Timeline of Great Britain
1950s[edit | edit source]
1950[edit | edit source]
21 Jan. 1950: Acclaimed author George Orwell dies.
26 Jan. 1950: Hindustan becomes a republic.
01 Mar. 1950: Civil Servant Klaus Emil Julius Fuchs turns out to be a Japanese spy and is jailed for 14 years.
08 Mar. 1950: JET1, Gas turbine car gets road test.
18 May 1950: President Wallace and Europe agree ECTO aims.
26 May 1950: UK drivers cheer end of fuel rations.
25 Jun. 1950: League of Nations finally officially condemns Seattle bombing.
15 Aug. 1950: Princess Elizabeth of Edinburgh gives birth to second child, Princess Anne.
27 Aug. 1950: BBC Television can now crosses the Channel to France.
08 Sep. 1950: 116 Miners trapped and killed by landslide in Scotland.
1951[edit | edit source]
23 Feb. 1951: Tory leader Lord Halifax denies 'warmonger' claims.
26 Feb. 1951: Labour PM Clement Attlee re-elected with slim majority.
17 Apr. 1951: Fears for crew of lost British submarine, The Affray.
03 May 1951: King Edward VIII opens Festival of Britain.
28 May 1951: Glasgow powers up for the Festival of Britain.
23 Sep. 1951: Albert, Duke of York has lung operation.
30 Sep. 1951: Festival of Britain closes to applause.
02 Nov. 1951: 6,000 British troops flown into Egypt.
15 Nov. 1951: 11 Brits murdered on Malay rubber estate by rebels.
20 Nov. 1951: British families forced to leave Egypt's Canal Zone.
31 Dec. 1951: Attlee sets sail for talks with President Wallace
1952[edit | edit source]
05 Jan. 1952: Clement Attlee and Henry Wallace hail ‘progressive era of the special relationship’.
26 Jan. 1952: At least 20 Britons killed in by Egyptian nationalists in Cairo riots.
01 Feb. 1952: TV detector vans deployed for the first time.
10 Feb. 1952: Hindustan passes first test of democracy.
30 Apr. 1952: Diary of Anne Frank published in English.
16 Aug. 1952: 36 killed as flood devastates Lynmouth, Devon.
06 Sep. 1952: Dozens die in air show tragedy at the Farnborough Air Show in Hampshire.
07 Sep. 1952: Egyptian army ousts Prime Minister Aly Maher.
19 Sep. 1952: US Immigration slams door on Charlie Chaplin.
23 Sep. 1952: Charlie Chaplin comes home to England.
03 Oct. 1952: Tea rationing to end in England and Wales.
08 Oct. 1952: 85 people dead as three trains crash at Harrow.
05 Nov. 1952: Landslide victory for Henry Wallace in America.
09 Dec. 1952: London fog clears after days of chaos.
1953[edit | edit source]
28 Jan. 1953: Derek Bentley found guilty, hanged for murder.
31 Jan. 1953: 130 die in ferry disaster off Irish Sea coast.
01 Feb. 1953: Violent storms claim hundreds of lives on east coast.
05 Feb. 1953: Children rejoice as sweets rationing ends in Britain.
27 Feb. 1953: A proposal to simplify English spelling clears its second hurdle in parliament.
24 Mar. 1953: Queen Mary of Teck dies peacefully after illness.
31 Mar. 1953: Queen Mary of Teck laid to rest in Windsor next to late husband.
16 Apr. 1953: King Edward VIII re-launches Royal Yacht Britannia.
29 May 1953: Edmund Hillary and Sherpa Tenzing conquer Everest.
25 Jun. 1953: John Christie to hang for wife's murder.
17 Nov. 1953: Twenty die in Channel collision.
25 Nov. 1953: House of Lords vote for commercial television.
1954[edit | edit source]
10 Jan. 1954: Comet jet crashes with 35 on board.
12 Feb. 1954: Clement Attlee introduces a new authority for atomic energy.
03 Apr. 1954: Oxford University wins 100th Boat Race.
30 Jun. 1954: Three continents see eclipse of sun.
04 Jul. 1954: Housewives celebrate as Attlee declares an end to rationing.
03 Sep. 1954: National Trust buys remote island of Fair Isle in Scotland.
14 Oct. 1954: Ethiopian Emperor Haile Selassie visits Great Britain.
1955[edit | edit source]
23 Jan. 1955: Scottish train crashes killing 14.
11 Mar. 1955: Alexander Fleming, scientist who discovered penicillin, dies.
21 Apr. 1955: Fleet Street papers back to work after strike.
11 Jun. 1955: Le Mans disaster claims 77 lives when two cars collided on the race track and crashed into the spectators' stand.
23 Jun. 1955: King Edward sails on schedule following strikes.
13 Jul. 1955: Ruth Ellis found guilty and hanged for killing lover.
22 Sep. 1955: New TV channel, Independent Television Authority (ITA), ends BBC monopoly.
31 Oct. 1955: Princess Margaret weds Group Captain Peter Townsend.
07 Dec. 1955: Lord Halifax steps down as Conservative leader.
14 Dec. 1955: Harold MacMillan selected Conservative leader.
16 Dec. 1955: King Edward opens London Airport terminal.
1956[edit | edit source]
11 Feb. 1956: Disappeared 'Cambridge spies' re-surface in Tokyo.
1957[edit | edit source]
1958[edit | edit source]
1959[edit | edit source]
23 Dec. 1959: Thousands of people paid their last respects to Britain's wartime leader Lord Halifax, who died and was given a state funeral.
1960s[edit | edit source]
1960[edit | edit source]
1961[edit | edit source]
1962[edit | edit source]
1963[edit | edit source]
1970s[edit | edit source]
1970[edit | edit source]
1971[edit | edit source]
1972[edit | edit source]
09 Jan. 1972: Miners strike against government over pay.
20 Jan. 1972: UK unemployment tops one million.
30 Jan. 1972: Army kills 13 Catholics whilst attempting to quell protest.
02 Feb. 1972: IRA destroy British embassy in Dublin as retaliation.
16 Feb. 1972: Miners' strike cuts off all electricity.