At A Glance

20 February 1996 at a glance

Day of the week
20 February 1996 was a Tuesday.
UK Number One
The UK Number One single was “Spaceman” by Babylon Zoo.
Top Film of 1996
The highest-grossing film worldwide released in 1996 was Independence Day.
Star sign
The star sign for 20 February is Pisces.
Chinese zodiac
In the Chinese zodiac, 20 February 1996 fell in the Year of the Rat.
Birthstone
The birthstone for February is Amethyst.
Moon phase
The moon phase on 20 February 1996 was Waxing Crescent.

On this day: 20 February

  • 1986 The Soviet Union launches its Mir spacecraft. Remaining in orbit for 15 years, it is occupied for ten of those years.
  • 1988 The Nagorno-Karabakh Autonomous Oblast votes to secede from Azerbaijan and join Armenia, triggering the First Nagorno-Karabakh War.
  • 1991 In the Albanian capital Tirana, a gigantic statue of Albania's long-time leader, Enver Hoxha, is brought down by mobs of angry protesters.
  • 1998 American figure skater Tara Lipinski, at the age of 15, becomes the youngest Olympic figure skating gold-medalist at the 1998 Winter Olympics in Nagano, Japan.
  • 2005 Spain becomes the first country to vote in a referendum on ratification of the proposed Constitution of the European Union, passing it by a substantial margin, but on a low turnout.

Famous people born on 20 February

  • Justin Verlander, American baseball player (born 1983)
  • Olivia Rodrigo, American actress and singer (born 2003)
  • Kurt Cobain, American musician (1967–1994)
  • Rihanna, Barbadian singer, songwriter, businesswoman, and actress (born 1988)

Source: Wikipedia (CC BY-SA 4.0)

Choose your country: the charts, news and leaders change to match.

Events of 1996 in the United Kingdom

A selection from Wikipedia's '1996 in the United Kingdom'. Not a complete list.

  • 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.
  • 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).
  • 17 March – Legoland Windsor opens its doors for the public. It becomes the second Legoland in Europe.

Life in 1996

Prime Minister

John Major

Monarch

Elizabeth II

Pint of Beer

£1.50

Loaf of Bread

65p

Average House

£60,750

Weekly Wage

£365.00

Or

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Famous Faces Born in the 1990s

Well-known people born in the same decade as you, not on your birthday.

Sources: Wikidata and Wikipedia (CC BY-SA 4.0)

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