| 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. |