Brown graduates with an MA (First Class Honours). In his first foray into 'politics', he is elected to the top student role, Rector of the University.
1976-1980
Brown is employed as a Lecturer in Politics at the Glasgow College of Technology.
1979
Brown stands for Labour in the Edinburgh South constituency in the 1979 general election. He loses to the Conservative candidate.
1983
Brown enters Parliament when he becomes an MP for the seat of Dunfermline East.
1992
Brown, his Labour Party still in opposition, rises to become the shadow Chancellor of the Exchequer.
1994
Tony Blair becomes leader of the Labour Party after the death of John Smith. His close ally, Brown, does not contest the leadership.
1997-2007
Brown holds the office of Chancellor of the Exchequer in the newly-elected Labour Government. Achievements during his tenure include: increasing national insurance to pay for health spending, the introduction of working tax credits; making the Bank of England independent; and delivering an agreement on poverty and climate change at the 2005 G8 summit.
2000
August:
At the age of 49, Brown marries Sarah Macaulay in a private ceremony at his home in North Queensferry, Fife.
2007
June 27:
Gordon Brown succeeds Tony Blair as British Prime Minister. Blair steps down as Labour's longest-serving prime minister and the only Labour leader to win three elections for the party.
October:
Brown rules out speculation about an early election. The Tories' David Cameron attacks Brown as indecisive and the Conservatives overtake Labour in opinion polls.
2008
May:
Labour loses control of the London mayoralty to the Conservatives. The country is mired in deep recession due to fallout from the global financial crisis.
June:
Brown faces plenty of heat after his Party's worst local election showing in three decades. Pressure is upped on Brown to resign as leader: in the so-called 'Lancashire Plot' two backbenchers from Lancashire urged him to step down and a third questioned his chances of holding on to the Labour Party leadership.
2009
May:
Six ministers quit Brown's government including Home Secretary Jacqui Smith, following a probe into misuse of taxpayer-funded expenses.
June:
In the European elections, Labour polls just 16 per cent of the vote, finishing in third place behind the Conservatives and the United Kingdom Independence Party (UKIP).
July:
Chilcot Inquiry begins into the UK's role in the Iraq War. Brown and Blair will testify at the hearing.
2010
January:
Former Defence Secretary Geoff Hoon and former Health Secretary Patricia Hewitt call for a secret ballot among the Labour Party to see whether Brown should step down.
February:
A new book, 'The End of the Party,' by political journalist Andrew Rawnsley, depicts Brown as a verbally abusive bully to his staff.
April:
Brown calls election for May 6. Midway through election campaign Brown is overheard calling longterm Labour supporter Gillian Duffy a "bigoted woman" after the pair meet during a Brown walkabout in Rochdale, northwest England.
May 6:
Labour slumps to second place in the general election with 29 per cent of the vote, creating the first hung parliament since 1974.
May 10:
Brown announces that he'll resign as prime minister and Labour leader.
