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[Misc] What was Britain’s single greatest achievement of the 20th century?











Knocky's Nose

Mon nez est en Valenciennes..
May 7, 2017
4,137
Eastbourne
Penicillin, 1928, Alexander Fleming, for saving so many lives.

A close second is coming out on top in WW2 - saving yet more lives, although a truly upsetting amount were wasted. Don't even talk about WW1......

Third, it has to be getting BHAFC into the Premiership. Sir Lord Admiral Hooton and His Eminence Archbishop Anthony of Bloome will go down in history for that. :wink:
 






Herr Tubthumper

Well-known member
NSC Patron
Jul 11, 2003
59,487
The Fatherland
Popular music. In its many colours and hues.
 








DavidinSouthampton

Well-known member
NSC Patron
Jan 3, 2012
16,580
Tipical remoaner trying to give credit to the EU when we won it by areselves

We won they lost get over it

Three words

No more bendy bananas

Regards
DR

There's this big country on the other side of the Atlantic called the United States of America which made a fairly significant contribution.
 




Notters

Well-known member
Oct 20, 2003
24,869
Guiseley
-Being crucial to the forging of the world's greatest trading block.
-Thatcher's rebate, allowing us to maintain a position at the forefront of the world's greatest trading block at minimal cost.
 












Hugo Rune

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Feb 23, 2012
21,612
Brighton
Unquestionably standing alone in 1940. There wouldn't be an NHS if we hadn't.

The problem with that achievement is the part we played in the Treaty of Versailles which set the exact conditions for the National Socialists to be elected to power. Similar to the mess we left in Iraq that created IS.

Hitler and Nazis were largely a mess of our own making.
 


Gwylan

Well-known member
Jul 5, 2003
31,336
Uffern
Penicillin, 1928, Alexander Fleming, for saving so many lives.

And yet another example of the UK having a lead on the rest of the world and failing to exploit it. (see post #40).

Despite being discovered, refined and developed in the UK (and Fleming just played a small part in this, Howard Florey was responsible for ensuring it had a practical use), it was patented in the US so British health services had to pay royalties for a British drug.

Perhaps the country's biggest achievement is spectacularly cocking up on so many technological and scientific fronts - although, to be fair, it was often for altruistic reasons. Florey didn't patent penicillin as he thought it was unethical to profit from medical discoveries and Berners-Lee didn't seek to profit from the web as he thought it belonged to the world
 








Simster

"the man's an arse"
Jul 7, 2003
54,184
Surrey
Professional football. Without this gift to the world, there wouldn't even be our other great gift to the world, football hooliganism. Nor, come to think of it, the football lads alliance. Nor English martial arts - aka windmilling.
 


Brovion

Well-known member
NSC Patron
Jul 6, 2003
19,362
The problem with that achievement is the part we played in the Treaty of Versailles which set the exact conditions for the National Socialists to be elected to power. Similar to the mess we left in Iraq that created IS.

Hitler and Nazis were largely a mess of our own making.

Oh true, history is so often a case of Cause and Effect. If you want to start a thread entitled "Britain's biggest mistakes of the 20th Century" the the Treaty of Versailles would be right up there - and the Balfour Declaration probably wouldn't be far behind! (And probably the partitioning of Ireland)

Doesn't lessen the achievement of 1940 though.
 


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