PS.
thatbags is correct about the UK not always being separate from mainland Europe. In any case, it's not just about geography. The UK has traded ideas and language with other countries in Europe for decades. The Cornish have much in common through DNA and language with the Bretons in France. Some people in West Wales are descended from Portuguese. Many of us are descended from Vikings, either from the original invaders or the Normans, who were originally of Viking descent...and so it goes on. Whenever people are on the move, they bring some of their language, thinking and customs with them and adopt some of the original language, etc.
No man is an Iland, intire of it selfe; every man is a peece of the Continent, a part of the maine; if a Clod bee washed away by the Sea, Europe is the lesse, as well as if a Promontorie were, as well as if a Mannor of thy friends or of thine owne were; any mans death diminishes me, because I am involved in Mankinde; And therefore never send to know for whom the bell tolls; It tolls for thee. (john Donne)