He would only remain three months in that post before becoming Chancellor of the Exchequer after Nigel Lawson's surprise resignation in October 1989.

* 1968 – Vietnam War October surprise: Citing progress with the Paris peace talks, US President Lyndon B. Johnson announces to the nation that he has ordered a complete cessation of " all air, naval, and artillery bombardment of North Vietnam " effective November 1.

Daimler and Sony caused a major surprise on 2 October 2007 when both announced that they were putting their respective complexes at Potsdamer Platz on the market.

* Homer Hickam's classic memoir Rocket Boys and the film October Sky tell how a coal miner's son was so inspired by Sputnik, he began to build rockets to the surprise and consternation of his hometown.

* October surprise

Aided by his close companion William Montagu and a small number of other trusted men, Edward took Mortimer by surprise at Nottingham Castle on 19 October 1330.

Later on, October 8, 2006, she appeared as a special surprise guest at the opening ceremony of the Forum 2000 international conference in Prague, Czech Republic.

Critics have claimed the RAI report to be a fraud because of the inclusion of testimony from Richard Brenneke, who claimed to be a former CIA agent and made several declarations concerning the October surprise conspiracy.

On October 11, 2009, Prince gave two surprise concerts at the glass-and-iron Grand Palais exhibition hall after visiting the landmark Paris building on the banks of the Seine.

On October 12, he gave another surprise gig at La Cigale.

To the surprise of many, the USSR launched Sputnik 1 as the first artificial Earth satellite on October 4 1957.

A source said it would be a surprise if there was no deal struck by October 2005.

On October 26, 2012, Bucyrus was the final stop of the Experience Gendex Tour ending with a surprise stop at Oakwood Dental, the winner of a GXDP-700 Panoramic and Cone Beam 3D system.

In response to the surprise launch of Sputnik 1 on October 4, 1957, the U. S. restarted the Explorer program, which had been proposed earlier by the Army Ballistic Missile Agency ( ABMA ).

As UN forces continued to advance toward the Yalu River on the border with Communist China, the Chinese crossed the Yalu River in October and launched a series of surprise attacks that sent the UN forces reeling back across the 38th Parallel.

In October 1984, the National Parent-Teacher Association, ( PTA ), sent a letter to 30 record labels and to the Recording Industry Association of America, ( RIAA ), proposing the music industry label records that contained " explicit lyrics or content ", to " take the element of surprise out of buying an album ".

On October 16, 1998, in a surprise presentation made at the newly unveiled Disney Legends Plaza at the company's headquarters, Disney Chairman Michael Eisner presented him with the prestigious Disney Legends Award.

# REDIRECT October surprise

When Fleetwood and Lambert declared against the parliament, to their surprise Monck not only refused to join them but on 20 October 1659 took measures to actively oppose them.

The plans were suspected, and, when he offered his resignation to the Directory in October 1795, it promptly accepted ( much to his surprise ).

" A RAF Intelligence report in late October 1940 circulated to all pilots and their squadrons, with copies to Prime Minister, Winston Churchill, and the War Cabinet, declared: ' The manoeuvrability of the CR. 42s, in particular their capacity to execute an extremely tight half roll, has caused considerable surprise to other pilots and undoubtedly saved many Italian fighters from destruction.

On October 16, 2007, Bob Sapp made a surprise appearance at HUSTLE's Korakuen Hall event.

Although Sheridan assumed that Jubal Early was effectively out of action and he considered withdrawing his army to rejoin Grant at Petersburg, Early received reinforcements and, on October 19 at Cedar Creek, launched a well-executed surprise attack while Sheridan was absent from his army, ten miles away at Winchester.

On October 6, 2009, Cornell made a surprise appearance during a Pearl Jam concert at the Gibson Amphitheater in Los Angeles.

Milton Obote was given a state funeral, attended by president Museveni in the Ugandan capital Kampala in October 2005, to the surprise and appreciation of many Ugandans, since he and Museveni were bitter rivals.

The population of Armenia voted overwhelmingly for independence in a September 1991 referendum, followed by a presidential election in October 1991 that gave 83 % of the vote to Levon Ter-Petrosyan.

Summary of the 3 October 2010 National Congress election results

In the October 1974 general election the Liberals slipped back slightly and the Labour government won a wafer-thin majority.

In October 2000, Slobodan Milošević was forced out of office after a disputed election.

Because the government refused to consider opposition demands for an independent election commission, the three major opposition parties boycotted the October 1997 presidential election, which Biya easily won.

A new presidential election was expected to be held in October 2005.

However, this new election could not be held on time due to delay in preparation and has been postponed to October 2006 after an agreement was reached amongst the rival parties.

Apart from this, when no party has had a majority, minority governments normally have been formed with one or more opposition parties agreeing to vote for the legislation governments need to function, as the Labour government of James Callaghan formed a coalition with the Liberals in 1977 when it lost its narrow majority gained at the October 1974 election.

It was also the first full coalition in Britain since 1945, having been formed 70 years virtually to the day after the establishment of Winston Churchill's wartime coalition, although there had been the " Lib-Lab pact ", an agreement stopping short of a full coalition between the Labour and Liberal parties, from March 1977 until July 1978, when a series of by-election defeats had eroded Labour's majority of three seats which had been gained at the October 1974 election.

Also, there had been reports of intimidation from the side of the contras, with a Canadian observer mission confirming 42 people killed by the contras in " election violence " in October 1989.

A new election was held on 29 October 2006, which Kabila won with 70 % of the vote.

A presidential election was held on 15 October 2006 and November 26, 2006.

At the beginning of July, the governments of both German states decided on the schedule: elections in the GDR would be held on October 14, and a common election for the entire country on 2 December.

López Gutiérrez won easily in a manipulated election, and in October 1920 he assumed the presidency.

Previously, Atal Bihari Vajpayee had taken office in October 1999 after a general election in which a BJP-led coalition of 13 parties called the National Democratic Alliance emerged with a majority.

Relations between Indonesia and the U. S. are positive and have advanced since the election of President Yudhoyono in October 2004.

Following the ratification of the Constitution of Iraq on 15 October 2005, a general election was held on 15 December to elect the permanent 275-member Iraqi Council of Representatives.

The election set against two new parties, the Democratic Party ( founded in October 2007 by the union of the Democrats of the Left and Democracy is Freedom – The Daisy ) led by Walter Veltroni, and The People of Freedom ( federation of Forza Italia, National Alliance and other parties ) led by Silvio Berlusconi.

In October 45 BC, Caesar resigned his position as sole consul, and facilitated the election of two successors for the remainder of the year which theoretically restored the ordinary consulship, since the constitution did not recognize a single consul without a colleague.

In October 1961, his political defeat was complete at the 22nd party congress when he was excluded from election to the Central Committee.

After the referendum, Doe staged a presidential election on October 15, 1985.

On October 8, 2008, the country held its first ever multi-party presidential election.

Foot resigned days after the election and was succeeded as leader on 2 October by Neil Kinnock, who had been tipped from the outset to be Labour's choice of new leader.

Following another coup in April 1999, in which Maïnassara was killed, the MNSD-Nassara's Tandja won the October 1999 presidential election.