20 Reasons to Remember 2013

For what ever reason, whether they were uplifting, upsetting, amusing, distressing or shocking, there have been certain news stories that have peaked our interest and will continue to stick around in our minds long after this year is up. Here, we round up those memorable stories of 2013.

15th January: The horse meat scandal where it came to light that some products advertised as beef were found to contain varying degrees of horse meat. Supermarkets affected included Tesco, Aldi and Co-op among others.

16th January: Lance Armstrong finally admitted to doping on Oprah Winfrey’s chat show.

14th February: Oscar Pistorius girlfriend Reeva Steencamp was fatally shot at his home. He has been charged with the murder and his trial will take place in March 2014.

15th February: A meteorite strike crashed into Chelyabinsk, Russia. Nearly 1,000 injured.

24th February: Daniel Day Lewis became first man to win three Best Actor awards for his films My Left Foot: The Story of Christy Brown (1989), There will be Blood (2007) and Lincoln (2013) respectively.

February/March: Pope Benedict XVI made history as the 1st Pope to resign in 600 years. Argentina’s Jorge Mario Bergoglio was elected as Pope Francis soon after.

8th April: First female British prime minister Margaret Thatcher died at 87 years old.

15th April: Boston Marathon was rocked when several bombs exploded near the finish line. 3 people died and hundreds more were injured.

April: Lego builds largest model ever with life-sized X Wing Fighter jet from the Star Wars franchise. Contains 5,335,200 LEGO bricks.

May: Canadian astronaut Chris Hadfield makes 1st ever music video in space when he records lip-synch to David Bowie’s Space Odyssey. Video subsequently goes viral with almost 20,000,000 views to date.

7th July: Andy Murray wins Wimbledon making him the 1st British man to win in 77 years.

22nd July: Prince George or Cambridge born to Prince William, Duke of Cambridge, and Catherine, Duchess of Cambridge.

24th July: Announced that Jane Austen will emblazon £10 notes from 2017.

24th July: Devastating train crash in Spain kills 79 people.

August: Oxford English Dictionary Online added words such as ‘twerk’, ‘BYOD’, ‘selfie’ and ’emoji’ to their records.

September: Gunmen attack Westgate Shopping Mall in Nairobi, Kenya.

November: Philippines hit by catastrophic Typhoon Haiyan.

November: Former Co-operative Bank Chairman Paul Flowers was involved in drugs scandal and was revealed to have taken cocaine, ketamine and crystal meth.

29th November: A police helicopter crashed into the Clutha pub in Glasgow on a busy Friday night, killing 10 people and injuring dozens.

5th December: Legendary world leader Nelson Mandela died aged 95.