‘Beneath mythology and allegory is usually the shabby and sordid truth, but with Cool Britannia the opposite was true. ‘ – Dylan Jones, Faster Than a Cannonball 

1995 was the year of the Nineties, according to author and journalist Dylan Jones. It was peak Britpop (Oasis vs Blur), peak YBA (Tracey Emin’s tent), peak New Lad (Nick Hornby published High Fidelity, James Brown launched Loaded magazine, and pubs were finally allowed to stay open on a Sunday). It was the year Radiohead brought out The Bends, Danny Boyle started filming Trainspotting, Alex Garland wrote The Beach, and Tony Blair changed Clause IV after a controversial vote at the Labour Party Conference.

Jones was a keen observer of it all and on November 2 he comes to Intelligence Squared to discuss the themes his new book Faster Than a Cannonball: 1995 and All That, which features interviews with the all key players of the decade, including Noel and Liam Gallagher, Tracey Emin, Goldie, David Beckham and Alastair Campbell. In conversation with writer and curator Ekow Eshun, he will look back at the epoch of Cool Britannia, when Britain underwent a massive upheaval in art, music, literature, publishing, politics – and drugs.

Whether you lived through the nineties or are too young to remember,  don’t miss this chance to look back at what Jones describes as a time of almost unparalleled hedonism. It was the last analogue decade that saw the rise of New Labour, the burgeoning of alternative comedy, a renewed love of football, lesbian kisses in soap operas and of course ‘(What’s the Story) Morning Glory’ by Oasis, the most iconic album of the decade.