I often wonder what significant anniversaries are due at some point in the future as some of them might be of interest as triggers for blog posts or visits somewhere. However, it is often difficult to find out quickly what events have significant anniversaries – hence this section on the website.
By “significant anniversaries”, I mean dates that are not, for example, the 73rd anniversary of something, but the 50th, 100th, 200th etc.
It should help to flag up interesting events.
Significant anniversaries during August 2019
| Anniversary | Details |
| 5th | Mayor of London Boris Johnson announces his intention to seek re-election to Parliament in the 2015 general election. Johnson had previously said he wold not stand as an MP before his Mayoral term ends in 2016. (6th Aug 2014) |
| 10th | The Scottish justice secretary Kenny MacAskill grants release to the convicted Lockerbie bomber Abdelbaset al-Megrahi on compassionate grounds. (20th Aug 2009) |
| 10th | Britain imposes direct rule on the Turks and Caicos Islands after an inquiry found evidence of government corruption. (14th Aug 2009) |
| 10th | Wales begins the process of digital TV switchover with the turning off of parts of the analogue signal from the Kilvey Hill transmitting station in Swansea (12th Aug 2009) |
| 10th | Great Train Robber Ronnie Biggs, who is gravely ill, is granted release from prison on compassionate grounds. (6th Aug 2009) |
| 25th | The Provisional Irish Republican Army declares a ceasefire. (31st Aug 1994) |
| 25th | Huddersfield Town move into their new all-seater Alfred McAlpine Stadium. (20th Aug 1994) |
| 30th | Betteshanger, the last colliery in Kent, closes,[27] signalling the end of the Kent Coalfield after 93 years. (26th Aug 1989) |
| 30th | The pleasure boat Marchioness sinks on the River Thames following a collision, 51 people are killed. (20th Aug 1989) |
| 30th | Introduction of electronic tagging to monitor and supervise crime suspects. (17th Aug 1989) |
| 40th | A Provisional IRA bomb kills Louis Mountbatten and three others while they are boating on holiday in Sligo, Republic of Ireland. Shortly after, 18 British Army soldiers are killed in an ambush near Warrenpoint, Northern Ireland (27th Aug 1979) |
| 50th | Operation Banner: British troops are deployed in Northern Ireland. (14th Aug 1969) |
| 70th | The treaty creating NATO goes into effect. (24th Aug 1949) |
| 75th | Freckleton Air Disaster – A United States Army Air Forces B-24 Liberator bomber crashes into a school in Freckleton, England killing 61 people. (23rd Aug 1944) |
| 75th | American Liberty ship SS Richard Montgomery is wrecked off the Nore in the Thames Estuary with around 1,400 tonnes of explosives on board, never recovered. (20th Aug 1944) |
| 75th | The Education Act, promoted by Rab Butler, creates a Tripartite System of secondary education in England and Wales with Secondary Modern, Technical, and Grammar schools, entrance being determined in most cases by the results of the Eleven plus exam. (3rd Aug 1944) |
| 80th | Evacuation of children from major UK cities begins. (30th Aug 1939) |
| 80th | The United Kingdom and Poland form a military alliance in which the UK promises to defend Poland in case of invasion by a foreign power. (25th Aug 1939) |
| 80th | Emergency Powers (Defence) Act 1939 gives full authority to ‘defence regulations’. Parliament recalled, Army reservists called up and Civil Defence workers placed on alert. (24th Aug 1939) |
| 200th | Seventeen people die and over 600 are injured in cavalry charges at a public meeting at St. Peter’s Field, Manchester, England. (16th Aug 1819) |