Timeline October 2000

Events in October 2000 12

• 1921 – 2000 Steve Allen (1921-2000) Died 30 October 2000, aged 78 Steve Allen was an American entertainer who created and first hosted The Tonight Show in 1954, setting the template for the late-night talk format. A restless polymath, he wrote thousands of songs and dozens of books and hosted the series Meeting of Minds. His improvised, audience-driven comedy influenced generations of hosts.
• 1933 – 2000 Reginald Kray (1933-2000) Died 1 October 2000, aged 66 Reggie Kray and his twin Ronnie ran an organised-crime empire in London's East End in the 1950s and 1960s, mixing extortion and violence with celebrity nightclub glamour. Convicted of murder in 1969, he served more than thirty years and was freed on compassionate grounds weeks before his death from cancer. The twins became enduring figures of British true-crime lore.
• 2000 2000 Summer Olympics XXVII Olympiad - Sydney Cathy Freeman lights the cauldron. Winner: USA.
• 2000 Radiohead release Kid A An acclaimed album marks a turn away from guitar rock Radiohead's fourth album Kid A, released on 2 October 2000, followed OK Computer with a dense electronic sound and no conventional singles or promotional videos. It divided listeners on release yet topped the United States and United Kingdom charts and won a Grammy. Critics later named it one of the finest albums of the decade.
• 2000 Fall of Milosevic Serbian revolution ousts dictator Mass protests in Belgrade on October 5, 2000 toppled Serbian President Slobodan Milosevic after he refused to accept election results.
• 2000 From steel to finance — Grand Duke Henri A modern boom As the steel era ends, Luxembourg reinvents itself as a global banking and finance hub; Grand Duke Henri accedes in 2000, reigning over one of the world's wealthiest nations.
• 2000 Bombing of the USS Cole An al-Qaeda suicide attack on a United States warship in Yemen On 12 October 2000 two suicide bombers in a small boat detonated explosives against the hull of the destroyer USS Cole as it refuelled at Aden, Yemen. The blast tore a hole in the ship and killed 17 American sailors. Al-Qaeda was responsible, and the attack is seen as a precursor to the 11 September 2001 attacks.
• 2000 Hatfield rail crash A broken rail derails an express train in England On 17 October 2000 a London-to-Leeds express derailed at speed near Hatfield, Hertfordshire, when a rail shattered from rolling-contact fatigue, killing four passengers. The infrastructure owner Railtrack imposed emergency speed limits across the network, causing months of disruption. The crash contributed to Railtrack's collapse and replacement by Network Rail.
• 2000 X-35 first flight Joint Strike Fighter demonstrator Lockheed Martin's X-35A flies in the Joint Strike Fighter competition against Boeing's X-32.
• 2000 U2 release All That You Can't Leave Behind Beautiful Day A return to their classic sound.
• 2000 – present Adele Born May 5, 1988 — record-breaking singer Adele Laurie Blue Adkins was born on May 5, 1988 in London. Her album 21 spent 24 weeks at number one in the UK and 24 in the US. Her single Hello sold 1 million copies in the UK in a single week.
• 2000 First resident crew reaches the International Space Station Expedition 1 begins a continuous human presence in orbit Expedition 1, with commander Bill Shepherd and cosmonauts Yuri Gidzenko and Sergei Krikalev, launched from Baikonur on 31 October 2000 and docked with the International Space Station on 2 November. Their arrival began an unbroken human presence aboard the station that still continues. The crew stayed for over four months.