Isaac Newton is where I start when I want to talk about our culture and identity. There is no beginning, middle or end to the thread of thought, but I just like to start with one of our most influential thinkers, Isaac Newton.
Isaac Newton stood on the shoulders of giants, such as the Italian Galileo and the German Kepler, to develop his full theory of the motion of the moon, but he also made use of the charts made by our first Astronomer Royal, John Flamsteed. 
John Flamsteed observed the stars from the Norman White Tower to help our Sailors find longitude. In the basement of the same White Tower, the Knights Templar were tortured after being taken from the area they had built known as Temple.
Temple is now a legal district and notable centre of English law. It contains a church modelled on the Church of the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem. Nobody could go to the church without the permission of the Master of the Temple, who also sat in the Houses of Parliament.
The Houses of Parliament were built in the English Gothic style, which was developed from a style originating in France. After many of the original buildings were destroyed, in the fire of 1835, it was rebuilt in the French Gothic Revival style based on a design by Charles Barry.
Charles Barry is commemorated in Westminster Abbey, which was also built in the early English Gothic style that originated in France. Inside the Abbey is a dedicated section called Poets corner.
Poets corner celebrates some of our finest literature. It contain tributes to poets such as Shelley, Keats, and Byron, who took their inspiration from countries such as Italy, France, and Switzerland. Or tributes to playwrights like William Shakespeare.
William Shakespeare is considered one of our finest writers, and his plays debuted in a theatre based on a Roman Amphitheatre. People would stand in the open air to watch plays set in Denmark, France, Greece, and Italy. Or even just plays about English kings, such as Henry V.
Henry V lies in Westminster Abbey with his French wife, Catherine of Valois. When Henry V died at the age of 35, Catherine (probably) married Edmund Tudor and this (definitely) led to a grandchild who became Henry VII.
Henry VII, who reconstructed the Lady Chapel in Westminster Abbey, lies in a tomb designed by the Italian sculptor Pietro Torrigiano. This wasn’t in the gothic style, but the new Italian Renaissance style which became very popular and was used in the design of Banqueting House.
Banqueting House supports a ceiling painted by the Flemish Master Rubens, and it was from this building Charles I stepped out to meet his end. Opposite Banqueting house Charles I’s son, Charles II, ordered the creation of Horse Guards.
Horse Guards was rebuilt in the Palladian style, inspired by the designs of the Venetian architect Andrea Palladio, in 1745. A military command centre during the Napoleonic Wars, it contains the office of the Commander in Chief, a position twice held by the Duke of Wellington.
The Duke of Wellington, commanding an Anglo, Spanish, and Portuguese army, entered Madrid in 1812 and sat for the Spanish artist Francisco de Goya who painted a portrait which can be seen in the National Gallery.
The National Gallery was architected in the neoclassical style based on the classical antiquity of ancient Greece and Rome. It contains paintings from Dutch, French, Italian and German painters, along with works of art by British painters such as Joshua Reynolds.
Joshua Reynolds spent two years studying the Old Masters in Rome to develop what he would call “The Grand Style”. Joshua specialised in portraits, usually of the rich and famous. One of his sitters was Elizabeth Montagu, the commissioner of the Kimbolton Cabinet.
The Kimbolton Cabinet was built by Ince and Mayhew, it was decorated with panels made by Florentine artist Baccio Cappelli, and designed to stand in Kimbolton Castle where Henry VIII had imprisoned Catherine of Aragon.
Catherine of Aragon was the Spanish wife of Henry VIII at the time he acquired Hampton Court, which supported courts for the French game Real tennis. When William III and Mary II came to power, they transformed it into a Baroque palace with the help of Sir Christopher Wren.
Sir Christopher Wren was a master of Baroque, a style that had originated in Rome. He travelled to Paris to study French architecture while learning from Italian architect Bernini. When he returned from Europe he submitted his first proposal for St Paul’s Cathedral.
St Paul’s Cathedral has had many incarnations. Sir Christopher Wren’s first proposal was for renovating the previous Normal church, but unfortunately the Great Fire of London destroyed it. Completed in 1697, St Paul’s Cathedral became the resting place of J M W Turner.
J M W Turner studied in the Louvre, Paris, and was influenced by travelling through France, Switzerland, and Venice. At the tender age of 24, he was elected an Associate Member of the Royal Academy, an institution created by a personal act of George III.
The British Museum was originally located in Montague house, but in 1840 it was demolished and a Greek revival building was built in its place. The museum contains artefacts from all around the world that have inspired artists such as Josiah Wedgwood.
Josiah Wedgwood based his jasperware on the Portland Vase, a Roman cameo glass vase dated between AD 1 and AD 25. Josiah Wedgewood made his own version of the Portland Vase. A first edition can be seen today in the Victoria and Albert Museum.
The Victoria and Albert Museum is a museum of art and design where you can view how fashionable Oriental furniture in the 17th century led to local designers creating imitations. Queen Victoria wanted to call the Museum ‘The Albert Museum’ after her husband, Prince Albert.
Prince Albert, with Henry Cole, organised the Great Exhibition in the iconic Crystal Palace. It was the first culture and industry exhibition and it was copied around the world. People from the four corners of the globe came to the United Kingdom with examples of their culture.
Culture in the United Kingdom is not a thread, it is a tapestry woven from influences over time from the wider world. It is all around us. We adopt it and we adapt it.
It encompassing everything in our life. From our law to our literature, our pastimes to our paintings, our science to our sport, our architecture, our Kings and our Queens. Generations have either been immersed, enlightened, or inspired by cultures.
Cultures that have helped define our own identity with iconic national symbols, such as our Roman pound sign, our Hungarian hats, our gothic revival Big Ben, or even our chips made from American potatoes with fish in Hebrew batter. These things define us and our country.
Our country does support a proud and rich culture, but it also has a culture it doesn’t like to talk about. A less seemly culture that it isn’t proud of. One that is not so welcoming to visitors.
Visitors that have felt the need to assimilate to hide in our communities.
Communities that have responded in the ugliest manner to those who have come to help us. That have dehumanised these people.
People who for many years have been travelling here and made a contribution.
A contribution that we would go unrecognised at the time and for which many years would pass before we realised the benefits that they brought to our nation.
Our nation may not want to acknowledge it has this shameful culture, but our secret does not escape the gaze of other countries.
Other countries who, many years in the future, could look at our continent and see that almost every nation is dedicated to the end of this one vile culture, while we still seek to keep it alive and pander to those who are only ever happy when they hear that people are leaving.
Leaving the question, which culture should we allow to thrive? The culture we are proud of. A culture built on being open and welcoming of other cultures, a culture of great beauty. Or that culture which makes us ashamed, our xenophobic culture?
Culture and thought has no boundaries, and boundaries are actually their enemy. Culture evolves and, with it, our identity evolves too. Anyone who looks at our history will inevitably discover this is a fact.
A fact which, in the /End, can be explained with a simple thread of thought that might start with Ada Lovelace, Mary Moser, Beatrix Potter, or even Isaac Newton.
