Had England won the Euros, our new PM said "we should certainly mark the occasion". He stopped short of confirming there'd be a bank holiday saying he didn't want to "jinx it", but an extra day off work was always a possibility. It didn't happen because Spain scored more goals than we did, hence nobody's going to have to reorganise their workplace schedule at the last minute. But it encouraged me to research England's most sudden bank holidays, and of course I jinxed it by juggling it into a blogpost before the final whistle.
Standard English Bank Holidays
Good Friday and Christmas Day have been public holidays since time immemorial, so no advance warning there. The first 'proper' bank holidays (Easter Monday, Whit Monday, the first Monday in August and Boxing Day) were instigated by the banker Sir John Lubbock and set in stone by the Bank Holidays Act 1871. This received Royal Assent on 25th May 1871, too late for Easter Monday that year but just in time for the other three, notably the Whit Monday holiday which had 4 days advance notice. New Year's Day took another century to be granted, confirmed in the Banking and Financial Dealings Act 1971 and was first observed on 1st January 1974. The May Day bank holiday was first announced by Michael Foot in March 1976, just over two years before the first occurrence in 1978.
How much advance notice? New Year's Day:2 years 2 weeks (16 Dec 1971 → 1 Jan 1974) Easter Monday:10 months (25 May 1871 → 1 Apr 1872) May Day:2 years 1 month (30 Mar 1976 → 1 May 1978) Whit Monday:4 days (25 May 1871 → 29 May 1871) First Monday in August:2 months (25 May 1871 → 4 Aug 1871) Boxing Day:7 months (25 May 1871 → 26 Dec 1871)
Royal bank holidays
Many of our additional bank holidays have been to commemorate siginificant royal events, specifically marriages, funerals and staying alive for a very long time. Of these jubilees are generally planned a long way in advance, coronations take several months, weddings have about five months notice and funerals rear up unexpectedly fast.
How much advance notice? ERII Coronation:7 months (22 Oct 1952 → 2 Jun 1953) Anne & Mark:5 months (29 May 1973 → 14 Nov 1973) Silver Jubilee:18 months (18 Dec 1975 → 7 Jun 1977) Charles & Diana:5 months (23 Feb 1981 → 29 Jul 1981) Golden Jubilee:18 months (23 Nov 2000 → 2 Jun 2002) Kate & William:5 months (23 Nov 2010 → 29 Apr 2011) Diamond Jubilee:2 years 5 months (5 Jan 2010 → 4 Jun 2012) Platinum Jubilee:19 months (12 Nov 2020 → 3 Jun 2022) ERII Funeral:9 days (10 Sep 2022 → 19 Sep 2022) CRIII Coronation:6 months (6 Nov 2022 → 8 May 2023)
Other additional bank holidays
In May 1945 the two VE Day public holidays were announced very late by PM Winston Churchill ("We may allow ourselves a brief period of rejoicing"), specifically in a BBC radio news flash at 7.40pm the night before. The two VJ Day public holidays were announced even later, literally at the very last minute, in a midnight news broadcast by new PM Clement Attlee. In 1968 Harold Wilson sprang a nigh immediate bank holiday on the banks, but not the populace, to try to stall a sterling crisis in the gold markets. Tony Blair offered a one-off bank holiday on Millennium's Eve and gave us six months notice.
How much advance notice? VE Day:4 hours 20 minutes (7 May 1945 → 8/9 May 1945) VJ Day:0 minutes (15 Aug 1945 → 15/16 Aug 1945) Sterling Crisis:20 hours (14 Mar 1968 → 15 Mar 1968) Millennium:6 months (23 Jun 1999 → 31 Dec 1999) England Euros Win: [not happening]
In the absence of an instant football celebration this month, dammit, I can at least bring you what I hope is a definitive Top 10 list of very sudden days off.
England's Most Rapidly Announced Bank Holidays 1) VJ Day (1945)0 minutes 2) VE Day (1945)4 hours 20 minutes 3) Sterling Crisis (1968)20 hours 4) Whit Monday (1871)4 days 5) ERII Funeral (2022)9 days
