In search of identity: Government decides Englishness needs icons

What do Alice in Wonderland, the FA Cup, Henry VIII by Holbein, and Routemasters have in common? According to a Government-funded project, they are among a dozen "icons" which help define English identity.

The Icons Online Project will be started today by the Culture minister, David Lammy. It will focus on England rather than Britain because officials think that the English have lost out in recent years to Northern Ireland, Wales and Scotland in terms of national identity.

Mr Lammy will say his favourite symbol of England is the red telephone box, even though the kiosk has not made it into the initial top 12 as chosen by leading figures in the arts, publishing and academe. However, the list is unlikely to remain unchanged for long as the aim of Icons Online, a two-year project costing £1m, is to encourage the public on to a dedicated website to cast their own votes.

The table will be updated every three months and each item to make it in to the top 10 on the list, which is expected to grow to around 150 items, will officially become a national icon. Votes will only be considered valid as long as the icon or artefact is to be found in England and as long as it is not a human being. Real people are excluded because the organisers felt it would be too similar to the BBC's recent "Great Britons" and might turn into a "beauty parade".

"The last thing we want is for it to turn into a re-run of a debate about Diana [Princess of Wales]", said Mike Greenwood who, as the commissioning executive for Culture Online, run by the Department for Culture, Media and Sport, set up the Icons project.

The list is mainly traditional but it also acknowledges mutli-ethnic society by including the Empire Windrush, which brought nearly 500 immigrants from the Caribbean in 1948. Other items nominated by the public but which failed to make the list included apple crumble, brass bands, canals in Birmingham, the funeral of Diana, the garden shed and Zippy, from the television programme Rainbow.

Mr Greenwood defended the choices after some in the top dozen were criticised. He dismissed comments by the broadcaster David Starkey that the list was "quaint and banal" and trying to carry out a "reinvention of England" which to some may be reminiscent of New Labour's embrace of Cool Britannia and John Major's vision of long shadows on cricket grounds and warm beer.

"[Starkey] is commenting as if it is a definitive list that is going to symbolise England. We are not looking for nationalistic symbols but important things on our streets and in our galleries," Mr Greenwood said.

The omission of St George, the patron saint of England, was also not an oversight, he said. "This is a work in progress and not the definitive list. Also you have to remember that these are a list of icons and not symbols - which are a kind of intellectual summary of what a nation is about. The icons are meant to show our roots in culture and St George was not a cultural artefact although he may have been developed into one."

He dismissed suggestions by the philosopher Roger Scruton that the Henry VIII portrait was inappropriate because "Henry was more Welsh and Holbein was born in Germany". Mr Greenwood said: "The fact is that this glorious painting is in one of our national galleries. The provenance can be from any country."

On that basis, the cup of tea, included in the list, was a prime example because it highlighted trading relations with India and China and was imported in such ships as the Cutty Sark and served in porcelain and china.

Culture Online was set up to encourage audiences to become involved in culture through technology. Icons, its largest project, is supported among others by the National Trust, Black Cultural Archives, English Heritage, the National Portrait Gallery, the Football Association and the Muslim Council for Great Britain.

Five alternative icons for England

* LORD'S

The home of cricket and the game's spiritual headquarters in St John's Wood, north London. Its imposing, red-brick pavilion and futuristic media centre catch the eye. As any visiting team will testify, it is a ground without rival.

* LONDON EYE

An outstanding feature of the London skyline, the Eye is one of the country's most popular tourist attractions and the way many choose to view the capital. Standing around 140ft high, its 32 capsules carry 15,000 visitors per day.

* REAL ALE

Such drinks as Old Peculiar, London Pride and Bishop's Finger merit inclusion on the icons list as a reminder of the increasing domination of mass-produced lagers. The foaming pint of bitter - derided overseas as flat, warm beer - should be as prized as Germans value their litres of lager.

* GLASTONBURY

Some of the original spirit may have been lost to commercialism, but the annual event on a Somerset farm remains many people's fondest memory of live music and it still attracts an eclectic mix of acts.

* WALLACE AND GROMIT

Amusing to children and adults, Wallace and Gromit set new standards in "claymation". It has proved a huge critical and financial success on both sides of the Atlantic.