Fred West, the 53-year-old Gloucester builder charged with killing twelve women and children (including two of his own daughters), is found to have hanged himself in his cell at Winson Green Prison, Birmingham. He was due to go on trial this year, along with his 41-year-old wife Rosemary, who is charged with ten murders.
South Korean industrial giant Daewoo announces plans to build a new car factory in the United Kingdom within the next few years, costing up to £350,000,000 and creating new jobs.[1]
27 January – Manchester United fine Eric Cantona £20,000 and announce that he will not play for the first team for the rest of the current football season. Cantona also faces assault charges, with a police investigation pending.
1 February – New domestic electrical appliances must be supplied with an appropriately fused pre-wired plug.[3]
2 February – Tennis legend Fred Perry dies aged 85 in hospital in Melbourne, Australia, following a fall.
7 February – Rumbelows, the electrical goods retailer and former sponsors of the Football League Cup, closes its 311 stores with the loss of more than 3,000 jobs.
The manufacturing sector has reported its biggest rise in employment since the Conservatives first came to power sixteen years earlier, although the national unemployment rate rose slightly in January, still being in excess 2.5 million – it has not been below this level for more than three years.
The England football team's friendly match against the Republic of IrelandinDublin is abandoned due to the behaviour of a small number of English fans, believed to be members of far-right activist groups.
17 February – The famous MG sports car brand, not seen on a volume sports car since 1980, is revived when the Rover Group announces the new MGF sports car which will go on sale in September this year.
21 February – George Graham, who has won six major trophies including two league titles since becoming manager of Arsenal F.C. in 1986, is sacked over allegations that he accepted illegal payments from an agent when signing two players in 1992.
24 February – The Football Association bans Eric Cantona from football for eight months, meaning that he will not be able to play competitively until after 30 September, and fine him £10,000.
20 March – The Queen arrives in Cape Town for the first royal visit to South Africa in nearly fifty years.
23 March – Eric Cantona is sentenced to fourteen days imprisonment at Croydon Crown Court for his assault on a Crystal Palace fan two months ago. He remains free on bail pending an appeal against his sentence, but if this is unsuccessful he will be the first footballer to be jailed in Britain for an on-field offence. 39-year-old former Scotland winger Davie Cooper dies aged 39 after suffering a brain haemorrhage.
31 March – Eric Cantona wins his appeal against his prison sentence, which is reduced to a 120-hour community service order.
4 May – The Conservative government's fortunes continue to decline as the local council elections see them in control of a mere eight councils, while Labour control 155 councils and the Liberal Democrats control 45. The Conservatives now have control of no councils in Wales or Scotland.
8 May – The fiftieth anniversary of VE Day is celebrated across Britain.
23 June – The latest MORI opinion poll shows that Conservative support has reached an 18-month high of 32%, but Labour still have a 22-point lead over them.[10]
3 July – The British football transfer record fee is broken for the third time this year when Liverpool sign striker Stan Collymore from Nottingham Forest for £8.5million.
4 July – John Major wins the Conservative Party leadership election, gaining 218 votes to John Redwood's 89.[13]
Pensions Act 1995 receives Royal Assent, proposing to phase in a state pension age for women at 65 (equalising it with that for men) over a ten-year period and introducing measures intended to safeguard occupational pension schemes.
Unemployment is reported to be on the rise again, though the government denies that it is pointing towards another recession.
27 July – The Conservative government's majority is slashed further, to nine seats, as the Liberal Democrats win the Littleborough and Saddleworth seat in Lancashire, two months after it was left vacant by the death of Conservative MP Geoffrey Dickens.
30 July – A murder investigation is launched after two teenage boys, Robbie Gee and Paul Barker, are found dead near a lake in rural Cheshire. Police in North Wales begin a murder hunt after the body of seven-year-old Sophie Hook is found washed up on a beach near the Llandudno home of her uncle, shortly after she disappeared while sleeping in a tent in the garden.
26 August – Middlesbrough F.C. move into their new 30,000-seat Riverside Stadium, to replace Ayresome Park which had been their home since 1903. Their new stadium is the largest club stadium to be built in England since the 1920s.[17]
2 October – Manchester band Oasis release their 2nd studio album (What's the Story) Morning Glory? which proves to be one of the most successful of all time.
7 October – Conservative MP Alan Howarth defects to Labour, cutting the government's majority to seven seats.[18]
9 October – Former Prime Minister Sir Alec Douglas-Home dies aged 92 at his home in Coldstream in the Scottish Borders.
16 October – Julie Goodyear, who joined the ITV soap opera Coronation Street as iconic character Bet Lynch in 1966 and had been a regular cast member since 1970, departs from the show.
18 October – Unemployment drops below 2.3 million for the first time since 1991.
20 October – Vauxhall unveils its new Vectra range of large family hatchbacks and saloons. The Vectra, which replaces the long-running Cavalier, will be built in Luton and from next year will also be sold as an estate.
31 October – The Duke of Northumberland dies aged 42 of a heart attack caused by drug abuse. He is succeeded by the current holder of the title, his younger brother.
Essex teenager Leah Betts dies in hospital four days after slipping into a coma due to taking an ecstasy tablet whilst drinking large amounts of water, sparking a media crusade, backed by Leah's father and stepmother, against the drug and those supplying it.
The Today newspaper is discontinued after nine years in circulation.
20 November – "An Interview with HRH The Princess of Wales" an episode of Panorama, is broadcast on BBC One in which Diana, Princess of Wales, is interviewed by Martin Bashir. She discusses her adultery, depression and bulimia, her children, the media and the future of the monarchy in candid detail.[23] An estimated 22.78 million watch the broadcast, the all-time record for a UK current affairs programme.[24]
22 November – Rose West is found guilty of murdering ten women and children, including her 16-year-old daughter Heather and seven-year-old stepdaughter Charmaine, after a trial at WinchesterCrown Court. She is sentenced to life imprisonment with a recommendation that she is never released. Her husband Fred, who committed suicide on remand at the start of the year, is believed to have committed at least 12 murders since the mid 1960s.
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.[27]
8 December – Head teacher Philip Lawrence dies after being stabbed at the entrance of his school in Maida Vale, North London, where he was defending a pupil from a local teenage gang.
13 December – A riot takes place in Brixton, London.
20 December – The Queen writes to the Prince and Princess of Wales (Charles and Diana) three years after their separation, urging them to divorce as soon as possible.[29]
29 December – The Conservative majority now stands at a mere five seats following the defection of MP Emma Nicholson to the Liberal Democrats.[30]
30 December – Altnaharra in the Scottish Highlands matches the lowest temperature UK Weather Record at −27.2 °C (−17.0 °F).
