May 2005 in Britain and Ireland

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This page deals with current events in the English-speaking places of Europe. These are England, Wales, Scotland, Northern Ireland, the Republic of Ireland, the Isle of Man, Jersey, Guernsey and Gibraltar.

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Deaths in May 29 - Patsy Calton 27 - Fay Godwin 25 - Ismail Merchant 23 - Billy Smart, Jr 21 - Bedford Jezzard 19 - Alistair Forbes 16 - Albert "Smiler" Marshall 15 - The Earl of Shaftesbury, 28 14 - George Barron 11 - Alfred Finnigan 9 - Wilhelmine, Lady Harrod 8 - Siwsann George 2 - Florence Van Stockum 1 - Derek (DC) Cook Other recent deaths Ongoing events • Justice For Robert McCartney Future events Upcoming holidays Upcoming sports events 18 May: Football: UEFA Cup Final 21 May: Football: FA Cup Final 21 May-29 May: 2005 Memorial Cup 22 May: Rugby union: Heineken Cup Final 25 May: Football: UEFA Champions League Final 4 June–9 July: Rugby union: Lions tour of New Zealand 14–17 July: Golf - The Open Championship 28–31 July: Golf - Women's British Open 27 August: Rugby league: Challenge Cup Final Related pages 2005 in the UK 2005 in Ireland

31 May 2005 (Tuesday)

• Bob Geldof announces plans for a concert similar to Live Aid, which took place in 1985, to coincide with the G8 Summit in Edinburgh this July. The concert, named ‘Live 8’, will take place in Hyde Park, London on 2 July, with other concerts in Paris, Rome, Berlin and Philadelphia, and is intended to raise awareness of the Make Poverty History campaign. It is expected to include acts such as Sir Paul McCartney, Robbie Williams, Madonna, the Rolling Stones, Coldplay and U2, as well as a rumoured reunion of the Spice Girls. (BBC), (Guardian Unlimited)

30 May 2005 (Monday)

• 2005 English cricket season:
  • National League, Division One:
    • Lancashire (4pts) beat Gloucestershire (0pts) by 6 wickets
    • Northamptonshire (4pts) beat Hampshire (0pts) by 4 wickets
    • Essex (4pts) beat Nottinghamshire (0pts) by 6 wickets
    • Middlesex (4pts) beat Worcestershire (0pts) by 32 runs
  • National League, Division Two:
    • Derbyshire (4pts) beat Leicestershire (0pts) by 6 wickets
    • Sussex (4pts) beat Somerset(0pts) by 2 wickets
    • Surrey (4pts) beat Durham (0pts) by 43 runs
    • Yorkshire (4pts) beat Scotland (0pts) by 60 runs
• Football:
  • In the English Football League Championship playoff final to determine the last of three teams to earn promotion to the Premier League, West Ham United defeat Preston North End 1-0 at Millennium Stadium in Cardiff, Wales. (BBC)
  • Multiplex, the Australian company building the new Wembley Stadium in London announces that it will lose £45 million on the project, because of cost overruns and construction delays. The completion date is pushed back three months to March 2006, but the company repeats its assurance that the stadium will be ready to stage next year's FA Cup final in May. The company's executive chairman quit last Friday when the news first emerged. Multiplex has reduced its 2005 profits forecast from A$235 million to A$170 million. (Independent), (Australian Financial Review)

29 May 2005 (Sunday)

• 2005 English cricket season:
  • County Championship, Division Two:
    • Leicestershire (19pts) beat Derbyshire (5pts) by 4 wickets
  • National League, Division Two:
    • Durham (4pts) beat Kent (0pts) by 1 run
    • Scotland (4pts) beat Warwickshire (0pts) by 1 wicket

28 May 2005 (Saturday)

• The Clock Tower of the Palace of Westminster in London, commonly known as Big Ben, renowned for its accuracy and chimes, stopped ticking for 90 minutes, an engineer said Saturday. (BBC)
• 2005 English cricket season:
  • Test match:
    • England (528 for 3 declared) beat Bangladesh (108 and 159) by an innings and 261 runs in the first Test of their two-Test series at Lord's. (BBC)
  • County Championship, Division One:
    • Surrey (10pts) drew with Kent (9pts)
    • Middlesex (12pts) drew with Sussex (10pts)
  • County Championship, Division Two:
    • Essex (12pts) drew with Yorkshire

27 May 2005 (Friday)

• The planned 48 hour strike at the BBC in Britain is called off, unions announce, following talks. (BBC) (ThisIsLondon)
• Popular singer Morrissey's official Website released the following statement: "Morrissey will regrettably not be appearing at the Isle Of Wight Festival on 11 June as scheduled. The pressure of preparing the new album and losing his drummer earlier this month has made it impossible to do the gig without massively compromising both the gig and the album. Apologies to all the fans, the organisers and the people of the Isle Of Wight."[1]
• 2005 English cricket season:
  • County Championship, Division One:
    • Nottinghamshire (22pts) beat Gloucestershire (4.5pts) by an innings and 27 runs
    • Surrey are docked 8pts for ball-tampering in their earlier match against Nottinghamshire
  • County Championship, Division Two:
    • Somerset (21pts) beat Northamptonshire (8pts) by 6 wickets
  • National League, Division One:
    • Glamorgan (227 a/o) (4pts) beat Worcestershire (174 a/o) (0pts) by 53 runs
  • MCC University matches:
    • Durham UCCE drew with Durham
    • Lancashire beat Oxford UCCE by 10 wickets

26 May 2005 (Thursday)

• The British Association of University Teachers decides to cancel the boycott on Israeli Universities of Haifa and Bar-Ilan. The decision comes in a special meeting after both external and internal debate over the original decision.(BBC), (The Guardian)
• British Liberal Democrat leader Charles Kennedy calls for a reform of the UK voting system after Labour took the majority of the seats in the UK election with just 35% of the votes. (The Independent)
• British Foreign Minister Jack Straw announces that Iran has renewed its promise to refrain from developing nuclear weapons, and talks on its atomic program will continue following a meeting between Iranian nuclear officials and European Union ministers in Geneva. (VOA News), (BBC)
• 2005 English cricket season:
  • County Championship, Division One:
    • Warwickshire (19pts) beat Hampshire (3pts) by 10 wickets

25 May 2005 (Wednesday)

• Football (soccer): UEFA Champions League Final, at Atatürk Olympic Stadium, Istanbul.
  • Liverpool defeat AC Milan 3-2 in a penalty kick shootout. AC Milan are 3-0 ahead after the first half, but Liverpool score 3 goals in the 54th, 56th and 60th minutes to tie the game. It's Liverpool's 5th European Cup title.

23 May 2005 (Monday)

• Five Irish teenage school girls, four from St Michaels, Loreto Secondary School and one from Beaufort College in Navan, are killed and six others are critically injured in a bus crash in County Meath. The bus was carrying students from the Loreto Convent, the Mercy Convent, St. Patrick's Classical School and Beaufort College, all in Navan and did not have fitted seatbelts. (RTÉ)
• 11,000 journalists and other employees of the BBC go on a 24-hour strike to protest over approximately 4,000 planned job cuts. TV and Radio news output has been the worst affected, with few new stories materialising and only a skeleton service being offered. (BBC) (Reuters UK) (Bloomberg) (BBC strike Q&A)
• 2005 English cricket season:
  • County Championship, Division One:
    • Hampshire (22pts) beat Glamorgan (3pts) by 9 wickets
    • Kent (20pts) beat Nottinghamshire County Cricket Club in 2005 (3pts) by 196 runs
  • County Championship, Division Two:
    • Durham (10pts) drew with Yorkshire (9pts)
    • Lancashire (11pts) drew with Somerset (7pts)
    • Worcestershire (21pts) beat Essex (4pts) by 8 wickets
  • MCC University match:
    • Warwickshire beat Cambridge UCCE by 18 runs
• Rugby union:
  • In the sendoff game for the British and Irish Lions before they embark on their tour to New Zealand at Millennium Stadium in Cardiff, the lackluster Lions are nearly upset by an inspired second-choice Argentina side. Jonny Wilkinson, making his first international appearance since the 2003 Rugby World Cup, converts a penalty with the last kick of the match to salvage a 25-25 draw. (BBC)

22 May 2005(Sunday)

• The British government declines a request from the families of soldiers killed in Iraq for an investigation into the legality of the war. (BBC) (Chicago Tribune)
• 2005 English cricket season:
  • Tour match:
    • Northamptonshire drew with the Bangladeshis
  • National League, Division One:
    • The match between Middlesex (95-5 in 21 overs) and Gloucestershire (40-2 in 7 overs) was abandoned as a draw (2pts each)
• Rugby union:
  • In an all-French Heineken Cup final at Murrayfield in Edinburgh, Toulouse defeat Stade Français (Paris) 18-12 in extra time. Toulouse is the first club to win the competition three times. (BBC)

21 May 2005 (Saturday)

• The Sun, the largest selling British tabloid newspaper, publishes more surreptitiously taken pictures of Saddam Hussein, while claiming to condemn the leaking of the first photographs. Other pictures also published show the imprisoned Ali Hassan al-Majid ("Chemical Ali") and Huda Salih Mahdi Ammash ("Mrs Anthrax"). President Bush intervenes to support an investigation into the leaking of the photos. (Vancouver Sun) (The Statesman) (Guardian Unlimited)
• Football (soccer):
  • For the first time in history, the FA Cup final goes to a penalty shootout. After Arsenal and Manchester United finish regular time and extra time tied 0-0, Arsenal wins the Cup by winning the shootout 5-4. Arsenal keeper Jens Lehmann saves United's second shot by Paul Scholes, and Gunners captain Patrick Vieira scores the winning shot. This will be the last final held at Millennium Stadium in Cardiff, Wales, as the 2006 final will be played at the new Wembley Stadium in London. (BBC)

20 May 2005 (Friday)

• 2005 English cricket season:
  • National League Division Two:
    • Warwickshire (260/8) beat Derbyshire (208) by 52 runs (BBC)
    • Surrey (253/5) beat Scotland (252/7) by 5 wickets (BBC)

19 May 2005 (Thursday)

• British scientists at University of Newcastle announce that they have cloned human embryos for stem cells. Also, a team of South Korean scientists at Seoul National University state they have cloned the first embryonic cells customized to individual patients. (BBC) (Reuters AlertNet) (Science Daily) (CNN)
• Tony Blair is treated in London's Royal Free Hospital for back pain. Doctors suspect a herniated disc. (BBC)

18 May 2005 (Wednesday)

• There is widespread astonishment at the acquittal of a traffic police officer recorded as driving at 159 mph (256 km/h) on public roads. PC Mark Milton claimed that he was familiarising himself with the capabilities of his new 3.2-litre GSI Vauxhall Vectra when his own car recorded him at 159 mph between junctions 3 and 4 of the M54 near Telford, in the early hours of 5 December 2003. He was also recorded at 120 mph in a 60 mph zone, and over 60 mph in a 30 mph zone. There is extensive criticism of the verdict as "one law for the police, and another for everyone else". Around 30 people are killed annually by high-speed police chases in Britain, triple the number of six years ago. (Daily Mirror) (BBC)
• Cricket:
  • 2005 English cricket season: Cheltenham & Gloucester Trophy Round Two:
    • Sussex (197/6) beat Nottinghamshire (195/9) by 4 wickets (BBC)

17 May 2005 (Tuesday)

• In Britain, the Royal Mail announces £1074 bonuses to postal workers due to increased profits- Chief executive Adam Crozier was paid £3 million last year. (Independent) (Bloomberg) (BBC)
• George Galloway, British MP and anti-war campaigner, appears before the United States Senate to defend himself against charges that he profited from Saddam Hussein's regime, launching a tirade against the senators who had accused him and attacking the war in Iraq. (BBC) (Guardian Unlimited) (The Times Online)
• British Prime Minister Tony Blair's government unveils a controversial proposal for national identity cards and other counter-terrorism measures besides a bill on immigration. (Los Angeles Times) (Bloomberg)
• 2005 English cricket season:
  • Tour match:
    • Sussex beat Bangladesh by an innings and 226 runs
  • Cheltenham & Gloucester Trophy Round Two:
    • Kent (257/4) beat Derbyshire (130) by 127 runs (BBC)
    • Hampshire (219/4) beat Glamorgan (214) by 6 wickets (BBC)
    • Surrey (232/7) beat Gloucestershire (230/8) by 3 wickets (BBC)
    • Lancashire (196/4) beat Essex (195/9) by 6 wickets (BBC)
    • Northamptonshire (238) beat Middlesex (219) by 19 runs (BBC)
    • Warwickshire (235/9) beat Leicestershire (152) by 83 runs (BBC)
    • Yorkshire (241/9) beat Worcestershire (227/8) by 14 runs (BBC)

16 May 2005 (Monday)

• A week long strike begins today at London Metropolitan University in a dispute over university lecturers' contracts and conditions. (NATFHE) (The Guardian)
• The National Missing Persons Helpline appeals for information about an unknown, apparently amnesiac man who is a good piano player. The man was found wandering in Sheerness, Kent on 17 April but has not said a word since. The media has dubbed him "Piano Man." (National Missing Persons Helpline) (ITV) (BBC) (This is London)
• Belgravia Gallery in London removes works with the signature of Nelson Mandela. Mandela has filed a lawsuit forbidding sale of any items using his name. (All Headline News) (BBC)
• Golf:
  • PGA Tour: Jack Nicklaus announces his final tournament will be The Open Championship on The Old Course at St Andrews. (GolfWeb.com)

15 May 2005 (Sunday)

• Cricket:
  • 2005 English cricket season:
    • National League Division One:
      • Essex (217/5) beat Glamorgan (216/7) by 5 wickets (BBC)
      • Lancashire (218/3) beat Northamptonshire (215/7) by 7 wickets (BBC)
      • Hampshire (353/8) beat Middlesex (248) by 105 runs (BBC)
      • Worcestershire (190) beat Nottinghamshire (174) by 16 runs (BBC)
    • National League Division Two:
      • Durham (256/4) beat Yorkshire (205) by 51 runs (BBC)
      • Leicestershire (194-9) beat Surrey (134) by 60 runs (BBC)
• Football (soccer):
  • Final-day drama in the FA Premier League:
    • West Bromwich Albion, which started the day at the bottom of the table, win 2-0 at home over Portsmouth. Losses by Norwich City and Southampton and a draw by Crystal Palace, combined with the West Brom win, relegate the other three teams and make West Brom the first team in Premier League history to survive relegation after being in last place at Christmas. (BBC)
    • In what amounted to a playoff for the final UEFA Cup place, Middlesbrough goalkeeper Mark Schwarzer saves a Robbie Fowler penalty in stoppage time to preserve a 1-1 draw at Manchester City. A successful Fowler conversion would have sent Man City to Europe at Boro's expense. (BBC)

14 May 2005 (Saturday)

• Start of Ten Tors, an annual weekend hike organised and run for 2,400 young people by the British Army on Dartmoor.
• 2005 English cricket season:
  • County Championship, Division One:
    • Kent (10pts) drew with Hampshire (10pts)
    • Surrey (22pts) beat Glamorgan (6pts) by 276 runs
  • County Championship, Division Two:
    • Yorkshire (17pts) beat Leicestershire (5pts) by 6 wickets
    • Northamptsonshire (12pts) drew with Essex (6pts)
    • Worcestershire (22pts) beat Derbyshire (5pts) by 9 wickets

13 May 2005 (Friday)

• The full post-election list of "working peers" is published, consisting of 27 former elected Members of Parliament. Amongst the names are Chris Smith, Estelle Morris, Tony Banks, Ann Taylor, Jack Cunningham, and Alan Howarth for Labour, Virginia Bottomley, Gillian Shephard, and Dr. Brian Mawhinney for the Conservatives, and Dr. Jenny Tonge and Paul Tyler for the Liberal Democrats. (Number 10)
• 2005 English cricket season:
  • County Championship, Division One:
    • Middlesex (21pts) beat Gloucestershire (4pts) by 340 runs
  • County Championship, Division Two:
    • Durham (20pts) beat Lancashire (3pts) by 9 wickets

12 May 2005 (Thursday)

• Malcolm Glazer wins control of UK football team Manchester United F.C. after securing a 70% share. (BBC) (ABC News) (NY Times)
• The British Air Accidents Investigation Branch states that it has reached "no definite conclusion" about the reason of air crash that claimed the life of billionaire Paul Louis Halley, his wife and their pilot in 2003. (BBC)
• 2005 English cricket season:
  • Tour match:
    • The Bangladeshis drew with the British Universities
  • County Championship, Division One:
    • Sussex (21pts) beat Warwickshire (2pts) by an innings and 87 runs

11 May 2005 (Wednesday)

• The Irish government gives the go-ahead for the building of the controversial M3 motorway through the archaeologically sensitive Tara-Skyrne Valley, amid an international outcry by academics and environmentalists. (RTÉ)
• 2005 English cricket season:
  • National League, Division Two:
    • Somerset (4pts) beat Scotland (0pts) by 16 runs
• Football (soccer):
  • Highly-rated midfielder John Obi Mikel goes missing during a Norwegian cup match he was watching involving his team Lyn Oslo. The player had been dropped for the game following death threats he had received after he chose to sign for Manchester United ahead of Chelsea. The player, who was under armed guard, is believed to have left Norway accompanied by a football agent. BBC

10 May 2005 (Sunday)

• 2005 English cricket season:
  • MCC Universities:
    • Loughborough UCCE beat Worcestershire by 8 wickets

9 May 2005 (Monday)

• The Sellafield nuclear plant's Thorp reprocessing facility in Cumbria, England, is closed down due to the confirmation of a 20 tonne leak of highly radioactive uranium and plutonium fuel through a fractured pipe. (The Guardian)
• 2005 English cricket season:
  • County Championship, Division One:
    • Gloucestershire (22pts) beat Glamorgan by 7 wickets
    • Hampshire (19pts) beat Middlesex (5pts) by 64 runs
    • Nottinghamshire (22pts) beat Surrey (3pts) by an innings and 71 runs
  • County Championship, Division Two:
    • Durham (19pts) beat Somerset (5pts) by 4 wickets
    • Essex (21pts) beat Leicestershire (3.5pts) by 6 wickets
    • Lancashire (22pts) beat Derbyshire (3pts) by an innings and 72 runs
    • Yorkshire (20pts) beat Northamptonshire (5pts) by 10 wickets

8 May 2005 (Sunday)

• 2005 English cricket season:
  • National League, Division Two:
    • Kent (4pts) beat Scotland (0pts) by 93 runs (D/L method)
    • Sussex (4pts) beat Warwickshire (0pts) by 44 runs (D/L method)

7 May 2005 (Saturday)

• Northern Ireland's Ulster Unionist Party leader David Trimble, the 1998 Nobel Peace Prize winner who helped reach the Good Friday Agreement, resigns from the leadership post he has held for ten years, after losing his seat in the British general election. (BBC)
• Cricket: A player from Warwickshire County Cricket Club, the defending County Champions, has tested positive for a recreational drug. He is the second Warwickshire player who has tested positive in seven months. (Cricinfo)
• Snooker: Ronnie O'Sullivan beats Mark Williams 6-0 to win the Premier League

6 May 2005 (Friday)

• United Kingdom general election, 2005:
  • At 04:28 BST, The Labour Party wins a parliamentary majority. Despite a substantially reduced majority, Tony Blair becomes the first Labour Prime Minister to lead his party to three election victories. (Reuters) (Scotsman) He ends up with a majority of 66, on the lowest percentage vote for a government in modern history.
  • Northern Ireland's previously dominant Ulster Unionist Party is wiped out in the election, with all its MPs except one, including party leader and former First Minister David Trimble, losing their seats. Only Lady Sylvia Hermon holds her seat. (BBC) (Guardian)
  • In the Foyle constituency, Social Democratic and Labour Party leader Mark Durkan wins a seat with a large majority over the expected victor, Sinn Féin's Mitchel McLaughlin. (BBC)
  • Conservative Party leader Michael Howard announces that he plans to resign "sooner rather than later." (BBC)

5 May 2005 (Thursday)

• A General Election is held in the United Kingdom. (BBC)
• An explosion outside the United Kingdom consulate in New York City occurs at 07:35 GMT. There were no reported injuries. Police say they have found fragments of an explosive device. (Wikinews) (BBC) (Reuters)
• 2005 English cricket season:
  • C&G Trophy, Round One:
    • Derbyshire beat Durham by 1 wicket
    • Worcestershire beat Scotland by 10 wickets
• Football (soccer):
  • The English Football Association confirms that the top four finishers in this season's FA Premier League will qualify for next season's Champions League even if Liverpool win the Champions League and finish below fourth in the Premiership. The FA says it will continue to lobby UEFA for Liverpool to receive a place in the following season's Champions League should they win the competition and finish below fourth place in the league.
• Formula One: The FIA bans BAR for the next two races for running what is alleged to have been an illegal car at the San Marino Grand Prix. (Formula1.com)

4 May 2005 (Wednesday)

• 2005 English cricket season:
  • C&G Trophy, Round One:
    • Essex beat Devon by 180 runs
    • Glamorgan beat Suffolk by 143 runs
    • Gloucestershire beat Berkshire by 85 runs
    • Hampshire beat Shropshire by 7 wickets
    • Lancashire beat Buckinghamshire by 51 runs (D/L method)
    • Leicestershire beat Somerset by 3 wickets
    • Middlesex beat Northumberland by 10 wickets
    • Nottinghamshire beat Wales Minor Counties by 6 wickets
    • Surrey beat Staffordshire by 3 wickets
    • Sussex beat Bedfordshire by 8 wickets
    • Warwickshire beat Holland by 23 runs
    • Yorkshire beat Ireland by 6 wickets

3 May 2005 (Tuesday)

• 2005 English cricket season:
  • C&G Trophy, Round One:
    • Nottinghamshire beat Denmark by 8 wickets
    • Kent beat Wiltshire by 9 runs
• Football (soccer): UEFA Champions League Semi-final, 2nd leg (team progressing to the final in Istanbul in bold).
  • Liverpool 1 – 0 Chelsea (UEFA.com)

2 May 2005 (Monday)

• Guardsman Anthony John Wakefield, from Newcastle upon Tyne, has been killed in Iraq after being injured in hostile action in the southern town of Al Amarah, bringing the total of UK servicemen killed in the Iraq conflict to 87. (BBC)
• British rocket Skylark makes its last launch. (Independent) (BBC)
• Snooker: Qualifier Shaun Murphy beats Matthew Stevens 18-16 to win the World Snooker Championship in Sheffield, England (BBC)
• 2005 English cricket season:
  • National League Division One in 2005:
    • Gloucestershire (4pts) and Hampshire (0pts) by 60 runs
    • Glamorgan (4pts) and Nottinghamshire (0pts) by 4 runs (D/L method)
  • National League Division Two in 2005:
    • The match between Durham (2pts) and Sussex (2pts) was abandoned as a No Result after rain
    • Somerset (4pts) beat Surrey (0pts) by 99 runs (D/L method)

1 May 2005 (Sunday)

• 2005 English cricket season:
  • National League Division One in 2005:
    • Middlesex (4pts) beat Worcestershire (0pts) by 3 wickets (D/L method)
    • Lancashire (4pts) beat Nottinghamshire (0pts) by 1 run (D/L method)
    • Northamptonshire (4pts) beat Hampshire (0pts) by 98 runs
  • National League Division Two in 2005:
    • Somerset (4pts) beat Leicestershire (0pts) by 8 wickets
    • Warwickshire (4pts) beat Kent (0pts) by 19 runs
    • Yorkshire (4pts) beat Sussex (0pts) by 3 wickets
    • The match between Scotland (2pts) and Durham (2pts) was abandoned as a No Result