I built up a knowledge of 1960s and ’70s British films because my dad used to work nights, and I’d sit up with my mum and watch films – ‘How I Won the War’ and the films of Richard Lester, Karel Reisz and John Schlesinger.
In the Fall of 1774 & Winter of 1775, I was one of upwards of thirty, chiefly mechanics, who formed ourselves into a committee for the purpose of watching the movements of the British soldiers, and gaining every intelligence of the movements of the Tories.
Simon Hale, the British arranger, does all string and wood arrangements on my records.
I’ll take anyone to task about UB40. They were as important as Bob Marley in getting reggae into the consciousness of British youth at that time. I’m proud to be their number one fan.
I have always liked clothes and fashion. And really, being a British male, I am automatically the best dressed person in any room – especially in America.
Sometimes Americans don’t quite get my sense of humor. My good ol’ British sarcasm seems to go over their heads.
Eastern Muslim countries, such as Indonesia and Malaysia, are relative success stories, as they are not afflicted by the Arab heritage of retreat and humiliation at the hands of the French, Spanish, British, Turks, and Persians.
British politics, as the world knows, is a joke. Yet it’s rarely funny.
Many of us came away from our youth thinking that the story of the Revolution was that the Americans were patriots fighting the oppressive British. It was kind of good versus evil, liberty versus tyranny. When you get into it, you find that it was much more complicated.
My father in the film – which we probably haven’t seen in previous movies, and in British Asian movies you could probably count on one hand – he says exactly why, actually why he’s frightened for his daughter. He came to this country, England, and had a bit of a crappy time.
I am confident that the British people will not be intimidated by terrorism.
The test of leadership for David Cameron was actually to bring the British Conservative Party back in to the mainstream.
The Irish and British, they love satire, it’s a large part of the culture.
I think the British people are very, very attached to the idea that the health service is free at the point of use. But there is no reason why every doctor, nurse and teacher in this country has to be employed by the state.
It is not yet too late for the Indian people to decide on rapid, ordered progress. I can assure them that the British people are as determined upon self-government for India as they are themselves.
I only started concentrating on football as a career when I left school at 18. I played golf for the Scottish and British boys’ teams.
With the issue of immigration, it’s very difficult because, although I don’t have anything against people from other countries, the higher the influx into England, the more the British identity disappears.
American television constantly tries to co-op British comedy and create their own version of it. Most of the time it doesn’t work; obviously, in the case of ‘The Office,’ it did. But a lot of times, it doesn’t really work.
India was formed on the idea ‘Let’s get the British out.’
What I’m doing is British. It stems from the same culture as U.S. hip-hop, but the way we dress, the way we speak, the way we perform is so different. It’s U.K. street culture.
Dad was in the British Army and my mom was in the Royal Air Force, so both of my parents believed in discipline.
People realise that if Labour is to fulfil its founding goal of transforming our economic and political system into a more equal, free and truly democratic society, which provides security and life-changing opportunities to the British people, then there is no going back.
As I suffer in the defence of my Country, I must consider this hour as the most glorious of my life -Remember that I die as becomes a British Officer, while the manner of my death must reflect disgrace on your Commander.
I think what is British about me is my feelings and awareness of others and their situations. English people are always known to be well mannered and cold but we are not cold – we don’t interfere in your situation. If we are heartbroken, we don’t scream in your face with tears – we go home and cry on our own.
When Hong Kong was under British administration, governors were dispatched from London to govern this city. We had no say in the matter.
Between Clive Owen winning at the Golden Globes and the British Academy announcing its nominations, of which Sideways received only one, I’m feeling pretty humbled these days.
Teaching the history of the British Empire links in with that of the world: for better and for worse, the Empire made us what we are, forming our national identity. A country that does not understand its own history is unlikely to respect that of others.
In my view the European culture carries a very heavy responsibility for the creation of Israel… it is a product of both British and Stalin’s anti- Semitism, but the British never faced their own complicity in its construction.
The heritage of a British actor revolves around the challenges of playing the classic roles to meet certain levels of success as an actor. In America, the heritage of an actor is based on cinema mainly.
Possessed with a full confidence of the certain success which British valor must gain over such enemies, I have led you up these steep and dangerous rocks, only solicitous to show you the foe within your reach.
There is something about Prince William and Prince Harry that brings real modernity to the British royal family. They are also very open, human, and kind, and this is what I have tried to capture in the pictures I have taken of them as well as in my pictures of Prince William and Catherine.
I’m in favour of more democracy – let the British public decide what the future of the monarchy is and what shape it should be.
The problem with being British… I don’t know if it’s me being British or being raised a strict Catholic, but you never really enjoy success.
Historically, the British have always been rather wary of grand engineering projects – perhaps understandably, given that many of them have been delivered late and over budget.
The Windrush era is a very important part of British history as it helps us understand how and why we became the multicultural society we are today, and also helps us understand the history of race relations in this country.
Like, Mission Of Burma to me always sounded almost like they were part of the British Arty New Wave. I kind of like that. I like not being able to tell the difference.
I lived in London for eight years and I like to say that I am two parts American and one part British because I lived there for a third of my life.
The ‘Robben Island Bible’ has arrived at the British Museum. It’s a garish thing, its cover plastered with pink and gold Hindu images, designed to hide its contents. Within is the finest collection of words generated by human intelligence: the complete works of William Shakespeare.
I received an OBE from the Queen, which probably doesn’t mean anything in America but is quite nice in England – the Order of the British Empire for services to drama.
The British were white, English, and Protestant, just as we were. They had to have some other basis on which to justify independence, and happily they were able to formulate the inalienable truths set forth in the Declaration.
You don’t expect to get the letter saying, Her Majesty would like to appoint you Knight Commander of the British Empire! It was just a completely overwhelming and exciting day.
I love ‘Monty Python,’ ‘Black Adder,’ ‘Fawlty Towers.’ I’m a huge fan of British comedy.
The British seizure of Hongkong was an aspect of one of the most ugly crimes of the British Empire: the takeover and destruction of India, and the use of India to flood China with opium.
I think you know that I classify science as British science, American science, and everybody else.
I mean, I think in the early days we were pretty… pretty British in our entertainment leads.
The mistake British comedians often make is trying to beat the Americans at their own game – getting visiting American singers on their shows, talking about ‘sidewalk’ instead of ‘pavement,’ sitting on high stools in a white dinner jacket doing ballads. That way, you simply end up with a mid-Atlantic mishmash.
You know, not even your British Queen is called just Elizabeth – she’s Elizabeth the Second. There’s only one Imelda.
The colour of a British wood in autumn is predominantly yellow. There are relatively few European trees which have red leaves in the autumn. But there are splashes of crimson or rust-red colours from a few indigenous trees, like the rowan, as well as from introduced species, like the North American red oak.
I first read science fiction in the old British Chum annual when I was about 12 years old.
The ancillary aspect of every British city now is the council estate.
I joined the army on my seventeenth birthday, full of the romance of war after having read a lot of World War I British poetry and having seen a lot of post-World War II films. I thought the romantic presentations of war influenced my joining and my presentation of war to my younger siblings.
I’m not British. I’m not American. I’m not French. Whatever thing they practise, that is their business. I am an African. I am Rwandese.
