Brewer's Anthology of England and the English

Advantages: Fantastic book
Disadvantages: None

...received Brewer's Anthology of England and the English (written and edited by David Milsted, published by Cassell, £25.00) as a Christmas present. And it is one of the more intriguing Christmas presents I have received in recent years. It is a weighty, substantial hardback book, and s worth every penny. It is an eclectic collection on and about all things that appertain to or which are about England and the English. It is in turns both humorous and tragic and also sometimes a combination of the two. It begins with an explanation of the title (it is a quote from an MP, read the book to find out which one, and under what particular set of electrifying circumstances they were uttered) and continues through a tempestuous collection ranging from religion, sports, cats, dogs, rats, there's Tacitus on the Britons, there is the poetry...

Martinscholes 27.01.2006 · Read review
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Review of Brewer's Anthology of England and the English - David Milsted

This is England - This is Great English Cinema

Advantages: Poignant, powerful, great performances, great setting
Disadvantages: Not for you if you like beautiful film stars or if you don't like swearing

.... Shane's insistence on avoiding the money, celebrity and publicity of the London-centric film industry (with the exception of Once Upon a Time in the Midlands, which was critically acclaimed, but with which Shane was wholly dissatisfied) has kept his films unpolished and totally believable. Shane drew heavily on his own childhood experiences for 'This is England', which ensures authenticity - this is not an approximation of a certain time and setting, these are memories set to a story. ~~~Plot~~~ The film opens with a series of news reel and clips from the early 80s, starting with Roland Rat and the Royal Wedding, but moving into the more disturbing images of the Falkland conflict, NF marches and race riots. There's no question of when and where we are and the backdrop for the film. The story starts on the last day at school before...

sonic0209 07.10.2007 · Read review
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Review of This Is England (DVD)

Johnny English

Advantages: great entertainment and side splitting comedy
Disadvantages: none

...Director: Peter Howitt Producer: Tim Bevan, Mark Huffam and Eric Fellner. Writers: Neal Purvis, William Davies and Robert Wade. Stars: Rowan Atkinson, Ben Miller, John Malkovich and Natalie Imbruglia This cracking comedy was released in the summer of 2003, the main character, Johnny English, basing himself self on a character originally created for a well known credit card company adverts. Johnny English, (played by Rowan Atkinson both on the adverts and this movie) is a British secret service member, spoofing the likes of James Bond. Unfortunately, he is as competent as Inspector Jacques Clouseau (from the Pink Panther films) which does lead him into some tricky situations. His partner, Bough, pronounced 'Boff', (played by Ben Miller) is the silent hero of the movie, always allowing Johnny to take full credit...

blissman70 27.06.2008 · Read review
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Review of Johnny English (DVD)

Celebrating England

Advantages: looks cute
Disadvantages: retired

...Everybody my age had TY beanies, they were adorable! My close circle of friends and I were huge collectors and between us we have most, if not all, of them going! One of these is England the Bear. England: The name is pretty self explanatory. This bear represents the country England. Whether it is bought as a souvineer by a tourist in England, or by somebody whose home country is England and they are proud of that, this bear is there to represent it. Appearance: To look at, England from a distance seems plain, almost like a basic white bear. Indeed, his fur is white, which goes hand in hand with the whiteness of the England flag. Around his neck there is a little red, white and blue bow - the colours of the Union Jack. This alone is cute, and then on his chest you will notice a little England flag has been stitched on. This adds to...

Amy69 23.08.2009 · Read review
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Review of TY England the Bear

English, Johnny English

Advantages: It was very funny
Disadvantages: Story, acting, plot etc

...Although I probably ought to have been revising, one of our tutors told us to take at least a whole day off a week. So a couple of weeks ago, I put impending Finals out of my mind, and spent a constructive Saturday (writing music reviews, playing pool, punting, watching a mate's band play Exeter's 'party in the park', Pizza Hut, cinema, George & Davies ice cream and a friends for relatively late night G&T and chat). So that's where Johnny English fits in to my revision schedule... The choice was X Men 2, How To Lose A Guy In 10 Days and Johnny English, and you'll know by now which we chose... I knew it was a Bond-esque spy spoof starring Rowan Atkinson, but that was about it. My biggest concern was whether I'd be able to put Mr Bean out of my head - as it happened, not much problem, but I kept thinking of that guy from the Barclaycard...

a-true-ben 03.06.2003 · Read review
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Review of Johnny English (DVD)

The English Blue

Advantages: Beautiful to look at, good temperament usually.
Disadvantages: Bad experience with my auntie's cat

...My aunty had an English Blue cat. It was really beautiful to look at, but had a really nasty temperament. Whenever I would go to stroke this cute cat it would hiss and go to bite me. So I left it well alone. It would just sit there in a ball by itself. Oh it was lovely to my aunty, but that's the only person he was lovely to. If anyone else tried to get near him he would hiss at them. Many people show British Blues and have marvellous success. British Blues are very beautiful cats to look at. They have been described as a stocky cat with a woolly ash-grey coat and copper eyes. A full broad chest, short strong legs, rounded paws and a tail that is thick at the base and tapers slightly to a rounded tip to show off a "football player" physique. They certainly are very handsome cats to look at. I have heard people describe...

Mickie26 05.03.2005 · Read review
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Review of English Blue

The English Agent

Advantages: Classic British humour
Disadvantages: Classic British xenophobia

...the villain, he ends up making a laughing-stock of himself. But for once Johnny is actually right: Brit-hating Sauvage is at the centre of a plot to have himself crowned King of England and turn this sceptred isle into a money-making venture to further his other nefarious schemes. Most of the action takes place in London, though there is the obligatory remote island lair for the villain to hang out in. I happened to see the film at the West India Quay UGC. Thus as English parachuted from a Hercules over Docklands and abseiled down the HSBC Tower, cunningly disguised as Sauvage's HQ, I was in the rare position of seeing footage of the very cinema I was in. This pleased me more than it probably should have done. The laughs are frequent and to all tastes; pratfalls, sight gags, one-liners and silly voices abound. In structure and gags this is...

Worrals 21.05.2003 · Read review
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Review of Johnny English (DVD)

Lie back and think of England!

Advantages: green colour is nice, did leave skin soft afterwards
Disadvantages: Bath full of petals, hardly any scent when in the water, no butterflies :(

...I was given this ballistic for my birthday and although I love Lush, this is not a product I would have bought for myself, due to my aversion to petals floating in my bath! This has been sitting in my cupboard for absolutely ages now, and I've never really been inclined to use it before, but as I'm running low on Lush products (boohoo!) I decided to use it a couple of days ago after a particularly stressful day. This bath bomb is a light green colour and has random 'bits' of dried flowers poking out from the sides. The idea is that the smell and appearance are supposed to be reminiscent of lying in a field of English flowers. Despite my dislike of the petals, I thought this smelled quite nice. It's got a very fresh, green scent, and I think it's a sort of grassy, plant-like scent, rather than being floral. It contains amongst...

pink_champagne 17.04.2009 · Read review
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Review of Lush English Countryside

The Names English...Johnny English

Advantages: Moderately funny. Natalie Imbruglia.
Disadvantages: Rowan Atkinson (you either love or hate him)

...~ ~ Movies have often been known to inspire commercials based on them, but it’s not too often that the opposite is the case. “Johnny English” (2003), the latest James Bond spy spoof currently doing the rounds of the cinemas, is the exception. From 1992 to 1997 Barclay’s Bank ran a series of humorous commercials starring Rowan Atkinson as an accident-prone spy, and it was the success of these commercials that ultimately led to Atkinson being offered the starring role in this new movie. ~ ~ Make no mistake, it’s Atkinson that you’ll see the most of in “Johnny English”. Not only does he take the lead role, but he appears on the cinema screen for about 95% of the time. In other words, this movie is a thinly disguised vehicle to show off the many talents of Rowan Atkinson, with the other...

the_mad_cabbie 21.05.2003 · Read review
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Review of Johnny English (DVD)

Would Anyone Like Some English Tea With A Slice of American Pie ?

Advantages: Delightfully uplifting tea that can be enjoyed at anytime of the day (not just at breakfast time)
Disadvantages: If you are on a budget then Twinings Teas are a little costly ...

...try" ... When I returned to the computer an hour or so ago I completely scrapped my half written review and started again. I found the full lyrics to the song and decided to set myself the challenge of re-writing the entire song to include all the details about Twinings Breakfast Tea Bags that I had originally wanted to write about. I hope you enjoy reading it as much as I enjoyed writing it. Please feel free to sing along too ... it's a little more complex than "Polly Put The Kettle On" but am sure you all know the tune. Twinings English Breakfast Tea Bags (sung to the tune of American Pie) A long, long time ago ? I can still remember How that morning cuppa used to make me smile. And I knew if I had my choice That I could use my reviewer?s voice And, maybe, they?d be happy for a while. But October made...

jedimastergray73 20.10.2009 · Read review
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Review of Twinings English Breakfast Tea Bags