“In England especially, I've found that if you bring up King Edward VIII and Wallis Simpson at a dinner party or a social gathering, it's like throwing a Molotov cocktail into the room.” IfsFoundSocialRoomsPartyKingsEnglandDinnerThrowingGatheringCocktailsDinner PartyMolotovMolotov Cocktail Author:Madonna Ciccone
“English tradition debars from dinner-table conversation almost all topics that might interest the conversers and insists upon strict adherence to banalities.” MightInterestConversationTraditionEnglandTablesDinnerStrictTopicsDinner TableBanalityAdherence Author:Elspeth Huxley
“Ping-pong was invented on the dining tables of England in the 19th century, and it was called Wiff-waff! And there, I think, you have the difference between us and the rest of the world. Other nations, the French, looked at a dining table and saw an opportunity to have dinner; we looked at it an saw an opportunity to play Wiff-waff.” ThinkingWorldPlayOpportunityNationsDifferencesSawsCenturyEnglandTablesDinner19th CenturyDiningPingPing PongDining TableTable Tennis Author:Boris Johnson
“[My aunt] took me to my first play, too, which was dinner theater. I don't know if they have that in England, but you eat a dinner while you watch a play. And she ordered a glass of wine. I was like, "Oh my God. This is, like, the most sophisticated thing I have ever done."” IfsKnowsFirstsDonePlayWatchesEnglandTheaterWineGlassesDinnerSophisticatedAuntWine Glass Author:Geena Davis
“Our England is a garden, and such gardens are not made By singing 'Oh how wonderful' and sitting in the shade, While better men than we go out, and start their working lives By grubbing weeds from garden paths with broken dinner knives.” MenMadePathWonderfulBrokenSingingSittingGardenEnglandDinnerLive ByWeedShadeKnivesBetter ManWorking Life Author:Rudyard Kipling
“In Spain people have lunch and dinner a lot later - when I return to England I'll have to eat alone at midnight.” PeopleReturnEnglandDinnerLunchMidnightSpain Author:David Beckham
“The English never smash in a face. They merely refrain from asking it to dinner.” FacesEnglandAskingDinnerInsultingRefrainUpper ClassOld Money Author:Margaret Halsey