Britain 1951 - 1979

Front 1

Butler Act

Back 1

1944

Front 2

End of WWII

Back 2

1945

Front 3

Withdrawal from India

Back 3

1947

Front 4

NHS founded

Back 4

1948

Front 5

Empire Windrush

Back 5

1948

Front 6

Schuman Plan: European Coal and Steel Community founded

Back 6

1950

Front 7

Start of the Korean War

Back 7

1950

Front 8

Conservative victory: Churchill elected

Back 8

1951

Front 9

Bevanite quarrel

Back 9

1951

Front 10

Nationalisation of iron and steel

Back 10

1951

Front 11

Festival of Britain

Back 11

1951

Front 12

The Burgess and Maclean Affair

Back 12

1951

Front 13

Britain's first atomic bomb test

Back 13

1952

Front 14

Mau Mau rebellion in Kenya

Back 14

1952

Front 15

Equal Pay for Teachers

Back 15

1952

Front 16

European Coal and Steel Community formed

Back 16

1952

Front 17

Elizabeth II Coronation

Back 17

1953

Front 18

Steel and transport denationalised

Back 18

1953

Front 19

Britains first nuclear test

Back 19

1954

Front 20

Withdrawal from Egypt

Back 20

1954

Front 21

End of food rationing

Back 21

1954

Front 22

Equal Pay for Civil Servants

Back 22

1954

Front 23

Eden PM

Back 23

1955

Front 24

Butler 'give-away' budget

Back 24

1955

Front 25

Start of Vietnam War

Back 25

1955

Front 26

Full employment achieved

Back 26

1955

Front 27

Gaitskell leader of Labour

Back 27

1955

Front 28

Launch of ITV

Back 28

1955

Front 29

Messina Conference

Back 29

1955

Front 30

Ruth Ellis hung

Back 30

1955

Front 31

The Suez Crisis

Back 31

1956

Front 32

Run on the pound

Back 32

1956

Front 33

EEC formed by Treaty of Rome

Back 33

1956

Front 34

Clean Air Act

Back 34

1956

Front 35

Frank Cousins became leader of TGWU

Back 35

1956

Front 36

Macmillan replaced Eden as PM

Back 36

1957

Front 37

Conservative divisions - Thorneycroft & 'moneterism'

Back 37

1957

Front 38

Homicide Act

Back 38

1957

Front 39

Wolfenden Commission

Back 39

1957

Front 40

Ghana and Malaya independence

Back 40

1957

Front 41

British 'H' bomb tested

Back 41

1957

Front 42

Thorneycroft resignation

Back 42

1858

Front 43

Formation of CND

Back 43

1858

Front 44

Notting Hill riots 1958

Back 44

1958

Front 45

Motorway system opened

Back 45

1958

Front 46

Mutual Defence Agreement

Back 46

1958

Front 47

First Aldermaston march

Back 47

1958

Front 48

Labour party conference: Gaitskell put forward idea of abolishing Clause IV of the party constitution

Back 48

1959

Front 49

General election: increased conservative majority

Back 49

1959

Front 50

Obscene Publications Act

Back 50

1959

Front 51

Second, bigger Aldermaston march

Back 51

1959

Front 52

Blue Streak missile program abandoned in favour of US Polaris

Back 52

1960

Front 53

Macmillans 'wind of change' speech

Back 53

1960

Front 54

Independence granted to Nigeria and Cyprus

Back 54

1960

Front 55

EFTA established

Back 55

1960

Front 56

End of National Service

Back 56

1960

Front 57

EEC applications submitted

Back 57

1961

1966

1971

Front 58

'Pay Pause' to hold down wage inflation

Back 58

1961

Front 59

First IMF loan

Back 59

1961

Front 60

National Economic Development Council set up

Back 60

1961

Front 61

South Africa leaves Commonwealth

Back 61

1961

Front 62

The birth control pill made available

Back 62

1961

Front 63

Berlin Wall built

Back 63

1961

Front 64

Robbins Committee set up

Back 64

1961

Front 65

The Night of the Long Knives

Back 65

1962

Front 66

National Incomes Commission set up

Back 66

1962

Front 67

Cuban Missile Crisis

Back 67

1962

Front 68

The launch of That Was The Week That Was on BBC

Back 68

1962

Front 69

Commonwealth Immigrants Acts

Back 69

1962

1968

1971

Front 70

D. H. Lawrences Lady Chatterlys Lover published

Back 70

1962

Front 71

Silent Spring by Rachel Carson

Back 71

1962

Front 72

EEC applications vetoed by de Gaulle

Back 72

1963

1967

Front 73

Kenyan independence

Back 73

1963

Front 74

The Profumo Affair

Back 74

1963

Front 75

Macmillan resignation - Douglas Home becomes PM

Back 75

1963

Front 76

The Feminine Mystique published

Back 76

1963

Front 77

Labour victory - Harold Wilson PM

Back 77

1964

Front 78

George Brown National Plan / Department for Economic Affairs set up

Back 78

1964

Front 79

Organised rioting by Mods and Rockers in south-coast holiday resorts

Back 79

1964

Front 80

Escalation of the Vietnam War

Back 80

1964

Front 81

Independence for Zambia and Malawi

Back 81

1964

Front 82

The beginning of the annual Notting Hill Carnival

Back 82

1964

Front 83

BB2 launched

Back 83

1964

Front 84

Britannia Airways founded

Back 84

1964

Front 85

Mary Whitehouse moral crusade: Clean Up TV Campaign

Back 85

1964

Front 86

Death Penalty abolished [5 year trial]

Back 86

1965

Front 87

Race Relations Acts

Back 87

1965

1968

1976

Front 88

Unilateral Declaration of Independence for Southern Rhodesia

Back 88

1965

Front 89

Post Office Tower opened

Back 89

1965

Front 90

National Viewers and Listeners Association started

Back 90

1965

Front 91

Labour re-election victory - Wilson PM

Back 91

1966

Front 92

Wilson - Smith talks on HMS Tiger then again on HMS Fearless

Back 92

1966

1968

Front 93

Seamens Strike

Back 93

1966

Front 94

Sterling crisis

Back 94

1966

Front 95

Vietnam Solidarity Campaign set up

Back 95

1966

Front 96

Budget cuts in military commitments East of Suez

Back 96

1967

Front 97

Devaluation Crisis

Back 97

1967

Front 98

DEA abandoned

Back 98

1967

Front 99

War in the Middle East

Back 99

1967

Front 100

National Dock Strike

Back 100

1967

Front 101

The Abortion Act

Back 101

1967

Front 102

Sexual Offences Act

Back 102

1967

Front 103

The National Health Service [Family Planning] Act

Back 103

1967

Front 104

The Dangerous Drugs Act

Back 104

1967

Front 105

BBC Radio One started

Back 105

1967

Front 106

Enoch Powell Rivers of Blood speech

Back 106

1968

Front 107

Civil Rights Marches in Northern Ireland

Back 107

1968

Front 108

Theatres Act

Back 108

1968

Front 109

The Wootten Report

Back 109

1968

Front 110

Anti Vietnam War demonstrations and riots

Back 110

1968

Front 111

Hungarian Rising crushed by Soviet forces

Back 111

1968

Front 112

Barbara Castle: 'In Place of Strife' White Paper

Back 112

1969

Front 113

The Troubles in NI worsened

Back 113

1969

Front 114

Open University established

Back 114

1969

Front 115

Death Penalty abolishment made permanent

Back 115

1969

Front 116

Divorce Reform Act

Back 116

1969

Front 117

Womens National Coordination Committee established

Back 117

1969

Front 118

Edward Heath PM: Conservative victory

Back 118

1970

Front 119

Selsdon Park Conservative conference

Back 119

1970

Front 120

Equal Pay Act

Back 120

1970

Front 121

PWC break down

Back 121

1970

Front 122

The Female Eunuch by Germaine Greer

Back 122

1970

Front 123

Matrimonial Property Act

Back 123

1970

Front 124

Decimalisation of the currency

Back 124

1971

Front 125

Heaths U Turn

Back 125

1971

Front 126

Rolls Royce nationalised

Back 126

1971

Front 127

funding of Upper Clyde Shipbuilders

Back 127

1971

Front 128

Industrial Relations Act

Back 128

1971

Front 129

Introduction of Internment [300 in NI]

Back 129

1971

Front 130

Birth control pill available on NHS

Back 130

1971

Front 131

Womens Lib demonstrations in London & Liverpool

Back 131

1971

Front 132

Bloody Sunday in Derry, NI

Back 132

1972

Front 133

Bloodiest year in NI: 1382 explosions, 10,628 shooting incidents & 480 deaths

Back 133

1972

Front 134

Direct rule for NI

Back 134

1972

Front 135

Major strikes by miners, ambulance drivers & power workers

Back 135

1972

Front 136

Industry Act

Back 136

1972

Front 137

Watership Down published

Back 137

1972

Front 138

British entry into EEC

Back 138

1973

Front 139

Yom Kippur War

Back 139

1973

Front 140

OPEC Oil Crisis

Back 140

1973

Front 141

Increased wage demands from miners

Back 141

1973

Front 142

Sunningdale Agreement

Back 142

1973

Front 143

The Peoples Party set up

Back 143

1973

Front 144

Who Governs Birtain? General Election

Hung parliament - labour slightly more

Back 144

1974

Front 145

Labour minority government: Wilson PM

Back 145

1974

Front 146

NUM Miners Strike

Back 146

1974

Front 147

Three-day week

Back 147

1974

Front 148

Wilson called new election: small majority of 3 seats

Back 148

1974

Front 149

National Enterprise Board set up

Back 149

1974

Front 150

Ulster Workers' Council strike

Back 150

1974

Front 151

Collapse of Sunningdale Agreement

Back 151

1974

Front 152

Birmingham pub bomb - 19 killed

Back 152

1974

Front 153

EEC refurendum - 2:1 YES

Back 153

1975

Front 154

Sex Discrimination Act

Back 154

1975

Front 155

Employment Protection Act passed

Back 155

1975

Front 156

End of Vietnam War

Back 156

1975

Front 157

Margaret Thatcher new Conservative leader

Back 157

1975

Front 158

Peoples Party becomes Ecology Party

Back 158

1975

Front 159

Wilson resignation: Callaghan PM

Back 159

1976

Front 160

IMF loan of £3 billion

Back 160

1976

Front 161

Drastic spending cuts

Back 161

1976

Front 162

Special Category Status removed from terrorist prisoners

Back 162

1976

Front 163

Blanket Protests in NI

Back 163

1976

Front 164

First Rape Crisis centre opened

Back 164

1976

Front 165

Domestic Violence Act

Back 165

1976

Front 166

Commission for Racial Equality set up

Back 166

1976

Front 167

Rock against Racism founded

Back 167

1976

Front 168

Notting Hill Carnival tensions end in riots

Back 168

1976

Front 169

The Animal Liberation Front formed

Back 169

1976

Front 170

'Lib-Lab Pact'

Back 170

1977

Front 171

Conservative vote of no confidence defeated

Back 171

1977

Front 172

International Womens Day established by UN

Back 172

1977

Front 173

Anti-Nazi League set up

Back 173

1977

Front 174

Greenpeace UK set up

Back 174

1977

Front 175

Devolution Acts

Back 175

1978

Front 176

TUC rejected Labours proposed wage increase limit of 5%

Back 176

1978

Front 177

'WInter of Discontent'

Back 177

1978 - 1979

Front 178

Dirty Protest in NI

Back 178

1978

Front 179

Rock against Racism demonstration and concert

Back 179

1978

Front 180

Viv Anderson became first black footballer selected for the English football team

Back 180

1978

Front 181

Markov Affair

Back 181

1978

Front 182

Election victory for conservatives: Thatcher PM

Back 182

1979

Front 183

Labour government vote of no confidence - general election called, Conservative win

Back 183

1979

Front 184

Devolution for Scotland and Wales rejected in refurendums

Back 184

1979

Front 185

TUC publishes charter, 'Equality for Women within Trade Unions'

Back 185

1979

Front 186

Polaris replaced with Trident

Back 186

1979

Front 187

Partial nuclear meltdown at Three-Mile Island, NY

Back 187

1979

Front 188

David Attenborough Life on Earth broadcast on BBC

Back 188

1979