Rodney Marsh, the former England national football star, is dismissed from his position as a pundit on Sky Sports because of a joke he made live on air concerning the Asian tsunami.
Two firefighters and a member of the public die in a fire on the 14th and 15th floors of a 17-storey tower block in Stevenage, Hertfordshire. Seven other people are hospitalised, one in serious condition, and 70 people are evacuated from the block.
7 February – EnglishwomanEllen MacArthur sets a record for the quickest round-the-world solo sail. She completed the 27,354-mile (44,022km) journey in 71 days, 14 hours, 18 minutes and 33 seconds, breaking the old record of 72 days, 22 hours, 54 minutes and 22 seconds, set by Francis Joyon in 2004, which itself took 20 days off the previous record.[1]
10 February – Clarence House announces that the Prince of Wales (now Charles III) is to marry Camilla ParkerBowles on Friday 8 April in a civil ceremony at Windsor Castle. She was styled HRH The Duchess of Cornwall from then until his accession in 2022, and it was announced that, when Charles would become king, she would become HRH The Princess Consort[2] — in the event, she actually became Her Majesty The Queen.
14 February
Hare coursing: As the final Waterloo Cup event in England starts in Altcar, four anti-coursing protesters are arrested. The event is expected to attract up to 10,000 spectators over its 3 days.[3]
17 February – The BNFLnuclear plant at Sellafield, in the United Kingdom, reports that 30kg (66lb) of plutonium is "unaccounted for". This amount of missing plutonium would be sufficient to make seven atomic bombs. The UK Atomic Energy Authority states that the discrepancy in the record keeping is merely an auditing issue, and that there was no "real loss" of plutonium.
18 February – The Hunting Act, the ban on hunting with dogs in England and Wales, comes into force. Its opponents intend to challenge the law and hunt.[4]
9 May – The Sellafield nuclear plant's Thorp reprocessing facility in Cumbria, is closed down due to the confirmation of a 20 tonne leak of highly radioactive uranium and plutonium fuel through a fractured pipe.
12 May – Malcolm Glazer gains control of Manchester United after securing a 70% share, ending more than 30 years of ownership by the Edwards family.
21 May – Arsenal become the first team to win the FA Cup on penalties after they defeat Manchester United in a shoot-out that follows a goalless draw.
27 May – Mark Hobson is sentenced to life imprisonment at Leeds Crown Court after admitting four charges of murder. On a killing spree in July last year, 35-year-old Hobson killed his girlfriend Claire Sanderson, Claire's sister Diane Sanderson, as well as pensioners James and Joan Britton. The trial judge recommends that Hobson is never released from prison.
3 August – Merseyside Police launch a murder investigation after three men break into the home of 22-year-old Lucy Hargreaves and shoot her, before setting the property on fire. The crime remains unsolved as of 2025.[7]
21 August – Victory over Japan Day: A service is held at London's Cenotaph to mark the sixtieth anniversary of the end of World War II. The Prince of Wales is in attendance, as are survivors of the Far East campaign.
29 September – The High Court decides that Ian Huntley, serving life imprisonment for the double child murders at Soham three years ago, should serve at least 40 years in prison before being considered for parole. This ruling is set to keep Huntley behind bars until at least 2042 and the age of 68.
October
18 October – The landmark Spinnaker Tower in Portsmouth[9] opens. At 170 metres (560ft) it is the tallest accessible structure in the UK outside London.
24 November – Pubs in England and Wales permitted to open for 24 hours for the first time.[11]
30 November – Quadruple killer Mark Hobson loses a High Court appeal against his trial judge's recommendation that he should never be released from prison.
10 December – Harold Pinter wins the Nobel Prize in Literature "who in his plays uncovers the precipice under everyday prattle and forces entry into oppression's closed rooms".[13]
This page is based on this Wikipedia article Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply. Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.