Timeline of events
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November 28
An informal cease-fire is agreed roughly along the approximate line of the 38th parallel in Korea |
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January 29
'Rab' Butler announces his new austerity measures, including more NHS charges
February 8
Elizabeth II becomes Queen of England. The Queen is informed of the death of her father, King George VI, whilst on safari in Kenya
July 5
Thousands of Londoners bid farewell to the city's last tram, which runs from Woolwich to New Cross
October 3
Montebello atomic tests
The first British atomic tests are held in the Montebello Islands, 120 km northwest of Dampier, Western Australia. Tests are then moved to Emu Field in northwestern South Australia
November 4
The Queen opens her first parliament
January 2
The RAF's first supersonic fighters, 400 US-designed Sabres, arrive at RAF Abingdon
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March 5
Joseph Stalin, who ruled Russia with an iron fist for 30 years, suffers a brain haemorrhage and dies
June 2
Elizabeth II is crowned at a ceremony in Westminster Abbey
July 27
The war in Korea ends after 3 years of fighting
August 12
The Soviet Union explodes its first Hydrogen Bomb
September 3
Florence Horsburgh becomes Minister of Education, the first Tory woman cabinet minister
October
A record 30,031 new homes are built
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January 1 Flashing direction indicator lights become legal on Motor Vehicles in Britain
February 12 Study by the British Standing Advisory committee on cancer and chemotherapy officially links cancer with smoking
March 25 MPs approve the establishment of commercial television
July 27
65,000 British troops pull out of the Suez Canal Base
August 1 The UK Atomic Energy Authority is established
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January 23
380 Jamaican immigrants are played ashore by a ship’s band as they arrived in Plymouth. The group is the latest in a growing number seeking jobs and homes in Britain.
February 2 A four year plan to modernise Britain's roads is announced and £212 million is to be spent on constructing motorways and improving traffic black spots
April 5 At the age of 80 Winston Churchill resigns as Prime Minister and is succeeded by Sir Anthony Eden
May 14 The Warsaw pact is signed by the Soviet Prime Minister. The pact forms all the Eastern Block Nations into a new military alliance
July 27 The Clean Air Bill is published, which would create 'smoke control areas'
September 22 Commercial television is launched for London only
December 20 Cardiff becomes the capital of Wales
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February 16 London MPs vote in favour of abolishing the death penalty
March 6 The Chairman of the British Transport Commission announces the introduction of electrified trains and the end of the steam age
July 5
The Clean Air Bill is passed
August 29
A massive build-up of British and French troops takes place in the Eastern Mediterranean, foreshadowing the possibility of military operations in Egypt
October 29
Britain and France tell Egypt and Israel to withdraw from the Suez Canal within 12 hours
November 8
The UN imposes a ceasefire on British and French forces, ordering operations in the Canal Zone to come to a halt
December 3 Egypt and France announce their withdrawal from Suez.
Rosa Parks refuses to give up her seat for a white man on an bus in Alabama. Her stand helped to motivate Martin Luther King’s protests, which brought about the 1964 Civil Rights Act
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January 10
Harold Macmillan becomes leader of the Conservative Party and Britain's new Prime Minister, replacing Sir Anthony Eden
March 25
Six nations (France, West Germany, Italy, Belgium, Holland and Luxembourg) sign the Treaty of Rome, setting up the European Common Market
May 15 Britain detonates it's first Hydrogen Bomb on Christmas Island, becoming the third power with thermonuclear weapons
August 6 2000 people a week are reported to be emigrating to the Commonwealth despite full employment at home
October 4
Russia launches the first satellite, the 'Sputnik-I', into space
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April
4,000 CND (Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament) protesters complete the march from Aldermaston to Trafalgar Square
May
160 square miles of countryside are to be established as several areas of outstanding natural beauty
December 3
The government announces the closure of 36 pits and cuts in open-cast mining
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February 19 Macmillan signs treaty with Greeks and Turks for an independent Cyprus
March 30 20,000 attend CND rally in Trafalgar Square
May 7 British Rail announces plans to close 230 stations
September 14 Soviet Rocket 'Lunik 2' is the first spacecraft to hit the moon. The rocket crashed but was the first man-made object to reach our nearest neighbour in space
October 8 Macmillan's Tory government is re-elected
November 20
Britain is the founding member of the EFTA, the seven-member European Free Trade Association to rival the Common Market
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February 3
Macmillan visits South Africa and announces from Cape Town that, 'The wind of change is blowing through this continent,' and '...there has to be justice not only for the black man in Africa but the white man'
April 18
Over 60,000 CND supporters demonstrate in Trafalgar Square after Aldermaston march
June 29
The House of Commons rejects calls to implement Wolfenden's 1957 report regarding the decriminalisation of homosexual relationships
August 31
East Germany closes its borders with West Berlin
October 1
Nigeria becomes independent
December 31
The last conscripts for National Service are drafted into the armed forces. The scheme began in 1939 with the total number of men enlisted 5,300,000
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January 20
On Capitol Hill John Fitzgerald Kennedy, aged 43, takes the oath and becames 35th President of the United States
March 15 South Africa withdraws from the British Commonwealth
April 12 Yuri Gagarin is the first human in space
July 31 Britain bids to join the Common Market for the first time
August 13 The East Germans begin erecting the Berlin wall, which is to divide the country for 28 years
December 4 The government makes the birth control pill available on the NHS
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February 27
MPs pass a bill to restrict immigration from the Commonwealth
April 18 Commonwealth Immigration Bill enacted: removes, from 30 June, the principle of free entry for all Commonwealth citizens
June 2 Macmillan visits President de Gaulle to discuss British entry into the European Economic Community (EEC)
July 13 Night of the Long Knives; Macmillan sacks seven members of his cabinet following unpopularity over the government's pay restraint policies
August 6 Independence of Jamaica; followed by independence of Trinidad and Tobago, 31 August
October 14
Cuban Missile Crisis begins: a U-2 flight over Cuba takes photos of Soviet nuclear weapons being installed. A standoff then ensues the next day between the United States and the Soviet Union, putting the entire world under threat of a nuclear war
November 29
Agreement to build Concorde, a supersonic aircraft
December 19 Macmillan-Kennedy conference in Nassau over British desire for independent nuclear missile |
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January 14 President de Gaulle vetoes British entry into EEC
January 21 UK Government figures show the average weekly wage is £16 14/11
March 22
"Profumo Scandal": media exaggerates importance of association between the War Minister, John Profumo and a call-girl, Christine Keeler
May 1 Churchill announces that he will retire from the House of Commons at the next election
July 16 The government proposes the creation of a Ministry of Defence
October 10 Macmillan's resignation, on health grounds, is announced. Sir Alec Douglas-Home succeeds Macmillan as Prime Minister
November 22 President Kennedy is shot dead in Dallas, Texas
December 12
Kenya gains independence
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February 6
Britain and France agree to build a Channel Tunnel
April 1 Unified Ministry of Defence is created; the Admiralty, War Office and Air Ministry cease to exist
August 7 US steps up action against Vietnam. President Johnson receives approval from Congress to 'take all necessary action' against the Communist regime in North Vietnam
September 21
Malta becomes independent within the Commonwealth
October 15 General election won by Harold Wilson's Labour Party: Labour win 317 seats, Conservatives 304 and Liberals 9
November 9 British House of Commons votes to abolish the death penalty for murder in Britain
December 17 All prescription charges to be free from Feb 1965
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