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September 15. Germany and the rest of the world was stunned
by the unexpected success of Adolf Hitler's Nazi party in the
elections. The Nazis had only 12 seats in the old Reichstag. Suddenly
they gained 107 seats, becoming the second largest party behind
the socialists.
 In
1928 Hitler polled just 800,000 votes. Two years later he got
nearly 6,500,000. Things were moving his way in a Germany still
being punished by France which had been demanding full reparations
for the 1914-18 war. Hitler's promise is simple and appealing.
In return for hard work and the loyalty of the German people,
he will restore the nation's pride. In his speeches he makes ferocious
attacks on Jews and Bolsheviks.
Later in the year the Nazis are triumphant in the local elections
at Bremen. In the same year, French troops occupying the western
part of Germany known as the Rhineland withdraw, five years before
the date set in the Versailles Treaty.
Within that five years Hitler will have marched his troops into
the Rhineland, partly to see how Britain and France react. The
road to war starts here.
March 17. More than 300 films were sent back for changes
or rejected outright by the British Board of Film Censors, unhappy
about their "sordid" themes.
The censors objected to coarse speech, women being drunk, marital
infidelity and criminals shown as affluent or apparently successful.
February 22. High powered millionaire newspaper tycoon,
Lord Beaverbrook, launched the United Empire Party in collaboration
with fellow Press baron, Lord Rothermere.
He was also supported by people in the Tory Party who had become
increasingly critical of Mr Baldwin over the previous year's Tory
election debacle and the current feeble resistance to Labour in
office.
The new Party was ridiculed by Conservative chiefs as another
frivolity in Beaverbrook's erratic career.
June 30. Women turned London's Serpentine into a blaze
of colour when they abandoned the discreet black bathing suits
of yesteryear and took the plunge in brightly coloured costumes.
The occasion was the opening of the Hyde Park Lido for mixed
bathing - and one woman queued for 11 hours to make sure she was
the first to take a dip.
People feared the bright hues may lead to accusations of immodesty.
But at least skirts were back below the knee.
Leviathan of the skies but it was a short life and a spectacular
demise for the R101
October 4. The world's biggest airship - the British
R.101 - exploded in a ball of flame as she hit a French hillside
shortly after setting out on her debut flight to India.
The disaster, near Beauvais, claimed the lives of 44 people
including the Air Secretary, Lord Thomson. Only eight people survived.
The life of one survivor was saved when a water tank burst above
his head on impact and drenched him. The airship was built by
the privately owned Vickers company.
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