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If there’s one thing us Brits are stereotyped more for than our weather, it’s complaining about it!

How would we begin to talk to strangers, colleagues and mere acquaintances if it wasn’t for the weather. Reliable only in its unreliability, British weather is the subject of millions of conversations every day, because, of course, we’re never happy; we complain about the incessant rain, panic at the sight of snow and even moan when it gets too hot.

While forecasts might be a national obsession (It was Prince Charles’s dream to deliver a weather forecast) our unpredictable climate doesn’t stop us at all. What other country would hold as many outdoor festivals with our climate? What other country would have millions of countrymen lining the streets proudly waving their flags at the jubilee in the midst of a downpour?

Where would we be without our weather and our complaints? We’d be in Australia!

Image credit: Flickr; Dullhunk

 

 

The red telephone box designed by Sir Giles Gilbert Scott is an iconic British symbol. They can be found in the UK and in current and former British Colonies, including Malta, Bermuda and Gibraltar.

The first version of the red telephone box as we know it was brought in in 1924 to rival a phone kiosk that had been introduced by the Post Office. A competition was held to find a design, with the Royal Fine Art Commission being instrumental in the judging process.

Despite a reduction in their numbers in recent years, there are many red boxes in use and many as internet kiosks. They hold a special place in many people’s hearts and are a quintessentially English symbol on streets up and down the land.

 

Image credit: Chris Robertshaw

 

Doc, I can’t stop singing the ‘Green Green Grass of Home’.

He said: “That sounds like Tom Jones syndrome.”

“Is it common?” I asked.

“It’s not unusual,” he replied.

 

Image credit: Burns!

Barbara Windsor, born Barbara Ann Deeks on 6 August 1937 is an English actress, best known for her roles in the Carry On films and as matriarch Peggy Mitchell in Eastenders.

The daughter of a costermonger and a dressmaker, Windsor mage her stage debut at 13, and appeared in the chorus of Love From Judy in the West End in 1952.

Windsor has appeared in films such as The Belles of St Trinian’s and Chitty Chitty Bang Bang, in theatre and in the sitcoms The Rag Trade and Wild, Wild Women.

From 1964 until 1974, Windsor starred as characters including Hope Springs, Nurse Susan Bell and Goldie Locks in nine of the Carry On films, known for their innuendo and sending-up British institutions and customs.

In 1994, Windsor was cast as Peggy Mitchell, a role that she played until 2010. For this role she received the Best Actress award at the British Soap Awards in 1999 and a Lifetime Achievement award in 2009.

Image credit: Karen Roe

 

On this day in 1895, H.G. Wells’ The Time Machine was published in Britain.

The 32,000 word story coined the phrase ‘time machine,’ and is credited with creating the concept of time travel using a vehicle to choose where you travel to. The story reflects Wells’s own socialist political views, his view on life and abundance, and his angst about industrial relations at the time.

This iconic science fiction novella has been adapted into two feature films, two television dramas and many comic book adaptations, as well as indirectly inspiring many other works of fiction.

Image credit: qualityapeman

 

I cleaned the attic with the wife the other day. Now I can’t get the cobwebs out of her hair.

 

Another Cooperism! Have you got a favourite one liner you’d like to share?

Image credit: stevep2009