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A broadcasting culture built on short, writer-led series, public service obligations and a national habit of watching the same programmes at the…

The cast-iron scarlet phone kiosk designed in 1924: one of the most recognisable British objects in the world, and now almost entirely…

The criss-cross woven pattern associated with Scottish clans — genuinely ancient as a cloth, and largely Victorian as a system of family…

The national drink of Britain: strong black tea, usually with milk, drunk throughout the day and treated as the answer to almost…

Rows of houses sharing side walls, built in enormous numbers for the industrial cities, and still the most recognisable form of British…

Britain's grocery market: dominated by four large chains, disrupted by German discounters, and organised around own-brand tiers that visitors need decoding.

Houses roofed with straw or reed — the picture-postcard image of the English village, and a living building craft with around a…

A 900-year-old fortress on the Thames that has been a royal palace, prison, mint, zoo and execution site, and now houses the…

The dynasty that ruled England from 1485 to 1603: Henry VIII, his six wives, the break with Rome, and Elizabeth I.

How and when to tip in Britain: about 10-12% in restaurants, nothing in pubs, and far less pressure or expectation than in…

Sausages baked into Yorkshire pudding batter and served with onion gravy — a plain, cheap and enormously satisfying British dinner.

What Britain buys and sells abroad: a large services exporter, a persistent goods importer, and a trading pattern reshaped by leaving the…

Britain's rail network: the oldest in the world, privatised into a patchwork of operating companies, and the subject of permanent national complaint.

A layered cold dessert of sponge soaked in sherry, fruit, jelly, custard and cream, served in a glass bowl — and the…

The military parade held each June to mark the monarch's official birthday — 1,400 soldiers, 200 horses and a flypast, on Horse…