Merry Christmas, though not so merry for the French. I have to admit. First they get their promised holiday taken away, then they get their cheese insulted.
To weigh in on the whole Cheddar debate, I'm quite a cheese aficionado, I like all kinds: Blue, white, yellow, orange, hard, runny, smelly, young, old, French, British, Swiss, Dutch... But, that said, I have tasted some truly terrible 'cheddar'. This is, of course, no fault of Cheddar in itself, but more the fault of those who produce cheap extra-orange, extra-icky knock offs. I have been to the cheddar gorge, and have eaten some truly great cheddar, but somehow cheddar is quite vulnerable to cheap plasticy versions of it being made for foreign markets. Even here in Belgium, there is one brand of cheddar that is absolutely revolting, but others are decent to excellent. Just saying, not all Cheddar is 'icky'... I'll leave you with this unsolicited advice: When you're outside of Britain, don't buy the cheapest brand of Cheddar in the supermarket, you will most likely regret it, even if you love cheddar.
That said. Brie is great too. All cheeses matter. (except cheap icky knock-offs)