List of Historic Anniversaries

I often wonder what significant anniversaries are due at some point in the future as some of them might be of interest as triggers for blog posts or visits somewhere. However, it is often difficult to find out quickly what events have significant anniversaries - hence this new section on the website.

By "significant anniversaries", I mean dates that are not, for example, the 73rd anniversary of something, but the 50th, 100th, 200th etc.

Technically, the page lists the 1st, 5th, 10th, 20..90th, 100, 125th, 150, 200/250..950th and then every 100 years thereafter to 3,000 years ago.

It should help to flag up interesting events.

Anniversaries during May 2012

AnniversaryDetails
1st State visit by Queen Elizabeth II to the Republic of Ireland, the first by a reigning monarch of the UK to Dublin since 1911. (17th May 2011)
5th Jenny Bailey becomes the first transsexual mayor in the United Kingdom. (24th May 2007)
5th A fire damages the Cutty Sark in Greenwich. (21st May 2007)
5th Prince William officially opens the new Wembley Stadium. (18th May 2007)
5th Tony Blair asks Labour's National Executive Committee to seek a new party leader and announces he will step down as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom on 27 June. (10th May 2007)
5th The Ministry of Justice comes into existence, reorganized from the Department for Constitutional Affairs and taking over some responsibilities from the Home Office. (9th May 2007)
10th Falkirk Wheel boat lift opens in Scotland, also marking reopening of the Union Canal for leisure traffic. (24th May 2002)
10th Potters Bar rail crash in Hertfordshire kills 7 people. (10th May 2002)
20th Plans are unveiled for a fifth terminal at Heathrow Airport, which is now the busiest airport in the world. (12th May 1992)
25th The Loughgall Ambush: The SAS kills eight Provisional Irish Republican Army volunteers and a civilian during an ambush in Loughgall, Northern Ireland. (8th May 1987)
30th Pope John Paul II becomes the first pontiff to visit Canterbury Cathedral. (29th May 1982)
30th Falklands War: British forces defeat the Argentines at the Battle of Goose Green. (28th May 1982)
30th Opening of Kielder Water, a reservoir in Northumberland. It is the largest artificial lake in the UK by capacity (200bn litres) and is surrounded by Kielder Forest, the largest planted woodland in Europe. (26th May 1982)
30th HMS Coventry is sunk during the Falklands War. (25th May 1982)
30th Falklands War: British amphibious assault during Operation Sutton lead to the Battle of San Carlos. (21st May 1982)
30th Twenty sailors are killed when the British Type 42 destroyer HMS Sheffield is hit by an Argentinian Exocet missile during the Falklands War. (4th May 1982)
30th Falklands War: The British nuclear submarine HMS Conqueror sinks the Argentine cruiser ARA General Belgrano. (2nd May 1982)
30th Operation Black Buck: The Royal Air Force attacks the Argentine Air Force during Falklands War. (1st May 1982)
40th The Angry Brigade goes on trial over a series of 25 bombings throughout the UK. (30th May 1972)
40th Edward, Duke of Windsor, dies of cancer in France at the age of 77, 35 years after his abdication as king. (28th May 1972)
40th The final stretch of the M6 motorway opens between junctions 6 (Spaghetti Junction) and 7 north of Birmingham, with the fully operational motorway stretching more than 200 miles from Rugby to Carlisle, more than a decade after the first sections were opened. (24th May 1972)
50th The new Coventry Cathedral is consecrated. (25th May 1962)
60th The concept of the integrated circuit, the basis for all modern computers, is first published by Geoffrey W.A. Dummer. (7th May 1952)
60th The world's first ever jet airliner, the De Havilland Comet 1 makes its maiden flight, from London to Johannesburg. (2nd May 1952)
70th World War II: 1000 British bombers launch a 90-minute attack on Cologne, Germany. (30th May 1942)
70th The Radio Doctor (Charles Hill) makes his first BBC radio broadcast giving avuncular health care advice. (6th May 1942)
75th King George VI passes letters patent denying the style of Royal Highness to the wife and descendants of the Duke of Windsor. (27th May 1937)
75th George VI and Elizabeth Bowes-Lyon are crowned King and Queen of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland. (12th May 1937)
80th James Chadwick discovers the neutron. (10th May 1932)
80th Protestors and police clash in Hyde Park, London, during a May day protest against Japan's attitude towards China when they try to march on the Japanese Embassy. (1st May 1932)
100th The Royal Flying Corps (now the Royal Air Force) is established in the United Kingdom. (13th May 1912)
125th Buffalo Bill Cody's Wild West Show opens in London. (9th May 1887)
150th New Westminster Bridge, designed by Thomas Page, is opened. (24th May 1862)
150th International Exhibition of Industry and Science opens in South Kensington. (1st May 1862)
200th Felling mine disaster: Mine explosion at Felling colliery near Jarrow - 96 dead. (25th May 1812)
200th John Bellingham is found guilty and sentenced to death by hanging for the assassination of British Prime Minister Spencer Perceval. (18th May 1812)
200th Prime Minister Spencer Perceval is assassinated by John Bellingham in the lobby of the House of Commons. (11th May 1812)
225th Captain Arthur Phillip leaves Portsmouth, England, with eleven ships full of convicts (the "First Fleet") to establish a penal colony in Australia. (13th May 1787)
250th Thomas Pelham-Holles, 1st Duke of Newcastle-upon-Tyne resigns and is succeeded as Prime Minister by John Stuart, 3rd Earl of Bute; a large number of Newcastle's 'Old Corps Whig' followers are dismissed from public office in the following months in what is known as the "Massacre of the Pelhamite Innocents". (26th May 1762)
250th Royal family first takes up residence at Buckingham House. (22nd May 1762)

 

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