6 January – The Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders announces that a record of nearly 1.8 million cars were sold in Britain last year. The best-selling car for the second year running was the Ford Escort with more than 174,000 sales.[1]
25 January – The government prohibits GCHQ staff from belonging to any trade union.[4]
February
1 February
Japanese car maker Nissan signs an agreement with the British government to build a car factory in Britain. This landmark deal means that foreign cars will be built in Britain for the first time, with the factory set to open during 1986.[5]
Chancellor of the Exchequer Nigel Lawson announces that after 13 years, the halfpenny will be demonetised and withdrawn from circulation.[6][7]
1 March – Labour MP Tony Benn is returned to parliament after winning the Chesterfield by-election, having lost his previous seat at the general election last year.
2 March – Just five months after becoming Labour Party leader, Neil Kinnock's ambition of becoming Prime Minister at the next election (due to be held by June 1988) are given a boost when Labour come top of a MORI poll with 41% of the vote (compared to the 38% attained by the Conservatives). Just over six months ago, the Conservatives had a 16-point lead over Labour in the opinion polls. However, Kinnock is still faced with the task of overhauling a triple-digit Conservative majority.[11]
23 March – Hilda Murrell, 78-year-old rose grower and anti-nuclear campaigner, is found dead near her home in Shropshire, five days after being reported missing. West Mercia Police launch a murder investigation.
9 April – More than 100 pickets are arrested in violent clashes at the colliery at Creswell, Derbyshire, and the Babbington Colliery in Nottinghamshire. It is estimated that 46 out of 176 British coal mines are currently active as miners fight government plans to close 20 coal mines across Britain.[18]
12 April
Arthur Scargill, the leader of the National Union of Mineworkers, rules out a national ballot of miners on whether to continue their strike, which has already lasted five weeks.[19]
22 April – In the wake of WPC Yvonne Fletcher's death, Britain severs diplomatic relations with Libya and serves warning on its seven remaining Libyan diplomats to return to their homeland.
25 April – Austin Rover launches its new Montego four-door saloon which replaces the Austin Ambassador and Morris Ital and is derived from the Maestro hatchback. A five-door estate version of the Montego is due later this year.
12 May – Liverpool F.C. secure a third consecutive league title and the 15th in the club's history, despite being held to a 0–0 draw away at Notts County.
19 May
Everton win the FA Cup, their first major trophy for 14 years, with a 2–0 win over Watford in the final at Wembley Stadium. The goals are scored by Andy Gray and Graeme Sharp. Everton's last FA Cup triumph came in 1966, and they have now won the trophy four times.[21]
23 May – 16 people are killed in the Abbeystead disaster, caused by exploding methane gas.
26 May – The football British Home Championship, which has been contested by the four home nations since 1884, witnesses its last game. Northern Ireland win the trophy.
29 May – Fighting at Orgreave colliery between police and striking miners leaves 64 injured.[4]
30 May
The Queen officially opens a new terminal at Birmingham Airport. The terminal has been in use since the start of last month, replacing the original terminal that opened in 1939.[22]
Arthur Scargill is arrested and charged with obstruction at Orgreave.
June
1 June – Murder of Mark Tildesley: A 7-year-old boy from Wokingham in Berkshire disappears after visiting a local fairground and being abducted and killed by a paedophile group led by Sidney Cooke; only one named member of the gang is convicted of the crime (in 1992) and the victim's body will not be found (as of 2019).[24][25]
7 June – 120 people are arrested when fighting breaks out outside the Houses of Parliament during a mass lobby by striking miners.
15 June – A miner picketing a Yorkshire power station is killed by a lorry.
18 June – Battle of Orgreave confrontation between picketing miners and police.
19 June – Austin Rover launches the Rover 200 saloon, the replacement for the Triumph Acclaim which marks the end of the Triumph brand after 63 years. Like its predecessor, the new car is the result of a venture with Honda.
20 June – The biggest school examination shake-up in over 10 years is announced with O-level and CSE examinations to be replaced by a new examination, the GCSE. The first GCSE courses will begin in September 1986 and will be completed in the Summer of 1988.[27]
June – British unemployment is at a record high of around 3.26 million – though a higher percentage of the nation's workforce were unemployed during the Great Depression some 50 years ago.[30]
9 July – A fire in the roof of York Minster, probably caused by an electrical storm, causes extensive damage which is expected to cost millions of pounds to repair.[31]
Neil Kinnock's hopes of becoming Prime Minister are given a boost by the latest MORI poll which puts Labour three points ahead of the Conservatives on 40%,
26 July – Trade Union Act prohibits unions from striking without a ballot.[4]
11 August – Barefoot South African runner Zola Budd, controversially granted British citizenship earlier in the year, collides with Mary Decker in the 3000 meters final at the Olympics, neither finishing as medallists.[34]
11 September – Police arrest Malcolm Fairley at an address in Kentish Town, London, following a nationwide manhunt for the sex attacker known as The Fox.[37]
26 September – The United Kingdom and the People's Republic of China sign the initial agreement to return Hong Kong to China in 1997.[40]
28 September – The High Court rules that the miner's strike is unlawful.
October
1 October – David Jenkins, Bishop of Durham, launches an attack on Margaret Thatcher's social policies. The Durham area has been particularly hard hit by factory and mine closures since her election as Prime Minister five years ago.
3 October – Plans to expand the Urban Enterprise Zone in Dudley, West Midlands, are approved; developers Don and Roy Richardson get the go-ahead to build a retail park and shopping mall on the main part of the site. The first tenants will move to the site next year and the development is expected in the next 18 months, with scope for further service sector developments in the future.[41]
5 October – Police in Essex make the largest cannabis seizure in British criminal history when a multimillion-pound stash of the drug is found on a schooner moored on the River Crouch near North Fambridge village.[42]
9 October – Thomas the Tank Engine and Friends is first broadcast on ITV, becoming one of the most successful children's TV programmes of all time since Postman Pat on the BBC three years prior.
10 October – The High Court fines the NUM £200,000 and Arthur Scargill £1,000 for contempt of court.
There is good news for the state-owned car maker Austin Rover. On the day that a facelifted version of its top-selling Austin Metro, now available as a five-door as well as a three-door is launched, it is announced that sales for September have increased by 39% over the same period last year. The pre-facelift Metro was Britain's best selling car last month, while the Maestro (launched 19 months ago) was the second best seller ahead of its key rival the Ford Escort and the six-month-old Austin Montego was the fifth best seller ahead of the Ford Sierra as an estate version of it launches which also marked the end of the Morris marque.[44]
Police drama The Bill airs for the first time on ITV. It debuted last year as a pilot show Wooden Top.[45] When the last episode is shown in 2010, it will be the longest-running police procedural in British television history.
18 October – Support for the Conservative government is reported to be improving after several months of dismal poll showings, with the latest MORI poll putting them nine points ahead of Labour on 44%.[46]
23 October – BBC News presenter Michael Buerk gives a powerful commentary of the famine in Ethiopia which has already claimed thousands of lives and reportedly has the potential to claim the lives of as many as 7 million more people. Numerous British charities including Oxfam and Save the Children begin collection work to aid the famine victims who are mostly encamped near the town of Korem.
19 November – The number of working miners increases to around 62,000 when nearly 3,000 striking miners return to work.
20 November – British Telecom shares go on sale in the biggest share issue ever.[16] Two million people (5% of the adult population) buy shares, almost doubling the number of share owners in Britain.[47]
28 November – The British Telecom share offer closes.
30 November
Tension in the miners' strike increases when two South Wales miners are charged with the murder of taxi driver David Wilkie, 35, who died when a concrete block was dropped on his car from a road bridge. The passenger in his car, who escaped with minor injuries, was a miner who had defied the strike and continued going to work.
The UK and French governments announce their intention to seek private promoters for the construction of the Channel Tunnel in order to build and operate it without public funding. The tunnel, for which proposals were first made as far back as 1802, is expected to be open in the early-1990s. The tunnel would be formally opened in a ceremony in 1994 by Queen Elizabeth II and the President of France.[50]
Richard Stone wins the Nobel Prize in Economics "for having made fundamental contributions to the development of systems of national accounts and hence greatly improved the basis for empirical economic analysis".[51]
Arthur Scargill, president of the NUM, is fined £250 and ordered to pay £750 for his involvement in the rioting at Orgreave coking plant on 29 May this year. He decides against appealing his convictions, despite his lawyers advising him to do so.[54]
21 December – The three-month-old son of The Prince and Princess of Wales is christenedHenry Charles Albert David.[58] (He is and always has been called "Harry").
Non-diocesan Bishop at Lambeth first appointed within the Church of England.
Vauxhall have a successful year in the motor industry. It has reported that its market share has doubled since 1981 and the year ends on an even bigger high when its MK2 Astra range is elected European Car of the Year, alongside its European counterpart the Opel Kadett.
Despite unemployment reaching a peak of nearly 3.3million this year (with the highest unemployment rate recorded since 1971 of 11.9% in February), inflation is still low at 5%.[60]
Youth unemployment (covering the 16–24 age range) stands at a record 1,200,000 – more than a third of the total unemployment count.[61]
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