Jesus Tittyfucking Christ! It’s been 30 years since Loaded first whetted British whistles with a wealth of idols, icons and incredible idiots. Welcome to our Top 50 Loaded Icons from 1994 – 2024…

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Ayrton Senna

Charismatic Brazilian Formula One champion who clocked up twice as many grand prix pole positions as any other driver in history – until Lewis Hamilton, of course – before hurtling to his untimely death at lmola in 1994. A legend of F1 forever and always.

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Tiger Woods

The most explosive talent to emerge in the golf world –  ever! – this big-hitting Tiger was featured in the first issue of Loaded, and his career only got ever got better. Coincidence? No. His game imploded after his naughty noughties scandals but he came back almost better than ever.

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Jimmy White

The snooker-loopy whirlwind cueball wizard. Since the 1990s, Jimmy had one of his bollocks whipped out after developing cancer. “I went in to the doctor's and they took it out the next day, 'cos it's a really weird cancer. It don't hang around. But the funny thing was they asked me if I wanted a plastic ball put in place of me testicle. I said can I have a snooker ball instead? But they said no. Bloody liberty!” Genius! 

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Jo Guest

The smiling face of filth. This former Page 3 stunner took all our money in the 1990s as one of the most in-demand glamour girlies. Her health took a tumble in 2009, but she’ll always remain one of our most popular pin-ups.

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Kate Moss

The defining British babe of the 1990s. And still just as good as she’s always been. The fact that she snuggled Libertine Pete for so long at the height of his heroin addiction means there is still hope for the rest of us.

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Liz Hurley

Liz Hurley remains Britain's greatest female ambassador – even if she’s about to turn 60. Google her and tell us we’re wrong. You can’t. If all Mums and Grandmas looked like her, we’d all be in trouble. In her prime, however, she was a masterpiece. 

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Pam Anderson

The world’s most-loveable mermaid whose 34Ds made her not so little and unable to drown, allowing lifeguard Pammy to single-handededly transform the beach from a place where seagulls steal our fish and chips into an arena of ludicrous sexual possibilities. We will watch her bay until the end of time. 

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Steve Coogan

Not satisfied with a God-given talent for mimicry, Coogan as Alan Partridge

is the gift of the gab that keeps on giving. The world would be a duller place without ol’ Alan, but thankfully Coogan’s keen to resurrect the old bird every few years, as well as continue his upward trajectory as a writer and character actor. Aha!

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Simon Pegg and Nick Frost

Ever since Spaced first aired in 1999, Pegg and Frost have been giving us slices of fried comedy gold with their little and large comedy act. 2004’s Shaun of the Dead and 2007’s Hot Fuzz are two British classic worthy of repeat viewings ad infinitum. Let’s hope they bring the Cornetto’s back – with director Edgar Wright – soon. Britain needs them.

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Chris Morris

From On The Hour and The Day Today to the legendary BrassEye, Morris was the man who gave the world the iconic catchphrases 'Shatner's Bassoon' and 'Gay as a window'. Leaving most of the media looking absurd in his wake, Morris set the standard for satire in the '90s so high that no one else even came near. His 2010 film Four Lions, a dark comedy that explored the absurdity of terrorism and extremism, simply elevated him to Godlike-genius.

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Bill Hicks

Much-missed godfather of modern anti-establishment stand-up, Bill was a staunch defender of intoxication, pornography and great music. Once said, "If you're on acid and you think you can fly – take off from the fucking ground.” The funniest man alive until he died. Yet to be replaced. 

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Vic and Bob

Lunatics to their core, Vic and Bob invaded our homes with their stunning antics and, frankly, we wished they never left. Shooting Stars, their last hurrah as a pair, was the only British panel quiz show that featured a man-baby score-keeper on drums and the only thing to keep us in during Friday nights during the nineties.

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Father Ted

The greatest British sitcom for a generation. That’s all you need to know.

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The Simpsons

The best thing the Americans ever did for TV comedy, hands down, was The Simpsons. (Until Greg Daniels’ American workplace sitcom The Office, of course.) The Simpsons introduced us to Homer, the only parent kids in the nineties wanted to listen to. Except Bart.

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Eric Cartman

Foul-mouthed, overweight, vindictive and not yet even 10. His mum is, in fact, his dad, his friends are weird and the first word to come out of his mouth was ‘Dildo’. An icon for all times. South Park is now in its 24th season. Long may its lunacy live on!

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The Fast Show

Paul Whitehouse and his team of comedy pals’ The Fast Show suited us very well, sir, during its four series run from 1994-1997. It now takes its place in the pantheon of British legends. Scorchio!

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Bandit Heeler

Bluey’s dad Bandit is as close to a three-dimensional parent as a cartoon dog can get. And a true Loaded icon for the modern age. For those that watch it, you’ll know. 

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Snoop Dogg

Oh, you mean Calvin Broadus, born in 1971, purveyor of the smoothest, do pest, laziest west coast shit you'll ever hear? His 1993 debut album Doggy Style was the most eagerly anticipated rap album ever, and the first debut album in the history of the Billboard chart ever to enter the charts at Number One, eventually selling over 7 million copies worldwide. Controversy shadowed Snoop at every turn with drugs and accessory-to-murder charges during this period, but get him in a studio and the boy was pure magic, emerging as the most recognised rap star of his generation. Today, he’s a household name, fo’shizzle.

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Oasis

They're free to be whatever they want, but yet they have to be themselves, they can't be no one else. The very essence of '90s exuberance, it's doubtful anything in our youth would have been quite as good without the Gallagher brothers to remind us to enjoy it even more. Their split in 2009 was a bitter pill to swallow, but their music lives on. Will they reunite? Of course they fucking will. And we’ll be there when they do.

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Jarvis Cocker

Who'd have thought 30 years ago that anyone wearing cord flares and clingy rayon shirts while swinging a handbag would put sex appeal back into British rock stars? But Pulp's finger-twirling, jizz-obsessed singer not only did just that but, he also found time to write some of the funniest, Ebola-catchy pop toons of the nineties and noughties. He may be sorted for E’s and Whizz now, and still dresses like someone you wouldn’t let babysit your kids, but this elder statesman of British legend can still give the common people exactly what they want – proper fucking pop.

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Beastie Boys 

Because they can't, they won't and they don't stop. Their legacy lives on, even if MCA (Adam Yauch) died in 2012. RIP.

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Spice Girls

Five girls whose appeal was not only their council house normal-ness but their council house pop tunes. Britain’s favourite guilty pleasure, the Spice Girls showed the world “girl power” long before it became the societal norm. Their reunions today may be half-arsed, but that was always their best feature.

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Kylie

Just Kylie. She needs no other name. The day this bitesize singer first wore hot pants in her ‘Spinning Around’ video was the day British Airways increased their flights Down Under from two to five times a week. Now a global icon, Kylie keeps on getting better. What can we say? We’re very lucky, lucky, lucky to call her one of our own.

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Tim Burgess

The floppy-fringed Charlatans frontman turned Listening Party guru, is still very much on our radar. And he’s welcome back to Loaded HQ any time he wants. Put simply: he’s Loaded incarnate.

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Shaun Ryder and Bez

The Sid and Nancy of the nineties, Shaun and Bez are still out there in their Badlands of Britain singing for their suppers. Like kids, the very second we can’t hear them making a racket is precisely when we should be worried for their safety. 

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Kurt Cobain

Before he blew his brains out in April 1994 – a month before Loaded’s first issue the inpatient bastard – Kurt was a gifted songwriter. It was his songs that effectively saved the nineties from slipping into bland obscurity, giving a disenfranchised X generation a soundtrack to stop them from moaning. His preferred choice of drugs, women and plaid remain a mystery.

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Paul Weller

The Jam man forever Changing in and out of a peacock suit, Paul Weller has given the world enough entertainment to last 10 lifetimes. And he’s still banging them out. Give the cunt a knighthood, already! 

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The Prodigy

Wherever Keith Flint may be in the afterlife, you know he’s starting fires. The Prodigy’s main man’s sneer, scowl and spit was just what Britain’s jilted generation needed to prepare itself for the new millennium. 1997’s The Fat of the Land sounds as tasty as ever.

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Robert Carlyle

Bobby Carlyle’s the best fucking nutter we’ve ever seen on the big screen, from Cracker to Trainspotting and even The Full Monty. And he’s the only ever Bond villain (The World is Not Enough) where every British bloke alive hoped he’d killed the spy bastard. 

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Paul Oakenfold

At the height of Britain’s Cool Britannia, Oakey was the most successful club DJ in the world according to the Guinness Book of Records, and they're usually right about stuff. Whatever we may think of the current state of the DJ industry, one thing is for sure: it owes this man everything. 

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Gary Oldman

Loaded’s first ever cover star, Gary is the villain you love to hate and the hero you hate to love in pretty much every big British film for 30 years. He’s a fucking good actor, end of.

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Cameron Diaz

Every man remembers where he was the first time he had a wank to Cameron Diaz. It was probably in 1994 when she effectively paralysed all men, not just for her accessible beauty but her girl-next-door charm. Whether it's keeping her hair up with monkey custard as Mary, or lounging naked in a pool for the cover of Loaded, Cameron has consistently managed to light up our world for three decades by just standing in front of the camera and doing stuff.

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Mike Myers

Back when Loaded first began, Mike Myers was the funniest man in town. His Austin Powers franchise took a ridiculous parody of being British to near genius-levels the quality of which stands up today even in today’s woke culture, no matter how crass, cruel and cringe it may appear.

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Ray Winstone

Top actor bloke. Forty years after Quadrophenia and Scum, he's still the Daddy. From Sexy Beast to The Departed, Ray, for a while was Hollywood’s go-to guy for any character who’s modus operandi was “hard-as-nails”, and enlisted by heavyweights such as Spielberg and Scorsese.

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Irvine Welsh

Chronicler of the chemical generation, Welsh’s Trainspotting inspired not just Danny Boyle to get his directing shit together, but a whole generation of university students to buy “Choose life” posters for their bedroom walls. Admit it. We all did it.

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Barack Obama

The only politician Loaded can think of that doesn’t make us want to eat our own shoes, Obama revolutionised the U.S – and therefore the world – in 2008 with genuine optimism for transforming Ameri-cants into Ameri-cans. Sadly, when he left office in 2016, it all went to shit again. 

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David Beckham

Becks is Britain’s most beloved brand and has been since that 30-yard free kick in 1998. His influence in pop culture is still bending and trending upwards so much so that it seems inevitable – and horrifying – that his twentysomething children will become role models for the next generation. The dynasty begins…

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Emma Watson

If Liz Hurley made us all weak at the knees in the 1990s, Emma Watson made us hard in more northern areas when she became (of legal age) as Hermione Granger in the "Harry Potter" film series. Possibly as British as a person can be and still yet unbelievably charming in every possibly way. If only she was around in Loaded’s prime we may have got to do a photo shoot with her while selling her wares. Oh well. 

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Daniel Craig

The name’s Craig, David Craig. The seventh James Bond in the iconic film franchise, Craig brought a modern edge to the classic character in 2006 and ultimately breathed life back into the somewhat tired spy. We’ve been stirred and shaken ever since.

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Benedict Cumberbatch

In 2010, an unknown actor with a frankly ridiculous name presented himself as a Sherlock Holmes for the 21st century. The era’s defining thespian was born and his popularity has grown universally ever since. Give the man a fucking Oscar and be done with it!

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Lewis Hamilton

Seven-time world F1 champion, Lewis Hamilton looks as good as he drives. And, like all good British boys, likes to bend and break the rules when he needs to. Plus, he’s into pussycat dolls, so that makes him one of the lads too. 

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Stormzy

Britain’s best Grime artist, Stormzy basically brought the UK rap scene back to life after a few unstable years. In 2019, he also became the first black British solo artist to headline Glasto. Fucking unstoppable.

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Idris Elba

Need we say more? He’s the only icon we know where we can legitimately say that becoming James Bond would be a demotion. Because he’s Idris fucking Elba.

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Daniel Kaluuya 

After 2017’s Get Out, Daniel became Britain’s biggest break-out star a deal he sealed when he won an Academy Award for Judas and the Black Messiah in 2021. Give this guy some room because wherever he goes next it’s gonna be big.

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Olivia Colman

Olivia was in Peep Show – she was Mark’s girlfriend. Remember?

^∗Actually, everything Olivia touches turns to gold. From Fleabag to The Favourite (which bagged her an Academy Award) to The Bear to The Crown. She’s ace’s all the way.

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Harry Styles

Since travelling in a different direction to his One Direction bandmates, Harry has become the most famous Brit in the world, following the worldwide success of ‘As It Was’, a song anyone could write, but thankfully only he did. Today, guys want a beer with him. Girls want to stay up all night with him to talk about whatever happened to Louis? 

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Lewis Capaldi

Everyone’s favourite lad online, Lewis’s brand of being a loveable loser – despite worldwide critical acclaim and commercial success for his emotional ballads like ‘Someone You Loved’ and ‘Before You Go’ – and struggles with mental health make him the most real famous person we know. If he needs a hug today, let’s hope he reads this. 

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Arctic Monkeys

Possibly the only genuinely enduring indie rock band since the 2010s, Alex Turner’s bunch of Monkeys are Sheffield boys done good. 

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Phoebe Waller-Bridge

Actress. Writer. Producer. Fleabag. Killing Eve. Solo. Indiana Jones. PWB’s career is interstellar right now and no-one deserves it more. As witty as she is wicked, we’ll enjoy watching what she does for a long time to come.

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Ricky Gervais and Stephen Merchant

Creators of The Office and Extras, no list of icons is complete without these two. With The Office they put British comedy back on the world’s stage and with The Ricky Gervais Show they practically invented podcasting, now a billion-dollar industry. Arise Sir Ricky and Sir Stephen!