DOMED!

The Millennium Dome. Oh dear!

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1994 : Millennium Commission established by Prime Minister John Major and handed over to Deputy Backstabber (officially Deputy Prime Minister) Michael Heseltine.

1996 : Greenwich site selected; Birmingham, Derby and Stratford (London) had been considered as alternatives. Government decides to support the project with public money after being unable to raise private capital.

1997 : New Prime Minister Tony Blair decides to continue the project. Peter Mandelson MP put in charge of the New Millennium Experience Company.

1998 : Creative director Stephen Bayley quits the project. Peter Mandelson resigns from government after a financial scandal (no, not that one, nor that one; the first one).

1999 : Lord Charles Falconer replaces Mandelson. Structure of Dome completed. The Jubilee Line Extension opens, connecting the Dome to the London Underground. This too is seen as disorderly, opening late and with station facilities not yet complete (e.g. lifts for wheelchair access). This leads to disaster when....

December 31 1999/January 1 2000 : Opening night is a disaster, as VIP guests are kept waiting outside because of transport failures and a ticketing problem. The great and the good queue for hours to no avail. Memorable picture of the Queen singing Auld Lang Syne and wearing her famous Miss Piggy face (i.e. I'd rather be anywhere but here).

2000 : Dome opens to public. It contains a large number of attractions and exhibits, but still asked for and got frequent grants from the government (taxpayer) to cover increasing losses. The interior space was subdivided into 14 so-called zones - Body, Work, Learning, Money, Play, Journey, Self Portrait, Living Island, Talk, Faith, Home Planet, Rest, Mind, and Shared Ground. Several Zones were lacking in content and/or pandered to political correctness. The central stage show had music by Peter Gabriel and an acrobatic cast of 160. Queuing was a problem exacerbated by poor organization, and had the higher forecasts of attendance proved correct, then the visitors' 'enjoyment' would have been greatly reduced. Thieves break in to the diamond exhibit during opening hours but are foiled by waiting police. The National Audit Office publishes a report blaming unrealistic attendance targets for the Dome's financial problems (final attendances were six million against an estimated twelve million). The attractions were dismantled at the end of the year and auctioned off.

2001: Meridian Delta Ltd. are chosen by the government to develop the Dome as a sports and entertainment complex, and to develop housing, shops and offices on 150 acres of surrounding land. They intend to demolish and redevelop the site of the London Arena at Crossharbour on the Isle of Dogs as part of their scheme to establish a programme of mass entertainments in the Dome.

2002 : Four men are jailed for the attempted diamond robbery in 2000. No government ministers are jailed for incompetent use of public funds.

2003: The Dome opened again during December 2003 for the Winter Wonderland 2003 experience. It is now closed; some reports indicated the Dome was costing £1 million per month to maintain during 2001, but the government claimed these were exaggerations (i.e. they were quite correct).

2004: Scheduled opening date for refurbished Dome passes.

2005: The Dome's name is sold, so it will become 'The O2' when it reopens in Spring 2007.

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