Timeline Great Britain (G) 1942-1971
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1942 Feb 9, Chiang Kai-shek met with Sir Stafford Cripps, the British viceroy in India. Detachment 101 harried the Japanese in Burma and provided close support for regular Allied forces.
(HN, 2/9/97)
1942 Feb 12, In Palestine British police killed Avraham Stern (34), founder of the breakaway militant Zionist group named Lehi. British forces had begun shooting members of “Fighters for the Freedom of Israel" (Lehi) after the group had ambushed British soldiers and solicited fascist and Nazi support for their campaign.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Avraham_Stern)(Econ, 5/3/14, p.75)
1942 Feb 13, Hitler's invasion of England was cancelled.
(MC, 2/13/02)
1942 Feb 15, British forces in Singapore surrendered to Japanese General Tomoyuki Yamashita. Yamashita prevailed, when British Lt. Gen. Sir Arthur Percival and 130,000 Empire troops surrendered. It was the largest surrender in British history.
(HN, 2/15/98)(AP, 2/15/98)
1942 Feb 27, British Commandos raided a German radar station at Bruneval on the French coast. The warrior spies of the Abwehr, Germany's intelligence agency, were the Brandenburg commandos.
(HN, 2/27/98)
1942 Mar 3, The RAF raided the industrial suburbs of Paris.
(HN, 3/3/99)
1942 Mar 21, Convoy QP9 departed Great Britain to Murmansk.
(MC, 3/21/02)
1942 Mar 27, Michael York, actor (Cabaret, Logan's Run, 3 Musketeers), was born in England.
(MC, 3/27/02)
1942 Mar 27-28, Allies raided the Nazi submarine base at St. Nazaire, France.
(HN, 3/27/98)(MC, 3/27/02)
1942 Mar 28, British naval forces continued the raid on the Nazi-occupied French port of St. Nazaire. British Bomber Command launched an attack on the German city of Lubeck with 234 RAF bombers.
(AP, 3/28/97)(HN, 3/28/98)(MC, 3/28/02)
1942 Mar 28, A British ship, the HMS Capbeltown, a Lend-Lease American destroyer, which was specifically rammed into a German occupied dry-dock in France, exploded, knocking the area out of action for the German battleship Tirpitz.
(HN, 3/28/00)
1942 Apr 23, A 4-day allied bombing of Rostock began.
(MC, 4/23/02)
1942 Apr 23, Luftwaffe bombed Exeter.
(MC, 4/23/02)
1942 Apr 24, Luftwaffe bombed Exeter.
(MC, 4/24/02)
1942 Apr 26, Luftwaffe bombed Bath.
(MC, 4/26/02)
1942 May 3, The Luftwaffe bombed Exeter.
(MC, 5/3/02)
1942 May 14, The British, in retreat from Burma, reached India.
(HN, 5/14/98)
1942 May 26, Tank battle at Bir Hakeim: African corps vs. British army.
(MC, 5/26/02)
1942 Mar 29, British cruiser Trinidad torpedoed itself in the Barents Sea.
(MC, 3/29/02)
1942 May 30, The Royal Air Force under RAF Commander Arthur Harris launched the first 1,000 plane raid over Germany. 1,047 RAF bombers bombed Cologne.
(https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bombing_of_Cologne_in_World_War_II)
1942 May 31, Luftwaffe bombed Canterbury.
(MC, 5/31/02)
1942 Jun 21, President Roosevelt and Prime Minister Churchill met in Washington, DC.
(MC, 6/21/02)
1942 Jun 22, A Jewish Brigade, attached by British Army, formed.
(MC, 6/22/02)
1942 Jun 25, Some 1,000 British Royal Air Force bombers raided Bremen, Germany, during World War II.
(AP, 6/25/97)
1942 Jul 11, In the longest bombing raid of World War II, 1,750 British Lancaster bombers attacked the Polish port of Danzig. The Polish submarine Orzel escaped from internment and went on to fight the Germans against long odds.
(HN, 7/11/98)
1942 Jul 22, The Americans approved Operation Torch, the British alternative to an invasion of Europe. The design of Operation Torch was to secure all of North Africa for the Allies.
(HN, 2/26/98)
1942 Jul 26, RAF bombed Hamburg.
(MC, 7/26/02)
1942 Jul, Dr. Paul Fildes led a British test of anthrax in a bomb on Gruinard Island in northwest Scotland. The island became contaminated from tests and Britain acquired it for £500. Cleanup was undertaken in 1986 and the island was returned to its original owners in 1990.
(WSJ, 10/18/01, p.A23)(Econ, 5/8/04, p.78)
1942 Aug 10, Gen. Bernard Law Montgomery was named commandant of the British 8th Army campaigning in N. Africa. He arrived Aug 13.
(www.topedge.com/panels/ww2/na/frame.html)
1942 Aug 11, The German submarine U-73 attacked a Malta bound British convoy and sank the HMS Eagle, one of the world's first aircraft carriers.
(HN, 8/10/98)
1942 Aug 12, British premier Churchill arrived in Moscow to meet Stalin.
(MC, 8/12/02)
1942 Aug 19, About 5,000 Canadian and 2,000 British soldiers launched a disastrous raid against the Germans at Dieppe, France. Over 3,600 men perished in this battle. The information gathered from this landing was considered valuable for planning the successful Allied landings in Northern Africa, Sicily, and Normandy, France. Brit. Col. Pat Porteous (d.2000) received a Victoria Cross for his valor in the attack which was aimed at gaining experience for the later D-Day invasion.
(AP, 8/19/97)(HN, 8/19/98)(SFC, 10/16/00, p.A22)(MC, 8/19/02)
1942 Aug 31, The British army under General Bernard Law Montgomery defeated Field Marshal Erwin Rommel's Afrika Korps in the Battle of Alam Halfa in Egypt.
(HN, 8/31/98)
1942 Sep 2, Eric Ravilious (b.1903), English painter, died when the aircraft he was on was lost off Iceland.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eric_Ravilious)(Econ., 4/18/15, p.76)
1942 Sep 5, British & US bombed Le Havre & Bremen.
(MC, 9/5/01)
1942 Sep 10, RAF dropped 100,000 bombs on Dusseldorf.
(MC, 9/10/01)
1942 Sep 10, British troops landed on Madagascar.
(MC, 9/10/01)
1942 Sep 17, British Prime Minister Winston Churchill met with Soviet Premier Josef Stalin in Moscow as the German Army rammed into Stalingrad.
(HN, 9/17/98)
1942 Oct 2, The "Queen Mary" sliced the cruiser "Curacao" in half, killing 338.
(MC, 10/2/01)
1942 Oct 23, During World War II, Britain launched a major offensive against Axis forces at El Alamein in Egypt.
(AP, 10/23/97)
1942 Oct 25, In the 3rd day of battle at El Alamein (Egypt), the British continued an offensive move.
(MC, 10/25/01)
1942 Oct 28, The 6th day of the battle at El Alamein. British offensive under Montgomery.
(MC, 10/28/01)
1942 Nov 2, 11th day of battle at El Alamein, Egypt: British made an assault on Tel el Aqqaqir. Montgomery defeated Rommel in battle of Alamein Egypt.
(MC, 11/2/01)
1942 Nov 4, The 13th day of battle at El Alamein: Axis Africa corps retreated from El Alamein in North Africa in a major victory for British forces commanded by Field Marshal Bernard Montgomery.
(AP, 11/4/97)(MC, 11/4/01)
1942 Nov 8, Operation Torch began during World War II as U.S. and British forces landed in French North Africa.
(AP, 11/8/97)
1942 Nov 10, Winston Churchill delivered a speech in London in which he said, "I have not become the King's First Minister to preside over the liquidation of the British Empire."
(AP, 11/10/02)
1942 Nov 10, US and British troops occupied Oran, Algeria.
(MC, 11/10/01)
1942 Nov 20, British 8th Army recaptured Benghazi, Libya.
(MC, 11/20/01)
1942 Nov, Sir William Beveridge (1879-1963) in his Social Insurance and Allied Services, aka the Beveridge Report, laid the foundations of Britain’s post-war welfare state. He committed the government to slaying “five giant evils" (squalor, ignorance, want, idleness, and disease). In 1953 he authored “Power and Influence."
(https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Beveridge_Report)(Econ, 11/12/05, p.78)
1942 Nov, A Royal Air Force bomber and 2 gliders, carrying 34 British commandos, crash landed in Norway. This was part of Operation Freshman, which planned a raid on the heavy-water plant at Vemork. The survivors were captured by German soldiers and executed by the Gestapo.
(ON, 4/07, p.2)
1942 Dec 19, British advanced 40 miles into Burma in a drive to oust the Japanese from the colony.
(HN, 12/19/98)
1942 Nikolaus Pevsner (1902-1983), German-born British architectural researcher, authored “An Outline of European Architecture."
(Econ, 11/5/11, p.103)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nikolaus_Pevsner)
1942 The film "Mrs. Miniver" with Greer Garson was directed by William Wyler. It won 5 awards including an Oscar for best picture of the year. Garson won an Oscar for her role. The film was based on the life of Joyce Anstruther (1901-1953), pen name Jan Struther, who wrote for London’s Times newspaper in the late 1930s. In 2002 Ysenda Maxtone Graham authored "The Real Mrs. Miniver: Jan Struther’s Story."
(SFEC, 3/23/97, DB p.38)(SFC, 3/14/01, p.E1)(TVM, 1975, p.382)(SSFC, 11/3/02, p.M6)
1942 Thomas Peirson Frank (d.1951), chief engineer for London County Council, was knighted for leading work to repair London’s flood defenses hit in German air raids. Details of his job were kept under wraps. He later became president of the Institution of Civil Engineers. He died in 1951.
(AP, 10/29/14)
1942 Walter Richard Sickert (b.1860), English Impressionist painter, died. In 2002 Patricia Cornwell, crime writer, reported that he was Jack the Ripper, the murderer of 5 London prostitutes in 1888.
(WSJ, 9/27/01, p.A16)(SSFC, 2/24/02, Par p.2)
1943 Jan 8, The British handed Madagascar over to the Free French.
(HN, 1/8/99)
1943 Jan 11, The United States and Britain signed treaties relinquishing extraterritorial rights in China.
(AP, 1/11/98)
1943 Jan 13, General Leclerc's Free French forces merged with the British under Montgomery in Libya.
(HN, 1/13/99)
1943 Jan 14, President Roosevelt and British Prime Minister Winston Churchill opened a wartime conference in Casablanca.
(AP, 1/14/98)
1943 Jan 21, A Nazi daylight air raid killed 34 in a London school.
(HN, 1/21/99)
1943 Jan 24, President Roosevelt and British Prime Minister Churchill concluded a wartime conference in Casablanca, Morocco.
(AP, 1/24/98)
1943 Feb 8, British General Wingate led a guerrilla force of "Chindits" behind the Japanese lines in Burma. Detachment 101’s support of Maj. Gen. Orde Wingate’s Chindits and Maj. Gen. Frank Merrill’s Marauders was crucial to the Allied success in Burma and to the eventual victory in Southeast Asia.
(HN, 2/8/98)(www.chindits.info/)
1943 Feb 25, George Harrison (d. Nov 29, 2001) of the Beatles was born.
(SFC, 11/30/01, p.A1)(SFC, 12/4/01, p.A2)
1943 Mar 1, The British RAF conducted strategic bombing raids on all European railway lines. From 1939 to 1945, R.A.F. pilots and air crews waged war on Germany from inside Hitler's Reich.
(HN, 3/1/98)
1943 Mar 2, The center of Berlin was bombed by the RAF. Some 900 tons of bombs were dropped in a half hour.
(HN, 3/2/99)
1943 Mar 3, A bomb fleeing crowd fell into London shelter and 173 died.
(SC, 3/3/02)
1943 Mar 5, RAF bombed Essen, Germany. [see Mar 6]
(MC, 3/5/02)
1943 Mar 5, The Gloster Meteor first flew. Great Britain emerged from World War II with a decided head start in jet technology, the only Allied power to have had a jet fighter operational in squadron strength before the German surrender on May 8, 1945. On July 21, 1944, the first two production Meteors arrived at Culmhead and formed the nucleus of No. 616 Squadron, Royal Air Force (RAF). Appropriately, the Meteor’s first duty was to defend Britain from attacks by German V-1 pulse jet-powered guided bombs, of which they destroyed 13 by the end of the war. Meteor IIIs of No. 616 Squadron were committed to Continental Europe in the last months of the conflict, but they never got the opportunity to meet the German Me-262A in battle.
(HNQ, 8/21/01)
1943 Mar 6, British RAF fliers bombed Essen and the Krupp arms works in the Ruhr, Germany.
(HN, 3/6/98)
1943 Mar 21, British 8th army opened an assault on Mareth line, Tunisia.
(MC, 3/21/02)
1943 Mar 29, Eric Idle, comedian, actor (Monty Python), was born in England.
(MC, 3/29/02)
1943 Mar 29, John Major, British PM (1990-97), was born.
(WP, 6/29/96, p.A20)(MC, 3/29/02)
1943 Apr 6, British and American armies army linked up in Africa.
(HN, 4/6/98)
1943 Apr 22, RAF shot down 14 German transport planes over Mediterranean Sea.
(MC, 4/22/02)
1943 Apr 29, Noel Coward's "Present Laughter," premiered in London.
(MC, 4/29/02)
1943 Apr 30, The British submarine HMS Seraph dropped “the man who never was," a dead man (Welsh laborer Glyndwr Michael) was planted with false invasion plans, into the Mediterranean off the coast of Spain. Operation Mincemeat was based on a 1939 suggestion by Lt. Commander Ian Fleming, and was used to cover Britain’s invasion of Sicily. Details of the operation were kept secret until 1953 when Ewen Montagu published “The Man Who Never Was."
(ON, 10/2010, p.4)
1943 Apr 30, Beatrice Potter Webb (b.1858), British socialist, reformer and writer, died. Her books included “My Apprenticeship" (1943).
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Beatrice_Webb)
1943 May 6, British 1st army opened an assault on Tunis.
(MC, 5/6/02)
1943 May 15, Halifax bombers sank U-463.
(MC, 5/15/02)
1943 May 19, In an address to the U.S. Congress, British Prime Minister Winston Churchill pledged his country's full support in the war against Japan.
(AP, 5/19/97)
1943 May 29, Churchill, Marshall and Eisenhower met in the Confederacy of Algiers.
(SC, 5/29/02)
1943 Jun 23, RAF discovered and bombed Werner von Braun's V1/V2-base in Peenemunde.
(MC, 6/23/02)
1943 Jun 24, Royal Air Force Bombers hammered Muelheim, Germany, in a drive to cripple the Ruhr industrial base.
(HN, 6/24/98)
1943 Jun 24, Allies began a 10-day fire bombing of Hamburg.
(MC, 6/24/02)
1943 Jul 3, Liberator bombers sank U-628.
(MC, 7/3/02)
1943 Jul 10, US and British forces completed their amphibious landing in Sicily in Operation Husky.
(AP, 7/10/97)(HN, 7/10/01)(MC, 7/10/02)
1943 Jul 18, There was a British assault on Catania, Sicily.
(MC, 7/18/02)
1943 Jul 24-1943-Aug 2, The RAF and American planes bombed Hamburg. Firestorms from the bombing left at least 40,000 dead in the 1st 3 days. American B-17 Fortresses flew 252 daylight sorties in the two days following the first of 4 RAF night raids. Sir Arthur Harris directed 4 major raids against Hamburg in the space of ten nights, known as “Operation Gomorrah."
(www.spartacus.schoolnet.co.uk/2WWhamburg.htm)
1943 Jul 26, Mick [Michael Phillip] Jagger, musician, member of the Rolling Stones, was born in Dartford, Kent.
(SFEM,11/9/97, p.9)(HN, 7/26/01)
1943 Aug 2, The 10-day allied bombing of Hamburg, Germany, ended.
(www.spartacus.schoolnet.co.uk/2WWhamburg.htm)
1943 Aug 17, The Allied conquest of Sicily was completed as U.S. and British forces entered Messina.
(AP, 8/17/97)(HN, 8/17/98)
1943 Aug 18, The Royal Air Force Bomber Command completed the first major strike against the German missile development facility at Peenemunde.
(HN, 8/18/98)
1943 Aug 25, Lord Mountbatten was appointed Supreme Allied Commander in SE Asia.
(MC, 8/25/02)
1943 Sep 3, The British Eighth Army invaded Italy, landing at Calabria, during World War II, the same day Italy signed a secret armistice with the Allies.
(AP, 9/3/97)(HN, 9/3/98)
1943 Sep 19, Liberator bombers sank U-341.
(MC, 9/19/01)
1943 Sep, Pearl Cornioley (1916-2008), a British agent, parachuted into France as a secret agent to help arm and organize the Resistance. In 1995 she wrote an autobiography and in 2006 Royal Air Force officers presented her with her parachute wings in a ceremony at her Paris retirement home.
(AP, 3/8/08)
1943 Oct 7, Radclyffe Hall (b.1880), English author of the lesbian classic "The Well of Loneliness" (1928), died. The book was the subject of an obscenity trial in Britain which resulted in all copies being ordered destroyed.
(AP, 9/29/09)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Radclyffe_Hall)
1943 Oct 17, British Liberators sank U-540 and U-631.
(MC, 10/17/01)
1943 Oct 19, Delegates from the U.S.S.R. met with representatives from the Allied nations of Great Britain, the U.S., and China, in an attempt to hammer out a greater consensus on war aims, and to improve the rapidly cooling relations between the Soviet Union and its allies.
(MC, 10/19/01)
1943 Oct, The United Nations War Crimes Commission (UNWCC) was established with a secretariat in London.
(Econ, 1/29/11, p.84)
1943 Sep, Jeannie Rousseau, code name Amniarix, collected enough information on V-2 rockets from German officers in France to send a detailed report to England. Reginald Jones, chief of Britain's scientific intelligence, included her text in his book "The Wizard War."
(SFC, 1/2/99, p.A10)
1943 Oct 1, Allied forces captured Naples during World War II. British troops in Italy entered Naples and occupied Foggia airfield.
(HFA, '96, p.38)(AP, 10/1/97)(HN, 10/1/98)
1943 Nov 7, British troops launched a limited offensive along the coast of Burma.
(HN, 11/7/98)
1943 Nov 18, 444 British bombers attacked Berlin.
(MC, 11/18/01)
1943 Nov 22, RAF began bombing of Berlin.
(MC, 11/22/01)
1943 Nov 26, The HMT Rohna, a British transport ship carrying American soldiers, was hit by a German missile off Algeria; 1,138 men were killed, including 1,015 American troops.
(AP, 11/26/01)
1943 Nov 28, President Roosevelt, British Prime Minister Winston Churchill and Soviet leader Josef Stalin met in Tehran, Iran, to map out strategy during World War II.
(AP, 11/28/97)(DTnet 11/28/97)(HN, 11/28/98)
1943 Dec 1, President Roosevelt, British Prime Minister Winston Churchill and Soviet leader Josef Stalin concluded their Tehran conference and agreed to Operation Overlord (D-Day).
(AP, 12/1/00)
1943 Dec 22, Beatrix Potter (b.1866), English author, died. She first told the story of Peter Rabbit in the form of a "picture letter" to Noel Moore, the son of Potter's former governess in 1893. A 2nd illustrated letter the same month later became “The Tale of Jeremy Fisher." The “Tale of Peter Rabbit" was published in 1901. At her death she bequeathed all her holdings, 14 farms and 4,000 acres of land, to the National Trust.
(Econ, 1/6/07, p.67)(www.visitcumbria.com/bpotter.htm)
1943 Dec 23, Gen. Montgomery was appointed British commandant for D-day.
(MC, 12/23/01)
1943 Dec 26, The 32,000-ton German battleship, Scharnhorst was sunk by British ships in an Arctic fight.
(HN, 12/26/98)
1943 Dec 31, Ben Kingsley, actor (Gandhi, Betrayal, Maurice), was born in Scarborough, England.
(MC, 12/31/01)
1943 Gladwyn Jebb (1900-1996), British diplomat, prepared the early drafts for the proposed UN Charter.
(SFC, 10/26/96, p.A20)
1943 Anthony E. Pratt (d.1994), fire warden in Leeds, England, conceived the game of "Clue," based on a pre-war social game called Murder. It was published by Waddington’s in 1948.
(SFEC, 12/1/96, p.C14)
1943 British scientists led by Tommy Flowers developed Colossus, the world’s first large electronic valve programmable logic calculator, in order to break the German communication’s code. Colossus is considered by many to be the world‘s first digital, programmable electronic computer. Its existence was only made public in 1989!
(Wired, 10/96, p.78)(HNQ, 8/16/00)
1943 Britain’s National Trust purchased the stone circles of Avebury, Windham Hill and adjoining lands.
(SSFC, 12/24/00, p.T4)
1943 Arthur Osborne, ceramic designer, died in England. His business, which made plaster-of-Paris plaques, continued operations under his daughter until 1965. W. H. Bossons bought the company in 1971, removed the “AO" mark and operated until 1997.
(SFC, 10/24/07, p.G2)
1943 British air strikes in Greece hit the railway station and port of Thessaloniki. Hundreds of local inhabitants died. One bomb that failed to detonate was discovered in 2017 and was successfully defused following an evacuation of tens of thousands.
(AFP, 2/12/17)
1943-1947 Archibald Wavell (1883-1950), British Field Marshal, served as the penultimate viceroy of India. In 2009 Adrian Fort authored “Archibald Wavell: The Life and Times of an Imperial Servant."
(Econ, 1/17/09, p.82)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Archibald_Wavell,_1st_Earl_Wavell)
1944 Jan 2, The first Atlantic convoy that used the new antisubmarine helicopter patrol capability sailed from New York to Liverpool, UK, with three HNS-1 helicopters.
(www.gerlecreek.com/coolplaces/pamphlettrial1c.pdf)
1944 Jan 4, The British Fifth Army attacked Monte Cassino, Italy.
(HN, 1/4/99)
1944 Jan 15, General Eisenhower arrived in England.
(MC, 1/15/02)
1944 Jan 16, Gen. Dwight D. Eisenhower assumed supreme command of the Allied Expeditionary Force in London.
(AP, 1/16/98)(HN, 1/16/99)
1944 Jan 19, In England Helen Duncan (1896-1956), a Scottish spiritualist in Portsmouth, was arrested for informing an audience of the sinking of two British warships long before the news was officially made public. She was found guilty of witchcraft and jailed for nine months. When re-elected in 1951, Churchill repealed the 1735 witchcraft act but Duncan's conviction was never quashed. In 2007 her granddaughter launched a fresh campaign to gain a posthumous pardon for Britain's last convicted witch.
(AP, 1/15/07)
1944 Jan 20, RAF dropped 2300 1-ton bombs on Berlin.
(MC, 1/20/02)
1944 Jan 21, Some 649 British bombers attacked Magdeburg.
(MC, 1/21/02)
1944 Jan 21, Some 447 German bombers attacked London.
(MC, 1/21/02)
1944 Jan 28, 683 British bombers attacked Berlin.
(MC, 1/28/02)
1944 Feb 2, Andrew Davis, conductor, was born in Ashbridge, England.
(MC, 2/2/02)
1944 Feb 15, 891 British bombers attacked Berlin.
(MC, 2/15/02)
1944 Mar 1, Roger Daltrey Hammersmith, rocker, actor, producer (The Who-Tommy), was born in London, England.
(SC, 3/1/02)
1944 Mar 10, The Irish refused to oust all Axis envoys and denied the accusation of spying on Allied troops.
(HN, 3/10/98)
1944 Mar 12, Great Britain barred all travel to neutral Ireland, which was suspected of collaborating with Nazi Germany.
(HN, 3/12/99)
1944 Mar 22, Over 600 8th Air Force bombers attacked Berlin.
(MC, 3/22/02)
1944 Mar 23, Nicholas Alkemade fell 5,500 meter without a parachute and lived. [see Mar 25]
(SS, 3/23/02)
1944 Mar 24, 811 British bombers attacked Berlin.
(MC, 3/24/02)
1944 Mar 24, British Major Orde Wingate (b.1903) died along with nine others in an air crash in northeast India. He was flying in the USAAF B-25H-1-NA Mitchell bomber, 43-4242, of the 1st Air Commando Group. He is known for creating special military units in Palestine in the 1930s, and in Abyssinia, Sudan and Burma during World War II.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Orde_Wingate)
1944 Mar 25, RAF Sgt. Nickolas Alkemade survived a jump from his Lancaster bomber from 18,000 feet without a parachute. [see Mar 23]
(MC, 3/25/02)
1944 Mar 26, 705 British bombers attacked Essen.
(SS, 3/26/02)
1944 Mar 30, 781 British bombers attacked Nuremberg.
(MC, 3/30/02)
1944 Apr 3, British dive bombers attacked the battle cruiser Tirpitz.
(MC, 4/3/02)
1944 Apr 4, British troops captured Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.
(MC, 4/4/02)
1944 Apr 5, 140 Lancasters bombed airplane manufacturer in Toulouse.
(MC, 4/5/02)
1944 Apr 24, British air force bombers hammered a former Jesuit college housing the Bavarian Academy of Science. Anton Spitaler (1910-2003), an Arabic scholar at the academy, later lamented the loss of a unique photo archive of ancient manuscripts of the Quran. His story however was a lie, and the collection survived hidden in his hands.
(WSJ, 1/12/08, p.A1)
1944 April 28, Exercise "Tiger" ended with 749 U.S. soldiers and sailors killed, when their D-Day landing practice was attacked by German torpedo boats off the south coast of England. The casualties were not announced until nearly two months after the Normandy invasion. Full details were not known until 1974.
(MC, 4/28/02)(AP, 4/27/04)
1944 May 5, John Rhys-Davies, actor (Sir Edward-Quest, Sliders), was born in Salisbury England.
(MC, 5/5/02)
1944 May 14, 91 German bombers harassed Bristol.
(MC, 5/14/02)
1944 May 15, Eisenhower, Montgomery, Churchill and George VI discussed the D-Day plan.
(MC, 5/15/02)
1944 May 25, Frank Oz, puppeteer (Sesame St, Muppet Show), was born in Heresford, England.
(SC, 5/25/02)
1944 May 29, British troops occupied Aprilia, Italy.
(SC, 5/29/02)
1944 May, Britain’s government decided to bulldoze the village of Heath Row to accommodate an expansion of a nearby aerodrome. Residents at Heathrow were evicted to make way for a new airport. It opened with two runways in 1946.
(Econ, 7/20/13, p.51)(Econ, 10/15/16, p.51)
1944 Jun 1, The British Broadcasting Corp. broadcasted a line of poetry by the 19th century French poet Paul Verlaine. It was a coded message intended to warn the French resistance that the D-Day invasion was imminent, "The long sobs of the violins of autumn."
(DTnet 6/1/97)
1944 Jun 6, By the end of D-Day 156,000 Allied soldiers had come ashore on the Normandy beaches with losses of 2,500 men. By the end of the day, the Allies had established a tenuous beachhead that would lead to an offensive that pinned Adolf Hitler's Third Reich between two pincers--the Western Allies and the already advancing Soviets--accelerating the end of World War II. A million Allied troops, under the overall command of General Dwight D. Eisenhower, moved onto five Normandy beachheads in three weeks. Operations “Neptune" and “Overlord" put forces on the beaches and supplies aimed at the liberation of Europe and the conquest of Germany. Operation Overlord landed 400,000 Allied American, British, and Canadian troops on the beaches of Normandy, France. In addition, US and British airborne forces landed behind the German lines and US Army Rangers scaled the cliffs at Pointe de Hoc. More than 6,000 trucks of the Red Ball Express kept gasoline and other vital supplies rolling in as American troops and tanks pushed the Germans back toward their homeland.
(SDUT, 6/6/97, p.B9)(HN, 6/6/98)(HNPD, 6/6/99)(ON, 2/08, p.12)
1944 Jun 6, The code names for the beaches used by the British for the D-day invasion of Normandy were Sword and Gold.
(HNQ, 8/13/98)
1944 Jun 13, Only one week after the Normandy invasion, the first German V-1 buzz bomb, also called the doodlebug (Fieseler Fi-103), was fired at London. The first guided missile to be used in force, the V-1 was powered by a pulse-jet engine and resembled a small aircraft. Only one of the four missiles London saw that day caused any casualties, but a steady stream of V-1s causing severe damage and casualties fell on London in coming months. At times, nearly 100 bombs fell each day. Many German buzz bombs never reached their targets because of primitive guidance systems or because they were destroyed in flight by anti-aircraft fire or intercepting Allied fighters.
(www.historyplace.com/worldwar2/timeline/v1.htm)(AP, 6/13/97)(HNQ, 6/13/98)
1944 Jun 25, British assault at Caen, Normandy.
(MC, 6/25/02)
1944 Jun, Frank Thompson (23), British soldier and poet, was captured and executed in Bulgaria. In 2012 Peter Conradi authored “A Very English Hero: The Making of Frank Thompson."
{Britain, Poet, WWII}
(Economist, 9/8/12, p.82)
1944 Jul 1, Over 2500 were killed in London and SE England by German flying bombs.
(MC, 7/1/02)
1944 Jul 15, Greenwich Observatory was damaged by German V1 rocket.
(MC, 7/15/02)
1944 Jul 18, British Mosquitos attacked Cologne and Berlin.
(MC, 7/18/02)
1944 Jul 20, A heavy storm hampered a British offensive at Caen.
(MC, 7/20/02)
1944 Aug 4, British 8th army reached the suburbs of Florence, Italy.
(MC, 8/4/02)
1944 Aug 4, A Halifax JP-276A took off on its final flight from the Italian city of Brindisi around 8 p.m., to drop weapons, ammunition and medical supplies for resistance fighters involved in the Warsaw Uprising against the Nazis. The plane was shot down by Poland's Nazis occupiers and crashed near the town of Dabrowa Tarnowska, in southern Poland. Remnants were recovered in 2006 and the remains of the crew, 5 Canadians and 2 Britons, were formally buried in 2007.
(AP, 10/4/07)
1944 Aug 12, Churchill and Tito met in Naples.
(MC, 8/12/02)
1944 Sep 12, A US submarine patrol that included the USS Pampanito, the Growler and the Sealion II, came upon a Japanese convoy carrying war material. The Japanese transport Kachidoki Maru, carrying over 900 British soldier, was sunk by the Pampanito. Much of the convoy was sunk including most of some 2,000 Allied prisoners of war. The subs after chasing stragglers of the convoy returned to find 159 British and Australian survivors clinging to wreckage [see Sep 14]. Some 1000 POWs from Australia were on the Japanese freighter Enoura Maru sunk by the USS Sealion. Alistair Urquhart of Scotland, a prisoner on the Kachidoki Maru, was picked up 5 days later by a Japanese whaling ship and taken to Japan, where he was forced to work in a coal mine. Kachidoki Maru had been captured earlier in the war as the President Harrison home ported in SF. The Pampanito was later berthed as a visitor attraction in SF. In 2008 Urquhart (89) visited the Pampanito.
(SFC, 5/27/97, p.A17)(SFC,12/5/97, p.C3)(SFC, 9/17/08, p.B1)
1944 Sep 13, Heath Robinson (b.1872), English cartoonist, died. He is best known for drawings of eccentric machines and "Heath Robinson" has entered the language as a description of any unnecessarily complex and implausible contraption.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Heath_Robinson)
1944 Sep 14, The submarine USS Pampanito picked up 73 allied prisoners left adrift following the Sep 12 submarine attack on a Japanese convoy that included the transport ship Rakuyo Maru.
(SFC, 3/18/09, p.B2)
1944 Aug 15, American, British and French forces landed on the southern coast of France, between Toulon and Cannes, in Operation Dragoon.
(AP, 8/15/97)(HN, 8/15/98)
1944 Aug 20, United States and British forces closed the pincers on the German 7th Army in the Falaise-Argentan pocket in France.
(HN, 8/20/98)(MC, 8/20/02)
1944 Aug 20, The US liberty ship SS Richard Montgomery was wrecked off the Nore in the Thames Estuary, with some 1500 tons of explosives. As of 2008 it continued to be a hazard to the area.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SS_Richard_Montgomery)
1944 Aug 21, The US, Britain, the Soviet Union and China opened the Dumbarton Oaks conference in Washington, D.C. It laid the foundation for the establishment of the UN.
(SFEC, 6/29/97, p.T10)(AP, 8/21/07)
1944 Aug 23, A US B-24 crashed into a school in Freckelton, England, and 76 were killed.
(MC, 8/23/02)
1944 Aug 31, The British Eighth Army penetrated the German Gothic Line in Italy.
(HN, 8/31/98)
1944 Sep 4, British troops liberated Antwerp, Belgium.
(HN, 9/4/98)
1944 Sep 6, During World War II, the British government relaxed blackout restrictions and suspended compulsory training for the Home Guard.
(AP, 9/6/97)
1944 Sep 8, Germany's V-2 offensive against England began. The 1st V-2 rockets landed in London & Antwerp.
(HN, 9/8/98)(MC, 9/8/01)
1944 Sep 11, President Roosevelt and British Prime Minister Winston Churchill met in Canada at the second Quebec Conference.
(AP, 9/11/97)
1944 Sep 10, Thomas Allen, British opera singer, was born.
(MC, 9/10/01)
1944 Sep 10, Lt. Gen. Frederick Browning spoke against Montgomery: "But, sir, I think we might be going a bridge too far."
(MC, 9/10/01)
1944 Sep 11, President Roosevelt and British PM Winston Churchill met in Canada at the second Quebec Conference.
(AP, 9/11/97)
1944 Sep 12, The second Quebec Conference opened with President Roosevelt and British Prime Minister Winston Churchill in attendance.
(AP, 9/12/06)
1944 Sep 13, Heath Robinson (b.1872), English cartoonist, died. He is best known for drawings of eccentric machines and "Heath Robinson" has entered the language as a description of any unnecessarily complex and implausible contraption.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Heath_Robinson)
1944 Sep 15, British bombers hit the German pocket battleship Tirpitz with Tallboy bombs.
(www.history.navy)
1944 Sep 16, Glen Miller made his last recording at the Abbey Road studio in London with an Allied Forces band and Dinah Shore.
(Sky, 9/97, p.55)
1944 Sep 17, Infantry glider troops of the 82nd Airborne Division entered Holland. British and American airborne troops parachuted into Holland to capture the Arnhem bridge as part of Operation Market Garden. The plan called for the airborne troops to be relieved by British troops, but they were left stranded and eventually surrendered to the Germans. The 1974 book by Cornelius Ryan, "A Bridge Too Far," was based on this operation and was made into the 1977 film.
(HN, 9/17/98)(HC, 12/12/01)(AP, 9/17/06)
1944 Sep 18, British submarine Tradewind torpedoed Junyo Maru: 5,600 killed. Tradewind, a twin-screw Triton-class boat of the Royal Navy, attacked the Japanese merchant ship Junyo Maru, killing an estimated 4,320 people--around 1,700 Western POWs, 500 Indonesian prisoners and thousands of Japanese slave laborers. Tradewind’s captain, Lt. Cmdr. S.L.C. Maydon, wasn’t aware until many years later that the ship he had sunk had been carrying human cargo, including thousands of his own, and Allied, troops.
(MC, 9/18/01)(HNQ, 3/7/02)
1944 Sep 21, The last British paratroopers at bridge of Arnhem surrendered.
(MC, 9/21/01)
1944 Sep 27, Thousands of British troops were killed as German forces rebuffed their massive effort to capture the Arnhem Bridge across the Rhine River in Holland.
(HN, 9/27/98)
1944 Sep 28, At the Battle of Arnhem the Germans defeated the British airborne in Netherlands.
(MC, 9/28/01)
1944 Nov 6, British official Lord Moyne was assassinated in Cairo, Egypt, by members of the Zionist Stern gang.
(AP, 11/6/06)
1944 Nov 12, The RAF sank the German battleship Tirpitz at Troms Fjord, Norway. Great Britain so feared the Tripitz, that any hint of its use caused escort ships to flee their convoys.
(HN, 11/12/98)(MC, 11/12/01)
1944 Nov 30, Biggest and last British Battleship, HMS Vanguard, ran aground.
(MC, 11/30/01)
1944 Dec 3, A British order to disarm caused a general strike in Greece.
(MC, 12/3/01)
1944 Dec 20, Terence Rattigan’s "O Mistress Mine" premiered in London.
(MC, 12/20/01)
1944 Dec 25, Prime Minister Winston Churchill went to Athens to seek an end to the Greek civil war.
(HN, 12/25/98)
1944 Friedrich August von Hayek (1899-1992), Austrian-born British economist, published "The Road to Serfdom," wherein he defended laissez faire economics and theorized on the problems of a socialist system. He asserted that central planning and individual freedom could not coexist. It became an influential and popular exposition of market libertarianism.
(WSJ, 1/11/99, p.R20)(WSJ, 5/7/99, p.A18)(WSJ, 4/19/01, p.A16)(Econ, 12/24/16, p.30)
1944 Sir Michael Tippett, British composer, composed his oratorio "A Child of Our Time."
(SFC, 1/10/98, p.A19)
1944 The Vegan Society was founded in England. Vegans generally limit their diets to vegetables, fruits, nuts, and grains.
(www.ivu.org/history/societies/vegansocuk.html)
1945 Jan 10, Rod Stewart, rock singer, was born in North London, England.
(SSFC, 10/10/04, Par p.20)
1945 Feb 2, President Roosevelt and British Prime Minister Winston Churchill departed Malta for the Yalta summit with Soviet leader Josef Stalin.
(AP, 2/2/97)
1945 Feb 4-1945 Feb 12, President Roosevelt, British PM Winston Churchill and Soviet leader Josef Stalin held a wartime conference in the Livadia Palace at Yalta, in the southern Ukraine. Roosevelt joked to Stalin that the only concession he might give to Ibn Saud in Saudi Arabia was "the 6 million Jews in the US." In 2012 Michael Dobbs authored “Six Months in 1945: FDR, Stalin, Churchill, and Truman – From World War to Cold War."
(AP, 2/4/97)(WSJ, 3/8/99, p.A16)(SSFC, 11/25/12, p.F4)(Econ, 10/5/13, p.58)
1945 Feb 11, President Roosevelt, British Prime Minister Winston Churchill and Soviet leader Josef Stalin signed the Yalta Agreement during World War II and adjourned.
(HN, 2/11/97)(AP, 2/11/97)
1945 Feb 13, Allied planes began bombing the German city of Dresden. British bombers in Operation Thunderclap firebombed the city of Dresden, Germany, and 135,000 people were killed. The Royal Air Force Bomber Command attacked the city of Dresden at night with raids by 873 heavy bombers. 796 Lancaster heavy bombers were led by 9 target marking Mosquito light bombers. A look at aerial maps of the city before and after the terror attacks clearly shows the large white oil tanks owned by British-controlled Shell Oil. These tanks remained entirely untouched by the bombardment. In 2003 Frederick Taylor authored “Dresden: Tuesday, February 13, 1945."
(http://www.hartford-hwp.com/archives/61/001.html)(WSJ, 10/22/96, p.A20)(SFC, 1/6/97, p.A10)(SFEC, 7/27/97, p.T6)(SFEC, 1/30/00, p.T13)
1945 Mar 1, British 43rd Division under General Essame occupied Xanten.
(SC, 3/1/02)
1945 Mar 3, Churchill visited Montgomery's headquarters.
(SC, 3/3/02)
1945 Mar 8, "Kiss Me Kate" opened in Britain.
(MC, 3/8/02)
1945 Mar 23, Premier Winston Churchill visited Montgomery's headquarter in Straelen.
(SS, 3/23/02)
1945 Mar 23, British 7th Black Watch crossed the Rhine.
(SS, 3/23/02)
1945 Mar 24, Gens. Eisenhower, Montgomery and Bradley discussed advance in Germany.
(MC, 3/24/02)
1945 Mar 26, David Lloyd George (b.1863), former prime minister (1916-1922), died. In 1973 John Grigg (d.2001 at 77) authored "The Young Lloyd George." 2 more volumes of the biography were published in 1978 and 1985.
(WUD, 1994 p.839)(SFC, 1/3/02, p.A16)(SS, 3/26/02)
1945 Mar 28, Germany launched the last of the V-2 rockets (buzz bomb) against England.
(HN, 3/28/99)
1945 Apr 9, German Battleship Admiral Scheer sank a British aircraft carrier.
(MC, 4/9/02)
1945 Apr 15, British and Canadian troops liberated the Nazi concentration camp at Bergen-Belsen. It is a village in west Germany about 30 miles north of Hanover. About 40,000 people were liberated from the camp, although about 13,000 later died of illness. Overall, about 70,000 people died in Belsen.
(AHD, p.122)(AP, 4/17/05)
1945 Apr 25, Some 318 British Lancaster bombers dropped 1,232 tons of bombs on Hitler’s alpine redoubt at Obersalzberg near Berchtesgaden.
(SSFC, 8/6/06, p.G5)
1945 Apr 28, British commands attacked Elbe and occupied Lauenburg.
(MC, 4/28/02)
1945 Apr 30, Lord Haw-Haw called for a crusade against the Bolsheviks.
(MC, 4/30/02)
1945 May 3, A British air force squadron bombed two ships, the Cap Arcona and the Thielbeck and sank them. The pilots knew nothing about the ships' human cargo. SS guards had marched prisoners from Neuengamme to Lubeck on the Baltic coast, as British troops approached, and put some 8,000 inmates onto two ships, the Cap Arcona and the Thielbeck.
(AP, 10/2/10)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SS_Cap_Arcona_%281927%29)
1945 May 9, Jersey was liberated from Nazis.
(MC, 5/9/02)
1945 May 12, The Churchill Barriers were formally opened by the first Lord of the Admiralty. They were built to protect Scapa Flow from enemy submarines. The 5 causeways linked Orkney’s Mainland to South Ronaldsay and marked a dividing line between the North Sea and the Atlantic Ocean. Thousands of Italian prisoners of war carried out the project and left behind their decorated Italian Chapel.
(SSFC, 11/13/05, p.F10)(www.undiscoveredscotland.co.uk/eastmainland/churchill/)
1945 May 19, Peter Townshend, England, rock guitarist, vocalist, composer (Who-Tommy), was born.
(MC, 5/19/02)
1945 May 23, Winston Churchill, the head Britain’s coalition government, resigned pending the upcoming general election. He continued to serve as the head of the caretaker government which lasted till he lost the election on July 26 and officially resigned as PM.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Caretaker_Government_1945)
1945 May 23, British military police arrested Grand Admiral Karl Doenitz, Hitler's designated successor ("Fuhrer for a Weekend").
(MC, 5/23/02)
1945 May 28, Lord Haw Haw (aka William Joyce), a virulent anti-Semite who broadcast pro-Nazi propaganda from Germany during the war, was shot in the leg in an encounter with two British officers near Flensburg on the Danish border with Germany. He was sentenced to death for treason on 19 September 1945 and hanged on 3 January 1946.
(http://www.shef.ac.uk/library/special/joyce.html)
1945 Jun 4, US, Russia, England & France agreed to split occupied Germany.
(MC, 6/4/02)
1945 Jun 7, The opera "Peter Grimes" by Benjamin Britten," premiered in London.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peter_Grimes)
1945 Jun 18, William Joyce, known as "Lord Haw-Haw," was charged in London with high treason for his English-language wartime broadcasts on German radio. He was hanged the following January.
(AP, 6/18/00)
1945 Jul 5, Clement Atlee’s Labour Party won the British parliamentary election.
(http://tinyurl.com/yk38nh)(Econ, 4/13/13, p.26)
1945 Jul 26, The US, Britain and China issued the Potsdam Declaration to Japan that she surrender unconditionally. Two days later Japanese Premier Kantaro Suzuki announced to the Japanese press that the Potsdam declaration is to be ignored. In 1961 Herbert Feis authored “Japan Subdued."
(WSJ, 5/5/95, p.A-12)(WSJ, 1/14/07, p.P8)
1945 Aug 2, President Truman, Soviet leader Josef Stalin and British Prime Minister Clement Attlee concluded the Potsdam conference.
(AP, 8/2/97)
1945 Aug, George Orwell published "Animal Farm" in England.
(SFEC, 10/1/00, BR p.5)
1945 Aug, A British Royal Air Force B24 Liberator bomber crashed in Malaysia. Later research showed that it was carrying supplies for Force 136, a British Special Operations unit.
(AP, 2/6/12)
1945 Sep 16, Japan surrendered Hong Kong to Britain.
(HN, 9/16/98)
1945 Sep 19, Nazi propagandist William Joyce, known as "Lord Haw-Haw," was sentenced to death by a British court.
(AP, 9/19/97)
1945 Oct 14, British Chief Justice Geoffrey Lawrence was elected president of the Int’l. Military Tribunal for the trial of war criminals at Nuremberg. Drexel A. Sprecher (d.2006), a prosecutor during the trial, later edited the official 15-volume work on the 4-year trial.
(http://tinyurl.com/pnk7h)(SFC, 4/11/06, p.B5)
1945 Dec 6, U.S. extended a $3 billion loan to Britain to help compensate for the termination of Lend-Lease.
(HN, 12/6/98)
1945 Dec 13, France and Britain agreed to quit Syria and Lebanon.
(HN, 12/13/98)
1945 Dec 23, Frederick Ashton's "Cinderella" premiered in London.
(MC, 12/23/01)
1945 Dec 27, Foreign ministers from the former Allied nations of the United States, the Soviet Union, and Great Britain agreed to divide Korea into two separate occupation zones and to govern the nation for five years.
(MC, 12/27/01)
1945 Dec 28, Max Hastings, British editor-in-chief (Daily Telegraph), historian, was born.
(MC, 12/28/01)
1945 Dec, Eric Brown (1919-2016), British test pilot, made the first-ever jet aircraft landing on the carrier Ocean.
(https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eric_Brown_%28pilot%29)(Econ, 3/5/15, p.86)
1945 Rev. W. Awdry wrote "The Three Railway Engines." This was his first book and was followed in 1946 by his children’s series of tales that featured "Thomas the Tank Engine."
(SFC, 3/22/97, p.A21)
1945 British author Arthur C. Clarke was the first to put forward the idea of a communications satellite in a magazine article in 1945. The American satellite Telstar, launched in 1962, ushered in the age of satellite communications.
(HNQ, 4/21/99)
1945 Former members of Britain’s Special Operations Executive founded the Special Forces Club in London.
(Econ, 2/16/13, p.69)
1945 In Britain Clement Atlee became the prime minister after WW II. The Labor party toppled Winston Churchill with a 146-seat majority win.
(WSJ, 2/21/97, p.A12)(WSJ, 5/2/97, p.A1)
1945 Britain’s M15 opened a dossier on Harold Wilson (29) and kept it through Wilson's two terms as prime minister in the '60s and '70s. It was opened out of concern for Wilson's contacts with Eastern European businessmen and a belief amongst British civil servants that Wilson may have been sympathetic to Communist ideologies. The file was kept not to undermine Wilson but to keep tabs on contacts deemed suspicious, according to "The Defense of the Realm," the first authorized account of MI5's history serialized in The Times on Oct 3, 2009.
(AP, 10/3/09)
1945 Maria Dickin decorated Rip, a dog, for finding more than 100 people trapped by German bomb damage in World War II. Dickin was the creator of the Dickin Medal program, Britain's highest honor for animals. Rip died in 1948 and is buried in a pet charity cemetery in east London. In 2009 the medal sold at auction in London on Friday for 24,250 pounds ($35,700).
(AP, 4/24/09)
1945 Some 732 teenage concentration camp survivors were settled in Britain. They formed the Primrose Club of London in 1947 to maintain contact. Their story was told in the 1997 book "The Boys: The Story 0f 732 Young Concentration Camp Survivors" by Martin Gilbert.
(SFC, 7/8/97, p.B4)
1945 Russia’s Operation Tarantella, designed to reach emigres who fled after the Communist takeover, turned Viktor Bogomolets back to Moscow. He became a double agent passing British secrets to top-tier Soviet operatives. This was made public in 2007.
(Reuters, 4/2/07)
c1945 The Bank of England was nationalized after WW II.
(WSJ, 3/25/98, p.A22)
1945 By the end of World War II Britain owed India £1.3 billion, an eight of British GDP.
(Econ, 5/7/15, p.78)
1945 British currency forged in Germany, measured by face value, accounted for 12% of all pound sterling bills. Early this year SS leaders switched their attention to forging US dollars. Forging operations, using Jewish and other war prisoners, had begun at the Sachsenhausen concentration camp under SS officer Bernhard Kruger a few years earlier. Nearly 133 million pounds was forged during Operation Bernhard.
(WSJ, 1/22/07, p.A1,13)
1945 Barbara Hutton (1912-1979), heir to the Woolworth fortune, gifted Winfield House, her London mansion, to the United States government and moved to California. In 2008 Maria Tuttle and Marcus Binney authored “Winfield House."
(Econ, 11/1/08, p.96)(www.spiritus-temporis.com/barbara-hutton/)
1945-1946 In India the British government organized elections for a constituent assembly.
(SFEC, 8/3/97, p.A15)
1946 Jan 3, William Joyce, (Lord Haw Haw), was hanged in Britain for treason. He had broadcast for the Nazis to British and American fighting troops. In 2005 Nigel Farndale authored “Haw-Haw: The Tragedy of William and Margaret Joyce."
(www.nationmaster.com/encyclopedia/William-Joyce)(Econ, 7/30/05, p.77)
1946 Jan 10, The first General Assembly of the United Nations convened in London.
(AP, 1/10/98)
1946 Mar 1, British Government took control of Bank of England, after 252 years.
(SC, 3/1/02)
1946 Mar 15, British premier Attlee agreed with India's right to independence.
(MC, 3/15/02)
1946 Mar 22, The British mandate in Transjordan came to an end. Britain signed a treaty granting independence to Jordan.
(AP, 3/22/97)(HN, 3/22/97)
1943 Apr 6, British and American armies linked up in Africa.
(HN, 4/6/98)
1946 Apr 19, Tim Curry, actor (Rocky Horror Show), was born in Cheshire, England.
(MC, 4/19/02)
1946 Apr 21, John M. Keynes (62), English economist, died. He had recently negotiated a loan from the US to keep Britain afloat. One condition of the $5 billion loan was that Britain make sterling fully convertible into dollars. In 2000 Robert Skidelsky authored “John Maynard Keynes: Fighting for Britain: 1937-1946." In 2009 Peter Clarke authored “Keynes: The Twentieth Century’s Most Influential Economist." Robert Skidelsky authored “Keynes: The Return of the Master." In 2015 Richard Davenport-Hines authored “Universal Man: The Lives of John Maynard Keynes."
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Maynard_Keynes)(WSJ, 6/20/08, p.A11)(Econ, 10/3/09, p.103)(Econ, 10/31/09, p.84)(Econ, 9/25/10, p.85)(Econ, 5/9/15, p.80)
1946 Apr, The British Labour government authorized a mission to visit suitable sites in its Tanganyika colony to cultivate groundnuts. The British Labour government of Clement Attlee had come up with a plan to cultivate tracts of what later became Tanzania with peanuts in a plan that came to be called the Tanganyika Groundnut Scheme. It was abandoned at considerable cost to the taxpayers when it did not become profitable.
(AP, 6/1/09)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tanganyika_groundnut_scheme)
1946 Aug 13, Britain transferred illegal immigrants bound for Palestine to Cyprus.
(MC, 8/13/02)
1946 Aug 13, H.G. Wells (b.1866), sci-fi author (Time Machine), died in London.
(AP, 8/13/00)
1946 Sep 6, Terence Rattigan's "Winslow Boy," premiered in London.
(MC, 9/6/01)
1946 Sep 19, Winston Churchill made a speech in Zurich where he said: If Europe were once united in the sharing of its common inheritance there would be no limit to the happiness, prosperity, and glory of which its 300 or 400 million people would enjoy."
(WSJ, 3/25/98, p.A22)
1946 Sep 20, Churchill argued for a "US of Europe." [see Sep 19]
(MC, 9/20/01)
1946 Sep, Britain, France and the United States set up the Tripartite Gold Commission to oversee the return of some $4 billion in gold plundered by the Nazis from European treasuries. The commission closed in 1998.
(SFC, 9/10/98, p.C2)
1946 Oct 22, Two British ships sank near Albania. British destroyers hit mines off Albania's coast. The United Nations and the International Court of Justice condemned Albania.
(www, Albania, 1998)(MC, 10/22/01)
1946 Oct 25, Karl Popper spoke at Cambridge before the weekly meeting of the Moral Science Club on the subject: "Are There Philosophical Problems?" Ludwig Wittgenstein took issue with the presentation and a heated exchange followed. In 2001 David Edmonds and John Eidinow authored "Wittgenstein’s Poker: The Story of a Ten-Minute Argument Between Two Great Philosophers."
(SSFC, 12/30/01, p.M3)
1946 Dec 2, The U.S. and Britain merged the German occupation zones.
(HN, 12/2/98)
1946 Dec 19, Noel Coward's musical "Pacific 1860," premiered in London.
(MC, 12/19/01)
1946 The Gormenghast series of three novels by English writer Mervyn Peake (1911-1968) began with “Titus Groan," which was followed by Gormenghast (1950) and Titus Alone (1959). They featured Castle Gormenghast, and Titus Groan, the title character of the first book.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gormenghast_%28series%29)
1946 George Mikes (1912-1987), a Hungarian living in England, published “How to Be An Alien." It was about a foreigner’s view of England.
(Econ, 12/19/09, p.110)
1946 V.S. Pritchett became the director of the weekly New Statesman. He had begun contributing to the left-wing weekly in 1926.
(SFC, 3/22/97, p.A21)
1946 Alistair Cooke began writing his "Letter from America." It was initially supposed to be a 13-week BBC radio series which described American life to Britons.
(SFEC, 11/29/98, Z1 p.7)
1946 The British M16 intelligence agency absorbed the Special Operations Executive.
(Econ, 3/19/05, p.34)
1946 Allan Nunn May (d.2003 at 91), British atomic scientist, was unmasked as a Soviet spy. In 1942 he joined a team of Cambridge scientists for the Manhattan Project and was recruited by the Soviets in Montreal in 1943. may was sentenced to 10 years of hard labor and served 6.
(SFC, 1/25/03, p.A17)
1946 In England Lancelot Ware (d.2000 at 85), Oxford postgraduate student, and barrister Roland Berrill (d.1961) founded the High IQ Club, later known as Mensa.
(SFC, 8/19/00, p.A19)(www.mensa.org/)
1946 Heathrow Airport, an air base near London for fighter planes during WWII, was converted to civilian use. A modified Avro Lancastrian bomber made the first scheduled flight.
(Econ, 3/29/08, p.91)(Econ, 3/30/13, p.55)
1946-1961 The Tanganyika Territory was a British trusteeship.
(WUD, 1994, p.1452)
1947 Jan 5, Great Britain nationalized its coal mines.
(HN, 1/5/99)
1947 Jan 13, British troops replaced striking truck drivers.
(HN, 1/13/99)
1947 Jan 27, Britain agreed to give Burma independence following negotiations with nationalist leader Aung San.
(www.myanmar.gov.mm/Perspective/persp2001/2-2001/uni.htm)(SFC, 5/7/02, p.A9)
1947 Feb 5, The Soviet Union and Great Britain rejected terms for an American trusteeship over Japanese Pacific Isles.
(HN, 2/5/99)
1947 Feb 20, The British pledged to leave India by June 1948.
(HN, 2/20/98)
1947 Feb 20, Lord Louis Mountbatten was appointed the last viceroy of India.
(MC, 2/20/02)
1947 Feb 28, Britain and France signed a 50-year pact to curb Germany.
(HN, 2/28/98)
1947 Mar 4, France and Britain signed an alliance treaty.
(HN, 3/4/98)
1947 Mar 6, Winston Churchill opposed the withdrawal of troops from India.
(HN, 3/6/98)
1947 Mar 25, Elton John, [Reginald Kenneth Dwight], English singer (Rocketman), was born.
(MC, 3/25/02)
1947 Jun 3, In Britain an announcement was made in the House of Commons that India was to be partitioned and that independence would follow. In 2007 Yasmin Khan authored “The Great Partition: The Making of India and Pakistan." In 2015 Nisid Hajari authored “Midnight’s Furies: The Deadly Legacy of India’s Partition."
(Econ, 7/21/07, p.81)(Econ, 7/4/15, p.70)
1947 Jun 5, David Hare, British playwright and director (A Map of the World, Slag), was born.
(HN, 6/5/01)
1947 Jun 15, The All-Indian Congress accepted a British plan for the partition of India. Britain partitioned the subcontinent and Pakistan was founded as an independent country.
(SFC, 7/1/97, p.A9)(HN, 6/15/98)
1947 Jul 9, The engagement of Britain's Princess Elizabeth to Lt. Philip Mountbatten was announced.
(AP, 7/9/97)
1947 Jul 10, Camilla Parker Bowles, lover of Prince Charles, was born.
(MC, 7/10/02)
1947 Jul 15, Convertibility of British sterling into US dollars, negotiated as part of a $5 billion US loan to Britain in 1946, came into effect. It caused an immediate run on the pound and was abandoned on August 20.
(WSJ, 6/20/08, p.A11)
1947 Jul 18, King George VI signed the Indian Independence Bill. In 2008 Peter Clarke authored “The Last Thousand Days of the British Empire.
(http://indiainteracts.com/columnist/2007/08/15/The-60-days-to-Aug-15-1947India-at-60/)(WSJ, 6/20/08, p.A11)
1947 Jul 18, British seized the "Exodus 1947" ship of Jewish immigrants to Palestine. The British Royal Navy intercepted the ship President Warfield, which had been renamed Exodus by its passengers, forcing the 4,000 Jewish would-be immigrants aboard back to Displaced Person camps in Germany. Britain was still the ruling power in Palestine, which was being wracked by conflict resulting from Jewish national aspirations. The return of the Jewish immigrants, many of them survivors of Nazi persecution, heightened anti-British sentiment among Jews in Palestine and elsewhere. Yossi Harel, commander of the Exodus, died in 2008 at age 90.
(MC, 7/18/02)(HNQ, 12/4/98)(AP, 4/26/08)
1947 Jul 21, Cat Stevens, rock vocalist (Peace Train, Father & Son), was born as Steven Demetre Georgiou. The British singer-songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, educator, philanthropist, converted to Islam in Dec 1977. In 1978 he adopted the name of Yusuf Islam.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cat_Stevens)
1947 Jul 31, The Jewish underground Irgun Zvai Leumi said it hanged 2 British sergeants in Palestine.
(G&M, 7/31/97, p.A2)
1947 Jul, A prisoner camp in Bad Nenndorf, a spa town in northwest Germany occupied by the British after the war, was closed. In 2005 a Guardian report cited documents recently released under the Freedom of Information Act that described the suffering of some of 372 men and 44 women detained at the camp.
(AP, 12/17/05)
1947 Aug 15, India gained independence after some 200 years of British rule. Britain partitioned the subcontinent. Prior to independence, 565 princes ruled a third of India. After independence the government let the royals retain their titles and assets in return for incorporating their principalities into the new nation. The 664 princely states of India were given the choice of which country they wanted to join. Although most of the people of Kashmir were Muslim, the maharaja was Hindu and he appealed to India for help. Independence in Pakistan and India led to bloody conflicts and thousands died. In 1999 Fareed Zakaria published "Raj: The Making and Unmaking of British India." In 2006 David Gilmour authored “The Ruling Caste," an account of Britain’s Indian Civil Service (ICS).
(WSJ, 1/9/95, A-8)(WSJ, 12/21/95, p.A-12)(WSJ, 5/16/96, p.A-10)(SFEC, 8/3/97, p.A15)(AP, 8/15/97)(SFC, 6/4/98, p.C2)(WSJ, 1/29/99, p.W7)(WSJ, 2/23/06, p.D8)
1947 Sep 8, British government sailed the "Exodus" with fugitives from Nazis.
(MC, 9/8/01)
1947 Nov 12, Emmuska Orczy (82), British author (Scarlet Pimpernel), died.
(MC, 11/12/01)
1947 Nov 20, Princess Elizabeth (future Queen Elizabeth II) married Philip Mountbatten, Duke of Edinburgh, in a ceremony broadcast worldwide from Westminster Abbey.
(HN, 11/20/98)(SFEM, 1/26/97, p.44)(AP, 11/20/97)
1947 Dec 1, Samuel Courtauld (b.1876), English industrialist and art collector, died. In 1932 He founded the Courtauld Institute of Art in London.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Samuel_Courtauld_%28art_collector%29)(Econ, 2/16/13, p.84)
1947 Dec 1, Aleister Edward S. Crowley (b.1875), British occultist, died. In 2000 Lawrence Sutin authored "Do What Thou Wilt, A Life of Aleister Crowley."
(SSFC, 1/14/01, BR p.12)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aleister_Crowley)
1947 Dec 1, Godfrey Harold Hardy (b.1877), English mathematician, died. Non-mathematicians usually know G.H. Hardy for “A Mathematician's Apology," his essay from 1940 on the aesthetics of mathematics.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/G._H._Hardy)
1947 Penelope Dimont (later Penelope Mortimer), published her first novel, "Johanna."
(SFC, 10/23/99, p.A21)
1947 C.S. Forester wrote "Mr. Midshipman Hornblower," in which he introduced his character Horatio Hornblower as a 17-year-old midshipman in the English Navy. Hornblower was loosely based on the life of Adm. Lord Nelson. Forester wrote 11 Hornblower books and also wrote "The African Queen." Hornblower was made into a 4-part A&E TV miniseries in 1999.
(WSJ, 7/10/98, p.W10)(WSJ, 4/5/99, p.A20)
1947 A.A. Milne, author of "Winnie the Pooh," gave publisher E.P. Dutton the original stuffed animals of the stories he began writing in 1926 for his son, Christopher Robbin. The animals were turned over to the New York Public Library in 1987. In 1998 the British requested that they be returned to England.
(SFC, 2/5/98, p.A12)
1947 Britain’s Labor government introduced the Town and Country Planning Act, which regulated private house building.
(Econ, 1/11/14, p.47)
1947 Britain amid post-war rationing and food shortages introduced the snoek, a relative of the barracuda, to a hungry nation.
(Econ, 11/1/08, p.66)
1947 England was hit by calamitous floods. About 27,000 houses were reported flooded. About a million Londoners lost their water supply.
(Econ, 2/15/14, p.50)
1947 Bangladesh as part of Pakistan gained independence from Britain.
(SFC, 7/1/97, p.A9)
1948 Jan 4, Britain granted independence to Burma (later renamed to Myanmar). Aung San had arranged for national independence on this day but was assassinated before the event by political rivals. The new rulers tried to limit citizenship to those whose roots predated 1823 and British rule.
(SFEC, 1/19/97, Par p.4)(AP, 1/4/98)(Econ, 11/3/12, p.44)
1948 Feb 4, Colonial rule ended and the island nation of Ceylon -- now Sri Lanka -- became an independent dominion within the British Commonwealth.
(SFE, 9/16/96, p.A9)(SFC, 6/20/96, p.A8)(AP, 2/4/97)
1948 Mar 18, France, Great Britain and Benelux signed the Treaty of Brussels.
(MC, 3/18/02)
1948 May 15, A 28 year old British Mandate over Palestine ended.
(MC, 5/15/02)
1948 Jun 21, Lord Mountbatten resigned as Viceroy of India.
(MC, 6/21/02)
1948 Jun 26, The Berlin Airlift began in earnest as the United States, Britain and France started ferrying supplies to the isolated western sector of Berlin, after the Soviet Union cut off land and water routes. The Soviets had been harassing the French, British and American authorities in Berlin for weeks, trying to force them from the city. Finally, when all surface routes to the city were blockaded, it became clear that an airlift through the Allied sectors was the only way to re-supply the 2 million West Berliners. In spite of the enormous human and financial cost, “Operation Vittles" supplied food, fuel and hope to beleaguered citizens until the Soviet barricades were finally lifted on May 12, 1949. In 2010 Richard Reeves authored “Daring Young Men: The Heroism and Triumph of the Berlin Airlift, June 1948-May 1949."
(AP, 6/26/98)(HN, 6/26/99)(http://tinyurl.com/gqhi)(Econ, 1/2/10, p.63)
1948 Jul 5, Britain's National Health Service Act went into effect, providing government-financed medical and dental care. Aneurin Bevan, Welsh Labour minister of health, was its political founder. The first NHS patient was treated at Trafford hospital near Manchester.
(AP, 7/5/98)(Econ, 5/7/11, p.62)
1948 Jul 29, Britain's King George VI opened the first Olympics since 1936 in London. Germany and Japan were not invited and the Soviet Union chose not to attend. Alice Coachman of the US was the first black woman to win a gold medal when she triumphed in the high jump. Audrey "Mickey" Patterson-Tyler (1927-1996) was the first black woman to win an Olympic medal. She won a bronze medal in the 200-meter dash.
(TMC, 1994, p.1948)(WSJ, 6/7/96, p.A1)(SFEC, 8/25/96, p.B5)(AP, 7/29/97)(WSJ, 4/12/08, p.R2)
1948 Aug 6, Victoria Manalo Draves (1924-2010) became the 1st woman to win 2 diving gold medals, and the 1st Asian American woman to win an Olympic medal.
(http://tinyurl.com/3ytlucx)(SFC, 6/3/05, p.F1)(SFC, 4/28/10, p.C4)
1948 Aug 6, Bob Mathias, later a US state representative, won the decathlon at the London Olympics. His unofficial title became "the world's greatest athlete." He won gold again in 1952.
(AP, 8/6/98)(SFC, 11/10/99, p.E7)(WSJ, 7/23/96, p.A6)
1948 Aug 14, The summer Olympic games in London ended.
(AP, 8/14/08)
1948 Sep 19, Jeremy Irons, England, actor (French Lieutenant's Woman), was born.
(MC, 9/19/01)
1948 Nov 14, Charles, Prince of Wales and heir to the throne of England, was born.
(HN, 11/14/98)
1948 Nov 17, Britain's House of Commons voted to nationalize steel industry.
(MC, 11/17/01)
1948 Dec 12, British soldiers surrounded the Sungai Rimoh rubber estate in Batang Kali, shot 24 rubber plantation workers and set the village on fire. In 1970 Britain’s incoming Conservative administration dropped a police investigation, claiming a lack of evidence. In 2012 relatives of killed workers lost their High Court battle for a full inquiry by the British government.
(AFP, 9/4/12)
1948 The British noir film “The Fallen Idol" was directed by Carol Reed.
(SFC, 6/2/16, p.F8)
1948 Lewis Fry Richardson, British physicist, authored a paper on the mathematics of war. He showed that the probability of wars having a particular number of casualties followed a mathematical relationship known as a power law. This was probably the first rigorous analysis of the statistics of war.
(Econ, 7/23/05, p.74)(Econ, 4/2/11, p.76)
1948 Composer Benjamin Britten (1913-1976) co-founded the Aldeburgh Festival with Sir Peter Pears and writer Eric Crozier. In 1967 Britten and Pears created a permanent home at Snape, 5 miles from Aldeburgh, by converting a Victorian maltings into an 832-seat venue. By 1972 the Britten-Pears young artist program welcomed young players from around the world.
(www.aldeburgh.co.uk/about_us/history)(WSJ, 7/26/99, p.A21)(Econ, 6/6/09, p.84)
1948 Sir John Woolf and his brother James founded Romulus Films and its distribution arm, Remus.
(SFC, 7/1/99, p.C4)
1948 The Commonwealth Development Corporation was founded by the British government with an aim to demonstrate "the power of enterprise and private capital to reduce poverty in the poorest places of the world."
(Reuters, 2/1/12)
1948 Britain nationalized the London Underground.
(Econ, 1/22/05, p.81)
1948 British carmaker Rover developed the Jeep-like Land Rover.
(WSJ, 9/16/05, p.W12)
1948 Trevor Wilkinson incorporated TVR Engineering, a small British carmaker. He left the company in 1962 and in 1965 it was sold to Martin Lilly.
(SFC, 6/16/08, p.B3)
1948 The British Jaguar XK120 was introduced as the world’s fastest standard production car. It was the brainchild of Jaguar founder Sir William Lyons.
(SSFC, 8/21/11, p.H1)
1948 Marie Provaznikova, Czech athlete, became the first to defect from a Communist country during the Olympics in London.
(WSJ, 4/12/08, p.R2)(www.sokolnewyork.org/history002.htm)
1948 The London-based Mondo company began producing rubber balls for a local fistball game. It grew to become a major maker of prefabricated running track.
(SFC, 3/17/11, p.72)
1948 Robert Ford (1923-2013), British radio operator, was hired by the Tibetans to create a modern communications network. In 1950 he was imprisoned by Chinese authorities and spent five years in jail.
(Econ, 10/5/13, p.98)
1948 Ann Curtis (1926-2012) of San Francisco won two gold medals and one silver in swimming at the London Olympics.
(SFC, 9/25/96, p.E10)(SFC, 1/31/15, p.C2)
1948 The Nizam of Hyderabad, India’s biggest and richest princely state, sent envoys to London with a purse or £1 million to give to Pakistan, which had been shipping him arms. By the time the money was deposited an Indian invasion forced him to switch sides and the money has languished in London ever since.
(Econ, 8/19/17, p.33)
1949 Mar 15, Almost four years after the end of World War II, clothes rationing in Great Britain ends.
(HN, 3/15/99)
1949 Apr 4, The (NATO) North Atlantic Treaty Organization pact was signed by the US, Great Britain, France, Belgium, the Netherlands, Luxembourg, Italy, Portugal, Denmark, Iceland, Norway and Canada. It provided for mutual defense against aggression and for close military cooperation.
(www.nato.int/cps/en/natolive/official_texts_17120.htm)(TOH, 1982, p.1949)
1949 Apr 17, At midnight 26 counties officially left the British Commonwealth. A 21-gun salute on O'Connell Bridge, Dublin, ushered in the Republic of Ireland.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1949_in_Ireland)
1949 Apr 19, The Amethyst Affair began when the British frigate Amethyst came under fire from Communist Chinese artillery and ran aground in the Yangtze River. A tense, 103-day standoff followed until the frigate made a daring escape on July 30. The Amethyst lost 22 men killed and 31 wounded in the ordeal. Rescue attempts by the Royal Navy resulted in another 23 British sailors killed.
(HNQ, 2/5/99)
1949 May 4, Graham Swift, British novelist (The Sweet Shop Owner, Out of this World), was born.
(HN, 5/4/01)
1949 May 13, The 1st British-produced jet bomber, Canberra, made its 1st test flight.
(MC, 5/13/02)
1949 May 17, The British House of Commons adopted the Ireland Bill that recognized the independence of the Republic of Ireland, but affirmed the position of Northern Ireland within the United Kingdom.
(EWH, 1968, p.1166)
1949 May 29, Gary Brooker, rock keyboardist (Procol Harum), was born in Essex, England.
(SC, 5/29/02)
1949 May 29, Francis Rossi, guitarist, vocalist (Status Quo-Down Down, Picture of a Matchstick Man), was born in London, England.
(SC, 5/29/02)
1949 Jul 27, The British 36-seat jet-propelled De Havilland Comet 1 flew for the first time. This was the world’s first passenger jet.
(www.centennialofflight.gov/essay/Commercial_Aviation/Opening_of_Jet_era/Tran6.htm)(Econ, 11/22/14, p.51)
1949 Jul 30, British warship HMS Amethyst escaped down Yangtze River after having been refused a safe passage by Chinese Communists after 3-month standoff.
(MC, 7/30/02)
1949 Sep 30, The Berlin airlift ended its operation after 277,264 flights. Through accidents 31 Americans lost their lives in support of the airlift. The Berlin Airlift, which began on June 26, 1948, and lasted 321 days, consisted of 272,264 flights by British and American airmen. They transported some 2.3 million tons of food to supply the 2.1 million residents of the blockaded portion of the city. The operation ended after 278,288 flights and delivery of 2,326,406 tons of supplies. In 2010 Richard Reeves authored “Daring Young Men: The Heroism and Triumph of the Berlin Airlift, June 1948-May 1949."
(EWH, 1968, p.1180)(AP, 9/30/97)(SFC, 5/12/98, p.A14)(HNQ, 7/9/98)(SSFC, 3/28/10, p.f3)
1949 Nov 24, The Iron and Steel Act nationalized the steel industry in Britain.
(HN, 11/24/98)
1949 Nov 26, India adopted a constitution as a republic within the British Commonwealth. Pandit Nehru became Prime Minister. B.R. Ambedkar (1891-1956), a Dalit, was the chief architect of the constitution.
(HN, 11/26/98)(AP, 11/26/07)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/B._R._Ambedkar)
1949 T.S. Eliot wrote his play "The Cocktail Party" for Rudolph Bing’s Edinburgh Festival.
(WSJ, 9/5/97, p.A10)
1949 Doris Lessing (30), author, left her girlhood home in Rhodesia (Zimbabwe) for England. The 2nd volume of her autobiography was "Walking in the Shade (1949-1962)."
(SSFC, 2/24/02, p.M3)
1949 George Orwell’s (1903-1950) novel "Nineteen Eighty-Four" was published. He was inspired by the Russian author Yevgeny Zamyatin, who wrote an antiutopian novel warning against intoxication with technology. Orwell asserted that technology is an instrument of tyranny. In his novel Orwell described a machine called a versificator that generated music for the masses. “Who controls the past controls the future. Who controls the present, controls the past."
(WSJ, 11/4/98, p.A12)(WSJ, 1/11/99, p.R14)(Econ, 6/10/06, Survey p.6)(Econ, 9/15/07, p.70)
1949 Britain’s University College of North Staffordshire was set up by Oxford don A.D. Lindsay. In 1962 it was renamed Keele University.
(Econ, 6/25/16, p.53)
1949 Britain devalued the pound from $4.03 to $2.80. Most European nations followed.
(TOH, 1982, p.1949)
1949 Britain passed the National Parks and Access to the Countryside Act, which established and extensive network of public rights of way and encouraged landowners to voluntarily grant access to their land.
(SFC, 6/21/99, p.A10)
1949 A British sex survey, originally meant for national newspapers, was conducted but never published due to its content. The survey was public in 2006 and showed that one in five men had homosexual experiences and a quarter admitted to having sex with prostitutes. One in five women confessed to extra-marital affairs.
(Reuters, 9/26/06)
1949 Leslie Ratner opened his first jewelry shop in Richmond, just outside of London. The operation grew to become Signet Corp. In 1987 Signet entered the US market with the purchase of the 117-store Sterling Corp. In 1990 it acquired Kay Jewelers.
(WSJ, 6/26/06, p.A1)
1950 Jan 21, George Orwell (46), author, died in London of tuberculosis. His books included Down and Out in Paris and London" (1933) and "1984." William Abrahams (d.1998), editor and novelist, co-authored the 2-volume biography of Orwell: "Life, Death and Art in the Second World War," and "Journey to the Frontier" with Peter Stansky. In 2000 Jeffrey Meyers authored the biography "Orwell: Wintry Conscience of a Generation." Orwell married Sonia Brownell (1918-1980) on his deathbed. In 2003 Hilary Spurling authored "The Gril from the Fiction Department," a biography of Sonia Orwell. In 2003 D.J. Taylor authored "Orwell : The Life."
(AP, 1/21/98)(SFC, 6/5/98, p.D7)(SFC, 6/25/98, p.B12)(SFEC, 10/1/00, BR p.5)(WSJ, 5/16/03, p.W10)(SSFC, 9/28/03, p.M2)
1950 Feb 2, Nuclear physicist Klaus Fuchs was arrested on spy charges. The Klaus Fuchs (d.1988) confession revealed that the Soviet Union obtained the atomic bomb from sources within the Manhattan Project. It was later revealed that Theodore Alvin Hall, a scientist on the project, passed information to the Soviets. The story is told in the 1997 book: "Bombshell: The Secret Story of America’s Spy Conspiracy" by Joseph Albright and Marcia Kunstel. Fuchs served 9 ½ years in a British prison. Ruth Werner (d.2000) served as a contact for Fuchs in Britain.
(http://tinyurl.com/kjpk5)(WSJ, 10/20/97, p.A19)(SFEC, 12/21/97, BR p.7)(SFC, 7/11/00, p.A23)
1950 Mar 1, Klaus Fuchs was sentenced in London to 14 years for atomic espionage.
(SC, 3/1/02)
1950 Mar 9, Timothy John Evans (b.1924), a Welshman, was hanged in the United Kingdom for the murder of his infant daughter at 10 Rillington Place in London. In 1961 Ludovic Kennedy, Scotland-born writer, authored “10 Rillington Place," the story of Timothy Evans, who was hanged for a murder he did not commit.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Timothy_Evans)
1950 Apr 8, Ballet dancer Vaslav Nijinsky died in London.
(AP, 4/8/98)
1950 May 22, Richard Strauss' "4 Last Songs" (4 letzte Lieder) were performed in London.
(www.richard-strauss.com/biography.html)
1950 Jul 18, Richard Branson, British music entrepreneur (Virgin Atlantic), was born.
(MC, 7/18/02)
1950 Aug 8, Florence Chadwick (1918-1995) swam the English Channel from France to Dover in 13 hours and 23 minutes. A year later she swam the reverse in 16:22.
(http://www.ishof.org/70fchadwick.html)
1950 Sep 11, Jan C. Smuts, co-founder of British RAF and S. African PM (1919-48), died at 80.
(MC, 9/11/01)
1950 Sep 23, US Mustangs accidentally bombed British troops on Hill 282 Korea, 17 killed.
(MC, 9/23/01)
1950 Sep 26, Because of forest fire in British Columbia a blue moon appeared in England.
(MC, 9/26/01)
1950 Nov 2, George Bernard Shaw (b.1856), Irish-born, English dramatist (Pygmalion), critic and social reformer, died. Michael Holroyd later authored a 3-volume biography of Shaw.
(V.D.-H.K.p.237)(HN, 7/26/98)(SFEC, 3/5/00, DB p.4)
1950 Nov 16, Egyptian king Farouk demanded the departure of all British troops.
(MC, 11/16/01)
1950 Dec 25, Scottish nationalists stole the Stone of Scone from the British coronation throne in Westminster Abbey. The 485 pound stone was recovered in April 1951.
(HN, 12/25/98)
1950 The William Morris Gallery opened on the site of the artist’s teenaged home in Walthamstow, Essex, England. The Victorian designer (1834-1896) was associated with the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood and the English Arts and Crafts Movement.
(Economist, 9/22/12, p.98)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Morris)
1950 Catherine Cookson (d.1998 at 91), English writer, published her first book, an autobiographical novel titled "Kate Hannigan." She went on write over 90 novels and was made a Dame in 1993.
(SFC, 6/13/98, p.A21)
1950 Elizabeth David (1913-1992), nee Gwynne, published "A Book of Mediterranean Food," which changed British cuisine. In 2001 Artemis Cooper authored "Writing At the Kitchen Table: The Authorized Biography of Elizabeth David."
(SSFC, 3/18/01, BR p.7)
1950 Alan Sainsbury (1902-1998) pioneered Britain’s first self-service grocery.
(SFC, 10/27/98, p.B6)
1950 In England Dr. Richard Doll (1913-2005) and statistician Austin Bradford Hill published a report that linked lung cancer to cigarette smoking.
(SFC, 7/26/05, p.B5)
1950 In London Maurice Wilkins and Rosalind Franklin (d.1958) produced pictures of X-ray diffraction in aligned fibers of DNA. The lab for X-ray crystallography was set up by physicist John Randall. Data from these pictures led Watson and Crick to understand the structure of DNA. In 1975 Anne Sayre (d.1998) published "Rosalind Franklin and DNA."
(Wired, 2/98, p.135)(SFC, 3/19/98, p.C4)
1950-1959 In 2006 Peter Hennessey authored “Having It So Good: Britain in the Fifties."
(Econ, 12/16/06, p.86)
1950-1960s In Britain the Butskellite consensus of the 1950s was based on strong bipartisan support for Keynesian economic management and the welfare state. It was named for Conservative Chancellor of the Exchequer, Lord Butler and Labor's shadow Chancellor, Hugh Gaitskell. it entailed an agreement by Tories not to attack the new Welfare State; in exchange, Labor helped to maintain industrial peace. This enabled a quiet time of economic stagnation in 1950s, which continued into the 1960s.
(http://faculty.smu.edu/jhollifi/Britain.htm)
1951 Jan 1, A British radio soap opera called “The Archers" began airing following pilot shows in 1950. The show was about a British farming community and was still popular as it continued in 2011.
(SFC, 1/5/11, p.E2)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Archers)
1951 Apr 3, Christopher Fry's "Sleep of Prisoners," premiered in Oxford.
(MC, 4/3/02)
1951 May 3, The Festival of Britain, a national exhibition, officially opened.
(SFEC, 4/23/00, p.T4)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Festival_of_Britain)
1951 May 23, Peter Ustinov's "Love of Four Colonels," premiered in London.
(MC, 5/23/02)
1951 Jun 23, British diplomats and Soviet spies Guy Burgess and Donald Maclean fled to the USSR.
(MC, 6/23/02)
1951 Jul 10, In London, England, Randolph Turpin (1928-1966), a black British boxer, defeated world champion Sugar Ray Robinson. Turpin lost a rematch 64 days later in NY.
(SSFC, 10/28/07, p.M3)(http://tinyurl.com/2sxhce)
1951 Sep 11, Florence Chadwick (1918-1995), American endurance swimmer, swam English Channel from England to France in 16 hours & 22 minutes [see Aug 6, 1926]. This made her the first woman to swim the English Channel in both directions, and set a record for the England-France journey. All told, she swam the English Channel four times and the Catalina Channel three times.
(www.answers.com/topic/florence-chadwick)
1951 Oct 17, The Egyptian army fired on British troops.
(MC, 10/17/01)
1951 Oct 25, In a general election, England's Labour Party under Clement Atlee lost to Conservatives. Winston Churchill became prime minister, and Anthony Eden became foreign secretary. The Conservatives and Labour together scooped 97% of the vote.
(Econ., 2/21/15, p.12)(Econ, 5/9/15, p.52)
1951 Oct 26, Winston Churchill was re-elected British PM. [see Oct 25]
(MC, 10/26/01)
1951 Nov 17, Britain reported the development of world’s first nuclear-powered heating system.
(HN, 11/17/98)
1951 Nov 18, British troops occupied Ismailiya, Egypt.
(MC, 11/18/01)
1951 Nov 29, Winston Churchill was re-elected British premier. [see Oct 25,26]
(MC, 11/29/01)
1951 Dec 1, Benjamin Britten's opera "Billy Budd," premiered in London.
(MC, 12/1/01)
1951 Anthony Powell, author, published "A Question of Upbringing," the first of his 12-volume "A Dance to the Music of Time," a chronicle of English upper-middle class morals from the 1920s to the 1970s.
(SFC, 3/30/00, p.C5)
1951 T.H. White (1906-1964), English writer, authored “The Goshawk," and account of his self struggles and the bird he called Gos.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/T._H._White)
1951 The British musical film "Alice in Wonderland" was directed by Dallas Bower (d.1999 at 92).
(SFC, 10/21/99, p.A25)
1951 The 3 1/2* British film "The Man in the White Suit" was directed by Alexander Mackendrick and starred Alec Guiness and Joan Greenwood.
(TVM, 1975, p.360)(SFC, 1/30/98, p.E17)
1951 Wallis Simpson (1896-1986), the Duchess of Windsor, for whom King Edward VIII gave up the British throne, engaged in an affair with playboy Jimmy Donahue. In 2000 Christopher Wilson authored "Dancing with the Devil: The Windsors and Jimmy Donahue."
(AP, 4/24/97)(SFC, 2/28/98, p.A5)(SFC, 1/4/01, p.D10)
1951 In Britain J. Lyons & Co. used the world's first business computer to calculate payrolls and optimum mixes for tea blending.
(WSJ, 1/11/99, p.R14)
1951 The Harwell Dekatron, also known as the Wolverhampton Instrument for Teaching Computation (WITCH), was built at Harwell, the UK's atomic energy research establishment. In 2012 the supercomputer was restored after a period of three years by experts at England's National Museum of Computing in Bletchley Park.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harwell_computer)
1951 The video game NIM was created for the Festival of Britain. It was played on Nimrod, a computer developed by the Ferranti electronics firm.
(Econ, 12/10/11, SR p.12)
1951-1955 Winston Churchill served as Prime Minister a 2nd time.
(WSJ, 9/3/98, p.A6)
1952 Jan 2, In Korea British pilot Desmond Fredrick William Hinton (b.1922) was shot down while on a bombing run targeting railway infrastructure. In 2011 North Korea handed his re-mains over to British officials.
(AP, 5/4/11)(www.atimes.com/atimes/Korea/KH14Dg01.html)
1952 Jan 5, Churchill arrived in Washington to confer with Truman.
(HN, 1/5/99)
1952 Jan 20, British troops occupied Ismalia, Egypt.
(HN, 1/20/99)
1952 Feb 6, Britain's King George VI died of lung cancer. His daughter, Elizabeth II, succeeded him.
(AP, 2/6/97)(WSJ, 8/10/00, p.A16)(SSFC, 3/31/02, p.A3)
1952 Feb 8, Elizabeth was formally proclaimed Queen of England following the Feb 6 death of her father, King George VI. Elizabeth was crowned Jun 2, 1953.
(HN, 2/8/98)(WSJ, 2/13/02, p.A21)
1952 Feb 26, Prime Minister Winston Churchill announced that Britain had developed its own atomic bomb.
(AP, 2/26/98)
1952 Mar 1, Helgoland, in North Sea, was returned to West Germany by Britain.
(SC, 3/1/02)
1952 Mar 5, Terence Rattigan's "Deep Blue Sea," premiered in London.
(MC, 3/5/02)
1952 Mar 25, The U.S., Britain, and France rejected the Soviet proposal for an armed, reunified, neutral Germany.
(HN, 3/24/98)
1952 Apr 21, BOAC began 1st passenger service with jets from London to Rome.
(MC, 4/21/02)
1952 May 2, The British Overseas Aircraft Corporation (BOAC), the national British carrier, introduced the world’s 1st commercial jet airliner service. Initial flights took passengers from London to Johannesburg in South Africa, with stops. The British De Havilland Comet, the first commercial jetliner, was grounded later this year after a series of fatal crashes. Its flaws were fixed and the plane went on to deliver years of reliable service.
(www.centennialofflight.gov/essay/Commercial_Aviation/Opening_of_Jet_era/Tran6.htm)(Econ, 1/19/13, p.65)
1952 May 29, Louise Cooper, sci-fi author (Nemesis, Inferno, Infanta, Nocturne), was born in UK.
(SC, 5/29/02)
1952 Sep 6, An engine on a de Havilland 110 plane falls into a crowd at Farnborough Air Show in England. Thirty people on the ground and the pilot are killed.
(AP, 7/27/02)
1952 Sep 12, Noel Coward's "Quadrille," premiered in London.
(MC, 9/12/01)
1952 Oct 3, The British detonated their 1st atomic bomb, a 25-kiloton device, in the Monte Bello Islands off Australia. In 1998 a visit to the islands was limited to one hour due to lingering radiation.
(SFC, 1/2/99, p.A14)(SFC, 3/13/02, p.A26)(AP, 10/3/08)
1952 Oct 6, The play "Mousetrap" by Agatha Christie (1890-1976) premiered in Nottingham.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Mousetrap)
1952 Nov 2, Derek Bentley (19) and Christopher Craig (16) tried to break into a warehouse in South London. Craig shot and killed Police Constable Sidney Miles. Bentley, who had the mental age of 11, was hanged in Jan., 1953, for his role in the murder of the police officer and Craig went to prison for 10 years. The 1991 film "Let Him Have It" was based on the story of Bentley as was the Elvis Costello song "Let Him Dangle." Bentley’s conviction was overturned in 1998.
(SFC, 7/31/98, p.A16,18)
1952 Dec 5-1952 Dec 8, A 4-day London smog killed 4,703 people. Oxides of sulfur and other irritants from coal smoke were blamed. The air pollution contributed to some 12,000 deaths.
(PCh, 1992, p.937)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Smog)(Econ, 11/26/16, p.74)
1952 Margaret Mee (1909-1988), botanical artist, left Britain for Brazil and for 3 decades documented Amazonian rain forest plant life in large watercolors.
(WSJ, 1/26/99, p.A16)(http://tinyurl.com/yafb9m)
1952 Eduardo Paolozzi (1924-2005), sculptor and printmaker, helped form an association of British artists called The Independent Group. They included Richard Hamilton, William Turnbull and Peter Blake. Paolozzi, born in Scotland of Italian parents, became known as a key contributor to British pop art.
(SSFC, 5/1/05, p.A23)
1952 Samuel Beckett published his play "Waiting for Godot." It was 1st produced in Paris in 1953.
(SFEM, 9/10/00, p.7)
1952 Frederick Knott, English writer, wrote his thriller "Dial ‘M’ for Murder. It was made into a film with Grace Kelly by Alfred Hitchcock.
(WSJ, 4/8/98, p.A20)
1952 British writer Mary Norton wrote "The Borrowers." It was made into a movie in 1998.
(SFC, 2/13/98, p.C3)
1952 British PM Winston Churchill declared a state of emergency in Kenya and sent British and African soldiers to help colonial administrators capture May May fighters and send them to detention camps.
(AP, 5/6/13)
1952 The British government abolished ID cards.
(Econ, 5/1/04, p.15)
1952 England’s Morgan Motor Company stopped making its 3-wheeled cars. In 2010 the company unveiled a new 3-wheel model, the M3W, and planned expanded sales in China.
(SSFC, 12/25/11, p.D3)(www.morgandc.com/History/HistoryPage.htm)
1952 British engineer Charles Spencer King (1925-2010) set a land speed record of 152 mph for gas turbine cars in Jet1, which he helped design.
(SSFC, 7/4/10, p.C9)
1952-1960 Some 32 white settlers were killed by Mau Mau rebels in Kenya. More than 10,000 people were killed during the Mau Mau uprising, with some figures going much higher. In 2011 four may Mau colleagues won court approval in Britain to sue the British government over brutality they claim they suffered in the struggle.
(Econ, 1/1/05, p.66)(AFP, 7/21/11)
1953 Jan 31-1953 Feb 1, A powerful storm breached sea dikes in the south of the Netherlands, killing more than 1,800 people and cementing a deep resolve among the Dutch that their ancient enemy, water, would never kill again. 307 people died in eastern England.
(www.metoffice.com/education/secondary/students/flood.html)(SSFC, 3/25/01, p.C3)
1953 Feb 28, Francis Crick (d.2004) and James Watson discovered the structure of DNA-molecule. Watson and Crick managed to describe the structure of DNA as a double helix consisting of two long strings coiled around one another. About 100,000 genes, short sections of DNA, tell the cells how to build proteins, the building blocks of life. Rosalind Franklin made the 1st x-ray image that revealed the double helix structure of DNA. In 2002 Brenda Maddox authored "Rosalind Franklin: The Dark Lady of DNA." In 2003 Watson co-authored "DNA: The Secret of Life." [see Sep 20, Apr 25, 1953]
(V.D.-H.K.p.330)(TL, 1988, p.114)(Wired, 1/97, p.161)(SSFC, 11/10/02, p.M2)(WSJ, 3/28/03, p.W8) (AP, 2/28/04)
1953 Mar 24, Mary (85), queen of Great Britain and North Ireland, died.
(MC, 3/24/02)
1953 Apr 24, British statesman Winston Churchill was knighted by Queen Elizabeth II at Buckingham Palace.
(AP, 4/24/97)(HN, 4/24/98)
1953 May 11, Winston Churchill criticized the domino theory of John Foster Dulles.
(MC, 5/11/02)
1953 Jun 2, Queen Elizabeth II of Britain was crowned in Westminster Abbey, 16 months after the death of her father, King George VI.
(TMC, 1994, p.1953)(WUD, 1994, p.1684)(AP, 6/2/97)
1953 Aug 19, Gen'l. Zahedi ousted PM Mossadegh and became the Premier of Iran in a bloody coup that left 300 dead. Britain and the US CIA under Allen Dulles planned a secret mission to overthrow the government. PM Mossadeq had sought to nationalize the Anglo-Persian Oil Co. The US government made a formal apology for the coup in 2000. A 1954 CIA description of the coup was made public in 2000. In 1979 Kermit Roosevelt (d.2000) published “Countercoup: The Struggle for the Control of Iran," an account of his role in the coup.
(SFC, 11/20/53, p.A1)(SFC, 11/15/99, p.E6)(SFC, 5/29/97, p.A4)(WSJ, 3/20/00, p.A1)(SFEC, 4/16/00, p.A18)(SFEC, 6/11/00, p.D6)(WSJ, 4/2/07, p.A6)
1953 Oct 3, Arnold Edward Trevor Bax, British composer (Coronation March), died at 69.
(MC, 10/3/01)
1953 Oct 9, British troops in Guyana deposed Dr. Jagan and charged that he and his party "were under the complete control of a communist clique." Dr. Jagan responded with a civil disobedience campaign and was quickly jailed for 6 months. In 2011 declassified documents revealed that the UK under PM Winston Churchill overthrew the elected government of British Guiana, later Guyana, because he feared its left-wing leader, Cheddi Jagan, and his American wife, Janet Jagan, were leading the British colony into the arms of the Soviet Union.
(SFC, 3/7/96, p.A24)(AP, 8/25/11)
1953 Oct 29, A British airliner with 11 passengers and 8 crew crashed into Kings Mountain, 10 miles west of Redwood City, Ca., and all aboard were killed. William Kapell (b.1922), genius pianist, died in the crash. He was returning from a tour in Australia when his airplane crashed into a mountain outside San Francisco. A set of his 1944-1953 recordings was released in 1998 by RCA. In 1999 BMG released "The William Kapell Edition," a nine-disk set.
(SFC, 10/24/03, p.E10)(SFEC, 11/29/98, DB p.44)(WSJ, 2/1/99, p.A19)(WSJ, 5/24/08, p.W12)
1953 Nov 9, Welsh author-poet Dylan Thomas died in New York at age 39 during his poetry-reading blitz of the US.
(SFEC, 5/25/97, p.T5)(AP, 11/9/97)
1953 Nov 21, The "Piltdown Man," discovered in 1912, was proved to be a hoax.
(MC, 11/21/01)
1953 British writer Ian Fleming published his first James Bond book, "Casino Royale."
(WSJ, 4/24/98, p.W1)
1953 Iris Murdoch published "Sartre: Romantic Rationalist."
(SFC, 2/9/99, p.A20)
1953 The British comedy film “Trouble in Store" starred comedian Norman Wisdom (d.2010 at 95) and was directed by John Paddy Carstairs.
(Econ, 10/16/10, p.105)(www.imdb.com/title/tt0046464/)
1953 The first issue of the US CIA sponsored British magazine "Encounter" was published under Irving Kristol and Stephen Spender. It became the West's most important vehicle for highbrow anti-Marxist commentary. The funding source did not become known until 1966/7.
(WSJ, 3/27/00, p.A46)(Econ, 6/19/04, p.81)
1953 The 412-foot Royal Yacht Britannia was put into service. The yacht was retired in 1997.
(SFC,12/12/97, p.B6)
1953 Britain signed the European convention, which set out a range of individual rights.
(SFC, 10/2/00, p.A13)
1953 Pres. Eisenhower gave the CIA the ok to overthrow the elected government of PM Mohammad Mossadegh. Mossadegh had nationalized the Anglo-Iranian Oil Co. after Britain refused to compromise and split profits 50-50. In 2003 Stephen Kinzer authored "All the Shah's Men: An American Coup and the Roots of the Middle East Terror."
(SSFC, 8/24/03, p.M6)
1953 Poppit beads, small plastic ball-and-socket units, were first created in England. They were later sold under the names Poppit, Snapit or Lockit and sold as beads for necklaces.
(SFC, 4/16/08, p.G3)
1953 Greece was among 22 countries that agreed to halve Germany's foreign debt at a conference in London.
(AP, 3/22/15)
1953-1956 Sir Roger Makins (1904-1996) served as the British ambassador to the US. His wife, Alice Davis, was the daughter of Dwight Davis, for whom the tennis Davis Cup was named.
(SFC, 11/11/96, p.A26)
1954 Jan 1, Duff Cooper (b.1890), British cabinet minister and envoy, died. In 1953 he authored his autobiography “Old Men Forget." In 2005 John Julius Norwich edited “The Duff Cooper Diaries."
(www.spartacus.schoolnet.co.uk/2WWduff.htm)(Econ, 10/1/05, p.80)
1954 Feb 22, U.S. was to install 60 Thor nuclear missiles in Britain.
(HN, 2/22/99)
1954 Feb 26, William R. Inge (93), English theologist, philosopher, died.
(SC, 2/26/02)
1954 Mar 22, The London gold market reopened for the first time since 1939.
(HN, 3/22/97)
1954 Mar 24, Britain opened trade talks with Hungary.
(HN, 3/24/98)
1954 May 6, Medical student Roger Bannister broke the four-minute mile during a track meet in Oxford, England, finishing in 3 minutes 59.4 seconds.
(TMC, 1994, p.1954)(AP, 5/6/97)
1954 May 7, US, Great Britain and France rejected Russian membership in NATO.
(MC, 5/7/02)
1954 May 13, Labour Party won British municipal elections.
(MC, 5/13/02)
1954 Jun 7, Alan Turing (b.1912), English mathematician, died of suicide. Turing, a homosexual, was convicted in 1952 of gross indecency and forced to take estrogen injections. In 2006 David Leavitt authored "The Man Who Knew Too Much: Alan Turing and the Invention of the Computer. In 2009 British PM Gordon Brown apologized for the "inhumane" treatment of Alan Turing.
(www.turing.org.uk/turing/)Econ, 7/8/06, p.79)(AP, 9/11/09)
1954 Jul 3, Food rationing ended in Great Britain almost nine years after the end of World War II.
(HN, 7/3/98)
1954 Jul 25, Lynn Frederick, actress (Schizophrenia), was born in Middlesex, England.
(SC, 7/25/02)
1954 Sep 8, SEATO (Southeast Asia Treaty Organization), a sister organization to NATO, was created under the Manila Pact by the Southeast Asia Collective Defense Treaty, to stop communist spread in Southeast Asia (Vietnam, Cambodia and Laos). The United States, Australia, France, Great Britain, New Zealand, the Philippines, Pakistan, and Thailand signed the mutual defense treaty. SEATO dissolved in 1977.
(HNQ, 4/2/01)(http://tinyurl.com/hpawj)
1954 Sep 20, Roger Bannister awarded Britain’s Silver Pears Trophy for cracking the 4-minute mile.
(MC, 9/20/01)
1954 Oct 19, Egypt and Britain concluded a pact on the Suez Canal, ending 72 years of British military occupation. Britain agreed to withdraw its 80,000-man force within 20 months, and Egypt agreed to maintain freedom of canal navigation.
(HN, 10/19/98)
1954 Dec 3, William Walton's opera "Troilus & Cressida," premiered in London.
(MC, 12/3/01)
1954 Dec 20, James Hilton (54), English author (Lost Horizon), died.
(MC, 12/20/01)
1954 British actress Eleanor Drew (1922-2014), born as Nellie Darlison, began a 5-year run in the West End in the musical “Salad Days."
(Econ, 4/19/14, p.86)
1954 Chris Chataway (1932-2014) was named the first-ever BBC Sports Personality of the Year. He broke the 5,000 meters world record and was one of the pacemakers for Roger Bannister's landmark four-minute mile.
(AFP, 1/19/14)
1954 M.E. Clifton James authored “I Was Monty’s Double," an account of how he served as an impersonator of British Gen. Bernard Montgomery during WWII. A movie of the same title was released in 1958.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/I_Was_Monty%27s_Double)
1954 Iris Murdoch published her first novel "Under the Net."
(SFC, 2/9/99, p.A20)
1954 British composer Benjamin Britten (1913-1976 created his chamber opera “The Turn of the Screw" based on the 1898 novella by Henry James.
(SFC, 7/22/13, p.E1)
1954 Gen. Franco closed the Spanish consulate on Gibraltar in a fit of rage over a visit by Queen Elizabeth II.
(AP, 9/19/06)
c1954 Anti-witchcraft laws were repealed in Britain.
(SFEC, 10/31/99, p.A6)
1954 In Kenya British forces allegedly used pliers to castrate Paulo Nzili, a Mau Mau rebel. He survived the severe beatings which killed many other Mau Mau and in 2009 launched a bid with 4 others to win compensation from Britain over claims they were tortured and unlawfully imprisoned during Britain’s colonial rule.
(AFP, 6/23/09)
1955 Jan 19, Sir Simon Rattle, orchestra conductor (Berlin Philharmonic), was born in England.
(MC, 1/19/02)
1955 Feb 17, Britain announced its ability to make hydrogen bombs.
(HN, 2/17/98)
1955 Mar 11, Alexander Fleming (73), English bacteriologist (penicillin), died.
(MC, 3/12/02)
1955 Apr 1, EOKA-bomb attacks took place against British government buildings in Cyprus.
(MC, 4/1/02)
1955 Apr 5, Winston Churchill resigned as British prime minister. He was replaced by Anthony Eden who served to 1957. Eden's biography by Sir Robert Rhodes James (d.1999 at 66) was published in 1987.
(HN, 5/5/97)(SFC, 5/25/99, p.Be)
1955 May 31, Great Britain proclaimed emergency crisis due to railroad strike.
(MC, 5/31/02)
1955 Jul 9, Scientists in London issued a manifesto declaring that researchers must take responsibility for their creations, such as the atomic bomb. Bertrand Russel, British pacifist philosopher, drafted the manifesto, which served as the philosophical origin for the 1957 Pugwash Conference (Nova Scotia) against nuclear arms. It was signed by ten other scientists that included as Joseph Rotblat (1995 Nobel Peace Prize), Albert Einstein, Linus Pauling and Frederic Joliot-Curie.
(WSJ, 10/16/95, p. A-15)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joseph_Rotblat)
1955 Jul 13, Ruth Ellis, last English woman (murderess), was executed by hanging. Ten days before she had shot her husband, Ellis suffered a miscarriage after Blakely, the baby's father, punched her in the stomach
(MC, 7/13/02)(AP, 9/16/03)
1955 Sep 22, Commercial TV began in England. ITV began broadcasting at 7:15 pm in the London region only. Associated Rediffusion was awarded the London weekday license by the ITA, with ITN established as a separate company to supply news. ATV London began broadcasting on weekends 2 days later.
(http://media.guardian.co.uk/broadcast/story/0,7493,1057710,00.html)
1955 Oct 31, Britain's Princess Margaret ended weeks of speculation by announcing she would not marry Royal Air Force Captain Peter Townsend because he had been divorced.
(AP, 10/31/97)
1955 Dec 12, 1st prototype of hovercraft patented by British engineer Christopher Cockerell.
(MC, 12/12/01)
1955 J.L. Austin (1911-1960), British philosopher of language, authored “How To Do Things with Words."
(Econ, 11/12/16, p.77)
1955 Philip Larkin (1922-1985), British poet, authored his collection “The Less Deceived." It included the poem “Church Going." The poem is about an agnostic who enters a church and has been described as one of the greatest poems of the 20th century.
(WSJ, 6/24/06, p.P18)
1955 Geoffrey Gorer (1905-1985), English anthropologist and writer, authored “Exploring English Character."
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Geoffrey_Gorer)(Econ, 12/11/10, p.70)
1955 Sir Lawrence van der Post (1906-1996) wrote "The Dark Eye in Africa."
(SFC, 12/17/96, p.B4)
1955 Norris (1925-2004) and Ross McWhirter (1925-1975) co-created the Guinness Book of Records as a book for settling bar bets on a commission from the Irish Guinness brewery.
(WSJ, 4/21/04, p.A1)
1955 William Waugh (1903-1966), English novelist born as Arthur Evelyn St. John Waugh, authored “Officers and Gentlemen."
(https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Evelyn_Waugh)
1955 Sir Michael Tippett, British composer, premiered his 1st opera "The Midsummer Marriage" at Covent Garden.
(SFC, 1/10/98, p.A19)
1955 In England Heathrow Airport’s Terminal 2 was completed.
(Econ, 3/29/08, p.91)
1955 Lew Grade (e.1998 at 91) founded Associated Television, the first commercially funded channel in Britain. Born as Louis Winogradsky in the Ukraine, he came to London at age 6.
(SFC, 12/14/98, p.C4)
1955 Antony Fisher founded Britain’s Institute of Economic Affairs (IEA). Fisher sought advice from Friedrich von Hayek, an Austrian-born economist, who urged him to emulate the Fabian Society, the 1st socialist think-tank. The institute promoted deregulation, privatization, tax cuts, trade union reform and a free market. In 1957 Ralph Harris (1925-2006) became general director.
(Econ, 10/22/05, p.90)(Econ, 11/4/06, p.96)
1955 The Research Laboratory for Archeology and the History of Art at Oxford was founded and directed by Prof. E.T. Hall (d.2001 at 77).
(SFC, 8/22/01, p.D2)
1955 Britain began tracking its gross domestic product (GDP) on a quarterly basis.
(Econ, 4/25/09, p.31)
1955 The first accurate atomic clock, a cesium standard based on a certain transition of the cesium-133 atom, was built by Louis Essen and Jack Parry at the National Physical Laboratory in the UK.
(https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Atomic_clock)
1955 Sydney Wignall (1922-2012), a Welsh explorer, launched the first Welsh Himalayan Expedition. The 3-man team was captured by the Chinese and held for two months under interrogation for spying. 25 years later it was revealed that Wignall had been recruited by Gen. Thimayya of the Indian army to find out what the Chinese were up to in Tibet. In 1997 his book: "Spy on the Roof of the World" was published.
(SFEC,12/14/97, BR p.4)(Econ, 5/5/12, p.94)
1955 Iraq joined with Britain, Turkey, Iran and Pakistan in the Baghdad Pact, a loose alliance intended to check soviet influence in the region. The Baghdad Pact was formed at the prompting of the U.S. in an effort to block Soviet pressures on the northern tier of Middle Eastern states. The U.S. provided military and economic aid to the pact members.
(HNQ, 7/28/98)(SFC, 9/24/02, p.A10)
1956 Jan 1, Sudan became independent from Britain.
(TL, 1988, p.115)(EWH, 1968, p.1230)(WSJ, 8/25/98, p.A14)
1956 Jan 23, Alexander Korda (62), English movie producer (Henry VIII), died.
(MC, 1/23/02)
1956 Jan 31, British author A.A. Milne (74), creator of "Winnie-the-Pooh," died. He left the rights to the honey-loving bear to five beneficiaries that included the Garrick Club, Westminster School, The Royal Literary Fund, his own family and illustrator E.H. Shepard.
(SFEC, 8/16/98, p.A20)(AP, 1/31/06)
1956 Feb 16, Britain abolished the death penalty.
(MC, 2/16/02)
1956 Feb 17, ATV Midlands launched a weekday service and ABC began transmission at weekends in the same region the following day. A north of England service, covering Lancashire and Yorkshire, began in May, with ABC broadcasting at weekends and Granada during the week.
(http://media.guardian.co.uk/broadcast/story/0,7493,1057710,00.html)
1956 Mar 9, British authorities arrested and deported Archbishop Makarios from Cyprus to the Seychelles. He was accused of supporting terrorists.
(EWH, 1968, p.1250)(HN, 3/9/98)
1956 Mar 23, Pakistan became an independent republic within the British Commonwealth, officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan. Pakistan became the first Islamic republic.
(HFA, '96, p.26)(AHD, p.943)(AP, 3/23/97)(Econ 7/22/17, SR p.6)
1956 Apr 2, Peter Ustinov's "Romanoff and Juliet," premiered in Manchester.
(MC, 4/2/02)
1956 Apr 4, Enid Bagnold's "Chalk Garden," premiered in London.
(MC, 4/4/02)
1956 Apr 19, In southern England Cdr. Lionel "Buster" Crabb, a decorated Royal Navy veteran, disappeared while diving near Portsmouth. Secret documents released in 2006 showed that British authorities lied to cover up the fate of a Crabb, who died during a scuba diving spy mission near a warship used by Soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev.
(Econ, 7/23/05, p.78)(AP, 10/27/06)
1956 May 8, John Osborne’s "Look Back in Anger," premiered in London at the Royal Court Theater. It was about a love triangle involving an intelligent but disaffected young man (Jimmy Porter), his upper-middle-class, impassive wife (Alison), and her haughty best friend (Helena Charles). It took English theater on a radical turn. In 1958 it was made into a movie. In 2006 John Heilpern authored “John Osborne: A Patriot for Us."
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Look_Back_in_Anger)(SFEC, 4/11/99, DB p.39)(Econ, 5/20/06, p.86)
1956 Jun 13, The 74-year British occupation of the Suez Canal ended. The last British troops left the Canal base.
(EWH, 1968, p.1241)(PC, 1992 ed, p.953)
1956 Jun 29, Marilyn Monroe married playwright Arthur Miller in a London ceremony.
(MC, 6/29/02)
1956 Jul 20, Great Britain refused to lend Egypt money to build Aswan Dam.
(MC, 7/20/02)
1956 Jul 24, Brendan Behan's "Quare Fellow," premiered in London.
(MC, 7/24/02)
1956 Jul 26, Andy Goldsworthy, British sculptor, photographer and environmentalist, was born. He produced site-specific sculpture and land art situated in natural and urban settings. He lives and works in Scotland.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Andy_Goldsworthy)
1956 Aug 7, British government sent 3 aircraft carriers to Egypt.
(MC, 8/7/02)
1956 Aug 21, Kim Cattrall, actress (Mannequin, Star Trek VI), was born in Liverpool, England.
(SC, 8/21/02)
1956 Oct 14, British and French officials met as Israel was about to attack Egypt. Anthony Nutting (d.1999 at 79), a deputy foreign secretary, learned that Prime Minister Anthony Eden had agreed with the French that once fighting began, they would send in paratroopers under the guise to separate the fighting factions, but would actually support Israel, seize the canal and undermine Nasser. Nutting resigned when British planes took to the air Oct 31.
(SFC, 2/26/99, p.A25)
1956 Oct 17, The nuclear power station Calder Hall was opened in Britain. Calder Hall was the first nuclear station to feed an appreciable amount of power into a civilian network. In 2007 engineers began the planned decommissioning of the plant.
(HN, 10/17/98)(AP, 9/29/07)
1956 Oct 23, Britain’s PM Anthony Eden admitted to the cabinet that secret conversations had been held in Paris with representatives of the Israeli government.
(Econ, 12/16/06, p.86)
1956 Oct 30, Britain and France issued an ultimatum to Cairo and Tel Aviv to end fighting and withdraw from a 10-mile strip along the canal.
(EWH, 1968, p.1242)
1956 Oct 31, Great Britain and France attempted to take over the Suez Canal. They bombed Egyptian airfields.
(WUD, 1994, p.1685)(TOH, 1982, p.1956)
1956 Nov 2, The UN passed an American resolution, 64 to 5, for a ceasefire at the Suez Canal in Egypt. The General Assembly took up a Canadian suggestion for an emergency force to monitor the ceasefire. The UN Emergency Force (UNEF) became the first “blue hat" UN peacekeepers.
(Econ, 7/29/06, p.24)(www.un.org/en/peacekeeping/missions/past/unefi.htm)
1956 Nov 5, Britain and France started landing troops in Egypt during fighting between Egyptian and Israeli forces around the Suez Canal. A cease-fire was declared two days later.
(AP, 11/5/97)
1956 Nov 6, Pressure from the US and USSR effected a cease-fire in the Middle-East. The UN created an emergency force (UNEF) to supervise a cease fire. Britain’s PM Anthony Eden called French PM Guy Mollet to tell him that Britain was aborting operations in Egypt. German chancellor Konrad Adenauer, meeting with Mollet, remarked that Europe must unite to counter the influence of the United States.
(TOH, 1982, p.1956)(EWH, 1968, p. 1242)(Econ, 7/29/06, p.24)
1956 Nov 7, Britain’s PM Anthony Eden surrendered to American demands and stopped British operations in Egypt’s Canal Zone.
(Econ, 7/29/06, p.29)
1956 Dec 3, England & France pulled troops out of Egypt.
(MC, 12/3/01)
1956 Dec 22, The evacuation of the Suez Canal was completed by Britain and France.
(WUD, 1994, p.1685)(MC, 12/22/01)
1956 Anthony Crosland (1918-1977), British Labour Party politician, authored “The Future of Socialism." His ideas helped move Britain’s Labour Party beyond nationalism.
(Econ, 8/7/10, p.58)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anthony_Crosland)
1956 Joan Littlewood directed the play "The Quare Fella" by Irish writer Brendan Behan. Her work became labeled "kitchen-sink" drama. This was seen as part of the working-class revolution in British theater.
(SFC, 9/24/02, p.A25)
1956 The British comedy film “Up in the World" starred comedian Norman Wisdom and was directed by John Paddy Carstairs.
(Econ, 10/16/10, p.105)(www.imdb.com/title/tt0049906/)
1956 The Sadler’s Wells Ballet of Dame Ninette de Valois was renamed the Royal Ballet.
(SFC, 3/9/01, p.D5)
1956 John Lennon formed a band called the Quarrymen.
(SFC, 12/1/01, p.D1)
1956 Britain pass a Clean Air Act. The Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom passed in response to London's Great Smog of 1952. It was in effect until 1964.
(https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clean_Air_Act_1956)(Econ, 12/5/15, p.54)
1956 French PM Guy Mollet discussed the possibility of a union with Britain’s PM Sir Anthony Eden. Eden rejected the idea of a union but was more favorable toward a French proposal to join the Commonwealth.
(SFC, 1/16/07, p.A2)
1956 The British administrator of the Gilbert Islands put a levy on the export of phosphates (bird manure) used in fertilizer. By 2007 the money set aside had developed into the Kiribati Revenue Equalization Reserve Fund, a $250 million investment portfolio that had grown to 9 times the atoll’s GDP. State-owned investments later developed around the world and became recognized as sovereign wealth funds.
(Econ, 5/26/07, p.79)
1956-1967 Jo Grimand (d.1993) led Britain’s Liberals. In 2005 Peter Barbaris authored “Liberal Lion: Jo Grimond—A Political Life."
(Econ, 3/12/05, p.81)
1957 Jan 9, British PM Anthony Eden resigned in the wake of the Suez crises.
(AP, 1/9/99)(Econ, 7/29/06, p.23)
1957 Jan 10, Harold Macmillan became prime minister of Britain, following the resignation of Anthony Eden.
(AP, 1/10/98)
1957 Mar 5, Britain adopted a plan to triple nuclear energy production by 1965.
(HN, 3/5/98)
1957 Mar 21, US President Eisenhower and British PM Harold Macmillan began a four-day conference in Bermuda.
(AP, 3/21/07)
1957 Mar 29, Joyce A.L. Cary (68), English writer (Horse's Mouth), died.
(MC, 3/29/02)
1957 Apr 3, Samuel Beckett's "Endgame," premiered in London.
(V.D.-H.K.p.369)(MC, 4/3/02)
1957 Apr 10, John Osborne’s play “The Entertainer," starring Laurence Olivier, opened in London.
(AP, 4/10/07)
1957 May 10, Sid Vicious, [John Simon Ritchie], bassist (Sex Pistols), was born in England.
(MC, 5/10/02)
1957 May 15, The 1st British hydrogen bomb was detonated on Christmas Island in South Pacific. The 200 - 300 kilotons yield was less than expected.
(www.atomicarchive.com/Timeline/Time1950.shtml)
1957 May, Two US fighter planes were scrambled and ordered to shoot down an unidentified flying object (UFO) over the English countryside. This was only made public on Oct 20, 2008, when Britain made public secret files on UFOs.
(Reuters, 10/20/08)
1957 Jun 10, Harold MacMillan became British PM.
(MC, 6/10/02)
1957 Jul 6, Althea Gibson (1927-2003) became the first black tennis player to win a Wimbledon singles title, defeating fellow American Darlene Hard 6-3, 6-2.
(AP, 7/6/97)(SFC, 9/29/03, p.A1)
1957 Aug 31, The Federation of Malaya (Malaysia) gained independence from Britain (National Day). Malaysia established itself as a constitutional monarchy. Article 11 in the constitution gave every person “the right to profess and practice his religion." Pro-bumiputra (sons of the soil) discrimination was laid down in the constitution to ease Malays’ fears of being marginalized by Chinese and Indian migrants. A 1988 amendment denied the regular courts all jurisdiction over matters dealt with by the Muslim sharia courts.
(YN, 8/31/99)(SFC, 11/22/01, p.A29)(AP, 8/31/07)(Econ, 9/1/07, p.11)
1957 Oct 7, A fire in the Windscale plutonium production reactor (later called Sellafield) north of Liverpool, England, spread radioactive iodine and polonium through the countryside and into the Irish Sea. Livestock in the immediate area were destroyed, along with 500,000 gallons of milk. At least 30, and possibly as many as 1,000, cancer deaths were subsequently linked to the accident. PM Harold Macmillan ordered the disaster hushed up.
(HN, 10/7/00)(Econ, 9/11/04, p.76)(Econ, 10/13/07, p.63)
1957 Oct 16, Britain's Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Philip began a visit to the United States with a stopover at the site of the Jamestown settlement in Virginia.
(AP, 10/16/07)
1957 Oct 17, Britain's Queen Elizabeth and Prince Philip visited the White House.
(MC, 10/17/01)
1957 Francis Bacon painted his "Study for Portrait of Van Gogh, V."
(SFEC, 5/30/99, DB p.29)
1957 Richard Hoggart (b.1918), British academic, authored “The Uses of Literacy," a pioneering work of cultural criticism and look at the English working class after WWII.
(WSJ, 9/20/08, p.W8)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Richard_Hoggart)
1957 Ted Hughes (1930-1998), British poet, re-defined the shape of post-war English poetry with the publication of "The Hawk in the Rain."
(SFC, 10/30/98, p.A17)(Econ, 11/8/03, p.83)
1957 Reg Smythe (d.1998 at 81), began the Andy Capp comic strip in the northern editions of the Daily Mirror.
(SFC, 6/16/98, p.A22)
1957 John Lennon met Paul McCartney and invited him to join the Quarrymen. McCartney soon introduced Lennon to George Harrison.
(SFC, 12/1/01, p.D1)
1957 The film "Curse of Frankenstein" starred Christopher Lee and featured Hazel Court. It was a British Hammer Film production with a score by James Bernard.
(SFEC, 12/15/96, DB p.66)(SFC, 7/18/01, p.C16)(SFC, 4/19/08, p.B5)(Econ, 6/20/15, p.90)
1957 Dorothy Sayers (b.1893), British detective novelist, died. Her main hero was Lord Peter Wimsey.
(NW, 8/20/01, p.56)
1957 Britain launched its 1st sub-orbital Skylark rocket. The last Skylark, #441, was launched near Kiruna, Sweden, in 2005.
(Econ, 5/7/05, p.74)
1958 Jan 3, The British created the West Indies Federation with Lord Hailes as governor general. The federation lasted to 1962. It included Barbados, Jamaica, Trinidad, Tobago and the Windward and Leeward Islands.
(HN, 1/3/99)(WUD, 1994, p.1623)
1958 Feb 6, A British European Airways plane crashed in Munich. Among the 21 dead were 7 players of the Manchester United football team.
(Econ, 5/11/13, p.62)(http://tinyurl.com/buj8scd)
1958 Mar 2, A multinational expedition led by British geologist and explorer Vivian Fuchs (d.1999 at 91) completed the first overland crossing of Antarctica by way of the South Pole in 99 days.
(SFC, 11/13/99, p.A22)(AP, 3/2/08)
1958 Apr 4, The 1st march against nuclear weapons began in London with a 4-day to the Atomic Weapons Research Establishment close to Aldermaston, England.
(Econ, 8/16/08, p.56)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aldermaston_Marches)
1958 Apr 7, Anti-nuclear peace protesters arrived at the Atomic Weapons Establishment near Aldermaston, England, after marching for several days from London.
(AP, 4/7/08)
1958 Apr 16, Rosalind Franklin (b.1920), English chemist and one of the four scientists who discovered the structure of DNA, died in London of ovarian cancer. She made the 1st x-ray image that revealed the double helix structure of DNA (1953). In 2002 Brenda Maddox authored "Rosalind Franklin: The Dark Lady of DNA."
(https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rosalind_Franklin)(SSFC, 11/10/02, p.M2)
1958 Apr 29, Daniel Day-Lewis, actor (Last of the Mohicans, My Left Foot), was born in England.
(MC, 4/29/02)
1958 Apr 30, Britain's Life Peerages Act 1958 allowed women to become members of the House of Lords.
(AP, 4/30/08)
1958 Jun 28, Alfred Noyes (77), British poet, essayist (Robin Hood, The Highwayman), died.
(MC, 6/28/02)
1958 Jul 23, Queen Elizabeth named four women to peerages, the 1st women to it in Britain's House of Lords.
(AP, 7/23/97)
1958 Jul 26, Britain's Prince Charles (9), was made the Prince of Wales by his mother, Queen Elizabeth II, although his investiture did not take place until the following year.
(AP, 7/26/08)
1958 Aug 26, Ralph Vaughan Williams (85), English composer (Fantasia on Themes of Thomas Tallis), died.
(MC, 8/26/02)
1958 Oct 1, Britain transferred Christmas Island (south of Java) to Australia.
(MC, 10/1/01)
1958 Oct 4, The first trans-Atlantic passenger jetliner service was begun by British Overseas Airways Corporation (BOAC) with flights between London and New York.
(AP, 10/4/97)
1958 Oct 14, Brendan Behan's "Hostage," premiered in London.
(MC, 10/14/01)
1958 Oct 26, Pan American Airways flew its first Boeing 707 passenger service jetliner from New York’s Idlewild Airport (later JFK) to Paris; the trip took eight hours and 41 minutes. 111 passengers flew aboard the Clipper America and a ticket cost $489.60. The plane was christened a week earlier by Mamie Eisenhower. The first New York - London transatlantic jet passenger service was inaugurated by BOAC. [see Oct 4]
(AP, 10/26/97)(WSJ, 10/23/98, p.W6)(HN, 10/26/98)
1958 Oct 28, The Samuel Beckett play "Krapp's Last Tape" premiered in London.
(AP, 10/28/08)(SFEC, 10/15/00, DB p.50)
1958 The Paddington Bear first appeared in "A Bear Called Paddington"— a stowaway from "Darkest Peru" who arrived at London's Paddington train station wearing a sign saying "Please look after this bear. Thank you." Author Michael Bond (1926-2017) based his story on a stuffed animal purchased as a last-minute Christmas gift for his wife.
(AP, 6/28/17)
1958 T.H. White (1906-1964), English writer, authored the Arthurian novel “The Once and Future King."
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/T._H._White)
1958 Alan Sillitoe (1928-2010), English writer, authored his novel “Saturday Night, Sunday Morning."
(Econ, 5/1/10, p.88)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alan_Sillitoe)
1958 Michael Young (1915-2002), British sociologist, authored “The Rise of Meritocracy." It was Lord Young's ideas that inspired the shake up of secondary education in the 1960s, leading to the rise of comprehensive schools, where children of all abilities and backgrounds are brought together under one roof.
(http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/magazine/4035181.stm)
1958 Sir Lawrence van der Post (1906-1996) wrote "The Lost World of the Kalahari."
(SFC, 12/17/96, p.B4)
1958 The British government sent out a pamphlet to farmers titled “Home Defence and the Farmer."
(Econ, 7/31/04, p.48)
1958 Sir John Woolf (d.1999 at 86), British film producer, established Anglia Television.
(SFC, 7/1/99, p.C4)
1958 William Phillips of the London School of Economics showed that for much of the previous 100 years, unemployment was low in Britain when wage inflation was high, and high when inflation was low. This came to be called the “Phillips curve."
(Econ, 10/14/06, p.79)
1958 Britain’s Notting Hill Riots were a series of violent demonstrations against non-white West Indians in the ethnically diverse northwest London neighborhood of Notting Hill. This event first drew public attention to the growing problem of racial tension in Britain.
(HNQ, 9/30/00)(Econ, 6/30/12, SR p.5)
1958 S.G. Warburg initiated the first hostile takeover bid for British Aluminum on behalf of the American group Reynolds and Tube Investments.
(SFC, 6/16/99, p.B4)
1958 John Gurdon of Oxford Univ. cloned frogs by nuclear transfer, but his creations never developed beyond the tadpole stage.
(Econ, 2/18/17, p.17)
1959 Jan 9, The American group Reynolds and Tube Investments took over British Aluminium. In the the first hostile takeover of a large British company.
(Econ, 6/26/10, p.87)(http://tinyurl.com/28c8c7h)
1959 Feb 19, An agreement was signed by Britain, Turkey and Greece granting Cyprus its independence.
(AP, 2/19/98)
1959 Mar 3, British government arrested Hastings Banda of Nyasaland (later Malawi), and ended an emergency crisis.
(SC, 3/3/02)
1959 Mar 7, Arthur Cecil Pigou (b.1877), English economist, died. His major work, “Wealth and Welfare" (1912, 1920), brought welfare economics into the scope of economic analysis. He was known for his work in many fields and particularly in welfare economics. Pigou advocated taxation as a way to combat the side effects associated with certain activities. Pigovian taxes, taxes used to correct negative externalities, are named in his honor.
(Econ, 11/11/06, p.85)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arthur_Cecil_Pigou)
1959 Apr 15, Emma Thompson, actress (Henry V, Howard's End, Oscar-1992), was born in England.
(MC, 4/15/02)
1959 Apr 20, British ballerina Margot Fonteyn (1919-1991)) was arrested and briefly detained in a Panama prison. She and her diplomat husband, Roberto Arias, had sought Fidel Castro's help in a revolution that failed because of a last-minute blunder. Fonteyn, born Peggy Hookham, went on to reach even greater creative heights through her acclaimed partnership with Russian dancer Rudolf Nureyev. She returned to Panama with her husband years later and died there.
(AP, 5/27/10)
1959 May 6, Iceland gunboats shot at British fishing ships.
(MC, 5/6/02)
1959 May 25, Cathryn Harrison, actress (Old Woman in Black Moon), was born in London, England.
(SC, 5/25/02)
1959 May 29, Rupert Everett, actor (My Best Friend's Wedding, A Midsummer Night's Dream, Next Best Thing), was born in Norfolk, England.
(SC, 5/29/02)
1959 Jun 23, Klaus Fuchs was released after nine years in British prison. Fuchs was a German-born Los Alamos scientist whose espionage had helped the USSR build their first atomic and hydrogen bombs.
(MC, 6/23/02)
1959 Jun, Britain shipped 20 tons of heavy water to Israel. The information, made public in 2005, revealed that the water was vital for the production of plutonium at Israel's secret Dimona nuclear reactor in the Negev desert. The documents revealed that heavy water was transported from a British port in Israeli ships in two shipments, half in June 1959 and half a year later.
(AP, 8/4/05)(AP, 12/10/05)
1959 Aug, In Britain the first Mini Cooper automobile was built in response to the gas shortage. It was called the Austin Mini Seven or the Morris Mini Minor. In 2002 an updated version was introduced.
(WSJ, 10/30/98, p.A17)(SSFC, 7/7/02, p.A21)
1959 Oct 8, In Britain Harold MacMillan (b.1894) won re-election as prime minister.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_Kingdom_general_election,_1959)
1959 Nov 2, Britain opened the first section of the M1 motorway. The Watford Gap motorway service station opened the same day.
(Econ, 1/5/13, p.43)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/M1_motorway)
1959 Nov 20, Seven European nations (Austria, Britain, Denmark, Norway, Portugal, Sweden, Switzerland) signed the Stockholm Convention to form the European Free Trade Association (EFTA). The organization becoming operative on May 3, 1960. After the accession of Denmark, Ireland, and the UK to the EEC in January 1973, the EFTA began to falter. Portugal (1985), followed in 1995 by Austria, Finland and Sweden, left to join the EU. In 2017 Four members remained: Switzerland, Norway, Liechtenstein and Iceland.
(https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/European_Free_Trade_Association)
1959 Dec 30, Tracey Ullman, singer and actress (Tracey Ullman Show), was born in Slough, England.
(MC, 12/30/01)
1959 Alan Sillitoe (1928-2010), English writer, authored his novel “The Loneliness of a Long-distance Runner."
(Econ, 5/1/10, p.88)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alan_Sillitoe)
1959 Ronnie Scott (1927-1996) opened the Ronnie Scott jazz club in Soho, London.
(SFC, 12/25/96, p.A22)
1959 In Britain John Connell founded the Noise Abatement Society. In 2012 His granddaughter, Poppy Elliott, launched Quiet Mark, a not-for-profit company encouraging manufacturers to make quieter products.
(Econ, 9/7/13, TQ p.9)
1959 The British Parliament revoked a 300-year-old law that made it a crime, punishable by burning at the stake, to forecast the weather.
(SFEC, 8/3/97, Z1 p.2)
1959 The first civilian hovercraft, prototype SR-N2 with 68 seats, crossed the English Channel in 20 minutes. The craft was invented by Christopher Cockerell (d.1999 at 88), who was knighted in 1969.
(SFC, 6/4/99, p.D4)
1959 Sir Stanley Spencer, British painter (b.1891), died. His life was later depicted in the musical play by Pam Gem, "Stanley."
(SFC, 2/17/97, p.D6)(WSJ, 2/21/97, p.A12)
1960 Feb 19, Prince Andrew of Britain, Albert Christian Edward, Duke of York was born.
(HN, 2/19/98)(MC, 2/19/02)
1960 Feb 20, English archeologist Charles Leonard Woolley (b.1880), best known for his excavations at Ur in Mesopotamia, died. He was knighted by King George V in 1935.
(ON, 8/20/11, p.9)
1960 May 3, Austria became a founding member of the European Free Trade Association (EFTA), along with Britain, Denmark, Norway, Portugal, Sweden and Switzerland. The agreement took effect in 1994.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/European_Free_Trade_Association)(Econ, 11/24/07, SR p.7)
1960 May 6 Britain's Princess Margaret married Anthony Armstrong-Jones, a commoner, at Westminster Abbey. They divorced in 1978.
(AP, 5/6/97)
1960 May 29, Adrian Paul, actor (Dance to Win, Highlander), was born in London, England.
(SC, 5/29/02)
1960 Jun 26, British Somaliland became independent and five days later was united with Italian Somaliland as the Somali Republic.
(SFC, 4/10/96, A-5)
1960 Jul 1, Italian Somaliland joined the British Somaliland Protectorate to form the Republic of Somalia. The French Somali Coast (Côte française des Somalis) continued as a French colony until 1967 when it became an overseas territory of France as ‘Territoire Francais des Afars et des Issas’, achieving independence in 1977 as Djibouti.
(https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Italian_Somaliland)(Econ, 3/22/08, p.55)
1960 Jul 6, Aneurin Bevan (b.1897), British Labour politician, died. He was a key figure on the left of the party in the mid-20th century, and prominently served as the Minister of Health during the creation of the National Health Service, in which he played a vital part. In 1962 and 1974 Michael Foot authored a 2-volume biography of Bevan.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aneurin_Bevan)
1960 Aug 16, Britain granted independence to the crown colony of Cyprus. Archbishop Makarios began serving as the 1st post independence president. He chose Spyros Kyprianou (28) as foreign minister. Under the provisions of the independence settlement, Turkey, along with Greece and Britain, maintained a right to military intervention if the island’s constitutional order is threatened.
(AP, 8/16/97)(SFC, 3/13/02, p.A26)(Econ, 1/28/17, p.47)
1960 Sep 1, Robert Bolt's "A Man For All Seasons," premiered in London.
(MC, 9/1/02)
1960 Sep 27, Sylvia Pankhurst, feminist, died. She with her mother, Emmeline Pankhurst, had established the militant Women's Social and Political Union in 1903. These British suffragettes employed controversial, even violent methods to win the right to vote. In 1918, women over thirty were granted the vote, and in 1928, the voting age was lowered to 21, the voting age of men.
(MC, 9/27/01)
1960 Oct 1, Nigeria gained independence from Britain (National Day). Abubakar Tafawa Balewa (1912-1966) became the first prime minister and continued to 1966. At this time Nigeria was composed of just three regions.
(https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Abubakar_Tafawa_Balewa)(WSJ, 10/14/95, p.A-1)(Econ, 1/9/16, p.42)
1960 Oct 21, The 1st British nuclear submarine, Dreadnought, was launched at Barrow-in-Furness, Cumbria. Dreadnought was the first British submarine to surface at the North Pole in 1971. In the 1970s she was fitted to fire Tigerfish torpedoes. She developed reactor problems in late 1980 and was decommissioned in 1982. She is laid up at Rosyth awaiting disposal.
(http://web.ukonline.co.uk/aj.cashmore/britain/submarines/dreadnought/index.html)
1960 Nov 2, A British jury determined that Lady Chatterly's Lover by D.H. Lawrence is not obscene. It had been published by Penguin Books.
(HN, 11/2/00)(MC, 11/2/01)
1960 Dec 7, The first episode of "Coronation Street", the longest running TV soap opera in the world, was broadcast by Granada.
(http://media.guardian.co.uk/broadcast/story/0,7493,1057710,00.html)
1960 The musical "Oliver" based on the Dickens novel "Oliver Twist" premiered in London. It was written and composed by Lionel Bart (d.1999 at 68).
(SFEC, 4/4/99, p.B12)
1960 The new American Embassy in London, designed by Eero Saarinen, was completed. His designed for the building, officially titled the U.S. Chancellery, was completed in 1955.
(WSJ, 10/8/08, p.D9)
1960 Britain ended its 2-year national service program. Conscription in the United Kingdom existed for two periods in modern times. The first was from 1916 to 1919, the second was from 1939 to 1960. During World War I and World War II it was known as War Service or Military Service. From 1948 it was known as National Service.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Conscription_in_the_United_Kingdom)(Econ, 9/10/11, p.67)
1960 The British farthing went out of circulation.
(Econ, 5/12/12, p.78)
1960 Britain had 16 banks. Then years later the number dropped to six.
(Econ, 5/19/12, p.83)
1960 Cameroon gained independence from Britain.
(SFC, 7/1/97, p.A9)
1960 Eddie Cochran (21), American guitarist, died following a car crash in a hired car in England. His hit songs included "Summertime Blues" and "C’mon Everybody." His girlfriend, songwriter Sharon Sheeley and rocker Gene Vincent, survived.
(SFC, 5/25/02, p.A27)
1961 Feb 5, Anthony G. de Rothschild (73), British philanthropist, died.
(MC, 2/5/02)
1961 Feb 22, British Foreign Sec. Douglas-Home said in a "Top Secret" letter to Defense Minister Harold Watkinson that, "It must be fully obvious to the Americans that Hong Kong is indefensible by conventional means and that in the event of a Chinese attack, nuclear strikes against China would be the only alternative to complete abandonment of the colony." The document was made public in 2006.
(AP, 6/30/06)
1961 Mar 6, 1st London minicabs were introduced.
(MC, 3/6/02)
1961 Mar 8, Thomas Beecham (81), English conductor (Last Night of the Prom), died.
(MC, 3/8/02)
1961 Mar 15, South Africa withdrew from British Commonwealth.
(MC, 3/15/02)
1961 Mar 26, John F. Kennedy met with British Premier Macmillan, in Washington to discuss increased Communist involvement in Laos.
(HN, 3/25/98)
1961 Apr 18, Pamella Bordes, British parliament prostitute, was born in New Delhi, India.
(MC, 4/18/02)
1961 Apr 27, United Kingdom granted Sierra Leone independence.
(SFC, 7/1/97, p.A9)(SFC, 3/11/98, p.A10)(HN, 4/27/98)
1961 May 3, A British Colonial Office telegram stated the general guidance for keeping papers out of the hands of newly elected independent governments. Items should be disposed of if they "might embarrass members of the police, military forces, public servants or others eg police informers; might compromise sources of intelligence" -- or might be used "unethically" by incoming ministers. Under "Operation Legacy", officials in Kenya, Uganda, Malaysia, Tanzania, Jamaica and other former colonial territories were briefed on how to dispose of documents that "might embarrass Her Majesty's government." This was only made public in 2013.
(AFP, 11/29/13)
1961 May 10, "Beyond the Fringe," premiered in London.
(MC, 5/10/02)
1961 May 28, Amnesty International, a human rights organization, was founded. It won a Nobel Prize in 1977. Amnesty Int’l. was spawned when British lawyer Peter Benenson learned that two students in Portugal had been imprisoned for seven years for drinking a toast to liberty despite being under a dictatorship.
(HN, 5/28/98)(AP, 11/20/12)
1961 Jul 1, Diana Frances Spencer, the princess of Wales, was born near Sandringham, England. She died August, 1997, in a car crash in Paris at age 36.
(AP, 7/1/98)
1961 Jul 1, British troops landed in Kuwait to aid against Iraqi threats.
(HN, 7/1/98)
1961 Jul 8, John Profumo, Britain’s Secretary of State for War, met Christine Keeler, at a party at Cliveden. Profumo kept in contact with Keeler and they eventually began an affair.
(http://spartacus-educational.com/PRprofumo.htm)
1961 Aug 3, Britain’s Parliament adopted the Suicide Act of 1961, which decriminalized suicide in the UK, but made assisting one punishable by up to 14 years in jail.
(Econ, 6/6/09, p.55)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Suicide_Act_1961)
1961 Aug 9, The United Kingdom applied for membership in the European Community.
(http://europa.eu.int/abc/history/1961/index_en.htm)
1961 Oct 26, Britain introduced a time-limited parliamentary session for Prime Minister's Questions. It was initially two sessions of 15 minutes each on Tuesday and Thursday. PM Tony Blair later changed it to a single 30-minute joust on Wednesdays.
(AP, 10/26/11)
1961 Nov 16, Great Britain limited immigration from Commonwealth countries.
(MC, 11/16/01)
1961 Dec 9, The British Trust Territory of Tanganyika became independent. The first president was socialist Julius Nyerere (1922-1999). He resigned in 1985. Tanganyika became the mainland part of Tanzania in 1964.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tanganyika)(SFC, 8/8/98, p.A12)(SFC, 10/15/99, p.D7)
1961 Dec 13, Beatles signed a formal agreement to be managed by Brian Epstein.
(MC, 12/13/01)
1961 Dec 18, Britain's EMI Records originally rejected the Beatles.
(MC, 12/18/01)
1961 Dec 21, JFK & British PM MacMillan met in Bermuda.
(MC, 12/21/01)
1961 James Blades (1901-1999), English percussionist, authored "Orchestral Percussion Technique."
(SFC, 5/25/99, p.B2)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_Blades)
1961 Ludovic Kennedy (1919-2009), Scotland-born writer, authored “10 Rillington Place," the story of Timothy Evans, who was hanged on 1950 for a murder he did not commit. The book was later said to have played a role in ending capital punishment in Britain.
(www.spartacus.schoolnet.co.uk/SPYkennedyL.htm)(Econ, 10/24/09, p.99)
1961 The Beatles recorded their 1st commercial record, "My Bonnie." Brian Epstein, a Liverpool record store manager, became the Beatles’ manager.
(SFC, 12/1/01, p.D1)
1961 The British television show “The Avengers" began and continued to 1969. The theme music was composed by British jazz artist John Dankworth.
(SFC, 2/8/10, p.C3)(http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0060708/)
1961 In London the Post Office Tower was completed. It was designed by Eric Bedford (d.2001) and was later renamed the British Telecom Tower.
(SFC, 8/17/01, p.D5)
1961 Britain’s Shrewsbury School mates Christopher Booker, Richard Ingrams and Willie Rushton founded “Private Eye" magazine. Paul Foot (1938-2004) joined the trio in 1967.
(Econ, 7/31/04, p.74)
1961 In Britain a group of spies were arrested and microfilm was found of documents from the Admiralty.
(SFC, 12/6/96, p.B8)
1961 The Archigram group, formed by 6 friends in London, was named after their architectural broadsheet telegrams. The group included Ron Herron, Peter Cook, David Greene, Dennis Crompton, Michael Webb and Warren Chalk. Their work was delivered in a comic book style and based on the message that architecture was not eternal, but temporary and disposable.
(WSJ, 4/23/98, p.A16)
1961 Britain’s Jaguar Cars Ltd. Launched the Jaguar E-Type, designed by Malcolm Sayers.
(Econ, 5/18/13, IL p.4)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jaguar_E-Type)
1961 Guy Mountfort (d.2003) and 3 other Britons: zoologist Sir Julian Huxley, broadcaster Peter Scott and wildlife advocate Max Nicholson, founded the Swiss-based World Wildlife Fund (Worldwide Fund for Nature).
(AP, 5/1/03)(Econ, 9/14/13, SR p.8)
1961 Polish defector Michael Goleniewski exposed British agent George Blake (b.1922) as a spy for Russia. He was convicted on spying charges in Britain and sentenced to 42 years in prison. In October 1966, he made a dashing escape with help from several people he met while in custody and settled in Russia. He said he volunteered to work for the Soviet Union after witnessing relentless US bombing of North Korea.
(https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_Blake)(AP, 11/10/17)
1962 Jan 16, R.H. Tawney (b.1880), English economic historian, died. His books include “Equality" (1931). It was here that he wrote “Freedom for the pike is death to the minnows."
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/R._H._Tawney)
1962 Jan 23, British spy Kim Philby defected to USSR.
(MC, 1/23/02)
1962 Mar 1, US-British nuclear test experiment took place in Nevada.
(SC, 3/1/02)
1962 Mar 1, Uganda became a self-governing country. [see Oct 9]
(SC, 3/1/02)
1962 Mar 3, British Antarctic Territory was formed.
(SC, 3/3/02)
1962 Apr 18, The British Parliament passed its Commonwealth Immigrants Act. This tightened migration permitting only those with government-issued employment vouchers, limited in number, to settle in the United Kingdom.
(https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Commonwealth_Immigrants_Act_1962)
1962 May 8, London trolley buses went out of service.
(MC, 5/8/02)
1962 Jun 2, Vita Sackville-West (b.1892), English poet, novelist and gardener, died. She helped create her own gardens in Sissinghurst, Kent. She was famous for her exuberant aristocratic life, her strong marriage, and her passionate affairs with women like novelist Virginia Woolf. Her son Nigel gave her estate to the National Trust, a conservation charity. In 2008 Adam Nicolson authored “Sissinghurst: An Unfinished History."
(Econ, 10/04/08, p.91)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vita_Sackville-West)
1962 Jul 12, Mick Jagger (18), Keith Richards (18) and Brian Jones (20) played The Marquee Club with three others, the first time they performed under the Rolling Stones band name which later became synonymous worldwide with excess and musical flair.
(AFP, 7/7/12)
1962 Jul 21, George Macaulay Trevelyan (b.1876), British historian, died in Cambridge. Many of his writings promoted the Whig Party, an important aspect of British politics from the 17th century to the mid-19th century, and its successor, the Liberal Party.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/G._M._Trevelyan)
1962 Aug 6, Jamaica became an independent dominion within the British Commonwealth.
(SFC, 7/1/97, p.A9)(AP, 8/6/97)
1962 Aug 16, The Beatles dropped Pete Best as their drummer. They took on Ringo Starr on Aug 17. Best later authored the autobiography "Beatle! The Pete Best Story."
(SFC, 7/5/02, p.G5)(MC, 8/16/02)
1962 Aug 17, Beatles replaced Pete Best with Ringo Starr.
(SC, 8/17/02)
1962 Sep 11, The Beatles recorded their first single for EMI, "Love Me Do" and "P.S. I Love You," at EMI studios in London. The recording contract was offered by producer George Martin. Drummer Ringo Starr joined John, Paul and George for his first recording session as a Beatles, replacing Pete Best. "Love Me Do" was the result and it took 17 takes to complete.
(AP, 9/11/97)(SFC, 11/11/98, p.E3)(MC, 9/11/01)
1962 Oct 5, The Beatles' first hit, "Love Me Do," was first released in the United Kingdom.
(AP, 10/5/97)
1962 Oct 9, Uganda became an independent state within the Britain Commonwealth. [see Mar 1]
(PCh, 1992, p.984)(HFA, '96, p.40)(SFC, 5/4/96, P.A-10)
1962 Oct 18, Dr. James D. Watson of the United States and Dr. Francis Crick and Dr. Maurice Wilkins (d.2004) of Britain, were named winners of the Nobel Prize for Medicine and Physiology for their work in determining the double-helix molecular structure of DNA.
(AP, 10/18/02)(SFC, 3/19/98, p.C4)
1962 Oct, Max Perutz (1914-2002), Austrian-born molecular biologist, won the Nobel Prize in chemistry for his work in England on the structure of hemoglobin.
(Econ, 8/25/07, p.77)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Max_Perutz)
1962 Nov 24, The BBC TV series "That Was the Week That Was" began and ran through 36 episodes to 1963. Willie Rushton impersonated PM Harold McMillan.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/That_Was_The_Week_That_Was)(SFC, 12/12/96, p.C8)
1962 Nov 26, The Beatles made their 1st recording session under the "Beatles" name.
(MC, 11/26/01)
1962 Nov 29, Great Britain and France agreed on a joint venture to build the super sonic Concorde jet.
(WSJ, 7/26/00, p.A26)(MC, 11/29/01)
1962 Dec 7, Great Britain performed a nuclear test at the Nevada Test Site.
(MC, 12/7/01)
1962 Dec 10, "Lawrence of Arabia," David Lean's epic film starring Peter O'Toole as British officer T.E. Lawrence, had its royal gala premiere in London.
(AP, 12/10/02)
1962 "The War Requiem" by Benjamin Britten premiered at the reconsecration of the bombed-out Coventry Cathedral. It juxtaposed sections from the Mass for the Dead with verse by WW I poet Wilfred Owen.
(SFEM, 5/17/98, p.6)
1962 Sir Michael Tippett, British composer, premiered his 2nd opera "King Priam."
(SFC, 1/10/98, p.A19)
1962 In Britain the Federation of Student Islamic Societies (FOSIS) was formed.
(Econ, 1/9/10, p.61)
1962 In Britain John Vassal (1925-1996), an Admiralty clerk, was arrested for spying. He had been blackmailed into spying as an attaché in Moscow in 1955 with sex photographs with 2-3 men. The scandal helped to end the career of Prime Minister Harold Macmillan.
(SFC, 12/6/96, p.B8)
1962 Denys Fisher, an English inventor, made a tool to help draw waves for scientific use, but it was not adopted. His family thought it would a good toy for children and in 1965 it was made into a kit and showed at an int’l. toy show. Kenner bought the toy and sold it as the Spirograph.
(SFC, 10/17/07, p.G2)
1963 Jan 14, President of France Charles de Gaulle announced the French veto on Britain's application to join the European Common Market, the forerunner of the European Union. De Gaulle said the British government lacked 'commitment' to European integration.
(www.bbc.co.uk/history/british/timeline/present_timeline_noflash.shtml)
1963 Jan, British investigative reporter Peter Earle (d.1997 at 71) uncovered the call-girl ring run by osteopath Stephen Ward. The investigation snowballed into the Profumo scandal that revealed Minister of War, John Profumo, involved in an affair with Christine Keeler, who was conducting a simultaneous affair with a Soviet military attaché. The scandal brought down the government of PM Harold Macmillan. The events were dramatized in the film "Scandal."
(http://spartacus-educational.com/PRprofumo.htm)(SFEC, 4/27/97, p.B8)
1963 Feb 11, Sylvia Plath (30), American writer, committed suicide by gas in London after Ted Hughes left her for another woman. Her autobiographical novel "The Bell Jar" was published this year. She had been married to English poet Ted Hughes (d.1998), who in 1998 published a 198 page book of verse "Birthday Letters" based on their relationship. The woman for whom Hughes left Plath committed suicide 5 years later. Plath’s 1981 "Collected Poems" won a Pulitzer Prize. The Plath book of poems "Ariel" was published after her death. In 2000 her uncensored diaries: "The Unabridged Journals of Sylvia Plath," were edited by Karen V. Kukil. In 2013 Carl Rollyson authored “American Isis: The Life and Art of Sylvia Plath."
(SFC, 1/19/98, p.A10)(SFEC, 2/1/98, p.C5)(SFEC, 3/26/00, p.A25)(SFEC, 11/12/00, BR p.1)(SSFC, 2/17/13, p.F5)
1963 Mar 12, US House granted former British Prime Minister Winston Churchill honorary U.S. citizenship.
(MC, 3/12/02)
1963 Mar 16, William Beveridge (b.1879), British economist and social reformer, died. He is perhaps best known for his 1942 report Social Insurance and Allied Services (known as the Beveridge Report) which served as the basis for the post-World War II Welfare State put in place by the Labour government.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Beveridge)
1963 Mar 22, British Minister of War John Profumo denied having sex with Christine Keeler. The Profumo call girl scandal almost toppled the government. Profumo, a leading British Conservative and minister for war, was discovered to have been involved with Keeler, a call girl who was also dealing with a Soviet attaché. Valerie Hobson (d.1998 at 81), his actress wife, stood by him after the scandal. A 1995 Masterpiece Theater TV play was based on these events.
(TMC, 1994, p.1963)(WSJ, 12/28/95, p. A-5)(SFEC, 11/15/98, p.D5)(MC, 3/22/02)
1963 Apr 8, Julian Lennon, John Lennon’s son, singer (Too Late for Goodbyes), was born.
(MC, 4/8/02)
1963 Jun 5, John Profumo (1915-2006), British Minister of War, resigned due his relations with Christine Keeler. [see Mar 22]
(AP, 3/10/06)
1963 Jun 9, JFK named Winston Churchill a US honorary citizen.
(MC, 6/9/02)
1963 Jun 17, British House of Commons debated the John Profumo-Christine Keeler affair, which involved the defense minister and the call-girl he shared with a Russian agent.
(MC, 6/17/02)
1963 Jun 17, John Cowper Powys (b.1872), English author, died. In 2007 Morine Krissdottir authored “Descent of Memory: The Life of John Cowper Powys." His 10 novels included “Wolf Solent," the story of a young man’s rebellion against the modern world.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Cowper_Powys)(WSJ, 9/8/07, p.P9)
1963 Jun 24, 1st demonstration of home video recorder was at the BBC Studios in London.
(MC, 6/24/02)
1963 Jul 25, The United States, the Soviet Union and Britain initialed a treaty in Moscow prohibiting the testing of nuclear weapons in the atmosphere, in space or underwater.
(AP, 7/25/97)
1963 Jul 30, British spy Kim Philby was discovered in Moscow. Philby, writer for The Economist, who spent six years filing dispatches from the Middle East, was discovered to be a spy and defected to the Soviet Union.
(WSJ, 6/6/95, p.A-14)(MC, 7/30/02)
1963 Jul, Serial killers Myra Hindley (d.2002) and her boyfriend, Ian Brady (the Moors Murderers), began abducting, molesting and killing children. The pair were caught in Oct, 1965. Between 1963 and 1965 they lured five children and teenagers to their deaths, burying four of them on remote moorland near Manchester.
(AP, 11/16/02)(AFP, 8/17/12)
1963 Aug 3, Beatles made a final performance the Cavern Club in Liverpool.
(SC, 8/3/02)
1963 Aug 5, The United States, Britain and the Soviet Union signed a treaty in Moscow banning nuclear tests in the atmosphere, space and underwater.
(AP, 8/5/97)
1963 Aug 8, Britain's "Great Train Robbery" took place as thieves made off with 120 mailbags with 2.62 million pounds in banknotes. 15 men under Bruce Reynolds (d.2013) held up the Glasgow to London Royal Mail (Glasgow-Euston train) and took off with $7.2 mil in sterling. They badly beat up train driver Jack Mills. He never returned to work and died seven years later without making a full recovery. Ronald Biggs claimed to be one of the 15 men and later lived freely in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. His share of the robbery was $2.8 mil but he was arrested just four weeks after the robbery. He escaped from Wandsworth Prison in 1965 and was still wanted in Britain. Only 1/8 of the money stolen was ever recovered. Dinner at home with Mr. Biggs could be purchased for $50. In 1994 Biggs published an autobiography. In 1999 a video game was developed based on the event. Biggs (71) returned to Britain in 2001 and in 2009 he was up for parole. Reynolds spent five years as a fugitive. On his return to Britain he was caught by police and sentenced 25 years in prison for the train heist, of which he served just 10. Reynolds published a memoir titled "Autobiography of a Thief" and became a consultant on a crime film.
(SFE, 10/1/95, p.T-8)(AP, 8/8/97)(WSJ, 11/4/99, p.A28)(WSJ, 5/7/01, p.A1)(AFP, 7/1/09)(AP, 2/28/13)
1963 Aug 23, Beatles released "She Loves You" in UK.
(MC, 8/23/02)
1963 Aug 30, Guy Burgess (b.1911), British spy for the USSR, died.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Guy_Burgess)
1963 Sep 7, The Beatles made their 1st US TV appearance on ABC’s Big Night Out.
(MC, 9/7/01)
1963 Oct 7, President Kennedy signed the documents of ratification for a nuclear test ban treaty with Britain and the Soviet Union.
(AP, 10/7/97)
1963 Oct 9, British premier Harold MacMillan resigned.
(MC, 10/9/01)
1963 Oct 19, Beatles recorded "I Want to Hold Your Hand."
(MC, 10/19/01)
1963 Oct 20, Alec Douglas-Home formed a British government.
(MC, 10/20/01)
1963 Oct 22, Britain’s "National Theatre Company," founded under Laurence Olivier, opened with Hamlet. In 2017 Nicholas Hytner authored “Balancing Acts: Behind the Scenes at the National Theater."
(https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Royal_National_Theatre)(Econ 5/6/17, p.75)
1963 Nov 22, Aldous L. Huxley (69), English author (Devils of Loudon, Brave New World), died in Los Angeles.
(www.kirjasto.sci.fi/ahuxley.htm)
1963 Nov 22, C.S. Lewis, English author the Narnia series and other books, died of osteoporosis. In 2005 Alan Jacobs authored “The Narnian," a biography of Lewis. In 2013 Alister McGrath authored “C.S. Lewis--A Life: Eccentric Genius, Reluctant Prophet."
(www.kirjasto.sci.fi/cslewis.htm)(WSJ, 10/15/05, p.P13)(Econ, 5/18/13, p.88)
1963 Dec 10, Zanzibar was granted independence by the United Kingdom and became a constitutional monarchy under the Sultan.
(https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Sultans_of_Zanzibar)
1963 Dec 12, Kenya gained independence from Britain and the Kenyan African National Union Party (KANU) began ruling. Jomo Kenyatta, a Kikuyu, was the first president and served until 1978. The Kikuyu and closely related Meru and Embu groups comprised some 28% of Kenya’s people. Kenya’s population at this time was under 8 million. This was later commemorated as Jamhuri Day.
(SFC, 10/17/96, A8)(SFC, 7/1/97, p.A9)(AP,12/12/97)(SFC,12/23/97, p.D4)(SFC, 8/8/98, p.A12)(Econ, 2/28/09, p.87)(Econ, 3/14/09, p.49)(SSFC, 5/25/14, p.P3)
1963 Sir Lawrence van der Post (1906-1996) wrote "The Seed and the Sower." It was filmed in 1983 as Merry Christmas Mr. Lawrence with David Bowie.
(SFC, 12/17/96, p.B4)
1963 Nora Beloff (1919-1997), British political writer and foreign correspondent, wrote "The General Says No: Britain’s Exclusion from Europe."
(SFC, 2/24/96, p.A17)
1963 The English satirical musical “Oh, What a Lovely War!" was directed by Joan Littlewood (1914-2002) and based on Alan Clark’s “The Donkeys" (1961), a scathing examination of British First World War generals.
(SFC, 9/24/02, p.A25)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joan_Littlewood)
1963 Yehudi Menuhin founded the Yehudi Menuhin School at Stoke d'Abernon, in Surrey, England, combining musical and scholastic training to gifted students.
(SFC, 3/13/99, p.A9)
1963 Sir Andrew Huxley (1917-2012), British neurophysiologist shared a Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine with Alan Hodgkin and John Eccles.
(Econ, 6/16/12, p.102)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Andrew_Huxley)
1963 John R. Hopkins won a British Screenwriter’s Guild Award for the TV police show "Z Cars."
(SFC, 8/4/98, p.C2)
1963 The British light cruiser HMS Belfast saw active service until 1963. The cruiser saw distinguished service in World War II and Korea and now serves as a floating museum on the River Thames in London. Belfast is, in fact, the last survivor of the Royal Navy’s all-gun cruisers. Although she still, by special privilege, flies the White Ensign and has the right to the designation Her Majesty’s Ship, she is now a permanent floating museum, a branch of the world-famous Imperial War Museum. She was the first warship to be preserved by Great Britain since Lord Nelson’s HMS Victory.
(HNQ, 6/2/01)
1963 Britain relaxed laws on betting. Gambling as a result moved off tracks to betting shops. By 2006 attendance at dog races fell to some 3.6 million from a high of 38 million in 1936.
(Econ, 3/29/08, p.74)
1963 David Low (72), British political cartoonist, died.
(WSJ, 5/29/02, p.D7)
1963 Kenya gained independence from Britain and the Kenyan African National Union Party began ruling.
(SFC, 10/17/96, A8)(SFC, 7/1/97, p.A9)
1964 Feb 6, Paris and London agreed to build a rail tunnel under the English Channel.
(HN, 2/6/99)
1964 Feb 7, The British band The Beatles began their first American tour as they arrived at New York's John F. Kennedy International Airport, where they were greeted by 25,000 screaming fans.
(SFEM, 3/9/96, p.35)(AP, 2/7/97)(HN, 2/7/99)
1964 Feb 8, Peter Shaffer's "Royal Hunt of the Sun," premiered in London.
(MC, 2/8/02)
1964 Feb 23, The U.S. and Britain recognized the new Zanzibar government.
(HN, 2/23/98)
1964 Mar 9, The London Fisheries Convention was signed in relation to fishing rights across the coastal waters of Western Europe. The agreement was largely superseded to the Common Fisheries Policy (the CFP) of 1970, as all parties are members of the European Union.
(https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fisheries_Convention)
1964 Mar 28, First pirate radio station began to broadcast off the coast of England. Radio Caroline debuted with a combination of rock music and lively disk jockey whose patter played to a huge audience in Great Britain. British authorities, tried unsuccessfully, to shut down the radio station ship. Radio Caroline had become competition to the staid and usually dull British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC). [see Dec 23]
(MC, 3/28/02)
1964 Apr 5, 1st driverless trains ran on the London Underground.
(MC, 4/5/02)
1964 May 6, Joe Orton's "Entertaining Mr. Sloan," premiered in London.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Entertaining_Mr_Sloane)
1964 Jun 9, W. Maxwell Aitken (85), Lord Beaverbrook, English Minister of Info, died.
(MC, 6/9/02)
1964 Jul 6, Beatles' film "Hard Day's Night" premiered in London.
(MC, 7/6/02)
1964 Jul 6, Malawi, the former British protectorate and part of the Federation of Rhodesia and Nyasaland gained independence.
(WUD, 1994, p.867)
1964 Aug 12, Ian L. Fleming (56), British spy, journalist, writer (James Bond), died. He had recently sold a 51% share of the copyright of his books to Sir Jock Campbell, who chaired the Booker Brothers. In 2000 Fleming’s heirs bought back the copyright to the books.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ian_Fleming)(Econ, 5/31/08, p.90)
1964 Sep 9, John Osborne's "Inadmissible Evidence," premiered in London.
(MC, 9/9/01)
1964 Sep 21, Malta became an independent member of the British Commonwealth.
(AP, 9/21/97)(Econ, 7/14/07, p.57)(www.state.gov/r/pa/ei/bgn/5382.htm)
1964 Oct 16, Harold Wilson (d.1995) of the Labor Party assumed office as prime minister of Britain, succeeding Conservative Sir Alec Douglas-Home. Wilson’s Labor government took over from Harold MacMillan’s Conservatives. The election was about 13 wasted Tory years and Wilson’s promised “white heat of technology".
(AP, 10/16/99)(WSJ, 7/26/00, p.A26)(Econ, 4/29/17, p.42)
1964 Nov 25, Eleven nations gave a total of $3 billion to rescue the value of the British currency.
(HN, 11/25/98)
1964 Dec 9, Dame Edith Sitwell (d.1964), English poet, died. "Good taste is the worst vice ever invented." A book of her collected poems was published in 2006. In 2011 Richard Greene authored “Edith Sitwell: Avant Garde Poet, English Genius."
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edith_Sitwell)(WSJ, 7/22/06, p.P10)(Econ, 2/19/11, p.94)
1964 Dec 21, Britain’s House of Commons voted to ban the death penalty. Parliament voted to abolish the death penalty. The vote was in part due to the country’s unease over the 1953 Bentley hanging
(SFC, 7/31/98, p.A16)(HN, 12/21/98)
1964 Dec 23, Rock 'n' Roll Radio- in the guise of Pirate Radio- came to England where one had to listen to the BBC or nothing at all. Pirate Radio was a gallant effort to broadcast commercial radio, which was illegal in Great Britain at that time.
(MC, 12/23/01)
1964 The British duo Peter and Gordon made a hit with the song “A World Without Love," written by Paul McCartney. The group broke up in 1968 after 9 top 20 records. Gordon Waller died in 1964 at age 64.
(SFC, 7/24/09, p.D6)
1964 The BBC showed its 26-part epic of WWI: “The Great War."
(Econ, 3/29/14, p.88)
1964 The British TV series "Till Death Do Us Part," written by Johnny Speight (d.1998 at 78), began. It was copied in the US for the 1971 "All in the Family" that began in 1971 on CBS TV and ran to 1983 and later became "Archie Bunker’s Place." Bunker was the first video-taped sitcom.
(SFEC, 5/24/98, DB p.39)
1964 London’s Caribbean-flavored Notting Hill Carnival was founded following the disturbances in Notting Hill six years earlier that saw clashes between whites and newly arrived immigrants from the West Indies.
(AP, 8/29/11)
1964 Zambia established Independence from Britain. Pres. Kenneth Kaunda was in charge.
(SFC, 5/22/96, p.A9)(SFC, 7/1/97, p.A9)
1964-1970 Harold Wilson was the prime minister of Britain.
(SFC, 9/6.96, p.A23)
1964-1977 Secret germ warfare was conducted during this time over London and southern England. Scientists released three types of bacteria: bacillus globigii, killed serratia marcescens, and E. Coli 162. Officials claimed that the bacteria was rendered harmless.
(SFC, 2/3/97, p.C2)
1965 Jan 15, Sir Winston Churchill suffered a severe stroke.
(HN, 1/15/99)
1965 Jan 4, T.S. Eliot, English poet, died in London at age 76. In 1995 Anthony Julius published "T.S. Eliot, Anti-Semitism and Literary Form." Julius was the lawyer who won a divorce settlement of $23 million for Princess Diana in 1996. "Little Gidding" is an Eliot work. In 2015 Robert Crawford authored “Young Eliot: From St. Louis to The Waste Land."
(SFC, 7/17/96, p.E6)(NH, 8/96, p.57)(AP, 1/4/98)(Econ., 2/14/15, p.74)
1965 Jan 24, Winston Churchill, former prime minister (1940-45, 51-55), died from a cerebral thrombosis in London at age 90. "I am always ready to learn, but I do not always like to be taught." Lord Moran (Sir Charles Wilson), his personal physician, later authored "Churchill At War: 1940-1945."
(AP, 1/24/98)(AP, 1/17/00)(HN, 1/24/01)(WSJ, 12/14/02, p.W10)
1965 Jan 30, The state funeral of Winston Churchill took place.
(MC, 1/30/02)
1965 Feb 2, Joe Orton's farce, "Loot," premiered in Brighton.
(MC, 2/2/02)
1965 Feb 15, John Lennon passed his driving test.
(440 Int’l., 2/15/99)
1965 Mar 4, David Attenborough became the new controller of BBC2.
(SC, 3/4/02)
1965 Apr 13, Beatles recorded "Help."
(MC, 4/13/02)
1965 May 14, An acre at the field at Runnymede, the site of the signing of the Magna Carta, was dedicated by Queen Elizabeth as a memorial to the late John F. Kennedy, US President.
(www.camelotintl.com/365_days/may.html)(http://tinyurl.com/flw65)
1965 Jul 26, Republic of Maldives gained independence from Britain.
(www.findmaldives.com/Maldives-Independence.html)
1965 Jul 29, Beatles movie "Help" premiered and Queen Elizabeth attended.
(MC, 7/29/02)
1965 Jul 31, J. K. Rawling, British writer, was born in Yate, Gloucestershire. She became famous for her Harry Potter fantasy series.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/J._K._Rowling)
1965 Jul, British Great Train Robber Ronnie Biggs (1929-2013) escaped prison and spent the next 35 years on lam between Paris, Australia, Panama and Brazil.
(Econ, 1/4/14, p.74)
1965 Sep 4, Beatles' "Help!," single went #1 for 3 weeks.
(MC, 9/4/01)
1965 Sep 13, The Beatles released "Yesterday."
(MC, 9/13/01)
1965 Sep 26, Queen Elizabeth decorated the Beatles with the Order of the British Empire.
(MC, 9/26/01)
1965 Oct 8, London's Post Office Tower opened as the tallest building in England.
(MC, 10/8/01)
1965 Oct 26, Beatles received MBEs at Buckingham Palace.
(MC, 10/26/01)
1965 Oct, In Britain child serial killers Myra Hindley (d.2002) and her boyfriend, Ian Brady (the Moors Murderers), were caught. [see 1966]
(AP, 11/16/02)
1965 Nov 13, Director Kenneth Tynan said "Fuck" on BBC.
(MC, 11/13/01)
1965 Nov, The British Indian Ocean Territory (Biot) was created by detaching the Chagos island group from Mauritius and other small islands from the Seychelles, then both British colonies. Mauritius was given £3m in compensation; the following year, Britain signed a military agreement with the US leasing it the largest island, Diego Garcia, for 50 years.
(www.guardian.co.uk/comment/story/0,,1636549,00.html)
1965 Dec 3, Beatles began their final UK concert tour in Glasgow.
(MC, 12/3/01)
1965 Dec 23, In Britain Roy Jenkins (1920-2003) began serving his first term as Labour Home Secretary under PM Harold Wilson and continued to September 30, 967. Jenkins was responsible for the relaxation of the laws relating to divorce.
(https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roy_Jenkins)(Econ, 4/8/17, p.50)
1965 Samuel Beer (1911-2009), Harvard professor, authored “British Politics in the Collectivist Age." This established him as the foremost scholar on modern British politics.
(Econ, 5/2/09, p.88)
1965 Harold Fielding (d.2003 at 86) produced "Charlie Girl" in London. It ran for over 5 years.
(SFC, 10/4/03, p.A18)
1965 Peter Laslett (1915-2001), English historian, authored “The World We Have Lost: England Before the Industrial Age".
(Econ, 10/4/14, p.82)
1965 In Britain The Who made 3 consecutive hits with "I Can’t Explain," "Anyway Anyhow Anywhere," and "My Generation." The group included bassist John Entwistle (d.2002), drummer Keith Moon (d.1978), singer Roger Daltrey, and guitarist Pete Townshend.
(SFC, 6/28/02, p.A2)
1965 The Int’l. Standard Book Number (ISBN) was invented in Britain and rapidly took off as an int’l. standard for classifying books.
(Econ, 3/2/13, p.60)
1965 In Britain Bob Guccione founded Penthouse Magazine. It was a sex magazine with more provocative poses than Playboy Magazine.
(WSJ, 3/22/96, p.A-1)
1965 The British charity “Riding for the Disabled Association" was established. Its American equivalent formed in 1969.
(Econ, 5/21/11, p.88)
1965 Yehudi Menuhin, violinist, was knighted by Queen Elizabeth II. He was made a baron, Lord Menuhin of Stoke d'Abernon, in 1993.
(SFC, 3/13/99, p.A9)
1965 The first automatic teller machines came from England.
(SFC, 7/6/96, p.E4)
1965 Imre Lakatos of London's School of Economics organized a session chaired by Karl Popper at which philosopher Thomas Kuhn spoke. In 2003 Steve Fuller authored "Kuhn vs. Popper: The Struggle for the Soul of Science."
(Econ, 8/9/03, p.71)
1965 Gambia gained independence from Britain.
(SFC, 7/1/97, p.A9)
1965 Singapore became independent from Britain and was booted from the Malayan federation. Lee Kuan Yew became the new prime minister.
(WSJ, 6/11/96, p.A9A)(SFC, 6/8/96, p.A11)(WSJ, 12/31/96, p.1)
1965-1972 Sir Martin Jones (d.1997 at 84) led M15, the British counterintelligence agency. He had succeeded Sir Roger Hollis.
(SFC, 3/17/97, p.A22)
1966 Mar 4, North Sea Gas was 1st pumped ashore by BP.
(SC, 3/4/02)
1966 Mar 23, The 1st official meeting after 400 years of Catholic and Anglican Church.
(SS, 3/23/02)
1966 Mar 31, Labour Party won British parliamentary election.
(MC, 3/31/02)
1966 Apr 2, Cecil Scott Forester (66), English author (Horatio Hornblower), died.
(MC, 4/2/02)
1966 Apr 10, Evelyn Waugh (b.1903), British writer, satirist (Brideshead Revisited), died. He also wrote “The Loved Ones," a satire on California burial customs and “Vile Bodies." His correspondence with Nancy Mitford, novelist of manners, was edited by Charlotte Mosley and published in 1997. In 2007 Alexander Waugh, grandson of Evelyn Waugh, authored “Fathers and Sons," his biography of the Waugh family.
(WSJ, 4/29/97, p.A18)(SFC, 9/11/04, p.E1)(WSJ, 5/26/07, p.P6)
1966 Apr 16, Rhodesian PM Ian Smith broke diplomatic relations with Britain.
(MC, 4/16/02)
1966 May 1, Last British concert by Beatles was at Empire Pool in Wembley.
(MC, 5/1/02)
1966 Jun 21, Reg Calvert (b.1938), a pirate-radio operator, was shot and killed by Oliver Smedley, an ex-army man and commercial rival. In 2010 Adrian Johns authored “Death of a Pirate: British Radio and the Making of the Information Age."
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reginald_Calvert)(Econ, 11/20/10, p.97)
1966 Jul 29, Edward Gordon Craig (b.1872), the son of English actress Ellen Terry, died. He had authored the controversial manifesto “On the Art of the Theater" (1911) and envisioned that the future of theater lay in lights, sounds, shadows and screens.
(Econ, 8/30/08, p.80)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edward_Gordon_Craig)
1966 Aug 12, Harry Roberts (v.1936) and two accomplices were sitting in a van in west London preparing for an armed robbery when they were approached by three unarmed policemen, who they shot dead. In 2014 Roberts (78) was released from prison.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shepherd%27s_Bush_murders)(AP, 10/23/14)
1966 Sep 10, The Beatles' "Revolver," album went #1 & stays #1 for 6 weeks.
(MC, 9/10/01)
1966 Sep 12, The Beatles received a gold record for "Yellow Submarine."
(MC, 9/12/01)
1966 Sep 30, The Republic of Botswana, a Texas sized country, declared its independence from Britain.
(SFC, 7/1/97, p.A9)(AP, 9/30/06)
1966 Oct 21, More than 140 people, mostly children, were killed when a coal waste landslide engulfed a school and several houses in south Wales.
(AP, 10/21/97)
1966 Nov 24, The Beatles began recording sessions for "Sgt Pepper."
(MC, 11/24/01)
1966 The Beatles wrote “Taxman" to protest at Harold Wilson’s exorbitant “supertax" rates.
(Econ, 1/28/17, p.55)
1966 Harold Wilson, PM of Britain, established a convention whereby MPs were exempt from some types of electronic bugging.
(Econ, 2/9/08, p.62)
1966 Myra Hindley (d.2002) and her boyfriend, Ian Brady (the Moors Murderers), were sentenced to life in prison for the murders of 10-year-old Lesley Ann Downey and 17-year-old Edward Evans. Brady was also found guilty of killing John Kilbride, 12, and Hindley for sheltering her lover after that murder. The pair confessed in 1987 to murdering Pauline Reade, 16, and Keith Bennett, 12. The serial killings from July 1963 to October 1965 horrified Britain. In 1997 a 13-foot high painting titled "Myra" by Marcus Harvey was displayed at the Royal Academy of Arts. It was created from children’s handprints and based on a mug shot of Myra.
(SFC, 9/18/97, p.E5)(AP, 11/16/02)
1966 Arthur Jackson wounded 2 tellers and killed a man who tried to stop a bank robbery in the Chelsea section of London.
(SFC, 6/22/96, p.E3)
1966 The Hillman Hunter was an automobile produced under the Hillman marque by the Rootes Group, a British automobile manufacturer (later Chrysler Europe), from 1966 to 1979.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hillman_Hunter)
1966 Britain allowed the United States to build an air and naval base on Diego Garcia, the largest island of the Chagos Archipelago. The existing population of around 1,500 was moved to nearby Mauritius and the Seychelles and effectively barred from returning. Many eventually settled in southern England.
(Reuters, 11/16/16)
1966 Barbados gained independence from Britain.
(SFC, 7/1/97, p.A9)
1966 Lesotho in southern Africa gained independence from Britain.
(SFC, 7/1/97, p.A9)
1967 Jan 15, The Rolling Stones appeared on the Ed Sullivan Show.
(www.crazyabouttv.com/edsullivanshow.html)
1967 Feb 17, Beatles released "Penny Lane" & "Strawberry Fields." Strawberry Fields was a children’s home run by the Salvation Army. It was closed in 2005.
(http://www.jpgr.co.uk/r5570.html)(SFC, 6/2/05, p.E8)
1967 Mar 1, Queen Elizabeth Hall (South Bank Center) opened in London.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Queen_Elizabeth_Hall)(http://tinyurl.com/md43c3)
1967 Mar 3, Grenada gained partial independence from Britain.
(SC, 3/3/02)
1967 Mar 11, British psychedelic group Pink Floyd released “Arnold Layne," their 1st single song.
(http://pinkfloydhyperbase.dk/albums/arnold.htm)(SFC, 9/26/06, p.D6)
1967 Apr 1, Sir Edward Compton, who had been appointed as Ombudsman-designate in September 1966, began work as Britain’s Parliamentary Ombudsman.
(www.ombudsman.org.uk/about_us/our_history/timeline.html)
1967 Apr 11, Tom Stoppard's "Rosencrantz & Guildenstern are Dead," was performed by the Royal National Theater at London’s Old Vic Theater. It had premiered on Aug 26, 1966, in Edinburgh, Scotland.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rosencrantz_and_Guildenstern_Are_Dead)
1967 Apr 25, Britain granted internal self-government to Swaziland. The new Swaziland flag included a black and white shield to depict racial harmony.
(http://flagspot.net/flags/sz.html)(SSFC, 4/22/12, p.H3)
1967 May 6, Gordon /Brown, Britain’s chancellor of the exchequer, announced that he was giving the Bank of England the responsibility for setting interest rates. Within weeks Mr. Brown stripped the central bank of its responsibility for bank regulation and public debt management.
(Econ, 4/29/17, p.12)
1967 May 6, The body of Keith Lyon (12) of Brighton, England, was found clad in his school uniform on a grass bank near a rural bridle path between the nearby villages of Ovingdean and Woodingdean, about 56 miles south of London. He had left home to buy a geometry set and never returned. Lyon had been stabbed 11 times in the chest, back and abdomen with a serrated kitchen knife. In 2006 2 suspects were arrested.
(AP, 8/1/06)
1967 May 11, The United Kingdom re-applied to join the European Community. It was followed by Ireland and Denmark and, a little later, by Norway. General de Gaulle was still reluctant to accept British accession.
(http://europa.eu.int/abc/history/1961/index_en.htm)
1967 May 11, French President Charles de Gaulle for a second time said he will veto Britain's application to join the Common Market. One reason he gave was the incompatibility of its farming policies.
(http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/november/27/newsid_4187000/4187714.stm)(Econ, 11/24/12, p.62)
1967 May 12, English poet laureate John Masefield died.
(AP, 5/12/07)
1967 May 19, The Soviet Union ratified a treaty with the United States and Britain banning nuclear weapons from outer space: "Treaty on Principles Governing the Activities of States in the Exploration and Use of Outer Space, including the Moon and Other Celestial Bodies." The Int’l. Outer Space Treaty barred nations from appropriating celestial bodies but did not mention individuals.
(AP, 5/19/97)(SFC, 6/25/97, p.A15)(SFEC, 7/13/97, Par p.8)
1967 May 20, BBC disc jockey Kenny Everett gave the official preview of Sgt Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band on the radio show Where It's At, broadcast on the BBC Light Program. He was unable to play the final track "A Day in the Life," which the BBC had banned a day earlier due to drug references.
(www.beatlesbible.com/1967/05/20/the-bbc-bans-a-day-in-the-life/)
1967 May 25, John Lennon took delivery of his psychedelic painted Rolls Royce. He had acquired the Phantom V on June 3, 1965.
(www.blogcatalog.com/blog/jinxi-boo/cc59e352cc28925ddae7f1497e6cd46c)
1967 May 28, Francis Chichester (1901-1972), English aviator and sailor, arrived home at Plymouth from a round-the-world, one man sailboat trip.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Francis_Chichester)
1967 Jun 1, "Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band," was released in the U.K. and the following day in the U.S. and was certified "gold" the same day of release. It topped the charts all over the world, holding the number one slot in Britain for 27 weeks and for 19 in America. It received four Grammys including Best Album.
(AP, 6/1/97)
1967 Jun 3, Arthur Ransome (b.1884), English author of children’s adventure stories, died. He is best known for writing the “Swallows and Amazons" series of children's books. It is believed that he served as a double agent and worked in the Russian service after the collapse of the Czarist regime. In 1918 he wrote a propaganda pamphlet titled: “On Behalf of Russia: An Open Letter to America." In 2009 Roland Chambers authored “The Last Englishman: The Double Life of Arthur Ransome."
(Econ, 8/29/09, p.73)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arthur_Ransome)
1967 Jun 19, Beatle Paul McCartney, having admitted in Queen Magazine that he had taken LSD, repeated the admission on television.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paul_McCartney)
1967 Jun 25, The Beatles performed their new song, "All You Need Is Love," during a live international telecast from the Abbey Road studio.
(AP, 6/25/97)(Sky, 9/97, p.54)
1967 Jun 27, The first recognizably automated teller machine (ATM) was placed outside the Barclays PLC branch in Enfield, a north London suburb.
(AP, 6/27/07)
1967 Jul 1, Beatles' "Sgt Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band," went #1 for 15 weeks.
(MC, 7/1/02)
1967 Jul 7, Beatles' "All You Need is Love" was released.
(MC, 7/7/02)
1967 Jul 13, Tommy Simpson, British cyclist, died as he competed in the Tour de France. Traces of amphetamine and cognac were found in his blood.
(WSJ, 8/7/06, p.B1)
1967 Jul 28, Pirate Radio Station 390 (Radio Invicta) in England, closed down.
(SC, 7/28/02)
1967 Aug 9, Joe Orton (34), English actor, playwright (What the Butler Saw, Loot), was murdered (bludgeoned with a hammer) while he slept by his male lover. In 1978 John Lahr authored “Prick Up Your Ears," a biography of Orton.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joe_Orton)(WSJ, 1/13/06, p.P8)
1967 Sep 2, Paddy Roy Bates, retired British army major, landed on the island of Sealand, a WW II military fortress 6 miles off the coast of England, and declared it a sovereign nation, the Principality of Sealand.
(SFEC, 6/4/00, p.A4)(www.sealandgov.com/history.html)
1967 Sep 11, The Beatles drove their Magical Mystery Bus around England.
(MC, 9/11/01)
1967 Sep 20, The 963-foot passenger ship Queen Elizabeth II was launched. The RMS Queen Elizabeth 2 was christened by Britain's Queen Elizabeth II in Clydebank, Scotland.
(www.cunard.co.uk)(AP, 9/20/07)
1967 Sep, The British, French and German governments signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to start development of the 300 seat Airbus A300 in order to compete with American companies. Airbus Industrie was formally set up in 1970.
(www.absoluteastronomy.com/reference/airbus)
1967 Oct 3, Malcolm Sargent, English conductor (Last Night of Proms), died at 72.
(MC, 10/3/01)
1967 Oct 8, Clement R. Attlee (84), former premier of Great Britain (1945-51), died.
(AP, 10/8/07)
1967 Oct 9, The British Road Safety Act, providing for use of the "breathalyzer" (or breathalyzer) to detect intoxicated motorists, went into effect.
(AP, 10/9/07)
1967 Nov 27, The Beatles' "Magical Mystery Tour," album was released in Britain.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Magical_Mystery_Tour_(album))
1967 Nov 27, Charles DeGaulle vetoed Britain’s entry into the Common Market again.
(HN, 11/27/98)
1967 Nov 28, The first pulsating radio source (pulsar) was observed by British radio astronomers Jocelyn Bell Burnell and Antony Hewish. Burnell made the news public on Feb 29, 1968.
(https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pulsar)
1967 Dec 8, Beatles "Magical Mystery Tour" album was released in UK.
(MC, 12/8/01)
1967 Dec 11, The Concorde, a joint British-French venture and the world’s first supersonic airliner, was unveiled in Toulouse, France.
(HN, 12/11/98)
1967 Dec 26, BBC-1 television aired "Magical Mystery Tour," the Beatles' critically drubbed one-hour special.
(AP, 12/26/07)
1967 Anthony Nutting published "No End of a Lesson" which explained why he quit his British government position during the 1956 Suez crises.
(SFC, 2/26/99, p.A25)
1967 The travel book "Dublin: A Portrait" by V.A. Pritchett was published.
(SFC, 3/22/97, p.A21)
1967 Britain’s PM Harold Wilson dubbed Edgar Louis Granville (d.1998 at 102) Baron Granville of Eye.
(SFC, 2/18/98, p.A18)
1967 The posh Royal Lancaster hotel opened in central London.
(Econ, 1/14/17, p.51)
1967 Britain abolished capital punishment.
(SFC, 4/6/98, p.A26)
1967 The British Sexual Offenses Act partially decriminalized sexual behavior between consenting males over 21. Elements of the indecency legislation remained in place until 2003, including anti-gay restrictions relating to the age of consent, the military, and sex under various circumstances. The event was later described in the film: "A Bill Called William." The age of consent for homosexual acts was reduced to 16 in 1998.
(SFEC, 6/15/97, DB p.49)(SFC, 6/23/98, p.A10)(AP, 1/16/13)
1967 In Great Britain the Abortion Act of 1967 clarified and prescribed abortions as legal up to 28 weeks.
(Econ, 2/6/10, p.62)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Abortion_law)
1967 Dame Cicely Saunders founded St. Christopher's, the 1st modern hospice, in West London. America’s 1st hospice was founded in 1974.
(SFC, 8/5/03, p.A18)(Econ, 8/2/08, p.62)
1967 Britain started pumping oil from the North Sea.
(Econ, 7/14/07, p.60)
1967 An outbreak of hoof-and-mouth disease in Britain led to the slaughter of 400,000 animals.
(SFC, 2/21/01, p.A12)
1967 Brian Epstein, the manager of the Beatles, died of a drug overdose.
(SFC, 12/1/01, p.D1)
1967-1973 The entire population of the Chagos archipelago, which lies 2,200 miles east of Africa and around 1,000 miles southwest of India, was relocated by this year. Britain leased Diego Garcia, the main island, to the US and barred anyone from entering the archipelago except by permit. In 2003 a British judge ruled that former residents have no right to return home or get compensation.
(AP, 10/9/03)
1968 Jan 24, An Israeli submarine, the Dakar, a British-made submarine with a 69-man crew, was lost in the Mediterranean Sea while enroute from England to Israel. The sunken ship was found May 28, 1999, between Crete and Cyprus.
(SFC, 5/31/99, p.A8)(www.geocities.com/CapitolHill/Lobby/9650/dakar.html)
1968 Feb 18, British adopted year-round daylight savings time.
(www.nmm.ac.uk/explore/astronomy-and-time/time-facts/british-summer-time-(bst))
1968 Mar 1, The first 15-minute version of the musical "Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat" by Andrew Lloyd Weber was performed at Central Hall, Westminster, London.
(www.thisistheatre.com/joseph/index.html)
1968 Mar 1, The British Parliament amended its Commonwealth Immigrants Act of 1962 further reducing rights of citizens of the Commonwealth of Nations countries to migrate to the UK.
(https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Commonwealth_Immigrants_Act_1968)
1968 Mar 12, The British-ruled African island of Mauritius became an independent country within the Commonwealth of Nations and many Europeans left the country. GDP per person was about $200. By 2008 it rose to $7,000 per person.
(SFC, 6/24/96, p.A8)(SFC, 7/1/97, p.A9)(SSFC, 12/9/01, p.C9)(AP, 3/12/08)(Econ, 10/18/08, p.58)
1968 Mar 17, A peaceful anti-Vietnam War protest in London was followed by a riot outside the US Embassy; more than 80 people were reported injured. Some 20,000 people at the Vietnam Solidarity Campaign in London were mowed down by police on horses as they marched.
(www.springerlink.com/content/qg812p1147300117/)(AP, 3/17/08)(SFC, 5/22/98, p.C12)
1968 Apr 18, London Bridge was sold to a US oil company. It was later erected in Arizona.
(www.londonbridgeresort.com/history/london_bridge.html)
1968 Apr 20, Enoch Powell (1912-1998) became a national figure in Britain following his address to the General Meeting of the West Midlands Area Conservative Political Center, which became known as the "Rivers of Blood" speech. It pointedly criticized immigration into Britain from the Commonwealth nations and opposed the then proposed–anti-discrimination legislation Race Relations Bill being mooted at the time.
(https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Enoch_Powell)
1968 May 14, The Beatles in NYC announced the formation of their Apple Corp.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apple_Corps)
1968 May 25, In Newcastle, England, Mary Flora Bell, one day before her 11th birthday, strangled Martin Brown (4). She and unrelated friend Norma Bell (13) were later tried for the murders of 2 boys Martin Brown (4) and Brian Howe (3), committed 9 weeks apart. In 1972 Gitta Sereny published "The Case of Mary Bell," based on her coverage of the trial. In 1999 Gitta Sereny published "Cries Unheard: Why Children Kill: The Story of Mary Bell," based on interviews with Mary Bell.
(SFEC, 6/6/99, BR p.5)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mary_Bell)
1968 Jun 1, The British television series "The Prisoner," starring Patrick McGoohan, had its American premiere on CBS.
(AP, 6/1/08)
1968 Jul 1, The United States, Britain, the Soviet Union and 58 other nations signed the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty. India refused to sign.
(AP, 7/1/97)(SFC, 5/28/98, p.A9)(http://tinyurl.com/d5cf45)
1968 Jul 4, Arthur Kopit's "Indians," premiered in London.
(www.enotes.com/indians)
1968 Jul 17, Beatle's animated film "Yellow Submarine" premiered in London. The US premiere was on November 13.
(www.youtube.com/watch?v=mqUKJj0gGkM)(www.imdb.com/title/tt0063823/releaseinfo)
1968 Jul 18, The UK enacted sanctions against Rhodesia for a 2nd time. The first time was on June 17.
(WUD, 1994, p.1687)(http://tinyurl.com/c5kcs9)
1968 Jul 26, Britain’s Theater Act abolished censorship of the theatre and amended the law in respect of theatres and theatrical performances.
(www.opsi.gov.uk/RevisedStatutes/Acts/ukpga/1968/cukpga_19680054_en_1)
1968 Jul, The British blues group Cream, with vocalist and bassist Jack Bruce (1943-2014), drummer Ginger Baker (b.1939) and guitarist Eric Clapton (b.1945) released their double album “Wheels of Fire" in the US. It became the first double album to go platinum.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wheels_of_Fire)
1968 Aug 15, Pirate Radio Free London began transmitting.
(http://radio.eric.tripod.com/in_breach_of_the_law.htm)
1968 Sep 28, Beatles' "Hey Jude" single went #1 and stayed #1 for 9 weeks.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hey_Jude)
1968 Oct 14, The Beatles "White Album" was completed at the Abbey Road Studios.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Beatles_(album))
1968 Oct 27, Lisa Meitner (b.1878), Austrian-born Swedish physicist, died in England. During the war while in hiding from Hitler in Sweden, she analyzed and understood for its significance the work of Otto Hahn who in 1944 was awarded the Nobel Prize in Physics for his work on nuclear fission.
(MT, 10/94, letters, p.10)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lise_Meitner)
1968 Nov 6, The play “The Ruling Class" by Peter Barnes (1931-2004) opened in Nottingham, England. It was a satirical attack on the church and British aristocracy. It was made into a 1972 film for which Peter O'Toole received an Oscar nomination.
(SFC, 7/3/04, p.B6)(www.answers.com/topic/the-ruling-class-play-6)
1968 Nov 22, Beatles released their "Beatles," (White Album) their only double album.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Beatles_(album))
1968 Nov 28, In London, England, John Lennon and Yoko Ono appeared at the Marylebone Magistrates' Court. John pleaded guilty to possession of cannabis resin and was fined 150 pounds plus 20 guineas costs.
(http://tinyurl.com/qjbdgb)
1968 Dec 7, The Rolling Stones released their album "Beggar’s Banquet" in the US, one day after it was released in the UK. They soon filmed a concert performance right after the Who’s performance of "A Quick One" that the Stones did not match and the film was shelved. In 1996 it was planned to release the film where Jethro Tull and Taj Mahal are also featured. The album included the song "Sympathy for the Devil."
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Beggars_Banquet)(SFC, 8/16/96, p.D11)(SFC, 10/23/00, p.F3)
1968 Quentin Crisp (1908-1999), English gay writer born as Denis Pratt, authored his autobiography: "The Naked Civil Servant." In 1975 The Naked Civil Servant was broadcast on British and American television and made both actor John Hurt and Crisp himself into stars.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quentin_Crisp)(SFC, 11/22/99, p.C4)(WSJ, 7/14/00, p.W11)
1968 Graham Greene (1904-1991), English author and playwright, wrote "Travels With My Aunt." In 1989 it was adopted for stage by Giles Havergal, director of the Citizens’ Theater in Glasgow.
(SFEC, 1/5/97, DB p.25)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Graham_Greene)
1968 The film "Yellow Submarine" from England was directed by George Dunning.
(SFEC, 4/13/97, DB p.44)
1968 In Britain the literary Booker Prize was founded by Sir Michael Caine (d.1999 at 71), an executive for Booker PLC, which specialized in food distribution and agribusiness. The prize was modeled after the French Prix Goncourt.
(SFC, 3/25/99, p.C3)
1968 Cash-strapped Britain said it was pulling military forces from the Persian Gulf and South-East Asia.
(Econ, 10/23/10, p.70)
1968 The London Sunday Times sponsored the 1st Golden Globe round-the-world sailboat race. Robin Knox-Johnston was the only entrant to complete the race, becoming the first person to sail single-handed and non-stop around the world. The race gave birth to the French Vendee Globe race. In 1999 Derek Lundy authored "Godforsaken Sea," an account of the 1996 Vendee Globe. In 2001 Peter Nichols authored "A Voyage for Madmen," an account of the race and its 9 skippers.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sunday_Times_Golden_Globe_Race)(SFEC, 8/15/99, BR p.5)(WSJ, 6/22/01, p.W12)
1968 British Leyland was put together by Harold Wilson’s industrial planners. It was nationalized in 1975, and sold to British Aerospace in 1988. BMW picked up Rover in 1994.
(Econ, 4/16/05, p.15)
1968 The Pacific island of Nauru gained independence from Britain.
(SFC, 7/1/97, p.A9)
1968 Swaziland in southern Africa gained independence from Britain.
(SFC, 7/1/97, p.A9)
1969 Feb 2, Boris Karloff (b.1887), British actor born as William Henry Pratt, died. He is best remembered for his roles in horror films and his portrayal of Frankenstein's monster in the 1931 film Frankenstein.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boris_Karloff)
1969 Mar 2, The Concorde jetliner's 1st test flight took place in Bristol, England.
(www.xent.com/pipermail/fork/Week-of-Mon-20031013/026200.html)
1969 Mar 5, “What the Butler Saw," the final play of Joe Orton (1933-1967), was first performed in London. The sex farce was set in a mental hospital.
(SFC, 6/12/09, p.E1)(http://talkingbroadway.org/regional/sanfran/s823.html)
1969 Mar 12, Paul McCartney married Linda Eastman in London.
(AP, 3/12/98)
1969 Mar 20, John Lennon married Yoko Ono in Gibraltar.
(AP, 3/20/97)(HN, 3/20/98)
1969 Apr 6, Sir Wally Herbert (1934-2007), English explorer, reached the North Pole on foot along with 3 others on his team. They became the first men to cross the entire frozen surface of the Arctic Ocean on foot covering the 3,720 miles in 16 months. Roy Koerner, a glaciologist accompanying Herbert, drilled more than 250 ice core samples during the journey.
(www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/comment/obituaries/article1929131.ece)
1969 Apr 9, The maiden flight of Concorde 002 was from Filton to Bristol.
(www.sciencemuseum.org.uk/objects/aeronautics/1977-45.aspx)
1969 Apr, In England Bernadette Devlin (b.1947) of Northern Ireland became the youngest woman ever elected to British Parliament. Her 1969 book, “The Price of My Soul," did much to publicize widespread discrimination against Roman Catholics in Northern Ireland.
(SFEC, 3/23/97, p.A15)(www.socialistworker.co.uk/art.php?id=6234)
1969 May 4, F. Osbert S. Sitwell (b.1892), English poet (Who Killed Cock Robin?), died at castle Montegufoni near Florence, Italy.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Osbert_Sitwell)
1969 May 11, The Monty Python comedy troupe formed.
(www.querycat.com/faq/a99b3004b7265291928d484e51b547ea)
1969 May 23, The BBC ordered 13 episodes of Monty Python's Flying Circus.
(www.querycat.com/faq/a99b3004b7265291928d484e51b547ea)
1969 May 23, The Who released their rock opera "Tommy."
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tommy_(album))
1968 May 24, In Britain Mick Jagger and the Rolling Stones released their song "Jumping Jack Flash." The US release was on June 1.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jumpin%27_Jack_Flash)
1969 May 29, Britain's Trans-Arctic expedition made the 1st crossing of Arctic Sea ice. Roy Koerner (1932-2008), more commonly known as Fritz, was one of the four members of Sir Wally Herbert’s British Transarctic Expedition which, on April 6, 1969, stood at the North Pole.
(www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/comment/obituaries/article1929131.ece)
1969 Jul 3, Brian Jones (27), founder of the Rolling Stones (1962), was found dead at the bottom of Cotchford Farm swimming pool.
(www.hotshotdigital.com/WellAlwaysRemember.4/BrianJones.html)
1969 Jul 4, "Give Peace a Chance" by Plastic Ono Band was released in UK.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Give_Peace_a_Chance)
1969 Jul 11, David Bowie (b.1947), British musician, released his single “Space Oddity," supposedly in conjunction with the July 20 Apollo 11 moon landing.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Space_Oddity)
1969 Jul 19, John Fairfax (1937-2012), British self-proclaimed "professional adventurer," became famous as the first person to row solo across the Atlantic Ocean. Two year later he rowed across the Pacific with his then-girlfriend Sylvia Cook.
(AFP, 2/19/12)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Fairfax_%28rower%29)
1969 Aug 12, In Northern Ireland the Apprentice Boys, a Protestant fraternal group, led a parade that ignited rioting in the Bogside section of Londonderry, that led to the bloody period known as The Troubles. Loyalist attacks on Catholic areas set off rioting in Belfast. Eight people died and British troops were sent in. The Provisional Irish Republican Army began a 25-year sniping and bombing campaign.
(SFC, 8/10/96, p.A8)(SFEC, 12/22/96, Z1 p.7)(http://tinyurl.com/ddovv8)
1969 Aug 14, British troops arrived in Northern Ireland to intervene in sectarian violence between Protestants and Roman Catholics. The outlawed Irish Republican Army came into Northern Ireland to protect and encourage Catholics and the Provisional IRA soon began terrorist actions against the British troops and Protestant civilians. This culminated in an attack on the Bogside which started on August 12 and ended Aug 14. Some 500 houses were burned to the ground, 1,500 people forced from their homes, and 9 people murdered.
(SFC, 6/18/96, p.A8)(AP, 8/14/97)(HNQ, 8/17/99)(MC, 8/14/02)
1969 Aug 14, Leonard Sidney Woolf (b.1910), English publisher, writer, died. He was the husband of writer and critic Virginia Woolf (1882-1941). His books included “The Village in the Jungle," a novel based on his time in Sri Lanka (1904-1911). In 2006 Victoria Glendinning authored “Leonard Woolf: A Biography."
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leonard_Woolf)(Econ, 9/16/06, p.93)
1969 Sep 26, The Beatles last album, "Abbey Road," was released.
(HN, 9/26/99)
1969 Oct 1, Guernsey & Jersey begin issuing their own postage stamps.
(MC, 10/1/01)
1969 Oct 1, The prototype Concorde 001, designed by the British and French, broke the sound barrier during a test flight. Commercial service began in 1976.
(WSJ, 7/26/00, p.B1)(MC, 10/1/01)
1969 Oct 5, Monty Python's Flying Circus made its debut on BBC Television. It ran on British TV until 1974.
(WSJ, 6/16/98, p.A17)(AP, 10/5/98)
1969 Nov 1, Beatles' "Abbey Road," album went #1 and stays #1 for 11 weeks.
(MC, 11/1/01)
1969 Nov 19, The Benny Hill Show premiered in Britain. It ran on Thames Television (ITV) from 1969-1989.
(www.tv.com/the-benny-hill-show/show/3329/summary.html)
1969 Nov 28, The Rolling Stones, English rock band, released its "Let It Bleed" album.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Let_It_Bleed)
1969 Dec 18, Britain's Parliament abolished the death penalty for murder.
(AP, 12/18/97)
1969 London artists Gilbert Proesch and George Passmore wrote their four “Laws of Sculptors." They later became known simply as Gilbert and George.
(SFC, 2/16/08, p.E1)
1969 E.J.B. "Jim" Rose (d.1999 at 89) and Nicholas Deakin published "Color and Citizenship," a report on Britain’s integration and immigration problems.
(SFC, 9/7/99, p.C2)
1969 George MacDonald Fraser (1925-2008), British writer, authored the novel “Flashman," the 1st in a series celebrating the adventures of Sir Harry Paget Flashman. Brigadier-General Sir Harry Paget Flashman is a fictional character originally created by the author Thomas Hughes in his semi-autobiographical work Tom Brown's Schooldays, first published in 1857. In this book, set at Rugby School, Flashman is the notorious bully, who persecutes its eponymous hero Tom Brown.
(WSJ, 11/5/05, p.P8)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harry_Paget_Flashman)
1969 Dusty Springfield (d.1999), English pop singer, recorded her album "Dusty in Memphis."
(SFC, 3/4/99, p.D2)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dusty_Springfield)
1969 Rod Stewart (b.1945), English singer, made his solo debut with "The Rod Stewart Album."
(USAT, 3/24/99, p.5E)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rod_Stewart)
1969 Sir Michael Tippett, British composer, premiered his 3rd opera "The Knot Garden" based on a love scene between two men.
(SFC, 1/10/98, p.A19)
1969 The Labor government of Harold Wilson forced Pollard Bearings, led by John King (d.2005), into a merger. Pollard sold the firm for a large profit.
(www.nytimes.com/2005/07/13/world/europe/13iht-obits.html?_r=1)
1969 British PM Harold Wilson ennobled Kenneth Clark following the triumph of the epic TV series “Civilization."
(Econ, 10/1/16, p.79)
1969 The old British ten-shilling note disappeared. It was replaced by a new 50-pence piece.
(Econ, 5/12/12, p.78)w
1969 Hugh Fish (d.1999 at 76) environmental engineer, was named chief purification officer of the Thames Conservancy and set about to restore fish to the Thames River. An angler caught the first prize salmon in 1985.
(SFC, 7/21/99, p.C3)
1969 Barbara Anne Castle (d.2002), Britain’s Labor Cabinet minister, published a plan called "In Place of Strife," to inject some discipline into industrial relations and to make trade unions subject to legal sanctions.
(SFC, 5/4/02, p.A21)
1969 Britain’s chocolate maker Cadbury merged with Schweppes. In 2006 the Schweppes unit was spun off.
(Econ, 11/7/09, p.63)
1969 Princess Alice (b.1885) died at Buckingham Palace. In 2002 Hugo Vickers authored "Alice: Princess Andrew of Greece."
(SSFC, 4/7/02, p.M3)
1969 Britain discovered oil and gas in the North Sea. By 2012 some 40 billion barrels of oil was extracted.
(Econ, 2/18/12, p.59)
1970 Feb 2, Bertrand Russell (B.1872), philosopher, social gadfly and British MP, died in Merioneth. "Why is propaganda so much more successful when it stirs up hatred than when it tries to stir up friendly feeling?" He wrote "Pricipia Mathmatica." In 1996 "Bertrand Russel: The Spirit of Solitude," 1871-1921 by Ray Monk was published.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bertrand_Russell)(WSJ, 9/27/96, p.A16)(AP, 1/7/99)(HN, 5/18/99)
1970 Feb 17, Joni Mitchell (b.1943) held a concert at London’s Royal Albert Hall.
(http://tinyurl.com/3etl9t)
1970 Feb 26, Beatles released "Beatles Again," aka the "Hey Jude" album.
(www.dmbeatles.com/disk.php?disk=54)
1970 Mar 6, The Beatles released "Let it Be" in UK.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Let_It_Be_(song))
1970 Mar 17, The United States cast its first veto in the UN Security Council. The US killed a resolution that would have condemned Britain for failure to use force to overthrow the white-ruled government of Rhodesia.
(AP, 3/17/00)
1970 Mar 25, The Concorde, an Anglo-French airplane, made its first supersonic flight.
(HN, 3/24/98)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Concorde)
1970 May 13, Beatles movie "Let it Be" premiered.
(SS, Internet, 5/13/97)
1970 May 20, The Beatles movie "Let it Be" premiered in Britain. The documentary film was about a Beatles’ recording session.
(SFEC, 3/8/98, DB p.47)(www.imdb.com/title/tt0065976/)
1970 Jun 7, E.M. Forster (b.1879 as Edward Morgan Forster), English novelist, died. His novels included “A Room With a View" (1908) and “A Passage to India" (1924). In 2010 Frank Kermode authored “Concerning E.M. Forster." Wendy Moffat authored “A Great Unrecorded History: A new Life of E.M. Forster."
(SFC,12/26/97, p.C22)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/E._M._Forster)(Econ, 5/1/10, p.87)
1970 Jun 13, Beatles' "Let It Be," album went #1 & stayed #1 for 4 weeks.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Let_It_Be)
1970 Jun 19, Edward Heath (1916-2005) began serving as Britain’s prime minister and continued to 1974. Derek George Rayner (d.1998 at 72), later Lord Rayner, soon joined the government to centralize defense procurement for PM Edward Heath. Margaret Thatcher served as his education secretary.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edward_Heath)(Econ, 3/19/05, p.32)(SFC, 7/18/05, p.B6)(Econ, 4/13/13, p.27)
1970 Jun 21, Tony Jacklin became the first British golfer to win the US Open for 50 years, and with his British Open victory eleven months earlier, he became only the third golfer to accomplish this double within a 12-month period.
(Camelot, 6/21/99)
1970 Jul 3, A British Dan-Air charter, flying a Comet 4 turbojet, crashed near Barcelona and 112 were killed.
(www.history.com/this-day-in-history.do?action=Article&id=834)
1970 Jul 18, Arthur Brown (b.1942), English rock singer, was arrested for stripping on stage in Palermo, Sicily.
(www.godofhellfire.co.uk/60s.htm)
1970 Jul 29, John G.B. Barbirolli (b.1899), English conductor, composer, died.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Barbirolli)
1970 Sep 13, The supersonic airliner Concorde landed for the 1st time at Heathrow airport.
(www.aviation-news.co.uk/concordeChronology.html)
1970 Sep 18, Jimi Hendrix (27), rock star guitarist, died in London of drug overdose. Hendrix had performed briefly as an opening act for the Monkeys as well as behind the Isley Brothers and Little Richard. In 1978 David Henderson authored the biography “Scuse me While I Kiss the Sky." In 2005 Charles R. Cross authored “Room Full of Mirrors: A Biography of Jimi Hendrix."
(WSJ, 1/9/97, p.A8)(AP, 9/18/97)(WSJ, 4/16/99, p.W13C)(SSFC, 8/21/05, p.F1)
1970 Sep, 19, The 1st Glastonbury Fair attracted some 1,500 revelers. The first festival at Worthy Farm was the Pilton Festival, mounted by Michael Eavis, and attended by 1,500 people. The first act to perform was the group Stackridge; the headline act was T.Rex. The larger free festival at the summer solstice in June the next year was the first to attract nationwide interest, and the event became an important precursor of the later Glastonbury Festivals. In 2004 some 115,000 were expected for what had become Britain’s biggest pop festival.
(Econ, 6/26/04, p.61)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Glastonbury_Festival#1970s)
1970 Oct 10, In the October Crisis Quebec Provincial Labor Minister Pierre Laporte and the British trade commissioner James Cross were kidnapped by the left-wing, nationalist Front de Liberation du Quebec, Quebec Liberation Front (FLQ), a militant separatist group. Laporte's body was found about a week later. Mr. Cross was released but Mr. LaPorte was found dead strangled in the trunk of a car. The Canadian government refused to pay a ransom. Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau responded by suspending civil liberties in Quebec and invoking the War Measures Act, and sending over 1,000 troops to the French-Canadian province.
(SFC, 10/3/96, p.C6)(SFC, 11/22/96, p.A20)(AP, 10/10/97)
1970 Oct, Britain’s council workers went on strike.
(Econ, 9/25/10, p.104)
1970 Nov 13, Bessie Braddock (b.1899), British Labour politician, died. She was known as an ardent socialist and fiery campaigner, nicknamed 'Battling Bessie', her special interests included maternity, child welfare and youth crime.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bessie_Braddock)
1970 Nov 27, George Harrison released his solo album "All Things Must Pass." He became the 1st Beatle to have a solo No. 1 hit with "My Sweet Lord."
{Beatles, Britain, Pop&Rock}
(SFC, 12/1/01, p.D1)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/All_Things_Must_Pass)
1970 Nov 28, "I Hear You Knocking" by Dave Edmunds" peaked at #1 on the U.K. pop singles chart and stayed there for seven weeks.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/I_Hear_You_Knocking)
1970 Nov, The Sun, a British tabloid newly acquired by Rupert Murdoch, introduced topless photos on Page 3.
(Econ, 8/17/13, p.50)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Page_3)
1970 "Slag," the first major play by English dramatist David Hare (b.1947), had its premier.
(WSJ, 7/16/97, p.A20)
1970 Harold Pinter (b.1930), English playwright and actor, wrote his play "Old Times."
(SFC, 6/16/98, p.D1)
1970 The British Monty Python film "And Now for Something Completely Different" was produced.
(SFC, 6/3/98, p.E3)
1970 The thriller play "Sleuth" by Anthony Shaffer (d.2001 at 75) opened in London and ran for 2,359 performances.
(SFC, 11/8/01, p.A25)
1970 Lord Geoffrey Rippon of Hexham (1924-1997), a member of PM Heath’s cabinet, was given the responsibility for negotiating favorable terms for Britain’s entry into the European Economic Community.
(SFC, 1/30/97, p.C2)(www.onpedia.com/encyclopedia/Geoffrey-Rippon)
1970 Britain put together a classified “War Book," featuring a doomsday scenario, with a step-by-step guide for dealing with a crisis, from the first stages of conflict to "R hour," the designation for the release of all Britain's nuclear weapons. The 1970 version was declassified in 2009. A 1964 version printed just 96 copies.
(AP, 6/23/09)
1970 The South Pacific islands of Tonga gained independence from Britain.
(SFC, 7/1/97, p.A9)
1970 Development of the English town of Milton Keynes was begun.
(Econ, 8/7/04, p.45)
1970 A Paul Gaugin still life that was stolen from a private collection in Britain. It hung in Sicilian autoworker's kitchen for 40 years until it was recovered by authorities in 2014. The man said he bought the painting, along with one of lesser value by Pierre Bonnard, at a 1975 Italian state railway auction of unclaimed lost items, for the equivalent of about $100.
(AP, 4/2/14)
1970-1974 In 2010 Dominic Sandbrook authored “State of Emergency: The Way We Were. Britain, 1970-1974."
(Econ, 9/25/10, p.104)
1971 Jan 31, "My Sweet Lord" by George Harrison hit #1 on UK pop chart.
(MC, 1/31/02)
1971 Feb 4, Rolls-Royce collapsed due to rising development costs on the RB.211, the sole powerplant selected for the Lockheed TriStar. The Conservative nationalized the company to save it from collapse.
(http://widebodyaircraft.nl/chro1971.htm)(Econ, 1/10/09, p.11)
1971 Feb 15, Britain abandoned the unit of the penny on Decimal Day, February 15, 1971, replacing the shilling with five new pence, so that one pound sterling became divided into 100 new pence.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/%C2%A3sd)
1971 Apr 23, The Rolling Stones released their Sticky Fingers album. Following the release of Sticky Fingers, the Stones left England after allegations by the UK Inland Revenue service of unpaid income tax.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sticky_Fingers)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Rolling_Stones)
1971 May 25, Terence De Marney (b.1908), English film and TV actor, died.
(www.imdb.com/name/nm0210117/)
1971 Jun 1, Harold Pinter's play "Old Times" premiered in London.
(Econ, 2/9/13, p.81)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Old_Times)
1971 Jun 14, The first hard Rock Café opened in Piccadilly, London, under the ownership of young Americans Peter Morton and Isaac Tigrett.
(https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hard_Rock_Cafe)
1971 Jun 20, A 5-day Glastonbury Fair opened at Worthy Farm near Glastonbury, England. Arabella Spencer-Churchill (1949-2007), granddaughter of former PM Winston Churchill, helped found the fair. It featured Hawkwind, Traffic, Melanie, David Bowie, Joan Baez and Fairport Convention, and attracted some 12,000 people. Revived as a three-day festival in 1979, it had grown by 2007 to draw 153,000 people to hear acts including Coldplay, Brian Wilson, Kaiser Chiefs and Elvis Costello.
(AP, 12/21/07)(www.efestivals.co.uk/festivals/glastonbury/1971/)
1971 Jul 1, Great Britain and Argentina signed an accord on sea and air links to the Falkland Islands, which later caused a war (1982).
(www.bartleby.com/67/2791.html)
1971 Jul 8, In Northern Ireland the British army used lead bullets for the first time. Seamus Cusack (28) and Desmond Beattie (19) were killed.
(http://tinyurl.com/ya9evj75)(Econ, 3/25/17, p.82)
1971 Aug 3, Paul McCartney announced the formation of his group Wings.
(www.rockhall.com/inductee/paul-mccartney)
1971 Aug 9, British begin internment without trial in Northern Ireland when almost 300 men were arrested and interned under the Special Powers Act in dawn swoops that ended around August 14th. Not one unionist extremist was interned. Word soon got out of the internment camps that the men were being routinely mistreated and tortured. Sectarian attacks continued, supported by the British army. These actions and other repressive actions by the British administration of the time lead to the peaceful march which turned bloody on 30 January 1972, now known as Bloody Sunday.
(SFC, 1/30/97, p.A18)(www.bloodysundaytrust.org/eduintern.htm)
1971 Aug 13, Britain requested to exchange US dollars for gold. This prompted Pres. Nixon on August 15 to suspend such conversions.
(Econ, 3/27/10, p.86)
1971 Aug 15, Bahrain proclaimed independence after 110 years of British rule. December 16, 1971, is the date of independence from British protection.
(http://ixpats.com/bahrain.html)
1971 Aug 31, John Lennon left UK for NYC, never to return.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Lennon)
1971 Sep 3, The Quadripartite Agreement on Berlin, between the United States, the Soviet Union, the United Kingdom and France. ended a long time source of tension.
(WUD, 1994, p. 1688)(http://usa.usembassy.de/etexts/ga5-710903.htm)
1971 Sep 3, Qatar declared independence from Britain.
(www.country-data.com/cgi-bin/query/r-11034.html)
1971 Sep 9, John Lennon released his mega hit "Imagine" album in the US. It was released in Britain on October 8. A film was made of his recording work and in April 2000 a version titled "Gimme Some Truth" was released on DVD.
(www.cduniverse.com/productinfo.asp?pid=1109009)
1971 Sep 25, Over 100 Russian officials were expelled from Britain for spying. Information from Oleg Lyalin, supposedly a member of the USSR's trade delegation in the UK, led to the expulsion of 105 Soviet officials from Britain.
(http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/september/30/newsid_2523000/2523669.stm)
1971 Nov 1, The Five Power Defense Arrangements were concluded by the defense ministers of Australia, Britain, Malaysia, New Zealand and Singapore. In 2017 it was upgraded to deal with terrorism threats and new security concerns.
(Econ, 11/5/11, p.54)(AP, 6/2/17)
1971 Nov 10, Two women were tarred and feathered in Belfast for dating British soldiers. In Londonderry, Northern Ireland, a Catholic girl was tarred and feathered for her intention of marrying a British soldier.
(HN, 11/10/98)
1971 Dec 16, Bahrain won independence from Britain from British protection. It had declared independence on Aug 14.
(SFEC, 3/7/99, p.D8)(AP, 12/17/02)(http://ixpats.com/bahrain.html)
1971 James Blades (d.1999 at 97, percussionist, authored his encyclopedic reference work: "Percussion Instrument and Their History."
(SFC, 5/25/99, p.B2)
1971 Former Beatle John Lennon wrote his song "Imagine," and released his "Imagine" album. A film was made of his recording work and in 1999 a 56 version titled "Gimme Some Truth" was reported to be released on DVD in 2000.
(SFC, 8/10/96, p.E1)(SFC, 10/7/99, p.E3)
1971 The Electric Light Orchestra, commonly abbreviated ELO, a symphonic rock group from Birmingham, England, released their first of studio album. By 1986 they released 10 more and another album in 2001. The ELO was one of the most innovative bands of the era.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Electric_Light_Orchestra)(SFC, 7/7/96, DB p.50)
1971 "Dr. Jekyll and Sister Hyde" was a British Hammer Film production about a transsexual serial killer.
(SFEC, 12/15/96, DB p.67)(SFEC, 9/7/97, DB p.43)
1971 The British film "I Want What I Want" was about a transsexual real-estate agent.
(SFEC, 9/7/97, DB p.43)
1971 Keith Wylie (1945-1999), British croquet star, in the Open Championship completed "the sextuple peel," which involved knocking a ball through 6 hoops using another ball. He authored "Expert Croquet Tactics" in 1985.
(SFC, 12/7/99, p.B4)(www.mauicroquetclub.org/people/KeithWylie.htm)
1971 Britain’s Open University started teaching via radio and television.
(Econ, 12/22/12, p.101)
1971 Peter Brook (b.1925), British stage and film director, founded his Int’l. Center for Theater Research in Paris. In 1998 Brook published his memoir "Threads of Time: Recollections."
(SFEC, 6/14/98, BR p.5)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peter_Brook)
Return to home
1942 Feb 9, Chiang Kai-shek met with Sir Stafford Cripps, the British viceroy in India. Detachment 101 harried the Japanese in Burma and provided close support for regular Allied forces.
(HN, 2/9/97)
1942 Feb 12, In Palestine British police killed Avraham Stern (34), founder of the breakaway militant Zionist group named Lehi. British forces had begun shooting members of “Fighters for the Freedom of Israel" (Lehi) after the group had ambushed British soldiers and solicited fascist and Nazi support for their campaign.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Avraham_Stern)(Econ, 5/3/14, p.75)
1942 Feb 13, Hitler's invasion of England was cancelled.
(MC, 2/13/02)
1942 Feb 15, British forces in Singapore surrendered to Japanese General Tomoyuki Yamashita. Yamashita prevailed, when British Lt. Gen. Sir Arthur Percival and 130,000 Empire troops surrendered. It was the largest surrender in British history.
(HN, 2/15/98)(AP, 2/15/98)
1942 Feb 27, British Commandos raided a German radar station at Bruneval on the French coast. The warrior spies of the Abwehr, Germany's intelligence agency, were the Brandenburg commandos.
(HN, 2/27/98)
1942 Mar 3, The RAF raided the industrial suburbs of Paris.
(HN, 3/3/99)
1942 Mar 21, Convoy QP9 departed Great Britain to Murmansk.
(MC, 3/21/02)
1942 Mar 27, Michael York, actor (Cabaret, Logan's Run, 3 Musketeers), was born in England.
(MC, 3/27/02)
1942 Mar 27-28, Allies raided the Nazi submarine base at St. Nazaire, France.
(HN, 3/27/98)(MC, 3/27/02)
1942 Mar 28, British naval forces continued the raid on the Nazi-occupied French port of St. Nazaire. British Bomber Command launched an attack on the German city of Lubeck with 234 RAF bombers.
(AP, 3/28/97)(HN, 3/28/98)(MC, 3/28/02)
1942 Mar 28, A British ship, the HMS Capbeltown, a Lend-Lease American destroyer, which was specifically rammed into a German occupied dry-dock in France, exploded, knocking the area out of action for the German battleship Tirpitz.
(HN, 3/28/00)
1942 Apr 23, A 4-day allied bombing of Rostock began.
(MC, 4/23/02)
1942 Apr 23, Luftwaffe bombed Exeter.
(MC, 4/23/02)
1942 Apr 24, Luftwaffe bombed Exeter.
(MC, 4/24/02)
1942 Apr 26, Luftwaffe bombed Bath.
(MC, 4/26/02)
1942 May 3, The Luftwaffe bombed Exeter.
(MC, 5/3/02)
1942 May 14, The British, in retreat from Burma, reached India.
(HN, 5/14/98)
1942 May 26, Tank battle at Bir Hakeim: African corps vs. British army.
(MC, 5/26/02)
1942 Mar 29, British cruiser Trinidad torpedoed itself in the Barents Sea.
(MC, 3/29/02)
1942 May 30, The Royal Air Force under RAF Commander Arthur Harris launched the first 1,000 plane raid over Germany. 1,047 RAF bombers bombed Cologne.
(https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bombing_of_Cologne_in_World_War_II)
1942 May 31, Luftwaffe bombed Canterbury.
(MC, 5/31/02)
1942 Jun 21, President Roosevelt and Prime Minister Churchill met in Washington, DC.
(MC, 6/21/02)
1942 Jun 22, A Jewish Brigade, attached by British Army, formed.
(MC, 6/22/02)
1942 Jun 25, Some 1,000 British Royal Air Force bombers raided Bremen, Germany, during World War II.
(AP, 6/25/97)
1942 Jul 11, In the longest bombing raid of World War II, 1,750 British Lancaster bombers attacked the Polish port of Danzig. The Polish submarine Orzel escaped from internment and went on to fight the Germans against long odds.
(HN, 7/11/98)
1942 Jul 22, The Americans approved Operation Torch, the British alternative to an invasion of Europe. The design of Operation Torch was to secure all of North Africa for the Allies.
(HN, 2/26/98)
1942 Jul 26, RAF bombed Hamburg.
(MC, 7/26/02)
1942 Jul, Dr. Paul Fildes led a British test of anthrax in a bomb on Gruinard Island in northwest Scotland. The island became contaminated from tests and Britain acquired it for £500. Cleanup was undertaken in 1986 and the island was returned to its original owners in 1990.
(WSJ, 10/18/01, p.A23)(Econ, 5/8/04, p.78)
1942 Aug 10, Gen. Bernard Law Montgomery was named commandant of the British 8th Army campaigning in N. Africa. He arrived Aug 13.
(www.topedge.com/panels/ww2/na/frame.html)
1942 Aug 11, The German submarine U-73 attacked a Malta bound British convoy and sank the HMS Eagle, one of the world's first aircraft carriers.
(HN, 8/10/98)
1942 Aug 12, British premier Churchill arrived in Moscow to meet Stalin.
(MC, 8/12/02)
1942 Aug 19, About 5,000 Canadian and 2,000 British soldiers launched a disastrous raid against the Germans at Dieppe, France. Over 3,600 men perished in this battle. The information gathered from this landing was considered valuable for planning the successful Allied landings in Northern Africa, Sicily, and Normandy, France. Brit. Col. Pat Porteous (d.2000) received a Victoria Cross for his valor in the attack which was aimed at gaining experience for the later D-Day invasion.
(AP, 8/19/97)(HN, 8/19/98)(SFC, 10/16/00, p.A22)(MC, 8/19/02)
1942 Aug 31, The British army under General Bernard Law Montgomery defeated Field Marshal Erwin Rommel's Afrika Korps in the Battle of Alam Halfa in Egypt.
(HN, 8/31/98)
1942 Sep 2, Eric Ravilious (b.1903), English painter, died when the aircraft he was on was lost off Iceland.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eric_Ravilious)(Econ., 4/18/15, p.76)
1942 Sep 5, British & US bombed Le Havre & Bremen.
(MC, 9/5/01)
1942 Sep 10, RAF dropped 100,000 bombs on Dusseldorf.
(MC, 9/10/01)
1942 Sep 10, British troops landed on Madagascar.
(MC, 9/10/01)
1942 Sep 17, British Prime Minister Winston Churchill met with Soviet Premier Josef Stalin in Moscow as the German Army rammed into Stalingrad.
(HN, 9/17/98)
1942 Oct 2, The "Queen Mary" sliced the cruiser "Curacao" in half, killing 338.
(MC, 10/2/01)
1942 Oct 23, During World War II, Britain launched a major offensive against Axis forces at El Alamein in Egypt.
(AP, 10/23/97)
1942 Oct 25, In the 3rd day of battle at El Alamein (Egypt), the British continued an offensive move.
(MC, 10/25/01)
1942 Oct 28, The 6th day of the battle at El Alamein. British offensive under Montgomery.
(MC, 10/28/01)
1942 Nov 2, 11th day of battle at El Alamein, Egypt: British made an assault on Tel el Aqqaqir. Montgomery defeated Rommel in battle of Alamein Egypt.
(MC, 11/2/01)
1942 Nov 4, The 13th day of battle at El Alamein: Axis Africa corps retreated from El Alamein in North Africa in a major victory for British forces commanded by Field Marshal Bernard Montgomery.
(AP, 11/4/97)(MC, 11/4/01)
1942 Nov 8, Operation Torch began during World War II as U.S. and British forces landed in French North Africa.
(AP, 11/8/97)
1942 Nov 10, Winston Churchill delivered a speech in London in which he said, "I have not become the King's First Minister to preside over the liquidation of the British Empire."
(AP, 11/10/02)
1942 Nov 10, US and British troops occupied Oran, Algeria.
(MC, 11/10/01)
1942 Nov 20, British 8th Army recaptured Benghazi, Libya.
(MC, 11/20/01)
1942 Nov, Sir William Beveridge (1879-1963) in his Social Insurance and Allied Services, aka the Beveridge Report, laid the foundations of Britain’s post-war welfare state. He committed the government to slaying “five giant evils" (squalor, ignorance, want, idleness, and disease). In 1953 he authored “Power and Influence."
(https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Beveridge_Report)(Econ, 11/12/05, p.78)
1942 Nov, A Royal Air Force bomber and 2 gliders, carrying 34 British commandos, crash landed in Norway. This was part of Operation Freshman, which planned a raid on the heavy-water plant at Vemork. The survivors were captured by German soldiers and executed by the Gestapo.
(ON, 4/07, p.2)
1942 Dec 19, British advanced 40 miles into Burma in a drive to oust the Japanese from the colony.
(HN, 12/19/98)
1942 Nikolaus Pevsner (1902-1983), German-born British architectural researcher, authored “An Outline of European Architecture."
(Econ, 11/5/11, p.103)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nikolaus_Pevsner)
1942 The film "Mrs. Miniver" with Greer Garson was directed by William Wyler. It won 5 awards including an Oscar for best picture of the year. Garson won an Oscar for her role. The film was based on the life of Joyce Anstruther (1901-1953), pen name Jan Struther, who wrote for London’s Times newspaper in the late 1930s. In 2002 Ysenda Maxtone Graham authored "The Real Mrs. Miniver: Jan Struther’s Story."
(SFEC, 3/23/97, DB p.38)(SFC, 3/14/01, p.E1)(TVM, 1975, p.382)(SSFC, 11/3/02, p.M6)
1942 Thomas Peirson Frank (d.1951), chief engineer for London County Council, was knighted for leading work to repair London’s flood defenses hit in German air raids. Details of his job were kept under wraps. He later became president of the Institution of Civil Engineers. He died in 1951.
(AP, 10/29/14)
1942 Walter Richard Sickert (b.1860), English Impressionist painter, died. In 2002 Patricia Cornwell, crime writer, reported that he was Jack the Ripper, the murderer of 5 London prostitutes in 1888.
(WSJ, 9/27/01, p.A16)(SSFC, 2/24/02, Par p.2)
1943 Jan 8, The British handed Madagascar over to the Free French.
(HN, 1/8/99)
1943 Jan 11, The United States and Britain signed treaties relinquishing extraterritorial rights in China.
(AP, 1/11/98)
1943 Jan 13, General Leclerc's Free French forces merged with the British under Montgomery in Libya.
(HN, 1/13/99)
1943 Jan 14, President Roosevelt and British Prime Minister Winston Churchill opened a wartime conference in Casablanca.
(AP, 1/14/98)
1943 Jan 21, A Nazi daylight air raid killed 34 in a London school.
(HN, 1/21/99)
1943 Jan 24, President Roosevelt and British Prime Minister Churchill concluded a wartime conference in Casablanca, Morocco.
(AP, 1/24/98)
1943 Feb 8, British General Wingate led a guerrilla force of "Chindits" behind the Japanese lines in Burma. Detachment 101’s support of Maj. Gen. Orde Wingate’s Chindits and Maj. Gen. Frank Merrill’s Marauders was crucial to the Allied success in Burma and to the eventual victory in Southeast Asia.
(HN, 2/8/98)(www.chindits.info/)
1943 Feb 25, George Harrison (d. Nov 29, 2001) of the Beatles was born.
(SFC, 11/30/01, p.A1)(SFC, 12/4/01, p.A2)
1943 Mar 1, The British RAF conducted strategic bombing raids on all European railway lines. From 1939 to 1945, R.A.F. pilots and air crews waged war on Germany from inside Hitler's Reich.
(HN, 3/1/98)
1943 Mar 2, The center of Berlin was bombed by the RAF. Some 900 tons of bombs were dropped in a half hour.
(HN, 3/2/99)
1943 Mar 3, A bomb fleeing crowd fell into London shelter and 173 died.
(SC, 3/3/02)
1943 Mar 5, RAF bombed Essen, Germany. [see Mar 6]
(MC, 3/5/02)
1943 Mar 5, The Gloster Meteor first flew. Great Britain emerged from World War II with a decided head start in jet technology, the only Allied power to have had a jet fighter operational in squadron strength before the German surrender on May 8, 1945. On July 21, 1944, the first two production Meteors arrived at Culmhead and formed the nucleus of No. 616 Squadron, Royal Air Force (RAF). Appropriately, the Meteor’s first duty was to defend Britain from attacks by German V-1 pulse jet-powered guided bombs, of which they destroyed 13 by the end of the war. Meteor IIIs of No. 616 Squadron were committed to Continental Europe in the last months of the conflict, but they never got the opportunity to meet the German Me-262A in battle.
(HNQ, 8/21/01)
1943 Mar 6, British RAF fliers bombed Essen and the Krupp arms works in the Ruhr, Germany.
(HN, 3/6/98)
1943 Mar 21, British 8th army opened an assault on Mareth line, Tunisia.
(MC, 3/21/02)
1943 Mar 29, Eric Idle, comedian, actor (Monty Python), was born in England.
(MC, 3/29/02)
1943 Mar 29, John Major, British PM (1990-97), was born.
(WP, 6/29/96, p.A20)(MC, 3/29/02)
1943 Apr 6, British and American armies army linked up in Africa.
(HN, 4/6/98)
1943 Apr 22, RAF shot down 14 German transport planes over Mediterranean Sea.
(MC, 4/22/02)
1943 Apr 29, Noel Coward's "Present Laughter," premiered in London.
(MC, 4/29/02)
1943 Apr 30, The British submarine HMS Seraph dropped “the man who never was," a dead man (Welsh laborer Glyndwr Michael) was planted with false invasion plans, into the Mediterranean off the coast of Spain. Operation Mincemeat was based on a 1939 suggestion by Lt. Commander Ian Fleming, and was used to cover Britain’s invasion of Sicily. Details of the operation were kept secret until 1953 when Ewen Montagu published “The Man Who Never Was."
(ON, 10/2010, p.4)
1943 Apr 30, Beatrice Potter Webb (b.1858), British socialist, reformer and writer, died. Her books included “My Apprenticeship" (1943).
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Beatrice_Webb)
1943 May 6, British 1st army opened an assault on Tunis.
(MC, 5/6/02)
1943 May 15, Halifax bombers sank U-463.
(MC, 5/15/02)
1943 May 19, In an address to the U.S. Congress, British Prime Minister Winston Churchill pledged his country's full support in the war against Japan.
(AP, 5/19/97)
1943 May 29, Churchill, Marshall and Eisenhower met in the Confederacy of Algiers.
(SC, 5/29/02)
1943 Jun 23, RAF discovered and bombed Werner von Braun's V1/V2-base in Peenemunde.
(MC, 6/23/02)
1943 Jun 24, Royal Air Force Bombers hammered Muelheim, Germany, in a drive to cripple the Ruhr industrial base.
(HN, 6/24/98)
1943 Jun 24, Allies began a 10-day fire bombing of Hamburg.
(MC, 6/24/02)
1943 Jul 3, Liberator bombers sank U-628.
(MC, 7/3/02)
1943 Jul 10, US and British forces completed their amphibious landing in Sicily in Operation Husky.
(AP, 7/10/97)(HN, 7/10/01)(MC, 7/10/02)
1943 Jul 18, There was a British assault on Catania, Sicily.
(MC, 7/18/02)
1943 Jul 24-1943-Aug 2, The RAF and American planes bombed Hamburg. Firestorms from the bombing left at least 40,000 dead in the 1st 3 days. American B-17 Fortresses flew 252 daylight sorties in the two days following the first of 4 RAF night raids. Sir Arthur Harris directed 4 major raids against Hamburg in the space of ten nights, known as “Operation Gomorrah."
(www.spartacus.schoolnet.co.uk/2WWhamburg.htm)
1943 Jul 26, Mick [Michael Phillip] Jagger, musician, member of the Rolling Stones, was born in Dartford, Kent.
(SFEM,11/9/97, p.9)(HN, 7/26/01)
1943 Aug 2, The 10-day allied bombing of Hamburg, Germany, ended.
(www.spartacus.schoolnet.co.uk/2WWhamburg.htm)
1943 Aug 17, The Allied conquest of Sicily was completed as U.S. and British forces entered Messina.
(AP, 8/17/97)(HN, 8/17/98)
1943 Aug 18, The Royal Air Force Bomber Command completed the first major strike against the German missile development facility at Peenemunde.
(HN, 8/18/98)
1943 Aug 25, Lord Mountbatten was appointed Supreme Allied Commander in SE Asia.
(MC, 8/25/02)
1943 Sep 3, The British Eighth Army invaded Italy, landing at Calabria, during World War II, the same day Italy signed a secret armistice with the Allies.
(AP, 9/3/97)(HN, 9/3/98)
1943 Sep 19, Liberator bombers sank U-341.
(MC, 9/19/01)
1943 Sep, Pearl Cornioley (1916-2008), a British agent, parachuted into France as a secret agent to help arm and organize the Resistance. In 1995 she wrote an autobiography and in 2006 Royal Air Force officers presented her with her parachute wings in a ceremony at her Paris retirement home.
(AP, 3/8/08)
1943 Oct 7, Radclyffe Hall (b.1880), English author of the lesbian classic "The Well of Loneliness" (1928), died. The book was the subject of an obscenity trial in Britain which resulted in all copies being ordered destroyed.
(AP, 9/29/09)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Radclyffe_Hall)
1943 Oct 17, British Liberators sank U-540 and U-631.
(MC, 10/17/01)
1943 Oct 19, Delegates from the U.S.S.R. met with representatives from the Allied nations of Great Britain, the U.S., and China, in an attempt to hammer out a greater consensus on war aims, and to improve the rapidly cooling relations between the Soviet Union and its allies.
(MC, 10/19/01)
1943 Oct, The United Nations War Crimes Commission (UNWCC) was established with a secretariat in London.
(Econ, 1/29/11, p.84)
1943 Sep, Jeannie Rousseau, code name Amniarix, collected enough information on V-2 rockets from German officers in France to send a detailed report to England. Reginald Jones, chief of Britain's scientific intelligence, included her text in his book "The Wizard War."
(SFC, 1/2/99, p.A10)
1943 Oct 1, Allied forces captured Naples during World War II. British troops in Italy entered Naples and occupied Foggia airfield.
(HFA, '96, p.38)(AP, 10/1/97)(HN, 10/1/98)
1943 Nov 7, British troops launched a limited offensive along the coast of Burma.
(HN, 11/7/98)
1943 Nov 18, 444 British bombers attacked Berlin.
(MC, 11/18/01)
1943 Nov 22, RAF began bombing of Berlin.
(MC, 11/22/01)
1943 Nov 26, The HMT Rohna, a British transport ship carrying American soldiers, was hit by a German missile off Algeria; 1,138 men were killed, including 1,015 American troops.
(AP, 11/26/01)
1943 Nov 28, President Roosevelt, British Prime Minister Winston Churchill and Soviet leader Josef Stalin met in Tehran, Iran, to map out strategy during World War II.
(AP, 11/28/97)(DTnet 11/28/97)(HN, 11/28/98)
1943 Dec 1, President Roosevelt, British Prime Minister Winston Churchill and Soviet leader Josef Stalin concluded their Tehran conference and agreed to Operation Overlord (D-Day).
(AP, 12/1/00)
1943 Dec 22, Beatrix Potter (b.1866), English author, died. She first told the story of Peter Rabbit in the form of a "picture letter" to Noel Moore, the son of Potter's former governess in 1893. A 2nd illustrated letter the same month later became “The Tale of Jeremy Fisher." The “Tale of Peter Rabbit" was published in 1901. At her death she bequeathed all her holdings, 14 farms and 4,000 acres of land, to the National Trust.
(Econ, 1/6/07, p.67)(www.visitcumbria.com/bpotter.htm)
1943 Dec 23, Gen. Montgomery was appointed British commandant for D-day.
(MC, 12/23/01)
1943 Dec 26, The 32,000-ton German battleship, Scharnhorst was sunk by British ships in an Arctic fight.
(HN, 12/26/98)
1943 Dec 31, Ben Kingsley, actor (Gandhi, Betrayal, Maurice), was born in Scarborough, England.
(MC, 12/31/01)
1943 Gladwyn Jebb (1900-1996), British diplomat, prepared the early drafts for the proposed UN Charter.
(SFC, 10/26/96, p.A20)
1943 Anthony E. Pratt (d.1994), fire warden in Leeds, England, conceived the game of "Clue," based on a pre-war social game called Murder. It was published by Waddington’s in 1948.
(SFEC, 12/1/96, p.C14)
1943 British scientists led by Tommy Flowers developed Colossus, the world’s first large electronic valve programmable logic calculator, in order to break the German communication’s code. Colossus is considered by many to be the world‘s first digital, programmable electronic computer. Its existence was only made public in 1989!
(Wired, 10/96, p.78)(HNQ, 8/16/00)
1943 Britain’s National Trust purchased the stone circles of Avebury, Windham Hill and adjoining lands.
(SSFC, 12/24/00, p.T4)
1943 Arthur Osborne, ceramic designer, died in England. His business, which made plaster-of-Paris plaques, continued operations under his daughter until 1965. W. H. Bossons bought the company in 1971, removed the “AO" mark and operated until 1997.
(SFC, 10/24/07, p.G2)
1943 British air strikes in Greece hit the railway station and port of Thessaloniki. Hundreds of local inhabitants died. One bomb that failed to detonate was discovered in 2017 and was successfully defused following an evacuation of tens of thousands.
(AFP, 2/12/17)
1943-1947 Archibald Wavell (1883-1950), British Field Marshal, served as the penultimate viceroy of India. In 2009 Adrian Fort authored “Archibald Wavell: The Life and Times of an Imperial Servant."
(Econ, 1/17/09, p.82)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Archibald_Wavell,_1st_Earl_Wavell)
1944 Jan 2, The first Atlantic convoy that used the new antisubmarine helicopter patrol capability sailed from New York to Liverpool, UK, with three HNS-1 helicopters.
(www.gerlecreek.com/coolplaces/pamphlettrial1c.pdf)
1944 Jan 4, The British Fifth Army attacked Monte Cassino, Italy.
(HN, 1/4/99)
1944 Jan 15, General Eisenhower arrived in England.
(MC, 1/15/02)
1944 Jan 16, Gen. Dwight D. Eisenhower assumed supreme command of the Allied Expeditionary Force in London.
(AP, 1/16/98)(HN, 1/16/99)
1944 Jan 19, In England Helen Duncan (1896-1956), a Scottish spiritualist in Portsmouth, was arrested for informing an audience of the sinking of two British warships long before the news was officially made public. She was found guilty of witchcraft and jailed for nine months. When re-elected in 1951, Churchill repealed the 1735 witchcraft act but Duncan's conviction was never quashed. In 2007 her granddaughter launched a fresh campaign to gain a posthumous pardon for Britain's last convicted witch.
(AP, 1/15/07)
1944 Jan 20, RAF dropped 2300 1-ton bombs on Berlin.
(MC, 1/20/02)
1944 Jan 21, Some 649 British bombers attacked Magdeburg.
(MC, 1/21/02)
1944 Jan 21, Some 447 German bombers attacked London.
(MC, 1/21/02)
1944 Jan 28, 683 British bombers attacked Berlin.
(MC, 1/28/02)
1944 Feb 2, Andrew Davis, conductor, was born in Ashbridge, England.
(MC, 2/2/02)
1944 Feb 15, 891 British bombers attacked Berlin.
(MC, 2/15/02)
1944 Mar 1, Roger Daltrey Hammersmith, rocker, actor, producer (The Who-Tommy), was born in London, England.
(SC, 3/1/02)
1944 Mar 10, The Irish refused to oust all Axis envoys and denied the accusation of spying on Allied troops.
(HN, 3/10/98)
1944 Mar 12, Great Britain barred all travel to neutral Ireland, which was suspected of collaborating with Nazi Germany.
(HN, 3/12/99)
1944 Mar 22, Over 600 8th Air Force bombers attacked Berlin.
(MC, 3/22/02)
1944 Mar 23, Nicholas Alkemade fell 5,500 meter without a parachute and lived. [see Mar 25]
(SS, 3/23/02)
1944 Mar 24, 811 British bombers attacked Berlin.
(MC, 3/24/02)
1944 Mar 24, British Major Orde Wingate (b.1903) died along with nine others in an air crash in northeast India. He was flying in the USAAF B-25H-1-NA Mitchell bomber, 43-4242, of the 1st Air Commando Group. He is known for creating special military units in Palestine in the 1930s, and in Abyssinia, Sudan and Burma during World War II.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Orde_Wingate)
1944 Mar 25, RAF Sgt. Nickolas Alkemade survived a jump from his Lancaster bomber from 18,000 feet without a parachute. [see Mar 23]
(MC, 3/25/02)
1944 Mar 26, 705 British bombers attacked Essen.
(SS, 3/26/02)
1944 Mar 30, 781 British bombers attacked Nuremberg.
(MC, 3/30/02)
1944 Apr 3, British dive bombers attacked the battle cruiser Tirpitz.
(MC, 4/3/02)
1944 Apr 4, British troops captured Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.
(MC, 4/4/02)
1944 Apr 5, 140 Lancasters bombed airplane manufacturer in Toulouse.
(MC, 4/5/02)
1944 Apr 24, British air force bombers hammered a former Jesuit college housing the Bavarian Academy of Science. Anton Spitaler (1910-2003), an Arabic scholar at the academy, later lamented the loss of a unique photo archive of ancient manuscripts of the Quran. His story however was a lie, and the collection survived hidden in his hands.
(WSJ, 1/12/08, p.A1)
1944 April 28, Exercise "Tiger" ended with 749 U.S. soldiers and sailors killed, when their D-Day landing practice was attacked by German torpedo boats off the south coast of England. The casualties were not announced until nearly two months after the Normandy invasion. Full details were not known until 1974.
(MC, 4/28/02)(AP, 4/27/04)
1944 May 5, John Rhys-Davies, actor (Sir Edward-Quest, Sliders), was born in Salisbury England.
(MC, 5/5/02)
1944 May 14, 91 German bombers harassed Bristol.
(MC, 5/14/02)
1944 May 15, Eisenhower, Montgomery, Churchill and George VI discussed the D-Day plan.
(MC, 5/15/02)
1944 May 25, Frank Oz, puppeteer (Sesame St, Muppet Show), was born in Heresford, England.
(SC, 5/25/02)
1944 May 29, British troops occupied Aprilia, Italy.
(SC, 5/29/02)
1944 May, Britain’s government decided to bulldoze the village of Heath Row to accommodate an expansion of a nearby aerodrome. Residents at Heathrow were evicted to make way for a new airport. It opened with two runways in 1946.
(Econ, 7/20/13, p.51)(Econ, 10/15/16, p.51)
1944 Jun 1, The British Broadcasting Corp. broadcasted a line of poetry by the 19th century French poet Paul Verlaine. It was a coded message intended to warn the French resistance that the D-Day invasion was imminent, "The long sobs of the violins of autumn."
(DTnet 6/1/97)
1944 Jun 6, By the end of D-Day 156,000 Allied soldiers had come ashore on the Normandy beaches with losses of 2,500 men. By the end of the day, the Allies had established a tenuous beachhead that would lead to an offensive that pinned Adolf Hitler's Third Reich between two pincers--the Western Allies and the already advancing Soviets--accelerating the end of World War II. A million Allied troops, under the overall command of General Dwight D. Eisenhower, moved onto five Normandy beachheads in three weeks. Operations “Neptune" and “Overlord" put forces on the beaches and supplies aimed at the liberation of Europe and the conquest of Germany. Operation Overlord landed 400,000 Allied American, British, and Canadian troops on the beaches of Normandy, France. In addition, US and British airborne forces landed behind the German lines and US Army Rangers scaled the cliffs at Pointe de Hoc. More than 6,000 trucks of the Red Ball Express kept gasoline and other vital supplies rolling in as American troops and tanks pushed the Germans back toward their homeland.
(SDUT, 6/6/97, p.B9)(HN, 6/6/98)(HNPD, 6/6/99)(ON, 2/08, p.12)
1944 Jun 6, The code names for the beaches used by the British for the D-day invasion of Normandy were Sword and Gold.
(HNQ, 8/13/98)
1944 Jun 13, Only one week after the Normandy invasion, the first German V-1 buzz bomb, also called the doodlebug (Fieseler Fi-103), was fired at London. The first guided missile to be used in force, the V-1 was powered by a pulse-jet engine and resembled a small aircraft. Only one of the four missiles London saw that day caused any casualties, but a steady stream of V-1s causing severe damage and casualties fell on London in coming months. At times, nearly 100 bombs fell each day. Many German buzz bombs never reached their targets because of primitive guidance systems or because they were destroyed in flight by anti-aircraft fire or intercepting Allied fighters.
(www.historyplace.com/worldwar2/timeline/v1.htm)(AP, 6/13/97)(HNQ, 6/13/98)
1944 Jun 25, British assault at Caen, Normandy.
(MC, 6/25/02)
1944 Jun, Frank Thompson (23), British soldier and poet, was captured and executed in Bulgaria. In 2012 Peter Conradi authored “A Very English Hero: The Making of Frank Thompson."
{Britain, Poet, WWII}
(Economist, 9/8/12, p.82)
1944 Jul 1, Over 2500 were killed in London and SE England by German flying bombs.
(MC, 7/1/02)
1944 Jul 15, Greenwich Observatory was damaged by German V1 rocket.
(MC, 7/15/02)
1944 Jul 18, British Mosquitos attacked Cologne and Berlin.
(MC, 7/18/02)
1944 Jul 20, A heavy storm hampered a British offensive at Caen.
(MC, 7/20/02)
1944 Aug 4, British 8th army reached the suburbs of Florence, Italy.
(MC, 8/4/02)
1944 Aug 4, A Halifax JP-276A took off on its final flight from the Italian city of Brindisi around 8 p.m., to drop weapons, ammunition and medical supplies for resistance fighters involved in the Warsaw Uprising against the Nazis. The plane was shot down by Poland's Nazis occupiers and crashed near the town of Dabrowa Tarnowska, in southern Poland. Remnants were recovered in 2006 and the remains of the crew, 5 Canadians and 2 Britons, were formally buried in 2007.
(AP, 10/4/07)
1944 Aug 12, Churchill and Tito met in Naples.
(MC, 8/12/02)
1944 Sep 12, A US submarine patrol that included the USS Pampanito, the Growler and the Sealion II, came upon a Japanese convoy carrying war material. The Japanese transport Kachidoki Maru, carrying over 900 British soldier, was sunk by the Pampanito. Much of the convoy was sunk including most of some 2,000 Allied prisoners of war. The subs after chasing stragglers of the convoy returned to find 159 British and Australian survivors clinging to wreckage [see Sep 14]. Some 1000 POWs from Australia were on the Japanese freighter Enoura Maru sunk by the USS Sealion. Alistair Urquhart of Scotland, a prisoner on the Kachidoki Maru, was picked up 5 days later by a Japanese whaling ship and taken to Japan, where he was forced to work in a coal mine. Kachidoki Maru had been captured earlier in the war as the President Harrison home ported in SF. The Pampanito was later berthed as a visitor attraction in SF. In 2008 Urquhart (89) visited the Pampanito.
(SFC, 5/27/97, p.A17)(SFC,12/5/97, p.C3)(SFC, 9/17/08, p.B1)
1944 Sep 13, Heath Robinson (b.1872), English cartoonist, died. He is best known for drawings of eccentric machines and "Heath Robinson" has entered the language as a description of any unnecessarily complex and implausible contraption.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Heath_Robinson)
1944 Sep 14, The submarine USS Pampanito picked up 73 allied prisoners left adrift following the Sep 12 submarine attack on a Japanese convoy that included the transport ship Rakuyo Maru.
(SFC, 3/18/09, p.B2)
1944 Aug 15, American, British and French forces landed on the southern coast of France, between Toulon and Cannes, in Operation Dragoon.
(AP, 8/15/97)(HN, 8/15/98)
1944 Aug 20, United States and British forces closed the pincers on the German 7th Army in the Falaise-Argentan pocket in France.
(HN, 8/20/98)(MC, 8/20/02)
1944 Aug 20, The US liberty ship SS Richard Montgomery was wrecked off the Nore in the Thames Estuary, with some 1500 tons of explosives. As of 2008 it continued to be a hazard to the area.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SS_Richard_Montgomery)
1944 Aug 21, The US, Britain, the Soviet Union and China opened the Dumbarton Oaks conference in Washington, D.C. It laid the foundation for the establishment of the UN.
(SFEC, 6/29/97, p.T10)(AP, 8/21/07)
1944 Aug 23, A US B-24 crashed into a school in Freckelton, England, and 76 were killed.
(MC, 8/23/02)
1944 Aug 31, The British Eighth Army penetrated the German Gothic Line in Italy.
(HN, 8/31/98)
1944 Sep 4, British troops liberated Antwerp, Belgium.
(HN, 9/4/98)
1944 Sep 6, During World War II, the British government relaxed blackout restrictions and suspended compulsory training for the Home Guard.
(AP, 9/6/97)
1944 Sep 8, Germany's V-2 offensive against England began. The 1st V-2 rockets landed in London & Antwerp.
(HN, 9/8/98)(MC, 9/8/01)
1944 Sep 11, President Roosevelt and British Prime Minister Winston Churchill met in Canada at the second Quebec Conference.
(AP, 9/11/97)
1944 Sep 10, Thomas Allen, British opera singer, was born.
(MC, 9/10/01)
1944 Sep 10, Lt. Gen. Frederick Browning spoke against Montgomery: "But, sir, I think we might be going a bridge too far."
(MC, 9/10/01)
1944 Sep 11, President Roosevelt and British PM Winston Churchill met in Canada at the second Quebec Conference.
(AP, 9/11/97)
1944 Sep 12, The second Quebec Conference opened with President Roosevelt and British Prime Minister Winston Churchill in attendance.
(AP, 9/12/06)
1944 Sep 13, Heath Robinson (b.1872), English cartoonist, died. He is best known for drawings of eccentric machines and "Heath Robinson" has entered the language as a description of any unnecessarily complex and implausible contraption.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Heath_Robinson)
1944 Sep 15, British bombers hit the German pocket battleship Tirpitz with Tallboy bombs.
(www.history.navy)
1944 Sep 16, Glen Miller made his last recording at the Abbey Road studio in London with an Allied Forces band and Dinah Shore.
(Sky, 9/97, p.55)
1944 Sep 17, Infantry glider troops of the 82nd Airborne Division entered Holland. British and American airborne troops parachuted into Holland to capture the Arnhem bridge as part of Operation Market Garden. The plan called for the airborne troops to be relieved by British troops, but they were left stranded and eventually surrendered to the Germans. The 1974 book by Cornelius Ryan, "A Bridge Too Far," was based on this operation and was made into the 1977 film.
(HN, 9/17/98)(HC, 12/12/01)(AP, 9/17/06)
1944 Sep 18, British submarine Tradewind torpedoed Junyo Maru: 5,600 killed. Tradewind, a twin-screw Triton-class boat of the Royal Navy, attacked the Japanese merchant ship Junyo Maru, killing an estimated 4,320 people--around 1,700 Western POWs, 500 Indonesian prisoners and thousands of Japanese slave laborers. Tradewind’s captain, Lt. Cmdr. S.L.C. Maydon, wasn’t aware until many years later that the ship he had sunk had been carrying human cargo, including thousands of his own, and Allied, troops.
(MC, 9/18/01)(HNQ, 3/7/02)
1944 Sep 21, The last British paratroopers at bridge of Arnhem surrendered.
(MC, 9/21/01)
1944 Sep 27, Thousands of British troops were killed as German forces rebuffed their massive effort to capture the Arnhem Bridge across the Rhine River in Holland.
(HN, 9/27/98)
1944 Sep 28, At the Battle of Arnhem the Germans defeated the British airborne in Netherlands.
(MC, 9/28/01)
1944 Nov 6, British official Lord Moyne was assassinated in Cairo, Egypt, by members of the Zionist Stern gang.
(AP, 11/6/06)
1944 Nov 12, The RAF sank the German battleship Tirpitz at Troms Fjord, Norway. Great Britain so feared the Tripitz, that any hint of its use caused escort ships to flee their convoys.
(HN, 11/12/98)(MC, 11/12/01)
1944 Nov 30, Biggest and last British Battleship, HMS Vanguard, ran aground.
(MC, 11/30/01)
1944 Dec 3, A British order to disarm caused a general strike in Greece.
(MC, 12/3/01)
1944 Dec 20, Terence Rattigan’s "O Mistress Mine" premiered in London.
(MC, 12/20/01)
1944 Dec 25, Prime Minister Winston Churchill went to Athens to seek an end to the Greek civil war.
(HN, 12/25/98)
1944 Friedrich August von Hayek (1899-1992), Austrian-born British economist, published "The Road to Serfdom," wherein he defended laissez faire economics and theorized on the problems of a socialist system. He asserted that central planning and individual freedom could not coexist. It became an influential and popular exposition of market libertarianism.
(WSJ, 1/11/99, p.R20)(WSJ, 5/7/99, p.A18)(WSJ, 4/19/01, p.A16)(Econ, 12/24/16, p.30)
1944 Sir Michael Tippett, British composer, composed his oratorio "A Child of Our Time."
(SFC, 1/10/98, p.A19)
1944 The Vegan Society was founded in England. Vegans generally limit their diets to vegetables, fruits, nuts, and grains.
(www.ivu.org/history/societies/vegansocuk.html)
1945 Jan 10, Rod Stewart, rock singer, was born in North London, England.
(SSFC, 10/10/04, Par p.20)
1945 Feb 2, President Roosevelt and British Prime Minister Winston Churchill departed Malta for the Yalta summit with Soviet leader Josef Stalin.
(AP, 2/2/97)
1945 Feb 4-1945 Feb 12, President Roosevelt, British PM Winston Churchill and Soviet leader Josef Stalin held a wartime conference in the Livadia Palace at Yalta, in the southern Ukraine. Roosevelt joked to Stalin that the only concession he might give to Ibn Saud in Saudi Arabia was "the 6 million Jews in the US." In 2012 Michael Dobbs authored “Six Months in 1945: FDR, Stalin, Churchill, and Truman – From World War to Cold War."
(AP, 2/4/97)(WSJ, 3/8/99, p.A16)(SSFC, 11/25/12, p.F4)(Econ, 10/5/13, p.58)
1945 Feb 11, President Roosevelt, British Prime Minister Winston Churchill and Soviet leader Josef Stalin signed the Yalta Agreement during World War II and adjourned.
(HN, 2/11/97)(AP, 2/11/97)
1945 Feb 13, Allied planes began bombing the German city of Dresden. British bombers in Operation Thunderclap firebombed the city of Dresden, Germany, and 135,000 people were killed. The Royal Air Force Bomber Command attacked the city of Dresden at night with raids by 873 heavy bombers. 796 Lancaster heavy bombers were led by 9 target marking Mosquito light bombers. A look at aerial maps of the city before and after the terror attacks clearly shows the large white oil tanks owned by British-controlled Shell Oil. These tanks remained entirely untouched by the bombardment. In 2003 Frederick Taylor authored “Dresden: Tuesday, February 13, 1945."
(http://www.hartford-hwp.com/archives/61/001.html)(WSJ, 10/22/96, p.A20)(SFC, 1/6/97, p.A10)(SFEC, 7/27/97, p.T6)(SFEC, 1/30/00, p.T13)
1945 Mar 1, British 43rd Division under General Essame occupied Xanten.
(SC, 3/1/02)
1945 Mar 3, Churchill visited Montgomery's headquarters.
(SC, 3/3/02)
1945 Mar 8, "Kiss Me Kate" opened in Britain.
(MC, 3/8/02)
1945 Mar 23, Premier Winston Churchill visited Montgomery's headquarter in Straelen.
(SS, 3/23/02)
1945 Mar 23, British 7th Black Watch crossed the Rhine.
(SS, 3/23/02)
1945 Mar 24, Gens. Eisenhower, Montgomery and Bradley discussed advance in Germany.
(MC, 3/24/02)
1945 Mar 26, David Lloyd George (b.1863), former prime minister (1916-1922), died. In 1973 John Grigg (d.2001 at 77) authored "The Young Lloyd George." 2 more volumes of the biography were published in 1978 and 1985.
(WUD, 1994 p.839)(SFC, 1/3/02, p.A16)(SS, 3/26/02)
1945 Mar 28, Germany launched the last of the V-2 rockets (buzz bomb) against England.
(HN, 3/28/99)
1945 Apr 9, German Battleship Admiral Scheer sank a British aircraft carrier.
(MC, 4/9/02)
1945 Apr 15, British and Canadian troops liberated the Nazi concentration camp at Bergen-Belsen. It is a village in west Germany about 30 miles north of Hanover. About 40,000 people were liberated from the camp, although about 13,000 later died of illness. Overall, about 70,000 people died in Belsen.
(AHD, p.122)(AP, 4/17/05)
1945 Apr 25, Some 318 British Lancaster bombers dropped 1,232 tons of bombs on Hitler’s alpine redoubt at Obersalzberg near Berchtesgaden.
(SSFC, 8/6/06, p.G5)
1945 Apr 28, British commands attacked Elbe and occupied Lauenburg.
(MC, 4/28/02)
1945 Apr 30, Lord Haw-Haw called for a crusade against the Bolsheviks.
(MC, 4/30/02)
1945 May 3, A British air force squadron bombed two ships, the Cap Arcona and the Thielbeck and sank them. The pilots knew nothing about the ships' human cargo. SS guards had marched prisoners from Neuengamme to Lubeck on the Baltic coast, as British troops approached, and put some 8,000 inmates onto two ships, the Cap Arcona and the Thielbeck.
(AP, 10/2/10)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SS_Cap_Arcona_%281927%29)
1945 May 9, Jersey was liberated from Nazis.
(MC, 5/9/02)
1945 May 12, The Churchill Barriers were formally opened by the first Lord of the Admiralty. They were built to protect Scapa Flow from enemy submarines. The 5 causeways linked Orkney’s Mainland to South Ronaldsay and marked a dividing line between the North Sea and the Atlantic Ocean. Thousands of Italian prisoners of war carried out the project and left behind their decorated Italian Chapel.
(SSFC, 11/13/05, p.F10)(www.undiscoveredscotland.co.uk/eastmainland/churchill/)
1945 May 19, Peter Townshend, England, rock guitarist, vocalist, composer (Who-Tommy), was born.
(MC, 5/19/02)
1945 May 23, Winston Churchill, the head Britain’s coalition government, resigned pending the upcoming general election. He continued to serve as the head of the caretaker government which lasted till he lost the election on July 26 and officially resigned as PM.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Caretaker_Government_1945)
1945 May 23, British military police arrested Grand Admiral Karl Doenitz, Hitler's designated successor ("Fuhrer for a Weekend").
(MC, 5/23/02)
1945 May 28, Lord Haw Haw (aka William Joyce), a virulent anti-Semite who broadcast pro-Nazi propaganda from Germany during the war, was shot in the leg in an encounter with two British officers near Flensburg on the Danish border with Germany. He was sentenced to death for treason on 19 September 1945 and hanged on 3 January 1946.
(http://www.shef.ac.uk/library/special/joyce.html)
1945 Jun 4, US, Russia, England & France agreed to split occupied Germany.
(MC, 6/4/02)
1945 Jun 7, The opera "Peter Grimes" by Benjamin Britten," premiered in London.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peter_Grimes)
1945 Jun 18, William Joyce, known as "Lord Haw-Haw," was charged in London with high treason for his English-language wartime broadcasts on German radio. He was hanged the following January.
(AP, 6/18/00)
1945 Jul 5, Clement Atlee’s Labour Party won the British parliamentary election.
(http://tinyurl.com/yk38nh)(Econ, 4/13/13, p.26)
1945 Jul 26, The US, Britain and China issued the Potsdam Declaration to Japan that she surrender unconditionally. Two days later Japanese Premier Kantaro Suzuki announced to the Japanese press that the Potsdam declaration is to be ignored. In 1961 Herbert Feis authored “Japan Subdued."
(WSJ, 5/5/95, p.A-12)(WSJ, 1/14/07, p.P8)
1945 Aug 2, President Truman, Soviet leader Josef Stalin and British Prime Minister Clement Attlee concluded the Potsdam conference.
(AP, 8/2/97)
1945 Aug, George Orwell published "Animal Farm" in England.
(SFEC, 10/1/00, BR p.5)
1945 Aug, A British Royal Air Force B24 Liberator bomber crashed in Malaysia. Later research showed that it was carrying supplies for Force 136, a British Special Operations unit.
(AP, 2/6/12)
1945 Sep 16, Japan surrendered Hong Kong to Britain.
(HN, 9/16/98)
1945 Sep 19, Nazi propagandist William Joyce, known as "Lord Haw-Haw," was sentenced to death by a British court.
(AP, 9/19/97)
1945 Oct 14, British Chief Justice Geoffrey Lawrence was elected president of the Int’l. Military Tribunal for the trial of war criminals at Nuremberg. Drexel A. Sprecher (d.2006), a prosecutor during the trial, later edited the official 15-volume work on the 4-year trial.
(http://tinyurl.com/pnk7h)(SFC, 4/11/06, p.B5)
1945 Dec 6, U.S. extended a $3 billion loan to Britain to help compensate for the termination of Lend-Lease.
(HN, 12/6/98)
1945 Dec 13, France and Britain agreed to quit Syria and Lebanon.
(HN, 12/13/98)
1945 Dec 23, Frederick Ashton's "Cinderella" premiered in London.
(MC, 12/23/01)
1945 Dec 27, Foreign ministers from the former Allied nations of the United States, the Soviet Union, and Great Britain agreed to divide Korea into two separate occupation zones and to govern the nation for five years.
(MC, 12/27/01)
1945 Dec 28, Max Hastings, British editor-in-chief (Daily Telegraph), historian, was born.
(MC, 12/28/01)
1945 Dec, Eric Brown (1919-2016), British test pilot, made the first-ever jet aircraft landing on the carrier Ocean.
(https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eric_Brown_%28pilot%29)(Econ, 3/5/15, p.86)
1945 Rev. W. Awdry wrote "The Three Railway Engines." This was his first book and was followed in 1946 by his children’s series of tales that featured "Thomas the Tank Engine."
(SFC, 3/22/97, p.A21)
1945 British author Arthur C. Clarke was the first to put forward the idea of a communications satellite in a magazine article in 1945. The American satellite Telstar, launched in 1962, ushered in the age of satellite communications.
(HNQ, 4/21/99)
1945 Former members of Britain’s Special Operations Executive founded the Special Forces Club in London.
(Econ, 2/16/13, p.69)
1945 In Britain Clement Atlee became the prime minister after WW II. The Labor party toppled Winston Churchill with a 146-seat majority win.
(WSJ, 2/21/97, p.A12)(WSJ, 5/2/97, p.A1)
1945 Britain’s M15 opened a dossier on Harold Wilson (29) and kept it through Wilson's two terms as prime minister in the '60s and '70s. It was opened out of concern for Wilson's contacts with Eastern European businessmen and a belief amongst British civil servants that Wilson may have been sympathetic to Communist ideologies. The file was kept not to undermine Wilson but to keep tabs on contacts deemed suspicious, according to "The Defense of the Realm," the first authorized account of MI5's history serialized in The Times on Oct 3, 2009.
(AP, 10/3/09)
1945 Maria Dickin decorated Rip, a dog, for finding more than 100 people trapped by German bomb damage in World War II. Dickin was the creator of the Dickin Medal program, Britain's highest honor for animals. Rip died in 1948 and is buried in a pet charity cemetery in east London. In 2009 the medal sold at auction in London on Friday for 24,250 pounds ($35,700).
(AP, 4/24/09)
1945 Some 732 teenage concentration camp survivors were settled in Britain. They formed the Primrose Club of London in 1947 to maintain contact. Their story was told in the 1997 book "The Boys: The Story 0f 732 Young Concentration Camp Survivors" by Martin Gilbert.
(SFC, 7/8/97, p.B4)
1945 Russia’s Operation Tarantella, designed to reach emigres who fled after the Communist takeover, turned Viktor Bogomolets back to Moscow. He became a double agent passing British secrets to top-tier Soviet operatives. This was made public in 2007.
(Reuters, 4/2/07)
c1945 The Bank of England was nationalized after WW II.
(WSJ, 3/25/98, p.A22)
1945 By the end of World War II Britain owed India £1.3 billion, an eight of British GDP.
(Econ, 5/7/15, p.78)
1945 British currency forged in Germany, measured by face value, accounted for 12% of all pound sterling bills. Early this year SS leaders switched their attention to forging US dollars. Forging operations, using Jewish and other war prisoners, had begun at the Sachsenhausen concentration camp under SS officer Bernhard Kruger a few years earlier. Nearly 133 million pounds was forged during Operation Bernhard.
(WSJ, 1/22/07, p.A1,13)
1945 Barbara Hutton (1912-1979), heir to the Woolworth fortune, gifted Winfield House, her London mansion, to the United States government and moved to California. In 2008 Maria Tuttle and Marcus Binney authored “Winfield House."
(Econ, 11/1/08, p.96)(www.spiritus-temporis.com/barbara-hutton/)
1945-1946 In India the British government organized elections for a constituent assembly.
(SFEC, 8/3/97, p.A15)
1946 Jan 3, William Joyce, (Lord Haw Haw), was hanged in Britain for treason. He had broadcast for the Nazis to British and American fighting troops. In 2005 Nigel Farndale authored “Haw-Haw: The Tragedy of William and Margaret Joyce."
(www.nationmaster.com/encyclopedia/William-Joyce)(Econ, 7/30/05, p.77)
1946 Jan 10, The first General Assembly of the United Nations convened in London.
(AP, 1/10/98)
1946 Mar 1, British Government took control of Bank of England, after 252 years.
(SC, 3/1/02)
1946 Mar 15, British premier Attlee agreed with India's right to independence.
(MC, 3/15/02)
1946 Mar 22, The British mandate in Transjordan came to an end. Britain signed a treaty granting independence to Jordan.
(AP, 3/22/97)(HN, 3/22/97)
1943 Apr 6, British and American armies linked up in Africa.
(HN, 4/6/98)
1946 Apr 19, Tim Curry, actor (Rocky Horror Show), was born in Cheshire, England.
(MC, 4/19/02)
1946 Apr 21, John M. Keynes (62), English economist, died. He had recently negotiated a loan from the US to keep Britain afloat. One condition of the $5 billion loan was that Britain make sterling fully convertible into dollars. In 2000 Robert Skidelsky authored “John Maynard Keynes: Fighting for Britain: 1937-1946." In 2009 Peter Clarke authored “Keynes: The Twentieth Century’s Most Influential Economist." Robert Skidelsky authored “Keynes: The Return of the Master." In 2015 Richard Davenport-Hines authored “Universal Man: The Lives of John Maynard Keynes."
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Maynard_Keynes)(WSJ, 6/20/08, p.A11)(Econ, 10/3/09, p.103)(Econ, 10/31/09, p.84)(Econ, 9/25/10, p.85)(Econ, 5/9/15, p.80)
1946 Apr, The British Labour government authorized a mission to visit suitable sites in its Tanganyika colony to cultivate groundnuts. The British Labour government of Clement Attlee had come up with a plan to cultivate tracts of what later became Tanzania with peanuts in a plan that came to be called the Tanganyika Groundnut Scheme. It was abandoned at considerable cost to the taxpayers when it did not become profitable.
(AP, 6/1/09)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tanganyika_groundnut_scheme)
1946 Aug 13, Britain transferred illegal immigrants bound for Palestine to Cyprus.
(MC, 8/13/02)
1946 Aug 13, H.G. Wells (b.1866), sci-fi author (Time Machine), died in London.
(AP, 8/13/00)
1946 Sep 6, Terence Rattigan's "Winslow Boy," premiered in London.
(MC, 9/6/01)
1946 Sep 19, Winston Churchill made a speech in Zurich where he said: If Europe were once united in the sharing of its common inheritance there would be no limit to the happiness, prosperity, and glory of which its 300 or 400 million people would enjoy."
(WSJ, 3/25/98, p.A22)
1946 Sep 20, Churchill argued for a "US of Europe." [see Sep 19]
(MC, 9/20/01)
1946 Sep, Britain, France and the United States set up the Tripartite Gold Commission to oversee the return of some $4 billion in gold plundered by the Nazis from European treasuries. The commission closed in 1998.
(SFC, 9/10/98, p.C2)
1946 Oct 22, Two British ships sank near Albania. British destroyers hit mines off Albania's coast. The United Nations and the International Court of Justice condemned Albania.
(www, Albania, 1998)(MC, 10/22/01)
1946 Oct 25, Karl Popper spoke at Cambridge before the weekly meeting of the Moral Science Club on the subject: "Are There Philosophical Problems?" Ludwig Wittgenstein took issue with the presentation and a heated exchange followed. In 2001 David Edmonds and John Eidinow authored "Wittgenstein’s Poker: The Story of a Ten-Minute Argument Between Two Great Philosophers."
(SSFC, 12/30/01, p.M3)
1946 Dec 2, The U.S. and Britain merged the German occupation zones.
(HN, 12/2/98)
1946 Dec 19, Noel Coward's musical "Pacific 1860," premiered in London.
(MC, 12/19/01)
1946 The Gormenghast series of three novels by English writer Mervyn Peake (1911-1968) began with “Titus Groan," which was followed by Gormenghast (1950) and Titus Alone (1959). They featured Castle Gormenghast, and Titus Groan, the title character of the first book.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gormenghast_%28series%29)
1946 George Mikes (1912-1987), a Hungarian living in England, published “How to Be An Alien." It was about a foreigner’s view of England.
(Econ, 12/19/09, p.110)
1946 V.S. Pritchett became the director of the weekly New Statesman. He had begun contributing to the left-wing weekly in 1926.
(SFC, 3/22/97, p.A21)
1946 Alistair Cooke began writing his "Letter from America." It was initially supposed to be a 13-week BBC radio series which described American life to Britons.
(SFEC, 11/29/98, Z1 p.7)
1946 The British M16 intelligence agency absorbed the Special Operations Executive.
(Econ, 3/19/05, p.34)
1946 Allan Nunn May (d.2003 at 91), British atomic scientist, was unmasked as a Soviet spy. In 1942 he joined a team of Cambridge scientists for the Manhattan Project and was recruited by the Soviets in Montreal in 1943. may was sentenced to 10 years of hard labor and served 6.
(SFC, 1/25/03, p.A17)
1946 In England Lancelot Ware (d.2000 at 85), Oxford postgraduate student, and barrister Roland Berrill (d.1961) founded the High IQ Club, later known as Mensa.
(SFC, 8/19/00, p.A19)(www.mensa.org/)
1946 Heathrow Airport, an air base near London for fighter planes during WWII, was converted to civilian use. A modified Avro Lancastrian bomber made the first scheduled flight.
(Econ, 3/29/08, p.91)(Econ, 3/30/13, p.55)
1946-1961 The Tanganyika Territory was a British trusteeship.
(WUD, 1994, p.1452)
1947 Jan 5, Great Britain nationalized its coal mines.
(HN, 1/5/99)
1947 Jan 13, British troops replaced striking truck drivers.
(HN, 1/13/99)
1947 Jan 27, Britain agreed to give Burma independence following negotiations with nationalist leader Aung San.
(www.myanmar.gov.mm/Perspective/persp2001/2-2001/uni.htm)(SFC, 5/7/02, p.A9)
1947 Feb 5, The Soviet Union and Great Britain rejected terms for an American trusteeship over Japanese Pacific Isles.
(HN, 2/5/99)
1947 Feb 20, The British pledged to leave India by June 1948.
(HN, 2/20/98)
1947 Feb 20, Lord Louis Mountbatten was appointed the last viceroy of India.
(MC, 2/20/02)
1947 Feb 28, Britain and France signed a 50-year pact to curb Germany.
(HN, 2/28/98)
1947 Mar 4, France and Britain signed an alliance treaty.
(HN, 3/4/98)
1947 Mar 6, Winston Churchill opposed the withdrawal of troops from India.
(HN, 3/6/98)
1947 Mar 25, Elton John, [Reginald Kenneth Dwight], English singer (Rocketman), was born.
(MC, 3/25/02)
1947 Jun 3, In Britain an announcement was made in the House of Commons that India was to be partitioned and that independence would follow. In 2007 Yasmin Khan authored “The Great Partition: The Making of India and Pakistan." In 2015 Nisid Hajari authored “Midnight’s Furies: The Deadly Legacy of India’s Partition."
(Econ, 7/21/07, p.81)(Econ, 7/4/15, p.70)
1947 Jun 5, David Hare, British playwright and director (A Map of the World, Slag), was born.
(HN, 6/5/01)
1947 Jun 15, The All-Indian Congress accepted a British plan for the partition of India. Britain partitioned the subcontinent and Pakistan was founded as an independent country.
(SFC, 7/1/97, p.A9)(HN, 6/15/98)
1947 Jul 9, The engagement of Britain's Princess Elizabeth to Lt. Philip Mountbatten was announced.
(AP, 7/9/97)
1947 Jul 10, Camilla Parker Bowles, lover of Prince Charles, was born.
(MC, 7/10/02)
1947 Jul 15, Convertibility of British sterling into US dollars, negotiated as part of a $5 billion US loan to Britain in 1946, came into effect. It caused an immediate run on the pound and was abandoned on August 20.
(WSJ, 6/20/08, p.A11)
1947 Jul 18, King George VI signed the Indian Independence Bill. In 2008 Peter Clarke authored “The Last Thousand Days of the British Empire.
(http://indiainteracts.com/columnist/2007/08/15/The-60-days-to-Aug-15-1947India-at-60/)(WSJ, 6/20/08, p.A11)
1947 Jul 18, British seized the "Exodus 1947" ship of Jewish immigrants to Palestine. The British Royal Navy intercepted the ship President Warfield, which had been renamed Exodus by its passengers, forcing the 4,000 Jewish would-be immigrants aboard back to Displaced Person camps in Germany. Britain was still the ruling power in Palestine, which was being wracked by conflict resulting from Jewish national aspirations. The return of the Jewish immigrants, many of them survivors of Nazi persecution, heightened anti-British sentiment among Jews in Palestine and elsewhere. Yossi Harel, commander of the Exodus, died in 2008 at age 90.
(MC, 7/18/02)(HNQ, 12/4/98)(AP, 4/26/08)
1947 Jul 21, Cat Stevens, rock vocalist (Peace Train, Father & Son), was born as Steven Demetre Georgiou. The British singer-songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, educator, philanthropist, converted to Islam in Dec 1977. In 1978 he adopted the name of Yusuf Islam.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cat_Stevens)
1947 Jul 31, The Jewish underground Irgun Zvai Leumi said it hanged 2 British sergeants in Palestine.
(G&M, 7/31/97, p.A2)
1947 Jul, A prisoner camp in Bad Nenndorf, a spa town in northwest Germany occupied by the British after the war, was closed. In 2005 a Guardian report cited documents recently released under the Freedom of Information Act that described the suffering of some of 372 men and 44 women detained at the camp.
(AP, 12/17/05)
1947 Aug 15, India gained independence after some 200 years of British rule. Britain partitioned the subcontinent. Prior to independence, 565 princes ruled a third of India. After independence the government let the royals retain their titles and assets in return for incorporating their principalities into the new nation. The 664 princely states of India were given the choice of which country they wanted to join. Although most of the people of Kashmir were Muslim, the maharaja was Hindu and he appealed to India for help. Independence in Pakistan and India led to bloody conflicts and thousands died. In 1999 Fareed Zakaria published "Raj: The Making and Unmaking of British India." In 2006 David Gilmour authored “The Ruling Caste," an account of Britain’s Indian Civil Service (ICS).
(WSJ, 1/9/95, A-8)(WSJ, 12/21/95, p.A-12)(WSJ, 5/16/96, p.A-10)(SFEC, 8/3/97, p.A15)(AP, 8/15/97)(SFC, 6/4/98, p.C2)(WSJ, 1/29/99, p.W7)(WSJ, 2/23/06, p.D8)
1947 Sep 8, British government sailed the "Exodus" with fugitives from Nazis.
(MC, 9/8/01)
1947 Nov 12, Emmuska Orczy (82), British author (Scarlet Pimpernel), died.
(MC, 11/12/01)
1947 Nov 20, Princess Elizabeth (future Queen Elizabeth II) married Philip Mountbatten, Duke of Edinburgh, in a ceremony broadcast worldwide from Westminster Abbey.
(HN, 11/20/98)(SFEM, 1/26/97, p.44)(AP, 11/20/97)
1947 Dec 1, Samuel Courtauld (b.1876), English industrialist and art collector, died. In 1932 He founded the Courtauld Institute of Art in London.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Samuel_Courtauld_%28art_collector%29)(Econ, 2/16/13, p.84)
1947 Dec 1, Aleister Edward S. Crowley (b.1875), British occultist, died. In 2000 Lawrence Sutin authored "Do What Thou Wilt, A Life of Aleister Crowley."
(SSFC, 1/14/01, BR p.12)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aleister_Crowley)
1947 Dec 1, Godfrey Harold Hardy (b.1877), English mathematician, died. Non-mathematicians usually know G.H. Hardy for “A Mathematician's Apology," his essay from 1940 on the aesthetics of mathematics.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/G._H._Hardy)
1947 Penelope Dimont (later Penelope Mortimer), published her first novel, "Johanna."
(SFC, 10/23/99, p.A21)
1947 C.S. Forester wrote "Mr. Midshipman Hornblower," in which he introduced his character Horatio Hornblower as a 17-year-old midshipman in the English Navy. Hornblower was loosely based on the life of Adm. Lord Nelson. Forester wrote 11 Hornblower books and also wrote "The African Queen." Hornblower was made into a 4-part A&E TV miniseries in 1999.
(WSJ, 7/10/98, p.W10)(WSJ, 4/5/99, p.A20)
1947 A.A. Milne, author of "Winnie the Pooh," gave publisher E.P. Dutton the original stuffed animals of the stories he began writing in 1926 for his son, Christopher Robbin. The animals were turned over to the New York Public Library in 1987. In 1998 the British requested that they be returned to England.
(SFC, 2/5/98, p.A12)
1947 Britain’s Labor government introduced the Town and Country Planning Act, which regulated private house building.
(Econ, 1/11/14, p.47)
1947 Britain amid post-war rationing and food shortages introduced the snoek, a relative of the barracuda, to a hungry nation.
(Econ, 11/1/08, p.66)
1947 England was hit by calamitous floods. About 27,000 houses were reported flooded. About a million Londoners lost their water supply.
(Econ, 2/15/14, p.50)
1947 Bangladesh as part of Pakistan gained independence from Britain.
(SFC, 7/1/97, p.A9)
1948 Jan 4, Britain granted independence to Burma (later renamed to Myanmar). Aung San had arranged for national independence on this day but was assassinated before the event by political rivals. The new rulers tried to limit citizenship to those whose roots predated 1823 and British rule.
(SFEC, 1/19/97, Par p.4)(AP, 1/4/98)(Econ, 11/3/12, p.44)
1948 Feb 4, Colonial rule ended and the island nation of Ceylon -- now Sri Lanka -- became an independent dominion within the British Commonwealth.
(SFE, 9/16/96, p.A9)(SFC, 6/20/96, p.A8)(AP, 2/4/97)
1948 Mar 18, France, Great Britain and Benelux signed the Treaty of Brussels.
(MC, 3/18/02)
1948 May 15, A 28 year old British Mandate over Palestine ended.
(MC, 5/15/02)
1948 Jun 21, Lord Mountbatten resigned as Viceroy of India.
(MC, 6/21/02)
1948 Jun 26, The Berlin Airlift began in earnest as the United States, Britain and France started ferrying supplies to the isolated western sector of Berlin, after the Soviet Union cut off land and water routes. The Soviets had been harassing the French, British and American authorities in Berlin for weeks, trying to force them from the city. Finally, when all surface routes to the city were blockaded, it became clear that an airlift through the Allied sectors was the only way to re-supply the 2 million West Berliners. In spite of the enormous human and financial cost, “Operation Vittles" supplied food, fuel and hope to beleaguered citizens until the Soviet barricades were finally lifted on May 12, 1949. In 2010 Richard Reeves authored “Daring Young Men: The Heroism and Triumph of the Berlin Airlift, June 1948-May 1949."
(AP, 6/26/98)(HN, 6/26/99)(http://tinyurl.com/gqhi)(Econ, 1/2/10, p.63)
1948 Jul 5, Britain's National Health Service Act went into effect, providing government-financed medical and dental care. Aneurin Bevan, Welsh Labour minister of health, was its political founder. The first NHS patient was treated at Trafford hospital near Manchester.
(AP, 7/5/98)(Econ, 5/7/11, p.62)
1948 Jul 29, Britain's King George VI opened the first Olympics since 1936 in London. Germany and Japan were not invited and the Soviet Union chose not to attend. Alice Coachman of the US was the first black woman to win a gold medal when she triumphed in the high jump. Audrey "Mickey" Patterson-Tyler (1927-1996) was the first black woman to win an Olympic medal. She won a bronze medal in the 200-meter dash.
(TMC, 1994, p.1948)(WSJ, 6/7/96, p.A1)(SFEC, 8/25/96, p.B5)(AP, 7/29/97)(WSJ, 4/12/08, p.R2)
1948 Aug 6, Victoria Manalo Draves (1924-2010) became the 1st woman to win 2 diving gold medals, and the 1st Asian American woman to win an Olympic medal.
(http://tinyurl.com/3ytlucx)(SFC, 6/3/05, p.F1)(SFC, 4/28/10, p.C4)
1948 Aug 6, Bob Mathias, later a US state representative, won the decathlon at the London Olympics. His unofficial title became "the world's greatest athlete." He won gold again in 1952.
(AP, 8/6/98)(SFC, 11/10/99, p.E7)(WSJ, 7/23/96, p.A6)
1948 Aug 14, The summer Olympic games in London ended.
(AP, 8/14/08)
1948 Sep 19, Jeremy Irons, England, actor (French Lieutenant's Woman), was born.
(MC, 9/19/01)
1948 Nov 14, Charles, Prince of Wales and heir to the throne of England, was born.
(HN, 11/14/98)
1948 Nov 17, Britain's House of Commons voted to nationalize steel industry.
(MC, 11/17/01)
1948 Dec 12, British soldiers surrounded the Sungai Rimoh rubber estate in Batang Kali, shot 24 rubber plantation workers and set the village on fire. In 1970 Britain’s incoming Conservative administration dropped a police investigation, claiming a lack of evidence. In 2012 relatives of killed workers lost their High Court battle for a full inquiry by the British government.
(AFP, 9/4/12)
1948 The British noir film “The Fallen Idol" was directed by Carol Reed.
(SFC, 6/2/16, p.F8)
1948 Lewis Fry Richardson, British physicist, authored a paper on the mathematics of war. He showed that the probability of wars having a particular number of casualties followed a mathematical relationship known as a power law. This was probably the first rigorous analysis of the statistics of war.
(Econ, 7/23/05, p.74)(Econ, 4/2/11, p.76)
1948 Composer Benjamin Britten (1913-1976) co-founded the Aldeburgh Festival with Sir Peter Pears and writer Eric Crozier. In 1967 Britten and Pears created a permanent home at Snape, 5 miles from Aldeburgh, by converting a Victorian maltings into an 832-seat venue. By 1972 the Britten-Pears young artist program welcomed young players from around the world.
(www.aldeburgh.co.uk/about_us/history)(WSJ, 7/26/99, p.A21)(Econ, 6/6/09, p.84)
1948 Sir John Woolf and his brother James founded Romulus Films and its distribution arm, Remus.
(SFC, 7/1/99, p.C4)
1948 The Commonwealth Development Corporation was founded by the British government with an aim to demonstrate "the power of enterprise and private capital to reduce poverty in the poorest places of the world."
(Reuters, 2/1/12)
1948 Britain nationalized the London Underground.
(Econ, 1/22/05, p.81)
1948 British carmaker Rover developed the Jeep-like Land Rover.
(WSJ, 9/16/05, p.W12)
1948 Trevor Wilkinson incorporated TVR Engineering, a small British carmaker. He left the company in 1962 and in 1965 it was sold to Martin Lilly.
(SFC, 6/16/08, p.B3)
1948 The British Jaguar XK120 was introduced as the world’s fastest standard production car. It was the brainchild of Jaguar founder Sir William Lyons.
(SSFC, 8/21/11, p.H1)
1948 Marie Provaznikova, Czech athlete, became the first to defect from a Communist country during the Olympics in London.
(WSJ, 4/12/08, p.R2)(www.sokolnewyork.org/history002.htm)
1948 The London-based Mondo company began producing rubber balls for a local fistball game. It grew to become a major maker of prefabricated running track.
(SFC, 3/17/11, p.72)
1948 Robert Ford (1923-2013), British radio operator, was hired by the Tibetans to create a modern communications network. In 1950 he was imprisoned by Chinese authorities and spent five years in jail.
(Econ, 10/5/13, p.98)
1948 Ann Curtis (1926-2012) of San Francisco won two gold medals and one silver in swimming at the London Olympics.
(SFC, 9/25/96, p.E10)(SFC, 1/31/15, p.C2)
1948 The Nizam of Hyderabad, India’s biggest and richest princely state, sent envoys to London with a purse or £1 million to give to Pakistan, which had been shipping him arms. By the time the money was deposited an Indian invasion forced him to switch sides and the money has languished in London ever since.
(Econ, 8/19/17, p.33)
1949 Mar 15, Almost four years after the end of World War II, clothes rationing in Great Britain ends.
(HN, 3/15/99)
1949 Apr 4, The (NATO) North Atlantic Treaty Organization pact was signed by the US, Great Britain, France, Belgium, the Netherlands, Luxembourg, Italy, Portugal, Denmark, Iceland, Norway and Canada. It provided for mutual defense against aggression and for close military cooperation.
(www.nato.int/cps/en/natolive/official_texts_17120.htm)(TOH, 1982, p.1949)
1949 Apr 17, At midnight 26 counties officially left the British Commonwealth. A 21-gun salute on O'Connell Bridge, Dublin, ushered in the Republic of Ireland.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1949_in_Ireland)
1949 Apr 19, The Amethyst Affair began when the British frigate Amethyst came under fire from Communist Chinese artillery and ran aground in the Yangtze River. A tense, 103-day standoff followed until the frigate made a daring escape on July 30. The Amethyst lost 22 men killed and 31 wounded in the ordeal. Rescue attempts by the Royal Navy resulted in another 23 British sailors killed.
(HNQ, 2/5/99)
1949 May 4, Graham Swift, British novelist (The Sweet Shop Owner, Out of this World), was born.
(HN, 5/4/01)
1949 May 13, The 1st British-produced jet bomber, Canberra, made its 1st test flight.
(MC, 5/13/02)
1949 May 17, The British House of Commons adopted the Ireland Bill that recognized the independence of the Republic of Ireland, but affirmed the position of Northern Ireland within the United Kingdom.
(EWH, 1968, p.1166)
1949 May 29, Gary Brooker, rock keyboardist (Procol Harum), was born in Essex, England.
(SC, 5/29/02)
1949 May 29, Francis Rossi, guitarist, vocalist (Status Quo-Down Down, Picture of a Matchstick Man), was born in London, England.
(SC, 5/29/02)
1949 Jul 27, The British 36-seat jet-propelled De Havilland Comet 1 flew for the first time. This was the world’s first passenger jet.
(www.centennialofflight.gov/essay/Commercial_Aviation/Opening_of_Jet_era/Tran6.htm)(Econ, 11/22/14, p.51)
1949 Jul 30, British warship HMS Amethyst escaped down Yangtze River after having been refused a safe passage by Chinese Communists after 3-month standoff.
(MC, 7/30/02)
1949 Sep 30, The Berlin airlift ended its operation after 277,264 flights. Through accidents 31 Americans lost their lives in support of the airlift. The Berlin Airlift, which began on June 26, 1948, and lasted 321 days, consisted of 272,264 flights by British and American airmen. They transported some 2.3 million tons of food to supply the 2.1 million residents of the blockaded portion of the city. The operation ended after 278,288 flights and delivery of 2,326,406 tons of supplies. In 2010 Richard Reeves authored “Daring Young Men: The Heroism and Triumph of the Berlin Airlift, June 1948-May 1949."
(EWH, 1968, p.1180)(AP, 9/30/97)(SFC, 5/12/98, p.A14)(HNQ, 7/9/98)(SSFC, 3/28/10, p.f3)
1949 Nov 24, The Iron and Steel Act nationalized the steel industry in Britain.
(HN, 11/24/98)
1949 Nov 26, India adopted a constitution as a republic within the British Commonwealth. Pandit Nehru became Prime Minister. B.R. Ambedkar (1891-1956), a Dalit, was the chief architect of the constitution.
(HN, 11/26/98)(AP, 11/26/07)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/B._R._Ambedkar)
1949 T.S. Eliot wrote his play "The Cocktail Party" for Rudolph Bing’s Edinburgh Festival.
(WSJ, 9/5/97, p.A10)
1949 Doris Lessing (30), author, left her girlhood home in Rhodesia (Zimbabwe) for England. The 2nd volume of her autobiography was "Walking in the Shade (1949-1962)."
(SSFC, 2/24/02, p.M3)
1949 George Orwell’s (1903-1950) novel "Nineteen Eighty-Four" was published. He was inspired by the Russian author Yevgeny Zamyatin, who wrote an antiutopian novel warning against intoxication with technology. Orwell asserted that technology is an instrument of tyranny. In his novel Orwell described a machine called a versificator that generated music for the masses. “Who controls the past controls the future. Who controls the present, controls the past."
(WSJ, 11/4/98, p.A12)(WSJ, 1/11/99, p.R14)(Econ, 6/10/06, Survey p.6)(Econ, 9/15/07, p.70)
1949 Britain’s University College of North Staffordshire was set up by Oxford don A.D. Lindsay. In 1962 it was renamed Keele University.
(Econ, 6/25/16, p.53)
1949 Britain devalued the pound from $4.03 to $2.80. Most European nations followed.
(TOH, 1982, p.1949)
1949 Britain passed the National Parks and Access to the Countryside Act, which established and extensive network of public rights of way and encouraged landowners to voluntarily grant access to their land.
(SFC, 6/21/99, p.A10)
1949 A British sex survey, originally meant for national newspapers, was conducted but never published due to its content. The survey was public in 2006 and showed that one in five men had homosexual experiences and a quarter admitted to having sex with prostitutes. One in five women confessed to extra-marital affairs.
(Reuters, 9/26/06)
1949 Leslie Ratner opened his first jewelry shop in Richmond, just outside of London. The operation grew to become Signet Corp. In 1987 Signet entered the US market with the purchase of the 117-store Sterling Corp. In 1990 it acquired Kay Jewelers.
(WSJ, 6/26/06, p.A1)
1950 Jan 21, George Orwell (46), author, died in London of tuberculosis. His books included Down and Out in Paris and London" (1933) and "1984." William Abrahams (d.1998), editor and novelist, co-authored the 2-volume biography of Orwell: "Life, Death and Art in the Second World War," and "Journey to the Frontier" with Peter Stansky. In 2000 Jeffrey Meyers authored the biography "Orwell: Wintry Conscience of a Generation." Orwell married Sonia Brownell (1918-1980) on his deathbed. In 2003 Hilary Spurling authored "The Gril from the Fiction Department," a biography of Sonia Orwell. In 2003 D.J. Taylor authored "Orwell : The Life."
(AP, 1/21/98)(SFC, 6/5/98, p.D7)(SFC, 6/25/98, p.B12)(SFEC, 10/1/00, BR p.5)(WSJ, 5/16/03, p.W10)(SSFC, 9/28/03, p.M2)
1950 Feb 2, Nuclear physicist Klaus Fuchs was arrested on spy charges. The Klaus Fuchs (d.1988) confession revealed that the Soviet Union obtained the atomic bomb from sources within the Manhattan Project. It was later revealed that Theodore Alvin Hall, a scientist on the project, passed information to the Soviets. The story is told in the 1997 book: "Bombshell: The Secret Story of America’s Spy Conspiracy" by Joseph Albright and Marcia Kunstel. Fuchs served 9 ½ years in a British prison. Ruth Werner (d.2000) served as a contact for Fuchs in Britain.
(http://tinyurl.com/kjpk5)(WSJ, 10/20/97, p.A19)(SFEC, 12/21/97, BR p.7)(SFC, 7/11/00, p.A23)
1950 Mar 1, Klaus Fuchs was sentenced in London to 14 years for atomic espionage.
(SC, 3/1/02)
1950 Mar 9, Timothy John Evans (b.1924), a Welshman, was hanged in the United Kingdom for the murder of his infant daughter at 10 Rillington Place in London. In 1961 Ludovic Kennedy, Scotland-born writer, authored “10 Rillington Place," the story of Timothy Evans, who was hanged for a murder he did not commit.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Timothy_Evans)
1950 Apr 8, Ballet dancer Vaslav Nijinsky died in London.
(AP, 4/8/98)
1950 May 22, Richard Strauss' "4 Last Songs" (4 letzte Lieder) were performed in London.
(www.richard-strauss.com/biography.html)
1950 Jul 18, Richard Branson, British music entrepreneur (Virgin Atlantic), was born.
(MC, 7/18/02)
1950 Aug 8, Florence Chadwick (1918-1995) swam the English Channel from France to Dover in 13 hours and 23 minutes. A year later she swam the reverse in 16:22.
(http://www.ishof.org/70fchadwick.html)
1950 Sep 11, Jan C. Smuts, co-founder of British RAF and S. African PM (1919-48), died at 80.
(MC, 9/11/01)
1950 Sep 23, US Mustangs accidentally bombed British troops on Hill 282 Korea, 17 killed.
(MC, 9/23/01)
1950 Sep 26, Because of forest fire in British Columbia a blue moon appeared in England.
(MC, 9/26/01)
1950 Nov 2, George Bernard Shaw (b.1856), Irish-born, English dramatist (Pygmalion), critic and social reformer, died. Michael Holroyd later authored a 3-volume biography of Shaw.
(V.D.-H.K.p.237)(HN, 7/26/98)(SFEC, 3/5/00, DB p.4)
1950 Nov 16, Egyptian king Farouk demanded the departure of all British troops.
(MC, 11/16/01)
1950 Dec 25, Scottish nationalists stole the Stone of Scone from the British coronation throne in Westminster Abbey. The 485 pound stone was recovered in April 1951.
(HN, 12/25/98)
1950 The William Morris Gallery opened on the site of the artist’s teenaged home in Walthamstow, Essex, England. The Victorian designer (1834-1896) was associated with the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood and the English Arts and Crafts Movement.
(Economist, 9/22/12, p.98)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Morris)
1950 Catherine Cookson (d.1998 at 91), English writer, published her first book, an autobiographical novel titled "Kate Hannigan." She went on write over 90 novels and was made a Dame in 1993.
(SFC, 6/13/98, p.A21)
1950 Elizabeth David (1913-1992), nee Gwynne, published "A Book of Mediterranean Food," which changed British cuisine. In 2001 Artemis Cooper authored "Writing At the Kitchen Table: The Authorized Biography of Elizabeth David."
(SSFC, 3/18/01, BR p.7)
1950 Alan Sainsbury (1902-1998) pioneered Britain’s first self-service grocery.
(SFC, 10/27/98, p.B6)
1950 In England Dr. Richard Doll (1913-2005) and statistician Austin Bradford Hill published a report that linked lung cancer to cigarette smoking.
(SFC, 7/26/05, p.B5)
1950 In London Maurice Wilkins and Rosalind Franklin (d.1958) produced pictures of X-ray diffraction in aligned fibers of DNA. The lab for X-ray crystallography was set up by physicist John Randall. Data from these pictures led Watson and Crick to understand the structure of DNA. In 1975 Anne Sayre (d.1998) published "Rosalind Franklin and DNA."
(Wired, 2/98, p.135)(SFC, 3/19/98, p.C4)
1950-1959 In 2006 Peter Hennessey authored “Having It So Good: Britain in the Fifties."
(Econ, 12/16/06, p.86)
1950-1960s In Britain the Butskellite consensus of the 1950s was based on strong bipartisan support for Keynesian economic management and the welfare state. It was named for Conservative Chancellor of the Exchequer, Lord Butler and Labor's shadow Chancellor, Hugh Gaitskell. it entailed an agreement by Tories not to attack the new Welfare State; in exchange, Labor helped to maintain industrial peace. This enabled a quiet time of economic stagnation in 1950s, which continued into the 1960s.
(http://faculty.smu.edu/jhollifi/Britain.htm)
1951 Jan 1, A British radio soap opera called “The Archers" began airing following pilot shows in 1950. The show was about a British farming community and was still popular as it continued in 2011.
(SFC, 1/5/11, p.E2)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Archers)
1951 Apr 3, Christopher Fry's "Sleep of Prisoners," premiered in Oxford.
(MC, 4/3/02)
1951 May 3, The Festival of Britain, a national exhibition, officially opened.
(SFEC, 4/23/00, p.T4)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Festival_of_Britain)
1951 May 23, Peter Ustinov's "Love of Four Colonels," premiered in London.
(MC, 5/23/02)
1951 Jun 23, British diplomats and Soviet spies Guy Burgess and Donald Maclean fled to the USSR.
(MC, 6/23/02)
1951 Jul 10, In London, England, Randolph Turpin (1928-1966), a black British boxer, defeated world champion Sugar Ray Robinson. Turpin lost a rematch 64 days later in NY.
(SSFC, 10/28/07, p.M3)(http://tinyurl.com/2sxhce)
1951 Sep 11, Florence Chadwick (1918-1995), American endurance swimmer, swam English Channel from England to France in 16 hours & 22 minutes [see Aug 6, 1926]. This made her the first woman to swim the English Channel in both directions, and set a record for the England-France journey. All told, she swam the English Channel four times and the Catalina Channel three times.
(www.answers.com/topic/florence-chadwick)
1951 Oct 17, The Egyptian army fired on British troops.
(MC, 10/17/01)
1951 Oct 25, In a general election, England's Labour Party under Clement Atlee lost to Conservatives. Winston Churchill became prime minister, and Anthony Eden became foreign secretary. The Conservatives and Labour together scooped 97% of the vote.
(Econ., 2/21/15, p.12)(Econ, 5/9/15, p.52)
1951 Oct 26, Winston Churchill was re-elected British PM. [see Oct 25]
(MC, 10/26/01)
1951 Nov 17, Britain reported the development of world’s first nuclear-powered heating system.
(HN, 11/17/98)
1951 Nov 18, British troops occupied Ismailiya, Egypt.
(MC, 11/18/01)
1951 Nov 29, Winston Churchill was re-elected British premier. [see Oct 25,26]
(MC, 11/29/01)
1951 Dec 1, Benjamin Britten's opera "Billy Budd," premiered in London.
(MC, 12/1/01)
1951 Anthony Powell, author, published "A Question of Upbringing," the first of his 12-volume "A Dance to the Music of Time," a chronicle of English upper-middle class morals from the 1920s to the 1970s.
(SFC, 3/30/00, p.C5)
1951 T.H. White (1906-1964), English writer, authored “The Goshawk," and account of his self struggles and the bird he called Gos.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/T._H._White)
1951 The British musical film "Alice in Wonderland" was directed by Dallas Bower (d.1999 at 92).
(SFC, 10/21/99, p.A25)
1951 The 3 1/2* British film "The Man in the White Suit" was directed by Alexander Mackendrick and starred Alec Guiness and Joan Greenwood.
(TVM, 1975, p.360)(SFC, 1/30/98, p.E17)
1951 Wallis Simpson (1896-1986), the Duchess of Windsor, for whom King Edward VIII gave up the British throne, engaged in an affair with playboy Jimmy Donahue. In 2000 Christopher Wilson authored "Dancing with the Devil: The Windsors and Jimmy Donahue."
(AP, 4/24/97)(SFC, 2/28/98, p.A5)(SFC, 1/4/01, p.D10)
1951 In Britain J. Lyons & Co. used the world's first business computer to calculate payrolls and optimum mixes for tea blending.
(WSJ, 1/11/99, p.R14)
1951 The Harwell Dekatron, also known as the Wolverhampton Instrument for Teaching Computation (WITCH), was built at Harwell, the UK's atomic energy research establishment. In 2012 the supercomputer was restored after a period of three years by experts at England's National Museum of Computing in Bletchley Park.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harwell_computer)
1951 The video game NIM was created for the Festival of Britain. It was played on Nimrod, a computer developed by the Ferranti electronics firm.
(Econ, 12/10/11, SR p.12)
1951-1955 Winston Churchill served as Prime Minister a 2nd time.
(WSJ, 9/3/98, p.A6)
1952 Jan 2, In Korea British pilot Desmond Fredrick William Hinton (b.1922) was shot down while on a bombing run targeting railway infrastructure. In 2011 North Korea handed his re-mains over to British officials.
(AP, 5/4/11)(www.atimes.com/atimes/Korea/KH14Dg01.html)
1952 Jan 5, Churchill arrived in Washington to confer with Truman.
(HN, 1/5/99)
1952 Jan 20, British troops occupied Ismalia, Egypt.
(HN, 1/20/99)
1952 Feb 6, Britain's King George VI died of lung cancer. His daughter, Elizabeth II, succeeded him.
(AP, 2/6/97)(WSJ, 8/10/00, p.A16)(SSFC, 3/31/02, p.A3)
1952 Feb 8, Elizabeth was formally proclaimed Queen of England following the Feb 6 death of her father, King George VI. Elizabeth was crowned Jun 2, 1953.
(HN, 2/8/98)(WSJ, 2/13/02, p.A21)
1952 Feb 26, Prime Minister Winston Churchill announced that Britain had developed its own atomic bomb.
(AP, 2/26/98)
1952 Mar 1, Helgoland, in North Sea, was returned to West Germany by Britain.
(SC, 3/1/02)
1952 Mar 5, Terence Rattigan's "Deep Blue Sea," premiered in London.
(MC, 3/5/02)
1952 Mar 25, The U.S., Britain, and France rejected the Soviet proposal for an armed, reunified, neutral Germany.
(HN, 3/24/98)
1952 Apr 21, BOAC began 1st passenger service with jets from London to Rome.
(MC, 4/21/02)
1952 May 2, The British Overseas Aircraft Corporation (BOAC), the national British carrier, introduced the world’s 1st commercial jet airliner service. Initial flights took passengers from London to Johannesburg in South Africa, with stops. The British De Havilland Comet, the first commercial jetliner, was grounded later this year after a series of fatal crashes. Its flaws were fixed and the plane went on to deliver years of reliable service.
(www.centennialofflight.gov/essay/Commercial_Aviation/Opening_of_Jet_era/Tran6.htm)(Econ, 1/19/13, p.65)
1952 May 29, Louise Cooper, sci-fi author (Nemesis, Inferno, Infanta, Nocturne), was born in UK.
(SC, 5/29/02)
1952 Sep 6, An engine on a de Havilland 110 plane falls into a crowd at Farnborough Air Show in England. Thirty people on the ground and the pilot are killed.
(AP, 7/27/02)
1952 Sep 12, Noel Coward's "Quadrille," premiered in London.
(MC, 9/12/01)
1952 Oct 3, The British detonated their 1st atomic bomb, a 25-kiloton device, in the Monte Bello Islands off Australia. In 1998 a visit to the islands was limited to one hour due to lingering radiation.
(SFC, 1/2/99, p.A14)(SFC, 3/13/02, p.A26)(AP, 10/3/08)
1952 Oct 6, The play "Mousetrap" by Agatha Christie (1890-1976) premiered in Nottingham.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Mousetrap)
1952 Nov 2, Derek Bentley (19) and Christopher Craig (16) tried to break into a warehouse in South London. Craig shot and killed Police Constable Sidney Miles. Bentley, who had the mental age of 11, was hanged in Jan., 1953, for his role in the murder of the police officer and Craig went to prison for 10 years. The 1991 film "Let Him Have It" was based on the story of Bentley as was the Elvis Costello song "Let Him Dangle." Bentley’s conviction was overturned in 1998.
(SFC, 7/31/98, p.A16,18)
1952 Dec 5-1952 Dec 8, A 4-day London smog killed 4,703 people. Oxides of sulfur and other irritants from coal smoke were blamed. The air pollution contributed to some 12,000 deaths.
(PCh, 1992, p.937)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Smog)(Econ, 11/26/16, p.74)
1952 Margaret Mee (1909-1988), botanical artist, left Britain for Brazil and for 3 decades documented Amazonian rain forest plant life in large watercolors.
(WSJ, 1/26/99, p.A16)(http://tinyurl.com/yafb9m)
1952 Eduardo Paolozzi (1924-2005), sculptor and printmaker, helped form an association of British artists called The Independent Group. They included Richard Hamilton, William Turnbull and Peter Blake. Paolozzi, born in Scotland of Italian parents, became known as a key contributor to British pop art.
(SSFC, 5/1/05, p.A23)
1952 Samuel Beckett published his play "Waiting for Godot." It was 1st produced in Paris in 1953.
(SFEM, 9/10/00, p.7)
1952 Frederick Knott, English writer, wrote his thriller "Dial ‘M’ for Murder. It was made into a film with Grace Kelly by Alfred Hitchcock.
(WSJ, 4/8/98, p.A20)
1952 British writer Mary Norton wrote "The Borrowers." It was made into a movie in 1998.
(SFC, 2/13/98, p.C3)
1952 British PM Winston Churchill declared a state of emergency in Kenya and sent British and African soldiers to help colonial administrators capture May May fighters and send them to detention camps.
(AP, 5/6/13)
1952 The British government abolished ID cards.
(Econ, 5/1/04, p.15)
1952 England’s Morgan Motor Company stopped making its 3-wheeled cars. In 2010 the company unveiled a new 3-wheel model, the M3W, and planned expanded sales in China.
(SSFC, 12/25/11, p.D3)(www.morgandc.com/History/HistoryPage.htm)
1952 British engineer Charles Spencer King (1925-2010) set a land speed record of 152 mph for gas turbine cars in Jet1, which he helped design.
(SSFC, 7/4/10, p.C9)
1952-1960 Some 32 white settlers were killed by Mau Mau rebels in Kenya. More than 10,000 people were killed during the Mau Mau uprising, with some figures going much higher. In 2011 four may Mau colleagues won court approval in Britain to sue the British government over brutality they claim they suffered in the struggle.
(Econ, 1/1/05, p.66)(AFP, 7/21/11)
1953 Jan 31-1953 Feb 1, A powerful storm breached sea dikes in the south of the Netherlands, killing more than 1,800 people and cementing a deep resolve among the Dutch that their ancient enemy, water, would never kill again. 307 people died in eastern England.
(www.metoffice.com/education/secondary/students/flood.html)(SSFC, 3/25/01, p.C3)
1953 Feb 28, Francis Crick (d.2004) and James Watson discovered the structure of DNA-molecule. Watson and Crick managed to describe the structure of DNA as a double helix consisting of two long strings coiled around one another. About 100,000 genes, short sections of DNA, tell the cells how to build proteins, the building blocks of life. Rosalind Franklin made the 1st x-ray image that revealed the double helix structure of DNA. In 2002 Brenda Maddox authored "Rosalind Franklin: The Dark Lady of DNA." In 2003 Watson co-authored "DNA: The Secret of Life." [see Sep 20, Apr 25, 1953]
(V.D.-H.K.p.330)(TL, 1988, p.114)(Wired, 1/97, p.161)(SSFC, 11/10/02, p.M2)(WSJ, 3/28/03, p.W8) (AP, 2/28/04)
1953 Mar 24, Mary (85), queen of Great Britain and North Ireland, died.
(MC, 3/24/02)
1953 Apr 24, British statesman Winston Churchill was knighted by Queen Elizabeth II at Buckingham Palace.
(AP, 4/24/97)(HN, 4/24/98)
1953 May 11, Winston Churchill criticized the domino theory of John Foster Dulles.
(MC, 5/11/02)
1953 Jun 2, Queen Elizabeth II of Britain was crowned in Westminster Abbey, 16 months after the death of her father, King George VI.
(TMC, 1994, p.1953)(WUD, 1994, p.1684)(AP, 6/2/97)
1953 Aug 19, Gen'l. Zahedi ousted PM Mossadegh and became the Premier of Iran in a bloody coup that left 300 dead. Britain and the US CIA under Allen Dulles planned a secret mission to overthrow the government. PM Mossadeq had sought to nationalize the Anglo-Persian Oil Co. The US government made a formal apology for the coup in 2000. A 1954 CIA description of the coup was made public in 2000. In 1979 Kermit Roosevelt (d.2000) published “Countercoup: The Struggle for the Control of Iran," an account of his role in the coup.
(SFC, 11/20/53, p.A1)(SFC, 11/15/99, p.E6)(SFC, 5/29/97, p.A4)(WSJ, 3/20/00, p.A1)(SFEC, 4/16/00, p.A18)(SFEC, 6/11/00, p.D6)(WSJ, 4/2/07, p.A6)
1953 Oct 3, Arnold Edward Trevor Bax, British composer (Coronation March), died at 69.
(MC, 10/3/01)
1953 Oct 9, British troops in Guyana deposed Dr. Jagan and charged that he and his party "were under the complete control of a communist clique." Dr. Jagan responded with a civil disobedience campaign and was quickly jailed for 6 months. In 2011 declassified documents revealed that the UK under PM Winston Churchill overthrew the elected government of British Guiana, later Guyana, because he feared its left-wing leader, Cheddi Jagan, and his American wife, Janet Jagan, were leading the British colony into the arms of the Soviet Union.
(SFC, 3/7/96, p.A24)(AP, 8/25/11)
1953 Oct 29, A British airliner with 11 passengers and 8 crew crashed into Kings Mountain, 10 miles west of Redwood City, Ca., and all aboard were killed. William Kapell (b.1922), genius pianist, died in the crash. He was returning from a tour in Australia when his airplane crashed into a mountain outside San Francisco. A set of his 1944-1953 recordings was released in 1998 by RCA. In 1999 BMG released "The William Kapell Edition," a nine-disk set.
(SFC, 10/24/03, p.E10)(SFEC, 11/29/98, DB p.44)(WSJ, 2/1/99, p.A19)(WSJ, 5/24/08, p.W12)
1953 Nov 9, Welsh author-poet Dylan Thomas died in New York at age 39 during his poetry-reading blitz of the US.
(SFEC, 5/25/97, p.T5)(AP, 11/9/97)
1953 Nov 21, The "Piltdown Man," discovered in 1912, was proved to be a hoax.
(MC, 11/21/01)
1953 British writer Ian Fleming published his first James Bond book, "Casino Royale."
(WSJ, 4/24/98, p.W1)
1953 Iris Murdoch published "Sartre: Romantic Rationalist."
(SFC, 2/9/99, p.A20)
1953 The British comedy film “Trouble in Store" starred comedian Norman Wisdom (d.2010 at 95) and was directed by John Paddy Carstairs.
(Econ, 10/16/10, p.105)(www.imdb.com/title/tt0046464/)
1953 The first issue of the US CIA sponsored British magazine "Encounter" was published under Irving Kristol and Stephen Spender. It became the West's most important vehicle for highbrow anti-Marxist commentary. The funding source did not become known until 1966/7.
(WSJ, 3/27/00, p.A46)(Econ, 6/19/04, p.81)
1953 The 412-foot Royal Yacht Britannia was put into service. The yacht was retired in 1997.
(SFC,12/12/97, p.B6)
1953 Britain signed the European convention, which set out a range of individual rights.
(SFC, 10/2/00, p.A13)
1953 Pres. Eisenhower gave the CIA the ok to overthrow the elected government of PM Mohammad Mossadegh. Mossadegh had nationalized the Anglo-Iranian Oil Co. after Britain refused to compromise and split profits 50-50. In 2003 Stephen Kinzer authored "All the Shah's Men: An American Coup and the Roots of the Middle East Terror."
(SSFC, 8/24/03, p.M6)
1953 Poppit beads, small plastic ball-and-socket units, were first created in England. They were later sold under the names Poppit, Snapit or Lockit and sold as beads for necklaces.
(SFC, 4/16/08, p.G3)
1953 Greece was among 22 countries that agreed to halve Germany's foreign debt at a conference in London.
(AP, 3/22/15)
1953-1956 Sir Roger Makins (1904-1996) served as the British ambassador to the US. His wife, Alice Davis, was the daughter of Dwight Davis, for whom the tennis Davis Cup was named.
(SFC, 11/11/96, p.A26)
1954 Jan 1, Duff Cooper (b.1890), British cabinet minister and envoy, died. In 1953 he authored his autobiography “Old Men Forget." In 2005 John Julius Norwich edited “The Duff Cooper Diaries."
(www.spartacus.schoolnet.co.uk/2WWduff.htm)(Econ, 10/1/05, p.80)
1954 Feb 22, U.S. was to install 60 Thor nuclear missiles in Britain.
(HN, 2/22/99)
1954 Feb 26, William R. Inge (93), English theologist, philosopher, died.
(SC, 2/26/02)
1954 Mar 22, The London gold market reopened for the first time since 1939.
(HN, 3/22/97)
1954 Mar 24, Britain opened trade talks with Hungary.
(HN, 3/24/98)
1954 May 6, Medical student Roger Bannister broke the four-minute mile during a track meet in Oxford, England, finishing in 3 minutes 59.4 seconds.
(TMC, 1994, p.1954)(AP, 5/6/97)
1954 May 7, US, Great Britain and France rejected Russian membership in NATO.
(MC, 5/7/02)
1954 May 13, Labour Party won British municipal elections.
(MC, 5/13/02)
1954 Jun 7, Alan Turing (b.1912), English mathematician, died of suicide. Turing, a homosexual, was convicted in 1952 of gross indecency and forced to take estrogen injections. In 2006 David Leavitt authored "The Man Who Knew Too Much: Alan Turing and the Invention of the Computer. In 2009 British PM Gordon Brown apologized for the "inhumane" treatment of Alan Turing.
(www.turing.org.uk/turing/)Econ, 7/8/06, p.79)(AP, 9/11/09)
1954 Jul 3, Food rationing ended in Great Britain almost nine years after the end of World War II.
(HN, 7/3/98)
1954 Jul 25, Lynn Frederick, actress (Schizophrenia), was born in Middlesex, England.
(SC, 7/25/02)
1954 Sep 8, SEATO (Southeast Asia Treaty Organization), a sister organization to NATO, was created under the Manila Pact by the Southeast Asia Collective Defense Treaty, to stop communist spread in Southeast Asia (Vietnam, Cambodia and Laos). The United States, Australia, France, Great Britain, New Zealand, the Philippines, Pakistan, and Thailand signed the mutual defense treaty. SEATO dissolved in 1977.
(HNQ, 4/2/01)(http://tinyurl.com/hpawj)
1954 Sep 20, Roger Bannister awarded Britain’s Silver Pears Trophy for cracking the 4-minute mile.
(MC, 9/20/01)
1954 Oct 19, Egypt and Britain concluded a pact on the Suez Canal, ending 72 years of British military occupation. Britain agreed to withdraw its 80,000-man force within 20 months, and Egypt agreed to maintain freedom of canal navigation.
(HN, 10/19/98)
1954 Dec 3, William Walton's opera "Troilus & Cressida," premiered in London.
(MC, 12/3/01)
1954 Dec 20, James Hilton (54), English author (Lost Horizon), died.
(MC, 12/20/01)
1954 British actress Eleanor Drew (1922-2014), born as Nellie Darlison, began a 5-year run in the West End in the musical “Salad Days."
(Econ, 4/19/14, p.86)
1954 Chris Chataway (1932-2014) was named the first-ever BBC Sports Personality of the Year. He broke the 5,000 meters world record and was one of the pacemakers for Roger Bannister's landmark four-minute mile.
(AFP, 1/19/14)
1954 M.E. Clifton James authored “I Was Monty’s Double," an account of how he served as an impersonator of British Gen. Bernard Montgomery during WWII. A movie of the same title was released in 1958.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/I_Was_Monty%27s_Double)
1954 Iris Murdoch published her first novel "Under the Net."
(SFC, 2/9/99, p.A20)
1954 British composer Benjamin Britten (1913-1976 created his chamber opera “The Turn of the Screw" based on the 1898 novella by Henry James.
(SFC, 7/22/13, p.E1)
1954 Gen. Franco closed the Spanish consulate on Gibraltar in a fit of rage over a visit by Queen Elizabeth II.
(AP, 9/19/06)
c1954 Anti-witchcraft laws were repealed in Britain.
(SFEC, 10/31/99, p.A6)
1954 In Kenya British forces allegedly used pliers to castrate Paulo Nzili, a Mau Mau rebel. He survived the severe beatings which killed many other Mau Mau and in 2009 launched a bid with 4 others to win compensation from Britain over claims they were tortured and unlawfully imprisoned during Britain’s colonial rule.
(AFP, 6/23/09)
1955 Jan 19, Sir Simon Rattle, orchestra conductor (Berlin Philharmonic), was born in England.
(MC, 1/19/02)
1955 Feb 17, Britain announced its ability to make hydrogen bombs.
(HN, 2/17/98)
1955 Mar 11, Alexander Fleming (73), English bacteriologist (penicillin), died.
(MC, 3/12/02)
1955 Apr 1, EOKA-bomb attacks took place against British government buildings in Cyprus.
(MC, 4/1/02)
1955 Apr 5, Winston Churchill resigned as British prime minister. He was replaced by Anthony Eden who served to 1957. Eden's biography by Sir Robert Rhodes James (d.1999 at 66) was published in 1987.
(HN, 5/5/97)(SFC, 5/25/99, p.Be)
1955 May 31, Great Britain proclaimed emergency crisis due to railroad strike.
(MC, 5/31/02)
1955 Jul 9, Scientists in London issued a manifesto declaring that researchers must take responsibility for their creations, such as the atomic bomb. Bertrand Russel, British pacifist philosopher, drafted the manifesto, which served as the philosophical origin for the 1957 Pugwash Conference (Nova Scotia) against nuclear arms. It was signed by ten other scientists that included as Joseph Rotblat (1995 Nobel Peace Prize), Albert Einstein, Linus Pauling and Frederic Joliot-Curie.
(WSJ, 10/16/95, p. A-15)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joseph_Rotblat)
1955 Jul 13, Ruth Ellis, last English woman (murderess), was executed by hanging. Ten days before she had shot her husband, Ellis suffered a miscarriage after Blakely, the baby's father, punched her in the stomach
(MC, 7/13/02)(AP, 9/16/03)
1955 Sep 22, Commercial TV began in England. ITV began broadcasting at 7:15 pm in the London region only. Associated Rediffusion was awarded the London weekday license by the ITA, with ITN established as a separate company to supply news. ATV London began broadcasting on weekends 2 days later.
(http://media.guardian.co.uk/broadcast/story/0,7493,1057710,00.html)
1955 Oct 31, Britain's Princess Margaret ended weeks of speculation by announcing she would not marry Royal Air Force Captain Peter Townsend because he had been divorced.
(AP, 10/31/97)
1955 Dec 12, 1st prototype of hovercraft patented by British engineer Christopher Cockerell.
(MC, 12/12/01)
1955 J.L. Austin (1911-1960), British philosopher of language, authored “How To Do Things with Words."
(Econ, 11/12/16, p.77)
1955 Philip Larkin (1922-1985), British poet, authored his collection “The Less Deceived." It included the poem “Church Going." The poem is about an agnostic who enters a church and has been described as one of the greatest poems of the 20th century.
(WSJ, 6/24/06, p.P18)
1955 Geoffrey Gorer (1905-1985), English anthropologist and writer, authored “Exploring English Character."
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Geoffrey_Gorer)(Econ, 12/11/10, p.70)
1955 Sir Lawrence van der Post (1906-1996) wrote "The Dark Eye in Africa."
(SFC, 12/17/96, p.B4)
1955 Norris (1925-2004) and Ross McWhirter (1925-1975) co-created the Guinness Book of Records as a book for settling bar bets on a commission from the Irish Guinness brewery.
(WSJ, 4/21/04, p.A1)
1955 William Waugh (1903-1966), English novelist born as Arthur Evelyn St. John Waugh, authored “Officers and Gentlemen."
(https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Evelyn_Waugh)
1955 Sir Michael Tippett, British composer, premiered his 1st opera "The Midsummer Marriage" at Covent Garden.
(SFC, 1/10/98, p.A19)
1955 In England Heathrow Airport’s Terminal 2 was completed.
(Econ, 3/29/08, p.91)
1955 Lew Grade (e.1998 at 91) founded Associated Television, the first commercially funded channel in Britain. Born as Louis Winogradsky in the Ukraine, he came to London at age 6.
(SFC, 12/14/98, p.C4)
1955 Antony Fisher founded Britain’s Institute of Economic Affairs (IEA). Fisher sought advice from Friedrich von Hayek, an Austrian-born economist, who urged him to emulate the Fabian Society, the 1st socialist think-tank. The institute promoted deregulation, privatization, tax cuts, trade union reform and a free market. In 1957 Ralph Harris (1925-2006) became general director.
(Econ, 10/22/05, p.90)(Econ, 11/4/06, p.96)
1955 The Research Laboratory for Archeology and the History of Art at Oxford was founded and directed by Prof. E.T. Hall (d.2001 at 77).
(SFC, 8/22/01, p.D2)
1955 Britain began tracking its gross domestic product (GDP) on a quarterly basis.
(Econ, 4/25/09, p.31)
1955 The first accurate atomic clock, a cesium standard based on a certain transition of the cesium-133 atom, was built by Louis Essen and Jack Parry at the National Physical Laboratory in the UK.
(https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Atomic_clock)
1955 Sydney Wignall (1922-2012), a Welsh explorer, launched the first Welsh Himalayan Expedition. The 3-man team was captured by the Chinese and held for two months under interrogation for spying. 25 years later it was revealed that Wignall had been recruited by Gen. Thimayya of the Indian army to find out what the Chinese were up to in Tibet. In 1997 his book: "Spy on the Roof of the World" was published.
(SFEC,12/14/97, BR p.4)(Econ, 5/5/12, p.94)
1955 Iraq joined with Britain, Turkey, Iran and Pakistan in the Baghdad Pact, a loose alliance intended to check soviet influence in the region. The Baghdad Pact was formed at the prompting of the U.S. in an effort to block Soviet pressures on the northern tier of Middle Eastern states. The U.S. provided military and economic aid to the pact members.
(HNQ, 7/28/98)(SFC, 9/24/02, p.A10)
1956 Jan 1, Sudan became independent from Britain.
(TL, 1988, p.115)(EWH, 1968, p.1230)(WSJ, 8/25/98, p.A14)
1956 Jan 23, Alexander Korda (62), English movie producer (Henry VIII), died.
(MC, 1/23/02)
1956 Jan 31, British author A.A. Milne (74), creator of "Winnie-the-Pooh," died. He left the rights to the honey-loving bear to five beneficiaries that included the Garrick Club, Westminster School, The Royal Literary Fund, his own family and illustrator E.H. Shepard.
(SFEC, 8/16/98, p.A20)(AP, 1/31/06)
1956 Feb 16, Britain abolished the death penalty.
(MC, 2/16/02)
1956 Feb 17, ATV Midlands launched a weekday service and ABC began transmission at weekends in the same region the following day. A north of England service, covering Lancashire and Yorkshire, began in May, with ABC broadcasting at weekends and Granada during the week.
(http://media.guardian.co.uk/broadcast/story/0,7493,1057710,00.html)
1956 Mar 9, British authorities arrested and deported Archbishop Makarios from Cyprus to the Seychelles. He was accused of supporting terrorists.
(EWH, 1968, p.1250)(HN, 3/9/98)
1956 Mar 23, Pakistan became an independent republic within the British Commonwealth, officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan. Pakistan became the first Islamic republic.
(HFA, '96, p.26)(AHD, p.943)(AP, 3/23/97)(Econ 7/22/17, SR p.6)
1956 Apr 2, Peter Ustinov's "Romanoff and Juliet," premiered in Manchester.
(MC, 4/2/02)
1956 Apr 4, Enid Bagnold's "Chalk Garden," premiered in London.
(MC, 4/4/02)
1956 Apr 19, In southern England Cdr. Lionel "Buster" Crabb, a decorated Royal Navy veteran, disappeared while diving near Portsmouth. Secret documents released in 2006 showed that British authorities lied to cover up the fate of a Crabb, who died during a scuba diving spy mission near a warship used by Soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev.
(Econ, 7/23/05, p.78)(AP, 10/27/06)
1956 May 8, John Osborne’s "Look Back in Anger," premiered in London at the Royal Court Theater. It was about a love triangle involving an intelligent but disaffected young man (Jimmy Porter), his upper-middle-class, impassive wife (Alison), and her haughty best friend (Helena Charles). It took English theater on a radical turn. In 1958 it was made into a movie. In 2006 John Heilpern authored “John Osborne: A Patriot for Us."
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Look_Back_in_Anger)(SFEC, 4/11/99, DB p.39)(Econ, 5/20/06, p.86)
1956 Jun 13, The 74-year British occupation of the Suez Canal ended. The last British troops left the Canal base.
(EWH, 1968, p.1241)(PC, 1992 ed, p.953)
1956 Jun 29, Marilyn Monroe married playwright Arthur Miller in a London ceremony.
(MC, 6/29/02)
1956 Jul 20, Great Britain refused to lend Egypt money to build Aswan Dam.
(MC, 7/20/02)
1956 Jul 24, Brendan Behan's "Quare Fellow," premiered in London.
(MC, 7/24/02)
1956 Jul 26, Andy Goldsworthy, British sculptor, photographer and environmentalist, was born. He produced site-specific sculpture and land art situated in natural and urban settings. He lives and works in Scotland.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Andy_Goldsworthy)
1956 Aug 7, British government sent 3 aircraft carriers to Egypt.
(MC, 8/7/02)
1956 Aug 21, Kim Cattrall, actress (Mannequin, Star Trek VI), was born in Liverpool, England.
(SC, 8/21/02)
1956 Oct 14, British and French officials met as Israel was about to attack Egypt. Anthony Nutting (d.1999 at 79), a deputy foreign secretary, learned that Prime Minister Anthony Eden had agreed with the French that once fighting began, they would send in paratroopers under the guise to separate the fighting factions, but would actually support Israel, seize the canal and undermine Nasser. Nutting resigned when British planes took to the air Oct 31.
(SFC, 2/26/99, p.A25)
1956 Oct 17, The nuclear power station Calder Hall was opened in Britain. Calder Hall was the first nuclear station to feed an appreciable amount of power into a civilian network. In 2007 engineers began the planned decommissioning of the plant.
(HN, 10/17/98)(AP, 9/29/07)
1956 Oct 23, Britain’s PM Anthony Eden admitted to the cabinet that secret conversations had been held in Paris with representatives of the Israeli government.
(Econ, 12/16/06, p.86)
1956 Oct 30, Britain and France issued an ultimatum to Cairo and Tel Aviv to end fighting and withdraw from a 10-mile strip along the canal.
(EWH, 1968, p.1242)
1956 Oct 31, Great Britain and France attempted to take over the Suez Canal. They bombed Egyptian airfields.
(WUD, 1994, p.1685)(TOH, 1982, p.1956)
1956 Nov 2, The UN passed an American resolution, 64 to 5, for a ceasefire at the Suez Canal in Egypt. The General Assembly took up a Canadian suggestion for an emergency force to monitor the ceasefire. The UN Emergency Force (UNEF) became the first “blue hat" UN peacekeepers.
(Econ, 7/29/06, p.24)(www.un.org/en/peacekeeping/missions/past/unefi.htm)
1956 Nov 5, Britain and France started landing troops in Egypt during fighting between Egyptian and Israeli forces around the Suez Canal. A cease-fire was declared two days later.
(AP, 11/5/97)
1956 Nov 6, Pressure from the US and USSR effected a cease-fire in the Middle-East. The UN created an emergency force (UNEF) to supervise a cease fire. Britain’s PM Anthony Eden called French PM Guy Mollet to tell him that Britain was aborting operations in Egypt. German chancellor Konrad Adenauer, meeting with Mollet, remarked that Europe must unite to counter the influence of the United States.
(TOH, 1982, p.1956)(EWH, 1968, p. 1242)(Econ, 7/29/06, p.24)
1956 Nov 7, Britain’s PM Anthony Eden surrendered to American demands and stopped British operations in Egypt’s Canal Zone.
(Econ, 7/29/06, p.29)
1956 Dec 3, England & France pulled troops out of Egypt.
(MC, 12/3/01)
1956 Dec 22, The evacuation of the Suez Canal was completed by Britain and France.
(WUD, 1994, p.1685)(MC, 12/22/01)
1956 Anthony Crosland (1918-1977), British Labour Party politician, authored “The Future of Socialism." His ideas helped move Britain’s Labour Party beyond nationalism.
(Econ, 8/7/10, p.58)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anthony_Crosland)
1956 Joan Littlewood directed the play "The Quare Fella" by Irish writer Brendan Behan. Her work became labeled "kitchen-sink" drama. This was seen as part of the working-class revolution in British theater.
(SFC, 9/24/02, p.A25)
1956 The British comedy film “Up in the World" starred comedian Norman Wisdom and was directed by John Paddy Carstairs.
(Econ, 10/16/10, p.105)(www.imdb.com/title/tt0049906/)
1956 The Sadler’s Wells Ballet of Dame Ninette de Valois was renamed the Royal Ballet.
(SFC, 3/9/01, p.D5)
1956 John Lennon formed a band called the Quarrymen.
(SFC, 12/1/01, p.D1)
1956 Britain pass a Clean Air Act. The Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom passed in response to London's Great Smog of 1952. It was in effect until 1964.
(https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clean_Air_Act_1956)(Econ, 12/5/15, p.54)
1956 French PM Guy Mollet discussed the possibility of a union with Britain’s PM Sir Anthony Eden. Eden rejected the idea of a union but was more favorable toward a French proposal to join the Commonwealth.
(SFC, 1/16/07, p.A2)
1956 The British administrator of the Gilbert Islands put a levy on the export of phosphates (bird manure) used in fertilizer. By 2007 the money set aside had developed into the Kiribati Revenue Equalization Reserve Fund, a $250 million investment portfolio that had grown to 9 times the atoll’s GDP. State-owned investments later developed around the world and became recognized as sovereign wealth funds.
(Econ, 5/26/07, p.79)
1956-1967 Jo Grimand (d.1993) led Britain’s Liberals. In 2005 Peter Barbaris authored “Liberal Lion: Jo Grimond—A Political Life."
(Econ, 3/12/05, p.81)
1957 Jan 9, British PM Anthony Eden resigned in the wake of the Suez crises.
(AP, 1/9/99)(Econ, 7/29/06, p.23)
1957 Jan 10, Harold Macmillan became prime minister of Britain, following the resignation of Anthony Eden.
(AP, 1/10/98)
1957 Mar 5, Britain adopted a plan to triple nuclear energy production by 1965.
(HN, 3/5/98)
1957 Mar 21, US President Eisenhower and British PM Harold Macmillan began a four-day conference in Bermuda.
(AP, 3/21/07)
1957 Mar 29, Joyce A.L. Cary (68), English writer (Horse's Mouth), died.
(MC, 3/29/02)
1957 Apr 3, Samuel Beckett's "Endgame," premiered in London.
(V.D.-H.K.p.369)(MC, 4/3/02)
1957 Apr 10, John Osborne’s play “The Entertainer," starring Laurence Olivier, opened in London.
(AP, 4/10/07)
1957 May 10, Sid Vicious, [John Simon Ritchie], bassist (Sex Pistols), was born in England.
(MC, 5/10/02)
1957 May 15, The 1st British hydrogen bomb was detonated on Christmas Island in South Pacific. The 200 - 300 kilotons yield was less than expected.
(www.atomicarchive.com/Timeline/Time1950.shtml)
1957 May, Two US fighter planes were scrambled and ordered to shoot down an unidentified flying object (UFO) over the English countryside. This was only made public on Oct 20, 2008, when Britain made public secret files on UFOs.
(Reuters, 10/20/08)
1957 Jun 10, Harold MacMillan became British PM.
(MC, 6/10/02)
1957 Jul 6, Althea Gibson (1927-2003) became the first black tennis player to win a Wimbledon singles title, defeating fellow American Darlene Hard 6-3, 6-2.
(AP, 7/6/97)(SFC, 9/29/03, p.A1)
1957 Aug 31, The Federation of Malaya (Malaysia) gained independence from Britain (National Day). Malaysia established itself as a constitutional monarchy. Article 11 in the constitution gave every person “the right to profess and practice his religion." Pro-bumiputra (sons of the soil) discrimination was laid down in the constitution to ease Malays’ fears of being marginalized by Chinese and Indian migrants. A 1988 amendment denied the regular courts all jurisdiction over matters dealt with by the Muslim sharia courts.
(YN, 8/31/99)(SFC, 11/22/01, p.A29)(AP, 8/31/07)(Econ, 9/1/07, p.11)
1957 Oct 7, A fire in the Windscale plutonium production reactor (later called Sellafield) north of Liverpool, England, spread radioactive iodine and polonium through the countryside and into the Irish Sea. Livestock in the immediate area were destroyed, along with 500,000 gallons of milk. At least 30, and possibly as many as 1,000, cancer deaths were subsequently linked to the accident. PM Harold Macmillan ordered the disaster hushed up.
(HN, 10/7/00)(Econ, 9/11/04, p.76)(Econ, 10/13/07, p.63)
1957 Oct 16, Britain's Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Philip began a visit to the United States with a stopover at the site of the Jamestown settlement in Virginia.
(AP, 10/16/07)
1957 Oct 17, Britain's Queen Elizabeth and Prince Philip visited the White House.
(MC, 10/17/01)
1957 Francis Bacon painted his "Study for Portrait of Van Gogh, V."
(SFEC, 5/30/99, DB p.29)
1957 Richard Hoggart (b.1918), British academic, authored “The Uses of Literacy," a pioneering work of cultural criticism and look at the English working class after WWII.
(WSJ, 9/20/08, p.W8)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Richard_Hoggart)
1957 Ted Hughes (1930-1998), British poet, re-defined the shape of post-war English poetry with the publication of "The Hawk in the Rain."
(SFC, 10/30/98, p.A17)(Econ, 11/8/03, p.83)
1957 Reg Smythe (d.1998 at 81), began the Andy Capp comic strip in the northern editions of the Daily Mirror.
(SFC, 6/16/98, p.A22)
1957 John Lennon met Paul McCartney and invited him to join the Quarrymen. McCartney soon introduced Lennon to George Harrison.
(SFC, 12/1/01, p.D1)
1957 The film "Curse of Frankenstein" starred Christopher Lee and featured Hazel Court. It was a British Hammer Film production with a score by James Bernard.
(SFEC, 12/15/96, DB p.66)(SFC, 7/18/01, p.C16)(SFC, 4/19/08, p.B5)(Econ, 6/20/15, p.90)
1957 Dorothy Sayers (b.1893), British detective novelist, died. Her main hero was Lord Peter Wimsey.
(NW, 8/20/01, p.56)
1957 Britain launched its 1st sub-orbital Skylark rocket. The last Skylark, #441, was launched near Kiruna, Sweden, in 2005.
(Econ, 5/7/05, p.74)
1958 Jan 3, The British created the West Indies Federation with Lord Hailes as governor general. The federation lasted to 1962. It included Barbados, Jamaica, Trinidad, Tobago and the Windward and Leeward Islands.
(HN, 1/3/99)(WUD, 1994, p.1623)
1958 Feb 6, A British European Airways plane crashed in Munich. Among the 21 dead were 7 players of the Manchester United football team.
(Econ, 5/11/13, p.62)(http://tinyurl.com/buj8scd)
1958 Mar 2, A multinational expedition led by British geologist and explorer Vivian Fuchs (d.1999 at 91) completed the first overland crossing of Antarctica by way of the South Pole in 99 days.
(SFC, 11/13/99, p.A22)(AP, 3/2/08)
1958 Apr 4, The 1st march against nuclear weapons began in London with a 4-day to the Atomic Weapons Research Establishment close to Aldermaston, England.
(Econ, 8/16/08, p.56)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aldermaston_Marches)
1958 Apr 7, Anti-nuclear peace protesters arrived at the Atomic Weapons Establishment near Aldermaston, England, after marching for several days from London.
(AP, 4/7/08)
1958 Apr 16, Rosalind Franklin (b.1920), English chemist and one of the four scientists who discovered the structure of DNA, died in London of ovarian cancer. She made the 1st x-ray image that revealed the double helix structure of DNA (1953). In 2002 Brenda Maddox authored "Rosalind Franklin: The Dark Lady of DNA."
(https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rosalind_Franklin)(SSFC, 11/10/02, p.M2)
1958 Apr 29, Daniel Day-Lewis, actor (Last of the Mohicans, My Left Foot), was born in England.
(MC, 4/29/02)
1958 Apr 30, Britain's Life Peerages Act 1958 allowed women to become members of the House of Lords.
(AP, 4/30/08)
1958 Jun 28, Alfred Noyes (77), British poet, essayist (Robin Hood, The Highwayman), died.
(MC, 6/28/02)
1958 Jul 23, Queen Elizabeth named four women to peerages, the 1st women to it in Britain's House of Lords.
(AP, 7/23/97)
1958 Jul 26, Britain's Prince Charles (9), was made the Prince of Wales by his mother, Queen Elizabeth II, although his investiture did not take place until the following year.
(AP, 7/26/08)
1958 Aug 26, Ralph Vaughan Williams (85), English composer (Fantasia on Themes of Thomas Tallis), died.
(MC, 8/26/02)
1958 Oct 1, Britain transferred Christmas Island (south of Java) to Australia.
(MC, 10/1/01)
1958 Oct 4, The first trans-Atlantic passenger jetliner service was begun by British Overseas Airways Corporation (BOAC) with flights between London and New York.
(AP, 10/4/97)
1958 Oct 14, Brendan Behan's "Hostage," premiered in London.
(MC, 10/14/01)
1958 Oct 26, Pan American Airways flew its first Boeing 707 passenger service jetliner from New York’s Idlewild Airport (later JFK) to Paris; the trip took eight hours and 41 minutes. 111 passengers flew aboard the Clipper America and a ticket cost $489.60. The plane was christened a week earlier by Mamie Eisenhower. The first New York - London transatlantic jet passenger service was inaugurated by BOAC. [see Oct 4]
(AP, 10/26/97)(WSJ, 10/23/98, p.W6)(HN, 10/26/98)
1958 Oct 28, The Samuel Beckett play "Krapp's Last Tape" premiered in London.
(AP, 10/28/08)(SFEC, 10/15/00, DB p.50)
1958 The Paddington Bear first appeared in "A Bear Called Paddington"— a stowaway from "Darkest Peru" who arrived at London's Paddington train station wearing a sign saying "Please look after this bear. Thank you." Author Michael Bond (1926-2017) based his story on a stuffed animal purchased as a last-minute Christmas gift for his wife.
(AP, 6/28/17)
1958 T.H. White (1906-1964), English writer, authored the Arthurian novel “The Once and Future King."
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/T._H._White)
1958 Alan Sillitoe (1928-2010), English writer, authored his novel “Saturday Night, Sunday Morning."
(Econ, 5/1/10, p.88)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alan_Sillitoe)
1958 Michael Young (1915-2002), British sociologist, authored “The Rise of Meritocracy." It was Lord Young's ideas that inspired the shake up of secondary education in the 1960s, leading to the rise of comprehensive schools, where children of all abilities and backgrounds are brought together under one roof.
(http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/magazine/4035181.stm)
1958 Sir Lawrence van der Post (1906-1996) wrote "The Lost World of the Kalahari."
(SFC, 12/17/96, p.B4)
1958 The British government sent out a pamphlet to farmers titled “Home Defence and the Farmer."
(Econ, 7/31/04, p.48)
1958 Sir John Woolf (d.1999 at 86), British film producer, established Anglia Television.
(SFC, 7/1/99, p.C4)
1958 William Phillips of the London School of Economics showed that for much of the previous 100 years, unemployment was low in Britain when wage inflation was high, and high when inflation was low. This came to be called the “Phillips curve."
(Econ, 10/14/06, p.79)
1958 Britain’s Notting Hill Riots were a series of violent demonstrations against non-white West Indians in the ethnically diverse northwest London neighborhood of Notting Hill. This event first drew public attention to the growing problem of racial tension in Britain.
(HNQ, 9/30/00)(Econ, 6/30/12, SR p.5)
1958 S.G. Warburg initiated the first hostile takeover bid for British Aluminum on behalf of the American group Reynolds and Tube Investments.
(SFC, 6/16/99, p.B4)
1958 John Gurdon of Oxford Univ. cloned frogs by nuclear transfer, but his creations never developed beyond the tadpole stage.
(Econ, 2/18/17, p.17)
1959 Jan 9, The American group Reynolds and Tube Investments took over British Aluminium. In the the first hostile takeover of a large British company.
(Econ, 6/26/10, p.87)(http://tinyurl.com/28c8c7h)
1959 Feb 19, An agreement was signed by Britain, Turkey and Greece granting Cyprus its independence.
(AP, 2/19/98)
1959 Mar 3, British government arrested Hastings Banda of Nyasaland (later Malawi), and ended an emergency crisis.
(SC, 3/3/02)
1959 Mar 7, Arthur Cecil Pigou (b.1877), English economist, died. His major work, “Wealth and Welfare" (1912, 1920), brought welfare economics into the scope of economic analysis. He was known for his work in many fields and particularly in welfare economics. Pigou advocated taxation as a way to combat the side effects associated with certain activities. Pigovian taxes, taxes used to correct negative externalities, are named in his honor.
(Econ, 11/11/06, p.85)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arthur_Cecil_Pigou)
1959 Apr 15, Emma Thompson, actress (Henry V, Howard's End, Oscar-1992), was born in England.
(MC, 4/15/02)
1959 Apr 20, British ballerina Margot Fonteyn (1919-1991)) was arrested and briefly detained in a Panama prison. She and her diplomat husband, Roberto Arias, had sought Fidel Castro's help in a revolution that failed because of a last-minute blunder. Fonteyn, born Peggy Hookham, went on to reach even greater creative heights through her acclaimed partnership with Russian dancer Rudolf Nureyev. She returned to Panama with her husband years later and died there.
(AP, 5/27/10)
1959 May 6, Iceland gunboats shot at British fishing ships.
(MC, 5/6/02)
1959 May 25, Cathryn Harrison, actress (Old Woman in Black Moon), was born in London, England.
(SC, 5/25/02)
1959 May 29, Rupert Everett, actor (My Best Friend's Wedding, A Midsummer Night's Dream, Next Best Thing), was born in Norfolk, England.
(SC, 5/29/02)
1959 Jun 23, Klaus Fuchs was released after nine years in British prison. Fuchs was a German-born Los Alamos scientist whose espionage had helped the USSR build their first atomic and hydrogen bombs.
(MC, 6/23/02)
1959 Jun, Britain shipped 20 tons of heavy water to Israel. The information, made public in 2005, revealed that the water was vital for the production of plutonium at Israel's secret Dimona nuclear reactor in the Negev desert. The documents revealed that heavy water was transported from a British port in Israeli ships in two shipments, half in June 1959 and half a year later.
(AP, 8/4/05)(AP, 12/10/05)
1959 Aug, In Britain the first Mini Cooper automobile was built in response to the gas shortage. It was called the Austin Mini Seven or the Morris Mini Minor. In 2002 an updated version was introduced.
(WSJ, 10/30/98, p.A17)(SSFC, 7/7/02, p.A21)
1959 Oct 8, In Britain Harold MacMillan (b.1894) won re-election as prime minister.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_Kingdom_general_election,_1959)
1959 Nov 2, Britain opened the first section of the M1 motorway. The Watford Gap motorway service station opened the same day.
(Econ, 1/5/13, p.43)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/M1_motorway)
1959 Nov 20, Seven European nations (Austria, Britain, Denmark, Norway, Portugal, Sweden, Switzerland) signed the Stockholm Convention to form the European Free Trade Association (EFTA). The organization becoming operative on May 3, 1960. After the accession of Denmark, Ireland, and the UK to the EEC in January 1973, the EFTA began to falter. Portugal (1985), followed in 1995 by Austria, Finland and Sweden, left to join the EU. In 2017 Four members remained: Switzerland, Norway, Liechtenstein and Iceland.
(https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/European_Free_Trade_Association)
1959 Dec 30, Tracey Ullman, singer and actress (Tracey Ullman Show), was born in Slough, England.
(MC, 12/30/01)
1959 Alan Sillitoe (1928-2010), English writer, authored his novel “The Loneliness of a Long-distance Runner."
(Econ, 5/1/10, p.88)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alan_Sillitoe)
1959 Ronnie Scott (1927-1996) opened the Ronnie Scott jazz club in Soho, London.
(SFC, 12/25/96, p.A22)
1959 In Britain John Connell founded the Noise Abatement Society. In 2012 His granddaughter, Poppy Elliott, launched Quiet Mark, a not-for-profit company encouraging manufacturers to make quieter products.
(Econ, 9/7/13, TQ p.9)
1959 The British Parliament revoked a 300-year-old law that made it a crime, punishable by burning at the stake, to forecast the weather.
(SFEC, 8/3/97, Z1 p.2)
1959 The first civilian hovercraft, prototype SR-N2 with 68 seats, crossed the English Channel in 20 minutes. The craft was invented by Christopher Cockerell (d.1999 at 88), who was knighted in 1969.
(SFC, 6/4/99, p.D4)
1959 Sir Stanley Spencer, British painter (b.1891), died. His life was later depicted in the musical play by Pam Gem, "Stanley."
(SFC, 2/17/97, p.D6)(WSJ, 2/21/97, p.A12)
1960 Feb 19, Prince Andrew of Britain, Albert Christian Edward, Duke of York was born.
(HN, 2/19/98)(MC, 2/19/02)
1960 Feb 20, English archeologist Charles Leonard Woolley (b.1880), best known for his excavations at Ur in Mesopotamia, died. He was knighted by King George V in 1935.
(ON, 8/20/11, p.9)
1960 May 3, Austria became a founding member of the European Free Trade Association (EFTA), along with Britain, Denmark, Norway, Portugal, Sweden and Switzerland. The agreement took effect in 1994.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/European_Free_Trade_Association)(Econ, 11/24/07, SR p.7)
1960 May 6 Britain's Princess Margaret married Anthony Armstrong-Jones, a commoner, at Westminster Abbey. They divorced in 1978.
(AP, 5/6/97)
1960 May 29, Adrian Paul, actor (Dance to Win, Highlander), was born in London, England.
(SC, 5/29/02)
1960 Jun 26, British Somaliland became independent and five days later was united with Italian Somaliland as the Somali Republic.
(SFC, 4/10/96, A-5)
1960 Jul 1, Italian Somaliland joined the British Somaliland Protectorate to form the Republic of Somalia. The French Somali Coast (Côte française des Somalis) continued as a French colony until 1967 when it became an overseas territory of France as ‘Territoire Francais des Afars et des Issas’, achieving independence in 1977 as Djibouti.
(https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Italian_Somaliland)(Econ, 3/22/08, p.55)
1960 Jul 6, Aneurin Bevan (b.1897), British Labour politician, died. He was a key figure on the left of the party in the mid-20th century, and prominently served as the Minister of Health during the creation of the National Health Service, in which he played a vital part. In 1962 and 1974 Michael Foot authored a 2-volume biography of Bevan.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aneurin_Bevan)
1960 Aug 16, Britain granted independence to the crown colony of Cyprus. Archbishop Makarios began serving as the 1st post independence president. He chose Spyros Kyprianou (28) as foreign minister. Under the provisions of the independence settlement, Turkey, along with Greece and Britain, maintained a right to military intervention if the island’s constitutional order is threatened.
(AP, 8/16/97)(SFC, 3/13/02, p.A26)(Econ, 1/28/17, p.47)
1960 Sep 1, Robert Bolt's "A Man For All Seasons," premiered in London.
(MC, 9/1/02)
1960 Sep 27, Sylvia Pankhurst, feminist, died. She with her mother, Emmeline Pankhurst, had established the militant Women's Social and Political Union in 1903. These British suffragettes employed controversial, even violent methods to win the right to vote. In 1918, women over thirty were granted the vote, and in 1928, the voting age was lowered to 21, the voting age of men.
(MC, 9/27/01)
1960 Oct 1, Nigeria gained independence from Britain (National Day). Abubakar Tafawa Balewa (1912-1966) became the first prime minister and continued to 1966. At this time Nigeria was composed of just three regions.
(https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Abubakar_Tafawa_Balewa)(WSJ, 10/14/95, p.A-1)(Econ, 1/9/16, p.42)
1960 Oct 21, The 1st British nuclear submarine, Dreadnought, was launched at Barrow-in-Furness, Cumbria. Dreadnought was the first British submarine to surface at the North Pole in 1971. In the 1970s she was fitted to fire Tigerfish torpedoes. She developed reactor problems in late 1980 and was decommissioned in 1982. She is laid up at Rosyth awaiting disposal.
(http://web.ukonline.co.uk/aj.cashmore/britain/submarines/dreadnought/index.html)
1960 Nov 2, A British jury determined that Lady Chatterly's Lover by D.H. Lawrence is not obscene. It had been published by Penguin Books.
(HN, 11/2/00)(MC, 11/2/01)
1960 Dec 7, The first episode of "Coronation Street", the longest running TV soap opera in the world, was broadcast by Granada.
(http://media.guardian.co.uk/broadcast/story/0,7493,1057710,00.html)
1960 The musical "Oliver" based on the Dickens novel "Oliver Twist" premiered in London. It was written and composed by Lionel Bart (d.1999 at 68).
(SFEC, 4/4/99, p.B12)
1960 The new American Embassy in London, designed by Eero Saarinen, was completed. His designed for the building, officially titled the U.S. Chancellery, was completed in 1955.
(WSJ, 10/8/08, p.D9)
1960 Britain ended its 2-year national service program. Conscription in the United Kingdom existed for two periods in modern times. The first was from 1916 to 1919, the second was from 1939 to 1960. During World War I and World War II it was known as War Service or Military Service. From 1948 it was known as National Service.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Conscription_in_the_United_Kingdom)(Econ, 9/10/11, p.67)
1960 The British farthing went out of circulation.
(Econ, 5/12/12, p.78)
1960 Britain had 16 banks. Then years later the number dropped to six.
(Econ, 5/19/12, p.83)
1960 Cameroon gained independence from Britain.
(SFC, 7/1/97, p.A9)
1960 Eddie Cochran (21), American guitarist, died following a car crash in a hired car in England. His hit songs included "Summertime Blues" and "C’mon Everybody." His girlfriend, songwriter Sharon Sheeley and rocker Gene Vincent, survived.
(SFC, 5/25/02, p.A27)
1961 Feb 5, Anthony G. de Rothschild (73), British philanthropist, died.
(MC, 2/5/02)
1961 Feb 22, British Foreign Sec. Douglas-Home said in a "Top Secret" letter to Defense Minister Harold Watkinson that, "It must be fully obvious to the Americans that Hong Kong is indefensible by conventional means and that in the event of a Chinese attack, nuclear strikes against China would be the only alternative to complete abandonment of the colony." The document was made public in 2006.
(AP, 6/30/06)
1961 Mar 6, 1st London minicabs were introduced.
(MC, 3/6/02)
1961 Mar 8, Thomas Beecham (81), English conductor (Last Night of the Prom), died.
(MC, 3/8/02)
1961 Mar 15, South Africa withdrew from British Commonwealth.
(MC, 3/15/02)
1961 Mar 26, John F. Kennedy met with British Premier Macmillan, in Washington to discuss increased Communist involvement in Laos.
(HN, 3/25/98)
1961 Apr 18, Pamella Bordes, British parliament prostitute, was born in New Delhi, India.
(MC, 4/18/02)
1961 Apr 27, United Kingdom granted Sierra Leone independence.
(SFC, 7/1/97, p.A9)(SFC, 3/11/98, p.A10)(HN, 4/27/98)
1961 May 3, A British Colonial Office telegram stated the general guidance for keeping papers out of the hands of newly elected independent governments. Items should be disposed of if they "might embarrass members of the police, military forces, public servants or others eg police informers; might compromise sources of intelligence" -- or might be used "unethically" by incoming ministers. Under "Operation Legacy", officials in Kenya, Uganda, Malaysia, Tanzania, Jamaica and other former colonial territories were briefed on how to dispose of documents that "might embarrass Her Majesty's government." This was only made public in 2013.
(AFP, 11/29/13)
1961 May 10, "Beyond the Fringe," premiered in London.
(MC, 5/10/02)
1961 May 28, Amnesty International, a human rights organization, was founded. It won a Nobel Prize in 1977. Amnesty Int’l. was spawned when British lawyer Peter Benenson learned that two students in Portugal had been imprisoned for seven years for drinking a toast to liberty despite being under a dictatorship.
(HN, 5/28/98)(AP, 11/20/12)
1961 Jul 1, Diana Frances Spencer, the princess of Wales, was born near Sandringham, England. She died August, 1997, in a car crash in Paris at age 36.
(AP, 7/1/98)
1961 Jul 1, British troops landed in Kuwait to aid against Iraqi threats.
(HN, 7/1/98)
1961 Jul 8, John Profumo, Britain’s Secretary of State for War, met Christine Keeler, at a party at Cliveden. Profumo kept in contact with Keeler and they eventually began an affair.
(http://spartacus-educational.com/PRprofumo.htm)
1961 Aug 3, Britain’s Parliament adopted the Suicide Act of 1961, which decriminalized suicide in the UK, but made assisting one punishable by up to 14 years in jail.
(Econ, 6/6/09, p.55)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Suicide_Act_1961)
1961 Aug 9, The United Kingdom applied for membership in the European Community.
(http://europa.eu.int/abc/history/1961/index_en.htm)
1961 Oct 26, Britain introduced a time-limited parliamentary session for Prime Minister's Questions. It was initially two sessions of 15 minutes each on Tuesday and Thursday. PM Tony Blair later changed it to a single 30-minute joust on Wednesdays.
(AP, 10/26/11)
1961 Nov 16, Great Britain limited immigration from Commonwealth countries.
(MC, 11/16/01)
1961 Dec 9, The British Trust Territory of Tanganyika became independent. The first president was socialist Julius Nyerere (1922-1999). He resigned in 1985. Tanganyika became the mainland part of Tanzania in 1964.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tanganyika)(SFC, 8/8/98, p.A12)(SFC, 10/15/99, p.D7)
1961 Dec 13, Beatles signed a formal agreement to be managed by Brian Epstein.
(MC, 12/13/01)
1961 Dec 18, Britain's EMI Records originally rejected the Beatles.
(MC, 12/18/01)
1961 Dec 21, JFK & British PM MacMillan met in Bermuda.
(MC, 12/21/01)
1961 James Blades (1901-1999), English percussionist, authored "Orchestral Percussion Technique."
(SFC, 5/25/99, p.B2)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_Blades)
1961 Ludovic Kennedy (1919-2009), Scotland-born writer, authored “10 Rillington Place," the story of Timothy Evans, who was hanged on 1950 for a murder he did not commit. The book was later said to have played a role in ending capital punishment in Britain.
(www.spartacus.schoolnet.co.uk/SPYkennedyL.htm)(Econ, 10/24/09, p.99)
1961 The Beatles recorded their 1st commercial record, "My Bonnie." Brian Epstein, a Liverpool record store manager, became the Beatles’ manager.
(SFC, 12/1/01, p.D1)
1961 The British television show “The Avengers" began and continued to 1969. The theme music was composed by British jazz artist John Dankworth.
(SFC, 2/8/10, p.C3)(http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0060708/)
1961 In London the Post Office Tower was completed. It was designed by Eric Bedford (d.2001) and was later renamed the British Telecom Tower.
(SFC, 8/17/01, p.D5)
1961 Britain’s Shrewsbury School mates Christopher Booker, Richard Ingrams and Willie Rushton founded “Private Eye" magazine. Paul Foot (1938-2004) joined the trio in 1967.
(Econ, 7/31/04, p.74)
1961 In Britain a group of spies were arrested and microfilm was found of documents from the Admiralty.
(SFC, 12/6/96, p.B8)
1961 The Archigram group, formed by 6 friends in London, was named after their architectural broadsheet telegrams. The group included Ron Herron, Peter Cook, David Greene, Dennis Crompton, Michael Webb and Warren Chalk. Their work was delivered in a comic book style and based on the message that architecture was not eternal, but temporary and disposable.
(WSJ, 4/23/98, p.A16)
1961 Britain’s Jaguar Cars Ltd. Launched the Jaguar E-Type, designed by Malcolm Sayers.
(Econ, 5/18/13, IL p.4)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jaguar_E-Type)
1961 Guy Mountfort (d.2003) and 3 other Britons: zoologist Sir Julian Huxley, broadcaster Peter Scott and wildlife advocate Max Nicholson, founded the Swiss-based World Wildlife Fund (Worldwide Fund for Nature).
(AP, 5/1/03)(Econ, 9/14/13, SR p.8)
1961 Polish defector Michael Goleniewski exposed British agent George Blake (b.1922) as a spy for Russia. He was convicted on spying charges in Britain and sentenced to 42 years in prison. In October 1966, he made a dashing escape with help from several people he met while in custody and settled in Russia. He said he volunteered to work for the Soviet Union after witnessing relentless US bombing of North Korea.
(https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_Blake)(AP, 11/10/17)
1962 Jan 16, R.H. Tawney (b.1880), English economic historian, died. His books include “Equality" (1931). It was here that he wrote “Freedom for the pike is death to the minnows."
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/R._H._Tawney)
1962 Jan 23, British spy Kim Philby defected to USSR.
(MC, 1/23/02)
1962 Mar 1, US-British nuclear test experiment took place in Nevada.
(SC, 3/1/02)
1962 Mar 1, Uganda became a self-governing country. [see Oct 9]
(SC, 3/1/02)
1962 Mar 3, British Antarctic Territory was formed.
(SC, 3/3/02)
1962 Apr 18, The British Parliament passed its Commonwealth Immigrants Act. This tightened migration permitting only those with government-issued employment vouchers, limited in number, to settle in the United Kingdom.
(https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Commonwealth_Immigrants_Act_1962)
1962 May 8, London trolley buses went out of service.
(MC, 5/8/02)
1962 Jun 2, Vita Sackville-West (b.1892), English poet, novelist and gardener, died. She helped create her own gardens in Sissinghurst, Kent. She was famous for her exuberant aristocratic life, her strong marriage, and her passionate affairs with women like novelist Virginia Woolf. Her son Nigel gave her estate to the National Trust, a conservation charity. In 2008 Adam Nicolson authored “Sissinghurst: An Unfinished History."
(Econ, 10/04/08, p.91)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vita_Sackville-West)
1962 Jul 12, Mick Jagger (18), Keith Richards (18) and Brian Jones (20) played The Marquee Club with three others, the first time they performed under the Rolling Stones band name which later became synonymous worldwide with excess and musical flair.
(AFP, 7/7/12)
1962 Jul 21, George Macaulay Trevelyan (b.1876), British historian, died in Cambridge. Many of his writings promoted the Whig Party, an important aspect of British politics from the 17th century to the mid-19th century, and its successor, the Liberal Party.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/G._M._Trevelyan)
1962 Aug 6, Jamaica became an independent dominion within the British Commonwealth.
(SFC, 7/1/97, p.A9)(AP, 8/6/97)
1962 Aug 16, The Beatles dropped Pete Best as their drummer. They took on Ringo Starr on Aug 17. Best later authored the autobiography "Beatle! The Pete Best Story."
(SFC, 7/5/02, p.G5)(MC, 8/16/02)
1962 Aug 17, Beatles replaced Pete Best with Ringo Starr.
(SC, 8/17/02)
1962 Sep 11, The Beatles recorded their first single for EMI, "Love Me Do" and "P.S. I Love You," at EMI studios in London. The recording contract was offered by producer George Martin. Drummer Ringo Starr joined John, Paul and George for his first recording session as a Beatles, replacing Pete Best. "Love Me Do" was the result and it took 17 takes to complete.
(AP, 9/11/97)(SFC, 11/11/98, p.E3)(MC, 9/11/01)
1962 Oct 5, The Beatles' first hit, "Love Me Do," was first released in the United Kingdom.
(AP, 10/5/97)
1962 Oct 9, Uganda became an independent state within the Britain Commonwealth. [see Mar 1]
(PCh, 1992, p.984)(HFA, '96, p.40)(SFC, 5/4/96, P.A-10)
1962 Oct 18, Dr. James D. Watson of the United States and Dr. Francis Crick and Dr. Maurice Wilkins (d.2004) of Britain, were named winners of the Nobel Prize for Medicine and Physiology for their work in determining the double-helix molecular structure of DNA.
(AP, 10/18/02)(SFC, 3/19/98, p.C4)
1962 Oct, Max Perutz (1914-2002), Austrian-born molecular biologist, won the Nobel Prize in chemistry for his work in England on the structure of hemoglobin.
(Econ, 8/25/07, p.77)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Max_Perutz)
1962 Nov 24, The BBC TV series "That Was the Week That Was" began and ran through 36 episodes to 1963. Willie Rushton impersonated PM Harold McMillan.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/That_Was_The_Week_That_Was)(SFC, 12/12/96, p.C8)
1962 Nov 26, The Beatles made their 1st recording session under the "Beatles" name.
(MC, 11/26/01)
1962 Nov 29, Great Britain and France agreed on a joint venture to build the super sonic Concorde jet.
(WSJ, 7/26/00, p.A26)(MC, 11/29/01)
1962 Dec 7, Great Britain performed a nuclear test at the Nevada Test Site.
(MC, 12/7/01)
1962 Dec 10, "Lawrence of Arabia," David Lean's epic film starring Peter O'Toole as British officer T.E. Lawrence, had its royal gala premiere in London.
(AP, 12/10/02)
1962 "The War Requiem" by Benjamin Britten premiered at the reconsecration of the bombed-out Coventry Cathedral. It juxtaposed sections from the Mass for the Dead with verse by WW I poet Wilfred Owen.
(SFEM, 5/17/98, p.6)
1962 Sir Michael Tippett, British composer, premiered his 2nd opera "King Priam."
(SFC, 1/10/98, p.A19)
1962 In Britain the Federation of Student Islamic Societies (FOSIS) was formed.
(Econ, 1/9/10, p.61)
1962 In Britain John Vassal (1925-1996), an Admiralty clerk, was arrested for spying. He had been blackmailed into spying as an attaché in Moscow in 1955 with sex photographs with 2-3 men. The scandal helped to end the career of Prime Minister Harold Macmillan.
(SFC, 12/6/96, p.B8)
1962 Denys Fisher, an English inventor, made a tool to help draw waves for scientific use, but it was not adopted. His family thought it would a good toy for children and in 1965 it was made into a kit and showed at an int’l. toy show. Kenner bought the toy and sold it as the Spirograph.
(SFC, 10/17/07, p.G2)
1963 Jan 14, President of France Charles de Gaulle announced the French veto on Britain's application to join the European Common Market, the forerunner of the European Union. De Gaulle said the British government lacked 'commitment' to European integration.
(www.bbc.co.uk/history/british/timeline/present_timeline_noflash.shtml)
1963 Jan, British investigative reporter Peter Earle (d.1997 at 71) uncovered the call-girl ring run by osteopath Stephen Ward. The investigation snowballed into the Profumo scandal that revealed Minister of War, John Profumo, involved in an affair with Christine Keeler, who was conducting a simultaneous affair with a Soviet military attaché. The scandal brought down the government of PM Harold Macmillan. The events were dramatized in the film "Scandal."
(http://spartacus-educational.com/PRprofumo.htm)(SFEC, 4/27/97, p.B8)
1963 Feb 11, Sylvia Plath (30), American writer, committed suicide by gas in London after Ted Hughes left her for another woman. Her autobiographical novel "The Bell Jar" was published this year. She had been married to English poet Ted Hughes (d.1998), who in 1998 published a 198 page book of verse "Birthday Letters" based on their relationship. The woman for whom Hughes left Plath committed suicide 5 years later. Plath’s 1981 "Collected Poems" won a Pulitzer Prize. The Plath book of poems "Ariel" was published after her death. In 2000 her uncensored diaries: "The Unabridged Journals of Sylvia Plath," were edited by Karen V. Kukil. In 2013 Carl Rollyson authored “American Isis: The Life and Art of Sylvia Plath."
(SFC, 1/19/98, p.A10)(SFEC, 2/1/98, p.C5)(SFEC, 3/26/00, p.A25)(SFEC, 11/12/00, BR p.1)(SSFC, 2/17/13, p.F5)
1963 Mar 12, US House granted former British Prime Minister Winston Churchill honorary U.S. citizenship.
(MC, 3/12/02)
1963 Mar 16, William Beveridge (b.1879), British economist and social reformer, died. He is perhaps best known for his 1942 report Social Insurance and Allied Services (known as the Beveridge Report) which served as the basis for the post-World War II Welfare State put in place by the Labour government.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Beveridge)
1963 Mar 22, British Minister of War John Profumo denied having sex with Christine Keeler. The Profumo call girl scandal almost toppled the government. Profumo, a leading British Conservative and minister for war, was discovered to have been involved with Keeler, a call girl who was also dealing with a Soviet attaché. Valerie Hobson (d.1998 at 81), his actress wife, stood by him after the scandal. A 1995 Masterpiece Theater TV play was based on these events.
(TMC, 1994, p.1963)(WSJ, 12/28/95, p. A-5)(SFEC, 11/15/98, p.D5)(MC, 3/22/02)
1963 Apr 8, Julian Lennon, John Lennon’s son, singer (Too Late for Goodbyes), was born.
(MC, 4/8/02)
1963 Jun 5, John Profumo (1915-2006), British Minister of War, resigned due his relations with Christine Keeler. [see Mar 22]
(AP, 3/10/06)
1963 Jun 9, JFK named Winston Churchill a US honorary citizen.
(MC, 6/9/02)
1963 Jun 17, British House of Commons debated the John Profumo-Christine Keeler affair, which involved the defense minister and the call-girl he shared with a Russian agent.
(MC, 6/17/02)
1963 Jun 17, John Cowper Powys (b.1872), English author, died. In 2007 Morine Krissdottir authored “Descent of Memory: The Life of John Cowper Powys." His 10 novels included “Wolf Solent," the story of a young man’s rebellion against the modern world.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Cowper_Powys)(WSJ, 9/8/07, p.P9)
1963 Jun 24, 1st demonstration of home video recorder was at the BBC Studios in London.
(MC, 6/24/02)
1963 Jul 25, The United States, the Soviet Union and Britain initialed a treaty in Moscow prohibiting the testing of nuclear weapons in the atmosphere, in space or underwater.
(AP, 7/25/97)
1963 Jul 30, British spy Kim Philby was discovered in Moscow. Philby, writer for The Economist, who spent six years filing dispatches from the Middle East, was discovered to be a spy and defected to the Soviet Union.
(WSJ, 6/6/95, p.A-14)(MC, 7/30/02)
1963 Jul, Serial killers Myra Hindley (d.2002) and her boyfriend, Ian Brady (the Moors Murderers), began abducting, molesting and killing children. The pair were caught in Oct, 1965. Between 1963 and 1965 they lured five children and teenagers to their deaths, burying four of them on remote moorland near Manchester.
(AP, 11/16/02)(AFP, 8/17/12)
1963 Aug 3, Beatles made a final performance the Cavern Club in Liverpool.
(SC, 8/3/02)
1963 Aug 5, The United States, Britain and the Soviet Union signed a treaty in Moscow banning nuclear tests in the atmosphere, space and underwater.
(AP, 8/5/97)
1963 Aug 8, Britain's "Great Train Robbery" took place as thieves made off with 120 mailbags with 2.62 million pounds in banknotes. 15 men under Bruce Reynolds (d.2013) held up the Glasgow to London Royal Mail (Glasgow-Euston train) and took off with $7.2 mil in sterling. They badly beat up train driver Jack Mills. He never returned to work and died seven years later without making a full recovery. Ronald Biggs claimed to be one of the 15 men and later lived freely in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. His share of the robbery was $2.8 mil but he was arrested just four weeks after the robbery. He escaped from Wandsworth Prison in 1965 and was still wanted in Britain. Only 1/8 of the money stolen was ever recovered. Dinner at home with Mr. Biggs could be purchased for $50. In 1994 Biggs published an autobiography. In 1999 a video game was developed based on the event. Biggs (71) returned to Britain in 2001 and in 2009 he was up for parole. Reynolds spent five years as a fugitive. On his return to Britain he was caught by police and sentenced 25 years in prison for the train heist, of which he served just 10. Reynolds published a memoir titled "Autobiography of a Thief" and became a consultant on a crime film.
(SFE, 10/1/95, p.T-8)(AP, 8/8/97)(WSJ, 11/4/99, p.A28)(WSJ, 5/7/01, p.A1)(AFP, 7/1/09)(AP, 2/28/13)
1963 Aug 23, Beatles released "She Loves You" in UK.
(MC, 8/23/02)
1963 Aug 30, Guy Burgess (b.1911), British spy for the USSR, died.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Guy_Burgess)
1963 Sep 7, The Beatles made their 1st US TV appearance on ABC’s Big Night Out.
(MC, 9/7/01)
1963 Oct 7, President Kennedy signed the documents of ratification for a nuclear test ban treaty with Britain and the Soviet Union.
(AP, 10/7/97)
1963 Oct 9, British premier Harold MacMillan resigned.
(MC, 10/9/01)
1963 Oct 19, Beatles recorded "I Want to Hold Your Hand."
(MC, 10/19/01)
1963 Oct 20, Alec Douglas-Home formed a British government.
(MC, 10/20/01)
1963 Oct 22, Britain’s "National Theatre Company," founded under Laurence Olivier, opened with Hamlet. In 2017 Nicholas Hytner authored “Balancing Acts: Behind the Scenes at the National Theater."
(https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Royal_National_Theatre)(Econ 5/6/17, p.75)
1963 Nov 22, Aldous L. Huxley (69), English author (Devils of Loudon, Brave New World), died in Los Angeles.
(www.kirjasto.sci.fi/ahuxley.htm)
1963 Nov 22, C.S. Lewis, English author the Narnia series and other books, died of osteoporosis. In 2005 Alan Jacobs authored “The Narnian," a biography of Lewis. In 2013 Alister McGrath authored “C.S. Lewis--A Life: Eccentric Genius, Reluctant Prophet."
(www.kirjasto.sci.fi/cslewis.htm)(WSJ, 10/15/05, p.P13)(Econ, 5/18/13, p.88)
1963 Dec 10, Zanzibar was granted independence by the United Kingdom and became a constitutional monarchy under the Sultan.
(https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Sultans_of_Zanzibar)
1963 Dec 12, Kenya gained independence from Britain and the Kenyan African National Union Party (KANU) began ruling. Jomo Kenyatta, a Kikuyu, was the first president and served until 1978. The Kikuyu and closely related Meru and Embu groups comprised some 28% of Kenya’s people. Kenya’s population at this time was under 8 million. This was later commemorated as Jamhuri Day.
(SFC, 10/17/96, A8)(SFC, 7/1/97, p.A9)(AP,12/12/97)(SFC,12/23/97, p.D4)(SFC, 8/8/98, p.A12)(Econ, 2/28/09, p.87)(Econ, 3/14/09, p.49)(SSFC, 5/25/14, p.P3)
1963 Sir Lawrence van der Post (1906-1996) wrote "The Seed and the Sower." It was filmed in 1983 as Merry Christmas Mr. Lawrence with David Bowie.
(SFC, 12/17/96, p.B4)
1963 Nora Beloff (1919-1997), British political writer and foreign correspondent, wrote "The General Says No: Britain’s Exclusion from Europe."
(SFC, 2/24/96, p.A17)
1963 The English satirical musical “Oh, What a Lovely War!" was directed by Joan Littlewood (1914-2002) and based on Alan Clark’s “The Donkeys" (1961), a scathing examination of British First World War generals.
(SFC, 9/24/02, p.A25)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joan_Littlewood)
1963 Yehudi Menuhin founded the Yehudi Menuhin School at Stoke d'Abernon, in Surrey, England, combining musical and scholastic training to gifted students.
(SFC, 3/13/99, p.A9)
1963 Sir Andrew Huxley (1917-2012), British neurophysiologist shared a Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine with Alan Hodgkin and John Eccles.
(Econ, 6/16/12, p.102)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Andrew_Huxley)
1963 John R. Hopkins won a British Screenwriter’s Guild Award for the TV police show "Z Cars."
(SFC, 8/4/98, p.C2)
1963 The British light cruiser HMS Belfast saw active service until 1963. The cruiser saw distinguished service in World War II and Korea and now serves as a floating museum on the River Thames in London. Belfast is, in fact, the last survivor of the Royal Navy’s all-gun cruisers. Although she still, by special privilege, flies the White Ensign and has the right to the designation Her Majesty’s Ship, she is now a permanent floating museum, a branch of the world-famous Imperial War Museum. She was the first warship to be preserved by Great Britain since Lord Nelson’s HMS Victory.
(HNQ, 6/2/01)
1963 Britain relaxed laws on betting. Gambling as a result moved off tracks to betting shops. By 2006 attendance at dog races fell to some 3.6 million from a high of 38 million in 1936.
(Econ, 3/29/08, p.74)
1963 David Low (72), British political cartoonist, died.
(WSJ, 5/29/02, p.D7)
1963 Kenya gained independence from Britain and the Kenyan African National Union Party began ruling.
(SFC, 10/17/96, A8)(SFC, 7/1/97, p.A9)
1964 Feb 6, Paris and London agreed to build a rail tunnel under the English Channel.
(HN, 2/6/99)
1964 Feb 7, The British band The Beatles began their first American tour as they arrived at New York's John F. Kennedy International Airport, where they were greeted by 25,000 screaming fans.
(SFEM, 3/9/96, p.35)(AP, 2/7/97)(HN, 2/7/99)
1964 Feb 8, Peter Shaffer's "Royal Hunt of the Sun," premiered in London.
(MC, 2/8/02)
1964 Feb 23, The U.S. and Britain recognized the new Zanzibar government.
(HN, 2/23/98)
1964 Mar 9, The London Fisheries Convention was signed in relation to fishing rights across the coastal waters of Western Europe. The agreement was largely superseded to the Common Fisheries Policy (the CFP) of 1970, as all parties are members of the European Union.
(https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fisheries_Convention)
1964 Mar 28, First pirate radio station began to broadcast off the coast of England. Radio Caroline debuted with a combination of rock music and lively disk jockey whose patter played to a huge audience in Great Britain. British authorities, tried unsuccessfully, to shut down the radio station ship. Radio Caroline had become competition to the staid and usually dull British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC). [see Dec 23]
(MC, 3/28/02)
1964 Apr 5, 1st driverless trains ran on the London Underground.
(MC, 4/5/02)
1964 May 6, Joe Orton's "Entertaining Mr. Sloan," premiered in London.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Entertaining_Mr_Sloane)
1964 Jun 9, W. Maxwell Aitken (85), Lord Beaverbrook, English Minister of Info, died.
(MC, 6/9/02)
1964 Jul 6, Beatles' film "Hard Day's Night" premiered in London.
(MC, 7/6/02)
1964 Jul 6, Malawi, the former British protectorate and part of the Federation of Rhodesia and Nyasaland gained independence.
(WUD, 1994, p.867)
1964 Aug 12, Ian L. Fleming (56), British spy, journalist, writer (James Bond), died. He had recently sold a 51% share of the copyright of his books to Sir Jock Campbell, who chaired the Booker Brothers. In 2000 Fleming’s heirs bought back the copyright to the books.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ian_Fleming)(Econ, 5/31/08, p.90)
1964 Sep 9, John Osborne's "Inadmissible Evidence," premiered in London.
(MC, 9/9/01)
1964 Sep 21, Malta became an independent member of the British Commonwealth.
(AP, 9/21/97)(Econ, 7/14/07, p.57)(www.state.gov/r/pa/ei/bgn/5382.htm)
1964 Oct 16, Harold Wilson (d.1995) of the Labor Party assumed office as prime minister of Britain, succeeding Conservative Sir Alec Douglas-Home. Wilson’s Labor government took over from Harold MacMillan’s Conservatives. The election was about 13 wasted Tory years and Wilson’s promised “white heat of technology".
(AP, 10/16/99)(WSJ, 7/26/00, p.A26)(Econ, 4/29/17, p.42)
1964 Nov 25, Eleven nations gave a total of $3 billion to rescue the value of the British currency.
(HN, 11/25/98)
1964 Dec 9, Dame Edith Sitwell (d.1964), English poet, died. "Good taste is the worst vice ever invented." A book of her collected poems was published in 2006. In 2011 Richard Greene authored “Edith Sitwell: Avant Garde Poet, English Genius."
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edith_Sitwell)(WSJ, 7/22/06, p.P10)(Econ, 2/19/11, p.94)
1964 Dec 21, Britain’s House of Commons voted to ban the death penalty. Parliament voted to abolish the death penalty. The vote was in part due to the country’s unease over the 1953 Bentley hanging
(SFC, 7/31/98, p.A16)(HN, 12/21/98)
1964 Dec 23, Rock 'n' Roll Radio- in the guise of Pirate Radio- came to England where one had to listen to the BBC or nothing at all. Pirate Radio was a gallant effort to broadcast commercial radio, which was illegal in Great Britain at that time.
(MC, 12/23/01)
1964 The British duo Peter and Gordon made a hit with the song “A World Without Love," written by Paul McCartney. The group broke up in 1968 after 9 top 20 records. Gordon Waller died in 1964 at age 64.
(SFC, 7/24/09, p.D6)
1964 The BBC showed its 26-part epic of WWI: “The Great War."
(Econ, 3/29/14, p.88)
1964 The British TV series "Till Death Do Us Part," written by Johnny Speight (d.1998 at 78), began. It was copied in the US for the 1971 "All in the Family" that began in 1971 on CBS TV and ran to 1983 and later became "Archie Bunker’s Place." Bunker was the first video-taped sitcom.
(SFEC, 5/24/98, DB p.39)
1964 London’s Caribbean-flavored Notting Hill Carnival was founded following the disturbances in Notting Hill six years earlier that saw clashes between whites and newly arrived immigrants from the West Indies.
(AP, 8/29/11)
1964 Zambia established Independence from Britain. Pres. Kenneth Kaunda was in charge.
(SFC, 5/22/96, p.A9)(SFC, 7/1/97, p.A9)
1964-1970 Harold Wilson was the prime minister of Britain.
(SFC, 9/6.96, p.A23)
1964-1977 Secret germ warfare was conducted during this time over London and southern England. Scientists released three types of bacteria: bacillus globigii, killed serratia marcescens, and E. Coli 162. Officials claimed that the bacteria was rendered harmless.
(SFC, 2/3/97, p.C2)
1965 Jan 15, Sir Winston Churchill suffered a severe stroke.
(HN, 1/15/99)
1965 Jan 4, T.S. Eliot, English poet, died in London at age 76. In 1995 Anthony Julius published "T.S. Eliot, Anti-Semitism and Literary Form." Julius was the lawyer who won a divorce settlement of $23 million for Princess Diana in 1996. "Little Gidding" is an Eliot work. In 2015 Robert Crawford authored “Young Eliot: From St. Louis to The Waste Land."
(SFC, 7/17/96, p.E6)(NH, 8/96, p.57)(AP, 1/4/98)(Econ., 2/14/15, p.74)
1965 Jan 24, Winston Churchill, former prime minister (1940-45, 51-55), died from a cerebral thrombosis in London at age 90. "I am always ready to learn, but I do not always like to be taught." Lord Moran (Sir Charles Wilson), his personal physician, later authored "Churchill At War: 1940-1945."
(AP, 1/24/98)(AP, 1/17/00)(HN, 1/24/01)(WSJ, 12/14/02, p.W10)
1965 Jan 30, The state funeral of Winston Churchill took place.
(MC, 1/30/02)
1965 Feb 2, Joe Orton's farce, "Loot," premiered in Brighton.
(MC, 2/2/02)
1965 Feb 15, John Lennon passed his driving test.
(440 Int’l., 2/15/99)
1965 Mar 4, David Attenborough became the new controller of BBC2.
(SC, 3/4/02)
1965 Apr 13, Beatles recorded "Help."
(MC, 4/13/02)
1965 May 14, An acre at the field at Runnymede, the site of the signing of the Magna Carta, was dedicated by Queen Elizabeth as a memorial to the late John F. Kennedy, US President.
(www.camelotintl.com/365_days/may.html)(http://tinyurl.com/flw65)
1965 Jul 26, Republic of Maldives gained independence from Britain.
(www.findmaldives.com/Maldives-Independence.html)
1965 Jul 29, Beatles movie "Help" premiered and Queen Elizabeth attended.
(MC, 7/29/02)
1965 Jul 31, J. K. Rawling, British writer, was born in Yate, Gloucestershire. She became famous for her Harry Potter fantasy series.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/J._K._Rowling)
1965 Jul, British Great Train Robber Ronnie Biggs (1929-2013) escaped prison and spent the next 35 years on lam between Paris, Australia, Panama and Brazil.
(Econ, 1/4/14, p.74)
1965 Sep 4, Beatles' "Help!," single went #1 for 3 weeks.
(MC, 9/4/01)
1965 Sep 13, The Beatles released "Yesterday."
(MC, 9/13/01)
1965 Sep 26, Queen Elizabeth decorated the Beatles with the Order of the British Empire.
(MC, 9/26/01)
1965 Oct 8, London's Post Office Tower opened as the tallest building in England.
(MC, 10/8/01)
1965 Oct 26, Beatles received MBEs at Buckingham Palace.
(MC, 10/26/01)
1965 Oct, In Britain child serial killers Myra Hindley (d.2002) and her boyfriend, Ian Brady (the Moors Murderers), were caught. [see 1966]
(AP, 11/16/02)
1965 Nov 13, Director Kenneth Tynan said "Fuck" on BBC.
(MC, 11/13/01)
1965 Nov, The British Indian Ocean Territory (Biot) was created by detaching the Chagos island group from Mauritius and other small islands from the Seychelles, then both British colonies. Mauritius was given £3m in compensation; the following year, Britain signed a military agreement with the US leasing it the largest island, Diego Garcia, for 50 years.
(www.guardian.co.uk/comment/story/0,,1636549,00.html)
1965 Dec 3, Beatles began their final UK concert tour in Glasgow.
(MC, 12/3/01)
1965 Dec 23, In Britain Roy Jenkins (1920-2003) began serving his first term as Labour Home Secretary under PM Harold Wilson and continued to September 30, 967. Jenkins was responsible for the relaxation of the laws relating to divorce.
(https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roy_Jenkins)(Econ, 4/8/17, p.50)
1965 Samuel Beer (1911-2009), Harvard professor, authored “British Politics in the Collectivist Age." This established him as the foremost scholar on modern British politics.
(Econ, 5/2/09, p.88)
1965 Harold Fielding (d.2003 at 86) produced "Charlie Girl" in London. It ran for over 5 years.
(SFC, 10/4/03, p.A18)
1965 Peter Laslett (1915-2001), English historian, authored “The World We Have Lost: England Before the Industrial Age".
(Econ, 10/4/14, p.82)
1965 In Britain The Who made 3 consecutive hits with "I Can’t Explain," "Anyway Anyhow Anywhere," and "My Generation." The group included bassist John Entwistle (d.2002), drummer Keith Moon (d.1978), singer Roger Daltrey, and guitarist Pete Townshend.
(SFC, 6/28/02, p.A2)
1965 The Int’l. Standard Book Number (ISBN) was invented in Britain and rapidly took off as an int’l. standard for classifying books.
(Econ, 3/2/13, p.60)
1965 In Britain Bob Guccione founded Penthouse Magazine. It was a sex magazine with more provocative poses than Playboy Magazine.
(WSJ, 3/22/96, p.A-1)
1965 The British charity “Riding for the Disabled Association" was established. Its American equivalent formed in 1969.
(Econ, 5/21/11, p.88)
1965 Yehudi Menuhin, violinist, was knighted by Queen Elizabeth II. He was made a baron, Lord Menuhin of Stoke d'Abernon, in 1993.
(SFC, 3/13/99, p.A9)
1965 The first automatic teller machines came from England.
(SFC, 7/6/96, p.E4)
1965 Imre Lakatos of London's School of Economics organized a session chaired by Karl Popper at which philosopher Thomas Kuhn spoke. In 2003 Steve Fuller authored "Kuhn vs. Popper: The Struggle for the Soul of Science."
(Econ, 8/9/03, p.71)
1965 Gambia gained independence from Britain.
(SFC, 7/1/97, p.A9)
1965 Singapore became independent from Britain and was booted from the Malayan federation. Lee Kuan Yew became the new prime minister.
(WSJ, 6/11/96, p.A9A)(SFC, 6/8/96, p.A11)(WSJ, 12/31/96, p.1)
1965-1972 Sir Martin Jones (d.1997 at 84) led M15, the British counterintelligence agency. He had succeeded Sir Roger Hollis.
(SFC, 3/17/97, p.A22)
1966 Mar 4, North Sea Gas was 1st pumped ashore by BP.
(SC, 3/4/02)
1966 Mar 23, The 1st official meeting after 400 years of Catholic and Anglican Church.
(SS, 3/23/02)
1966 Mar 31, Labour Party won British parliamentary election.
(MC, 3/31/02)
1966 Apr 2, Cecil Scott Forester (66), English author (Horatio Hornblower), died.
(MC, 4/2/02)
1966 Apr 10, Evelyn Waugh (b.1903), British writer, satirist (Brideshead Revisited), died. He also wrote “The Loved Ones," a satire on California burial customs and “Vile Bodies." His correspondence with Nancy Mitford, novelist of manners, was edited by Charlotte Mosley and published in 1997. In 2007 Alexander Waugh, grandson of Evelyn Waugh, authored “Fathers and Sons," his biography of the Waugh family.
(WSJ, 4/29/97, p.A18)(SFC, 9/11/04, p.E1)(WSJ, 5/26/07, p.P6)
1966 Apr 16, Rhodesian PM Ian Smith broke diplomatic relations with Britain.
(MC, 4/16/02)
1966 May 1, Last British concert by Beatles was at Empire Pool in Wembley.
(MC, 5/1/02)
1966 Jun 21, Reg Calvert (b.1938), a pirate-radio operator, was shot and killed by Oliver Smedley, an ex-army man and commercial rival. In 2010 Adrian Johns authored “Death of a Pirate: British Radio and the Making of the Information Age."
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reginald_Calvert)(Econ, 11/20/10, p.97)
1966 Jul 29, Edward Gordon Craig (b.1872), the son of English actress Ellen Terry, died. He had authored the controversial manifesto “On the Art of the Theater" (1911) and envisioned that the future of theater lay in lights, sounds, shadows and screens.
(Econ, 8/30/08, p.80)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edward_Gordon_Craig)
1966 Aug 12, Harry Roberts (v.1936) and two accomplices were sitting in a van in west London preparing for an armed robbery when they were approached by three unarmed policemen, who they shot dead. In 2014 Roberts (78) was released from prison.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shepherd%27s_Bush_murders)(AP, 10/23/14)
1966 Sep 10, The Beatles' "Revolver," album went #1 & stays #1 for 6 weeks.
(MC, 9/10/01)
1966 Sep 12, The Beatles received a gold record for "Yellow Submarine."
(MC, 9/12/01)
1966 Sep 30, The Republic of Botswana, a Texas sized country, declared its independence from Britain.
(SFC, 7/1/97, p.A9)(AP, 9/30/06)
1966 Oct 21, More than 140 people, mostly children, were killed when a coal waste landslide engulfed a school and several houses in south Wales.
(AP, 10/21/97)
1966 Nov 24, The Beatles began recording sessions for "Sgt Pepper."
(MC, 11/24/01)
1966 The Beatles wrote “Taxman" to protest at Harold Wilson’s exorbitant “supertax" rates.
(Econ, 1/28/17, p.55)
1966 Harold Wilson, PM of Britain, established a convention whereby MPs were exempt from some types of electronic bugging.
(Econ, 2/9/08, p.62)
1966 Myra Hindley (d.2002) and her boyfriend, Ian Brady (the Moors Murderers), were sentenced to life in prison for the murders of 10-year-old Lesley Ann Downey and 17-year-old Edward Evans. Brady was also found guilty of killing John Kilbride, 12, and Hindley for sheltering her lover after that murder. The pair confessed in 1987 to murdering Pauline Reade, 16, and Keith Bennett, 12. The serial killings from July 1963 to October 1965 horrified Britain. In 1997 a 13-foot high painting titled "Myra" by Marcus Harvey was displayed at the Royal Academy of Arts. It was created from children’s handprints and based on a mug shot of Myra.
(SFC, 9/18/97, p.E5)(AP, 11/16/02)
1966 Arthur Jackson wounded 2 tellers and killed a man who tried to stop a bank robbery in the Chelsea section of London.
(SFC, 6/22/96, p.E3)
1966 The Hillman Hunter was an automobile produced under the Hillman marque by the Rootes Group, a British automobile manufacturer (later Chrysler Europe), from 1966 to 1979.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hillman_Hunter)
1966 Britain allowed the United States to build an air and naval base on Diego Garcia, the largest island of the Chagos Archipelago. The existing population of around 1,500 was moved to nearby Mauritius and the Seychelles and effectively barred from returning. Many eventually settled in southern England.
(Reuters, 11/16/16)
1966 Barbados gained independence from Britain.
(SFC, 7/1/97, p.A9)
1966 Lesotho in southern Africa gained independence from Britain.
(SFC, 7/1/97, p.A9)
1967 Jan 15, The Rolling Stones appeared on the Ed Sullivan Show.
(www.crazyabouttv.com/edsullivanshow.html)
1967 Feb 17, Beatles released "Penny Lane" & "Strawberry Fields." Strawberry Fields was a children’s home run by the Salvation Army. It was closed in 2005.
(http://www.jpgr.co.uk/r5570.html)(SFC, 6/2/05, p.E8)
1967 Mar 1, Queen Elizabeth Hall (South Bank Center) opened in London.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Queen_Elizabeth_Hall)(http://tinyurl.com/md43c3)
1967 Mar 3, Grenada gained partial independence from Britain.
(SC, 3/3/02)
1967 Mar 11, British psychedelic group Pink Floyd released “Arnold Layne," their 1st single song.
(http://pinkfloydhyperbase.dk/albums/arnold.htm)(SFC, 9/26/06, p.D6)
1967 Apr 1, Sir Edward Compton, who had been appointed as Ombudsman-designate in September 1966, began work as Britain’s Parliamentary Ombudsman.
(www.ombudsman.org.uk/about_us/our_history/timeline.html)
1967 Apr 11, Tom Stoppard's "Rosencrantz & Guildenstern are Dead," was performed by the Royal National Theater at London’s Old Vic Theater. It had premiered on Aug 26, 1966, in Edinburgh, Scotland.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rosencrantz_and_Guildenstern_Are_Dead)
1967 Apr 25, Britain granted internal self-government to Swaziland. The new Swaziland flag included a black and white shield to depict racial harmony.
(http://flagspot.net/flags/sz.html)(SSFC, 4/22/12, p.H3)
1967 May 6, Gordon /Brown, Britain’s chancellor of the exchequer, announced that he was giving the Bank of England the responsibility for setting interest rates. Within weeks Mr. Brown stripped the central bank of its responsibility for bank regulation and public debt management.
(Econ, 4/29/17, p.12)
1967 May 6, The body of Keith Lyon (12) of Brighton, England, was found clad in his school uniform on a grass bank near a rural bridle path between the nearby villages of Ovingdean and Woodingdean, about 56 miles south of London. He had left home to buy a geometry set and never returned. Lyon had been stabbed 11 times in the chest, back and abdomen with a serrated kitchen knife. In 2006 2 suspects were arrested.
(AP, 8/1/06)
1967 May 11, The United Kingdom re-applied to join the European Community. It was followed by Ireland and Denmark and, a little later, by Norway. General de Gaulle was still reluctant to accept British accession.
(http://europa.eu.int/abc/history/1961/index_en.htm)
1967 May 11, French President Charles de Gaulle for a second time said he will veto Britain's application to join the Common Market. One reason he gave was the incompatibility of its farming policies.
(http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/november/27/newsid_4187000/4187714.stm)(Econ, 11/24/12, p.62)
1967 May 12, English poet laureate John Masefield died.
(AP, 5/12/07)
1967 May 19, The Soviet Union ratified a treaty with the United States and Britain banning nuclear weapons from outer space: "Treaty on Principles Governing the Activities of States in the Exploration and Use of Outer Space, including the Moon and Other Celestial Bodies." The Int’l. Outer Space Treaty barred nations from appropriating celestial bodies but did not mention individuals.
(AP, 5/19/97)(SFC, 6/25/97, p.A15)(SFEC, 7/13/97, Par p.8)
1967 May 20, BBC disc jockey Kenny Everett gave the official preview of Sgt Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band on the radio show Where It's At, broadcast on the BBC Light Program. He was unable to play the final track "A Day in the Life," which the BBC had banned a day earlier due to drug references.
(www.beatlesbible.com/1967/05/20/the-bbc-bans-a-day-in-the-life/)
1967 May 25, John Lennon took delivery of his psychedelic painted Rolls Royce. He had acquired the Phantom V on June 3, 1965.
(www.blogcatalog.com/blog/jinxi-boo/cc59e352cc28925ddae7f1497e6cd46c)
1967 May 28, Francis Chichester (1901-1972), English aviator and sailor, arrived home at Plymouth from a round-the-world, one man sailboat trip.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Francis_Chichester)
1967 Jun 1, "Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band," was released in the U.K. and the following day in the U.S. and was certified "gold" the same day of release. It topped the charts all over the world, holding the number one slot in Britain for 27 weeks and for 19 in America. It received four Grammys including Best Album.
(AP, 6/1/97)
1967 Jun 3, Arthur Ransome (b.1884), English author of children’s adventure stories, died. He is best known for writing the “Swallows and Amazons" series of children's books. It is believed that he served as a double agent and worked in the Russian service after the collapse of the Czarist regime. In 1918 he wrote a propaganda pamphlet titled: “On Behalf of Russia: An Open Letter to America." In 2009 Roland Chambers authored “The Last Englishman: The Double Life of Arthur Ransome."
(Econ, 8/29/09, p.73)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arthur_Ransome)
1967 Jun 19, Beatle Paul McCartney, having admitted in Queen Magazine that he had taken LSD, repeated the admission on television.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paul_McCartney)
1967 Jun 25, The Beatles performed their new song, "All You Need Is Love," during a live international telecast from the Abbey Road studio.
(AP, 6/25/97)(Sky, 9/97, p.54)
1967 Jun 27, The first recognizably automated teller machine (ATM) was placed outside the Barclays PLC branch in Enfield, a north London suburb.
(AP, 6/27/07)
1967 Jul 1, Beatles' "Sgt Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band," went #1 for 15 weeks.
(MC, 7/1/02)
1967 Jul 7, Beatles' "All You Need is Love" was released.
(MC, 7/7/02)
1967 Jul 13, Tommy Simpson, British cyclist, died as he competed in the Tour de France. Traces of amphetamine and cognac were found in his blood.
(WSJ, 8/7/06, p.B1)
1967 Jul 28, Pirate Radio Station 390 (Radio Invicta) in England, closed down.
(SC, 7/28/02)
1967 Aug 9, Joe Orton (34), English actor, playwright (What the Butler Saw, Loot), was murdered (bludgeoned with a hammer) while he slept by his male lover. In 1978 John Lahr authored “Prick Up Your Ears," a biography of Orton.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joe_Orton)(WSJ, 1/13/06, p.P8)
1967 Sep 2, Paddy Roy Bates, retired British army major, landed on the island of Sealand, a WW II military fortress 6 miles off the coast of England, and declared it a sovereign nation, the Principality of Sealand.
(SFEC, 6/4/00, p.A4)(www.sealandgov.com/history.html)
1967 Sep 11, The Beatles drove their Magical Mystery Bus around England.
(MC, 9/11/01)
1967 Sep 20, The 963-foot passenger ship Queen Elizabeth II was launched. The RMS Queen Elizabeth 2 was christened by Britain's Queen Elizabeth II in Clydebank, Scotland.
(www.cunard.co.uk)(AP, 9/20/07)
1967 Sep, The British, French and German governments signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to start development of the 300 seat Airbus A300 in order to compete with American companies. Airbus Industrie was formally set up in 1970.
(www.absoluteastronomy.com/reference/airbus)
1967 Oct 3, Malcolm Sargent, English conductor (Last Night of Proms), died at 72.
(MC, 10/3/01)
1967 Oct 8, Clement R. Attlee (84), former premier of Great Britain (1945-51), died.
(AP, 10/8/07)
1967 Oct 9, The British Road Safety Act, providing for use of the "breathalyzer" (or breathalyzer) to detect intoxicated motorists, went into effect.
(AP, 10/9/07)
1967 Nov 27, The Beatles' "Magical Mystery Tour," album was released in Britain.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Magical_Mystery_Tour_(album))
1967 Nov 27, Charles DeGaulle vetoed Britain’s entry into the Common Market again.
(HN, 11/27/98)
1967 Nov 28, The first pulsating radio source (pulsar) was observed by British radio astronomers Jocelyn Bell Burnell and Antony Hewish. Burnell made the news public on Feb 29, 1968.
(https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pulsar)
1967 Dec 8, Beatles "Magical Mystery Tour" album was released in UK.
(MC, 12/8/01)
1967 Dec 11, The Concorde, a joint British-French venture and the world’s first supersonic airliner, was unveiled in Toulouse, France.
(HN, 12/11/98)
1967 Dec 26, BBC-1 television aired "Magical Mystery Tour," the Beatles' critically drubbed one-hour special.
(AP, 12/26/07)
1967 Anthony Nutting published "No End of a Lesson" which explained why he quit his British government position during the 1956 Suez crises.
(SFC, 2/26/99, p.A25)
1967 The travel book "Dublin: A Portrait" by V.A. Pritchett was published.
(SFC, 3/22/97, p.A21)
1967 Britain’s PM Harold Wilson dubbed Edgar Louis Granville (d.1998 at 102) Baron Granville of Eye.
(SFC, 2/18/98, p.A18)
1967 The posh Royal Lancaster hotel opened in central London.
(Econ, 1/14/17, p.51)
1967 Britain abolished capital punishment.
(SFC, 4/6/98, p.A26)
1967 The British Sexual Offenses Act partially decriminalized sexual behavior between consenting males over 21. Elements of the indecency legislation remained in place until 2003, including anti-gay restrictions relating to the age of consent, the military, and sex under various circumstances. The event was later described in the film: "A Bill Called William." The age of consent for homosexual acts was reduced to 16 in 1998.
(SFEC, 6/15/97, DB p.49)(SFC, 6/23/98, p.A10)(AP, 1/16/13)
1967 In Great Britain the Abortion Act of 1967 clarified and prescribed abortions as legal up to 28 weeks.
(Econ, 2/6/10, p.62)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Abortion_law)
1967 Dame Cicely Saunders founded St. Christopher's, the 1st modern hospice, in West London. America’s 1st hospice was founded in 1974.
(SFC, 8/5/03, p.A18)(Econ, 8/2/08, p.62)
1967 Britain started pumping oil from the North Sea.
(Econ, 7/14/07, p.60)
1967 An outbreak of hoof-and-mouth disease in Britain led to the slaughter of 400,000 animals.
(SFC, 2/21/01, p.A12)
1967 Brian Epstein, the manager of the Beatles, died of a drug overdose.
(SFC, 12/1/01, p.D1)
1967-1973 The entire population of the Chagos archipelago, which lies 2,200 miles east of Africa and around 1,000 miles southwest of India, was relocated by this year. Britain leased Diego Garcia, the main island, to the US and barred anyone from entering the archipelago except by permit. In 2003 a British judge ruled that former residents have no right to return home or get compensation.
(AP, 10/9/03)
1968 Jan 24, An Israeli submarine, the Dakar, a British-made submarine with a 69-man crew, was lost in the Mediterranean Sea while enroute from England to Israel. The sunken ship was found May 28, 1999, between Crete and Cyprus.
(SFC, 5/31/99, p.A8)(www.geocities.com/CapitolHill/Lobby/9650/dakar.html)
1968 Feb 18, British adopted year-round daylight savings time.
(www.nmm.ac.uk/explore/astronomy-and-time/time-facts/british-summer-time-(bst))
1968 Mar 1, The first 15-minute version of the musical "Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat" by Andrew Lloyd Weber was performed at Central Hall, Westminster, London.
(www.thisistheatre.com/joseph/index.html)
1968 Mar 1, The British Parliament amended its Commonwealth Immigrants Act of 1962 further reducing rights of citizens of the Commonwealth of Nations countries to migrate to the UK.
(https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Commonwealth_Immigrants_Act_1968)
1968 Mar 12, The British-ruled African island of Mauritius became an independent country within the Commonwealth of Nations and many Europeans left the country. GDP per person was about $200. By 2008 it rose to $7,000 per person.
(SFC, 6/24/96, p.A8)(SFC, 7/1/97, p.A9)(SSFC, 12/9/01, p.C9)(AP, 3/12/08)(Econ, 10/18/08, p.58)
1968 Mar 17, A peaceful anti-Vietnam War protest in London was followed by a riot outside the US Embassy; more than 80 people were reported injured. Some 20,000 people at the Vietnam Solidarity Campaign in London were mowed down by police on horses as they marched.
(www.springerlink.com/content/qg812p1147300117/)(AP, 3/17/08)(SFC, 5/22/98, p.C12)
1968 Apr 18, London Bridge was sold to a US oil company. It was later erected in Arizona.
(www.londonbridgeresort.com/history/london_bridge.html)
1968 Apr 20, Enoch Powell (1912-1998) became a national figure in Britain following his address to the General Meeting of the West Midlands Area Conservative Political Center, which became known as the "Rivers of Blood" speech. It pointedly criticized immigration into Britain from the Commonwealth nations and opposed the then proposed–anti-discrimination legislation Race Relations Bill being mooted at the time.
(https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Enoch_Powell)
1968 May 14, The Beatles in NYC announced the formation of their Apple Corp.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apple_Corps)
1968 May 25, In Newcastle, England, Mary Flora Bell, one day before her 11th birthday, strangled Martin Brown (4). She and unrelated friend Norma Bell (13) were later tried for the murders of 2 boys Martin Brown (4) and Brian Howe (3), committed 9 weeks apart. In 1972 Gitta Sereny published "The Case of Mary Bell," based on her coverage of the trial. In 1999 Gitta Sereny published "Cries Unheard: Why Children Kill: The Story of Mary Bell," based on interviews with Mary Bell.
(SFEC, 6/6/99, BR p.5)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mary_Bell)
1968 Jun 1, The British television series "The Prisoner," starring Patrick McGoohan, had its American premiere on CBS.
(AP, 6/1/08)
1968 Jul 1, The United States, Britain, the Soviet Union and 58 other nations signed the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty. India refused to sign.
(AP, 7/1/97)(SFC, 5/28/98, p.A9)(http://tinyurl.com/d5cf45)
1968 Jul 4, Arthur Kopit's "Indians," premiered in London.
(www.enotes.com/indians)
1968 Jul 17, Beatle's animated film "Yellow Submarine" premiered in London. The US premiere was on November 13.
(www.youtube.com/watch?v=mqUKJj0gGkM)(www.imdb.com/title/tt0063823/releaseinfo)
1968 Jul 18, The UK enacted sanctions against Rhodesia for a 2nd time. The first time was on June 17.
(WUD, 1994, p.1687)(http://tinyurl.com/c5kcs9)
1968 Jul 26, Britain’s Theater Act abolished censorship of the theatre and amended the law in respect of theatres and theatrical performances.
(www.opsi.gov.uk/RevisedStatutes/Acts/ukpga/1968/cukpga_19680054_en_1)
1968 Jul, The British blues group Cream, with vocalist and bassist Jack Bruce (1943-2014), drummer Ginger Baker (b.1939) and guitarist Eric Clapton (b.1945) released their double album “Wheels of Fire" in the US. It became the first double album to go platinum.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wheels_of_Fire)
1968 Aug 15, Pirate Radio Free London began transmitting.
(http://radio.eric.tripod.com/in_breach_of_the_law.htm)
1968 Sep 28, Beatles' "Hey Jude" single went #1 and stayed #1 for 9 weeks.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hey_Jude)
1968 Oct 14, The Beatles "White Album" was completed at the Abbey Road Studios.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Beatles_(album))
1968 Oct 27, Lisa Meitner (b.1878), Austrian-born Swedish physicist, died in England. During the war while in hiding from Hitler in Sweden, she analyzed and understood for its significance the work of Otto Hahn who in 1944 was awarded the Nobel Prize in Physics for his work on nuclear fission.
(MT, 10/94, letters, p.10)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lise_Meitner)
1968 Nov 6, The play “The Ruling Class" by Peter Barnes (1931-2004) opened in Nottingham, England. It was a satirical attack on the church and British aristocracy. It was made into a 1972 film for which Peter O'Toole received an Oscar nomination.
(SFC, 7/3/04, p.B6)(www.answers.com/topic/the-ruling-class-play-6)
1968 Nov 22, Beatles released their "Beatles," (White Album) their only double album.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Beatles_(album))
1968 Nov 28, In London, England, John Lennon and Yoko Ono appeared at the Marylebone Magistrates' Court. John pleaded guilty to possession of cannabis resin and was fined 150 pounds plus 20 guineas costs.
(http://tinyurl.com/qjbdgb)
1968 Dec 7, The Rolling Stones released their album "Beggar’s Banquet" in the US, one day after it was released in the UK. They soon filmed a concert performance right after the Who’s performance of "A Quick One" that the Stones did not match and the film was shelved. In 1996 it was planned to release the film where Jethro Tull and Taj Mahal are also featured. The album included the song "Sympathy for the Devil."
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Beggars_Banquet)(SFC, 8/16/96, p.D11)(SFC, 10/23/00, p.F3)
1968 Quentin Crisp (1908-1999), English gay writer born as Denis Pratt, authored his autobiography: "The Naked Civil Servant." In 1975 The Naked Civil Servant was broadcast on British and American television and made both actor John Hurt and Crisp himself into stars.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quentin_Crisp)(SFC, 11/22/99, p.C4)(WSJ, 7/14/00, p.W11)
1968 Graham Greene (1904-1991), English author and playwright, wrote "Travels With My Aunt." In 1989 it was adopted for stage by Giles Havergal, director of the Citizens’ Theater in Glasgow.
(SFEC, 1/5/97, DB p.25)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Graham_Greene)
1968 The film "Yellow Submarine" from England was directed by George Dunning.
(SFEC, 4/13/97, DB p.44)
1968 In Britain the literary Booker Prize was founded by Sir Michael Caine (d.1999 at 71), an executive for Booker PLC, which specialized in food distribution and agribusiness. The prize was modeled after the French Prix Goncourt.
(SFC, 3/25/99, p.C3)
1968 Cash-strapped Britain said it was pulling military forces from the Persian Gulf and South-East Asia.
(Econ, 10/23/10, p.70)
1968 The London Sunday Times sponsored the 1st Golden Globe round-the-world sailboat race. Robin Knox-Johnston was the only entrant to complete the race, becoming the first person to sail single-handed and non-stop around the world. The race gave birth to the French Vendee Globe race. In 1999 Derek Lundy authored "Godforsaken Sea," an account of the 1996 Vendee Globe. In 2001 Peter Nichols authored "A Voyage for Madmen," an account of the race and its 9 skippers.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sunday_Times_Golden_Globe_Race)(SFEC, 8/15/99, BR p.5)(WSJ, 6/22/01, p.W12)
1968 British Leyland was put together by Harold Wilson’s industrial planners. It was nationalized in 1975, and sold to British Aerospace in 1988. BMW picked up Rover in 1994.
(Econ, 4/16/05, p.15)
1968 The Pacific island of Nauru gained independence from Britain.
(SFC, 7/1/97, p.A9)
1968 Swaziland in southern Africa gained independence from Britain.
(SFC, 7/1/97, p.A9)
1969 Feb 2, Boris Karloff (b.1887), British actor born as William Henry Pratt, died. He is best remembered for his roles in horror films and his portrayal of Frankenstein's monster in the 1931 film Frankenstein.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boris_Karloff)
1969 Mar 2, The Concorde jetliner's 1st test flight took place in Bristol, England.
(www.xent.com/pipermail/fork/Week-of-Mon-20031013/026200.html)
1969 Mar 5, “What the Butler Saw," the final play of Joe Orton (1933-1967), was first performed in London. The sex farce was set in a mental hospital.
(SFC, 6/12/09, p.E1)(http://talkingbroadway.org/regional/sanfran/s823.html)
1969 Mar 12, Paul McCartney married Linda Eastman in London.
(AP, 3/12/98)
1969 Mar 20, John Lennon married Yoko Ono in Gibraltar.
(AP, 3/20/97)(HN, 3/20/98)
1969 Apr 6, Sir Wally Herbert (1934-2007), English explorer, reached the North Pole on foot along with 3 others on his team. They became the first men to cross the entire frozen surface of the Arctic Ocean on foot covering the 3,720 miles in 16 months. Roy Koerner, a glaciologist accompanying Herbert, drilled more than 250 ice core samples during the journey.
(www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/comment/obituaries/article1929131.ece)
1969 Apr 9, The maiden flight of Concorde 002 was from Filton to Bristol.
(www.sciencemuseum.org.uk/objects/aeronautics/1977-45.aspx)
1969 Apr, In England Bernadette Devlin (b.1947) of Northern Ireland became the youngest woman ever elected to British Parliament. Her 1969 book, “The Price of My Soul," did much to publicize widespread discrimination against Roman Catholics in Northern Ireland.
(SFEC, 3/23/97, p.A15)(www.socialistworker.co.uk/art.php?id=6234)
1969 May 4, F. Osbert S. Sitwell (b.1892), English poet (Who Killed Cock Robin?), died at castle Montegufoni near Florence, Italy.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Osbert_Sitwell)
1969 May 11, The Monty Python comedy troupe formed.
(www.querycat.com/faq/a99b3004b7265291928d484e51b547ea)
1969 May 23, The BBC ordered 13 episodes of Monty Python's Flying Circus.
(www.querycat.com/faq/a99b3004b7265291928d484e51b547ea)
1969 May 23, The Who released their rock opera "Tommy."
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tommy_(album))
1968 May 24, In Britain Mick Jagger and the Rolling Stones released their song "Jumping Jack Flash." The US release was on June 1.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jumpin%27_Jack_Flash)
1969 May 29, Britain's Trans-Arctic expedition made the 1st crossing of Arctic Sea ice. Roy Koerner (1932-2008), more commonly known as Fritz, was one of the four members of Sir Wally Herbert’s British Transarctic Expedition which, on April 6, 1969, stood at the North Pole.
(www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/comment/obituaries/article1929131.ece)
1969 Jul 3, Brian Jones (27), founder of the Rolling Stones (1962), was found dead at the bottom of Cotchford Farm swimming pool.
(www.hotshotdigital.com/WellAlwaysRemember.4/BrianJones.html)
1969 Jul 4, "Give Peace a Chance" by Plastic Ono Band was released in UK.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Give_Peace_a_Chance)
1969 Jul 11, David Bowie (b.1947), British musician, released his single “Space Oddity," supposedly in conjunction with the July 20 Apollo 11 moon landing.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Space_Oddity)
1969 Jul 19, John Fairfax (1937-2012), British self-proclaimed "professional adventurer," became famous as the first person to row solo across the Atlantic Ocean. Two year later he rowed across the Pacific with his then-girlfriend Sylvia Cook.
(AFP, 2/19/12)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Fairfax_%28rower%29)
1969 Aug 12, In Northern Ireland the Apprentice Boys, a Protestant fraternal group, led a parade that ignited rioting in the Bogside section of Londonderry, that led to the bloody period known as The Troubles. Loyalist attacks on Catholic areas set off rioting in Belfast. Eight people died and British troops were sent in. The Provisional Irish Republican Army began a 25-year sniping and bombing campaign.
(SFC, 8/10/96, p.A8)(SFEC, 12/22/96, Z1 p.7)(http://tinyurl.com/ddovv8)
1969 Aug 14, British troops arrived in Northern Ireland to intervene in sectarian violence between Protestants and Roman Catholics. The outlawed Irish Republican Army came into Northern Ireland to protect and encourage Catholics and the Provisional IRA soon began terrorist actions against the British troops and Protestant civilians. This culminated in an attack on the Bogside which started on August 12 and ended Aug 14. Some 500 houses were burned to the ground, 1,500 people forced from their homes, and 9 people murdered.
(SFC, 6/18/96, p.A8)(AP, 8/14/97)(HNQ, 8/17/99)(MC, 8/14/02)
1969 Aug 14, Leonard Sidney Woolf (b.1910), English publisher, writer, died. He was the husband of writer and critic Virginia Woolf (1882-1941). His books included “The Village in the Jungle," a novel based on his time in Sri Lanka (1904-1911). In 2006 Victoria Glendinning authored “Leonard Woolf: A Biography."
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leonard_Woolf)(Econ, 9/16/06, p.93)
1969 Sep 26, The Beatles last album, "Abbey Road," was released.
(HN, 9/26/99)
1969 Oct 1, Guernsey & Jersey begin issuing their own postage stamps.
(MC, 10/1/01)
1969 Oct 1, The prototype Concorde 001, designed by the British and French, broke the sound barrier during a test flight. Commercial service began in 1976.
(WSJ, 7/26/00, p.B1)(MC, 10/1/01)
1969 Oct 5, Monty Python's Flying Circus made its debut on BBC Television. It ran on British TV until 1974.
(WSJ, 6/16/98, p.A17)(AP, 10/5/98)
1969 Nov 1, Beatles' "Abbey Road," album went #1 and stays #1 for 11 weeks.
(MC, 11/1/01)
1969 Nov 19, The Benny Hill Show premiered in Britain. It ran on Thames Television (ITV) from 1969-1989.
(www.tv.com/the-benny-hill-show/show/3329/summary.html)
1969 Nov 28, The Rolling Stones, English rock band, released its "Let It Bleed" album.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Let_It_Bleed)
1969 Dec 18, Britain's Parliament abolished the death penalty for murder.
(AP, 12/18/97)
1969 London artists Gilbert Proesch and George Passmore wrote their four “Laws of Sculptors." They later became known simply as Gilbert and George.
(SFC, 2/16/08, p.E1)
1969 E.J.B. "Jim" Rose (d.1999 at 89) and Nicholas Deakin published "Color and Citizenship," a report on Britain’s integration and immigration problems.
(SFC, 9/7/99, p.C2)
1969 George MacDonald Fraser (1925-2008), British writer, authored the novel “Flashman," the 1st in a series celebrating the adventures of Sir Harry Paget Flashman. Brigadier-General Sir Harry Paget Flashman is a fictional character originally created by the author Thomas Hughes in his semi-autobiographical work Tom Brown's Schooldays, first published in 1857. In this book, set at Rugby School, Flashman is the notorious bully, who persecutes its eponymous hero Tom Brown.
(WSJ, 11/5/05, p.P8)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harry_Paget_Flashman)
1969 Dusty Springfield (d.1999), English pop singer, recorded her album "Dusty in Memphis."
(SFC, 3/4/99, p.D2)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dusty_Springfield)
1969 Rod Stewart (b.1945), English singer, made his solo debut with "The Rod Stewart Album."
(USAT, 3/24/99, p.5E)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rod_Stewart)
1969 Sir Michael Tippett, British composer, premiered his 3rd opera "The Knot Garden" based on a love scene between two men.
(SFC, 1/10/98, p.A19)
1969 The Labor government of Harold Wilson forced Pollard Bearings, led by John King (d.2005), into a merger. Pollard sold the firm for a large profit.
(www.nytimes.com/2005/07/13/world/europe/13iht-obits.html?_r=1)
1969 British PM Harold Wilson ennobled Kenneth Clark following the triumph of the epic TV series “Civilization."
(Econ, 10/1/16, p.79)
1969 The old British ten-shilling note disappeared. It was replaced by a new 50-pence piece.
(Econ, 5/12/12, p.78)w
1969 Hugh Fish (d.1999 at 76) environmental engineer, was named chief purification officer of the Thames Conservancy and set about to restore fish to the Thames River. An angler caught the first prize salmon in 1985.
(SFC, 7/21/99, p.C3)
1969 Barbara Anne Castle (d.2002), Britain’s Labor Cabinet minister, published a plan called "In Place of Strife," to inject some discipline into industrial relations and to make trade unions subject to legal sanctions.
(SFC, 5/4/02, p.A21)
1969 Britain’s chocolate maker Cadbury merged with Schweppes. In 2006 the Schweppes unit was spun off.
(Econ, 11/7/09, p.63)
1969 Princess Alice (b.1885) died at Buckingham Palace. In 2002 Hugo Vickers authored "Alice: Princess Andrew of Greece."
(SSFC, 4/7/02, p.M3)
1969 Britain discovered oil and gas in the North Sea. By 2012 some 40 billion barrels of oil was extracted.
(Econ, 2/18/12, p.59)
1970 Feb 2, Bertrand Russell (B.1872), philosopher, social gadfly and British MP, died in Merioneth. "Why is propaganda so much more successful when it stirs up hatred than when it tries to stir up friendly feeling?" He wrote "Pricipia Mathmatica." In 1996 "Bertrand Russel: The Spirit of Solitude," 1871-1921 by Ray Monk was published.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bertrand_Russell)(WSJ, 9/27/96, p.A16)(AP, 1/7/99)(HN, 5/18/99)
1970 Feb 17, Joni Mitchell (b.1943) held a concert at London’s Royal Albert Hall.
(http://tinyurl.com/3etl9t)
1970 Feb 26, Beatles released "Beatles Again," aka the "Hey Jude" album.
(www.dmbeatles.com/disk.php?disk=54)
1970 Mar 6, The Beatles released "Let it Be" in UK.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Let_It_Be_(song))
1970 Mar 17, The United States cast its first veto in the UN Security Council. The US killed a resolution that would have condemned Britain for failure to use force to overthrow the white-ruled government of Rhodesia.
(AP, 3/17/00)
1970 Mar 25, The Concorde, an Anglo-French airplane, made its first supersonic flight.
(HN, 3/24/98)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Concorde)
1970 May 13, Beatles movie "Let it Be" premiered.
(SS, Internet, 5/13/97)
1970 May 20, The Beatles movie "Let it Be" premiered in Britain. The documentary film was about a Beatles’ recording session.
(SFEC, 3/8/98, DB p.47)(www.imdb.com/title/tt0065976/)
1970 Jun 7, E.M. Forster (b.1879 as Edward Morgan Forster), English novelist, died. His novels included “A Room With a View" (1908) and “A Passage to India" (1924). In 2010 Frank Kermode authored “Concerning E.M. Forster." Wendy Moffat authored “A Great Unrecorded History: A new Life of E.M. Forster."
(SFC,12/26/97, p.C22)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/E._M._Forster)(Econ, 5/1/10, p.87)
1970 Jun 13, Beatles' "Let It Be," album went #1 & stayed #1 for 4 weeks.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Let_It_Be)
1970 Jun 19, Edward Heath (1916-2005) began serving as Britain’s prime minister and continued to 1974. Derek George Rayner (d.1998 at 72), later Lord Rayner, soon joined the government to centralize defense procurement for PM Edward Heath. Margaret Thatcher served as his education secretary.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edward_Heath)(Econ, 3/19/05, p.32)(SFC, 7/18/05, p.B6)(Econ, 4/13/13, p.27)
1970 Jun 21, Tony Jacklin became the first British golfer to win the US Open for 50 years, and with his British Open victory eleven months earlier, he became only the third golfer to accomplish this double within a 12-month period.
(Camelot, 6/21/99)
1970 Jul 3, A British Dan-Air charter, flying a Comet 4 turbojet, crashed near Barcelona and 112 were killed.
(www.history.com/this-day-in-history.do?action=Article&id=834)
1970 Jul 18, Arthur Brown (b.1942), English rock singer, was arrested for stripping on stage in Palermo, Sicily.
(www.godofhellfire.co.uk/60s.htm)
1970 Jul 29, John G.B. Barbirolli (b.1899), English conductor, composer, died.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Barbirolli)
1970 Sep 13, The supersonic airliner Concorde landed for the 1st time at Heathrow airport.
(www.aviation-news.co.uk/concordeChronology.html)
1970 Sep 18, Jimi Hendrix (27), rock star guitarist, died in London of drug overdose. Hendrix had performed briefly as an opening act for the Monkeys as well as behind the Isley Brothers and Little Richard. In 1978 David Henderson authored the biography “Scuse me While I Kiss the Sky." In 2005 Charles R. Cross authored “Room Full of Mirrors: A Biography of Jimi Hendrix."
(WSJ, 1/9/97, p.A8)(AP, 9/18/97)(WSJ, 4/16/99, p.W13C)(SSFC, 8/21/05, p.F1)
1970 Sep, 19, The 1st Glastonbury Fair attracted some 1,500 revelers. The first festival at Worthy Farm was the Pilton Festival, mounted by Michael Eavis, and attended by 1,500 people. The first act to perform was the group Stackridge; the headline act was T.Rex. The larger free festival at the summer solstice in June the next year was the first to attract nationwide interest, and the event became an important precursor of the later Glastonbury Festivals. In 2004 some 115,000 were expected for what had become Britain’s biggest pop festival.
(Econ, 6/26/04, p.61)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Glastonbury_Festival#1970s)
1970 Oct 10, In the October Crisis Quebec Provincial Labor Minister Pierre Laporte and the British trade commissioner James Cross were kidnapped by the left-wing, nationalist Front de Liberation du Quebec, Quebec Liberation Front (FLQ), a militant separatist group. Laporte's body was found about a week later. Mr. Cross was released but Mr. LaPorte was found dead strangled in the trunk of a car. The Canadian government refused to pay a ransom. Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau responded by suspending civil liberties in Quebec and invoking the War Measures Act, and sending over 1,000 troops to the French-Canadian province.
(SFC, 10/3/96, p.C6)(SFC, 11/22/96, p.A20)(AP, 10/10/97)
1970 Oct, Britain’s council workers went on strike.
(Econ, 9/25/10, p.104)
1970 Nov 13, Bessie Braddock (b.1899), British Labour politician, died. She was known as an ardent socialist and fiery campaigner, nicknamed 'Battling Bessie', her special interests included maternity, child welfare and youth crime.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bessie_Braddock)
1970 Nov 27, George Harrison released his solo album "All Things Must Pass." He became the 1st Beatle to have a solo No. 1 hit with "My Sweet Lord."
{Beatles, Britain, Pop&Rock}
(SFC, 12/1/01, p.D1)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/All_Things_Must_Pass)
1970 Nov 28, "I Hear You Knocking" by Dave Edmunds" peaked at #1 on the U.K. pop singles chart and stayed there for seven weeks.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/I_Hear_You_Knocking)
1970 Nov, The Sun, a British tabloid newly acquired by Rupert Murdoch, introduced topless photos on Page 3.
(Econ, 8/17/13, p.50)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Page_3)
1970 "Slag," the first major play by English dramatist David Hare (b.1947), had its premier.
(WSJ, 7/16/97, p.A20)
1970 Harold Pinter (b.1930), English playwright and actor, wrote his play "Old Times."
(SFC, 6/16/98, p.D1)
1970 The British Monty Python film "And Now for Something Completely Different" was produced.
(SFC, 6/3/98, p.E3)
1970 The thriller play "Sleuth" by Anthony Shaffer (d.2001 at 75) opened in London and ran for 2,359 performances.
(SFC, 11/8/01, p.A25)
1970 Lord Geoffrey Rippon of Hexham (1924-1997), a member of PM Heath’s cabinet, was given the responsibility for negotiating favorable terms for Britain’s entry into the European Economic Community.
(SFC, 1/30/97, p.C2)(www.onpedia.com/encyclopedia/Geoffrey-Rippon)
1970 Britain put together a classified “War Book," featuring a doomsday scenario, with a step-by-step guide for dealing with a crisis, from the first stages of conflict to "R hour," the designation for the release of all Britain's nuclear weapons. The 1970 version was declassified in 2009. A 1964 version printed just 96 copies.
(AP, 6/23/09)
1970 The South Pacific islands of Tonga gained independence from Britain.
(SFC, 7/1/97, p.A9)
1970 Development of the English town of Milton Keynes was begun.
(Econ, 8/7/04, p.45)
1970 A Paul Gaugin still life that was stolen from a private collection in Britain. It hung in Sicilian autoworker's kitchen for 40 years until it was recovered by authorities in 2014. The man said he bought the painting, along with one of lesser value by Pierre Bonnard, at a 1975 Italian state railway auction of unclaimed lost items, for the equivalent of about $100.
(AP, 4/2/14)
1970-1974 In 2010 Dominic Sandbrook authored “State of Emergency: The Way We Were. Britain, 1970-1974."
(Econ, 9/25/10, p.104)
1971 Jan 31, "My Sweet Lord" by George Harrison hit #1 on UK pop chart.
(MC, 1/31/02)
1971 Feb 4, Rolls-Royce collapsed due to rising development costs on the RB.211, the sole powerplant selected for the Lockheed TriStar. The Conservative nationalized the company to save it from collapse.
(http://widebodyaircraft.nl/chro1971.htm)(Econ, 1/10/09, p.11)
1971 Feb 15, Britain abandoned the unit of the penny on Decimal Day, February 15, 1971, replacing the shilling with five new pence, so that one pound sterling became divided into 100 new pence.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/%C2%A3sd)
1971 Apr 23, The Rolling Stones released their Sticky Fingers album. Following the release of Sticky Fingers, the Stones left England after allegations by the UK Inland Revenue service of unpaid income tax.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sticky_Fingers)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Rolling_Stones)
1971 May 25, Terence De Marney (b.1908), English film and TV actor, died.
(www.imdb.com/name/nm0210117/)
1971 Jun 1, Harold Pinter's play "Old Times" premiered in London.
(Econ, 2/9/13, p.81)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Old_Times)
1971 Jun 14, The first hard Rock Café opened in Piccadilly, London, under the ownership of young Americans Peter Morton and Isaac Tigrett.
(https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hard_Rock_Cafe)
1971 Jun 20, A 5-day Glastonbury Fair opened at Worthy Farm near Glastonbury, England. Arabella Spencer-Churchill (1949-2007), granddaughter of former PM Winston Churchill, helped found the fair. It featured Hawkwind, Traffic, Melanie, David Bowie, Joan Baez and Fairport Convention, and attracted some 12,000 people. Revived as a three-day festival in 1979, it had grown by 2007 to draw 153,000 people to hear acts including Coldplay, Brian Wilson, Kaiser Chiefs and Elvis Costello.
(AP, 12/21/07)(www.efestivals.co.uk/festivals/glastonbury/1971/)
1971 Jul 1, Great Britain and Argentina signed an accord on sea and air links to the Falkland Islands, which later caused a war (1982).
(www.bartleby.com/67/2791.html)
1971 Jul 8, In Northern Ireland the British army used lead bullets for the first time. Seamus Cusack (28) and Desmond Beattie (19) were killed.
(http://tinyurl.com/ya9evj75)(Econ, 3/25/17, p.82)
1971 Aug 3, Paul McCartney announced the formation of his group Wings.
(www.rockhall.com/inductee/paul-mccartney)
1971 Aug 9, British begin internment without trial in Northern Ireland when almost 300 men were arrested and interned under the Special Powers Act in dawn swoops that ended around August 14th. Not one unionist extremist was interned. Word soon got out of the internment camps that the men were being routinely mistreated and tortured. Sectarian attacks continued, supported by the British army. These actions and other repressive actions by the British administration of the time lead to the peaceful march which turned bloody on 30 January 1972, now known as Bloody Sunday.
(SFC, 1/30/97, p.A18)(www.bloodysundaytrust.org/eduintern.htm)
1971 Aug 13, Britain requested to exchange US dollars for gold. This prompted Pres. Nixon on August 15 to suspend such conversions.
(Econ, 3/27/10, p.86)
1971 Aug 15, Bahrain proclaimed independence after 110 years of British rule. December 16, 1971, is the date of independence from British protection.
(http://ixpats.com/bahrain.html)
1971 Aug 31, John Lennon left UK for NYC, never to return.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Lennon)
1971 Sep 3, The Quadripartite Agreement on Berlin, between the United States, the Soviet Union, the United Kingdom and France. ended a long time source of tension.
(WUD, 1994, p. 1688)(http://usa.usembassy.de/etexts/ga5-710903.htm)
1971 Sep 3, Qatar declared independence from Britain.
(www.country-data.com/cgi-bin/query/r-11034.html)
1971 Sep 9, John Lennon released his mega hit "Imagine" album in the US. It was released in Britain on October 8. A film was made of his recording work and in April 2000 a version titled "Gimme Some Truth" was released on DVD.
(www.cduniverse.com/productinfo.asp?pid=1109009)
1971 Sep 25, Over 100 Russian officials were expelled from Britain for spying. Information from Oleg Lyalin, supposedly a member of the USSR's trade delegation in the UK, led to the expulsion of 105 Soviet officials from Britain.
(http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/september/30/newsid_2523000/2523669.stm)
1971 Nov 1, The Five Power Defense Arrangements were concluded by the defense ministers of Australia, Britain, Malaysia, New Zealand and Singapore. In 2017 it was upgraded to deal with terrorism threats and new security concerns.
(Econ, 11/5/11, p.54)(AP, 6/2/17)
1971 Nov 10, Two women were tarred and feathered in Belfast for dating British soldiers. In Londonderry, Northern Ireland, a Catholic girl was tarred and feathered for her intention of marrying a British soldier.
(HN, 11/10/98)
1971 Dec 16, Bahrain won independence from Britain from British protection. It had declared independence on Aug 14.
(SFEC, 3/7/99, p.D8)(AP, 12/17/02)(http://ixpats.com/bahrain.html)
1971 James Blades (d.1999 at 97, percussionist, authored his encyclopedic reference work: "Percussion Instrument and Their History."
(SFC, 5/25/99, p.B2)
1971 Former Beatle John Lennon wrote his song "Imagine," and released his "Imagine" album. A film was made of his recording work and in 1999 a 56 version titled "Gimme Some Truth" was reported to be released on DVD in 2000.
(SFC, 8/10/96, p.E1)(SFC, 10/7/99, p.E3)
1971 The Electric Light Orchestra, commonly abbreviated ELO, a symphonic rock group from Birmingham, England, released their first of studio album. By 1986 they released 10 more and another album in 2001. The ELO was one of the most innovative bands of the era.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Electric_Light_Orchestra)(SFC, 7/7/96, DB p.50)
1971 "Dr. Jekyll and Sister Hyde" was a British Hammer Film production about a transsexual serial killer.
(SFEC, 12/15/96, DB p.67)(SFEC, 9/7/97, DB p.43)
1971 The British film "I Want What I Want" was about a transsexual real-estate agent.
(SFEC, 9/7/97, DB p.43)
1971 Keith Wylie (1945-1999), British croquet star, in the Open Championship completed "the sextuple peel," which involved knocking a ball through 6 hoops using another ball. He authored "Expert Croquet Tactics" in 1985.
(SFC, 12/7/99, p.B4)(www.mauicroquetclub.org/people/KeithWylie.htm)
1971 Britain’s Open University started teaching via radio and television.
(Econ, 12/22/12, p.101)
1971 Peter Brook (b.1925), British stage and film director, founded his Int’l. Center for Theater Research in Paris. In 1998 Brook published his memoir "Threads of Time: Recollections."
(SFEC, 6/14/98, BR p.5)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peter_Brook)
Go to GB 1972
See http://www.timelinesdb.com/
Subject = Britain
