31 January–1 February – The
North Sea flood of 1953 kills 307 people on the east coast of Britain, with more at sea.[3] A
corvette and a submarine sink at their moorings in HM Dockyard
Sheerness.
1 February – Pool petrol, introduced during World War II, is replaced by individual brands.
3 February – Contralto
Kathleen Ferrier premieres a critically acclaimed production of
Gluck's Orfeo at the
Royal Opera House, Covent Garden, but a repeat 3 days later will be her last public performance as terminal cancer (not made public) cuts her career short at age 40.[4][5]
5 February – Rationing of
sweets, introduced during World War II, ends.[6]
2 May –
Blackpool F.C. win the
FA Cupfinal with a 4–3 victory over
Bolton Wanderers, who have been 3–1 ahead until the final quarter of the game.
Stan Mortensen scores a hat-trick, but the 38-year-old winger
Stanley Matthews is instrumental in winning the game for Blackpool, who have never won a major trophy before.[18]
25 May – Whitsun
bank holiday; many businesses postpone the holiday for a week.[19]
6 June – The
Epsom Derby is won by
Pinza, the only Derby victory for
Gordon Richards at his 28th attempt, days after becoming the only jockey to be made a
knight. The Queen's horse, Aureole, finishes second.[22]
23 June – Prime Minister
Winston Churchill, 78, suffers a stroke at a dinner for the Italian Prime Minister
Alcide De Gasperi.[23] On 27 June the public are told that he is suffering from fatigue.[24]
25 June –
John Christie, a 54-year-old Londoner, is sentenced to death for the murder of his wife Ethel Christie. A total of eight bodies have been found at Christie's home, 10 Rillington Place in
Notting Hill, including those of the wife and daughter of
Timothy Evans who had been hanged in 1950 for his daughter's murder.[25]
26 June –
Eskdalemuir enters the
UK Weather Records for the highest rainfall in a 30-minute period with 80mm, a record that will remain for at least sixty years.
15 July – John Christie is hanged at
Pentonville Prison, where a crowd of some two hundred people stand to wait for the notice of execution to be posted.[25]
11 November – Current affairs series Panorama first airs on
BBC Television, it will still be running more than seventy years later.[10]
17 November – Italian cargo steamer Vittoria Claudia sinks after collision with French motor vessel Perou in the
English Channel, killing twenty Italian sailors.[32]
20 November – The
Piltdown Man, which was discovered in 1912 and thought to be the fossilised remains of a hitherto unknown form of early human, is exposed as a hoax.[10][33][34]
Winston Churchill wins the
Nobel Prize in Literature "for his mastery of historical and biographical description as well as for brilliant oratory in defending exalted human values".[37]
Some 25% of British households now own a television set, seventeen years after the first sets became available. Many families buy a set this year to watch the Coronation of Elizabeth II.[45]
^Weiner, J. S.;
Oakley, K. P.;
Le Gros Clark, W. E. (20 November 1953). "The Solution of the Piltdown Problem". Bulletin of the British Museum (Natural History), Geology Series. 2 (3): 141–6.
^"Piltdown Man forgery". The Times. London. 21 November 1953. p. 6.
^Baren, Maurice (1996). How It All Began Up the High Street. London: Michael O'Mara Books. pp. 82–3.
ISBN978-1-85479-667-7.
^Hyman, Basil; Braggs, Steven (1 December 2007). The G-Plan Revolution: a celebration of British Popular Furniture of the 1950s and 1960s.
ISBN978-1-86154-310-3.
31 January–1 February – The
North Sea flood of 1953 kills 307 people on the east coast of Britain, with more at sea.[3] A
corvette and a submarine sink at their moorings in HM Dockyard
Sheerness.
1 February – Pool petrol, introduced during World War II, is replaced by individual brands.
3 February – Contralto
Kathleen Ferrier premieres a critically acclaimed production of
Gluck's Orfeo at the
Royal Opera House, Covent Garden, but a repeat 3 days later will be her last public performance as terminal cancer (not made public) cuts her career short at age 40.[4][5]
5 February – Rationing of
sweets, introduced during World War II, ends.[6]
2 May –
Blackpool F.C. win the
FA Cupfinal with a 4–3 victory over
Bolton Wanderers, who have been 3–1 ahead until the final quarter of the game.
Stan Mortensen scores a hat-trick, but the 38-year-old winger
Stanley Matthews is instrumental in winning the game for Blackpool, who have never won a major trophy before.[18]
25 May – Whitsun
bank holiday; many businesses postpone the holiday for a week.[19]
6 June – The
Epsom Derby is won by
Pinza, the only Derby victory for
Gordon Richards at his 28th attempt, days after becoming the only jockey to be made a
knight. The Queen's horse, Aureole, finishes second.[22]
23 June – Prime Minister
Winston Churchill, 78, suffers a stroke at a dinner for the Italian Prime Minister
Alcide De Gasperi.[23] On 27 June the public are told that he is suffering from fatigue.[24]
25 June –
John Christie, a 54-year-old Londoner, is sentenced to death for the murder of his wife Ethel Christie. A total of eight bodies have been found at Christie's home, 10 Rillington Place in
Notting Hill, including those of the wife and daughter of
Timothy Evans who had been hanged in 1950 for his daughter's murder.[25]
26 June –
Eskdalemuir enters the
UK Weather Records for the highest rainfall in a 30-minute period with 80mm, a record that will remain for at least sixty years.
15 July – John Christie is hanged at
Pentonville Prison, where a crowd of some two hundred people stand to wait for the notice of execution to be posted.[25]
11 November – Current affairs series Panorama first airs on
BBC Television, it will still be running more than seventy years later.[10]
17 November – Italian cargo steamer Vittoria Claudia sinks after collision with French motor vessel Perou in the
English Channel, killing twenty Italian sailors.[32]
20 November – The
Piltdown Man, which was discovered in 1912 and thought to be the fossilised remains of a hitherto unknown form of early human, is exposed as a hoax.[10][33][34]
Winston Churchill wins the
Nobel Prize in Literature "for his mastery of historical and biographical description as well as for brilliant oratory in defending exalted human values".[37]
Some 25% of British households now own a television set, seventeen years after the first sets became available. Many families buy a set this year to watch the Coronation of Elizabeth II.[45]
^Weiner, J. S.;
Oakley, K. P.;
Le Gros Clark, W. E. (20 November 1953). "The Solution of the Piltdown Problem". Bulletin of the British Museum (Natural History), Geology Series. 2 (3): 141–6.
^"Piltdown Man forgery". The Times. London. 21 November 1953. p. 6.
^Baren, Maurice (1996). How It All Began Up the High Street. London: Michael O'Mara Books. pp. 82–3.
ISBN978-1-85479-667-7.
^Hyman, Basil; Braggs, Steven (1 December 2007). The G-Plan Revolution: a celebration of British Popular Furniture of the 1950s and 1960s.
ISBN978-1-86154-310-3.