How does the UK appear to the world? How do we present ourselves? What image do we (want) to portray of our country and cultures? In a recent series of videos for display in Heathrow’s arrivals hall Stephen Fry presents ‘us’ as a peculiar, quirky, eccentric people who queue, tut and abide by a particular set of social norms and rules… Is this a good representation of ‘The British’?
In another video Fry lists his favourite places in the UK, listing places across the home nations and focusing on the UK’s rural heartlands: Norfolk’s wild beaches, Scotland’s moors and wilderness, Snowdonia, the West Country, the Lake District, Peaks and Dales.
The “gentle, apologetic manner” of the average citizen of the UK is one of the things Fry misses most when outside the UK. The British national emotion, according to Fry, is embarrassment with “I’m sorry” the national slogan. He suggests “you’ll fit right in in the UK if you smile and kind of accept that it’s your fault”.
National Lives, Local Voices 