10 Reasons Why I Love British History

My first novel, GILT, will be published in the UK and Commonwealth on the 28th of February, and I'm celebrating this week with my love of Britain and British history.  And on Thursday, I'll be hosting a little blog party and giveaway (including chances to win the British paperback of GILT and an ARC of TARNISH!)

But today, I have to tell you why I'm such a history geek (though the reasons are countless, I've managed to nail down a few...)

10.  Blackadder.  History and quirky, irreverent British humor all rolled up into a sneering anti-hero, written by some of the funniest writers working today (Richard Curtis of Four Weddings and a Funeral, Rowan Atkinson, Ben Elton) and Britain’s best comedic actors (Stephen Fry, Hugh Laurie, and the fabulous Tony Robinson of Time Team).  I have a cunning plan to write a book starring Elizabeth I, just so I can have her say, “Who’s Queen?”

9.  Errol Flynn.  I know he’s Australian.  But my first introduction to history was through Robin Hood and Captain Blood and for years I expected history to be populated by handsome rogues. 

8.  Castles.  Crenellated walls, stone towers, clammy dungeons.  From motte and bailey structures of Norman England to the pretty, showy palaces of the Tudors.  I especially love the ruins—like Corfe Castle, destroyed by Parliament during the English Civil War.  There’s real history in those walls, my friends.

7.  British television costume dramas.  Pride and Prejudice, Downton Abbey, Vanity Fair, Call the Midwife…I could to on and on and on.  But that will have to be a blog post of its own.

6.  Archaeology.  After seeing Raiders of the Lost Ark as a kid, I wanted to be an archaeologist (but ended up studying cultural anthropology instead).  I totally dig Time Team.  And the recent discovery of Richard III’s bones in a Leicester car park?  Made.  My.  Year.

5.  Costumes.  I spent part of my college career studying costume design for the theater.  I love those flat Renaissance bodices, 1920’s dropped-waist dresses, the elegant lines of Edwardian fashions (think Mary in Downton Abbey), Marie Antoinette’s hair, Joan of Arc’s armor…

4.  Shakespeare.  Richard III is my favorite history play, though old Will put a lot of fiction into his historical fiction.

3.  Murder and mayhem.  Why does this entice us so?  The Gunpowder Plot.  The execution of Anne Boleyn and all of the men accused of treason with her.  The Blitz.  I think it’s because in the midst of all the violence and injustice, we see who we really are and what side we’d take.

2.  Romance.  Not necessarily in the Romeo and Juliet, boy-meets-girl sense, though I love that, too.  But in the chivalry of King Arthur, the beauty and humanism of the Renaissance, the way Windsor Castle looks from the far end of the Great Park.  Blake’s vision of romance.

1.  Characters.  Kings and queens and commoners.  Matilda, Henry V, Francis Drake, T. E. Lawrence, Emmeline Pankhurst, Oliver Cromwell, and, of course, Anne Boleyn.  Fascinating people who lived in fascinating times.  I love to find the story in history, and story is all about the characters.

Why I Love Great Britain and the British -- Part 2

On Wednesday, I blogged an overview of why I'm an unrepenting Anglophile.  Today, I'm sitting in a British version of a worldwide coffee establishment, where not only can I get a mocha that tastes radically different (but equally delicious) to my neighborhood cafe, but I could also choose from a selection of scones and "toasted multi-fruit bread" to sandwiches like cheese and Branston pickle or egg mayonnaise.

As I said before, I love British food.  It used to be said that hell would be a place run by the French, entertained by the Germans and catered by the British.  (and heaven a place catered by the French, run by the Germans and entertained by the British).  The Brits are famous for overboiled cabbage, gamey roasts and flavorless cakes.  But aside from my first years here when I couldn't find a decent cup of coffee (even the fine establishments served instant.  Instant!) I've not been disappointed by the food.

Of course, fish and chips are the best.  So.  Much.  Grease.  And there is absolutely nothing like a plain scone served with homemade strawberry jam and clotted Cornish cream.  But I've also learned to love pasties (though I lean towards the cheese and onion ones, being a mostly vegetarian - fish is my downfall).

The British sometimes think of odd combinations of flavors.  Especially pizza.  Imagine a pizza with corn kernels on it.  Or a fried egg.  Or tuna.  And Branston pickle is definitely an acquired taste - a cross between what Americans know as pickle relish and a chutney.  I'm still not down with vinegar on my potato chips, and only tasted the roast beef flavor crisps once.  Ahem.

I also love British sweets.  Cadbury's is the epitome of great milk chocolate.  And Green and Black's makes a gorgeous organic and free trade dark chocolate that is to die for.  I love fruit pastilles - a chewy fruit-flavored, sugar-encrusted sweet a little like gumdrops, but much better.  And wine gums.  Yes, sweets for kids named after wine.  Desserts like banoffee pie and treacle tart and spotted dick are listed on restaurant menus along with hot apple pie with cream (or custard).  And you have not lived until you have fresh strawberries and double cream.  I always come home with ginger nuts and plain (dark) chocolate digestive biscuits in my suitcase (these are both packaged cookie-type goods.)  And I adore attending British weddings where the cake is almost always a fruit cake covered in marzipan and fondant.  Really, you can't knock it until you try it.

I could go on.  But I won't.  I think that scone over there is calling my name...

Why I Love Great Britain and the British - Part 1

The reasons I'm an Anglophile make a list a mile long.  But because I'm currently on a research trip in England, I feel I need to write a series of posts on the subject.  Just to say how happy I am to be here.

History:  from Ethelred the Unready to Queen Elizabeth.  The Tower of London to the London Eye.  Occupation by hostile forces (the Romans) to occupying foreign lands (half the globe).  Monarchy, civil war, plague, fire, famine, the Blitz - the British have survived it all. 

Culture: Performance art from Shakespeare to Monty Python.  Music - composers like Henry VIII himself to Vaughan Williams, John Lennon through John Lydon and Adele.  Architecture - Warwick Castle and St. Paul's Cathedral and the Battersea Power Station.  Poetry from Chaucer to Ted Hughes.  Actors - Shakespeare and Maggie Smith and Alan Rickman and Kate Winslet and Clive Owen and...too many to list.  The written word - Swift and Austen and JK Rowling.

Food:  No one comes to Britain for the food, right?  What about fish and chips?  A real English curry?  Cadbury's chocolate?  High tea?

Beauty:  Cornwall.  The Peak District.  The Scottish highlands.  The Kentish hop fields.  Edinburgh and Bath and iconic English villages.

I love Britain.  Of course, I love America, too.  I would have a list a mile long describing that, too (The Grand Canyon, Tennessee Williams, the Golden Gate Bridge...)  At the moment, I'm just happy to be here.  I've already had fish and chips.  Now I need culture.  And chocolate.