2008 in the United Kingdom.html



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2008 in the United Kingdom

Other years

2006 | 2007 | 2008 | 2009 | 2010

Constituent countries

England | Northern Ireland | Scotland | Wales

Sport, Television and music

2008 British Grand Prix

2008 English cricket season

Football: England | Scotland | Wales

2008 in British television

2008 in British music

UK in the Eurovision Song Contest 2008

Events from the year 2008 in the United Kingdom.

Designation

2008 National Year of Reading is a year-long celebration of reading, in all its forms.

Incumbents

• Monarch - HM Queen Elizabeth II
• Prime Minister - Gordon Brown, Labour Party

Events

January

• January 4 - An unforecasted blizzard creates havoc across eastern Northern Ireland, with falls of 8 inches in one hour.
• January 7 - RMS Queen Elizabeth 2 and MS Queen Victoria leave Southampton for last and first world cruises respectively.
• January 9 - Israeli diamond magnate Lev Leviev buys a new-build house in Hampstead, London for a record £35 million.
• 12 January - The city of Liverpool officially becomes European Capital of Culture for 2008, a title it will share with Stavanger, Norway.
• 17 January - Number of people affected by novovirus stomach bug in the UK reaches an estimated 3 million.
• 24 January - Peter Hain resigns as Secretary of State for Work and Pensions over irregular donations.¹
• 31 January - Conservative Party MP Derek Conway suspended from the House of Commons for 10 days over payments made to his son from his parliamentary allowances.²
• 31 January - Four men are jailed for 15 years each for their part in the 2006 Securitas raid, the UK's biggest cash robbery.

February

• 6 February - The England National Football team defeat Switzerland 2–1 in Fabio Capello's first game as manager at Wembley Stadium in London.
• 17 February - The Government announced that the Northern Rock bank would be temporarily taken into public ownership.
• 21 February - A jury at Ipswich Crown Court finds Steve Wright, 49, guilty of murdering five prostitutes in a spree during late 2006.³
• 22 February
  • Steve Wright is sentenced to life imprisonment with a recommendation that he should never be released.⁴
  • Mark Dixie, 37, is found guilty of the September 2005 murder of Surrey model Sally Anne Bowman (18). He is sentenced to life imprisonment at the Old Bailey, where the trial judge recommends that he serves at least 34 years before parole can be considered.⁵
• 26 February - Levi Bellfield, 38, is found guilty of murdering two women in London in sexually-motivated attacks; the first in 2001, the second in 2004. He receives a life sentence with a recommendation that he should never be released.
• 27 February - An earthquake with an epicentre in Lincolnshire is felt across most of Britain, with several buildings suffering substantial damage.

March

• March 12 - The British Budget is unveiled by Alistair Darling as his first in the position of Chancellor of the Exchequer.
• March 30 - A plane crashes into a row of houses in Farnborough, London, England, killing two pilots and three passengers.⁶

April

• 2 April - A cross human-cow embryo survives a third straight day after being fertilized at Newcastle University, England. A director for embryonic stem cell laboratories at the Australian Stem Cell Centre said that the "99 per cent human" embryo could improve research within the field of human diseases. The Catholic Church in England however said that the creation was "monstrous" and says that the later destruction of it is unethical. ⁷
• April 6 - The Corporate Manslaughter and Corporate Homicide Act 2007 came into force.⁸

May

• 1 May
  • The London mayoral election was held. Conservative candidate Boris Johnson defeats the incumbent Labour candidate Ken Livingstone.⁹
  • Elections to the London Assembly are also held, with Brent and Harrow being the only constituency to change hands. Meanwhile, the British National Party gain a seat, their first outside of local councils.
  • Local elections are held in England and Wales. The night saw the governing Labour party fall to third place in the popular vote on 24%, behind the Conservatives on 44% and the Liberal Democrats on 25%.

August

• 8 August–24 August - Great Britain compete at the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing. The team wins 19 gold, 13 silver and 15 bronze medals finishing 4th in the medal table. It is the best performance for the Great Britain team in a century.¹⁰

September

• 6 September–17 September - Great Britain compete at the 2008 Summer Paralympics in Beijing.

October

• 8 October - The government announces a bank rescue package worth totalling some £500 billion as a response to the ongoing financial crisis.

November

• 5 November - Lewis Hamilton becomes the youngest ever Formula One World Champion.¹¹
• 6 November - Labour party wins the Glenrothes by-election.¹²

Publications

• Iain M. Banks' novel Matter.

Deaths

• 2 January - George MacDonald Fraser, author (b. 1925)
• 3 January - Jimmy Stewart, racing driver (b. 1931)
• 9 January - John Harvey-Jones, businessman (b. 1924)
• 19 January - Morris Maddocks, bishop (b. 1928)
• 30 January - Jeremy Beadle, television presenter, writer and producer (b. 1948)
• 28 February - Mike Smith, singer (b. 1943)
• 8 March - Carol Barnes, newsreader (b. 1944)
• 18 March - Anthony Minghella, film director (b. 1954)
• 19 March - Arthur C. Clarke, science fiction author and inventor (b. 1917)
• 19 March - Paul Scofield, actor (b. 1922)
• 20 March - Brian Wilde, actor (b. 1927)
• 23 March - Neil Aspinall, record producer and business executive (b. 1941)
• 1 April - Jim Finney, football referee (b. 1924)
• 7 April - Mark Speight, television presenter (b. 1965)
• 25 April - Humphrey Lyttelton, jazz musician and broadcaster (b. 1921)
• 23 May - David Mitton, producer and director (b. 1939)
• 24 May - Rob Knox, actor (b. 1989)
• 28 May - Beryl Cook, artist (b. 1926)
• 2 July - Elizabeth Spriggs, actress (b. 1929)
• 3 July - Clive Hornby, actor (b. 1944)
• 4 July - Charles Wheeler, journalist (b. 1923)
• 14 July - Hugh Lloyd, actor (b. 1923)
• 11 August - Bill Cotton, producer (b. 1928)
• 29 August - Geoffrey Perkins, comedy producer, writer and performer (b. 1953)
• 31 August - Ken Campbell, actor and raconteur (born 1941)
• 15 September - Richard Wright, muician (b. 1943)
• 3 November - Brooks Mileson, businessman, (b. 1947)
• 4 November - Syd Lucas, World War I survivor (b. 1900)
• 12 November - Mitch Mitchell, drummer (b. 1947)
• 16 November - Reg Varney, actor (b. 1916)

References