Magna Carta named an 'Icon of England' Icons: A Portrait of England unveils new list

Magna Carta has been voted by the public as one of the nation's favourite icons in the new list announced today in a national online poll at www.ICONS.org.uk.

Funded by Culture Online, part of the Department for Culture, Media and Sport, ICONS has attracted more than 350,000 votes for the nation's favourite icons and more than half a million people have visited the site. Twenty new Icons of England are unveiled in the new list as the ICONS' Portrait of England. The latest announcement brings the total number of official Icons of England in the ICONS collection to 54 - with themed in-depth features, quizzes, video clips and interviews on the site.

Magna Carta is often held to be the cornerstone of liberty and the chief defence against arbitrary and unjust rule in England. In fact, the charter contains few statements of legal principle and very little of it deals directly with the villeins - the unfree peasantry - who formed the majority of the population. It failed to secure lasting peace in 1215 and only three clauses are still valid today, but the longevity and adaptability of a few key clauses have secured its iconic status. Above all, it established the critical principle that the king, like his people, was subject to the law. In the display at the British Library, Claire Breay, Head of Medieval and Earlier Manuscripts, appears in virtual form on a computer interactive to answer the most common queries and address some misconceptions about Magna Carta.

On the document being nominated a national icon she said: "We are delighted that Magna Carta has been chosen as an Icon of England because it is one of the most celebrated documents in English history and the most popular manuscript in the British Library. Although almost all the original clauses in Magna Carta have been now been repealed, it established the critical principle that the king was subject to the law, not above it, and that his automony could be limited by a written grant."

The Library is open seven days a week and entry to our exhibitions is free.

The ICONS coalition of support round the country embraces a wide range of national cultural, sporting and heritage bodies, as well as charity partners. It includes the National Trust, British Library, the Black Cultural Archives, the Museum of Rugby, the Football Association, English Heritage, Visit Britain, the V&A Museum of Childhood, the British Museum, the National Gallery, the National Portrait Gallery, the Muslim Council for Great Britain and several national and city museums in London, Birmingham, Gateshead, Brighton & Hove and Manchester.

Further information

For further information contact Catriona Finlayson at the British Library Press Office: 020 7412 7115 or Catriona.finlayson@bl.uk

Further information

For further information, contact Anne Marie Todaro at the British Library Press Office: +44 (0)20 7412 7112 or annemarie.todaro@bl.uk.

Notes for editors

1. For interviews, photographs and information, please email stevew@icons.org.uk.
2. The complete list of 20 new icons in this new wave include:

Fish and Chips	Rugby	Robin Hood
The Tower of London	Magna Carta	Hedges
The Bobby	Foxhunting & The Ban	The Pint
White Cliffs of Dover	The Archers	Monty Python
Sherlock Holmes	Lake District	Parish Church
The OED	Bowler Hat	Mini motor car
The Oak Tree	‘Oxbridge’