02 July 2011

English History for Americans

In 1066, Norman invaded England and forced King Arthur to sign the Magna Carta, which is latin for "molten card". Three generations later came Shakespeare and Queen Elizabeth. The Shakespearian Age lasted until King George and the American Revolution, which to this day is the single most important event in all of English history and is still widely discussed and even mined for rhetoric in political speeches. Immediately after the abject failure of the Revolution, the Victorians came into power and ruled for 150 years, until Winston Churchill and WWII happened. After the war, England invented soccer, Churchill retired to be replaced by Margaret Thatcher, and Princess Di sat on the throne. More recently, England was admitted as 9th State of the European Union.



Fun Facts:
London comes from the Roman word "Londinium", their name for the element Lithium [Li] which was abundant in the brackish silt of the Thames marshes around the area now known as "Limehouse".


Although Victorians invented the stick-frame house, this was only ever widely constructed in America, as resource constraints meant English builders had to use bricks.

England's chief exports are sonnets, actors, and sarcasm.

3 comments:

PaPyke said...

Wonderful. Much easier to memorize than the crap at Tulane.

PaPyke said...

Wonderful! Much easier to memorize than all that "truthiness" at Tulane! Plus, I can see sarcasm from my back yard!

JustJoeP said...

Smashing! A very concise summary. Good show old chap!