Top Gear magazine in 1995

Clarkson in 1995: "A book is no good unless I cannot put it down. If Princess Diana had walked into my bedroom naked as a jaybird just as I was three quarters of the way through The Devil's Advocate, I wouldn't have looked up long enough even to tell her to get lost.''

Three cars from 1995

Renault Spider

"In the Place Du Casino there were four Ferrari F40s, a brace of Bugattis and an indeterminate number of Bentleys. But the mewling and puking tourists were only interested in one car. Mine. The Renault Spider. Damon Hill screeched to a halt in his diesel Espace - I'm not joking - and got out for a look. His wife said simply ‘That is my next car'." July 1995

Ferrari F50

"When you slide inside its cockpit you enter a moving piece of art; classical art which instills feelings that no modern form, however perfect, could possibly equal. When I suggested it was a crime to limit production, and therefore restrict the number of people who will have the opportunity to experience such a glorious creation, the answer was simple. "We all admire the looks of Claudia Schiffer but, sadly, we cannot all have the opportunity to make love to her." August 1995

MGF

"This is a ‘clean piece of paper' car and you absolutely must applaud Rover for that. Just because it's an MG doesn't mean it has to fall apart, leak, look daft, and be driven by people with vegetation all over their faces. It's not without faults, but I reckon it handles better than anything else in its class, looks decidedly different, and though Rover is now German it was designed by the British and uses mainly British parts. Most important of all though, it will make its owners feel special." October 1995

The best-selling car of 1995: Ford Escort

The best-selling song of 1995: Unchained Melody/The White Cliffs of Dover - Robson and Jerome

And elsewhere in the world in 1995: The ‘Great Hanshin Earthquake', centered near Kobe, Japan, kills over 6000 people, Space Shuttle Atlantis successfully docks with Russia's Mir Space Station, and Juan Manuel Fangio dies aged 84.