History Main / StiffUpperLip

* ''Radio/BleakExpectations'': In a series 5 chapter set in India, the main characters find several British soldiers all passed out from the heat, save one who happens to be wearing a bathing suit. [[CompletelyMissingThePoint Over his normal uniform]]. Why?

* ''Literature/HeraldsOfValdemar'': The Eastern Empire, ruled by a DeadlyDecadentCourt in which any display of emotional vulnerability will be taken advantage of, adheres to this ideology. For example, the Empire commander Tremane ''never'' moves faster than a brisk walk. Even if an EldritchAbomination's corpse has been discovered or a blizzard is hitting the camp, he does not run. Running implies panic, which will spread to the troops. The only time running is necessary is if the camp is literally being assaulted at that very moment.

* But taken to the point of DeconstructiveParody with the Knight in Cornell's ''Knight and Squire''. In #4, his costume becomes sentient and starts acting out his subconscious feelings. American superheroes with this problem typically solve it by acknowledging these feelings and getting them into the open where they can be dealt with. The Knight solves it by ''repressing them even further''.

* The rabbits of ''Literature/WatershipDown'' are made of this, largely maintainting their composure in a world where practically everyone and everything wants to kill them. Arguably even more pronounced in [[WesternAnimation/WatershipDown the movie,]] which of course includes British accents for all the characters.
* [[Literature/HeraldsOfValdemar The Eastern Empire]], ruled by a DeadlyDecadentCourt in which any display of emotional vulnerability will be taken advantage of, adheres to this ideology. For example, the Empire commander Tremane ''never'' moves faster than a brisk walk. Even if an EldritchAbomination's corpse has been discovered or a blizzard is hitting the camp, he does not run. Running implies panic, which will spread to the troops. The only time running is necessary is if the camp is literally being assaulted at that very moment.

* Savaged by Harold Steptoe in one episode of ''Series/SteptoeAndSon'', where he says he's fed up of being "cheerful, chirpy, Cockney sparrow" and is "as entitled to be miserable and depressed as anyone else".

* Vice Admiral David Beatty was in command of the Royal Navy's battlecruiser squadron at the Battle of Jutland in World War I. During this engagement, his squadron lost two battlecruisers, with his own ship very nearly following due to an ammunition fire below deck. His comment after watching two of his ships catastrophically explode was "There seems to be something wrong with our bloody ships today". He topped that with his next line: "Steer two points closer to the enemy."

* In ''Franchise/AceAttorney'', Simon Blackquill- the only character who uses British slang- is notable for never ever panicking. Even when [[spoiler:he discovered his mentor's dead body]], he remained calm enough to remove her young child from the scene, stage a coverup so extensive that authorities are still investigating it years after the fact, and [[spoiler:condemn himself to imprisonment '''on death row''' just because he thought it was the right thing to do]]. Multiple LivingLieDetectors have to work together to debunk what he says, because he's ''that good'' at concealing his true feelings.

[[quoteright:274:[[UsefulNotes/WorldWarII https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/couragevictory.png]]]]
[[caption-width-right:274:[[MemeticMutation Keep Calm and Carry On.]]]]

* John Steed of ''Series/TheAvengers''. When he's facing a FiringSquad in "The Living Dead", he actually lights a cigarette [[NothingPersonal for the man who's about to shoot him]], stating, "It's important to do these things well." Emma Peel is equally unruffled no matter how bizarre or dangerous the situation.

* [[http://www.girlgeniusonline.com/comic.php?date=20070402 Airman Higgs]] from ''Webcomic/GirlGenius''. Notable in that while Higgs' nationality isn't stated in the comic, a sizable chunk of the fandom decided he must be British or of British descent at the very least. [[spoilers: He isn't, and what his true nationality is becomes a plot point.]]

** Similarly, Creator/EmmaWatson commented on this when she attended two premiers of the same film, one in America, one in the UK.

* Another outstanding RealLife example: When British Airways 747 Flight 9 flew through a cloud of volcanic ash over Indonesia, all four engines failed; the pilot's comment has gone down in the history of understatement: "Ladies and gentlemen, this is your Captain speaking. We have a small problem. All four engines have stopped. We are doing our damnedest to get it under control. I trust you are not in too much distress." Amazingly enough, they later restarted and the aircraft landed safely. That is, after several attempts during a crash dive, they restarted three engines and landed safely despite the cockpit windows having been sandblasted by ash and rendered opaque.[[note]]The captain compared the experience of this near-blind landing to "negotiating one's way up a badger's arse".[[/note]]

-->'''Dara Ó Briain:''' Oh, my god, there's a bomb on the Picadilly Line. ''[beat]'' Well, I can take the Victoria line.

* The rabbits of ''Literature/WatershipDown'' are made of this, largely maintainting their composure in a world where practically everyone and everything wants to kill them. Even more pronounced in [[WesternAnimation/WatershipDown the movie,]] which of course includes British accents for all the characters.

'''Turing:''' ''[quietly]'' Are you dying? ''[Knox ignores the question[[note]]Dilly Knox died in 1943 of lymph cancer[[/note]]]''

* ''{{Film/Shadowlands}}'':

* [[http://www.girlgeniusonline.com/comic.php?date=20070402 Airman Higgs]] from ''Webcomic/GirlGenius''. Notable in that while Higgs' nationality isn't stated in the comic, a sizable chunk of the fandom decided he must be British or of British descent at the very least.

* General (or Admiral) [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/General_Revil Johann Abraham Revil]], from the original ''Anime/MobileSuitGundam''. Made the "Zeon is Exhausted!" speech that bolstered the Earth Federation's morale and caused them to reject the terms of surrender they were presented (prior to the beginning of the main series). He was looked to as a source of inspiration and confidence by many in the military, and was one of the few who never gave up on the ''White Base''. Side-materials confirm that he had British ancestry, invoking this trope.

* The Britons in ''ComicBook/{{Asterix}} in Britain'' would stop fighting for five o'clock tea and for two days every five days. Except tea hadn't been introduced yet, so they just sipped hot water.