1995 in the United Kingdom

1995 in the United Kingdom

Other years

1993 | 1994 | 1995 (1995) | 1996 | 1997

Constituent countries of the United Kingdom

England | Northern Ireland | Scotland | Wales

Popular culture

1995 British Grand Prix 1995 English cricket season Football: England | Scotland 1995 in British television 1995 in British music 1995 in British radio UK in the Eurovision Song Contest 1995

Events from the year 1995 in the United Kingdom.

Incumbents[]

• Monarch – Elizabeth II
• Prime Minister – John Major (Conservative)
• Parliament – 51st

Events[]

January[]

• 1 January
  • Fred West, the 53-year-old Gloucester builder charged with killing twelve women and children (including two of his own daughters), is found to have hanged himself in his cell at Winson Green Prison, Birmingham. He was due to go on trial this year, along with his 41-year-old wife Rosemary, who is charged with ten murders.
  • South Korean industrial giant Daewoo announces plans to build a new car factory in the United Kingdom within the next few years, costing up to £350,000,000 and creating new jobs.^[1]
• 10 January – The British transfer fee record is broken when Manchester United sign striker Andy Cole from Newcastle United in a deal valued at £7,000,000.
• 20 January – The first MORI poll of 1995 shows that the Conservative Party have cut Labour's lead in the polls from 39 points to 29.^[2]
• 25 January – Eric Cantona, the French international forward, assaults a spectator after being sent off while playing for Manchester United against Crystal Palace in the FA Premier League.
• 27 January – Manchester United confirm that Eric Cantona will not play for the first team for the rest of the current football season.

February[]

• 1 February – New domestic electrical appliances must be supplied with an appropriately fused pre-wired plug.^[3]
• 7 February – Rumbelows, the electrical goods retailer and former sponsors of the Football League Cup, closes its 311 stores with the loss of more than 3,000 jobs.
• 14 February – Sizewell B nuclear power station, the UK's only commercial pressurised water reactor power station, is first synchronised with the National Grid.
• 15 February –
  • The manufacturing sector has reported its biggest rise in employment since the Conservatives first came to power sixteen years earlier, although the national unemployment rate rose slightly in January, still being in excess 2,500,000 – it has not been below this mark since late-1991.
  • The England football team's friendly match against the Republic of Ireland in Dublin is abandoned due to the behaviour of a small number of English fans, believed to be members of far-right activist groups.
• 16 February – Neil Kinnock, former Leader of the Labour Party, resigns from Parliament after twenty-five years to take up a new role as a European Commissioner, sparking a by-election in his Islwyn constituency in South Wales. Don Touhig retains the seat for Labour, with nearly 70% of the vote.
• 17 February – The famous MG sports car brand, not seen on a volume sports car since 1980, is revived when the Rover Group unveils the new MGF sports car which will go on sale this autumn.
• 21 February – George Graham, who has won six major trophies including two league titles in nearly a decade as manager of Arsenal F.C., is sacked over allegations that he accepted illegal payments from an agent when signing two players in 1992.
• 24 February – The Football Association bans Eric Cantona from football for eight months, meaning that he will not be able to play competitively until after 30 September.
• 26 February – Barings Bank, the UK's oldest merchant bank collapses following $1,400,000,000 of losses by rogue trader, Nick Leeson.
• 28 February – The Diary of Bridget Jones column first published in The Independent.^[4]

March[]

• 9 March – The Queen and the Duke of Edinburgh visit Northern Ireland for the first time since the IRA and Loyalist ceasefire which came into force last year.^[5]
• 20 March – The Queen arrives in Cape Town for the first royal visit to South Africa in nearly fifty years.
• 23 March – Eric Cantona is sentenced to fourteen days imprisonment at Croydon Crown Court for his assault on a Crystal Palace fan two months ago. He remains free on bail pending an appeal against his sentence, but if this is unsuccessful he will be the first footballer to be jailed in Britain for an on-field offence. Gifted Scottish winger Davie Cooper dies of a brain haemorrhage after collapsing during filming of a coaching video.
• 31 March – Eric Cantona wins his appeal against his prison sentence, which is reduced to a 120-hour community service order.

April[]

• 1 April – Daewoo begins selling cars in the United Kingdom. It offers a two-model range; the Nexia and Espero – updated versions of the 1984 Vauxhall Astra and 1981 Vauxhall Cavalier respectively.^[6]
• 8 April – British-born American national Nicholas Ingram, 31, is executed in Georgia for a murder committed in 1983.
• 16 April – PhONEday changes all telephone area dialing codes UK-wide.

May[]

• 4 May – The Conservative government's fortunes continue to decline as the local council elections see them in control of a mere eight councils, while Labour control 155 councils and the Liberal Democrats control 45. The Conservatives now have control of no councils in Wales or Scotland.
• 8 May – The fiftieth anniversary of VE Day is celebrated across Britain.
• 14 May – Blackburn Rovers become FA Premier League champions, earning them their first top division league title since 1914.
• 20 May – Everton win the FA Cup with a 1–0 win over Manchester United at Wembley Stadium.
• 21 May – United Kingdom BSE outbreak: First known death from variant Creutzfeldt–Jakob disease, that of a 19-year old man; not until 20 March 1996 does the Secretary of State for Health announce that vCJD is caused by eating beef infected with bovine spongiform encephalopathy.^[7]
• 25 May – Roseanna Cunningham wins the Perth by-election for the Scottish National Party, three months after the seat became vacant upon the death of the Conservative MP Sir Nicholas Fairbairn. The Conservative majority has now fallen from 21 seats to 11, in the space of three years since the last general election.

June[]

• 9 June – Andrew Richards, a 26-year-old serial sex offender of West Glamorgan, becomes the first person to be convicted of male rape under the Criminal Justice and Public Order Act 1994.^[8]
• 14 June – Pauline Clare is appointed as Chief Constable of Lancashire Constabulary, becoming the first woman to hold the office of Chief Constable.^[9]
• 20 June – Arsenal pay a British record fee of £7,500,000 for Inter Milan and Holland striker Dennis Bergkamp.
• 22 June – In an attempt to reassert his authority, John Major resigns as leader of the Conservative Party (but not as Prime Minister) triggering a leadership election.^[4]
• 23 June – The latest MORI opinion poll shows that Conservative support has reached an 18-month high of 32%, but Labour still have a 22-point lead over them.^[10]
• 28 June–22 August – 1995 Great Britain and Ireland heat wave: The driest summer in recorded English meteorological history, with an average EWP series of only 66.9 millimetres (2.63 in),^[11] and also the third-hottest with an average Central England temperature of 17.40 °C (63.32 °F).^[12]

July[]

• 3 July – The British football transfer record fee is broken for the third time in six months when Liverpool sign striker Stan Collymore from Nottingham Forest for £8,400,000.
• 4 July – John Major wins the Conservative Party leadership election, gaining 218 votes to John Redwood's 89.^[13]
• 19 July
  • Pensions Act 1995 receives Royal Assent, proposing to phase in a state pension age for women at 65 (equalising it with that for men) over a ten-year period and introducing measures intended to safeguard occupational pension schemes.
  • Unemployment is reported to be on the rise again, though the government denies that it is pointing towards another recession.
• 23 July – War in Bosnia and Herzegovina: British forces sent to Sarajevo to help relieve the Siege of Sarajevo.^[14]
• 27 July – The Conservative government's majority is slashed further, to nine seats, as the Liberal Democrats win the Littleborough and Saddleworth seat in Lancashire, two months after it was left vacant by the death of Conservative MP Geoffrey Dickens.

August[]

• 6 August – Pubs in England are permitted to remain open throughout Sunday afternoon for the first time.^[15]
• 16 August – Unemployment is now at 2,315,300 – one of the lowest figures recorded in the last four years.
• 20 August – BAPS Shri Swaminarayan Mandir London, Europe's first traditional-style purpose-built Hindu temple (and England's largest), is inaugurated in Neasden.^[16]
• 26 August – Middlesbrough F.C. move into their new 30,000-seat Riverside Stadium, to replace Ayresome Park which had been their home since 1903. Their new stadium is the largest club stadium to be built in England since the interwar years.^[17]

September[]

• 2 September – Boxer Frank Bruno wins the WBC world heavyweight championship.^[4]
• 27 September – The BBC begins regular Digital Audio Broadcasting, from the Crystal Palace transmitting station.

October[]

• 7 October – Conservative MP Alan Howarth defects to Labour, cutting the government's majority to seven seats.^[18]
• 16 October – Julie Goodyear, who joined the ITV soap opera Coronation Street nearly thirty years ago and had been a regular in the series since 1970, departs from the show.
• 18 October – Unemployment is now at less than 2,300,000 – its lowest level for more than four years.
• 20 October – Vauxhall unveils its new Vectra range of large hatchbacks and saloons. The Vectra, which replaces the Cavalier, will be built in Luton and from next year will also be sold as an estate car.
• 22 October – Brilliant!, an exhibition by the Young British Artists group (who also feature heavily in this year's British Art Show), opens at the Walker Art Center, Minneapolis, USA.^[19][20]
• 25 October – Singer Cliff Richard receives a knighthood.^[4]

November[]

• 16 November –
  • Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother has a hip replacement operation. At ninety-five years of age, she is believed to be the oldest patient to undergo such surgery.^[21]
  • Essex teenager Leah Betts dies in hospital four days after slipping into a coma due to taking an ecstasy tablet whilst drinking large amounts of water, sparking a media crusade, backed by Leah's father and stepmother, against the drug and those supplying it.
• 17 November
  • Launch of the European Space Agency's Infrared Space Observatory including a Long Wave Spectrometer built in the UK.^[22]
  • The Today newspaper is discontinued after nine years in circulation.
• 20 November – "An Interview with HRH The Princess of Wales" an episode of Panorama, is broadcast on BBC One in which Diana, Princess of Wales was interviewed by Martin Bashir. She discusses her adultery, depression and bulimia, her children, the media and the future of the monarchy in candid detail.^[23] An estimated 22.78 million watch the broadcast, the all-time record for a UK current affairs programme.^[24]
• 22 November – Rose West is found guilty of murdering ten women and children, including her 16-year-old daughter Heather and seven-year-old stepdaughter Charmaine, after a trial at Winchester Crown Court. She is sentenced to life imprisonment with a recommendation that she is never released.
• 24 November – The spy James Bond returns to U.K. cinemas six years after Licence to Kill, for the seventeenth film GoldenEye, with Irish actor Pierce Brosnan playing the part of Bond,^[25] filmed at the newly created Leavesden Studios.
• 28 November – Budget: Chancellor Ken Clarke cuts the basic level of income tax to 24p in the pound.
• 30 November – President of the United States Bill Clinton visits Northern Ireland.^[26]

December[]

• 2 December – "Rogue trader" Nick Leeson is jailed for six-and-a-half years in Singapore on a double fraud charge relating to the recent financial collapse of Barings Bank.^[27]
• 8 December – Head teacher Philip Lawrence is murdered in London.
• 10 December – Joseph Rotblat wins the Nobel Peace Prize.^[28]
• 13 December – A riot takes place in London.
• 20 December – The Queen writes to the Prince and Princess of Wales three years after their separation, urging them to divorce as soon as possible.^[29]
• 29 December – The Conservative majority now stands at a mere five seats following the defection of MP Emma Nicholson to the Liberal Democrats.^[30]
• 30 December – Altnaharra in the Scottish Highlands matches the lowest temperature UK Weather Record at −27.2 °C (−17.0 °F).

Undated[]

• Contingent fee litigation permitted in the Courts of England and Wales.^[31]
• 1% of the UK population (some 600,000 people) now have internet access.^{[citation needed]}

Publications[]

• Martin Amis's novel The Information.
• Iain Banks' novel Whit.
• Pat Barker's novel The Ghost Road.
• Nick Hornby's novel High Fidelity.
• Terry Pratchett's Discworld novel Maskerade.
• Philip Pullman's novel Northern Lights.
• Delia Smith's cookery Winter Collection.
• Barry Unsworth's novel Morality Play.

Births[]

Deaths[]

• 1 January – Fred West, serial killer (born 1941) (suicide by hanging while in custody)
• 7 January
  • Harry Golombek, chess grandmaster (born 1911)
  • Larry Grayson, comedian and gameshow host (born 1923)
• 9 January – Peter Cook, comedy actor, satirist, writer and comedian (born 1937)
• 14 January – Sir Alexander Gibson, conductor (born 1926)
• 30 January – Gerald Durrell, naturalist, zookeeper, author and television presenter (born 1925 in British India)
• 2 February
  • Fred Perry, tennis player (born 1909)
  • Donald Pleasence, actor (born 1919)
• 12 February – Robert Bolt, writer (born 1924)
• 23 February – James Herriot, veterinary surgeon and writer (born 1916)
• 17 March – Ronnie Kray, jailed crime leader (born 1933)
• 23 March – Davie Cooper, footballer (born 1956)
• 4 April – Kenny Everett, comic broadcast presenter (born 1944) (AIDS-related)
• 7 April – Nicholas Ingram, first British citizen to be executed by the electric chair in the United States (born c. 1964)
• 2 May – Sir Michael Hordern, actor (born 1911)
• 5 May – Sir Anthony Wagner, herald and Clarenceux King of Arms (born 1908)
• 15 May – Eric Porter, actor (born 1928)
• 24 May – Harold Wilson, Prime Minister, 1964–70 & 1974–76 (born 1916)
• 28 May – Jean Muir, fashion designer (born 1928)
• 30 May – Ted Drake, footballer and football manager (born 1912)
• 22 July – Harold Larwood, fast bowler (cricket) (born 1904)
• 24 July – George Rodger, photojournalist (born 1908)
• 3 August – Ida Lupino, actress and director (born 1914)
• 7 August – Dursley McLinden, actor (born 1965 in the Isle of Man) (AIDS-related)^[36]
• 19 August – Johnny Carey, footballer and football manager (born 1919)
• 25 September – Dave Bowen, footballer and football manager (born 1928)
• 28 September – Albert Johanneson, South African born, British based footballer (born 1940)
• 8 October – John Cairncross, Scottish-born public servant, spy for the Soviet Union, academic and writer (died 1913)
• 9 October – Alec Douglas-Home, Prime Minister, 1963–64 (born 1903)
• 22 October – Kingsley Amis, writer (born 1922)
• 31 October – Alan Bush, composer, pianist and conductor (born 1900)
• 4 November – Paul Eddington, actor (born 1927)
• 12 November – Sir Robert Stephens, actor (born 1931)
• 16 November – Leah Betts, high-profile victim of the drug ecstasy (born 1977)
• 21 November – Wilfred White, equestrian (born 1904)
• 25 November – Alan Nicholls, English football goalkeeper (born 1973)
• 22 December – James Meade, economist, Nobel Prize laureate (born 1907)

See also[]

• 1995 in British music
• 1995 in British television
• List of British films of 1995

References[]

External links[]