1940 starts with a bang when transposons, or 'jumping genes', are found in the DNA of /maize/, of all things.

On a roll, 1940 carries on it's big plans by opening the first McDonalds and putting the first nylon stockings up for sale on the very same day.

Furthermore, some French kids stumble across Lascaux caves. Whilst Britain was blowing up the French fleet and breaking diplomatic relations with Vichy France, though, so I guess 1940 wasn't all fun and games.

A few other war-type things, like the Battle of Britain happened, but Leon Trotsky was assasinated in Mexico City on Stalin's orders, which is a shame, because he had a cool name. Mussolini gets told off by Hitler (who Mussolini expected to be revered by as the father of Fascism) for fucking up the invasion of Greece (in that he ended up going backwards).

There's a bit of a high at the end of the year, though, when the Tacoma Narrows Bridge does that hilarious bendy thing and falls apart when the wind blows. Engineers are quoted as saying they "didn't think of that."

Maize makes another effort in 1941, when General Mills introduce CheeriOats (now Cheerios), which quite possibly contain maize. I dunno. Do I look like some kind of cereal expert?

Citizen Kane premiers, the House of Commons is damaged, and Rudolf Hess makes a prat of himself and becomes the last prisoner to be detained in the Tower of London. That whole Hood/Bismark/Ark Royal thing happens, which just pisses off both sides. A chap called Takeo Yoshikawa turns up in Hawaii, and starts asking pertinent questions about Pearl Harbour. The US finally joins in just at the end of the year.

As a little portent of things to come, the Vietminh has now formed, whilst nobody was looking. Oh, and the first quiz show is aired on TV. And TV ads are legalised. Best of all, though, some nutcases claim that bits of Oregan and California are now the State of Jefferson, and hand out leaflets to that effect, saying they are in "patriotic rebellion against the States of California and Oregon" and would continue to "secede every Thursday until further notice." :'D 

Or Pearl Harbor, as it's more correctly known.

I do so enjoy your history nanolessons. Do continue.

edit: just so I keep my end up (no John):

In nineteen hundred and forty-two, the Declaration of United Nations was signed by 26 Allied nations. Out east a bit, Russians and Germans start a bit of a punch-up in Stalingrad, while in America Enrico Fermi makes nuclear headway by setting up the world's first atomic reactor in Chicago.

Big booms then no more booms.

For a bit.

Bah and humbug. There should be a 'u' in it. The UN should pass a resolution forcing the issue, and all others like it. In fact, I think they should have done so at their inaugural session, Januray 10th, 1946. Instead they seemed more interested in ensuring independance and autonomy for nation states, and that. Whilst Tito set up Yugoslavia like he wanted it.

Much changing of governments occurs elsewhere, too: Charles de Gaulle resigns, Hungary ditches it's monarchy, Peron becomes leader of Argentina, Mr Minh is doing well in French Indochina, we get nice Mr Attlee and his splendid 'tache, Victor Emanuel III [the chap who believed Mussolini when he said he has 300,000 well armed troops just outside Rome (he had 30,000, largely arrested, peasants)] adbicates in favour of his son Humbert II, who rules for a month before Italy exiles him and becomes a republic. Elsewhere, Transjordan is founded, and they elect a King, and Greece's referendum restores the monarchy, thus restoring the karma of the world.

With Benito and Adolf both slightly on the dead side of things, Franco finds himself distinctly out of favour, when the UN severs relations, and tells everyone else to do the same thing. His staunch anti-socialist stance might stand him in good stead soon, though, as Jiang Jieshi [or whatever] isn't doing so well against Mao Zedong over in the Chinese Civil War.

And, huzzah! Bikinis are introduced.

Calm down. And: 1947 sees a new meteor crater (thanks to a meteor) in the Soviet Union, the ISO is founded, Truman Doctrine gets up to speed, Liz marries Phil, women go to Cambridge Uni as full students, the frisbee and the AK-47 are both invented (but possibly not by the same person), and the first microwave oven is produced. Shame on you for forgetting.

1948 is full of interesting bits of history, like when the Deutsche Mark made the grade as the currency of West Germany, but the Soviets were having none of it, and stuck to the Ostmark leaving Stalin to go mental and do the Berlin Blockade thing, so Truman, tactically brilliant as ever, transported goods via 'planes' (at great expense, but it pissed of Joe, so he thought it was funny). Harry also decides that a peace-time draft sounds good, and then recognises the South Korean government, just so everyone gets the message. Also, the Hell's Angels form, whilst just next door Porsche does the same thing.

Snow falls, for the first time in recorded history, in LA, to kick of 1949 with a bit of post-Christmas cheer. It's nuclear winter most on people's minds, though, with news that the USSR have exploded an atomic bomb. Truman's trousers turn a funny shade of brown, but it's Stalin who blinks first, and stops the Berlin Blockade, a month after NATO is created. It's not all bad for Mr Man-of-Steel, though, because the communists are still doing awfully well in China, regardless of how much cash the US throws against their enemies; the Nationalists are all living in Taiwan by the end of the year. Having said that, it's all gone pear-shaped in Greece, where the pinkos surrender. In the middle of this, the last six survivers of the US Civil War meet in Indianapolis, and shake their heads with a wry fore-knowing.

Oh, and the Republic of Ireland happens, but nobody cares.

1950 starts with a, ahem, bang when Truman announces plans for the hydrogen bomb, whilst McCarthy accuses everyone of being Communist, and he's just getting warmed up. The US lands at Inchon, sweeps up the the 38th parallel, and reckons they're doing alright, and carry on a bit into North Korea. A bit too far, actually, leaving the Chinese to get a bit twitchy and come in, which they do, really well, and push the line back down the 38th parallel. MacArthur suggests that 'about 50 atomic bombs' should scare them back a bit.

Not to worry, though, because the remote control gets invented this year, which will no doubt ease some inter-ideological tensions the world over. Although T.S. Eliot's speech against TV seems a bit doomed, now.

Edit: Oh, and my dad was born.

1952 is more of the same (but with less physical effort to change the channel); Seoul changes hands a few times, the Rosenbergs are convicted, nuclear tests are still going strong, the forward-thinking US lays the groundwork for Vietnam with the AZNUS Treaty, everyone signs a bit of paper saying the war with Japan is over, in case somebody didn't get the memo, and that Churchill chap has another bash at Prime Ministering.

No blue moons are recorded as occuring, but ash from a fire in Canada several months earlier does result in Europe witnessing a blue sun.

Edit: Oh, and my mum was born.

Surprise snow leads the way in '52, too, this time in Algeria, with a tropical storm in Cuba hot on it's heels. Elizabeth ascends to the throne on the same day that Churchill discloses that the UK has developed the atomic bomb, and tested some off the coast of Australia, as far away from him as they could manage - those things are /dangerous/, y'know? Truman realises that building nuclear subs is quite expensive, and stops Marshall Aid, Farouk does various crazy things in Egypt for a bit, before he's kicked out by the military, the first hydrogen bomb goes pop, and Eisenhower wins the presidential elections, just as Charlie Chaplin is thrown out of the USA.The UK's ID cards are scrapped, traffic lights appear in New York, and lots of people bump into things in a very smoggy London.

None of my parents were born.

Those sassy commies in the USSR exploded their own H Bomb and Dag Hammarskjold was elected secretary general of the United Nations...in
1953 of course

1958! Sees a young footballer called Pele come to the fore.

Gol!!!