1959 in the United Kingdom

Incumbents

• Monarch – Elizabeth II
• Prime Minister – Harold Macmillan
• Parliament
• * 41st
• * 42nd

  Events

• 15 January – Tyne Tees Television, the ITV franchise for North East England, goes on air.
• 22 January – racing driver Mike Hawthorn is killed after his Jaguar 3.4-litre car collides with a tree on the A3 near Guildford.
• 29 January – dense fog brings chaos to Britain.
• 19 February – the United Kingdom grants Cyprus independence.
• 23 February – Prime Minister Harold Macmillan holds talks with the Soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev on a visit to the USSR.
• 7 March – independence movement leader Kanyama Chiume, wanted in the British territory of Nyasaland, flees to London and goes into hiding.
• 10 March – comedy film Carlton-Browne of the F.O. released.
• 30 March – 20,000 demonstrators attend a CND rally in Trafalgar Square.
• 1 April – the official name of the administrative county of Hampshire is changed from "County of Southampton" to "County of Hampshire".
• 2 April – United Dairies merges with Cow & Gate to form Unigate Dairies.
• 22 April – ballerina Margot Fonteyn is released from prison in Panama having been suspected of involvement in a planned coup against the government of President Ernesto de la Guardia.
• 30 April – Icelandic gunboat fires on British trawlers in the first of the "Cod Wars" over fishing rights.
• May – first Ten Tors event held on Dartmoor.
• 2 May
• * The Chapelcross nuclear power station in Scotland opens.
• * Nottingham Forest beat Luton Town 2-1 in the FA Cup final at Wembley Stadium.
• 7 May – scientist and novelist C. P. Snow delivers an influential Rede Lecture on The Two Cultures, concerning a perceived breakdown of communication between the sciences and humanities, in the Senate House, University of Cambridge. It is subsequently published as The Two Cultures and the Scientific Revolution.
• 24 May – British Empire Day becomes Commonwealth Day.
• 28 May – Mermaid Theatre opens in the City of London.
• June – import tariffs lifted in the United Kingdom.
• 1 June – first showing on BBC Television of Juke Box Jury chaired by David Jacobs.
• 3 June – Singapore is granted self-governing status.
• 11 June – Christopher Cockerell's invention the hovercraft officially launched.
• 22 June – Harrods enters talks with Debenhams over a possible £34,000,000 merger.
• 23 June – Klaus Fuchs released from Wakefield prison having served over nine years for giving British nuclear secrets to the Soviet Union.
• July – Cliff Richard and The Drifters release a recording of the song "Living Doll" written by Lionel Bart.
• 28 July – UK postcodes are introduced for the first time, as an experiment, in the city of Norwich.
• 29 July
• * Mental Health Act becomes law, modernising the care of mental disorder.
• * Obscene Publications Act becomes law.
• * Legitimacy Act becomes law, permitting the legitimisation of a child, one of whose parents was married to a third person at the time of their birth, by subsequent marriage of the parents.
• 4 August – Barclays become the first bank to install a computer.
• 24 August – House of Fraser wins the bidding war for Harrods in a £37,000,000 deal.
• 26 August – BMC launches the Mini, a two-door, 10-foot-long mini-car with an 848cc four-cylinder transverse engine and a top speed of 70 mph, designed to carry the driver and three passengers and their luggage in comfort. Its designer is Alec Issigonis, who also designed the Morris Minor.
• 31 August – Harold Macmillan and US president Dwight Eisenhower make a joint television broadcast from Downing Street.
• 18 September – Auchengeich mining disaster: 47 miners die as the result of an underground fire at Auchengeich Colliery, Lanarkshire, Scotland.
• 7 October – Southend Pier is damaged in a fire.
• 8 October – The General election is held resulting in a record third successive Conservative victory. Harold Macmillan, running under the slogan "Life's better with the Conservatives, Don't let Labour ruin it", increases the Conservative majority to 100 seats. The Labour Party contested their first general election under the leadership of Hugh Gaitskell. Among the new members of parliament is Margaret Thatcher, representing Finchley in North London.
• 12 October – large-scale diamond robbery in London.
• 21 October – Mau Mau leader Dedan Kimathi is arrested in Nyeri, Kenya.
• 30 October – Ronnie Scott's Jazz Club opens in the Soho district of London.
• 2 November – the first section of the M1 motorway is opened between Watford and Rugby. It is set to be extended over the next few years, southwards to Edgware and northwards to Leeds.
• 5 November – Philip John Noel-Baker wins the Nobel Peace Prize.
• 11 November – London Transport introduces the production AEC Routemaster double-decker bus into public service.
• 14 November – the nuclear Dounreay Fast Reactor in Scotland achieves criticality.
• 17 November – Prestwick and Renfrew Airports become the first in the UK with duty-free shops.
• 20 November – Britain becomes a founder member of the European Free Trade Association.
• December – health enthusiast Dr. Barbara Moore walks from Edinburgh to London.
• 6 December – Aberdeen trawler George Robb runs aground at Duncansby Head in Scotland in a severe gale with the loss of all 12 crew.
• 8 December – Broughty Ferry life-boat Mona capsizes on service to North Carr Lightship in Scotland: all eight lifeboat crew are lost.
• 28 December – Associated-Rediffusion first airs the children's television series Ivor the Engine, made by Oliver Postgate and Peter Firmin's Smallfilms in stop motion animation using cardboard cut-outs.

  Undated

• London County Council completes first portion of Alton Estate in Roehampton, southwest London, considered a model of post-war public housing.
• "Aluminium War": concluding the first hostile takeover of a public company in the UK, Tube Investments, allied with Reynolds Metals of the United States and advised by Siegmund Warburg of S. G. Warburg & Co., secure control of British Aluminium.
• The iconic Bush TR82 transistor radio, by Ogle Design, is launched.
• North of Scotland Hydro-Electric Board's Sloy-Awe Hydro-Electric Power Scheme becomes fully operational.
• Car ownership in Britain now exceeds 30% of households.
• Economic growth for the year is a very strong 7.2% while the Retail Price Index shows a zero percentage change over the year.
• Noise Abatement Society established.
• Approximate date – Ballads and Blues folk club founded by Ewan MacColl and others in a London pub in Soho as part of the second British folk revival.

  Publications

• Agatha Christie's novel Cat Among the Pigeons.
• Ian Fleming's novel Goldfinger.
• Colin MacInnes' novel Absolute Beginners.
• Spike Milligan's collection Silly Verse for Kids.
• Iona and Peter Opie's study The Lore and Language of Schoolchildren.
• Mervyn Peake's novel Titus Alone, last completed of the Gormenghast series.
• Alan Sillitoe's story The Loneliness of the Long Distance Runner.
• Keith Waterhouse's novel Billy Liar.

  Births

January – February

• 5 January – David Eastwood, English historian and academic
• 7 January – Angela Smith, British Labour Co-operative politician and MP for Basildon
• 16 January – Sade Adu, Nigerian-born British singer, composer, songwriter and record producer
• 30 January – Alex Hyde-White, English actor
• 3 February – Lol Tolhurst, cofounder and drummer/keyboardist of rock band The Cure
• 23 February – Richard Dodds, British field hockey player
• 27 February – Simon Critchley, British philosopher

  March – April

• 1 March – Nick Griffin, British politician, chairman of the British National Party
• 9 March – Mark Carwardine, British zoologist
• 15 March – Ben Okri, Nigerian-born poet and novelist
• 20 March
• *Steve McFadden, British actor
• *Peter Truscott, Baron Truscott, Labour politician and peer
• 21 March – Colin Jones, Welsh boxer
• 30 March – Andrew Bailey, English banker
• 5 April – Ian Pearson, British Labour politician and MP for Dudley South
• 15 April – Emma Thompson, English actress, comedian and screenwriter
• 16 April – Alison Ramsay, Scottish field hockey player
• 17 April - Peter Doig, British painter
• 21 April – Robert Smith, British musician
• 25 April – Adrian Sanders, British Liberal Democrat politician and MP for Torbay
• 27 April – Sheena Easton, Scottish singer

  May – June

• 3 May – Ben Elton, English comedian and writer
• 5 May – Ian McCulloch, English rock singer-songwriter
• 12 May
• *Mark Davies, Roman Catholic bishop of Shrewsbury
• *Deborah Warner, stage director and producer
• 15 May – Andrew Eldritch, né Taylor, English gothic rock singer-songwriter
• 16 May – Tracy Hyde, English actress and model
• 17 May
• *Richard Barrons, English general
• *Paul Whitehouse, Welsh comedian and actor
• 22 May
• * Graham Fellows, English comedy performer
• * Morrissey, English alternative rock singer-songwriter
• 29 May
• * Rupert Everett, English actor
• * Adrian Paul, English-born actor
• 1 June
• * Martin Brundle, English Formula One motor racing driver
• * John Pullinger, English statistician and librarian
• * Peter Skinner, English Labour politician and MEP for South East England
• 6 June – Lindsay Posner, English theatre director and manager
• 11 June – Hugh Laurie, English actor, comedian and writer
• 19 June – Sophie Grigson, English cookery writer and celebrity chef
• 21 June – John Baron, English Conservative politician and MP for Billericay
• 26 June – Lucy Kellaway, English columnist at the Financial Times and teacher
• 27 June – Clint Boon, English rock keyboardist and DJ
• 28 June – Sally Morgan, Baroness Morgan of Huyton, English Labour politician and educationalist
• 29 June – Richard Vranch, English comedian, actor and television panel show participant

  July – August

• 3 July
• *Julie Burchill, journalist
• *Graham Roberts, footballer and manager
• 13 July – Richard Leman, field hockey player
• 18 July – Jonathan Dove, operatic composer
• 31 July – Kim Newman, journalist, film critic and fiction writer
• 1 August – Joe Elliott, rock singer
• 5 August – Pete Burns, pop singer
• 20 August – Andrew Pelling, Conservative politician and MP for Croydon Central
• 24 August – Meg Munn, Labour Co-operative politician and MP for Sheffield Heeley
• 27 August – Jeanette Winterson, novelist

  September – October

• 18 September – Ian Arkwright, English footballer
• 23 September – Karen Pierce, British diplomat
• 7 October – Simon Cowell, English music producer and television talent show judge
• 10 October
• *Mark Johnston, Scottish-born racehorse trainer
• *Kirsty MacColl, British singer and songwriter
• 15 October
• * Sarah, Duchess of York
• * Tibor Fischer, British novelist and short story writer
• 16 October
• * Gary Kemp, English pop artist
• * John Whittingdale, British Conservative politician and MP for Maldon and Chelmsford East
• 20 October – Niamh Cusack, Irish-born actress
• 21 October – Cleveland Watkiss, jazz vocalist
• 26 October – Brian Bovell, British actor

  November – December

• 1 November – Susanna Clarke, British writer
• 2 November
• *Kevin Ashman, English quiz player
• *Peter Mullan, Scottish actor
• 9 November
• *Andy Kershaw, British music broadcaster
• *Frances O'Grady, British trades union leader
• 14 November – Paul McGann, British actor
• 18 November – Jimmy Quinn, Irish footballer and football manager
• 25 November – Charles Kennedy, Scottish Liberal Democrat politician
• 26 November – Dai Davies Welsh politician and independent MP
• 30 November – Lorraine Kelly, British presenter and journalist
• 2 December – Gwyneth Strong, British actress
• 6 December – Stephen Hepburn, British Labour MP for Jarrow
• 10 December – Kevin Ash, journalist and author
• 11 December – Phil Woolas, disgraced Labour MP
• 12 December – Jasper Conran, English designer
• 28 December – Andy McNab, British soldier turned novelist
• 29 November – Richard Borcherds, mathematician
• 30 December – Tracey Ullman, English comedian, actress, singer, dancer, screenwriter and author

  Unknown dates

• Dilly Braimoh, African-British television presenter and producer
• Amanda Craig, British novelist
• Edith Hall, classicist
• Mick Hume, British journalist and organiser of the Revolutionary Communist Party
• Mick Manning, British children's author and illustrator
• Jasper Morrison, English product and furniture designer

  Deaths

• 22 January – Mike Hawthorn, English race car driver
• 15 February – Owen Willans Richardson, British physicist, Nobel Prize laureate
• 21 February – Kathleen Freeman, classical scholar
• 11 July – Charlie Parker, English cricketer
• 5 August – Edgar Guest, English poet
• 19 August
• *Jacob Epstein, American-born British sculptor
• *Claude Grahame-White, English aviator
• 6 September – Kay Kendall, English actress
• 21 September – Agnes Nicholls, operatic soprano
• 25 September
• * Gerard Hoffnung, German-born humorist
• * Vera Laughton Mathews, naval officer
• 15 November – Charles Thomson Rees Wilson, Scottish physicist, Nobel Prize laureate
• 26 November – Albert Ketèlbey, pianist, conductor and composer
• 14 December – Stanley Spencer, painter