| 8th January 2004 | The Queen christens the RMS Queen Mary 2 cruise liner, the largest passenger ship afloat. She sets sail on her maiden voyage four days later. |
| 13th January 2004 | Serial killer Harold Shipman is found hanged in his cell at Wakefield Prison, four years after being convicted of murdering fifteen patients in Cheshire. |
| 29th February 2004 | The 76th Academy Awards, hosted by Billy Crystal, are held at the Kodak Theatre in Hollywood. “The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King” wins a record-equalling eleven Oscars, including ‘Best Picture’ and 'Best Director'. |
| 25th March 2004 | Prime Minister Tony Blair visits Libyan leader Colonel Muammar al-Gaddafi, in return for the dismantling of Libya's Weapons of Mass Destruction programme in December 2003. This is the first time a major western leader has visited the nation for several decades. |
| 29th March 2004 | The Republic of Ireland bans smoking in all enclosed work places, including restaurants, pubs and bars. |
| 5th April 2004 | The Queen begins a state visit to France to celebrate the 100th anniversary of the Entente Cordiale. |
| 15th May 2004 | Arsenal finish the English Premiership season unbeaten, earning the nickname “The Invincibles” |
| 30th May 2004 | Thousands of people take to the streets in Hong Kong to commemorate the 15th anniversary of the Tiananmen Square massacre. |
| 5th June 2004 | Ronald Reagan, the 40th President of the United States, dies at his home in California at the age of ninety-three. A six-day state funeral follows his death. |
| 4th July 2004 | Greece beats Portugal 1-0 to win the 2004 UEFA European Football Championships. |
| 13-29th August 2004 | The 2004 Summer Olympics are held in Athens, Greece. |
| 1st September 2004 | A large group of Chechen terrorists take between 1,000 and 1,500 hostages, mostly children, at a school in Beslan. They demand the release of Chechen terrorists imprisoned in neighbouring Ingushetia and the independence of Chechnya from Russia. The siege lasts for almost three days, involving a bloody shoot-out between hostage-takers and Russian security forces. At least 350 people are killed. |
| 20th September 2004 | Brian Clough, Football manager of Nottingham Forest and Derby County. (b. 1935) dies. |
| 9th October 2004 | The Queen opens a new Scottish Parliament Building in a ceremony in Edinburgh. |
| 24th October 2004 | Michael Schumacher wins his 7th Formula One World Drivers Championship, claiming the title for the fifth consecutive year. Schumacher becomes the most successful driver in the history of Formula One. |
| 22nd December 2004 | Armed robbers in Northern Ireland steal over £22 million from the headquarters of the Northern Bank. Unionist politicians and the Police Service of Northern Ireland blame the Provisional Irish Republican Army, and stall the peace process. |
| 26th December 2004 | The Boxing Day Tsunami: One of the worst natural disasters in recorded history strikes Southeast Asia, when the strongest earthquake in forty years hits the entire Indian Ocean region. The earthquake measures 9.3 on the Richter scale and generates enormous tsunami waves that crash into the coastal areas of a number of nations including Thailand, India, Sri Lanka, the Maldives, Malaysia, Myanmar, Bangladesh, and Indonesia. The official death toll in the affected countries stands at 186,983 while more than 40,000 people are still missing. |