«back to travel tips

E ngland, unlike Wales and Scotland , has no national dress. Some people think men in England wear suits and bowler hats but I have never seen anyone wearing a bowler hat.

O n the other hand, our customs and traditions involve a wide variety of costumes, from the spectacular ceremonies associated with monarchy to the traditional costumes worn by morris dancers and other at English country fairs.

I n London you can see men dressed in a red costume like in this picture. These men are called Beefeaters and are very important because they look after our queen and her jewels. Some people say this is the nearest thing to our national costume.
A Beefeater for you to colour.

B ritannia wears traditional clothes but she is not a real person. She is a symbol of Britain.

Lots of ordinary clothes have a long tradition. The very cold winters in the Crimea in the war of 1853-56 gave us the names of the cardigan and the balaclava. Lord Cardigan led the Light Brigade at the Battle of the Balaclava (1854) A "cardigan" is now a warm woollen short coat with buttons, and a "balaclava" is a woollen hat.

Another British soldier, Wellington, gave his name to a pair of boots. The have a shorter name today - " Wellies "