Project BritainProject Britain

British Life and Culture

by Mandy Barrow

 
 
What's happening this month? | Jan | Feb | Mar | Aprl | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sept| Oct | Nov | Dec
 
British life and culture - England, Scotland and Wales
Twentieth Century Britain
 
Modern Britain
1901
Edward 722 January: Victoria dies and is succeeded by her eldest son Edward VII
1902
Britain defeats Dutch settlers in Boer War in South Africa

1902

The first old age pension
1908

27 April: Olympic Games opens at White City in London
They featured 22 nations, 110 events and more than 2,000 athletes.

1908

27 October: Parliament approves old age pensions
New legislation gave a weekly means-tested pension of a maximum of five shillings to all those aged over 70.

1910

Gearge 56 May: Edward VII dies and is succeeded by George V

1911

December 191: National Insurance Act
A contributory scheme of health insurance is introduced for those in employment, which provided payment for medical treatment.

1912

15 April: 'Titanic' sinks with the loss of 1,503 lives

1914 - 1918

First World War
4 August 1914: Britain declares war on Germany in response to the invasion of Belgium
Compulsory military service and food rationing introduced

1918
6 February: Limited numbers of women are given the vote for the first time
The Representation of the People Act enfranchised all men over the age of 21, and propertied women over 30.
1918 - 1919

May 'Spanish flu' epidemic killed more than 200,000 people in Britain and up to 50 million worldwide.

1918

11 November: World War One ends when Germany signs an armistice
that brought the fighting on the Western Front to a halt at 11am on 11 November 1918.

1919

1 December 1919 Lady Astor becomes the first woman to take her seat in parliament

1919

23 December Exclusion of women from many jobs is made illegal
Women could now become magistrates, solicitors and barristers.

1920

Women at Oxford University are allowed to receive degrees
Although women had been able to attend degree level courses, they could not receive degrees until 1920.

1920 

Republic of Ireland gains independence
1920

26 January: John Logie Baird gives the first public demonstration of television. It was not until after the World War Two that televisions became widely available.

1927

1 January: British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) is created

1928

7 May: All women over the age of 21 get the vote

1928

September: The first 'talkie' (film with dialogue) is shown in Britain
Cinema-going was immensely popular during the 1920s and 1930s and virtually every town, suburb and major housing development had at least one cinema.

1928

30 September: Alexander Fleming discovers penicillin

1936

Edward 820 January: George V dies and is succeeded by Edward VIII

1936

5 October: Jarrow men march 300 miles to London to highlight poverty and mass unemployment (as high as 70%) in the north east of England

1936

10 December: Edward VIII abdicates in order to marry Wallace Simpson
Edward VIII wished to marry American Wallis Simpson. Prime Minister Stanley Baldwin advised him that the British people would not accept her because she was a divorcee. Faced with losing the woman he loved, Edward chose instead to abdicate. On 11 December, he broadcast his decision to the nation. He married Wallace Simpson in France in June 1937. They became the Duke and Duchess of Windsor.

1937

George 612 May 1937 George VI, Edward VIII's younger brother, the Duke of York, is crowned king

1937

29 December: New constitution makes Ireland a republic in all but name

1937
Sir Frank Whittle invents the Jet Engine
1939 - 1945
The Second World War

3 September 1939: Britain declares war on Germany in response to the invasion of Poland

1940

10 May: Winston Churchill becomes prime minister of the coalition government

1940

May: Butler Act creates free secondary education to the age of 15

1945

8 May: Britain celebrates the end of war on Victory in Europe Day

1945

15 August: Victory over Japan Day marks the end of World War Two

1947

15 August: India gains independence from Britain

1948

Post-war immigration from the Commonwealth begins

1948
5 July: Introduction of the National Health Service
1948

29 July: Olympic Games open at Wembley Stadium in London
Fifty nine nations took part, but the defeated powers of Germany and Japan were excluded.

1948

18 April: Republic of Ireland comes into being

1951
3 May Festival of Union Flag Britain is opened by George VI
1952

Elizabeth 26 February: Elizabeth II succeeds her father, George VI

1953

2 June Coronation of Queen Elizabeth II
1953

25 April: Watson and Crick publish their discovery of the structure of DNA

1955

22 September: Commercial television starts with the first ITV broadcast

1956

17 October: Britain switches on its first nuclear power station - Calder Hall

1957

6 March: Ghana becomes the first British colony in Africa to gain independence

1958

5 December: The first Motorway, the M6 Preston bypass, opens.

1959
M1 opens from Watford to Birmingham.
1964
The BBC starts broadcasting a second channel, BBC Two
1965

12 July: Comprehensive education system is introduced

1965

8 November: Death penalty is abolished
The death sentence for treason and piracy with violence remained on the statue books until 1998 when they were abolished by the Crime and Disorder Act.

1967

Abortion and homosexuality are legalised

1969

2 March: Concorde, the world's first supersonic airliner, makes its maiden flight

1971

15 February: Decimalised currency replaces 'pounds, shillings and pence'

1973
1 January: Britain joins the European Economic Community
1978

25 July: World's first test-tube baby is born in Oldham

1979
3 May: Margaret Thatcher becomes Britain's first woman prime minister
1982
Channel 4 starts broadcasting giving Britain it's fourth television station
1982
2 April Falklands War
Argentina invades the British territory of the Falkland Islands
1984

12 March: 12-month 'Miners' Strike' over pit closures begins

1984

Tim Berners-Lee invents the World Wide Web

1991
Gulf War
1991
Sir Tim Berners Lee invents the World Wide Web
1992

6 May: Channel Tunnel opens, linking London and Paris by rail

1994
Channel Tunnel links Britain back to the European continent
1994
First women priests are ordained by the Church of England
1994

1 July: Britain hands Hong Kong back to China, after more than 150 years of British rule

1997
31 August: Diana, Princess of Wales, dies in a car crash in Paris

1999

welsh flag Welsh national assembly and scottish flag Scottish parliament
2003
The Second Gulf War
2005

December: Civil partnerships give same-sex couples legal rights

Click here for Information on Britain Since 1930s

Victorianlast pagenext page History Index

Prehistoric Britain BC Roman Britain 43 AD Anglo Saxon Britain 450
Viking Britain 793 Medieval Britain 1066 Tudor Britain 1485
Stuart Britain 1603 Georgian Britain 1714 Victorian Britain 1837
Modern Britain 1902 +

Pre..
Romans
Saxons
Vikings
Normans
Tudors
Victorians
Today
Prehistoric
Roman Britain
Saxon Britain
Viking Britain
Norman Britain
Tudor Britain
Victorian Britain
World War Two
BC
43
450
793
1066
1485
1837
1939

 

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© Copyright Mandy Barrow 2013

www.mandybarrow.com

Mandy is the creator of the Woodlands Resources section of the Woodlands Junior website. 
The two websites projectbritain.com and primaryhomeworkhelp.co.uk are the new homes for the Woodlands Resources.

Mandy left Woodlands in 2003 to work in Kent schools as an ICT Consulatant. 
She now teaches computers at The Granville School and St. John's Primary School in Sevenoaks Kent.

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