1932: Born in Boston, Massachusetts, the youngest of nine children of Joseph Kennedy and Rose Fitzgerald.
1950:Enters Harvard. Is expelled after he is caught paying a friend to take a Spanish exam for him.
1951:Enlists in the US army, assigned honour guard at supreme headquarters of the allied powers in Europe, in Paris. His political connections keep him out of the Korean war. Discharged in 1953 as a private first class, he re-enters Harvard.
1956:Enrols in the University of Virginia law school, where he meets his first wife, Virginia Joan Bennett, known as Joan.
1958:Marries Joan in a service conducted by Cardinal Francis Spellman. They have three children together, Kara Anne, Edward jnr and Patrick, in a marriage marked by Ted's repeated womanising.
1960:Runs his brother John's presidential campaign in the western states.
1962:First elected to the US Senate by Massachusetts voters.
1963:His private plane crashes. The only passenger who had not fastened his seat belt, Kennedy sustains six spinal fractures and two broken ribs. He spends six months in hospital and never wholly shakes off the effects of the injuries.
1968: Delivers the eulogy for his brother Bobby, considered by many to be his finest speech.
1969:On July 18th, Kennedy drives off a bridge on Chappaquiddick Island in Martha's Vineyard, Massachusetts. His only passenger, 28-year-old Mary Jo Kopechne, drowns.
Kennedy leaves the scene and does not call the authorities until after Kopechne's body is discovered the following day, after a 10-hour delay. The judge in the inquest - held in camera - rules that Kennedy "was probably guilty of criminal conduct", but made no move to indict him.
1980:Kennedy announces that he will seek the Democratic presidential nomination, but he scuppers his chances after a disastrous interview with CBS News correspondent Roger Mudd. Asked why he wants to be president, Kennedy waffles without much conviction, dooming his White House run.
1981:In January, Ted and Joan announce their intention to divorce, which is granted the following year. The split is described as amicable and she receives a reported $4 million settlement.
1991:After years of carousing and garnering a reputation as a partygoer on the US political and social scene, Kennedy starts dating Victoria Anne Reggie, a Washington lawyer, divorced mother of two and daughter of an old Kennedy family ally, Louisiana judge Edmund Reggie.
In a speech at the John F Kennedy school of government, Kennedy seeks to make amends for his past behaviour.
"I am painfully aware that the criticism directed at me in recent months involves far more than disagreements with my positions . . . it involves the disappointment of friends and many others who rely on me to fight the good fight. To them I say, I recognise my own shortcomings - the faults in the conduct of my private life. I realise that I alone am responsible for them and I am the one who must confront them."
1996:Kennedy secures an increase in the minimum wage law in the first of a series of social measures that cement his stature as a leading liberal voice in Congress.
2003:Is one of 23 senators who opposes the congressional resolution authorising President George Bush's invasion of Iraq in 2003. He becomes a leading opponent of the war.
2004:Kennedy campaigns heavily for the Democratic presidential candidate, Senator John Kerry.
2008:In January, Kennedy throws his support behind Barack Obama to the bitter disappointment of Hillary and Bill Clinton. In May, he is diagnosed with a malignant brain tumour, after collapsing at his home.
Appears to the delight of the party faithful at the Democratic Party convention in August in Denver, Colorado, to express his strong support for Obama. Says it was "time again for a new generation of leadership" and compares Obama's ability to inspire with that of his assassinated brothers, John and Bobby.
2009:His family announces his death on August 26th.
- (Guardian service)