Did You Know?

Two-thousand years of invasion, immigration and the infusion of foreign ideas and you thought you were English? These quirky facts are enough to pull the rug from under any Englishman:

· More than 95% of the people who call themselves English are, in fact, descended from foreign immigrants.

· In 1750, when the slave trade was at its height, one in 20 Londoners was black. Due to the number of multiracial marriages and children in the 18th century, it is probable that many of us have a black ancestor in our genealogy.

· When we refer to someone as being an ‘English rose’, we could easily substitute the word ‘English’ with ‘German’, as we are referring to the genetic characteristics of the invading Saxons.

· Genetic research shows that the Y-chromosomes of the majority of British males are as ethnically Germanic as you can get.

· Our patron saint – Saint George – is now believed to be a Turkish knight. In other words, he’s as English as a kebab!

· Our monarchy is German. From the coronation oath based on Anglo-Saxon traditions via the Hanoverians to the Saxe-Coburgh-Gothas (alias the Windsors) currently ruling over us, our monarchy is about as English as the Munich beer festival!

· The Bank of England is anything but English in origin. It was set up in 1694 on the model of the Bank of Holland, and its first governor was Sir John Houblon, a Dutch Walloon.

· The English Sunday roast is in fact a Roman invention. If the Romans hadn’t invaded England, we could still be eating a lumpy soup-like slop cooked in one pot!

· You may think that a Savile Row suit is a quintessentially English luxury. However, fine tailoring was initiated in England in the 16th century by the Dutch Walloons and refined by the French Huguenots.

· The Irish virtually built Britain. When you travel on the London Underground, it’s worth remembering that every yard of tunnel is most probably the work of Irish navvies.

· From ‘royal’ to ‘roast beef’, many of the words most associated with English traditions come from the French language.

· What could be more British than the ultimate symbols of the monarchy, the Crown Jewels? Too many things to name actually, as almost all the gems in the royal collection were plundered from far-flung corners of Asia and Africa.