1950s: Since its election victories of 1945, the Labour Party is working on bringing certain industries under government control. Based on socialist principles, the Labour Party's objectives are to distribute resources evenly among English citizens and to blur the lines of social class. Its influence is on the decline, however, since the Conservative Party reduced the Labour Party's majority in parliament in the 1950 elections.

Today: After two Conservative prime ministers, Margaret Thatcher and John Majors, Labour Party leader Tony Blair is now England's prime minister. English voters seem to vote in cycles, much as American voters tend to alternate over time between Democratic and Republican leadership.

1950s: The emergence of rock and roll music in the United States leads to the style's popularity around the world. Teenagers are drawn to its energy and spirit of rebellion. Having endured the war, many teenagers in England are...