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Date |
Event(s) |
| 1 | 2002 | - 1 Jan 2002: Twelve major countries in Europe (Austria, Belgium, Holland, Irish Republic,
Italy, Luxembourg, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Spain, Portugal) and their
dependents start using the Euro instead of their old national currencies; the UK stays
out – the Euro worth 62½p at this time
- 22 Feb 2002: Millennium Bridge over the Thames in London finally opens
- 30 Mar 2002: The Queen Mother dies, aged 101 years
- 2 Jul 2002: Steve Fossett becomes the first person to fly solo around the world nonstop in a
balloon
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| 2 | 2003 | - 17 Feb 2003: Start of Congestion Charge for traffic entering central London
- 10 Aug 2003: Temperatures reach record high of 101 F (38.3 C) in Kent
- 24 Oct 2003: Last commercial flight of Concorde
- 22 Nov 2003: England wins Rugby World Cup in nail-biting final in Australia – first northern
hemisphere team to do this
- 13 Dec 2003: Saddam Hussein captured near his home town of Tikrit (executed 30 Dec 2006)
- 26 Dec 2003: Queen Mary 2 arrives in Southampton from the builder's yard in France 2004
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| 3 | 2004 | - 29 Mar 2004: Ireland becomes first country in the world to ban smoking in public places
- 29 Mar 2004: Alistair Cooke dies at the age of 95 – until four weeks previously, and since
1946, he had broadcast his regular 'Letter from America' on BBC radio
- 1 May 2004: Enlargement of the European Union to include 25 members by the entry of 10
new states: Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Czech Republic, Slovakia, Hungary,
Slovenia, Malta, Cyprus
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| 4 | 2005 | - 16 Feb 2005: Kyoto Protocol on climate change came into force
- 18 Feb 2005: Ban on hunting with dogs came into force in England & Wales (had already
been a similar law for about two years in Scotland)
- 6 Jul 2005: London chosen as venue for the 2012 Olympic Games
- 7 Jul 2005: Suicide bombers attack London for the first time
- 28 Jul 2005: IRA declare an end to their 'armed struggle'
- 12 Sep 2005: England regain the 'Ashes' after a gripping Test series (but are whitewashed 5-0
in the return series in Australia 2007)
- 9 Dec 2005: Last Routemaster bus runs on regular service in London
- 11 Dec 2005: Explosions at the Buncefield Oil Depot in Hemel Hempstead
- 21 Dec 2005: Same-sex civil partnerships begin
– famously, on this day, between Elton John and David Furnish
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| 5 | 2006 | - 1 Mar 2006: Welsh Assembly Building opened by the Queen
- 26 Mar 2006: Prohibition of smoking in enclosed public places in Scotland
- 21 Apr 2006: 80th birthday of Queen Elizabeth II
- 21 Aug 2006: UK postage rates start to be measured by size as well as by weight
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| 6 | 2007 | - 1 Jan 2007: Further enlargement of the European Union to include Bulgaria and Romania
- 19 Feb 2007: Extension of Congestion Charge zone for London, westwards
- 8 May 2007: A Northern Ireland Executive formed under the leadership of Ian Paisley (DUP)
and Martin McGuinness (Sinn Fein)
- 1 Jul 2007: Prohibition of smoking in enclosed public places in England (thus completing
cover of the entire UK)
- 14 Nov 2007: First rail service direct from St Pancras to France (replacing that from Waterloo)
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