“Let us start this preposterous journey in the most British way imaginable: with a series of meandering apologies and caveats.”

McAlpineWith this first sentence, I was hooked on this collection of stand-up routines and one-liners by BBC writer Fraser McAlpine. With an addiction to Downton Abbey, a life-long love of the Beatles, strong memories of Princess Diana, and a daughter named Anna who lives in England, I am an easy mark for a book that explains things I’ve always wondered, such as the difference between tea biscuits and digestives (digestives contain bran) and what to call meals (working class people north of Birmingham say breakfast, dinner, tea, whereas people in the south who are upper class say breakfast, lunch, dinner).

Fraser McAlpine, Stuff Brits Like: A Guide to What’s Great about Great Britain (New York: Berkley Books, 2015), 1.

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