The Provisional Irish Republican Army carry out the Docklands bombing in London, a truck bomb which kills two men (whose bodies are discovered the following day) and injures 39 people. This incident ends the 17-month ceasefire in Northern Ireland.
The Parole Board announces that Moors MurdererMyra Hindley could soon be transferred to an open prison. Hindley, 53 and in her thirtieth year of imprisonment, is currently being held at Durham Prison, but if Home SecretaryMichael Howard backs the Parole Board's recommendation, Hindley could soon be transferred to a prison with a more relaxed regime.
15 February – A report on the Arms-to-Iraq affair is critical of government ministers.[4]
18 February – An IRA bomb explodes on a bus in Central London, killing the transporter, Edward O'Brien, and injuring eight other people, including the driver.[5]
19–20 February – Approximately 1,000 passengers are trapped in the Channel Tunnel when two Eurostar trains break down due to electronic failures caused by snow and ice.[6]
Sandra Gregory, a British teacher, is sentenced to 25 years in prison in Thailand for drug smuggling, three years after her arrest at Bangkok Airport. Her co-accused, Robert Lock, is cleared of the same charge and returns home.
March
13 March – A gunman kills sixteen children, a teacher and himself in the Dunblane massacre. The killer is quickly identified as 43-year-old former scout leader Thomas Hamilton. It is the worst killing spree in the United Kingdom since the Hungerford massacre in 1987.
17 March – Legoland Windsor opens its doors for the public. It becomes the second Legoland in Europe.
20 March
Home SecretaryMichael Howard unveils plans to give courts the power to hand down heavier prison sentences, including sending burglars to prison for at least three years after a third offence and all drug dealers to prison for at least six years. The plans spark controversy, with some critics pointing out that it will increase the prison population by at least 20%.
22 March – The European Union prohibits exports of British beef because of the BSE crisis.
29 March – Three British soldiers are sentenced to life imprisonment in Cyprus for the abduction, attempted rape and manslaughter of Danish woman Louise Jensen. The three soldiers are Allan Ford from Birmingham, Justin Fowler from Falmouth and Jeffrey Pernell from Oldbury.
5 May – Manchester United win the FA Premier League title for the third time in four seasons.
11 May – Manchester United win the FA Cup for a record ninth time by beating Liverpool 1–0 and become the first team to win the double of the league title and FA Cup twice.
17 May – Timothy Morss and Brett Tyler are found guilty of the murder of Daniel Handley, who disappeared near his London home in October 1994 and whose body was found near Bristol five months later. The Old Bailey trial judge sentences them to life imprisonment and recommends that neither of them is ever released.
the Duke and Duchess of York complete their divorce proceedings.[11] The former Duchess loses the title HRH and becomes Sarah, Duchess of York.
Sara Thornton, a Warwickshire woman who was jailed for life in 1990 for the murder of her abusive husband Malcolm the previous year, is released from prison after the Court of Appeal reduces her conviction to manslaughter.
June
8 June – The European Football Championships begin in England, with the host nation drawing 1–1 with Switzerland in the opening game.
England and Scotland meet for the first time in a major football tournament when they play their group match at Euro '96. England win the match 2–0.[12]
16 June – Launch of The Planet on Sunday, a new Sunday tabloid focusing on environmental issues. Publication of the newspaper ceases after one edition because the owner is unhappy with its content.[13][14]
19 June – The government selects the GreenwichPeninsula site on the banks of the River Thames as the location for the Millennium Dome exhibition which is set to open for the year 2000.
21 June – The latest MORI poll shows the Conservatives on 31%, their best showing for three years, but they are still 21 points behind Labour with just under a year to go before the next general election is due to be held.[1]
26 June – England's hopes of being European champions of football for the first time are ended with a penalty shootout defeat to Germany after a 1–1 draw in the semi-final.
30 June – Germany wins the European Championship final with a 2–1 victory over the Czech Republic at Wembley.
July
5 July – Dolly the sheep, the first mammal to have been successfully cloned from an adult cell, is born at the Roslin Institute.
12 July – South African President Nelson Mandela visits the UK.
15 July – A Provisional Irish Republican Army unit plotting to disrupt the London electricity supply is arrested in Operation AIRLINES.[15]
18 July – Howard Hughes, 31, is found guilty of the murder of Sophie Hook in Llandudno, North Wales, twelve months ago. He is sentenced to life imprisonment at ChesterCrown Court and the trial judge Mr Justice Curtis recommends that he is never released.
9 August – Sir Frank Whittle, inventor of the turbojet engine, dies of cancer at his home in Columbia, Maryland, United States, aged 89.
14 August – Unemployment has fallen to 2,126,200 – its lowest level since the summer of 1991.
28 August – The Prince and Princess of Wales (Charles and Diana) complete their divorce proceedings after fifteen years of marriage. Their separation was first announced nearly four years ago.[11] The former Princess of Wales loses her style of Royal Highness and assumes the style Diana, Princess of Wales.
29 August – Ketamine was legalised in the United Kingdom for the first time.
September
September
Ford launches its new Ka city car, which makes use of a shortened Fiesta chassis. A revamped Mondeo goes on sale next month.
BBC2 shows the first episode of lifestyle reality television show Changing Rooms.
5 September – Matthew Harding, vice-chairman of Chelsea FC, makes a £1,000,000 donation to the Labour Party – the largest donation made to the party by any individual.
8 November – With the next general election, no more than six months away, Labour still look set for a return to power after eighteen years in opposition, but the Conservatives have cut their lead to seventeen points in the latest MORI opinion poll – one of the narrowest gaps seen between the two leading parties in any opinion poll over the last three years.[20]
7 December – Sir John Gorst, 68-year-old Conservative MP for Hendon North in London, resigns the party whip, leaving the Conservative Party without a majority in the House of Commons.
11 December – Comedian Willie Rushton dies aged 59 in hospital in Kensington, London, of a heart attack, ten years after jokingly predicting it.
18 December – Unemployment has fallen below 2,000,000 for the first time in almost six years, four years since it peaked at nearly 3,000,000 during the recession. Despite the strong economic recovery and falling unemployment, the Conservatives are still trailing behind Labour in the opinion polls, a stark contrast to their performance at the last election, where they retained power despite Britain being in recession.
Undated
Remaining provincial branches of the Bank of England, at Leeds, Newcastle, Manchester, Birmingham and Bristol, are closed.[23]
More than 4% of the UK population (some 2,500,000 people) now have internet access.
New car sales in the United Kingdom are above 2,000,000 for this year, a level last seen in 1990.
^Wolmar, Christian (22 February 1996). "Wrong kind of snow in tunnel...". The Independent. London. Archived from the original on 1 May 2022. Retrieved 21 December 2009.
^Fowler, Rebecca (20 June 1996). "Why The Planet fell to earth". The Independent. Independent Print Limited. Archived from the original on 1 May 2022. Retrieved 22 March 2016.
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