1996

Top Selling Singles

1. “Killing Me Softly” — The Fugees
2. “Wannabe” — Spice Girls
3. “Return of the Mack” — Mark Morrison
4. “Ooh Aah… Just a Little Bit” — Gina G
5. “Children” — Robert Miles
6. “Mysterious Girl” — Peter Andre ft. Bubbler Ranx
7. “Three Lions” — Baddiel & Skinner and The Lightning Seeds
8. “Spaceman” — Babylon Zoo
9. “Un-Break My Heart” — Toni Braxton
10. “Say You’ll Be There” — Spice Girls

Christmas No.1: Spice Girls – 2 Become 1

Top Selling Albums

1. Jagged Little Pill — Alanis Morissette
2. Spice — Spice Girls
3. (What’s The Story) Morning Glory? — Oasis
4. Falling Into You — Celine Dion
5. Older — George Michael
6. Take Two — Robson & Jerome
7. The Score — Fugees
8. Greatest Hits — Take That
9. Greatest Hits — Simply Red
10. Blue Is the Colour — Beautiful South

At the Box Office

1. Independence Day 
2. Toy Story
3. 101 Dalmatians
4. Seven
5. Twelve Monkeys
6. Mission:Impossible [clip]
7. Twister
8. Jumanji
9. Sense and Sensibility
10. Trainspotting

Cost of Living

Average house price	£53,400
Average salary	£17,700
Average car price	Brand new Ford Fiesta Mk4 £7,475
Petrol	55p / litre
Pint of beer	£1.70
Packet of 20 Cigarettes	£2.73
Pint of milk	36p

In the News

• The Dunblane Massacre (March 13): A gunman, Thomas Hamilton, killed 16 children and one teacher in a school gym in Dunblane, Scotland, before killing himself. It remains the worst mass shooting in British history and led to a major campaign for the tightening of UK gun ownership laws.
• IRA Manchester Bombing (June 15): The Provisional Irish Republican Army (IRA) detonated a massive lorry bomb in Manchester city centre. The bomb caused extensive damage and injured over 200 people, though there were no fatalities. It was the biggest bomb detonated in Britain since World War II and followed the end of the IRA’s 17-month ceasefire.
• BSE (“Mad Cow” Disease) Crisis (March 20): The government announced a probable link between bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE), or “mad cow disease,” and the potentially fatal new variant Creutzfeldt–Jakob disease (vCJD) in humans. This sparked widespread alarm and led to the European Union banning British beef exports.
• Royal Divorces (April/August): The Prince and Princess of Wales (Charles and Diana) finalised their divorce in August, with Diana losing her HRH status. The Duke and Duchess of York (Andrew and Sarah) also divorced in April.
• England hosted the European Football Championships. The nation was swept up in “football coming home” enthusiasm, which ended in an agonising penalty shootout defeat to Germany in the semi-final at Wembley.
• Dolly the Sheep Cloned (July 5): Scientists at the Roslin Institute in Scotland successfully cloned Dolly the sheep, the first mammal cloned from an adult cell. The news was not revealed until the following year but was a landmark scientific event.
• Channel Tunnel Fire (November 18): A fire broke out in the Channel Tunnel on a truck on a transporter wagon, leading to the closure of the tunnel and significant disruption to Eurostar services.
• The Scott Report (“Arms-to-Iraq” Affair) (February 15): A report into the “Arms-to-Iraq” scandal was published and was highly critical of government ministers and their handling of export licences to Iraq in the lead-up to the Gulf War.
• The Return of the Stone of Scone (November 13 & 30): After 700 years in Westminster Abbey, the Stone of Scone, a symbol of Scottish monarchy, was returned to Scotland and installed in Edinburgh Castle.
• Alan Shearer’s Record Transfer (July 30): Footballer Alan Shearer became the world’s most expensive player when he was transferred from Blackburn Rovers to his hometown club Newcastle United for £15 million.

On the Telly

• Only Fools and Horses: The episode “Time on Our Hands,” the final part of a Christmas trilogy originally billed as the series finale, became the most-watched sitcom episode in UK history, with an audience of 24.35 million viewers.
• EastEnders: A major storyline involving Cindy Beale’s attempted assassination of Ian Beale drew an audience of approximately 23 million viewers for a single episode.
• Coronation Street: – departure of the character Raquel.
• Ruby Wax Meets The Duchess of York: This high-profile celebrity interview garnered significant attention, with an audience of 12.56 million.
• London’s Burning:
• Heartbeat:
• Lewis: The pilot episode for the Inspector Morse spin-off drew 11.3 million viewers, making it a top new drama of the year.
• Our Friends in the North:
• This Life: on BBC Two that focused on the lives of young, single legal professionals sharing a house in London.
• Silent Witness: the drama series focusing on forensic pathology experts first aired in this year
• Father Ted:
• Changing Rooms: debuted

Music

• Spice Girls “Girl Power”: The Spice Girls released their debut single “Wannabe” in July, which became a global hit and launched the “Girl Power” cultural phenomenon.
• Take That split — the hugely popular group’s split was big pop culture news.

Top Selling Christmas Toys

• Tickle Me Elmo – £19.99 
• Buzz Lightyear – £23.99 
• Doodle Bear – £14.75
• Gooey Louie – £12.99
• Space Jam Action Figures

Gadgets

• Nokia 8110 – Its popularity was no doubt boosted by the first Matrix film where it made a cool appearance in Keanu Reeves’ hand.
• Universal serial Bus (USB) is created by a group of seven companies.
• DVD format was introduced in this year and signalled the next generation of home video