1946 in the United Kingdom

Incumbents

• Monarch – George VI
• Prime Minister – Clement Attlee
• Parliament – 38th

  Events

• 1 January
• * The first international flight from London Heathrow Airport, to Buenos Aires.
• * Atomic Energy Research Establishment established at Harwell, near Oxford.
• 4 January – Theodore Schurch is hanged at HM Prison Pentonville by Albert Pierrepoint, the only British soldier executed for treachery committed during World War II and the last person to be executed in Britain for an offence other than murder.
• 10 January – first United Nations General Assembly convenes at Methodist Central Hall Westminster.
• 17 January – the United Nations Security Council holds its first meeting at Church House in London.
• 14 February – the Bank of England is nationalised.
• 15 February – American dance craze, the Jitterbug, sweeps Britain.
• 20 February – Royal Opera House in Covent Garden re-opens after the War with The Royal Ballet performing The Sleeping Beauty.
• 5 March – Winston Churchill delivers his "Iron Curtain" speech at Westminster College in Fulton, Missouri, United States.
• 9 March – stadium disaster at Bolton Wanderers's Burnden Park, Bolton, England: 33 killed and hundreds injured.
• 10 March – British troops begin withdrawal from Lebanon.
• 15 March – Labour Prime Minister Clement Attlee announces that Britain is granting India's wish for independence. On March 24, the 1946 Cabinet Mission to India arrives in New Delhi for discussions.
• 24 March – BBC Home Service radio broadcasts Alistair Cooke's first American Letter. As Letter from America, this programme will continue until a few weeks before Cooke's death in 2004.
• 27 April – the first postwar FA Cup final is won by Derby County, who beat Charlton Athletic 4–1 at Wembley Stadium.
• 4 May – first-class cricket returns, having been suspended during the War.
• 20 May – the House of Commons votes to nationalise coal mines in the United Kingdom.
• 23 May – Terence Rattigan's drama The Winslow Boy premieres in London.
• 31 May – London Heathrow Airport opened fully for civilian use.
• 1 June – television licence introduced.
• 7 June – television broadcasting by the BBC, suspended during World War II, resumes.
• 8 June – a victory parade is held in London to celebrate the end of World War II.
• 27 June – Government imposes bread rationing.
• July – homeless families squat in a former Army camp at Scunthorpe.
• August – Arthur Horner, a member of the Communist Party, becomes General Secretary of the National Union of Mineworkers.
• 1 August
• * Finance Act receives Royal Assent, including the establishment of the National Land Fund to secure culturally significant property for the nation as a memorial to the dead of World War II.
• * Atomic Energy Act of 1946 in the United States ends co-operation between the U.K. and U.S. on development of nuclear technology.
• 6 August
• * Family allowance introduced, a cash benefit paid to mothers.
• * Free milk provided in UK state schools to all pupils under the age of 18.
• 9 August – Arts Council incorporated by Royal Charter.
• 31 August – league football returns, having been suspended during World War II.
• September-November – Britain Can Make It exhibition at the Victoria and Albert Museum in London, promoted by the Council of Industrial Design and the Board of Trade to show off good domestic and industrial design.
• 8 September – mass squat by homeless families of the Ivanhoe Hotel and other empty properties in London organised by the Communist Party.
• 15 September – Marshal of the Royal Air Force Sir Arthur Harris, Commander-in-Chief of RAF Bomber Command, retires.
• 16 September – popular quiz show Have A Go! with Wilfred Pickles first broadcast nationally on BBC Radio.
• 29 September – BBC Third Programme begins broadcasting.
• 1 October – English premiere of J. B. Priestley's drama An Inspector Calls at the New Theatre, London, starring Ralph Richardson.
• 7 October – the BBC Light Programme transmits the first episode of the daily radio magazine programme Woman's Hour, which will still be running more than 65 years later, and of the daily adventure serial Dick Barton – Special Agent.
• 10 October – first community arts centre opened, at Bridgwater in Somerset.
• 1 November – first Royal Command Performance at a public cinema, the Empire, Leicester Square: premiere of the Powell and Pressburger film A Matter of Life and Death starring David Niven.
• 9 November – shooting of Margaret Cook in Carnaby Street, London.
• 10 November – Peter Scott opens the Slimbridge Wetland Reserve in Gloucestershire.
• 11 November – Stevenage, a village in Hertfordshire, is designated by the Attlee government as Britain's first new town to relieve overcrowding and replace bombed homes in London. The new town is set to have around 60,000 residents once it is completed, and the first homes are expected to be ready by 1952 and the town fully developed by the early 1960s. The town's centerpiece will be a revolutionary pedestrianised central shopping area.
• 17 November – eight British Army servicemen are killed in Jerusalem by Jewish terrorists.
• 22 November – Tony Benn is elected as Treasurer of the Oxford Union.
• 29 November
• * Premiere of educational documentary film The Instruments of the Orchestra containing Benjamin Britten's composition The Young Person's Guide to the Orchestra.
• * BBC Television premieres Pinwright's Progress, the world's first regular half-hour situation comedy.
• 26 December – David Lean's film of Great Expectations released.

  Undated

• Cinemagoing reaches an all-time peak, with 1,635 million admissions during the year.
• Lifting of prohibition on married women working in the Civil Service.
• Fred Pontin opens the first Pontins holiday camp, at Brean Sands, Burnham-on-Sea, Somerset.
• The University of Bristol establishes the first university drama department in the UK.
• Bush DAC90 bakelite radio introduced: it becomes the best-selling model for some years.

  Publications

• January – launch of Penguin Classics under the editorship of E. V. Rieu, whose translation of the Odyssey is the first published in the series and will be the country's best-selling book over the next decade.
• W. V. Awdry's children's book Thomas the Tank Engine, first in The Railway Series.
• Enid Blyton's girl school story First Term at Malory Towers, first in the Malory Towers series.
• Agatha Christie's Hercule Poirot novel The Hollow.
• R. G. Collingwood's collected philosophical lectures The Idea of History.
• John Stewart Collis' memoir While Following the Plough.
• Stella Gibbons' novel Westwood.
• Philip Larkin's novel Jill.
• George Mikes' book How to be an Alien.
• Mervyn Peake's novel Titus Groan, first in the Gormenghast series.
• Thomas Sharp's book The Anatomy of the Village.
• Joint Committee of the Building Research Board and the Fire Offices' Committee's first report on fire safety General Principles and Structural Precautions.

  Births

January – February

• 3 January – John Paul Jones, English bassist
• 6 January – Syd Barrett, English guitarist and singer
• 7 January – Mike Wilds, English racing driver and pilot
• 14 January – Harold Shipman, serial killer
• 19 January – Julian Barnes, novelist
• 25 January – Pete Price, Merseyside radio disc jockey
• 1 February – Elisabeth Sladen, television actress
• 7 February – Pete Postlethwaite, actor
• 9 February – Seán Neeson, Alliance Party of Northern Ireland politician
• 13 February – Colin Matthews, composer
• 15 February – Clare Short, politician
• 16 February – Ian Lavender, actor
• 20 February – Brenda Blethyn, English actress
• 21 February – Alan Rickman, English actor
• 28 February – Robin Cook, Labour politician

  March – April

• 6 March – David Gilmour, English musician
• 21 March – Timothy Dalton, actor
• 22 March – Richard Faulkner, Baron Faulkner of Worcester, journalist and politician
• 25 March – Cliff Balsam, English footballer
• 2 April – Sue Townsend, English comic novelist and playwright
• 4 April – Dave Hill, English guitarist
• 9 April
• *Les Gray, English vocalist
• *Mike Hancock, politician
• *Alan Knott, English cricketer
• *Sara Parkin, Scottish activist and politician
• 12 April – George Robertson, Scottish politician
• 15 April – Hugh Laddie, judge
• 19 April – Tim Curry, actor, vocalist and composer
• 24 April – Piers Gough, architect
• 25 April – John Fox, statistician
• 27 April – Nicholas Serota, art curator
• 28 April – Linda Knowles, high jumper
• 29 April – Humphrey Carpenter, children's writer and broadcaster

  May – June

• 1 May – Joanna Lumley, actress
• 4 May – John Watson, Northern Irish racing driver
• 10 May
• * Donovan, Scottish musician
• * Maureen Lipman, actress, columnist and comedian
• * Dave Mason, English musician
• 11 May – David Varney, English civil servant
• 13 May – Tim Pigott-Smith, English actor
• 16 May – Robert Fripp, British musician
• 22 May – George Best, Northern Irish footballer
• 23 May – Stephen Marks, English businessman
• 2 June – Peter Sutcliffe, English serial killer
• 11 June – Jenny Pitman, English horse trainer and author
• 15 June – Noddy Holder, English singer
• 19 June – Michael Jay, Baron Jay of Ewelme, English politician and diplomat, British Ambassador to France
• 20 June – Nigel Kalton, mathematician and academic
• 23 June – Kathy Wilkes, English philosopher
• 25 June – Buzz Goodbody, English theatre director
• 28 June – Jamie Cann, politician

  July – August

• 3 August – Jack Straw, British politician
• 6 August – Ron Davies, politician
• 15 August – William Waldegrave, Baron Waldegrave of North Hill, academic and politician, Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster
• 23 August – Keith Moon, English drummer
• 26 August – Alison Steadman, actress

  September – October

• 1 September – Barry Gibb, pop singer-songwriter
• 10 September – Don Powell, English drummer
• 11 September – Mike Bull, Northern Irish pole vaulter and decathlete
• 12 September – Neil Lyndon, journalist and author
• 19 September – Oliver Foot, actor
• 25 September – Felicity Kendal, actress
• 8 October – Bel Mooney, English author, journalist, advice columnist
• 10 October – Charles Dance, actor
• 13 October – Edwina Currie, British Conservative politician, author and radio personality
• 14 October
• *Justin Hayward, English singer and songwriter
• *Katy Manning, English-Australian actress and production manager
• 17 October – Vicki Hodge, English actress
• 19 October – Philip Pullman, English author
• 22 October – Eileen Gordon, British Labour politician
• 29 October – Peter Green, blues rock guitarist and singer-songwriter
• 31 October
• * Caroline Jackson, British politician
• * Stephen Rea, Northern Irish actor

  November – December

• 1 November – Ric Grech, British bassist
• 6 November – Susie Orbach, English psychotherapist
• 7 November – Martin Barre, English musician
• 12 November – P. P. Arnold, born Patricia Ann Cole, American-born soul singer
• 14 November – Carola Dunn, English writer
• 15 November – Gwyneth Powell, British actress
• 18 November – Andrea Allan, Scottish actress
• 21 November – Marina Warner, English writer
• 22 November – Brian Cookman, English musician and composer
• 23 November – Diana Quick, English actress
• 4 December – Angela Browning, English Conservative politician and MP for Tiverton and Honiton
• 14 December – Jane Birkin, English actress and singer
• 16 December – Trevor Pinnock, English harpsichordist and conductor
• 20 December – Lesley Judd, English actress and television presenter
• 25 December – Christopher Frayling, English cultural historian
• 27 December
• * Janet Street Porter, English broadcast journalist
• * Polly Toynbee, English journalist and writer
• 29 December – Marianne Faithfull, English singer and actress

  Deaths

• 2 January – Eleanor Rathbone, social campaigner and politician
• 3 January – William Joyce, Irish American fascist propagandist
• 4 January – Theodore Schurch, British-born soldier and collaborator
• 23 January – Sir Frank MacKinnon, judge
• 5 February – George Arliss, English film actor
• 3 April – Alf Common, English footballer
• 21 April – John Maynard Keynes, economist
• 26 May
• * Arthur Winnington-Ingram, Bishop of London
• * Sir Francis Lacey, cricket administrator
• 14 June – John Logie Baird, Scottish television pioneer
• 11 July – Paul Nash, artist
• 15 July – Razor Smith, English cricketer
• 13 August – H. G. Wells, English novelist
• 16 August – Sir Granville Bantock, classical composer and conductor
• 31 August – Harley Granville-Barker, actor, playwright and critic