1996 the back half of the 90s and boy things would get pretty intense this year from a royal divorce to english cattle disease to the death of a rising rapper on we've got the goods for you this year hello a little surprise for you my friends we're going to talk about the news culture sports and entertainment and all that was weird in the 90s this is timeline [Music] but before we get started be sure to subscribe to the weird history channel and let us know in the comments below what you miss about the 90s now are you ready to go back to 96 that's your home are you too good for your home after me i hope so because that's where we're going this is 1996. if you were a flintstones kid that meant you were one of kids that popped flintstones chewable vitamins every morning there was one problem though no betty that all changed on january 1st when bayer introduced mrs rubble after a few choice words from rosie o'donnell when she was promoting the live-action flintstones film rosie wanted a betty chewable and less than two years later she got one rosie gets what rosie wants four days later yahia ayash also known as the engineer was assassinated by shin vet israel's internal security service ayash was the main bomb maker for hamas during the israeli-palestinian conflict shin bet was able to give ayash's friend kamil hamad a bugged phone to hand off to him what hamad didn't know was that the phone was also packed with 15 grams of explosives when the israelis were able to confirm that yahia ayash was speaking on the phone the phone was detonated remotely taking eye ash out although president clinton and monica lewinsky's affair had started sometime in 1995 their real problems didn't begin until 1996. when lewinsky a 21 year old unpaid intern at the time stated in an affidavit that she never had a sexual relationship with clinton independent counsel kenneth starr received around 20 hours worth of recorded conversations from linda tripp lewinsky's new uh friend and co-worker these tapes contradicted just about everything lewinsky signed just days earlier two weeks later the story was all over the place we'll hear more about the clinton lewinsky affair next year two days later on january 9th 200 chechen gorillas launched a raid on a military air base near the city of gizzler which unexpectedly turned into a hostage crisis involving around 3 400 civilians although the guerrillas released all but 120 captives the raids started a nine-day battle between them and russian special forces the chechens were able to escape from the russian retaliation with a few hostages but ultimately 26 civilians and close to 200 soldiers on both sides perished in mid-january renowned billiards player rudolph wanderone better known as minnesota fats died born in 1913 in new york city bats quit school in the eighth grade and hit the road as a traveling pool hustler sweet life his reputation became so legendary novelist walter tevis based his character in his 1959 book the hustler on him and was later portrayed in the film adaptation by jackie gleason wanderone wasn't always known as minnesota fats his first nickname was double smart then triple smart fats new york fats broadway fats and chicago fats moving on to february tupac shakur's all eyes on me was released the album stayed number one on the billboard 100 for eight weeks one of its singles earned him a grammy nomination and to date has sold over six million copies facing up to four years in prison shakur agreed to make this double album for death row records as repayment to suge night after the label boss put up his 1.4 million dollar bond in 1995. we'll hear more on tupac and suge later on in the year boxer tommy morrison who was probably more famous for his role as tommy the machine gun in rocky 5 announced during a february 15th press conference that he was hiv positive morrison went on to say that he had contracted the virus due to a permissive fast and reckless lifestyle he also said that his life as a boxer was over flash forward to 2006 when morrison said all of his hiv tests had been false positives he even boxed a couple of times but after allegations of morrison tampering with his blood his last last bout was in 2008 in the tko against matt wizard coming back to music on february 20th rapper's snoop dogg was acquitted along with his bodyguard of first and second-degree murder charges in connection with the death of a rival gang member snoop was allegedly behind the driver's wheel when his bodyguard shot rival gang member philip waldemarian their lead lawyer johnny cochran yeah that johnny cochran stated that snoop's bodyguard shot in self-defense a deadlocked jury eventually cleared snoop in his bodyguard of all counts five days later on february 25th actor hang snore was shot and killed after three members of a los angeles neighborhood gang had already robbed him of the rolex he was wearing while you may recognize noor from his role as death prawn in the 1984 film the killing fields in which he won the oscar an enormous feat considering he'd never acted before in his life nor was a doctor in cambodia until pol pot the communist revolutionary along with this khmer rouge movement seized control of the country in late february princess diana announced that she had accepted the terms of a divorce as requested by her husband prince charles the couple were married in 1981 but had been separated since december 1992. diana would remain living at kensington palace with an office in st james palace co-parent her kids prince william and prince harry and retained the title of diana princess of wales more news coming on die in 1997 [Music] hello for ten oh i'm sorry your time is up moving into march sarah ophelia khali the comedian better known for her mini pearl persona passed away kali came up with her mini pearl character in 1939 after she met a mountain woman in alabama with the same look and characteristics collie's mini pearl thrived well into the 60s and by the 70s and 80s she was a regular guest star on hee haw match game pm and hollywood squares this little guy is drinking and he says where can a guy find some action i'm going crazy out there at the lake and i says what kind of action he says woman action what do i look like and i says well what do i look like i don't arrange that kind of thing the day after fargo debuted george byrne said good night for the last time on march 9th 49 days after he had turned 100 years old the new york comedian had several waves of success first with his wife gracie from the 1920s through the 50s his 70s return in the sunshine boys and then his god in the 70s oh god trilogy of course our favorite byrne's performance was his portrayal of mr kite in the 1976 film sergeant pepper's lonely hearts club band big tobacco took its first punch to their smoke-filled noses when on march 13th the liggett group one of the big five tobacco manufacturers accepted its share of the penalties brought on by a massive class-action lawsuit liggett agreed to pay out millions over 25 years as well as adhere to new strict federal regulations and to fund anti-smoking programs which meant heavy restrictions on marketing and no more cartoon characters in cigarette ads a little over a year later rj reynolds killed off smoking joe camel in his curiously shaped snout joe camel was only 10 years old the comet hiakutake made its closest pass to earth on march 25th when it got just a tad over nine million miles near us the hiakutake comet was visible to the naked eye for three months and it was the brightest comet anyone had ever seen in 20 years until the following year on april 1st 1997 when the comic hailback was visible for a record 18 months take that yakutake in late march the european union imposed a worldwide ban on all british beef after it was linked to bovine spongiform encephalopathy also known as mad cow disease the ban on british beef would last for 10 years before it was lifted in 2006 but not before it claimed over 4 million destroyed head of cattle and the death of 177 people who eat the deadly delicious infected beef it's theorized that the outbreak was sparked when cattle farmers supplemented their feed by cutting it with meat and bone meal which contained remains of other animals moving into april we turned to sports where the cincinnati reds and montreal expos were seven pitches into their opening day game when home plate umpire john mcsherry collapsed he would later pass away that afternoon from cardiac arrest later that day reds owner march shot said snow this morning and now this i don't believe it i feel cheated this isn't supposed to happen to us not in cincinnati this is our history our tradition our team nobody feels worse than me and if you know marge shot that's the least offensive thing she's ever said two days later fbi agents arrested ted kaczynski aka the unabomber in his montana cabin after nearly two decades of mailing a series of homemade bombs to people that he believed were destroying the environment with modern technology what made headlines was his 35 000 word essay titled industrial society and its future which stated that the industrial revolution and everything that resulted from it had set back the human race ultimately kozinski received eight consecutive life sentences without the possibility of parole on saturday april 6 1996 major league soccer began its inaugural season when the san jose clash were paired up against the dc united the match was relatively well attended for american soccer in the mid 90s with an audience of 31 683 spectators yet that crowd was treated to a spectacular winning goal by eric winalda which would be nominated as that season's goal of the year james burke who you may know as jimmy the gent died on april 13th in the middle of serving two sentences one 12-year stretch after he got pinched for his involvement in the boston college point-shaving scandal in the late 70s along with an additional 20 years for an old murder he was tied to jimmy the gent was the real life gangster that inspired writer nicholas pelegi's jimmy the gent conway in his 1985 bestseller wiseguy which was later adapted by martin scorsese in goodfellas on april 20th a los angeles jury recommended life in prison without the chance of parole for lyle and eric menendez for the 1989 murders of their parents jose and kitty it was a decision their jury deliberated on for three days after a six-month trial which tried the brothers simultaneously after their initial solo trials were rendered invalid due to deadlocked juries when planet hollywood launched in 1991 its unique marketing hook was that it was a celebrity themed restaurant chain owned by a-list actors like bruce willis demi moore arnold schwarzenegger and sylvester stallone on april 22nd 1996 planet hollywood international incorporated went public on the new york stock exchange sadly overpriced burgers surrounded by movie memorabilia didn't do as well as expected and the stock plummeted it was worth less than a dollar a share at one point and on october 12 1999 the company filed for bankruptcy i wish this could last all night oh it can and tomorrow night and maybe the next night and the following day the copper top no battery is stronger longer moving into may and in the wake of mostly negative reviews of his movie a thin line between love and hate martin lawrence jumped into the middle of a busy intersection and waved a pistol encino police department called to the scene eventually tackled lawrence martin's publicist admitted in a statement that he had been suffering from complete exhaustion and dehydration on may 11th tragedy struck the airline industry when value jet flight 592 took off from miami international airport when a fire ignited in the cargo hold of the 27 year old dc 932 according to investigators one of the airplane's loose spare tires collided with illegally stored oxygen generators in the cargo hold which exploded causing a fire pilots attempted to fly back to miami international the dc-9 banked and flew nose-first into the florida everglades all 105 passengers and five crew members on board lost their lives that son of a jump ship welcome to the rock the michael jordan era chicago bulls were back when they won their fourth nba league title on june 16th it was also the first win of their second 3p championship run the bulls won the series four games to two over the seattle supersonics and naturally mj was crowned the nba finals mvp his fourth we flash forward to 2008 when the sonics moved to oklahoma and became the thunder when former starbucks ceo howard schultz sold the team to a group of oklahoma city investors born on july 1 the sinister tickle me elmo didn't make many waves for its first few months it sold steadily throughout the summer but it wasn't until black friday that everyone wanted a piece of sesame street's elmo following the footsteps of cabbage patch dolls and teddy ruxpin tickle miomo became the hottest holiday toy of 1996. salespeople were getting trampled by desperate parents who'd spend anything to make their kids christmas wishes come true crafty tickle me elmo hoarders were buying the toy for 28.99 and marking it up sometimes to 1 000 that might just earn you a place in hell we're going to survive today we celebrate our independence day [Music] dolly the world's most famous sheep was born or rather cloned on july 5th in a lab at the rosalind institute in scotland led by professor sir ian wilmet he and his research team were trying to develop a better method for producing genetically modified livestock although she wasn't the first mammal ever cloned dolly was the first mammal cloned from an adult somatic cell using the process of nuclear transfer up until 1996 using adult cells was thought to be impossible dolly would die at the age of six on february 14 2003 but thanks to her many other large mammals were cloned including pigs horses deer cats bulls and in 2018 barbara streisand's two coton de tuliars scarlet and violet i'm craig kilbourne this is a daily show news break tragedy struck the centennial olympic park in atlanta georgia on july 27 when three homemade explosives were detonated the devices were the work of eric rudolph who would go on to set several more at nearby abortion clinics and lbgtq nightclub however for weeks after the tragedy all eyes were mistakenly on richard jewell jewell was working security that night and was the first to find rudolph's bomb initially jewel was called a hero but when news organizations later reported that the fbi considered jewell a person of interest life got complicated for him the intense police and media scrutiny of richard jewell lasted almost three months jewell would eventually be exonerated of all charges but he would pass away from complications of diabetes in 2007. moving into august george r.r martin's a game of thrones hit bookstore shelves it would be the first novel in his seven book a song of ice and fire series which became an instant bestseller the bbc has since listed it as one of the hundred most influential novels ever written the only complaint fans had with martin was and still is the years of waiting between books i mean what are you doing with all your time george flash forward to april 17 2011 when hbo satiated the appetite of fans debuting the game of thrones series let's just forget about that last season meet the proud creators of new post waffle crisp cereal no rocking chairs or bingo parlors for these gals no sir just look at them go [Music] coming back to the 90s on august 3rd los del rios scored their first and only number one song on the billboard 100 with macarena the song stayed at number one for 14 wings but macarena was not an overnight hit los del rio released the song as a deep cut on their 1993 album to little fanfare it wasn't until the song got a dance remix in 1995 with some additional english lyrics by the bayside boys that anyone took notice soon every wedding and party featured a rousing rendition of makarena marginally more dignified than the chicken dance several years before 9 11 osama bin laden issued his first declaration of war against the united states and israel on august 23rd in the form of a 30-page manifesto he titled it declaration of war against the americans occupying the land of the two holy places nearly seven months after all eyes on me was released tupac shakur and suge knight were ambushed at a red light in las vegas on their way home after attending a mike tyson match knight survived the attack but shakur took four shots at close range by an unidentified assailant tupac passed away six days later to this day his killers have never been identified hi on september 17th the band tool released anima their second studio album which sold 148 000 copies within the first week of its release it also debuted at number two on the billboard 200 almost an impossible feat from a progressive metal band at the time or any anytime the band dedicated the album to comedian bill hicks who passed away two years earlier picks used to open for the band during la la palooza 93. rolling stone would rank the album at number 18 on its list of the hundred greatest mental albums of all time although we're not sure if anima could be restricted to just the metal genre just in time for the holiday gift giving season the nintendo 64 was launched in north america in late september the console which had a 199 dollar price tag included games pilotwing 64 and super mario 64. the n64 was also the last major gaming console to use cartridges blowing on cartridges it's a lost art now moving into october australia implemented a gun buyback program called the national firearms agreement the program was kick-started by australia's prime minister john howard after a 28-year-old walked into a tasmanian cafe on april 28th and opened fire killing 35 people and wounding another 28. howard convinced australians to sell over 650 000 weapons in the first year of the program did the buyback work well it's hard to say suicide and homicide rates have declined by 57 and 42 respectively since the buyback baby don't talk that way can we just go please we go baby look at me look at me your money you know what else you're a big winner tonight i want to leave you're a big winner the discovery channel launched the crocodile hunter on october 25th the crocodile hunter only lasted for 64 episodes spread out over five seasons but the original series launched several spin-offs including croc files and the crocodile hunter diaries and it made steve rowin a global overnight sensation flash forward to september 4th 2006 when irwin was filming ocean's deadliest a documentary with philippe cousteau jr the grandson of jacques in between takes irwin attempted to get some footage of a six and a half foot long short tail stingray which went into defense mode attacking irwin stabbing his chest which irwin would succumb to kobe bryant would make his nba debut as a los angeles laker on november 3rd against the minnesota timberwolves bryant didn't do much that night he came off the bench and recorded one rebound and one block in six minutes on the wood it would also be brian's first of 11 scoreless games he had his rookie season we fast forward to april 13 2016 when the black mamba played the final game of his 20-season career bryant scored 60 points against the utah jazz on his home court and finished his career with 33 643 points the fourth highest in nba history three days later we go to egypt where archaeologists found the lighthouse or pharaohs of alexandria one of the seven wonders of the ancient world off the coast of alexandria egypt the lighthouse is said to have been built around 246 bc by the ptolemaic kingdom during the reign of ptolemy 2 philadelphus the 330 foot tower was used to help guide ships into port at night but it was ultimately abandoned after sustaining structural damage from five earthquakes over several hundred years the french fries are pretty good great fried potatoes yep french fries how much you want from moving into december general motors fully electric ev1 rolled out of their factories it was the first electric car produced by a major car manufacturer in the modern era the two-seat sedan featured awkward aerodynamic curves and a power paddle for easy recharging and was lease only with a 33 000 price tag while customers love their cars the company stopped production in 99 and destroyed all unsold stock in 2002 gm canceled the leases of all ev-1 owners and the company destroyed all those cars too to this day the ev1 remains one of the rarest finds jay leno doesn't even have one and the only intact ev1 is in the smithsonian institution well i'm getting ready to watch a video really what oh just some scary movie you like scary movies uh-huh what's your favorite scary movie and finally on christmas morning six-year-old jean-bonnay ramsay was found although boulder police and the rest of the world suspected that the ransom note had been written by patsy and that jean benay's parents covered up her death after an accidental death boulder district attorney alex hunter determined that there was insufficient evidence to pursue a case he could win decades later and investigators are still no closer to solving the ramsey murder than they were in the 90s and that is how 1996 would end 1997 was just days away where it would be a year where a boxer would take a bite the world would lose a princess and the end of heaven's gate i'm peaking again it's my time now but that is for next year you're just going to have to wait until next time don't blame yourself [Music] coming soon 1997. so what do you think what was your favorite 90s memory let us know in the comments below and while you're at it check out some of these other weird history timeline videos