2 January – A light aircraft crashes into overhead power cables on theWest Coast Main Line near the village ofLittle Haywood inStaffordshire, causing widespread disruption to train services, and reportedly killing the three occupants of the aircraft.[1]
5 January –
Cold weather consisting of snow and freezing temperatures causes widespread disruption across the UK. Travel routes are severely affected including roads and railways, in addition toLuton andBirmingham airports respectively. The weather also leads to the closure of many schools who were due to return after the Christmas break.[2]
7 January – England Cricket Captain,Kevin Pietersen resigns after months of rows with England Manager,Peter Moores. Moores is sacked from his job by the England and Wales Cricket Board.Andrew Strauss is named as the new Captain.[4]
Approval is granted for the building of the controversialthird runway and sixth terminal atHeathrow Airport. As part of the decision, theSecretary of State for Transport,Geoff Hoon, announces restrictions on aircraft using the third runway that are designed to limit noise pollution and carbon dioxide emissions, alongside proposals for a high-speed rail hub, also located at Heathrow.[6]
23 January –Karen Matthews and Michael Donavon are sentenced to eight years in prison for the kidnap of Shannon Matthews, the former's daughter, having held her captive in Donvon's flat inDewsbury last year as part of a bid to claim £50,000 for her "safe return" after reporting her missing to the police.[8]
28 January – Hundreds of workers go on strike at theLindsay Oil Refinery inLincolnshire in protest at the hiring of foreign construction workers at the site, despite rising unemployment in the UK.[11]
18 February – TheYorkshire Ripper is released fromBroadmoor Hospital to face a life sentence, for killing 13 women and attempting to kill 7 more, after doctors claim he has been treated forschizophrenia.
22 February – TV personality,Jade Goody and her boyfriend,Jack Tweed, are married atDown Hall,Essex. Goody, 27, has hadcervical cancer for six months and was told earlier this month that she may only have weeks to live after thecancer spread to herbowel,liver andgroin.[19] Tweed is free on license following imprisonment for assault.[20]
25 February –Labour Party peerLord Ahmed is sentenced to 12 weeks imprisonment for dangerous driving, having been involved in a fatal crash.[21]
4 March –ITV announces it is cutting 600 jobs after it reported a loss of £2.6 billion for 2008. The jobs will go from the company'sYorkshire studios inLeeds and from their headquarters in London.[23]
5 March –Michael Jackson announces his last concert series,This Is It to be held at theO2 Arena in London. The concerts are never held due tohis death three months later.
8 April – Analogue television signals begin to be switched off in theWestcountry Television area as part of the UK's ongoing process of digital switchover.[29]
30 April – A further three cases of swine flu are confirmed by theDepartment of Health. Two of the cases are located in London, with the third being inNewcastle.[32]
10 May – The decapitated body ofMichael Gilbert is found inArlesey. He had been kept as aslave and subject to year of abuse by the Watt family, six members of which were later jailed for their role in the murder.[33]
16 May –Manchester United win thePremier League championship for the third consecutive year after a 0–0 draw againstArsenal F.C. at their home ground,Old Trafford. They have now equalled Liverpool's record tally of 18 top division titles.[34]
30 May –Chelsea win theFA Cup for the fifth time after beatingEverton 2–1 in the final atWembley Stadium. Everton French striker Louis Saha scores the fastest ever FA Cup Final goal, after 23 seconds.[36]
5 June – The results of thelocal elections are announced, with the remaining councils underLabour Party control all falling to theConservative Party's control. The projected national vote shares suggests that the Conservatives achieved 38% of the vote, theLiberal Democrats 28% and Labour 23%.[37]
7 June – The results of the European parliamentary elections, held on 4 June, are announced, and show large declines in the vote of the Labour Party. The far-rightBritish National Party also win their first ever seats in a national election, being elected inNorth West England andYorkshire and the Humber.[38]
Harry Patch, the last British Army veteran ofWorld War I, who died on 25 July aged 111.Henry Allingham, the oldest man in the world and one of the last surviving veterans of World War I, who died on 18 July aged 113.
5 July – TheStaffordshire Hoard, the largest haul ofAnglo-Saxon treasure ever found, is uncovered. The 1,500 gold and silver pieces are discovered buried beneath a field inStaffordshire bymetal detecting enthusiast Terry Herbert. This is made public on 24 September.[44][45]
25 July –Harry Patch, the last British survivor of the First World War trenches and briefly the oldest man in the United Kingdom, dies aged 111.[48]Claude Choules, a 108-year-old formerRoyal Navy serviceman who was born inWorcestershire but now lives in Australia, is the last surviving British veteran of the war and one of just three surviving of any nationality.[49]
31 July –Gary McKinnon, an English man withAsperger syndrome loses his latest High Court bid to avoid extradition to the United States to face charges of hacking intoUS Government computers.[52]
9 September – Westcountry Television completes the digital switchover process with the turning off of all analogue signals from the Caradon Hill transmitter.[57]
14 November – Severe gales and heavy rain from an Atlantic storm causefloods and damage across southern England and Wales.[63]
19 November – Highest ever UK 24-hourrainfall total, 314.4 mm, recorded atSeathwaite Farm,Cumbria[64] – a record which stands until December 2015.
20 November – Many towns and villages inCumbria areflooded following several days of heavy rain. Three bridges collapse, one of them leading to the death of a police officer, who was standing on the bridge when it collapsed.[65]
2 December – The Winter Hill transmitter has its remaining analogue signals turned off, completing the digital switchover process in the Granada Television region.[62]
15 December – Paedophile nursery workerVanessa George is jailed indefinitely after previously admitting to seven sexual assaults and six counts of making and distributing indecent pictures of children.[67]
