The first International Horse Show takes place in London's Olympia stadium

The British liner Lusitania sets a new record for the Atlantic crossing, on the first of four such occasions

Robert Baden-Powell publishes Scouting for Boys, the success of which leads to the establishment of the Scouts

Rat, Mole and Toad, in Kenneth Grahame's The Wind in the Willows, appeal to a wide readership

UK prime minister Henry Campbell-Bannerman resigns because of ill health and is followed as Liberal leader and prime mininster by Herbert Asquith

David Lloyd George becomes chancellor of the exchequer in Asquith's new cabinet

The Liberal government in Britain introduces an old-age pension, albeit only five shillings a week.

The Welsh poet W.H. Davies has a success with The Autobiography of a Super-Tramp, his account of life on the road and in dosshouses

Bernard Leach moves to Japan to study oriental traditions in the graphic arts

Ralph Vaughan Williams sets poems by Housman in On Wenlock Edge

Rugby Union acquires new headquarters and a state-of-the-art stadium at Twickenham

Vaughan Williams first symphony, which he names A Sea Symphony, is first performed at the Leeds Festival

The heroine of H.G. Wells' novel Ann Veronica is a determined example of the New Woman

US entrepreneur Gordon Selfridge opens the first British custom-built department store on London's Oxford Street

Thomas Beecham uses his personal fortune from Beecham's Pills to found his first orchestra, the Beecham Symphony Orchestra

In response to fears of German espionage a Secret Service Bureau, later to be divided into MI5 and MI6, is set up in Britain

The Conservative majority in the House of Lords rejects Lloyd George's reforming budget, giving the Liberals the chance to call an election on an emotive issue

British prime minister Herbert Asquith leads the Liberal party to a narrow victory, in an election fought on the issue of the House of Lords

The wife of Harvey Crippen, an American doctor working in north London, vanishes mysteriously

Agnes Baden-Powell establishes the Girl Guides, an organization for girls equivalent to the Scouts

Edward Carson, previously a prominent Conservative politician at Westminster, becomes leader of the Ulster Unionist party

Vaughan Williams' Fantasia on a Theme by Thomas Tallis is first performed in Gloucester

UK prime minister Herbert Asquith plans to reduce the power of the House of Lords, but the upper house as yet is certain to block any such bill

In his poem Cargoes John Masefield compares a 'dirty British coaster' with two romantic boats from the past

Fritz Kreisler is the soloist in the first performance of Edward Elgar's Violin Concerto