15 January –
Sir Winston Churchill is reported to be seriously ill after suffering a stroke.
24 January – Sir Winston Churchill dies aged 90 at his home, 28 Hyde Park Gate in London.
30 January – Thousands attend Winston Churchill's
state funeral in London. During the three days of lying-in-state, 321,000 people have filed past the catafalque in
Westminster Hall, and the funeral procession travels from here to the service at
St Paul's Cathedral, attended by
Queen Elizabeth II, Prime Minister
Harold Wilson and representatives of 112 countries.[2] He is buried privately at
Bladon near his family's ancestral home in Oxfordshire.
31 January – National Health Service prescription charges end.
1 February – The Queen and the Duke of Edinburgh arrive in Ethiopia on a state visit.
6 February –
Stanley Matthews plays his final
First Division game, at the record age of 50 years and 5 days. He became the first footballer to be awarded a knighthood in the New Year's honours list.
12 February – Civil rights leader
Malcolm X visits
Smethwick in Birmingham, UK, following the racially charged 1964 general election campaign here.[4]
16 February – The
British Railways Board (chairman:
Richard Beeching) publishes The Development of the Major Trunk Routes proposing which lines should receive investment (and, by implication, which should not).[5]
18 February –
The Gambia becomes independent from the United Kingdom.[6]
3 March – The remains of
Roger Casement, from Pentonville Prison, are reburied in Dublin.
6 April – The Government publicly announces cancellation of the
BAC TSR-2nuclear bomber aircraft project.[9] The prototype broke the sound barrier on 22 February.
23 April – The
Pennine Way long-distance footpath officially opens.[6]
24 September – The British governor of
Aden cancels the Aden constitution and takes direct control of the protectorate, due to the bad security situation.
7 October –
Ian Brady, a 27-year-old stock clerk from
Hyde in
Cheshire, is charged with the murder of 17-year-old apprentice electrician Edward Evans at a house on the
Hattersley overspill housing estate last night.
15 October – 150 police officers are drafted in to search
Saddleworth Moor for the bodies of up to 11 missing people, mostly children or teenagers, who are believed to be buried there. The suspect in the murders is Ian Brady, charged with the murder of 17-year-old Edward Evans eight days ago. His 23-year-old girlfriend Myra Hindley has also since been charged with the murder, having been arrested on 11 October.[29]
20 October – It is reported in the regional and national media that suspected mass murderer Ian Brady tortured his victims and tape-recorded the attacks on them. Detectives in Brady's native Scotland are also reportedly investigating the disappearance of 12-year-old Moira Anderson in
Lanarkshire eight years ago as a possible link to Brady.[31]
21 October – Ian Brady and Myra Hindley are charged with the murder of Lesley Ann Downey and remanded in custody.[32][33]
22 October – African countries demand that the United Kingdom use force to prevent
Rhodesia from declaring unilateral independence.
Police find the decomposed body of a boy buried on
Saddleworth Moor. The body is identified as that of 12-year-old John Kilbride, who disappeared from
Ashton-under-Lyne in November 1963.
29 October –
Moors murders: Ian Brady and Myra Hindley appear in court, charged with the murders of Edward Evans (17), Lesley Ann Downey (10), and John Kilbride (12) from
Manchester.
31 October – The police search of Saddleworth Moor concludes after 16 days, although media reports suggest that police suspect that bodies may be buried there. Ian Brady and Myra Hindley are expected to be tried for three murders next Spring.
5 November –
Martial law is announced in
Rhodesia. The UN General Assembly accepts British intent to use force against Rhodesia if necessary by a vote of 82–9.
The
Race Relations Act[3] makes it a civil offence to discriminate in serving people in "places of public resort" on the grounds of colour, race, ethnicity or nationality and creates the offence of "incitement to racial hatred" (Act does not apply in Northern Ireland).
A new
Rent Act introduces regulated tenancies with fair rents set by independent regional assessors and protection from eviction without a court order.
30 December – President
Kenneth Kaunda of
Zambia announces that Zambia and the United Kingdom have agreed to a deadline before which the Rhodesian white minority-rule government should be ousted.
The motorway network continues to expand with the
Preston-
Lancaster section of the
M6 opening in January, the
M4 being expanded from
Slough to
London in March, a motorway section of the
A1 opening in
County Durham in May, the
M1 being expanded from
Rugby to
Kegworth (
Leicestershire) in November, along with a four-mile stretch of the
M5 west of
Birmingham, as well as the first phase of motorway in
Scotland with the
M8 as well as the expansion of the
M2 through
Kent.[43]
German carmaker
Audi begins importing cars to Britain, with its
F103 range of family saloon cars.[44]
Toyota, the Japanese industrial giant, begins importing passenger cars to the United Kingdom when its
Corona family saloon – similar in size to the
Ford Cortina – is launched.[45]
The first hatchback production car, the
French built
Renault 16, goes on sale in Britain.[46]
^Ford, David N. (1994). Schlager, Neil (ed.). When Technology Fails: significant technological disasters, accidents, and failures of the twentieth century. Gale Research. pp. 267–270.
ISBN0-8103-8908-8.
^"Mining & The Forest of Dean". Local Heritage Initiative. Forest of Dean Local History Society. 2006. Archived from
the original on 13 June 2011. Retrieved 13 October 2011.
15 January –
Sir Winston Churchill is reported to be seriously ill after suffering a stroke.
24 January – Sir Winston Churchill dies aged 90 at his home, 28 Hyde Park Gate in London.
30 January – Thousands attend Winston Churchill's
state funeral in London. During the three days of lying-in-state, 321,000 people have filed past the catafalque in
Westminster Hall, and the funeral procession travels from here to the service at
St Paul's Cathedral, attended by
Queen Elizabeth II, Prime Minister
Harold Wilson and representatives of 112 countries.[2] He is buried privately at
Bladon near his family's ancestral home in Oxfordshire.
31 January – National Health Service prescription charges end.
1 February – The Queen and the Duke of Edinburgh arrive in Ethiopia on a state visit.
6 February –
Stanley Matthews plays his final
First Division game, at the record age of 50 years and 5 days. He became the first footballer to be awarded a knighthood in the New Year's honours list.
12 February – Civil rights leader
Malcolm X visits
Smethwick in Birmingham, UK, following the racially charged 1964 general election campaign here.[4]
16 February – The
British Railways Board (chairman:
Richard Beeching) publishes The Development of the Major Trunk Routes proposing which lines should receive investment (and, by implication, which should not).[5]
18 February –
The Gambia becomes independent from the United Kingdom.[6]
3 March – The remains of
Roger Casement, from Pentonville Prison, are reburied in Dublin.
6 April – The Government publicly announces cancellation of the
BAC TSR-2nuclear bomber aircraft project.[9] The prototype broke the sound barrier on 22 February.
23 April – The
Pennine Way long-distance footpath officially opens.[6]
24 September – The British governor of
Aden cancels the Aden constitution and takes direct control of the protectorate, due to the bad security situation.
7 October –
Ian Brady, a 27-year-old stock clerk from
Hyde in
Cheshire, is charged with the murder of 17-year-old apprentice electrician Edward Evans at a house on the
Hattersley overspill housing estate last night.
15 October – 150 police officers are drafted in to search
Saddleworth Moor for the bodies of up to 11 missing people, mostly children or teenagers, who are believed to be buried there. The suspect in the murders is Ian Brady, charged with the murder of 17-year-old Edward Evans eight days ago. His 23-year-old girlfriend Myra Hindley has also since been charged with the murder, having been arrested on 11 October.[29]
20 October – It is reported in the regional and national media that suspected mass murderer Ian Brady tortured his victims and tape-recorded the attacks on them. Detectives in Brady's native Scotland are also reportedly investigating the disappearance of 12-year-old Moira Anderson in
Lanarkshire eight years ago as a possible link to Brady.[31]
21 October – Ian Brady and Myra Hindley are charged with the murder of Lesley Ann Downey and remanded in custody.[32][33]
22 October – African countries demand that the United Kingdom use force to prevent
Rhodesia from declaring unilateral independence.
Police find the decomposed body of a boy buried on
Saddleworth Moor. The body is identified as that of 12-year-old John Kilbride, who disappeared from
Ashton-under-Lyne in November 1963.
29 October –
Moors murders: Ian Brady and Myra Hindley appear in court, charged with the murders of Edward Evans (17), Lesley Ann Downey (10), and John Kilbride (12) from
Manchester.
31 October – The police search of Saddleworth Moor concludes after 16 days, although media reports suggest that police suspect that bodies may be buried there. Ian Brady and Myra Hindley are expected to be tried for three murders next Spring.
5 November –
Martial law is announced in
Rhodesia. The UN General Assembly accepts British intent to use force against Rhodesia if necessary by a vote of 82–9.
The
Race Relations Act[3] makes it a civil offence to discriminate in serving people in "places of public resort" on the grounds of colour, race, ethnicity or nationality and creates the offence of "incitement to racial hatred" (Act does not apply in Northern Ireland).
A new
Rent Act introduces regulated tenancies with fair rents set by independent regional assessors and protection from eviction without a court order.
30 December – President
Kenneth Kaunda of
Zambia announces that Zambia and the United Kingdom have agreed to a deadline before which the Rhodesian white minority-rule government should be ousted.
The motorway network continues to expand with the
Preston-
Lancaster section of the
M6 opening in January, the
M4 being expanded from
Slough to
London in March, a motorway section of the
A1 opening in
County Durham in May, the
M1 being expanded from
Rugby to
Kegworth (
Leicestershire) in November, along with a four-mile stretch of the
M5 west of
Birmingham, as well as the first phase of motorway in
Scotland with the
M8 as well as the expansion of the
M2 through
Kent.[43]
German carmaker
Audi begins importing cars to Britain, with its
F103 range of family saloon cars.[44]
Toyota, the Japanese industrial giant, begins importing passenger cars to the United Kingdom when its
Corona family saloon – similar in size to the
Ford Cortina – is launched.[45]
The first hatchback production car, the
French built
Renault 16, goes on sale in Britain.[46]
^Ford, David N. (1994). Schlager, Neil (ed.). When Technology Fails: significant technological disasters, accidents, and failures of the twentieth century. Gale Research. pp. 267–270.
ISBN0-8103-8908-8.
^"Mining & The Forest of Dean". Local Heritage Initiative. Forest of Dean Local History Society. 2006. Archived from
the original on 13 June 2011. Retrieved 13 October 2011.