George’s Journal at 15: the Legends and Talent of the Noughties (2000-09)

Raising the stakes: casting Daniel Craig as a lugubrious 007 and Eva Green as an ambiguous leading lady in the Fleming-faithful Casino Royale made for a risky yet triumphant Noughties reset for Bond

Once upon a time in the year 2010 and for a good few years after, this blog spewed out posts like there was no tomorrow. And yet, there was always a tomorrow – because that was then, this is now, time marches on, life’s got in the way with yours truly and the blog posts have, like it or not, dried up. But they haven’t dried up completely. Oh no, because George’s Journal is back!

Now, dear reader, before you get too excited (I know, I know, but do try to contain your excitement), this brand-spanking new post is, I think it’s fair to say, highly unlikely to precipitate a glut of more of its ilk from this very nook of the Internet. So why, after so long and out of the blue, this new post now?

Well, as mentioned, this blog started out in 2010 – a full 15 years ago – and given its predilection for celebrating anniversaries (not least in exactly this sort of way), methought it fitting to mark this particular milestone with just what you’re perusing right now. As Aleksandr the Meercat would say (and has done for at least the last 15 years), simples.

But why the ‘Legends’ and ‘Talent’ of the Noughties hook? Well, this blog has been elevating ‘legendary‘ and ‘talented’ figures of past cultural significance (into sort of halls of fame) since the very beginning – especially in such anniversary posts.

Nay, it’s even done so for ‘legendary’ fellers and ‘talented’ fillies for each year from 1950 right through to 1999 (in fact, it’s very nearly done it twice; God knows why, but still).

So, what better way, then, to bring the blog roaring back from the dead with a pictorial post celebrating its existence since 2010 with one celebrating the ‘legends’ and ‘talents’ it’s yet to celebrate – that is, those from the 10 years up to 2010? See, what I did there?

Now, since when has this blog concerned itself with the Noughties, you may ask? Well, not often, but time does march on and has (even for a blog concerning itself with things past), so maybe it’s, er, time to loosen our temporal constraints a little?

You’ll notice, too, the gender of the following ‘legends’ isn’t as limited as it once was – times change, progress happens and, indeed, the idea that only men can be legendary was always tosh. In short, if this blog’s gone woke, then it’s about, yes, time.

So, here we go then… let’s – each and every one of us – wend our way back to the Millennium Dome, crack open an alcopop or two, throw on that Moby CD and party like it’s 2000, as together we celebrate 15 fantastic(?) years of George’s Journal…

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CLICK
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2000

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Legend:

Steve Redgrave

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Making this year his by: at the age of 38 and with type 2 diabetes, winning
his fifth successive rowing gold medal at his fifth successive Olympic Games –
a feat still to be matched by any other male in an Olympics endurance event

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.Talent:

Kylie Minogue

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Making waves this year by: confirming her status as the all-time Pop Pixie
with a masterful Millennium comeback, as she releases the unforgettable
UK #1 single Spinning Around (and stars in its unforgettable video)

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2001

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Legend:

Peter Jackson

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Making this year his by: gifting the world the exceptional cinematic adaptation of
The Fellowship Of The Ring, ahead of the equally exceptional other two films in the Lord Of
The Rings trilogy – still the thinking person’s answer to both Star Wars *and* Game Of Thrones

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.Talent:

Sophie Ellis-Bextor

 

Making waves this year by: after doing everyone a favour the year before by killing off Victoria Beckham’s solo singing career before it started (via the chart battle-winning UK #1 Groovejet), releasing her first album, featuring, of course, the impossible-to-resist Murder On The Dancefloor

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2002

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Legend:

Denzel Washington

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Making this year his by: becoming the first black man to win a Best Actor Oscar in 38 years
for his can’t-take-your-eyes-off-it villainous turn in Training Day (2001) – the least of all
he, one of the best and best-loved Hollywood actor-stars of his generation, deserves

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Talent:

Rosamund Pike

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Making waves this year by: ruffling Brozzer-Bond’s feathers as ice-cold fencer-cum
double agent extrarodinaire Miranda Frost in her big-screen debut Die Another Day (2002)

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2003

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Legend:

Bill Nighy

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Making this year his by: honing his loveable, awkwardly mannered, middle-aged mockney gent persona, while going fully mainstream via star-making turns in the escapable Love, Actually and TV’s superior The Lost Prince and State Of Play – the latter will garner him a BAFTA award next year

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Talent:

Beyoncé

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Making waves this year by: leaving her girl group past behind and taking a big step towards
world domination with the release of her debut album, for which everybody falls Crazy In Love

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2004

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Legend:

Kelly Holmes

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Making this year hers by: rocking the athletics world, delightedly shocking her homeland and becoming a British national institution when she wins the Women’s 800m and 1,500m at the Athens Olympics – eventually, she’ll use her public platform as an LGBTQ+ and mental health advocate

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Talent:

Alicia Keys

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Making waves this year by: continuing to fuse NYC-flavoured R&B with tumbling piano melody-driven pop on her sophomore album and going global with the ’70s soul-throwback, monster hit single You Don’t Know My Name

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2005

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Legend:

David Tennant

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Making this year his by: following up eye-catching turns in Harry Potter And The Goblet Of
Fire and TV’s Casanova with a corking Christmas Day debut as The Tenth Doctor – he’ll go on to
become a global pop culture icon thanks to his hugely successful stint in the TARDIS (2005-10)

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Talent:

Billie Piper

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Making waves this year by: bridging the Eccleston-led first series and Tennant-headlined second of ‘NuWho’ (and so playing a critical role in Doctor Who’s hugely successful relaunch) by killing it as Rose Tyler, one of the best drawn and most important of the Gallifreyan’s companions

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2006

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Legend:

Daniel Craig

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Making this year his by: redefining 007 for the 21st Century (while delightfully silencing obtuse naysayers) with his rough-and-ready, psychologically satisfying portrayal of Bond in the box-office boffing Casino Royale – which instantly transformed him into a Hollywood heavyweight

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Talent:

Eva Green

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Making waves this year by: after an, ahem, very revealing debut in The Dreamers (2003), catapulting herself into the silver screen’s ‘white hot’ category with her scintillating yet subtle take
on Bond’s original tragic love, Vesper Lynd – a linchpin of Casino Royale’s popular and critical success

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2007

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Legend:

Helen Mirren

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Making this year hers by: receiving the Best Actress Oscar for portraying an empathetic yet flawed
and thoroughly believable version of an ageing Queen Elizabeth II in the The Queen (2006) –
the, yes, crowing glory of a singularly bold, diverse and superior thesping career

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Talent:

Keira Knightley

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Making waves this year by: following an Oscar-nommed turn in 2005’s Pride And Prejudice
with lead duties in awards-friendly epic WWII romance Atonement, thereby completing her
evolution from sexy Brit ingénue to top period-piece-actress-of-note of the Noughties

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2008

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Legend:

Usain Bolt

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Making this year his by: running faster than anyone else before or since at 100 and 200 metres
and, in so doing, wowing the world by winning both Beijing Olympics finals by an unreal country mile

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Talent:

Amy Adams

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Making waves this year by: while basking in the popular glow of becoming a live-action Disney Princess in Enchanted (2007), delivering a (second) Oscar-nominated supporting turn in Doubt,
which will fast-track her on to Hollywood’s ‘A List’ of high-calibre, audience-friendly talent

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2009

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Legend:

Kathryn Bigelow

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Making this year hers by: helming immersive, watch-through-your-fingers Iraq War drama The Hurt Locker, whose through-the-year transformation from indie outsider to Oscars favourite will eventually see her become the first woman to win the Academy Award for Best Director

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Talent:

Adele

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Making waves this year by: releasing her sophomore and, eventually, world-conquering
album 21, brimming, as it is, with marvellously mature Brit-soul ballads and the huge singles
Someone Like You, Rumour Has It, Set Fire To The Rain and Rolling In The Deep

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