The Year 2012, started with a certain amount of optimism, with the knowledge of a number of events that were already scheduled.
# The Summer Olympics being held in London.
# The Queens Diamond Jubilee.
# The possibility of the first British Winner at the Tour de France.
The year started, as most years do in the UK, with the weather being cold, wet and pretty dismal. This wet weather continued throughout the year, with the year ending up as the second wettest on record.
The wettest month was June, (Mid-Summer) which saw twice as much rain as usual.
The wet weather caused flooding in many parts of the country, however, there were also several heatwaves, with temperatures reaching over 30° C in some places, which led to water shortages and crop failures.
The year 2012 marked the Diamond Jubilee of Elizabeth II being the 60th anniversary of the accession of Queen Elizabeth II on 6 February 1952.
The only diamond jubilee celebration for any of Elizabeth’s predecessors was in 1897, for the 60th anniversary of the accession of Queen Victoria.
Following the tradition of the Queen’s Silver and Golden Jubilees, commemorative events were held throughout the Commonwealth of Nations.
In comparison to the previous Golden Jubilee, events in the United Kingdom were significantly scaled back due to the economic policies of the governing Conservative Party deeming excessive cost to the taxpayer amidst widespread austerity as inappropriate.
The Queen and the Duke of Edinburgh toured the United Kingdom and other members of the royal family toured the rest of the Commonwealth as the monarch’s representatives.
The Jubilee celebrations marked the beginning of the withdrawal of the Duke of Edinburgh from public life and a more prominent role for the Duke of Cambridge and Prince Harry in Commonwealth affairs.
Numerous events and tributes were held over the year and throughout the Commonwealth, culminating in a jubilee river pageant held on the Thames on Sunday 3rd June.
It poured with rain all day.
The 2012 Tour de France was the 99th edition of one of cycling’s Grand Tours.
It started in the Belgian city of Liège on 30 June and finished on the Champs-Élysées in Paris on 22 July.
The Tour consisted of 21 stages, including an opening prologue, and covered a total distance of 3,496.9 km (2,173 mi).
As well as the prologue, the first two stages took place in Belgium, and one stage finished in Switzerland.
Bradley Wiggins (Team Sky) won the overall general classification, and became the first British rider to win the Tour.
Wiggins’s teammate Chris Froome placed second, and Vincenzo Nibali (Liquigas–Cannondale) was third.
The 2012 Summer Olympics (officially the Games of the XXX Olympiad and also known as London 2012) was an international multi-sport event held from 27 July to 12 August 2012 in London, United Kingdom.
The first event, the group stage in women’s football, began on 25 July at the Millennium Stadium in Cardiff, Wales, followed by the opening ceremony on 27 July.
There were 10,768 athletes from virtually every country who participated in the 2012 Olympics.
Great Britain came third in the Medal Table with a total of 65 medals, behind the US (104) and China (92).
We won just the one Gold Medal in the Road Racing, Bradley Wiggins won the Mens’ Time Trial; whereas Mark Cavendish, after being favourite for the Road Race, came in way down the list of finishers.
Seven golds were won in the Velodrome.
Later in the year – Bradley Wiggins was confirmed as the BBC Sports Personality of the Year.
Other notable events held during 2012, were the Scottish independence referendum which was held on 18 September.
The result was a vote to remain part of the UK, with 55% of voters choosing to stay and 45% voting to leave.
The UK held a referendum on whether to adopt the Euro, but the proposal was rejected by a majority of voters.
There were many deaths during the year, a few of the more notable ones:
# 8th Jan – Bob Holness – TV Presenter. (Blockbusters)
# 28th Feb – Richard Carpenter – Singer
# 5th March – Philip Madoc – Actor
# 9th May – Vidal Sassoon – Hairdresser
# 20th May – Robin Gibb – Singer
# 4th July – Eric Sykes – Actor
# 8th Aug – Sir Bernard Lovall – Scientist
# 31st Aug – Max Bygraves – Singer
# 12th Sept – Derek Jameson – Journalist & Broadcaster
# 3rd Nov – Tommy Godwin – Olympic bronze medal cyclist
# 6th Nov – Clive Dunn – Actor
# 9th Dec – Sir Patrick Moore – Astronomer
# 19th Dec – Sir Lawrie Barratt – Housebuilder
Overall 2012 was an exceptional year, the like of which we won’t see again for a long time.