RETROSPECTIVE

When we were young

In our first year of publishing, everything looked and sounded very different. From the finale of Friends to the Olympic Games, as we rewind to 2004, let us remind you of some of the most memorable moments in...

...TV & film

Friends

Ending its decade-long run on 6 May, The Last One was seen by 52.5 million American viewers, which made it the most-watched episode of the 2000s on US television.

Sex and the City

The final episode aired on 22 February after six successful seasons.

Mean Girls

Released on 18 June, Mean Girls grossed $130 million worldwide and developed a cult following.

James Bond

Pierce Brosnan stepped down as James Bond after doing his last film, Die Another Day, in 2002.

76th Academy Awards

The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King picked up 11 Oscars, including Best Picture and Best Director.

The X Factor

The first TV programme produced by Simon Cowell’s production company, Syco. Cowell was joined on the judging panel by Louis Walsh and Sharon Osbourne. The general public voted singer Steve Brookstein as the show’s first winner.

Strictly Come Dancing

BBC newsreader Natasha Kaplinsky and her dance partner Brendan Cole were crowned the champions of the first ever series of Strictly Come Dancing.

The Last One aired on 6 May

Image: Sky

Music...

Eamon vs Frankee

Eamon achieved the number-one spot with a song with more profanities than any other hit single; it stayed at number one for four weeks. The answer song by Frankee replaced the original single at the top of the charts for three weeks despite selling less than half as many copies as Eamon’s.

Come on England

The remake of Come On Eileen (Dexys Midnight Runners) by 442 was released on 7 June to coincide with the England national team’s appearance at the European Championships. It reached number two in the pop charts.

iTunes launches

Apple’s online iTunes Music Store launched in the UK in June 2004, selling over 450,000 songs in the first week.

UK Official Download Chart begins

Westlife’s Flying Without Wings was crowned the first ever number one in the UK Official Download Chart.

July’s number ones

Obviously by McFly, Burn by Usher, Lola’s Theme by Shapeshifters and Dry Your Eyes by The Streets all made it to number one.

Glastonbury headliners

Muse had the honour of gracing the Pyramid Stage on 27 June while The Killers and James Blunt both appeared in The New Tent, a stage designed to promote emerging talent.

Tech...

Hello Moto

The Motorola Razr V3 was the most iconic mobile phone of 2004 with its slim design and ‘Hello Moto’ ringtone that still haunts our dreams today.

Welcome, Gmail

Google launched Gmail on April Fool’s Day. It had the power of Google search and the life-altering ability to group messages into conversation threads.

Gaming evolution

The Nintendo DS was launched back in 2004, as the successor to the Game Boy series.

Apple iPods

Apple introduced its fourth generation Classic iPod, with photo and colour display, and its first mini iPod.

Car of the Year

The boxy Fiat Panda was 2004’s European car of the year.

Surfing the web

Firefox 1.0 was first introduced in November and challenged Internet Explorer’s dominance with 60 million downloads within nine months.

The fourth generation Classic iPod was released on 19 July 2004

Sport...

Olympic Games

Great Britain won a number of gold medals at the 2004 games in Athens. Most notably, Dame Kelly Holmes won two golds for the 800m and 1500m; Sir Chris Hoy and Sir Bradley Wiggins won in cycling; the men’s four pipped Canada to the post in a memorable race in British rowing; and Leslie Law won our first gold medal of the games in equestrian.

Euros 2004

England made it to the quarter-finals of the European Championships –with Sven-Göran Eriksson as manager, David Beckham as captain, and Michael Owen, Paul Scholes, Wayne Rooney and Sol Campbell on the squad.

Sports Personality of the Year

After a successful Olympics, Dame Kelly Holmes was awarded the BBC Sports Personality of the Year Award.

Images: Adobe Stock

Fashion...

The early 2000s were all about ugg boots, tube tops, low-rise jeans, dresses over trousers, crop tops, trucker hats, skinny scarves and denim skirts. Before the days of Keeping Up With The Kardashians, we watched power couples of the time rocking the red carpets in what now seems to be a far more casual style. Baggy cargo pants, halter necks and three-quarter-length trousers were all the rage...

Social media...

We miss you, MySpace Tom

MySpace, made by Tom Anderson (now a travel photographer), became the first social media site to reach a million monthly active users.

Facebook

In January, Mark Zuckerberg coded a new website, known as ‘The Facebook’. Membership was initially restricted to students of Harvard College and within a month, more than half the undergraduates had registered. Facebook soon became available to all Ivy League colleges and successively most universities in the US and Canada. Napster cofounder Sean Parker became company president and, in June, the company moved to Palo Alto, California, receiving its first investment later that month from PayPal co-founder Peter Thiel. As of 31 March 2021, Facebook has 2.85 billion monthly active users.

Bristol back in 2004

Bristol Balloon Fiesta

At the 2004 festival, Mike Howard, an airline pilot, tightrope-walked between two hot air balloons at a height of 4,000ft while blindfolded before parachuting away. Two years previously, in the year that the 20th Bond film, Die Another Day, was released, Mike –dressed as Bond –was flown up to 7,200ft while attached to 300 helium balloons. Once at the right height, he shot the balloons with a replica pistol and skydived back down to earth.

Lord Mayor of Bristol

British television actor Simon Timothy Cook MBE served as Lord Mayor of Bristol from 2004 to 2005. Having trained at Bristol Old Vic Theatre School, Cook was best known for his role in Family Affairs –and there was that time he got chucked out of the Queen Vic by Shane Richie in Eastenders. He has been a member of the Royal Shakespeare Company and Bristol Old Vic and spent 20 years working in theatre and television.

Bristol on the big screen

The comedy-drama series Teachers was filmed at the former Merrywood Grammar School for its first three seasons and at the former Lockleaze School in Bristol for its fourth. Starring Andrew Lincoln and a young James Corden, Teachers was nominated for six BAFTAs (2002-2004).

Mike Howard tightrope-walking between two hot air balloons. Photographer Paul Gillis was in a helicopter with no doors hovering at 4,000 feet above Bristol.

Credit: Paul Gillis; paulgillisphoto.com