What makes us English? Our love of tea (I prefer coffee)? Ability to form queues (elbows were invented for a reason)? Or knowing the entire backstory of EastEnders (give me Friends every time)?

Immigration, and the question of who we let in and who we keep out, is still a hot topic and something Walthamstow stand-up Daphna Baram has been contemplating very carefully for the last year in the lead up to and aftermath of taking the Life in the UK Test.

The Israeli-born comedian has learned the intricacies of our judicial system and mastered the complexities of our punctuation but says it is our attitude to sex that surprised her most when she invaded the UK in 2002.

“The British are obsessed with role playing and dressing up and the infantilism of sex. I should have watched Benny Hill before I came here as it would have explained a lot of things,“ says the 45-year-old who moved to Walthamstow in 2013.

“Now I have a French maid’s outfit and nurse’s outfit, before I never needed them as in the Middle East we just wear some cleavage and hope for the best. It’s much more complicated here.”

She will be sharing her views on life in the land of fish and chips and fishnets in new show Something to Declare and giving east Londoners a sneak peek this month before she takes it up to the Edinburgh Festival Fringe from August 7 to 29.

She passed the test and got Indefinite Leave to Remain in January and says: “It is really hard and stressful. Some of the questions are about what the Scottish legal system is like and the youth courts in Ireland.

“Too much of it is historical and not enough cultural. Maybe what we need is a practical test because what is important is how we live here and do we get the rules?

“Do we know when it is our turn to get a round of drinks? Do we know how to roll a cigarette in the rain? These are the kind of questions we should be assessed on rather than so many questions about Henry VIII.”

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As an experienced journalist she already knew our history fairly well and says the test glosses over unpleasant events of our past.

“There is no mention of Margaret Thatcher, the miners’ strike, no Falklands, no Iraq war. It’s politically interesting and a fascinating thing to do.”

She’ll be challenging her audiences to answer some of the questions in her show and also sharing stories about adapting to English life.

Her journey here started in 2002 and took her from suicide-bombing-infested Jerusalem to the dreaming spires of Oxford on a Reuters fellowship, then on to London’s media world of air-kissing. “The first few years were really hard and starving but gradually it became better. I have been working for 10 years for a correspondence agency as a desk editor.”

She fell into stand-up comedy in 2010 after a heart-attack and a 40th birthday present of comedy lessons, and Something to Declare is her third solo Fringe show.

“Seeing the funny side of the test really helped get me through it. And I think a lot of my audiences will now be able to pass it!”

Daphna will perform Something to Declare at The Museum of Comedy on Sunday, July 26, 6.30pm; Cavendish Arms in Stockwell on Thursday, July 30, 9pm; and as a double bill with Juliet Meyers at Cafe Bonito, Walthamstow, Friday, July 31, 6.30pm. Details: 07868 728978, missd.co.uk