The met office records some of the UK's most extreme weather patterns. Here are a few that hold the current weather records. Brought to you by Confused.com - Find cheap car insurance in minutes. … [Read more...]
Forties and Fifties fashions on show at Scotland’s National Museum of Costume in April
February 1, 2012 By Leave a Comment
Scotland’s National Museum of Costume’s exhibition for 2012 will be Off the Peg: Fashion from the ’40s and ’50s. The exhibition will centre around designs produced by Horrockses Fashions Ltd, one of the most well-respected off-the-peg labels of the 1940s and 1950s. Horrockses gained a … [Read more...]
Guest Post: The Titanic vs. The Olympics: Which Event Will Get The Most Spectators in 2012?
January 27, 2012 By Leave a Comment
Credit: chrisdb1 The United Kingdom is gearing up for some spectacular events this summer. The Olympic Games is considered the biggest sporting and tourism event on the planet, but there are other events happening across the UK that will be taking centre stage that have a global reach and are set … [Read more...]
Brit Book Review: The Real Elizabeth – An Intimate Portrait of Queen Elizabeth II by Andrew Marr
January 27, 2012 By 3 Comments
This being the Queen's Diamond Jubilee year, there's a whole host of books coming out about her that purport to tell her life story. The first of them is The Real Elizabeth - An Intimate Portrait of Queen Elizabeth II by Andrew Marr (in the UK the book is titled The Diamond Queen: Elizabeth II and … [Read more...]
Stately Escapes: Great Places to Stay in 2012 for All Britain Has to Offer
January 26, 2012 By Leave a Comment
Great Britain is likely to be a tourism hotspot this year and there is plenty to shout about, what with the upcoming 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games and also the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee. You may have also seen that the tourism board VisitBritain has today announced UK businesses to invite their … [Read more...]
Wales: The history and traditions behind Wales’ multi-coloured harbour houses
January 25, 2012 By Leave a Comment
The website Wales Online has an interesting article about the history and traditions behind Wales' colored harbour houses. Here's an excerpt: It is one of the best-known and best-loved traditions of West Wales’ coastline. Sion Morgan traces the history of painting harbourside houses in a … [Read more...]
Diamond Jubilee: The Queen’s Top 10 Royal Moments of Her 60 Year Reign
January 25, 2012 By 3 Comments
From the beginning, the unexpected has pervaded the 60-year reign of Queen Elizabeth II. As a child, “Lilibet” and her younger sister Margaret were groomed for a life considered ordinary by royal standards. However, at the age of 10, Elizabeth Alexandra Mary Windsor’s future as Defender of … [Read more...]
Railway’s record-breakers – Railfest 2012 in York
January 24, 2012 By Leave a Comment
Britain’s biggest celebration of trains and railways takes place this June in York. Railfest 2012 will bring together more than 30 record-breaking locomotives that have made their mark on rail history for being the fastest, largest, strongest, first, last or oldest. Record-breakers include … [Read more...]
Brit Movies: The Iron Lady Review from an American Perspective
January 23, 2012 By 1 Comment
Making a biopic about Margaret Thatcher is not an easy thing to do. She’s not a sparkling conversationalist, she’s not overly witty, and she’s not electric in personality. However she is one of the most significant women of the last century and remains England’s first and only female Prime … [Read more...]
Video: Leaning Big Ben to force MPs to move out of the Houses of Parliament
January 23, 2012 By Leave a Comment
MPs could be forced to move out of the Houses of Parliament after subsidence has caused Big Ben's clock tower to lean by an alarming 18 inches. Report by Sophie Foster. … [Read more...]
A derelict building has stories to tell in Oxford
January 23, 2012 By Leave a Comment
A unique artistic collaboration will turn a dilapidated building in Oxford into a giant compendium of strange, amusing and haunting stories in May this year. Other Worlds is a series of installations in 25 rooms in Rochester House, an empty Victorian building that is destined to be a museum of … [Read more...]
History of England Podcast: Cnut the Conqueror
January 18, 2012 By Leave a Comment
This week, a Podcast about England's most famous Danish king - Cnut, or if you are a Dane, Cnut the Great. For the complete story, come to www.historyofengland.typepad.com. History of England Podcast - Cnut the Conqueror Cnut and Svein didn't have it all their own way; Aethelred's son Edmund … [Read more...]
The anatomy of a genius – Da Vinci Exhibition Coming to Buckingham Palace in May
January 17, 2012 By Leave a Comment
The largest ever exhibition of Leonardo da Vinci’s studies of the human body is to go on display in May at the Queen’s Gallery, next to Buckingham Palace. Leonardo was not just one of the great artists of the Renaissance: he was also a pioneer in the understanding of human anatomy. He wanted … [Read more...]
This is Awesome: Rooms to rent in an ancient castle in Durham
January 16, 2012 By Leave a Comment
The 11th-century Durham Castle is benefitting from a £5-million refurbishment – and now offers holiday accommodation within its ancient walls. The UNESCO World Heritage Site in north-east England is home to Durham University’s oldest college and its rooms are available to rent for bed and … [Read more...]
Brit Movies Reviews: The Iron Lady – Meryl Streep Shines by The Film Glosses Over History
January 14, 2012 By 1 Comment
Editor's Note: This if the first review for Anglotopia's new staff Brit movie reviewer - James Bartlett - a British Expat living in LA. Period dramas and classic novel adaptations aside, in many ways this is perhaps the most British movie released for many years, as it is a biopic of Margaret … [Read more...]
An English Butler Talks about the Modern Butler Industry
January 13, 2012 By Leave a Comment
The Guardian has a wonderful - and frank - article written by a modern day butler about how the industry has changed compared to what we see in shows like Downton Abbey and Upstairs Downstairs. Here's an excerpt: As the travelling butler to a self-made Asian industrialist who sleeps less than … [Read more...]
Guest Post: A Brief Guide to Britain’s Sporting Attractions and Museums
January 12, 2012 By Leave a Comment
This is a guest post by by John Evans, Editor of sportcloseup.co.uk Becoming Jane, the 2007 biopic of the writer Jane Austen re-run over the holidays by the BBC, may not seem the most obvious contender to be a movie about sport – but that was just the start of the festive surprises. What … [Read more...]
Walker’s Rights: A Guide to Walking in England from The Economist
January 12, 2012 By Leave a Comment
The Economist has a great article on the concept of Walker's Rights in Britain that I thought was worth sharing. Here's an excerpt: PACKHORSES first crossed the Old Bridge in Ilkley in 1675, probably bringing wool to market from the sheep farms that still dot the Yorkshire Dales. The modern … [Read more...]
No Queen Please, We’re Jamaican – Jamaica Plans to Ditch the Queen
January 9, 2012 By Leave a Comment
During her inaugural address Jamaica's new Prime Minister Portia Simpson Miller says the time has come for her country to cut ties with the British monarchy. While Jamaica is an independent country - they kept Queen Elizabeth as they're head of state. They now plan to end this tradition. See … [Read more...]
Royal Mail Releases Roald Dahl Themed Stamps – Images Inside
January 9, 2012 By Leave a Comment
The Royal Mail is releasing a series of stamps in honor of Roald Dahl book characters - as a lover of stamps and Roald Dahl - this couldn't get more awesome. Each stamp features illustrations by Quentin Blake, whose drawings are synonymous with the children's classics. Here's a gallery of the … [Read more...]
Video: A guided tour around Dickens’ birthplace
January 9, 2012 By Leave a Comment
There is no author more connected with Christmas than Charles Dickens. On the eve of the 200th anniversary of his birth, The Telegraph takes a tour around the house where he was born with Lucinda Dickens Hawksley, his great-great-great granddaughter. … [Read more...]
Bringing the world into the home at the Geffrye Museum in London
January 6, 2012 By Leave a Comment
An exhibition at London’s Geffrye Museum will look at the cosmopolitan nature of London homes over the past 400 years. At Home with the World will show how homes in England have been shaped by many diverse cultures, from Chinese porcelain and the great craze for ‘taking tea’ in the 18th … [Read more...]
The art of the sword at the Wallace Collection
January 4, 2012 By Leave a Comment
The Wallace Collection in London’s West End is planning an exhibition that will tell the story of the skilled artistry of swords in the Renaissance period. Centuries ago, warrior knights used their swords as weapons and symbols of their elite class. In the 16th-century Renaissance, civilian … [Read more...]
Sleaze and beauty in the royal court at Hampton Court Palace
December 30, 2011 By Leave a Comment
Hampton Court Palace is to host a new exhibition from April about the beauty, debauchery and decadent art of the late Stuart court. From 5 April to 30 September The Wild, the Beautiful and the Damned looks at the meaning of beauty, and at the lives and loves of the courtesans and libertines in … [Read more...]
Guest Post: Haunted London Will Send Shivers Down Your Spine
December 29, 2011 By 1 Comment
photo credit: jasminejennyjen London has been called the most haunted city in the world and with the abundance of spooky cemeteries, abandoned buildings and bloody tales of violence and nefarious characters, the city’s reputation makes sense. There are literally hundreds of haunted (or supposedly … [Read more...]
Manchester’s new football museum due to open in 2012
December 28, 2011 By Leave a Comment
The National Football Museum, due to open in Manchester in 2012, plans to show visitors the ‘greatest collection of football memorabilia ever assembled’. They will be able to see more than 140,000 objects, works of art and photographs. These include a shirt from the world’s first … [Read more...]
90 years of movies in the woods in Lincolnshire
December 27, 2011 By Leave a Comment
One of Britain’s most unusual cinemas celebrates its 90th birthday in 2012. The unique Kinema in the Woods is in the Edwardian spa town of Woodhall Spa in Lincolnshire in the east of England. It was originally a sports and entertainment pavilion, built in the late 19th century in the grounds of … [Read more...]
Memories of a Queen’s childhood – Queen Victoria’s Childhood at Kensington Palace
December 22, 2011 By Leave a Comment
Kensington Palace in London will re-open to visitors after a £12-million transformation with a new permanent exhibition that explores the life and reign of Queen Victoria through her own words. Visitors will learn about Victoria’s first day as Queen at Kensington Palace, the romance of her … [Read more...]
Return of a classic British Amusement Park – Dreamland Margate
December 16, 2011 By 1 Comment
Plans are taking shape to create the world’s first heritage amusement park to feature historic rides. Dreamland in Margate will have classic sideshows, vintage cafes, special events, festivals, creative interpretation and gardens. For many years Dreamland Margate on the Kent coast was the top … [Read more...]
Caledoniatopia: St Andrews celebrates 600 years of golf
December 15, 2011 By Leave a Comment
The very first festival of golf will take place in Scotland in March. The five-day St Andrews Golf Festival, from 28 March to 1 April, will celebrate over 600 years of golf in Scotland and around the world. Plans for the festival include talks, golfing events and exhibitions. Mungo Park, the … [Read more...]
British Pound Exchange Rate
Anglotopia was founded by Jonathan and Jackie Thomas for people who love Britain - whether it's British TV, Culture, History or Travel - we cover it all. Anglotopia was started to get us back to the UK for a trip and it did that in 2009. Now, the goal is for Anglotopia to make our dreams of traveling to the UK whenever we want a reality.