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 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.
It should help to flag up interesting events.
Significant anniversaries during May 2014
| Anniversary | Details |
| 1st | In Woolwich, Fusilier Lee Rigby is killed in the street. Two men carrying knives and a meat cleaver are subsequently shot and apprehended by police. The government treats the killing as a terrorist incident. (22nd May 2013) |
| 5th | Whitelee Wind Farm, the largest onshore wind farm in Europe, officially opens in Scotland. (22nd May 2009) |
| 5th | After a long campaign by Gurkha veterans who served in the British Armed Forces before 1997, Home Secretary Jacqui Smith announces that all Gurkha veterans who have served four years or more in the British Army before 1997 will be allowed to settle in Britain. (21st May 2009) |
| 5th | The Speaker of the House of Commons, Michael Martin, announces his resignation from the office after coming under criticism for his handling of the ongoing expenses row. (19th May 2009) |
| 5th | The Daily Telegraph obtains a full copy of MPs' expenses claims and begins publishing them unredacted prior to the official parliamentary publication date of 1 July, reigniting the MPs' expenses controversy. (8th May 2009) |
| 10th | Fathers 4 Justice stage a protest in the House of Commons at Prime Minister's Question Time by throwing purple powder at Tony Blair. (19th May 2004) |
| 10th | Piers Morgan is dismissed as editor of the Daily Mirror after the newspaper published fake pictures of Iraqi prisoner abuse. (14th May 2004) |
| 10th | Stockline Plastics factory explosion: four people die in an explosion at a factory in Glasgow. (11th May 2004) |
| 10th | Maxine Carr is released from prison with a new identity after serving half of her sentence for perverting the course of justice. (10th May 2004) |
| 40th | Northern Ireland's power-sharing Sunningdale Agreement collapses following a general strike by loyalists. (28th May 1974) |
| 40th | The Loyalist paramilitary Ulster Volunteer Force carried out the Dublin and Monaghan bombings in the Republic of Ireland. (17th May 1974) |
| 40th | Inauguration of full electric service on British Rail's West Coast Main Line through to Glasgow. (6th May 1974) |
| 40th | The fascist far-right National Front gained more than 10% of the vote in several parts of London in council elections, but failed to net any councillors. (2nd May 1974) |
| 50th | Pirate radio station Radio Sutch begins broadcasting from Shivering Sands Army Fort in the Thames Estuary. (27th May 1964) |
| 50th | Terence Conran opens the first Habitat store on London's Fulham Road. (11th May 1964) |
| 60th | Diane Leather becomes the first woman to break the five-minute mile, at the Alexander Sports Ground in Birmingham. (29th May 1954) |
| 60th | Roger Bannister becomes the first person to run the mile in under four minutes. (6th May 1954) |
| 75th | Dorothy Garrod is elected to the Disney Professorship of Archaeology in the University of Cambridge, the first woman to hold an Oxbridge chair. (6th May 1939) |
| 75th | The Sutton Hoo treasure is excavated between May to September. (1st May 1939) |
| 80th | Opening of first Glyndebourne Festival Opera season. (28th May 1934) |
| 80th | Fifty-four-year-old grandmother Mrs G. E. Alington becomes the first woman in Britain to complete a parachute jump, skydiving from 1500 feet over Brooklands Aerodrome. (4th May 1934) |
| 100th | The new and then largest Cunard ocean liner RMS Aquitania, 45,647 tons, sets sails on her maiden voyage from Liverpool, England to New York City. (30th May 1914) |
| 100th | RMS Aquitania makes her maiden voyage. (30th May 1914) |
| 100th | The United Kingdom's House of Commons passes the Home Rule Act for devolution in Ireland. (25th May 1914) |
| 125th | The Naval Defence Act passed and dictates that the fleet strength of the Royal Navy must be equal to that of at least any two other countries (31st May 1889) |
| 125th | The children's charity National Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children is launched in London. (14th May 1889) |
| 175th | First Rebecca Riots targeted against Welsh turnpikes, at Efailwen in Carmarthenshire. (13th May 1839) |
| 175th | Robert Peel asks that Queen Victoria dismiss her Ladies of the Bedchamber as a condition for forming a government. Victoria refuses to accept the condition, and Melbourne is persuaded to stay on as Prime Minister. (7th May 1839) |
| 200th | Britain takes control of Malta, Tobago, Saint Lucia, and Mauritius from France. (30th May 1814) |
| 225th | William Wilberforce makes his first major speech in the House of Commons on the abolition of the slave trade. (12th May 1789) |
| 750th | Battle of Lewes: Henry III of England is captured and forced to sign the Mise of Lewes, making Simon de Montfort the de facto ruler of England. (14th May 1264) |
| 750th | The Battle of Lewes, between King Henry III of England and the rebel Simon de Montfort, 6th Earl of Leicester, begins. (12th May 1264) |
Alternatively, see all anniversaries for this month.
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