THE millennium was a milestone in human civilisation so it would have been appropriate for News Shopper to be packed with momentous news in the year leading up to it, but this was not the case.

Frankly, 1999 was full of some rather silly news, and it started on the front page of the first edition of the year, with the headline Fear Of Violent Sex Orgies.

This was the story of residents at a block of flats in Bromley Hill “living in fear” of people “cavorting at sex parties” in a flat on their estate.

I’m sure the all-night orgies were disruptive for the residents, especially those who pressed their ear to the wall to hear every sound, so they had a right to complain.

However, some readers did not fear the sex orgies.

Indeed, never before has a story inspired so many brave vigilantes — News Shopper was inundated with calls from people asking for the exact time, date, address and dress code of the all-night parties.

They were obviously intent on putting a stop to them. Obviously.

There was more news of the silly kind in March when youngsters dressed as clowns to promote becoming a Scout were thrown out of The Glades shopping centre in Bromley.

A spokesman for The Glades said they had not expected so many youngsters to turn up, and there was a health and safety risk because “the space they had been allocated was too narrow for the number of children”.

But I suspect a large number of staff at the shopping centre suffered from coulrophobia — an irrational fear of clowns.

I hear some members of staff tremble whenever they see a shopper with baggy trousers or big shoes.

Silliness continued in News Shopper in 1999 when a car salesman was left red-faced when 25-year-old Toby Mullins drove off in a £58,000 Porsche during a test-drive.

The salesman had pulled into a lay-by and got out of the car to allow Mullins to get into the driver's seat, only to be left standing as the 25-year-old sped away.

IN 1999

  • At cinemas the big films were Star Wars Episode 1: The Phantom Menace, The Sixth Sense, The Matrix and American Beauty, with the latter winning the best picture Oscar.
  • In music the big singles were Britney Spears’ Baby One More Time, Lou Bega’s Mambo No 5, Eiffel 65’s Blue (Da Ba Dee) and Bloodhound Gang’s The Bad Touch. Christmas number one was Westlife’s double A-side I Have a Dream and Seasons in the Sun.
  • On television dramas The Sopranos, Holby City, The West Wing and Bad Girls and comedy cartoons Family Guy and SpongeBob SquarePants debuted.
  • Notable births included 14th in line to the British throne Charles Armstrong-Jones, Prince Nikolai of Denmark and children’s film Bridge to Terabithia actress Bailee Madison.
  • Notable deaths included author Iris Murdoch, singer Dusty Springfield, film-maker Stanley Kubrick, comedian Ernie Wise, presenter Jill Dando and World Cup-winning England manager Sir Alf Ramsey.

1999 Star Fact

On March 17 entertainer Rod Hull died after falling from the roof of his house. He had been trying to adjust the aerial to pick up a better reception of a televised Manchester United European Cup football game.