| |
Date |
Event(s) |
| 1 | 1950 | - 19 May 1950—19 May 1950: Points rationing ends in Britain
- 26 May 1950—26 May 1950: Petrol rationing ends in Britain
- 11 July 1950—11 July 1950: 'Andy Pandy' first seen on BBC TV
- 9 September 1950—9 September 1950: Soap rationing ends in Britain
- 28 December 1950—28 December 1950: The Peak District becomes the Britain's first National Park
|
| 2 | 1951 | - 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 December 1951—20 December 1951: Electricity first produced by nuclear power, from Experimental Breeder Reactor
|
| 3 | 1952 | - 1952—1952: Contraceptive pill invented
- 1952—1952: Britain explodes her first atomic bomb, in Australia
- 1952—1952: Radioactive carbon used for dating prehistoric objects
- 1952—1952: Bonn Convention: Britain, France and USA end their occupation of West Germany
- 6 February 1952—6 February 1952: King George VI dies
- 21 February 1952—21 February 1952: Identity Cards abolished in Britain
- 2 May 1952—2 May 1952: First commercial jet airliner service launched, by BOACComet between London
and Johannesburg
- 5 July 1952—5 July 1952: Last tram runs in London (Woolwich to New Cross)
- 16 August 1952—16 August 1952: Lynmouth (North Devon) flood disaster
- 6 September 1952—6 September 1952: DH110 crashes at Farnborough Air Show, 26 killed
- 3 October 1952—3 October 1952: End of tea rationing in Britain
- 1 November 1952—1 November 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 November 1952—25 November 1952: Agatha Christie's 'The Mousetrap' opens in London
- 4 December 1952—4 December 1952: Great smog hits London
|
| 4 | 1953 | - 31 January 1953—31 January 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 were even
worse affected with over a thousand deaths]
- 5 February 1953—5 February 1953: Sweet rationing ends in Britain
- 5 March 1953—5 March 1953: Death of Stalin
- 26 March 1953—26 March 1953: Jonas Salk announces his polio vaccine
- 24 April 1953—24 April 1953: Winston Churchill knighted
- 25 April 1953—25 April 1953: Francis Crick and James D Watson publish the double helix structure of DNA
- 2 June 1953—2 June 1953: Coronation of Elizabeth II
- 26 September 1953—26 September 1953: Sugar rationing ends in Britain (after nearly 14 years)
|
| 5 | 1954 | - 1954—1954: First comprehensive school opens in London
- 1954—1954: Routemaster bus starts operating in London
- 1954—1954: First transistor radios sold
- 6 May 1954—6 May 1954: First sub 4 minute mile (Roger Bannister, 3 mins 59.4 secs)
- 3 July 1954—3 July 1954: Food rationing officially ends in Britain
- 5 July 1954—5 July 1954: BBC broadcasts its first television news bulletin
- 30 September 1954—30 September 1954: First atomic powered sumbmarine USS Nautilus commissioned
|
| 6 | 1955 | - 1955—1955: 'Mole' self-grip wrench patented by Thomas Coughtrie of Mole & Sons
- 27 July 1955—27 July 1955: Jul 27: Allied occupation of Austria (after WW2) ends
- 22 September 1955—22 September 1955: Commercial TV starts in Britain
|
| 7 | 1956 | - 1956—1956: Britain constructs world's first large-scale nuclear power station in Cumberland
- 1 March 1956—1 March 1956: Radiotelephony spelling alphabet introduced (Alpha, Bravo, etc)
- 17 April 1956—17 April 1956: Premium Bonds first launched - first prizes drawn on 1 Jun 1957
- 3 June 1956—3 June 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 October 1956—31 October 1956: Britain and France invade Suez
|
| 8 | 1957 | - 1957—1957: Britain introduces parking meters
- 1957—1957: Helvetica typeface developed (in Switzerland)
- 11 January 1957—11 January 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 December 1957—4 December 1957: Lewisham rail disaster - 90 killed as two trains collide in thick fog and a viaduct
collapses on top of them
- 25 December 1957—25 December 1957: Queen's first Christmas TV broadcast
|
| 9 | 1958 | - 1958—1958: Easter: First anti-nuclear protest march to Aldermaston (emergence of CND)
- 1958—1958: Computers begin to be used in research, industry and commerce
- 1958—1958: USA begins to produce Inter-Continental Ballistic Missiles (ICBMs)
- 13 May 1958—13 May 1958: Velcro trade mark registered
- 26 July 1958—26 July 1958: Prince Charles' Investiture as 'Prince of Wales'
- 5 December 1958—5 December 1958: Inauguration of Subscriber Trunk Dialling (STD) in Britain (completed in 1979)
- 5 December 1958—5 December 1958: Preston by-pass opens - UK's first stretch of motorway
|
| 10 | 1959 | - 3 February 1959—3 February 1959: 'The Day The Music Died' - plane crash kills Buddy Holly, Ritchie Valens, and
The Big Bopper
- 17 February 1959—17 February 1959: Vanguard 2 satellite launched - first to measure cloud-cover distribution
- 24 May 1959—24 May 1959: Empire Day becomes Commonwealth Day
- August 1959—August 1959: BMC Mini car launched
- 3 October 1959—3 October 1959: Postcodes introduced in Britain
- 1 November 1959—1 November 1959: First section of M1 motorway opened
|
| 11 | 1960 | - 17 March 1960—17 March 1960: New ?1 notes issued by Bank of England
- 18 March 1960—18 March 1960: Last steam locomotive of British Railways named
- 21 July 1960—21 July 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 August 1960—12 August 1960: Echo I, the first (passive) communications satellite, launched
- 12 September 1960—12 September 1960: MoT tests on motor vehicles introduced
- 1 October 1960—1 October 1960: HMS 'Dreadnought' nuclear submarine launched
- 2 November 1960—2 November 1960: Penguin Books found not guilty of obscenity in the 'Lady Chatterley's Lover' case
|
| 12 | 1961 | - 1 January 1961—1 January 1961: Farthing ceases to be legal tender in UK
- 13 March 1961—13 March 1961: Black & White ?5 notes cease to be legal tender
- 14 March 1961—14 March 1961: New English Bible (New Testament) published
- 1 May 1961—1 May 1961: Betting shops legal in Britain
|
| 13 | 1962 | - 1962—1962: Britain passes Commonwealth Immigrants Act to control immigration
- 1962—1962: Thalidomide withdrawn after it causes deformities in babies
- 1962—1962: Britain and France agree to construct 'Concorde'
- 25 May 1962—25 May 1962: Consecration of new Coventry Cathedral (old destroyed in WW2 blitz)
- 15 June 1962—15 June 1962: First nuclear generated electricity to supplied National Grid (from Berkeley Glos)
- July 1962—July 1962: First passenger-carrying hovercraft enters service, along the North Wales Coast from Moreton to Rhyl
- 10 July 1962—10 July 1962: First TV transmission between US and Europe (Telstar) - first live broadcast on 23 Jul
- 24 October 1962—24 October 1962: Cuba missile crisis - brink of nuclear war
|
| 14 | 1963 | - 1963—1963: France vetoes Britain's entry into EEC
- January 1963—January 1963: Cold weather forces cancellation of most football matches (only 4 English First Division matches in the month) - the first 'pools panel' created
- 27 March 1963—27 March 1963: Beeching Report on British Railways (the 'Beeching Axe')
- 1 August 1963—1 August 1963: Minimum prison age raised to 17
- 8 August 1963—8 August 1963: 'Great Train Robbery' on Glasgow to London mail train
- 17 September 1963—17 September 1963: Fylingdales (Yorks) early warning system operational
- 18 November 1963—18 November 1963: Dartford Tunnel opens
- 23 November 1963—23 November 1963: First episode of 'Dr Who' on BBC TV
|
| 15 | 1964 | - 1 January 1964—1 January 1964: First 'Top of the Pops' on BBC TV
- 9 April 1964—9 April 1964: First Greater London Council (GLC) election
- 21 April 1964—21 April 1964: BBC2 TV launched
- 22 August 1964—22 August 1964: 'Match of the Day' starts on BBC2
- 4 September 1964—4 September 1964: Forth road bridge opens
|
| 16 | 1965 | - 1965—1965: Britain enacts first Race Relations Act
- 7 February 1965—7 February 1965: First US raids against North Vietnam
- 7 April 1965—7 April 1965: Winston Churchill dies
- 1 August 1965—1 August 1965: TV cigarette advertising banned in Britain
- 8 October 1965—8 October 1965: Post Office Tower operational in London
- 28 October 1965—28 October 1965: Death penalty for murder suspended in Britain for five-year trial period, then
abolished 18 Dec 1969
- 22 December 1965—22 December 1965: 70mph speed limit introduced on British roads
|
| 17 | 1966 | - 14 February 1966—14 February 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 July 1966—30 July 1966: World Cup won by England at Wembley (4-2 in extra time v West Germany)
- 8 September 1966—8 September 1966: First Severn road bridge opens
- 21 October 1966—21 October 1966: Aberfan disaster - slag heap slip kills 144, incl. 116 children
- 1 December 1966—1 December 1966: First Christmas stamps issued in Britain
|
| 18 | 1967 | - 4 January 1967—4 January 1967: Donald Campbell dies attempting to break his world water speed record on
Conniston Water - his body and Bluebird recovered in 2002
- 18 March 1967—18 March 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 June 1967—27 June 1967: First withdrawal from a cash dispenser (ATM) in Britain - at Enfield branch of Barclays
- 1 July 1967—1 July 1967: First colour TV in Britain
- 14 August 1967—14 August 1967: Offshore pirate radio stations declared illegal by the UK
- 20 September 1967—20 September 1967: 'QE2' launched on Clydebank
- 27 September 1967—27 September 1967: 'Queen Mary' arrives Southampton at end of her last transatlantic voyage
- 30 September 1967—30 September 1967: BBC Radios 1 2 3 & 4 open first record played on Radio 1 was the controversial 'Flowers in the Rain' by 'The Move'
- 5 October 1967—5 October 1967: Introduction of majority verdicts in English courts
|
| 19 | 1968 | - 18 February 1968—18 February 1968: British Standard Time introduced - Summer Time became permanent but arguments prevailed and Britain reverted to GMT in October 1971
- 18 April 1968—18 April 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 April 1968—20 April 1968: Enoch Powell 'Rivers of Blood' speech on immigration
- 23 April 1968—23 April 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 August 1968—11 August 1968: Last steam passenger train service ran in Britain (Carlisle- Liverpool)
- 16 September 1968—16 September 1968: Two-tier postal rate starts in Britain
- 5 October 1968—5 October 1968: Beginning of disturbances in N Ireland
|
| 20 | 1969 | - 2 March 1969—2 March 1969: Maiden flight of 'Concorde', at Toulouse
- 7 March 1969—7 March 1969: Victoria Line tube opens in London
- 17 April 1969—17 April 1969: Voting age lowered from 21 to 18
- 2 May 1969—2 May 1969: Maiden voyage of liner Queen Elizabeth 2 (QE2)
- 31 July 1969—31 July 1969: Halfpenny ceases to be legal tender in Britain
- 14 August 1969—14 August 1969: Civil disturbances in Ulster - Britain sends troops to support civil authorities
- 7 September 1969—7 September 1969: First episode of 'Monty Python's Flying Circus' recorded
- 14 October 1969—14 October 1969: 50p coin introduced in Britain (reduced in size 1998)
|
| 21 | 1970 | - 1970—1970: Boeing 747 (Jumbo jet) goes into service
- 17 June 1970—17 June 1970: Decimal postage stamps first issued for sale in Britain
- 19 June 1970—19 June 1970: Edward Heath becomes Prime Minister
- 30 July 1970—30 July 1970: Damages awarded to Thalidomide victims
- 19 September 1970—19 September 1970: First Glastonbury Festival held
- 20 November 1970—20 November 1970: Ten shilling note (50p after decimalisation) goes out of circulation in Britain
|
1950 - 1970 (19 years) 
Submit Photo / Document