the summer of

What it was like to be 15 in 2006 in Britain

To be fifteen in Britain in 2006 was to have “Crazy” by Gnarls Barkley everywhere, Casino Royale on every screen, and Doctor Who on after school. That year, gas cost £0.89/L and the Nintendo Wii was the new thing. Born in 1991? You turned 15 in 2006 — a teenager from 2004 to 2010, right in the window a soundtrack bonds to you for life.

Compiled by the Original Lore archive from period charts, box-office and price records. How we build these · sources noted throughout.

▶ Play your 2006 reel with sounda 30-second video of your year — the song, the screen, the turn.

the mixtape of 2006

Crazy — Gnarls Barkley

Crazy — Gnarls BarkleyThat woozy 'I remember when I lost my mind' seeped from every phone speaker and download-driven chart the year music went digital.
Hips Don't Lie — Shakira feat. Wyclef JeanWorld Cup summer belonged to Shakira's hips, shaking through beer gardens, England flags and every sweaty end-of-term disco.
Smack That — Akon feat. EminemTinny from the back of the bus, it was the swagger you played too loud walking home from school.
Chasing Cars — Snow PatrolThe slow, aching one that closed every leavers' assembly and made you hold someone's hand for the first time.
SexyBack — Justin TimberlakeJustin brought sexy back and dragged the whole indie disco onto the floor with those filthy stuttering beats.

▶ Play your 2006 reel

why this one mattered

'Crazy' owned the summer of 2006 — the first single ever to top the UK chart on downloads alone, that spooky soul falsetto drifting out of every radio, phone speaker and school corridor. Nine weeks at number one, and for a fortnight it simply was the sound of being fifteen.

the year-end #1 was the UK's best-selling single of 2006.

the movies you are watching in 2006

Casino Royale
Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest
The Da Vinci Code
Borat
Ice Age: The Meltdown

the tv shows you are binging in 2006

Doctor Who
The X Factor
Big Brother
Little Britain
Top Gear

the games you are playing in 2006

New Super Mario Bros
FIFA 07
Wii Sports
Pokémon Diamond and Pearl
Guitar Hero II
The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion

what things cost in 2006

What things cost in 2006
a litre of petrol	£0.89
a cinema ticket	£4.82
a pint of lager	£2.60
a gallon of gas	£0.89/L
minimum wage	£5.35/hr
a first-class stamp	£0.32
the average income	£23,580

trending this year

Nintendo Wii — Reza Almanda, via Wikimedia Commons (CC BY 2.0)

Twitter — Jesse Achtenberg / U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (public domain)

Sky+ HD

Google buys YouTube — Wikimedia Commons, source: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Logo_of_YouTube_(2006-2011)_realtext.svg · Public domain

Amy Winehouse's Back to Black — Wikimedia Commons, source: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Amy_Winehouse_-_Back_To_Black_(Deluxe_Edition).jpg · Public domain

the gadgets you just got

Sony PSP

Motorola RAZR V3 — Photo by Raimond Spekking (Wikimedia Commons), source: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Motorola_RAZR_V3-4899.jpg · CC BY-SA 4.0

iPod nano — RENATO20303, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons

Sky+ box — Photo by Rcsprinter123 (Wikimedia Commons), source: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Sky%2B_box.jpg · CC BY-SA 3.0

what everyone is snacking on

Wikimedia Commons, source: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Cadbury-Twirl-Split.jpg · Public domain

Monster Munch — Wikimedia Commons, source: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Monster_Munch_pickled_onion_1.jpg · CC0

Photo by Dan arndt (Wikimedia Commons), source: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Dairy_Milk_Freddo.jpg · CC BY-SA 4.0

Dairy Milk — Photo by Tiia Monto (Wikimedia Commons), source: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Cadbury_Dairy_Milk.jpg · CC BY-SA 3.0

Space Raiders — Wikimedia Commons, source: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Space_Raiders_snacks.jpg · CC0

what everyone is drinking

Ribena carton — Photo by Melaneas (Wikimedia Commons), source: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Ribena-All-Sizes-and-Flavours.jpg · CC BY-SA 4.0

Lucozade Energy — AI-generated illustration

what made the news in 2006

Labour and Tony Blair are engulfed by the 'cash for honours' police investigation
England crash out of the World Cup on penalties to Portugal; Rooney sent off
A transatlantic liquid bomb plot is foiled at Heathrow, upending airport hand-luggage rules overnight
Saddam Hussein is executed in Iraq as British troops remain in Basra

Blair engulfed by the cash-for-honours investigation — Photo by Casper Moller (Wikimedia Commons), source: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Tony_Blair_at_Gare_du_Nord,_Paris,_June_2006_(1628394545).jpg · CC BY 2.0

England lose to Portugal on penalties as Rooney is sent off — Photo by Ben Sutherland (Wikimedia Commons), source: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:England_striker_Wayne_Rooney_(23125438141).jpg · CC BY 2.0

Liquid bomb airport plot foiled, hand-luggage rules change forever — AI-generated illustration

Saddam Hussein executed in Iraq — Photo by Unknown author (U.S. Government) (Wikimedia Commons), source: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Saddam_Hussein_at_trial,_July_2004.JPEG · Public domain

Steve Irwin, the Crocodile Hunter, killed by a stingray — Photo by Richard Giles (rich115) (Wikimedia Commons), source: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Steve_Irwin.jpg · CC BY 2.0

what everyone is saying

"Am I bovvered?"Catherine Tate's Lauren line quoted in every UK classroom
"Do you want some?"the aggro playground challenge of the year
"Chav"the era-defining tracksuit-and-Burberry tabloid tag
"That's what she said"the innuendo tag imported and endlessly repeated
"Safe"all-purpose approval, 'yeah, safe mate'

the summer of 2006.

you can't wait to be older.

…and then it cools. Play the reel to feel where 2006 goes.

Turn 2006 into a 30-second reel →