Thanks for the links.
On the BBC website, I have found that "where goods bought after 31 March 2003 prove defective within six months of purchase, there's a presumption that they were defective when they were bought, in which case the seller is in breach of contract (Section 14 Sale of Goods Act)."
So it looks like there actually is a de facto six month law-mandated warranty that every seller of durable goods has to obey. Here the mandatory warranty is two years long.
Concerning the manufacturer's warranty, I am not longing for it in any way nor do I usually buy any extended warranties. I just wanted to make clear I am asking solely about the right to return goods mandated by law, especially because I have already had my share of dealings with manufacturers and now prefer to deal only with the seller, as it's much less fuss if the manufacturer is not very friendly (to the buyers, anyway). Sometimes even the seller is hard to deal with, which is why I got into this "Know your rights" business in the first place.