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Sir Bruce Joseph Forsyth-Johnson CBE (born 22 February 1928) is the British national treasure better known as Bruce Forsyth, or affectionately as Brucie.

Forsyth’s long career has seen him presenting favourites such as Sunday Night at the London Palladium, The Generation Game, Play Your Cards Right, You Bet! and in recent years, Strictly Come Dancing with Tess Daly. He has been in show business for 70 years, starting at 14 with a song and dance act called, ‘Boy Bruce, the Mighty Atom!’

Revered by the British public, on 27 February 2005, the BBC screened A BAFTA Tribute to Bruce Forsyth, to mark the entertainer’s 60 years in show business, and on 24 February 2008, they featured an 85-minute programme celebrating the star’s 80th birthday, called, ‘Happy Birthday Brucie!’

Forsyth was awarded an OBE on 1998, a CBE in 2006 and a Knighthood in 2011.

And not forgetting his catchphrases; ‘Nice to see you, to see you, nice’ has been voted the most popular UK catchphrase of all time by the British public!

Image credit: Bradford Timeline

“I wouldn’t say I was the best manager in the business but I was in the top 1.” Brian Clough

A great quote is used to great effect once and copied a thousand times. Rarely is this truer than the pearl above from the best manager never to manage England, Brian Clough. Comparisons were drawn when José Mourinho referred to himself as ‘The Special One” but the portuguese manager’s arrogant one-liner doesn’t come close to matching the humour of the late, great Cloughie!

Apart from a controversial period managing Leeds United, Clough is considered a footballing hero for winning back-to-back European Cups with Nottingham Forest. He also enjoyed tremendous success with Derby and Hartlepool.

Another similarly humble quote from Ol’ Big Ead, “Rome wasn’t built in a day. But I wasn’t on that particular job.”

This month in 1984, the Thames Barrier was officially opened by HM Queen Elizabeth II.

The barrier is one of the world’s largest movable flood barriers and it protects 125 square kilometres of our wonderful city of London from flooding. Not only should we be thankful for these beautiful silver fins, given that they have saved Londoners over 80 times from tidal surges, but they are also one of the UK’s greatest construction achievements; the 10 steel gates each stand as high as two double decker buses and weigh over 3,000 tonnes.

Did you know that the barrier was raised just four times in the 1980s, but 35 times in the 1990s and 75 times, more recently, in the noughties!

 

Image credit: Rocker44

Robert Alan “Bob” Monkhouse, OBE (1 June 1928 – 29 December 2003) was one of Britain’s best loved English entertainers.

Famous for hosting iconic shows such as Family Fortunes, The Bob Monkhouse Show and compering Sunday Night at the London Palladium, Monkhouse was also an established actor, starring in the first London production of the musical The Boys from Syracuse.

A lesser known fact about Monkhouse is that while at school, he wrote for two other great British institutions The Beano and The Dandy, as well as drawing for Hotspur and Wizard.

Monkhouse’s famous one liners have stood the test of time: “They laughed when I said I was going to be a comedian. Well, they’re not laughing now.”

Image: Jonathan Worth

The Angel of the North is one of the most striking sculptures in the country, if not the world. Designed by Antony Gormley it is as big as 4 double-decker buses, with a wingspan of over 50 metres. The statue is made from over 200 tonnes of steel and makes for one impressive site!

This steel colossus stands patiently by the A1, greeting thousands of motorists every year. It’s the pride of Gateshead, the UK and is uniquely a British creation!

Image credit: Thomas Ormston

It’s no secret the Brits are fond of a queue! We queue patiently and politely in shops, at museums, theme parks, supermarkets, at the January sales, at the post office and everywhere in between!

Sadly not everyone in this beautiful country manages to adhere to our strict social etiquette. We sigh when they queue jump, tut when they hold a place for others and frown when they stand too close, but we wouldn’t make a point of complaining because that would be making a scene, and that’s another queueing faux-pas; never make a scene!

This is not ‘standing in line’, or every man for himself, in Britain it’s queueing and we do it the right way!

Image credit: Mark Ramsay