Icons of England

Thanks to Ernie and an article in The Chicago Tribune I was introduced today to the icons of England, and a lot of my day has been taken up with thinking about this project. Basically the idea is to identify the concepts, ideas and cultural treasures that make England England. The first twelve have already been chosen, and the public is invited to nominate more. Another list will be compiled, together with background information, including the history and the impact of the selected icons. Here is the list so far:

1. Stonehenge
2. SS Empire Windrush
3. A cup of tea
4. The song Jerusalem
5. Punch and Judy
6. Alice In Wonderland
7. Holbein's portrait of Henry VIII
8. Angel of the North
9. The Spitfire
10. The King James Bible
11. The FA Cup
12. The Routemaster bus

I will admit that I was not familiar with a couple of items on the list, but the web site is a veritable mine of information on the nominees. There is a special section for teachers, including worksheets. You can read up on the icons that have been nominated or selected for the initial list, vote or propose your nominees. You may not nominate people, so while the plays of Shakespeare are allowed, Shakespeare is not. It looks like the site is immensely popular and they note they have “a large backlog of nominations to process.” I was all set to nominate bluebells, but I am too late.

Surely the idea will be picked up this side of the Atlantic. What role does the passage of time play? (It doesn’t seem to have phased the English who include everything from Stonehenge to a 1998 sculpture on their list.) What about regionalism? Can the South and the North and the East coast and the West Coast agree? Is surfing an icon for New Englanders? Does Hawaii care about Harvard?

If anyone wants to take part in a completely unscientific poll on American icons, send me your nominations. Limit your suggestions to ten. If you don’t want to deal with the “comments” part of this site, e-mail me. I’ll give you until the end of the month. In any event, please look at the English web site. Hadrian’s Wall, Marks and Spencer, Marmite. It’s all there.