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Events from the year 1945 in the United Kingdom.
[edit] Incumbents
[edit] Events
Churchill waves to the crowds on VE Day
- 13 April - The first Scottish National Party Member of Parliament, Robert McIntyre, is elected to the Parliament of the United Kingdom after his victory at the Motherwell by-election.
- 15 April - British troops liberate the Bergen-Belsen concentration camp.[1]
- 19 April - Geoffrey Fisher enthroned as Archbishop of Canterbury.
- 8 May - V-E Day is celebrated throughout the UK. Churchill makes a victory speech and appears on the balcony of Buckingham Palace with King George VI, Queen Elizbeth and the Princesses Elizabeth and Margaret. Street parties take place throughout the country.[2]
- 12 May - German forces in the Channel Islands, the only occupied part of the British Isles, surrender.[3]
- 23 May - Churchill forms a 'caretaker' Conservative administration, pending an election, officially ending the wartime Coalition government.[3]
- 28 May - William Joyce, known as "Lord Haw-Haw" is captured. He is later charged with high treason in London for his English-language wartime broadcasts on German radio. He is hanged in January of 1946.
- 1 June - The UK takes over Lebanon and Syria.
- 15 June - Parliament passes the Family Allowances Act 1945 to provide payments to families with children.
- 5 July - Polling day for the general election; the count was not made for another three weeks (see below) so that votes from the armed services could be added.[3]
- 7 June - The Benjamin Britten opera Peter Grimes first performed at the Sadler's Wells Theatre in London.[4]
- 18 June - The demobilization of the wartime armed forces begins.
- 17 July - Potsdam Conference - the three main Allied leaders begin their final summit of the war. The meeting will end on August 2.
- 26 July - United Kingdom general election, 1945. Winston Churchill resigns as Britain's prime minister after his Conservative Party is soundly defeated by the Labour Party. Clement Attlee becomes the new prime minister.[2]
- 29 July - The BBC Light Programme radio station is launched, aimed at mainstream light entertainment and music.[2]
- 13 August - Zionist World Congress approaches British government to talk about founding of Israel.
- 14 August - The 1945 Prime Minister's Resignation Honours are announced, to mark the resignation of Winston Churchill.[5]
- 15 August - V-J Day is celebrated in the UK.
- 17 August - George Orwell's Animal Farm published.
- 30 August - British sovereignty of Hong Kong restored following the end of the Japanese occupation of the territory.[1]
- 2 October - Piccadilly Circus tube station becomes the first to be lit by fluorescent light.[1]
- 24 October - The British government signs the United Nations Charter.
- December - Alexander Fleming and Ernst Boris Chain win the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine jointly with Howard Florey "for the discovery of penicillin and its curative effect in various infectious diseases".[6]
- 31 December - Britain receives its first shipment of bananas since the beginning of the war.[2]
[edit] Undated
[edit] Publications
[edit] Births
- 6 January - Barry John, rugby union footballer
- 10 January - Rod Stewart, British singer
- 15 January - Princess Michael of Kent, Czech born wife of Prince Michael of Kent
- 21 January - Martin Shaw, English actor
- 26 January - Jacqueline du Pré, English cellist (died 1987)
- 29 January - Jim Nicholson, Northern Irish Unionist politician and MEP for Northern Ireland
- 5 February - Charlotte Rampling, English actress
- 7 February
- 13 February - Simon Schama, historian
- 30 March - Eric Clapton, English guitarist
- 14 May - Widnes, Cheshire: George Nicholls, English rugby league footballer
- 16 May - Nicky Chinn, English songwriter (The Sweet and Suzi Quatro)
- 19 May - Pete Townshend, English guitarist and lyricist
- 12 June - Pat Jennings, Northern Irish footballer player
- 7 July - Michael Ancram, British Conservative politician and MP for Devizes
- 28 July - Richard Wright, English keyboardist (Pink Floyd)
- 9 August - Posy Simmonds, English cartoonist
- 19 August - Ian Gillan, English singer (Deep Purple)
- 31 August - Van Morrison, Northern Irish singer and songwriter
- 21 September - Shaw Clifton, General of The Salvation Army
- 26 September - Bryan Ferry, singer and musician
- 26 November - John McVie, English musician (Fleetwood Mac)
- 30 November - Hilary Armstrong, politician
- 24 December - Ian "Lemmy" Kilminster, British bassist and singer (Motörhead)
[edit] Deaths
[edit] References
[edit] See also
1945 in the United Kingdom: 
