Born on 1 January 2003

Back in 2003, life felt like it was caught in that sweet, blurry gap between the old world and the new. If you stepped into a pub back then, you’d be met with a thick haze of cigarette smoke and the sound of *Where Is The Love?* by the Black Eyed Peas blaring from a jukebox.

It was the year of that legendary, sweltering heatwave; I remember melting on the Underground while everyone buzzed about *Finding Nemo* or went to see *Love Actually* at the Odeon for the third time. On the telly, we were all obsessed with the first proper series of *Peep Show*, or huddled together to watch a young Will Young and Gareth Gates on *Pop Idol*. If you were a kid, you were likely trade-marking your territory with Beyblades or begging for a Nokia 3310 just so you could play Snake II.

We were eating Turkey Twizzlers before Jamie Oliver banned them and washing them down with a Panda Pop. The news was heavy with the Iraq War protests, yet we’d distract ourselves by voting for Michelle McManus or marveling at Concorde’s very last flight over Bristol. It was a simpler, noisier, sun-drenched time before the smartphone took over everything.