1990s
1990
- Margaret Thatcher steps down as prime minister
- GoodFellas
- South Africa frees Nelson Mandela
- Communist Party relinquish sole power in Soviet government

1991
- End of Persian Gulf War
- The Broadcasting Standards Council is set up to monitor sex, violence and bad language on radio and TV.
- In Europe, Internet sites more than triple in one year pass 100,000

1992
- Bill Clinton elected president
- 172 nations various address issues of environmental protection and sustainable development at the Earth Summit in Rio de Janeiro
- ‘The Big Breakfast’ begins on Channel 4
- US lift trade sanctions against China

1993
- Launch of GMTV
- Britain’s first home shopping channel QVC
- Five arrested, sixth sought in bombing of World Trade Centre in New York
- Clinton agrees to compromise on military's ban on homosexuals
- South Africa adopts majority rule constitution

1994
- Start of Yahoo search engine
- Time Warner creates WB television network
- IRA declare ceasefire in Northern Ireland
- ER and Friends debut on NBC
- South Africa holds first interracial national election (April 29); Nelson Mandela elected President.
- Thousands dead in Rwanda massacre

1995
- Amazon.com starts selling books online
- Terrorist’s car bomb blows up block-long Oklahoma City federal building

1996
- Hotmail.com – web based email service
- Clinton appoints Madeleine Albright as first female US secretary of state
- Pressured by the Federal Communications Commission, television broadcasters agree to include three hours a week of educational children's programming into their schedule.
- The Simpsons arrive at the BBC
- Britain alarmed by an outbreak of "mad cow" disease

1997
- Channel 5 launches
- News 24 launches
- US shuttle joins Russian space station
- European Union plans to admit six nations
- Tony Blair leads Labour to its greatest victory

1998
- ITV launches its first new channel ITV2
- Europeans agree on single currency, the euro
- President accused in White House sex scandal; denies allegations of affair with White House intern, Monica Lewinsky
- US embassies in Kenya and Tanzania bombed
- Viagra goes on sale
- Sex and the city

1999
- Channel 4 airs Mafia drama The Sopranos, sparking a debate on whether American television is better than British.
- Last transmission of ITV’s News at Ten
- Nelson Mandela, first black president of South Africa, steps down (June 16), and Thabo Mbeki takes over
- Total Eclipse
- Television cameras are allowed into the House of Commons for the first time on an experimental basis
- Pakistani government is overthrown in the midst of economic strife and intensified fighting with India over Kashmir