The last 100 years of the UK, captured in extraordinary photos

A century in the life of a nation

The last 100 years of the United Kingdom have had it all: political upheaval, protests, pandemics, constitutional crises, coronations, controversy and catastrophe. Marked by joyful highs and devastating lows, deep division and profound unity, this period has seen great change – sometimes for the better, occasionally for the worse. Here, we take a look at the UK’s transformation through remarkable historic images, one for every year between 1924 and 2024.

Read on to see a century of a country caught on camera, from snippets of daily life and ordinary people to the most pivotal moments preserved forever…

1924: Britain’s first Labour government is formed

A powerful political force since the 1830s, the Conservative Party lost its parliamentary majority in the December 1923 snap election. Though nobody decisively won, it was Scottish-born James Ramsay MacDonald who took office on 22 January 1924, becoming the UK’s first Labour (socialist) prime minister. Under his leadership, Great Britain officially recognised the Soviet regime in Russia which, coupled with concerns over alleged communist sympathies within the Labour Party, resulted in the Conservatives winning back their majority in November that year. Macdonald resigned, but returned as prime minister in 1929.

1925: A boy buys pigeon feed near St Paul’s Cathedral

Today, no matter which city in the world you’re in, you’re almost certain to meet the local pigeon population. But the feathered fiends are particularly synonymous with London, and have patrolled its streets and its skies for over 1,000 years. In this charming photo, a schoolboy purchases pigeon feed for twopence a bag (just like in the song from the 1964 Mary Poppins film) so that he can 'feed the birds' on the steps of St Paul’s Cathedral. The vendor is believed to be an ex-serviceman.

1926: Agatha Christie disappears

In December 1926, ‘queen of crime’ Agatha Christie became the centre of a mystery not unlike one of her novels. Following an argument with her unfaithful husband, the author vanished from their Berkshire home, only to turn up 11 days later at a hotel in Harrogate, Yorkshire. She had used a false name and failed to recognise her husband when he arrived. Christie never spoke of the incident publicly, but modern historians believe the combined traumas of her husband’s infidelity and her mother’s death contributed to the writer entering a fugue state and losing her memory. This image shows three bloodhounds and their handlers searching for her.

1927: Unemployed Welsh miners march to London

Starting out from South Wales on 8 November 1927, 270 men from mining communities across the region marched for London in protest of the poor provisions unemployed miners and their families received from the Ministry of Health. The hunger march, on which two people died, was the first of its kind and was met largely with hostility from trade unions, fascists, the media and the government. But as the ‘workers’ army’ trudged onwards through places like Bristol, Bath and Swindon, support for their plight grew. Here, the men are pictured in Reading en route to their final destination.

1928: The Tyne Bridge opens

At the time of its completion, the Tyne Bridge was the longest span bridge in the world. Connecting Newcastle-upon-Tyne to Gateshead in the northeast of England, it was officially opened on 10 October 1928 (pictured) by King George V. The monarch’s State Landau horse-drawn carriage was the first vehicle to cross the steel and granite bridge, which was purpose-built for the motor age. It’s no small coincidence that the structure bears more than a passing resemblance to the Sydney Harbour Bridge – it was designed by the same company. Tyne Bridge is currently undergoing considerable restoration ahead of its centenary in 2028.

1929: The so-called ‘Flapper Election’ is held

The 1929 general election was a turning point for gender equality in the UK, as it was the first in which women aged 21 to 29 had the right to vote. When the Representation of the People (Equal Franchise) Act was passed the previous year, it allowed women to vote on the same terms as men for the first time in history. Before this, women had to be aged 30 or over to have a say on the poll card. Nicknamed the ‘Flapper Election’ due to the increase in young female voters, it was held on 30 May and resulted in a hung parliament.

1930: Amy Johnson flies solo from the UK to Australia

Yorkshire native Amy Johnson was the first British-trained woman to be awarded a ground engineer’s licence, as well as being the first woman to fly solo from England to Australia. The pioneering pilot took off on her history-making journey from Croydon on 5 May 1930 and landed in Darwin on 24 May. She returned to a hero’s welcome in the UK; this photo was taken outside Grosvenor House in London. After a short life of setting and breaking further aviation records, Johnson disappeared in 1941 while flying over the Thames estuary. Her body was never recovered, but she is thought to have crashed and drowned.

1931: A Lancashire cotton mill receives a surprising visitor

Mahatma Gandhi, the leader of India’s independence movement against the British Raj, was given a warm welcome when he arrived in the Lancashire town of Darwen in September 1931. Local cotton mill owners invited Gandhi to see for himself the crippling effects that his campaign’s boycott of British goods had had on the textile industry and its workers. While he was sympathetic to the people he met, Gandhi noted that the poverty experienced in his homeland was far more severe. The visit did not end the boycott; Gandhi said it would stand unless progress was made towards India’s freedom from colonial rule.

1932: A mass trespass is staged at Kinder Scout

The question of the British public’s right to roam is still hotly debated in 2024, and it was no less of an emotive subject over 90 years ago, when ramblers sought to reclaim a privately-owned patch of the Peak District in Derbyshire. On 24 April 1932, hundreds of hikers rallied on Kinder Scout, the highest point in the Peak District, to protest against gamekeepers blocking access to it. Five trespassers were imprisoned for their part in the demonstration, prompting a backlash that ultimately led to the creation of Britain’s national parks – of which the Peak District was designated the first in 1951.

1933: Sightings of the Loch Ness Monster spike

The earliest recorded sighting of a mysterious aquatic beast in Scotland’s Loch Ness dates back to AD 565. But in 1933, fresh rumours of ‘Nessie’ encounters began to make the headlines, giving new life to the ancient myth. It was reported in the Inverness Courier that May that a couple driving along the loch’s shores had spotted “a tremendous upheaval” in the otherwise calm waters, followed by a glimpse of something whale-like which then dissipated into “a boiling mass of foam”. This image, also from 1933, is a still captured by Glasgow moviemaker Malcolm Irvine, who claimed to catch the monster on film.

1934: The RMS Queen Mary is launched

When the Cunard Line’s RMS Queen Mary launched on the River Clyde in Scotland on 26 September 1934, it rang in the era of the luxury ocean liner. Boasting swimming pools, cocktail bars, squash courts and libraries, the ship was to set a precedent for transatlantic travel. It was on its launch day at Clydebank that the vessel – until then known as ship number 534 – was officially christened the Queen Mary, after George V’s wife. Since 1971, the now-decommissioned Queen Mary has served as a visitor attraction anchored at Long Beach, California, USA where guests can even stay the night.

1935: The Silver Jubilee offers an escape

On 6 May 1935, King George V and Queen Mary became the first British monarchs to celebrate a Silver Jubilee. To commemorate George V’s 25-year-reign as the King of the United Kingdom and the British Dominions and Emperor of India, garden parties, sporting events, parades and pageants were organised across the nation. In this photo, a group of children from the West Yorkshire village of Denby Vale line up excitedly in fancy dress, eager to participate in the local procession. Amidst the Great Depression, the festivities were a welcome opportunity for the country to forget its economic woes for the day.

1936: King Edward VIII’s love life causes a crisis

Less than a year later, George V passed away and was succeeded by his eldest son Edward VIII. A few months into his reign, Edward proposed to American double-divorcee Wallis Simpson. Prime Minister Stanley Baldwin opposed the match and vowed to resign if the marriage went ahead, which would force a general election. As this would go against Edward’s position as a politically neutral constitutional monarch, he realised he could not keep his throne and the love of his life. He abdicated on 10 December 1936, having ruled for just 326 days. Some Londoners took to the streets with supportive banners (pictured).

1937: Local swans make way for the Henley Regatta

The Henley Regatta, a six-day rowing event held annually in Henley-on-Thames in Oxfordshire, had already been going for almost a century by the time this photo was taken. Established in 1839 and awarded royal patronage in 1851, the illustrious competition is officially known as the Henley Royal Regatta, and remains a much-anticipated highlight of British summertime for the country’s fashionable set. For their own protection, Henley’s swans and cygnets are temporarily removed from the River Thames during the regatta. Pictured here, swan masters in June 1937 herding the birds from the course to safety.

1938: People practice wearing their gas masks

With the Nazi threat rising in mainland Europe and war with Germany looking imminent, the British government began bracing civilians for a turbulent future. Gas masks, or general service respirators, were issued to the public in 1938 by the Air Raid Precautions Department, to be used in the event of a poison gas attack. By the outbreak of World War II in September 1939, over 44 million masks had been handed out. In this image dated March 1938, members of the St Andrew’s Ambulance Association attend a gas mask practice demonstration at their headquarters on North Street, Glasgow.

1939: Britain’s cities evacuate

At 11.07am on 31 August 1939, the British government initiated ‘Operation Pied Piper’. Pre-empting that Hitler would tactically bomb the country’s major towns and cities, a mass evacuation of nearly three million people living in urban areas was ordered. Most of those transported to the safety of the countryside were schoolchildren – like those shown here leaving London’s Euston Station – but pregnant women, mothers with infants, teachers and people with disabilities were also among the evacuees. After no air raids in the early months of the war, many children were returned to their city homes – only to be evacuated again once the Blitz began in 1940.

1940: The Women’s Land Army feeds the nation

Originally founded during World War I, the Women’s Land Army mobilised again for World War II, with over 200,000 ‘land girls’ serving the country between June 1939 and November 1950. Before World War II, Britain relied heavily on imported produce in order to feed its people. But with the war strangling the country’s supply chains, it became necessary to grow more food at home and increase the amount of agricultural land. As many male farm workers had joined the military, the women of the UK stepped into their shoes. They ploughed, milked cows, caught rats, drove tractors and more.

1941: The Blitz finally ends

After eight months of merciless bombardment by the Luftwaffe, the conclusion of the Blitz (derived from the German word for ‘lightning war’) finally came in May 1941 – but not without a shocking climax. Many towns, cities and ports across the country had been decimated during the campaign since September 1940, from Coventry, Sheffield and Southampton, to Clydeside, Cardiff and Belfast. The British capital unsurprisingly fared the worst, facing its deadliest (and last major) raid on the night of 10-11 May 1941 (pictured). More than 1,400 civilians were killed when German bombers rained 711 tonnes of high explosive and 2,393 incendiaries down on London.

1942: Northern Ireland welcomes American soldiers

Following the surprise Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor on 7 December 1941, the United States of America found itself dragged into World War II. President Franklin D. Roosevelt subsequently sent some 300,000 American troops to Northern Ireland to assist with the Allied war effort. The first soldiers to cross the pond landed in Belfast on 26 January 1942, and soon American GIs comprised around one tenth of Northern Ireland's population. Dated 19 February 1942, this image shows newly arrived US troops being greeted with hot coffee by women from the Navy, Army and Air Force Institutes (NAAFI).

1943: The Bevin Boys enter the pits

With many of the nation’s miners called up to serve overseas and Britain running perilously low on coal, the wartime Minister of Labour and National Service Ernest Bevin took the fight for fuel underground. From the end of 1943, instead of being drafted into the armed forces, men could be conscripted to work in collieries. Over a period of 18 months, the scheme saw an additional 50,000 workers – who became known as the Bevin Boys – enter the country’s coal mines. A number of young boys volunteered too, like this group training at Markham Main Colliery, near Doncaster in South Yorkshire.

1944: Weddings don’t stop for war

Even in the darkest depths of wartime, life still carried on – and love blossomed. This moving photo dated January 1944 shows a British Red Cross military nurse officer in service uniform marrying her sweetheart, an airman in the Royal Air Force (RAF), in Bristol. The couple are surrounded by the woman’s colleagues in the Voluntary Aid Detachment (VAD), which was made up of civilian volunteers rather than official army nurses. Members of the VAD could have been qualified medical professionals or have received no formal training at all, yet saved lives nonetheless.

1945: World War II ends in Europe

On 8 May 1945, the day after Nazi Germany surrendered, people all over the UK tuned into the radio at 3pm to hear Prime Minister Winston Churchill announce the end of the war in Europe. The country collectively exhaled in relief, and looked towards a peaceful future while also reflecting on everything and everyone that had been lost. Emotional crowds congregated in the streets, some waving Union Jack flags and wearing the patriotic colours of red, white and blue. History remembers that life-altering day as VE Day – ‘Victory in Europe Day’. Here it is being celebrated in the City of London.

1946: Post-war homelessness triggers squatting

The end of World War II only brought short-lived freedom to some of those living in Britain. The nation was already suffering a social housing crisis before the war began, but the damage inflicted by the Blitz, plus the wartime pause on construction, only compounded the lack of liveable homes for those in need. By 1946, many homeless people were squatting in empty army camps. But on 8 September that year, as part of a mass squatting movement, over 100 families seized unoccupied luxury flats in the Duchess of Bedford House, West London. Denied heating by the government, this image shows one woman cooking on outdoor fires.

1947: Thames Valley floods become the worst for many in living memory

Following a brutal winter, said to be the worst in 300 years, and a deluge of early spring rain, the thaw that came with the melting snow and ice unleashed havoc across the country in March 1947. One of the areas to be hit the hardest was the Thames Valley, as floodwaters turned parts of the river-hugging region into a mess of lakes and islands. This surreal photograph shows a street in Maidenhead transformed into a canal, as a water-taxi service conveys businesspeople to and from their partially submerged homes.

1948: The Windrush generation arrives at Tilbury Docks

Looking for help to rebuild Britain in the aftermath of World War II, the government introduced new legislation that granted Caribbean people the right to live and work in the UK. The first wave of migrants from the region, many of them armed forces veterans, arrived on 22 June 1948, sailing on the HMT Empire Windrush from Jamaica to Tilbury Docks in Essex (pictured). Of the 1,027 passengers (and two stowaways) onboard, more than 800 gave their last country of residence as a Caribbean island. Many of them went on to work in the National Health Service, better known as the NHS, also founded in 1948.

1949: Bank holiday crowds flock to Manchester’s Belle Vue

With its zoo, fairground rides and circus acts, the Belle Vue theme park was once the entertainment capital of northern England. Operating between 1836 and 1982, the park grew from humble, if not eccentric, Victorian beginnings to become Manchester’s biggest visitor attraction. Belle Vue was groundbreaking in many ways, being the site of the first greyhound meeting in the UK and the home of its first speedway, as well as hosting the country’s largest bingo hall. Here it is overrun with families on the August bank holiday weekend in 1949.

1950: A tornado tracks across southern and eastern England

With a path over 66 miles (106km) in length, the tornado that struck Buckinghamshire and Bedfordshire in 1950 remains the longest tornado trail in England on record. It is also Europe’s longest-lasting tornado in recorded history, wreaking chaos for almost three hours and laying to waste towns like Linslade (pictured). Eyewitnesses described seeing a thick dark cloud swirling on the horizon, before forming into a menacing whirlwind. It tore through neighbouring parts of the Chiltern Hills and travelled as far as Cambridgeshire. Three people were killed in lightning storms and floods.

1951: The stolen Stone of Scone is recovered

The legendary Stone of Scone has played a pivotal part in the crowning of rulers since ancient times. The sacred sandstone block found its way to the Scottish village of Scone around AD 840, where it was incorporated into the royal coronation seat until 1292. In 1296, it was claimed by Edward I of England. The king had it placed in London’s Westminster Abbey in 1307, beneath a special throne known as the Coronation Chair. It was from there that Scottish nationalists stole the stone on Christmas Day 1950. It was recovered four months later from Arbroath Abbey (pictured), but was eventually returned to Scotland permanently in 1996.

1952: Queen Elizabeth II begins her reign

Were it not for her uncle’s abdication in 1936, Princess Elizabeth would have had little chance of ever ruling Britain. But when the crown prematurely passed to her father and Edward's younger brother, George VI, it paved the way for her remarkable reign. With George's health in grave decline since the summer of 1951, Elizabeth had acted as his representative at several state occasions, and was on her way to Australia and New Zealand for a royal tour when she received word of his death on 6 February 1952. She was proclaimed Queen Elizabeth II at the age of 25 and is pictured here attending her first state opening of Parliament.

1953: England win the Ashes for the first time in 19 years

The Ashes, a biennial men’s Test cricket series that pits England against Australia, had a bigger audience than ever in 1953. With Queen Elizabeth II's coronation screened to the nation on 2 June, many Brits invested in a television set that year. Later that summer, in the all-important fifth and final Test, a significant number of people tuned in to see the England team end a run of draws in the previous four matches to claim the coveted Ashes trophy. Their first win since 1933 took place at the Oval cricket ground in South London, where ecstatic crowds rushed onto the field at the end of the match (pictured).

1954: Roger Bannister breaks the four-minute mile

The achievement of running a mile in under four minutes had eluded athletes for so long that many believed it to be impossible. But on 6 May 1954, 25-year-old British medical student Roger Bannister finally smashed the speed barrier. Competing at Oxford’s Iffley Road track (pictured) for the Amateur Athletic Association against his alma mater, Oxford University, Bannister won the mile race in three minutes and 59.4 seconds. Having shattered the previous world record of four minutes and 1.3 seconds, this made Bannister the first person ever to break the four-minute mile.

1955: An express train derails at Sutton Coldfield

At around 4.15pm on 23 January 1955, an express train travelling at twice the speed limit derailed and flipped over at Sutton Coldfield station in the West Midlands. Bound for York from Bristol, the train was carrying around 300 passengers when nine of its 10 carriages careered off the tracks while taking on a sharp bend. It slammed into the station platforms, with the first carriage being crushed between the engine and second carriage, while another was sent flying into the air. In what went down in history as Birmingham’s worst rail disaster, 17 people lost their lives and 43 more were injured.

1956: Families enjoy a coastal day trip

There are three quintessentially British things that have especially stood the test of time: the love of a good cup of tea, moaning about the weather and outings to the seaside. The UK might not bask in the sunniest climes, but that has never stopped Brits from packing up the car and heading for the nearest beach whenever the summer holidays roll around. In this photo dated 16 June 1956, two chuffed kiddies brandish columns of candyfloss larger than their heads outside an ice-cream kiosk on the seafront in Aberystwyth, Mid Wales.

1957: ‘Whispering Giants’ are built in Belfast

First entering commercial service in 1957, the Bristol Britannia was the world’s first long-range aircraft powered by turboprop technology. Nicknamed the ‘Whispering Giant’, the British airliner was known for its smooth motion and quiet design, courtesy of four turboprop engines. British Airways’ predecessor BOAC was the first carrier to use the plane, but this image shows a fleet of five being built for America’s Northeast Airlines, at the Short Brothers and Harland factory in Belfast, Northern Ireland.

1958: Stirling Moss drives at Silverstone

Pictured here driving his Lister-Jaguar MVE 303 in 1958 at the home of British motor racing, Stirling Moss was one of the greatest Formula 1 (F1) drivers to ever grace the iconic Silverstone circuit. Born and bred in London, Moss won 16 of the 66 F1 races he competed in between 1951 and 1961. When he topped the podium at Aintree in 1955, he became the first British driver to win a home Grand Prix (GP). A former RAF base, Silverstone was transformed into a racetrack after World War II and first hosted the British GP in 1948.

1959: A cornerstone of Black British culture is born

In response to a string of racially motivated attacks targeting Black residents of West London's Notting Hill neighbourhood in 1958, Trinidadian human rights activist Claudia Jones organised a special gathering to bring the community back together. The televised event, called the Caribbean Carnival, was held indoors at St Pancras Town Hall on 30 January 1959 (pictured). This was the precursor of the now world-famous Notting Hill Carnival – Europe's largest street party, typically attended by over two million people each year. Today, it showcases everything from Brazilian samba to Caribbean calypso.

1960: The first ‘Coronation Street’ episode airs

The world's longest-running TV soap opera was originally only meant to air for 13 weeks. But Coronation Street, set in the fictional Greater Manchester town of Weatherfield, has since celebrated over 60 years on screen and more than 10,000 episodes. It debuted on 9 December 1960, featuring the cast pictured here at the drama’s film studios. The actor in the foreground on the right is William Roache, who still plays the character of Ken Barlow today at the age of 92. By its 60th anniversary, ‘Corrie’ had racked up 196 deaths, 131 weddings and 48 births.

1961: Portland spy ring trials begin

Recognised as one of the British security service’s most successful Cold War-era counter-espionage missions, the rumbling of the Portland spy ring shocked the nation. The network was active in the UK from the 1950s until 1961, when five Soviet spies were arrested and ultimately convicted for passing top-secret naval information obtained from the Admiralty Underwater Weapons Establishment, on the Isle of Portland in Dorset, to Russia’s KGB. In this photo taken on 13 March 1961, Superintendent George Smith of Scotland Yard’s Special Branch (in charge of the case) arrives for the trials at London’s Old Bailey.

1962: Tenpin bowling centres make for a great night out

While there’s evidence to suggest that bowling in its most primitive form was practised by the ancient Egyptians, it wasn’t until the 1960s that the concept of indoor recreation centres with dedicated bowling lanes arrived in the UK. The first British tenpin bowling centre opened on 21 January 1960 in North London’s Stamford Hill. Within a couple of years, hanging out at the bowling alley with your mates had become a popular pastime up and down the country. As demonstrated by the determination in this man's face shows, the addictive sport turned the closest friends into competitors.

1963: The Great Train Robbery stuns the nation

At around 3.00am on 8 August 1963, an armed gang hijacked a Royal Mail train travelling from Glasgow to London and escaped with 120 bags of cash worth £2.6 million (around £46.4m in today’s money). They hid out on a farm in Buckinghamshire for a time, before the cops eventually closed in on most of the fugitives – three of them are shown here, handcuffed and disguised while leaving court. However, it wasn’t until 2001 that the last of the known suspects, Ronnie Biggs, was finally caught. After breaking out of prison in 1965, Biggs had plastic surgery to change his appearance and lived on the run for 36 years.

1964: Mods and rockers brawl

As a teenager in early-1960s Britain, you were either a mod or a rocker. You listened to The Who, wore designer suits and drove around on a Vespa or a Lambretta, or you wore leather, rode a motorbike and bought records by Elvis Presley. On the weekend of 16-18 May 1964, the two conflicting youth subcultures took their rivalry outside – to the seaside, in fact. Resort towns such as Margate (pictured), Brighton and Clacton-on-Sea became battlegrounds as the opposing tribes aired their grievances in the salty winds of coastal England. The press sensationalised things to an extent, but there were some arrests and violent clashes.

1965: Mary Quant's daring miniskirt goes mainstream

Chelsea fashion designer and pioneer Mary Quant was responsible for setting a number of trends in the 1960s, including the blunt bob haircut and ‘hot pants’. But it was her trailblazing miniskirts, which allowed women to move more freely and embrace their youthful vigour, that helped make her a household name. Upon seeing the super short style of Quant’s signature skirts, customers at her King’s Road boutique would ask for their hemlines to go higher and higher. Soon, everyone from secretaries to supermodels were rocking the iconic mini, often with knee-high boots or patent-leather pumps.

1966: Hero dog retrieves stolen World Cup trophy

Though not a golden retriever, collie cross Pickles (pictured) helped reunite the Football Association (FA) with the Jules Rimet trophy ahead of the 1966 FIFA World Cup. While on display at Methodist Central Hall in Westminster four months before the tournament, the trophy was stolen from its case and later abandoned in Norwood, South London. On a well-timed walk on 27 March 1966, Pickles sniffed out an unusual package which turned out to be the stolen trophy. The discovery made him an international celebrity and was obviously a good omen for England, as they won the World Cup that year.

1967: Catastrophic oil spill turns the tides black

When the American supertanker SS Torrey Canyon ran aground off the coast of Cornwall in March 1967, it belched over 100,000 tonnes of crude oil into the English Channel, killing more than 15,000 seabirds. It remains the UK’s worst environmental disaster, with some stricken areas of Britain and France taking 15 years to recover. After being marooned on a rocky reef between Land’s End and the Isles of Scilly for nearly two weeks, the Torrey Canyon was bombed (pictured) by the RAF and Royal Navy in order to burn off the excess oil and scuttle the vessel. It subsequently broke in two and sank.

1968: Women strike for equal pay

When the female sewing machinists at Ford’s Dagenham factory went on strike for equal pay in 1968, it inspired women workers all over the country to do the same – and eventually led to the passing of the Equal Pay Act in 1970. This photo from 1968 shows three women conductors on London’s buses campaigning in Trafalgar Square for not only equal pay, pensions and promotions, but for the opportunity to take the wheel. Women in London were not permitted to drive passenger buses at the time and that didn’t change until 1974, when Jill Viner became the city’s first woman bus driver in service.

1969: The Beatles perform live for the last time

After a series of unsavoury events led them to give up touring, The Beatles hadn’t played a live performance in public since 1966 when they started filming for a special documentary. Entitled Get Back, and not released until 2021, the programme focused on the Fab Four’s creative process and fragmenting relationships as they worked on what was to be their final studio album. To end the project on 30 January 1969, they played an impromptu 42-minute rooftop gig at their Apple Corps headquarters on London’s Savile Row (pictured). It was their last live performance together, as the ailing band finally called it quits in 1970.

1970: The first jumbo jet flies from New York to London

On 22 January 1970, the first Boeing 747 jumbo jet carrying paying passengers touched down at Heathrow airport (pictured). Pan Am Flight Two left New York’s JFK airport in the early hours of the morning, crossing the Atlantic in seven hours and 20 minutes to arrive on the London runway at 2.14pm local time. The monumental flight wasn’t without its hiccups – technical difficulties meant it departed seven hours late. The return journey was also delayed by four and a half hours. Despite this, the 747 dominated the skies for more than 50 years afterwards,

1971: A unique annual tradition returns to South Queensferry

Celebrated annually on the second Friday in August, Burryman’s Day is one of Scotland’s quirkiest folk traditions still observed today. Thought by the people of South Queensferry, a port town near Edinburgh, to bring good luck, the ritual dates back hundreds of years and may relate to a pagan harvest festival. It involves a man – covered from head to toe in spiky burrs and flowers – parading through the streets in his uncomfortable suit as people offer him whisky in gratitude (and possibly for pain relief too). The Burryman is usually seen with two minders, like in this photo from 1971.

1972: The Troubles rages on

The Troubles, a 30-year period of sectarian conflict in Northern Ireland that began in the late 1960s, saw Catholic nationalists (pro-Irish independence) and Protestant unionists (pro-UK) come to blows. It was notorious for its extreme violence. One of its darkest days came on Sunday, 30 January 1972. While attending a civil rights rally in the Bogside, a mainly Catholic area of Derry/Londonderry, 13 people were killed and 14 more wounded when British paratroopers opened fire. It was concluded in 2010 that victims had posed no threat and were unjustifiably shot. This image shows a burning building in the aftermath of 'Bloody Sunday'.

1973: Sybil Phoenix is awarded an historic MBE

Having emigrated to London from modern-day Guyana and experienced the ugliness of British xenophobia first-hand, Sybil Phoenix became committed to providing safe spaces for young people of colour. Throughout the course of her life, despite a rising tide of racism in 1970s Britain, she founded clubs and community centres for the marginalised youth of Shepherd’s Bush and New Cross. She also took in more than 100 children as a foster mother. In recognition of her activism and philanthropy, Phoenix became the first Black British woman to receive an MBE (Member of the Order of the British Empire) in 1973.

1974: An islander weaves Harris Tweed cloth

Entirely unique to Scotland’s remote Outer Hebrides, Harris Tweed is a kind of twill woollen cloth woven, blended, dyed, warped, finished and inspected exclusively on the archipelago. There is nowhere else on Earth that can make Harris Tweed, once typically worn by Scottish crofters looking to keep out the harsh cold but now a favourite fabric of fashion houses around the globe. Hand-woven and hardwearing, islanders even used to trade the material for victuals from the mainland. In this photo from 1974, a man from Callanish on the Isle of Lewis uses an old-fashioned loom to weave the tweed.

1975: Druids mark summer solstice at Stonehenge

England’s most famous prehistoric monument was built between 3000 and 1520 BC atop Salisbury Plain in Wiltshire. Though its exact purpose remains unknown, historians generally agree that Stonehenge was used as a spiritual and ceremonial gathering place. As the stones align with the midsummer sunrise and midwinter sunset, the solstices have always been a popular time for people to congregate here. Those whose religious beliefs revolve around a close connection to nature have long been known to practise worship and ritual at the circle, including these members of the Druid Order in 1975.

1976: Wimbledon spectators defy the heatwave

Things often get sweaty at the Wimbledon Championships, one of the four annual tennis Grand Slams to be fought annually. But the 1976 tournament was one of the hottest on record, given that the British Isles were in the grip of a historic heatwave that summer. The days of June, July and August saw the UK register its hottest average temperature for more than 350 years and its driest summer in three centuries, causing widespread drought and water rationing. Not to be put off, these Wimbledon fans braved the sweltering heat anyway and got creative with their protective headgear.

1977: The Battle of Lewisham crushes the far-right

By 1972, the far-right National Front (NF) had some 17,500 members. The fascist group capitalised on rising anti-immigrant sentiment and other social issues in the UK to push its unreservedly racist ideology. On 13 August 1977, hundreds of NF supporters assembled for a march in southeast London, claiming to demonstrate against street crime. Their route cut through multicultural Lewisham, where thousands of local people, community leaders and anti-fascists were waiting to block them. The NF abandoned its march, but heavy policing of the counter-demonstrators led to riots breaking out. The events are known as the 'Battle of Lewisham'.

1978: More people explore the country by canal

Modern narrowboats evolved from those used during the 18th century, which were built to fit the new slimline canals that helped shape the Midlands during the Industrial Revolution. When Britain's canals were nationalised along with the railways after World War II, it left many previously working narrowboats and waterways abandoned. But since the 1960s, many of these disused canals and vessels have been repaired and repurposed. This idyllic scene of a narrowboat passing through a Welsh valley was captured in 1978 along the Llangollen Canal, which crosses the border of England and Wales.

1979: King’s Road becomes popular with punks

The punk movement swept the UK in the 1970s, seducing the youth with aggressive, anarchic rock music incubated in gritty London clubs like the Roxy. Though it started as a musical genre, punk soon grew into its own subculture, permeating the worlds of fashion, beauty and politics. The King’s Road in the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea became a hangout for London’s punks, especially after Vivienne Westwood and Malcolm McLaren opened a provocative clothing shop on the street in 1974. Even though the boutique closed two years later, the King’s Road remained a kind of catwalk for the rebels of West London.

1980: Hercules the bear has a Hebridean adventure

While keeping a grizzly bear as a pet is not advised, that didn’t stop Scottish couple Andy and Maggie Robin rehoming one in the 1970s. Hercules the bear became something of a superstar after he appeared as wrestler Andy’s sparring partner on TV, and was subsequently chosen as the face for a new Kleenex tissue advert. While filming for the ad in the Outer Hebrides, Hercules escaped and went missing for 24 days. He was eventually tracked down by helicopter on 14 September 1980 (pictured), after a crofter spotted him swimming off North Uist. His remains are buried on the island today.

1981: The Brixton riots bring racial inequality to light

By the 1980s, tensions between the UK’s inner-city Black communities and its mostly white police force had reached boiling point, with many young Black people (some of whom were descendents of the Windrush generation) feeling like they were being unfairly profiled on the basis of their skin colour. Things came to a head over three days in Brixton, South London in April 1981, as Black youths angrily confronted the Metropolitan Police over instances of police brutality and wrongful arrests, which escalated into full-blown rioting. For the first time, racial discrimination was exposed on a national level.

1982: British troops depart for the Falkland Islands

The Falkland Islands (or Islas Malvinas in Spanish) are a long-disputed archipelago in the South Atlantic Ocean. Britain seized the islands for itself in 1833, but Argentina has claimed sovereignty over them since the early 19th century. In 1982, President Leopoldo Galtieri of Argentina took control of the Falklands by force, a move which sparked a 74-day-long war with the United Kingdom and cost over 900 people their lives. In this picture dated 12 May 1982, the Queen Elizabeth 2 (QE2) cruise liner – having been requisitioned to transport British troops into conflict – sails out of Southampton docks.

1983: Northants goes nuts at the World Conker Championships

The origin story for the World Conker Championships is as British as it gets. In 1965, in the Northamptonshire village of Ashton, a group of local pub regulars were all set to go fishing when bad weather put paid to their plans. Instead, they decided to play conkers on the village green, which was fringed by horse chestnut trees. This was done every year, with the event gaining increasing interest and eventually international entrants. Though the championships moved away from Ashton in 2009, this photo remembers a moment from the 1983 competition, held in its ancestral home.

1984: The miners’ strike begins

The miners’ strike of 1984-85 was the longest and most bitter industrial dispute in modern British history, triggered by Margaret Thatcher’s Conservative government pledging to close 20 coal pits it deemed unprofitable. To protest against the job losses and poverty this would cause, around three quarters of the 187,000 miners in England, Scotland and Wales went on strike. Like in this photo taken at the Gascoigne Wood Drift Mine in Yorkshire, police presences opposed picket lines all over the country. But it was all in vain – the miners and their trade unions were ultimately defeated, and Thatcher became known as the ‘Iron Lady’.

1985: Big names perform at Live Aid

Organised by musicians Bob Geldof and Midge Ure in just 10 weeks, Live Aid was a large-scale charity rock concert devised to fundraise for famine relief in Ethiopia and Sudan. Staged on 13 July 1985, the marathon 16-hour show was broadcast to an estimated 1.5 billion viewers in 110 different countries. It kicked off at London’s Wembley Stadium (pictured) and continued in the US at the JFK Stadium in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. At Wembley, performances were given by the likes of David Bowie, Elton John, Queen and Phil Collins. Collins even hopped on Concorde straight after his London slot so that he could also appear in the US.

1986: Trawlermen on Loch Broom enjoy a string serenade

Throughout the 1980s, factory fishermen from Eastern Europe and beyond would flock to the waters around Ullapool in the Scottish Highlands to catch mackerel. In between spending long stints on Loch Broom in the autumn and winter months, the trawlermen – who became known as the Klondykers – were absorbed into the Ullapool community. Their off-season custom at local businesses was especially welcome. This great image from 1986 encapsulates the warmth extended to the Klondykers by Scotland, with the Edinburgh String Quartet playing for one of their boats as an act of friendship.

1987: The Great Storm carves a trail of destruction

The most damaging and deadly storm to hit Britain since 1703 struck on the night of 15-16 October 1987, knocking out power lines, ripping roofs off houses and wrecking cars across the south of England. Winds of over 100 miles per hour (161km/h) tore trees from their roots and slammed them into buildings, including this block of flats in Brighton. In Sevenoaks, six of the oaks that gave the Kentish town its name were uprooted. In Dover, a ship capsized. There was a human cost too; 18 people lost their lives, including two volunteer firemen answering an emergency call.

1988: Pan Am Flight 103 explodes over Lockerbie

Shortly after taking off from London on 21 December 1988, Pan Am Flight 103 blew up in the air above Lockerbie, a town in southwest Scotland. The Boeing 747 had reached 31,000 feet (9,500m) when a timer-activated bomb, hidden within a cassette player inside a suitcase, detonated. Here, police surround a piece of wreckage embedded in the street – one of thousands of fragments to land within an 850-square-mile (2,200sqkm) radius. There were 270 fatalities, including all 259 people onboard and 11 on the ground. Libyan national Abdelbaset Ali Mohmed al-Megrahi was convicted for the bombing in 2001.

1989: A day at the football turns deadly

The Hillsborough disaster occurred on 15 April 1989, the day of an FA Cup semi-final between Liverpool and Nottingham Forest. A bottleneck formed as thousands of spectators attempted to cram into one side of Sheffield’s Hillsborough Stadium through a limited number of turnstiles, and a crush developed. In total, 95 people died (two later deaths were also attributed to the disaster). Liverpool fans were blamed for the crush, a lie spread around the world by the media and only discredited years later. It took until 2016 for a jury to rule that the victims had been “unlawfully killed” as a result of poor crowd control.

1990: The ‘Iron Lady’ exits 10 Downing Street

She earned a number of nicknames in her time, including the musically worded ‘Margaret Thatcher the milk snatcher’, which she gained after cutting public funding for free milk for schoolchildren during her tenure as Secretary of State for Education and Science. But there was little trace of the ‘Iron Lady’ when an emotional Thatcher left 10 Downing Street for the last time as prime minister on 28 November 1990 (pictured). After more than 11 years as the UK’s first female premier, Margaret Thatcher was unseated by a leadership challenge which led to her resignation.

1991: Primrose Hill lives up to its cool reputation

Located just north of Regent’s Park, Primrose Hill is one of the highest places in London. The towering green space offers incredible views of the city’s skyline and was once part of a vast hunting ground appropriated by King Henry VIII. It is also one of the country’s most desirable postcodes, home to stylish characters and colourful terraced houses on the edge of bohemian Camden. It was no different in 1991 – just check out this trendy lady and her pampered pooches enjoying a sophisticated snow day on the hill.

1992: Queen Elizabeth II laments a year of scandal and disaster

Speaking on 24 November to mark her Ruby Jubilee (40 years on the throne), Queen Elizabeth II famously said: “1992 is not a year on which I shall look back with undiluted pleasure… It has turned out to be an annus horribilis.” Meaning ‘terrible year’ in Latin, the term was a thinly veiled reference to a number of misfortunes that had befallen the royal family in the preceding months. The ailing marriages of three of the queen’s four children provided endlessly humiliating headline fodder, while a fire at Windsor Castle (one of her official residences, pictured) only compounded the misery.

1993: Eco-activists oppose motorway extension

Protestors ushered an unsuspecting corner of East London into the limelight in 1993, when plans to construct a link road to the M11 motorway through Wanstead inspired direct action that made national news. The main opposition to the extension centred around a 250-year-old sweet chestnut tree on George Green, which faced the chop to make way for the road. On 6 November, a group of Wanstead residents occupied the area around the tree, hoping to save it from the bulldozers. Some even tied themselves to the trunk and built a house in its boughs. Sadly, the beloved tree was torn down the next day.

1994: A hotel with a difference opens its doors

In 1990s Lincolnshire, there was no grander accommodation than that at 70 Ferry Road in Scunthorpe – for a budgerigar. Britain’s first budgie hotel was run by spouses Rita and Barry Cross (latter pictured), who converted the shed at the bottom of their garden into a 5-star aviary in 1994. The chirpy guests lived in luxury waited on by Rita and Barry, who between them functioned as room service, porters, entertainment managers and chefs. It may sound gimmicky but, with nine million Brits keeping caged birds as pets at the time, it was a savvy business venture. They were often fully booked.

1995: Major drought creates water supply issues

A long, dry and hot summer saw parts of the UK slide into a drought in 1995. Hosepipe bans were imposed across the country and people were urged to shower instead of bathe. The incident was nicknamed the Tanker Drought, owing to the 1,000 water tankers that had to serve West Yorkshire every day for six weeks. In Wales, only 45% of the expected summer rainfall was received – a forest fire even broke out in Clydach Vale on 21 August. This image shows parched Llyn Brianne, a reservoir in Mid Wales, where an old, usually submerged farmhouse was exposed by the drought.

1996: The Dunblane massacre prompts new gun laws

On 13 March 1996, a gunman entered a primary school in the Scottish town of Dunblane and opened fire. Sixteen young children and one of their teachers were killed in the shooting, and a further 15 people (mostly children) were wounded. In the devastating aftermath, residents of Dunblane mobilised to campaign for changes in British gun control laws. Their petition, endorsed by some 750,000 signatures, as well as public pleas from the victims’ parents led to Parliament placing a blanket ban on the private ownership of handguns the following year. Since then, instances of gun crime in the UK have dropped markedly.

1997: The nation mourns ‘The People’s Princess’

Though the tumultuous marriage between heir to the throne Prince Charles and Princess Diana had long since eroded by 1997, she remained very much 'a queen of people’s hearts'. So when Diana was killed in a car crash in Paris on 31 August that year while fleeing the paparazzi, it devastated the British public, who saw her as someone they knew and loved. The outpouring of grief was wide-reaching and overwhelming – approximately one million people turned out on the day of the funeral to line the route between Kensington Palace, her London home (pictured), and Westminster Abbey.

1998: The Good Friday Agreement is signed

Marking the end of the Troubles, the Good Friday Agreement was signed in Belfast on 10 April 1998 by British prime minister Tony Blair and Taoiseach (head of Irish government) Bertie Ahern (pictured). Public votes held in Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland the following May approved the deal it outlined, which set out plans to establish a Northern Ireland Assembly to preside over local politics, as well as arrangements for continued cooperation between the governments of Britain, Northern Ireland and Ireland. It did not magically resolve ideological differences though, nor undo years of hurt.

1999: Construction of the Millennium Dome is completed

To ring in the 21st century and celebrate the world’s entry into the 3rd millennium AD, an ambitious exhibition space was constructed on the banks of the River Thames in North Greenwich, London. Originally named the Millennium Dome, it was completed in June 1999 and opened to the public on New Year’s Eve that year, when it hosted a huge party attended by some 10,500 people – including Queen Elizabeth II and Tony Blair. But after a year of welcoming visitors, the building failed to cover its costs and was shuttered. It was later rebranded as the O2 Arena and reopened in 2007.

2000: The first Six Nations rugby tournament takes place

Way before it became the Six Nations, back when it first started in 1883, the famous rugby tournament was known as the Home Nations. In those early days, it was only England, Scotland, Wales and Ireland that competed for the trophy. France officially joined in 1910, marking the beginning of the Five Nations. On 18 March 2000, the first match of the Six Nations was played, with Italy now along for the ride. That year, at what is now Cardiff's Principality Stadium, Wales beat Scotland 26-18. Considering the result, this young patriotic Welsh fan looks less than impressed.

2001: British farms are ravaged by foot-and-mouth disease

Primarily affecting cloven-hoofed animals such as cows, sheep, pigs and goats, foot-and-mouth disease is a highly infectious and often fatal virus. The UK epidemic of 2001 started with the discovery of the disease at an abattoir in Essex on 19 February, though it’s now thought to have spread to 57 farms nationwide in the days before the Essex cases were confirmed. This sent the agricultural industry spiralling into crisis, leading to the mass slaughter of over four million farm animals in six months. In this image, animal carcasses are being burned to prevent the spread of foot-and-mouth.

2002: The country celebrates the Queen’s Golden Jubilee

In 2002, Queen Elizabeth II became the first British monarch since Victoria to reach a Golden Jubilee. It was a year tinged with sadness, as the queen lost both her mother and sister within seven weeks of one another, but was also a time of great celebration and gratitude for the past 50 years. During the Jubilee, Her Majesty visited 70 of the UK’s towns and cities and travelled throughout the Commonwealth to thank the people for their continued support and loyalty. This photo shows the queen with members of Scunthorpe’s Muslim community, on what was her first visit to a British mosque.

2003: Brighton’s blighted West Pier goes up in flames

If you stroll along Brighton’s seafront today, you won’t fail to notice the charred skeleton of the old West Pier’s pavilion sitting sadly on the horizon. The victim of an arson attack in 2003 (pictured), its remains are a solemn yet iconic feature of the East Sussex resort today. Before it was deliberately set alight, the West Pier was already in a sorry state. Opened in 1866, it was forced to close for good in 1975 when its owners couldn’t afford to safely restore the ageing pier. It also sustained significant structural damage during the Great Storm of 1987.

2004: Belfast bank robbers pull off historic heist

Belfast found itself at the centre of one of the largest bank robberies in history on 20 December 2004, when a gang of thieves successfully stole over £26 million (£46m today) from the headquarters of Northern Bank (pictured). The masked culprits blackmailed two bank clerks into giving them access to the vault by taking their families hostage. At a press conference in January 2005, the Chief Constable of the Police Service of Northern Ireland suggested that the Provisional Irish Republican Army (IRA) was responsible. They deny it. Meanwhile, the FBI thinks it could have been an inside job.

2005: 7/7 becomes a day of terror

Londoners will never forget the harrowing day that four explosive devices blew up on the city's central transport network. The coordinated strikes all came during the morning rush hour on 7 July 2005. Four men with makeshift bombs concealed in backpacks boarded three separate Tube trains and a double-decker bus. The detonation of their devices killed 52 people collectively and injured more than 700. This image shows the remnants of the bus at Tavistock Square, where the blast occurred. Two months later, the extremist group al-Qaeda claimed partial responsibility, but the full extent of their involvement remains unknown.

2006: Competitors flex their hedgelaying skills

This wholesome image from the 2006 National Hedgelaying Championship shows a group of contestants laying a hedge in the Midland style near Kilmington in Wiltshire. Traditionally used on cattle and horse farms, this method of hedgelaying (also called the Midland Bullock) is known for its robust structure that can withstand the weight of large animals shoving against it. The National Hedgelaying Championship is held annually in a different English location and has been running since 1979. It now attracts more than 100 competitors.

2007: Flooding dampens British summertime

Between May and July 2007, 16 inches (41cm) of rain bucketed down across England and Wales, causing unparalleled flooding that resulted in evacuations, rescue operations and some fatalities. The Gloucestershire town of Tewkesbury was one of the worst areas hit, as it lies at the confluence of two rivers. Armed forces were enlisted to help with the relief effort and three people lost their lives. While residents waited for their gutted homes to be repaired, many of them had to live in caravans. This powerful image shows a children's playground submerged in the waters, with Tewkesbury Abbey behind.

2008: The credit crunch breeds bargain hunters

The financial crisis of 2008 signalled the worst global economic downturn since the Great Depression. Bringing the banking system to the brink of collapse, its flashpoint came on 15 September 2008, when one of the world’s oldest and richest Wall Street investment banks Lehman Brothers filed for bankruptcy. The crash – the product of a years-long splurge fuelled by cheap credit – saw British bank Northern Rock bailed out by the British Government, which nationalised it in 2008 to prevent it going insolvent. Unemployment in the UK also soared. At this 2008 auction in Boston, Lincolnshire, locals attempt to bag a bargain.

2009: Abergavenny thrills foodies

Founded in 1999 by two local farmers, the Abergavenny Food Festival takes place annually over the third weekend of September in the Monmouthshire town. It was initially set up to support cattle farmers in the region affected by the so-called mad cow crisis of the 1990s, when bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE, or ‘mad cow disease’) decimated the beef market. The event proudly champions the culinary culture of Wales, bringing together consumers, growers, producers, chefs and other food lovers from across the nation. This image from the 2009 festival shows a woman threading seafood and fresh vegetables onto kebab skewers.

2010: Robbie Williams rejoins Take That

Britain's biggest boy band of the 1990s broke hearts all over the country when they announced their split in 1996, following Robbie Williams’ departure to go solo. Fans were so distraught that there was even a dedicated telephone helpline. Four of the original members – Gary Barlow, Mark Owen, Jason Orange and Howard Donald – reunited as a quartet in 2006 and topped the charts once again. To much fanfare, they were rejoined by Williams briefly from 2010 to 2011, when the band released and toured with their sixth album Progress. They're pictured here meeting Prince Charles ahead of the 2010 Royal Variety Performance.

2011: The police shooting of Mark Duggan sparks riots

Over a series of nights in August 2011, several towns and cities in England descended into chaos. It began on the streets of Tottenham in North London, where the police killing of 29-year-old Black British man Mark Duggan inflamed the local community. Riots subsequently broke out and inspired similar events in places from Bristol to Birkenhead. An estimated 20,000 people were involved in the wave of unrest, with 4,000 arrested for their part. Dismissed as pure criminality by then-Prime Minister David Cameron, the 2011 riots – like those in Brixton in 1981 – cut to the core of Britain's systemic social and economic injustice.

2012: Olympics fever sweeps the country

The year 2012 was one of dual jubilations for the UK, with its capital city primed to host the Summer Olympics and Queen Elizabeth II marking 60 years on the throne. After beating out numerous other cities to win the bid, London led the country on the world stage that summer, having unveiled a sparkling new, purpose-built Olympic Park in Stratford for the occasion. In the run-up to the games, Prime Minister David Cameron invited London 2012 Organising Committee chairman Sebastian Coe and a group of school athletes over to 10 Downing Street for a spot of garden badminton (pictured).

2013: Equal marriage is legalised in England and Wales

In a landmark victory for LGBTQ+ rights in England and Wales, weddings between two people of the same gender were legalised on 13 July 2013. Since the 1960s, scores of tireless activists had been fighting long and hard for gay and lesbian equality in Britain, and to have their relationships formally legitimised. David Cameron later said in 2014 that reforming the marriage bill was necessary as "when people's love is divided by law, it is that law that needs to change". In this image, members of the London Gay Men's Chorus sing outside Parliament ahead of the final reading of the bill.

2014: Scotland votes on independence

Making Scotland an independent state within the European Union (EU) is the guiding doctrine of the Scottish National Party (SNP), which gained a historic majority in Scottish Parliament in 2011. Its leader Alex Salmond pledged at the time to hold a referendum on Scottish independence within five years, which was ultimately scheduled for 18 September 2014. When citizens of Scotland were asked to vote on whether their homeland should be an independent country separate from the UK, 'no' was the answer. In this image, Deputy SNP leader Nicola Sturgeon campaigns for a 'yes' in Bathgate, West Lothian.

2015: The Dalai Lama rocks Glastonbury

Every year on Worthy Farm in Somerset, the world’s largest greenfield music festival erupts in a celebration of arts and culture. Since the early 1970s, hundreds of thousands of Wellington-booted revellers have made the pilgrimage to the (often rainy) summer event, which in 2015 saw headliners like Florence & The Machine, Kanye West and The Who. But there was another special guest that year – exiled Tibetan spiritual leader, the Dalai Lama. Pictured here arriving for his speech, His Holiness addressed the Glastonbury crowds ahead of his 80th birthday, saying that everyone deserved a life of happiness and hope.

2016: The UK votes to leave the EU

In response to rising Euroscepticism within his Conservative Party, Prime Minister David Cameron ordered a referendum on the UK’s future in the European Union, of which it had been a member since 1973. Following a long lead-up fraught with tension, emotion, misinformation and anti-immigrant rhetoric, the vote was held on 23 June 2016 – pictured here is a polling station in the Welsh village of Llansaint. 52% of the voting public opted for ‘Brexit’, with England and Wales voting to leave and Scotland and Northern Ireland voting to remain. A divided UK officially withdrew from the EU on 31 January 2020.

2017: Grenfell Tower burns

Just before 1am on 14 June 2017, a kitchen fire broke out in Flat 16 on the fourth floor of Grenfell Tower in North Kensington, West London. Within less than three hours, the 23-storey building was entirely engulfed in flames from top to bottom – this photo shows the blaze still raging at around 9am (it did not burn itself out until 1.14am the next day). In total, 72 people lost their lives. A six-year public inquiry concluded that a deadly combination of government negligence, failures in the London Fire Brigade’s training and evacuation procedures, and Grenfell’s highly combustible exterior cladding were to blame for the disaster.

2018: The ‘Beast from the East’ hits

An unprecedented 10-day cold snap in late February 2018, swiftly accompanied by the high winds of Storm Emma, saw swathes of the UK gripped by blizzards and below-freezing temperatures. Nicknamed the ‘Beast from the East’, the icy blast pressed its way across to the British Isles from the Eurasian landmass, forming a polar continental air mass that plunged the country into snowy conditions. This image shows the beach at Lyme Regis in Dorset barely visible under the powder. There were power cuts, school closures, grounded flights and red weather warnings in a number of regions, followed by high tides and flooding once the snow started to melt.

2019: Greggs launches its vegan sausage roll

British budget bakery chain Greggs went viral in early 2019 when it triumphantly jumped aboard the meat-free treat train. The vegan version of its signature sausage roll, stuffed with well-known meat substitute Quorn, launched on 3 January in 950 stores across the country. The plant-based pastry angered some – including controversial Good Morning Britain host Piers Morgan – yet represented hope for others, with The Guardian newspaper suggesting it could be 'a chance for a divided country to heal itself.' It certainly paid off for Greggs, who reported a sales increase of 13.5% within a year.

2020: The COVID-19 pandemic spreads

Before 29 January 2020, the main reason anyone spoke about COVID-19 in the UK was to express sadness for those affected in other countries. But from that day onwards, after the nation's first confirmed case of the killer contagion was identified in York, things would never be the same again. Supermarkets descended into apocalyptic scenes as shoppers began panic-buying toilet paper and hand sanitiser, and misleading government guidance initially advising only symptomatic citizens to wear face masks. On 23 March, Prime Minister Boris Johnson finally ordered the first lockdown, instructing people to stay at home in order to save lives and alleviate pressure on the NHS.

2021: London remembers Sarah Everard

While walking home along a South London street in March 2021, 33-year-old Sarah Everard was kidnapped and later murdered by an off-duty Metropolitan Police officer after he pretended to arrest her. When an official vigil was forcibly cancelled due to police warning that it would be deemed illegal under the lockdown restrictions of the time, hundreds of people gathered at Clapham Common on 13 March (pictured) anyway to remember Everard and stand against male violence, resulting in several arrests. Judges later ruled that the Met breached the original vigil's organisers’ right to protest, worsening the public's faith in the force.

2022: Queen Elizabeth II dies

After 70 years on the throne, having celebrated her Platinum Jubilee earlier in 2022, Queen Elizabeth II passed away on 8 September at her Scottish estate, Balmoral. The state funeral of the UK’s longest-reigning monarch took place on 19 September at Westminster Abbey, followed by a ceremonial procession to Windsor Castle where the late Queen was laid to rest. Communities all over the UK came together to pay their respects to ‘Ma’am’ – pictured here is the Royal Hillsborough parish in County Down, Northern Ireland, watching the proceedings on a large screen.

2023: King Charles III is crowned

Queen Elizabeth II’s eldest son and successor was officially anointed King Charles III on 6 May 2023. His wife, Queen Camilla, was crowned alongside him in an extravagant (and expensive) ceremony at Westminster Abbey full of pomp, pageantry and poignancy. The historic event was beamed into homes all over the world and featured symbolic customs dating back over 1,000 years. Over the coronation weekend, declared a one-off public holiday in the UK, thousands of people up and down the country attended huge street parties in their local areas. This one in Alcester, Warwickshire was particularly patriotic.

2024: The Northern Lights dazzle

Brits typically have to travel much further north to catch a bucket-list glimpse of the Northern Lights. But in May 2024, apple-and-blackberry ribbons danced across skies the length of the UK. The rare phenomenon, which occurred as far south as Dorset, was due to an immensely strong solar storm amplifying the aurora’s activity. Social media was awash with stunning images of the lights, from Coleraine in Northern Ireland to Whitley Bay in Tyne and Wear. This photo was taken in Minster-on-Sea, on the Isle of Sheppey in Kent.

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