<<Print>>

Millions across Britain stopped to watch the first solar eclipse of this century, which plunged parts of the UK in to brief darkness.

Britain's skies began to darken at around 8.24am this morning as the Moon started to move between us and the sun, with the eclipse peaking at around 9.30am across the country.

But cloud coverage meant that millions across Britain were unable to see anything at all of the eclipse, the like of which will not be seen again for several more decades. 

The sun's light was almost totally concealed, casting a huge shadow of the Moon across the nation turning day briefly to night, but watchers could not look directly at the sun because they risked damaging their eyes.