2001 in history
Here are some light-hearted facts about 2001, designed to serve as a prep sheet for a radio feature on 2001.
I created this page because when I needed some notes to create a few talking points about 2001 in Ireland I couldn't find any suitable sources, so I thought I'd share what I did find. It applies to 2001 in Britain too.
You can also look at years other than 2001:
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2001
Italy's Leaning Tower Of Pisa reopened after being closed for 11 years for repairs to stop it toppling over.
Jennifer Lopez became the first person to have a number one song in the charts and a number one film at the box office simultaneously. The film was The Wedding Planner.
One million children in over 3,000 British schools participated in an experiment to discover if it is possible to create earthquakes by all jumping off chairs.
The outbreak of Foot & Mouth affected zoos and farms all over the country. Dublin's St Patrick's Day parade was delayed by two months, confusing May's tourists.
Alicia Keys swept the board at the Grammys with five nominations for Fallin.
Whitney Houston and Bobby Brown were banned from Hollywood's Bel Air Hotel for life for destroying their room. It took five days to repair.
Deputy Prime Minister John Prescott punched a protester who threw an egg at him in Rhyl.
Johnny Rotten was fired from The Sex Pistols for, "not being weird enough any more".
There was chaos for train passengers across the UK, as emergency speed limits were put in place all year, following serious concerns about the state of the UK's newly-privatised rail network. This total havoc would eventually lead to the total collapse of the company 'Railtrack'.
Tony Blair's Labour party defeated William Hague's Conservatives in a General Election.
Millions watched Britney Spears dance with a python at the MTV's Music Video Awards.
C&A closed their British stores.
Hard not to acknowledge the awful events of 9/11, when the whole world stood still. Flights were suspended for several days and bookings plummeted.
Ireland's An Post started selling starter packs with €6.35 of euro coins, for £5.
A 15-year-old Katie Taylor beat Belfast's Alanna Audley in the first-ever women's boxing match allowed by the Irish Amateur Boxing Association.
A referendum was held on removing all references to capital punishment from the Irish constitution, which would prevent the state from ever introducing it. The amendment passed with 62% of the vote.
The Luas was put on display in Dublin's Stephen's Green, as construction began.
2001 Launches
The iPod was released. It had been designed under the codename 'Dulcimer'. It had the capacity to store 1,000 songs, a scroll-wheel controller and 10 hours of battery life.
The Segway PT (the two-wheel electric bike thing that was supposed to be impossible to fall off) was launched.
Bratz dolls were sold for the first time. They had a passion for fashion! - good for audio
The first consumer dashcam was sold.
Royal Mail changed its name to Consignia, in what is widely regarded as one of the biggest branding failures of all time. It changed back a few months later.
Online game RuneScape launched.
Windows XP was launched. It became one of the most successful and widely-used computer systems of all time, known for its blue and green colours and start-up sounds.
Grand Theft Auto III, the Liberty City game and first 3D version, was the best-selling game of the year.
Ireland's learner driver theory test was introduced.
The website StumbleUpon was launched in this year. Every website soon had a button for you to share what you had "stumbled upon".
2001 in Film
The first Harry Potter film, Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone, was the biggest film of the year.
Other big films include Shrek, Monsters Inc, Rush Hour 2, Pearl Harbor, Jurassic Park III, Planet of the Apes, Hannibal, The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring, American Pie 2, The Fast and the Furious, Ocean's Eleven, Lara Croft: Tomb Raider and Cast Away.
Black Hawk Down and Bridget Jones' Diary were also released.
2001 in TV
Big TV shows of the year (not premiers): Only Fools and Horses, Touch of Frost, Heartbeat, Who Wants To Be A Millionaire.
Jack Dee won the first series of Celebrity Big Brother for charity (with Vanessa Feltz and Keith Duffy), despite escaping from the house and going for a walk around East London.
The Office launched on BBC Two and Popstars launched on ITV - it was billed as a documentary on the formation of a pop group, and saw the creation of Hear'Say. This was different to Pop Idol, with Simon Cowell, which also launched in this year and gave us Will Young and Gareth Gates.
Major Charles Ingram won Who Wants To Be A Millionaire. The next day he was accused of cheating; he was later found guilty even though he still denies it.
Two Pints of Lager and a Packet of Crisps, The Kumars at No 42, Friday Night with Jonathan Ross, Fear Factor and The Office were shown for the first time.
Dale Winton's bizarre game show 'Touch the Truck' ran for one series.
Harry Hill's TV Burp was new on TV.
Richard & Judy launched their own TV show as a spin-off from This Morning.
Irish Popstars began on TV this winter. The grand final would be early next year, and would see Nadine Coyle "forget" her age.
While these facts about 2001 have been checked against third-party sources (and have been used on air before!), they are provided in good faith to inspire your research and no guarantee is made about their accuracy or their uniqueness. You can use the facts however you wish: most people just take a couple of points they remember and talk around then.
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