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BRITS in BMW MOA

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The sun never set on them at one time. Now it hardly rises.

There's nothing like having an empire, to get you universally detested. Oh and that map is disproportionate, there's no way Britain is that big. Thankfully it was an empire built on trade....and if you wouldn't trade then we'd fight you, or feed opium to your population until they were useless for anything. It's also interesting to see that our empire on this map didn't include the British Colonies now known as the USA, so what's the date?

Oh, I almost forgot...we ruled the waves too, so can we have the blue bits coloured in please.
 
Horrid because of it's history, or because of the swarms of tourists?

Not much fun if you were staying as a guest of his/her Majesties either...

Nice pics of the Elgin Marbles Dave, I was at the BM three weeks ago.

When you are tired of London you are tired of life....
 
I was being quite facetious.

I did some work for Her Majness and got to visit a few of her pads, away from the tourist bits. The Tower does have a horribly bloody past. The princes being murdered, quite a few on the chopping block, but as far as I'm aware it never took part in a battle so to speak.

So it is horrid by association, and in the Summer due to the crowds.
Did you get to Henry VIII's palace Hampton Court? I much prefer that, although for grandeur I think I've mentioned Blenheim elsewhere, so I'll do it again...Blenheim.
 
It aint true

Well cockneys are a different breed altogether. It's said that cockney came from the need for the criminal fraternity of East London, to be able to converse without the Old Bill, Peelers, Police being able to understand them, so rhymning slang was used, replacing the actual word with something quite different but which had the same meter.

You see a lot of us in old WW2 movies - we're the short skinny little batman with a dodgy scam going, who always talks about 'is Mum, and always gets blown up 5 minutes from the end. Pathos incarnate.

Contrary to the popular stereotype, many of us have never spent any time in prison.
 
I did some work for Her Majness and got to visit a few of her pads, away from the tourist bits. The Tower does have a horribly bloody past. The princes being murdered, quite a few on the chopping block, but as far as I'm aware it never took part in a battle so to speak.

So it is horrid by association, and in the Summer due to the crowds.
Did you get to Henry VIII's palace Hampton Court? I much prefer that, although for grandeur I think I've mentioned Blenheim elsewhere, so I'll do it again...Blenheim.

I can't say that we did, but I expect we'll be back there again.
 
I'd add Richard Burton and Anthony Hopkins to the list of fine actors. I've always wanted to sound like Burton.
How could I have forgotten... I'd also like to add Basil Rathbone, Ben Kingsley, Donald Pleasance, Richard Attenborough, Oliver Reed (his performaces in Oliver! and and The Devils alone are worthy of all-time cinematic greatness), Peter Sellers, Jeremy Irons, James Mason, David Niven, Peter Ustinov and of course Helen Mirren.

Bonzo Dog Doo Dah Band, a comedy act? Surely not! The 'push bike' song will forever be scarred into my brain, every time we had a sunny summer it would get pedalled out.
Ok, you're right. They were a gifted band of musicians in their own right. Their take on 1920's style pre-swing Jazz was totally amazing. Mr. Apollo, Death Cab for Cutie and Stanshall's rendition of I Left My Heart in San Fransisco are hilarious and unforgettable.

I think you hit every Brit classical composer of note. There's something stirring yet pastoral that England in particular seems to draw from musicians and artists. I lived only a few miles from the Hay wain scene painted by John Constable, I think it was Lott's cottage if I recall. I rowed up and down the Stour many summer evening, in fact most of his works were in the Stour valley... a very mellow area, almost unspectacularly calm and tranquil. Still has the salmon pink plastered cottages, old churches and dewy grassed grave yards. Quaint sums it up.
I left out Sir Michael Tippett, Sir John Tavener, Sir William Walton and Sir Arthur Sullivan. All great Sirs and all amazing academic composers (Walton wrote a beautiful Coronation Te Deum for Elizabeth II in 1952).

And yes, Constable was a brilliant painter. Gorgeous landscapes. In the visual arts, the British Isles can't be beat. Joshua Reynolds, William Blake and Turner were giants. Francis Bacon was a genius and painted some of my favorite images and Henry Moore is one of my favorite sculptors. Bridget Riley and Richard Hamilton are two of my favorite modernists.

If you are ever in that area, visit Lavenham, stay at the Swan Hotel. Christmas time is particularly appealing.

And pop along to Mersea Island for fresh seafood at the sheds or from the Colchester Oyster Fishery, then walk along Coast Rd and look for the Lorna. My old boat.
For a more bracing walk, visit East Mersea. Drive until the road ends, then walk onto the islands shell strewn spit and bird sanctuary, glorious on a very windy day.
For those with WWII interests, keep a look out for the bunkers. Many aircraft fell on this strip of land and water...Fingerinhoe has a museum in the lighthouse, worth a visit.
Thanks, Steve, for these great recommendations! We're slated to visit in 2008 and will keep some of these destinations in mind! :thumb
 
How could I have forgotten... I'd also like to add Basil Rathbone, Ben Kingsley, Donald Pleasance, Richard Attenborough, Oliver Reed (his performaces in Oliver! and and The Devils alone are worthy of all-time cinematic greatness), Peter Sellers, Jeremy Irons, James Mason, David Niven, Peter Ustinov and of course Helen Mirren.

Ok, you're right. They were a gifted band of musicians in their own right. Their take on 1920's style pre-swing Jazz was totally amazing. Mr. Apollo, Death Cab for Cutie and Stanshall's rendition of I Left My Heart in San Fransisco are hilarious and unforgettable.

I left out Sir Michael Tippett, Sir John Tavener, Sir William Walton and Sir Arthur Sullivan. All great Sirs and all amazing academic composers (Walton wrote a beautiful Coronation Te Deum for Elizabeth II in 1952).

And yes, Constable was a brilliant painter. Gorgeous landscapes. In the visual arts, the British Isles can't be beat. Joshua Reynolds, William Blake and Turner were giants. Francis Bacon was a genius and painted some of my favorite images and Henry Moore is one of my favorite sculptors. Bridget Riley and Richard Hamilton are two of my favorite modernists.

Thanks, Steve, for these great recommendations! We're slated to visit in 2008 and will keep some of these destinations in mind! :thumb

You've got me questioning my own Britishness now. I'd never heard of Sir Arthur Sullivan, or Bridget Riley and Richard Hamilton and your mastery of the works of the fabled BDDDB is outstanding. I am in awe good sir.

I am humbled and shall have to hit the books far harder in future to keep apace with you.
 
Where Yank comes from

According to Wikipedia:
The Oxford English Dictionary states that one of the earliest theories on the word derivation is from the Cherokee word "eankke" for coward as applied to the residents of New England. Also, as the Northeastern Native American approximation of the words English and Anglais. [4] It has been rejected by some linguists.[5]
The Oxford English Dictionary suggests the most plausible origin to be that it is derived from the Dutch first names "Jan" and "Kees". "Jan" and "Kees" were and still are common Dutch first names, and also common Dutch given names or nicknames. In many instances both names (Jan-Kees) are also used as a single first name in the Netherlands. "Jan" means "John" and may have been used as a reference to the settlers of New-York (New-Amsterdam at the time) who were Dutch. The word Yankee in this sense would be used as a form of contempt, applied derisively to Dutch settlers in New England and New York. [6] Another speculation suggests the Dutch form was Jan Kaas, "John Cheese", from the prevalence of dairy-farming among the Dutch, but this seems far-fetched. More realistically, Michael Quinion and Patrick Hanks argue[7]the term refers to the Dutch nickname and surname Janke, anglicized to Yanke and "used as a nickname for a Dutch-speaking American in colonial times". By extension, according to their theory, the term grew to include non-Dutch American colonists as well.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yankee
 
According to Wikipedia:
The Oxford English Dictionary states that one of the earliest theories on the word derivation is from the Cherokee word "eankke" for coward as applied to the residents of New England. Also, as the Northeastern Native American approximation of the words English and Anglais. [4] It has been rejected by some linguists.[5]
The Oxford English Dictionary suggests the most plausible origin to be that it is derived from the Dutch first names "Jan" and "Kees". "Jan" and "Kees" were and still are common Dutch first names, and also common Dutch given names or nicknames. In many instances both names (Jan-Kees) are also used as a single first name in the Netherlands. "Jan" means "John" and may have been used as a reference to the settlers of New-York (New-Amsterdam at the time) who were Dutch. The word Yankee in this sense would be used as a form of contempt, applied derisively to Dutch settlers in New England and New York. [6] Another speculation suggests the Dutch form was Jan Kaas, "John Cheese", from the prevalence of dairy-farming among the Dutch, but this seems far-fetched. More realistically, Michael Quinion and Patrick Hanks argue[7]the term refers to the Dutch nickname and surname Janke, anglicized to Yanke and "used as a nickname for a Dutch-speaking American in colonial times". By extension, according to their theory, the term grew to include non-Dutch American colonists as well.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yankee

For one brief but very disturbing moment, I thought you'd written John Cleese!
 
For one brief but very disturbing moment, I thought you'd written John Cleese!

Never seen that derivation before. It seems more plausible than the ones I'd seen (along the lines of "It means something in Iroquois, but we don't know exactly what").

But I do seem to recall that John Cleese's family name had been "Cheese" at one point. I'm away from my reference books, so I can't back that one up. It's entirely possible that he was having a bit of fun at an interviewer's expense.

Lamble, I bet you've heard of Sir Arthur Sullivan. His usual writing partner was one W. S. Gilbert. I am the very model of a modern major general and all that.

I'm not much up on current British comedy, but I'm a fan of Alan Bennett, Jonathan Miller and Spike Milligan.
 
Never seen that derivation before. It seems more plausible than the ones I'd seen (along the lines of "It means something in Iroquois, but we don't know exactly what").

But I do seem to recall that John Cleese's family name had been "Cheese" at one point. I'm away from my reference books, so I can't back that one up. It's entirely possible that he was having a bit of fun at an interviewer's expense.

Lamble, I bet you've heard of Sir Arthur Sullivan. His usual writing partner was one W. S. Gilbert. I am the very model of a modern major general and all that.

I'm not much up on current British comedy, but I'm a fan of Alan Bennett, Jonathan Miller and Spike Milligan.

Now you mention it, of course I have, although without his buddy Gilbert I'd not made the association...and I've even been to Penzance!
 
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