Well, nobody requested my contribution about a Birmingham controller, but here goes anyhow.
Flying my PA18 in the UK (and being accustomed to helpful ATC in the US)
I hopfully asked to be permitted to climb into the Birmingham zone, to avoid increasing cloud cover - the PA had all the necessary bells and whistles, and so did I....but although not a peep had been heard on the Birmingham frequency that early morning, the reply was curt. Negative.
So I flew on, dodging cu. Asked again. Still Negative. And he wasn't talking to anybody else at all at all. Once more, I was now facing a diversion as the cloud was spreading out. Still negative.
Whereupon a Speedbird, in Best BA Baritone, informed me "You're not in America now, you know!"
I diverted.