History Main / StiffUpperLip

** But [[spoiler:in ''Unwound Future'', this collapses spectacularly -- we see him get angry ''and'' weep.]]

* A sketch from ''[[MontyPythonsTheMeaningOfLife Monty Python's The Meaning of Life]]'' parodying the British Empire has plenty of this, naturally: the [[RedShirt redcoats]] are in fierce hand-to-hand combat with Zulus while inside a tent their officers drinking tea and having a gentlemanly discussion, oblivious to the chaos. They go on to walk straight through the battle, still oblivious.
** Well, a bullet does hit the mirror of the officer who was JohnCleese while he was shaving, but he uses a broken part of the mirror to finish up with no complaint.
** Another officer has his leg ripped off by a [[MisplacedWildlife tiger]]. He continues reading his book.

* Lapshaded in [[http://www.dorktower.com/2005/07/12/comics-archive-697/ this]] ''DorkTower'' comic strip.

[[AC:WesternAnimation]]
* An episode of ''TheSimpsons'' which re-told the story of Joan of Arc had her British enemies sitting on their side of the battlefield, [[SpotOfTea sipping tea]].
* In ''[[StarWarsCloneWars Star Wars: Clone Wars]]'', Chancellor Palpatine is a Brit ([[RecycledInSpace IN SPACE!]]) who insists on drinking tea in his office while Coruscant is under attack, and whose response to General Grievous' entry is "How ''dare'' you barge into my office!" This, of course, was all show; Palpatine had ''[[TheChessmaster arranged]]'' for Grievous to kidnap him.

[[AC:Folklore]]
* There is an old Japanese tale of a [[{{Samurai}} warrior]] who had to [[HonorBeforeReason commit Sepukku]]. So what he did is he [[ImpaledWithExtremePrejudice stabbed himself]] in the belly. Then he ate and drank and carried on small talk with the dagger still in his belly until he died.

* [[ProfessorLaytonAndTheCuriousVillage Professor Layton]] seems to have a bit of this going on, given how many things seem to go unexpectedly.
** [[spoiler: In Unwound Future, this collapses spectacularly.]]

* An episode of ''{{MASH}}'' has the 4077th treat a group of wounded British soldiers. Hawkeye is offended by their commanding officer's callous attitude towards their injuries and his seeming eagerness to send them back off into battle. He later learns that the officer does care for them and he only acts that way to not let them know how bad off they are and to keep their morale up. This is further evidenced that when Hawkeye tells him that his unit's custom of providing tea to troops with abdominal wounds is causing dangerous medical complications, he is deeply troubled at the mistake and immediately agrees to follow the doctor's advice.

In terms of {{Dialoue}}, {{Understatement}} is key; this is why the RAF AcePilot is the poster child for MajorInjuryUnderreaction. Stress is met with DissonantSerenity, grief with AngstWhatAngst, and unbridled joy wit a curt "Jolly good".

It was the third in a series (of which the page image was the first), and while "Your Courage, Your Cheerfulness, Your Resolution Will Bring Us Victory" and "Freedom Is In Peril" were produced in the hundreds of thousands and displayed nationwide throughout the war, "Keep Calm And Carry On" was reserved for the ''aftermath'' of a successful German invasion (as its message implies) and therefore never deployed beyond a few Government office walls. Unlike its then-famous fellows in the series, it was unheard of at the time and almost all copies were pulped in 1945. But when a second-hand bookshop owner in Northumberland found one among a job lot of books from an auction in 2000, he put it up in his shop and it immediately struck a chord with visitors - so the family started making copies, and the public were enraptured by the quintessential British {{Understatement}} quality of it and the rest is, er, history...to the extent that it's spawned [[http://static.guim.co.uk/sys-images/Guardian/Pix/pictures/2009/3/17/1237307663368/Keep-Calm-and-Carry-On-No-006.jpg its own variety]] of MemeticMutation.\\

* After the HMS Sheffield was hit by an Argentinian missile and was sinking, the crew awaiting rescue figured they might as well pass the time and started singing "Always look on the Bright Side of Life."
** That was HMS Coventry.

* [[TruthInTelevision British culture used to be much more uptight and focused on aesops]]. It has realaxed a lot in the past 50 years though.

* An episode of ''{{MASH}}'' has the 4077th treat a group of wounded British soldiers. Hawkeye is offended by their commanding officer's callous attitude towards their injuries and his seeming eagerness to send them back off into battle. He later learns that the officer does care for them and he only acts that way to not let them know how bad off they are and to keep their morale up. This is further evidenced that when Hawkeye tells him that his unit's custom of provide tea to troops with abdominal wounds is causing dangerous medical complications, he immediately follows the doctor's advice.

* An episode of ''{{MASH}}'' has the 4077th treat a group of wounded British soldiers. Hawkeye is offended by their commanding officer's callous attitude towards their injuries and his seeming eagerness to send them back off into battle. He later learns that the officer does care for them and he only acts that way to not let them know how bad off they are and to keep their morale up.

*** Actually, the winds and tides made it impossible to set sail anyways, so he just sat there and contuned on because he counld't do anything if he wanted to.

* A madman escaped from an asylum and broke into the Duke of Wellington's office. He (the madman) announced that he had to kill the Duke. "Does it have to do that right now?" Wellington asked. The madman hesitated, and Wellington told him to come back later.