1999 in the United Kingdom

1999 in the United Kingdom:

Other years

1997 | 1998 | 1999 (1999) | 2000 | 2001

Individual countries of the United Kingdom

England | Northern Ireland | Scotland | Wales

Sport, Television and music

1999 British Grand Prix 1999 English cricket season Football: England | Scotland | Wales 1999 in British television 1999 in British music 1999 in British radio UK in the Eurovision Song Contest 1999

Events from the year 1999 in the United Kingdom.

Overview

1999 in the United Kingdom is noted for the first meetings of the new Scottish Parliament and National Assembly for Wales.

Incumbents

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

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

• 2 February – The Football Association dismisses Glenn Hoddle as manager due to the controversy sparked by his comments about disabled people.
• 12 February – Scientists at the Rowett Research Institute in Aberdeen reinforce warnings that Genetically modified food may be damaging to the human body.^[1]
• 22 February – Harold Shipman, the Hyde GP accused of murdering eight female patients last September, is charged with a further seven murders.
• 24 February – The report of the murder of black London teenager Stephen Lawrence, who was stabbed to death in 1993, condemns London's police force as "institutionally racist", as well as condemning its officers for "fundamental errors".^[2]

March

• 2 March – Singer Dusty Springfield, who received an OBE last month, dies aged 59 after a five-year battle against breast cancer.
• 7 March – American-born film director Stanley Kubrick dies at his home in St Albans, Hertfordshire, aged 70, five days after completing his final film Eyes Wide Shut, which is released in July.
• 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.^[3]
• 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 £2billion in compensation is paid to 100,000 former miners who are suffering from lung disease after years of working in British coalfields.^[4]
• 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 murder conviction by the Criminal Cases Review Commission.^[5]

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.^[6]
  • 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.^[7]
• 17 April – A bomb explodes in Brixton, South London, and injures 45 people.^[8]
• 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.^[9]
• 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.^[10]

May

• 3 May – David Copeland appears in court charged with the recent bombings in London.^[11]
• 6 May
  • Scottish Parliament election, 1999 – The first elections to the Scottish Parliament.
  • Welsh Assembly election, 1999 – The first elections to the Welsh Assembly.
• 7 May – The Labour Party and the Liberal Democrats form a coalition government in Scotland, with Donald Dewar as the First Minister of Scotland.^[9]
• 12 May – The Scottish Parliament meets in Edinburgh for its first session.^[9]
• 21 May – Jill Dando is buried in her hometown of Weston-super-Mare.
• 25 May – Probably the last colliery horse to work underground in a British coal mine is retired, 'Robbie' at Pant y Gasseg, near Pontypool.^[12]
• 26 May – The Welsh Assembly meets in Cardiff for its first session.
• 31 May – The Princess Royal opens the new Midland Metro tram service in the West Midlands, which runs on a 15-mile route mostly consisted of disused railway lines between Birmingham and Wolverhampton.^[13]

June

• 8 June – former cabinet minister Jonathan Aitken is sentenced to 18 months prison for perjury.^[14]
• 10 June – The European parliament elections are held. The Conservatives enjoy their best performance in any election since the 1992 general election by gaining 36 seats compared to Labour's 29 – a stark contrast to the previous European elections five years ago where they had a mere 18 MEP's compared to Labour's 62.^[15]
• 12 June – The Queen's Birthday Honours are announced. They include a knighthood for the Manchester United manager Alex Ferguson and the ITV newsreader Trevor McDonald.^[16]
• 14 June – Conservative leader William Hague hails his party's strong European election results as vindication of his party's opposition to the single European currency.^[17]
• 16 June – David Sutch, the founder of the Official Monster Raving Loony Party, is found hanged at his home in Harrow. He was 58.
• 17 June – Cardinal Basil Hume, leader of the Roman Catholic Church in England and Wales, dies of cancer aged 76 barely two months after the illness was diagnosed.^[18]
• 18 June – Police clash with protesters at a demonstration against capitalism in London.^[19]
• 19 June – The marriage of The Prince Edward and Sophie Rhys-Jones takes place at St George's Chapel, Windsor.^[20] Prior to the marriage, The Queen creates Prince Edward, her third and youngest son, Earl of Wessex and Viscount Severn.
• 22 June – Patrick Magee is released from prison under the Good Friday Agreement, 14 years into his life sentence for the Provisional Irish Republican Army bombing at the Grand Hotel in Brighton, which killed five people during the Conservative Party conference on 12 October 1984.^[21]
• 23 June
  • Fears about the future of the Rover Group's Longbridge plant in Birmingham are calmed by the news that owner BMW is to invest £2.5billion in the plant.^[22]
  • Construction of the Millennium Dome is finished.
• 26 June – The Millennium Stadium, national sports stadium for Wales, is opened in Cardiff.
• 30 June – Manchester United announce that they will not compete in the FA Cup in the forthcoming football season so they can concentrate on their participation in the FIFA World Club Championship in Brazil at the start of the next year. Their decision is seen as a major boost to England's hopes of hosting the 2006 World Cup.

July

• 1 July – William Whitelaw, Viscount of Penrith and former deputy prime minister under Margaret Thatcher, dies at the age of 81.
• 4 July – Rogue trader Nick Leeson returns home to England from Singapore, nearly four years after he was jailed there after his illegal dealings led to the collapse of Barings Bank with losses of £850million.
• 5 July – Chelsea pay a club record of £10million (one of the highest fees paid by any English club) for the Blackburn Rovers striker Chris Sutton.
• 9 July – Neil Kinnock, who was Labour Party leader from 1983 to 1992 while they were in opposition, is appointed vice-president of the European Commission.

August

• 4 August –
  • – George Robertson appointed as Secretary General of NATO.^[20]
  • – The JJB Stadium opens in Wigan, to serve the town's football and rugby teams.^[23]
• 9 August – Charles Kennedy elected leader of the Liberal Democrats.^[24]
• 11 August – The solar eclipse attracts the attention of 350million people across Europe, with Cornwall being the only region of Britain to experience totality.^[9]
• 20 August – A MORI poll shows Labour support at 49%, giving them a 22-point lead over the Conservatives. However, it is the first time since their election win over two years ago that they have polled at less than 50% in the poll by the leading market research company.^[25]
• 22 August – Norfolk farmer Tony Martin, 54, is charged with the murder of a 16-year-old burglar who was shot dead at his home two days ago. He is also charged with wounding a 29-year-old man who was also present at the time of the burglary.^[26]

September

• September – Rover launches the 25 and 45. Nissan launches a facelifted Primera to be built at NMUK.
• 5 September - First broadcast of the children's TV programme 'The Tweenies'
• 5 September – Bobby Robson, the 66-year-old former England manager, is appointed as Newcastle United's new manager. He is nearly 30 years older than his predecessor Ruud Gullit.
• 9 September – Chris Patten's report recommends reform of Royal Ulster Constabulary.^[27]
• 24 September – The Royal Bank of Scotland launches a hostile takeover bid for the NatWest Bank.
• 27 September – The Midland Bank adopts the name of its owner HSBC, marking an end of the Midland Bank name after 163 years.^[28]
• 27 September – Kosovo Train for Life aid train arrives in Kosovo after 4,500-kilometre journey from the United Kingdom

October

• 1 October – The Rugby World Cup begins in the Millennium Stadium, Cardiff.
• 5 October
  • The Ladbroke Grove rail crash claims the lives of 31 people when two trains collide at Ladbroke Grove Junction, 2 miles west of Paddington station, London. Many more people are being treated in hospital for injuries.^[29]
  • Harold Shipman goes on trial at Preston Crown Court accused of murdering 15 female patients who died in the Greater Manchester area between 1995 and 1998.
• 10 October – The London Eye begins to be lifted into position on the South Bank in London.^[30]
• 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.^[31]

November

• 12 November – Rock singer Gary Glitter, 54, is jailed for four months at Bristol Crown Court for downloading child pornography. He is, however, cleared of having unlawful sex with a teenage fan 20 years ago.
• 17 November – England qualify for Euro 2000 with a 2–1 aggregate win over Scotland in the qualifying playoff round.

December

• 10 December – Launch of the European Space Agency's XMM-Newton satellite. Information from the satellite is processed at the University of Leicester.^[32]
• 30 December – Former Beatle George Harrison, 56, suffers minor stab wounds after being attacked by an intruder at Friar Park, his mansion near Henley-on-Thames in Oxfordshire.^[20]
• 31 December – Millennium celebrations are held across the country including the official opening of the Millennium Dome and the unveiling of the London Eye in London.^[33]

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

• Iain Banks' novel The Business.
• Lauren Child's children's book Clarice Bean, That's Me, first in the Clarice Bean series.
• Julia Donaldson's children's book The Gruffalo.
• Terry Pratchett's Discworld novel The Fifth Elephant.
• J. K. Rowling's novel Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban.

Births

• 31 January - Alice Tai, swimmer
• 5 February
  • Arthur Chatto, son of Lady Sarah Chatto and Daniel Chatto
  • Noah Marullo, actor
• 9 February - Adrianna Bertola, actress
• 4 March - Brooklyn Beckham, footballer
• 9 April - Isaac Hempstead-Wright, actor
• 12 April - Akai Osei, street dancer
• 26 May - Kerry Ingram, actress
• June – Jade Sharif, actress
• 1 July – Charles Armstrong-Jones, son of Viscount Linley and Viscountess Linley
• 4 September - Ellie Darcey-Alden, actress
• 14 October – Daniel Roche, actor
• 20 October – Connor Marsh, actor
• 14 November
  • Ellis Hollins, actor
  • Jude Wright, actor

Undated

• Catherine Lyons, artistic gymnast
• Freya Wilson, actress

Deaths

• 8 February – Iris Murdoch, novelist and philosopher (born 1919)
• 20 February – Sarah Kane, playwright (born 1971)
• 2 March – Dusty Springfield, singer (born 1939)
• 6 March – Dennis Viollet, footballer (born 1933)
• 17 March – Rod Hull, entertainer (born 1935)
• 21 March – Ernie Wise, comedian (born 1925)
• 4 April – Bob Peck, actor (born 1945)
• 14 April – Anthony Newley, actor, singer and songwriter (born 1931)
• 26 April – Jill Dando, journalist and television presenter (murdered) (born 1961)
• 28 April – Sir Alf Ramsey, footballer and football manager, (born 1920)
• 2 May – Oliver Reed, actor (born 1938)
• 8 May – Dirk Bogarde, actor and author (born 1921)
• 1 June – Christopher Cockerell, inventor (born 1910)
• 8 June – Christina Foyle, bookshop owner (born 1911)
• 16 June – David Sutch ("Screaming Lord Sutch"), musician and founder of the Official Monster Raving Loony Party (born 1940)
• 12 July – Bill Owen, actor (born 1914)
• 5 September – Alan Clark, Conservative Member of Parliament and former government minister (born 1928)
• 14 September - Charles Crichton, film director and film editor (born 1910)
• 7 October - Deryck Guyler, actor (born 1914)
• 11 November – Vivian Fuchs, explorer (born 1908)
• 19 December – Desmond Llewelyn, actor (born 1914)

References

See also