| |
Date |
Event(s) |
| 1 | 1897 | - 1897: Thomas Edison patents the Kinetoscope, the first movie projector
|
| 2 | 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)
|
| 3 | 1899 | - 6 Mar 1899: Aspirin first marketed by Bayer
- 11 Oct 1899: Start of Second Boer War
|
| 4 | 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
|
| 5 | 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
|
| 6 | 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
|
| 7 | 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
|
| 8 | 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)
|
| 9 | 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
|
| 10 | 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
|
| 11 | 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
|
| 12 | 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
|
| 13 | 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)
|
| 14 | 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
|
| 15 | 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
|
| 16 | 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
|
| 17 | 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
|
| 18 | 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
|
| 19 | 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
|
| 20 | 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
|
| 21 | 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
|
| 22 | 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
|
| 23 | 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
|
| 24 | 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
|
| 25 | 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
|
| 26 | 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)
|
| 27 | 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
|
| 28 | 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)
|
| 29 | 1925 | - 1925: Britain returns to gold standard
- 18 Jul 1925: Adolf Hitler publishes Mein Kampf
|
| 30 | 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
|
| 31 | 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
|
| 32 | 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)
|
| 33 | 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
|
| 34 | 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
|
| 35 | 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
|
| 36 | 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
|
| 37 | 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
|
| 38 | 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')
|
| 39 | 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
|
| 40 | 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"
|
| 41 | 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
|
| 42 | 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
|
| 43 | 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
|
| 44 | 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
|
| 45 | 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
|
| 46 | 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
|
| 47 | 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
|
| 48 | 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
|
| 49 | 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
|
| 50 | 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
|
| 51 | 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
|
| 52 | 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
|
| 53 | 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
|
| 54 | 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
|
| 55 | 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
|
| 56 | 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
|
| 57 | 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)
|
| 58 | 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
|
| 59 | 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
|
| 60 | 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
|
| 61 | 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
|
| 62 | 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
|
| 63 | 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
|
| 64 | 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
|
| 65 | 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
|
| 66 | 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
|
| 67 | 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
|
| 68 | 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
|
| 69 | 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
|
| 70 | 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
|
| 71 | 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
|
| 72 | 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
|
| 73 | 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)
|
| 74 | 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
|
| 75 | 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
|
| 76 | 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
|
| 77 | 1973 | - 1 Jan 1973: Britain enters EEC Common Market (with Ireland and Denmark)
- 17 Mar 1973: Modern London Bridge opened by the Queen
- 1 Apr 1973: VAT introduced in Britain
- 26 Sep 1973: Concorde makes its first non-stop crossing of the Atlantic in record-breaking
time
- 14 Oct 1973: Marriage of Princess Anne and Captain Mark Phillips in Westminster Abbey
- 31 Dec 1973: Miners strike and oil crisis precipitate 'three-day week' (till 9 Mar 1974) to
conserve power
|
| 78 | 1974 | - 1974: New counties formed in Britain after re-organisation of some county boundaries
- 1 Jun 1974: Flixborough disaster: explosion at chemical plant kills 28 people
- 7 Nov 1974: Lord Lucan disappears
- 21 Nov 1974: Birmingham pub bombings by the IRA
|
| 79 | 1975 | - 1975: Unemployment in Britain rises above 1M for first time since before WW2
- 11 Feb 1975: Margaret Thatcher becomes leader of Conservative party (in opposition)
- 28 Feb 1975: Moorgate tube crash in London – over 43 deaths, greatest loss of life on the
Underground in peacetime. The cause of the incident was never conclusively determined
- 4 Mar 1975: Charlie Chaplin knighted
- 5 Jun 1975: UK votes in a referendum to stay in the European Community
- 29 Oct 1975: 'Yorkshire Ripper' commits his first murder
- 3 Nov 1975: First North Sea oil comes ashore
- 29 Nov 1975: The name 'Micro-soft' coined by Bill Gates (Microsoft' became a Trademark the
following year)
- 27 Dec 1975: Equal Pay Act and Sex Discrimination Act come into force
|
| 80 | 1976 | - 1976: 'Cod War' between Britain and Iceland
- 1976: Deaths exceeded live births in E&W for first time since records began in 1837
- 1976: James Callaghan becomes Prime Minister
- 1976: National Theatre opens in London
- 21 Jan 1976: Concorde enters supersonic passenger service
- 1 Apr 1976: Apple Computer formed by Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak
- 6 Aug 1976: Drought Act 1976 comes into force — the long, hot summer
|
| 81 | 1977 | - 2 Mar 1977: "Red Rum" wins a third Grand National
- 25 May 1977: George Lucas' film "Star Wars" released
- 5 Jun 1977: Apple II, the first practical personal computer, goes on sale
- 7 Jun 1977: Queen's Silver Jubilee celebrations in London
- 22 Nov 1977: Regular supersonic Concorde service betweeen London and NY inaugurated
|
| 82 | 1978 | - 8 Apr 1978: Regular broadcast of proceedings in Parliament starts
- 1 May 1978: First May Day holiday in Britain
- 25 Jul 1978: World's first 'test tube' baby, Louise Browne born in Oldham
- 30 Nov 1978: Publication of The Times suspended – industrial relations problems (until 13
Nov 1979)
|
| 83 | 1979 | - 1 Mar 1979: 32.5% of Scots vote in favour of devolution (40% needed) – Welsh vote
overwhelmingly against
- 30 Mar 1979: Airey Neave killed by a car bomb at Westminster
- 31 Mar 1979: Withdrawal of the Royal Navy from Malta
- 4 May 1979: Margaret Thatcher becomes first woman UK Prime Minister
- 1 Jul 1979: Sony introduces the Walkman
- 27 Aug 1979: Lord Mountbatten and 3 others killed in bomb blast off coast of Sligo, Ireland
- 18 Sep 1979: ILEA votes to abolish corporal punishment in its schools
|
| 84 | 1980 | - 5 May 1980: SAS storm Iranian Embassy in London to free hostages
- 8 Dec 1980: John Lennon assassinated in New York
|
| 85 | 1981 | - 25 Jan 1981: Launch of SDP by 'Gang of Four' in Britain
- 29 Mar 1981: First London marathon run
- 11 Apr 1981: Brixton riots in South London – 30 other British cities also experience riots
- 25 Apr 1981: Worst April blizzards this century in Britain
- 27 Apr 1981: First use of computer mouse (by Xerox PARC system)
- 29 Jul 1981: Wedding of Prince Charles and Lady Diana Spencer (divorced 28 Aug 1996)
- 12 Aug 1981: IBM launches the first PC
- 12 Aug 1981: IBM launches its PC — starts the general use of personal computers
|
| 86 | 1982 | - 26 Jan 1982: Unemployment reached 3 million in Britain (1 in 8 of working population)
- 5 Feb 1982: Laker Airways collapses
- 19 Feb 1982: DeLorean Car factory in Belfast goes into receivership
- 18 Mar 1982: Argentinians raised flag in South Georgia
- 2 Apr 1982: Argentina invades Falkland (Malvinas) Islands
- 5 Apr 1982: Royal Navy fleet sails from Portsmouth for Falklands
- 2 May 1982: British nuclear submarine HMS Conqueror sinks Argentine cruiser General
Belgrano
- 28 May 1982: First land battle in Falklands (Goose Green)
- 14 Jun 1982: Ceasefire in Falklands
- 21 Jun 1982: Prince William is born
- 20 Jul 1982: IRA bombings in London (Hyde Park and Regents Park)
- 19 Sep 1982: Smiley emoticon :-) said to have been used for the first time
- 11 Oct 1982: "Mary Rose" raised in the Solent (sank in 1545)
- 31 Oct 1982: Thames Barrier raised for first time (some say first public demonstration Nov 7)
- 2 Nov 1982: Channel 4 TV station launched – first programme 'Countdown'
- 4 Nov 1982: Lorries up to 38 tonnes allowed on Britain's roads
- 12 Dec 1982: Women's peace protest at Greenham Common (Cruise missiles arrived 14 Nov
1983)
|
| 87 | 1983 | - 1983: First female Lord Mayor of London elected (Dame Mary Donaldson)
- 17 Jan 1983: Start of breakfast TV in Britain
- 31 Jan 1983: Seat belt law comes into force
- 21 Apr 1983: £1 coin into circulation in Britain
- 7 Oct 1983: Plans to abolish GLC announced
- 26 Nov 1983: Brinks Mat robbery: 6,800 gold bars worth nearly £26 million are stolen from a
vault at Heathrow Airport
|
| 88 | 1984 | - 6 Mar 1984: Miners strike begins
- 17 Apr 1984: Police Constable Yvonne Fletcher killed by gunfire from the Libyan Embassy in
London
- 22 Jun 1984: Inaugural flight of Virgin Atlantic
- 9 Jul 1984: York Minster struck by lightning – the resulting fire damaged much of the building
but the "Rose Window" not affected
- 12 Oct 1984: IRA bomb explodes at Tory conference hotel in Brighton – 4 killed
- 24 Oct 1984: Miners' strike — High Court orders sequestration of NUM assets
- 3 Dec 1984: British Telecom privatised – shares make massive gains on first day's trading
|
| 89 | 1985 | - 3 Mar 1985: Miners agree to call off strike
- 11 Mar 1985: Al Fayed buys Harrods
- 13 Jul 1985: "Live Aid" pop concert raises over £50M for famine relief
- 1 Sep 1985: Wreck of "Titanic" found (sank 1912)
|
| 90 | 1986 | - 31 Mar 1986: GLC and 6 metropolitan councils abolished
- 26 Apr 1986: Chernobyl nuclear accident – radiation reached Britain on 2 Ma
- 26 May 1986: The European Community adopts the European flag
- 23 Jul 1986: Prince Andrew, Duke of York marries Sarah Ferguson at Westminster Abbey
- 27 Oct 1986: 'Big Bang' (deregulation) of the London Stock Market
- 29 Oct 1986: M25 motorway ring around London completed
|
| 91 | 1987 | - 1987: World population crossed the 5 billion mark
- 2 Feb 1987: Terry Waite kidnapped in Beirut (released 17 Nov 1991)
- 6 Mar 1987: Car ferry "Herald of Free Enterprise" capsizes off Zeebrugge – 188 die
- 1 Jul 1987: Excavation begins on the Channel Tunnel
- 19 Aug 1987: Hungerford Massacre – Michael Ryan kills sixteen people with a rifle
- 16 Oct 1987: The 'Hurricane' sweeps southern England
- 19 Oct 1987: 'Black Monday' in the City of London – Stock Market crash
- 8 Nov 1987: Enniskillen bombing at a Remembrance Day ceremony
- 18 Nov 1987: King's Cross fire in London – 31 people die
|
| 92 | 1988 | - 5 Feb 1988: First 'Red Nose Day' in UK, raising money for charity
- 6 Jul 1988: Piper Alpha disaster – North Sea oil platform destroyed by explosion and fire
killing 167 men
- 15 Nov 1988: Copyright, Designs and Patents Act – reformulated the statutory basis of
copyright law (including performing rights) in the UK
- 12 Dec 1988: Clapham Junction rail crash kills 35 and injures hundreds after two collisions of
three commuter trains
- 21 Dec 1988: Lockerbie disaster – Pan Am flight 103 explodes over Scotland
|
| 93 | 1989 | - 1989: Poll Tax implemented in Scotland
- 14 Feb 1989: The first of 24 satellites of the Global Positioning System is placed into orbit
- 2 Mar 1989: EU decision to ban production of all chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs) by the end of
the century
- 9 Nov 1989: Berlin Wall torn down
- 21 Nov 1989: Proceedings of House of Commons first televised live
|
| 94 | 1990 | - 11 Feb 1990: Nelson Mandela released in South Africa
- 31 Mar 1990: Riots in London against Poll Tax which had been implemented in England &
Wales
- 25 Apr 1990: Hubble space telescope launched
- 22 Nov 1990: Margaret Thatcher resigns as Conservative party leader (and Prime Minister)
- 1 Dec 1990: Channel Tunnel excavation teams meet in the middle
|
1897 - 1990 (92 years)
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