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Ethel Reynolds

Ethel Reynolds

Female 1909 - 1989  (79 years)  Submit Photo / DocumentSubmit Photo / Document

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Timeline

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Initiatory (LDS) (29 Jun 1992)
Buried (Ethel Reynolds)
Died (Ethel Reynolds)
Died (Leon Bennett Dunn)
Married Leon Bennett Dunn
Leon Bennett Dunn (1916 - 1975)
Ethel Reynolds (1909 - 1989)
1931
1932
1933
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1966
First Severn road bridge opens
World Cup won by England at Wembley (4-2 in extra time v West Germany)
'The Times' begins to print news on its front page in place of classified Advertisements
Australia converts from ? to $
70mph speed limit introduced on British roads
Death penalty for murder suspended in Britain for five-year trial period, then abolished 18 Dec 1969
Post Office Tower operational in London
TV cigarette advertising banned in Britain
Winston Churchill dies
First US raids against North Vietnam
Britain enacts first Race Relations Act
Forth road bridge opens
'Match of the Day' starts on BBC2
BBC2 TV launched
First Greater London Council (GLC) election
First 'Top of the Pops' on BBC TV
First episode of 'Dr Who' on BBC TV
Dartford Tunnel opens
Fylingdales (Yorks) early warning system operational
'Great Train Robbery' on Glasgow to London mail train
Minimum prison age raised to 17
Beeching Report on British Railways (the 'Beeching Axe')
France vetoes Britain's entry into EEC
Cold weather forces cancellation of most football matches (only 4 English First Division matches in the month) - the first 'pools panel' created
Cuba missile crisis - brink of nuclear war
First TV transmission between US and Europe (Telstar) - first live broadcast on 23 Jul
First passenger-carrying hovercraft enters service, along the North Wales Coast from Moreton to Rhyl
First nuclear generated electricity to supplied National Grid (from Berkeley Glos)
Consecration of new Coventry Cathedral (old destroyed in WW2 blitz)
Britain passes Commonwealth Immigrants Act to control immigration
Thalidomide withdrawn after it causes deformities in babies
Britain and France agree to construct 'Concorde'
Betting shops legal in Britain
New English Bible (New Testament) published
Black & White ?5 notes cease to be legal tender
Farthing ceases to be legal tender in UK
Penguin Books found not guilty of obscenity in the 'Lady Chatterley's Lover' case
HMS 'Dreadnought' nuclear submarine launched
MoT tests on motor vehicles introduced
Echo I, the first (passive) communications satellite, launched
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
Last steam locomotive of British Railways named
New ?1 notes issued by Bank of England
First section of M1 motorway opened
Postcodes introduced in Britain
BMC Mini car launched
Empire Day becomes Commonwealth Day
Vanguard 2 satellite launched - first to measure cloud-cover distribution
'The Day The Music Died' - plane crash kills Buddy Holly, Ritchie Valens, and The Big Bopper
Inauguration of Subscriber Trunk Dialling (STD) in Britain (completed in 1979)
Preston by-pass opens - UK's first stretch of motorway
Prince Charles' Investiture as 'Prince of Wales'
Velcro trade mark registered
Easter: First anti-nuclear protest march to Aldermaston (emergence of CND)
Computers begin to be used in research, industry and commerce
USA begins to produce Inter-Continental Ballistic Missiles (ICBMs)
Queen's first Christmas TV broadcast
Lewisham rail disaster - 90 killed as two trains collide in thick fog and a viaduct collapses on top of them
Treaty of Rome to create European Economic Community (EEC) of six countries: France, West Germany, Italy, Belgium, Holland and Luxembourg - became operational Jan 1958
Britain explodes her first hydrogen bomb, at Christmas Island
Post-Suez petrol rationing ends
Harold Macmillan becomes Prime Minister
Britain introduces parking meters
Helvetica typeface developed (in Switzerland)
Britain and France invade Suez
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)
Premium Bonds first launched - first prizes drawn on 1 Jun 1957
Radiotelephony spelling alphabet introduced (Alpha, Bravo, etc)
Britain constructs world's first large-scale nuclear power station in Cumberland
Commercial TV starts in Britain
Jul 27: Allied occupation of Austria (after WW2) ends
'Mole' self-grip wrench patented by Thomas Coughtrie of Mole & Sons
First atomic powered sumbmarine USS Nautilus commissioned
BBC broadcasts its first television news bulletin
Food rationing officially ends in Britain
First sub 4 minute mile (Roger Bannister, 3 mins 59.4 secs)
First comprehensive school opens in London
Routemaster bus starts operating in London
First transistor radios sold
Sugar rationing ends in Britain (after nearly 14 years)
Coronation of Elizabeth II
Francis Crick and James D Watson publish the double helix structure of DNA
Winston Churchill knighted
Jonas Salk announces his polio vaccine
Death of Stalin
Sweet rationing ends in Britain
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]
Great smog hits London
Agatha Christie's 'The Mousetrap' opens in London
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.
End of tea rationing in Britain
DH110 crashes at Farnborough Air Show, 26 killed
Lynmouth (North Devon) flood disaster
Last tram runs in London (Woolwich to New Cross)
First commercial jet airliner service launched, by BOACComet between London and Johannesburg
Identity Cards abolished in Britain
King George VI dies
Contraceptive pill invented
Britain explodes her first atomic bomb, in Australia
Radioactive carbon used for dating prehistoric objects
Bonn Convention: Britain, France and USA end their occupation of West Germany
Electricity first produced by nuclear power, from Experimental Breeder Reactor
First Goon Show broadcast
Festival of Britain and Royal Festival Hall open on South Bank, London
The Peak District becomes the Britain's first National Park
Soap rationing ends in Britain
'Andy Pandy' first seen on BBC TV
Petrol rationing ends in Britain
Points rationing ends in Britain
Twelve nations sign The North Atlantic Treaty creating NATO
Clothes rationing ends in Britain
Maiden flight of the Bristol Brabazon (broken up in 1953 for scrap)
De Haviland produces the Comet - first jet airliner
London Olympics begin
National Health Service (NHS) begins in Britain
British Citizenship Act : all Commonwealth citizens qualify for British passports
Transistor radio invented
Long-playing record (LP) invented by Goldmark
British Railways nationalised
Marriage of Princess Elizabeth (later Elizabeth II) and Philip Mountbatten in Westminster Abbey
British military occupation ends in Iraq
School leaving age raised to 15 in Britain
International Monetary Fund begins financial operations
International Organization for Standardization (ISO) founded
Most severe winter in Britain for 53 years at start of the year - heavy snow and much flooding later
First British nuclear reactor developed
Coal Mines nationalised
Bank of England nationalised
Transition to National Health Service starts in Britain (came into being 5th July 1948)
Alistair Cooke starts his regular 'Letter from America' on BBC radio - until 2004
First civillian flight from Heathrow Airport
UNESCO founded
United Nations Organisation comes into existence
Japanese surrender signed aboard USS Missouri
VJ Day (Victory in Japan)
Atomic bomb dropped on Nagasaki
Atomic bomb dropped on Hiroshima
BBC Light Programme starts
Labour win UK General Election - Churchill out of office
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)
UN Charter signed in San Francisco
Channel Islands liberated
VE Day (Victory in Europe)
Hitler commits suicide
Berlin surrounded by Russian troops
Last V1 flying bomb attack
Yalta Conference between Churchill, Roosevelt and Stalin
Battle of the Bulge: German counter-offensive
Allies enter Germany
First V2 rocket bombs hit London
First V1 flying bombs hit London
D-Day invasion of Normandy
Allies enter Rome
PAYE income tax begins
Allies invade Italy - Benito Mussolini resigns as Italian Dictator, 24 July
'Dam Buster' raids on Ruhr dams by RAF
Round-the-clock bombing of Germany begins
'Manhattan Project' - a team led by Enrico Fermi initiates the first self-sustaining nuclear chain reaction
Battle of El Alamein - Montgomery defeats Rommel
First successful launch of V2 rocket in Germany - first man-made object to reach space
Germans defeated at Stalingrad
Abortive raid on Dieppe, largely by Canadian troops
Battle of Midway
Over 1,000 allied bombers raid Cologne
Invention of world's first programmable computer by Alan Turing in co-operation with Max Neumann - used to crack German codes
Gilbert Murray founds Oxfam
Hong Kong falls to the Japanese
USA enters WWII
Japan attackes US fleet at Pearl Harbour
Canadian forces given operation role in defending south coast of England
'Manhattan Project' of nuclear research begins in America
First Canadian armoured regiments arrive in Britain
Germany invades Russia (Operation Barbarossa)
'Bismark' sunk
Rudolf Hess flies to Scotland
Britain introduces severe rationing
First British jet aircraft flies, based on work of Whittle
Bailey invents his portable military bridge
First use of antibiotics
Coventry heavily bombed and the Cathedral almost completely destroyed
Battle of Britain: massive waves of German air attacks decisively repulsed by the RAF - Hitler postpones invasion of Britain
Germany launches bombing blitz on Britain, the first of 57 consecutive nights of bombing
Fall of France to Germany
Start of the evacuation of the British Army at Dunkirk (27 May - 4 Jun)
Germany invades France
National Government formed under Churchill
BOAC starts operations, replacing Imperial and British Airways Ltd
'Admiral Graf Spee' scuttled outside Montevideo
'First flight' of Canadian troops sail for Britain - 7,400 men on 5 ships
HMS Royal Oak sunk in Scapa Flow with loss of 810 lives
British Expeditionary Force (BEF) sent to France
First air-raid on Britain
Britain and France declare war on Germany
Germany invades Poland
Germany annexes Czechoslovakia
Start of evacuation of women and children from London
Coldest winter in Britain since 1894, though this could not be publicised at the time
Orson Welles broadcasts his radio play of HG Wells 'The War of the Worlds', causing panic in the USA
Chamberlain visits Hitler in Munich - promises 'peace in our time'
Largest ocean liner ever built, Queen Elizabeth launched on Clydebank
'Mallard' reaches 126 mph (203 km/h); still world record for a steam locomotive
Germany invades and annexes Austria
Principle of paid holidays established in Britain
HMS Rodney first ship to be equipped with radar
First practical ball-point pen produced by Hungarian journalist, Lajos Biro
'The Dandy' first published
Duke of Windsor marries Wallis Simpson
Neville Chamberlain becomes Prime Minister - policy of appeasement towards Hitler
Coronation of King George VI
Frank Whittle ground-tests the first jet engine designed to power an aircraft
'999' emergency telephone call facility starts in London
Billy Butlin opens his first holiday camp
Edward VIII abdicates (announced Dec 10) - popular carol that Christmas: 'Hark the Herald Angels sing Mrs Simpson's got our King'
Crystal Palace destroyed by fire
British Broadcasting Corporation initiates the BBC Television Service, world's first public TV transmission
'Speaking clock' service starts in UK
First flight of a Spitfire
George V dies
Jet engine first tested
Penguin paperbacks launched
Voluntary driving tests introduced in UK
Hore-Belisha introduces pedestrian crossings and speed limits for built-up areas in Britain
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)
London adopts a 'Green Belt' scheme
Land speed record of 301.13 mph by Malcolm Campbell
First time a steam locomotive travels at 100 mph ('Flying Scotsman')
RMS Queen Mary launched
King George V opens Mersey Tunnel
Hitler becomes Fuehrer of Germany
First known photos of the 'Loch Ness Monster' taken
ICI scientists discover polythene
Only 6 pennies minted in Britain this year
Iraq gains independence from Britain
'The Times' introduces 'Times New Roman' typeface
Amelia Earhart first solo nonstop flight across Atlantic by a female pilot
Great Hunger March of unemployed to London
Moseley founds British Union of Fascists
Cockroft and Walton accelerate particles to disintegrate an atomic nucleus
Sir Thomas Beecham established the London Philharmonic Orchestra
National Government formed to deal with economic crisis - Britain comes off gold standard
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)
Highway Code first issued
Statute of Westminster: British Dominions become independent sovereign states
Collapse of the German banking system; 3,000 banks there close
1770
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   Date  Event(s)
1898 
1901 
1909 
  • 1909β€”1909: Beveridge Report prompts creation of labour Exchanges
  • 1909β€”1909: Peary reaches the north pole
  • 1909β€”1909: First commercial manufacture of Bakelite - start of the plastic age
  • 1 Jan 1909β€”1 Jan 1909: Old Age Pensions Act came into force
  • 16 Jan 1909β€”16 Jan 1909: Ernest Shackleton's expedition finds the magnetic South Pole
  • 4 Mar 1909β€”4 Mar 1913: William Howard Taft U.S. Presidency William Howard Taft U.S. Presidency
  • 15 Mar 1909β€”15 Mar 1909: Selfridges department store opens in London
  • 25 Jul 1909β€”25 Jul 1909: Bleriot flies across the Channel (36 minutes, Calais to Dover)
1910 
  • 1910β€”1910: Railway strike and coal strikes in Britain
  • 1910β€”1910: Constitutional crisis in Britain
  • 1910β€”1910: Dr Crippen caught by radio telegraphy; hanged 23 Nov at Pentonville
  • 1910β€”1910: Madame Curie isolates radium
  • 1910β€”1910: Halley's comet reappears
  • 1910β€”1910: Tango becomes popular in North America and Europe
  • 6 May 1910β€”6 May 1910: Edward VII dies - George V becomes King
1911 
  • 1911β€”1911: Parliament Act in Britain reduces the power of the House of Lords
  • 1911β€”1911: British MPs receive a salary
  • 1911β€”1911: First British Official Secrets Act
  • 1911β€”1911: Rutherford: theory of atomic structures
  • 1911β€”1911: Strikes by seamen, dock and transport workers (1911-1912)
  • 2 Apr 1911β€”2 Apr 1911: Census: Population - England and Wales: 36 Million; Scotland: 4.6 Million; N Ireland: 1.25 Million
  • 22 Jun 1911β€”22 Jun 1911: Coronation of George V
  • 14 Dec 1911β€”14 Dec 1911: National Insurance introduced in Britain
1912 
  • 1912β€”1912: Irish Home Rule crisis grows in Britain
  • 1912β€”1912: Britain nationalises the telephone system
  • 1912β€”1912: Discovery of the 'Piltdown Man' - hoax, exposed in 1953
  • 18 Jan 1912β€”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 1912β€”14 Apr 1912: The 'unsinkable' Titanic sinks on maiden voyage - loss of 1,513 lives
  • 15 Apr 1912: Titanic Sinks Titanic Sinks
  • 13 May 1912β€”13 May 1912: Royal Flying Corps (later the RAF) founded in Britain
1913 
  • 1913β€”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
  • 1913β€”1913: Suffragette demonstrations in London - Mrs Pankhurst imprisoned
  • 1913β€”1913: Trade Union Act in Britain establishes the right to use Union funds for political purposes
  • 1913β€”1913: Invention of stainless steel by Harry Brearley of Sheffield
  • 1913β€”1913: Geiger invents his counter to measure radioactivity
  • 4 Mar 1913β€”4 Mar 1921: Woodrow Wilson U.S. Presidency Woodrow Wilson U.S. Presidency
  • 4 Jun 1913β€”4 Jun 1913: Emily Davison, a suffragette, runs out in front of the king's horse, Anmer, at the Epsom Derby and dies
1914 
  • 1914β€”1914: Irish Home Rule Act provides for a separate Parliament in Ireland; the position of Ulster to be decided after the War
  • 1914β€”1914: Chaplin and De Mille make their first films
  • 28 Jun 1914β€”28 Jun 1914: Archduke Ferdinand assassinated in Sarajevo
  • 28 Jul 1914β€”11 Nov 1918: World War I World War I
  • 4 Aug 1914β€”4 Aug 1914: Britain declares war on Germany, citing Belgian neutrality as reason
  • 5 Aug 1914β€”5 Aug 1914: British cableship Telconia cut through all five of Germany's undersea telegraph links to the outside world
  • 15 Aug 1914β€”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 1914β€”Oct 1914: Battle of Ypres - beginning of trench warfare on western front
  • 27 Nov 1914β€”27 Nov 1914: First policewoman goes on duty in Britain
  • 16 Dec 1914β€”16 Dec 1914: German battleships bombard Hartlepool and Scarborough
1915 
  • 1915β€”1915: Junkers construct first fighter aeroplane
  • 1915β€”1915: First automatic telephone exchange in Britain
  • 19 Jan 1915β€”19 Jan 1915: First Zeppelin air raid on England, over East Anglia - four killed
  • Feb 1915β€”Feb 1915: Submarine blockade of Britain starts
  • Apr 1915β€”Apr 1915: Second Battle of Ypres - poison gas used for first time
  • 25 Apr 1915β€”25 Apr 1915: Gallipoli campaign starts (declared ANZAC Day in 1916)
  • 7 May 1915β€”7 May 1915: RMS Lusitania sunk by German submarine off coast of Ireland - 1,198 died
  • 16 May 1915β€”16 May 1915: First meeting of a British WI (Women's Institute) took place in Llanfairpwll (aka Llanfair PG), Anglesey
10 1916 
  • 1916β€”1916: Compulsory military service introduced in Britain
  • Feb 1916β€”Feb 1916: Battle of Verdun - appalling losses on both sides, stalemate continues
  • 24 Apr 1916β€”24 Apr 1916: Easter Rising in Ireland - after the leaders are executed, public opinion backs independence
  • 21 May 1916β€”21 May 1916: First use of Daylight Saving Time in UK
  • 31 May 1916β€”31 May 1916: Battle of Jutland - only major naval battle between the British and German fleets
  • 5 Jun 1916β€”5 Jun 1916: Sinking of HMS Hampshire and death of Kitchener
  • 3 Aug 1916β€”3 Aug 1916: Sir Roger Casement hanged at Pentonville Prison for treason
  • 15 Sep 1916β€”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 1916β€”7 Dec 1916: Lloyd-George becomes British Prime Minister of the coalition government
11 1917 
  • 1917β€”1917: Battle of Cambrai - first use of massed tanks, but effect more psychological than actual
  • 1917β€”1917: Ministry of Labour is established in Britain
  • Feb 1917β€”Feb 1917: February revolution in Russia; Tsar Nicholas abdicates
  • 16 Apr 1917β€”16 Apr 1917: Lenin returns to Russia after exile
  • 17 Apr 1917β€”17 Apr 1917: USA declares war on Germany
  • 26 May 1917β€”26 May 1917: George V changes surname from Saxe-Coburg-Gotha to Windsor (Royal proclamation on 17 July)
  • Jul 1917β€”Jul 1917: Battle of Passchendaele - little gained by either side (Jul-Nov)
  • 7 Nov 1917β€”7 Nov 1917: 'October' Revolution in Russia - Bolsheviks overthrow provisional government; Lenin becomes Chief Commissar
  • 6 Dec 1917β€”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 1917β€”9 Dec 1917: British forces capture Jerusalem
12 1918 
  • 1918β€”1918: Vote for women over 30, men over 21 (except peers, lunatics and felons)
  • 1918β€”1918: War of Independence in Ireland
  • 18 Jan 1918β€”18 Jan 1918: Bentley Motors founded
  • 8 Mar 1918β€”8 Mar 1918: Start of world-wide 'flu pandemic
  • Jul 1918β€”Jul 1918: Second Battle of the Marne: last major German offensive in WW1 (Jul-Aug)
  • 1 Oct 1918β€”1 Oct 1918: Arab forces under Lawrence of Arabia capture Damascus
  • 11 Nov 1918β€”11 Nov 1918: Armistice signed
  • Dec 1918β€”Dec 1918: First woman elected to House of Commons, Countess Markiewicz as a Sinn Fein member refused to take her seat
13 1919 
  • 1919β€”1919: Britain adopts a 48-hour working week
  • 1919β€”1919: Sir Ernest Rutherford publishes account of splitting the atom
  • 15 Jun 1919β€”15 Jun 1919: Alcock and Brown complete first nonstop flight across the Atlantic
  • 28 Jun 1919β€”28 Jun 1919: Treaty of Versailles signed
14 1920 
  • 1920β€”1920: Regular cross-channel air service starts
  • 1920β€”1920: Marconi opens a radio broadcasting station in Britain
  • 1920β€”1920: Thompson patents his machine gun (Tommy gun)
  • Feb 1920β€”Feb 1920: First roadside petrol filling station in UK - opened by the Automobile Association at Aldermaston on the Bath Road
15 1921 
  • 1921β€”1921: Railway Act in Britain amalgamates companies - only four remained
  • 1921β€”1921: Insulin discovery announced
  • 1921β€”1921: First birth control clinic
  • 4 Mar 1921β€”2 Aug 1923: Warren G. Harding U.S. Presidency Warren G. Harding U.S. Presidency
  • 19 Jun 1921β€”19 Jun 1921: Census: Population - England and Wales: 37.9 Million; Scotland: 4.9 Million; N Ireland: 1.25 Million
  • 6 Dec 1921β€”6 Dec 1921: Anglo-Irish Treaty signed in London, leading to the formation of the Irish Free State and Northern Ireland
16 1922 
  • 1922β€”1922: Law of Property Act - the manorial system effectively ended
  • 1 Jun 1922β€”1 Jun 1922: Royal Ulster Constabulary founded
  • Oct 1922β€”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)
17 1923 
  • 1923β€”1923: Roads in Great Britain classified with A and B numbers
  • 1923β€”1923: Hubble shows there are galaxies beyond the Milky Way
  • 1923β€”1923: First American broadcasts heard in Britain
  • 1 Jan 1923β€”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 1923β€”16 Feb 1923: Howard Carter unsealed the burial chamber of Tutankhamun
  • 28 Apr 1923β€”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
  • 2 Aug 1923β€”4 Mar 1929: Calvin Coolidge U.S. Presidency Calvin Coolidge U.S. Presidency
  • 28 Sep 1923β€”28 Sep 1923: First publication of Radio Times
18 1924 
  • 4 Jan 1924β€”4 Jan 1924: First Labour government in Britain, headed by Ramsay MacDonald
  • 5 Feb 1924β€”5 Feb 1924: Hourly Greenwich Time Signals from the Royal Greenwich Observatory were first broadcast by the BBC
  • 31 Mar 1924β€”31 Mar 1924: British Imperial Airways begins operations (formed by merger of four British airline companies - became BOAC in 1940)
19 1925 
  • 1925β€”1925: Britain returns to gold standard
  • 18 Jul 1925β€”18 Jul 1925: Adolf Hitler publishes Mein Kampf
20 1926 
  • 1926β€”1926: First public demonstration of television (TV) by John Logie Baird
  • 1926β€”1926: Adoption of children is legalised in Britain
  • 1926β€”1926: Kodak produces 16mm movie film
  • 1926β€”1926: Walt Disney arrives in Hollywood
  • 21 Apr 1926β€”21 Apr 1926: Princess Elizabeth born
  • 3 May 1926β€”3 May 1926: General Strike begins. Lasts until May 12 (mine workers for 6 months more)
  • 31 Oct 1926β€”31 Oct 1926: Death of Harry Houdini
21 1927 
  • 1927β€”1927: Release of the first 'talkie' film (The Jazz Singer)
  • 7 Jan 1927β€”7 Jan 1927: First transatlantic telephone call - New York City to London
  • 22 Jan 1927β€”22 Jan 1927: First football broadcast by BBC (Arsenal v Sheffield United at Highbury)
  • 1 May 1927β€”1 May 1927: First cooked meals on a scheduled flight introduced by Imperial Airways from London to Paris
  • 20 May 1927β€”20 May 1927: Lindbergh makes solo flight across the Atlantic, in 33? hours
  • 31 May 1927β€”31 May 1927: Last Ford Model T rolls off assembly line
  • 24 Jul 1927β€”24 Jul 1927: The Menin Gate war memorial unveiled at Ypres
22 1928 
  • 1928β€”1928: Women over 21 get vote in Britain - same qualification for both sexes
  • 26 Apr 1928β€”26 Apr 1928: Madame Tussauds opens in London
  • 15 Sep 1928β€”15 Sep 1928: Sir Alexander Fleming accidentally discovers penicillin (results published 1929)
23 1929 
  • 1929β€”1929: Abolition of Poor Law system in Britain
  • 1929β€”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
  • 1929β€”1929: BBC begins experimental TV transmissions
  • 4 Mar 1929β€”4 Mar 1933: Herbert Hoover U.S. Presidency Herbert Hoover U.S. Presidency
24 1930 
  • 1930β€”1930: First Nazis elected to the German Reichstag
  • 1930β€”1930: Youth Hostel Association (YHA) founded in Britain
  • 30 Jan 1930β€”30 Jan 1930: Hitler becomes chancellor of Germany
  • 31 Jan 1930β€”31 Jan 1930: 3M begins marketing Scotch Tape
  • 6 Mar 1930β€”6 Mar 1930: Clarence Birdseye first marketed frozen peas
  • 5 Oct 1930β€”5 Oct 1930: R101 airship disaster - British abandons airship construction
25 1931 
  • 1931β€”1931: Statute of Westminster: British Dominions become independent sovereign states
  • 1931β€”1931: Collapse of the German banking system; 3,000 banks there close
  • 14 Apr 1931β€”14 Apr 1931: Highway Code first issued
  • 26 Apr 1931β€”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 1931β€”21 Oct 1931: National Government formed to deal with economic crisis - Britain comes off gold standard
26 1932 
  • 1932β€”1932: Great Hunger March of unemployed to London
  • 1932β€”1932: Moseley founds British Union of Fascists
  • 1932β€”1932: Cockroft and Walton accelerate particles to disintegrate an atomic nucleus
  • 1932β€”1932: Sir Thomas Beecham established the London Philharmonic Orchestra
  • 21 May 1932β€”21 May 1932: Amelia Earhart first solo nonstop flight across Atlantic by a female pilot
  • 3 Oct 1932β€”3 Oct 1932: Iraq gains independence from Britain
  • 3 Oct 1932β€”3 Oct 1932: 'The Times' introduces 'Times New Roman' typeface
27 1933 
  • 1933β€”1933: ICI scientists discover polythene
  • 1933β€”1933: Only 6 pennies minted in Britain this year
  • 4 Mar 1933β€”12 Apr 1945: Franklin D. Roosevelt U.S. Presidency Franklin D. Roosevelt U.S. Presidency
  • 12 Nov 1933β€”12 Nov 1933: First known photos of the 'Loch Ness Monster' taken
28 1934 
  • 1934β€”1934: Hitler becomes Fuehrer of Germany
  • 18 Jul 1934β€”18 Jul 1934: King George V opens Mersey Tunnel
  • 26 Sep 1934β€”26 Sep 1934: RMS Queen Mary launched
  • 30 Nov 1934β€”30 Nov 1934: First time a steam locomotive travels at 100 mph ('Flying Scotsman')
29 1935 
  • 1935β€”1935: London adopts a 'Green Belt' scheme
  • 1935β€”1935: Land speed record of 301.13 mph by Malcolm Campbell
  • 28 Feb 1935β€”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 1935β€”12 Mar 1935: Hore-Belisha introduces pedestrian crossings and speed limits for built-up areas in Britain
  • 1 Jun 1935β€”1 Jun 1935: Voluntary driving tests introduced in UK
  • 30 Jul 1935β€”30 Jul 1935: Penguin paperbacks launched
30 1936 
  • 1936β€”1936: Jet engine first tested
  • 20 Jan 1936β€”20 Jan 1936: George V dies
  • 5 May 1936β€”5 May 1936: First flight of a Spitfire
  • 24 Jul 1936β€”24 Jul 1936: 'Speaking clock' service starts in UK
  • 2 Nov 1936β€”2 Nov 1936: British Broadcasting Corporation initiates the BBC Television Service, world's first public TV transmission
  • 30 Nov 1936β€”30 Nov 1936: Crystal Palace destroyed by fire
  • 5 Dec 1936β€”5 Dec 1936: Edward VIII abdicates (announced Dec 10) - popular carol that Christmas: 'Hark the Herald Angels sing Mrs Simpson's got our King'
31 1937 
  • 1937β€”1937: '999' emergency telephone call facility starts in London
  • 1937β€”1937: Billy Butlin opens his first holiday camp
  • 12 Apr 1937β€”12 Apr 1937: Frank Whittle ground-tests the first jet engine designed to power an aircraft
  • 12 May 1937β€”12 May 1937: Coronation of King George VI
  • 28 May 1937β€”28 May 1937: Neville Chamberlain becomes Prime Minister - policy of appeasement towards Hitler
  • 3 Jun 1937β€”3 Jun 1937: Duke of Windsor marries Wallis Simpson
  • 4 Dec 1937β€”4 Dec 1937: 'The Dandy' first published
32 1938 
  • 1938β€”1938: Principle of paid holidays established in Britain
  • 1938β€”1938: HMS Rodney first ship to be equipped with radar
  • 1938β€”1938: First practical ball-point pen produced by Hungarian journalist, Lajos Biro
  • 12 Mar 1938β€”12 Mar 1938: Germany invades and annexes Austria
  • 3 Jul 1938β€”3 Jul 1938: 'Mallard' reaches 126 mph (203 km/h); still world record for a steam locomotive
  • 27 Sep 1938β€”27 Sep 1938: Largest ocean liner ever built, Queen Elizabeth launched on Clydebank
  • 29 Sep 1938β€”29 Sep 1938: Chamberlain visits Hitler in Munich - promises 'peace in our time'
  • 30 Oct 1938β€”30 Oct 1938: Orson Welles broadcasts his radio play of HG Wells 'The War of the Worlds', causing panic in the USA
33 1939 
  • 1939β€”1939: Germany annexes Czechoslovakia
  • 1939β€”1939: Start of evacuation of women and children from London
  • 1939β€”1939: Coldest winter in Britain since 1894, though this could not be publicised at the time
  • 1 Sep 1939β€”1 Sep 1939: Germany invades Poland
  • 1 Sep 1939β€”2 Sep 1945: World War II World War II
  • 3 Sep 1939β€”3 Sep 1939: Britain and France declare war on Germany
  • 6 Sep 1939β€”6 Sep 1939: First air-raid on Britain
  • 11 Sep 1939β€”11 Sep 1939: British Expeditionary Force (BEF) sent to France
  • 14 Oct 1939β€”14 Oct 1939: HMS Royal Oak sunk in Scapa Flow with loss of 810 lives
  • 7 Dec 1939β€”7 Dec 1939: 'First flight' of Canadian troops sail for Britain - 7,400 men on 5 ships
  • 17 Dec 1939β€”17 Dec 1939: 'Admiral Graf Spee' scuttled outside Montevideo
34 1940 
  • 1 Apr 1940β€”1 Apr 1940: BOAC starts operations, replacing Imperial and British Airways Ltd
  • 11 May 1940β€”11 May 1940: National Government formed under Churchill
  • 13 May 1940β€”13 May 1940: Germany invades France
  • 27 May 1940β€”27 May 1940: Start of the evacuation of the British Army at Dunkirk (27 May - 4 Jun)
  • 25 Jun 1940β€”25 Jun 1940: Fall of France to Germany
  • 7 Sep 1940β€”7 Sep 1940: Germany launches bombing blitz on Britain, the first of 57 consecutive nights of bombing
  • 15 Sep 1940β€”15 Sep 1940: Battle of Britain: massive waves of German air attacks decisively repulsed by the RAF - Hitler postpones invasion of Britain
  • 14 Nov 1940β€”14 Nov 1940: Coventry heavily bombed and the Cathedral almost completely destroyed
35 1941 
  • 1941β€”1941: Britain introduces severe rationing
  • 1941β€”1941: First British jet aircraft flies, based on work of Whittle
  • 1941β€”1941: Bailey invents his portable military bridge
  • 1941β€”1941: First use of antibiotics
  • 10 May 1941β€”10 May 1941: Rudolf Hess flies to Scotland
  • 27 May 1941β€”27 May 1941: 'Bismark' sunk
  • 22 Jun 1941β€”22 Jun 1941: Germany invades Russia (Operation Barbarossa)
  • 1 Jul 1941β€”1 Jul 1941: First Canadian armoured regiments arrive in Britain
  • Dec 1941β€”Dec 1941: Canadian forces given operation role in defending south coast of England
  • Dec 1941β€”Dec 1941: 'Manhattan Project' of nuclear research begins in America
  • 7 Dec 1941β€”7 Dec 1941: Japan attackes US fleet at Pearl Harbour
  • 8 Dec 1941β€”8 Dec 1941: USA enters WWII
  • 24 Dec 1941β€”24 Dec 1941: Hong Kong falls to the Japanese
36 1942 
  • 1942β€”1942: Invention of world's first programmable computer by Alan Turing in co-operation with Max Neumann - used to crack German codes
  • 1942β€”1942: Gilbert Murray founds Oxfam
  • 30 May 1942β€”30 May 1942: Over 1,000 allied bombers raid Cologne
  • 4 Jun 1942β€”4 Jun 1942: Battle of Midway
  • 19 Aug 1942β€”19 Aug 1942: Abortive raid on Dieppe, largely by Canadian troops
  • 6 Sep 1942β€”6 Sep 1942: Germans defeated at Stalingrad
  • 3 Oct 1942β€”3 Oct 1942: First successful launch of V2 rocket in Germany - first man-made object to reach space
  • 23 Oct 1942β€”23 Oct 1942: Battle of El Alamein - Montgomery defeats Rommel
  • 2 Dec 1942β€”2 Dec 1942: 'Manhattan Project' - a team led by Enrico Fermi initiates the first self-sustaining nuclear chain reaction
37 1943 
  • 1943β€”1943: Round-the-clock bombing of Germany begins
  • 16 May 1943β€”16 May 1943: 'Dam Buster' raids on Ruhr dams by RAF
  • 24 Jul 1943β€”24 Jul 1943: Allies invade Italy - Benito Mussolini resigns as Italian Dictator, 24 July
38 1944 
  • 6 Apr 1944β€”6 Apr 1944: PAYE income tax begins
  • 4 Jun 1944β€”4 Jun 1944: Allies enter Rome
  • 6 Jun 1944β€”6 Jun 1944: D-Day invasion of Normandy
  • 12 Jun 1944β€”12 Jun 1944: First V1 flying bombs hit London
  • 8 Sep 1944β€”8 Sep 1944: First V2 rocket bombs hit London
  • 11 Sep 1944β€”11 Sep 1944: Allies enter Germany
  • 16 Dec 1944β€”16 Dec 1944: Battle of the Bulge: German counter-offensive
39 1945 
  • 4 Feb 1945β€”4 Feb 1945: Yalta Conference between Churchill, Roosevelt and Stalin
  • 29 Mar 1945β€”29 Mar 1945: Last V1 flying bomb attack
  • 12 Apr 1945β€”20 Jan 1953: Harry S. Truman U.S. Presidency Harry S. Truman U.S. Presidency
  • 25 Apr 1945β€”25 Apr 1945: Berlin surrounded by Russian troops
  • 30 Apr 1945β€”30 Apr 1945: Hitler commits suicide
  • 8 May 1945β€”8 May 1945: VE Day (Victory in Europe)
  • 9 May 1945β€”9 May 1945: Channel Islands liberated
  • 26 Jun 1945β€”26 Jun 1945: UN Charter signed in San Francisco
  • 16 Jul 1945β€”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 1945β€”26 Jul 1945: Labour win UK General Election - Churchill out of office
  • 29 Jul 1945β€”29 Jul 1945: BBC Light Programme starts
  • 6 Aug 1945β€”6 Aug 1945: Atomic bomb dropped on Hiroshima
  • 9 Aug 1945β€”9 Aug 1945: Atomic bomb dropped on Nagasaki
  • 15 Aug 1945β€”15 Aug 1945: VJ Day (Victory in Japan)
  • 2 Sep 1945β€”2 Sep 1945: Japanese surrender signed aboard USS Missouri
  • 24 Oct 1945β€”24 Oct 1945: United Nations Organisation comes into existence
  • 4 Nov 1945β€”4 Nov 1945: UNESCO founded
40 1946 
  • 1946β€”1946: Transition to National Health Service starts in Britain (came into being 5th July 1948)
  • 1946β€”1946: Alistair Cooke starts his regular 'Letter from America' on BBC radio - until 2004
  • 1 Jan 1946β€”1 Jan 1946: First civillian flight from Heathrow Airport
  • 1 Mar 1946β€”1 Mar 1946: Bank of England nationalised
41 1947 
  • 1947β€”1947: Most severe winter in Britain for 53 years at start of the year - heavy snow and much flooding later
  • 1947β€”1947: First British nuclear reactor developed
  • 1 Jan 1947β€”1 Jan 1947: Coal Mines nationalised
  • 23 Feb 1947β€”23 Feb 1947: International Organization for Standardization (ISO) founded
  • 1 Mar 1947β€”1 Mar 1947: International Monetary Fund begins financial operations
  • 1 Apr 1947β€”1 Apr 1947: School leaving age raised to 15 in Britain
  • 26 Oct 1947β€”26 Oct 1947: British military occupation ends in Iraq
  • 20 Nov 1947β€”20 Nov 1947: Marriage of Princess Elizabeth (later Elizabeth II) and Philip Mountbatten in Westminster Abbey
42 1948 
  • 1948β€”1948: British Citizenship Act : all Commonwealth citizens qualify for British passports
  • 1948β€”1948: Transistor radio invented
  • 1948β€”1948: Long-playing record (LP) invented by Goldmark
  • 1 Jan 1948β€”1 Jan 1948: British Railways nationalised
  • 5 Jul 1948β€”5 Jul 1948: National Health Service (NHS) begins in Britain
  • 29 Jul 1948β€”29 Jul 1948: London Olympics begin
43 1949 
  • 1949β€”1949: Maiden flight of the Bristol Brabazon (broken up in 1953 for scrap)
  • 1949β€”1949: De Haviland produces the Comet - first jet airliner
  • 15 Mar 1949β€”15 Mar 1949: Clothes rationing ends in Britain
  • 4 Apr 1949β€”4 Apr 1949: Twelve nations sign The North Atlantic Treaty creating NATO
44 1950 
  • 19 May 1950β€”19 May 1950: Points rationing ends in Britain
  • 26 May 1950β€”26 May 1950: Petrol rationing ends in Britain
  • 25 Jun 1950β€”27 Jul 1953: Korean War Korean War
  • 11 Jul 1950β€”11 Jul 1950: 'Andy Pandy' first seen on BBC TV
  • 9 Sep 1950β€”9 Sep 1950: Soap rationing ends in Britain
  • 28 Dec 1950β€”28 Dec 1950: The Peak District becomes the Britain's first National Park
45 1951 
  • 3 May 1951β€”3 May 1951: Festival of Britain and Royal Festival Hall open on South Bank, London
  • 28 May 1951β€”28 May 1951: First Goon Show broadcast
  • 20 Dec 1951β€”20 Dec 1951: Electricity first produced by nuclear power, from Experimental Breeder Reactor
46 1952 
  • 1952β€”1952: Contraceptive pill invented
  • 1952β€”1952: Britain explodes her first atomic bomb, in Australia
  • 1952β€”1952: Radioactive carbon used for dating prehistoric objects
  • 1952β€”1952: Bonn Convention: Britain, France and USA end their occupation of West Germany
  • 6 Feb 1952β€”6 Feb 1952: King George VI dies
  • 21 Feb 1952β€”21 Feb 1952: Identity Cards abolished in Britain
  • 2 May 1952β€”2 May 1952: First commercial jet airliner service launched, by BOACComet between London and Johannesburg
  • 5 Jul 1952β€”5 Jul 1952: Last tram runs in London (Woolwich to New Cross)
  • 16 Aug 1952β€”16 Aug 1952: Lynmouth (North Devon) flood disaster
  • 6 Sep 1952β€”6 Sep 1952: DH110 crashes at Farnborough Air Show, 26 killed
  • 3 Oct 1952β€”3 Oct 1952: End of tea rationing in Britain
  • 1 Nov 1952β€”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 1952β€”25 Nov 1952: Agatha Christie's 'The Mousetrap' opens in London
  • 4 Dec 1952β€”4 Dec 1952: Great smog hits London
47 1953 
  • 20 Jan 1953β€”20 Jan 1961: Dwight D. Eisenhower U.S. Presidency Dwight D. Eisenhower U.S. Presidency
  • 31 Jan 1953β€”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 1953β€”5 Feb 1953: Sweet rationing ends in Britain
  • 5 Mar 1953β€”5 Mar 1953: Death of Stalin
  • 26 Mar 1953β€”26 Mar 1953: Jonas Salk announces his polio vaccine
  • 24 Apr 1953β€”24 Apr 1953: Winston Churchill knighted
  • 25 Apr 1953β€”25 Apr 1953: Francis Crick and James D Watson publish the double helix structure of DNA
  • 2 Jun 1953β€”2 Jun 1953: Coronation of Elizabeth II
  • 26 Sep 1953β€”26 Sep 1953: Sugar rationing ends in Britain (after nearly 14 years)
48 1954 
  • 1954β€”1954: First comprehensive school opens in London
  • 1954β€”1954: Routemaster bus starts operating in London
  • 1954β€”1954: First transistor radios sold
  • 6 May 1954β€”6 May 1954: First sub 4 minute mile (Roger Bannister, 3 mins 59.4 secs)
  • 3 Jul 1954β€”3 Jul 1954: Food rationing officially ends in Britain
  • 5 Jul 1954β€”5 Jul 1954: BBC broadcasts its first television news bulletin
  • 30 Sep 1954β€”30 Sep 1954: First atomic powered sumbmarine USS Nautilus commissioned
49 1955 
  • 1955β€”1955: 'Mole' self-grip wrench patented by Thomas Coughtrie of Mole & Sons
  • 27 Jul 1955β€”27 Jul 1955: Jul 27: Allied occupation of Austria (after WW2) ends
  • 22 Sep 1955β€”22 Sep 1955: Commercial TV starts in Britain
50 1956 
  • 1956β€”1956: Britain constructs world's first large-scale nuclear power station in Cumberland
  • 1 Mar 1956β€”1 Mar 1956: Radiotelephony spelling alphabet introduced (Alpha, Bravo, etc)
  • 17 Apr 1956β€”17 Apr 1956: Premium Bonds first launched - first prizes drawn on 1 Jun 1957
  • 3 Jun 1956β€”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 1956β€”31 Oct 1956: Britain and France invade Suez
51 1957 
  • 1957β€”1957: Britain introduces parking meters
  • 1957β€”1957: Helvetica typeface developed (in Switzerland)
  • 11 Jan 1957β€”11 Jan 1957: Harold Macmillan becomes Prime Minister
  • 14 May 1957β€”14 May 1957: Post-Suez petrol rationing ends
  • 15 May 1957β€”15 May 1957: Britain explodes her first hydrogen bomb, at Christmas Island
  • 25 May 1957β€”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 1957β€”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 1957β€”25 Dec 1957: Queen's first Christmas TV broadcast
52 1958 
  • 1958β€”1958: Easter: First anti-nuclear protest march to Aldermaston (emergence of CND)
  • 1958β€”1958: Computers begin to be used in research, industry and commerce
  • 1958β€”1958: USA begins to produce Inter-Continental Ballistic Missiles (ICBMs)
  • 13 May 1958β€”13 May 1958: Velcro trade mark registered
  • 26 Jul 1958β€”26 Jul 1958: Prince Charles' Investiture as 'Prince of Wales'
  • 5 Dec 1958β€”5 Dec 1958: Inauguration of Subscriber Trunk Dialling (STD) in Britain (completed in 1979)
  • 5 Dec 1958β€”5 Dec 1958: Preston by-pass opens - UK's first stretch of motorway
53 1959 
  • 3 Feb 1959β€”3 Feb 1959: 'The Day The Music Died' - plane crash kills Buddy Holly, Ritchie Valens, and The Big Bopper
  • 17 Feb 1959β€”17 Feb 1959: Vanguard 2 satellite launched - first to measure cloud-cover distribution
  • 24 May 1959β€”24 May 1959: Empire Day becomes Commonwealth Day
  • Aug 1959β€”Aug 1959: BMC Mini car launched
  • 26 Sep 1959β€”30 Apr 1975: Vietnam War Vietnam War
  • 3 Oct 1959β€”3 Oct 1959: Postcodes introduced in Britain
  • 1 Nov 1959β€”1 Nov 1959: First section of M1 motorway opened
54 1960 
  • 17 Mar 1960β€”17 Mar 1960: New ?1 notes issued by Bank of England
  • 18 Mar 1960β€”18 Mar 1960: Last steam locomotive of British Railways named
  • 21 Jul 1960β€”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 1960β€”12 Aug 1960: Echo I, the first (passive) communications satellite, launched
  • 12 Sep 1960β€”12 Sep 1960: MoT tests on motor vehicles introduced
  • 1 Oct 1960β€”1 Oct 1960: HMS 'Dreadnought' nuclear submarine launched
  • 2 Nov 1960β€”2 Nov 1960: Penguin Books found not guilty of obscenity in the 'Lady Chatterley's Lover' case
55 1961 
  • 1 Jan 1961β€”1 Jan 1961: Farthing ceases to be legal tender in UK
  • 20 Jan 1961β€”22 Nov 1963: John F. Kennedy U.S. Presidency John F. Kennedy U.S. Presidency
  • 13 Mar 1961β€”13 Mar 1961: Black & White ?5 notes cease to be legal tender
  • 14 Mar 1961β€”14 Mar 1961: New English Bible (New Testament) published
  • 1 May 1961β€”1 May 1961: Betting shops legal in Britain
56 1962 
  • 1962β€”1962: Britain passes Commonwealth Immigrants Act to control immigration
  • 1962β€”1962: Thalidomide withdrawn after it causes deformities in babies
  • 1962β€”1962: Britain and France agree to construct 'Concorde'
  • 25 May 1962β€”25 May 1962: Consecration of new Coventry Cathedral (old destroyed in WW2 blitz)
  • 15 Jun 1962β€”15 Jun 1962: First nuclear generated electricity to supplied National Grid (from Berkeley Glos)
  • Jul 1962β€”Jul 1962: First passenger-carrying hovercraft enters service, along the North Wales Coast from Moreton to Rhyl
  • 10 Jul 1962β€”10 Jul 1962: First TV transmission between US and Europe (Telstar) - first live broadcast on 23 Jul
  • 24 Oct 1962β€”24 Oct 1962: Cuba missile crisis - brink of nuclear war
57 1963 
  • 1963β€”1963: France vetoes Britain's entry into EEC
  • Jan 1963β€”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 1963β€”27 Mar 1963: Beeching Report on British Railways (the 'Beeching Axe')
  • 1 Aug 1963β€”1 Aug 1963: Minimum prison age raised to 17
  • 8 Aug 1963β€”8 Aug 1963: 'Great Train Robbery' on Glasgow to London mail train
  • 17 Sep 1963β€”17 Sep 1963: Fylingdales (Yorks) early warning system operational
  • 18 Nov 1963β€”18 Nov 1963: Dartford Tunnel opens
  • 22 Nov 1963β€”20 Jan 1969: Lyndon B. Johnson U.S. Presidency Lyndon B. Johnson U.S. Presidency
  • 23 Nov 1963β€”23 Nov 1963: First episode of 'Dr Who' on BBC TV
58 1964 
  • 1 Jan 1964β€”1 Jan 1964: First 'Top of the Pops' on BBC TV
  • 9 Apr 1964β€”9 Apr 1964: First Greater London Council (GLC) election
  • 21 Apr 1964β€”21 Apr 1964: BBC2 TV launched
  • 22 Aug 1964β€”22 Aug 1964: 'Match of the Day' starts on BBC2
  • 4 Sep 1964β€”4 Sep 1964: Forth road bridge opens
59 1965 
  • 1965β€”1965: Britain enacts first Race Relations Act
  • 7 Feb 1965β€”7 Feb 1965: First US raids against North Vietnam
  • 7 Apr 1965β€”7 Apr 1965: Winston Churchill dies
  • 1 Aug 1965β€”1 Aug 1965: TV cigarette advertising banned in Britain
  • 8 Oct 1965β€”8 Oct 1965: Post Office Tower operational in London
  • 28 Oct 1965β€”28 Oct 1965: Death penalty for murder suspended in Britain for five-year trial period, then abolished 18 Dec 1969
  • 22 Dec 1965β€”22 Dec 1965: 70mph speed limit introduced on British roads
60 1966 
  • 14 Feb 1966β€”14 Feb 1966: Australia converts from ? to $
  • 3 May 1966β€”3 May 1966: 'The Times' begins to print news on its front page in place of classified Advertisements
  • 30 Jul 1966β€”30 Jul 1966: World Cup won by England at Wembley (4-2 in extra time v West Germany)
  • 8 Sep 1966β€”8 Sep 1966: First Severn road bridge opens
  • 21 Oct 1966β€”21 Oct 1966: Aberfan disaster - slag heap slip kills 144, incl. 116 children
  • 1 Dec 1966β€”1 Dec 1966: First Christmas stamps issued in Britain
61 1967 
  • 4 Jan 1967β€”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 1967β€”18 Mar 1967: 'Torrey Canyon' oil tanker runs aground off Lands End first major oil spill
  • 28 May 1967β€”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 1967β€”27 Jun 1967: First withdrawal from a cash dispenser (ATM) in Britain - at Enfield branch of Barclays
  • 1 Jul 1967β€”1 Jul 1967: First colour TV in Britain
  • 14 Aug 1967β€”14 Aug 1967: Offshore pirate radio stations declared illegal by the UK
  • 20 Sep 1967β€”20 Sep 1967: 'QE2' launched on Clydebank
  • 27 Sep 1967β€”27 Sep 1967: 'Queen Mary' arrives Southampton at end of her last transatlantic voyage
  • 30 Sep 1967β€”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 1967β€”5 Oct 1967: Introduction of majority verdicts in English courts
62 1968 
  • 18 Feb 1968β€”18 Feb 1968: British Standard Time introduced - Summer Time became permanent but arguments prevailed and Britain reverted to GMT in October 1971
  • 18 Apr 1968β€”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 1968β€”20 Apr 1968: Enoch Powell 'Rivers of Blood' speech on immigration
  • 23 Apr 1968β€”23 Apr 1968: Issue of 5p and 10p decimal coins in Britain
  • 29 May 1968β€”29 May 1968: Manchester United first English club to win the European Cup
  • 11 Aug 1968β€”11 Aug 1968: Last steam passenger train service ran in Britain (Carlisle- Liverpool)
  • 16 Sep 1968β€”16 Sep 1968: Two-tier postal rate starts in Britain
  • 5 Oct 1968β€”5 Oct 1968: Beginning of disturbances in N Ireland
63 1969 
  • 20 Jan 1969β€”9 Aug 1974: Richard Nixon U.S. Presidency Richard Nixon U.S. Presidency
  • 2 Mar 1969β€”2 Mar 1969: Maiden flight of 'Concorde', at Toulouse
  • 7 Mar 1969β€”7 Mar 1969: Victoria Line tube opens in London
  • 17 Apr 1969β€”17 Apr 1969: Voting age lowered from 21 to 18
  • 2 May 1969β€”2 May 1969: Maiden voyage of liner Queen Elizabeth 2 (QE2)
  • 20 Jul 1969: Apollo 11 Moon Landing Apollo 11 Moon Landing
  • 31 Jul 1969β€”31 Jul 1969: Halfpenny ceases to be legal tender in Britain
  • 14 Aug 1969β€”14 Aug 1969: Civil disturbances in Ulster - Britain sends troops to support civil authorities
  • 7 Sep 1969β€”7 Sep 1969: First episode of 'Monty Python's Flying Circus' recorded
  • 14 Oct 1969β€”14 Oct 1969: 50p coin introduced in Britain (reduced in size 1998)
64 1970 
  • 1970β€”1970: Boeing 747 (Jumbo jet) goes into service
  • 17 Jun 1970β€”17 Jun 1970: Decimal postage stamps first issued for sale in Britain
  • 19 Jun 1970β€”19 Jun 1970: Edward Heath becomes Prime Minister
  • 30 Jul 1970β€”30 Jul 1970: Damages awarded to Thalidomide victims
  • 19 Sep 1970β€”19 Sep 1970: First Glastonbury Festival held
  • 20 Nov 1970β€”20 Nov 1970: Ten shilling note (50p after decimalisation) goes out of circulation in Britain
65 1971 
  • 1971β€”1971: Banking and Financial Dealings Act - replaced the Bank Holidays Act of 1871
  • 1971β€”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
  • 1971β€”1971: 'Greenpeace' founded
  • 1971β€”1971: Rolls-Royce declared bankrupt
  • 3 Jan 1971β€”3 Jan 1971: Open University starts
  • 15 Feb 1971β€”15 Feb 1971: Decimalisation of coinage in UK and Republic of Ireland
  • 9 Aug 1971β€”9 Aug 1971: Internment without trial introduced in N Ireland
  • 28 Oct 1971β€”28 Oct 1971: Parliament votes to join Common Market (joined 1973)
  • 28 Oct 1971β€”28 Oct 1971: UK launches its first (and only) satellite, Prospero
66 1972 
  • 1972β€”1972: Britain imposes direct rule in Northern Ireland
  • 1972β€”1972: Strict anti-hijack measures introduced internationally, especially at airports
  • 1972β€”1972: Dutch Elm disease devastates trees across UK
  • 1972β€”1972: Domestic video cassette recorders introduced
  • 30 Jan 1972β€”30 Jan 1972: 'Bloody Sunday' in Derry, Northern Ireland
  • 28 May 1972β€”28 May 1972: Duke of Windsor (ex-King Edward VIII) dies in Paris
67 1973 
  • 1 Jan 1973β€”1 Jan 1973: Britain enters EEC Common Market (with Ireland and Denmark)
  • 17 Mar 1973β€”17 Mar 1973: Modern London Bridge opened by the Queen
  • 1 Apr 1973β€”1 Apr 1973: VAT introduced in Britain
  • 26 Sep 1973β€”26 Sep 1973: Concorde makes its first non-stop crossing of the Atlantic in record-breaking time
  • 14 Oct 1973β€”14 Oct 1973: Marriage of Princess Anne and Captain Mark Phillips in Westminster Abbey
  • 31 Dec 1973β€”31 Dec 1973: Miners strike and oil crisis precipitate 'three-day week' (till 9 Mar 1974) to conserve power
68 1974 
  • 1974β€”1974: New counties formed in Britain after re-organisation of some county boundaries
  • 1 Jun 1974β€”1 Jun 1974: Flixborough disaster: explosion at chemical plant kills 28 people
  • 9 Aug 1974β€”20 Jan 1977: Gerald Ford U.S. Presidency Gerald Ford U.S. Presidency
  • 7 Nov 1974β€”7 Nov 1974: Lord Lucan disappears
  • 21 Nov 1974β€”21 Nov 1974: Birmingham pub bombings by the IRA
69 1975 
  • 1975β€”1975: Unemployment in Britain rises above 1M for first time since before WW2
  • 11 Feb 1975β€”11 Feb 1975: Margaret Thatcher becomes leader of Conservative party (in opposition)
  • 28 Feb 1975β€”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 1975β€”4 Mar 1975: Charlie Chaplin knighted
  • 5 Jun 1975β€”5 Jun 1975: UK votes in a referendum to stay in the European Community
  • 29 Oct 1975β€”29 Oct 1975: 'Yorkshire Ripper' commits his first murder
  • 3 Nov 1975β€”3 Nov 1975: First North Sea oil comes ashore
  • 29 Nov 1975β€”29 Nov 1975: The name 'Micro-soft' coined by Bill Gates (Microsoft' became a Trademark the following year)
  • 27 Dec 1975β€”27 Dec 1975: Equal Pay Act and Sex Discrimination Act come into force
70 1976 
  • 1976β€”1976: 'Cod War' between Britain and Iceland
  • 1976β€”1976: Deaths exceeded live births in E&W for first time since records began in 1837
  • 1976β€”1976: James Callaghan becomes Prime Minister
  • 1976β€”1976: National Theatre opens in London
  • 21 Jan 1976β€”21 Jan 1976: Concorde enters supersonic passenger service
  • 1 Apr 1976β€”1 Apr 1976: Apple Computer formed by Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak
  • 6 Aug 1976β€”6 Aug 1976: Drought Act 1976 comes into force ? the long, hot summer
71 1977 
  • 20 Jan 1977β€”20 Jan 1981: Jimmy Carter U.S. Presidency Jimmy Carter U.S. Presidency
  • 2 Mar 1977β€”2 Mar 1977: 'Red Rum' wins a third Grand National
  • 25 May 1977β€”25 May 1977: George Lucas' film Star Wars' released
  • 5 Jun 1977β€”5 Jun 1977: Apple II, the first practical personal computer, goes on sale
  • 7 Jun 1977β€”7 Jun 1977: Queen's Silver Jubilee celebrations in London
  • 22 Nov 1977β€”22 Nov 1977: Regular supersonic Concorde service between London and NY inaugurated
72 1978 
  • 8 Apr 1978β€”8 Apr 1978: Regular broadcast of proceedings in Parliament starts
  • 1 May 1978β€”1 May 1978: First May Day holiday in Britain
  • 25 Jul 1978β€”25 Jul 1978: World's first 'test tube' baby, Louise Browne born in Oldham
  • 30 Nov 1978β€”30 Nov 1978: Publication of The Times suspended - industrial relations problems (until 13 Nov 1979)
73 1979 
  • 1 Mar 1979β€”1 Mar 1979: 32.5% of Scots vote in favor of devolution (40% needed) - Welsh vote overwhelmingly against
  • 30 Mar 1979β€”30 Mar 1979: Airey Neave killed by a car bomb at Westminster
  • 31 Mar 1979β€”31 Mar 1979: Withdrawal of the Royal Navy from Malta
  • 4 May 1979β€”4 May 1979: Margaret Thatcher becomes first woman UK Prime Minister
  • 1 Jul 1979β€”1 Jul 1979: Sony introduces the Walkman
  • 27 Aug 1979β€”27 Aug 1979: Lord Mountbatten and 3 others killed in bomb blast off coast of Sligo, Ireland
  • 18 Sep 1979β€”18 Sep 1979: ILEA votes to abolish corporal punishment in its schools
74 1980 
  • 5 May 1980β€”5 May 1980: SAS storm Iranian Embassy in London to free hostages
  • 8 Dec 1980β€”8 Dec 1980: John Lennon assassinated in New York
75 1981 
  • 20 Jan 1981β€”20 Jan 1989: Ronald Reagan U.S. Presidency Ronald Reagan U.S. Presidency
  • 25 Jan 1981β€”25 Jan 1981: Launch of SDP by 'Gang of Four' in Britain
  • 29 Mar 1981β€”29 Mar 1981: First London marathon run
  • 11 Apr 1981β€”11 Apr 1981: Brixton riots in South London - 30 other British cities also experience riots
  • 25 Apr 1981β€”25 Apr 1981: Worst April blizzards this century in Britain
  • 27 Apr 1981β€”27 Apr 1981: First use of computer mouse (by Xerox PARC system)
  • 29 Jul 1981β€”29 Jul 1981: Wedding of Prince Charles and Lady Diana Spencer (divorced 28 Aug 1996)
  • 12 Aug 1981β€”12 Aug 1981: IBM launches the first PC
  • 12 Aug 1981β€”12 Aug 1981: IBM launches its PC ? starts the general use of personal computers
  • 12 Aug 1981: Personal Computer Personal Computer
76 1982 
  • 26 Jan 1982β€”26 Jan 1982: Unemployment reached 3 million in Britain (1 in 8 of working population)
  • 5 Feb 1982β€”5 Feb 1982: Laker Airways collapses
  • 19 Feb 1982β€”19 Feb 1982: DeLorean Car factory in Belfast goes into receivership
  • 18 Mar 1982β€”18 Mar 1982: Argentinians raised flag in South Georgia
  • 2 Apr 1982β€”2 Apr 1982: Argentina invades Falkland (Malvinas) Islands
  • 5 Apr 1982β€”5 Apr 1982: Royal Navy fleet sails from Portsmouth for Falklands
  • 2 May 1982β€”2 May 1982: British nuclear submarine HMS Conqueror sinks Argentine cruiser General Belgrano
  • 28 May 1982β€”28 May 1982: First land battle in Falklands (Goose Green)
  • 14 Jun 1982β€”14 Jun 1982: Ceasefire in Falklands
  • 21 Jun 1982β€”21 Jun 1982: Prince William is born
  • 20 Jul 1982β€”20 Jul 1982: IRA bombings in London (Hyde Park and Regents Park)
  • 19 Sep 1982β€”19 Sep 1982: Smiley emoticon :-) said to have been used for the first time
  • 1 Oct 1982: Compact_Disc Compact_Disc
  • 11 Oct 1982β€”11 Oct 1982: Mary Rose' raised in the Solent (sank in 1545)
  • 31 Oct 1982β€”31 Oct 1982: Thames Barrier raised for first time (some say first public demonstration Nov 7)
  • 2 Nov 1982β€”2 Nov 1982: Channel 4 TV station launched - first programme 'Countdown'
  • 4 Nov 1982β€”4 Nov 1982: Lorries up to 38 tonnes allowed on Britain's roads
  • 12 Dec 1982β€”12 Dec 1982: Women's peace protest at Greenham Common (Cruise missiles arrived 14 Nov 1983)
77 1983 
  • 1983β€”1983: First female Lord Mayor of London elected (Dame Mary Donaldson)
  • 17 Jan 1983β€”17 Jan 1983: Start of breakfast TV in Britain
  • 31 Jan 1983β€”31 Jan 1983: Seat belt law comes into force
  • 21 Apr 1983β€”21 Apr 1983: ?1 coin into circulation in Britain
  • 7 Oct 1983β€”7 Oct 1983: Plans to abolish GLC announced
  • 26 Nov 1983β€”26 Nov 1983: Brinks Mat robbery: 6,800 gold bars worth nearly ?26 million are stolen from a vault at Heathrow Airport
78 1984 
  • 6 Mar 1984β€”6 Mar 1984: Miners strike begins
  • 17 Apr 1984β€”17 Apr 1984: Police Constable Yvonne Fletcher killed by gunfire from the Libyan Embassy in London
  • 22 Jun 1984β€”22 Jun 1984: Inaugural flight of Virgin Atlantic
  • 9 Jul 1984β€”9 Jul 1984: York Minster struck by lightning - the resulting fire damaged much of the building but the Rose Window' not affected
  • 12 Oct 1984β€”12 Oct 1984: IRA bomb explodes at Tory conference hotel in Brighton - 4 killed
  • 24 Oct 1984β€”24 Oct 1984: Miners' strike ? High Court orders sequestration of NUM assets
  • 3 Dec 1984β€”3 Dec 1984: British Telecom privatised - shares make massive gains on first day's trading
79 1985 
  • 3 Mar 1985β€”3 Mar 1985: Miners agree to call off strike
  • 11 Mar 1985β€”11 Mar 1985: Al Fayed buys Harrods
  • 13 Jul 1985β€”13 Jul 1985: Live Aid' pop concert raises over ?50M for famine relief
  • 1 Sep 1985β€”1 Sep 1985: Wreck of Titanic' found (sank 1912)
80 1986 
  • 31 Mar 1986β€”31 Mar 1986: GLC and 6 metropolitan councils abolished
  • 26 Apr 1986β€”26 Apr 1986: Chernobyl nuclear accident - radiation reached Britain on 2 Ma
  • 26 May 1986β€”26 May 1986: The European Community adopts the European flag
  • 23 Jul 1986β€”23 Jul 1986: Prince Andrew, Duke of York marries Sarah Ferguson at Westminster Abbey
  • 27 Oct 1986β€”27 Oct 1986: 'Big Bang' (deregulation) of the London Stock Market
  • 29 Oct 1986β€”29 Oct 1986: M25 motorway ring around London completed
81 1987 
  • 1987β€”1987: World population crossed the 5 billion mark
  • 2 Feb 1987β€”2 Feb 1987: Terry Waite kidnapped in Beirut (released 17 Nov 1991)
  • 6 Mar 1987β€”6 Mar 1987: Car ferry Herald of Free Enterprise' capsizes off Zeebrugge - 188 die
  • 1 Jul 1987β€”1 Jul 1987: Excavation begins on the Channel Tunnel
  • 19 Aug 1987β€”19 Aug 1987: Hungerford Massacre - Michael Ryan kills sixteen people with a rifle
  • 16 Oct 1987β€”16 Oct 1987: The 'Hurricane' sweeps southern England
  • 19 Oct 1987β€”19 Oct 1987: 'Black Monday' in the City of London - Stock Market crash
  • 8 Nov 1987β€”8 Nov 1987: Enniskillen bombing at a Remembrance Day ceremony
  • 18 Nov 1987β€”18 Nov 1987: King's Cross fire in London - 31 people die
82 1988 
  • 5 Feb 1988β€”5 Feb 1988: First 'Red Nose Day' in UK, raising money for charity
  • 6 Jul 1988β€”6 Jul 1988: Piper Alpha disaster - North Sea oil platform destroyed by explosion and fire killing 167 men
  • 15 Nov 1988β€”15 Nov 1988: Copyright, Designs and Patents Act - reformulated the statutory basis of copyright law (including performing rights) in the UK
  • 12 Dec 1988β€”12 Dec 1988: Clapham Junction rail crash kills 35 and injures hundreds after two collisions of three commuter trains
  • 21 Dec 1988β€”21 Dec 1988: Lockerbie disaster - Pan Am flight 103 explodes over Scotland
83 1989 
  • 1989β€”1989: Poll Tax implemented in Scotland
  • 20 Jan 1989β€”20 Jan 1993: George H. W. Bush U.S. Presidency George H. W. Bush U.S. Presidency
  • 14 Feb 1989β€”14 Feb 1989: The first of 24 satellites of the Global Positioning System is placed into orbit
  • 2 Mar 1989β€”2 Mar 1989: EU decision to ban production of all chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs) by the end of the century
  • 9 Nov 1989β€”9 Nov 1989: Berlin Wall torn down
  • 21 Nov 1989β€”21 Nov 1989: Proceedings of House of Commons first televised live