All Saints, along with Petersham Vicarage, the village hall and (later) Elm Lodge, is requisitioned by Anti-Aircraft Command and plays a key role in operational research on Radar throughout the Second World War

Elm Lodge, requisitioned by Anti Aircraft Command, along with All Saints, Petersham vicarage and the village institute, plays a key role in wartime operational research on Radar

Grey Court House (now called Newman House) is used first as a nursery school and then as a unit within Greycourt Secondary School

The Limes is damaged by enemy bombing. Its exterior is subsequently restored to its original appearance, with its interior rebuilt for commercial use

Working as an official war artist, Henry Moore creates an iconic series of drawings of Londoners sleeping at night in underground stations

After his London studio is bombed, Henry Moore moves to Much Hadham, where he works and lives for the rest of his life

Charles de Gaulle broadcasts to the French nation from London, declaring himself the leader of the Free French

The first German night-time bombing raid on London signals the start of the Blitz on British cities

Radnor House is completely destroyed by a bomb, and the site later becomes open to the public as Radnor Gardens.

De Gaulle forms in London the French National Committee, a government in exile in London for the Free French

Early tests of the Dambusters' bouncing bomb are carried out at the National Physical Laboratory's ship tank

English contralto Kathleen Ferrier makes her London début in Handel's Messiah in Westminster Abbey

The first V-1 flying bombs (or doodlebugs) appear over London, numbering more than 2000 in two weeks

The first V-2 rocket lands on London, killing three people in Chiswick

A by-election in the safe Conservative seat of Bromley, in London, enables Harold Macmillan to return to the House of Commons

Benjamin Britten's opera Peter Grimes has its premiere in London, at the Sadler's Wells theatre

All Saints is used variously for worship by the Anglican and the Greek Orthodox Church, and as a recording studio

The Cassel Foundation (founded by Sir Ernest Cassel, grandfather of the Countess Mountbatten) establishes the Cassel Hospital for functional nervous disorders at Ham Common

Parliament Mews is built on the site of Cromwell House, with the original high boundary walls still in place around the Mews

Ham House is donated by Sir Lyonel Tollemache and his son to the National Trust

Roland Petit's ballet Carmen, starring himself and his wife Zizi Jeanmaire, is a sensation at its London premiere

Anton Dolin and Alicia Markova form the Festival Ballet, in time for next year's Festival of Britain

Kirsten Flagstad sings the posthumous premiere, in London, of Richard Strauss's Four Last Songs

The Festival of Britain, on the south bank of the Thames in London, celebrates the end of wartime austerity

X-ray crystallographer Rosalind Franklin, working at King's College in London, photographs DNA