2000 in the United Kingdom

2000 in the United Kingdom:

Other years

1998 | 1999 | 2000 (2000) | 2001 | 2002

Individual countries of the United Kingdom

England | Northern Ireland | Scotland | Wales

Sport, Television and music

2000 British Grand Prix 2000 English cricket season Football: England | Scotland | Wales 2000 in British television 2000 in British music 2000 in British radio UK in the Eurovision Song Contest 2000

The following lists events that happened during 2000 in the United Kingdom.

Incumbents

• Monarch - Elizabeth II
• Prime Minister – Tony Blair (Labour)

Events

January

• Japanese carmaker Nissan adds a third model to its factory near Sunderland; the new version of the Almera hatchback and slaoon, which goes on sale in March.^[1]
• 1 January – Millennium celebrations take place throughout the UK. The Millennium Dome is officially opened by the Queen.
• 3 January – Thames Valley Police speak of their belief that the Cézanne painting stolen from Oxford's Ashmolean Museum on New Year's Eve was taken by professional thieves.
• 4 January – Catherine Hartley and Fiona Thornewill become the first British women to reach the South Pole.^[2]
• 10 January - The Prime Minister's wife, Cherie Blair, is fined for not having a valid train ticket with her during her journey from Blackfriars to Luton station. She claimed only to have Portuguese currency with her at the time and couldn't find a machine where she could use her credit card.^[3]
• 11 January – A Scottish trawler, the Solway Harvester, sinks in the Irish Sea, killing seven sailors.^[4]
• 12 January - It is announced that former Chilean dictator, Augusto Pinochet, is to be sent home after the Home Secretary, Jack Straw, accepted "unequivocal and unanimous" medical evidence that Pinochet is unfit to stand trial in Spain on charges of torture. ^[5]
• 22 January – The Rugby league 2000 World Club Challenge is won by Melbourne Storm who defeat St Helens 44 – 6 at the JJB Stadium.
• 31 January – Dr. Harold Shipman in sentenced to life imprisonment after being found guilty of murdering 15 patients in Greater Manchester between 1995 and 1998. He is also sentenced to four years in prison, to run concurrently, for forging the will of one of his victims.^[6]

February

• Waterhouse report into the Wales child abuse scandal published.^[7]
• 11 February
  • The Royal Bank of Scotland succeeds in the hostile takeover battle for its larger English rival, NatWest Bank, successfully defeating a rival offer by the Bank of Scotland.^[8]
  • Northern Ireland Assembly is suspended
• 28 February – The chief of British Nuclear Fuels resigns over a safety scandal at Sellafield.^[9]

March

• 2 March – The UK returns Augusto Pinochet to Chile to face trial.^[10]
• 14 March – All stores of furniture retailer World of Leather and its parent Uno plc close.^[11]
• 15 March – BMW announces plans to sell the Rover Group, with London-based Alchemy consortium emerging as favourites for a takeover.
• 25 March – David Trimble wins the leadership election of the Ulster Unionist Party.^[12]
• 31 March – Myra Hindley, who has spent 34 years in prison for her part in the Moors Murders, loses a third High Court appeal against a Home Office ruling that her life sentence should mean life.

April

• April – The Ministry of Defence publishes a booklet Soldiering – The Military Covenant which introduces the term into public discourse referring to the mutual obligations between the nation and its armed forces.^[13]
• 1 April
  • An Enigma machine is stolen from Bletchley Park Museum.^[14]
  • Section 27 of the Access to Justice Act 1999^[15] comes into force allowing recovery of fees from the losing party in civil actions, extending the availability of conditional fee arrangements.
• 3 April – The Immigration and Asylum Act means that all asylum seekers in England and Wales will now receive vouchers to cover the cost of food and clothes.
• 4 April – Charlie Kray, one of the infamous Kray brothers, dies in hospital of the Isle of Wight after suffering a heart attack in Parkhurst Prison. He was 73 years old.
• 12 April – The Royal Ulster Constabulary is presented with the George Cross by The Queen.^[16]
• 14 April – Kenneth Noye, the so-called "M25 killer", sentenced to life imprisonment.^[17]
• 19 April – Tony Martin is sentenced to life imprisonment for the murder of a 16-year-old burglar he shot dead at his Norfolk farmhouse eight months ago. He is also convicted of the attempted murder of Brendon Fearon, the burglar who was wounded when Martin opened fire and killed Fred Barras.^[8]
• 29 April – At Murrayfield Stadium, the 2000 Challenge Cup rugby league tournament culminates in the Bradford Bulls' 24 – 18 win in the final against the Leeds Rhinos.

May

• 1 May – May Day riot in central London by anti-capitalist protestors. The statue of Winston Churchill in Parliament Square, and the Cenotaph in Whitehall are daubed with graffiti.^[18]
• 3 May – The London Stock Exchange and Germany's Deutsche Börse announce merger plans.^[19]
• 4 May – London mayoral election: Ken Livingstone elected Mayor of London defeating Steve Norris, the Conservative Party candidate in second place; and Frank Dobson, the Labour Party candidate in third place.^[8]
• 9 May – BMW sells the bulk of the Rover Group (the Rover and MG marques) to the Phoenix Consortium, while it retains the rights to the Mini marque, and sells Land Rover to Ford.
• 12 May
  • The Tate Modern art museum is opened.^[8]
  • Ford announces that production of cars at its Dagenham plant will discontinue when the Fiesta is replaced in 2002.
• 17 May – Royal Marines Alan Chambers and Charlie Paton become the first British people to reach the Geographic North Pole unaided.^[10]
• 20 May – Chelsea beat Aston Villa 1–0 to win the last FA Cup final at Wembley Stadium before the old stadium (which is due to close in October) is rebuilt.^[20]
• 24 May – National Botanic Garden of Wales opens to the public in Carmarthenshire.^[21]
• 25 May – National Waste Strategy first published.^[22]

June

• June – Celtic Manor Wales Open European Tour golf tournament first played.
• 7 June – Tony Blair receives a hostile reception during a speech at the Women's Institute, where he is heckled and slow hand-clapped by furious members.
• 10 June – The much-anticipated Millennium Bridge opens to the public, but has to close after it starts swaying.^[10]
• 12 June – The England national football team begins its participation in the European Championships, jointly hosted by the Netherlands and Belgium. They lose their opening group game 3–2 to Portugal despite taking an early 2–0 lead through Paul Scholes and Steve McManaman.
• 17 June – Alan Shearer, who is set to retire from international football after the European Championships, scores the only goal as England beat holders Germany 1–0 in the second group game.
• 18 June – Following a series of hooliganism incidents by England fans, UEFA threatens to expel England from Euro 2000 if there is any further trouble.^[23]
• 20 June – England's hopes of winning Euro 2000 are ended when they lose 3–2 to Romania in the final group game, again after taking the lead earlier in the game.^[24]
• 21 June – Repeal in Scotland of controversial Section 28 of the Local Government Act 1988 which prevented local authorities from "promoting homosexuality". Section 28 is not repealed in the rest of the UK until 2003.
• 30 June – David Copeland is found guilty of causing the three nail bomb attacks in London last year. He is sentenced to life imprisonment and the trial judge recommends that he should serve at least 30 years before being considered for parole, meaning that he is likely to remain in prison until at least 2029 and the age of 54.^[8]

July

• July – Vauxhall launches the all-new Agila city car.
• 5 July – Colin Fallows, driving the Vampire turbojet-propelled dragster, sets a British land speed record, a mean 300.3 mph (483.3 km/h), at Elvington, Yorkshire.^[25]
• 14 July – Reality television game show Big Brother first airs in Britain.
• 18 July – Alex Salmond resigns as the leader of the Scottish National Party.^[8]
• 20 July – Production of the Ford Escort, one of Britain's most successful and iconic motoring nameplates, finishes after 32 years.
• 23 July – The News of the World starts a campaign for Sarah's Law, in honour of murdered Surrey girl Sarah Payne, who was found dead in West Sussex on 17 July having gone missing 16 days earlier.
• 28 July – Last 80 prisoners leave the Maze Prison in Northern Ireland as part of the Northern Ireland peace process.^[26]

August

• 4 August – Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother celebrates her 100th birthday.^[27]
• 26 August – Gangster and murderer Reggie Kray, in the 32nd year of his life sentence at Broadmoor Hospital, is released from prison on compassionate grounds by Home Secretary Jack Straw due to bladder cancer from which he is expected to die within weeks.^[28]

September

• September – Ford unveils its all-new second generation Mondeo large family car, which is due on sale towards the end of this year.
• 8 September – UK fuel protests: Protesters block the entrances to oil refineries in protest against high fuel prices. Panic buying by motorists leads to nationwide petrol shortages, with between 75–90% of all UK petrol stations closing due to low supplies in the following week.
• 14 September – After beginning the year 20 points behind the Labour government in the opinion polls, the Conservative opposition's hopes of winning the next election (due to be held within 18 months) are boosted when they come two points ahead of Labour on 38% in a MORI opinion poll.
• 15 September – 1 October – Great Britain competes at the Olympics in Sydney and wins 11 gold, 10 silver and 7 bronze medals.
• 18 September – Survivors of the Southall and Ladbroke Grove rail disasters criticise Railtrack for putting costs ahead of safety and causing a series of blunders which led to the tragedies.
• 23 September
  • Earthquake in Warwickshire.^[29]
  • Rower Steve Redgrave wins his fifth consecutive gold medal at the Olympics.^[30]

October

• October – Ford launches the all-new Mondeo with a range of saloons, hatchbacks and estates.
• 1 October – Reggie Kray dies of cancer in a Norwich hotel at the age of 66.
• 4 October – After 41 years, production of the Mini car ends at the Longbridge plant owned by MG Rover in Birmingham. The new model will go into production next spring at the Cowley plant in Oxford that is owned by BMW.
• 7 October – Wembley Stadium closes after 77 years. It is set to re-open in 2003 following a complete reconstruction that will see its capacity raised to 90,000 all-seated. In the final game at the old stadium, the England football team loses 1–0 to Germany in their opening qualifying game for the 2002 World Cup and manager Kevin Keegan resigns after 18 months in charge.
• 16 October – The BBC's main evening news show moves to 10:00 pm; the following year ITV1 will move its news back to the same time slot and broadcasts in direct competition.
• 17 October – Hatfield rail crash: A Great North Eastern Railway InterCity 225 train derails south of Hatfield station, killing 4 people.^[31]
• 23 October – After the fuel protests were solved, Labour support has been restored, according to the latest MORI opinion poll which shows them 13 points ahead of the Conservatives with 45% of the vote.
• 26–27 October – Following the death of Donald Dewar, Henry McLeish is selected to be First Minister of Scotland by the Scottish Parliament, and is officially appointed by The Queen.
• 26 October – House of Lords delivers judgement in White v White, a landmark case in redistribution of finances and property on divorce.^[32]
• 30 October – Sven-Göran Eriksson, the 52-year-old Swedish coach of Italian side Lazio, accepts an offer from the Football Association to take charge of the England team for five years commencing next July. Eriksson will be the first foreign manager to take charge of the England team, but until his arrival the England team will be jointly managed by interim coaches Peter Taylor and Howard Wilkinson.

November

• 7 November – The theft of £350 million worth of diamonds from the Millennium Dome is foiled by police.^[10]
• 16 November – Actor Michael Caine receives a knighthood from the Queen.^[10]
• 18 November – Marriage of American actor Michael Douglas and Welsh actress Catherine Zeta-Jones.^[10]
• 20 November – Judith Keppel becomes the first person to win £1 million on the television programme Who Wants to Be a Millionaire?^[10]
• 21 November – Dennis Canavan MSP resigns as MP for Falkirk West, triggering a by-election.
• 23 November – Double by-election held in Glasgow Anniesland to elect successors to Donald Dewar's seats in both the UK Parliament and the Scottish Parliament. Labour holds both seats with swings to the SNP of 6% and 7%.
• 26 November – Rio Ferdinand, the 22-year-old England national football team defender, becomes the nation's most expensive player in an £18million transfer from West Ham United to Leeds United.
• 27 November – Damilola Taylor, a 10-year-old school boy originally from Nigeria, is stabbed to death on his way home from school in Peckham, London.^[33]

December

• 2 December – Two teenagers and a 39-year-old man are released on police bail after being arrested in connection with the Damilola Taylor killing.^[34]
• 3 December – The Church of England introduces the Common Worship series of service books.
• 8 December – The Equitable Life Assurance Society closes to new business.^[35]
• 21 December – Falkirk West by-election results in Eric Joyce retaining the seat for Labour, though with a majority reduced to just 705 votes in the face of a swing of 16.2% to the SNP.
• 22 December – American pop star Madonna, 42, marries 32-year-old British film producer Guy Ritchie at Skibo Castle in the Scottish Highlands.^[36]
• 29 December – Arctic weather conditions blight Britain, with heavy snow and temperatures as low as −13C plaguing the country and causing extensive gridlocking on the roads and railways.
• 31 December – The Millennium Dome closes as planned after one year.^[8]

Undated

• 2000 is the wettest year on record in the UK.^[37]
• Sales of the DVD format, first launched in the UK in June 1998, pass the 1 million mark, although the VHS format remains by far the most popular format of home video.^[38]

Publications

• Iain M. Banks' novel Look to Windward.
• Lauren Child's children's book I Will Not Ever Never Eat a Tomato, first in the Charlie and Lola series.
• Matthew Kneale's novel English Passengers.
• Nigella Lawson's guide How to be a domestic goddess: baking and the art of comfort cooking.
• Terry Pratchett's Discworld novel The Truth.
• Philip Pullman's novel The Amber Spyglass, third and final book in the His Dark Materials series.
• J. K. Rowling's novel Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire.
• Zadie Smith's novel White Teeth.

Births

• 20 May – Leo Blair, son of Prime Minister Tony Blair and his wife, Cherie Blair, the first legitimate child born to a serving Prime Minister since Francis Russell on 11 July 1849.
• 29 June - Kia Pegg, actor
• August – Danni Bennatar, actress
• 20 November – Connie Talbot, singer

Full date unknown

• Sophia Kiely, actress

Deaths

• 2 January – Patrick O'Brian, writer (born 1914)
• 9 January – Nigel Tranter, historian and author (born 1909)
• 30 January – Martin Aldridge, footballer (born 1974)
• 23 February – Sir Stanley Matthews, former footballer (born 1915)
• 24 February – Michael Colvin, politician (born 1932)
• 25 February – Victoria Climbie, victim of high profile child murder, neglect and torture (born 1991 in Côte d'Ivoire)
• 10 March – Ivan Hirst, former British army officer and engineer, best known for his part in the revival of German carmaker Volkswagen after World War II (born 1914)
• 28 March – Anthony Powell, novelist (born 1905)
• 8 April – Bernie Grant, politician (born 1944 in Guyana)
• 14 April – Wilf Mannion, former footballer (born 1918)
• 27 April – Clifford Forsythe, politician (born 1929)
• 28 April – Penelope Fitzgerald, poet, essayist and biographer (born 1916)
• 17 May – Donald Coggan, Archbishop of Canterbury (born 1909)
• 21 May –
  • – Dame Barbara Cartland, novelist (born 1901)
  • – Sir John Gielgud, actor (born 1904)
• 17 June – Brian Statham, former cricketer (born 1930)
• 11 July – Robert Runcie, former Archbishop of Canterbury (born 1921)
• 5 August – Sir Alec Guinness, actor and writer (born 1914)
• 6 August – Robin Day, political broadcaster (born 1923)
• 2 September – Audrey Wise, politician (born 1935)
• 17 September – Paula Yates, television presenter (born 1959)
• 19 September – Anthony Robert Klitz, artist (born 1917)
• 25 September – R. S. Thomas, poet (born 1913)
• 1 October – Reggie Kray, convicted gangster and murderer (born 1933); had recently been released from prison on compassionate grounds after serving more than 30 years of a life sentence
• 9 October – Patrick Anthony Porteous, recipient of the Victoria Cross (born 1918)
• 11 October – Donald Dewar, First Minister of Scotland (born 1937)
• 11 November – Hugh Paddick, actor (born 1915)
• 27 November – Malcolm Bradbury, author and academic (born 1932)
• 28 November – Len Shackleton, former footballer and writer (born 1922)
• 4 December – Colin Cowdrey, former cricketer (born 1932)
• 18 December – Kirsty MacColl, singer-songwriter (born 1959); died in Mexico

References

Years in the United Kingdom Years in the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland 1801 1802 1803 1804 1805 1806 1807 1808 1809 1810 1811 1812 1813 1814 1815 1816 1817 1818 1819 1820 1821 1822 1823 1824 1825 1826 1827 1828 1829 1830 1831 1832 1833 1834 1835 1836 1837 1838 1839 1840 1841 1842 1843 1844 1845 1846 1847 1848 1849 1850 1851 1852 1853 1854 1855 1856 1857 1858 1859 1860 1861 1862 1863 1864 1865 1866 1867 1868 1869 1870 1871 1872 1873 1874 1875 1876 1877 1878 1879 1880 1881 1882 1883 1884 1885 1886 1887 1888 1889 1890 1891 1892 1893 1894 1895 1896 1897 1898 1899 1900 1901 1902 1903 1904 1905 1906 1907 1908 1909 1910 1911 1912 1913 1914 1915 1916 1917 1918 1919 1920 1921 1922 1923 1924 1925 1926 Years in the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland 1927 1928 1929 1930 1931 1932 1933 1934 1935 1936 1937 1938 1939 1940 1941 1942 1943 1944 1945 1946 1947 1948 1949 1950 1951 1952 1953 1954 1955 1956 1957 1958 1959 1960 1961 1962 1963 1964 1965 1966 1967 1968 1969 1970 1971 1972 1973 1974 1975 1976 1977 1978 1979 1980 1981 1982 1983 1984 1985 1986 1987 1988 1989 1990 1991 1992 1993 1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015

2000 in Europe Sovereign states Albania Andorra Armenia Austria Azerbaijan Belarus Belgium Bosnia and Herzegovina Bulgaria Croatia Cyprus Czech Republic Denmark Estonia Finland France Georgia Germany Greece Hungary Iceland Ireland Italy Kazakhstan Latvia Liechtenstein Lithuania Luxembourg Macedonia Malta Moldova Monaco Netherlands Norway Poland Portugal Romania Russia San Marino Serbia and Montenegro Slovakia Slovenia Spain Sweden Switzerland Turkey Ukraine United Kingdom Vatican City States with limited recognition Abkhazia Nagorno-Karabakh Republic Northern Cyprus South Ossetia Transnistria Dependencies, colonies and other territories Åland Faroe Islands Gibraltar Guernsey Isle of Man Jersey