I kind of like the ones we brits live with as part of our heritage - like:
Kilts and clan tartan - invented in a london club in the 19th century
and that was only shortly after Queen victoria decided to 'invent' most of the pageantry that still takes place, after she received a report that the austrian nobility thought english state functions were unsophisticated.
the sweetest one though is surely that winston churchill's "we will fight them on the beaches" radio broadcast was spoken by an actor because winston (who drank a bottle of scotch a day) was too drunk.