Contents
To the best of my knowledge the information is accurate. Any
inaccuracies or suggestions please do not hesitate to contact
me.
Reformatted for gjots from the original Psion file 20thcentury.s5
from http://3lib.ukonline.co.uk/pocketinfo/index.html
by
Bob Hepple bhepple@freeshell.org Nov 2002
9. Thousands hit by flu epidemic, fifty people dying everyday in London.
* The Boer war continues.
27. The British Labour party was founded.
4. Attempt on the Prince of Wales' life in Brussels.
14. The Paris International Exhibition opens.
31. Boxer uprising in China.
1. The airship Zeppelin takes to the skies.
22. Charlotte Cooper the first woman Olympic gold medalist, winning the tennis singles.
30. Italian King shot dead at Monza Italy.
30. Boer war ended.
9. The biggest and most powerful batteship the"Mikasa" was launched in Barrow-in-Furness, built for Japanese navy.
22. Sullivan the composer dies at 58
30. Oscar Wilde the writer died in Paris aged 46.
14. Max Plansk unveils the Quantum Theory.
*
* The Prince of Wales takes delivery of a Coventry built Daimler
* The "La Jamais Contente" electric car held the speed record at 65.75 mph when it was beaten by a steam car at 75 mph. Petrol cars fastest speed was 35.5 mph.
22. Queen Victoria dies at Osborne House on the Isle of Wight aged 81, having reigned for 63 years.
14. Edward VII opened his first parliament.
26. Boxer leaders executed in Peking.
17. Riots breakout in Russian cities.
24. 19 year old Pablo Picasso holds first exhibition in Paris.
7. Boxer rebellion ends.
9. Toulouse-Lautrec the French painter dies at 36.
14. President Mckinley was assassinated, Roosevelt becomes President.
2. Britain launches first submarine.
30. The first hearing aid.
2. The first replaceable razor was announced by Gillette.
10. First Nobel Prizes.
11. The first trans-Atlantic wireless tranmission was made from Cornwall to Newfoundland by Marconi.
* Russian Jews flea to Palastine due to the violence against them in Russia..
* Daimler build the first Mercedes.
* Tarmac was invented.
* Dennis Brothers occupy the first purpose built car factory at Guildford, Surrey.
* In the US, electric vehicle production exceeded all other. Columbia was the main producer
30. Britain signs treaty of alliance with Japan over interests in China and Korea.
31. Number of smallpox victims in Britain rose to 2,273.
26. Cecel Rhodes of Rhodesia died aged 48.
5. Stand collapses at Ibrox Park football ground killing 20 supporters.
16. State of emergency declared in Ireland.
22. Fire sweeps through the Barbican in London destroying many factories and shops.
28. Thomas Eddison announces new nickel-iron battery.
31. Boer leaders finally surrender in Pretoria.
28. America pays $40 million for Panama Canal concession.
29. Renault wins first Paris-Vienna race.
* The Boer war ends.
12. Arthur Balfour becomes Prime Minister.
9. Edward VII is crowned King.
10. The Aswan Dam on the Nile in Egypt was completed.
*
* S. F. Edge won the "Gordon Bennett" race between Paris and Innsbruck in a Napier at an average speed of 31.8 mph.
* Electromobile company made electric vehicles in the UK, many were used as taxis.
1. Edward VII is proclaimed Emperor of India.
6. Official inquiry into the traffic problems of London.
16. It was announced how porcelain could replace gold as fillings in teeth.
26. Dr Richard Gatling inventor of the Gatling-gun died aged 84.
3. Robert Scott and Ernest Shackleton set new record for getting nearest to South Pole.
8. Paul Gauguin the French painter died aged 54
11. King Alexander and Queen Draga of Serbia were shot dead.
16. Henry Ford forms the Ford Motor Company.
17. James Whistler the American painter dies aged 69.
20. Pope Leo XIII died aged 93.
8. Turks massacre 50,000 Bulgarians in the town of Monastir.
10. Emmeline Pankhurst forms new suffragette movement.
12. Camille Pissarro the French painter dies aged 73.
10. The Wright Brothers took to the air, staying up for nearly 1 minute and travelling 850 feet.
10. Marie Curie wins Nobel Prize for her work in radio-activity.
*
* Britain's first motor show held at Crystal Palace.
3. Tidal wave in the English Channel.
5. America ends occupation of Cuba.
10. Japan attacks Russian fleet.
6. Britain fights Tibetans in the Karo Pass.
15. A paddle steamer General Slocum caught fire in New York harbour killing 693 passengers, others unaccounted for.
21. The Trans-Siberian railway was completed.
29. France breaks links with the Vatican.
29. Final day of the Olympics in St. Louis, America
30. Fighting continues between Japan and Russia.
20. Wright Brothers: America believes planes have no military value.
22. Two fishing trawlers were sunk by Russian Fleet in the North Sea.
13. The first electric tube train in London, from Baker Street to Uxbridge.
*
* The first registration plates were introduced in Britain.
* Driving licences become law.
* Speed limit raised from 12 mph to 20 mph.
* C S Rolls and Henry Royce form the motor company Rolls Royce.
2. Port Arthur in Korea was Finally taken by the Japanese.
22. Czar of Russia's troops kill 500 strikers in St. Petersburg.
10. Japanese gain victory in Manchuria after a 12 day battle 200,000 Russians die.
24. Jules Verne the writer of science fiction died aged 77.
4. Earthquake hits northern India, many thousands die.
28. Admiral Togo of Japan wipes out Russian Baltic fleet in the Straits of Tsushima.
29. The Automoblie Association was formed.
1. A new theory was published by Albert Einstein, "The theory of relativity".
3. The French separates the church from the state.
20. Lord Curzon resigns as Viceroy of India.
5. Peace between Russia and Japan, after signing a peace treaty, the Treaty of Portsmouth.
7. Fighting broke out between Armenians and Tartars over 1,000 people killed.
21. Dr. Barnardo the man who started over 112 homes for orphans, died.
14. First Sufragettes go to prison
30. Aspirin goes on sale in Britain for the first time.
8. Jews massacred in Russia.
5. The Liberal leader Sir Henry Campbell Bannerman becomes Prime Minister.
30. Revolt in Russia crushed by Czar.
* Internal unrest continues in Russia.
* SMMT holds first Motor Show at Olympia in Febuary and the second in November.
* Austin Motor Co. of Longbridge is registered.
* Vauxhall moves from south London to Luton.
8. Tahiti was hit by a typhoon, thousands die.
10. HMS Dreadnought the biggest and fastest battleship was launched. It took 4 months to build.
7. Mount Vesuvius in Italy erupts.
19. Earthquake hits San Francisco killing over 800 people.
27. Olympic Games opens in Athens.
6. August bank holiday heatwave in Britain.
17. First pictures were telegraphed by German professor Arthur Korn.
24. Eleven suffragettes were jailed.
* SOS becomes the international distress signal.
2. Many London buses were banned for being to noisy.
15. New London tube line opened between Finesbury Park and Hammersmith.
American scientist Lee De Forest invented the triode valve which has revolutionised the wireless.
7. England beats France at Rugby at Twickenham.
19. Mohammad Ali is the new Shah of Persia.
22. Earthquake hits Jamaica, hundreds die.
15. Women become MPs in Finland.
15. Manchuria is handed back to the Chinese.
25. Plans for Channel Tunnel were thrown out by Government.
10. Major breakthrough for colour Movies by Auguste and Louis Lumiere.
25. Resentment in Korea over Japanese rule.
25. Lord Baden Powell starts the Boy Scouts.
4. French gunships shell Casablanca.
10. Prince Borghese of Italy won the 8,000 mile Peking to Paris car race which took 62 days.
13 Fighting started in Belfast, killing 4 people.
11. The Lusitania broke the Trans-Atlantic record at 4 days 19 hours 52 minutes.
13. Kaiser on state visit to Britain.
13. First helicopter flight by inventor Paul Cornu.
11. Britain fears Japanese competition with ship building.
The suffragettes fight continues.
* Brooklands the world's first motor racing circuit opens at Weybridge, Surrey.
* The Automobile Car Club changes the name to the Royal Automobile Club.
* The Detroit Electric car went into production in the US.
13. A Frenchman Henri Farman won £5,000 for flying more than one kilometre.
1. King Carlos I the Portugese King and Prince Luiz were assassinated.
11. Nikolai Rimski-Korsakov the Russian composer dies aged 64.
7. The German battleship the Nassau rivals the British Dreadnought.
1. The Liberal war secretary Mr Haldane forms the Territorial Army.
12. Herbert Asquith becomes Prime Minister.
12. Winston Churchill joins the cabinate.
14. The Franco-British exhibition was opened at the White City, London.
9. King Edward VII visits Russia.
* London hosts the Olympic Games.
12. Model T Ford was launched in Detroit.
6. Wilbur Wright breaks new record for staying in the air with a passenger for more than one hour.
24. Emmeline Pankhurst the suffragette was jailed.
10. Ernest Rutherford wins Nobel prize for his work in radio-activity.
26. American Jack Johnson was the first black man to win the boxing heavyweight title.
28. Earthquake hits Sicily, 200,000 people die.
Olymic games held in London.
* Lord Montague opens Rolls Royce's new Derby plant.
1. First old age pension for the over 70's.
9. Edward Shackleton gets the nearest ever to the South Pole.
1. "Prohibition" spreads throughout United States.
15. Selfridge's the first department store comes to London.
6. Robert Peary of the US conquered the North Pole.
25. Louis Bleriot the french aviator flew a 43 minute flight across the English Channel.
26. Prince Ito of Japan was assassinated by Korean nationalist.
14. Plan for Navy base at Pearl Harbour in Hawaii.
Germany builds up it's Navy.
Suffragettes go on hunger strike in prison.
10. Major flooding in Paris.
23. Dalai Lama flees to India.
10. The first film to be made in Hollywood "In Old California" was released.
* Edward VII dies.
20. Halley's comet is viewed.
21. The burial of Edward VII.
31. The start of the Girl Guides.
1. Captain Robert Scott sets out in the ship "Terra Nova" to reach the South Pole.
Florence Nightingale "The Lady of the Lamp" dies at the age of 91.
27. The demonstration of talking pictures by the inventor Thomas Edison.
7. Marie Curie discovers Radium.
4. King Manuel of Portugal is deposed.
30. Jean Henri Dunant the Swiss who founded the Red Cross dies.
20. Dead-heat between Liberals and Tories in General Election.
*
The Moroccan uprising.
31. A maximum of a 60 hour week is proposed for shop workers.
The copyright bill goes through Parliament, giving authors and musicians 50 years on their work.
4. Plans for National Insurance were unveiled.
23. George V was crowned King.
* Shipping strikes, the army is called in.
24. Dr Hiram Bingham the US historian discovers the lost Inca capital of Machu Picchu near Cuzco in Peru.
22. The Mona Lisa is stolen in Paris.
28. Hundreds die in Britains heatwave with temperatures of up to 97 degrees.
9. The worlds first airmail from Hendon to London.
30. The 5 year old Emperor of China Pu Yi surrenders power.
14. Amundsen the Norwegian explorer beats Captain Scott to South Pole.29. Dr. Sun Yat-Sen becomes President of the Chinese Republic.
31. Madame Curie wins second Nobel Prize for her work in radium.
*
* Rolls Royce's first Spirit of Ecstacy mascot was cast. Designed by artist Charles Sykes, the model was Eleanor Thompson.
* Motor buses in London start to replace horse drawn buses.
17. Captain Scott reaches the South Pole only to find he was beaten by Amundsen.
1. Suffragettes go on a rampage in the West End causing much damage. Many were jailed.
30. France takes over Morooco.
15. The S.S.Titanic struck an iceberg and sank in the North Atlantic killing 1,500 of it's 2,340 passengers.
9. Home Rule bill for Ireland was passed in Commons.
26. Transport strike in Britain.
15. National dock strike ends.
* The Stockholm Olympic games.
12. Irish Unionists oppose home rule.
22. Britain puts it's navy on North Atlantic patrol in response to Germany's naval build up.
20. General William Booth founder of the Salvation Army dies aged 83
* Plans to review divorce laws.
* Fighting continues between the Turks and Bulgarians.
* Triplex safety glass is established in UK. Invented by Frenchman Reginald Delpech.
31. Home Rule is rejected for Ireland.
10. Captain Scott and his party were found dead. They died while attempting to return from their expidition to the South Pole.
18. George I of Greece was assassinated.
* Gideon Sunback the Swedish engineer patents the zip fastener.
30. Peace treaty is signed ending the Balkan war between Turkey and Bulgaria.
6. Germany increases peacetime army.
14. The suffragette Emily Davidson dies when she throws herself under the King's horse at the Derby.
* Henry Brealy cast the world's first stainless steel in Sheffield.
23. The Frenchman, Roland Garros flew 558 miles across the Mediteranean.
7. Henry Ford opens new car assembly line in Michigan.
10. The Panama Canal is opened by President Wilson.
14. 418 miners are lost in mine explosion at Sengenhydd in Aber Valley.
Pilots are now trying new things in thier planes, carrying up to 9 people and doing loop the loop.
* The first Morris Oxford left the factory.
* Worries over the amount of deaths involving motor buses.
* Britain's first roadside petrol pump was installed at Shrewsbury.
* Fears of civil war in Ireland.
18. The British hunter Captain Campbell Besley discovers three lost Inca cities near Cuzco in Peru.
21. US intervenes in Mexican war.
* Parliament passes the Irish Home Rule Bill.
28. The heir to the Austro-Hungarian throne Archduke Franz Ferdinand and his wife Duchess of Hohenberg were assassinated.
3. Peace treaty signed in Mexico.
4. Britain declared war on Germany over Germany's invasion of Belgium.
31. A bloody battle was fought at the Belgium town of Mons.
31. The Russian Army was defeated on the eastern front at Tannenberg.
14. Allied forces drive back Germans at the battle of the Marne saving Paris from capture.
23. The war at sea has claimed 3 British cruisers sunk by by German submarines.
19. Ghent, Ostend and Bruges fell to the Germans.
* Aeroplanes are now starting to be used in war.
17. Income tax doubled to pay for war.
* Turkey enters war.
11. Britains gains victory over Germany of the Falklands where 4 German cruisers were sunk.
* A German Taube monoplane drops a bomb on Dover, the first ever air raid on Britain.
The Suffragettes fight continues.
* The Detroit Electric produced 4669 cars in this year. A range of 211.3 miles was reached on a single charge although 80 miles was average.
7. Floods in the Upper Thames Valley, Windsor is under water.
24. British warships sunk Germany's most powerful warship, the "Blucher".
* Zeppelin bombing raids start, first casualities are Great Yarmouth and King's Lynn.
2. Germans threaten to sink neutral shipping in British waters.
1. Britain starts a blockade of German ports.
* Women in Britain go to work in the factories.
22. Germans use mustard gas as a new weapon at Ypres.
24. 5,000 Armenians butchered by the Turks and a further 600 intellectual-professional Armenians deported and killed. The start of genocide.
26. British, French and Anzacs land at Gallipoli.
7. German submarine sinks the "Lusitania" 1,400 passengers were drowned.
* A troop train and passenger train crashed near Gretna Green killing 225 passengers.
8. Zeppelin bombed out of the sky by British plane over Belgium.
* Zeppelins start bombing London.
26. Allies breakthrough German lines.
* Taxes are increased to pay for war.
23. W.G.Grace the famous cricketer died aged 67.
11. Winston Churchill resigned from government.
20. Allies retreat from Gallipoli.
* Albert Einstein Proposes new theory of gravity.
* Rupert Brooke the poet dies.
6. House of Commons agree on national conscription.
9. The carving up of the Otterman Empire begins
25. "Easter Uprising" by Irish rebels in Dublin, 450 killed.
12. Seven rebels involved in the Dublin Uprising were executed by firing squad at Kilmainham Jail.
21. "Daylight saving time" starts in Britain.
31. British and German navies clash at the battle of Jutland.
7. Lord Kitchener died when his boat struck a mine off the Orkneys
21. Arabs declare war on Turkey for Arab independence.
3. The Somme campaign starts with huge casualties
* Italy declares war on Germany.
15. A new British fighting machine, the "Tank" enters the war.
29. John D. Rockefeller becomes the worlds first $ billionaire.
21. Emperor Franz Josef ruler of the Austro-Hungarian Empire dies.
7. Lloyd George becomes Prime Minister.
30. Gregory Rasputin is murdered in Russia.
*
10. Colonel "Buffalo Bill" Cody dies.
16. Czar Nicholas II of Russia abdicates. The Russian revolution grows.
20. Red Cross hospital ship torpedoed by German submarine.
27. British defeat the Turks at Gaza.
6. US declares war on Germany.
14. First bombing of London by German planes.
22. King Constantine of Greece forced to abdicate.
* The British Royal family renounced their German titles from Saxe, Coburg and Gotha to Windsor.
20. More fighting at Flanders.
26. Edgar Degas the painter dies aged 83.
30. Czar Nicholas II and his family have been sent to Siberia to get away from the Bolsheviks.
31. Italians were defeated by German troops at Caporetto.
9. Plans for a new Jewish homeland in Palestine.
9. British capture Jerusalem.
* Bolsheviks seize power in St. Petersburg.
22. Peace talks with new Bolshevik government.
* From 1915, 1.5 million Armenians were murdered by the Turks.
* Women over 30 gain the right to vote.Men can vote at 21.
3. Russia signs peace treaty with Germany.
1. The Royal Air Force is formed, merging the Royal Flying Corps and the Royal Naval Air Service.
21. Manfred von Richthofen the "Red Baron" was shot down and killed at the battle of the Somme.
16. Czar Nicholas II and his family were murdered by the Bolsheviks.
8. German troops were forced to retreat when British, French, Australian, American and Canadian troops joining forces at Amiens.
* Police go on strike in London.
30. Allies break through German lines.
* Flu kills 25 million people around the world.
10. Kaiser Wilhelm II abdicates.
11. Germany signs Armistice. Peace after four and quarter years of war.
21. German fleet surrenders.
28. Women in Britain vote for the first time.
* More than 10 million died in the "Great War".
* Major T. E. Lawrence, "Lawrence of Arabia" led the Arabs to push the Turks out of the Middle East.
3. Professor Ernest Rutherford of Manchester University splits the atom.
9. First passenger air service started between London and Paris.
23. Mussolini starts the Facist party in Italy.
* Famine spreads through Germany.
13. British troops open fire on demonstration in Amritsar in India killing many women and children.
15. Alcock and Brown fly the Atlantic non-stop.
28. The Treaty of Versailles was signed, setting the terms of peace and reparations to be paid by Germany.
13. The first two way crossing of the Atlantic by a British airship.
11. Sinn Fein declared illegal by Britain.
19. US Senate establishes the League of Nations.
28. Viscountess Nancy Astor becomes Britain's first woman MP.
*
* Bentley Motors of Cricklewood, London is registered.
16. Prohibition went into force across the US banning the manufacture and sale of alchohol.
* The League of Nations is formed.
11. Plans for an International Court of Justice were made by the League of Nations.
22. The Red Army gains strength in Russia.
24. A programme was published in Germany for createing a Third Reich, it's spokesman was Adolf Hitler.
26. The "Black and Tans" go to Ireland as the troubles increase.
* Military conscription is abolished.
10. Turkey loses 80% of Otterman Empire.
23. Polish army fights to save Warsaw from the Bolsheviks.
* Olympic Games are held in Antwerp, Belgium.
18. National miners strike in Britain.
27. Hunger striker Tomas MacSwiney dies in Ireland, which leads to to more violence.
16. The Russian civil war is over, the Bolshevics win.
21. Bloody Sunday in Ireland, 14 British soldiers killed in their beds.
5. Scotland votes against prohibition.
11. Martial law declared in Ireland.
* The map of Europe is redrawn as treaties are signed and Empires fall (German, Turkish, Austian and Russian).
* The first petrol station opens in Britain at Aldermaston.
22. British tanks roll into Dublin.
5. Germany's reparation bill for the war was set at £10 billion.
16. Unemployment in Britain goes over 1 million.
18. Etienne Oehmichen a French engineer has acheived real flight in a helicopter.
8. Allies occupy Germany to collect reparations for the war.
17. Dr. Marie Stopes opens first birth control clinic in London.
11. Germany agrees on war reparations.
30. The Communist Party is formed in China.
22. Truce is declared in Ireland.
26. Spanish are defeated in Morocco.
3. Enrico Caruso the Italian singer dies aged 48.
4. Bolsheviks appeal to world for help as famine hits Russia.
5. Crown Prince Hirohito becomes Regent of Japan.
* Mussolini declares himself leader of the Italian Fascist Party.
7. An agreement was signed giving Ireland Independence, the start of the Irish Free State. Six counties in the north will remain British.
* Insulin was discvered.
5. Sir Ernest Shackleton the explorer dies.
21. Ireland accepts the Irish Free State treaty.
22. Pope Benedict XV dies.
28. Britain proclaimed Egypt an independent state, maintaining control over Suez.
18. Mahatma Gandhi is sentenced to 6 years imprisonment.
22. "B Specials" targeted by IRA in Belfast.
22. Field Marshal Henry Wilson was shot dead by IRA gunmen in London.
22. Michael Collins the leader of the Irish Free State was shot dead.
4. William Lyons forms the Swallow Sidecar Company.
25. George Cadbury the chocolate manufacturer died aged 83.
30. Benito Mussolini becomes Dictator of Italy.
* The British Broadcasting Company is formed.
* David Lloyd George resigns as Prime Minister. Andrew Bonar Law takes over.
29. The tomb of Tutankhamun is discovered by Howard Carter.
*
27. First Nazi Party rally in Munich.
13. 10,000 Turks with Greek origin await deportation to Greece by the Turks. One million have already been deported.
9. Vladimir Lenin the Soviet leader quits.
29. Sarah Bernhardt, the actress, died aged 78.
31. Germans clash with French troops occupying the Ruhr in Germany.
26. The Duke of York and Lady Elizabeth Bowes-Lyon were married.
21. Stanley Baldwin becomes British Prime Minister.
* The first Le Mans 24 hour race.
* Ku Klux Klan gains strength in the US.
13. The army seized control of Spain with the approval of the King.
16. 140,000 people die in Japans biggest earthquake. Tokyo and Yokohama were completely destroyed and 2.5 million were made homeless.
29. Turkey is proclaimed a republic.
12. Adolf Hitler arrested after an attempted coup.
* Inflation continues in Germany and the Mark is valueless.
28. Guatave Eiffal, the French engineer, died aged 91.
*
21. Vladimir Stalin, leader of Soviet Russia died aged 54.
* Ramsay MacDonald becomes Britains first Labour Prime Minister.
31. A merger of 4 small airline companies creates Imperial Airways Britain's first national airline.
6. Plague spreads through India killing 25,000 people.
2. The first wireless conversation from England to Australia.
* The Paris hosts Olympics games.
* The Labour Party ban Communists.
6. Winston Churchill becomes Chancellor of the Exchequer.
* The Labour Party falls and the Conservatives return to power under Stanley Baldwin.
20. Hitler is out of prison on parole.
*
16. Leon Trotsky oested from the Soviet communist party.
14. Ban on the German Nazi party is lifted.
19. Plans for a British Navy base in Singapore.
* Incentives for British people to emmigrate to Australia.
1. Cyprus becomes a British colony.
29. Colour bar becomes legal in South Africa.
* More civil unrest in China.
18. Hitler published the book "Mein Kamf" which he wrote while in prison.
29. White lines to be painted on roads all over Britain.
20. Queen Alexandra wife of King Edward VII, dies.
*
* General Motors gains controlling share of Vauxhall.
30. British troops pull out of the Rhineland.
* Moving pictures by wireless were demonstrated by John Logie Baird.
* First liquid fuel rocket was demonstrated by Robert H Goddard.
24. Riots between Hindus and Muslems hit the streets of Calcutta.
* The Duchess of York gives birth to Princess Elizabeth.
4. First General Strike in British history in support of the miners.
* An Airship and plane fly over the North Pole.
9. Plans were made to convert Southern Railway to electric.
8. Chiang Kai-shek gaining ground in the Chinese civil war.
1. Alan Cobham completed his trip around the world in a sea plane in 58 days.
20. The British Commonwealth was formed.
6. Monet, the French artist, dies.
*
31. British army division was sent to Shanghai to protect the British nationals.
* It becomes possible to telephone from London to New York at a cost of £15 for 3 minutes.
4. Malcolm Campbell broke the world land sea record in his car "Bluebird" at 174.22 mph.
21. Chiang Kai-shek takes over Shanghai.
29. Major Henry Segrave beats Campbell's land speed record at 203.84 mph.
21. Captain Charles Lindbergh flies the Atlantic solo. He flew from New York to Paris non-stop in 33½ hours.
15. Riots break out in Vienna.
6. The first live dialogue was heard in the film "The Jazz Singer" starring Al Jolson.
15. Leon Trotsky expelled from the communist party by Stalin.
*
6. 14 people died and much damage was caused when the river Thames burst it's banks.
16. Thomas Hardy the poet died aged 87.
* Thousands of people starving in China, caused by civil war.
15. Herbert Asquith the Prime Minister died aged 75.
29. The Equal Franchise Bill was passed in the House of Commons giving women over 21 the vote.
1. Flying Scotsman train service between London and Edinburgh starts. Speeds of up to 70 mph were acheived.
15. Flying doctor service starts in Australia.
18. Miss Emelia Earhart was the first woman to fly the Atlantic.
20. Roald Amundsen the explorer dies in a plane crash.
* Emmeline Pankhurst the suffragette dies.
27. A treaty for the Renunciation of War was signed by 15 countries.
* The Olympic games take place in Amsterdam.
19. Mickey Mouse made his first appearance in the film "Steamboat Willie".
* Alexander Fleming discovers Penicillin.
10. Hirohito is crowned Emperor of Japan.
* Trotskyites exiled in the Soviet Union.
*
* The automatic gearbox was invented.
6. A dictatorship was established in Yugoslavia by King Alexander.
13. Wyatt Earp dies.
11. The Vatican State came into being.
12. Lillie Langtry "The Jersey Lily" died aged 74.
14. 7 men were killed in the Valentine's Day massacre by Al Capone.
11. Major Henry Segrave sets a new land speed record of 231 mph at Daytona beach.
26. Squadron Leader A. G. Jones completed a non-stop flight in his monoplane from UK to India.
16. The Academy Awards for motion pictures is started.
16. Bentleys take the first four places at the Le Mans 24 hour race.
27. Colour television was demonstrated by Bell Laboratories.
29. The airship Graf Zeppelin completed it's 21 day trip around the world.
5. A United States of Europe was proposed by by the French Premier Aristide Briand.
7. Britain won the Schneider Trophy in a Supermarine Rolls Royce S6 flying at speeds of over 300 mph.
13. The R101, the worlds largest airship made her maiden voyage.
24. Wall Street crashes, Black Thursday.
*
* Traffic lights to be standard in UK.
29. Turmoil in Spain as General Primo De Rivera the dictator resigns.
24. Amy Johnson the first woman to fly solo from London to Darwin.
30. The last French troops pull out of the Rhineland.
30. Uruguay win the first World Cup Football in Montevideo.
* Riots in Egypt, Britain gets involved.
14. The Church of England gave the O.K. to birth control.
* The Duchess of york gives birth to a second daughter, Princess Margaret.
15. Nazi party come second in elections.
5. The R101 airship exploded in mid-air over France killing 44 people.
* Nazi supporters start attacking Jews.
* Ras Tafari is crowned King, Emperor Haile Selassie of Abyssinia.
16. A coup by the Spanish Republicans failed.
* Nylon was discovered by Du Pont.
26. Winston Churchill resigned from the cabinet.
23. Anna Pavlova the ballet dancer died aged 49.
5. Malcolm Campbell breaks the land speed record at Daytona with a speed of 245 mph.
28. Sir Oswald Mosely forms "The New Party".
14. King Alfonso of Spain was forced to abdicate and Spain becomes a Republic.
1. The Empire State Building the worlds tallest building was opened.
* Trolley buses were introduced in London.
24. A coalition government is formed as Britains economy slumps.
* Mahatma Gandhi demands independance for India.
18. Thomas Edison the inventor died aged 84.
28. A temporary truce is called in the Manchurian war.
10. Senor Niceto Alacara Zamora becomes Spain's republican President.
*
* Rolls Royce buys Bentley Motors for £125,175.
31. Japanese capture Shanghai.
10. Edgar Wallace the author dies aged 56.
19. Japanese set up puppet state of Manchuria.
* Eamon De Valera becomes President of the Irish Free State.
10. Paul von Hindenburg beats Adolf Hitler to the Presidency.
10. President Paul Doumer of France was assassinated.
29. Monarchy ends in Siam (Thailand) after a coup by the Siamese army.
* Opening of the Olympic Games in Los Angeles.
3. Iraq becomes independent.
* Rioting broke out across Britain with the jobless
8. Franklin D Roosevelt becomes the 32nd President of the United States.
*
* Martial law is imposed in Spain as uprisings break out between the Communists and the Anarcho-Syndicalists.
30. Adolf Hitler becomes Chancellor of the German Reich.
15. Attempted assassination on President D. Roosevelt.
25. Japan leaves the League of Nations over being condemned for causing the war in Manchuria.
28. The German Reichstag goes up in flames.
22. Sir Malcolm Campbell breaks the land speed record at Daytona Beach at 272 mph.
23. Hitler rules by decree in Germany.
* Franklin D Roosevelt is inaugerated as President of the US.
23. Adolf Hitler bans opposition parties to become a one party state.
* Germany starts the sterilisation program, sterilising people who have any disability.
* Nazis start rounding up Jews and putting them in concerntration camps. The largest camp being Dachau.
* Forest fires breakout in Britain due to heatwave, with temperatures up to 90 degrees.
14. Hitler leaves the League of Nations.
27. Rioting broke out in Jaffa over the immigration of Jews to Palastine.
5. "Prohibition" ends in the US after 14 years.
9. A Communist uprising starts in Spain, many people are killed. Churches are set on fire in Granada.
* Anti Semitism becomes widespread throughout Germany. Jews are beaten up in the streets by Nazi thugs and their business's vandalised.
24. Sir Edward Elgar the composer died.
1. Pu Yi the once boy Emperor of China is appointed Emperor of Manchuria by the Japanese.
28. A Road Traffic Bill was passed to bring in a test for all new drivers.
30. Chancellor Engelbert Dollfuss becomes Dictator of Austria.
23. Bonnie and Clyde were shot dead in Louisiana
13. Heinrich Himmler appointed head of Germany's concerntration camps.
25. Chancellor Engelbert Dollfuss of Austria was assassinated by Nazis.
* King George opens the Mersey Tunnel.
19. President Hindenberg of Germany died. Hitler proclaimed himself Fuehrer and Reich Chancellor doing away with the Presidency.
26. The Queen launches the Queen Mary the biggest and most powerful ship to date.
9. King Alexander of Yugoslavia was assassinated in Marseilles.
* Fighting broke out through Spain over Catalonia's attempt to make an independent state.
* Winston Churchill warns of weak defence in Britain as Germany builds up it's war machine.
*
* Robert Watson Watt invents Radar.
6. King George and Queen Mary celebrate their Silver Jubilee.
19. Colonel T. E. Lawrence (Lawrence of Arabia) died.
7. Stanley Baldwin becomes Prime Minister of Britain.
* Hitler bans German-Jewish marriages.
3. Malcolm Campbell exceeds 300 mph on the Bonneville Flats in Utah.
19. Jews banned from all forms of public life.
3. The invasion of Abyssinia began when Mussolini marched in with thousands of troops.
25. Monarchy is restored in Greece with King George II 's return from 12 years in exile.
* Armed forces in Britain increase their size so as not to get behind Germany's war machine.
* Radar is invented by Robert Watson-Watt.
* Jaguar launches the SS Jaguar.
* The 30 mph speed limit is introduced in built up areas in Britain.
19. Rudyard Kipling the writer died aged 70.
20. King George V dies.
21. Edward VIII is proclaimed King.
21. Amnesty was ordered by the left-wing government in Spain for 30,000 political prisoners. Fighting is still going on throughout Spain.
7. Hitler's troops enter the Rhineland.
8. Condemnation over Italy's use of mustard gas in Abyssinia against civilians and troops, violating the Geneva convention of 1925.
28. Prince Farouk is proclaimed King of Egypt.
9. Italy proclaims Abyssinia as part of it's Empire.
21. RAF go to war against Arabs in Palastine for raids on British troops and Jewish settlements.
* Civil war breaks out in Spain. General Francisco Franco leads the Nationalists in an attempt to bring order to Spain. Anarchy and Communism is rife.
* Berlin hosts Olympic Games. Jesse Owen wins 100, 200 metres and long jump. Hitler refused to shake hands because he was black.
30. Liner Queen Mary wins the Blue Riband taking 3 days 23 hrs. and 57 mins.
* The BBC introduces talking TV.
* The Nationalists in Spain hold the south west and part of the northwest, while the Republicans hold the other part of the north east, north west and central region.
30. Franco captures Toledo and continues the fight for the Alcazar palace.
5. Thousands of jobless people marchd from Jarrow to London.
12. First train ferry between Dover and Dunkirk.
* The battle for Madrid continues.
30. Crystal Palace burns down.
12. Edward VII abdicates to marry Mrs Simpson.
* The first transmision of sound with television pictures
* Volkswagon the "peoples car" is launched in Germany by Adolf Hitler.
* Men from around the world go to fight in the Spanish Civil War, joining up on both sides.
20. The aircraft carrier Ark Royal was launched at Birkenhead.
27. The town of Guernica, in the Basque country, was destroyed by the German air force fighting for Franco.
6. The airship Hindeburg exploded on landing at New Jersey US.
12. The Coronation took place of King George VI and Queen Elizabeth.
* Neville Chamberlain becomes Prime Minister.
3. Duke of Windsor married Wallis Simpson.
7. Jean Harlow the hollywood actress died aged 26.
11. George Gershwin the composer died aged 38.
29. Japanese bomb Shanghai
2. Sir Malcolm Campbell breaks the water speed record at 129 mph.
27. Maurice Ravel the French composer died aged 62.
*
10. Hitler appoints himself Supreme Commander of the Armed Forces.
* Franco gains strength in the Spanish Civil War.
15. Eighteen high ranking Soviets were executed in Lubyanka prison for treason.
19. General Franco gains victory in Catalonia.
8. Japanese bomb Canton.
3. The steam locmotive "Mallard" broke a speed record of 126 mph.
15. Howard Hughes sets new record for around the world flight in 3 days 19 hours 17 minutes.
27. The liner Queen Elizabeth was launched.
5. Hitler invades Czechoslovakia
* Jews in Germany have their property confiscated.
*
26. Franco captures Barcelona.
* IRA has bombing campaign in Britain.
* RAF takes on more pilots and aircraft.
10. Pope Pius XI died aged 81.
28. The Spanish civil war ends with a victory to General Franco's Nationalist forces. Madrid was finally taken after a 3 year battle.
2. Cardinal Eugenio Pacelli becomes Pope Pius XII.
22. Italy joins forces with Germany. The "Pact of Steel" was signed.
* IRA bomb explodes in London.
23. Germany and Russia sign the Non-Agggression Pact.
25. Five people were killed in Coventry by an IRA bomb.
27. The first jet plane the Heinkel HE-178 flies.
3. Britain declares war on Germany at 11am and France declares war at 5pm.
30. Germany and Russia invade Poland.
* Red Army attacks Finland.
* Red Army is defeated in Finland.
*
* Brooklands race track closes.
20. Hitler orders U-boat blockade of Britain.
9. Germany invades Denmark.
* Allied Forces are defeated in Norway.
10. Winston Churchill becomes Prime Minister.
* Germany invades France, Belgium and Netherlands.
28. Belgium and Holland surrender.
* British forces in France are driven back to the coast.
4. The evacuation of British troops at Dunkirk, Operation Dynamo.
11. Italy declares war on France and Britain.
14. Paris falls to the Germans.
16. France surrenders to Germany.
1. Germany invades Channel Islands
3. Britain sinks French fleet in Algeria to stop it getting into the hands of the Germans, 1000 lives are lost.
18. Battle of Britain begins.
26. RAF bomb Berlin.
7. The Blitz of British cities begin.
24. Hitler tried to get support from Spain but General Franco refused to go to war against the England. Later giving token support on Russian front.
* The battle for the Atlantic begins.
22. Greeks defeat Italians at Koritza.
9. Britain launches North Africa attack.
* London suffers major bombing raids.
*
* British Army push back Italian army in North Africa and gain victory at Tobruk.
* Amy Johnson goes missing.
14. The German "Afrika Korps" landed in Tripoli under the command of General Rommel
25. Empire troops took Italian held Mogadishu, Somaliland.
4. British forces sank 11 German ships off Norway.
* Germans march into Bulgaria.
11. America gives support to Britain under the Lend-Lease agreement
* Rommel launches an offensive in North Africa.
* Hitler takesYugoslavia.
27. Athens falls to Germans.
10. Rudolph Hess Parachutes into Scotland with an offer of peace. It is rejected and he is imprisoned.
20. Germans invade Crete.
27. German warship the Bismarck is sunk by British navy.
16. Italian forces surrender in Abyssinia.
30. Germany invades Russia
* Germany bombs Moscow.
25. Britain and Russia invade Iran to expel the Germans
* Britain and America sign the Atlantic Charter which set out their war aims.
* German forces encircle Leningrad.
* German forces attempt to take over Moscow.
30. US battleship sunk by U-boat in the Atlantic.
13. HMS Ark Royal was sunk by Italian U-boat.
* German forces are driven back from Moscow by Russian army.
7. Japan bombs Pearl Harbour bringing the US into the war. 360 Japanese planes destroyed 5 battleships, 14 smaller ships, 200 aircraft and over 2,400 people were killed.
12. Allied forces invade Norway.
* Russians defeat Hitler's Panzers.
*
* Japan takes Indonesia, Philippines, Malaya and Singapore.
26. US troops land in Europe.
* Rommel pushes back the 8th Army in the Western Dessert.
15. Singapore surrenders to the Japanese.
28. RAF bomb the Baltic port of Lubeck
5. Japanese attack Ceylon.
18. US planes bomb Tokyo.
31. More than 2,000 tons of bombs were dropped on Cologne in one night, detroying more than 200 factories.
* Germans close in on Cairo
* US navy forces Japanese to withdraw at the Battle of Midway.
1. Russia's Black Sea fortress of Sebastoplol falls to the Germans.
* US begins recapture of Pacific Islands.
6. Montgomery takes command of the 8th Army.
* Germans Lay seige to Stalingrad.
12. The ship Laconia carrying Italian prisoners of war was sunk by German U-boat killing 1800.
* General Montgomery launches offensive against Rommel at El Alemein.
15. British gain victory at El Alemein.
* US troops land in North Africa.
*
* A French CGE Tudor electric car designed by Jean Gregoire, a stylish car for it's day, covered 158 miles between Paris and Tours on a single charge.
23. Allies take Tripoli.
31. Germans surrender at Stalingrad.
* The Jewish uprising of the Warsaw Ghetto.
31. Britain carries out daylight bombing campaign on Berlin.
9. US win the battle in the Solomon Islands.
26. US troops push Rommel back in Tunisia.
28. Rachmaninov the composer died aged 69.
26. A grave containing 4,000 Polish officers was found said to be murdered by the Russians.
17. The 617 Squadron "Dambusters" destroyed the Mohne dam and the Eder dam.
* German U-boats withdraw in North Atlantic.
* Allied forces land in Italy.
8. Jean Moulin "Max" leader of the French Resistance died after being tortured.
13. Red Army tanks defeat the Germans at Kursk in the biggest Mechanical battle in history.
25. Mussolini is deposed.
3. 10,000 tons of bombs were dropped on Hamburg in 2 days by RAF and USAF.
12. Mussolini flees Rome.
* Italy surrenders as the Allies invade Italy.
13. Italy declares war on Germany.
26. The Royal Navy sunk Germany's last great warship the Scharnhorst.
*
19. The 1000 day seige of Leningrad ends with victory for Russia.
22. Thousands of American and British troops land at Anzio, Italy.
* PAYE begins in Britain.
8. Welsh miners go on strike.
12. A travel ban between Ireland and Britain was enforced.
19. British land behind Japanese lines in Burma.
* Allies bomb Nuremberg
9. General De Gaulle becomes Commander of the French forces
* The Red Army liberates the Crimea and Romania.
28. Forty seven POWs shot by Gestapo after escaping from Stalag Luft III.
* Forces gather in Britain for the invasion of Europe.
6 The Allied Forces launch the biggest ever seaborne invasion against German occupied France.
4. Amercian troops enter Rome.
15. US B-29s bomb Japan.
* Britain is bombarded with German V-1 rockets.
20. An assassination attempt on Hitler fails
20. Nazi tanks shell Warsaw.
* German troops leave Channel Islands.
* Allied troops liberate Paris.
14. Rommel commits suicide.
* General Tito of Yugoslavia Liberates Belgrade.
* The Jewish uprising in Warsaw is crushed.
12. RAF sink the warship Tirpitz.
* German army retreats as the Invasion of Europe continues. French and Belgian towns are liberated.
16. Glen Miller the band leader, goes missing over the English Channel.
* Germany makes counter attack in the Ardennes
*
* The Red Army liberates Warsaw.
14. More than 100,000 people are thought to have been killed after heavy night and day bombing, which reduced Dresden to a ruin
23. Americans capture Iwo Jima
26. David Lloyd George died aged 82.
* Allies cross Rhine into Germany.
* Mussolini is captured by Italian Partisans and shot.
30. Hitler shot himself.
* Franklin D Roosevelt the american President dies.
7. Peace was declared in Europe at 2.41 am.
8. VE Day is declared.
21. Worst day of fighting in the battle for Okinawa. A total of 12,000 Americans and 110,000 Japanese were killed
* Berlin is divided into four sectors Russian, British, French and American.
* US test atomic bomb in New Mexico.
6. Hiroshima, Japan 8.15 am, the first atomic bomb was dropped, killing 140,000 people, 200,000 to date as a result of the bomb.
9. The second atomic bomb was dropped on Nagasaki Japan killing more than 70,000 people
14. Japan surrenders.
* The Lend-Lease programme ends.
* The United Nations comes into existance with 29 countries.
* The Nuremberg war trials begin.
* The People's Republic of Yugoslavia is declared.
* From 1939, 6 million Jews were killed in German concentration camps. A further 6 million people were also killed in the death camps.
* A total of 55 million were killed in the second World war
* SS Cars becomes Jaguar Cars.
1. Heathrow becomes a civil airport.
* The Bank of England is nationalised.
* An electronic calculator called ENIAC was introduced by IBM.
9. 33 people die as a barrier collapses at Bolton Wanderer's football ground.
4. Juan Peron bocomes President of Argentina.
13. King Umberto II of Italy steps down. The end of monarchy in Italy.
14. John Logie Baird the inventor television died aged 58.
* US carries out nuclear testing off Bikini Atol in the Pacific.
22. British HQ in Jerusalem blown up by Jewish terrorists killing more than 40 people.
* 12 Nazis are sentenced to death for war crimes and Rudolf Hess is sentenced to life imprisonment at the Nuremberg trials.
17. Jewish terrorists kill 8 British servicemen in Jerusalem.
28. Martial law is proclaimed in Indo-China by the French Government.
* War time rations continue in Britain.
* The link between cigarette smoking and lung cancer is discovered.
* Divorce rate reaches an all time high.
* Austin buys out Vanden Plas.
1. Britains coal industry is nationalised.
* British are evacuated from Palastine.
20. Lord Mountbatten is appointed Viceroy of India.
* Violence increases in India.
7. Henry Ford the car manufacturer died aged 83.
19. Texas City in the US is destroyed by fire killing 714 people.
* The school leaving age in Britain is raised to 15.
* The Marshall plan is unveiled pledging financial aid by the US to help rebuild Europe.
15. British rule in India ends. Two new states are formed, India and Parkistan.
14. Charles Yeager breaks the sound barrier in a Bell X-I jet.
20. Princess Elizabeth marries Philip Mountbatten.
14. Stanley Baldwin the Prime Miniister died aged 80.
*
* David Brown Buys Aston Martin for £20,500 and Lagonda (excl. the Staines factory) for 52,000.
4. Burma gains independence.
30. Mahatma Gandhi is assassinated in India.
* Fighting continues between Arabs and Jews in Jerusalem.
* British Railways are nationalised.
16. Argentinia and Chile attempt to enforce claims to the Falkland Islands.
27. Communists take over Czechoslovakia.
14. The new state of Israel is born. British troops withdraw. Arab nations attack.
* The Soviets blockade western sectors of Berlin. The Berlin air lift begins.
* Jamaican immigrants arrive in Britain.
* The National Health Service comes into operation.
14. The Olympic games held in Wembley London.
* The transistor is introduced.
* Prince Charles is born
23. General Tojo of Japan along with 6 other wartime leaders were hanged in Tokyo.
* Worst fog in memory in Britain lasting 144 hours.
* Baby boom in Britain.
* Transistors were invented replacing the valve.
* The Berlin air-lift beats Russian blockade of Germany.
* The Land Rover was launched at the Amsterdam Motor Show.
22. China's leader Chiang Kai-Shek retires.
* A cease-fire ends the first Arab Israeli war.
24. Egypt and Israeli sign armastice.
* !2 countries sign up to form NATO.
12. Soviet blockade of Berlin ends.
26. Communists under the leadership of Mao Tse-Tung take over Shanghai.
* South Africa introduces Apartheid, banning inter-racial marriages.
27. The world's first jet air liner made it's first flight. The De Havilland comet flew at 500 mph
* The Handley Page Hermes turbo-prop made it's first flight, flying at 353 mph.
* Russia tests A-bomb.
1. Mao Tse-Tung declared China a Communist Republic.
* A German Democratic Republic is set up in the Soviet zone.
28. Ahmed Sukarno was elected President of Indonesia.
*
* Britain recognises communist China.
26. Sir Harry Lauder the Scottish comedian died aged 79.
24. The new Kingdom of Jordan was created.
17. The first kidney transplant was performed in the US.
25. North Korea crosses the 38 parallel into South Korea, starting the Korean war.
* British and the US forces aid South Korea.
16. Thousands of UN troops went ashore at the port of Inchon in South Korea in order to push the North Koreans back and out of the capital Seoul.
30. Mao Tse-Tung marches into Tibet.
* Legal aid starts in Britain.
2. George Bernard Shaw the playwrite died aged 94.
28. China enters the Korean war.
* UN troops push back out of North Korea.
* Britain no longer receives aid under the Marshall Plan.
*
* The world's first jet powered car, Rover's JET 1, runs for the first time.
* UN troops are forced back from the 38th parallel in Korea.
28. US tests nuclear bomb in the Navada Desert.
* Fighting continues in Vietnam with the communist guerrillas being defeated by the French.
11. President Truman fired General MacArthur as Commander of the UN forces in Korea for his demands to attack Manchuria in China.
14. Black people in South Africa are denied the right to vote.
3. Festival of Britain opens on the South Bank of the Thames.
* Guy Burgess and Donald Maclean the two British spies, flee to Soviet Union.
20. King Abdullah of Jordan was assassinated.
* Peace talks begin over Korea.
* British oil workers pull out of Iran.
19. British troops seize Suez Canal zone.
* Winston Churchhill is elected Prime Minister.
* Fighting starts at the Suez, British families are evacuated.
24. Libya declares independence.
*
* The Ministry of Transport introduce zebra crossings.
* Jaguar wins Le Mans in a C-type.
6. George VI dies.
* Churchill announced that Britain has developed an atomic bomb.
15. World War II in the Pacific officially ends with President Truman signing the peace treaty. Japan is officilly recognised as a sovereignty by 49 states.
26. Evita Peron the First Lady of Argentina died aged 33.
* King Farouk of Egypt abdicates.
* The last London tram makes it's final journey.
* Helsinki hosts the Olympic Games.
11. Prince Hussein becomes King of Jordan.
26. A British Canberra bomber crossed the Atlantic and back in 8 hours which broke previous records.
6. A de Havilland fighter broke up over the Farnborough air show killing 26 spectators, the pilot and observer.
3. Britain tests an atomic bomb at Monte Bello Islands, NW Australia.
8. Train crash at Harrow and Wealdstone station,112 people are killed.
30. US tests hydrogen bomb at Enewetak atoll in the Pacific. The island disappeared.
* London is engulfed in smog.
*
* Austin and Morris merge to form British Motor Corporation.
* Lord Montague opens the Motor Museum at Beaulieu.
14. Josif Tito becomes President of Yugoslavia.
28. Derek Bentley was hanged at Wandsworth prison for the murder of a policeman, although his accomplice fired the shots.
31. A car ferry sinks in the Irish Sea, 128 people were drowned.
* Mau Mau uprising in Kenya grows.
5. Joseph Stalin dies.
* Polio vaccine is sucessfully tested.
24. Queen Mary dies.
8. Jomo Kenyatta the Mau Mau leader was jailed.
2. A BOAC Comet crashed near Calcutta killing 43 people.
29. Edmund Hilary and Sherpa Tenzing Norgay conquer Mount Everest.
2. Elizabeth II is crowned Queen.
19. Julius and Ethel Rosenberg were executed in the electric chair at Sing Sing prison for alleged spying.
17. East German workers rise up against Soviet rule.
26. After an attack on an army barracks in Cuba, the rebel leader Fidel Castro was jailed.
27. The Korean war ends.
* Russia starts producing nuclear weapons.
9. Dylan Thomas died aged 39.
* Fighting continues between French and Communists in Vietnam.
31. Robert Oppenheimer the man behind the atom bomb, had his security clearence suspended by President Eisenhower over allegations of delaying development of H-bomb.
* Winston Churchill wins Nobel prize for literature.
*
11. BOAC Comet crashes in Elba, Italy. Comets are grounded.
* Nautilus the world's first nuclear submarine is launched.
* Fighting continues at Dien Bien Phu in Vietnam.
6. Roger Banister breaks the 4 minute mile.
8. The French fortress of Dien Bien Phu was taken by the Viet Minh after a 55 day battle.
* The European convention on human rights came into force.
27. An agreement was reached with Colonel Nasser the Egyptian leader to pull British forces out of Suez.
31. An agreement separating Vietnam into North and South ends war in Indo-China.
* Rationing came to an end in Britain.
9. An earthquake hits Algeria killing 800 people.
13. Chris Chataway breaks the 5,000m at 13 minutes 15 seconds.
1. Rioting breaks out in Algeria.
* Myxomatosis wipes out Britains rabbit population.
* Flashing indicators become legal in the UK.
* Standard introduces Britain's first diesel engine car.
5. Winston Churchill resigns as Prime Minister and Anthony Eden takes over.
18. Albert Einstein the scientist died aged 76.
29. Civil war broke out in South Vietnam.
1. Stirling Moss wins the Mille Miglia in Italy.
5. West Germany has it,s sovereignty restored.
15. Austria has it's sovereignty restored.
14. 8 Eastern countries sign the Warsaw Pact.
11. Three cars crash into the spectators stand at Le Mans killing 80 people.
23. Donald Campbell breaks the water speed record at 202.32 mph.
* Ruth Ellis is the last person to be hanged in Britain.
* Fighting continues in Algeria with attacks on many French targets.
30. James Dean the actor died aged 24.
22. Commercial television started in th UK.
24. The president of Argentina Juan Peron was sent into exile in Paraguay.
28. A state of emergency is declared in Cyprus as 2 Soldiers are killed.
* Russia does more nuclear testing.
*
* Jaguar has another victory at Le Mans in a D-type
* British troops are sent to Cyprus.
9. British deported Archbishop Makarios from Cyprus.
19. Prince Rainier II of Monaco married Grace Kelly.
29. Workers in Poland riot against Soviet domination. Marshall law is declared in Poznan.
* Colonel Nasser the Egyptian President nationalises the Suez canal.
* British and French troops are sent to Suez.
31. Anglo-French forces bomb the Suez zone over the control of the canal.
* Israel invades Sinai.
* Demonstrations in Hungary against Soviet influence.
5. Soviets invade Hungary to supress revolt.
6. Allied forces cease control of Suez.
8. The United Nations impose a cease-fire in Suez.
* UN forces take over in the Canal Zone in Suez.
* Melbourne hosts Olympic Games.
*
* Petrol rationing is introduced in UK as a result of the Suez crisis.
10. Harold Macmillan becomes Prime Minister after Anthony Eden resigns.
14. Humphrey Bogart the film actor died aged 56.
* Fighting continues in Cuba between President Batista and Fidel Castro.
* BEA Viscount crashes at Manchester.
* Six countries set up the European Common Market.
30. Malaya declares independance from British rule.
4. Russia launched Sputnik-I making them first in Space.
24. Christian Dior the fashion designer died aged 52.
3. The Soviet Union sends a dog into space
4. Two commutor trains collide in fog at Lewisham killing 92 people.
*
* First double white lines introduced between London to Folkestone and London to Portsmouth roads.
28. More rioting broke out in Nicosia, Cyprus.
1. America put it's first satelite into Space.
6. Manchester City football team's plane crashed at Munich airport. Seven members of the team were killed along with other passengers.
17. CND was formed for the abolition of nuclear weapons.
24. Elvis Presley starts National Service in the army.
7. Anti-nuclear bomb protesters marched from London to Aldermaston
* The Church of England supports family planning.
* Crisis continues in Algeria.
31. Tibetans revolt against Chinese occupation of Tibet.
25. Ralph Vaughan Williams the composer died aged 85.
* The US submarine Nautilus completed a voyage under the North Pole ice-cap.
9. Race riots in Notting Hill.
17. Fidel Castro along with another revolutionary Che Guevara launch an offensive on the Batista government.
26. Boeing 707's begin trans-Atlantic service.
28. Cardinal Angelo Guiseppe Roncalli was elected as the new Pope, John XXIII.
5. The mortgage scheme for buying houses was introduced in Britain.
21. President Charles De Gaulle of France became President.
* The Hovercraft was invented by Christopher Cockerell.
* Britain's first parking meters were installed.
* M6 motorway is opened in Britain.
2. The Cuban leader Fulgencio Batista is overthrown. Fidel Castro takes over.
21. Cecil B. de Mille the movie maker died aged 77.
22. Mike Hawthorn the British racing driver was killed in a road accident, he was 29.
3. Buddy Holly the singer was killed in a plane crash he was 22.
23. A peace deal was reached for Cyprus.
* The spiritual leader of Tibet the Dalai Lama flees to India as Chinese forces advance.
17. Billie Holiday the lady who sung the blues died aged 44.
* The first crossing of the English Channel by Hovercraft, invented by Christopher Cockerel.
14. Soviet Union reaches the moon with Lunik II.
14. Errol Flynn the film actor died aged 50.
4. Pu-Yi, the former child Emperor of China was pardoned by the Communists.
14. Archbishop Makarios becomes President of the new Republic of Cyprus.
*
* The Mini is introduced.
* The M1 motorway in opens.
* Queen Elizabeth II gives birth to Prince Andrew.
1. Earthquake hits Morroco, more than 1,000 are killed.
21. Policemen in Sharpeville South Africa open fire on protesters killing 56.
* US pilot Gary Powers was shot down over the Soviet Union in a U-2 spy plane.
* Princess Margaret marries Antony Armstrong-Jones.
23. Israelis capture Adolf Eichmann.
21. British yachtsman Francis Chichester sailed solo across the Atlantic.
30. The Congo Declared independence after 80 years of Belgian rule.
* The laser is invented.
11. Civil war breaks out in the Congo.
* Rome hosts the Olympic Games.
1. Nigeria declares independence
16. Clark Gable the film actor died aged 59.
* National service was abolished in Britain.
*
* Jaguar buys Daimler for £3.4 million.
20. John Fitzgerald Kennedy becomes US President.
* The contraceptive pill goes on sale in Britain.
8. Sir Thomas Beecham the orchestra conductor died aged 81.
12. Yuri Gagarin became first man in space, orbiting the world twice in Vostok I.
19. The attempt overthrow of Fidel Castro by the US and Cuban exiles at the Bay of Pigs was a failure.
5. Alan Shepard was the first American in space.
16. Rudolf Nureyev the Russian ballet dancer defected in Paris.
2. Ernest Hemingway the writer died aged 61.
7. Major Gherman Titov the Russian cosmonaut, orbited the earth 17 times.
* The Berlin wall was built.
17. Ban the bomb demonstration took place in Trafalgar Square 15,000 people took part, 850 were arrested.
* MOT tests for cars were introduced in Britain.
20. Algerians demonstrated on the streets of Paris.
15. In Jerusalem Adolf Eichmann was sentenced to hang for the murder of millions of Jews.
19. India regained Goa after 400 years as a Portuguese colony.
*
* The E-Type Jaguar was launched.
* Ford buys out remaining British shareholders in Ford for $368 million.
* Leyland Motors buy Standard Triumph for £18 million.
10. Soviet/American spy swap, Rudolph Abel was exchanged for Gary Powers.
17. James Hanratty was sentenced to death for the A6 murder.
20. John Glenn was the first American to orbit earth.
* London's last trolley bus is retired.
31. Adolf Eichmann was hanged for Nazi war crimes.
* Malcolm Scott Carpenter was America's second astronaut to orbit earth.
3. France gives independance to Algeria.
20. The first Hovercraft went into service between Rhyl and Wallasey.
* Telstar the first communication satellite was launched making live television possible across the Atlantic.
5. Marilyn Monroe the actress was found dead.
12. Two Russian cosmonauts orbit the earth at the same time.
26. Fighting broke out onthe Indian Chinese border.
28. The US discovers Soviet missile bases in Cuba. The crisis is resolved when Nikita Krushchev agrees to withdraw the missiles.
7. Nelson Mandela was jailed for 5 years in Pretoria.
*
16. Valentia Tereshkova is the first woman in space.
* John Profumo Secretary of state for war resigned over the Christine Keeler scandal.
* Kim Philby a former high ranking MI6 officer turns up in Moscow.
8. The Great Train Robbery took place, over £1 million was taken.
* US, Britain and Soviet Union sign nuclear test ban treaty.
28. Martin Luther King made his speech "I have a dream" in front of 250,000 people.
22. Lord Nuffield died aged 84.
* China becomes a nuclear power.
22. President John F Kennedy was assassinated in Dallas, Texas.
22. Lyndon B. Johnson was sworn in as US President.
24. Lee Harvey Oswald accused of assassinating President Kennedy was shot dead.
26. Jack Ruby was indicted for killing Oswald.
* Mary Quant opens shop in Chelsea changing the face of fashion.
* Leyland Motor Corporation is formed.
5. Pop Paul VI visits the Holy Land.
25. Cassius Clay becomes world heavyweight champion.
19. UN force goes into Cyprus to keep the peace between the Cypriots and the Turks.
* British government announces closure of railways as recommended by Dr Beeching.
18. Margate sees the battle of the Mods and Rockers on the beach
28. The Prime Minister of India Jawaharlal Nehru died aged 74.
14. A court in South Africa sentences Nelson Mandela to life imprisonment for treason.
2. President Lyndon Johnson signed the Civil Rights Act.
28. Sir Winston Churchill made his last appearance in the House of Commons at the age of 89.
12. Ian Fleming the author died aged 56.
* After a North Vietnamese torpedo attack on a US destroyer, President Johnson retaliates and receives the approval from Congress to take further action against the Communists.
28. Harpo Marx of the Marx Brothers died aged 70.
15. Nikita Krushchev is deposed and succeeded by Leonid Breznev.
24. Martin Luther King receives the Nobel Peace Prize.
* Harold Wilson becomes Prime Minister.
* Tokyo hosts the Olympic Games.
12. Kenya becomes a Republic.
* South Vietnam forces attack Communist strongholds.
21. Government vote to abolish capital punishment for murder in Britain.
* Pirate radio stations start, off the coast of Britain. Radio Caroline and Radio Atlanta are the first two.
* BMC had it's first victory in the Monte Carlo Rally with Paddy Hopkirk and Henry Liddon driving a Mini Cooper S.
* Chrysler buys a share of Rootes.
4. T. S. Eliot the poet died aged 76.
24. Winston Churchill the great British statesman dies aged 90.
23. Stan Laurel of Laurel and Hardy died aged 74
* Blockade of Gibraltar begins.
* B-57 bombers bomb North Vietnam.
* President Lyndon Johnson sends the marines to Vietnam.
3. Major Edward White became the first American to walk in space.
29. American troops go into battle alongside South Vietnam forces.
15. Race riots flare up in Los Angeles
4. Dr Albert Schweitzer died aged 90.
22. India and Parkistan go to war over Kashmir.
26. Beatles were awarded MBEs.
28. Ian Brady and Myra Hindley were both charged with murder of a 10 year old girl.
11. Rhodesia declares independence.
22. Richard Dimbleby the commentator died aged 52
27. Oil rig callapses in the North Sea killing 13.
*
* Rover buys Alvis.
* BMC takes over Pressed Steel Britains largest supplier of car bodies.
11. The prime minister of India Lal Bahadur Shastri dies Mrs Indira Gandhi takes over.
17. A B52 bomber carrying an H-bomb collided in mid-air with another plane off the coast of southern Spain. The bomb goes missing.
1. Buster Keaton the actor died aged 70.
17. Gemini 8 docked with their Agena launcher, the first docking in space
23. Heads of Roman Catholic and Anglican churches met in Rome after a 400 year rift.
7. The H-bomb that went missing off the coast of southern Spain was found.
19. Australian troops are sent to fight in Vietnam.
6. Ian Brady and Myra Hindley the Moors murderers were both sentenced to life imprisonment.
6. Gemini 9, an unmanned spacecraft landed on the Moon.
30. US bombs Hanoi.
30. England beat Germany in the World Cup.
* Race riots start in the US.
11. Peace deal ends 3 years of fighting between Indonesia and Malaysia.
* The first vertical take-off plane the Hawker Harrier was shown at the Farnborough Air Show.
21. 116 children and 28 adults were buried alive in Aberfan, when a coal slag tip slid towards the village and buried the school.
1. Viet Cong shell Saigon.
9. Floods hit northern Italy destroying many art treasures.
* The Soviet satellite crashes on the moon.
16. Walt Disney the cartoonist died aged 65.
* Fighting continues in Vietnam.
* BMC merges with Jaguar.
* Lotus Cars moves from Cheshunt, Hertfordshire to Hethnel, Norfolk
4. Donald Campbell was killed while attempting to break the water speed record in Bluebird on Coniston Water.
27. Three American astronauts were killed when a fire swept through their spacecraft while on the launch pad.
9. Stalin's daughter defects to the West.
19. The oil tanker Torrey Canyon runs aground off Lands End spilling many thousands of gallons of oil.
* North Sea oil starts to be pumped ashore.
24. Russian Cosmonaut is killed when his spacecraft crashed after coming out of orbit
28. Francis Chichester returns from his solo round the world yacht voyage.
* Britain's first satellite Ariel III goes into orbit.
3. DC-4 crashed in the Pyrenees killing 83 holidaymakers.
4. A British Midland Argonaut crashed near Manchester killing 78 holidaymakers.
10. Spencer Tracy the actor died aged 67.
* The Israeli 6 day war.
* War breaks out in Biafra.
8. Vivien Leigh the actress died aged 53.
27. Brian Epstein the Beatles manager died.
20. The QE2 liner was launched by the Queen at Clydebank.
10. Che Guevara the revolutionary was shot dead in Bolivia.
* Abortion is legalised in Britain.
30. Britain gets out of Aden.
* A train was derailed at Hither Green killing 49 people.
3. The South African heart surgeon Cristian Barnard performs the first heart transplant. The patient survive for 18 days.
* Fighting continues in Vietnam.
* UK introduces a 70 mph speed limit.
* Chrysler buys major share of Rootes Group.
* Leyland Motor Corporation takes over Rover.
* Ford Europe is created joining British and German businesses.
* UK introdues Breathalyser test
28. A B-52 bomber crash off Greenland with 4 nuclear bombs aboard the bombs were lost..
27. Yuri Gagarin the first man in space was killed in a plane crash.
4. Martin Luther King was shot dead in Memphis.
7. Jim Clark the racing driver was killed in a crash at Hockenheim circuit in West Germany.
3. The first heart transplant is performed in the UK.
* Student riots break out in Paris.
5. Senator Bobby Kennedy was assassinated.
24. Tony Hancock the comedian committed suicide.
* Warsaw treaty forces invade Czechoslovakia.
20. Bud Flanigan the comedian died.
* Mexico City hosts the Olympic Games.
* Anti Vietnam demonstrations take place outside the American Embassy in London.
6. Richard Nixon becomes US President.
27. Apollo 8 orbited ten times around the Moon.
* President Johnson ordered the bombing of North Vietnam to end.
* US safety regulations over cars sold in America comes into force.
* The last Austin Healey 3000 comes off the line after a decision to discontinue the marque.
1. Kenya expel Asians.
3. Yasar Arafat becomes the new leader of the PLO.
5. The Kray twins were sentenced to life imprisonment for gangland murder.
7. Golda Meir becomes Israeli Prime Minister.
9. Concorde 002 took her maiden flight
8. The Spain - Gibraltar border is closed.
21. Man lands on the moon at 3.56am BST. Neil Armstrong, "Buzz" Aldrin are the first men on the moon.
22. Judy Garland the actress died aged 47.
* High grade crude oil is dicovered in the North Sea.
* British troops are sent to Belfast after fierce fighting breaks out..
1. Gadaffi takes over Libya
24. Americans make a second Moon landing.
*
* The Riley name is dropped by Leyland.
* Britains voting age is lowered to 18.
* Hong Kong flu kills thousands of people in Britain.
2. Bertrand Russell died aged 97.
1. US bombs the Ho Chi Minh trail.
17. Apollo 13 lands safely after an explosion in the service module.
30. US sends troops into Cambodia.
* The Beatles split up.
19. Edward Heath becomes Prime Minister.
* Tonga gets independance from Britain.
* Egypt completes the Aswan Dam.
* Windscale nuclear plant in Britain has a radioactive leak.
18. Jimi Hendrix the rock star dies.
9. Charles de Gaulle the French President dies.
*
* Lucas Industries started making electric vehicles mainly vans but limousines were later made of which The Duke of Edinburgh bought two.
2. A stand at Ibrox Park football ground collapses killing 66 fans.
10. Coco Chanel the fashion designer died aged 87.
15. Decimal currency was introduced into Britain.
20. Idi Amin elects himself President of Uganda.
* Civil war breaks out in Pakistan.
31. Two astronauts drove a moon buggy on the moon.
* Rioting breaks out in Northern Ireland after the shooting of British soldiers.
24. Britain expels 90 Russians for spying.
9. Emperor Hirohito of Japan was in London on a state visit.
*
* Rolls Royce declares itself bankrupt and is Nationalised
9. Fire destroys the liner Queen Elizabeth in Hong Kong harbour.
* Bloody Sunday, British troops kill 13 marchers in Londonderry.
16. The miners strike, results in power cuts in Britain.
22. Seven people were killed when an IRA bomb exploded at the army barracks in Aldershot.
* John Fairfax and Sylvia Cook row across the Pacific.
2. John Edgar Hoover the FBI boss died aged 77.
28. The Duke of Windsor dies.
30. Japanese Red Army terrorists masacred 26 people at Lod Airport, Tel Aviv.
18. A BEA Trident crashed shortly after take off at Heathrow. The plane came down in a field at Staines killing all 118 people.
* Idi Armin expels Asians from Uganda.
* Munich hosts the Olympic Games.
5. Arab Guerillas of the "Black September" group broke into the Olympic village killing 2 Israeli athletes and took 9 hostages which they later shot.
25. Many thousands of people died when an earthquake hit the Nicaraguan capital of Managua.
* A Uruguayan plane crashed in the Andes. The 16 survivors ate the dead to stay alive for 10 weeks until their rescue.
*
* David Brown sells Aston Martin.
1. Britain joins the Common Market
22. Lyndon Johnson the former US President died aged 64.
* A ceasefire was declared in Vietnam.
22. A Lybian Boeing 727 was shot down by Israeli fighters killing 74 people.
* Direct rule is imposed on the province of Ulster.
26. Noel Coward the composer died aged 73
* The last US troops leave Vietnam.
8. Pablo Picasso the artist died aged 91.
* VAT comes into force in the UK.
* The Watergate Scandal inquiry started.
11. President Allende of Chile was killed after a Military coup led by General Pinochet.
* Air battles go on between Israel and Syria.
6. Syria and Egypt attack Israel on Yom Kippur the Jewish holy day.
17. Arab oil producing countries increase the price of oil by 70 per cent.
14. Princess Anne and Mark Phillips are married.
17. Britian announces a three day week.
20. Admiral Luis Carrero Blanco Spain's Prime Minister was assassinated. In an explosion, his car was hurled over a 5 storey building landing on a balcony on the otherside. ETA claimed responsibility.
*
31. Samuel Goldwyn the film producer died.
11. The capital of Cambodia, Phnom Penh was shelled by the Communists.
3. A Turkish Airline DC-10 crashed in France killing 344 people. 200 of the passengers were British.
2. Georges Pompidou President of France died.
18. India tests their first nuclear bomb.
24. Duke Ellington the jazz musician died aged 75.
* Fighting continues between the Arabs and Israelis.
2. An explosion at Fixborough chemical plant kills 55 people.
17. The IRA bomb the Houses of Parliament.
1. The President of Argentina Juan Peron died aged 78.
17. The IRA bomb the Tower of London.
24. Turkish troops invade Cyprus.
8. President Nixon resigns over the Watergate scandal.
9. Gerald Ford becomes US President.
12. Haile Selassie is overthrown as Emperor of Etheopia in a coup.
5. The IRA bomb 2 Pubs in Guildford killing 5 people.
21. The IRA bomb 2 Pubs in Birmingham killing 17 people.
* The hunt starts for Lord Lucan for allegedly murdering the nanny.
*
* Aston Martin is declared insolvent and car production ceases.
16. Angola gets independence from the Portuguese
* Khmer Rouge attack Cmbodia's capital Phnom Penh.
28. Forty two people die in tube crash at Moorgate.
25. King Faisal of Saudi Arabia was assassinated by his nephew.
29. Da Nang in South Vietnam fell to the North Vietnamese.
10. Josephine Baker the entertainer died aged 68.
17. Cambodia is taken over by Communists.
31. Saigon falls to the North Vietnamese, the war is over. All Americans are evacuated.
5. The Suez Canal reopens after 8 years.
19. The first link-up in space by 2 spacecraft. The US Apollo and the Soviet Soyuz.
* The "Terra Cotta army" was discovered in China.
28. Five Basque terrorists were executed in Spain.
* Civil war breaks out in Beirut between Christians and Moslems.
20. General Franco the Dictator leader of Spain dies.
22. Don Juan Carlos becomes King of Spain.
24. Civil war breaks out in Angola.
* Spain gives up Spanish Sahara.
* Dutch Elm disease sweeps through Britain.
* Thousands of people were worked to death in the fields and executed in Cambodia. One of the worlds worst cases of Genocide. Final death toll was over 1 million people.
* British Leyland Motor Corporation becomes British Leyland in which the government hold 99.8 per cent of the shares.
* Aston Martin was bought for £1.5 million by the American Peter Sprague
13. Agatha Christie the author died aged 85.
21. Concorde began serpersonic air travel with BA flight from London to Bahrain in 3 hours 38 minutes and an Air France flight to Rio de Janeiro.
23. L.S.Lowry the artist died.
5. James Callaghan becomes British Prime Minister after Harold Wilson's resignation.
5. Howard Hughes the aviator died aged 70.
* Fighting continues in the Lebanon.
* Soweto, South Africa sees three days of rioting.
4. One hundred hostages held by Palestinians at Entebbe airport in Uganda were rescued by the Israelis.
* Montreal host the Olympic Games.
9. Mao Tse-tung leader of Communist China died aged 82.
* Briton suffers droughts.
2. Jimmy Carter becomes US President.
5. Benjamin Britten the musician died aged 65.
*
* Jensen ceases production.
* Fighting continues in Rhodesia. White missionaries were killed by African guerrilla gang.
* Idi Amin's 6 year reign of terror continues in Uganda.
27. 574 people were killed at Tenerife airport when 2 Jumbo jets belonging to KLM and Pan Am collided.
* The Alpha Bravo oil rig blows out in the North Sea.
6. Jubilee of Queen Elizabeth II.
15. Spain hold their first elections for 41 years.
16. Von Braun the rocket scientist died aged 65.
3. Archbishop makarios of Cyprus died.
16. Elvis Presley King of Rock'n Roll died aged 42.
19. Groucho Marx of the Marx brothers died aged 86.
12. Steve Biko a black leader in South Africa died in prison aged 30.
16. Marc Bolan the singer in "T-Rex" died.
26. Freddie Laker starts "Skytrain".
14. Bing Crosby the singer died aged 75.
18. SAS and German anti-terrorist squad free hi-jacked plane and all it's pasengers at Mogadishu airport.
25. Sir Charlie Chaplin the actor died aged 88.
* Many countries are taking in Vietnamese refugees.
* The police increase efforts to catch the "Yorkshire Ripper".
14. Israel attacks southern Lebanon.
* The oil tanker Amoco Cadiz runs aground off the Brittany coast spilling 200,000 tons of crued oil.
9. Aldo Moro a senior Italian statesman and former Prime Minister was killed by the Red Brigade.
11. Two hundred holidaymakers died in a gas explosion on a campsite at San Carlos de la Rapita, Spain.
26. First test tube baby is born
* Pope Paul VI dies and is succeeded by John Paul I.
25. A Pacific Southwest Airline 727 collided with a light aircraft over San Diego killing 135 pasengers and people on the ground.
30. Pope John Paul died.
16. Cardinal Karol Wojtyla of Poland is declared Pope, taking the name of John Paul II. The first non-Italian since 1542.
* Fighting continues in Rhodesia.
29. 913 people of an American religious cult committed suicide in Guyana
8. Golda Meir the Prime Minister of Israel died aged 80.
10. Millions of Iranians demonstrated across Iran for the abdication of the Shah.
*
8. Vietnamese drive out the Khmer Rouge and take over the capital Phnom Penh.
16. Supporters of the Ayatollah Khomeini depose the Shah of Iran.
1. Ayatollah Khomeini returns to Iran.
30. An IRA bomb kills Airey Neave.
31. Atomic leak scare at Three Mile Island, US.
* Horrors of the Khmer Rouge in Cambodia are revealed.
4. Margaret Thatcher becomes Britain's first woman Prime Minister.
11. John Wayne the actor died aged 72.
20. General Somozo of Nicaragua went into exile after civil war in the country.
19. Pol Pot the leader of the Khmer Rouge was condemned to death for the genocide of the Cambodian people.
27. Earl Mountbatten is killed by an IRA bomb.
* Sebastian Coe breaks 3 world records.
* The "Yorkshire Ripper" kills a 12 victim.
4. One hundred people were taken hostage by Ayatollah Khomeini supporters at the American Embassy in Tehran.
10. Mother Teresa wins Nobel Peace Prize.
27. The Soviet invade Afghanistan.
* Peace deal is signed for Zimbabwe.
* From 1975, 1 million people were murdered by the Khmer Rouge under the leadership of Pol Pot.
* From 1971, 300,000 people were murdered in Uganda under the leadership of Idi Amin.
18. Zimbabwe gets independence, Britain's last African colony.
25. A US attempt to rescue the Embassy hostages in Iran failed.
29. Alfred Hitchcock the film director died aged 80.
5. SAS rescued 19 hostages in the Iranian Embassy in London.
4. Marshal Tito President of Yugoslavia died.
19. Mount St. Helens in the US erupted.
12. Sir Billy Butlin head of Butlin's holiday camps died aged 80.
24. Peter sellers the comedian and actor died.
27. The Shah of Iran died in exile in Cairo.
* Moscow hosts the Olympic Games.
2. Terrorist bomb kills 80 people at Bologna station in Italy.
* Iraq attacks oil installations in Iraq.
11. Two Earthquakes hit Algeria killing thousands of people.
7. Steve McQueen the actor died.
22. Mae West the actress died.
8. John Lennon of the Beatles was shot dead in New York.
*
* Rolls Royce merge with Vickers.
* The last Triumph Spitfire was built at Canley, 314,342 were produced.
* The last MGB was built at Abingdon over half a million were produced.
21. US Embassy hostages in Teheran were released.
* Peter Sutcliffe is charged with murder ending the long search for the Yorkshire Ripper.
23. Right-wing Guardia Civil stage an attempted coup in Spain, taking over the Cortes.
23. Mike Hailwood the motor-cycle champion was killed in a car accident.
30. An assassination attempt was made on President Reagan.
3. Riots break out in Brixton, UK.
10. Francois Mitterand becomes President of France.
11. Bob Marley the Reggae singer died aged 36.
13. A Turkish gunman attempts to assassinate the Pope.
* Rioting in Belfast, following hunger strike and death of Bobby Sands in the Maze prison.
17. Israelis bomb Beruit.
29. Prince Charles marries Lady Diana Spencer.
* Riots take place in British cities following the Brixton riots.
6. Anwar Sadat of Egypt was assassinated.
20. The Penlee lifeboat went down with a loss of 8 crew in it's attempt to rescue people from the ship Union Star. A further 8 people died.
* Martial law is declared in Poland over trade union activists
*
13. Air Florida plane crashed into the Potomac River in Washington, 78 people died.
4. Laker Airways collapsed
4. The Barbican Centre opens in London.
2. Argentina invades Falkland Islands.
5. The Task Force leaves for the Falklands. A huge convoy of ships left Portsmouth meeting up with others from Plymouth and Gibralter. Amongst them the 2 carriers HMS Hermes and Invinsible.
* Battles take place on sea and land for the recapture of the Falklands. Britain losses HMS Sheffield and HMS Coventry was hit. Argentina loses battle at Goose Green and the ship Belgrano was sunk.
14. British capture Port Stanley and Argentinians surrender.
21. Princess Diana gives birth to Prince William.
* Fighting continues in the Lebanon.
20. IRA explode a bomb at Hyde Park, London killing 2 guardsmen and 7 army horses.
12. Henry Fonda the actor died aged 77.
29. Ingrid Bergman the actress died aged 67.
* Israelis drive the PLO out of Beirut.
15. Princess Grace of Monaco was killed in car accident she was 52.
* Civilians are massacred in refugee camps in Beirut. Peace keeping force moves in.
10. Leonid Brezhnev the Soviet Leader died aged 75.
12. Anti-cruise missile demonstration took place on Greenham Common.
*
* Iranian forces move into Iraq.
1. More anti-cruise protests at Greenham common.
19. Bomb destroys US Embassy in Beirut.
* Mount Etna erupts.
10. Margaret Thatcher is re-elected as Prime Minister.
29. David Niven the actor died aged 72.
6. The Spanish oil tanker Castillo de Belver carrying 200,000 tons of crude oil caught fire and split in two off South Africa
* A Soviet plane shot down a Korean Airline 747 off Siberia, 269 people died.
4. Richard Noble breaks the land speed record at Bonneville flats at 633.46 mph
23. Two suicide attacks on peace keeping forces in Beirut killed 241 US marines and 58 French Paratroopers.
* US invades Grenada.
26. A gang stole £25 million in gold bars at the Brinks-Mat warehouse at Heathrow.
17. The IRA explode a bomb outside Harrods in London.
* Yassir Arafat is forced to leave Lebanon.
* Compact discs were launched
14. Jane Torvill and Cristopher Dean win Olympic gold for ice dancing
* Scientist warn of the greenhouse effect.
22. UK expels Libyans
23. The AIDS virus is discovered.
26. Count Basie the jazz pianist dies aged 79
19. Sir John Betjemin the poet dies aged 78.
29. Eric Morecombe the comedian dies aged 58.
29. Violence errupts in South Yorkshire with the miners strike which has been going for 12 weeks.
* Childhood Leukaemia scare around the Sellafield reprocessing plant.
9. 700 year old York Minster burns after lightning strike.
27. James Mason the actor dies aged 75.
15. J. B. Priestley the novelist dies aged 89.
* The Los Angeles Olympics open.
28. French ship carrying 450 tons of uranium sunk in the North Sea.
12. Bomb explodes at the Grand Hotel in Brighton, where the Tory party conference was being held. Three people were killed.
31. Mrs Gandhi Prime Minister of India was assassinated.
* Two people have died in Britain after receiving blood transfusions.
19. 260 people have died in a gas explosion in Mexico City.
10. Bishop Tutu of Johannesburg won the Nobel peace prize for his fight against Apartheid.
10. Chemical leak at factory in Bhopal, India kills over 2000 people.
14. Band Aid record "Do they know it's Christmas" raises money for famine in Africa.
*
* Jaguar cars are privatised.
* Arctic weather in the Mediterranean.
4. The border between Spain and Gibralter is open after 16 yrs.
11. Mikhai Gorbachev becomes leader of the Soviet Union.
11. Fire at Bradford City football ground killing 40 fans.
28. Tidal wave and cyclone hits Bangladesh
29. 41 football supporters die after riot at Heysal Stadium Brussels.
23. Air India 747 explodes in mid-air over Irish Sea killing 325 people.
7. Boris Becker wins Wimbledon at 17.
7. Live Aid. Two pop concerts raised £40 million for Africa's famine.
10. Greanpeace's ship Rainbow Warrior was hit by 2 explosions in Auckland harbour killing 1 person.
22. Air crash at Manchester airport kills 54 people. A further two crashes happened in the same month, a Japanese 747 crashed in Japan killing 517 and Delta airlines at Fort Worth killed 140 people.
17. Laura Ashley the fashion designer dies at 60
22. Earthquake hits Mexico City
22. France admits responsibility for the sinking of the Rainbow Warrior.
2. Rock Hudson the film actor dies at 59.
10. Orsen Wells the film maker dies at 70
15. Anglo-Irish deal signed in Ulster
*
* Sir Clive Sinclair unveils the C5.
20. Britain and France give the go ahead to the Channel Tunnel.
28. Space shuttle Challenger explodes seconds after lift-off.
25. Marcos flees Manila, Aquino installed as President.
28. Olaf Palme Prime Minster of Sweden was assassinated.
* Halley's comet comes it's closest to the sun on it's 75 year visit.
2. Bomb exploded in mid-air on a TWA flight to Athens kiling 4 people.
15. US air strike against Libya.
24. Duchess of Windsor dies aged 89.
26. Nuclear reactor catches fire at Chernobyl power station in the Ukraine.
12. South Africa declares state of emergency.
27. Rioting breaks out in black township of Soweto 12 dead and 70 injured.
8. Nissan open a car plant in Sunderland.
22. Mike Tyson gains WBC world heavyweight title.
30. Cary Grant the film actor dies aged 82.
Super light plane sets record for non-stop flight round the world 9 days 3mins. 44 secs.
*
* The first car leaves the new Nissan factory in Sunderland.
* Ford buys Lotus.
* BL builds the 5 millionth Mini.
1. The Archbishop of Canterbury's envoy Terry Wait was kidnapped in Beirut.
16. War crimes trial begins in Jerusalem of John Demjanjuk.
3. Danny Kaye the comedian died.
6. "The Herald of Free Enterprise" capsizes off Zeebrugge, many people die.
22. Fred Astaire the actor/dancer died
3. Klaus Barber the "Butcher of Lyon" gets a life sentence.
* Over 700 people die in Greece from heatwave.
20. The Hungerford massacre 14 dead
28. John Huston the film director died aged 81.
* Iran lays mines in the gulfs main shipping lanes.
15. Fiji leaves the Commonwealth
16. Hurricane hits British isles, 110 mph. gusts.
19. Black Monday, the Stock Market crashes
8. IRA explode bomb at Rememberance day parade at Enniskillen killing 11 people.
19. 30 people die in Kings Cross tube station fire
* Van Gogh's "Sunflowers" sold for £24 million at Christies.
* Ford acquires 75 per cent of Aston Martin.
6. Three IRA terrorists were shot dead in Gibralter suspected of plotting a bombing. 64 kilos of explosives were found in thier hire car in Marbella.
16. Loyalist gunman opens fire on mourners at IRA funeral killing 3 and injuring 50.
3. US warship shoots down Iranian civil airliner in the Gulf, killing 290 passengers.
6. The North Sea oil rig, Piper Alpha explodes killing more than 150 workers.
8. The Iran - Iraq war ends.
28. An Italian air force jet crashes at air show in West Germany.
* Seoul host the Olympic Games.
* Bangladesh is hit by floods 20 million people are homeless.
* The Turin Shroud turns out to be a fake.
8. George Bush becomes US President.
7. Armenia suffers earthquake, 100,000 people are killed.
12. Commuter train crash at Clapham Junction, 36 people die.
22. Pan Am flight 103 exploded over Lockerbie, Scotland killing 270 passengers and 11 people on the ground.
*
* British Aerospace buy Rover.
7. Emperor Hirohito of Japan died aged 82. He was Emperor for 62 years.
8. British Midland jet crashed near Kegworth killing 44 passengers and 8 crew.
15. Ayatollah Khomeini ordered the death of Salman Rushdie for writing the Satanic Verses.
15. Soviets get out of Afghanistan.
24. The oil tanker Exxon Valdez ran aground off Alaska spilling 12 million gallons of crude oil.
15. 96 football supporters die at the Hillsborough Stadium disaster.
4. Many student demonstrators were killed in the Tiananmen Square massacre in China.
4. Ayatollah Khomeini died aged 86.
11. Laurence Olivier the actor died aged 82.
20. Many people died when a pleasure boat the "Marchioness" was hit by the dredger "Bowbelle" in the Thames.
25. Pictures are sent back from Voyager II of Neptune's moon Triton.
11. Hungary opens it's border with Austria allowing East Germans to flea to the West.
21. America is hit by hurricane "Hugo".
22. IRA bomb kills 10 bandsmen in Deal, Kent.
* Vietnam leaves Cambodia.
5. The Dalai Lama receives the nobel peace prize.
19. Earthquake hits San Francisco killing more than 250 people.
20. The Guildford 4 are freed after 14 years.
10. At 11 pm the Brandenburg Gates were opened and the Berlin Wall no longer has any significance.
25. The dictator of Romania, Nicholae Ceausescus and his wife wer executed.
* US invades Panama.
*
* Ford buy out Jaguar for £1.6 billion
2. F.W.de Klerk lifts ban on anti-apartheid political parties and organisations.
11. Nelson Mandela was set free after 27 years in prison.
15. Iraqis hang British journalist for spying.
* Demonstrations in London against the Poll Tax.
1. Riots break out in Stangeways prison in Manchester.
15. Greta Garbo the film actress died aged 84.
16. Sammy Davis Jr. the entertainer died.
28. Two Australians were shot dead in Holland by IRA. The shooting was a mistake as they were beleived to be British Servicemen.
30. Boris Yeltsin was elected President of Russia.
2. Rex Harrison the actor died.
22. Earthquake hits northern Iran killing many thousands of people.
13. Boris Yeltsin resigns from the Communist Party.
30. Ian Gow the Conservative MP was murdered by an IRA car bomb.
2. Iraq invades Kuwait.
23. Brian Keenan who was held hostage in the Lebanon for 4 years, was freed.
* UN impose sanctions on Iraq.
8. Israelis shoot 21 Palestinians in riots in Jerusalem.
3. Reunification, Germany becomes a single country.
9. Mary Robinson becomes Ireland's first female Prime Minister.
12. Japan's new Emperor Akihito is enthroned.
22. Magaret Thatcher resigns.
1. Two sides of the Channel Tunnel met.
9. Lech Walesa becomes the first elected President of Poland.
10. Iraq frees foreign hostages.
*
17. Operation "Dessert Storm" was launched as the deadline passed for Saddam Hussein to get out of Kuwait.
* Iraq fires "Scud" missiles on Israel.
7. The IRA fire a mortar bomb into the garden of 10 Downing Street.
21. Dame Margot Fonteyn the ballerina died aged 71.
27. The Gulf war ends. Kuwait is liberated.
14. The Birmingham Six were released.
* Kurds flee from Saddam Hussein.
19. President Gorbachev, the Soviet leader was toppled after a coup
* Communism ends in Russia.
5. Robert Maxwell the newspaper tycoon was found drowned.
4. The American Terry Anderson was freed after being held for 6½ years by terrorists in Lebanon.
25. Mikhail Gorbachev resigns as Soviet President, as Soviet Union dissolves.
* An agreement was signed by President Bush and Mikhail Gorbachev to reduce nuclear arms.
* Britain has it's worst drought since 1745.
20. Benny Hill the comedian died.
6. Marlene Dietrich singer/actress died.
23. Giovanni Falcone one of Italy's top anti-Mafia judges was killed by a car bomb.
* Race riots in Los Angeles.
7. The book "Diana" by Andrew Morton was published.
14. The Rio Earth Summit.
* Barcelona hosts the Olympic Games.
* Death camps are revealed in Serbia.
* War rages in Bosnia.
4. A Boeing 747 cargo plane crashes in a residential area near Schipol Airport, 70 people died and hundreds were injured.
3. Bill Clinton becomes President of the US.
20. Windsor Castle was badly damaged by fire.
*
* US car manufacturers Ford and General Motors make record losses.
5. The oil tanker "Braer" ran aground off the Shetland Islands losing it's cargo of oil.
11. Queen Elizabeth starts to pay income tax.
26. A bomb went off in the World Trade Centre in New York.
20. IRA bomb goes off in Warrington 2 children are killed and many people are injured.
24. IRA bomb goes off in London killing 1 person.
* Over 100 people were killed in the Waco seige.
9. Crowned Prince Naruhito of Japan marries.
29. John Demjanjuk who was on trial in Israel for Nazi war crimes was freed.
2. UK ratifies the Maastricht treaty.
13. A piece agreement was signed in Washington between Israel and PLO.
4. A rebelion in Moscow against Boris Yeltsin was crushed by the army. Much of the White house was destroyed by shell fire.
15. President Frederik de Klerk and Nelson Mandela were jointly awarded the nobel Peace Prize for work in ending apartheid
22. Aborigines in Australia won land rights for land lost during colonisation.
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* General Motors produced the first hi-tech ground up electric car. It clocked 183 mph and 0-60 mph in 8 secs.
17. Los Angeles is hit by an earthquake.
* Fighting continues in Sarajevo when a mortar bomb exploded in a market place killing 68 people and wounding many more.
25. Gunman shoots 20 worshipers at the Ibrahim Mosque in Hebron, he was later beaten to death.
22. Richard Nixon former US President died.
* Thousands of people are being killed in tribal slaughter in Rwanda.
1. Ayrton Senna the Brazilian racing driver was killed at Imola, San Morino.
10. Nelson Mandela becomes President of South Africa.
* The Channel tunnel was officially opened by the Queen and President Mitterrand. ?
1. Yassir Arafat ends his exile from Palestine.
14. The terrorist Carlos the Jackal was captured and in the hands of the French.
31. A ceasefire is declared by the IRA.
28. The Baltic ferry Estonia sank, 912 people were drowned.
20. The Queen visits Russia.
20. But Lancaster the actor died.
26. French commandos storm a hijacked Air France A300 at Marseilles killing 4 Algerian Islamic fanatics. Three of the hostages had previously been killed by hijackers.
* This year saw fighting in Rwanda where more than 1 million are believed to have been killed.
* Michael Schumacher wins F1.
* BMW buys Rover.
9. Peter Cook the comedian died aged 57.
17. An earthquake hit the city of Kobe in Japan killing more than 5,000 people. The quake measured 7.2 on the Richter scale.
2. Donald Pleasance the actor died.
* Peace plan is threatened in Bosnia as fighting continues.
16. Gerry Adams visits the White House.
20. The Aim Shinrikyo cult carried out a gas attack on the Tokyo undergound.
19. A bomb exploded in the Federal Building in Oklahoma killing 168 people.
25. Ginger Rodgers the actress/dancer died.
2. More fighting broke out in Zagreb between Serbs and Croats.
8. The 50th anniversary of VE Day.
28. Earthquake measuring 7.5 hits eastern Russia killing over 2000 people.
7. Serbs release UN hostages.
10. Asian riots in Bradford.
29. A department store collapses in Seoul, South Korea killing 63 people.
29. Lana Turner the actress died.
* Vietnamese boat people riot in Hong Kong against being repatriated.
4. More gas attacks in Tokyo stations.
17. Juan Manuel Fangio the great racing driver died aged 84.
* US space shuttle Atlantis linked up with the Russian space station Mir
6. The 50 years since the first A-bomb was dropped on Hiroshima, 60,000 people congregate in the cities Peace Park to remember the dead.
28. Israel give the Palestinians autonomy in the West Bank.
4. Yitshak Rabin the Israeli Prime Minister was assassinated.
* France carries out nuclear tests at Mururoa Atoll in the Pacific.
25. Dean Martin the actor died aged 78.
27. France carries out it's 5th nuclear test at Mururoa Atoll in the Pacific.
* After 4 years of fighting in the former Yugoslavia, peace talks begin.
* Bertone's ZER set a new electric car record of 188 mph, 5 mph faster than General Motor's Impact.
* The MGF is announced.
11. François Mitterrand former President of France died aged 79.
20. George Burns the comedian died aged 100.
* Nato peacekeeping troops go into Bosnia.
10. IRA explode a bomb in the Docklands, 2 people die.
12. Peace rally goes on in Belfast.
12. Dunblane, Scotland. A gunman Thomas Hamilton went into a school shot 16 children and one teacher then shot himself.
* British beef is banned after BSE scare.
29. A gunman kills 34 people in Tasmanian massacre.
20. Jon Pertwee the actor who played Dr. Who died aged 79.
5. The second Severn bridge was opened. At 3 miles long it is the longest bridge in Britain.
15. Ella Fitzgerald the singer died aged 79.
17. Mt. Ruapehu in N.Z. erupted.
18. TWA flight 800 explodes shortly after take-off from New York, 230 people were killed.
* Atlanta hosts th Olympic Games were 1 person was killed and many injured after a bomb exploded.
3. US fire missiles against Iraq.
24. A nuclear test ban treaty was signed by Britain, France, USA, China and Russia.
4. Volcano erupts in Iceland.
12. Worst mid air collision in India kills 350 people.
19. Fire broke out in the Channel Tunnel.
25. Hijacked Ethiopian Airlines plane crashes in the sea when it ran out of fuel, killing 127 people.
27. Michael Bentine the actor died agd 74.
17. Extremist guerillas took 500 people hostage at the Japanese Ambassador's residence in Lima, Peru.
19. Marcello Mastroianni the actor died aged 73.
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* General Motors release EV1 the first electric production car of recent years, capable of 0-60 mph in 8.5 secs.
* Lotus make a 200 bhp Electric Elise.
21. The Bridgewater three were freed after 18 years, having been charged with the murder of the 13 year old newspaper boy Carl Bridgewater.
21. Rev.W.Awrdy creator of Thomas the tank engine died aged 85.
* Albania falls into anarchy.
22. Commandos storm the Japanese ambassador's residence in Lima and freed the remaining 71 hostages.
2. Tony Blair becomes Prime Minister.
25. Jacques Cousteau the French underwater explorer died aged 87.
30. Hong Kong is handed over to the Chinese.
1. Robert Mitcham the actor died aged 79.
3. James Stewart the actor died aged 89.
4. The Pathfinder Probe lands on Mars.
15. Gianni Versace the designer was shot dead in Miami.
4. Jeanne Calment the oldest woman in the world died aged 122.
31. Diana, Princess of Wales was killed in a car accident in Paris.
5. Mother Teresa the Roman Catholic nun died aged 87.
6. The funeral of the Princess of Wales was held at Westminster Abbey.
19. An InterCity 125 collided with an empty freight train at Southall killing 6.
26. Earthquakes hit Assisi in Italy.
15. Andy Green broke the land speed record at 766.10 mph in Thrust SSC also breaking the sound barrier.
* Forests in Sumatra are ablaze causing thick smoke to drift over Malaysia.
10. Louise Woodward the au pair accused of killing the baby Matthew Eappen was freed.
17. 58 tourists were killed in a terrorist attack at a temple in Egypt.
22. Michael Hutchinson lead singer of INXS died aged 37.
1. Stephane Grapelli the jazz violinist died aged 89.
11. The Royal Yacht Britannia was decommisioned.
20. Gerry Adams goes to No. 10 first Republican to go to Downing Street in 76 years.
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* Scientists find a way of producing electricity from petrol for use in fuel cells for electric cars.
* The "zero" an American built electric sports by Cocconi with 220 hp. can do 0-60 mph in 4.9 secs. Top speed is governed at 87 mph.
3. A cable car wire was sliced by a jet at a ski resort in northern Italy, killing 20 people.
4. El Niño storm hits the US west coast.
8. Enoch Powell the politician died aged 85.
5. Evidence of water on the moon, has been found by space probe.
* Fighting continues in Kosovo.
* President Clinton faces sex allegations.
10. New Good Friday peace deal in Ireland.
17. Linda McCartney wife of Paul McCartney died aged 56.
16. Pol Pot leader of the Khmer Rouge died.
* Japan's economy on the brink of collapse.
* UK, major floods hit the Midlands.
14. Frank Sinatra the singer and actor died aged 82.
20. President Suharto of Indonesia steps down after 30 years.
* Parkistan test 5 nuclear devices, in retaliation for India carrying out similar tests.
3. A 125 mph rail crash in Germany kills more than 100 people.
11. Catherine Cookson the author died aged 91.
7. Two bombs exploded simultaneously outside US Embassies in Nairobi and Dar-es-Salaam killing more 250 people.
15. Bomb exploded in Omagh, Ireland killing 28 people.
3. Swissair McDonald Douglas MD-11 crashed of Novia Scotia killing all 229 on board.
21. Florence Joyner "Flo-Jo" the American sprinter died of a heart attack aged 38.
* Iran lifts Salmon Rushdie death sentence.
2. Gene Autry the movie cowboy died aged 91.
* General Pinochet of Chile is arrested in London. The Spanish Government want to extradite him. and put him on trial for murder and torture.
1. Mika Hakkinen is Fomula 1 Champion, driving for Mclaren.
16. US and British air strikes start in Iraq.
* The drug Viagra goes on sale.
7. King Hussein of Jordan died.
3. Dusty Springfield the singer died.
12. Yehudi Menuhin the violinst died.
15. N.Ireland lawyer Rosemary Nelson was killed by car bomb.
16. Corruption scandal in Euro Parliament..
20. British and Swiss ballonists circumnavigated the globe.
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