Events from the year 1996 in the United Kingdom. [edit] Incumbents [edit] Events - 18 January - Six major environmental organisations add their support to the campaign over the Newbury By-pass in Berkshire.[1]
- 5 February - the first genetically modified food products go on sale in the UK.[2]
- 9 February
- 15 February - A report on the Arms-to-Iraq affair is critical of government ministers.[4]
- 18 February - a bomb explodes on a London bus in Central London, killing the IRA bomber transporting the device, and injuring several people.[5]
- 13 March - The Dunblane massacre - A gunman kills 16 children, their teacher and himself at a primary school in Dunblane, Stirling. The killer, who wounded 13 other children and another teacher, is quickly identified as 43-year-old former scout leader Thomas Hamilton.[6]
- 2 May - The Football Association confirms that Glenn Hoddle will be appointed as coach of the England national football team after the upcoming European Championships.
- 5 May - Manchester United are confirmed Premier League champions for the third time in four seasons.
- 11 May - Eric Cantona, FWA Player of the Year for this season, scores a late winner against Liverpool in the FA Cup final to ensure that Manchester United win it for a record ninth time, and become the first team in England to win the double twice.
- 27 May - The reconstruction of William Shakespeare's Globe Theatre opens in London.[7]
- 30 May - The Duke and Duchess of York complete their divorce proceedings.[7]
- 8 June - The UEFA Euro 1996, hosted by England begins. The first match, England vs Switzerland takes place at Wembley Stadium, London. It ends in a 1-1 draw.
- 13 June - Guernsey legalises abortion, 86 years after it was criminalised on the island.
- 15 June - A massive IRA bomb explodes in Manchester city centre, devastating the city's commercial district.[8]
- 30 June - Germany wins the European Championship final with a 2-1 victory over Czech Republic at Wembley.
- 5 July - Dolly the sheep, the first mammal to have been successfully cloned from an adult cell, is born at the Roslin Institute in Scotland,
- 8 July
- 10 July - Police find the bodies of 45-year-old Lin Russell and her six-year-old daughter Megan near village of Nonington in Kent. Lin's other daughter, nine-year-old Josie, survived the attack with massive head injuries. The killer is believed to have performed the attack with a hammer.[10]
- 15 July - Horrett Campbell, 33, is arrested on seven counts of attempted murder following last week's machete attack at a Wolverhampton nursery school.
- 19 July–9 August - Great Britain and Northern Ireland compete at the 1996 Summer Olympics in Atlanta, Georgia, United States, and win 1 gold, 8 silver and 6 bronze medals.
- 29 July - Alan Shearer becomes the world's most expensive footballer when Newcastle United F.C. pay £15 million for him. It beats the previous world record that was set four years ago when AC Milan of Italy signed Gianluigi Lentini for £13million, and is almost double the previous national record of £8.4million that Liverpool paid for Stan Collymore last year. The rising wealth of football in England since the creation of the Premier League four years ago is reflected in the fact that Shearer became the country's most expensive footballer back in 1992 for a fee of £3.6million - less than a quarter of his latest fee.[7]
- 14 August - Unemployment has fallen to 2,126,200 - its lowest level in more than five years.
- 28 August - The Prince and Princess of Wales complete their divorce proceedings.[7] The Princess of Wales loses her style of Royal Highness and assumes the style, Diana, Princess of Wales.
- September - Ford launches its revolutionary new Ka city car, which makes use of a shortened Fiesta chassis.
- 13 October - Racing driver Damon Hill wins the Japanese Grand Prix thus clinching the Drivers' World Championship.[7]
- 16 October - The Government announces plans to ban handguns in the UK, following the Dunblane massacre.[11]
- 18 November - Channel Tunnel fire.
- 30 November - The Stone of Scone is installed in Edinburgh Castle 700 years after it was removed from Scotland by King Edward I of England.[7]
- 1 December - Lee Harvey, a 25-year-old Alvechurch man, is stabbed to death in a reported road rage attack on a country lane near Redditch in Worcestershire.
- 9 December - A jury at Stafford Crown Court finds Horrett Campbell guilty on all seven counts of attempted murder relating to the Wolverhampton nursery machete attack five months previously.[12]
- 10 December
- 18 December - Unemployment has fallen below 2,000,000 for the first time since early 1991, less than four years after it touched 3,000,000. Despite the strong economic recovery and falling unemployment, the Tories are still trailing behind Labour in the opinion polls.
- 19 December - Lee Harvey's girlfriend Tracie Andrews is charged with his murder, less than three weeks after his death was reported as the result of a "road rage" attack. She is freed on bail.
- 20 December - A police hunt begins in Chester for nine-year-old Kayleigh Ward, who went missing yesterday evening in the Blacon area of the city.
[edit] Publications [edit] Births [edit] Deaths - 11 February - Cyril Poole, cricketer (born 1921)
- 14 February - Bob Paisley, footballer and football manager (born 1919)
- 27 February - Pat Smythe, show jumper (born 1928)
- 25 March - John Snagge, radio personality (born 1904)
- 6 April) - Greer Garson, actress (born 1904)
- 20 April - Christopher Robin Milne, author and bookseller (born 1920)
- 20 May - Jon Pertwee, actor (born 1919)
- 2 June - Leon Garfield, children's author (born 1921)
- 4 August - Geoff Hamilton, television presenter (born 1936)
- 9 August - Frank Whittle, RAF officer and inventor (born 1907)
- 13 October - Beryl Reid, actress (born 1919)
- 16 October - Eric Malpass, novelist (born 1910)
- 26 November - Michael Bentine, comedian and comic actor (born 1922)
- 9 December - Mary Leakey, archaeologist (born 1913)
- 11 December - Willie Rushton, comedian, actor, and cartoonist (born 1937)
- 11 December - W. G. G. Duncan Smith, World War II pilot (born 1914)
- 16 December - Quentin Bell, biographer and art historian (born 1910)
[edit] References - ^ ""1996: Green groups join bypass battle", BBC On This Day". http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/january/18/newsid_2530000/2530307.stm. Retrieved 2008-02-03.
- ^ ""1996: First GM food goes on sale in UK", BBC On This Day". http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/february/5/newsid_4647000/4647390.stm. Retrieved 2008-02-03.
- ^ ""1996: Docklands bomb ends IRA ceasefire", BBC On This Day". http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/february/10/newsid_2539000/2539265.stm. Retrieved 2008-02-03.
- ^ ""1996: Arms-to-Iraq report published", BBC On This Day". http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/february/15/newsid_2544000/2544355.stm. Retrieved 2008-02-03.
- ^ ""1996: Bomb blast destroys London bus", BBC On This Day". http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/february/18/newsid_4165000/4165719.stm. Retrieved 2008-02-03.
- ^ ""1996: Massacre in Dunblane school gym", BBC On This Day". http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/march/13/newsid_2543000/2543277.stm. Retrieved 2008-02-03.
- ^ a b c d e f Penguin Pocket On This Day. Penguin Reference Library. 2006. ISBN 0-141-02715-0.
- ^ ""1996: Huge explosion rocks central Manchester", BBC On This Day". http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/june/15/newsid_2527000/2527009.stm. Retrieved 2008-02-03.
- ^ ""1996: Seven slashed in school machete attack", BBC On This Day". http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/july/8/newsid_2496000/2496685.stm. Retrieved 2008-02-03.
- ^ ""1996: Girl survives murder of mother and sister", BBC On This Day". http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/july/10/newsid_2499000/2499209.stm. Retrieved 2008-02-03.
- ^ ""1996: Handguns to be banned in the UK", BBC On This Day". http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/october/16/newsid_3110000/3110949.stm. Retrieved 2008-02-03.
- ^ ""1996: Guilty verdict on school machete attacker", BBC On This Day". http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/december/9/newsid_2543000/2543755.stm. Retrieved 2008-02-03.
- ^ "The Sveriges Riksbank Prize in Economic Sciences in Memory of Alfred Nobel 1996". http://nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/economics/laureates/1996/index.html. Retrieved 2008-02-03.
- ^ "The Nobel Prize in Chemistry 1996". http://nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/chemistry/laureates/1996/. Retrieved 2008-02-03.
[edit] See also |
