Events from the year 1998 in the United Kingdom. [edit] Incumbents [edit] Events - 5 January - The UK takes over the Presidency of the EC's Council of Ministers until 30 June.[1]
- 16 January - two 10-year-olds go on trial, the youngest ever to be accused of rape.[2]
- 7 February–22 February - Great Britain and Northern Ireland compete at the 1998 Winter Olympics in Nagano, Japan, and win one bronze medal.
- 12 February - Mohamed Al Fayed, the father of Dodi Fayed, says that he is "99.9% certain" that his son's death in the car crash that also claimed the life of Princess of Wales on 31 August last year was a conspiracy to kill rather than an accident. He also claims that his son had purchased an engagement ring just before the crash and had been preparing to propose marriage to Diana. A lawyer in Mr Al Fayed's native Egypt is planning to sue the Queen and prime minister Tony Blair on the grounds that they had conspired to kill Diana because her love for a Muslim would embarrass the state. [1]
- 31 March - Rolls-Royce Motors acquired by the German car manufacturer BMW.[3]
- April - Vauxhall launches its fourth generation Astra small family car range. The initial range consists of hatchbacks and estates, with coupe and saloons due next year and a cabriolet in two years.
- 10 April - The Good Friday Agreement, an agreement between the UK and Irish governments, and the main political parties in Northern Ireland is signed.[4]
- 2 May - Kevin Lloyd, one of Britain's best-known TV actors for his role of Tosh Lines in The Bill (from which he was sacked last week), dies from an alcoholism-related illness at the age of 49.
- 3 May -
- 9 May - Eurovision Song Contest 1998 held in Birmingham at the National Indoor Arena.
- 16 May - Arsenal beat Newcastle United 2-0 in the FA Cup final to complete The double. [4]
- 23 May - A referendum on the Good Friday Agreement is held in the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland with 95% and 71% support respectively.[5]
- 2 July - Sion Jenkins, a 40-year-old deputy headmaster, is found guilty of the his 13-year-old foster daughter Billie-Jo Jenkins (the shared surname is a coincidence) and sentenced to life imprisonment. Billie-Jo was found dead at his home in Hastings, East Sussex, on 15 February last year. [5]
- 12 July - Three young children are killed in a loyalist arson attack in Ballymoney, Northern Ireland.[6]
- 31 July - The government announces a total ban on the use of landmines by the British military.[7]
- 10 August - Manchester United TV begins broadcasting, making Manchester United F.C. the world's first football team to have its own television channel.[3]
- 15 August - A car bomb explodes in the Northern Irish market town of Omagh, killing 29 people - the worst terrorist atrocity in the history of the Northern Ireland troubles.[8]
- 24 August -
- September - Ford launches its new Focus range of family hatchbacks, saloons and estates, which will eventually replace the long-running Escort.
- 8 September - the Real IRA announces a ceasefire.[9]
- 9 September - An East London coroner records a verdict of suicide on former footballer Justin Fashanu, who was found hanged in a lock-up garage four months ago.
- 10 September - In Northern Ireland, David Trimble of the Ulster Unionist Party meets Gerry Adams of Sinn Féin — the first such meeting between Republicans and Loyalists since 1922.[3]
- 16 September - The Union Jack dress worn by the Spice Girl Geri Halliwell is sold at Sotheby's for £41,320.[3]
- November - Peugeot launches the 206 supermini, which is being built at the Ryton plant near Coventry.
- 16 October - Police place General Augusto Pinochet, the 83-year-old former dictator of Chile, into house arrest during his medical treatment in Britain at the request of Spain.
- 5 November - Moors Murderer Myra Hindley loses a second High Court appeal (the first was rejected on 19 December 1997) against the Whole life tariff which has been imposed upon her by the three most recent Home Secretaries.
- 9 November - Human Rights Act 1998 receives Royal Assent.
- 24 November - The Queen's Speech is interrupted by MPs and peers, when the Queen began to outlay the government's plan to abolish the rights of 700 hereditary peers to sit and vote in the House of Lords.[10]
- 26 November - Tony Blair becomes the first Prime Minister of the United Kingdom to address the Oireachtas (Irish parliament).[3]
- December
- 10 December
- 26 December - Severe gale force winds hit Ireland, Southern Scotland and Northern England. Roads, railways and electricity are disrupted. [7]
[edit] Undated [edit] Publications [edit] Births [edit] Deaths - 8 February - Enoch Powell, politician (born 1912)
- 24 February - Henny Youngman, comedian (born 1906)
- 16 March - Derek Harold Richard Barton, chemist, Nobel Prize laureate (born 1918)
- 11 April - Francis Durbridge, playwright and author (born 1912)
- 16 April - Fred Davis, snooker and billiards player (born 1913)
- 10 June - Hammond Innes, author (born 1914)
- 11 June - Catherine Cookson, author (born 1906)
- 13 June - Reg Smythe, cartoonist (born 1917)
- 18 July - Betty Marsden, comedy actress (born 1919)
- 2 September - Jackie Blanchflower, footballer (born 1933)
- 3 October - Roddy McDowall, actor (born 1928)
- 17 October - Joan Hickson, actress (born 1906)
- 22 October - Eric Ambler, novelist and playwright (born 1909)
- 28 October - Ted Hughes, poet and children's writer (born 1930)
- December - Brian Stonehouse, painter and World War II secret agent (born 1918)
- 7 December - Michael Craze, actor (born 1942)
- 13 December - Lew Grade, showbusiness impresario and television company executive (born 1906, Ukraine)
- 20 December - Alan Lloyd Hodgkin, scientist, recipient of the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine (born 1914)
[edit] References [edit] See also |
