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Marie Justine KENNEDY

Female 1920 - 1972  (52 years)


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   Date  Event(s)
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
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
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)
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
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)
1925 
  • 1925: Britain returns to gold standard
  • 18 Jul 1925: Adolf Hitler publishes Mein Kampf
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
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
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)
10 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
11 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
12 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
13 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
14 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
15 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')
16 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
17 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"
18 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
19 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
20 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
21 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
22 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
23 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
24 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
25 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
26 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
27 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
28 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
29 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
30 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
31 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
32 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
33 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
34 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)
35 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
36 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
37 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
38 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
39 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
40 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
41 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
42 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
43 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
44 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
45 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
46 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
47 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
48 1967 
  • 4 Jan 1967: Donald Campbell dies attempting to break his world water speed record on Conniston Water – his body and Bluebird recovered in 2002
  • 18 Mar 1967: "Torrey Canyon" oil tanker runs aground off Lands End – first major oil spill
  • 28 May 1967: Francis Chichester arrives in Plymouth after solo circumnavigation in Gipsy Moth IV (he was knighted 7th July at Greenwich by the queen using the sword with which Elizabeth I had knighted Sir Francis Drake four centuries earlier
  • 27 Jun 1967: First withdrawal from a cash dispenser (ATM) in Britain – at Enfield branch of Barclays
  • 1 Jul 1967: First colour TV in Britain
  • 14 Aug 1967: Offshore pirate radio stations declared illegal by the UK
  • 20 Sep 1967: "QE2" launched on Clydebank
  • 27 Sep 1967: "Queen Mary" arrives Southampton at end of her last transatlantic voyage
  • 30 Sep 1967: BBC Radios 1, 2, 3 & 4 open – first record played on Radio 1 was the controversial "Flowers in the Rain" by 'The Move'
  • 5 Oct 1967: Introduction of majority verdicts in English courts
49 1968 
  • 18 Feb 1968: British Standard Time introduced – Summer Time became permanent but arguments prevailed and Britain reverted to GMT in October 1971
  • 18 Apr 1968: London Bridge sold (and eventually moved to Arizona) – modern London Bridge, built around it as it was demolished, was opened in Mar 1973
  • 20 Apr 1968: Enoch Powell 'Rivers of Blood' speech on immigration
  • 23 Apr 1968: Issue of 5p and 10p decimal coins in Britain
  • 29 May 1968: Manchester United first English club to win the European Cup
  • 11 Aug 1968: Last steam passenger train service ran in Britain (Carlisle–Liverpool)
  • 16 Sep 1968: Two-tier postal rate starts in Britain
  • 5 Oct 1968: Beginning of disturbances in N Ireland
50 1969 
  • 2 Mar 1969: Maiden flight of 'Concorde', at Toulouse
  • 7 Mar 1969: Victoria Line tube opens in London
  • 17 Apr 1969: Voting age lowered from 21 to 18
  • 2 May 1969: Maiden voyage of liner Queen Elizabeth 2 (QE2)
  • 31 Jul 1969: Halfpenny ceases to be legal tender in Britain
  • 14 Aug 1969: Civil disturbances in Ulster – Britain sends troops to support civil authorities
  • 7 Sep 1969: First episode of "Monty Python's Flying Circus" recorded
  • 14 Oct 1969: 50p coin introduced in Britain (reduced in size 1998)
51 1970 
  • 1970: Boeing 747 (Jumbo jet) goes into service
  • 17 Jun 1970: Decimal postage stamps first issued for sale in Britain
  • 19 Jun 1970: Edward Heath becomes Prime Minister
  • 30 Jul 1970: Damages awarded to Thalidomide victims
  • 19 Sep 1970: First Glastonbury Festival held
  • 20 Nov 1970: Ten shilling note (50p after decimalisation) goes out of circulation in Britain
52 1971 
  • 1971: Banking and Financial Dealings Act – replaced the Bank Holidays Act of 1871
  • 1971: Sunday becomes the seventh day in the week as UK adopts decision of the International Standardisation Organisation (ISO) to call Monday the first day
  • 1971: 'Greenpeace' founded
  • 1971: Rolls-Royce declared bankrupt
  • 3 Jan 1971: Open University starts
  • 15 Feb 1971: Decimalisation of coinage in UK and Republic of Ireland
  • 9 Aug 1971: Internment without trial introduced in N Ireland
  • 28 Oct 1971: Parliament votes to join Common Market (joined 1973)
  • 28 Oct 1971: UK launches its first (and only) satellite, Prospero
53 1972 
  • 1972: Britain imposes direct rule in Northern Ireland
  • 1972: Strict anti-hijack measures introduced internationally, especially at airports
  • 1972: Dutch Elm disease devastates trees across UK
  • 1972: Domestic video cassette recorders introduced
  • 30 Jan 1972: 'Bloody Sunday' in Derry, Northern Ireland
  • 28 May 1972: Duke of Windsor (ex-King Edward VIII) dies in Paris