Timeline December 2001

Events in December 2001 18

• 1906 – 2001 Léopold Sédar Senghor (1906-2001) Died 20 December 2001, aged 95 Senghor was a poet and the first president of independent Senegal, governing from 1960 to 1980, when he voluntarily stepped down. A leading theorist of Négritude, he was the first African elected to the Académie française. His verse and essays shaped francophone African literature.
• 1929 – 2001 Nigel Hawthorne (1929-2001) Died 26 December 2001, aged 72 Hawthorne was a British actor best known as the scheming civil servant Sir Humphrey Appleby in the sitcoms Yes Minister and Yes, Prime Minister. On stage and screen he played the title role in The Madness of King George, earning an Oscar nomination. He came to leading roles relatively late in life.
• 1944 – 2001 W. G. Sebald (1944-2001) Died 14 December 2001, aged 57 Sebald was a German writer, long resident in England, whose genre-blurring books such as The Rings of Saturn and Austerlitz mixed travelogue, memoir and history around themes of memory and the Holocaust. He was often named as a future Nobel contender. He died in a car crash in Norfolk.
• 1948 – 2001 Peter Blake (1948-2001) Died 6 December 2001, aged 53 Blake was a yachtsman who led New Zealand to consecutive America's Cup victories in 1995 and 2000 and won the Jules Verne Trophy for a record round-the-world sail. He later worked on environmental expeditions. He was shot dead by pirates who boarded his boat on the Amazon in Brazil.
• 1999 – 2001 Children's Literature Published Face (1999) and Refugee Boy (2001), novels for young adults that became widely read in British schools and established him as an important voice in children's literature.
• 1999 – 2001 WTO Negotiations and Entry Led years of negotiations with the United States and other nations that culminated in China's entry into the World Trade Organization in December 2001. The agreement opened China to global trade and helped trigger the country's explosive economic boom of the 2000s.
• 2001 2001: Michael Schumacher Ferrari Schumacher won his fourth title and second with Ferrari, clinching the championship with four races to spare.
• 2001 Gosford Park Appeared in Robert Altman's Gosford Park, sharing the screen with an ensemble cast including Maggie Smith, Helen Mirren and Kristin Scott Thomas.
• 2001 Stage Debut in The Rocky Horror Show Made his professional stage debut in the musical The Rocky Horror Show, marking the beginning of his acting career.
• 2001 Enron collapses Largest US bankruptcy at the time Energy giant Enron filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy on December 2, 2001, following a massive accounting fraud scandal. It was the largest corporate bankruptcy in US history at the time.
• 2001 Battle of Tora Bora US and Afghan forces assault a mountain cave complex In December 2001 US special forces, air power and allied Afghan militias attacked the Tora Bora cave complex in eastern Afghanistan, believed to shelter Osama bin Laden and al-Qaeda fighters. The defences were overrun by mid-December, but bin Laden escaped, probably into Pakistan. The failure to capture him became a lasting point of criticism.
• 2001 Segway personal transporter unveiled Self-balancing electric scooter revealed The inventor Dean Kamen publicly unveiled the Segway on 3 December 2001 after months of hype under the code name Ginger. The two-wheeled, self-balancing electric vehicle was promoted as a way to reshape cities. It sold far below expectations but became a fixture of tours and security patrols.
• 2001 Bonn Agreement on Afghanistan Hamid Karzai to lead an interim administration Under UN auspices, Afghan factions meeting in Bonn agreed on 5 December 2001 to form an interim administration led by Hamid Karzai, pending a traditional loya jirga. The deal set out steps toward a new constitution and elections. It also authorised an international security force for Kabul.
• 2001 The Fellowship of the Ring -- release and reception The Fellowship of the Ring is released on 10 December 2001. Critical reception is ecstatic: a 91% rating on Rotten Tomatoes, Roger Ebert gives it four stars, the New York Times calls it 'a full-scale triumph.' It grosses $871 million worldwide against a $93 million budget. It receives 13 Academy Award nominations, winning 4 (cinematography, make-up, visual effects, score). The film proves that fantasy on a serious, epic scale can be commercially and critically successful -- opening the door for the fantasy genre in mainstream cinema that follows in the next decade.
• 2001 Attack on the Indian Parliament Gunmen storm the complex in New Delhi On 13 December 2001 five armed men drove into the Parliament House complex in New Delhi and opened fire, killing nine people before all the attackers were shot dead. India blamed Pakistan-based militant groups. The attack led to a months-long military standoff between the two nuclear-armed states.
• 2001 Argentine economic crisis and December riots President De la Rúa resigns amid unrest As Argentina's recession deepened, the government froze bank withdrawals in December 2001, triggering nationwide protests and looting in which dozens died. President Fernando de la Rúa resigned on 20 December and left the Casa Rosada by helicopter. The country cycled through several presidents in days and defaulted on its debt.
• 2001 Lord of the Rings premieres Fellowship of the Ring released Peter Jackson's Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring premiered on December 19, 2001, earning $898 million worldwide and beginning one of cinema's greatest trilogies.
• 2001 Lord of the Rings: Fellowship of the Ring #2 film of 2001 — $898m worldwide Directed by Peter Jackson, starring Elijah Wood and Ian McKellen. A hobbit inherits a powerful ring and must destroy it before the Dark Lord can reclaim it.