Second Elizabethan Era: An Expanded World in Arts and Culture

When Elizabeth II inherited the crown after the death of her father, George VI, in 1952, movies and TV shows were mostly produced in black and white. Colour television sales only outpaced black and white sales 20 years later, in 1972. Music’s classic acts, including Elvis, the Beatles, and the Rolling Stones, would not come onto the scene for several years. During her 70-year reign, Elizabeth was witness to changing trends not only in entertainment but also in many other parts of culture. Read on to learn about some of those significant moments.

Learn more about other world-changing developments during Elizabeth’s years as queen in Britannica’s related features: Second Elizabethan Era: Geopolitics in a Changing World and Second Elizabethan Era: A World Remade by Science and Technology.

• Charlotte’s Web by E.B. White is published.

• 

  Art critic Harold Rosenberg coins the term action painting for a new form of art in the U.S.

• 

  Singin’ in the Rain, starring Gene Kelly, premieres in theatres.

• Elizabeth II’s coronation is held at Westminster Abbey. It is the first to be broadcast live on television.

• 

  Rear Window, directed by Alfred Hitchcock in his third successful phase, premieres.
• The Fellowship of the Ring, the first part of fantasy novel The Lord of the Rings by J.R.R. Tolkien, is published.
• The Hunstanton Secondary Modern School, Norfolk, England, is completed. Designed by Alison and Peter Smithson, the building is generally recognized as being the first example of Brutalism, an approach to architecture that often stressed stark presentation of materials and structure.

• Lolita by Vladimir Nabokov is published.

• 

  Elvis Presley releases a series of hits—“Heartbreak Hotel,” “Don’t Be Cruel,” and “Love Me Tender”—and ushers in the age of rock and roll.

• On the Road by Jack Kerouac is published.

• To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee is published.

• 

  Andy Warhol receives sudden notoriety when he first exhibits paintings of Campbell’s soup cans at Ferus Gallery, Los Angeles, attracting attention to the Pop art movement.

• 

  The Beatles release their first album, Please Please Me, in the United Kingdom.
• Bob Dylan releases his second album, The Freewheelin’ Bob Dylan, which establishes him as part of the burgeoning counterculture.

• 

  Sidney Poitier becomes the first African American to win the Oscar for best performance by an actor, in Lilies of the Field (1963).

• Mick Jagger and Keith Richards write the Rolling Stones’ first bona fide classic, “(I Can’t Get No) Satisfaction.”

• 

  American artist Donald Judd pens “Specific Objects,” which lays out the aims of the Minimalist movement.

• 

  Dune by Frank Herbert is published.

• 

  Star Trek premieres on TV.

• Bonnie and Clyde, starring Warren Beatty and Faye Dunaway, premieres.
• One Hundred Years of Solitude by Gabriel García Márquez is published.

• 

  David Bowie releases “Space Oddity.”

• 

  Elton John releases his eponymous album, which immediately establishes him as a major international star.

• 

  The Mary Tyler Moore Show premieres.

• 

  Art critic Linda Nochlin pens the essay “Why Have There Been No Great Women Artists?” and inspires a wave of feminist art.

• 

  The Godfather, directed by Francis Ford Coppola, premieres.

• 

  The Sydney Opera House, designed by Danish architect Jørn Utzon, is opened by the queen in Australia.

• 

  Construction is completed on the Sears Tower (later Willis Tower), designed by the firm Skidmore, Owings & Merrill (SOM). At 108 stories, it’s the tallest building in the world at the time and would remain one of the tallest into the 21st century.

• 

  Jaws, directed by Steven Spielberg, premieres.

• Queen Elizabeth celebrates her Silver Jubilee, marking 25 years on the throne.

• 

  Star Wars, directed by George Lucas, premieres.

• 

  Jean-Michel Basquiat participates in his first formal public exhibition, “The Times Square Show,” becoming one of the artists to initiate the Neo-Expressionist movement.

• 

  Heir apparent Charles marries Lady Diana Spencer at St. Paul’s Cathedral, with some 750 million people watching the ceremony on television.
• MTV’s first broadcast occurs.

• 

  Indiana Jones and the Raiders of the Lost Ark, starring Harrison Ford, premieres.

• 

  E.T. The Extra-Terrestrial, directed by Steven Spielberg, premieres.

• 

  “The Message” by Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five is released, marking the beginning of hip-hop.

• Madonna releases her debut solo album.

• Beloved by Toni Morrison is published.

• 

  Seinfeld premieres.

• 

  The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air premieres.

• Nirvana releases “Smells Like Teen Spirit,” ushering in the era of grunge music.

• In a speech marking her 40th year as queen, Elizabeth II describes 1992 as her “Annus Horribilis.” In a 12-month period, three of her children marked the dissolution of their marriages: Charles and Diana announced their separation; Andrew separated from his wife, Sarah Ferguson; and Anne divorced her husband, Mark Philips. Moreover, some 100 rooms were destroyed in a fire at Windsor Castle.

• 

  Charles Saatchi exhibits the work of a diverse group of London-based artists in a show called “Young British Artists.” It marks the beginning of the YBA movement.

• 

  Friends premieres.
• British band Oasis releases its debut studio album, Definitely Maybe, becoming one of several bands to create the “Britpop” movement of the 1990s.
• Train service begins on the so-called Chunnel, a tunnel under the English Channel linking southern England and northern France.

• 

  At the age of 36, Princess Diana is killed in a car crash in Paris. After intense public criticism for refusing to fly the flag at half-staff at Buckingham Palace or to address the nation, Elizabeth gives a rare televised speech remembering the princess of Wales as “an exceptional and gifted human being.”

• 

  American artist Kara Walker wins a MacArthur “genius grant” at the age of 27.

• 

  The Guggenheim Museum Bilbao, Spain, designed by Frank Gehry, opens, starting an era of museum expansions.
• Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone is published in the United Kingdom.

• Britney Spears releases her first hit single, “Baby, One More Time.”

• 

  Queen Elizabeth II opens Tate Modern, London, which is housed in a former power plant on the River Thames. It is one of the 21st-century buildings that bring acclaim to the Swiss architecture firm Herzog & de Mueron.

• 

  British graffiti artist Banksy starts using stencils to enhance his speed, developing a distinctive iconography of rats and policemen.

• 

  The Royal Tenenbaums, one of Wes Anderson’s best-known films, premieres.
• The British sitcom The Office premieres.
• Alicia Keys releases her first studio album, Songs in A Minor.

• 

  The queen’s only sibling, Princess Margaret, dies, as does the Queen Mother, affectionately called “Queen Mum.” That same year Elizabeth II celebrates her Golden Jubilee, marking 50 years on the throne.

• 

  Beyoncé goes solo.

• Kanye West releases his debut solo album, The College Dropout.

• Brokeback Mountain premieres.

• Taylor Swift releases her eponymous debut studio album.

• Lady Gaga releases her first album, The Fame.

• 

  Marina Abramović’s The Artist Is Present performance is held at the Museum of Modern Art, New York, making her somewhat of a celebrity decades after she began her practice.

• 

  Game of Thrones premieres.

• Queen Elizabeth celebrates her Diamond Jubilee, marking 60 years on the throne.

• House of Cards, the first show produced by Netflix, premieres.

• 

  The High Line opens in New York. Its popularity sparks a building boom in the local neighbourhood and leads other cities to convert inactive railroad tracks into parks.

• Elizabeth becomes the longest-serving British monarch when her reign surpasses that of her great-great-grandmother, Victoria, who served for more than 63 years.

• 

  Moonlight premieres and wins the Academy Award for best picture the following year.

• Philip, duke of Edinburgh, retires from public life at the age of 96.

• 

  BTS becomes the first K-pop group to perform at the American Music Awards, cementing their fame and the popularity of the genre.

• 

  Puerto Rican musicians Luis Fonsi and Daddy Yankee release “Despacito,” which brings renewed attention to reggaeton and draws interest to Latin music more generally.

• 

  A traveling exhibition of Yayoi Kusama’s art attracts record crowds at the Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden in Washington, D.C., renewing interest in the work of the then octogenarian.

• 

  Kendrick Lamar wins the 2018 Pulitzer Prize for music for DAMN. (2017).

• Amid demonstrations against police brutality following the killing of George Floyd by a Minneapolis police officer, the effort to remove allegedly racist monuments reaches a crescendo. In Bristol, England, for example, protesters take down a statue of Edward Colston, a 17th-century slave trader, and drop it in the River Avon.

• 

  Prince Philip dies at the age of 99, and the queen attends his funeral alone because of pandemic protocols.

• 

  Elizabeth II celebrates her Platinum Jubilee, becoming the first British monarch to rule for 70 years. She dies at Balmoral, Scotland, several months later.