Year we glow for 2008
Over 700,000 revellers saw in the New Year with London’s biggest celebration since the Millennium spectacular. The skyline was lit up by a £1.3million firework display — the most expensive to be staged in London. The stunning spectacle around the London Eye cost £130,000 a minute, with ten fireworks exploding every second as crowds gasped along the river banks. Olympic imagery was beamed onto the nearby Shell building, with the event being used to plug the 2012 Olympic Games.

Extreme weather causes travel chaos
A canoeist took to flooded roads in York after the River Ouse burst its banks following torrential rain and snow. Traffic was brought to a standstill by flash floods as more than two inches of rain fell in two days in some parts of the country. Much of Gloucestershire and the West Country had heavy rain followed by blizzards, leaving motorists stranded for up to 12 hours. The village of Dauntsey between Chippenham and Wootton Bassett was one of the hardest hit by flood water. Traffic was reduced to a crawl along country lanes and some drivers found the water too deep to deal with. 13th January 2008

The British Airways Boeing 777 plane which crash landed at Heathrow apparently lost all power and avionics coming in to land. Flight BA38 skidded across the grass within the airport as it landed short of the runway. Up to 17 people were treated for minor injuries after the flight's 136 passengers evacuated on emergency slides. The Heathrow southern runway had been closed for a while, but the northern runway remained open for other aircraft. Among the planes delayed at Heathrow was a chartered British Airways 747 due to take Gordon Brown to Beijing for an official visit, accompanied by 25 leading businessmen including Virgin boss Sir Richard Branson. 17th January 2008.