2000 in the United Kingdom

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Events from the year 2000 in the United Kingdom.

Incumbents

• Monarch - HM Queen Elizabeth II
• Prime Minister - Tony Blair, Labour Party

Events

January

• 1 January - Millennium celebrations take place throughout the UK. The Millennium Dome is officially opened by the Queen.
• 3 January - Thames Valley Police speak of their belief that the Cezanne painting stolen from Oxford's Ashmolean Museum on New Year's Eve was stolen by professional thieves.
• 4 January - Catherine Hartley and Fiona Thornewill become the first British women to reach the South Pole.^[1]
• 11 January - The Scottish trawler, the Solway Harvester, sinks in the Irish Sea, killing 7 sailors.^[2]
• 31 January - Dr. Harold Shipman in sentenced to life imprisonment after being found guilty of murdering 15 patients in Greater Manchester between 1995 and 1998. He is also sentenced to four years in prison, to run currently, for forging the will of one of his victims.^[3]

February

• Waterhouse report into the Wales child abuse scandal published.^[4]
• 11 February
  • The Royal Bank of Scotland succeeds in the hostile takeover battle for its larger English rival, NatWest Bank, successfully defeating a rival offer by the Bank of Scotland.
  • Northern Ireland Assembly is suspended
• 28 February - The chief of British Nuclear Fuels resigns over a safety scandal at Sellafield.^[5]

March

• 2 March - The UK returns Augusto Pinochet to Chile to face trial.^[6]
• 15 March - BMW announces plans to sell the Rover Group, with London-based Alchemy consortium emerging as favourites for a takeover.
• 25 March - David Trimble wins the leadership election of the Ulster Unionist Party.^[7]
• 31 March - Myra Hindley, who has spent 34 years in prison for her part in the Moors Murders, loses a third High Court appeal against a Home Office ruling that her life sentence should mean life.

April

• 1 April - An Enigma machine is stolen from Bletchley Park Museum.^[8]
• 3 April - The Immigration and Asylum Act means that all asylum seekers in England and Wales will now receive vouchers to cover the cost of food and clothes.
• 12 April - The Royal Ulster Constabulary is presented with the George Cross by the Queen.^[9]
• 14 April - Kenneth Noye, the so-called "M25 killer", sentenced to life imprisonment.^[10]
• 19 April - Tony Martin is sentenced to life imprisonment for the murder of a 16-year-old burglar he shot dead at his Norfolk farmhouse eight months ago. He is also convicted of the attempted murder of Brendan Fearon, the man who was wounded when Mr Martin opened fire and killed Fred Barras.

May

• 1 May - May Day riot in central London by anti-capitalist protestors. The statue of Winston Churchill in Parliament Square, and the Cenotaph in Whitehall are defaced with graffiti.^[11]
• 3 May - The London Stock Exchange and Germany's Deutsche Börse announce merger plans.^[12]
• 4 May - London mayoral election, 2000: Ken Livingstone elected Mayor of London defeating Steve Norris, the Conservative Party candidate in 2nd place; and Frank Dobson, the Labour Party candidate in 3rd place.
• 9 May - BMW sells the bulk of the Rover Group (the Rover and MG marques) to the Phoenix Consortium, while it retains the rights to the Mini marque, and sells Land Rover to Ford.
• 11 May - The Tate Modern is opened by the Queen.
• 12 May - Ford announces that production of cars at its Dagenham plant will discontinue when the Fiesta is replaced in 2002.
• 17 May - Royal Marines Alan Chambers and Charlie Paton become the first British people to reach the Geographic North Pole unaided.^[6]
• 25 May - National Waste Strategy first published.^[13]

June

• 7 June - Tony Blair receives a hostile reception during a speech at the Women's Institute, where he is heckled and slow hand-clapped by furious members.
• 10 June - The much-anticipated Millennium Bridge opens to the public, but has to close after it starts swaying.^[6]
• 30 June - David Copeland is found guilty of causing the three nail bomb attacks in London last year. He is sentenced to life imprisonment and the trial judge recommends that he should serve at least 30 years before being considered for parole, meaning that he is likely to remain in prison until at least 2029 and the age of 54.

July

• 6 July - Euan Blair, 16-year-old son of Tony Blair is arrested for drunkenness.^[14]
• 18 July - Alex Salmond resigns as the leader of the Scottish National Party.
• 20 July - Production of the Ford Escort, one of Britain's most successful and iconic motoring nameplates, finishes after 32 years.
• 23 July - The News of the World starts a campaign for Sarah's Law, in honour of murdered Surrey girl Sarah Payne, who was found dead in West Sussex on 17 July having gone missing 16 days earlier.
• 28 July - last 80 prisoners leave the Maze Prison in Northern Ireland as part of the Northern Ireland peace process.^[15]

August

• 4 August - Queen Elizabeth, the Queen Mother celebrates her 100th birthday.^[16]

September

• UK fuel protests - Protestors block the entrances to oil refinaries in protest against high fuel prices. Panic buying by motorists lead to nationwide petrol shortages, with between 75-90% of all UK petrol stations closing due to low supplies.
• September - Ford unveils its all-new second generation Mondeo large family car, which is due on sale towards the end of this year.
• 15 September–1 October - Great Britain competes at the 2000 Summer Olympics in Sydney and wins 11 gold, 10 silver and 7 bronze medals.
• 18 September - Survivors of the Southall and Ladbroke Grove rail disasters blast Railtrack for putting costs ahead of safety and causing a series of blunders which led to the tragedies.
• 23 September - rower Steve Redgrave wins his fifth consecutive gold medal at the 2000 Summer Olympics.^[17]

October

• 7 October - Wembley Stadium closes after 77 years. It is set to re-open in 2003 following a complete reconstruction that will see its capacity raised to 90,000 all-seated.
• 16 October - The BBC's main evening news show moves to 10:00pm in direct competition with ITV1.
• 17 October - Hatfield rail crash: A Great North Eastern Railway InterCity 225 train derails south of Hatfield station, killing 4 people.^[18]
• 26 October and 27 October - Henry McLeish is selected to be First Minister of Scotland by the Scottish Parliament, and is officially appointed by The Queen.
• 30 October - Sven-Göran Eriksson, the 52-year-old Swedish coach of Italian side Lazio, accepts an offer from the Football Association to take charge of the England team for five years commencing next July. Mr Eriksson will be the first foreign manager to take charge of the England team, but until his arrival the England team will be jointly managed by interim coaches Peter Taylor and Howard Wilkinson.

November

• 7 November - The theft of £350 million worth of diamonds from the Millennium Dome is foiled by police.^[6]
• 16 November - Actor Michael Caine receives a knighthood from the Queen.^[6]
• 18 November - Marriage of American actor Michael Douglas and Welsh actress Catherine Zeta-Jones.^[6]
• 20 November - Judith Keppel becomes the first person to win £1 million on the television programme Who Wants to Be a Millionaire?^[6]
• 27 November - Damilola Taylor, a 10-year-old school boy originally from Nigeria, is stabbed to death on his way home from school in Peckham, London.^[19]

December

• 29 December - Arctic weather conditions blight Britain, with heavy snow and temperatures as low as -13C plaguing the country and causing extensive gridlocking on the roads and railways.
• 31 December - The Millennium Dome closes after one year.

Publications

• Iain M. Banks' novel Look to Windward.
• Matthew Kneale's novel English Passengers.
• Terry Pratchett's Discworld novel The Truth.
• Philip Pullman's novel The Amber Spyglass.
• J. K. Rowling's novel Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire.
• Zadie Smith's novel White Teeth.

Births

• May 20 - Leo Blair, son of Prime Minister Tony Blair and his wife, Cherie Blair.

Deaths

• 2 January - Patrick O'Brian, writer (born 1914)
• 9 January - Nigel Tranter, historian and author (born 1909)
• 23 February - Sir Stanley Matthews, footballer (born 1915)
• 24 February - Michael Colvin, politician (born 1932)
• 28 March - Anthony Powell, novelist (born 1905)
• 8 April - Bernie Grant, politician (born 1944, Guyana)
• 14 April - Wilf Mannion, footballer (born 1918)
• 27 April - Clifford Forsythe, politician (born 1929)
• 28 April - Penelope Fitzgerald, poet, essayist and biographer (born 1916)
• 17 May - Donald Coggan, Archbishop of Canterbury (born 1909)
• 21 May - Dame Barbara Cartland, novelist (born 1901)
• 21 May - Sir John Gielgud, actor (born 1904)
• 17 June - Brian Statham, cricketer (born 1930)
• 11 July - Robert Runcie, former Archbishop of Canterbury (born 1921)
• 5 August - Sir Alec Guinness, actor and writer (born 1914)
• 6 August - Robin Day, political broadcaster (born 1923)
• 2 September - Audrey Wise, politician (born 1935)
• 19 September - Anthony Robert Klitz, artist (born 1917)
• 25 September - R. S. Thomas, poet (born 1913)
• 9 October - Patrick Anthony Porteous, recipient of the Victoria Cross (born 1918)
• 11 October - Donald Dewar, First Minister of Scotland (born 1937)
• 11 November - Hugh Paddick, actor (born 1915)
• 27 November - Malcolm Bradbury, author and academic (born 1932)
• 28 November - Len Shackleton, footballer (born 1922)
• 4 December - Colin Cowdrey, cricketer (born 1932)
• 18 December - Kirsty MacColl, singer-songwriter (born 1959)

References

See also