Britain Since 1945

The Welfare State

• In 1945, the British people elected a Labour government led by Clement Attlee
• Attlee promised to implement the welfare state outlined in the Beveridge Report
• In 1948, Aneurin (Nye) Bevan led the establishment of the NHS (National Health Service)
  • Guaranteed healthcare for all, free at the point of use
• A national system of benefits provided "social security" from the "cradle to the grave"
• The government nationalised railways, coal mines, gas, water, and electricity

Post-War Migration

• Labour shortages after WWII led the government to encourage immigration
• 1948: People from the West Indies were invited to come and work
• 1950s: Workers recruited from India, Pakistan, and Bangladesh
  • Textile and engineering firms from the north of England and Midlands sent agents to find workers
  • Centres were set up in the West Indies to recruit bus drivers

Social Change in the 1960s

• Known as "the Swinging Sixties"
• Growth in British fashion, cinema, and pop music (The Beatles, The Rolling Stones)
• Social laws were liberalised (e.g. divorce and abortion)
• Women gained the right to equal pay; discrimination by employers became illegal
• Concorde developed by Britain and France — the world's only supersonic commercial airliner

Europe and the UK

• The EEC (European Economic Community) was formed in 1957 by six countries
• The UK joined in 1973

Margaret Thatcher (PM 1979–1990)

• First woman Prime Minister of the UK
• Longest-serving PM of the 20th century
• Introduced important economic reforms
• Worked closely with US President Ronald Reagan
• Argentina invaded the Falkland Islands in 1982

Northern Ireland

• The Northern Ireland Parliament was suspended in 1972; ruled directly by UK government
• About 3,000 people lost their lives in the decades after 1969
• Good Friday Agreement (1998) led to establishment of the Northern Ireland Assembly
• Scottish Parliament and Welsh Assembly also established in 1999

British Inventions of the 20th Century

• Television — John Logie Baird (1920s, first broadcast 1932)
• Radar — Sir Robert Watson-Watt (first test 1935)
• Turing machine — Alan Turing (1930s, influential in computer science)
• DNA structure — discovered 1953, Francis Crick won the Nobel Prize
• Jet engine — Sir Frank Whittle (1930s)
• Hovercraft — Sir Christopher Cockerell (1950s)
• ATM / Cashpoint — James Goodfellow (first used 1967 by Barclays in Enfield)
• IVF — Sir Robert Edwards and Patrick Steptoe (first test-tube baby born 1978 in Oldham)
• Cloning (Dolly the sheep) — Sir Ian Wilmut and Keith Campbell (1996)
• MRI scanner — Sir Peter Mansfield
• World Wide Web — Sir Tim Berners-Lee (first successful transfer 25 December 1990)