Cover story: the 1990s Wired UK

In April 1995, the first issue of Wired UK hit the shops, featuring an unusual cover star: Thomas Paine, the radical 18th century English intellectual and inventor - who was also famous for fomenting the birth of the United States Photograph: Phil Gyford

Although the second issue featured a very British cover star - musician, artist and activist Brian Eno - it was an interview conducted by Wired US writer Kevin Kelly. Most of the subsequent covers were copied from the American edition of the magazine Photograph: Phil Gyford

Despite concerns that Britain had very few futurist heroes of its own to feature on the cover, Richard Dawkins was another famous Briton who made the cover of the American magazine - and then hit the UK edition as a result Photograph: Phil Gyford

After the collapse of the joint venture between Wired Ventures and the Guardian, the team behind the magazine changed almost entirely - and it started leading with familiar British faces... regardless of how connected they may be Photograph: Phil Gyford

From unwired to plain weird: actor Bob Hoskins even graced the front page at one point, since he was the public face of BT at the time. Luckily for Wired, Maureen Lipman had stepped down a couple of years earlier Photograph: Phil Gyford

By 1996, Wired UK was focusing heavily on promoting its own cultural ambassadors. While Wired US featured Bill Gates in his swimming trunks, British readers were treated to author Iain M Banks - flying high from the TV adaptation of his novel The Crow Road Photograph: Phil Gyford

Some attempts to engage British audiences required a little spicing up: this inside story on a new project from Acorn Computers needed a zany treatment that seemed at odds with the story by future BBC, Channel 4 and Ofcom executive Tom Loosemore Photograph: Phil Gyford

Author Neil Gaiman was asked to take the title of his comic book series - The Sandman - pretty literally for this November 1996 cover Photograph: Phil Gyford

Some of Britain's leading digital entrepreneurs prostrated themselves for the final issue of 1996. Even Peter Molyneux's belly button made an appearance, but it wasn't enough to save the magazine in the end Photograph: Phil Gyford

For the final issue - published in March 1997, less than three years after its debut - a skeleton crew returned to the practice of aping the American edition for this cover story about the future of the media. You can see more of these Wired UK covers by visiting Phil Gyford's Flickr photo stream Photograph: Phil Gyford