History

HMS Titanic collides with an iceberg on her maiden voyage across the Atlantic to New York and sinks, with the loss of more than 1500 lives.

The Representation of People Act 1918 allowed some women to vote for the first time; but only those over the age of 30 who occupied a house – about 40% of women in the UK at that time.
The same act granted the vote to all men over the age of 21.

First public announcement of the desire to form a members Club for young Quakers; made in The Friend.

On 14 October 1920, following a brief delay to fully fit out the property, the Penn Club was inaugurated at its premises at 8-10 Tavistock Square, WC1. The Opening Ceremony was chaired by Arnold Rowntree.

Virginia & Leonard Woolf move to 52 Tavistock Square; they continue to live her for fifteen years.

First electric refrigerator purchased by The Penn Club

A dramatic enactment of 16 key moments of William Penn’s life was arranged at Jordans, the Quaker centre in Hertfordshire. The Penn Club’s warden, Samuel Graveson, was the pageant secretary, and a number of the actors involved came from The Club.

Publisher Penguin was founded by Allen Lane who wanted to revolutionise the publishing market by offering high-quality contemporary fiction at bookstores, railway stations and tobacconists for the same prices as a pack of cigarettes.

Following his brother’s abdication on 10 December, George VI ascended to the throne the following day, a role he had never anticipated having. He was crowned king in May the following year.

Nazi Germany invaded Poland, signalling the start of World War Two. Britain and France declared War on Germany two days later.

Winston Churchill became Prime Minister, presiding over a coalition government formed with key elements from both the Labour and Conservative parties.

Codenamed Operation Overlord, D-Day saw the Allied forces landing on the beaches of northern France to launch a combined naval, air and land assault on Nazi-occupied France with troops from twelve countries.

On 7th May, Eisenhower accepted the unconditional surrender of Germany, signalling the end of World War Two in Europe. A special announcement was broadcast on BBC Radio late that day, announcing that 8 May, Victory in Europe Day, would be a public holiday.

The ambition to create a health service that was free at the point of use by all became a reality.

Written by long-term resident of The Penn Club, John Wyndham, The Day of the Triffids is set squarely in post-war England. When a freak cosmic event renders most of the Earth’s population blind, the Triffids (plants with lethal stingers and carnivorous appetites which resulted from Soviet biological experimentation) seem set to take control. Suggesting the culmination of human hubris, Wyndham’s apocalyptic vision of nature’s triumph over civilisation is partly stylised, with the trappings of Cold War paranoia.

Francis Crick and James Watson announce their discovery of DNA.

Elizabeth II was coronated queen of England, fifteen months after ascending to the throne following the death of her father, George VI.

The Mark I Mini was developed and launch in response to a fuel shortage, and the need for more efficient city cars.

Baptist minister and social activist Martin Luther King, Jr. joined other civil rights leaders to organise an historic March on Washington in August. In the shadow of the Lincoln Memorial, an interracial assembly of more than 200,000 gathered peaceably to demand equal justice for all citizens under the law. Here, King delivered his famous “I Have a Dream” speech, in which he emphasized his faith that all men, someday, would be brothers.

Fashion designer Mary Quant begins selling a range of extremely short skirts and shift dresses at her boutique in London’s Kings Road. The mini skirt became Quant’s trademark, popularised by the era’s most high-profile model, Twiggy.

Astronauts Neil Armstrong and Edwin “Buzz” Aldrin land and become the first men to walk on the moon.

Decimalised currency replaces pounds, shillings and pence.

The first supersonic passenger-carrying commercial aeroplane, jointly manufactured by Great Britain and France, made her first commercial flights: British Airways operating from London to Bahrain; Air France between Paris and Rio de Janeiro.

A week of celebrations to mark the Queen’s silver jubilee commences.

One of four nuclear reactors at the Chernobyl power plant explodes. This caused the largest uncontrolled radioactive release into the environment, with large quantities of radioactive substances being released into the air for about 10 days.

29 years after it was erected, The Berlin Wall was breached. Built to keep East Berliners inside the Communist Eastern bloc, the decay of Communist states like Hungary that evening crowds gathered to pass through to West Berlin, signalling the end of Communism.

Tim Berners-Lee writes the fundamental technologies that drives the World Wide Web.

Nelson Mandela sworn in as South Africa’s first black president.

Dolly the sheep was born, the first mammal cloned from an adult cell, a technique developed by The Roslin Institute, Edinburgh.

The Northern Ireland Good Friday peace agreement was signed by the British and Irish Governments, and most of the political parties of Northern Ireland. The agreement outlined how Northern Ireland should be governed by representatives from all political sides, helping to bring an end to the period of conflict known as The Troubles.

Senator Barack Obama, elected as President of the United States on 4 November 2008, is inaugurated as the US’s first African American President.

Queen Elizabeth II celebrates 60 years on the throne.

Andy Murray wins Wimbledon, becoming the first British Men’s champion since 1936.

A range of events to celebrate 100 years of The Penn Club.