Times past: The Examiner on December 31, 1999

Then Premier Jim Bacon said the state was "one of the best prepared and safest places in the world for the year 2000".

Representatives from Tasmania's electricity and communications facilities as well as banks and emergency services reported that contingency plans were firmly in place and they were not expecting the millennium bug to cause any problems.

The Examiner's Heather Long reported that, "While thousands of people head to parties and pubs to see in the new millennium, thousands of others will be on duty or on call in case of Y2K problems".

"Police and other emergency service workers as well as computer experts, bank staff, public servants and electricity and communications workers will be among the people who will see in 2000 in their workplace," she said.

People all around Australia made their new millennium resolutions to get fit, lose weight and face the world with a renewed sense of enthusiasm.

It was a tough call to make a pledge for the next 1000 years, but this is what some Northern Tasmanians resolved to do.

DAVID FOSTER, champion axeman: To continue to do what I do, enjoy life, spend time with my family and help somebody along the way.

JOHN LEES, Mayor of Launceston: To continue to remain cool and calm and spend more time with my new dog Melody - so I can train her to be a really well-behaved dog.

STUART HALLAM, Hallam's Waterfront Restaurant owner: To lighten up and be more at one with time because that's what the millennium is all about - a celebration of time.

Former Beatle George Harrison was repeatedly stabbed in the chest by a lone knife-wielding intruder in an early morning attack at his mansion near London.

Harrison was listed as being in a stable condition, though in considerable pain, after the attack, in which his wife Olivia received minor head injuries.

Police arrested a man on suspicion of attempted murder after being called to the Harrison's home in Henley-on-Thames at about 3.30am (11am Tasmania time).