BY JENNIFER BRADBURY
AFTER 30 years of
violence and almost two
years of intensive peace
talks, 1998 was the year
that a political agreement
in Northern Ireland was
reached.
It was also the year when
men no longer had to fear
being a flop in bed.
Viagra, promised to usher
in a new age of sexual liberation
for the over 40s, and such
was the excitement that one
couple were even invited to try
the drug “live” on TV with with
Richard and Judy on This
Morning.
Goldenballs David Beckham shocked blokes by being
snapped wearing a sarong.
Meanwhile, stunnas like
Dannii Harwood were getting
the nation’s trousersnakes
excited
NEWS: PRESIDENT Clinton denied allegations that he
had an affair with a 24-year-old former White
House aide. He also rejected accusations that
he asked her to lie about the relationship on
oath. Mr Clinton came under intense media pressure as rumours
circulated that he conducted an 18-month affair with Monica
Lewinsky in 1995.
With his fist clenched and his voice shaking, he said: “I did not
have sexual relations with that woman, Miss
Lewinsky.” Later in the year he admitted the
affair.
THE former Cambodian dictator, Pol Pot,
whose Khmer Rouge movement was
behind the deaths of around 1.7 million
Cambodians in the “killing fields” during
the late 1970s, died.
THE British government ann- ounced a ban on
the use of landmines in response to public pressure championed
by Princess Diana.
THE dissident republican group behind Northern Ireland’s
worst atrocity — a car bomb that killed 29 people in Omagh
— announced their “complete cessation” of violence. It
followed a conference of the Real IRA’s council in County
Louth.
SPORT: DAVID Beckham’s pop- ularity
nosedived after he was shown the
red card at the World Cup in France
for aiming a silly kick at one of the
Argentinians.
ARSENAL over- hauled
Manchester United in the final
weeks of the season to win the
Premiership title. They added the FA Cup two weeks
later to become only the second English club to repeat
the double.
LIVERPOOL’s 18-year-old striker Michael Owen scored 18
Premiership goals and became the youngest England player
of the 20th century, for which he was voted PFA Young Player
of the Year.
EVERTON endured their worst season for 50 years.
They finished 17th in the Premiership and only avoided
relegation because they had a better goal difference
than 18th-placed Bolton.
MUSIC: THE Eurovision Song Contest was held
in Birmingham and hopes were high for
UK entry Imaani and her song Where
Are You?. But she came second to
Israel’s entrant, male-to-female
transsexual Dana International.
BILLIE Piper became the second
youngest solo female to top the charts at the age of 15,
Helen Shapiro being the youngest at 14.
DANBERT Nobacon of politically active band
Chumbawamba threw a bucket of iced water
over Labour cabinet minister John Prescott at
the Brit Awards.
Former Take That star Robbie Williams
topped the albums chart twice during the
year, when his debut album, Life Thru a
Lens returned to the charts and managed to climb to the
top spot. His second album, I’ve Been Expecting You
topped the charts later on in the year and gave the star his
first No 1 single, Millennium.
GERI Halliwell, aka Ginger Spice, left the Spice Girls. |
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