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Date |
Event(s) |
| 1 | 1933 | |
| 2 | 1937 | - 29 May 1937—10 May 1940: Neville Chamberlain, UK Prime Minister (Conservative)
Neville Chamberlain
|
| 3 | 1940 | - 1940—1945: Netherlands enters World War II with a surprise attack by a huge force from Germany.
- 1940—1945: In the next five years, Netherlands came to be increasingly under a regime of terror. During the winter of starvation, Netherlands was systematically looted by the Nazis. Tens of thousands of people died from starvation or deprivation.
- 1 Apr 1940: BOAC starts operations, replacing Imperial and British Airways Ltd
- 10 May 1940—26 Jul 1945: Sir Winston Churchill, UK Prime Minister (Conservative)
Sir Winston Churchill
- 11 May 1940: National Government formed under Churchill
- 13 May 1940: Germany invades France
- 27 May 1940: Start of the evacuation of the British Army at Dunkirk (27 May - 4 Jun)
- 25 Jun 1940: Fall of France to Germany
- 7 Sep 1940: Germany launches bombing blitz on Britain, the first of 57 consecutive nights of
bombing
- 15 Sep 1940: Battle of Britain: massive waves of German air attacks decisively repulsed by the
RAF
- 14 Nov 1940: Coventry heavily bombed and the Cathedral almost completely destroyed
|
| 4 | 1941 | - 1941: Britain introduces severe rationing
- 1941: First British jet aircraft flies, based on work of Whittle
- 1941: Bailey invents his portable military bridge
- 1941: First use of antibiotics
- 10 May 1941: Rudolf Hess flies to Scotland
- 27 May 1941: 'Bismark' sunk
- 22 Jun 1941: Germany invades Russia (Operation Barbarossa)
- 1 Jul 1941: First Canadian armoured regiments arrive in Britain
- Dec 1941: Canadian forces given operation role in defending south coast of England
- Dec 1941: 'Manhattan Project' of nuclear research begins in America
- 7 Dec 1941: Japan attackes US fleet at Pearl Harbour
- 7 Dec 1941: World War II
- 8 Dec 1941: USA enters WWII
- 24 Dec 1941: Hong Kong falls to the Japanese
|
| 5 | 1942 | - 1942: Invention of world's first programmable computer by Alan Turing in co-operation with
Max Neumann
- 1942: Gilbert Murray founds Oxfam
- 30 May 1942: Over 1,000 allied bombers raid Cologne
- 4 Jun 1942: Battle of Midway
- 19 Aug 1942: Abortive raid on Dieppe, largely by Canadian troops
- 6 Sep 1942: Germans defeated at Stalingrad
- 3 Oct 1942: First successful launch of V2 rocket in Germany
- 23 Oct 1942: Battle of El Alamein
- 2 Dec 1942: 'Manhattan Project'
|
| 6 | 1943 | - 1943: Round-the-clock bombing of Germany begins
- 16 May 1943: 'Dam Buster' raids on Ruhr dams by RAF
- 24 Jul 1943: Allies invade Italy
|
| 7 | 1944 | - 6 Apr 1944: PAYE income tax begins
- 4 Jun 1944: Allies enter Rome
- 6 Jun 1944: D-Day invasion of Normandy
- 12 Jun 1944: First V1 flying bombs hit London
- 8 Sep 1944: First V2 rocket bombs hit London
- 11 Sep 1944: Allies enter Germany
- 16 Dec 1944: Battle of the Bulge: German counter-offensive
|
| 8 | 1945 | - 1945: Netherlands
Hunger Winter and liberation.
- 4 Feb 1945: Yalta Conference between Churchill, Roosevelt and Stalin
- 29 Mar 1945: Last V1 flying bomb attack
- 12 Apr 1945—20 Jan 1953: Harry S. Truman, 33rd President of the United States
Harry S. Truman
- 25 Apr 1945: Berlin surrounded by Russian troops
- 30 Apr 1945: Hitler commits suicide
- 8 May 1945: VE Day (Victory in Europe)
- 9 May 1945: Channel Islands liberated
- 26 Jun 1945: UN Charter signed in San Francisco
- 16 Jul 1945: First ever atomic bomb exploded in a test in New Mexico (although there were
other forms of atomic device before that, such as the Pile at Stagg Field, first critical on
2nd Dec 1942)
- 26 Jul 1945: Labour win UK General Election
- 26 Jul 1945—26 Oct 1951: Clement Attlee, UK Prime Minister (Labour)
Clement Attlee
- 29 Jul 1945: BBC Light Programme starts
- 6 Aug 1945: Atomic bomb dropped on Hiroshima
- 9 Aug 1945: Atomic bomb dropped on Nagasaki
- 15 Aug 1945: VJ Day (Victory in Japan)
- 2 Sep 1945: Japanese surrender signed aboard USS Missouri
- 24 Oct 1945: United Nations Organisation comes into existence
- 4 Nov 1945: UNESCO founded
|
| 9 | 1946 | - 1946: Transition to National Health Service starts in Britain (came into being 5th July 1948)
- 1946: Alistair Cooke starts his regular 'Letter from America' on BBC radio
- 1 Jan 1946: First civillian flight from Heathrow Airport
- 1 Mar 1946: Bank of England nationalised
|
| 10 | 1947 | - 1947: Most severe winter in Britain for 53 years at start of the year
- 1947: First British nuclear reactor developed
- 1947: Netherlands
First police action in the Dutch Indies
- 1 Jan 1947: Coal Mines nationalised
- 23 Feb 1947: International Organization for Standardization (ISO) founded
- 1 Mar 1947: International Monetary Fund begins financial operations
- 1 Apr 1947: School leaving age raised to 15 in Britain
- 26 Oct 1947: British military occupation ends in Iraq
- 20 Nov 1947: Marriage of Princess Elizabeth (later Elizabeth II) and Philip Mountbatten in
Westminster Abbey
|
| 11 | 1948 | - 1948: British Citizenship Act : all Commonwealth citizens qualify for British passports
- 1948: Transistor radio invented
- 1948: Long-playing record (LP) invented by Goldmark
- 1948: Netherlands
Second police action in the Dutch Indies
- 1948: Netherlands
Queen Wilhelmina resigns . It will be followed by her daughter Juliana
- 1 Jan 1948: British Railways nationalised
- 5 Jul 1948: National Health Service (NHS) begins in Britain
- 29 Jul 1948: London Olympics begin
|
| 12 | 1949 | - 1949: Maiden flight of the Bristol Brabazon (broken up in 1953 for scrap)
- 1949: De Haviland produces the Comet
- 15 Mar 1949: Clothes rationing ends in Britain
- 4 Apr 1949: Twelve nations sign The North Atlantic Treaty creating NATO
- 3 May 1949: !!Roger Mitchell was born!!
|
| 13 | 1950 | - 19 May 1950: Points rationing ends in Britain
- 26 May 1950: Petrol rationing ends in Britain
- 25 Jun 1950: Korean War
- 11 Jul 1950: 'Andy Pandy' first seen on BBC TV
- 9 Sep 1950: Soap rationing ends in Britain
- 28 Dec 1950: The Peak District becomes the Britain's first National Park
|
| 14 | 1951 | - 1951: The first official television broadcast in the Netherlands.
- 3 May 1951: Festival of Britain and Royal Festival Hall open on South Bank, London
- 28 May 1951: First Goon Show broadcast
- 26 Oct 1951—6 Apr 1955: Sir Winston Churchill, UK Prime Minister (Conservative)
Sir Winston Churchill
- 20 Dec 1951: Electricity first produced by nuclear power, from Experimental Breeder Reactor
|
| 15 | 1952 | - 1952: Contraceptive pill invented
- 1952: Britain explodes her first atomic bomb, in Australia
- 1952: Radioactive carbon used for dating prehistoric objects
- 1952: Bonn Convention: Britain, France and USA end their occupation of West Germany
- 1952: The last execution takes place in the Netherlands.
- 6 Feb 1952: King George VI dies
- 21 Feb 1952: Identity Cards abolished in Britain
- 2 May 1952: First commercial jet airliner service launched, by BOACComet between London
and Johannesburg
- 5 Jul 1952: Last tram runs in London (Woolwich to New Cross)
- 16 Aug 1952: Lynmouth (North Devon) flood disaster
- 6 Sep 1952: DH110 crashes at Farnborough Air Show, 26 killed
- 3 Oct 1952: End of tea rationing in Britain
- 1 Nov 1952: The first H-bomb ever ('Mike') was exploded by the USA
- 25 Nov 1952: Agatha Christie's 'The Mousetrap' opens in London
- 4 Dec 1952: Great smog hits London
|
| 16 | 1953 | - 1 Jan 1953: As a result of a long series of errors, Netherlands was not ready when during a heavy storm, the sea broke through the dikes. There were many more victims than had been necessary. 1835 people perished. Thousands of livestock animals were drowned.
- 20 Jan 1953—20 Jan 1961: Dwight David Eisenhower, 34th President of the United States
Dwight David Eisenhower
- 31 Jan 1953: Said to be the biggest civil catastrophe in Britain in the 20th century
- 5 Feb 1953: Sweet rationing ends in Britain
- 5 Mar 1953: Death of Stalin
- 26 Mar 1953: Jonas Salk announces his polio vaccine
- 24 Apr 1953: Winston Churchill knighted
- 25 Apr 1953: Francis Crick and James D Watson publish the double helix structure of DNA
- 2 Jun 1953: Coronation of Elizabeth II
- 26 Sep 1953: Sugar rationing ends in Britain (after nearly 14 years)
|
1940 - 1953 (13 years)
