1969

1950–1980	UK [television]	Watch With Mother, a series for young children featuring favourite characters such as Andy Pandy, the Flowerpot Men, Rag, Tag, and Bobtail, and the Woodentops, is shown on British television.
1960–1969	UK [popular music]	The Beatles' song ‘She Loves You’ is the best-selling single of the 1960s in Britain. The Beatles are responsible for five out of the top six singles in Britain in the 1960s.
1969	UK [popular music]	The British rock group the Beatles make their last ever public appearance on the roof of the Apple Records building in London, England. It is recorded as part of their film Let It Be. The police are called out by people in neighbouring buildings who are disturbed by the noise. The group also releases the album Abbey Road and the single ‘Something’ by George Harrison, the first Beatle hit not to have been written by John Lennon or Paul McCartney.
1969	UK [popular music]	In Britain, the soundtracks to The Sound of Music, South Pacific, and West Side Story are among the best-selling albums of the 1960s.
1969	UK [television]	The television channel BBC1 begins to broadcast a colour service in Britain.
1969	France [religious music]	The French composer Olivier Messiaen completes his choral work La Transfiguration de Notre Seigneur Jésus-Christ/The Transfiguration of Our Lord Jesus Christ.
1969	China [revolution]	The Ninth Chinese Communist Party Congress ends the Cultural Revolution and re-establishes authority structures.
1969	USA [sculpture]	The US artist Donald Judd sculpts Untitled, a series of vertically arranged metal and glass boxes.
1969	France [sculpture]	The French artist Niki de Saint Phalle sculpts Black Nana.
1969	UK [songs]	The British rock group the Who releases the single ‘Pinball Wizard’ and the album Tommy, the soundtrack of their rock opera of the same name.
1969	USA [television]	There are now 81 million television sets in the USA.
1969	UK [television]	The British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) launches The Old Grey Whistle Test, a music programme featuring British and US pop stars. In 1977 it is renamed Whistle Test.
1969	USA [biology]	US geneticist Jonathan Beckwith and associates at the Harvard Medical School isolate a single gene for the first time.
1969	UK [cinema and film]	The development of multiplex cinemas is well underway in Britain, with the creation of the first triplex at the ABC Lothian Road in Edinburgh.
1969	USA [cinema and film]	The film Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, directed by George Roy Hill, is released in the USA, starring Paul Newman and Robert Redford.
1969	England [fiction]	The English writer Graham Greene publishes his linked set of short stories Travels with My Aunt.
1969	Russia, USA [fiction]	The Russian-born US writer Vladimir Nabokov publishes his novel Ada.
1969	England [fiction]	The English writer John Fowles publishes his novel The French Lieutenant's Woman, set in Victorian England.
1969	USA [fiction]	The US writer Kurt Vonnegut publishes his novel Slaughterhouse Five, or The Children's Crusade: A Duty-Dance with Death.
1969	UK [legislation]	The Divorce Reform Bill in Britain sets the period of separation at two years by mutual consent and five years without consent. Supplementary measures to protect the financial position of women in the event of divorce are drawn up in 1970.
1969	world [everyday life]	The mini dress fashion is followed by the ankle-length maxi.
1969	USA [music]	Tape sales represent 40% of the music market in the USA. The total market is worth around $1 billion and 75% comes from purchasers under 30.
1969	England [philosophy]	Russian-born English philosopher Isaiah Berlin publishes Four Essays on Liberty.
1969	France [philosophy]	The French philosopher Michel Foucault publishes L'Archéologie de savoir/The Archaeology of Knowledge.
1969	South Africa [plays]	The play Boesman and Lena, by the South African dramatist Athol Fugard, is first performed in Port Elizabeth, South Africa.
1969	UK [popular music]	The British heavy metal/rock group Led Zeppelin releases the albums Led Zeppelin and Led Zeppelin II.
16 January 1969	Czechoslovakia [political events]	The Czech student Jan Palach publicly burns himself to death in Prague, Czechoslovakia, in protest at Soviet occupation.
March 1969	USA [political events]	With President Richard M Nixon's authorization, the USA begins the secret bombing of Cambodia.
2 March 1969	UK, France [aircraft]	The prototype of the French–British supersonic airliner Concorde makes its first test flight. Its first supersonic flight takes place on 1 October.
2 March - 15 March 1969	China, USSR [wars]	Soviet and Chinese forces clash on the Manchurian border, initiating an intensified period of violence along the disputed frontier.
28 March 1969	USA [births and deaths]	Dwight David Eisenhower, 34th president of the USA 1953–61, a Republican, dies in Washington, DC (78).
15 June 1969	France [administration]	Georges Pompidou is elected president of France and, on 20 June, appoints Jacques Chaban-Delmas as prime minister.
22 June 1969	USA, England [births and deaths]	Judy Garland, US singer and actor, dies in London, England (47).
16 July - 24 July 1969	USA [political events]	The US Moon-shot mission Apollo 11 takes place. On 20 July US astronaut Neil Armstrong becomes the first person to walk on the Moon, famously saying ‘That's one small step for man, one giant leap for mankind.’ He and Buzz Aldrin also install and operate the first Moon seismograph at Tranquillity base, spending a total of 21.6 hours on the Moon's surface, while Michael Collins remains orbiting the Moon in the command module.
20 July 1969	world, USA [television]	Over 700 million people worldwide watch Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin in the lander module from the US spacecraft Apollo 11 touch down on the Moon.
8 August 1969	France [banking and finance]	France devalues the franc by 12% following a European financial crisis.
15 August - 17 August 1969	USA [popular music]	Half a million people attend the three-day Woodstock Music and Arts Fair on a farm in New York State. The line-up includes Jimi Hendrix, the Who, Janis Joplin, Jefferson Airplane, and Santana.
19 August 1969	UK [political events]	The British army assumes full responsibility for security in Northern Ireland following civil unrest.
1 September 1969	Libya [revolution]	Colonel Moamer al-Khaddhafi deposes King Idris of Libya in a military coup.
23 September 1969	North Vietnam [administration]	Ton Dac Thang succeeds President Ho Chi Minh of North Vietnam following Ho Chi Minh's death on 3 September.
October 1969 - December 1974	UK [television]	Monty Python's Flying Circus, an anarchic comedy sketch show starring John Cleese, Michael Palin, Terry Jones, Graham Chapman, Eric Idle, and Terry Gilliam, is shown on British television.
November 1969	USA [television]	Sesame Street, an educational programme for children funded by the Ford Foundation, the Carnegie Corporation, and the US Office of Education, first appears on US television. The Muppet stars, created by Jim Henson, include Big Bird and Bert and Ernie.
3 November 1969	USA, North Vietnam, South Vietnam [Vietnam War (1954–75)]	The US president Richard M Nixon promises the complete withdrawal of US ground forces from Vietnam, on a secret timetable. A further 50,000 troops are withdrawn on 15 December.
14 November 1969	USA, USSR [diplomacy]	The Strategic Arms Limitation Talks (SALT) between the USA and USSR begin in Helsinki, Finland.
15 November 1969	UK [advertising]	The first colour advertisement appears on British television, a commercial for Birds Eye peas.