31 October 1956: Britain and France bomb Egypt

On this day in 1956, Egypt came under bombardment from British and French planes, as part of a larger operation to retake the Suez Canal.

In 1952, a military coup overthrew the Egyptian monarchy. After a period of upheaval, former lieutenant colonel Gamal Abdel Nasser became president in 1954.

Nasser adopted a 'neutralist' position in the Cold War, open to ties with both the West and the Soviet Union, and this led the US and UK to withdraw funding for the Aswan Dam project.

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Dr Matthew Partridge
Shares editor, MoneyWeek

Matthew graduated from the University of Durham in 2004; he then gained an MSc, followed by a PhD at the London School of Economics.

He has previously written for a wide range of publications, including the Guardian and the Economist, and also helped to run a newsletter on terrorism. He has spent time at Lehman Brothers, Citigroup and the consultancy Lombard Street Research.

Matthew is the author of Superinvestors: Lessons from the greatest investors in history, published by Harriman House, which has been translated into several languages. His second book, Investing Explained: The Accessible Guide to Building an Investment Portfolio, is published by Kogan Page.

As senior writer, he writes the shares and politics & economics pages, as well as weekly Blowing It and Great Frauds in History columns He also writes a fortnightly reviews page and trading tips, as well as regular cover stories and multi-page investment focus features.

Follow Matthew on Twitter: @DrMatthewPartri