1. We have zero respect for authority
2. Sure, we have a royal family, but we humiliate them at every turn
3. We make them look creepy in photos
4. We force them to perform tedious tasks
Always with the digging
5. And then we wonder why The Queen always looks so unimpressed with us
6. Politicians don't get it any easier. When David Cameron joined Twitter, this is how the nation responded
7. So... this whole thing turned out quite well, didn't it?
8. In fact, let's just take a little moment to remember
9. On the subject of sporting heroes, it's pretty cool that our greatest cyclist is a mod who loves Oasis, The Stone Roses and The Jam
You want to know how brilliantly British Bradley Wiggins is?
When he won Olympic Gold, the BBC asked him how he planned to celebrate. This was his response
10. OK, are we ready to talk comedy now? Where to start? How about Peep Show?
11. And here, have some Alan Partridge in your face
12. The Office, obviously
13. The League Of Gentlemen channeled the darkest and freakiest corners of the British psyche
14. Let's not forget The IT Crowd
15. Speaking of cult British humour, did we mention "Withnail And I"?
16. In fact, we British do a good line in rakish screen icons. Take this guy, for example
17. And, to a lesser extent, this guy
18. And not to brag, but British actors, from Hugh Laurie to Kit Harington to Damian Lewis, are completely owning US TV right now
19. Can we talk music? Here are a few things that should make you delighted to be British
20. This frontman
21. This drummer
22. This singer-songwriter
23. This band
24. This album
25. This song
26. And, most of all, this God among men
27. Other British heroes, beyond music? How about Alan Turing, the father of computer science, whose codebreaking skills helped win World War II
28. This chap is worthy of your admiration
29. So's this one
30. This bloke's all right too, we suppose
31. So's this one
32. Also, just look at this ridiculously cool World War II fighter pilot. What a dude.
33. The thing is, a lot of our heroes are lovably flawed. For example, the guy who wrote this
Fifteen years later, wrote this
34. And the guy who played drums on this
Later provided the voiceover for this
35. Other things to make your heart swell? Well, this goes without saying
36. Our music festivals are famous the world over
37. In fact they're so good we'll put up with all manner of horrendous hardships, all in the name of a drunken good time
38. Our press, for all its flaws, is the liveliest you'll find anywhere. In most countries, newspaper front pages look like this
39. Ours look like this
40. Meanwhile, our magazines have the most arresting cover lines
41. And our local newspapers have the most hard-hitting exclusives
42. We're understandably proud of our rich and varied history
43. But we're wise enough to know when to defer to other cultures
44. We're fond of a drink, it's true
Almost to a fault, some might say
45. And yes, OK, sometimes as a nation we can be a tiny bit shambolic
46. But we're basically decent people. When rioters rampaged across London in 2011, we didn't boil over with anger. We responded like this
47. We're realistic about our place in the world. You have to be, when THIS guy is Mayor of your capital city
48. Fundamentally, we're happy with who we are. We're self-deprecating, and cynical, and we never, ever take ourselves too seriously
So go on, say it after me. It's OK. Really. It'll be our secret
There, that wasn't so difficult now, was it?