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.
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 Graham Sharp. Everton's last FA Cup triumph came in 1966, and they have now won the trophy four times.[4]
29 May – Fighting at Orgreave colliery between police and striking miners leaves 64 injured.[5]
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.[6]
1 June – Seven year old British boy Mark Tildesley disappears from his home in Wokingham, Berkshire after visiting a local fairground after being abducted and murdered by a paedophile group led by ring leader Sidney Cooke, his body has never been found.[8][9]
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 means the end of the Triumph brand after 61 years. Like its predecessor, the new car is the result of a venture with Honda.
22 June – The inaugural flight of the first Virgin Atlantic plane takes place.[10]
Murder of Isabel Schwarz, a psychiatric social worker, in South London.
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.[12]
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.[17]
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.[18]