2003 in the United Kingdom

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2003 in the United Kingdom
Other years
2001 | 2002 | 2003 (2003) | 2004 | 2005
Countries of the United Kingdom
England | Northern Ireland | Scotland | Wales
Popular culture

Events from the year 2003 in the United Kingdom.

Incumbents

Events

January

February

March

April

May

June

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.[16]
  • 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.[17]
  • 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.[18]
  • 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,[19] beginning to take evidence on 11 August.[17]
  • 3 August – Police use the taser for the first time.[14]
  • 10 August –
    2003 European heat wave makes this the United Kingdom's hottest summer for thirteen years.[20]

September

October

  • 24 October – Supersonic aircraft Concorde makes its final commercial flights after twenty-seven years.[22]
  • 29 October –
    Iain Duncan-Smith resigns after serving just two years as Leader of the Conservative Party.[23]

November

December

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.[38]
  • 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

Jude Bellingham
Bella Ramsey

Deaths

January

Roy Jenkins

February

Philip John Gardner
Keith Ross
Chris Brasher on a Dominican stamp

March

Adam Faith
Dame Thora Hird

April

Cecil Howard Green

May

Noel Redding
Rachel Kempson
Trevor Ford

June

Philip Stone
Sir Denis Thatcher

July

Kathleen Raine
Bob Hope

August

Diana Mitford
Sir Wilfred Thesiger

September

Robert Palmer

October

Anne Ziegler (right) with her husband Webster Booth

November

Greg Ridley
Ted Bates

December

David Hemmings
Sir Alan Bates

See also

References

  1. ^ "Killer driver's 89 convictions". BBC News. 10 January 2003. Retrieved 23 March 2013.
  2. ^ Bunyan, Nigel (13 April 2005). "The bungled raid that left a policeman face to face with an al-Qa'eda assassin". The Daily Telegraph.
  3. ^ "2003: Solicitor cleared of killing sons". BBC News. 29 January 2003. Archived from the original on 1 February 2008. Retrieved 13 February 2008.
  4. ^ "2003: 'Shoe bomber' jailed for life". BBC News. 30 January 2003. Archived from the original on 7 March 2008. Retrieved 13 February 2008.
  5. ^ "Driver who killed girl after life ban is jailed for nine years". The Independent. London. 31 January 2003. Archived from the original on 1 May 2022.[dead link]
  6. ^ .
  7. .
  8. ^ "Men guilty of dissident bomb plot". BBC News. 8 April 2003. Retrieved 11 September 2023.
  9. ^ "2003: Saddam statue topples with regime". BBC News. 9 April 2003.
  10. ^ "Press release on his appointment". Archived from the original on 21 July 2011. Retrieved 28 June 2022.
  11. .
  12. ^ "Charles Clarke Welcomes Margaret Hodge as Minister for Children" (Press release). Department for Children, Schools and Families. 13 June 2003. Retrieved 28 January 2011.
  13. ^ "Matches Played 13 June 2003". Cricinfo. 2009. Retrieved 14 June 2012.
  14. ^ .
  15. ^ "Poll tracker". BBC. 2010. Archived from the original on 1 February 2011. Retrieved 28 January 2011.
  16. ^ "Russian businessman buys Chelsea". BBC News. 2 July 2003. Archived from the original on 24 January 2009. Retrieved 18 September 2010.
  17. ^ a b "2003: Missing Iraq expert – body found". BBC News. 18 July 2003. Archived from the original on 7 March 2008. Retrieved 13 February 2008.
  18. ^ "BBC admits Kelly was 'main source'". BBC News. 20 July 2003. Retrieved 6 January 2008.
  19. ^ "Hutton inquiry begins". BBC News. 1 August 2003. Retrieved 6 January 2008.
  20. ^ "2003: Britain swelters in record heat". BBC News. 10 August 2003. Archived from the original on 7 March 2008. Retrieved 13 February 2008.
  21. Metro
    ". p. 30.
  22. ^ "2003: End of an era for Concorde". BBC News. 24 October 2003. Archived from the original on 7 March 2008. Retrieved 13 February 2008.
  23. ^ "2003: Tory Party leader resigns". BBC News. 29 October 2003. Archived from the original on 7 March 2008. Retrieved 13 February 2008.
  24. ^ "2003: Royal baby born prematurely". BBC News. 8 November 2003. Retrieved 18 March 2009.
  25. ^ "Tories' Davis backs death penalty". BBC News. 16 November 2003. Retrieved 9 June 2011.
  26. ^ "2003: High security as Bush visits UK". BBC News. 18 November 2003. Archived from the original on 7 March 2008. Retrieved 13 February 2008.
  27. ^ "2003: British targets bombed in Istanbul". BBC News. 20 November 2003. Archived from the original on 7 March 2008. Retrieved 13 February 2008.
  28. ^ "2003: England win Rugby World Cup". BBC News. 22 November 2003. Archived from the original on 7 March 2008. Retrieved 13 February 2008.
  29. ^ "Man given life for triple murder". BBC News. 25 November 2003. Retrieved 11 September 2023.
  30. ^ "M6 Toll road opens". BBC News. 9 December 2003.
  31. ^ "The Sveriges Riksbank Prize in Economic Sciences in Memory of Alfred Nobel 2003". Retrieved 27 January 2008.
  32. ^ "The Nobel Prize in Physics 2003". Retrieved 27 January 2008.
  33. ^ "The Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine 2003". Retrieved 27 January 2008.
  34. ^ "2003: Mother cleared of murdering babies". BBC News. 10 December 2003. Archived from the original on 7 March 2008. Retrieved 13 February 2008.
  35. ^ "Finding CPR/HICP Date". Office for National Statistics. 2010. Retrieved 6 January 2011.
  36. ^ "2003: Ian Huntley guilty of Soham murders". BBC News. 17 December 2003. Archived from the original on 7 March 2008. Retrieved 13 February 2008.
  37. ^ "Blunkett launches Huntley inquiry". BBC News. 17 December 2003. Retrieved 18 March 2009.
  38. ^ "10 years on and the DVD is still going strong | British Video Association". Archived from the original on 31 December 2013. Retrieved 29 December 2013.
  39. ^ Sewell, Andrew R. "Review: Dug to Death" Archived 2 December 2008 at the Wayback Machine, "Reviews: Dug to Death: A Tale of Archaeological Method and Mayhem." The Journal of The Society For Industrial Archeology, Vol. 30, No. 1, 2004. http://www.historycooperative.org/journals/sia/30.1/br_10.html Archived 2 December 2008 at the Wayback Machine
  40. ^ Gresens, Bill. "Death by Theory: A Tale of Mystery and Archaeological Theory (Review)". Mississippi Valley Archaeology Center (U of Wisc/La Crosse). Archived from the original on 8 January 2013. Retrieved 31 March 2012.