2013 Timeline: Events, People and History

Events in 2013 78

1913 – 2013 Eiji Toyoda (1913-2013) Died 17 September 2013, aged 100 Eiji Toyoda was a Japanese industrialist who led Toyota Motor Corporation through its expansion into a major global automaker and helped develop the Toyota Production System. He died at his home in Toyota City, Japan.
1915 – 2013 Princess Lilian The Secret Love The Welsh commoner who lived in a semi-secret relationship with Prince Bertil for 30 years.
1917 – 2013 Joan Fontaine (1917-2013) British-American actress, star of Rebecca and the only actor to win an Oscar for a Hitchcock film.
1918 – 2013 Nelson Mandela Anti-apartheid leader and first president of democratic South Africa, 1918-2013 Nelson Mandela spent 27 years in prison before becoming South Africa's first democratically elected president in 1994, ending apartheid.
1919 – 2013 Doris Lessing (1919-2013) Died 17 November 2013, aged 94 Doris Lessing was a British novelist awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature in 2007 for works including The Golden Notebook. She died at her home in London.
1920 – 2013 Stan Musial (1920-2013) Died 19 January 2013, aged 92 Stan Musial was an American baseball Hall of Famer who spent his entire 22-season career with the St. Louis Cardinals, winning three World Series titles. He died at his home in Missouri.
1921 – 2013 Esther Williams (1921-2013) Died 6 June 2013, aged 91 Esther Williams was an American competitive swimmer turned actress who starred in a series of Hollywood aquamusicals in the 1940s and 1950s. She died in her sleep at her Beverly Hills home.
1921 – 2013 Deanna Durbin (1921-2013) Canadian singer and actress whose musicals saved Universal in the 1930s, and who left Hollywood at 28.
1922 – 2013 Eleanor Parker (1922-2013) American actress with three Oscar nominations, remembered as the Baroness in The Sound of Music.
1923 – 2013 Jean Stapleton (1923-2013) Died 31 May 2013, aged 90 Jean Stapleton was an American actress best known for playing Edith Bunker on the television sitcom All in the Family. She died at her home in New York City.
1925 – 2013 Elmore Leonard (1925-2013) Died 20 August 2013, aged 87 Elmore Leonard was an American author of crime novels including Get Shorty and Out of Sight, many of which were adapted into films. He died at his home in Michigan after suffering a stroke.
1925 – 2013 Margaret Thatcher The Iron Lady The first female Prime Minister of the United Kingdom.
1927 – 2013 Patti Page (1927-2013) Died 1 January 2013, aged 85 Patti Page was an American pop singer best known for the 1950s hit Tennessee Waltz, one of the best-selling singles of all time. She died in California shortly before receiving a Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award.
1929 – 2013 Ronnie Biggs (1929-2013) Died 18 December 2013, aged 84 Ronnie Biggs was a British criminal who took part in the 1963 Great Train Robbery and evaded capture for decades after escaping prison, living for years as a fugitive in Brazil. He died in a care home in England.
1930 – 2013 Chinua Achebe (1930-2013) Died 21 March 2013, aged 82 Chinua Achebe was a Nigerian novelist whose 1958 debut Things Fall Apart became one of the most widely read works of African literature. He died in Boston after a period of declining health.
1931 – 2013 George Jones (1931-2013) Died 26 April 2013, aged 81 George Jones was an American country music singer known for hits including He Stopped Loving Her Today, widely regarded as one of the genre's greatest vocalists. He died in Nashville from hypoxic respiratory failure.
1932 – 2013 Peter O'Toole (1932-2013) Died 14 December 2013, aged 81 Peter O'Toole was a British actor best known for his Academy Award-nominated performance in Lawrence of Arabia. He died in a London hospital after a long illness.
1934 – 2013 Van Cliburn (1934-2013) Died 27 February 2013, aged 78 Van Cliburn was an American pianist who won the first International Tchaikovsky Competition in Moscow in 1958 during the Cold War, becoming a celebrated cultural figure in both the US and Soviet Union. He died at his home in Texas of bone cancer.
1939 – 2013 Ray Manzarek (1939-2013) Died 20 May 2013, aged 74 Ray Manzarek was an American musician and co-founder of the rock band the Doors, known for his distinctive keyboard work. He died in Germany after a long battle with bile duct cancer.
1939 – 2013 Seamus Heaney (1939-2013) Died 30 August 2013, aged 74 Seamus Heaney was an Irish poet and Nobel laureate, widely regarded as one of the major poets of the twentieth century. He died in Dublin following a short illness.
1942 – 2013 Lou Reed (1942-2013) Died 27 October 2013, aged 71 Lou Reed was an American musician and songwriter, frontman of the Velvet Underground and later a solo artist known for albums including Transformer. He died of liver disease following a liver transplant.
1942 – 2013 Roger Ebert (1942-2013) Died 4 April 2013, aged 70 Roger Ebert was an American film critic for the Chicago Sun-Times and co-host of the television program At the Movies, the first film critic to win a Pulitzer Prize for criticism. He died after a long battle with cancer that had cost him the ability to speak.
1942 – 2013 Annette Funicello (1942-2013) Died 8 April 2013, aged 70 Annette Funicello was an American actress and singer who rose to fame as one of the original Mouseketeers on The Mickey Mouse Club and later starred in a series of beach-party films. She died from complications of multiple sclerosis, with which she had lived for over two decades.
1947 – 2013 Tom Clancy (1947-2013) Died 1 October 2013, aged 66 Tom Clancy was an American author of best-selling techno-thriller novels including The Hunt for Red October and Patriot Games, many of which were adapted into films. He died in Baltimore after a brief illness.
1954 – 2013 Hugo Chavez (1954-2013) Died 5 March 2013, aged 58 Hugo Chavez, President of Venezuela from 1999 until his death, died of cancer in Caracas. He championed a socialist political movement known as Chavismo and remained a polarising figure in Latin American politics.
1961 – 2013 James Gandolfini (1961-2013) Died 19 June 2013, aged 51 James Gandolfini was an American actor best known for playing mob boss Tony Soprano on the HBO series The Sopranos, a role that earned him three Emmy Awards. He died of a heart attack while on vacation in Rome.
1973 – 2013 Paul Walker (1973-2013) Died 30 November 2013, aged 40 Paul Walker was an American actor known for starring in the Fast & Furious film franchise. He died in a car crash in Santa Clarita, California, as a passenger in a vehicle driven by a friend.
1982 – 2013 Cory Monteith (1982-2013) Died 13 July 2013, aged 31 Cory Monteith was a Canadian actor known for playing Finn Hudson on the musical television series Glee. He was found dead in a Vancouver hotel room from a combination of alcohol and heroin.
1983 – 2013 Reeva Steenkamp (1983-2013) Died 14 February 2013, aged 29 Reeva Steenkamp was a South African model and law graduate who was fatally shot by her boyfriend, Paralympic athlete Oscar Pistorius, at his home in Pretoria. The killing and subsequent trial drew intense international media attention.
1993 – 2013 Albert II King of Belgium Albert II presided over Belgium during periods of political instability and constitutional reform.
2008 – 2013 Breaking Bad AMC, 2008-2013 - 62 episodes over five seasons Vince Gilligan's drama about a chemistry teacher who becomes a meth kingpin, from Mr. Chips to Scarface.
2013 "Share a Coke" campaign Personal names replace the Coca-Cola logo The "Share a Coke" campaign — replacing the Coca-Cola logo on bottles with 150 popular first names — was launched globally in 2013. It became one of the most successful marketing campaigns in the company's history, boosting sales for the first time in over a decade.
2013 12 Years a Slave Best Picture — 86th Academy Awards Steve McQueen's adaptation of Solomon Northup's memoir of being kidnapped and sold into slavery in 1841.
2013 – present BTS The K-Pop Phenomenon The biggest band in the world; brought K-Pop to the center of the global music industry.
2013 Division title and playoff run Led by Carmelo Anthony and Amar'e Stoudemire, the Knicks win their first division title in 19 years before falling to Indiana in the Conference Semifinals.
2013 – present Post Malone The Genre-Bender Known for his unique blend of hip-hop, pop, and country influences.
2013 – 2014 The shoulder surgery and infection In 2013 Thorpe undergoes surgery on a shoulder injury sustained during his comeback attempt. The operation is complicated by a serious infection -- a medical crisis that requires extended treatment and leaves the prospect of further operations. He discusses the ongoing shoulder problems in the 2014 Parkinson interview, where they form part of a broader portrait of a man dealing with multiple simultaneous crises: the depression, the alcohol, the shoulder, and the sexuality he has not yet publicly acknowledged.
2013 Vacation -- debut single from The Smurfs 2 G.R.L.'s debut single "Vacation" is released as part of the soundtrack to the animated film The Smurfs 2 (2013), giving the group an immediate high-visibility platform. The Smurfs franchise is a major global family entertainment property, and the soundtrack placement guarantees exposure to a broad international audience. The single introduces G.R.L. to the public as a polished, energetic pop act and sets up their more mature-skewing follow-up material.
2013 Amazon Prime grows to 20 million Subscription retail changes shopping Amazon Prime reached approximately 20 million subscribers in the US in 2013. Its combination of free shipping and streaming video created a new model for retail and entertainment.
2013 Spotify reaches 24 million users Streaming dominates music Spotify grew to 24 million active users in 2013, with 6 million paying subscribers, demonstrating that music streaming was replacing downloads as the dominant way people listen to music.
2013 Graphene production breakthrough Wonder material becomes manufacturable Researchers announced a breakthrough in large-scale graphene production in 2013, making the wonder material — 200 times stronger than steel, lighter than paper and highly conductive — commercially viable for electronics.
2013 North Korea conducts third nuclear test Underground detonation at Punggye-ri draws global condemnation North Korea detonated its third nuclear device at the Punggye-ri test site, prompting new UN Security Council sanctions. The test was more powerful than the two before it and heightened tensions with South Korea and the United States.
2013 Chelyabinsk meteor airburst Meteor explodes over Russia, injuring over 1,000 A roughly 20-metre asteroid entered the atmosphere over Chelyabinsk, Russia, and exploded with the force of several hundred kilotons of TNT. The shockwave shattered windows across the region, injuring over 1,200 people, mostly from flying glass. It was the largest recorded natural object to enter Earth's atmosphere since the 1908 Tunguska event.
2013 Pope Benedict XVI resigns First papal resignation in 600 years Pope Benedict XVI resigned on February 28, 2013, the first pope to resign since Gregory XII in 1415. He cited declining health and age as the reasons.
2013 Pope Francis elected First Jesuit and Latin American pope Cardinal Jorge Mario Bergoglio of Argentina was elected Pope Francis on March 13, 2013, becoming the first Jesuit, first Latin American and first pope from the Southern Hemisphere.
2013 Xi Jinping becomes President of China National People's Congress confirms leadership transition Xi Jinping was elected President of the People's Republic of China by the National People's Congress, completing a leadership transition that had begun with his appointment as Communist Party General Secretary months earlier. He also assumed the chairmanship of the Central Military Commission.
2013 Boston Marathon bombing Twin bombings kill three and injure hundreds Two pressure-cooker bombs detonated near the finish line of the Boston Marathon, killing three spectators and injuring more than 260 people. A manhunt led to the death of one bomber, Tamerlan Tsarnaev, and the capture of his brother Dzhokhar four days later. The attack prompted a lockdown of the greater Boston area.
2013 2013 World Snooker Championship O’Sullivan Title 5 O’Sullivan won after taking a year off. Winner: Ronnie O’Sullivan; Runner-up: Barry Hawkins. Score: 18–12.
2013 Rana Plaza building collapse Garment factory disaster kills over 1,100 workers An eight-storey commercial building housing garment factories collapsed in Savar, near Dhaka, Bangladesh, killing more than 1,100 workers and injuring thousands more. It remains the deadliest garment-industry accident in history and led to major reforms in factory safety standards and international supply-chain accountability.
2013 Abdication of Queen Beatrix Willem-Alexander becomes king Queen Beatrix abdicated in favor of her son Willem-Alexander.
2013 Iron Man 3 #1 film of 2013 — $1.21bn worldwide Directed by Shane Black. Tony Stark faces a powerful enemy known as the Mandarin who destroys his private world.
2013 Star Trek Into Darkness The second Kelvin Timeline film controversially reworks "The Wrath of Khan," with Benedict Cumberbatch playing a whitewashed Khan. Divisive among fans and critics; commercially successful but marks the beginning of the Kelvin Timeline's creative difficulties. Budget: $190 million. Gross: $467 million.
2013 Same-sex marriage legalised in France Marriage for all law enacted after mass protests France legalised same-sex marriage and adoption with the 'Marriage pour tous' law, becoming the fourteenth country to do so. The law passed despite large protests from opponents and was followed by the country's first same-sex weddings within weeks.
2013 Edward Snowden leaks NSA surveillance documents Contractor reveals mass surveillance programs to journalists Former NSA contractor Edward Snowden gave journalists classified documents revealing the scale of US and allied government mass-surveillance programs, including bulk collection of phone and internet data. He publicly identified himself days later before fleeing to Hong Kong and then Russia, where he was granted asylum. The disclosures triggered a global debate on privacy and state surveillance.
2013 Hassan Rouhani elected President of Iran Moderate cleric wins on reformist platform Hassan Rouhani won Iran's presidential election on a platform of engagement with the West and economic reform, succeeding Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. His election paved the way for renewed nuclear negotiations later that year.
2013 Man of Steel Superman reboot — $668m worldwide Directed by Zack Snyder, starring Henry Cavill. Clark Kent discovers the truth about his alien origins and becomes Superman.
2013 Wimbledon 2013 Men: Andy Murray · Women: Marion Bartoli Andy Murray became the first British men's champion since Fred Perry in 1936 — ending a 77-year wait.
2013 Egyptian military ousts President Morsi Army removes elected government amid mass protests Following days of mass protests against President Mohamed Morsi, the Egyptian military, led by General Abdel Fattah el-Sisi, suspended the constitution and removed him from office. The move ended Egypt's first freely elected civilian government and led to a violent crackdown on Muslim Brotherhood supporters.
2013 Nelson Mandela hospitalised Final illness of South African icon Nelson Mandela was hospitalised in Pretoria on June 8, 2013, with a recurring lung infection. He died on December 5, 2013, aged 95.
2013 Same-sex marriage legalised in England and Wales Marriage Act receives royal assent The Marriage (Same Sex Couples) Act received royal assent, legalising same-sex marriage in England and Wales. The first same-sex weddings under the law took place in early 2014.
2013 Detroit files for bankruptcy Largest municipal bankruptcy in US history The city of Detroit filed for Chapter 9 bankruptcy protection, citing roughly $18 billion in debt, making it the largest municipal bankruptcy in US history. Decades of population decline and industrial contraction had eroded the city's tax base.
2013 Helen Thomas dies Pioneer White House journalist, died July 20, 2013 Helen Thomas, the pioneering American journalist who covered every US president from Kennedy to Obama, died on July 20, 2013, aged 92. She was the first female officer of the National Press Club and the first female member of the White House Correspondents Association.
2013 Prince George of Cambridge born Future heir to the British throne arrives Prince George of Cambridge was born in London to Prince William and Catherine, Duchess of Cambridge, becoming third in line to the British throne. His birth drew worldwide media attention as the first child of the couple.
2013 Death of Prince Friso Dutch royal dies after coma Prince Friso died following complications from his skiing accident.
2013 Chemical weapons attack in Ghouta Sarin gas attack near Damascus kills hundreds Rockets carrying the nerve agent sarin struck rebel-held suburbs of Ghouta near Damascus, killing several hundred civilians during Syria's civil war. The attack prompted international outcry and led to a US-Russia brokered agreement for Syria to surrender its chemical weapons stockpile.
2013 Diana Nyad swims from Cuba to Florida First person to complete the crossing without a shark cage Long-distance swimmer Diana Nyad completed a roughly 110-mile swim from Havana, Cuba, to Key West, Florida, in about 53 hours, becoming the first person to make the crossing without a protective shark cage. It was her fifth attempt at the swim, at age 64.
2013 Voyager 1 confirmed to reach interstellar space NASA probe becomes first human-made object beyond the solar system NASA announced that the Voyager 1 spacecraft, launched in 1977, had crossed into interstellar space over a year earlier, based on plasma density readings. It became the first human-made object to leave the heliosphere.
2013 Westgate shopping mall attack Al-Shabaab gunmen kill dozens in Nairobi siege Militants from the Somali group al-Shabaab attacked the Westgate shopping mall in Nairobi, Kenya, killing at least 67 people in a four-day siege. The attack was described as retaliation for Kenyan military involvement in Somalia.
2013 Grand Theft Auto V released Fastest entertainment product to $1bn Grand Theft Auto V was released on September 17, 2013, reaching $1 billion in sales in just 3 days — the fastest any entertainment product had ever reached that milestone.
2013 US federal government shutdown Budget standoff over Affordable Care Act funding The US federal government partially shut down for 16 days after Congress failed to pass funding legislation amid disputes over the Affordable Care Act. Hundreds of thousands of federal employees were furloughed before a last-minute deal raised the debt ceiling and reopened the government.
2013 Higgs and Englert win Nobel Prize in Physics Award recognises theory behind the Higgs boson Peter Higgs and Francois Englert were awarded the Nobel Prize in Physics for their theoretical work predicting the Higgs boson, confirmed experimentally at CERN's Large Hadron Collider the previous year. The discovery explained how fundamental particles acquire mass.
2013 Typhoon Haiyan strikes the Philippines One of the strongest tropical cyclones on record Typhoon Haiyan, known locally as Yolanda, made landfall in the central Philippines with sustained winds over 300 km/h, one of the most powerful tropical cyclones ever recorded at landfall. It killed more than 6,000 people and displaced millions, devastating the city of Tacloban.
2013 Sony launches the PlayStation 4 New console kicks off eighth console generation Sony released the PlayStation 4 in North America, launching the eighth generation of home video game consoles alongside Microsoft's competing Xbox One. It went on to become one of the best-selling consoles in history.
2013 Microsoft launches the Xbox One Console debuts as Sony's PlayStation 4 rival Microsoft released the Xbox One, its third home video game console, a week after Sony's PlayStation 4 launch. The console emphasized integrated media and entertainment features alongside gaming.
2013 Interim nuclear deal reached with Iran Geneva agreement curbs Iranian nuclear program Iran and six world powers signed an interim agreement in Geneva under which Iran agreed to curb parts of its nuclear program in exchange for limited sanctions relief. The deal was a first step toward the comprehensive agreement reached in 2015.
2013 Frozen #2 film of 2013 — $1.27bn worldwide Disney animated film directed by Chris Buck and Jennifer Lee. A fearless princess sets off on a journey to find her estranged sister Elsa, whose icy powers have trapped their kingdom.
2013 Nelson Mandela dies Father of the Rainbow Nation, age 95 Nelson Mandela died on December 5, 2013, aged 95, at his home in Johannesburg. The first democratically elected president of South Africa and Nobel Peace Prize laureate was mourned worldwide.
2013 Civil war breaks out in South Sudan Political rivalry ignites ethnic conflict Fighting broke out in Juba between forces loyal to President Salva Kiir and former Vice President Riek Machar, quickly spreading into a civil war along ethnic lines. The conflict would kill tens of thousands and displace millions over the following years.