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  Berners, Gerald Hugh Tyrwhitt-Wilson, 14th Baron 93–4

  Betty’s Tea Room, Harrogate 7, 259–63

  Blackburn, Marlene 137

  Blake, William: Milton: a poem 226–7

  Blazer, HMS 47

  Blitz (1940–1) 29, 77, 263

  Blyton, Enid 251, 276

  BNP (British National Party) 8, 279, 280, 281

  Boaks, Commander Bill 148–9

  Boat Race 68, 73

  Boden floral shirts 85

  Bourke, Anthony 157, 158

  bowler hat 112–13, 115

  Boy’s Own Paper 166–7

  Bracton, Henry de: On the Laws and Customs of England 184

  Bradley, Dr Kate 195

  Bragg, Billy: England, Half English 276–7

  Bramble Bank cricket match, Solent 10, 117–21

  Brexit 11, 216

  Bridgefoot, Tony 82

  Bridgewater, Francis Henry Egerton, 8th Earl of 94

  Bridges, Robert 226

  British identity ix, 7–8, 14, 275–6, 277–8

  British Olympic Association 131

  British Rail 34

  Broadcasting House, London 40–4, 53

  Brown, Capability 86, 224, 237, 238

  Budding, Edwin 224

  Burberry 102–4, 110

  Burberry, Thomas 102–3

  Bury Fen Bandy Club 136

  Butlin, Billy 52

  Cambridge Archetypals 68

  Campbell, Colen 238

  cardigan 112

  Cardigan, Thomas Brudenell, 7th Earl of 112

  Carlyle, Thomas 194

  Carnarvon, 5th Earl of 237

  Carnarvon, Lady 237–8

  Carter, Henry 237

  Castle Howard, North Yorkshire 238

  Cerialis, Flavius 100

  Channel Tunnel 51, 149

  Charles, Prince 106, 111–12

  Charles I, King 37–8

  Chatsworth House, Derbyshire 163, 224, 238

  cheese rolling 2–7, 9

  Chelsea Flower Show 72, 76, 78, 79

  ‘Chicken Song, The’ 151–2

  children’s books 164

  Chipperfield’s Circus 86–7

  Christian the Lion 157–8

  Christie, Gus 77

  Christie, John 77

  Churchill, Sir Winston 112, 219

  Clarke, Kenneth 107

  Clarkson, Jeremy 205–6

  cloth cap (Tudor bonnet) 111–12, 276

  cockney rhyming slang 255–6

  Coke, Edward 113

  Constable, John 32

  Cook, Captain James 61–2

  Cooper’s Hill Cheese Rolling, Gloucestershire 2–6

  Coren, Giles 72

  Cornwall, Duchess of 163–4

  Corvan, Edward: ‘The Monkey Song’ 171–2

  Cotswold Olimpick Games 131–2, 137–8

  Cotton, Captain Mark 107–8

  Countryfile 127

  Country Life 32–3

  Cowper, William 36

  Crabbing Championships, Walberswick, World 128–30

  Cracknel, James 62, 63–4, 70, 71

  Craig, Murray 180

  cricket 62, 130, 157, 223, 227, 238, 275; BF and 134–6; Bramble Bank cricket match, Solent 10, 117–21; rules of 135

  crisps 221–2

  Crooks, Dennis 218

  Cunanan, Andrew 231

  Curtis, Richard 129, 130

  Dahl, Roald 251, 276

  Damazer, Mark 49–50

  Danaos, Stavros 41, 44

  Davies, Robert 181

  Debrett 78

  Defoe, Daniel: ‘The True-Born Englishman’ 278

  Delevinge, Cara 104, 142

  Denge acoustic mirrors 234–5

  Desert Island Discs (radio programme) 245–6

  Devonshire, Dowager Duchess of 238

  Diana, Princess 106

  Discovery expedition (1901–4) 63

  Dixon Wright, Clarissa 163

  dogs 161–4

  Domoney, David 79

  Dover, Robert 131

  Downton Abbey (TV programme) 72, 237

  Doyle, Sir Arthur Conan: The Lost World 65

  Drabble, Phil 163

  Drake, Sir Francis 61

  dress, English national 10, 99–116; Barbour 99–100, 101–2, 104–8, 110, 276; Belstaff 110–11; ‘birrus Britannicus’ 100–1; bowler hat 112–13; Burberry 102–4, 110; cardigan 112; cloth cap (Tudor bonnet) 111–12, 276; Mackintosh 102; red trousers 68–9; trench coat 103–4; umbrella 113–16; waterproof clothing, history of 99–101; wax jacket 99–101, 104–8, 276; Wellington boot 108–10

  Drummond, Stuart 173

  Dungeness, Kent 10, 231–6

  Dyers’ Company 185, 186

  Ebberston Hall, North Yorkshire 238–40

  eccentricity 85–97; animals and 65, 92, 94, 156–8; aristocracy and 9, 10, 86–97, 240–

  1; Baron de Rothschild 94; Gerald Hugh Tyrwhitt-Wilson, 14th Baron Berners 93–4; Lord Bath 86–90; Lord North 95; Lord Rokeby 94; ‘Mad Jack’ Mytton 92–3; Mark McGowan 90–2; Sir John (‘Jack’) Leslie 95; William John Cavendish-Bentinck-Scott, 5th Duke of Portland 95–6

  Edgar, King 271

  Edward II, King 181

  Edwards, Michael (‘Eddie the Eagle’) 56–60

  Elgar, Edward 49, 226

  Elizabeth I, Queen 111, 272

  Elizabeth II, Queen vii, ix, 7, 10, 11, 12, 27–8, 76, 78, 80–1, 106, 108, 155, 175–9, 181, 183–8, 228

  Endeavour, HMS 61

  English Channel 52, 232, 233

  English Summer Season 67–81

  European Union 11, 275, 283

  Everest, Mount 26, 64

  Everett, Kenny 151

  explorers 60–6

  extreme ironing 130, 138–40

  failure, heroic 14, 55–66; Captain Cook 61–2; Captain Scott 63–4; Eddie the Eagle 56–60; George Mallory 64; Percy Fawcett 64–5

  Falklands War (1982) 107–8

  Farber, Paul: The Development of Taxidermy and the History of Ornithology 168

  Fawcett, Jack 65

  Fawcett, Lieutenant Colonel Percival ‘Percy’ 60, 64–5

  Fawley Challenge Cup 71

  Fawley House, Buckinghamshire 157

  Fell Top Assessor 7, 24–7

  Fenton, Major William de Wend 239–40

  ferret-legging 136–7

  Fidler, Robert 241, 242

  First World War (1914–18) vii, 65, 104, 109, 206, 220

  fish and chips 12, 49, 52–3, 217–21

  Fish, Michael 19–20

  Fitzroy, Captain Robert 45

  Fogle, Ben: accent 10–11, 244; Freedom of the City of London 179; Queen, first meets 27–8; race to South Pole 63–4, 70; rows the Atlantic 27, 46, 52, 62–3, 70; Royal Navy and 46–7 see also under individual subject and event

  Fogle, Ludo (son) 156, 188

  Fogle, Iona (daughter) 188

  Fogle, Marina (wife) 161, 231, 235, 236

  food 14, 91–2, 149, 205–22; crisps 221–2; fast food 220–1; fish and chips 12, 49, 52–3, 217–21; Marmite 10, 11, 12, 14, 57, 128, 129, 205–17

  football 130, 132–4, 173, 209, 227, 279–80, 282

  Forester, C. S. 52

  fox hunting 73, 146

  Fox, Kate: Watching the English 9, 269

  Fox, Uffa 118–19

  Fraser, George MacDonald: Flashman novels 112

  Freedom of the City 179–80, 181

  Freer, Chris 119

  Frobisher, Sir Martin 61

  Fulford family/Fulford, Francis ‘Fucker’ 10, 240–1

  Fusco, Stuart 218, 219

  Garway, Thomas 265

  George II, King 271–2

  Gill, A. A. 72; The Angry Island: Hunting the English 66, 130, 132

  Glastonbury Festival 7, 12, 37, 107, 110, 144

  Glorious Twelfth 73

  Glyndebourne Opera 72, 76–8

  Goodwood House, Sussex 238

  Grahame, Kenneth: Wind in the Willows 95–6, 251

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nbsp; Grant, Hugh 11, 14

  Great Exhibition (1851) 168

  Green, Charles 61

  Grenville, HMS 61

  Grosberg, Harry 110

  Gyarmathy, Anna 88

  Hadrian’s Wall 100

  Haines, Joe 84

  Half a Sixpence (film) 13

  Halsall, Eric 163

  Hamble Sailing Club 119

  Hamilton, Neil 85

  Hampton Curtains 68

  Hanway, John 114

  Harris, William Cornwallis 164

  Harrogate, North Yorkshire vii–ix, 7, 259–63

  Hedgehog Foods Ltd 221–2

  Helga’s Folly, Sri Lanka 9

  Helvellyn, Lake District 7, 24–7

  Henley Royal Regatta 67–72, 73, 75, 78

  Hessian boots 108–9

  Highclere Castle, Hampshire 236–7

  Hill, Benny 11, 56, 141, 150

  Hoby, George 108, 109

  ‘Hole in My Shoe’ (song) 151

  Holmwood Hotel, Cowes 118–19

  Holt, Leon 126

  Honeycrock Farm, Surrey 241

  horses 153–4, 169–70

  hound trailing 161–2

  Howard, Nick 238

  humour 141–52; Benny Hill 150; Carry On films 150; comedy politicians 143–9; Monty Python 141, 143, 150, 151; sarcasm 142; saucy seaside postcards 150; self-deprecation 142; songs, comedy 151–2; understatement 142–3

  Hunter Boot Ltd 109–10

  Hyde Park, London 154, 169

  immigration 278–9

  Irvine, Andrew ‘Sandy’ 64

  Island Sailing Club 119, 120–1

  ITV 79, 151; Weather 18, 21

  jackspeak (navy slang) 254–5

  James Bond films 106, 115

  James I, King 131, 232, 272

  Jamrach, Charles 165–7

  Jarman, Derek 234

  Jenkinson, Anthony 61

  ‘Jerusalem’ (hymn) 226, 227

  Johnson, Samuel: ‘Discourses on the Weather’ 31–2

  Jonsson, Ulrika 20

  Kennedy, John F. 115

  Kennedy, Joseph 115

  Kettley, John 20

  Kipling, Rudyard: ‘If’ 55

  Kora National Reserve 158

  labradors viii, 10, 28, 84, 89, 161, 237, 276

  Lake District 24–7, 178

  Land Rover 10, 24, 100, 108, 112, 153, 182, 276, 281, 282

  landscape 223–42; aristocratic houses/architecture 236–41; Dungeness 231–6; ‘green and pleasant land’ 226–7; lawns 223–6; Sealand, Principality of 228–31; seaside resorts 227–8

  language 243–57; BF and 243–4; Cockney rhyming slang 255; jackspeak (navy slang) 254–5; Oxford English Dictionary 9, 251–3; regional dialects 253–4, 255–6; Shakespeare and 243–51; worldwide spread of/Pitcairn Island 256–7

  lawns 223–6

  Lees, John 220

  legal system: archaic institutions and rules 181–2; Freedom of the City 179–80; New Forest Verderers 181–5; Queen’s Guide to the Sands 175–9; Queen’s Swan Marker 185–8

  Lephard, Robert 82

  Leslie, Sir John (‘Jack’) 95

  Livingstone, Dr 143

  Lock & Co., St James’s 113

  London Olympic Games (2012) 20, 49, 227

  London Zoo 168

  Longleat, Wiltshire 86–9

  Lord Buckethead 143–7

  Lord’s Cricket Ground, London 73, 120, 134

  Love Your Garden (TV programme) 79

  Lovell, Tony 119

  Lupton, Betty 259

  Lygon, Margaret 239

  Macintosh, Charles 102

  Mackintosh coat 102

  Malin, Joseph 220

  Mallory, George Herbert Leigh 64

  Mandela, Nelson 246

  Mandler, Professor Peter 277–9

  March, Lord 238

  Markov, Georgi 116

  Marmite 10, 11, 12, 14, 57, 128, 129, 141, 205–17, 221, 276

  Mary Poppins (film) 89–90, 112

  McAlpine, Sir Bill and Lady 157

  McClellan, Shelly 216

  McGill, Donald 150

  McGowan, Mark 90–2

  McKenna, Virginia 158

  Merle, William 32

  Merryweather, Dr George 32

  Met Office 39, 42, 46, 48, 80

  Mikes, George: How to Be an Alien 194

  Mildmay, Audrey 77

  Mill, John Stuart: On Liberty 85, 97

  Milligan, Spike 142

  Mitchell, Sir Peter Chalmers 168–9

  Monster Raving Loony Party 148, 149

  Monty Python 141, 143, 150, 151, 282

  Moody, Captain Eric 143

  Moore, Dr Terry 160

  Morecambe Bay 7, 175–9, 181; Queen’s Guide to the Kent Sands of Morecambe Bay 175–9

  Moss, Kate 107, 108, 110

  Mr Fishfinger 147

  Murphy, William 32

  My Fair Lady (film) 31

  Mytton, Mad Jack 85, 92–3

  New Forest Verderers 181–5

  Newton, John 36

  No. 10 Downing Street 7

  Norman Conquest (1066) 37, 51

  North British Rubber Company 109

  North, Lord 95

  Oates, Laurence 63

  O’Brian, Patrick 52

  Old Lighthouse, The, Dungeness 231–6

  Oliver, Jamie 269

  One Man and His Dog (TV programme) 163–4

  Operation Centaur 169–70

  Orwell, George 276, 278; The English People 193–4; The Road to Wigan Pier 220

  Osbaldeston, George 238–9

  Oxford English Dictionary (OED) 9, 251–3

  Page, Robin 163

  Parry, Sir Herbert 226

  Paxman, Jeremy: The English 9, 243

  pets 159–61, 164, 165–6, 170

  Philip, Prince 28, 106, 118, 176–7

  Pile, Stephen: The Book of Heroic Failures 55

  Pinsent, Sir Matthew 70, 71

  Pitcairn Island, South Pacific 256–7

  place names, eccentric 86

  politeness viii, 12, 181, 194, 196, 200–3, 280, 283 see also apologizing

  Portland, William John Cavendish-Bentinck-Scott, 5th Duke of 95–6

  Portsmouth University 46–7

  Prescott, John 49

  Proms, The ix, 72, 227

  Prospect Cottage, Dungeness 234

  Providor (trawler) 218

  pub 270–3

  Quayside restaurant, Whitby 218, 219

  Queen’s Guide to the Kent Sands of Morecambe Bay 175–9

  Queen’s Swan Marker 185–8

  queuing viii, 12, 80, 189–97; birth of idea 195; cricket and 134; etymology 194; festive queues 196–7; hatred of 196; jumping a 196; personal space and 196; politeness and 201; Second World War and 195; Wimbledon and 80, 115, 189–93, 196

  Raffles, Sir Stamford 168

  Received Pronunciation (RP) 10, 254

  red trousers 68–9

  Redgrave, Sir Steve 70, 71

  regional dialects 253–4

  Rendell, John 157–8

  Richardson, Tom 119

  Richmond Ferret Rescue League 137

  Richmond Park 169

  Rimell, Raleigh 65

  ring-necked parakeets 170–1

  Robinson, Cedric 176–9

  Rokeby, Lord 94

  Roman Empire 51, 100–1, 176, 225, 271, 282

  Room 101 (TV programme) 113

  Rothschild, Baron de 94

  rowing 27, 46, 52, 62–3, 67–8, 69–71, 188

  Royal Ascot 68, 72, 75, 78, 80–1

  Royal Britannia Naval College, Dartmouth 47

  Royal Household Cavalry 7; summer holiday 153–6

  Royal Meteorological Society 33

  Royal National Lifeboat Institution (RNLI) 53

  Royal Navy 17, 44–5, 46–7, 51, 230, 254–5

  Royal Parks 169

  Royal Society of London 61

  RSPCA (Royal Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals) 158–9 />
  rugby 130, 133, 134, 276

  Ruskin, John 17

  safari tourism 164–5

  Salazar, Mauro 11

  Scott, Captain Robert Falcon 60, 63, 64, 276

  Screaming Lord Sutch 147–8

  Sealand, Principality of 228–31

  seaside holidays/resorts 52, 150, 153–6, 219, 227–8

  Second World War (1939–45) viii, 2, 102, 109–10, 111, 195, 206, 220, 229–30, 263, 270

  Shackleton, Ernest 56, 60, 103, 276

  Shakespeare, William 50, 243–51; Hamlet 246; Richard II 50, 153; words added to English language 246–50

  Shaw, Phil 138, 139

  sheep dog trials 162–4

  shin-kicking 137–8

  Shipping Forecast (Radio 4) 39–51, 53, 276

  Shufflebottom, Tom 121

  Silly Season (August news stories) 81–4, 160

  Skelton, St John 208–9, 210, 211, 212–14

  Skyfall (film) 106

  Smith, Sophie 121

  Smythson, Robert 86

  Soanes, Zeb 50

  Solent 10, 117–21

  South Pole 63–4, 70, 103

  Spa Sweethearts Women’s Institute vii–ix

  Spanish Armada (1588) 37

  Speyer, Sir Edgar 63

  Spitting Image (TV programme) 151–2

  sport/games 117–40; bandy 136; Bramble Bank cricket match 117–21; Cotswold Olimpick Games 131–2, 137–8; cricket 117–21, 134–6; English invention of 130–1; extreme ironing 138–40; ferret-legging 136–7; football 132–4; rugby 134; shin-kicking 137–8; World Crabbing Championships, Walberswick 128–30; World Worm Charming Championships 121–8

  St George’s Cross ix, 276, 279–80

  Stagg, Group Capt J. M. 32–3

  Stanley, Henry Morton 143

  Stevenson Screen 32, 33, 34

  sturgeon, Queen and 181, 184

  Summer Season, English 67–81

  swans, Queen and 185–8

  Tatler 72

  tea vii, ix, 259–70; British consumption of 265; ‘Everything Stops for Tea’ (song) 263–4; Betty’s Tea Room, Harrogate 7, 259–63; brewing the perfect cuppa 268–70; history of 260, 261–2, 265, 269, 270; milk, adding 261–2, 270; sugar and 269; tea tasters 265–8

  Tebbutt, Charles 136

  teeth 12, 14, 57

  Tennyson, Alfred, Lord: ‘The Charge of the Light Brigade’ 112

  Terra Nova Expedition (1910–12) 63

  Thompson, William 238

  Throssell, Reg 83

  Thynn, Ceawlin 89

  Thynne, Sir John 86

  Titchmarsh, Alan 79

  Today programme (radio programme) 40

  Travers, Bill 158

  Turner, J. M. W. 37

  Twinings 217, 269

  Typhoo 265–7

  umbrellas 12, 13, 14, 113–16

  Verasamy, Lucy 18–19, 20–2, 23–4, 28

  Victoria, Queen 158–9, 167–8

  Victory, HMS 47

  Vintners’ Company 185–6