Category Archives: Culture
Field for the British Isles
I’m overwhelmed by Antony Gormley’s clay figures. Three rooms of Barrington Court will house this awe-inspiring work now through Aug. 27.
“I wanted to work with people and to make a work about our collective future and our responsibility for it. I wanted the art to look back at us, its makers (and later viewers), as if we were responsible – responsible for the world that it [FIELD] and we were in,” said Gormley.
Stunning.
Thanks to Layla for sending!
Britain is …
Tate Britain has launched a new promo video, which begs the question … what is Britain?
Happy anniversary, Will and Kate
Who can resist the Will and Kate anniversary Barbies, with presumably ambiguous anatomies?!
This Sunday, Will and Kate will celebrate their first wedding anniversary. *Collective sigh*
In celebration of this momentous occasion, Royal Wedding anniversary souvenirs are flooding the web.
You can see the tasteful selection, which include celebratory iPhone cases, pet T-shirts and Will and Kate anniversary Barbies, which I will admit to crushing on just a bit.
42
Beautiful Ipswich, where the average resident has sex 18 times a year.
Hey, let’s shake things up a bit and play this, Jeopardy style, shall we?!
Question: 42
Answer: What is the number of times a year the average Brit has sex.
This according to a recent poll of 2,000 people by Dulux. They even broke it down by town with Ipswich being the #1 town to have the least amount of sex, and Bradford being the #1 town to have the most.
Here are the full results – tut away!
Top 10 Towns That Have The Least Amount Of Sex A Year
1. Ipswich = 18.1 times
2. Coventry = 18.8 times
3. Cardiff = 25.7 times
4. Derby = 30 times
5. Swindon = 30.8 times
6. Preston = 30.9 times
7. York = 31.6 times
8. Croydon = 32 times
9. Leicester = 32.2 times
10. Southampton = 32.9 times
Top 10 Towns That Have The Most Sex In A Year
1. Bradford = 66.5 times
2. Aberdeen = 62.5 times
3. Doncaster = 60.1 times
4. Birmingham = 57.1 times
5. Hull / Warrington = 56.3 times
6. Cambridge = 55.1 times
7. Brighton = 53.1 times
8. Middlesbrough = 52.9 times
9. Wolverhampton = 52 times
10. Belfast = 51.5 times
Conspiracy theories? Explanations? I’m all ears…
I will leave you with one last thought – you do know that 42 is the answer to life, the universe and everything, right? Coincidence?!
The Middle Class Handbook
If you are looking for a window into the heart and soul of the British chattering classes, look no further than The Middle Class Handbook, a very British blog that documents the stuff that the British middle classes say, do and buy.
Not since Stuff White People Like have I found an affinity with a site that seems to read us and our British middle class family and friends like an open book. Are we really such a cliche?! So very predictable and stereotype-able? Apparently so.
Apples and pears = stairs
Mince pies = eyes. Who knew? Photo credit: BBC
Yesterday morning, NPR covered a story on the London Olympics this summer – but it wasn’t the sports or the games that was the focus. Instead, they centered on the London cockney slang that visitors will encounter while visiting East London.
Have a listen – I’ve never gotten the cockney thing but it is fascinating.
The trickiest word in the English language is …
What’s the trickiest word in the English language?
According to Oxford University Press course book writer Vicki Hollett, it’s “quite.”
Quite? Sure. It means “very good” in American English, but only “fairly good” in British English.
Find out more! Thanks to Bethany for bringing this to my attention!
The missing piece of the puzzle
Last night, a tiny puzzle piece got pushed underneath one of our very heavy bookcases.
What could we do?
Well, we tried using paper since it was thin enough to slide under there but it wasn’t sturdy enough to push the piece out. Then we tried the vacuum. It vacuumed up a lot of dust – no puzzle piece. Lastly, my husband asked me to bring a kitchen knife.
Don't let the knifeyness confuse you. This is not a kitchen knife.
“You mean a steak knife?” I asked.
“No, you know, a kitchen knife,” he answered.
And so I immediately looked to the big butcher block of knives and grabbed for the longest ginsu wannabe knife that we have.
“I’ve got a really long knife we could try,” I announced.
“No, not a butcher knife … you know, a food knife.”
“What are you talking about? A food knife? WTH is a food knife? Aren’t all knives food knives?!”
Flipping the bird
Photo credit: PA
Congrats to Adele for winning two BRIT Awards Tuesday night and boldly flipping the bird, when her acceptance speech was preemptively cut short.
It does beg the question though – why did she chose her (nicely manicured) middle finger versus two fingers up, which I’ve always thought was the British way? Maybe she’s been spending too much time on our shores?!
21st century telegrams
When I was living in the U.K., I was very surprised to hear that people were still sending telegrams.
Telegrams!?!?!!
At our wedding, they even read some telegrams out loud. Who knew this “technology” was still alive and well?! Not me …
I’ve just located a company called Red Bike Telegrams that’s taking a luxury approach to this tried and true communication – they deliver them on heavyweight card with embossed gold and red foil finish with your personal message.
This romantic correspondence can be sent in the U.K. or internationally – wherever your heart desires. Stop. Room for up to 500 characters. Stop. That’s more than a Tweet. Stop. Brilliant!
BRITRISH.COM 