Remember the Nineties? With a soundtrack by the likes of Oasis in one corner and the Spice Girls in the other, it was a very different decade to the often hedonistic 1980s.

In Kent, it was a time of significant change - a decade of out-of-town shopping centres where bigger was better; changing the shape and make-up of many town centres.

Even the political map underwent a radical shake-up as Tony Blair and New Labour swept into power in 1997 with a remarkable eight out of the 17 seats in the county turning red.

It was a decade where the internet emerged and we were able to access it on painfully slow modems where pictures loaded line-by-line; and Sony unleashed its first ever Playstation in 1994 - a console which would forever change the world of gaming.

And, as you can imagine, there were many news stories which captured our imagination. We take a look back at just some of the biggest headlines from the Nineties.

Ramsgate walkway disaster

It was all supposed to be rather routine. As the crew of the Prins Filip, a ferry operated by the Belgium state-owned RMT, docked at Ramsgate, passengers boarded the ship for a crossing to Ostend in the early hours of September 14, 1994.

However, as the final foot passengers made their way onto the ship shortly before 1am, the walkway taking them onto the vessel collapsed, crashing 10metres (32ft) onto a steel platform below.

Six people were killed and seven were seriously injured.

Among the dead were two men from the UK, two French tourists, a Belgian and an Italian.

A major investigation into how the walkway could collapse took place with the finger of blame being pointed at FKAB, the Swedish firm which designed it, Lloyd's Register which gave it the necessary safety certification and the port itself. The guilty parties would be fined a total of £1.7million - then the single biggest fine in the UK for breaching health and safety laws.

The Prins Filip ferry, coincidentally, has changed hands several times since - serving for Stena, LD Lines and DFDS.

Most recently, it came into service renamed the Isle of Innisfree for Irish Ferries on its Dover to Calais route in December.

Bluewater opens

During most of the 1990s, if you wanted to go shopping and make a real day of it, you had two options - either you hauled yourself up to central London or you headed through the Dartford Tunnel and visited Lakeside in Thurrock.

And Thurrock was pretty magical when it first opened in 1990. It put multiplex cinemas on our doorstep for the first time not to mention a huge, sprawling, indoor shopping complex.

But after 10 years of construction, Bluewater finally opened its doors in March 1999 and saved us all a few quid on the toll charge. We've never looked back since.

A considerable cut above its Essex neighbour, Bluewater was a sophisticated animal which pulled in the masses and has remained as popular a destination today as it ever has.

Did it help contribute to the drain on high streets elsewhere in the county? Well, potentially. But if you ever wanted to get a taste of what our town centres used to be like before the online era and our love of out-of-town shopping complexes, then Bluewater on a Saturday gives you an idea of the crowds which used to flock, shop, eat and take in a movie.

Transport links

It seems strange today to think that it was only just over 30 years ago the 'missing link' of the M20 was finally opened.

The stretch of motorway between Maidstone and Ashford finally delivered the clear route all the way down to the ports in 1991 - alleviating some of the pressure on the M2 and bringing an end to motorists having to bridge the gap on A-roads.

Meanwhile, the Queen was the first to officially cross the new £120m bridge spanning Kent and Essex and easing strain on the tunnels. But then the Queen Elizabeth II Bridge was named after her, so it seems only right.

Elsewhere in the county, traffic congestion in and around Medway was eased when the Medway Tunnel was officially opened by another royal - this time Princess Anne - in 1996. It laid claim to a little piece of engineering history by being the first tunnel in England to be built by lowering a pre-built tube into the water - what's known as an 'immersed tube' - and then connected up at either end.

But it was the opening of the Channel Tunnel which was perhaps the most significant piece of transport infrastructure - providing, for the first time, a hard link between the UK and mainland Europe.

Work began in 1987 and was finally completed by 1994.

It catapulted itself into the headlines in November 1996, however, for very different reasons, when a fire broke out in a lorry travelling from France to Kent. The train was forced to come to a halt at the midway point and everyone was safely evacuated. Fixing the damage meant the link was not fully reopened for a further six months.

Sophie marries Edward

In the pretty village of Brenchley, the Rhys-Jones family lived in a 17th Century farmhouse. In 1993 - and on several occasions during the decade - it became a honey pot for the amassed ranks of the national media.

Because it was the family home of Sophie Rhys-Jones; a woman who would, in 1999, after six years of dating, marry Prince Edward and find herself not only 'crowned' the Duchess of Wessex, but also develop a remarkable relationship with the Queen.

It has often been commented on that the Queen is particularly fond of Sophie and the pair have frequently been pictured together enjoying each other's company.

Most struggle to have a good relationship with the mother-in-law. Imagine if yours was the monarch...

Sophie had, naturally, been schooled privately at Dulwich Prep and then Pembury's Kent College before training to be a secretary at West Kent College in Tonbridge. She went on to live and work in London in public relations. Roles included jobs at Capital Radio and, for many years, running her own PR outfit.

The pair tied the knot at Windsor Castle and have since had two children.

Train crash

Fortunately, train crashes in the county have been few and far between. But few will forget the scenes after a freight train laden with 900 tons of steel cargo came crashing into Maidstone East railway station, almost destroying it.

Driver Graham Barnes had drunk the equivalent of a bottle of vodka when his train derailed at high speed coming into the station shortly after 2am on September 6, 1993 causing almost £2 million in damage.

A number of the 15 carriages jack-knifed on approach and entered the station sideways, demolishing all but one of the metal canopies and causing considerable damage to the platform.

Fortunately, apart from Mr Barnes suffering bruised ribs, no-one was injured.

An investigation concluded that with its brakes set incorrectly for the heavy load, the locomotive hit a curve in the tracks at such speed – estimated at 60mph in a 25mph zone – that the wagons overturned.

Mr Barnes was later jailed for 12 months for endangering the safety of passengers, causing criminal damage, and driving with excess alcohol.

It cost £700,000 and seven months to repair Maidstone East while customers were forced to use replacement bus services instead, adding time to their journeys.

Total solar eclipse

Taking place on August 11, 1999, the period of the total solar eclipse was one in which we all started using the phrase "totality" as if we knew what we were talking about. But the thing we'll all remember is that bizarre spectacle of the day turning into night for a few glorious moments.

Aliens looking down will have seen millions of us staring up at the sky while wearing little cardboard glasses with black plastic 'glass' so we didn't all blind ourselves by looking directly at the Sun. They'll have thought our fashion sense was a bit odd. Or, at least, that we were really embracing 3D TV.

It was the first time since 1927 that the UK had the opportunity of seeing a total eclipse and at the point of totality (see how easy it is?) people held parties and TV teams provided live coverage.

In case you're wondering, a total eclipse is not just the inspiration for a Bonnie Tyler classic, but when the Moon passes in front of the Sun and is big enough to entirely block it's light. The point the Moon is directly in front of it is known as, you guessed it, totality.

If you somehow missed it or were too young to have remembered it, well there will be another one in the UK. But not until September 23....2090. So only another 68 years to wait.

United's rollercoaster ride

The remarkable rise of Maidstone United from the non-league to become Kent's second Football League was one football dreams were made of. But it would turn into a nightmare.

Frequently knocking on the door of the Football League during the 1980s in the Conference (now known as the National League), club bosses spent big in pursuit of their dream.

But, as is so often the case in non-league football, with big ambitions came a string of big financial mistakes.

The club decided to sell its Athletic Ground in London Road in 1988, despite debts already beginning to mount up, to developers in a gamble which would have devastating consequences.

It used £400,000 to buy land, that had no planning permission, on which it wanted to build a new stadium.

But the move was blocked by the local council leaving the club homeless.

It shared with nearby Dartford but the financial gamble on the land and additional costs of securing a place in the professional league - which it had achieved in 1989 - led it to financial meltdown and by 1992 the club withdrew from the league and collapsed into liquidation.

To make matters worse, its collapse also dragged Dartford into a financial quagmire in which it was forced to sell off its Watling Street ground.

Maidstone Invicta emerged for the ashes of United - but at the very foot of the football pyramid. Over the years, it slowly climbed up the table, and changed its name to Maidstone United, and is now once again one of the country's senior non-league clubs, plying its trade in the National League South.

Dunelm is now on the site of the Athletic Ground while, in 2012, after years of ground-sharing, Maidstone made a triumphant return to the town centre with its Gallagher Stadium.

Coincidentally, one of the club's managers during its brief foray in the Football League was Graham Carr - who is the father of the comedian Alan Carr.

Dartford's Watling Street was demolished and housing developed in its place. Many roads bear the name of some of the team's players - including Cugley Road - named after Neil Cugley who, after his playing days, went on to manage Ashford and, more recently, Folkestone. The club has, since 2006, been back in the town at its Princes Park home after ground-sharing for many years.

Russell murders

The murders of Lin and Megan Russell remains a permanent stain on the county.

Mum Lin had gone to collect her daughters, Megan, six, and Josie, nine, from their school in the pretty village of Goodnestone, between Canterbury and Dover, after they had attended a swimming gala.

Walking back over the picturesque fields, along with their pet dog, on July 9, 1996, the family were confronted by a man down a deserted lane in Chillenden who demanded money. Within moments, it turned horrifically violent. All were attacked with a hammer. Lin, Megan and the dog were all killed. Josie left for dead.

Yet she remarkably recovered and was able to help the police in their investigation.

Michael Stone, then 37, from Gillingham, was arrested and charged with the murder a year later.

He faced trial - twice - and was convicted on both occasions, despite there being no forensic evidence to link him to the scene. The key piece of evidence was an apparent 'cell confession' to an inmate. Stone has repeatedly denied any involvement.

Josie Russell, along with her father Shaun - a university lecturer - left Kent and moved back to North Wales where both continue to live today.

Stone is due for parole later this year - but says he will not seek early release until his name is cleared of the crime.

Road rage killing

On Sunday, May 19, 1996, electrician Stephen Cameron, 21, and his fiancée Danielle Cable, 17, jumped into his red Bedford Rascal van from their home in Dartford and were heading into London to buy bagels.

But fate would intervene in the most dramatic way.

On a slip-road of the M25 near Swanley, Mr Cameron became embroiled in a road rage incident with a Land Rover Discovery driven by Kenneth Noye.

As the cars stopped, the resulting confrontation saw the electrician stabbed to death.

It would spark an enormous police hunt and make headlines around the world.

Noye fled the country. He had only recently been released from prison for his part in handling gold stolen during the Brink's Mat robbery in 1983 (a raid which netted crooks the equivalent of £100m in today's money).

He was eventually tracked down to a Spanish hideaway in 1998 and brought back to the UK the following year after being extradited to face justice.

Jailed in 2000, he was sentenced to a minimum of 16 years behind bars.

In 2018, Noye was moved to Standford Hill on Sheppey, an open prison to serve out his final term. He was released the following year, 21 years after being caught and charged with the killing.

Danielle Cable, who testified in the trial, was forced to go into the witness protection programme and change her name.

Council splits

One of the most significant changes to the way the county is governed occurred in 1998 when the Medway Towns split away from Kent County Council to create a unitary authority, Medway Council - in short, taking control of all the key services formerly provided by the county council and going it alone.

It meant it could now have a say over roads and set its own council tax bills.

The administrative move has meant many now think Medway is not part of the county of Kent - it is - but the move was significant and has frequently fuelled calls from others in the county to do otherwise; all efforts of which have come to nothing.

Just don't mention what happened to Rochester's city status (an administrative error, not noticed for four years, meant the status was rescinded) meaning it defies the normal understanding that having a cathedral makes you a city. It still regularly campaigns to get the status back.

Barings Bank

When the UK's oldest merchant bank, Barings, collapsed in 1995 it quickly became apparent it had done so through the reckless trading of one of its Singapore-based traders - Nick Leeson.

Through a string of speculative trades he had racked up losses running into the many millions of pounds - much of which he sought to conceal from the bank's bosses.

By February 1995 he had amassed losses of a staggering £827m. He and his wife, Lisa, fled Singapore before being finally arrested in Germany in the November. He was jailed for six years in a Singapore jail.

His wife, meanwhile, returned to the UK - and took refuge at her parents's home in West Kingsdown. From the high life she had once enjoyed, she was forced to work as a waitress in the Elizabeth Tea Rooms in Maidstone.

Both the family home and the tea rooms would frequently be beseiged by journalists as the latest revelations over her husband emerged.

By the time he was released early in 1999 - for good behaviour and as he was suffering from colon cancer (from which he subsequently recovered) - she had remarried.

Today, Nick Leeson is a business speaker - with risk management a specialist topic.

In 1999 a movie of how he brought down Barings was released - Ewan McGregor starred as Leeson, Anna Friel as Lisa. It flopped.

'Sword of truth'

If ever there was a politican who was hoist by his own petard it was former cabinet minister and Thanet South Tory MP Jonathan Aitken.

After being the subject of an investigation by ITV's World in Action and the Guardian newspaper, allegations were made over his links to wealthy Saudis while he was Minster of Defence Procurement. One was that his £1,000 bill to stay at the Paris Ritz had been picked up on his behalf - a clear breach of the rules of accepting hospitality.

In an infamous speech, he declared he was suing both media organisations.

Standing before the cameras in 1995, he famously said: "If it falls to me to start a fight to cut out the cancer of bent and twisted journalism in our country with the simple sword of truth and the trusty shield of British fair play, so be it. I am ready for the fight. The fight against falsehood and those who peddle it. My fight begins today."

Within two years the case had collapsed and Aitken had been fatally skewered by his very own 'sword of truth' and exposed as having lied under oath.

To rub salt into the wound, just before the court case had started, he'd lost his Thanet South seat at Tony Blair swept Labour to power nationally.

The upshot? He was jailed for 18 months. His legal costs saw him declared bankrupt, his wife divorced him and his career left in tatters.

After leaving prison, he turned to the Christian faith and by 2018 had been ordained as a deacon. A year later he became a priest in London and serves as a prison chaplain.

Art - but not as you know it

Lots of people struggle to get their head around modern art. And in the 1990s there was a lot to bamboozle those who struggle to appreciate the works of a new breed of artists. Remember Damien Hirst's cow, shark and sheep preserved in formaldehyde?

So you can imagine the looks of surprise when Margate's very own Tracey Emin was nominated for the 1999 Turner Prize with My Bed.

It was, as the name suggests, a replica of her bed - unmade and with all the stains and detritus you can imagine surrounding it. It wasn't for everyone. And it didn't win.

It did, however, go on to sell at auction for more than £2.5m.

She had enjoyed fame four years earlier with her work entitled Everyone I Have Ever Slept With 1963-1995 which was a blue tent with the names of lovers and even relatives she'd shared a bed with as a child.

Claire Tiltman

Claire Tiltman had turned 16 just four days before she left her home in Greenhithe on January 16, 1993 to visit a school friend.

As she walked along an alleyway, close to a main road, she was attacked and stabbed 49 times sparking a huge police murder hunt.

Her grief-stricken parents, wrought with guilt at having allowed her out on that fateful night, made repeated appeals for help in tracking down her killer. Both would die before they saw justice served.

It would take more than 21 years for Colin Ash-Smith to be charged and convicted of her killing. First questioned in 1995, he was 24 at the time of Claire's death and working as a milkman. He had even attended Claire's funeral.

He was convicted while serving a life sentence for attacks on other women.