Entertainment For Lively Minds
The Word Massive National Treasury
Currently my favourite "listen" on Radio 4 is The Museum Of Curiosity.
Each week 3 guests donate exhibits (can be anything) to this infinitely vast museum. Hosted by QI creator John Lloyd and museum curator (this series it's Dave Gorman) 30 minutes of intelligent, funny entertainment are guaranteed as everyone discusses the merits of each donation.
It got me thinking.
This blog is a forum for fairly wide ranging tastes and subjects, allowing us to share and feed off the passions of others.
We do, however, seem to have mutual favourites.
So let's make it official.
The Word Massive National Treasury (WMNT if you must) is now open.
All donations are welcome. Can be anything. Doesn't just have to be music. Could be films, books, people, places - even just parts of any of those.
But let's keep it about "national" treasures for now. We can always open an International Wing later.
Persuasive arguments to accompany your suggestions would also be good.
Let the "Up Arrows" decide which treasure deserves to be there.
We'll assume that Messrs Ellen & Hepworth already require regular dusting.
- More from aging hippy.
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It's a good idea, Hipster...
...though I fear we'll devolve to teeth-gnashing controversy well before the hundred posts/Hitler mark.
So, with the inevitiability of stirring the pot with a spoonful of marmite (leavened with a spoonful of 'ah yes, that's more like it'), can I suggest...
JRR TOLKIEN
JOHN McLAUGHLIN
OLIVER POSTGATE
DAVID ATTENBOROUGH
BBC4
If Marmite is British...
it gets my vote!
Food of the God's
If I am going into the museum I'll have to tell me Mum :)
Half British
as it's British-Dutch owned.
I'd add
ORDNANCE SURVEY MAPS
CALEDONIAN MACBRAYNE FERRIES
Sir Bruce Forsyth
Cliff Richard
Richard Briers
Cilla Black
Pat Butcher
Do they have to be living?
"Do they have to be living?"
...why, are all those people you mention from the realm of the undead?
Hmmm.... Bruce, Cliff, Pat Butcher... yes, it's certainly a frightening possibility...
The films of Powell and Pressburger,
XTC
and
the Rolls Royce Merlin engine.
Fiona Bruce
Pubs
Piccalilli
Tea
BBC radio
And Fiona Bruce again.
If you're allowed to have tea
can I include The Mighty Tharg, editor of 2000AD as an honorary Brit.
Or at least his pet human Alan Moore...
Fiona Bruce
Fiona Bruce - A very intelligent, attractive woman.
OOAA.
Fiona Bruce
a broadcasting stick insect - can't see the attraction, myself.
Ben Dover
Jessie J
Frankie Cocozza
George Osborne
Ben Dover
Before I looked down I was sure that suggestion was gonna be from Lenny L. Fooled me,Bob.
in that case...
Mrs Dover (aka Linzi Drew) and Young Master Dover (aka Lindzi James Tyger Drew-Honey, aaka the eldest laddie from Outnumbered)
Jesus, is that right?
Fucking hell, the poor kid.
Blimey..
That's proper true, isn't it!
Takes the notion of a teenaged boy being embarrassed about his parents to a whole new order of magnitude.
Imagine. All your mates' dads trying to make out that they've got absolutely no idea who either of your parents are..
Yes
I am afraid it isn't one of the urban myths. I suppose the name is a give away that is parents at the usual middle class stage school suspects
He's not embarrassed at all
When we've interviewed him he's been very matter of fact about it. Privately he might be mortified, but in public he takes it all in his stride.
What else could you do?
I suppose he's got little to compare it to.
And, as Peggy Mitchell might say, faaaamly is faaaamly.
But still, he'd have to be careful: as a teenage boy flogging on (© Viz Profanisaurus) to t'internet for a bit of self-blinding, the idea that you have to keep a weather eye out just in case you see your mum being filled out like an application (© Jay, "Chasing Amy"), or your dad up to his pips in some dispirited lady is... distressing, to say the least.
It's a funny old world eh?
The Beeb made a documentary about Ben aka Simon Honey's attempts to get into more conventional acting roles. Despite a career that's made him a lot of money, with what might (or might not) be notable side benefits, he lusts* after an ordinary life on the boards. Something his son already has.
Allegedly he also plays keyboards and the drums.
*sorry
He does, indeed, play keyboards and drums
I did at least one session - possibly more - with him in the 1980s
Ooo-eerrr
Stimpy joins Ben Dover in a session. Fnar fnar.
Although, to be fair, he was called Simon Honey then
and he didn't introduce himself as "Ben Dover, gonzo pornographer and part-time keyboard player" :-)
I know
but I couldn't resist it. Never as a double been more entendre.
Keyboards
Does he have a mighty Hammond?
Aled Jones
Jordan
Jordan
is pretty remarkable for having been created by the press for its readers and then taken on a life of her own like Frankenstein's monster.
She is truly remarkable in that she has withstood the continual onslaught by all mainstream media and come out smelling of roses in spite of not winning anyone over. The fag stained, beer swilling, phone tapping journos of the red tops would much much rather that she'd do the decent thing and have a breakdown and then die. That is what would be fair justice in their minds and would sell copy. They could also canonise her like Jade Goodey too.
When you think of how the press constructs personalities then makes them either saint like (geldof, mccartney, prince charles) or dehumanises them (Paula Yates, Heather Mills, Princess Diana - before the death)in order to humiliate them and feed off them like parasites, then the fact that a Jordan - working class trash with no education, has played the game and so clearly won is doubly impressive.
At the risk of sounding all julie birchall here, Jordan is to be looked up to and admired by everyone, not just the young girls who so clearly see her victory.
Get it up yer, Rupert Murdoch.
Everyone?
Everyone bar me I would suspect. I think she's vile.
Another naysayer
As Caitlin Moran so brilliantly put it, Jordan is "Vichy France with tits." If I were a woman I would despise her.
I am
And I do.
I think she's vile.
I think she's vile.
I agree with you...
But I still would
Vile scumbag oppressor of females!
Get out of here you foul proto-rapist! Is that all you see her as? A series of holes for you to phallocratically violate? People like you make me sick! How would you like it if she offered to jam a dildo in your arse, eh? EH?
Oh.
As you were, then.
A man should have a hobby.
At no time did they ever jam. After the first 10 or 20 times, they slipped in a treat.
I've just choked on my drink!
:)
Not to be too controversial
but the Welsh warbler is known for the heft of his schwanzstucker which is popularly known as the Aled Zeppelin*
* not true in the slightest but it's been a slow night
Aled Carpets
is how we affectionately refer to him in our house.
The Isles
of Scilly
Can we not just leave it to Ian Dury and Max Wall?
There are jewels in the crown of England's glory
And every jewel shines a thousand ways
Frankie Howerd, Noël Coward and garden gnomes
Frankie Vaughan, Kenneth Horne, Sherlock Holmes
Monty, Biggles and Old King Cole
In the pink or on the dole
Oliver Twist and Long John Silver
Captain Cook and Nelly Dean
Enid Blyton, Gilbert Harding
Malcolm Sargeant, Graham Greene (Graham Greene)
All the jewels in the crown of England's glory
Too numerous to mention, but a few
And every one could tell a different story
And show old England's glory something new
Nice bit of kipper and Jack the Ripper and Upton Park
Gracie, Cilla, Maxy Miller, Petula Clark
Winkles, Woodbines, Walnut Whips
Vera Lynn and Stafford Cripps
Lady Chatterley, Muffin the Mule
Winston Churchill, Robin Hood
Beatrix Potter, Baden-Powell
Beecham's powders, Yorkshire pud (Yorkshire pud)
With Billy Bunter, Jane Austen
Reg Hampton, George Formby
Billy Fury, Little Titch
Uncle Mac, Mr. Pastry and all
Uncle mac, Mr. Patry and all
allright england?
g’wan england
oh england
All the jewels in the crown of England's glory
Too numerous to mention, but a few
And every one could tell a different story
And show old England's glory something new
Somerset Maugham, Top Of The Form with the Boys' Brigade
Mortimer Wheeler, Christine Keeler and the Board of Trade
Henry Cooper, wakey wakey, England's labour
Standard Vanguard, spotted dick, England's workers
England's glory
Which nation?
As much as I like that wee song, I'm wondering where the other missing verses are. Or is this game for England only?
One of the missing verses...
Scotch Pie, the Isle of Skye and porridge oats
Cock-a-leekie, Captain Beaky* and fishing boats
Whisky, water, The Sunday Post
Celtic, Rangers, the Gaelic host
McGonagall and Robbie Burns
Higher exams and bonny wee bairns
The Fortingall Yew and William Bruce
The Swilcan Bridge and Oor Hoose (Oor Hoose)
All the jewels in the crown of Scotland's glory
Too numerous to mention, but a few
And every one could tell a different story
And show old Scotland's glory something new
Someone else can do Wales...
*might not be Scottish. But it rhymes.
Good work
Well done, that man. Who ya gonna get to sing it? Jack Milroy would have been ideal.
The
London underground tube map and posters dating back to the 20's.
Pubs.
Corgi diecast models.
Airfix.
The Brian Cook Batsford book illustrations.
have an up sir, for Airfix
have an up sir, for Airfix models. Wonderful
Airfix models
Yes, wonderful.
I once did one of Henry VIII, I remember:
The dagger was cool. As was the codpiece.
I have an irresistable image
of a ten year old boy, with his breath held in concentration, and his tongue poking out the corner of his mouth, squinting intensely, as he makes sure he sticks the king's groin on straight.
And without Airfix
No "Sniffin' Glue" fanzine..
I'll add
NIGEL BLACKWELL - and whatever bandmates he chooses to bring along
WILL HAY - from Thornaby on Tees. Not only funny,but a keen and able amateur astronomer. And he gave Amy Johnson flying lessons, apparently.*
GEORGE FORMBY - thank God he didn't make it as a jockey.
BBC LOCAL RADIO
One more
Michael Palin
another
Private Eye
And another
Julian Cope
Two politicians from different parties
Tony Benn and Ken Clarke. I'll stop there for a while
More Treasures
Elvis Costello
Julie Walters
HP Sauce
Cornwall
Punch and Judy
Fish and Chips
Bonfire night
A vote for all
except Punch and Judy and bonfire night. Horrible.
Glad
somebody mentioned fish & chips at last. I was beginning to worry.
Julian Cope is a good call, as are Tony Benn and Ken Clarke (as a pair).
My nominations:
Patrick Moore.
Stanley Unwin.
Donovan.
Robert Wyatt.
Joan Bakewell.
The Tate Modern.
The BBC.
Terry Pratchett.
Deke Leonard.
Danny Thompson.
Kate Bush, PJ Harvey, Danny Baker & Jools Holland on the subs bench.
Potential bonus (if no-one decides to clean it up): The Chiltern Rail viaduct across the M25 near Denham with "Give Peas A Chance" grafitti'd on it in giant letters. Always makes me smile.
Cut from the same cloth...
I'll give you BRIAN BLESSED! (his name should, of course, always be written it capitals with an exclamation mark) and, in a similar vein, Tom Baker. None more eccentric, none more British.
Also, prompted by the thread about his nod from the Queen, Bernard Cribbins. A man whose very voice makes you wonder if there is cricket on the village green and are crumpets still for tea.
The reason I decided not to settle in Australia, as there's no
ISIHAC
Journeys and esoterica
The A83 driving east towards the Rest and Be Thankful and then on to Tarbet.
The view from the West Coast mainline as you go through Cumbria.
Walking home from the train station amid the musty smell of piles of wet leaves in the Autumn, the pavement bright with sodium orange glare.
Joyful moments as Soul Limbo closes a successful Test match. (Note - rare as hen's teeth for most of my life)
The echo of childhood anticipation as the guitar twangs and a silhouetted figure walks across the cinema screen as a Bond movie starts up.
Trumpton
Keep Calm and Carry On
Um
TONY HART
CUSTARD
Still breathing:
Jasper Fforde
Peter Ackroyd
Julian Barnes
Iain Banks
Pat Barker
Alasdair Gray
John le Carre
Great moments in British films:
The telephone ringing in the public phone box at the end of Local Hero
Sherif Ali's emergence from the desert in Lawrence of Arabia
The hands in the wall in Repulsion
The overhead shot of The Beatles running around while Can't Buy Me Love plays in A Hard Day's Night
Paddy Considine opening the suitcase in Dead Man's Shoes
Madeleine Carroll removing her stockings while handcuffed to Robert Donat in The 39 Steps
The frozen table-tennis game in A Matter of Life and Death
On their first date Gregory and Susan dancing on their backs in Gregory's Girl
Great suggestions. See also:
"Daddy! My Daddy!" Jenny Agutter should be made a dame (if she isn't already) for that moment alone.
Withnail reciting in the rain with the wolves and champagne.
"'ang on, lads, I've got an idea..." Although when it comes to the Italian Job, I have to admit that I always preferred Benny Hill's desperate lust for the larger lady: "Are they big? I like them BIG."
Little Johnny Mills picking up the Carlsberg at the bar in Alex.
Ivor Emmanuel leading the boys in song as "Zulus, thousands of 'em" close in.
And that's before we get onto great TV series...
Which might start with
Bob Peck in bed with a pistol and a teddy bear
John Thaw and Dennis Waterman having the s**t kicked out of them by villains
James Burke standing on the wing of Concorde
Diana Rigg speeding down a country road
Johnny Ball grinning like someone who knows he has the best job in the world
"Life. Don't talk to me about life..."
And so on...
Dead Mans shoes
Bloody marvellous film and Considine is a great actor. Good call.
On the film theme,
let me add Ealing comedies, specifically Kind Hearts and Coronets ("ah my memoirs"), The Lavender Hill Mob ("I say Pendlebury, it's a good thing we're honest men") and the truly wonderful Ladykillers. You could also add in the lesser ones like Passport to Pimlico and the Titfield Thunderbolt. Also I'm alright Jack and Two Way Stretch.
Er...I wrote another poem a number of years ago...
...it includes some stuff we might include?
Back in Attic
Lift the trapdoor, step inside,
Unlatch the windows of your mind.
Breathe in the air of bygone days,
Odours, perfumed memories.
Remember golden yesterdays,
A book with all of Shakespeare's plays,
Pressed wild flowers, high hedgerows,
Steam trains, fairs and cattle shows.
A gramophone, that shellac smell,
Adventure books and William Tell.
Photographs, a cricket bat,
Cobwebs, comics, old school cap.
Roller skates, a crystal set,
A collar for a deceased pet.
Boxes, trunks, a packing case,
A broken clock with dusty face,
Stopped dead. So strange,
Just like the place, no change,
Where time stands still, no chime, no tick,
No talk, no sound, just memories thick.
Lives encompassed in a room,
Mementoes stored and bathed in gloom.
A time machine to step inside,
The perfect place for one to hide.
Escape for now, forget your age,
Immerse yourself - Aladdin's cave.
Take a pinch of ancient snuff,
Inhale the heady, powerful stuff,
Of bygone days and childish ways,
Pick up the bard's old book of plays,
And read, proceed, live for the day,
Reminiscence, come what may.
Are you...
John Major?
Viz magazine
Charlie Brooker
Radio 4 (I know it's a repeat but it's worth nominating twice)
Tunnocks Tea Cakes
Simon Schama
Not forgetting
Sir Patrick Moore
Alan Bennett
A J P Taylor
Tunnocks...
...caramel wafer bars.
Living and dead, these spring to mind.
PG Wodehouse
Nile Rogers
Claire Grogan
Chris Morris
Eddie Mair
Richard Thompson needs to be there if we are talking Massive approval.
Norman Lewis (perhaps that's just me, but he always gets an approving ripple)
I have to argue.
Nice list but Eddie Mair!!!! He can go in but only because there is the possibility of never hearing the awful, pompous oaf again.
Have a small
approving ripple of applause for Norm. Plus the great foreign correspondents like James Cameron and Rene Cutforth.
Might I add
to the correspondents Wynford Vaughn-Thomas?
Viv Stanshall
Jake Thackeray.
Oh, and The Beatles. They were good.
Flanders and Swann
too.
And Charles Hawtrey.
And Morrissey.
Somewhat Scottish
Ivor Cutler
Michael Marra
Lewis Grassic Gibbon
Robert Louis Stevenson
Whisky Galore
That Sinking Feeling
Still Game
The Vital Spark
The Sensational Alex Harvey Band
Ballboy
Oatcakes with Black Crowdie
Highland Park Single Malt
Dudley D Watkins
A request
can I add Gregorys girl and a single sauasage to your list ( mines is full so I'm sneaking on to other peoples! )
Gregory's Girl
certainly and lets show them on a double bill so that we can enjoy the considerable number of running gags between the two but I have to insist that you have a full sausage supper, wrapped in newspaper and washed down with Barr's Irn Bru from a proper glass bottle.
Forgot...
Adam and Joe
Comedy, and other stuff
Tony Hancock
Morecambe & Wise
Monty Python
The Goodies
Ronnie Barker
Arthur Smith
Malcolm Hardee
Carry On Films
Eddie Braben
Douglas Adams
John Lloyd
Talbot Rothwell
Clement & La Frenais
Galton & Simpson
Perry & Croft
The Damned
The Clash
Sex Pistols
Sun Pat Crunchy Peanut Butter
Salad Cream NOT Mayonnaise
Great idea for a thread
So off the top of my head
Supermarine Spitfire
Mini's (original)
Series Land Rover's
E Type Jaguar
The Italian Job
Jarvis Cocker
Peter Allen
James May
Marmite
Chicken Tikka Massala
Fish and Chips
BBC 6 Music
Warlord / Victor Comics
The Smiths
The Peak District National Park
(I know a few of these are repeated above so consider yourselves well and truly up arrowed.)
Agree with all (although have never been to the Peak District)
I was particularly struck by "Warlord / Victor Comics". I got one or the other (or perhaps both) along with "Look and Learn" (which I may nominate in this thread separately).
I seem to remember that comics always came out on a Thursday and that they were delivered with the daily paper... or am I dreaming?
In later years, Thursday was always "Tomorrow's World" and "TOTP". Best day of the week!
As usual
the answer is David Bowie.
But only till
he had his teeth fixed.
Landrovers
Black cabs
Routemaster buses
Marmite
Gentleman's Relish
Tea Caddies
RADA cockney in old movies "Lawks, you are a one, and no mistake"
Oh, good call on the Land Rover.
Stimpy and FakeGeordie have made a Mk. II Land Rover pretty much my number 1 desired object. I WILL have one.
Only if
you wear a poppy...
Haha
Troll!
You can borrow
my ex-military camouflaged Defender 110. That'll stir things up a bit.
Bob
This winter we're getting ours!
Lucky you!
I plan to get a slightly beaten up one, partly for the pleasure of fiddling about with it, and partly because I don't want it to be in such good nick that I can't do anything to it (i.e. putting a stereo in).
I suspect every Series II is 'slightly beaten up' by now
I can't imagine that many have been restored to concours condition,
As for fitting a stereo, a couple of considerations:
1. Where will you mount the speakers
2. It'll need to be VERY loud
3. Where will you mount the stereo itself? There's no dash/fascia but it is possible to mount them between the front seats in a cubby box that replaces the middle front seat.
5 things that make me want to stay here
The words of Christina Rossetti (yes, British)
The music of Gustav Holst (and yes he was British)
The countryside in winter
The work of the BBC Natural History Unit
...and the expectation of a new Kate Bush album
Hank Wangford
Ronald Searle
Rolls-Royce Merlin
Vaughan Williams
Red Arrows
Alistair Cooke
Black overcoats
Brown shoes
Sausage sandwiches
Graeme Garden
Norman Stanley Fletcher
Second hand books
Alistair Sim
Thick socks
Lucky Jim
Puckoon
Alastair Sim, without a doubt...
...and let's add Terry-Thomas too!
Del Amitri
Here is their greatest tune:
Stating the obvious
John, Paul, George and Ringo.
As is often the case...
Depeche Mode represent everything that's good about being British.
Ordinary backgrounds, independent, self-taught, original songs, extraordinary global success, a bit pervy, a bit miserable.
Tunnocks Caramel Wafers
Pies of the Scottish variety
Salt & Vinegar Crisps
Irn Bru
Bill Bailey
The Fab Four
John Paul, John, Robert and Jimmy
...
Cairngorms National Park
hot smoked salmon
smoked haddock
the North Sea
Scotch whisky
lighthouses
Scots Pine
Lochnagar
Maes Howe
oatcakes
Maes Howe, good call!
Can you name anywhere else in in Britain that has Viking graffiti on the walls written in Runes? I mean apart from Jimmy Page's lavvy?
And I'll throw in Scara Brae as well while I'm here.
Skara Brae absolutely
"...and this is the mantel above the fireplace where your typical Orcadian of five thousand years ago kept his etchings and a nice wee pot of flowers ..."
quite amazing
Exactly, it's like the Flintstones
I expect that one day they'll excavate a stone radio tuned into The Archers as well as a stone jar with Marmite written on it in Norse Runes.
I have also been to Maes Howe.
Remarkable place in every way.
Just three ...
Edwyn Collins
The 100 Club
E. Pellicci
http://www.classiccafes.co.uk/Pelliccifeature.htm
Only three!!
Vox amplifiers
The Spitfire
John Martyn
A big kid at heart, but we must have...
Rag, Tag and Bobtail
Rupert Bear
Paddington Bear
The Famous Five
The Secret Seven
Robin Hood
King Arthur & The Knights of The Round Table
Arthur Rackham
Sherlock Holmes and Doctor Watson
Captain Pugwash
Wind in the Willows
Peter Pan
Will Hay
Rupert Bear?
I was going to argue with you about his inclusion until I remembered that he's in the video for "We All Stand Together". Which means that he's probably Paul McCartney's best collaborator since Denny Laine. (Let's face it, it's better than "The Girl Is Mine")
Mind you, he does dress like a bloody golfer.
Rupert is also slightly taller than Ronnie Corbett...
So I'll add The Two Ronnies
Eduardo Paolozzi
Stanley Spencer
Charles Dickens
Stanley Unwin
Marty Feldman
Dennis Potter
Another 3?
Brian Cant
Derek Griffiths
Trumpton
Another fab four
Jim, Dave, Noddy & Don.
Layjennelmen, I give you SLADE.
Wales
Bassey
Brydon
Burton
Cope
Edwards
Hopkins
Jones
Rush
Thomas
Williams
Rush
were Canadian weren't they?
Not sure which Williams you mean
but Shane had a cracking day yesterday.
Personally, I'd go for JPR as the greatest rugby Williams although, watching that clip of Shane, I seem to have something in my eye.
Just three...
..from me !
Ricky Tomlinson
Dave Gilmour
Craster kippers
My Three...
RNLI
Milkmen.
Black pudding.
Ok
London
Full English breakfast (must include black pudding)
Cheddar cheese
Victoria Coren
(waits in vain for tsunami of up arrows)
Only if she's wearing the cat outfit.
Woof woof. As it were..
Green Lanes, London N8 A bag
Green Lanes, London N8
A bag of Ready Salted
Brian Clough
Mark Ellen's blue shirt(s)
Wilfred Owen
Norman Wisdom
John Peel
Trainspotting
Nick Drake
John Snow
The Slits
If you mean...
...this John Snow...
...then I'm with you all the way.
I submit
The films of Ken Loach
Four Quartets (Eliot took British citizenship)
The Incredible String Band
The music of the Kinks up until about 1971
"The Whitsun Weddings" and "High Windows"
The art of Barney Bubbles
The work of Charles Rennie Mackintosh
John Peel & John Walters
Sandy Denny
The art of Edward Wadsworth
"Five Leaves Left", "Bryter Layter" and "Pink Moon"
Stephen Wiltshire's aerial cityscapes
Lemon curd (is that British?)
Toad in the hole
Probably won't get any Up's but...
RICHARD O'SULLIVAN
Him off Robin's Nest and Man About The House.
I heard recently that he is in the old folks home/hospice for actors in Chiswick. Apparently quite ill, but not really that old.
Had a bit of an 'ITV' stamp on him which reduces his greatness somehow, but he still leaves a certain warm glow.
A treasure indeed
Have an up :-).
A few from me
Aardman Animations
Cream Teas
Edward Elgar
Gardening
Naim Audio
Nick Drake
Pink Floyd
This give me an excuse to post this again
Miriam Margolyes proving why she is a national treasure:
WARNING: this is rude
Here's a few
Alec Guinness
Danny Baker
Evelyn Waugh
Julie Christie
A few with apologies for any repetition
The poems of Philip Larkin
Guy Garvey
Alan Bleasdale
Terence Davies
Meccano
Dan Dare
The Eagle
The Victor
The Beano
The Dandy
Blake's Jerusalem
Tony Hancock
Sid James
Sykes
Spike Milligan
A few more for the paper-chasers:
The Hotspur
2000AD
Marvelman
V for Vendetta
and...
Zenith.
Now lets have a think.
Jellied Eels
Pie, Mash and Liquor
Tea
Tubby Hayes
Humphrey Lyttleton
I'm Sorry I Haven't A Clue
Alfred Hitchcock
HP Sauce
Tony Benn
The Fall
Margaret Rutherford
Fish and Chips
Camberwick Green
Mary, Mungo and Midge
The BBC
Non-League Football
Marks and Spencer Wine Gums
The Morning Star
Mark Kermode and Simon Mayo
Stephen Fry
Swearing
Ealing Comedies
Private Eye
There is probably a whole lot more....
Sorry
HP sauce no longer made in this country (Heinz make it in Holland) so it's off the menu.
Art!
Turner
Paul Nash
Howard Hodgkin
Graham Sutherland
Monty Python team
Stilton cheese
Goldfrapp
More Art!
David Hockney and Peter Blake surely?
Martin Carthy
surely worthy of inclusion I'm off to see the great man tonight.
can I add a non-Scottish few?
* The Antrim coast between Cushendun and Ballycastle
* St Ives
* The view from the restaurant on the top floor of Tate Modern looking across the Thames to St Paul's and the City
* Land's End - the actual rocky bit (not the visitor attraction with the 4D film experience and petting farm)
* Any decent English country pub in the summer with seats outside that serves local cask ale
* the BBC, all of it, for a fraction under £2.80 a week
* St Pancras Railway Station
* Avebury
* Lots more
(sorry Wales - not been to Wales much)
Two more restaurant views:
The restaurant at the top of the National Portrait Gallery - out over Trafalgar Square towards Whitehall and Parliament Square
And on the other side, the little roof garden at The Trafalgar Hilton looking back over Trafalgar Square towards the National (Portrait) Gallery.
Steve Davis
.
and more
Mr Benn
Tiswas
Dr Who
NME
Smash Hits
Castles (just in general)
Stone'enge
Castles (just in general)
Does that include Barbara Castle?
I think perhaps it should.
Withnail And I
The Shipping Forecast
Can I add...
Dan Cruickshank. As a Irish lad who grew up in the 70's, he is the last of the crumpled, globetrotting, eyes wide with wonder and genuine interest in his subject matter, documentary makers that made BBC2 great when I was young. He shows might not be that interesting but I find him magnetic in a quintisentially British way.
Public footpaths
Are Stephen Fry and Hugh Laurie a given?
They could be the gatekeepers to the Treasury, like Gog and Magog.
Brian Eno
A few more
Denys Watkins-Pitchford (BB)
Johnny Speight
The Perishers
Keith Waterhouse
Frank Muir
Richard Mabey
Graham Greene
Victoria Wood
Peter Walker (founder of Quad, not Thatcher-era politician)
Tubby Isaacs
Excellent Women by Barbara Pym
The House of Hardy
Public Information Films
Armando Iannucci
Pork pies
Southend Pier
No Half Man Half Biscuit yet?!?
Maybe I've just missed them in the above contributions. Others I failed to notice were Alan Partridge, Chris Morris, Roddy Frame, Kew Gardens, Pret a Manger and Pizza Express. The last three were the things I missed most about living in London.
A special mention for the actress Madeline Smith, especially her work during the 70's. Another personal favourite - the legendary stand-up Johnny Immaterial.
...and no Ray Mears yet either. I know he's gone to ITV but as an Irishman, he's my favourite Englishman never to have played for West Ham United and he has made some wonderful TV programmes.
"My favourite Englishman never to have played for West Ham"
Well, there's nothing stopping us having a couple of West Ham players in the Treasury too, of course:
The Word
in printed and podcast form. You need a justification...?!
Bread and butter pudding.
Sir George Martin
and some more:
Ray Davies
Paul Weller
Madness
Squeeze
Stan Bowles
Tony Currie
Alan Hudson
Frank Worthington
(If you're interested in Maverick Footballers, this is worth a read: http://www.amazon.co.uk/Mavericks-English-Football-Flair-Flares/dp/18515...)
Frank Worthington
was a footballer with sublime skills - should have been a mainstay of the England side. Flair is frowned upon in our national team though.
Apparently did a great Elvis impersonation and had a way with the ladies.
"a way with the ladies"
I think is supported by his autobiography title, "One Hump or Two?".
Christopher ...
... Biggins
Terrance Stamp
Great actor, sharp dresser.
Is it just me
or is this thread very reassuring that Britain isn't quite as bad as some try to make out. Oh and while I'm here I'll add John Barry to my original list.
Edit: And Sir Bobby Robson
Another addition
After a great Desert Island Discs I nominate:
Linton Kwesi Johnson.
Inspirational.
3 more
Country Pubs with Real Ale, Half Man half Biscuit, People playing Cricket on Village Greens (ideally near a duck-pond)
Neil Hannon
He's Irish
...so you can't have him.
While I'm on how about Stuart Hall, not so much for the manic commentaries to It's A Knockout but for his marvelous summaries of football matches in the most florid language imaginable. LEGEND!
A wise choice, sir.
Most perspicacious of you, I must say, showing wisdom as of Solomon himself. Now it's over to Gennario for the Fil Rouge HAHAHAHAHA LOOK AT HIS HEAD HE CAN'T SEE HAHAHAHA..
How are we defining 'National'?
I was thinking UK (he's from Northern Ireland).
This beauteous land
Wastwater
Achiltibuie Beach
Dartmouth Harbour
Portmerion
Holkham Beach
Dawlish Sands
The New Forest
Loch Ness
Bishop's Castle
Three reminders of home....
A book, a film, a piece of music
(Ralph Vaughan Williams - Fantasia On A Theme By Thomas Tallis)
Steve Marriott Peter
Steve Marriott
Peter Cook
Dudley Moore
Maxine Peake
Bernard Cornwell...The Warlord Chronicles
Best telling of the Arthur legend..Will make you yearn for the mysterious ancient past of Britain.
http://thewertzone.blogspot.com/2008/02/warlord-chronicles-by-bernard-co...
Cornelius Ryan
Longest Day...A bridge Too Far...Classics.British..emigrated in 1947.
For your consideration
Yorkshire pudding
Madness
Branston pickle
The Specials
Black & white Peter Sellers films
Pancake day
Tea from a teapot.
More to follow I am sure.
For incomparable sportswriting
Hugh McIlvanney
And let's include
his brother William another fine writer. His Laidlaw novels led the way for Scottish detective fiction.
For wonderful photographic portraits in
the Observer newspaper over six decades:
Jane Bown
A few more...
The Small Faces
Hovis
The BBC
RNLI (yes, I know its been mentioned, but it really is worthy of national treasure status)
The great North / South runs - done them both several times.
Auf weidersein pet.
David Bowie.
Depeche mode
Kenneth Williams
('ere, stop messin' about)
Margaret Calkin James (1895 - 1985)
- Calligrapher, graphic designer, textile printer, watercolour painter and printmaker. She kept working on textiles even after a stroke paralysed her right side and deprived her of speech.
Some of her well-known work for London Transport
Also, her artwork for the first ever greetings telegram
Just for starters:
John Betjeman
Kingley Vale yew forest
The Queen
Decca SXL 2000 series
Peter Cook
Multi-Terrain Pattern camouflage
Sezincote House
The smell of a Cornish lane in spring
Jane Birkin
Gil Sans
Norfolk country churches
Evelyn Waugh
Square & Compass, Worth Matravers
The trench coat
Aleister Crowley
Leslie Phillip’s hellooooo
Rex Whistler
A rookery in mid winter from afar
1 inch to 1 mile OS map
GPO 300 type telephone
Worth Matravers
He was in The Scottish Play with Larry and Jonny at the Garrick in '63 wasn't he?
Aye.
Came a sticky end in a butt of Malmsbury...so they say.
I saw him later
in dear Peter's 'Dream', when he gave his Bottom.
For what it's Worth
I feel his Bottom at the Bolton Playhouse was never bettered.
Look and Learn
.
The all-time great that is
Stan Laurel
Another vote for Ealing comedies.......
The post war English in a nutshell
Billy Bragg
Bateman cartoons
Radio 4
Honorary Brits
the delectable Kylie
Rolf Harris
Neil Finn (a weak one, I know, but he did get an OBE)
Tony Visconti
I'll add:
Bill Mclaren
Wales home games:
Swallows and Amazons
Oliver Postgate