Very British Things

 

Arenig, North Wales
James Dickson Innes (1887-1914)
Photo Credit: Tate [CC BY-NC-ND]

Baked beans, sarcasm, the lochs of Scotland and Sir David Attenborough. Each have been singled out as unmistakably British institutions that make people proud amid the political scandals and toxic controversies that can sometimes seem overwhelming.

The glimmers of light were identified as the men's style magazine GQ gathered 15 celebrities - including the sportsmen Anthony Joshua and Ian Wright and the actors Brian Cox and Andrew Garfield - for a "sweet, nostalgic, silly, sublime and absurd" What's So Great About Britain special September issue.

The heavyweight boxer Joshua said Britain should be as proud as other nations of its storied history. "We conquered the world," he said. "You come to Greece and they're like, 'Alexander the Great!' Be proud, innit? It's unbelievable, The whole bloody world speaks English or wants to learn English."

Joshua, 35, declared that there is "nothing for Britons to be embarrassed about as he identified David Lloyd health clubs and The Badger pub in Watford as the the things he missed most when abroad.

Wright, the former England and Arsenal striker agreed that he did not consider Britain to be unequal. "It's still very tough - it's not as fair as I'm sure Britain would like to be - but I think that a lot has changed with respect to how people are treated," he said. Wright, 61, said he considered Dame Emma Thompson - who also appears in the GQ edition - to be a national treasure, adding that Andy Murray and Lewis Hamilton "need to get more love."

Attenborough was a national treasure for Jade Thirwall of the girl band Little Mix, who added: "Protect him at all costs." 

Ambika Mod, 29, who starred in the Netflix series One Day, proclaimed baked beans the best British food while Cox, 79, declared a cooked breakfast, with two slices of black pudding, "unbeatable."

The Spider-Man actor Andrew Garfield, 42, who holds British and American citizenship, said he missed the Tube and nationalised healthcare when he left. He proclaimed the quality of British restaurants, the accent making foreigners think we are smarter than we are and "epic Arthurian" landscapes, in the Lake District, Wales, the lochs in Scotland and the Jurassic Coast.

(Alex Farber, The Times, 2025)

Most Brits are polite, courteous and quite reserved with strangers. We usually avoid boasting and don't really like drawing attention to ourselves. We say sorry very frequently. We queue, usually patiently. We like irony, sarcasm, understatement, self-deprecation and banter. Many Brits  obsess over tea. We definitely love the pub. Football, rugby and cricket are very popular sports. The countryside and public footpaths are important for many people. As is the NHS, (National Health Service) our gun laws and the safety of our plugs. We have plenty of eccentric pastimes like the Stone Skimming Championships, World Pea Throwing Championships and World Snail Racing. Most people are proud of our multi-faith democracy. The present King was sworn in at a ceremony with a Hindu prime minister, his Indian wife, a Buddhist home secretary and a Muslim mayor of London.  

Historically we have produced writers such as William Shakespeare, John Milton, Charles Dickens, Dylan Thomas, Agatha Christie, Roald Dahl and J K Rowling.  

 Science: Isaac Newton, Charles Darwin, Alan Turing, Stephen Hawking. 

Medicine: Alexander Fleming (Penicillin) and Edward Jenner (Vaccine)

Inventors:  Alexander Graham Bell (Telephone) James Watt, (Steam Engine) John Logie Baird, (TV) Tim Berners Lee (World Wide Web)

Mechanical and civil engineering: Isambard Kingdom Brunel. 

Artists: William Turner, David Hockney

Acting: Richard Burton, Anthony Hopkins, Emma Watson

Singers: The Beatles, Rolling Stones, Tom Jones, Shirley Bassey, Adele, Queen 

Media: BBC and its World Service.