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Date |
Event(s) |
| 1 | 1938 | - 1938—1938: Principle of paid holidays established in Britain
- 1938—1938: HMS Rodney first ship to be equipped with radar
- 1938—1938: First practical ball-point pen produced by Hungarian journalist, Lajos Biro
- 12 March 1938—12 March 1938: Germany invades and annexes Austria
- 3 July 1938—3 July 1938: 'Mallard' reaches 126 mph (203 km/h); still world record for a steam locomotive
- 27 September 1938—27 September 1938: Largest ocean liner ever built, Queen Elizabeth launched on Clydebank
- 29 September 1938—29 September 1938: Chamberlain visits Hitler in Munich - promises 'peace in our time'
- 30 October 1938—30 October 1938: Orson Welles broadcasts his radio play of HG Wells 'The War of the Worlds', causing panic in the USA
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| 2 | 1939 | - 1939—1939: Germany annexes Czechoslovakia
- 1939—1939: Start of evacuation of women and children from London
- 1939—1939: Coldest winter in Britain since 1894, though this could not be publicised at the time
- 1 September 1939—1 September 1939: Germany invades Poland
- 3 September 1939—3 September 1939: Britain and France declare war on Germany
- 6 September 1939—6 September 1939: First air-raid on Britain
- 11 September 1939—11 September 1939: British Expeditionary Force (BEF) sent to France
- 14 October 1939—14 October 1939: HMS Royal Oak sunk in Scapa Flow with loss of 810 lives
- 7 December 1939—7 December 1939: 'First flight' of Canadian troops sail for Britain - 7,400 men on 5 ships
- 17 December 1939—17 December 1939: 'Admiral Graf Spee' scuttled outside Montevideo
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| 3 | 1940 | - 1 April 1940—1 April 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 June 1940—25 June 1940: Fall of France to Germany
- 7 September 1940—7 September 1940: Germany launches bombing blitz on Britain, the first of 57 consecutive nights of
bombing
- 15 September 1940—15 September 1940: Battle of Britain: massive waves of German air attacks decisively repulsed by the
RAF - Hitler postpones invasion of Britain
- 14 November 1940—14 November 1940: Coventry heavily bombed and the Cathedral almost completely destroyed
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| 4 | 1941 | - 1941—1941: Britain introduces severe rationing
- 1941—1941: First British jet aircraft flies, based on work of Whittle
- 1941—1941: Bailey invents his portable military bridge
- 1941—1941: First use of antibiotics
- 10 May 1941—10 May 1941: Rudolf Hess flies to Scotland
- 27 May 1941—27 May 1941: 'Bismark' sunk
- 22 June 1941—22 June 1941: Germany invades Russia (Operation Barbarossa)
- 1 July 1941—1 July 1941: First Canadian armoured regiments arrive in Britain
- December 1941—December 1941: Canadian forces given operation role in defending south coast of England
- December 1941—December 1941: 'Manhattan Project' of nuclear research begins in America
- 7 December 1941—7 December 1941: Japan attackes US fleet at Pearl Harbour
- 8 December 1941—8 December 1941: USA enters WWII
- 24 December 1941—24 December 1941: Hong Kong falls to the Japanese
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| 5 | 1942 | - 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: Gilbert Murray founds Oxfam
- 30 May 1942—30 May 1942: Over 1,000 allied bombers raid Cologne
- 4 June 1942—4 June 1942: Battle of Midway
- 19 August 1942—19 August 1942: Abortive raid on Dieppe, largely by Canadian troops
- 6 September 1942—6 September 1942: Germans defeated at Stalingrad
- 3 October 1942—3 October 1942: First successful launch of V2 rocket in Germany - first man-made object to reach
space
- 23 October 1942—23 October 1942: Battle of El Alamein - Montgomery defeats Rommel
- 2 December 1942—2 December 1942: 'Manhattan Project' - a team led by Enrico Fermi initiates the first self-sustaining
nuclear chain reaction
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| 6 | 1943 | - 1943—1943: Round-the-clock bombing of Germany begins
- 16 May 1943—16 May 1943: 'Dam Buster' raids on Ruhr dams by RAF
- 24 July 1943—24 July 1943: Allies invade Italy - Benito Mussolini resigns as Italian Dictator, 24 July
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| 7 | 1944 | - 6 April 1944—6 April 1944: PAYE income tax begins
- 4 June 1944—4 June 1944: Allies enter Rome
- 6 June 1944—6 June 1944: D-Day invasion of Normandy
- 12 June 1944—12 June 1944: First V1 flying bombs hit London
- 8 September 1944—8 September 1944: First V2 rocket bombs hit London
- 11 September 1944—11 September 1944: Allies enter Germany
- 16 December 1944—16 December 1944: Battle of the Bulge: German counter-offensive
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| 8 | 1945 | - 4 February 1945—4 February 1945: Yalta Conference between Churchill, Roosevelt and Stalin
- 29 March 1945—29 March 1945: Last V1 flying bomb attack
- 25 April 1945—25 April 1945: Berlin surrounded by Russian troops
- 30 April 1945—30 April 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 June 1945—26 June 1945: UN Charter signed in San Francisco
- 16 July 1945—16 July 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 July 1945—26 July 1945: Labour win UK General Election - Churchill out of office
- 29 July 1945—29 July 1945: BBC Light Programme starts
- 6 August 1945—6 August 1945: Atomic bomb dropped on Hiroshima
- 9 August 1945—9 August 1945: Atomic bomb dropped on Nagasaki
- 15 August 1945—15 August 1945: VJ Day (Victory in Japan)
- 2 September 1945—2 September 1945: Japanese surrender signed aboard USS Missouri
- 24 October 1945—24 October 1945: United Nations Organisation comes into existence
- 4 November 1945—4 November 1945: UNESCO founded
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| 9 | 1946 | - 1946—1946: Transition to National Health Service starts in Britain (came into being 5th July 1948)
- 1946—1946: Alistair Cooke starts his regular 'Letter from America' on BBC radio - until 2004
- 1 January 1946—1 January 1946: First civillian flight from Heathrow Airport
- 1 March 1946—1 March 1946: Bank of England nationalised
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| 10 | 1947 | - 1947—1947: Most severe winter in Britain for 53 years at start of the year - heavy snow and much
flooding later
- 1947—1947: First British nuclear reactor developed
- 1 January 1947—1 January 1947: Coal Mines nationalised
- 23 February 1947—23 February 1947: International Organization for Standardization (ISO) founded
- 1 March 1947—1 March 1947: International Monetary Fund begins financial operations
- 1 April 1947—1 April 1947: School leaving age raised to 15 in Britain
- 26 October 1947—26 October 1947: British military occupation ends in Iraq
- 20 November 1947—20 November 1947: Marriage of Princess Elizabeth (later Elizabeth II) and Philip Mountbatten in
Westminster Abbey
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| 11 | 1948 | - 1948—1948: British Citizenship Act : all Commonwealth citizens qualify for British passports
- 1948—1948: Transistor radio invented
- 1948—1948: Long-playing record (LP) invented by Goldmark
- 1 January 1948—1 January 1948: British Railways nationalised
- 5 July 1948—5 July 1948: National Health Service (NHS) begins in Britain
- 29 July 1948—29 July 1948: London Olympics begin
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| 12 | 1949 | - 1949—1949: Maiden flight of the Bristol Brabazon (broken up in 1953 for scrap)
- 1949—1949: De Haviland produces the Comet - first jet airliner
- 15 March 1949—15 March 1949: Clothes rationing ends in Britain
- 4 April 1949—4 April 1949: Twelve nations sign The North Atlantic Treaty creating NATO
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| 13 | 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
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| 14 | 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
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| 15 | 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
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| 16 | 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)
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| 17 | 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
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| 18 | 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
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| 19 | 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
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1938 - 1956 (17 years) 
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