Elvis Aaron Presley is born on 8 January in a two-room house in Tupelo, Mississippi. His older twin brother, Garon, is stillborn.

Presley's early years are spent in poverty, with his mother Gladys working as a cotton picker and his father Vernon drifting from one job to another.

Gladys Presley buys 12-year-old Elvis his first guitar.

Presley makes his TV debut on 5 March on the regional show Louisiana Hayride, filmed in Shreveport, Louisiana.

He has had 18 UK number ones

The singer tops the charts for the first time with Heartbreak Hotel, going on to sell 14 million records in the same year. He also stars in Love Me Tender, the first of his 31 films.

He buys the famous Graceland Mansion in Memphis, Tennessee, which currently receives around 650,000 visitors per year. Presley's grave is in the garden.

Presley is drafted into the army for two years and is shipped to Bad Neuheim in Germany. He reaches the rank of sergeant.

The King meets 14-year-old Priscilla Beaulieu, the daughter of an Air Force officer. She will later become his wife.

Presley plays a concert that raises around �20,000 towards the building of the USS Arizona memorial at Pearl Harbour, Hawaii. The memorial opened in 1962.

Presley starred in Viva Las Vegas with Ann-Margret

Viva Las Vegas, widely regarded as one of his best films, is released.

Presley marries Priscilla Beaulieu. They divorce five years later.

The couple's daughter, Lisa Marie, is born on 1 February. Meanwhile Presley attempts to revive record sales with a TV special which focuses on his "Las Vegas comeback". It goes on to become the top-rated US show of the year.

Despite battling an addiction to prescription drugs, Presley becomes a Federal Narcotics Bureau agent after persuading President Nixon to make the appointment.

He collects his badge at the White House - reportedly while under the influence of amphetamines.

Presley wins the third and final Grammy of his career for the live album How Great Thou Art. He has been shortlisted for 14 Grammys, including one posthumous nomination.

His last years were characterised by his rhinestone jumpsuits

Elvis Presley dies on 16 August of heart failure, aged 42. His autopsy detects 10 different drugs in his bloodstream. His single Way Down tops the US country music charts in the week of his death.

Elvis: The Movie, starring Kurt Russell as The King, is released.

Graceland opens its doors to the public for the first time.

Presley becomes the first person to headline a concert posthumously when his image is projected on to a screen at Wembley Arena while musicians played on the stage.

The remix of A Little Less Conversation by Dutch DJ JXL tops the singles chart for four weeks, giving Presley his 18th UK number one and putting him ahead of The Beatles as the artist with the most chart-toppers in the UK.