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.
Anniversaries during November 2020
Note: This page lists ALL anniversaries, not just the key dates.
For that more useful list, click here.
| Anniversary | Details |
| 2nd | Doctors are able to prescribe cannabis products to patients in England, Wales and Scotland. (1st Nov 2018) |
| 416th | William Shakespeare's tragedy Othello is presented for the first time, at Whitehall Palace in London. (1st Nov 1604) |
| 409th | William Shakespeare's romantic comedy The Tempest is presented for the first time, at Whitehall Palace in London. (1st Nov 1611) |
| 332nd | William III of Orange sets a second time from Hellevoetsluis in the Netherlands to liberate England, Scotland and Ireland from the tyrannical King James II of England during the Glorious Revolution. (1st Nov 1688) |
| 255th | The British Parliament enacts the Stamp Act on the 13 colonies in order to help pay for British military operations in North America. (1st Nov 1765) |
| 5th | A temperature of 22.4C is recorded in Trawsgoed, Ceredigion in Wales, making it the warmest November day on record in the UK, breaking the previous record set nearly seventy years ago. (1st Nov 2015) |
| 8th | The Comet retail chain is going into administration after private equity firm OpCapita failed to revive the business. (1st Nov 2012) |
| 55th | Three cooling towers at the uncompleted Ferrybridge C electricity generating station in West Yorkshire collapse in high winds (1st Nov 1965) |
| 74th | First Royal Command Performance at a public cinema, the Empire, Leicester Square: premiere of the Powell and Pressburger film A Matter of Life and Death starring David Niven. (1st Nov 1946) |
| 1st | Following a report from the Oil and Gas Authority, the government calls a halt to all fracking in the UK "with immediate effect" and warns shale gas companies that it will not support future projects. (1st Nov 2019) |
| -2nd | Former Health Secretary Matt Hancock is suspended from the Conservative Party after joining the cast of I'm a Celebrity...Get Me Out of Here!. He will now sit as an independent MP. (1st Nov 2022) |
| 103rd | The Balfour Declaration proclaims British support for the "establishment in Palestine of a national home for the Jewish people" with the clear understanding "that nothing shall be done which may prejudice the civil and religious rights of existing non-Jewish communities". (2nd Nov 1917) |
| 84th | The BBC initiates the BBC Television Service, the world's first regular, "high-definition" (then defined as at least 200 lines) service. (2nd Nov 1936) |
| 61st | The first section of the M1 motorway, the first inter-urban motorway in the United Kingdom, is opened between the present junctions 5 and 18, along with the M10 motorway and M45 motorway (2nd Nov 1959) |
| 60th | Penguin Books is found not guilty of obscenity in the Lady Chatterley's Lover case (2nd Nov 1960) |
| 67th | The Samaritans telephone counselling service for the suicidal is started by Rev. Chad Varah in London. (2nd Nov 1953) |
| 56th | ITV soap opera Crossroads airs for the first time. (2nd Nov 1964) |
| 66th | Radio comedy series Hancock's Half Hour first aired. (2nd Nov 1954) |
| 96th | The Sunday Express becomes the first newspaper to publish a crossword. (2nd Nov 1924) |
| 156th | HMS Victoria, the Royal Navy’s last, largest and fastest wooden first-rate three-decker ship of the line to see sea service, enters active service. (2nd Nov 1864) |
| 95th | Eigiau Dam disaster kills seventeen in the North Wales village of Dolgarrog. (2nd Nov 1925) |
| 12th | Lewis Hamilton became the youngest ever Formula One World Champion. (2nd Nov 2008) |
| 237th | John Austin, a highwayman, is the last person to be publicly hanged at London's Tyburn gallows. (3rd Nov 1783) |
| 519th | Catherine of Aragon (later Henry VIII's first wife) meets Arthur Tudor, Henry VIII's older brother - they would later marry. (3rd Nov 1501) |
| 205th | Sir Humphry Davy announces his discovery of the Davy lamp as a coal mining safety lamp. (3rd Nov 1815) |
| 42nd | Dominica gains its independence from the United Kingdom. (3rd Nov 1978) |
| -2nd | The Bank of England raises interest rates by 0.75 percentage points to 3%, the biggest hike since 1989, and forecasts a recession until 2024. (3rd Nov 2022) |
| -2nd | After a year's delay, the Wheelchair Rugby League World Cup begins in England. (3rd Nov 2022) |
| -1st | After the Parliamentary Commissioner for Standards found that Conservative MP Owen Paterson breached lobbying rules, with a recommended 30-day suspension, the House of Commons votes by 250 to 232 to postpone the decision whilst a review of the investigating watchdog is undertaken. He resigns the following day (3rd Nov 2021) |
| 343rd | The future Mary II of England marries William, Prince of Orange. They would later jointly reign as William and Mary. (4th Nov 1677) |
| 181st | The Newport Rising: the last large-scale armed rebellion against authority in mainland Britain. (4th Nov 1839) |
| 130th | City & South London Railway: London's first deep-level tube railway opens between King William Street and Stockwell. (4th Nov 1890) |
| 98th | In Egypt, British archaeologist Howard Carter and his men find the entrance to Pharaoh Tutankhamun's tomb in the Valley of the Kings. (4th Nov 1922) |
| 85th | Opening of Hornsey Town Hall, London, designed by Reginald Uren, the first major UK building in the International style. (4th Nov 1935) |
| 404th | Prince Charles, the 15-year-old surviving son of King James and Anne of Denmark, is invested as Prince of Wales at Whitehall, the last such investiture until 1911. (4th Nov 1616) |
| 9th | Seven people died and dozens were injured after 34 vehicles collided - many bursting into flames - on the M5 motorway near Taunton in Somerset. 7 people died and 51 were injured. (4th Nov 2011) |
| 42nd | Many British bakeries impose bread rationing after a baker's strike led to panic buying of bread. (4th Nov 1978) |
| 17th | Channel 4's soap opera Brookside, on air since the station was launched in 1982, ends after 21 years. (4th Nov 2003) |
| 16th | A referendum is held in North East England on the establishment of elected regional assemblies. The majority of voters said "no" to the plans. (4th Nov 2004) |
| 11th | Granada Television begins the process of digital switchover. (4th Nov 2009) |
| -2nd | Northern Ireland Secretary Chris Heaton-Harris indefinitely postpones plans for a snap Northern Ireland Assembly election. (4th Nov 2022) |
| -1st | Former Labour MP Claudia Webbe is given a 10-week sentence, suspended for two years, after being convicted of harassment. (4th Nov 2021) |
| -1st | COVID-19 in the UK: The UK becomes the first country in the world to approve molnupiravir, an oral antiviral pill for COVID-19 that cuts the risk of hospitalisation or death by half. (4th Nov 2021) |
| 415th | Gunpowder Plot: A conspiracy led by Robert Catesby to blow up the English Houses of Parliament is thwarted when Sir Thomas Knyvet, a justice of the peace, finds Guy Fawkes in a cellar below the House of Lords. (5th Nov 1605) |
| 332nd | The Glorious Revolution begins: William of Orange lands at Brixham. (5th Nov 1688) |
| 63rd | The Hither Green rail crash in the United Kingdom kills 49 people. Survivors include Robin Gibb of the Bee Gees. (5th Nov 1957) |
| 85th | First flight of the Hawker Hurricane. (5th Nov 1935) |
| 3rd | A huge new leak of documents known as the Paradise Papers is reported by the BBC's Panorama programme, revealing how the wealthy and powerful, including the Queen's private estate, invest offshore. (5th Nov 2017) |
| 97th | North Acton and West Acton tube stations on the Central Line open. (5th Nov 1923) |
| 106th | Britain annexes Cyprus and declares war on the Ottoman Empire. (5th Nov 1914) |
| 64th | Long-running television programme What the Papers Say airs for the first time. (5th Nov 1956) |
| 1st | Mothercare collapses into administration, putting 2,500 UK jobs at risk. (5th Nov 2019) |
| 14th | 53 year old Ronald Castree arrested in connection with the murder of eleven year old Lesley Molseed in 1975. Stefan Kiszko had spent 16 years in jail for the crime before his conviction was quashed in 1992. Castree would be convicted of the crime in November 2007. (5th Nov 2006) |
| 2nd | Renewable energy capacity overtakes that of fossil fuels in the UK for the first time, at 41.9 gigawatts. (6th Nov 2018) |
| 45th | The first public performance by punk rock band the Sex Pistols took place. (6th Nov 1975) |
| 85th | Maiden flight of the RAF's Hawker Hurricane fighter aircraft. (6th Nov 1935) |
| 16th | Ufton Nervet rail crash: Seven people are killed when a train is derailed by a car deliberately left on a level crossing in Berkshire. (6th Nov 2004) |
| 401st | Elizabeth of Scotland and England is crowned Queen of Bohemia. (7th Nov 1619) |
| 355th | The London Gazette, the oldest surviving journal, is first published. (7th Nov 1665) |
| 103rd | World War I: Third Battle of Gaza ends: British forces capture Gaza from the Ottoman Empire. (7th Nov 1917) |
| 418th | The Bodleian Library at Oxford University is opened to the public. (7th Nov 1602) |
| 3rd | Nicola Sturgeon, Scotland's First Minister, apologises to gay men convicted of sexual offences that are no longer illegal as new legislation is introduced that will automatically pardon gay and bisexual men convicted under historical laws. (7th Nov 2017) |
| 46th | Lord Lucan disappears after the murder of his children's nanny. (7th Nov 1974) |
| 14th | Dhiren Barot sentenced to life imprisonment for plotting large scale terrorist attacks in Britain and abroad. The Court of Appeal noted that Barot's "businesslike" plans would have caused carnage on a "colossal and unprecedented scale" if they had been successful. (7th Nov 2006) |
| -2nd | Multiple junctions of the M25 are closed as Just Stop Oil stage their latest protests. (7th Nov 2022) |
| -2nd | The world's first clinical trial of laboratory grown red blood cells transfused into people begins at the University of Bristol. (7th Nov 2022) |
| 275th | Charles Edward Stuart invades England with an army of ~5000 that would later participate in the Battle of Culloden. (8th Nov 1745) |
| 78th | World War II: Operation Torch - United States and United Kingdom forces land in French North Africa. (8th Nov 1942) |
| 63rd | Operation Grapple X, Round C1: Britain conducts its first successful hydrogen bomb test over Kiritimati in the Pacific. (8th Nov 1957) |
| 55th | The British Indian Ocean Territory is created, consisting of Chagos Archipelago, Aldabra, Farquhar and Des Roches islands. (8th Nov 1965) |
| 55th | The Murder (Abolition of Death Penalty) Act 1965 is given Royal Assent, formally abolishing the death penalty in the United Kingdom. (8th Nov 1965) |
| 47th | The Second Cod War between Britain and Iceland ends. (8th Nov 1973) |
| 132nd | Joseph Assheton Fincher files a patent for the parlour game which he calls "Tiddledy-Winks" (8th Nov 1888) |
| 55th | The Murder (Abolition of Death Penalty) Act suspends capital punishment for murder in England, Scotland and Wales, for five years in the first instance, replacing it with a mandatory sentence of life imprisonment. (8th Nov 1965) |
| -2nd | Sir Gavin Williamson resigns as Minister of State without Portfolio after allegations of bullying were made against him. (8th Nov 2022) |
| 528th | Peace of Etaples between Henry VII and Charles VIII. (9th Nov 1492) |
| 332nd | The Glorious Revolution: William of Orange captures Exeter. (9th Nov 1688) |
| 291st | Spain, France and Great Britain sign the Treaty of Seville. (9th Nov 1729) |
| 132nd | Jack the Ripper kills Mary Jane Kelly, his last known victim. (9th Nov 1888) |
| 113th | The Cullinan Diamond is presented to King Edward VII on his birthday. (9th Nov 1907) |
| 56th | House of Commons votes to abolish the death penalty for murder in Britain. The last execution took place in August and the death penalty is set to be officially abolished before the end of next year. (9th Nov 1964) |
| 64th | At the Lord Mayor's Show in London, the first Routemaster forms part of the procession, advertised as "London's Bus Of The Future". (9th Nov 1956) |
| 74th | Shooting of Margaret Cook in Carnaby Street, London. (9th Nov 1946) |
| 92nd | Radclyffe Hall's novel The Well of Loneliness (published on 27 July by Jonathan Cape in London) is tried and convicted on the grounds of obscenity due to its theme of lesbian love, following a campaign by James Douglas in the Sunday Express newspaper. (9th Nov 1928) |
| 102nd | British battleship HMS Britannia is sunk by a German submarine off Trafalgar with the loss of around fifty lives, the last major naval engagement of World War I. (9th Nov 1918) |
| 19th | Debut of the film Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone in London. (9th Nov 2001) |
| -1st | Footballer Marcus Rashford is awarded an MBE for his campaigning to help vulnerable children. (9th Nov 2021) |
| 346th | As provided in the Treaty of Westminster, Netherlands cedes New Netherlands to England. (10th Nov 1674) |
| 5th | Storm Abigail is the first storm to be officially named by the Met Office. It leaves many travel services disrupted, schools closed, and 20,000 homes without power. (10th Nov 2015) |
| 74th | Peter Scott opens the Slimbridge Wetland Reserve in Gloucestershire. (10th Nov 1946) |
| 296th | Joseph Blake, alias Blueskin, a highwayman known for attacking "Thief-Taker General" (and thief) Jonathan Wild at the Old Bailey, is hanged in London. (11th Nov 1724) |
| 102nd | Germany signs an armistice agreement with the Allies in a railroad car in the forest of Compiègne, France. The fighting officially ends at 11am. The war officially ends on the signing of the Treaty of Versailles on June 28th 1919. (11th Nov 1918) |
| 80th | The Royal Navy launches the first aircraft carrier strike in history, on the Italian fleet at Taranto. (11th Nov 1940) |
| 67th | Current affairs series Panorama first airs on BBC Television. (11th Nov 1953) |
| 77th | Regency Act is passed allowing Counsellors of State absent during the Sovereign's absence not to be listed among the appointments; and that the heir-apparent or presumptive to the Throne need only to be eighteen to be a Counsellor. (11th Nov 1943) |
| 332nd | A Benedictine convent in Clerkenwell is destroyed by an anti-Catholic mob during the revolt against King James II. (11th Nov 1688) |
| 6th | The last ceramic poppy is laid at the Tower of London memorial art installation and joins the 888,245 flowers commemorating the armistice and centenary of World War I. (11th Nov 2014) |
| 46th | The New Covent Garden Market in Nine Elms was opened. (11th Nov 1974) |
| 74th | Stevenage is designated by the government as Britain's first new town to relieve overcrowding and replace bombed homes in London. (11th Nov 1946) |
| 10th | The government unveils plans for the biggest shake up of the welfare system since the 1940s. (11th Nov 2010) |
| 77th | Total evacuation of an area near Portmahomack in Scotland begins, to make way for rehearsal of the Normandy Landings. (11th Nov 1943) |
| -2nd | ONS figures show that the UK economy shrank by 0.2% in the three months to September. (11th Nov 2022) |
| 581st | Plymouth, England, becomes the first town incorporated by the English Parliament. (12th Nov 1439) |
| 465th | The English Parliament re-establishes Catholicism. (12th Nov 1555) |
| 173rd | Sir James Young Simpson, a British physician, is the first to use chloroform as an anaesthetic. (12th Nov 1847) |
| 87th | Hugh Gray takes the first known photos of the Loch Ness Monster. (12th Nov 1933) |
| 76th | The Royal Air Force launches 29 Avro Lancaster bombers in one of the most successful precision bombing attacks of war and sinks the German battleship Tirpitz, with 12,000 lb Tallboy bombs off Tromsø, Norway. (12th Nov 1944) |
| 47th | Miners began overtime ban; ambulance drivers began selective strikes. (12th Nov 1973) |
| 47th | Television sitcom Last of the Summer Wine began its first series run on BBC One. (12th Nov 1973) |
| 77th | Total evacuation of part of the South Hams of Devon begins, to make way for rehearsal of the Normandy Landings. (12th Nov 1943) |
| 46th | A large salmon is caught in the Thames – the first time that such a fish had been caught in the river since 1834. (12th Nov 1974) |
| 84th | Alan Turing's paper "On Computable Numbers" is formally presented to the London Mathematical Society, introducing the concept of the "Turing machine". (12th Nov 1936) |
| 804th | Marshal and the papal legate to England, Guala Bicchieri, issue a Charter of Liberties, based on the Magna Carta, in the King's name from Bristol. (12th Nov 1216) |
| 1018th | English king Æthelred II orders the killing of all Danes in England, known today as the St. Brice's Day massacre. (13th Nov 1002) |
| 378th | First English Civil War: Battle of Turnham Green - the Royalist forces withdraw in the face of the Parliamentarian army and fail to take London. (13th Nov 1642) |
| 133rd | Bloody Sunday clashes in central London. (13th Nov 1887) |
| 119th | The 1901 Caister Lifeboat Disaster. (13th Nov 1901) |
| 79th | The aircraft carrier HMS Ark Royal is torpedoed by U-81, sinking the following day. (13th Nov 1941) |
| 66th | Great Britain defeats France to capture the first ever Rugby League World Cup in Paris in front of around 30,000 spectators. (13th Nov 1954) |
| 87th | Northwood Hills tube station on London Underground Metropolitan Line opens. (13th Nov 1933) |
| 378th | The Battle of Turnham Green (13th Nov 1642) |
| 55th | The word "fuck" is spoken for the first time on British television by the theatre critic Kenneth Tynan. (13th Nov 1965) |
| 15th | Andrew Stimpson, a 25-year-old man from Scotland, is reported as the first person proven to have been "cured" of HIV. (13th Nov 2005) |
| 98th | The BBC begins radio service in the United Kingdom. (14th Nov 1922) |
| 80th | World War II: In England, the city of Coventry is heavily bombed by German Luftwaffe bombers. Coventry Cathedral is almost completely destroyed. (14th Nov 1940) |
| 68th | The first regular UK singles chart published by the New Musical Express. (14th Nov 1952) |
| 47th | In the United Kingdom, Princess Anne marries Captain Mark Phillips, in Westminster Abbey. (14th Nov 1973) |
| 6th | Former BBC DJ Chris Denning pleads guilty to further sexual abuse of boys aged nine to sixteen during the 1970s, and 1980s. (14th Nov 2014) |
| 305th | Government forces defeat a Jacobite incursion at the conclusion of a five-day siege and action, the last battle fought on English soil. (14th Nov 1715) |
| 404th | Sir Edward Coke is dismissed as Chief Justice of the King's Bench by royal prerogative. (14th Nov 1616) |
| 102nd | Labour Party leaves the wartime coalition government. (14th Nov 1918) |
| 13th | Full rollout of UK digital terrestrial television switchover began with complete turning off of the analogue signal to the Whitehaven area. (14th Nov 2007) |
| -2nd | The UK agrees a revised deal with France to try to reduce the number of migrants and asylum seekers crossing the English Channel in small boats. UK police officers will work with French authorities in control rooms and on beaches, with officer numbers patrolling the French coast increasing from 200 to 300; the UK will pay France £63m this year, up from £55m last year. (14th Nov 2022) |
| -1st | The Queen expresses her "great regret" at missing the Remembrance Sunday service at the Cenotaph in London after spraining her back. (14th Nov 2021) |
| -1st | Three men are arrested under the Terrorism Act after a car explodes outside Liverpool Women's Hospital, killing one man and injuring another. (14th Nov 2021) |
| 505th | Thomas Wolsey is invested as a Cardinal (15th Nov 1515) |
| 4th | The second phase of the high-speed rail line HS2 is confirmed by the government, with lines running from Crewe to Manchester and the West Midlands to Leeds. (15th Nov 2016) |
| 92nd | the Mary Stanford life-boat capsizes on service in Rye Harbour: all 17 crew lost. (15th Nov 1928) |
| 102nd | first released British prisoners of war reach Calais. (15th Nov 1918) |
| 152nd | general election, the first under the extended franchise of the Reform Act 1867: Liberal Party victorious. (15th Nov 1868) |
| 18th | Moors murderer Myra Hindley dies in West Suffolk Hospital at the age of 60 after being hospitalised with a heart attack. She was in the 37th year of her life sentence and had spent the last decade attempting to gain parole, having been told by no less than four Home Secretaries that she would have to spend the rest of her life in prison, having previously increased her minimum term from 25 to 30 years during the 1980s, and then to a whole life tariff in 1990. Media sources report that the Home Office will soon be stripped of its power to set minimum terms for life sentence prisoners, and Hindley had been widely expected to gain parole in the near future as a result. (15th Nov 2002) |
| -1st | The UK terror threat level is raised from substantial to severe, meaning an attack is "highly likely", after the Liverpool Women's Hospital bombing. (15th Nov 2021) |
| 168th | The English astronomer John Russell Hind discovers the asteroid 22 Kalliope. (16th Nov 1852) |
| 163rd | Second relief of Lucknow - twenty-four Victoria Crosses are awarded, the most in a single day. (16th Nov 1857) |
| 113th | Cunard Line's RMS Mauretania, sister ship of RMS Lusitania, sets sail on her maiden voyage from Liverpool, England to New York City. (16th Nov 1907) |
| 6th | A case of bird flu is confirmed at a duck breeding farm in Yorkshire. The deadly H5N1 strain is ruled out and officials say that the risk to public health is low. (16th Nov 2014) |
| 54th | The BBC television drama Cathy Come Home, filmed in a docudrama style, is broadcast on BBC1. Viewed by a quarter of the British population, it is considered influential on public attitudes to homelessness and the related social issues it deals with. (16th Nov 1966) |
| 44th | The seven perpetrators of an £8 million van robbery at the Bank of America in Mayfair are sentenced to a total of 100 years in jail. (16th Nov 1976) |
| 9th | Unemployment rose to more than 2,600,000 (the highest level since 1994) during September. Sir Mervyn King, governor of the Bank of England, warned that the UK is now at a great risk from the Eurozone debt crisis. Youth unemployment has now passed the 1,000,000 mark for the first time since 1986. (16th Nov 2011) |
| 10th | The UK Government is to pay millions of pounds in compensation to around a dozen British citizens who were held in detention overseas, including the camp at Guantanamo Bay, and claim British security services colluded in their torture. (16th Nov 2010) |
| 1st | Prince Andrew, Duke of York, in a TV interview with Emily Maitlis, denies having sex with Virginia Roberts (now Virginia Giuffre) when she was a teenager, and expresses regret at having met convicted child sex offender Jeffrey Epstein in 2010. He is widely criticised for the interview. (16th Nov 2019) |
| -2nd | Inflation reaches 11.1% for October, up from 10.1% the previous month. Food price inflation is even higher, rising from 14.6% to 16.4%, its highest level since 1977. (16th Nov 2022) |
| -2nd | The Civil Aviation Authority grants an operating licence to Spaceport Cornwall, enabling the first satellite launches from the UK. (16th Nov 2022) |
| -1st | Ex-Yorkshire cricketer Azeem Rafiq tells the Culture and Sport Committee he was treated in an "inhuman" way by his club when his unborn son died, as he gives evidence to MPs about racism, saying it is "institutional in cricket". (16th Nov 2021) |
| 2nd | Thousands of protesters block the five main bridges over the River Thames in central London as part of "Extinction Rebellion", a campaign to raise awareness of climate change and biodiversity loss. (17th Nov 2018) |
| 509th | Spain and England ally against France. (17th Nov 1511) |
| 462nd | Elizabethan era begins: Queen Mary I of England dies and is succeeded by her half-sister Elizabeth I of England. (17th Nov 1558) |
| 417th | English explorer, writer and courtier Sir Walter Raleigh goes on trial for treason. (17th Nov 1603) |
| 101st | King George V of the United Kingdom proclaims Armistice Day (later Remembrance Day). The idea is first suggested by Edward George Honey. (17th Nov 1919) |
| 52nd | British European Airways introduces the BAC One-Eleven into commercial service. (17th Nov 1968) |
| 4th | Tornadoes affect parts of The Midlands and Wales, causing some damage. (17th Nov 2016) |
| 6th | Band Aid 30 release their cover of the track "Do They Know It's Christmas?", thirty years after the original, this time to raise money towards the Ebola crisis in Western Africa. (17th Nov 2014) |
| 107th | West Harrow tube station opens on the Metropolitan Line. (17th Nov 1913) |
| 97th | Northern Line extension between Golders Green and Hendon Central opens (17th Nov 1923) |
| 106th | Announcement that income tax is to be doubled as a result of the War. (17th Nov 1914) |
| 9th | The UK Government sold the Northern Rock Bank - which was nationalised in 2008 - to Virgin Money for £747m. (17th Nov 2011) |
| 74th | Eight British Army servicemen are killed in Jerusalem by Jewish terrorists. (17th Nov 1946) |
| -2nd | The Chancellor, Jeremy Hunt, delivers his autumn statement to the House of Commons. (17th Nov 2022) |
| -1st | The UK inflation rate hits 4.2%, its highest level for 10 years and more than double the Bank of England's target, driven mainly by higher fuel and energy prices. (17th Nov 2021) |
| 226th | The United States and the Kingdom of Great Britain sign Jay's Treaty, which attempts to resolve some of the lingering problems left over from the American Revolutionary War. (18th Nov 1794) |
| 57th | The Dartford Tunnel opens. (18th Nov 1963) |
| 5th | Energy Secretary Amber Rudd proposes that the UK's coal plants should be phased out by 2025. (18th Nov 2015) |
| 52nd | James Watt Street fire: A warehouse fire in Glasgow kills 22. (18th Nov 1968) |
| 17th | Passage of the Local Government Act 2003 including the repeal in England, Northern Ireland and Wales of controversial Section 28 of the Local Government Act 1988 which prevented local authorities from "promoting homosexuality". Section 28 had already been repealed in Scotland since 2000. (18th Nov 2003) |
| 16th | Parliament passes the Hunting Act 2004 banning fox hunting in England and Wales. (18th Nov 2004) |
| -2nd | COVID-19 in the UK: Data released by the Office for National Statistics for the week up to 8 November indicate 1.1 million people tested positive for COVID-19, a 27% fall from 1.5 million the previous week. In England the number of cases is shown as being under a million for the first time since September. (18th Nov 2022) |
| -1st | High Speed 2: The government announces that the HS2 sections to Leeds from both the East Midlands and Manchester will be scrapped in favour of an earlier upgrade to the existing route between Manchester and Leeds. The transport secretary, Grant Shapps says the plan is "ambitious and unparalleled" and that it reduces journey times from Manchester to Leeds from 55 to 33 minutes, and from Birmingham to Nottingham by more than an hour to 26 minutes. The £96bn plans are criticised by shadow transport secretary, Jim McMahon, who says in the Commons that the government has broken its promise and "completely sold out" the north. (18th Nov 2021) |
| 109th | The Doom Bar in Cornwall claimed two ships, Island Maid and Angele, the latter killing the entire crew except the captain. (19th Nov 1911) |
| 73rd | George VI of the United Kingdom creates Philip Mountbatten the Duke of Edinburgh in preparation for his wedding to George's elder daughter, Princess Elizabeth, the next day (19th Nov 1947) |
| 73rd | The Princess Elizabeth marries Lieutenant Philip Mountbatten at Westminster Abbey in London. (19th Nov 1947) |
| 6th | The Scottish Parliament elects Nicola Sturgeon as the first female First Minister of Scotland. (19th Nov 2014) |
| -2nd | Gareth Swarbrick, CEO of Rochdale Boroughwide Housing, is sacked with immediate effect, following the death of two-year-old Awaab Ishak in a mould-ridden flat. (19th Nov 2022) |
| 7th | The General Synod of the Church of England votes in favour of legislation to allow the ordination of women as bishops by 2014. (20th Nov 2013) |
| 8th | A typewriter which its makers say is the last to be built in the UK has been produced at a North Wales factory. (20th Nov 2012) |
| 65th | Milton rail crash: an excursion train takes a crossover too fast and derails at Milton, near Didcot: 11 killed, 157 injured. (20th Nov 1955) |
| 102nd | U-boats start to rendezvous off Harwich to begin the surrender of the High Seas Fleet to the Royal Navy; in the following week the German warships are escorted to internment in Scapa Flow. (20th Nov 1918) |
| 748th | Following Henry III of England's death on November 16, his son Prince Edward becomes King of England. (21st Nov 1272) |
| 67th | The British Natural History Museum announces that the "Piltdown Man" skull, initially believed to be one of the most important fossilized hominid skulls ever found, is a hoax. (21st Nov 1953) |
| 46th | The Birmingham Pub Bombings kill 21 people. The Birmingham Six are sentenced to life in prison for the crime but subsequently acquitted. (21st Nov 1974) |
| 6th | The launch is announced of The National, Scotland's first daily newspaper to take a pro-independence stance. (21st Nov 2014) |
| 104th | Hospital ship HMHS Britannic, designed as the third Olympic-class ocean liner for White Star Line, sinks in the Kea Channel of the Aegean Sea after hitting a mine. 30 lives are lost and, at 48,158 gross register tons, she is the largest ship lost during WW1. (21st Nov 1916) |
| 52nd | the Cyril Lord carpet business goes into receivership. (21st Nov 1968) |
| 102nd | the Parliament (Qualification of Women) Act 1918 receives Royal Assent, giving women over 21 the right to stand as a Member of Parliament. (21st Nov 1918) |
| -2nd | England and Wales play their first matches at the 2022 FIFA World Cup in Qatar, the latter having qualified for the first time in 64 years. (21st Nov 2022) |
| 302nd | Off the coast of North Carolina, British pirate Edward Teach (best known as "Blackbeard") is killed in battle with a boarding party led by Royal Navy Lieutenant Robert Maynard. (22nd Nov 1718) |
| 183rd | Canadian journalist and politician William Lyon Mackenzie calls for a rebellion against Great Britain in his essay "To the People of Upper Canada", published in his newspaper The Constitution. (22nd Nov 1837) |
| 151st | In Dumbarton, Scotland, the clipper Cutty Sark is launched - one of the last clippers ever built, and the only one still surviving today. (22nd Nov 1869) |
| 43rd | British Airways inaugurates a regular London to New York City supersonic Concorde service. (22nd Nov 1977) |
| 57th | C.S. Lewis, the author most famous for the Narnia books (1950–1955), dies at the age of 65. However, media coverage of his death is overshadowed by the assassination of American President John F. Kennnedy. (22nd Nov 1963) |
| 76th | Release of Laurence Olivier's Henry V, the first work of Shakespeare filmed in colour. (22nd Nov 1944) |
| 92nd | following passage of the Currency and Banknotes Act on 2 July, the Bank of England resumes responsibility for issue of banknotes from HM Treasury and issues pound and (for the first time) ten shilling notes, the first to be printed in colour and on both sides. (22nd Nov 1928) |
| 521st | Pretender to the throne Perkin Warbeck is hanged for reportedly attempting to escape from the Tower of London. He had invaded England in 1497, claiming to be the lost son of King Edward IV of England. (23rd Nov 1499) |
| 376th | John Milton publishes Areopagitica, a pamphlet decrying censorship. (23rd Nov 1644) |
| 153rd | The Manchester Martyrs are hanged in Manchester, England for killing a police officer while freeing two Irish nationalists from custody. (23rd Nov 1867) |
| 57th | The BBC broadcasts the first ever episode of Doctor Who (starring William Hartnell) which is the world's longest running science fiction drama. (23rd Nov 1963) |
| 18th | The Miss World beauty competition is held in London after rioting in the Nigerian capital Lagos prevented it from being hosted there. (23rd Nov 2002) |
| 14th | Alexander Litvinenko dies in London having been poisoned by Polonium-210. (23rd Nov 2006) |
| -2nd | The Supreme Court rules that the Scottish Government cannot hold a second Scottish independence referendum without the UK government's consent. (23rd Nov 2022) |
| -2nd | More than 100 people are arrested in the UK's biggest ever fraud operation, centred around the 'iSpoof' website, which targeted over 200,000 potential victims and pretended to be a bank. (23rd Nov 2022) |
| 478th | Battle of Solway Moss: The English army defeats the Scots. (24th Nov 1542) |
| 161st | Charles Darwin publishes On the Origin of Species, the anniversary of which is sometimes called "Evolution Day" (24th Nov 1859) |
| 81st | British Overseas Airways Corporation formed by merger of Imperial Airways and British Airways Ltd. (24th Nov 1939) |
| 62nd | exhibition of computers held at Earl's Court, London; the first of its kind in the world. (24th Nov 1958) |
| 152nd | the Smithfield Meat Market opens in London. (24th Nov 1868) |
| 17th | The High Court in Glasgow imposes a minimum sentence of 27 years for Al Ali Mohmed Al Megrahi, the Libyan convicted of bombing Pan Am Flight 103 over Lockerbie, Scotland. (24th Nov 2003) |
| 15th | The Safeway name disappears from Britain after 43 years with the rebranding of the last remaining store by its owner Morrisons, which took over the supermarket chain in March 2004. (24th Nov 2005) |
| -2nd | Net migration into the UK hits an all-time high of 504,000 in the year to June, partly driven by the conflict in Ukraine, those fleeing persecution in Hong Kong, and the resettlement of Afghan refugees. (24th Nov 2022) |
| -2nd | A ten-fold increase in hospitalisation from influenza is reported, compared to the same period a year previously. NHS bosses urge the public to get the latest vaccines for both flu and COVID-19. (24th Nov 2022) |
| -1st | November 2021 English Channel disaster: An inflatable dinghy carrying 30 migrants capsizes while attempting to reach the UK from France, resulting in 27 deaths and one missing. The victims include a pregnant woman and three children. The incident is the deadliest of its kind on record. (24th Nov 2021) |
| 986th | Máel Coluim mac Cináeda, King of Scots dies. Donnchad, the son of his daughter Bethóc and Crínán of Dunkeld, inherits the throne. (25th Nov 1034) |
| 900th | The White Ship sinks in the English Channel, drowning William Adelin, son of Henry I of England. (25th Nov 1120) |
| 317th | The Great Storm of 1703, the greatest windstorm ever recorded in the southern part of Great Britain, reaches its peak intensity which it maintains through November 27. Winds gust up to 120 mph, and 9,000 people die. (25th Nov 1703) |
| 237th | The last British troops leave New York City three months after the signing of the Treaty of Paris. (25th Nov 1783) |
| 68th | Agatha Christie's murder-mystery play The Mousetrap opens at the Ambassadors Theatre in London later becoming the longest continuously-running play in history. (25th Nov 1952) |
| 62nd | the Austin FX4 London taxi goes on sale, it will remain in production until 1997. (25th Nov 1958) |
| -2nd | The Royal College of Nursing announces that nurses across England, Wales and Northern Ireland will stage their biggest strike in NHS history, in a dispute over pay, on 15 and 20 December. (25th Nov 2022) |
| -2nd | Sadiq Khan announces a plan to expand the Ultra Low Emission Zone to cover the whole of Greater London from August 2023. (25th Nov 2022) |
| -1st | The National Trust announces a ban on trail hunting on its land. (25th Nov 2021) |
| -1st | COVID-19 in the UK: The UK becomes the fourth country to surpass 10 million COVID-19 cases after the United States, India and Brazil. (25th Nov 2021) |
| 215th | Official opening of Thomas Telford's Pontcysyllte Aqueduct. (26th Nov 1805) |
| 98th | Howard Carter and Lord Carnarvon become the first people to enter the tomb of Pharaoh Tutankhamun in over 3000 years. (26th Nov 1922) |
| 76th | World War II: A German V-2 rocket hits a Woolworth's shop on New Cross High Street, United Kingdom, killing 168 shoppers. (26th Nov 1944) |
| 43rd | 'Vrillon', claiming to be the representative of the 'Ashtar Galactic Command', takes over Britain's Southern Television for six minutes at 5:12 PM. (26th Nov 1977) |
| 3rd | Sailors of the Royal Navy perform the Changing of the Guard ceremony in London for the first time in its history. (26th Nov 2017) |
| 47th | Peter Walker, the Secretary for Trade and Industry, warned that petrol rationing may have to be introduced in the near future as a result of the oil crisis in the Middle East which was restricting petrol supply. (26th Nov 1973) |
| 106th | HMS Bulwark is blown apart by an internal explosion at her moorings on the Medway off Kingsnorth, Kent, killing all but 9 of her 805 crew. (26th Nov 1914) |
| 75th | David Lean's film of Noël Coward's Brief Encounter starring Celia Johnson and Trevor Howard goes on general release. (26th Nov 1945) |
| 52nd | the Race Relations Act is passed, making it illegal to refuse housing, employment or public services to people in Britain because of their ethnic background. (26th Nov 1968) |
| 18th | Politicians in England and Wales lose their power to set minimum terms on life sentence prisoners after the European Court of Human Rights and the High Court both rule in favour of a legal challenge by convicted double murderer Anthony Anderson. Anderson had been sentenced to life imprisonment in 1988 and the trial judge recommended that he should serve a minimum of 15 years before being considered for parole, but the Home Secretary later decided on a 20-year minimum term. (26th Nov 2002) |
| 17th | The final Concorde flight touches down in Filton, Bristol where it is welcomed by the Duke of York. (26th Nov 2003) |
| -2nd | The latest in a long-running series of train strikes is held across the UK, with train drivers at 11 companies walking out in a dispute over pay. (26th Nov 2022) |
| -2nd | An independent review into the London Fire Brigade finds an "institutionally misogynist and racist" culture within the organisation. (26th Nov 2022) |
| -1st | Hamas is proscribed in its entirety as a terrorist organisation. (26th Nov 2021) |
| -1st | A feasibility study into the proposed Irish Sea Bridge concludes that such a route is technically possible, but would cost up to £335bn and require 30 years to construct. A tunnel option is put at £209bn. (26th Nov 2021) |
| -1st | Two people are killed as Storm Arwen hits the British Isles. Widespread damage and travel disruption is reported in Scotland and North East England, with 100,000 people losing power. (26th Nov 2021) |
| 725th | The first elected representatives from Lancashire are called to Westminster by King Edward I to attend what later became known as "The Model Parliament". (27th Nov 1295) |
| 317th | The first Eddystone Lighthouse is destroyed in the Great Storm of 1703. (27th Nov 1703) |
| 76th | An explosion at a Royal Air Force ammunition dump at Fauld, Staffordshire kills seventy people. (27th Nov 1944) |
| 45th | The Provisional IRA assassinates Ross McWhirter, after a press conference in which McWhirter had announced a reward for the capture of those responsible for multiple bombings and shootings across England. (27th Nov 1975) |
| 105th | Government introduces legislation to restrict housing rents to their pre-war level following Glasgow rent strikes led by Mary Barbour. (27th Nov 1915) |
| 2nd | The government announces plans for the UK's first carbon capture and storage project. (28th Nov 2018) |
| 438th | In Stratford-upon-Avon, William Shakespeare and Anne Hathaway pay a £40 bond for their marriage license. (28th Nov 1582) |
| 360th | At Gresham College, 12 men, including Christopher Wren, Robert Boyle, John Wilkins, and Sir Robert Moray decide to found what is later known as the Royal Society. (28th Nov 1660) |
| 206th | The Times in London is for the first time printed by automatic, steam powered presses built by the German inventors Friedrich Koenig and Andreas Friedrich Bauer, signaling the beginning of the availability of newspapers to a mass audience. (28th Nov 1814) |
| 101st | Lady Astor is elected as a Member of the Parliament, and is the first woman to sit in the House of Commons. (Countess Markievicz, the first to be elected, refused to sit.) (28th Nov 1919) |
| 97th | Northern Line via Bank south of Moorgate closed until the following year for a tunnel widening project. (28th Nov 1923) |
| 75th | British fascist John Amery pleads guilty to treason and is immediately sentenced to hang. (28th Nov 1945) |
| 104th | First bombing of central London by a fixed-wing aircraft when a German LVG C.II biplane drops 6 bombs near Victoria station. (28th Nov 1916) |
| 16th | Wales Millennium Centre in Cardiff is opened. (28th Nov 2004) |
| 239th | The crew of the British slave ship Zong murders 133 Africans by dumping them into the sea in order to claim insurance. (29th Nov 1781) |
| 55th | Mary Whitehouse founds the National Viewers' and Listeners' Association. (29th Nov 1965) |
| 64th | Petrol rationing introduced because of petrol blockades from the Middle East due to the Suez Crisis. (29th Nov 1956) |
| 52nd | the Dawley New Town (Designation) Amendment (Telford) Order extends the boundaries of Dawley New Town in Shropshire and renames it Telford. (29th Nov 1968) |
| 1st | 2019 London Bridge incident: A mass stabbing at a London Bridge venue results in two victims killed and at least five people injured. The suspect, wearing a hoax explosive device, is shot by police and dies at the scene. The attack is considered terror-related. (29th Nov 2019) |
| -2nd | The proportion of people in England and Wales describing themselves as Christian falls below half for the first time, according to data released from the ONS. (29th Nov 2022) |
| -2nd | 600,000 of the approximately 1.3 million free range turkeys in the UK are reported to have died or been culled, due to bird flu. (29th Nov 2022) |
| 238th | In Paris, representatives from the United States and the Kingdom of Great Britain sign preliminary peace articles (later formalized as the 1783 Treaty of Paris). (30th Nov 1782) |
| 148th | The first-ever international football match takes place at Hamilton Crescent, Glasgow, between Scotland and England. (30th Nov 1872) |
| 86th | The steam locomotive Flying Scotsman becomes the first to officially exceed 100mph. (30th Nov 1934) |
| 84th | In London, the Crystal Palace is destroyed by fire. (30th Nov 1936) |
| 127th | University of Wales incorporated by Royal charter. (30th Nov 1893) |
| 42nd | An industrial dispute closes down The Times newspaper (until 12 November 1979). (30th Nov 1978) |
| 52nd | the Trade Descriptions Act comes into force, preventing shops and traders from describing goods in a misleading way. (30th Nov 1968) |
| -1st | The Queen congratulates Barbados as it becomes a republic, meaning she is no longer its head of state. The country remains part of the Commonwealth of Nations. (30th Nov 2021) |
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