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Eliza Jane ALLEN
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Timeline

1888
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   Date  Event(s)
1 1888 
  • Convention of Constantinople guarantees free maritime passage through Suez Canal in war and peace
  • Jack the Ripper active in east London during the latter half of the year
  • County Councils set up in Britain
  • Dunlop invents pneumatic tyre
  • First box camera – George Eastman registers the trademark Kodak, and receives a patent for his camera which uses roll film
  • 20 Mar 1888: Football League formed
2 1889 
  • Celluloid film produced
  • Dock Strike – docker's won their "Docker's Tanner", 6 old pennies
  • 31 Mar 1889: Eiffel Tower completed (to mark centenary of French Revolution)
  • 14 May 1889: Children's charity NSPCC launched in London
  • 3 Jun 1889: Canadian Pacific Railway completed from coast to coast
  • 28 Sep 1889: Length of a metre defined
3 1890 
  • 4 Mar 1890: Forth railway bridge opens – took six years to build
  • 4 Nov 1890: City & South London Railway opens – London's first deep-level tube railway and first major railway in the world to use electric traction
4 1891 
  • Primary education made free and compulsory
  • 18 Mar 1891: First telephone link between London & Paris
  • 4 May 1891: Fictional date when Sherlock Holmes throws Moriarty over Reichenbach Falls, then disappears for 3 years! (published in 1893)
  • 24 Aug 1891: Thomas Edison patents the motion picture camera
5 1892 
  • Electric oven invented
  • Shop Hours Act – limit 74 hours per week for under-18's
  • 6 Oct 1892: Alfred Lord Tennyson dies, aged 83, at his house Aldworth, near Haslemere
6 1893 
  • Henry Ford's first car
  • Zip fastener invented
7 1894 
  • Picture postcard introduced in Britain
  • 1 Jan 1894: Manchester Ship Canal opens
  • 1 Mar 1894: Blackpool Tower opens
  • 30 Jun 1894: Tower Bridge first opens
  • 2 Aug 1894: Death duties first introduced in Britain
8 1895 
  • Sir Henry Wood starts Promenade Concerts in London
  • 12 Jan 1895: The National Trust founded in England
  • 24 May 1895: Henry Irving becomes the first person from the theatre to be knighted
  • 28 May 1895: Oscar Wilde sent to prison
  • 12 Jul 1895: First recorded motor journey of any length (56 miles) in Britain
  • 17 Oct 1895: First people in Britain to be charged with motor offences – John Henry Knight and James Pullinger of Farnham, Surrey
  • Nov 1895: X-rays discovered
9 1896 
  • 5 Apr 1896: First modern Olympic Games held in Athens
  • 2 Jun 1896: Guglielmo Marconi receives a British patent (later disputed) for the radio
10 1897 
  • Thomas Edison patents the Kinetoscope, the first movie projector
11 1898 
  • First photograph using artificial light
  • Zeppelin builds airship
  • 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)
12 1899 
  • 6 Mar 1899: Aspirin first marketed by Bayer
  • 11 Oct 1899: Start of Second Boer War
13 1900 
  • School leaving age in Britain raised to 14 years
  • Central Line opens in London: underground is electrified
  • Escalator shown at Paris exhibition
  • 9 Feb 1900: Davis Cup tennis competition established
  • 27 Feb 1900: Labour Party formed
14 1901 
  • Commonwealth of Australia founded
  • 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
15 1902 
  • Balfour's Education Act provides for secondary education
  • Cremation Act – cremation can only take place at officially recognised establishments, and with two death certificates issued
  • 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
16 1903 
  • Workers' Education Association (WEA) formed in Britain
  • Women's Social and Political Union formed in Britain by Emmeline Pankhurst
  • Henry Ford sets up his motor company
  • 14 Dec 1903: First flight of Wilbur & Orville Wright
17 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)
18 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
  • Aliens Act in Britain: Home Office controls immigration
  • Germany lays down the first Dreadnought battleship
  • 11 Apr 1905: Einstein publishes Special Theory of Relativity
19 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
20 1907 
  • New Zealand becomes a Dominion
  • Imperial College, London, is established
  • First airship flies over London
  • 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
21 1908 
  • Coal Mines Regulation Act in Britain limits men to an eight hour day
  • Separate courts for juveniles established in Britain
  • 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
22 1909 
  • Beveridge Report prompts creation of labour Exchanges
  • Peary reaches the north pole
  • 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)
23 1910 
  • Railway strike and coal strikes in Britain
  • Constitutional crisis in Britain
  • Dr Crippen caught by radio telegraphy; hanged 23 Nov at Pentonville
  • Madame Curie isolates radium
  • Halley's comet reappears
  • Tango becomes popular in North America and Europe
  • 6 May 1910: Edward VII dies – George V becomes King
24 1911 
  • Parliament Act in Britain reduces the power of the House of Lords
  • British MPs receive a salary
  • First British Official Secrets Act
  • Rutherford: theory of atomic structures
  • 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
25 1912 
  • Irish Home Rule crisis grows in Britain
  • Britain nationalises the telephone system
  • 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
26 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
  • Suffragette demonstrations in London – Mrs Pankhurst imprisoned
  • Trade Union Act in Britain establishes the right to use Union funds for political purposes
  • Invention of stainless steel by Harry Brearley of Sheffield
  • 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
27 1914 
  • Irish Home Rule Act provides for a separate Parliament in Ireland; the position of Ulster to be decided after the War
  • 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
28 1915 
  • Junkers construct first fighter aeroplane
  • 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
29 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
30 1917 
  • Battle of Cambrai – first use of massed tanks, but effect more psychological than actual
  • 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
31 1918 
  • Vote for women over 30, men over 21 (except peers, lunatics and felons)
  • 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
32 1919 
  • Britain adopts a 48-hour working week
  • 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
33 1920 
  • Regular cross-channel air service starts
  • Marconi opens a radio broadcasting station in Britain
  • 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
34 1921 
  • Railway Act in Britain amalgamates companies – only four remained
  • Insulin discovery announced
  • 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
35 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)
36 1923 
  • Roads in Great Britain classified with A and B numbers
  • Hubble shows there are galaxies beyond the Milky Way
  • 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
37 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)
38 1925 
  • Britain returns to gold standard
  • 18 Jul 1925: Adolf Hitler publishes Mein Kampf
39 1926 
  • First public demonstration of television (TV) by John Logie Baird
  • Adoption of children is legalised in Britain
  • Kodak produces 16mm movie film
  • 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
40 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
41 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)
42 1929 
  • Abolition of Poor Law system in Britain
  • 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
  • BBC begins experimental TV transmissions
43 1930 
  • First Nazis elected to the German Reichstag
  • 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
44 1931 
  • Statute of Westminster: British Dominions become independent sovereign states
  • 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
45 1932 
  • 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
  • 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
46 1933 
  • ICI scientists discover polythene
  • Only 6 pennies minted in Britain this year
  • 12 Nov 1933: First known photos of the 'Loch Ness Monster' taken
47 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')
48 1935 
  • London adopts a 'Green Belt' scheme
  • 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
49 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"
50 1937 
  • '999' emergency telephone call facility starts in London
  • 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
51 1938 
  • 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
  • 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
52 1939 
  • 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
  • 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
53 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
54 1941 
  • Britain introduces severe rationing
  • First British jet aircraft flies, based on work of Whittle
  • Bailey invents his portable military bridge
  • 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
55 1942 
  • 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
  • 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
56 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
57 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
58 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
59 1946 
  • 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
  • 1 Jan 1946: First civillian flight from Heathrow Airport
  • 1 Mar 1946: Bank of England nationalised
60 1947 
  • Most severe winter in Britain for 53 years at start of the year – heavy snow and much flooding later
  • 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
61 1948 
  • British Citizenship Act : all Commonwealth citizens qualify for British passports
  • Transistor radio invented
  • 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
62 1949 
  • Maiden flight of the Bristol Brabazon (broken up in 1953 for scrap)
  • 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
63 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
64 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
65 1952 
  • 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
  • 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
66 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)
67 1954 
  • First comprehensive school opens in London
  • Routemaster bus starts operating in London
  • 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
68 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
69 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
70 1957 
  • Britain introduces parking meters
  • 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
71 1958 
  • 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)
  • 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
72 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
73 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
74 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
75 1962 
  • Britain passes Commonwealth Immigrants Act to control immigration
  • Thalidomide withdrawn after it causes deformities in babies
  • 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
76 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
77 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
78 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
79 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
80 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
81 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
82 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)
83 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
84 1971 
  • Banking and Financial Dealings Act – replaced the Bank Holidays Act of 1871
  • Sunday becomes the seventh day in the week as UK adopts decision of the International Standardisation Organisation (ISO) to call Monday the first day
  • 'Greenpeace' founded
  • 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
85 1972 
  • Britain imposes direct rule in Northern Ireland
  • Strict anti-hijack measures introduced internationally, especially at airports
  • Dutch Elm disease devastates trees across UK
  • 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
86 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
87 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
88 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
89 1976 
  • 'Cod War' between Britain and Iceland
  • Deaths exceeded live births in E&W for first time since records began in 1837
  • James Callaghan becomes Prime Minister
  • 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
90 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
91 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)
92 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
93 1980 
  • 5 May 1980: SAS storm Iranian Embassy in London to free hostages
  • 8 Dec 1980: John Lennon assassinated in New York
94 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
95 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)
96 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
97 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
98 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)
99 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
100 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
101 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
  

Owner Tim Collinson. Administrators :- Peter Collinson, Richard Collinson, Tim Collinson, Ruairidh Greig, David Oliver. All rights reserved.