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 December 2023
| Anniversary | Details |
| 1st | COVID-19 in the UK: Following China's recent decision to end its zero-COVID policy, Defence Secretary Ben Wallace says the possibility of imposing restrictions on visitors from the country is 'under review'. The following day, it is confirmed that passengers arriving in England from China will have to provide a negative test before they board a flight. (29th Dec 2022) |
| 1st | King Charles praises "wonderfully kind people" helping those in need and sympathises with struggling families in his first Christmas broadcast. (25th Dec 2022) |
| 1st | Wallasey pub shooting: Five people are shot at a pub in Merseyside, resulting in the death of a 26-year-old woman and four men injured, one critically. A man and a woman are arrested three days later in connection with the shooting. (24th Dec 2022) |
| 1st | Border Force staff, who are members of the Public and Commercial Services Union (PCS), go on strike for eight days until 31 December, except on 27 December. (23rd Dec 2022) |
| 1st | The first male European bison joins an all-female herd as part of the Wilder Blean project in Kent, an effort to reintroduce the animals in Britain after 12,000 years. (23rd Dec 2022) |
| 1st | Ambulance workers go on strike across much of England and Wales. (21st Dec 2022) |
| 1st | The Bank of England unveils a new look to the Series G banknotes featuring King Charles III. No additional changes will be made to the existing designs of £5, £10, £20 and £50 notes, which will enter circulation from mid-2024. (20th Dec 2022) |
| 1st | Rwanda asylum plan: The High Court rules that the British government's plan to send asylum seekers to Rwanda while their application is ongoing is lawful. (19th Dec 2022) |
| 1st | The Independent Press Standards Organisation receives more than 20,000 complaints following an article by Jeremy Clarkson in The Sun. (19th Dec 2022) |
| 1st | A woman dies and two others remain critically injured following a crowd crush at London's Brixton Academy two days previously. (17th Dec 2022) |
| 1st | A rapid surge in flu is reported, with hospital admissions from the virus overtaking those of COVID-19. (16th Dec 2022) |
| 1st | Nurses in England, Wales and Northern Ireland hold the biggest strike in NHS history, as they demand a 19% pay increase. A second strike is planned for 20 December. (15th Dec 2022) |
| 1st | 2022 Stretford and Urmston by-election: Labour hold the constituency with a 69.6% vote share, their best ever result in the seat, but turnout is just 25.8%. Andrew Western is the newly elected MP. (15th Dec 2022) |
| 1st | The Bank of England raises its baseline interest rate from 3% to 3.5%, the highest level in 14 years. (15th Dec 2022) |
| 1st | Four people die and more than 40 are rescued after a small boat carrying migrants begins sinking in ice-cold waters off the coast of Dungeness in the middle of the night. (14th Dec 2022) |
| 1st | At the Old Bailey, Jordan McSweeney is jailed for a minimum of 38 years for the murder and sexual assault of Zara Aleena in Ilford, East London. (14th Dec 2022) |
| 1st | The latest in a series of train strikes is held, after members of the RMT union reject a new pay offer. Additional strikes are planned for 14, 16, and 17 December. (13th Dec 2022) |
| 1st | The Newborn Genomes Programme is announced by the government. It will conduct whole genome sequencing of 100,000 newborns, the largest study of its kind in the world, to aid research into the diagnosis and treatment of rare genetic conditions. (13th Dec 2022) |
| 1st | The UK's coldest day since December 2010 is provisionally recorded by the Met Office, with Braemar in Aberdeenshire remaining consistently below 9.3C (15F). (12th Dec 2022) |
| 1st | Four boys aged 6, 8, 10 and 11, are taken to hospital in critical condition after being rescued when they fell through ice at Babbs Mill Lake in Birmingham, but are unable to be revived. (11th Dec 2022) |
| 1st | The UK experiences its coldest night of the year so far, with heavy snowfall in many places, and temperatures as low as 15.6C in Scotland. (11th Dec 2022) |
| 1st | Ten people are killed by a gas explosion in St Helier, Jersey. (10th Dec 2022) |
| 1st | Royal Mail workers begin a wave of strikes in the run-up to Christmas, with more than 115,000 staff walking out in a dispute over pay and conditions. (9th Dec 2022) |
| 1st | Santander are fined £107.8m by the Financial Conduct Authority over "serious and persistent gaps" in its anti-money laundering controls which enabled "financial crime". (9th Dec 2022) |
| 1st | Jeremy Hunt announces the Edinburgh Reforms, the biggest overhaul of financial regulation since the Big Bang of the 1980s, a package of more than 30 actions designed to "cut red tape" and "turbocharge growth". Critics warn that the measures risk a repeat of the 2008 financial crisis. (9th Dec 2022) |
| 1st | The government announces a collaboration between the UK, Italy and Japan to develop the Tempest, a new fighter jet using artificial intelligence. It will replace the Typhoon and enter service in 2035. (9th Dec 2022) |
| 1st | COVID-19 in the UK: The latest Office for National Statistics data indicates 1.1 million tested positive for COVID-19 in the week up to 26 November, roughly 1.7% of the population. The data also shows the number of cases has increased slightly in England and Northern Ireland, but not in Scotland and Wales. (9th Dec 2022) |
| 1st | The government approves Woodhouse Colliery, the UK's first new coal mine in decades, despite concerns about the climate impact. (7th Dec 2022) |
| 1st | The UK Health Security Agency reports a string of recent deaths among children who caught Group A streptococcal infection, with five children confirmed to have died in England and one in Wales. Three further deaths are reported on 5 (2nd Dec 2022) |
| 1st | Ian Blackford announces he is stepping down as head of the SNP in Westminster. He will be succeeded by Stephen Flynn. (1st Dec 2022) |
| 1st | 2022 City of Chester by-election: Labour hold the City of Chester with a 61% vote share in the first by-election of Rishi Sunak's premiership. Samantha Dixon is elected with a 10,974 majority, Labour's best ever result in the seat. (1st Dec 2022) |
| 5th | HMV goes into administration for the second time (the first was in 2013). (28th Dec 2018) |
| 5th | Tens of thousands of passengers at Gatwick Airport experience flight disruption due to reported drone sightings over the airfield. Police were still hunting for the drone operator the following day. Two days later, the runway reopens for passengers. (19th Dec 2018) |
| 5th | Tolls for crossing the Severn Estuary between England and Wales are scrapped, 800 years after they were first introduced. (16th Dec 2018) |
| 5th | The 100,000 Genomes Project is completed by scientists in Cambridge. (5th Dec 2018) |
| 10th | World War II computer pioneer and codebreaker Alan Turing, who had been chemically castrated in 1952 following his conviction for homosexuality, is given a posthumous royal pardon. (23rd Dec 2013) |
| 10th | Part of the ornate ceiling of the Apollo Theatre in London collapses during a performance, injuring at least 81 people in the audience. (19th Dec 2013) |
| 20th | The Government announces plans to build a new runway at Stansted Airport in Essex and a short-haul runway at Heathrow Airport sparking anger from environmentalist groups. (16th Dec 2003) |
| 20th | Mick Jagger of The Rolling Stones receives a knighthood from Charles, Prince of Wales. (12th Dec 2003) |
| 20th | The official inflation target measure is changed to the Consumer Price Index figure from RPIX. (10th Dec 2003) |
| 20th | The M6 Toll motorway opens, giving the United Kingdom its first toll motorway and providing a northern by-pass for the congested section of the M6 motorway through the West Midlands conurbation. (9th Dec 2003) |
| 50th | As a result of coal shortages caused by industrial action, the electricity consumption reduction measure - the Three-Day Week, announced on 17 December - came into force at midnight. (31st Dec 1973) |
| 50th | The Sunningdale Agreement was signed by British and Irish politicians. (9th Dec 1973) |
| 60th | First episode of the seven-part serial The Daleks broadcast in the Doctor Who series, introducing the alien Daleks (revealed fully in the following week's episode). (21st Dec 1963) |
| 60th | Zanzibar gains independence from the United Kingdom as a constitutional monarchy, under Sultan Jamshid bin Abdullah. (19th Dec 1963) |
| 70th | Winston Churchill wins the Nobel Prize in Literature "for his mastery of historical and biographical description as well as for brilliant oratory in defending exalted human values". (10th Dec 1953) |
| 75th | the first series of Reith Lectures, Bertrand Russell on Authority and the Individual, begins broadcasting on the BBC Home Service. (26th Dec 1948) |
| 80th | First "Bevin Boys" selected from conscripts to work in the coal mines. (2nd Dec 1943) |
| 80th | Pigeons White Vision, Winkie and Tyke become the first recipients of the Dickin Medal, instituted to honour the work of animals in war. (2nd Dec 1943) |
| 80th | (date uncertain) construction of prototype Mark I Colossus computer, the world's first totally electronic programmable computing device, at the Post Office Research Station, Dollis Hill, to assist in cryptanalysis at Bletchley Park, is completed. (1st Dec 1943) |
| 100th | The chimes of Big Ben are broadcast on radio for the first time by the BBC. (31st Dec 1923) |
| 100th | General election is won by the Conservative Party under Stanley Baldwin but without enough seats to form a majority. (6th Dec 1923) |
Alternatively, see all anniversaries for this month.
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