See also: 1995 in France, other events of 1996, 1997 in France.

Events from the year 1996 in France.

Incumbents

• President - Jacques Chirac
• Prime Minister - Alain Juppé
• Interior Minister - Jean-Louis Debré
• Finance Minister - Jean Arthuis
• Foreign Minister - Hervé de Charette

Events

• 8 January - Former president of France and founder of the Socialist Party of France, Francois Mitterrand, dies.
• 29 January - President Jacques Chirac announces a "definitive end" to French nuclear testing.
• 5 May - A fire in Paris destroys much of Crédit Lyonnais bank's headquarters.
• 23 May - Members of the Armed Islamic Group in Algeria kill seven French Trappist monks, after talks with French government concerning the imprisonment of several GIA sympathisers break down.
• 27 June-29 June - 22nd G7 summit takes place in Lyon.
• 18 November - Channel Tunnel fire on a truck being carried on an HGV shuttle.

Arts and Literature

Sport

• 29 June - Tour de France begins.
• 30 June - French Grand Prix won by Damon Hill of the United Kingdom.
• 21 July - Tour de France ends, won by Bjarne Riis of Denmark.

Births

• Maxence Perrin, actor.

Deaths

January

• 8 January - François Mitterrand, President of France from 1981 to 1995 (b.1916).
• 15 January - Max Varnel, film and television director (b.1925).

February

• 6 February - Jacques Wertheimer, businessman (b.1911).
• 11 February - Pierre Edouard Leopold Verger, photographer and ethnographer (b.1902).
• 14 February - Louis Finot, international soccer player (b.1909).
• 17 February - Hervé Bazin, writer (b.1911).

March

• 2 March - Célestin Delmer, international soccer player (b.1907).
• 3 March - Marguerite Duras, writer and film director (b.1914).
• 3 March - Léo Malet, novelist (b.1909).
• 17 March - René Clément, screenwriter and film director (b.1913).
• 22 March - Claude Mauriac, author and journalist (b.1914).
• 29 March - Christophe Caze, terrorist (b.1969).

April to June

• 21 April - Robert Hersant, newspaper magnate (b.1920).
• 29 April - François Picard, motor racing driver (b.1921).
• 25 May - Barney Wilen, saxophonist and jazz composer (b.1937).
• 30 May - Léon-Etienne Duval, Cardinal (b.1903).
• 15 June - Yvonne Vallée, actress (b.1899).

July to September

• 17 July - Paul Touvier, convicted of crime against humanity for his Collaborationist role during Vichy France (b.1915).
• 29 July - Marcel-Paul Schützenberger, mathematician (b.1920).
• 2 August - Michel Debré, politician and first Prime Minister of the Fifth Republic (b.1912).
• 4 August - Jean Bourlès, cyclist (b.1930).
• 4 August - André Trochut, cyclist (b.1931).
• 30 August - Christine Pascal, actress, writer and director (b.1953).

October

• 11 October - Pierre Grimal, historian and classicist (b.1912).
• 12 October - René Lacoste, tennis player (b.1904).
• 12 October - Roger Lapébie, cyclist, won the 1937 Tour de France (b.1911).
• 15 October - Pierre Franey, chef and food writer (b.1921).
• 17 October - Jean-Pierre Munch, cyclist (b.1926).
• 31 October - Marcel Carné, film director (b.1906).

December

• 3 December - Georges Duby, historian (b.1919).
• 3 December - Jean Tabaud, artist (b.1914).
• 9 December - Alain Poher, politician (b.1909).
• 11 December - Marie-Claude Vaillant-Couturier, member of the French Resistance (b.1912).
• 25 December - Roger Duchesne, actor (b.1906).
• 25 December - Gabriel Loire, stained glass artist (b.1904).
• 29 December - Mireille Hartuch, singer, composer and actress (b.1906).

Full date unknown

• Claude Bourdet, writer, journalist and politician (b.1909).
• André-Georges Haudricourt, anthropologist and linguist (b.1911).
• Jean-Claude Piumi, soccer player (b.1940).

References