1944 in the United Kingdom

Incumbents

Monarch – George VI

Prime Minister – Winston Churchill (coalition)

Events

January – Royal Air Force Mountain Rescue Service officially formed

21–22 January – World War II: Start of Operation Steinbock (the "Baby Blitz"), a nocturnal Luftwaffe bombing offensive chiefly targeted at the Greater London area (continues until May). On this attack, few aircraft reach the target area.

10 February – PAYE (Pay as you earn) system of tax collection introduced.

26 February – World War II: Last heavy air-raids on London.

10 March – Lifting of prohibition on married women working as teachers.

28 April – Allied convoy T4, forming part of amphibious Exercise Tiger (a full-scale rehearsal for the Normandy landings) in Start Bay off the Devon coast, is attacked by E-boats, resulting in the deaths of 749 American servicemen from LSTs.

29 May – Thunderstorms lead to severe flooding, particularly around Holmfirth.

5 June – World War II: Final preparations for the Normandy landings take place in the south of England. Group Captain James Stagg correctly forecasts a brief improvement in weather conditions over the English Channel which will permit the following day's landings to take place (having been deferred from today due to unfavourable weather). The BBC transmits a coded message (the second line of a poem by Paul Verlaine) to underground resistance fighters in France warning that the invasion of Europe is about to begin.

6 June – World War II: D-Day for the Normandy landings: 155,000 Allied troops land on the beaches of Normandy in France, beginning Operation Overlord and the Invasion of Normandy.

13 June – World War II: The first V-1 flying bomb attack on London takes place. Eight civilians were killed in the blast. The bomb earns the nickname "doodlebug".

3 August – The Education Act, promoted by Rab Butler, creates a Tripartite System of secondary education in England and Wales with Secondary Modern, Technical, and Grammar schools, entrance being determined in most cases by the results of the Eleven plus exam.

12 August - The V-1 flying bomb campaign against London by the Germans reaches its 60th day, with more than 6,000 deaths, 17,000 injuries and damage or destruction to around 1 million buildings.

20 August – American Liberty ship SS Richard Montgomery is wrecked off the Nore in the Thames Estuary with around 1,400 tonnes of explosives on board, never recovered.

21 August – Dumbarton Oaks Conference opens in Washington, D.C.: American, British, Chinese, French and Soviet representatives meet to plan the foundation of the United Nations.

7 September – The Belgian government leaves the UK and returns to Belgium following the liberation of Brussels on 3 September.

8 September – World War II: The first V-2 rocket attack on London takes place, striking in the Chiswick district of the city and resulting in the deaths of three people.

17 September – World War II: Restrictions imposed by the Blackout are relaxed.

25 September - V-2 rockets aimed at Ipswich and Norwich by the Germans miss their targets by a distance.

9 October – Fourth Moscow Conference: Prime Minister Winston Churchill and Soviet Premier Joseph Stalin begin a nine-day conference in Moscow to discuss the future of Europe.

23 October – The Allies recognise Charles de Gaulle's cabinet as the provisional government of France.

12 November – World War II: Sinking of the German battleship Tirpitz by RAF Lancaster bombers.

22 November – Release of Laurence Olivier's Henry V, the first work of Shakespeare filmed in colour.

25 November – World War II: A V-2 rocket destroys the Woolworths store in New Cross Road, south east London, killing 168, the highest death toll from one of these weapons. More than 100 people survive with injuries.

27 November – RAF Fauld explosion: Between 3,450 and 3,930 tons (3,500 and 4,000 tonnes) of ordnance explodes at an underground storage depot in Staffordshire leaving about 75 dead and a crater 1,200 metres (0.75 miles) across and 120 metres (400 ft) deep, one of the largest explosions in history and the largest on UK soil.

3 December – World War II: The Home Guard is stood down.

19 December – Council of Industrial Design established.

24 December – World War II: Fifty German V-1 flying bombs, air-launched from Heinkel He 111 bombers flying over the North Sea, target Manchester, killing at least 27 and injuring more than 100 in the Oldham area.

Undated

The 1944 Summer Olympics, scheduled for London, are not held due to World War II.

Housing (Temporary Accommodation) Act makes arrangements for postwar provision of adequate housing for all who need it.

Ministry of Works builds the first demonstration temporary prefab houses designed for postwar reconstruction (in Northolt).

Publications

H. E. Bates' novel Fair Stood the Wind for France.

Joyce Carey's novel The Horse's Mouth.

Agatha Christie's novels Towards Zero and Death Comes as the End.

L. P. Hartley's novel The Shrimp and the Anemone, first in the Eustace and Hilda trilogy.

F. W. Hayek's book The Road to Serfdom.

W. Somerset Maugham’s novel The Razor's Edge.

L. T. C. Rolt's book Narrow Boat.

G. M. Trevelyan's book English Social History: a survey of six centuries from Chaucer to Queen Victoria.

C.S. Lewis's book The Great Divorce.

January – June

9 January – Jimmy Page, guitarist (Led Zeppelin)

27 January

Mairead Corrigan, Northern Irish activist, recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize

Nick Mason, English drummer (Pink Floyd)

28 January – John Tavener, English composer of religious music (died 2013)

3 February – Dave Davies, British musician (The Kinks)

13 February – Jerry Springer, English-born television host

14 February – Alan Parker, English film director

17 February – Karl Jenkins, Welsh composer

24 February – Nicky Hopkins, musician (died 1994)

1 March – Roger Daltrey, musician (The Who)

7 March – Ranulph Fiennes, adventurer

11 March – Don Maclean, British comedian

21 March – Mike Jackson, English soldier

6 April – Felicity Palmer, English soprano

12 April – Lisa Jardine, née Bronowski, Renaissance historian and polymath (died 2015)

27 April – Michael Fish, British TV weatherman

5 May

Roger Rees, Welsh actor (died 2015)

John Rhys-Davies, Welsh actor

8 May – Gary Glitter, English singer and convicted sex offender

12 May – Sara Kestelman, British actor

20 May – Joe Cocker, English singer (died 2014)

25 May – Frank Oz, English puppeteer and film director

28 May – Patricia Quinn, Northern Irish actress

24 June

Jeff Beck, musician

John "Charlie" Whitney, rock guitarist (Family)

1 June – Colin Blakemore, neurobiologist and academic

3 June – Peter Bonfield, businessman

July – December

21 July – Tony Scott, English film director

27 July – Tony Capstick, English comedian, actor and musician (died 2003)

27 July – Matthew Robinson, English television and film producer, director and writer

2 August – Jim Capaldi, British drummer, singer and songwriter (Traffic) (died 2005)

11 August – Ian McDiarmid, Scottish actor

26 August – Prince Richard, Duke of Gloucester, member of the British royal family

31 August – Roger Dean, English graphic artist

4 September – Tony Atkinson, economist (died 2017)

13 September – Jacqueline Bisset, English film actress

15 September – Graham Taylor, English footballer and football manager (died 2017)

22 September – Frazer Hines, British actor

26 September – Anne Robinson, British television host

30 September – Jimmy Johnstone, Scottish footballer

9 October – John Entwistle, English bassist (The Who) (died 2002)

15 October – David Trimble, Northern Irish politician, recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize

28 October – Ian Marter, British actor (died 1986)

10 November – Tim Rice, lyricist, writer and broadcaster

25 November – Sylvia Gore, footballer (died 2016)

6 December – Jonathan King, British music producer

21 December – Bill Atkinson, English footballer

Deaths

1 January – Edwin Lutyens, architect (born 1869)

19 January – Emily Winifred Dickson, gynaecologist (born 1866 in Ireland)

13 April – Hugh Lowther, 5th Earl of Lonsdale, sportsman after whom the brand Lonsdale is named (born 1857)

8 May – Ethel Smyth, composer and a leader of the women's suffrage movement (born 1858)

28 July – Ralph H. Fowler, astronomer and physicist (born 1889)

19 August – Henry Wood, conductor (born 1869)

13 September – W. Heath Robinson, cartoonist and illustrator (born 1872)

23 October – Charles Glover Barkla, physicist, Nobel Prize laureate (born 1877)

26 October ** William Temple, Archbishop of Canterbury (born 1881)

The Princess Beatrice, the last surviving child of Queen Victoria (born 1857)

22 November – Arthur Stanley Eddington, astrophysicist (born 1882)

30 November - Roy Emerton, actor (born 1893)