Файл: Great Britain_0816044740.pdf

General election gives Labour a majority of 97 (March).

Seamen’s strike (May–June).

British Guiana becomes independent as Guyana (May).

Prices and Incomes bill introduced; government imposes wage freeze and deflationary measures (July).

Plaid Cymru wins Carmarthen by-election (July). England wins the World Cup (July).

The first parliamentary commissioner, or ombudsman, is named (August).

Severn Bridge opens (September). Bechuanaland becomes independent, as Bots-

wana (September).

Basutoland becomes independent, as Lesotho (October).

Aberfan disaster as a slag heap slides into a junior school, killing 144 people (October).

Natural gas discovered in the North Sea (October).

Barbados becomes independent (October). Import surcharge ends (November).

U.N. sanctions are imposed on Rhodesia (December).

1967

Abortion Act allows termination of pregnancy under specified conditions.

The tanker Torrey Canyon sinks off Land’s End, producing a 300-square-mile oil slick (March).

Britain applies for entry into the EEC (May). Government decides to make defense budget

cuts and to withdraw from all stations east of Suez (July).

Decimal Currency Act plans for introduction of new currency in 1971 (July).

Steel industry nationalized (July).

Citizens of Gibraltar vote in favor of remaining British (September).

British troops withdraw from Aden (November). Scottish National Party wins Hamilton by-elec-

tion (November).

Devaluation of the pound (£1 = $2.40) (November).

France vetoes Britain’s entry into EEC (December).

1968

Financial crisis: public expenditure cuts (January); rush for gold causes banks, exchanges to close (March); central bankers agree on two-tier system for price of gold (March).

Enoch Powell makes inflammatory speech on immigration, is sacked from the shadow cabinet (April).

Fulton Report on the civil service (June). Prescription charges again in National Health

Service (June).

Nuclear nonproliferation treaty is signed by 137 members of the United Nations (July).

Swaziland becomes independent (September). Theatres Act abolishes censorship (September). Antiwar demonstrations in London against the

United States in Vietnam (October). Fighting in Londonderry begins the troubles in

Northern Ireland (October). Squeeze on credit (November).

1969

London School of Economics forced to close by student protests (February).

British army units to be sent to Northern Ireland (April).

Voting age is reduced to 18 (May).

Divorce Act recognizes “irretrievable breakdown” of marriage (June).

Investiture of Prince Charles as Prince of Wales (July).

Street fighting in Londonderry; British army takes over security in Northern Ireland (August).

Abolition of death penalty for murder becomes permanent (December).

Open University is founded.

1970

Rhodesia proclaims itself a republic (March). Equal Pay Act aims to prevent discrimination

against women in terms of employment, effective 1975 (May).

General election gives the Conservatives a majority of 30; Edward Heath becomes prime minister (June).

1971

Postal workers strike (January). Commonwealth meeting in Singapore (January). Decimal currency comes into operation (Feb-

ruary).

Prices and Incomes Board ended (March). Upper Clyde Shipbuilders liquidated (July). Industrial Relations Act (August).

Under a special powers act, Northern Ireland government interns a large number of suspected persons (August–September).

Immigration Act (October).

Heath meets with President Richard Nixon in Bermuda (December).

1972

Miners’ strike begins (January).

Britain joins the EEC (January); effective January 1973.

“Bloody Sunday” in Londonderry, when 13 members of an unarmed Catholic protest are killed by British troops (January).

Miners’ strike ends (February).

IRA bomb attack at Aldershot (February). Heath imposes direct rule on Northern Ireland;

William Whitelaw appointed secretary of state for Northern Ireland (March).

Major violence in Ulster when direct rule is imposed (April).

Bangladesh admitted to the Commonwealth (April).

British Rail is shut down by union “go-slow” (May).

Ceylon becomes independent as Sri Lanka (May).

Idi Amin expels 40,000 Asians from Uganda (August).

“Cod war” begins when Iceland extends fishing limit from 12 to 150 miles (September).

Congregational church and Presbyterian church combine to form the United Reform church (October).

90-day freeze on prices, pay, rent, and dividends (November).

Race Relations Act in force; discrimination on grounds of color is not allowed (November).

1973

Britain becomes member of the EEC (January). Foreign exchange crisis (February). Referendum in Ulster favors ties with Britain;

new Northern Ireland assembly proposed, to be chosen by proportional representation (March).

Value-added tax is introduced (April).

New assembly elected in Ulster (June), but its first meeting is disrupted (July).

IRA bombings in London (August–September). Arab-Israeli war (October).

Steep increase in price of oil is ordered by OPEC (October).

Kilbrandon Commission reports on devolution (October).

Cod war with Iceland ends (November).

A new power-sharing executive proposed for Northern Ireland (November).

Miners and power workers go on strike (November).

Emergency conservation measures enacted to meet fuel crisis (December).

Conference of leaders from the United Kingdom, Ireland, and Northern Ireland agree to form a Council of Ireland, the “Sunningdale Agreement” (December).

1974

Three-day week introduced to meet power shortage (January).

Northern Ireland executive takes office, ending direct rule; some members of the new assembly are expelled for disruption (January).

Miners go on strike, and Heath calls a general election. Labour has a narrow edge over the Conservatives 301 to 297 (February). Efforts to form a coalition with the 14 Liberals and the other smaller groups (12 from Northern Ireland, 7 Scottish nationalists, and 2 Welsh nationalists) are unsuccessful. Harold Wilson becomes prime minister, and miners return to work (March).

Britain demands renegotiation of terms of entry into EEC (April).

Protestant general strike against the new regime in Northern Ireland. The new assembly suspended and direct rule resumes (May).

Repeal of the Industrial Relations Act of 1971. Pay board and incomes policy abolished (July).

IRA bombings in Guildford (October).

General election gives Labour a slim overall majority (October).

IRA bombings in Birmingham (November). Prevention of Terrorism Act proscribes the IRA

and gives wide powers to police (November).

1975

Plan for the Channel tunnel abandoned (January).

Margaret Thatcher becomes leader of the Conservative Party (February).

Agreement on renegotiated terms of entry into EEC (March).

Referendum on membership in the EEC sees more than 2 to 1 in favor (June).

Oil is pumped ashore from the North Sea (June). Iceland again extends its fishing grounds, from

50 to 200 miles (October).

Further IRA violence in London (October–De- cember).

National Enterprise Board established (November). Employment Protection Act creates advisory, conciliation, and arbitration service (November). Comprehensive schools made compulsory by an

Education Act (December).

End of internment without trial in Northern Ireland (December).

1976

Concorde enters passenger service (January). Wilson resigns as prime minister (March). James Callaghan wins election as new Labour

Party leader and becomes prime minister (April).

Agreement ends the Cod War (June).

Britain receives £3 billion in standby credit from European and American banks (June).

European Commission on Human Rights reports on torture of Irish internees by British guards (September).

Roy Jenkins becomes president of the European Commission (September).

Government applies for £2.3 billion loan from the IMF (September).

Spending cuts, increased taxation, and sale of British Petroleum shares are needed to meet financial crisis (December).

Referenda on devolution for Scotland and Wales are announced (December).

1977

Talks on Rhodesian government fail (January). IRA bombing in London continues (January). Government loses motion on devolution bills

(February) and forms a pact with Liberal Party to defeat a vote of no confidence by Conservatives (March).

Loyalist general strike in Ulster fails due to lack of support (May).

Government incomes policy moves into new stage, limits wage increases to 10 percent (July).

National Front march in London leads to violence (August). A march planned for Manchester is banned (September).

Firemen go on strike, demand 30 percent wage increase (November).

1978

Firemen’s strike ends (January).

Scottish devolution bill amended: requires 40 percent of total electorate to approve the measure (January).

Internal agreement on majority rule in Rhodesia (March).

Devolution Acts for Scotland and Wales (July). Series of strikes of public employees and others

begins (September).

Labour Party conference opposes proposed 5 percent limit on wage increases (October).

Trades Union Congress objects to government’s limit of 5 percent on wage increases; The Times is silenced by industrial dispute (November).

IRA bombings in Bristol, Manchester, Coventry, Southampton, and London (December).

1979

Strikes continue; road haulage strike and secondary picketing lead to production delays and layoffs of 150,000. Serious delays in health services, garbage collection, and other services (January).

Rhodesia votes for limited majority rule (January). European Monetary System established (January). Welsh referendum on devolution is a large “no” vote; in Scotland, the “yes” vote is only about 32 percent of total electorate, thus it fails (March). Government loses a vote of confidence, and a

general election is called (March). Conservative MP is killed by an IRA car bomb at

Westminster (March).

Conservatives win a 41-seat majority, and Margaret Thatcher becomes the first woman to be prime minister (May).

In the first direct elections for the European Parliament, the Conservatives win 60 of the 78 seats (June).

Commonwealth Conference in Lusaka and Lancaster House Conference set up free elections in Rhodesia (August).

Lord Mountbatten is assassinated by the IRA by a bomb that explodes on his boat (August).

The Times resumes publication (November). Thatcher proposes cuts in Britain’s EEC contri-

butions (November).

Government introduces trade union bill to regulate picketing, balloting, and the closed shop (December).

1980

Steel workers go on strike (January–April).

A North Sea oil platform collapses, killing 100 (March).

Robert Mugabe forms the first black government in Rhodesia (Zimbabwe) (March).

Rioting in Bristol (April).

Inflation reaches 21.8 percent (April). Argentina prepares to invade the Falkland Is-

lands (Las Malvinas) (April).

Hostages taken in the Iranian Embassy in London (April); SAS troops storm the embassy and free them (May).

Agreement to reduce Britain’s payments to the EEC (May).

Callaghan retires and is replaced by Michael Foot as Labour leader (October).

Unemployment reaches 2 million for the first time since 1935 (October).

1981

Special conference of Labour Party creates an electoral college to choose party leader (January). Four leading members resign and create Council for Social Democracy, and later the Social Democratic Party (March).

National Coal Board announces pit closures, which would mean the loss of 30,000 jobs, but it rescinds the plan after a strike threat (February).

Brixton race riots (April).

Bobby Sands, IRA prisoner in Northern Ireland, dies after a 66-day hunger strike in the Maze prison (May).

Rioting in London, Liverpool, and Manchester (July).

Wedding of Prince Charles and Lady Diana Spencer (July).

Liberal Party and Social Democratic Party form alliance (September).

Hunger strike ends at the Maze, after 10 men died (October).

Scarman Report on the race riots (November).

1982

Number of unemployed passes 2 million (January).

Falklands War begins with Argentine invasion; a British fleet sails, and a blockade on the islands is proclaimed (April).

Port Stanley is bombed by the British, and they sink the Argentine cruiser General Belgrano. An Exocet missile destroys HMS Sheffield. The British take several posts in the islands, while losing a number of other vessels to enemy fire (May).

Argentine troops surrender and a cease-fire is declared. General Galtieri, the Argentine leader, is deposed (June).

IRA bombs explode in Hyde Park and Regent’s Park, London (July).

The Thames barrier, an engineering work designed to prevent flooding in London, is activated (October).

Nuclear weapons protest by 30,000 women at Greenham Common air base (December).

1983

General election produces landslide for the Conservatives (397), with Labour getting 209 and the Liberal/SDP Alliance only 23. Michael Foot resigns as Labour leader (June).

Escape of 38 IRA prisoners from the Maze prison (September).

Neil Kinnock is elected leader of the Labour Party (October).

Prime minister of Grenada is shot by troops; American forces invade and restore the gov- ernor-general (October).

American cruise missiles arrive at Greenham Common (November).

Large IRA bombs explode in London (December). Inflation falls to 3.7 percent; unemployment

down.

1984

Trade unions are banned at Government Communications Headquarters (GCHQ) in Cheltenham (January).

National Coal Board announces closing of 21 pits; Miners’ Union calls strike (March).

Constable Yvonne Fletcher shot and killed outside the Libyan embassy in St. James’s Square; police surround the building, relations with Libya are broken off, and 30 Libyans are deported (April).

Violence during picketing at Sheffield (May). Talks between Britain and Argentina break

down (July).

High Court declares the government ban on unions at GCHQ is illegal (July).

Trades Union Congress supports miners’ strike (August).

Sino-British declaration on Hong Kong is signed, promising continued capitalist regime there for 50 years after Britain leaves in 1997 (August).

IRA bombs Grand Hotel in Brighton where Mrs. Thatcher and Conservative leaders are staying during the party conference. Five are killed, two party leaders are injured (October).

British Telecom privatized (November).

Law Lords uphold government’s ban on unions at GCHQ (November).

National Coal Board begins back-to-work drive (November).

National Union of Miners funds are sequestered (December).

1985

Oxford University refuses to award an honorary degree to Mrs Thatcher because of opposition to her policies regarding universities (January).

IRA bomb attack on police station in Newry kills nine policemen (February).

Frontier between Spain and Gibraltar is reopened (February).

Miners vote to end strike (March).

Epidemic of “Legionnaires’ Disease” in Stafford (May).

Football disasters: fire at Bradford kills 55, riot of Liverpool fans at Heysel causes 41 deaths. British teams are banned from European competition due to bad behavior of fans (May).

The Fédération Internationale de Football Association (FIFA) imposes a worldwide ban on British teams (June).

General Synod of the Church of England approves the ordination of women (July).

Greater London Council abolished (July). Riots in Birmingham and Brixton result from

friction between black communities and the police (September).

A policeman killed in riots in Tottenham after the shooting of a black woman by a policeman (October).

Dissident miners set up Union of Democratic Mineworkers (October).

Anglo-Irish Agreement at Hillsborough recognizes Dublin’s interest in the affairs of Northern Ireland (November).

Ulster MPs resign in protest over the Hillsborough agreement, forcing 15 by-elections (December).