Autumn is gorgeous in England and the U.S., but there's one big difference between the two.
"England is hideous in fall." — No one I want to know
Forget everything you know about the U.K.
Oof ... will someone please hand them some hot cocoa? Photo by Peter Macdiarmid/Getty Images.
OK, maybe not everything. Just hear me out.
Sure, it rains there (sometimes a lot). And the average mean temperature is a measly 53 degrees Fahrenheit (give or take).
I got that fact here, where you can learn more about the U.K.'s not-exactly-tropical climate. Photo by Oli Scarff/Getty Images.
But! You're missing out if you think England's a cold, wet wasteland all the time. Because autumn across the pond...
Hyde Park in London, England. Photo by Oli Scarff/Getty Images.
...is freaking gorgeous.
Palladian Bridge near Warminster, England. Photo by Matt Cardy/Getty Images.
And while English autumns may seem like they look exactly like autumn in North America...
Pickering, England. Photo by Dan Kitwood/Getty Images.
There's actually one (very) big difference.
Wisley, England. Photo by Oli Scarff/Getty Images.
Can you spot it?
London, England. Photo by Peter Macdiarmid/Getty Images.
The trees! You'll see lots more red in North America. And while red leaves do exist in England, their trees overwhelmingly feature more shades of yellow and orange.
See? 50 shades of yellow, spotted in Bath, England. Photo by Matt Cardy/Getty Images.
Why is that exactly? Well, a a study done in 2009 suggests the answer dates back about 35 million years.
Knutsford, U.K. Photo by Christopher Furlong/Getty Images.
The study found that ice ages affected the evolution of deciduous trees in North America differently than in Europe.
You can spot trees this red in England, but you're much more likely to find them in the U.S. Like in Kentucky, for example (seen above). Photo by Andy Lyons/Getty Images.
Europe's mountain chain configurations stopped animals and insects from migrating away from the cold, unlike in North America. So plenty of species were killed off.
Stourhead, U.K. Photo by Matt Cardy/Getty Images.
Trees in North America, however, evolved throughout the years to protect themselves from many of the species that had died in Europe (like, say, insect predators).
Concord, Massachusetts. Photo by Darren McCollester/Getty Images.
So … what's that have to do with North America's red leaves?
Woodford, Vermont. Photo by Stan Honda/Getty Images.
Red leaves are red because of a certain pigment produced only in cooler months, called anthocyanin.
Washington, D.C. Jim Watson/AFP/Getty Images.
Orange and yellow leaves, however, aren't produced by some special pigment. They're on deciduous trees all year long, and only pop when chlorophyll on green leaves breaks down during the cooler months.
Bristol, England. Photo by Matt Cardy/Getty Images.
It's believed anthocyanin (the red pigment) may protect trees from things like super-cold freezes, harsh sunlight, and — yep, you guessed it — insect predators.
London, England. Photo by Peter Macdiarmid/Getty Images.
So, as one theory goes, North America gets redder leaves because its trees evolved with animals and insects that were out to get them all those millions of years ago.
Pretty neat stuff.
Amenia, New York. Photo by Don Emmert/AFP/Getty Images.
This research is explained superbly in a video by Slate, by the way. Check it out.
If there's one thing you learn today...
Photo by Matt Cardy/Getty Images.
...let it be that the science behind autumn is sort of incredible.
Amenia, New York. Photo by Don Emmert/Getty Images.
And the results are beautiful, too — no matter what side of the pond you're on.
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Resurfaced video of French skier's groin incident has people giving the announcer a gold medal
"The boys took a beating on that one."
Downhill skiing is a sport rife with injuries, but not usually this kind.
A good commentator can make all the difference when watching sports, even when an event goes smoothly. But it's when something goes wrong that great announcers rise to the top. There's no better example of a great announcer in a surprise moment than when French skier Yannick Bertrand took a gate to the groin in a 2007 super-G race.
Competitive skiers fly down runs at incredible speeds, often exceeding 60 mph. Hitting something hard at that speed would definitely hurt, but hitting something hard with a particularly sensitive part of your body would be excruciating. So when Bertrand slammed right into a gate family-jewels-first, his high-pitched scream was unsurprising. What was surprising was the perfect commentary that immediately followed.
This is a clip you really just have to see and hear to fully appreciate:
- YouTube youtu.be
It's unclear who the announcer is, even after multiple Google inquiries, which is unfortunate because that gentleman deserves a medal. The commentary gets better with each repeated viewing, with highlights like:
"The gate the groin for Yannick Bertrand, and you could hear it. And if you're a man, you could feel it."
"Oh, the Frenchman. Oh-ho, monsieurrrrrr."
"The boys took a beating on that one."
"That guy needs a hug."
"Those are the moments that change your life if you're a man, I tell you what."
"When you crash through a gate, when you do it at high rate of speed, it's gonna hurt and it's going to leave a mark in most cases. And in this particular case, not the area where you want to leave a mark."
Imagine watching a man take a hit to the privates at 60 mph and having to make impromptu commentary straddling the line between professionalism and acknowledging the universal reality of what just happened. There are certain things you can't say on network television that you might feel compelled to say. There's a visceral element to this scenario that could easily be taken too far in the commentary, and the inherent humor element could be seen as insensitive and offensive if not handled just right.
The announcer nailed it. 10/10. No notes.
The clip frequently resurfaces during the Winter Olympic Games, though the incident didn't happen during an Olympic event. Yannick Bertrand was competing at the FIS World Cup super-G race in Kvitfjell, Norway in 2007, when the unfortunate accident occurred. Bertrand had competed at the Turin Olympics the year before, however, coming in 24th in the downhill and super-G events.
As painful as the gate to the groin clearly as, Bertrand did not appear to suffer any damage that kept him from the sport. In fact, he continued competing in international downhill and super-G races until 2014.
According to a 2018 study, Alpine skiing is a notoriously dangerous sport with a reported injury rate of 36.7 per 100 World Cup athletes per season. Of course, it's the knees and not the coin purse that are the most common casualty of ski racing, which we saw clearly in U.S. skier Lindsey Vonn's harrowing experiences at the 2026 Olympics. Vonn was competing with a torn ACL and ended up being helicoptered off of the mountain after an ugly crash that did additional damage to her legs, requiring multiple surgeries (though what caused the crash was reportedly unrelated to her ACL tear). Still, she says she has no regrets.
As Bertrand's return to the slopes shows, the risk of injury doesn't stop those who live for the thrill of victory, even when the agony of defeat hits them right in the rocks.