BS: Positive Things The Irish & British Did.

Subject: BS: Positive Things The Irish & British Did.
From: Divis Sweeney
Date: 05 Dec 06 - 07:18 PM

To help lift the gloom of winter for all our members who enjoy the threads about the Irish, English, Scottish and Welsh let's list their good points. Now no fighting boys and girls before we start.

I will start with a British and Irish one.

Cheap flight British airlines to get me out of this bloody cold country again and see some sunshine.

Ireland the country of my heart and soul is the greatest little patch of soil on earth when it comes to welcoming visitors from far off lands. We can offer you history, music, scenery, craic and very pleasant people who never start arguments concerning politics.

Now go think about it and fight your corner and fly the flag. Maybe our American and Canadian friends could do the same, not forgetting the Australians.

Subject: RE: BS: Positive Things The Irish & British Did.
From: Little Hawk
Date: 05 Dec 06 - 07:21 PM

Canada...a lovely place in the Northland. We welcome visitors and immigrants. We have a national medicare system. We have an undefended border. We have an absolutely mind-boggling number of both moose and beaver. We have the world's tallest freestanding structure. And we produced William Shatner!!!

What more could you possibly want? ;-)

Subject: RE: BS: Positive Things The Irish & British Did.
From: bobad
Date: 05 Dec 06 - 07:23 PM

"What more could you possibly want?"

Palm trees.

Subject: RE: BS: Positive Things The Irish & British Did.
From: RangerSteve
Date: 05 Dec 06 - 07:25 PM

Good beer, for the most part. I've never had Welsh beer. The traditional music is also good, and helped give rise to American traditional music. ANd some of my ancestors came from Scotland. There are some good sitcoms from the UK, and some good detective shows, too. And good mystery writers. Someone else can pick it up from here.

Steve

Subject: RE: BS: Positive Things The Irish & British Did.
From: RangerSteve
Date: 05 Dec 06 - 07:27 PM

I should mention I was complementing the British Isles in my post. I'm from the USA.

Steve

Subject: RE: BS: Positive Things The Irish & British Did.
From: Shields Folk
Date: 05 Dec 06 - 07:28 PM

sanitation...

Subject: RE: BS: Positive Things The Irish & British Did.
From: McGrath of Harlow
Date: 05 Dec 06 - 07:38 PM

Morris Dancing. While the English can keep that alive, they'll never take themselves too seriously.

Subject: RE: BS: Positive Things The Irish & British Did.
From: Shields Folk
Date: 05 Dec 06 - 07:40 PM

and the aqueduct...

Subject: RE: BS: Positive Things The Irish & British Did.
From: Shields Folk
Date: 05 Dec 06 - 07:42 PM

As McGrath has pointed out, the ability to mock ones self

Subject: RE: BS: Positive Things The Irish & British Did.
From: Tootler
Date: 05 Dec 06 - 08:03 PM

The Middlesbrough Transporter Bridge. There were only about six built in the world and I believe the Middlesbrough one is the only one still working.

Subject: RE: BS: Positive Things The Irish & British Did.
From: McGrath of Harlow
Date: 05 Dec 06 - 08:11 PM

There was a series of Auf Wiedersehen, Pet In which they pulled down the Middlesbrough Bridge and rebuilt it over in North America, somewhere in Nevada I believe. But the real bridge is still there in Middlesbrough. Here it is, along with a few other bridges.

Subject: RE: BS: Positive Things The Irish & British Did.
From: mack/misophist
Date: 05 Dec 06 - 09:20 PM

With the exception of a few persons in Orillia, Canadians are some of the nicest people on earth. Except that they produced Shatner.

Subject: RE: BS: Positive Things The Irish & British Did.
From: number 6
Date: 05 Dec 06 - 09:26 PM

Donegal Tweed.

the Peterson Pipe.

Van Morrison (even if he is a grump).



biLL

Subject: RE: BS: Positive Things The Irish & British Did.
From: GUEST,sorefingers
Date: 05 Dec 06 - 11:01 PM

Southern English Scrumpy, and where it can be got, if at all, these days, Brains Beer! ( S Wales or Cwmru )

Subject: RE: BS: Positive Things The Irish & British Did.
From: NH Dave
Date: 05 Dec 06 - 11:08 PM

I know who the Welsh, the Scots, and the Irish are, but I'm a little confused by the British.

The Scots brew some fine spirits, loom some fine cloth, and have kept the art of Highland Piping alive over the centuries, even when banned by those currently in power.

The Irish are some of the friendliest people on the earth, unless you happen to be Irish and of the wrong faith. As a result of transportation and the Potato Famines, the Irish have given the world fine soldiers and governors, and do a great Stout as well as good whisky as well.

The Welsh have some fine singers as well as outstanding non-professional choirs. Having worked with a few in the forces, I came to love their sense of humor and way of speaking.

The British, well they as a group settled and governed large areas of the globe, shipping the products grown in these outlying areas of their empire around their empire and to other countries, to the eventual profit of all. They raised mighty armies of the locals, officered by British Officers, and their own peoples to insure that some form of Pax Britanica existed, for the betterment of all, in the countries they ruled. Over the last hundred years they sent their own armies to fight in Europe, Asia, and Korea, not for a little bit more land, over which to rule, but to help the local people find freedom in which to live. Ans some of these oppressed peoples had been traditional enemies of the British for centuries, and would never have lifted a finger to save England were it in dire straits.

The British have an ingrained sense of what is fair and right, and will fight whenever needed, to preserve these rights both for themselves and for others who have never done them any service. Tommy Atkins served in the blistering hot Indian and Afghanistan locales, the hot and dusty African plains, as well as in the mud and degradation of the trench warfare of WWI. He went ashore at Suvla Bay, Siciy, Salerno, Anzio, and Normandy, offering his all to make the world a safer place to live. Their people, free and convict alike, settled North America, Africa, Australia, and New Zealand, to find land and new ways of living, and yet still remain loyal British subjects - for the most part - lots of free land in America thoroughly overcame British loyalty, so they started their own country, and twice fought the mother land to keep their freedoms.

On top of all this, they have developed literature, art, and architecture to a point where they have it down to a fine art, and few can call themselves educated until they have experienced these arts for themselves.

Dave

Subject: RE: BS: Positive Things The Irish & British Did.
From: GUEST,memyself
Date: 05 Dec 06 - 11:51 PM

And then there's the English ...

Subject: RE: BS: Positive Things The Irish & British Did.
From: GUEST,memyself
Date: 06 Dec 06 - 12:24 AM

(Sorry, gang, I couldn't resist it).

Subject: RE: BS: Positive Things The Irish & British Did.
From: Little Hawk
Date: 06 Dec 06 - 12:48 AM

Canadians in Orillia are nice too. We're so nice that it's almost scary. Come visit and see. We have folk music concerts about once a month at the Stephen Leacock Centre.

Subject: RE: BS: Positive Things The Irish & British Did.
From: Alba
Date: 06 Dec 06 - 01:15 AM

We ALL make feckin great MUSIC!
Luv Ya all
Jude   *smile*

Subject: RE: BS: Positive Things The Irish & British Did.
From: GUEST,Boab
Date: 06 Dec 06 - 02:03 AM

"The Irish and British"??
Penicillin
Television--
Tar Macadam Roads--
Telephone---
Steam engines--
Disinfectants---
Porridge and Rabbie Burns--

Nuff said---!!

Subject: RE: BS: Positive Things The Irish & British Did.
From: Divis Sweeney
Date: 06 Dec 06 - 04:23 AM

Sorry about the title name, couldn't fit them all in.

Subject: RE: BS: Positive Things The Irish & British Did.
From: Strollin' Johnny
Date: 06 Dec 06 - 07:15 AM

Shields Folk - didn't the Romans invent the aqueduct? Or maybe the Greeks? Or even the Minoans? Certain it was neither the Irish nor the British.

Subject: RE: BS: Positive Things The Irish & British Did.
From: Grab
Date: 06 Dec 06 - 07:31 AM

The English invented *proper* beer. What more could you ask for? If it wasn't for the English, everyone would be drinking insipid urine-coloured rubbish. Proper European beers are nice enough, but not a patch on a decent pint of Theakstons or Spitfire.

Apologies to our American cousins who sadly have no option but to put up with insipid urine-coloured rubbish. Maybe the English should start a charity campaign. I can just see the TV spot now. Cue the Moonlight Sonata or something - picture of sad-eyed old American guy with a pint of flat Miller Lite - "Randy has never had a proper pint. He's never known what beer with flavour tastes like. But with your help, we can provide emergency barrel shipments. We can provide training and raw materials, so that no-one need suffer again in pubs across America. Won't you help us to stop this dreadful cruelty to Randy and others like him?" ;-)

Graham.

(OK, OK, yes I know there are great microbreweries across the US. I just wish there were better macrobreweries...)

Subject: RE: BS: Positive Things The Irish & British Did.
From: Amos
Date: 06 Dec 06 - 10:46 AM

The Irish have shown the world what amazing language can sound like, have bred poets and minstrels of the first order, and kept the Mystery alive in thousands of corners where it might have succumbed to ordinarity.

The Brits have shown the world how to take a pummeling and come back fighting. They have demonstrated an awesome capacity for untrammeled introspection and the tireless concatenation of odd thoughts one after another.

The Canadians have provided the world with the ultimate Refuge.

A

Subject: RE: BS: Positive Things The Irish & British Did.
From: Den
Date: 06 Dec 06 - 11:14 AM

Grab, I think you are being a little hard on the US brewers. Yes the big commercial breweries are just plain awfull but some of the microbrewers are producing products to rival the best anywhere. Its the same situation in Canada and I know I'm going to hurt feelings with my next comments but Labatts, Molson's etc produce the same insipid crap but again its the micro guys that save the day. Infact correct me if I'm wrong but I believe that the Granite Brewery here in sunny Halifax, Nova Scotia (even though there is about 20cm of snow on the ground today) is the first cottage brewery in north America. I also hear that they are moving their operation to Ontario. Oh please say it isn't so.

Back to the thread. I would have to agree I love English ales and cider. I think English comedians are some of the best and most innovative anywhere. The Scots I found are good musicians and produce some of the greatest soccer managers. The Welsh I don't know a lot about, I've only ever met a few. Good singers I'd say and their country is very pretty. The Irish well don't get me started on them.

Subject: RE: BS: Positive Things The Irish & British Did.
From: beardedbruce
Date: 06 Dec 06 - 11:31 AM

Penicillin

Scottish

"The discovery of penicillin is usually attributed to Scottish scientist Alexander Fleming in 1928, though others had earlier noted the antibacterial effects of Penicillium. Fleming, at his laboratory in St. Mary's Hospital (now one of Imperial College teaching hospitals) in London, noticed a halo of inhibition of bacterial growth around a contaminant blue-green mould on a Staphylococcus plate culture. Fleming concluded that the mould was releasing a substance that was inhibiting bacterial growth and lysing the bacteria. He grew a pure culture of the mould and discovered that it was a Penicillium mould, now known to be Penicillium chrysogenum. Fleming coined the term "penicillin" to describe the filtrate of a broth culture of the Penicillium mould. Even in these early stages, penicillin was found to be most effective against Gram-positive bacteria, and ineffective against Gram-negative organisms and fungi. He expressed initial optimism that penicillin would be a useful disinfectant, being highly potent with minimal toxicity compared to antiseptics of the day, but particularly noted its laboratory value in the isolation of "Bacillus influenzae" (now Haemophilus influenzae).[1] After further experiments, Fleming was convinced that penicillin could not last long enough in the human body to kill pathogenic bacteria and stopped studying penicillin after 1931, but restarted some clinical trials in 1934 and continued to try to get someone to purify it until 1940.

In 1939, Australian scientist Howard Walter Florey and a team of researchers (Ernst Boris Chain, A. D. Gardner, Norman Heatley, M. Jennings, J. Orr-Ewing and G. Sanders) at the Sir William Dunn School of Pathology, University of Oxford made significant progress in showing the in vivo bactericidal action of penicillin. Their attempts to treat humans failed due to insufficient volumes of penicillin, but they proved its harmlessness and effect in mice. Some of the pioneering trials of penicillin took place at the Radcliffe Infirmary in Oxford. On 1942-03-14 John Bumstead and Orvan Hess became the first in the world to successfully treat a patient using penicillin.[2][3]"

Television-- ok, the English ARE responsible. Can I sue???

"The television was not invented by a single person, but by a number of scientists' advancements contributing to the ultimate all-electronic version of the invention. The origins of what would become today's television system can be traced back as far as the discovery of the photoconductivity of the element selenium by Willoughby Smith in 1873 followed by the work on the telectroscope and the invention of the scanning disk by Paul Nipkow in 1884. All practical television systems use the fundamental idea of scanning an image to produce a time series signal representation. That representation is then transmitted to a device to reverse the scanning process. The final device, the television (or T.V. set), relies on the human eye to integrate the result into a coherent image.

Techniques were developed from the 1900s into the 1920s, progressing from the transmission of still photographs, to live still duotone images, to moving duotone or silhouette images, with each step increasing the sensitivity and speed of the scanning photoelectric cell. John Logie Baird gave the world's first public demonstration of a working television system that transmitted live moving images with tone graduation (grayscale) on 26 January 1926 at his laboratory in London, and built a complete experimental broadcast system around his technology. Baird further demonstrated the world's first color television transmission on 3 July 1928. Other prominent developers of mechanical television included Charles Francis Jenkins, who demonstrated a primitive television system in 1923, Frank Conrad who demonstrated a movie-film-to-television converter at Westinghouse in 1928, and Frank Gray and Herbert E. Ives at Bell Labs who demonstrated wired long-distance television in 1927 and two-way television in 1930."



Tar Macadam Roads--

Scottish, again...


Telephone---

"The identity of the inventor of the electric telephone remains in dispute. Antonio Meucci, Johann Philipp Reis, Alexander Graham Bell and Elisha Gray, amongst others, have all been credited with the invention.

The very early history of the telephone is a confusing morass of claim and counterclaim, which was not clarified by the huge mass of lawsuits which hoped to resolve the patent claims of individuals. Much money was expended, particularly in the Bell Telephone companies, and the aggressive defense of the Bell patents resulted in much confusion. Additionally, the earliest investigators preferred publication in the popular press and demonstration to investors instead of scientific publication and demonstration to fellow scientists. It is important to note that there is probably no single "inventor of the telephone". The modern telephone is the result of work done by many hands, all worthy of recognition of their addition to the field. Only in the last ten years, however, has the British government announced that it now recognizes (primarily for educational purposes) Antonio Meucci (see below) as the 'first inventor' of the telephone.[citation needed] This was acknowledged even by the US Congress in 2003 [1]."




Steam engines--


"The first recorded steam device, the aeolipile, was invented by Hero of Alexandria in the 1st century AD, but used only as a toy.[1] In 1663, Edward Somerset, 2nd Marquess of Worcester published designs for, and may have installed, a steam-powered engine for pumping water at Vauxhall House.[2]

In about 1680 the French physicist Denis Papin, with the help of Gottfried Leibniz, built a steam digester for softening bones, i.e. he invented the world's first-ever pressure cooker. Later designs implemented a steam-release valve to keep the device from exploding. By watching the valve rhythmically move up and down Papin conceived of the idea of a piston and cylinder engine. Papin wrote up the designs for such a device (as pictured adjacent), however he never built an actual steam engine. The English engineer Thomas Savery later used Papin's designs to build the world's first operational steam engine.[3]


Disinfectants---

Scottish, again...

"Think that the use of anesthetics and disinfectants didn't begin until the modern age? Think again. Recent discoveries at an archaeological site in Scotland suggest that medieval monks had herbal remedies that filled these roles. Ergot fungus and juniper berry seeds point to the possibility that the monks, in spite of regulations to avoid pregnant women, helped induce childbirth; clumps of watercress hint at cures for scurvy; and the presence in the drains of hemlock lead scientists to believe that it was used as a painkiller before amputations."



Porridge

Not really...

Traditions and uses
Porridge is one of the easiest ways to digest grains or legumes, and is used traditionally in many cultures to nurse the sick back to health. This is especially true of rice congee in traditional Chinese medicine. Mixed with herbs such as coriander, which is claimed to have chelation properties, people who have heavy-metal poisoning from working in factories or mines are prescribed to eat this dish on a regular basis to maintain health.

It is standard in some cultures to eat a bowl of porridge the day after a night of communal heavy drinking such as New Year.


Varieties

oatmeal porridge - can be made with steel-cut oats (traditional in Ireland and Scotland) or with rolled oats (traditional in England and the United States); known simply as porridge in the British Isles and as oatmeal or oatmeal mush in the United States; also a traditional Scandinavian and Icelandic breakfast.
groats - a porridge made from unprocessed oats.
zacierka - Polish traditional breakfeast made with hot milk, sometimes with sugar and butter.
maize porridge
grits, ground hominy grits or ground posole - traditional in the southern United States
atole - Mexico—water, milk
polenta - Italy
mămăligă - Romania
atole de chocolate or champurrado - Mexico—sugar, milk, chocolate. In the Philippines, it is usually rice with sugar, milk, and chocolate and spelled as "champorado."
cornmeal mush - traditional dish in southern and mid-Atlantic US states
ugali - Tanzania, pap - South Africa, sadza - Zimbabwe is staple food over a wide part of the African continent.
pease porridge (also peasemeal porridge) - made from dried peas, traditionally English and Scottish
barley porridge
wheat porridge
cream of wheat or farina
semolina
polentina (could also be made from corn) - Italy—raisins, milk, sugar
Wheatena - a brand name for a whole-wheat porridge
uppama or uppma - a fried semolina (suzi or shuji) porridge traditional in southern India; flavored with clarified butter (ghee), fried onions, toasted mustard seeds, curry leaves; often mixed with vegetables and other foods, such as potatoes, fried dried red chilis, fried cauliflower, and toasted peanuts or cashew nuts.
rice porridge
congee (also jook (Cantonese) or xifan (Mandarin)) - with chicken or duck's eggs and pork, coriander leaf, fried wonton noodles, with fried bread (yao ja gwai (Cant.) or you tiao (Mand.))
bubur - Malay
Kayu - Japan—salt and green onions
juk (죽) - Korea—with seafood, pine nuts, mushrooms, etc.
kao dom - Thailand—cilantro, preserved duck eggs, fish sauce, sliced chili peppers, pickled mustard greens or salt cabbage preserves, red pepper flakes
cháo – Vietnam – ground beef (cháo bò) or chicken (cháo gà); contains water and fish sauce; often served with scallions and fried sticks of bread
arroz caldo or lugaw - Philippines—rice, water, saffron, ginger, meat optional
risgrøt - Norway —made with rice with added vanilla, cooked with milk and served with cinnamon, sugar and butter.
riisipuuro, risgrynsgröt, risengrød, risengrynsgrøt- Finland/Sweden/Denmark/Norway —a Christmas food, eaten with cinnamon and sugar
buckwheat porridge
ground buckwheat grouts and butter in Russian ethnic areas and in the Caucasus region mixed with yoghurt
quinoa porridge
ground quinoa flakes mixed with cocoa or cinnamon from ancient Mayan culture. Quinoa is now revitalized as a "supergrain" in some vegan cultures
millet porridge
oshifima or otjifima, a stiff pearl millet porridge is the staple food of northern Namibia.
often seasoned with cumin and honey in the Middle East
munchiro sayo is a part of Ainu cuisine (a native people of northern Japan)
sorghum porridge
Tolegi is a sorghum porridge eaten as a midday meal during the summer in New Guinea
rye porridge
ruispuuro - Finland - traditional Finnish breakfast

and Rabbie Burns--

Scottish/

Subject: RE: BS: Positive Things The Irish & British Did.
From: GUEST
Date: 06 Dec 06 - 11:58 AM

The ability to survive one thousand years of occupation, murder, rape, slavery and attempted genocide, guess who?.

Subject: RE: BS: Positive Things The Irish & British Did.
From: Paul from Hull
Date: 06 Dec 06 - 12:00 PM

Hmmmm.....thousand years...















Nope, I give in, Guest, who?

Subject: RE: BS: Positive Things The Irish & British Did.
From: Bunnahabhain
Date: 06 Dec 06 - 12:15 PM

Spread soccer, golf, rugby and cricket around the world, and proceed to lose at them consistintly...

Subject: RE: BS: Positive Things The Irish & British Did.
From: Elmer Fudd
Date: 06 Dec 06 - 12:29 PM

Magna Carta

Sherlock Holmes

Arts and Crafts Movement

Oscar Wilde

Judi Dench

The Beatles

Not necessarily in that order

Subject: RE: BS: Positive Things The Irish & British Did.
From: Richard Bridge
Date: 06 Dec 06 - 02:32 PM

In the spirit of the thread - something good the Irish and British did together - the world's first mass transit system, the British railways...

Subject: RE: BS: Positive Things The Irish & British Did.
From: Dave the Gnome
Date: 06 Dec 06 - 02:35 PM

The canals beat 'em didn't they Richard? Still the same principle though:-)

Another more recent joint one?

Live Aid.

Cheers

DtG

Subject: RE: BS: Positive Things The Irish & British Did.
From: dianavan
Date: 06 Dec 06 - 02:47 PM

Canadians gave the world basketball, the zipper, the light bulb and insulin.

Subject: RE: BS: Positive Things The Irish & British Did.
From: Richard Bridge
Date: 06 Dec 06 - 03:12 PM

No, canals were not mass transit for people, and nor were stagecoaches. Until the trains, the masses could not readily travel.

Subject: RE: BS: Positive Things The Irish & British Did.
From: Amos
Date: 06 Dec 06 - 03:33 PM

Lowwww bridge! Everybody down!
Lowww bridge! For we're goin' through a town....

Canalboats were not much faster than a horse, of course, but they sure carried more people for less hay than your average carriage horse.

A

Subject: RE: BS: Positive Things The Irish & British Did.
From: Shields Folk
Date: 06 Dec 06 - 03:36 PM

...and especially for Strollin' Johnny'

Monty Python!

Subject: RE: BS: Positive Things The Irish & British Did.
From: autolycus
Date: 06 Dec 06 - 04:08 PM

Fairness

    The English Language

    Great poetry


    The stiff upper lip,giving rise to pent-upness and the need to create the wonderful National Health Service to deal with the consequences of pent-upness.


    Great music


    Te art of putting up with.

   
    The arts of complaining and moaniong.


    Football (Association) in the modern era.

    Cricket.

   
    Overcooked food.


    A peculiarly wonderful brand of humour.


    The art of winning whatever the result.


    Tremendously fantastic celebrities.



    The best (please insert whatever you like) in the world.






       Ivor

Subject: RE: BS: Positive Things The Irish & British Did.
From: Big Al Whittle
Date: 06 Dec 06 - 05:27 PM

I saw a film once of a man who could suck up water with his bum, and spit it out in a jet. He looked English, though he was possibly Irish.

Subject: RE: BS: Positive Things The Irish & British Did.
From: Divis Sweeney
Date: 06 Dec 06 - 05:38 PM

Al, I sent you that dvd of me and my ass for your viewing only !

Subject: RE: BS: Positive Things The Irish & British Did.
From: Paul from Hull
Date: 06 Dec 06 - 05:51 PM

Hmm, you too Divis?

Subject: RE: BS: Positive Things The Irish & British Did.
From: Divis Sweeney
Date: 06 Dec 06 - 06:25 PM

We also produced a footballer who saw the campaign to sign up for organ donation put back 20 years.

We have the Rev.William McCrea releasing his tenth album of songs for Christmas. (His last out sold Richard Harris Greatest Hits last year).

We produced a snooker world champion who on a rare sober moment in his life did one television interview without calling someone an f...ing c..t.

We still produce countless political leaders who don't give a toss about the people who elected them and still receive a better wage packet than any other political representative of their equal in the U.K. for not going to work.

We still have more British soldiers in the North of Ireland than there is in either Iraq or Afghanistan and both of these countries are considered war zones.

We also produced East Belfast man Geordie Morrison (Ivan to you)
who could bore for Ireland either when he was drunk or sober and preaching religion to you. (I witnessed both at first hand).

We produced an army of McAlpine fusiliers who dug out the London underground and built a quarter of the city and returned home as rich as they left Ireland. Ah but the craic was good in Cricklewood.

Subject: RE: BS: Positive Things The Irish & British Did.
From: Divis Sweeney
Date: 06 Dec 06 - 06:27 PM

I thought yours was actually good Paul. Must send you my latest one.

Subject: RE: BS: Positive Things The Irish & British Did.
From: Little Hawk
Date: 06 Dec 06 - 06:28 PM

And then there's Daniel Craig! Best James Bond ever. ;-) Right, Divis?

Subject: RE: BS: Positive Things The Irish & British Did.
From: Cluin
Date: 06 Dec 06 - 06:31 PM

The Goon Show, Monty Python, Blackadder, Red Dwarf, Father Ted, Little Britain...

Subject: RE: BS: Positive Things The Irish & British Did.
From: Divis Sweeney
Date: 06 Dec 06 - 06:36 PM

Ah Little Hawk very good. You've got the talons out tonight !

Subject: RE: BS: Positive Things The Irish & British Did.
From: Grab
Date: 06 Dec 06 - 06:58 PM

Amos, as I said, the microbreweries are great - shame about the macrobreweries. Mind you, the English have Boddingtons, Bass and Tetley, so it ain't all rosy over this side of the pond.

More seriously:-

- Winning the Battle of Britain - if they hadn't, 1940 would have seen the invasion of Britain and there wouldn't have *been* any Allies to push back in 1944. Also invented the computer (Colossus) and thereby ensured that WWII was won via improved intel.

- Disengaged from most former colonies without a fight *and* left those former colonies in a situation where they could be self-governing.

- Musically, kept rock'n'roll alive when America had forgotten it. And, later, invented heavy metal. (OK, it might not be positive for some people, but I like it. :-)

- And of course, the 60's folk revival.

Graham.

Subject: RE: BS: Positive Things The Irish & British Did.
From: Big Al Whittle
Date: 06 Dec 06 - 09:16 PM

a british bloke called Mike gregory wrote this

http://www.bigalwhittle.co.uk/sitebuildercontent/sitebuilderfiles/christmasontheestate.mp3

Subject: RE: BS: Positive Things The Irish & British Did.
From: GUEST,Blind DRunk in Blind River
Date: 06 Dec 06 - 10:33 PM

FLIPPIN' RIGHT about the Heavy Metal! Best flippin' music in histry. If the British had never done one other flippin' thing in their lives Heavy Metal would be enuff, eh? ROCK ON!!!!

- Shane

Subject: RE: BS: Positive Things The Irish & British Did.
From: Big Al Whittle
Date: 07 Dec 06 - 02:54 AM

Weren't Vanilla Fudge American? First time I| heardthe expression Heavy metal - circa 1967!

Subject: RE: BS: Positive Things The Irish & British Did.
From: GUEST,Penguin Egg
Date: 07 Dec 06 - 03:33 AM

The Industrial Revolution... one of the greatest events in human history.