On this day
Revisit the music, news, notable people, and historical moments connected to this date.
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Grace Paley, writer renowned for her tales set in New York City, talks about life in rural Thetford Hills, Vt, where she moved full time six years ago; photos (M)
Charles Hamma, maintenance worker preparing elementary school in Long Hill Township for opening of school, is critically injured when his welding torch ignites natural-gas main (New Jersey Daily Briefing) (S)
When Sgt James McCauley of Scotch Plains police retired on Aug 1 after 25 years with the Union County Prosecutor's office, he donated $6,000 he had coming to him in accumulated sick pay to county employees who have exhausted their sick pay (New Jersey Daily Briefing) (S)
James Grauer, architect, alters ceiling height of the Battery Park City apartment of David Wine to give it some graceful curves and definition; photos (M)
Mayor Rudolph W Giuliani promotes his chief of staff, Randy M Mastro, to position of Deputy Mayor for Operations, effectively making him second-in-command at City Hall; Mastro replaces Peter J Powers, who recently announced his resignation and plans to return to private business; Mastro will not receive Powers former title, First Deputy Mayor; administration officials say Giuliani thinks that title must be earned in office; photo (M)
Music on My Birthday
The Top 50 albums for the chart week of August 28, 1996, covering August 29, 1996.
Alanis Morissette
Celine Dion
Nas
LeAnn Rimes
No Doubt
1996Daryll Neita, British sprinter[†]
Daryll Saskia Neita is a British sprinter. She won a silver medal in the 200 metres at the 2024 European Championships along with bronze in the 100 metres at the 2022 European Championships, 2022 Commonwealth Games and in the 60 metres at the 2023 European Indoor Championships. She has also won several medals as part of Great Britain 4 × 100 m relay teams, including an Olympic silver medal in 2024 and bronze medals in 2016 and 2021, World Championships silver medals in 2017 and 2019 and European gold in 2018.
1996Vnukovo Airlines Flight 2801, a Tupolev Tu-154, crashes into a mountain on the Arctic island of Spitsbergen, killing all 141 aboard.[†]
Vnukovo Airlines Flight 2801 was an international charter flight from Vnukovo International Airport in Moscow, Russia, to Svalbard Airport on Spitsbergen, in the Norwegian archipelago of Svalbard. On 29 August 1996 at 10:22:23 CEST, a Tupolev Tu-154M operating this flight crashed into the ground in Operafjellet during the final approach to Svalbard Airport. All 141 people aboard the plane were killed, making it the deadliest aviation accident in Norwegian history. The accident was the result of a series of small navigational errors causing the aircraft to be 3.7 kilometres from the approach centerline at the time of impact.
In 1996, the world population was approximately 5,842,055,734 people[†]