A recent survey from William Hill has revealed that there are plenty of things that the British love about the Irish.
The bookmaker conducted the survey ahead of Cheltenham Festival, which is one of the key events in the Irish and British horse racing calendar.
They then broke it down into a list of the top 50 most popular things about Ireland, according to the British.
It revealed that the British admire Ireland’s sports stars, musicians and many aspects of Irish culture. The thing they liked most of all was the thing that goes right to the heart of Irish identity- the accent.
The British, like the Irish, are known for enjoying their food and drink so it was no surprise to see one of Ireland’s most iconic products – Guinness – in the top 5, quickly followed by Irish stew and Steak and Guinness pie.
Other popular answers included the classic comedy series ‘Father Ted’ and of course the scenery – Ireland’s ‘rolling green hills’ was number 15 in the list.
Several Irish celebrities made the top 20 including Pierce Brosnan, Enya and the band Snow Patrol.
For the most part they went for real things rather than Irish stereotypes, although ‘the luck of the Irish’ was at number 30 and leprechauns were at number 40.
Both were more popular than Bono who only reached number 45. It wasn’t all bad for Bono, at least his band U2 were in the top 20.
William Hill spokesman Jon Ivan-Duke said: “There is much to celebrate when it comes to Irish culture and the things it offers.
“Whether it’s world-class music acts, the iconic pint of Guinness or real sporting passion, it’s a small country with a lot to shout about and much of it is embraced in Britain. It comes as no great surprise that Guinness came out so high on the list.
“Last year over 236,472 pints of Guinness were consumed at the festival and with so many Irish favourites this year we expect that number to be beaten.”
Here is the top 50 in full
1. The Irish accent
2. Guinness
3. Bailey’s Irish Cream Liqueur
4. Irish stew
5. Steak and Guinness pie
6. Father Ted
7. Pierce Brosnan
8. James Nesbitt
9. Colin Farrell
10. The Pogues
11. Singer Enya
12. Irish bars/pubs
13. Riverdance
14. Snow Patrol
15. Rolling green hills
16. U2
17. Sinead O’Connor
18. Bacon and cabbage
19. St Patrick’s Day
20. Four-leaf clovers
21. Ronan Keating
22. Thin Lizzy
23. The Script
24. Actor Chris O’Dowd
25. Bob Geldof
26. Jameson Irish whiskey
27. Kenneth Branagh
28. The Corrs
29. Westlife
30. The “luck of the Irish”
31. Actor Michael Gambon
32. Van Morrison
33. Father Ted actor Dermot Morgan
34. The Boomtown Rats
35. Boyzone
36. World golf No1 Rory McIlroy
37. The Cranberries
38. Jockey Ruby Walsh
39. Author and Father Ted actress Pauline McLynn
40. Leprechauns
41. The Undertones
42. The Shamrock
43. Jockey Tony McCoy
44. Actor Cillian Murphy
45. Bono
46. X Factor judge Louis Walsh
47. Singer Danny O’Donoghue
48. Roy Keane
49. Actor Jonathan Rhys Meyers
50. Former Westlife singer Kian Egan
If you would like to find out more about the top attractions in Ireland, take a look at our Irish tourism section
