T minus 20

It's a 2003 extravaganza for our last episode before summer programming kicks in.  The best and worst in Google search, the Time person of the year, billboard, iTunes and the ARIA charts, movies, television and even books!  Brace yourself!  Send us Fan Mail Hang with us on socials to chat more noughties nostalgia - Facebook (@tminus20) or Instagram (tminus20podcast) . You can also contact us...

It almost took until the end of the year for what was possibly one of the biggest news stories of 2003 to break but Saddam Hussein is found hiding in a spider hole in Tikrit and captured by US forces. At the same time there's terrosim in Moscow when Red Square is bombed in a Chechan suicide attack. In popular culture, and almost as horrific, Nick Lachey and Jessica Simpson provide colour comm...

This week its Guy Sebastian vs Shannon Noll in a showdown for the title of Australian Idol. And knowing what we know about both contestants now, we have to say Nollsy was robbed! We’ve got a legend who climbed the Sydney Harbour Bridge during a night out on the beers and stole the flag. We discuss why Abercrombie and Fitch were cancelled in the early 2000s and why Irv Gotti decided to drop the ‘Mu...

George W Bush on board Air Force One touched down in Bagdad this time 20 years ago to surprise the troops with a message  from home and stayed for Thanksgiving dinner.  From one muppet to another Kami from South Africa's sesame street is appointed the UN mascot for juvenile AIDS victims. Kami made headlines in 2002 when she was introduced as the worlds first HIV positive muppet! In sporting n...

A new album, a number one single in the Aussie charts and the youngest singer ever to get a star on the Hollywood walk of fame… What did you get up to when you were 21? Because all of this happened in just one week in the life of our patron saint, Ms Britney Jean Spears!  It wasn’t a bad week for Outkast either as they crack into the charts with the single ‘Hey Ya’, which would go on to be a mains...

A sex tape starts spreading across the internet this tiem 20 years ago, featuring a young Paris Hilton and her ex-boyfriend Rick Salmon. The tape would later be packaged and marketed by porn distributor Red Light District as 'One Night In Paris'. At the time it was all anyone in the mainstream media would talk about, we examine the controversy around it and look at how an incident like t...

One of the most powerful solar flares ever was recorded thie week 20 years ago which saw ghostly auroras appear as far south from the North Pole as Florida. We think it's has a profound effect on the music business this week along with some other world events. Needless to say, doomsday preppers were in heaven.  Ja Rule rears his ugly head as the herpes of music gives everyone the clap back, L...

It's a real life horror story this week when 13 year old Bethany Hamilton goes for a morning surf and has her arm bitten off by a tiger shark. While it's a horrible story, Bethany is a pretty incredible human.  Also in the news… Fuelled by the Santa Ana winds, the Cedar Fire wreaks havoc across California, taking homes and lives with it. On the homefront ASIO conducts a series of terror...

It's a death match for the ages and you get to decide... Who performed the best miracle? Mother Theresa healing the sick in Calcutta or David Blaine who spent 44 days in a perspex box without having a poo.  We discuss the beatification of Mother Theresa from an ailing Pope John Paul II, and look at her career from her training in Dublin to caring for the destitute and dying in the streets of...

China launches it's first manned space mission this time 20 years ago and nobody finds out until after the fact.  The Staten Island Ferry collides with the pier at the St George Ferry Terminal in Staten Island NY killing 11 people and injuring dozens more.  MIcrosoft discusses a merger with Google and Google plays hard to get.  And it's a week of releases, MTV had Room Raiders. Yunbloodz...

Democrat Grey Davis was recalled and Arnold Schwarzenegger becomes the governor of the State of California on October 7 2003. That's right, just like the intro says, The Terminator became the Governator! Rising to the top of a field of candidates that included Gary Coleman from Diff'rent Strokes, Larry Flynt from Hustler Magazine and porn star Mary Carey. In tech news, still in Californi...

Roy from Las Vegas institution Sigfried and Roy is attacked by one of their tigers, Montecore, live on stage, thus ending their run as one of sin city's most popular show. Find out what happened and why Roy did not blame the tiger for biting off his hard and tearing out his throat!  In other news. Italy is plunged into darkness as a blackout leave around 56 million people without power. Thank...

The  2003 Tokachi-Oki earthquake rocks the eastern coast of Hokkaido, in the Tokachi region of Japan while David Hempleman-Adams embarks on a trans-Atlantic flight in a wicker basket balloon.  Meanwhile Dido goes to number one in the Aussie charts with 'White Flag' the lead single from her album 'Life for Rent. We think it may have had something to do with a fella called Slim Shady!...

On this day 20 years ago, President Bush said that he had seen "no evidence" that Saddam Hussein was involved in the September 11 terrorist attacks While The White House has never formally charged that Mr. Hussein was part of the Sept. 11 plot, President Bush had wondered immediately after the attack whether Saddam Hussein’s regime might have had a hand in it.  We discuss that and the te...

The title says it all, a week of political significance and a low point for art.  Libya accepts responsibility for the Lockerbie Bombing in 1988. This leads to sanctions against the country being lifted and the victims of the disaster are finally compensated.  Meanwhile Lil’ Jon unleashes Get Low on an unsuspecting society, thus committing one of the biggest crimes against music since The Black Ey...

Group sex and drug use, it's all in days work when you're running for governor of California. That's exactly what happened to Arnold Schwarzenegger this time 20 years ago when his opponents did some muckraking as part of their campaign efforts.  In other news religion rallied against a sports bar in Iowa because they chose to use the most famous of all virgins as their name sake. Ha...

It's the kiss that MTV pinned a bazillion promos on and it happened this week in 2003. The VMAs opened with Britney, Christina Aguilera and the undisputed queen of pop herself, Madonna. What was to follow was a tiny kiss on the lips that set tabloids and forums ablaze. Well played MTV. Also... On August 28, 2003, Brian Douglas Wells entered a PNC Bank branch with a bomb strapped around his ne...

This week 20 years ago One Nation Leader Pauline Hanson is sentenced to three years in the slammer for electoral fraud. The right wing populist politician allegedly breached electoral laws by falsely registering the party and providing false documentation. We discuss the finer points of the case and also offer some team building advice that may have prevented the party from imploding at the time. ...

The summer of 2003 was bleak in Europe with a heatwave that resulted in the deaths of thousands. Most facilities across the continent were simply not equipped with central air conditioning and local authorities were fatally underprepared for the crisis as the hottest temperatures since 1540 were recorded.  There was a massive blackout in the United States which threw New York City into chaos for s...

Arnold Schwarzenegger ends months of speculation by announcing live on The Tonight Show with Jay Leno that he is running for Governor of California. That's right folks, this time 20 years ago the Terminator decided to have a crack at being the Legislator as part of a recall election that would see Governor Gray Davis removed from office.  We also investigate the origins of Blu Cantrell, real...

It's a dawn of a new age this week as we mark our 100th episode.  We send off the Volkswagen Beetle and MySpace heralds the rise of social media. Who was in your top 8? Also, top points to whoever in the marketing department was able to turn the story of a vehicle commissioned by the Furher into into a symbol for peace, love and freedom! Lance Armstrong quite literally cuts corners in Le Tour...

A major development in the Iraq war this week with Uday and Qusay Hussein killed by United States Special Forces during a raid in the city of Mosul Iraq. The boys had overstayed their welcome at a mate's mansion and he called in the army to evict them and collect the $30 million reward placed on their heads!  In far less exciting news unknown golfer Ben Curtis backs himself to win the British...

This time 20 years ago Valerie Plame, a CIA operative, found herself at the center of a political firestorm when her covert identity was exposed. This uncovered a complex web of deception, high-stakes politics, and blurred the lines between national security and political ambitions. It also sparked a change in career for Valerie that saw book and movie deals, speaking arrangements and ultimately a...

It's a week of science, sport and swashbuckling! Also a massive happy birthday to our North Star, Curtis Jackson aka 50 Cent!  The Eupatoria Planetary Radar sends a whole bunch of our personal information into space with the intention to reach some extra terrestrial intelligence. The project was not endorsed by NASA and was entirely crowdfunded by a team of Texan businessmen, Canadian astroph...

It's a big week in sport and news and sports news with Kobe Bryant accused of rape, Chelsea FC being sold to Russian billionaire Roman Abramovich and SARs being declared contained by the World Health Organisation.  In technology news Tesla, the electric car company, is founded by Martin Eberhard and Marc Tarpenning, it would be another five years before Elon Musk becomes their chairman.  In m...