Born in 1945
Turns 81 in 2026
Gifts for someone born in 1945
1945 Front PageTheir name. The news from their year.Unframed from £21.50Add their name
Their birth chartThe sky as astrology reads it, cast for one birth.Unframed from £21.50
The Years We Were BornThe whole family, together in years.Unframed from £21.50
Our Story timelineTheir life, told in your words.Unframed from £21.50
Front Page: United Kingdom edition. The year is filled in; add their name in the editor. “Your name” is a placeholder. Light news is selected. A new keepsake, not an original newspaper.
BACK TO 1945 · United Kingdom
A little history to go with their gift.
VE Day marked the end of war in Europe, penicillin’s developers received the Nobel Prize, and Vannevar Bush proposed a machine for linking recorded knowledge. These records reflect celebration, medical progress and new thinking about how people might find information.
What happened in 1945?
Victory brought crowds into the streets
VE Day on 8 May ended the war in Europe, bringing celebrations even as rationing, demobilisation and military service continued.
Penicillin received science’s highest recognition
The Nobel committee honoured the scientists who turned penicillin from an observation into a practical treatment for bacterial infection on the path to modern antibiotic medicine.
Bush imagines the future of knowledge
In The Atlantic, Vannevar Bush proposed the memex as a future machine for linking and consulting a person's recorded knowledge.
The Victory Tests revived a famous rivalry
England and an Australian Services side played the 1945 Victory Tests, restarting a famous cricket contest after wartime interruption.
Association of Cricket Statisticians and Historians · CricJudge
Firsts and new ideas
Tove Jansson introduces the Moomins
Tove Jansson’s The Moomins and the Great Flood, the first Moomin book, was published in Swedish in Finland in 1945.
Tove Jansson official website / Moomin Characters · Associated Press
The FA Cup returned after wartime suspension
The FA Cup reopened after wartime interruption, with first-round proper matches beginning November 17, 1945, and return legs the following week.
Number ones and music in 1945
Chart positions belong to the country and chart named in each record.
Rod Stewart starts in north London
Rod Stewart was born in London in 1945, years before his gravelly voice led solo hits and celebrated bands.
Eric Clapton entered a blues-minded generation
Clapton's playing helped bring blues vocabulary into British rock, from the Yardbirds and Cream to a long solo career before achieving global fame.
Prices and everyday money in 1945
United Kingdom figures in the money of the time. Units and sources matter: these are not today's prices.
| Item or measure | Then | Unit and source |
|---|---|---|
| Average weekly earnings per person in the United Kingdom (Bank of England series) | £3 16s 5d per week | GBP per week Bank of England (series republished by Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis FRED) |
| sugar (annual average) | 4d | equivalent 1 lb (calculated from ONS per kg) Office for National Statistics |
| flour (annual average) | 5d | equivalent 2 lb (calculated from ONS per 1.5 kg) Office for National Statistics |
| bread (annual average) | 2½d | equivalent 1 lb (calculated from ONS 800 g source measure; not historical loaf size) Office for National Statistics |
Planning the birthday
Someone born in 1945 turns 81 in 2026. Before their birthday they are one year younger. Choose the birth year for the print; add the full date in the editor if you know it.
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