19 stories that made 2022 an unforgettable year

Queen Elizabeth II

There can be little doubt the biggest story of 2022 was the loss of the UK's longest-serving monarch, her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II. The Royal family confirmed the sad news on the evening of 8th September.
Huge numbers of tributes were paid to the late Queen as the country entered into a period of mourning. The new King paid tribute to his 'dear mama' in his first specch as monarch.

The country mourned the death of her Majesty as the new King paid tribute to his 'dear mama'.
After lying in state, Queen Elizabeth II was laid to rest after a funeral at Westminster Abbey

The ending of Covid restrictions

In many ways, it seems like a lifetime ago, but at the beginning of 2022 we were facing a new wave of Covid, thanks to the Omicron variant and some Covid restrictions were still in place. Boris Johnson's 'Plan B' was eased mid-January and by April the Covid self-isolation rules were removed in England.

Partygate

Covid restrictions may have been lifted in 2022, but they were very much in place when Boris Johnson and others attended gatherings at Downing Street in what became known as Partygate. Downing Street admitted two parties, one which took place the day before the Duke of Edinburgh's funeral and it eventually came out that there had even been a brief birthday gathering for Boris Johnson.


The then Prime Minister (you can probably see where this is going) was fined along with (spoiler alert) future Prime Minister Rishi Sunak for breaking Covid rules.

It was the start of the end for Boris Johnson's time as Prime Minister though. He won a confidence vote in June, but suffered a significant rebellion.
The Conservatives lost two byelections but it was the resignations of many cabinet members, including both Rishi Sunak and Sajid Javid which really spelled the end for Mr Johnson.
Eventually in July Boris Johnson agreed he would step down as Prime Minister.

The Oscars slap

Away from politics, the world (along with Chris Rock) was stunned when Will Smith slapped him while he was presenting at the Oscars in March.
53-year-old Smith stormed on stage just moments before picking up best actor for King Richard, after Chris Rock made a joke about his wife Jada Pinkett Smith's shaved head. She has previously spoken about a diagnosis of alopecia.

The UK didn't quite win Eurovision

In May it was Eurovision, let's face it, the UK does not generally have high hopes for the competition, but this year was a bit different - people seemed to like the UK entry sung by Sam Ryder, who is himself almost impossible to dislike.
Space Man was the most succesful UK entry since 1997, coming top of the Jury vote, but losing out in the public vote to Ukraine.

Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe returns home

March saw the resolution of a story that took six years to come to an end. British-Iranian mother Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe arrived in the UK after being released from a six-year ordeal in Iran where she was imprisoned for being a spy.
The 43-year-old was allowed to leave with a second dual national Anoosheh Ashoori, after the UK paid a £400 million debt to Iran.

War in Ukraine

In February Russia began its aggression in Ukraine, which led to war, Ukraine's territory being taken and most of the world condemning President Putin's actions.

Cost of Living Crisis

The cost of living crisis has never been far from the headlines this year, there were signs inflation was rising early on as supermarket prices went up and partly as a result of the Ukraine conflict, energy prices went up in April and again in October

The many Prime Ministers of 2022

At one point in 2022 we'd had three Prime Ministers within two months. Boris Johnson stepped down which triggered a party election which Liz Truss won, becoming Prime Minister on the 6th September.
It didn't go very well for Ms Truss, her Chancellor Kwasi Kwarteng unveiled a mini-budget which was a lot more radical than many expected, shocking MPs, the public and spooking the markets.

Despite reversing the mini-budget decisions and sacking her Chancellor, Liz Truss couldn't hang on and resigned in October, making her the shortest-serving Prime Minster in UK history, lasting just 50 days in office.

And so we moved on to our third Prime Minister of 2022 Rishi Sunak who also became the first to be invited to form a government by the new King.

Lionesses win the Euros

England's women did the country proud in May after winning Euro 2022, beating Germany 2-1 after extra time in the final.


England brought it home and won their first major trophy in women's football.

Dame Deborah James dies

On the 28th June 2022 it was announced that Dame Deborah had sadly passed away at the age of 40, after losing her battle with terminal bowel cancer. Her campaigning work raised over £7 million for her Bowelbabe Fund for Cancer Research UK.

The Queen's Platinum Jubilee

Before the Queen's death, she celebrated a huge milestone, becoming the first UK monarch to reign for 70 years. The Platinum Jubilee was celebrated over a four day weekend in June including concerts, beacons, street parties and even a very special lunch with Paddington Bear.

Archie Battersbee's family fight

After a long legal fight and many appeals, Archie Battersbee's life support was switched off in August.
The 12-year-old had been in a coma since he was found unconscious by his mother in April.

The death of 9-year-old Oliva Pratt-Korbel

In August there was a story that shocked everyone as Olivia Pratt-Korbel was killed in her own home by a stranger in Liverpool.

The Wagatha case

It was the court case that had many of us hooked. Coleen Rooney and Rebekah Vardy were in court over libel claims.
It all started on Instagram and eventually ended up in the High Court with Judge Mrs Justice Steyn ruling in June in favour of Coleen Rooney. It was so dramatic that it's been turned into a TV drama!

The Commonwealth Games

For 11 days in July, the world watched as the Commonwealth Games came to Birmingham. There were gold medals, fantastic ceremonies and a huge mechanical bull!

Monkeypox

After the nightmare of Covid, everyone was very wary when cases of Monkeypox started increasing in May. Whilst cases increased massively compared to previous years, it didn't have as wide-reaching an impact as Covid

Qatar World Cup 2022

The first ever Winter World Cup was held in Qatar in 2022. Argentina were the winners. England were knocked out in the quarter-finals by France while Wales didn't make it out of the group stage.