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1984 in the United Kingdom

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UK-related events during the year of 1984

1984 in the United Kingdom
Other years
1982 | 1983 | 1984 (1984) | 1985 | 1986
Constituent countries of the United Kingdom
England | Northern Ireland | Scotland | Wales
Popular culture

1984 British Grand Prix
1984 English cricket season
Football: England | Scotland
1984 in British television
1984 in British music
1984 in British radio
UK in the Eurovision Song Contest 1984

Events from the year 1984 in the United Kingdom. The year was dominated by the miners' strike.

Incumbents

Events

January

February

March

April

May

June

July

August

September

  • 6 September – A MORI poll shows that the Conservatives now have a slim lead over Labour for the first time this year.
  • 7 September – An outbreak of food poisoning in two Yorkshire hospitals has so far claimed 22 lives in the space of two weeks.
  • 10 September – Geneticist Alec Jeffreys discovers DNA fingerprinting.
  • 11 September – Police arrest Malcolm Fairley at an address in Kentish Town, London, following a nationwide manhunt for the sex attacker known as The Fox.
  • 15–16 September – Bones believed to be those of St Edward the Martyr (King of England, 975–978) are enshrined in the Church of St. Edward the Martyr, Brookwood, Surrey.
  • 15 September – The Princess of Wales (Diana) gives birth to her second son.
  • 16 September – The one-day-old son of the Prince and Princess of Wales (Charles and Diana) is named as Henry Charles Albert David.
  • 24 September – Four pupils and their teacher die and a further six pupils are injured when a roll of steel from a lorry crushes their minibus near Stuart Bathurst RC High School in Wednesbury, West Midlands.
  • 26 September – The United Kingdom and the People's Republic of China sign the initial agreement to return Hong Kong to China in 1997.
  • 28 September – The High Court rules that the miner's strike is unlawful.

October

  • 1 October – David Jenkins, Bishop of Durham, launches an attack on Margaret Thatcher's social policies. The Durham area has been particularly hard hit by factory and mine closures since her election as Prime Minister five years ago.
  • 3 October – Plans to expand the Urban Enterprise Zone in Dudley, West Midlands, are approved; developers Don and Roy Richardson get the go-ahead to build a retail park and shopping mall on the main part of the site. The first tenants will move to the site next year and the development is expected in the next 18 months, with scope for further service sector developments in the future.
  • 5 October – Police in Essex make the largest cannabis seizure in British criminal history when a multimillion-pound stash of the drug is found on a schooner moored on the River Crouch near North Fambridge village.
  • 9 October – Thomas the Tank Engine and Friends is first broadcast on ITV, becoming one of the most successful children's TV programmes of all time since Postman Pat on the BBC three years prior.
  • 10 October – The High Court fines the NUM £200,000 and Arthur Scargill £1,000 for contempt of court.
  • 11 October – Three people are killed in the Wembley Central rail crash in London.
  • 12 October – The Provisional Irish Republican Army attempts to assassinate the Conservative cabinet in the Brighton hotel bombing. Margaret Thatcher escapes unharmed, but MP Anthony Berry and four other people are killed, whilst Norman Tebbit is trapped among the rubble and his wife Margaret is seriously injured.
  • 13 October – Darts player John Lowe achieves the first televised nine dart finish.
  • 16 October
    • There is good news for the state-owned car maker Austin Rover. On the day that a facelifted version of its top-selling Austin Metro, now available as a five-door as well as a three-door is launched, it is announced that sales for September have increased by 39% over the same period last year. The pre-facelift Metro was Britain's best selling car last month, while the Maestro (launched 19 months ago) was the second best seller ahead of its key rival the Ford Escort and the six-month-old Austin Montego was the fifth best seller ahead of the Ford Sierra as an estate version of it launches which also marked the end of the Morris marque.
    • Police drama The Bill airs for the first time on ITV. It debuted last year as a pilot show Wooden Top. When the last episode is shown in 2010, it will be the longest-running police procedural in British television history.
  • 18 October – Support for the Conservative government is reported to be improving after several months of dismal poll showings, with the latest MORI poll putting them nine points ahead of Labour on 44%.
  • 23 October – BBC News presenter Michael Buerk gives a powerful commentary of the famine in Ethiopia which has already claimed thousands of lives and reportedly has the potential to claim the lives of as many as 7 million more people. Numerous British charities including Oxfam and Save the Children begin collection work to aid the famine victims who are mostly encamped near the town of Korem.
  • 31 October – Police and Criminal Evidence Act 1984 passed, codifying police powers in investigating suspects.

November

December

Undated

  • Non-diocesan Bishop at Lambeth first appointed within the Church of England.
  • Vauxhall have a successful year in the motor industry. It has reported that its market share has doubled since 1981 and the year ends on an even bigger high when its MK2 Astra range is elected European Car of the Year, alongside its European counterpart the Opel Kadett.
  • Despite unemployment reaching a peak of nearly 3.3million this year (with the highest unemployment rate recorded since 1971 of 11.9% in February), inflation is still low at 5%.
  • Youth unemployment (covering the 16–24 age range) stands at a record 1,200,000 – more than a third of the total unemployment count.

Publications

Births

Deaths

January

Alexis Korner
Charles Greville, 7th Earl of Warwick
John William McNee

February

Henry Somerset, 10th Duke of Beaufort
John Comer

March

Henry Wilcoxon
Peg Maltby
Arnold Ridley

April

Arthur Travers Harris
William Empson

May

Diana Dors
John Betjeman
Eric Morecambe

June

Estelle Winwood
Webster Booth

July

Flora Robson
Flora Solomon

August

Richard Burton
Mary Esslemont

September

October

Helen Rushall
Paul Dirac

November

Percy Seymour, 18th Duke of Somerset
Eric G. Forbes

December

Ethel Mannin

Date unknown

See also

References

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