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
London Olympics begin
National Health Service (NHS) begins in Britain
British Citizenship Act : all Commonwealth citizens qualify for British passports
Transistor radio invented
Long-playing record (LP) invented by Goldmark
British Railways nationalised
Marriage of Princess Elizabeth (later Elizabeth II) and Philip Mountbatten in Westminster Abbey
British military occupation ends in Iraq
School leaving age raised to 15 in Britain
International Monetary Fund begins financial operations
International Organization for Standardization (ISO) founded
Most severe winter in Britain for 53 years at start of the year - heavy snow and much flooding later
First British nuclear reactor developed
Coal Mines nationalised
Bank of England nationalised
Transition to National Health Service starts in Britain (came into being 5th July 1948)
Alistair Cooke starts his regular 'Letter from America' on BBC radio - until 2004
First civillian flight from Heathrow Airport
UNESCO founded
United Nations Organisation comes into existence
Japanese surrender signed aboard USS Missouri
VJ Day (Victory in Japan)
Atomic bomb dropped on Nagasaki
Atomic bomb dropped on Hiroshima
BBC Light Programme starts
Labour win UK General Election - Churchill out of office
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)
UN Charter signed in San Francisco
Channel Islands liberated
VE Day (Victory in Europe)
Hitler commits suicide
Berlin surrounded by Russian troops
Last V1 flying bomb attack
Yalta Conference between Churchill, Roosevelt and Stalin
Battle of the Bulge: German counter-offensive
Allies enter Germany
First V2 rocket bombs hit London
First V1 flying bombs hit London
D-Day invasion of Normandy
Allies enter Rome
PAYE income tax begins
Allies invade Italy - Benito Mussolini resigns as Italian Dictator, 24 July
'Dam Buster' raids on Ruhr dams by RAF
Round-the-clock bombing of Germany begins
'Manhattan Project' - a team led by Enrico Fermi initiates the first self-sustaining nuclear chain reaction
Battle of El Alamein - Montgomery defeats Rommel
First successful launch of V2 rocket in Germany - first man-made object to reach space
Germans defeated at Stalingrad
Abortive raid on Dieppe, largely by Canadian troops
Battle of Midway
Over 1,000 allied bombers raid Cologne
Invention of world's first programmable computer by Alan Turing in co-operation with Max Neumann - used to crack German codes
Gilbert Murray founds Oxfam
Hong Kong falls to the Japanese
USA enters WWII
Japan attackes US fleet at Pearl Harbour
Canadian forces given operation role in defending south coast of England
'Manhattan Project' of nuclear research begins in America
First Canadian armoured regiments arrive in Britain
Germany invades Russia (Operation Barbarossa)
'Bismark' sunk
Rudolf Hess flies to Scotland
Britain introduces severe rationing
First British jet aircraft flies, based on work of Whittle
Bailey invents his portable military bridge
First use of antibiotics
Coventry heavily bombed and the Cathedral almost completely destroyed
Battle of Britain: massive waves of German air attacks decisively repulsed by the RAF - Hitler postpones invasion of Britain
Germany launches bombing blitz on Britain, the first of 57 consecutive nights of bombing
Fall of France to Germany
Start of the evacuation of the British Army at Dunkirk (27 May - 4 Jun)
Germany invades France
National Government formed under Churchill
BOAC starts operations, replacing Imperial and British Airways Ltd
'Admiral Graf Spee' scuttled outside Montevideo
'First flight' of Canadian troops sail for Britain - 7,400 men on 5 ships
HMS Royal Oak sunk in Scapa Flow with loss of 810 lives
British Expeditionary Force (BEF) sent to France
First air-raid on Britain
Britain and France declare war on Germany
Germany invades Poland
Germany annexes Czechoslovakia
Start of evacuation of women and children from London
Coldest winter in Britain since 1894, though this could not be publicised at the time
Orson Welles broadcasts his radio play of HG Wells 'The War of the Worlds', causing panic in the USA
Chamberlain visits Hitler in Munich - promises 'peace in our time'
Largest ocean liner ever built, Queen Elizabeth launched on Clydebank
'Mallard' reaches 126 mph (203 km/h); still world record for a steam locomotive
Germany invades and annexes Austria
Principle of paid holidays established in Britain
HMS Rodney first ship to be equipped with radar
First practical ball-point pen produced by Hungarian journalist, Lajos Biro
'The Dandy' first published
Duke of Windsor marries Wallis Simpson
Neville Chamberlain becomes Prime Minister - policy of appeasement towards Hitler
Coronation of King George VI
Frank Whittle ground-tests the first jet engine designed to power an aircraft
'999' emergency telephone call facility starts in London
Billy Butlin opens his first holiday camp
Edward VIII abdicates (announced Dec 10) - popular carol that Christmas: 'Hark the Herald Angels sing Mrs Simpson's got our King'
Crystal Palace destroyed by fire
British Broadcasting Corporation initiates the BBC Television Service, world's first public TV transmission
'Speaking clock' service starts in UK
First flight of a Spitfire
George V dies
Jet engine first tested
Penguin paperbacks launched
Voluntary driving tests introduced in UK
Hore-Belisha introduces pedestrian crossings and speed limits for built-up areas in Britain
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)
London adopts a 'Green Belt' scheme
Land speed record of 301.13 mph by Malcolm Campbell
First time a steam locomotive travels at 100 mph ('Flying Scotsman')
RMS Queen Mary launched
King George V opens Mersey Tunnel
Hitler becomes Fuehrer of Germany
First known photos of the 'Loch Ness Monster' taken
ICI scientists discover polythene
Only 6 pennies minted in Britain this year
Iraq gains independence from Britain
'The Times' introduces 'Times New Roman' typeface
Amelia Earhart first solo nonstop flight across Atlantic by a female pilot
Great Hunger March of unemployed to London
Moseley founds British Union of Fascists
Cockroft and Walton accelerate particles to disintegrate an atomic nucleus
Sir Thomas Beecham established the London Philharmonic Orchestra
National Government formed to deal with economic crisis - Britain comes off gold standard
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)
Highway Code first issued
Statute of Westminster: British Dominions become independent sovereign states
Collapse of the German banking system; 3,000 banks there close
R101 airship disaster - British abandons airship construction
Clarence Birdseye first marketed frozen peas
3M begins marketing Scotch Tape
Hitler becomes chancellor of Germany
First Nazis elected to the German Reichstag
Youth Hostel Association (YHA) founded in Britain
Abolition of Poor Law system in Britain
Minimum age for a marriage in Britain (which had been 14 for a boy and 12 for a girl) now 16 for both sexes, with parental consent (or a licence) needed for anyone under 21
BBC begins experimental TV transmissions
Sir Alexander Fleming accidentally discovers penicillin (results published 1929)
Madame Tussauds opens in London
Women over 21 get vote in Britain - same qualification for both sexes
The Menin Gate war memorial unveiled at Ypres
Last Ford Model T rolls off assembly line
Lindbergh makes solo flight across the Atlantic, in 33? hours
First cooked meals on a scheduled flight introduced by Imperial Airways from London to Paris
First football broadcast by BBC (Arsenal v Sheffield United at Highbury)
First transatlantic telephone call - New York City to London
Release of the first 'talkie' film (The Jazz Singer)
Death of Harry Houdini
General Strike begins. Lasts until May 12 (mine workers for 6 months more)
Princess Elizabeth born
First public demonstration of television (TV) by John Logie Baird
Adoption of children is legalised in Britain
Kodak produces 16mm movie film
Walt Disney arrives in Hollywood
Adolf Hitler publishes Mein Kampf
Britain returns to gold standard
British Imperial Airways begins operations (formed by merger of four British airline companies - became BOAC in 1940)
Hourly Greenwich Time Signals from the Royal Greenwich Observatory were first broadcast by the BBC
First Labour government in Britain, headed by Ramsay MacDonald
First publication of Radio Times
First Wembley cup final (West Ham 0, Bolton 2) - 'I'm Forever Blowing Bubbles ' popular song of the time became the West Ham anthem
Howard Carter unsealed the burial chamber of Tutankhamun
Roads in Great Britain classified with A and B numbers
Hubble shows there are galaxies beyond the Milky Way
First American broadcasts heard in Britain
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
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)
Royal Ulster Constabulary founded
Law of Property Act - the manorial system effectively ended
Anglo-Irish Treaty signed in London, leading to the formation of the Irish Free State and Northern Ireland
Census: Population - England and Wales: 37.9 Million; Scotland: 4.9 Million; N Ireland: 1.25 Million
Railway Act in Britain amalgamates companies - only four remained
Insulin discovery announced
First birth control clinic
First roadside petrol filling station in UK - opened by the Automobile Association at Aldermaston on the Bath Road
Regular cross-channel air service starts
Marconi opens a radio broadcasting station in Britain
Thompson patents his machine gun (Tommy gun)
Treaty of Versailles signed
Alcock and Brown complete first nonstop flight across the Atlantic
Britain adopts a 48-hour working week
Sir Ernest Rutherford publishes account of splitting the atom
First woman elected to House of Commons, Countess Markiewicz as a Sinn Fein member refused to take her seat
Armistice signed
Arab forces under Lawrence of Arabia capture Damascus
Second Battle of the Marne: last major German offensive in WW1 (Jul-Aug)
Start of world-wide 'flu pandemic
Bentley Motors founded
Vote for women over 30, men over 21 (except peers, lunatics and felons)
War of Independence in Ireland
British forces capture Jerusalem
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
'October' Revolution in Russia - Bolsheviks overthrow provisional government; Lenin becomes Chief Commissar
Battle of Passchendaele - little gained by either side (Jul-Nov)
George V changes surname from Saxe-Coburg-Gotha to Windsor (Royal proclamation on 17 July)
USA declares war on Germany
Lenin returns to Russia after exile
February revolution in Russia; Tsar Nicholas abdicates
Battle of Cambrai - first use of massed tanks, but effect more psychological than actual
Ministry of Labour is established in Britain
Lloyd-George becomes British Prime Minister of the coalition government
First use of tanks in battle, but of limited effect (Battle of the Somme 1 July to 18 Nov: over 1 million casualties)
Sir Roger Casement hanged at Pentonville Prison for treason
Sinking of HMS Hampshire and death of Kitchener
Battle of Jutland - only major naval battle between the British and German fleets
First use of Daylight Saving Time in UK
Easter Rising in Ireland - after the leaders are executed, public opinion backs independence
Battle of Verdun - appalling losses on both sides, stalemate continues
Compulsory military service introduced in Britain
First meeting of a British WI (Women's Institute) took place in Llanfairpwll (aka Llanfair PG), Anglesey
RMS Lusitania sunk by German submarine off coast of Ireland - 1,198 died
Gallipoli campaign starts (declared ANZAC Day in 1916)
Second Battle of Ypres - poison gas used for first time
Submarine blockade of Britain starts
First Zeppelin air raid on England, over East Anglia - four killed
Junkers construct first fighter aeroplane
First automatic telephone exchange in Britain
German battleships bombard Hartlepool and Scarborough
First policewoman goes on duty in Britain
Battle of Ypres - beginning of trench warfare on western front
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)
British cableship Telconia cut through all five of Germany's undersea telegraph links to the outside world
Britain declares war on Germany, citing Belgian neutrality as reason
Archduke Ferdinand assassinated in Sarajevo
Irish Home Rule Act provides for a separate Parliament in Ireland; the position of Ulster to be decided after the War
Chaplin and De Mille make their first films
Third Irish Home Rule Bill rejected by House of Lords - threat of civil war in Ireland - formation of Ulster Volunteers to oppose Home Rule
Suffragette demonstrations in London - Mrs Pankhurst imprisoned
Trade Union Act in Britain establishes the right to use Union funds for political purposes
Invention of stainless steel by Harry Brearley of Sheffield
Geiger invents his counter to measure radioactivity