Best TV Show
Winner: South Park
Close second: Ally McBeal
In the running: Friends, The Simpsons, The Young Person’s Guide To Becoming A Rock Star
Where would The List's viewers be without Channel 4? Cartman, Kenny and their pals took top honours in their debut year, so those South Park references we squeezed into every issue had some effect after all (okay, so we're obsessed). Support for Ally McBeal came mainly from our female readership, and it was good to see two new British programmes - The Roy/e Family and Cold Feet — make a challenge to the American sitcoms.
Worst TV Show
Winner: Noel's House Party
Close second: EastEnders
In the running: Street Mate, Moment Of Truth,
Robot Wars
It dropped off the schedules for a while earlier this year, and most of you would have been happier if it had never come back. Noel Edmonds’ slab of Saturday evening light entertainment was universally loathed, with the screaming, shouting and continual moaning of Albert Square also an excuse to grab the remote control. The National Lottery Show picked up votes in the Best and Worst categories, so we reckon it all depends on whether or not those winning numbers came up.
Best Video Game Winner: Tomb Raider Ill Close second: Gran Turismo
In the running: World Cup 98, IO80° Snowboarding, Bust A Groove
No competition, really. The latest adventures of Lara Croft romped home ahead of the pack, causing more numb thumbs than all the other contenders put together. Near-perfect racing game Gran Turismo accelerated into second place, while a few old favourites (Goldeneye, Final Fantasy VII) refused to lie down quietly.
Best Novel . Winner: Filth by Irvine Welsh Close second: The Sopranos by Alan Warner
In the runningU/ngo (Terry Pratchett), Mason & Dixon (Thomas Pynchon), About A Boy (Nick Hornby)
In other categories, you voted for the best of 1999, but when it came to reading matter, far too many old favourites cropped up. In fact, Alex Garland’s The Beach (from 1996) polled more votes than it did last year, proving that it now rivals Trainspotting as the cult book of the 905 (and interestingly enough, it’s being filmed by the same people). Other unsolicited pre-l998 votes included Lolita, Jonathan Livingstone Seagull and, inevitably, Bridget Jones’ Diary. We were encouraged to see a couple of young Scots (Luke Sutherland for Jelly Roll and Manda Scott for Night Mares) creep into the camp.
Best Author
Winner: Iain Banks
Close second: Irvine Welsh
In the running: Alex Garland, Alan Warner, A.L. Kennedy
With or without that middle 'M' initial, Iain Banks is again The List’s favourite writer. In fact, the Scot Lit boom has clearly had an effect, as seven of the top eight in this category were from north of the border: In addition to those above, Christopher Brookmyre, Ian Rankin and James Kelman received honorable mentions. And it would appear that some poor SOul out there can at last boil an egg — Delia Smith received one solitary vote.
Shag Of The Year - Female Winner: Jennifer Lopez Close second: Cameron Diaz
In the running: Gwyneth Paltrow, Natalie Imbruglia, Lara Croft
If she’s good enough to get George Clooney all steamed up, she's good enough for List readers too. The Out Of Sight star comes straight in at number one, proving that you do indeed admire Cameron Diaz more for her acting abilities than her looks. Other interesting votes included Scotland’s Gail Porter and Shirley Manson, Cher and all three of The Corrs.
Shag Of The Year - Male Winner: Ewan McGregor Close second: Robbie Williams
In the running: George Clooney, Ronan Keating, Daniel Day Lewis
Currently to be seen wearing a kilt and holding his cock on the cover of Vanity Fair, Ewan McGregor is still your choice for the hunkiest bloke on the planet. Most of the other votes came in for predictably fine looking actors (although supposed man-of-the-year Leonardo Di Caprio only has one fan among you). The Fiennes brothers Ralph and Joseph received equal billing, and
when we noted there was one nomination apiece for James Major and Emma Noble, we wondered if they were voting for each other. Just in case neither male nor female appeals to you, we can reveal that Dana International and Woofie were also on the scorecards.
Numpty Of The Year
Winner: Bill Clinton
Close second: Tony Blair
In the running: Chris Evans, William Hague, Paul Gascoigne
Even if you’re leader of the free world, there's no escaping the finger of accusation from The List faithful. Caught with his pants down, President Clinton was the one person you thought most made a fool of himself in 1998. His British counterpart, Tony Blair, fell from favour (he was Man Of The Year in the 1997 poll) and was joined by separate votes for almost the entire New Labour Cabinet. Sportsmen here ranged from Jock Brown to David Beckham, pop stars from Ian Brown to Geri (ex) Spice. Fergie was in there too, but so were Massive Attack for their treatment of her at the MTV Awards.
Event Of The Year Winner: The World Cup Close second: T in the Park
In the running: Northern Ireland peace agreement, Scotland Bill, Pinochet extradition
According to you, 1998 was the year of Zippergate, George Michael in the LA toilets and Hurrican Mitch. Of global concern were Saddam Hussein's stepdown, the Asian economic crisis and major political developments both in Scotland and across the sea in Northern Ireland. However, it was the sight of 22 men kicking around a football that’s imprinted on the List conscience —- with special mentions for the French victory and the vital England v Argentina match. This was the category that encouraged some of you to get a bit too personal for our tastes. A selection of idiosyncratic replies included ’Ruth ate a whole pack of giant cookies’, ’the death of Giant Haystacks', ’the beaver being re-introduced to Scotland’ and 'my barium enema’. As for the one person whose significant event of I998 was the millennium, all we can say is, it can only get worse.
COMPETITION WINNER
Amsterdam beckons for Bernadette O'Beirne from Edinburgh, who was the first name drawn
out of the sack of Readers' Poll replies.
Two return flights to the Dutch city ' ‘ were donated by young independent STA TRAVEL travel specialists, STA Travel. World leaders Inyoung
independent travel
17 Dec 1998—7 Jan I999 THE IJST 27
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