It's Electric (boogie woogie)

To quote one of my favorite propaganda films from the 1950s, England is "modern, democratic, and fully electrified!"

The British Isles have electric power like nobody's business!  The voltage coming out of these outlets can fry your electric stuff in an instant--cell phones, hair dryers, etc.  Think of everything electric you might need on your trip, and then try to convince yourself you can do without it! You may be able to use your cell phone in Britain...but do you really need to?  Can you live without that curling iron? 

You can purchase "tourist adaptors" for your plugs, but unless you're paying about 50 bucks, you're getting one than won't actually change the voltage and zap! goodbye shaver, alarm clock, hair dryer, whatever.  (We lost some speakers in just such a tragedy.)  The good news is, most laptops are already equipped with voltage adaptors on their power cords.  As for your other possessions...think twice!