BRITAIN SHAMED AS EUROPE’S ANGRIEST NATION

NEW EURO-WIDE SURVEY REVEALS UK AS A NATION OF HAIR-TRIGGER HOTHEADS

 

London, 15 May 2009: Its official! Britain is the angriest nation in Europe according to a new poll which shatters the traditional image of the British Isles as a calm, reserved and convivial place to live by giving Brits the dubious honour of pole position in the Euro anger league.

 

The pan-European study which reveals Brits to be a nation of Basil Fawlty type hotheads surveyed 6,000 people and was specially commissioned by G.O.L.D. to mark the Fawlty Towers 30^th Anniversary special: Fawlty Exclusive: Basil’s Best Bits, which airs on 17^th May at 9pm.

 

Grumpy Brits reported that they get angry an average of four times a day, compared to 3.5 times a day for our closest rivals, the Italians, while the French only lose their cool three times a day. The key triggers for anger varied widely between the nations, however the Brits scored higher than any other nation for the number of irritations noted. 

 

Queue jumpers come out on top as the biggest reason for making Brits angry (48%), with traffic jams coming a close second (43%) and rude service in shops coming in at third (38%). A similar number admitted to getting angry with foreign call centres (37%) and having to deal with ill-mannered neighbours (37%).  Racist and bigoted behaviour (36%), erratic driving (34%) and people swearing loudly in public (33%) were also key factors for snappy Brits.  

 

The stormy Scots came out as the undisputed hotheads within the British Isles, getting most riled by foreign call centres, with the people of Wales being the most placid, on par with the Scandinavians for their even tempered attitude to life.  Londoner’s exhibited the most rage of all the UK cities surveyed and often over the most minor irritations, including people who drive 4x4s in the city, people eating in public, fat people in skimpy clothing during the summer and transport delays.

 

The top ten causes of annoyance and anger in Britain were:

 

1.      Queue jumpers (48%)

2.      Traffic jams and delays (43%)

3.      Rude service in shops (38%)

4.   Ill-mannered neighbours (37%)

5.   Foreign call centres (37%)

6.      Racist and bigoted behaviour (36%)

7.      Erratic driving (34%)

8.      Swearing in public (33%)

9.      Spitting in the street (32%)

10.  Badly functioning computers (27%)

 

The survey also pointed to several similarities between the nations. Respondents across the whole of Europe are all at their most easily agitated first thing in the morning (65%), and Christmas time is by far the most frustrating time of year with 72% of people claiming to lose their temper over the festive period.  Other similarities noted were a universal hatred of lying politicians and people dropping litter!

 

The hot-blooded Italians came second in the anger league, with erratic driving the number one annoyance.  The French also figured in the top three hot-headed nations, coming third behind Italy. Food was the main cause of annoyance for the French, with respondents being riled by bad food and sloppy service in restaurants.

 

The Scandinavians came out the coolest and least frustrated of those surveyed. According to the study, Scandinavians are so laid back they are almost flat packed – the Scandies get angry an average of 0.2 times a day which means a whole week can pass without seeing red.  The biggest annoyance for the patriotic Scandinavians is when people mock their country.

 

Paul Moreton, G.O.L.D.’s channel head says: “Since Basil Fawlty is famous for his losing his rag and beating his car with a branch, we thought it would be interesting to see how angry Brits compare to the rest of Europe.  We can all relate to a Basil Fawlty type character, but there's also something quite endearing about Basil.  After all, he is quintessentially British!”

 

6,000 adults took part in the G.O.L.D. survey which was compiled by 72 Point, a division of the SW News Service.  Countries taking part in the survey were Britain, France, Spain, Italy, Germany, Austria, Greece, Portugal, Sweden, Norway and Denmark.

 

 

About G.O.L.D.

Dedicated to celebrating great comedy and entertainment, G.O.L.D. is one of UKTV’s flagship channels. Its wealth of classic comedy programming is guaranteed to make viewers laugh daily.

 

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Formed in 1997, UKTV is an independent commercial joint venture, between BBC Worldwide, the commercial arm of the BBC, and Virgin Media. Attracting 36.5 million viewers each month, the network consists of 10 distinctive TV channels – Watch, G.O.L.D., Dave, Alibi, Blighty, Eden, Yesterday, Really, UKTV Food and Home – offering a broad range of quality programming across entertainment, lifestyle and factual programming. UKTV currently operates 17 broadcast streams when multiplexes (+1s) and broadband are taken into account, and 10 highly successful websites.

 

Promising to creatively connect its audiences with great programming, UKTV’s successful programming strategy combines quality content from the BBC with high profile original commissions and key acquisitions.

 

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