"4th of July in England" Topic

I wanted to share a story with my freinds from England and the commonwealth that I made here on TMP.

Being a retire Firefighter and EMT and those who know jokes go on all the time around the station house. On the 4th of July in the 80's I had fixed a very colonial dinner for us at the station. All 11 of us sat down to eat when ole Mullins asked. "Do the British celebrate the 4th". Being the historian that I am I spoke and and said no they do not. " In fact the British do not have a 4th of July" Well Mullins sat there and look puzzled while the rest of the crew was staring at me for the next round. " Well what do you mean" Mullins asked "Well" I said. " They took the 4th out of the calendar and replaced it with nothing" Now Mullins was really in a quandry. And of course as most of you who are Firefighter the others caught on and make statements like "YOu did not know that" "They did not teach that to you in School" So Mullins asked "What do they do with it" I said "They go right from the 3rd to the 5th and added the number 32 at the end of the month"

Mullins sat there and thought it out and said "That makes sense" and added " Then they do thier fireworks on the 32nd of July"

That is when tea spurted out my nose and the table came unglued and the guys where laughing to beat the band.

Happy 4th United States and I still love my English brethern.

Dawghouse Pete
Master Fire Fighter (ret)

Thanks for that. I laughed so much my eyes started watering.

That is a GREAT STORY! Jolly good as the Brits say.

I always wondered what they did… …now I know! ;->

Incidentally, I do ACTUALLY wonder how they feel on the 4th. It probably makes no difference to them whatsoever, but look at what they lost! If they had played it differently, and given the colonials parlimentary representation, the entire British Empire might have stuck more or less together on this continent. I would not MIND being British as opposed to a New Englander American. Imagine the differences though… …no Constitution… …possibly no Civil War (since the British had outlawed it there already and were talking about applying it to the colonies…

It would be an interesting story!

Cheers, and happy 4th getns and lady!

Some of us do not celebrate treason.

We celebrate the 4th of July in the UK – it's our Thanksgiving day :-)

Mike

4th of what now? Just an ordinary day, no more, no less..apart from it being the day before my wedding anniversary :EEK:

Speculating on the effect on our Empire if it had all been different is bloody complex, but I'd no doubt be still drinking coca cola one way or another!

Perhaps I would not have my ingrained political cynicism and deep seated guilt and jaded nationalism (I do retain SOME pride however) for actually becoming a major empire on the backs of a downtrodden so called third world..I think it may take a few generations more before the population of the current US Empire to discover the same feeling ;)

Above all else …a holiday is a holiday, and I'll happily drink with any colonial I meet on the day – down with the british and their lime sucking ways thats what i say :D

Must go now..time for tiffing, toodle pip and chin chin

I imagine that for most people the thought that it is a holiday somewhere else doesn't even cross their mind.

Why would it? People who aren't wargamers or historians don't tend to carry the whole weight of history around with them.

I was answering Norscaman, by the way. Forgot to say that!

but they have fireworks Pol!

FIREWORKS!

I will celebrate anything with crackers involved. Queens Birthday, chinese new year and 4th of July.

I keep reading refrences in Flashman to November 3rd. Or is it the 4th? Anyway, things blow up that day. Or so I'm told.

I understand that the Frogs make a big to-do on July 14th, but it has nothing to do with us, so can't be all that important. Was that the day de Gaulle got de-pantsed?

In Blighty we have November the Fifth as an fireworks letting-off exercise.

All to celebrate the downfall of a Catholic plot in the Seventeenth Century! Not that we hold grudges for a long time or anything!

And we have a bit of burning in effigy, too, on Guy Fawkes Night. Can't beat a bit of that!

I explained to an American a couple of days ago that Canada doesn't do 4th of July, we do July 1st (Canada Day).

He asked if that was our independance day. I explained that we didn't have to go to war with England, we just kinda… asked nicely and they said "Sure."

You mean that after we went to all the trouble to kick out our Loyalists to Canada, you went ahead and did it anyway? It was that easy?

I am glad you guys enjoyed the posting.

Dawghouse Pete

Well I'm British and I celebrate July 4th. My parents typically have a party and we go over there. There are usually more Brits there than Americans actually. There was one party a couple of years ago where Jaime was the only American there.

Of course my mom often still serves a traditional British food as part of the party: Chicken curry.

Has to be barbecued chicken curry. Ona bun.

Think of it this way, do Americans celebrate November the 5th? Or April the 23rd? (bonfire night & saint Georges day)
Ask the majority of British people what the 4th of July means and you will get a blank stare.

I do not treat July the 4th any differently it simply is not a special day over here ( in fact it took me a few moments to work out what you were talking about)

However I do wish you good weather for your celebrations !

We don't give a toss about the 4th of July here in England. But we do recognise that it's America's special day. But other than that, it's 'who cares'. Our national day is 23rd April. I suspect most in the US don't party on 'that' day.

Ghost Train so eloquently said;

"Ask the majority of British people what the 4th of July means and you will get a blank stare".

Almost true. If you ask us Brits what the significance of July 4th is to America, we do know the answer.

Why of course, it is the birthday of one of your diminutive heroes, the erstwhile scientificky geezer, Tom Cruise, also known as Thumb, due to his stature…

"Was that the day de Gaulle got de-pantsed?"

In England John, we usually say 'de-bagged' as opposed to de-pantsed. Somehow, it just sounds more English…

Cor, just had a Google, and there's loads of good 4th July stuff…. Obviously lots of it was done *because* it was the 4th of July, but there are some really good ones as well. Personally, I shall be celebrating 4th July (1946) as Philippine Independence Day, just so the Americans don't go thinking they've got a monopoly on breaking away from Empires…. :-p

Dom.

PS – Bizarre but true; 3 of the first 5 US presidents died on the 4th of July; Adams and Jefferson both in 1826, and Monroe in 1831. (Did they like setting off fireworks near the old folks or something…?)

Well in that case Dom, Dubbya better find a rock to hide under on Monday, just to be on the safe side…

LOL….

Also remember it's Garibaldi day, so the Italians should be partying too. Oddly enough, I've just looked up the Philippines holiday, and they call it "Philippine-American Friendship Day" which is lovely; will you chaps (and chapesses) therefore please abandon your Independence Day nonsense, and prepare to celebrate "British-American Friendship Day" instead…?

Dom :-)

When stationed in The Netherlands it was cool that on 4th of July and Thanksgiving the stores were all open and we could get anything we needed. Of course those were American holidays and we didn't interfere with our neighbors. I did introduce them to Hot Dogs and AMERICAN ketchup.

July 4th is the day that family and friends gather around the TV, watch "Saving Private Ryan" and discuss how D-Day was accomplished without any help from the British.

I'll second British American Friendship Day! Sounds like a cool idea, and we could all do with another public holiday in the UK when the weather is good! It'll be great, partying on both sides of the Atlantic and all that!

Viv

It's Horatio Hornblower's birthday. Happpy 229th, Horatio!

Cool! Break out the rum!

No wait! I mean, do we really need an excuse to party?

I'm stationed in england on every 4th we have our firework show on base and they invite the brits to come watch the show. More Brits are there then Americans they come out in droves they love coming on base for any reason. A lot sit outside the fence taking pics. Also if they buy food at the food court or food stalls at the 4th celebration its super cheap compared to food off base.

So the Brits don't know much about the 4th of July. That's something else we in the states have in common with you guys. An interview was done with 50 people on the streets. They were asked what the 4th of July was about and fully 60% didn't know or thought that it was the end of WWII or something like that. Oh ya, all of them had plans to set off fireworks or watch fireworks.

Rich

Well, this 4th of July is going to be a ty day for me. Term has finished so we have our 'all the college staff get together' day. Half a day of hearing how the college is doing, where we are going etc (down the pan still more than likely) then half a day of departmental get together's – which is normally as boring as hell and involves some crappy set of puzzles of 'team' building exercises. Therefore I will not get online on the 4th until late at night BST, so, to all of you on the other side of the pond, HAPPY 4TH OF JULY. May you all have a lot of fun, and do it safely.

@ jtipp68 : July the 4th is the day that family and friends gather around the TV, watch "Saving Private Ryan" and discuss how D-Day was accomplished without any help from the British.

ROFLMAO – that is sooooo Hollywood!

@Coyoteh : He asked if that was our independance day. I explained that we didn't have to go to war with England, we just kinda… asked nicely and they said "Sure."

LOL – we did that with most places you know? We probably would have done the same for the yanks but you know how much they love a war ;-P (joking folks)

Well here is my take on all the crap that most have posted here about the 4th.

Other than two wars that we fought the United States and Great Britian have been together for a long time. We worked hand and hand to fight Germany in both wars. We stood with you on the Falklands. Austrilia sent men to die with ours in Nam. North Korea we shared the same hardships of cold and heat. Irag 1 and 2 you guys have been there. I have broken bread with Brits on field exercises and traded rations. Love the kindney pies! What our forfathers did in the 18th Century was something long overdue and had to be done. And out of that Phoenix came two nations who while miles apart in many ways are still joined hand and hand.

Britian I salute you on this 4th of July and thank you for standing with us in our times of need.

GOD SAVE THE QUEEN

Peter Griffith
American

Personally, I cannot fault your Colonial ancestors for getting rid of us, we were ruled by a mad German at the time!
Mind you, we got our act together to get rid of another mad German a few years later , even if you did arrive late, its better late than never so thank you!!!!

Here her Mr. Griffin! This July 4th, I celebrate all the Brits, including our forebearers, and the rich history of our love! My family names, after all, are Whittington, Small, Pearson, Twist, Hawk, Chick, and Irwin/Forbes (for a little Scottish affiliation)!

londoncopper, aren't the Hanovers still in control over there… ;->

Dom Skelton

===Personally, I shall be celebrating 4th July (1946) as Philippine Independence Day, just so the Americans don't go thinking they've got a monopoly on breaking away from Empires…. :-p===

4 July 1946 was when the US gave the Philippines independence, but like you say, its now called Philippine-American Friendship Day, as the Filipinos celebrate their independence Day on 12 June (IIRC), the date in 1998 the Spanish were booted out (by the Americans)

Pro…

Dawghouse Peter

===Austrilia sent men to die with ours in Nam.===

Actually Pete, we sent them to fight Communism. We did NOT send them to die! I know what you mean though.

Pro…

The US had planned to give the Philippines their independence in 1942, but a little war and Jap invasion stalled everything. They were liberated and given their independence in 1946.
The US has a commonwealth. Every year or so we hope some will vote to leave as independent countries. My wife is from Puerto Rico. Every year they are asked if they want to be a state, independent or remain in the commonwealth.

On the 4th I say thanks to the Dutch, French, Spanish and et al that help defeat my ancestors and free the colonies. Even if it was for their countries benefit to see a preceived weakening of the Empire. And thanks to the British who lost, thus allowing the great experiment called the US to begin. Maybe one day we will get it right and honor what our colonial fathers fought for so many years ago.

On Monday, I'll thank God and all those past and present who donned the uniform. And curse the politicans and business men (and wackos left and right) that muck it up.

Semper Fi

Earlier, I reminded a friend who was coming over for Historicon to make sure he had some US Greenbacks for the taxi from the airport. He said he'd get them at the bank on Monday. You can imagine his reply to my question "Aren't the banks closed there for the Fourth of July Holiday".

Norscaman,
They are such a bunch of inbreds that there may well be some Hannovarian blood left in them !

The French help'd to get rid of the Brit's from the US. Now the Brit's have help'd the US get rid of Sadam and the US don't like the French. Funny how things change.

If we all want another public holiday, I vote International Star Wars day. It could be held on 4th May of each year.

Why 4th of May, you might ask…

just remember, May the Fourth be with you….

oh, and Scurvy, I'm with you on the Fireworks, I so miss cracker night.

"just remember, May the Fourth be with you…."

LOL, but accompanied with a massive groan!

You can still get crackers in the ACT chick. Ask for the 'special' crackers from the stores the bikers run to get the good stuff thats highly illegal in all states and territories.

London copper
Of course they have Hanoverian blood in them! Victoria was born a Hanoverian and the Queen is a direct descendant. They call themselves Windsors, but that was a name change of George V form his grandfathers name of Saxe-Coburg Gotha.

Of course, if we now decded that parliament had acted illegally by inviting a German over to be king, we'd now have to,erm, invite over a German to be King! The Duke in Bavaria would hold the claim and on his death it would pass to his daughter who is the wife of the Prince of Liechtenstein.

There is also a chap who claims to be a direct heir of Bonny Prince Charlie, but apparently he is a fraud.

Swampster

Just found a list of the heirs to the UK throne.
If the first 60 die(!), most of the rest are Norwegians, Germans, Romanians…
And if the first 557 die (!!!) then the new king would be… the Duke of Edinburgh!

Swampster

Your a better searcher than I am Swampster, any chance of passing on the link?

Too bad all of us are so geographically dispersed. It would be fun to do an all day war game theme, a big AWI game. I would make it a yearly tradition. Whomever lost would set the tone for the main courses and beverages.

Now that we Americans have some decent micro brews, we could match our cousins in beer.

Then we could all finish off the day watching fireworks and looking forward to the next gathering.

Thank you Swampster, I believe the name change was down to anti German feelings during WW1?