Break down 1996 into the top news, sports and entertainment events; This is what happened …
Two tragedies struck the hearts of the British in 1996, and the nation’s condolences were expressed to the people of Dunblane and Manchester. In Dunblane, a crazed gunman shot himself at a local nursery school, killing an entire class and their teacher. Later in the year, in direct response to these dire events, the government announced that it would ban almost all firearms in the UK.
In Manchester, a huge bomb devastated its busy central shopping area just as it filled with eager shoppers on Saturdays. Police managed to initiate an evacuation before it exploded, but dozens of people were still killed or injured in the blast. Such was the damage caused, that the episode caused a total regeneration of the Manchester city center.
Also in the news in ’96 was the introduction of the first genetically modified (or transgenic) food that went on sale in British supermarkets. The modified tomato puree was the cause of all the fuss and some critics called it “Frankenstein food.”
The world of sport was dominated by England’s organization of the European football championships (Euro ’96). The England-Scotland group stage match attracted a lot of attention with Gazza’s wonderful goal that ultimately stole the victory from the home side. Encouraged by local support, the ‘Three Lions’ made it to the semi-finals, and the nation went football crazy as it looked like England was really going to win a major tournament for the first time since ’66. To be expected, he lost on penalties to Germany.
In terms of entertainment, crowned carrot Chris Evans reinvented the chat show format with his hit show ‘TFI Friday’. At the BBC, a group of thirty-something lawyers was getting huge audience ratings; “This Life” is a bit like American “Friends”, but with a lot more “bad” behavior and cheeky stuff.
The big screen was blessed with one of the jewels in the British cinematographic crown, ‘Trainspotting’. Despite featuring heroin, needles, vomit, and disgusting toilets, this was the coolest thing of the year and brought Ewan McGregor to ‘Star Wars’ out of nowhere. The most familiar movie of 1996 was ‘Toy Story’; being the first feature film to be animated entirely by computer. The results were quite impressive and people flocked to see ‘Woody’ (a cowboy shooter) and ‘Buzz Lightyear’ (a high-tech space ranger) fight to become little Andy’s favorite toy.
