• Appointed to Privy Council

"The Privy Council goes back to the earliest days of the Monarchy, when it comprised those appointed by the King or Queen to advise on matters of state. The Privy Council is one of the oldest parts of Government, but it has, over time, adapted to reflect the fact that the United Kingdom is a constitutional monarchy. Appointment to the Privy Council is for life."
Extract from Privy Council Office website.

• Serious epidemic of infantile paralysis (polio). Sister Elizabeth Kenny's new method for treating poliomyelitis did not gain acceptance by the medical profession until late in 1941.
• With the outbreak of Japan's war against China, Australia's Prime Minister Lyons proposes a Pacific Pact of non-aggression.
• The Imperial Airways flying boat Centaurus touches down in Sydney, the forerunner of a thrice-weekly service to England.
• Sir Hubert Opperman cycles across Australia.
• Radio series Dad and Dave begins.

• Japan invades China.
• Composer George Gershwin dies at the age of 38. He wrote many popular songs and experimented with 'symphonic jazz' in  Rhapsody in Blue and  Porgy and Bess.
• The Duke of Windsor, the former King Edward VIII, marries Wallis Simpson in France.
• The jet engine is built.
• Margaret Mitchell wins a Pulitzer Prize for her epic novel  Gone with the Wind.