Events from the year 1994 in the United Kingdom.
Incumbents Monarch – Elizabeth II Prime Minister – John Major (Conservative)
Events
January 4 January – Following the expulsion of the British ambassador from Sudan, the Foreign Office orders the Sudanese ambassador to leave Britain. 8 January – Jayne Torvill and Christopher Dean win the British ice-dancing championship at the Sheffield Arena. 10 January – Two government ministers resign: Lord Caithness following the suicide of his wife, and Tim Yeo following the revelation that he fathered a child with Conservative councillor Julia Stent. 14 January – The Duchess of Kent joins the Catholic Church, the first member of the Royal Family to convert to Catholicism for more than 300 years. 18 January – The Prince of Wales retires from competitive polo at the age of 45. 20 January Despite the continuing economic recovery and falling unemployment, the Conservative government is now 20 points behind Labour (who score at 48%) in the latest MORI poll. Former Manchester United manager Sir Matt Busby dies aged 84. 25 January – Jimmy Boyce, the newly elected Labour MP for Rotherham in South Yorkshire, dies suddenly of a heart attack aged 47. 31 January – British Aerospace sells its 80% stake in Rover to BMW, leaving Britain without an independent volume carmaker. It is envisaged that the new Rover Group will produce more than one million cars per year worldwide and will be Europe's seventh largest carmaker.
February 1 February John Smith (Labour Party leader) strongly criticises the sale of the Rover Group, saying that it only satisfied British Aerospace's short-term need for cash. In contrast, Prime Minister John Major backs the takeover as giving the Rover Group excellent prospects for export markets and investment. Jo Richardson, the Labour MP for Barking in London, dies in office aged 70. 4 February – British Coal confirms the closure of four more pits, a move which will claim some 3,000 jobs. 7 February – Stephen Milligan, Conservative MP for Eastleigh in Hampshire, is found dead aged 45 at his home in Chiswick, West London. On 11 February it is announced that forensic tests have revealed that he died of asphyxiation and that his death was probably the result of an auto-erotic sex practice. 10 February – Three men are jailed in connection with the IRA bombings of Warrington gasworks 11 months previous. Pairic MacFhloinn is jailed for 35 years, Denis Kinsella for 25 years and John Kinsella for 20 years. 12–27 February – Great Britain and Northern Ireland compete at the 1994 Winter Olympics in Lillehammer, Norway, and win 2 bronze medals. 21 February – Honda sells its 20% stake of the Rover Group, allowing BMW to take full control. This marks the end of the 13-year venture between the two carmakers, although the Honda-based Rover 400 will still go into production next year, becoming the seventh and final product of the venture. 24 February – Police in Gloucester begin excavations at 25 Cromwell Street, the home of 52-year-old builder Fred West, investigating the disappearance of his daughter Heather, who was last seen alive in the summer of 1987 when she was 16 years old. 28 February Fred West is charged with the murder of his daughter Heather and of the murder of Shirley Robinson, an 18-year-old woman who was last seen alive in 1978. Ron Leighton, the Labour MP for Newham North East in London, dies in office aged 64.
March 8, 10 and 13 March – The IRA launch three successive mortar attacks on Heathrow Airport. 8 March – Police in Gloucester confirm that they have now found the bodies of eight people buried at 25 Cromwell Street. 12 March – The first women are ordained as priests in the Church of England, at Bristol Cathedral, the very first being Angela Berners-Wilson. 19 March – Europe's first inverted roller coaster, Nemesis, opens at Alton Towers.
April April – Economic growth for the first quarter of this year exceeded 1% – the highest for five years. 1 April – Women's Royal Air Force fully merged into Royal Air Force. 10 April – Human remains are found at Kempley, Gloucestershire, by police working on the Gloucester mass murder case. The body is believed to be that of Catherine "Rena" Costello, Fred West's first wife, who was last seen alive in 1971. 12 April – Bob Cryer, the Labour MP for Bradford South in West Yorkshire, is accidentally killed after his car overturns on the M1 near Watford, Hertfordshire, aged 59. 20 April – Unemployment has fallen to just over 2.5 million – the lowest level in two years – as the economy continues to make a good recovery from the recession that ended a year ago. 28 April – Rosemary West, 40-year-old wife of suspected serial killer Fred West, is charged with three of the murders her husband stands accused of. Rosemary West was first arrested seven days ago, two months after her husband was first taken into custody. 29 April – An opinion poll shows that Conservative support has fallen to 26% – their worst showing in any major opinion poll since coming to power 15 years ago.
May 4 May – Police find human remains buried at a former home of Fred and Rose West in Gloucester. The body is believed to be that of Fred West's daughter Charmaine, who was last seen alive at the age of 8 in the summer of 1971. 5 May Local council elections see the Conservatives lose 429 seats and control of 18 councils. The Rotherham by-election is held; Denis MacShane holds the seat for Labour. 6 May – The Channel Tunnel, a long rail tunnel beneath the English Channel at the Strait of Dover, is officially opened by the Queen and French President François Mitterrand. 9 May – Release of Scottish group Wet Wet Wet's cover of the song "Love Is All Around" (1967), as featured in Four Weddings and a Funeral. From 29 May it will spend 15 consecutive weeks at number one in the UK Singles Chart, the longest spell ever attained by a British act. 12 May – John Smith (Labour Party leader) dies suddenly of a heart attack in London at 55 years old. 13 May – The film Four Weddings and a Funeral is released in the UK. 17 May – Bryan Gould, the Labour MP who unsuccessfully lost to John Smith in the 1992 leadership election, resigns from the House of Commons, triggering a by-election in his Dagenham constituency. 19 May – Robert Black, who was jailed for life four years ago for abducting a seven-year-old girl in the Scottish Borders, is found guilty of murdering three girls (Caroline Hogg, Susan Maxwell and Sarah Harper) who were killed during the 1980s and sentenced to life imprisonment with a recommended minimum term of 35 years. 25 May – The Camelot Group consortium wins the contract to run the UK's first National Lottery. 31 May – Tony Blair and Gordon Brown have dinner at the Granita restaurant in Islington and allegedly make a deal on who will become the leader of the Labour Party, and ultimately, the next Prime Minister of the United Kingdom.
June 2 June – Chinook crash on Mull of Kintyre: an RAF Chinook helicopter carrying more than twenty leading intelligence experts crashes on the Mull of Kintyre, killing everyone on board. 7 June Television playwright Dennis Potter, 59, dies of cancer in Ross-on-Wye, a week after his wife Margaret died of the same illness. Police working on the Gloucester mass murder case find and begin the 2-day recovery of human remains from a field at Much Marcle, near Gloucester (a site located by Fred West), which are identified on 30 June to be those of Anne McFall, who was last seen alive in 1967 at the age of 18 and pregnant with West's child. 9 June David Chidgey wins the Eastleigh seat for the Liberal Democrats in the by-election sparked by Stephen Milligan's death; the Tory majority now stands at 15 seats compared with the 21-seat majority they gained at the general election two years ago. By-elections are held in the seats of Barking, Bradford South, Dagenham and Newham North East; all four are held by Labour. 13 June – The Conservatives suffer their worst election results this century, winning a mere 18 out of 87 of the nation's seats in the European parliament elections. The resurgent Labour Party, still without a leader as the search for a successor to the late John Smith continues, wins 62 seats. 16 June – Sir Norman Fowler resigns as chairman of the Conservative Party. 15 June – Britain's railways grind to a virtual standstill with a strike by more than 4,000 signalling staff. 29 June – Jonathan Dimbleby's 150-minute film on Charles, Prince of Wales, Charles: The Private Man, the Public Role is broadcast on ITV. When asked if he had remained faithful to his wife (from whom he has been separated for two years), Charles responds "Yes[...] Until it became irretrievably broken down..." The Prince also expresses his view on the equal validity of religious faiths. The broadcast is watched by 13million people. This evening, Charles's estranged wife, Diana, attends a social event wearing a little black "revenge dress." The following day, the Prince's Private Secretary confirms that the "other woman" in the relationship is Camilla Parker Bowles. 30 June Magistrates in Gloucester charge Fred West with a total of 11 murders believed to have been committed between 1967 and 1987, while Rose West is charged with nine murders which are believed to have been committed between 1970 and 1987. On 3 July he is charged with a 12th murder, that of Anna McFall. Helen Liddell, a former aide to Robert Maxwell, is elected as the new Labour MP for Monklands East in the by-election caused by the death of John Smith.
July 14 July – The Queen opens the SIS Building, the new headquarters of MI6 on the banks of the River Thames in London. 21 July – Tony Blair wins the Labour Party leadership election defeating John Prescott and Margaret Beckett. 26 July – The Embassy of Israel, London is damaged in a bombing.
August 1 August Fire destroys the Norwich Central Library, including most of its historical records. The University of London founds the School of Advanced Study, a group of postgraduate research institutes. 13 August – Fifteen-year-old Richard Everitt is stabbed to death in London by a gang of British Bangladeshis in a racially motivated murder. 18 August – The first MORI poll since Tony Blair became Labour Party leader gives him a massive boost in his ambition to become prime minister as his party scores at 56% and has a 33-point lead over the Conservatives, who are now just five points ahead of the Liberal Democrats. 20 August – Huddersfield Town move into their new all-seater Alfred McAlpine Stadium, which has an initial capacity of 16,000 and will rise to 20,000 later this year on the completion of a third stand; a fourth stand is also planned and would take the capacity to around 25,000. 26 August – Sunday Trading Act 1994 (5 July) comes into full effect, permitting retailers to trade on Sundays, though restricting opening times of larger stores to a maximum of six hours, which must be between 10 am and 6 pm. This will have a significant social effect on shopping habits. 31 August – The Provisional Irish Republican Army declares a ceasefire.
September September – Lidl, a German discount food supermarket chain, opens its first 10 stores in Britain. 2 September – Television entertainer Roy Castle, who became best known to British viewers as the long-running presenter of the BBC children's series Record Breakers, dies from lung cancer at the age of 62. 2–4 September – The first Whitby Goth Weekend takes place in Whitby, North Yorkshire, featuring Inkubus Sukkubus, 13 Candles, Nightmoves and All Living Fear. 30 September – Aldwych, North Weald and Ongar railway stations on the London Underground close permanently after the last trains run.
October October – Rover Group launches the Rover 100 – a facelifted version of the Metro.