Timeline December 1998

Events in December 1998 13

• 1994 – 1998 Korea National University of Arts Enrolled at the Korea National University of Arts in 1994, becoming part of the inaugural graduating class of its School of Drama.
• 1997 – 1998 Tomorrow Never Dies and Apt Pupil Played Admiral Kelly in the James Bond film Tomorrow Never Dies (1997) and a Jewish concentration camp survivor in Bryan Singer's Apt Pupil (1998), demonstrating his range from authority figures to victims.
• 1998 1998: Mika Häkkinen McLaren Finnish driver Häkkinen, the Flying Finn, won the first of his two titles with McLaren, ending Schumacher's dominance.
• 1998 Beating Oprah in the Ratings The Jerry Springer Show briefly overtook The Oprah Winfrey Show in daytime ratings, a cultural milestone that shocked the television industry.
• 1998 Knighted Knighted by Queen Elizabeth II for services to drama, becoming Sir Michael Gambon.
• 1998 FIFA World Player of the Year Zidane wins his first FIFA world player award In December 1998, off the back of his World Cup-winning performance, Zidane was named FIFA World Player of the Year for the first time. He would go on to win the award a further two times in his career, becoming one of only a handful of players to do so three times. The award recognized him as the outstanding footballer in the world that year.
• 1998 Wins the Ballon d'Or Zidane is named Europe's best player of 1998 Zidane was awarded the Ballon d'Or in December 1998 by France Football magazine, capping a year in which he won the World Cup with France and helped Juventus reach the Champions League final. It remains the only Ballon d'Or of his career, despite him being a perennial contender in the years that followed. The award solidified his status as the finest player of his generation.
• 1998 Exxon and Mobil announce merger Deal creates the world's largest oil company Exxon and Mobil announced on 1 December 1998 an $81 billion merger to reunite two of the companies descended from the 1911 breakup of Standard Oil. The deal, completed in November 1999, created ExxonMobil, the world's largest publicly traded oil company.
• 1998 Star Trek: Insurrection Picard defies Starfleet orders to protect a small peaceful civilisation. A lighter, morally earnest entry in the series that feels closer to a TV episode than a theatrical film. Directed by Jonathan Frakes. Budget: $58 million. Gross: $117 million.
• 1998 Operation Desert Fox US and UK bombing campaign against Iraq The United States and United Kingdom conducted a four-day bombing campaign against Iraq from 16 to 19 December 1998, targeting suspected weapons facilities after Iraq obstructed UN weapons inspectors. The strikes hit military and security targets across the country but did not remove Saddam Hussein from power.
• 1998 Bill Clinton impeached by the House of Representatives Charges of perjury and obstruction of justice over the Lewinsky affair The US House of Representatives voted on 19 December 1998 to impeach President Bill Clinton on charges of perjury and obstruction of justice arising from his relationship with Monica Lewinsky. He became only the second US president to be impeached. The Senate acquitted him on both counts in February 1999.
• 1998 – present Kylian Mbappé The Chosen One Won the World Cup as a teenager in 2018 and scored a hat-trick in the 2022 final.
• 1998 A Bug's Life #3 film of 1998 — $363m worldwide Directed by John Lasseter at Pixar. An ant colony enlists the help of circus bugs to fight off a group of marauding grasshoppers.