Timeline Thursday 1 January 1998

Events on Thursday 1 January 1998 7

• 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 – 2005 Bronze Sculptures Expanded into bronze sculpture, creating works exhibited at galleries and museums. Also produced a substantial body of drawings and paintings separate from his newspaper work.
• 1998 – 1999 Global Expansion Accelerated Toyota's overseas expansion, opening new manufacturing plants in Europe and the United States while navigating concerns about anti-Japanese sentiment as Toyota's growth threatened the dominance of America's Big Three automakers.
• 1998 Knighted Knighted by Queen Elizabeth II for services to drama, becoming Sir Michael Gambon.
• 1998 – 2000 State Enterprise Reform Closed down tens of thousands of inefficient state-owned enterprises, costing millions of workers their jobs. The painful reforms helped transform China's economy from a bloated state-run system into a more competitive, market-oriented powerhouse.
• 1998 – 2004 The Wild Thornberrys Voiced Nigel Thornberry in the Nickelodeon animated series The Wild Thornberrys, bringing the eccentric British wildlife documentarian to life with his distinctive voice. The role introduced him to a new generation of young fans and became one of the internet's earliest meme sensations.