Mark Your Calendar: 10 Historical Anniversaries to Commemorate in 2025

Here’s our rundown of the biggest moments and anniversaries from history to look back on and commemorate in 2025: 

Winston Churchill addresses the world in 1941

The Death of Winston Churchill

Date: 24th January 1965

Anniversary: 60 years ago

The former Prime Minister, well known for his role in leading Britain to victory in the Second World War, died at 90 years old. Churchill was Prime Minister of Britain twice, from 1940–45, and from 1951–55.

Imagine this enormous Golden Eagle landing in your local park!

Goldie The Eagle Escapes

Date: February-March 1965

Anniversary: 60 years ago

Goldie, a Golden Eagle who lived at London Zoo, managed to slip out of his cage while it was being cleaned. For the next 12 days before being captured, the enormous bird seized the attention of the nation as he flew around Regent Park, outwitting zoo keepers, police and firefighters, chomping on the occasional duck and fighting with pet dogs!

Malcolm X, activist and minister, flashes a smile

The Assassination of Malcolm X

Date: 21st February 1965

Anniversary: 60 years ago

Malcolm X was one of the most important figures in the Black Power Movement in the 1960’s and 1970’s. He was an African American Muslim minister, famous for being a civil rights activist and for his views on racial integration. In 1965, he was murdered by three armed men who shot him 21 times.

Time travelling from 1989 to 2005, all in a day's work for Doctor Who

Doctor Who is Revived

Date: 26th March 2005

Anniversary: 20 years ago

After being cancelled in December 1989 following its 26th season, the popular TV show Doctor Who was brought back by the BBC in 2005. The revival featured actor Christopher Eccleston as the ninth Doctor. The series is set to continue in 2025 with actor Ncuti Gatwa reprising his role as the fifteenth Doctor.

Arthur Ashe mid-swing - Photo courtesy of Rob Bogaerts Anefo

Arthur Ashe Wins at Wimbleton

Date: 5th July 1975

Anniversary: 50 years ago

Arthur Ashe defeated Jimmy Connors and won the Wimbledon men’s singles tennis tournament. In doing so, he became the first black man to win a Wimbledon singles title. Ashe also won in singles competition at the Australian Open in 1970 and the US Open in 1968 and won in doubles competition with Marty Riessen at the French Open in 1971.

Campbell's Sunbeam 350HP vehicle 'Bluebird' at a recreation in 2015 - photo courtesy Thruxton

Sir Malcolm Campbell Breaks the 150mph Speed Barrier

Date: 21st July 1925

Anniversary: 100 years ago

Sir Malcolm Campbell became the first man to drive at speeds faster than 150mph in a car over land. He achieved this World Land Speed Record at Pendine Sands in South Wales in a 350 horse-power Sunbeam car that he called Blue Bird. Ten years later, Campbell went on to break the 300mph speed barrier in 1935.

Anyone fancy a fish finger?

Birds Eye Start Selling Fish Fingers in Britain

Date: 26th September 1955

Anniversary: 70 years ago

31 years after Clarence Birdseye invented the fast freezing process, Birds Eye start production on an exciting new teatime product for the nation, the Fish Finger. The humble Fish Finger is now a staple product for the company and a mealtime favourite for the people of Britain. Birds Eye boast that since their introduction, more than 15 billion fish fingers have been sold in the UK alone!

John Logie Baird and his dummy heads in front of his television equipment - photo courtesy Popular Radio magazine

John Logie Baird Transmits the First Greyscale TV Pictures

Date: 2nd October 1925

Anniversary: 100 years ago

After years of working on ideas of how to transmit and receive pictures, John Logie Baird finally transmitted the first television picture with different tones of grey colour from his Frith Street laboratory. The picture showed the head of a dummy then later the human face of 20-year-old office boy William Edward Taynton.

Time to dive into a good book! Pride and Prejudice anyone?

The Birth of Jane Austen

Date: 16th December 1775

Anniversary: 250 years ago

Jane Austen was an English novelist who is known for her books showing what everyday life was like for the English middle class in the early 19th century. She is most famous for her six popular novels, including Pride and Prejudice, Sense and Sensibility and Northanger Abbey. Her classics have been adapted into countless productions for TV, film and theatre plays.

Can you imagine not seeing one of these for five whole years?

Britain’s First Post-War Banana

Date: 30th December 1945

Anniversary: 80 years ago

In 1940, the British government banned bananas! The Second World War had just begun and the refrigerated ships used to import the tropical fruit were now needed for the war effort. At the end of the war, the first post-war shipment of bananas from Jamaica arrived containing 10 million bananas! The hundreds of children who were there to greet the ship had never seen a banana before, let alone eaten one, and had to be shown how to peel it.