At A Glance

8 January 1999 at a glance

Day of the week
8 January 1999 was a Friday.
UK Number One
The UK Number One single was “Heartbeat / Tragedy” by Steps.
Top Film of 1999
The highest-grossing film worldwide released in 1999 was Star Wars: Episode I – The Phantom Menace.
Star sign
The star sign for 8 January is Capricorn.
Chinese zodiac
In the Chinese zodiac, 8 January 1999 fell in the Year of the Tiger.
Birthstone
The birthstone for January is Garnet.
Moon phase
The moon phase on 8 January 1999 was Waning Gibbous.

On this day: 8 January

  • 1982 Breakup of the Bell System: In the United States, AT&T agrees to divest itself of twenty-two subdivisions.
  • 1994 Russian cosmonaut Valeri Polyakov on Soyuz TM-18 leaves for Mir. He would stay on the space station until March 22, 1995, for a record 437 days in space.
  • 2002 President of the United States George W. Bush signs into law the No Child Left Behind Act.
  • 2004 The RMS Queen Mary 2, then the largest ocean liner ever built, is christened by her namesake's granddaughter, Queen Elizabeth II.
  • 2016 Joaquín Guzmán, widely regarded as the world's most powerful drug trafficker, is recaptured following his escape from a maximum security prison in Mexico.

Famous people born on 8 January

  • Elvis Presley, American singer, guitarist, and actor (1935–1977)
  • David Bowie, English singer-songwriter, producer, and actor (1947–2016)
  • Stephen Hawking, English physicist and author (1942–2018)
  • Damiano David, Italian singer-songwriter (born 1999)

Source: Wikipedia (CC BY-SA 4.0)

Choose your country: the charts, news and leaders change to match.

Events of 1999 in the United Kingdom

A selection from Wikipedia's '1999 in the United Kingdom'. Not a complete list.

  • 1 January – The Euro currency is launched, but Britain's Labour government reportedly has no plans to introduce the currency here, preferring to stick to pound sterling instead.
  • 7 May – The Labour Party and the Liberal Democrats form a coalition government in Scotland, with Donald Dewar as the First Minister of Scotland.
  • 26 May – The National Assembly for Wales is officially opened in Cardiff by Queen Elizabeth II.

Life in 1999

Prime Minister

Tony Blair

Monarch

Elizabeth II

Pint of Beer

£1.70

Loaf of Bread

70p

Average House

£80,469

Weekly Wage

£428.00

Or

Browse by Year

Famous Faces Born in the 1990s

Well-known people born in the same decade as you, not on your birthday.

Sources: Wikidata and Wikipedia (CC BY-SA 4.0)

About The Day You Were Born

Ever wondered what was happening in the world when you took your first breath? Our birthday lookup tool reveals the fascinating history of your special day.

About The Birthday Chronicle and where our data comes from →