1932 in the United Kingdom

Events from the year 1932 in the United Kingdom.

Incumbents Monarch – George V Prime Minister – Ramsay MacDonald (Coalition)

Events 1 January The English Folk Dance and Song Society holds its first festival under this name following merger of the Folk-Song Society and the English Folk Dance Society. The King gives the title of Princess Royal to his only daughter, Princess Mary, Countess of Harewood, a year after the death of the previous holder. 8 January — the Archbishop of Canterbury forbids church remarriage of divorcees. 24 January — inmates at Dartmoor Prison mutiny. 26 January — British submarine sinks off the Dorset coast with all sixty hands. 1-29 February — with an average precipitation of , this period constitutes the driest calendar month over the United Kingdom as a whole since records began in 1836.UK rainfall ranked, 1836 to 2015. 4—15 February — Great Britain and Northern Ireland compete in the Winter Olympics at Lake Placid, New York, but do not win any medals.

1 March — Import Duties Act re-establishes protective trade tariffs. 15 March — first BBC radio broadcast from the new Broadcasting House in London; all programmes transfer from 15 May. 6 April – Ministry of Health encourages local councils to engage in widespread slum clearance. 13 April — mass trespass of Kinder Scout, a wilful trespass by ramblers at Kinder Scout, in the Peak District of England, to protest against lack of free public access to open country. 14 April – John Cockcroft and Ernest Walton, at the Cavendish Laboratory in the University of Cambridge, focus a proton beam on lithium and split its nucleus ("splitting the atom"). 23 April — new Shakespeare Memorial Theatre opens in Stratford-upon-Avon; designed by Elisabeth Scott, it is the country's first important work by a woman architect. 1 May — protestors clash with police in Hyde Park, London, during a May day protest against Japan's attitude towards China when they try to march on the Japanese Embassy. 10 May — James Chadwick, working at the Cavendish Laboratory in the University of Cambridge, reports the existence of the neutron. 26 May — the Scots law case of Donoghue v Stevenson is decided in the House of Lords, establishing the modern concept of a duty of care in cases of negligence. 25 June – India plays its first Test cricket match with England at Lord's. 2 July — the exiled former king of Portugal, Manuel II, dies at Fulwell in Middlesex; his body is later returned to Portugal for burial. 4 July — George Carwardine patents the Anglepoise lamp. 12 July — Hedley Verity of Yorkshire establishes a new first-class cricket record by taking all ten wickets for only ten runs against Nottinghamshire on a pitch affected by a storm. 19 July — King George V opens the replacement Lambeth Bridge across the Thames in London. 30 July—14 August — Great Britain and Northern Ireland compete at the Olympics in Los Angeles, California and win 4 gold, 7 silver and 5 bronze. 1 August — Forrest Mars produces the first Mars bar in his Slough factory. 22 August — first experimental television broadcast by the BBC. 20 September — Methodist Union: the Methodist Church is formed in Britain by merger of the Wesleyan Methodist Church, the Primitive Methodists and the United Methodist Church. 26 September — first contingent of the National Hunger March leaves Glasgow. October Oswald Mosley founds the British Union of Fascists. Anglo-Irish Trade War begins. 3 October — The Times newspaper first appears set in the Times New Roman typeface devised by Stanley Morison. 7 October — Thomas Beecham establishes the London Philharmonic Orchestra. 10 October — a mine cage accident at Bickershaw Colliery in the Lancashire Coalfield drowns 19. 13 October — Britain grants independence to the kingdom of Iraq, ending the British mandate there in exchange for a restrictive long-term military alliance. 25 October – George Lansbury becomes the leader of the opposition Labour Party. 27 October — arrival of the Hunger March in London leads to several violent clashes with police. 14 November — book tokens go on sale in the UK. 30 November — the BBC begins a series of radio broadcasts to mark the 75th birthday of Sir Edward Elgar. 2 December — English cricket team in Australia in 1932–33: opening of the “bodyline” series. 5 December — the comic strip character Jane first appears in the Daily Mirror. 10 December John Galsworthy wins the Nobel Prize in Literature "for his distinguished art of narration which takes its highest form in The Forsyte Saga".The Nobel Prize in Literature 1932. Charles Scott Sherrington and Edgar Adrian, 1st Baron Adrian, win the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine "for their discoveries regarding the functions of neurons".The Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine 1932. 19 December — the BBC Empire Service, later known as the BBC World Service, begins broadcasting using a shortwave radio facility at its Daventry transmitting station. 25 December — King George V delivers the first Royal Christmas Message on the BBC Empire Service from Sandringham House; the text has been written by Rudyard Kipling.

Undated Opening of the Hoover Building on the Western Avenue in Perivale, Middlesex, a noted example of Art Deco architecture, designed by Wallis, Gilbert and Partners for The Hoover Company. Production of Fordson tractors in the U.K. begins at Dagenham in Essex. Production of Weetabix breakfast cereal in the U.K. begins at Burton Latimer in Northamptonshire.

Publications Agatha Christie's Hercule Poirot novel Peril at End House. Lewis Grassic Gibbon's novel Sunset Song, first in A Scots Quair trilogy. Stella Gibbons' parodic novel Cold Comfort Farm. J. B. S. Haldane's study The Causes of Evolution, unifying Mendelian genetics and evolutionary science. Aldous Huxley's dystopian novel Brave New World. Captain W. E. Johns' first Biggles aviation stories, collected as The Camels are Coming. F. R. Leavis' study New Bearings in English Poetry. Q. D. Leavis' study Fiction and the Reading Public. John Cowper Powys' Wessex novel A Glastonbury Romance. Dorothy L. Sayers' Lord Peter Wimsey novel Have His Carcase. Evelyn Waugh's satirical novel Black Mischief. First issue of the journal of literary criticism Scrutiny: a quarterly review edited by F. R. Leavis (published in May). First issue of the magazine Woman's Own.

Births

2 January – Peter Redgrove, poet (died 2003) 4 January – Thelma Holt, actress and producer 12 January – Des O'Connor, comedian, singer and television presenter (died 2020) 14 January – Timothy Sprigge, philosopher (died 2007) 15 January – Louis George Alexander, teacher and author (died 2002) 19 January – Russ Hamilton, singer (died 2008) 23 January – George Allen, footballer (died 2016) 29 January – Tommy Taylor, footballer (died 1958) 30 January – Lady Mary Colman, socialite and philanthropist (died 2021) 1 February – John Nott, Conservative politician (died 2024) 3 February – Molly Parkin, journalist, novelist and painter (died 2026) 8 February Cliff Allison, racing driver (died 2005) Elspeth Howe, public servant (died 2022)Baroness Elspeth Howe dies aged 90 Jean Saunders, romantic novelist (died 2011) 11 February – Dennis Skinner, politician 12 February – Richard Rougier, judge (died 2007) 13 February David Neal, actor (died 2000) Barbara Shelley, actress (died 2021) 14 February Peter Ball, bishop and sex offender (died 2019) Jocelyn Stevens, publisher, journalist and charity executive (died 2014) 15 February – Adrian Swire, English businessman (died 2018) 22 February – Roger Squires, crossword compiler (died 2023) 25 February – Tony Brooks, racing driver (died 2022) 27 February – Elizabeth Taylor, film actress (died 2011 in the United States) 28 February – Brian Moore, football commentator (died 2001) 11 March – Nigel Lawson, Chancellor of the Exchequer (died 2023) 21 March – Tom Watson, actor (died 2001) 25 March – Martin Brandon-Bravo, politician (died 2018) 27 March – Patrick Newell, actor (died 1988) 1 April – Avril Elgar, actress (died 2021) 9 April – Jack Smethurst, actor (died 2022) 10 April – Adrian Henri, Liverpool poet (died 2000) 14 April – Bob Grant, actor, comedian and writer (died 2003) 15 April – John T. Lewis, Welsh physicist (died 2004) 21 April – Angela Mortimer, tennis player (died 2025) 25 April David Frederick Case, audiobook narrator (died 2005) William Roache, actor (Coronation Street) 26 April – Michael Smith, chemist, Nobel Prize laureate (died 2000 in Canada) 4 May – Ivor Wood, television animator (died 2004) 6 May – Alexander Thynn, 7th Marquess of Bath, peer and landowner (died 2020) 7 May – Jenny Joseph, poet (died 2018) 9 May Gavin Lyall, novelist (died 2003) Geraldine McEwan, actress (died 2015) 12 May – Derek Malcolm, historian and film critic (died 2023) 19 May – Alma Cogan, singer (died 1966) 20 May – Kevin Ruane, journalist (died 2018) 24 May – Arnold Wesker, dramatist (died 2016) 25 May – Norman Drew, Northern Irish golfer (died 2023) 27 May – Jeffrey Bernard, journalist (died 1997) 29 May – Walker H. Land, academic bioengineering researcher 30 May Ray Cooney, farceur Ivor Richard, Welsh Labour politician (died 2018) 8 June – Ray Illingworth, cricketer (died 2021) 9 June – Denise Robertson, broadcaster and writer (died 2016) 18 June – Geoffrey Hill, poet (died 2016) 21 June – Bernard Ingham, journalist and government press secretary (died 2023) 22 June Prunella Scales, actress (died 2025) John Wakeham, businessman and Conservative Party politician 25 June Peter Blake, pop artist Charles Morrison, politician (died 2005) Tim Parnell, racing driver (died 2017) 26 June – John Wall, inventor (died 2018) 27 June Alan Warren, Anglican priest and author (died 2020) Hugh Wood, composer (died 2021) 30 June – Ingrid Allen, neuroscientist (died 2020) 4 July – Matt Crowe, Scottish football (soccer) player (died 2017) 6 July – Phyllida Law, actress 8 July Roy Proverbs, football (soccer) player (died 2017) Brian Walden, politician and political interviewer (died 2019) 10 July – George Black, Royal Air Force officer 16 July – John Chilton, jazz trumpeter (died 2016) 17 July – Colin Webster, Welsh footballer (died 2001) 21 July – Vilma Hollingbery, actress (died 2021) 23 July Hugh Davies, Welsh cricketer (died 2017) Tony Dean, racing driver (died 2008) 26 July – Neil McCarthy, actor (died 1985) 28 July – Russell Johnston, politician (died 2008) 6 August Michael Deeley, film producer Howard Hodgkin, painter and print-maker (died 2017) 9 August – Reginald Bosanquet, television news presenter (died 1984) 11 August – Eric Varley, politician (died 2008) 17 August – V. S. Naipaul, Trinidadian-born writer (died 2018) 20 August – Anthony Ainley, actor (died 2004) 23 August – Christopher Parsons, film-maker (died 2002) 24 August Cormac Murphy-O'Connor, cardinal and Archbishop of Westminster (died 2017) W. Morgan Sheppard, actor (died 2019) 27 August – Lady Antonia Fraser, writer 31 August – Roy Castle, entertainer (died 1994) 1 September – Raymond Durgnat, film critic (died 2002) 4 September Edward de Souza, actor Dinsdale Landen, actor (died 2003) 7 September – Malcolm Bradbury, author and academic (died 2000) 9 September – Alice Thomas Ellis, writer (died 2005) 11 September Peter Anderson, footballer (died 2009) Ian Hamer, jazz trumpeter (died 2006) 16 September – Micky Stewart, cricketer 21 September – Shirley Conran, author and journalist (died 2024) 22 September Michael Barnes, politician (died 2018) Ian Kennedy, comics artist (died 2022) 25 September Terry Medwin, footballer (died 2024) Brian Murphy, comedy actor (died 2025) 27 September – Michael Colvin, Conservative politician (died 2000) 28 September – Jeremy Isaacs, television executive and opera manager 4 October – Edward Judd, actor (died 2009)