The Core

Perhaps our British members will clarify the following for me.

I'm currently reading all the Mrs. Bradley mysteries by Gladys Mitchell.  In those her characters are constantly sitting down to eat every two to three hours.  Here's the list:

Breakfast
Elevensies (is this the same as a Hobbits Second Breakfast?)
Lunch
Tea
Supper
(And there might be more crammed in there that I have forgotten.)

What is traditionally eaten at these?  What time range for Tea?  Sometimes Tea seems to be substantial and other times a snack?

All these seem to be washed down with many Imperial Gallons of tea, also many pints of bitter, sherry or whiskey, plus much tramping about on the moors, rural lanes and commons.

Any light you can provide would be much appreciated.

Aside:  I like this part, any time somebody has had a shock they are immediately given a stiff drink of brandy, which seems to me a most noble and civilized practice!

That's a lot of eating!  My first thought was "How are we fatter than them?"
But seriously, how many meals do you eat on a typical day?

> pudding

This deserves a whole separate thread, I'm thinking.

> fatter

I think we Americans eat fewer meals of much bigger quantities and we drive everywhere instead of walking about all those moors the Brits have handily scattered about the place for that purpose. 

Still, that is a lot of meals!

Mitchell wrote some 60 Mrs. Bradley mysteries from the 30's to the late 70's or 80's.  She touches upon the strict food rationing during the War, and of course nearly everyone smokes either pipes or cigarettes.  I'm up to the books written in the early 1960's which I remember as a child with smokey rooms when my parents had cocktail parties and everyone seemed to smoke.

I'm very keen on the brandy thing and tweed suits to make a comeback.  Oh, I feel a shock coming on...

you're forgetting that thing with no name which happens at 3pm (too early for tea, too late for lunch) when you need a reveving *something* to counter dropping sugar levels.

Brad, very generally, for many older people dinner is the main meal served at teatime, while for many more northern counties dinner is what you have at lunchtime and tea is served at dinner time. Supper is a bit of a non standard meal which may simply be a late dinner, or an extra meal eatcn by those who had tea at teatime and therefore have had four or five hours between that and bedtime but were too full up for a proper dinner.

And different rules apply on Sundays.

you're forgetting that thing with no name which happens at 3pm (too early for tea, too late for lunch) when you need a reveving *something* to counter dropping sugar levels.

Brad, very generally, for many older people dinner is the main meal served at teatime, while for many more northern counties dinner is what you have at lunchtime and tea is served at dinner time. Supper is a bit of a non standard meal which may simply be a late dinner, or an extra meal eatcn by those who had tea at teatime and therefore have had four or five hours between that and bedtime but were too full up for a proper dinner.

And different rules apply on Sundays.

I did mostly base that feeding schedule on a visit to yours (except tea was beer)

So what is the best tea to have at these different meals?

.......Jason are you here? 
I can discuss bacon, but not tea...

as for the tea you drink...Get that can of worms well and truely open

happily drinking a cup of Twinings Everyday tea right now.  But equally happy with a Yorkshire tea.

Just for a point of reference, here in the US:
Breakfast - morning meal
Lunch - noon(ish) meal
Dinner - evening meal

Most people do not have brunch on a regular basis, but it seems to be a Sunday thing.
Supper is pretty much interchangeable with the term Dinner.