22 January – Aston Villa, who have emerged as surprise FA Premier League title contenders this season, have their double hopes shattered by a shock 2–0 exit by the ambitious Division Two club Fulham.
17 February – Kevin Keegan accepts a contract to manage the England football team for their next four matches, but decides to continue with his job as Fulham manager for the time being.
22 February – Harold Shipman, the Hyde GP accused of murdering eight female patients last September, is charged with a further seven murders.
24 February – The report of the murder of black London teenager Stephen Lawrence, who was stabbed to death in 1993, condemns London's police force as "institutionally racist", as well as condemning its officers for "fundamental errors".[2]
March
2 March – Singer Dusty Springfield, who received an OBE last month, dies aged 59 after a five-year battle against breast cancer.
11 March – Wembley Stadium is sold for £103million to a consortium backed by the Football Association. The stadium, which was opened in 1923, is set to be demolished by the end of next year and a new stadium opened in its place by August 2003.
21 March - Comedian Ernie Wise, who formed one half of the Morecambe and Wise comedy double from 1941 to 1984, dies of a heart attack aged 73.[4]
24 March – Ross Kemp, who has achieved TV stardom with his role as Grant Mitchell in EastEnders, signs a £1million deal with ITV, meaning that he will leave EastEnders this autumn after nearly 10 years.
26 March
Chelsea assistant manager Graham Rix, 41, is sentenced to a year in prison for having sex with a 15-year-old girl.
Paul Scholes, 24-year-old Manchester United midfielder, scores a hat-trick in a 3–1 Wembley win over Poland in Kevin Keegan's first game as England manager.
29 March – The family of James Hanratty, one of the last men to be executed in Britain for the A6 murder 37 years ago, are given the right to appeal against his murder conviction by the Criminal Cases Review Commission.[5]
April
14 April – Edgar Pearce, the so-called "Mardi Gra bomber", convicted for a series of bombings and sentenced to 21 years in jail.[6]
21 April – After being two goals down, Manchester United beat Italian champions Juventus 3–2 in the European Cup semi-final in Turin to complete a 4–3 aggregate win and reach the European Cup final for the second time in their history. Their previous final appearance came in 1968 when they won the trophy.
24 April – A second bomb explosion in Brick Lane, east London injures 13 people.
26 April – TV presenter Jill Dando, 37, dies after being shot on the doorstep of her Fulham home.[8]
28 April
Kevin Keegan reveals that he is prepared to become England manager on a permanent basis and quit his job as manager of Fulham (who are already promoted from Division Two as champions) at the end of this football season.
30 April – A third bomb in London explodes in the Admiral Duncan pub, in Old Compton Street, Soho, London — the centre of the London gay scene — killing two people (including a pregnant woman) and injuring over thirty. David Copeland, a 23-year-old Farnborough man, is arrested hours later in connection with the three explosions.[9]
May
3 May – David Copeland appears in court charged with the recent bombings in London.[10]
16 May – Manchester United win the Premier League title by beating Tottenham Hotspur 2–1 at Old Trafford on the last day of the league season. They have been league champions five times in seven seasons, and are also in the finals of the FA Cup and European Cup.
17 June – Cardinal Basil Hume, leader of the Roman Catholic Church in England and Wales, dies of cancer aged 76 barely two months after the illness was diagnosed.[16]
18 June – Police clash with protesters at a demonstration against capitalism in London.[17]
Fears about the future of the Rover Group's Longbridge plant in Birmingham are calmed by the news that owner BMW is to invest £2.5billion in the plant.[19]
4 July – Rogue trader Nick Leeson returns home to England from Singapore, nearly four years after he was jailed there after his illegal dealings led to the collapse of Barings Bank with losses of £850million.
5 July – Chelsea pay a club record of £10million (one of the highest fees paid by any English club) for the Blackburn Rovers striker Chris Sutton.
11 August – The solar eclipse attracts the attention of 350million people across Europe, with Cornwall being the only region of Britain to experience totality.[8]
22 August – Norfolk farmer Tony Martin, 54, is charged with the murder of a 16-year-old burglar who was shot dead at his home two days ago. He is also charged with wounding a 29-year-old man who was also present at the time of the burglary.[20]
28 August – Ruud Gullit resigns after one year as manager of Newcastle United, during which they were beaten FA Cup finalists for the second year in succession.
September
5 September – Bobby Robson, the 66-year-old former England manager, is appointed as Newcastle United's new manager. He is nearly 30 years older than his predecessor Ruud Gullit.
27 September – The Midland Bank adopts the name of its owner HSBC, marking an end of the Midland Bank name after 163 years.[22]
October
5 October
The Ladbroke Grove rail crash claims the lives of 31 people when two trains collide at Ladbroke Grove Junction, 2 miles west of Paddington station, London. Many more people are being treated in hospital for injuries.[23]
Harold Shipman goes on trial at PrestonCrown Court accused of murdering 15 female patients who died in the Greater Manchester area between 1995 and 1998.
10 October – The London Eye begins to be lifted into position on the South Bank in London.[24]
16 October – 26 players are sent off in Premier League and Football League matches on the same day – the most dismissals on the same day in 111 years of league football in England.
12 November – Rock singer Gary Glitter, 54, is jailed for four months at Bristol Crown Court for downloading child pornography. He is, however, cleared of having unlawful sex with a teenage fan 20 years ago.
17 November – England qualify for Euro 2000 with a 2–1 aggregate win over Scotland in the qualifying playoff round.
31 December – Millennium celebrations are held across the country including the official opening of the Millennium Dome and the unveiling of the London Eye in London.[26]