1 January – Police in
Sutton Coldfield, near
Birmingham, launch a murder hunt after 17-year-old student Nicola Dixon is found bludgeoned to death in an alleyway in the town.
8 January –
Kevin Keegan stuns the football world by announcing his resignation as manager of
FA Premier League title chasers
Newcastle United. He had been in charge of the club since February 1992 when they were on the brink of relegation from the old
Football League Second Division, but swiftly turned their fortunes around as they won promotion to the FA Premier League in 1993 and have finished in the top six every season since then, including
the last football season where they were narrowly beaten to the title by Manchester United.
9 January – Tony Bullimore is found safe and well after being spotted by the crew of an Australian navy ship.
14 January –
Kenny Dalglish, who managed
Liverpool to three league titles between 1986 and 1990 and won the 1995 FA Premier League title with
Blackburn Rovers, is appointed manager of Newcastle United.
3 February – Miles Evans, a 23-year-old soldier from
Warminster in
Wiltshire, is charged with the murder of his nine-year-old stepdaughter Zoe, who was reported missing on 9 January. Her body has not been found, but police are convinced that she is dead because they have found bloodstained clothing in the search for her.
6 February – The
Court of Appeal rules that Mrs Diane Blood of
Leeds can be inseminated with her dead husband's sperm. Mrs Blood had been challenging for the right to use the sperm of her husband Stephen since just after his death two years ago.[3]
10 February – Louise Woodward, an 18-year-old
au pair from
Elton in
Cheshire, is charged with the murder of nine-month-old Matthew Eappen, a baby in her care who died yesterday four days after being admitted to hospital in the United States.
14 February- Jurors at the inquest into the death of
Stephen Lawrence rule that the black teenager was unlawfully killed "in a completely unprovoked racist attack by five white youths".[4]
21 February –
Three men who have spent 18 years in prison after being convicted of murdering 13-year-old
Carl Bridgewater in 1978 have their convictions overturned by the Court of Appeal.[6]
John Major promises to privatise the
London Underground by the year 2000 if the Conservatives are re-elected this year.
A girl's body found in the
River Dee near
Chester today is identified as that of nine-year-old Kayleigh Ward, who went missing in the
Blacon area of the city on 19 December last year.
26 February – John O'Shaughnessy, 30, is charged with the rape and murder of Kayleigh Ward.
27 February – The government loses its Commons majority again after the Labour victory at the
Wirral South by-election.[2]
March
9 March –
Chesterfield, the
Division Two club, reach the
FA Cup semi-final for the first time in their history by beating fellow Division Two club
Wrexham 1–0 in the quarter-final.
Andrew Devine, who was left in a
persistent vegetative state by brain damage suffered in the
Hillsborough disaster in April 1989, is reported to have emerged from the coma-like condition after being able to communicate to his family by using a touch-sensitive switch.
[1]
Middlesbrough F.C. lose an appeal against a three-point deduction imposed upon them for cancelling a game against
Blackburn Rovers FC, despite chairman
Steve Gibson and manager
Bryan Robson insisting that it was impossible to field a team for the game due to so many players being unavailable through injury or illness. The points deduction eventually results in Middlesbrough being relegated from the FA Premier League.
April
April – Nursery Education Voucher Scheme introduced, guaranteeing a government-funded contribution to the cost of
preschool education for 4-year-olds.
11 April – Eight male teenagers are found guilty of raping a 32-year-old Austrian woman in
King's Cross, London.
16 April – Leicester City win the Football League Cup for the second time in their history with a 1–0 replay win over Middlesbrough.
18 April – The teenagers who gang raped the Austrian woman are sentenced to between 10 and 12 years in prison at the
Old Bailey.
22 April – Middlesbrough reach the FA Cup final for the first time in their history by beating Chesterfield 3–0 in the semi-final replay.
23 April
Denis Compton, the legendary cricketer and footballer, dies at the age of 78.
Manchester United's hopes of winning the European Cup are ended when they are eliminated from the semi-finals by German champions
Borussia Dortmund.
28 April –
Lord Taylor of Gosforth, famous for the
Taylor Report into the Hillsborough disaster which resulted in all-seater stadiums being made compulsory in top division football, dies aged 66.
17 May –
Chelsea F.C. beat
Middlesbrough F.C. 2–0 in the
FA Cup final at
Wembley Stadium to win their first major trophy for 26 years, while it is a personal triumph for their 34-year-old
Dutch player-manager
Ruud Gullit who becomes the first black manager and the first foreign manager to win a major trophy in England.
18 May – The football world is stunned by the retirement of Manchester United captain
Eric Cantona six days before his 31st birthday.
2 June – The
Halifax Building Society floats on the London Stock Exchange. Over 7.5 million customers of the Society become shareholders of the new bank, the largest extension of shareholders in UK history.
12 June –
Law lords declare that former
Home Secretary,
Michael Howard, acted illegally in raising the minimum sentence of the
Bulger killers Robert Thompson and Jon Venables to 15 years. They also strip the government of setting minimum terms for prisoners aged under 18 who had received life or indefinite prison sentences.[9]
29 July –
Tracie Andrews is found guilty of murdering her fiancée
Lee Harvey, who was stabbed to death on a
Worcestershire country lane nearly eight months ago in what she claimed was a road rage attack. Andrews, 28, is sentenced to life imprisonment with a recommended minimum of 14 years.
3 August – Manchester United win the
FA Charity Shield on penalties after drawing 1–1 with Chelsea at Wembley.
18 August – An 11-year-old
Bedfordshire boy is due to become Britain's youngest father, as his 15-year-old girlfriend is expecting a baby.
September
2 September – 18-year-old
West Ham United FC defender
Rio Ferdinand, the youngest current member of the England football team, is dropped from the squad after being found guilty on a drink-driving charge for which he receives a one-year ban from driving.
10 September – The England football team beat
Moldova 4–0 in their penultimate World Cup qualifying game at Wembley. They only need a draw against
Italy in Rome next month to qualify automatically.
13 September – Release of
Elton John's Candle in the Wind remade as a tribute to Diana, Princess of Wales. This will be the second best-selling
single worldwide of all time.[13]
25 September – Eight months after leaving Newcastle United, Kevin Keegan returns to football as a director of football at Division Two club Fulham. The former
England midfielder
Ray Wilkins is appointed team manager. Chairman Mohammed Al Fayed is targeting Premier League football for the West London club by 2002.
October
1 October – The final LTI FX4 London cab is produced after 39 years.
11 October – England qualify for the Football World Cup with a 0–0 draw against Italy in Rome.
15 October –
Andy Green driving the
ThrustSSC sets a new land speed record of 763.035 mph (1227.99 km/h), the first time the
sound barrier is broken on land.[15]
20 October – Michael Stone, 37, is charged with the murder of Lin Russell and her six-year-old daughter Megan, who were found bludgeoned to death in
Chillenden,
Kent, 15 months ago. He is also charged with the attempted murder of Mrs Russell's other daughter Josie, who was nine at the time.
24 October – WPC Nina Mackay, 25, is stabbed to death in
Stratford, London, when entering a flat to arrest a
Somali asylum seeker who was due to be deported.
29 October –
Lawrence Dallaglio is appointed captain of the England rugby team.
31 October – Au pair
Louise Woodward found guilty of the second degree murder of an eight-month-old child in her care in the US. She is jailed for life with a minimum of 20 years.[16]
November
10 November – Louise Woodward's second degree murder conviction is reduced to manslaughter on appeal, and her life sentence is replaced by one of 279 days – the amount of time she had already spent in custody on remand. She is released from prison.
24 November – The
British Library opens its first public reading room at its new London site on the
Euston Road.
December
5 December – Chester man John O'Shaughnessy, 31, is jailed for
life after admitting the rape and murder of nine-year-old Kayleigh Ward in the
Blacon area of the city 12 months ago. The trial judge recommends that he should serve at least 30 years before being considered for parole.
[3]
Twelve people are arrested during protests by disabled people outside Downing Street.
German striker
Jürgen Klinsmann, who spent the
1994–95 season at Tottenham Hotspur, returns to the club in a £175,000 move from
Sampdoria of Italy as new manager Christian Gross attempts to drag the
North London side clear of relegation trouble.