| |
Date |
Event(s) |
| 1 | 1954 | - 1954: First comprehensive school opens in London
- 1954: Routemaster bus starts operating in London
- 1954: First transistor radios sold
- 6 May 1954: First sub 4 minute mile (Roger Bannister, 3 mins 59.4 secs)
- 3 Jul 1954: Food rationing officially ends in Britain
- 5 Jul 1954: BBC broadcasts its first television news bulletin
- 30 Sep 1954: First atomic powered sumbmarine USS Nautilus commissioned
|
| 2 | 1955 | - 1955: 'Mole' self-grip wrench patented by Thomas Coughtrie of Mole & Sons
- 27 Jul 1955: Jul 27: Allied occupation of Austria (after WW2) ends
- 22 Sep 1955: Commercial TV starts in Britain
|
| 3 | 1956 | - 1956: Britain constructs world's first large-scale nuclear power station in Cumberland
- 1 Mar 1956: Radiotelephony spelling alphabet introduced (Alpha, Bravo, etc)
- 17 Apr 1956: Premium Bonds first launched – first prizes drawn on 1 Jun 1957
- 3 Jun 1956: 3rd class travel abolished on British Railways (renamed 'Third Class' as 'Second
Class', which had been abolished in 1875 leaving just First and Third Class)
- 31 Oct 1956: Britain and France invade Suez
|
| 4 | 1957 | - 1957: Britain introduces parking meters
- 1957: Helvetica typeface developed (in Switzerland)
- 11 Jan 1957: Harold Macmillan becomes Prime Minister
- 14 May 1957: Post-Suez petrol rationing ends
- 15 May 1957: Britain explodes her first hydrogen bomb, at Christmas Island
- 25 May 1957: Treaty of Rome to create European Economic Community (EEC) of six
countries: France, West Germany, Italy, Belgium, Holland and Luxembourg – became
operational Jan 1958
- 4 Dec 1957: Lewisham rail disaster – 90 killed as two trains collide in thick fog and a viaduct
collapses on top of them
- 25 Dec 1957: Queen's first Christmas TV broadcast
|
| 5 | 1958 | - 1958: Easter: First anti-nuclear protest march to Aldermaston (emergence of CND)
- 1958: Computers begin to be used in research, industry and commerce
- 1958: USA begins to produce Inter-Continental Ballistic Missiles (ICBMs)
- 13 May 1958: Velcro trade mark registered
- 26 Jul 1958: Prince Charles' Investiture as "Prince of Wales"
- 5 Dec 1958: Inauguration of Subscriber Trunk Dialling (STD) in Britain (completed in 1979)
- 5 Dec 1958: Preston by-pass opens – UK's first stretch of motorway
|
| 6 | 1959 | - 3 Feb 1959: 'The Day The Music Died' – plane crash kills Buddy Holly, Ritchie Valens, and
The Big Bopper
- 17 Feb 1959: Vanguard 2 satellite launched – first to measure cloud-cover distribution
- 24 May 1959: Empire Day becomes Commonwealth Day
- Aug 1959: BMC Mini car launched
- 3 Oct 1959: Postcodes introduced in Britain
- 1 Nov 1959: First section of M1 motorway opened
|
| 7 | 1960 | - 17 Mar 1960: New £1 notes issued by Bank of England
- 18 Mar 1960: Last steam locomotive of British Railways named
- 21 Jul 1960: Francis Chichester arrives in New York aboard Gypsy Moth II (took 40 days),
winning the first single-handed transatlantic yacht race which he co-founded
- 12 Aug 1960: Echo I, the first (passive) communications satellite, launched
- 12 Sep 1960: MoT tests on motor vehicles introduced
- 1 Oct 1960: HMS "Dreadnought" nuclear submarine launched
- 2 Nov 1960: Penguin Books found not guilty of obscenity in the "Lady Chatterley's Lover" case
|
| 8 | 1961 | - 1 Jan 1961: Farthing ceases to be legal tender in UK
- 13 Mar 1961: Black & White £5 notes cease to be legal tender
- 14 Mar 1961: New English Bible (New Testament) published
- 1 May 1961: Betting shops legal in Britain
|
| 9 | 1962 | - 1962: Britain passes Commonwealth Immigrants Act to control immigration
- 1962: Thalidomide withdrawn after it causes deformities in babies
- 1962: Britain and France agree to construct "Concorde"
- 25 May 1962: Consecration of new Coventry Cathedral (old destroyed in WW2 blitz)
- 15 Jun 1962: First nuclear generated electricity to supplied National Grid (from Berkeley,
Glos)
- Jul 1962: First passenger-carrying hovercraft enters service, along the North Wales Coast
from Moreton to Rhyl
- 10 Jul 1962: First TV transmission between US and Europe (Telstar) – first live broadcast on
23 Jul
- 24 Oct 1962: Cuba missile crisis – brink of nuclear war
|
| 10 | 1963 | - 1963: France vetoes Britain's entry into EEC
- Jan 1963: Cold weather forces cancellation of most football matches (only 4 English First
Division matches in the month) – the first 'pools panel' created
- 27 Mar 1963: Beeching Report on British Railways (the 'Beeching Axe')
- 1 Aug 1963: Minimum prison age raised to 17
- 8 Aug 1963: 'Great Train Robbery' on Glasgow to London mail train
- 17 Sep 1963: Fylingdales (Yorks) early warning system operational
- 18 Nov 1963: Dartford Tunnel opens
- 23 Nov 1963: First episode of "Dr Who" on BBC TV
|
| 11 | 1964 | - 1 Jan 1964: First 'Top of the Pops' on BBC TV
- 9 Apr 1964: First Greater London Council (GLC) election
- 21 Apr 1964: BBC2 TV launched
- 22 Aug 1964: "Match of the Day" starts on BBC2
- 4 Sep 1964: Forth road bridge opens
|
| 12 | 1965 | - 1965: Britain enacts first Race Relations Act
- 7 Feb 1965: First US raids against North Vietnam
- 7 Apr 1965: Winston Churchill dies
- 1 Aug 1965: TV cigarette advertising banned in Britain
- 8 Oct 1965: Post Office Tower operational in London
- 28 Oct 1965: Death penalty for murder suspended in Britain for five-year trial period, then
abolished 18 Dec 1969
- 22 Dec 1965: 70mph speed limit introduced on British roads
|
1954 - 1965 (11 years)
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