Login
Login

2003 in the United Kingdom

{{short description|none}}

{{Use dmy dates|date=September 2020}}

{{Use British English|date=April 2013}}

{{Year in United Kingdom|2003

|label1= Countries of the United Kingdom

|data1 = England {{!}} Northern Ireland {{!}} Scotland {{!}} Wales

|label2= Popular culture

|data2 =

2003 British Grand Prix

2003 English cricket season

Football: England {{!}} Scotland {{!}} Wales

2003 in British television

2003 in British music

2003 in British radio

UK in the Eurovision Song Contest 2003

}}

Events from the year 2003 in the United Kingdom.

Incumbents

Events

=January=

  • January – Toyota launches an all-new Avensis to be built at TMUK.
  • 10 January – Ian Carr, a 27-year-old banned from driving with a total of 89 previous convictions (including causing death by dangerous driving), admits causing the death by dangerous driving of a six-year-old girl in Ashington, Northumberland – a crime which sparks widespread public and media outrage across the United Kingdom.{{cite web|title=Killer driver's 89 convictions|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/2646033.stm|work=BBC News|date=10 January 2003|access-date=23 March 2013}}
  • 14 January – Anti-terrorism detective Stephen Oake is murdered in Crumpsall, Manchester by Islamic terrorist Kamel Bourgass after being stabbed eight times while attempting his arrest.{{cite web|url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/1487755/The-bungled-raid-that-left-a-policeman-face-to-face-with-an-al-Qaeda-assassin.html|title=The bungled raid that left a policeman face to face with an al-Qa'eda assassin|first=Nigel|last=Bunyan|date=13 April 2005|website=The Daily Telegraph}}
  • 25 January – Central line underground train crashes into the tunnel wall at Chancery Lane tube station in London, injuring 34 people.
  • 29 January – Sally Clark, a 38-year-old former solicitor from Cheshire, is released from prison after the Court of Appeal clears her of murdering her two sons, who are believed to have suffered sudden infant death syndrome.{{cite news|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/january/29/newsid_3412000/3412647.stm|title=2003: Solicitor cleared of killing sons|work=BBC News|access-date=13 February 2008|date=29 January 2003|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080201140345/http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/january/29/newsid_3412000/3412647.stm|archive-date=1 February 2008|url-status=live}}
  • 30 January – Richard Colvin Reid, the so-called "shoe bomber", is sentenced to life imprisonment by a United States court.{{cite news|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/january/30/newsid_4081000/4081741.stm|title=2003: 'Shoe bomber' jailed for life|work=BBC News|access-date=13 February 2008|date=30 January 2003| archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20080307125233/http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/january/30/newsid_4081000/4081741.stm| archive-date= 7 March 2008 | url-status= live}}
  • 31 January – One of the longest prison sentences ever issued in a British court for a motoring offence is given to killer driver Ian Carr, who receives a nine-and-a-half-year sentence for causing death by dangerous driving – his second conviction for the crime in twelve years.{{cite news|url=https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/crime/driver-who-killed-girl-after-life-ban-is-jailed-for-nine-years-596283.html |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20220501/https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/crime/driver-who-killed-girl-after-life-ban-is-jailed-for-nine-years-596283.html |archive-date=1 May 2022 |url-access=subscription|title=Driver who killed girl after life ban is jailed for nine years|newspaper=The Independent|location=London|date=31 January 2003}}{{cbignore}}{{dead link|date=August 2021|bot=medic}}{{cbignore|bot=medic}}

=February=

  • 1 February – In Northern Ireland, the Protestant Ulster Defence Association Belfast leader John Gregg is killed by a loyalist faction.
  • 15 February – In London, more than 2,000,000 people demonstrate against the Iraq War, the largest demonstration in UK history.{{cite book|last=Williams|first=Hywel|title=Cassell's Chronology of World History|url=https://archive.org/details/cassellschronolo0000will|url-access=registration|location=London|publisher=Weidenfeld & Nicolson|year=2005|isbn=0-304-35730-8|pages=[https://archive.org/details/cassellschronolo0000will/page/653 653–656]}}
  • 17 February – The London congestion charge, a fee levied on motorists travelling within designated parts of central London, comes into operation.
  • 27 February
  • 122 Labour MPs vote against the government in a debate over the Iraq War.
  • Rowan Williams enthroned as Archbishop of Canterbury.

=March=

  • 12 March – Iraq disarmament crisis: UK Prime Minister Tony Blair proposes an amendment to the possible 18th U.N. resolution, which would call for Iraq to meet certain benchmarks to prove that it was disarming. The amendment is immediately rejected by France, who promises to veto any new resolution.
  • 15 March – Comic actress Dame Thora Hird dies in a nursing home in London, aged 91, less than a year after her final appearance on BBC Radio.
  • 18 March – Parliament votes to approve an invasion of Iraq.
  • 20 March – 2003 Iraq war: Land troops from United Kingdom join troops from the United States, Australia and Poland in the invasion of Iraq.
  • 22 March – Tomahawk cruise missiles fired from Royal Navy submarines take part in a massive air and missile strike on military targets in Baghdad.
  • End – First arrest of a British-based terrorist group linked to Al-Qaeda, in Operation CREVICE.{{cite book|authorlink=Christopher Andrew (historian)|first=Christopher|last=Andrew|title=The Defence of the Realm|location=London|publisher=Penguin|orig-year=2009|year=2010|isbn=978-0-141-02330-4|page=817}}

=April=

  • 6 April – British forces capture the city of Basra during the invasion of Iraq.
  • 8 April – Three men are convicted in relation to a Real IRA campaign that saw bombs explode in London and Birmingham in 2001. Two others have already admitted plotting to cause explosions as part of the same campaign.{{cite web |title=Men guilty of dissident bomb plot |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/2906355.stm |website=BBC News |access-date=11 September 2023 |date=8 April 2003}}
  • 9 April – Invasion of Iraq: the Battle of Baghdad, fought with British air support, concludes, ending Saddam Hussein's rule in the country after 24 years in power.{{cite web|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/april/9/newsid_3502000/3502633.stm|title=2003: Saddam statue topples with regime|date=9 April 2003|work=BBC News}}
  • 21 April – Robert Wardle is appointed Director of the Serious Fraud Office of England and Wales.{{Cite web |url=http://www.sfo.gov.uk/press-room/latest-press-releases/press-releases-2003/new-sfo-director---robert-wardle.aspx |title=Press release on his appointment |access-date=28 June 2022 |archive-date=21 July 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110721094006/http://www.sfo.gov.uk/press-room/latest-press-releases/press-releases-2003/new-sfo-director---robert-wardle.aspx |url-status=dead }}
  • 29 April – Tony Blair holds a one-day summit with Russian President Vladimir Putin. Putin mocks the United Kingdom and America's failure to locate weapons of mass destruction in Iraq.

=May=

=June=

  • 14 June
  • First Minister for Children appointed, Margaret Hodge.{{Cite press release|title=Charles Clarke Welcomes Margaret Hodge as Minister for Children|publisher=Department for Children, Schools and Families|date=13 June 2003|url=http://www.dcsf.gov.uk/pns/DisplayPN.cgi?pn_id=2003_0110|access-date=28 January 2011}}
  • The first official Twenty20 cricket matches are played between the English counties in the Twenty20 Cup.{{cite web|url=http://www.cricinfo.com/link_to_database/ARCHIVE/2003/ENG_LOCAL/TWENTY-20/SCORECARDS/13JUN2003/|title=Matches Played 13 June 2003|work=Cricinfo|year=2009|access-date=14 June 2012}}
  • 15 June – The News of the World publishes an article in which Ian Huntley is photographed in his cell at Woodhill Prison. An undercover reporter had got a job in the prison and was employed as Huntley's guard.
  • 21 June – The novel Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix is released to the public.
  • 24 June
  • President Vladimir Putin becomes the first Russian head of state to make a state visit to the United Kingdom since Tsar Alexander II in 1874.{{cite book|title=Penguin Pocket On This Day|publisher=Penguin Reference Library|isbn=0-14-102715-0|year=2006}}
  • Six members of the Royal Military Police are killed, and eight other soldiers are injured, in Iraq.
  • 26 June
  • The latest MORI poll puts Labour and Conservative parties on even terms at 35%.{{cite news|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/8280050.stm|title=Poll tracker|publisher=BBC|year=2010|access-date=28 January 2011| archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20110201162046/http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/8280050.stm| archive-date= 1 February 2011 | url-status= live}}
  • Businessman Sir Denis Thatcher, husband of former Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher, dies aged 88 at the Lister Hospital in London.

=July=

  • 2 July – Chelsea F.C. are bought by Russian billionaire Roman Abramovich for a sum of £150,000,000 from current chairman Ken Bates, twenty-one years after he bought the club for £1.{{cite news|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/3036838.stm |work=BBC News |title=Russian businessman buys Chelsea |date=2 July 2003 |access-date=18 September 2010 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090124023952/http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/3036838.stm |archive-date=24 January 2009 |url-status=live}}
  • 15 July – David Kelly appears before the House of Commons Foreign Affairs Select Committee, to answer questions over the information he had given to Andrew Gilligan.
  • 18 July – David Kelly is found dead near his home in Oxfordshire – police suspect that he committed suicide.{{cite news|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/july/18/newsid_3430000/3430065.stm|title=2003: Missing Iraq expert – body found|work=BBC News|access-date=13 February 2008|date=18 July 2003|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080307125023/http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/july/18/newsid_3430000/3430065.stm|archive-date=7 March 2008 |url-status=live}}
  • 20 July – The BBC confirms that Dr. David Kelly, found dead from a suspected suicide two days earlier, was the main source for a controversial report that sparked a deep rift with the government.{{cite news|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/july/20/newsid_3798000/3798761.stm|title=BBC admits Kelly was 'main source' | work=BBC News|access-date=6 January 2008 | date=20 July 2003}}
  • 27 July – The British-born American actor and comedian Bob Hope dies at his home in California, two months after his hundredth birthday.
  • 30 July – Eurostar train number 3313/14 sets a new speed record at 334.7 km/h (208 mph) on the Channel Tunnel Rail Link.

=August=

  • 1 August – The Hutton Inquiry into the recent death of weapons expert Dr. David Kelly, chaired by judge Lord Hutton, opens,{{cite news|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/august/1/newsid_3861000/3861275.stm|title=Hutton inquiry begins|work=BBC News|access-date=6 January 2008|date=1 August 2003}} beginning to take evidence on 11 August.
  • 3 August – Police use the taser for the first time.
  • 10 August – Brogdale, near Faversham, enters the UK Weather Records for the highest ever recorded temperature of 38.5 °C, a record which holds until July 2019. The 2003 European heat wave makes this the United Kingdom's hottest summer for thirteen years.{{cite news|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/august/10/newsid_3910000/3910801.stm|title=2003: Britain swelters in record heat|work=BBC News|access-date=13 February 2008|date=10 August 2003|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080307125250/http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/august/10/newsid_3910000/3910801.stm|archive-date=7 March 2008 |url-status=live}}

=September=

=October=

  • 24 October – Supersonic aircraft Concorde makes its final commercial flights after twenty-seven years.{{cite news|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/october/24/newsid_3701000/3701490.stm|title=2003: End of an era for Concorde|work=BBC News|access-date=13 February 2008|date=24 October 2003| archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20080307125342/http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/october/24/newsid_3701000/3701490.stm| archive-date= 7 March 2008 | url-status= live}}
  • 29 October – Iain Duncan-Smith resigns after serving just two years as Leader of the Conservative Party.{{cite news|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/october/29/newsid_3722000/3722714.stm|title=2003: Tory Party leader resigns|work=BBC News|access-date=13 February 2008|date=29 October 2003| archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20080307125246/http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/october/29/newsid_3722000/3722714.stm| archive-date= 7 March 2008 | url-status= live}}

=November=

  • 4 November – Channel 4's soap opera Brookside, on air since the station was launched in 1982, ends after 21 years.
  • 6 November – 2003 Conservative Party leadership election: Michael Howard is elected unopposed as Leader of the Conservative Party, a post he will hold for two years.
  • 8 November – Sophie, Countess of Wessex gives birth to her and Prince Edward's first child, a baby girl.{{cite news|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/november/8/newsid_3724000/3724342.stm|title=2003: Royal baby born prematurely|work=BBC News|access-date=18 March 2009|date=8 November 2003}}
  • 16 November – David Davis, the new Shadow Home Secretary, calls for a return of the death penalty for murderers found guilty of the most horrific murders; citing Moors murderer Ian Brady and Yorkshire Ripper Peter Sutcliffe as criminals whose crimes would meet the criteria.{{cite news| url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/3274245.stm | work=BBC News | title=Tories' Davis backs death penalty | date=16 November 2003| access-date=9 June 2011 }}
  • 18 November
  • United States President George W. Bush makes a state visit to London in the midst of massive protests.{{cite news|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/november/18/newsid_4141000/4141126.stm|title=2003: High security as Bush visits UK|work=BBC News|access-date=13 February 2008|date=18 November 2003| archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20080307125139/http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/november/18/newsid_4141000/4141126.stm| archive-date= 7 March 2008 | url-status= live}}
  • Passage of the Local Government Act 2003 including the repeal in England, Northern Ireland and Wales of controversial Section 28 of the Local Government Act 1988 which prevented local authorities from "promoting homosexuality". Section 28 had already been repealed in Scotland since 2000.
  • 20 November
  • Several bombs explode in Istanbul, Turkey at several British targets. The Turkish head office of HSBC and the British consulate are destroyed and the British Consul-General, Roger Short is killed.{{cite news|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/november/20/newsid_3746000/3746382.stm|title=2003: British targets bombed in Istanbul | work=BBC News|access-date=13 February 2008 | date=20 November 2003| archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20080307125327/http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/november/20/newsid_3746000/3746382.stm| archive-date= 7 March 2008 | url-status= live}}
  • Criminal Justice Act 2003 passed, permitting waiver of the rule against double jeopardy in certain serious cases and removing the privilege of peerage to be excused from jury service.
  • Sexual Offences Act 2003 passed, superseding the Act of 1956 with more specific and explicit wording, also creating several new offences.
  • 22 November – England are rugby world champions after defeating Australia 20–17 after extra time.{{cite news|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/november/22/newsid_3747000/3747398.stm|title=2003: England win Rugby World Cup | work=BBC News|access-date=13 February 2008 | date=22 November 2003| archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20080307125056/http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/november/22/newsid_3747000/3747398.stm| archive-date= 7 March 2008 | url-status= live}}
  • 24 November – The High Court in Glasgow imposes a minimum sentence of 27 years for Al Ali Mohmed Al Megrahi, the Libyan convicted of bombing Pan Am Flight 103 over Lockerbie, Scotland.
  • 25 November – Serial killer Anthony Hardy, of Camden, is jailed for life at the Old Bailey for murdering three women. The dismembered remains of two victims were found in a pub bin in December 2002.{{cite web |title=Man given life for triple murder |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/london/3236388.stm |website=BBC News |access-date=11 September 2023 |date=25 November 2003}}
  • 26 November – The final Concorde flight touches down in Filton, Bristol where it is welcomed by the Duke of York.

=December=

  • 9 December – The M6 Toll motorway opens, giving the United Kingdom its first toll motorway and providing a northern by-pass for the congested section of the M6 motorway through the West Midlands conurbation.{{cite web|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/england/staffordshire/3298789.stm|title=M6 Toll road opens|date=9 December 2003|work=BBC News}}
  • 10 December
  • Clive Granger wins the Nobel Prize in Economics jointly with Robert F. Engle "for methods of analysing economic time series with common trends (cointegration)".{{cite web|url=http://nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/economics/laureates/2003/index.html |title=The Sveriges Riksbank Prize in Economic Sciences in Memory of Alfred Nobel 2003|access-date=27 January 2008}}
  • Anthony J. Leggett wins the Nobel Prize in Physics jointly with Alexei Alexeyevich Abrikosov and Vitaly Ginzburg "for pioneering contributions to the theory of superconductors and superfluids".{{cite web|url=http://nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/physics/laureates/2003/|title=The Nobel Prize in Physics 2003|access-date=27 January 2008}}
  • Peter Mansfield wins the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine jointly with Paul Lauterbur "for their discoveries concerning magnetic resonance imaging".{{cite web|url=http://nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/medicine/laureates/2003/|title=The Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine 2003|access-date=27 January 2008}}
  • The Court of Appeal overturns two murder convictions against 40-year-old Wiltshire woman Angela Cannings, who was wrongly convicted of murdering her two baby sons in April last year. Mrs. Cannings, who has a surviving daughter, always maintained that her sons were both victims of sudden infant death syndrome.{{cite news|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/december/10/newsid_3762000/3762944.stm|title=2003: Mother cleared of murdering babies|work=BBC News|access-date=13 February 2008|date=10 December 2003| archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20080307125301/http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/december/10/newsid_3762000/3762944.stm| archive-date= 7 March 2008 | url-status= live}}
  • The official inflation target measure is changed to the Consumer Price Index figure from RPIX.{{cite web|url=http://www.statistics.gov.uk/cci/nugget.asp?id=181|title=Finding CPR/HICP Date|publisher=Office for National Statistics|year=2010|access-date=6 January 2011}}
  • 12 December – Mick Jagger of The Rolling Stones receives a knighthood from the Prince of Wales (now Charles III).
  • 16 December – The Government announces plans to build a new runway at Stansted Airport in Essex and a short-haul runway at Heathrow Airport sparking anger from environmentalist groups.
  • 17 December – Ian Huntley is found guilty of the Soham Murders and sentenced to life imprisonment at the Old Bailey. A High Court judge will later decide on the minimum number of the years that he will have to serve before being considered for parole. His ex-girlfriend Maxine Carr is found guilty of perverting the course of justice and receives a jail term of three-and-a-half years, but she will be freed on licence (under a new identity to protect her from reprisal attacks) in May 2004 as she has already served sixteen months on remand.{{cite news|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/december/17/newsid_3985000/3985667.stm|title=2003: Ian Huntley guilty of Soham murders|work=BBC News|access-date=13 February 2008|date=17 December 2003|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080307125219/http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/december/17/newsid_3985000/3985667.stm|archive-date=7 March 2008 |url-status=live}} Home Secretary David Blunkett orders an inquiry into how the police vetting system failed to prevent Huntley from getting a job in a school after it is revealed at the end of his trial that he had been suspected in the past of crimes including underage sex, rape, indecent assault and burglary.{{cite news|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/3320187.stm|title=Blunkett launches Huntley inquiry|access-date=18 March 2009|work=BBC News|date=17 December 2003}}

=Undated=

  • 153,065 divorces this year.
  • Sales of the DVD home video format take the largest share of the UK home video market for the first time. The format, first launched in the UK in June 1998, accounts for more than 70% of home video sales this year as the VHS format's popularity falls and many new titles are not being released on it.{{Cite web |url=http://www.bva.org.uk/news-press-releases/10-years-and-dvd-still-going-strong |title = 10 years on and the DVD is still going strong {{!}} British Video Association |access-date=29 December 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131231000001/http://www.bva.org.uk/news-press-releases/10-years-and-dvd-still-going-strong |archive-date=31 December 2013 |url-status=dead}}
  • New car sales reach a record high this year of nearly 2,600,000, with the Ford Focus enjoying its fifth successive year as the United Kingdom's best-selling new car. BMW sales also reach a record high, with the BMW 3 Series managing well over 60,000 sales as the UK's ninth best-selling car. Sales of Vauxhall, Peugeot, Renault and Volkswagen cars remain strong as well, while Nissan also enjoys an increase in sales largely due to the popularity of its new version of the Micra.

Publications

Births

File:25th Laureus World Sports Awards - 240422 205212 (cropped).jpg]]

File:Bella Ramsey, 2020 (cropped).png]]

Deaths

=January=

File:Roy Jenkins 1977 (cropped).jpg]]

=February=

File:Philip John Gardner VC IWM E 7479.jpg]]

File:EWS03.01 (cropped) - Sir Keith Ross.jpg]]

File:DOMREP 1957 MiNr0591 mt B002.png on a Dominican stamp]]

=March=

File:Adam Faith headshot.jpg]]

File:Dame Thora Hird Allan Warren.jpg]]

=April=

File:CecilHowardGreenMid1980s.jpg]]

=May=

File:Noel Redding.png]]

File:Rachel Kempson Allan Warren.jpg]]

File:Trevor Ford (1959).jpg]]

=June=

File:Philip Stone in A Clockwork Orange.png]]

File:Denis Thatcher (cropped).jpg]]

=July=

File:Kathleen Raine.jpg]]

File:Bob Hope, 1978.jpg]]

=August=

File:Diana-Mitford-later-Lady-Mosley1.jpg]]

File:Thesiger 1934.jpg]]

=September=

File:Robert-Palmer-Sunset-Strip-(edit).jpg]]

=October=

File:Anne Ziegler & Webster Booth knysna South Africa 1968 (1).jpg (right) with her husband Webster Booth]]

=November=

File:Greg Ridley - Humble Pie - 1973.jpg]]

File:'Mr Southampton' - geograph.org.uk - 1723679.jpg]]

=December=

File:David Hemmings (1976).jpg]]

File:Alan Bates.jpg]]

See also

References

{{Reflist|30em}}

{{UK year nav}}

{{Year in Europe|2003}}

Category:Years of the 21st century in the United Kingdom

United Kingdom