Events from the year 1996 in Scotland .
13 March – Dunblane school massacre – a gunman kills sixteen children, their teacher and himself at a primary school in Dunblane , Stirling . The killer, who wounded thirteen other children and another teacher, is quickly identified as 43-year-old former scout leader Thomas Watt Hamilton.[ 1]
1 April – The Local Government etc. (Scotland) Act 1994 takes effect with 32 unitary councils replacing the 9 Regional Councils, 53 District Councils and 3 unitary authorities that had been established under the Local Government (Scotland) Act 1973 .
18 May – Rangers F.C. , who have already won the Scottish Football League title, complete the Scottish double by beating Hearts 5–1 in the Scottish Cup final .
5 July – Dolly the sheep , the first mammal to have been successfully cloned from an adult cell, is born at The Roslin Institute in Midlothian .
October – The Shetland Times and The Shetland News become involved in a landmark legal case over alleged copyright infringement and deep linking in their websites .[ 2]
9 November – Irvine, North Ayrshire , is designated a New Town, the last of the five created in Scotland.
30 November (St. Andrew's Day ) – The Stone of Scone is installed in Edinburgh Castle 700 years after it was removed from Scotland by King Edward I of England .[ 3]
Edinburgh Old Town and New Town become the first World Heritage Site in mainland Scotland.
First of the Maggie's Centres for drop-in cancer care in the UK opens in Edinburgh .
23 January – Norman MacCaig , poet (born 1910 )
6 March – Stanley Booth-Clibborn , retired bishop of Manchester (born 1924 in London)
19 March – W. H. Murray , mountaineer and writer (born 1913 )
13 April – George Mackay Brown , poet (born 1921 )
14 April – David Brand, Lord Brand , advocate, sheriff and Senator of the College of Justice (born 1923 )
16 August – Eric Cullen , actor famous for playing "Wee Burnie" in Rab C. Nesbitt (born 1965 )
25 August – Caroline Glachan , murder victim (born 1982 )
24 November – Sorley MacLean , poet (born 1911 )
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