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BBC to telecast millennium celebrations from around the globe
BBC has announced that it will broadcast 24 hours of millennium celebrations from around the world, commencing at 3.30 p.m. on December 31. The programming will start with a World Today special (3.30 p.m. to 6.00 p.m.) which will broadcast live coverage from Kiribati Republic and the Millennium Island.

Special correspondent John Simpson accompanied by Brussels based Europe producer, Simon Wilson, will visit this, the first land mass to greet the new millennium. The BBC has the sole broadcasting rights on the uninhabited island, located right on the 150th parallel of longitude. Viewers will then be taken swiftly on to The Chatham Islands at 3.45 p.m., where Jonathan Beale reports from this, the first inhabited island to enter the millennium.

At 4.30 p.m. BBC World’s Jeremy Cooke will report from New Zealand, the first heavily populated part of the world to hit midnight, and the first real test of measures put in place to avoid the Millennium Bug. Mike Peschardt and Matt Frei will then share the midnight celebrations from some of Australia’s major cities, including Melbourne and Sydney. Viewers can join them at 6.30 p.m. and enjoy a spectacular display of fireworks against the backdrop of the Sydney Opera House.

At 8.30 p.m., Juliet Hindell will bring BBC World viewers a special report from Tokyo, then at 9.30 p.m. there are more fireworks to enjoy, this time from Tiannenman Square in Beijing. The celebrations continue in Hong Kong Harbour, Macau, Indonesia, Singapore and Taiwan, where BBC World will have special correspondents to report on all the festivities.

At 9.05 p.m. BBC World will return to Kiribati for the first dawn of the new millennium, following the sun-rise to the Chatham Islands. Then, at 12.00 midnight, with BBC World’s Mike Wooldridge broadcasting live from the Taj Mahal. Viewers can then journey on to Pakistan on January 1, 2000 at 12.30 a.m., Dubai at 1.30 a.m. and Iran at 2.00 a.m.

At 3.30 a.m. January 1, 2000, BBC World will begin two and half hours of continuous news and millennium coverage (3.30 a.m. to 6.00 a.m.), starting in Bethlehem and the moment that the birthplace of Christ enters the third millennium.

At 4.30 a.m. most of Western Europe begins to celebrate the passing of midnight and BBC World will be live in Madrid, with Jon Sopel and Jamie Coomarasamy in Paris, Caroline Wyatt in Berlin and Orla Guerin at the Vatican in Rome, where the Pope will be giving a midnight address. Then at 5.30 a.m. on January 1 the channel joins the festivities in London, where the River Thames will become a ‘river of fire’ and the actual passing of the old century and the beginning of the new century, will be marked in the billion dollar Millennium Dome. Street parties in Edinburgh and elsewhere across Britain and Ireland will also be shown.

At 10.30 a.m. New York’s Times Square will start the first celebrations due to take place in North America and at 1.30 p.m. BBC World will be in Los Angeles as the last major city in the USA begins the new millennium. And finally at 3.30 p.m. on January 1 will be the last land mass to hit midnight.

BBC World will broadcast a millennium highlights programme which will run at intervals from 8.00 a.m. on January 1. And amidst all the celebrations, BBC World will still be reporting all the other international news stories in the channel’s regular bulletins and programmes.