A look at some of the people who made the headlines in 2014.
January
Victor Spirescu – one of the first people to take advantage of the lifting of transitional EU working restrictions on Romanians and Bulgarians – arrives at Luton airport, where the bemused handy-man is greeted by a horde of journalists. The French president, François Hollande, attracts ridicule when it is revealed that he has been driving around Paris on a scooter for secret assignations with Julie Gayet, an actress 18 years his junior. His “First Lady” Valérie Trierweiler (pictured) checks into hospital with a severe case of “le blues” and later recounts her betrayal in an excoriating memoir. Nigel Farage feels obliged to suspend UKIP councillor David Silvester after the latter suggests that the floods besetting the UK are divine punishment for the legalisation of gay marriage.
February
Russian president Vladimir Putin opens the Sochi Winter Olympics, the culmination of a huge construction project estimated to have cost £30bn – equal to the combined cost of all Winter Olympics staged since 1924. A note allegedly written by Rupert Murdoch’s ex-wife Wendi Deng and published in Vanity Fair details the charms of Tony Blair. “He has such good body and he has really good legs Butt…” it reads. “And he is slim tall and good skin. Pierce blue eyes which I love.” Murdoch later admits that he filed for divorce after hearing that Deng had spent weekends with Blair at the family ranch in California. A jury clears Coronation Street’s Bill Roache of rape and indecent assault. Ukraine’s President Viktor Yanukovych is dramatically unseated, triggering a bitter power struggle between Moscow and the West..
March
In a speech to MPs in Westminster, German Chancellor Angela Merkel warns that Tory attempts to limit the free movement of EU citizens are destined to end in “disappointment”. Malaysia Airlines flight MH370 disappears en route from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing; Australian PM Tony Abbott leads the fruitless international search effort, which focuses on a remote area of the Indian Ocean. Vladimir Putin formally claims Crimea for Russia following a disputed referendum on the peninsula. Britain’s Left mourns the loss, in quick succession, of union boss Bob Crow and stalwart socialist Tony Benn. Sheryl Sandberg, Facebook’s chief operating officer, argues that the word “bossy” is used to “squash” assertive girls and calls for it to be expunged from the lexicon. Snap polls judge Nigel Farage the clear winner of a televised debate between him and Lib Dem leader Nick Clegg. Gwyneth Paltrow and Chris Martin announce their separation – or, as the actress puts it, their “conscious uncoupling”.
April
Maria Miller resigns as culture secretary after a row over her perfunctory apology for wrongly claimed expenses; Sajid Javid takes her place. Former Italian premier Silvio Berlusconi is sentenced to a year of community service following his conviction for tax fraud. Rashida Manjoo, a UN bureaucrat, provokes a storm by declaring that Britain has the most “in-your-face” sexist culture of any country she has visited. The French “rock star” economist Thomas Piketty tops the bestseller charts with his new book, Capital in the Twenty-First Century. The 696-page tome is hailed as “extraordinarily important”, though experts later take issue with its findings and few of those who buy it actually read it. Hollywood’s most determined bachelor, George Clooney, becomes engaged to a British human rights lawyer, Amal Alamuddin.
May
There are calls for Gary Barlow to be stripped of his OBE after a judge rules that he and two of his former Take That bandmates had put millions into a scheme set up purely for the purposes of tax avoidance. A bearded drag queen by the name of Conchita Wurst wins the Eurovision Song Contest, much to the disgust of the Putin regime: a Russian MP denounces the contest as a “sodom show”. The Hindu nationalists of the Bharatiya Janata Party, under the controversial leadership of Narendra Modi, storm to victory in India’s election. Nigel Farage hails the age of “four-party politics” after UKIP wins the largest share of the vote in the European elections. Marine Le Pen’s National Front tops the same poll in France for the first time since the far-right party was founded in 1972. Ed Miliband has a disastrous encounter with a bacon sandwich (pictured above).
June
The performance artist Marina Abramovic opens a new work in the Serpentine Gallery in London, which involves her spending 512 hours interacting with the public in empty rooms. Angelina Jolie hosts a conference with William Hague on rape in war, and is made an honorary dame in the Queen’s birthday honours. As Iraq descends into sectarian violence, Tony Blair publishes an essay in which he insists the bloodshed is in no way connected to the 2003 invasion. Michael Gove’s former adviser at the Department for Education, Dominic Cummings, “goes rogue”, tearing into inept civil servants and pouring scorn on Nick Clegg. J.K. Rowling comes under vicious attack from “cybernats” after she donates £1m to the stuttering “No” campaign against Scottish independence. Uruguayan football star Luis Suárez is given a four-month ban and a £66,000 fine for biting an Italian defender during a World Cup match.
July
Rolf Harris is jailed for five years and nine months for 12 indecent assaults on four girls. In what is billed as a clear-out of the “male, pale and stale”, David Cameron demotes several ministers, including Michael Gove, and appoints three female MPs to top posts. The Daily Mail brands them “Cameron’s cuties”. World leaders round on Vladimir Putin after Malaysia Airlines flight MH17 is shot down over eastern Ukraine, killing all 298 people on board. Evan Davis is named as the new presenter of Newsnight following Jeremy Paxman’s decision to retire from the show after 25 years at the helm. Rory McIlroy joins the pantheon of golfing greats when he wins the Open at Hoylake, becoming the first European to win three of the four majors.
August
After a bloody month-long conflict condemned around the world, Benjamin Netanyahu, the Israeli premier, orders the withdrawal of Israeli troops from the Gaza Strip. David Cameron joins 500 other dignitaries for a twilight service at a war cemetery in Mons, Belgium, to mark the 100th anniversary of the start of the First World War. The leader of Scotland’s “No” campaign, Alistair Darling, is declared the clear winner of a first televised debate with First Minister Alex Salmond. He fares less well in subsequent encounters. The BBC and South Yorkshire Police attract severe criticism over the real-time TV coverage of a raid on Cliff Richard’s house in Sunningdale, as part of their investigation into a historic sexual assault allegation against the singer. Islamic State releases a video showing the beheading of US reporter James Foley in Syria – the first in a series of such atrocities. Kate Bush makes a triumphant return to live performance after a 35-year absence. George W. Bush, Victoria Beckham, Anna Wintour and a host of other politicians and celebrities have buckets of cold water poured over their heads as part of the Ice Bucket Challenge.
September
The technology giant Apple finds itself at the centre of a privacy storm after nude photos of Jennifer Lawrence and more than 100 other Hollywood actresses – which were believed to have been stored on Apple’s iCloud – are stolen and posted online. After weeks of pressure, Shaun Wright finally resigns as police and crime commissioner for South Yorkshire. It follows a damning report into the failure of Rotherham children’s services to protect young girls from abuse. After a sensational trial lasting six months, Paralympic athlete Oscar Pistorius (pictured), is cleared of murdering girlfriend Reeva Steenkamp. He is found guilty instead of culpable homicide and jailed for five years. “We have heard the settled will of the Scottish people,” declares David Cameron after Scotland’s voters reject independence by 55.3% to 44.7%. Ed Miliband sets himself up for a difficult autumn by fluffing his conference speech, forgetting to mention either immigration or the deficit.
October
Dr Margaret Chan, director-general of the World Health Organisation, declares that the Ebola epidemic spreading through West Africa is the “greatest peacetime challenge” since the end of the Second World War. Douglas Carswell becomes UKIP’s first elected MP. Malala Yousafzai becomes the youngest-ever Nobel Prize-winner at the age of 17. Following his release from prison, where he served half of a five-year sentence for rape, an unrepentant Ched Evans seeks to resume his career as a striker for Sheffield United. A storm of protest later leads the club to withdraw its offer to allow Evans to use its training facilities. Chloe Madeley – the daughter of TV presenters Richard and Judy – becomes the latest high-profile target of internet trolls. “We can leave Helmand, heads held high, with a job well done,” says Brigadier Rob Thomson as British troops withdraw from Afghanistan. Following the launch of his new book, Revolution, Russell Brand tours the TV studios lecturing presenters on the need to overthrow the capitalist system. “Is that you, Renée Zellweger?” asks the Daily Mirror after the actress appears in public with a transformed face.
November
Nicola Sturgeon is elected to succeed Alex Salmond as First Minister of Scotland. Theresa May’s reputation as a safe pair of hands at the Home Office takes a knock after yet another of her appointees to head up a new inquiry into historical child sex abuse, Fiona Woolf, is forced to stand down. Richard Branson suffers a devastating setback for his hopes of launching paying tourists into space when Virgin Galactic’s £500m rocket plane breaks up during a test flight, killing one of the pilots. As Germany celebrates the 25th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall, former Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev warns that the world is “on the brink of a new Cold War”. Comedian Bill Cosby faces renewed allegations that he drugged and sexually assaulted more than a dozen women over the course of his career. Paper magazine promises to “break the internet” with its pictures of reality star Kim Kardashian’s bottom. Emily Thornberry – a Labour MP and shadow attorney general – resigns after tweeting an image that appears to mock “white van man”. Former Tory minister and “award-winning broadcaster” David Mellor loses his temper with a taxi driver, calling him a “sweaty, stupid little shit”.
December
The long-running “Plebgate” row comes to an end when a High Court judge rules that former Tory chief whip Andrew Mitchell probably did call a policeman at the Downing Street gates a “pleb”. Gordon Brown announces that he will stand down as MP for Kirkcaldy at the election. Dianne Feinstein, the Democratic chair of the US Senate Intelligence Committee, releases a damning report on the CIA’s use of torture. The Archbishop of Canterbury, Justin Welby, professes his shock at the number of people in Britain who rely on food banks. Nigel Mills, the Tory MP for Amber Valley, is filmed secretly playing the computer game Candy Crush for two-and-a-half hours during a session of the Commons Work and Pensions Committee.
