| |
Date |
Event(s) |
| 1 | 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
|
| 2 | 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
|
| 3 | 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
|
| 4 | 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
|
| 5 | 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
|
| 6 | 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
|
| 7 | 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
|
| 8 | 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
|
| 9 | 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
|
| 10 | 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
|
| 11 | 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
|
| 12 | 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
|
| 13 | 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
|
| 14 | 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
|
| 15 | 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
|
| 16 | 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)
|
| 17 | 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
|
| 18 | 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
|
| 19 | 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
|
| 20 | 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
|
| 21 | 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
|
1938 - 1958 (20 years)
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