How British Am I?My good friend David Jardine is as bemused as I am by the really daft measures being proposed by various governments to coerce immigrants into merging into a so-called 'national identity'. The Australians are the latest to try to identify important elements of their 'culture' which they feel Iraqis and others fleeing war and sectarian strife back 'home' should be aware of.
Dave had a letter about this issue published this week in the
Jakarta Post and this is it:
Dear Editor,
The latest round of nonsense relating to so-called citizenship qualifications in the so-called advanced democracies is surely risible. I refer to the Australian test and the possibility of having to answer questions about the Melbourne Cup, the country's most famous horse race. This surely demonstrates how arbitrary these things are. There must, after all, be more than a few Aussies who have no interest in the sport and who would not be able to answer these questions!
OK, I put out a challenge to my British expatriate-fellows in Indonesia, including Embassy staff, to see if they qualify for British citizenship on terms arbitrarily drawn up by... me. I have 20 questions about the history and culture of the UK and the pass mark (fairly generous) is 12 correct. I can be contacted here and promise to reply promptly. Just to show that I understand a little of British culture I will subject myself to 20 questions anyone else can come up with.
Could be interesting... I might be stateless!
Sincerely,
David Jardine
And here is his quiz. To be honest, without resorting to Wikipedia, I can only answer six, and I've got doubts about two of those answers.
And you?
------------- How British Are You?
1. Where were the so-called Debatable Lands?
2. Which famous writer belonged to a family of lighthouse engineers?
3. What was Princess Di's maiden name?
4. Four of the six best post-WW2 British-born soccer managers came from pit villages in Lanarkshire and Durham. Name them.
5. In which book does Toad of Toad Hall appear?
6. Who was the last British sprinter to win 100m gold in Olympics?
7. What (not her head) came away in the executioner's hand when Mary Queen of Scots was beheaded?
8. Which S.Wales city has a famous male voice choir called the Orpheus?
9. In which country is the Darien Gap unsuccessfully settled by Scots?
10. Name the 2 British mountaineers who may have reached the summit of Everest before Tensing.
11. Who led Tensing and Hilary's expedition?
12. What is Dame Naomi James famous for?
13. How did the Suffragette Emily Davidson famously martyr herself for the cause?
14. In which part of the UK did People's Democracy emerge in 1968?
15. What was the full name of the Jardine company founded in Hong Kong?
16. From which major Asian port did his clippers run opium to China?
17. Which English king initiated the construction of Canterbury Cathedral?
18. Who was the Beatles' manager?
19. Which world record holder was killed in a boat accident on Coniston?
20. Which river rises on Plynlimmon in N. Wales?
If you think you know (some of) the answers, please post them in the comments.
And if anyone wants to accept Dave's challenge to set him a few questions, please
email me and I'll post them here too.
Labels: jingoism
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