British Telecom privatised - shares make massive gains on first day's trading
Miners' strike ? High Court orders sequestration of NUM assets
IRA bomb explodes at Tory conference hotel in Brighton - 4 killed
York Minster struck by lightning - the resulting fire damaged much of the building but the Rose Window' not affected
Inaugural flight of Virgin Atlantic
Police Constable Yvonne Fletcher killed by gunfire from the Libyan Embassy in London
Miners strike begins
Brinks Mat robbery: 6,800 gold bars worth nearly ?26 million are stolen from a vault at Heathrow Airport
Plans to abolish GLC announced
?1 coin into circulation in Britain
Seat belt law comes into force
Start of breakfast TV in Britain
First female Lord Mayor of London elected (Dame Mary Donaldson)
Women's peace protest at Greenham Common (Cruise missiles arrived 14 Nov 1983)
Lorries up to 38 tonnes allowed on Britain's roads
Channel 4 TV station launched - first programme 'Countdown'
Thames Barrier raised for first time (some say first public demonstration Nov 7)
Mary Rose' raised in the Solent (sank in 1545)
Smiley emoticon :-) said to have been used for the first time
IRA bombings in London (Hyde Park and Regents Park)
Prince William is born
Ceasefire in Falklands
First land battle in Falklands (Goose Green)
British nuclear submarine HMS Conqueror sinks Argentine cruiser General Belgrano
Royal Navy fleet sails from Portsmouth for Falklands
Argentina invades Falkland (Malvinas) Islands
Argentinians raised flag in South Georgia
DeLorean Car factory in Belfast goes into receivership
Laker Airways collapses
Unemployment reached 3 million in Britain (1 in 8 of working population)
IBM launches the first PC
IBM launches its PC ? starts the general use of personal computers
Wedding of Prince Charles and Lady Diana Spencer (divorced 28 Aug 1996)
First use of computer mouse (by Xerox PARC system)
Worst April blizzards this century in Britain
Brixton riots in South London - 30 other British cities also experience riots
First London marathon run
Launch of SDP by 'Gang of Four' in Britain
John Lennon assassinated in New York
SAS storm Iranian Embassy in London to free hostages
ILEA votes to abolish corporal punishment in its schools
Lord Mountbatten and 3 others killed in bomb blast off coast of Sligo, Ireland
Sony introduces the Walkman
Margaret Thatcher becomes first woman UK Prime Minister
Withdrawal of the Royal Navy from Malta
Airey Neave killed by a car bomb at Westminster
32.5% of Scots vote in favor of devolution (40% needed) - Welsh vote overwhelmingly against
Publication of The Times suspended - industrial relations problems (until 13 Nov 1979)
World's first 'test tube' baby, Louise Browne born in Oldham
First May Day holiday in Britain
Regular broadcast of proceedings in Parliament starts
Regular supersonic Concorde service between London and NY inaugurated
Queen's Silver Jubilee celebrations in London
Apple II, the first practical personal computer, goes on sale
George Lucas' film Star Wars' released
'Red Rum' wins a third Grand National
Drought Act 1976 comes into force ? the long, hot summer
Apple Computer formed by Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak
Concorde enters supersonic passenger service
'Cod War' between Britain and Iceland
Deaths exceeded live births in E&W for first time since records began in 1837
James Callaghan becomes Prime Minister
National Theatre opens in London
Equal Pay Act and Sex Discrimination Act come into force
The name 'Micro-soft' coined by Bill Gates (Microsoft' became a Trademark the following year)
First North Sea oil comes ashore
'Yorkshire Ripper' commits his first murder
UK votes in a referendum to stay in the European Community
Charlie Chaplin knighted
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
Margaret Thatcher becomes leader of Conservative party (in opposition)
Unemployment in Britain rises above 1M for first time since before WW2
Birmingham pub bombings by the IRA
Lord Lucan disappears
Flixborough disaster: explosion at chemical plant kills 28 people
New counties formed in Britain after re-organisation of some county boundaries
Miners strike and oil crisis precipitate 'three-day week' (till 9 Mar 1974) to conserve power
Marriage of Princess Anne and Captain Mark Phillips in Westminster Abbey
Concorde makes its first non-stop crossing of the Atlantic in record-breaking time
VAT introduced in Britain
Modern London Bridge opened by the Queen
Britain enters EEC Common Market (with Ireland and Denmark)
Duke of Windsor (ex-King Edward VIII) dies in Paris
'Bloody Sunday' in Derry, Northern Ireland
Britain imposes direct rule in Northern Ireland
Strict anti-hijack measures introduced internationally, especially at airports
Dutch Elm disease devastates trees across UK
Domestic video cassette recorders introduced
Parliament votes to join Common Market (joined 1973)
UK launches its first (and only) satellite, Prospero
Internment without trial introduced in N Ireland
Decimalisation of coinage in UK and Republic of Ireland
Open University starts
Banking and Financial Dealings Act - replaced the Bank Holidays Act of 1871
Sunday becomes the seventh day in the week as UK adopts decision of the International Standardisation Organisation (ISO) to call Monday the first day
'Greenpeace' founded
Rolls-Royce declared bankrupt
Ten shilling note (50p after decimalisation) goes out of circulation in Britain
First Glastonbury Festival held
Damages awarded to Thalidomide victims
Edward Heath becomes Prime Minister
Decimal postage stamps first issued for sale in Britain
Boeing 747 (Jumbo jet) goes into service
50p coin introduced in Britain (reduced in size 1998)
First episode of 'Monty Python's Flying Circus' recorded
Civil disturbances in Ulster - Britain sends troops to support civil authorities
Halfpenny ceases to be legal tender in Britain
Maiden voyage of liner Queen Elizabeth 2 (QE2)
Voting age lowered from 21 to 18
Victoria Line tube opens in London
Maiden flight of 'Concorde', at Toulouse
Beginning of disturbances in N Ireland
Two-tier postal rate starts in Britain
Last steam passenger train service ran in Britain (Carlisle- Liverpool)
Manchester United first English club to win the European Cup
Issue of 5p and 10p decimal coins in Britain
Enoch Powell 'Rivers of Blood' speech on immigration
London Bridge sold (and eventually moved to Arizona) - modern London Bridge, built around it as it was demolished, was opened in Mar 1973
British Standard Time introduced - Summer Time became permanent but arguments prevailed and Britain reverted to GMT in October 1971
Introduction of majority verdicts in English courts
BBC Radios 1 2 3 & 4 open first record played on Radio 1 was the controversial 'Flowers in the Rain' by 'The Move'
'Queen Mary' arrives Southampton at end of her last transatlantic voyage
'QE2' launched on Clydebank
Offshore pirate radio stations declared illegal by the UK
First colour TV in Britain
First withdrawal from a cash dispenser (ATM) in Britain - at Enfield branch of Barclays
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
'Torrey Canyon' oil tanker runs aground off Lands End first major oil spill
Donald Campbell dies attempting to break his world water speed record on Conniston Water - his body and Bluebird recovered in 2002
First Christmas stamps issued in Britain
Aberfan disaster - slag heap slip kills 144, incl. 116 children
First Severn road bridge opens
World Cup won by England at Wembley (4-2 in extra time v West Germany)
'The Times' begins to print news on its front page in place of classified Advertisements
Australia converts from ? to $
70mph speed limit introduced on British roads
Death penalty for murder suspended in Britain for five-year trial period, then abolished 18 Dec 1969
Post Office Tower operational in London
TV cigarette advertising banned in Britain
Winston Churchill dies
First US raids against North Vietnam
Britain enacts first Race Relations Act
Forth road bridge opens
'Match of the Day' starts on BBC2
BBC2 TV launched
First Greater London Council (GLC) election
First 'Top of the Pops' on BBC TV
First episode of 'Dr Who' on BBC TV
Dartford Tunnel opens
Fylingdales (Yorks) early warning system operational
'Great Train Robbery' on Glasgow to London mail train
Minimum prison age raised to 17
Beeching Report on British Railways (the 'Beeching Axe')
France vetoes Britain's entry into EEC
Cold weather forces cancellation of most football matches (only 4 English First Division matches in the month) - the first 'pools panel' created
Cuba missile crisis - brink of nuclear war
First TV transmission between US and Europe (Telstar) - first live broadcast on 23 Jul
First passenger-carrying hovercraft enters service, along the North Wales Coast from Moreton to Rhyl
First nuclear generated electricity to supplied National Grid (from Berkeley Glos)
Consecration of new Coventry Cathedral (old destroyed in WW2 blitz)
Britain passes Commonwealth Immigrants Act to control immigration
Thalidomide withdrawn after it causes deformities in babies
Britain and France agree to construct 'Concorde'
Betting shops legal in Britain
New English Bible (New Testament) published
Black & White ?5 notes cease to be legal tender
Farthing ceases to be legal tender in UK
Penguin Books found not guilty of obscenity in the 'Lady Chatterley's Lover' case
HMS 'Dreadnought' nuclear submarine launched
MoT tests on motor vehicles introduced
Echo I, the first (passive) communications satellite, launched
Francis Chichester arrives in New York aboard Gypsy Moth II (took 40 days), winning the first single-handed transatlantic yacht race which he co-founded
Last steam locomotive of British Railways named
New ?1 notes issued by Bank of England
First section of M1 motorway opened
Postcodes introduced in Britain
BMC Mini car launched
Empire Day becomes Commonwealth Day
Vanguard 2 satellite launched - first to measure cloud-cover distribution
'The Day The Music Died' - plane crash kills Buddy Holly, Ritchie Valens, and The Big Bopper
Inauguration of Subscriber Trunk Dialling (STD) in Britain (completed in 1979)
Preston by-pass opens - UK's first stretch of motorway
Prince Charles' Investiture as 'Prince of Wales'
Velcro trade mark registered
Easter: First anti-nuclear protest march to Aldermaston (emergence of CND)
Computers begin to be used in research, industry and commerce
USA begins to produce Inter-Continental Ballistic Missiles (ICBMs)
Queen's first Christmas TV broadcast
Lewisham rail disaster - 90 killed as two trains collide in thick fog and a viaduct collapses on top of them
Treaty of Rome to create European Economic Community (EEC) of six countries: France, West Germany, Italy, Belgium, Holland and Luxembourg - became operational Jan 1958
Britain explodes her first hydrogen bomb, at Christmas Island
Post-Suez petrol rationing ends
Harold Macmillan becomes Prime Minister
Britain introduces parking meters
Helvetica typeface developed (in Switzerland)
Britain and France invade Suez
3rd class travel abolished on British Railways (renamed 'Third Class' as 'Second Class', which had been abolished in 1875 leaving just First and Third Class)
Premium Bonds first launched - first prizes drawn on 1 Jun 1957
Radiotelephony spelling alphabet introduced (Alpha, Bravo, etc)
Britain constructs world's first large-scale nuclear power station in Cumberland
Commercial TV starts in Britain
Jul 27: Allied occupation of Austria (after WW2) ends
'Mole' self-grip wrench patented by Thomas Coughtrie of Mole & Sons
First atomic powered sumbmarine USS Nautilus commissioned
BBC broadcasts its first television news bulletin
Food rationing officially ends in Britain
First sub 4 minute mile (Roger Bannister, 3 mins 59.4 secs)
First comprehensive school opens in London
Routemaster bus starts operating in London
First transistor radios sold
Sugar rationing ends in Britain (after nearly 14 years)
Coronation of Elizabeth II
Francis Crick and James D Watson publish the double helix structure of DNA
Winston Churchill knighted
Jonas Salk announces his polio vaccine
Death of Stalin
Sweet rationing ends in Britain
Said to be the biggest civil catastrophe in Britain in the 20th century - severe storm and high tides caused the loss of hundreds of lives - - effects travelled from the west coast of Scotland round to the south-east coast of England [The Netherlands were even worse affected with over a thousand deaths]
Great smog hits London
Agatha Christie's 'The Mousetrap' opens in London
The first H-bomb ever ('Mike') was exploded by the USA - the mushroom cloud was 8 miles across and 27 miles high. The canopy was 100 miles wide. Radioactive mud fell out of the sky followed by heavy rain. 80 million tons of earth was vaporised.
End of tea rationing in Britain
DH110 crashes at Farnborough Air Show, 26 killed
Lynmouth (North Devon) flood disaster
Last tram runs in London (Woolwich to New Cross)
First commercial jet airliner service launched, by BOACComet between London and Johannesburg
Identity Cards abolished in Britain
King George VI dies
Contraceptive pill invented
Britain explodes her first atomic bomb, in Australia
Radioactive carbon used for dating prehistoric objects
Bonn Convention: Britain, France and USA end their occupation of West Germany
Electricity first produced by nuclear power, from Experimental Breeder Reactor
First Goon Show broadcast
Festival of Britain and Royal Festival Hall open on South Bank, London
The Peak District becomes the Britain's first National Park
Soap rationing ends in Britain
'Andy Pandy' first seen on BBC TV
Petrol rationing ends in Britain
Points rationing ends in Britain
Twelve nations sign The North Atlantic Treaty creating NATO
Clothes rationing ends in Britain
Maiden flight of the Bristol Brabazon (broken up in 1953 for scrap)
De Haviland produces the Comet - first jet airliner
British Citizenship Act : all Commonwealth citizens qualify for British passports
Transistor radio invented
Long-playing record (LP) invented by Goldmark