1990 – 2000s

Events in the 1990s 123

• 1898 – 1990 Irene Dunne (1898-1990) American actress and singer, equally at home in musicals, melodramas and screwball comedy, with five Oscar nominations.
• 1900 – 1993 Helen Hayes (1900-1993) American actress known as the First Lady of the American Theatre, one of few performers to win an Emmy, Grammy, Oscar and Tony.
• 1900 – 1991 Jean Arthur (1900-1991) American actress, Frank Capra's favourite comic heroine in Mr. Deeds Goes to Town and Mr. Smith Goes to Washington.
• 1900 – 1990 Aaron Copland Voice of American music American composer who created a distinctly American classical sound with Appalachian Spring, Fanfare for the Common Man and Rodeo.
• 1904 – 1997 Willem de Kooning Abstract Expressionism · Netherlands / USA Willem de Kooning (April 24, 1904 – March 19, 1997) was a Dutch-American painter and a leading figure of Abstract Expressionism. His Woman series provoked fierce debate about the relationship between abstraction and figuration.
• 1904 – 1996 Greer Garson (1904-1996) British-born actress who became MGM's leading lady of the war years, winning the Oscar for Mrs. Miniver.
• 1905 – 1994 Joseph Cotten (1905-1994) American actor from Orson Welles's Mercury Theatre, star of Citizen Kane, Shadow of a Doubt and The Third Man.
• 1908 – 1991 Fred MacMurray (1908-1991) American actor, the doomed insurance man in Double Indemnity and the dad in My Three Sons.
• 1908 – 1992 Olivier Messiaen French mystic composer French composer and organist whose music was inspired by Catholic mysticism and birdsong. His Quartet for the End of Time was premiered in a Nazi prison camp.
• 1909 – 1992 Francis Bacon Expressionism · Ireland Francis Bacon (October 28, 1909 – April 28, 1992) was an Irish-born British painter whose raw, visceral depictions of the human figure are among the most disturbing and powerful in 20th-century art.
• 1911 – 1996 Bill Monroe Mandolinist, singer, bandleader American musician who created bluegrass with his Blue Grass Boys, named after his home state of Kentucky.
• 1913 – 1990 Mary Martin (1913-1990) American actress and singer, Broadway's first Nellie Forbush, Peter Pan and Maria von Trapp.
• 1914 – 1996 Dorothy Lamour (1914-1996) American actress and singer, the sarong-clad star of the Road to... films with Bing Crosby and Bob Hope.
• 1918 – 1990 Pearl Bailey (1918-1990) American singer and actress, star of the all-Black Hello, Dolly! and later a UN envoy.
• 1920 – 1991 Gene Tierney (1920-1991) American actress celebrated for her beauty and for Laura and Leave Her to Heaven.
• 1921 – 1995 Lana Turner (1921-1995) American actress, one of MGM's biggest stars, known for The Postman Always Rings Twice and Imitation of Life.
• 1921 – 1995 W.F. Hermans Novelist, essayist, geographer, 1921-1995 Willem Frederik Hermans (1921-1995) — one of the three great Dutch postwar writers, alongside Harry Mulisch and Gerard Reve. Novelist, essayist, geographer and polemicist. Author of The Darkroom of Damocles (1958), Beyond Sleep (1966) and An Untouched House (1952). His work is defined by epistemological nihilism: the conviction that certainty is impossible and that human existence is fundamentally without meaning or redemption.
• 1923 – 1997 Roy Lichtenstein Pop Art · USA Roy Lichtenstein (October 27, 1923 – September 29, 1997) was an American Pop Art painter who transformed comic book imagery into fine art. His bold primary colours and Ben-Day dots became one of the most recognisable styles of the 20th century.
• 1947 – 1994 North American F-86 Sabre The MiG-15's great rival The first American swept-wing fighter and the MiG-15's great rival over Korea's MiG Alley. Built under licence in Canada, Australia, Italy and Japan.
• 1958 – 1990 Core trio: Marvin, Welch & Bennett Through line-up changes Despite numerous changes to the bass position over the decades, Hank Marvin, Bruce Welch and (from 1961) Brian Bennett formed the stable core of The Shadows throughout their classic era — the trio most associated with the band's identity.
• 1964 – 1996 The Kinks English rock band London band of brothers Ray and Dave Davies, with Pete Quaife and Mick Avory — inventors of the power-chord riff and chroniclers of English life.
• 1965 – 1995 Grateful Dead American rock band San Francisco band led by Jerry Garcia — the great improvising live band, followed from show to show by the Deadheads.
• 1966 – 1997 Jeff Buckley American singer-songwriter Jeff Buckley (1966-1997) was an American singer-songwriter and guitarist, son of folk musician Tim Buckley, celebrated for his extraordinary four-octave voice and his 1994 debut album Grace. He died by accidental drowning in the Mississippi River at 30, leaving behind one of the most cherished and influential catalogs in rock music.
• 1968 – 1999 The Band Canadian-American roots rock group Robbie Robertson, Levon Helm, Rick Danko, Richard Manuel and Garth Hudson — Dylan's backing band who blended country, soul and folk into a new American music.
• 1977 – 1995 Dire Straits Mark Knopfler's band — London 1977 to 1995 Dire Straits were a British rock band formed in London in 1977 by Mark Knopfler, his brother David Knopfler, John Illsley and Pick Withers. Their timeless guitar-driven sound sold over 100 million records worldwide. Brothers in Arms (1985) was one of the best-selling albums of the 20th century.
• 1985 – 1991 Gorbachev in power Glasnost, Perestroika and the collapse of the USSR — 1985 to 1991 Gorbachev became Soviet leader on March 11, 1985 and resigned on December 25, 1991, the day the Soviet Union was dissolved. His reforms of glasnost (openness) and perestroika (restructuring) inadvertently unleashed forces that ended the Cold War and dissolved the USSR.
• 1987 – 1994 Early swimming -- outgrowing the allergy Thorpe begins competitive swimming at age eight, following his sister Christina (who will qualify for the 1996 Atlanta Olympics). Despite the chlorine allergy that requires the nose-clip, his natural aptitude for the water is immediately apparent -- particularly his physical gifts: he will eventually stand 6 feet 5 inches tall, weigh 230 pounds, wear a size 17 shoe and carry an arm span of 6 feet 5 inches. His coaches note the extraordinarily powerful kick -- eight to ten leg beats per two arm strokes, where most swimmers manage six. At 13 he breaks 10 national age-group records in a single meet. In 1994, he captains the New South Wales team at the Australian Primary Schools Championships.
• 1987 – 1994 Nirvana American rock band Kurt Cobain, Krist Novoselic and Dave Grohl — the band that brought grunge and alternative rock to the mainstream.
• 1990 – 1991 Gulf War Operation Desert Storm A US-led coalition expelled Iraq from Kuwait in 1991. The 100-hour ground war liberated Kuwait with minimal Allied casualties.
• 1990 Hubble launched Space telescope deployed NASA's Hubble Space Telescope was deployed in April 1990, providing unprecedented images of the universe and transforming astronomy.
• 1990 – present International tribute band scene The Shadows' instrumental repertoire spawned an extensive international tribute band scene — "Shadows-style" bands performing their catalogue continue to be active across Europe decades after the band's heyday.
• 1990 – present Lockheed Martin F-22 Raptor The first fifth-generation fighter The first operational fifth-generation fighter, combining stealth, supercruise and thrust vectoring. Only 195 were built, and US law bans its export.
• 1990 – 1999 Reunions for Cliff Richard anniversary tours 1990s Despite the formal split, the band periodically reunited for Cliff Richard anniversary concerts and tours throughout the 1990s, including all-star concerts marking landmark anniversaries of Cliff's career.
• 1990 The Shadows disband With Hank Marvin now based in Australia and the rest of the band relying on session players in the UK, The Shadows formally disbanded in 1990 after more than three decades together.
• 1990 Nelson Mandela freed After 27 years in prison Nelson Mandela walked free from Victor Verster Prison on February 11, 1990 after 27 years of imprisonment, greeted by jubilant crowds worldwide. His release marked the beginning of the end of apartheid in South Africa.
• 1990 Wimbledon 1990 Men: Stefan Edberg · Women: Martina Navratilova Navratilova's 9th Wimbledon title — the Open Era record.
• 1990 US Open 1990 Men: Pete Sampras · Women: Gabriela Sabatini Pete Sampras, 19, won his first Grand Slam.
• 1990 Iraq invades Kuwait Gulf War begins Iraq's military forces invaded and occupied neighbouring Kuwait on August 2, 1990, on the orders of President Saddam Hussein. The invasion prompted an international coalition response that led to the Gulf War.
• 1990 Star Trek: The Next Generation — Season 4 Resolves the Borg cliffhanger (Picard rescued) and delivers consistently excellent television including "Family," "Brothers" and "The Drumhead." The show is now the most-watched drama in American syndication.
• 1990 – present Pearl Jam American rock band Seattle band of Eddie Vedder, Stone Gossard, Jeff Ament and Mike McCready — the most durable of the grunge bands.
• 1990 German reunification East & West Germany unite On October 3, 1990, East and West Germany officially reunified after 45 years of division, a defining moment of post-Cold War Europe.
• 1990 Thatcher resigns Iron Lady's political career ends Margaret Thatcher resigned as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom on November 22, 1990 after losing the first round of the Conservative Party leadership contest. She had served as PM for 11 years.
• 1991 Pat Riley hired as head coach Riley takes over, building New York into a physical, top-defense contender around Ewing.
• 1991 World Wide Web opens World Wide Web opens Tim Berners-Lee opened the World Wide Web to the public, transforming global communication and commerce.
• 1991 – 1995 Yugoslav Wars Balkans conflict & breakup The breakup of Yugoslavia led to brutal wars in the 1990s, including ethnic cleansing in Bosnia and the Srebrenica massacre.
• 1991 Iditarod 1991 Winner: Rick Swenson — 12 days 16h Rick Swenson claimed his fifth and final Iditarod title in 1991, becoming the first five-time champion and the only musher to win in three different decades.
• 1991 Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country The final film for most of the original cast. Directed by Nicholas Meyer, it uses the fall of the Klingon Empire as an allegory for the end of the Cold War. Kirk and McCoy are framed for the assassination of the Klingon chancellor. A fitting farewell for the original crew. Budget: $27 million. Gross: $97 million.
• 1991 Terminator 2: Judgment Day #1 film of 1991 — $520m worldwide Directed by James Cameron, starring Arnold Schwarzenegger. A cyborg is sent back in time to protect the future leader of mankind. Groundbreaking visual effects.
• 1991 Third World Championship gold -- Tokyo 1991 Bubka wins his third consecutive world title at the 1991 IAAF World Championships in Tokyo. He is now competing for the Soviet Union for the last time -- the USSR dissolves in December 1991, and Bubka subsequently competes for the Unified Team at Barcelona 1992 and then for independent Ukraine. The Tokyo title is the last he wins under the Soviet flag. He clears 5.95m to win, continuing a run of dominance that sees him unbeaten at World Championships for eight years.
• 1991 On Every Street Sixth and final album — September 9, 1991 On Every Street was released on September 9, 1991, Dire Straits' sixth and final studio album. It debuted at number 1 in the UK despite mixed reviews. An exhausting 14-month world tour followed, after which Mark Knopfler quietly disbanded the group in 1995.
• 1991 Star Trek: The Next Generation — Season 5 Continues TNG's peak run. Includes "Darmok" (widely cited as one of the finest episodes in franchise history), "I, Borg" and the two-part "Unification," which sees the return of Leonard Nimoy as Spock and serves as a tribute to the recently deceased Gene Roddenberry.
• 1991 Soviet Union dissolved Gorbachev resigns — December 25, 1991 Mikhail Gorbachev resigned as President of the Soviet Union on December 25, 1991, and the Soviet flag was lowered over the Kremlin for the last time. The USSR was formally dissolved and replaced by 15 independent states. It was the end of a 69-year experiment in communism.
• 1991 USSR dissolves Cold War ends On December 25, 1991, the Soviet Union formally dissolved into 15 independent states, ending the Cold War and changing the global order.
• 1992 Knicks push Bulls to seven games New York takes the eventual champion Chicago Bulls to seven games in the Eastern Conference Semifinals.
• 1992 Maastricht Treaty European Union founded The Maastricht Treaty established the European Union, created European citizenship, and paved the way for the single currency.
• 1992 Maastricht Treaty signed Maastricht Treaty signed The Maastricht Treaty was signed on 7 February 1992, converting the European Community into the European Union and setting out the path to a single currency, along with common foreign and justice policies. Denmark rejected it in a referendum and only ratified after securing opt-outs. Britain opted out of the euro and the social chapter.
• 1992 Barcelona 1992 -- no height registered At the 1992 Barcelona Olympics, Bubka fails to register any height in the pole vault final -- missing three attempts at his opening height and being eliminated without a vault. He is the clear world favourite and the defending Olympic champion. The failure is the most dramatic single upset in the history of the event. The cause is disputed: injury, an unusually wet grip, the pressure of expectation, or some combination. It is the defining failure of his career and, paradoxically, part of what makes him a more complete sporting figure -- a reminder that dominance and vulnerability coexist in every athlete.
• 1992 Star Trek: The Next Generation — Season 6 Introduces the Cardassians and contains "Chain of Command," in which Picard is tortured — "There are FOUR lights!" — and the romantic breakthrough episode "Lessons." One of TNG's strongest seasons.
• 1992 Crystal Pepsi launched Clear cola flops — December 1992 Crystal Pepsi, a clear caffeine-free cola, was launched nationally in December 1992 riding the "purity" and "New Age" trend. Initial sales were strong but consumers found the clear appearance confusing for a cola. It was discontinued in 1994 — one of the most famous product failures in beverage history.
• 1993 Charles Smith blocked at the rim In Game 5 of the Eastern Conference Finals, Bulls defenders block Charles Smith four times at the rim in the final seconds, sealing a Chicago win.
• 1993 European Union established European Union established The European Union formally came into being on 1 November 1993 when the Maastricht Treaty took effect. It added citizenship of the Union, free movement of people and the framework for monetary union to what had been an economic community. Membership grew from twelve states to twenty-eight before Britain left in 2020.
• 1993 – present Nvidia Nvidia — founded in 1993 by Jensen Huang, Chris Malachowsky and Curtis Priem — invented the graphics processing unit (GPU) and has become the world's most valuable semiconductor company. Originally focused on computer graphics for gaming, Nvidia's GPUs proved uniquely suited to the parallel processing demands of artificial intelligence. The explosion of deep learning from 2012 onwards transformed Nvidia from a gaming chip company into the indispensable infrastructure provider for the AI revolution. In 2024 Nvidia briefly became the world's most valuable company.
• 1993 Star Trek: Deep Space Nine — Season 1 The first Star Trek series not set primarily aboard a starship. DS9 is set on a space station near a wormhole to the Gamma Quadrant, commanded by Commander Benjamin Sisko (Avery Brooks). Darker, more serialised and politically complex than its predecessors. Co-created by Michael Piller and Rick Berman, DS9 runs for 7 seasons until 1999.
• 1993 – 2001 Clinton presidency 42nd President — 1993 to 2001 Bill Clinton served as the 42nd President from January 20, 1993 to January 20, 2001. He presided over budget surpluses and the dot-com boom, brokered peace in Northern Ireland and the Balkans, but was impeached over the Lewinsky scandal.
• 1993 Indoor world record -- 6.15m, Donetsk, 21 February 1993 On 21 February 1993, in his adopted home city of Donetsk, Bubka sets an indoor world record of 6.15m -- the greatest height ever cleared by a pole vaulter indoors. The record stands for 27 years, until Armand Duplantis clears 6.17m at the 2020 World Athletics Indoor Tour. Donetsk is the city where he trained under Vitaly Petrov; setting the record there carries personal significance. By this point Bubka is competing for independent Ukraine, having represented the Soviet Union and the Unified Team in his earlier career.
• 1993 Jurassic Park #1 film of 1993 — $1.03bn worldwide Directed by Steven Spielberg. A billionaire creates a theme park of cloned dinosaurs. Revolutionised CGI and visual effects in cinema.
• 1993 Voodoo Lounge Twentieth album — July 11, 1994 Voodoo Lounge was released on July 11, 1994, the first album without founding bassist Bill Wyman who had retired in 1993. It won a Grammy for Best Rock Album and reached number 1 in the UK.
• 1993 Fourth World Championship gold -- Stuttgart 1993 Bubka wins his fourth consecutive world title at the 1993 IAAF World Championships in Stuttgart, now competing for independent Ukraine. Four consecutive world titles in the same event is a record in itself; he has two more to come. The Stuttgart performance consolidates his position as the most dominant individual athlete in the history of track and field -- no other competitor in any event has won four straight World Championships titles. He is 29.
• 1993 Star Trek: The Next Generation — Season 7 TNG's final season. Includes "All Good Things...," the series finale, widely considered one of the finest TV series finales ever made, which returns the show to its roots in a Q-mediated challenge to Picard. The series ends as the finest television franchise of its era. 176 episodes total across 7 seasons.
• 1993 Schindler's List Oscar Best Picture 1993 Directed by Steven Spielberg, starring Liam Neeson. The true story of Oskar Schindler, who saved over a thousand Jewish refugees during the Holocaust. Won 7 Academy Awards.
• 1994 – 1995 First exoplanets discovered Planets around other stars — we are not alone in the galaxy In 1992, Aleksander Wolszczan discovered the first confirmed exoplanets around a pulsar. In 1995, Michel Mayor and Didier Queloz of Geneva discovered 51 Pegasi b — the first planet found around a Sun-like star. The discovery transformed astronomy; over 5,500 exoplanets are now confirmed. The search for Earth-like planets in habitable zones has become one of science's central quests.
• 1994 Internet goes public Netscape Navigator Netscape Navigator's launch in 1994 brought the World Wide Web to mainstream users, kickstarting the internet age and the dot-com era.
• 1994 John Starks' shot blocked in Finals Game 6 With a chance to win the championship, John Starks' three-point attempt is blocked by Hakeem Olajuwon, and Houston wins Game 6.
• 1994 Lose NBA Finals to Houston Rockets The Knicks fall to the Rockets in seven games, Ewing's only Finals appearance as an active player ending without a title.
• 1994 Rwanda genocide 800,000 killed In 100 days in 1994, Hutu extremists slaughtered an estimated 800,000 Tutsi and moderate Hutu — one of history's fastest genocides.
• 1994 Nelson Mandela elected Nelson Mandela elected Nelson Mandela was elected president on 27 April 1994 in South Africa's first election with universal suffrage, four years after his release from twenty-seven years in prison. Voters queued for hours in lines kilometres long. His government set up the Truth and Reconciliation Commission rather than pursue prosecutions.
• 1994 Game 7 win over Pacers sends Knicks to the Finals Ewing scores 24 points and grabs 22 rebounds as New York beats Indiana in Game 7 of the Eastern Conference Finals, reaching the NBA Finals for the first time since 1973.
• 1994 The Lion King #1 film of 1994 — $968m worldwide Disney animated classic directed by Roger Allers and Rob Minkoff. A young lion prince flees his kingdom after the murder of his father.
• 1994 Forrest Gump Oscar Best Picture 1994 — $678m worldwide Directed by Robert Zemeckis, starring Tom Hanks. A man with a low IQ witnesses and unknowingly influences several defining historical events in the 20th century.
• 1994 Final outdoor world record -- 6.14m, Sestriere, 31 July 1994 On 31 July 1994 in Sestriere, Italy, Bubka sets his 35th and final world record: 6.14m outdoors. The altitude of Sestriere (2,035m above sea level) assists the vault, but the achievement is genuine -- he has been raising the outdoor record incrementally for a decade. The record stands for 26 years, until Armand Duplantis clears 6.15m in Rome on 17 September 2020. Together with his 6.15m indoor record (also still the record at the time of Duplantis's outdoor breakthrough), Bubka's marks define the boundary of the humanly possible in pole vault for a quarter of a century.
• 1994 Star Trek: Deep Space Nine — Season 2 DS9 deepens its mythology, introducing the Maquis and developing the Bajoran-Cardassian political storyline. The show begins moving away from the episodic format toward the serialised storytelling that will define its later, finest seasons.
• 1994 Star Trek Generations The first TNG film, which serves as a baton-pass from Kirk to Picard. Kirk dies falling from a bridge on Veridian III — widely considered one of the most anticlimactic deaths in franchise history. Malcolm McDowell plays the villain Soran. Budget: $35 million. Gross: $120 million.
• 1995 Amazon founded Amazon founded Amazon opened for orders in July 1995, a year after Jeff Bezos incorporated it in a Seattle garage, selling books because they were numerous, standardised and easy to ship. It ran at a loss for years while building scale. Books were the beachhead for general retail and later for cloud computing.
• 1995 Schengen Area opens Free movement in Europe The Schengen Agreement came into force in 1995, abolishing passport controls between participating nations and enabling free movement.
• 1995 – 2014 The question of sexuality -- 16 years of denial The question of Thorpe's sexuality follows him from his mid-teens, when journalists begin asking directly. He is, he later explains, genuinely uncertain about his own sexuality as a teenager -- too young to know the answer -- and defaults to the socially safe denial. The denial then calcifies: by the time he knows the truth, the lie is so public and so repeated (including in the 2012 autobiography) that correcting it feels like confirming that he has been dishonest about everything. He describes the experience of having been asked about his sexuality at 16 by a reporter as formative: "I was 16. I was just a kid." The years of enforced concealment are inseparable from the depression that runs through the same period.
• 1995 Star Trek: Voyager — Season 1 The third live-action Trek series, following the crew of the USS Voyager stranded 70,000 light years from home in the Delta Quadrant. Kate Mulgrew plays Captain Kathryn Janeway — the first female captain to lead a Star Trek series. Runs for 7 seasons until 2001. Created as the flagship series for the new UPN network.
• 1995 – present Nikola Jokic Basketball player, horse owner, b. 1995 Nikola Jokic (b. 1995, Sombor, Serbia) — three-time NBA MVP, the greatest passing center in basketball history, and the man who led the Denver Nuggets to their first NBA championship in 2023. A second-round pick turned franchise cornerstone, Jokic plays basketball like a chess grandmaster — and would rather be at the horse track.
• 1995 Iditarod 1995 Winner: Doug Swingley — 9 days 2h Doug Swingley of Montana became the first non-Alaskan to win the Iditarod and set a new course record of under 9 days.
• 1995 Oklahoma bombing 168 killed On April 19, 1995, a truck bomb destroyed the federal building in Oklahoma City, killing 168 in the deadliest domestic terror attack in US history.
• 1995 Fifth World Championship gold -- Gothenburg 1995 Bubka wins his fifth consecutive world title at the 1995 IAAF World Championships in Gothenburg -- one more than anyone has ever won in a single event. At 31, he is competing at the absolute peak of the event's history and winning it. The Gothenburg performance is the penultimate chapter of the most sustained championship dominance in athletics history.
• 1995 GoldenEye — Pierce Brosnan After a six-year hiatus caused by legal disputes and studio changes, Bond returns with Pierce Brosnan — widely considered the most perfectly cast actor in the role. The Cold War is over; the franchise must reinvent itself. GoldenEye does so spectacularly, with a tense opening, a brilliant villain in Sean Bean, and Judi Dench making her debut as M. Budget: $60 million. Box office: $356.4 million.
• 1995 Toy Story #1 film of 1995 — $373m worldwide Directed by John Lasseter at Pixar. The first fully computer-animated feature film. Woody and Buzz Lightyear compete for a child's affection.
• 1996 Atlanta 1996 -- injury forces withdrawal At the 1996 Atlanta Olympics, Bubka injures his Achilles tendon during the warm-up and is forced to withdraw before competing. It is his second Olympic failure -- the first (Los Angeles 1984) was due to politics; this one is due to his body. He never competes at another Olympics. His Olympic record -- one gold (Seoul 1988), two absences (Los Angeles 1984, Atlanta 1996), one catastrophic failure (Barcelona 1992) -- is the most dramatic single anomaly in an otherwise flawless career.
• 1996 – 2014 Depression and the long struggle -- the hidden story Behind the gold medals, Thorpe has been struggling with depression since his teenage years -- a condition that intensifies after retirement and which he does not discuss publicly until 2014. The depression is severe enough, at points, to involve contemplation of suicide. Antidepressants fail to provide adequate relief. He turns to alcohol to manage the pain. The drinking becomes its own problem. He spends years in a cycle of treatment, partial recovery and relapse. His 2012 autobiography This Is Me addresses depression but does not resolve the underlying crisis. The full story -- the severity of the depression, the role of the alcohol, the connection to the concealment of his sexuality -- emerges only in the 2014 Parkinson interview.
• 1996 – 2025 Diogo Jota -- Liverpool and Portugal forward Diogo Jose Teixeira da Silva, known as Diogo Jota (4 December 1996 - 3 July 2025), was a Portuguese professional footballer who played as a forward for Liverpool and the Portugal national team. Known for his intelligent movement, clinical finishing and tireless work rate, he scored 65 goals in 182 appearances for Liverpool, helping them win the Premier League, League Cup and FA Cup. He won 49 caps for Portugal and was part of two UEFA Nations League-winning squads. He died at 28 in a car accident in Spain alongside his brother Andre, just two weeks after his wedding.
• 1996 – 1997 First national selection -- youngest to represent Australia In 1996, with his sister Christina qualifying for the Atlanta Olympics, coach Doug Frost sends the 14-year-old Thorpe to national qualifiers in Sydney to give him a taste of high-level competition. The following year, 1997, Thorpe qualifies for the Pan Pacific Championships in Fukuoka, Japan -- becoming, at 14, the youngest male swimmer ever to represent Australia at the national level. The Pan Pacific debut is the first step onto the international stage, and the beginning of a decade-long dominance of world freestyle swimming.
• 1996 Jeff Van Gundy becomes head coach Van Gundy takes over the bench, continuing the Knicks' defense-first identity through the late 1990s.
• 1996 Project Blue — Pepsi goes all-blue Iconic rebrand launched globally — April 1996 In April 1996 Pepsi launched "Project Blue" — a global rebrand replacing the red, white and blue can with an all-blue design. The launch included a Concorde aircraft painted entirely blue and a banner attached to the Russian Mir space station. The redesign gave birth to the "Pepsi Globe" logo still used today.
• 1996 Star Trek: First Contact The finest TNG film and arguably the best Star Trek film of the 1990s. Picard and crew travel back to 2063 to prevent the Borg from assimilating Earth before first contact with the Vulcans. Directed by Jonathan Frakes. Alice Krige as the Borg Queen. Tense, emotional and spectacularly realised. Budget: $45 million. Gross: $150 million.
• 1997 Dolly the sheep First cloned mammal Dolly, announced in 1997, was the first mammal cloned from an adult somatic cell, opening a new era in biology and ethics.
• 1997 Princess Diana dies Princess Diana dies Diana, Princess of Wales died in a car crash in the Pont de l'Alma tunnel in Paris in the early hours of 31 August 1997, along with Dodi Fayed and the driver Henri Paul. The French inquiry blamed speed and the driver's intoxication, with pursuing photographers a contributing factor. Public grief in Britain was extraordinary and forced the monarchy to respond.
• 1997 – 2006 The numbers -- a career in statistics Across his nine years of elite competition (1997-2006), Ian Thorpe accumulates: 5 Olympic gold medals (2 silver, 2 bronze); 13 World Aquatics Championship gold medals; 10 Commonwealth Games gold medals; 22 world records (long course); 4 Swimming World Swimmer of the Year awards; 5 consecutive Australian Swimmer of the Year titles (1999-2003); and 4 Sport Australia Male Athlete of the Year awards. He is the only Olympian to win medals in the 100m, 200m and 400m freestyle at the same Games (Athens 2004). He is the first swimmer to win six gold medals at a single World Championships (Fukuoka 2001). No Australian has won more Olympic gold medals than his five (equal with Emma McKeon as of his retirement).
• 1997 Hong Kong returned to China End of 156 years of British rule — "one country, two systems" At midnight on 1 July 1997, sovereignty over Hong Kong was transferred from the United Kingdom to the People's Republic of China, ending 156 years of British colonial rule. The handover was governed by the Sino-British Joint Declaration (1984), which guaranteed Hong Kong's capitalist system and civil liberties under "one country, two systems" for 50 years. In 2020, Beijing imposed a national security law that critics said effectively ended this arrangement.
• 1997 Sixth World Championship gold -- Athens 1997 At the 1997 IAAF World Championships in Athens, Bubka wins his sixth consecutive world title -- an achievement without precedent in any single athletics event at World Championships level. He is 33 years old. The Athens title is the capstone of the competitive phase of his career: six titles, 1983-1997, every two years without interruption. No other athlete in the history of the IAAF World Championships has won six consecutive titles in the same event.
• 1997 Bridges to Babylon Twenty-first album — September 29, 1997 Bridges to Babylon was released on September 29, 1997. Produced in part by the Dust Brothers and Rob Trujillo, it reached number 1 in the UK and number 3 in the US.
• 1997 Tomorrow Never Dies — Pierce Brosnan Bond battles a megalomaniacal media mogul who manipulates news coverage to trigger a war between Britain and China. The villain is a barely-disguised Rupert Murdoch figure. Michelle Yeoh co-stars as Chinese agent Wai Lin in one of the franchise's strongest female roles. Budget: $110 million. Box office: $339.5 million.
• 1997 Titanic #1 film of 1997 — $2.19bn worldwide Directed by James Cameron, starring Leonardo DiCaprio and Kate Winslet. A love story set aboard the ill-fated RMS Titanic. Won 11 Academy Awards including Best Picture.
• 1998 1998 Commonwealth Games -- four golds at 15 At the 1998 Commonwealth Games in Kuala Lumpur, Thorpe wins four gold medals (200m freestyle, 400m freestyle, 4×100m freestyle relay, 4×200m freestyle relay). He is 15 years old and competing in his first Commonwealth Games. The performance consolidates his status as the world's dominant freestyle swimmer at any age -- not just a precocious teenager but a genuine force across multiple distances. He is also named Young Australian of the Year and wins the Young Australian Sports Award.
• 1998 1998 World Championships -- youngest male world champion At the 1998 World Aquatics Championships in Perth -- held in his home country -- Thorpe wins the 400m freestyle in world record time. He is 15 years old. It is the most precocious individual world championship performance in the history of swimming: the youngest male ever to win an individual world title. He also wins gold in the 4×200m freestyle relay. The performance announces to the global swimming world that Australia has produced something extraordinary. The nickname "Thorpedo" begins to circulate. He is also named Swimming World's Male Swimmer of the Year at 15.
• 1998 Good Friday Agreement Peace in Northern Ireland The 1998 Good Friday Agreement ended three decades of The Troubles in Northern Ireland, establishing power-sharing and ceasing hostilities.
• 1998 Google founded Google founded Larry Page and Sergey Brin incorporated Google on 4 September 1998, built on a Stanford research project that ranked pages by the links pointing at them rather than by keyword counts. The results were markedly better than those of the established engines. The AdWords auction model from 2000 turned search into one of the most profitable businesses ever built.
• 1998 The universe's expansion is accelerating Dark energy — a mysterious force opposes gravity In 1998, two independent teams studying distant supernovae (led by Saul Perlmutter, Brian Schmidt, and Adam Riess) discovered that the universe's expansion is accelerating rather than slowing. This implied the existence of a mysterious "dark energy" making up approximately 68% of the universe's total energy content. It was the most surprising cosmological discovery in decades and earned the 2011 Nobel Prize in Physics.
• 1998 Wimbledon 1998 Men: Pete Sampras · Women: Jana Novotná Jana Novotná's emotional victory after her famous crying on the Duchess of Kent's shoulder in 1993.
• 1998 Saving Private Ryan Spielberg's WWII masterpiece — $482m Directed by Steven Spielberg, starring Tom Hanks. Following the D-Day invasion, a group of soldiers go behind enemy lines to retrieve a paratrooper whose brothers have been killed.
• 1998 Star Trek: Insurrection Picard defies Starfleet orders to protect a small peaceful civilisation. A lighter, morally earnest entry in the series that feels closer to a TV episode than a theatrical film. Directed by Jonathan Frakes. Budget: $58 million. Gross: $117 million.
• 1999 1999 Pan Pacific Championships -- world records At the 1999 Pan Pacific Championships, Thorpe sets world records in the 200m and 400m freestyle individually and anchors a relay team to another world record in the 4×200m freestyle. He wins four gold medals overall. The accumulation of world records -- he has now broken ten in two years -- raises eyebrows in some quarters, and rumours of drug use circulate, though no evidence is ever produced. The scrutiny is a foretaste of the media pressure that will shadow his entire career. He is 16-17 during this period, living at home with his parents, eating (by his own account) 99% of his meals there.
• 1999 Eighth-seeded Knicks reach NBA Finals New York becomes the first eighth seed to reach the NBA Finals, falling to the San Antonio Spurs in five games — Ewing's final Finals appearance.
• 1999 Euro introduced Euro introduced The euro was introduced on 1 January 1999 as an accounting currency in eleven member states, with exchange rates between the national currencies irrevocably fixed. Notes and coins followed on 1 January 2002. It now serves twenty countries and is the second most-held reserve currency after the dollar.
• 1999 Euro launched Single European currency The euro was introduced on January 1, 1999, with coins and notes following in 2002, unifying economies across the continent.
• 1999 The Matrix Sci-fi landmark of 1999 — $463m worldwide Directed by the Wachowskis, starring Keanu Reeves. A hacker discovers that reality is a simulation and joins a rebellion against the machines.
• 1999 Star Wars: The Phantom Menace #1 film of 1999 — $1.03bn worldwide Directed by George Lucas. The first of the Star Wars prequel trilogy, depicting the early life of Anakin Skywalker.
• 1999 US Open 1999 Men: Andre Agassi · Women: Serena Williams Serena Williams won her first Grand Slam.
• 1999 The World Is Not Enough — Pierce Brosnan Bond investigates an oil heiress whose father has been assassinated, uncovering a plot involving a terrorist immune to pain. Judi Dench's M has a more prominent role. Denise Richards as nuclear physicist Christmas Jones is widely regarded as the weakest casting in the franchise's history. Budget: $135 million. Box office: $361.7 million.