How To Start Your Own Country
“Birth of a Nation
In the first step of his exploration of potential locations for his new nation, Danny travels to Sealand. In addition to that, he crosses paths with Erwin Strauss and Dennis Hope, a self-proclaimed owner of the moon. He “invades” Eel Pie Island, but once the authorities are alerted, he leaves the island. He strikes up a friendship with a high-ranking general in the British Army. Eventually, he comes to the conclusion that the territory will consist of the area of his flat, and he writes a proclamation of independence, which he hands over to Tony Blair.
“Citizenship Obligatory”
Wallace decides on a design for the flag of his country with the assistance of an advertising firm. He records a version of the national anthem, and it is aired on the LBC show hosted by Iain Lee during his interview.
In the episode “For King and Country,” Danny Wallace interacts with the Second Amendment Sisters (SAS) and the King of Fusa. Additionally, he travels to the Royal Principality of Seborga.
“The Condition of the Nation”
Wallace travels to two ‘utopian’ communities that couldn’t be more opposite from one another: the planned town of Celebration, which keeps its pleasantness by rigid rules and regulations; and the anarchic self-governing neighborhood of Christiania. In addition to this, he discusses the function of religion in public life with a Catholic Cardinal and the administration of law and order with Sheriff Joe Arpaio.
Following a sobering visit to death row and a conversation with the warden of that facility, John George, he comes to the conclusion that his nation should not have the death sentence.
“Danny’s Financial Institution”
Wallace gets the idea to jumpstart the economy of his country after he finds himself unable to pay his power bill. He inquires into the National Debt, seeking guidance from Kenneth Clarke, who served as Chancellor of the Exchequer in the past. He conceives of his very own monetary system, which he calls the IOU (Interdependent Occupational Unit), and he presents it to Andrew Bailey, the Chief Cashier at the Bank of England. In addition to this, he uncovers the existence of the Principality of New Utopia and conducts an interview with Tony Nicodemous, the UK Pro Consul. He submits an application for foreign assistance but is denied it because of the riches of his population.
“The United Nations”
Wallace intends to perform a song titled “Stop the Muggin’, Start the Huggin'” at the Eurovision Song Contest in Athens in 2006.
He flies to New York with the hope of gaining the backing of the United Nations in his quest for the region to be recognized as a sovereign nation. His weakness lies in the absence of land.
The conclusion of this season’s last episode takes place in Leicester Square, where Wallace announces to the assembled residents that the new name for their nation is “Lovely.”
“Kingdom of Lovely”
Wallace chose the name “Kingdom of Lovely” for his new micronation. It is a project that is partially based on the Internet and claims a small area of land, similar to a number of other micronations. Wallace anointed himself King, and at its height, there were 58,165 people registered as “citizens” on the website citizensrequired.com that belonged to the micronation. This website has been taken offline for maintenance.
Lovely’s only recognized territory was Wallace’s apartment in Bow, which is located in East London. However, citizens of Lovely were encouraged to take a picture of themselves displaying the nation’s flag in their homes or other properties and submit it as a declaration of Lovely’s presence there. This would serve as an embassy for Lovely.
The program featured Wallace striving to gain different accoutrements of statehood for his burgeoning nation in order to better portray the situation. These were the following:
The title given to the nation. Wallace gathered suggestions through an internet forum and then placed his top two picks, “Home” and “Lovely,” to a vote.
A celebration of the nation’s naming is commemorated annually on September 2 as “Lovely Day,” a national holiday.
A flag that has a white backdrop with a blue stripe and a red stripe that are both angled at different angles.
A pixelated coat of arms to highlight the fact that the micronation is established entirely on the Internet.
Die Dulci fruere is a Latin motto that translates to “Have a beautiful day.” The exact form of the Latin phrase is fruere.
Banks and Wag provide their rendition of the national song.
Wallace tried to start his nation by “invading” Eel Pie Island in London with the help of his friend Jon Bond, who is now Lovely’s Minister of Defence. The owners of a private island in Ireland rejected Lovely’s currency (The “Interdependent Occupational Unit (IOU)”) as a basis for sale. Lovely’s currency is called “The Interdependent Occupational Unit (IOU)”. Bond was selected for the part because he had previous experience working as a security guard at Tesco. This made him the most comparable resource Wallace had to an army. Wallace, however, was compelled to call off the “raid” because local residents had phoned the Metropolitan Police and informed them of the situation. On January 1, 2005, Wallace declared his apartment to be a sovereign nation after consulting with a number of individuals, including the leaders of Sealand and Dennis Hope, who asserts that he is the owner of the Moon. He then began the process of populating the micronation and recording the television series. Notable individuals such as Noam Chomsky, an advocate for democracy; Joe Arpaio, sheriff of Maricopa County, Arizona; Giorgio Carbone, prince of Seborga; Major General Andrew Graham; and Erwin Strauss, author of the guidebook How to Start Your Own Country; were among among those who were interviewed.
After each episode of How to Start Your Own Country that was aired on digital TV, supplemental content was shown to viewers. This content was presented during the course of the show. This was formatted as a national broadcast on a station known as Citizen TV. Danny Wallace hosted it live and each episode included news, a talk with a “citizen” who had called in, and a special guest who was often a member of Wallace’s administration. An early political shift happened when Wallace sacked his first foreign minister live on the radio and selected citizen Kieran Collins to replace him. This was an important moment in the history of the nation.
In 2006, Wallace made an effort to get a song of his own invention, titled “Stop the Mugging, Start the Hugging,” selected to represent Lovely in the Eurovision Song Contest. Svante Stockselius, the contest’s scrutineer, met with Wallace and was sympathetic to his cause. However, he informed Wallace that Lovely could not enter the Contest because it does not have its own national television or radio station, and as a result, it could not join the European Broadcasting Union. Wallace was disappointed to hear this news (EBU). The next step that Wallace took was to submit his music to the BBC, which is a member of the EBU and supports the United Kingdom’s participation in the competition. However, the BBC’s assessors did not find the song to be impressive.
In addition, the series depicted Wallace’s efforts to secure formal recognition for Lovely at the United Nations, which was considered to be the definitive sign of statehood at the time. These attempts were unsuccessful, mostly because Lovely does not possess any area that is considered to be autonomous. Wallace’s own flat is located within the UK. Despite all of this, in the last episode, Wallace stood before his countrymen dressed in full royal garb and said that their new kingdom now had more citizens than seven nations that were internationally recognized, including Vatican City, Monaco, and Liechtenstein.
During those years, September 2005 through September 2007, residents of Loveland published their own newspaper under the name The Guardian Angel.
On the website that Wallace maintains, he writes that the program has gained “an almost-too-loyal audience, certain of whom take against me when I am unable to commit my whole life to ruling a small nation from my flat.”History of slavery