1942 in The United Kingdom - Events

Events

• 1 January – An underground explosion at Sneyd Colliery in the North Staffordshire Coalfield kills 55.
• 26 January – World War II: First United States troops for the European Theatre arrive in the UK, at Belfast.
• 29 January – Radio programme Desert Island Discs first broadcast on the BBC Forces Programme, presented by Roy Plomley. Vic Oliver is the first castaway.
• January – Mildenhall Treasure discovered by ploughman Gordon Butcher in Suffolk.
• February–April – Liverpool Chinese seamen strike for improved pay.
• 7 February – Soap rationing introduced.
• 15 February – World War II: Arthur Ernest Percival's forces surrender to the Japanese at the Battle of Singapore.
• 25 February – The Princess Elizabeth (now Elizabeth II, Queen of the United Kingdom and 15 other Commonwealth realms) registers for war service.
• April – Women's Timber Corps set up.
• 5 April – World War II: Japanese Navy attacks Colombo in Ceylon (Sri Lanka). Royal Navy Cruisers HMS Cornwall and HMS Dorsetshire are sunk southwest of the island.
• 9 April – World War II: Japanese Navy launches air raid on Trincomalee in Ceylon (Sri Lanka); Royal Navy Aircraft Carrier HMS Hermes and Royal Australian Navy Destroyer HMAS Vampire are sunk off the country's East Coast.
• 23 April
  • Exeter becomes the first city bombed as part of the Baedeker Blitz in retaliation for the British bombing of Lübeck.
  • Exeter-born William Temple is enthroned as Archbishop of Canterbury.
• 5 May–6 November – World War II, Battle of Madagascar: British commander Robert Sturges leads the invasion of Vichy French-held Madagascar.
• 6 May – The Radio Doctor (Charles Hill) makes his first BBC radio broadcast giving avuncular health care advice.
• 30 May – Over a thousand RAF bombers attack Cologne in Germany.
• July – Military scientists begin testing of anthrax as a biological warfare agent on the Scottish island of Gruinard.
• 10 July – The patriotic Academy Award-winning drama film Mrs. Miniver, starring Greer Garson, is released in London.
• 11 August – Traffic admitted onto the new Waterloo Bridge across the River Thames in London.
• 19 August – World War II: British and Canadian troops conduct the Dieppe Raid.
• 25 August – Prince George, Duke of Kent, brother of George VI, is killed in an air crash near Caithness, Scotland.
• 30 August–2 September – World War II: At the Battle of Alam el Halfa in Egypt, General Montgomery leads the Eighth Army to victory over Field Marshal Rommel's Afrika Korps.
• September – The Brains Trust first broadcast under this title on BBC Home Service radio.
• 17 September – Noël Coward's film In Which We Serve premieres.
• 2 October – British cruiser Curaçao collides with the liner Queen Mary off the coast of Donegal and sinks: 338 drown.
• 5 October – Oxford Committee for Famine Relief founded.
• 23 October – World War II: British and Commonwealth forces launch a major attack against German and Italian forces in the Second Battle of El Alamein in Egypt.
• 29 October – Holocaust: Leading clergymen and political figures hold a public meeting to register outrage over Nazi Germany's persecution of Jews.
• 3 November – World War II: Second Battle of El Alamein ends with German forces under Erwin Rommel forced to retreat during the night.
• 8 November – World War II: British and American troops invade French North Africa in Operation Torch.
• 17 November – Admiral Max Horton takes over from Percy Noble as Commander-in-Chief, Western Approaches, with responsibility for the safety of Atlantic convoys.
• 1 December – Publication of the Beveridge Report into social insurance.
• 7 December – British commandos conduct Operation Frankton, a raid on shipping in Bordeaux harbour.