Tuesday was Independence Day and the perfect opportunity for many Brits to have a light-hearted dig at our American cousins.
Britain First’s Paul Golding, never one to shy away from pushing his group’s own narrow version of what makes this country great, joined in the fray with a tweet espousing many of the incredible inventions we can apparently take credit for.
Football - check.
TV - check.
Internet - check (well, the World Wide Web anyway).
Penicillin, the USA, parliament and DNA - erm...
As you will no doubt be aware, DNA and penicillin have been around for quite a bit longer than Great Britain.
DNA, or deoxyribonucleic acid, is the genetic information contained within the cells of almost all living organisms on the planet meaning it’s been around for approximately 4.5 billion years old.
It was discovered by scientists, James Watson (American) and Francis Crick (British), in 1953 when they solved its “double helix” structure.
Both men along with Maurice Wilkins were awarded the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine in 1962 for their discovery.
The antibiotic penicillin was discovered in 1928 by Scottish scientist, Alexander Fleming, but as it is a naturally occurring compound it can safely be assumed to be older that this green and pleasant country.
As for Parliaments, Iceland actually lays claim to the oldest which was formed way back in 930 AD, long before we Brits get our act together in the 13th century.
The USA is a slightly more nuanced affair as the majority of the Founding Fathers were of English extraction but the actual act of creating the USA in 1776 was to establish an identity separate to that of their native countries.
Adding to Golding’s woes it was quickly discovered (not invented) that he stole the tweet verbatim from Tory MEP, Daniel Hannan.
Who also came on for a similar level of mockery.
Oh dear.