2005

Top Selling Singles

1. (IS THIS THE WAY TO) AMARILLO – TONY CHRISTIE FT PETER KAY
2. THAT’S MY GOAL – SHAYNE WARD
3. AXEL F – CRAZY FROG
4. YOU’RE BEAUTIFUL – JAMES BLUNT
5. DON’T CHA – PUSSYCAT DOLLS FT BUSTA RHYMES
6. ALL ABOUT YOU/YOU’VE GOT A FRIEND – MCFLY
7. LONELY – AKON
8. HUNG UP – MADONNA
9. YOU RAISE ME UP – WESTLIFE
10. PUSH THE BUTTON – SUGABABES

Christmas No.1: Shayne Ward – That’s My Goal

Top Selling Albums

1. BACK TO BEDLAM – JAMES BLUNT
2. X & Y – COLDPLAY
3. INTENSIVE CARE – ROBBIE WILLIAMS
4. EMPLOYMENT – KAISER CHIEFS
5. DEMON DAYS – GORILLAZ
6. FACE TO FACE – WESTLIFE
7. EYE TO THE TELESCOPE – KT TUNSTAL
8. BREAKAWAY – KELLY CLARKSON
9. CURTAIN CALL – THE HITS EMINEM
10. FOREVER FAITHLESS – THE GREATEST HITS FAITHLESS

At the Box Office

1. Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire 
2. Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith
3. Charlie and the Chocolate Factory
4. The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion the Witch and the Wardrobe
5. Wallace & Gromit: The Curse of the Were-Rabbit 
6. War of the Worlds
7. Meet the Fockers
8. Madagascar 
9. King Kong 
10. Hitch

Cost of Living

Average house price
Average salary
Average car price
Petrol
Pint of beer
Packet of 20 Cigarettes
Pint of milk

In the News

• Pictures of Prince Harry wearing a Nazi military uniform at a private “fancy dress” party are published in the newspapers
• Tony Blair becomes the longest-serving Labour Prime Minister,
• The Hunting Act, the ban on hunting with dogs in England and Wales, comes into force
• The Royal Navy announces that it will allow same-sex couples to live in family quarters if they are in registered partnership.
• The New Forest in Hampshire becomes England’s twelfth national park.
• MG Rover, the last British-owned volume car maker, is placed into receivership.
• Arsenal become the first team to win the FA Cup on penalties, after they defeat Manchester United in a shootout that follows a nil-nil draw.
• A series of co-ordinated terrorist bombings strike London’s public transport system during the morning rush hour. Three bombs exploded within fifty seconds of each other on three London Underground trains. A fourth bomb exploded on a bus an hour later in Tavistock Square. 52 civilians are killed and over 700 people were injured (7/7)
• The landmark Spinnaker Tower in Portsmouth[24] opens. At 170 metres (560 ft) it is the tallest accessible structure in the UK outside London.
• Pubs in England and Wales permitted to open for 24 hours for the first time
• The Safeway name disappears from Britain after 43 years with the rebranding of the last remaining store by its owner Morrisons
• The last Routemaster buses in regular service in London run, on route 159.
• The Civil Partnership Act 2004 comes into force, granting same-sex couples similar legal rights to those of married heterosexuals.

On the Telly

• Desperate Housewives makes its initial UK debut
• Jerry Springer: The Opera airs on BBC Two, receiving at least 45,000 complaints.
• Happy Mondays dancer Mark Berry, known professionally as Bez wins the third series of Celebrity Big Brother
• Anthony Hutton wins series six of Big Brother
• An audience member on the evening’s edition of Question Time uses the show’s final question to propose to his girlfriend, who says yes. It is the first time a marriage proposal has occurred on the programme in its 25-year history.
• Cricketer Darren Gough and dancing partner Lilia Kopylova win the third series of Strictly Come Dancing – Shayne Ward wins the second series of The X Factor on the same evening.
• Producers of ITV’s I’m a Celebrity…Get Me Out of Here! confirm that Eastender Elaine Lordan will not be returning to the show following a stay in hospital. She had twice collapsed on the set. Contestant Kimberley Davies is taken to hospital with a suspected fractured rib after she is injured in a stunt that goes wrong. Carol Thatcher wins the fifth series of the show.
• The first series of the of The Apprentice debuts on BBC Two and is won by Tim Campbell, a 27-year-old transport manager with London Underground. His prize is a £100,000 job with Sugar’s firm, Amstrad
• EastEnders celebrates its 20th anniversary on the air, airing a special episode in which Dirty Den Watts is killed by his new wife Chrissie. 14.34 million watch the episode
• Nine years after its last new episode and sixteen years since its last regular run, Doctor Who returns to BBC One for a new series, the twenty-seventh in total since 1963. Christopher Eccleston and Billie Piper star.
• 13.03 million viewers watched Ken Barlow tie the knot with Deirdre Rachid on Coronation Street, one day before The Prince of Wales’ wedding to Camilla Parker Bowles (7.36 million viewers watched).
• The Sun has reported that Labour Party chiefs are concerned that the 5 May episode of EastEnders in which Dot Cotton learns to drive could distract viewers from voting
• ITV launches Love Island, a rival to Big Brother. This appeared to be a ratings flop
• (Former nightclub owner Fran Cosgrave and presenter Jayne Middlemiss win the first series of Love Island)
• After forty-one years broadcasting on BBC One, music show Top of the Pops is switched to BBC Two due to declining audiences. This is not enough to save it, and it is axed the following year
• Peppa Pig makes it debut in the United States, re-dubbed with American voice actors. This turned out to be a flop, so they aired the original British version where American children are learning to speak with British accents.
• Cricketer Andrew Flintoff is named as this year’s BBC Sports Personality of the Year.
• Space Cadets is shown on Channel 4, a hoax reality TV show where the contestants believe they are in a space shuttle orbiting Earth, when in fact they are in a set in a disused aircraft hangar in Suffolk. Space Cadets was the biggest & most expensive hoax in television history. A £4.5m stunt to convince three members of the public they were orbiting the Earth in a Russian spacecraft…when they were actually in a state-of-the-art Hollywood simulator for five days.
• Shane Richie and Jessie Wallace leave EastEnders when their characters Alfie and Kat Moon depart for America

In Music

Top Selling Christmas Toys

• Xbox 360 – £299 (£433.62)
• Tamagotchi Connexion – £13.06 (£18.94)
• Nintendo DS – £99.99 (£145.01)

Gadgets

• Youtube
• Google Maps
• Apple led the way with the legal downloading of digital music

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