UK
George V is on the throne
Ramsay MacDonald is Prime Minister (1929–35)
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1932 1932 |
14th March: Carey Blyton is born in Beckenham, Kent
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USA
Franklin D. Roosevelt is President
The Great Depression is just ending
Walt Disney creates Mickey Mouse
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Music
Bax is 49
Bliss is 41
Britten is 19
Cage is 20
de Falla is 56
Gershwin is 34
Martinů is 42
Ravel is 57
Rubbra is 31
Shostakovich is 26
Sibelius is 67
Stockhausen is 4
Richard Strauss is 68
Tippett is 27
Vaughan Williams is 59
Walton is 30
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Russia
Stalin’s ‘purges’ begin in Russia
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1934 1934 |
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Music
Peter Maxwell Davies is born
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UK
Stanley Baldwin becomes Prime Minister again (1923–24, 1924–29, 1935–37)
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1935 1935 |
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Music
Gershwin composes Porgy and Bess
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UK
George V dies and is succeeded by Edward VIII
Edward VIII abdicates over Mrs Wallace Simpson and is succeeded by George VI
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1936 1936 |
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Europe
Hitler and Mussolini proclaim the Rome–Berlin Axis
Germany builds the Siegfried Line
Civil War in Spain
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UK
Neville Chamberlain becomes Prime Minister (1937–40)
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1937 1937 |
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The Arts
Orff composes Carmina Burana
Martinů composes Julietta
J. R. R. Tolkien writes The Hobbit
Picasso paints Guernica
Ravel dies
Gershwin dies
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Europe
Hitler invades Poland, starting World War II
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1939 1939 |
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The Arts
Copland composes Billy the Kid
James Joyce writes Finnegan’s Wake
John Steinbeck writes The Grapes of Wrath
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UK
Winston Churchill becomes Prime Minister for the first time (1940–45, 1951–55)
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1940 1940 |
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The Arts
Many artists flee Europe for the USA, including Bartók, Hindemith and (later) Martinů
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World
Japan attacks Pearl Harbour, bringing America into World War II; also invades the Philippines
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1941 1941 |
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Music
Shostakovich composes Symphony Nº7 (concerning Nazi invasion of Russia)
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1944 1944 |
Carey is a wartime evacuee, to a rectory in West Lydford, Somerset; subsequently writes about the experience in Summer in the Country
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UK
Clement Attlee becomes Prime Minister (1945–51)
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1945 1945 |
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World
The first and second atom bombs are deployed
World War II ends
The UN Charter is signed
Harry S. Truman becomes US President
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Music
Britten composes Peter Grimes
Bartók composes Piano Concerto Nº3
Bartók dies
Webern dies
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Music
Manuel de Falla dies
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1946 1946 |
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UK
Princess Elizabeth marries Philip Mountbatten, Duke of Edinburgh
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1947 1947 |
Carey contracts polio, convalescing in 1947 and 48
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India
India gains independence
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Music
Schoenberg composes A Survivor from Warsaw (concerning concentration camps)
Duruflé composes Requiem
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Science
Invention of the transistor
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World
NATO is established
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1949 1949 |
Carey begins work on his first numbered opus, Four Diversions for Piano, which after later revision becomes Five Diversions, opus 1a
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Music
Richard Strauss dies
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World
Korean War begins (1950–53)
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1950 1950 |
Carey becomes a Zoology undergraduate in the Faculty of Natural Sciences, University College, London
Carey becomes a founding member of The Beckenham Salon; Arthur Bliss (later Sir Arthur Bliss, Master of the Queen’s Musick) agrees to become its President (Edmund Rubbra is also willing!)
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UK
Winston Churchill becomes Prime Minister for the second time (1940–45, 1951–55)
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1951 1951 |
Carey abandons his Zoology studies at UCL and starts work as a Research Assistant for the Gas Council
1951 is a prolific year for composition, with Carey writing numerous early works in the fields of song, piano and chamber music; works this year include Six Epigrams, Two Waltzes, Three a.m., Two Pensive Songs and Toi et Moi
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Music
Stravinsky composes The Rake’s Progress
Schoenberg dies
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World
First hydrogen bomb is exploded
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1952 1952 |
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Music
Cage composes 4'33"
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UK
George VI dies
Queen Elizabeth II accedes to the throne
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1953 1953 |
Carey marries Pat Dennis, but they are separated/divorced by around 1957
Carey is admitted to Trinity College of Music, London
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World
Hillary & Tenzing conquer Everest for the first time
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The Arts
Samuel Beckett writes Waiting for Godot
Sir Arnold Bax dies
Sir Arthur Bliss replaces Bax as Master of the Queen’s Musick
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Science
Colour television is introduced in the USA
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USA
McCarthyism is rife at this point (c. 1950–1956)
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1954 1954 |
The Beckenham Salon gives its last public concert and is wound up
Carey wins the Sir Granville Bantock Prize for Composition
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UK
Anthony Eden becomes Prime Minister (1955–57)
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1955 1955 |
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The Arts
Boulez composes Le marteau sans maître
Vladimir Nabokov writes Lolita
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1956 1956 |
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UK
Harold Macmillan becomes Prime Minister (1957–63)
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1957 1957 |
Carey obtains his BMus (London) degree
Leaves Trinity College with not only his degree and composition prize, but also with all three available diplomas: Associate, Licentiate and Fellow of Trinity College of Music, London
Awarded scholarship by the Sir Winston Churchill Endowment Fund to study in Copenhagen
Writes Lyrics from the Chinese
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World
USSR launches the first artificial Earth satellite, Sputnik 1, on 4th October, beginning the Space Age and starting the Space Race
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Music
Bernstein composes West Side Story
Sibelius dies
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Music
Stravinsky composes Threni
Vaughan Williams dies
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1958 1958 |
Carey returns from Copenhagen
1958–1963: Music Editor to Mills Music Ltd
Carey meets his future wife, Mary Mills (no relation to Mills Music!)
Completes the orchestral suite Cinque Port (Music for an Opera)
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Music
Martinů dies
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1959 1959 |
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1960 1960 |
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World
Yuri Gagarin becomes the first man in space
Berlin Wall erected
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1961 1961 |
28th October: Carey Blyton marries Mary Josephine Mills in Beckenham Congregational Church
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Music
Britten composes War Requiem
Stravinsky composes A Sermon, a Narrative and a Prayer
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1962 1962 |
The Blytons move into Richard Rodney Bennett’s old flat in Marylebone High Street
First performance of the suite Cinque Port
Carey begins collaborating with Enid Blyton on Mixed Bag, which will be completed in 1963 and published in 1965
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Theatre
Edward Albee writes Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?
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UK
Alec Douglas-Home becomes Prime Minister (1963–64)
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1963 1963 |
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USA
President John Fitzgerald Kennedy assassinated in Dallas, Texas
Martin Luther King makes “I have a dream” speech; is named TIME’s Man of the Year for 1963
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Science
Quasars discovered by Maarten Schmidt
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UK
Harold Wilson becomes Prime Minister (1964–70, 1974–76)
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1964 1964 |
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Music
Stravinsky composes Elegy for J.F.K.
‘Beatlemania’ sweeps the world
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1965 1965 |
The Blytons move to Swanley, Kent
Matthew James Blyton, their first son, is born
Carey masterminds a concert in the Dartford Rural Arts Festival
Carey composes Prayers from the Ark
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UK
England wins football’s World Cup
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1966 1966 |
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1967 1967 |
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USA
Martin Luther King is assassinated
Robert Kennedy is assassinated
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1968 1968 |
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Music
Britten composes The Prodigal Son
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World
Neil Armstrong is the first man to walk on the Moon
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1969 1969 |
Carey is first approached to write incidental music for Doctor Who, and provides the music for three serials between 1969 and 1975: Doctor Who and the Silurians, Death to the Daleks and Revenge of the Cybermen
Other film and TV work this year comes in the form of The Goshawk, Before the Party and Sherlock Holmes
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UK
Edward Heath becomes Prime Minister (1970–74)
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1970 1970 |
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1971 1971 |
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Music
Stravinsky dies
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USA
Beginning of the Watergate scandal
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1972 1972 |
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1973 1973 |
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UK
Harold Wilson becomes Prime Minister again (1964–70, 1974–76)
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1974 1974 |
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USA
President Richard Nixon resigns over the Watergate scandal
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Music
Philip Glass composes Einstein on the Beach
Shostakovich dies
Sir Arthur Bliss dies
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1975 1975 |
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UK
James Callaghan becomes Prime Minister (1976–79)
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1976 1976 |
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World
First commercial transatlantic flight of Concorde
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Music
Britten dies
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1977 1977 |
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1978 1978 |
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UK
Margaret Thatcher becomes the first woman Prime Minister (1979–1990)
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1979 1979 |
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1980 1980 |
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UK
The Royal Wedding: Prince Charles marries Lady Diana Spencer
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1981 1981 |
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Science
The £50 Sinclair ZX81 ignites the UK home computer boom of the 1980s
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1982 1982 |
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Music
Walton dies
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1983 1983 |
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1984 1984 |
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Popular culture
Bob Geldof’s Live Aid raises £40 million
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1985 1985 |
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World
A meeting in Reykjavik, Iceland between Ronald Reagan and Mikhail Gorbachev paves the way for US–Soviet nuclear arms reduction programmes in future years
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1986 1986 |
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Music
Rubbra dies
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1987 1987 |
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1989 1989 |
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UK
John Major becomes Prime Minister (1990–97)
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1990 1990 |
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World
Operation Desert Storm (First Gulf War)
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1991 1991 |
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Music
John Cage dies
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1992 1992 |
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1993 1993 |
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South Africa
Nelson Mandela is inaugurated as first democratically elected State President
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1994 1994 |
Carey writes a series of stories under the heading The Doggy Tales of Arnold; although unpublished, one of the stories, Arnold and the Acorns, is illustrated and turned into a children’s TV programme presented by Willie Rushton
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1995 1995 |
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1996 1996 |
The Blytons move to Woodbridge, Suffolk
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UK
Tony Blair is elected Prime Minister (1997–2007)
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1997 1997 |
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World
Diana, Pricess of Wales is killed in a road traffic accident in Paris, France
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Music
Tippett dies
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1998 1998 |
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1999 1999 |
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2000 2000 |
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2002 2002 |
14th March: Carey’s 70th Birthday Celebration is held in Beckenham Library; sadly, Carey is unable to be there in person because of ill health
13th July: Carey dies at home in Woodbridge, Suffolk
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2004 2004 |
The first Carey Blyton website is launched at www.careyblyton.co.uk, designed by Paul Foster
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2011 2011 |
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2012 2012 |
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2013 2013 |
1st July: A new replacement Carey Blyton website is launched at www.careyblyton.com (but also retaining the old careyblyton.co.uk address), designed by Richard Hallas
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