Millennium fever, 20 years on
- Published
Big Ben as it struck midnight heralding the new Millennium
It may come as a shock to discover that we're now 20 years into the new Millennium.
In contrast to the Noughties' gloom that was soon to descend over the UK, the enthusiasm that greeted New Year's Day 2000, external was almost palpable.
Prime Minister Tony Blair was at his most Tiggerish , externalwhen he said the "confidence and optimism" for the new Millennium should be bottled and kept forever.
How Northern Ireland partied
The BBC's Noel Thompson got in the party mood at Belfast City Hall
In Northern Ireland, the feel-good factor that came with the signing of the Good Friday Agreement in 1998 was still in the air.
The public entertainments laid on for the once-in-a-thousand-years party suggest these were simpler times.
Almost 40,000 people crowded into Belfast City Centre to watch singer Brian Kennedy and ABBA tribute band Bjorn Again
At the city's leaning Albert Clock, the BBC reported,, external "the bottles of champagne, sparkling wine and hip flasks came out, people shook hands and cheered in the New Year"
In Londonderry, around 15,000 people kicked off the celebrations with a rendition of Danny Boy. The Nobel Prize winner and SDLP leader, John Hume, was reported to be among the 2,000 singers in the city's Guildhall Square
The Guardian's Henry McDonald reported, external that at the city's Altnagelvin Hospital British tabloid journalists had indulged in "a sordid auction" to buy pictures of the first Millennium baby
In Craigavon, 20,000 people gathered at the Watersports Centre to see a glowing Dragon Boat and watch Freddie Mercury tribute act Flash Harry
The Y2K bug that never bit
The government campaign to prepare us for the Y2K chaos
If there was a fly in the ointment it was the Millennium Bug, or the Y2K bug as it was named by keen futurists.
Some IT experts reckoned that computers would stop working when the date flicked over to 01/01/2000.
The government's bug advice reassured homeowners that swimming pool equipment would not be affected
The media extrapolated this to mean that planes would rain from the sky like a wet day in Manchester.
The government placed an eight-page Action 2000 supplement in national newspapers.
It gave advice on what to do about PCs, video recorders, answer phones and fax machines, but reassured homeowners that lawn mowers, hedge trimmers, rotovators, barbeques and swimming pool equipment would be unaffected.
What actually happened?
The impact of the Y2K bug was felt in places, but limited:
Radiation-monitoring equipment failed at midnight at a nuclear power station in Ishikawa, Japan, but officials said there was no risk to the public
The US military detected the launch of three Russian Scud missiles, but this turned out to be non-Y2K related. They were fired as part of the ongoing conflict in Chechnya
Bus ticket validation machines failed in Australia
The US official timekeeper, the Naval Observatory, reported the date as 19100 on its website
A district court in South Korea summoned 170 people to court on 4 January 1900
In the UK, some credit card transactions failed
Shoppers in Tokyo stocked up on mineral water, pre-cooked rice and portable cooking stoves in case of electricity and gas shutdowns
In 2018, BBC technology correspondent Rory Cellan-Jones sought the views of scientists and IT experts who had worked on tackling the bug threat to test the theory that it had all been media hype.
Most of them said major problems had only been avoided due to the huge amounts of effort and planning.
Alec Muffett, who worked at Sun Microsystems from 1992 to 2009, said: "Anyone saying the millennium bug was in some sense a damp squib is ignoring that its being a squib was due to hard work."
Millennium projects that went a bit wrong
The Queen joins Tony and Cherie Blair for a chorus of Auld Lang Syne at the Millennium Dome
The Millennium Dome
Built at a cost of £758m, the Dome was the centrepiece of a nationwide network of projects overseen by the Millennium Commission. The Dome was insolvent almost from the beginning., external
It even had its own government minister, Lord Falconer, who was forced to defend the building against accusations that it was a waste of money.
"I don't think it is a shallow Disneyland," he said.
On the big day, thousands of people arrived at the Dome after a "day of frustration and chaos", external queuing for their tickets in evening wear at glamorous Stratford and Charlton railway stations.
The Dome has since been renamed the O2 and hosts major music and sports events.
The London Eye
The London Eye before Tony Blair fired a laser beam at it
Early adopter Tony Blair took another leap into techno-utopianism as he fired a laser beam across the Thames to set the big wheel in motion.
Fortunately there were no passengers on board as a last-minute health and safety check discovered that one of the 32-passenger capsules was unsafe.
The Wobbly Bridge
The Millennium Bridge with the dome of St Paul's Cathedral on the north bank of the Thames
The Millennium Bridge was London's first new Thames crossing in more than 100 years.
Some £7m of the £18m cost came from the Millennium Commission. When faced with a throng of pedestrians the bridge developed a very worrying and obvious wobble.
It was closed two days after it opened in June 2000 and reopened in February 2002 after shock absorbers had been fitted.
The Spinnaker Tower
Repeated construction delays meant Portsmouth's Spinnaker Tower didn't open until 2005
Portsmouth's project for the Year 2000 was approved by the Millennium Commission in 1995, but didn't open until 2005.
The tower's project manager got stuck in a glass lift 30m (98ft) in the air at the opening ceremony.
Repeated delays resulted in a cost to the taxpayer of £11.1m when the public had originally been told it would cost them nothing.
Despite the early teething problems, the 170m (560ft) Spinnaker Tower has become a symbol of the city, attracting 2.5m visitors.
The National Centre for Popular Music
Shiny but short-lived. The National Centre for Popular Music
Inspired by the hype around '90s Britpop, the BBC described Sheffield's Millennium project as "the world's first interactive temple to pop music", external.
The unusual design - four huge drums with a large spout emerging from each roof - was not enough to keep the centre from closing in July 2000 due to low visitor numbers.
The building is now the students' union for Sheffield Hallam University.
The Chime in the Slime
Time ran out for the Dublin's Chime in the Slime
It wasn't just in the UK that certain Millennium projects went off at half cock. The Irish National Lottery funded a countdown clock placed in Dublin's River Liffey.
The £250,000 clock was installed in March 1996 but removed two days later.
Dubliners have a habit of giving ludicrous names to their public art and the clock was soon rejoicing in the title of the Chime in the Slime.
A number of attempts were made to rescue the project but the clock was removed for good in December 1996
And one that prompted envious looks...
The Irish Times said the Odyssey complex was "a triumph" for Belfast
The Odyssey complex in Belfast received a glowing review from the Irish Times Life and Style section:
"Overall, the Odyssey complex is a triumph for everyone associated with it. Like the Waterfront Hall, it lifts Belfast city from provincial status and gives the people of Northern Ireland a world-class facility.
"And whatever about the wealth generated by the Celtic Tiger economy, it leaves Dublin in the ha'penny place."