10 things Britain does better than the rest of the world

Daftar Isi

They, and their national parks, leave our national parks looking distinctly second-rate.

But there are also plenty of things for the British to be proud of. Here are just 10 (plus a few "honourable mentions"). Feel free to add your own, or disagree with our choices, in the comments below.

1. Temperateness

– NHS in intensive care, drugs, thugs, taxes, issues of gender identity, Prince Andrew, and who knows what else – from the outside, things don’t quite seem like that. There’s a longer-running reality that is perceived by those who don't follow the UK's daily twists and turns – and an element of that reality, of Britishness itself, is what I would call our “temperateness”. It's a world leader in this area.

We remain a beacon of moderation, admirably benign with weather (hurricane-free), geography (nothing peaks higher than 1,345m, a mere gentle hill compared to the Alps) and politics (Sunak to Starmer without a single shot being fired).

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We value being calm and balanced, which allows us to be polite, casual, and friendly. We often make jokes about ourselves and are generally accepting and giving. We also don't get tense about many things. It's on this even-keel basis that we can achieve and celebrate great things in areas like rock music, fashion, and soccer, among others. We may get carried away, but our foundation remains steady.

Anthony Peregrine

2. Ordnance Survey maps

Things are truly of sublime beauty.

Yes, they originally came out to be used by military personnel, but now they’re essential tools for anyone wishing to explore any area of the country. They highlight windmills and industrial areas, distinguish between scrub and bracken, identify ancient earthworks, and detail every church. And they tell you where you can go – footpaths, bridleways, and byways crisscrossing their squares. They're not just maps; they're endless possibilities.

Sarah Baxter

3. Pubs

, are they?

That's because the classic British pub is as unexportable as black pudding or Alan Carr, and it simply can't be replicated in laboratory conditions.

“New York's top English Pub” – which gets everything so terribly wrong that it joyfully hosts baby showers and children's parties…

No, a proper pub needs all those elements (including, of course, a cribbage board); but, like a perfectly poured pint of stout, it must have time to settle: after 200 years or so, that should happen. Then (perhaps with a slightly dry throat), creak open the door to find yourself in the most welcoming and convivial place on the planet, where the conversation and the laughter and the crackling log fire sound like the rustling of pork scratchings. Welcome home; can I have a foaming glass of nut-brown ale, please.

Ed Grenby

4. Music

Yes, fair enough, New York has produced the odd good band. And Los Angeles used to do a really nice line in preposterously groomed men whose collective hairspray use was largely responsible for the hole in the ozone layer (and whose songs seemed to bring on severe cases of constipation, so painful were their facial expressions as they “ripped” into yet another interminable widdly-widdly guitar solo).

At some stage within the last 70 years, some cities will have made their mark on music. Manchester, London, and Glasgow are a dynamic hub of imaginative music-making. Bristol was at the heart of the trip-hop trend in the Nineties (and will be again if Massive Attack release another album). Oxford shed its academic attire to give us Radiohead. And Liverpool produced a group of lads who enjoyed some success in the Sixties, though I'm not sure who they were called.

Let's put it another way. If the suburban streets of Bromley – Bromley, officially! – can mould the childhood of a star as bold, forward-thinking and always evolving as David Bowie, then, yes, the case is closed right there.

Chris Leadbeater

5. Eccentricity

Yes, Japan has toilet-themed cafés and Iceland has a museum of ancient phalluses, but which other nation's inhabitants roll peas, snorkel through bogs, or dance around each other while trying to avoid being hit by a damp cloth (dwile-flonking, anyone?), in the name of a bit of fun?

Put it down to our island nation's uniquely quirky outlook, or all those drizzly days with nothing to do but build an Airfix model, but the British do eccentricity with characteristic flair.

The best part is that it's here to be enjoyed by the casual visitor. So whether it's unique museums such as the Pencil Museum in Keswick, the Dog Collar Museum located at Leeds Castle in Kent, and the Phone Box Museum in Cardigan; or the eccentric festivals like Wormcharming in Blackawton, Aberdeenshire's Fireball Whirling, or the well-known Cheese-Rolling event in Gloucestershire, this island is a tribute to all that's quirky and fascinating in human tastes. Now, which scamp pinched my leg rings?

Sally Howard

6. Non-league football

Is there anything more satisfying in life than warming your hands over a cup of hot Bovril, cosied up in a woolly scarf, yelling "We're in!" as a goalkeeper boots a muddy football out of the stadium and into a nearby garden? I highly doubt it.

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What sets non-league football apart is that it offers a welcoming and affordable experience for families, with many clubs hosting raffles, creating a lively atmosphere where home and away fans can socialise together to the sound of drums and humorous chants. While many non-league teams maintain a traditional, down-to-earth image, some are modernising - Forest Green Rovers has the distinction of being the world's first vegan football club, and Lewes FC is notable for paying its women's players the same as its men.

In many ways, the quality of the football doesn't bear much relevance, but the possibility that Havant & Waterlooville could potentially play at the Etihad Stadium in the FA Cup is all part of the excitement. And, of course, the thrill that an errant ball could snatch your Bovis from your hand at any moment.

Greg Dickinson

7. Museums

aside from restitution, the core principle of making the greatest artworks and works of art freely accessible to everyone is at the centre of what influences our national sense of the significance of visual culture.

It is deeply rooted in our heritage. Twenty years ago we were commemorating the 250th birthday of the British Museum, this year it’s the bicentenary of the National Gallery. And let’s not forget the fantastic National Gallery in Edinburgh – it will mark 175 years since its establishment in 2025, whilst the V&A will reach the same significant milestone two years later.

And these excellent institutions have a star-studded supporting cast. In London we have world-class museums in both the Tate Modern and Tate Britain, the National Portrait Gallery, the Natural History and Science museums, the Wallace Collection and Kenwood House, all of which are free to visit. And while the Courtauld Gallery and Dulwich Picture Gallery (which opened in 1817 and is the oldest public art gallery in England) charge an admission fee, they also have fantastic collections that are well worth the cost.

Nick Trend

8. Sense of humour

Satirical rave reviews on TripAdvisor are a biting commentary on civic decay. “It’s a typical reflection of local wit,” one resident said to me, pointing to a gnomon-plagued roundabout as another illustration.

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A former winner told me he never actually enjoyed double Gloucester whilst showing me a video of him being knocked out at a previous event. "We thought he was dead," his friend joked. During my race, someone snapped their ankle. "This is what Brits are made of," a spectator said as the injured person was carried away on a stretcher. Good grief.

In Wales, people snorkel in bogs for a laugh, whereas Edinburgh is devoted to comedy in August every year. The most amusing joke at the Fringe is eagerly anticipated. “I was going to sail around the globe in the world’s smallest ship but I bottled it” is this year’s winning joke.

Gavin Haines

9. Parish churches

It's raining in a small village in the countryside. The local shop is a Spar. The pub has been closed for five years. The bus service is limited, running only once a day, four days a week. What's the best thing to do in a place like this? Often, the answer is to pass through the lychgate - the symbolic entrance to the sacred - and walk up the path through the graveyard to the church door. The relief of finding it open soon turns into something more profound. With so many villages losing their pubs and post offices, shops and services, parish churches have become even more precious.

Confirmation and Sunday School.

Many individuals, in the "matting, seats, and stone, and little books", find themselves feeling like Philip Larkin in "Church Going": wondering, feeling at a loss, awkwardly reverent.

It is a remarkable boon to humanity in a noisy and consistently connected world to offer a secure, dry, unusual, and almost enchanting space in which to devote half an hour.

Our old parish churches blast a fairly prominent part of our heritage and provide a solemn silence that's often overlooked in large city cathedrals. Without them, British villages would be eerie and quite unfulfilling, not worthy of the visitor's patience and time.

Chris Moss

10. Plugs

Under my desk is a small dismal Tupperware box containing sorrowful mementos from my travels around the world. Travel adaptors are usually the final thing I pack before heading abroad – unlike sunglasses or beachwear, packing them gives me no pre-emptive sense of enjoyment. I have a varied collection, consisting of numerous adaptors including the European Type Es with two prongs that unintentionally stick out of sockets, and the American Type Bs that, from a certain perspective, appear to resemble a sad face.

All of which makes me yearn for the British Type G, widely regarded by electricians I’ve spoken to as one of the best globally for their reliability and safety features. Which, I suppose, is only fair given that they’re not exclusive to the UK in the slightest. Years ago, searching for a socket to charge my toothbrush in Kuala Lumpur, I spotted an old friend nestled above the skirting board and quickly felt grounded.

Oli Smith

Honourable mentions

to those held in pubs up and down the country – or on Zoom during the pandemic.

(Other sports apart from snooker and darts) reign supreme. We've also mastered the tradition of afternoon tea – and of cooked breakfasts. And then there's our impressive castles, our picturesque villages, our dry stone walls, our hedges, our garden centres, our roundabouts, our cheeses...

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