1940
Library news: not available
Local news: Keighley War Weapons Week, Nov.30th - Dec 7th; Home Guard formed as the Local Defence Force; Battle-scarred Messerschmitt is displayed in the Town Hall Square for War Weapons Week; Townfield Gate bus station fully opens.
National news: Food rationing introduced; Start of the Blitz and the Battle of Britain; Winston Churchill becomes P.M.
International news: Trotsky assassinated.
1941
Library news: 1941-46. R.S. Crossley returns.
Local news: not available
National news: Amy Johnson dies in air crash (05.01.41); Women called for war work; V for Victory campaign; Death of Virginia Woolf.
International news: Japanese attack Pearl Harbour. (07.12.41)
1942
Library news: not available
Local news: Haworth broadcasts to the Empire about war-time life, in the Back Home BBC radio programme; Diamond Jubilee of Keighley as a Municipal Borough.
National news: TV Licence introduced; Beveridge Report – Welfare State; Famous Five by Enid Blyton.
International news: Film – Casablanca.
1943
Library news: not available
Local news: not available
National news: Reflecting road studs (Cats Eyes) laid; Bevin Boys become miners.
International news: Italy signs armistice.
1944
Library news: not available
Local news: 70th Birthday of local writer and poet, Gordon Bottomley; Salute the Soldier Week raises record war savings.
National news: PAYE is introduced; Travel abroad is banned.
International news: D-Day Landings; V-1 flying bombs launched.
1945
Library news: not available
Local news: VE Day celebrated in Keighley with bunting and bonfires, communal teas and thanksgiving services.
National news: VE Day celebrations; Death of Lloyd George; Clement Attlee – P.M. (Lab)
International news: Franklin D. Roosevelt dies; Harry S. Truman is elected; Hitler commits suicide; Atomic bomb tests in New Mexico are followed by A-bomb attacks on Hiroshima and Nagasaki.
1946
Library news: Fred Taylor is appointed as Chief Librarian.
Local news: Keighley gets its first prefabricated house on the Bracken Bank Estate; Floods in the Aire Valley; Local man, Sir Bracewell Smith, is elected Lord Mayor of London.
National news: Food still rationed; Fuel shortages.
International news: United Nations holds its first meeting in London; Italy is declared a republic; Civil war in China; The first Biro pen; Clement Attlee is elected.
1947
Library news: not available
Local news: Mrs. Emma Groves becomes the first woman to become Freeman of the Borough; 3 centenaries: opening of Keighley Railway to the North; publication of the Brontë novels, and the foundation of the original Keighley Cricket Club; Worst winter of the century. Many local firms forced to close, local services affected, fuel shortages.
National news: Winter chaos and power cuts followed by floods; Coal mines nationalised; Economic crisis; Princess Elizabeth marries Prince Philip.
International news: Roswell UFO incident; Marshall Plan – aid to Europe; Pakistan and India born.
1948
Library news: not available
Local news: Keighlians’ R.U. Club wins the Yorkshire Cup as well as the Yorkshire Shield; Centenary of St Andrews Parish Church.
National news: NHS launched; Prince Charles born.
International news: Sri Lanka (Ceylon) gains independence; Gandhi is assassinated; Israel is born.
1949
Library news: Decrease in the issue of books, in part due to the long summer
of 1949. Also DIY is just starting to become popular as a leisure pursuit, as
is local travel, since the end of the war with its ‘stay-at-home’
holidays.
Local news: Keighley Market Cross is returned.
National news: Chocolate, sweet and clothes rationing ends; Flood lighting and neon lighting returns; First launderette opens.
International news: Eire declared Republic of Ireland; NATO agreed; End of Berlin blockade; First jet airliner flies.
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