The Bill Bryson Library of Durham University was originally built in 1968, on Stockton Road on the Science Site of the University. The library has been significantly extended since then.

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The 'Swans in Flight' sculpture by David Wynne was completed in 1968. The bronze statue had been commissioned for new Civic Centre in Newcastle. It is based on Hans Hartvig Seedorff Pederson's 'The Swans from the North', a Scandinavian poem - the Five Swans, representing the five Scandinavian countries (Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway and Finland).

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A new trolleybus route in Middlesbrough, linking Grangetown (Fabian Road terminus) and Normanby via  Eston, was opened on the 31st of March 1968. This was the very last trolleybus route to be built in Britain. It was part of the Teesside Railless Traction Board, and built to service the growing population, with new housing developments around the east of Middlesbrough. (Source: Alan Murray-Rust, Geograph)

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Five and ten pence coins are brought into circulation on the 23rd April 1968. This was in the run-up to Decimalisation, which will be completed in 1971. The 5p coins were the same size and value as the shilling, and the 10p the same as the florin (2 shillings).

September 1968 saw the first local authorities in England adopt the new three tier education system. This was one of the recommendations of the 1967 report of the Central Advisory Council For Education (England) - the 'Plowden Report'. The previous infant schools (ages 5-7) and junior schools (7-11) were replaced by first schools (5-9), middle schools (9-13), with the transfer age to grammar and secondary modern schools increased from 11 to 12 or 13. Implementations and age-bands varied in some local authorities.

Millom Ironworks closed on the 13th of September 1968, after over a hundred years of iron production in Millom, Cumberland. The Hodbarrow Iron Ore Mine also closed that year. The loss of the town's major employers led to a period of economic depression and hardship in Millom.

Led Zeppelin's first UK gig was held at The Mayfair in Newcastle.

Newcastle Civic Centre was officially opened by HM King Olav V of Norway on tge 14th November, 1968.

The Race Relations Act became law in 1968. It made it illegal to refuse housing, employment or public services to people in Britain based on their ethnic background. Whilst the bill was being discussed in Parliament it became one of the foci of Enoch Powell's 'Rivers of Blood' speech, criticising the bill and mass immigration. 

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