Events 2003_in_the_United_Kingdom

1 events

1.1 january
1.2 february
1.3 march
1.4 april
1.5 may
1.6 june
1.7 july
1.8 august
1.9 september
1.10 october
1.11 november
1.12 december
1.13 undated

events
january

january – toyota launches all-new avensis built @ tmuk.
10 january – ian carr, 27-year-old banned driving total of 89 previous convictions (including causing death dangerous driving), admits causing death dangerous driving of six-year-old girl in ashington, northumberland – crime sparks widespread public , media outrage across britain.
25 january – central line underground train crashes tunnel wall @ chancery lane tube station in london, injuring 34 people.
29 january – sally clark, 38-year-old former solicitor cheshire, released prison after court of appeal clears of murdering 2 sons, believed have suffered sudden infant death syndrome.
30 january – richard colvin reid, so-called shoe bomber , sentenced life imprisonment united states court.
31 january – 1 of longest prison sentences ever issued in british court motoring offence given killer driver ian carr, received nine-and-a-half-year sentence causing death dangerous driving – second conviction crime in twelve years.

february

1 february – in northern ireland, protestant ulster defence association belfast leader john gregg killed loyalist faction.
15 february – in london, more 2,000,000 people demonstrate against iraq war, largest demonstration in uk history.
17 february – london congestion charge, fee levied on motorists travelling within designated parts of central london, comes operation.
27 february

122 labour mps vote against government in debate on iraq war.
rowan williams enthroned archbishop of canterbury.



march

12 march – iraq disarmament crisis: uk prime minister tony blair proposes amendment possible 18th u.n. resolution, call iraq meet benchmarks prove disarming. amendment rejected france, promises veto new resolution.
20 march – 2003 iraq war: land troops united kingdom join troops united states, australia , poland in invasion of iraq.
22 march – tomahawk cruise missiles fired royal navy submarines take part in massive air , missile strike on military targets in baghdad.

april

6 april – british forces capture city of basra during invasion of iraq.
9 april – iraq war effort given major boost when statue of saddam hussein toppled in baghdad , confirmed hussein s rule has ended after twenty-four years in power.
29 april – tony blair holds one-day summit russian president vladimir putin. putin mocks britain , america s failure locate weapons of mass destruction in iraq.

may

3 may

scottish parliament election, 2003: labour , liberal democrat coalition led jack mcconnell win majority of seats , remain in power. scottish green party , scottish socialist party increase representation.
national assembly wales election, 2003: labour party remain in power.
the bbc announces hugely popular character den watts return soap opera eastenders later year, fourteen years after supposedly killed off.


15 may – government suspends flights , kenya after warnings of imminent al-qaeda attack.
28 may – uefa champions league final @ old trafford (home manchester united) ac milan beating juventus in penalty shootout following goalless draw.
29 may – andrew gilligan broadcasts report on bbc radio 4 today programme stating government claimed in dossier, iraq deploy weapons of mass destruction within forty-five minutes knowing claim dubious. political storm ensues. gilligan s source david kelly, weapons expert.

june

13 june

first minister children appointed, margaret hodge.
the first official twenty20 cricket matches played between english counties in twenty20 cup.


15 june – news of world publishes article in ian huntley photographed in cell @ woodhill prison. undercover reporter had got job in prison, , being employed huntley s guard.
21 june – novel, harry potter , order of phoenix released public.
24 june

president vladimir putin becomes first russian head of state make state visit britain since tsar alexander ii in 1874.
six members of royal military police killed, , 8 other soldiers injured in iraq.


26 june – latest mori poll puts labour , conservative parties on terms @ 35%.

july

2 july – chelsea f.c. bought russian billionaire roman abramovich sum of £150,000,000 current chairman ken bates, twenty-one years after bought club £1.
15 july – david kelly appears before house of commons foreign affairs select committee, answer questions on information had given andrew gilligan.
18 july – david kelly found dead near home in oxfordshire – police suspect committed suicide.
20 july – bbc confirms dr. david kelly, found dead suspected suicide 2 days earlier, main source controversial report sparked deep rift government.

august

1 august – hutton inquiry recent death of weapons expert dr. david kelly, chaired judge lord hutton, opens.
3 august – police use taser first time.
10 august – brogdale enters uk weather records highest ever recorded temperature of 38.5 °c. 2003 european heat wave makes britain s hottest summer thirteen years.
11 august – hutton inquiry recent death of weapons expert dr. david kelly, chaired judge lord hutton, begins take evidence.

september

4 september – bull ring shopping centre in birmingham officially opened sir albert bore.
18 september – brent east by-election: sarah teather of liberal democrats becomes mp brent east after twenty-nine years of labour control.
29 september – comeback of den watts (played leslie grantham) in eastenders screened, fourteen years after character supposedly killed off, , on 4 months after bbc confirmed grantham returning series.

october

24 october – supersonic aircraft concorde makes final commercial flights after twenty-seven years.
29 october – iain duncan-smith resigns after serving 2 years leader of conservative party.

november

4 november – channel 4 s soap opera brookside, on air since station launched in 1982, ends after 21 years.
8 november – sophie, countess of wessex gives birth , prince edward s first child, baby girl.
16 november – david davis, new shadow home secretary, calls return of death penalty murderers found guilty of horrific murders; citing moors murderer ian brady , yorkshire ripper peter sutcliffe criminals crimes meet criteria.
18 november

united states president george w. bush makes state visit london in midst of massive protests.
passage of local government act 2003 including repeal in england, northern ireland , wales of controversial section 28 of local government act 1988 prevented local authorities promoting homosexuality . section 28 had been repealed in scotland since 2000.


20 november – several bombs explode in istanbul, turkey @ several british targets. turkish head office of hsbc , british consulate destroyed, , british consul-general, roger short killed.
22 november – england rugby world champions after defeating australia 20-17 after time.
24 november – high court in glasgow imposes minimum sentence of 27 years al ali mohmed al megrahi, libyan convicted of bombing pan flight 103 on lockerbie, scotland.
26 november – final concorde flight touches down in filton, bristol welcomed duke of york.

december

9 december – m6 toll motorway opens, giving united kingdom first toll motorway, , providing northern by-pass congested section of m6 motorway through west midlands conurbation.
10 december

clive granger wins nobel prize in economics jointly robert f. engle methods of analysing economic time series common trends (cointegration) .
anthony j. leggett wins nobel prize in physics jointly alexei alexeyevich abrikosov , vitaly ginzburg pioneering contributions theory of superconductors , superfluids .
peter mansfield wins nobel prize in physiology or medicine jointly paul lauterbur discoveries concerning magnetic resonance imaging .
the court of appeal overturns 2 murder convictions against 40-year-old wiltshire woman angela cannings, wrongly convicted of murdering 2 baby sons in april last year. mrs. cannings, has surviving daughter, maintained sons both victims of sudden infant death syndrome.
the official inflation target measure changed consumer price index figure rpix.


12 december – mick jagger of rolling stones receives knighthood charles, prince of wales.
16 december – government announces plans build new runway @ stansted airport in essex , short-haul runway @ heathrow airport sparking anger environmentalist groups.
17 december

ian huntley found guilty of soham murders , sentenced life imprisonment @ old bailey. high court judge later decide on minimum number of years have serve before being considered parole. ex-girlfriend maxine carr found guilty of perverting course of justice , receives jail term of three-and-a-half years, freed on licence (under new identity protect reprisal attacks) in may 2004 has served sixteen months on remand. home secretary david blunkett orders inquiry how police vetting system failed prevent huntley getting job in school after revealed @ end of trial had been suspected in past of crimes including underage sex, rape, indecent assault , burglary.



undated

sales of dvd home video format take largest share of uk home video market first time. format, first launched in uk in june 1998, accounted more 70% of home video sales year, vhs format s popularity falls, , many new titles not being released on it.
new car sales reach record high year of 2,600,000, ford focus enjoying fifth successive year britain s best-selling new car. bmw sales reach record high, bmw 3 series managing on 60,000 sales britain s ninth best-selling car. sales of vauxhall, peugeot, renault , volkswagen cars remain strong well, while nissan enjoys incease in sales largely due popularity of new version of micra.




^ killer driver s 89 convictions . bbc news. 10 january 2003. retrieved 2013-03-23. 
^ 2003: solicitor cleared of killing sons . bbc news. 29 january 2003. archived original on 1 february 2008. retrieved 13 february 2008. 
^ 2003: shoe bomber jailed life . bbc news. 30 january 2003. archived original on 7 march 2008. retrieved 13 february 2008. 
^ driver killed girl after life ban jailed 9 years . independent. london. 31 january 2003. 
^ williams, hywel (2005). cassell s chronology of world history. london: weidenfeld & nicolson. pp. 653–656. isbn 0-304-35730-8. 
^ http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/april/9/newsid_3502000/3502633.stm
^ charles clarke welcomes margaret hodge minister children (press release). department children, schools , families. 13 june 2003. retrieved 28 january 2011. 
^ matches played 13 june 2003 . cricinfo. 2009. retrieved 14 june 2012. 
^ penguin pocket on day. penguin reference library. 2006. isbn 0-14-102715-0. 
^ poll tracker . bbc. 2010. archived original on 1 february 2011. retrieved 28 january 2011. 
^ russian businessman buys chelsea . bbc news. 2 july 2003. archived original on 24 january 2009. retrieved 18 september 2010. 
^ 2003: missing iraq expert – body found . bbc news. 18 july 2003. archived original on 7 march 2008. retrieved 13 february 2008. 
^ bbc admits kelly main source . bbc news. 20 july 2003. retrieved 6 january 2008. 
^ hutton inquiry begins . bbc news. 1 august 2003. retrieved 6 january 2008. 
^ 2003: britain swelters in record heat . bbc news. 10 august 2003. archived original on 7 march 2008. retrieved 13 february 2008. 
^ mcguinness, ross (16 march 2009). metro . p. 30. 
^ 2003: end of era concorde . bbc news. 24 october 2003. archived original on 7 march 2008. retrieved 13 february 2008. 
^ 2003: tory party leader resigns . bbc news. 29 october 2003. archived original on 7 march 2008. retrieved 13 february 2008. 
^ 2003: royal baby born prematurely . bbc news. 8 november 2003. retrieved 18 march 2009. 
^ tories davis backs death penalty . bbc news. 16 november 2003. retrieved 9 june 2011. 
^ 2003: high security bush visits uk . bbc news. 18 november 2003. archived original on 7 march 2008. retrieved 13 february 2008. 
^ 2003: british targets bombed in istanbul . bbc news. 20 november 2003. archived original on 7 march 2008. retrieved 13 february 2008. 
^ 2003: england win rugby world cup . bbc news. 22 november 2003. archived original on 7 march 2008. retrieved 13 february 2008. 
^ http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/staffordshire/3298789.stm
^ sveriges riksbank prize in economic sciences in memory of alfred nobel 2003 . retrieved 27 january 2008. 
^ nobel prize in physics 2003 . retrieved 27 january 2008. 
^ nobel prize in physiology or medicine 2003 . retrieved 27 january 2008. 
^ 2003: mother cleared of murdering babies . bbc news. 10 december 2003. archived original on 7 march 2008. retrieved 13 february 2008. 
^ finding cpr/hicp date . office national statistics. 2010. retrieved 6 january 2011. 
^ 2003: ian huntley guilty of soham murders . bbc news. 17 december 2003. archived original on 7 march 2008. retrieved 13 february 2008. 
^ blunkett launches huntley inquiry . bbc news. 17 december 2003. retrieved 18 march 2009. 
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