N

The naming conventions of Britain: shortened forms, the fashions that sweep the birth registers, and the names that instantly signal a decade…

Britain's fifteen protected landscapes — which, unlike American national parks, are lived-in, farmed and largely privately owned.

The emblems of Britain and its four nations — flags, flowers, animals and patron saints — most of which belong to one…

What people in Britain call themselves — British, English, Scottish, Welsh or Northern Irish — and why the answer is rarely a…

What Britain has under the ground and around its coast — coal, North Sea oil and gas, and now one of the…

The small local shop selling newspapers, sweets, cigarettes and everything else — the British corner shop, and the traditional employer of teenagers…

Britain's national press: a dozen papers sold across the whole country, openly partisan, fiercely competitive, and unlike the American local-newspaper model in…

The six counties in the north-east of the island of Ireland that remain part of the United Kingdom, with a divided history…

Europe's largest street festival: a Caribbean carnival held in west London every August bank holiday weekend, with steel bands, sound systems and…

"God Save the King": Britain's national anthem since the 1740s, sung at state occasions and sporting fixtures, and never formally adopted by…

The National Health Service: Britain's publicly funded healthcare system, free at the point of use for residents and paid for through general…

A network of lakes and rivers in Norfolk and Suffolk — Britain's largest protected wetland, and entirely man-made by medieval peat digging.

The French-speaking descendants of Vikings who conquered England in 1066 under William the Conqueror, replacing its ruling class and reshaping its language…