1945: Germany signs unconditional surrender.
Germany signs an unconditional surrender ending six years of war in Europe.

1984: Moscow pulls out of US Olympics.
Twelve weeks before the opening ceremony of the Los Angeles Olympic Games, the USSR announces it is boycotting them.

1955: West Germany accepted into NATO.
West Germany formally joins the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation at a special ceremony in Paris.

1994: Mandela becomes SA's first black president.
Nelson Mandela becomes South Africa's first black president after more than three centuries of white rule.

1971: Britain's oldest tabloid closes.
The Daily Sketch newspaper which was founded in 1909 has been published for the last time

1994: Labour leader John Smith dies at 55.
The Labour leader John Smith dies in a London hospital after two serious heart attacks.

1995: British woman conquers Everest.
A British mother of two becomes the first woman to conquer Everest without oxygen or the help of sherpas.

1957: Cheers as petrol rationing ended.
Relief across the country as the paymaster general announces restrictions on fuel consumption imposed during the Suez crisis are to be lifted.

1957: Britain drops its first H-bomb.
After just two years of development, Britain tests its first hydrogen bomb over Christmas Island, as the arms race begins to escalate.

2001: Prescott punches protester.
Labour Deputy Prime Minister John Prescott punches a man who throws an egg at him during a visit to north Wales.

1943: RAF raid smashes German dams.
An audacious raid into the industrial heartland of Germany uses revolutionary bombs to flood the Ruhr valley.

1991: Sharman becomes first Briton in space.
Britain's first astronaut, 27-year-old Helen Sharman from Sheffield, has blasted into orbit.

1965: British police to be issued with tear gas.
Britain's police are to be armed with tear gas guns and grenades for use against dangerous criminals.

1966: Cooper loses to world champ Clay.
American Cassius Clay beats Britain's Henry Cooper in the sixth round at the Arsenal football ground, North London.

1969: Apollo 10 gets bird's eye view of Moon.
The Apollo 10 mission sends a manned lunar module within eight miles of the Moon's surface in rehearsal for a summer Moon landing