The public house: Britain's neighbourhood bar, living room and village hall combined, where you order at the bar, buy in rounds, and…
Food and DrinkShrove Tuesday: the day before Lent, when Britain eats thin pancakes with lemon and sugar, and some towns race down the street…
Festivals and HolidaysA riotous Christmas stage show for families, based on a fairy tale, in which a man plays the dame, a woman plays…
Culture and MediaThe UK's law-making body: an elected House of Commons, an unelected House of Lords, and the monarch, sitting together at Westminster.
Government and LawLondon's charity royalty: working-class families in suits covered with thousands of mother-of-pearl buttons, who have raised money for good causes since the…
Traditions and CustomsA nation of pet owners: around half of British households keep one, dogs are welcome in a great many pubs, and animal…
Daily LifeA minced beef pie with mashed potato and parsley "liquor", eaten in tiled East London shops that have changed almost nothing in…
Food and DrinkA dark, spiced, gin-based liqueur served long with lemonade, fruit, mint and cucumber — the drink of the British summer and of…
Food and DrinkBritain's alphanumeric postal codes — precise enough to identify a handful of houses, and used for far more than post.
Daily LifeThe stock of proverbs, idioms and set phrases in everyday British speech — many of them ancient, some misunderstood, and a great…
LanguageThe traditional British seaside puppet show: a violent, anarchic slapstick comedy performed in a striped booth, and considerably darker than its audience…
Traditions and CustomsPropelling a flat-bottomed boat along a shallow river with a long pole — a summer institution in Oxford and Cambridge, and a…
Sport and LeisureBritain's first national park: an upland of gritstone edges and limestone dales between Manchester and Sheffield, and the birthplace of the right…
Geography and LandscapeA cold pub plate of cheese, bread, pickle, onion and salad — traditional in appearance and largely invented by the cheese marketing…
Food and DrinkThe Royal British Legion's annual fundraising campaign, in which paper poppies are worn through late October and November in aid of serving…
Traditions and CustomsBritain's network of post office branches — separate from Royal Mail since 2012, central to village life, and the subject of the…
Daily LifeEngland's top football division: twenty clubs, thirty-eight games each, and the richest and most watched domestic league in the world.
Sport and LeisureThe head of the British government: an ordinary MP who leads the party able to command a majority in the House of…
Government and LawAn eight-week summer season of classical concerts at the Royal Albert Hall, with cheap standing tickets and a famously raucous Last Night.
Culture and Media