Timeline Great Britain (I) 1998-2006
Return to home
1998 Jan 8,
Sir Michael Tippett, British composer, died at age 93. His work
included 5 opera, 4 symphonies, 5 string quartets, 4 piano sonatas,
and many choral, instrumental and orchestral works.
(SFC, 1/10/98, p.E8)
1998 Jan 27, Poet laureate Ted
Hughes won the $33,000 Whitbread Book of the Year award for his
"Tales of Ovid."
(SFC, 1/28/98, p.E6)
1998 Feb 14, Lord Granville of
Eye, the oldest member of the British Parliament, died at age 102.
He fought in WW I at Gallipoli and entered Parliament in 1929.
(SFC, 2/18/98, p.A18)
1998 Feb 16, The 66-foot “Angel
of the North” sculpture by Antony Gormley was completed in
Gateshead, Tyne and Wear, England.
(Econ, 6/6/15, p.46)
1998 Feb 27, With the approval
of Queen Elizabeth II, Britain's House of Lords agreed to end 1,000
years of male preference by giving a monarch's first-born daughter
the same claim to the throne as any first-born son.
(AP, 2/27/99)
1998 Feb, British educational
reform led to a decree that authorized teachers to use "reasonable
force" against unruly students in state schools.
(SFC, 4/22/98, p.A10)
1998 Mar 30, In Britain the
Rolls-Royce company of Vickers PLC was sold to BMW of Germany for
$570 million. However, BMW was later successfully outbid by
Volkswagen AG
(SFC, 3/31/98, p.B4)(AP, 3/30/08)
1998 Apr 5, In Leeds, England,
environment chiefs from the world's top eight industrialized nations
announced plans to curb the smuggling of hazardous waste, endangered
species and substances that damage the ozone layer.
(AP, 4/5/99)
1998 Apr 19, Linda McCartney
(56), wife of former Beatle Paul McCartney, died in Santa Barbara,
Ca. Santa Barbara claimed no record and it was later determined that
she died in Arizona.
(SFC, 4/20/98, p.A1)(SFC, 4/23/98, p.A1)(SFC,
4/24/98, p.A1)
1998 Apr 21, It was reported
that the US and Britain had begun a secretive removal of nuclear
materials near Tbilisi. Britain volunteered to accept the material
and had already taken 270 pounds. The unused highly enriched uranium
was to be processed by a Scottish plant.
(SFC, 4/21/98, p.A18)(SFC, 4/23/98, p.A16)
1998 Apr 29, It was reported
that Nicholas van Hoogstraten was building the largest and most
expensive house of the century in Sussex, named Hamilton Place at a
cost of $50 million. The palace was to include a gallery for his
French furniture and a mausoleum for his future.
(WSJ, 4/29/98, p.A20)
1998 May 7, In England
Londoners voted overwhelmingly to elect their own mayor for the
first time in history. Ken Livingston was elected in May 2000.
(AP, 5/7/03)(Econ, 6/5/04, p.53)
1998 May 9, In Britain the
Israeli transsexual, Dana International, won the annual Eurovision
Song Prize with the song "Diva.".
(SFC, 5/11/98, p.D5)
1998 May 12, Britain offered
Northern Ireland a $500 million package of financing and tax breaks
for roads, railways and the reduction of unemployment.
(SFC, 5/13/98, p.A11)
1998 May 15, Leaders of eight
countries, including the US, opened a three-day summit in
Birmingham, England.
(AP, 5/15/08)
1998 Jun 4, In Britain the
House of Commons decided to get rid of its collapsible top hats, a
tradition that dated from 19th century.
(SFC, 6/5/98, p.D4)
1998 Jun 5, Volkswagen won the
bid for Rolls Royce for $703 million.
(SFC, 6/6/98, p.D1)
1998 Jun 13, In London Reg
Smythe, creator of the Andy Capp comic strip, died at age 81.
(SFC, 6/16/98, p.A22)
1998 Jun 21, In England the
Druids were allowed to celebrate the Summer Solstice at Stonehenge.
(SFC, 6/22/98, p.A10)
1998 Jun 22, In Britain
legislators voted to lower the age of consent for homosexual acts to
16, the norm in the EU.
(SFC, 6/23/98, p.A10)
1998 Jun, In England Dr. Harold
F. Shipman came under suspicion of murder when former Preston Mayor
Kathleen Grundy (81) was found dead and toxicologists later found
that she'd been given a large dose of heroin. Her revised will
arrived at a law firm on the same day with her $640,000 estate
willed to Shipman. 14 other female patients were also suspected to
have been murdered by Shipman. Shipman was convicted in 2000 and
sentenced to 15 life sentences. In 2001 Shipman was suspected of
having injected hundreds of elderly women with diamorphine over his
24-year career. In 2002 an investigation reported that Shipman had
killed at least 215 people over 23 years.
(SFC, 12/9/99, p.C8)(SFC, 1/6/01, p.A1)(SFC,
7/20/02, p.A8)
1998 Jul 1, In England the
memorial museum to Princess Diana opened on what would have been her
37th birthday at Althorp House, Great Brington.
(SFC, 7/2/98, p.A18)
1998 Jul 7, Britain sent more
troops to Northern Ireland to help quell the rioting.
(SFC, 7/8/98, p.A10)
1998 Jul 10, Police in England
and Ireland arrested 9 people and thwarted a plot to bomb central
London. The arrested were members of the 32 County Sovereignty
Committee, a hard-line dissident Catholic group opposed to the peace
settlement that was led by Bernadette Sands.
(SFC, 7/11/98, p.A1)(SFC, 8/18/98, p.A8)
1998 Jul 31, The British
government banned the manufacture, sale and use of land mines by its
military.
(SFC, 8/1/98, p.A11)
1998 Aug 5, In London leaders
of the Anglican Church approved a resolution that said homosexual
activity is "incompatible with Scripture."
(SFC, 8/6/93, p.A12)
1998 Aug 11, British Petroleum
PLC under John Browne announced a merger with Amoco Corp. in a
purchase valued at $49 billion. The deal vaulted BP into the top
ranks.
(SFC, 8/12/98, p.A1)(AP, 8/11/99)(Econ, 1/20/07,
p.17)
1998 Aug 15, It was reported
that 6,000 mink from a fur farm in Ringworm had been released by
animal rights activists. The released mink caused a wildlife
disaster as they preyed on all wildlife.
(SFC, 8/15/98, p.A5)
1998 Aug 24, The United States
and Britain agreed to allow two Libyan suspects in the bombing of
Pan Am flight 103 to be tried by a Scottish court sitting in the
Netherlands. A former Libyan intelligence agent was later convicted
of murder; the other suspect was acquitted.
(AP, 8/24/08)
1998 Aug 28, The Marylebone
Cricket Club, an exclusively male organization for 211 years,
decided to admit women.
(SFC, 9/30/98, p.A11)
1998 Aug 29, In new type of
mosquito was reported to be breeding in the underground Tube with a
taste for the rats and mice that lived there.
(SFC, 8/28/98, p.A5)
1998 Sep 2, Vere Harmsworth,
3rd Viscount Rothermere, died. He turned the Daily Mail from a
broadsheet into a tabloid in 1971 and expanded its circulation. His
son, Jonathan Harmsworth took over operations. In 2006 the Daily
Mail and General Trust (DMGT) was dropped from the FTSE 100 index of
Britain’s leading companies.
(http://thepeerage.com/p7348.htm)(Econ, 6/10/06,
p.66)
1998 Oct 1, Gordon and Betty
Moore, announced a $35 million contribution to Conservation Int’l.,
an environmental group for biodiversity. The funds would be used for
a new Washington DC Center for Applied Biodiversity Science. Moore
was a co-founder and former chairman of Intel Corp. He donated $12.5
million to Cambridge Univ. for the most advanced science and
technology library in Europe.
(SFC, 10/2/98, p.B6,D1)
1998 Oct 7, Ted Hughes, poet
laureate, won the $16,930 Forward Prize for best poetry collection
for his "Birthday Letters."
(SFC, 10/8/98, p.E3)
1998 Oct 9, The weekly Der
Spiegel reported that spinach grown near the nuclear reprocessing
plant in Sellafield, England, had doses of technetium-99 that was 7
times above EU food standards. Greenpeace in April had demonstrated
that game pigeons in the area were irradiated.
(SFC, 10/10/98, p.A9)
1998 Oct 16, After receiving a
Spanish extradition warrant, British police arrested former Chilean
dictator Augusto Pinochet in London for questioning about
allegations that he had murdered Spanish citizens during his years
in power. Pinochet was held for 16 months as courts decided whether
he could be extradited to Spain; he was allowed in 2000 to return to
Chile, where a court later held that he could not face charges
because of his deteriorating health and mental condition.
(AP, 10/16/03)
1998 Oct 17, Chilean officials
lodged a formal complaint to Britain over the arrest of former
Chilean dictator Augusto Pinochet, who arrested in a London medical
clinic following a request from Spain for his extradition.
(SFEC, 10/18/98, p.A1)
1998 Oct 24-25, Weekend storms
struck Britain and at least 11 people were killed.
(SFC, 10/31/98, p.A8)
1998 Oct 27, In England Ian
McEwan was awarded the $34,000 Booker prize for his novel
"Amsterdam." A funeral brings together the former lovers of a dead
woman, two of whom gang up on a third. The work includes a detailed
look at the workings of professional music and journalism.
(SFC, 10/28/98, p.E3)(WSJ, 10/23/98, p.W12)
1998 Oct 28, Britain’s High
Court ruled that Chilean dictator Augusto Pinochet could not be
tried in England for anything he did in Chile. Pinochet was still
held pending an appeal. The House of Lords later overturned the
decision, saying Pinochet's arrest could stand. Pinochet was
eventually allowed to return to Chile, where a court later held that
he could not face charges because of his deteriorating health and
mental condition
(SFC, 10/29/98, p.A1)(AP, 10/28/03)
1998 Oct 28, Ted Hughes,
British poet, died at age 68. His work included 35 books of poems, 3
works of prose, 2 opera libretti, and 4 stage plays. In 2007
Christopher Reid edited “Letters of Ted Hughes.” In 2015 Jonathan
Bate authored “Ted Hughes: The Unauthorized Life.”
(SFC, 10/30/98, p.A17)(Econ, 11/24/07, p.90)
1998 Oct 30, Spanish judges
ruled that Spain has the legal right to bring criminal charges
against Augusto Pinochet and to seek his extradition from Britain.
(SFC, 10/31/98, p.A12)
1998 Oct, In Britain the
Jenkins commission on electoral reform proposed an alternative,
proportional system for general elections.
(AP,
5/5/11)(http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/politics/255179.stm)
1998 Nov 9, The Human Rights
Act 1998, an Act of the Westminster Parliament, made the European
Convention on Human Rights part of the law of all parts of the UK.
It did not come fully into effect until 2 October 2000.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Human_Rights_Act_1998)(Econ, 10/16/10,
p.70)
1998 Nov 17, The Scotland Act
of this year, introduced by the Labour government, was passed by the
UK Parliament and received royal assent two days later. It
established the devolved Scottish Parliament.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scotland_Act_1998)
1998 Nov 23, The European Union
lifted a worldwide export ban on British beef. The ban was imposed
after experts announced a possible link between "mad cow" disease
and a fatal disease in humans.
(AP, 11/23/02)
1998 Nov 24, In Britain Queen
Elizabeth announced plans by the Blair government to make the House
of Lords more democratic by stripping aristocrats of their right to
sit in it.
(WSJ, 11/25/98, p.A1)
1998 Nov 25, In Britain 5
members of the House of Lords voted 3 to 2 to reject former Chilean
dictator Augusto Pinochet’s claim of immunity from extradition. The
rejection came one day before Pinochet’s 83rd birthday. The final
decision rested with Home Sec. Jack Straw.
(SFC, 11/26/98, p.A1,B2)(SFC, 11/27/98, p.A1)
1998 Nov 30, Britain along with
Lesotho, Burkino Faso, the Ivory Coast and Tajikistan signed a
global treaty for an Int’l. Criminal Court to try war crimes. The
accord was approved in July at conference in Rome and 61 countries
had signed on. The court required 60 countries to pass legislation
for ratification.
(SFC, 12/1/98, p.A11)
1998 Dec 4, Britain and France
signed an agreement for greater cooperation in crises management and
military operations. At the Anglo-French summit in St Malo, the
leaders of the UK and France decided on the need for a "capacity for
autonomous action, backed up by credible military forces." This led
to the establishment of the European Security and Defense Policy
(ESDP).
(www.heritage.org/Research/Europe/bg2053.cfm)(SFC, 12/5/98, p.A10)
1998 Dec 9, Britain’s Home
Secretary, Jack Straw, turned down Gen’l. Augusto Pinochet’s plea to
be set free. The decision for extradition moved to the courts.
(SFC, 12/10/98, p.A1)(WSJ, 12/10/98, p.A1)
1998 Dec 9, In Hyde, England,
authorities exhumed a 12th body killed by Dr. Harold Shipman (52).
The family doctor was accused of killing female patients for their
money from 1994 to Jun 1998.
(SFC, 12/10/98, p.C7)
1998 Dec 16, Pres. Clinton
ordered missile strikes against Iraq. Iraqi envoy Nizar Hamdoon
accused UN weapons inspector Richard Butler of producing a biased
report on weapons inspections. The US and British strike came one
before scheduled vote on Clinton’s impeachment by the House of
Representatives and days before the beginning of Ramadan. Some 200
missiles fell on Iraq in the first 24 hours of the attack and
initial reports indicated two people killed and 30 injured. The
House Republicans postponed impeachment by at least 24 hours.
(SFC, 12/17/98, p.A1,8)
1998 Dec 17, US and British
forces launched more missiles on the 2nd day of attacks against
Iraq. The strikes included some 100 cruise missiles with 2,000 pound
warheads.
(SFC, 12/18/98, p.A1)
1998 Dec 17, In Britain the
high court set aside its ruling against Gen’l Pinochet because one
member failed to disclose close ties with Amnesty Int’l. A new panel
will rehear Pinochet’s claim of immunity.
(SFC, 12/18/98, p.A18)
1998 The 14th annual Turner
Prize in art was awarded to Chris Ofili.
(WSJ, 12/1/99, p.A24)
1998 David Cannadine authored
"The Rise and Fall of Class in Britain."
(WSJ, 12/29/98, p.A11)
1998 Philip Gould, party
pollster authored “The Unfinished Revolution: How the Modernisers
Saved the Labour Party.”
(Econ, 3/27/10, p.61)
1998 The new British National
Library, designed by Colin St. John Wilson, was scheduled to open in
1997 but was delayed. A partial opening was scheduled for 1998 and
full opening in 1999.
(WSJ, 8/28/97, p.A12)
1998 Britain’s Financial
Services Authority took over bank supervision from the Bank of
England.
(Econ, 2/19/11, p.78)
1998 The BBC under John Birt
launched Internet online operations.
(Econ, 6/18/05, Survey p.52)
1998 A 246 acre site at Sutton
Hoo was donated to Britain’s National Trust. It contained the burial
site of an Anglo-Saxon king believed to be Raedwald (d.625).
(Arch, 7/02, p.61)
1998 Divine Chocolate was
founded in Britain. The chocolate was made in Germany and in 2007
45% of shares were owned by Kuapa Kokoo, Ghana’s largest cocoa bean
cooperative.
(Econ, 4/7/07, p.65)
1999 Jan, Tulay Goren (15), a
London schoolgirl, disappeared. In 2009 her father Mehmet Goren
(49), a Turkish Kurd, was found guilty of murdering his daughter, in
what prosecutors said was an honor killing. Her body had not yet
been found.
(AFP, 12/17/09)
1999 Feb 10, US and British
jets again hit Iraqi air defense sites. It was reported that Saddam
Hussein has offered $14,000 to air defense troops who shoot down a
US or British plane.
(SFC, 2/11/99, p.A15)
1999 Feb 24, A government
report that found London's police force to be "riven with pernicious
and institutionalized racism" was made public. The report was born
out of the 1993 killing of Stephen Lawrence and a subsequent trial.
(SFC, 2/23/99, p.A8)
1999 Feb, London Records
released the first non-soundtrack album of composer John Barry. He
wrote over 100 film scores that included 10 James Bond movies, "Born
Free" and "Out of Africa."
(WSJ, 3/5/99, p.W10)
1999 Mar 2, In England Dusty
Springfield (59), pop-soul singer, died from breast cancer. Her hits
included ""You Don't Have to Say You Love Me," "I Just Don't Know
What to Do With Myself" and "Son of a Preacher Man."
(SFC, 3/4/99, p.D2)
1999 Mar 8, Britain and Ireland
signed 4 treaties for the Northern Ireland peace accord. Formation
of a new government was postponed.
(WSJ, 3/9/99, p.A1)
1999 Mar 15, In Northern
Ireland Rosemary Nelson (40), a Catholic human rights lawyer, was
killed by a car bomb in Lurgan. In 2000 William Thompson, a former
British soldier, was arraigned on terrorist charges following an
inquiry into Nelson's death.
(SFC, 3/16/99, p.A8)(SFC, 3/17/00, p.D4)
1999 Mar 20, Patrick Heron,
Britain's foremost abstract painter, died. He was a principal member
of the St. Ives group of artists.
(SFEC, 3/21/99, p.D8)
1999 Mar 24, In Britain the
high court rejected the claim of Pinochet for immunity from
prosecution, but reduced the charges that could be brought against
him to offenses after Sep 29, 1988. 27 of the 30 charges in the
Spanish warrant were thrown out.
(SFC, 3/25/99, p.A3)
1999 Mar 31, In England the
House of Lords passed a bill that stripped aristocrats with
inherited seats from voting in the upper chamber of Parliament.
(SFC, 4/1/99, p.C2)
1999 Mar, PM Tony Blair spoke
at Toynbee Hall in east London and pledged to end child poverty
within 20 years.
(Econ, 6/17/06, p.61)
1999 Apr 1, Britain’s pay rate
for workers aged 22 or over was set at ₤3.60 per hour. Workers
18-21 had a lower rate set at ₤3.00. In 2006 the minimum wage rose
to ₤5.35 an hour.
(Econ, 10/7/06, p.65)
1999 Apr 1, In Belfast,
Northern Ireland, Bertie Ahern and Tony Blair called for the rival
paramilitary groups to surrender their weapons on a new all-Ireland
holiday, a "day of reconciliation" devoted to peace.
(SFC, 4/2/99, p.D2)
1999 Apr 3, Lionel Bart, born
as Lionel Beglieter, died at age 68 in London. He wrote and composed
the 1960 musical "Oliver" based on the Dickens novel "Oliver Twist."
(SFEC, 4/4/99, p.B12)
1999 Apr 14, Anthony Newley,
singer, playwright, composer and lyricist, died at age 67. His work
included cowriting with Leslie Bricusse the 1961 musical "Stop the
World - I Want to Get Off," which included the hit songs "What Kind
of Fool Am I" and "Gonna Build a Mountain."
(SFC, 4/15/99, p.C4)
1999 Apr 17, In London,
England, [39] 48 people were injured by a nail bomb in a racially
mixed neighborhood near Brixton Rd. and Electric Ave. This was the
first of three bombs to explode in London within a two-week period.
David Copeland (24) was convicted for the bombing in 2000.
(SFEC, 4/18/99, p.A18)(SFC, 4/29/99, p.D3)(AP,
4/17/00)(SFC, 7/1/00, p.A14)
1999 Apr 22, British PM Tony
Blair, speaking before the Chicago Economic Club, unveiled his
"Doctrine of the International Community" (Chicago Doctrine). Among
other things, the doctrine outlines circumstances that warrant the
international community to intervene in the affairs of other
nations.
(www.pbs.org/newshour/bb/international/jan-june99/blair_doctrine4-23.html)
1999 Apr 24, A 2nd nail bomb
exploded in London’s Brick Lane, one week following a blast that
injured 39 people. Police attributed the bombs to a splinter group
of Combat 18 (named from the position of Hitler's initials in the
alphabet) called White Wolves. David Copeland (24) was convicted for
the bombing in 2000.
(SFC, 4/29/99, p.D3)(SFEC, 5/2/99, p.A25)(SFC,
7/1/00, p.A14)
1999 Apr 26, In London,
England, Jill Dando (37), a BBC anchorwoman and host of a
crime-fighting program, was shot dead on the steps of her home in
Fulham. Police arrested and charged Barry Michael George (Barry
Bulsara) for the murder 13 months later. George was convicted in
2001 and sentenced to life in prison. In 2008 Barry George was
cleared in a retrial.
(SFC,4/27/99,p.A10)(AP,4/26/00)(SFC,5/26/00,p.A18)(SFC,5/29/00,p.A14)(SFC,
7/3/01, p.A10)
(AFP, 8/1/08)
1999 Apr 30, In London a bomb
exploded at the Admiral Duncan pub, a gay bar in Soho. Three people
were killed and over 70 wounded. David Copeland (24) was convicted
for the bombing in 2000.
(SFC, 5/1/99, p.A1)(AP, 4/30/00)(SFC, 7/1/00,
p.A14)(Econ, 12/24/16, p.103)
1999 May 1, In London police
arrested David Copeland (22) for the recent nail bombings.
(SFC, 5/3/99, p.A12)
1999 May 8, Sir Dirk Bogarde,
actor, died at age 78. He starred in over 70 films that included
"Death in Venice" and "A Tale of Two Cities."
(SFEC, 5/9/99, p.C8)
1999 May 18, Britain and Iran
agreed to exchange ambassadors for the 1st time in 20 years.
(SFC, 5/19/99, p.A12)
1999 May 19, Andrew Motion (47)
was chosen as Britain's new Poet Laureate with an annual salary of
$8,100 and a term of 10 years.
(SFC, 5/20/99, p.E3)
1999 May 20, James Blades,
percussionist and author, died at age 97. He was the composer of the
Morse Code ditty used by the BBC to encourage resistance during WW
II.
(SFC, 5/25/99, p.B2)
1999 May 21, Sir Robert Rhodes
James, historian and former member of Parliament, died at age 66.
(SFC, 5/25/99, p.B2)
1999 Jun 13, The Conservative
Party under William Hague won 36 seats while the Labor Party won 29
for the European Parliament.
(SFC, 6/16/99, p.B2)
1999 Jun 16, Screaming Lord
Sutch, leader of Britain's Official Monster Raving Loony Party, was
found dead at age 58. His party campaigned under the slogan: "Vote
for Insanity, You Know It Makes Sense." Before entering fringe
politics he ran a rock band called the Savages that featured Noel
Redding (Jimi Hendrix Experience), Keith Moon (the Who) and Jeff
Beck.
(SFC, 6/17/99, p.C4)
1999 Jun 18, In London some
4,000 protestors rampaged through the financial district as part of
the "Carnival Against Capitalism."
(SFC, 6/19/99, p.A11)
1999 Jun 19, In London Prince
Edward (35) wed Sophie Rhys-Jones (34).
(SFEC, 6/20/99, p.A2)
1999 Jun 22, A new 20 pound
note was scheduled to begin circulating featuring the image of Sir
Edward Elgar.
(WSJ, 6/14/99, p.B1)
1999 Jun 30, Lord Whitelaw,
prominent Conservative politician, died at age 81.
(SFC, 7/2/99, p.D6)
1999 Jul 6, Britain began
selling gold and dumped 50,250 pounds, 3.5% of the UK's 1.6
million-pound reserve. Gold dropped to $257.80 per ounce.
(SFC, 7/7/99, p.B1)
1999 Jul 7, Britain and Libya
announced a resumption of diplomatic relations.
(SFC, 7/8/99, p.A8)
1999 Jul 14, The EU agreed to
resume British beef exports on Aug 1, ending a 3-year ban due to mad
cow disease.
(WSJ, 7/15/99, p.A13)
1999 Jul 17, The body of
Canadian singer Fatima Kama (28) was found when a member of the
public spotted a black suitcase abandoned on the third floor of a
Heathrow Airport parking lot. Youssef Ahmed Wahid, a former Kuwait
Airways steward, was arrested within days of the discovery at his
hometown of Ramadiyeh in southern Lebanon. He reportedly denied
having anything to do with the killing, and was eventually released
and then went on the run. In 2010 authorities in Bahrain arrested
Wahid as a suspect in the case. On Oct 3, 2011, Wahid was sentenced
to at least 24 years in prison.
(AP, 8/24/10)(AP, 10/3/11)
1999 Jul 18, British ambassador
Nick Browne presented his credentials to Pres. Khatami of Iran
following a decade-long break in relations.
(SFC, 7/19/99, p.A12)(SFC, 2/9/02, p.A9)
1999 Jul, Britain launched the
$35.9 million Vinopolis, the first theme park devoted to wine,
between Southwark Cathedral and the re-created Globe Theater in
London.
(SFEC, 7/18/99, p.T3)
1999 Aug 1, The EU cleared
British beef for export. A ban had followed the 1996 mad cow crises.
(SFC, 8/3/99, p.A9)
1998 Aug 9, In London, England,
the 13th Anglican Lambeth Conference, which had opened on July 18,
closed. The 749 bishops present declared that homosexual acts were
incompatible with scripture, but that gays were loved by God.
(Econ, 3/29/08,
p.50)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lambeth_Conferences)
1999 Aug 11, A total eclipse of
the sun by the moon is expected to center over Cornwall, England,
and last 2 minutes and 6 sec.
(SFEC, 10/13/96, p.A18)(WSJ, 12/1/98, p.A1)
1999 Aug 20, In Britain Tony
Martin (54), a Norfolk farmer, killed burglar Fred Barras (16), who
had broken into his home, nicknamed Bleak House. Martin was
convicted of murder, but in 2001 this was reduced to manslaughter.
In 2003 Martin was released from custody.
(Econ, 2/13/10,
p.62)(http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/england/norfolk/3087003.stm)
1999 Sep 1, Doreen Valiente,
self-styled witch, died at age 77. Her several books included the
1989 work "The Rebirth of Witchcraft."
(SFC, 10/5/99, p.A26)
1999 Sep 5, Alan Clark
(b.1928), diarist and a conservative member of British Parliament,
died. His several books of military history, included “The Donkeys”
(1961), which became the musical satire, “Oh, What a Lovely War!” In
2009 Ion Trewin authored “Alan Clark: The Biography.”
(Econ, 10/3/09, p.106)
1999 Sep 8, The Bank of England
raised short-term interest rates to 5.25%.
(WSJ, 9/9/99, p.A18)
1999 Sep 28, Sir Nigel
Broackes, former chairman of the Trafalgar House engineering
conglomerate, died at age 65.
(SFC, 10/12/99, p.C2)
1999 Oct 5, In London 2 morning
commuter trains collided near Paddington Station and 31 people were
killed. At least 70 people were later feared dead and some estimates
reached over 100. It was later confirmed that one train ran a red
light. 64 people remained unaccounted for.
(SFC, 10/6/99, p.A10)(SFC, 10/7/99, p.A15)(SFC,
10/9/99, p.A10)(AP, 10/5/04)
1999 Oct 8, In London a court
ruled that Gen'l. Pinochet can be extradited to Spain for trial on
torture and conspiracy charges.
(SFC, 10/9/99, p.A1)
1999 Oct 10, John Hadfield,
author and publisher, died at age 92. His work included numerous
anthologies and the 1959 novel "Love on a Branch Line."
(SFC, 11/9/99, p.A23)
1999 Oct 19, Penelope Mortimer,
writer, died at age 81. Her stories explored the emotional impact of
failing marriages among the British upper classes. Her 1962 novel
"The Pumpkin Eater" was made into a film with James Mason and Anne
Bancroft.
(SFC, 10/23/99, p.A21)
1999 Oct 26, In Britain the
upper house of Parliament agreed to abolish the right of over 700
hereditary peers to sit and vote in the House of Lords. By 2006 the
total number of Lords had fallen from 1,300 to 700.
(SFC, 10/27/99, p.A12)(Econ, 2/11/06, p.51)
1999 Oct 29, A EU Commission
ruled that British beef was safe to eat despite French arguments for
a ban to guard against mad cow disease.
(SFC, 10/30/99, p.A12)
1999 Nov 11, In Britain the
House of Lords voted to strip hereditary peers of their 700-year-old
right to sit in Parliament's Upper House. 92 peers still kept seats
under a compromise.
(WSJ, 11/12/99, p.A1)
1999 Nov 21, Quentin Crisp
(born as Denis Pratt), writer, performer and raconteur, died in
Manchester, England, at age 90. His books included "The Naked Civil
Servant," "How to Become a Virgin" and "New York Diaries."
(SFC, 11/22/99, p.C4)
1999 Nov 24, In Britain
authorities intercepted Scud missile components labeled as auto
parts originating in Taiwan and destined for Libya.
(SFC, 1/10/00, p.A10)
1999 Nov 26, Ashley Montegu,
British-born anthropologist and author, died in New Jersey at age
95. His over 60 books included "Man's Most Dangerous Myth: The
Fallacy of Race" and "The Natural Superiority of Women."
(SFC, 11/29/99, p.A26)
1999 Nov 28 In Britain a naked
man, Eden Strang (26), with a sword maimed 10 people in St. Andrew's
church at Thornton Heath, a suburb of London, before he was subdued.
Strang was charged with attempted murder.
(SFC, 11/29/99, p.A12)(SFC, 11/30/99, p.D3)
1999 Nov 30, The 15th annual
Turner Prize in art was awarded to Steve McQueen. The winner was
selected among British artists under 50 who had a show in the last
year.
(WSJ, 12/1/99, p.A24)
1999 Dec 1, Queen Elizabeth
approved a law that granted semi autonomy to Northern Ireland and a
midnight power passed formally from London to Belfast.
(SFC, 12/2/99, p.A24)
1999 Dec 1, Belinda Debruin was
killed in a London suburb. Her throat was slit and she was stabbed
over 100 times with a screwdriver and knives. Her husband (35) was
convicted in 2000 and sentenced to life in prison. Entries in his
Psion personal organizer helped police convict the debt-ridden
salesman.
(SFC, 7/15/00, p.A14)
1999 Dec 19, Actor Desmond
Llewelyn (85), who’d starred as the eccentric gadget expert Q in a
string of James Bond films, was killed in a car crash in East
Sussex, England.
(AP, 12/19/00)
1999 Dec 20, Singapore Airlines
agreed to buy a 49% stake in Richard Branson’s Virgin Atlantic.
(www.iht.com/articles/1999/12/21/virgin.2.t.php)
1999 Dec 22, In Britain a
Korean Air 747 cargo plane crashed near London and all 4 people
aboard were killed.
(SFC, 12/23/99, p.C7)
1999 Dec 30, In England George
Harrison was stabbed in his home in Henley-on-Thames after Michael
Abram (33), a mentally ill former heroin addict, broke in.
(SFC, 12/31/99, p.A1,18)
1999 Dec, The 1858 Covent
Garden Royal Opera House in London was scheduled in 1997 for a $361
million refurbishment and slated to reopen in Dec, 1999.
(SFC, 7/14/97, p.E3)
1999 Louise Bourgeois (87),
French-born English artist, created his nine meter (30 feet) high
and wide spider. It was made of bronze, stainless steel and marble
and named Maman in tribute to the artist's mother. It initially went
on display at the Tate Modern art gallery.
(Reuters, 10/3/07)
1999 Leo Marks (d.2001 at 80),
cryptographer, authored "Between Silk and Cyanide" a memoir of his
experiences creating codes during WW II.
(SFC, 1/26/01, p.A20)
1999 Marion Shoard of Univ.
College London, published "A Right to Roam."
(SFC, 6/21/99, p.A10)
1999 Elizabeth Sparrow authored
“Secret Service: British Agents in France: 1792-1815.”
(WSJ, 12/9/06, p.P12)
1999 The 106th edition of
Burke's Peerage and Baronetage, a standard reference for Britain's
aristocracy, was published. It was the 1st revised edition in 29
years.
(WSJ, 8/16/99, p.A13)
1999 The British comedy film
"Still Crazy" starred Stephen Rea, Juliet Aubrey, Bill Nighy and was
directed by Brian Gibson.
(SFC, 1/22/99, p.D1)(WSJ, 2/2/99, p.A20)
1999 The musical "Mamma Mia!"
opened in London based on the music by the Swedish pop group Abba.
The songs were written by founders Benny Anderson and Bjorn Ulvaeus.
(WSJ, 10/24/01, p.A20)
1999 Martin Griffiths, a
British diplomat and former UN assistant secretary-general, founded
the Center for Humanitarian Dialogue, a non-governmental conflict
resolution organization.
(Econ, 7/2/11, p.50)
1999 The Greater London
Authority Act 1999 is the Act of Parliament that established the
Greater London Authority, the London Assembly and the Mayor of
London. Transport for London (TfL) as the authority behind London’s
networks.
(http://tinyurl.com/m8yt6w2)(Econ, 10/19/13,
p.61)
1999 England introduced
antisocial social behavior orders (ASBO) to counter “loutish and
unruly conduct.” In October 2004 the government launched an
Antisocial Behavior Action Plan, vowing to tackle everyday
incivilities from “nuisance neighbors” to begging to graffiti.
(www.peace.ca/bigbrother2002.htm)(Econ, 2/5/05,
p.53)
1999 Charles Kennedy took over
as leader of Britain’s Liberal Democrats.
(Econ, 4/2/05, p.49)
1999 British Nuclear Fuels
(BNFL), a state-owned firm, bought Westinghouse, an American builder
of nuclear reactors. In 2006 BNFL announced the sale of Westinghouse
to Toshiba.
(Econ, 1/28/06, p.54)
1999 Wal-Mart agreed to pay
$10.6 billion for Asda, Britain's 3rd largest supermarket chain with
229 stores.
(WSJ, 10/6/99, p.A1)(Econ, 9/11/04, p.62)
1999 British North Sea oil
production peaked at 4.5 million barrels per day with Britain as the
world’s 6th biggest producer of oil and gas. By 2007 Britain dropped
to 12th biggest.
(Econ, 7/14/07, p.59)(Econ, 3/8/08, p.65)
1999 Advanced RISC Machines
Ltd, a British chip manufacturer, changed its name to ARM Ltd. The
company was founded in 1990 as Advanced RISC Machines, ARM, a joint
venture between Acorn Computers, Apple Computer (now Apple Inc.) and
VLSI Technology.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ARM_Holdings)
1999-2005 England imposed some 6,500 ASBOs
(Anti-Social Behavior Orders) during this period.
(Econ, 1/14/06, p.57)
2000 Jan 1, The $1.25 billion
($400 million) Millennium Dome at Greenwich, designed by Lord
Richard Rogers, was built to inaugurate the millennium and provide
an exhibition space for one year. The monograph "Richard Rogers;
Complete Works, Volume One" was published in late 1999. The
cable-stayed dome was suspended from 12 projecting masts. It failed
expectations, but was reincarnated in 2007 as The O2, an all-purpose
entertainment center.
(SFC, 2/1/99, p.A6,8)(SFEM, 1/2/00, p.12)(Econ,
6/23/07, p.64)
2000 Jan 1, In England the
Cezanne painting "Auvers-Sur-Oise," valued at $4.8 million, was
stolen from the Ashmoleum Museum in Oxford.
(SFEC, 1/2/00, p.A2)
2000 Jan 1, In Wellington Jason
McGowan (20), a black man, was found hanged with his belt around his
neck. His uncle was found hanged 6 months earlier. Police initially
claimed suicide.
(SFC, 3/16/00, p.D12)
2000 Jan 2, Patrick O'Brian,
(born in England as Richard Patrick Russ), celebrated novelist, died
at age 85 in Ireland while writing his 21st novel set during the
Napoleonic wars. His 1st Aubrey and Maturin novel was "Master and
Commander," begun in 1969. His first novel was "The Golden Ocean"
written in 1956.
(SFC, 1/8/00, p.A19)
2000 Jan 11, Britain and Iran
signed a joint declaration to fight terrorism and drug trafficking,
promote trade and strengthen ties.
(SFC, 1/12/00, p.A11)
2000 Jan 12, Forced to act by a
European court ruling, the British government ended its ban on gay
men and women serving in the armed forces.
(SFC, 1/13/00, p.A1)(AP, 1/12/01)
2000 Jan 17, In Britain Glaxo
Welcome announced a merger with rival SmithKline Beecham valued at
$186 billion.
(SFC, 1/17/00, p.A1)
2000 Feb 1, In Britain the
443-foot high Millennium Wheel, the world's largest Ferris wheel,
began operating after a month long delay. It was officially called
the British Airways London Eye and opened to the public in March.
(SFC, 2/2/00, p.B8)(SFEC, 4/23/00, p.T4)
2000 Feb 3, Vodafone AirTouch
PLC of Britain took over Mannesmann AG of Germany for a record $170
billion in stock.
(SFC, 2/4/00, p.A1)
2000 Feb 3, The British
government announced that it would resume control over Northern
Ireland within days if the IRA did not take steps to disarm.
(SFC, 2/4/00, p.A10)
2000 Feb 6, In Afghanistan an
Ariana Airlines Boeing 727 was hijacked. It flew from Kabul to
Uzbekistan, Kazakstan and Russia before landing in Stansted near
London the next day with 179 hostages.
(SFC, 2/7/00, p.A12)
2000 Feb 7, In England Afghan
hijackers at Stansted released 8 passengers with 157 still trapped
on the plane.
(SFC, 2/8/00, p.A12)
2000 Feb 8, At Stansted,
England, 4 men escaped from the Afghan hijacked airline as
negotiations continued.
(SFC, 2/9/00, p.A10)
2000 Feb 9, In Britain the
House of Commons passed a bill to suspend home-rule in Northern
Ireland.
(WSJ, 2/10/00, p.A1)
2000 Feb 10, At Stansted,
England, 9 hijackers surrendered and released all hostages of the
Afghan jetliner. Police arrested 21 people and recovered arms.
(SFC, 2/10/00, p.A1)(WSJ, 2/11/00, p.A1)
2000 Feb 11, Britain suspended
the 10-week old power-sharing government of Northern Ireland. An
independent panel reported progress on the question of disarmament
by the IRA.
(SFC, 2/12/00, p.A1)
2000 Mar 1, In Britain Home
Sec. Jack Straw ruled that Gen. Pinochet should not be extradited to
Spain.
(SFC, 3/2/00, p.A11)
2000 Mar 7, William Donald
Hamilton, an English evolutionary biologist, died. In 2013 Ullica
Segerstrale authored “Nature’s Oracle: The Life and Work of W.D.
Hamilton.”
(Econ, 3/16/13,
p.85)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/W._D._Hamilton)
2000 Mar 26, Dr. Alex Comfort,
British author of the 1972 "Joy of Sex," died at age 80 in
Oxfordshire. Comfort wrote some 50 books that included novels,
poetry, criticism, scientific texts and works on Eastern philosophy.
(SFC, 3/28/00, p.E1)
2000 Mar 28, Anthony Powell,
author, died at age 94. His work included the 12-volume "A Dance to
the Music of Time," a chronicle of English upper-middle class morals
from the 1920s to the 1970s.
(SFC, 3/30/00, p.C5)(WSJ, 4/7/00, p.W17)
2000 Apr 28, English writer
Penelope Fitzgerald (b.1916) died. In 2012, The Observer named her
final novel, The Blue Flower (1995), as one of "the ten best
historical novels." In 2013 Hermione Lee authored “Penelope
Fitzgerald: A Life.”
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Penelope_Fitzgerald)(Econ, 11/2/13,
p.91)
2000 Apr, In Britain Jason
Ricketts, a convicted burglar serving a five-year sentence at
Cardiff Prison, strangled Colin Bloomfield (35) to death in their
cell, cut him open and removed his liver, spleen and one eye. In
2006 a British court awarded six prison officers damages and legal
costs reported to be in excess of 1 million pounds (US$1.75 million,
euro1.45 million) for "walking into the scene of gothic horror."
(AP, 3/16/06)
2000 May 4, Ken Livingston
(54), a socialist member of parliament, was elected mayor of London,
England.
(SFC, 5/5/00, p.A14)
2000 May 21, In Britain Dame
Barbara Cartland (98), author of 723 romance novels, died.
(SFC, 5/22/00, p.A14)
2000 May 25 Sir Arthur Gilbert,
born as Arthur Bernstein (b.1913), donated his Gilbert Collection to
the Queen Mother. The art collection was installed at Somerset
House.
(WSJ, 6/15/00, p.A24)
2000 May, Britain’s Tate Modern
opened at the former Bankside Power Station in London. It was
dedicated to international modern and contemporary art.
(http://www.tate.org.uk/about/who-we-are/history-of-tate)
2000 Jun 8, In Greece Brigadier
Stephen Saunders (53), a British diplomat, was assassinated in
Athens. The November 17 terrorist group claimed responsibility,
saying it killed Saunders because of his role in NATO airstrikes
against Yugoslavia. In 2002 Iraklis Kostaris was charged with
participating in the murder and Vassilis Xiros confessed to the
assassination.
(SFC, 6/9/00, p.A14)(AP, 6/8/01)(SFC, 7/22/02,
p.A3)
2000 Jun 9, It was reported
that some 5 dozen intravenous drug users in Scotland, Ireland and
England had died since April from a mysterious illness. Heroin was
later found to be contaminated with Clostridium novyi Type A.
(SFC, 6/9/00, p.D3)(SFC, 6/15/00, p.A19)(WSJ,
6/16/00, p.A1)
2000 Jun 10, In London the new
$25 million Millennium Bridge, a 1,090 foot pedestrian suspension
bridge over the Thames, opened. It soon closed due to a problem of
excessive swaying. It was designed by Sir Norman Foster, sculptor
Anthony Caro and the Arup engineering company. It reopened in 2002.
(SFEC, 6/11/00, p.A17)(SFC, 6/13/00, p.A11)(SSFC,
3/31/02, p.C2)
2000 Jun 18, In England
officials found 58 bodies in the back of a truck carrying tomatoes
at Dover. The truck had arrived from Zeebrugge under 86-degree heat
and 54 male and 4 female Chinese immigrants from Fujian province
appeared to have suffocated. There were 2 survivors. The chief
suspect was arrested in Rotterdam in 2001. In 2001 Dutch driver
Perry Wacker (32) was convicted and sentenced to 14 years in prison.
Ying Guo (30) was convicted of conspiracy and was sentenced to 6
years in prison.
(SFC, 6/19/00, p.A1)(WSJ, 6/20/00, p.A1)(SFC,
6/21/00, p.A12)(SFC, 1/23/01, p.C14)(SFC, 4/6/01, p.D6)
2000 Jun 24, Vera Atkins
(b.1908), British intelligence officer during WW II, died in Sussex,
England. In 2005 Sarah Helm authored “A Life in Secrets: The Story
of Vera Atkins and the Lost Agents of SOE.”
(Econ, 3/17/07,
p.90)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vera_Atkins)
2000 June 29, John Aspinall,
millionaire gambling tycoon and animal park owner, died in London at
age 74.
(SFC, 6/30/00, p.D7)
2000 Jul 1, Sarah Payne (8)
disappeared in southern England. Her naked body was found 2 weeks
later.
(SFC, 8/7/00, p.C16)
2000 Jul 1, Lucie Blackman
(21), a British citizen working in Tokyo, became the 8th Western
woman to disappear in the last 5 years. In 2001 police found her
remains encased in concrete near the residence of Joji Obara, a
wealthy businessman and prime suspect. Obara was formally accused
Apr 6, 2001. Some 4,800 tapes were found that linked Obara to some
400 rapes over 25 years [see April 24, 2007]. On Dec 16, 2008, Obara
was convicted for the abduction and dismemberment of Blackman, but
acquitted of her murder. The court also upheld an earlier conviction
for the rapes of 9 other women. In 2011 Richard Lloyd Parry authored
“People Who Eat Darkness: The Fate of Lucie Blackman.”
(SFC, 10/17/00, p.A13)(SFC, 2/10/01, p.A11)(SSFC,
2/11/01, p.C2)(SFC, 4/7/01, p.A11)(SFC, 4/9/01, p.A7)(AP,
12/16/08)(Econ, 2/26/11, p.90)
2000 Jul 8, At the Wimbledon
tennis title Venus Williams beat Lindsay Davenport in straight sets.
(WSJ, 7/10/00, p.A1)
2000 Jul 9, At the Wimbledon
tennis title Pete Sampras beat Patrick Rafter 3-1.
(WSJ, 7/10/00, p.A1)
2000 Jul 11, Lord Runcie,
former Anglican leader, died at age 78.
(SFC, 7/13/00, p.C7)
2000 Jul 20, Britain’s
Terrorism Act 2000 was the first of a number of general Terrorism
Acts passed by the Parliament of the United Kingdom. It superseded
and repealed the Prevention of Terrorism (Temporary Provisions) Act
1989 and the Northern Ireland (Emergency Provisions) Act 1996.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Terrorism_Act_2000)(Econ, 8/24/13,
p.53)
2000 Aug 2, Patricia Moyes,
mystery writer, died at age 77 at her home in the Virgin Islands.
Her 19 books included "Dead men Don’t Ski" (1959).
(SFC, 8/12/00, p.A22)
2000 Aug 4, In England the
Queen Mum celebrated her 100th birthday.
(SFC, 8/4/00, p.A18)
2000 Aug 5, Sir Alec Guinness
(86), English film actor, died at a southern England hospital. In
2004 Piers Paul Read authored "Alec Guinness: The Authorised
Biography."
(SFC, 8/7/00, p.A1)(AP, 8/5/01)(Econ, 1/24/04,
p.76)
2000 Aug 8, Siamese twins were
born in Manchester. They were joined at the abdomen and expected to
die within 6 months unless separated, after which only one would
survive. The operation was performed Nov 7. Jodie was in critical
condition as Mary died.
(SFC, 9/14/00, p.C3)(SFC, 11/8/00, p.A25)
2000 Aug 15, British Airways
grounded the Concorde airplanes due to safety concerns.
(SFC, 8/16/00, p.A17)
2000 Sep 10, In Sierra Leone
British troops stormed the jungle base of the West Side Boys and
freed 7 hostages. 25 rebels were killed along with 1 British
soldier. 18 rebels were taken prisoner including leader Foday
Kallay. SAS troopers eradicated the West Side Boys led by Commanders
Mega-Rapist, Slaughter and others.
(SFC, 9/11/00, p.A8)(Econ, 10/22/05, p.61)
2000 Sep 11, British farmers
and others protested fuel prices and blockades at refineries caused
shortages and panic buying. Prime Minister Blair refused to make
concessions.
(SFC, 9/11/00, p.A13)(WSJ, 9/13/00, p.A1)
2000 Sep 18, The body of Tom
Cressman (39) a successful businessman, was found at his London
home. Police later arrested girlfriend Jane Andrews (33), a former
personal assistant to the Duchess of York, for the murder.
(SFC, 9/21/00, p.C4)
2000 Sep 20, In London a small
missile hit the M16 intelligence agency at Vauxhall Cross and
exploded on the 8th floor with minor damage. A rocket-propelled
grenade launcher was later found near the scene.
(SFC, 9/21/00, p.A12)(SFC, 9/22/00, p.A18)
2000 Oct 2, Britain’s 1st bill
of rights went into effect.
(SFC, 10/2/00, p.A13)
2000 Oct 17, The 12:10 London
to Leeds train derailed and 4 people were killed with 34 injured.
(SFC, 10/18/00, p.A14)
2000 Nov 16, Russ Conway, known
as "Prince Charming of Pop," died at age 75. He had 17 consecutive
hits in the 1950s and 1960s that included "Roulette," "Sidesaddle,"
"China Tea" and "snow Coach."
(SFC, 11/18/00, p.A24)
2000 Oct 17, In Britain the
London to Leeds train derailed at Hatfield and 4 people were killed
with 70 injured.
(SFC, 10/18/00,
p.A14)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hatfield_rail_crash)
2000 Nov 1, Steven Runciman
(b.1903), English historian, died in Radway, Warwickshire, while
visiting friends. His books included the three-volume “A History of
the Crusades” (1951-54).
(https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Steven_Runciman)
2000 Nov 23, Bernard Vorhaus,
American born film director, died at about age 95 in London. He was
a mentor to David Lean and made over 30 films in England between
1932 and 1952.
(SFC, 11/30/00, p.C8)
2000 Nov 27, In London,
England, Damilola Taylor (10), a Nigerian immigrant, bled to death
on a stairwell after being stabbed by members of The Young Peckham
Boys. In 2001 murder charges were sought against 4 boys (14-16). In
2006 two brothers were acquitted of assault with intent to rob. On
Aug 9, 2006, Danny Preddie (18) and Ricky Preddie (19) from Peckham,
south London, were convicted of the manslaughter of Taylor. The 2
teenage brothers were sentenced to eight years in youth custody.
(AP, 4/4/06)(Reuters, 8/9/06)(AFP, 10/9/06)
2000 Nov 29, Wolfgang Tillmans
(32), a German photographer, won the Turner Prize. It was the 1st
time the art prize went to a photographer.
(SFC, 11/30/00, p.E7)
2000 Nov 30, The Labor
government passed legislation that lowered the age of consent for
gays and lesbians from 18 to 16.
(SFC, 12/1/00, p.A21)
2000 Nov 30, The British
Freedom of Information Act of 2000 received Royal Assent. It gave a
general right of access to all types of recorded information held by
public authorities and places obligations on public authorities to
disclose information, subject to a range of exemptions. In common
with other public bodies, the Library was required to implement the
Act fully from January 2005.
(Econ, 12/23/06,
p.84)(www.bl.uk/about/policies/freedom.html)
2000 Dec 6, The Queen Elizabeth
II Great Court at the British Museum, designed by Norman Foster,
opened under its 1857 dome.
(SFC, 12/7/00, p.A24)
2000 Dec 31, In London the
Millennium dome opened for its last day.
(SFC, 12/30/00, p.A8)
2000 The al-Qaida manual
“Declaration of Jihad Against the Country’s Tyrants” was found in
Manchester, England.
(Econ, 1/16/16, p.86)
2000 Margaret Atwood won the
2000 Booker Prize for fiction for her book "The Blind Assassin."
(WSJ, 11/8/00, p.A24)
2000 Amanda Foreman authored
"Georgiana, Duchess of Devonshire." Georgiana was one of the few
18th century female geologists.
(WSJ, 8/17/01, p.W6)
2000 India’s Tata Tea took over
Britain’s Tetley Group for $450 million.
(Econ, 3/5/11, p.75)
2001 Jan 8, It was reported
that Britain was culling 20-30 thousand older cows per week in the
mad cow crises and that it would take 3 years to catch up with the
backlog for rendering their remains to powder.
(WSJ, 1/08/01, p.A1)
2001 Jan 17, The House of
Commons voted 387 to 174 to ban fox hunting.
(SFC, 1/18/01, p.A16)
2001 Feb 19, In Britain an
outbreak of foot-and-mouth disease was found in 27 pigs at an
slaughterhouse in Essex. The last outbreak was in 1981. The outbreak
was 1st identified in pigs at Heddon-on-the-Wall.
(SFC, 2/21/01, p.A12)(SFC, 3/31/01, p.D8)
2001 Feb 23, Pres. Bush opened
a two-day summit with British Prime Minister Tony Blair at Camp
David. They endorsed a European rapid-action force as long as it is
secondary to NATO.
(SFC, 2/24/01, p.A3)(AP, 2/23/02)
2001 Feb 25, In Northumberland,
England, over 800 pigs were destroyed and burned due to
foot-and-mouth disease. New cases appeared at a cattle and sheep
ranch in the southwest.
(SFC, 2/26/01, p.A10)
2001 Feb 28, Officials in
Northern Ireland confirmed hoof-and-mouth disease in sheep imported
from England. 8 more cases were confirmed in England and Wales.
(SFC, 3/1/01, p.A10)
2001 Feb 28, A train crash in
North Yorkshire killed 13 people and injured 70.
(SFC, 3/1/01, p.A8)
2001 Mar 1, The UK banned the
Pakistan-based militant group Lashkar-e-Taiba.
(WSJ, 12/8/08, p.A6)
2001 Mar 4, A bomb exploded in
London outside the BBC studios. It was the work of the Real IRA and
one person was injured.
(SFC, 3/5/01, p.A12)(WSJ, 3/5/01, p.A1)
2001 Mar 8, Rev. Arthur
Peacocke, a scientist and Church of England priest, won the annual
Templeton Prize for Progress in Religion. His writings included
"Paths from Science Towards God."
(SFC, 3/9/01, p.D6)
2001 Mar 8, Dame Ninette de
Valois (born as Edris Stannis), founder of the Royal Ballet, died at
age 92.
(SFC, 3/9/01, p.D5)
2001 Mar 15, Britain announced
plans to slaughter up to 100,000 more animals due to possible
contacts with foot-and-mouth disease virus.
(SFC, 3/16/01, p.A15)
2001 Mar 20, Britain reported
46 new confirmed cases of foot-and-mouth disease, the largest daily
number to date.
(SFC, 3/21/01, p.A14)
2001 Mar 23, PM Blair ordered
the creation of 2-square-mile killing zones around every farm
infected with hoof-and-mouth disease as the number of daily cases
escalated.
(SFC, 3/24/01, p.A10)
2001 Apr 5, Dutch driver Perry
Wacker was convicted of manslaughter and sentenced to 14 years in
prison in the deaths of 58 Chinese immigrants who suffocated in his
truck in Dover, England.
(AP, 4/5/02)
2001 May 26, Riots broke out in
Oldham between whites and residents of East Indian origin.
(SFC, 5/28/01, p.B12)
2001 Jun 7, Britain held
elections. PM Tony Blair’s labor Party won the elections and a 2nd
term with 44% of the popular vote. Labor had promised to achieve
full employment in every region.
(SFC, 6/8/01, p.A16)(Econ, 3/10/07, p.52)
2001 Jun 22, The British
government announced that Jon Venables and Robert Thompson, two
teen-agers who were 10 years old when they kidnapped and killed a
toddler (1993), had been granted parole.
(AP, 6/22/06)
2001 Jul 7, In Bradford,
England, 80 police officers were injured in race riots, later known
as the “Bradford riots.” They began after a rally by the far-right
National Front was banned. Asian and white youths ran amok in the
streets armed with firebombs and baseball bats. The Manningham Labor
Club was firebombed.
(SSFC, 7/8/01, p.A16)(AP, 7/6/02)(Econ, 3/5/11,
p.63)
2001 Jul 8, Race rioting
continued in Bradford with injured police rising to a total of 120.
(SFC, 7/9/01, p.A8)
2001 Jul 10, Police confronted
white and South Asian gangs in a 3rd night of racial violence in
Bradford.
(SFC, 7/11/01, p.A8)
2001 Aug 4, Thousands of
admirers turned out in London to celebrate the 101st birthday of
Britain's Queen Mother Elizabeth in what would be the last such
celebration. The Queen Mother died March 30, 2002.
(AP, 8/4/02)
2001 Aug 10, Britain stepped in
to save Northern Ireland's power-sharing government by taking away
its powers for a day, a legal maneuver that removed a deadline to
elect a new leader of the Catholic-Protestant government.
(SFC, 8/11/01, p.A8)(AP, 8/10/02)
2001 Aug 11, Britain restored
power-sharing in Northern Ireland after a 1-day suspension in order.
The move allowed a 6-week postponement of whether or not to call new
elections.
(SSFC, 8/12/01, p.A1)
2001 Aug 16, Paul
Burrell, trusted butler of Princess Diana for many years, was
charged with the theft of hundreds of royal family items, a charge
he denied. He was tried for theft in 2002 but the trial collapsed
after evidence was given that Queen Elizabeth II had spoken with him
regarding the disputed events. In 2003 he released his book, “A
Royal Duty,” which talks about his time as butler to Diana.
(AP,
8/16/02)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paul_Burrell)
2001 Aug 20, Fred Hoyle (86),
astro-physicist, died in Bournemouth, England. He was a proponent of
the cosmological theory (1948) which holds that the universe has no
beginning and has always existed in a steady state. He coined the
term "Big Bang" but never accepted that theory for the origin of the
universe His science fiction books included "The Black Cloud" (1957)
and "Ossian’s Ride" (1958).
(SFC, 8/23/01, p.C2)(SSFC, 8/26/01, p.C4)(AP,
8/20/02)
2001 Sep 6, Britain announced
that it would wrap up its mission in Sierra Leone by the end of the
month.
(SFC, 9/7/01, p.A16)
2001 Sep 21, Terrorist suspects
were arrested in Britain (4), France (7), Germany (2 warrants), Peru
(3 detained) and Yemen (20 detained). Lofti Raissi, an Algerian
pilot arrested in Britain, was later described as the "lead
instructor" to 4 of the hijackers. Raissi was released Feb 12, 2002,
for lack of evidence.
(SFC, 9/22/01, p.A3)(SFC, 9/29/01, p.A1)(SFC,
2/13/02, p.A16)
2001 Sep 27, US and British
warplanes struck 2 artillery sites in Iraq’s southern no-fly zone.
(SFC, 9/28/01, p.D6)
2001 Oct 12, The British
government officially announced that 3 Protestant paramilitary
forces in Northern Ireland had ended a 7-year cease fire.
(SFC, 10/13/01, p.C1)
2001 Oct 15, Britain’s PM Tony
Blair said his country favors "a viable Palestinian state, as part
of a negotiated and agreed settlement" during a news conference with
visiting Yasser Arafat.
(SFC, 10/16/01, p.A8)
2001 Oct 24, Britain began
tearing down 4 military installations in Northern Ireland in
response to the IRA’s decision to disarm.
(WSJ, 10/25/01, p.A1)
2001 Oct 30, Yasser al-Siri, an
Egyptian activist, was charged in London in connection with the
assassination in Afghanistan of Ahmed Shah Massood, a Northern
Alliance leader. [see Egypt, Nov 25, 1993]
(SFC, 10/31/01, p.A4)
2001 Oct, New galleries opened
at the Tate Britain Museum.
(WSJ, 12/6/01, p.A19)
2001 Oct, Britain abolished a
tax on betting turnover. The tax, begun in 1966, was replaced with a
tax on the gross profits of bookmakers. Betting firms, which had
been moving rapidly offshore, began to move back.
(Econ, 9/29/07, p.59)(http://tinyurl.com/39lgqm)
2001 Nov 3, E.H. Gombrich
(b.1909), art historian, died in London. His work included "The
Story of Art." In 2002 his work "The Preference for the Primitive"
was published. In 2005 his 1935 book “A Little History of the
World," originally in German, was published in English.
(WSJ, 11/26/02, p.D8)(AP, 9/16/05)
2001 Nov 5, Roy Boulting (87),
who with his twin brother, John, produced some of postwar Britain's
most enduring films, died in Eynsham, England.
(AP, 11/5/02)
2001 Nov 6, Playwright Anthony
Shaffer, who'd written the thriller "Sleuth," died in London at age
75.
(AP, 11/6/02)
2001 Nov 14, Britain pledged
5,000 more troops to Afghanistan in addition to 4,500 already in the
war zone.
(SFC, 11/15/01, p.A9)
2001 Nov 18, In London some
15,000 people of the Stop the War coalition demonstrated against
US-led bombing in Afghanistan.
(SFC, 11/19/01, p.A4)
2001 Nov 22, The remodeled
Victoria & Albert Museum opened with re-introduced free
admission.
(WSJ, 12/6/01, p.A19)
2001 Nov 23, In Birmingham PM
Blair endorsed British adoption of the Euro.
(SFC, 11/24/01, p.A11)
2001 Nov 24, British actress
Rachel Gurney (81), who played Lady Marjorie Bellamy on the popular
television series "Upstairs Downstairs," died.
(AP, 11/24/02)
2001 Dec 1, In London, England,
the Financial Service Authority (FSA) replaced a plethora of
financial regulators.
(Econ, 9/15/07, SR
p.9)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Financial_Services_Authority)
2001 Dec 7, David Astor
(b.1912), English newspaper publisher and member of the Astor
family, died. Astor had edited the Observer, Britain’s principal
source of information from 1948 to 1975. His father had purchased
the paper in 1911. In 2016 Jeremy Lewis authored the biography
“David Astor.”
(https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/David_Astor)(Econ,
2/27/15, p.74)
2001 Dec 14, W.G. Sebald (57),
German-born author and academic, died in a traffic accident at
Norwich. His books included "Austerlitz."
(SFC, 12/17/01, p.A21)
2001 Dec 20, In Afghanistan the
1st int’l. peacekeeping forces arrived from Britain as the UN
Security Council authorized a multinational force for Afghanistan. A
grenade attack in Mazar-e-Sharif market wounded some 35-100 people.
US air strikes at Asmani and Pokharai killed about 50 civilians.
(SFC, 12/21/01, p.A24)(WSJ, 12/21/01, p.A1)(AP,
12/20/02)
2001 Dec 26, Actor Sir Nigel
Hawthorne (72) died in Hertfordshire, England.
(AP, 12/25/02)1111
2001 Dec, William Stobie,
former British soldier and police informer, was shot dead in
Belfast. He was the only man charged in connection with the 1989
murder of Patrick Finucane.
(SFC, 4/18/03, p.A3)
2001 Lucian Freud (79)
completed a portrait of Queen Elizabeth II that was considered very
unflattering.
(WSJ, 12/31/01, p.A7)
2001 Christopher Woodhouse,
soldier, diplomat and professor, died at age 83. In 1976 he authored
"The Struggle for Greece: 1941-1949."
(SFC, 2/17/01, p.A23)
2001 Peter Ackroyd authored
"London: The Biography," a history of the city from the time of
Caesar.
(WSJ, 11/2/01, p.W11)(SSFC, 12/23/01, p.M2)
2001 David Sinclair authored
"The Pound: A Biography."
(WSJ, 1/15/01, p.A21)
2001 The old Reading Room of
the British Library was scheduled to re-open as a library connected
to the British Museum with its vast space cut in half by a glass
screen.
(SFC,10/23/97, p.A17)
2001 Elton John composed his
opera "Aida" with lyrics by Tim Rice.
(SFC, 8/14/01, p.E1)
2001 Britain’s Liberal
Democrats under Charles Kennedy won 52 seats with an 18% share of
the vote.
(Econ, 4/2/05, p.49)
2001 Britain committed $2
billion to help develop America’s $256 billion Joint Strike Fighter
(JSF). 9 countries were involved in the project.
(Econ, 1/28/06, p.53)
2001 Britain’s 2001
anti-terrorism act explicitly banned the bribing of foreign
officials by British citizens and companies no matter where the
offense took place.
(Econ, 12/23/06, p.83)
2001 Bonhams bought the UK
operations of the Phillips auction house and merged them into the
Bonhams name. Some smaller departments were acquired by Simon de
Pury and Daniella Luxembourg, who traded under the name Phillips de
Pury & Company. In 2002 Simon de Pury acquired majority control
of the firm. In 2008 the company was purchased by the Russia-based
Mercury Group.
(https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phillips_%28auctioneers%29)
2001 At Washington’s request
the UN Security Council ordered that the assets of Yassin Qadi, a
Saudi businessman and multimillionaire, be frozen soon after the Sep
11 attacks in NYC. He was alleged to be a financier of Islamic
terrorism with close links to al-Qaida. The EU froze the assets of
Yasin al-Qadi, a Saudi businessman, and the Al-Barakaat
International Foundation, a Sweden-based charity suspected of
funding al-Qaida terror groups. In 2008 the EU's highest court
overturned the decision saying the order failed to offer those on a
terror blacklist any legal rights to a judicial review under
European law. Also frozen were the assets of Omar Mohammed Othman,
also known as Abu Qatada, an extremist Muslim preacher from Jordan.
In 2009 an EU court voided the freeze on Othman due to lack of
proper judicial review. Othman has lived in Britain since 1993, has
been arrested several times there under anti-terrorist legislation
and currently faced deportation to Jordan.
(WSJ, 8/29/07, p.A1)(AP, 9/3/08)(AP, 6/11/09)
2002 Jan 4, In England a
twin-engine Bombardier Challenger plane crashed at Birmingham
International Airport. Pilots Thomas Boydston (51) Robert Norton
(58) and Timothy Vandevort (41) were killed along with John Shumejda
(56) the president and chief executive of agricultural giant AGCO,
and Ed Swingle (60), the company's senior VP for sales and
marketing. A 2004 report said that the crash was caused by the
crew's failure to de-ice the wings before takeoff.
(AP, 8/19/04)
2002 Jan 17, In Leicester,
England, police arrested 2 Algerian men allegedly involved in a plot
to bomb the US Embassy in Paris. Another 8 men were arrested north
of London under the Terrorism Act.
(SFC, 1/18/02, p.A16)
2002 Feb 6, Britain's Queen
Elizabeth II reached a bittersweet milestone, somberly marking 50
years as monarch on the anniversary of the death of her father, King
George VI.
(AP, 2/6/03)
2002 Feb 6, Max Perutz
(b.1914), Austrian-born molecular biologist, died in England. He won
the Nobel Prize in chemistry in 1962 for his work on the structure
of hemoglobin. In 2007 Georgina Ferry authored “Max Perutz and the
Secret of Life.”
(Econ, 8/25/07,
p.77)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Max_Perutz)
2002 Feb 9, Princess Margaret
Rose (71) of York (b.1930) died in London.
(SFC, 2/9/02, p.A12)
2002 Feb 15, Asylum seekers
rioted at the Yalr’s Wood institution near Bedford and 20 escaped.
10 were soon captured.
(SFC, 2/16/02, p.A13)
2002 Feb 22, In London the
Millennium Bridge reopened to the public.
(http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/1829053.stm)
2002 Feb 27, Spike Milligan
(born in 1918 as Terence Alan Patrick Sean Milligan), comedian,
writer, musician, poet, playwright and actor, died in Rye, England.
“Money can’t buy you happiness, but it does bring you a more
pleasant form of misery.”
(AP,
2/27/07)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spike_Milligan)
2002 Mar 4, Roy Porter
(b.1946), British historian, died. He had recently published
"Madness: A Brief History." His other books included “The Greatest
Benefit to Mankind” (1997), a survey of the history of medicine.
(www.guardian.co.uk/news/2002/mar/05/guardianobituaries.obituaries)(SSFC,
4/21/02, p.M3)(WSJ, 10/4/08, p.W8)
2002 Mar 18, Britain planned to
send 1,700 troops to Afghanistan to join the 6,300 US forces.
(WSJ, 3/19/02, p.A1)
2002 Mar 18, The House of
Commons again voted to ban fox hunting along with the hunting of
stags and hares with packs of hounds.
(SFC, 3/19/02, p.A7)
2002 Mar 19, The House of Lords
voted for restrictions on hunting with hounds (366-59).
(SFC, 3/20/02, p.A10)
2002 Mar 21, In Britain
schoolgirl Milly Dowler (13) was kidnapped in Walton-on-Thames,
Surrey. Her body was found 6 months later in nearby woods. As police
pursued leads in the case the British tabloid News of the World
hacked into Dowler’s cell phone, listened to messages, and deleted
some to make room for more. In 2010 Levi Bellfield (41), a former
nightclub bouncer, appeared in court accused of kidnapping and
murdering the teenager. On June 23, 2011, Bellfield was convicted
and jailed for life.
(AFP, 4/13/10)(http://tinyurl.com/ykyb7la)(SFC,
7/6/11, p.A5)
2002 Mar 27, Dudley Moore (66),
British actor and musician, died. His films included "10" and
"Arthur."
(SFC, 3/28/02, p.A1)
2002 Mar 30, Britain’s Queen
Elizabeth (b.1900), the Queen Mother, died at age 101 in her sleep
at Royal Lodge, Windsor. In 2009 William Shawcross authored “Queen
Elizabeth, the Queen Mother: The Official Biography.”
(SSFC, 3/31/02, p.A3)(AP, 3/30/04)(Econ, 9/19/09,
p.97)
2002 Mar 31, Barry Took (73),
comedian and comic writer, died. He helped produce "Monty Python’s
Flying Circus." His autobiography was titled "A Point of View."
(SFC, 4/1/02, p.B5)
2002 Apr 7, Pres. Bush ended
weekend talks with Britain’s PM Tony Blair in Texas. Blair said he
would back a US military action against Iraq.
(SFC, 4/8/02, p.A9)
2002 Apr 29, Britain decided to
treat al Qaeda and Taliban fighters as prisoners of war and turn
them over to the interim Afghan government.
(SFC, 4/30/02, p.A15)
2002 May 3, Baroness Barbara
Anne Castle (91), former labor Cabinet minister, died.
(SFC, 5/4/02, p.A21)
2002 May 10, A high-speed
British train jumped tracks at Potters Bar north of London and 7
people were killed. In 2010 a jury in Letchworth concluded that the
poor maintenance of a set of points had contributed to the
derailment. In November criminal proceedings were started against
Network Rail and maintenance company Jarvis Rail.
(SFC, 5/11/02, p.A12)(AFP, 7/30/10)(AFP,
11/10/10)
2002 May 27, It was reported
that Britain was considering a confidential "action plan"
proposed to deliver a "radical reduction" in the influx of asylum
seekers.
(SFC, 5/27/02, p.A1)
2002 May 29, PM Tony Blair
appointed Paul Boateng (50), as the nation’s 1st black Cabinet
Minister and named him deputy treasury secretary.
(SFC, 5/30/02, p.A12)
2002 Jun 2, A fire broke out at
Buckingham Palace, forcing the evacuation of hundreds of people and
marring the four-day celebration of Queen Elizabeth's 50 years on
the throne.
(AP, 6/2/03)
2002 Jun 3, A rock concert at
Buckingham Palace celebrated Queen Elizabeth II's 50 years on the
throne.
(AP, 6/3/07)
2002 Jun 15, In Britain Mick
Jagger was knighted for his service to music and became Sir Michael
Philip Jagger.
(SFC, 6/15/02, p.A2)
2002 Jun 18, In London it was
reported that sparrows numbers had declined steeply for no known
reason.
(AP, 6/18/02)
2002 Jun 20, In Saudi Arabia
John Veness, a British employee at Al Bank al Saudi al Fransi, was
killed in a car bomb explosion in Riyadh.
{Saudi Arabia, Britain}
(WSJ, 6/21/02, p.A7)
2002 Jul 10, It was reported
that Britain planned to downgrade marijuana possession to a Class C
crime.
(SFC, 7/10/02, p.A12)
2002 Jul 17, In Britain, a
one-day strike by 750,000 municipal employees closed schools,
libraries and recreation centers in their first national walkout in
more than two decades.
(AP, 7/17/03)
2002 Jul 19, Britain's
government said it would pay $7 million in compensation to more than
220 Kenyans who say they are victims of unexploded ammunition left
behind by British troops.
(AP, 7/20/02)
2002 Jul 19, In Britain
authorities reported that family doctor Harold Shipman, Britain's
worst serial killer, murdered 215 of his patients in 23 years as a
trusted small-town practitioner. [see Jun, 1998]
(AP, 7/19/02)(SFC, 7/20/02, p.A8)
2002 Jul 19, US and British
warplanes destroyed a military communications facility in southern
Iraq. Iraq said the strike killed 5 people including a couple and
their children.
(SFC, 7/20/02, p.A11)
2002 Jul 23, A memo from 10
Downing St. described an earlier meeting of Sir Richard Dearlove,
head of British Intelligence, with US officials in Washington in
which he noted a shift in attitude in the Bush administration, which
saw military action as inevitable in Iraq and that it would be
justified by the conjunction of terrorism and WMD. The memo became
public in 2005.
(SFC, 7/4/05, p.B6)
2002 Jul 23, Leo McKern (82),
Australian actor, died in Bath, England. He played the barrister in
the TV show "Rumpole of the Bailey."
(SFC, 7/24/02, p.A1)
2002 Jul 25, The Spanish
government welcomed a British proposal to turn its military base in
Gibraltar into a NATO facility, a move that would open it to all
alliance members including Spain. Spain and Britain came up with the
idea of sharing sovereignty over the Rock. This was rejected
resoundingly in a nonbinding referendum in Gibraltar.
(AP, 7/25/02)(AP, 9/19/06)
2002 Aug 4, Britain's Queen
Elizabeth closed Manchester's hugely successful Commonwealth Games
after 11 days of sport and ceremony.
(Reuters, 8/4/02)
2002 Aug 4, Holly Wells and
Jessica Chapman vanished while walking near their homes in Soham, 12
miles northeast of Cambridge, England. [see Aug 16] On August 17,
2002 a game warden found their partially burned bodies in a
six-foot-deep ditch close to the RAF Lakenheath airbase in Suffolk.
(AP,
8/9/02)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ian_Huntley)
2002 Aug 5, Winifred Watson
(95), a popular writer of the 1930s who found a new readership in
the 21st century, died in England. His work included the humorous
and risque novel "Miss Pettigrew Lives for a Day" (1938).
(AP, 8/14/02)
2002 Aug 7, The first British
Cabinet minister to visit this country in two decades met with
Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi, saying Libya was making a serious
attempt to move away from its international pariah status.
(AP, 8/7/02)
2002 Aug 14, Terry Jupp (46)
died during weapons tests on a remote island used as a military
facility off England's eastern coast. Investigations later
established that part of his team's work involved attempts to
construct bombs from widely available ingredients including hydrogen
peroxide. Similar bombs were later used in the 2005 suicide attacks
on London mass transit, which killed 52 commuters.
(AP, 8/3/10)
2002 Aug 16, In Soham,
Cambridgeshire, England, police arrested two people on suspicion of
murdering a pair of 10-year-old girls, Holly Wells (b. 10-4-1991)
and Jessica Chapman (b. 9-1-1991), who vanished from a rural village
on August 4th. On December 17, 2003 Ian Huntley (28), a caretaker at
the local secondary school, was convicted by two eleven-to-one
majority jury verdicts, and on that day began serving two concurrent
life sentences. On September 29, 2005, the High Court announced that
Huntley must remain in prison until he has served at least 40 years,
a minimum term which will not allow him to be released until at
least 2042, by which time he will be 68 years old. His girlfriend
Maxine Carr (25), a classroom assistant, was charged with attempting
to pervert the course of justice. She was given three-and-a-half
years for conspiring to pervert the course of justice but cleared of
two counts of assisting an offender. She was freed and
electronically tagged within 30 days, because she had already spent
16 months in jail.
(AP,
8/17/02)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Soham_murders)
2002 Aug 18, In Britain
detectives announced that two bodies found in a nature reserve
almost certainly belong to a pair of missing 10-year-olds. Holly
Wells and Jessica Chapman had been missing since August 4.
(AP,
8/19/02)(www.trutv.com/library/crime/serial_killers/predators/ian_huntley/index.html)
2002 Aug 25, In England
Investigators said they had found items of clothing they believed
were worn by two slain girls the day they disappeared from their
rural village.
(AP, 8/25/02)
2002 Aug 25, Iraq said US and
British bombing killed 8 people near Basra. A U.S.-British air raid
in southern Iraq destroyed a major military surveillance site that
monitors American troops in the Persian Gulf
(WSJ, 8/26/02, p.A1)(AP, 8/27/02)
2002 Sep 7, Pres. Bush met with
British PM Tony Blair at Camp David, Md., to work out a strategy for
taking action against Iraq’s Saddam Hussein.
(SSFC, 9/8/02, p.A3)
2002 Sep 15, Thousands of
Muslims gathered at a radical Islamic conference in London to
confront what organizers said was a choice between accepting life
under a "colonialist world view" or being labeled terrorists.
(AP, 9/15/02)
2002 Sep 15, U.S. and British
warplanes bombed Iraqi installations in the southern no-fly zone.
Major air defense sites were being targeted.
(AP, 9/15/02)(SFC, 9/17/02, p.A12)
2002 Sep 24, British Prime
Minister Tony Blair asserted that Iraq had a growing arsenal of
chemical and biological weapons and planned to use them, as he
unveiled an intelligence dossier to a special session of Parliament.
(AP, 9/24/03)
2002 Sep 26, A new edition of
the Shorter Oxford English Dictionary was published and contained
such new words as: Jedi, Klingons, Grinches, gearheads,
bunny-huggers and bunny-boilers.
(AP, 9/26/02)
2002 Oct 14, Britain suspended
Northern Ireland's power-sharing government after a spying row threw
the fledgling peace process into its worst political crisis since
the Good Friday peace accord was signed in 1998.
(AP, 10/14/02)
2002 Oct 23, Lady Antonia
Fraser (96), the Countess of Longford, a historian who wrote
biographies of Queen Victoria and the Duke of Wellington, died. She
was born as Elizabeth Harman and wrote under the name Elizabeth
Longford.
(AP, 10/23/02)(SFC, 10/28/02, p.A17)
2002 Oct 30, Freeview TV,
jointly owned by the BBC, Crown Castle International and BSkyB, was
launched in the UK as an alternative to PayTV.
(www.answers.com/topic/freeview)
2002 Nov 3, Lonnie Donegan
(71), British musician, died. His hits included "Does Your Chewing
Gum Lose its Flavor on the Bed Post Overnight" and "Rock Island
Line" which inspired John Lennon and George Harrison.
(SFC, 11/6/02, p.A34)
2002 Nov 9, In London Rabah
Chehaj-Bias (21), Karim Kadouri (33) Rabah Kadre (35) were arrested
and charged under the Terrorism Act with possessing materials for
the "preparation, instigation or commission" of terrorism.
(AP, 11/18/02)
2002 Nov 14, The British
government hardened its position against firefighters who walked off
their jobs and left the country to rely on soldiers answering alarms
in antiquated military trucks. Three elderly people died in house
fires on the first night of the strike.
(AP, 11/14/02)
2002 Nov 20, A German doctor
conducted Britain's first public autopsy in more than 170 years, an
event denounced by the British Medical Association's Head of Ethics
as "degrading and disrespectful."
(AP, 11/20/03)
2002 Nov 22, A senior UN
official from Britain was shot and killed during an exchange of fire
between Israeli troops and Palestinian gunmen in the West Bank
refugee camp of Jenin.
(AP, 11/22/02)
2002 Nov 22, Firefighters
across Britain launched an eight-day strike after their union
accused the government of wrecking a last-minute pay deal.
(AP, 11/22/02)
2002 Nov 23, At Loughborough,
England, 4 people were charged with murdering Adam Morrell (14),
whose body parts were found scattered around the town. The suspects
included three men and a girl. On December 17, 2002 the following
sentences were handed down: Matthew Welsh (19), the dominant figure
in a gang, was sentenced to at least 20 years in prison. His girl
friend Sarah Morris (17), was found guilty of deliberately
assaulting the youngster but cleared of his murder. Nathan Barnett
(27) was ordered to be detained indefinitely in secure accommodation
under the Mental Health Act after he pleaded guilty to manslaughter
on the grounds of diminished responsibility. Daniel Biggs (19) was
cleared of murder and inflicting grievous bodily harm, but sentenced
to two and a half years in custody for conspiring to pervert the
course of justice.
(AP,
11/23/02)(http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/leicestershire/3255720.stm)
2002 Nov 23, Miss World
organizers moved the beauty pageant from Nigeria to London after
three days of Muslim-Christian bloodletting killed 215 people. The
violence was triggered by a newspaper's suggestion that the Islamic
prophet Muhammad would have liked the event.
(AP, 11/23/02)(AP, 11/24/02)
2002 Nov 25, Karel Reisz
(b.1926), Czech-born film director, died in London. He fled Nazi
occupation in 1938. His film career began in Britain and moved on to
Hollywood where his work included "The French Lieutenant’s Woman."
(SFC, 11/28/02, p.A30)
2002 Dec 7, In London Azra
Akin, Miss Turkey, won the Miss World Pageant bringing to a close
the pageant that had incited deadly rioting in Nigeria, the original
site of the event.
(AP, 12/7/02)
2002 Dec 8, Painter and
sculptor Keith Tyson, whose playful artwork is inspired by
scientific theories and often ponders the role of computers in the
modern world, won Britain's prestigious Turner Prize.
(AP, 12/9/02)
2002 Dec 22, Joe Strummer (50),
lead singer of the legendary British punk band The Clash, died in
Broomfield, England.
(SFC, 12/24/02, p.A2)(AP, 12/22/03)
2002 Dec 30, British and US
warplanes flying multiple missions attacked Iraq air defense
facilities after an Iraqi fighter jet penetrated the southern no-fly
zone.
(AP, 12/31/02)
2002 Dec 30, In England Mary
Wesley (90), who published her first novel when she was 70 and went
on to produce a string of slightly racy best sellers, died. Her
books included "The Camomile Lawn" and "A Sensible Life." In 2006
Patrick Marnham authored “Wild Mary: The Life of Mary Wesley.”
(AP, 12/31/02)(Econ, 6/10/06, p.87)
2002 Theodore Dalrymple
(pseudonym of psychiatrist Anthony Daniels) authored "Life at the
Bottom," encounters with the British underclass.
(WSJ, 2/21/02, p.A16)
2002 Joyce Lee Malcolm authored
"Guns and Violence: The English Experience."
(WSJ, 8/6/02, p.D6)
2002 Britain’s ruling Labour
government introduced citizenship tests.
(Econ, 5/21/16, p.51)
2002 The Baltic Center for
Contemporary Art in Gateshead, England, opened at a cost of £50
million.
(Econ, 6/15/13, p.59)
2002 Gary McKinnon was caught
in London and after breaking into 97 US military and NASA computers,
while allegedly searching for UFO’s. His hacking from 2001-2002
caused an estimated $700,000 of damage. In 2008 McKinnon (42) was
diagnosed with Asperger’s syndrome. He also lost an appeal against
being extradited to the US to face charges. In 2009 he offered to
plead guilty to a criminal charge in Britain to avoid extradition to
the United States.
(SFC, 7/31/08, p.A14)(AP, 1/12/09)(Econ, 8/8/09,
p.51)
2003 Jan 5, British
anti-terrorism police arrested 6 men of North African origin after
finding small quantities of ricin, a lethal poison, in a London
apartment.
(SFC, 1/8/03, p.A10)
2003 Jan 5, Roy Jenkins (82),
British politician, liberal reformer and biographer, died after
collapsing at his home in East Hendred.
(WSJ, 1/14/03, p.D6)
2003 Jan 9, Peter Tinniswood
(66), British author of plays for TV, radio and stage, died from
cancer.
(AP, 1/10/03)
2003 Jan 13, Rock musician Pete
Townshend was arrested in London on suspicion of possessing indecent
images of children. Townshend acknowledged using an Internet Web
site advertising child pornography, but said he was not a pedophile
and was only doing research for an autobiography dealing with his
own suspected childhood sexual abuse; he was eventually cleared of
possessing pornographic images of children.
(AP, 1/13/08)
2003 Jan 14, In England
Constable Stephen Oake was stabbed to death during a raid on a
Manchester apartment associated with terror suspects and the poison
ricin.
(SFC, 1/17/03, p.A12)
2003 Jan 21, Thousands of
British firefighters walked off the job for the third time in less
than three months after failing to resolve a wage dispute with the
government.
(AP, 1/21/03)
2003 Jan 26, In England
historian Hugh Trevor-Roper (b.1914) died. His books included "The
Last Days of Hitler" (1947), "The Rise of Christian Europe" (1965),
and "The European Witch Craze of the 16th and 17th Centuries." His
final work “The Invention of Scotland” was published posthumously in
2008. In 2010 Adam Sisman authored “Hugh Trevor-Roper: The
Biography.”
(SFC, 1/27/03, p.B4)(WSJ, 7/26/08, p.W8)(Econ,
7/24/10, p.81)
2003 Jan 31, President Bush and
British PM Tony Blair met at the White House; Bush said he would
welcome a second UN resolution on Iraq but only if it led to the
prompt disarming of Saddam Hussein. Pushing for a new resolution,
Blair called confronting Iraq "a test of the international
community." In 2006 British author Phillippe Sands said in a new
edition of his 2005 ”Lawless World” that Pres. Bush commented during
the 2003 meeting with Blair that the US intended to go to war even
if inspectors failed to find evidence of a banned weapons program.
(AP, 1/31/04)(AP, 2/3/06)
2003 Feb 1, British
firefighters walked off the job for the fifth time in three months,
starting a 48-hour strike in their bitter dispute over pay.
(AP, 2/1/03)
2003 Feb 3, It was reported
that the US and Britain had mapped out a strategy to limit arms
inspections in Iraq to no more than 6 more weeks.
(SFC, 2/3/03, p.A1)
2003 Feb 3, In England Margaret
Muller, an American artist, was stabbed to death as she ran in
London’s Victoria Park. In 2009 The Metropolitan Police said that a
36-year-old man had been arrested on suspicion of the murder and was
in custody north of London.
(AP, 2/4/09)
2003 Feb 4, France and the UK
concluded the Treaty of Le Touquet (formally known as the Treaty
between the Government of the United Kingdom and the Government of
the French Republic concerning the implementation of frontier
controls at sea ports of both countries on the Channel and North
Sea). The treaty put British border controls in Calais.
(https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Juxtaposed_controls)(Econ, 4/8/17,
p.49)
2003 Feb 6, Lord Aberconway
(89), a shipbuilding magnate born as Charles Melville McLaren, died
in London. He secretly met with Adolf Hitler's aide Hermann Goering
weeks before the German invasion of Poland. He inherited his title
and the chairmanship of the shipbuilding giant John Brown and the
mining company English China Clays when his father died in 1953.
(AP, 2/8/03)
2003 Feb 17, London
began charging motorists $8 a day to drive in its center.
(SFC, 2/17/03, A2)
2003 Feb 24, Historian
Christopher Hill (91), a Marxist whose reinterpretation of the 17th
century changed the way Britons regard the English revolution, died.
His books included "The World Turned Upside Down" (1972).
(AP, 2/26/03)(SFC, 2/27/03, A20)
2003 Feb, In England
Indian-born millionaire businessman Amarjit Chohan and his family
vanished. His body was found 2 months later. In 2005 Kenneth Regan,
55, and William Horncy, 52, were found guilty of the murders of
Chohan and three generations of his family in an Old Bailey murder
trial which cost up to 10 million pounds ($18 million).
(AP, 7/1/05)
2003 Mar 5, Sir Hardy
Amies (93), Savile Row designer and self-described snob, died.
(SFC, 3/6/03, p.A19)
2003 Mar 6, Britain
offered to compromise on a US-backed resolution by giving Saddam
Hussein a short deadline to prove he has eliminated all banned
weapons or face an attack.
(AP, 3/6/03)
2003 Mar 12, Britain proposed
compromise language giving Saddam Hussein until Mar 17 to take 6
concrete disarmament steps.
(WSJ, 3/13/03, p.A1)
2003 Mar 14, Hannah Foster (17)
was raped and murdered near Southampton, England. Maninder Pal Singh
Kohli fled Britain days after being named as a suspect. In 2007 a
New Delhi court ruled that Kohli (39) should face trial in Britain
for the 2003 rape and murder, in a long-awaited verdict on the
drawn-out extradition wrangle.
(AP,
6/8/07)(www.nriinternet.com/NRI_Murdered/UK/Kohli/kohliIndex.htm)
2003 Mar 21, A CH-46 Sea Knight
helicopter crashed in Kuwait and killed 12 British and 4 US
soldiers. US Marines captured the strategic port in the southern
Iraqi city of Umm Qasr.
(AP, 3/21/03)
2003 Mar 22, Two British Royal
Navy helicopters collided over the Persian Gulf, killing all 7 on
board including a US Navy officer.
(AP, 3/22/03)
2003 Mar 23, A British Royal
Air Force Tornado jet was shot down by a U.S. Patriot missile in the
first reported incident of "friendly" fire in Iraq.
(AP, 3/23/03)
2003 Mar 24, British police
arrested Russian tycoon Boris Berezovsky at the request of Russian
authorities. A charge alleged that between Jan. 1, 1994, and Dec.
31, 1995, he defrauded the Administration of Samara Region of 60
billion rubles whilst being director of Logovaz.
(AP, 3/25/03)
2003 Mar 28, In the 10th day of
Operation Iraqi Freedom the biggest bombs dropped on Baghdad so far,
two 4,700-pound "bunker busters," struck a communications tower. In
the south, Iraqi fighters defending the besieged city of Basra fired
on hundreds of civilians trying to flee. The British supply ship Sir
Galahad docked at the port of Umm Qasr. The Bush administration said
fighting might not be over for months. At least 58 people were
killed in a crowded market in northwest Baghdad by what local
officials called a coalition bombing. A US pilot was heard saying
"I'm going to be sick," then "we're in jail, dude," after firing on
the British convoy in the southern Iraqi city of Basra. Lance
Corporal of Horse Matty Hull was killed by American pilots.
(AP, 3/28/03)(SFC, 3/29/03, p.W1)(AP,
2/6/07)(Econ, 2/10/07, p.58)
2003 Mar 31, Britain and the US
signed a new Extradition Treaty.
(http://tinyurl.com/hbdpj)(http://eurealitshome.com/blog/?p=1086)
2003 Apr 8, In the 19th day of
Operation Iraqi Freedom George W. Bush and Tony Blair met in
Northern Ireland and endorsed a "vital role" for the United Nations
when fighting ends in Iraq.
(AP, 4/8/03)
2003 Apr 11, Israeli troops
critically wounded Thomas Hurndall (21), a British peace activist,
as he tried to remove 2 children from a line of fire outside the
Rafah refugee camp. Hurndall died after 9 months in a vegetative
state.
(SFC, 4/12/03, p.A6)(AP, 1/14/04)
2003 Apr 17, Sir J. Paul Getty
Jr. (70), reclusive American-born billionaire philanthropist and art
lover who became a British citizen late in life, died in London.
(AP, 4/17/03)
2003 Apr 17, Graham Stuart
Thomas (94), who reintroduced many forgotten plants to British and
American gardens, died. His books included "Old Shrub Roses" and the
meticulously illustrated "The Garden Through the Year."
(AP, 4/28/03)
2003 May 1, The British Joint
Terrorism Analysis Center (JTAC) began operations.
(Econ, 3/19/05, p.33)
2003 May 2, James Miller (34),
a British journalist filming a documentary in the southern
Palestinian city of Rafah, was shot and killed during an exchange of
fire between Israeli soldiers and Palestinians. In 2006 a British
jury ruled that the shooting was an act of murder. In 2009 Israel
agreed to pay about $2 million to the family Miller.
(AP, 5/2/04)(AP, 4/6/06)(AP, 2/1/09)
2003 May 12, A British
government doctor reported that the brains of at least 20,000
people, many of them depressed or mentally ill when they died, were
removed without their families' consent from 1970-1999.
(AP, 5/12/03)(USAT, 5/13/03, p.10A)
2003 May 14, Dame Wendy Harris
(b.1912), English film actress, died. Her films included "Pygmalion"
(1938). In 1975 Queen Elizabeth named her dame of the British
Empire.
(SFC, 5/17/03, p.A16)
2003 May 22, The UN Security
Council overwhelmingly approved an end to 13-year-old sanctions
against Iraq and gave the United States and Britain extraordinary
powers to run the country and its lucrative oil industry. Security
Council Resolution 1483 identified the US and Britain as “occupying
powers” in Iraq.
(AP, 5/22/03)(Econ, 4/19/08, p.102)
2003 May 29, The BBC, aired a
radio piece by journalist Andrew Gilligan quoting an anonymous
official accusing the government of inflating claims about Iraqi
weapons. David Kelly was later identified as the source and
committed suicide Jul 17.
(AP, 7/23/03)(Econ, 1/31/04, p.54)
2003 May, Alleged British
mistreatment of Iraqi prisoners took place at an aid camp near
Basra, Iraq. Photographs of prisoner abuse were made public in 2004.
In 2005 court martial proceedings began. In 2006 3 British soldiers
were cleared of manslaughter charges in the death of Ahmad Jabbar
Kareem (15), who drowned in the Shatt al-Basra canal in Basra.
(Econ, 1/22/05, p.51)(AP, 6/6/06)
2003 Jun 10, Bernard Williams
(73), moral philosopher, died in Oxford. His books included:
"Utilitarianism: For and Against" (1973), "Ethics and the Limits of
Philosophy" (1985), "Shame and Necessity" (1993), and "Truth and
Truthfulness" (2002). He coined the term "moral luck."
(SSFC, 6/15/03, p.A27)(Econ, 6/28/03, p.83)
2003 Jun 16, In England Steve
Gough began a naked 847-mile trek Land's End to John 0'Groats at
Scotland's north end.
(SFC, 8/19/03, p.A11)
2003 Jun 17, English soccer
star David Beckham was sold to Real Madrid by Manchester United for
a $41 million transfer fee.
(AP, 6/17/04)
2003 Jun 17, The Extractive
Industries Transparency Initiative (EITI) was formed at a conference
in London as a global standard for dealings in oil, gas and mining.
By 2015 the EITI Standard was implemented in 48 countries.
(https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Extractive_Industries_Transparency_Initiative)(Econ,
10/24/15, p.63)
2003 Jun 24, In Majar al-Kabir,
Iraq, British troops in the Shiite south killed 4 Iraqis in a
gunbattle. In response a 400-strong Iraqi mob descended on the
police station and murdered 6 British troops. 8 suspects were later
detained. One was released in 2009 and cases against 5 were dropped
in 2010. Two suspects were held for trial. On Oct 10, 2010, a
Baghdad court cleared two Iraqi men accused of taking part in the
mob slaying.
(WSJ, 6/25/03, p.A1)(BS, 6/26/03, 12A)(AP,
8/15/10)(AP, 10/10/10)
2003 Jun 24, Pres. Vladimir
Putin flew to London to be feted as the guest of Queen Elizabeth II
in the first state visit by a Russian leader to Britain since Czar
Alexander II in 1874.
(AP, 6/24/03)
2003 Jul 1, Roman Abramovich,
Russian billionaire and governor of Chukotka, bought England’s
Chelsea football club in a deal worth £140m ($233m).
(WSJ, 1/10/07,
p.A14)(http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/3036838.stm)
2003 Jul 2, A group of 650
Kenyan women won the right to sue the British Ministry of Defense
for rapes by British soldiers that took place over a 26 year period
beginning in 1977.
(SFC, 7/3/03, p.A14)
2003 Jul 3, London's Trafalgar
Square reopened to the public after a $42 million facelift.
(AP, 7/3/03)
2003 Jul 10, Lord Shawcross
(101), Britain's chief prosecutor at the Nazi war crimes trials in
Nuremberg, died in Cowbeech, England.
(AP, 7/10/04)
2003 Jul 17, President Bush and
British Prime Minister Tony Blair forcefully defended their decision
to topple Saddam Hussein during a joint White House news conference.
In a speech to the U.S. Congress, Blair said even if they were
proven wrong about Iraq's weapons capabilities, "We will have
destroyed a threat that at its least is responsible for inhuman
carnage and suffering."
(SFC, 7/18/03, p.A1)(AP, 7/17/04)
2003 Jul 17, David Kelly (59),
the British Ministry of Defense adviser, was reported missing. He
was a possible source for news that claimed the government had
doctored intelligence on Iraqi weapons to strengthen the case for
war. His body was found the next day. Weapons expert David Kelly
apparently committed suicide by slashing his left wrist. In 2010 the
British government released a formerly secret autopsy report in an
attempt to end speculation that Kelly’s was not a suicide.
(AP, 7/18/03)(AP, 7/19/03)(AP, 10/22/10)
2003 Jul 18, The body of
British scientist David Kelly, a weapons expert at the center of a
storm over British intelligence on Iraq, was found a day after he'd
committed suicide.
(AP, 7/18/08)
2003 Jul 25, Britain’s
Communications Act came into effect. It allowed the government to
prosecute people for “grossly offensive” postings on the Internet.
(https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Communications_Act_2003)(Econ,
6/25/16, p.16)
2003 Aug 10, Britain sweltered
through its hottest day on record and Alpine glaciers melted as the
heat wave that has baked much of Europe for days sizzled
relentlessly on. Britain topped 100 degrees for the first time in
recorded history.
(AP, 8/11/03)(AP, 8/10/08)
2003 Aug 13, In Iraq British
Private Jason Smith (32) died of heat stroke as the local
temperature passed the limits of available thermometers. An inquest
in 2007 ruled that troops were not adequately advised on how to cope
with high temperatures. In 2009 the British Ministry of Defense
upheld an earlier judgment that the military had breached Smith’s
right to life.
(Econ, 5/23/09,
p.58)(www.operations.mod.uk/telic/smith.htm)
2003 Aug 23, In Iraq a
guerrilla attack killed 3 British soldiers and seriously wounded one
in the southern port city of Basra.
(AP, 8/23/03)(SSFC, 8/24/03, p.A6)
2003 Aug 24, Sir Wilfred
Thesiger (93), writer, explorer and chronicler of the world's
vanishing ways of life, died. Thesiger's most famous books were
"Arabian Sands," about his travels with the Bedu people across the
Empty Quarter of southern Arabia in the 1940s, and "The Marsh
Arabs," the story of the Shiite marsh dwellers of southern Iraq.
(AP, 8/26/03)
2003 Aug 28, A 40-minute
blackout in London, England, stranded hundreds of thousands of
commuters.
(AP, 8/29/03)(WSJ, 8/29/03, p.A1)
2003 Aug, British regulators
disconnected the 47-year-old 192 directory assistance number in a
bid to increase competition. Some 57 six-digit phone numbers for
national assistance followed with complex charges and numerous
errors.
(WSJ, 10/24/03, p.A1)
2003 Aug, British Petroleum
bought half of Russia’s Tyumen Oil Co. for $6.75 billion. TNK-BP was
originally formed from the assets of TNK (Tyumen Oil Co), Onako,
Sidanco and the majority of BP’s Russian assets.
(Econ, 5/22/04, Survey
p.11)(http://tinyurl.com/4lfczjv)
2003 Sep 4, British and
Colombian authorities said they had seized nearly $7 billion in
securities in London from an international drug and money-laundering
ring. Authorities arrested 14 alleged members of the ring, 10 in
England, two in Colombia and two in Ecuador.
(AP, 9/4/03)
2003 Sep 11, In Britain Alesha
Ahmed (15) watched her parents, Iftikhar and Farzana, suffocate her
sister Shafilea (17) on to the sofa in their house in Warrington,
Cheshire. She had been missing for a week before her teachers
informed the police. In 2012 Alesh testified against her parents at
their murder trial. The Pakistani couple allegedly felt that
Shafilea was bringing shame on their family with her "Westernized"
conduct. On Aug 3, 2012, a court found the Pakistani-born couple
guilty of murdering their teenage daughter.
(AFP, 5/24/12)(http://tinyurl.com/7vbhzek)(AFP,
8/3/12)
2003 Sep 16, Baha Mousa (26),
an Iraqi hotel receptionist, died after being beaten at a British
military camp in Basra. An autopsy said he died of asphyxia, caused
by a stress position that soldiers forced him to maintain. He was
arrested, along with nine other Iraqis, at the Haitham Hotel in
Basra 2 days earlier by members of the 1st Battalion The Queen's
Lancashire Regiment (QLR). In 2006 Corp. Donald Payne pleaded guilty
to a charge of inhumane treatment of Iraqi civilians, but denied
manslaughter. Payne, who became Britain's first convicted war
criminal, was dismissed by the army and jailed for a year over the
killing. In 2008 the British Ministry of Defense agreed to pay just
under $6 million to the family of Mousa and 9 others who suffered
injuries while in the custody of British forces. In 2009 Britain
opened a public inquiry into the case and Britain's military
apologized for its treatment of Mousa. On Sep 8, 2011, an inquiry
concluded that British soldiers beat Mousa to death in an act of
unjustified violence that left a "very great stain" on Britain's
armed forces.
(http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/8143982.stm)(Econ, 9/23/06,
p.66)(AP, 7/10/08)(AP, 7/13/09)(AP, 9/21/09)(Reuters, 9/8/11)
2003 Sep 18, A law against
"promotion" of homosexuality was removed from the British statute
books, after more than a decade of gay-rights protests.
(AP, 9/18/03)
2003 Sep 22, Hugo Young
(b.1938), British political columnist for the Sunday Times and the
Guardian, died. In 2008 Ion Trewin edited “The Hugo Young Papers:
Thirty Years of British Politics – Off the Record.”
(Econ, 11/29/08, p.86)
2003 Sep 23, Scientists
reported that human bone fragments found in a cave from Aveline's
Hole in the Mendip Hills of southwest England date from
10,200-10,400BCE.
(AP, 9/23/03)
2003 Oct 1, Thousands of postal
workers in London began a 24-hour strike that was expected to cause
huge disruption to mail deliveries.
(AP, 10/1/03)
2003 Oct 4, In London James
Forlong (44), a former Sky News television correspondent who
resigned after he admitted faking parts of a report on the war in
Iraq, was found dead at his home in a possible suicide.
(AP, 10/6/03)
2003 Oct 7, A £4 billion deal
to create a single company to run ITV, Britain's only fully
commercial national TV network, was given the go-ahead by the
government, heralding a new era in commercial television.
(http://media.guardian.co.uk/broadcast/story/0,7493,1057710,00.html)
2003 Oct 9, A British
judge ruled that former residents of the Chagos archipelago have no
right to return home or get compensation. Britain had leased Diego
Garcia, the main island, to the US in the late 1960s and barred
anyone from entering the archipelago except by permit.
(AP, 10/9/03)
2003 Oct 12, British wartime
hero Patrick Dalzel-Job, whose exploits made him a model for James
Bond, died in Plockton, Scotland, at age 90.
(AP, 10/12/04)
2003 Oct 19, New York magician
David Blaine left his clear plastic box and began recovering from 44
days dangling near the River Thames.
(AP, 10/20/03)(SFC, 10/20/03, p.A2)
2003 Oct 24, British Airways
retired the Concorde. 3 Concordes swooped into Heathrow Airport,
joining in a spectacular finale to the era of luxury supersonic jet
travel.
(WSJ, 10/2/03, p.A1)(AP, 10/24/03)
2003 Oct, The first Frieze Art
Fair was launched in London and attracted over 27,000 visitors. It
grew to become the city’s biggest contemporary art show.
(WSJ, 10/10/08,
p.W1)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frieze_Art_Fair)
2003 Nov 3, Spanish authorities
closed the border with the British colony of Gibraltar before the
arrival of a virus-stricken cruise ship carrying some 2,000
passengers. More than 400 passengers on the ship fell ill with a
norovirus after the ship left Southampton, England, for a
Mediterranean voyage on Oct. 20.
(AP, 11/3/03)
2003 Nov 4, In eastern England
Luke Walmsley (14) died from a single stab wound to the heart at
Birkbeck School in the village of North Somercotes, near Louth.
Police charged a 15-year-old boy with murder after the fatal
stabbing.
(AP, 11/6/03)
2003 Nov 11, The British
government said it wants to introduce compulsory identity cards to
protect against illegal immigration, welfare fraud and terrorism.
Implementation is years away.
(AP, 11/11/03)
2003 Nov 19, In London, Pres.
Bush urged Europe to put aside bitter war disagreements with the US
and work to build democracy in Iraq or risk turning the nation over
to terrorists.
(AP, 11/19/04)
2003 Nov 20, Britain’s Criminal
Justice Act of 2003 received royal Assent. The reforms included an
allowance for a re-trial for certain crimes in the light of new and
compelling evidence, which amended the common-law principle of
double jeopardy.
(www.opsi.gov.uk/ACTS/en2003/2003en44.htm)
2003 Nov 20, Tens of thousands
of demonstrators in London burned an effigy of President Bush to
show their anger over the Iraq war.
(AP, 11/20/04)
2003 Nov 24, British PM Tony
Blair and French President Jacques Chirac confronted the sensitive
issue of European defense and in a show of unity announced plans for
a small rapid-reaction force of EU peacekeepers.
(AP, 11/24/03)
2003 Nov 29, A Chechen leader
wanted in Russia on charges of terrorism and murder has been granted
refugee status in Britain. A British judge had rejected a Russian
government request to extradite Akhmed Zakayev earlier this month.
(AP, 11/29/03)
2003 Dec 2, British authorities
arrested Babar Ahmad (29), a computer specialist and British
citizen. He was accused by the US of running websites used to raise
money for terrorists and for supplying them with gas masks and night
vision goggles. The Metropolitan Police paid out £60,000 in
compensation to Ahmad, following civil court action in 2009. In 2010
four British officers faced criminal charges for assaulting Ahmad
during his arrest. On June 3, 2011, constables Roderick James-Bowen,
Mark Jones, Nigel Cowley, and John Donohue were acquitted of claims
that they assaulted Babar Ahmad.
(SFC, 8/13/10,
p.A2)(www.freebabarahmad.com/thestory.php)(AFP, 6/3/11)
2003 Dec 2, Alan Davidson (79),
a career diplomat who shared his knowledge of exotic cuisines in a
series of best-selling books, died in London. His books included:
"Mediterranean Seafood" (1972), "Seafood of South East Asia" and
"North Atlantic Seafood" (1979).
(AP, 12/5/03)
2003 Dec 3, It was reported
that England planned to spend $17 billion to transform its health
care system with information technology to make all medical records
available in a secure central database.
(WSJ, 12/3/03, p.B1)
2003 Dec 5, In Nigeria in the
opening session of the summit of Britain and its former colonies
British PM Tony Blair urged African leaders not to lift Zimbabwe's
suspension from the Commonwealth.
(AP, 12/5/03)
2003 Dec 7, Zimbabwe pulled out
of the Commonwealth rather than endure a suspension after members in
Nigeria decided to extend the southern African country's suspension
from the organization of Britain and its former colonies.
(AP, 12/7/03)
2003 Dec 12, In London,
England, Mick Jagger (b.1943) of the Rolling Stones was knighted.
(SFC, 12/13/03, p.A2)
2003 Dec 14, In southwestern
England 2 dozen people suffered burns to their faces, hands and arms
in a suspected acid attack at a pub in Bristol.
(AP, 12/15/03)
2003 Dec 17, In Britain Ian
Huntley, a former school caretaker, was convicted of murdering two
10-year-old girls in 2002. He had previously been investigated for
sex crimes. Huntley was sentenced to two life terms.
(AP, 12/17/03)(Econ, 1/21/06, p.53)
2003 Dec 25, The British Beagle
2 spacecraft landed on Mars. The 73-pound lander was launched by the
European Space Agency June 2. Contact with the Charles Darwin probe
was lost on Dec 26 after it separated from its European Space Agency
Mars Express mother ship on Dec 19. The mother ship went into orbit
for a planned 2 years of photography. In 2015 scientists found the
probe on the surface of Mars.
(SFC, 12/25/03, p.A1)(SFC, 12/26/03, p.A2)(SFC,
12/27/03, p.A2)(AFP, 1/16/15)
2003 Dec 27, Alan Bates (69),
British stage and film actor, died. His films included "Zorba the
Greek" and "Georgy Girl."
(SFC, 12/29/03, p.A12)
2003 Dec, The 40-story London
building at 30 St. Mary Axe, designed by Norman Foster, opened. Its
peculiar shaped was frequently compared to a gherkin.
(WSJ, 7/13/04, p.D8)(Econ, 12/4/04, TQ p.17)
2003 Peter Ackroyd authored
"Albion," an examination of Englishness in language, culture and
myth.
(WSJ, 10/22/03, p.D12)
2003 Monica Ali authored “Brick
Lane,” a novel that evokes Bangladeshi community of London, England.
(Econ, 6/30/12, p.85)
2003 Rachel Ehrenfeld authored
“Funding Evil: How Terrorism is Financed and How to Stop It.” The
book sold 23 copies in Britain, over the Internet. She later lost a
libel case concerning the book brought in the English High Court of
Justice by Saudi businessman Khalid bin Mahfouz, who was awarded
₤100,000 ($160,000).
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Funding_Evil)(Econ,
1/2/10, p.42)
2003 Amy Winehouse (b.1983),
British pop singer, released her first album, “Frank.” Her 2nd
album, “Back to Black,” came out in 2006.
(Econ, 7/30/11, p.53)
2003 A public-private
partnership (PPP) took over the London Underground Railway.
(Econ, 3/27/04, p.57)
2003 Renzo Piano’s “Shard of
Glass”, a skyscraper to be built near London Bridge, won planning
consent. It rivaled the proposed 63-storey Bishopsgate Tower named
Helter-Skelter.
(Econ, 11/19/05, p.61)
2003 Twenty20, a short form of
cricket designed for television, was introduced in England. The new
3-hour version rivaled the traditional version which lasted a
maximum a 5 days.
(Econ, 9/22/07, p.82)
2003 Britain and the US
negotiated a secret extradition treaty to make prosecuting
terrorists easier.
(Econ, 2/25/06, p.61)
2003 Britain merged its
communications and broadcasting watchdogs into a single body called
Ofcom.
(Econ, 10/14/06, Survey p.17)
2003 Britain established the
Beacon Prize to celebrate philanthropists.
(Econ, 2/25/06, Survey p.7)
2003 Britain introduced its
Teach First program. It was modeled after the Teach for American
program (1990), which invites graduates from top universities to
spend the 1st 2 years of their careers teaching children from
low-income families.
(Econ, 8/1/09, p.49)
2003 PSA Peugeot Citroen,
Europe’s 2nd biggest carmaker, decided to make the successor of its
206 model in Trnava, Slovakia. The car had been manufactured in the
Ryton factory near Coventry, England.
(Econ, 4/22/06, p.55)
2004 Jan 5, Norman Heatley
(92), a scientist whose pioneering work on penicillin production
helped save countless lives, died in Oxford, England. It was Heatley
and his Oxford University colleagues who produced enough for the
first clinical tests on humans.
(AP, 1/17/04)(SFC, 1/19/04, p.B4)
2004 Jan 8, Queen Elizabeth II
christened the world's largest ocean liner, the Queen Mary 2.
(AP, 1/8/04)
2004 Jan 13, In northern
England Dr. Harold Shipman was found hanged in his Wakefield prison
cell one day before his 58th birthday. He was convicted in 2000 of
killing 15 patients and later was found to have murdered at least
200 more, mostly by lethal injection. He always maintained his
innocence.
(AP, 1/13/04)
2004 Jan 28, British PM Tony
Blair won vindication when a judge said the BBC was wrong to report
the government had “sexed up” intelligence to justify war in Iraq.
(AP, 1/28/05)
2004 Jan 29, M.M. Kaye (95),
British author, died in Lavenham, England.
(AP, 1/29/05)
2004 Feb 5, At least 21
shellfish hunters, all apparently Chinese nationals, died when they
were trapped by fast-rising tides in treacherous Morecambe Bay in
northern England. In 2006 Lin Liang Ren (29) was found guilty in the
deaths of the shellfish pickers at Warton Sands. Lin's girlfriend,
Zhao Xiao Qing (21) and cousin Lin Mu Yong (31) were also convicted
of facilitating the deaths. Liangren was sentenced to 14 years in
prison. Xiaoqing was sentenced to 2 years and 9 months. Muyong was
sentenced to 4 years and 9 months.
(AP, 2/6/04)(AP, 3/24/06)(AFP, 3/28/06)
2004 Feb 6, Robbers handcuffed
15 workers at a cargo shed on the grounds of London's Heathrow
Airport and stole some $3.2 million in British pound notes.
(AP, 2/7/04)
2004 Feb 12, A union
representing almost 50,000 university teachers in Britain voted to
strike over pay.
(AP, 2/12/04)
2004 Feb 26, It was reported
that dentists were departing Britain's publicly funded National
Health Service in large numbers, leaving a growing number of Britons
without access to affordable care.
(AP, 2/26/04)
2004 Mar 3, Sumantra Ghoshal
(55), business academic, died of a stroke in London. His 12 books
included “Managing Across Borders” (1989). In 2005 Julian Birkinshaw
and Gita Piramal authored “Sumantra Ghoshal on Management: A Force
for Good.”
(Econ, 6/11/05, p.82)
2004 Mar 8, Keith Hopkins (69),
a historian who brought an innovative sociological approach to the
study of ancient Rome, died in Cambridge, England. His books
included "Conquerors and Slaves" and "Death and Renewal."
(AP, 3/15/04)(SFC, 3/16/04, p.B7)
2004 Mar 9, Britain ended a
3-year review and agreed to allow farmers to grow one variety
genetically modified "GM" corn.
(WSJ, 3/10/04, p.A14)
2004 Mar 19, Scientists
reported that Earth may be in the middle its 6th big extinction
event, which began some 50,000 years ago. A recent survey indicated
population extinctions in all the main ecosystems of Britain.
(SFC, 3/19/04, p.A5)
2004 Mar 25, British PM Tony
Blair and Libyan leader Col. Moammar Gadhafi greeted each other with
smiles and handshakes in a meeting that marked a major step back
into the international mainstream for the North African state.
(AP, 3/25/04)
2004 Mar 30, British police
raids in London led to the arrest of 8 men and the seizure of half a
ton of ammonium nitrate, a fertilizer compound used in the Oklahoma
City bombing.
(AP, 3/30/04)
2004 Mar, The US CIA worked
closely with Moammar Gadhafi's intelligence services in the
rendition of terror suspects to Libya for interrogation as revealed
by documents uncovered in 2011. The documents appear to be American
correspondence to Libyan officials to arrange for the rendition of
Abdel-Hakim Belhaj (nom de guerre, Abdullah al-Sadiq), a leader of
the Libyan Islamic Fighting Group (LIFG) with links to al-Qaida.
Belhadj later claimed to have been tortured by CIA agents at a
secret prison, then returned to Libya. Belhaj was detained in
Thailand and transferred to Tripoli, where he spent years in prison.
In 2013 he sued the British government over its alleged role in his
detention and rendition offered to settle for 3 pounds ($4.50) and
an apology.
(AP, 9/3/11)(Econ, 9/10/11, p.62)(AP, 3/4/13)
2004 Apr 11, The British Sunday
Times reported that an Indian steel tycoon paid $128 million for a
mansion in London, breaking the world record for the most expensive
house purchase.
(AP, 4/12/04)
2004 Apr 16, Pres. Bush said he
is handing over the lead role in the Iraqi political transition to
the UN's top envoy. Pres. Bush and British PM Tony Blair, meeting in
Washington, endorsed giving the UN broad control over Iraq's
political future.
(SFC, 4/17/04, p.A1)(AP, 4/16/05)
2004 Apr 16, On Nov 22, 2005,
London’s Daily Mirror reported that Pres. Bush spoke of targeting
Al-Jazeera's headquarters in Doha, Qatar, when he met PM Blair at
the White House on April 16, 2004. A civil servant was charged under
Britain's Official Secrets Act for allegedly leaking a government
memo that described the meeting.
(AP, 11/22/05)
2004 Apr 19, John Maynard
(1920-2004), a leading British evolutionary biologist widely
credited with taking the radical step of applying game theory to the
subject, died in Lewes, England. His books included "The Theory of
Evolution" (1958) and "The Evolution of Sex" (1978).
(SSFC, 4/25/04, p.B7)(AP, 4/29/04)
2004 Apr 19, Norris McWhirter
(78), co-creator of the Guinness Book of Records, died in England of
a heart attack.
(WSJ, 4/21/04, p.A1)
2004 Apr 20, British PM Tony
Blair said he would put a new European Union constitution to a
nationwide vote. No date was set.
(AP, 4/20/04)
2004 Apr 22, The Queen Mary 2
arrived in NYC on its maiden transatlantic voyage. A crew of 1,250
and 2,600 passengers made the 6-day crossing from Southampton,
England.
(SFC, 4/23/04, p.A3)
2004 Apr, David Blunkett,
British home secretary, launched a plan for a national identity
card.
(Econ, 5/1/04, p.62)
2004 May 3, Andrew Cavendish
(84), the 11th Duke of Devonshire, died.
(Econ, 5/15/04, p.83)
2004 May 5, British-based
SABMiller launched an unsolicited HK$4.3 billion ($550m) bid for
Harbin Brewery, China’s 4th largest brewer.
(Econ, 5/8/04, p.61)
2004 May 6, The Bank of England
raised interest rates a quarter point to 4.25%.
(Econ, 5/8/04, p.53)
2004 May 14, Britain's Daily
Mirror newspaper published a front-page apology after photographs
purportedly showing British forces abusing Iraqi prisoners turned
out to be fake.
(AP, 5/14/05)
2004 May 14, In Iraq British
troops engaged in a battle near the town of at Al Majar Al Kabir. In
2008 lawyers released evidence that they said shows British soldiers
may have tortured and executed up to 20 Iraqis after the battle of
Danny Boy. On Feb 4, 2013, Britain’s Al-Sweady Inquiry began oral
hearings in the case.
(AP, 2/22/08)(AP, 3/4/13)
2004 May 19, Britain opened the
world’s 1st stem cell bank.
(WSJ, 5/20/04, p.A1)
2004 May 23, Rod Hall (53),
British literary agent, was found dead in his London home. An
autopsy revealed the cause of death to be multiple stab wounds to
the chest and abdomen. On May 29 Usman Durrani, 20, a student from
east London, was charged with the murder.
(AP, 5/30/04)
2004 May 24, A fire in London
hit an art storage warehouse and is believed to have destroyed works
by some 100 contemporary Young British artists (YBAs) worth millions
of dollars, including part of a collection owned by former
advertising guru Charles Saatchi.
(AP, 5/26/04)(Econ, 5/29/04, p.58)
2004 May 27, London police
arrested Abu Hamza al-Masri, a radical Muslim cleric suspected of
helping the deadly 2000 suicide attack on the USS Cole. The US
sought his extradition on terrorism charges. He was accused of
trying to build a terrorist training camp in Oregon.
(AP, 5/27/04)(WSJ, 5/28/04, p.A1)
2004 Jun 8, Britain planned to
give an extra 15 million pounds (27 million dollars) in relief aid
to Sudan's crisis-hit Darfur region.
(AFP, 6/8/04)
2004 Jun 13, Author and
academic Stuart Hampshire, a former chairman of the department of
philosophy at Princeton University who argued that philosophy must
be studied within the context of other disciplines, died in Oxford,
England. His books included "The Freedom of the Individual."
(AP, 6/16/04)
2004 Jun 21, Iran confiscated
three British military vessels and arrested eight armed crew
members.
(AP, 6/21/04)
2004 Jul 20, Britain's
government backed long-standing plans to build a railway network
linking east and west London at a cost of around 10 billion pounds.
(AFP, 7/20/04)
2004 Jul 21, Defence Secretary
Geoff Hoon announced Britain is to slash around 19,000 posts from
its armed forces over the next four years as part of an overhaul of
military priorities.
(AFP, 7/21/04)
2004 Jun 21, Iran’s
Revolutionary Guards, known as Pasdaran, confiscated three British
military vessels and arrested eight armed crew members in the Shatt
al-Arab waterway. The men were released 2 days later.
(AP, 6/21/04)(SFC, 6/24/04, p.A12)(Econ, 4/7/07,
p.24)
2004 Jul 25, The Warwick
agreement came about as a compromise between Britain’s Labour
Government and trade unions at the Labour Party's National Policy
forum.
(www.unionstogether.org.uk/articles/employment.html)
2004 Jul 26, Banco Santander
Central Hispano of Spain, with the help of Royal Bank of Scotland,
announced a deal to acquire Abbey National Bank in the UK. The $16
billion deal created the tenth largest bank in the world.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Abbey_(bank))
2004 Jul, The Diana memorial
fountain opened in Hyde Park. It was designed by Kathryn Gustafson,
American architect, and soon closed due to numerous problems.
(Econ, 7/31/04, p.49)
2004 Aug 3, In London 13 Asian
men were arrested. One known as Moussa (or al-Hindi) was later said
to be the head of al-Qaeda in Britain.
(Econ, 8/7/04, p.46)
2004 Aug 8, Traces of the
anti-depressant Prozac have been found in Britain's drinking water
supply, setting off alarm bells with environmentalists concerned
about potentially toxic effects. In the decade up to 2001, overall
prescriptions of antidepressants in Britain rose from 9 million to
24 million a year.
(AP, 8/8/04)
2004 Aug 11, Britain granted
its 1st license for human embryonic cloning research.
(WSJ, 8/12/04, p.A1)
2004 Aug 17, Britain brought
terrorism charges against 8 al Qaeda suspects tied to recent alerts
about US financial sites. They were charged with conspiring to
commit murder and use radioactive materials, toxic gases, chemicals
or explosives to cause "fear or injury."
(WSJ, 8/18/04, p.A1)(AP, 8/17/05)
2004 Aug 19, Amelie Delegrange
(22), from Hanvoile, north of Paris, was battered to death in the
southwest London neighborhood of Twickenham Green after a night out
in a wine bar. In 2006 Levi Bellfield, former nightclub bouncer,
faced trial for her murder and the February, 2003, murder of student
Marsha McDonnell (19). Bellfield was convicted on February 25, 2008
of the two murders. The following day, he was sentenced to life
imprisonment with a recommendation that he should never be released.
(AFP,
6/9/06)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Levi_Bellfield)
2004 Aug 25, In South Africa
Mark Thatcher, the son of former British PM Margaret Thatcher, was
arrested and charged with helping to finance a foiled coup attempt
in oil rich Equatorial Guinea. In 2008 Equatorial Guinea issued an
international arrest warrant against Mark Thatcher, accusing him of
being an instigator of the abortive coup plot.
(AP, 8/25/04)(AFP, 3/29/08)
2004 Aug 28, London’s Notting
Hill Carnival began with more than a million revelers expected to
turn out to celebrate the 3-day event's 40th year.
(AP, 8/29/04)
2004 Aug, The British
government sent out a pamphlet to the public titled “Preparing for
Emergencies: What You Need to Know.”
(Econ, 7/31/04, p.48)
2004 Aug, Dhiren Barot, a
British national who spent time training with Lashkar-e-Taiba, was
arrested. In 2006 he was convicted of planning a bombing in London.
(WSJ, 12/8/08, p.A6)
2004 Sep 5, London’s Sunday
Times reported that John Knight, a millionaire British arms dealer,
is reportedly fuelling a bloody civil war in Sudan by arranging to
supply its government with tanks, rocket launchers and a cruise
missile.
(AP, 9/5/04)
2004 Sep 9, A military Lynx
helicopter crashed near the city of Brno in the Czech Republic,
killing six British soldiers.
(AP, 9/9/04)
2004 Sep 15, In England the
number of people seeking unemployment benefits fell by 6,100 to
830,200, the lowest level since July 1975.
(AFP, 9/15/04)
2004 Sep 19, British commoners
gained the right to stroll over an additional 153,000 hectares of
private land.
(Econ, 9/18/04, p.62)
2004 Sep 23, Nigel Nicolson
(87), English writer and publisher, died. His mother was Vita
Sackville-West.
(Econ, 10/2/04, p.87)
2004 Sep 26, Gordon Brown,
Britain’s chancellor of the Exchequer, repeated his proposal that
the IMF should revalue its gold reserves and use proceeds to cancel
some Third World debt.
(SSFC, 9/26/04, p.A12)
2004 Oct 1, British PM Tony
Blair reportedly underwent a procedure to correct an irregular
heartbeat.
(AP, 10/1/04)
2004 Oct 5, Britain pulled the
license of a Liverpool factory responsible for manufacturing half of
Chiron Corp.’s US flu vaccine supply.
(SFC, 10/6/04, p.A1)
2004 Oct 7, In Ethiopia British
PM Tony Blair spoke before the Africa Commission and warned that
poverty and instability in Africa is providing a fertile breeding
ground for terror and criminal organizations.
(AP, 10/7/04)
2004 Oct 8, In Iraq kidnappers
displayed a video of the beheading of British hostage Kenneth Bigley
(62) following an unsuccessful escape attempt.
(AP, 10/8/04)(SFC, 10/9/04, p.A1)
2004 Oct 9, Queen Elizabeth
opened Scotland's new parliament building in Edinburgh, which was
finished late and cost 430 million pounds ($845 million), 10 times
over budget.
(Reuters, 2/16/12)
2004 Oct 9, In Nottingham,
central England, a teenage girl who was gunned down near her home in
an apparently random attack. Danielle Beccan (14) was shot as many
as six times from a passing car while walking back from a funfair
with friends.
(AP, 10/10/04)
2004 Oct 15, Craig Murray,
Britain's former ambassador to Uzbekistan, said he is a "victim of
conscience" for having dared to speak out against human rights
outrages. Murray had highlighted the allegedly systematic use of
torture, including the alleged boiling to death of two prisoners, by
Uzbek authorities.
(AP, 10/15/04)
2004 Oct 19, Britain’s Man
Booker Prize and a $90,000 check was awarded to Alan Hollinghurst
for his novel “The Line of Beauty.”
(SFC, 10/20/04, p.E2)
2004 Oct 19, British
prosecutors charged radical Islamic cleric Abu Hamza al-Masri with
incitement to murder for allegedly urging followers to kill Jews and
other non-Muslims. The indictment pre-empted a U.S. bid to extradite
him on terror charges.
(AP, 10/19/04)
2004 Oct 22, Figures approved
for public release by the British House of Commons, showed its 659
members claimed an average of 118,437 pounds in 2003, on top of
their basic salary of 57,000 pounds.
(AP, 10/22/04)
2004 Oct 22, A videotape of
Margaret Hassan, the kidnapped director of CARE International in
Iraq, appeared on Al-Jazeera, weeping and pleading with British PM
Tony Blair to withdraw troops from Iraq "and not bring them to
Baghdad" because "this might be my last hours."
(AP, 10/22/04)
2004 Nov 1, James Edward, Baron
Hanson (b.1922), English conservative industrialist, died at his
Berkshire home. He built his businesses through the process of
leveraged buyouts through Hanson PLC.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_Hanson,_Baron_Hanson)(Econ,
11/6/04, p.68)
2004 Nov 4, Three British
soldiers of the Black Watch regiment, recently moved northward, were
killed in a suicide bombing.
(SFC, 11/5/04, p.A3)
2004 Nov 6, In England 7 people
were killed and 150 injured when a Eurostar high-speed train crashed
into a vehicle that was stopped on a level crossing near Ufton
Nervet in Berkshire. A motorist's suicide was suspected.
(AP, 11/8/04)
2004 Nov 13, The new Lord Mayor
of London, Michael Savory, paraded through the streets of the
British capital in a traditional pomp-filled pageant. The mayor's
one-year term consists mainly of acting as an ambassador for
Europe's dominant financial centre.
(AP, 11/13/04)
2004 Nov 18, Britain outlawed
fox hunting in England and Wales as elected legislators used the
1949 Parliament Act to win a dramatic standoff with the House of
Lords to ban the popular country sport.
(AP, 11/18/04)(SFC, 11/19/04, p.A2)
2004 Dec 2, Dame Alicia Markova
(b.1910 as Alice Marks), eminent ballerina and founder of the
English National Ballet, died.
(SFC, 12/3/04, p.B6)(Econ, 12/11/04, p.85)
2004 Dec 8, British and Irish
leaders published a detailed plan for reviving a Catholic-Protestant
administration in Northern Ireland.
(AP, 12/8/04)
2004 Dec 8, Lord Scarman (93),
English lawyer and judge, died. He investigated the 1981 Brixton
riots and provided a report with ground breaking recommendations.
(Econ, 1/1/05, p.68)
2004 Dec 16, Britain's highest
court dealt a huge blow to the government's anti-terrorism policy by
ruling that it cannot detain foreign suspects indefinitely without
trial.
(AP, 12/16/04)
2004 Dec 21, British PM Tony
Blair made a surprise visit to Baghdad, urging Iraqis to support
national elections and describing violence here as a "battle between
democracy and terror."
(AP, 12/21/04)
2004 Dec 26, The Independent
reported that British PM Tony Blair has ordered the military to
prepare to deploy up to 3,000 soldiers to the conflict-torn Sudanese
region of Darfur.
(AP, 12/26/04)
2004 Arthur Herman authored “To
Rule the Waves: How the British Navy Shaped the Modern World.”
(SSFC, 1/2/05, p.E3)
2004 The British government
decided that pluralism requires all schools to include some
instruction on atheism.
(WSJ, 2/20/09, p.W11)
2004 In Britain Senior Lord of
Appeal Tom Bingham (1933-2010) ruled that 9 foreign men, held at
Belmarsh prison in London, had been detained illegally.
(Econ, 9/18/10,
p.107)(http://tinyurl.com/2b6j66v)
2004 In England Ali Parsa, a
former banker at Goldman Sachs, formed Circle Healthcare, and shared
ownership with its employees. The hospital treated a mixture of
National health Service and private patients.
(Econ, 5/21/11, p.63)
2004 University of Manchester
professors Andre Geim and Konstantin Novoselov used Scotch tape to
isolate graphene, a form of carbon only one atom thick but more than
100 times stronger than steel, and showed it has exceptional
properties, the strongest and thinnest material known to mankind.
(AP, 10/5/10)(Econ, 12/5/15, TQ p.9)
2005 Jan 1, The United Kingdom
was forecast for 2.3% annual GDP growth with a population at 60.7
million and GDP per head at $38,670.
(Econ, 1/8/05, p.90)
2005 Jan 1, The British Freedom
of Information Act of 2000 went into effect. It gave a general right
of access to all types of recorded information held by public
authorities and places obligations on public authorities to disclose
information, subject to a range of exemptions.
(Econ, 12/23/06,
p.84)(www.bl.uk/about/policies/freedom.html)
2005 Jan 8, Hurricane-force
winds swept across northern Europe, leaving at least 13 dead
including 3 in Carlisle, England, 4 in Denmark and 6 in Sweden.
(AP, 1/9/05)
2005 Jan 12, Britain’s Prince
Harry apologized after a newspaper published a photograph of the
young royal wearing a Nazi uniform to a costume party.
(AP, 1/12/06)
2005 Jan 14, Brian Blackburn(
62), a retired British policeman who killed his terminally-ill wife
in a suicide pact, walked free with a suspended jail sentence after
the court called him a "loving husband."
(AP, 1/14/05)
2005 Jan 15, Visiting
Chancellor of the Exchequer Gordon Brown revealed that Britain has
decided to cancel Mozambique's total debt to it of 150 million
dollars (114 million euros) to help the southern African country
combat poverty. He said: "We've also agreed to pay 10 percent of
Mozambique's multilateral debt."
(AP, 1/15/05)
2005 Jan 17, British Treasury
chief Gordon Brown called on wealthy nations and international
institutions to write off Africa's debt, saying debts incurred by
past generations are keeping the continent poor.
(AP, 1/17/05)
2005 Jan 19, PM Tony Blair said
the military would not tolerate any abuse of Iraqi prisoners as new
graphic photos depicting alleged mistreatment of detainees blared
across the front pages of British newspapers.
(AP, 1/19/05)
2005 Jan 31, Prime Minister
Ayad Allawi, Iraq's interim leader, called on his countrymen to set
aside their differences, while local precincts finished a
first-phase count of millions of ballots from the weekend election.
(AP, 1/31/05)
2005 Feb 5, In London
Chancellor of the Exchequer Gordon Brown said that finance ministers
from the Group of Seven (G7) rich nations had for the first time
expressed firm willingness to provide as much as 100 percent debt
relief for the world's poorest countries. The Heavily Indebted Poor
Countries Initiative (HIPC) is a joint initiative of the World Bank
and the International Monetary Fund that offers debt relief to the
world's most impoverished nations which agree to undertake economic
reform.
(AP, 2/5/05)
2005 Feb 7, In England and
Wales new laws came into effect that allow pubs, clubs and other
drinking venues to apply to stay open 24 hours a day.
(AP, 2/7/05)
2005 Feb 7, Ellen MacArthur
(28) of Britain completed her solo sail around the world in just
over 71 days and 14 hours, shaving 32 hours off the previous record.
(AP, 2/8/05)
2005 Feb 8, Ian Wilmut, the
scientist who created Dolly the sheep, the world's first cloned
mammal, has been given a license to clone human embryos for medical
research. Therapeutic cloning research has been legal in Great
Britain since 2001.
(AP, 2/8/05)
2005 Feb 18, Britain faced the
threat of mass strikes in the public sector ahead of an upcoming
election as teachers, nurses and civil servants protested against a
plan to raise their retirement age and cut pensions.
(AFP, 2/18/05)
2005 Feb 18, A British ban on
hunting with dogs became effective.
(AP, 2/19/05)
2005 Feb 19, About half a
million hunters and supporters rallied across England and Wales in a
massive display of force against a new fox hunting ban.
(AP, 2/19/05)
2005 Feb 21, The British
government said same-sex partners will be able to enter into civil
unions from December, joining gays in parts of Europe and the United
States in obtaining many of the rights enjoyed by married people.
(AP, 2/21/05)
2005 Feb 22, Britain said it
will impose new penalties on Sinn Fein, the Irish Republican
Army-linked party, as punishment for the IRA's alleged robbery of a
Belfast bank.
(AP, 2/22/05)
2005 Feb 23, A military jury
convicted two British servicemen on charges of involvement in
abusing Iraqi civilians.
(AP, 2/23/05)
2005 Feb 24, Anglican leaders
forced a suspension of the US Episcopal Church and Canadian
adherents due to same sex marriages and ordaining gay clergy.
(WSJ, 2/25/05, p.A1)
2005 Feb 28, In Britain the
Duchess of Northumberland opened her new Poison Garden, dedicated to
the world’s most venomous and hallucinogenic plants. It was a part
of Alnwick Garden opened in 2002.
(SFC, 10/29/05,
p.F7)(www.alnwickgarden.com/media/in_the_press.asp)
2005 Mar 2, Queen Elizabeth II
dubbed Bill Gates (49) an honorary noble.
(SFC, 3/3/05, p.A2)
2005 Mar 7, United Defense
Industries, maker of the Bradley Fighting Vehicle, agreed to merge
with British defense firm BAE Systems in a $4 billion deal.
(SFC, 3/8/05, p.D1)
2005 Mar 12, Britain's
governing Labour Party claimed victory for pushing through its
contentious anti-terrorism law after an acrimonious two-day debate
in Parliament.
(AP, 3/12/05)
2005 Mar 21, The BBC announced
plans to cut almost 4,000 jobs to save hundreds of millions of
pounds, as the world's biggest public broadcaster undergoes a major
shake-up.
(AP, 3/21/05)
2005 Mar 26, James Callaghan,
former British prime minister (1976-1979), died on the eve of his
93rd birthday.
(SSFC, 3/27/05, p.A21)(Econ, 4/2/05, p.80)
2005 Apr 9, Prince Charles and
Camilla Parker Bowles were married in a modest civil ceremony at the
17th century Guildhall, and the second marriage for each was blessed
by the Church of England.
(AP, 4/9/05)
2005 Apr 11, Britain imposed a
year-long ban on delivering first-time visas to Nigerians aged 18 to
30, citing a backlog of applications, most of which are rejected.
(AP, 4/11/05)
2005 Apr 13, In England Kamel
Bourgass (31) of Algeria, captured in Jan 2003, was sentenced to 17
years in jail for planning attacks using ricin, cyanide and other
poisons. He is already serving a life sentence for the murder of
policeman Stephen Oake. 8 others arrested in the case were acquitted
or not brought to trial.
(AP, 4/14/05)(SFC, 4/14/05, p.A3)
2005 Apr 13, Britain and India
agreed to more than double the number of flights between the two
nations, opening up dozens of lucrative new routes for airlines.
(AP, 4/13/05)
2005 Apr 15, Administrators for
Britain’s MG Rover Group said they intend to break up the company,
laying off 5,000 workers, in a bid to find buyers for different
units after the Shanghai Automotive Industry Corp. made clear it was
not interested in a joint venture.
(AP, 4/15/05)
2005 Apr 19, Britain's GW
Pharmaceuticals announced its multiple sclerosis (MS) pain relief
drug Sativex, the world's first containing cannabis, has been
approved for use in Canada.
(AP, 4/19/05)
2005 Apr 22, Eduardo Paolozzi
(b.1924), sculptor and printmaker, died. In 1952 he helped form an
association of British artists called The Independent Group.
Paolozzi, born in Scotland of Italian parents, became known as a key
contributor to British pop art.
(SSFC, 5/1/05, p.A23)(Econ, 4/30/05, p.82)
2005 Apr 23, British actor Sir
John Mills (97) died at his home in Denham. His over 100 films
included “Great Expectations” (1946) and “Ryan’s Daughter”
(1970).
(SSFC, 4/24/05, p.A2)
2005 Apr 25, Alex Trotman (71),
retired Ford Motor Co. Chairman (1993-1998), died at his home in
England. He spearheaded a $5 billion restructuring to restore the
automaker to profitability in the 1990s.
(AP, 4/25/05)(Econ, 4/30/05, p.63)
2005 Apr, The decomposing body
of Anthony Ashley-Cooper, the Earl of Shaftesbury, was found in a
ravine in the French Riviera, five months after he disappeared from
his home in Cannes. In 2007 his mistress testified that he had been
strangled to death by Mohamed M'Barek, the brother of his wife,
Jamila M'Barek.
(AFP, 5/23/07)
2005 May 5, Tony Blair was
elected to a historic third term as Britain's prime minister.
Conservatives, Michael Howard, announced that he would step down
after a stinging election defeat at the hands of PM Tony Blair's
Labor Party.
(AP, 5/6/05)
2005 May 6, British Prime
Minister Tony Blair unveiled his Cabinet, changing leadership in
defense and health but keeping mostly familiar faces after a third
term victory dampened by a reduced majority in Parliament.
(AP, 5/6/06)
2005 May 17, PM Tony Blair
unveiled plans to shake up Britain's welfare state, tackle terrorism
and introduce Britain's first national ID card since WW II in a
challenging third term agenda that could spark revolt in his restive
Labour Party and test his waning authority.
(AP, 5/18/05)
2005 May 19, British
researchers reported the creation of the country's first, and the
world's second (South Korea), cloned human embryo.
(AP, 5/20/05)
2005 May 23, Thousands of
British Broadcasting Corp. journalists and technicians began a
24-hour strike over proposed job cuts, severely disrupting radio and
TV programs.
(AP, 5/23/05)
2005 May 24, The British
government approved the extradition of three British bankers the
United States is seeking to prosecute on fraud charges involving
Enron Corp.
(AP, 5/24/05)
2005 May 27, Thousands of HSBC
staff belonging to the Amicus trade union staged the biggest
walk-out for more than eight years against a leading British bank
when they went on strike in a bitter pay dispute.
(AFP, 5/27/05)
2005 Jun 2, Melita Norwood
(93), former Soviet Union spy in Britain (1937-1972), died.
(Econ, 7/2/05, p.52)(http://tinyurl.com/8f3yy)
2005 Jun 3, Gordon Brown,
Britain's treasury chief, proposed canceling all debt to Africa's
poorest countries, eliminating all trade barriers and selling gold
reserves as part of a "modern Marshall plan" for the giant
continent.
(AP, 6/3/05)
2005 Jun 3, Albanian novelist
Ismail Kadare (b.1936) won the first international version of
Britain's prestigious Man Booker literary prize. Kadare became
famous in his homeland with the 1963 publication of his first novel,
"The General of the Dead Army" (1963). His other works include "The
Concert" (1988) and "The Palace of Dreams" (1981). David Bellos won
the accompanying translator’s prize.
(AP, 6/3/05)(Econ, 9/10/11, p.96)
2005 Jun 11, Finance ministers
from the Group of Eight industrialized nations meting in London
agreed to a historic deal canceling at least $40 billion worth of
debt owed by 18 of the world's poorest nations. These included:
Benin, Bolivia, Burkina Faso, Ethiopia, Ghana, Guyana, Honduras,
Madagascar, Mali, Mauritania, Mozambique, Nicaragua, Niger, Rwanda,
Senegal, Tanzania, Uganda and Zambia.
(AP, 6/11/05)
2005 Jun 23, G8 foreign
ministers met in London. The Middle East peace process, Iran's
nuclear program and tackling opium production in Afghanistan topped
the agenda.
(AP, 6/23/05)
2005 Jun 24, A flash flood hit
Britain's famous Glastonbury rock festival and left some 120,000
people trying to dry out after parts of the site soaked under
neck-deep water.
(AP, 6/25/05)
2005 Jun 27, PM Tony Blair
defended Britain's deportation of failed Zimbabwean asylum seekers,
a policy that has triggered a refugee hunger strike.
(AP, 6/27/05)
2005 Jun 30, The income of
Prince Charles, heir to the British throne, rose by 11% in 2004 to
more than $23 million, according to an annual financial report
released by his household.
(AP, 6/30/05)
2005 Jun 30, Christopher Fry,
English playwright, died at age 97. Fry was England’s last
successful playwright to write in verse. His work included “Look
Back in Anger” (1956).
(Econ, 7/16/05, p.83)
2005 Jul 4, A British court
upheld the government's ban on adoptions of Cambodian children. Six
couples had gone to court to challenge the ban, which was imposed in
June of last year.
(AP, 7/4/05)
2005 Jul 6, London was awarded
the 2012 Olympics, upsetting European rival Paris in the final round
of voting to take the games back to the British capital for the
first time since 1948. Costs for the 2112 Olympics were originally
estimated at £2.4 billion. By 2006 the costs rose to £4.7 billion.
(AP, 7/6/05)(Econ, 11/25/06, p.57)
2005 Jul 7, Four blasts rocked
the London subway and tore open a packed double-decker bus during
the morning rush hour, sending bloodied victims fleeing. 52 were
killed in the subway blasts, including 13 on the bus, and London
hospitals reported more than 700 wounded. A group calling itself
"The Secret Organization of al-Qaida in Europe" posted a claim of
responsibility, saying they were in retaliation for Britain's
involvement in Iraq and Afghanistan. In 2007 British police arrested
3 suspects. [see ref URL for CNN timeline on the bombing] In 2008 a
jury failed to convict 3 Britons accused of helping the suicide
bombers. In 2009 three men were found not guilty of helping to plan
the suicide bombings, although two were convicted on lesser charges.
(AP, 7/7-8/05)(http://tinyurl.com/dxvlb)(AP,
7/11/05)(WSJ, 3/23/07, p.A1)(WSJ, 8/2/08, p.A6)(AFP, 4/28/09)(AFP,
1/19/15)
2005 Jul 8, Police said that
the bombs used in London's terrorist attacks held less than 10
pounds of explosives each.
(AP, 7/8/05)
2005 Jul 10, In Britain a
Pakistani man was killed in a suspected racial attack in the central
city of Nottingham.
(AP, 7/12/05)
2005 Jul 11, British
investigators found the images of 4 young men carrying backpacks in
King's Cross station at about 8:30 a.m., 20 minutes before the Jul 7
subway explosions.
(AP, 7/13/05)(AP, 7/14/05)
2005 Jul 12, British police
closed Luton's train station and carried out 9 controlled explosions
on a parked car, which the BBC reported contained explosives. At
least 3 Britons from Leeds of Pakistani descent were suspected of
carrying out the July 7 attacks that killed 54 and injured 700.
Surveillance cameras captured the men as they arrived in the capital
20 minutes before the explosions began.
(AP, 7/13/05)
2005 Jul 12, BP said it has
sent teams to fix its 'Thunder Horse' oil platform, which has been
listing since Hurricane Dennis hit the Gulf of Mexico. The platform,
located 150 miles (250 kilometers) southeast of New Orleans, was
slipping by around 20-30 degrees following the passing of the storm,
but no injuries or leaks were reported.
(AP, 7/13/05)
2005 Jul 13, British police
identified 3 of the July 7 bombers as Shahzad Tanweer (22), Mohammed
Sidique Khan (30), and Hasib Hussain (19), the bomber on the N0. 30
bus. The 4th suicide bomber was identified the next day as Lindsey
Germaine (19), a Jamaican-born Briton.
(SFC, 7/30/05, p.A11)
2005 Jul 15, An official said
police in Egypt said they had arrested Magdy el-Nashar (33), an
Egyptian biochemist, sought in the probe of the London bombings. He
was taken into custody upon his arrival in Cairo from abroad.
(AP, 7/15/05)
2005 Jul 16, The death toll
from the July 7 bombings in London rose to 55 as a badly wounded
young architect succumbed 9 days after being rescued. British PM
Tony Blair warned that an "evil ideology" of Islamic extremism was
bent on spreading terror through the West.
(SSFC, 7/17/05, p.A17)(AP, 7/16/06)
2005 Jul 16, Pakistani security
officials said 3 of the 4 London suicide bombers recently visited
Pakistan. Investigators probed whether they met with Al-Qaeda-linked
militant groups.
(AP, 7/16/05)
2005 Jul 17, Sir Edward Heath
(b.1916), PM of England (1970-1974), died. He led England into what
is now the EU but lost the Conservative Party leadership to Margaret
Thatcher. In 2017 police said he would have been interviewed
under caution over seven allegations of sexual assault dating
between 1961 and 1992, relating to five boys and two adult men.
(AP, 7/17/05)(SFC, 7/18/05, p.B6)(Econ, 7/23/05,
p.80)(AFP, 10/5/17)
2005 Jul 17, Egypt demanded
that institutions in Britain and Belgium return two pharaonic
reliefs it says were chipped off tombs and stolen 30 years ago,
threatening to end their archaeological work here if they refuse.
(AP, 7/17/05)
2005 Jul 18, A British jury
convicted Faryadi Sarwar Zardad, a former Afghan warlord, of torture
and hostage-taking (1991-1996). It was the first trial in Britain of
a foreigner for crimes committed in his homeland. The next day
Zardad was sentenced to 20 years in prison.
(AP, 7/19/05)(AP, 7/20/05)
2005 Jul 19, British firm
SABMiller announced a $7.8 billion purchase of Grupo Empresarial
Bavaria, South America’s 2nd largest brewer.
(Econ, 7/23/05, p.61)
2005 Jul 19, Egypt said that
Magdy el-Nashar, the detained chemist wanted by Britain for
questioning about the London bombings, had no links to the July 7
attacks or to al-Qaida.
(AP, 7/19/05)
2005 Jul 21, Explosions struck
3 London Underground stations and a bus at midday in a chilling but
less deadly replay of the suicide bombings that killed 56 people two
weeks ago. One person was seriously wounded. In 2007 a British
prosecutor told a jury that 6 men plotted to kill London subway and
bus passengers with bombs made from hydrogen peroxide and flour on
July 21, 2005, two weeks after suicide bombers killed 52 commuters
in the city. The devices failed to explode. In 2007 a jury convicted
Muktar Said Ibrahim (29), Yassin Omar (26), Ramzi Mohammed (25), and
Hussain Osman (28) for conspiracy to murder. The jury failed to
reach a verdict for Manfo Kwaku Asiedu (34) and Adel Yahya (24). The
4 convicted men were sentenced to life in prison. In 2007 Manfo
Kwaku Asiedu, who was born in Ghana, admitted a charge of conspiracy
to cause explosions over the failed bombings. Asiedu was supposed to
be carrying a fifth bomb on the day but ended up dumping the
rucksack with his device in a park in north London. Asiedu was
sentenced to 33 years in prison. In 2008 Siraj Ali (33), Muhedin Ali
(29), Ismail Abdurahman (25), Wahbi Mohammed (25) and Abdul Sherif
(30), were convicted on 22 charges of failing to disclose
information about terrorism and assisting an offender. They included
the brothers of two of the July 21, 2005 bombers.
(AP, 7/21/05)(AP, 1/15/07)(AP, 7/11/07)(Reuters,
11/9/07)(AP, 11/20/07)(AFP, 2/4/08)
2005 Jul 22, In London a man,
who appeared to be South Asian, was slain by officers at the
Stockwell subway station. Police said the man was challenged and
refused to obey instructions. The next day police identified the man
as Jean Charles de Menezes, a Brazilian electrician, and said he was
not related the bombings and expressed regret for his death. Menezes
was shot in the head 7 times. In 2009 the Metropolitan police agreed
to a compensation deal with the family of de Menezes. On March 30 a
European court ruled that British authorities were right not to
prosecute police over the killing of Menezes.
(AP, 7/22/05)(AP, 7/23/05)(Econ, 7/22/06,
p.18)(AFP, 11/23/09)(SFC, 3/31/16, p.A2)
2005 Jul 23, The man shot at
the Stockwell subway station on July 22 was identified as Jean
Charles de Menezes (27) of Brazil. London police acknowledged that
Menezes had nothing to do with recent bombings on the city’s transit
system. Brazil's government demanded an explanation for the fatal
police shooting of a Brazilian citizen on a London subway car.
(AP, 7/24/05)
2005 Jul 24, Sir Richard Doll
(92), the British scientist who first established a link between
smoking and lung cancer, died in Oxford, England.
(AP, 7/24/06)
2005 Jul 25, British police
identified 2 suspects in the July 21 bombings: Muktar Said Ibrahim
(27) and Yasin Hassan Omar (24)
(SFC, 7/30/05, p.A11)
2005 Jul 26, Pernod Ricard SA
said it has completed its takeover of British rival Allied Domecq
PLC to become the world's second-largest wines and spirits maker.
(AP, 7/26/05)
2005 Jul 27, British police
arrested 4 men in raids in Birmingham including Yasin Hassan Omar,
who was suspected of being a member of the gang that carried out
botched bombings last week in London. 3 women were also arrested.
(Reuters, 7/27/05)(SFC, 7/30/05, p.A11)
2005 Jul 28, Anti-terrorist
officers arrested nine men in dawn raids in connection with the
botched July 21 attacks on London's transit system, bringing to 20
the number of people police have in custody, including one of the
alleged bombers.
(AP, 7/28/05)
2005 Jul 28, An official
reported anonymously that Haroon Rashid Aswat (31) has been arrested
in the border town of Livingstone, having crossed into Zambia from
Zimbabwe. Aswat was sought in connection with the July 7 attacks in
London that killed 56 people.
(AP, 7/29/05)
2005 Jul 29, London police
raided 2 apartments in West London and arrested three people
connected to the failed July 21 transit bombings.
(AP, 7/29/05)
2005 Jul 29, The British army
began closing or demolishing military installations in the Irish
Republican Army's rural heartland in a rapid response to the IRA's
declaration to renounce violence and disarm.
(AP, 7/29/05)
2005 Jul 29, Osman Hussain
(27), a Briton with Ethiopian citizenship, was arrested in Rome
after investigators traced his cell phone calls across Europe. He is
accused of trying to attack the Shepherd's Bush subway station in
west London.
(AP, 7/30/05)
2005 Jul 30, Anthony Walker
(18), a black teenager who was followed through a park by a group of
men shouting racist taunts, died after an attacker embedded an ax in
his skull.
(AP, 7/31/05)
2005 Jul 30, In southern Iraq 2
British contractors guarding a consulate convoy were killed by a
roadside bomb. A car bomb exploded near the National Theater in
Baghdad, killing 5 people, including 3 policemen. Assailants in
military garb tried to assassinate a prominent Sunni Arab leader. 5
US soldiers were killed by roadside bombs in two separate incidents
in Baghdad.
(AP, 7/30/05)(AP, 7/31/05)
2005 Jul 31, Police arrested
seven people during a raid on an apartment in southern England,
bringing to 21 the number in custody in the relentless hunt for
accomplices in the failed July 21 transit bombings in London.
(AP, 7/31/06)
2005 Jul 31, Jeong Jang shot a
3-under 69 to win the Women's British Open by four strokes.
(AP, 7/31/06)
2005 Jul, Britain banned
Kenya’s minister Chris Murungaru from visiting Britain. No reason
was given but allegations of corruption in Kenya were believed to be
a major factor.
(Econ, 8/13/05, p.38)
2005 Aug 1, Britain revealed a
two-year plan for slashing its army garrison and base network to
peacetime levels in Northern Ireland in a dramatic, detailed
response to Irish Republican Army peace moves.
(AP, 8/1/05)
2005 Aug 2, France, Britain and
Germany hardened their tone toward Iran, warning that Tehran risked
triggering an international crisis and could face U.N. sanctions if
it follows through with a threat to resume its nuclear program.
(AP, 8/2/05)
2005 Aug 3, British police
charged Ismael Abdurahman (23) of South London, arrested on July 28,
on an offense relating to terrorism.
(SFC, 8/4/05, p.A10)
2005 Aug 4, The Bank of England
cut official interest rates by a quarter of a percentage point to
4.5 percent, noting the risk that already sluggish household
spending and investment growth in Britain could slow further.
(AP, 8/4/05)
2005 Aug 5, PM Tony Blair
announced strict new measures that would allow Britain to deport
foreigners who preach hatred, sponsor violence or belong to
extremist groups.
(AP, 8/5/05)
2005 Aug 6, Robin Cook (59),
former British Foreign Secretary, who quit Prime Minister Tony
Blair's Cabinet in 2003 to protest the Iraq war, died after
collapsing on a Scottish mountain while walking with his wife.
(AP, 8/6/05)(Econ, 8/13/05, p.75)
2005 Aug 7, A British
remote-controlled vehicle cut away undersea cables that snarled a
Russian mini-submarine in deep waters off the Kamchatka Peninsula
allowing it to surface. 7 people trapped for nearly 3 days on the
mini-sub were rescued.
(AP, 8/7/05)
2005 Aug 7, Zambia deported
Haroon Rashid Aswat (31), a Briton who has been questioned in
connection with the July 7 London transit bombings and is suspected
of links to al-Qaida.
(AP, 8/7/05)
2005 Aug 10, The castaway
television thriller "Lost" debuted as the most watched U.S. import
on British television since soap opera "Dallas" captivated fans more
than 20 years ago.
(AP, 8/11/05)
2005 Aug 11, A one-day strike
by British Airways baggage handlers and other ground staff forced
the cancellation of hundreds of flights to and from Heathrow
Airport.
(AP, 8/11/06)
2005 Aug 11, Lebanese police
arrested Omar Bakri, the Islamic cleric who is being investigated in
Britain for his remarks on the London bombings.
(AP, 8/11/05)
2005 Aug 12, At least 70,000
travelers were left stranded as British Airways canceled all flights
to and from Heathrow Airport after catering staff, baggage handlers
and other ground crew walked off the job in wildcat strikes at the
height of the summer tourism season.
(AP, 8/12/05)
2005 Aug 13, Britain's
tax-funded National Health Service is unsustainable and should be
scrapped, the country's most senior doctor said, but the country's
largest health union warned that any change to the NHS' founding
principles would lead to a "public outcry".
(AP, 8/13/05)
2005 Aug 16, In Britain an
official investigation contradicted the police account of the July
21 killing of Jean Charles de Menezes, an electrician from Brazil.
(SFC, 8/17/05, p.A12)
2005 Aug 18, British bank Royal
Bank of Scotland (RBoS) announced that it would lead a consortium to
buy a 10-percent stake in Bank of China for 3.1 billion dollars (2.5
billion euros).
(AP, 8/18/05)
2005 Aug 19, Mo Mowlam (55),
British politician, died after hitting her head in a fall in
Canterbury, England. Her no-nonsense negotiating as Northern Ireland
secretary helped forge the province's landmark peace accord.
(AP, 8/19/05)(AP, 8/19/06)
2005 Aug 23, A British woman
who can only move her head, eyes and mouth sailed across the English
Channel and into the record books on board a modified boat she
controlled by sucking or blowing into straws.
(AFP, 8/23/05)
2005 Aug 24, Jack Slipper (81),
Scotland Yard detective, died. He pursued one of the fugitives from
Britain's "Great Train Robbery" across many years and two
continents.
(AP, 8/24/05)
2005 Aug 30, Britain announced
plans, the first by any Western country, to ban the downloading and
possession of violent sexual images.
(AP, 8/30/05)
2005 Aug 31, Joseph Rotblat
(b.1908), Polish-born British physicist and Nobel Peace Prize winner
(1995), died in London. In 1957 he helped found the Pugwash
Conference on science and world affairs. His work on nuclear fallout
was a major contribution to the agreement of the Partial Test Ban
Treaty (1963). In 2012 Andrew Brown authored “Keeper of the Nuclear
Conscience: The Life and Work of Joseph Rotblat.”
(SFC, 9/2/05,
p.B5)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joseph_Rotblat)(Econ, 3/31/12,
p.94)
2005 Sep 11, A British
serviceman was killed and three injured in a late-morning bomb
attack in Iraq's southern Basra province.
(AP, 9/11/05)
2005 Sep 12, Protestant
extremists attacked Northern Ireland police and British troops into
a third day, littering streets with rubble and burned-out vehicles
in violence sparked by anger over a restricted parade.
(AP, 9/12/05)
2005 Sep 14, Britain declared
that the Ulster Volunteer Force, a major outlawed Protestant group
in Northern Ireland, has abandoned its 11-year-old truce and is an
enemy of the peace once again.
(AP, 9/14/05)
2005 Sep 15, British police
arrested Governor Diepreye Alamieyeseigha, leader of the oil-rich
southern Nigerian state of Bayelsa, as part of a money laundering
investigation.
(AP, 9/16/05)
2005 Sep 19, Iraqi police
detained two British soldiers in the southern port city of Basra,
following a shooting incident. British forces smashed jail walls to
free 2 British commandos detained earlier in the day by Iraqi
police. Iraqi officials said at least 2 civilians were killed.
(AP, 9/19/05)(SFC, 9/20/05, p.A1)
2005 Sep 22, In Scotland a
judge sentenced a British lord to 16 months in prison for causing a
fire at a hotel. Lord Mike Watson (56) admitted to setting fire to a
curtain after having several drinks at the Scottish Politician of
the Year awards ceremony in Edinburgh on Nov. 12.
(AP, 9/22/05)
2005 Sep 22, British troops in
the city of Basra greatly reduced their presence in the streets,
apparently responding to a provincial governor's call to sever
cooperation until London apologized for storming a police station to
free two of its soldiers.
(AP, 9/22/05)
2005 Sep 22, In Britain 8
Zimbabwean soccer players and two officials deserted their teams
after a tour, joining thousands of fellow citizens who have sought
refuge abroad over a serious political and economic crisis at home.
(AP, 9/24/05)
2005 Sep 23, A British convert
to Islam was jailed for 15 years after being convicted in London on
two charges of possessing of articles for use in terrorism. Andrew
Rowe (34), arrested in Oct, 2003, was found guilty of having a book
containing notes on how to fire a mortar bomb, plus details of a
secret communication code. He was jailed for 7½ years for each
charge.
(AP, 9/23/05)
2005 Sep 24, Thousands of
people marched through central London demanding that British PM Tony
Blair withdraw British troops from Iraq. Marches also took place in
the US and Europe.
(AP, 9/24/05)
2005 Sep 25, In Britain
Rochelle Holness (15) vanished after she let home to call her
boyfriend from a telephone box. Her mutilated body was later found
in five black plastic bin bags near a rubbish chute in Catford,
south London. In 2006 John McGrady (48), a convicted rapist and
former butcher, was sentenced to life in prison for the killing.
(AFP, 5/16/06)
2005 Sep 25, The
partially-clothed body of Sally Anne Bowman (18), whose was found
lying in the driveway of her home in Croydon, south London. In 2008
a jury at London's Central Criminal Court found Mark Dixie (37)
guilty of killing the aspiring model. A judge recommended he serve
at least 34 years.
(www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2008/feb/22/ukcrime3)
2005 Oct 4, In London Russia’s
Pres. Putin met with EU leaders for talks on expanding cooperation
in the fight against crime, including terrorism, and strengthening
trade ties.
(AP, 10/4/05)
2005 Oct 7, Reckitt Benckiser
PLC announced it has agreed to buy the consumer healthcare division
of Boots Group PLC for 1.9 billion pounds ($3.4 billion).
(AP, 10/7/05)
2005 Oct 9, In southern
Afghanistan a suicide attacker rammed a car laden with explosives
into an armored vehicle carrying British government officials,
wounding four of them.
(AP, 10/9/05)
2005 Oct 11, Irish author John
Banville beat higher profile favorites to become the surprise winner
of Britain's prestigious Booker Prize for fiction. His novel "The
Sea" was described by the judges as "a masterly study of grief,
memory and love recollected".
(AP, 10/11/05)
2005 Oct 11, The British
government said it will pay unspecified compensation for injuries
and damage caused when its army stormed a police station in the
southern Iraqi city of Basra last month to release two soldiers.
(AP, 10/11/05)
2005 Oct 11, British police
arrested 19 people on human smuggling charges. Authorities said the
multi-national organization had illegally brought tens of thousands
of Turkish Kurds into Britain in recent years.
(SFC, 10/12/05, p.A3)
2005 Oct 11, Arthur Seldon
(89), British intellectual architect of Blairism and Thatcherism,
died. Antony Fisher, founder of the Institute of Economic Affairs,
hired Seldon as editorial director in 1958.
(Econ, 10/22/05, p.90)
2005 Oct 12, The British
government unveiled sweeping anti-terrorism legislation designed to
crack down on Islamic extremism, raising concerns from Muslim
leaders, opposition parties and legal experts about the potential
for infringing on civil liberties.
(AP, 10/12/05)
2005 Oct 13, British playwright
Harold Pinter, who juxtaposed the brutal and the banal in such works
as "The Caretaker" and "The Birthday Party" and made an art form out
of spare language and unbearable silence, won the 2005 Nobel Prize
in literature.
(AP, 10/13/05)
2005 Oct 16, Britain’s Sunday
Telegraph said satellite broadcaster BSkyB will muscle in on the
lucrative Internet broadband market by announcing next week the
takeover of Easynet, the London-listed telecoms company.
(AP, 10/16/05)
2005 Oct 17, The British
government announced that smoking will be banned at all workplaces
as well as pubs and restaurants in Northern Ireland from April 2007.
(AP, 10/17/05)
2005 Oct 19, Rory Carroll, 33,
an Irish citizen who is the London Guardian's Baghdad correspondent,
was kidnapped while on assignment. Carroll was released the next
day.
(AP, 10/19/05)(AP, 10/20/05)
2005 Oct 19, Police in Bosnia
arrested a cyber-jihadist who called himself Maximus. Mirsad
Bektasevic, a Swedish teenager of Bosnian extraction, was sentenced
to jail along with 3 others for plotting attacks to take place in
Bosnia or other European countries. On his computer police found
contacts with other jihadists in Europe including Younis Tsouli
(Irhabi007), whom British police arrested 2 days later.
(Econ, 7/14/07,
p.28)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Irhabi_007)
2005 Oct 21, Britain and
Croatia confirmed cases of bird flu as countries around the world
scrambled to put in place measures to prevent the spread of the
virus. British officials said a parrot that had been imported from
South America died of bird flu in quarantine.
(AP, 10/22/05)
2005 Oct 22, In Britain one man
was stabbed to death and several other people hurt in Birmingham
when riots erupted over allegations a black girl was raped, though
police said there is nothing to substantiate the claim. Members of
the ethnic Afro-Caribbean and Pakistani communities clashed
violently with each other after a week of tension over rumors that a
14-year-old Jamaican girl was raped at a South Asian-run shop.
(AFP, 10/23/05)(AFP, 10/29/05)
2005 Oct 26, The EU said the
dangerous H5N1 strain of bird flu has been found in Croatia.
Authorities said a 2nd parrot that died in quarantine in Britain was
also infected with the virus.
(AP, 10/26/05)
2005 Oct 29, In Afghanistan a
US paratrooper was killed after his patrol came under fire in a
volatile province near the eastern border with Pakistan and a
British soldier was shot to death in northern Afghanistan. Officials
said at least 21 other people were killed in fighting last week.
(AP, 10/29/05)
2005 Oct, British defense
contractor BAE Systems began to the Autonomous learning Agents for
Decentralized Data and Information Systems (ALADDIN) together with
the universities of Bristol, Oxford, Southampton and Imperial
College, London.
(Econ, 11/27/10, p.89)
2005 Nov 1, Britain's
Competition Commission (CC) gave approval to proposed takeovers of
the London Stock Exchange by the German Deutsche Boerse or the
pan-European market Euronext, but attached conditions.
(AFP, 11/1/05)
2005 Nov 2, In Britain Cabinet
minister David Blunkett resigned. He acknowledged that his business
dealings had breached ministerial guidelines and that his position
as work and pensions secretary had become untenable.
(AP, 11/2/05)
2005 Nov 4, In Oxford
restaurant waiter Chomir Ali (44) was jailed for life for ordering
his sons to kill Arash Ghorbani-Zarin (19), a Muslim university
student of Iranian descent. The conviction of a Bangladeshi-origin
man along with his two teenage sons for murdering the student who
made his daughter pregnant illustrates the growing prevalence in
Britain of so-called "honor crimes." Ghorbani-Zarin was stabbed 46
times.
(AFP, 11/5/05)
2005 Nov 5, John Fowles
(b.1926), English novelist, died at his home in Lyme Regis, Dorset.
His books included "The Collector" (1963), “The Magus” (1965) and
“The French Lieutenant's Woman” (1969). Volume I of his journals
(1949-1965) was published in May. Volume II (1966-1990) was
published in 2006.
(SFC, 11/8/05, p.B5)(Econ, 11/19/05, p.92)(SSFC,
10/29/06, p.M1)
2005 Nov 8, Chinese President
Hu Jintao arrived in Britain for a 3-day state visit that will
include a banquet dinner with Queen Elizabeth II and trade talks
with PM Tony Blair. Jintao faced protests from human rights
campaigners upon his arrival in London.
(AP, 11/8/05)
2005 Nov 9, Britain’s House of
Commons defeated a crucial provision of the government’s latest
anti-terrorism bill, handing PM Tony Blair his 1st Commons defeat
since he came to power.
(SFC, 11/10/05, p.A12)
2005 Nov 9, Chinese President
Hu Jintao met Prime Minister Tony Blair as business leaders signed
$1.3 billion in contracts and human rights protesters demonstrated
outside Blair's office.
(AP, 11/9/05)
2005 Nov 10, A Boeing Co. jet
arrived in London from Hong Kong, breaking the record for the
longest nonstop flight by a commercial jet.
(AP, 11/10/05)
2005 Nov 16, Home Secretary
Charles Clarke ordered that British citizen Babar Ahmad be
extradited to the United States to face terrorism charges under
controversial new rules allowing countries to seek extradition
without producing evidence of a crime.
(AP, 11/16/05)
2005 Nov 16, Britain’s National
Statistics office said the number of people claiming jobless
benefits increased by a higher-than-expected 12,100 from September
to a total of 890,100 people at the end of October.
(AP, 11/16/05)
2005 Nov 17, Austria’s Interior
Ministry said British historian David Irving has been arrested on a
warrant accusing him of denying the Holocaust. On Dec 20, 2006, a
court ruled to release Irving (68) and allow him to serve the rest
of his 3 year sentence on probation.
(AP, 11/17/05)(SFC, 12/21/06, p.A18)
2005 Nov 18, In Bradford,
England, a gang of men shot and killed Sharon Beshenivsky (38), an
unarmed policewoman, and wounded another. Police arrested six people
in connection with the crime. In October 2006 Muzzaker Imtiaz Shah
(25), one of 5 men due to be tried, admitted the killing. In 2007
Mustaf Jama (27) was arrested in Somalia and flown back to Britain
to face charges related to the murder. Five people were already
convicted in connection with Beshenivsky's death.
(AP, 11/19/05)(AFP, 10/11/06)(AFP, 11/2/07)
2005 Nov 20, British military
said a British soldier was killed and four wounded by a roadside
bomb in Iraq's southern city of Basra. A total of 98 British
soldiers have been killed in Iraq, including 65 in hostile action,
since the US-led invasion in March 2003.
(AFP, 11/20/05)
2005 Nov 21, British
authorities said Diepreye Alamieyeseigha (1953), the governor of
Nigeria’s oil-rich state Bayelsa, has skipped bail and returned
home. He had been arrested and charged in Britain for laundering
millions.
(AP, 11/21/05)
2005 Nov 23, In Britain and
Wales the early pub closing times, that had governed drinking in
Britain since their introduction during World War I, were set to end
at midnight. The laws had required most pubs to close at 11 p.m.
Monday to Saturday and 10:30 p.m. on Sundays. New rules allowed
pubs, bars, shops, restaurants and clubs to apply to open any hours
they like, although each license must be approved by local
authorities.
(AP, 11/23/05)
2005 Nov 25, George Best (59),
one of the most dazzling players in soccer history who also reveled
in a hard-drinking, playboy lifestyle, died in London after decades
of alcohol abuse.
(AP, 11/25/05)
2005 Nov 25, In Vietnam former
British glam rocker Gary Glitter was charged with committing
"obscene acts with children" and could face more serious charges
that carry the death penalty.
(AP, 11/25/05)
2005 Oct 28, UK
telecommunications company Vodafone Group PLC said it has bought a
10% stake in India's largest wireless operator Bharti Tele-Ventures
Ltd. for $1.5 billion in cash.
(www.cellular-news.com/story/14603.php)(Econ,
11/12/05, p.70)
2005 Nov 30, In London
Uganda-born John Sentamu was enthroned as the first black archbishop
in the Church of England.
(AP, 11/30/05)
2005 Dec 2, The G-7 finance
ministers and central bankers discussed interest rates, high energy
prices, inflation and trade imbalances for the final time under
Britain's leadership. The meeting was Alan Greenspan's last G-7
appearance as Federal Reserve chairman.
(AP, 12/02/05)
2005 Dec 3, Economic officials
from the world's richest countries resumed their pressure on China
to adopt a more flexible exchange rate as they concluded a meeting
in London.
(AP, 12/3/06)
2005 Dec 3, British girls
Olivia Bazlinton (14) and Charlotte Thompson (13) died when they
were hit by an express train in Elsenham. In 2011 the rail regulator
said Network Rail will be prosecuted over the deaths of the two
young girls killed at a level crossing.
(AFP,
11/25/11)(http://olivia-renee-bazlinton.gonetoosoon.org/)
2005 Dec 5, Gay couples in
Britain began registering for civil partnerships as a law took
effect giving them many of the same legal rights as married
heterosexuals.
(AP, 12/05/05)
2005 Dec 6, Britain's
Conservative Party crowned David Cameron (39) as its new leader,
hoping to end an election losing streak as PM Tony Blair's power and
popularity sag.
(AP, 12/06/05)
2005 Dec 8, Britain's highest
court ruled that evidence obtained in other countries through
torture may not be used in British courts.
(AP, 12/08/05)
2005 Dec 8, After half a
century, London's red Routemaster buses rattled into retirement.
Thousands of fans said farewell to the hop-on, hop-off buses, this
last full day of regular service for the icon.
(AP, 12/08/05)
2005 Dec 9-2005 Dec 11, Fidel
Ramos, former president of the Philippines, chaired the 1st annual
meeting of the Emerging Markets Forum at Templeton College, Oxford,
England.
(Econ, 12/17/05, p.76)
2005 Dec 11, In Britain a huge
inferno followed explosions at the Buncefield oil depot. 43 people
were injured. In 2009 a court said French oil giant Total must pay
bills valued at more than 750 million pounds for people whose homes
and businesses were damaged in the fire. In 2010 five companies were
ordered to pay fines and costs of more than £9 million (13.8 million
dollars, 10.6 million euros).
(http://tinyurl.com/chwzwb)(AFP, 3/20/09)(AFP,
7/16/10)
2005 Dec 13, Britain's Vodafone
Group PLC offered the highest bid, $4.55 billion, in an auction to
buy Telsim, Turkey's 2nd-largest cell-phone company, from the
Turkish government.
(AP, 12/13/05)
2005 Dec 14, In London 4 youths
were convicted of manslaughter for beating to death a man who had
survived the fatal nail-bombing of a British gay pub six years ago.
Barman David Morley (37) was beaten to death by a gang of youths in
central London in October 2004.
(AP, 12/15/05)
2005 Dec 14, Ancient tools
found in Britain show that humans lived in northern Europe 200,000
years earlier than previously thought, at a time when the climate
was warm enough for lions, elephants and saber tooth tigers to also
roam what is now England.
(AP, 12/14/05)
2005 Dec 19, The United
Kingdom's first gay couple to win legal recognition under a new
civil partnership law drove past protesters to make their vows
inside Belfast City Hall.
(AP, 12/19/05)
2005 Dec 21, Hallam Tennyson
(85), the great-grandson of poet Alfred Lord Tennyson, was found
stabbed to death at his London apartment.
(AP, 12/24/05)
2005 Dec 23, A British judge
ruled that Alexander Temerko (39), a former executive of Russian oil
producer OAO Yukos, may not be extradited to Russia because the case
is politically motivated and he would not receive a fair trial.
(AP, 12/23/05)
2005 Dec 23, US fashion company
Tommy Hilfiger Corp., whose all-American designs have struggled in
its home market, was taken over for 1.6 billion dollars by British
private equity group Apax Partners.
(AP, 12/23/05)
2005 Dec 24, It was reported
that bovine TB was rising 18% a year on British farms and that the
disease was being transmitted by badgers.
(Econ, 12/24/05, p.79)
2005 Dec 29, A British
opposition legislator called for an investigation into claims that
British security officers were involved in abducting and mistreating
terrorist suspects in Greece. 28 Pakistanis claim they were abducted
from their homes in Athens and other parts of Greece in mid-July,
shortly after deadly transit bombings in London.
(AP, 12/30/05)
2005 Dec 31, British subway
workers in London walked out in a 24-hour strike timed to cripple
the subway system on a night when tens of thousands of revelers were
planning to celebrate New Year in the city.
(AP, 12/31/05)
2005 Dec 31, A British aid
worker and her parents were whisked out of Gaza after being released
by Palestinian gunmen who had abducted them two days earlier.
(AP, 12/31/05)
2005 Journalist Geoffrey
Wheatcroft authored “The Strange Death of Tory England.”
(https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Strange_Death_of_Tory_England)
2005 In Britain the Labor
government brought in Control Orders, allowing suspects to be kept
under curfew for up to 16 hours a day. In 2010 the British
government lost a court battle on against two former terrorism
suspects trying to win damages for being held without charge under
security laws designed to combat militants.
(AP, 7/28/10)
2005 Britain’s Gambling Act of
2005 came into force.
(Econ, 6/11/05, p.54)
2005 British billionaire
Michael Brown donated about 2.4 million pounds to fund the national
election campaign of Britain's Liberal Democrats, the third ranked
party's largest ever donation. In 2008 Brown was convicted of fraud
and sentenced in his absence to 7 years in jail.
(AP, 1/6/12)
2005 Mark Davies, a British
dotcom tycoon, went to Ghana and started TradeNet, a software
company that later developed a simple sort of eBay for agricultural
products.
(Econ, 1/27/07, p.48)
2006 Jan 1, Ketamine, an
anesthetic and niche club drug, was labeled a Class C drug in the
United Kingdom. It was developed by Parke-Davis in 1962 as part of
an effort to find a safer anesthetic alternative to phencyclidine
(PCP), which was likely to cause hallucinations, neurotoxicity and
seizures.
(Eon, 11/19/11,
p.59)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ketamine)
2006 Jan 1, The Royal Mail's
350-year-long monopoly of the letter-delivery business in Britain
ended, as new rules kicked in to allow rival operators to win a
slice of the market.
(AP, 6/29/07)
2007 Jan 6, David Whelan (60)
and his son Andrew (35) trawled through a farmer's field near
Harrogate, in northern England, when their metal detector squealed.
The pair discovered a Viking trove of coins and jewelry was buried
more than 1,000 years ago, a collection of items from Ireland,
France, Russia and Scandinavia that testified to the raiders'
international reach.
(AP, 7/1907)
2006 Jan 11, British PM Tony
Blair said that Western countries were likely to seek economic
sanctions against Iran after Tehran restarted its nuclear program,
but a powerful cleric said it would not curtail its research.
(AP, 1/11/06)
2006 Jan 21, A lost whale that
strayed up the Thames in central London was gently lifted onto a
barge as crowds lined the river banks to watch a unique rescue
operation. Wally, a young bottle-nosed whale, died while being
returned to the sea.
(AFP, 1/22/06)
2006 Jan 23, Russia's main
intelligence agency said it had uncovered spying by four British
diplomats, using electronic equipment inside a fake rock. The FSB
then alleged that Britain was making covert payments to
pro-democracy and human rights groups. In 2012 Jonathan Powell, a
former Downing Street official, admitted for the first time that
Britain was responsible for the James Bond-style spy plot involving
the fake rock.
(AP, 1/23/06)(AFP, 1/19/12)
2006 Jan 24, The British
government unveiled a plan to put one million of the 2.7 million
people on incapacity benefits back to work within the next decade,
saving huge sums of taxpayers' money.
(AFP, 1/24/06)
2006 Jan 24, Banaz Mahmod (20)
was raped, beaten, strangled, stuffed in a suitcase and buried in a
back garden in Birmingham, England, on her father's orders for
becoming involved with a man of whom he did not approve. Mahmod's
father was given a life sentence in 2007 for ordering the killing.
In 2010 two of her Kurdish cousins were jailed for life by a London
court for murdering Mahmod because her family disapproved of her
boyfriend.
(www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/uk/crime/article5263475.ece)(AP,
11/10/10)
2006 Jan 26, Britain said it
will send at least another 4,000 troops, four times its current
deployment, to Afghanistan in coming months as a NATO mission
expands into a dangerous region rife with Taliban and al-Qaida
insurgents.
(AP, 1/26/06)
2006 Jan 26, British port and
ferries group P&O said it has accepted a takeover bid from
Singapore's PSA International worth 3.545 billion pounds (5.2
billion euros, 6.4 billion dollars).
(AP, 1/26/06)
2006 Jan 27, British port
operator Peninsular and Oriental Steam Navigation Co. switched
prospective suitors for the second time after Dubai Ports World
raised its offer for the company to almost $7 billion, trumping an
offer from Singapore's PSA International Ltd.
(AP, 1/27/06)
2006 Jan 27, Christopher Lloyd
(84), iconoclastic English gardener, died.
(Econ, 2/4/06, p.78)
2006 Jan 30, Music retailers
said the Rock band Arctic Monkeys have smashed the British record
for the fastest-selling debut album of all time.
(AFP, 1/30/06)
2006 Jan 31, British lawmakers
watered down a bill banning religious hate speech, then narrowly
voted it into law.
(AP, 1/31/06)(Econ, 2/4/06, p.52)
2006 Jan 31, A British soldier
was killed in a roadside bombing, the second member of the country's
armed forces to die in Iraq in as many days and the 100th fatality
since the conflict began nearly three years ago.
(AP, 1/31/06)
2006 Jan, Faisal Wangita (25),
son of former Ugandan dictator Idi Amin, was part of a 40-strong
gang that attacked Somali teenager Mahir Osman (18), in a busy
street in north London. Osman was stabbed 20 times, attacked with
baseball bats, bottles and hammers, punched and kicked and died
within a minute. In 2007 13 people were convicted over the attack at
two trials that ended in April, including three men found guilty of
murder. Wangita was acquitted of murder but was then jailed for five
years for conspiracy to wound and violent disorder for apparently
kicking Osman when he was on the ground.
(AP, 8/3/07)
2006 Feb 1, A joint British and
Irish report said the Irish Republican Army has halted violence but
is still gathering intelligence on enemies and remains deeply
involved in organized crime.
(AP, 2/1/06)
2006 Feb 1, In southern England
thieves driving Jeeps forced entry to the Ramsbury Manor, a property
tycoon Harry Hyams, stealing around 300 museum-grade artifacts. The
value of the stolen art was later put at $142 million.
(AP,
4/24/06)(http://thescotsman.scotsman.com/index.cfm?id=171132006)
2006 Feb 3, British author
Phillippe Sands said in a new edition of his 2005 ”Lawless World”
that Pres. Bush commented in a White House meeting with Tony Blair
on Jan. 31, 2003, that the US intended to go to war even if
inspectors failed to find evidence of a banned weapons program.
Sands cited a memo of the meeting as saying Bush also told Blair
that military intervention was scheduled for March 2003 even without
UN backing.
(AP, 2/3/06)
2006 Feb 7, A British jury
convicted firebrand Muslim cleric Abu Hamza al-Masri of inciting
followers to kill non-Muslims in speeches at his London mosque,
which has been linked to Sept. 11 plotter Zacarias Moussaoui and
"shoe bomber" Richard Reid.
(AP, 2/7/06)
2006 Feb 9, Neil Entwistle
(27), a British man, whose wife and daughter were found shot dead in
their Massachusetts home, was arrested in Britain and charged with
murder.
(AFP, 2/9/06)
2006 Feb 9, Tesco, Britain's
biggest retailer and the world's third-biggest retailer, said it is
preparing to take on number-one Wal-Mart on its own turf after
unveiling plans to set up shop in the US next year.
(AP, 2/9/06)
2006 Feb 12, Video images of
British soldiers allegedly beating Iraqi youths with batons and
fists aired throughout the Middle East and Britain, outraging locals
and prompting British Prime Minister Tony Blair to vow a full
investigation.
(AP, 2/12/06)
2006 Feb 13, British Foreign
Secretary Jack Straw and his Moroccan counterpart, Mohamed Benaissa,
agreed to boost economic ties between the two countries and hold an
annual business forum to this end.
(AFP, 2/13/06)
2006 Feb 13, DP World, a ports
operator owned by the government of Dubai (UAR), paid $6.8 billion
to acquire P&O, a British firm which runs a global network of
maritime terminals including 6 American ports.
(Econ, 2/25/06, p.33)
2006 Feb 14, Britain's lower
house of Parliament voted to ban smoking in all public places in
England, including pubs, both public and private.
(AP, 2/14/06)
2006 Feb 15, British lawmakers
voted to ban glorifying terrorism, giving PM Tony Blair a badly
needed victory on a measure he said was key to preventing future
attacks.
(AP, 2/15/06)
2006 Feb 15, The beheaded
bodies of two Afghan intelligence agents were found dumped in
western Afghanistan as the first of thousands of British troop
reinforcements arrived in the south. The intelligence agents had
been captured in Farah province two days ago by suspected remnants
of the Taliban.
(AFP, 2/15/06)
2006 Feb 18, More than 10,000
angry people protested in central London against the Prophet
Muhammad cartoons that have infuriated many in the Muslim world.
(AP, 2/18/06)
2006 Feb 22, In England thieves
impersonated police officers and robbed the equivalent of up to $85
million from Securitas Cash Management Ltd., a cash center at
Tonbridge in Kent county, in one of the largest heists in British
history. In 2008 five men were convicted over country's biggest cash
robbery, which saw some 53 million pounds stolen in southeast
England. In 2009 Paul Allen (31) was sentenced to 18 years in prison
for his role in the robbery. Allen had fled to Morocco after the
robbery and was extradited last year. In 2010 Ibrahim Lee Murray
(32), believed to be the mastermind of the robbery, was sentenced in
Morocco to 10 years in jail on various charges including membership
of a criminal gang, theft with an armed weapon, wearing an illegal
uniform and kidnapping.
(Reuters, 2/23/06)(AP, 2/27/06)(AP, 1/28/08)(AP,
10/5/09)(AP, 6/3/10)
2006 Feb 24, London Mayor Ken
Livingstone was suspended from office for four weeks for bringing
his office into disrepute. In Feb 2005 Livingstone compared Oliver
Finegold, a Jewish reporter from the Evening Standard to a Nazi
concentration camp guard: “You are just doing it because you’re paid
to, aren’t you?”
(AP, 2/24/06)(SFC, 2/25/06, p.A3)
2006 Feb 24, Detectives
investigating what could the biggest cash robbery in British history
recovered a "significant amount" of the money from a van just miles
from the heist site in Tonbridge in Kent.
(AP, 2/24/06)
2006 Feb 25, British police
said two men were arrested near Maidstone in Kent in southeast
England in connection with what may be Britain's biggest bank
robbery.
(AFP, 2/25/06)
2006 Feb 26, British police
searching for thieves who got away with around $87 million from a
security company said they found weapons and $2.3 million in a van
they believe the gang used.
(AP, 2/26/06)
2006 Feb 27, Dan Brown, author
of "The Da Vinci Code," was accused in Britain's High Court of
taking material for his blockbuster conspiracy thriller from a 1982
book about the Holy Grail. The court ruled in favor of Brown's
publisher, Random House, the actual target of the
breach-of-copyright lawsuit.
(AP, 2/27/07)
2006 Feb 27, Britain’s Women
and Work Commission published a report on the gender pay gap,
currently measured at 17% less per hour than men.
(Econ, 3/4/06, p.51)
2006 Feb 27, British utility
National Grid PLC said it agreed to buy New York-based electricity
and natural-gas distributor KeySpan Corp. for $7.3 billion in a deal
that would create the third-largest energy delivery utility in the
United States.
(AP, 2/27/06)
2006 Feb 28, A car bomb
targeted a British patrol in Amarah, 180 miles from Baghdad, and 2
British soldiers were killed. The deaths raised the British toll in
the Iraq conflict to 103.
(AP, 2/28/06)
2006 Mar 1, British police
charged three suspects in the $92 million robbery at a cash depot in
southeastern England, the world's largest known peacetime theft.
(AP, 3/1/06)
2006 Mar 3, Detectives
investigating Britain's largest robbery discovered several million
pounds in cash at a warehouse in southeast London.
(AP, 3/3/06)
2006 Mar 4, Detectives
investigating Britain's largest cash robbery arrested a 28-year-old
man on suspicion of the Feb 22 robbery in south London. Five people
have been charged so far in the case.
(AP, 3/4/06)
2006 Mar 7, Britain unveiled a
new system for screening immigrants. Entry would depend on points
accumulated in any one of 5 proposed tiers.
(Econ, 3/11/06, p.52)
2006 Mar 8, Britain issued new
rules for diplomats to stop the publishing of tell-all memoirs such
as a recent portrayal of Prime Minister Tony Blair as starstruck and
senior ministers as "political pygmies."
(AP, 3/8/06)
2006 Mar 9, John Profumo (91),
a former British Cabinet minister, died. His 1963 liaison with a
prostitute nearly brought down a government after revelations that
the call girl was also involved with a Soviet spy. Profumo was
Britain's secretary of state for war when he was involved with
Christine Keeler at the same time she was seeing a Soviet naval
attache and intelligence agent.
(AP, 3/10/06)
2006 Mar 9, More than 300
police backed by British and Irish troops mounted dawn raids on the
home turf of Thomas "Slab" Murphy, reputedly the Irish Republican
Army's veteran chief of staff and its most lucrative smuggler.
(AP, 3/9/06)
2006 Mar 12, Queen Elizabeth II
arrived in Australia for a five-day state visit that has reignited
the simmering debate over whether she should remain the country's
head of state.
(AP, 3/12/06)
2006 Mar 13, Defense Secretary
John Reid said Britain will cut its forces in Iraq by 10 percent, a
reduction of about 800 troops, by May because Iraqi security forces
are becoming more capable of handling security.
(AP, 3/13/06)
2006 Mar 13, In London 6 men
participated in a drug trial and soon became seriously ill. The men
had been given does of TGN1412, a monoclonal antibody developed by
TeGenero AG of Wuerzburg, Germany, for treatment of autoimmune and
inflammatory diseases and leukemia.
(AP, 3/16/06)(Econ, 4/8/06, p.78)
2006 Mar 15, A British
serviceman facing his first day of a court martial contended that
the war in Iraq is illegal. Flight Lt. Malcolm Kendall-Smith, a
Royal Air Force medic, is the first British officer accused of
refusing to serve in Iraq.
(AP, 3/15/06)
2006 Mar 17, Britain’s PM Tony
Blair's Labour Party revealed it had received 24.5 million dollars
in loans from individual supporters as a furor over the party's
secret funding deepened.
(AP, 3/17/06)(Econ, 3/25/06, p.65)
2006 Mar 17, Mohammed Ajmal
Khan (31), a British man who bought equipment which might have been
used in attacks on coalition troops in Afghanistan, was jailed after
he admitted being a "terrorist quartermaster." He had been trying to
buy night vision and thermal imaging equipment when arrested in 2003
and also worked closely with Masaud Khan and Seifullah Chapman, both
given long jail terms in the US in 2004 for terrorism-related
offences.
(AP, 3/17/06)
2006 Mar 20, Save the Children,
a British charity, said some 9 million children in Africa have lost
a mother to AIDS, calling on donors to sharply increase aid to meet
their needs.
(AP, 3/20/06)
2006 Mar 29, British lawmakers
approved a measure requiring Britons applying for passports to get
an identity card or be entered into a computer database, paving the
way for the country's first national ID since World War II.
(AP, 3/29/06)
2006 Apr 1, Karl Bushby was
briefly detained after walking from Alaska across the icy Bering
Straits into Russian territory, a treacherous crossing for which he
was joined by Dmitri Kieffer, a French-born US citizen who
videotaped the adventure. Authorities confiscated the two men's
passports and other belongings, effectively making it impossible for
them to move. Bushby was on a quest to trek around the world. Bushby
set out on foot from southern Chile on November 1, 1998 with the
intention of walking back to his home in the northern English city
of Hull, a 36,000-mile (58,000-kilometer) odyssey that he was
scheduled to complete by 2010. On April 14 a Russian court ordered
the deportation of the British adventurer for illegally crossing
into Russia, dealing a potentially fatal blow to his dream of
walking around the world.
(AFP, 4/6/06)(AFP, 4/14/06)
2006 Apr 5, Britain reiterated
its sovereignty over the Falkland Islands and rejected Argentina's
claims in a letter to Secretary-General Kofi Annan.
(AP, 4/5/06)
2006 Apr 5, Britain’s Serious
Fraud Office began criminal proceedings against nine individuals and
five companies it alleges fixed the price of two widely prescribed
generic drugs sold to the country's free National Health Service
(NHS).
(AFP, 4/5/06)
2006 Apr 5, Home Secretary
Charles Clarke said London would press for Romania to be granted
membership of the European Union "as soon as possible" as he praised
the country's work against people trafficking.
(AFP, 4/5/06)
2006 Apr 6, Britain's national
farming union said tests have confirmed a dead swan found in
Scotland had the deadly H5N1 strain of bird flu.
(AP, 4/6/06)
2006 Apr 7, A British judge
ruled that author Dan Brown did not steal ideas for "The Da Vinci
Code" from a nonfiction work.
(AP, 4/7/07)
2006 Apr 7, Britain’s BAE
Systems announced plans to sell its stake in aircraft maker Airbus
to its French-German partner EADS.
(AFP, 4/8/06)
2006 Apr 12, Britain and the US
called for sanctions against four Sudanese who have blocked peace
efforts and violated human rights in the conflict-wracked Darfur
region.
(AP, 4/12/06)
2006 Apr 13, A military court
convicted a British air force doctor of disobeying orders and
sentenced him to eight months in prison after he called the Iraq war
illegal and refused to return for a third tour of duty.
(AP, 4/13/06)
2006 Apr 13, Dame Muriel Spark
(b.1918) died in Tuscany, Italy. Her spare and humorous novels made
her one of the most admired British writers of the post World War II
years. Her work of 23 novels, included the autobiographical "The
Prime of Miss Jean Brodie" (1961), which was later adapted for a
Broadway hit (1966) and a movie. In 2010 Martin Stannard authored
“Muriel Spark: The Biography.”
(AP, 4/15/06)(Econ, 4/22/06, p.83)(SFC, 6/12/10,
p.E2)
2006 Apr 22, Two British
scientists reported that the long-term effects of the Chernobyl
disaster could cause up to 66,000 extra deaths from cancer, 15 times
more than UN officials predicted last year. Their report was titled
"The Other Report on Chernobyl."
(AFP, 4/22/06)
2006 Apr 24, A tiny ecological
car was launched in Britain after three years of research financed
by the EU. The three-wheeled vehicle runs on natural gas and
consumes 2.5 liters of fuel per 100 kilometers (94 miles per
gallon). Known as the Clever, Compact Low Emission Vehicle for Urban
Transport, the car is easy to park and can transport a driver and
one passenger, seated in the back.
(AFP, 4/24/06)
2006 Apr 25, Charles Clarke,
Britain’s Home Secretary, said that since 1999 Britain had freed
1,023 foreign prisoners, including murderers, rapists and
pedophiles, who should have been considered for deportation at the
time of their release.
(Reuters, 4/25/06)(Econ, 4/29/06, p.59)
2006 Apr 25, The fox population
in London was reported to be an estimated 10,000.
(WSJ, 4/26/06, p.A1)
2006 Apr 26, It was reported
that John Prescott (67), Britain’s deputy prime minister, had
engaged in a 2-year affair with his much younger secretary, Tracey
Temple.
(Econ, 4/29/06, p.60)
2006 Apr 28, Prince Harry,
third in line to the British throne, launched a charity in memory of
his late mother Princess Diana to help AIDS orphans in Lesotho.
(AP, 4/28/06)
2006 Apr 30, British
environment ministry officials said work has begun to cull chickens
at two more poultry farms in eastern England after the suspected
discovery there of the H7 strain of bird flu.
(AFP, 4/30/06)
2006 May 3, Britain and France
introduced a UN Security Council resolution demanding that Iran
abandon its uranium enrichment program, possibly setting the stage
for sanctions if Tehran does not comply.
(AP, 5/3/06)
2006 May 3, A decade-old ban on
British beef, triggered by the mad cow crisis in the mid-1990s, was
officially lifted, allowing cattle farmers to resume exports.
(AFP, 5/3/06)
2006 May 4, Britain took
command of NATO's Afghan peacekeeping force as a tide of violence
raised apprehension about the alliance's planned takeover of
security duties across the country from US forces.
(AP, 5/4/06)
2006 May 5, British PM Tony
Blair shuffled his Cabinet, replacing Foreign Secretary Jack Straw.
(AP, 5/5/07)
2006 May 6, A British military
helicopter crashed in Basra and the 5 people were killed. Flight
Lieutenant Sarah Mulvihill died in the crash in the southern city of
Basra along with Wing Commander John Coxen, Lieutenant Commander
Darren Chapman, Lieutenant David Dobson and Marine Paul Collins.
Iraqis hurled stones at British troops and set fire to at least one
armored vehicle that rushed to the scene. Four Iraqi adults and a
child were reported killed during in the melee when Shiite gunmen
exchanged fire with British soldiers. 2 insurgents were killed in
Tikrit while they were planting a roadside bomb.
(AP, 5/6/06)(AP, 5/7/06)(AFP, 5/8/06)
2006 May 13, In Iraq 2 British
soldiers were killed by a roadside bomb as they patrolled in an
armored vehicle near the southern Iraqi city of Basra.
(AP, 5/14/06)
2006 May 24, In England 10
people were arrested in a sweep targeting support for terrorism
outside Britain. Police served warrants at a number of addresses
before dawn in an operation involving about 500 officers.
(AP, 5/24/06)
2006 May 25, The British
government unveiled a major overhaul of the state pensions system,
revealing that it will increase the retirement age and link benefits
to earnings to avert a looming funding crisis as people live longer
and have fewer children.
(AP, 5/25/06)
2006 May 25, President Bush and
British Prime Minister Tony Blair, the two politicians most
responsible for beginning a war now highly unpopular with both their
publics, acknowledged sour notes during a news conference at the
White House.
(AP, 5/26/06)
2006 May 26, News Corp.'s
London-based newspaper The Times announced it will launch a US
edition next month as part of a push to make the paper an
international brand.
(AP, 5/26/06)
2006 May 28, The BBC reported
that at least 1,000 troops have "deserted" the armed forces since
the US-led war was launched in Iraq three years ago.
(AFP, 5/28/06)
2006 Jun 2, British police
raided a house in east London house and arrested two men, shooting
and wounding one of them. Police said the raid was a response to a
specific threat of attack, refused to comment on news reports that
the men were plotting to use a chemical weapon. Mohammed Abdul Kahar
(23), who was injured in the dawn swoop, and Abul Koyair (20) were
freed June 9 after being held for questioning for a week.
(AP, 6/3/06)(AFP, 6/10/06)
2006 Jun 3, British PM Tony
Blair had a private audience with Pope Benedict XVI, at which the
two men focused on the importance of inter-faith dialogue, in
particular with "moderate Islam", in achieving peace.
(AP, 6/3/06)
2006 Jun 3, Doctors reported
that a new experimental drug, lapatinib, from British-based
GlaxoSmithKline PLC, delayed the growth of advanced breast cancer in
women who had stopped responding to the drug Herceptin and were out
of treatment options. The company planned to sell the drug under the
name Tykerb.
(AP, 6/3/06)(SSFC, 6/4/06, p.A5)
2006 Jun 6, Britain’s BAA,
owners of Heathrow, Stansted and Gatwick airports, accepted an $18.8
billion bid from Spain’s Grupo Ferrovial, led by Rafael del Pino.
(Econ, 6/10/06, p.55)(Econ, 7/7/07, p.67)
2006 Jun 7, Britain’s
University and College Union agreed to accept a 13.1% pay rise over
the next 3 years.
(Econ, 6/10/06, p.53)
2006 Jun 15, Britain promised
to hold Liberia's Charles Taylor in jail if he is convicted of war
crimes, paving the way for Liberia's former president to be tried in
The Hague.
(AP, 6/15/06)
2006 Jun 20, British media
reported that PM Tony Blair and Queen Elizabeth II are to get two
new dedicated aircraft, dubbed "Blair Force One" and "Blair Force
Two."
(AP, 6/20/06)
2006 Jun 25, In Morocco police
reported that 4 men were arrested in Rabat in connection with the
February 22 theft of more than 53 million pounds from a Kent cash
depot, considered Britain's biggest ever bank robbery.
(AFP, 6/26/06)
2006 Jun 26, Foundem, a small
British shopping comparison site, discovered that all of its obvious
comparison shopping keywords no longer applied for the company due
to changes made by Google.
(www.theregister.co.uk/2009/11/19/google_hand_of_god/)
2006 Jun 27, Archbishop Rowan
Williams, head of the 80 million member Anglican Communion,
suggested the communion could break up into a core of constituent
churches willing to sign a doctrinal covenant on homosexuality and
other thorny issues.
(Econ, 7/1/06, p.52)
2006 Jun 29, PM Tony Blair said
Britain will shut down Northern Ireland's legislature and forge a
stronger partnership with the Irish government if the province's
Catholic and Protestant politicians fail to reach a power-sharing
deal by Nov. 24.
(AP, 6/29/06)
2006 Jun 29, Delegates to the
annual conference of the British Medical Association voted against
the legalization of doctor-assisted suicide and voluntary euthanasia
in Britain.
(AFP, 6/30/06)
2007 Jun 29, In Scotland a
four-wheel-drive Jeep rammed into the main terminal at Glasgow
airport and exploded in flames. Police arrested two men for the
attack, one of them under guard in the hospital after being engulfed
in flames when the Jeep crashed into the airport. The driver was
later identified as Kafeel Ahmed (28), an Indian aeronautical
engineer.
(Reuters, 6/30/07)(AP, 7/1/07)(SFC, 7/9/07, p.A8)
2006 Jul 5, Japan, the United
States and Britain readied a UN Security Council resolution
demanding that nations withhold all funds, goods and technology that
could be used for North Korea's missile program.
(AP, 7/5/06)
2006 Jul 7, Syd Barrett (60), a
founding member of the rock group Pink Floyd, died at his home in
Cambridge, England. The band’s first album was “The Piper at the
Gates of Dawn.”
(Reuters, 7/11/06)(SFC, 7/12/06, p.B7)(Econ,
7/22/06, p.83)
2006 Jul 10, Britain unveiled a
$6 million program to replace Belfast's towering paramilitary wall
murals in the most hard-line Protestant areas with more positive,
less threatening art works.
(AP, 7/10/06)
2006 Jul 10, Afghan and US-led
coalition forces killed more than 40 suspected Taliban militants as
a warplane dropped 500-pound bombs on a militant compound in Uruzgan
province. Britain announced it would send 900 more soldiers to
southern Helmand province.
(AP, 7/10/06)(SFC, 7/11/06, p.A6)
2006 Jul 12, Tony Blair's top
fundraiser, Lord Levy, was arrested in an investigation into whether
Labour Party leaders improperly nominated their financial backers
for seats in the House of Lords.
(AP, 7/12/06)
2006 Jul 13, The NatWest
British bankers David Bermingham, Gary Mulgrew and Giles Darby were
extradited to the US for a $20 million fraud linked to the collapsed
Enron Corp. Many viewed the March, 2003, US and British extradition
treaty as imbalanced and favoring US interests.
(Econ, 7/15/06, p.12, 56)
2006 Jul 13, The Guardian
newspaper said PM Tony Blair wants China, India, Brazil, Mexico and
South Africa to join the G8 to secure multilateral deals on trade,
climate change and Iran.
(AP, 7/13/06)
2006 Jul 13, British and Afghan
forces battled Taliban holdouts after repelling a brazen insurgent
attack on a police headquarters a day earlier.
(AP, 7/13/06)
2006 Jul 16, US federal
officials arrested David Carruthers in Texas, the British boss of
BetonSports, as he changed planes enroute from London to Costa Rica.
He was charged the next day, along with 10 others, with conspiracy
and fraud related to online gambling.
(Econ, 7/22/06, p.61)
2006 Jul 19, Britain faced the
hottest day ever recorded in July as a heat wave swept much of
Europe. Temperatures hit 96.6 degrees south of London.
(AP, 7/19/06)
2006 Jul 22, In Preston,
England, Shezan Umarji (20), a bank worker and business student, was
stabbed in the brawl between around 50 white and South Asian youths.
Days later 3 men, one aged 17 and two aged 19, were "jointly charged
with murder and violent disorder."
(AFP, 7/25/06)
2006 Jul 23, In England a gust
of wind blew an inflatable art exhibit from its moorings at a park
in Durham, killing two people and injuring 12. Up to 30 people were
on the "Dreamspace", an inflatable network of multicolored tunnels,
when wind blew it 30 feet in the air.
(AP, 7/23/06)
2006 Jul 24, Iraqi PM Nuri
al-Maliki condemned Israel's bombing of Lebanon's civilian
infrastructure and vowed to push for a ceasefire during talks with
his British PM Tony Blair.
(AFP, 7/24/06)
2006 Jul 26, Jessica Gilbert
(19), a British chess prodigy, fell from an eighth-floor hotel room
window in the Czech Republic where she was competing in an
international chess tournament. Her death took place days before the
trial of her father, whom she had accused of rape, was to begin. In
December Ian Gilbert (48), a director of the Royal Bank of Scotland,
was acquitted of 5 counts of raping Jessica, while she was still a
child, and 6 sexual offenses against other people.
(AP, 12/15/06)
2006 Jul 28, A US airman
convicted of raping three teenage British girls was sentenced to 12
years in prison. Prosecutors said Staff Sgt. James Gardner took
advantage of vulnerable girls who lived in a children's home near
the US base at Menwith Hill in northern England.
(AP, 7/28/06)
2006 Jul 29, The Middle East
crisis dominated the first full day of PM Tony Blair's tour of
California, forcing his promotion of British business interests here
to take a back seat. Blair's former foreign secretary, Jack Straw,
condemned Israeli action against Lebanon as "disproportionate" in
the first such comment by a senior British government minister. PM
Blair said an international agreement, leading to a cease-fire in
the Israel-Hezbollah conflict, is possible sometime in the next few
days.
(AFP, 7/30/06)(AP, 7/29/06)
2006 Jul 31, Britain’s
Committee on Radioactive Waste Management (CORWM) published a report
on what to do waste from decommissioned nuclear reactors. The study
recommended burying the waste in a bunker up to a mile underground.
(Econ, 8/5/06, p.51)
2006 Jul 31, A lesbian couple
lost a legal battle to have their Canadian marriage legally
recognized in Britain.
(Reuters, 7/31/06)
2006 Jul, A mother and her 3
children were murdered in Manchester, England. Rahan Arshad (36), a
suspect in the murder, fled to Thailand. He was arrested Sep 1.
(AP, 9/1/06)
2006 Aug 1, Britain launched
the country's first public terror alert system and said it faces a
severe risk of another terrorist attack.
(AP, 8/1/06)
2006 Aug 1, In southern
Afghanistan Taliban militants killed three British soldiers. 18
Taliban militants and one policeman were killed as Afghan forces and
coalition aircraft raided an insurgent hide-out near Garmser.
(AP, 8/1/06)(AP, 8/2/06)
2006 Aug 2, A Paris commercial
court granted Eurotunnel protection from creditors, enabling the
operator of the Channel Tunnel to freeze payments on its debt
mountain of 9.0 billion euros (11.5 billion dollars).
(AFP, 8/2/06)
2006 Aug 3, A pair of European
central banks raised interest rates, increasing expectations on Wall
Street that the Federal Reserve would follow suit next week. The
European Central Bank hiked rates .25% to 3%, with a similar hike by
the Bank of England to 4.75%.
(AP, 8/3/06)
2006 Aug 5, Thousands marched
through London to demand a halt to the Lebanon war as the British
government tried to deflect criticism that it has failed to call for
an immediate ceasefire.
(AP, 8/5/06)
2006 Aug 5, Marie Stopes
International hosted Europe's first "Masturbate-a-thon" with the
HIV/AIDS charity the Terrence Higgins Trust. It expected up to 200
people to attend the sponsored masturbation session in Clerkenwell,
central London.
(Reuters, 8/5/06)
2006 Aug 8, Clive Goodman,
royal editor at Britain’s News of the World, and Glenn Mulcaire, a
private investigator, were arrested for hacking phones between
November 2005 and August 2006. Both men were jailed in January,
2007.
(Econ, 7/16/11, p.26)
2006 Aug 9, Two teenage Britons
were finally found guilty of killing 10-year-old Nigerian schoolboy
Damilola Taylor following a six-year investigation marred by legal
and forensic blunders. Danny Preddie (18) and Ricky Preddie (19)
from Peckham, south London, were convicted of the manslaughter of
Taylor who died in November, 2000, after being stabbed in the leg
with a broken bottle.
(Reuters, 8/9/06)
2006 Aug 10, British
authorities said they had thwarted a terrorist plot to
simultaneously blow up several aircraft heading to the US using
explosives smuggled in carry-on luggage. US Homeland Security
Secretary Michael Chertoff said the terrorists planned to use liquid
explosives disguised as beverages and other common products and
detonators disguised as electronic devices.
(AP, 8/10/06)
2006 Aug 11, British officials
identified 19 of the suspects accused of planning to blow up
US-bound aircraft in the biggest terrorist plot to be uncovered
since 9/11, while investigators probed their movements, background
and finances. In addition, five Pakistanis have been arrested in
Pakistan as suspected "facilitators" of the plot, as well as two
Britons arrested there about a week ago. A Pakistani intelligence
official said 10 Pakistanis were arrested in Bhawalpur district, 300
miles southwest of Islamabad, in connection with the terror plot in
Britain.
(AP, 8/11/06)(AP, 8/12/06)
2006 Aug 12, Rashid Rauf and
Tayib Rauf (22), brothers arrested in Pakistan and England, emerged
as key figures in the suspected plot to destroy US-bound aircraft
during flight. Prominent Muslims in Britain accused the government
of encouraging extremism through its foreign policy. In 2007 a court
in Rawalpindi ordered the release of Rashid Rauf, a British Muslim
of Pakistani origin, after the prosecution withdrew the case against
him.
(AP, 8/12/06)(WSJ, 8/12/06, p.A1)(AP, 11/16/07)
2006 Aug 14, The British
government downgraded its terror threat level from critical to
severe, saying intelligence suggested an attack was no longer
imminent.
(AP, 8/14/06)
2006 Aug 18, The Financial
Times reported that Britain has agreed to a multi-billion-dollar
defense deal to supply 72 Eurofighter Typhoon aircraft to Saudi
Arabia.
(AP, 8/18/06)
2006 Aug 19, Roger Deakin
(b.1943), English writer and film-maker, died. His last book
“Wildwood: A Journey Through Trees,” was published posthumously in
2007.
(Econ, 7/28/07,
p.85)(http://books.guardian.co.uk/obituaries/story/0,,1860073,00.html)
2006 Aug 21, In London,
England, 11 people were charged with conspiracy to commit murder in
the alleged plot to blow up as many as 10 trans-Atlantic jetliners.
One person, a woman, was released without charge. In 2009 Adam
Khatib (23) was sentenced for plotting with Abdulla Ahmed Ali, who
was convicted of leading the team. Ali was sentenced in September,
2009, to 40 years. Nabeel Hussain (25) received eight years while
Mohammed Shamin Uddin (39) was jailed for seven years.
(AP, 8/21/06)(AP, 12/10/09)
2006 Aug 22, British government
figures said Britain has taken in an estimated 427,000 migrants from
eight former communist states since they joined the European Union
in 2004, far more than an earlier prediction of 13,000 newcomers a
year.
(AP, 8/23/06)
2006 Aug 27, Britain’s National
Patient Safety Agency reported that 2,159 patients died between
April 2005 and March 2006 as a result of "patient safety incidents"
in the National Health Service (NHS).
(AP, 8/27/06)
2006 Aug, Norman Buckley (44)
an assistant at Manchester's Central Library, pleaded guilty to
theft charges for stealing more than 450 centuries-old books and
documents between January 2005 and March 2006. In October he
received a 15-month jail sentence, but it was suspended for two
years.
(AP, 10/26/06)
2006 Sep 2, British police
arrested 14 people in overnight raids and said they suspected the
men had been involved in training and recruiting for terror attacks.
Two others were arrested in an unrelated terror investigation in
Manchester.
(AP, 9/2/06)
2006 Sep 2, A NATO Nimrod
reconnaissance aircraft crashed in southern Afghanistan, killing 14
British servicemen. The alliance said there was no indication
hostile fire was involved. The Nimrod MR2 exploded after an
air-to-air refueling operation. A later investigation said that
leaking fuel ignited by a hot pipe was the most likely cause of a
fire that destroyed the plane. British patrol NATO and Afghan forces
began Operation Medusa in southern Afghanistan. Dozens of insurgents
were killed during the fighting.
(AP, 9/2/06)(AP, 9/3/06)(AP, 12/4/07)
2006 Sep 4, Global press titan
Rupert Murdoch launched a new free title: thelondonpaper, a 48-page
color paper, dominated by gossip and real-life stories, in the city
centre. The first free paper in London was launched seven years ago,
in 1999. Metro, a daily morning paper published by Associated
Newspapers, has a circulation of around a million copies in the
capital and 13 other big towns.
(AFP, 9/4/06)
2006 Sep 4, In Cyprus 3 British
holidaymakers were charged with willful manslaughter over the death
of a Cypriot teenager in a hit-and-run accident in the coastal
resort of Protaras last month. A rented Opel "repeatedly rammed" the
moped in what police described as a revenge attack following a fight
outside a Protaras disco in which a friend of the accused was beaten
up.
(AFP, 9/4/06)
2006 Sep 6, Six junior members
of British Prime Minister Tony Blair's government resigned to
protest his refusal to set a date to leave office amid a growing
Labour Party revolt.
(AP, 9/6/06)
2006 Sep 7, Britain’s PM Tony
Blair reluctantly promised to resign within a year, hoping that
revealing a general time frame for his departure will appease
critics who are calling for him to step down.
(AP, 9/7/06)
2006 Sep 9, British PM Tony
Blair arrived in Tel Aviv for talks with his Israeli counterpart
Ehud Olmert and other key players in the region on the stalled
Middle East peace process.
(AFP, 9/9/06)
2006 Sep 11, In Lebanon an
angry protester accusing Tony Blair of complicity in the Israeli
bombardment of Lebanon disrupted a news conference. Thousands of
demonstrators shouted outside as the British prime minister visited
Beirut. Blair pledged help in rebuilding war-ravaged Lebanon.
(AP, 9/11/06)
2006 Sep 18, Britain and Spain
reached a historic deal to resolve side issues stemming from their
300-year-old dispute over Gibraltar, but sidestepped the main one,
their claims to the Rock's sovereignty.
(AP, 9/19/06)
2006 Sep 19, A British soldier
pleaded guilty to one count of inhumanely treating Iraqi civilians,
while he and his comrades denied all other charges in a landmark
court-martial.
(AP, 9/19/06)
2006 Sep 23, In northern
England at least 10,000 anti-war demonstrators marched through the
city of Manchester, protesting the presence of British troops in
Iraq and Afghanistan.
(AP, 9/23/06)
2006 Sep 27, British
billionaire Richard Branson proposed changes to aircraft movements
at busy airports and the way planes land under a plan he said would
cut the world's aviation emissions by up to 25%.
(Reuters, 9/27/06)(Econ, 9/30/06, p.65)
2006 Sep 28, A leaked UK
Ministry of Defence (MoD) paper said Pakistan's intelligence
service, ISI, indirectly backs terrorism by supporting religious
parties in the country.
(www.expressindia.com/fullstory.php?newsid=74600)
2006 Oct 1, In Britain sweeping
age-discrimination laws went into effect.
(Econ, 9/30/06, p.66)
2006 Oct 4, British PM Tony
Blair said the Irish Republican Army's violent campaign in Northern
Ireland is over, following a report into paramilitary activity that
raised hopes of reviving self-rule.
(AP, 10/4/06)
2006 Oct 4, In Britain a
Muslim-owned business, which reportedly housed a makeshift mosque,
was petrol-bombed following three nights of clashes between white
and south Asian youths on the London outskirts.
(AFP, 10/5/06)
2006 Oct 9, A US court has
threatened to shut down the London-based Spamhaus Project, a
volunteer-run antispam service, for ignoring an $11.7 million
judgement against it.
(http://tinyurl.com/p3hsm)
2006 Oct 10, Britain’s Man
Booker Prize was won by Indian writer Kiran Desai (35) for “The
Inheritance of Loss,” a cross-continental saga that moves from the
Himalayas to NYC.
(SFC, 10/11/06, p.A16)
2006 Oct 11, Ruth Kelly,
British communities minister said the government will now fund only
those Muslim organizations that fight extremism and defend national
values as part of a "fundamental" shift toward such groups.
(AFP, 10/11/06)
2006 Oct 11, India’s PM
Manmohan Singh received an honorary law doctorate from the elite
University of Cambridge. The doctorate was conferred on him by
Prince Philip.
(AFP, 10/11/06)
2006 Oct 12, Dhiran Barot (32),
a British man arrested in August, 2004, pleaded guilty to conspiring
to bomb high-profile targets in the US including the International
Monetary Fund headquarters in Washington and the New York Stock
Exchange.
(AP, 10/12/06)
2006 Oct 13, A British coroner
ruled that US forces unlawfully killed Terry Lloyd (50), a veteran
reporter for the British television network ITN, in the opening days
of the Iraq war. He was shot in the back by Iraqi troops who
overtook his car, then died after US fire hit a civilian minivan
being used as an ambulance and struck him in the head.
(AP, 10/13/06)
2006 Oct 13, In Britain the
chief of staff to the Democratic Republic of Congo's President
Joseph Kabila was assaulted and robbed in northwest London while
waiting to appear on a television program. Leonard She Okitundu was
attacked by a gang who beat him around the head and body with a
baseball bat, stripped him of his clothes, and posted pictures of
them on the Internet. Okitundu said his attackers shouted that he
was working for the Rwandans, and that they would kill anyone who
obstructed Bemba.
(AFP, 10/13/06)
2006 Oct 16, The biggest
underwater gas pipeline in the world, transporting gas from Norway
750 miles (1,200 kilometers) under the North Sea to Britain, was
officially opened by PM Tony Blair and PM Jens Stoltenberg.
Construction of the pipeline by Norwegian firm Hydro began in 2004.
The Langeled pipeline is expected to supply one fifth of Britain's
total gas requirements in the coming decades.
(AP, 10/16/06)
2006 Oct 16, Queen Elizabeth II
kicked off her first-ever visit to the Baltic states as Lithuania’s
PM Gediminas Kirkilas welcomed the British monarch to the northern
European region.
(AP, 10/16/06)
2006 Oct 18, Expectations of a
British interest rate increase next month have been cemented by
minutes from the Bank of England's latest policy meeting.
(AFP, 10/18/06)
2006 Oct 18, Queen Elizabeth II
praised Latvians' love of liberty and hailed the long-standing ties
between Britain and the Baltic state, where she began the first-ever
visit by a British monarch.
(AFP, 10/18/06)
2006 Oct 19, Queen Elizabeth II
arrived in Estonia on the last leg of a landmark trip to the Baltic
states, during which the 80-year-old monarch has repeatedly praised
the Baltic people for their determined fight for freedom.
(AFP, 10/19/06)
2006 Oct 19, Ralph Harris (81),
British economist and former head of the Institute of Economic
Affairs (IEA), died.
(Econ, 11/4/06, p.96)
2006 Oct 20, Corus, an
Anglo-Dutch steel-maker, accepted an $8.1 billion buyout bid from
Tata Steel, a smaller Indian firm.
(Econ, 10/28/06, p.74)
2006 Oct 20, Eric Newby (86),
British travel writer, died. His books included "A Short Walk In The
Hindu Kush" (1958), the story of his travels from London to
Afghanistan.
(AFP, 10/23/06)(Econ, 10/28/06, p.97)
2006 Oct 24, Britain said
Bulgarians and Romanians will have only limited rights to work in
Britain for at least a year after their countries join the European
Union on January 1.
(AP, 10/24/06)
2006 Oct 30, Sir Nicholas
Stern, head of Britain’s government economic service, issued a
report on climate change that said world output could be up to a
fifth lower over the next century or two due to climate change.
(Econ, 11/4/06, p.14)(Econ, 12/16/06, p.80)
2006 Oct 30, In London 6 men
from remote Pitcairn Island lost their final appeal against their
convictions for a string of sex attacks dating back 40 years.
(AP, 10/30/06)
2006 Oct 31, Britain unveiled
plans to regulate Internet gambling and said it opposed the US
government's banning of the industry.
(AP, 10/31/06)
2006 Oct 31, A joint British
and Lebanese initiative in London launched the world's first
qualification covering all aspects of Islamic finance. The Islamic
Finance Qualification (IFQ) was developed by British industry body
the Securities and Investment Institute (SII) and Lebanese business
school Ecole Superieure des Affaires.
(AFP, 10/31/06)
2006 Nov 1, Alexander
Litvinenko, a former KGB agent, met with Mario Scaramella, an
Italian muckraker, at a Picadilly sushi bar. He also met with 2 or
more visiting ex-KGB Russians. On Nov 23 Litvinenko died of
poisoning from radioactive element polonium-210.
(Econ, 12/16/06, p.22)
2006 Nov 3, Ben Bradshaw,
Britain’s Fisheries Minister, responded to a major report warning
that stocks could be wiped out by 2048 by ruling out a complete ban
on cod fishing. Bradshaw said that the UK had already taken action
by clamping down on illegal fishing and setting fishing quotas.
(AFP, 11/3/06)
2006 Nov 4, In Britain
thousands of environmental campaigners rallied in London ahead of
international talks on climate change in Kenya, demanding that world
leaders act to curb global warming.
(AP, 11/4/06)
2006 Nov 7, Britain's lawmakers
granted posthumous pardons for soldiers executed during World War I,
ending years of campaigning by the families of men condemned to
death for cowardice. Dhiren Barot (34), an al-Qaida operative who
planned to blow up landmark London hotels using limos packed with
gas tanks, napalm and nails, and plotted to attack the New York
Stock Exchange and the World Bank, was sentenced in London to life
in prison.
(AP, 11/7/06)
2006 Nov 17, A British man
convicted of what has been described as the country's first
"web-rage" attack, was jailed for 2-1/2 years for assaulting a man
he had exchanged insults with over the Internet.
(Reuters, 11/17/06)
2006 Nov 18, British PM Tony
Blair arrived in Pakistan for talks with President Pervez Musharraf
on how to defeat a resurgent Taliban, pool counter-terrorist
intelligence and tackle militancy in Pakistan's religious schools.
(AP, 11/18/06)
2006 Nov 18, Iraqi and US
forces raided a Shiite stronghold in Baghdad, looking for dozens of
men abducted from an Iraqi government office. Coalition forces
searched for four American security contractors missing in an attack
on their convoy in southern Iraq. A Basra provincial official said
two American hostages had been rescued in a police raid and that one
was found dead. US military killed 11 insurgents and detained 24
suspected ones in raids in and around the Iraqi cities of Tikrit,
Baqouba, Hit, Youssifiyah and Baghdad. Ten people were killed,
including three policemen shot by insurgents in Diyala province.
Police found 23 corpses in Iraq, including 20 in Baghdad. Britain's
Treasury chief Gordon Brown, who is expected to replace PM Tony
Blair as Britain's leader next year, made an unannounced visit to
Iraq to meet with Iraqi officials and British soldiers.
(AP, 11/18/06)
2006 Nov 19, British PM Tony
Blair acknowledged the West had changed strategy in the fight
against terrorism, telling Pakistan's president that brokering a
broad Mideast peace deal was now as crucial as using force to battle
militants.
(AP, 11/19/06)
2006 Nov 19, Fellow dissidents
said Col. Alexander Litvinenko, a former KGB and Federal Security
Service (FSB) poisoned in Britain and now gravely ill and under
guard in the hospital, may have been targeted for his outspoken
criticism of former colleagues in Moscow. He accused his country's
secret service agency of staging apartment-house bombings in 1999
that killed more than 300 people in Russia and sparked the second
war in Chechnya.
(AP, 11/19/06)
2006 Nov 20, British PM Tony
Blair told soldiers fighting a resurgent Taliban that success in
Afghanistan would be a step toward global security, and pledged
Britain's commitment to the war-torn country "for as long as it
takes."
(AP, 11/20/06)
2006 Nov 20, British Brig.
Grismond "Gris" Davies-Scourfield died at age 88. He won a Military
Cross for his part in the Allied defense of Calais during World War
II and later escaped from the Nazis holding him prisoner in the
notorious Colditz Castle.
(AP, 12/6/06)
2006 Nov 22, Britain's
parliament passed legislation allowing the Northern Ireland Assembly
to be dissolved in January and an election held weeks later in hopes
of reviving a Catholic-Protestant administration.
(AP, 11/22/06)
2006 Nov 23, Teenagers aged 16
and 17 have voted for the first time in the British Isles, as the
Isle of Man held a landmark general election to choose members for
its 24 seats in the House of Keys, the main branch of the Isle of
Man's bicameral parliament.
(AP, 11/23/06)
2006 Nov 23, Alexander
Litvinenko, a former KGB agent, died in London. The British
government said Litvinenko, the former KGB agent turned Kremlin
critic, had a toxic radioactive substance in his body. Litvinenko
had blamed a "barbaric and ruthless" Russian President Vladimir
Putin for his fatal poisoning. The radioactive element polonium-210
was found in Litvinenko's urine. In 2007 it was reported that
Litvinenko had been working for British secret intelligence service
MI6.
(AP, 11/24/06)(AP, 10/27/07)
2006 Nov 27, Britain’s PM Tony
Blair condemned the African slave trade and expressed deep sorrow
for Britain's role, but stopped short of offering an apology or
compensation for the descendants of those victimized by it.
(AP, 11/27/06)
2006 Nov 28, Britain’s Scottish
Power PLC said it has agreed to a $22.5 billion buyout offer from
the Spanish utility Iberdrola SA that would create one of Europe's
biggest utilities.
(AP, 11/28/06)
2006 Nov 30, British
authorities said traces of radiation have been found at a dozen
sites in Britain and five jets were being investigated for possible
contamination as authorities widened their investigation into the
poisoning of a former Russian spy.
(AP, 11/30/06)
2006 Dec 1, British media
reported that an Italian security expert, who met with a former KGB
agent Alexander Litvinenko the day the ex-spy fell fatally ill with
radiation poisoning, has also tested positive for the substance.
(AP, 12/1/06)
2006 Dec 3, In southern England
2 firefighters were killed in a blaze at a fireworks factory near
Lewes that injured a dozen others.
(AP, 12/4/06)
2006 Dec 4, Tomma Abts (38)
became the first female painter in the 22-year history of Britain's
$ 49,000 Turner Prize to win the controversial modern art award.
(AFP, 12/4/06)(SFC, 12/5/06, p.F8)
2006 Dec 4, PM Tony Blair has
announced plans for Britain to retain its nuclear deterrent but
promised to cut the number of nuclear warheads by 20%. Blair also
launched plans for a new multibillion-dollar submarine-based nuclear
missile defense system, warning lawmakers the future may hold
perilous threats from rogue regimes and state-sponsored terrorists.
(AP, 12/4/06)
2006 Dec 4, Insurance Australia
Group (IAG) announced it will buy British motor insurer Equity
Insurance Group for 570 million pounds.
(AFP, 12/4/06)
2006 Dec 4, Russia gave a
frosty welcome to a team of British counter-terror officers probing
the poisoning of former Russian spy Alexander Litvinenko, and laid
down some strict ground rules for their work in Moscow.
(AFP, 12/5/06)
2006 Dec 5, British PM Tony
Blair and Rwandan President Paul Kagame discussed economic reform
and how to reconcile the people of the landlocked African state
still scarred by the 1994 genocide. They also talked about the
conflict in the western Darfur region of Sudan, where Rwanda has
troops on the ground as part of the African Union force.
(AFP, 12/5/06)
2006 Dec 6, Britain’s PM Tony
Blair has conceded that US-led forces are not winning the war in
Iraq, as he headed for Washington to discuss strategic options in
the war-scarred country.
(AP, 12/6/06)
2006 Dec 6, Andrei Lugovoi,
hospitalized in Moscow and being tested for possible polonium
contamination, scheduled to be interviewed by British investigators.
British officials said traces of the radioactive isotope
polonium-210 have been detected at a London stadium that hosted a
soccer game attended by Lugovoi. British investigators spoke with
Dmitry Kovtun, one of at least two Russians who met Litvinenko in a
London hotel on November 1. Litvinenko died on November 23 from
radiation poisoning caused by polonium 210.
(AP, 12/6/06)(Reuters, 12/6/06)
2006 Dec 7, Pres. Bush and
Britain’s PM Tony Blair vowed to fight to victory in Iraq and both
were skeptical that talks with Iran and Syria would be useful.
President Bush gave a chilly response to the Iraq Study Group's
proposals for reshaping his policy, objecting to talks with Iran and
Syria, refusing to endorse a major troop withdrawal and vowing no
retreat from embattled US goals in the Mideast.
(WSJ, 12/8/06, p.A1)(AP, 12/7/07)
2006 Dec 8, PM Tony Blair
stoked a simmering debate over religious tolerance and cultural
assimilation, saying it was the duty of all immigrants to integrate
into British society.
(AP, 12/8/06)
2006 Dec 8, The Commonwealth
Ministerial Action Group announced Fiji is to be immediately
suspended from the Commonwealth following a military coup there
earlier this week. The Commonwealth of Nations is a successor to the
British Empire and brings together some 53 nations, around a third
of the world's countries and a quarter of the world's population.
(AP, 12/8/06)
2006 Dec 9, German police found
traces of radiation in two buildings linked to a Russian businessman
who met the murdered ex-spy Alexander Litvinenko in London on the
day he fell ill. Radiation traces were found overnight in an
apartment belonging to Dmitry Kovtun's ex-wife in the northern city
of Hamburg. Kovtun is now in hospital.
(AP, 12/9/06)
2006 Dec 11, In Britain fears
mounted that a serial killer could be at large after the naked
corpse of a third prostitute was found within weeks near Ipswich,
and a fourth sex worker went missing. The first two murdered women
went missing in the red light district of Ipswich, near the eastern
coast of England, on November 15 and October 30 respectively.
(AFP, 12/11/06)
2006 Dec 11, Four British
soldiers admitted charges relating to an alleged plot to smuggle
guns out of Iraq to sell them for cash in Germany, as they appeared
at a court martial.
(AP, 12/11/06)
2006 Dec 11, German
investigators confirmed that a car used by Russian businessman
Dmitry Kovtun, a contact of fatally poisoned ex-spy Alexander
Litvinenko before the two men met, was contaminated with the rare
radioactive substance polonium-210.
(AP, 12/11/06)
2006 Dec 12, British detectives
hunting a serial killer who preys on prostitutes discovered two more
bodies in Ipswich, bringing the total number of victims to five.
(AP, 12/12/06)
2006 Dec 12, The Nasdaq Stock
Market Inc. formally launched its hostile $5.3 billion takeover bid
for the London Stock Exchange Group PLC, which promptly reiterated
that the offer is too low and urged its shareholders to take no
action on it.
(AP, 12/12/06)
2006 Dec 14, A British police
inquiry concluded that the deaths of Princess Diana and her
boyfriend in a 1997 Paris car crash were a "tragic accident" and
that allegations of murder are unfounded. Britain’s Serious Fraud
Office (SFO) announced that it would be dropping its 2-year inquiry
into bribes that may or may not have been paid by BAE Systems to
secure contracts in Saudi Arabia.
(AP, 12/14/06)(Econ, 12/23/06, p.18)
2006 Dec 16, British PM Tony
Blair arrived in Egypt for Middle East peace talks, saying the next
few days and weeks would be critical in determining whether Israel
and the Palestinians can break their cycle of violence.
(AP, 12/16/06)
2006 Dec 16, Ex-spy Yuri
Shvets, who is based in the US, told the BBC that murdered Russian
spy Alexander Litvinenko was killed because of an eight-page dossier
he had compiled on a powerful Russian figure for a British company.
The BBC said the report contained damaging personal details about a
"very highly placed member of Putin's administration."
(AP, 12/16/06)
2006 Dec 16, John Rae (b.1931),
English novelist and educator, died. In 2009 his diaries were
published under the title: “The Old Boys’ Network: A Headmaster’s
Diaries 1970-1986.”
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Rae_(educator))(Econ, 4/25/09,
p.87)
2006 Dec 17, Britain’s PM Blair
and his Iraqi counterpart, Nouri al-Maliki, discussed preparations
by British military units in Basra, the main city in southern Iraq,
to turn over security to Iraqi forces. Gunmen in Iraqi army uniforms
burst into Red Crescent offices and kidnapped more than two dozen
people at the humanitarian organization in the latest sign of the
country's growing lawlessness. Others killed in violence included
two policeman, an Iraqi soldier and a municipal official in Baghdad;
and a police officer in Kut. Former Electricity Minister Ayham
al-Samaraie, a dual US-Iraqi citizen and the country's only postwar
Cabinet minister to be convicted of corruption, escaped police
custody in Baghdad for a second time.
(AP, 12/17/06)(AP, 12/18/06)
2006 Dec 18, British police
arrested a 37-year-old man suspected of murdering five prostitutes
in a high-profile serial-killer case that has gripped the nation for
weeks.
(AP, 12/18/06)
2006 Dec 19, Stephen Tame (29)
from Suffolk, England, was awarded more than 3 million pounds in
damages. The devout Christian said an accident at work boosted his
libido and wrecked his marriage as he turned to prostitutes and
pornography.
(Reuters, 12/19/06)
2006 Dec 19, In eastern England
Steve Wright (48), who reportedly lives in the red-light district of
Ipswich, was arrested as the 2nd suspect in the recent deaths of
five prostitutes. The naked bodies of Gemma Adams (25), Tania Nicol
(19), Anneli Alderton (24), Paula Clennell (24), and Annette
Nicholls (29) were found in the Ipswich area over a 10-day period
this month.
(AP, 12/19/06)(AP, 2/9/08)
2006 Dec 21, British police
charged Steven Wright, a 48-year-old truck driver who lives in the
red-light district of Ipswich, with the murder of five local
prostitutes whose naked bodies were found in rural areas around the
eastern England town.
(AP, 12/22/06)
2006 Dec 21, Tens of thousands
of passengers were stranded after a thick blanket of freezing fog
forced hundreds of flights to be canceled at Heathrow, Europe's
busiest airport.
(AP, 12/21/06)
2006 Dec 22, Thick fog caused
the cancellation of flights at London's Heathrow Airport for a 4th
day, forcing thousands of passengers to scrap or delay their
Christmas travel plans.
(AP, 12/22/06)
2006 Dec 26, Countryside
campaigners said more than 300,000 people took part in traditional
Boxing Day (December 26) fox hunts across Britain, claiming it
proved a ban on hunting with dogs was not working.
(AP, 12/26/06)
2006 Dec 26, It was reported
that a large study in Britain had found that taking such popular
heartburn drugs as Nexium, Prevacid or Prilosec for a year or more
can raise the risk of a broken hip markedly in people over 50.
(AP, 12/26/06)
2006 Dec 27, A helicopter
carrying natural gas workers crashed off the northwest English
coast, killing six people and leaving the only other person aboard
missing.
(AP, 12/28/06)
2006 Dec 28, Four men accused
of organizing and participating in the Rwandan genocide in 1994 were
arrested in Britain on warrants issued by the Rwandan government.
(AP, 12/29/06)
2006 Dec 29, Two American
sailors died after falling from a US submarine off the coast of
southern England.
(AP, 12/29/06)
2006 Dec 31, The British
Nuclear Group closed two nuclear power stations after 40 years of
service. Dungeness A and Sizewell A were the oldest commercial
nuclear plants in the world.
(AP, 12/31/06)(WSJ, 1/2/06, p.A1)
2006 Dec, Britain’s Ministry of
Defense revealed that it had already signed contracts with private
suppliers worth about $50 billion (£26 billion) over the next 30
years.
(Econ, 1/13/07, p.51)
2006 Playwright Caryl Churchill
wrote “Drunk Enough to Say I Love You.” Here she imagined the
asymmetric relationship between America and Britain as a gay
romance.
(Econ, 2/15/14, p.79)
2006 Dubstep was born out of
drum'n'bass and the 2-step UK garage movement which propelled Craig
David to fame. Pioneering producers Skream and Hatcha helped define
the early dubstep sound while working at the Big Apple Records
record shop in Croydon. In 2011 it dubstep completed its journey
from quirky curiosity to commercial success story earlier when DJ
Fresh's "Louder" hit the top of the UK singles chart.
(AFP, 7/27/11)
2006 British singer Amy
Winehouse (1983-2011) shot to fame with the album "Back to Black,"
whose blend of jazz, soul, rock and classic pop was a global hit. It
won five Grammys and made Winehouse, with her black beehive hairdo
and old-fashioned sailor tattoos, one of music's most recognizable
stars.
(AP, 7/24/11)
2006 George Benjamin (b.1960),
English composer, wrote his opera “Into the Little Hill,’ based on
the fairy tale “The Pied Piper of Hamelin.” Martin Crimp wrote the
libretto.
(Econ, 6/5/10, p.93)
2006 Britain’s Charity Act of
this year, amending a 1993 act, said schools are no longer entitled
to tax breaks simply because they provide teaching. They would now
have to demonstrate that they are actively benefiting the public.
(Econ, 7/18/09,
p.54)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charities_Act_2006)
2006 Johan Eliasch and Frank
Field, a British Labor MP, formed Cool Earth to allow regular
citizens to contribute to rain-forest land purchases.
(WSJ, 4/7/07, p.A5)
2006 British pharmacy Boots UK
merged with Alliance UniChem, a European drugs wholesaler and
distributor. In 2007 CEO Stefano Pessina and KKR took the company
private in a leverage buyout worth $22.2 billion, Europe’s biggest
buyout to date.
(Econ, 6/23/12,
p.68)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boots_UK)
Go to 2007
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Subject = Britain
End of file.