istoryworld
Events relating to england
Yorkshire batsman Len Hutton scores a record 364 in a Test match against Australia at the Oval
British author Graham Greene publishes Brighton Rock, a novel following 17-year-old Pinkie in the criminal underworld of the seaside town
Maxim de Winter's house, Manderley, holds dark secrets in Daphne du Maurier's Rebecca
Lord Nuffield donates to Commonwealth hospitals 'iron lungs', built at his Morris Oxford factory,
Neville Chamberlain makes the first of three flights to Germany, this time to negotiate with Adolf Hitler at Berchtesgaden
Neville Chamberlain returns to Britain from Munich claiming to have achieved 'peace for our time... peace with honour'
On the very first day of the war a U-boat sinks a British liner, the Athenia, with the loss of 112 civilian lives
Two million Anderson air-raid shelters are distributed to British homes, to be constructed in the garden from corrugated steel panels
W.H. Auden and Christopher Isherwood emigrate together to the USA, later becoming US citizens
Barbara Hepworth and Ben Nicholson move their studios to St Ives
Tommy Handley has a huge success in the British comedy radio programme ITMA (It's That Man Again)
Irish author Flann O'Brien publishes his first novel, At Swim-Two-Birds
Archaeological treasures are discovered in an Anglo-Saxon ship burial at Sutton Hoo, in Suffolk
Benjamin Britten and Peter Pears give a series of recitals in the USA at the start of a lifelong partnership
British racing driver Malcolm Campbell sets a new water speed record of 141 mph
British author Christopher Isherwood publishes his novel Goodbye to Berlin, based on his own experiences in the city
British pianist Myra Hess begins a wartime series of lunchtime concerts in London's National Gallery
The recent fate of Czechoslovakia prompts France and Britain to guarantee the security of Poland
Helped by the results of Polish cryptographers, Bletchley Park begins to gain invaluable access to German military secrets
Britain and France, receiving no answer from Hitler to their ultimatum over his attack on Poland, declare war on Germany
A British Expeditionary Force (BEF) of about 150,000 infantry crosses the Channel to help defend France's border with Belgium
Alan Turing joins the code-breaking team working on Enigma at Bletchley Park
A German U-boat sinks the British battleship Royal Oak at anchor in Scapa Flow
T.S. Eliot gives cats a poetic character in Old Possum's Book of Practical Cats
English potter Bernard Leach publishes an influential manual, A Potter's Book
