The National Archives
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Postwar 1945 - present

Many postwar records held at The National Archives are still so secret they are not open to the public.

Read Cold War reports from behind the Iron Curtain, the complex discussions that led to independence for Britain's colonies and even documents concerning UFOs.

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History by numbers

  • 32,193
    Number of nuclear missiles and bombs in US arsenal in 1966
  • 23
    Independent countries created from former British colonies in the 1960s
  • 940,225
    Copies of the Beatles single "Can't Buy Me Love" sold on its first day of release in the US in March 1964
  • 2,700,000
    Copies of the seventh Harry Potter sold on its first day of release in the UK in July 2007