1998 in the United Kingdom

Incumbents

• Monarch – Elizabeth II
• Prime Minister – Tony Blair
• Parliament – 52nd

  Events

January

• 5 January – The UK takes over the Presidency of the EC's Council of Ministers until 30 June.

  February

• 3 February – Stamps commemorating Diana, Princess of Wales go on sale across the UK.
• 7–22 February – Great Britain and Northern Ireland compete at the Winter Olympics in Nagano, Japan, and win one bronze medal.
• 12 February – Mohamed Al Fayed, the father of Dodi Fayed, says that he is "99.9% certain" that his son's death in the car crash that also claimed the life of Diana, Princess of Wales on 31 August 1997 was a conspiracy to kill rather than an accident. He also claims that his son had purchased an engagement ring just before the crash and had been preparing to propose marriage to Diana. A lawyer in Mr Al Fayed's native Egypt was planning to sue the Queen and UK Prime Minister Tony Blair on the grounds that they had conspired to kill Diana because her love for a Muslim would embarrass the country.

  March

• 3 March – Millennium Dome construction begins.
• 6 March – Closure of South Crofty, the last working tin mine in Cornwall.
• 31 March – The Rolls-Royce Motors brand is acquired by the German car manufacturer BMW.

  April

• April – Vauxhall launches its fourth generation Astra small family car range. The initial range consists of hatchbacks and estates, with coupe and saloons due next year and a cabriolet in two years.
• 1 April – The historic counties of Herefordshire and Worcestershire are re-established, 24 years after they merged to form Hereford and Worcester.
• 10 April – The Good Friday Agreement, an agreement between the UK and Irish governments, and the main political parties in Northern Ireland is signed.
• 27 April – Kevin Lloyd, who played Tosh Lines in The Bill since 1988, is dismissed from the role by ITV due to his alcoholism. He dies, the following week, aged 49.

  May

• 2 May – Police in Maryland, United States, reveal that they have arrested and bailed former footballer Justin Fashanu over an allegation of sexual assault against a seventeen-year-old male, and they believe he has now breached his bail conditions and fled the country.
• 9 May – The Eurovision Song Contest held in Birmingham at the National Indoor Arena.
• 15 May – 24th G8 summit held in Birmingham.
• 20 May – Nurses Deborah Parry and Lucille McLauchlan, who had been convicted in Saudi Arabia for the murder of Yvonne Gilford the previous year, have their sentences commuted by the order of King Fahd and are returned to the UK.
• 23 May – Referenda on the Good Friday Agreement are held in the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland with 95% and 71% support respectively.

  June

• 15 June – First general-circulation issue of a two pound coin, with a bi-metallic design.
• The DVD format is released onto the UK market for the first time. Among the first set of titles released on the new format is Jumanji.
• 27 June – The Diana, Princess of Wales Tribute Concert is held at Althorp Park in Northamptonshire, and attended by 15,000 people.

  July

• 12 July – Three young children are killed in a loyalist arson attack in Ballymoney, Northern Ireland.
• 31 July
• * Crime and Disorder Act receives Royal Assent. It introduces Anti-Social Behaviour Orders, Sex Offender Orders, Parenting Orders, and 'racially aggravated' offences. It makes it possible for a young person between ten and fourteen to be presumed capable of committing an offence and formally abolishes capital punishment for treason and piracy, the last civilian offences for which the death penalty remained theoretically available.
• * The government announces a total ban on the use of landmines by the British military.

  August

• 10 August – Manchester United TV begins broadcasting, making Manchester United F.C. the world's second football team to have its own television channel, the first being Middlesbrough in 1997.
• 15 August – Omagh bombing: A car bomb explodes in the Northern Irish market town of Omagh, County Tyrone, killing 29 people – the worst terrorist atrocity in the history of The Troubles in Northern Ireland. It has been planted by the Real Irish Republican Army.
• 22 August – Reading F.C. move into their new Madejski Stadium, named after chairman John Madejski, near junction 12 of the M4 motorway in the south of Reading. It seats more than 24,000 spectators.
• 24 August
• * First RFID human implantation tested in the United Kingdom by Kevin Warwick at the University of Reading.
• * The Netherlands is selected as the venue for the trial of the two Libyans who are charged with the Lockerbie aircraft bombing that killed 270 people in December 1988.

  September

• September – Ford launches its new Focus range of family hatchbacks, saloons and estates, which will eventually replace the long-running Escort.
• 8 September – The Real IRA announces a ceasefire.
• 10 September – In Northern Ireland, David Trimble of the Ulster Unionist Party meets Gerry Adams of Sinn Féin — the first such meeting between Republicans and Loyalists since 1922.
• 16 September – The Union Jack dress worn by the Spice Girl Geri Halliwell is sold at Sotheby's for £41,320

  October

• 16 October – Indictment and arrest of Augusto Pinochet: Police place General Augusto Pinochet, the 83-year-old former dictator of Chile, into house arrest during his medical treatment in Britain at the request of Spain.
• 27 October – Ron Davies resigns as Secretary of State for Wales, citing "an error of judgement" in agreeing to go for what he said was a meal with a man he had met while walking on Clapham Common in London, which is a well known gay meeting place, and subsequently being mugged.

  November

• November – Peugeot launches the 206 supermini, which is being built at the Ryton plant near Coventry.
• 9 November – Human Rights Act receives Royal Assent.
• 24 November – The Queen's Speech is interrupted by MPs and peers, when the Queen began to outlay the government's plan to abolish the rights of 700 hereditary peers to sit and vote in the House of Lords.
• 26 November – Tony Blair becomes the first Prime Minister of the United Kingdom to address the Oireachtas.
• December – The Ford Focus is voted European Car of the Year.

  December

• 10 December
• * John Pople wins the Nobel Prize in Chemistry "for his development of computational methods in quantum chemistry".
• * John Hume and David Trimble win the Nobel Peace Prize.
• 26 December – Great Boxing Day Storm: severe gale-force winds hit Ireland, southern Scotland and northern England. Roads, railways and electricity are disrupted.
• 29 December – Killing of British tourists in Yemen: three British tourists are among those shot during a gun battle to free them from kidnappers in Yemen.

  Undated

• Regional Development Agencies Act creates appointed Regional development agencies and Regional chambers in England.
• Mathematicians Richard Borcherds and Timothy Gowers win Fields Medals.
• The DVD format, first sold in the UK in June, sells just over 6,000 discs by the end of the year.

  Publications

• Beryl Bainbridge's novel Master Georgie.
• Iain M. Banks' novel Inversions.
• Julian Barnes's novel :England, England.
• Ted Hughes's poetry collection Birthday Letters.
• Nigella Lawson's guide How to Eat: the pleasures and principles of good food.
• Ian McEwan's novel Amsterdam.
• John O'Farrell's political memoir Things Can Only Get Better.
• Terry Pratchett's Discworld novels The Last Continent and Carpe Jugulum.
• J. K. Rowling's novel Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets.

  Births

• 2 January – George Miller, footballer
• 5 January – Tia Rigg, murder victim
• 18 January – Alfie McIlwain, actor
• 2 February – Chris Smith, footballer
• 4 February – Scott Jones, athlete
• 15 February – George Russell, racing driver
• 27 February – Theo Stevenson, actor
• 8 March
• *Molly Conlin, actress
• *Sam Smith, footballer
• 13 March – Oliver Stokes, actor
• 14 March – George Bartlett, cricketer
• 24 March – Isabel Suckling, singer
• 11 April – Oliver Dillon, actor
• 12 April – Tom Pearce, footballer
• 14 April – Arthur Bowen, actor
• 22 April – Jay Dasilva, footballer
• 8 May – Sam Field, footballer
• 14 May – Aaron Ramsdale, footballer
• 4 June – Jack Blatherwick, cricketer
• 7 June – Graham Newberry, American-English figure skater
• 10 June – Johnny Bennett, actor
• 14 June – Julia Joyce, actress
• 30 June – Tom Davies, footballer
• 1 July – Hollie Steel, classical crossover singer
• 19 July
• *Ronaldo Vieira, footballer
• *Amar Virdi, cricketer
• *Lil Woods, actress
• 20 July – Sinead Michael, actress
• 28 July - Sam Surridge, footballer
• 6 August – Jack Scanlon, actor
• 8 August – Ronan Parke, pop singer
• 14 August – Amy Marren, swimmer
• 5 September – Helena Barlow, actress
• 9 September – Shannon Matthews, kidnapping victim
• 21 September – Prem Sisodiya, cricketer
• 2 October – Zack Morris, actor
• 7 October – Trent Alexander-Arnold, footballer
• 17 October – Erin Kellyman, actress
• 18 October – Jack Carroll, comic actor
• 20 October – Jordan Allan, footballer
• 22 October – Georgina Anderson, pop singer
• 29 October – Matthew Potts, cricketer
• 11 November – Tom Banton, cricketer
• 21 November – Will Jacks, cricketer
• 28 November – Ronan McKenzie, kart racing driver
• 1 December – Ollie Robinson, cricketer
• 11 December – Gabz, singer-songwriter
• 14 December – Lukas Nmecha, footballer
• 17 December – Jasmine Armfield, actress
• 24 December – Declan McKenna, pop singer

  Deaths

• 2 January – Frank Muir, actor, comedy writer and raconteur
• 5 January – David Bairstow, English cricketer
• 13 January – Ian Moores, former footballer
• 18 January – Monica Edwards, children's writer
• 8 February – Enoch Powell, politician
• 7 March – Bernarr Rainbow, historian of music education, organist, and choir master
• 10 March – Ian Dunn, gay and paedophile rights activist, founder of the Scottish Minorities Group
• 16 March – Derek Harold Richard Barton, chemist, Nobel Prize laureate
• 25 March – Daniel Massey, actor
• 5 April – Cozy Powell, rock musician
• 11 April – Francis Durbridge, playwright and author
• 16 April – Fred Davis, snooker and billiards player
• 17 April – Linda McCartney, American-born, British-based photographer and musician
• 20 April – Joan Mary Wayne Brown, British author
• 2 May
• * Kevin Lloyd, actor
• * Justin Fashanu, footballer
• 10 June – Hammond Innes, author
• 11 June – Catherine Cookson, author
• 13 June – Reg Smythe, cartoonist
• 22 June – Benny Green, writer, radio broadcaster and saxophonist.
• 18 July – Betty Marsden, comedy actress
• 27 July – Binnie Barnes, actress
• 4 August – Richard Dunn, CEO of Thames Television
• 2 September – Jackie Blanchflower, footballer
• 4 September – Lal Waterson, folk singer-songwriter
• 3 October – Roddy McDowall, actor
• 17 October – Joan Hickson, actress
• 20 October – Frank Gillard, radio broadcaster
• 22 October – Eric Ambler, novelist and playwright
• 28 October – Ted Hughes, poet and children's writer
• 12 November – Roy Hollis, footballer
• 13 November – Doug Wright, English cricketer
• 29 November – Martin Ruane, British professional wrestler
• December 2 – Brian Stonehouse, painter and World War II secret agent
• 7 December – Michael Craze, actor
• 13 December – Lew Grade, showbusiness impresario and television company executive
• 20 December – Alan Lloyd Hodgkin, scientist, recipient of the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine
• 21 December
• * Roger Avon, British actor
• * Richard Turnbull, British colonial governor
• 30 December – George Webb, actor