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   1960 Americans launch the first meteorological satellite Tiros I 1 Jan 1 Jan France introduces the 'New Franc' worth 100 old Francs President De Gaulle appears on French Television to order the Army to break the French Settler insurrection in Algeria 29 Jan 3 Feb Prime Minister Macmillan indicates the increasing pace of decolonialisation with his 'Winds of Change' speech 1000 black students stage a peaceful demonstration against segregation in Montgomery Alabama 1 Mar 21 Mar Police open fire killing 56 people at Sharpeville in the Transvaal, South Africa A large influx of East Germans, mostly farmers, cross the border in West Berlin over the Easter Weekend 19 Apr 21 Apr Brasilia is inaugurated as the new Capital of Brazil Russians admit shooting down a US U-2 spy plane. Pilot Gary Powers is captured 5 May 17 May Summit conference breaks up over Russian outrage at the spy plane Adolf Eichmann the death camp organiser is captured by Israeli agents in Argentina living under an assumed name 23 May 26 Jun British Somaliland and French Madagascar become independent Congo becomes independent from Belgium after 80 years of rule and Patrice Lumumba becomes its Prime Minister 30 Jun 11 Jul Katanga declares independence from Congo and a civil war begins Francis Chichester sails into New York in his yacht Gipsy Moth II setting a new recond of 40 days for the Atlantic crossing from Plymouth 21 Jul 16 Aug Cyprus becomes a Republic as British rule ends Soviet court finds American Gary Powers guilty of spying 19 Aug 25 Aug Olympic Games opens in Rome Britains largest colony Nigeria becomes independent 1 Oct 12 Oct Khrushchev bangs his shoe on the desk at the UN after being accused of Imperialism in Eastern Europe The British Hawker P1127 vertical take-off plane makes its first flight 21 Oct 2 Nov Court in London finds that D H Lawrence's book 'Lady Chatterley's Lover' is not obscene John Fitzgerald Kennedy narrowly wins the US Presidential election 9 Nov 2 Dec Patrice Lumumba the deposed Premier of the Congo is arrested The last British National Servicemen receive their call-up cards 31 Dec 1961 A test flight of the Mercury space capsule takes chimpanzee Ham 150 miles above the earth for a 18 minute flight 31 Jan 12 Apr Russian Yuri Gagarin becomes the first person to fly in space orbiting the earth in a Vostok spacecraft and returning after 108 minutes Armed Cuban exiles unsuccessfully invaded the Bay of Pigs in Cuba attempting to overthrow the Castro regime 19 Apr 26 Apr Algerian uprising collapses after four days after De Gaulle assumes Dictatorial powers in France Alan Shepard becomes the first American in space after a 15 minute sub-orbital flight reaching a height of 115 miles 5 May 25 May President Kennedy pledges America to put a man on the moon before the decade is over Russian ballet star Rudolf Nureyev defects in Paris and is granted asylum 16 Jun 10 Aug Britain applies for membership of the European Common Market The East Germans seal off East from West Berlin and start building the Berlin Wall 20 Aug 17 Sep Massive 'ban the bomb' demonstration leads to the arrest of 850 people Swede Dag Hammarskjoeld, the UN Secretary General, is killed in a plane crash in Northern Rhodesia 18 Sep 1 Oct The last steam train runs on the London Underground Malta becomes independent from Britain 24 Oct 3 Nov Burmese U Thant becomes Secretary General of the UN Nazi Adolf Eichmann is sentenced to death by a court in Jerusalem 15 Dec 1962 U-2 pilot Gary Powers and KGB Colonel Rudolf Abel are swapped on a bridge in Berlin 10 Feb 20 Feb John Glenn becomes the first American to orbit the earth, completing three times circuits before splashing down in the Atlantic President De Gaulle orders a massive crack down in Algeria to crush the OAS insurrection of the French ex-pats 26 Mar 4 Apr James Hanratty is hanged for the 'A6' murder President Kennedy sends US marines into Laos to counter the Communist Pathet Lao forces 10 May 3 July France proclaims Algeria independent Civil rights leader Martin Luther King is jailed for leading and illegal march in Georgia 10 Jul 11 Jul Live transatlantic television becomes possible as the Telstar satellite comes into use Film star Marilyn Monroe is found dead in bed 5 Aug 6 Aug Jamaica gains its independence from Britain after 307 years The Islands of Trinidad and Tobago become an independent nation within the British Commonwealth 31 Aug 1 Oct Riots at Mississippi University as the first black student James Meredith attends his first classes President Kennedy states that Russia has missile sites in Cuba and imposes a blockade 22 Oct 26 Oct A simmering border dispute between India and China flares up into heavy fighting Khrushchev steps back from the nuclear brink and promises to remove the Russian missiles in Cuba 28 Oct 7 Nov Nelson Mandela is jailed for 5 years after being found guilty of 'incitement' China wins the border dispute with India and calls for a ceasefire 21 Nov 10 Dec Francis Crick and James Watson win the Nobel Prize for Medicine for their work on the structure of DNA American Mariner II spacecraft sends back the first close-up pictures of the planet Venus 14 Dec 1963 Vietcong guerrillas shoot down five American helicopters in the Mekong delta in Vietnam 2 Jan 14 Jan De Gaulle says 'Non' to British entry to the EEC Dr Beeching Chairman of British Railways announces the closure of most of the branch lines on the network 27 Mar 5 Jun John Profumo, Secretary of State for War resigns after admitting lying to Parliament about his involvement with Christine Keeler More Profumo sex scandal revelations as Dr Stephen Ward appears in court 10 Jun 16 Jun Russian Valentina Tereshkova becomes the first woman in space Cardinal Monti becomes Pope Paul VI after the death of Pope John XXIII on 3rd June 21 Jun 26 Jun President Kennedy goes to Berlin and shows his support with his 'Ich bin ein Berliner' speech British Government admits that Kim Philby was the third man in the spy ring involving Burgess and Maclean 1 Jul 22 Jul Enquiry is set up into the activities of Peter Rachman and other slum landlords Earthquake destroys the Yugoslav city of Skopje killing 1000 people 26 Jul 31 Jul Dr Stephen Ward takes an overdose and is found guilty of living off the immoral earnings of women like Christine Keeler and Mandy Rice Davies, bringing them together with influential men The 'Great Train Robbery' nets £2.6m for the gang who ambushed a train at Cheddington, Buckinghamshire 8 Aug 28 Aug Martin Luther King makes his 'I have a dream' speech at a huge rally in Washington The 'Hot Line' telephone connection between the American White House and the Kremlin is opened 30 Aug 18 Oct Alec Douglas Home becomes British Prime Minister after Harold Macmillan resigns on health grounds Pop fans go wild as Beatlemania takes hold and sales of 'She Loves You' pass 1 million 31 Oct 21 Nov President John Kennedy is shot dead in Dallas Texas, Lyndon Johnson is sworn in as the new President Lee Harvey Oswald the man charged with Kennedy's murder is shot dead by Jack Ruby while in police custody 24 Nov 6 Dec Christine Keeler jailed for nine months for perjury Kenya becomes the 34th African country to achieve independence 12 Dec 1964 Pope Paul VI visits the Holy Land 5 Jan 8 Feb Beatlemania grips the US as the Fab Four fly in to New York Twenty one killed as Greek and Turkish Cypriots clash. Britain sends more troops to try to quell the troubles 12 Feb 28 Feb Pirate Radio Caroline begins transmissions from a ship in the North Sea Mods and Rockers fight each other on the beach at Clacton 30 Feb 13 Apr Ian Smith is elected Prime Minister of Southern Rhodesia German Geraldine Mock becomes the first woman to fly solo around the world 16 Apr 18 May Gangs of Mods and Rockers clash again, this time on the beaches of Margate Jawaharlal Nehru, the Prime Minister of India since it became independent dies after a heart attack 28 May 14 Jun Nelson Mandela is sentenced to life imprisonment for treason Francis Chichester sets a new record sailing across the Atlantic in less than 30 days 22 Jun 2 Jul President Lyndon Johnson completes to work begun by President Kennedy by signing the far reaching Civil Rights Act Winston Churchill leaves the House of Commons for the last time at the age of 89 28 Jul 7 Aug US steps up action against North Vietnam after an attack by torpedo boats on the destroyer Maddox Turkey and Greece accept a UN ceasefire in Cyprus 10 Aug 30 Aug It is reported that the worlds population is increasing at the rate of 63million a year and reached 3.1 billion in mid 1962 Malaysia declares a state of emergency after landings by Indonesian paratroops in Labis, central Malaysia 3 Sep 4 Sep Europe's longest bridge, the Road bridge across the Forth, opens Malta becomes an independent member of the Commonwealth 21 Sep 10 Oct 18th Olympic Games opens in Tokyo Khrushchev is deposed while on holiday and is succeeded as party leader by Leonid Brezhnev 15 Oct 16 Oct China joins the Nuclear club by exploding an Atomic Bomb Britain's Labour party under Harold Wilson gains power after a narrow election victory 16 Oct 24 Oct Martin Luther King is awarded the Nobel Peace Prize Lyndon Johnson wins the US Presidency by a landslide 5 Nov 1965 State Funeral of Sir Winston Churchill after his death four days before 30 Jan 11 Feb American planes bomb North Vietnam Russian Alexei Leonev takes a space walk outside his spacecraft 18 Mar 28 Mar Martin Luther King leads a Civil Rights March of 25,000 in Montgomery, Alabama President Johnson sends Marines into Vietnam 31 Mar 28 Jul President Johnson announces he is sending another 50,000 troops to Vietnam Singapore secedes from Malaysia to become Independent 9 Aug 15 Aug Race riots flare in the Watts ghetto in Los Angeles India and Pakistan at war over Kashmir 22 Sep 7 Oct The 620 foot high post office tower opens in London The Beatles are awarded MBEs 26 Oct 29 Oct Harold Wilson goes to Rhodesia in an attempt to head off the Unilateral Declaration of Independence White Rhodesia declares UDI and breaks with Britain 11 Nov 17 Dec Harold Wilson imposes oil sanctions on Rhodesia 1966 American B-52 bomber collides with a Tanker aircraft and loses an H-bomb into the Atlantic off southern Spain 17 Jan 19 Jan Nehru's daughter Indira Gandhi becomes Indian Prime minister after the death of Lal Shastri Protests in Amsterdam as Princess Beatrix marries German Claus von Amsberg 10 Mar 23 Mar The Pope meets Anglican Archbishop Fisher in Rome to end a 400 year old rift Harold Wilson's Labour party wins a clear majority in the British General Election 1 Apr 4 Apr Russian spacecraft Lunar X goes into orbit around the Moon Missing American H-bomb is found intact by a midget submarine 7 Apr 6 May Moors murderers Ian Brady and Myra Hindley are sentenced to life imprisonment Large gas find in the southern North Sea 1 Jun 30 Jul England wins the football World Cup, beating Germany 4 – 2 Race riots flare in the US in Chicago, New York and Cleveland 31 Jul 13 Aug Mao Tse-tung proclaims the Cultural Revolution to bring the country closer to his ideal Communist state British Colony Bechuanaland becomes independent as Botswana 30 Sep 22 Oct Spy George Blake breaks out of Wormwood Scrubs jail in London, possibly helped by the Russians for whom he was working Coal tip collapses on to a school in Aberfan, South Wales, killing 116 children and 28 adults 27 Oct 9 Nov Teams try to rescue Art Treasures from Florence after the Arno bursts it banks and floods two thirds of the city White Rhodesians reject the settlement terms discussed between Harold Wilson and Ian Smith in talks on HMS Tiger 6 Dec 1967 Donald Campbell dies when his speedboat Bluebird somersaults at 300mph 4 Jan 11 Jan Controversial TV play 'Cathy Come Home' portrays homelessness Three American astronauts Gus Grissom, Ed White and Roger Chaffee die in a flash fire in their spacecraft during a practice 27 Jan 26 Feb US launches a major attack on Viet Cong stronghold RAF bombs the Tanker Torrey Canyon which was spilling oil on to Cornish Beaches after it ran aground off Land's End 10 days ago 30 Mar 21 Apr Army Colonels seize power in Greece Russian Cosmonaut Vladimir Komarov is killed when his Soyuz spacecraft crash when coming out of orbit 24 Apr 5 May Ariel 3 the first British Satellite is launched French President De Gaulle says 'Non' to Britain joining the Common Market 16 May 28 May Francis Chichester completes his solo round the world sail in Gipsy Moth IV after 119 days at sea Israel observes UN ceasefire after triumphing in the pre-emptive 6 day war, destroying most of the Arab forces ranged against them 10 Jun 1 Jul BBC2 begins regular broadcasts in colour Europeans flee as the war escalates between Nigeria and secessionist Biafra 16 Jul 27 Jul Race riots break out in Detroit requiring paratroops to restore order Pirate radio stations banned 15 Aug 28 Aug Hippy Festival of the Flower Children held at Woburn Abbey Gibraltar votes to keep ties with Britain 10 Sep 20 Sep 58000 ton liner Queen Elizabeth II is launched Revolutionary Che Guevara is shot in the Bolivian Jungle 10 Oct 21 Oct Anti Vietnam War protest at the Pentagon turns violent The Pound sterling is devalued after the worst financial crisis for 20 years 19 Nov 21 Nov American Air Force steps up its bombing of North Vietnam First human heart transplant is carried out on Louis Washkansky at the Groote Schuur Hospital in Cape Town by a team led by Christiaan Barnard 3 Dec 1968 Liberal Alexander Dubcek becomes new leader in Czechoslovakia after hardliner Antonin Novotny is forced from power 5 Jan 31 Jan Viet Cong launch the Tet offensive against the major cities in South Vietnam, particularly Saigon Americans and South Vietnamese retake the city of Hue the Communists greatest prize of the Tet offensive 24 Feb 26 Mar The first man in space Yuri Gagarin is killed in an air crash Dr Martin Luther King is shot dead in Memphis 4 Apr 11 Apr Major black riots in US in protest at Martin Luther King's murder Enoch Powell makes a racist speech warning of 'rivers of blood' leading to his sacking from the shadow cabinet 21 Apr 7 May Rioting French students battle with police Soviet troops move up to the Czech border as the Russians become alarmed at the liberalising tide of Alexander Dubcek 9 May 16 May Three people killed when a corner of a 22-storey tower block at Ronan Point in London collapses French workers go on strike in support of the students 21 May 30 May President De Gaulle dissolves the National Assembly and calls elections to try to end the protests Senator Robert Kennedy, brother of the murdered president, is shot in the head in the Ambassador Hotel in Los Angeles 6 Jun 30 Jun De Gaulle's supporters get a big majority in the French elections strengthening his grip on power Russian tanks mass on the Czech border as talks take place to persuade Dubcek to change course 29 Jul 29 Jul Papal encyclical says No to birth control Tanks from Russia and four other Eastern Bloc countries roll into Czechoslovakia to crush the Prague spring of reforms 21 Aug 12 Sep Soviet tanks removed from the streets of Prague as the grip on the government increases Harold Wilson and Ian Smith meet on HMS Fearless in Gibraltar for abortive talks over Rhodesia 9 Oct 12 Oct Olympic games open in Mexico City Tens of thousands of Czechs take to the streets to protest at the Soviet occupation 28 Oct 1 Nov President Johnson orders an unconditional halt to all bombing of North Vietnam Richard Nixon is elected President of the United States 6 Nov 27 Dec After a 6 day flight that included 10 orbits of the Moon, the American spacecraft Apollo 8 splashes down in the Pacific 1969 Jan Palach burns himself to death in Prague as a protest against the Russian invasion of Czechoslovakia 19 Jan 24 Jan Ford announces a new sports saloon, the Capri Boeing's 747 'Jumbo' airliner, the worlds largest commercial airliner, makes its maiden flight 8 Feb 2 Mar Anglo French supersonic airliner Concorde makes its maiden flight Charles de Gaulle loses a Constitutional Referendum and he resigns the Presidency 28 Apr 21 May Apollo 10 Spacecraft orbits the Moon Oil deposits discovered in the Northern North Sea 20 Jun 21 Jul Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin set foot on the moon as their Apollo 11 spacecraft lands on the surface Ulster Catholics cheer British troops sent in to protect them in the Bogside area of Londonderry 15 Aug 31 Aug 150,000 fans attend a rock festival in the Isle of Wight Muammar Gaddafi takes power in a military coup in Libya 1 Sep 28 Sep Troops erect a 'Peace Wall' to keep warring factions apart in Belfast First broadcast of BBC series 'Monty Python's Flying Circus' 5 Oct 14 Oct Seven sided 50 pence piece comes into circulation Willi Brandt elected German Chancellor 21 Oct 21 Nov Astronauts from Apollo 12 make second moon landing Flu epidemic; 294 people in the UK have died in the last week 23 Dec   1900s  |  1910s  |  1920s  |  1930s  |  1940s  |  1950s  |  1960s  |  1970s  |  1980s  |  1990s