Pimm's and Strongbow.

Street after street of beautiful row houses, as well as the parks they surround, i.e., Eaton Square, Sloane Square
Old cathedrals and churches
Dry stone fences
Big Ben
Literature

lobo - Huh??? How? Why? You are joking, aren't you? :-)

One thing that I think thoroughly sums up the English is our love for the Shipping Forecast on Radio 4.

For those who don't kno
w what this is, it is a weather fore cast for ships, that gives the temperature, the visibility and the immediate prospects. It is of no practical use to anyone actually in Britain, as the weather near Greenland doesn't have a lot of impact on us.

The sea areas have the most wonderful names, Cromarty, Viking, German Bight, Dogger Bank etc.

Radio 4 moved it back about 10 minutes a few years ago and there was nearly riots on the streets. The same happened when they changed the name of Finistere to Fitzroy.

It is almost hypnotic listening. "Viking, 200, rising, good." That to me is the sound of England.

Why do you think I'm joking?
José Mourinho is a football (soccer)manager. He is currently the coach of Chelsea Football Club, based in South West London. See http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Jos%C3%A9_Mourinho

Ah, yes David!
But the shipping forecast has to be listened to in bed.
It's so nice listening to talk of fog, ice and gale-force winds when you are snuggled under a warm duvet.

Re Jose:

You are aware that he is:

A) Portuguese

B) In the employ of a Russian gangster

c) Manages the club with the worst fans in the whole wide world - before Abramovich came along they were going bust.

D) A bit full of himself. Actually completely full of himself

What of those things makes you think of England? He's got a grey coat. That's as close to English as he gets.

Sir Alf Ramsey, definitely, Bobby Robson I could understand, and even at a push 'Appy 'Arry but Jose? No way.

Nicely put David, far more eloquent than my full reply would have been. Which would have been liberally peppered with *%&%*&*%!!

Tallulah,

You want to try living in SW London (within walking distance of Stamford Bridge). It's intolerable at times.

Non-one's mentioned any sounds (apart from the Shipping Forecast, which I would have chosen):

Parry's "Jerusalem"
Choral evensong (both as in cathedrals, and as in "Ere we go, ere we go, ere we go")
Lots of Elgar (not just Cockaigne and the Pomp and Circumstance, but the Introduction and Allegro, and the Cello Concerto)
Britten's Sea Interludes from "Peter Grimes"
Bax's "Tintagel"
Brass and military band music - say, Malcolm Arnold's "Padstow Lifeboat" march, or anything by the Grimethorpe or Black Dyke Mills Band.
The rattle of a London taxi engine
"Mind the gap"
TV theme tunes: Coronation St, Blue Peter
A whistling kettle and the tinkle of teaspoons on a saucer.

The original question was: "What makes you think of England?"
I answered with the first thing that came to my mind. I thought this was the idea before the question. May be I have to self criticise before anwering in Fodors.
After a second thought, I am sure you are right, answers like "pubs named Elephant and Castle", "the changing of the guard" or "drinking tea in Warwickshire County" would have been much correct.

"Sybil! Sybil!"
"Yes, Basil?"
"Where's Manuel?"
"You must excuse him...he's from Barcelona."

- Sense and sensibility
- Ralph Fiennes

Not in any particular order:

The smells of Fairy dishwashing liquid and Wright's Coal Tar soap (but not together)

Smarties

Marks and Spencers food halls

Routemaster buses

Train stations

Cold toast with butter and marmalade

A good, strong cup of tea

Rather than Ralph Feinnes I would plump for his barking mad relative Sir Ranulph Twistleton-Wykeham Fiennes. Polar explorer and all round loon. He sums up a particular form of British eccentricity - ie he's an explorer that gets lost. A lot. He is also a direct descendent of the bloke that founded Winchester College - which he was too thick to go to, so had to go to Eton instead.

And some sounds:

A Merlin engine on a summers day.

A BSA with the throttle open

Carols from Kings College Cambridge

Music by people who could only be English; Billy Bragg; Ray Davies and the Kinks; Richard Thompson; Viv Stanshall; Neil Innes.

Round the Horne

I'm Sorry I Haven't a Clue

Theme tune to the Archers (tum ti tum ti tumti tum etc)

Church bells being rung

When it is not so stinking humid and hot in Charlston but fresh and pleasant and yet flowers are in bloom - I think of England.

And at the library (very fond of English lit)

The little electric pots to heat water for tea that one finds in English hotels and B & B's, in contrast to the coffee pots you find in American hotel rooms. It is wonderful having a cup of tea after a day of sightseeing! My coffee-drinking, American Norweigan husband turns into a tea-totaler in England!

Charlie Dimmock in the rain.

Bright orange street lighting.
A blue rinse on an old dear.
The way Morris Minors seem to break wind when they change gear.

Sorry, that wasn't meant to sound like a poem....

How could I forget the Victorian letter-box I pass regularly on my way through our town?!
USNR - Ah! Manuel, bless his heart.
Actually from Johannesburg South Africa! (in real life).