Cool Britannia

[1] The phrase "Cool Britannia" reappeared in early 1996 as a registered trademark for one of Ben & Jerry's ice cream flavours which mixed vanilla, strawberries and "fudge-covered shortbread".

[2] According to American journalist Stryker McGuire, the "Cool Britannia" term started to become prominent in the 1990s as a shorthand metaphor to reflect the British economic rise during the decade.

[4][5] Blair, who liked to draw attention during his election campaign that he had been in a rock band called Ugly Rumours while in university, invited high-profile musicians to 10 Downing Street for photo opportunities.

Cool Britannia also summed up the mood in Britain during the mid-1990s Britpop movement, when there was a resurgence of distinctive British rock and pop music from bands such as Oasis, Blur, Pulp, Suede, Supergrass, and Elastica.

John Major, who was prime minister of Britain at the time, famously took credit (November 1996), accompanied with a press release issued by the Department of National Heritage: "Our fashion, music and culture are the envy of our European neighbours.

[14] Released in 1994, romantic comedy film Four Weddings and a Funeral, featuring one of the era's biggest stars, Hugh Grant, had been an early portent of the new wave of British cinema.

[15] The first Austin Powers film, International Man of Mystery, co-starring Elizabeth Hurley (who was in a high-profile relationship with Grant), was released in 1997, and with its Cool Britannia influenced take on the Swinging London era it instantly included itself in the same 1990s cultural moment.

[15] In March 1997, Vanity Fair published a special edition on Cool Britannia with Liam Gallagher and Patsy Kensit on the cover; the title read 'London Swings!