JULY

Unemployed loner Barry George was found guilty of the murder of television presenter Jill Dando, after the jury returned a majority verdict.

Goran Ivanisevic won Wimbledon in a five-set thriller, making him the only wild card player ever to lift the title.

Michael Portillo was dumped from the Tory leadership contest after coming third in the final ballot.

Millionaire novelist Lord Archer was jailed for four years after being found guilty of perverting the course of justice and perjury.

Sir Paul McCartney announced his engagement to former model Heather Mills, after going down on one knee to propose.

AUGUST

The Queen Mother celebrated her 101st birthday with a walkaround after undergoing a blood transfusion in hospital for anaemia.

RAF jets were involved in a 50-plane allied air strike on Iraq, aimed at taking out key elements of Saddam Hussein's air defence network.

Former Tory MP Neil Hamilton and his wife Christine were arrested following allegations of serious sexual assault. Christine dismissed it as "nonsense on stilts". The charges were later dropped.

Arran Fernandez, who was five when he took an exam in maths, was celebrating becoming the youngest person to pass a GCSE.

Kent policeman Karl Bluestone, 36, bludgeoned his wife, originally from Middlesbrough, and two young sons to death at the family home before hanging himself.

SEPTEMBER

England celebrated an historic 5-1 victory over Germany in Munich, with Liverpool striker Michael Owen blasting a hat-trick.

Terrified Catholic children ran a gauntlet of abuse from Protestants, trying to stop them going to Holy Cross School in the Ardoyne area of Belfast.

Titanic star Kate Winslet announced the break-up of her three-year marriage to husband Jim Threapleton.

Thousands were killed when terrorists flew two hijacked passenger planes into the twin towers of New York's World Trade Centre, which collapsed as a result of the impact. A third hijacked plane destroyed part of the Pentagon and a fourth crashed in a field in Pennsylvania.

Osama bin Laden was identified as the mastermind behind the devastating US attacks. He was being protected by Afghanistan's Taliban regime.

Tony Blair promised Britain would play its full part in strikes against those responsible for the American outrages.

Speed hero Donald Campbell was laid to rest close to Coniston Water, where his body had lain undiscovered for 34 years.

Iain Duncan Smith beat Kenneth Clarke in a ballot of party members to become the new Tory leader.

Detectives launched an inquiry into an edition of ITV's Who Wants to Be a Millionaire? Scotland Yard's special inquiry team were called in after army major Charles Ingram, 38, from Upavon, Wilts, won £1m.

British journalist Yvonne Ridley, originally from County Durham, was seized by the Taliban after slipping into Afghanistan.

OCTOBER

The US gave its Nato allies "clear and compelling evidence" that pointed "conclusively" to involvement of Osama bin Laden and his al Qaida network in September's attacks on New York and Washington.

Michael Stone was found guilty for the second time of the murders of Dr Lin Russell and her six-year-old daughter Megan, and the attempted murder of Josie Russell, in Kent, in 1996.

The US was in the grip of new fears as anthrax was sent in the post to media offices and government buildings.

Operation Enduring Freedom was launched in Afghanistan with a hail of cruise missiles and laser guided bombs.

Journalist Yvonne Ridley was freed by her captors despite the bombardment.

There was an outcry when it emerged that Transport Secretary Stephen Byers's special adviser Jo Moore sent an e-mail hours after the September 11 attacks, saying it was a good day to "bury bad news".

Liverpool football manager Gerard Houllier needed open heart surgery after he collapsed during a match with Leeds.

Terminally ill Diane Pretty lost her High Court battle over the right to commit suicide with the help of her husband.

The IRA started decommissioning their weapons in an historic move to save the peace process.

NOVEMBER

Huge B-52 bombers pounded the frontline north of Kabul as the White House announced there would be no pause in the bombing during the Muslim holy month of Ramadan.

Concorde was back in service more than a year after being grounded as a result of the Air France Concorde crash near Paris, which killed everyone on board.

Transport Secretary Stephen Byers came under fire for his handling of the collapse of Railtrack.

An airliner carrying 255 people crashed into New York, two months and a day after the September 11 suicide hijackings - but a terrorist attack was soon ruled out.

Twelve British aviation enthusiasts, including 32-year-old Andrew Jenkins from York, appeared in a Greek court charged with espionage after allegedly taking photographs of military jets.

The Taliban abandoned its spiritual stronghold of Kandahar as its grip on power in Afghanistan disintegrated in the face of the Northern Alliance offensive.

Pop mogul Jonathan King was jailed for seven years for sex attacks on teenage boys.

Former Beatle George Harrison died at the age of 58 after a long fight against cancer.

DECEMBER

England face bitter rivals Argentina in next summer's World Cup after being drawn in the toughest group of the competition with Nigeria and Sweden.

Israeli helicopter gunships launched vengeance attacks on Yasser Arafat's headquarters in Gaza City, after a spate of bombings killed 26.

The Bonn accord was signed to establish a 30-member interim cabinet to run Afghanistan for six months until a tribal council is called to decide the next steps.

The Countess of Wessex, 36, underwent emergency surgery for an ectopic pregnancy.

Roy Whiting was jailed for life after he was convicted of the murder of eight-year-old Sarah Payne.

Gary Hart was convicted of causing death by dangerous driving, for causing the Selby rail disaster, after his Land Rover slid down an embankment and into the path of a GNER train.

Leeds United defender Jonathan Woodgate was ordered to do 100 hours community service after he was convicted of affray during a street attack on an Asian student. He was cleared of causing grievous bodily harm, along with fellow footballer Lee Bowyer.

* Don't miss The Year In Pictures, your 20-page souvenir of the year that shook the world, free with The Northern Echo on January 8