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| EHJ June 2002 |
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1952
- February - Death of King George VI, aged 56.
- The census shows one million more households than dwellings.
More than two million dwellings are shared by two or more
families.
- Winston Churchill is prime minister.
- The Sanitary Inspectors Association is based at 19 Grosvenor
Place, in Westminster, central London.
- Winter smogs kill 4,000 people.
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1953
- 29 May - Edmund Hillary and Sherpa Tenzing reach the summit
of Mount Everest.
- 2 June - Televised coronation of Queen Elizabeth II in Westminster
Abbey.
- German bombing had destroyed 200,000 houses and damaged more
than three million. In 1953, 318,000 houses are built, a quarter
in the private sector.
1954
- Housing Repairs and Rents Act. Councils can take over slums
for site value.
- New private lets are removed from rent control.
- Butter and meat rationing end.
1955
- Winston Churchill stands down as prime minister. Anthony Eden
takes over.
- May - Eden wins an election for the Conservatives with a 53-seat
majority.
1956
- Clean Air Act introduces smokeless zones. Smogs are still responsible
for thousands of winter deaths.
- Extra height subsidy introduced for high-rise blocks.
- Suez crisis.
- Soviet Union invades Hungary.
1957
- January - Eden resigns. Harold Macmillan becomes prime minister.
He says "you've never had
it so good".
- Rent Act de-controls rents. Legislation protects sitting tenants,
making them vulnerable to unscrupulous landlords, like Peter Rachman.
The Rent Act is fiercely attacked by Labour.
1958
- Race riots in Notting Hill, west London.
1959
- October - Macmillan wins a third election victory for the Conservatives
by 100 seats.
- National Insurance Act. State pensions are graduated according
to salary level.
- The Public Health Inspectors Regulations change sanitary inspectors
to public health inspectors.
1960
- Park Hill Estate in Sheffield. The UK's first deck access block.
1961
- Parker Morris report sets minimum space standards for council
housing.
1962
- July - Macmillian sacks seven of his cabinet in a "night
of the long knives".
- Last UK outbreak of smallpox, in the Rhonda Valley, south Wales,
kills 20 people. Smallpox is eradicated from the world in 1980.
- Smog kills 60 people in London.
1963
- June - John Profumo, minister for war, forced to resign.
- October - Sir Alec Douglas Home becomes prime minister.
- Great train robbers steal more than £1m.
- Offices, Shops and Railway Premises etc Act imposes health and
safety conditions in workplaces.
1964
- October - Harold Wilson takes office for Labour, by four seats.
- Labour builds more houses from 1964 to 1970 than the Conservatives
achieved in their last six years in office. Wilson adopts a target
of 400,000 new homes a year.
- Housing Act creates the Housing Corporation in England.
- Buchanan Report, Traffic in Towns, backs urban motorways.
- The London County Council is replaced by the Greater London
Council. It is the largest council in Europe, responsible for
six million people. Lower-tier boroughs retain most front-line
functions.
- Prescription charges end.
- Race Relations Act. Milner Holland Report on housing and race
in Greater London.
1965
- Rent control and rent officers introduced.
- Death of Winston Churchill.
1966
- April - Wilson wins again with a secure majority of 96. The
party pledges to build 500,000 houses a year.
- Largest ever real-term increases in pensions and benefits.
- Ministry of Social Security set up.
- England wins World Cup.
- Cathy Come Home TV documentary.
- Aberfan avalanche kills more than a hundred children.
1967
- Transport Act nationalises transport, creating a National Bus
Company.
- GLC opens Trellick Tower, north Kensington.
- A 32-storey tower block designed by modernist Erno Goldfinger.
- Foot and mouth outbreak.
- Torrey Canyon oil tanker runs aground.
1968
- Housing white paper shifts emphasis to renovation away from
building.
- Department of Health and Social Security set up.
- Enoch Powell "rivers of blood" speech.
- Gas explosion at Ronan Point, east London, kills five people.
- Stirling crisis. Prescription charges re-introduced. General
Improvement Areas. Home improvement grants.
- Laws on houses in multiple occupation.
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