enid Blyton's children's story Five on a Treasure Island, first in The Famous Five series.
• Joyce Carey's novel To Be a Pilgrim.
• Agatha Christie's novels The Body in the Library (Miss Marple), Five Little Pigs (Hercule Poirot) and The Moving Finger (Miss Marple).
• T. S. Eliot's poem Little Gidding, last of the Four Quartets (in October New English Weekly).
• Richard Hillary's wartime autobiography The Last Enemy.
• C. S. Lewis' novel The Screwtape Letters.
• Evelyn Waugh's novel Put Out More Flags.

Births

January – April

• 3 January – John Thaw, English actor (died 2002)
• 8 January
  • Stephen Hawking, British physicist
  • George Passmore, English artist (Gilbert and George)
• 19 January – Michael Crawford, English singer and actor
• 31 January – Derek Jarman, English director and writer (died 1994)
• 1 February – Terry Jones, Welsh actor and writer
• 2 February – Graham Nash, English musician
• 28 February – Brian Jones, English musician (The Rolling Stones) (died 1969)
• 9 March – John Cale, Welsh composer and musician
• 25 March – Richard O'Brien, English actor and writer
• 27 March
  • John E. Sulston, British chemist, recipient of the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine
  • Michael York, English actor
• 28 March
  • Neil Kinnock, British statesman
  • Mike Newell, British film director
• 5 April – Peter Greenaway, Welsh filmmaker
• 8 April – Roger Chapman, British singer (Family, Streetwalkers)
• 19 April – David Fanshawe, English composer (died 2010)

May – August

• 8 May – Terry Neill, Northern Irish footballer and football manager
• 12 May – Ian Dury, British musician (died 2000)
• 18 May
  • Albert Hammond, English-born musician and composer
  • Nobby Stiles, English footballer
• 18 June – Paul McCartney, English musician and composer (The Beatles)
• 24 June – Mick Fleetwood, English drummer (Fleetwood Mac)
• 4 July – Prince Michael of Kent
• 23 July – Myra Hindley, English murderer (died 2002)
• 26 August – Dennis Turner, British politician

September – December

• 7 September – Richard Block, co-founder of B&Q(Retail)Ltd.
• 17 September – Desmond Lynam, British TV presenter
• 26 October – Bob Hoskins, English actor
• 24 November
  • Billy Connolly, Scottish comedian
  • Craig Thomas, Welsh thriller writer (d. 2011)
• 29 November – Michael Craze, British actor (d. 1998)
• 4 December – Gemma Jones, British actress
• 31 December – Andy Summers, English musician

Deaths

• 16 January – Prince Arthur, Duke of Connaught and Strathearn- third eldest son of Queen Victoria (born 1850)
• 10 March – William Henry Bragg, English physicist, Nobel Prize laureate (born 1862)
• 16 April – Princess Alexandra of Edinburgh and Saxe-Coburg and Gotha, granddaughter of Queen Victoria (born 1878)
• 7 June – Alan Blumlein, English electronics engineer (born 1903)
• 22 July – Gilbert Cunningham Joyce, Bishop of Monmouth (born 1866)
• 28 July – William Matthew Flinders Petrie, English Egyptologist (born 1853)
• 10 August – Bob Kelso, Scottish footballer (born 1865)
• 25 August – Prince George, Duke of Kent, fourth eldest son of George V (born 1902)
• 4 December – Hugh Gordon Malcolm, Scottish VC recipient (born 1917)
• 22 December – Elias Henry Jones, Welsh educationist and author (year of birth unknown)

References

See also