Welcome to the community hub built on top of the 2009 in England Wikipedia article.
Here, you can discuss, collect, and organize anything related to 2009 in England. The
purpose of the hub is to connect people, foster deeper knowledge, and help improve
the root Wikipedia article.
2 January – A light aircraft crashes into overhead power cables on the West Coast Main Line near the village of Little Haywood in Staffordshire, causing widespread disruption to train services, and reportedly killing the three occupants of the aircraft.[1]
5 January –
Cold weather consisting of snow and freezing temperatures causes widespread disruption across the UK. Travel routes are severely affected including roads and railways, in addition to Luton and Birmingham airports respectively. The weather also leads to the closure of many schools who were due to return after the Christmas break.[2]
7 January – England Cricket Captain, Kevin Pietersen resigns after months of rows with England Manager, Peter Moores. Moores is sacked from his job by the England and Wales Cricket Board. Andrew Strauss is named as the new Captain.[4]
Approval is granted for the building of the controversial third runway and sixth terminal at Heathrow Airport. As part of the decision, the Secretary of State for Transport, Geoff Hoon, announces restrictions on aircraft using the third runway that are designed to limit noise pollution and carbon dioxide emissions, alongside proposals for a high-speed rail hub, also located at Heathrow.[6]
23 January – Karen Matthews and Michael Donavon are sentenced to eight years in prison for the kidnap of Shannon Matthews, the former's daughter, having held her captive in Donvon's flat in Dewsbury last year as part of a bid to claim £50,000 for her "safe return" after reporting her missing to the police.[8]
28 January – Hundreds of workers go on strike at the Lindsay Oil Refinery in Lincolnshire in protest at the hiring of foreign construction workers at the site, despite rising unemployment in the UK.[11]
18 February – The Yorkshire Ripper is released from Broadmoor Hospital to face a life sentence, for killing 13 women and attempting to kill 7 more, after doctors claim he has been treated for schizophrenia.
22 February – TV personality, Jade Goody and her boyfriend, Jack Tweed, are married at Down Hall, Essex. Goody, 27, has had cervical cancer for six months and was told earlier this month that she may only have weeks to live after the cancer spread to her bowel, liver and groin.[19] Tweed is free on license following imprisonment for assault.[20]
25 February – Labour Party peer Lord Ahmed is sentenced to 12 weeks imprisonment for dangerous driving, having been involved in a fatal crash.[21]
4 March – ITV announces it is cutting 600 jobs after it reported a loss of £2.6 billion for 2008. The jobs will go from the company's Yorkshire studios in Leeds and from their headquarters in London.[23]
5 March – Michael Jackson announces his last concert series, This Is It to be held at the O2 Arena in London. The concerts are never held due to his death three months later.
8 April – Analogue television signals begin to be switched off in the Westcountry Television area as part of the UK's ongoing process of digital switchover.[29]
29 April – Three cases of Swine Flu are confirmed in England. One adult is diagnosed in Redditch, another in South London, whilst a 12-year-old girl is diagnosed in Torbay.[30] Meanwhile, the Scottish Health Secretary, Nicola Sturgeon announces that 15 suspected cases in Scotland are negative.[31]
30 April – A further three cases of swine flu are confirmed by the Department of Health. Two of the cases are located in London, with the third being in Newcastle.[32]
10 May – The decapitated body of Michael Gilbert is found in Arlesey. He had been kept as a slave and subject to year of abuse by the Watt family, six members of which were later jailed for their role in the murder.[33]
16 May – Manchester United win the Premier League championship for the third consecutive year after a 0–0 draw against Arsenal F.C. at their home ground, Old Trafford. They have now equalled Liverpool's record tally of 18 top division titles.[34]
30 May – Chelsea win the FA Cup for the fifth time after beating Everton 2–1 in the final at Wembley Stadium. Everton French striker Louis Saha scores the fastest ever FA Cup Final goal, after 23 seconds.[36]
5 June – The results of the local elections are announced, with the remaining councils under Labour Party control all falling to the Conservative Party's control. The projected national vote shares suggests that the Conservatives achieved 38% of the vote, the Liberal Democrats 28% and Labour 23%.[37]
7 June – The results of the European parliamentary elections, held on 4 June, are announced, and show large declines in the vote of the Labour Party. The far-right British National Party also win their first ever seats in a national election, being elected in North West England and Yorkshire and the Humber.[38]
Harry Patch, the last British Army veteran of World War I, who died on 25 July aged 111.Henry Allingham, the oldest man in the world and one of the last surviving veterans of World War I, who died on 18 July aged 113.
5 July – The Staffordshire Hoard, the largest haul of Anglo-Saxon treasure ever found, is uncovered. The 1,500 gold and silver pieces are discovered buried beneath a field in Staffordshire by metal detecting enthusiast Terry Herbert. This is made public on 24 September.[44][45]
25 July – Harry Patch, the last British survivor of the First World War trenches and briefly the oldest man in the United Kingdom, dies aged 111.[48]Claude Choules, a 108-year-old former Royal Navy serviceman who was born in Worcestershire but now lives in Australia, is the last surviving British veteran of the war and one of just three surviving of any nationality.[49]
31 July – Gary McKinnon, an English man with Asperger syndrome loses his latest High Court bid to avoid extradition to the United States to face charges of hacking into US Government computers.[52]
9 September – Westcountry Television completes the digital switchover process with the turning off of all analogue signals from the Caradon Hill transmitter.[57]
14 November – Severe gales and heavy rain from an Atlantic storm cause floods and damage across southern England and Wales.[63]
19 November – Highest ever UK 24-hour rainfall total, 314.4 mm, recorded at Seathwaite Farm, Cumbria[64] – a record which stands until December 2015.
20 November – Many towns and villages in Cumbria are flooded following several days of heavy rain. Three bridges collapse, one of them leading to the death of a police officer, who was standing on the bridge when it collapsed.[65]
2 December – The Winter Hill transmitter has its remaining analogue signals turned off, completing the digital switchover process in the Granada Television region.[62]
15 December – Paedophile nursery worker Vanessa George is jailed indefinitely after previously admitting to seven sexual assaults and six counts of making and distributing indecent pictures of children.[67]
