The Noughties

Tower Bridge illuminated by fireworks as three million revellers saw in the new millennium on the night of December 31, 1999. It didn't all go smoothly: the much-hyped 'River of Fire' that was supposed to welcome in the new year failed to materialise on the Thames. As for the equally hyped scare that a so-called 'millennium bug' would wipe out every computer in the world, that didn't happen either.