NOT only was there the great storm to contend with in October 1987 - there was Black Monday too.

The UK stock market took two years to recover from the impact of the Black Monday crash on this day that year.

Over the last 20 years, average stock prices on the FTSE 100 Index have increased.

On the day, London's leading shares fell 11 per cent, from 2302 to 2052, followed by a 12 per cent fall the next day as it took account of the sharp drop on Wall Street after trading closed in the UK.

The losses make the recent stock market volatility seem tame. In 1987 the UK stock market fell by 31 per cent from peak to trough, according to Halifax Financial Services. This compares with an increase of around 7 per cent over the course of the current year.

The largest one day drop twenty years ago was 12 per cent, a far cry from the 4.1 per cent slide for London's blue-chips on August 16 this year.

Chief economist at Halifax Financial Services Martin Ellis said: "While the 1987 stock market crash was clearly one of the major events for financial markets and economies during the twentieth century, the strong long term performance of the UK stock market since then should not be surprising.

"The UK economy is in the midst of the longest unbroken period of economic growth."

The effects of Black Monday almost pale into insignificance compared to the dotcom fallout in 2000.

Between 1995 and 2000 the Footsie rose by 114 per cent as investors threw money at internet pioneers. However, when the bubble burst, shares shed their value, falling 12 per cent by the end of the year and continuing their downward spiral to hit a low of around 3,700 in March 2003.

It took seven years to May 2007 for the UK market to recover the levels seen in 2000.