| 20th January 2001 | George W. Bush succeeds Bill Clinton, becoming the 43rd President of the United States. |
| 20th February 2001 | The 2001 Foot and Mouth Disease crisis begins in the United Kingdom. |
| 25th February 2001 | Sir Donald Bradman, Australian cricketer (b.1908) dies. |
| 28th February 2001 | The Selby rail crash kills ten people in North Yorkshire. |
| 23rd March 2001 | The Russian space station ‘Mir’ re-enters the atmosphere near Nadi, Fiji, and falls into the Pacific Ocean. |
| 25th March 2001 | The 73rd Academy Awards, hosted by Steve Martin, are held at the Shrine Auditorium in Los Angeles, California. “Gladiator” wins the Oscar for ‘Best Picture‘. |
| 1st April 2001 | Former Federal Republic of Yugoslavia President Slobodan Miloševic surrenders to police special forces, to be tried on charge of war crimes. |
| 24th May 2001 | Sherpa Temba Tsheri becomes the youngest person to conquer Mount Everest, at the age of just 16-years-old. |
| 7th June 2001 | Tony Blair's Labour Party wins the general election. |
| 13th July 2001 | Beijing wins the bid to host the 2008 Summer Olympic Games. |
| 19th July 2001 | Politician and novelist Jeffrey Archer is sentenced to four years in prison for perjury and perverting the course of justice. |
| 11th September 2001 | Almost 3,000 people are killed in the ‘9/11’ terrorist attacks in the United States. Al-Quaeda terrorists seize four American passenger flights and crash the aeroplanes into the World Trade Centre's Twin Towers in New York City, the Pentagon, and grassland in Pennsylvania. |
| 4th November 2001 | The Police Service of Northern Ireland is established, replacing the controversial Royal Ulster Constabulary. |
| 10th November 2001 | Australian Prime Minister John Howard is elected to a third term. |
| 29th November 2001 | George Harrison, English musician (b. 1943) dies. |
| 12th December 2001 | Roy Whiting is found guilty of murdering Sarah Payne at Lewes Crown Court. The trial judge recommends that Whiting should never be released. |