2003

Events in 2003 99

• 1902 – 2003 Leni Riefenstahl (1902-2003) Died 8 September 2003, aged 101 Leni Riefenstahl was a film-maker whose technically innovative documentaries 'Triumph of the Will' and 'Olympia' glorified Nazi Germany. After the war she was widely shunned and spent decades defending herself against charges of complicity. She later worked as a stills and underwater photographer.
• 1902 – 2003 Strom Thurmond (1902-2003) Died 26 June 2003, aged 100 Strom Thurmond represented South Carolina in the US Senate for 48 years and ran for president in 1948 on a segregationist platform. He held the record for the longest speaking filibuster, against the 1957 Civil Rights Act. He retired at 100, the oldest person ever to serve in the Senate.
• 1903 – 2003 Bob Hope (1903-2003) Died 27 July 2003, aged 100 Bob Hope was a comedian and entertainer whose career ran from vaudeville through radio, film and television across the 20th century. He hosted the Academy Awards ceremony a record number of times and performed for US troops overseas for nearly 50 years. He died two months after his 100th birthday.
• 1907 – 2003 Katharine Hepburn Actress, 1907-2003 - four Academy Awards, still the record Katharine Hepburn was one of the defining stars of American cinema, with a career spanning 60 years and a record four Academy Awards for Best Actress. Known for her independence and refusal to conform to Hollywood convention, her films included 'The Philadelphia Story', 'The African Queen' and 'On Golden Pond'.
• 1907 – 2003 Compay Segundo (1907-2003) Died 13 July 2003, aged 95 Compay Segundo was a Cuban guitarist, singer and composer whose career revived in his late eighties through the Buena Vista Social Club project and Wim Wenders's 1999 film. His best-known composition is 'Chan Chan'.
• 1908 – 2003 Edward Teller (1908-2003) Died 9 September 2003, aged 95 Edward Teller was a Hungarian-born physicist often called the father of the hydrogen bomb, which he championed within the US weapons programme. His testimony against J. Robert Oppenheimer in 1954 alienated many colleagues. He remained an advocate of nuclear weapons and missile defence into old age.
• 1908 – 2003 Buddy Ebsen (1908-2003) American dancer and actor, the first Tin Man and later Jed Clampett and Barnaby Jones.
• 1909 – 2003 Elia Kazan (1909-2003) Died 28 September 2003, aged 94 Elia Kazan was a stage and film director who co-founded the Actors Studio and directed 'A Streetcar Named Desire', 'On the Waterfront' and 'East of Eden'. His decision to name former Communist associates before the House Un-American Activities Committee in 1952 divided Hollywood for the rest of his life.
• 1911 – 2003 Hume Cronyn (1911-2003) Canadian actor who with his wife Jessica Tandy formed one of the great partnerships of American theatre.
• 1915 – 2003 Denis Thatcher (1915-2003) Died 26 June 2003, aged 88 Denis Thatcher was a businessman and the husband of the British prime minister Margaret Thatcher. He was a constant presence during her 11 years in office and cultivated a public image of dry loyalty. He was made a baronet in 1991.
• 1916 – 2003 Gregory Peck (1916-2003) Died 12 June 2003, aged 87 Gregory Peck was a leading Hollywood actor for more than four decades, associated with upright, principled characters. He won the Academy Award for playing the lawyer Atticus Finch in 'To Kill a Mockingbird'. He was also active in liberal political causes and the film academy.
• 1916 – 2003 Maurice Wilkins (1916-2003) Died 5 October 2003, aged 86 Maurice Wilkins was a biophysicist whose X-ray diffraction work at King's College London contributed to the discovery of the structure of DNA. He shared the 1962 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine with James Watson and Francis Crick.
• 1920 – 2003 Alberto Sordi (1920-2003) Died 24 February 2003, aged 82 Alberto Sordi was one of the most popular Italian film actors of the postwar era, appearing in some 150 films that satirised the habits and hypocrisies of the ordinary Italian. His comic everyman became a national archetype, and around a million people attended his funeral in Rome.
• 1920 – 2003 Roy Jenkins (1920-2003) Died 5 January 2003, aged 82 Roy Jenkins was a British Labour home secretary whose reforms in the 1960s liberalised laws on divorce, homosexuality, abortion and censorship. He later served as President of the European Commission and in 1981 co-founded the Social Democratic Party. He was also a prolific political biographer.
• 1921 – 2003 Charles Bronson (1921-2003) Died 30 August 2003, aged 81 Charles Bronson was a film actor known for tough, laconic roles in Westerns, war films and thrillers, including 'The Magnificent Seven', 'The Dirty Dozen', 'Once Upon a Time in the West' and the 'Death Wish' series. He became a major draw in Europe before achieving top billing in the United States.
• 1923 – 2003 Sam Phillips (1923-2003) Died 30 July 2003, aged 80 Sam Phillips founded Sun Records in Memphis, where he recorded early sides by Howlin' Wolf, B.B. King and Ike Turner before discovering Elvis Presley in 1954. He also recorded Johnny Cash, Carl Perkins and Jerry Lee Lewis, shaping the emergence of rock and roll.
• 1925 – 2003 Jeanne Crain (1925-2003) American actress, 20th Century Fox's girl next door, Oscar-nominated for Pinky.
• 1925 – 2003 Donald O'Connor (1925-2003) Died 27 September 2003, aged 78 Donald O'Connor was a dancer, singer and actor who began in vaudeville as a child. He is best remembered for his acrobatic solo number in the film 'Singin' in the Rain' and for a series of comedies co-starring a talking mule named Francis.
• 1925 – 2003 Celia Cruz (1925-2003) Died 16 July 2003, aged 77 Celia Cruz was a Cuban singer known as the Queen of Salsa, with a powerful voice and a career of more than 50 years spanning the Sonora Matancera, the Fania All-Stars and a long solo run. She left Cuba after the 1959 revolution and never returned, becoming a symbol of the exile community.
• 1927 – 2003 Daniel Patrick Moynihan (1927-2003) Died 26 March 2003, aged 76 Daniel Patrick Moynihan was a US senator from New York for 24 years and a social scientist who advised four presidents of both parties. Known for a wide-ranging intellect and provocative reports on poverty and family, he also served as ambassador to India and to the United Nations.
• 1927 – 2003 Slim Dusty (1927-2003) Died 19 September 2003, aged 76 Slim Dusty was an Australian country singer whose career spanned nearly 60 years and more than 100 albums. His 1957 recording 'A Pub with No Beer' was the first Australian record to sell a million copies internationally, and he became a national institution.
• 1927 – 2003 Althea Gibson (1927-2003) Died 28 September 2003, aged 76 Althea Gibson was the first Black tennis player to compete at and win Grand Slam titles, taking the French, Wimbledon and US singles championships between 1956 and 1958. She later became the first Black player on the women's professional golf tour.
• 1928 – 2003 Fred Rogers (1928-2003) Died 27 February 2003, aged 74 Fred Rogers created and hosted the children's television programme 'Mister Rogers' Neighborhood', which ran on US public television from 1968 to 2001. An ordained Presbyterian minister, he addressed subjects such as death, divorce and anger in a calm, direct way. He died of stomach cancer.
• 1929 – 2003 June Carter Cash (1929-2003) Died 15 May 2003, aged 73 June Carter Cash was a singer, songwriter and comedian from the Carter Family country music dynasty. She co-wrote 'Ring of Fire' and performed for decades alongside her husband Johnny Cash, who died four months after her. She won multiple Grammy Awards.
• 1929 – 2003 Bernard Williams (1929-2003) Died 10 June 2003, aged 73 Bernard Williams was an English philosopher regarded as among the most influential moral thinkers of his generation. He criticised the systematising ambitions of utilitarianism and Kantian ethics and argued for the complexity of ordinary moral life. He held chairs at Cambridge, Berkeley and Oxford.
• 1930 – 2003 Robert Atkins (1930-2003) Died 17 April 2003, aged 72 Robert Atkins was a cardiologist who popularised the low-carbohydrate, high-protein diet set out in his 1972 book 'Dr. Atkins' Diet Revolution'. The Atkins diet became a worldwide phenomenon in the early 2000s. He died from a head injury after falling on ice.
• 1932 – 2003 Johnny Cash American singer-songwriter, "The Man in Black" Johnny Cash (1932-2003) was an American singer-songwriter whose stark baritone, songs of faith, hardship and redemption, and lifelong identification with prisoners and the poor made him one of the most influential artists in American music. The only artist inducted into the Country Music, Rock and Roll, Songwriters, and Gospel Music Halls of Fame, he sold over 90 million records across a career spanning five decades.
• 1933 – 2003 Nina Simone (1933-2003) Died 21 April 2003, aged 70 Nina Simone was a singer, pianist and songwriter whose repertoire spanned jazz, blues, gospel, classical and folk. Songs such as 'Mississippi Goddam' and 'To Be Young, Gifted and Black' made her a prominent voice of the civil rights movement. She spent her later years in France, where she died.
• 1934 – 2003 Alan Bates (1934-2003) Died 27 December 2003, aged 69 Alan Bates was an English actor prominent in the 1960s wave of British stage and screen realism, with films including 'Zorba the Greek', 'Women in Love' and 'The Go-Between'. He worked extensively in the theatre and was knighted in 2003.
• 1935 – 2003 Edward Said (1935-2003) Died 25 September 2003, aged 67 Edward Said was a literary scholar at Columbia University whose 1978 book 'Orientalism' reshaped the study of how the West depicts the East and helped found postcolonial studies. A Palestinian-American, he was also a leading advocate for Palestinian rights and an accomplished pianist.
• 1937 – 2003 Herb Brooks (1937-2003) Died 11 August 2003, aged 66 Herb Brooks coached the United States ice hockey team that beat the heavily favoured Soviet Union at the 1980 Winter Olympics, a game known as the Miracle on Ice, and went on to win the gold medal. He later coached in the National Hockey League and died in a car crash in Minnesota.
• 1944 – 2003 David Kelly (1944-2003) Died 17 July 2003, aged 59 David Kelly was a British weapons expert and former UN inspector who was identified as the source for a BBC report alleging that the government had exaggerated the case for war in Iraq. He was found dead days after testifying to a parliamentary committee; a public inquiry ruled it a suicide.
• 1944 – 2003 Barry White (1944-2003) Died 4 July 2003, aged 58 Barry White was a singer, songwriter and producer whose deep bass-baritone and lush orchestral arrangements drove hits such as 'Can't Get Enough of Your Love, Babe' and 'You're the First, the Last, My Everything'. He sold more than 100 million records and died of kidney failure while awaiting a transplant.
• 1946 – 2003 Gregory Hines (1946-2003) Died 9 August 2003, aged 57 Gregory Hines was a tap dancer and actor credited with helping revive tap as a popular art form. He starred on Broadway and in films including 'The Cotton Club' and 'White Nights', and won a Tony Award for 'Jelly's Last Jam'.
• 1947 – 2003 Warren Zevon (1947-2003) Died 7 September 2003, aged 56 Warren Zevon was a singer-songwriter known for sardonic, literate rock songs including 'Werewolves of London' and 'Lawyers, Guns and Money'. After a terminal cancer diagnosis he recorded a final album, 'The Wind', released two weeks before his death.
• 1948 – 2003 Sergio Vieira de Mello (1948-2003) Died 19 August 2003, aged 55 Sergio Vieira de Mello was a Brazilian United Nations official who led transitional administrations in Kosovo and East Timor and served as High Commissioner for Human Rights. He was killed, with 21 others, when a truck bomb destroyed the UN headquarters in Baghdad.
• 1948 – 2003 John Ritter (1948-2003) Died 11 September 2003, aged 54 John Ritter was a comic actor best known for the sitcom 'Three's Company', which ran from 1977 to 1984, and later '8 Simple Rules'. He died suddenly of an undiagnosed aortic dissection while at work on his television series, a week before his 55th birthday.
• 1949 – 2003 Robert Palmer (1949-2003) Died 26 September 2003, aged 54 Robert Palmer was an English singer known for a smooth, soulful voice and a sharply tailored image, with hits including 'Addicted to Love' and 'Simply Irresistible'. He also recorded with the group Power Station. He died of a heart attack in Paris.
• 1949 – 2003 Maurice Gibb (1949-2003) Died 12 January 2003, aged 53 Maurice Gibb was a singer, songwriter and multi-instrumentalist who with his brothers Barry and Robin formed the Bee Gees. The group sold more than 100 million records and defined the disco era with the 'Saturday Night Fever' soundtrack. He died of complications from a twisted intestine.
• 1953 – 2003 Roberto Bolano (1953-2003) Died 15 July 2003, aged 50 Roberto Bolano was a Chilean novelist and poet whose reputation grew rapidly after his death with the international success of 'The Savage Detectives' and the posthumous '2666'. He spent much of his life in Mexico and Spain and died awaiting a liver transplant.
• 1956 – 2003 Leslie Cheung (1956-2003) Died 1 April 2003, aged 46 Leslie Cheung was one of the most successful Cantopop singers and film actors in Hong Kong, known internationally for 'Farewell My Concubine' and 'Happy Together'. He died after falling from a hotel in an apparent suicide, prompting mass public mourning across Asia.
• 1956 – 2003 Carlo Urbani (1956-2003) Died 29 March 2003, aged 46 Carlo Urbani was an Italian physician and infectious disease specialist with the World Health Organization who recognised SARS as a dangerous new disease in a patient in Hanoi and raised the alarm that led to a coordinated global response. He contracted the virus and died weeks later.
• 1963 – 2003 Anita Mui (1963-2003) Died 30 December 2003, aged 40 Anita Mui was a Cantopop singer and actress often called the Madonna of Asia, with some 30 films and dozens of albums to her name. She continued performing during treatment for cervical cancer, giving a final series of concerts weeks before her death.
• 1969 – 2003 Elliott Smith (1969-2003) Died 21 October 2003, aged 34 Elliott Smith was a singer-songwriter known for hushed vocals and intricate acoustic arrangements on albums such as 'Either/Or'. His song 'Miss Misery', from the film 'Good Will Hunting', was nominated for an Academy Award. He died of stab wounds to the chest in disputed circumstances.
• 1979 – 2003 Rachel Corrie (1979-2003) Died 16 March 2003, aged 23 Rachel Corrie was an American activist with the International Solidarity Movement who was crushed by an Israeli army bulldozer while trying to obstruct the demolition of a Palestinian home in Gaza. Her death became the subject of a play and lasting dispute over the circumstances.
• 1997 – 2003 Peter Jackson Lord of the Rings Films Peter Jackson's The Lord of the Rings film trilogy (2001-2003) is the most ambitious film production in history at the time: three films shot simultaneously over 15 months in New Zealand, with a combined production budget exceeding $280 million, employing over 2,400 crew and 20,000 extras. The Fellowship of the Ring, The Two Towers and The Return of the King collectively won 17 Academy Awards from 30 nominations -- including 11 Oscars for The Return of the King, tying Ben-Hur and Titanic for the most ever won by a single film. They grossed nearly $3 billion at the worldwide box office and transformed New Zealand's cultural identity and film industry permanently.
• 2003 Australian Open 2003 Men: Andre Agassi · Women: Serena Williams Serena completed the Serena Slam — holding all four Grand Slams simultaneously.
• 2003 North Korea withdraws from the NPT First state ever to withdraw from the treaty North Korea announced its withdrawal from the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty amid a standoff over a secret uranium enrichment programme. It was the first country ever to leave the treaty, and it went on to conduct its first nuclear test in 2006.
• 2003 Ilan Ramon dies First Israeli astronaut killed in Columbia disaster Ilan Ramon, the first Israeli astronaut, was killed in the Space Shuttle Columbia disaster on February 1, 2003, along with six other crew members.
• 2003 Space Shuttle Columbia disaster 7 astronauts killed on re-entry Space Shuttle Columbia disintegrated during re-entry into Earth's atmosphere on February 1, 2003, killing all seven crew members. The accident was caused by foam damage to the heat shield.
• 2003 Serbia and Montenegro established Federal Republic of Yugoslavia renamed The Federal Republic of Yugoslavia was reconstituted as a loose union called Serbia and Montenegro, ending the last official use of the name Yugoslavia. The constitutional charter allowed either republic to hold an independence referendum after three years. Montenegro voted to leave in 2006.
• 2003 Death of Dolly the sheep First cloned mammal put down at six years old Dolly, the first mammal cloned from an adult somatic cell, was put down at the Roslin Institute in Scotland after developing a progressive lung disease. She was six years old. Her birth in 1996 had transformed public and scientific debate about cloning.
• 2003 Global anti-war protests Coordinated demonstrations in some 600 cities On 15 February demonstrations against the imminent invasion of Iraq took place in around 600 cities, with the largest crowds in Rome, London, Barcelona and Madrid. Organisers estimated worldwide participation in the tens of millions. It is often described as the largest single day of protest in history.
• 2003 The Station nightclub fire Stage pyrotechnics kill 100 at a Rhode Island club Pyrotechnics used by the band Great White ignited flammable foam soundproofing during a concert at a nightclub in West Warwick, Rhode Island. The fire killed 100 people and injured about 230, and led to tighter enforcement of fire codes for entertainment venues.
• 2003 Assassination of Zoran Djindjic Serbian prime minister shot dead in Belgrade Zoran Djindjic, the reformist prime minister of Serbia who had helped transfer Slobodan Milosevic to the war crimes tribunal, was killed by a sniper outside a government building in Belgrade. Members of a special police unit and organised crime figures were later convicted of the murder.
• 2003 SARS epidemic New coronavirus spreads from southern China along air routes A novel coronavirus that emerged in Guangdong province spread along air-travel routes to Hong Kong, Hanoi, Singapore and Toronto, prompting the World Health Organization to issue its first global health alert on 12 March. Around 8,000 people were infected and roughly 770 died before transmission was broken through quarantine and travel restrictions. The WHO declared the outbreak contained in July.
• 2003 Iraq War begins US-led invasion of Iraq A US-led coalition invaded Iraq on March 20, 2003, aiming to remove Saddam Hussein and eliminate alleged weapons of mass destruction. No WMDs were found.
• 2003 Cricket World Cup final Australia beat India to complete an unbeaten tournament Australia beat India by 125 runs in the final at Johannesburg to win their third Cricket World Cup, finishing the tournament unbeaten. Ricky Ponting made an unbeaten 140 in the final. The event was hosted mainly by South Africa.
• 2003 End of the Second Congo War Transitional government ends Africa's deadliest war The Sun City Agreement and the swearing-in of a power-sharing transitional government in Kinshasa formally ended the Second Congo War, a conflict that had drawn in nine African countries. Several million people had died, mostly from disease and hunger, making it the deadliest war since 1945. Fighting nonetheless continued in the eastern provinces.
• 2003 Fall of Baghdad US forces take the Iraqi capital; Saddam's statue toppled Three weeks after the invasion began, US forces entered central Baghdad and organised Iraqi resistance collapsed. A crowd and a US armoured vehicle pulled down a large statue of Saddam Hussein in Firdos Square, an image broadcast worldwide. Saddam went into hiding and the Baathist government ceased to function, though looting and insurgency followed.
• 2003 Human Genome fully sequenced Complete DNA blueprint of humanity published The Human Genome Project announced the complete sequencing of the human genome on April 14, 2003, two years ahead of schedule. The 3.2 billion base pairs provide the blueprint for human biology and disease.
• 2003 Treaty of Accession signed in Athens Ten countries sign to join the EU in 2004 Representatives of ten countries, most of them former communist states, signed the Treaty of Accession in Athens, clearing the way for the European Union's largest single enlargement on 1 May 2004. The new members were Cyprus, the Czech Republic, Estonia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Malta, Poland, Slovakia and Slovenia.
• 2003 2003 World Snooker Championship Mark Williams Title 2 Winner: Mark Williams; Runner-up: Ken Doherty. Score: 18–16.
• 2003 Aron Ralston's self-amputation Trapped climber cuts off his own arm to escape The canyoneer Aron Ralston, trapped for more than five days by a boulder that pinned his arm in a remote Utah canyon, amputated his own forearm with a multi-tool and walked out to rescue. His account was later filmed as '127 Hours'.
• 2003 iTunes Store opens Apple sells songs for 99 cents Apple opened the iTunes Music Store on April 28, 2003, selling individual songs for $0.99. It sold one million songs in its first week and transformed the music industry.
• 2003 Mission Accomplished speech Bush declares major combat over in Iraq President George W. Bush landed on the aircraft carrier USS Abraham Lincoln and announced that major combat operations in Iraq had ended, speaking beneath a banner reading 'Mission Accomplished'. The prolonged insurgency that followed made the moment a lasting symbol of premature triumph.
• 2003 X2: X-Men United #5 film of 2003 — $407m worldwide Directed by Bryan Singer. The X-Men must band together with their nemesis Magneto to battle a common enemy.
• 2003 LinkedIn launched Professional networking site goes live LinkedIn launched as a professional networking site built around resumes, job-seeking and business contacts. It grew steadily to hundreds of millions of members and was acquired by Microsoft in 2016.
• 2003 Riyadh compound bombings Suicide attacks on foreign workers' compounds Suicide bombers attacked three residential compounds housing foreign workers in the Saudi capital, killing 39 people. The attacks, attributed to al-Qaeda, prompted a sustained Saudi security crackdown on the group inside the kingdom.
• 2003 The Matrix Reloaded #2 film of 2003 — $742m worldwide Directed by the Wachowskis. Neo and the resistance fight to save Zion, the last human city, from a massive machine assault.
• 2003 Finding Nemo released Pixar's clownfish film becomes the year's biggest Pixar's animated film about a clownfish searching for his lost son became the highest-grossing film of 2003 and, for a time, the best-selling DVD ever made. It won the Academy Award for Best Animated Feature.
• 2003 Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix published Fifth novel breaks first-day sales records The fifth novel in J.K. Rowling's series was published simultaneously in Britain and the United States after a three-year wait. It sold five million copies in the US in its first 24 hours, a record at the time, and cemented the series as a publishing phenomenon.
• 2003 Wimbledon 2003 The Championships, 23 June - 6 July 2003 The 2003 Wimbledon Championships, the 117th edition, played on the grass courts of the All England Lawn Tennis and Croquet Club from 23 June to 6 July 2003. Roger Federer won his first Grand Slam title, defeating Mark Philippoussis in the final -- the first of his record eight Wimbledon titles. Serena Williams defeated her sister Venus Williams in the Ladies' final to successfully defend her title. Defending men's champion Lleyton Hewitt suffered a shock first-round exit to Ivo Karlovic, the first time in the Open Era a reigning champion lost in round one.
• 2003 Wimbledon 2003 Men: Roger Federer · Women: Serena Williams Roger Federer won his first Wimbledon title, beginning one of the greatest dynasties in tennis history.
• 2003 – present Tesla Electric vehicle revolution Tesla accelerated the global transition toward electric vehicles through high-performance EVs, battery innovation and large-scale charging infrastructure. Under Elon Musk, the company became one of the most influential automotive and technology firms of the 21st century.
• 2003 Pirates of the Caribbean released Disney ride becomes a blockbuster franchise Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl, based on a Disney theme-park ride, was a surprise critical and commercial success. Johnny Depp's performance as Captain Jack Sparrow earned an Academy Award nomination and launched a long-running film series.
• 2003 Killing of Uday and Qusay Hussein Saddam's sons die in a firefight in Mosul Saddam Hussein's sons Uday and Qusay were killed in a prolonged gun battle with US forces at a villa in Mosul. Both had held prominent roles in the former regime, and Qusay had been widely seen as his father's likely successor.
• 2003 European heatwave 2003 70,000 dead across Europe An unprecedented heatwave struck Europe in August 2003, with temperatures exceeding 40°C across France, Germany and Italy. An estimated 70,000 people died, mostly elderly.
• 2003 Myspace launched Social network briefly dominates the web Myspace launched in California and quickly became the leading social networking site, especially for music and self-styled profiles. By 2006 it was the most visited website in the United States, before being overtaken by Facebook.
• 2003 Charles Taylor goes into exile Liberian president resigns and flees to Nigeria Under pressure from rebel advances on Monrovia and a war crimes indictment, President Charles Taylor handed power to his deputy and flew into exile in Nigeria. His departure ended the Second Liberian Civil War and led to a large United Nations peacekeeping mission.
• 2003 Northeast blackout Cascading failure cuts power to 55 million people A software fault and untrimmed trees in Ohio triggered a cascading grid failure that cut electricity to about 55 million people across the north-eastern United States and Ontario. It was the largest blackout in North American history to that point. Most areas had power restored within two days.
• 2003 Canal Hotel bombing Truck bomb destroys UN headquarters in Baghdad A truck bomb devastated the United Nations headquarters at the Canal Hotel in Baghdad, killing 22 people including the UN special representative Sergio Vieira de Mello. The attack prompted the UN to withdraw most international staff from Iraq and marked an escalation of the insurgency.
• 2003 Skype released Free internet voice calling reaches the public Skype released its first public beta, offering free voice calls between computers over the internet using peer-to-peer technology developed in Estonia. It rapidly became a standard tool for international and, later, video calling, and was acquired by eBay in 2005.
• 2003 Steam launched Valve launches its digital game platform Valve launched Steam, at first as a way to deliver updates to its own games. It grew into the dominant digital storefront for personal computer games and reshaped how the industry sold and distributed software.
• 2003 California recall election Voters oust Gray Davis and elect Schwarzenegger California voters recalled Governor Gray Davis and chose the actor Arnold Schwarzenegger to replace him in a chaotic special election with 135 candidates on the ballot. It was only the second successful recall of a US state governor and drew worldwide attention.
• 2003 Kill Bill: Volume 1 released Tarantino returns with a two-part revenge saga Quentin Tarantino's stylised revenge film, released as the first of two volumes, drew on martial-arts, spaghetti-western and samurai cinema. It marked his return to directing after a six-year gap and became one of his most widely referenced works.
• 2003 Schumacher's sixth Formula One title Sixth title breaks Fangio's 46-year-old record Michael Schumacher clinched his sixth Formula One drivers' championship at the Japanese Grand Prix, surpassing Juan Manuel Fangio's record of five titles that had stood since 1957. He was driving for Ferrari, with whom he won five consecutive championships from 2000 to 2004.
• 2003 Shenzhou 5 Yang Liwei becomes China's first astronaut Yang Liwei orbited the Earth 14 times aboard Shenzhou 5, making China the third country to launch a human into space using its own rocket and spacecraft. The 21-hour flight established China as a crewed spaceflight power and led to an expanding programme of missions and, later, a space station.
• 2003 Amy Winehouse releases Frank Debut album A jazz-influenced debut, nominated for the Mercury Prize.
• 2003 Final flight of Concorde Last commercial supersonic passenger flight British Airways operated the last commercial Concorde service, from New York to London Heathrow, ending 27 years of supersonic passenger travel. Air France had retired its fleet in May. High operating costs and falling demand after the 2000 Paris crash had made the aircraft uneconomic.
• 2003 Istanbul bombings Synagogues, British consulate and HSBC attacked Two pairs of truck bombings five days apart struck two synagogues, the British consulate and the local headquarters of HSBC in Istanbul, killing more than 50 people and wounding hundreds. A group linked to al-Qaeda claimed responsibility.
• 2003 Rose Revolution Protests force Shevardnadze from power in Georgia Weeks of protest over a disputed parliamentary election culminated in demonstrators, led by Mikheil Saakashvili, storming the Georgian parliament carrying roses. President Eduard Shevardnadze resigned the following day. Saakashvili won the presidency in January 2004 and pursued a pro-Western course.
• 2003 Rugby World Cup final England beat Australia with a last-minute drop goal England beat host nation Australia 20-17 in the final at Sydney, with Jonny Wilkinson kicking a drop goal in the last minute of extra time. It was England's first Rugby World Cup and the first won by a team from the northern hemisphere.
• 2003 iTunes Store transforms music 99 cent songs change the industry Apple's iTunes Store, launched in April 2003, sold 70 million songs in its first year at 99 cents each, fundamentally changing how people buy and listen to music.
• 2003 Catharina-Amalia born Princess of Orange Catharina-Amalia was born as heir apparent to the Dutch throne.
• 2003 Capture of Saddam Hussein Former Iraqi leader found hiding near Tikrit US soldiers found the deposed Iraqi president hiding in a concealed pit beside a farmhouse near Tikrit and detained him without resistance. Footage of the dishevelled, bearded former ruler undergoing a medical examination was released the next day. He was later tried by an Iraqi court and executed in December 2006.
• 2003 Lord of the Rings: Return of the King #1 film of 2003 — $1.12bn worldwide Directed by Peter Jackson. The final chapter of the trilogy. Won 11 Academy Awards including Best Picture — equalling the all-time record.
• 2003 Libya renounces weapons programmes Gaddafi agrees to give up weapons of mass destruction Libya announced that it would dismantle its chemical and nuclear weapons programmes and admit international inspectors, after months of secret talks with Britain and the United States. The decision led to the lifting of sanctions and the restoration of diplomatic and commercial ties with the West.
• 2003 Bam earthquake Magnitude 6.6 quake devastates a historic Iranian city A magnitude 6.6 earthquake struck the south-eastern Iranian city of Bam before dawn, collapsing its mud-brick buildings and the ancient citadel of Arg-e Bam. Around 26,000 people were killed and most of the surviving population was left homeless. International rescue teams flew in within days.