Thank you, God, for allowing me to be born in England. Let's celebrate today by listing our favourite English people, places and pastimes. People Alfred the Great Edward I The Venerable Bede Constable Elgar William Friese-Green Kenneth Williams Morrissey Alan Curbishley Mike Leigh Places Battle Abbey Dover Castle Canterbury Cathedral Willy Lott's Cottage RAF Tangmere The South Downs Westminster Godshill, Isle of Wight Dartmoor Newstead Abbey Pastimes Birdwatching at Minsmere Fish and chips at Southwold Listening to Elgar on vinyl, in the garden Volunteering at St Tiggywinkles Picnics in the shadow of The Long Man of Wilmington Evening walks along the Thames Embankment Watching Carry On films Spending a whole day riding the Romney, Hythe & Dymchurch Railway Watching non-league football in sub-zero conditions Feeling English and proud please log in to view this image
My favourite pastimes eating pasta,Curry and Kebabs. Visiting Mosques. Drinking imported beers.Its great to be English and Maltese.
What have the Romans ever done for us? They gave England their Patron Saint, a Roman soldier believed to be Greek. He was beheaded for refusing to renounce his Christianity. Otherwise There are plenty of English things to be proud of, although I don't know why you missed out Shakespeare. More Englishmen celebrate St Patrick's Day though.
I don't celebrate St Andrew's Day either. Not really into Saints. I do celebrate Burns Night though. Dickens and Hardy in their different ways are authors any Englishman should be proud of.
An excellent list Ponders , although I demur at including lefties like Mike Leigh and Morrissey What a wonderful country England was....in the 1970s and 80s. What springs to mind when I think of England ? - above all .... the wonderful, patriotic English working class - who's own parents cut the mustard in WW2. [I viscerally loathe the metropolitan middle class sect the Labour Party has become] - Mrs Thatcher - The Conservative Party aka the Natural Party of Government. - The Church of England - Milkmaids cycling to church through hamlets and villages - Call The Midwife and Blockbusters - Bob Monkhouse and Sir Bruce Forsyth - Kids playing conkers - Cultural icons like David Niven, John Guilgud, Lawrence Olivier and Sir Roger Moore - Brazen English beauties like Nanette Newman, Jane Seymour and Noele Gordon from Crossroads - Ford Fiestas, British Leyland, Triumph Heralds - Test Match Special - Wimbledon - The World Snooker Championships - The Old Wembley - Smoking on the top deck of London buses What a fantastic country England used to be. The date for the dramatic decline can be clearly traced back to 1997, when that arch thespian, conman and liar opened the borders to Eastern Europe & trashed so many of our institutions and ways of life !
Morrissey, a leftie? You may want to revise that opinion, Vol. Mozza is anything but a left-winger. I'll agree with you on Mike Leigh, but I shall always hold him in the highest esteem for creating the quintessentially English work of art that is Nuts In May.
When I was in secondary school, I went to see a production of An Inspector Calls (starring Kenneth Cranham) at one of the great theatres in the West End. I sat down next an old chap and had to look at him twice to confirm that it was indeed Sir John Gielgud. None of my friends knew who he was, but I recognised him from his roles in the Arthur films. I know a bit more about him now, though. A class act.
This is turning into the sort of high quality thread that @baraettmattesvensson can only dream of creating. - Public schools (mine was in Shortlands) - stuffing exercise books down your trousers before a good thrashing - a free University education - blackboard rubbers - School masters who wore black capes - smoking behind the bike sheds - Enid Blyton’s Famous Five - rosy cheeked wenches with ample bosoms
Last Night at the Proms English Heritage and the National Trust Pleasure piers Smutty postcards Tony Hancock Seafood stalls Bingo The Beatles, Rolling Stones, Led Zep et al Paganism James Bond
How about promenades, bandstands and seafront lawns, eh? In my opinion, Eastbourne does it best. Sussex by the sea.
