diff --git a/django/test/simple.py b/django/test/simple.py
index 092ef4bde2..7610e1cb2c 100644
--- a/django/test/simple.py
+++ b/django/test/simple.py
@@ -1,4 +1,7 @@
+import sys
+import signal
 import unittest
+
 from django.conf import settings
 from django.db.models import get_app, get_apps
 from django.test import _doctest as doctest
@@ -11,22 +14,48 @@ TEST_MODULE = 'tests'
 doctestOutputChecker = OutputChecker()
 
 class DjangoTestRunner(unittest.TextTestRunner):
-    
+
     def __init__(self, verbosity=0, failfast=False, **kwargs):
         super(DjangoTestRunner, self).__init__(verbosity=verbosity, **kwargs)
         self.failfast = failfast
-        
+        self._keyboard_interrupt_intercepted = False
+
+    def run(self, *args, **kwargs):
+        """
+        Runs the test suite after registering a custom signal handler
+        that triggers a graceful exit when Ctrl-C is pressed.
+        """
+        self._default_keyboard_interrupt_handler = signal.signal(signal.SIGINT,
+            self._keyboard_interrupt_handler)
+        result = super(DjangoTestRunner, self).run(*args, **kwargs)
+        signal.signal(signal.SIGINT, self._default_keyboard_interrupt_handler)
+        return result
+
+    def _keyboard_interrupt_handler(self, signal_number, stack_frame):
+        """
+        Handles Ctrl-C by setting a flag that will stop the test run when
+        the currently running test completes.
+        """
+        self._keyboard_interrupt_intercepted = True
+        sys.stderr.write(" <Test run halted by Ctrl-C> ")
+        # Set the interrupt handler back to the default handler, so that 
+        # another Ctrl-C press will trigger immediate exit.
+        signal.signal(signal.SIGINT, self._default_keyboard_interrupt_handler)
+
     def _makeResult(self):
         result = super(DjangoTestRunner, self)._makeResult()
         failfast = self.failfast
-        
+
         def stoptest_override(func):
             def stoptest(test):
-                if failfast and not result.wasSuccessful():
+                # If we were set to failfast and the unit test failed,
+                # or if the user has typed Ctrl-C, report and quit
+                if (failfast and not result.wasSuccessful()) or \
+                    self._keyboard_interrupt_intercepted:
                     result.stop()
                 func(test)
             return stoptest
-        
+
         setattr(result, 'stopTest', stoptest_override(result.stopTest))
         return result
 
diff --git a/docs/ref/django-admin.txt b/docs/ref/django-admin.txt
index 2cd879423c..88715ebdc7 100644
--- a/docs/ref/django-admin.txt
+++ b/docs/ref/django-admin.txt
@@ -812,12 +812,10 @@ test <app or test identifier>
 Runs tests for all installed models. See :ref:`topics-testing` for more
 information.
 
---failfast
-~~~~~~~~~~
-
 .. versionadded:: 1.2
+.. django-admin-option:: --failfast
 
-Use the ``--failfast`` option to stop running tests and report the failure
+Use the :djadminopt:`--failfast` option to stop running tests and report the failure
 immediately after a test fails.
 
 testserver <fixture fixture ...>
diff --git a/docs/releases/1.2.txt b/docs/releases/1.2.txt
index 8810963eaa..252682a3cf 100644
--- a/docs/releases/1.2.txt
+++ b/docs/releases/1.2.txt
@@ -471,10 +471,12 @@ Models can now use a 64 bit :class:`~django.db.models.BigIntegerField` type.
 Fast Failure for Tests
 ----------------------
 
-The ``test`` subcommand of ``django-admin.py``, and the ``runtests.py`` script
-used to run Django's own test suite, support a new ``--failfast`` option.
-When specified, this option causes the test runner to exit after
-encountering a failure instead of continuing with the test run.
+The :djadmin:`test` subcommand of ``django-admin.py``, and the ``runtests.py`` 
+script used to run Django's own test suite, support a new ``--failfast`` option.
+When specified, this option causes the test runner to exit after encountering 
+a failure instead of continuing with the test run.  In addition, the handling 
+of ``Ctrl-C`` during a test run has been improved to trigger a graceful exit 
+from the test run that reports details of the tests run before the interruption.        
 
 Improved localization
 ---------------------
diff --git a/docs/topics/testing.txt b/docs/topics/testing.txt
index 9ef6cceae8..f4881e2e32 100644
--- a/docs/topics/testing.txt
+++ b/docs/topics/testing.txt
@@ -242,8 +242,8 @@ in different circumstances.
 Running tests
 =============
 
-Once you've written tests, run them using your project's ``manage.py``
-utility::
+Once you've written tests, run them using the :djadmin:`test` subcommand of
+your project's ``manage.py`` utility::
 
     $ ./manage.py test
 
@@ -274,6 +274,23 @@ a test case, add the name of the test method to the label::
 
     $ ./manage.py test animals.AnimalTestCase.testFluffyAnimals
 
+.. versionadded:: 1.2
+   You can now trigger a graceful exit from a test run by pressing ``Ctrl-C``. 
+
+If you press ``Ctrl-C`` while the tests are running, the test runner will 
+wait fur the currently running test to complete and then exit gracefully.
+During a graceful exit the test runner will output details of any test 
+failures, report on how many tests were run and how many errors and failures
+were encountered, and destroy any test databases as usual. Thus pressing 
+``Ctrl-C`` can be very useful if you forget to pass the :djadminopt:`--failfast`
+option, notice that some tests are unexpectedly failing, and want to get details 
+on the failures without waiting for the full test run to complete.
+
+If you do not want to wait for the currently running test to finish, you
+can press ``Ctrl-C`` a second time and the test run will halt immediately,
+but not gracefully. No details of the tests run before the interruption will
+be reported, and any test databases created by the run will not be destroyed.
+
 The test database
 -----------------