1996 in the United Kingdom

Incumbents

• Monarch – Elizabeth II
• Prime Minister – John Major
• Parliament – 51st

  Events

January

• 10 January – Terry Venables announces that he will resign as manager of the England national football team after this summer's European Championships, which will be hosted in England.
• 13 January – NUM leader Arthur Scargill announces that he is defecting from the Labour Party to set up his own Socialist Labour Party.
• 19 January
• * The first MORI poll of 1996 shows Labour still comfortably ahead of the Conservatives with a showing of 55% and a lead of 26 points.
• * Ian and Kevin Maxwell, sons of the late media mogul Robert Maxwell, are cleared of fraud at the Old Bailey after a trial lasting eleven days.
• 23–26 January – Much of Britain is struck with sub-zero temperatures and snowstorms. Schools and transport are disrupted.

  February

• 4 February – First two passenger train operating companies begin operation of their service franchises as part of the privatisation of British Rail: South West Trains and Great Western Trains.
• 5 February – The first genetically modified food products go on sale in the UK.
• 9 February
• * The IRA carry out the Docklands bombing, which injures 39 people and ends the 17-month ceasefire.
• * The Parole Board announces that Moors Murderer Myra 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 Secretary Michael Howard backs the Parole Board's recommendation, Hindley could soon be transferred to a prison with a more relaxed regime.
• 10 February – The bodies of two men are discovered at Canary Wharf, the only fatalities of the IRA bombing – of which it was initially believed there were no fatalities. On the same day, the IRA admits responsibility for the bombing.
• 13 February – Take That, the most successful British band of the 1990s, announce that they are splitting up.
• 15 February – A report on the Arms-to-Iraq affair is critical of government ministers.
• 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.
• 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.
• 22 February – Conservative MP Peter Thurnham announces his resignation from the House of Commons, reducing the Conservative Government's majority to just two seats. Resignations and by-election defeats have cost the Conservatives nineteen seats since the general election just under four years ago.
• 28 February
• * The Princess of Wales agrees to give The Prince of Wales a divorce, more than three years after separating.
• * 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.
• 20 March – Home Secretary Michael 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 as a result 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.

  April

• 1 April – The Local Government etc. and Local Government Acts of 1994 come into effect, creating new unitary authorities.
• 16 April – South East Staffordshire by-election: In a 22-point swing, Labour wins the Staffordshire South East seat from the Conservative Party at a by-election, cutting the Conservative Government's majority to just three seats almost exactly four years after they began the current term of Parliament with a 21-seat majority.
• 17 April – The Duke and Duchess of York are divorced after ten years of marriage and four years after their separation.

  May

• 2 May
• * The Conservatives lose 578 seats in local council elections, while Labour increases its total number of councillors nationally to almost 11,000.
• * The Football Association announces that Glenn Hoddle, the current Chelsea manager, will succeed Terry Venables as manager of the England national football team after next month's European Championships, which England is hosting for the first time.
• 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 also 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 are ever released.
• 30 May
• * the Duke and Duchess of York complete their divorce proceedings. 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.
• 13 June – The parliament of Guernsey, Channel Islands, votes to legalise abortion 86 years after it was outlawed.
• 15 June – A bombing takes place in Manchester.
• 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.
• 19 June – The government selects the Greenwich Peninsula 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.
• 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.
• 8 July – The Spice Girls' debut single Wannabe is released.
• 12 July – South African President Nelson Mandela visits the UK.
• 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 Chester Crown Court and the trial judge Mr Justice Curtis recommends that he is never released.
• 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. The only Gold medal is won by Matthew Pinsent and Steve Redgrave in rowing.
• 30 July – Alan Shearer becomes the most expensive footballer in the world in a £15,000,000 transfer from Blackburn Rovers to Newcastle United F.C.

  August

• 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 complete their divorce proceedings after fifteen years of marriage. Their separation was first announced nearly four years ago. The former Princess of Wales loses her title of Royal Highness and assumes the title, Diana, Princess of Wales.

  September

• September
• * Ford launches its revolutionary new Ka city car, which makes use of a shortened Fiesta chassis. A revamped Mondeo goes on sale next month.
• * Launch of the second generation Nissan Primera, built at Nissan's Sunderland factory.
• * BBC Two 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.
• 20 September – Jockey Willie Carson is injured by a horse at Newbury, Berkshire.

  October

• 7 October – The Thiepval barracks bombing in Lisburn injures many people, including a soldier who later dies from his injuries.
• 12 October – The Conservative government's majority has dwindled to a single seat following the defection of Peter Thurnham to the Liberal Democrats.
• 13 October
• * Racing driver Damon Hill wins the Japanese Grand Prix thus clinching the Drivers' World Championship.
• * The Queen opens Durham's new Riverside Ground in Chester-le-Street, the first new purpose built first class county cricket ground in the UK for over 100 years.
• 16 October – The government announces plans to make possession of handguns illegal in the UK, following the Dunblane massacre.

  November

• 3 November – Barry Porter, Conservative MP for Wirral South, dies of cancer aged 57.
• 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.
• 13 November – The Stone of Scone is taken away from King Edward's Chair in Westminster Abbey, its location since 1296, and returned to Scotland.
• 18 November – Channel Tunnel fire – The Channel Tunnel is closed when a truck on a transporter wagon catches fire, disrupting Eurotunnel Shuttle and Eurostar services.
• 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.

  December

• 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.
• 10 December
• * James Mirrlees wins the Nobel Prize in Economics jointly with William Vickrey "for their fundamental contributions to the economic theory of incentives under asymmetric information".
• * Harold Kroto wins the Nobel Prize in Chemistry jointly with Robert Curl and Richard Smalley "for their discovery of fullerenes".
• 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.
• Lawyer and politician John Taylor is made a Life Peer as Baron Taylor of Warwick, the first black Conservative peer.
• More than 4% of the UK population 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.

  Publications

• Iain M. Banks's novel Excession.
• Seamus Deane's novel Reading in the Dark.
• Terry Pratchett's Discworld novels Feet of Clay and Hogfather; and his Johnny Maxwell novel Johnny and the Bomb.
• Graham Swift's novel Last Orders.
• Meera Syal's semi-autobiographical novel Anita and Me.

  Births

January

• 3 January – Florence Pugh, actress
• 4 January – Jade Jones, athlete
• 5 January – Maxim Baldry, English actor
• 8 January – Hiram Boateng, footballer
• 10 January – Lauren McCrostie, actress
• 11 January – Charlie Coulson, footballer
• 17 January – Kirsty Hickey, actor, singer and dancer
• 21 January – Kyle Lander, footballer
• 26 January – Tyger Drew-Honey, actor
• 29 January – Megan Jossa, actress

  February

• 1 February
• * Josh Bates, motorcycle speedway rider
• * Dionne Bromfield, singer-songwriter and television presenter
• 7 February – Nathan Curtis, footballer
• 14 February – Bethany Firth, swimmer
• 20 February – Patrick Brough, footballer
• 21 February – Sophie Turner, actress
• 24 February - Clare Chamberlain, legend

  March

• 12 March – Byron Lawrence, footballer
• 16 March – Ivan Toney, footballer
• 17 March – Lydia Lloyd-Henry, actress
• 19 March – Kaiya Jones, Scottish-born Australian actress
• 20 March – Charley Hull, golfer
• 21 March – Adam Ellis, French-born grasstrack and speedway rider
• 22 March
• * Jonathan Mason, actor
• * Izzy Meikle-Small, actress
• 31 March – Barney Gibson, cricketer

  April

• 3 April – Anna Jobarteh, actress
• 5 April – Lowri Shone, ballerina
• 8 April – Lorna Fitzgerald, actress
• 11 April – Dele Alli, footballer
• 12 April – Georgia Hall, golfer
• 17 April - Lorna Fitzgerald, actress
• 23 April – Charlie Rowe, actor
• 25 April
• * Bryn Morris, footballer
• * Brad Walker, footballer

  May

• 3 May – Danielle Alakija, athlete
• 15 May – Birdy, musician
• 16 May – Jermaine Anderson, footballer

  June

• 1 June – Tom Holland, actor and dancer
• 4 June – Ruby Harrold, gymnast
• 11 June – Hakeeb Adelakun, footballer
• 23 June – Charlie Jones, actor
• 24 June – Harris Dickinson, actor, writer, and director
• 27 June – James Forde, actor
• 28 June – William Miller, actor
• 30 June – Gregor Ramsay, racing driver

  July

• 9 July – Scott McMann, footballer
• 15 July – Mason Bennett, footballer
• 16 July – Daniel Pearson, actor and presenter
• 20 July – Martin James Bartlett, pianist
• 24 July – Jordan McGhee, footballer
• 26 July – Olivia Breen, athlete
• 28 July
• * Anya Chalotra, actress
• * Samuel Chatto, son of Lady Sarah Chatto and Daniel Chatto

  August

• 2 August – Robert Madge, actor
• 5 August – Hannah Russell, paralympic swimmer
• 9 August – Céline Buckens, Belgian-born actress
• 20 August – Sophie Kamlish, paralympic
• 22 August
• * Jessica-Jane Applegate, swimmer
• * Shannon Flynn, actress

  September

• 2 September – Hannah Jones, snooker player
• 17 September – Ella Purnell, actress
• 20 September – Jerome Sinclair, footballer
• 25 September
• * Jake Pratt, actor
• * John Souttar, footballer
• 28 September – Aiden Moffat, racing driver

  October

• 7 October – Lewis Capaldi, Scottish singer-songwriter
• 16 October – Sam Thornton, diver
• 17 October – Princess Marie-Caroline of Liechtenstein
• 19 October
• * Daniel Goodfellow, diver
• * Samuel Honywood, actor
• 21 October – Alicia Blagg, diver
• 25 October – Georgia Lock, actress and presenter
• 26 October – Rebecca Tunney, gymnast
• 31 October – Connor Wilkinson, actor

  November

• 11 November - Ryan Kent, footballer
• 12 November – Alexander Ogilvy, son of James Ogilvy
• 28 November – Peter Moore, trombonist

  December

• 18 December – Devaanshi Mehta, started the Asian Donor Campaign
• 26 December – Cassius Taylor, son of Lady Helen Taylor

  Full date unknown

• Maz Totterdell, singer and songwriter
• Nadia Whittome, Labour Member of Parliament

  Deaths

• 8 January – Norrie McCathie, footballer
• 16 January – Harry Potts, footballer and manager
• 11 February – Cyril Poole, cricketer
• 14 February – Bob Paisley, footballer and manager
• 27 February – Pat Smythe, show jumper
• 8 March – Jack Churchill, British Army officer
• 25 March – John Snagge, radio personality
• 6 April – Greer Garson, actress
• 8 April – Donald Adams, actor and opera singer
• 20 April – Christopher Robin Milne, author and bookseller
• 2 May – Peter Swales, businessman and football chairman
• 20 May – Jon Pertwee, actor
• 2 June – Leon Garfield, children's author
• 7 June – Percy Edwards, animal impersonator
• 15 June – Allenby Chilton, former footballer and football manager
• 19 June – Vivian Ellis, composer and lyricist
• 17 July – Sir Geoffrey Jellicoe, landscape architect
• 4 August – Geoff Hamilton, television presenter
• 6 August – Ossie Clark, fashion designer
• 9 August – Frank Whittle, RAF officer and inventor
• 27 August – Abram Games, graphic designer
• 29 September – Leslie Crowther, comedian and TV presenter
• 11 October – Terry Patchett, Labour Member of Parliament
• 13 October – Beryl Reid, actress
• 16 October – Eric Malpass, novelist
• 22 October – Matthew Harding, businessman
• 6 November – Tommy Lawton, footballer
• 24 November – Sorley MacLean, Scottish Gaelic poet
• 26 November – Michael Bentine, comedian and comic actor
• 9 December – Mary Leakey, archaeologist
• 11 December – Willie Rushton, comedian, actor and cartoonist
• 11 December – W. G. G. Duncan Smith, World War II pilot
• 16 December – Quentin Bell, biographer and art historian
• 23 December – Ronnie Scott, jazz musician and club owner