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This was a significant month for Redgrave Spar Stores as we were re-organising the shop and its suppliers but I was also an interesting time to talk to parties involved with my forest at Broubster about harvesting Christmas Trees and possibly selling up.
During my scarce leisure time, I was also following sports and was watching Daimon Hill clinch the Drivers' Formula 1 World Championship and there was still international cricket and much US sports.
Back home lawyer and politician John Taylor became the first black Conservative peer, but the Conservative government's majority dwindled to a single seat following the defection of Peter Thurnham to the Liberal Democrats.
Reacting to public pressure, handguns were to be banned in the UK after several shooting tragedies. The Thiepval barracks bombing in Lisburn (Northern Ireland) crippled many people, including a soldier who later died from his injuries.
More happily Apple Records released 'Anthology 3', the final instalment in a three-part series of rare Beatles recordings and outtakes.
Elsewhere, Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu met with US President Bill Clinton as potential diplomatic progress was signalled.
Arafat then made a ground-breaking first public visit to Israel, meeting with Israeli President Ezer Weizman at his private residence.
The first televised US presidential debate of the 1996 election took place after which Democratic incumbent Bill Clinton successfully defeated his Republican opponent.
Then the Dow Jones Industrial Average achieved a historic financial milestone by closing above 6,000 points for the first time to reach a closing value of 6,010.00.
Following the tragic Port Arthur Massacre, John Howard's Australian government started a gun buyback scheme. The Domestic Violence Offender Gun Ban, also known as the Lautenberg Amendment, was enacted in the United States.
Air passenger safety was still a live issue. Aeroperú Flight 603, a Boeing 757, crashed into the Pacific Ocean shortly after takeoff from Lima Airport, with the loss of all 70 people on board. Also, Transportes Aéreos Regionais (TAM) Flight 402, a Fokker F100, crashes into several houses in São Paulo, Brazil killing 98 including two on the ground.
Yao Wenyuan, a prominent figure in the Chinese Cultural Revolution, was released from prison after serving 20 years, marking a significant moment in reconciliation.
New Zealand held its first general election under the new mixed-member proportional representation system.
On his 5,144th day in office, Helmut Kohl surpasses Konrad Adenauer's record as the longest-serving post-war chancellor of Germany,
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