The 2011 List of Funny Facts About England..
Looking for funny England facts? Here are some of our best for you to enjoy…
1) English people get a bad rap for being a bit straitlaced, but here’s proof they can occasionally let their hair down. There is a small English village which actually has an exclamation mark in it. Westward Ho! in Devon was named after a novel which was set in the area. Who even knew Snoop Dogg wrote novels?
2) The world’s oldest zoo is London Zoo which opened in 1828. It was originally intended to be used solely for scientific study, but presumably they soon realized how much fun school kids got from antagonizing lions and tigers.
3) In medieval England, beer was commonly drunk at breakfast time. I bet you thought those Live Action Role Play people were just a bunch of oddballs who liked dressing up in Robin Hood garb; they clearly just like cracking open a Bud while having their Corn Flakes!
4) The English love to claim the Germans as one of their most bitter rivals – in sport, business, and uninspiring cuisine. But the name England comes from the Germanic tribe, The Angles, who settled on the island during the 5th and 6th centuries. A bit too close for comfort?
5) Evidence of human activity in England dates back to 780,000 years ago. Perhaps it’s best that we don’t have a time machine that would enable them to know they had another 779,955 years to wait until they finally won the soccer World Cup!
6) The first public theater built in England was called The Theater. A nation of innovators.
7) Between 1066 and 1362, French was the official language of England. Remnants of this are still to be found in the language today, but sadly the French left their cooking skills back at home.
8) More than 50% of days are overcast in England, and boy are English people willing and able to tell you the exact time the sun is expected to make a brief appearance from behind that thick blanket of gray! In fact, if you’re at a dinner party with some English people and are stuck for things to talk about; ‘the weather’ will keep you going for at least half an hour.
9) St George, the patron saint of England, is believed to have been a Roman soldier from Syria who is also patron saint of Romania, Bulgaria, Aragon, Catalonia, Georgia, Ethiopia, Greece, India, Iraq, Lithuania, Palestine, Portugal, Serbia, Ukraine and Russia. Surely the kudos that comes with being a patron saint gets diluted somewhat with every other country that happens to claim him or her as their own? Try being a little more original!
10) No part of England is more than 75 miles from the coast which makes fact number 8 even more irritating for anyone living in England! Remember, if you’re in England sunbathing is a high-risk endurance sport!