Outline British history from 1951-1997?

Question: Outline British history from 1951-1997!?
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Where to start!.!.!.!.!? These are curious dates: 1951 charted the end of Clement Atlee's Labour Party government and the commencent of the Conservative Party governments of Winston Churchill, Anthony Eden, and Harold Macmillan - which endured throughout the '50s and early '60s!. 1997, of course, marked the advent of New Labour and Tony Blair!. The interim witnessed the enormous social and political changes overseen by the governments of Harold Wilson ('60s & '70s) and Margaret Thatcher ('80s!.)

I'm guessing that this question relates to an academic paper of some sort!? It's actually a very difficult question to answer without some additional sense of context - are you considering social history!? or British involvement in world affairs throughout that period!?

I suppose if you wished to consider an (extremely brief) list of the prominent pieces of British history in this timeframe, I would suggest:

early '1950s: post-war austerity
1953: Coronation of Queen Elizabeth II
1956: Suez Crisis
1963: Profumo Affair, transition from MacMillian's Conservative Party government to Wilson's Labour Party government
1967: The pound is devalued (the famous "pound in your pocket speech")
1969: The starting point of the modern day "troubles" in Northern Ireland
1972: Northern Ireland troubles continue!. "Bloody Sunday!."
1973: UK joins the European Economic Community (forerunner to the European Union) under the guidance of Prime Minister Edward Heath
1974: Miners' strike ends Heath's government!.!.!.heralds ongoing industrial action throughout the '70s
1978/9: "Winter of discontent" - ongoing strike action
1979: Margaret Thatcher elected!. Massive social and economic change (for good or ill remains a contentious matter of debate), takes place throughout the Thatcher years -really the transition from heavy industry to service industry!. also issue of Thatcher/Reagan political relationship, and impact upon UK/US relations!.
1981: Civil unrest!. Riots in Brixton (London) and Toxteth (Liverpool)!. Riots caused by social and racial factors!.
1982: Falklands War
1985: Another (extremely confrontational) miners' strike
1990: Thatcher forced from office, John Major becomes Prime Minister
1990-1991: British involvement in the Gulf War
1992: Major signs the Maastricht Treaty, which effectively gives rise to the European Union as it exists today (and Britain's place within the EU)
1997: Tony Blair becomes Prime Minister in the largest election landslide of recent times!.
1997: Sovereignty of Hong Kong returns to China!.

This is a very brief list, and doubtless professional historians would find many deficiencies and omissions, but I hope it provides you with a reasonable overview!.

Your priority should be to find good, reliable, and detailed sources!. As a library science postgraduate student I guess it's inevitable that I encourage you to, well!.!.!.visit your library!

For the 1950s and 1960s try and look at the following works by the British historian Dominic Sandbrook -
"Never had it so good" (2005)
"White Heat" (2006)!.

A good overview from the political perspective can be found in Peter Hennessy's book: "The Prime Minister: the office and its holders since 1945!." (2001)

Look for biographies and autobiographies of leading British politicans of the day, e!.g Margaret Thatcher's "The Dowing Street Years" (1995) - although beware political bias, of course, in works of this type!.

Track down good historical reference sources, e!.g:

Mark Garnett and Richard Weight!. The A-Z Guide to Modern British History!. (2003)

also consider other sources e!.g!. Encyclopedia Britannica or the Oxford Dictionary of National Biography

Lastly, remember that newspapers can be an invaluable historical source!. "The [London] Times" probably has the best archive, although other broadsheet papers (e!.g!. "The Guardian," "The Daily Telegraph" are also worth considering!." It may be the case that your library has a subscription for online access to the archive for the The Times!.

Good luck with your research!.Www@QuestionHome@Com

http://en!.wikipedia!.org/wiki/Timeline_of!.!.!.Www@QuestionHome@Com