January – UK market launch of the Chrysler Alpine, the British-badged version of the French-built Simca 1307 which was voted European Car of the Year before Christmas. British production of the large five-door family hatchback is planned to commence at the Ryton plant near Coventry later this year.[1]
2 January – Hurricane-force winds of up to 105 mph kill 22 people across Britain and cause millions of pounds worth of damage to buildings and vehicles.[2]
12 January – The best-selling author of crime fiction Agatha Christie dies aged 85 at her home in Wallingford, Oxfordshire.
18 January – The Scottish Labour Party is formed as a breakaway from the UK-wide party.
20 January – 42-year-old married woman Emily Jackson is stabbed to death in Leeds; it is revealed that she was a part-time prostitute. Police believe she may have been killed by the same man who murdered Wilma McCann in the city three months previously.[5]
March – Production of the Hillman Imp ends after thirteen years.[8] It is due to be replaced next year by a three-door hatchback based on a shortened Avenger floorpan.[9]
The Maguire Seven are found guilty in London of possessing explosives for use by the Provisional Irish Republican Army and subsequently jailed for 14 years; their convictions will be overturned in 1991.
5 April – James Callaghan becomes Prime Minister upon the resignation of Harold Wilson,[13] defeating five others in the leadership contest. Callaghan, 64, was previously Foreign Secretary and had served as a chancellor and later Home Secretary under Wilson in government from 1964 until 1970.[14]
26 April – Comedy actor and Carry On star Sid James, 62, dies on stage at the Sunderland Empire Theatre having suffered a fatal heart attack, which many in the audience initially mistake for part of the show.
6 May – Local council elections produce disappointing results for the Labour Party, who win just 15 seats and lose 829 that they had held, compared to the Conservatives who win 1,044 new seats and lose a mere 22. This setback comes despite the party enjoying a narrow lead in the opinion polls under new leader James Callaghan.[17]
9 May – 20-year-old Leeds prostitute Marcella Claxton is badly injured in a hammer attack.[18]
27 May – Harold Wilson's Resignation Honours List is published. It controversially awards honours to many wealthy businessmen, and comes to be known satirically as the "Lavender List".
June – British Leyland launches its new Rover SD1, a large rear-wheel drive five-door hatchback featuring a 3.5 V8 Chrysler engine. Smaller engined versions are due next year, when the SD1 completely replaces the Rover P6 and Triumph 2000 ranges.
1 June – The UK and Iceland end the Third Cod War, with the UK accepting Iceland's extension of its territorial waters to 200 nautical miles in exchange for defined fishing rights, reducing the agreed take by British trawlers by four fifths.[6]
14 June – The trial of multiple murderer Donald Neilson, known as the "Black Panther", begins at Oxford Crown Court; he will be convicted and serve the remainder of his life in prison
22 June–16 July – 1976 British Isles heat wave reaches its peak with the temperature attaining 80 °F (26.7 °C) every day of this period. For fifteen consecutive days, 23 June–7 July inclusive, it reaches 90 °F (32.2 °C) in London; and five consecutive days – the first being 26 June – see the temperature exceed 95 °F (35 °C).[21]
28 June – In the heatwave, the temperature reaches 35.6 °C (96.1 °F) in Southampton, the highest recorded for June in the UK.
29 June – The Seychelles become independent of the UK.[22]
10 July – Three British and one American mercenaries are shot by firing squad in Angola.
14 July – Ford launches a new small three-door hatchback, the Fiesta – its first front-wheel drive transverse engined production model – which is similar in concept to the Vauxhall Chevette and German car maker Volkswagen's new Polo. It will be built in several factories across Europe, including the Dagenham plant in Essex (where 3,000 jobs will be created), and continental sales begin later this year, although it will not go on sale in Britain until January 1977.[23]
4 October – The InterCity 125high-speed train is introduced into passenger service on British Rail, initially between London Paddington station, Bristol and south Wales;[33] the units will still be in front-line service on these routes until withdrawn from them 43 years later (and will continue in service elsewhere).
16 November – The seven perpetrators of an £8,000,000 van robbery at the Bank of America in Mayfair are sentenced to a total of 100 years in jail.[38]
22 November – Education Act gives the Secretary of State for Education the power to ask local education authorities to plan for non-selective (i.e. comprehensive) secondary education, put into effect by DES Circulars 11/76 and 12/76 (25 November).[39]
1 December – Punk rock band the Sex Pistols achieve public notoriety as they say several swear words live on Bill Grundy's ITV show, following the release of their debut single Anarchy in the U.K. on 26 November; Grundy is suspended for inciting them.
15 December – Denis Healey announces to Parliament that he has successfully negotiated a £2,300,000,000 loan for Britain from the International Monetary Fund on condition that £2,500,000,000 is cut from public expenditure; the NHS, education and social benefit sectors are not affected by these cuts.[41]
Inflation stands at 16.5% – lower than last year's level, but still one of the highest since records began in 1750.[42] However, at one stage during this year inflation exceeded 24%.[43]
Opening of Rutland Water, the largest reservoir in England by surface area (1,212 hectares (2,995 acres)).[44]
^"Archived copy"(PDF). www.parliament.uk. Archived from the original(PDF) on 19 February 2006. Retrieved 13 January 2022.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)