Greatest British contribution to the world ?

[Limonette]

You forgot sitcoms!!! Like Red Dwarf, Monty Python, To the Manor Born, Fawlty Towers, Mr. Bean, The Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy, Blackadder, and many more I'm sure. British humor & comedy. And my world would be a different place without Jarvis Cocker, LOL. He's funny too.
Now you've discovered my secret - I'm also a Anglophile. But you still don't know that I'm a Canada-o-phile, heh.

[penny4m]

Football, Tennis, Rugby, Cricket!

[EdZiomek]

An excellent topic, with many good answers....

But I think there is a progression of elements which made Britain great...

One, it is an island, and difficult to defeat and change, although it has been invaded and defeated and assimilated many times, just much less than areas with land borders with warring neighboring tribes.

It had tin, which attracted foreigners, probably Egyptians and Greeks over the millenia, who used it for bronze production, which was a major military advantage.

It had large oak trees, one primary ingredient for having a Navy. Even Egypt did not have large trees, or any trees, they had to conscript the Phoenicians who had Cedars of Lebanon, and then they had a large world trade Navy. Like the British became, with their oak trees and Navy.

With a Navy, it developed world trade.

With world trade, it developed an imperialism apparatus which spread its language use.

With world language use, it gave to the world a unified language of sorts, but please don't tell that to the French, a very proud and wonderful people, who with their Viking Normans invaded England and Ireland, etc. etc. But note how the defeated English STILL retained the language element over the invading Norman French?!

But the simple answer is ...most definitly "English language" to the world.

[otelo]

I would answer (if it was proposed) ...The USA. That is the greatest contribution the british made to the world, as their former colony finnaly overperformed great-britain to replace it as the super-power.

[Maciamo]

I would answer (if it was proposed) ...The USA. That is the greatest contribution the british made to the world, as their former colony finnaly overperformed great-britain to replace it as the super-power.

Possibly. But I have my reserves about this, because the USA was founded as much by German and Irish settlers than British ones. There were also some Scandinavian and Dutch settlers (in the colonies of the New Netherlands and New Sweden, which became respectively the states of New York and Delaware). In fact, when asked about their ancestry, much more Americans claim to have German ancestry than British ones (check this thread).

[gaijinalways]

Language would stand out for me. Sorry IMO the food brands aren't quite international, excepting Liptons and Whittards maybe. As to inventions, yes, Viagra appears to be a milestone!

[Maciamo]

Sorry IMO the food brands aren't quite international, excepting Liptons and Whittards maybe.

Whittard isn't common at all here. The British teas that I have seen the most in continental Europe and Japan are Lipton, Twinings and Fortnum & Mason. Tiptree jam (Wilkin & Sons) is found just about everywhere nowadays. As for biscuits and sweets, Walkers, Quality Street, Cadburry, etc. are all very widespread in Europe and beyond. Except for Fortnum & Mason, you can find all these brands even in a small supermarket in Belgium.

[Starship]

As to inventions, yes, Viagra appears to be a milestone!

O come on what country wants to be remembered for helping people get it up?

[Maciamo]

O come on what country wants to be remembered for helping people get it up?

Well, it is a famous medicine, known around the world. However we could argue that it is not really a British contribution since it was developed by Pfizer, an American company. The labs were in England, that's true... But I don't know the nationality of the researchers. It was probably an international team.

[gaijinalways]

From what I understand, one of the leading chemists was British. I met a colleague of his when traveling in Japan, and he told me at the time it was released the said chemist was a minor celebrity in the UK.

O come on what country wants to be remembered for helping people get it up?

I didn't say they wanted to be remembered for it, I just said that they are.

Tiptree jam (Wilkin & Sons) is found just about everywhere nowadays. As for biscuits and sweets, Walkers, Quality Street, Cadburry, etc. are all very widespread in Europe and beyond. Except for Fortnum & Mason, you can find all these brands even in a small supermarket in Belgium.

Tiptree jam, have never seen it when I've traveled in Europe, and certainly not in Japan or the US. Walkers and Cadburry they sell regularly here and elsewhere. But Quality Street? Never even heard of it.

Just a side note, Walkers is Scottish. I don't know if you'd want to call a Scotsman British. One has told me it was okay (I think on this forum), but most I've met said it was not likely to be a message delivered in good health.

[Starship]

I didn't say they wanted to be remembered for it, I just said that they are.

health.[/quote]


Tongue firmly in cheek.

Its actually manufactured in Ireland, its really inflated our GDP.

[Maciamo]

Tiptree jam, have never seen it when I've traveled in Europe, and certainly not in Japan or the US.

They sell Tiptree jam in Carrefour hypermarkets, as well as some smaller subsidiaries (like GB in Belgium). In Japan, just go to any Meiji-ya, or some other supermarkets with imported products. I could even find Belgian jam in local, regular (not import specialist) supermarket in Tokyo !

Walkers and Cadburry they sell regularly here and elsewhere. But Quality Street? Never even heard of it.

Quality Street is an old British brand, It now belongs to the Nestle Group. When I was a child, there were always some at my grandmother's house. So it's been a while since it has gone international (much longer than Tiptree, which was hard to find in Belgium 10 years ago).

Just a side note, Walkers is Scottish. I don't know if you'd want to call a Scotsman British.

Of course ! What is more British than a Scotsman ? Great Britain is an island composed of Scotland, England and Wales (and Cornwall if you insisit that it is not really English). So I would understand that the status of people in Northern Ireland isn't clear, as they are not geographically British, but are politically. But Scotland is not even a matter for discussion. Never English, but unmistakably British.

[gaijinalways]

Quality Street is an old British brand, It now belongs to the Nestle Group. When I was a child, there were always some at my grandmother's house. So it's been a while since it has gone international (much longer than Tiptree, which was hard to find in Belgium 10 years ago).

I didn't know it was under the Nestle brand now, still haven't seen it unless they changed the name too.

But Scotland is not even a matter for discussion. Never English, but unmistakably British.

You best explain it to a pub full of Scotsman then, but make sure an exit is handy if you wish to avoid flying bottles.

[Maciamo]

I didn't know it was under the Nestle brand now, still haven't seen it unless they changed the name too.

Here it is. If you see the boxes, maybe you'll remember seeing it. The boxes used to be different though; less purple, with a big picture of an early 19th-century British soldier and a woman in the middle.

You best explain it to a pub full of Scotsman then, but make sure an exit is handy if you wish to avoid flying bottles.

I don't think you understand. They don't have the choice. Britishness is not just a political thing but a geographic one too. I am rather in favour of the independence of Scotland, but they would still be British (and European) after that, because they live on an island called Britain. Now if they want to dig a (Panama-like) canal along the border to make it a separate island, then we could discuss... But what's the point ?

[Silverbackman]

Don't forget unifying India, lol.

[Mikester]

I'm surprised you don't have sports listed, I read a book (Tim Harris Sport Almost Everything You Ever Wanted to Know) on the history of sport listed numerous sports where the modern form of them were either invented, developed, or organised by the British. From memory these included

Football / Soccer
Rugby
Cricket
Tennis
Golf
First purpose built motor racing track
Table Tennis
Badminton
First artificial ice rinks
Believe it or not organised alpine skying
Mountain climbing - 31 Swiss Alp peaks first climbed by holidaying brits
First modern grandstands
Boxing
Horse racing - most modern forms and rules
Snooker / billiards
First public swimming pools for sport

[Mikester]

Another contribution could be the The Royal Society - Bill Bryson has just written a book on it "Seeing Further". Started in 1660, Bryson considers that it was fundamental to the creation of modern science. "The Royal Society continues to do today what it set out to do all those years ago. Its members have split the atom, discovered the double helix, the electron, the computer and the World Wide Web. Truly international in its outlook, it has created modern science"

Members included Isaac Newton, Charles Darwin, Albert Einstein, Robert Hooke, Robert Boyle, Joseph Banks, Humphry Davy, Isambard Kingdom Brunel, John Locke, Alexander Fleming. Wiki has another list under "List_of_Fellows_of_the_Royal_Society" Membership is not limited to British citizens.

[Maciamo]

I'm surprised you don't have sports listed, I read a book (Tim Harris Sport Almost Everything You Ever Wanted to Know) on the history of sport listed numerous sports where the modern form of them were either invented, developed, or organised by the British. From memory these included

Football / Soccer
Rugby
Cricket
Tennis
Golf
First purpose built motor racing track
Table Tennis
Badminton
First artificial ice rinks
Believe it or not organised alpine skying
Mountain climbing - 31 Swiss Alp peaks first climbed by holidaying brits
First modern grandstands
Boxing
Horse racing - most modern forms and rules
Snooker / billiards
First public swimming pools for sport

Very good point. I have added a new option for sports and another for games.

[Ryes]

as tempting as it is to say the English language, it is not properly a British contribution. It's as much an imposition of the Anglo-Saxons and Normans on the native British. It's kind of an anti-British contribution.

[Sirius2b]

Hey, this looks like an interesting thread, after all...!!

I will expand my answer tomorrow... but now, I will say that one of the best british inventions are... Daleks!!...



http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kBSOhODoch0
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dalek



;)

[Gwyllgi]

The title of the thread causes me a problem because it uses the world as the target. Once you do that you have to look at the whole of history and the contributions made by previous civilizations. However if “World” was to be replaced by “Modern World” a different picture emerges.

And so, thinking Modern World I suggest something not on the poll, The Victorians.

Arrogant, hypocritical, often cruel, and usually self centered and selfish..

Abusive and abusing ……….. and yet at the same time a benevolent society, even altruistic, that were the quintessence of Britishness.

Hard and brutal at home, yet at the same time begining the social reforms to improve life for the worst off. Arrogant and worse to the people of the lands they invaded and then tried to improve with schooling and medicines and political reform.

They colonised and exploited and at the same time brought in reforms and improvements for so many, and yet at the same time during all their abuse and exploitation most were not even being aware they were doing so.

There is a famous British poet who, more than any other exemplifies Victorianism, Rudyard Kipling.

A shallow reading of his work and judgment against today’s values and he comes across as a condescending bore and yet ………

And yet take one example, The White Mans Burden and think about the times in which he wrote it, the audience for whom it was written, and the perception that so many White Victorians had of the world.

A world they had or were invading, colonising, and in the case of the USA, had engaged in wholesale genocide of the indigenous people and were now about to get stuck into the Philippines.

The Victorians also brought in the concept of Fair Play, and yet swindled millions by mendaciousness and downright cheating. They progressed a Parliamentary system that introduced universal suffrage and at the same time perpetuated an electoral system that sees all too often the party that the least percentage of the electorate gaining office.

It is that system that saw the most awful British Prime Minister who led the most awful British Government, that is Blair and New Labour, being elected by only four people in ten voting for them.

The British nation can best be summed up by paraphrasing the opening lines of Charles Dickens book, A Tale of Two Cities’

“They are the best of nations, and the worst of nations.”

Oh yes, and of course, let's not overlook Cambridge University, though in saying that I must declare an interest!

[Cambrius (The Red)]

The English language.

[Gwyllgi]

Ah but is it something unique about the English language, or is it that it’s so widely spoken because of what the British did?

After all, any language in which a persons nose runs but his feet smell can’t be all that great!

[Sirius2b]

As you said in another thread @Gwyllgi, the British have done "a lot of good things and bad things".

Here, I want to comment what the thread is intended about, the contributions in ideas, technology and culture... in the modern world.


+++++++++++++++++++++++++++

It is easy to overlook many of the realms in which the British have made contributions, but I think that @Maciamo gave a very interesting list, and from there I will comment what are the most relevant from my point of view.

The English language

There has to be a reason why English is the most widely language spoken today in the World. The initial reasons were colonialism and imperialism. However the English language have some traits that are very much convenient. It is a non heavily inflected language, with SVO syntax which uses the Latin alphabet.

German with an divided predicate architecture, or Chinese with its complicated Logograms would not be so easy to internationalize, even in similar conditions.

The agricultural & industrial revolutions

I will stress more the Industrial Revolution, which in its core it is the use of chemical energy to produce work ...



... this "phylosophy" made possible many other things...

Mechanical inventions (railway, gas turbine, jet engine, automobile, etc.)

Economics (mercantilism, free trade, capitalism, liberalism)

This have to be taken with perspective.

Aren't we seeing in the World the truimph of supposedly "surpassed" economical theories like Mercantilism and Dirigism (Japan, China, Korea,... )?

("Mercantilism" was a name given to something that almost all the European goverments from 1500 to 1750 practiced, and likewise "Capitalism" was a name given to an already in place practice.)

However, Economics as a science (Political Economics) was born in England... with Adam Smith, David Ricardo, Stuart Mill and Karl Marx as the first classics... and later we have other great British economists like Alfred Marshall, John M. Keynes and J.K. Galbraith.

However normal people don't realize that many of this supposedly "theories" in reality want to sell "liberal"/conservative ideology in a fancy package. And don't realize that many of the Nobel Prizes given mostly to Americans and British "economists" in recent decades, are plain fraud and political agenda.

Economics is one of the most ideologisized "sciences". Full of "respect to authority" and with a lot of "heretics"...

Only if you dedicate yourself to study the basics of its inception and phylosophy durign a long time, could you perceive a glimpse of truth out of all the propaganda.

Scientists & philosophers (Bacon, Locke, Newton, Darwin, Russell...)

Extremely important those and many others... like Sir Arthur Edington, Lord Kelvin, Ernest Rutherford... the list is unending.

Politicians (Walpole, Disraeli, Gladstone, Churchill, Thatcher, Blair...)

Don't forget David Lloyd George... ;)

On the other hand, Thatcher and Blair could be good known... but I do not see in them a positive contribution.


Parliamentary monarchy

Sorry, I am republican. Although one has to admit than parlamentary monarchies in Europe have done very well (UK, Belgium, Sweden... just to name a few)... I will exclude some other perverted ones, no to start a fight in this thread.

Literature & Poetry (Shakespeare, Milton, Bronte's, Kipling, Dickens, Elliot...) Crime fictions (Agatha Christie, Sherlock Holmes...) Children stories (Peter Pan, Alice in Wonderland, Winnie the Pooh, Peter Rabbit, Harry Potter...)

And many others authors like D.H. Lawrence, or Olaf Stapledon, ...

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Olaf_Stapledon

Pop music (Beatles, Rolling Stones, Pink Floyd, Queen, Robbie Williams, All Saints...)

Don't forget Elton John... ;)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wlz6mTyiMZc

Luxury cars (Roll Royce, Bentley, Jaguar, Lotus, Aston Martin)

Fashion (Burberry, Dunhill, Paul Smith, Vivienne Westwood, FCUK)

( Don't forget the Rover http://es.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rover_(autom%C3%B3vil) )

Oxford & Cambridge universities

The Commonwealth of Nations

Negative & colour photography

Sports (tennis, badminton, cricket, golf, rugby, boxing...)

Don't forget... SOCCER!!!

[Sirius2b]

@Maciamo wrote...

Many famous novels and children stories are also British. Many of them were adapted by Disney or Hollywood :

- Peter Pan, Alice in Wonderland, Winnie the Pooh, Peter Rabbit, Marry Poppins, Oliver Twist, Lords of the Rings, Harry Potter, etc.

Although not intended to be purely infantile or young literature, one good example of what you mention is precisely "The Jungle Book" of Kipling... and besides, there is something there, that easily could be used and adapted to the tastes of different cultures, other than British...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9ogQ0uge06o (USA Jungle Book )
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I4o88SFIqPo (Japanese J.B.)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PzMyhGnRSm0 (Soviet J.B.)

Regards.