Living

Living



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   Date  Event(s)
1383 
  • 1383—99 9999: Regular series of wills starts in Prerogative Court of Canterbury
1832 
  • 4 Jan 1832—1937: Immigrants quarantined at Grosse Isle
    Canada's immigrant quarantine station opens at Grosse Isle
1898 
  • 7 Jul 1898—20 Aug 1959: Territory of Hawaii was Oraganized
1910 
  • 5 Jun 1910—20 Jan 1936: George V
    House of Windsor (name adopted Jul 17, 1917): 2nd son of Edward VII, married Princess Mary of Teck. Accession, Jan 20, abdication, Dec 10.
1912 
  • 8 1912—2 Jan 1959: Alaska Territory Organized
1929 
  • 1929—1939: The Great Depression
    Canada hit hardest by the depression
1933 
1936 
  • 1936—1936: Jet engine first tested
  • 1936—1936: Bell Labs invents the voice recognition machine
  • 1936—1936: Samuel Colt patents the Colt revolver
  • 20 Jan 1936—20 Jan 1936: George V dies
  • 5 May 1936—5 May 1936: First flight of a Spitfire
  • 24 Jul 1936—24 Jul 1936: 'Speaking clock' service starts in UK
  • 2 Nov 1936—2 Nov 1936: British Broadcasting Corporation initiates the BBC Television Service, world's first public TV transmission
  • 12 Nov 1936—6 Feb 1952: George VI
    House of Windsor (name adopted Jul 17, 1917): 2nd son of George V, Duke of York; married Lady Elizabeth Bowes-Lyon
  • 30 Nov 1936—30 Nov 1936: Crystal Palace destroyed by fire
  • 5 Dec 1936—5 Dec 1936: Edward VIII abdicates (announced Dec 10) - popular carol that Christmas: 'Hark the Herald Angels sing Mrs Simpson's got our King'
  • 1 1936—11 Dec 1936: Edward VIII
    House of Windsor (name adopted Jul 17, 1917): Eldest son of George V
1937 
  • 1937—1937: Billy Butlin opens his first holiday camp
  • 1937—1937: '999' emergency telephone call facility starts in London
  • 1937—1937: Chester F. Carlson invents the photocopier
  • 1937—1937: The first jet engine is built
  • 12 Apr 1937—12 Apr 1937: Frank Whittle ground-tests the first jet engine designed to power an aircraft
  • 12 May 1937—12 May 1937: Coronation of King George VI
  • 28 May 1937—28 May 1937: Neville Chamberlain becomes Prime Minister - policy of appeasement towards Hitler
  • 3 Jun 1937—3 Jun 1937: Duke of Windsor marries Wallis Simpson
  • 4 Dec 1937—4 Dec 1937: 'The Dandy' first published
10 1938 
  • 1938—1938: First practical ball-point pen produced by Hungarian journalist, Lajos Biro
  • 1938—1938: HMS Rodney first ship to be equipped with radar
  • 1938—1938: Principle of paid holidays established in Britain
  • 1938—1938: The ballpoint pen invented by Ladislo Biro
  • 1938—1938: Strobe lighting invented
  • 1938—1938: Roy J. Plunkett invented tetrafluoroethylene polymers or Teflon
  • 1938—1938: Nescafe or freeze-dried coffee invented
  • 1938—1938: The first working turboprop engine
  • 12 Mar 1938—12 Mar 1938: Germany invades and annexes Austria
  • 3 Jul 1938—3 Jul 1938: 'Mallard' reaches 126 mph (203 km/h); still world record for a steam locomotive
  • 27 Sep 1938—27 Sep 1938: Largest ocean liner ever built, Queen Elizabeth launched on Clydebank
  • 29 Sep 1938—29 Sep 1938: Chamberlain visits Hitler in Munich - promises 'peace in our time'
  • 30 Oct 1938—30 Oct 1938: Orson Welles broadcasts his radio play of HG Wells 'The War of the Worlds', causing panic in the USA
11 1939 
  • 1939—1939: Coldest winter in Britain since 1894, though this could not be publicised at the time
  • 1939—1939: Start of evacuation of women and children from London
  • 1939—1939: Germany annexes Czechoslovakia
  • 1939—1945: World War II
    huge involvement of Canadian supplies and troops
  • 1939—1939: Igor Sikorsky invents the first successful helicopter
  • 1939—1939: The electron microscope invented
  • 9 Jan 1939—2 Sep 1945: World War II
    Axis Powers: Germany, Italy, Japan vs. Major Allied Powers: United States, Great Britain, France, and Russia
  • 12 Jul 1939—7 Dec 1939: Troops leave Canada
    First group of Canadian troops sail to Britain -- 7,400 on 5 ships
  • 1 Sep 1939—1 Sep 1939: Germany invades Poland
  • 3 Sep 1939—3 Sep 1939: Britain and France declare war on Germany
  • 6 Sep 1939—6 Sep 1939: First air-raid on Britain
  • 11 Sep 1939—11 Sep 1939: British Expeditionary Force (BEF) sent to France
  • 9 Oct 1939—10 Sep 1939: Canada declares war on Germany
  • 14 Oct 1939—14 Oct 1939: HMS Royal Oak sunk in Scapa Flow with loss of 810 lives
  • 7 Dec 1939—7 Dec 1939: 'First flight' of Canadian troops sail for Britain - 7,400 men on 5 ships
  • 17 Dec 1939—17 Dec 1939: 'Admiral Graf Spee' scuttled outside Montevideo
12 1940 
  • 1940—1940: Québec permits women to vote
    The last province to give women the right to vote
  • 1940—1946: National Registration
    Compulsory registration of all persons 16 years of age or older
  • 1940—1945: German occupation of Denmark
  • 1940—1940: Dr William Reich invents the orgone accumulator
  • 1940—1940: Peter Goldmark invents modern color television system
  • 1940—1940: Karl Pabst invents the jeep
  • 1 Apr 1940—1 Apr 1940: BOAC starts operations, replacing Imperial and British Airways Ltd
  • 11 May 1940—11 May 1940: National Government formed under Churchill
  • 13 May 1940—13 May 1940: Germany invades France
  • 27 May 1940—27 May 1940: Start of the evacuation of the British Army at Dunkirk (27 May - 4 Jun)
  • 25 Jun 1940—25 Jun 1940: Fall of France to Germany
  • 7 Sep 1940—7 Sep 1940: Germany launches bombing blitz on Britain, the first of 57 consecutive nights of bombing
  • 15 Sep 1940—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—14 Nov 1940: Coventry heavily bombed and the Cathedral almost completely destroyed
13 1941 
  • 1941—1941: First use of antibiotics
  • 1941—1941: Bailey invents his portable military bridge
  • 1941—1941: First British jet aircraft flies, based on work of Whittle
  • 1941—1941: Britain introduces severe rationing
  • 1941—1941: Konrad Zuse's Z3, the first computer controlled by software
  • 1941—1941: Aerosol spray cans invented by American inventors, Lyle David Goodloe and W.N. Sullivan
  • 1941—1941: Enrico Fermi invents the neutronic reactor
  • 12 1941—Dec 1941: Canadian forces defend south coast of England
  • 10 May 1941—10 May 1941: Rudolf Hess flies to Scotland
  • 27 May 1941—27 May 1941: 'Bismark' sunk
  • 22 Jun 1941—22 Jun 1941: Germany invades Russia (Operation Barbarossa)
  • 1 Jul 1941—1 Jul 1941: First Canadian armoured regiments arrive in Britain
  • 12 Jul 1941—7 Dec 1941: Canada declares war on Japan
    Attack on Pearl Harbour causes Canada to declare war on Japan
  • Dec 1941—Dec 1941: 'Manhattan Project' of nuclear research begins in America
  • Dec 1941—Dec 1941: Canadian forces given operation role in defending south coast of England
  • 7 Dec 1941—7 Dec 1941: Japan attackes US fleet at Pearl Harbour
  • 7 Dec 1941—2 Sep 1945: World War II
    World War II World War II
  • 8 Dec 1941—8 Dec 1941: USA enters WWII
  • 24 Dec 1941—24 Dec 1941: Hong Kong falls to the Japanese
  • 6 1941—14 Jun 1941: Census of Canada
    Census date changed to prevent clash with Victory Bond campaign. Sampling is initiated
14 1942 
  • 1942—1942: Gilbert Murray founds Oxfam
  • 1942—1942: Invention of world's first programmable computer by Alan Turing in co-operation with Max Neumann - used to crack German codes
  • 1942—1942: John Atanasoff and Clifford Berry built the first electronic digital computer
  • 1942—1942: Max Mueller designs a turboprop engine
  • 30 May 1942—30 May 1942: Over 1,000 allied bombers raid Cologne
  • 4 Jun 1942—4 Jun 1942: Battle of Midway
  • 19 Aug 1942—19 Aug 1942: Abortive raid on Dieppe, largely by Canadian troops
  • 6 Sep 1942—6 Sep 1942: Germans defeated at Stalingrad
  • 3 Oct 1942—3 Oct 1942: First successful launch of V2 rocket in Germany - first man-made object to reach space
  • 23 Oct 1942—23 Oct 1942: Battle of El Alamein - Montgomery defeats Rommel
  • 2 Dec 1942—2 Dec 1942: 'Manhattan Project' - a team led by Enrico Fermi initiates the first self-sustaining nuclear chain reaction
15 1943 
  • 1943—1943: Round-the-clock bombing of Germany begins
  • 1943—1943: Synthetic rubber invented
  • 1943—1943: Richard James invents the slinky
  • 1943—1943: James Wright invent silly putty
  • 1943—1943: Swiss chemist, Albert Hofmann discovered the hallucinogenic properties of LSD
  • 1943—1943: Emile Gagnan and Jacques Cousteau invent the aqualung
  • 16 May 1943—16 May 1943: 'Dam Buster' raids on Ruhr dams by RAF
  • 24 Jul 1943—24 Jul 1943: Allies invade Italy - Benito Mussolini resigns as Italian Dictator, 24 July
16 1944 
  • 1944—1944: The kidney dialysis machine invented by Willem Kolff
  • 1944—1944: Synthetic cortisone invented by Percy Lavon Julian
  • 6 Apr 1944—6 Apr 1944: PAYE income tax begins
  • 4 Jun 1944—4 Jun 1944: Allies enter Rome
  • 6 Jun 1944—6 Jun 1944: D-Day invasion of Normandy
  • 12 Jun 1944—12 Jun 1944: First V1 flying bombs hit London
  • 8 Sep 1944—8 Sep 1944: First V2 rocket bombs hit London
  • 11 Sep 1944—11 Sep 1944: Allies enter Germany
  • 16 Dec 1944—16 Dec 1944: Battle of the Bulge: German counter-offensive
17 1945 
  • 1945—1945: Newfoundland census
    Census taken in Newfoundland
  • 1945—1945: Vannevar Bush proposes hypertext
  • 1945—1945: The atomic bomb invented
  • 4 Feb 1945—4 Feb 1945: Yalta Conference between Churchill, Roosevelt and Stalin
  • 29 Mar 1945—29 Mar 1945: Last V1 flying bomb attack
  • 12 Apr 1945—20 Jan 1953: Harry S. Truman
    Harry S. Truman U.S. Presidency Harry S. Truman U.S. Presidency
  • 25 Apr 1945—25 Apr 1945: Berlin surrounded by Russian troops
  • 30 Apr 1945—30 Apr 1945: Hitler commits suicide
  • 8 May 1945—8 May 1945: VE Day (Victory in Europe)
  • 9 May 1945—9 May 1945: Channel Islands liberated
  • 26 Jun 1945—26 Jun 1945: UN Charter signed in San Francisco
  • 16 Jul 1945—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—26 Jul 1945: Labour win UK General Election - Churchill out of office
  • 29 Jul 1945—29 Jul 1945: BBC Light Programme starts
  • 6 Aug 1945—6 Aug 1945: Atomic bomb dropped on Hiroshima
  • 9 Aug 1945—9 Aug 1945: Atomic bomb dropped on Nagasaki
  • 15 Aug 1945—15 Aug 1945: VJ Day (Victory in Japan)
  • 2 Sep 1945—2 Sep 1945: Japanese surrender signed aboard USS Missouri
  • 24 Oct 1945—24 Oct 1945: United Nations Organisation comes into existence
  • 4 Nov 1945—4 Nov 1945: UNESCO founded
  • 4 Dec 1945—20 Jan 1953: Harry Truman
  • 6 1945—26 Jun 1945: Canada joins the United Nations
18 1946 
  • 1946—1946: Alistair Cooke starts his regular 'Letter from America' on BBC radio - until 2004
  • 1946—1946: Transition to National Health Service starts in Britain (came into being 5th July 1948)
  • 1946—1946: The microwave oven invented by Percy Spencer
  • 1 Jan 1946—1 Jan 1946: First civillian flight from Heathrow Airport
  • 7 Jan 1946—1 Jul 1946: Canadian Citizenship Act
    Parliament proclaims an act providing for the creation of Canadian citizens to take effect 1 January 1947
  • 1 Mar 1946—1 Mar 1946: Bank of England nationalised
19 1947 
  • 1947—1947: First British nuclear reactor developed
  • 1947—1947: Most severe winter in Britain for 53 years at start of the year - heavy snow and much flooding later
  • 1947—1947: British/Hungarian scientist, Dennis Gabor, developed the theory of holography
  • 1947—1947: Mobile phones first invented
  • 1947—1947: Bardeen, Brattain, and Shockley invent the transistor
  • 1947—1947: Earl Silas Tupper patented the Tupperware seal
  • 1 Jan 1947—1 Jan 1947: Coal Mines nationalised
  • 23 Feb 1947—23 Feb 1947: International Organization for Standardization (ISO) founded
  • 1 Mar 1947—1 Mar 1947: International Monetary Fund begins financial operations
  • 1 Apr 1947—1 Apr 1947: School leaving age raised to 15 in Britain
  • 26 Oct 1947—26 Oct 1947: British military occupation ends in Iraq
  • 20 Nov 1947—20 Nov 1947: Marriage of Princess Elizabeth (later Elizabeth II) and Philip Mountbatten in Westminster Abbey
  • 3 1947—21 Mar 1947: 22nd Amendment passed by Congress
20 1948 
  • 1948—1948: Transistor radio invented
  • 1948—1948: Long-playing record (LP) invented by Goldmark
  • 1948—1948: British Citizenship Act : all Commonwealth citizens qualify for British passports
  • 1948—1948: The Frisbee® invented by Walter Frederick Morrison and Warren Franscioni
  • 1948—1948: Velcro ® invented by George de Mestral
  • 1948—1948: Robert Hope-Jones invented the Wurlitzer jukebox
  • 1 Jan 1948—1 Jan 1948: British Railways nationalised
  • 5 Jul 1948—5 Jul 1948: National Health Service (NHS) begins in Britain
  • 29 Jul 1948—29 Jul 1948: London Olympics begin
21 1949 
  • 1949—1949: De Haviland produces the Comet - first jet airliner
  • 1949—1949: Maiden flight of the Bristol Brabazon (broken up in 1953 for scrap)
  • 1949—1949: Cake mix invented
  • 15 Mar 1949—15 Mar 1949: Clothes rationing ends in Britain
  • 4 Apr 1949—4 Apr 1949: Twelve nations sign The North Atlantic Treaty creating NATO
  • 4 Apr 1949—4 Apr 1949: Canada joins NATO
  • 3 1949—31 Mar 1949: Newfoundland joins Canada
    Newfoundland becomes Canada's tenth province
22 1950 
  • 1950—1950: The first credit card (Diners) invented by Ralph Schneider
  • 4 1950—30 Jun 1950: Winnipeg flood
    More than 100,000 people forced from their homes in Winnipeg, Manitoba, by the Red River flooding
  • 19 May 1950—19 May 1950: Points rationing ends in Britain
  • 26 May 1950—26 May 1950: Petrol rationing ends in Britain
  • 25 Jun 1950—27 Jul 1953: Korean War
    Korean War Korean War
  • 11 Jul 1950—11 Jul 1950: 'Andy Pandy' first seen on BBC TV
  • 9 Sep 1950—9 Sep 1950: Soap rationing ends in Britain
  • 28 Dec 1950—28 Dec 1950: The Peak District becomes the Britain's first National Park
  • 6 1950—27 Jul 1953: Korean War
    As part of the United Nations, Canadian troops participate in the Korean War
  • 6 1950—27 Jul 1953: Korean War
    United States (as part of the United Nations) and South Korea vs. North Korea and Communist China
23 1951 
  • 1951—1951: Super glue invented
  • 1951—1951: Power steering invented by Francis W. Davis
  • 1951—1951: Charles Ginsburg invented the first videotape recorder (VTR)
  • 3 May 1951—3 May 1951: Festival of Britain and Royal Festival Hall open on South Bank, London
  • 28 May 1951—28 May 1951: First Goon Show broadcast
  • 20 Dec 1951—20 Dec 1951: Electricity first produced by nuclear power, from Experimental Breeder Reactor
  • 2 1951—27 Feb 1951: 22nd Amendment ratified
24 1952 
  • 1952—1952: Bonn Convention: Britain, France and USA end their occupation of West Germany
  • 1952—1952: Radioactive carbon used for dating prehistoric objects
  • 1952—1952: Contraceptive pill invented
  • 1952—1952: Britain explodes her first atomic bomb, in Australia
  • 1952—1952: Mr. Potato Head patented
  • 1952—1952: The first patent for bar code (US Patent #2,612,994) issued to inventors Joseph Woodland and Bernard Silver
  • 1952—1952: The first diet soft drink sold
  • 1952—1952: Edward Teller and team build the hydrogen bomb
  • 6 Feb 1952—6 Feb 1952: King George VI dies
  • 21 Feb 1952—21 Feb 1952: Identity Cards abolished in Britain
  • 2 May 1952—2 May 1952: First commercial jet airliner service launched, by BOACComet between London and Johannesburg
  • 2 Jun 1952—2004: Elizabeth II
    House of Windsor (name adopted Jul 17, 1917):Elder daughter of George VI, acceded Feb 6, 1952
  • 5 Jul 1952—5 Jul 1952: Last tram runs in London (Woolwich to New Cross)
  • 16 Aug 1952—16 Aug 1952: Lynmouth (North Devon) flood disaster
  • 6 Sep 1952—6 Sep 1952: DH110 crashes at Farnborough Air Show, 26 killed
  • 3 Oct 1952—3 Oct 1952: End of tea rationing in Britain
  • 1 Nov 1952—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—25 Nov 1952: Agatha Christie's 'The Mousetrap' opens in London
  • 4 Dec 1952—4 Dec 1952: Great smog hits London
25 1953 
26 1954 
  • 1954—1954: First transistor radios sold
  • 1954—1954: Routemaster bus starts operating in London
  • 1954—1954: First comprehensive school opens in London
  • 1954—1954: Oral contraceptives invented
  • 1954—1954: The first nonstick pan produced
  • 1954—1954: The solar cell invented by Chaplin, Fuller and Pearson
  • 1954—1954: Ray Kroc started McDonalds
  • 6 May 1954—6 May 1954: First sub 4 minute mile (Roger Bannister, 3 mins 59.4 secs)
  • 3 Jul 1954—3 Jul 1954: Food rationing officially ends in Britain
  • 5 Jul 1954—5 Jul 1954: BBC broadcasts its first television news bulletin
  • 30 Sep 1954—30 Sep 1954: First atomic powered sumbmarine USS Nautilus commissioned
  • 10 1954—15 Oct 1954: Hurricane Hazel
    Southwestern Ontario, Toronto and area, hit by Hurricane Hazel -- 81 died, 4,000 homeless
27 1955 
  • 1955—1955: 'Mole' self-grip wrench patented by Thomas Coughtrie of Mole & Sons
  • 1955—1955: Tetracycline invented
  • 1955—1955: Optic fiber invented
  • 27 Jul 1955—27 Jul 1955: Jul 27: Allied occupation of Austria (after WW2) ends
  • 22 Sep 1955—22 Sep 1955: Commercial TV starts in Britain
28 1956 
  • 1956—1956: Britain constructs world's first large-scale nuclear power station in Cumberland
  • 1956—1956: The first computer hard disk used
  • 1956—1956: The hovercraft invented by Christopher Cockerell
  • 1956—1956: Bette Nesmith Graham invented "Mistake Out," later renamed Liquid Paper, to paint over mistakes made with a typewriter
  • 6 Jan 1956—1 Jun 1956: First nation-wide 5-year census
    Population-count censuses initiated
  • 11 Jan 1956—1 Nov 1956: Springhill Mine explosion
    39 miners killed from explosion in mine at Springhill, Nova Scotia
  • 1 Mar 1956—1 Mar 1956: Radiotelephony spelling alphabet introduced (Alpha, Bravo, etc)
  • 17 Apr 1956—17 Apr 1956: Premium Bonds first launched - first prizes drawn on 1 Jun 1957
  • 3 Jun 1956—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—31 Oct 1956: Britain and France invade Suez
29 1957 
  • 1957—1957: Helvetica typeface developed (in Switzerland)
  • 1957—1957: Britain introduces parking meters
  • 1957—1957: Fortran (computer language) invented
  • 11 Jan 1957—11 Jan 1957: Harold Macmillan becomes Prime Minister
  • 14 May 1957—14 May 1957: Post-Suez petrol rationing ends
  • 15 May 1957—15 May 1957: Britain explodes her first hydrogen bomb, at Christmas Island
  • 25 May 1957—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—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—25 Dec 1957: Queen's first Christmas TV broadcast
30 1958 
  • 1958—1958: USA begins to produce Inter-Continental Ballistic Missiles (ICBMs)
  • 1958—1958: Computers begin to be used in research, industry and commerce
  • 1958—1958: Easter: First anti-nuclear protest march to Aldermaston (emergence of CND)
  • 1958—1958: The modem invented
  • 1958—1958: Gordon Gould invents the laser
  • 1958—1958: The Hula Hoop invented by Richard Knerr and Arthur "Spud" Melin
  • 1958—1958: The integrated circuit invented by Jack Kilby and Robert Noyce
  • 13 May 1958—13 May 1958: Velcro trade mark registered
  • 26 Jul 1958—26 Jul 1958: Prince Charles' Investiture as 'Prince of Wales'
  • 5 Dec 1958—5 Dec 1958: Preston by-pass opens - UK's first stretch of motorway
  • 5 Dec 1958—5 Dec 1958: Inauguration of Subscriber Trunk Dialling (STD) in Britain (completed in 1979)
  • 10 1958—23 Oct 1958: Springhill Mine disaster
    74 miners killed from third major explosion in mine at Springhill, Nova Scotia
31 1959 
  • 1959—1959: The internal pacemaker invented by Wilson Greatbatch
  • 1959—1959: Barbie Doll invented
  • 1959—1959: Jack Kilby and Robert Noyce both invent the microchip
  • 3 Feb 1959—3 Feb 1959: 'The Day The Music Died' - plane crash kills Buddy Holly, Ritchie Valens, and The Big Bopper
  • 17 Feb 1959—17 Feb 1959: Vanguard 2 satellite launched - first to measure cloud-cover distribution
  • 1 Mar 1959—3 Jan 1959: Alaska
    49th State
  • 24 May 1959—24 May 1959: Empire Day becomes Commonwealth Day
  • Aug 1959—Aug 1959: BMC Mini car launched
  • 26 Sep 1959—30 Apr 1975: Vietnam War
    Vietnam War Vietnam War
  • 3 Oct 1959—3 Oct 1959: Postcodes introduced in Britain
  • 1 Nov 1959—1 Nov 1959: First section of M1 motorway opened
  • 8 1959—21 Aug 1959: Hawaii
    50th State
  • 6 1959—26 Jun 1959: St. Lawrence seaway opens
    Ocean vessels can now sail as far inland as Lakes Michigan and Superior
32 1960 
  • 1960—1975: Vietnam War
    United States and South Vietnam vs North Vietnam
  • 1960—1960: Canada's Bill of Rights
    Bans discrimination by federal agencies on grounds of race, national origin, colour, religion or sex -- permits Indians to vote
  • 1960—1960: The halogen lamp invented
  • 17 Mar 1960—17 Mar 1960: New ?1 notes issued by Bank of England
  • 18 Mar 1960—18 Mar 1960: Last steam locomotive of British Railways named
  • 21 Jul 1960—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—12 Aug 1960: Echo I, the first (passive) communications satellite, launched
  • 12 Sep 1960—12 Sep 1960: MoT tests on motor vehicles introduced
  • 1 Oct 1960—1 Oct 1960: HMS 'Dreadnought' nuclear submarine launched
  • 2 Nov 1960—2 Nov 1960: Penguin Books found not guilty of obscenity in the 'Lady Chatterley's Lover' case
  • 6 1960—16 Jun 1960: 23rd Amendment passed by Congress
33 1961 
  • 1961—1961: Valium invented
  • 1961—1961: The nondairy creamer invented
  • 1 Jan 1961—1 Jan 1961: Farthing ceases to be legal tender in UK
  • 20 Jan 1961—20 Nov 1963: John F. Kennedy
    John F. Kennedy U.S. Presidency John F. Kennedy U.S. Presidency
  • 13 Mar 1961—13 Mar 1961: Black & White ?5 notes cease to be legal tender
  • 14 Mar 1961—14 Mar 1961: New English Bible (New Testament) published
  • 1 May 1961—1 May 1961: Betting shops legal in Britain
  • 4 1961—19 Apr 1961: Bay of Pigs Invasion
    United States vs Cuba
  • 1 1961—22 Nov 1963: John F. Kennedy
    John F. Kennedy assassinated by Lee Harvey Oswald in Dallas, Texas
  • 3 1961—29 Mar 1961: 23rd Amendment ratified
34 1962 
  • 1962—1962: Britain and France agree to construct 'Concorde'
  • 1962—1962: Thalidomide withdrawn after it causes deformities in babies
  • 1962—1962: Britain passes Commonwealth Immigrants Act to control immigration
  • 1962—1962: The audio cassette invented
  • 1962—1962: The fiber-tip pen invented by Yukio Horie
  • 1962—1962: Spacewar, the first computer video game invented
  • 1962—1962: Dow Corp invents silicone breast implants
  • 7 Jan 1962—1 Jul 1962: Medicare introduced in Saskatchewan
    Saskatchewan sets medicare prototype for all provinces
  • 9 Mar 1962—3 Sep 1962: Trans-Canada Highway officially opens
  • 25 May 1962—25 May 1962: Consecration of new Coventry Cathedral (old destroyed in WW2 blitz)
  • 15 Jun 1962—15 Jun 1962: First nuclear generated electricity to supplied National Grid (from Berkeley Glos)
  • Jul 1962—Jul 1962: First passenger-carrying hovercraft enters service, along the North Wales Coast from Moreton to Rhyl
  • 10 Jul 1962—10 Jul 1962: First TV transmission between US and Europe (Telstar) - first live broadcast on 23 Jul
  • 24 Oct 1962—24 Oct 1962: Cuba missile crisis - brink of nuclear war
  • 8 1962—27 Aug 1962: 24th Amendment passed by Congress
35 1963 
  • 1963—1963: France vetoes Britain's entry into EEC
  • 1963—1963: The first videodisc invented
  • Jan 1963—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—27 Mar 1963: Beeching Report on British Railways (the 'Beeching Axe')
  • 1 Aug 1963—1 Aug 1963: Minimum prison age raised to 17
  • 8 Aug 1963—8 Aug 1963: 'Great Train Robbery' on Glasgow to London mail train
  • 17 Sep 1963—17 Sep 1963: Fylingdales (Yorks) early warning system operational
  • 18 Nov 1963—18 Nov 1963: Dartford Tunnel opens
  • 20 Nov 1963—20 Jan 1969: Lyndon B. Johnson
    Lyndon B. Johnson U.S. Presidency Lyndon B. Johnson U.S. Presidency
  • 23 Nov 1963—23 Nov 1963: First episode of 'Dr Who' on BBC TV
  • 11 1963—20 Jan 1969: Lyndon B. Johnson
    Lyndon B. Johnson, vice president under John F. Kennedy, sworn in as president aboard Air Force One upon death of Kennedy.
36 1964 
  • 1964—1964: Acrylic paint invented
  • 1964—1964: Permanent-press fabric invented
  • 1964—1964: BASIC (an early computer language) is invented by John George Kemeny and Tom Kurtz
  • 4 1964—Apr 1964: Social Insurance cards first issued
    Social Insurance cards issued to all Canadian adults -- privacy concerns limit their use for genealogy puposes
  • 1 Jan 1964—1 Jan 1964: First 'Top of the Pops' on BBC TV
  • 9 Apr 1964—9 Apr 1964: First Greater London Council (GLC) election
  • 21 Apr 1964—21 Apr 1964: BBC2 TV launched
  • 22 Aug 1964—22 Aug 1964: 'Match of the Day' starts on BBC2
  • 4 Sep 1964—4 Sep 1964: Forth road bridge opens
  • 3 1964—1993: Canadian troops in Cyprus
    Canadian troops serve in Cyprus as part of the UN peace-keeping force
  • 1 1964—23 Jan 1964: 24th Amendment ratified
37 1965 
  • 1965—1965: Britain enacts first Race Relations Act
  • 1965—1965: Astroturf invented
  • 1965—1965: Soft contact lenses invented
  • 1965—1965: NutraSweet invented
  • 1965—1965: The compact disk invented by James Russell
  • 1965—1965: Kevlar invented by Stephanie Louise Kwolek
  • 7 Feb 1965—7 Feb 1965: First US raids against North Vietnam
  • 7 Apr 1965—7 Apr 1965: Winston Churchill dies
  • 7 Jun 1965—6 Jul 1965: 25th Amendment passed by Congress
  • 1 Aug 1965—1 Aug 1965: TV cigarette advertising banned in Britain
  • 8 Oct 1965—8 Oct 1965: Post Office Tower operational in London
  • 28 Oct 1965—28 Oct 1965: Death penalty for murder suspended in Britain for five-year trial period, then abolished 18 Dec 1969
  • 22 Dec 1965—22 Dec 1965: 70mph speed limit introduced on British roads
  • 2 1965—15 Feb 1965: Canadian Flag changed
    Maple Leaf flag is adopted by Parliament as the official flag of Canada. It replaces the "Canadian" (modified) Red Ensign
38 1966 
  • 1966—1966: Electronic Fuel injection for cars invented
  • 14 Feb 1966—14 Feb 1966: Australia converts from ? to $
  • 3 May 1966—3 May 1966: 'The Times' begins to print news on its front page in place of classified Advertisements
  • 30 Jul 1966—30 Jul 1966: World Cup won by England at Wembley (4-2 in extra time v West Germany)
  • 8 Sep 1966—8 Sep 1966: First Severn road bridge opens
  • 21 Oct 1966—21 Oct 1966: Aberfan disaster - slag heap slip kills 144, incl. 116 children
  • 1 Dec 1966—1 Dec 1966: First Christmas stamps issued in Britain
39 1967 
  • 1967—1967: The first handheld calculator invented
  • 4 Jan 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—18 Mar 1967: 'Torrey Canyon' oil tanker runs aground off Lands End first major oil spill
  • 28 May 1967—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—27 Jun 1967: First withdrawal from a cash dispenser (ATM) in Britain - at Enfield branch of Barclays
  • 1 Jul 1967—1 Jul 1967: First colour TV in Britain
  • 14 Aug 1967—14 Aug 1967: Offshore pirate radio stations declared illegal by the UK
  • 20 Sep 1967—20 Sep 1967: 'QE2' launched on Clydebank
  • 27 Sep 1967—27 Sep 1967: 'Queen Mary' arrives Southampton at end of her last transatlantic voyage
  • 30 Sep 1967—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'
  • 2 Oct 1967—10 Feb 1967: 25th Amendment ratified
  • 5 Oct 1967—5 Oct 1967: Introduction of majority verdicts in English courts
  • 4 1967—25 Apr 1967: Canadian Armed Forces established
    The Canadian Army, Navy and Air Force unite into one combined military force -- a world first
40 1968 
  • 1968—1968: The computer mouse invented by Douglas Engelbart
  • 1968—1968: The first computer with integrated circuits made
  • 1968—1968: Robert Dennard invented RAM (random access memory)
  • 18 Feb 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—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—20 Apr 1968: Enoch Powell 'Rivers of Blood' speech on immigration
  • 23 Apr 1968—23 Apr 1968: Issue of 5p and 10p decimal coins in Britain
  • 29 May 1968—29 May 1968: Manchester United first English club to win the European Cup
  • 11 Aug 1968—11 Aug 1968: Last steam passenger train service ran in Britain (Carlisle- Liverpool)
  • 16 Sep 1968—16 Sep 1968: Two-tier postal rate starts in Britain
  • 5 Oct 1968—5 Oct 1968: Beginning of disturbances in N Ireland
41 1969 
  • 1969—1969: The arpanet (first internet) invented
  • 1969—1969: The artificial heart invented
  • 1969—1969: The ATM invented
  • 1969—1969: The bar-code scanner is invented
  • 20 Jan 1969—9 Aug 1974: Richard Nixon
    Richard Nixon U.S. Presidency Richard Nixon U.S. Presidency
  • 2 Mar 1969—2 Mar 1969: Maiden flight of 'Concorde', at Toulouse
  • 7 Mar 1969—7 Mar 1969: Victoria Line tube opens in London
  • 17 Apr 1969—17 Apr 1969: Voting age lowered from 21 to 18
  • 2 May 1969—2 May 1969: Maiden voyage of liner Queen Elizabeth 2 (QE2)
  • 31 Jul 1969—31 Jul 1969: Halfpenny ceases to be legal tender in Britain
  • 14 Aug 1969—14 Aug 1969: Civil disturbances in Ulster - Britain sends troops to support civil authorities
  • 7 Sep 1969—7 Sep 1969: First episode of 'Monty Python's Flying Circus' recorded
  • 14 Oct 1969—14 Oct 1969: 50p coin introduced in Britain (reduced in size 1998)
  • 1 1969—9 Aug 1974: Richard Nixon
    Richard M Nixon first president to resign from office. His decision was announced 8 Aug 1974
42 1970 
  • 1970—1970: Boeing 747 (Jumbo jet) goes into service
  • 1970—1970: The daisy-wheel printer invented
  • 1970—1970: The floppy disk invented by Alan Shugart
  • 17 Jun 1970—17 Jun 1970: Decimal postage stamps first issued for sale in Britain
  • 19 Jun 1970—19 Jun 1970: Edward Heath becomes Prime Minister
  • 30 Jul 1970—30 Jul 1970: Damages awarded to Thalidomide victims
  • 19 Sep 1970—19 Sep 1970: First Glastonbury Festival held
  • 20 Nov 1970—20 Nov 1970: Ten shilling note (50p after decimalisation) goes out of circulation in Britain
  • 10 1970—16 Oct 1970: War Measures Act Proclaimed in Quebec
    Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau invokes the War Measures Act to counteract FLQ terrorism
43 1971 
  • 1971—1971: Rolls-Royce declared bankrupt
  • 1971—1971: 'Greenpeace' founded
  • 1971—1971: Sunday becomes the seventh day in the week as UK adopts decision of the International Standardisation Organisation (ISO) to call Monday the first day
  • 1971—1971: Banking and Financial Dealings Act - replaced the Bank Holidays Act of 1871
  • 1971—1971: Census of Canada
    1971 census is the first completed by the householder
  • 1971—1971: Multiculturalism/Bilingualism Policy adopted
    Canada gives equal status to both english and french languages
  • 1971—1971: The dot-matrix printer invented
  • 1971—1971: The food processor invented
  • 1971—1971: The liquid-crystal display (LCD) invented by James Fergason
  • 1971—1971: The microprocessor invented by Faggin, Hoff and Mazor
  • 1971—1971: VCR or videocassette recorder invented
  • 3 Jan 1971—3 Jan 1971: Open University starts
  • 7 Jan 1971—1 Jul 1971: 26th Amendment ratified
  • 15 Feb 1971—15 Feb 1971: Decimalisation of coinage in UK and Republic of Ireland
  • 9 Aug 1971—9 Aug 1971: Internment without trial introduced in N Ireland
  • 28 Oct 1971—28 Oct 1971: UK launches its first (and only) satellite, Prospero
  • 28 Oct 1971—28 Oct 1971: Parliament votes to join Common Market (joined 1973)
  • 3 1971—23 Mar 1971: 26th Amendment passed by Congress
44 1972 
  • 1972—1972: Dutch Elm disease devastates trees across UK
  • 1972—1972: Domestic video cassette recorders introduced
  • 1972—1972: Strict anti-hijack measures introduced internationally, especially at airports
  • 1972—1972: Britain imposes direct rule in Northern Ireland
  • 1972—1972: The word processor invented
  • 1972—1972: Pong (first video game) invented by Nolan Bushnell
  • 1972—1972: Hacky Sack® invented by John Stalberger and Mike Marshall
  • 30 Jan 1972—30 Jan 1972: 'Bloody Sunday' in Derry, Northern Ireland
  • 28 May 1972—28 May 1972: Duke of Windsor (ex-King Edward VIII) dies in Paris
45 1973 
  • 1973—1973: Gene splicing invented
  • 1973—1973: The ethernet (local computer network) invented by Robert Metcalfe and Xerox
  • 1973—1973: Bic invents the disposable lighter
  • 1 Jan 1973—1 Jan 1973: Britain enters EEC Common Market (with Ireland and Denmark)
  • 17 Mar 1973—17 Mar 1973: Modern London Bridge opened by the Queen
  • 1 Apr 1973—1 Apr 1973: VAT introduced in Britain
  • 26 Sep 1973—26 Sep 1973: Concorde makes its first non-stop crossing of the Atlantic in record-breaking time
  • 14 Oct 1973—14 Oct 1973: Marriage of Princess Anne and Captain Mark Phillips in Westminster Abbey
  • 31 Dec 1973—31 Dec 1973: Miners strike and oil crisis precipitate 'three-day week' (till 9 Mar 1974) to conserve power
46 1974 
  • 1974—1974: New counties formed in Britain after re-organisation of some county boundaries
  • 1974—1974: Quebec makes french the official language
    French language priority causes hundreds of businesses and non-french-speaking families to move out of Quebec
  • 1974—1974: The post-it note invented by Arthur Fry
  • 1974—1974: Giorgio Fischer, a gynecologist from Rome, Italy, invents liposuction
  • 1 Jun 1974—1 Jun 1974: Flixborough disaster: explosion at chemical plant kills 28 people
  • 9 Aug 1974—20 Jan 1977: Gerald Ford
    Gerald Ford U.S. Presidency Gerald Ford U.S. Presidency
  • 8 Sep 1974—20 Jan 1977: Gerald Ford
  • 7 Nov 1974—7 Nov 1974: Lord Lucan disappears
  • 21 Nov 1974—21 Nov 1974: Birmingham pub bombings by the IRA
47 1975 
  • 1975—1975: Unemployment in Britain rises above 1M for first time since before WW2
  • 1975—1975: The laser printer invented
  • 1975—1975: The push-through tab on a drink can invented
  • 11 Feb 1975—11 Feb 1975: Margaret Thatcher becomes leader of Conservative party (in opposition)
  • 28 Feb 1975—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—4 Mar 1975: Charlie Chaplin knighted
  • 5 Jun 1975—5 Jun 1975: UK votes in a referendum to stay in the European Community
  • 29 Oct 1975—29 Oct 1975: 'Yorkshire Ripper' commits his first murder
  • 3 Nov 1975—3 Nov 1975: First North Sea oil comes ashore
  • 29 Nov 1975—29 Nov 1975: The name 'Micro-soft' coined by Bill Gates (Microsoft' became a Trademark the following year)
  • 27 Dec 1975—27 Dec 1975: Equal Pay Act and Sex Discrimination Act come into force
48 1976 
  • 1976—1976: National Theatre opens in London
  • 1976—1976: James Callaghan becomes Prime Minister
  • 1976—1976: Deaths exceeded live births in E&W for first time since records began in 1837
  • 1976—1976: 'Cod War' between Britain and Iceland
  • 1976—1976: The ink-jet printer invented
  • 21 Jan 1976—21 Jan 1976: Concorde enters supersonic passenger service
  • 1 Apr 1976—1 Apr 1976: Apple Computer formed by Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak
  • 6 Aug 1976—6 Aug 1976: Drought Act 1976 comes into force ? the long, hot summer
  • 7 1976—14 Jul 1976: Canada abolishes death penalty
49 1977 
  • 1977—1977: Magnetic resonance imaging invented by Raymond V. Damadian
  • 20 Jan 1977—20 Jan 1981: Jimmy Carter
    Jimmy Carter U.S. Presidency Jimmy Carter U.S. Presidency
  • 2 Mar 1977—2 Mar 1977: 'Red Rum' wins a third Grand National
  • 25 May 1977—25 May 1977: George Lucas' film Star Wars' released
  • 5 Jun 1977—5 Jun 1977: Apple II, the first practical personal computer, goes on sale
  • 7 Jun 1977—7 Jun 1977: Queen's Silver Jubilee celebrations in London
  • 22 Nov 1977—22 Nov 1977: Regular supersonic Concorde service between London and NY inaugurated
  • 1 1977—20 Jan 1981: Jimmy Carter
50 1978 
  • 1978—1978: Dan Bricklin and Bob Frankston invented the VisiCalc spreadsheet
  • 1978—1978: The artificial heart Jarvik-7 invented by Robert K. Jarvik
  • 8 Apr 1978—8 Apr 1978: Regular broadcast of proceedings in Parliament starts
  • 1 May 1978—1 May 1978: First May Day holiday in Britain
  • 25 Jul 1978—25 Jul 1978: World's first 'test tube' baby, Louise Browne born in Oldham
  • 30 Nov 1978—30 Nov 1978: Publication of The Times suspended - industrial relations problems (until 13 Nov 1979)
51 1979 
  • 1979—1979: Cellular phones invented
  • 1979—1979: Cray supercomputer invented by Seymour Cray
  • 1979—1979: Walkman invented
  • 1979—1979: Scott Olson invents roller blades
  • 1 Mar 1979—1 Mar 1979: 32.5% of Scots vote in favor of devolution (40% needed) - Welsh vote overwhelmingly against
  • 30 Mar 1979—30 Mar 1979: Airey Neave killed by a car bomb at Westminster
  • 31 Mar 1979—31 Mar 1979: Withdrawal of the Royal Navy from Malta
  • 4 May 1979—4 May 1979: Margaret Thatcher becomes first woman UK Prime Minister
  • 1 Jul 1979—1 Jul 1979: Sony introduces the Walkman
  • 27 Aug 1979—27 Aug 1979: Lord Mountbatten and 3 others killed in bomb blast off coast of Sligo, Ireland
  • 18 Sep 1979—18 Sep 1979: ILEA votes to abolish corporal punishment in its schools
52 1980 
  • 1980—1980: The hepatitis-B vaccine invented
  • 5 May 1980—5 May 1980: SAS storm Iranian Embassy in London to free hostages
  • 8 Dec 1980—8 Dec 1980: John Lennon assassinated in New York
53 1981 
  • 1981—1981: MS-DOS invented
  • 1981—1981: The first IBM-PC invented
  • 1981—1981: The scanning tunneling microscope invented by Gerd Karl Binnig and Heinrich Rohrer
  • 20 Jan 1981—20 Jan 1989: Ronald Reagan
    Ronald Reagan U.S. Presidency Ronald Reagan U.S. Presidency
  • 25 Jan 1981—25 Jan 1981: Launch of SDP by 'Gang of Four' in Britain
  • 29 Mar 1981—29 Mar 1981: First London marathon run
  • 11 Apr 1981—11 Apr 1981: Brixton riots in South London - 30 other British cities also experience riots
  • 25 Apr 1981—25 Apr 1981: Worst April blizzards this century in Britain
  • 27 Apr 1981—27 Apr 1981: First use of computer mouse (by Xerox PARC system)
  • 29 Jul 1981—29 Jul 1981: Wedding of Prince Charles and Lady Diana Spencer (divorced 28 Aug 1996)
  • 12 Aug 1981—12 Aug 1981: IBM launches its PC ? starts the general use of personal computers
  • 12 Aug 1981—12 Aug 1981: First IBM PC
    IBM launches the first PC
  • 1 1981—20 Jan 1989: Ronald Reagan
54 1982 
  • 1982—1982: Human growth hormone genetically engineered
  • 26 Jan 1982—26 Jan 1982: Unemployment reached 3 million in Britain (1 in 8 of working population)
  • 5 Feb 1982—5 Feb 1982: Laker Airways collapses
  • 19 Feb 1982—19 Feb 1982: DeLorean Car factory in Belfast goes into receivership
  • 18 Mar 1982—18 Mar 1982: Argentinians raised flag in South Georgia
  • 2 Apr 1982—2 Apr 1982: Argentina invades Falkland (Malvinas) Islands
  • 5 Apr 1982—5 Apr 1982: Royal Navy fleet sails from Portsmouth for Falklands
  • 2 May 1982—2 May 1982: British nuclear submarine HMS Conqueror sinks Argentine cruiser General Belgrano
  • 28 May 1982—28 May 1982: First land battle in Falklands (Goose Green)
  • 14 Jun 1982—14 Jun 1982: Ceasefire in Falklands
  • 21 Jun 1982—21 Jun 1982: Prince William is born
  • 20 Jul 1982—20 Jul 1982: IRA bombings in London (Hyde Park and Regents Park)
  • 19 Sep 1982—19 Sep 1982: Smiley emoticon :-) said to have been used for the first time
  • 11 Oct 1982—11 Oct 1982: Mary Rose' raised in the Solent (sank in 1545)
  • 31 Oct 1982—31 Oct 1982: Thames Barrier raised for first time (some say first public demonstration Nov 7)
  • 2 Nov 1982—2 Nov 1982: Channel 4 TV station launched - first programme 'Countdown'
  • 4 Nov 1982—4 Nov 1982: Lorries up to 38 tonnes allowed on Britain's roads
  • 12 Dec 1982—12 Dec 1982: Women's peace protest at Greenham Common (Cruise missiles arrived 14 Nov 1983)
  • 4 1982—17 Apr 1982: Canadian Constitution Act replaces British North America Act of 1867
    Royal assent given to 'patriate the Constitution' and to create the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms
55 1983 
  • 1983—1983: First female Lord Mayor of London elected (Dame Mary Donaldson)
  • 1983—1983: The Apple Lisa invented
  • 1983—1983: Soft bifocal contact lens invented
  • 1983—1983: First Cabbage Patch Kids sold
  • 1983—1983: Programmer Jaron Lanier first coins the term "virtual reality"
  • 17 Jan 1983—17 Jan 1983: Start of breakfast TV in Britain
  • 31 Jan 1983—31 Jan 1983: Seat belt law comes into force
  • 21 Apr 1983—21 Apr 1983: ?1 coin into circulation in Britain
  • 7 Oct 1983—7 Oct 1983: Plans to abolish GLC announced
  • 26 Nov 1983—26 Nov 1983: Brinks Mat robbery: 6,800 gold bars worth nearly ?26 million are stolen from a vault at Heathrow Airport
  • 10 1983—31 Oct 1983: Grenada
    United States Intervention
56 1984 
  • 1984—1984: The CD-ROM invented
  • 1984—1984: The Apple Macintosh invented
  • 6 Mar 1984—6 Mar 1984: Miners strike begins
  • 17 Apr 1984—17 Apr 1984: Police Constable Yvonne Fletcher killed by gunfire from the Libyan Embassy in London
  • 22 Jun 1984—22 Jun 1984: Inaugural flight of Virgin Atlantic
  • 9 Jul 1984—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—12 Oct 1984: IRA bomb explodes at Tory conference hotel in Brighton - 4 killed
  • 24 Oct 1984—24 Oct 1984: Miners' strike ? High Court orders sequestration of NUM assets
  • 3 Dec 1984—3 Dec 1984: British Telecom privatised - shares make massive gains on first day's trading
57 1985 
  • 1985—1985: Windows program invented by Microsoft
  • 3 Mar 1985—3 Mar 1985: Miners agree to call off strike
  • 11 Mar 1985—11 Mar 1985: Al Fayed buys Harrods
  • 13 Jul 1985—13 Jul 1985: Live Aid' pop concert raises over ?50M for famine relief
  • 1 Sep 1985—1 Sep 1985: Wreck of Titanic' found (sank 1912)
  • 12 Dec 1985—12 Dec 1985: Plane crash in Gander, Newfoundland
    A DC-8 crashes just after take-off killing 256
58 1986 
  • 1986—1986: Census of Canada
    1986 census asks about activity limitations
  • 1986—1986: A high-temperature super-conductor invented by J. Georg Bednorz and Karl A. Muller
  • 1986—1986: Synthetic skin invented by G. Gregory Gallico, III
  • 1986—1986: Fuji introduced the disposable camera
  • 31 Mar 1986—31 Mar 1986: GLC and 6 metropolitan councils abolished
  • 26 Apr 1986—26 Apr 1986: Chernobyl nuclear accident - radiation reached Britain on 2 Ma
  • 26 May 1986—26 May 1986: The European Community adopts the European flag
  • 23 Jul 1986—23 Jul 1986: Prince Andrew, Duke of York marries Sarah Ferguson at Westminster Abbey
  • 27 Oct 1986—27 Oct 1986: 'Big Bang' (deregulation) of the London Stock Market
  • 29 Oct 1986—29 Oct 1986: M25 motorway ring around London completed
59 1987 
  • 1987—1987: World population crossed the 5 billion mark
  • 1987—1987: The first 3-D video game invented
  • 1987—1987: Disposable contact lenses invented
  • 2 Feb 1987—2 Feb 1987: Terry Waite kidnapped in Beirut (released 17 Nov 1991)
  • 6 Mar 1987—6 Mar 1987: Car ferry Herald of Free Enterprise' capsizes off Zeebrugge - 188 die
  • 1 Jul 1987—1 Jul 1987: Excavation begins on the Channel Tunnel
  • 19 Aug 1987—19 Aug 1987: Hungerford Massacre - Michael Ryan kills sixteen people with a rifle
  • 16 Oct 1987—16 Oct 1987: The 'Hurricane' sweeps southern England
  • 19 Oct 1987—19 Oct 1987: 'Black Monday' in the City of London - Stock Market crash
  • 8 Nov 1987—8 Nov 1987: Enniskillen bombing at a Remembrance Day ceremony
  • 18 Nov 1987—18 Nov 1987: King's Cross fire in London - 31 people die
60 1988 
  • 1988—1988: Digital cellular phones invented
  • 1988—1988: The RU-486 (abortion pill) invented
  • 1988—1988: Doppler radar invented by Christian Andreas Doppler
  • 1988—1988: Prozac® invented at the Eli Lilly Company by inventor Ray Fuller
  • 1988—1988: The first patent for a genetically engineered animal is issued to Harvard University researchers Philip Leder and Timothy Stewar
  • 1988—1988: Ralph Alessio and Fredrik Olsen received a patent for the Indiglo ® nightlight
  • 5 Feb 1988—5 Feb 1988: First 'Red Nose Day' in UK, raising money for charity
  • 6 Jul 1988—6 Jul 1988: Piper Alpha disaster - North Sea oil platform destroyed by explosion and fire killing 167 men
  • 15 Nov 1988—15 Nov 1988: Copyright, Designs and Patents Act - reformulated the statutory basis of copyright law (including performing rights) in the UK
  • 12 Dec 1988—12 Dec 1988: Clapham Junction rail crash kills 35 and injures hundreds after two collisions of three commuter trains
  • 21 Dec 1988—21 Dec 1988: Lockerbie disaster - Pan Am flight 103 explodes over Scotland
61 1989 
  • 1989—1989: Poll Tax implemented in Scotland
  • 1989—1989: High-definition television invented
  • 1 Jan 1989—1 Jan 1989: Free Trade Agreement with U.S.
  • 20 Jan 1989—20 Jan 1993: George H. W. Bush
    George H. W. Bush U.S. Presidency George H. W. Bush U.S. Presidency
  • 14 Feb 1989—14 Feb 1989: The first of 24 satellites of the Global Positioning System is placed into orbit
  • 2 Mar 1989—2 Mar 1989: EU decision to ban production of all chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs) by the end of the century
  • 9 Nov 1989—9 Nov 1989: Berlin Wall torn down
  • 21 Nov 1989—21 Nov 1989: Proceedings of House of Commons first televised live
  • 1 1989—20 Jan 1993: George H.W. Bush
  • 12 1989—3 Jan 1990: US Invasion of Panama
    United States vs Panama
62 1990 
  • 1990—1990: The World Wide Web/Internet protocol (HTTP) and WWW language (HTML) created by Tim Berners-Lee
  • 8 Feb 1990—28 Feb 1991: Persian Gulf War
    United States and Coalition Forces vs Iraq
  • 11 Feb 1990—11 Feb 1990: Nelson Mandela released in South Africa
  • 31 Mar 1990—31 Mar 1990: Riots in London against Poll Tax which had been implemented in England & Wales
  • 25 Apr 1990—25 Apr 1990: Hubble space telescope launched
  • 2 Aug 1990—28 Feb 1991: Gulf War
    Gulf War Gulf War
  • 22 Nov 1990—22 Nov 1990: Margaret Thatcher resigns as Conservative party leader (and Prime Minister)
  • 1 Dec 1990—1 Dec 1990: Channel Tunnel excavation teams meet in the middle
63 1991 
  • 1991—1991: The 'Internet' comes into existence
  • 1991—1991: Poll Tax replaced (by Council Tax)
  • 1991—1991: Census of Canada
    1991 census asks about common-law status for the first time
  • 1991—1991: The digital answering machine invented
  • 18 May 1991—18 May 1991: Helen Sharman is first British Astronaut in Space
  • Aug 1991—Aug 1991: Collapse of the Soviet Union
  • 6 Sep 1991—6 Sep 1991: Leningrad renamed St Petersburg
  • 5 Nov 1991—5 Nov 1991: Robert Maxwell drowns at sea
64 1992 
  • 1992—1992: The smart pill invented
  • 7 Feb 1992—7 Feb 1992: European Union formed by The Maastricht Treaty
  • 22 Apr 1992—22 Apr 1992: Betty Boothroyd elected as first female Speaker of the House of Commons
  • 5 Jul 1992—7 May 1992: 27th Amendment ratified
  • 15 Aug 1992—15 Aug 1992: Football Premier League kicks off in England
  • 16 Sep 1992—16 Sep 1992: 'Black Wednesday' as Pound leaves the ERM
  • 20 Nov 1992—20 Nov 1992: Fire breaks out in Windsor Castle causing over ?50 million worth of damage
  • 24 Nov 1992—24 Nov 1992: The Queen describes this year as an 'Annus Horribilis'
65 1993 
  • 1993—1993: Elizabeth II becomes first British Monarch to pay Income Tax
  • 1993—1993: Betty Boothroyd first woman Speaker of the House of Commons (to 2000)
  • 1993—1993: The pentium processor invented
  • 20 Jan 1993—20 Jan 2001: Bill Clinton
    Bill Clinton U.S. Presidency Bill Clinton U.S. Presidency
  • Jul 1993—Jul 1993: Ratification of Maastricht Treaty, established the European Union (EU)
  • 1 1993—20 Jan 2001: William Jefferson Clinton
66 1994 
  • 1994—1994: 15 million people now connected to the Internet
  • 1994—1994: HIV protease inhibitor invented
  • 12 Mar 1994—12 Mar 1994: Church of England ordains its first female priests
  • 6 May 1994—6 May 1994: Channel Tunnel open to traffic
  • 19 Nov 1994—19 Nov 1994: National Lottery starts
67 1995 
  • 1995—1996: Intervention in Bosnia and Herzegovina
    United States as part of NATO acted peacekeepers in former Yugoslavia
  • 1995—1995: The Java computer language invented
  • 1995—1995: DVD (Digital Versatile Disc or Digital Video Disc) invented
  • 26 Feb 1995—26 Feb 1995: Nick Leeson brings down Barings Bank
  • 15 Jul 1995—15 Jul 1995: First item sold on Amazon.com
  • 16 Nov 1995—16 Nov 1995: The Queen Mother has a hip replacement operation at 95 years old
  • 22 Nov 1995—22 Nov 1995: Toy Story' released - first feature-length film created completely using computer-generated imagery
68 1996 
  • 1996—1996: Web TV invented
  • 9 Feb 1996—9 Feb 1996: IRA bomb explodes in London Docklands - ends 17 month ceasefire
  • 13 Mar 1996—13 Mar 1996: Dunblane massacre
  • 15 Jun 1996—15 Jun 1996: IRA bomb explodes in Manchester
  • 5 Jul 1996—5 Jul 1996: Scientists in Scotland clone a sheep (Dolly)
  • 28 Aug 1996—28 Aug 1996: Charles, Prince of Wales and Diana, Princess of Wales are divorced
  • 5 1996—15 May 1996: Census of Canada
    1996 census counts 28,846,761 individuals. Asks about unpaid housework and mode of transportation to work
69 1997 
  • 1997—1997: The gas-powered fuel cell invented
  • 30 Mar 1997—30 Mar 1997: Channel 5 TV begins in UK (launched by the Spice Girls)
  • 1 May 1997—1 May 1997: 'New' Labour landslide victory in Britain (Tony Blair replaces John Major as Prime Minister)
  • 6 May 1997—6 May 1997: Announcement that Bank of England to be made independent of Government control
  • 11 May 1997—11 May 1997: First time a computer beats a master at chess (IBM's Deep Blue v Garry Kasparov)
  • 1 Jul 1997—1 Jul 1997: Hong Kong returned to China
  • 19 Jul 1997—19 Jul 1997: IRA declares a ceasefire
  • 31 Aug 1997—31 Aug 1997: Diana, Princess of Wales killed in car crash in Paris
  • 25 Sep 1997—25 Sep 1997: Land speed record breaks sound barrier for first time