They say you won’t really know a language unless you understand its culture’s humour. The British sense of humour, although popular in Holland, isn’t always fully understood. As a nation, we are quite a literal people, we take things for what they are and this can often be quite frustrating to a British person who has just said something in jest and is instead taken seriously. Although I lived in England for many, many years, even to this day I have to admit that I sometimes miss a comment which is meant to be sarcastic and which I, to my shame, interpret seriously, much to my husband’s frustration.

It is for this reason that I have decided to write my project on this topic. As you can imagine, I have only been able to lift the lid off this expansive subject but I hope you will find it interesting and I am keen to hear your own thoughts and experiences on the subject, if you wish to share them.

So read on to explore more about what it is about British humour that makes it stand out, why they have cultivated such humour and what types of humour would be seen as 'British'.