1997 facts for kids

Kids Encyclopedia Facts

Millennium:	2nd millennium
Centuries:	19th century – 20th century – 21st century
Decades:	1960s 1970s 1980s – 1990s – 2000s 2010s 2020s
Years:	1994 1995 1996 – 1997 – 1998 1999 2000

1997 was a year that started on a Wednesday in the Gregorian calendar. It was a time of many important events around the world, from new leaders taking office to scientific breakthroughs and big changes in popular culture.

Famous People Born

February 13 - Prince Michael Jackson I, an American actor, singer, and record producer.
April 1 – Asa Butterfield, an English actor.
May 1 – Ariel Gade, an American actress.
September 8 – Matthew Josten, an American actor.
October 25 – Sven Wilpshaar, a person from the Netherlands.
November 16 – Alex Polidori, an Italian actress.
November 19 – McCaughey septuplets, a famous group of seven babies born at once in America.

People Who Passed Away

January to March

Deng Xiaoping (1904–1997)

January 9 – Edward Osobka-Morawski, a Polish politician (born 1909).
January 10 – Alexander R. Todd, a Scottish chemist (born 1907).
January 10 – Sheldon Leonard, an American producer, actor, and director (born 1907).
January 12 – Charles Brenton Huggins, a Canadian cancer researcher (born 1901).
January 15 – Helenio Herrera, an Argentine football manager (born 1916).
January 17 – Clyde Tombaugh, an American astronomer who discovered Pluto (born 1906).
January 19 – James Dickey, an American poet and novelist (born 1923).
January 20 – Curt Flood, an American baseball player (born 1938).
January 21 – Colonel Tom Parker, an American celebrity manager, born in the Netherlands (born 1909).
February 1 – Herb Caen, an American newspaper writer (born 1916).
February 2 – Chico Science, a Brazilian musician, died in a car accident (born 1967).
February 5 – Pamela Harriman, the U.S. Ambassador to France (born 1920).
February 11 – Don Porter, an American actor (born 1912).
February 19 – Deng Xiaoping, a leader of China (born 1904).
February 21 – Josef Posipal, a German football player (born 1927).
March 6 – Cheddi Jagan, the President of Guyana (born 1918).
March 9 – The Notorious B.I.G., an American rapper (born 1972).
March 14 – Fred Zinnemann, an American movie director (born 1907).
March 19 – Willem de Kooning, a Dutch artist (born 1904).

April to June

Allen Ginsberg (1926–1997)

Jacques-Yves Cousteau (1910–1997)

April 5 – Allen Ginsberg, an American poet (born 1926).
April 7 – Georgi Shonin, a Soviet cosmonaut (born 1935).
April 7 – Witto Aloma, a Major League Baseball player (born 1923).
April 11 – Wang Xiaobo, a Chinese writer.
April 12 – George Wald, an American scientist (born 1903).
April 17 – Chaim Herzog, the President of Israel (born 1918).
May 2 – John Eccles, an Australian brain scientist (born 1903).
May 16 – Giuseppe De Santis, an Italian movie director (born 1917).
May 22 – Alfred Hershey, an American biochemist (born 1908).
May 29 – Jeff Buckley, an American musician (born 1966).
June 2 – Helen Jacobs, an American tennis player (born 1908).
June 6 – Magda Gabor, an American actress (born 1914).
June 14 – Richard Jaeckel, an American actor (born 1926).
June 23 – Betty Shabazz, the American widow of Malcolm X (born 1936).
June 25 – Jacques-Yves Cousteau, a French underwater explorer and filmmaker (born 1910).
June 26 – Israel Kamakawiwo'ole, a Hawaiian singer (born 1959).
June 29 – William Hickey, an American actor (born 1927).

July to September

Robert Mitchum (1917-1997)

Jeanne Calment (1875–1997)

Diana, Princess of Wales (1961–1997)

July 1 – Robert Mitchum, an American actor (born 1917).
July 2 – James Stewart, an American actor (born 1908).
July 15 – Gianni Versace, an Italian fashion designer (born 1946).
July 18 – Eugene Shoemaker, an American astronomer (born 1928).
July 24 – Frank Parker, an American tennis player (born 1916).
August 2 – William S. Burroughs, an American writer (born 1914).
August 4 – Jeanne Calment, a French woman who lived to be 122 years and 164 days old, the longest human lifespan ever recorded (born 1875).
August 8 – Sviatoslav Richter, a Ukrainian pianist (born 1915).
August 12 – Luther Allison, an American musician (born 1939).
August 23 – John Kendrew, a British molecular biologist (born 1917).
August 30 – Ernst Willimowski, a Polish football player (born 1931).
August 31 – Diana, Princess of Wales (born 1961).
August 31 – Dodi al-Fayed, an Egyptian businessman (born 1955).
September 5 – Mother Teresa, an Albanian nun and missionary (born 1910).
September 7 – Mobutu Sese Seko, the President of Zaire (born 1930).
September 9 – Burgess Meredith, an American actor (born 1907).
September 18 – Jimmy Witherspoon, an American blues singer (born 1920).
September 29 – Roy Lichtenstein, an American artist (born 1923).

October to December

Stephane Grappelli (1908–1997)

October 5 – Brian Pillman, an American professional wrestler (born 1962).
October 12 – John Denver, an American musician (born 1943).
October 16 – James A. Michener, an American writer (born 1907).
October 22 – Leonid Amalrik, a Russian animator (born 1905).
October 30 – Samuel Fuller, an American screenwriter and director (born 1912).
November 22 – Michael Hutchence, an Australian musician (born 1960).
November 25 – Hastings Banda, the first President of Malawi (born 1907).
December 1 – Stephane Grappelli, a French violinist (born 1908).
December 7 – Billy Bremner, a Scottish football player (born 1942).
December 18 – Chris Farley, an American actor and comedian (born 1964).
December 20 – Juzo Itami, a Japanese movie director (born 1933).
December 27 – Billy Wright, a Northern Irish paramilitary leader (born 1960).

Important Events of the Year

January

Kofi Annan became the UN Secretary-General.

January 1 – Kofi Annan became the new Secretary-General of the UN.
January 8 – Mister Rogers, a beloved children's TV host, received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.
January 9 – Sailor Tony Bullimore was found alive after his boat flipped over in the Southern Ocean five days earlier.
January 18 – In north west Rwanda, a tragic event occurred where aid workers and soldiers were killed.
January 19 – Yasser Arafat returned to Hebron for celebrations after the city was handed over from Israeli control.
January 20 – Bill Clinton began his second term as President of the United States.
January 21 – Newt Gingrich became the first leader of the United States House of Representatives to face consequences for ethical issues.
January 22 – Madeleine Albright became the first woman to be the Secretary of State for the United States.
January 27 – It was discovered that French museums had nearly 2,000 pieces of art that were stolen by Nazis during World War II.
January 28 – Clive Davis, a famous music producer, received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.

February

February 22 – Scientists in Scotland announced they had successfully cloned a sheep named Dolly. She was born on July 5, 1996.
February 23 – A small fire happened on the Mir space station.
February 27 – Divorce became legal in the Republic of Ireland.

March

Tony Blair became Prime Minister of the United Kingdom.

Korean Airlines Flight 801 crashed on Guam.

March 6 – Guyana's President Cheddi Jagan passed away while still in office.
March 22 – At just 14 years old, Tara Lipinski became the youngest figure skating world champion.
March 24 – The movie The English Patient won the Academy Award for best picture.

April

April 29 – A train crash in Hunan, China, killed 126 people.

May

May 1 – Tony Blair of the Labour Party was elected Prime Minister of the United Kingdom. His party won by a lot, ending 18 years of Conservative rule.
May 3 – The band Katrina and the Waves won the Eurovision Song Contest for the United Kingdom.
May 10 – An earthquake in northeastern Iran caused the deaths of 2400 people.
May 16 – Mobutu Sese Seko left Zaire.
May 17 – Laurent Kabila's troops entered Kinshasa, and Zaire changed its name to the Democratic Republic of the Congo.
May 23 – Mohammad Khatami was elected President of Iran.

June

June 13 – Timothy McVeigh was sentenced to death for a terrible crime.
June 25 – The town of Plymouth on the Caribbean island of Montserrat had to be evacuated because the Soufriere Hills volcano erupted.
June 26 – Bertie Ahern became the Taoiseach (Prime Minister) of the Republic of Ireland.

July

July 1 – The United Kingdom officially handed control of Hong Kong back to China.
July 25 – K. R. Narayanan became the President of India.

August

August 4 – Jeanne Calment passed away, holding the record for the longest human lifespan at 122 years and 164 days.
August 6 – Korean Air Flight 801 crashed on the island of Guam, resulting in 228 deaths.
August 31 – Diana, Princess of Wales, Dodi al-Fayed, and their driver were killed in a car crash in Paris.

September

Funeral of Diana, Princess of Wales on September 6, 1997

September 5 – The 2004 Summer Olympics were announced to be held in Athens, Greece.
September 6 – The funeral of Diana, Princess of Wales took place in London. Over 2 billion people around the world watched it.
September 11 – Voters in Scotland decided to create their own regional parliament.
September 18 – Voters in Wales also approved the creation of their own Assembly.
September 26 – Strong earthquakes hit the regions of Umbria and Marche in Italy.
September 26 - An Airbus A300 of Garuda Indonesia Airlines crashed in Medan, Sumatra, killing all 234 people on board.

October

October 15 – NASA launched the Cassini-Huygens probe, a spacecraft heading to Saturn.
October 16 – The New York Times newspaper published its first color photographs.

November

Mary McAleese was chosen as President of Ireland on November 11, 1997.

November 11 – Mary McAleese was chosen to become the next President of the Republic of Ireland, making it the first time a woman President was succeeded by another woman President.
November 17 – 62 people were killed by terrorists in Luxor, Egypt.

December

December 11 – The Kyoto Protocol, an international agreement about climate change, was approved by a UN committee.
December 19 – Janet Jagan became President of Guyana, following her husband, Cheddi Jagan, who had passed away.
December 19 – James Cameron's movie Titanic was released in the US.

Other Events

The Algerian Civil War continued, with many people tragically losing their lives in massacres throughout the year.

Nobel Prizes Awarded

Chemistry: Paul D. Boyer, John E. Walker, Jens C. Skou
Economics: Robert C. Merton, Myron C. Scholes
Literature: Dario Fo
Nobel Peace Prize: International Campaign to Ban Landmines, Jody Williams
Physics: Steven Chu, Claude Cohen-Tannoudji, William D. Phillips
Medicine: Stanley B. Prusiner

Movies Released

Air Force One
Amistad
As Good as It Gets
Austin Powers: International Man of Mystery
Batman & Robin
Contact
Face/Off
Gattaca
Good Will Hunting
Hercules
Home Alone 3
Into Thin Air
L.A. Confidential
Liar Liar
Men in Black
Mononoke Hime
My Best Friend's Wedding
The Fifth Element
The Full Monty
The Ice Storm
The Lost World: Jurassic Park
The Rainmaker
The Sweet Hereafter
Titanic
Tomorrow Never Dies
Power Rangers Turbo: The Movie
Volcano

New Books Published

American Pastoral – Philip Roth
Are You Experienced? – William Sutcliffe
Barney's Version – Mordecai Richler
The Best Laid Plans – Sidney Sheldon
The Bible Code – Michael Drosnin
Budgie: The Little Helicopter – Sarah Ferguson
Cat & Mouse – James Patterson
Cold Mountain – Charles Frazier
Dave Barry's Book of Bad Songs – Dave Barry
Deja Dead – Kathy Reichs
Diana: Her True Story – Andrew Morton
Everyday Wicca – Gerina Dunwich
Fall On Your Knees – Ann-Marie MacDonald
The Ghost – Danielle Steel
Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone – J. K. Rowling (the very first Harry Potter book!)
Hornet's Nest – Patricia Cornwell
I Am the Most Interesting Book of All (translation) – Marie Bashkirtseff
Instruments of Darkness – Nancy Huston
Jingo – Terry Pratchett
Larry's Party – Carol Shields
Last Standing Woman – Winona LaDuke
Moab Is My Washpot – Stephen Fry (his autobiography)
Morisson of Peking – Cyril Pearl
Muhammad: A Biography of the Prophet – Karen Armstrong
Night Train – Martin Amis
The Partner – John Grisham
Pretend You Don't See Her – Mary Higgins Clark
The Ranch – Danielle Steel
The Red Tent – Anita Diamant
Special Delivery – Danielle Steel
The Subtle Knife – Philip Pullman
Timequake – Kurt Vonnegut
Toulouse-Lautrec: The Soul of Montmartre – Reinhold Heller
Tuesdays With Morrie – Mitch Albom
Unnatural Exposure – Patricia Cornwell
A Walk in the Woods – Bill Bryson
A Wiccan's Guide to Prophecy and Divination – Gerina Dunwich

Popular Songs

Candle in the Wind 1997 – Elton John (a special version released after Princess Diana's death)
"MMMBop" – Hanson
"My Heart Will Go On" – Céline Dion (from the movie Titanic)
"Wannabe" – The Spice Girls
"A Long December" – Counting Crows
"All By Myself" – Céline Dion
"Don't Speak" – No Doubt
"Forty Six & 2" – Tool
"Longneck Bottle" – Garth Brooks
"Magdalene" – Lenny Kravitz
"Silver Springs" – Fleetwood Mac
"The Difference" – The Wallflowers
"Volcano" – Presidents of the United States of America
"You Were Meant For Me" – Jewel