Darcy Press is a publisher of books, both Fiction and Non-fiction, featuring the history of the twentieth century. Please look at the rest of the website by clicking the Home tab above. Below is Mr Darcy's own timeline of his selection of events that interest him and is not intended to be completely comprehensive. He offers it here for information and for others to enjoy.   1900s  |  1910s  |  1920s  |  1930s  |  1940s  |  1950s  |  1960s  |  1970s  |  1980s  |  1990s   1950 Russia walks out of the UN over the presence of Nationalist China 10 Jan 9 Feb Senator Joseph MacCarthy launches his crusade against the alleged infiltration of Communists into the US government Russian and China sign friendship pact 15 Feb 24 Feb Labour wins the British General Election but with a greatly reduced majority Eighty people killed in crash of Avro Tudor V air crash 12 Mar 31 Mar Thor Heyerdahl publishes the book the Kon-tiki expedition explaining how he sailed from South America across the Pacific King Abdullah annexes the Palestinian West Bank territory to create an expanded Kingdom of Jordan 24 Apr 9 May Robert Schuman, the French Foreign Minister, proposes a Franco-Germany Coal and Steel Authority as a first step towards a United Europe Petrol rationing ends in the UK 30 May 25 Jun North Korea marches across the 38th parallel into the South. UN Security Council summoned The UN Security Council calls on all members to assist South Korea. Russia is absent 27 Jun 1 Jul Ford UK launches its Consul and Zephyr range Americans fight their first fierce battle in Korea 5 Jul 26 Jul Britain decides to send troops to Korea British troops arrive in Korea 29 Aug 16 Sep UN landing at Inchon surprises Communists UN forces recapture Seoul 25 Sep 26 Sep A blue moon is visible in South East England UN troops reach the 38th parallel 29 Sep 21 Oct Chinese troops invade Tibet North Korean army disintegrates as UN troops push on towards Chinese border 27 Oct 28 Nov UN forces in Korea retreat as Chinese enter the war UN troops leave Pyongyang in full retreat 6 Dec 25 Dec Dalai Lama, the spiritual leader, flees Tibet 1951 Seoul is captured again by Communist troops 4 Jan 18 Jan In fierce fighting the French save Hanoi from Viet Minh guerrillas North Korean and Chinese offensive halted by the UN in South Korea 26 Jan 17 Feb UN forces push back to the 38th parallel in Korea Britain's first jet bomber the Canberra, crosses the Atlantic in a record four hours 40 minutes 21 Feb 19 Mar France, West Germany, Italy and the Benelux countries sign a treaty to create the European Coal and Steel Community UN and South Korean forces cross the 38th parallel 27 Mar 25 Apr UN forces retreat as Chinese pour in reinforcements Festival of Britain opens on the South Bank in London 4 May 18 May Britain's first V bomber the Vickers Valiant makes its maiden flight British diplomats Guy Burgess and Donald Maclean disappear 7 Jun 13 Jun UN troops take Pyongyang Belgian King Leopold III abdicates and his son Boudouin I is sworn in 16 Jul 26 Jul Talks begin on Korean ceasefire Peace treaty finally signed with Japan 8 Sep 19 Oct British forces in a dawn raid seize control of the points of the Suez Canal Winston Churchill returns to power at 77 after the Tories narrowly win the UK General Election 26 Oct 28 Nov Agreement signed establishing a truce line roughly along the 38th parallel in Korea Anti-British riots flare up in the Suez Canal Zone 4 Dec 1952 Anti-British riots in Cairo lead to the deaths of 17 people 27 Jan 6 Feb British King George VI dies in his sleep and his daughter becomes Queen Elizabeth II Churchill reveals that the UK has developed and Atomic Bomb 26 Feb 27 Mar The cheese ration is reduced to an ounce per week in the UK French launch a big attack to try to smash the Viet Minh forces in Vietnam 26 Apr 2 May Comet jet makes its first scheduled flight UN planes launch a huge air strike in Korea 8 May 1 Jun Restrictions tightened on travel between West Berlin and the Soviet Zone of Germany Anne Frank's diary is published as 'Het Acterhuis' 15 Jun 5 Jul Last London Tram runs from Woolwich to New Cross Fifteenth Olympic Games opened in Helsinki 19 Jul 26 Jul Death of Eva (Evita) Peron charismatic wife of leader Juan Peron The European Coal and Steel Community is inaugurated 10 Aug 16 Aug Freak flood devastates the Devon village of Lynmouth, killing 31 people, when rivers break their banks and sweep everything away Huge air raid by UN planes in Korea 1 Sep 3 Oct First Atomic Bomb tested by Britain in the Monte Bello islands off Australia Three train pile up at Harrow and Wealdstone station in London leaves 112 dead 8 Oct 21 Oct Britain sends more troops to Kenya to deal with the worsening Mau Mau insurgency Dwight D Eisenhower wins the American Presidency with a landslide victory 5 Nov 30 Nov Americans test the first Hydrogen Bomb on Eniwetok Atoll 1953 Josip Tito is elected President of Yugoslavia 14 Jan 26 Jan White farmers panic in Kenya as Mau Mau uprising grows Car Ferry Princess Victoria sinks off Stranraer because the cargo doors were left open 31 Jan 1 Feb Flood disaster in the Netherlands where much of Zeeland is drowned when the sea dykes break – 1832 people and 10000 animals drown Floods devastate the east coast of England Lincolnshire to North Kent – 283 drowned 1 Feb 2 Mar 5000 East Germans seek asylum in the West Stalin dies of a cerebral haemorrhage leaving a power vacuum in Russia 5 Mar 14 Mar Nikita Krushchev emerges as new Soviet leader James Watson and Francis Crick propose a double helix structure for DNA the basis of all life forms 25 Apr 2 May Comet plane crashes in India killing all 43 on board Edmund Hillary and Sherpa Tensing reach the summit of Everest the world's highest mountain 29 May 2 Jun Queen Elizabeth II is crowned in Westminster Abbey, London Soviet tanks and troops suppress East German workers uprising in Berlin 17 Jun 28 Sep Ford UK unveils its new Anglia and Prefect models Trieste handed to Italy much to the annoyance of the Yugoslavs 8 Oct 29 Nov French paratroopers take Dien Bien Phu in Vietnam from the Viet Minh Winston Churchill wins the Nobel Prize for Literature for his historical works 10 Dec 1954 All Comet jets grounded following another crash, this time off Elba in the Mediterranean killing 35 people 11 Jan 12 Feb Study finds link between smoking and lung cancer Jonas Salk's new Polio Vaccine is first used on children 23 Feb 9 Apr Government orders all Comet jets grounded after another crash off Italy Bill Haley and the Comets rocket up the charts with their new record of 'We're Gonna Rock Around the Clock' 12 Apr 6 May Roger Bannister breaks the 4 minute barrier, running the mile in 3 minutes 59.4 seconds Dien Bien Phu, the French fortress in Indo-china falls to the Viet Minh after a 55 day siege 8 May 3 Jul Food rationing finally ends in Britain Maiden flight for Boeing's new 707 jet airliner 15 Jul 21 Jul Sino French pact ends the Indo-China war dividing Vietnam in two at the 17th parallel Maiden flight of Britain's first supersonic fighter the English Electric P1 'Lightning' 4 Aug 12 Aug United Nations Command withdraws from Korea after the ceasefire was signed at Panmunjon Algerian town of Orleansville destroyed by an earthquake, killing 1000 people 9 Sep 19 Oct Metal fatigue is found to be the cause of the Comet crashes Senator McCarthy's Communist witch-hunt curtailed when he is condemned by the American Congress 2 Dec 1955 Archaeologists confirm suspicions that the 'Piltdown Man' was a hoax 21 Jan 5 Apr Churchill resigns as British Prime Minister as he is 80, Sir Anthony Eden takes over Albert Einstein, probably the worlds most famous scientist dies at the age of 76 18 Apr 5 May West Germany becomes a sovereign state as the Allied High Commission is abolished The Warsaw Pact forming all the Eastern Bloc nations into a military alliance is signed 14 May 15 May A treaty signed in Vienna ends a decade of military occupation and restores Sovereignty but she must remain 'perpetually neutral' Sir Anthony Eden's Conservatives win the British General Election 27 May 13 Jul Ruth Ellis is hanged for murder at Holloway Prison London – the last woman to hang Disneyland pleasure park near Los Angeles opens 18 Jul 23 Jul Donald Campbell breaks the water speed record in Bluebird at an average speed of 202.32 mph President Juan Person of Argentina is overthrown by a military coup 24 Sep 30 Sep EOKA calls a general strike in Cyprus against British rule Actor and teen hero James Dean dies in a car crash 30 Sep 31 Oct Britain's Princess Margaret decides not to marry divorcee Captain Peter Townsend British troops and terrorists fight running battles in Famagusta Cyprus 26 Nov 26 Nov The Soviet Union explodes a hydrogen bomb Blacks begin a bus boycott in Montgomery, Alabama, USA in support of Rosa Parks who had refused to sit in the Blacks only area 4 Dec 1956 British deport Archbishop Makarios the leader of the Greek-Cypriot community for 'actively fostering terrorism' 9 Mar 18 Mar Khrushchev denounces Stalin as brutal, despotic and a criminal murder Spanish Morocco is granted independence 7 Apr 17 Apr Premium Bonds are introduced in the UK giving tax free winnings and the return of the investment Prince Rainier of Monaco marries American actress Grace Kelly 19 Apr 14 May Frogman Commander Crab disappears in Portsmouth harbour close to visiting Russian ships Nineteen French soldiers hacked to death in escalating violence in Algeria 18 May 3 Jun British Rail abolishes Third Class coaches on its trains British troops leave the Suez Canal Zone under the 1954 agreement 13 Jun 29 Jun Martial Law imposed in Poznan in Poland as workers riot against the Communists President Nasser of Egypt nationalises the Anglo-French controlled Suez Canal Company 26 Jul 29 Aug British and French troops set sail for Egypt after Nasser refuses to attend London conference on the Canal Hungarians rise against Soviet rule 26 Oct 29 Oct Israelis march into Egypt heading for the Suez Canal Anglo-French forces bombard Suez 31 Oct 3 Nov Israeli forces gain control of Gaza and Sinai Soviet tanks crush the Hungarian uprising 5 Nov 6 Nov Anglo-French forces seize control of the Suez Canal Zone United Nations imposes a ceasefire on the Allies in Egypt 8 Nov 21 Nov Britain hands over to the United Nations in the Suez Canal Zone after intense pressure from the Americans Sixteenth Olympic games opened in Melbourne Australia 22 Nov 30 Nov Large numbers of refugees cross the Austrian border fleeing from Soviet repression after the uprising Hungary put under Martial Law after further strikes and fighting 10 Dec 10 Dec Shockley, Bardeen and Bratain receive the Nobel Prize for Physics for their work on the invention of the transistor 1957 Sir Anthony Eden resigns and is replaced by Harold Macmillan as British Prime Minister 10 Jan 7 Feb Bill Haley and the Comets have a rapturous welcome for their first London Concert Vauxhall UK launches its new Victor saloon car 28 Feb 6 Mar British Gold Coast is granted Independence and becomes Ghana Six Nations – France, West Germany, Italy, Belgium, Holland, and Luxembourg sign the Treaty of Rome creating the European Common Market 25 Mar 11 Apr The island of Singapore is granted Self-Government by Britain King Hussein of Jordan faces down a coup by personal bravery 14 Apr 15 May Britain drops its first Hydrogen bomb on Christmas Island Malaya, the last of Britain's major Asian colonies becomes Independent 30 Aug 21 Sep Prince Olav becomes King Olav V of Norway on the death of King Haakon VII Federal troops enforce the American Supreme Court decision to end segregation by colour in schools in Little Rock Arkansas 25 Sep 2 Oct Vauxhall UK introduces the new Cresta and Velox cars Russia launches the first artificial satellite, Sputnik I, into orbit around the Earth 4 Oct 17 Oct A fire at the Windscale Atomic works in Cumberland leads to contamination and a ban on milk sales from land around the plant Russians launch a larger Sputnik satellite with a dog Laika inside 3 Nov 4 Dec Two trains crash in Lewisham South London killing 92 people All Dutch Nationals are expelled from Indonesia after a dispute about Dutch rule in West New Guinea 5 Dec 20 Dec Elvis Presley is called up to join the army Television programme 'Six-Five Special' showcases British rock and roll bands such as Tommy Steele, Lonnie Donnegan and Marty Wilde 31 Dec 1958 Seven members of the Manchester United football team are killed in a plane crash at Munich airport 6 Feb 17 Feb The Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament, CND, is set up in London Dr Vivian Fuchs completes the first ever crossing of Antarctica, after being beaten to the Pole by Sir Edmund Hillary 2 Mar 18 Mar The last Debutants are presented at Court after Queen Elizabeth decides to discontinue the practice 3000 anti-nuclear marchers from CND set out from London for the nuclear weapons HQ at Aldermaston 4 Apr 13 May French settlers in Algeria rebel against any deal with the Algerian nationalists intending to keep the country French Christopher Cockerell invents the Hovercraft which rides just above the ground on a cushion of air 23 May 29 May General De Gaulle agrees to become Premier of France on his own terms with powers to rewrite the Constitution King Feisal of Iraq, the Crown Prince and the Prime Minister are murdered in an Army coup 14 Jul 29 Jul The Americans create NASA, the National Aeronautical and Space Administration Intervention by British and American troops prevents a Syrian takeover in Iraq 31 Jul 27 Aug American disclose that the nuclear powered submarine Nautilus had sailed submerged under the North Pole Icelandic gunboats seize a British Trawler for fishing inside their newly declared 12-mile limit which Britain does not accept 2 Sep 9 Sep Race riots flare up in Notting Hill in West London Bubble cars from Isetta and Messerschmitt appear at the British Motor Show 22 Oct 28 Oct Cardinal Angelo Guiseppi Roncalli elected as progressive Pope John XXIII Britain's first Motorway, an eight mile stretch of the Preston Bypass in Lancashire is opened 5 Dec 5 Dec Queen Elizabeth makes the first direct dialled trunk telephone call General De Gaulle elected President of France under the new Constitution of the Fifth Republic 21 Dec 1959 Fidel Castro's guerrillas take power in Cuba after General Batista flees 2 Jan 12 Jan Russian Lunik spacecraft flies past the moon and into orbit around the sun Pop singer Buddy Holly dies in a plane crash near Mason city, Iowa 3 Feb 23 Feb Peace deal for Cyprus signed The Dalai Lama, spiritual leader of Tibet flees from Chinese repression of the nationalist uprising 31 Mar 19 Apr Dalai Lama finds sanctuary in India Britain protests to Iceland after live shells are fired at trawlers in the continuing 'Cod War' dispute 6 May 28 May Able, a Rhesus Monkey, and Baker a squirrel monkey become the first animals to go into space and return on an American Jupiter Missile nose cone The Russians report that a rabbit and two dogs have returned safely from space 6 Jul 25 Jul American Vice-President Nixon and Soviet Premier Krushchev meet in Moscow Police break up a demonstration so allowing Black children to get to school in Little Rock Arkansas 12 Aug 18 Aug British Motor Corporation's Mini car launched Transistor radios appear at the Earl's Court Radio Show in London 26 Aug 14 Sep Soviet spacecraft Lunik 2 is the first manmade object to hit the moon Harold Macmillan the British Prime Minister becomes 'Supermac' as he wins the general election with a large majority 9 Oct 26 Oct Russian spacecraft Lunik 3, in orbit around the moon, sends back pictures of the dark side never seen before Britain's first sizable Motorway the M1 opens 6 Nov 20 Nov Britain, Austria, Denmark, Norway, Sweden and Switzerland sign a trade pact forming EFTA the European Free Trade Area Twelve countries sign a treaty so that no country can claim part of Antarctica and so it is preserved for scientific research 1 Dec 14 Dec Archbishop Makarios becomes the new President of Cyprus   1900s  |  1910s  |  1920s  |  1930s  |  1940s  |  1950s  |  1960s  |  1970s  |  1980s  |  1990s