The Fonz wore blue jeans that one could only guess were Levis, he had a leather jacket, white T-shirt and slick black hair — he was definitely cool.
A YouGov survey has revealed that British people have a high claim on coolness. Brits had "Cool Britannia" during the 1990s, which marked the innocent years of then-prime minister Tony Blair's government. New Labour was in, Tony Blair was young and it was a time when people could drink white wine with the cream of London. Yes, it was cool.
Well, according to the YouGov results, that coolness is still very important to the Brits.
The research can now reveal that the cool population of Britain numbers around 31 percent, whilst more than half of those asked (56 percent) say they are not cool.
It would appear that escaping the stifling social hierarchies of school allows people's coolness to flourish. Just 22 percent believe themselves to have been cool at school, compared to 68 percent who don't think they were. This represents a 10.5 point swing towards being cool from the time people went to school and present day.
In addition, it seems that coolness doesn't seem to go away.
About two thirds of people who say they were cool at school say they are still cool now. Of those three percent of Brits who say they were very cool in school, a full 41 percent still assign themselves The Fonz-like status of being very cool now.
There is even a North-South divide when it comes to being cool.
Northerners think they are the coolest Brits, with just over a third (35 percent) describing them as either "very cool" or "quite cool." Southerners, on the other hand, are the least cool, with just 28 percent saying they were cool.
James Bond and Barack Obama are Britons' coolest fictional and real world figures https://t.co/Hs5EQEiNnz pic.twitter.com/k1Hp8z60H2
— YouGov (@YouGov) 5 November 2016
In regards to fictional characters, most of the people surveyed, (21 percent), said James Bond was the coolest.
For non-fictional characters, the cool people are US president Barack Obama who tops the list, with 9 percent claiming him to be very cool.
Ex-Footballer David Beckham is second, with 7 percent of people naming him.
We all know that being cool is a good thing, something to aspire to and Brits are confident in their belief that coolness has not died for them, according to the YouGov survey. They remain as slick as The Fonz and as suave as James Bond. Cool Britannia reigns… despite Brexit dismay.
