About National Umbrella Day
The introduction of the umbrella by Jonas Hanway in 1750s outraged London’s hansom cab drivers, who thought it threatened their livelihood. When one tried to run Hanway over, he used his umbrella to ‘give the man a good thrashing.’
A survey of 2,000 UK adults has shown the umbrella is one of the nation’s most lost items - and 28% of Brits have turned up to an important work meeting soaking wet as they didn’t have a brolly.
Despite almost a fifth of Brits owning three umbrellas, one in 10 have spent up to £50 on replacements.
James Latham from Premier Inn, which carried out the nationwide study on Brits’ brolly use, said: "With sixty% of Brits owning two or more umbrellas it seems they still can’t help losing and breaking them and needing to buy new ones on the spur of the moment.
