At A Glance

8 January 1996 at a glance

Day of the week
8 January 1996 was a Monday.
UK Number One
The UK Number One single was “Earth Song” by Michael Jackson.
Top Film of 1996
The highest-grossing film worldwide released in 1996 was Independence Day.
Star sign
The star sign for 8 January is Capricorn.
Chinese zodiac
In the Chinese zodiac, 8 January 1996 fell in the Year of the Pig.
Birthstone
The birthstone for January is Garnet.
Moon phase
The moon phase on 8 January 1996 was Waning Gibbous.

On this day: 8 January

  • 1981 A local farmer reports a UFO sighting in Trans-en-Provence, France, claimed to be "perhaps the most completely and carefully documented sighting of all time".
  • 1982 Breakup of the Bell System: In the United States, AT&T agrees to divest itself of twenty-two subdivisions.
  • 1994 Russian cosmonaut Valeri Polyakov on Soyuz TM-18 leaves for Mir. He would stay on the space station until March 22, 1995, for a record 437 days in space.
  • 2002 President of the United States George W. Bush signs into law the No Child Left Behind Act.
  • 2004 The RMS Queen Mary 2, then the largest ocean liner ever built, is christened by her namesake's granddaughter, Queen Elizabeth II.

Famous people born on 8 January

  • Elvis Presley, American singer, guitarist, and actor (1935–1977)
  • David Bowie, English singer-songwriter, producer, and actor (1947–2016)
  • Stephen Hawking, English physicist and author (1942–2018)
  • Damiano David, Italian singer-songwriter (born 1999)

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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