2015

Events in 2015 71

• 1909 – 2015 Nicholas Winton (1909-2015) Died 1 July 2015, aged 106 Nicholas Winton was a British humanitarian who organized the rescue of 669 mostly Jewish children from Czechoslovakia on the eve of the Second World War, in an operation later dubbed the 'British Schindler' effort. His actions remained largely unknown for nearly 50 years until they were revealed on a British television program in 1988. He was knighted in 2003 for his services to humanity.
• 1917 – 2015 Kirk Kerkorian (1917-2015) Died 15 June 2015, aged 98 Kirk Kerkorian was an American businessman and investor who built much of the Las Vegas Strip, developing several of the city's largest hotel-casinos including the MGM Grand. He also acquired and later sold Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer studios multiple times over his career. Kerkorian was one of the most influential figures in the history of Las Vegas.
• 1917 – 2015 Denis Healey (1917-2015) Died 3 October 2015, aged 98 Denis Healey was a British Labour politician who served as Chancellor of the Exchequer during the economic turmoil of the 1970s, including the 1976 IMF crisis. He later served as deputy leader of the Labour Party. Healey was known for his sharp wit and long parliamentary career spanning four decades.
• 1920 – 2015 Maureen O'Hara (1920-2015) Died 24 October 2015, aged 95 Maureen O'Hara was an Irish-American actress known for her roles in The Quiet Man, Miracle on 34th Street and a string of Technicolor films opposite John Wayne. She was one of the leading actresses of Hollywood's golden age. O'Hara received an honorary Academy Award in 2014 for her body of work.
• 1921 – 2015 Louis Jourdan (1921-2015) French actor, the romantic lead of Gigi and later a Bond villain in Octopussy.
• 1922 – 2015 Christopher Lee (1922-2015) Died 7 June 2015, aged 93 Christopher Lee was an English actor known for playing Count Dracula in a series of Hammer horror films and later Saruman in The Lord of the Rings and Count Dooku in Star Wars. He appeared in over 280 films across a career spanning seven decades. Lee was knighted in 2009 for services to drama and charity.
• 1923 – 2015 Lee Kuan Yew (1923-2015) Died 23 March 2015, aged 91 Lee Kuan Yew was the founding prime minister of Singapore, leading the city-state from independence in 1965 until 1990. He is widely credited with transforming Singapore from a small port into one of the world's wealthiest nations. His authoritarian style of governance and emphasis on economic pragmatism influenced leaders across Asia.
• 1925 – 2015 Yogi Berra (1925-2015) Died 22 September 2015, aged 90 Yogi Berra was an American baseball catcher who won ten World Series championships with the New York Yankees, more than any other player in history. He later managed both the Yankees and the New York Mets to league pennants. Berra was equally famous for his contradictory, widely quoted turns of phrase known as 'Yogi-isms'.
• 1925 – 2015 B.B. King American blues guitarist & singer B.B. King (1925-2015) — born Riley B. King in the Mississippi Delta — became "the King of the Blues", famous for his guitar Lucille, his hit "The Thrill Is Gone", and a touring and recording career spanning more than sixty years and fifteen Grammy Awards.
• 1927 – 2015 Günter Grass Writer, sculptor, Nobel laureate, 1927-2015 Günter Grass (1927-2015) — novelist, poet, playwright, sculptor and printmaker. Author of The Tin Drum (1959), the defining work of post-war German literature; winner of the Nobel Prize in Literature (1999); political activist and speechwriter for Willy Brandt; and, in his final decades, the man who shattered his own image as Germany's moral conscience by revealing his Waffen-SS service sixty years after the fact.
• 1927 – 2015 Kim Young-sam (1927-2015) Died 22 November 2015, aged 87 Kim Young-sam was President of South Korea from 1993 to 1998 and the country's first civilian president after decades of military rule. His administration prosecuted two former military presidents for corruption and mutiny. Kim's later term was marked by the Asian financial crisis that struck South Korea in 1997.
• 1929 – 2015 Helmut Schmidt dies German Chancellor, age 96 Helmut Schmidt, Chancellor of West Germany 1974-1982 and one of the architects of European integration, died on November 10, 2015, aged 96.
• 1930 – 2015 Ruth Rendell (1930-2015) Died 2 May 2015, aged 85 Ruth Rendell was an English crime writer best known for her Chief Inspector Wexford detective novels and for darker psychological thrillers written under the pseudonym Barbara Vine. She published more than sixty novels and sold tens of millions of copies worldwide. Rendell sat in the House of Lords as a Labour peer from 1997.
• 1930 – 2015 Malcolm Fraser (1930-2015) Died 20 March 2015, aged 84 Malcolm Fraser served as Prime Minister of Australia from 1975 to 1983, coming to power after the controversial dismissal of Gough Whitlam's government by the Governor-General. His government pursued market-oriented economic reforms and multicultural immigration policy. Fraser later became a prominent critic of the major parties he had once led.
• 1931 – 2015 E.L. Doctorow (1931-2015) Died 21 July 2015, aged 84 E.L. Doctorow was an American novelist best known for Ragtime and Billy Bathgate, which blended historical fact with fiction. His work won multiple National Book Critics Circle Awards and influenced a generation of American historical fiction writers. Ragtime was adapted into both a film and a Tony Award-winning musical.
• 1931 – 2015 Leonard Nimoy (1931-2015) Died 27 February 2015, aged 83 Leonard Nimoy was an American actor best known for playing the half-Vulcan Spock in the Star Trek television series and films. His portrayal made Spock one of the most recognizable characters in science fiction. Nimoy also worked as a director, photographer and poet over a career spanning six decades.
• 1932 – 2015 Omar Sharif (1932-2015) Died 10 July 2015, aged 83 Omar Sharif was an Egyptian actor who achieved international stardom with roles in Lawrence of Arabia and Doctor Zhivago. He received Academy Award and Golden Globe nominations and was one of the most successful Arab actors in Hollywood history. Sharif was also an internationally ranked bridge player.
• 1933 – 2015 Oliver Sacks (1933-2015) Died 30 August 2015, aged 82 Oliver Sacks was a British neurologist and author who wrote bestselling books recounting the case histories of patients with unusual neurological conditions. His works, including The Man Who Mistook His Wife for a Hat and Awakenings, brought neuroscience to a wide popular audience. Awakenings was adapted into an Oscar-nominated film.
• 1936 – 2015 Margaret Atwood Canadian novelist Atwood wrote The Handmaids Tale, exploring dystopian society, gender, and political control.
• 1937 – 2015 Jackie Collins (1937-2015) Died 19 September 2015, aged 77 Jackie Collins was an English novelist whose glamorous, bestselling novels about Hollywood sold more than 500 million copies worldwide. She published 32 books over her career, many becoming international bestsellers. Collins was the younger sister of actress Joan Collins.
• 1939 – 2015 Wes Craven (1939-2015) Died 30 August 2015, aged 76 Wes Craven was an American filmmaker who directed influential horror films including A Nightmare on Elm Street and the Scream franchise. His work helped define the slasher genre and shaped horror cinema for decades. Craven often used his films to explore social and psychological themes beneath their genre trappings.
• 1940 – 2015 Julian Bond (1940-2015) Died 15 August 2015, aged 75 Julian Bond was an American civil rights leader who co-founded the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee and later served as chairman of the NAACP. He was one of the youngest members ever elected to the Georgia state legislature, though he was initially barred from taking his seat over his opposition to the Vietnam War. Bond remained a prominent voice for civil rights until his death.
• 1945 – 2015 Lemmy Kilmister (1945-2015) Died 28 December 2015, aged 70 Lemmy Kilmister was an English musician who founded and fronted the heavy metal band Motorhead for over four decades. His gravelly voice and relentless touring made him one of the most recognizable figures in rock music. Motorhead's song 'Ace of Spades' became a genre-defining anthem.
• 1948 – 2015 Terry Pratchett (1948-2015) Died 12 March 2015, aged 66 Terry Pratchett was an English author best known for the Discworld series of comic fantasy novels, which sold over 85 million copies worldwide. He was knighted in 2009 for services to literature. Pratchett continued writing for years after his 2007 diagnosis with early-onset Alzheimer's disease, which he also campaigned publicly about.
• 1950 – 2015 Natalie Cole (1950-2015) Died 31 December 2015, aged 65 Natalie Cole was an American singer who won multiple Grammy Awards, including for her 1991 album Unforgettable... with Love, which digitally paired her voice with recordings of her late father, Nat King Cole. She had earlier hits in the 1970s including 'This Will Be' and 'Our Love'. Her career survived a well-publicized battle with drug addiction in the 1980s.
• 1967 – 2015 Scott Weiland (1967-2015) Died 3 December 2015, aged 48 Scott Weiland was an American musician best known as the lead singer of the rock band Stone Temple Pilots, and later fronted Velvet Revolver. Stone Temple Pilots became one of the best-selling rock bands of the 1990s. Weiland's career was repeatedly disrupted by publicized struggles with drug addiction.
• 1975 – 2015 Jonah Lomu The winger who turned rugby into a global spectacle Jonah Tali Lomu was a New Zealand rugby union winger widely credited as the sport's first global superstar. Combining a 120kg frame with sprinter-level speed, he redefined what a back-line player could be and forced the laws and tactics of the game to adapt around him. His explosive performances at the 1995 Rugby World Cup arrived just as rugby turned professional, and the two events together are often cited as the moment the sport became a worldwide commercial product. Off the field he battled a serious kidney disorder for two decades, undergoing a transplant in 2004 before dying suddenly in 2015 at age 40.
• 1985 – 2015 Bernard-Henri Lévy, for the first of eight times In Liège - and again, on and off, until 2015 The philosopher fought back while Godin lay on the ground going gloup gloup. Coluche mocked him for it.
• 2015 – present Billie Eilish The Gen Z Pioneer Known for her "whisper pop" style; the youngest artist to win all four major Grammy categories.
• 2015 G.R.L. disbands G.R.L. disbands in 2015, a year after Simone Battle's death. The combination of grief, the disruption to the group's momentum and the practical challenges of continuing as a four-piece in the aftermath of a tragedy brings the group's active phase to an end. For Bennett, it is the second group dissolution of her career. She is 25-26 and has spent nearly a decade as a member of other people's groups; the disbandment turns her attention toward her own solo music.
• 2015 Reusable Rockets Falcon 9 Recovery The first landing of an orbital rocket, enabling affordable space travel.
• 2015 – present Solo years -- Reality, Hurricane and continued work In the years after G.R.L.'s disbandment, Bennett continues making music independently, releasing solo singles including "Reality" and "Hurricane." She maintains connections with her former bandmates -- reuniting with G.R.L. members for various projects over the years -- and remains active as a performer and recording artist. The solo work does not achieve the commercial scale of "Party Rock Anthem" or G.R.L.'s peak years, but demonstrates her continued commitment to music on her own terms.
• 2015 Spotlight Best Picture — 88th Academy Awards Tom McCarthy's film about the Boston Globe team that exposed child abuse in the Catholic archdiocese.
• 2015 Charlie Hebdo Shooting Terrorist attack on satirical magazine's Paris office Two gunmen linked to al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula attacked the Paris offices of Charlie Hebdo, killing twelve people over the magazine's cartoons of Muhammad. A related hostage siege at a kosher supermarket two days later left four more dead. The attacks triggered massive solidarity marches across France under the slogan 'Je suis Charlie'.
• 2015 King Abdullah of Saudi Arabia Dies, Salman Succeeds Him Change of monarch in Saudi Arabia King Abdullah bin Abdulaziz died on 23 January 2015 after a decade-long reign marked by cautious social reform. His half-brother Salman bin Abdulaziz immediately succeeded him as king. The transition kept the Saudi succession within the sons of founder Ibn Saud.
• 2015 Minsk II Agreement Signed Ceasefire deal for the war in eastern Ukraine Leaders of Ukraine, Russia, France and Germany negotiated the Minsk II agreement in Belarus, setting out a ceasefire and political roadmap for the conflict in eastern Ukraine. The ceasefire took effect on 15 February but fighting between Ukrainian forces and Russian-backed separatists continued intermittently for years. The agreement's political provisions were never fully implemented.
• 2015 – 2016 The Solar Impulse Bertrand Piccard The first round-the-world flight by a solar-powered aircraft, demonstrating Swiss innovation in green tech.
• 2015 Germanwings Flight 9525 Crashes in the Alps Co-pilot deliberately downs airliner, killing 150 Germanwings Flight 9525 crashed into the French Alps after co-pilot Andreas Lubitz locked the captain out of the cockpit and deliberately flew the plane into a mountainside. All 144 passengers and 6 crew were killed. The crash prompted airlines worldwide to adopt rules requiring two crew members in the cockpit at all times.
• 2015 Saudi-Led Coalition Intervenes in Yemen Airstrikes launched against Houthi rebels A Saudi Arabia-led coalition began airstrikes against Houthi rebels who had seized much of Yemen, aiming to restore the internationally recognized government. The intervention escalated Yemen's civil war into a protracted regional conflict often described as a proxy war between Saudi Arabia and Iran. It contributed to what the United Nations later called one of the world's worst humanitarian crises.
• 2015 Muhammadu Buhari Elected President of Nigeria First opposition victory in Nigerian history Muhammadu Buhari defeated incumbent Goodluck Jonathan in Nigeria's presidential election, marking the first time an opposition candidate had unseated a sitting president at the ballot box. The peaceful transfer of power was seen as a milestone for democracy in Africa's most populous nation. Buhari campaigned on fighting corruption and the Boko Haram insurgency.
• 2015 European Migrant Crisis Peaks Over a million refugees and migrants reach Europe More than a million people, many fleeing the Syrian civil war, crossed into Europe in 2015, overwhelming reception systems in Greece, Italy and the Balkans. Germany's decision to admit large numbers of asylum seekers became a defining and divisive policy of the year. The crisis reshaped European politics and border policy for years afterward.
• 2015 Game of Thrones peak audience Most watched HBO episode ever Game of Thrones reached its peak cultural impact in 2015, with the season 5 premiere watched by 8 million people live — then the most watched HBO episode ever. The show had 32 million viewers per episode.
• 2015 2015 World Snooker Championship Stuart Bingham Win Winner: Stuart Bingham; Runner-up: Shaun Murphy. Score: 18–15.
• 2015 Nepal earthquake 9,000 killed, Everest avalanche triggered A magnitude 7.8 earthquake struck Nepal on April 25, 2015, killing nearly 9,000 people and injuring 22,000. The quake also triggered an avalanche on Mount Everest.
• 2015 Avengers: Age of Ultron #3 film of 2015 — $1.40bn worldwide Directed by Joss Whedon. When Tony Stark tries to jumpstart a dormant peacekeeping programme, a sentient AI named Ultron threatens humanity.
• 2015 FIFA Corruption Scandal Arrests US indictment exposes decades of bribery in world football Swiss police arrested several senior FIFA officials at a Zurich hotel at the request of US authorities investigating decades of bribery and kickbacks in international football. The scandal led to the resignation of long-serving FIFA president Sepp Blatter days later. It triggered sweeping reforms of the sport's global governing body.
• 2015 Jurassic World #2 film of 2015 — $1.67bn worldwide Directed by Colin Trevorrow. Twenty-two years after the original Jurassic Park, a new dinosaur theme park is open — until a genetically modified dinosaur escapes.
• 2015 Charleston Church Shooting Racially motivated massacre at Emanuel AME Church A white supremacist gunman killed nine Black worshippers during a Bible study at Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church in Charleston, South Carolina. The attack prompted a national reckoning over Confederate symbols and racial violence. Shooter Dylann Roof was later convicted and sentenced to death.
• 2015 Same-sex marriage legalised in USA Supreme Court rules in Obergefell v. Hodges The US Supreme Court ruled 5-4 in Obergefell v. Hodges on June 26, 2015 that same-sex couples have a constitutional right to marry, legalising same-sex marriage across all 50 states.
• 2015 Cecil the Lion Killed by Trophy Hunter Killing of Zimbabwe's famous lion sparks global outcry An American dentist killed Cecil, a well-known and studied lion, with a bow and arrow near Zimbabwe's Hwange National Park. The killing generated an intense global backlash against trophy hunting once the hunter was publicly identified. It became one of the most viral animal welfare stories of the decade.
• 2015 Greek Bailout Referendum Voters reject creditors' austerity terms Greeks voted by a wide margin to reject the bailout conditions proposed by the country's international creditors amid a deepening debt crisis. The 'No' vote briefly raised fears of a Greek exit from the eurozone. Weeks later Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras nonetheless accepted a harsher bailout deal to keep Greece in the euro.
• 2015 Confederate Flag Removed From South Carolina Capitol Symbol taken down after Charleston shooting South Carolina removed the Confederate battle flag from its statehouse grounds, weeks after the Charleston church massacre reignited debate over the symbol's meaning. Governor Nikki Haley signed the removal into law after a bipartisan legislative vote. The move spurred a broader wave of Confederate monument removals across the American South.
• 2015 El Chapo Escapes Mexican Prison Drug lord flees through mile-long tunnel Joaquin 'El Chapo' Guzman, leader of the Sinaloa drug cartel, escaped from the Altiplano maximum-security prison through a mile-long tunnel built directly beneath his cell shower. It was his second prison escape and a major embarrassment for the Mexican government. He was recaptured in January 2016 following a shootout in Sinaloa.
• 2015 Iran Nuclear Deal Signed Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action reached in Vienna Iran and six world powers signed the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, agreeing to curb Iran's nuclear program in exchange for relief from international sanctions. The deal was the product of over a decade of on-and-off negotiations. It became one of the defining diplomatic achievements of the Obama administration.
• 2015 New Horizons Spacecraft Flies Past Pluto First close-up images of the dwarf planet NASA's New Horizons probe conducted the first close flyby of Pluto, returning detailed images of its surface including the heart-shaped Tombaugh Regio. The nine-year journey completed the initial reconnaissance of all the classical planets and Pluto. Data from the flyby reshaped scientific understanding of the dwarf planet's geology.
• 2015 United States and Cuba Reopen Embassies Diplomatic relations restored after 54 years Cuba's embassy in Washington reopened on 20 July 2015, followed weeks later by the reopening of the US embassy in Havana. The move formalized the diplomatic thaw announced by presidents Obama and Castro in December 2014. It ended more than five decades without formal diplomatic ties between the two countries.
• 2015 F-35 declared operational US Marine Corps F-35B The Marine Corps declares initial operational capability for its F-35Bs, the first service to do so. The Air Force follows in 2016 and the Navy in 2019.
• 2015 Apple becomes most valuable company First $700bn company Apple became the first company in history to reach a market capitalisation of $700 billion in February 2015, cementing its position as the most valuable company in the world.
• 2015 Tianjin Chemical Warehouse Explosions Massive blasts kill over 170 in Chinese port city A series of explosions at a chemical storage warehouse in Tianjin, China killed at least 173 people and injured hundreds more. The blasts, caused by improperly stored hazardous chemicals, leveled surrounding buildings and prompted a nationwide safety crackdown. Investigations revealed widespread regulatory failures and corruption.
• 2015 Islamic State Destroys Temples at Palmyra Ancient Syrian ruins demolished after ISIS captured the city Islamic State militants who had captured the Syrian city of Palmyra destroyed the ancient Temple of Baalshamin and the Temple of Bel, among the best-preserved structures of the UNESCO World Heritage site. The group also beheaded the site's 82-year-old former chief antiquities officer, Khaled al-Asaad, for refusing to reveal the location of hidden artifacts. The destruction drew worldwide condemnation as an act of cultural genocide.
• 2015 Volkswagen Emissions Scandal Revealed 'Dieselgate' exposes rigged pollution tests US regulators revealed that Volkswagen had installed software in diesel vehicles to cheat emissions tests, understating real-world pollution levels. The scandal, dubbed 'Dieselgate', eventually implicated 11 million vehicles worldwide and cost the company tens of billions of dollars in fines and settlements. Chief executive Martin Winterkorn resigned days later.
• 2015 Russia Begins Military Intervention in Syria Airstrikes launched in support of Assad government Russia began an air campaign in Syria on 30 September 2015, officially targeting Islamic State but striking a broad range of anti-Assad rebel groups. It marked Russia's first major military intervention outside the former Soviet Union since the Cold War. The intervention shifted the balance of the civil war decisively in favor of President Bashar al-Assad.
• 2015 Justin Trudeau Elected Prime Minister of Canada Liberal Party wins decisive majority Justin Trudeau led the Liberal Party from third place to a parliamentary majority, ending nearly a decade of Conservative government under Stephen Harper. At 43, he became one of the youngest prime ministers in Canadian history. His victory was widely covered internationally as a generational and ideological shift.
• 2015 Spectre — Daniel Craig Spectre returns as the master organisation, now retconned as the villainous network behind every previous film. Christoph Waltz plays Blofeld. The film is visually spectacular but narratively cluttered, over-explaining mysteries that worked better as mysteries. It is the longest Bond film at 148 minutes. Budget: $245 million. Box office: $879.6 million.
• 2015 China Announces End of One-Child Policy Families permitted to have two children The Chinese Communist Party announced it would end its decades-old one-child policy, allowing all couples to have two children. The policy, in place since 1980, was blamed for an aging population and shrinking workforce. The change took effect at the start of 2016.
• 2015 Metrojet Flight 9268 Bombed Over Sinai Islamic State bombing kills 224 aboard Russian airliner A bomb hidden aboard a Russian charter flight from Sharm el-Sheikh to St Petersburg exploded over Egypt's Sinai Peninsula, killing all 224 people on board. Islamic State's Sinai affiliate claimed responsibility. It was the deadliest attack against an aircraft since the 1988 Lockerbie bombing.
• 2015 Aung San Suu Kyi's Party Wins Myanmar Election National League for Democracy takes power after decades of military rule The National League for Democracy, led by Aung San Suu Kyi, won a landslide victory in Myanmar's first openly contested general election in 25 years. Constitutional provisions barred Suu Kyi from the presidency herself, but the result marked a dramatic opening after decades of military rule. The vote was widely seen internationally as a milestone in the country's democratic transition.
• 2015 Paris attacks 130 killed at Bataclan and Stade de France ISIS militants launched coordinated attacks across Paris on November 13, 2015, killing 130 people at the Bataclan concert hall, restaurants and outside the Stade de France.
• 2015 San Bernardino Terrorist Attack Married couple kills 14 at holiday party A married couple inspired by Islamic State opened fire at a holiday gathering for county health department employees in San Bernardino, California, killing 14 people. Both attackers, Syed Rizwan Farook and Tashfeen Malik, died in a shootout with police hours later. The attack intensified US debate over gun control and domestic terrorism, and led to a high-profile legal dispute between Apple and the FBI over unlocking the shooters' phone.
• 2015 Paris Climate Agreement 195 nations agree to limit warming The Paris Agreement was adopted at COP21 on December 12, 2015. Nearly 200 nations agreed to limit global temperature rise to well below 2°C above pre-industrial levels.
• 2015 Star Wars: The Force Awakens #1 film of 2015 — $2.07bn worldwide Directed by J.J. Abrams. Set 30 years after Return of the Jedi, a new threat rises as the Resistance battles the First Order.