Key Dates And Events

Question 1

Festival of Britain

Answer 1

1951

Question 2

Conservative election victory returns Churchill as prime minister

Answer 2

1951

Question 3

Britain’s first atomic bomb test

Answer 3

1952

Question 4

Mau Mau rebellion against British rule in Kenya

Answer 4

1952

Question 5

Mass television audience for coronation of Elizabeth II

Answer 5

1953

Question 6

Steel and transport denationalised

Answer 6

1953

Question 7

British withdrawal from Egypt

Answer 7

1954

Question 8

End of food rationing

Answer 8

1954

Question 9

Election victory for Conservatives under Eden

Answer 9

1955

Question 10

Launch of ITV as commercial rival to the BBC

Answer 10

1955

Question 11

Failure of Anglo-French invasion at Suez

Answer 11

1956

Question 12

Financial crisis caused by Suez crisis

Answer 12

1956

Question 13

EEC formed without Britain

Answer 13

1956

Question 14

Anthony Eden replaced as prime minister by Harold Macmillan

Answer 14

1957

Question 15

Independence achieved by Ghana and Malaya

Answer 15

1957

Question 16

Formation of CND

Answer 16

1958

Question 17

Serious anti-immigration rioting in Notting Hill

Answer 17

1958

Question 18

Motorway system opens with the M6 Preston bypass

Answer 18

1958

Question 19

3rd Conservative election victory

Answer 19

1959

Question 20

Blue Streak missile abandoned in favour of American Polaris

Answer 20

1960

Question 21

Macmillan’s ‘wind of change’ speech

Answer 21

1960

Question 22

Creation of EFTA as an alternative to the EEC

Answer 22

1960

Question 23

End of National Service

Answer 23

1960

Question 24

Britain’s application to join the EEC submitted

Answer 24

1961

Question 25

Cold War tensions intensify with building of the Berlin Wall

Answer 25

1961

Question 26

Macmillan's cabinet reshuffle, the 'Night of the Long Knives'

Answer 26

1962

Question 27

Launch of That Was The Week That Was on BBC television

Answer 27

1962

Question 28

Commonwealth Immigrants Act restricts immigration

Answer 28

1962

Question 29

Britain's EEC application blocked by de Gaulle

Answer 29

1963

Question 30

Independence granted to Kenya

Answer 30

1963

Question 31

Profumo scandal

Answer 31

1963

Question 32

Resignation of Macmillan; Douglas Home becomes prime minister

Answer 32

1963

Question 33

Labour election victory under Harold Wilson

Answer 33

1964

Question 34

Start of Rhodesia crisis

Answer 34

1964

Question 35

Death penalty abolished

Answer 35

1965

Question 36

England win the World Cup at Wembley

Answer 36

1966

Question 37

Labour election victory with increased majority

Answer 37

1966

Question 38

'Swinging London' features in Time Magazine

Answer 38

1966

Question 39

Nationalisation of iron and steel

Answer 39

1951

Question 40

Deep budget cuts in military commitments in East of Suez

Answer 40

1967

Question 41

Devaluation of sterling by the Wilson government

Answer 41

1967

Question 42

Liberalisation of laws on abortion and homosexuality

Answer 42

1967

Question 43

Enoch Powell's 'Rivers of Blood' speech against mass immigration

Answer 43

1967

Question 44

Start of the Troubles in Northern Ireland

Answer 44

1969

Question 45

Open University established

Answer 45

1969

Question 46

Election victory for Conservatives under Edward Heath

Answer 46

1970

Question 47

Equal Opportunities Act passed

Answer 47

1970

Question 48

Decimalisation of British currency

Answer 48

1971

Question 49

Reform of the divorce laws

Answer 49

1971

Question 50

'Bloody Sunday' in Derry

Answer 50

1972

Question 51

Unemployment above one million for the first time since 1930s

Answer 51

1972

Question 52

Yom Kippur War causes oil crisis

Answer 52

1973

Question 53

British accession to the EEC alongside Ireland and Denmark

Answer 53

1973

Question 54

Sunningdale Agreement for power sharing in Northern Ireland

Answer 54

1973

Question 55

Three-day week imposed

Answer 55

1974

Question 56

Heath narrowly defeated in February election

Answer 56

1974

Question 57

Collapse of Sunningdale Agreement after Ulster Workers' Council strike

Answer 57

1974

Question 58

Victory for Labour in the October general election

Answer 58

1974

Question 59

EEC referendum results in 2:1 majority for the 'yes' vote

Answer 59

1975

Question 60

Heath replaced as Conservative leader by Margaret Thatcher

Answer 60

1975

Question 61

Sex Discrimination Act passed

Answer 61

1975