JANUARY

The killers of toddler James Bulger won a court order protecting their anonymity once they were freed with new identities.

Marie Therese Kouao, 44, and her boyfriend Carl Manning, 28, were jailed for life at the Old Bailey for the murder of Kouao's eight-year-old great niece Anna Climbie. The girl, who was brought from the Ivory Coast for a better life in Britain, was subjected to months of beatings and torture despite being brought to the attention of three London councils.

British couple Alan and Judith Kilshaw were at the centre of a transatlantic feud over the adoption of baby twins they bought over the Internet. The girls, who had already been sold to an American couple, were taken into council care.

Northern Ireland Secretary and Hartlepool MP Peter Mandelson resigned from the Government for the second time in two years in the wake of the Hinduja brothers' passport row.

A Libyan intelligence agent was sentenced to life for the Lockerbie bombing, the biggest single act of mass murder in British history.

FEBRUARY

Nicole Kidman and Tom Cruise announced that their ten-year marriage was at an end with Cruise filing for divorce.

Steel communities across the country were reeling from the loss of over 6,000 jobs, including 1,100 on Teesside, because of a massive cutback by Corus, the country's biggest steelmaker.

ITV's Popstars reached its climax in the search for five youngsters to star in a made-for-TV pop band. The successful five whittled down from a field of more than 3,000 were Myleene Klass, Suzanne Shaw, Kym Marsh, Danny Foster and Noel Sullivan.

Ellen MacArthur, 24, from Derbyshire became the fastest woman to circumnavigate the world, and the youngest person to do it, when she came second in the Vendee Globe race.

Emergency controls on the export of live animals, meat, milk and other animal products came into force after the first outbreak of foot-and-mouth disease for 20 years, later traced to a farm at Heddon-on-the-Wall, near Newcastle. Hunting was banned and people were warned to keep away from farmland.

Thirteen people died and 70 were injured when a runaway car caused a devastating train crash on Britain's fastest rail line at Great Heck, near Selby, North Yorkshire.

MARCH

More cases of foot-and-mouth disease were confirmed, as the list of events cancelled or closed continued to grow.

The speedboat Bluebird finally emerged from the depths of Coniston Water in the Lake District, 34 years after it sank, killing world record-breaker Donald Campbell.

Former Northern Ireland Secretary Peter Mandelson was cleared of any impropriety over the Hinduja passport affair - but declared he did not want to return to Government.

Comedian Jack Dee won Celebrity Big Brother, which raised millions of pounds for Comic Relief.

Troubled soccer legend George Best was back on the booze, despite warnings that it could kill him, his agent said.

Father-of-two Stuart Lubbock, 31, died in hospital after he was found unconscious in a swimming pool at the home of entertainer Michael Barrymore.

APRIL

Prime Minister Tony Blair announced that the foot-and-mouth crisis had forced him to postpone the May 3 local elections until June 7.

The Countess of Wessex stepped down as chairman of her public relations company in the wake of the "Sophie tapes", in which she slighted senior Royals and top politicians to undercover reporters.

Leeds United footballers Lee Bowyer and Jonathan Woodgate were facing a retrial on charges of attacking a student after the case against them was halted and the jury discharged by the judge at Hull Crown Court because of a story published by the Sunday Mirror.

Alan and Judith Kilshaw lost the nine-month-old babies they said they had legally adopted over the Internet.

Sunderland market trader Steve Thoburn was convicted of breaking weights and measures legislation by selling his fruit in pounds and ounces, in the first prosecution of its kind in Britain.

Heavyweight boxer Lennox Lewis lost his world title in sensational style after being knocked out in the fifth round by Hasim Rahman in South Africa.

MAY

Violence flared in London's Oxford Street as police in riot gear sought to contain thousands of anti-capitalist demonstrators.

Riot police battled to control violent clashes between white and Asian youths in Oldham.

Ailing Great Train Robber Ronnie Biggs returned to Britain from Brazil in a private jet, to be immediately re-arrested and taken back to jail, 35 years after his escape from Wandsworth Prison.

Deputy Prime Minister John Prescott threw a punch at an egg-throwing demonstrator during his election campaign and then grappled with him in an ensuing melee.

JUNE

The Crown Prince of Nepal massacred most of the country's immediate royal family in a dispute over his choice of wife. The killing of Nepal's king and queen by their son, Crown Prince Dipendra, devastated a nation already plagued by political and social turmoil.

Labour won an historic second term as the nation gave it an overwhelming mandate to deliver in its next four years with a majority of 167. Richmond MP William Hague immediately announced he would step down as Tory leader.

Oklahoma City bomber Timothy McVeigh was executed by lethal injection. His last words quoted William Ernest Henley's 19th Century poem Invictus: "I am the master of my fate. I am the captain of my soul."

Michael Portillo, former Chancellor Kenneth Clarke, Michael Ancram, Iain Duncan Smith and David Davis all launched their bids to replace William Hague as leader of the Conservative Party.

Siamese twin Gracie Attard jetted out of Britain to return to her parents' home on the tiny Mediterranean island of Gozo seven months after she was separated from her tragic sister.

James Bulger's killers, Jon Venables and Robert Thompson, were granted their freedom by the Parole Board, but there were concerns for their safety, particularly after death threats against them were posted on an Internet site.

DJ Chris Evans was fired by Virgin Radio after missing six days of his Breakfast Show.