What happened in 1953? - UK

The Coronation of Queen Elizabeth II, 2 June 1953 Image by Library and Archives Canada / Bibliothèque et Archives Canada licensed under CC BY-SA 2.0.

We look at events, new products, films and music from 1953.

In the news

28 January - 19-year-old Derek Bentley was hanged for murder. Bentley's accomplice, Christopher Craig, fired the fatal shot, but escaped the death penalty because he was underage. Bentley received a Royal Pardon in 1993 and his conviction was later quashed in 1998.
31 January - the Princess Victoria, a British Railways' car ferry, sank in the Irish Sea. One hundred and thirty passengers and crew lost their lives
31 January - the highest wind speed in the UK was recorded at Costa Hill in the Orkneys at 125mph[1]
1 February - violent storms hit the East Coast of Britain. Over 300 people died as a result of the storm.
5 February - sweet rationing ended (sugar was still rationed)
28 February- James Watson and Francis Crick announced their discovery of the structure of the DNA molecule in the Eagle Public House in Cambridge. (There is a Blue Plaque outside the pub describing this event)
16 March - Marshal Tito, the President of Yugoslavia, visited the United Kingdom
24 March - Queen Mary, the widow of King George V, died
8 April - Jomo Kenyatta was sentenced to seven years in prison for his part in the Mau Mau Uprising in Kenya
15 April - Reis Leming, a US airman stationed in Britain, was awarded the George Cross for saving lives in the February storm. He rescued twenty-seven people using a small raft.
16 April - Queen Elizabeth II launched the Royal Yacht Britannia.
25 April - Watson and Crick published 'Molecular Structure of Nucleic Acids: A Structure for Deoxyribose Nucleic Acid' a description of the DNA double helix, in 'Nature' a scientific journal
4 May - The Duke of Edinburgh was presented with his pilot's wings by Air Chief Marshall Sir William Dickson, Chief of Air Staff
5 May - the well-known author Aldous Huxley tried the hallucinogenic drug mescaline. He wrote about the experience in the book 'The Doors of Perception' published the following year. The 1960s pop band 'The Doors' took their name from the book's title
29 May - Edmund Hillary and Tenzing Norgay became the first men to reach the sumit of Mount Everest in the Himalayas
2 June - the Coronation of Queen Elizabeth II at Westminster Abbey, London
14 June - the newspaper, The People, reported that Princess Margaret intended to marry Group-Captain Peter Townsend. He was a divorced man and his former wife was still living.
15 July - John Reginald Halliday Christie was hanged for the murder of his wife Ethel. He murdered at least eight people including his wife.
19 July - the Duke of Westminster, Hugh Grosvenor, died leaving an estate of £20 million. He was one of the world's richest men.
27 July - The Korean War ended
3 October - tea rationing ended
6 October - Britain sent troops to Guiana allegedly to prevent a communist revolution after the left-wing People's Progressive Party (PPP) won national elections in April 1953.
17 November - twenty people died when the Italian steamer Vittoria Claudia collided with the French motor vessel Perou.
26 November - The House of Lords voted to back Government proposals to establish commercial television

Facts

The population of the UK in 1953 was 50,728,620
Britain's Prime Minister was Sir Winston Churchill (Conservative)
The best-selling cigarette was Wills Wild Woodbine
The most popular foreign holiday destination was France
In 1953 14% of households had a television set
Britain's most common birds were the Chaffinch and Blackbird
The first coins bearing the head of Queen Elizabeth II were issued in 1953. There was a special crown issued for the Coronation

On 29 May 1953, Edmund Hillary (above) and Tenzing Norgay conquered Mount Everest Image by Jamling Tenzing Norgay licenced under the GNU Free Documentation License, version 1.2o

For more information see How much did things cost in 1953?

Films

'A Queen is Crowned'. a film about the Coronation, was the highest-grossing film in British cinemas in 1953.

Other popular films of 1953 included:

From Here to Eternity
The Cruel Sea
Genevieve
Innocents in Paris
The Red Beret
Trouble in Store
Peter Pan
The Robe
House of Wax
Gentlemen Prefer Blondes
Shane

Source: 'Cinemas and Cinema-Going in the United Kingdom: Decades of Decline, 1945-65', by Sam Manning, published by Royal Historical Society, Institute of Historical Research, University of London Press in 2020, page 56

Television

Children's TV

Children's TV programmes included:

Watch with Mother (adapted from the radio show 'Listen with Mother' in 1952)
Flower Pot Men (started in 1952)
Andy Pandy (started in 1950)
Muffin the Mule (started in 1946)

Sport

Blackpool beat Bolton Wanderers, 4-3, to win the 1953 FA Cup.

Arsenal topped the Football League for the 1952-3 season

Early Mist won the Grand National at Aintree ridden by Bryan Marshall

Pinza, ridden by Gordon Richards, won the Derby at Epsom

Cambridge won the 1953 Boat Race by eight lengths.

The Airfix Spitfire kit, launched in 1953, was the first Airfix model aeroplane Image by Steve Knight licensed under Attribution 2.0 Generic (CC BY 2.0) (cropped).

Toys

Toys and games launched in 1953 included:

The Matchbox brand was introduced for the first time. The first models were: Diesel Road Roller, Dumper, Cement Mixer and Massey Harris Tractor
Airfix launched its first model aircraft, the Spitfire

For more information see: Toys and games from the past

Cars

New models launched for the UK market in 1953 included:

Austin-Healey 100 BN1
Hillman Minx Mark VI
Hillman Minx Californian Hardtop
Humber Super-Snipe Mark IV
Jaguar XK120 Drophead Coupé
Morris Minor Series II
Standard Vanguard Phase II
Sunbeam Alpine
Wolseley 4/44

Source: British Cars of the Early Fifties, published in the Auto Library Series by the Olyslager Organisation 1975

For more information see: UK cars from the 1950s

References

[1] The Guinness Book of Records 1955, published by Guinness Superlatives page 15