“This list reveals how, over the last two centuries, Britons have employed understatement as both a way of confronting moments of crisis and of evading them. Emotionalism and over-exaggeration, it seems, were ill-suited to the demands of running an Empire. We commissioned this research to give us further insight into what makes Britain, and our customers, tick.”ĭr Tom Dowling, Honorary Research Fellow and Associate Tutor in the Department of History at the University of Sheffield, explains: “Although understatement can be traced as far back as Saxon times in Britain with the epic Old English poem, Beowulf, it is the expansion of British imperial power in the nineteenth century, which truly cemented understatement as a central hallmark of British character.
The aim was to find out how deeply understatement is written into Britain’s national character, with the hypothesis that the extent of its use is indicative of how British people have chosen to project themselves to each other and the wider world.ĭan Simson, head of Privilege home insurance, comments: “Britain is full of quirks and the peculiar quality of British understatement is something that we found interesting.
After some thought she remarked: “Well, I’m still alive anyway.”ĭowling carried out the research as part of a study on ‘Britishness’ by Privilege insurance. The Queen’s response when asked how she was following ‘Brexit’ also makes the list, in 15th place. Fleming commented: “One sometimes finds what one is not looking for” (sixth place). Oates made the statement as he knowingly walked out of his tent to his death on an ill-fated expedition to the South Pole.Īlso included in the tables is Sir Alexander Fleming’s modest comment on one of the most important medical discoveries of the 20th century penicillin. All four engines have stopped…”.Ĭaptain Lawrence Oates’s declaration “I am just going outside and may be some time” comes in third place. The Earl’s words are followed by British Airways Pilot Eric Moody’s message to passengers over the tannoy when the engines failed flying through a volcanic ash cloud: “Ladies and Gentlemen, this is your captain speaking. The exchange was later credited as the inspiration for a scene in Monty Python’s The Meaning of Life, where an English Army officer fighting in the Zulu War nonchalantly considers the leg that has just been bitten off by a tiger. The Earl reportedly remarked “By God, Sir, I’ve lost my leg!” to which the Duke of Wellington responded: “By God, Sir, so you have!”. Once collated, the statements were ranked according to how well-known the statement is (impact), the importance of the event they relate to, and the quality of the statement itself (based on humour and intellect).Īt number one, the best example of understatement in British history is the mild-mannered exchange between the Earl of Uxbridge and the Duke of Wellington, as the Earl’s leg was blown off by a canon during the Battle of Waterloo. Commissioned by Privilege insurance, Dr Tom Dowling analysed historical records and events stretching back over the last 200 years.