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 August 2015
| Anniversary | Details |
| 1st | Invincible-class aircraft carrier HMS Illustrious (R06) is decommissioned at Portsmouth as the Royal Navy's oldest active ship, leaving the country without an operational 'carrier for at least six years. (28th Aug 2014) |
| 1st | Police search a Berkshire property belonging to Cliff Richard in relation to an alleged historical sex offense. (14th Aug 2014) |
| 5th | Government plans to scrap free school milk for the under-fives across the UK are abandoned by David Cameron amid fears it would remind voters of the "Thatcher, Milk Snatcher" episode of Edward Heath's 1970-1974 government. (8th Aug 2010) |
| 5th | The President of Pakistan, Asif Ali Zardari, arrived in the United Kingdom for a five-day visit as the two countries disagreed about recent comments by David Cameron on "the export of terror". (3rd Aug 2010) |
| 5th | A scheme which allows parents to check if someone with access to their children is a sex offender, will be extended to cover the whole of England and Wales by spring 2011 after proving successful in four pilot areas. (1st Aug 2010) |
| 10th | The Ricoh Arena, a 32,500-seat multi-purpose stadium in Coventry, is opened. Owned by the local council, Coventry City F.C. are its key tenants and it is also likely to be used as a concert venue. Japanese electrical goods manufacturer Ricoh purchased the stadium's naming rights in a multimillion-pound deal last year. (20th Aug 2005) |
| 40th | Hampstead entered the UK Weather Records with the Highest 155-min total rainfall at 169 mm. (14th Aug 1975) |
| 40th | The government's anti-inflation policy came into full effect. During the year, inflation reached 24.2% - the second highest since records began in 1750 and the highest since 1800. (1st Aug 1975) |
| 50th | Peter Watkins' The War Game, a television drama-documentary depicting the aftermath of a nuclear attack on the UK, is pulled from its planned transmission as BBC1's The Wednesday Play for political reasons. It will go on to win the 1966 Academy Award for Best Documentary Feature. (6th Aug 1965) |
| 50th | Cigarette advertising is banned on British television. (1st Aug 1965) |
| 60th | Guinness Book of Records first published (27th Aug 1955) |
| 60th | English language premiere of Samuel Beckett's play Waiting for Godot, directed by Peter Hall, opens at the Arts Theatre, London. (3rd Aug 1955) |
| 70th | George Orwell's Animal Farm published. (17th Aug 1945) |
| 70th | In the House of Commons, Leader of the Opposition Winston Churchill speaks of an "Iron Curtain" descending across Europe. (16th Aug 1945) |
| 70th | V-J Day is celebrated in the UK. (15th Aug 1945) |
| 70th | The Giles family cartoon first appears in the Sunday Express. (5th Aug 1945) |
| 75th | British Prime Minister Winston Churchill makes the fourth of his famous wartime speeches, containing the line "Never was so much owed by so many to so few". (20th Aug 1940) |
| 80th | Last service held in Mardale church in the Lake District prior to the village's flooding to create Haweswater Reservoir. (18th Aug 1935) |
| 175th | Labourer slaves in most of the British Empire are emancipated. (1st Aug 1840) |
| 200th | William Smith publishes the first national geological map of the UK, A Delineation of the Strata of England and Wales, with part of Scotland. (1st Aug 1815) |
| 250th | Armed mutiny at Maidstone County Gaol. (7th Aug 1765) |
| 300th | Opening of Old Dock, Liverpool, the world's first enclosed commercial wet dock. (31st Aug 1715) |
| 300th | First Doggett's Coat and Badge rowing race held on the River Thames. (1st Aug 1715) |
| 750th | Second Barons' War: Battle of Evesham - the army of Prince Edward (the future king Edward I of England) defeats the forces of rebellious barons led by Simon de Montfort, 6th Earl of Leicester, killing de Montfort and many of his allies. (4th Aug 1265) |
| 800th | Pope Innocent III declares Magna Carta invalid. (24th Aug 1215) |
Alternatively, see all anniversaries for this month.
Or... select a different date below:
