We’re celebrating 70 years of Essex Life by looking back over the famous faces and historic events that have shaped the county since our launch in 1952. This month, we go back to the noughties
I hope you’ve been enjoying my countdown of the decades, beginning with the 1950s in April and ending here with the noughties. The noughties refers, of course, to the period from 2000-2009 and gains its nomenclature from the nought of the first decade of the 21st century, but I’m not sure we were particularly naughty during the noughties. See what I did there? Let’s move on...
Global events
Globally, the noughties saw the emergence of China as an economic giant with double-digit growth achieved during most of the decade. Then there was 9/11 in 2001, followed by the so-called War on Terror, which led to the controversial Iraq War (2003) and overthrowing of Saddam Hussein.
There was the global financial crisis and the credit crunch, which began in the U.S. with a housing and credit crisis in late-2007. Casualties included Woolworths, with all its 800-plus stores closing in 2008-09 of which 32 were in Essex, and MFI Group, which ceased trading in December 2018 resulting in the closure of 111 stores nationwide.
During this time, Essex County Council and Santander collaborated to set up an Essex bank. Banking on Essex was launched in April 2009 to help cash-strapped businesses survive the economic downturn. With an investment of £50 million each, the partners effectively set up the first municipal bank in almost a century. The council would be praised by the Audit Commission for its innovative attempt to help small companies.
Climate change and global warming became widespread concerns in the decade, although many deniers were unconvinced, which thankfully is less true today.
Talking politics
It was a decade of Labour dominance as Tony Blair followed up his 1997 landslide with two further general election victories in 2001 and 2005, although his majorities were getting smaller. Blair would step down in 2007 in favour of his chancellor, Gordon Brown, who promptly had to deal with the global economic crisis. Labour and Brown would be ousted in 2010 by a Conservative/Lib Dem coalition.
Labour had made significant inroads in Essex in 1997, but this trend began to be reversed in 2001 when Castle Point went Blue again courtesy of Bob Spink. Further Tory gains came in 2005 in Harwich (Douglas Carswell) and Braintree (Brooks Newmark). Colchester remained a Lib Dem outlier throughout the noughties, with Bob Russell being its long-serving MP. That process of Tory recovery would be completed in 2010 when only Russell remained as a non-Conservative Essex MP.
There was some controversy in the Castle Point constituency in April 2008 when Bob Spink, who’d regained the seat for the Tories in 2001, resigned from the party and joined UKIP before sitting as an independent MP. He finally lost his seat at the 2010 general election to a new Conservative candidate, Rebecca Harris.
Major changes
The Conservative/Lib Dem coalition (2010) decided not to allow expansion at Stansted Airport via a further runway so it remains a single-runway airport, albeit the fourth busiest in the UK. There was, nevertheless, a major expansion of the airport’s facilities over 2007-09.
Meanwhile, over in Chelmsford, County Hall was granted listed status in 2007. It had first appeared almost 100 years before in 1909, and is a classical-style building designed by Frank Whitmore, and it shouldn’t be confused with the older Shire Hall, which is also listed. It’s nice to see that Essex is safeguarding its assets.
Essex in pop culture
Social media took off with Facebook and Twitter launching in 2004 and 2006. Email was replacing ‘snail mail’ as the main mode of communication – although your scribe still writes old-fashioned letters. You should try it sometime! There’s nothing quite like a lovingly plotted letter dropping through the letterbox.
Computer-generated imagery in films became more prevalent (think Shrek in 2001) and reality TV, for better or worse, was heading our way with Big Brother launching in 2000; Essex winner Chantelle Houghton appeared in the 2006 celebrity series. TOWIE was also just around the corner, first airing in October 2010. Based in Brentwood, it made stars of quite a few Essex folk, from Joey Essex to Gemma Collins.
My own literary career started in 2012, so the field was left clear for the Harry Potter books to make J.K. Rowling the decade’s best-selling author. The best-selling book though was The Da Vinci Code by Dan Brown (2003).
Essex Boys (2000) was a crime film starring the likes of Sean Bean and Alex Kingston and was based on the Rettendon murders of 1995. On the small screen, Ramsay’s Kitchen Nightmares visited D-Place in Chelmsford High Street, where in a 2004 episode our Gordon ‘scuffled’ with the head chef and apparently forced the then-owner to change the eatery’s name to Saracen’s Café Bar. It later became the Saracen’s Head Hotel, a return to its former name for the venerable establishment, which apparently dates back to the 16th century and was originally a resting point for weary travellers.
Essex featured in a Hollywood blockbuster in 2005. Batman Begins features Coalhouse Fort in Tilbury, which doubled up as a prison in Bhutan where Batman (played by Christian Bale) finds himself incarcerated at the start of the film.
Sporting prowess
Essex County Cricket club won the County Championship’s Division 2 (2002) and the Sunday League twice (2005, 2006) plus its Division 2 (2008) and the Friends Provident Trophy (2008) – beating Kent in a 50-over final at Lord’s by five wickets.
Southend United achieved two promotions in two seasons, winning the League One Championship (3rd Tier) in 2005-06. The club was also runners-up in the Football League Trophy (contested by clubs in League One and Two) in both 2003-04 and 2004-05. Colchester United did their bit, being promoted from League One (3rd Tier) as runners-up in 2005-06. The club also moved grounds in 2008, moving from its historic Layer Road ground into the Colchester Community Stadium.
Dagenham & Redbridge won the Nationwide Conference (2006-07) to book a place in the Football League for the first time. In a stellar season, they finished 14 points clear of second-place Oxford United. Canvey Island won the 2000-01 FA Challenge Trophy, beating Forest Green Rovers by the only goal of the match in the final at Villa Park. The Gulls, aka The Islanders, just missed out on a trip to the old Wembley, as redevelopment of the site had not long got underway. Canvey, enjoying a halcyon period of success, also finished runners-up in the 2003-04 competition.
The following season saw Grays Athletic take over, winning the Trophy with a tense penalty shootout win over Hucknall Town. Meanwhile, the lower-ranked FA Challenge Vase saw Tiptree United lose out in the 2001-02 final, beaten by a solitary goal from Whitley Bay. Tiptree joined with Maldon Town in 2010 to create Maldon & Tiptree.
Essex had its share of medal-winning Olympians during the noughties, starting with Joanne Goode (from Harlow) winning bronze in the badminton mixed doubles in Sydney. Peter Waterfield (from Waltham Forest) won silver in the men’s synchronised diving in Athens and Cath Bishop (from Leigh-on-Sea) won silver in women’s pair rowing also in Athens.
There, I have finished my review of Essex through the decades from the 1950s up to the 2000s. It feels like the story of my life; I was born in 1957 and moved to Southend in the early-80s. If you’ve enjoyed it so much that you want more and feel we should tackle the 2010s, well, I’d be up for it. You just need to write to our wonderful editor!
