British

I hear all this rubbish about us being Anglo-Saxon as if we are an homogenous race apart from Europe and the rest of the world. What garbage. They don’t know what they are talking about.

We are a mixture of races – mainly European but also with genetic input from all over the world.

A short look at our evolution starkly demonstrates that.

1. The Iron Age inhabitants were the Celts who probably originated in India and came to Britain from France and Germany
2. The Angles and Saxons (Jutes and Frisians) came from Germany and Denmark
3. The Romans came from Italy
4. The Normans came from France
5. The Vikings came from Sweden, Norway and Denmark
6. Through trade and Empire we took in immigrants from China, Africa, Arabia and Indonesia.
7. The waves of immigration from the Huguenots, Jews, Sikhs, Jamaicans, Turkish, Pakistanis, Indians, Ugandans and so on – all enriched our culture

Genetically we have mixtures of all these races. There is nothing ‘pure’ or homogenous about the British. We are full of hybrid vigour.

Our language reflects our genes. It is basically German/Danish with many French, Italian and other smatterings. That is what makes it so rich, colourful and expressive. We draw on so many cultures and have such great nuance. Our language is as much a mongrel as we are and all the better for it.

So basically the British are German with incorporations from all across Europe and sprinklings from the rest of the world.

Anglo-Saxons – you must be joking. I’m thoroughly European with a heavy dose of the rest of the world. I’m British.

What have I got in common with America? Two nations separated by a common language. Who said that? George Bernard Shaw.