Proud to be English - 50 reasons

I'm proud of all of the little bits of my ancestry. The Irish bit, the Aussie bit, the Canadian bit and all the other little bits as well. I'm no less proud of the English bit or my troublemaking English ancestors. I empathise with old Chidiock Tichborne - poet and conspirator. He changed the law of the land. When Queen Elizabeth the First found out that his public disemboweling had aroused public sympathy, she insisted that people were hung until dead before such inhumanity was inflicted upon them. I suppose Chidiock was a "proto blogger" writing his eulogy the night before he was executed. I'm rather proud of the English in general. We've got a long history of not being too keen on extremist idiots. We lead the world in abolishing slavery. We had the Magna Carta before anyone else had thought of such a thing. Anyway here's 50 reasons I'm proud to say I'm English. If like me you are the son of an immigrant who was born in this fine country and cheers for the England football team, all of these things make me feel English and proud of it. I don't believe you'd get any of them anywhere else (apart possibly from no 1!) and every single one of them makes me smile

1. John Barnes goal for England Vs Brazil
2. The Mill Hill Tandoori and the Day of the Raj Restaurant
3. William Wilberforce and the abolition of slavery
4. The Sex Pistols
5. St Pancras Station
6. Brighton Pier
7. The St Albans real ale festival
8. The Notting Hill Carnival
9. The Clash
10. Wembley Stadium illuminated arch at night
11. The 1948 Olympics
12. Rebecca Adlington
13. Red Rum (The Horse)
14. The Grand National
15. The Pogues
16. London Zoo
17. The North Cornish Coast
18. York Minster
19. Frank Whittle
20. The Vacuum Magnatron
21. The Morris Minor Traveller
22. The smell of fish and chip shops
23. Whelks from a stall at the Seaside
24. The Tate Modern
25. The Roundhouse (especially when X-Ray Specs are on stage)
26. Harry Patch & all those vets who died before him
27. Walter Tull (footballer & winner of the Military Cross)
28. Watling Boys Club (now Watling FC)
29. The Wellington Bomber in the RAF museum Hendon (my Dad flew one)
30. The Battle of Cable St
31. All of London's Greasy spoon Cafe's
32. 2000AD (featuring Judge Dredd)
33. Bob Crowe's intransigence
34. Manchester City fan's silent observance of the minutes silence at the 50th anniversary of Munich
35. Manchester City's 2-0 victory over United immediately after
36. The big oak trees in Mill Hill Park
37. The discovery of Jimi Hendrix
38. George Orwell
39. Thunderbirds
40. The 4th Plinth
41. The Specials
42. Passport to Pimlico
43. The Sweeney
44. Life on Mars
45. The Life of Brian
46. Life on Earth
47. The Triumph Bonneville
48. Linton Kwesi Johnson
49. Cox's Orange Pippins
50. The smell of kebabs at pub chucking out time

In the course of researching various blogs, I often take a peek at various BNP & other right wing blogs and websites. There are many sad things about their stilted views of the great country, but the saddest thing of the lot is just how many great things they are blind to. Maybe you don't agree with some/most/all of my list, but it all genuinely makes me happy and proud to be in such a diverse country with such a great tradition of tolerance.