Buzz Aldrin set foot on the moon 20 minutes after Neil Armstrong

England have

American Neil Armstrong has become the first man to walk on the Moon.

The astronaut stepped onto the Moon's surface, in the Sea of Tranquility, at 0256 GMT, nearly 20 minutes after first opening the hatch on the Eagle landing craft.

His colleague Edwin "Buzz" Aldrin watched from inside the lunar module and spoke the first words of man on the Moon: "Tranquillity base. The Eagle has landed."

As he put his left foot down first Mr Armstrong declared: "That's one small step for man but one giant leap for mankind."

He described the surface as being like powdered charcoal and the landing craft left a crater about a foot deep.

'We came in peace'

The historic moments were captured on television cameras installed on the Eagle and turned on by Armstrong.

Armstrong spent his first few minutes on the moon taking photographs and soil samples in case the mission had to be aborted suddenly.

He was joined by Aldrin at 0315 GMT and the two collected data and performed various exercises - including jumping across the landscape - before planting the Stars and Stripes flag at 0341 GMT.

They also unveiled a plaque bearing President Nixon's signature and an inscription reading: "Here men from the planet earth first set foot upon the Moon July 1969 AD. We came in peace for all mankind."

After filming their experience with a portable television camera the astronauts received a message from the US President.

President Nixon, in the White House, spoke of the pride of the American people and said: "This certainly has to be the most historic telephone call ever made."

Many other nations - including the UK - sent messages of congratulation.

Moscow Radio announced the news solemnly in its 1030 GMT broadcast.

As Aldrin and Armstrong collected samples, Michael Collins told mission control in Houston he had successfully orbited the Moon in the mother ship Columbia, and take-off was on schedule for 1750 GMT this evening.

Tony Blair is the youngest Labour leader since World War II

The results of the Labour Party ballot - announced just after 1200 BST at the University of London - showed Mr Blair had gained 57% of the vote in the most democratic process ever used by a British political party.

The election followed the unexpected death of former Labour leader John Smith in May.

Mr Blair made clear his intentions in a passionate first speech as leader: "I shall not rest until, once again, the destinies of our people and our party are joined together again in victory at the next general election - Labour in its rightful place in government again."

I shall not rest until the destinies of our people and our party are joined together in victory.

New Labour leader Tony Blair

After a cleanly fought campaign he beat off competition from John Prescott, MP for Hull East - with 24.1% of the votes - and Margaret Beckett - MP for Derby South - with an 18.9% share.

Mr Prescott will become deputy leader after taking 56.5% of the deputy leadership ballot, compared to the 43.5% achieved by Mrs Beckett.

At 41 Mr Blair is the youngest of the eight British Labour Party leaders since World War II.

It was the first time the party's leadership has been decided by a secret ballot of all four million Labour Party members and unionlevypayers - without block voting by the unions.

Although only one million voted for Mr Blair and his modernising agenda, he won the race in all three electoral colleges - members, MPs and trade unions.

Tony Blair trained as a lawyer and entered Parliament in June 1983 at the age of 30. John Smith appointed him Shadow Home Secretary after Labour lost the 1992 general election.

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