UK, 
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IrelandAt A Glance
31 December 1996 at a glance
- Day of the week
- 31 December 1996 was a Tuesday.
- Irish Chart Song in 1996
- The Irish chart song for 1996 was “Firestarter” by Prodigy.
- Top Film of 1996
- The highest-grossing film worldwide released in 1996 was Independence Day.
- Star sign
- The star sign for 31 December is Capricorn.
- Chinese zodiac
- In the Chinese zodiac, 31 December 1996 fell in the Year of the Rat.
- Birthstone
- The birthstone for December is Turquoise.
- Moon phase
- The moon phase on 31 December 1996 was Waning Gibbous.
On this day: 31 December
- 1994 This date is skipped altogether in Kiribati as the Phoenix Islands and Line Islands change time zones from UTC−11:00 to UTC+13:00 and UTC−10:00 to UTC+14:00, respectively.
- 1994 The First Chechen War: The Russian Ground Forces begin a New Year's storming of Grozny.
- 1995 The final comic of Calvin and Hobbes is published.
- 1998 The European Exchange Rate Mechanism freezes the values of the legacy currencies in the Eurozone, and establishes the value of the euro currency.
- 1999 The first President of Russia, Boris Yeltsin, resigns from office, leaving Prime Minister Vladimir Putin as the acting President and successor.
Famous people born on 31 December
- Val Kilmer, American actor (1959–2025)
- Sophia Laforteza, Filipino-American singer (born 2002)
- Alex Ferguson, Scottish footballer and manager (born 1941)
- Charles Edward Stuart, Scottish claimant to the throne of England (1720–1788)
Source: Wikipedia (CC BY-SA 4.0)
Choose your country: the charts, news and leaders change to match.
Events of 1996 in Ireland
A selection from Wikipedia's '1996 in Ireland'. Not a complete list.
- 5 February – The Football Association of Ireland appointed Mick McCarthy as manager of the Irish football team.
- 11 March – The Hepatitis Tribunal opened in Dublin.
- 17 June – The Fifteenth Amendment of the Constitution of Ireland was signed into law, repealing the absolute constitutional prohibition of divorce.
Life in Ireland in 1996
Taoiseach
John Bruton
Petrol (per litre)
£1.72/gal
Loaf of Bread
£0.77
Average House
£53,000
Weekly Wage
£115
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Famous Faces Born in the 1990s
Well-known people born in the same decade as you, not on your birthday.
Saoirse Ronan12 April 1994ActressView their day →Ian Machado Garry17 November 1997Mixed martial arts fighterView their day →Paul Mescal2 February 1996ActorView their day →Barry Keoghan18 October 1992ActorView their day →Eve Hewson7 July 1991ActressView their day →Jack Gleeson20 May 1992ActorView their day →Mark English18 March 1993Middle-distance runnerView their day →Grian Chatten19 July 1995SingerView their day →Sources: Wikidata and Wikipedia (CC BY-SA 4.0)
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