my-server
← Wiki

1999 in the United Kingdom

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

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

  • 2 February – The Football Association dismisses Glenn Hoddle as England 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.
  • 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".

March

  • 2 March – Singer Dusty Springfield, who received an OBE last month, dies aged 59 at Henley-on-Thames after five years of treatment for 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 depicts different objects of childhood heroes shielding their eyes as voices were heard being abused. Broadcast after the 9.00pm watershed, 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.
  • 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.
  • 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.
  • 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.

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.
  • 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.
  • 17 April – A bomb explodes in Brixton, South West London, and injures 45 people.
  • 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.
  • 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.

May

June

July

August

  • 4 August
  • George Robertson appointed as Secretary General of NATO.
  • The JJB Stadium opens in Wigan, to serve the town's football and rugby teams.
  • 9 August – Charles Kennedy elected as Leader of the Liberal Democrats.
  • 11 August – The solar eclipse attracts the attention of 350,000,000 people across Europe, with Cornwall being the only region of Britain to experience totality.
  • 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.
  • 22 August – Norfolk farmer Tony Martin, 54, is charged with the murder of a sixteen-year-old burglar who was shot dead at his farm two days ago. He is also charged with wounding a 29-year-old man who was also present at the time of the burglary.

September

October

  • October – The government distributes to all households 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
  • 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 treated in hospital for injuries.
  • Harold Shipman goes on trial at Preston Crown Court accused of murdering 15 elderly 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.
  • 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.

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

  • 2 April – Andrew Gardner, television journalist (born 1932)
  • 3 April – Lionel Bart, composer (born 1930)
  • 4 April – Bob Peck, actor (born 1945)
  • 6 April – William Pleeth, cellist (born 1910)
  • 7 April – Angus Paton, civil engineer (born 1905)
  • 9 April
  • Bert Firman, musician and band leader (born 1906)
  • Mary Lutyens, author (born 1908)
  • 12 April – Alan Evans, darts player (born 1949)
  • 14 April – Anthony Newley, actor, singer and songwriter (born 1931)
  • 16 April – Margaret Tait, filmmaker and poet (born 1918)
  • 17 April – Richard Negri, theatre director and designer (born 1927)
  • 21 April – Liz Tilberis, fashion magazine editor (born 1947)
  • 25 April
  • Kemistry, drum and bass musician (born 1963); car accident
  • William McCrea, astronomer and mathematician (born 1904)
  • 26 April
  • Adrian Borland, singer (The Sound) (born 1957); suicide
  • Jill Dando, journalist and television presenter (born 1961); murdered
  • 28 April
  • Sir Alf Ramsey, footballer and manager (born 1920)
  • John Stears, special effects artist (born 1934)
  • 29 April – Elspeth March, actress (born 1911)

May

June

July

August

September

October

November

December

See also

References