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Thalidomide withdrawn after it causes deformities in babies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