
1954 - 1959 (5 years)
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Date |
Event(s) |
1 | 1954 | - 1954—1954:
First comprehensive school opens in London
- 1954—1954:
Routemaster bus starts operating in London
- 1954—1954:
First transistor radios sold
- 6 May 1954—6 May 1954:
First sub 4 minute mile (Roger Bannister, 3 mins 59.4 secs)
- 3 Jul 1954—3 Jul 1954:
Food rationing officially ends in Britain
- 5 Jul 1954—5 Jul 1954:
BBC broadcasts its first television news bulletin
- 30 Sep 1954—30 Sep 1954:
First atomic powered sumbmarine USS Nautilus commissioned
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2 | 1955 | - 1955—1955:
'Mole' self-grip wrench patented by Thomas Coughtrie of Mole & Sons
- 27 Jul 1955—27 Jul 1955:
Jul 27: Allied occupation of Austria (after WW2) ends
- 22 Sep 1955—22 Sep 1955:
Commercial TV starts in Britain
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3 | 1956 | - 1956—1956:
Britain constructs world's first large-scale nuclear power station in Cumberland
- 1 Mar 1956—1 Mar 1956:
Radiotelephony spelling alphabet introduced (Alpha, Bravo, etc)
- 17 Apr 1956—17 Apr 1956:
Premium Bonds first launched - first prizes drawn on 1 Jun 1957
- 3 Jun 1956—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—31 Oct 1956:
Britain and France invade Suez
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4 | 1957 | - 1957—1957:
Britain introduces parking meters
- 1957—1957:
Helvetica typeface developed (in Switzerland)
- 1957—1957:
SA - Sputnik
- 11 Jan 1957—11 Jan 1957:
Harold Macmillan becomes Prime Minister
- 14 May 1957—14 May 1957:
Post-Suez petrol rationing ends
- 15 May 1957—15 May 1957:
Britain explodes her first hydrogen bomb, at Christmas Island
- 25 May 1957—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—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—25 Dec 1957:
Queen's first Christmas TV broadcast
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5 | 1958 | - 1958—1958:
Easter: First anti-nuclear protest march to Aldermaston (emergence of CND)
- 1958—1958:
Computers begin to be used in research, industry and commerce
- 1958—1958:
USA begins to produce Inter-Continental Ballistic Missiles (ICBMs)
- 13 May 1958—13 May 1958:
Velcro trade mark registered
- 26 Jul 1958—26 Jul 1958:
Prince Charles' Investiture as 'Prince of Wales'
- 5 Dec 1958—5 Dec 1958:
Inauguration of Subscriber Trunk Dialling (STD) in Britain (completed in 1979)
- 5 Dec 1958—5 Dec 1958:
Preston by-pass opens - UK's first stretch of motorway
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6 | 1959 | - 3 Feb 1959—3 Feb 1959:
'The Day The Music Died' - plane crash kills Buddy Holly, Ritchie Valens, and
The Big Bopper
- 17 Feb 1959—17 Feb 1959:
Vanguard 2 satellite launched - first to measure cloud-cover distribution
- 24 May 1959—24 May 1959:
Empire Day becomes Commonwealth Day
- Aug 1959—Aug 1959:
BMC Mini car launched
- 3 Oct 1959—3 Oct 1959:
Postcodes introduced in Britain
- 1 Nov 1959—1 Nov 1959:
First section of M1 motorway opened
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