|
Date |
Event(s) |
1 | 1951 | - 1951: The word 'brainwashing' is coined
- 1951: Color TV Introduced
- 1951: South Africans Forced to Carry ID Cards Identifying Race
- 1951: Truman Signs Peace Treaty With Japan, Officially Ending WWII
- 1951: Winston Churchill Again Prime Minister of Great Britain
|
2 | 1952 | - 1952: The Mousetrap opens Nov 25
- 1952: Car Seat Belts Introduced
- 1952: Jacques Cousteau Discovers Ancient Greek Ship
- 1952: Polio Vaccine Created
- 1952: Princess Elizabeth Becomes Queen at Age 25
|
3 | 1953 | - 1953: Waiting for Godot debuts in Paris
- 1953: DNA Discovered
- 1953: Hillary and Norgay Climb Mt. Everest
- 1953: Joseph Stalin Dies
- 1953: Julius and Ethel Rosenberg Executed for Espionage
|
4 | 1954 | - 1954: Raymond Kroc buys McDonald's franchise rights and begins the global proliferation of golden arches.
- 1954: Britain Sponsors an Expedition to Search for the Abominable Snowman
- 1954: First Atomic Submarine Launched
- 1954: Report Says Cigarettes Cause Cancer
- 1954: Roger Bannister Breaks the Four-Minute Mile
- 1954: Segregation Ruled Illegal in U.S.
|
5 | 1955 | - 1955: ITV formed
- 1955: Disneyland Opens
- 1955: James Dean Dies in Car Accident
- 1955: McDonald's Corporation Founded
- 1955: Rosa Parks Refuses to Give Up Her Seat on a Bus
- 1955: Warsaw Pact Signed
|
6 | 1956 | - 1956: Eurovision Song Contest starts
- 1956: Elvis Gyrates on Ed Sullivan's Show
- 1956: Grace Kelly Marries Prince Rainier III of Monaco
- 1956: Hungarian Revolution
- 1956: Khrushchev Denounces Stalin
- 1956: Suez Crisis
- 1956: T.V. Remote Control Invented
- 1956: Velcro Introduced
|
7 | 1957 | - 1957: The Space Age begins as the Soviet Union launches Sputnik 1 - the first satellite
- 1957: Dr. Seuss Publishes 'The Cat in the Hat'
- 1957: European Economic Community Established
- 1957: Soviet Satellite Sputnik Launches Space Age
- 1957: Laika Becomes the First Living Animal to Orbit Space
|
8 | 1958 | - 1958: UNIMATE is first industrial robot
- 1958: Boris Pasternak Refuses Nobel Prize
- 1958: Chinese Leader Mao Zedong Launches the 'Great Leap Forward'
- 1958: Hope Diamond is Donated to the Smithsonian
- 1958: Hula Hoops Become Popular
- 1958: Lego Toy Bricks First Introduced
- 1958: NASA Founded
|
9 | 1959 | - 1959: Beyond the Fringe' debuts in Edinburgh
- 1959: Castro Becomes Dictator of Cuba
- 1959: International Treaty Makes Antarctica Scientific Preserve
- 1959: Kitchen Debate Between Nixon and Khrushchev
- 1959: The Sound of Music Opens on Broadway
- 1959: U.S. Quiz Shows Found to be Fixed
|
10 | 1960 | - 1960: Launch of 'Coronation Street'
- 1960: Alfred Hitchcock's Psycho Released
- 1960: Brazil's Capital Moves to Brand New City
- 1960: Lasers Invented
|
11 | 1961 | - 1961: Adolf Eichmann on Trial for Role in Holocaust
- 1961: Bay of Pigs Invasion
- 1961: Berlin Wall Built
- 1961: Peace Corps Founded
- 1961: Soviets Launch First Man in Space
|
12 | 1962 | - 1962: Movie Actress Marilyn Monroe dies of an overdose of sleeping pills.
- 1962: Andy Warhol Exhibits His Campbell's Soup Can
- 1962: Cuban Missile Crisis
- 1962: First Person Killed Trying to Cross the Berlin Wall
- 1962: Marilyn Monroe Found Dead
- 1962: Rachel Carson Publishes 'Silent Spring'
|
13 | 1963 | - 1963: U.S. President John F. Kennedy is assassinated in Dallas, Texas.
- 1963: Betty Friedan Publishes 'The Feminine Mystique'
- 1963: JFK Assassinated
- 1963: Martin Luther King Jr. Makes His 'I Have a Dream' Speech
|
14 | 1964 | - 1964: Beatles Become Popular in U.S.
- 1964: Cassius Clay (a.k.a. Muhammad Ali) Becomes World Heavyweight Champion
- 1964: Civil Rights Act Passes in U.S.
- 1964: Hasbro Launches GI Joe Action Figure
- 1964: Nelson Mandela Sentenced to Life in Prison
|
15 | 1965 | - 1965: The United States begins air raids in Vietnam, committing 190,000 U.S. troops there by year's end.
- 1965: Cigarette ads banned on UK television
- 1965: Japan's Bullet Train Opens
- 1965: Los Angeles Riots
- 1965: U.S. Sends Troops to Vietnam
|
16 | 1966 | - 1966: Private theatre clubs lose immunity from censorship
- 1966: World Cup won by England at Wembley (4-2 in extra time v West Germany)
- 1966: Aberfan disaster - slag heap slip kills 144, incl. 116 children
- 1966: Black Panther Party Established
- 1966: Mao Zedong Launches the Cultural Revolution
- 1966: Mass Draft Protests in U.S.
- 1966: Star Trek T.V. Series Airs
|
17 | 1967 | - 1967: Three US astronauts killed in fire during launch pad test
- 1967: First colour TV in Britain
- 1967: First human heart transplant in South Africa by Christiaan Barnard
- 1967: Che Guevara Killed
- 1967: First Heart Transplant
- 1967: Six-Day War in the Middle East
- 1967: Stalin's Daughter Defects
- 1967: Three U.S. Astronauts Killed During Simulated Launch
|
18 | 1968 | - 1968: Student riots in Paris
- 1968: Severe flooding in England
- 1968: Pope encyclical condemns all artificial forms of birth control
- 1968: Martin Luther King Jr. Assassinated
- 1968: Prague Spring
- 1968: Robert F. Kennedy Assassinated
- 1968: Tet Offensive
|
19 | 1969 | - 1969: John Lennon returns OBE due to government's support of Vietnam War
- 1969: America lands man on the Moon
- 1969: Voting age lowered from 21 to 18 in UK
- 1969: ARPANET, the Precursor of the Internet, Created
- 1969: Charles Manson and 'Family' Arrested
- 1969: Neil Armstrong Becomes the First Man on the Moon
- 1969: Rock-and-Roll Concert at Woodstock
- 1969: Yasser Arafat Becomes Leader of the PLO
|
20 | 1970 | - 1970: Damages awarded to Thalidomide victims
- 1970: American Soldiers Accused of Murdering Entire Town of Vietnamese Civilians
- 1970: Aswan High Dam Completed
- 1970: Beatles Break Up
- 1970: Computer Floppy Disks Introduced
- 1970: Palestinian Group Hijacks Five Planes
- 1970: Protesting Students at Kent State Shot
|
21 | 1971 | - 1971: Intel builds the microprocessor, "a computer on a chip"
- 1971: Decimalisation of coinage in Britain
- 1971: Bomb explodes in London's Post Office tower
- 1971: London Bridge sold to the U.S.
- 1971: United Kingdom Changes to Decimal System for Currency
- 1971: VCRs Introduced
|
22 | 1972 | - 1972: First handheld calculator, from Texas Instruments
- 1972: Power workers strike crisis
- 1972: Miners call off crippling coal strike
- 1972: M*A*S*H T.V. Shows Premiers
- 1972: Mark Spitz Wins Seven Gold Medals
- 1972: Pocket Calculators Introduced
- 1972: Terrorists Attack at the Olympic Games in Munich
- 1972: Watergate Scandal Begins
|
23 | 1973 | - 1973: The Internet was originally set up by the U.S. Department of Defense
- 1973: Britain enters EEC Common Market with Ireland and Denmark
- 1973: Miners strike and oil crisis precipitate 'three-day week' until Mar 1974 to conserve power
- 1973: Paul Getty Kidnapped
- 1973: Sears Tower Built
- 1973: U.S. Pulls Out of Vietnam
- 1973: U.S. Vice President Resigns
|
24 | 1974 | - 1974: OPEC oil shock
- 1974: President Nixon resigns over Watergate scandal
- 1974: Halie Selassie, Emperor of Ethiopia, Deposed
- 1974: Mikhail Baryshnikov Defects
- 1974: Terracotta Army Discovered in China
- 1974: U.S. President Nixon Resigns
|
25 | 1975 | - 1975: End of Vietnam war
- 1975: Equal Pay Act and Sex Discrimination Act come into force in UK
- 1975: Arthur Ashe First Black Man to Win Wimbledon
- 1975: Civil War in Lebanon
- 1975: Microsoft Founded
- 1975: Pol Pot Becomes the Communist Dictator of Cambodia
|
26 | 1976 | - 1976: First Apple computer
- 1976: Viking Lander lands on Mars
- 1976: NASA's Viking Lander lands on Mars, starts looking for alien life
- 1976: Long hot summer in UK. Parliament introduces Drought Act
- 1976: Nadia Comaneci Given Seven Perfect Tens
- 1976: North and South Vietnam Join to Form the Socialist Republic of Vietnam
- 1976: Tangshan Earthquake Kills Over 240,000
|
27 | 1977 | - 1977: The Centre National d'Art et de la Culture Georges-Pompidou (Pompidou Centre or "Beaubourg"), a Hi-Tech metal-framework building designed by Richard Rogers, is completed in Paris and proves immensely popular.
- 1977: UK road speed limits set at 70mph for dual roads; 60mph single
- 1977: Queen Elizabeth II celebrates her Silver Jubilee
- 1977: 'Star Wars' fever invades Britain as thousands flock to cinemas to watch the long-awaited sci-fi blockbuster
- 1977: Elvis Found Dead
- 1977: Miniseries Roots Airs
- 1977: South African Anti-Apartheid Leader Steve Biko Tortured to Death
- 1977: Star Wars Movie Released
|
28 | 1978 | - 1978: World's first 'test tube' baby, Louise Browne born in Oldham
- 1978: Writer and broadcaster Georgi Markov dies after an assassin stabs him with a poisoned umbrella at a London bus stop.
- 1978: Pope John Paul II elected by cardinals: first non-Italian for 450 years
- 1978: First Test-Tube Baby Born
- 1978: John Paul II Becomes Pope
- 1978: Jonestown Massacre
|
29 | 1979 | - 1979: Margaret Thatcher Prime Minister to 1990 (Conservative)
- 1979: Public sector strike paralyses UK
- 1979: Margaret Thatcher becomes first woman UK Prime Minister
- 1979: Ayatollah Khomeini Returns as Leader of Iran
- 1979: Iran Takes American Hostages in Tehran
- 1979: Margaret Thatcher First Woman Prime Minister of Great Britain
- 1979: Mother Theresa Awarded the Nobel Peace Prize
- 1979: Nuclear Accident at Three Mile Island
- 1979: Sony Introduces the Walkman
|
30 | 1980 | - 1980: Arthur Fry, a chemist for 3M, invented the Post-It note
- 1980: Failed U.S. Rescue Attempt to Save Hostages in Tehran
- 1980: John Lennon Assassinated
- 1980: Mount St. Helens Erupts
- 1980: Rubik's Cube Popular
- 1980: Ted Turner Establishes CNN
- 1980: Failed U.S. Rescue Attempt to Save Hostages in Tehran
|
31 | 1981 | - 1981: First US Space Shuttle (Columbia) launched
- 1981: Worst April blizzards of 20th century in Britain
- 1981: Wedding of Prince Charles and Lady Diana Spencer
- 1981: Assassination Attempt on the Pope
- 1981: Assassination Attempt on U.S. President Reagan
- 1981: Millions Watch Royal Wedding on T.V.
- 1981: New Plague Identified as AIDS
- 1981: Pac-Man is Extremely Popular
- 1981: Personal Computers (PC) Introduced by IBM
|
32 | 1982 | - 1982: Argentina invades Falkland Islands
- 1982: Unemployment reaches 3 million in Britain
- 1982: Women's peace protests against cruise missiles begin at Greenham Common
- 1982: E.T. Movie Released
- 1982: Falkland Islands Invaded by Argentina
- 1982: King Henry VIII's Ship the Mary Rose Raised After 437 Years
- 1982: Reverend Sun Myung Moon Marries 2,075 Couples at Madison Square Garden
|
33 | 1983 | - 1983: Margaret Thatcher wins landslide second term election victory, taking 397 seats to Labour's 209
- 1983: ?1 coin goes into circulation in Britain
- 1983: Reagan Announces Defense Plan Called Star Wars
- 1983: Soviets Shoot Down a Korean Airliner
|
34 | 1984 | - 1984: Miners' strike in UK - High Court orders sequestration of NUM assets
- 1984: Huge Poison Gas Leak in Bhopal, India
- 1984: Indira Gandhi, India's Prime Minister, Killed by Two Bodyguards
|
35 | 1985 | - 1985: BBC launches 'EastEnders' as soap rival to 'Coronation Street'
- 1985: Famine in Ethiopia
- 1985: Hole in the Ozone Layer Discovered
- 1985: Mikhail Gorbachev Calls for Glasnost and Perestroika
- 1985: Wreck of the Titanic Found
|
36 | 1986 | - 1986: US bombing of Libya
- 1986: Chernobyl nuclear accident in USSR
- 1986: LiveAid, the biggest music event staged to date
- 1986: Seven dead in 'Challenger' space shuttle disaster
- 1986: Challenger Space Shuttle Explodes
- 1986: Chernobyl Nuclear Accident
- 1986: Ferdinand Marcos Flees the Philippines
- 1986: Iran-Contra Scandal Unfolds
- 1986: U.S. Bombs Libya
- 1986: U.S.S.R. Launches Mir Space Station
|
37 | 1987 | - 1987: Margaret Thatcher wins record third term as UK prime minister
- 1987: DNA First Used to Convict Criminals
- 1987: Klaus Barbie, the Nazi Butcher of Lyons, Sentenced to Life in Prison
- 1987: New York Stock Exchange Suffers Huge Drop on 'Black Monday'
- 1987: West German Pilot Lands Unchallenged in Russia's Red Square
|
38 | 1988 | - 1988: Pan Am Flight 103 Is Bombed Over Lockerbie
- 1988: U.S. Shoots Down Iranian Airliner
|
39 | 1989 | - 1989: Berlin Wall Falls
- 1989: Exxon Valdez Spills Millions of Gallons of Oil on Coastline
- 1989: Students Massacred in China's Tiananmen Square
|
40 | 1990 | - 1990: John Major Prime Minister to 1997 (Conservative)
- 1990: Iraq invades Kuwait, triggering first gulf war
- 1990: Violence flares in London Poll Tax demonstration
- 1990: Margaret Thatcher quits as UK prime minister
- 1990: Leading anti-apartheid campaigner Nelson Mandela freed from prison in South Africa after 27 years
- 1990: Hubble Telescope Launched Into Space
- 1990: Lech Walesa Becomes First President of Poland
- 1990: Nelson Mandela Freed
|
41 | 1991 | - 1991: Bronze Age Man Found Frozen in Glacier
- 1991: Collapse of the Soviet Union
- 1991: Operation Desert Storm
- 1991: South Africa Repeals Apartheid Laws
|
42 | 1992 | - 1992: Official End of the Cold War
|
43 | 1993 | - 1993: Cult Compound in Waco, Texas Raided
- 1993: Use of the Internet Grows Exponentially
- 1993: World Trade Center Bombed
|
44 | 1994 | - 1994: Channel Tunnel Opens, Connecting Britain and France
- 1994: Lorena Bobbit Takes Brutal Revenge
- 1994: Nelson Mandela Elected President of South Africa
- 1994: O.J. Simpson Arrested for Double Murder
- 1994: Rwandan Genocide Begins
|
45 | 1995 | - 1995: Ebola Virus Spreads in Zaire
- 1995: Gas Attack in Tokyo Subway
- 1995: Yitzhak Rabin Assassinated
|
46 | 1996 | - 1996: Mad Cow Disease Hits Britain
- 1996: Two Royal Divorces
|
47 | 1997 | - 1997: UK General Election: Labour routs Tories and Tony Blair becomes Prime Minister
- 1997: Hale-Bopp Comet Visible
- 1997: Hong Kong Returned to China
- 1997: Pathfinder Sends Back Images of Mars
- 1997: Princess Diana Dies in Car Crash
- 1997: Scientists Clone Sheep
|
48 | 1998 | - 1998: India and Pakistan Test Nuclear Weapons
- 1998: Titanic Most Successful Movie Ever
- 1998: U.S. President Clinton Impeached
- 1998: Viagra on the Market
|
49 | 1999 | - 1999: The Euro the New European Currency
- 1999: Fear of Y2K Bug
- 1999: Killing Spree at Columbine High School
- 1999: NATO Attacks Serbia
- 1999: Panama Canal Returns to Panama
|
50 | 2000 | - 2000: Fuel protests paralyse Britain for seven days
- 2000: World celebrates New Millennium: UK opens unpopular dome visitor attraction at Greenwich
|
51 | 2001 | - 2001: 11 SEP attacks on US
- 2001: Outbreak of Foot & Mouth disease in UK. Millions of animals slaughtered and burned across the nation
- 2001: General Election - Labour returned to power in UK
|
52 | 2002 | - 2002: The Queen Mother Elizabeth Bowes-Lyon dies, aged 101 years
|
53 | 2005 | - 2005: UK General election returns Labour to power for third term under Tony Blair
|
This site powered by v. 14.0.3, written by Darrin Lythgoe © 2001-2024.
Maintained by . | .