1 December 1990 – Construction workers drilled through the final wall of rock to join the two halves of the Channel Tunnel and link Britain to France

12 December 1992 – Princess Anne became Mrs Timothy Laurence at a small family wedding in Scotland

16 December 1955 – The Queen inaugurated new buildings in the centre of London Airport, part of a new complex designed to handle a growing number of air passengers

24 December 1968 – The Apollo 8 spacecraft took its crew of three astronauts safely into orbit around the moon; the first manned space mission to achieve the feat

31 December 1964 – Donald Campbell broke the world water speed record, becoming the first man to break the world land and water speed records in the same year