People in the News: 2000s

Libyan security chief, convicted of the 1988 Lockerbie bombings in 2001, released in August 2009 when allegedly diagnosed with prostate cancer and given 3 months to live; died in May 2012		Abdelbaset Mohmed Ali al–Megrahi
Iraqi journalist, sentenced to 3 years in jail (later reduced to 1 year) Feb 2009 for throwing his shoe at George W. Bush		Muntadhar al–Zaidi
Former aide and dresser to the Duchess of York, convicted (2001) of killing her partner Thomas Cressman		Jane Andrews
Andrew Sachs's granddaughter, subject of "lewd" telephone messages left by Russell Brand and Jonathan Ross, 2008		Georgina Baillie
Malawian boy adopted by Madonna and Guy Ritchie, 2006		David Banda
Evicted half way through the first series of Big Brother, 2000		Nick Bateman
Canadian pro wrestler – famous for his "crippler crossface" move – committed suicide in 2007, aged 40, after murdering his wife and their 7–year–old son		Chris Benoit
Swedish diplomat in charge of monitoring Iraq's alleged use of weapons of mass destruction, 2000–3		Hans Blix
Mayor of New York from 2002 to 2013 (three consecutive terms), having succeeded Rudy Giuliani on 1 January 2002; since at least 2009 he has consistently been rated as one of the world's richest men – in 2018 he was 7th richest in the USA and 10th richest in the world		Michael Bloomberg
Bishop of Southwark – and regular contributor to Thought for the Day on BBC Radio 4's Today programme – gained tabloid notoriety December 2006 for alleged over–indulgence at a function at the Irish embassy		Tom Butler
Former French rugby captain (1988–95), jailed 20 years for shooting his wife dead at a party, 2006		Marc Cecillon
US vice president, accidentally shot his friend and political ally Harry Whittington while hunting, 2006		Dick Cheney
Became the youngest to sail single–handed across the Atlantic, 2003 (from Cowes, Isle of Wight; landed in Antigua 3 days before his 16th birthday); but see Michael Perham		Seb Clover
Faked his own death in a canoeing accident, near Hartlepool, 2002; turned up alive and well in Panama, 2007; subject of the BBC4 TV drama Canoe Man		John Darwin
Russian billionaire from whom shadow chancellor George Osborne was alleged to have tried to solicit a donation to the Tory party (2008)		Oleg Deripaska
Formula 1 entrepreneur, £1 million donation to Labour Party funds much publicised in 1998 when Formula 1 was excluded from legislation banning tobacco advertising in sport; named Britain's top earner, 2000		Bernie Ecclestone
Friend of Jeffrey Archer, involved in the false alibi used by Archer in his 1987 libel case which resulted in his imprisonment for perjury in 2001		Ted Francis
BBC Security Correspondent (specialising in the "War on Terror"), shot and seriously injured in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, 2004		Frank Gardner
Canadian ex–pat schoolteacher acquitted of having sex with underage pupils, 2002		Amy Gehring
Former Eurodisney employee, appointed Chief Executive of London's Millennium Dome, 2000		Pierre–Yves (PY) Gerbeau
British teacher, jailed briefly in Sudan in 2007 (and subsequently expelled) for allowing her class to name a teddy bear Mohammed		Gillian Gibbons
BBC journalist, resigned 2003 after the Hutton Report found that he had made false claims about government dossiers relating to weapons of mass destruction in Iraq		Andrew Gilligan
Mayor of New York 1994–2001, in office at the time of 9/11/2001; awarded an honorary knighthood by Queen Elizabeth II in 2002		Rudi Giuliani
Chief Executive of the Royal Bank of Scotland, 2000–8 – controversially awarded a £700,000 p. a. pension after taking early retirement in January 2009 – just as the bank was effectively nationalised, and one month before it announced a loss of £24.1 billion (the largest annual loss in UK corporate history) – stripped of his knighthood 2012		Fred Goodwin
Former US vice president, starred in a film and wrote an accompanying book (2006) about the dangers of climate change, both entitled An Inconvenient Truth		Al Gore
Top Gear presenter, survived a 300mph crash during filming, 2006		Richard Hammond
Leader of Farmers for Action and the self–styled People's Fuel Lobby, 2000		David Handley
Fathers4Justice campaigner who appeared on the roof of Buckingham Palace dressed as Batman, 2004		Jason Hatch
Family name of the Indian businessmen (brothers) whose passport application led to the sacking of Peter Mandelson in 2001 – although he was later judged to have done nothing wrong		Hinduja
Non–Celebrity who won Celebrity Big Brother, 2006		Chantelle Houghton
Historian, lost a libel action against Penguin Books which accused him of denying the Holocaust (2000)		David Irving
Australian wildlife expert and TV presenter, killed by a stingray barb 2006		Steve Irwin
Florida pastor, denounced Islam as being "of the Devil" and planned to burn copies of the Koran outside his church on the 9th anniversary of 9/11, 2010		Terry Jones
British government weapons expert, committed suicide 2003 after being wrongly implicated in the Iraqi Weapons of Mass Destruction scandal by BBC journalist Andrew Gilligan		David Kelly
The first £1 million winner on ITV's Who wants to be a Millionaire (November 2000)		Judith Keppel
Surname of the British couple who tried to buy baby twins on the Internet, 2001		Kilshaw
Circus performer who became CEO of Cirque du Soleil, and paid a reported $25–35 million to go into space in 2009		Guy Laliberté
CEO and Chairman of Enron, 1995–2003: found guilty of fraud and corruption, following the collapse of Enron in 2001; but suffered a fatal heart attack while awaiting sentence (2006)		Kenneth Lay
Far right candidate – president of the Front National – reached the second and final round in the 2002 French presidential election when he stood opposite Jacques Chirac (polled 18%)		Jean Marie le Pen
Russian defector and former security agent: died of radiation (polonium) poisoning in London in 2006		Alexander Litvinenko
ITN reporter killed by US troops in Iraq in 2003: in 2006, an inquest returned a verdict of unlawful killing		Terry Lloyd
Londons first directly–elected Mayor (2000–8)		Ken Livingstone
Canadian blogger who swapped a paperclip for a house by means of 14 Internet exchanges, 2005–6		Kyle MacDonald
US businessman, charged with perpetrating the largest investor fraud ever committed by a single individual (Dec 2008 – said to involve $50 billion)		Bernard Madoff
Football pundit (and former player) sacked by Sky TV in 2005 following an injudicious remark involving the Asian tsunami		Rodney Marsh
British pro–democracy activist, freed October 2000 after 415 days in solitary confinement in a Burmese jail		James Mawdsley
Leader of Haringey council, resigned 2008 over the 'Baby P' case		George Meehan
Indian steel magnate at the centre of Tony Blair's 'Garbagegate' troubles, 2002		Lakshmi Mittal
Daily Mail columnist, wrote a controversial article criticising the lifestyle of Stephen Gately (of Boyzone) following his death in 2009		Jan Moir
Labour Party political advisor and press officer (spin doctor) who suggested that 11 September 2001 was "a good day for burying bad news"		Jo Moore
Tory candidate for Mayor of London, 2000, defeated by Ken Livingstone		Steve Norris
The last surviving serviceman to have seen action in WWI – died 2009 aged 111 years 38 days		Harry Patch
TV journalist to whom the Enigma coding machine was sent after its theft from Bletchley Park, 2000		Jeremy Paxman
Wall Street Journal reporter captured and executed in Pakistan, 2002		Daniel Pearl
Jeffrey Archer's personal assistant, who claimed that he had fabricated an alibi in his 1987 libel case (resulting in his imprisonment for perjury in 2001)		Angela Peppiatt
14–year–old British boy, became the youngest person to sail single–handed across the Atlantic, 2007		Michael Perham
US–born publisher of the Spectator (nee Solomon, first married name Fortier): had a son by David Blunkett in 2002, in the course of a long–lasting (3 years?) affair, leading to his resignation as Home Secretary in 2004		Kimberley Quinn
Haringey councillor (Cabinet member) with responsibility for children and young people – resigned 2008 over the 'Baby P' case		Liz Santry
Bollywood actress at the centre of a racial abuse scandal (as victim) in Celebrity Big Brother, 2007		Shilpa Shetty
Head of Children's Services, Haringey council, sacked 2008 over the 'Baby P' case		Sharon Shoesmith
May 2009: chosen from 34,000 applicants to get "the best job in the world" – caretaker of a string of islands in the Great Barrier Reef		Ben Southall
10–year–old Nigerian boy murdered in Peckham, London, November 2000		Damilola Taylor
News vendor, died after being pushed over by a policeman during the G8 demonstration in London, 2009		Ian Tomlinson
Dutch film maker, descended from the brother of the famous artist, assassinated in 2004 following the release of his film Submission about violence against Muslim women		Theo van Gogh
Pathologist in the 'organs' scandal at Alder Hey hospital, Liverpool (2000/1)		Dick van Velzen
Editor of The Sun, arrested in 2005 following an alleged assault on her husband Ross Kemp (no charges were brought)		Rebekah Wade

You are here:

People in the News: 2000s