August 15th, 1917: Born in Cork, the youngest son of Dan Lynch, a tailor, and Nora, nee O'Donoghue, a seamstress.
Attended the local Sisters of Charity primary school, and in 1931 won a scholarship to the North Monastery CBS in Cork.
1936 - 1943: Began working with the Dublin District Milk Board in 1936 and then moved to become a clerk of the Cork Circuit Court. At the same time he studied law at UCC.
1943: Transferred to the Dublin District Court and completed his last two years of study at King's Inns.
1943 - 1945: Promoted to become private secretary to the minister for justice, the late Stephen A. Roche. Called to the Bar in 1945.
1941 - 1946: Played with the Cork team that won five out of six All-Ireland hurling finals. In 1945, the one year Cork did not win the hurling final, he played for the Cork team which won the All-Ireland football final.
August 10th, 1946: Married Mairin O'Connor. They had met in 1943 when both were holidaying in Glengarriff.
1948: Joined Fianna Fail and was elected to the Dail; made secretary of the parliamentary party.
After Fianna Fail returned to power in 1951, appointed parliamentary secretary to the minister for lands.
1951: Appointed parliamentary secretary "with roving responsibility for the Gaeltacht and congested districts", as he later described it.
1954: Re-elected to the Dail, but Fianna Fail lost the general election. He concentrated on rebuilding his legal practice.
1957: Appointed minister for education by Eamon de Valera.
1959: Appointed minister for industry and commerce by the new Taoiseach, Sean Lemass, after de Valera's election as president.
1965: Appointed minister for finance.
1966: Elected Fianna Fail leader and, therefore, Taoiseach, defeating George Colley by 52 votes to 19 after Charles Haughey withdrew from the contest.
June 1969: Led Fianna Fail to general election victory.
May 6th, 1970: At the height of the Arms Crisis sacked Haughey and Neil Blaney from Cabinet. Kevin Boland resigned from the Cabinet in protest. Two days earlier the minister for justice, Micheal O Morain, had resigned.
October 23rd, 1970: Haughey and other defendants in the Arms Trial acquitted.
1973: Ireland joined the European Economic Community after a referendum produced a five-to-one vote in favour. Lynch and his minister for foreign affairs, Patrick Hillery, played leading roles in the accession negotiations.
1973: Called an early general election but despite an increase in the Fianna Fail vote, Fine Gael and Labour won as a result of hammering out a coalition programme in advance.
1975: Re-appointed Haughey to the Fianna Fail front bench as spokesman on health and social welfare.
1977: Led Fianna Fail to a historic general election victory, gaining a 21-seat majority.
June 1979: Fianna Fail polled just 34.68 per cent of the vote in the European Parliament elections.
August-October 1979: Amid speculation about the extent of cross-Border security co-operation agreed between the Irish and British governments, Sile de Valera effectively questioned Lynch's republican credentials in a speech in Fermoy, Co Cork.
November 7th, 1979: Fianna Fail lost two by-elections in Cork city.
December 5th, 1979: Announced his intention to resign at the age of 62. Made no secret of his preference for Colley rather than Charles Haughey to be his successor.
After retiring, he served as director of a number of companies.
May 1999: Jack Lynch Tunnel, named in his honour, opened in Cork.