ljaw2002uk

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-15811246

Would your list be different? I think The Beatles beat Shakespeare to the top for sure!

robin1234

I agree with you about Shakespeare. I know that Americans seem obsessed by him, I'm surprised that the British care a toss about him... I thought British people were generally proud of being total philistines. I personally find his plays a tad boring, although some excellent operas have been derived from the plays.

Me, I'd put the National Trust, the BBC and the NHS at the top of my list, I'm not sure in what order. That is an interesting group of three great institutions, since one is government, one a quango, and one a charity.

Ununoctium

When I think of the UK, I think of the Westminster parliament. I'm surprised it was so low on the list.

robin1234

Well, I think they asked if you are proud of it. Shakespeare and the National Trust are relatively uncontroversial, compared to parliament where some people may have pushed it lower on their lists because of scandals, incompetence etc.

Bob

I'd agree with that...and the scientific research, especially from the universities, and some of the tech achievements.

nethead

To the NHS, NT, BBC and scientific research, I"d also add, art, literature and (historic) architecture also not just limit it to Shakespeare.

AdobePinon

Looking at the article... Classic correlation-causation misunderstandings. It's a huge stretch to say that the act of forcing people to do volunteer work will consequently make them more patriotic.

dunroving

Surprised Churchill wasn't up there - also surprised that "sporting achievements" are ranked highly. I presume they weren't thinking of football.

I think countryside/the right to roam beats countryside access in a lot of countries and is maybe an underappreciated aspect of life in the UK.

The BBC.

Freedom of speech (though this seems to be getting too liberal lately).

The rail system (despite Beeching's attempts to destroy it back in the 60's)

Bob

As a national side, sure...but the club teams are great, the rugby, cricket, hockey, athletics and quite a few other sports, not to shit...and then the arm chair sports like darts and snooker etc

I also agree about the public transport, it really isn't to bad of a network, despite the issues it suffers, at least it is a viable option for many people.

Also quite impressed with the start of the computer age and the games industry back in the day. It's a bit dire now, unfortunately, but it had achieved a lot and was great.

The automotive industry. Sure it's a bit pants now, but it did bring the world the mini, E-type Jag, DB5 Aston Martin, Rolls Royce, Lotus, TVR and Triumph motorbikes are still really nice.

F1...it's still the home base for many teams and a great achievement, as is the motor sport in general, rallying, GT racing, touring cars etc.

Kar98

No votes for the amazing British cuisine?

Manc

I am proud to be British for many many reasons, some really simple but mostly for the sciences....... all really came to the fore in the UK........

Someone mentioned Churchill? I'll call your Churchill and raise you a

Cavendish
Newton
Wren
Hook
Haley
Faraday
Buckland
Davy
Darwin
Dawkins
Lyell
Joule
Dalton
Kelvin
Boyle
Franklin
Mantell

zargof

Plus

Babbage
Turing
Flowers
Berners-Lee
Bell
Lovell
Baird
et al.

Manc

indeed.

Lothianlad

Something quite unique to Great Britain...there really is no equivalent anywhere esle in the world, apparently......Prime Minister's Questions (or PMQs for short) held each Wednesday at twelve noon, lasting about half an hour, during which the PM replies to a host of questions posed to him by Members of the House of Commons...it seems that he has no prior warning about what the questions will refer to, but he invariably seems to answer them to the satisfaction of the questioning MP....obviously the PM is well briefed beforehand.

The entire proceedings, as with all Parliamentary debates, in both the Commons and the Lords, are broadcast live on the Parliamentary TV Channel 81 on digital Freeview.

PMQs 26/10/11:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4O8iq...feature=relmfu

Past moments of PMQs in the House:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4O8iq...feature=relmfu

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4bhpXhxP-WU

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4bhpXhxP-WU

As for other aspects of the British scene of which to be proud I certainly wouldn't include the BBC in this category at all - absolutely no way! It is now blatantly biased politically, is governed by all sorts of "...isms" riddled with political correctness, and is run by left wing muppets following their own agenda.

William Shakespeare is probably the most well known of all playwrights the whole world over...he is known to practically everbody on this planet over the age of ten or so and a true exponent of about the greatest export from this little island nation of ours to the rest of the world - our own English Language. The genius of the Bard of Avon coined a whole host of expressions which now form part of our everyday speech in English...all of them sprang from the pen of Shakespeare and are now used by all of us at one time or another without us giving a thought to their origin.

Other British wordsmiths of very high regard are also known the world over...such as Charles Dickens and Jame Austen to name just two out of hundreds.

Something else of which Britons should be proud is the tremendous variety contained in such a small land area - a group of islands which are smaller in size than a fair number of individual US States...a variety of scenery and landscape, a very varied coastline, different cultures and even languages bearing in mind the inclusion of Scotland and Wales, and even little Cornwall, which really is quite different in many respects from the rest of England...then we have the smaller individual islands - the Isle of Man, and the Channel Islands - all British but independently governed.

Very many things which people now take for granted all over the world first saw the light of day in this little country of ours floating in a grey choppy sea off the coast of Continental north west Europe...the dawn of the industrial revolution and all the inventiveness and innovation associated with the world's first industrial development on a large scale, the world's first Parliamentary democracy, railway system, postal service, organised police service, tarmac roads, medical advances and discovweries, including penicillin, TV service, and the blueprint for the computer and the internet. And heaven knows what else.

I quite like what my country has done over the centuries that has been for the common good. The bad I sort of overlook.....naturally.

All in all I'm quite proud of us.

I also like our unwritten Constitution and our historic heritage - I like all the priceless jewels we have scattered right across our green and pleasant land...all our magnificent castles and stately homes and relics of the Roman occupation from Hadrian's Wall and the Antonine Wall to villas and amphitheatres....Londinium, Colchester, Chester, Cirencester, the wonderful baths at Bath, our glorious medieval cathedrals and minsters and ruined abbeys destroyed by a monster of a cruel selfish English King....even down to our seaside piers and promenades & the scenic walks along the coastline...the South Downs Way, the Pennine Way, the South West Coastal Path, Offa's Dyke separating Wales from England, preserved railway lines such as the Bluebell Line and one down in Yorkshire running through the village of Haworth, home to the Bronte sisters......the Derby, tennis at Wimbledon, the Grand National (the most famous horse race in the world) the Test at Lords, Henley regatta, cheese rolling down in hilside in Gloucestershire, Morris dancing on the village green outside the Dog and Duck pub...bloody hell, the list is endless......oh, and the world's longest running TV and radio "soap operas"......on the radio - "The Archers" still running after 60 years - on BBC Radio 4 - Ambridge is still alive and kicking....and on ITV3 - "Coronation Street" - now 51 years old next month.

We have a Head of State - Queen Elizabeth II - who may well be "powerless" in the true sense of the word, no longer having much of say when compared with her forebears on the throne, but at least she, and the entire Monarchy, is very much a stabilising factor in the way this country of ours operates. The Queen may well have some skeletons in her family cupboard, and some of her family members have been shown to be a wee bit less than "perfect" (whose family is anyway?) but at least her position as Head of State in Britain and the Commonwealth is very much a stabilising factor in the way this country operates as a soverign nation, and no way can she be compared with the Heads of State of some other countries - such as ......George Bush, Bill Clinton, Silvio Berlusconi, and that funny little French bloke Nicholas Sarkozy.

dunroving

I would have loved to see "W" have to answer questions like that, just once. He'd have been crucified.

The coverage of politics and current affairs in the UK media can be fantastic. I love "This Week" - the host Andrew Neill has an ascerbic wit, and it's great to see politicians like Michael Portillo able to have a little argy-bargy in an intellectually stimulating discussion, and to see them recognise quite objectively the good points of their opponents. In comparison, most US politicians look like half-wits.

Here's the Web site for This Week: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/programme...ek/default.stm