X-Nico

38 unusual facts about Britain


Adam Buckingham

McAssey was a member of Spelbound, the gymnastic group who rose to fame in 2010, winning the fourth series of Britain's Got Talent.

Alex Uttley

Uttley is a member of Spelbound, the gymnastic group who rose to fame in 2010, winning the fourth series of Britain's Got Talent.

Audition Day

During her audition, Kathy sings as Scottish amateur singer Susan Boyle who gained worldwide attention for her performance of the song "I Dreamed a Dream" from the musical Les Misérables on the reality show Britain's Got Talent.

Band of Voices

Band of Voices is an a capella singing group from Hemel Hempstead who reached the semi-finals of Britain's Got Talent in 2013.

Britain's Best Bakery

Britain's Best Bakery is a British daytime cookery show part of the ITV Food category on ITV and narrated by Wendi Peters with judges Mich Turner and Peter Sidwell.

Britain's Best Buildings

Edited editions of the Palace of Westminster edition (ranging from 5–15 minutes) are often shown on the BBC Parliament channel, when live coverage of the House of Commons, House of Lords, committees etc. ends early, before the beginning of the next programme.

Britain's Bounciest Weather

Ashley Hames, "Sin Cities", Tonto Books, 2008, ISBN 0-9556326-0-9, p.33

Britain's Economy: Cameron and Clegg Face the Audience

The programme featured British Prime Minister David Cameron and his Deputy Nick Clegg facing questions from a specially selected audience following the previous day's emergency budget statement in which Chancellor George Osborne had announced £6 billion worth of cuts in Government spending.

Britain's Real Monarch

The eldest son of Michael Abney-Hastings, Simon Abney-Hastings, now holds the Title of Earl of Loudoun.

Ciaran Quinn

The act has achieved "moderate success" appearing on the X-Factor & Britain's Got Talent (but did not make it past the 1st round auditions).

Common Brittonic

The Anglo-Saxon invasion of Britain during the 500s marked the beginning of a decline in the language, as it was gradually replaced by Old English.

Pritenic (also Pretanic) is a modern term that has been coined to label the language of the inhabitants of northern Great Britain during Roman rule in southern Great Britain (1st to 5th centuries AD).

Britain from Pritani = "People of the Forms" (cf. Welsh Prydain "Britain", pryd "appearance, form, image, resemblance")

Common Brittonic was used with Latin following the Roman invasion of Britain in AD 43, at least in major settlements.

Common Brittonic (also called Common Brythonic, British, Old Brythonic, or Old Brittonic) was an ancient P-Celtic language spoken in Britain.

The place names of Roman Britain were discussed by Rivet and Smith in their book of that name published in 1979.

Domino's Pizza Group

Domino's has also sponsored the second, third and fourth series of Britain's Got Talent.

Douglas Fordyce

Until 2012, Fordyce was a member of Spelbound, the gymnastic group who rose to fame in 2010, winning the fourth series of Britain's Got Talent.

Earl of Huntingdon

Britain's Real Monarch – argues that 3rd–10th Earls should have been the monarchs of England

Elizabeth Rawdon, Countess of Moira

These descents are central to the line of potential descent of the Crown described in the 2004 Channel 4 TV documentary Britain's Real Monarch, which considers a claim based on the theory that Edward IV of England was illegitimate, and that the Crown should be traced through George of Clarence, his brother (with his attainder reversed), not through Edward's daughter, Elizabeth of York.

Hella Joof

Hella Joof appears as one of the three judges in the Television Show Talent 09 a Danish adaption of Britain's Got Talent.

Jonathan Stranks

Stranks is a member of Spelbound, the gymnastic group who rose to fame in 2010, winning the fourth series of Britain's Got Talent.

Michael Abney-Hastings, 14th Earl of Loudoun

In 2004, Britain's Real Monarch, a documentary broadcast on Channel 4 in the United Kingdom repeated the claim that Abney-Hastings, as the senior descendant of George Plantagenet, 1st Duke of Clarence, is the rightful King of England.

Mick Gosling

He is the brother of fellow strongman and former holder of the title "Britain's Strongest Man", Richard Gosling.

Myles and Connor

Myles Antony Ryan and Connor Jerrade Ryan (born 19 October 1995) were a British musical duo from Manchester, England who are best known for appearing on the fourth series of ITV's show Britain's Got Talent as part of the boyband 'Connected'.

The twins auditioned as 'Connected' on the fourth series of ITV reality show Britain's Got Talent in early 2010, along with Harry & Max Mondryk and Matthew Fitzgerald.

NLSPA

This studio is well known in the United Kingdom through their Britain's Got Talent 2010 semi-finalist group ICE, and the Future Dance Group.

Oli Thompson

Oliver Thompson (born 2 January 1980) is a British strongman, mixed martial artist and former holder of the title Britain's Strongest Man.

Only Boys Aloud

They gained publicity when they auditioned for the ITV talent show Britain's Got Talent.

Paul Burling

Burling "worked the holiday parks and comedy circuit for 25 years" before attracting nationwide attention on the fourth series of Britain's Got Talent.

A veteran of show business for 25 years, having worked in voiceover, radio and pantomime, he rose to national attention as a finalist of the fourth series of Britain's Got Talent.

Richard Gosling

Richard Gosling (born 1974) is the winner of Britain's Strongest Man contest in 2003.

He is the brother of fellow strongman and former holder of the title "Britain's Strongest Man", Mick Gosling.

Spelbound

Spelbound are a gymnastic troupe from the United Kingdom who rose to fame in 2010, winning the fourth series of Britain's Got Talent.

Sue Son

She first became known after appearing as a contestant on Britain's Got Talent, placing in the semi-finals.

Sue Son first came to public attention after auditioning for the third series of U.K. talent show Britain's Got Talent, helmed by Simon Cowell.

Surrogate advertising

It is said that birth of surrogate advertising happened in Britain, where housewives started protesting against liquor advertisements which provoked their husbands.

Welcome to the Space Show

Scottish singer Susan Boyle, who became famous after her television performance in Britain's Got Talent, contributed the song "Who I Was Born to Be" as the film's theme song.


A. Maitland Emmet

During his life, Maitland Emmet became one of Britain's leading specialists in the Microlepidoptera, as well as a Classical scholar.

Agadir Crisis

Anglo-German tensions were high at this time partly due to an arms race between Imperial Germany and the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland which included German plans to build a fleet that would be two thirds of the size of Britain's fleet.

Anglo-Austrian Alliance

Unable to control their Prussian ally Frederick the Great who attacked Austria in 1756, Britain honoured its commitment to the Prussians and forged the Anglo-Prussian alliance.

Annelise Hesme

As well as this, she has become particularly well known and popular in the United Kingdom and Ireland following the 2005 Renault Clio advert "France vs. Britain" directed by Ridley Scott’s daughter Jordan Scott who also directed the 2007 follow up spot "More Va Va Voom" again starring Hesme as Sophie and English actor Jeremy Sheffield as Ben.

Australian Government Future Fund

In May 2011 the Future Fund was criticized by The Age newspaper for investing A$135.4 million in 15 foreign-owned companies involved in the manufacture of nuclear weapons for the United States, Britain, France and India.

Auxilia

After the Batavi regiments were withdrawn from Britain to Italy in 66, Civilis and his brother (also a prefect) were arrested by the governor of Germania Inferior on a fabricated accusation of sedition.

Barry Reckord

After living most of his adult life in Britain, mostly with his companion Diana Athill, in the last few years of his life he returned to Jamaica, where he died.

Bermuda Volunteer/Territorial Army Units 1895–1965

What was painfully clear to the citizenry of those Isles, when (following an assassination attempt on Emperor Napoleon III)there was a threat of invasion by the much larger French Army in 1858, was that Britain's military defences had already been stretched invitingly thin, even without sending a third of the Army to another Crimea.

Brutus of Troy

The Historia Britonum states that "The island of Britain derives its name from Brutus, a Roman consul" who conquered Spain.

Campaign for Democratic Socialism

Gaitskell had promised that there would be no new taxes under his administration should be become Prime Minister, not wanting to tamper with the prosperity that had emerged in Britain under the Conservative governments of Winston Churchill, Anthony Eden, and Harold Macmillan.

Captain Horatio Hornblower R.N.

He is to provide arms and support to a megalomaniac named Don Julian Alvarado, who is calling himself "El Supremo" or "The Almighty" (Alec Mango), in his rebellion against Spain, an ally of Britain's enemy France.

Clinton McKenzie

McKenzie represented England and Great Britain throughout his amateur career which culminated in representing Great Britain at the 1976 Olympics in Montreal, Canada.

Commercial Cable Company

Connections from Waterville to Weston-super-Mare in England and Le Havre in France were soon established by the submarine route after initial use of landlines from Waterville onward to mainland Britain.

Dorina Neave

Apart from her books about Turkey, Lady Dorina has historical significance as the last of the "landed gentry" to live in Dagnam Park, before the policies of Britain's post-war Labour government constrained her to reside in her second home in Anglesey, owing to a compulsory purchase order made by the LCC.

Elizabeth Moore

Betty Moore, 20th-century Australian athlete who ran for Great Britain

Empery

Nelson Bunker Hunt was not in attendance for the race, the most valuable ever run in Britain, as he was celebrating his 25th wedding anniversary at home in Dallas.

Franjo Kuhač

Like Cecil Sharp, who did similar work in Britain and Appalachia, Kuhač published the folk songs with a piano accompaniment.

Freddie Young

Freddie Young OBE, BSC (9 October 1902 - 1 December 1998), (sometimes credited as Frederick A. Young) was one of Britain's most distinguished and influential cinematographers.

Frisii

Tangible evidence of the existence of the Frisavones includes several inscriptions found in Britain, from Roman Manchester and from Melandra Castle near modern Glossop in Derbyshire.

Geoffrey Ashe

Ashe has also helped demonstrate, through acting as secretary to a dig undertaken by Dr. Ralegh Radford in 1966-70, that Cadbury Castle in Somerset, identified as Camelot by the sixteenth-century antiquary John Leland, was actually refortified in the latter part of the fifth century, in works as yet unparalleled elsewhere in Britain at the time.

Gray squirrel

The Eastern gray squirrel (Sciurus carolinensis), from the eastern United States and southeastern Canada; introduced into Britain, Ireland, western North America, Italy, and South Africa

Horatio Walpole, 1st Baron Walpole

He got on intimate terms with Fleury and seconded his brother in his efforts to maintain friendly relations with France; he represented Great Britain at the congress of Soissons and helped to conclude the treaty of Seville (November 1729).

Iran–United Arab Emirates relations

The island has been under Iranian control until 1908 when Britain gained control of the island.

Irish Home Rule movement

1920: Fourth Irish Home Rule Act (replaced Third Act, passed and implemented as the Government of Ireland Act 1920) which established Northern Ireland as a Home Rule entity within the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, and attempted to establish Southern Ireland as another but instead resulted in the partition of Ireland and Irish independence through the Irish Free State Constitution Act 1922.

Jim Rodwell

In 1995, Rodwell captained the Great Britain University side at the World Student Games in Fukuoka, Japan.

Judith Keppel

Keppel's father was a Lieutenant Commander in the Fleet Air Arm, who moved with the family to various naval postings around Britain until they settled in London when she was 17.

La Belle Alliance

Blücher, the Prussian commander, suggested that the battle should be remembered as la Belle Alliance, to commemorate the European Seventh Coalition of Britain, Russia, Prussia, the Netherlands, Sweden, Austria, Spain, Portugal, Sardinia, and a number of German States which had all joined the coalition to defeat the French Emperor.

Leonard Behrens

Back in Britain, he became President of the Manchester Liberal Federation, and was an official of a large number of local bodies, including the Manchester Statistical Society, the Design and Industries Association, the Royal Manchester College of Music, the Hallé Concert Society and the University of Manchester.

Leonard Crossland

He joined Ford in 1937 and worked in the purchasing function until 1939 before leaving to join the British Royal Army Service Corps between 1939 and 1945: these were, for Britain, the years of the Second World War.

Maidenhead Locator System

In 1985, the Radio Society of Great Britain published a small set of BASIC language routines to convert from locator references to geographical coordinates (latitude and longitude) for further processing.

Malaysia–Thailand border

Known as the Anglo-Siamese Treaty of 1909, the agreement ceded the states of Kedah, Kelantan and Terengganu to Great Britain while Pattani remained in Siamese hands.

Media coverage of the Gulf War

In Britain, the BBC devoted the FM portion of its national speech radio station BBC Radio 4 to a 18h rolling news format creating Radio 4 News FM.

Munyua Waiyaki

A few months later he went for further studies in Britain which he pursued until he returned to Kenya in 1958.

New Britain Party

Some former members later joined the United Kingdom Independence Party, including Mike Nattrass, later a Member of the European Parliament for UKIP, who stood as New Britain candidate in the Dudley West by-election of 1994, gaining 146 votes.

Nichola Simpson

She won Bronze at the 2nd World Cup leg in San Salvador in 2006, which was Great Britain's first Archery World Cup medal.

Númenor

According to the novel, Merlin of the Arthurian Legend was the last in a long line of wizards familiar with the magic of Middle-earth, brought to the shores of prehistoric Britain by refugees from the sunken continent.

Odonata Records Committee

The Odonata Records Committee (ORC) is the recognised national body which verifies records of rare vagrant dragonflies in Britain.

Peter Seivewright

According to Britain's The Daily Telegraph, Seivewright underwent a quadruple-bypass operation in 2000, and used a work by Johann Sebastian Bach for purposes of music therapy.

Richard G. Mitchell

Aside from composing original scores for Film, Mitchell has scored music for Theatre Productions and Live Events which include the Opening Ceremony for Euro '96 at Wembley Stadium. He was commissioned to write the score for one-man theatre show Ousama with Nadim Sawalha directed by Corin Redgrave at the Brixton Shaw Theatre, and a jazz suite for the Francis Bacon Retrospective Exhibition at the Tate Britain in 2008.

Stass Paraskos

Despite luminaries of the art world speaking in Paraskos's defence, including Sir Herbert Read and Norbert Lynton, and messages of support from Britain's Home Secretary Roy Jenkins, Paraskos lost the trial and was fined five pounds.

Statistical process control

Shewhart read the new statistical theories coming out of Britain, especially the work of "Student", Karl Pearson, and Ronald Fisher.

Stephen Caudel

Toured extensively (Britain, Germany and Japan) including Ronnie Scott’s Jazz Club, Markneukirchen Guitar Festival, Karuizawa Music Festival and 3 nights at London’s Royal Albert Hall as Special Guest of Art Garfunkel.

Thames, New Zealand

Air Chief Marshal Sir Keith Park – WW2 Air Commander and AOC 11 Group during Battle of Britain (July – October 1940)

Vallis Vale

Vallis Vale is an ancient woodland site and supports an Ash-Wych Elm stand type with a restricted distribution in Britain.

Warren Humphreys

He had a successful amateur career, winning the 1971 English Amateur and playing on that year's winning Great Britain & Ireland Walker Cup team.

William Monson

William Monson, 1st Viscount Oxenbridge (1829–1898), Baron in the Peerage of Great Britain

Winterfold House

He settled in Britain, taking a lease at favourable rates on Upton House at Poole, Dorset in 1961, but there were endless financial problems, and threats of eviction.

Women's Rugby League World Cup

Women's Rugby League had been played in both Oceania and the United Kingdom for several years but it was not until 1985 in Britain and 1993 in Australia and New Zealand where female only organizations and governing bodies were established and while the Rugby Football League recognized the British women in 1985 it took another five years for the Australian Rugby League to officially recognize the Australian Women's rugby league.

Youth Fight for Jobs

YFJ also marched from Merthyr Tydfil to Cardiff starting 4 August 2011 to highlight that Merthyr Tydfil had the fourth highest level of youth unemployment in Britain.