This blog post was published under the 2010 to 2015 Conservative and Liberal Democrat coalition government

Hetty Crist

Hetty Crist

Deputy Press Secretary

Part of UK in USA

13th February 2012 Washington DC, USA

A GREAT Night for British Music

If the first two months are any indication, 2012 is shaping up to be a truly GREAT year for the UK. At the Golden Globes back in January, British shows and performers brought home three awards, including Best Miniseries for the smash hit Downton Abbey.

Music is GREAT Britain

Last night’s GRAMMYs kept the momentum rolling. The one and only Adele took it all as she went a perfect six for six, winning every category in which she was nominated. She brought down the house with a live rendition of “Rolling in the Deep,” her first performance since recent throat surgery. But she saved the best for last, picking up all of the night’s biggest awards in Album of the Year, Song of the Year and Record of the Year. With the two GRAMMYs she had already won—2009’s Best New Artist and 2010’s Best Female Pop Vocal performance—she brings her career total up to eight.

She shared the GRAMMY stage with two performances by another of Britain’s music exports, one who has more than a passing familiarity with GRAMMYs himself: Sir Paul McCartney. His win for Best Historical Album last night gave Sir Paul 15 GRAMMYs since first winning 1965’s Best New Artist as a member of The Beatles, and a win in five of the last six decades. Anyone else winning a GRAMMY at almost 70 years old, maybe I’d be amazed, but for Rolling Stone’s greatest artist of all time it’s just another day.

But Britain’s great music talent on display went beyond just the night’s two big winners. Mumford & Sons and Coldplay tallied seven additional nominations between them. Paul Epworth won Producer of the Year (no surprise, given that he produced Adele’s 21). Even Sir Richard Branson got in on the GRAMMY action, recognized with the President’s Merit Award.

This week in New York, we’ll be keeping the focus on Britain’s cultural offerings as we kick off the GREAT campaign in the US. With fashion week in full swing and British designers on display, it’s the perfect opportunity to highlight the best that Britain has to offer in fashion and creativity. As the Olympic and Paralympic Games and Her Majesty The Queen’s Diamond Jubilee turn all eyes to the UK, 2012 is truly a GREAT year to experience and visit Britain.

(Did you spot all the song titles? There were 6)

About Hetty Crist

Hetty Crist served as the Deputy Press Secretary at the British Embassy in Washington. Educated at the University of Northumbria at Newcastle (the same as Jonny Ive!) Hetty has worked…

Hetty Crist served as the Deputy Press Secretary at the British Embassy in Washington. Educated at the University of Northumbria at Newcastle (the same as Jonny Ive!) Hetty has worked in a range of communications roles in both the public and private sector at companies including Microsoft, The Institute of Directors and The National Autistic Society. She joined the British Embassy in July 2010 having previously worked for seven years in government communications roles in London at both The Department of Health and The Foreign Office. In Washington Hetty was responsible for communications work around the UK Economy and the Eurozone, Energy, Trade, and UK domestic, legal and judicial issues as well as Consular and Corporate issues. Her work also included highlighting all that the UK has to offer through the cross-government GREAT Campaign and the London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games.

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2012 Adele art British Fashion Coldplay creativity diamond jubilee Downtown Abbey fashion Fashion Week Golden Globes Grammys great britain London 2012 Mumford & Son's music Music is GREAT NYC Fashion Week olympics Paul McCartney richard branson uk UKinUSA usa