1952:
Ben Nicholson represents
Britain in the "International Art Exhibition" in
Tokyo.
The De Haviland Comet becomes the first jet airliner in
the world.
1953:
Death of Dylan Thomas on
the 9th November.
Stanley
Matthews won an FA Cup winners medal in the so called
Matthews final.
James Watson and Francis Crick discover the structure
of DNA.
1954:
Richard Burton narrates
Dylan Thomas's radio play
"Under Milk Wood".
Graham Sutherland paints
a controversial portrait of Winston
Churchill.
ITV Commercial television is proposed and begins next
year.
Roger Bannister completes a mile in under four minutes.
1955:
Bertrand Russell releases
the Russell-Einstein Manifesto in London calling for nuclear
disarmament.
Death of Alexander Fleming
on the 11th March.
Ruth Ellis is the last woman to be hung in Britain.
1956:
Suez Crisis.
Death of A.A. Milne on the
31st January.
Double yellow lines appear for the first time in Slough.
Calder Hall, the world's first commercial nuclear power station
is opened.
1957:
Henry Moore
begins his reclining Figure for the UNESCO Building in Paris.
The Jodrell Bank radio telescope begins operating.
1958:
Death of Dame
Christabel Pankhurst on the 13th February.
Death of Ralph Vaughan
Williams on the 26th August.
John Betjeman publishes
“Collected Poems”.
Munich Air Disaster in which seven Manchester United players
die amongst others.
1959:
Death of Sir Stanley
Spencer on the 14th December.
Christopher Cockerell introduces the first Hovercraft
capable of crossing the English Channel.
D.H. Lawrence's
novel Lady Chatterley's Lover" is brought to law on obscenity
charges.
1961:
Death of Augustus John
on the 31st October.
Benjamin Britten composes
“War Requiem”.
John Lennon appears in the
debut concert of "The Beatles" at the Cavern Club
in Liverpool.
The Farthing ceases to be legal tender.
1962:
Cuban Missile Crisis.
Graham Hill becomes Formula
One World Champion.
L.S. Lowry elected as a Member
of the Royal Academy.
Formation of the European Space Agency.
Sir Basil Spence designs Coventry Cathedral.
Anthony Burgess writs "A Clockwork Orange".
1963:
Death of Lord Nuffield
on the 22nd August.
Laurence Olivier becomes
the first director of the National Theatre.
Death of Aldous Huxley
on the 22nd November
Jim Clark finally became
World Champion.
The Double Agent Kim Philby deflects to the Soviet Union.
1964:
John Lennon and "The
Beatles" tour the United States.
Pirate radio station Radio Caroline begins broadcasting
from a ship in the North Sea.
1965:
Death of T.S. Eliot on
the 4th January.
Death of Sir
Winston Churchill on the 24th January.
Death of William Somerset Maugham
on the 16th December.
Rhodesia under Ian Smith makes a Unilateral Declaration
of Independence from Britain. (UDI).
Mary Quant designs the mini skirt.
The Post Office Tower opens in London.
1966:
Death of Evelyn Waugh on
the 12th April.
John Lennon meets Yoko Ono
for the first time.
Bobby Moore captains
England to World Cup Final victory over West Germany.
Ian Brady and Myra Hindley the "Moors Murderers"
are sentenced to life imprisonment.
Anti Vietnam War protestors turn violent outside the US Embassy
in Grosvenor Square, London.
October: 144 people including many schoolchildren are killed
in the Aberfan mine tip slippage.
1967:
Death of Donald
Campbell in a crash at Coniston Water 4th January.
Death of John
Masefield on the 12th May.
Death of Siegfried
Sassoon on the 1st September.
The first colour television broadcasts begin.
1968:
Death of Jim Clark on the
7th April.
Enoch Powell delivers his controversial "Rivers of
Blood" Speech in Birmingham.
1969:
First Apollo Moon Landings.
John Lennon sings “Give
Peace a Chance”.
The Open University is founded.
1970:
Death of Bertrand Russell
on the 2nd February.
Death of E.
M. Forster on the 7th June.
Bernadette Devlin is arrested in Londonderry and riots
break out.
The Beatles split up.
1971:
John Lennon sings “Imagine”.
Education Secretary Margaret Thatcher abolishes free school
milk.
1972:
John Betjeman Appointed
as the Poet Laureate.
Thousands of Asians from Uganda who have been expelled
by Idi Amin arrive in Britain.
1973:
Death of J.R.R. Tolkien
on the 2nd September.
Edward Burra Retrospective
of 143 of his pictures at the Tate Gallery.
Death of W.H. Auden
on the 29th September.
Britain joins the Common Market (EEC- European Economic
Community).
1974:
Prime Minister Edward Heath introduces
the Three Day Week due to the effects of industrial action.
21 people are killed in Birmingham after the IRA blow up two
pubs.
1975:
Death of Barbara Hepworth
on the 20th May.
Death of Graham
Hill on the 29th November.
A crash on the London Underground at Moorgate kills 43
people.
1976:
Death of L.S. Lowry on the
23rd February.
Death of Edward
Burra on the 22nd October.
Death of Benjamin
Britten on the 4th December.
The National Theatre building opens.
1977:
First commercial flights of the
supersonic airliner Concorde between London and New York.
The Yorkshire Ripper commits his murders.
1978:
The Winter of Discontent occurs due to the number of strikes.
Former Leader of the Liberal Party Jeremy Thorpe goes on trial
for conspiracy to murder.
1979:
Death of Barnes Wallis on
the 30th October.
Bobby Moore appointed
Manager of Oxford City.
Mrs Margaret Thatcher becomes Britain's first female Prime
Minister.
1980:
Death of Graham Sutherland
on the 17th February.
Death of John
Lennon on the 8th December.
The British Olympic Association send athletes to the Moscow
Olympics despite Government advice.
1981:
The Social Democratic Party is formed by ex-Labour
M.P.'s
The Yorkshire Ripper is arrested and sentenced to life imprisonment.
1982:
Falkland Islands Conflict.
Death of Ben
Nicholson on the 6th February.
The Thames Barrier is operated for the first time.
The Tudor warship the Mary Rose is raised from the seabed.
1983:
William Golding wins the Nobel
prize for Literature,
The race horse Shergar is stolen.
Breakfast television begins for the first time.
1984:
Death of John Betjeman
on the 19th May.
Chatham dockyards close after 400 years of operation.
1985:
End of the Miner's strike.
The first mobile phone call is made by comedian Ernie Wise.
1986:
Death of Henry Moore
on the 31st August.
Radiation from the Chernobyl nuclear power plant disaster
reaches Britain.
1987:
Terry Waite, envoy to the Archbishop
of Canterbury, is kidnapped in Beirut.
The Docklands Light Railway is opened.
1988:
Pan Am flight 103 is blown up over Lockerbie by the Libyans.
1989:
Death of Laurence Olivier
on the 11th July.
A Fatwah death sentence is put out by the Ayatollah Khomenei
on Salman Rushdie for his writing of the "Satanic Verses".
1990:
Sterling joins the Exchange Rate
Mechanism.
An IRA Bomb explodes at the London Stock Exchange.
1991:
First Gulf War after Saddam Hussein invades
Kuwait.
Death of Graham
Greene on the 3rd April.
The IRA launch a mortar attack against 10 Downing Street.
1992:
Death of Francis
Bacon on the 28th April
The Maastricht Treaty forms the European
Union.
On Black Wednesday Sterling is removed from the Exchange
Rate Mechanism.
1993:
Death of Bobby
Moore on the 24th February.
1994:
The Channel Tunnel between Britain and France is officially
opened.
The UK National Lottery begins.
Fred and Rose West are charged with multiple murder.
1995:
Collapse of Barings Bank after losses from rogue trader Nick
Leeson.
1996:
Death of Frank Whittle on
the 8th August.
Thomas Hamilton kills 16 children in Dunblane.
1997:
Formation of the Scottish Parliament in Edinburgh.
Death of Diana Princess of Wales in a car crash in Paris causes
an outpouring of national grief.
Return of Hong Kong from Britain to China.
1998:
Signing of the Good Friday Agreement
between Britain and the Irish Republic.
1999: Introduction
of the minimum wage.
Elections to the new Scottish Parliament and Welsh Assemblies
are held.
2000:
Death of Stanley Matthews
on the 23rd February.
Opening of Tate Modern art Gallery.
2001:
Foot and Mouth disease breaks out in Britain.
2002:
The Commonwealth
Games are held in 'Manchester.
2003:
The Government issues a Dossier that states that
Iraq and Saddam Hussein has weapons of Mass Destruction. The
Second Gulf War begins.
2004:
Voters reject a Regional Assembly in the North
East of England.
2005:
The Hunting Act, banning hunting with dogs comes
into force.
