OUGD503 - Royal Mint Competition - What England Means To Me

Sport

Britain has a big history in sport, especially in cricket and football. When you consider the strength and status of the Premiership amongst worldwide football, the seemingly constant stream of world class cricketers that England produces, the notorious rivalries between the home nations rugby teams, sport would definitely be a valid route to go down. I think given the recent success of the London Olympics, there would definitely be room to incorporate some patriotism in this as well.

Patriotism

I think that possibly my favourite thing about Britain is the relationship we have with the country. You're stereotypical American is always talking about the American dream and how it's the best country in the world. You don't get that with Britons, however, whenever I've been abroad and seen other Britons abroad, there's always a sense of national pride in the clothes we wear, our attitudes to various things, and the way we interact with foreigners when England is the subject of conversation. The fact that people tend to get so passionate when talking about Britain implies that this sense of national pride is there, and the fact that we don't actively show it suggests that it's something that we, as a country, are comfortable with, which is why this could be a good concept to run with.

 British Summer

From an English point of view, one of the most synonymous things I associate with being British is the bad summers. Despite it happening every year, we always get excited about the idea that "it might be different this year". I think this sort of optimism and almost blind hope sums up the people of Britain pretty well, no matter how bad things are, we think there'll always be a way out.

History

Obviously Britain has a long history with various breakthroughs in western society coming from Britain, such as the light bulb, the steam engine, the telephone and the TV. Going down the route of putting an image of something that's notoriously British that's helped the world might be a good route to go down.