1990s Trivia: Fun Facts From The Decade

Trivia from the 1990s, all of it dateable and checkable.

Every fact below has its year in brackets, so you can read the fact out, hide the year and use it as a quiz round - or leave the year in and use it for a birthday card or a reminiscence session.

For the same decade laid out year by year, use the 1990s calendar linked at the bottom.

Years covered in the 1990s

• 1990 - Thatcher resigned, Gazza cried, and the country spent a fortnight thinking England might actually win it. Full year: /blogs/news/look-back-to-1990
• 1991 - Bryan Adams would not get off the top of the chart, the Soviet Union ceased to exist, and Freddie Mercury died. Full year: /blogs/news/look-back-to-1991
• 1992 - Black Wednesday, a general election nobody predicted correctly, and the Premier League arrived. Full year: /blogs/news/look-back-to-1992
• 1993 - Mr Blobby was Christmas number one, which is somehow not the strangest thing about the year. Full year: /blogs/news/look-back-to-1993
• 1994 - The Lottery started, the Channel Tunnel opened, and Wet Wet Wet would not leave the number one spot. Full year: /blogs/news/look-back-to-1994
• 1995 - Blur against Oasis on the Six O'Clock News, and Toy Story changed films for good. Full year: /blogs/news/look-back-to-1995
• 1996 - Football came home, nearly, and the Spice Girls arrived and took the entire decade with them. Full year: /blogs/news/look-back-to-1996
• 1997 - A landslide in May, a death in August, and the best-selling single in British history. Full year: /blogs/news/look-back-to-1997
• 1998 - The Good Friday Agreement, a World Cup sending off nobody forgave, and Furby. Full year: /blogs/news/look-back-to-1998
• 1999 - An eclipse over Cornwall, a millennium everybody was quietly worried about, and boy bands everywhere. Full year: /blogs/news/look-back-to-1999
• That is every 1990s year we have written up so far: 1990 to 1999.

News facts from the 1990s

• Margaret Thatcher resigned as Prime Minister in November after eleven years, and John Major replaced her. (1990)
• The Gulf War began in January and ended in February. (1991)
• John Major won the April general election, a result almost every poll had got wrong. (1992)
• James Bulger was murdered in Liverpool in February, and the case dominated the year. (1993)
• The National Lottery launched in November, with the first draw watched by over twenty million people. (1994)
• Barings Bank collapsed in February after losses run up by a single trader, Nick Leeson. (1995)
• The Dunblane primary school shooting in March led to the near-total ban on handguns in Britain. (1996)
• Tony Blair won a landslide general election on 1 May, ending eighteen years of Conservative government. (1997)
• The Good Friday Agreement was signed on 10 April. (1998)
• The total solar eclipse of 11 August crossed Cornwall, and a large part of the country travelled south west to see it, mostly through cloud. (1999)

More from the news

• The poll tax demonstration in Trafalgar Square in March turned into a riot, and the tax was abandoned soon afterwards. (1990)
• The Soviet Union was formally dissolved in December. (1991)
• Black Wednesday, 16 September, saw the pound crash out of the European Exchange Rate Mechanism. (1992)
• The Bishopsgate bomb caused enormous damage in the City of London in April. (1993)
• The Channel Tunnel opened in May. (1994)
• The fiftieth anniversary of VE Day was marked with events across the country in May. (1995)
• The Manchester bomb in June destroyed much of the city centre; nobody was killed, and it reshaped the city. (1996)
• Diana, Princess of Wales, died in Paris on 31 August. Her funeral on 6 September drew one of the largest television audiences ever recorded in Britain. (1997)
• The Omagh bombing in August killed twenty-nine people, the deadliest single attack of the Troubles. (1998)
• The euro launched as an accounting currency on 1 January, without the UK. (1999)

Television and film in the 1990s

• Ghost, Home Alone and Pretty Woman were the films of the year. (1990)
• Terminator 2: Judgment Day and The Silence of the Lambs were the films of the year. (1991)
• Wayne's World, Basic Instinct and Reservoir Dogs were the films people talked about. (1992)
• Jurassic Park and Schindler's List were both released - the same director, in the same year. (1993)
• Four Weddings and a Funeral, The Lion King, Pulp Fiction and Forrest Gump all came out in the same year. (1994)
• Toy Story was released - the first fully computer-animated feature film. (1995)
• Trainspotting was released in February and became the British film of the decade. (1996)
• The Full Monty was the British film of the year and one of the most successful ever made here. (1997)
• Titanic dominated cinemas and the Oscars. (1998)
• The Matrix, Star Wars: Episode I, Notting Hill and The Sixth Sense were the films of the year. (1999)

Music in the 1990s

• The Righteous Brothers' 'Unchained Melody', re-released after the film Ghost, was the best-selling single of the year in the UK. (1990)
• Bryan Adams spent sixteen consecutive weeks at number one with '(Everything I Do) I Do It for You', from the Robin Hood film - still the longest unbroken run in UK chart history. (1991)
• Whitney Houston's 'I Will Always Love You', from The Bodyguard, was Christmas number one and went on to be the best-selling single of 1992 and much of 1993. (1992)
• Meat Loaf's 'I'd Do Anything for Love (But I Won't Do That)' spent seven weeks at number one and was the best-selling single of the year. (1993)
• Wet Wet Wet's 'Love Is All Around', from Four Weddings and a Funeral, spent fifteen weeks at number one. The band eventually deleted it themselves to stop it. (1994)
• The Britpop chart battle: Blur's 'Country House' against Oasis's 'Roll With It' in the week of 20 August. Blur won, and it led the national news. (1995)
• The Fugees' 'Killing Me Softly' was the best-selling single of the year. (1996)
• 'Candle in the Wind 1997' by Elton John, released after the death of Diana, Princess of Wales, became the best-selling single in UK chart history. (1997)
• Cher's 'Believe' was Christmas number one and the best-selling single of the year, built on the vocal effect that defined the next decade of pop. (1998)
• Britney Spears' '...Baby One More Time' was the best-selling single of the year. (1999)

Sport in the 1990s

• Italia 90. England reached the semi-final and lost to West Germany on penalties, and Paul Gascoigne's tears became one of the defining British sporting images. (1990)
• England lost the Rugby World Cup final to Australia at Twickenham. (1991)
• The Premier League was formed, beginning play in August 1992. (1992)
• The Grand National was declared void after two false starts - the only time it has happened. (1993)
• Manchester United won the Premier League and FA Cup double. (1994)
• Blackburn Rovers won the Premier League, still the last club outside the traditional big names to do so for decades. (1995)
• Euro 96 was held in England. England reached the semi-final and lost to Germany on penalties, with Gareth Southgate missing. (1996)
• Manchester United won the Premier League again. (1997)
• France won the World Cup on home soil. England went out to Argentina on penalties after David Beckham's sending off, and he spent a year being vilified for it. (1998)
• Manchester United won the treble: the Premier League, the FA Cup and the Champions League, the last of those with two injury-time goals against Bayern Munich. (1999)

Everyday life in the 1990s

• The Marathon bar was renamed Snickers, and nobody over forty has fully accepted it since. (1990)
• The recession bit hard, with repossessions and negative equity in the news constantly. (1991)
• The recession was still on, and unemployment was high. (1992)
• The first web browsers were spreading through universities; almost no household had internet access. (1993)
• Lottery tickets, a Saturday night draw and a national conversation about what you'd do with it. (1994)
• Buzz Lightyear sold out before Christmas - a genuine, widely reported shortage. (1995)
• Tamagotchi launched in Japan and reached Britain the following year. (1996)
• Tamagotchi arrived in Britain and was banned from most classrooms within a term. (1997)
• Furby arrived and sold in enormous numbers, with resale prices well above retail before Christmas. (1998)
• Everybody was talking about the Millennium Dome, mostly unkindly, before it had opened. (1999)

How to use these as a quiz round

• Read the fact without the year and ask for the year - closest answer wins the point.
• Ten facts makes a round. Mix news with television and music so nobody sweeps it.
• For a care home or reminiscence session, use the everyday life facts first - they get the most talk.
• Anyone born in 1990 turns 50 in 2040, 60 in 2050 and 70 in 2060.

Shop birthday cards

How to write it so it lands

• Hide the bracketed year and you have a guess-the-year round ready to go.
• For a card, use the year they were born rather than the decade.
• In a reminiscence session, stop on whatever gets a reaction rather than finishing the list.

Where to shop next

• Look back to 1990
• Look back to 1991
• Look back to 1992
• Look back to 1993
• Look back to 1994
• Look back to 1995
• Look back to 1996
• Look back to 1997
• Look back to 1998
• Look back to 1999
• 1990s calendar: year by year
• The 1990s: the whole decade
• Retro gift guide: the 1990s
• 1990s party playlist
• 90s kids' TV shows
• 90s quiz questions
• Toys of the 80s and 90s
• Video shops and late fees
• Saturday morning TV
• Phones before mobiles
• Decade history: key events, politics and culture by era
• Decade books: best novels, authors and reading trends
• Decade calendar: every year from 1920
• Decade trivia: fun facts by era
• Decade trivia game: play for points
• Decade guides: books, films and TV by era
• Decade recipes: dishes and food trends by era
• Music by decade: albums, artists and songs
• Decade fashion: clothes, hair and accessories by era
• Nostalgia gift shop
• Retro party supplies
• Guess the year quiz
• Care home reminiscence quiz
• Milestone birthday cards
• Planning the party? Birthday party ideas
• How to make a balloon arch
• Photo booth prop ideas
• Sympathy and bereavement cards
• Sympathy cards guide
• Pin badges
• All guides

Frequently asked questions

What are some fun facts about the 1990s?

Thatcher resigned, Gazza cried, and the country spent a fortnight thinking England might actually win it. The lists above give the news, television, music, sport and everyday facts for every year from 1990 to 1999, each with its date.

What good 1990s quiz questions are there?

Any fact on this page works as a question if you read it out and ask for the year. Ten of them makes a round, and the answers are already in the brackets.

Where do these facts come from?

They are the same checked facts used on our year pages - real, dateable events only. The official UK singles chart begins in November 1952, so earlier years list popular songs rather than chart positions.

Do you sell anything to do with this decade?

We make greeting cards, art prints and pin badges in the UK, including milestone birthday cards. This page is free to read and free to copy.