literary decades

Question 1

1945

Answer 1

• WW2 ended
• 1st atomic bomb dropped by America

Question 2

1946

Answer 2

• Labour government starts a programme nationalising key businesses
• Churchill makes the Iron Curtain speech, addressing there is a divide across Europe
• the New Towns Act establishment makes new towns to deal with homelessness

Question 3

1947

Answer 3

• The coal industry is nationalised
• India gains independence
• Queen Elizabeth II marries Phillip

Question 4

1948

Answer 4

• Britain opens its first supermarket
• NHS is launched
• Declaration of a Jewish state in Israel and withdrawal from Palestine

Question 5

1949

Answer 5

• the British Nationality Act
• creation of NATO
• The soviet union becomes the 2nd nation to develop an atomic bomb, sparking the Nuclear Arms race

Question 6

1950

Answer 6

• Attlee returns as PM when labour wins
• the Korean War
• Lion, witch and the wardrobe is published

Question 7

1951

Answer 7

• Churchill becomes PM again at 76
• Festival of Britain is opened by George VI, aiming to showcase Britain’s achievements in science and art and raise spirits after WW2

Question 8

1952

Answer 8

• Queen Elizabeth succeeds her father, aged 25
• London’s smog kills 4000 people
• Britain successfully tests an atomic bomb

Question 9

1953

Answer 9

• Queen Elizabeth’s coronation was the first one on television with an audience of 20 million
• Watson and Crick publish their discovery of the structure of DNA

Question 10

1954

Answer 10

• first successful organ transplant, advancing medical technology
• rationing comes to an end after being put in place since the war

Question 11

1955

Answer 11

• Churchill retires from being PM
• Ruth Ellis becomes the last woman to be hanged in Britain
• advertising started to finance commercial television companies, and they begin to broadcast under what is now ITV

Question 12

1956

Answer 12

• Clean Air Act implemented
• the Suez Crisis
• Civil service reforms means teachers and those with government jobs have the right to equal pay
• 101 Dalmatians published by Dodie Smith
• Elvis Presley has his first hit in the UK, heartbreak hotel

Question 13

1957

Answer 13

• PM Eden resigns, replaced by MacMillan
• Treaty of Rome signed to create the European Economic Community
• Britain tests its first hydrogen bomb
• Queen’s Christmas Broadcast

Question 14

1958

Answer 14

• Foundation of Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament
• Tensions in the Notting Hill race riots
• Munich air disaster
• first major Aldermaston march takes place against nuclear weapons

Question 15

1959

Answer 15

• 13% of UK homes had a fridge

Question 16

1960

Answer 16

• Cyprus gains independence
• end of national service
• Coronation Street broadcasted

Question 17

1961

Answer 17

• the pill becomes available in Britain for the 1st time
• Germany begins to build the Berlin Wall
• Russia achieves the first man in space

Question 18

1962

Answer 18

• the Cuban Missile Crisis brings the world to the brink of nuclear war
• the Beatles release their first single: Love Me Do

Question 19

1963

Answer 19

• Douglas-Home becomes PM
• Kennedy assassinated in Texas
• John Lennon publicly criticises richer members of the audience

Question 20

1964

Answer 20

• Wilson becomes PM
• Rolling Stones have the first number 1: It’s all over now
• last juridical hangings took place in Britain

Question 21

1965

Answer 21

• Churchill dies and is awarded a state funeral
• abolition of the Death Penalty Act, replaced with a life sentence
• Barbara Castle becomes the first female minister of state when appointed minister of transport

Question 22

1966

Answer 22

• Labour’s share of the vote went up from 44.1% in the 1964 general election to 48%
• Friedan and activists set up the National Organisation for Women, wanting to work towards ending discrimination in employment to achieve equality in wages
• England won the world cup

Question 23

1967

Answer 23

• abortion and homosexuality are legalised due to the Sexual Offences act and the Abortion Act
• the right wing National Front Party was founded

Question 24

1968

Answer 24

• thousands demonstrate in London against US involvement in Vietnam
• MP Powell makes the ‘River of Blood speech’

Question 25

1969

Answer 25

- voting age lowered to 18 - troops sent to Northern Ireland to restore order amidst increasing violence

Question 26

1970

Answer 26

- 1st Glastonbury festival - Conservatives win general election, Heath becomes PM

Question 27

1971

Answer 27

- 1st British soldier killed by the IRA in Northern Ireland - decimal currency introduced, replacing pounds, shillings and pence - first commercially available microprocessor is launched by Intel

Question 28

1972

Answer 28

- Bloody Sunday as British paratroopers kill 14 unarmed civilians - IRA explodes a bomb in Aldershot, killing 7 - Bloody Friday as IRA set off 20 bombs in Belfast

Question 29

1973

Answer 29

- the UK joins the European Economic Community - release of studio album Tubular Bells launched the career of Mike Oldfield and the virgin record label

Question 30

1974

Answer 30

- New Years Day celebrated as a public holiday for the 1st time in England and Wales - the local Government Act came into effect, reducing the number of local authorities in England and Wales by merger and creation of larger metropolitan countries