Pride in British history falls but support for arts remains, survey finds

A striking fall in pride in Britain's history, but widespread support for the arts, shows the public is choosing "Shakespeare over invasion, exploitation and occupation", a historian has said.

- Aamna Mohdin

The findings from the British Social Attitudes survey, published this week, show that while levels of pride in Britain's achievements in sport and the arts remained high over the past decade, there was a 22-point fall in the proportion of people saying they were proud of Britain's history.

Prof Alan Lester, the editor of a new book on empire featuring essays from eminent historians such as David Olusoga and Liam J Liburd, described the results as an "encouraging sign" that the public was becoming more discerning about Britain's past.

"It shows an awareness that history is complicated, that Britons have done both admirable things and deplorable things in the past, and we need to break down history into the kinds of things that we see as sources of pride and those which we need to move beyond," he said.

He credits this shift in public consciousness to the Black Lives Matter movement and Britain's changing demographics.