Singing Sisters
Lyn Paul continues her highly acclaimed performances in the West End production of Blood Brothers and after the show on 16th February celebrates her 50th birthday with other members of the cast.
Lyn takes a Summer break from Blood Brothers, returning to the show in October for two months. After taking her final bow on 4th December. Lyn hands back the role of Mrs. Johnstone to Stephanie Lawrence, from whom she first inherited the part in the 1997 UK touring production.
Pictured above:
Posters of Lyn Paul
on display outside the Phoenix Theatre.
 
During 1999 Lyn and her sister Nikki Belsher are featured in the magazine Musical Stages (Issue 17, Spring 1999). In November they are interviewed for an article about sisters in the Express. In the latter Lyn says:
"There's a closeness I have with Nik and my other sisters that you could never have with a friend. It's a no-holds-barred situation. You never have to watch what you say."
Meanwhile, on 8th November, a video of Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat is released, featuring Nikki as one of the Wives (Wife 2). Inspired by the London Palladium production, the video stars Donny Osmond as Joseph, with Maria Friedman as the Narrator, Richard Attenborough as Jacob and Joan Collins as Mrs. Potiphar. The video was filmed during the Summer (June - October) at the Pinewood Studios in Buckinghamshire. It is re-issued as a DVD on 16th October 2000.
Pictured above:
Photos of the Blood Brothers cast featuring Lyn Paul
outside the Phoenix Theatre Box Office.
Incidentally ...
On 22nd May Boyzone top the UK singles chart with You Needed Me, a song recorded by the New Seekers in 1978, after Lyn Paul had left the group.
Work begins on developing the Lyn Paul website on Monday, 7th June 1999. Beta testing begins in August 2000 (with thanks to Dave, John, Rosie and Steve). The site officially goes live (with Lyn Paul's approval) on 9th October 2000.
| In the News - 1999 |
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| Jan |
Europe's new currency, the Euro, is launched and immediately plummets in value.
Paddy Ashdown resigns as leader of the Liberal Democrats.
A report is published on 25th January recommending that five members of the International Olympic Committee (IOC) are expelled for corruption.
Impeachment proceedings begin against US President Bill Clinton.
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| Feb |
King Hussein of Jordan dies on Sunday, 7th February, following a long battle against cancer.
The Kurdish rebel leader Abdullah Öcalan is arrested in Nairobi on 15th February and flown to Turkey, where he is put on trial for treason and attempting to divide the country.
The England football team manager, Glen Hoddle, resigns following his comments the previous month, that disabled people were being punished for their sins in former lives.
The Macpherson Report on the murder of Stephen Lawrence is published on 24th February. It accuses the Police of racism and incompetence.
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| Mar |
Dusty Springfield dies from breast cancer on 2nd March. Ten days later, on the day of her funeral service, thousands turn out to pay their respects as her coffin, decorated with flowers which spell her name, makes its progress through the streets of Henley in a horse-drawn carriage.
Yehudi Menuhin dies in Berlin on 12th March, aged 82.
Ernie Wise dies on 21st March, aged 73.
The President of the European Union, Jacques Santer, and all 19 of the European Commissioners resign following allegations of widespread corruption.
On 24th March NATO launches air attacks on Serbia.
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| Apr |
Rwanda holds a week of mourning to commemorate the 500,000 people killed in the three-month genocide of 1994.
In the UK a national minimum wage of £3.60 per hour is introduced.
Lionel Bart, who composed the musical Oliver and wrote Cliff Richard's hit Living Doll, dies from cancer on 3rd April, aged 69.
On 6th April, 25 years to the day after ABBA's victory in the Eurovision Song Contest, the musical Mamma Mia!, written by ABBA's Benny Anderson and Björn Ulvaeus in partnership with Tim Rice, opens in London's West End.
The President of Niger, Ibrahim Bare Mainassara, is assassinated on 9th April.
On three successive weekends nail bombs, apparently targeted at London's Asian, black and gay communities, explode in Brixton, Brick Lane Market and at the Admiral Duncan pub in Soho.
On 20th April Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold, two students at Columbine High School, Denver, run through their school firing automatic weapons and throwing homemade bombs. They kill 11 pupils and two teachers before shooting themselves.
Crimewatch presenter Jill Dando is shot dead outside her home in Fulham on 26th April.
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| May |
Oliver Reed dies on 2nd May. Dirk Bogarde dies on 8th May.
On 6th May elections are held for the new Welsh Assembly and Scottish Parliament. The Labour Party wins the largest number of seats in both Chambers but fails to win an outright majority in either. Commenting later on the BBC radio show 'I'm Sorry I Haven't A Clue', Humphrey Lyttelton quips: "The list of members of the new Parliament makes fascinating reading - a veritable "Who's That?" of British politics." The Scottish Parliament meets for the first time on Wednesday, 12th May - the fifth anniversary of the death of the Labour leader John Smith.
Protesters take to the streets in China on 9th May, following the bombing by NATO forces of the Chinese embassy in Belgrade.
Shel Silverstien, who wrote A Boy Named Sue for Johnny Cash and Sylvia's Mother for Dr. Hook, dies of a heart attack on 10th May.
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| Jun |
Arrest warrants against the Serbian President Slobodan Milosevic are issued by the War Crimes Tribunal in the Hague for crimes against humanity.
On Tuesday, 8th June the former Tory MP Jonathan Aitken is sentenced to 18 months in jail for perjury and perverting the course of justice, after admitting that he had lied during his failed libel action against The Guardian and Granada TV.
Nelson Mandela retires as President of South Africa.
On 13th June the News Of The World reports that Oasis had paid Gary Glitter £200,000 in an out-of-court settlement for using the lyric 'Hello, Hello, It's Good To Be Back' in the song Hello.
On 16th June the founder of the Monster Raving Loony party, Screaming Lord Sutch, is found hanging in his mother's home in Harrow.
In the City of London on 18th June protesters cause widespread damage when a "Carnival Against Capitalism" deteriorates into violence.
Prince Edward and Sophie Rhys-Jones get married on 19th June.
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| Jul |
Guy Mitchell, who toured the UK in 1994 with Lyn Paul as his support act, dies on 1st July, aged 72.
David Beckham and Victoria Adams (aka Posh Spice) get married on 4th July at Luttrellstown Castle in Ireland.
On 9th July Jerry Hall announces through her solicitors that, after more than 20 years of marriage, she has agreed to a separation from her husband, Mick Jagger.
On the same day Elton John has an operation to have a pacemaker fitted.
Nick Leeson is released from prison.
The Admiral Duncan pub, scene of the Soho bomb attack in April, re-opens for business in time for London's first ever lesbian and gay Mardi Gras celebration.
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| Aug |
Charles Kennedy is elected leader of the Liberal Democrats.
On Wednesday, 11th August crowds gather around the world to watch the first total eclipse of the sun since 1927. In the UK clouds obscure the view but the next day disappointed sun-watchers get to see what they missed on the front pages of newspapers.
The Turkish town of Izmit is hit by a huge earthquake on 17th August. More than 17,000 people are killed.
A Norfolk farmer, Tony Martin, shoots two burglars at his home on 20th August, injuring 29-year-old Brendan Fearon in the legs and killing his 16-year-old accomplice Fred Barras.
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| Sep |
An 87-year-old grandmother, Melita Norwood, is exposed as a former Soviet spy.
East Timor is beset by violence following elections on 4th September, in which 78.5% vote for independence from Indonesia. United Nations troops arrive on 20th September to help keep the peace.
A Police Review Commission report published on 9th September recommends reform of the Royal Ulster Constabulary (RUC).
Frankie Vaughan, who had hits in the '50s and '60s with songs such as The Green Door, The Garden Of Eden and Come Softly To Me, dies on 17th September, aged 71.
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| Oct |
31 people are killed on 5th October when two trains crash outside Paddington station.
On 11th October Deborah Rowe files for divorce from Michael Jackson.
On 12th October the Isle of Man post office issues six stamps honouring the Bee Gees.
Peter Mandelson gets Mo Mowlam's job in the Cabinet as Secretary of State for Northern Ireland.
President Jiang Zemin of China visits Britain. Prince Charles declines an invitation to a banquet at the Chinese Embassy. Meanwhile protesters are kept out of sight by the police.
Orissa, in eastern India, is hit by a cyclone on 29th October.
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| Nov |
On Saturday, 6th November Australians vote in a referendum to keep the Queen as Head of State.
Jeffrey Archer is forced to withdraw as the prospective Tory candidate for election as the new Mayor of London when it is revealed that he asked witnesses to lie for him in Court.
Tony and Cherie Blair announce that they are expecting their fourth child.
90-year-old Quentin Crisp ("one of the stately homos of England") dies of a heart attack on 21st November.
Violence erupts in Seattle on 30th November as protesters block the streets around the convention centre where the World Trade Organisation was due to meet.
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| Dec |
On 2nd December the new Northern Ireland Executive meets for the first time. The 12-seat Executive has responsibility for issues such as education, health and housing.
Michael Portillo wins the Kensington & Chelsea by-election. Having admitted to homosexual relationships as a student, Portillo is followed by gay rights activists during the election campaign.
Former Tory MP Neil Hamilton loses his libel case against Harrod's owner Mohamed Al Fayed.
The Royal Opera House in Covent Garden re-opens.
Radio stations ban Cliff Richard's single The Millennium Prayer but Cliff has the last laugh when it gets to number 1 and stays there for three weeks.
On Thursday, 30th December George Harrison is stabbed ten times in the chest by an intruder at his home in Henley-on-Thames, Oxfordshire. The stab wound misses his heart by an inch, leaving him with a punctured lung.
Noddy Holder (Slade) is awarded a MBE in the Queen's Millennium Honours. Mark Knopfler (Dire Straits) gets an OBE.
The Millennium Dome is completed in time for the New Year's Eve celebrations in London but the huge new ferris wheel on the South Bank, the London Eye, isn't ready in time.
On New Year's Eve the Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin takes over as acting president, following the surprise resignation of Boris Yeltsin.
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| In the Charts |
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| UK Chart Debuts |
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- Christina Aguilera
- A1
- Atomic Kitten
- Emma Bunton
- Craig David
- Dixie Chicks
- Eminem
- Macy Gray
- Geri Halliwell
- Enrique Iglesias
- Ronan Keating
- Jennifer Lopez
- S Club 7
- Scooch
- Britney Spears
- Westlife
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| UK Best-selling Singles |
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- Christina Aguilera
Genie In A Bottle
- Alice DeeJay
Better Off Alone
- A1
Be The First To Believe
- B*witched
Blame It On The Weatherman
- Backstreet Boys
I Want It That Way
- Barenaked Ladies
One Week
- Lou Bega
Mambo No. 5
- Blondie
Maria
- Boyzone
You Needed Me
- Cast
Beat Mama
- Chemical Brothers
Hey Boy Hey Girl
- Corrs
Runaway (Tin Tin Out Remix)
- Craig David
Re-Rewind The Crowd Say Bo Selecta
- Divine Comedy
National Express
- Eiffel 65
Blue (Da Ba Dee)
- Eminem
My Name Is
- Fatboy Slim
Praise You
- Five
Keep On Movin'
- Macy Gray
I Try
- Geri Halliwell
Lift Me Up
- Geri Halliwell
Look At Me
- Geri Halliwell
Mi Chico Latino
- Whitney Houston
It's Not Right But It's Okay
- Whitney Houston
My Love Is Your Love
- Tom Jones and
The Cardigans
Burning Down The House
- Ronan Keating
When You Say Nothing At All
- R. Kelly
If I Could Turn Back The Hands Of Time
- Lenny Kravitz
Fly Away
- Martine McCutcheon
Perfect Moment
- Martine McCutcheon
Talking In Your Sleep / Love Me
- Ricky Martin
Livin' La Vida Loca
- George Michael and Mary J Blige
As
- Moloko
Sing It Back
- New Radicals
You Get What You Give
- Charlotte Nilsson
Take Me To Your Heaven
[Eurovision Song Contest winner]
- 911
A Little Bit More
- Cliff Richard
Millennium Prayer
- S Club 7
Bring It All Back
- Semisonic
Secret Smile
- Sixpence None the Richer
Kiss Me
- Will Smith (featuring Dru Hill)
Wild Wild West
- Will Smith (featuring K-CI)
Will 2K
- Britney Spears
Baby One More Time
- Spice Girls
Goodbye
- Steps
Better Best Forgotten
- Steps
Heartbeat / Tragedy
- Steps
Love's Got A Hold On My Heart
- Texas
Summer Son
- Tin Tin Out
featuring Emma Bunton
What I Am
- Travis
Why Does It Always Rain On Me?
- Shania Twain
Man! I Feel Like A Woman
- Shania Twain
That Don't Impress Me Much
- 2Pac
Changes
- Vengaboys
We're Going To Ibiza!
- Wamdue Project
King Of My Castle
- Westlife
I Have A Dream / Seasons In The Sun
- Westlife
Flying Without Wings
- Robbie Williams
She's The One / It's Only Us
- Robbie Williams
Strong
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One Hit Wonders |
| |
- Chef featuring South Park
Chocolate Salty Balls (P.S. I Love You)
- Baz Luhrmann presents
Everybody's Free (To Wear Sunscreen)
- Mr. Oizo
Flat Beat
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| Hit Albums |
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- ABBA
Gold - Greatest Hits [re-issue]
- Culture Club
Don't Mind If I Do
- Dixie Chicks
Fly
- Vince Gill
The Key
- Tom Jones
Reload
- John Prine
In Spite Of Ourselves
- Linda Rondstadt and Emmylou Harris
Western Wall: the Tucson Sessions
- Steps
Steptacular
- Stereophonics
Performance and Cocktails
- Travis
The Man Who
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| At the Movies |
| |
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- American Pie
- An Ideal Husband
- Austin Powers 2: The Spy Who Shagged Me
- Bedrooms and Hallways
- The Blair Witch Project
- Boogie Nights
- A Bug's Life
- Little Voice
- Music Of The Heart
- Notting Hill
- Shakespeare In Love
- Star Wars Episode 1: The Phantom Menace
- Tea With Mussolini
- 10 Things I Hate About You
|
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| On Television |
| |
| |
- Friends Like These
- Gimme Gimme Gimme
- The League of Gentlemen
- Mrs. Merton and Malcolm
- News at Ten (ITN) gets the axe.
- Queer As Folk
- The Royle Family
(Series 2)
- Sex and The City
- Smack The Pony
- The Sopranos
- Walking With Dinosaurs
- Who Wants To Be A Millionaire?
|
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| Sporting Heroes |
| |
|
BBC Sport
BBC
Sports Personality
of the Year:
Lennox Lewis
|
|
Basketball: Michael Jordan retires.
Football: Manchester United win the treble - the FA Carling Premier League, the FA Cup and the European Champions' League.
Alex Ferguson is knighted.
Kevin Keegan is appointed Manager of the England team.
Rugby: Scotland win the Five Nations Championship.
Australia win the World Championship, beating France 35:12 in the final at the Millennium Stadium, Cardiff.
Snooker: Stephen Hendry wins the World Snooker Championship for the seventh time, beating Mark Williams in the final.
Mark Williams wins the UK Championship.
Tennis: Pete Sampras wins his second hat-trick of men's singles titles at Wimbledon. Andre Agassi, whom he beats in the final (6-3, 6-4, 7-5), wins both the French and US Open men's singles titles and ends the year as World No. 1.
Lindsay Davenport beats Steffi Graf to take the women's singles title at Wimbledon (6-4, 7-5). Graf retires from professional tennis.
Serena Williams wins the women's singles title at the US Open, beating Martina Hingis in the final.
Athletics: Hicham El Guerrouj sets two new world records. In June he runs the Mile in 3:43.13 and in September he runs the 2,000 metres in 4:44.79.
Cycling: the American cyclist Lance Armstrong wins the Tour de France, three years after being diagnosed with cancer.
Golf: Tiger Woods fights off a determined challenge from Sergio Garcia to win the US PGA Championship in Medinah by one shot.
The United States team, captained by Ben Crenshaw, wins the Ryder Cup.
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| Page-turners |
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Man Booker Prize
Winner:
J.M. Coetzee
Disgrace
Anita Desai
Fasting, Feasting
Michael Frayn
Headlong
Andrew O'Hagan
Our Fathers
Ahdaf Soueif
The Map Of Love
Colm Tóibin
The Blackwater Lightship
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