How do you define what it is to be British? It's impossible, given we are an amalgam of nations, peoples, incomers old and new, borrowers and innovators. Britishness is a moving target. To get an impression of what it is to be British we can though look at things that are important to us, that we think of as ours. Which is what we are trying to do in this section.
Clearly eating and drinking are a major part of our make-up: roast beef; artery-clogging breakfasts; gin-and-tonic. This gustatory drive includes the events we love, be they stag nights, Hogmanay, Burns Suppers, the Glorious Twelfth, strawberries at Wimbledon, summer festivals; all ways to have a good time. Britishness is an evolving thing: once fish and chips were new, showing how in John Gielgud's words we "steal from the best," pairing Jewish fried fish with Huguenot fried potatoes; curry likewise.
But we are more than our stomachs. Our values are seen in national myths like Robin Hood and King Arthur, and icons like the village Bobby: justice, loyalty, standing up for what is right.
And our environment cannot but inform our world-view: on the grander scale historic castles as much as village greens and the sea around us; our obsession with the weather and our optimism that next Bank Holiday will be sunny. Far smaller things count too: the mini and the mini-skirt; red phone boxes; tweed.
Britishness is rich, mixed, odd, diverse, developing, and socially divided. We are a people to whom the idea of 'racial purity' is laughable and homogeneity plain bloody silly. But in the end, strangely, we are still a people.
More British Institutions
Afternoon Tea
Allotments
April Fools Day
Big Ben
Binge Drinking
Black Cabs
Bonfire Night
British Sense of Humour
Brown Windsor Soup
Burns Night
Cadburys
Castles
Changing the Guard
City of London
Coronation Street
Cowes Week
Cricket
Crufts
Dad’s Army
E-Type Jag
Eccentricity
English Country Garden
Fish and Chips
Fish Fingers
Fox Hunting
Full English Breakfast
Gin and Tonic
Glastonbury
Glorious Goodwood
Grand National
Grouse Shooting
Harrods
Highland Games
Hogmanay
James Bond
John Bull
King Arthur
Land Rover
Lloyds of London
London to Brighton Veteran Car Rally
Marks and Spencer
Monty Python
Morecambe and Wise
Old School Tie
Oxbridge
Panto
Picnics
Pimms
Point-to-Point
Punch and Judy
Queueing
Real Ale
Red Arrows
Red Telephone Boxes
Remembrance Poppies
Robin Hood
Rolls Royce
Royal Ascot
Royal Edinburgh Military Tattoo
Savile Row Suits
School Discos
School Sports Day
Seaside Piers
Speakers’ Corner
Stag Nights
Stiff Upper Lip
Strawberries and Cream
Street Markets
Summer Festivals
Sunday Roasts
The Archers
The BBC
The Beano
The Boat Race
The Brass Band
The British Bobby
The Bulldog
The Church of England
The Cup Final
The Curry House
The English Rose
The Garden Shed
The Honours System
The Kilt
The Last Night at the Proms
The London Bus
The Mini
The National Trust
The NHS
The Oak
The Pub
The Queen’s Speech
The Rolling Stones
The Royal Christmas Message
The Spitfire
The V Sign
The Village Fete
The Weather
Travelling Fairs
Trooping the Colour
Village Greens
Wedgwood
Wellington Boots
Wimbledon
Wine Gums
Yeomen of the Guard
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