Timeline March 2001

Events in March 2001 9

• 1909 – 2001 Ann Sothern (1909-2001) American actress, MGM's Maisie and star of TV's Private Secretary.
• 1910 – 2001 William Hanna (1910-2001) Died 22 March 2001, aged 90 With Joseph Barbera, Hanna created Tom and Jerry at MGM and then co-founded Hanna-Barbera, the studio behind The Flintstones, Scooby-Doo, Yogi Bear and The Jetsons. Their assembly-line methods made television animation affordable. He worked with Barbera for more than sixty years.
• 1915 – 2001 Chung Ju-yung (1915-2001) Died 21 March 2001, aged 85 Chung founded the Hyundai group, building it from a car-repair shop into one of South Korea's largest conglomerates, spanning construction, shipbuilding and cars. Born to a poor farming family in what is now North Korea, he became a symbol of the country's rapid industrialisation. In 1998 he drove herds of cattle across the border in a gesture of reconciliation.
• 1935 – 2001 John Phillips (1935-2001) Died 18 March 2001, aged 65 Phillips was the songwriter and leader of The Mamas & the Papas, writing hits including California Dreamin' and Monday, Monday. He also wrote San Francisco for Scott McKenzie and helped organise the 1967 Monterey Pop Festival. Drug addiction derailed much of his later career.
• 2001 Iditarod 2001 Winner: Doug Swingley — 9 days 19h Doug Swingley won his fourth and final Iditarod title in 2001.
• 2001 Taliban destroy the Buddhas of Bamiyan Sixth-century statues dynamited in Afghanistan In March 2001 the Taliban government demolished the two giant standing Buddha statues carved into cliffs in the Bamiyan valley, declaring them idolatrous. The larger figure stood about 55 metres tall and dated from the sixth century. The destruction drew international condemnation.
• 2001 Ann Sothern dies in Ketchum Ann Sothern dies aged 92.
• 2001 Space station Mir deorbited Russia guides its station to a Pacific splashdown On 23 March 2001 Russia brought the ageing Mir space station out of orbit, with surviving debris falling into the South Pacific near Fiji. Mir had operated since 1986 and hosted crews from many nations. Its controlled destruction ended a fifteen-year programme.
• 2001 United States rejects the Kyoto Protocol Bush administration abandons the climate treaty In March 2001 President George W. Bush announced that the United States would not implement the Kyoto Protocol on greenhouse gas emissions, citing economic costs and the exemption of developing countries. The decision isolated Washington from many of its allies. The treaty entered force without US participation in 2005.