Events from the year 1996 in the United Kingdom.
This year is noted for the Dunblane Massacre, the divorces of the Duke and Duchess of York (Andrew and Sarah) and of the Prince and Princess of Wales (Charles and Diana) and the birth of Dolly the sheep.
Incumbents Monarch – Elizabeth II Prime Minister – John Major (Conservative)
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 – National Union of Mineworkers' 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 – The first two passenger train operating companies begin operation of their service franchises as part of the privatisation of British Rail: South West Trains (part of the Stagecoach Group) and Great Western Trains (management buyout). 5 February – The first genetically modified food products go on sale in the UK. 9 February The Provisional Irish Republican Army (IRA) carry out the Docklands bombing in London, a lorry 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 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. 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 Diana, Princess of Wales, agrees to give the Prince of Wales (later Charles III) 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 in Scotland. 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 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%. United Kingdom BSE outbreak: Secretary of State for Health Stephen Dorrell announces a link between the potentially-fatal variant Creutzfeldt–Jakob disease and the eating of beef infected with bovine spongiform encephalopathy. 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.
April 1 April – The Local Government etc. (Scotland) and Local Government (Wales) 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 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, a nine-year-old 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. 20 May – Actor and comedian Jon Pertwee dies aged 76 of a heart attack in Connecticut, United States, shortly after the release of the Doctor Who television film. 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 1996 Manchester bombing: The Provisional Irish Republican Army (IRA) detonates a massive lorry bomb in Manchester city centre, causing considerable damage but no fatalities. 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 (played at Wembley) 2–0. 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 in Scotland. 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. 18 July – Howard Hughes, 31, is found guilty of the murder of Sophie Hook, 7, 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 (men's coxless pair). 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 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. The former Princess of Wales loses her style of Royal Highness and assumes the style Diana, Princess of Wales. 29 August – Ketamine is 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. Launch of the second generation Nissan Primera, built at Nissan's Sunderland factory. 4 September – 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. 20 September – Jockey Willie Carson is injured by a horse at Newbury, Berkshire. 24 September – Cadbury launches the Fuse chocolate bar. 40 million bars are sold this week; by December 1996, it became the UK's favourite confectionery.
October 2 October – Lawyer and politician John Taylor is made a Life Peer as Baron Taylor of Warwick, the first black Conservative peer. 7 October – The Thiepval barracks bombing in Lisburn (Northern Ireland) 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 County Cricket Club'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.