http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/UK_topics#Cultural_icons Cultural icons Bagpipes Bagpipes are a class of musical instrument, aerophones using enclosed reeds. The term is equally correct in the singular or plural, although pipers most commonly talk of "pipes" and "the bagpipe". Skirl is a term used by pipers to describe an unintended shrill sound made by the chanter, and is usually produced when the chanter reed is too easy and thus the chanter is overblown. Sometimes the term is also somewhat mistakenly used to describe the general sound produced by a bagpipe. The history of the bagpipe is very unclear. However, it seems likely they were first invented in pre-Christian times. Nero is generally accepted to have been a player; there are Greek depictions of pipers, and the Roman legions are thought to have marched to bagpipes. The idea of taking a leather bag and combining it with a chanter and inflation device seems to have originated with various ethnic groups in the Roman empire. In the modern era the use of bagpipes has become a common tradition for military funerals and memorials in the anglophone world, and they are often used at the funerals of high-ranking civilian public officials as well. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/UK_topics#Cultural_icons Big Ben Big Ben is the colloquial name of the Clock Tower of the Palace of Westminster in London and an informal name for the Great Bell of Westminster, part of the Great Clock of Westminster. The clock tower is located at the northwestern end of the building, the home of the Houses of Parliament, and contains the famous striking clock and bell. "Big Ben" is the most commonly used name for the Clock Tower, which is itself also known as St. Stephen's Tower . That name may have come from St. Stephen's Hall , the western wing of the Palace of Westminster, which is the entrance used by visitors wishing to view the proceedings of the Houses of Parliament, and British subjects wishing to lobby their MPs. However, it is more accurate to call the bell "Big Ben". One theory says that the bell was given that name after Sir Benjamin Hall, the Chief Commissioner of Works. Another theory suggests that at the time anything which was heaviest of its kind was called "Big Ben" after the then-famous prizefighter Benjamin Caunt, making it a natural name for the bell. Big Ben is commonly taken to be the name of the clock tower itself, but this is incorrect - the tower is simply known as The Clock Tower . Sometimes, the tower is referred to as St. Stephen's Tower , but this title is not used by staff of the Palace of Westminster. The face of the Great Clock of Westminster. The 5 foot 4 inch person (1.63 m) has been inserted into the picture at correct scale. The hour hand is 9 feet (2.7 m) long and the minute hand is 14 feet (4.3 m) long The clock in the tower was once the biggest in the world. One of the specifications of the clock was that it has to strike the first blow for each hour with an accuracy of one second. The mechanism of the clock was completed in 1854, but the tower was not yet ready by then. The name Big Ben was first applied to a 16 ton hour bell, cast in 1856. Again, the tower was not finished yet, and the bell was mounted in the New Palace Yard. The bell cracked, and its metal was used to recast the 13,800 kg bell in use today. Along with four quarter bells, it was mounted in the tower in 1858. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/UK_topics#Cultural_icons Bowler hat The bowler hat is a hard felt hat originally created for an English James Coke in 1850. It was designed to be hard to protect the head but evolved with its popularity in both England and the USA. As it peaked in popularity towards the end of the 19th century, offered a midway between the formality of the top hat associated with the upper classes and the casual nature of soft felt hats worn by the lower middle classes. It was the traditional headwear of London city 'gents' and has become something of a British cultural icon. However British men stopped wearing hats as a matter of course in the 1960s, and most young British people in the 21st century have never seen a bowler hat worn as part of normal dress. It was traditionally also worn by members of the Orange Order in Northern Ireland during their 12th July annual parades, though usage has declined. In the United States, this hat is also known as a derby hat . Famous uses • Stan Laurel and Oliver Hardy, the slapstick comedy duo Laurel and Hardy of the 1920s and 30s. • Charlie Chaplin, another comedian from the early 1900s. • Benito Mussolini, fascist Italian dictator. • Alex Delarge A Clockwork Orange . • The paintings of Belgian Surrealist artist René Magritte. • In Waiting for Godot by Samuel Beckett, the only description of costume is that all four major characters wear them. • John Steed, of Avengers fame wears this hat. • Clarinetist Acker Bilk wears this hat also. • In the 1986 film Pretty in Pink , Duckie wears this style. • Big Smoke in Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas Yeomen Warders The Yeomen Warders of Her Majesty's Royal Palace and Fortress the Tower of London, popularly known as the Beefeaters, are ceremonial guardians of the Tower of London. In principle they are responsible for looking after any prisoners at the Tower and safeguarding the British crown jewels, but in practice they act as tour guides and are a tourist attraction in their own right. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/UK_topics#Cultural_icons Britannia Britannia , the British national personification. Britannia was originally the Latin name that the Roman Empire gave to the island of Great Britain, and has become a national personification of Britain. Roman period At the height of Roman Britain, the Empire included much of Britannia (first invaded by Julius Caesar in 55 BC), up to Hadrian's Wall, which is close to today's border between England and Scotland. To the Romans northern Britain was known as Caledonia. Half of what is now known as Scotland was occupied by the Romans by the end of the Roman reign, kept in place by the Picts to the north of The Antonine Wall for over 400 years. There was no Britannia in Celtic mythology, and the land of Britain was not personified by any early known Latin poet. The Emperor Claudius paid a visit while Britain was being pacified and was honoured with the agnomen Britannicus as if he were the conqueror, but Britannia remained a place, not a female personification of the land, until she appeared on coins issued under Hadrian, which introduced a female figure labelled BRITANNIA. Typical of the Romans, Britannia was soon personified as a goddess. Early portraits of the goddess depict Britannia as a beautiful young woman, wearing the helmet of a Centurion, and wrapped in a white toga with her right breast exposed. She is usually shown seated on a rock, holding a spear, and with a spiked shield propped beside her. Sometimes she holds a standard and leans on the shield. On another range of coinage, she is seated on a globe above waves: Britain at the edge of the known world. Similar coin types were also issued under Antoninus Pius. Britannia with the British lion and Uncle Sam with the American Bald Eagle on a post-World War I poster Britannia remained the Latin name for Great Britain, but after the fall of the Roman Empire it had lost most symbolic meaning until the rise of British influence and later, the British Empire, which at the height of its power ruled a quarter of the world's people and a fifth of the world's landmass. Since the 1990s a new term, Cool Britannia , has been used to express today's modern Britain. The phrase refers to the fashionable London, Glasgow, Cardiff and Manchester scenes, with a new generation of pop groups and style magazines, successful young fashion designers, and a surge of new restaurants and hotels. Cool Britannia represents today's Britain as a fashionable place to be. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/UK_topics#Cultural_icons Cricket Cricket is a team sport played between two groups of eleven players each. It originated in its modern form in England, and is popular mainly in the countries of the Commonwealth. The length of the game — a game can last six or more hours a day, for up to five days (and occasionally more) — the numerous intervals for lunch and tea, and the rich terminology are notable aspects which can confuse those not familiar with the sport. For its fans, the sport and the intense rivalries between the top cricketing nations provide passionate entertainment that has occasionally given rise to diplomatic outrage, especially the infamous Bodyline series played between England and Australia. Cricket is a bat and ball sport. The objective of the game is to score more runs (points) than the opposing team. A match is divided into innings , during which one team bats while the other team bowls and fields . In each innings, the bowling team tries to limit the runs scored by the batting team and to get the opposition players out , an event which is described as 'taking a wicket'. The batting team keeps two batsmen on the field. Each player bats until he is out, and then is replaced and does not bat again in that innings.