Diane,

I take your point.

On the other hand, J.R.R. Tolkien has a German name, was born in Bloemfontein to parents who were born British subjects (as Sid James's probably were--though I'm not sure), and was Catholic. Yet he was also a typical Oxford Don, and is seen by many as a stereotypical (even archetypal) Englishman.

Other people seen as typically English these days (such as Mike Leigh, Helena Bonham Carter, George Michael, and Daniel Radcliffe) are Jews. (As Jonathan Miller might say "I'm not a Jew! I'm JewISH....")

It seems to me that Lizzie including Irish and South African immigrants to England who made a contribution to English culture is not necessarily out of bounds. I haven't seen Lizzie talk about "an instrinsically English cultural stereotype" [sic]; that's your wording. She asked what English culture is, and for her it includes (at least some) immigrants who make a contribution to the cultural scene in England. I believe you actually agree with this assessment, so where is the incongruity?

I realize that whatever argument is going on here has gone on for years, and will continue to go on without my input, but from what's here on this thread I can't see why you'd disagree that these people are part of English culture.

George Best, BTW, was neither "Catholic" nor "Protestant" in the usual Belfast sense of the word. He was Presbyterian, which in Ireland is a whole separate category. Remember "Galway Races": "The Catholic, the Protestant, the Jew and Presbyterian."