This is England 90 has started and the four-part Channel Four TV series has got us thinking about what we were doing that at the dawn of that momentous decade.

Director Shane Meadows' critically acclaimed spin off series This Is England… has finally left the bleakness of the 1980s behind to enter a fresh decade that seems to offer more optimism for the show’s working class heroes.

Watching the first episode was a brighter trip down memory lane, and here is what we can remember...

We dressed like this...

Shell suits were a staple outfit in our wardrobes

It remains a mystery why an entire generation adopted the shell suit as the must-have leisurewear of the era. They didn’t look nice, didn’t feel nice and brushing up against the arm of a sofa was usually enough to wear a hole in them, yet parents still felt the need to rush out to the nearest covered market so that they could wrap their children in these shapeless crepe paper creations. Strange.

We were desperate to know...

David Lynch's cult drama series kicked off with the mysterious death of Laura Palmer (Sheryl Lee)

Who killed Laura Palmer? In this post-Wire/ Sopranos/ Breaking Bad world we take it for granted that our favourite TV shows will be dark masterpieces, but there was a time when the likes of Juliet Bravo was about as gritty as TV drama got.

That changed with the arrival of Twin Peaks. The brainchild of twisted genius movie director David Lynch (Eraserhead, Blue Velvet) and writer Mark Frost, this rambling whodunnit was simultaneously the weirdest, funniest and scariest thing on TV and set the tone for the more adventurous shows that followed in its wake.

We were playing with...

An original Nintendo Gameboy

Before the launch of the Nintendo Gameboy, video games were played in the family living room in front of the TV on games consoles roughly the size of your mother’s sideboard. Then, suddenly, we were freed and school lunch times would never be the same again.

We were listening to...

Our favourite 90s music

Bands like The Happy Mondays, The Charlatans and The Stone Roses mixed the dance music of the burgeoning Acid House scene with guitar rock and came up with the ‘Baggy’ sound, spawning anthems like like Kinky Afro, The Only One I Know and Fools Gold and laying the groundwork for what would become Britpop, sending sales of Kangol hats into the stratosphere.

We watched Gazza cry his eyes out

Paul Gascoigne burst into tears after England's defeat in the World Cup Semi-Final against West Germany. Picture by Billy Stickland /Allsport

Pavarotti... Baggio... Matthaus… magnificent mullets - the Italia 90 World Cup had it all. From 40-year-old Cameroonian striker Roger Milla’s samba celebration to Frank Rijkaard’s phlegm-drenched bust-up with Rudi Voller, the tournament boasted more memorable moments than the last three combined. England even chipped in with a couple themselves, David Platt’s volley against Belgium and Gazza’s tear-stained semi-final exit among them.

We said goodbye to the Iron Lady

Margaret Thatcher leaves Number 10 Downing Street for the last time as Prime Minister in 1990

Throughout her years in power Maggie Thatcher always seemed utterly invulnerable. Like a T-1000 in pearls and a power suit, she’d taken on Argentina, the trade unions and a host of EU leaders and brow-beaten them all into submission, so the speed with which she was eventually toppled by members of her own party made her exit all the more shocking.

Peering tearily out of her official car as it whisked her away from No.10, the nation watched on TV as one of the most divisive political leaders in British history’s time in power ended not with a bang, but with a whimper.

We were obsessed with Macaulay Culkin

Macauley Culkin plays Kevin McCallister in Home Alone 2

Macaulay Culkin is 35 years old. I’ll let that sink in for second before we continue.

Nowadays he may be the lead singer for alternative rock group Pizza Underground (who cover the songs of the Velvet Underground with a pizza theme… I’m not making this up), but to most of us he’ll always be fresh-faced Kevin McCallister in Home Alone.

In 1990 this comedy smash was packing cinemas as families enjoyed a Christmas movie about an eight-year-old with a gift for sadistic violence who defends his home against burglars with a series of increasingly cruel booby traps.

Our Marathons became Snickers

Marathon chocolate bars were renamed as Snickers

This kids’ favourite had been a staple in sweet shops for years, then suddenly something called Snickers occupied its place on the racks. ‘It’s always been called that in America’, came the explanation. Despite the fact that the new name didn’t actually mean anything, we were all forced to accept this piece of cultural imperialism and move on.