Whoops, just noticed the lanyard question.
It's actually not a British thing, it's a pre-1919 Colt thing. Remember it was designed as a cavalry pistol, the intention was you'd have a lanyard on the pistol and all your mags so you wouldn't lose it when you dropped it on horseback. That obviously became obsolete very quickly, so they stopped doing it.
The British style was actually to a ring that went through the factory lanyard loop - the standard British lanyard wouldn't fit through the factory loop. It seems to be about 50/50 with British 1911s, mine doesn't happen to have it. Oddly the Remington-Rand does, which is why I think it's a lend-lease gun. I say oddly because lend-lease A1s typically don't have a British lanyard loop added.
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