Return to TimeLine Index
| Date | Location | Item | Source |
| 1998-05-31 | UK | Devastated Geri Halliwell was bullied out of the Spice Girls by power-hungry Scary Spice, according to the band's chauffeur. He said: "Mel B isn't just scary - she was cruel. Geri broke down under the abuse.” | News of the World |
| 1998-05-31 | UK | TV star Craig Charles is a drug-pusher. According to The News of The World, the 33 year old Red Dwarf actor told undercover reporters he could ''sort out any gear,'' adding: ''Just tell me what you want.'' Charles also admitted taking cannabis and Ecstasy, despite claiming he had given up drugs. | News of the World |
| 1998-05-31 | UK | Olympic golden girl Tessa Sanderson has left hundreds of World Cup football fans in misery. The javelin star promised them tickets for cash but then failed to deliver. Tessa hoped to tap the incredible demand for seats from an allocation to the Cayman Islands. But the agent dealing with the sale sold them to a higher bidder. Now she has had to return the £45,000 fans paid in advance. | News of the World |
| 1998-05-30 | UK | A revolutionary plan to charge £10 a time for televised football matches was given the boot by soccer chairmen. Sky TV's proposals were rejected by representatives from all 20 Premiership clubs, but Sky say they will battle on. | Daily Star |
| 1998-05-30 | UK | A London bricklayer faced the flak from his workmates today - for winning TV's Mr Gay UK contest. Burly Ben Harris, 21, had hidden his sexuality from his colleagues. His mother said: ''He's only got one girl in his life, a dog called Jessie.” | Daily Star |
| 1998-05-30 | US | Louise Woodward's lawyer slammed the nanny's decision to sign a book deal. Secretly taped phone calls allegedly show 44-year-old Elaine Whitfield-Sharp, of Boston, referring to Louise as ''a duplicitous monster'' and a ''pain in the arse''. | Daily Star |
| 1998-05-29 | Pakistan | Pakistan declared a state of emergency last night hours after exploding five nuclear devices to “settle the score” with India. | The Times |
| 1998-05-29 | UK | Female chimpanzees are more likely to sit and watch television than males, psychologists claim after a two-month study at Edinburgh Zoo. | The Times |
| 1998-05-29 | Space | Astronomers have taken the first picture of a planet outside our own solar system. The planet, two or three times the size of Jupiter, is 450 light years away in the constellation of Taurus. The image was hailed as one of the most exciting taken by the Hubble Space Telescope. | The Times |
| 1998-05-28 | UK | Liverpool star Michael Owen, 18, became the youngest footballer to score for England when he struck the winner in a 1-0 victory against Morocco in Casablanca. | The Times |
| 1998-05-28 | Russia | President Yeltsin called a crisis meeting in the Kremlin yesterday after a wave of panic sent Russian shares plunging. Interest rates were raised to 150 per cent. | The Times |
| 1998-05-28 | Pakistan | Pakistan has completed preparations for an underground nuclear test at its Baluchistan desert site and could conduct a controlled explosion in hours, according to American intelligence. | The Times |
| 1998-05-27 | UK | Hundreds of old soldiers, many of whom were beaten, starved and tortured in Japanese PoW camps, turned their backs on Japanese Emperor Akihito as his carriage passed them in London yesterday. The soldiers defied PM Tony Blair, who had urged them not to stage the protest. | The Sun |
| 1998-05-27 | UK | Swimmers have come to blows . . . as pool rage sweeps Britain. Punch ups are being sparked by lane hoggers and bathers who aggressively overtake each other. Swimmer Emma Royston, 30, of Newbury, Berkshire, said: “I see people elbow or kick others if they get in the way.” | The Sun |
| 1998-05-27 | Australia | Student Ed Sheldon won a trip Down Under on a scratchcard - then scooped £40,000 on a roulette wheel in Oz. The Oxford student said "My mind's spinning.” | The Sun |
| 1998-05-26 | UK | Charlton Athletic were promoted to the Premiership - thanks to a Clive Mendonca hat-trick. The south London club drew 4-4 with Sunderland but won 7-6 after a penalty shoot- out. The win ensures top flight football at The Valley for the first time in 41 years. | The Sun |
| 1998-05-26 | UK | Spice Girl Geri Halliwell needed emergency surgery in a breast cancer scare. Ginger Spice Geri, 25, had a small lump cut out, which turned out to be benign | The Sun |
| 1998-05-26 | UK | Mum Nikki Bloomfield was handcuffed to a male stripper for two hours after he lost the key during a raunchy act. The 31-year-old, from Sandwich, Kent, even had to accompany balloon dancer Danny Blue to the loo. The pair were eventually separated when a hardware shop boss fetched some bolt cutters. | The Sun |
| 1998-05-25 | UK | Nancy Bennett, 49, had her window display of china pigs seized by police after complaints that they were offensive Muslims in Leicester. | The Sun |
| 1998-05-25 | UK | Doctors are cashing in by selling Viagra despite the health scare over the sex wonder drug. The controversial pills, despite not being licensed for sale in Britain, were on sale from a private clinic in Crawley, Sussex, Sun reporters found. | The Sun |
| 1998-05-25 | UK | Rock legend Rod Stewart had to re-record a song - because he was so nervous performing it live he forgot the words. Rod froze whilst singing Primal Scream's hit Rocks for his TV show An Audience With Rod Stewart. | The Sun |
| 1998-05-24 | UK | Northern Ireland was celebrating last night as its people welcomed the overwhelming Yes vote in the historic referendum on the Good Friday agreement. The number in favour - 71.12% - showed that a majority of Unionists taking part in the Referendum had voted Yes. | Sunday Telegraph |
| 1998-05-24 | UK | A boy of eight saved his mum after she fainted at the wheel of her Ford Fiesta. Ross Kardhordo, of Rayne, Essex, took the keys from the ignition and pulled the handbrake, steering the car away from a bridge. | Sunday Telegraph |
| 1998-05-24 | UK | Two people were helping police inquiries after more than 60 stolen road signs worth thousands of pounds were recovered when officers raided a house in Southampton, Hampshire. | Sunday Telegraph |
| 1998-05-23 | UK | Six men who took the controversial Viagra pill to boost their sex drive have died in the US. Last night medics urgently warned men with heart problems not to take the drug. | The Sun |
| 1998-05-23 | UK | Coronation Street star Beverley Callard is quitting the top soap to appear in panto. Bev, 39, will leave her role as feisty Liz McDonald later this year. | The Sun |
| 1998-05-23 | US | Home Alone child star Macaulay Culkin is to become a dad. The New York Post said 17-year-old Macaulay's fiancee Rachel Miner is pregnant. Macaulay and actress Rachel, 17, got engaged last March. | The Sun |
| 1998-05-22 | UK | Coronation Street star Ian Mercer was arrested for stealing a park bench. Ian, who plays Gary Mallett, was seen leaping over a fence in Oldham and carrying the bench away to a friend’s barbecue nearby. He claimed he thought it had been dumped as it was next to a skip and was released without charge. | The Sun |
| 1998-05-22 | UK | Hard up Dave Rudd has cut ten inches off the height of his mini - so he can park for free. The student from Doncaster, South Yorkshire, reduced the motor's height so it could slip under the barriers in a car park. | The Sun |
| 1998-05-22 | UK | Ex-cop Michael Figgins was convicted of raping an ex-lover he met through a lonely hearts ad. A judge at Swansea Crown Court recommended Figgins, 38, for reports but told him jail was inevitable. | The Sun |
| 1998-05-21 | UK | The British nurses pardoned for murder in Saudi Arabia flew home today into a massive storm over £100,000 payments for their stories. Deborah Parry and Lucille McLauchlan were accused of cashing in on a colleague's killing by negotiating huge deals to tell all. | The Sun |
| 1998-05-21 | UK | A chef deep-fried a customer's mobile phone after another diner complained about its ringing. Lawrence Clifford, 28, battered the £250 phone when the businessman when to the loo at The Galley in Ipswich, Suffolk. | The Sun |
| 1998-05-21 | France | False teeth painted with flowers, motorbikes and naked girls are the latest Paris craze. Artist Jean Chauvot charges up to £103 per tooth. | The Sun |
| 1998-05-20 | US | Bill Clinton last night made a dramatic appeal for peace in Ulster. The US President urged Northern Ireland's mothers and fathers to think of their children's futures and "say Yes to peace.” | The Sun |
| 1998-05-20 | US | Fans of Frank Sinatra are set to line the streets for the 82-year-old's funeral service today in Beverly Hills, following last night's candlelit vigil attended by friends and family. | The Sun |
| 1998-05-20 | UK | Prize racing pigeon Lucky was rescued alive from a market stall. The champion bird was trapped when he was bundled into a pen with 40 other pigeons being offered as 99p stewing meat. Lucky, spotted by a pigeon fancier in Leicestershire, was returned to his owner in Grimsby. | The Sun |
| 1998-05-19 | UK | The Sherborne Missal, a Gothic manuscript said to be worth £10million, has been saved for the nation after The Times revealed its owner was selling it to cover an inheritance tax bill. The Duke of Northumberland is to donate the prayerbook to the State in lieu of the tax bill incurred by the death of his elder brother in 1996. | The Times |
| 1998-05-19 | UK | British auction house Christie’s is being sold to Frenchman Francois Pinault for £721million. | The Times |
| 1998-05-19 | UK | One in 20 deaths from lung cancer in England is caused by radon in the home, according to research in the British Journal of Cancer. | The Times |
| 1998-05-18 | UK | A Lottery winner is drinking himself to death - aged just 29. Tragic Gary Ashmore, who now lives in Spain, admits he has nothing better to do than booze for ten hours a night since he scooped a jackpot of £1.6 million pounds. | The Sun |
| 1998-05-18 | UK | A survey shows that boob jobs pep up women's sex lives. Some 73% of breast op patients reported better nookie while 86% felt more confident, a Harley poll found. | The Sun |
| 1998-05-18 | UK | A mugger was brought to his knees when wheelchair bound Betty Wilson stuck her knitting needles in his groin. Betty, of Ashton-under-Lyne, Greater Manchester, said "I was ready for him.” | The Sun |
| 1998-05-17 | UK | Child sex fiend Sidney Cooke could be charged with a second killing and returned to prison. Cooke is to be questioned about the death of seven-year-old Mark Tildesley 14 years ago. New evidence is being followed up from a woman who says she saw a man of Cooke’s description acting suspiciously in Mark’s home town of Wokingham, Berkshire. | Daily Mail |
| 1998-05-17 | UK | Arsenal completed an historic double when they beat Newcastle United 2-0 to lift the FA Cup. Goals from Marc Overmars and Nicolas Anelka sealed the victory a week after The Gunners won the Premiership. | Daily Mail |
| 1998-05-17 | UK | Frank Dobson will tomorrow announce a £65 million cash injection to free up more hospital beds after another rise in waiting lists. Figures due out on Thursday are understood to show that NHS queues have reached a record of more than 1.3 million. | Daily Mail |
| 1998-05-16 | US | Singing legend Frank Sinatra died wearing his favourite orange silk pyjamas and listening to one of his own records. After his fatal heart attack, tributes poured in from all over the globe to pay respects to the My Way singer. | The Sun |
| 1998-05-16 | US | An American teddy bear maker yesterday paid the Diana Memorial Fund its first cheque for over £1million. Ty, which makes the Princess Bear, presented the $2million cheque (£1.23 million pounds) to fund-raising manager Paul Burrell. | The Sun |
| 1998-05-16 | UK | Lucky Bob Lambert escaped unhurt when he plunged 30 metres down a cliff twice. Bob, 74, slipped off a clifftop at Torquay and hit a bush. He pulled himself up with a hose but it snapped and he fell again. | The Sun |
| 1998-05-15 | UK | Wayward footballer Paul Gascoigne reeled out of a restaurant after a bender only days before he is due to join England’s World Cup squad. Gazza got legless as he whooped it up with friend Jimmy Five Bellies Gardner and showbiz pals Chris Evans and Rod Stewart at the trendy Pharmacy in Notting Hill, London. | The Sun |
| 1998-05-15 | US | George Michael escaped with a slapped wrist from a judge for his sordid behaviour in a public loo. The star, who masturbated in front of an undercover cop, escaped a jail sentence in Los Angeles. | The Sun |
| 1998-05-15 | France | Scary Spice Mel B got engaged to her dancer boyfriend after a romance lasting only seven weeks. Mel, 22, wept as muscular Jimmy Gulzar proposed in a Paris bar. | The Sun |
| 1998-05-14 | Sweden | Chelsea stormed to victory in the European Cup Winners Cup by beating Stuttgart in Stockholm. The London club defeated the Germans 1-0, through a Gianfranco Zola goal. It was The Blues’ first triumph in Europe since their Cup Winners Cup victory over Real Madrid in 1971. | The Sun |
| 1998-05-14 | UK | TV beauty Emma Noble is to marry ex-Premier's son James Major after a whirlwind romance. Last night Emma, 26, said "I can't wait to be Mrs Major.” | The Sun |
| 1998-05-14 | UK | A fete advertised for a Lady Godiva to ride naked in Stokeinteignhead, Devon - and now has to choose from three volunteers. | The Sun |
| 1998-05-13 | UK | England captain Alan Shearer was cleared of deliberately kicking an opponent in the head. FA chiefs shocked the soccer world by returning a 'not guilty' verdict on a misconduct charge against him for the clash with Leicester's Neil Lennon - claiming further video evidence cleared him. They did not produce the new video. | The Sun |
| 1998-05-13 | UK | Lags caught using cannabis are to be treated more leniently, Prisons Minister George Howarth said yesterday. Governors are to be encouraged to discriminate between cannabis and more harmful hard drugs like heroin and cocaine when handing out punishments. | The Sun |
| 1998-05-13 | New Zealand | Shocked Karen Herbert quit her home after an 11 metre high jet of hot water erupted in her garden. She said of the volcanic geyser: “Apart from boiling liquid showering the street, it is sending out rocks as big as TVs.” Karen has moved into a nearby hotel in Rotorua, New Zealand. | The Sun |
| 1998-05-12 | UK | Elton John has split up from his long-time friend and manager, John Reid. The pair parted company after 27 years amid fierce rows over the star's career and business. The reasons for the rows are uncertain, but one pal said “There seems to have been some sort of power struggle.” | The Sun |
| 1998-05-12 | UK | A gunman accidentally shot his naughty bits as he shoved a revolver down the front of his jeans. The accident happened after Simon Dorricott, 22, allegedly tried to kill a man. He denied the charge at Manchester Crown Court. | The Sun |
| 1998-05-12 | UK | Fed-up Jimmy Winterbottom has been banned from his favourite fairground game - because he wins too many teddies. Jimmy, 52, has been limited to one win per summer season, because stall holders at Blackpool Pleasure Beach are sick of having their prizes cleaned out. | The Sun |
| 1998-05-11 | Eire | Sinn Fein last night agreed to pursue a united Ireland through politics rather than force as a conference in Dublin voted overwhelmingly to support the Good Friday peace agreement. | The Times |
| 1998-05-11 | UK | Parents face the prospect of jail if they allow children to play truant. Police are to be given powers to arrest children who refuse to go to school. | The Times |
| 1998-05-11 | UK | A lorry driver called police on his mobile phone to tell them he was driving on the M1 motorway - and his accelerator was stuck. Five police cars formed an escort clearing motorists from the path of the 38-ton truck until the driver got it under control. | The Times |
| 1998-05-10 | UK | Virgin Atlantic, the airline at the heart of Richard Branson's empire, is poised for a £1billion flotation on the stock market this autumn. | Sunday Telegraph |
| 1998-05-10 | UK | A woman went on holiday after disputing a £30 pounds parking fine and came back to find bailiffs had seized her £5,000 G-reg Golf GTi from outside her home. They sold it for £3,500 and gave just £1,700 back to Marissa Jennings, a television advertising producer of Putney, south London. The rest went towards the cost of the auction, bailiffs, court, council and the original ticket. | Sunday Telegraph |
| 1998-05-10 | UK | The Guinness Book of Records is planning a special entry after the discovery of a black couple with three white children. Dickson and Cynthia Unoarumbi, of South London, have three children - all of whom have white skin and ginger hair. Genetics experts say that one of the parents could be carrying an albino gene. | Sunday Telegraph |
| 1998-05-09 | UK | A Beatles CD made from a rough tape of a drunken 1962 gig was banned yesterday. The High Court halted sales of the bootleg CD after George Harrison branded it "crummy”. Producers Lingasong Music, of Waltham Abbey, Essex, agreed to surrender the tape. | The Sun |
| 1998-05-09 | Holland | Soccer idol Ruud Gullit is treating his girlfriend like a "casual lay" her father claimed last night. Hennie Cruyff - brother of football legend Johan - fears Gullit will dump Estelle and their baby to return to his estranged wife. | The Sun |
| 1998-05-09 | UK | Paul and Vanessa Holwell married each other for the third time yesterday - on the same date as twice before. Vanessa, 44, of Birmingham said "This time is definitely it.” | The Sun |
| 1998-05-08 | UK | A former chaplain to The Queen made an amazing attack on Princess Diana last night over her "string of affairs." Canon Eric James, 73, also spoke of her "compulsive search for a partner." He made his remarks at Westminster Abbey. | The Sun |
| 1998-05-08 | UK | The son of actress Joanna Lumley has been fighting a courageous battle against drink and drugs addiction. Actress Joanna, 52, was said to be a "heartbroken" - but has been a "tower of strength" for her son Jamie, 31, who is being treated at a private clinic in Roehampton, South West London. | The Sun |
| 1998-05-08 | US | Michael Douglas has given up hopes of a political career because of his sex and drugs past. The Basic Instinct and Wall Street star made his confession to his film legend dad Kirk. | The Sun |
| 1998-05-07 | UK | England soccer captain Alan Shearer was charged with misconduct last night for apparently booting an opponent in the face. The 28-year-old Newcastle striker must face an FA trial after TV cameras appeared to show him kicking Leicester's Neil Lennon. | The Sun |
| 1998-05-07 | UK | Nurse Sandra Collinson was in agony last night after being injured - playing dominoes. Sandra, 49, is having to wear a neck brace after she trapped four nerves while spending hours hunched over a table in Bewdley, Worcestershire. | The Sun |
| 1998-05-07 | UK | An RE teacher in Coventry has quit after she was caught flogging cheap whisky at her school. Kate Gunduz told her customers the bottles - being sold for a fiver each - were ready for collection by putting up a notice saying "The Holy Spirit has arrived.” | The Sun |
| 1998-05-06 | UK | Gary Glitter was last night charged with five sex attacks on two girls - and one may be as young as eight. The second girl, aged 14 or 15, is said to have been the victim of a serious sexual assault. The rock legend, 54, could face life in prison if found guilty at North Avon court, Bristol. | The Sun |
| 1998-05-06 | UK | Longer opening hours for pubs and clubs were signalled as the Government announced a huge shake-up of liquor laws. Likely reforms include an extra hour for pubs, which would shut at midnight. Nightclubs could stay open until 5am. | The Sun |
| 1998-05-06 | UK | Soccer star Justin Fashanu died from hanging, a post mortem confirmed. Further tests are being carried out to discover if the ex-Norwich striker, 37, had taken drink or drugs. | The Sun |
| 1998-05-05 | US | Unabomber Theodore Kaczynski, 55, was jailed for life without the chance of parole in Sacramento for a series of terrorist attacks over 18 years. | The Times |
| 1998-05-05 | UK | Reggae star Bob Marley is to be honoured in the BBC Proms this year. His hits No woman No Cry and I Shot The Sheriff will be played in a late-night concert at the Royal Albert Hall, London on August 20. | The Times |
| 1998-05-05 | UK | Lord Avebury tipped off Foreign Secretary Robin Cook about a British company’s involvement in a counter-coup in Sierre Leone - after he found the information on the internet. | The Times |
| 1998-05-04 | Germany | Frankfurt justice officials have confirmed after a year of DNA tests on a skull that Hitler’s right-hand man Martin Bormann died not far from the Berlin bunker on May 2 1945. | The Times |
| 1998-05-04 | UK | Child killer Mary Bell finally confessed that she killed two boys 30 years after the murders, according to an extract from Gitta Sereny’s book Cries Unheard. | The Times |
| 1998-05-04 | UK | Born-again Christian John Fashanu left a homosexual sauna where he took part in a sex romp with other men hours before killing himself. | The Sun |
| 1998-05-03 | New Zealand | Children brought up by single mothers are twice as likely to commit criminal offences than those born into two-parent families, according to a pioneering new study in New Zealand, which has a similar social structure to Britain. | Sunday Telegraph |
| 1998-05-03 | Germany | German pop fans are planning to cheat at this week's Eurovision Song Contest by rigging the voting in favour of their country's entrant, Guildo Horn. Hundreds of fans are to travel to Holland, Belgium and Denmark to vote for him from foreign soil, said a BBC correspondent in Bonn. | Sunday Telegraph |
| 1998-05-03 | US | Superman actor Christopher Reeve told yesterday how he has abandoned having another child with his wife Dana. He said extending his family was one of his biggest wishes after the horse riding fall that paralysed him in 1995. But Reeve revealed in a TV interview how he cannot give his five-year-old son, Will, as much physical attention as he should. | Mail On Sunday |
| 1998-05-02 | UK | TV comic Freddie Starr was yesterday arrested and charged after slapping his teenage son's face. Freddie had clashed with the 18-year-old after going to see him at the airfield in Berkshire where teenager Jody works. | The Sun |
| 1998-05-02 | UK | Twelve squaddies wore dresses and wigs to gatecrash an Ann Summers sex party but were rumbled and thrown out. There was a punch-up after rival troops spotted them outside the bash in Donnington, Shropshire, and called them "poofs" . | The Sun |
| 1998-05-02 | UK | Child killer Mary Bell cannot be stopped by law from cashing in on her crimes. Attorney General John Morris ruled there was "no realistic prospect of success" in blocking a payment to Bell for her help in a book about the two killings she committed as a child. | The Sun |
| 1998-05-01 | UK | EastEnders star Steve McFadden caused a road rage pile up and then drove off, it was claimed yesterday. The actor, who plays Phil Mitchell, cut in front of another car in his £160,000 Rolls-Royce Corniche on the A1 in Hendon, north London. The other driver involved, an unnamed woman, said that McFadden “behaved like an absolute prat.” | The Sun |
| 1998-05-01 | US | Prince William has been named among the world's 50 most beautiful people by a top magazine. Wills, 15, was dubbed "a total dreamboat" and voted onto the list alongside hunks like actor Leonardo DiCaprio in the American magazine People. | The Sun |
| 1998-05-01 | UK | Trendy Pulp star Jarvis Cocker's mum Christine and stepdad Derek are standing as Tories in elections at Carlton-in-Lindrick, Notts. | The Sun |
Updated 1998-10-10
News gathered by Mike Bull of BB Media
Edited by Garfield Lucas