January
Brexit vote gives Government the biggest defeat in history. (432 to 202)
Four dead in Paris bakery explosion.
Andy Murray faces career decision over hip injury.
Prince Philip escapes injury in car accident.
Police question Prince Philip for not wearing a seatbelt.
Cafe chain Patisserie Valerie collapses.
Footballer Emiliano Sala missing after plane crash.
US temperatures lowest for 108 years.
Lake Michigan frozen.
Bought the farm
Actress Carol Channing, 97.
Poet Mary Oliver, 83.
Actor Windsor Davies, 88.
BBC presenter Dianne Oxberry, 51. (cancer)
Chemist Stewart Adams, 95, developer of ibuprofen.
Footballer Emiliano Sala, 28. (Plane crash)
Singer James Ingram, 66.
February
Big freeze hits UK.
Snow closes hundreds of schools across Wales and south of England.
Duke of Edinburgh agrees to stop driving.
Equine flu halts racing calendar.
8 MPs quit Labour party over Jeremy Corbyn.
3 Tories follow suit over Brexit ‘no deal’ threat.
Knife crime reaches its highest UK level on record. (Office for National Statistics)
Flybmi blames Brexit for its collapse.
IS schoolgirl Shamima Begum has British citizenship withdrawn.
End of February ‘unseasonably warm’.
Gone beyond
Comedian Jeremy Hardy, 57. (The News Quiz, I’m Sorry I Haven’t a Clue, Jeremy Hardy Speaks to the Nation) cancer.
Actor Clive Swift, 82. (Keeping up Appearances)
Actor Albert Finney, 82.
Rapper Cadet, 28. (Road accident)
Actor Carmen Argenziano, 75. (Stargate)
Fashion designer Karl Lagerfeld, 85.
Former England goalkeeper Gordon Banks, 81. (Leicester City, Stoke City, national team)
Dick Churchill, 99. (British RAF squadron leader, last survivor of the Great Escape)
Deputy Chief Constable of Greater Manchester Police John Stalker, 79.
Paul Flynn, 84. (MP for Newport West)
Monkee Peter Tork, 77.
Conductor composer André Previn, 89.
March
Ethiopian Airlines crash kills 157.
Boeing 737 Max planes grounded.
House of Commons rejects Theresa May’s Brexit deal again.
Speaker John Bercow says she can’t have a third vote without changing the offer.
An online e-petition calling on the government to revoke Brexit Article 50 reaches 5,000,000 signatures.
A million people march for ‘People’s Vote’ in London.
Theresa May submits a third, updated offer and is rejected again.
Soldier faces prosecution over Bloody Sunday.
Passed on
Mountaineers Tom Ballard, 30 and Daniele Nardi, 42. (Lost on Nanga Parbat)
Actor Luke Perry, 52.
Prodigy singer Keith Flint, 49.
Walker Brother Scott, 76,
Philosopher Baroness Mary Warnock, 94.
Television presenter Magenta Devine, 61, (Rough Guide, Network 7)
April
Brexit row rumbles on.
Ex UKIP leader Nigel Farage launches the Brexit Party.
Climate change action group Extinction Rebellion causes transport chaos in London.
Hottest April day on record (25C)
Huge fire at Notre Dame in Paris.
Joined the choir eternal
John McEnery, 75, British actor
Trainspotting actor Bradley Welsh, 48. (shooting)
Songwriter Les Reed, 83 (It’s Not Unusual, Delilah, The Last Waltz)
CBBC star Mya-Lecia Naylor, 16.
David Winters, 80, English-American actor and choreographer (West Side Story).
Dick Rivers, 74, French rock and roll singer (Les Chats Sauvages), cancer.
May
The Duchess of Sussex gives birth to a son, Archie Mountbatten-Windsor.
UK local elections bring gains for Lib Dems and Greens.
Britain gets lowest ever score in Eurovision – then gets five points taken away to finish last.
Calls for PM’s resignation over Brexit.
Jeremy Kyle show suspended after the death of a participant.
Theresa May announces her resignation from the Tory party.
Boris Johnson says he’ll run for Tory party leader.
Kicked the bucket
Broadcaster Brian Walden, 86.
Hollywood legend Doris Day, 97.
Comedian Freddie Starr, 76.
Broadcaster Nan Winton, 93. First woman to read BBC News on television
Louvre pyramid architect I M Pei, 102.
F1 legend Niki Lauda, 70.
Actor Stephen Thorne, 84. (Z-Cars, Crossroads, Doctor Who)
First BBC woman newsreader Nan Winton, 93.
June
Isle of Lewis chessman found in Edinburgh house.
Liverpool defeat Tottenham Hotspur 2 – 0 in the first all-English UEFA Champions League Final since 2008.
US President Donald Trump pays three-day state visit to the UK.
BBC announces it will end free television licences for over-75s from June 2020.
First person in the UK convicted of illegally manufacturing a firearm using a 3D printer.
Heavy rain causes chaos in UK.
Met Office records hottest June day for 40 years. (34C)
Brexit party sweeps the board in Euro elections.
D-Day 75th anniversary marked with events both sides of the channel.
Theresa May steps down as prime minister.
Massive power failure plunges Argentina and Uruguay into darkness.
Snuffed it
Blake’s 7 actor Paul Darrow, 78.
UK’s oldest person Grace Jones, 112.
Italian film director Franco Zeffirelli, 96.
Jazz musician Dr John, 77.
Actor Bryan Marshall, 81. (The Spy Who Loved Me, Quatermass and the Pit, The Long Good Friday)
July
Big Ben is 160 years old
6.4 earthquake hits California
Warner Brothers Studio fire.
Boris Johnson wins Tory leadership contest to become PM.
Theresa May resigns and Boris Johnson takes over.
“Bloodbath” cabinet reshuffle removes all but five ministers.
5.1 earthquake hits Athens.
11.7 million viewers watch England’s 1 – 2 defeat to USA in the FIFA Women’s World Cup semi final.
Lewis Hamilton wins a record sixth Formula 1 British Grand Prix at Silverstone.
Novak Djokovic (Serbia) beats Roger Federer (Switzerland) in the longest ever Wimbledon final. (4 hours 57 minutes.)
Conked out
Horse racing pundit John McCririck, 79.
Disney star Cameron Boyce, 20. (complications from epilepsy)
Comedy actor Michael Sleggs, 33. (heart failure)
Journalist Christopher Booker, 81. (Sunday Telegraph)
Actress Denise Nickerson, 62. (Violet Beauregarde in Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory)
Actor Brendan Grace, 68. (Father Ted)
Actor Freddie Jones, 91. (Emmerdale, Elephant Man)
Actor Rip Torn, 88. (Men in Black)
Actor Rutger Hauer, 75.
Chaser, 15, American Border Collie with the largest-tested non-human memory.
August
Two mass shootings kill 20 people in a Walmart store in El Paso, Texas and 9 in Dayton Ohio.
Whaley Bridge, Derbyshire evacuated following dam failure.
Six-year-old thrown off Tate Modern by teenager.
Research shows the Milky Way galaxy is warped.
20 hospitals to receive a share of £850m
Whaley Bridge, Furness Vale and New Mills in Derbyshire evacuated when after concrete slabs on Toddbrook Reservoir partially collapse.
Three remaining cooling towers at Didcot power station, Oxfordshire are demolished, hitting an electricity pole and leaving 40,000 homes without power.
Worldwide protests over climate change.100 MPs write to Boris Johnson for a recall of Parliament to debate concerns that the UK faces “a national emergency” over Brexit.
Video of Prince Andrew with sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.
Hottest late August bank holiday weekend on record
Pushing up daisies
Saoirse Kennedy Hill, Granddaughter of Robert F Kennedy, 22. (Overdosed. (33.3C)
Barrington Pheloung, composer of Inspector Morse theme, 65.
Scottish golfer Gordon Brand Jnr, 60.
Kinks keyboardist Ian Gibbons, 67.
Singer and impressionist Joe Longthorne, 64.
Actor Peter Fonda, 79. (Easy Rider)
Animator and director Richard Williams, 86. (Who Framed
Roger Rabbit)
Bass guitarist Larry Taylor, 77. (Canned Heat)
Actress Sheila Steafel, 84.
Screenwriter Terrance Dicks, 84. (Doctor Who, Crossroads, Space: 1999)
Actress Valerie Harper, 80. (Mary Tyler Moore Show)
September
Brexit row grinds on.
Pound falls below $1.20 – its lowest since October 2016.
Boris’s brother resigns as an MP.
Boris’s call for a general election in October fails.
Court wrangling over whether proroguing parliament is legal. Supreme Court decides it isn’t.
American woman says she had sex with Prince Andrew as a 17-year-old. He denies it.
Government forced to publish Brexit no-deal contingency plan, Operation Yellowhammer.
Travel company Thomas Cook collapses after 178 years in business.
BBC row over Naga Munchetty reponse to Trump racism.
Gone to meet their maker
Singer Ric Ocasek, 75. (The Cars)
Former Prime Minister of Zimbabwe Robert Mugabe, 95.
Former French president Jacques Chirac, 86.
BBC News journalist Hanna Yusuf, 27.
Actress Jean Heywood, 98. (When the Boat Comes In, Our Day Out, Billy Elliot)
October
Office for National Statistics says 726 homeless people died in last year. The highest number on record.
Stabbings in Arndale Centre, Manchester.
London bans Extinction Rebellion protests.
John Bercow resigns.
Grenfell Tower report criticises fire service.
Six feet under
Opera soprano Jessye Norman, 74.
British journalist and broadcaster Peter Sissons, 77.
American actress Diahann Carroll, 84. (Julia, Dynasty, Claudine)
Actor Stephen Moore, 81. (Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy)
Drummer Ginger Baker, 80. (Cream, Blind Faith)
Russian cosmonaut Alexei Leonov, 85. (Voskhod 2, first person to walk in space.)
Rock singer and guitarist Paul Barrere, 71. (Little Feat)
November
Immediate end to fracking in the UK.
Fracking ban might not be permanent.
18 female MPs say they won’t seek re-election because of threats and abuse.
“Biblical” rainfall levels cause more than 100 flood warnings across the Midlands and northern England.
Mothercare goes bust.
Prince Andrew steps down from public engagements as pressure builds.
Police shoot dead a terrorism suspect on London Bridge. Two others killed and five injured in knife attack.
Had a good innings
TV presenter Gay Byrne, 85. (The Late Late Show)
Actor Ian Cullen, 80. (Z Cars)
Irish actor Niall Tóibín, 89.
Photographer Terry O’Neill, 81.
Actor Michael J Pollard, 80. (Bonnie and Clyde)
Australian-born broadcaster and writer Clive James, 80.
Chef Gary Rhodes, 59.
Theatre director Sir Jonathan Miller, 85.
Shoe designer Terry de Havilland, 81.
Veteran Labour politician Frank Dobson, 79.
December
At least 18 dead after volcano erupts in New Zealand.
General election Tory landslide.
SNP Leader Nicola Sturgeon calls for independence referendum.
Climate campaigner Greta Thunberg named Time magazine Person of the Year.
Trump throws his dummy out of the pram.
Last-minute Strictly Come Dancing entrant Kelvin Fletcher lifts the glitter ball trophy.
Australia has hottest days on record, approaching 50C.
Wildfires sweep through Australia.
Code black
Actor Rene Auberjonois, 79. (Star Trek: Deep Space 9, Benson, M.A.S.H.)
Sesame Street‘s Big Bird puppeteer Caroll Spinney, 85.
Australian musician Greedy Smith, 63. (Mental as Anything)
Cricketer Bob Willis, 70.
Rapper Juice Wrld, 21.
Battle of Britain pilot Maurice Mounsdon, 101.
Botanist and naturalist David Bellamy, 86.
The Rev. David Coles, 42. (Partner of Richard Coles, Vicar of Finedon.)
Actor Nicky Henson, 74.
Singer and entertainer Kenny Lynch, 81.
Actor Tony Britton, 95. (Sunday Bloody Sunday, Day of the Jackal)
In the 1780s architect Henry Holland converted an old farmhouse near the sea front in Brighton to be a pleasure villa. That building was altered, on the instructions of George (Prince Regent, later George IV) to become a glorious folly in which he could entertain guests. Work began in 1815 under the instructions of John Nash, but it was not until 1823 that the final flourishes were added to the building.
HM Coastguard has a history dating back more than 200 years. In the 18th century many goods were transported by ship around the coasts of the UK because there was no effective road network overland. But the hazardous conditions meant that many lives were lost, often within sight of the coast.
Timeline index
In 1665 a bolt of cloth was delivered from London to the Derbyshire village of Eyam. The cloth was damp, and it was infested with plague carrying fleas.
Within days residents were dying, and the village took the courageous decision to cut itself off from the rest of the world to prevent the disease from spreading.
The lime kilns were also a commercial success, producing quicklime for the building industry and agriculture until the 1850s. Coal mining continued in the area until the 1980s.
Gladstone Pottery Museum is in Stoke on Trent, housed in a former pottery works and featuring some of the town’s few remaining bottle ovens.
Local family the Shelleys took over a site adjoining the new turnpike road to Uttoxeter and the present day museum is on part of that site. As well as producing their own earthenware the Shelleys carried out contract work for Josiah Wedgwood’s Etruria factory. By 1789, however, their business was in trouble and the site was bought out by William Ward.
One of the tenants was Thomas Cooper who in turn employed other potters and by 1851 he had 41 adults and 26 children working for him. In 1853 he bought the master’s house and began developing the rest of the site.
Crich Tramway Village in Derbyshire is a working museum where it is possible to ride round on trams all day and see a slice of life in “the olden days”. Although there is no specific date given at the museum some visitors can remember catching trams to go to work when they were young. That probably puts it around 45 to 50 years ago. The village is quite small by comparison with others of its type (Black Country Living Museum, Blists Hill, for example) but it has a few fascinating details to discover as well as having an authentic “bygone” atmosphere with its tiled Red Lion pub, cobbled streets and enamel advertising signs. One nice touch is that visitors are given an old penny with which to buy an all-day ticket to ride on the trams.
The Tramway Museum Society has also rescued a few buildings, notably the old Derby Assembly Rooms, which once stood on a city square but now grace the Town End tram terminus that marks the start of many of the rides. Other structures rescued from around the country include a number of old Birmingham tram shelters, a horse trough and a drinking fountain. There are workshops where the tram enthusiasts repair and restore the old machines or just haul them in for a wash when they start to look grubby from their trips up and down the hill.