25 years ago I was born! But of course that wasn’t the only major thing to happen 25 years ago. In honour of my birthday (February 8 if anyone was wondering) I thought it would been fun to look back and see what the major news stories, biggest songs and memorable films were of 1996. So without further ado, I shall begin with the major news of 1996…(I’ve got a Journalism degree, news had to feature somewhere)
The News in 1996
Kicking off with February, the month of my birth, and sorry to drag this up for all Take That fans but on February 13 they announced that they were splitting up! To round off that month Diana, Princess of Wales agreed to a divorce on February 28. Moving swiftly on to March 13 and we have the Dunblane Massacre. It was the worst massacre in the UK since 1987 however the tragic events that occurred that day led to the changes in UK gun laws.
1996 proved bad for the Royals as this is the year that the Duke and Duchess of York got divorced. Skipping ahead to July 5 and Dolly the Sheep is the first mammal to be successfully cloned. Three days later the Spice Girls’ album Wannabe was released and on July 12 South African President Nelson Mandela visited the UK.
In sport, the Olympics were held in Atlanta, Georgia in August. The only Gold that Great Britain and Northern Ireland bring back is from the men’s rowing. August also saw Diana finalising her divorce. Just to end on some happy news for 1996, on October 13 the Queen officially opened the new Riverside Ground in Chester-le-Street, Durham – the first purpose built country cricket ground in the UK for over 100 years!
Music from 1996
To start with the number one in the UK on my birthday was Spaceman by Babylon Zoo. I am not familiar with the song so here are some songs that were big in 1996 that I am familiar with. All links to the song will be at the bottom of this section.
Getting it out of the way, the football anthem Three Lions by Baddiel, Skinner and the Lightning Seeds was released this year. To this day football fans can be heard singing this song every four years whenever England get to the World Cup. In fact it doesn’t just get sung by football fans, it gets sung by pretty much everyone in the UK. This song brings everyone together for a summer; even if England haven’t won a World Cup since 1966.
A song I can not believe is 25 years old is Peter Andre’s Mysterious Girl. I could have sworn it was released in the early noughties as it was played at every single primary school disco ever and featured heavily in my childhood. To this day I can’t resist dancing to this tune! I also can’t resist dancing to Wannabe by the Spice Girls which was also released in 1996. It’s the epitome of cheesy 90s pop music and I love it! Zig a zig ah!
Other songs I adore from this year are Firestarter by the Prodigy, Wonderwall and Don’t Look Back In Anger by Oasis and Breakfast at Tiffany’s by Deep Blue Something. There are of course many other songs from this year but I chose this selection as I remember them all so vividly from growing up. With the exception of Spaceman. The links to all these songs are below.
BABYLON ZOO ◊ Spaceman (Official Video) – YouTube
Baddiel, Skinner & Lightning Seeds – Three Lions (Football’s Coming Home) (Official Video) – YouTube
Peter Andre – Mysterious Girl (Official Music Video) – YouTube
Spice Girls – Wannabe – YouTube
Oasis – Wonderwall (Official Video) – YouTube
Oasis – Don’t Look Back In Anger (Official Video) – YouTube
Deep Blue Something – Breakfast At Tiffany’s (Official Music Video) – YouTube
Movies of 1996
I love movies so I’m excited about this section! Some popular action movies from 25 years ago are Independence Day and Mission Impossible. My family and I LOVE the Mission Impossible franchise and we always go to see the latest one in the cinema together. But the fact that the first instalment of this much loved franchise came out 25 years ago is amazing. And to this day Tom Cruise still does all his own stunts.
Another movie that came out this year is William Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet. Yes, the one with Leonardo DiCaprio as Romeo. Yes, the same movie I wrote a review on and said I disliked. I still hate it. Sorry Leo fans! It’s nothing against Leo, I love him as an actor, I just dislike this movie as a whole. If you want to read my whole opinion on it you can do so here: Film Review: Romeo and Juliet – Talks with Tabby (wordpress.com)
In terms of beloved kids’ films there is Matilda, directed by Danny DeVito and starring Mara Wilson as Matilda. I absolutely love this movie and as a kid I wished I was Matilda and that I had her power of being able to move things with her mind. There’s some iconic scenes in there and every time I hear the songs featured in those scenes my mind automatically goes to them. My favourite scene is this one; Matilda (1996) – Little Bitty Pretty One Scene (7/10) | Movieclips – YouTube
My absolute all time favourite film from the year I was born though – Muppet Treasure Island. Hands down. No contest. It was the first film I saw with Tim Curry in it and it’s my favourite role he’s ever had (yes including Frank ‘n’ Furter from Rocky Horror). Cabin Fever lives in my brain constantly. And here’s why. Muppet Treasure Island – “Cabin Fever” – YouTube It’s colourful, it’s chaotic. It’s classic Muppets.
If you’ve made it this far thank you for reading this kind of self-indulgent post. I find these things interesting to research and write about. It’s been fun!
Talks with Tabby 