6 February – The British and French governments agree a deal for the construction of aChannel Tunnel. The twin-tunneled rail link is expected to take five years to build.[4]
10 March –The Queen gives birth to her fourth child and third son whose name is registered on 20 April asEdward.
19 March
Power dispute talks break down and it is feared that supply disruptions will follow industrial action.[6]
The government announces plans to build three new towns inSouth East England to act as overspill for overpopulated London.[7] One of these is centred on the village ofMilton Keynes in northBuckinghamshire.[8]
26 March – Verdicts are passed on ten men for their role in theGreat Train Robbery after one of the longest criminal trials and longest jury retirals in English legal history.
10 April –Runcorn, a small town in northCheshire, is designated as anew town by Alec Douglas-Home's government. Extensive house building and industrial and commercial developments are predicted to inflate the town's population to around 70,000 by 1981.[13]
20 April – The opening night ofBBC2, the UK's third television channel, is disrupted by power cuts in London and all that can be screened is announcerGerald Priestland delivering apologies fromAlexandra Palace. On the same day, the BBC Television Service is renamed BBC1.[16]
21 April – BBC2 begins its scheduled broadcasting, its first programme is the children's seriesPlay School which would run until 1988.[9]
29 April – All schools inAberdeen are closed following 136 cases oftyphoid being reported.
1 May – Princess Margaret gives birth to a baby girl.
29 May – The official opening of the UK's first undercover shopping centre, at theBull Ring, Birmingham.[21]
17 June – A missing persons investigation is launched inFallowfield, Manchester, as police search for 12-year-old Keith Bennett who was last seen on his way to his grandmother's house yesterday evening; he is a victim of theMoors murders.
10 July – More than 300 people are injured inLiverpool when a crowd of some 150,000 people welcome The Beatles back to their home city.
15 July – ThePost Office Tower in London is completed, although it does not begin operations until October 1965.[11]
27 July – Former Prime Minister SirWinston Churchill is present in theHouse of Commons for the last time at the age of 89, having been an MP for 63 of the last 65 years. On the following day, he receives a Parliamentary resolution recording his service to the House and nation and marking his retirement.[25]
21 September –Malta obtains independence from the UK.[23]
29 September – An announcement is made that American car manufacturerChrysler is taking a substantial share in the BritishRootes Group combine which includes theHillman, Singer andSunbeam marques.[27]
10–24 October –Great Britain competes at theOlympics in Tokyo and wins 4 gold, 12 silver and 2 bronze medals.
15 October –1964 United Kingdom general election. TheLabour Party defeats theConservatives andHarold Wilson becomes Prime Minister, having gained a majority of five seats. The election result spells the end of 13 years of Conservative government, although the Prime MinisterAlec Douglas-Home had entered office only 12 months ago. A surprise casualty as MP isPatrick Gordon Walker who was widely expected to become the Foreign Secretary in a future Labour government, but loses hisSmethwick seat to the Conservatives following a controversial racially motivated campaign by the opposing party's supporters.[28]
24 October – NorthernRhodesia, a former British protectorate, becomes the independent Republic ofZambia, ending 73 years of British rule.[23]
29 October –Dorothy Crowfoot Hodgkin wins theNobel Prize in Chemistry, the first British woman to win a Nobel "for her determinations by X-ray techniques of the structures of important biochemical substances".[29] TheDaily Mail headlines this as "Oxford Housewife Wins Nobel".
2 November – The ITV soap operaCrossroads airs for the first time. It will run until 1988 and be revived in 2001, ending again in 2003.[9]
9 November – TheHouse of Commons votes to abolish the death penalty for murder in Britain. The last execution took place in August and the death penalty is set to be officially abolished before the end of next year with the number of executions having gradually fallen during the last decade.
27 November – Power unions announce that they will start balloting for a strike.[30]
30 November – The power dispute is settled and strike action called off.[31]
16 December – Government,Trades Union Congress and employers produce a jointStatement of Intent on Productivity, Prices and Incomes.
21 December – MPs vote 355 to 170 for the abolition of the death penalty, with the abolition likely to be confirmed before the end of next year. The death penalty has gradually fallen out of use over the last twenty years, with the two most recent executions having taken place in August.
24 December –The Beatles gain the Christmas number one for the second year running with "I Feel Fine" which has topped the singles charts for the third week running. They have now had six number one singles in the United Kingdom alone.[33]
26 December – Police launch a missing persons investigation after ten-year-old Lesley Ann Downey goes missing from a fairground near her home inAncoats, Manchester; she is a victim of theMoors murders.
^Soames, Mary (1998).Speaking for Themselves: The Personal Letters of Winston and Clementine Churchill. London: Doubleday. p. 647.ISBN978-03-85406-91-8.
