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Date |
Event(s) |
| 1 | 1920 | - 1920: India - Bubonic Plague strikes
- 1920: UK - League of Nations Established
- 1920: UK - Population of England/Wales - 37,887, Scotland - 4,882, N.Ireland - 1,258
- 1920: UK - Economic slump, 2,170,000 unemployed
- 1920: Palestine - Serious clashes between Jews and Arabs
- 1920: USA - US restricts immigration
- 1920: Ireland - Southern Irish parliament passes Government of Ireland Act, civil war effectively ends (until 1968)
- 1920: UK - Lloyd George sells honours in return for party contributions, partly responsible for downfall of Coalition government
- 1920: Egypt - Britain recognizes Egyptian independence
- 1920: UK - British Broadcasting Company (BBC) begins transmission of speech over air to public
- 1920: Italy - Benito Mussolini becomes fascist dictator
- 1920: UK - First football cup final at Wembley
- 1920: UK - Greyhound racing becomes popular
- 1920: UK - Radio and cinema begin growth (by 1929, 3,000 cinemas in Britain)
- 1920: UK - Convictions for drunkenness fall from 189,000 in 1913 to 53,000 in 1930
- 1920: France - Tuberculosis vaccine developed
- 1920: UK - The tommy gun patented by John T Thompson.
- 1920: USA - The Band-Aid invented by Earle Dickson
- 1920: Ireland - Irish Republican Army begins Civil War with raids on police barracks and income tax offices all over Ireland
- 1920: UK - Communist Party of Great Britain founded; affiliation with Labour Party rebuffed = schism between communism and socialism
- 1920: UK - Population of Great Britain has grown by 5 per cent, emigration overseas declines from 256,000 in 1923 (post-war peak) to 92,000 in 1930 and many return to offset those leaving; British population gravitates to south and away from depressed areas of South Wales and northern England, Greater London is now over 8 million
- Dec 1920: Ireland - New Government of Ireland Act proposes partition of Ireland into Ulster (north) and Irish Free State (south), each to have its own government
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| 2 | 1921 | |
| 3 | 1922 | |
| 4 | 1923 | |
| 5 | 1924 | |
| 6 | 1925 | |
| 7 | 1926 | |
| 8 | 1927 | |
| 9 | 1928 | |
| 10 | 1929 | |
| 11 | 1930 | |
| 12 | 1931 | - 1931: UK - Housing Act passes, provides subsidies for slum clearance
- 1931: USA - Al Capone Imprisoned for Income Tax Evasion
- 1931: UK - Auguste Piccard Reaches Stratosphere
- 1931: Rio de Janeiro, Brazil - Christ Monument Built on Hilltop
- 1931: New York, NY, USA - Empire State Building Completed
- 1931: USA - First official US National Anthem
- 1931: UK - Census shows British professional workers now number .75 million (8 per cent); up from 80,000 in 1921 Census: population: England/Wales - 39,952, Scotland - 4,842, N. Ireland - 1,243
- 1931: USA - Harold Edgerton invented stop-action photography.
- 1931: Germany - Germans Max Knott and Ernst Ruska co-invent the electron microscope.
- 24 Aug 1931: UK - Resignation of Labour government accepted by King, asks Ramsay MacDonald to form National Government (Coalition) to deal with economic crisis
- 21 Oct 1931: UK - General Election, vote for National Government overwhelming, more votes for Conservatives, Liberal party in disarray
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| 13 | 1932 | - 1932: UK - Agricultural Marketing Act passed, regulates quality of produce
- 1932: USA - Air Conditioning Invented
- 1932: Amelia Earhardt First Woman to Fly Solo Across the Atlantic
- 1932: Cambridge, UK - Scientists Split the Atom
- 1932: USA - Zippo Lighters Introduced
- 1932: Ireland - De Valera succeeds Cosgrave as Prime Minister of Irish Free State, ousts British Governor-General, abolishes senate, alters law re citizenship to distinguish Irish nationality from British, but still claims Commonwealth membership
- 1932: USA - Polaroid photography invented by Edwin Herbert Land.
- 1932: UK - Unemployment falls from 3 million to below 2 million in July 1935; production rises, but imports steady, exports decline; new industries booming - chemicals, rayon, cars, radio, cost of living falls
- Sep 1932: UK - 6-7 million living on 'dole', worse in Tyne and Tees and Welsh valleys
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| 14 | 1933 | |
| 15 | 1934 | |
| 16 | 1935 | |
| 17 | 1936 | - 1936: UK - Edward VIII, ruler of England 1936. House of Windsor (name adopted Jul 17, 1917): Eldest son of George V.
- 1936: UK - BBC starts regular TV broadcasts
- 1936: USA - Dale Carnegie Publishes How to Win Friends and Influence People
- 1936: Germany - Nazi Olympics in Berlin
- 1936: Spain - Spanish Civil War Begins. Germany and Italy help rebels against government, Soviet Union aids government, as do International Brigade with volunteers from European countries and US during period to 1939
- 1936: UK - Arabs attack Jews and British troops and police, riots, strikes, outbursts of great violence, Jews attack Arabs and British, disorder continues through beginning of World War II
- 1936: USA - Bell Labs invents the voice recognition machine.
- 1936: USA - Samuel Colt patents the Colt revolver.
- 1936: Germany - Hitler and Mussolini make Rome-Berlin Axis agreement to conduct aggression together, followed by German agreement with Japan which Italy signs later
- 20 Jan 1936: UK - Death of King George V
- 12 May 1936: UK - George VI, ruler of England 1936-1952. House of Windsor (name adopted Jul 17, 1917): 2nd son of George V, Duke of York; married Lady Elizabeth Bowes-Lyon.
- 16 Nov 1936: UK - Prime Minister Stanley Baldwin learns Edward VIII wants to marry twice-divorced Mrs.Simpson and will abdicate if necessary, public storm breaks on 2- 3 December, King abdicates on 5 December, announces 10 December, Abdication Act rushes through 11 December; Duke of York (father of Queen Elizabeth II) becomes George VI
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| 18 | 1937 | |
| 19 | 1938 | |
| 20 | 1939 | |
| 21 | 1940 | |
| 22 | 1941 | |
| 23 | 1942 | |
| 24 | 1943 | |
| 25 | 1944 | - 1944: France - D-Day landings
- 1944: France - First German V1 and V2 Rockets Fired
- 1944: Berlin, Germany - Hitler Escapes Assassination Attempt
- 1944: USA - The kidney dialysis machine invented by Willem Kolff.
- 1944: USA - Synthetic cortisone invented by Percy Lavon Julian.
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| 26 | 1945 | |
| 27 | 1946 | |
| 28 | 1947 | |
| 29 | 1948 | - 1948: USA - Life magazine makes painter Jackson Pollock an overnight celebrity by devoting a three-page spread with color photographs to him and his paintings under the headline, Jackson Pollock: Is He the Greatest Living Painter in the United States?; Abstract Expressionism becomes a subject of widespread popular ridicule.
- 1948: Berlin, Germany - Berlin Airlift
- 1948: UK - Big Bang Theory Formulated
- 1948: India - Gandhi Assassinated
- 1948: South Africa - Policy of Apartheid Begun
- 1948: Israel - State of Israel Founded
- 1948: USA - The Frisbee® invented by Walter Frederick Morrison and Warren Franscioni.
- 1948: USA - Velcro® invented by George de Mestral.
- 1948: USA - Robert Hope-Jones invented the Wurlitzer jukebox
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| 30 | 1949 | |
| 31 | 1950 | |
| 32 | 1951 | |
| 33 | 1952 | |
| 34 | 1953 | |
| 35 | 1954 | |
| 36 | 1955 | |
| 37 | 1956 | |
| 38 | 1957 | |
| 39 | 1958 | |
| 40 | 1959 | |
| 41 | 1960 | |
| 42 | 1961 | |
| 43 | 1962 | |
| 44 | 1963 | |
| 45 | 1964 | |
| 46 | 1965 | |
| 47 | 1966 | |
| 48 | 1967 | |
| 49 | 1968 | |
| 50 | 1969 | |
| 51 | 1970 | |
| 52 | 1971 | |
| 53 | 1972 | |
| 54 | 1973 | |
| 55 | 1974 | |
| 56 | 1975 | |
| 57 | 1976 | |
| 58 | 1977 | |
| 59 | 1978 | |
| 60 | 1979 | |
| 61 | 1980 | |
| 62 | 1981 | |
1920 - 1981 (61 years)