In 1996, the Earth was under attack from an alien mothership. Do you remember?
Fortunately, Will Smith was on hand to save the planet. This did happen. At least in cinemas.
Independence Day was the blockbuster film of the year, but the fiction it portrayed may have had an impact on the real world - a huge jump in the number of reported sightings of UFOs.
Documents from the Ministry of Defence released by the National Archives show the department recorded 117 sightings in 1995 and 609 in 1996.
This was also the year when television series The X-Files, about attempts to find extra-terrestrial life, was at the height of its popularity in the UK.
David Clarke, an expert on UFO sightings based at Sheffield Hallam University, believes there is a link between sightings and science-fiction.
"The more that alien life is covered in films or television documentaries, the more people look up at the sky and don't look down at their feet.
"Maybe what they are seeing is ordinary, like an aircraft, but because they are looking for a UFO, they think it is one."
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