The 2012 Olympics, the channel tunnel, the Magna Carter. These are all great UK achievements that have had worldwide impact and give us Brits reason to be proud, however they pale in comparison to one: the Tea Time Alarm. At a time where nations are divided, polarization and hatred thrive on the internet, we banded together when it counted for little other reason than to laugh at others looking silly, in true British fashion. 

If you’ve been anywhere near Tik Tok, you’ll know the ‘in jokes’ that end up circulating out of control. But the tea time alarm created an international conspiracy in which the truth was completely unknown beyond our tiny island. 

So what is the tea time alarm? If you’re not British, this is the somewhat ominous alarm that goes off once a day, every day, instructing everyone to stop what they’re doing and make a cup of tea. It bonds us together as a nation, and if not obeyed can have dire legal consequences. 

If you are British, then it’s just an absolute giggle. 

But how, at such a tense and critical time in history, did a nation band together to pull the wool over the rest of the world’s eyes and really convince them that this is a part of our culture, law and daily routines? How did we get Americans checking their visas in fear of being arrested over not making a timely cuppa? How did we get the UK Government posting tea time alarm updates and Citizens Advice publishing appropriate etiquette for biscuit options for when the tea time alarm sounds? Heathrow Airport documenting ‘standstills’ during the alert? 

Well I would argue the British comradery we’ve been missing as a country lately was channelled into this online endeavour, and it was a brief bit of stress relief that we could indulge in online, by creatively sharing our completely false experiences with the tea time alarm.

Could we have put our collective efforts into something more noble? More worthwhile? An honourable endeavour that could have made some real positive change? No, it had to be the fabrication of the TVLA, an ‘official’ government body that regulates the UK tradition of daily communal tea drinking. I think this is the only thing that we could truly unite as a nation on, and albeit pointless, was a lovely break for us to come together and chuckle over. 

Americans were the main target of this orchestrated prank, and it could be said that this is somewhat telling of a wider issue of misinformation how much they did fall for it. Does it speak to the ignorance of a nation that this was believed so widely, or are we really just that good at pretending? Is it worrying that so many seem completely susceptible to an enormous lie, or do our accents just give us an irrefutable credibility when it comes to hot beverages? 

It could be said that the US’ American centric education system has left us a lot of room to make up harmless lies like the tea time alarm and for them to be so readily intrigued by this piece of culture, or that at the peak of the ‘fake news’ epidemic and misinformation, there are more important things for America to be vigilant for, leaving us room to sneak a lie through the cracks of their splintering world perception. 

Of course to give credit to our pals across the pond, there were many sources that would otherwise be considered trustworthy for such public information that engaged convincingly in the trend of perpetuating the culture of the tea time alarm. 

Is this in itself an issue too though? Is a Tik Tok trend to create confusion and inside laughs really the place for the government to be conspiring with us? Countless businesses, organisations and individuals hopped onboard, creating authentic ‘day in the life’ videos that were interrupted by the tea time alarm, or their worst tea time alarm stories where they were caught out. 

Is there any wonder everyone fell for this, because in every comment section, the conspiracy continued, with a completely unspoken bond between all us British tea drinkers. 

Maybe this is what we all needed from the internet, a moment to set aside the serious, brew a cup of tea, and revel in the simple joy of pulling off the greatest harmless conspiracy of all time.