United Kingdom Timeline of Events

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The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...

Timeline of Events

1993

4.30.1993

Virgin Radio broadcasts for the first time in the United Kingdom.

1995

2.9.1995

Space Shuttle astronauts Bernard A. Harris, Jr. and Michael Foale become the first African American and first Briton, respectively, to perform spacewalks.

2.26.1995

The United Kingdom's oldest investment banking institute, Barings Bank, collapses after a securities broker, Nick Leeson, loses $1.4 billion by speculating on the Singapore International Monetary Exchange using futures contracts.

1996

3.25.1996

The European Union's Veterinarian Committee bans the export of British beef and its by-products as a result of mad cow disease (Bovine spongiform encephalopathy).

1997

6.30.1997

The United Kingdom transfers sovereignty over Hong Kong to the People's Republic of China.

7.1.1997

The People's Republic of China resumes sovereignty over the city-state of Hong Kong, ending 156 years of British colonial rule.

9.11.1997

After a nationwide referendum, Scotland votes to establish a devolved parliament, within the United Kingdom.

10.15.1997

The first supersonic land speed record is set by Andy Green in ''ThrustSSC'' (United Kingdom), exactly 50 years and 1 day after Chuck Yeager first broke the sound barrier in the Earth's atmosphere.

12.17.1997

The United Kingdom commences its Firearms (Amendment) (No. 2) Act 1997, which extends the state's gun ban to include all handguns -- with the exception of antique and show weapons.

1998

8.24.1998

First RFID human implantation tested in the United Kingdom.

12.26.1998

Iraq announces its intention to fire upon U.S. and British warplanes that patrol the northern and southern no-fly zones.

1999

1.1.1999

The Euro currency is introduced in 11 countries - members of NATO (with the exception of the United Kingdom, Denmark, Greece and Sweden).

10.26.1999

Britain's House of Lords votes to end the right of hereditary peers to vote in Britain's upper chamber of Parliament.

12.2.1999

The United Kingdom devolves political power in Northern Ireland to the Northern Ireland Executive.

2000

4.22.2000

The Big Number Change takes place in the United Kingdom.

2002

7.7.2002

A scandal breaks out in the United Kingdom when news reports accuse MI6 of sheltering Abu Qatada, the supposed European Al Qaeda leader.

7.15.2002

Anti-Terrorism Court of Pakistan hands down the death sentence to British born Ahmed Omar Saeed Sheikh and life terms to three others suspected of murdering ''Wall Street Journal'' reporter Daniel Pearl.

8.4.2002

Soham murders: 10 year old school girls Jessica Chapman and Holly Wells go missing from the town of Soham, Cambridgeshire, United Kingdom.

10.30.2002

British Digital terrestrial television (DTT) Service Freeview begins transmitting in parts of the United Kingdom.

2003

3.24.2003

The Arab League votes 21-1 in favor of a resolution demanding the immediate and unconditional removal of U.S. and British soldiers from Iraq.

11.18.2003

In the United Kingdom, the Local Government Act 2003, repealing controversial anti-gay amendment Section 28, becomes effective.

11.20.2003

After the November 15 bombings, a second day of the 2003 Istanbul Bombings occurs in Istanbul, Turkey, destroying the Turkish head office of HSBC Bank AS and the British consulate.

2005

12.5.2005

The Civil Partnership Act comes into effect in the United Kingdom, and the first civil partnership is registered there.

2006

4.1.2006

The Serious Organised Crime Agency, dubbed the "British FBI", is created in the United Kingdom.

8.10.2006

Scotland Yard disrupts a major terrorist plot to destroy aircraft traveling from the United Kingdom to the United States.

11.11.2006

Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II unveils the New Zealand War Memorial in London, United Kingdom, commemorating the loss of soldiers from the New Zealand Army and the British Army.

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