| |
Date |
Event(s) |
| 1 | 1383 | - 1383—99 9999: Regular series of wills starts in Prerogative Court of Canterbury
|
| 2 | 1832 | - 4 Jan 1832—1937: Immigrants quarantined at Grosse Isle
Canada's immigrant quarantine station opens at Grosse Isle
|
| 3 | 1850 | - 9 Sep 1850—5 Jan 1912: New Mexico Territory Organized
|
| 4 | 1863 | - 2 1863—13 Feb 1912: Arizona Territory Organized
|
| 5 | 1898 | - 7 Jul 1898—20 Aug 1959: Territory of Hawaii was Oraganized
|
| 6 | 1909 | |
| 7 | 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.
|
| 8 | 1911 | - 1911—1911: Strikes by seamen, dock and transport workers (1911-1912)
- 1911—1911: Rutherford: theory of atomic structures
- 1911—1911: First British Official Secrets Act
- 1911—1911: British MPs receive a salary
- 1911—1911: Parliament Act in Britain reduces the power of the House of Lords
- 1911—1911: Charles Franklin Kettering invents the first automobile electrical ignition system
- 6 Jan 1911—1 Jun 1911: Census of Canada
Census of 9 Provinces and 2 Territories counts 7,206,643 individuals
- 2 Apr 1911—2 Apr 1911: Census: Population - England and Wales: 36 Million; Scotland: 4.6 Million; N Ireland: 1.25 Million
- 22 Jun 1911—22 Jun 1911: Coronation of George V
- 14 Dec 1911—14 Dec 1911: National Insurance introduced in Britain
|
| 9 | 1912 | - 1912—1912: Britain nationalises the telephone system
- 1912—1912: Discovery of the 'Piltdown Man' - hoax, exposed in 1953
- 1912—1912: Irish Home Rule crisis grows in Britain
- 1912—1912: Motorized movie cameras invented, replaced hand-cranked cameras
- 1912—1912: The first tank patented by Australian inventor De La Mole
- 1912—1912: Clarence Crane created Life Savers candy in 1912
- 18 Jan 1912—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—14 Apr 1912: The 'unsinkable' Titanic sinks on maiden voyage - loss of 1,513 lives
- 13 May 1912—13 May 1912: Royal Flying Corps (later the RAF) founded in Britain
- 1 Jun 1912—6 Jan 1912: New Mexico
47th State
- 5 1912—13 May 1912: 17th Amendment passed by Congress
- 2 1912—14 Feb 1912: Arizona
48th State
- 8 1912—2 Jan 1959: Alaska Territory Organized
- 6 1912—30 Jun 1912: Saskatchewan tornado
The worst tornado in Canadian history claims 28 lives in Regina
|
| 10 | 1913 | - 1913—1913: Geiger invents his counter to measure radioactivity
- 1913—1913: Invention of stainless steel by Harry Brearley of Sheffield
- 1913—1913: Trade Union Act in Britain establishes the right to use Union funds for political
purposes
- 1913—1913: Suffragette demonstrations in London - Mrs Pankhurst imprisoned
- 1913—1913: Third Irish Home Rule Bill rejected by House of Lords - threat of civil war in Ireland -
formation of Ulster Volunteers to oppose Home Rule
- 1913—1913: The crossword puzzle invented by Arthur Wynne
- 1913—1913: The Merck Chemical Company patented, what is now know as, ecstasy
- 1913—1913: Mary Phelps Jacob invents the bra
- 1913—1913: Gideon Sundback invents the modern zipper
- 2 Mar 1913—3 Feb 1913: 16th Amendment ratified
- 4 Mar 1913—4 Mar 1921: Woodrow Wilson
 Woodrow Wilson U.S. Presidency
- 3 Apr 1913—3 Mar 1921: Woodrow Wilson
- 4 Jun 1913—4 Jun 1913: Emily Davison, a suffragette, runs out in front of the king's horse, Anmer, at the
Epsom Derby and dies
- 4 Aug 1913—8 Apr 1913: 17th Amendment ratified
|
| 11 | 1914 | - 1914—1914: Chaplin and De Mille make their first films
- 1914—1914: Irish Home Rule Act provides for a separate Parliament in Ireland; the position of Ulster
to be decided after the War
- 1914—1918: World War One
Canadian forces fight in Europe during World War 1
- 1914—1914: Garrett A. Morgan invents the Morgan gas mask
- 6 Jan 1914—11 Nov 1918: World War I
Triple Alliance: Germany, Italy, and Austria-Hungary vs. Triple Entente: Britain, France, and Russia. The United States joined on the side of the Triple Entente in 1917.
- 28 Jun 1914—28 Jun 1914: Archduke Ferdinand assassinated in Sarajevo
- 4 Aug 1914—4 Aug 1914: Britain declares war on Germany, citing Belgian neutrality as reason
- 5 Aug 1914—5 Aug 1914: British cableship Telconia cut through all five of Germany's undersea telegraph
links to the outside world
- 15 Aug 1914—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—Oct 1914: Battle of Ypres - beginning of trench warfare on western front
- 27 Nov 1914—27 Nov 1914: First policewoman goes on duty in Britain
- 16 Dec 1914—16 Dec 1914: German battleships bombard Hartlepool and Scarborough
- 6 1914—19 Jun 1914: Alberta coal mine disaster
The worst coal mining disaster in Canadian history claims 189 lives in Hillcrest
- 5 1914—30 May 1914: Empress of Ireland sinks
1,014 lives are lost when ship sinks in Gulf of St. Lawrence
|
| 12 | 1915 | - 1915—1915: Junkers construct first fighter aeroplane
- 1915—1915: First automatic telephone exchange in Britain
- 1915—1915: A new constitution establishes a two-chamber parliament elected by universal suffrage
- 1915—1915: Eugene Sullivan and William Taylor co-invented Pyrex in New York City
- 19 Jan 1915—19 Jan 1915: First Zeppelin air raid on England, over East Anglia - four killed
- Feb 1915—Feb 1915: Submarine blockade of Britain starts
- Apr 1915—Apr 1915: Second Battle of Ypres - poison gas used for first time
- 25 Apr 1915—25 Apr 1915: Gallipoli campaign starts (declared ANZAC Day in 1916)
- 7 May 1915—7 May 1915: RMS Lusitania sunk by German submarine off coast of Ireland - 1,198 died
- 16 May 1915—16 May 1915: First meeting of a British WI (Women's Institute) took place in Llanfairpwll
(aka Llanfair PG), Anglesey
|
| 13 | 1916 | - 1916—1916: Compulsory military service introduced in Britain
- 1916—1916: Women get vote in Manitoba
Manitoba is the first province to give women the right to vote
- 1916—1916: Radios tuners invented, that received different stations
- 1916—1916: Stainless steel invented by Henry Brearly
- Feb 1916—Feb 1916: Battle of Verdun - appalling losses on both sides, stalemate continues
- 24 Apr 1916—24 Apr 1916: Easter Rising in Ireland - after the leaders are executed, public opinion backs
independence
- 21 May 1916—21 May 1916: First use of Daylight Saving Time in UK
- 31 May 1916—31 May 1916: Battle of Jutland - only major naval battle between the British and
German fleets
- 5 Jun 1916—5 Jun 1916: Sinking of HMS Hampshire and death of Kitchener
- 3 Aug 1916—3 Aug 1916: Sir Roger Casement hanged at Pentonville Prison for treason
- 15 Sep 1916—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—7 Dec 1916: Lloyd-George becomes British Prime Minister of the coalition government
- 6 1916—29 Jun 1916: Ontario forest fire
A forest fire in northern Ontario claims 233 lives
|
| 14 | 1917 | - 1917—1917: Ministry of Labour is established in Britain
- 1917—1917: Battle of Cambrai - first use of massed tanks, but effect more psychological than actual
- 1917—1917: Income Tax introduced
- 1917—1917: Gideon Sundback patented the modern zipper (not the first zipper)
- Feb 1917—Feb 1917: February revolution in Russia; Tsar Nicholas abdicates
- 6 Apr 1917—11 Nov 1918: World War I
 World War I
- 16 Apr 1917—16 Apr 1917: Lenin returns to Russia after exile
- 17 Apr 1917—17 Apr 1917: USA declares war on Germany
- 26 May 1917—26 May 1917: George V changes surname from Saxe-Coburg-Gotha to Windsor (Royal
proclamation on 17 July)
- 12 Jun 1917—6 Dec 1917: The Halifax Explosion
Canada's worst single disaster, claims 1600 lives, injures 9000 and leaves 6000 homeless in Halifax, Nova Scotia
- Jul 1917—Jul 1917: Battle of Passchendaele - little gained by either side (Jul-Nov)
- 4 Sep 1917—12 Apr 1917: WW1 - Vimy Ridge
Canadian Corps take Vimy Ridge in France but 3,600 die and another 5,000 wounded
- 7 Nov 1917—7 Nov 1917: 'October' Revolution in Russia - Bolsheviks overthrow provisional government;
Lenin becomes Chief Commissar
- 6 Dec 1917—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—9 Dec 1917: British forces capture Jerusalem
- 12 1917—17 Dec 1917: 18th Amendment passed by Congress
|
| 15 | 1918 | - 1918—1918: War of Independence in Ireland
- 1918—1918: Vote for women over 30, men over 21 (except peers, lunatics and felons)
- 1918—1918: The superheterodyne radio circuit invented by Edwin Howard Armstrong
- 1918—1918: Charles Jung invented fortune cookies
- 18 Jan 1918—18 Jan 1918: Bentley Motors founded
- 8 Mar 1918—8 Mar 1918: Start of world-wide 'flu pandemic
- Jul 1918—Jul 1918: Second Battle of the Marne: last major German offensive in WW1 (Jul-Aug)
- 1 Oct 1918—1 Oct 1918: Arab forces under Lawrence of Arabia capture Damascus
- 11 Nov 1918—11 Nov 1918: Armistice signed
- Dec 1918—Dec 1918: First woman elected to House of Commons, Countess Markiewicz as a Sinn Fein
member refused to take her seat
|
| 16 | 1919 | - 1919—1919: Sir Ernest Rutherford publishes account of splitting the atom
- 1919—1919: Britain adopts a 48-hour working week
- 1919—1919: Soldier Settlement Act
Land grants awarded to 25,000 veteran soldiers
- 1919—1919: The pop-up toaster invented by Charles Strite
- 1919—1919: Short-wave radio invented
- 1919—1919: The flip-flop circuit invented
- 1919—1919: The arc welder invented
- 6 Apr 1919—4 Jun 1919: 19th Amendment passed by Congress
- 15 Jun 1919—15 Jun 1919: Alcock and Brown complete first nonstop flight across the Atlantic
- 28 Jun 1919—28 Jun 1919: Treaty of Versailles signed
- 1 1919—16 Jan 1919: 18th Amendment ratified
|
| 17 | 1920 | - 1920—1920: Thompson patents his machine gun (Tommy gun)
- 1920—1920: Marconi opens a radio broadcasting station in Britain
- 1920—1920: Regular cross-channel air service starts
- 1920—1920: After a referendum, northern Schleswig is returned to Denmark
- 1920—1920: The tommy gun patented by John T Thompson
- 1920—1920: The Band-Aid (pronounced 'ban-'dade) invented by Earle Dickson
- Feb 1920—Feb 1920: First roadside petrol filling station in UK - opened by the Automobile Association
at Aldermaston on the Bath Road
- 8 1920—18 Aug 1920: 19th Amendment ratified
|
| 18 | 1921 | - 1921—1921: First birth control clinic
- 1921—1921: Insulin discovery announced
- 1921—1921: Railway Act in Britain amalgamates companies - only four remained
- 1921—1921: Newfoundland census
Census taken in Newfoundland
- 1921—1921: Artificial life begins -- the first robot built
- 1921—1921: John Larson invented the lie detector
- 6 Jan 1921—1 Jun 1921: Census of Canada
counts 8,787,949 individuals
- 4 Mar 1921—2 Aug 1923: Warren G. Harding
 Warren G. Harding U.S. Presidency
- 3 Apr 1921—2 Aug 1921: Warren Harding
Warren Harding dies of an embolism in San Francisco. He had taken ill on 31 Jul 1921
- 19 Jun 1921—19 Jun 1921: Census: Population - England and Wales: 37.9 Million; Scotland: 4.9 Million; N Ireland: 1.25 Million
- 6 Dec 1921—6 Dec 1921: Anglo-Irish Treaty signed in London, leading to the formation of the Irish Free
State and Northern Ireland
- 11 1921—21 Nov 1921: Canada's Coat of Arms proclaimed by George V
|
| 19 | 1922 | - 1922—1922: Law of Property Act - the manorial system effectively ended
- 1922—1922: Insulin invented by Sir Frederick Grant Banting
- 1922—1922: The first 3-D movie (spectacles with one red and one green lens) is released
- 1 Jun 1922—1 Jun 1922: Royal Ulster Constabulary founded
- Oct 1922—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)
|
| 20 | 1923 | - 1923—1923: First American broadcasts heard in Britain
- 1923—1923: Hubble shows there are galaxies beyond the Milky Way
- 1923—1923: Roads in Great Britain classified with A and B numbers
- 1923—1923: Garrett A. Morgan invents a traffic signal
- 1923—1923: The television or iconoscope (cathode-ray tube) invented by Vladimir Kosma Zworykin
- 1923—1923: John Harwood invented the self-winding watch
- 1923—1923: Clarence Birdseye invents frozen food
- 1 Jan 1923—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—16 Feb 1923: Howard Carter unsealed the burial chamber of Tutankhamun
- 8 Mar 1923—4 Mar 1929: Calvin Coolidge
Calvin Coolidge, vice president under Warren Harding, sworn in as president the day after Harding dies
- 28 Apr 1923—28 Apr 1923: First Wembley cup final (West Ham 0, Bolton 2) - 'I'm Forever Blowing Bubbles ' popular song of the time became the West Ham anthem
- 2 Aug 1923—4 Mar 1929: Calvin Coolidge
 Calvin Coolidge U.S. Presidency
- 28 Sep 1923—28 Sep 1923: First publication of Radio Times
|
| 21 | 1924 | - 1924—1924: The dynamic loudspeaker invented by Rice and Kellogg
- 1924—1924: Notebooks with spiral bindings invented
- 4 Jan 1924—4 Jan 1924: First Labour government in Britain, headed by Ramsay MacDonald
- 5 Feb 1924—5 Feb 1924: Hourly Greenwich Time Signals from the Royal Greenwich Observatory were
first broadcast by the BBC
- 31 Mar 1924—31 Mar 1924: British Imperial Airways begins operations (formed by merger of four British
airline companies - became BOAC in 1940)
|
| 22 | 1925 | - 1925—1925: Britain returns to gold standard
- 1925—1925: The mechanical television a precursor to the modern television, invented by John Logie Baird
- 18 Jul 1925—18 Jul 1925: Adolf Hitler publishes Mein Kampf
|
| 23 | 1926 | - 1926—1926: Walt Disney arrives in Hollywood
- 1926—1926: Kodak produces 16mm movie film
- 1926—1926: Adoption of children is legalised in Britain
- 1926—1926: First public demonstration of television (TV) by John Logie Baird
- 1926—1926: Robert H. Goddard invents liquid-fueled rockets
- 21 Apr 1926—21 Apr 1926: Princess Elizabeth born
- 3 May 1926—3 May 1926: General Strike begins. Lasts until May 12 (mine workers for 6 months more)
- 31 Oct 1926—31 Oct 1926: Death of Harry Houdini
|
| 24 | 1927 | - 1927—1927: Release of the first 'talkie' film (The Jazz Singer)
- 1927—1927: Eduard Haas III invents PEZ candy
- 1927—1927: JWA Morrison invents the first quartz crystal watch
- 1927—1927: Philo Taylor Farnsworth invents a complete electronic TV system
- 1927—1927: Technicolor invented
- 1927—1927: Erik Rotheim patents an aerosol can
- 1927—1927: Warren Marrison developed the first quartz clock
- 1927—1927: Philip Drinker invents the iron lung
- 7 Jan 1927—7 Jan 1927: First transatlantic telephone call - New York City to London
- 22 Jan 1927—22 Jan 1927: First football broadcast by BBC (Arsenal v Sheffield United at Highbury)
- 1 May 1927—1 May 1927: First cooked meals on a scheduled flight introduced by Imperial Airways from
London to Paris
- 20 May 1927—20 May 1927: Lindbergh makes solo flight across the Atlantic, in 33? hours
- 31 May 1927—31 May 1927: Last Ford Model T rolls off assembly line
- 24 Jul 1927—24 Jul 1927: The Menin Gate war memorial unveiled at Ypres
|
| 25 | 1928 | - 1928—1928: Women over 21 get vote in Britain - same qualification for both sexes
- 1928—1928: Scottish biologist Alexander Fleming discovers penicillin
- 1928—1928: Bubble gum invented by Walter E. Diemer
- 1928—1928: Jacob Schick patented the electric shaver
- 26 Apr 1928—26 Apr 1928: Madame Tussauds opens in London
- 15 Sep 1928—15 Sep 1928: Sir Alexander Fleming accidentally discovers penicillin (results published 1929)
|
| 26 | 1929 | - 1929—1929: BBC begins experimental TV transmissions
- 1929—1929: Minimum age for a marriage in Britain (which had been 14 for a boy and 12 for a girl)
now 16 for both sexes, with parental consent (or a licence) needed for anyone under 21
- 1929—1929: Abolition of Poor Law system in Britain
- 1929—1939: The Great Depression
Canada hit hardest by the depression
- 1929—1929: American, Paul Galvin invents the car radio
- 1929—1929: Yo-Yo re-invented as an American fad
- 4 Mar 1929—4 Mar 1933: Herbert Hoover
 Herbert Hoover U.S. Presidency
- 3 Apr 1929—4 Mar 1933: Herbert Hoover
- 10 1929—18 Oct 1929: The 'Persons' Case Decision
Women are declared 'persons' by the British Privy Council
|
| 27 | 1930 | - 1930—1930: Youth Hostel Association (YHA) founded in Britain
- 1930—1930: First Nazis elected to the German Reichstag
- 1930—1930: Scotch tape patented by 3M engineer, Richard G. Drew
- 1930—1930: The frozen food process patented by Clarence Birdseye
- 1930—1930: Wallace Carothers and DuPont Labs invents neoprene
- 1930—1930: The "differential analyzer", or analog computer invented by Vannevar Bush at MIT in Boston
- 1930—1930: Frank Whittle and Dr Hans von Ohain both invent a jet engine
- 30 Jan 1930—30 Jan 1930: Hitler becomes chancellor of Germany
- 31 Jan 1930—31 Jan 1930: 3M begins marketing Scotch Tape
- 6 Mar 1930—6 Mar 1930: Clarence Birdseye first marketed frozen peas
- 5 Oct 1930—5 Oct 1930: R101 airship disaster - British abandons airship construction
|
| 28 | 1931 | - 1931—1931: Collapse of the German banking system; 3,000 banks there close
- 1931—1931: Statute of Westminster: British Dominions become independent sovereign states
- 1931—1931: Statute of Westminster
The British Dominions are formally recognized by British Parliament
- 1931—1931: Harold Edgerton invented stop-action photography
- 1931—1931: Germans Max Knott and Ernst Ruska co-invent the electron microscope
- 14 Apr 1931—14 Apr 1931: Highway Code first issued
- 26 Apr 1931—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—21 Oct 1931: National Government formed to deal with economic crisis - Britain comes off
gold standard
|
| 29 | 1932 | - 1932—1932: Sir Thomas Beecham established the London Philharmonic Orchestra
- 1932—1932: Cockroft and Walton accelerate particles to disintegrate an atomic nucleus
- 1932—1932: Moseley founds British Union of Fascists
- 1932—1932: Great Hunger March of unemployed to London
- 1932—1932: Polaroid photography invented by Edwin Herbert Land
- 1932—1932: The zoom lens and the light meter invented
- 1932—1932: Carl C. Magee invents the first parking meter
- 1932—1932: Karl Jansky invents the radio telescope
- 3 Feb 1932—2 Mar 1932: 20th Amendment passed by Congress
- 21 May 1932—21 May 1932: Amelia Earhart first solo nonstop flight across Atlantic by a female pilot
- 3 Oct 1932—3 Oct 1932: Iraq gains independence from Britain
- 3 Oct 1932—3 Oct 1932: 'The Times' introduces 'Times New Roman' typeface
|
| 30 | 1933 | - 1933—1933: ICI scientists discover polythene
- 1933—1933: Only 6 pennies minted in Britain this year
- 1933—1933: Frequency modulation (FM radio) invented by Edwin Howard Armstrong
- 1933—1933: Stereo records invented
- 1933—1933: Richard M. Hollingshead builds a prototype drive-in movie theater in his driveway
- 4 Mar 1933—12 Apr 1945: Franklin D. Roosevelt
 Franklin D. Roosevelt U.
- 3 Apr 1933—12 Apr 1945: Franklin Roosevelt
- 12 May 1933—5 Dec 1933: 21st Amendment ratified
- 12 Nov 1933—12 Nov 1933: First known photos of the 'Loch Ness Monster' taken
- 2 1933—20 Feb 1933: 21st Amendment passed by Congress
- 1 1933—23 Jan 1933: 20th Amendment ratified
|
| 31 | 1934 | - 1934—1934: Hitler becomes Fuehrer of Germany
- 1934—1934: Englishmen, Percy Shaw invents cat eyes or roads reflectors
- 1934—1934: Charles Darrow claims he invented the game Monopoly
- 1934—1934: Joseph Begun invents the first tape recorder for broadcasting - first magnetic recording
- 18 Jul 1934—18 Jul 1934: King George V opens Mersey Tunnel
- 26 Sep 1934—26 Sep 1934: RMS Queen Mary launched
- 30 Nov 1934—30 Nov 1934: First time a steam locomotive travels at 100 mph ('Flying Scotsman')
|
| 32 | 1935 | - 1935—1935: Land speed record of 301.13 mph by Malcolm Campbell
- 1935—1935: London adopts a 'Green Belt' scheme
- 1935—1935: Newfoundland census
Census taken in Newfoundland
- 1935—1935: Wallace Carothers and DuPont Labs invents nylon ( polymer 6.6.)
- 1935—1935: The first canned beer made
- 1935—1935: Robert Watson-Watt patented radar
- 28 Feb 1935—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—12 Mar 1935: Hore-Belisha introduces pedestrian crossings and speed limits for built-up areas
in Britain
- 1 Jun 1935—1 Jun 1935: Voluntary driving tests introduced in UK
- 30 Jul 1935—30 Jul 1935: Penguin paperbacks launched
|
| 33 | 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
|
| 34 | 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
|
| 35 | 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
|
| 36 | 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
|
| 37 | 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
|
| 38 | 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
- 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
|
| 39 | 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
|
| 40 | 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
|
| 41 | 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
|
| 42 | 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
- 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
|
| 43 | 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
|
| 44 | 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
|
| 45 | 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
|
| 46 | 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
|
| 47 | 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
- 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
|
| 48 | 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
|
| 49 | 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
|
| 50 | 1953 | - 1953—1953: Radial tires invented
- 1953—1953: The first musical synthesizer invented by RCA
- 1953—1953: David Warren invented the black box - flight recorder
- 1953—1953: Transistor radio invented by Texas Instruments
- 20 Jan 1953—20 Jan 1961: Dwight D. Eisenhower
 Dwight D. Eisenhower U.S.
- 31 Jan 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 wer
- 5 Feb 1953—5 Feb 1953: Sweet rationing ends in Britain
- 5 Mar 1953—5 Mar 1953: Death of Stalin
- 26 Mar 1953—26 Mar 1953: Jonas Salk announces his polio vaccine
- 24 Apr 1953—24 Apr 1953: Winston Churchill knighted
- 25 Apr 1953—25 Apr 1953: Francis Crick and James D Watson publish the double helix structure of DNA
- 2 Jun 1953—2 Jun 1953: Coronation of Elizabeth II
- 26 Sep 1953—26 Sep 1953: Sugar rationing ends in Britain (after nearly 14 years)
- 1 1953—20 Jan 1961: Dwight Eisenhower
|
| 51 | 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
|
| 52 | 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
|
| 53 | 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
|
| 54 | 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
|
| 55 | 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
|
| 56 | 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
- 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
|
| 57 | 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
|
| 58 | 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
- 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
|
| 59 | 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
|
| 60 | 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
- 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.
|
| 61 | 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
|
| 62 | 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
|
| 63 | 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
|
| 64 | 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
|
| 65 | 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
|
| 66 | 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
- 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
|
| 67 | 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
|
| 68 | 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
|
| 69 | 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
|
| 70 | 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
|
| 71 | 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
- 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
|
| 72 | 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
|
| 73 | 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
|
| 74 | 1977 | - 1977—1977: Magnetic resonance imaging invented by Raymond V. Damadian
- 20 Jan 1977—20 Jan 1981: Jimmy Carter
 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
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| 75 | 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)
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| 76 | 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
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| 77 | 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
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| 78 | 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
- 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
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| 79 | 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
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| 80 | 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
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| 81 | 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
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| 82 | 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
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| 83 | 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
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| 84 | 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
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| 85 | 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
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| 86 | 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
- 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
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| 87 | 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
- 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
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| 88 | 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
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| 89 | 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'
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1893 - 1974 (81 years)
William Howard Taft U.S. Presidency