5 standout moments from the BRITs of all time: from Madonna falling off the stage to Geri Halliwell's Union Jack dress

The BRIT Awards is celebrating 40 years this year and has given us some iconic and very memorable moments since it became an annual event in 1982. Jack Whitehall will once again take on hosting duties and no doubt deliver some classic one-liners that has made him one of our favourite presenters so far. Who can forget when he said back in 2018: "If you like Adele songs but find them too upbeat you're in for a treat… Sam Smith is performing.'' There'll also be performances from the likes of Billie Eilish and Harry Styles and no doubt a dazzling red carpet moment or two... Let's look back at five standout moments from the BRITS so far…

WATCH VIDEO: See how the stars are prepping for this year's BRITs in the backstage spa

5. Michael Jackson's famous stage invader

Who can forget the 1996 BRIT Awards when the late Michael Jackson almost had his thunder stolen by Pulp frontman Jarvis Cocker. It's one of those moments that has certainly gone down in BRITs history and marked the one and only time that the King of Pop performed at the ceremony. While Michael was belting out his hit Earth Song, surrounded by dancers clad in dishevelled clothing and videos of starving children projected on a huge screen, Jarvis stormed the stage and repeatedly pointed his behind at Michael before being dragged off by security.

After the show, Jarvis was arrested as he was accused of hurting three children on stage. However, he was later released without charge and claimed his stage invasion was due to him not liking Michael portraying himself as a Jesus-like saviour.

4. Robbie Williams vs Liam Gallagher

It's no secret that Robbie Williams and Liam Gallagher have had a very strained relationship in the past, and during the 2000 BRIT Awards their feud came to a head when Robbie decided to put his money where his mouth is. Accepting his award for Best Video, the Angels hitmaker challenged Oasis frontman Liam to a fight! That's right, on national TV, Robbie suggested that he and Liam should each put up £100,000 and battle it out in a ring on TV. Thankfully, despite their ongoing war-of-words, a fight never materialised.

MORE: Robbie Williams and wife Ayda Field delight fans with surprise baby news

3. Adele gets cut off

Adele stole the show at the 2012 BRIT Awards for two reasons. Firstly, her performance of Rolling In The Deep was epic! And secondly, she was cut off by host James Corden during her acceptance speech for Album of the Year. After taking to the stage and being handed her award by the late George Michael – who showed up especially because he knew Adele was the winner – Adele took a few moments to take in the roaring cheers from the crowd. Although, it seems that BRIT bosses thought she took a little too long, as after a couple of words James appeared on the podium and informed her he had to cut her off so he could introduce Blur, who were closing the show. A shocked Adele wound up throwing up her middle finger before storming off stage and Blur were welcomed by sounds of booing from the audience.

Adele got her own back the following year though when she won an award and gave a speech via a video link from LA. Slipping in a little dig, she said: "I won't keep you too long because I don't want to interrupt the Best Album speech at the end of the night…" Classic Adele.

2. Madonna falls down some stairs

2015 was no doubt a pretty tame year for the BRITs – that is, until Madonna performed and ended up taking a dramatic tumble down some stairs! The Queen of Pop was happily belting out her song Living for Love when a dancer went to rip off her cape. However, instead of seamlessly removing itself from around Madonna's neck, it got stuck and she went flying backwards down a small flight of stairs. Luckily she walked away unscathed but the moment still garnered thousands of memes and is often still referred to on social media to this day. Poor Madge.

MORE: Everything you need to know about Jack Whitehall’s relationships

1. Geri Halliwell's Union Jack dress

Not only was 1997 the first year the Spice Girls performed at the BRITs after releasing their record-breaking debut single Wannabe the year before. But it was also the year that Geri Halliwell gave us the dress. The now-iconic Union Jack mini dress that has gone down in history as one of the most recognised stage outfits of all time! The dress is in fact so iconic, that years after their BRITs performance it actually sold at auction for a staggering £41,320.

Like this story? Sign up to our newsletter to get other stories like this delivered straight to your inbox.