Celebrities

Celebrities from the arts, sport and politics talk about what being British means to them.

Jessie J

Britain knows that we can't duplicate or recycle old art, music, culture, food, everything has to be brand new.

Richard Reed

We’re not a country ruled by fear and repression, we’re a country ruled by friendly people sharing cups of tea.

Colin Jackson

We love a bit of a committee - getting together before we make a big decision.

Russell Brand

The greatest achievement of Britain is the maintenance of our sense of humour after we've lost our empire.

Benedict Allen

Is it my Britishness that has kept me going?

Dame Helen Mirren

In the middle of the field was this old oak tree and it just epitomised Britain to me.

Dougray Scott

Do I see myself as a Scot? Or a Celt, or a Brit?

Caitlin Moran

There’s still that kind of sense of this just being a very tiny parish village rather than some kind of international super power.

Tracey Emin

I think Britain has a really fantastic, strong identity all around the world as being multicultural.

Ken Follett

British people are imaginative.

Gareth Thomas

I realised how tolerant a nation we are.

Lily Cole

There's a kind of really dramatic, colourful history.

Kwame Kwei-Armah

Pride in the intellectual.

Michael Portillo

We have been fearsome warriors.

Micky Flanagan

We root for the underdog and despise bullies.

Jeremy Irons

The landscape of the British Isles is really like nowhere else.

Diarmuid Gavin

The essence of the landscape is what I think most British people hold in their hearts.

Frank Lampard

Royal Britannia rules the waves.

Meera Syal

This is an island race that absorbs and welcomes other cultures.

Anthony Horowitz

Britain still punches above its weight.