The year 1998 (MCMXCVIII) of the Gregorian Calendar began and ended on a Thursday. During the year, President Bill Clinton denies having sexual relations with Monica Lewinsky and later in the year admits he did, Google Inc is founded, Ford buys Volvo for $6.5Billion, AOL acquires Netscape for $4.2Billion and Hurricane Mitch kills 18,000 people in Central America.
Titanic wins a record 11 Oscars, Tammy Wynette dies aged 56 Frank Sinatra dies aged 83, George Michael is arrested for a lewd act and reveals he is gay. 19 European nations pass laws to forbid human cloning, the Good Friday agreement is signed and brings peace to Northern Ireland, an oil pipeline explosion in Nigeria kills 1082 people and to close the year, there's a leap second on 31st December.
Famous Births
Famous Deaths
- Jan. 05: Sonny Bono
- Feb. 18: Harry Caray - Sportscaster
- Apr. 15: Pol Pot
- May 14: Frank Sinatra - The Rat Pack
- May 28: Phil Hartman - SNL Alumni
Chart Toppers
- Jan. 01: Elton John - Candle in the Wind
- Jan. 17: Savage Garden - Truly Madly Deeply
- Jan. 31: Janet Jackson - Together Again
- Feb. 17: Usher - Nice and Slow
- Feb. 28: Celine Dion - My Heart Will Go On
- Mar. 14: Will Smith - Gettin' Jiggy Wit It
- Apr. 04: K-Ci and JoJo- All My Life
- Apr. 25: Next - Too Close
- May 23: Mariah Carey - My All
- Jun. 06: Brandy/Monica - The Boy Is Mine
- Sep. 05: Aerosmith - I Don't Want to Miss a Thing
- Oct. 03: Monica - The First Night
- Oct. 17: Barenaked Ladies - One Week
- Oct. 24: Monica - The First Night
- Nov. 14: Lauryn Hill - Doo Wop
- Nov. 28: Divine - Lately
- Dec. 05: R. Kelly and Celine Dion - I'm Your Angel Billboard: Historical Billboard Charts
Top Movies
71th Academy Awards
- Presented: March 21, 1999
- Best Picture: Shakespeare in Love
- Lead Actor: Roberto Benigni in Life is Beautiful
- Lead Actress: Gwyneth Paltrow in Shakespeare in Love
- Best Director: S. Spielberg for Saving Private Ryan
- Best Documentary: The Last Days
Championship Teams
Top Athletes
- NHL MVP - Dominik Hasek , BUF
- NFL MVP - Terrell Davis, DEN
- NBA MVP - Michael Jordan, CHI
- MLB AL MVP - Juan Gonzalez, TEX
- MLB NL MVP - Sammy Sosa, CHI
Nobel Laureates
1998 Timeline
January 7 1998
January 7: The Great Ice Storm of 1998 enters it's third day, it has already claimed lives and over 400,000 homes are without power.
January 26 1998
January 26: President Bill Clinton denied having an affair Monica Lewinsky, telling the media, "I did not have sexual relations with that woman." he would be later be impeached.
January 1998
- January 4: The Great Ice Storm of 1998 struck Eastern Ontario, Quebec and other parts of eastern North America, it would continue until January 10 and cause much damage.
- January 12: 19 European nations sign a treaty banning human cloning.
- January 17: Bill Clinton becomes the first American president to testify as a defendant. Paula Jones accused Clinton of sexual harassment. The court eventually dismissed the lawsuit.
May 14 1998
May 1998
- May 4: The Unabomber Ted Kaczynski was given four life sentences for mail bombings.
- May 7: Mercedes-Benz buys Chrysler Corp. for more than $37 billion.
July 1998
- July 18: 3,000 people are killed after a Tsunami hits the coast of Papua New Guinea.
- July 28: Verizon is created after Bell Atlantic and GTE announced a $52 billion merger.
September 2 1998
September 2: The Swissair Flight 111 headed from New York City to Geneva crashes off the coast of Nova Scotia, Canada. All 229 people on board die in the crash.
September 1998
- September 7: Sergey Brin and Larry Page found Google, a search engine that helps users find information on the Internet
- September 20: Cal Ripken, Jr. Iron man streak of consecutive games ended after playing 2,632 consecutive games for the Baltimore Orioles.
October 1998
- October 18: A Nigerian Oil pipeline explosion kills over 700 villagers in the town of Jesse, the cause of the explosion is still unknown.
- October 23: Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat signed a land-for-peace agreement at the White House.
- October 30: A Landslide caused by the heavy rains of Hurricane Mitch kills over 2,000 people in Nicaragua.
November 1998
- November 3: Former WWF Wrestler Jesse Ventura is elected Governor of Minnesota.
- November 24: America Online announces that it has acquired Netscape.
December 16 1998
December 16: In response to Saddam Hussein denying the United Nations weapons inspections, Bill Clinton orders airstrikes against Iraq.
December 1998
- December 6: Hugo Chavez is democratically elected President in Venezuela.
- December 10: The House Judiciary Committee approved three articles of impeachment against President Bill Clinton.
- December 15: The U.S. House of Representatives filed a 265-page report recommending the Impeachment of Bill Clinton, for high crimes and misdemeanors.
- December 19: The U.S. House of Representatives approves two articles of Impeachment against President Bill Clinton, making him the 2nd President in history to be Impeached.
