1998 in the United Kingdom

1998 in the United Kingdom:

Other years

1996 | 1997 | 1998 (1998) | 1999 | 2000

Individual countries of the United Kingdom

England | Northern Ireland | Scotland | Wales

Sport, Television and music

1998 British Grand Prix 1998 English cricket season Football: England | Scotland | Wales 1998 in British television 1998 in British music 1998 in British radio UK in the Eurovision Song Contest 1998

Events from the year 1998 in the United Kingdom.

Incumbents

• Monarch - Elizabeth II
• Prime Minister – Tony Blair (Labour)

Events

January

• 5 January – The UK takes over the Presidency of the EC's Council of Ministers until 30 June.

February

• 3 February – Stamps commemorating Diana, Princess of Wales go on sale across Britain
• 7 – 22 February – Great Britain and Northern Ireland compete at the 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 Diana, Princess of Wales on 31 August 1997 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.

March

• 3 March – Millennium Dome construction begins.
• 31 March – Rolls-Royce Motors acquired by the German car manufacturer BMW.

April

• 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.
• 1 April – The historic counties of Herefordshire and Worcestershire are re-established, 24 years after they merged to form Hereford and Worcester.
• 10 April – The Good Friday Agreement, an agreement between the UK and Irish governments, and the main political parties in Northern Ireland is signed.
• 27 April – Kevin Lloyd, who has played Tosh Lines in The Bill since 1988, is dismissed from the role by ITV due to his alcoholism. He dies, aged 49, within a week.

May

• 2 May – Police in Maryland, United States of America, reveal that they have arrested and bailed former footballer Justin Fashanu over an allegation of sexual assault against a 17-year-old male, and they believe he has now breached his bail conditions and fled the country.
• 2 May - Battle of Hogwarts resulting in the Boy Who Lived - Harry Potter - saving the wizarding world by defeating He-Who-Shall-Not-Be-Named.
• 9 May – Eurovision Song Contest held in Birmingham at the National Indoor Arena.
• 15 May – 24th G8 summit held in Birmingham.
• 20 May – Nurses Deborah Parry and Lucille McLauchlan, who had been convicted in Saudi Arabia for the murder of Yvonne Gilford the previous year, have their sentences commuted by the order of King Fahd and are returned to the UK.
• 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.

June

• 15 June – First general-circulation issue of a two pound coin, with a bi-metallic design (dated 1997).
• The DVD format is released onto the UK market for the first time. Among the first set of titles released on the new format is Jumanji.

July

• 12 July – Three young children are killed in a loyalist arson attack in Ballymoney, Northern Ireland.
• 31 July
  • Crime and Disorder Act receives Royal Assent. It introduces Anti-Social Behaviour Orders, Sex Offender Orders, Parenting Orders, and 'racially aggravated' offences. It makes it possible for a young person between ten and fourteen to be presumed capable of committing an offence and formally abolishes capital punishment for treason and piracy, the last civilian offences for which the death penalty remained theoretically available.
  • The government announces a total ban on the use of landmines by the British military.

August

• 10 August – Manchester United TV begins broadcasting, making Manchester United F.C. the world's first football team to have its own television channel.
• 15 August – Omagh bombing: A car bomb explodes in the Northern Irish market town of Omagh, County Tyrone, killing 29 people – the worst terrorist atrocity in the history of The Troubles in Northern Ireland. It has been planted by the Real Irish Republican Army.
• 22 August – Reading F.C. move into their new Madejski Stadium, named after chairman John Madejski, near junction 12 of the M4 motorway in the south of Reading. It seats more than 24,000 spectators.
• 24 August
  • First RFID human implantation tested in the United Kingdom by Kevin Warwick at the University of Reading.
  • The Netherlands is selected as the venue for the trial of the two Libyans who are charged with the Lockerbie aircraft bombing that killed 270 people in December 1988.

September

• 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.
• 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.
• 16 September – The Union Jack dress worn by the Spice Girl Geri Halliwell is sold at Sotheby's for £41,320.

October

• 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.

November

• November – Peugeot launches the 206 supermini, which is being built at the Ryton plant near Coventry.
• 9 November – Human Rights Act 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.
• 26 November – Tony Blair becomes the first Prime Minister of the United Kingdom to address the Oireachtas (Irish parliament).
• December – The Ford Focus is voted European Car of the Year.

December

• 10 December
  • John Pople wins the Nobel Prize in Chemistry "for his development of computational methods in quantum chemistry".
  • John Hume and David Trimble win the Nobel Peace Prize.
• 26 December – Great Boxing Day Storm: Severe gale force winds hit Ireland, southern Scotland and northern England. Roads, railways and electricity are disrupted.
• 29 December – Killing of British tourists in Yemen: Three British tourists are amongst those shot during a gun battle to free them from kidnappers in Yemen.

Undated

• Mathematicians Richard Borcherds and Timothy Gowers win Fields Medals.
• The DVD format, first sold in the UK in June this year, sells just over 6,000 discs by the end of the year.

Publications

• Beryl Bainbridge's novel Master Georgie.
• Iain M. Banks' novel Inversions.
• Julian Barnes's novel England, England.
• Ted Hughes's poetry collection Birthday Letters.
• Nigella Lawson's guide How to Eat: the pleasures and principles of good food.
• Ian McEwan's novel Amsterdam.
• John O'Farrell's political memoir Things Can Only Get Better.
• Terry Pratchett's Discworld novels The Last Continent and Carpe Jugulum.
• J. K. Rowling's novel Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets.

Births

• 5 January – Tia Rigg, murder victim (died 2010)
• 18 January – Alfie McIlwain, actor
• 4 February – Scott Jones, athlete
• 27 February – Theo Stevenson, actor
• 8 March – Molly Conlin, actress
• 21 March - Louie Bond, legend
• 24 March – Isabel Suckling, singer
• 11 April – Oliver Dillon, actor
• 14 April – Arthur Bowen, actor
• 29 May – Oliver Stokes, actor
• 7 June – Graham Newberry, American-English figure skater
• 10 June – Johnny Bennett, actor
• 14 June – Julia Joyce, actress
• 1 July – Hollie Steel, classical crossover singer
• 19 July – Lil Woods, actress
• 20 July – Sinead Michael, actress
• 6 August – Jack Scanlon, actor
• 8 August – Ronan Parke, pop singer
• 14 August – Amy Marren, swimmer
• 5 September – Helena Barlow, actress
• 9 September – Shannon Matthews, kidnapping victim
• October – Georgina Anderson, pop singer (died 2013)
• 20 October – Jordan Allan, footballer
• 11 December – Gabz (Gabrielle Gardiner), singer-songwriter

Undated

• Jack Carroll, actor
• Ronan McKenzie, kart racing driver

Deaths

• 8 February – Enoch Powell, politician (born 1912)
• 16 March – Derek Harold Richard Barton, chemist, Nobel Prize laureate (born 1918)
• 5 April – Cozy Powell, rock musician (born 1947)
• 11 April – Francis Durbridge, playwright and author (born 1912)
• 16 April – Fred Davis, snooker and billiards player (born 1913)
• 2 May
  • Kevin Lloyd, actor (born 1949)
  • Justin Fashanu, footballer (born 1961; suicide)
• 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)
• 12 November – Roy Hollis, footballer (born 1925)
• 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 in Ukraine)
• 20 December – Alan Lloyd Hodgkin, scientist, recipient of the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine (born 1914)