50 Fun Facts About 1999

Which planet did Pluto slip back outside of on 11 February, ending 20 years as the nearer one to the Sun?

Neptune had been the more distant of the two since February 1979, and Pluto's eccentric orbit will not carry it back inside again until 2231.

Which NASA spacecraft was lost on arrival in September because Lockheed Martin used US units where NASA expected metric?

Mars Climate Orbiter went silent during its orbital insertion burn on 23 September, and the inquiry traced the loss to a mismatch between SI figures and US customary ones.

Which country, whose king marked his silver jubilee that year, allowed television broadcasts for the first time in June?

Bhutan's BBS Television was switched on in the Thimphu area on 2 June with the help of a consultant from Hong Kong, ending the kingdom's years as a nation without TV.

Which March email virus, written by David L. Smith, mailed itself to the first 50 names in a victim's Outlook contacts?

Melissa travelled inside infected Word documents, and Smith was arrested within a week, pleading guilty and receiving 20 months in federal prison in 2002.

Which author, hit by a minivan near his Maine home, had his wife buy the van to keep it off eBay?

Stephen King landed about 14 feet from the road after Bryan Smith's Dodge van struck him, the driver distracted by an unrestrained dog in the back.

Who became the first woman to command a Space Shuttle mission, flying Columbia in July to launch an X-ray observatory?

Eileen Collins's crew deployed the Chandra X-ray Observatory, the heaviest payload the shuttle ever carried, on the STS-93 flight.

Which Scot won the Open at Carnoustie after Jean van de Velde threw away a three-shot lead on the final hole?

Paul Lawrie had started the last day ten shots behind, the biggest final-round comeback in major history, before beating Van de Velde and Justin Leonard in a four-hole playoff.

Which film director's spoken-word single, based on a Chicago Tribune column of graduation advice, topped the UK chart?

Baz Luhrmann's 'Everybody's Free (To Wear Sunscreen)' used Mary Schmich's 1997 essay, which had circulated online wrongly credited to Kurt Vonnegut.

Which yellow puppet from a run of Levi's adverts headbanged Mr. Oizo's instrumental to UK number one in April?

Flat Eric's window-bopping routine made the instrumental, which samples the Fatback Band, a number one in Germany, Italy, Austria and Finland as well as Britain.

Which Swiss psychiatrist made the first non-stop balloon flight around the world with Brian Jones, landing in Egypt?

Bertrand Piccard's Breitling Orbiter 3 left Château-d'Oex on 1 March and stayed aloft 19 days and 21 hours, still the longest balloon flight ever made.

Which former KGB officer did Boris Yeltsin make prime minister in August, months before resigning in his favour?

Vladimir Putin had spent 16 years in KGB foreign intelligence and then run the FSB, and Yeltsin's surprise New Year's Eve resignation left him acting president.

Which country's King Hussein died in February after a 46-year reign, leaving the throne to his eldest son Abdullah?

Jordan's new king had been named heir only weeks earlier, when Hussein switched the succession away from his own brother Hassan, crown prince since 1965.

Which general seized power in Pakistan in October after Nawaz Sharif tried to sack him and block his flight's landing?

Pervez Musharraf was flying home from Sri Lanka when Sharif's office denied the plane landing rights, and soldiers surrounded the airport control tower to bring it down.

Which waterway passed fully to its host nation at noon on 31 December under treaties Jimmy Carter signed in 1977?

The Panama Canal Zone had been under US control since 1903, and the handover ended an arrangement Senator Strom Thurmond had defended with 'we bought and we paid for it and we should keep it'.

Who succeeded Nelson Mandela as South Africa's president in June, after serving five years as his deputy?

Thabo Mbeki had been elected ANC president unopposed in 1997 as Mandela's chosen successor, Mandela having long said he would serve only one term.

Which February report into Stephen Lawrence's 1993 murder called the Metropolitan Police 'institutionally racist'?

The Macpherson Report also urged scrapping the double jeopardy rule for murder, a change that let two of Lawrence's killers be convicted in 2012.

Britain's first national minimum wage, which took effect on 1 April, was set at what hourly rate for workers over 21?

The £3.60 adult rate came with a lower £3 an hour for workers under 21, and the floor had reached £5.35 by October 2006.

Which Labour politician was elected Scotland's first First Minister in May by the new devolved parliament?

Donald Dewar, hailed as the 'Father of the Nation' and 'Architect of Devolution', was elected by a vote of MSPs on 13 May and died in office the following year.

Who was elected Liberal Democrat leader in August, succeeding Paddy Ashdown after his retirement from the post?

Charles Kennedy, a Highlands MP since he was 23, had been the party's president from 1990 to 1994 and took the leadership on 9 August.

Who followed Ted Hughes as Poet Laureate in May, the first holder appointed for a fixed ten-year term?

Andrew Motion later called the post 'very, very damaging' to his own writing, and handed it on to Carol Ann Duffy on the same fixed term in 2009.

Which future director of 12 Years a Slave won the Turner Prize, beating Tracey Emin's unmade bed?

Steve McQueen won with a video remaking a Buster Keaton stunt, while the press fixated on Emin's My Bed and its stained sheets, condoms and empty bottles.

Which Leonardo da Vinci mural went back on view in Milan in May after a restoration that had taken 22 years?

The Last Supper had been flaking since Leonardo painted it on dry plaster rather than as a true fresco, and the masons had filled the wall with moisture-holding rubble.

The 11 August total eclipse, Britain's first since 1927, made landfall at the western tip of which county?

Cornwall drew huge crowds to the stretch from St Ives to the Lizard, though fewer than the hotels had banked on, before the shadow raced on across France, Germany and Turkey.

Which England manager was sacked in February over remarks that disabled people were paying for sins in a past life?

Glenn Hoddle insisted his words to The Times had been 'misconstrued, misunderstood and misinterpreted', but the FA ended his contract on 2 February.

Which Moroccan ran the mile in 3:43.13 in Rome in July, a world record that stood for 27 years?

Hicham El Guerrouj passed 1500 metres in 3:28.21 on the way, and Kenya's Noah Ngeny finished second in 3:43.40, also inside the old record.

Which tennis player retired in August at 30, two months after winning her 22nd major at the French Open?

Steffi Graf reached a ninth Wimbledon final in between, losing to Lindsay Davenport, and bowed out still ranked world number three.

Which team won its first Stanley Cup in June on Brett Hull's disputed triple-overtime goal against the Buffalo Sabres?

The Dallas Stars' winner came with Hull's skate in the crease, but the NHL ruled he had kept possession of the puck and let the goal stand despite Buffalo's protests.

Which Broncos quarterback bowed out early in the year, months after being named MVP of a second straight Super Bowl win?

John Elway threw for 336 yards and ran for a touchdown in the 34–19 win over Atlanta, his fifth Super Bowl start, a record until Tom Brady's sixth in 2015.

Which Finn kept his Formula One world title in a season where Michael Schumacher broke his leg at Silverstone?

Mika Häkkinen's McLaren held off Eddie Irvine's Ferrari, with Mika Salo drafted in for six races to cover for the injured Schumacher.

Which British boxer became undisputed heavyweight champion in November, eight months after a disputed draw?

Lennox Lewis beat Evander Holyfield on a unanimous decision in the rematch, adding the WBA and IBF belts to his WBC title after the March bout in New York was scored a draw.

Which competition did holders Manchester United skip to play in FIFA's first Club World Championship in Brazil?

The FA Cup had never before lost its holders, and the decision was sold as a boost to England's bid to host the 2006 World Cup.

Whose injury-time try for Wales at Wembley in April denied England a Grand Slam in the last ever Five Nations match?

Scott Gibbs took a Scott Quinnell pass 20 metres out and beat a string of tacklers, Neil Jenkins converting for a 32–31 win that handed the championship to Scotland.

Which skateboarder landed the first documented 900, two and a half mid-air spins, at the X Games in June?

Tony Hawk had won vert gold at the very first X Games in 1995 with a 'perfect run' scored 97.50, and a video game carrying his name followed that September.

Which Irish boy band topped the UK chart with April debut 'Swear It Again', then again with 'If I Let You Go'?

Westlife became the first boy band to reach number one with their first two singles, and a Christmas double A-side of 'I Have a Dream' and 'Seasons in the Sun' followed in December.

Which veteran singer took 'The Millennium Prayer', the Lord's Prayer sung to 'Auld Lang Syne', to UK number one?

Cliff Richard's surprise hit began life as the finale of a Christian musical, Hopes & Dreams, and also reached number two in Australia and New Zealand.

Which Dutch Eurodance act took 'Boom, Boom, Boom, Boom!!' and 'We're Going to Ibiza!' to UK number one in the same year?

Vengaboys built 'We're Going to Ibiza!' on Typically Tropical's 1975 chart-topper 'Barbados', and 'Boom, Boom, Boom, Boom!!' later sold a Nissan estate in Japan.

Which group, formed by Simon Fuller after the Spice Girls sacked him, debuted at number one with 'Bring It All Back'?

S Club 7's first single, which The Guardian likened to the Jackson 5, went platinum, and their debut album S Club also reached number one.

Which former Menudo member's 'Livin' la Vida Loca' spent five weeks atop the Billboard Hot 100, his first US number one?

Ricky Martin became the first artist to top the Billboard 200, the Hot 100 and four other Billboard charts in the same week, and the single went double platinum in Britain.

Which singer, at 52, became the oldest woman yet to top the Billboard Hot 100 when 'Believe' hit number one in March?

Cher took the record from Tina Turner, who had been 44 when 'What's Love Got to Do with It' hit the top in 1984, and she set the same age mark in Britain until Kate Bush passed it in 2022.

Which 'Son of a Preacher Man' singer died in March, a fortnight before her Rock and Roll Hall of Fame induction?

Dusty Springfield was 59 when breast cancer killed her at Henley-on-Thames, and her brother Tom later scattered some of her ashes at Ireland's Cliffs of Moher.

Which former Beatle survived a knife attack by an intruder at his Friar Park home on 30 December?

George Harrison suffered a punctured lung before Olivia Harrison felled Michael Abram with a fireplace poker and a lamp; Abram was later diagnosed with schizophrenia.

Which Italian climbed over the seats at the March Oscars, where Life Is Beautiful also won him Best Actor?

Roberto Benigni remains the only man to win the Best Actor Oscar for a performance not in English, and his seat-hopping came when the foreign-language award was read out.

Which Bond film was the last for Desmond Llewelyn, who played Q in 17 films and died weeks after its release?

The World Is Not Enough saw Llewelyn hand over to John Cleese's understudy, having served every Bond from Sean Connery to Pierce Brosnan since 1963.

Which British actor died in Valletta during a break from filming Gladiator, his last scenes finished with a double?

Oliver Reed was 61 when a heart attack killed him on 2 May, and his gladiator trainer Proximo earned him a posthumous BAFTA nomination.

Which six-part BBC series narrated by Kenneth Branagh cost more per minute than any documentary before it?

Walking with Dinosaurs cost £6.1 million, over £37,000 a minute, and used Framestore's computer-generated creatures filmed like a wildlife programme.

Which stop-motion children's series began on BBC One in April, its 'Can we fix it?' theme later a number one?

Bob the Builder's catchphrase is answered 'Yes, we can!' by the other characters, and the show ran on the BBC until 2011 before a Channel 5 reboot.

Which Channel 4 sitcom directed by Edgar Wright had Simon Pegg and Jessica Stevenson posing as a couple to rent a flat?

Spaced began on 24 September with Tim and Daisy, who had only just met, faking a 'professional couple' to satisfy landlady Marsha Klein at 23 Meteor Street.

Which South African novelist became the first writer to win the Booker Prize twice, with Disgrace in October?

J. M. Coetzee, who had won for Life & Times of Michael K in 1983, was so publicity-shy that he collected neither prize in person.

Which Julia Donaldson picture book about a mouse who invents a monster to scare off predators did Macmillan publish?

The Gruffalo was published by Macmillan Children's Books and grew into a franchise, with The Gruffalo's Child following in 2004.

Which organisation, founded in 1971 by French doctors who had worked in Biafra, won the Nobel Peace Prize?

Médecins Sans Frontières was honoured for medical care in acute crises and for sounding the alarm on looming humanitarian disasters, including that year in Chechnya.