2007 a year to remember.

Byline: By Dan O'Neill South Wales Echo 

Dan O'Neill's review of the year continues with a look at an autumn full of drama We mourn a man universally regarded as one of the greatest Welshmen of the 20th Century. Sir Tasker Watkins VC, war hero, eminent lawyer, President of the WRU (and of Glamorgan Wanderers) dies aged 88.

William John Tudor, the Bridgend butcher responsible for the second largest e.coli outbreak in the UK, is jailed for 12 months.

A two-car cash on the M4 near Carleon kills five and causes 10-mile tailbacks for early morning motorists.

It is lights out for 184 workers when Freeman's cigar factory, in South Wales since 1839, is taken over by Japan Tobacco, production moved to Northern Ireland.

Six members of the same close-knit Cardiff family, Carl Prance, 71, Lilian Grainger, 71, Steven Prance, 47, Jacquie Wood, 53, Christine Mills 52 and Ceri Howe, 43, are sitting in their Trecco Bay caravan when they discover they'll split a pounds 7m Eurolottery win. What'll they do? Buy a pounds 64,000 caravan each at Trecco Bay, that's what.

Meanwhile Charlotte and Gav get a Ruby delivered. Nope, not a vindaloo. It's their new baby's name.

"What sort of person would watch a child drown?"

The anguished cry of the mother of 10-year-old Jordon Lyon who drowns in a Wigan pond when successfully rescuing his small sister. Two police community support officers do little to help, and the excuse offered by Greater Manchester Police at the inquest is that "They aren't trained to deal with water rescue."

More disbelief when TV star Chris Langham gets just five months for downloading "sickening child porn" on his computer.

Five London gang members are jailed for killing an 18-year-old Somali student. Just another routine knife crime? Would be - but one of the gang is Faisal Wangita, 25-year-old son of Uganda dictator Idi Amin.

Five die on the M4 including three ludicrously-named "boy racers" who kill an elderly couple, hitting their car when doing 70mph the wrong way during a police chase.

Labour troubles as Northern Rock begins to crumble, crowds lining up in hope of salvaging some cash, the Tories scoring points with plans to ease inheritance tax. Even the weather's against Labour as tornadoes whip through England.

Kate and Gerry McCann are formally declared suspects over Madeleine's disappearance: Portugese police even accuse Kate of accidentally killing her daughter.

Former soldier Moira Cameron, 42, makes history and breaks a 522-year male monopoly by becoming the first female Beefeater at the Tower of London.

Retreat? Or strategic withdrawal? For Islamic fighters it's "victory" when British troops pull out of Basra after handing control to Iraqi forces.

German police hold terrorists plotting a 9/11 "anniversary bloodbath" at airports and US bases.

But Pakistan fails to stop a suicide bomber killing 25 at a military base, part of a country-wide campaign.

Bombs and turmoil in Burma, too, Buddhist monks protesting on the streets as the country's rulers clamp down.

OJ Simpson, controversially cleared of killing his ex-wife in 1995, is arrested for his alleged part in a raid on a Las Vegas hotel "to recover items that belong to me".

And Luciano Pavarotti, most celebrated tenor of his time, dies at his Modena home.

His family refuse a state funeral (Caruso had one) and 100,000 file past his open coffin, lined with velvet used for seats in La Scala and other famous opera houses.

After 27 years Anne Robinson, 63, cuts links with 60-year-old husband John Penrose. No walk of shame for Penrose - instead a pounds 30m payoff and a pounds 600,000 cottage in the Cotswolds.

Meanwhile Britney Spears' bizarre behaviour means ex-husband Kevin Federline gets custody of their two young sons.

The Klaxons scoop the prestigious pounds 20,000 Mercury Prize for debut album Myths of the Near Future.

World Cup woe for Wales, knocked out by little Fiji, coach Gareth Jenkins fired the next day and (predictably) a huge shakeup promised. Hosts France lose to Argentina, Jonny scores his 1,000th international point. Fans thrilled by exploits of minnows Tonga, Georgia and debut boys Portugal.

Soccer tears, too, as Wales' 2-0 loss to Germany ends Euro 2008 dream.

Federer wins his fourth successive US Open, Justine Henin her second, and Tim Henman bows out after helping Great Britain to a Davis Cup win over Croatia. And Jose the Special One leaves Chelsea with a reported pounds 17m payoff.

From the world of showbiz: Jane Wyman (actress and Ronnie Reagan's ex), 93, Lois Maxwell (Miss Moneypenny)90, That Was The Week That Was creator Ned Sherrin, 76, and peerless mime Marcel Marceau. 84. Sport loses ex-Sunderland star Ian Porterfield, 61, and rally champ Colin McRae, 39. Also, cancer charity icon Jane Tomlinson, 43, Dame Anita Roddick, 64. LOCAL: Neighbours in Caerphilly told the authorities - but nothing was done. So two-year-old Lois was literally tortured to death by her mother and her mother's sadistic partner. Three years after the toddler's death Daniel Bishop, 27,who held Lois over a 150-degree hob, is jailed for 12 years. Sara Bishop, 29, gets six years.

Geraint Evans, the psychotic killer who pleads guilty to the manslaughter of Aberdare vicar Paul Bennett, will be held indefinitely after a history of paranoid schizophrenia is revealed in court.

Two loss-leaders for the Lib Dems. Lembit Opik steps down as party leader in Wales, and Mike German announces he'll resign from the Assembly, maybe succeeding Lembit.

Professor Sir Martin Evans of Cardiff University brings honour to town and gown when awarded the Nobel Prize for Medicine. He shares pounds 750,000 with Americans Oliver Smithies and Mario Capecchi who followed up his work on the role of genes in human development and disease. NATIONAL: They didn't yell "Chicken" but that's the message from opposition parties when Gordon Brown decides against an election after seeing a Tory poll surge.

Bad news as well for the Lib Dems when plummeting support forces leader Ming Campbell to resign, mainly because he's reckoned too old at 66.

Meanwhile David Cameron visits California Governor Arnie the Terminator in search of guidance.

And 130,000 postal workers walk out for 48 hours, more protest promised, after a "paltry" 2.5 per cent pay rise.

Trying to get home before dark, Kieron Coupe, seven, and six-year-old Glyn Davis ride their scooters across a motorway in Cheshire. They are hit by three cars and killed instantly.

The body of Sara Cooper is found floating in an underwater cave in Majorca - soon after her seven-year-old daughter Gianna survived a 40 feet fall from their hotel balcony.

In Portugal Bob and Debbie Fry drown trying to rescue their children swept out to sea. George, nine, and 11-year-old Rosie survive but a family friend, Barbara Dinsmore, also drowns. INTERNATIONAL: An ominous warning for former President Benazir Bhutto, back in Pakistan to rejoin the government.

Her homecoming parade in front of 200,000 cheering supporters ends when two explosions rip through her convoy, killing115.

Thousands of Burmese monks are carted off to concentration camps as troops brutally put down more protests against the country's military leaders.

Mid-east turmoil as usual but added horror in Afghanistan when 15 women and children are killed by US air strikes.

Adding to the mix, Turkey threatens to invade Northern Iraq after Kurdish insurgents kill 12 soldiers.

It's an astonishing 40,000 years' jail for Moroccans Jamal Zougan and Othman el Gnaoui, who killed 191 passengers in the Madrid train bombing of 2004.

And Russian mass murderer Alexander Pichushkin gets life for 48 killings, although he claims 60.

Meanwhile Tyler Peterson, a 20-year-old deputy sheriff in Wisconsin, shoots six at a pizza party.

He was said to have snapped after an old girl friend called him "a worthless pig." SHOWBIZ: Bbc One Controller Peter Fincham resigns over the screening of a trailer appearing to show a grumpy Queen storming out of a photo shoot when, in fact, she was walking into it.

But there's no doubting Heather Mills McCartney's grumpiness when she tours TV studios saying she was close to killing herself over the abuse suffered since her split with the Beatle.

The verdict from TV watchers and divorce lawyers: nearest thing seen to a televised nervous breakdown.

Things get worse on the Jeremy Kyle show when a husband headbutts the bloke who ran off with his wife, a first for live TV. Critics slam the show as "modern bear-baiting".

Better news for the Spice Girls, whose first reunion gig in London sells out in 38 seconds, a million people chase after 20,000 tickets for the concert at the O2 arena.

And for Daniel Craig whose next four Bond films can earn him pounds 30m. SPORT: A battling England, World Cup finalists against all the odds, are beaten 15-6 by South Africa.

Things are spoiled a little when Catt and Dallaglio criticise coach Ashton in their World Cup books.

It's second place, too, for Lewis Hamilton who agonisingly fails to make motor racing history by becoming Formula One champ in his first season when Finland's Kimi Raikkonen pips him at the post.

But the dark side of sport is seen when Andy Murray claims match-fixing is rife in tennis.

Six-times champion jockey Keiron Fallon goes on trial at the Old Bailey for throwing races.

And Olympic triple gold-winner Marion Jones confesses to taking performance enhancing drugs. DEATHS: Screen stars Deborah Kerr, 86, Moira Lister, 84, Joey (Ratpack) Bishop, 89; singers Robert Goulet, 73 and Teresa Brewer, 76; comic genius Alan Coren, 69, and Blackpool Cup-winner Bill Perry, 77