大象传媒

If there was ever a written constitution of Britishness then 鈥榪ueueing鈥� would have its own chapter titled #TheQueue with an image of humble mourners lining the streets of London to see Queen Elizabeth II lying-in-state. As Mark Thomas reveals through the archive though, the 鈥榟umble queue鈥� may in fact be nothing of the sort. Instead, it鈥檚 a microcosmic minidrama - a place of shifting alliances, shame, anger and sometimes love and reconciliation - that speaks volumes about who we are and who we think we are.

Mark talks to Angie Hobbs, Professor of The Public Understanding of Philosophy at Sheffield University, who suggests that the queue for the Queen was the queue Britain had been training for all its life. Our queuing prowess is all part of our self-mythology, she suggests. We really aren鈥檛 the only nation who can queue.

Archive reveals queuing to be a bit like a classroom for grown-ups. Adults take on improvised roles: the queue joker, the queue grumbler, the passive-aggressive queuer. Mark finds that in truth the Brits are the most grumbling of all the nation鈥檚 queuers because they expect things to be done more efficiently than they are. He recalls the 鈥榩assive competitiveness鈥� in his favourite Eddie Izzard sketch - 鈥楾he Supermarket Queue鈥�.

Mark talks to Stephen Reicher, Professor of Psychology at St Andrews University, who describes a rehashing of tropes from the war-years and how queueing became a shortcut to 鈥淏ritishness鈥�. He points to the way in which patience in queuing can be seen to be a bit like the Blitz spirit, fair play, stoicism - employed when a country needs to affirm a sense of national identity during national crisis.

Mark joins David Lammy MP during his constituency surgery to discuss how he observes the queues in his constituency in Tottenham North London. What鈥檚 poignant is the reality that queueing often means things aren鈥檛 working properly.

The real question Mark asks is not why we queue, but why we think we鈥檙e so good at it?

Produced by Sarah Cuddon
A Falling Tree production for 大象传媒 Radio Four.