There's a list of events that took place in 1996 on here if it's any help:
http://www.macwilliam.f9.co.uk/1996.htm
Of course, for me, the most important event that year was the birth of my first grandchild!
Just had another thought...if you type 'this day in history' into search engine (eg Google) this will lead you to a variety of sites where you can trace events that happened on a certain date.