Appetite’s Top Ten Facts About London and the UK
In February, we brought you our top ten facts about the Spanish Capital of Madrid, a celebration of Appetite Creative’s new office there. Today we are going back to where it all started, the wonder that is London. And this time, we want to clear up some misconceptions. So without further ado, here are our Top Ten things that everybody gets wrong about our home.
Big Ben is not a clock
Let’s start with a biggie, Big Ben. The towering clock tower that takes pride of place and is a valid symbol of London. But actually, it’s not. What we all know as Big Ben is actually the Westminster Clock Tower. Big Ben is nothing more than that large bell housed within.
The clock itself is indeed a wonder, standing at an enormous 96 meters with minute hands of seven meters each, it was once the most giant four-sided clock in the world. Big Ben is “merely” the largest (at almost fourteen tonnes!) of the five bells inside.
It doesn’t always rain
London, England, the UK, always raining. Ask anyone for an example of a place where it always rains, and London is likely to be mentioned. However, this is nothing more than the glass half empty brigade, Britain ranks a comfortable 46th in a chart of worldwide average rainfall, falling well behind such countries as New Zealand (29th) and even the USA (25th).
Why does Britain have a reputation for bad weather? Most likely because winters tend to be longer than summers in Britain, most artwork of Britain depicts the weather based on expectation, and we all like to dwell on a period of bad weather, even if the weather is generally reasonable.
“God Save The Queen” is not the National Anthem of England
Wales has its own national anthem, as do Scotland and Northern Ireland, and proud they are of them. What sets England apart is not that its national anthem is applied to the whole of Britain, but that it, in fact, does not even have an official national anthem at all!
An excellent example of this in action is when England plays against Scotland in a game of football. God Save the Queen cannot be used for both teams here, this isn’t a problem for Scotland who can bring out their own anthem, but England’s choice will vary. Common stand-ins might be “Land Of Hope And Glory”, “I Vow To Thee My Country” or “Jerusalem”. All of which are popular contenders for becoming the official anthem. Sadly none of them is official, and neither is God Save the Queen, which is only official for Britain itself.
Warm Beer
Please… we do like our beer, but not that much. Walking into a bar in London, or anywhere else in the UK for that matter, and ordering a beer anyway but cold would raise eyebrows just like everywhere else.
In fact, the most popular lager beers in Britain tend to be of the “Extra Cold” variety, and this applies to most bitter beers and ales too! Nobody likes a warm beer, the British included.
Britain is not a country
While “Britain” or “Great Britain” does refer to the general area, neither of them refers to a country. Britain is a general term for Wales, Scotland and England collectively, while The British Isles also includes Ireland (Northern and the Republic). England is most often incorrectly named in this way, and English people are often referred to as “British”. Northern Ireland is part of the “United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland” which differentiates between the part of Ireland that is governed by England (hence the suspension of the Northern Ireland government in 1972 and the Northern Ireland Assembly in 2002) from the Republic of Ireland which is a self-governing nation.
While calling an English person British is technically correct, it is quite unspecific in the same way that calling a Canadian person “North American” would be; only Britain is not a continent.
The Union Flag flying from Buckingham Palace does not mean the Queen is at home
Actually, it means the opposite. You’re looking for the Royal Standard if you want confirmation of the Queen’s residency. The Union Flag above the Palace says she’s elsewhere, doing other Queenish things.
We mustn’t always drive on the left-hand side of the road in London.
As in all of Britain, you probably won’t get very far driving on the right-hand side of the road, right? Well no, in fact, there are a couple of spots including the Strand entrance to the Savoy and Hammersmith bus station, whose entrance and exit both force drivers to the right. All very confusing for pedestrians. must be all that warm beer
The London underground is not underground
Many first-time visitors to the Tube are surprised to realise that despite its name, more than half of London’s Underground actually runs aboveground.
London Buses are not all red
Everyone knows London buses are red, in fact, the very same red as Kit Kats and McDonald’s, the only problem here as that, in large part, they are not. This becomes clear when seen from above
As you can see, bus roofs are primarily white, to reflect sunlight and thereby reduce heating in summer. We’ve never checked, but we’d be willing to bet that their underbellies aren’t red, either.
Now subtract the area taken up by the windows and adverts — the latter can take up the whole back side of a bus. We’d guess that the typical vehicle is only 30-40% red. Add to this the fact that at any given time, a small percentage of London’s buses don’t feature any red at all, and what you’ve got is a red herring… ahem
The London Eye Was Not The First Big Wheel in London
As our final shocker in our list of interesting facts about London, the London Eye was not the first big wheel in London. In fact, The Great Wheel earns this title. This wheel was constructed in 1895 for the Empire of India Exhibition. It was then sadly demolished in 1907, 91 years before construction started on the London Eye.