The Stephensons


In November 2010 the Space Shuttle's final launch should take place at the Kennedy Space Center with Space Shuttle Endeavour. The maiden flight of the system took place on 12th April 1981.

The host country for the 2018 Football World Cup will be announced in December 2010. Whilst England hope to host it for the first time since 1966, other countries have their plans too: Australia, Indonesia, Japan, Mexico, Russia, and the United States. Additionally Belgium and the Netherlands registered to bid together, as have Portugal and Spain. I have only been able to find a few Campaign websites at the moment - more links will be added eventually. Here's the letter FIFA sent out to Member Associations in January 2009.

The next UK Census will be held on 27th March 2011. There has been a small-scale rehearsal for this Census, to make sure that everything will work well for the real thing. Taking place on 11th October 2009, selected households in Lancaster, the London Borough of Newham and Ynys Môn, Isle of Anglesey, received a Census to fill out. Here is a .pdf link of what they got. It is expected that the questions will remain the same for 2011.

A Referendum on UK Constitutional Reform will be held on 5th May 2011.

The final of the 56th Eurovision Song Contest will take place in Germany on 21st May 2011.

Hopefully the Land Speed Record will be broken again in 2011/2 by the Bloodhound SSC Project. Team members include Andy Green and Richard Noble. They have both set LSRs - Andy set the current record with Thrust SSC on 15th October 1997 at a speed of 763.035 mph, whilst Richard set the previous record with Thrust 2 at 633.468 mph on 4th October 1983. The Bloodhound SSC Team hope to set a record in excess of 1,000 mph (Mach 1.4). What an achievement that would be! The following three photos of the Show Car were taken at The Imagineering Fair at the Country Festival at Stoneleigh on 30th August 2009. It was good to see it and to have an informative discussion with the people on the Stand. The "real" car should get built in 2010.






Thrust SSC

Coventry Transport Museum - 19th December 2008

Thrust 2



HM Queen Elizabeth II will have reigned for 60 years on 6th February 2012.

The 2012 Olympics begin at 20.30BST on 27th July 2012. 

On 5th July 2010, Nick Clegg (the deputy Prime Minister) announced that it was intended that fixed length Parliaments would soon be adopted. He said that the next General Election would occur on 7th May 2015.

Should HM the Queen still be reigning on 10 September 2015, at the age of 89, her reign will surpass that of Queen Victoria and she will become the longest reigning monarch in British history.

Rio de Janeiro will host the Summer Olympics from 5th until 21st August 2016. This was announced at 121st IOC Session held in Copenhagen on 2nd October 2009. The main location will be the Estádio do Maracanã.

July - December 2017: the UK will next hold the Presidency of the Council of the European Union.