Happy St Georges Day everyone! Now while St George is the patron saint of England, it is interesting that he wasn’t actually English, but was instead born in what is now modern day Turkey!
King Edward III was so impressed with tales from returning crusaders of Saint George’s bravery that he decided to make him England’s patron when he founded the Order of the Garter.

I am immensely proud of being English, and British, so I have come with 10 English things I think make our country great! (There are tons so I could have been here all day!)

Full English Breakfast

There is nothing better at the weekend than lazing in bed with a cuppa and a piles of newspapers while someone cooks your breakkie for you. Oh the smell of bacon wafting from the kitchen! My version of a full English consists of bacon, sausages, fried eggs, hash browns, mushrooms, tomato and toast. But hold the baked beans – I can’t stand them. Controversial I know!

The Coast

We are pretty hardened in England when it comes to rain and the bitter North Sea wind, but it doesn’t detract from our beautiful coasts. I loved growing up in the south of England and spent many days by the beach, and used to collect fossils with my Dad as we have the Jurassic Coast down here! Considering how many countries in the world are landlocked, we should make the most of living on an island nation.

Tennis

I’m slightly biased since I now live in Wimbledon, but I’ve always been a tennis fanatic. It’s a fantastic workout, you get to eat strawberries and cream while watching and you can bet on whether play will be rained off which sometimes is more fun than betting on the players! Plus who doesn’t like tennis whites?

World Wide Web

Where would we be without it? Probably talking to each other face to face yes, but it has to be one of the greatest inventions ever. I’m honoured that Sir Tim Berners-Lee spend a number of years working down the road from my hometown before moving over to CERN to implement the world wide web.

The Westminster System

We are an incredibly democratic nation and a lot of that stems from our parliamentary system of government. Whatever you think of politicians and politics, we are very lucky to be able to have the freedom to vote and many nations around the world use variations of the Westminster system to have a fair and democratic state.

DNA Fingerprinting

Forensic DNA profiling was invented in England and has been a major breakthrough in criminal investigations. Professor Sir Alec John Jeffreys pioneered DNA profiling and cold cases are now able to be solved because of his work.

Medical innovations

Edward Jenner inventing the smallpox vaccine, Sir Ronald Rees identifying the mosquito as the carrier of malaria, the world’s first stem cell transplant….the list goes on. England has given the world so much through medical and health innovations and has saved countless lives. Plus we have the NHS which I think is one of the greatest things about our country too.

Forests

The U.K. is the second most wooded area in Europe, and England offers Kielder Forest Park, Thetford Forest Park and The New Forest to name a few. There is nothing more pleasant than a picnic in the New Forest, my local area, surrounded by the wildlife including roaming ponies, donkeys and cattle!

Giving

According to the World Giving Index, we rank joint seventh out of 130 countries based on charitable giving. While this does take into account the other countries that make up the U.K. , our giving nature is such an important aspect of our society and after fundraising for a number of charities, I know just what giving and generous people populate our country, so thank you.

Miss England

The Miss World competition begun here, so we really are home of pageantry. What Eric and Julia Morley created is something of a legacy, and what Angie Beasley has achieved with the Miss England competition is remarkable. It is a repackaged, modern and empowering competition that showcases strength, intelligence, charitable giving and beauty from the heart, and I couldn’t be prouder to be involved!

*Most Photos by David Freeman Photography