Famous "Britons"?

ejmaztec

Am I missing something here, am I having a "thick" day?

http://www.information-britain.co.uk/famousbritons.php?county=121

In amongst links to the counties and other links you'd expect to see on the site, there seem to be some counties that you don't expect to see. Some of the people are historical figures, like the Duke of Wellington (a grey area), and then you have alive and kicking Daniel O'Donnell, who no way is a Briton.

Clare(1)
Cork(2)
Donegal(3)
Dublin(18)
Galway(1)
Kerry(1)
Kildare(1)
Limerick(1)
Longford(1)
Mayo(1)
Monaghan(2)
Sligo(1)
Tipperary(1)
Waterford(1)
Wicklow(1

smash

They always claim U2.

And ffs, topgear claimed the MX-5 was a British sports car!

DingChavez

British Isles innit.

ejmaztec

Perhaps the big loan wasn't a loan at all, and was a payment for the counties listed?

Aodan83

DingChavez wrote: »

British Isles innit.

Was thinking that too. This site definitely means UK British, not British Isles British.

FloatingVoter

Technically the ones born before 1921? (whenever state was founded) were British citizens. 1948? we leave the commonwealth so that is dubious. Anybody born after then is no more a "Briton" than Julius Caesar was a Mayo man. If "Briton" = born in British Isles, they're spot on. However that logic would make Cliff Richard an Indian.

edit: and I personally don't give a toss.

Guill

Briton is an centuries old German word used to describe people from the Islands now known as Uk and Ireland.

Fratton Fred

The nmajority of those come from Dublin, so those would count as (West) British anyway....

stovelid

The ongoing determination to excavate increasingly arcane micro-instances of Brit offense needs a formal name. Something witty, like a nationalistic pun on data mining perhaps.

We could even nominate a new forum for it so normal people wouldn't have to see it.

Liam Byrne

Well considering that M&S's website doesn't list Irish stores under "international stores", I'm not surprised.

http://corporate.marksandspencer.com/aboutus/where/international_stores

Basically the UK schools mustn't do geography particularly well.

mike65

smash wrote: »

They always claim U2.

And ffs, topgear claimed the MX-5 was a British sports car!

U2 is 50% British so they can make a fair claim (if they really want to!)

Badgermonkey

I was preparing myself to be incensed at this ignorant slight, then I saw the website.

mike65

The charms of web 1.0 are lost on some

stovelid

Badgermonkey wrote: »

hen I saw the website.

Needs more marquee.

jum4

who gives a crap, site looks like it was made on geocities cira 1996,

Tabnabs

Guill wrote: »

Briton is an centuries old German word used to describe people from the Islands now known as Uk and Ireland.

Eh, no it's not. Britanni or Brittanni has a Latin origin

pickarooney

stovelid wrote: »

The ongoing determination to excavate increasingly arcane micro-instances of Brit offense needs a formal name. Something witty, like a nationalistic pun on data mining perhaps.

We could even nominate a new forum for it so normal people wouldn't have to see it.

Octocensitivity

ejmaztec

stovelid wrote: »

The ongoing determination to excavate increasingly arcane micro-instances of Brit offense needs a formal name. Something witty, like a nationalistic pun on data mining perhaps.

We could even nominate a new forum for it so normal people wouldn't have to see it.

I've never seen a persecution thread as good as this one though, thanks for dropping in.:P





:pac:

Batsy

ejmaztec wrote: »

Am I missing something here, am I having a "thick" day?

http://www.information-britain.co.uk/famousbritons.php?county=121

In amongst links to the counties and other links you'd expect to see on the site, there seem to be some counties that you don't expect to see. Some of the people are historical figures, like the Duke of Wellington (a grey area), and then you have alive and kicking Daniel O'Donnell, who no way is a Briton.

The Duke of Wellington was British. Apart from the fact that he lived when the whole of Ireland was part of Britain - which made him British - he didn't even consider himself to be Irish.

When told he is Irish he often used to reply: "Just because one is born in a stable does not make one a horse."

Batsy

smash wrote: »

They always claim U2.

And ffs, topgear claimed the MX-5 was a British sports car!

The MX-5 is based on the classic British sports car and the first prototype was made in Worthing, West Sussex.
I quote:

In 1976, Bob Hall, a (American) journalist at Motor Trend magazine who was an expert in Japanese cars and fluent in the language, met Kenichi Yamamoto and Gai Arai, head of Research and Development at Mazda. Yamamoto and Gai Arai asked Hall what kind of car Mazda should make in the future:

"I babbled [...] how the [...] simple, bugs-in-the-teeth, wind-in-the-hair, classically-British sports car doesn't exist anymore. I told Mr. Yamamoto that somebody should build one [...] inexpensive roadster."


In 1981, Hall moved to a product planning position with Mazda US and again met Yamamoto, now chairman of Mazda Motors, who remembered their conversation about a roadster and in 1982 gave Hall the go-ahead to research the idea further. At this time Hall hired designer Mark Jordan to join the newly formed Mazda design studio in Southern California. There, Hall and Jordan collaborated on the parameters of the initial image, proportion and visualization of the "light-weight sports" concept. In 1983, the idea turned concept was approved under the "Offline 55" program, an internal Mazda initiative that sought to change the way new models were developed. Thus, under head of project Masakatsu, the concept development was turned into a competition between the Mazda design teams in Tokyo and California.

The Californian team proposed a front-engine, rear-wheel drive layout, codenamed Duo 101, in line with the British roadster ancestry, but their Japanese counterparts favored the more common front-engine, front-wheel drive layout or the rear mid-engine, rear-wheel drive layout.

The first round of judging the competing designs was held in April 1984. At this stage, designs were presented solely on paper. The mid-engined car appeared the most impressive, although it was known at the time that such a layout would struggle to meet the noise, vibration and harshness (NVH) requirements of the project. It was only at the second round of the competition in August 1984, when full-scale clay models were presented, that the Duo 101 won the competition and was selected as the basis for Mazda's new light-weight sports car.

The Duo 101, so named as either a soft top or hard top could be used, incorporated many key stylistic cues inspired by the Lotus Elan, a 1960s roadster. International Automotive Design (IAD) in Worthing, England was commissioned to develop a running prototype, codenamed V705. It was built with a fiberglass body, a 1.4 L (85 cu in) engine from a Mazda Familia and components from a variety of early Mazda models. The V705 was completed in August 1985 and taken to the U.S.A. where it rolled on the roads around Santa Barbara and got positive reactions.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mx5

Frank Black

They probably do it to wind up a certain type of Irish person – it seems to work as well.

Fratton Fred

Batsy wrote: »

The Duke of Wellington was British. Apart from the fact that he lived when the whole of Ireland was part of Britain - which made him British - he didn't even consider himself to be Irish.

When told he is Irish he often used to reply: "Just because one is born in a stable does not make one a horse."

That's actually a modern myth. Wellesley was referred to as being Irish and Daniel O'Connell said that about him.

There was a thread on this subject on the history forum a while back and the OP posted up pretty good supporting material.

Liam Byrne

black francis wrote: »

They probably do it to wind up a certain type of Irish person – it seems to work as well.

What "certain type of Irish person" ?

One that likes websites and surveys to be - well - factually accurate ?

Try setting up a website listing the regions of Canada as being from the USA and see how you get on.

ejmaztec

Batsy wrote: »

The Duke of Wellington was British. Apart from the fact that he lived when the whole of Ireland was part of Britain - which made him British - he didn't even consider himself to be Irish.

When told he is Irish he often used to reply: "Just because one is born in a stable does not make one a horse."

That's what Daniel O'Connell once said about Wellington.

Frank Black

Liam Byrne wrote: »

Try setting up a website listing the regions of Canada as being from the USA and see how you get on.

Now why would I want to do a crazy thing like that?

parc

They have barry mcguigan as a "briton"

Liam Byrne

black francis wrote: »

Now why would I want to do a crazy thing like that?

Any chance you'd answer my question first ? What "certain type of Irish person" did you conclusion-jump to when you posted ?

ejmaztec

Liam Byrne wrote: »

Any chance you'd answer my question first ? What "certain type of Irish person" did you conclusion-jump to when you posted ?

Probably one like me who wasn't even born here.:pac:

Quazzie

parc wrote: »

They have barry mcguigan as a "briton"

He represented Northern Ireland in the commonwealth games which I suppose means he's a briton

Frank Black

Liam Byrne wrote: »

Any chance you'd answer my question first ? What "certain type of Irish person" did you conclusion-jump to when you posted ?

Would have thought that was quite obvious.
The type that get’s really annoyed whenever some British person or institution describes an Irish person as being British. I stopped letting this annoy me years ago.
Ironically it often the same people who passionately support an English football team and frequently refer to them as ‘we’.

Lapin

What about Ballybrit ?



..................................:pac:

R P McMurphy

Quazzie wrote: »

He represented Northern Ireland in the commonwealth games which I suppose means he's a briton

He actually took British citizenship to do so, was a popular move in his home town of Clones

getz

Quazzie wrote: »

He represented Northern Ireland in the commonwealth games which I suppose means he's a briton

he is

demakinz

It also says this on their site.

Yes, we know our Irish neighbours arent part of Britain but because we think the country is marvellous we just had to feature it anyway. Coupled with the fact that, for our north American and Antipodean cousins, 'doing' the UK & Ireland at the same time is a no-brainer and to include it just made sense. Please no emails complaining that Ireland is not part of Britain - we know it isnt OK? On the positive side this is a very modern yet uniquely traditional country and people with a special brand of hospitality that is quite rightly world famous..

Fair enough I think.

ejmaztec

demakinz wrote: »

It also says this on their site.


Fair enough I think.

They're obviously a bunch of crawlers.:(

KeithAFC

Dublin is fine example to use. A lot of British history in Dublin. Basically a 7th county.

blahfckingblah

nope according to that site belfast is as you say the 7th county

Mike 1972

parc wrote: »

They have barry mcguigan as a "briton"

The UK Independent included him on a list of Northern Ireland sporting greats a few weeks ago they also mentioned he was known as the Clones Cyclone

Liam Byrne

black francis wrote: »

Would have thought that was quite obvious.

The type that get’s really annoyed whenever some British person or institution describes an Irish person as being British.

That's not a "type".....it's a person who appreciates correctness.

You said yourself how stupid it would be to list Canada as part of the U.S.A. - the exact same principle applies - so you've already acknowledged that it's stupid.

black francis wrote: »

Ironically it often the same people who passionately support an English football team and frequently refer to them as ‘we’.

So ?

You can passionately support a Spanish team and still object if some ignorant Spanish idiot suggests that that somehow makes you part of Spain.

Frank Black

Liam Byrne wrote: »

That's not a "type".....it's a person who appreciates correctness.

You said yourself how stupid it would be to list Canada as part of the U.S.A. - the exact same principle applies - so you've already acknowledged that it's stupid.

If you're saying that you're not that 'type' of person, then I can accept that and I apologise if any offense was caused.

However if you're saying that 'type' of person doesn't exist here, then I disagree.

I've met enough in my time.

Ally Dick

Guill wrote: »

Briton is an centuries old German word used to describe people from the Islands now known as Uk and Ireland.

:mad:

dpe

smash wrote: »

They always claim U2.

No we don't. Most English people have no idea The Edge and Adam Clayton are English.

On the other hand, I had no idea Des Lynam was Irish.

FTGFOP

demakinz wrote: »

It also says this on their site.

Yes, we know our Irish neighbours arent part of Britain but because we think the country is marvellous we just had to feature it anyway. Coupled with the fact that, for our north American and Antipodean cousins, 'doing' the UK & Ireland at the same time is a no-brainer and to include it just made sense. Please no emails complaining that Ireland is not part of Britain - we know it isnt OK? On the positive side this is a very modern yet uniquely traditional country and people with a special brand of hospitality that is quite rightly world famous..

Fair enough I think.

LOL

And that's the end of that chapter.

mike65

dpe wrote: »

No we don't. Most English people have no idea The Edge and Adam Clayton are English.

On the other hand, I had no idea Des Lynam was Irish.

Michael Gambon (of the Top Gear corner fame) is Irish.

OPENROAD

dpe wrote: »

No we don't. Most English people have no idea The Edge and Adam Clayton are English.

On the other hand, I had no idea Des Lynam was Irish.

The days when MOTD was great

Frank Black

OPENROAD wrote: »

The days when MOTD was great

Amen.

Pompey Magnus

Tabnabs wrote: »

Eh, no it's not. Britanni or Brittanni has a Latin origin

I believe it derives from the Priteni tribe, another name for the Cruithne who lived in Ireland. So the original Britons were Irish.

Which when put with the fact that Scotland basically just means "the land of the Irish" (Scotti being an ancient name for the Irish), it makes it funny to hear some Ulster Unionists identify themselves as "Scots-Irish and British", which is basically the same thing as saying "Irish-Irish and Irish" (at least etymylogically).

filthymcnasty

have to mention Daniel Day Lewis. Seems to staddle that strange mid territory of Anglo-Irish/English/Irish descent.
We all claim him but no-one seems to have a clue where he's from.

pragmatic1

Robert Boyle. Basically the father of chemistry. An Irishman but always called British.