British inventions I recognised from my test, museums and chocolate

I’d studied British inventions for a test, visited museums full of engines, and still managed to forget Tim Berners-Lee’s name. I remembered that he had a three-part name and that the answer had something to do with the World Wide Web. My memory was doing its best. It wasn’t enough.

As a Canadian living in the UK, I spend a lot of time learning about British culture. Somehow I hadn’t sat down to look at British inventions as a subject of their own. When I finally did, some were familiar from studying, some reminded me of museum visits, and others sent me towards things as ordinary as a chocolate bar.

Watch my British inventions reactions on YouTube.

The name I did remember

I began with part of a Reef Rebels video presented by Dr Peter Ridd. His discussion of transport and engines brought up the jet engine, which I recognised straight away. I’d studied Sir Frank Whittle for my British history and culture test, and got a question about him on my exam.

I’d spent the summer studying and took the test in the fall. It was stressful, so recognising something I’d learned was fun. At the time of this video, I had indefinite leave to remain and was still working towards citizenship. That was where some of this knowledge came from, rather than a sudden ability to explain an engine.

The same thing happened with Tim Berners-Lee, although my recall was much worse. I’d used his three-part name and the words “World Wide Web” to help remember him while studying. Then, when I tried to bring him up again, I briefly said internet before remembering the World Wide Web. Clearly some of the revision had already gone missing.

I’d also learned about Alan Turing. I knew Britain had a lot of inventions and discoveries to talk about, but the range in the material I was watching still surprised me.

Machines I’d seen in museums

The railway discussion reminded me of London’s Transport Museum, where I’d made a video. I love a museum, and the trains and Underground history there were an obvious connection to what I was watching.

Steam engines brought the Science Museum to mind. I’d seen a large Watt engine there, along with other machinery and engines. The jet-engine discussion gave me another reason to mention the same museum. There was plenty there that related to the names and machines coming up in this search.

I wasn’t going to watch someone else’s entire explanation in my reaction. I wanted to see a portion, talk about it, and leave the rest for their own video. Finding another explanation I wanted to watch turned out to be harder than I expected.

Chocolate was a useful detour

Several of the later videos seemed to use AI narration, which I found upsetting as a creator. That was my impression of what I was watching, and I stopped rather than sitting through them. Another option was mostly text and music. This wasn’t turning into the inventions session I’d imagined.

One chocolate-bar explanation was so basic that it told me a chocolate bar was a solid block of chocolate eaten as a snack. That sent me looking up Fry’s instead. I recognised the name from Turkish Delight and wanted to see whether it was the same company.

The pages I read connected Fry’s chocolate with using a Watt steam engine to grind cocoa beans. We’d just been talking about Watt engines. I found that connection fascinating, because the chocolate and the machine weren’t separate subjects after all. I was also surprised by how old Fry’s Turkish Delight was. My opinion of eating Turkish Delight remained a no.

Later, reading about James Dyson, I was interested in his account of repeatedly trying vacuum prototypes and learning from failures. I’d seen him speak before and found his enthusiasm for building things inspiring. Someone enjoying their work, making mistakes and continuing anyway was much more interesting to me than another generic inventions list.

I hadn’t expected to spend so much of the session rejecting videos and getting distracted. I did recognise things I’d studied, found connections I hadn’t known, and got another excuse to talk about the Science Museum. I love a museum.