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Decimalised currency replaces pounds, shillings and pence, email is invented by Ray Tomlinson.
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Conservative Margaret Thatcher becomes Britain’s first woman prime minister
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Prince Charles, heir to the British throne, marries Lady Diana Spencer at St Paul’s Cathedral
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The first computers, electro-mechanical devices built to break cryptographical codes during World War II, quickly became at least 20 times smaller using transistors. The creation of operating systems also vastly improved programming productivity
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The Channel Tunnel linking London and Paris is officially opened – the first land link between Britain and Europe since the last Ice Age
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Britain hands Hong Kong back to China, ending more than 150 years of British rule.