Births
- 1 January – Laurie Clough, cricketer (died 2008) [15]
- 3 January – George Martin, producer of The Beatles (died 2016)
- 4 January – Don Arden, music manager (died 2007)
- 5 January – Robin Leigh-Pemberton, Baron Kingsdown, peer, banker (died 2013)
- 13 January
- Craigie Aitchison, painter (died 2009)
- Michael Bond, author and creator of Paddington Bear (died 2017)
- 14 January – Warren Mitchell, actor (died 2015)
- 17 January – Moira Shearer, actress and dancer (died 2006)
- 19 January – Bob Wooler, disc jockey (died 2002)
- 20 January – Sarah Conlon, campaigner (died 2008)
- 26 January
- Ronnie Hilton, singer and radio presenter (died 2001)
- Charles Henderson Tidbury, brewing executive (died 2003)
- 10 February
- Danny Blanchflower, footballer and football manager (died 1993)
- Hazel Court, actress (died 2008)
- 11 February – Alexander Gibson, conductor and founder of Scottish Opera (died 1995)
- 12 February – Paul Hamlyn, publisher and philanthropist (born in Germany; died 2001)
- 16 February
- David C. H. Austin, rose breeder (died 2018)
- John Schlesinger, film director (died 2003)
- 20 February – Gillian Lynne, choreographer (died 2018)
- 22 February – Kenneth Williams, actor (died 1988)
- 24 February – Reg Freeson, politician (died 2006)
- 1 March
- Barbara Clegg, actress and scriptwriter
- Bryan Jennett, neurosurgeon (died 2008)
- 2 March – George P. L. Walker, geologist (died 2005)
- 5 March – Norman Macfarlane, Baron Macfarlane of Bearsden, Scottish industrialist and politician (died 2021)
- 6 March – Ken Whyld, chess player and chess writer (died 2003)
- 8 March – Edith MacArthur, actress (died 2018)
- 11 March
- Derek Benfield, actor (died 2009)
- Dennis Wilshaw, footballer (died 2004)
- 12 March – Gudrun Ure, actress (died 2024)
- 14 March – Lita Roza, singer (died 2008)
- 19 March – Tony Collins, English football player and manager (died 2021)
- 22 March – Alastair Reid, Scottish poet and scholar of South American literature (died 2014)
- 24 March – Tony Streather, army officer (died 2018)
- 26 March – Frank Newby, structural engineer (died 2001)
- 27 March – Louis Blom-Cooper, lawyer (died 2018)
- 31 March – John Fowles, novelist (died 2005)
- 1 April – William Macpherson, Scottish High Court judge (died 2021) [16]
- 2 April – Robert Holmes, scriptwriter (died 1986)
- 3 April – Timothy Bateson, actor (died 2009)
- 6 April – Ian Paisley, politician (died 2014)
- 8 April – David Neil MacKenzie, linguist (died 2001)
- 9 April – Gerry Fitt, politician (died 2005)
- 11 April – Gervase de Peyer, clarinetist (died 2017)
- 13 April – John Spencer-Churchill, 11th Duke of Marlborough, aristocrat (died 2014)
- 17 April – Gordon Rollings, actor (died 1985)
- 20 April – Cy Laurie, clarinetist (died 2002)
- 21 April
- Arthur Rowley, footballer (died 2002)
- Queen Elizabeth II (died 2022)
- 22 April – James Stirling, architect (died 1992)
- 24 April – Lady Elizabeth Cavendish, aristocrat and courtier (died 2018)
- 26 April – David Coleman, television sports broadcaster (died 2013)
- 29 April – Leonard Fenton, actor and director (died 2022)
- 30 April – Edmund Cooper, author and poet (died 1982)
- 3 May – Eric Sams, musicologist and Shakespeare scholar (died 2004)
- 4 May – David Stoddart, Baron Stoddart of Swindon, politician (died 2020)
- 5 May – Maurice Taylor, Scottish Roman Catholic bishop (died 2023)
- 8 May – David Attenborough, broadcaster and naturalist
- 12 May – John Shipley Rowlinson, chemist and academic (died 2018)
- 14 May – Eric Morecambe, comedian (died 1984)
- 15 May – Anthony Shaffer (died 2001) and Peter Shaffer (died 2016), playwrights
- 17 May
- Cicely Berry, voice coach (died 2018)
- Tenniel Evans, actor (died 2009)
- David Ogilvy, 13th Earl of Airlie, Scottish soldier, politician (died 2023)
- 19 May – Edward Parkes, engineer and academic (died 2019)
- 22 May – John Morrison, 2nd Viscount Dunrossil, peer and diplomat (died 2000)
- 23 May – Desmond Carrington, actor and broadcaster (died 2017)
- 24 May – Stanley Baxter, Scottish actor and screenwriter
- 25 May – David Wynne, sculptor (died 2014)
- 28? May – Colin Hutton, rugby union, rugby league player (died 2017)
- 29 May – Katie Boyle, Italian-British actress, television personality, and game-show panelist (died 2018)
- 1 June – Johnny Berry, footballer (died 1994)
- 8 June
- Meredith Belbin, researcher and management consultant
- Cranley Onslow, politician (died 2001)
- David Williams, crime writer (died 2003)
- 11 June – John Aspinall, zoo owner (died 2000)
- 17 June – Alan Walters, economist (died 2009)
- 20 June – Ernest Arthur Bell, biochemist (died 2006)
- 23 June – Lawson Soulsby, parasitologist (died 2017)
- 25 June – Dame Margaret Anstee, diplomat (died 2016)
- 26 June
- Felicity Green, fashion journalist
- Sir Rex Hunt, diplomat (died 2012)
- Reg Newton, professional football goalkeeper (died 1976)
- 29 June – Denys Graham, Welsh actor (died 2024)
- 4 July – Willoughby Goddard, actor (died 2008)
- 5 July – Anthony Purssell, brewing executive, businessman and former athlete
- 7 July – Bobby McIlvenny, Northern Irish footballer (died 2016)
- 8 July – Ian Gilmour, Conservative politician (died 2007)
- 12 July – Cec Thompson, rugby league footballer (died 2011)
- 18 July
- Elizabeth Jennings, poet (died 2001)
- Robert Sloman, actor and journalist (died 2005)
- 21 July
- Bill Pertwee, actor (died 2013)
- Karel Reisz, Czech-born film director (died 2002)
- 22 July – Bryan Forbes, film director (died 2013)
- 27 July – Nina Lawson, wig-maker (died 2008)
- 30 July – Thomas Patrick Russell, High Court judge (died 2002)
- 1 August – Hannah Hauxwell, farmer and TV personality (died 2018)
- 3 August – Anthony Sampson, journalist and biographer (died 2004)
- 9 August – Willie Finlay, Scottish professional football player and coach (d. 2014)
- 11 August – Bernard Ashley, businessman (died 2009)
- 13 August – Dennis Eagan, field hockey player (died 2012)
- 16 August – Christopher Polge, biologist (died 2006)
- 17 August – George Melly, jazz singer (died 2007)
- 19 August
- George Daniels, horologist (died 2011)
- Martin Halliday, physician (died 2008)
- 27 August – Pat Coombs, actress (died 2002)
- 4 September – George William Gray, Scottish-born chemist, pioneer of liquid crystal technology (died 2013)
- 6 September
- Maurice Cowling, historian (died 2005)
- Arthur Oldham, composer and choirmaster (died 2003)
- 7 September – Patrick Jenkin, Conservative politician (died 2016)
- 12 September – Dave Valentine, Scottish representative rugby union and rugby league footballer (died 1976)
- 17 September – Reginald Marsh, actor (died 2001)
- 18 September – Thomas Hetherington, barrister (died 2007)
- 24 September – Aubrey Burl, archaeologist [17] (died 2020)
- 25 September – Stafford Beer, theorist and author (died 2002)
- 2 October – Jan Morris, born James Morris, travel writer (died 2020)
- 9 October – Ruth Ellis, nightclub hostess, last woman hanged in the UK (died 1955)
- 20 October – Austen Kark, television executive (died 2002)
- 21 October – Leonard Rossiter, actor (died 1984)
- 23 October – Janet Young, Baroness Young, politician (died 2002)
- 31 October – Jimmy Savile, disc jockey, broadcast presenter, philanthropist and serial sex offender (died 2011)
- 5 November – John Berger, art critic, novelist and painter (died 2017)
- 6 November – Frank Carson, comedian (died 2012)
- 8 November – John Louis Mansi, actor (died 2010)
- 11 November – Harold Perkin, social historian (died 2004)
- 12 November – Robert Goff, Baron Goff of Chieveley, lawyer and judge (died 2016)
- 14 November – Quentin Crewe, journalist and writer (died 1998)
- 20 November – John Gardner, writer (died 2007)
- 25 November
- Terry Hall, ventriloquist (died 2007)
- Terry Kilburn, actor
- Peter Wright, ballet director and choreographer
- 28 November – David Alexander, Royal Marines general (died 2017)
- 17 December – John Poole, sculptor (died 2009)
- 20 December – Geoffrey Howe, Baron Howe of Aberavon, politician (died 2015)
- 22 December – Roberta Leigh, writer, artist and television producer (died 2014)
- 25 December – Barry Driscoll, painter and sculptor (died 2006)
- 26 December – Timothy Dudley-Smith, Anglican bishop and hymn writer (died 2024)
- 30 December – Stan Tracey, jazz musician (died 2013)
