The English Really Are Different.

Further proof, as if any were needed, that the English really are rather different from the rest of humanity:

In December 1948 a Washington radio station telephoned various ambassadors in the capital and asked what each would like for Christmas. Their replies were duly recorded and broadcast in a special programme the following week. “Peace throughout the world,” the French Ambassador requested. “Freedom for all people enslaved by imperialism,” his Soviet counterpart intoned ... Then came the voice of the British Ambassador, Sir Oliver Franks: “Well, it’s very kind of you to ask,” he politely remarked. “I’d quite like a box of crystallized fruit.”
[Source: Geoffrey Moorhouse, The Diplomats]