| 20th January 1997 | U.S. President Bill Clinton is inaugurated for his second term. |
| 4th February 1997 | British Home Secretary Michael Howard informs Moors Murderer Myra Hindley that she will never be released from prison. This decision was made in agreement with a recommendation from Howard’s predecessor, David Waddington, in 1990. |
| 22nd February 1997 | In Roslin, Scotland, scientists announce that an adult sheep named Dolly had been successfully cloned. Dolly is the first mammal to be cloned from an adult somatic cell. She was born in July 1996 and died in 2003. |
| 22nd March 1997 | The comet ‘Hale-Bopp’ makes its closest approach to Earth. |
| 1st May 1997 | The Labour Party ends eighteen years of Conservative rule by winning the 1997 general election. |
| 2nd May 1997 | Tony Blair is appointed Prime Minister by the Queen. |
| 3rd May 1997 | Katrina and the Waves win the 1997 Eurovision Song Contest for the United Kingdom with “Love Shine a Light“, the most successful Eurovision entry ever. |
| 11th June 1997 | The British House of Commons votes for a total ban on handguns. |
| 1st July 1997 | The United Kingdom hands sovereignty of Hong Kong to the People's Republic of China. |
| 15th July 1997 | Fashion designer Gianni Versace is shot dead outside his Miami residence by spree killer Andrew Cunanan. |
| 31st August 1997 | Diana, Princess of Wales, is involved in a car crash in the Pont de l'Alma road tunnel in Paris. She is pronounced dead four hours later, at 04:00 a.m. |
| 5th September 1997 | Mother Theresa of Calcutta dies of heart failure in Kolkata, India. |
| 6th September 1997 | The funeral of Diana, Princess of Wales, takes place at Westminster Abbey and is watched by over two-billion people worldwide. |
| 11th September 1997 | Scotland votes to create its own Parliament after 290 years of union with England. |
| 18th September 1997 | Wales votes in favour of devolution and the formation of a National Assembly. |
| 15th October 1997 | Andy Green sets the first supersonic land speed record for the ‘ThrustSSC’ team, led by Richard Noble of the UK. ‘ThrustSSC’ goes through the flying mile course at Black Rock Desert, Nevada at an average speed of 1,227.985 km/h (763.035 mph). |
| 11th November 1997 | Mary McAleese is elected the 8th President of Ireland. |
| 19th December 1997 | “Titanic“, the highest-grossing movie of all time, premieres in the United States. |
| 27th December 1997 | Ulster loyalist paramilitary leader Billy Wright is assassinated in Northern Ireland, inside Long Kesh prison. |