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Mild, grey, changeable and endlessly discussed — Britain's weather is less extreme than its reputation and more talked about than anywhere on…

Y Ddraig Goch, the red dragon on the Welsh flag: one of the oldest national symbols in the world, and pointedly absent…

London's theatre district around Shaftesbury Avenue and Covent Garden — around forty commercial theatres, and the equal of Broadway in scale and…

The chalk cliffs on the Kent coast facing France — the first and last sight of Britain for anyone crossing the Channel,…

The nation on the western side of Great Britain: mountainous, historically industrial, and home to the oldest living language in Britain.

The Derbyshire custom of decorating village wells and springs with elaborate pictures made entirely from flower petals, leaves and other natural materials…

Waterproof rubber boots worn for mud, rain, farming and festivals — named after the Duke of Wellington and universally called wellies.

A savoury sauce of melted cheese, mustard, ale and Worcestershire sauce, grilled onto toast — considerably more than cheese on toast, and…

A chain of around 800 large, cheap pubs housed in converted banks, cinemas and courthouses — universally called Spoons, and a genuine…

The weekly ritual of putting the correct wheeled bin out on the correct night — a system of colour-coded recycling that varies…

The Christian feast of Pentecost and the week around it — once one of Britain's biggest holidays, with walks, processions and fairs,…

The oldest and most prestigious tennis tournament in the world, played on grass in south-west London every summer, with strict all-white clothing…

The oldest and largest inhabited castle in the world, 20 miles west of London, used as a royal residence continuously for nearly…

The 1939-45 war that Britain entered on 3 September 1939, endured alone for a year, and emerged from victorious and effectively bankrupt.