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Cool Britannia is a media term that was used during the mid-to-late 20th century to describe the contemporary culture of the United Kingdom. The term was prevalent during the 1990s, and was closely associated with the early years of "New Labour" under Tony Blair.^[1] It is a pun on the title of the British patriotic song Rule, Britannia!.

Origins of the term

The phrase "Cool Britannia" was first used in 1967 as a song title by the Bonzo Dog Doo Dah Band. The phrase "Cool Britannia" reappeared in the mid-1990s as a registered trade mark for one of Ben & Jerry's ice-creams (vanilla with strawberries and chocolate-covered shortbread). The ice cream name and recipe was coined in early 1996 by an American lawyer living in London, Sarah Moynihan-Williams, as a winning entry in a Ben and Jerry's ice cream competition. Her name for the ice cream as "Cool Britannia" was meant to presage the era of New Labour, which came about with their election win in May 1997. The phrase was quickly adopted in the media and in advertising, seeming to capture the "It" quality of London at the time. The election of Blair's government in 1997 on a platform of modernisation and with Blair as a relatively young Prime Minister gave the idea fresh currency. There is a strong parallel between this and the catch-phrase "Swinging London" during the early years of Harold Wilson's Labour government, of which the concept of "Cool Britannia" is a pastiche.

1990s culture

To the extent that it had any real meaning, "Cool Britannia" referred to the transient fashionable London scene, 1990s bands such as Blur and Oasis, fashion designers, the Young British Artists and magazines. Cool Britannia also summed up the mood in Britain during the mid-1990s Britpop movement, when there was a sudden influx of lively British rock and pop music from bands such as Oasis, Blur, Suede, Supergrass, Pulp and The Verve, as well as the Spice Girls. Many link popularity of the Austin Powers films and the resurgence of James Bond 007 as factors of the spread of Cool Britannia. The movement, along with political factors, saw a renewal in British pride, typified by such things as Noel Gallagher's Union Flag guitar and Geri Halliwell's iconic skimpy Union Flag dress. The Euro 96 football tournament, hosted in England and featuring England and Scotland as competing teams, was also seen at the time, and particularly in retrospect, as a event that capitilised on this sense of patriotic enlightenment. In March 1997 Vanity Fair published a special edition on Cool Britannia with Liam Gallagher and Patsy Kensit on the cover with the title 'London Swings! Again!'. Figures in the issues included Alexander McQueen, Damien Hirst, Graham Coxon and the editorial staff of Loaded. By 1998 The Economist was commenting that "many people are already sick of the phrase," and by 2000 - after the fall of Britpop - it was being used mainly in a mocking or ironic way.

Although "Britannia" refers to the whole of the United Kingdom, and not just England, similar terms for Wales and Scotland, "Cool Cymru" and "Cool Caledonia" respectively, were also coined,^[2][3] but never gained any real popular currency.

References

External links

• Whatever happened to Cool Britannia ? The UK after eight years of Blair Thirty British, US, French and Canadian scholars assess Blair's policies and style after two terms, in May 2005. Links to papers and video.

Definition from Wiktionary, a free dictionary

English

Etymology

Punning blend of cool and Rule Britannia

Proper noun

Cool Britannia

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Cool Britannia

Wikipedia

1. A term used in some media for the culture of the United Kingdom in the mid-1990s, closely associated with the New Labour government of that period.