Cool Britannia

Who was to blame? David Beckham, Ginger Spice and her Union Jack dress, Princess Diana, Oasis, Tony Blair? Surely all of them, and more.

The phrase Cool Britannia began to appear in the British press near the end of 1996, shortly after Newsweek declared London to be the coolest capital city on the planet.

Anything with a red, white and blue flag was trendy, Americans started talking in mockney accents, Ben & Jerry ice-creams named their vanilla, strawberry and chocolate shortbread tubs 'Cool Britannia'.

For a brief moment the empire was reborn - until, in mid-1997, the rest of the world saw through the facade.