1974 in the United Kingdom

Events from the year 1974 in the United Kingdom.

1974 in the United Kingdom
Other years
1972 | 1973 | 1974 (1974) | 1975 | 1976
Constituent countries of the United Kingdom
England | Northern Ireland | Scotland | Wales
Popular culture

The year is marked by the Three-Day Week, two general elections, a state of emergency in Northern Ireland, extensive Provisional Irish Republican Army bombing of the British mainland, several large company collapses and major local government reorganisation.

Incumbents

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Events

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January

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  • January – Britain enters its first post-war recession after statistics show that the economy contracted during the third and fourth quarters of last year. [1]
  • 1 January
  • 1 January–7 March – The Three-Day Week is introduced by the Conservative Government as a measure to conserve electricity during the period of industrial action by coal miners.[2]
  • 25 January – The travel writer and royal biographer James Pope-Hennessy, 57, is murdered at his flat in Ladbroke Grove, London, by a gang of young men.[3]

February

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March

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April

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June

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July

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August

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September

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  • 12 September – Brian Clough is dismissed after 44 days as manager of defending league champions Leeds United following a disappointing start to the Football League season.[37]
  • 18 September – Harold Wilson confirms that a second general election for the year will be held on 10 October.
  • 23 September – Ceefax is started by the BBC – one of the first public service information systems.[6]
  • 30 September – With the year's second general election 10 days away, opinion polls show Labour in the lead with Harold Wilson well placed to gain the overall majority that no party achieved in the election held seven months earlier.[38]

October

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  • October – Five previously all-male Colleges of the University of Oxford admit women undergraduates for the first time.[39]
  • 5 October – Guildford pub bombings: Bombs planted by the IRA at pubs patronised by off-duty soldiers, The Horse and Groom and The Seven Stars, kill five people.[40]
  • 10 October – The second general election of the year results in a narrow victory for Harold Wilson, giving Labour a majority of three seats. It is widely expected that Edward Heath's leadership of the Conservative Party will soon be at an end, as he has now lost three of the four General Elections that he has contested in almost a decade as leader.[41] The Scottish National Party secures its highest Westminster party representation to date with 11 seats. Enoch Powell is returned to Parliament standing for the Ulster Unionist Party in Northern Ireland.[42] Powell, who was dismissed from the Conservative Shadow Cabinet in April 1968 following his controversial Rivers of Blood speech on immigration, had left the Conservative Party at the general election on 28 February and recently rejected an offer to stand as a candidate for the National Front.[43]
  • 16 October – Rioting prisoners set fire to the Maze Prison in Belfast.[44]
  • 19 October – Keith Joseph makes a speech in Edgbaston on the cycle of deprivation; the controversy it provokes has the effect of ruling him out of high office in the Conservative Party.
  • 22 October – The IRA bombs Brooks's club in London.[45]
  • 28 October – The wife and son of Sports Minister Denis Howell survive an IRA bomb attack on their car.[46]

November

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December

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Undated

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Publications

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Births

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Deaths

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See also

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References

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  1. ^ a b Palmer, Alan; Palmer, Veronica (1992). The Chronology of British History. London: Century Ltd. pp. 435–436. ISBN 0-7126-5616-2.
  2. ^ "British Economics and Trade Union politics 1973–1974". The National Archives (UK Government records). Archived from the original on 9 June 2007. Retrieved 21 May 2007.
  3. ^ a b "Pittsburgh Post-Gazette - Google News Archive Search". news.google.com. Retrieved 7 April 2022.
  4. ^ "1974: Soldiers and children killed in coach bombing". BBC News. 4 February 1974. Archived from the original on 7 March 2008. Retrieved 10 February 2008.
  5. ^ "1974: Heath calls snap election over miners". BBC News. 7 February 1974. Archived from the original on 19 February 2008. Retrieved 10 February 2008.
  6. ^ a b c d Penguin Pocket On This Day. Penguin Reference Library. 2006. ISBN 0-14-102715-0.
  7. ^ Duffy, Jonathan (12 September 2008). "See Emily play". BBC. Retrieved 14 March 2011.
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  11. ^ "1968: Powell slates immigration policy". BBC News. 20 April 1968.
  12. ^ "1974 Feb: Hung parliament looms". BBC News. 5 April 2005. Archived from the original on 22 April 2009.
  13. ^ "1974: Miners' strike comes to an end". BBC News. 6 March 1974. Archived from the original on 6 March 2008. Retrieved 10 February 2008.
  14. ^ "News | British Economics and Trade Union politics 1973-1974". Archived from the original on 9 June 2007. Retrieved 21 May 2007.
  15. ^ "1974: 'Anti-IRA spies' break out of jail". BBC News. 11 March 1974. Archived from the original on 2 February 2008. Retrieved 10 February 2008.
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  17. ^ "Lada Owners Club of GB Lada cars in the UK". Archived from the original on 21 July 2010. Retrieved 15 October 2010.
  18. ^ "Revie's stars reflect on the man who turned Leeds into legends". www.yorkshirepost.co.uk.
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  20. ^ a b "Thirty Years Ago - May 1974". Archived from the original on 18 April 2010. Retrieved 18 May 2010.
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  40. ^ "1974: Four dead in Guildford bomb blasts". BBC News. 5 October 1974. Archived from the original on 7 March 2008. Retrieved 10 February 2008.
  41. ^ "1974: Labour scrapes working majority". BBC News. 11 October 1974. Archived from the original on 7 March 2008. Retrieved 10 February 2008.
  42. ^ Melaugh, Dr Martin. "CAIN: Chronology of the Conflict 1974". cain.ulst.ac.uk.
  43. ^ "Enoch Powell: the Great Lie survives". Archived from the original on 1 February 2009. Retrieved 5 February 2011.
  44. ^ "1974: Maze prison goes up in flames". BBC News. 16 October 1974. Archived from the original on 7 March 2008. Retrieved 10 February 2008.
  45. ^ "1974: Bomb blast in London club". BBC News. 22 October 1974. Archived from the original on 7 March 2008. Retrieved 10 February 2008.
  46. ^ "1974: Minister's wife survives bomb attack". BBC News. 28 October 1974. Archived from the original on 7 March 2008. Retrieved 10 February 2008.
  47. ^ "1974: M62 bomber jailed for life". BBC News. 4 November 1974. Archived from the original on 7 March 2008. Retrieved 10 February 2008.
  48. ^ "1974: Police hunt Lord Lucan after murder". BBC News. 8 November 1974. Archived from the original on 7 March 2008. Retrieved 10 February 2008. He is pronounced legally dead in 2016.
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