Year '1997' ('
MCMXCVII') was a
common year starting on Wednesday (link will display full 1997
Gregorian calendar).
The year 1997 was the
Year of the Ox according to the
Chinese Zodiac.
Events of 1997
January
★
January 1 - An off duty
Israeli soldier identified as Pvt. Noam Friedman, 22, fires at a group of fleeing
Palestinians at a vegetable market in
Hebron. He was stopped when five other Israeli soldiers tackle him after he injured five Palestinians. He shot at the Palestinians because he felt that "they hate
Jews".
★
January 9 - Yachtsman
Tony Bullimore is found alive, 5 days after his boat capsized in the Southern Ocean.
★
January 10 - Bulgarian Student strike vs government of Jan Videnov
★
January 16 -
Ennis Cosby, the only son of actor
Bill Cosby, is killed by a gunman while changing a flat tire in
Los Angeles, California.
Bill Clinton, who began his second term on January 20
★
January 17 - A
Delta II rocket carrying a military
GPS payload explodes, shortly after liftoff from
Cape Canaveral.
★
January 18 - In northwest
Rwanda,
Hutu militia members kill 3 Spanish aid workers, 3 soldiers and seriously wound another.
★
January 19 -
Yasser Arafat returns to
Hebron after more than 30 years, and joins celebrations over the handover of the last
Israeli-controlled
West Bank city.
★
January 20 -
Bill Clinton starts his second term as
President of the United States.
★
January 21 -
Newt Gingrich becomes the first
Speaker of the United States House of Representatives to be internally disciplined for ethical misconduct.
★
January 22 -
Madeleine Albright becomes the first female Secretary of State after confirmation by the
United States Senate.
★
January 23 -
Mir Aimal Kasi receives the death sentence for a 1993 assault rifle attack outside
CIA headquarters that killed 2 and wounded 3 others.
★
January 26 - The
Green Bay Packers win the
NFL Championship for the first time since
1967, defeating the
New England Patriots 35-21 in
Super Bowl XXXI at the
Louisiana Superdome in
New Orleans,
Louisiana.
★
January 27 - It is revealed that
French museums had nearly 2,000 pieces of art that were stolen by
Nazis.
February
★
February 4 -
O.J. Simpson is found liable in civil court for the death of
Ron Goldman and for the battery of
Nicole Brown Simpson.
Simpson is ordered to pay $35,000,000 in damages to the families of the 2 victims.
★
February 4 - On their way to
Lebanon, 2
Israeli troop-transport
helicopters collide, killing 73.
★
February 4 - After at first contesting the results,
Serbian President
Slobodan Milošević recognizes opposition victories in the November 1996 elections.
★
February 4 -
Ipswich Town footballer
Adam Tanner, who recently failed a
drugs test, is banned from football for three months at an
FA hearing. Tanner received a relatively lenient punishment as he had admitted taking drugs at the first attempt and shown remorse for his behaviour.
★
February 4 -
British Home Secretary Michael Howard informs
Moors Murderer Myra Hindley that she will never be released from prison. Mr Howard made the decision in agreement with a recommendation made by his predecessor
David Waddington in
1990.
★
February 5 - The so-called "Big Three" banks in
Switzerland announce the creation of a $71 million fund to aid
Holocaust survivors and their families.
★
February 5 -
Morgan Stanley and
Dean Witter investment banks announce a $10 billion merger.
★
February 10 - The
United States Army suspends Sgt. Major
Gene C. McKinney, its top-ranking enlisted soldier, after hearing allegations of sexual misconduct.
★
February 10 -
Sandline affair:
Australian newspapers publish stories that the government of
Papua New Guinea has brought mercenaries onto
Bougainville Island.
★
February 13 - The ''
Washington Post'' reports that
U.S. Justice Department investigators found evidence the Chinese Embassy in
Washington, DC may have coordinated financial contributions to the Democratic party in violation of U.S. law. This brings a new dimension to the growing
1996 United States campaign finance controversy.
★
February 13 - ''
STS-82'': Tune-up and repair work on the
Hubble Space Telescope is started by
astronauts from Space Shuttle ''
Discovery''.
★
February 13 - The
Dow Jones Industrial Average closes above 7,000
for the first time, gaining 60.81 to 7,022.44.
★
February 19 - The last of the
People's Republic of China's major revolutionaries,
Deng Xiaoping, dies at 92 (this is followed by weeks of mourning).
★
February 22 - In
Roslin, Scotland, scientists announce that an adult
sheep named
Dolly had been successfully
cloned, and was born in
July 1996.
★
February 23 - A large fire occurs in the
Russian
space station Mir.
★
February 28 - The
North Hollywood shootout takes place between 2 heavily armed bank robbers and officers of the
Los Angeles Police Department.
★
February 28 -
WFAA-TV becomes the first TV station in the nation to start broadcasting their newscasts in
HDTV on a
VHF channel.
[1]
March
Osaka Dome during the evening.
★
March 1 - The
Osaka Dome opens in Chiyozaki, Nishi-ku,
Osaka,
Japan.
★
March 1 - The
Nintendo 64 is released in
Europe and
Australia.
★
March 4 - U.S. President
Bill Clinton bars federal funding for any research on
human cloning.
★
March 6 -
Picasso's ''Tête de Femme'' is stolen from a
London gallery (recovered a week later).
★
March 6 - In
Sri Lanka,
Tamil Tigers overrun a
military base and kill more than 200.
★
March 9 - Rapper
The Notorious B.I.G. is killed in a
drive-by shooting.
★
March 10 - The main office of
Fuji TV moves from Kawadacho,
Shinjuku, Tokyo,
Japan to
Odaiba,
Minato, Tokyo, Japan.
★
March 11 - An explosion at a
nuclear waste reprocessing plant in
Japan exposes 35 workers to low-level
radioactive contamination, in the worst
nuclear accident in
Japan's history.
★
March 12 -
Mikail Markhasev is arrested in
Los Angeles, California and charged with shooting
Bill Cosby's 27-year-old son,
Ennis Cosby.
★
March 13 -
India's Missionaries of Charity chooses
Sister Nirmala to succeed
Mother Teresa as its leader.
★ The
National People's Congress of the
People's Republic of China creates a new
Chongqing Municipality. It was formerly part of
Sichuan.
★
March 16 -
Sandline affair - On
Bougainville Island, soldiers of commander
Jerry Singirok arrest
Tim Spicer and his
mercenaries of the
Sandline International.
★
March 18 - The tail of a
Russian
An-24 charter plane breaks off while en-route to
Turkey, causing the plane to crash, killing all 50 on board, and resulting in the grounding of all An-24s.
★
March 21 - In
Zaire, Etienne Tshiksekedi is appointed new prime minister; he ejects supporters of
Mobutu Sese Seko from his cabinet.
★
March 21 - Mercenaries of
Sandline International withdraw from
Papua New Guinea.
★
March 22 -
Tara Lipinski, 14, becomes the youngest women's world
figure skating champion.
★
March 22 - The comet
Hale-Bopp makes its closest approach to Earth.
★
March 24 -
Roberto Sanchez Vilella, the second democratically elected
Governor of Puerto Rico, dies at age 84.
★
March 26 - In
San Diego, California, 39
Heaven's Gate cultists commit mass suicide at their compound.
★
March 26 - The survey of a claimed gold site of
Bre-X Minerals in
Indonesia reveals it is worthless; Bre-X complains and accuses Internet rumours.
★
March 26 -
Julius Chan resigns as prime minister of
Papua New Guinea, ending the
Sandline affair.
April
★
April 1 -
Comic strip switcheroo: Cartoonists of popularly syndicated comic strips swap cartoons for the day.
★
April 3 - The
Thalit massacre in
Algeria: All but 1 of the 53 inhabitants of Thalit are killed by guerrillas.
★
April 9 -
Soundgarden announced of the bands break up
★
April 11 - Fire damages the Turin Cathedral in
Italy.
★
April 14 - Fire breaks out in a pilgrim camp on the Plain of Mena, 7 miles from Mecca; 343 die.
★
April 14 - Former SS Captain
Erich Priebke is retried; on
July 22 he is sentenced to 5 years in prison.
★
April 16 -
Houston, Texas socialite
Doris Angleton is murdered in her
River Oaks home.
Roger Angleton later admits to the crime in his suicide note. Despite being found innocent of the crime by a
Texas jury, he is later arrested by the
United States Department of Justice on similar charges.
★
April 18 - The
Red River of the North breaks through dikes and
floods Grand Forks, North Dakota and
East Grand Forks, Minnesota, causing US$2 billion in damage.
★
April 21 - A Pegasus rocket carries the remains of 24 people into earth orbit, in the first
space burial.
★
April 22 -
Haouch Khemisti massacre in
Algeria; 93 villagers killed.
★
April 22 - A 126-day hostage crisis at the residence of the
Japanese ambassador in
Lima, Peru ends after government commandos storm and capture the building, rescuing 71 hostages. One hostage dies of a
heart attack, 2 soldiers are killed from rebel fire, and all 14
Tupac Amaru rebels are slain.
★
April 22 -
France supports the new
transitional government in
Zaire, withdrawing its support of
Mobutu Sese Seko.
★
April 23 -
Omaria massacre in
Algeria; 42 villagers killed.
★
April 27 -
Andrew Cunanan murders Jeffrey Trail, beginning a murder spree that will last until July and end with the murder of fashion designer
Gianni Versace.
May
★
May 1 -
Tasmania becomes the last state in
Australia to decriminalize
homosexuality.
★
May 1 -
United Kingdom general election, 1997: The
United Kingdom's
Labour Party ends 18 years of
Conservative rule.
★
May 1 -
HM Prison Pentridge in
Melbourne,
Australia, is officially closed.
★
May 2 -
Tony Blair is appointed
Prime Minister of the United Kingdom.
★
May 3 -
Katrina and the Waves win
Eurovision 1997 for the
UK with
Love Shine a Light, the most successful Eurovision entry ever.
★
May 10 - An
earthquake near Ardekul, in northeastern
Iran, kills at least 2,400.
★
May 11 -
IBM's
Deep Blue defeats
Garry Kasparov in the
last game of the rematch, the first time a computer beat a
chess World champion in a match.
★
May 12 - The
Russian-
Chechen Peace Treaty is signed.
★
May 14 - The
Star Alliance is formed between
Air Canada,
Lufthansa,
SAS,
Thai Airways International and
United Airlines.
★
May 14 -
Laurent Kabila does not attend a second meeting with
Mobutu.
★
May 16 -
Mobutu Sese Seko leaves
Kinshasa (eventually settles in Morocco).
★
May 16 - U.S. President
Bill Clinton issues a formal apology to the surviving victims of the
Tuskegee Study of Untreated Syphilis in the Negro Male and their families, 25 years after the 40-year "study" was exposed by reporter Jean Heller.
★
May 17 - Troops of
Laurent Kabila march into
Kinshasa.
★
May 22 -
Women in the military:
Kelly Flinn, the
U.S. Air Force's first female bomber pilot certified for combat, accepts a
general discharge in order to avoid a
court martial.
★
May 25 -
Strom Thurmond becomes the longest serving member in the history of the
United States Senate (41 years and 10 months).
★
May 25 - A military
coup in
Sierra Leone replaces President
Ahmad Tejan Kabbah with Major
Johnny Paul Koromah.
★
May 27 -
Jarrell Tornado): The second deadliest tornado of the 1990s hits in
Jarrell, Texas, killing 27 people.
★
May 31 - Official opening of the
Confederation Bridge, the 13 kilometer bridge is the world's longest bridge spanning ice covered waters, between
Prince Edward Island and
New Brunswick,
Canada.
June
★
June 1 -
Iraq disarmament crisis:
Iraqi military escorts on board an UNSCOM helicopter try to physically prevent the UNSCOM pilot from flying the helicopter in the direction of its planned destination, threatening the safety of the aircraft and their crews.
★
June 1 -
Chivas wins their 10th Verano '97 championship 7-2 against Toros Neza.
★
June 2 - In
Denver,
Colorado,
Timothy McVeigh is convicted on 15 counts of murder and conspiracy for his role in the 1995
terrorist bombing of the
Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building in
Oklahoma City, Oklahoma.
★
June 5 - Kim Hyun Chul, son of
Kim Young Sam,
president of South Korea, is charged with
bribery and
corruption related to the awarding of government contracts.
★
June 6 - In Lacey Township,
New Jersey, high school senior
Melissa Drexler kills her newborn baby in a toilet.
★
June 7 - A computer user known as "_eci" publishes his
Microsoft C source code on a
Windows 95 and
Windows NT exploit, which would later become
WinNuke. The source code gets wide distribution across the
internet, and
Microsoft is forced to release a security patch.
★
June 7 - The
Detroit Red Wings win their first
Stanley Cup championship in 42 years, defeating the
Philadelphia Flyers 4 games to none. Red Wings goaltender
Mike Vernon is awarded the
Conn Smythe Trophy as playoff MVP.
★
June 8 - A
United States Coast Guard helicopter crashes near
Humboldt Bay,
California. All four crewmembers perish.
★
June 10 -
Khmer Rouge leader
Pol Pot orders the killing of his defense chief,
Son Sen, and 11 of Sen's family members, before Pol Pot flees his northern stronghold (the news does not reach outside
Cambodia for 3 days).
★
June 11 - The
British House of Commons votes for a total ban on
handguns.
★
June 12 - The
United States Department of the Treasury unveils a new
$50 bill, meant to be more
counterfeit-resistant.
★
June 13 - A jury sentences
Timothy McVeigh to the
death penalty for his part in the 1995
Oklahoma City bombing.
★
June 13 - The Chicago Bulls win their 5th NBA championship by defeating the Utah Jazz in the best-of-7 series 4 games to 2.
★
June 16 -
Dairat Labguer massacre in Algeria; some 50 people killed.
★
June 19 - The fast food chain
McDonald's wins a partial victory in its libel trial, known as the
McLibel case, against 2 environmental campaigners. The judge decides it was true that McDonald's targeted its advertising at children, who pestered their parents into visiting the company's restaurants.
★
June 25 - An unmanned
Progress spacecraft collides with the
Russian
Space station,
Mir.
★
June 30 - First
Harry Potter book is published.
July
★
July 1 - The
United Kingdom hands sovereignty of
Hong Kong to the
People's Republic of China.
★
July 2 - The
Thai Baht is floated. Tom Walters Sr. of Meridian MS wins powerball of 11,000,000.00 us dollars.
★
July 4 -
NASA's
Pathfinder space probe lands on the surface of
Mars.
★
July 5 - In
Cambodia,
Hun Sen of the
Cambodian People's Party overthrows
Norodom Ranariddh in a
coup.
★
July 6 - A major wildfire burns approximately 40% of Seich Sou, a forest just north of
Thessaloniki, also posing a significant threat to several areas in the city.
★
July 8 -
Mayo Clinic researchers warn that the
dieting drug "
fen-phen" can cause severe
heart and
lung damage.
★
July 8 -
NATO invites the
Czech Republic,
Hungary, and
Poland to join the alliance in 1999.
★
July 10 - In
London, scientists report their
DNA analysis findings from a
Neanderthal skeleton, which support the
out of Africa theory of
human evolution, placing an "African Eve" at 100,000 to 200,000 years ago.
★
July 10 -
Miguel Ángel Blanco is kidnapped in
Ermua, Spain and murdered by the
ETA.
★
July 11 - 90 die in
Thailand's worst hotel fire at
Pattaya.
★
July 13 - The remains of
Che Guevara are returned to
Cuba for burial, alongside some of his other comrades.
★
July 15 -
Serial killer Andrew Phillip Cunanan shoots fashion designer
Gianni Versace to death outside Versace's
Miami, Florida residence.
★
July 16 - The
Dow Jones Industrial Average gains 63.17 to close at 8,038.88. It is the Dow's
first close above 8,000. The Dow has doubled its value in 30 months.
★
July 17 - The
F.W. Woolworth Company closes after 117 years in business.
★
July 21 - The fully restored
USS ''Constitution'' (aka "
Old Ironsides") celebrates her 200th birthday by setting sail for the first time in 116 years.
★
July 23 -
Digital Equipment Corporation files
antitrust charges against chipmaker
Intel.
★
July 23 - Serial killer
Andrew Cunanan commits suicide in a
Miami, Florida houseboat.
★
July 25 -
K.R. Narayanan is sworn in as
India's 10th president and the first member of the
Dalit caste to hold this office.
★
July 25 - First light at the
Swiss Light Source
★
July 27 -
Si Zerrouk massacre in
Algeria; about 50 people killed.
August
★
August 1 -
Boeing and
McDonnell Douglas complete their merger.
★
August 2 -
Australian ski instructor
Stuart Diver is rescued as the sole survivor from the
Thredbo landslide in
New South Wales,
Australia, in which 18 lives were lost.
★
August 3 -
Oued El-Had and Mezouara massacre in
Algeria; 40-76 villagers killed.
★
August 4 - 185,000
Teamsters Union
UPS drivers walk off the job.
★
August 6 -
Microsoft buys a $150 million share of financially troubled
Apple Computer.
★
August 6 - 228 die as
Korean Air Flight 801 crash lands at
Guam International Airport.
★
August 13 - In
Belo Horizonte,
Brazil,
Cruzeiro wins
Sporting Cristal of
Peru by 1-0 and are
Copa Libertadores de América champions by second time.
★
August 14 -
Pakistan celebrates 50 years of independence from British rule.
★
August 15 - India celebrates 50 years of independence from British rule.
★
August 20 -
Souhane massacre in
Algeria; over 60 people killed, 15 kidnapped.
★
August 25 -
Egon Krenz, the former East German leader, is convicted of a shoot-to-kill Berlin Wall policy.
★
August 26 -
Beni-Ali massacre in
Algeria; 60-100 people killed.
★
August 26 - The
Independent International Commission on Decommissioning is set up in
Northern Ireland, as part of the peace process.
★
August 29 -
Rais massacre in
Algeria; over 98 (and possibly up to 400) people killed.
★
August 29 - Christopher Maier of
Lexington, Kentucky is bludgeoned to death by serial killer
Angel Maturino Resendiz.
Angel also rapes and beats Christopher's girlfriend, who survives. This is the first of a string of murders that Angel commits.
★
August 31 -
Diana, Princess of Wales, is taken to a hospital after a car crash shortly after midnight in the Pont de l'Alma road tunnel in
Paris. She is pronounced dead at 4:00 a.m. that morning.
September
★
September 3 -
Arizona Governor
Fife Symington is convicted for various crimes tied to his
real estate business, effectively forcing him out of office.
★
September 4 - In
Lorain, Ohio, the last
Ford Thunderbird for three years rolls off the
assembly line.
★
September 5 -
Beni-Messous massacre in
Algeria; over 87 killed.
★
September 5 - The
IOC picks
Athens, Greece to be the host city for the
2004 Summer Olympics.
★
September 5 -
Mother Theresa of Calcutta dies of heart failure in
Kolkata,
India.
★
September 6 - The funeral of
Diana, Princess of Wales takes place at
Westminster Abbey, watched by over 1 billion people worldwide.
★
September 6 - A
Jean Michel Jarre Oxygene in Moscow concert, celebrating the city's 850th anniversary, draws 3.5 million people.
★
September 7 - First test flight of the
F-22 Raptor.
★
September 11 -
Scotland votes to create its own Parliament after 290 years of union with
England.
★
September 13 -
Iraq disarmament crisis: An
Iraqi military officer attacks an UNSCOM weapons inspector on board an UNSCOM helicopter while the inspector was attempting to take photographs of unauthorized movement of Iraqi vehicles inside a site designated for inspection
★
September 15 -
Norwegian parliamentary election, 1997
★
September 17 -
Iraq disarmament crisis: While waiting for access to a site, UNSCOM inspectors witness and videotape
Iraqi guards moving files, burning documents, and dumping waste cans into a nearby river.
★
September 18 -
Wales votes in favour of
devolution and the formation of a
National Assembly.
★
September 19 -
Guelb El-Kebir massacre in
Algeria; 53 killed.
★
September 21 - The
AIS, the
FIS' armed wing, declares a unilateral ceasefire in
Algeria.
★
September 22 -
Bentalha massacre in
Algeria; over 200 villagers killed.
★
September 25 -
Iraq disarmament crisis: UNSCOM inspector Dr. Diane Seaman catches several
Iraqi men sneaking out the back door of an inspection site, with log books for the creation of prohibited bacteria and chemicals.
★
September 26 - An air crash in
Indonesia kills 234 people (likely caused by smoke rising from numerous forest fires in the area).
★
September 26 - An
earthquake strikes the
Italian regions of
Umbria and
Marche, causing part of the Basilica of St. Francis at
Assisi to collapse.
★
September 27 - The
Požega Diocese (
Catholic) is founded.
★
September 27 - The Adelaide Crows win the AFL Premiership for the first time in their 7th season, beating St Kilda who have only ever won 1 premiership in their 100 year history.
October
★
October 1 -
Luke Woodham walks into Pearl High School in
Pearl, Mississippi and opens fire, killing 2 girls, after killing his mother earlier that morning .
★
October 2 -
UK scientists Moira Bruce and John Collinge, with their colleagues, independently show that the new variant form of the
Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease is the same disease as
Bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE) or "mad-cow disease".
★
October 4 - One million men gather for
Promise Keepers' "Stand in the Gap" event in
Washington, DC.
★
October 4 - The
second largest cash robbery in
U.S. history ($17.3 million, mostly in small bills) occurred at the
Charlotte, North Carolina office of
Loomis, Fargo and Company. An
FBI investigation eventually resulted in 24 convictions and the recovery of approximately 95% of the stolen cash.
★
October 11 - The
mixed martial arts organisation
PRIDE Fighting Championships holds its inaugural event at the Tokyo Dome in Tokyo, Japan. In the main event
Rickson Gracie defeats
Nobuhiko Takada by armbar.
★
October 12 -
Sidi Daoud massacre in
Algeria: 43 are killed at a fake roadblock.
★
October 15 -
Andy Green sets the first supersonic
land speed record for the
ThrustSSC team, led by
Richard Noble of the
United Kingdom. ThrustSSC goes through the flying mile course at Black Rock Desert, Nevada at an average speed of 1,227.985 km/h (763.035 mph).
★
October 15 -
NASA launches the
Cassini-Huygens probe to Saturn.
★
October 17 - The remains of
Che Guevara are laid to rest with full military honours in a specially built mausoleum in the city of Santa Clara,
Cuba, where he had won the decisive battle of the Cuban Revolution 39 years before.
★
October 26 -
Michael Schumacher commits the infamous ''Dry Sac'' corner incident at the
Jerez track, an act for which the German was disqualified from 1997 season by the FIA and crucified in the press.
★
October 26 - The
Florida Marlins win Game 7 of the
1997 World Series against the
Cleveland Indians 3-2 in 11 innings.
★
October 27 -
Stock markets around the world
crash because of a global
economic crisis scare. The
Dow Jones Industrial Average follows suit and plummets 554.26, or 7.18%, to 7,161.15. The points loss exceeds the loss from
Black Monday. Officials at the
New York Stock Exchange for the first time invoke the "circuit breaker" rule to stop trading (this was a very controversial move and prompted a quick change in the rule; trading stops will only occur when the DJIA drops at least 10 or 20 percent) (see
October 27, 1997 mini-crash).
★
October 28 - The
bulls come running back as the
Dow Jones Industrial Average gains a record 337.17 to 7,498.32. One billion shares are traded on the
New York Stock Exchange for the first time ever.
★
October 29 -
Iraq disarmament crisis:
Iraq says it will begin shooting down
U-2 surveillance planes being used by UNSCOM inspectors.
★
October 30 - In
Newton, Massachusetts,
British au pair
Louise Woodward is found guilty of the
baby-shaking death of 8-month-old Matthew Eappen.
November
★
November 3 - In
France, striking truck drivers blockade ports during a pay dispute.
★
November 9 - ''
BBC News 24'' is launched.
★
November 10 - Telecom companies
WorldCom and
MCI Communications announce a US$37 billion merger to form
MCI WorldCom (the largest merger in US history).
★
November 10 - A
Fairfax, Virginia jury finds
Mir Aimal Kasi guilty of murdering 2
CIA employees in 1993.
★
November 11 -
Mary McAleese is elected the 8th
President of Ireland.
★
November 11 - The last
Pentium 586 MMX cpu (233 MHz) is made (until the Pentium II).
★
November 12 -
Ramzi Yousef is found guilty of masterminding the 1993
World Trade Center bombing.
★
November 17 - In
Luxor,
Egypt, 62 people are killed by 6
Islamic militants outside the
Temple of Hatshepsut (police kill the assailants).
★
November 19 - In
Des Moines, Iowa, Bobbi McCaughey, a resident of the nearby town of
Carlisle, gives birth to
septuplets in the second known case where all 7 babies were born alive. They would go on to be the first set of septuplets to all survive infancy.
★
November 22 - Australian singer and
INXS frontman,
Michael Hutchence, 37, is found hanged in a
Sydney hotel room.
★
November 27 - Second
Souhane massacre in
Algeria: 25 killed.
December
★
December 1 -
Heath High School shooting: Michael Carneal fires at his classmates at Heath High School in
West Paducah, Kentucky, leaving three dead and five wounded.
★
December 3 - In
Ottawa,
Canada, representatives from 121 countries sign a
treaty prohibiting the manufacture and deployment of anti-personnel
land mines. The
United States, the
People's Republic of China, and
Russia do not sign the treaty, however.
★
December 5 -
John O'Shaugnessey, 32, admits the rape and murder of 9-year-old Kayleigh Ward at
Chester Crown Court. The trial judge sentences O'Shaugnessey, of
Blacon,
Chester, to life imprisonment with a recommendation that he should serve at least 30 years before being considered for parole.
★
December 8 -
Moors Murderer Myra Hindley arrives at the
High Court to contest a recent
Home Secretary's decision that she should remain in prison until she dies.
★
December 12 - Demonstrations in state capitals of
Australia against
WTO and
IMF.
★
December 17 - The term "
weblog" is coined by
Jorn Barger.
★
December 18 - Myra Hindley loses her
High Court appeal against the government's decision to keep her behind bars for the rest of her life. Lord Bingham, the
Lord Chief Justice, rules that current
Labour Home Secretary Jack Straw and his
Conservative predecessor
Michael Howard were legally entitled to keep her in prison. However, the High Court has given Hindley permission to appeal against her sentence in a higher court.
★
December 24 -
Sid El-Antri massacre in
Algeria: 50-100 villagers are killed.
★
December 27 -
Loyalist paramilitary leader
Billy Wright is assassinated in
Northern Ireland, inside
Long Kesh prison.
★
December 29 -
Hong Kong begins to kill all the
chickens within its territory (1.25 million) to stop the spread of a potentially deadly
influenza strain.
★
December 30 -
Wilaya of Relizane massacres of December 30, 1997: In the worst incident in
Algeria's insurgency, 400 people are killed from 4 villages in the ''wilaya'' of
Relizane: Khrouba (176 deaths), Sahnoun (113 deaths), El-Abadel (73 deaths), and Ouled-Tayeb (50 deaths). Six days later they are followed by another set of local massacres.
★
December 31 - After 26 years in operation, the
Opryland USA theme park in
Nashville, Tennessee closes permanently.
Undated
★ The
Toyota Prius comes to showrooms, only in
Japan. The Prius was the first hybrid vehicle to go into full production. It would come to U.S. showrooms in 2000.
Ongoing
★
Search-engine revolution.
Fictional
★ The 1984 film
The Terminator and its sequel, , both referenced the year 1997 as the time in which the fictional computer entity Skynet would launch a nuclear attack on mankind.
Births
★
January 9 -
Lauryn McClain, American actress and singer
★
January 13 -
Marius Borg Høiby, son of Crown Princess Mette-Marit of Norway
★
January 14 - Nastya and Masha Tolmachevy (
The Tolmachevy Twins), Russian singers
★
January 24 -
Jonah Bobo, American actor
★
February 10 -
Chloe Moretz, American actress
★
March 3 -
Maria Francisca Isabel de Bragança, daughter of
Duarte Pio, Duke of Braganza
★
March 27 -
Princess Aisha of Jordan
★
March 27 -
Princess Sara of Jordan
★
April 13 -
Sloane Momsen, American actress
★
May 1 -
Ariel Gade, American actress
★
May 18 -
Alana Etheridge, American actress
★
June 20 -
Maria Lark, Russian-born American actress
★
July 15 -
Prince Lukás of Bulgaria
★
July 20 -
Billi Bruno, American actress
★
August 25 -
Holly Gibbs, English actress
★
September 8 -
Kimberlea Berg, English actress
★
October 8 -
Connor Carmody, American actor
★
October 8 -
Bella Thorne, American actress/model
★
October 12 -
Prince Boris of Bulgaria, 2nd in line to the Bulgarian throne
★
November 1 -
Alex Wolff, American actor and musician
★
November 13 -
Brent Kinsman, American actor
★
November 13 -
Shane Kinsman, American actor
★
November 19 -
McCaughey septuplets, the world's first set of septuplets to survive infancy
Deaths
January-February
★
January 4 -
Harry Helmsley, American real estate mogul (b.
1909)
★
January 6 -
Catherine Scorsese, Italian-American actress (b.
1912)
★
January 10 -
Sheldon Leonard, American producer, actor, director (b.
1907)
★
January 10 -
Alexander R. Todd, Baron Todd, Scottish chemist,
Nobel Prize laureate (b.
1907)
★
January 12 -
Charles B. Huggins, Canadian-born cancer researcher, recipient of the
Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine (b.
1901)
★
January 16 -
Ennis Cosby, comedian Bill Cosby's son (b.
1969)
★
January 17 -
Clyde Tombaugh, American astronomer (b.
1906)
★
January 19 -
James Dickey, American poet and novelist (b.
1923)
★
January 20 -
Curt Flood, American baseball player (b.
1938)
★
January 21 - Colonel
Tom Parker, Dutch-born celebrity manager (b.
1909)
★
January 30 -
Nicholas Mallett, TV director
★
January 31 -
Johnny Klein, American drummer (b.
1918)
★
February 1 -
Herb Caen, American newspaper columnist (b.
1916)
★
February 2 -
Chico Science, Brazilian musician (automobile accident) (b.
1967)
★
February 5 -
Pamela Harriman, U.S. Ambassador to France (b.
1920)
★
February 11 -
Don Porter, American actor (b.
1912)
★
February 17 -
Zein Isa, Palestinian militant imprisoned in the
United States for the
honor killing of his daughter
★
February 19 -
Deng Xiaoping, leader of the People's Republic of China (b.
1904)
★
February 23 -
Tony Williams, American musician (b.
1945)
March-April
★
March 2 -
Bloodshed (rapper), American rapper (b.
1975)
★
March 4 -
Robert H. Dicke, American experimental physicist (b.
1916)
★
March 4 -
Carey Loftin, American actor and stuntman (b.
1914)
★
March 6 -
Cheddi Jagan,
President of Guyana (b.
1918)
★
March 7 -
Edward Mills Purcell, American physicist,
Nobel Prize laureate (b.
1912)
★
March 7 -
Martin Kippenberger, German artist (b.
1953)
★
March 9 -
The Notorious B.I.G., American rapper (b.
1972)
★
March 10 -
La Vern Baker, American singer (b.
1929)
★
March 14 -
Fred Zinnemann, Austrian-born director (b.
1907)
★
March 17 -
Jermaine Stewart, American singer (b.
1957)
★
March 19 -
Willem de Kooning, Dutch artist (b.
1904)
★
March 20 -
Tony Zale, American boxer (b.
1913)
★
March 21 -
W.V. Awdry, British children's writer (b.
1911)
★
April 5 -
Allen Ginsberg, American poet (b.
1926)
★
April 7 -
Witto Aloma, Cuban
Major League Baseball player (b.
1923)
★
April 7 -
Georgi Shonin, cosmonaut (b.
1935)
★
April 12 -
George Wald, American scientist, recipient of the
Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine (b.
1903)
★
April 15 -
Mildred Cleghorn, chairwoman of the Fort Sill Apache tribe (b.
1910)
★
April 16 -
Doris Angleton, American socialite (b.
1951)
★
April 16 -
Roland Topor, French illustrator (b.
1938)
★
April 19 -
El Duce, American singer/drummer (
The Mentors) (b.
1958)
★
April 20 -
Henry Mucci, American Colonel of the 98th Ranger Battalion (b.
1909)
May-June
★
May 2 -
John Carew Eccles, Australian neurophysiologist, recipient of the
Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine (b.
1903)
★
May 5 -
Walter Gotell, German actor (b.
1924)
★
May 14 -
Harry Blackstone Jr., American magician (b.
1934)
★
May 22 -
Alfred Hershey, American biochemist, recipient of the
Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine (b.
1908)
★
May 23 -
James Lee Byars, American artist (b.
1932)
★
May 24 -
Edward Mulhare, Irish actor (b.
1923)
★
May 29 -
Jeff Buckley, American musician (drowned) (b.
1966)
★
May 31 -
James Bennett Griffin, American archaeologist (b.
1905)
★
June 3 -
Dennis James, American game show host (b.
1917)
★
June 12 -
Bulat Okudzhava,
Soviet non-mainstream singer of
Georgian descent (b.
1924)
★
June 22 -
Gérard Pelletier, French journalist, politician and diplomat (b.
1919)
★
June 23 -
Betty Shabazz, widow of
Malcolm X (b.
1936)
★
June 24 -
Brian Keith, American actor (b.
1921)
★
June 25 -
Jacques-Yves Cousteau, French explorer (b.
1910)
★
June 26 -
Israel Kamakawiwo'ole, Hawaiian singer (b.
1959)
★
June 28 -
Mrs. Miller, American singer (b.
1907)
July-August
★
July 1 -
Robert Mitchum, American actor (b.
1917)
★
July 2 -
James Stewart, American actor (b.
1908)
★
July 4 -
Charles Kuralt, American television reporter (b.
1934)
★
July 4 -
John Zachary Young, British biologist (b.
1907)
★
July 15 -
Gianni Versace, Italian fashion designer (murdered) (b.
1946)
★
July 20 -
John Akii-Bua Ugandan hurdler (b.
1949)
★
July 23 -
Chuhei Nambu, Japanese athlete (b.
1904)
★
July 24 -
William J. Brennan, U.S. Supreme Court Justice (b.
1906)
★
August 2 -
William S. Burroughs, American author (b.
1914)
★
August 2 -
Fela Kuti, Nigerian musician and political activist (b.
1938)
★
August 4 -
Jeanne Calment, French supercentenarian (b.
1875)
★
August 8 -
Sviatoslav Richter, Ukrainian pianist (b.
1915)
★
August 10 -
Conlon Nancarrow, American-born composer (b.
1912)
★
August 12 -
Luther Allison, American musician (b.
1939)
★
August 16 -
Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan, Pakistani Qwalli artist (b.
1948)
★
August 21 -
Yuri Nikulin, Russian actor
★
August 23 -
John Kendrew, British molecular biologist, recipient of the
Nobel Prize in Chemistry (b.
1917)
★
August 24 -
Louis Essen, English physicist (b.
1908)
★
August 31 -
Diana, Princess of Wales (car accident) (b.
1961)
★
August 31 -
Dodi Al-Fayed, Egyptian businessman (the same automobile accident) (b.
1955)
September-October
★
September 2 -
Rudolph Bing, Austrian opera manager (b.
1902)
★
September 2 -
Viktor Frankl, Austrian neurologist and psychiatrist (b.
1905)
★
September 5 -
Georg Solti, Hungarian conductor (b.
1912)
★
September 5 -
Mother Teresa, Albanian missionary and humanitarian, recipient of the
Nobel Peace Prize (b.
1910)
★
September 7 -
Mobutu Sese Seko, president of
Zaire (b.
1930)
★
September 9 -
Burgess Meredith, American actor (b.
1907)
★
September 17 -
Red Skelton, American comedian (b.
1913)
★
September 18 -
Jimmy Witherspoon,
blues singer (b.
1920)
★
September 19 -
Rich Mullins, American musician (b.
1955)
★
September 25 -
Jean Françaix, French composer (b.
1912)
★
September 27 -
Walter Trampler, American violist (b.
1915)
★
October 1 -
Jerome H. Lemelson, American inventor (b.
1923)
★
October 4 -
Gunpei Yokoi, Japanese video game franchise creator (creator of the Nintendo GameBoy) (automobile accident) (b.
1941)
★
October 5 -
Brian Pillman, American professional wrestler (b.
1962)
★
October 6 -
Adrienne Hill, British actress
★
October 6 -
Johnny Vander Meer, baseball player (b.
1914)
★
October 12 -
John Denver, American musician (b.
1943)
★
October 19 -
Glen Buxton, American guitarist (b.
1947)
★
October 23 -
Bert Haanstra, Dutch filmmaker (b.
1916)
★
October 24 -
Don Messick, American voice actor (b.
1926)
★
October 29 -
Anton Szandor LaVey, American founder of the Church of Satan (b.
1930)
November-December
★
November 5 -
James Robert Baker, American novelist and screenwriter (b.
1946)
★
November 5 - Sir
Isaiah Berlin, Russian historian of ideas (b.
1909)
★
November 11 -
Rodney Milburn, American athlete (b.
1950)
★
November 12 -
Carlos Surinach, Spanish composer (b.
1915)
★
November 15 -
Douglas MacArthur II, nephew of
World War II General
Douglas MacArthur (b.
1909)
★
November 17 -
John Wimber, American leader of the Vineyard Movement (b.
1934)
★
November 21 -
Robert Simpson, English composer (b.
1921)
★
November 22 -
Michael Hutchence, Australian musician (b.
1960)
★
November 25 -
Monique Serf, French singer (b.
1930)
★
November 30 -
Kathy Acker, American author (b.
1947)
★
December 2 -
Shirley Crabtree, British wrestler best known as Big Daddy (b.
1930)
★
December 2 -
Michael Hedges, American composer and guitarist (b.
1953)
★
December 18 -
Chris Farley, American actor and comedian (b.
1964)
★
December 19 -
David Schramm, American astrophysicist (b.
1945)
★
December 20 -
Denise Levertov, English-born American poet (b.
1923)
★
December 21 -
Amie Comeaux, American country singer (b.
1976)
★
December 24 -
Toshirō Mifune, Japanese actor (b.
1920)
★
December 25 -
Denver Pyle, American actor (b.
1920)
★
December 27 -
Billy Wright, Irish paramilitary leader (b.
1960)
Unknown dates
★
Laurence Henry Hicks, Australian composer (b.
1912)
Designations
International organizations, including the
United Nations, designated 1997 as the
International Year of the Reef.
Nobel prizes
★
Physics -
Steven Chu,
Claude Cohen-Tannoudji,
William D. Phillips
★
Chemistry -
Paul D. Boyer,
John E. Walker,
Jens C. Skou
★
Medicine -
Stanley B. Prusiner
★
Literature -
Dario Fo
★
Peace -
International Campaign to Ban Landmines and
Jody Williams
★
Economics -
Robert C. Merton,
Myron Scholes
Templeton Prize
★
Pandurang Shastri Athavale
See also
★
20th century
Notes
1. http://www.wfaa.com/sharedcontent/dws/spe/2002/wfaafifty/sets4.html
External links
Table of contents
__TOC__
العربية
中国
Français
Deutsch
Ελληνική
हिन्दी
Italiano
日本語
Português
Русский
Español
