Tag Archives: Iconic British Things

Iconic British Things: The Black Cab

By Fraser McAlpine | Posted on May 16th, 2012

Ah there she is! The latest incarnation of a vehicle whose roots go back (in name if not in technology) nearly 400 years.

Iconic British Things (A Footnote)

By Fraser McAlpine | Posted on May 9th, 2012

Everyone takes ownership of the things they love, to a greater or lesser extent. You listen to your favorite singer or watch your favorite TV show for long enough, and it feels like it belongs to you personally, never mind the fact that ...

Iconic British Things No.15: Afternoon Tea At The Ritz

By Fraser McAlpine | Posted on May 3rd, 2012

Some cultural events are so rarified and so famous, that you’d be hard pushed to find more than a handful of natives that have actually taken part, for fear of appearing to be a walking cliche. The wearing of a bowler hat, for ...

Iconic British Things No.14: The Mini

By Fraser McAlpine | Posted on April 25th, 2012

It’s interesting to think that without the Suez Crisis in the late 1950s, a British design classic would never have been born. Never mind your Prius or hybrids, this is the first mass-marketed car which was designed to operate on ...

Iconic British Things No.14: Morris Dancing

By Fraser McAlpine | Posted on April 18th, 2012

Some people think being tough is all about swaggering around smugly, as if inviting people to hit you in the face and smash their feeble fists into rattling mush. Some people thing being tough is about being the biggest alpha creature ...

Iconic British Things No.13: Football

By Fraser McAlpine | Posted on April 11th, 2012

“Football’s not a matter of life and death … it’s more important than that” – Bill Shankly, Liverpool FC manager.

Iconic British Things: A Salute To Jim Marshall (1923 – 2012) And His Stack Of Glory

By Fraser McAlpine | Posted on April 5th, 2012

Jim Marshall, the pioneer of loud guitar amplification and creator of the Marshall stack, has sadly passed away at the age of 88.

Iconic British Things No.11: Jaffa Cakes

By Fraser McAlpine | Posted on March 28th, 2012

For some reason, the world of flat, round, sweet confections that can be eaten with a glass of milk or a hot beverage is a hotbed of cultural difference all over the world. Even the terminology is askew.

Iconic British Things No.10: The Phone Box

By Fraser McAlpine | Posted on March 21st, 2012

As we’re now frantically getting ready for the Doctor Who convention this weekend, now seems a perfect time to launch an appreciation of the Great British phone box, which has enjoyed not one but two iconic design moments, of the ...

Iconic British Things No.9: Talking About The Weather

By Fraser McAlpine | Posted on March 14th, 2012

The British live in a temperate climate, which, if you’re in California, means that it is sometimes wet and sometimes cold and sometime snowy and sometimes sunny and sometimes haily and sometimes misty and sometimes grey and ...