- guardian.co.uk, Wednesday August 11 1999 01.23 BST
If you miss this time round, your next chance to see a total solar eclipse in Britain will be on September 2, 2090, when once again Cornwall will provide the best viewing sites.
If you cannot wait that long, there are plenty of opportunities to see total eclipses around the world, with between two and five every year, although in any given location on earth a total eclipse happens only once every 360 years.
The next full solar eclipse will be visible for three minutes from Madagascar and South Africa on June 21, 2001. A year later, you can travel to Australia or the Indian Ocean to view one on December 4, 2002.
For an eclipse closer to home, you can visit the Faroes on March 20, 2015, or you can go to the Channel Islands - if you can hang on until September 3, 2081.
Total solar eclipses will cease altogether in roughly 1bn years time, thanks to the moon's orbit, which is increasing at a rate of about a centimetre every year. When the moon drifts about 20,200 kilometres further out from the earth, it will appear too small fully to cover the sun and total eclipses will no longer be possible.
