Historic Anniversaries & other events

Other historic events, with notable anniversaries in recent years are listed here.

DateDayEvent YearAnniversaryEventComment
10 Jan 2020Fri1840180Postal service began in BritainPenny Post
12 Jan 2020Sun1820200Royal Astronomical Society founded
17 Jan 2020Fri1820200Anne Brontë bornEnglish novelist/poet (Tenant of Wildfell Hall)
27 Jan 2020Mon194575Liberation of Auschwitz-Birkenau death campHolocaust Memorial Day
29 Jan 2020Wed1820200King George III died
10 Feb 2020Mon1840180Queen Victoria & Prince Albert married
07 Apr 2020Tue1770250William Wordsworth bornEnglish poet laureate
18 Apr 2020Wed1870150Neville Chamberlain bornBritish Prime Minister
19 Apr 2020Sun1770250Captain James Cook reached Australia
28 Apr 2020Tue1770250Captain James Cook lands in AustraliaAt Botany Bay. (His journal said Sunday 29th but civil time was 28th)
06 May 2020Wed1840180Penny Black issuedWorld's first stamp
11 May 2020Mon1820200Launch of HMS BeagleThe ship that took Charles Darwin on his scientific voyage
12 May 2020Tue1820200Florence Nightingale bornBritish nurse (Crimean War)
02 Aug 2020Sun1820200John Tyndall bornIrish physicist who demonstrated why the sky is blue and proved the greenhouse effect of Earth's atmosphere
14 Aug 2020Fri1870150William Pye bornBellringer who became the second person to ring 1000 peals
02 Oct 2020Fri1870200Mahatma Gandhi bornPacifist and spiritual leader (real name Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi)
21 Nov 2020Sat1620400Mayflower lands in America
16 Dec 2020Wed1770250Ludwig van Beethoven bornGerman composer
31 Dec 2020Thu1720300Bonnie Prince Charlie bornCharles Edward Stuart, 'The Young Pretender'
DateDayEvent YearAnniversaryEventComment
03 Feb 2021Wed1821200Elizabeth Blackwell bornFirst woman physician, born in Bristol
23 Feb 2021Tue1821200John Keats diedRomantic poet. (died of tuberculosis aged 25)
29 Mar 2021Mon1871150Royal Albert Hall openedBy Queen Victoria
17 Apr 2021Sat195170Peak District National Park createdBritain’s first National Park
21 Apr 2021Wed1821200James Robert Hawarth bornProfessional ringer & tutor
15 Aug 2021Sun1771250Walter Scott bornScottish novelist/poet
19 Aug 2021Thu1871150Orville Wright bornAmerican pioneer aviator
30 Aug 2021Mon1871150Ernest Rutherford bornNew Zealand physicist ‘father of nuclear physics’
20 Oct 2021Wed1871150Charles Babbage diedEnglish mathematician who invented the Difference Engine, precursor of the computer
DateDayEvent YearAnniversaryEventComment
22 Jan 2022Sat199725First female American Secretary of StateMadeleine Albright
27 Feb 2022Sun199725Divorce became legal in Irish Republic
16 Mar 2022Wed1872150First FA Cup heldWanderers FC beat Royal Engineers AFC 1-0 at the Oval
26 Mar 2022Sat197250Last trolleybus system in UK closedIn Bradford, after over 60 years operation.
30 Mar 2022Wed199725Chanel Five began broadcasting in UK
24 Jun 2022Fri1822200Charles Babbage proposed a difference engineIn a paper to the Royal Astronomical Society
18 Jul 2022Mon1872150Secret ballot introduced in BritainNo further Poll Books produced
31 Aug 2022Wed199725Death of Diana, Princess of Wales
5 Sep 2022Mon199725Death of Mother TeresaIndian nun, missionary and saint
6 Sep 2022Tue1522500First ship known to circumnavigate the worldThe Victoria, one of the ships that survived Magellan's expedition,
26 Oct 2022Wed1822200First peal of Cambridge Surprise RoyalAll Saints, Wakefield
28 Oct 2022Fri197250First flight of Airbus A300The first Airbus aircraft
18 Dec 2022Sun1922100Irish Free State came into existence
DateDayEvent YearAnniversaryEventComment
2 Jan 2023Mon199825Frank Muir diedFamous comedian who rang in his youth
11 Jan 2023Wed197350First graduates from the Open University
11 Feb 2023Sat1873150First peal of Cambridge Surprise MajorSt Peter, Bennington, Hertfordshire
10 Apr 2023Mon199825Good Friday Agreement signedBetween the British & Irish governments, & most political parties in Northern Ireland
2 Jun 2023Fri195370Queen Elizabeth II crowned
27 Jun 2023Tue1898125First solo circumnavigation of the globeCompleted at Rhode island by Joshua Slocum in Spray
4 Jul 2023Tue1623400William Byrd diedEnglish composer
25 Sep 2023Mon1773250First peal of Stedman DoublesSt Andrew, Birmingham
28 Sep 2023Thu1923100Radio Times first published
11 Oct 2023Wed1773250First peal of Grandsire MajorSt George, Southwark, London
12 Nov 2023Sun193390First known photos of the 'Loch Ness Monster' taken
6 Dec 2023Wed1773250First peal of Plain Bob MinorAt Garboldisham, Norfolk
27 Dec 20231773250George Cayley bornAviation pioneer who built & flew the first successful manned glider
31 Dec 2023Sun1923100Chimes of Big Ben first broadcast on radioAt Midnight to announce the New Year
DateDayEvent YearAnniversaryEventComment
5 Feb 2024Mon1924100The 'pips' first broadcast by the BBCHourly Time Signals from the Royal Greenwich Observatory
4 Mar 2024Mon1824200Royal National Lifeboat Institution (RNLI) foundedInitially called the "National Institution for the Preservation of Life from Shipwreck"
6 Mar 2024Wed1899125Aspirin first marketedBy Bayer
21 Mar 2024Thu199925First circumnavigation of the world in a hot air balloonBy Bertrand Piccard and Brian Jones
4 Apr 2024Thu193490First use of 'Cats eyes' on UK roadsLaid by Percy Shaw on a road near Bradford the day after he patented them
23 Apr 2024Tue1924100First Broadcast by British MonarchGeorge V, at the opening of the British Empire Exhibition at Wembley
9 May 2024Thu1924100Brian Price bornNotable ringing composer who introduced the use of singles into Surprise
19 May 2024Sun1824200National Gallery in London opened to the public
20 May 2024Mon197650George Ernest Fearn diedProminent Birmingham ringer
26 May 2024Sun199925Welsh Assembly opened in Cardiff.First for over 600 years
5 Jun 2024Wed1774250First peal of Kent Treble Bob MajorSt Nicholas, Leeds, Kent
16 Jun 2024Sun1824200Royal Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (RSPCA) founded
1 Jul 2024Mon199925Scottish Executive received devolved powers from LondonScottish Parliament officially opened by Elizabeth II
31 Jul 2024Wed1924100Wilfrid Moreton bornProminent Yorkshire ringer who founded the Hereford Ringing Course
3 Dec 2024Tue199925First woman rowed across the Atlantic aloneTori Murden, after 81 days
DateDayEvent YearAnniversaryEventComment
14 Jan 2025Tues1725300James Barham bornLeading 18th century ringer who conducted the 40,320 in 1761
19 Jan 2025Sun1725300First peal of Grandsire CinquesSt Bride's, Fleet Street, London
24 Jan 2025Fri196560Winston Churchill died
27 Mar 2025Thu1625400King James o of England and VI of Scotland died
27 Mar 2025Thu1625400King Charles I acceded to the English throne
4 Apr 2025Fri1875150William Chattell diedProminent Birmingham ringer and teacher
23 Apr 2025Wed1775250Joseph M W Turner bornFamous English landscape artist
26 Apr 2025Sat1725300First peal of Plain Bob MajorSt Bride's, Fleet Street, London
10 Aug 20251675350Royal Greenwich Observatory foundedKing Charles II laid the first stone
24 Aug 2025Sun1875150Captain Matthew Webb swam the English ChannelFirst person to do so, in 21 hours 45 mins
27 Sep 2025Sat1825200Stockton to Darlington Railway openedFirst service of locomotive-hauled passenger trains
22 Nov 2025Sat1725300First peal of Plain Bob RoyalSt Bride's, Fleet Street, London
16 Dec 2025Sun1775250Jane Austen bornProminent English author
DateDayEvent YearAnniversaryEventComment
8 Jan 2026Thu1876150Jabez Armiger Trollope bornNotable ringer & author
21 Jan 2026Wed197650First commercial supersonic flightConcorde fro London Heathrow to Bahrain
26 Jan 2026Mon1926100First demonstration of televisionAt the Royal Institute in London
30 Jan 2026Fri1826200Menai Straits Bridge openedThe world's first modern suspension bridge, designed by Thomas Telford
26 Feb 2026Thu1726300First peal of Plain Bob MaximusSt Bride, St Bride's, Fleet Street, London
7 Mar 2026Sat1926100First two-way transatlantic phone callBetween the Post Office in London and Bell Labs in New York
10 Mar 2026Tue1876150First telephone callBy Alexander Graham Bell
17 Mar 2026Tue1776250John Harrison bornClock maker who also wrote on bell manufacture
26 Mar 2026Thu197650Queen Elizabeth II sent the first Royal emailFrom Malvern, Worcs.
8 May 2026Fri1926100David Atenborough bornBroadcaster & environmental advocate
11 Jun 2026Thu1776250John Constable bornEnglish painter
20 Jun 2026Sat1726300First municipal fire brigadeBeverley, East Yorkshire
14 Oct 2026Wed1926100Winnie the Pooh published as a bookBy A A Milne
4 Nov 2026Wed1876150William Henry Barber bornProminent Birmingham ringer who conducted the first handbell peal in Scotland.
DateDayEvent YearAnniversaryEventComment
5 Jan 2028Wed1778250First peal of Kent Treble Bob RoyalSt Nicholas, Leeds, Kent
13 Jan 2028Thu1878150John Sparkes Goldsmith bornProprietor and first editor of The Ringing World
12 Oct 2028Thu1878150Bertam Prewitt bornProminent peal ringer & conductor killed in WW1