Brendy - Happy to see you about again. I'm LOL (but softly) with glee at your suggestion. I apparently touched a raw nerve with GeorgeH a couple of years ago when I made exactly the same suggestion. George went so far as to stridently assert that there were no Celts in England. I politely chuckled to myself and thought of all those citizens of the realm who no longer existed, at least by George's calculus. I haven't seen a post from GeorgeH in quite a while, so I don't know whether he still frequents the place or not. It's true that "britain" derioves is name from a prominent Celtic tribe (I think from the area of modern Wales, but not sure). BUt "Britain" might be one of the earliest recorded mondegreens as the tribe was the Pretanii. History is filled with many curious twists.

There were people on what is today "the big island" some 55,000 years ago, before the last big glaciation, but whether they were present throughout the glacial period I don't know. It's of interest to note that the big island didn't become an "island" until fairly recently in geological terms (about 8,000-10,000) years ago.

By way of contrast, Ireland separated from the continent some 48,000 to 50,000 years ago, and the earliest records of peoples there that I can recall at the moment are in the range of 6,500-7,000 years ago.

Despite "history", I think that Guest stigWeard has the right idea: "Shame really, because underneath, on these Islands at least, we all have a lot more in common than some would like to admit." That extends to those of us removed from there some generations back as well.