Going through old articles I found this one I clipped from a January 2006 newsweek. (Apparently even at 15 I was a news junkie). See the scan below:
Keep in mind this was 2006 we’re talking about, but also keep in mind this is England…a country with a history so old and so deep that 6 years really doesn’t change that much.
Recent, but old, whatever the case, I thought I’d throw in my own comments.
Before I actually went to England I had this idealized picture of it in my head like in the movies. Double decker buses, red phone booths, black cabs…
The government was spot on with some things like Stonehenge, a cup of tea, the routemaster, and football (soccer). All things we know are English. But the other items? The SS Empire Windrush to personify a whole country? Alice in Wonderland? (I didn’t know Alice was English…but okay).
I’m more with the voters on icons.org.uk. Everything on that list except chicken marsala, Wallace & Gromit, and the Concorde I had already associated with England. Even more so when I left, especially the “Mind the Gap” tube announcement.
What do you think of when you think of England? And if we made a list for America, what would be on it?