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1997 in the United Kingdom

Events from the year 1997 in the United Kingdom.

Incumbents

• Monarch - HM Queen Elizabeth II
• Prime Minister - John Major, Conservative (until 2 May), Tony Blair, Labour Party

Events

• 4 January - Tony Bullimore, a lone yachtsman, is feared drowned after his boat capsizes in the Indian Ocean.^[1]
• 9 January - Tony Bullimore is found safe and well after being spotted by the crew of an Australian navy ship.
• 15 January - Diana, Princess of Wales calls for an international ban on landmines.^[2]
• 16 January - The Conservative Party government loses its majority in the House of Commons after the death of Iain Mills, MP for Meriden.^[3]
• 20 January - Death of Labour Party MP Martin Redmond ends the government's minority.^[3]
• 21 January - The Wales child abuse scandal sees more than 80 people named as child abusers in care homes in North Wales.^[4]
• 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.^[5]
• 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".^[6]
• 15 February - 13-year-old Billie-Jo Jenkins is found dead after being battered at her foster father's home in Hastings, East Sussex.^[7]
• 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.^[8]
• 22 February - Scientists at the Roslin Institute announce the birth of a cloned sheep named Dolly seven months after the fact.^[9]
• 27 February - The government loses its Commons majority again after the Labour victory at the Wirral South by-election.^[3]
• 8 April - BBC journalist Martin Bell announces that he is to stand as a candidate against Neil Hamilton in the Tatton constituency on an anti-corruption platform.^[10]
• 1 May - United Kingdom general election, 1997^[11]
  • The Labour Party under Tony Blair defeat the incumbent Conservative Party under Prime Minister John Major to win the election in a landslide result, winning 418 seats.
  • Several high profile Conservative MPs, including seven Cabinet ministers lose their seats, as do all Conservative MPs in Scotland and Wales.
• 2 May - Tony Blair is appointed Prime Minister of the United Kingdom by The Queen.
• 3 May - Katrina and the Waves win the Eurovision Song Contest with the song Love Shine a Light, the first time the UK has won the competition since 1981.
• 6 May - New Chancellor of the Exchequer, Gordon Brown announces that the Bank of England, central bank of the UK, is to assume independent responsibility for UK monetary policy.^[12]
• 19 May - the new Labour government announces that it will ban tobacco sponsorship of sporting events.^[13]
• June - Ford enters the growing compact coupe market with its Puma, which uses the same chassis as the Ka and Fiesta.
• 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.^[14]
• 19 June
  • McDonalds wins the "McLibel" libel case, the longest trial in English legal history, against two environmental campaigners.^[15]
  • William Hague becomes the youngest leader of the Conservative Party in over 200 years.^[16]
• 30 June - Publication of first Harry Potter novel, Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone.
• 1 July - The UK transfers sovereignty of Hong Kong, the largest remaining British colony, to the People's Republic of China as the 99 years lease on the territory formally ends.^[16]
• 19 July - The IRA declares a ceasefire.^[17]
• 29 July - Tracie Andrews is found guilty of murdering her fiancee 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.

• 2 August - John Major's Prime Minister's Resignation Honours are announced.^[18]
• 31 August - Death of Diana, Princess of Wales: Diana, Princess of Wales and Dodi Al-Fayed are killed in a car crash in Paris sending the country into a period of national mourning.^[19]
• 1 September
  • French investigators reveal that Princess Dianna's driver, Henri Paul, was over the drink-driving limit and had been travelling at over 100mph before the crash that killer her. Lawyers for Mohamed Al-Fayed, father of Dodi Al-Fayed, lay the blame on the paparazzi who were pursuing the Princess's vehicle.^[20]
  • a new style of fifty pence coin is introduced.^[21]
• 5 September - The Queen makes a nationwide broadcast in tribute to Diana, Princess of Wales, following widespread criticism of the Royal Family's response to her death.
• 6 September - The funeral of Diana, Princess of Wales takes place at Westminster Abbey, London followed by a private burial at the estate of the Earl Spencer in Althorp, Northamptonshire. The Earl Spencer, brother of Diana, attacks the Royal Family's treatment of Diana in his funeral eulogy.^[22]
• 11 September - Referendum in Scotland on the creation of a national Parliament with devolved powers takes place. Voters back the plans for a national Parliament with limited tax raising powers.^[23]
• 18 September - Referendum in Wales on the creation of a national Assembly takes place. Voters back the plans.^[16]
• 19 September - Southall rail crash: passenger train collides with a freight train at Southall, West London killing six people.^[24]
• 29 September - British scientists state that they have found a link between Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease and eating of BSE-infected meat.^[25]
• 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.^[16]
• 31 October - au pair Louise Woodward found guilty of the second degree murder of an eight-month-old child in her care. She is jailed for life with a minimum of 20 years.^[26]
• 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.
• 12 November - Brazil's Supreme Court refuses to extradite the Great Train Robber Ronnie Biggs to Britain.^[27]
• 5 December - Chester man John O'Shaugnessey, 31, is sentenced to life imprisonment at Chester Crown Court after admitting the rape and murder of his nine-year-old neighbour Kayleigh Ward. Kayleigh was last seen alive on 19 December last year and her body was found in the River Dee two months later.
• 10 December - John E. Walker wins the Nobel Prize in Chemistry jointly with Paul D. Boyer "for their elucidation of the enzymatic mechanism underlying the synthesis of adenosine triphosphate (ATP)".^[28]
• 18 December - The bill to establish the Scottish Parliament unveiled by Secretary of State for Scotland Donald Dewar.^[29]
• 19 December
  • William Hague marries Ffion Jenkins.^[30]
  • Moors Murderer Myra Hindley loses a High Court appeal against the whole life tariff which was imposed on her by Home Secretary David Waddington in 1990 and later confirmed by Waddington's successor Michael Howard.
• 22 December - the government announces an independent inquiry into the BSE crisis.^[31]
• 24 December - Will Straw, son of Cabinet minister Jack Straw, arrested on suspicion of supplying cannabis.^[32]
• 27 December - Ulster Loyalist leader Billy Wright is shot dead in the Maze Prison. Prisoners of the Irish National Liberation Army are believed to have been responsible for Wright's murder.^[33]

Publications

• Iain Banks' novel A Song of Stone.
• Ted Hughes' poetry Tales from Ovid.
• Ian McEwan's novel Enduring Love.
• Terry Pratchett's Discworld novel Jingo.
• Philip Pullman's novel The Subtle Knife.
• J. K. Rowling's novel Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone.

Births

Deaths

• 10 January - Alexander R. Todd, Baron Todd, biochemist (born 1907)
• 13 January - Iain Mills, Member of Parliamenr (born 1940)
• 16 January - Martin Redmond, Member of Parliamenr (born 1937)
• 21 March - W.V. Awdry, children's writer (born 1911)
• 23 April - Denis Compton, footballer and cricketer (born 1918)
• 13 May - Laurie Lee, poet and author (born 1914)
• 4 July - John Zachary Young, biologist (born 1907)
• 24 July - Brian Glover, actor (born 1934)
• 23 August - John Kendrew, molecular biologist, recipient of the Nobel Prize in Chemistry (born 1917)
• 24 August - Louis Essen, physicist (born 1908)
• 31 August - Dodi Fayed, film producer (born 1955)
• 31 August - Diana, Princess of Wales (born 1961)
• 6 September - P. H. Newby, novelist (born 1918)
• 3 October - A. L. Rowse, historian (born 1903)
• 6 October - Adrienne Hill, actress (year of birth unknown)
• 2 December - Shirley Crabtree, professional writer (born 1930)
• 7 December - Billy Bremner, footballer and football manager (born 1942)

References

See also