Chris that looks almost perfect, thank you. (Needed x instead of h in the initial select)

SELECT c.*, x.*

FROM Contact c

OUTER APPLY (

SELECT TOP 1 h.*

FROM History h

WHERE h.Accountno = c.Accountno

ORDER BY h.LastDate DESC

) x

I amended my script, and tested, but our clients dont have a recent backend and they're still a ways off being upgraded. 🙁

OUTER APPLY is new to me, but looks really interesting \ useful. I'll definitely read up on it.

Any suggestions as to how Id be able to get the same results except using scripts for an older backend( SQL 2000 🙁 )?