は し が き

ちょっと軽薄に訳せば『そうだったのか，イギリス』とでもなるでしょうか。この Realise Britain というタイトル，とてもよく本書の中身を映しています。
もちろん，イギリスで生まれ育った著者 Colin Joyce さんにいろいろ教わって，「そうだったのか」という面も大いにあります。しかし，それだ
けではありません。ページをめくってごらんになると，I realised ... とか，I now realise ... とか，（イギリス贔屓の人間には嬉しいイギリス綴りの）realise が頻出することに気づかれるでしょう。つまり，これはジョイスさんによる母国再発見の記録でもあるのです。
ジ ョ イ ス さ ん は 1970 年， ロ ン ド ン の 中 心 か ら 20 キ ロ ほ ど 北 東 のRomford という町で生まれました。オックスフォード大学で歴史を専攻して卒業すると，ジョイス青年は奨学金を得て，日本語の勉強のため神戸にやってきます。それが 1992 年。約 15 年にも及ぶことになる日本暮らしの始まりでした。埼玉の県立高校で２年教えたあとは，日本在住のジャーナリストとして週刊誌『ニューズウィーク日本版』に４年，イギリスの新聞 The Daily Telegraph に７年勤務。その後フリーのライターとなり，2007 年から３年ほどをニューヨークで過ごし，2010 年にイングランドに戻りました。現在は，ロンドンとロムフォードを結んだ延長線上，ロムフォー
ドから北東に約 60 キロ先，Essex 州の Colchester に住んでいます。
つまり，ジョイスさんはこれまでの人生の４割ちょっと，また成人してからの年月の大半を海外で過ごした計算になります。その間，よその国の人がイギリスをどう見ているのかを知り，ご自身も文字どおり距離を置いてイギリスを見ていたわけです。当然，ジャーナリストとしても観察していた。そして本当に久しぶりに自分の国に帰った。そんな人ですから，いろいろと気づきますし，考えます。そしてご自分の国をもっと知りたくなっiたジョイスさんは，多くの歴史の本を読み，多くのイギリス映画を見たそうです。なるほど，ジョイスさんのエッセイは個人の経験と所感を綴りながら，歴史の文脈を忘れません。お蔭で，わたしたちが信頼して読める現代イギリス論になりました。
話題はバラエティ豊かです。イギリスの天気や食べ物といったお馴染みのテーマ。君主制や階級制といった保守的なイギリスを象徴する制度。シェイクスピアやビートルズも出てきます。商店街の店の入れ替わりや，広まりつつある入れ墨についてのエッセイからは，変化してゆく今のイギリスを垣間見ることができるでしょう。戦闘機スピットファイアについての一篇からは，イギリスから見た第２次世界大戦が立ち上がってきます。
ジョイスさんは，ものの考え方が知的で誠実です。ステレオタイプや偶像崇拝を鵜呑みにしない批判精神を持ち，しかも自説に固執しません。「あれ？ ステレオタイプにも一理あるかな？」と考え直す展開になったり，偶像視されているものの素晴らしさを再認識する結果になったりします。そうした思考のダイナミズムが，読んでいて面白い。
英語もきちんとした書き言葉だけれど気取らないスタイルで，よいお手本になります。それに centre とか colour とかの綴りにも，daft とかtwee とかの語彙にも，mutton dressed as lamb のような表現にも，イギリス英語の色が鮮明に出ているのが（イギリス贔屓には）また嬉しい。というわけで，本書に注を付け，また Exercises を考えるのは，じつに楽しい仕事でした。
ちょっと褒め過ぎでしょうか。欲を言えば，もっとユーモアがあってもよかったかもしれません。でも，これは教科書ですからね。ジョイスさんも遠慮したのでしょう。イギリスに関心のある方は，是非，ジョイスさんの Let’s England（NHK 出版）という本も読んでください。もっともっとユーモアがあります（そのぶん難しくもなりますけれど）。

真野ii

泰Preface
For several years as the Tokyo correspondent for aBritish newspaper I was in an unusual situation. My job wasto explain Japan to British readers but in my private life I
was often being asked by Japanese friends and colleagues toexplain about Britain. I sometimes found myself in a pickle
not only because I didn’t know Japan as well as I might, butalso because I didn’t know my own country as well as I should.
At least with Japan I had made a conscious effort to read andlearn about it, to travel around and to interview people. With
Britain, I was expected to know about it by virtue of having
come from there. In fact, since my teenage years I had been
far more interested in studying about other countries andother cultures. I was rather ambivalent about my country: Iwas born and bred in Britain but I didn’t think it defined me
as a person.
Little by little, though, I became more curious about
Britain. Other people’s interest in Britain was infectious.
When people asked me, for example, how the British
monarchy differed from the Japanese imperial family I wouldfind it perplexing but thought-provoking. When people told
me that Englishmen always carry umbrellas I was initiallyconfused. I wondered if I was a rare exception in that I rarely
use one and I would ponder why that might be. Oddly, it waswhile I was living in Japan that I began to think more about
my own country.
I compulsively watched British films and ordered copiesof British comedies in an attempt to see what preoccupationsvi

“we British” have and to attempt to stay current. I read a lot;
my book collection bears a hefty section that might be labelled“Igirisu-ron”. I listened to English music of all sorts. One
particular song from Gilbert and Sullivan stuck in my head:“ ... in spite of all temptations, to belong to other nations, heremains an Englishman”. The words seemed to apply to me
because I had been interested in other countries but had foundmyself drawn back to the inescapable fact that I was British.
I returned to England in 2010 with some trepidation.
I wasn’t sure if I wanted to stay in Britain but I did want tofind out more about this strange country that I had not lived
in for 17 years. It was an affecting experience: I found Britain
by turns surprising and familiar, sometimes fascinating andsometimes disappointing. The chapters of this book reflect myexperiences since I came back to Britain and form a belated
attempt to answer some of the questions that were asked ofme in Japan.
In places, it is a rather personal take and another person
would surely have very different experiences and viewpoints.
I hope that my observations provide some insight into Britain
today. Even more I hope that readers are inspired to learn
further about Britain from other observers and ultimately tovisit Britain and develop their own opinions.

Colin Joycevii

Contents
Preface
1 A Fortunate Accident

1

イギリス人はアンフレンドリー？

2

Britain’s Best Ride

6

２階建てバスから見たロンドン

3 The Meaning of Bond11

007 はイギリスの象徴？

4 The Changing High Street16

イギリスの街に時代の波5

Mild and Cloudy with a Chance of Rain

21

イギリス人の大好きな話題

6

Expressive Expressions

26

イディオムは愉快だ

7 A Woman of Some Importance

31

エリザベス女王が人気なわけ

8

Shakespeare Lives On
シェイクスピアはことばの天才iv

36

9British Food: Better Than Awful

40

フィッシュ・アンド・チップスだけじゃない

10 A Complicated Country

45

イングランドとイギリスは違います

11 The Quite Fab Four

50

やっぱりいいかもビートルズ

12 A Vulgar Custom

55

広まる入れ墨文化

13 The “Invention” of Sport

60

スポーツに多いイギリス「発祥」

14

Changing Classes

65

階級制度は残っている？

15 The Little Plane That “Won” the War

70

イギリスを救った戦闘機Notes
Map of the British Isles

75
114v

1A Fortunate Accident
イギリス人はアンフレンドリー？
イギリス人は歩きながら考える。フランス人は考えた後で走り出す。そしてスペイン人は走ってしまった後で考える。この種の国民性論は，面白いけれど危ない。危ないけれど面白い。十把一絡げの論法だから眉唾だと分かっているけれど，やっぱり当たっている気もする。明るいアメリカ人と対比されて根暗だと言われ，日本人に似て insularity（島国根性）が強いと言われるイギリス人。でも，きっといるのでしょうね，明るくて大陸的なイギリス人も……？
DL 02

CD1-02

Shortly after returning to live in England in 2010, I
suffered a small but annoying injury. I pulled a leg muscle quite
badly while playing football and had to be carried off the field by
my teammates. It was terrible timing as a friend was arriving
on holiday the next day and we had a busy week of sightseeing 5planned – but now I could barely walk a few hundred yards.
I hoped the injury would miraculously heal overnight, butin fact the leg muscle was stiffer and sorer after sleeping. I knew
it wasn’t a serious injury and it would heal naturally, but I felt
1

incredibly unlucky.
When I look back on it now, though, I actually feel it wasa lucky accident. Yes, it was a major inconvenience during myfriend’s visit, but it was also a wonderful way to be reacquainted5with my fellow countrymen, the English, because suddenly
everybody was incredibly nice to me.
Generally speaking, I didn’t previously think of the English
as particularly nice people. I have met a lot of unpleasant ones
over the years, partly because I grew up in a town famous for10

not being very friendly or polite. In the years I lived in Japan, I
couldn’t help but notice how much more polite the Japanese werecompared to the English. And in the US, I found people open andfriendly in a way that I never found the English to be. The longer
I was away from home, the more negatively I came to think of15

the English and, to be honest, I wasn’t entirely looking forward
to living among them again.
But that changed with the accident. I would only have tohobble onto a train and people would leap up to offer their seats.
I would be struggling through a station and someone would

20

come running up to tell me where the lift was. In bars, complete
strangers would offer to carry my drinks back to my table for me.
Sometimes people would cautiously ask if I was alright, and what
had happened. Unexpectedly, my injury served as an ice-breaker.
As my limp gradually got better, after about 3 weeks,

25

people could only tell that I had an injury because I was stillusing crutches. Once, I left my crutches with a female friend
for a few minutes and someone came over and offered to help
her. When I no longer needed the crutches, I was slightly sadto return them to the hospital because I knew I would also be30

losing touch with that helpful and warm side of the English. Sure21 A Fortunate Accidentenough, once the crutches were gone, people retreated back intosilence and anonymity.
It is often said that the English are “reserved”. We don’ttalk to each other on tube trains, or even make eye contact. The
usual theory is that we are not unfriendly – we just place great 5
importance on the privacy of others, so we don’t start talking tothem in case they are deep in thought. Now I come to think of
it, it sometimes annoyed me when Americans would start up aconversation while I was trying to quietly read a book on a trainor on a park bench.

10When I lived in Japan, I found people to be a bit reticent
like the English. But there was one particular situation in whichpeople would initiate conversation: if I was eating Japanese food.
In restaurants, people would ask me if I liked natto, or whether
I preferred sake or beer. Other times people would say how 15
good I was at using chopsticks (actually, I am not particularly
dexterous). This would be followed by questions about how long
I had been in Japan, where I was from, a compliment about how
well I spoke Japanese, and some questions on how I felt about
Japan... In other words, the initial question or comment was just 20
a “gambit” to start a conversation.
The famous “English reserve” seems to disappear once
people have a clear reason to talk to you or offer help. Soon
after my leg muscle injury, I read that the OECD had rated
Britain as one of the top five countries in terms of “pro-social 25behaviour” (helpfulness, basically). One British newspaper
despatched reporters to test this, getting a young woman topretend to struggle with a heavy suitcase at the bottom of a steep
set of steps, for example. The result was that people of all sorts
volunteered to help, some of them running over despite being 30
3headed in a different direction.
If I had read that story before my accident, I would
probably have cynically assumed that the people had offered tohelp the undercover reporters because they were attractive young
5women. But from my own experience I am now aware that people
were also keen to help me. That accident helped me realise thatbehind the sometimes grumpy appearance of the English, they
are secretly very nice.

4

1 A Fortunate Accident

Exercises
I.

Match each word with its definition.

1. hobble
2. anonymity
3. reserved
4. dexterous
5. grumpy
II.

a. the state of being unknown to most other people
b. bad-tempered and easily annoyedc. skilful with your hands
d. to walk with difficulty, typically because of paine. unwilling to express your emotions

Complete each sentence by choosing the correct answer.

1. The author describes his injury as “a lucky accident” because
a. it miraculously healed overnight.
b. he could still walk a few hundred yards.
c. it gave him a chance to see English people in a new light.
2. The author felt a bit sad about returning the crutches to thehospital because
a. he was getting fond of their cool, smooth feel.
b. he would cease to encounter English helpfulness any more.
c. they had enabled him to walk faster than before the accident.
3. The author found that Japanese people didn’t initiate conversation
much, buta. the exception was when he was reading on a train.
b. the exception was when he was reading on a park bench.
c. the exception was when he was eating Japanese food in arestaurant.
III. After reading the essay, think about the following questions.

1. Where do you think Japan might rank on the OECD “pro-socialbehaviour” index?
2. Can you think of something (e.g. a joke) that could serve as an icebreaker?

5