Events from the year 1946 in the United Kingdom.
Incumbents Monarch – George VI Prime Minister – Clement Attlee (Labour)
Events
Undated Cinemagoing reaches an all-time peak, with 1,635 million admissions during the year. Lifting the prohibition on married women working in the Civil Service. Fred Pontin opens the first Pontins holiday camp, at Brean Sands, Burnham-on-Sea in Somerset. The University of Bristol establishes the first university drama department in the UK. Bush DAC90 bakelite radio introduced: it becomes the best-selling model for some years.
January & February 1 January The first international flight from London Heathrow Airport, to Buenos Aires. Atomic Energy Research Establishment established at Harwell, near Oxford. 4 January – Theodore Schurch is hanged at HM Prison Pentonville by Albert Pierrepoint, the only British soldier executed for treachery committed during World War II and the last person to be executed in Britain for an offence other than murder. 10 January – First United Nations General Assembly convenes at Methodist Central Hall Westminster. 17 January – The United Nations Security Council holds its first meeting at Church House in London. 14 February – The Bank of England is nationalised. 15 February – American dance craze, the Jitterbug, sweeps Britain. 20 February – Royal Opera House in Covent Garden re-opens after the War with The Royal Ballet (relocated from Sadler's Wells Theatre) performing The Sleeping Beauty.
March & April 5 March – Winston Churchill delivers his "Iron Curtain" speech at Westminster College in Fulton, Missouri, United States. 9 March – Burnden Park disaster: A stadium disaster at Bolton Wanderers F.C.'s Burnden Park in Bolton kills 33 and injures hundreds. 10 March – British troops begin withdrawal from Lebanon. 15 March – Labour Prime Minister Clement Attlee announces that Britain is granting India's wish for independence. On 24 March, the 1946 Cabinet Mission to India arrives in New Delhi for discussions. 22 March – The Treaty of London grants the British mandate of the Emirate of Transjordan its independence. 24 March – BBC Home Service radio broadcasts Alistair Cooke's first American Letter. As Letter from America, the programme would continue until a few weeks before Cooke's death in 2004. 27 April – 1946 FA Cup Final: the first postwar FA Cup final is won by Derby County, who beat Charlton Athletic 4–1 at Wembley Stadium.
May & June 4 May – First-class cricket returns, having been suspended during the War. 20 May – The House of Commons votes through the Coal Industry Nationalisation Act 1946 to nationalise British coal mines. 23 May – Terence Rattigan's drama The Winslow Boy premieres in London. 31 May – London Heathrow Airport opened fully for civilian use. 1 June – Television licence introduced. 7 June – Television broadcasting by the BBC, suspended during World War II, resumes. 8 June – A victory parade is held in London to celebrate the end of World War II. A certificate is issued to all schoolchildren. 27 June – Government imposes bread rationing.
July & August July – Homeless families squat in a former Army camp at Scunthorpe. August – Arthur Horner, a member of the Communist Party, becomes General Secretary of the National Union of Mineworkers. 1 August Finance Act receives Royal Assent, including the establishment of the National Land Fund to secure culturally significant property for the nation as a memorial to the dead of World War II. Atomic Energy Act of 1946 in the United States ends co-operation between the U.K. and U.S. on development of nuclear technology. 6 August Family allowance introduced, a cash benefit paid to mothers, under terms of the Family Allowances Act 1945 (passed under the Churchill caretaker ministry). Free milk ( pint daily) provided in UK state schools to all pupils under the age of 18. 9 August – Arts Council incorporated by royal charter. 31 August – League football returns, having been suspended during World War II.
September & October September–November – Britain Can Make It exhibition at the Victoria and Albert Museum in London, promoted by the Council of Industrial Design and the Board of Trade to show off good domestic and industrial design. 8 September – Mass squat by homeless families at the Ivanhoe Hotel and other empty properties in London organised by the Communist Party. 15 September – Marshal of the Royal Air Force Sir Arthur Harris, Commander-in-Chief of RAF Bomber Command, retires. 16 September – Popular quiz show Have A Go! with Wilfred Pickles is first broadcast nationally on BBC Radio. 29 September – BBC Third Programme begins broadcasting. 1 October – English premiere of J. B. Priestley's drama An Inspector Calls at the New Theatre, London, starring Ralph Richardson. 7 October – The BBC Light Programme transmits the first episode of the daily radio magazine programme Woman's Hour (initially presented by Alan Ivimey) which will still be running more than 70 years later and of the daily adventure serial Dick Barton – Special Agent. 10 October – First community arts centre opened, at Bridgwater in Somerset.
November & December 1 November – First Royal Command Performance at a public cinema, the Empire, Leicester Square: premiere of the Powell and Pressburger film A Matter of Life and Death starring David Niven. 9 November – Shooting of Margaret Cook in Carnaby Street, London. 10 November – Peter Scott opens the Slimbridge Wetland Reserve in Gloucestershire. 11 November – Stevenage, a village in Hertfordshire, is designated by the Attlee government as Britain's first new town to relieve overcrowding and replace bombed homes in London. The new town is set to have around 60,000 residents once it is completed and the first homes are expected to be ready by 1952 and the town fully developed by the early 1960s. The town's centerpiece will be a revolutionary pedestrianised central shopping area. 17 November – Eight British Army servicemen are killed in Jerusalem by Jewish terrorists. 22 November – Tony Benn is elected as Treasurer of the Oxford Union. 29 November Premiere of educational documentary film The Instruments of the Orchestra containing Benjamin Britten's composition The Young Person's Guide to the Orchestra (concert premiere 15 October conducted by Malcolm Sargent with the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic in the Philharmonic Hall, Liverpool). BBC Television begins airing Pinwright's Progress, the world's first regular half-hour situation comedy. 26 December – David Lean's film of Great Expectations, based on the Charles Dickens novel, and featuring John Mills, Valerie Hobson, Martita Hunt, Alec Guinness, Francis L. Sullivan, Jean Simmons, and Finlay Currie, is released to great acclaim.
Publications January – launch of Penguin Classics under the editorship of E. V. Rieu, whose translation of the Odyssey is the first published in the series and will be the country's best-selling book over the next decade. W. V. Awdry's children's book Thomas the Tank Engine, first in The Railway Series. Enid Blyton's girl school story First Term at Malory Towers, first in the Malory Towers series. Agatha Christie's Hercule Poirot novel The Hollow. R. G. Collingwood's collected philosophical lectures The Idea of History (posthumous). John Stewart Collis' memoir While Following the Plough. Stella Gibbons' novel Westwood. Philip Larkin's novel Jill. George Mikes' book How to be an Alien. Mervyn Peake's novel Titus Groan, first in the Gormenghast series. Thomas Sharp's book The Anatomy of the Village. Joint Committee of the Building Research Board and the Fire Offices' Committee's first report on fire safety General Principles and Structural Precautions.
Births January 3 January – John Paul Jones, bassist (Led Zeppelin) 6 January – Syd Barrett, guitarist and singer (Pink Floyd) (died 2006) 7 January – Mike Wilds, racing driver and pilot 14 January – Harold Shipman, serial killer (died 2004) 19 January – Julian Barnes, novelist 25 January – Pete Price, Merseyside radio disc jockey 26 January – Timothy Clifford, art historian 28 January – David Duckham, rugby union player (died 2023) 30 January – John Bird, Baron Bird, social entrepreneur and life peer February 1 February – Elisabeth Sladen, television actress (died 2011) 5 February – Charlotte Rampling, actress 7 February Brian Patten, Liverpool poet Pete Postlethwaite, actor (died 2011) 9 February – Seán Neeson, Alliance Party of Northern Ireland politician 11 February – Malcolm Walker, English businessman 13 February – Colin Matthews, composer 15 February – Clare Short, politician 16 February – Ian Lavender, actor (died 2024) 20 February – Brenda Blethyn, actress 21 February – Alan Rickman, actor (died 2016) 26 February – Colin Bell, footballer (died 2021) 28 February – Robin Cook, Labour politician (died 2005) March 1 March – Tony Ashton, rock pianist and music producer (died 2001) 4 March Michael Ashcroft, entrepreneur Harvey Goldsmith, performing arts promoter John Virgo, snooker player and commentator (died 2026) 5 March – Murray Head, actor and singer 6 March David Gilmour, singer and guitarist (Pink Floyd) Richard Noble, entrepreneur and land speed record holder 7 March – Matthew Fisher, singer-songwriter and producer 15 March – David Wall, ballet dancer (died 2013) 19 March – Steve Halliwell, actor (died 2023) 21 March – Timothy Dalton, actor 22 March – Richard Faulkner, Baron Faulkner of Worcester, journalist and politician 23 March – Alan Bleasdale, screenwriter 25 March – Cliff Balsam, footballer 27 March – Patrick Richardson, travel writer and authorBBC Excess Baggage Program
April 2 April Raymond Gubbay, English impresario Sue Townsend, novelist and playwright (died 2014) 4 April – Dave Hill, guitarist (Slade) 5 April – Jane Asher, actress and author 9 April Les Gray, vocalist (Mud) (died 2004) Alan Knott, cricketer Sara Parkin, Scottish activist and politician 11 April – Bob Harris, radio disc jockey 12 April – George Robertson, Scottish politician 15 April – Hugh Laddie, judge (died 2008) 17 April – Clare Francis, sailor and writer 19 April – Tim Curry, actor, voice artist, singer and composer (died 2026) 24 April – Piers Gough, architect 25 April – John Fox, statistician 27 April – Nicholas Serota, art curator 28 April – Linda Knowles, high jumper 29 April – Humphrey Carpenter, children's writer and broadcaster (died 2005)
May 1 May – Joanna Lumley, actress 2 May – David Suchet, actor 4 May – John Watson, Northern Irish racing driver 7 May – Michael Rosen, writer and poet 8 May – Ruth Padel, poet and writer 10 May Donovan, Scottish musician Maureen Lipman, actress, columnist and comedian Dave Mason, rock singer-songwriter and guitarist (Traffic) 11 May – David Varney, civil servant 13 May – Tim Pigott-Smith, actor (died 2017) 16 May – Robert Fripp, rock guitarist 19 May – Trevor Adams, actor (died 2000) 20 May – Paul Hirst, sociologist (died 2003) 22 May – George Best, Northern Irish footballer (died 2005) 23 May – Stephen Marks, English businessman 27 May – Lewis Collins, actor (died 2013) June 1 June – Brian Cox, Scottish actor 2 June – Peter Sutcliffe, serial killer (died 2020) 3 June – Penelope Wilton, actress 11 June – Jenny Pitman, horse trainer and author 14 June – Ernie Graham, Northern Irish singer-songwriter (died 2001) 15 June – Noddy Holder, rock singer-songwriter (Slade) 19 June – Michael Jay, Baron Jay of Ewelme, English politician and diplomat, British Ambassador to France 20 June – Nigel Kalton, mathematician and academic (died 2010) 21 June – Kate Hoey, politician Maurice Saatchi, Baron Saatchi, businessman 22 June – Sheila Hollins, Baroness Hollins, psychiatrist 23 June – Kathy Wilkes, philosopher (died 2003) 25 June Buzz Goodbody, English theatre director (died 1975) Ian McDonald, musician (died 2022) 26 June – Clive Francis, actor and caricaturist 28 June – Jamie Cann, politician (died 2001) July