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1995 in the United Kingdom:

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Sport and Music

British and Irish current events

1995 English cricket season

Football England | Scotland

1995 in British music

Events from the year 1995 in the United Kingdom.

Incumbents

• Monarch - HM Queen Elizabeth II
• Prime Minister - John Major, Conservative

Events

• 1 January - Fred West is found hanged in his cell at Winson Green Prison in Birmingham. The 53-year-old had been on remand since February last year, having allegedly murdered 12 people whose bodies were found at three locations in and around Gloucester. The crimes are believed to have been committed between 1967 and 1987.^[1]
• 10 January - Andy Cole, 23-year-old Newcastle United striker, becomes Britain's most expensive footballer in a £7,000,000 valued deal when he joins Manchester United; £6,000,000 cash is paid for the player, with £1,000,000 valued winger Keith Gillespie joining Newcastle United as part of the deal. [1]
• 20 January - The first MORI poll of 1995 shows that the Tories have cut Labour's lead in the polls from 39 points to 29. [2]
• 25 January - Manchester United footballer, Eric Cantona, launches a kung-fu style kick on Crystal Palace supporter Matthew Simmons after being sent off in a game at Selhurst Park.
• 27 January - Manchester United fine Eric Cantona £20,000 and suspend him until the end of the season for his kung-fu attack on a Crystal Palace supporter.^[2]
• 1 February - Animal rights campaigner Jill Phipps, 31, dies after being hit by a lorry during protesting at Coventry Airport.
• 15 February - The manufacturing sector has reported its biggest rise in employment since the Tory government first came to power 16 years ago, although the national unemployment total rose slightly last month, still being in excess of 2,500,000.
• 26 February - Barings Bank, the UK's oldest merchant bank collapses following $1.4 billion of losses by rogue trader, Nick Leeson.
• 28 February - The Diary of Bridget Jones column first published in The Independent.^[3]
• 9 March - The Queen and the Duke of Edinburgh visit Northern Ireland for the first time since the IRA and Loyalist ceasefires which came into force last year.^[4]
• 23 March - Eric Cantona is found guilty of common assault at Croydon Crown Court. The trial judge sentences him to 14 days in prison, but grants him bail pending an appeal against the sentence. The Football Association has since extended his ban from football until 30 September this year and fined him a further £20,000.
• 31 March - Eric Cantona's prison sentence is quashed on appeal and replaced with a 120-hour community service order.
• June - Rover Group launches the first MG sports car in 15 years with its new MG F, which is due on sale later this year. It also announces two new family car ranges - the Rover 200 and Rover 400.
• 13 May - mountain climber Alison Hargreaves becomes the first woman to ascend Mount Everest without oxygen or sherpas.^[3]
• 14 May - Blackburn Rovers become Premier League champions, making them champions of the English league for the first time since 1914. It is also their first major trophy since 1928. Their manager Kenny Dalglish, who won the old Football League First Division title three times with Liverpool, becomes only the third manager to win English top division league titles with different clubs.
• 20 May - Everton lift the FA Cup with a 1-0 win over Manchester United at Wembley Stadium, with Paul Rideout scoring the only goal of the game to give Everton their first major trophy since they were league champions in 1987, and condemn Manchester United to their first trophyless season since 1989.
• 9 June - A British legal precedent is made when 26-year-old serial sex offender Andrew Richards of West Glamorgan becomes the first person to be convicted of male rape under the Criminal Justice and Public Order Act 1994.^[5]
• 22 June - John Major resigns as leader of the Conservative Party triggering a leadership election.^[3]
• 28 June - Dennis Bergkamp, 26-year-old Dutch striker, becomes Britain's most expensive footballer when he joins Arsenal in a £7,500,000 move from Inter Milan of Italy. [3]
• 1 July - Just 48 hours after Dennis Bergkamp's transfer, 24-year-old Stan Collymore becomes the third player this year to set the British football transfer record when he joins Liverpool from Nottingham Forest for £8,500,000. [4]
• 4 July - John Major wins the Conservative Party leadership election, gaining 218 votes to John Redwood's 89.^[6]
• 19 July - Unemployment is reported to be on the rise again, though the government denies that it is pointing towards another recession.
• 23 July - War in Bosnia and Herzegovina: British forces sent to Sarajevo to help relieve the Siege of Sarajevo.^[7]
• 30 July - Police in North Wales launch a murder inquiry after the body of seven-year-old Sophie Hook is found on a beach near Llandudno. She had gone missing from a nearby house during the night, and her body was found on the beach by a man walking his dog.
• 6 August - Howard Hughes, a 30-year-old Colwyn Bay man, is charged with the murder of Sophie Hook.
• 11 August - An inquest records a verdict of accidental death on Jill Phipps, the animal rights campaigner who was knocked down and killed by a lorry during protests at Coventry Airport.
• 16 August - Unemployment is now at 2,315,300 - one of the lowest figures recorded in the last four years.
• 2 September - Boxer Frank Bruno wins the WBC world heavyweight championship.^[3]
• 1 October - Eric Cantona returns from his suspension after eight months and scores a late equaliser for Manchester United in their Premier League fixture against Liverpool.
• 18 October - Unemployment is now at less than 2,300,000 - its lowest level for more than four years.
• 20 October - Vauxhall unveils its new Vectra range of large hatchbacks and saloons. The Vectra, which replaces the Cavalier, will be built in Luton and from next year will also be sold as an estate.
• 25 October - Singer Cliff Richard receives a knighthood.^[3]
• 16 November
  • The Queen Mother has a hip replacement operation. At 95, she is believed to be the oldest patient to undergo such surgery.^[8]
  • Essex student Leah Betts, 18, dies in hospital three days after taking ecstasy at her home in Latchingdon.^[9]
• 17 November - Launch of the European Space Agency's Infrared Space Observatory including a Long Wave Spectrometer built in the UK.^[10]
• 20 November - The Princess of Wales gives a revealing television interview to Martin Bashir on the Panorama show on BBC One. The Princess openly discussed her adultery, depression and bulimia, her children, the media and the future of the monarchy in candid detail.^[11]
• 22 November - Rosemary West sentenced to life imprisonment for her part in 10 murders which were committed in conjunction with her late husband Fred between 1970 and 1987. The trial judge at Winchester Crown Court recommends that 42-year-old West should never be released from prison.^[12]
• 30 November - President of the United States, Bill Clinton visits Northern Ireland.^[13]
• 2 December - "Rogue trader" Nick Leeson is jailed for six-and-a-half years in Singapore on a double fraud charge relating to the recent financial collapse of Barings Bank.^[14]
• 8 December
  • Headteacher Philip Lawrence is stabbed to death outside his school, St George's Roman Catholic Secondary School in West London.^[15]
  • Three drug dealers, part of the notorious "Essex Boys" gang, are found shot dead in the back of a Range Rover on an isolated country road.
• 10 December - Joseph Rotblat wins the Nobel Peace Prize.^[16]
• 13 December - Riots in Brixton.^[17]
• 20 December - The Queen writes to the Prince and Princess of Wales urging them to divorce as soon as possible.^[18]
• 30 December, Altnaharra matches the lowest temperature UK Weather Record at -27.2^oC.

Publications

• Martin Amis's novel The Information.
• Iain Banks' novel Whit.
• Pat Barker's novel The Ghost Road.
• Nick Hornby's novel High Fidelity.
• Terry Pratchett's Discworld novel Maskerade.
• Philip Pullman's novel Northern Lights.

Births

• 12 July - Georgie Henley, actress
• 24 August - Lady Amelia Windsor daughter of George, Earl of St. Andrews

Deaths

• 1 January - Fred West, serial killer (born 1941)
• 7 January - Larry Grayson, comedian and gameshow host (born 1923)
• 14 January - Alexander Gibson, conductor (born 1926)
• 30 January - Gerald Durrell, naturalist, zookeeper, author and television presenter (born 1925)
• 2 February
  • Fred Perry, tennis player (born 1909)
  • Donald Pleasence,actor (born 1919)
• 12 February - Robert Bolt, writer (born 1924)
• 23 February - James Herriot, veterinary surgeon and writer (born 1916)
• 17 March - Ronnie Kray, crime leader (born 1933)
• 7 April - Nicholas Ingram, first British citizen to be executed by the electric chair in the United States (born c. 1964)
• 2 May - Michael Hordern, actor (born 1911)
• 15 May - Eric Porter, actor (born 1928)
• 24 May - Harold Wilson, Prime Minister (born 1916)
• 30 May - Ted Drake, footballer (born 1912)
• 24 July - George Rodger, photojournalist (born 1908)
• 3 August - Ida Lupino, actress and director (born 1914)
• 19 August - Johnny Carey, footballer (born 1919)
• 9 October - Alec Douglas-Home, Prime Minister (born 1903)
• 4 November - Paul Eddington, actor (born 1927)
• 16 November - Leah Betts, schoolgirl who died after taking ecstasy tablets (born 1977)
• 22 December - James Meade, economist, Nobel Prize laureate (born 1907)

References

See also