1999 in the United Kingdom

Incumbents

Events

January

  • January – Vauxhall launches a facelifted Vectra to improve its disappointing ride and build quality.
  • 1 January – The Euro currency is launched, but Britain's Labour government reportedly has no plans to introduce the currency here, preferring to stick to pound sterling instead.
  • 13 January – Unemployment has fallen to just over 1,300,000 – the lowest for 20 years.
  • 30 January – England national football team manager Glenn Hoddle gives an interview to The Times newspaper in which he suggests that people born with disabilities are paying for sins in a previous life.

February

March

  • 2 March – Singer Dusty Springfield, who received an OBE last month, dies aged 59 at Henley-on-Thames after a five-year battle against breast cancer.
  • 7 March – American-born film director Stanley Kubrick dies at his home in St Albans, Hertfordshire, of a heart attack aged 70, five days after completing his final film Eyes Wide Shut, which is released in July.
  • 16 March – The NSPCC launches its new 'full stop' advertising campaign which shows different objects of childhood heroes shielding their eyes as voices were heard being abused they want everyone to prevent cruelty, it was broadcast after the 9.00pm watershed behind its disturbing problem as shock tactics needed to break people's complacency. This advertisement is part of the largest campaign ever undertaken by a charity and the beginning of a long-term strategy to end violence against children.
  • 17 March – Comedian and entertainer Rod Hull is accidentally killed in a fall aged 63 outside his home in Winchelsea, Sussex, after trying to adjust his television aerial.[3]
  • 21 March – Comedian Ernie Wise, who formed one-half of the Morecambe and Wise comedy double from 1941 to 1984, dies of a heart attack aged 73 at Wexham, Buckinghamshire.[4]
  • 24 March – Ross Kemp, who has achieved TV stardom with his role as Grant Mitchell in EastEnders, signs a £1million deal with ITV, meaning that he will leave EastEnders this autumn after nearly 10 years.
  • 26 March – A total £2 billion in compensation is paid to 100,000 former miners who are suffering from lung disease after years of working in British coalfields.[5]
  • 29 March – The family of James Hanratty, one of the last men to be executed in Britain (for the A6 murder 37 years ago), are given the right to appeal against his conviction by the Criminal Cases Review Commission.[6]

April

  • April – Vauxhall launches its Zafira, a compact MPV which makes use of the Astra hatchback's chassis.
  • 1 April
    • A minimum wage is introduced throughout the UK – set at £3.60 an hour for workers over 21, and £3 for workers under 21.[7]
    • Anthony Sawoniuk, 78, becomes the first person convicted of Second World War crimes in a British court when he is sentenced to life imprisonment for the murder of 18 Jews in his native Belarus. He has lived in Britain since 1947.
  • 14 April – Edgar Pearce, the so-called "Mardi Gra bomber", convicted for a series of bombings and sentenced to 21 years in jail.[8]
  • 17 April – A bomb explodes in Brixton, South West London, and injures 45 people.[9]
  • 24 April – A second bomb explosion in Brick Lane, east London injures 13 people.
  • 26 April – TV presenter Jill Dando, 37, dies after being shot on the doorstep of her Fulham home.[10]
  • 30 April – A third bomb in London explodes in the Admiral Duncan pub, in Old Compton Street, Soho, London – the centre of the London gay scene – killing two people (including a pregnant woman) and injuring over thirty. David Copeland, a 23-year-old Farnborough man, is arrested hours later in connection with the three explosions.[11]

May

June

July

August

September

October

  • October – The government distributes to all household a booklet concerning the Year 2000 problem, What everyone should know about the Millennium Bug.
  • 1 October – The Rugby World Cup begins in the Millennium Stadium, Cardiff.
  • 5 October
  • 10 October – The London Eye begins to be lifted into position on the South Bank in London.[36]
  • 16 October – 26 players are sent off in Premier League and Football League matches on the same day – the most dismissals on the same day in 111 years of league football in England.
  • 19 October – Tracey Emin exhibits My Bed at the Tate Gallery as one of the shortlisted works for the Turner Prize.
  • 20 October – Sales of Rover cars are reported to have fallen by 30% this year.[37]

November

December

Undated

  • Main construction work on Cardiff Bay Barrage completed.
  • More than 20% of the UK population (over 12 million people) now have internet access.

Publications

Births

Deaths

January

February

March

April

May

June

Cardinal Basil Hume

July

August

September

October

November

December

See also

References

  1. "1999: Scientists highlight hazards of GM food". BBC News. 12 February 1999. Retrieved 20 December 2008.
  2. "1999: Lawrence report blasts 'racist' police". BBC News. 24 February 1999. Archived from the original on 24 February 2008. Retrieved 13 February 2008.
  3. "Rod Hull's death 'accidental'". BBC News. 5 May 1999. Retrieved 21 September 2021.
  4. "Comedian Ernie Wise dies". BBC News. 22 March 1999. Retrieved 18 September 2010.
  5. "1999: Record compensation for miners". BBC News. 26 March 1999. Archived from the original on 7 March 2008. Retrieved 13 February 2008.
  6. "1999: Hanratty family wins right to appeal". BBC News. 29 March 1999. Archived from the original on 7 March 2008. Retrieved 13 February 2008.
  7. "1999: Britain gets first minimum wage". BBC News. 1 April 1999. Archived from the original on 7 March 2008. Retrieved 13 February 2008.
  8. "Mardi Gra bomber jailed". BBC News. 14 April 1999. Archived from the original on 1 February 2008. Retrieved 13 February 2008.
  9. "1999: Dozens hurt in London bomb blast". BBC News. 17 April 1999. Archived from the original on 7 March 2008. Retrieved 13 February 2008.
  10. McGuinness, Ross (16 March 2009). "Metro". pp. 30, 31.
  11. "1999: Dozens injured in Soho nail bomb". BBC News. 30 April 1999. Archived from the original on 7 March 2008. Retrieved 13 February 2008.
  12. Mullins, Andrew; Marks, Kathy (3 May 1999). "Loner is charged over gay and race bombs". The Independent. London. Archived from the original on 1 May 2022. Retrieved 4 October 2009.
  13. Jackson, Paul (September 2018). "Pantygasseg Colliery". Archive. 99: 18–47.
  14. "BBC News | Football | United crowned kings of Europe". news.bbc.co.uk. Retrieved 22 October 2020.
  15. "Millennium Index".
  16. "1999: Liar Aitken jailed for 18 months". BBC News. 8 June 1999. Archived from the original on 7 March 2008. Retrieved 13 February 2008.
  17. "Tory joy at Euro victory". BBC News. Archived from the original on 12 May 2011. Retrieved 22 April 2011.
  18. "Factsheet M16: By-election results, 1997–2001" (PDF). House of Commons Information Office. September 2003. Retrieved 10 January 2020.
  19. "Knighthood for treble-winner Ferguson". BBC News. 12 June 1999. Retrieved 18 September 2010.
  20. "Tories celebrate Euro poll success". BBC News. 14 June 1999. Retrieved 22 April 2011.
  21. "Roman Catholic leader Hume dies". BBC News. 17 June 1999. Retrieved 18 September 2010.
  22. "1999: Anti-capitalism demo turns violent". BBC News. 18 June 1999. Archived from the original on 7 March 2008. Retrieved 13 February 2008.
  23. Penguin Pocket On This Day. Penguin Reference Library. 2006. ISBN 0-14-102715-0.
  24. "Outrage as Brighton bomber freed". BBC News. 22 June 1999. Retrieved 4 October 2009.
  25. "Rover rescue deal secured". BBC News. 23 June 1999. Retrieved 18 September 2010.
  26. "Principality Stadium - Did you know?". BBC News. Retrieved 9 January 2022.
  27. "The government team". The Guardian. 30 July 1999. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved 12 August 2023.
  28. "Wigan Athletic | Club | DW Stadium | THE DW STADIUM". Archived from the original on 25 March 2012. Retrieved 10 June 2012.
  29. "1999: Kennedy wins Lib Dem leadership". BBC News. 9 August 1999. Archived from the original on 7 March 2008. Retrieved 13 February 2008.
  30. "Ipsos MORI | Trend | Voting Intention in Great Britain: 1976-present". Archived from the original on 23 September 2012. Retrieved 15 February 2012.
  31. "1999: Man in custody after burglary shooting". BBC News. 22 August 1999. Archived from the original on 7 March 2008. Retrieved 13 February 2008.
  32. National Health Service (1999). Meningitis C – reduce the risk.
  33. "1999: Report urges sweeping reform of RUC". BBC News. 9 September 1999. Archived from the original on 7 March 2008. Retrieved 13 February 2008.
  34. "The Big Four". Light Straw. Archived from the original on 4 August 2012. Retrieved 19 January 2011.
  35. "1999: Death toll rising in Paddington crash". BBC News. 5 October 1999. Archived from the original on 7 March 2008. Retrieved 13 February 2008.
  36. "1999: Millennium Wheel edges upwards". BBC News. 10 October 1999. Archived from the original on 7 March 2008. Retrieved 13 February 2008.
  37. "Rover sales drop 30%". BBC News. 20 October 1999. Retrieved 18 September 2010.
  38. Gilliland, Ben (16 January 2009). "Science & Discovery". Metro.
  39. "1999: UK prepares to celebrate millennium". BBC News. 31 December 1999. Archived from the original on 7 March 2008. Retrieved 13 February 2008.
  40. "Jill Dando | Jill Dando murder". The Guardian. Retrieved 27 April 2021.
  41. "Ian Bannen". the Guardian. 5 November 1999. Retrieved 17 September 2022.
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