| |
Date |
Event(s) |
| 1 | 1870 | - 1870: GPO takes over the privately-owned Telegraph Companies (nationalised)
- 1870: Dr Thomas Barnardo opens his first home for destitute children
- 1870: Water closets come into wide use
- 1870: Diamonds discovered in Kimberley, South Africa
- 1 Oct 1870: First British postcard – halfpenny post
|
| 2 | 1871 | - 27 Mar 1871: First Rugby Football international, England v Scotland, played in Edinburgh
- 29 Mar 1871: Opening of Royal Albert Hall, London
- 29 Jun 1871: Trades Unions legalised in Britain, but picketing made illegal
|
| 3 | 1872 | - 1872: Licensing hours introduced
- 1872: Penalties introduced for failing to register births, marriages & deaths (Eng & Wales)
- 4 Dec 1872: American ship "Mary Celeste" is found abandoned by the British brig "Dei Gratia" in the Atlantic Ocean
|
| 4 | 1874 | - 1874: Factory Act introduces 56-hour week
- 5 Apr 1874: Birkenhead Park opened, said to be the first civic public park in the world – features of it later copied in Central Park, New York
|
| 5 | 1875 | - 1875: London's main sewage system completed
- 1 Jan 1875: Midland Railway abolishes Second Class passenger facilities, leaving First Class and Third Class. Other British railway companies followed during the rest of the year. (Third Class was renamed Second Class in 1956)
|
| 6 | 1876 | - 14 Feb 1876: Alexander Graham Bell and Elisha Gray each file a patent for the telephone – Bell awarded the rights
|
| 7 | 1877 | - 1877: Edison invents microphone and phonograph
|
| 8 | 1878 | - 1878: Edison & Swan invent electric lamp
- 1878: Red Flag Act in Britain limits mechanical road vehicles to 4mph
- 1878: CID established at New Scotland Yard
|
| 9 | 1879 | - 18 Sep 1879: Blackpool illuminations switched on for first time
|
| 10 | 1880 | - 1880: Education Act: schooling compulsory for 5-10 year olds
- 1880: Mosquito found to be the carrier of malaria
- 2 Aug 1880: Greenwich Mean Time adopted throughout UK
|
| 11 | 1881 | - 1881: Postal Orders introduced
- 1881: Flogging abolished in Army and Royal Navy
- Sep 1881: Godalming in Surrey became the first town in England to have a public electricity
supply installed (but in 1884 it reverted to gas lighting until 1904)
- 26 Oct 1881: Gunfight at OK Corral
|
| 12 | 1882 | - 1882: Fourth Eddystone Lighthouse completed
|
| 13 | 1883 | - 1883: Statue of Liberty presented to USA by France
- 24 May 1883: Brooklyn Bridge, New York opens (crosses East River)
- 1 Aug 1883: Parcel post starts in Britain
- 27 Aug 1883: Eruption of Krakatoa near Java – 30,000 killed by tidal wave
|
| 14 | 1884 | - 31 May 1884: John Harvey Kellogg patents corn flakes
- 13 Oct 1884: Greenwich made prime meridian of the world
|
| 15 | 1885 | - 1885: Carl Benz builds the 'Motorwagen', a single-cylinder motor car
- 1885: Gottlieb Daimler patents the world's first motorcycle
- 1885: Eastman makes first coated photographic paper
- 1885: Canadian Pacific Railway completed
- Mar 1885: First UK cremation in modern times took place at Woking
- 5 Sep 1885: The first train runs through the Severn Tunnel
- 29 Sep 1885: First electric tramcar used at Blackpool
|
| 16 | 1886 | - 20 Jan 1886: Mersey railway (under Mersey) opened by Prince of Wales
- May 1886: Pharmacist John Styth Pemberton invents a carbonated beverage later named
"Coca-Cola"
- 29 May 1886: Putney Bridge opens in London
|
| 17 | 1887 | - 1887: Daimler produces a four-wheeled motor car
|
| 18 | 1888 | - 1888: Convention of Constantinople guarantees free maritime passage through Suez
Canal in war and peace
- 1888: Jack the Ripper active in east London during the latter half of the year
- 1888: County Councils set up in Britain
- 1888: Dunlop invents pneumatic tyre
- 1888: First box camera – George Eastman registers the trademark Kodak, and receives a patent
for his camera which uses roll film
- 20 Mar 1888: Football League formed
|
| 19 | 1889 | - 1889: Celluloid film produced
- 1889: Dock Strike – docker's won their "Docker's Tanner", 6 old pennies
- 31 Mar 1889: Eiffel Tower completed (to mark centenary of French Revolution)
- 14 May 1889: Children's charity NSPCC launched in London
- 3 Jun 1889: Canadian Pacific Railway completed from coast to coast
- 28 Sep 1889: Length of a metre defined
|
| 20 | 1890 | - 4 Mar 1890: Forth railway bridge opens – took six years to build
- 4 Nov 1890: City & South London Railway opens – London's first deep-level tube railway
and first major railway in the world to use electric traction
|
| 21 | 1891 | - 1891: Primary education made free and compulsory
- 18 Mar 1891: First telephone link between London & Paris
- 4 May 1891: Fictional date when Sherlock Holmes throws Moriarty over Reichenbach Falls, then disappears for 3 years! (published in 1893)
- 24 Aug 1891: Thomas Edison patents the motion picture camera
|
| 22 | 1892 | - 1892: Electric oven invented
- 1892: Shop Hours Act – limit 74 hours per week for under-18's
- 6 Oct 1892: Alfred Lord Tennyson dies, aged 83, at his house Aldworth, near Haslemere
|
| 23 | 1893 | - 1893: Henry Ford's first car
- 1893: Zip fastener invented
|
| 24 | 1894 | - 1894: Picture postcard introduced in Britain
- 1 Jan 1894: Manchester Ship Canal opens
- 1 Mar 1894: Blackpool Tower opens
- 30 Jun 1894: Tower Bridge first opens
- 2 Aug 1894: Death duties first introduced in Britain
|
| 25 | 1895 | - 1895: Sir Henry Wood starts Promenade Concerts in London
- 12 Jan 1895: The National Trust founded in England
- 24 May 1895: Henry Irving becomes the first person from the theatre to be knighted
- 28 May 1895: Oscar Wilde sent to prison
- 12 Jul 1895: First recorded motor journey of any length (56 miles) in Britain
- 17 Oct 1895: First people in Britain to be charged with motor offences – John Henry Knight and James Pullinger of Farnham, Surrey
- Nov 1895: X-rays discovered
|
| 26 | 1896 | - 5 Apr 1896: First modern Olympic Games held in Athens
- 2 Jun 1896: Guglielmo Marconi receives a British patent (later disputed) for the radio
|
| 27 | 1897 | - 1897: Thomas Edison patents the Kinetoscope, the first movie projector
|
| 28 | 1898 | - 1898: First photograph using artificial light
- 1898: Zeppelin builds airship
- 1898: Goodyear Tire & Rubber Company founded
- 17 Mar 1898: USS Holland launched, the first practical submarine
- 27 Jun 1898: The first solo circumnavigation of the globe completed at Rhode island by
Joshua Slocum in Spray (started from Boston, Mass on Apr 24, 1895)
|
| 29 | 1899 | - 6 Mar 1899: Aspirin first marketed by Bayer
- 11 Oct 1899: Start of Second Boer War
|
| 30 | 1900 | - 1900: School leaving age in Britain raised to 14 years
- 1900: Central Line opens in London: underground is electrified
- 1900: Escalator shown at Paris exhibition
- 9 Feb 1900: Davis Cup tennis competition established
- 27 Feb 1900: Labour Party formed
|
| 31 | 1901 | - 1901: Commonwealth of Australia founded
- 1901: Hubert Cecil Booth patents the vacuum cleaner
- 22 Jan 1901: Queen Victoria dies – Edward VII king
- 2 Feb 1901: Queen Victoria's funeral – interred beside Prince Albert in the Frogmore
Mausoleum at Windsor Great Park
- Jun 1901: Denunciation of use of concentration camps by British in Boer War
- 2 Oct 1901: Britain's first submarine launched
- 12 Dec 1901: First successful radio transmission across the Atlantic, by Marconi – Morse
code from Cornwall to Newfoundland
|
| 32 | 1902 | - 1902: Balfour's Education Act provides for secondary education
- 1902: Cremation Act – cremation can only take place at officially recognised establishments,
and with two death certificates issued
- 1902: Marie Curie discovers radioactivity
- 24 May 1902: Empire Day (later Commonwealth Day) first celebrated
- 31 May 1902: Treaty of Vereeniging ends Second Boer War
- 9 Aug 1902: Coronation of Edward VII
|
| 33 | 1903 | - 1903: Workers' Education Association (WEA) formed in Britain
- 1903: Women's Social and Political Union formed in Britain by Emmeline Pankhurst
- 1903: Henry Ford sets up his motor company
- 14 Dec 1903: First flight of Wilbur & Orville Wright
|
| 34 | 1904 | - 1904: Leeds University established
- 8 Apr 1904: France and UK sign the Entente Cordiale
- 4 May 1904: America takes over construction of the Panama Canal from the French
(completed 1914)
|
| 35 | 1905 | - 1905: The title 'Prime Minister' noted in a royal warrant for the first time – placed the Prime
Minister in order of precedence in Britain immediately after the Archbishop of York
- 1905: Aliens Act in Britain: Home Office controls immigration
- 1905: Germany lays down the first Dreadnought battleship
- 11 Apr 1905: Einstein publishes Special Theory of Relativity
|
| 36 | 1906 | - 1906: Introduction of free school meals for poor children
- 10 Feb 1906: Launching of HMS Dreadnought, first turbine-driven battleship
- 15 Mar 1906: Rolls-Royce Ltd registered
- 26 May 1906: Vauxhall Bridge opened in London
- 20 Sep 1906: Launching of Cunard's RMS Mauretania on the Tyne
|
| 37 | 1907 | - 1907: New Zealand becomes a Dominion
- 1907: Imperial College, London, is established
- 1907: First airship flies over London
- 1907: Lumiere develops a process for colour photography
- Jul 1907: Leo Hendrik Baekeland patents Bakelite, the first plastic invented that held its
shape after being heated
- 1 Aug 1907: Baden-Powell leads the first Scout camp on Brownsea Island
- 9 Nov 1907: The Cullinan Diamond presented to Edward VII on his birthday
|
| 38 | 1908 | - 1908: Coal Mines Regulation Act in Britain limits men to an eight hour day
- 1908: Separate courts for juveniles established in Britain
- 1908: Lord Baden-Powell starts the Boy Scout movement
- 1 Jul 1908: SOS became effective as an international signal of distress
- 12 Aug 1908: First 'Model T' Ford made
|
| 39 | 1909 | - 1909: Beveridge Report prompts creation of labour Exchanges
- 1909: Peary reaches the north pole
- 1909: First commercial manufacture of Bakelite – start of the plastic age
- 1 Jan 1909: Old Age Pensions Act came into force
- 16 Jan 1909: Ernest Shackleton's expedition finds the magnetic South Pole
- 15 Mar 1909: Selfridges department store opens in London
- 25 Jul 1909: Bleriot flies across the Channel (36 minutes, Calais to Dover)
|
| 40 | 1910 | - 1910: Railway strike and coal strikes in Britain
- 1910: Constitutional crisis in Britain
- 1910: Dr Crippen caught by radio telegraphy; hanged 23 Nov at Pentonville
- 1910: Madame Curie isolates radium
- 1910: Halley's comet reappears
- 1910: Tango becomes popular in North America and Europe
- 6 May 1910: Edward VII dies – George V becomes King
|
| 41 | 1911 | - 1911: Parliament Act in Britain reduces the power of the House of Lords
- 1911: British MPs receive a salary
- 1911: First British Official Secrets Act
- 1911: Rutherford: theory of atomic structures
- 1911: Strikes by seamen, dock and transport workers (1911-1912)
- 2 Apr 1911: Census: Population - England and Wales: 36 Million; Scotland: 4.6 Million; N Ireland: 1.25 Million
- 22 Jun 1911: Coronation of George V
- 14 Dec 1911: National Insurance introduced in Britain
|
| 42 | 1912 | - 1912: Irish Home Rule crisis grows in Britain
- 1912: Britain nationalises the telephone system
- 1912: Discovery of the 'Piltdown Man' – hoax, exposed in 1953
- 18 Jan 1912: Captain Scott's last expedition – he and his team reach the south pole on Jan
18th; all die on the way back, their bodies found in November
- 14 Apr 1912: The 'unsinkable' Titanic sinks on maiden voyage – loss of 1,513 lives
- 13 May 1912: Royal Flying Corps (later the RAF) founded in Britain
|
| 43 | 1913 | - 1913: Third Irish Home Rule Bill rejected by House of Lords – threat of civil war in Ireland –
formation of Ulster Volunteers to oppose Home Rule
- 1913: Suffragette demonstrations in London – Mrs Pankhurst imprisoned
- 1913: Trade Union Act in Britain establishes the right to use Union funds for political
purposes
- 1913: Invention of stainless steel by Harry Brearley of Sheffield
- 1913: Geiger invents his counter to measure radioactivity
- 4 Jun 1913: Emily Davison, a suffragette, runs out in front of the king's horse, Anmer, at the
Epsom Derby and dies
|
| 44 | 1914 | - 1914: Irish Home Rule Act provides for a separate Parliament in Ireland; the position of Ulster
to be decided after the War
- 1914: Chaplin and De Mille make their first films
- 28 Jun 1914: Archduke Ferdinand assassinated in Sarajevo
- 4 Aug 1914: Britain declares war on Germany, citing Belgian neutrality as reason
- 5 Aug 1914: British cableship Telconia cut through all five of Germany's undersea telegraph
links to the outside world
- 15 Aug 1914: Panama Canal opened, the Canal cement boat 'Ancon' making the first official
transit (plans for a grand opening were cancelled due to the start of WW1)
- Oct 1914: Battle of Ypres – beginning of trench warfare on western front
- 27 Nov 1914: First policewoman goes on duty in Britain
- 16 Dec 1914: German battleships bombard Hartlepool and Scarborough
|
| 45 | 1915 | - 1915: Junkers construct first fighter aeroplane
- 1915: First automatic telephone exchange in Britain
- 19 Jan 1915: First Zeppelin air raid on England, over East Anglia – four killed
- Feb 1915: Submarine blockade of Britain starts
- Apr 1915: Second Battle of Ypres – poison gas used for first time
- 25 Apr 1915: Gallipoli campaign starts (declared ANZAC Day in 1916)
- 7 May 1915: RMS Lusitania sunk by German submarine off coast of Ireland – 1,198 died
- 16 May 1915: First meeting of a British WI (Women's Institute) took place in Llanfairpwll
(aka Llanfair PG), Anglesey
|
| 46 | 1916 | - 1916: Compulsory military service introduced in Britain
- Feb 1916: Battle of Verdun – appalling losses on both sides, stalemate continues
- 24 Apr 1916: Easter Rising in Ireland – after the leaders are executed, public opinion backs
independence
- 21 May 1916: First use of Daylight Saving Time in UK
- 31 May 1916: Battle of Jutland – only major naval battle between the British and
German fleets
- 5 Jun 1916: Sinking of HMS Hampshire and death of Kitchener
- 3 Aug 1916: Sir Roger Casement hanged at Pentonville Prison for treason
- 15 Sep 1916: First use of tanks in battle, but of limited effect (Battle of the Somme 1 July to 18 Nov: over 1 million casualties)
- 7 Dec 1916: Lloyd-George becomes British Prime Minister of the coalition government
|
| 47 | 1917 | - 1917: Battle of Cambrai – first use of massed tanks, but effect more psychological than actual
- 1917: Ministry of Labour is established in Britain
- Feb 1917: February revolution in Russia; Tsar Nicholas abdicates
- 16 Apr 1917: Lenin returns to Russia after exile
- 17 Apr 1917: USA declares war on Germany
- 26 May 1917: George V changes surname from Saxe-Coburg-Gotha to Windsor (Royal
proclamation on 17 July)
- Jul 1917: Battle of Passchendaele – little gained by either side (Jul-Nov)
- 7 Nov 1917: 'October' Revolution in Russia – Bolsheviks overthrow provisional government;
Lenin becomes Chief Commissar
- 6 Dec 1917: Halifax (Nova Scotia) Explosion, one of the world's largest artificial non-nuclear
explosions to date: a ship loaded with wartime explosives blew up after a collision,
obliterating buildings and structures within two square kilometres of the explosion
- 9 Dec 1917: British forces capture Jerusalem
|
| 48 | 1918 | - 1918: Vote for women over 30, men over 21 (except peers, lunatics and felons)
- 1918: War of Independence in Ireland
- 18 Jan 1918: Bentley Motors founded
- 8 Mar 1918: Start of world-wide 'flu pandemic
- Jul 1918: Second Battle of the Marne: last major German offensive in WW1 (Jul-Aug)
- 1 Oct 1918: Arab forces under Lawrence of Arabia capture Damascus
- 11 Nov 1918: Armistice signed
- Dec 1918: First woman elected to House of Commons, Countess Markiewicz as a Sinn Féin
member refused to take her seat
|
| 49 | 1919 | - 1919: Britain adopts a 48-hour working week
- 1919: Sir Ernest Rutherford publishes account of splitting the atom
- 15 Jun 1919: Alcock and Brown complete first nonstop flight across the Atlantic
- 28 Jun 1919: Treaty of Versailles signed
|
| 50 | 1920 | - 1920: Regular cross-channel air service starts
- 1920: Marconi opens a radio broadcasting station in Britain
- 1920: Thompson patents his machine gun (Tommy gun)
- Feb 1920: First roadside petrol filling station in UK – opened by the Automobile Association
at Aldermaston on the Bath Road
|
| 51 | 1921 | - 1921: Railway Act in Britain amalgamates companies – only four remained
- 1921: Insulin discovery announced
- 1921: First birth control clinic
- 19 Jun 1921: Census: Population - England and Wales: 37.9 Million; Scotland: 4.9 Million; N Ireland: 1.25 Million
- 6 Dec 1921: Anglo-Irish Treaty signed in London, leading to the formation of the Irish Free
State and Northern Ireland
|
| 52 | 1922 | - 1922: Law of Property Act – the manorial system effectively ended
- 1 Jun 1922: Royal Ulster Constabulary founded
- Oct 1922: BBC established as a monopoly, and begins transmissions in November (2LO in
London on 14 Nov; 5IT in Birmingham and 2ZY in Manchester on 15 Nov)
|
| 53 | 1923 | - 1923: Roads in Great Britain classified with A and B numbers
- 1923: Hubble shows there are galaxies beyond the Milky Way
- 1923: First American broadcasts heard in Britain
- 1 Jan 1923: The majority of the railway companies in Great Britain grouped into four main
companies, the Big Four: LNER, GWR, SR, LMSR – lasted until nationalisation in 1948
- 16 Feb 1923: Howard Carter unsealed the burial chamber of Tutankhamun
- 28 Apr 1923: First Wembley cup final (West Ham 0, Bolton 2) – "I'm Forever Blowing
Bubbles," popular song of the time, became the West Ham anthem
- 28 Sep 1923: First publication of Radio Times
|
| 54 | 1924 | - 4 Jan 1924: First Labour government in Britain, headed by Ramsay MacDonald
- 5 Feb 1924: Hourly Greenwich Time Signals from the Royal Greenwich Observatory were
first broadcast by the BBC
- 31 Mar 1924: British Imperial Airways begins operations (formed by merger of four British
airline companies – became BOAC in 1940)
|
| 55 | 1925 | - 1925: Britain returns to gold standard
- 18 Jul 1925: Adolf Hitler publishes Mein Kampf
|
| 56 | 1926 | - 1926: First public demonstration of television (TV) by John Logie Baird
- 1926: Adoption of children is legalised in Britain
- 1926: Kodak produces 16mm movie film
- 1926: Walt Disney arrives in Hollywood
- 21 Apr 1926: Princess Elizabeth born
- 3 May 1926: General Strike begins. Lasts until May 12 (mine workers for 6 months more)
- 31 Oct 1926: Death of Harry Houdini
|
| 57 | 1927 | - 1927: Release of the first 'talkie' film (The Jazz Singer)
- 7 Jan 1927: First transatlantic telephone call – New York City to London
- 22 Jan 1927: First football broadcast by BBC (Arsenal v Sheffield United at Highbury)
- 1 May 1927: First cooked meals on a scheduled flight introduced by Imperial Airways from
London to Paris
- 20 May 1927: Lindbergh makes solo flight across the Atlantic, in 33½ hours
- 31 May 1927: Last Ford Model T rolls off assembly line
- 24 Jul 1927: The Menin Gate war memorial unveiled at Ypres
|
| 58 | 1928 | - 1928: Women over 21 get vote in Britain – same qualification for both sexes
- 26 Apr 1928: Madame Tussauds opens in London
- 15 Sep 1928: Sir Alexander Fleming accidentally discovers penicillin (results published 1929)
|
| 59 | 1929 | - 1929: Abolition of Poor Law system in Britain
- 1929: Minimum age for a marriage in Britain (which had been 14 for a boy and 12 for a girl)
now 16 for both sexes, with parental consent (or a licence) needed for anyone under 21
- 1929: BBC begins experimental TV transmissions
|
| 60 | 1930 | - 1930: First Nazis elected to the German Reichstag
- 1930: Youth Hostel Association (YHA) founded in Britain
- 30 Jan 1930: Hitler becomes chancellor of Germany
- 31 Jan 1930: 3M begins marketing Scotch Tape
- 6 Mar 1930: Clarence Birdseye first marketed frozen peas
- 5 Oct 1930: R101 airship disaster – British abandons airship construction
|
| 61 | 1931 | - 1931: Statute of Westminster: British Dominions become independent sovereign states
- 1931: Collapse of the German banking system; 3,000 banks there close
- 14 Apr 1931: Highway Code first issued
- 26 Apr 1931: Census: Population - England and Wales; 40 Million; Scotland: 4.8 Million; N Ireland: 1.24 Million (Unfortunately, the census was destroyed by fire in WW2)
- 21 Oct 1931: National Government formed to deal with economic crisis – Britain comes off
gold standard
|
| 62 | 1932 | - 1932: Great Hunger March of unemployed to London
- 1932: Moseley founds British Union of Fascists
- 1932: Cockroft and Walton accelerate particles to disintegrate an atomic nucleus
- 1932: Sir Thomas Beecham established the London Philharmonic Orchestra
- 21 May 1932: Amelia Earhart first solo nonstop flight across Atlantic by a female pilot
- 3 Oct 1932: Iraq gains independence from Britain
- 3 Oct 1932: 'The Times' introduces 'Times New Roman' typeface
|
| 63 | 1933 | - 1933: ICI scientists discover polythene
- 1933: Only 6 pennies minted in Britain this year
- 12 Nov 1933: First known photos of the 'Loch Ness Monster' taken
|
| 64 | 1934 | - 1934: Hitler becomes Fuehrer of Germany
- 18 Jul 1934: King George V opens Mersey Tunnel
- 26 Sep 1934: RMS Queen Mary launched
- 30 Nov 1934: First time a steam locomotive travels at 100 mph ('Flying Scotsman')
|
| 65 | 1935 | - 1935: London adopts a 'Green Belt' scheme
- 1935: Land speed record of 301.13 mph by Malcolm Campbell
- 28 Feb 1935: Nylon first produced by Gerard J. Berchet of Wallace Carothers' research group
at DuPont (there is no evidence to the widely-supposed story that the name derives from
New York-London)
- 12 Mar 1935: Hore-Belisha introduces pedestrian crossings and speed limits for built-up areas
in Britain
- 1 Jun 1935: Voluntary driving tests introduced in UK
- 30 Jul 1935: Penguin paperbacks launched
|
| 66 | 1936 | - 1936: Jet engine first tested
- 20 Jan 1936: George V dies
- 5 May 1936: First flight of a Spitfire
- 24 Jul 1936: 'Speaking clock' service starts in UK
- 2 Nov 1936: British Broadcasting Corporation initiates the BBC Television Service, world's
first public TV transmission
- 30 Nov 1936: Crystal Palace destroyed by fire
- 5 Dec 1936: Edward VIII abdicates (announced Dec 10) – popular carol that Christmas:
"Hark the Herald Angels sing, Mrs Simpson's got our King"
|
| 67 | 1937 | - 1937: '999' emergency telephone call facility starts in London
- 1937: Billy Butlin opens his first holiday camp
- 12 Apr 1937: Frank Whittle ground-tests the first jet engine designed to power an aircraft
- 12 May 1937: Coronation of King George VI
- 28 May 1937: Neville Chamberlain becomes Prime Minister – policy of appeasement towards
Hitler
- 3 Jun 1937: Duke of Windsor marries Wallis Simpson
- 4 Dec 1937: 'The Dandy' first published
|
| 68 | 1938 | - 1938: Principle of paid holidays established in Britain
- 1938: HMS Rodney first ship to be equipped with radar
- 1938: First practical ball-point pen produced by Hungarian journalist, Lajos Biro
- 12 Mar 1938: Germany invades and annexes Austria
- 3 Jul 1938: 'Mallard' reaches 126 mph (203 km/h); still world record for a steam locomotive
- 27 Sep 1938: Largest ocean liner ever built, Queen Elizabeth launched on Clydebank
- 29 Sep 1938: Chamberlain visits Hitler in Munich – promises 'peace in our time'
- 30 Oct 1938: Orson Welles broadcasts his radio play of HG Wells 'The War of the Worlds', causing panic in the USA
|
| 69 | 1939 | - 1939: Germany annexes Czechoslovakia
- 1939: Start of evacuation of women and children from London
- 1939: Coldest winter in Britain since 1894, though this could not be publicised at the time
- 1 Sep 1939: Germany invades Poland
- 3 Sep 1939: Britain and France declare war on Germany
- 6 Sep 1939: First air-raid on Britain
- 11 Sep 1939: British Expeditionary Force (BEF) sent to France
- 14 Oct 1939: HMS Royal Oak sunk in Scapa Flow with loss of 810 lives
- 7 Dec 1939: 'First flight' of Canadian troops sail for Britain – 7,400 men on 5 ships
- 17 Dec 1939: 'Admiral Graf Spee' scuttled outside Montevideo
|
| 70 | 1940 | - 1 Apr 1940: BOAC starts operations, replacing Imperial and British Airways Ltd
- 11 May 1940: National Government formed under Churchill
- 13 May 1940: Germany invades France
- 27 May 1940: Start of the evacuation of the British Army at Dunkirk (27 May - 4 Jun)
- 25 Jun 1940: Fall of France to Germany
- 7 Sep 1940: Germany launches bombing blitz on Britain, the first of 57 consecutive nights of
bombing
- 15 Sep 1940: Battle of Britain: massive waves of German air attacks decisively repulsed by the
RAF – Hitler postpones invasion of Britain
- 14 Nov 1940: Coventry heavily bombed and the Cathedral almost completely destroyed
|
| 71 | 1941 | - 1941: Britain introduces severe rationing
- 1941: First British jet aircraft flies, based on work of Whittle
- 1941: Bailey invents his portable military bridge
- 1941: First use of antibiotics
- 10 May 1941: Rudolf Hess flies to Scotland
- 27 May 1941: 'Bismark' sunk
- 22 Jun 1941: Germany invades Russia (Operation Barbarossa)
- 1 Jul 1941: First Canadian armoured regiments arrive in Britain
- Dec 1941: Canadian forces given operation role in defending south coast of England
- Dec 1941: 'Manhattan Project' of nuclear research begins in America
- 7 Dec 1941: Japan attackes US fleet at Pearl Harbour
- 8 Dec 1941: USA enters WWII
- 24 Dec 1941: Hong Kong falls to the Japanese
|
| 72 | 1942 | - 1942: Invention of world's first programmable computer by Alan Turing in co-operation with
Max Neumann – used to crack German codes
- 1942: Gilbert Murray founds Oxfam
- 30 May 1942: Over 1,000 allied bombers raid Cologne
- 4 Jun 1942: Battle of Midway
- 19 Aug 1942: Abortive raid on Dieppe, largely by Canadian troops
- 6 Sep 1942: Germans defeated at Stalingrad
- 3 Oct 1942: First successful launch of V2 rocket in Germany – first man-made object to reach
space
- 23 Oct 1942: Battle of El Alamein – Montgomery defeats Rommel
- 2 Dec 1942: 'Manhattan Project' – a team led by Enrico Fermi initiates the first self-sustaining
nuclear chain reaction
|
| 73 | 1943 | - 1943: Round-the-clock bombing of Germany begins
- 16 May 1943: 'Dam Buster' raids on Ruhr dams by RAF
- 24 Jul 1943: Allies invade Italy – Benito Mussolini resigns as Italian Dictator, 24 July
|
| 74 | 1944 | - 6 Apr 1944: PAYE income tax begins
- 4 Jun 1944: Allies enter Rome
- 6 Jun 1944: D-Day invasion of Normandy
- 12 Jun 1944: First V1 flying bombs hit London
- 8 Sep 1944: First V2 rocket bombs hit London
- 11 Sep 1944: Allies enter Germany
- 16 Dec 1944: Battle of the Bulge: German counter-offensive
|
| 75 | 1945 | - 4 Feb 1945: Yalta Conference between Churchill, Roosevelt and Stalin
- 29 Mar 1945: Last V1 flying bomb attack
- 25 Apr 1945: Berlin surrounded by Russian troops
- 30 Apr 1945: Hitler commits suicide
- 8 May 1945: VE Day (Victory in Europe)
- 9 May 1945: Channel Islands liberated
- 26 Jun 1945: UN Charter signed in San Francisco
- 16 Jul 1945: First ever atomic bomb exploded in a test in New Mexico (although there were
other forms of atomic device before that, such as the Pile at Stagg Field, first critical on
2nd Dec 1942)
- 26 Jul 1945: Labour win UK General Election – Churchill out of office
- 29 Jul 1945: BBC Light Programme starts
- 6 Aug 1945: Atomic bomb dropped on Hiroshima
- 9 Aug 1945: Atomic bomb dropped on Nagasaki
- 15 Aug 1945: VJ Day (Victory in Japan)
- 2 Sep 1945: Japanese surrender signed aboard USS Missouri
- 24 Oct 1945: United Nations Organisation comes into existence
- 4 Nov 1945: UNESCO founded
|
| 76 | 1946 | - 1946: Transition to National Health Service starts in Britain (came into being 5th July 1948)
- 1946: Alistair Cooke starts his regular 'Letter from America' on BBC radio – until 2004
- 1 Jan 1946: First civillian flight from Heathrow Airport
- 1 Mar 1946: Bank of England nationalised
|
| 77 | 1947 | - 1947: Most severe winter in Britain for 53 years at start of the year – heavy snow and much
flooding later
- 1947: First British nuclear reactor developed
- 1 Jan 1947: Coal Mines nationalised
- 23 Feb 1947: International Organization for Standardization (ISO) founded
- 1 Mar 1947: International Monetary Fund begins financial operations
- 1 Apr 1947: School leaving age raised to 15 in Britain
- 26 Oct 1947: British military occupation ends in Iraq
- 20 Nov 1947: Marriage of Princess Elizabeth (later Elizabeth II) and Philip Mountbatten in
Westminster Abbey
|
| 78 | 1948 | - 1948: British Citizenship Act : all Commonwealth citizens qualify for British passports
- 1948: Transistor radio invented
- 1948: Long-playing record (LP) invented by Goldmark
- 1 Jan 1948: British Railways nationalised
- 5 Jul 1948: National Health Service (NHS) begins in Britain
- 29 Jul 1948: London Olympics begin
|
| 79 | 1949 | - 1949: Maiden flight of the Bristol Brabazon (broken up in 1953 for scrap)
- 1949: De Haviland produces the Comet – first jet airliner
- 15 Mar 1949: Clothes rationing ends in Britain
- 4 Apr 1949: Twelve nations sign The North Atlantic Treaty creating NATO
|
| 80 | 1950 | - 19 May 1950: Points rationing ends in Britain
- 26 May 1950: Petrol rationing ends in Britain
- 11 Jul 1950: 'Andy Pandy' first seen on BBC TV
- 9 Sep 1950: Soap rationing ends in Britain
- 28 Dec 1950: The Peak District becomes the Britain's first National Park
|
| 81 | 1951 | - 3 May 1951: Festival of Britain and Royal Festival Hall open on South Bank, London
- 28 May 1951: First Goon Show broadcast
- 20 Dec 1951: Electricity first produced by nuclear power, from Experimental Breeder Reactor
|
| 82 | 1952 | - 1952: Contraceptive pill invented
- 1952: Britain explodes her first atomic bomb, in Australia
- 1952: Radioactive carbon used for dating prehistoric objects
- 1952: Bonn Convention: Britain, France and USA end their occupation of West Germany
- 6 Feb 1952: King George VI dies
- 21 Feb 1952: Identity Cards abolished in Britain
- 2 May 1952: First commercial jet airliner service launched, by BOACComet between London
and Johannesburg
- 5 Jul 1952: Last tram runs in London (Woolwich to New Cross)
- 16 Aug 1952: Lynmouth (North Devon) flood disaster
- 6 Sep 1952: DH110 crashes at Farnborough Air Show, 26 killed
- 3 Oct 1952: End of tea rationing in Britain
- 1 Nov 1952: The first H-bomb ever ('Mike') was exploded by the USA – the mushroom cloud
was 8 miles across and 27 miles high. The canopy was 100 miles wide. Radioactive mud fell
out of the sky followed by heavy rain. 80 million tons of earth was vaporised.
- 25 Nov 1952: Agatha Christie's 'The Mousetrap' opens in London
- 4 Dec 1952: Great smog hits London
|
| 83 | 1953 | - 31 Jan 1953: Said to be the biggest civil catastrophe in Britain in the 20th century –
severe storm and high tides caused the loss of hundreds of lives –- effects travelled from the
west coast of Scotland round to the south-east coast of England [The Netherlands were even
worse affected with over a thousand deaths]
- 5 Feb 1953: Sweet rationing ends in Britain
- 5 Mar 1953: Death of Stalin
- 26 Mar 1953: Jonas Salk announces his polio vaccine
- 24 Apr 1953: Winston Churchill knighted
- 25 Apr 1953: Francis Crick and James D Watson publish the double helix structure of DNA
- 2 Jun 1953: Coronation of Elizabeth II
- 26 Sep 1953: Sugar rationing ends in Britain (after nearly 14 years)
|
| 84 | 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
|
| 85 | 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
|
| 86 | 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
|
| 87 | 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
|
| 88 | 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
|
| 89 | 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
|
| 90 | 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
|
| 91 | 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
|
| 92 | 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
|
| 93 | 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
|
| 94 | 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
|
| 95 | 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
|
| 96 | 1966 | - 14 Feb 1966: Australia converts from £ to $
- 3 May 1966: "The Times" begins to print news on its front page in place of classified
advertisements
- 30 Jul 1966: World Cup won by England at Wembley (4-2 in extra time v West Germany)
- 8 Sep 1966: First Severn road bridge opens
- 21 Oct 1966: Aberfan disaster – slag heap slip kills 144, incl. 116 children
- 1 Dec 1966: First Christmas stamps issued in Britain
|
1870 - 1966 (95 years)
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