This is a list of events from British radio in 1956.

Events

• January
  • No events.

• February
  • No events.

• March
  • No events.

• April
  • 22 April – The Shipping Forecast is broadcast on long wave for the first time.^[1]

• May
  • Charles Hill, the former 'Radio Doctor' now Postmaster General with government responsibility for broadcasting, attempts to formalise the existing 'fourteen-day rule' agreement by which discussions or statements about matters before Parliament cannot be broadcast in the fortnight preceding any debate.

• June
  • No events.

• July
  • No events.

• August
  • 17 August – Bacchanale by Jacques Ibert, a commission by the BBC to mark the tenth anniversary of the Third Programme, is performed at The Proms with the composer in the audience.

• September
  • No events.

• October
  • 29 October–7 November – Suez Crisis. The British government pressures the BBC to support the war^[2] and seriously considers taking over the network.^[3] Charles Hill also criticises the BBC's coverage but accepts that the 'fourteen-day rule' is unworkable and it is completely suspended by the year's end.

• November
  • No events.

• December
  • 12 December – The Irish Republican Army launches its Border Campaign in Northern Ireland^[4] with the bombing of a BBC relay transmitter in County Londonderry.
  • 22 December – The BBC Light Programme begins transmitting from the Wenvoe transmitting station in south Wales on VHF, giving it a wider audience.

Programme debuts

• 24 April – The Clitheroe Kid is piloted on the BBC North Home Service
• June – My Word! is piloted on the BBC Midland Home Service, chaired by John Arlott^[5]
• 17 August – Floggit's featuring Elsie and Doris Waters opens on the BBC Light Programme (1956–1959), including Ronnie Barker's radio debut
• 8 October – The Spice of Life on the BBC Home Service (1956–1957)^[6]

Continuing radio programmes

1930s

• In Town Tonight (1933–1960)

1940s

• Music While You Work (1940–1967)
• Sunday Half Hour (1940–2018)
• Desert Island Discs (1942–Present)
• Family Favourites (1945–1980)
• Down Your Way (1946–1992)
• Have A Go (1946–1967)
• Housewives' Choice (1946–1967)
• Letter from America (1946–2004)
• Woman's Hour (1946–Present)
• Twenty Questions (1947–1976)
• Any Questions? (1948–Present)
• Mrs Dale's Diary (1948–1969)
• Take It from Here (1948–1960)
• Billy Cotton Band Show (1949–1968)
• A Book at Bedtime (1949–Present)
• Ray's a Laugh (1949–1961)

1950s

• The Archers (1950–Present)
• Educating Archie (1950–1960)
• Listen with Mother (1950–1982)
• The Goon Show (1951–1960)
• Hancock's Half Hour (1954–1959)
• From Our Own Correspondent (1955–Present)
• Pick of the Pops (1955–Present)

Births

• 6 January – Angus Deayton, actor and television presenter
• 9 January – Imelda Staunton, actress
• 21 January – Ian McMillan, poet and broadcaster
• 14 February – Tom Watt, radio presenter, journalist and actor
• 1 March – Helen Boaden, broadcasting executive
• 4 May – Charlotte Green, radio newsreader and announcer
• 2 June – Susan Rae, Scottish radio newsreader and announcer
• 6 June – Vaughan Savidge, radio newsreader and announcer
• 7 July – Jonathan Kydd, actor
• 2 October – John Pienaar, political journalist
• 30 October – Juliet Stevenson, actress
• 8 November – Richard Curtis, scriptwriter
• 27 November – John McCarthy, journalist
• 26 December – Simon Fanshawe, writer and broadcaster
• 29 December – Fred MacAulay, Scottish comedian

Deaths

• 20 May – Sir Max Beerbohm, theatre critic, humorist and broadcaster (born 1872)