January – Vauxhall launches a facelifted Vectra to improve its disappointing ride and build quality.
1 January – The Euro currency is launched, but Britain's Labour government reportedly has no plans to introduce the currency here, preferring to stick to pound sterling instead.
13 January – Unemployment has fallen to just over 1,300,000 – the lowest for 20 years.
22 February – Harold Shipman, the Hyde GP accused of murdering eight female patients last September, is charged with a further seven murders.
24 February – The report of the murder of black London teenager Stephen Lawrence, who was stabbed to death in 1993, condemns London's police force as "institutionally racist", as well as condemning its officers for "fundamental errors".[2]
March
2 March – Singer Dusty Springfield, who received an OBE last month, dies aged 59 at Henley-on-Thames after a five-year battle against breast cancer.
7 March – American-born film director Stanley Kubrick dies at his home in St Albans, Hertfordshire, of a heart attack aged 70, five days after completing his final film Eyes Wide Shut, which is released in July.
16 March – The NSPCC launches its new "full stop" advertising campaign, which depicts different objects of childhood heroes shielding their eyes as voices were heard being abused. Broadcast after the 9.00pm watershed, this advertisement is part of the largest campaign ever undertaken by a charity and the beginning of a long-term strategy to end violence against children.
17 March – Comedian and entertainer Rod Hull is accidentally killed in a fall aged 63 outside his home in Winchelsea, Sussex, after trying to adjust his television aerial.[3]
21 March – Comedian Ernie Wise, who formed one-half of the Morecambe and Wise comedy double from 1941 to 1984, dies of a heart attack aged 73 at Wexham, Buckinghamshire.[4]
24 March – Ross Kemp, who has achieved TV stardom with his role as Grant Mitchell in EastEnders, signs a £1million deal with ITV, meaning that he will leave EastEnders this autumn after nearly 10 years.
26 March – A total £2 billion in compensation is paid to 100,000 former miners who are suffering from lung disease after years of working in British coalfields.[5]
29 March – The family of James Hanratty, one of the last men to be executed in Britain (for the A6 murder 37 years ago), are given the right to appeal against his conviction by the Criminal Cases Review Commission.[6]
April
April – Vauxhall launches its Zafira, a compact MPV which makes use of the Astra hatchback's chassis.
1 April
A minimum wage is introduced throughout the UK – set at £3.60 an hour for workers over 21, and £3 for workers under 21.[7]
Anthony Sawoniuk, 78, becomes the first person convicted of Second World War crimes in a British court when he is sentenced to life imprisonment for the murder of 18 Jews in his native Belarus. He has lived in Britain since 1947.
14 April – Edgar Pearce, the so-called "Mardi Gra bomber", convicted for a series of bombings and sentenced to 21 years in jail.[8]
24 April – A second bomb explosion in Brick Lane, east London injures 13 people.
26 April – TV presenter Jill Dando, 37, dies after being shot on the doorstep of her Fulham home.[10]
30 April – A third bomb in London explodes in the Admiral Duncan pub, in Old Compton Street, Soho, London – the centre of the London gay scene – killing two people (including a pregnant woman) and injuring over thirty. David Copeland, a 23-year-old Farnborough man, is arrested hours later in connection with the three explosions.[11]
12 May – The Scottish Parliament meets in Edinburgh for its first session.[10] The National Assembly for Wales holds its first session on the same day[13]
19 May – Probably the last colliery horse to work underground in a British coal mine is retired, 'Robbie' at Pant y Gasseg drift mine, near Pontypool.[14]
14 June – Conservative leader William Hague hails his party's strong European election results as vindication of his party's opposition to the single European currency.[22]
17 June – Cardinal Basil Hume, leader of the Roman Catholic Church in England and Wales, dies of cancer aged 76 barely two months after the illness was diagnosed.[23]
18 June – Police clash with protesters at a demonstration against capitalism in London.[24]
Fears about the future of the Rover Group's Longbridge plant in Birmingham are calmed by the news that owner BMW is to invest £2.5billion in the plant.[27]
30 June – Manchester United announce that they will not compete in the FA Cup in the forthcoming football season so they can concentrate on their participation in the FIFA World Club Championship in Brazil at the start of the next year. Their decision is seen as a major boost to England's hopes of hosting the 2006 World Cup.
4 July – Rogue trader Nick Leeson returns home to England from Singapore, nearly four years after he was jailed there after his illegal dealings led to the collapse of Barings Bank with losses of £850million.
5 July – Chelsea pay a club record of £10million (one of the highest fees paid by any English club) for the Blackburn Rovers striker Chris Sutton.
11 August – The solar eclipse attracts the attention of 350,000,000 people across Europe, with Cornwall being the only region of Britain to experience totality.[10]
20 August – A MORI poll shows Labour support at 49%, giving them a 22-point lead over the Conservatives. However, it is the first time since their election win over two years ago that they have polled at less than 50% in the poll by the leading market research company.[32]
22 August – Norfolk farmer Tony Martin, 54, is charged with the murder of a sixteen-year-old burglar who was shot dead at his home two days ago. He is also charged with wounding a 29-year-old man who was also present at the time of the burglary.[33]
5 September – Bobby Robson, the 66-year-old former England manager, is appointed as Newcastle United's new manager. He is nearly 30 years older than his predecessor Ruud Gullit.
The Ladbroke Grove rail crash claims the lives of 31 people when two trains collide at Ladbroke Grove Junction, 2 miles west of Paddington station, London. Many more people are being treated in hospital for injuries.[37]
Harold Shipman goes on trial at PrestonCrown Court accused of murdering 15 female patients who died in the Greater Manchester area between 1995 and 1998.
10 October – The London Eye begins to be lifted into position on the South Bank in London.[38]
16 October – 26 players are sent off in Premier League and Football League matches on the same day – the most dismissals on the same day in 111 years of league football in England.
12 November – Former glam rock singer Gary Glitter, 54, is jailed for four months at Bristol Crown Court for downloading child pornography. He is cleared at this hearing of having unlawful sex with a teenage fan 20 years ago, but will subsequently be charged in several countries for sexual offences involving minors, culminating in 2015 with a 16-year sentence imposed in the UK.
17 November – England qualify for the UEFA Euro 2000 football championship with a 2–1 aggregate win over Scotland in the qualifying playoff round.
31 December – Millennium celebrations are held across the country including the official opening of the Millennium Dome and the unveiling of the London Eye in London.[41]
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