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Visit Britain apologises for England-only ‘classic British literature’ map

15 Apr 2020 2 minute read
Part of the map tweeted out by Visit Britain

Visit Britain have apologised after publishing a tweet that celebrated “British literature” – but only mentioned works set in England and by English authors.

Figures including broadcaster Huw Edwards and singer Cerys Matthews joined in the ciricism of the message that included a map of the UK but left Wales blank and Scotland out of the picture.

“Harry Potter, Dracula, Wuthering Heights and so many more. Explore the places that inspired those and other classics and sent British literature around the world,” the tweet said.

The map included William Shakespeare, Charles Dickens and Beatrix Potter, but no authors based in Wales or Scotland.

“Erm… some rather important things missing from this ‘British’ list…” Huw Edwards said.

“You confuse Britain with England,” Cerys Matthews said.

Others complained that the image left out Welsh authors such as Roald Dahl and Dylan Thomas, and that the works were all in English.

 

‘Error’

The tweet received a similarly frosty reception in Scotland.

“(1) We’re not supposed to be exploring places. (2) DO NOT VISIT BRITAIN RIGHT NOW, ANYONE. (3) That’s actually *England*,” blogger Stuart Campbell tweeted.

“Please Visit Britain try harder or rename yourself Visit England,” journalist Gerry Hassan said.

A spokesman for Visit Britain said: “The Visit England literary heroes map was tweeted from VisitBritain’s consumer channel in error and the tweet has since been removed.

“Visit Britain apologises for the mistake.”


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K. K
K. K
3 years ago

Just retitle it Visit England. It’s no skin off my nose and besides it would help if the term Britain was used less often would it not? It’s confusing enough as it is without beginning to justify it’s origins!

j humphrys
j humphrys
3 years ago

Roald Dahl’s next to Sherlock, and poor Jane Austin looks likes Mrs Bucket………. it’s quite good, if done by a junior school, which
is probably the case. Let England be England and stop printing over Cymru on Maps…………..print over the continent instead ha.

Wrexhamian
Wrexhamian
3 years ago

Cymru is a land with no literature but a lot of trees, apparently.

I never know in cases like this whether the protagonist is thinking “For Britain, see England” or whether they suspect it’s ‘unfashionable’ or somehow offensive to cite England except in regard to rugger and football (remember football?) I doff my cap to them for coming up with that ‘wrong channel’ excuse on the hoof, though.

j humphrys
j humphrys
3 years ago
Reply to  Wrexhamian

90 yrs old Hungarian- born Mady Gerrard, was saved by Lt John Randall discovering Bergen Belsen on April 15, 1945, while on a reconnaisance mission. “He became my friend and hero”. See full story in the Independent now.
Ms Gerrard settled in Cardiff, became successful in fashion, spending years in New York, but returned to Wales
“the most decent country in the world”. Just print that over our map, with her name. She honours us.

donald anderson
donald anderson
3 years ago

English Nationalist Politicians, journalists, historians, etc, always confuse Britian with England and England with Brotin. They can have it.

Huw J Davies
Huw J Davies
3 years ago

I watched one of those BBC antique shows today. It was filmed in Ynys Mon. They looked at an Edwardian item that had the Tudor rose, Scottish thistle and an Irish shamrock adorning it. No Welsh dragon, leek or daffodil. The expert said that it was normal ‘back then’ to not include Wales on British memorabilia. Remember, we didn’t even have a capital city until 1955. At least we are now recognised enough for it to be a faux pas to leave us out of things.

Thank you for spellcheck. I’d, ironically, forgotten how to spell memorabilia!

Steve H
Steve H
3 years ago

The visit England map was tweeted “in error” by visit Britain, does that mean that the visit Britain employees are all the same people who work for visit England? Maybe they should share out some of the jobs to the other nations. Maybe if they actually promoted the other parts of Britain tourists would make it out of London.
On another note, along the lines of a Tory apology, visit Britain are sorry that you feel they made a mistake.

Jonathan Gammond
Jonathan Gammond
3 years ago

A little more thought before they tweet would be helpful though thinking and tweeting are a rare combination in general. There is a tendency for those in capitals to overlook the diversity of this island. Perhaps Visit Britain induction courses could involve walking the Offa’s Dyke footpath and a trip to debatable lands of Scottish Borders and Northimberland.

DILWYN Ellis ROBERTS-YOUNG
DILWYN Ellis ROBERTS-YOUNG
3 years ago

On a positive note it’s good to see Arnold Bennett returning as one of England’s favourite writers ! He’s been neglected over recent years by our neighbours!

j humphrys
j humphrys
3 years ago

Yes!

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