I didn't expect to learn about the composition of our island nation this morning from an American time management coach. Mr. C.G.P Grey's video is designed to guide his fellow countrymen through the ins and outs of our unitary state and the Commonwealth nations, so that British people won't "secretly laugh" at Americans when they get the terms wrong. Little does he know that many of us 'natives' could benefit from remembering such handy tips as:

"England is often confused with the United Kingdom as a whole because it’s the largest and most populous of the nations and contains the de facto capital city, London"

"each country has a local term for the population. While you can call them all ‘British’ it’s not recommended as the four countries generally don’t like each other." 

In his final review,"the United Kingdom is a country situated on the british isles and is part of The Crown which is controlled by the monarchy. Also part of the crown and the british isles are the crown dependencies." Thanks, Grey!

This video originally appeared on C.G.P Grey's blog. With thanks to the Laughing Squid and Redtop.