So That'S Why They Call It Great Britain

So That's Why They Call it Great Britain: How One Tiny Country Gave So Much to the World covers less than half of one per cent of the earth’s land mass, but is responsible for more 40% of the world’s great inventions. The first car, first train, and first aeroplane (sorry, Wright Bros) came from Great Britain, as did the steam engine, the jet engine and the engine of the internet (the www protocols used online). Britons created the first computer and the first computer game (noughts and crosses), as well as the telegraph, the telephone and the television (and the mousetrap, the lightbulb and the loo roll). Our agricultural and industrial revolutions changed the way the world ate and worked, and our legal and political system has been copied across the globe. Our language is spoken everywhere. British doctors were first to use innoculation and antibiotics, they unlocked the DNA code and invented ultrasound. The British empire outshone all others (when empires were the done thing), and our military achievements – from 1066 to the defeat of the Nazis and beyond – are second to none. Now we’re widely regarded as the world’s most racially- and culturally-integrated country. Most of the world’s major sports originated here – along with William Shakespeare and Jane Austen, The Beatles and The Stones, Fawlty Towers and The Office. And we lead the world in one other thing: self-deprecation. This book shows – without boasting, and with tons of humour, unknown facts and weird stories – just why our country is called GREAT Britain.