The last 50 years of events

An interesting list, ideal for quiz questions!

Author: Dee Jones/23 June 2020/Categories: Uncategorized

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Action Handling Equipment will be 50 years old in July 2020. This got us thinking about the notable events that have taken place over that period in time. What started out as a little bit of research soon became something fascinating. It was surprising to us how long ago certain events took place! The clichéd saying 'how time flies' springs to mind! How about testing yourself on some of these events? You could cheat and just leave the years in place or you could remove them and then put your memory to the test! This is by no means a definitive list but is still a good talking point for you with colleagues or friends.

Year	Notable and Major Events
1970	Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty signed. The Beatles disband. The first Glastonbury Music Festival held. 18 year olds given the vote in the UK.
1971	Decimalisation comes in. North Sea oil rig tragedy.
1972	Bloody Sunday in Northern Ireland. First Gay Pride march in London. SALT Treaty signed.
1973	Britain joins the EEC. Watergate scandal. First mobile phone conversation.
1974	3 day working week introduced. First McDonalds opens in the UK.
1975	Vietnam War ends. First digital camera introduced. Pol Pot takes over Cambodia.
1976	Britain borrows emergency loan from IMF. First photograph sent from the surface of Mars.
1977	First human MRI Scan.
1978	First test tube baby born. Winter of Discontent in the UK.
1979	Scotland and Wales vote to reject devolution. Maggie Thatcher becomes first female prime minister
1980	Iranian Embassy siege. Compact discs invented. Tehran hostage rescue failure. Rubik's Cube invented.
1981	Brixton riots. Irish Republican hunger strikes.
1982	Falklands War. SKY TV founded. Economic recession - 3m unemployed.
1983	Seatbelts compulsory in the UK. IBM PC XT launched. The first Dyson vacuum cleaner. Greenham Common nuclear protests.
1984	Miners strike. Indira Gandhi assassinated.
1985	Live Aid. Greenpeace Rainbow Warrior sunk.
1986	Privatisation of major UK industries. Chernobyl nuclear fire. Halley's Comet visits.
1987	Worst UK hurricane. Zeebrugge ferry disaster. Gorbachev campaign for Glasnost and Perestroika. AZT drug found to cure AIDS.
1988	Pan Am flight 103 bombing. Iran - Iraq war ends. Challenger Space Shuttle explodes.
1989	Berlin Wall comes down. World Wide Web invented by Tim Berners-Lee
1990	Poll Tax riots. Nelson Mandela released from jail.
1991	The first Gulf War.
1992	Black Wednesday ERM crash. Channel Tunnel opens. First text message sent. LA riots/Rodney King.
1993	Bishops Gate IRA bombing. World Trade Centre bombing. WACO siege.
1994	End of apartheid. First women priest ordained in the UK.
1995	Balkans War ends. OJ Simpson murder trial. Oklahoma City bombing.
1996	First cloned mammal. Pokémon launched. Dunblane massacre.
1997	New Labour movement gains power. Hong Kong handed back. Princess Diana dies. Scotland and Wales vote for devolution.
1998	Good Friday Agreement signed. Google founded. Viagra introduced.
1999	Britain say no to single euro currency. Bill Clinton impeached.
2000	Dot Com bubble bursts. The Millennium Bug fails to materialise.
2001	Foot and mouth disease. 9/11 plane terrorist attack. Wikipedia created.
2002	Stock Market crash.
2003	Invasion of Iraq starts. DNA Mapping launched.
2004	Ten new states join the EU. Indian Ocean tsunami strikes.
2005	Kyoto Protocol signed. Civil partnerships introduced for same sex couples.
2006	Saddam Hussain captured and hung. SAGO mine disaster. Avian flu (bird flu). Mumbai train bombing.
2007	Apple iPhone launched. Madeleine McMann disappearance.
2008	World banking crisis. Hadron Collider in Cern operates.
2009	Haiti earthquake strikes. B.P. Oil spillage. Icelandic volcano stops European flights.
2010	First ever Bitcoin launched
2011	Osama Bin Laden killed. Fidel Castro resigns. New Zealand earthquake.
2012	London Olympics.
2013	First artificial heart given. Boston Marathon bombing.
2014	Malaysian flight MH370 goes missing. MH17 flight shot down over the Ukraine.
2015	Paris Islamist Attacks. Migrant crisis in Europe. Ebola virus in Africa. Nepal earthquake strikes.
2016	Brexit vote to leave EU. Bastille Day terror attack.
2017	Grenfell Tower fire tragedy. Article 50 triggered. Rohingya crisis.
2018	Syria missile attack by US and coalition. Californian wildfires. Thai cave rescue.
2019	US/China trade war started by Donald Trump. Korea nuclear trade talks.
2020	Coronavirus grips the world. Brexit becomes official.

We hope you’ve enjoyed the list and were maybe as surprised as us about some of the dates. Hopefully Action Handling will still be around to report on the next 50 years of events!

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