Tag Archives: Iconic British Things

Iconic British Things No. 8: A Brief History Of ‘Keep Calm And Carry On’

By Fraser McAlpine | Posted on March 8th, 2012

If you’re into British stuff and have been near an internet over the past couple of years, the dominant meme which has come up time and again, apart from changing the subtitles on Downfall to make it look like Hitler is fed up ...

Iconic British Things No.7: Marmite

By Fraser McAlpine | Posted on February 29th, 2012

If you’re anything like me, the very first thing you want to do on entering a new country is to go to a supermarket or corner shop and look at the everyday things which are common to that nation, but entirely alien to your home. ...

Iconic British Things Part 6: The Stiff Upper Lip

By Fraser McAlpine | Posted on February 22nd, 2012

It’s always nice to make a feature out of a fault, if only because it helps the person with the fault psychologically manage it, and not worry that they’re faulty, or that the fault is something which requires immediate ...

Iconic British Things Part 5: The Humble Cuppa

By Fraser McAlpine | Posted on February 15th, 2012

The glorious French comic book Asterix In Britain spoofed the British love of a cup of tea to perfection: battles between an invading Roman army would grind to a halt as the Englishmen left the field at 5pm, in order to make a spot of ...

A Consumer’s Guide To British Chocolate

By Fraser McAlpine | Posted on February 7th, 2012

Let’s not mess about, British chocolate is, by and large, better than American chocolate. Even our language around chocolate serves to bear this out.

Iconic British Things Part 4: The London Underground Map

By Fraser McAlpine | Posted on February 2nd, 2012

Today we are going to be doffing our caps to a designer who truly changed the way people see the world, and made London a less confusing place into the bargain.

Iconic British Things Part 3: Fish & Chips

By Fraser McAlpine | Posted on January 25th, 2012

It’s time to rock a few commonly-held pre-conceptions about the British, just to separate the myth from reality. Barely anyone wears a bowler hat, for example.

Iconic British Things Part 2: Red Double Decker Buses

By Fraser McAlpine | Posted on January 11th, 2012

I grew up in a village in rural Oxfordshire: there wasn’t a lot of traffic and there was a lot of walking. There were buses, which went into town two or three times an hour, but they weren’t a big part of village life.

Iconic British Things Part 1: The Bowler Hat

By Fraser McAlpine | Posted on January 4th, 2012

Nothing says British Gentleman quite like the bowler hat, especially in combination with the umbrella, which is odd, when you come to think about it. In the era when men wore hats as a matter of course, the bowler hat, or derby, was a ...