Timeline: James RUSHTON: Mills/Rushton Family History

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1919 - 1983 (64 years)

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Timeline

James RUSHTON (1919 - 1983)

	Date	Event(s)
1	1919	1919: Britain adopts a 48-hour working week 1919: Sir Ernest Rutherford publishes account of splitting the atom 15 Jun 1919: Alcock and Brown complete first nonstop flight across the Atlantic 28 Jun 1919: Treaty of Versailles signed
2	1920	1920: Regular cross-channel air service starts 1920: Marconi opens a radio broadcasting station in Britain 1920: Thompson patents his machine gun (Tommy gun) Feb 1920: First roadside petrol filling station in UK – opened by the Automobile Association at Aldermaston on the Bath Road
3	1921	1921: Railway Act in Britain amalgamates companies – only four remained 1921: Insulin discovery announced 1921: First birth control clinic 19 Jun 1921: Census: Population - England and Wales: 37.9 Million; Scotland: 4.9 Million; N Ireland: 1.25 Million 6 Dec 1921: Anglo-Irish Treaty signed in London, leading to the formation of the Irish Free State and Northern Ireland
4	1922	1922: Law of Property Act – the manorial system effectively ended 1 Jun 1922: Royal Ulster Constabulary founded Oct 1922: BBC established as a monopoly, and begins transmissions in November (2LO in London on 14 Nov; 5IT in Birmingham and 2ZY in Manchester on 15 Nov)
5	1923	1923: Roads in Great Britain classified with A and B numbers 1923: Hubble shows there are galaxies beyond the Milky Way 1923: First American broadcasts heard in Britain 1 Jan 1923: The majority of the railway companies in Great Britain grouped into four main companies, the Big Four: LNER, GWR, SR, LMSR – lasted until nationalisation in 1948 16 Feb 1923: Howard Carter unsealed the burial chamber of Tutankhamun 28 Apr 1923: First Wembley cup final (West Ham 0, Bolton 2) – "I'm Forever Blowing Bubbles," popular song of the time, became the West Ham anthem 28 Sep 1923: First publication of Radio Times
6	1924	4 Jan 1924: First Labour government in Britain, headed by Ramsay MacDonald 5 Feb 1924: Hourly Greenwich Time Signals from the Royal Greenwich Observatory were first broadcast by the BBC 31 Mar 1924: British Imperial Airways begins operations (formed by merger of four British airline companies – became BOAC in 1940)
7	1925	1925: Britain returns to gold standard 18 Jul 1925: Adolf Hitler publishes Mein Kampf
8	1926	1926: First public demonstration of television (TV) by John Logie Baird 1926: Adoption of children is legalised in Britain 1926: Kodak produces 16mm movie film 1926: Walt Disney arrives in Hollywood 21 Apr 1926: Princess Elizabeth born 3 May 1926: General Strike begins. Lasts until May 12 (mine workers for 6 months more) 31 Oct 1926: Death of Harry Houdini
9	1927	1927: Release of the first 'talkie' film (The Jazz Singer) 7 Jan 1927: First transatlantic telephone call – New York City to London 22 Jan 1927: First football broadcast by BBC (Arsenal v Sheffield United at Highbury) 1 May 1927: First cooked meals on a scheduled flight introduced by Imperial Airways from London to Paris 20 May 1927: Lindbergh makes solo flight across the Atlantic, in 33½ hours 31 May 1927: Last Ford Model T rolls off assembly line 24 Jul 1927: The Menin Gate war memorial unveiled at Ypres
10	1928	1928: Women over 21 get vote in Britain – same qualification for both sexes 26 Apr 1928: Madame Tussauds opens in London 15 Sep 1928: Sir Alexander Fleming accidentally discovers penicillin (results published 1929)
11	1929	1929: Abolition of Poor Law system in Britain 1929: Minimum age for a marriage in Britain (which had been 14 for a boy and 12 for a girl) now 16 for both sexes, with parental consent (or a licence) needed for anyone under 21 1929: BBC begins experimental TV transmissions
12	1930	1930: First Nazis elected to the German Reichstag 1930: Youth Hostel Association (YHA) founded in Britain 30 Jan 1930: Hitler becomes chancellor of Germany 31 Jan 1930: 3M begins marketing Scotch Tape 6 Mar 1930: Clarence Birdseye first marketed frozen peas 5 Oct 1930: R101 airship disaster – British abandons airship construction
13	1931	1931: Statute of Westminster: British Dominions become independent sovereign states 1931: Collapse of the German banking system; 3,000 banks there close 14 Apr 1931: Highway Code first issued 26 Apr 1931: Census: Population - England and Wales; 40 Million; Scotland: 4.8 Million; N Ireland: 1.24 Million (Unfortunately, the census was destroyed by fire in WW2) 21 Oct 1931: National Government formed to deal with economic crisis – Britain comes off gold standard
14	1932	1932: Great Hunger March of unemployed to London 1932: Moseley founds British Union of Fascists 1932: Cockroft and Walton accelerate particles to disintegrate an atomic nucleus 1932: Sir Thomas Beecham established the London Philharmonic Orchestra 21 May 1932: Amelia Earhart first solo nonstop flight across Atlantic by a female pilot 3 Oct 1932: Iraq gains independence from Britain 3 Oct 1932: 'The Times' introduces 'Times New Roman' typeface
15	1933	1933: ICI scientists discover polythene 1933: Only 6 pennies minted in Britain this year 12 Nov 1933: First known photos of the 'Loch Ness Monster' taken
16	1934	1934: Hitler becomes Fuehrer of Germany 18 Jul 1934: King George V opens Mersey Tunnel 26 Sep 1934: RMS Queen Mary launched 30 Nov 1934: First time a steam locomotive travels at 100 mph ('Flying Scotsman')
17	1935	1935: London adopts a 'Green Belt' scheme 1935: Land speed record of 301.13 mph by Malcolm Campbell 28 Feb 1935: Nylon first produced by Gerard J. Berchet of Wallace Carothers' research group at DuPont (there is no evidence to the widely-supposed story that the name derives from New York-London) 12 Mar 1935: Hore-Belisha introduces pedestrian crossings and speed limits for built-up areas in Britain 1 Jun 1935: Voluntary driving tests introduced in UK 30 Jul 1935: Penguin paperbacks launched
18	1936	1936: Jet engine first tested 20 Jan 1936: George V dies 5 May 1936: First flight of a Spitfire 24 Jul 1936: 'Speaking clock' service starts in UK 2 Nov 1936: British Broadcasting Corporation initiates the BBC Television Service, world's first public TV transmission 30 Nov 1936: Crystal Palace destroyed by fire 5 Dec 1936: Edward VIII abdicates (announced Dec 10) – popular carol that Christmas: "Hark the Herald Angels sing, Mrs Simpson's got our King"
19	1937	1937: '999' emergency telephone call facility starts in London 1937: Billy Butlin opens his first holiday camp 12 Apr 1937: Frank Whittle ground-tests the first jet engine designed to power an aircraft 12 May 1937: Coronation of King George VI 28 May 1937: Neville Chamberlain becomes Prime Minister – policy of appeasement towards Hitler 3 Jun 1937: Duke of Windsor marries Wallis Simpson 4 Dec 1937: 'The Dandy' first published
20	1938	1938: Principle of paid holidays established in Britain 1938: HMS Rodney first ship to be equipped with radar 1938: First practical ball-point pen produced by Hungarian journalist, Lajos Biro 12 Mar 1938: Germany invades and annexes Austria 3 Jul 1938: 'Mallard' reaches 126 mph (203 km/h); still world record for a steam locomotive 27 Sep 1938: Largest ocean liner ever built, Queen Elizabeth launched on Clydebank 29 Sep 1938: Chamberlain visits Hitler in Munich – promises 'peace in our time' 30 Oct 1938: Orson Welles broadcasts his radio play of HG Wells 'The War of the Worlds', causing panic in the USA
21	1939	1939: Germany annexes Czechoslovakia 1939: Start of evacuation of women and children from London 1939: Coldest winter in Britain since 1894, though this could not be publicised at the time 1 Sep 1939: Germany invades Poland 3 Sep 1939: Britain and France declare war on Germany 6 Sep 1939: First air-raid on Britain 11 Sep 1939: British Expeditionary Force (BEF) sent to France 14 Oct 1939: HMS Royal Oak sunk in Scapa Flow with loss of 810 lives 7 Dec 1939: 'First flight' of Canadian troops sail for Britain – 7,400 men on 5 ships 17 Dec 1939: 'Admiral Graf Spee' scuttled outside Montevideo
22	1940	1 Apr 1940: BOAC starts operations, replacing Imperial and British Airways Ltd 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 – Hitler postpones invasion of Britain 14 Nov 1940: Coventry heavily bombed and the Cathedral almost completely destroyed
23	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 8 Dec 1941: USA enters WWII 24 Dec 1941: Hong Kong falls to the Japanese
24	1942	1942: Invention of world's first programmable computer by Alan Turing in co-operation with Max Neumann – used to crack German codes 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 – first man-made object to reach space 23 Oct 1942: Battle of El Alamein – Montgomery defeats Rommel 2 Dec 1942: 'Manhattan Project' – a team led by Enrico Fermi initiates the first self-sustaining nuclear chain reaction
25	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 – Benito Mussolini resigns as Italian Dictator, 24 July
26	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
27	1945	4 Feb 1945: Yalta Conference between Churchill, Roosevelt and Stalin 29 Mar 1945: Last V1 flying bomb attack 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 – Churchill out of office 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
28	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 – until 2004 1 Jan 1946: First civillian flight from Heathrow Airport 1 Mar 1946: Bank of England nationalised
29	1947	1947: Most severe winter in Britain for 53 years at start of the year – heavy snow and much flooding later 1947: First British nuclear reactor developed 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
30	1948	1948: British Citizenship Act : all Commonwealth citizens qualify for British passports 1948: Transistor radio invented 1948: Long-playing record (LP) invented by Goldmark 1 Jan 1948: British Railways nationalised 5 Jul 1948: National Health Service (NHS) begins in Britain 29 Jul 1948: London Olympics begin
31	1949	1949: Maiden flight of the Bristol Brabazon (broken up in 1953 for scrap) 1949: De Haviland produces the Comet – first jet airliner 15 Mar 1949: Clothes rationing ends in Britain 4 Apr 1949: Twelve nations sign The North Atlantic Treaty creating NATO
32	1950	19 May 1950: Points rationing ends in Britain 26 May 1950: Petrol rationing ends in Britain 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
33	1951	3 May 1951: Festival of Britain and Royal Festival Hall open on South Bank, London 28 May 1951: First Goon Show broadcast 20 Dec 1951: Electricity first produced by nuclear power, from Experimental Breeder Reactor
34	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 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 – the mushroom cloud was 8 miles across and 27 miles high. The canopy was 100 miles wide. Radioactive mud fell out of the sky followed by heavy rain. 80 million tons of earth was vaporised. 25 Nov 1952: Agatha Christie's 'The Mousetrap' opens in London 4 Dec 1952: Great smog hits London
35	1953	31 Jan 1953: Said to be the biggest civil catastrophe in Britain in the 20th century – severe storm and high tides caused the loss of hundreds of lives –- effects travelled from the west coast of Scotland round to the south-east coast of England [The Netherlands were even worse affected with over a thousand deaths] 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)
36	1954	1954: First comprehensive school opens in London 1954: Routemaster bus starts operating in London 1954: First transistor radios sold 6 May 1954: First sub 4 minute mile (Roger Bannister, 3 mins 59.4 secs) 3 Jul 1954: Food rationing officially ends in Britain 5 Jul 1954: BBC broadcasts its first television news bulletin 30 Sep 1954: First atomic powered sumbmarine USS Nautilus commissioned
37	1955	1955: 'Mole' self-grip wrench patented by Thomas Coughtrie of Mole & Sons 27 Jul 1955: Jul 27: Allied occupation of Austria (after WW2) ends 22 Sep 1955: Commercial TV starts in Britain
38	1956	1956: Britain constructs world's first large-scale nuclear power station in Cumberland 1 Mar 1956: Radiotelephony spelling alphabet introduced (Alpha, Bravo, etc) 17 Apr 1956: Premium Bonds first launched – first prizes drawn on 1 Jun 1957 3 Jun 1956: 3rd class travel abolished on British Railways (renamed 'Third Class' as 'Second Class', which had been abolished in 1875 leaving just First and Third Class) 31 Oct 1956: Britain and France invade Suez
39	1957	1957: Britain introduces parking meters 1957: Helvetica typeface developed (in Switzerland) 11 Jan 1957: Harold Macmillan becomes Prime Minister 14 May 1957: Post-Suez petrol rationing ends 15 May 1957: Britain explodes her first hydrogen bomb, at Christmas Island 25 May 1957: Treaty of Rome to create European Economic Community (EEC) of six countries: France, West Germany, Italy, Belgium, Holland and Luxembourg – became operational Jan 1958 4 Dec 1957: Lewisham rail disaster – 90 killed as two trains collide in thick fog and a viaduct collapses on top of them 25 Dec 1957: Queen's first Christmas TV broadcast
40	1958	1958: Easter: First anti-nuclear protest march to Aldermaston (emergence of CND) 1958: Computers begin to be used in research, industry and commerce 1958: USA begins to produce Inter-Continental Ballistic Missiles (ICBMs) 13 May 1958: Velcro trade mark registered 26 Jul 1958: Prince Charles' Investiture as "Prince of Wales" 5 Dec 1958: Inauguration of Subscriber Trunk Dialling (STD) in Britain (completed in 1979) 5 Dec 1958: Preston by-pass opens – UK's first stretch of motorway
41	1959	3 Feb 1959: 'The Day The Music Died' – plane crash kills Buddy Holly, Ritchie Valens, and The Big Bopper 17 Feb 1959: Vanguard 2 satellite launched – first to measure cloud-cover distribution 24 May 1959: Empire Day becomes Commonwealth Day Aug 1959: BMC Mini car launched 3 Oct 1959: Postcodes introduced in Britain 1 Nov 1959: First section of M1 motorway opened
42	1960	17 Mar 1960: New £1 notes issued by Bank of England 18 Mar 1960: Last steam locomotive of British Railways named 21 Jul 1960: Francis Chichester arrives in New York aboard Gypsy Moth II (took 40 days), winning the first single-handed transatlantic yacht race which he co-founded 12 Aug 1960: Echo I, the first (passive) communications satellite, launched 12 Sep 1960: MoT tests on motor vehicles introduced 1 Oct 1960: HMS "Dreadnought" nuclear submarine launched 2 Nov 1960: Penguin Books found not guilty of obscenity in the "Lady Chatterley's Lover" case
43	1961	1 Jan 1961: Farthing ceases to be legal tender in UK 13 Mar 1961: Black & White £5 notes cease to be legal tender 14 Mar 1961: New English Bible (New Testament) published 1 May 1961: Betting shops legal in Britain
44	1962	1962: Britain passes Commonwealth Immigrants Act to control immigration 1962: Thalidomide withdrawn after it causes deformities in babies 1962: Britain and France agree to construct "Concorde" 25 May 1962: Consecration of new Coventry Cathedral (old destroyed in WW2 blitz) 15 Jun 1962: First nuclear generated electricity to supplied National Grid (from Berkeley, Glos) Jul 1962: First passenger-carrying hovercraft enters service, along the North Wales Coast from Moreton to Rhyl 10 Jul 1962: First TV transmission between US and Europe (Telstar) – first live broadcast on 23 Jul 24 Oct 1962: Cuba missile crisis – brink of nuclear war
45	1963	1963: France vetoes Britain's entry into EEC Jan 1963: Cold weather forces cancellation of most football matches (only 4 English First Division matches in the month) – the first 'pools panel' created 27 Mar 1963: Beeching Report on British Railways (the 'Beeching Axe') 1 Aug 1963: Minimum prison age raised to 17 8 Aug 1963: 'Great Train Robbery' on Glasgow to London mail train 17 Sep 1963: Fylingdales (Yorks) early warning system operational 18 Nov 1963: Dartford Tunnel opens 23 Nov 1963: First episode of "Dr Who" on BBC TV
46	1964	1 Jan 1964: First 'Top of the Pops' on BBC TV 9 Apr 1964: First Greater London Council (GLC) election 21 Apr 1964: BBC2 TV launched 22 Aug 1964: "Match of the Day" starts on BBC2 4 Sep 1964: Forth road bridge opens
47	1965	1965: Britain enacts first Race Relations Act 7 Feb 1965: First US raids against North Vietnam 7 Apr 1965: Winston Churchill dies 1 Aug 1965: TV cigarette advertising banned in Britain 8 Oct 1965: Post Office Tower operational in London 28 Oct 1965: Death penalty for murder suspended in Britain for five-year trial period, then abolished 18 Dec 1969 22 Dec 1965: 70mph speed limit introduced on British roads
48	1966	14 Feb 1966: Australia converts from £ to $ 3 May 1966: "The Times" begins to print news on its front page in place of classified advertisements 30 Jul 1966: World Cup won by England at Wembley (4-2 in extra time v West Germany) 8 Sep 1966: First Severn road bridge opens 21 Oct 1966: Aberfan disaster – slag heap slip kills 144, incl. 116 children 1 Dec 1966: First Christmas stamps issued in Britain
49	1967	4 Jan 1967: Donald Campbell dies attempting to break his world water speed record on Conniston Water – his body and Bluebird recovered in 2002 18 Mar 1967: "Torrey Canyon" oil tanker runs aground off Lands End – first major oil spill 28 May 1967: Francis Chichester arrives in Plymouth after solo circumnavigation in Gipsy Moth IV (he was knighted 7th July at Greenwich by the queen using the sword with which Elizabeth I had knighted Sir Francis Drake four centuries earlier 27 Jun 1967: First withdrawal from a cash dispenser (ATM) in Britain – at Enfield branch of Barclays 1 Jul 1967: First colour TV in Britain 14 Aug 1967: Offshore pirate radio stations declared illegal by the UK 20 Sep 1967: "QE2" launched on Clydebank 27 Sep 1967: "Queen Mary" arrives Southampton at end of her last transatlantic voyage 30 Sep 1967: BBC Radios 1, 2, 3 & 4 open – first record played on Radio 1 was the controversial "Flowers in the Rain" by 'The Move' 5 Oct 1967: Introduction of majority verdicts in English courts
50	1968	18 Feb 1968: British Standard Time introduced – Summer Time became permanent but arguments prevailed and Britain reverted to GMT in October 1971 18 Apr 1968: London Bridge sold (and eventually moved to Arizona) – modern London Bridge, built around it as it was demolished, was opened in Mar 1973 20 Apr 1968: Enoch Powell 'Rivers of Blood' speech on immigration 23 Apr 1968: Issue of 5p and 10p decimal coins in Britain 29 May 1968: Manchester United first English club to win the European Cup 11 Aug 1968: Last steam passenger train service ran in Britain (Carlisle–Liverpool) 16 Sep 1968: Two-tier postal rate starts in Britain 5 Oct 1968: Beginning of disturbances in N Ireland
51	1969	2 Mar 1969: Maiden flight of 'Concorde', at Toulouse 7 Mar 1969: Victoria Line tube opens in London 17 Apr 1969: Voting age lowered from 21 to 18 2 May 1969: Maiden voyage of liner Queen Elizabeth 2 (QE2) 31 Jul 1969: Halfpenny ceases to be legal tender in Britain 14 Aug 1969: Civil disturbances in Ulster – Britain sends troops to support civil authorities 7 Sep 1969: First episode of "Monty Python's Flying Circus" recorded 14 Oct 1969: 50p coin introduced in Britain (reduced in size 1998)
52	1970	1970: Boeing 747 (Jumbo jet) goes into service 17 Jun 1970: Decimal postage stamps first issued for sale in Britain 19 Jun 1970: Edward Heath becomes Prime Minister 30 Jul 1970: Damages awarded to Thalidomide victims 19 Sep 1970: First Glastonbury Festival held 20 Nov 1970: Ten shilling note (50p after decimalisation) goes out of circulation in Britain
53	1971	1971: Banking and Financial Dealings Act – replaced the Bank Holidays Act of 1871 1971: Sunday becomes the seventh day in the week as UK adopts decision of the International Standardisation Organisation (ISO) to call Monday the first day 1971: 'Greenpeace' founded 1971: Rolls-Royce declared bankrupt 3 Jan 1971: Open University starts 15 Feb 1971: Decimalisation of coinage in UK and Republic of Ireland 9 Aug 1971: Internment without trial introduced in N Ireland 28 Oct 1971: Parliament votes to join Common Market (joined 1973) 28 Oct 1971: UK launches its first (and only) satellite, Prospero
54	1972	1972: Britain imposes direct rule in Northern Ireland 1972: Strict anti-hijack measures introduced internationally, especially at airports 1972: Dutch Elm disease devastates trees across UK 1972: Domestic video cassette recorders introduced 30 Jan 1972: 'Bloody Sunday' in Derry, Northern Ireland 28 May 1972: Duke of Windsor (ex-King Edward VIII) dies in Paris
55	1973	1 Jan 1973: Britain enters EEC Common Market (with Ireland and Denmark) 17 Mar 1973: Modern London Bridge opened by the Queen 1 Apr 1973: VAT introduced in Britain 26 Sep 1973: Concorde makes its first non-stop crossing of the Atlantic in record-breaking time 14 Oct 1973: Marriage of Princess Anne and Captain Mark Phillips in Westminster Abbey 31 Dec 1973: Miners strike and oil crisis precipitate 'three-day week' (till 9 Mar 1974) to conserve power
56	1974	1974: New counties formed in Britain after re-organisation of some county boundaries 1 Jun 1974: Flixborough disaster: explosion at chemical plant kills 28 people 7 Nov 1974: Lord Lucan disappears 21 Nov 1974: Birmingham pub bombings by the IRA
57	1975	1975: Unemployment in Britain rises above 1M for first time since before WW2 11 Feb 1975: Margaret Thatcher becomes leader of Conservative party (in opposition) 28 Feb 1975: Moorgate tube crash in London – over 43 deaths, greatest loss of life on the Underground in peacetime. The cause of the incident was never conclusively determined 4 Mar 1975: Charlie Chaplin knighted 5 Jun 1975: UK votes in a referendum to stay in the European Community 29 Oct 1975: 'Yorkshire Ripper' commits his first murder 3 Nov 1975: First North Sea oil comes ashore 29 Nov 1975: The name 'Micro-soft' coined by Bill Gates (Microsoft' became a Trademark the following year) 27 Dec 1975: Equal Pay Act and Sex Discrimination Act come into force
58	1976	1976: 'Cod War' between Britain and Iceland 1976: Deaths exceeded live births in E&W for first time since records began in 1837 1976: James Callaghan becomes Prime Minister 1976: National Theatre opens in London 21 Jan 1976: Concorde enters supersonic passenger service 1 Apr 1976: Apple Computer formed by Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak 6 Aug 1976: Drought Act 1976 comes into force — the long, hot summer
59	1977	2 Mar 1977: "Red Rum" wins a third Grand National 25 May 1977: George Lucas' film "Star Wars" released 5 Jun 1977: Apple II, the first practical personal computer, goes on sale 7 Jun 1977: Queen's Silver Jubilee celebrations in London 22 Nov 1977: Regular supersonic Concorde service betweeen London and NY inaugurated
60	1978	8 Apr 1978: Regular broadcast of proceedings in Parliament starts 1 May 1978: First May Day holiday in Britain 25 Jul 1978: World's first 'test tube' baby, Louise Browne born in Oldham 30 Nov 1978: Publication of The Times suspended – industrial relations problems (until 13 Nov 1979)
61	1979	1 Mar 1979: 32.5% of Scots vote in favour of devolution (40% needed) – Welsh vote overwhelmingly against 30 Mar 1979: Airey Neave killed by a car bomb at Westminster 31 Mar 1979: Withdrawal of the Royal Navy from Malta 4 May 1979: Margaret Thatcher becomes first woman UK Prime Minister 1 Jul 1979: Sony introduces the Walkman 27 Aug 1979: Lord Mountbatten and 3 others killed in bomb blast off coast of Sligo, Ireland 18 Sep 1979: ILEA votes to abolish corporal punishment in its schools
62	1980	5 May 1980: SAS storm Iranian Embassy in London to free hostages 8 Dec 1980: John Lennon assassinated in New York
63	1981	25 Jan 1981: Launch of SDP by 'Gang of Four' in Britain 29 Mar 1981: First London marathon run 11 Apr 1981: Brixton riots in South London – 30 other British cities also experience riots 25 Apr 1981: Worst April blizzards this century in Britain 27 Apr 1981: First use of computer mouse (by Xerox PARC system) 29 Jul 1981: Wedding of Prince Charles and Lady Diana Spencer (divorced 28 Aug 1996) 12 Aug 1981: IBM launches the first PC 12 Aug 1981: IBM launches its PC — starts the general use of personal computers
64	1982	26 Jan 1982: Unemployment reached 3 million in Britain (1 in 8 of working population) 5 Feb 1982: Laker Airways collapses 19 Feb 1982: DeLorean Car factory in Belfast goes into receivership 18 Mar 1982: Argentinians raised flag in South Georgia 2 Apr 1982: Argentina invades Falkland (Malvinas) Islands 5 Apr 1982: Royal Navy fleet sails from Portsmouth for Falklands 2 May 1982: British nuclear submarine HMS Conqueror sinks Argentine cruiser General Belgrano 28 May 1982: First land battle in Falklands (Goose Green) 14 Jun 1982: Ceasefire in Falklands 21 Jun 1982: Prince William is born 20 Jul 1982: IRA bombings in London (Hyde Park and Regents Park) 19 Sep 1982: Smiley emoticon :-) said to have been used for the first time 11 Oct 1982: "Mary Rose" raised in the Solent (sank in 1545) 31 Oct 1982: Thames Barrier raised for first time (some say first public demonstration Nov 7) 2 Nov 1982: Channel 4 TV station launched – first programme 'Countdown' 4 Nov 1982: Lorries up to 38 tonnes allowed on Britain's roads 12 Dec 1982: Women's peace protest at Greenham Common (Cruise missiles arrived 14 Nov 1983)
65	1983	1983: First female Lord Mayor of London elected (Dame Mary Donaldson) 17 Jan 1983: Start of breakfast TV in Britain 31 Jan 1983: Seat belt law comes into force 21 Apr 1983: £1 coin into circulation in Britain 7 Oct 1983: Plans to abolish GLC announced 26 Nov 1983: Brinks Mat robbery: 6,800 gold bars worth nearly £26 million are stolen from a vault at Heathrow Airport