49 Fun Facts About 1996

Which two-word phrase did Fed chairman Alan Greenspan use in a December speech to question soaring share prices?

Irrational exuberance was his warning about what became the dot-com bubble, and stock markets around the world fell after he said it.

Which jockey rode all seven winners on one card at Ascot on 28 September?

Frankie Dettori's seven came in at combined odds of 25,095–1, costing the betting industry an estimated £40 million.

Which Pulp frontman ran onto the stage during Michael Jackson's 'Earth Song' at the Brit Awards in February?

Jarvis Cocker was questioned by police over the children on stage, having objected to Jackson's Christ-like staging of the song.

Which style did Diana lose when her divorce from Prince Charles was finalised on 28 August?

Her Royal Highness went under letters patent issued a week before the divorce, which ended the style for royal wives who divorced.

Which boy band announced its split on 13 February, prompting helplines for distraught fans?

Take That's farewell single, a Bee Gees cover, went to number one, and the reunited band topped the chart again with 'Patience' in 2006.

Which singer led the Centre Court crowd in a singalong during a Wimbledon rain delay?

Cliff Richard's rain-delay set is unlikely to be repeated, because Centre Court has had a retractable roof since 2009.

Which Stephen King novel first appeared as a serial, released in instalments?

The Green Mile came out in six Dickens-style monthly parts, a format King called 'the opposite of instant gratification', since readers could not skip to the end.

Which company did Apple agree to buy in December, bringing back its co-founder Steve Jobs?

NeXT beat Be Inc., Apple's other candidate, and its NeXTSTEP operating system became the foundation of Mac OS X.

Which sitcom's Christmas episode 'Time on Our Hands' drew 24.3 million UK viewers?

Only Fools and Horses finally made the Trotters millionaires in that episode, after Raquel's antiques-dealer father spotted a long-lost antique watch in their garage.

Which Ghanaian diplomat, then head of UN peacekeeping, was chosen in December to succeed Boutros Boutros-Ghali?

Kofi Annan got the job because a lone US veto had blocked Boutros-Ghali's second term, despite 14 votes in favour on the Security Council.

Which Kansas senator, with Jack Kemp as running mate, lost the November presidential election to Bill Clinton?

Bob Dole had resigned from the Senate that June to campaign full-time, then lost the Electoral College by 379 votes to 159.

At which Tasmanian historic site were 35 people shot dead in April, prompting a national gun buyback?

Port Arthur's killings led, within two weeks, to the National Firearms Agreement, which also created a waiting period for gun sales.

What did a four-year NTSB inquiry blame for the July loss of TWA Flight 800 off Long Island?

A fuel tank explosion: flammable vapour in the centre wing tank ignited, and the FAA later ordered airlines to cut fuel-tank flammability.

Which Jon Krakauer bestseller recounts the May blizzard that killed eight Everest climbers, among them guide Rob Hall?

Into Thin Air criticised guide Anatoli Boukreev, who answered in 1997 with his own book, The Climb.

Which British export did the EU ban in March, days after ministers admitted a likely link to a new human brain disease?

Beef from Britain was soon banned worldwide, not just across the EU, a serious economic blow.

Which three-word list did Tony Blair give as his top priorities for government at Labour's autumn conference?

Education, education, education came months before Labour won the 1997 election on a manifesto promising smaller class sizes.

Where was the Stone of Scone placed in November after 700 years at Westminster, with a ceremony on St Andrew's Day?

Edinburgh Castle kept the stone until 2024, when it moved to Perth Museum near Scone, on the proviso that it returns to England for coronations.

The IRA ended its 17-month ceasefire on 9 February with a lorry bomb in which part of London?

Docklands was hit at South Quay, and the IRA did not renew its ceasefire until July 1997, which let Sinn Féin into the peace talks.

What survived the 15 June Manchester lorry bomb despite standing yards from it?

A pillar box survived a lorry bomb that injured over 200 people yet killed no one, because police had cleared tens of thousands after a coded warning.

Which campaign after the Dunblane school shooting in March helped bring in two Firearms Acts banning most handguns?

The Snowdrop Petition helped win a first Act from John Major's government, and Tony Blair's new government then banned the remaining .22 handguns.

Which newspaper ran an 'Achtung!' front page before England's Euro 96 semi-final, then apologised?

Daily Mirror editor Piers Morgan ran the page, and Germany went on to beat England on penalties in the semi-final, then win Euro 96.

Which Michael Bay thriller sends Sean Connery's ex-SAS captain back into Alcatraz to stop rogue Marines with VX gas?

The Rock earned over $335 million on a $75 million budget, the fourth-highest gross of the year, with Nicolas Cage as the FBI chemist beside Connery.

Which actress won the Best Actress Oscar as Marge Gunderson, the pregnant police chief in Fargo?

Frances McDormand's Fargo opens by calling itself a true story, but the Coens later admitted that claim was untrue.

Which Christmas comedy has Arnold Schwarzenegger scouring Minneapolis on Christmas Eve for a sold-out Turbo Man doll?

Jingle All the Way cast comedian Sinbad as the rival father after Joe Pesci was considered, and takes its title from 'Jingle Bells'.

Which actor won the Best Actor Oscar for playing pianist David Helfgott in Shine?

Geoffrey Rush resumed piano lessons he had dropped at 14 so he could play the film's piano scenes without a hand double.

Which Mike Leigh film, with Brenda Blethyn as a mother traced by the daughter she gave up, won the Palme d'Or?

Secrets & Lies grew from months of improvisation, in which Leigh and his actors built the characters before any script existed.

The Fugees' 'Killing Me Softly', with Lauryn Hill on lead vocals, covered a 1973 number one by which singer?

Roberta Flack's hit grew, Lori Lieberman has said, from how moved she was watching Don McLean perform.

Which Spice Girls ballad was the UK Christmas number one, the group's third consecutive chart-topper?

2 Become 1's single version rewrote a line about boys and girls, because the group felt it needed to be more inclusive of their LGBTQ fans.

Which country won Eurovision in Oslo with 'The Voice', its fourth victory in five years?

Ireland's Eimear Quinn won, yet the UK's entry, Gina G's 'Ooh Aah... Just a Little Bit', became the bigger international hit and earned a Grammy nomination.

Which band's Ian Broudie wrote the music for 'Three Lions', the Euro 96 anthem with lyrics by Baddiel and Skinner?

The Lightning Seeds' Ian Broudie heard German fans singing 'Three Lions' after Germany knocked England out of Euro 96.

Which Oasis single, released in February, was the first with Noel Gallagher rather than Liam on lead vocals?

Don't Look Back in Anger was sung by the crowd in St Ann's Square in 2017, at a vigil after the Manchester Arena bombing.

Whose 'I would love it if we beat them' outburst came as Newcastle's 12-point lead over Manchester United vanished?

Kevin Keegan's Newcastle drew on the final day while Manchester United won 3–0 at Middlesbrough, taking the title by four points.

Whose late goal beat Liverpool in the FA Cup final, making Manchester United the first club to win two Doubles?

Eric Cantona had been banned until the end of September 1995 for a kung-fu kick at a Crystal Palace fan, yet he captained United in the final.

Which England defender missed in the Euro 96 semi-final shoot-out, then sent himself up in a Pizza Hut advert?

Gareth Southgate later managed England to a penalty shoot-out win over Colombia at the 2018 World Cup.

Which rower won coxless-pair gold with Matthew Pinsent, then said anyone who saw him near a boat again could shoot him?

Steve Redgrave's pair won Britain's only gold of those Games, and he changed his mind and won a fifth Olympic gold at Sydney 2000.

Which Dutchman beat MaliVai Washington in the Wimbledon final, having knocked out top seed Pete Sampras?

Richard Krajicek had just missed the seedings, but when Thomas Muster withdrew he was moved into Muster's place in the draw.

Which Williams driver, the first son of a world champion to win the Formula One title, was then dropped by the team?

Damon Hill's feat was matched in 2016 by Nico Rosberg, who announced his retirement days after clinching the title.

Which Grand Prix did Olivier Panis win for Ligier from 14th on the grid, in a race only three cars finished?

Monaco Grand Prix: it was Olivier Panis's only Formula One win and Ligier's last, before Alain Prost bought the team and renamed it.

Which team won the cricket World Cup in Lahore, where Aravinda de Silva's unbeaten century sealed a seven-wicket win?

Sri Lanka, captained by Arjuna Ranatunga, had been handed two group wins by forfeit when opponents refused to play in Colombo after a Tamil Tiger bombing.

Which comet did a Japanese amateur astronomer find with binoculars in January?

Hyakutake: the Ulysses space probe unexpectedly flew through the comet's tail on 1 May 1996.

Which European rocket blew up 37 seconds into its June maiden flight, undone by software inherited from its predecessor?

Ariane 5's navigation software, reused from Ariane 4, failed when converting a 64-bit number into a 16-bit integer too small to hold it.

Which British chemist shared the Nobel Prize for discovering fullerenes, the football-shaped carbon-60 'buckyballs'?

Harry Kroto and his colleagues named C60 buckminsterfullerene after architect Buckminster Fuller, whose geodesic domes share its shape.

Which August novel opened George R. R. Martin's A Song of Ice and Fire, first planned as a trilogy?

A Game of Thrones had a small first printing and missed the bestseller lists, which the saga first reached with its sequel, A Clash of Kings.

Which astronomer, presenter of Cosmos and author of the novel Contact, died of pneumonia on 20 December aged 62?

Carl Sagan had pushed NASA to turn Voyager 1's camera back toward Earth, which produced the 1990 'Pale Blue Dot' photograph.

Which 'First Lady of Song' died on 15 June?

Ella Fitzgerald took over Chick Webb's band as leader when he died in 1939, later leaving it to go solo.

Which actor, the third Doctor in Doctor Who and television's scarecrow Worzel Gummidge, died on 20 May?

Jon Pertwee had served on HMS Hood but left the ship before the Bismarck sank her in May 1941.

Which future Spider-Man, born in Kingston upon Thames on 1 June, went from a dance class into Billy Elliot the Musical?

Tom Holland is the son of photographer Nicola Frost and comedian-author Dominic Holland, and went on to his first film role in The Impossible (2012).

In which city did guerrillas seize the Japanese ambassador's residence on 17 December?

Lima's siege ended in April 1997, when commandos stormed the residence and freed all but one of the last 72 hostages.

Jim Carrey became the first actor paid $20 million for one film with which dark comedy co-starring Matthew Broderick?

The Cable Guy was produced by Judd Apatow and directed by Ben Stiller, who pushed its script towards a satire of thrillers like Cape Fear.