Chapter 1 General information Great Britain or United Kingdom, officially the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern

Ireland is a parliamentary monarchy in northwestern Europe. The kingdom includes the island of Great Britain, comprising England, Scotland, and Wales; and Northern Ireland, an integral component of the kingdom, occupying part of the island of Ireland. The Isle of Man and the Channel Islands in the English Channel are not part of the United Kingdom; they are direct dependencies of the British crown and have substantial internal self-governing powers. The United Kingdom lies entirely within the British Isles. The total area of the kingdom is 244,111 sq km. From 1801, when Great Britain and Ireland were united, to 1922, when the Irish Free State was established, the kingdom was officially designated the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland. Great Britain, along with other independent countries and their dependencies and several associated states, is part of the Commonwealth of Nations. The capital and largest city of Great Britain is London. England occupies all of the island east of Wales and south of Scotland. Established as an independent monarchy many centuries ago, England in time achieved political control over the rest of the island, all the British Isles, and vast sections of the world, becoming the nucleus of one of the greatest empires in history. England is somewhat triangular in shape, with its apex at the mouth of the Tweed River. The eastern leg, bounded by the North Sea, extends generally southeast to the North Foreland, the northern extremity of the region called the Downs. The western leg of the triangle extends generally southwest from the mouth of the Tweed along the boundary with Scotland, the Irish Sea, Saint Georges Channel, and the Atlantic Ocean to Lands End, the westernmost extremity of England and of the island. The northern frontier extends from Solway Firth on the west along the Cheviot Hills to the mouth of the Tweed on the east. The base of the triangle fronts the English Channel and the Strait of Dover. The

total area of England is 130,439 sq km, 57 percent of the area of the island. This total includes the region of the Scilly Isles, southwest of Lands End in the Atlantic Ocean; the Isle of Wight, located off the southern coast; and the Isle of Man, located in the Irish Sea. One of the principal features of England, as well as of the entire island of Great Britain, is the deeply indented coast. The high tides prevail along the eastern coast, a number of rivers and their estuaries provide this region with safe anchorages. The most important of these belong to such ports as Newcastle upon Tyne, on the Tyne River; Middlesbrough, on the Tees River; Hull, on the Humber River; and London, on the Thames River. The most important harbors on the southern coast include those of Dover, Hastings, Brighton, Portsmouth and Plymouth. The western coast, considerably more broken than either the eastern or southern coast, also has numerous anchorages. Of outstanding commercial importance are the harbor of Bristol, at the confluence of Bristol Channel and the Severn River; and Liverpool Harbor, at the mouth of the Mersey River. The northern and western parts of England are generally mountainous. The principal highland region, the Pennine Chain (or Pennines), forms the backbone of northern England. It is composed of several ranges extending south from the Cheviot Hills to the valley of the Trent River and numerous spurs and extensions that radiate in all directions. The extreme elevation of the Pennine Chain and the highest summit in England is Scafell Pike (978 m above sea level). A large portion of the area occupied by the Pennine Chain comprises the Lake District, one of the most picturesque regions in England. The terrain east of Wales and between the southern extremities of the Pennine Chain and Bristol Channel is an extension of the rolling plain that occupies most of central and eastern England. Much of the western part of this central region is known as the Midlands; it contains an area that is known as the Black Country because of its intensive industrial development. The mean annual temperature ranges between 11C in the south of England and 8C in the northeast. Seasonal temperatures vary between a mean of about 16C during July, the hottest month of the year, and 4C during January, the coldest month.

England has some agricultural and mineral resources but must rely on imports of both. Approximately two-fifths of the land area is arable, with the richest soils found in the east. Substantial reserves of iron ore are concentrated in Cumbria, Staffordshire, and Lancashire. Waterpower resources are small and mostly concentrated in the highlands of Cumbria, in northern England. The great majority of the people of England, like those of the British Isles in general, are descended from early Celtic and Iberian peoples and later invaders of the islands, including the Romans, Anglo-Saxons, Danes, and Normans. After 1945 substantial numbers of blacks and Asians immigrated into the country. England, once a nation of small rural villages, has become highly urban since the early 19th century. The population of England is about 46 million people. The overall population density of about 354 persons per sq km is one of the highest in the world. In 1980, approximately 75 percent were urban dwellers. After London, Birmingham, is the second largest city and is the center of an extensive industrial area that contains major concentrations of the automotive and other industries. Liverpool is the second largest port and a major cargo export outlet of Great Britain; it is also a great commercial and industrial center. Manchester is the chief commercial hub of the cotton and synthetic-fiber textile industries, as well as an important financial and commercial center and a major port. Among other important cities are Sheffield, the heavy engineering center famous for its high-quality steels, cutlery, and tools, and Bristol, a leading port and commercial center. Scotland is the administrative division of the kingdom of Great Britain, occupying the northern third of the island of Great Britain. Scotland is bounded on the north by the Atlantic Ocean; on the east by the North Sea; on the southeast by England; on the south by Solway Firth, which partly separates it from England, and by the Irish Sea; and on the west by North Channel, which separates it from Ireland, and by the Atlantic Ocean. As a geopolitical entity Scotland includes 186 nearby islands, a majority of which are contained in three groups namely, the Hebrides, also known as the Western Islands, situated off the western coast; the Orkney Islands, situated off the northeastern coast; and the Shetland Islands, situated northeast of the Orkney Islands.
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The largest of the other islands is the Island of Arran. The area, including the islands, is 78,772 sq km. Edinburgh is the capital of Scotland as well as a major industrial area and seaport. Scotland has a very irregular coastline. The western coast in particular is deeply penetrated by numerous arms of the sea, most of which are narrow submerged valleys, known locally as sea lochs, and by a number of broad indentations, generally called firths. The coastline of Scotland is about 3700 km long. The terrain of Scotland is predominantly mountainous but may be divided into three distinct regions, from north to south: the Highlands, the Central Lowlands, and the Southern Uplands. More than one-half of the surface of Scotland is occupied by the Highlands, the most rugged region on the island of Great Britain. To the south of the Highlands lies the Central Lowlands, a narrow belt comprising only about one-tenth of the area of Scotland, but containing the majority of the country's population. The Central Lowlands are traversed by several chains of hills. Scotland is characterized by an abundance of streams and lakes (lochs). Notable among the lakes, which are especially numerous in the central and northern regions, are Loch Lomond (the largest), Loch Ness and Loch Tay. Many of the rivers of Scotland, in particular the rivers in the west, are short, torrential streams, generally of little commercial importance. The longest river of Scotland is the Tay; the Clyde, however, is the principal navigational stream, site of the port of Glasgow. Other chief rivers include the Forth, Tweed, Dee, and some others. Like the climate of the rest of Great Britain, that of Scotland is subject to the moderating influences of the surrounding seas. As a result of these influences, extreme seasonal variations are rare, and temperate winters and cool summers are the outstanding climatic features. Low temperatures, however, are common during the winter season in the mountainous districts of the interior. In the western coastal region, which is subject to the moderating effects of the Gulf Stream, conditions are somewhat milder than in the east. The average January temperature is 3C and corresponding July average is 14 C.

Scotland, like the rest of the island of Great Britain, has significant reserves of coal. It also possesses large deposits of zinc, chiefly in the south. The soil is generally rocky and infertile, except for that of the Central Lowlands. Northern Scotland has great hydroelectric power potential and contains Great Britain's largest hydroelectric generating stations. The population of Scotland is about 4 million people. The population density is about 64 persons per sq km. The highest density is in the Central Lowlands, where nearly three-quarters of the Scots live, and the lowest is in the Highlands. About two-thirds of the population are urban dwellers. Wales is the part of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, forming administratively a part of England and occupying a broad peninsula on the western side of the island of Great Britain. Wales is bounded on the north by the Irish Sea; on the east by several English counties; on the south by Bristol Channel; and on the west by Saint Georges Channel and Cardigan Bay. The maximum northsouth extent of the Welsh mainland is about 220 km; in an east-west direction the distance varies between 60 and 155 km. The total area of Wales is 20,768 sq km. Cardiff is the capital, principal seaport, and shipbuilding center. Wales has an irregular coastline with many bays, the largest of which is Cardigan Bay. Except for narrow, low-lying coastal regions, mainly in the south and west, Wales is almost entirely mountainous. The principal range is the Cambrian Mountains, which extend north and south through central Wales. The Dee River, which rises in Bala Lake, the largest natural lake in Wales, and flows through northern Wales and England, is the principal river. The climate of Wales, like that of England, is mild and moist. The average daily temperature in July is 15C, and in January it is 5C. Coal is the most valuable mineral resource of Wales; deposits are located mainly in the south. Slate and limestone are also commercially important, and limited amounts of gold, lead, uranium, copper, zinc,
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and fireclays are also found. Much of the electricity generated by the country's large waterpower resources is exported to England. The major cities of Wales are Cardiff, the capital, principal seaport, and shipbuilding center; Swansea, a seaport and center of the tin-plate industry; Newport, an industrial center. Mining is a chief economic activity of Wales and one of the largest single sources of employment. Northern Ireland is the integral part of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, situated in the northeastern portion of the island of Ireland. Northern Ireland is bounded on the north and northeast by the North Channel, on the southeast by the Irish Sea, and on the south and west by the Republic of Ireland. It includes Rathlin Island in the North Channel and several smaller offshore islands. Northern Ireland is also known as Ulster, because it comprises six of the nine counties that constituted the former province of Ulster. The total area of Northern Ireland is 14,148 sq km . Northern Ireland has an extreme northern to southern extension of about 135 km and an extreme eastern to western extension of about 175 km. The shoreline is characterized by numerous irregularities and is about 530 km long. The chief rivers are the Foyle River, which forms part of the northwestern boundary and flows into Lough Foyle at Londonderry, and the Upper Bann and Lower Bann rivers. The climate of Northern Ireland is mild and damp throughout the year. The prevailing westerly winds from the Gulf Stream are largely responsible for the lack of extreme summer heat and winter cold. Rainfall is distributed evenly during the year. The chief minerals are basalt, limestone, sand and gravel, granite, chalk, clay, and shale; iron ore, and coal also are found in small amounts. Peat is important as a fuel. The population of Northern Ireland is about 2 million people. The overall density is about 113 persons per sq km. The population is unevenly distributed, with greater concentrations in the eastern half. It is almost equally divided between urban and rural dwellers.

The capital and largest city of Northern Ireland is Belfast, which is surrounded by heavy industries including shipbuilding and textiles. The other major city in Northern Ireland is Londonderry.

Economy Great Britain is primarily an industrial and commercial nation. Major industries, such as transportation, communications, steel, petroleum, coal, gas, and electricity, which had been nationalized by Labour governments, were sold to private investors by the Conservative government in the 1980s. The country is a world leader in international trade. In January 1973, Great Britain became a member of the European Community (now called the European Union). Britain's unemployment exceeded 10 percent of the workforce in the early 1990s. Agriculture Compared with most other major countries, Great Britain devotes a relatively small portion of its labor force (in the early 1990s about 2 percent of the employed population) to agriculture, forestry, and fishing, and the nation must import more than three-fifths of the food supply for its large population. A great deal of the country's land is not arable due to unproductive soil or inaccessibility, as in parts of the Scottish Highlands. In the early 1990s approximately 27 percent of the total land area of Great Britain was devoted to crops. Agriculture in Great Britain is intensive and highly mechanized. The most important crops are wheat, potatoes, barley, sugar beets, and oats. A variety of fruits and vegetables is also grown. The widespread dairy industry produces milk, eggs, and cheese. Beef cattle and large numbers of sheep, as well as poultry and pigs, are raised throughout much of the country. Forestry and Fishing Of the approximately 2.2 million hectares (about 5.4 million acres) of woodlands in Great Britain, about 40 percent are in England, 49 percent in Scotland, and 11 percent in Wales. The most common trees are oak, beech, ash, and elm. Pine and birch predominate in Scotland.
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The deep-sea fishing industry has declined since the 1960s, in part because of restrictions legislated by the European Community; it remains most important to the economy of Scotland and is a major source of employment in certain fishing ports. Marine fishes harvested include Atlantic mackerel, Atlantic herring, cod, haddock, Atlantic salmon and Norway lobster. Domestic fish production provides about three-quarters of Great Britain's needs. Manufacturing By virtue of the Industrial Revolution and the factory system initiated in the final quarter of the 18th century, Great Britain led the nations of the world in amount and value of manufactured products until the industrialization of the United States in the latter part of the 19th century. Principal factors in the industrial prominence of Britain were its early leadership in the wool trade, favorable climate, mineral wealth, development of shipping and naval control of the seas, acquisition of territorial possessions and colonial markets, much greater freedom from political and religious wars and persecutions than existed in continental Europe, and development of improved manufacturing methods and labor-saving machinery. With the invention of mechanically powered machinery, the textile industry grew rapidly and has remained one of the most important industries of Great Britain. Two inventionssteampowered mining machinery (1765) by James Watt and railroad locomotives (1815) by George Stephensonwere of major importance in the development of British coal and iron-ore resources and in the expansion of iron and steel manufacturing. Great Britain has remained one of the most highly industrialized countries of the world. Energy Britain was a pioneer in the development of nuclear plants for the production of electricity. The world's first commercial-scale nuclear power station at Calder Hall in Cumberland became functional in 1956. By the early 1990s nuclear power supplied about 16 percent of Great Britain's electricity production. Currency and Banking The pound sterling, consisting of 100 pence, is the basic unit of currency. In 1968 Great Britain took the first step in a three-year
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conversion of its currency to the decimal system of coinage by introducing the first two new coins, the 5-new-pence piece (equal to 1 old shilling) and the 10-new-pence piece. The conversion was completed in 1971. The pound was permitted to float against the dollar and other world currencies beginning in June 1972. The Bank of England, chartered in 1694, was nationalized in 1946 and is the bank of issue in England and Wales. Great Britain has 17 major commercial banks with more than 17,000 domestic and overseas branches, most of which are offices of the four leading banks: Lloyds, Barclays, National Westminster, and Midland. Several banks in Scotland and Northern Ireland may issue currencies in limited amounts. Some banking services are provided by the postal system, savings banks, and cooperative and building societies. Many foreign banks maintain offices in London. Foreign Trade The prominent position of British commerce in world trade during the 18th and 19th centuries resulted largely from the geographical isolation of the British Isles from the wars and political troubles that afflicted the centers of trade on the European continent. The development of the great trading companies, colonial expansion, and naval control of the high seas were corollary factors. Before the 17th century the foreign trade of England was almost completely in the hands of foreigners; wool was the principal export, and manufactured goods were the chief imports. As British overseas possessions increased, the raising of sheep for wool and mutton became a major occupation in the colonies; the practice of exporting wool from England and importing manufactured woolen articles was gradually replaced by the import of wool and the manufacture and export of yarns and fabrics. Cotton textiles, iron and steel, and coal soon became significant British exports. In the early 1990s Britain remained one of the world's leading trading nations. Its major exports were road vehicles and other transportation equipment, industrial machinery, petroleum and petroleum products, electrical machinery, office machines and data processing equipment, power-generating machinery, organic chemicals, iron and steel. Leading imports were road vehicles and parts, food products, office machines and data processing equipment, electrical machinery, petroleum and
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petroleum products, clothing and accessories, industrial machinery, paper and paper products, and power-generating equipment. Most domestic retail trade is conducted through independently owned shops, although the number of department, chain, and cooperative stores and supermarkets is increasing. More than half of all wholesale trade is carried out in London. Tourism Tourism is an essential source of overseas income. In the early 1990s some 19.3 million visitors toured Great Britain annually, spending about $13.7 billion. Under the Development of Tourism Act of 1969, a government organization, the British Tourist Authority, has been set up to attract visitors and improve tourist accommodations and travel conditions. Transportation The irregular coastline of the British Isles, with its numerous indentations and bays and navigable streams, the improvement of the country's harbors, and the provision of dock facilities have all helped Britain grow into a maritime power. The Navigation Laws of the 17th century were instituted to give English vessels maximum advantage in the carrying of English products, and naval victories over Spain and France, chief rivals of Britain in world trade, gave the nation control of the seas and preeminence in world merchant shipping. This leadership lasted until World War II (1939-1945), when the destruction of British shipping by enemy action and the increased production capacity of U.S. shipyards enabled the American merchant marine to overtake and surpass the British merchant fleet. Most British ports rely on intercoastal trade. The majority of the international ports have been nationalized. Among the country's leading seaports are the extensive Port of London, Liverpool, Manchester (an inland seaport), Southampton, Milford Haven (a petroleum port), and Glasgow. In the 15th century the English government began improving natural waterways and constructing canals. By the early 1990s Great Britain had about 5600 km (about 3500 mi) of canals and navigable rivers. The most important canal is the Manchester Ship Canal. Railroads began to supplant canals in the 19th century, and the first important railroad line
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in the world was opened between Liverpool and Manchester in 1830. In the early 1990s the British railroads operated about 16,914 km of track, including about 394 km of the London subway system. In the late 19th century work was begun on a tunnel beneath the English Channel. The project was later abandoned, and then revived in 1957. In 1987, however, work again began and the English Channel Tunnel, owned by both Great Britain and France, was completed in 1993. The tunnel, which cost more than $15 billion, runs 130 m below sea level, and is composed of three parallel tunnels. British Airways was formed in 1972 by combining the two state-run airlines, British Overseas Airways Company and British European Airways. Privatized in 1987, British Airways operates one of the largest route networks in the world, traveling to some 170 destinations in 77 countries. Besides the national airline, Great Britain has numerous independent operators. Major airports include London's Heathrow, Gatwick, and Stansted, as well as Manchester, and Glasgow. Automobile travel has become increasingly important in recent decades; about 90 percent of all passenger travel in Great Britain is by road. Labor The total British labor force in the early 1990s numbered about 28 million, of whom about 7.6 million were members of 68 unions affiliated with the Trades Union Congress. The standard workweek ranges between 35 and 40 hours, varying with each industry. People Great Britain is the fourth most populous country in Europe. The English constitute more than 80% of the nation's inhabitants. The Scottish make up nearly 10%, and there are smaller groups of Irish and Welsh descent. Great Britain's population has shown increasing ethnic diversity since the 1970s, when people from the West Indies, India, Pakistan, Africa, and China began immigrating. English is the universal language of Great Britain. In addition, about a quarter of the inhabitants of Wales speak Welsh and there are about 60,000 speakers of the Scottish form of Gaelic in Scotland.
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There is complete religious freedom throughout Great Britain. By far the greatest number of Britons (some 27 million) are Anglicans, followed by Roman Catholics and other Christians. There are 88 universities in Great Britain, the most famous being those at Oxford, Cambridge, Edinburgh, London, and St. Andrews.

National flowers
Each part of the United Kingdom has its own national flower. England, Rose The rose was adopted as England's emblem around the time of the War of the Roses - civil wars (1455-1485) between the royal house of Lancaster (whose emblem was a red rose) and the royal house of York (whose emblem was a white rose). King Richard III and the Yorkist's were defeated at Bosworth on 22 August 1485 by the future Henry VII. The two roses were combined to make the Tudor rose (a red rose with a white centre) by Henry VII when he married Elizabeth of York. Northern Ireland, Shamrock The shamrock is a three-leaved plant similar to a clover. It is said that St. Patrick used the shamrock to illustrate the doctrine of the Holy Trinity. Scotland, Thistle The thistle is a prickly-leaved purple flower which was first used in the fifteenth century as a symbol of defence. Wales, Daffodil The national flower of Wales is usually considered to be the daffodil. However, the leek has even older associations as a traditional symbol of Wales - possibly because the its colours, white over green, echo the ancient Welsh flag. Chapter 2 London History
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Roman London The beginnings of London can be dated with some exactitude to the invasion of the Romans in 43AD. Prior to the Roman invasion there was no permanent settlement of significance on the site of London. Instead, the Thames River flowed through marshy ground sprinkled with small islands of gravel and sand. There were probably more mosquitoes than people inhabiting the area. The commander of the Roman troops was one Aulus Plautius. He pushed his men up from their landing place in Kent towards Colchester, then the most important town in Britain. The Roman advance was halted by the Thames, and Plautius was forced to build a bridge to get his men across. This first "London Bridge" has been excavated recently, and found to be only yards from the modern London Bridge! The Roman bridge proved a convenient central point for the new network of roads which soon spread out like a fan from the crossing place and allowed the speedy movement of troops. The Roman settlement on the north side of the bridge, called Londinium, quickly became important as a trading centre for goods brought up the Thames River by boat and unloaded at wooden docks by the bridge. Just 18 years after the arrival of the Romans, Boudicca, queen of the Iceni tribe of present-day East Anglia, launched her rebellion against the new rulers of Britain. The new trading centre of London was one of her primary targets, and her warriors leveled the burgeoning city to the ground and killed thousands of the traders who had begun to settle there. The city was quickly rebuilt, with a cluster of timber-framed wooden buildings surrounding the imposing Roman civic buildings. The city continued to grow in size and splendor over the next century, reflecting the increasing importance of trade in Britain. By the middle of the second century AD, Londinium possessed the largest basilica (town hall) west of the Alps, a governor's palace, a temple, bathhouses, and a large fort for the city garrison. Gracechurch Street, in the City, runs through the middle of the old Roman basilica and forum (market place).
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One of the best Roman remains in London is the 2nd century Temple of Mithras (mithraism was a form of religion popular among Roman soldiers). It was found near Walbrook during construction work in this century, and moved to Temple Court, Queen Victoria Street. Artefacts recovered from the excavation of the temple are now in the Museum of London. About the year 200 AD a defensive wall was built around the city. For well over a millennium the shape and size of London was defined by this Roman wall. The area within the wall is now "the City", London's famous financial district. Traces of the wall can still be seen in a few places in London. London continued its growth under the late Roman Empire, and at its peak the population probably numbered about 45,000. But, as the Roman Empire creaked its way to a tottering old age, the troops defending London's trade routes were recalled across the Channel, and the city went into a decline which lasted several centuries. Anglo-Saxon London After the Romans left, the city of London fell into a decline. That's a polite way of saying that the population diminished drastically and large areas of the city were left in ruins. London's location on the Thames was too good for this decline to continue, and the 7th century saw trade once more expand and the city grow once more. Early in that century, perhaps in 604 AD, the first St. Paul's Cathedral was founded, on the site now occupied by the present St. Paul's. By the 9th century, London was a very prosperous trading centre, and its wealth attracted the attention of Danish Vikings. The Danes periodically sailed up the Thames and attacked London. In 851 some 350 longboats full of Danes attacked and burned London to the ground. The tale of the next century is a confused one, with first English, then Danish, then Norman kings controlling the city. The Danes were ousted from the city by Alfred the Great in 886, and Alfred made London a part
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of his kingdom of Wessex. In the years following the death of Alfred, however, the city fell once more into the hands of the Danes. The Danes did not have it all their own way. In 1014 they were occupying the city when a large force of Anglo-Saxons and Norwegian Vikings sailed up the Thames to attack London. The Danes lined London Bridge and showered the attackers with spears. Undaunted, the attackers pulled the roofs off nearby houses and held them over their heads in the boats. Thus protected, they were able to get close enough to the bridge to attach ropes to the piers and pull the bridge down. There is some speculation that the nursery rhyme "London Bridge is Falling Down" stems from this incident. The attacks ceased when the Danish king Cnut (Canute) came to power in 1017. Cnut managed to unite the Danes with the Anglo-Saxons, and invited Danish merchants to settle in the city. London prospered under Cnut, but on his death the city reverted to Anglo-Saxon control under Edward the Confessor. Edward had been raised in Normandy, so his rule brought French influence and trade. London was now the most prosperous, and largest city in the island of Britain - but it was not the capital of the realm. The official seat of government was at Winchester, although the royal residence was generally at London. Edward the Confessor was an extremely religious man, and he made it his dream to build a vast monastery and church at an island on the Thames just upriver from the city. He refounded the abbey at Westminster, and moved his court there. When Edward died in 1065, his successor, Harold, was crowned in the new abbey, cementing London's role as the most important city in England. Medieval London In some ways the medieval history of London can be said to have begun on Christmas Day, 1066, when William the Conqueror was crowned king of England in a ceremony at the newly finished Westminster Abbey, just three months after his victory at the Battle of Hastings.
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William granted the citizens of London special privileges, but he also built a castle in the southeast corner of the city to keep them under control. This castle was expanded by later kings until it became the complex we now call the Tower of London. The Tower acted as royal residence, and it was not until later that it became famous as a prison. During the medieval period it also acted as a royal mint, treasury, and housed the beginnings of a zoo. In 1097 William II began the building of Westminster Hall, close by the abbey of the same name. The hall was to prove the basis of a new Palace of Westminster, the prime royal residence throughout the Middle Ages. On William's death his brother Henry needed the support of London merchants to maintain his dubious grip on the throne. In exchange, Henry I gave city merchants the right to levy taxes and elect a sheriff. By the early 12th century the population of London was about 18,000 (compare this to the 45,000 estimated at the height of Roman Britain). In 1123 St. Bartholomew's Priory was founded in the city, and other monastic houses quickly followed. At one point in the medieval period there were 13 monasteries in the city. Today, these houses are remembered only by the names they gave to their area, such as Greyfriars, Whitefriars, and Blackfriars. The city played a role in the outcome of the struggle between Stephen and Maud for the crown in the 12th century. Although they initially supported Maud, her arrogant behavior when she occupied Westminster so angered the citizens that they rose in revolt and Maud was forced to flee London. In 1176 the first stone London Bridge was built, mere yards from the original Roman bridge across the Thames. This bridge was to remain the only one in London until 1739. Because the passage across this one bridge was narrow and clogged with traffic, it was much quicker and easier for travelers to hire water boatmen to row them across the river, or transport them up or down river. In 1191 Richard I acknowledged the right of London to selfgovernment, and the following year saw the election of the first Mayor. This right was confirmed by later monarchs.
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In 1245 Henry III began his lifetime work of rebuilding Westminster Abbey, which was reconsecrated in 1269. The other major building project of the medieval period was Old St. Paul's. The cathedral was finished in 1280. In 1381 the city was invaded by peasant's during the Wat Tyler's Peasant's Revolt. Although the major complaints of the peasants were aimed at the advisors of Richard II, they took advantage of their occupation of London to loot houses within the city. The Lord Mayor, William Walworth, stabbed Wat Tyler to death in a confrontation at Smithfield. The London merchants supported Edward IV in his grab for the throne in 1461. In gratitude Edward knighted many of the merchants. A few years later in 1477 William Caxton made history when he printed the first book on his new printing press near Westminster. Daily Life Medieval London was a maze of twisting streets and lanes. Most of the houses were half-timbered, or wattle and daub, whitewashed with lime. The threat of fire was constant, and laws were passed to make sure that all householders had fire-fighting equipment on hand. A 13th century law required new houses to use slate for roofing rather than the more risky straw, but this seems to have been ignored. The government of the city was by a Lord Mayor and council elected from the ranks of the merchant guilds. These guilds effectively ran the city and controlled commerce. Each guild had its own hall and their own coat of arms, but there was also the Guildhall (1411-40) where representatives of the various guilds met in common. Many of the streets in the city were named after the particular trade which practiced there. For example, Threadneedle Street was the tailor's district, Bread Street had bakeries, and on Milk Street cows were kept for milking. There was also a very active livestock market at Smithfield. Plague was a constant threat, particularly because sanitation was so rudimentary. London was subject to no less than 16 outbreaks of the plague between 1348 and the Great Plague of 1665.
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The prime real estate in London was the Strand, where many rich landowners built homes. Lawyers settled at the Temple and along Fleet Street. The Fleet River (which was called the Holborn) was navigable by boats, and docks were set up at what is now Farringdon Street. The Fleet River was covered over in the 18th century. Tudor London When Henry VII took the throne, the population of the city of London was about 75,000. By 1600 that figure had risen to 200,000. London under the Tudors was a prosperous, bustling city. Henry's son Henry VIII made Whitehall Palace the principle royal residence in the city, and after Cardinal Wolsey "gave" Hampton Court to Henry, that palace became a countryside retreat for the court. During Henry's Dissolution of the Monasteries, the 13 religious houses in London were either converted for private use or pulled down for building materials. All that now remains are the names they gave to areas of the city, such as Whitefriars and Blackfriars. Many areas that are now London parks were used as Royal hunting forests during the Tudor period. Richmond Park served this purpose, so did Hyde Park, Regent's Park, and St. James Park. An international exchange was founded by the mercer Thomas Gresham in 1566 to enable London to compete for financial power with Amsterdam. This became the Royal Exchange in 1560, and is now housed in a massive Victorian building beside the Bank of England Museum in Mansion House Square. In 1598 John Stow, a retired tailor, wrote a survey of the city of London, which gives a wonderful historic snapshot of the state of Tudor London and its history. Stow is buried at St. Andrew Undershaft, and a ceremony is held there every year celebrating his life. After the Reformation, theatres were banned in the city of London, but it wasn't for religious objection to the play's contents. Rather, the city authorities (read guilds) thought they wasted workmen's time.

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Rather than disappearing, the theatres moved across the Thames to Southwark, outside the authority of the city government. Southwark became the entertainment district for London (it was also the red-light area). The Globe Theatre, scene of many of Shakespeare's plays, was built on the South Bank in 1599, though it burned down in 1613. A modern replica, also called the Globe, has been built near the original site. Southwark was also a favorite area for entertainment, like bull and bearbaiting. Unfortunately, many of London's Tudor buildings were destroyed in the Great Fire of 1666, so it is difficult to get a real sense of what the city was like at that time. Stuart London The history of Stuart London almost kicked off with a real bang. Catholic conspirators planned to blow up the Houses of Parliament when they opened on November 5, 1605, hoping to kill the new king, James I. Fortunately, or unfortunately, depending on your sympathies, the plot was discovered, and a conspirator named Guy Fawkes was discovered in cellars beneath Parliament with kegs of explosives. This event, called the Gunpowder Plot, is commemorated each year with the celebration of Bonfire Night on November 5. London water was pretty foul in those years, so you can imagine the delight of Londoners at the completion in 1613 of the New River Head at Finsbury. This was a massive engineering project collecting clean water from 40 miles away and bringing it to large cisterns at Finsbury before final delivery to the city in "pipes" made of hollowed elm trunks. In the early Stuart years the landscape of London was changed by the extraordinary work of the self-taught architect, Inigo Jones. In 1631 Jones designed Covent Garden piazza, the first purpose-built square in the city. Jones' other important work in this period was at Queen's House (Greenwich), Banqueting Hall (Whitehall), and Queen's Chapel.

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In 1637 Charles I, in one of the few gestures of his life that may have swayed public opinion his way, opened the royal reserve of Hyde Park to the public. This was the first royal park to be made public. If Charles was looking for support, he didn't get it from Londoners. The City helped finance the Parliamentary war efforts in the English Civil War, and Charles was eventually beheaded outside Inigo Jones' Banqueting House in Whitehall. The Protectorate and Commonwealth that followed Charles' death saw a concerted effort by Puritan extremists to quench Londoner's appetite for the bawdier aspects of life. Theatre was banned, as was dancing and just about anything else enjoyable. Churches had their organs and choirs removed. But when the Restoration of the Monarchy brought Charles II to the throne in 1660 the pendulum swung back the other way with a vengeance. Riotous entertainment was once more in fashion. Theatre was not only admissible, it even earned royal approval - Theatre Royal Drury Lane gained the royal warrant in 1665. The city entered on a period of extensive building development, and new residential squares were laid out for the aristocracy to live in. St. James Square was the first of these, and the districts of St. James, Mayfair, and Marylebone became areas for the well-heeled to settle. The Stuart period is sadly dominated by two disasters, the Great Plague and the Great Fire. In 1665 Plague broke out in the city, brought by ship from Holland. London had been no stranger to the plague since the Middle Ages, but this was something different - a strain so virulent that sufferers could catch it and die within hours. The city descended into a state of panic. Sufferers were locked in their houses, along with their families. It was thought that dogs and cats spread the disease, so the Lord Mayor ordered them all killed. Thus, with one stroke, the natural enemies of the rats who were the true carriers were decimated. Throughout the very long, dry summer of 1665 the plague raged in London. The court fled, most doctors and priests followed, and anyone with the means to leave, left quickly. Although the worst of the plague
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died by autumn, it was not until the next great calamity cleansed the filthy streets of London that the plague was truly over. Estimates of the death toll range from 70,000 to well over 100,000 lives. The second calamity was the Great Fire. On the night of September 2, 1666 a small fire, perhaps started by the carelessness of a maid, started in the shop of the king's baker in Pudding Lane. Fanned by a strong wind, the fire soon became an inferno. For four days the fire raged through the close-packed streets of wooden houses, until the wind died. The toll of the fire was immense. Although only 8 lives were lost, fully four-fifths of the city was completely destroyed, including 13,000 buildings, 89 churches, 52 company halls, and old St. Paul's Cathedral. Within days, Christopher Wren presented a plan for rebuilding the city with broad boulevards and open squares replacing the warren of alleys and byways. Wren's plan, though, was simply too costly, and people being people, new buildings were built along the same street pattern as before. Wren was, however, given the task of rebuilding the churches, including St. Paul's Cathedral. Most of the churches in London today are Wren's work, and it is difficult to find churches that date to the period before the fire. Georgian London The early years of the 18th century saw the birth of newspapers in London. The early papers, the most notable of which was Richard Addison's Spectator, catered to the demands of an increasingly literate population. Many of the newspapers that followed Addison put up shop along Fleet Street. The Georgian period in London coincided very neatly with the Palladian Revival in architecture and art. Lord Burlington, in his 1715 design of Burlington House in Piccadilly, played a major role in popularizing this classical style which became the norm for much of the century. A few years later, in 1725, Lord Burlington was at it again, with his remodeling of Chiswick House, then a country retreat but now part of the greater London sprawl.
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At the same time Grosvenor Square was laid out in Mayfair, part of the Grosvenor family's development of that aristocratic district. More London squares followed, notably at Berkeley Square (design by William Kent). Kent was also responsible for building the Treasury Building (1733), and the Horse Guards (1745). Theatre, which had been so popular under the Stuart Restoration, became a little too vociferous for the taste of the city authorities. In 1737 a series of satires staged at the Theatre Royal Haymarket so infuriated them that the Lord Chamberlain was given the power of censorship over all public theatre performances. This power was not revoked until 1968. For some six hundred years the only bridge across the Thames in London was London Bridge, of nursery rhyme fame. However, the growing city demanded more ease of movement, so the shops and houses on London Bridge were pulled down, and large sections of the old city walls destroyed. In 1750 a second stone bridge was added, Westminster Bridge. In 1759 the British Museum opened its doors for the first time. The museum was based on a collection of "curiosities" collected by the packrat nobleman, Sir Hans Sloane. When Sloane died his collection, really a jumble of oddments that happened to catch Sloane's fancy, was acquired by the government and put on display to the public. If the early Georgian period was influenced by Lord Burlington, the latter was the domain of Robert Adam and his neo-classical imitators. Adam was responsible for a spate of influential house designs around London, including Syon House (1761), Osterley Park, and Kenwood House. A year after Adam's work at Syon, King George III and Queen Charlotte moved into Buckingham House (later to become Buckingham Palace). St. James Palace remained the official royal residence. One of the biggest social revolutions in Georgian London was a quiet one. It was the popularity of coffee houses as a forum for business, entertainment, and social activity. The London coffee houses were immensely popular, and certain houses became associated with different political viewpoints or kinds of commercial activity. It was in one of these coffee houses, New Jonathan's, that merchant venturers (read
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entrepreneurs) gathered, and formed what was to become the London Stock Exchange. Lest you think that religious strife ended with the demise of extreme Protestantism after the English Civil War, 1780 saw the outbreak of what we now call the Gordon Riots. The riots began as a march through the streets of London to protest the Catholic Relief Act, which granted basic rights to Catholics. The marchers, under the vociferous leadership of Lord George Gordon, let their religious prejudice boil over into a week of looting and murder. For that week Londoners lived their own version of the "Reign of Terror" which later gripped Paris. The Gordon Riots terrified the authorities and brought repressive measures against any form of protest or reform-minded writing. On a lighter note, Georgian London saw a new form of entertainment, the pleasure garden, become popular. These pleasure gardens, notably at Ranelagh and Vauxhall, were like outdoor amusement parks, complete with musicians and fireworks. Victorian London The Victorian city of London was a city of startling contrasts. New building and affluent development went hand in hand with horribly overcrowded slums where people lived in the worst conditions imaginable. The population surged during the 19th century, from about 1 million in 1800 to over 6 million a century later. This growth far exceeded London's ability to look after the basic needs of its citizens. A combination of coal-fired stoves and poor sanitation made the air heavy and foul-smelling. Immense amounts of raw sewage was dumped straight into the Thames River. Even royals were not immune from the stench of London - when Queen Victoria occupied Buckingham Palace her apartments were ventilated through the common sewers, a fact that was not disclosed until some 40 years later. Upon this scene entered an unlikely hero, an engineer named Joseph Bazalgette. Bazalgette was responsible for the building of over 2100 km of tunnels and pipes to divert sewage outside the city. This made a drastic impact on the death rate, and outbreaks of cholera dropped
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dramatically after Bazlgette's work was finished. For an encore, Bazalgette also was responsible for the design of the Embankment, and the Battersea, Hammersmith, and Albert Bridges. Before the engineering triumphs of Bazalgette came the architectural triumphs of George IV's favorite designer, John Nash. Nash designed the broad avenues of Regent Street, Piccadilly Circus, Carlton House Terrace, and Oxford Circus, as well as the ongoing creation of Buckingham transformation of Buckingham House into a palace worthy of a monarch. In 1829 Sir Robert Peel founded the Metropolitan Police to handle law and order in areas outside the City proper. These police became known as "Bobbies" after their founder. Just behind Buckingham Palace the Grosvenor family developed the aristocratic Belgrave Square. In 1830 land just east of the palace was cleared of the royal stables to create Trafalgar Square, and the new National Gallery sprang up there just two years later. The early part of the 19th century was the golden age of steam. The first railway in London was built from London Bridge to Greenwich in 1836, and a great railway boom followed. Major stations were built at Euston (1837), Paddington (1838), Fenchurch Street (1841), Waterloo (1848), and King's Cross (1850). In 1834 the Houses of Parliament at Westminster Palace burned down. They were gradually replaced by the triumphant mock-Gothic Houses of Parliament designed by Charles Barry and A.W. Pugin. The clock tower of the Houses of Parliament, known erroneously as Big Ben, was built in 1859. The origin of the name Big Ben is in some dispute, but there is no argument that the moniker refers to the bells of the tower, NOT to the large clock itself. In 1848 the great Potato Famine struck Ireland. What has this to do with the history of London? Plenty. Over 100,000 impoverished Irish fled their native land and settled in London, making at one time up to 20% of the total population of the city.

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Prince Albert, consort of Queen Victoria was largely responsible for one of the defining moments of the era that bears his wife's name; the Great Exhibition of 1851. This was the first great world's fair, a showcase of technology and manufacturing from countries all over the world. The Exhibition was held in Hyde Park, and the centerpiece was Joseph Paxton's revolutionary iron and glass hall, dubbed the "Crystal Palace". The exhibition was an immense success, with over 200,000 attendees. After the event, the Crystal Palace was moved to Sydenham, in South London, where it stayed until it burned to the ground in 1936. The proceeds from the Great Exhibition went towards the founding of two new permanent displays, which became the Science Museum and the Victoria and Albert Museum. The year 1863 saw the completion of the very first underground railway in London, from Paddington to Farringdon Road. The project was so successful that other lines soon followed. But the expansion of transport was not limited to dry land. As the hub of the British Empire, the Thames was clogged with ships from all over the world, and London had more shipyards than anyplace on the globe. For all the economic expansion of the Industrial Revolution, living conditions among London's poor were appalling. Children as young as 5 were often set to work begging or sweeping chimneys. Campaigners like Charles Dickens did much to make the plight of the poor in London known to the literate classes with his novels, notably Oliver Twist. In 1870 those efforts bore some fruit with the passage of laws providing compulsory education for children between the ages of 5 and 12. 20th century London The terrific population growth of the late Victorian period continued into the 20th century. In 1904 the first motor bus service in London began, followed by the first underground electric train in 1906, but perhaps more notable was the spate of new luxury hotels, department stores, and theatres which sprang up in the Edwardian years, particularly in the West End. The Ritz opened in 1906, Harrod's new Knightsbridge store in 1905, and Selfridges in 1907.

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New entertainment venues sprouted like mushrooms; with the London Palladium the largest of some 60 major halls for music-hall and variety shows. Several major building projects marked Edward VII's reign. The long, broad sweep of the Mall was designed by Aston Webb. Webb was also responsible for Admiralty Arch, the Queen Victoria memorial, and the east front of Buckingham Palace. Although the hardship of London during the Second World War is well known, it is easy to forget that WWI brought hardship as well to the city. In the Fall of 1915 the first Zeppelin bombs fell in London near the Guildhall, killing 39 people. In all, 650 fatalities resulted from bombings during the "War to End All Wars". Population surged after the war, to about 7.5 million in 1921. The London County Council began building new housing estates, which pushed further and further out into the countryside. Unemployment was high, and labour unrest erupted in the 1926 General Strike. So many workers joined the strike that the army was called in to keep the Underground and buses running, and to maintain order. In the 1930's large numbers of Jews emigrated to London, fleeing persecution in Europe, and most of them settled in the West End. The year 1938 saw movement out of the city; the threat from Germany was great enough that large numbers of children were moved out of London to the surrounding countryside. The outbreak of WWII precipitated the defining moment of the century for Londoners - the Blitz. During the dark days of 1940 over a third of the City was destroyed by German bombs, and the London Docks largely demolished. Some 17 of Christopher Wren's London churches were badly damaged. The area worst hit was the City itself, but strangely, St. Paul's Cathedral suffered only minor damage. Some 16 acres around the area that now houses the Barbican development and the Museum of London were totally flattened, and numerous historic buildings were destroyed. The death toll was heavy; 32,000 dead and over 50,000 badly injured.
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In the post-war period heavy immigration from countries of the old British Empire changed the character of the city. Notting Hill acquired a large Caribbean population, Honk Kong immigrants settled in Soho, Sikhs in Southall, and Cypriots in Finsbury. The Festival of Britain took place in 1951 on the centenary of the Great Exhibition of 1851. Whereas that first exhibition had left the legacy of the extraordinary Crystal Palace, the Festival left behind it the universally reviled concrete mass of the South Bank Arts complex. Heathrow airport opened to commercial flights in 1946, and the first double-decker red buses (dubbed the Routemaster) appeared on London roads in 1956. The London Docks declined after the war, and the formerly bustling area around the Isle of Dogs fell into disuse until rescued by modern development in the last decade. Between 1972-82 the Thames Barrier was built to control flooding along the river. This amazing engineering feat consists of 10 moveable underwater gates supported by 7 shining steel half-domes strung across the river. The last great building project of the century was the controversial Millennium Dome, an exhibition centre beside the Thames in North Greenwich. The Dome, which opened on January 1, 2000, is a massive complex, built at a cost of over 750 million GBP. It houses, among other things, sponsored exhibits on the human experience of life, including Faith, Science, and biology. Ceremonies and traditions in London London is a royal city and has preserved its ceremonies and traditions over hundreds of years. Some are every day and some are every year. The most traditional ceremonies and most popular attractions are the Trooping of the Colour and the Changing of the Guard. Searching the Houses of Parliament Before every State Opening of Parliament, the Yeomen of the Guard
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search the cellars beneath the Palace of Westminster by the light of old candle-lanterns. This precaution has been undertaken every year since 1605, when the "Gunpowder Conspirators" attempted to blow up parliament on the day of the State Opening. The State Opening of Parliament Dating back to Medieval London, this ceremony marks the beginning of the new parliamentary year and features peers and bishops in traditional robes and a royal procession involving the State Coach. It occurs when Parliament reassembles after a general election, and annually in November. The Queen travels from Buckingham Palace to the Houses of Parliament in a gold carriage. Once the Queen arrives at Parliament the union flag is lowered and replaced by the royal standard. The Queen, wearing her crown and ceremonial robes then processes through the Royal Gallery to take her place on the throne in the House of Lords, from where she send her messenger (Black Rod) to summon the MPs. When he arrives at the House of Commons, the door is slammed in his face, symbolizing the right of the Commons to freedom from interference. He must then knock three times to gain entry and deliver his summons. The Queen sits on a throne in the House of Lords and reads the "Queen's Speech". It is tradition for the monarch to open parliament in person, and The Queen has performed the ceremony in every year of her reign except for 1959 and 1963, when she was pregnant with princes Andrew and Edward respectively. Ceromony of the Keys One of Londons most timeless ceremonies, dating back 700 years is the ceremony of the keys which takes place at the Tower of London. At 21:53 each night the Chief Yeoman Warder of the Tower, dressed in Tudor uniform, sets off to meet the Escort of the Key bedecked in the well-known Beefeater uniform. Together they tour the various gates
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ceremonially locking them, on returning to the Bloody Tower archway they are challenged by a sentry and must announce themselves before passing through the arch. A trumpeter then sounds the Last Post before the keys are secured in the Queens House. CHANGING of the GUARD Outside Buckingham Palace, you can see guardsmen dressed in bright red uniforms and bearskin hats. These guardsmen protect Queen. Every day a new guard of thirty guardsmen marches to palace and takes the place of the "old guard". This is known as Changing of the Guards ceremony and it dates back to 1660. the the the the

The Changing of the Guard takes place at every day, including Sunday, at 11.30 from 3rd April until 3rd August, and every other day at 11.30 am from 3rd August until 3rd April. Swan Upping On the River Thames there are hundreds of swans and a lot of these beautiful white birds belong, traditionally, to the king of queen. In July, the Queens swan keeper sails up the River Thames, from London Bridge to Henley. He looks at all the young swans and marks the royal ones. The Queen's Telegram This fairly new custom assures aspiring centenarians that they will receive a birthday telegram from the queen on their one-hundredth birthday. On his or her one hundredth birthday, a British person gets a telegram from the Queen. Chapter 3

London attractions
The British Museum Located in the Bloomsbury area of London, the British Museum is the location of a national collection of science and art treasures. It first began in 1753 when Parliament purchased the collection of Sir Hans Sloane (the Cabinet of Curiosities) and a collection from Sir Robert
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Cotton along with Sir Robert Harley's Library. First opened to the public in 1759 in Montague House, it was later moved to its present location, being built in stages from 1823. The famous domed Reading Room was built in 1857 and is now part of the glassed-in Great Court. The British Museum's mandate is "to illuminate the histories of cultures for the benefit of present and future generations". Thus, the number and subject of the exhibits and galleries is vast. Ranging from Africa, Asia, the Americas, and Europe to ancient Egypt, Greece, and Rome, and back to pre-historic times, they highlight more than just Britain. A visit to the Museum is a visit through the centuries of mankind and what he has left behind of himself. The British collections trace the history of Britain and cover prehistoric times, Roman Britain, medieval and later Britain, and Graphic Arts. One of the highlights of the pre-historic era is the preserved body of Lindow Man, dated the mid-1st century AD. The Stone Age collections include works of art and jewellery dating from 35,000 to 10,000 years ago. Roman Britain is typified by early Christian objects and collections of Roman coins. The history of the Roman Empire and society in Europe is included in such famous objects as the Portland vase, made of cameoglass and dating from BC 1-AD 1. 4th to 20th century European art and archaeology collections illustrate cultures of the time and include Anglo-Saxon antiquities and medieval pottery. Items from the famous Anglo-Saxon Sutton Hoo burial are of particular interest. Sutton Hoo, located in East Suffolk, contained 11 barrows and the remains of a Saxon ship complete with gold and silver treasures. British prints, drawings, and water colours of the 16th century to the present are amassed in a large collection and include works by Constable and Turner. There are more than 3,000,000 prints and drawings dating from the 15th century kept in storage. A large reference library is a bonus. A coin collection includes a silver penny of Offa, King of Mercia. The Museum has more than 7000 items in its clock, watch, and scientific instrument collection. European collections from the Stone Age, Bronze Age, Iron Age, and Early Celtic civilizations are represented. Some of those of note are the
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BC 750-450 finds from the cemetery at Hallstatt, Austria and BC 400 flagons from Lorraine in France. Gold, jewels, glass, and porcelain all document the wealth of civilizations. Greek collections begin at the Bronze Age. Included are sculptures from the mausoleum at Halikarnassos. Possibly the most well known Greek sculptures are the Elgin collection, named after the 7th earl of Elgin who brought them from the Parthenon in Athens. The Museum can boast of the largest collection of Egyptian artifacts in the world outside of the Cairo museum. They range from the predynastic period to the Christian period and include a famous collection of mummies and coffins, jewelry, weapons, furniture, and tools. The Rosetta Stone is perhaps the most famous of all the Egyptian artifacts. It is a basalt slab with identical texts in hieroglyphic, demotic, and Greek, thus unlocking the key to Egyptian hieroglyphic translation. African collections encompass sculpture, textiles, graphic arts, and money. Near Eastern collections cover Mesopotamia, the Phoenician world, the Arabian Peninsula, and Central Asia and are some of the most inclusive collections in the world. Aboriginal art, tools, and weapons are part of the section on Australia, New Zealand, and the Pacific Islands. Perhaps the most famous object is the great statue, Hoa Hakananai'a, from Easter Island. The Department of Oriental Antiquities curates Asian material reaching back 9000 years. Sculpture from India, Chinese porcelain, bronze, and jade, and Islamic pottery (one of the world's best collections) and tiles are just a small part of the vast number of items on display. 16th century Vietnamese trade ceramics, salvaged from the seabed, are one of the department's recent acquisitions. Japanese swords, armor, metalwork, and art reflect their culture. Today the British Museum contains one of the most comprehensive collections of art and artifacts in the world.

Buckingham Palace
"I delight in Buckingham Palace", said Queen Victoria, when she moved in three weeks after ascending to the throne. She was either an
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optimist or hadn't discovered that apartments were ventilated through bells didn't ring, and there were Additionally, some doors wouldn't wouldn't open.

the drains didn't drain, the royal the common sewers, the servants' no sinks for the chambermaids. close, and some of the windows

The facade of this internationally known palace has not always presented the appearance it does today. It was originally a townhouse built by John Sheffield, the Duke of Buckingham, and a friend of Queen Anne. In 1703 she granted him the land-at the corner of St James's Park and Green Park-on which the Palace now stands. It was first known as Buckingham House. Part of the land was once a mulberry garden, planted by James I. Today the 40-acre secluded garden contains specimen shrubs, trees and a large lake. Eight to nine thousand people visit it during the annual garden parties. George III liked Buckingham House, and, wanting a London residence, bought it in 1762. He renamed it Queen's House and gave it to his wife, Charlotte. Many of their children were born at the house. It took George IV, on becoming King in 1820, and John Nash, Surveyor-general to George IV when he was Prince Regent, to turn the house into a sumptuous palace. Both had the experience: George IV was the instigator, and Nash the architect, of Brighton Pavilion, that monument to excessive architecture. Parliament granted George IV 150,000 for the rebuilding. A thousand workmen were hired to face the exterior with Bath stone and add new rooms on the western side. Nash demolished the North and South wings and rebuilt them. He constructed Marble Arch as a grand entrance to the enlarged courtyard. As work continued, Nash let his costs run away with him, and Parliament complained. Joseph Hume, an English politician and reformer fighting for financial retrenchment, said, "the Crown of England does not require such splendor. Foreign countries might indulge in frippery, but England ought to pride herself on her plainness and simplicity."
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Nevertheless, elegance reigned, and the rooms, which today are known as the State and semi-State Rooms remain virtually unchanged since Nash's time. The rooms contain much of the furniture and works of art that were originally made for Carlton House (George IV's London home when he was Prince). Curving marble staircases and large mirrors add to the Palace decor. The Picture Gallery, the length of two tennis courts, was designed by Nash to display paintings by Rembrandt, Rubens, Canaletto and others. The Marble Hall, clad in Italian marble, was built by Nash as a sculpture gallery. Its 137 feet contain sculptures purchased by George IV. Among them are three groups by Antonio Canova. Nash's extravagance can be seen in the red silk walls of the State Dining Room and the gold walls and cut glass chandeliers that dominate the White Drawing Room (look for the Royal family's secret door). Treasures in the opulent Blue Drawing Room, with its 30 fake onyx columns, include the Table of the Grand Commanders, once belonging to Napoleon. The monarchs' thrones are located in the scarlet and gold Throne Room used for formal photographs. The thrones are placed beneath a canopy with gold capitalled pilasters on either side and are presided over by a proscenium arch supported by a pair of winged figures of Victory holding garlands. The Music Room, on the garden front of the Palace, has seen the christening of Queen Elizabeth's children. It's also where guests are presented during a state visit and receptions are held. George IV planned it as his library. Unfortunately, George IV died before he could move in and enjoy the remodelled building. William IV ascended to the throne in 1830. Nash was fired for his extravagance, and Edward Blore was hired in his place to finish the Palace. Work continued, but William IV disliked the place and never moved in. The bills amounted to 700,000 by the time Queen Victoria was crowned in 1837. When she moved in, Buckingham Palace became, for the first time, the official London residence of Britain's sovereigns.
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Queen Victoria and Prince Albert's rapidly expanding family needed nurseries. The Palace was short of bedrooms for guests. More building followed. Marble Arch was moved to the northeast corner of Hyde Park to make room for a fourth wing that turned the Palace into a quadrangle. There wasn't a room large enough for grand entertainments, so in 185355, Queen Victoria ordered the Ballroom built. 122 feet long, 60 feet wide and 45 feet high, it is, today, used for many events such as the State Banquet, the Diplomatic Reception, and memorial concerts. This is the site of Investitures, where the Queen presents the recipients of British honours with their awards. It was after Queen Victoria's death that the Palace metamorphosed into today's familiar landmark. The present graveled forecourt and the wrought iron and bronze gates were added in 1911. A memorial statue to Queen Victoria, flower gardens, and a new road layout were completed. The memorial statue is topped by the gilded figure of Victory, and Queen Victoria is surrounded by the figures of Charity, Truth and Justice. In 1913 the deteriorating stone on the east front was replaced by Sir Aston Webb with gray Portland stone. During World War II a chapel, converted by Queen Victoria from Nash's conservatory, was bombed. Prince Philip oversaw its rebuilding as the Queen's Gallery, home to a rotating collection of art from the Royal Collection. The Gallery, currently in the process of renovation, will reopen in 2002 for the Queen's Golden Jubilee. There will be a new Doric Portico entrance in the Greek classical style and new interior spaces and galleries. For the first time Buckingham Palace will have a coffee bar. Would Queen Victoria be amused? More than 600 rooms, including 52 Royal and guest bedrooms, 188 staff bedrooms, 92 offices and 78 bathrooms comprise the castle's assets. But the "room" best known around the world is the balcony where the Royal family gathers on celebratory and solemn occasions to be seen by their subjects. The forecourt below is witness to the ceremony of the changing of the guard. In their full dress uniform of red tunic, black pants and bearskin hats, the ceremony is a magnet for tourists. The Palace is more than a home for the Royals. It is the official administrative headquarters of the monarchy and contains the offices of
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their staff. It is the place where all Royal ceremonies and official banquets are held. Government ministers, top civil servants and heads of state visit to carry out their duties. More than 50,000 people visit Buckingham Palace each year, either officially or as guests. It brings a whole new meaning to the phrase 'working from home'.

Kew Gardens
Three hundred acres of botanical delights grace Kew Gardens, which lies on the south bank of the Thames River between Richmond and Kew in the suburbs of south-west London. If you're a stickler for accuracy you might like to note that the proper way to refer to Kew is in the plural, i.e. Kew Gardens, not Kew Garden. This is due to the fact that centuries ago there were two estates here, Kew Estate and Richmond Estate. These estates were combined to [eventually] form the Royal Botanic Gardens. The gardens are "Royal" because for many years the estates that now form the gardens were owned by members of Britain's royal family. King George II and Queen Caroline lived at Ormonde Lodge, on the Richmond estate. Their son and heir, Prince Frederick, leased the neighbouring Kew estate in the 1730s. After Frederick's death in 1751 his widow Augusta began a small 9 acre botanic garden, calling on assistance from Lord Bute and architect William Chambers, who created several garden buildings, including the present Orangery, Pagoda, and Ruined Arch. Then in 1760 George III inheirited Richmond estate. George called in the popular garden architect Capability Brown to create a landscaped park. In 1772 King George also inheirited Kew estate when his mother died. Under George III, or more properly, under his unofficial director Joseph Banks, Kew Gardens flourished. Banks dispatched botanical collectors across the globe to gather rare, unusual, or simply interesting botanical specimens. Under Banks, Kew Gardens became a depository of the world's plant species and a centre of botanical research. After both Banks and George III died in 1820 the gardens fell into disrepair. They languished for several years until they were handed over to the state in 1840. The royal family donated some surrounding land, bringing the total area of the gardens up to 200 acres.
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In 1841 the first official director of the Botanical Gardens was named, so that year is generally regarded as the foundation of the Royal Botanic Gardens. Sir William Hooker was the man charged with running the gardens, and he was responsible for founding the Museum, the Department of Economic Botany, the Library, and the Herbarium. In 1848 the Palm House was added, followed in 1860 by the Temperate House. Both of these huge greenhouses were the work of Decimus Burton. The Palm House is a wonder of glass and iron, and its design influenced that of other glass and metal structures during the Victorian period, including the Crystal Palace erected for the Great Exhibition of 1851. Further bequests of land led to the expansion of Kew, and it reached its current size of 300 acres in 1902. The gardens today present an enjoyable mix of landscaped lawns, formal gardens, and greenhouses. Equally important, Kew functions as a botanical research centre and maintains the largest plant collection in the world. The various greenhouses display plants from across the world in climate controlled environments, while Kew Gardens Gallery houses art and photographs illustrating botanical themes. Queen Charlotte's Cottage (open only in summer) is a pretty summerhouse lying alongside a lake. The Chinese Pagoda is arguably Kew's most recognizable structure. Also worth noting is Evolution House, a small glass building housing displays on the evolution of plant life on earth. The Grass Garden has over 600 varieties of grasses, and the Wood Museum explains the manufacture of paper and shows examples of inlaid wood cabinetry. Kew remains one of the world's premier public gardens.

Museum of London
The Museum of London is one of the largest and most comprehensive city museums in the world. It covers million years of mankind's history, embracing every aspect of London's life in 14 galleries. Artifacts and images are used to tell the story of the city. The Museum's exhibits are arranged in chronological order from prehistoric times to the present. There's a relief map of the Thames valley, models of Old St Paul's and the White Tower in William the
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Conqueror's time. An AV presentation tells the story of the Great Fire in 1666 and the World War II Blitz. Galleries include London Children with details from Punch and Judy shows to WW II gas masks designed especially for children. In Macabre London, visitors will find Roman skulls, information on the Great Plague, the Great Stone Gate that held spikes for the display of dismembered criminals, a reconstruction of Newgate Prison, and more. Changing London investigates the centuries of change to the city and its landmarks-St Paul's Cathedral, London Bridge, traffic jams-that have made the city what it is today. London Entertains covers the entertainment industry from Shakespeare's Globe Theatre to the Nottinghill Carnival. Stone Age boats, the 1757 Lord Mayor's State Coach still used in the annual Lord Mayor's show, railway stations and other aspects of transport are part of the London Transport gallery. Famous Londoners from Dick Whittington to Queen Elizabeth I to Charles Dickens are portrayed in their own gallery. In December 2001, a new gallery opened at the museum. Called World City, it illustrates the history of London from the French Revolution in 1789 to World War I in 1914. This important era in the city's growth saw it rise from under one million to over seven million people. Many objects from the museum's collections that have never been seen were on show. An extension of the museum was opened in the spring of 2002 in the Docklands. Called the Museum in Docklands, it tells the story of the Thames River, the port and people involved, and encompasses historical and present day information. There are special, changing exhibitions throughout the year that cover the gamut from historical information to present day arts. One celebrates the Festivals of Britain. Performances and special events are also presented. The Museum is noted for its urban history collections which number more than 1 million objects. They range from the prehistoric through Roman, Saxon, and medieval times to the present day. Costume and
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decorative arts, oral history, photographs, paintings, and actual objects tell the history. Toys, clothing, watches, weapons, ceramics, coins, glassware, and other accruements of civilization make up these objects.

The National Gallery

The National Gallery in London is home to one of the greatest collections of western European painting in the world. More than 2300 paintings embrace the years between 1250 and 1900. The entire collection is on display in four wings on the main floor where they are arranged by period: 1250-1500, 1500-1600, 1600-1700, and 1700-1900. In addition paintings are displayed on a lower floor. To help the visitor manage the large number of paintings and galleries, various trails and audio guides are provided. Monet, Rembrandt, and Leonardo da Vinci are just three of the renowned artists represented. Van Gogh's famous "Sunflowers" and John Constable's "The Hay Wain" are part of the collection. Other painters represented include Rubens, Van Dyck, Gainsborough, Michelangelo, and Raphael. One section of the Gallery called Puzzling Pictures contains pictures with some aspect of history or unusual subject that raises questions. Pictures can give clues to the culture and decorative arts of the time as well as to the inventions of the period. This is an interesting approach to the pictures that is recognized in the Gallery. The collection is not static. Acquisitions are added whenever possible, and private collectors loan their paintings to the Gallery. The Gallery also puts on exhibitions. "Painting the Family" was one such exhibition. By studying a group of paintings, many clues to family life over the centuries are discovered. In 2002 special exhibits included one on Madame de Pompadour and one on dress and drapery in painting. The Gallery mounts touring exhibitions to cities throughout Britain. Study courses and lectures are also available at the Gallery. Scientific methods of today uncover much information. Curators and conservators at the Gallery study pictures to learn about the painter, his methods, and materials.

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The National Gallery was born in 1824 when the House of Commons bought a collection of 38 paintings from a banker, John Julius Angerstein, who then opened his home for viewing the collection. As the collection grew through donations and purchases, the need for a permanent and larger gallery was answered in 1831 with a building in Trafalgar Square, a spot accessible to all levels of society. The location was the former home of the King's Mews. A new wing (the Gallery's dome is here) containing seven more rooms was added in 1876. In 1907 construction began on still more galleries, and they were opened in 1910. The three mosaic pavements on the gallery floors were laid in 1928. The gallery was further extended in 1972 with the addition of 12 rooms. The most recent addition was in 1991 when the Sainsbury wing opened. Recently refurbished, its 16 rooms display artwork arranged by artist or school. The National Gallery was the target of several bombings during World War II. Fortunately, the government had foreseen this possibility and evacuated the paintings to various locations. The National Gallery is a must see for art students and a mecca for lovers of western European painting.

Big Ben
When most people heat the words "Big Ben" they immediately conjure up an image of the striking Victorian Gothic structure of the clock tower of the Palace of Westminster (the Houses of Parliament). Let's clear up a common misconception first; technically speaking, the name "Big Ben" does not refer to the famous tower, nor to the four huge clock faces of this London landmark; instead, it refers to the largest of the five bells inside the clock tour, whose chimes are such a familiar sound to listeners to BBC radio over the years. The tower was begun following the disastrous fire which destroyed the old Palace of Westminster in 1834. Charles Barry was given the contract to rebuild the Palace, and his designs included a clock tower. The Tower The clock tower of the Palace of Westminster took 13 years to build, and was completed in 1856. The tower is 316 feet high. The spire that rises
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above the belfry is built with an iron frame, and it is this frame which supports the weight of the bells. A staircase rises up inside the tower, and a climb is rewarded by excellent views from the belfry level. Several small rooms are built into the lower part of the tower, including a small prison cell. The Clocks The cast iron frame of the clock face was designed by AW Pugin, who was responsible for much of the Gothic decorative elements of the Palace of Westminster. The dials are 23 feet in diameter and the faces themselves are not solid, but is composed of many small pieces of opal glass, assembled like a stained glass window. Several of the central pieces of glass can be removed to allow inspection of the hands from inside the clock tower. The numbers on the clock faces are each two feet high. An inscription in Latin below each clock face translates as "God save our Queen Victoria I". At the time of its construction the clock mechanism was easily the largest in the world, and it is still among the largest today. The clock mechanism, designed by Edmund Beckett Denison, has proven to be remarkably accurate over the years, allowing small adjustments to the clock's rate to be made by placing pennies on a small shoulder of the clock's pendulum! The Hour Bell Big Ben - the hour bell - is said to have been named after Sir Benjamin Hall, Commissioner of Works, who was known for his bulk, as is the bell! The first Big Ben hour bell was complete before the tower, so the bell was hung in New Palace Yard. After repeated public ringing the bell cracked, and had to be replaced by the current bell. Facts and figures The hour bell of Big Ben is 8 feet in diameter, weighs 13.5 tons, and was cast in 1858 by George Mears of the Whitechapel Bell foundry. The bell had to be placed in a special wooden frame, turned on its side, and hoisted up the centre of the tower to the belfry. So heavy was Big Ben that the process took over 36 hours to complete. The bell began ringing the hours in July of 1859, but it cracked after only two months of
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use. Instead a recasting the bell, it was simply given a quarter turn, and a lighter hammer used to strike the hours. The Chimes The first BBC radio broadcast of the Big Ben chimes was on New Year's Eve, 1923. Later, permanent microphones were placed in the tower, and the sound of Big Ben became a familiar one to listeners, assuming great significance during WWII, when the chimes became a symbol of hope and home to BBC World Service listeners around the world. The best time to see Big Ben may be at night, when the clock faces are illuminated, as is the facade of the Palace of Westminster facing the Thames. The effect from Westminster Bridge or the far bank of the Thames can be breathtaking.

The Tower of London

Founded nearly a millennium ago, The Tower of London has been expanded upon over the centuries by many kings and queens. The first foundations were laid in 1078 and the castle has been constantly improved and extended. The Tower of London is the oldest palace, fortress and prison in Europe. History has it that King Edward of England backed down on his promise to give the throne to William, Duke of Normandy and ended up giving the throne to Harold Godwinson, his English brother in law. William, quite angry, sent his army across the English Channel to conquer England and on October 14, 1066 he met Harold at Hastings. The Duke's Norman warriors won the battle, and later that year on Christmas day William was crowned king. William decided he needed a stronghold to keep the unruly citizens of London in line. The site upon which William chose to build his fortress was the very same site upon which Claudius, the Roman Emperor, had built a fortress more than a thousand years before that and traces of the Roman wall are still seen within the Tower grounds. The addition of other smaller towers, extra buildings, walls and walkways, gradually transformed the original building into the splendid
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example of castle, fortress, prison, palace and finally museum that we enjoy today. The Tower began its life as a simple timber and stone enclosure. The original structure was completed by the addition of a ditch and palisade along the north and west sides. This enclosure then received a structure of stone, which came to be called The Great Tower and eventually The White Tower, as we know it today. Around the year 1240 King Henry III made the Tower of London his home. He whitewashed the tower, widened the grounds to include a church, and added a great hall and other buildings. The Normans called the tower 'La Tour Blanche' [White tower]. The White Tower formed the basis of a residential palace and fortress suited for a king or queen. As history has shown to its occupants, the Tower of London became the perfect all-purpose complex. The Tower of London has been used as a fortress to protect a prison, used to imprison (for many an accused, it was the last sight they saw on earth), as a home for kings and queens, and as a royal mint and treasury. Originally, the caps at the top of the four turrets were conical, but were replaced by the present onion-shaped ones in the sixteenth century. It was Henry III that renamed the entire area the Tower of London to White Tower. Although he used it as a prison, he continued to use it as a palace and entertained guests and many came with gifts of animals. These gifts were kept near the drawbridge where he built Lion Tower; a zoo where visitors would be greeted by roaring beasts. Today it houses the Crown Jewels and is keeper to the Royal Ravens. The ravens are flightless birds due to the fact their wings are clipped and this tradition points to the superstition that the English still believe dating back from time of Charles II that when there are no longer ravens in the Tower both the White Tower and the Commonwealth of England would fall. The Tower was a dynamic and changing project for the kings of England, king after king built upon the Tower adding walls and smaller towers (thirteen inner and six outer) and finally encircling it was a moat whose water was delivered by the Thames River.
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Today the official title of the Tower is still 'Her Majesty's Royal Palace and Fortress the Tower of London' although there isn't actually a Tower of London. It is not quite known when the name was first used but through the ages Tower of London has become the accepted term of description for the entire complex. Tower Bridge, London The Tower Bridge , named after its two impressive towers, is one of London's best known landmarks. This Victorian Bridge is now more than 100 years old. Designed by Wolfe Barry and Horace Jones, and completed in 1894, the middle of the bridge can be raised to permit large vessels to pass the Tower Bridge. It used to be raised about 50 times a day, but nowadays it is only raised 4 to 5 times a week. The bridge is 60 meters long and its towers rise to a height of 43 meters. From the top of the towers, you have a great view on the center of London. You can also visit the inside of the tower, where you can observe the original mechanism used to raise the bridge.

St. Pauls Cathedral

St. Paul's Cathedral has had an eventful history. The first records date from 604 AD, when Mellitus, Bishop of the East Saxons built the first wooden church on the summit of one of London's hills. At the end of the 7th century, it was built in stone by Erkenwald, Bishop of London. In 962 and 1087, the Cathedral was destroyed by fires, but each time it was rebuilt. By that time, it was one of the largest cathedrals in Europe. Rebuildings and extensions in the 13th and 14th century enlarged the cathedral even more. But disaster struck again on the night of the 2nd of September 1666, when a fire destroyed 4/5th of all of London, wiping 13,200 houses and 89 churches, including the St. Paul's Cathedral off the map. In 1669, Christopher Wren designed the so-called 'Great Model' for the new St. Paul's Cathedral. In this model, the cathedral was shaped like a Greek cross, with a portico, consisting of Corinthian columns, on the entrance. The model was topped by a striking large dome, the largest in
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the world after Michelangelo's dome of the St. Peter's Basilica in Rome. The design was approved in 1675, but it took until 1711 before the Cathedral was finally finished.

The CITY
The City of London also called the one square mile is the historical center of London. Until the 18th century, the City of London was all of London. Today, this area is the financial center of Europe. It has only about 6000 residents and is almost deserted during the weekend, but on weekdays it buzzes with activity. In the City you find one of Londons most famous landmarks: the St. Pauls Cathedral. Besides this domed masterpiece, you can find the oldest remains of London in the City: the London Wall, which was built by the Romans, can be seen from the sidewalk. More of Londons Roman (and other) history can be found at the Museum of London, which is built on the site of a Roman Fort. It is located at 150 London Wall. Many of Londons tallest office towers can be found in the City, including the National Westminster Tower, the second tallest building in London. It is only eclipsed in height by One Canada Square in the docklands. Another well-known building is the Lloyds of London, designed by Richard Rogers, the architect of the Centre Pompidou in Paris .An interesting new office building in the City is the 127m high City Point. The latest remarkable tower in the City is the Swiss Re building, also known as 30 St. Mary Axe. This modern glass tower with its remarkable cigar-like shape was designed by Fosters and Partners. The 180m tall tower, built in 2003 had a big impact on the City's skyline. The Barbican Centre, a 35 acre urban complex is a city inside a city: it is one large network of apartment buildings, gardens, garages, exhibitions halls and offices connected to each other by pedestrian bridges and walkways. Some of Londons most prominent cultural organizations,
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like the London Symphony Orchestra and the Royal Shakespeare company are located in this complex.

Westminster Abbey
The Westminster Abbey, located near the Houses of Parliament, is more a historical site than a religious site. Since 1066, every royal coronation, with the exception of Edward V and Edward VIII has taken place in Westminster Abbey. The abbey also serves as the burial ground for numerous politicians, sovereigns and artists. The abbey is stuffed with graves, statues and monuments. Many coffins even stand upright due to the lack of space. In total approximately 3300 people are buried in the Church and cloisters. Some of the most famous are Charles Darwin, Sir Isaac Newton and David Livingstone. The history of the abbey starts in 1050, when King Edward The Confessor decided to build an abbey. Only a small part of this original Norman monastery, consecrated in 1065, survived. The only representation of this original building is shown on the Bayeux Tapestry. Most of the present building dates from the 1245-1272 century when Henry III decided to rebuild the abbey in the gothic style. Large parts were later added: the Chapel of Henry Vii was added between 1503 and 1512, while the two West Front Towers date from 1745. The youngest part of the abbey is the North entrance, completed in the 19th century. The abbeys nave is Englands highest. In the nave you find the Grave of the Unknown Warrior, a World War I soldier who died on the battlefields in France and was buried here in French soil. Nearby is a marble memorial stone for Winston Churchill. His body is not, like many fellow prime ministers, buried in the abbey, but in Bladon. The Cloyster were built between the 13th and 15th century. They were completely rebuilt after the Great Fire of 1298. The cloyster were used by the monks for meditation and exercise.

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The beautiful octagonal Chapter house is one of the largest of its kind in England. It has an original tile floor dating from 1250 and 14th century murals. The Henry VII Chapel (aka Lady Chapel), built 1503-1512, is one of the most outstanding chapels of its time, with a magnificent vault. It features a large stained glass window, the Battle of Britain memorial window. The window, which dates from 1947, commemorates fighter pilots and crew who died during the Battle of Britain in l940.

Millennium Dome
In 1994, the Chairman of what would later become the New Millennium Experience company suggested a national exhibition to be held as part of the countrys millennium celebrations. The project, to funded mainly by the National Lottery, was revised when Tony Blair became the new Prime Minister in 1997. He declared that the exhibition, to be held in Greenwich, would open a window on the future. The focus would be on entertainment and education (also dubbed edutainment). This resulted in 14 themed zones, including Faith, Talk, Mind, Rest, Home Planet, Body and Learning. The project was controversial from the start. The Millennium Dome, with an estimated cost of 750 million, is liked by some, but disliked by
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most Londoners, who do not see it as a proper symbol for their city. Due to the focus on education and the high entrance fee, the Dome did not attract as many visitors as originally forecasted: a total of 7 million people visited the exposition, compared to the original estimate of 12 million visitors. Even with each of the separate themes in the Dome sponsored by major corporations, the project had a serious budget deficit. The millennium exhibition ran until the end of 2000. The cover of the Dome is made of PTFE-coated glass fiber, which has an estimated minimum lifetime of 25 years. The structure, designed by the Richard Rogers Partnership is 320m in diameter and 50 meters high at its center. It is twice the size of the Wembley stadium and covers 20 acres of ground floor space. The structure is expected to last until 2018. The Dome, located near the Thames across Canary Wharf, can be reached via the Jubilee line. The underground station is the largest in Europe.

London Eye
A recent but already very popular tourist attraction is the London Eye, a giant observation wheel located in the Jubilee Gardens on the South Bank. The 135 meter tall structure was built as part of London's millennium celebrations. The structure was designed by the architectural team of David Marks and Julia Barfield, husband and wife. They submitted their idea for a large observation wheel as part of a competition to design a landmark for the new millennium. None of the entrants won the competition, but the couple pressed on and eventually got the backing of British Airways, who sponsored the project. Construction of the observation wheel took more than a year and a half to complete. In the process over 1700 tons of steel were used. More than 3000 tons of concrete were used for the foundations. The futuristic looking capsules, accommodating up to 25 passengers, were transported all the way from France through the channel. Each eggshaped capsule is 8 meters long and weighs 500kg. The 25 meter long spindle was built in the Czech Republic. The rim has a diameter of
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122m, about 200 times the size of a bicycle wheel. 80 Spokes connect the rim with the spindle.

The observation wheel turns slow enough for people to embark while it is moving. A complete turn takes about 30 minutes. Thanks to the construction of the glass capsules on the outer side of the rim, the passengers have a great 360 view over London. Many famous landmarks are clearly visible, including the Buckingham Palace, St. Paul's Cathedral and the Houses of Parliament. On a clear day you can see as far as 40 km (25 miles).

Hyde Park
Hyde Park is one of several royal parks in London connected to each other, forming one large green lung in the center of the city. The other parks are the neighboring Kensington Gardens, Green Park and St. James's Park. Hyde Park covers more than 360 acres (142 hectares) and hosts many large events, including celebrations and concerts. It is also a popular place for jogging, swimming, rowing, picnicking and even horse riding. In 1536 King Henry VIII acquired Hyde Park from the monks of Westminster Abbey. It was used primarily for hunting. King Charles I created the ring (separating Hyde Park from Kensington Gardens at the north side) and opened the park to the public in 1637. The current park layout was planned by architect Decimus Burton in 1825. The Serpentine, a large artificial lake, separates the Hyde Park from neighboring Kensington Gardens where the lake is called the Long Water. Queen Caroline, wife of King George II had the lake constructed in 1730. It is popular for boating and swimming.
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At the south end of Hyde Park is Rotten Row, a famous bridle path. The road is almost four miles long (6,4 km) and is now used as a horse riding, cycling, rollerblading and jogging route. In the 17th century the road was used by William III, who found the walk from Kensington Palace to St. James was too dangerous. So he had oil lamps installed along the route, thus creating the first public road to be lit in England. The term 'Rotten Row' is derived from the French 'route du roi' or King's road. In the 19th century Hyde Park had become a popular place for meetings. In 1872, in response to riots after police tried to disband a political meeting, Speaker's Corner was established to create a venue where people would be allowed to speak freely. Here, every Sunday people stand on a soap box and proclaim their views on political, religious or other items, sometimes interrupted and challenged by their audience. Just outside Hyde Park, at the north-east corner, is the Marble Arch. It was originally built in 1827 as a gateway to Buckingham Palace, but it was too narrow for the state coach and was moved to its present location in 1851. The design by John Nash was based on the Arch of Constantine in Rome. Another arch, the Wellington Arch, can be found on the south-east corner of the park, connecting Hyde Park with Green Park. The arch was built in 1826 by Decimus Burton. A statue of the Duke of Wellington was added later, in 1846. The statue was replaced by the Quadriga of War in 1912. Inside the arch are exhibitions and galleries open to visitors.

Trafalgar Square
Trafalgar Square is the largest square in London and has been a central meeting place since the Middle Ages. At that time the site was called Charing. Later it became known as Charing Cross, after a memorial cross on the square. The nearby underground station - aka 'tube' - is still named Charing Cross. From the 13th century on it was the site of the King's Royal Hawks and later the Royal Mews. In 1812 the Prince Regent (who would later
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become King George V) asked the landscape architect John Nash to redevelop the area. He cleared the area but died before his plans were realized. The new design was finally implemented between 1840 and 1845 under supervision of the architect Sir Charles Barry, better known for his Houses of Parliament. In the center of the square is the tall Nelson's Column which was built to commemorate the victory of Admiral Horatio Lord Nelson over the French fleet at the Battle of Trafalgar on the 21st of October 1805. Nelson was fatally wounded during that famous battle off the Spanish coast. His body was taken back to London and buried in the St. Paul's Cathedral. The Corinthian column was built in 1842 and is approximately 170ft or 52m high (including base). It was built after a design by William Railton chosen from a selection of 124 competition entries. On top of the column is an 18ft high statue of Lord Nelson, created by Edmund Hodges. At the base of the column are four huge lions modeled by Sir Edwin Landseer. They were added later in 1868. Trafalgar square also contains a large number of statues and two fountains added in 1939. The square is surrounded by many great buildings. On the north side is the neo-classical National Gallery, built between 1834 and 1838. It houses a collection of more than 2300 paintings, including work from van Gogh, Renoir, Leonardo da Vinci and Claude Monet. On the east side the square is bordered by the Canada House, completed in 1827. Opposite the Canada House is the South Africa House, which opened in 1933. At the north-east corner is the St. Martin-in-the-Fields parish church. The church with a large white steeple was built in 1721 by James Gibbs and was used as a model for many churches, especially in the United States. The north side of the square was redeveloped in 2003. The area in front of the National Gallery was pedestrianized and a flight of stairs now leads to the museum. A great improvement from the past when people had to cross a busy road in order to get to museum.

Piccadilly Circus

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Piccadilly Circus is a busy plaza in the heart of London at the junction of five major streets: Regent street, Shaftesbury Avenue, Piccadilly and Covent Street. It was created by John Nash as part of King George IV's plan to connect Carlton House with Regent's Park. The creation of the Shaftesbury Avenue in 1885 turned the plaza into a busy traffic junction. This attracted the first illuminated advertisements in London in 1895. The plaza used to be surrounded by billboards, creating London's version of Times Square, but currently only one building still carries large (mostly electronic) displays. At the center of the Circus stands the Shaftesbury memorial fountain. It was built in 1893 to commemorate Lord Shaftesbury, a philanthropist known for his support of the poor. The nude statue on top of the fountain depicts the Angel of Christian Charity but was later renamed Eros. The fountain itself was made in bronze, but the statue is made of aluminum, at the time a novel and rare material. The name 'Piccadilly' originates from a 17th century frilled collar named piccadil. Roger Baker, the tailor who became rich making piccadils lived in the area. The word 'Circus' refers to the roundabout around which the traffic circulated. The Piccadilly Circus is now partly pedestrianized and a favorite place to access the nearby shopping and entertainment areas. Soho, Chinatown, Shaftesbury Avenue and Trafalgar Square are all within walking distance.

Chapter 4 The political system of Great Britain The national anthem

'God Save The King' was a patriotic song first publicly performed in London in 1745, which came to be referred to as the National Anthem from the beginning of the nineteenth century. The words and tune are anonymous, and may date back to the seventeenth century. In September 1745 the 'Young Pretender' to the British Throne, Prince
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Charles Edward Stuart, defeated the army of King George II at Prestonpans, near Edinburgh. In a fit of patriotic fervour after news of Prestonpans had reached London, the leader of the band at the Theatre Royal, Drury Lane, arranged 'God Save The King' for performance after a play. It was a tremendous success and was repeated nightly thereafter. This practice soon spread to other theatres, and the custom of greeting the Monarch with the song as he or she entered a place of public entertainment was thus established. There is no authorised version of the National Anthem as the words are a matter of tradition. Additional verses have been added down the years, but these are rarely used. The words used are those sung in 1745, substituting 'Queen' for 'King' where appropriate. On official occasions, only the first verse is usually sung, as follows:

God save our gracious Queen! Long live our noble Queen! God save the Queen! Send her victorious, Happy and glorious, Long to reign over us, God save the Queen. An additional verse is occasionally sung: Thy choicest gifts in store On her be pleased to pour, Long may she reign. May she defend our laws, And ever give us cause, To sing with heart and voice, God save the Queen. The British tune has been used in other countries - as European visitors to Britain in the eighteenth century noticed the advantage of a country possessing such a recognized musical symbol - including Germany, Russia, Switzerland and America (where use of the tune continued after independence). Some 140 composers, including Beethoven, Haydn and
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Brahms, have used the tune in their compositions.

Royal Coat of Arms

The function of the Royal Coat of Arms is to identify the person who is Head of State. In respect of the United Kingdom, the royal arms are borne only by the Sovereign. They are also used in many ways in connection with the administration and government of the country, for instance on coins, in churches, on public buildings and by the civil service.

The Royal Coat of Arms of the United Kingdom have evolved over many years and reflect the history of the Monarchy and of the country. The shield shows the various royal emblems of different parts of the United Kingdom in its design: the three lions of England in the first and fourth quarters, the lion of Scotland in the second and the harp of Ireland in the third. The shield is surrounded by a garter bearing the motto Honi soit qui mal y pense ('Evil to him who evil thinks'), which symbolises the Order of the Garter, an ancient order of knighthood of which the Queen is Sovereign. The shield is supported by the English lion and Scottish unicorn and is topped by the Royal crown. Below it appears the motto of the Sovereign, Dieu et mon droit ('God and my right'). The plant badges of the United Kingdom - rose, thistle and shamrock - are often displayed beneath the shield.

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The Union Jack or Union Flag of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland
THE HISTORY AND MEANING OF THE UNION JACK The British Flag: a Symbol of Unity The Union Jack is a transnational flag full of historical significance. It represents the union of different countries and the growth of a family of nations whose influence extends far beyond the British Isles. This farreaching influence is still seen today in the incorporation of the Union Jack in other national flags such as that of Australia. The British flag is called the "Union Jack", an expression that needs to be explained. The Union Jack is a fine expression of unity as well as diversity. The British flag incorporates the national symbols of three distinct countries, England, Scotland and Northern Ireland. In fact its name "Union Jack" emphasizes the very nature of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland as a union of nations. The flag is also known by another name, this too, emphasizing the idea of union: the "Union flag", perhaps a less common term but a little more precise. The countries comprising the British Isles are not inward-looking or isolated states with an insular mentality; together they constitute a powerful union that has spanned centuries. Recent devolution that gave Scotland its own Parliament and Wales its own Assembly has also emphasized the importance of individual national identities within the union without affecting the essential unity of Great Britain. On the contrary, it has strengthened it. Recognition of, and respect for national identities are an essential ingredients for effective union. The Union Jack symbolizes all this: respect for individuality within a closely knit community. The "Union Jack" or "Union Flag" is a composite design made up of three different national symbols: St. George's Cross, the flag of England St. Andrew's Cross, the flag of Scotland St. Patrick's Cross, the flag of Ireland
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The cross represented in each flag is named after the patron saint of each country: St. George, patron saint of England, St. Andrew, patron saint of Scotland and St. Patrick, patron saint of Ireland. No mention has been made of the Welsh flag. The Welsh dragon was not incorporated into the Union Flag because Wales had already been united to England when the first version of the Union Flag was designed in 1606. It is, however, in common use: THE HISTORY OF THE UNION JACK The first step taken in the creation of the flag of Great Britain was on 12th April 1606. When King James VI of Scotland became king of England (King James I) it was decided that the union of the two realms under one king should be represented symbolically by a new flag. Originally It consisted in the red cross of England superimposed on the white cross of Scotland on the blue background of the Scottish flag . Thus we have the first flag of the union called, in fact, the "Union Flag". What was meant to be a symbol of unity actually became a symbol of international controversy. The English resented the fact that the white background of their cross had disappeared and that the new flag had the blue Scottish background. On the other hand the Scottish resented the fact that the English red cross was superimposed on the Scottish white cross!! The old adage says you cannot please everyone but this first version of the Union Flag seemed to please no-one!! Apparently there was an unofficial "Scottish version" that attempted to rectify the sense of injustice that the Scottish felt at this innovatory flag. A distinct reference was made to this version when the King visited Dumfries in 1618. The controversy was destined to last!! There is conflict in the best of families!! However, the flag was usually restricted to use at sea until the two kingdoms of Scotland and England were united in 1707. It was most probably from this use at sea that it got the name "Jack" ("Union Jack"). It was usually flown at the bow end of the ship, from the jack staff. An attempt was made to modify the flag under Oliver Cromwell. A harp was placed in the centre, representing Ireland. However, the original design was restored along with the restoration of the monarchy in 1660. The flag continued to be used in its original form until Jan. 1, 1801. At that time, with the union of Ireland and Great Britain, it became
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necessary to represent Ireland in the Union Flag and so the cross of St. Patrick was include thus creating the flag as we now have it. When the southern part of Ireland gained its independence in 1921 and became the Irish Free State no alteration was made to the Union Jack. The name "Union Jack" became official when it was approved in Parliament in 1908. It was stated that "the Union Jack should be regarded as the National flag".

The Queen
Until the end of the 17th century, British monarchs were executive monarchs - that is, they had the right to make and pass legislation. Since the beginning of the eighteenth century, the monarch has become a constitutional monarch, which means that he or she is bound by rules and conventions and remains politically impartial.

On almost all matters he or she acts on the advice of ministers. While acting constitutionally, the Sovereign retains an important political role as Head of State, formally appointing prime ministers, approving certain legislation and bestowing honours. The Queen also has important roles to play in other organizations, including the Armed Forces and the Church of England. The Queen is not only Queen of the United Kingdom, but Head of the Commonwealth, a voluntary association of 54 independent countries. Most of these countries have progressed from British rule to independent self-government, and the Commonwealth now serves to foster international co-operation and trade links between people all over the world. In addition to the United Kingdom, The Queen is also Queen of a number of other Commonwealth realms, including Australia, New Zealand and Canada.

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The Queens daily duties

The Queen has many different duties to perform every day. Some are familiar public duties, such as Investitures, ceremonies, receptions or visits within the United Kingdom or abroad. Away from the cameras, however, The Queen's work goes on. It includes reading letters from the public, official papers and briefing notes; audiences with political ministers or ambassadors; and meetings with her Private Secretaries to discuss her future diary plans. No two days are ever the same and The Queen must remain prepared throughout. The Queen begins her ordinary working day by scanning the daily British newspapers. Every day, 200-300 (and sometimes many more) letters from the public arrive, and are taken to her desk unopened. The Queen chooses a selection to read herself and tells her staff how she would like them to be answered. This enables The Queen to see personally a typical crosssection of her daily correspondence. Virtually every letter is answered by staff in her Private Secretary's office or by a lady-in-waiting. The Queen will then see, separately, two of her Private Secretaries with the daily quota of official paperwork. This process takes upwards of an hour. Every day of every year, wherever she is, The Queen receives from government ministers, and from her representatives in the Commonwealth and foreign countries, information in the form of policy papers, Cabinet documents, telegrams, letters and other State papers. These are sent up to her by the Private Secretaries in the famous 'red boxes'. All of these papers have to be read and, where necessary, approved and signed. In the mornings, The Queen will often see a number of important people: for example, overseas Ambassadors and High Commissioners, newly appointed British Ambassadors, senior members of the Armed Forces on their appointment and retirement, and English bishops and judges on their appointment. Each meeting (known as an Audience) usually lasts 10 to 20 minutes, and usually The Queen and her visitor meet alone.
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The Queen also meets a number of people who have won prizes or awards in a variety of fields such as literature or science, to present them individually with their prize. The Queen may end the morning seeing a number of government ministers in a meeting of the Privy Council. If there is an Investiture, it begins at 11.00 and lasts just over an hour. The Queen usually meets up to 135 people at each Investiture to present Orders, decorations and medals. The Queen will often lunch privately. Every two months, she and The Duke of Edinburgh will invite a dozen guests from a wide variety of backgrounds to an informal lunch. If The Queen is spending the morning on engagements away from her desk and other commitments, she will visit up to three venues before lunch, either alone or jointly with The Duke of Edinburgh. On a regional awayday, The Queen and The Duke of Edinburgh lunch with a wide variety of people in places ranging from town halls to hospitals, and even - once - in a marquee by a power station to celebrate the station's official opening. In the afternoons, The Queen frequently goes out on public engagements. Such visits require meticulous planning beforehand to meet the hosts' requirements. The Queen prepares for each visit by briefing herself on whom she will be meeting and what she will be seeing and doing. These engagements are carefully selected from a large number of invitations (around 1,000 invitations are sent to The Queen each year) by the Private Secretaries in conjunction with the Lord-Lieutenants (The Queen's representatives in counties throughout the United Kingdom) to ensure the widest possible spread and to make effective use of The Queen's time. If the engagement is outside London, her journeys are often by air and usually in a Royal Squadron aircraft. The Queen carries out around 470
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engagements (including Audiences) a year, to meet people, open events and buildings, unveil plaques and make speeches. Such engagements can include visits to schools, hospitals, factories, military units, art galleries, sheltered accommodation for elderly people, hostels for the homeless, local community schemes in inner city areas, and other organizations. The Queen regularly goes out for the whole day to a particular region or city. If the visit is a busy one, or if it lasts more than a day, then The Queen will travel overnight on the Royal Train to ensure an early start. The Duke of Edinburgh will often accompany The Queen on such visits; when this happens, they will carry out some engagements jointly and others separately to ensure that the maximum number of people and organizations can be visited. The Queen has a weekly meeting alone with the Prime Minister, when they are both in London (in addition to other meetings throughout the year). This usually takes place on Tuesdays at 18.30. No written record is made of such meetings; neither The Queen nor the Prime Minister talk about what is discussed between them, as communications between The Queen and the Prime Minister always remain confidential. At about 19.30 a report of the day's parliamentary proceedings, written by one of the Government's Whips, arrives, and The Queen always reads this the same evening. On some evenings, The Queen may attend a Royal Film premire, Variety and Concert performances in aid of charitable causes, or receptions or suppers linked to organizations of which she is Patron. The Queen also hosts official receptions at Buckingham Palace (usually with other members of the Royal family), such as those for the Diplomatic Corps and The Queen's Award for Industry. Other receptions mark the work of particular groups in the community, such as those recently given for field workers in humanitarian organizations and for sportsmen and women. The Queen has numerous private interests, which can coincide with her public work, to complete her working day. She attends concerts, theatre performances and art exhibitions.
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The Queen also attends the Derby and the Summer Race Meeting at Ascot, a royal occasion, and, as a keen owner and breeder of racehorses, she often sees her horses run at other meetings. As owner of private estates at Balmoral and Sandringham, both of which The Queen and other members of the Royal family regularly visit, The Queen, with The Duke of Edinburgh, oversees the management of the estates which are run on a commercial basis. She takes a close interest in all aspects of this management, particularly in the tenant farmers and employees who live and work on the estates. Through her public and private work, The Queen is well-briefed and well-known; she has met many more people from all walks of life both in this country and overseas than her predecessors. This takes time and effort. Often, one of the last lights on in the Palace at night is The Queen finishing her 'red box' of official papers. Visits to all kinds of places throughout the United Kingdom, Commonwealth and overseas are an important part of the work of The Queen and members of the Royal family. They allow members of the Royal family to meet people from all walks of life and backgrounds, to celebrate local and national achievements and to strengthen friendships between different countries. Many of the visits are connected to charities and other organizations with which members of the Royal family are associated. In other cases, royal visits help to celebrate historic occasions in the life of a region or nation. All visits are carefully planned to ensure that as many people as possible have the opportunity to see or meet members of the Royal family.

Queen in Parliament
Limits began to be placed on the powers of the monarch as far back as 1215 when the barons forced King John to recognize in Magna Carta that they had certain rights. The constitutional monarchy we know today developed in the 18th and 19th centuries, as day-to-day power came to be exercised by Ministers in Cabinet, deriving their authority from Parliaments elected from a steadily widening electorate. 'Queen in Parliament' is the formal title of the British legislature, which
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consists of the Sovereign, the House of Lords and the House of Commons. The Commons, a majority of whom normally support the elected government of the day, has the dominant political power. As constitutional monarch, the Sovereign is required, on the advice of Ministers, to assent to all Bills. The Royal Assent (that is, consenting to a measure becoming law) has not been refused since 1707. The role of the Sovereign in the enactment of legislation is today purely formal, although The Queen has the right to be consulted, to encourage and to warn. The Queen in Parliament is most clearly demonstrated in the annual State Opening of Parliament, when The Queen opens Parliament in person, and addresses both Houses in The Queen's Speech. This speech, drafted by the Government and not by The Queen, outlines the Government's policy for the coming session of Parliament and indicates forthcoming legislation. Each session, therefore, begins with The Queen's Speech, and the Houses cannot start their public business until the Speech has been read.

Queen and the Prime minister

The Queen retains certain residual powers, notably to appoint a prime minister, and to decide whether or not to grant a dissolution of Parliament. The prime minister is normally the leader of the party which has a majority in Parliament, but there could still be exceptional circumstances when The Queen might need to exercise the discretion she still retains to ensure that her Government is carried on. These days, however, The Queen's influence is mainly informal. She has a right and a duty to express her views on government matters to the prime minister at their weekly audiences, but these meetings - and all communications between the Monarch and her Government - remain strictly confidential. Having expressed her views, The Queen abides by the advice of her ministers.

Queen and the law

In the earliest times the Sovereign was a key figure in the enforcement of law and the establishment of a system of justice.
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Although no longer administering justice, the Sovereign today still retains an important symbolic role as the figure in whose name justice is carried out, and law and order is maintained.

Queen and church

The Church of England and the Church of Scotland are established Churches. This means that they are recognized by law as the official Churches of England and Scotland, respectively. (There are no established Churches in Northern Ireland nor in Wales - they were disestablished in 1869 in Northern Ireland and 1920 in Wales.) In both England and Scotland, the established Churches are subject to the regulation of law. The principle of religious toleration is fully recognized both for those of other creeds and for those without any religious beliefs. There is no established Church in any Commonwealth country of which The Queen is monarch (i.e. a realm). In the United Kingdom, The Queen's title includes the words 'Defender of the Faith'.

The British political parties

Conservative party, British political party, formally the Conservative and Unionist party and a continuation of the historic Tory party. The name "conservative" was used by George Canning as early as 1824 and was first popularized by John Wilson Croker in the Quarterly Review in 1830. The Reform Bill of 1832, which created some 500,000 middle-class voters, marked the advent of the new party. The 19thcentury Conservatives, like their Tory predecessors, were defenders of the established Church of England. They supported aristocratic government and a narrow franchise. They attempted, by passing factory acts and moderating the poor law of 1834, to ease hardships stemming from the Industrial Revolution, but they had no comprehensive plan to cope with its widespread dislocations. They were stronger in rural than in urban areas and were defenders of agricultural interests.
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Sir Robert Peel, in his Tamworth Manifesto (1834) and after, attempted to make the party attractive to the new business classes and formed the first Conservative government. But his repeal (1846) of the corn laws brought about an angry reaction from protectionist agricultural interests, led by Lord George Bentinck and Benjamin Disraeli, and resulted in a party split. The "Peelites" eventually merged with the Liberal party, and the Conservatives were hampered by the loss to the Liberals of able young leaders like William Gladstone. In the heyday (184673) of free trade and anti-imperial sentiment, the Conservatives were out of office, except for three brief ministries, until the Disraeli government of 187480. Disraeli's strong imperialism and his wooing of a broadened electorate with plans for reform, a program known as "Tory democracy," was attractive in a period of depression and increasing imperial competition. After the Reform Bill of 1884 campaign, organizations like the Primrose League and the development of the caucus gave the Conservatives greater solidarity and cohesion. They gained additional strength as a result of the secession (1886) from the Liberal party of the Liberal Unionists, who, like the Conservatives, opposed Home Rule for Ireland. (In 1912 the Liberal Unionists formally merged with the Conservative party.) The party was in office under the 3d marquess of Salisbury (188586; 188692; 18951902) and Arthur Balfour (19025). Efforts by Lord Randolph Churchill to implement further domestic reforms in the tradition of Tory democracy were unsuccessful, but the popular imperialist emphasis remained. In this period the party was gradually drawing closer to middle-class business interests, but the insistence of Joseph Chamberlain on a program of tariff reform, including imperial preference, split the party, which lost (1906) to the Liberals. Conservatives were next in office as part of the coalition government during World War I. In 1922 the Conservatives refused to continue the coalition formed during the war, and under Andrew Bonar Law emerged victorious at the polls. With the Liberals in decline and the Labour party still developing, the Conservatives entered a period of almost continuous hegemony. They held office from 1922 to 1929, interrupted only by a brief Labour ministry in 1924. They were the dominant power in the National governments of Ramsay MacDonald (193135), Stanley Baldwin (193537), and Neville Chamberlain (193740). Under the long
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leadership of Baldwin (192237), the party spoke for the interests of business, the professional and white-collar classes, and farmers. They lost prestige with Chamberlin's appeasement policy toward Nazi Germany, but the country rallied to his successor, Sir Winston Churchill. Triumph in war preceded electoral defeat (1945), owing to popular demand for urgently needed social reform, which the Conservatives would not carry through. Returning to office (1951) under Churchill, the Conservatives displayed a sense of pragmatic modernity in accepting many of the social reforms instituted by the Labour government. The party's majority in the House of Commons was increased in 1955, and Sir Anthony Eden became (1955) prime minister upon Churchill's retirement. Popularity diminished temporarily during the Suez Canal crisis, but favorable economic conditions and the political skill of Harold Macmillan, who headed the government after Eden's resignation (1957), resulted in a solid electoral victory in 1959. Under the leadership of Sir Alec Douglas-Home, who succeeded Macmillan (1963), the party lost narrowly to the Labour party in 1964. After that defeat, Lord Home instituted a formal balloting system for choosing future party leaders. In 1965, Edward Heath became the first leader chosen through election. Heath led a Conservative government from 1970 to 1974 that faced the problems of a stagnant economy and a declining international political position. In response, the party moved to curb the power of trade unions and encouraged more economic self-reliance. In foreign affairs, it continued the policy of restricting Great Britain's Commonwealth and international roles while expanding ties with Western Europe, as demonstrated by Britain's entry (1973) into the European Community (now the European Union [EU]). In 1974, the Conservatives lost two elections and Heath was replaced as party leader by Margaret Thatcher, the first woman to lead the party. Thatcher was prime minister from 1979 to 1990, the longest uninterrupted government of the 20th cent. Her government dismantled much of Britain's postwar welfare state, and the party became identified with free-market economic policies. In 1990, Thatcher's leadership was challenged by members of the party; in the ensuing elections, she was succeeded by John Major. Under his leadership, the Conservatives won the 1992 general election. The party received a resounding defeat in the 1997 elections, and Major was replaced as party leader by William
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Hague. In 2001 the party, which had come to be seen as antiEuropean Union, was again trounced at the polls by Labour, leading Hague to resign. Iain Duncan Smith, who has strongly opposed further British integration with the EU, was chosen to succeed Hague. Labour party, British political party, is one of the two dominant parties in Great Britain since World War I. The Labour party was founded in 1900 after several generations of preparatory trade union politics made possible by the Reform Bills of 1867 and 1884, which enfranchised urban workers. Although the Labour Representation League, organized in 1869, elected parliamentary representatives, they were absorbed into the Liberal party. A Marxist organization, the Social Democratic Federation, was founded by H. M. Hyndman in 1881; but more important for the history of the Labour party was the founding of the Fabian Society (1883) and the Independent Labour party (ILP; 1893). With the help of the Fabian Society and the Trades Union Congress, the ILP in 1900 set up the Labour Representation Committee, renamed the Labour party in 1906. The new party elected 29 members to Parliament in 1906; in the two elections of 1910 it elected 40 and 42. Its strength lay in the industrial North and in Welsh mining areas; the evolutionary socialism espoused by the Fabians was the dominant ideology. At the outbreak of World War I, Ramsay MacDonald led a pacifist wing of the party, but the majority of the party supported the war effort, and the party's leader, Arthur Henderson, served in the wartime coalition governments. Until 1918 the party was distinctly a federation of trade unions and socialist groups and had no individual members. After the war economic depression, the growing political consciousness of the working classes, and the split in the Liberal party gave Labour a national following. In 1918, Labour withdrew completely from the coalition, and in 1922 it became the second largest party in the House of Commons and thus the official opposition. In 1924 the party formed its first ministry, with MacDonald as prime minister. As Labour was a minority in Parliament and depended on Liberal support, the enactment of legislation proved difficult, and the government's domestic program of unemployment relief and housing differed little from that of its Conservative predecessor. Effective primarily in foreign affairs, the ministry recognized the USSR. The party was turned out of office in Oct., 1924, in an election marked by Conservative exploitation of the Zinoviev letter.
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In 1929, Labour formed another minority ministry. MacDonald and Philip Snowden reacted to the severe depression with conservative economic policies that involved reducing unemployment relief. When the majority of the cabinet refused to accede, MacDonald formed (1931) a coalition government, but he and the Labour leaders who joined him were expelled from the party. Heavily defeated in the election of 1931, the Labour party moved slightly to the left, advocating nationalization of major industries and more progressive taxation. In the next few years Labour found new leaders in Clement Attlee (later Earl Attlee), Herbert Morrison, and Ernest Bevin. In the early 1930s the party passed antiwar resolutions and advocated collective security through the League of Nations, but it favored aid to the republican government in the Spanish civil war and eventually came to accept rearmament against the threat from Nazi Germany. After the fall of France to German forces in World War II, Labour agreed to join Winston Churchill's coalition government; Bevin as minister of labor and Attlee as deputy prime minister, together with other Labour ministers, took charge of domestic affairs during the war years. In 1945 the party won an overwhelming electoral victory, and Attlee became prime minister in Labour's first majority government. The new government nationalized the Bank of England, the fuel and power industries (coal, electricity, gas, and atomic energy), transportation, and most of the iron and steel industry. It also enacted a comprehensive social security system, which included a national health service. In the areas of colonial and foreign policy, it granted independence to India and Pakistan, Burma (Myanmar), and Ceylon (Sri Lanka), and allied itself with the United States in a strong anti-Communist posture. Faced with postwar shortages and the problems of reconstruction, Attlee's government encountered severe financial difficulties, despite American assistance. Rationing continued to be a necessity, economic recovery was slow, and the cost of rearmament increased the strains on the economy. The government barely maintained its majority in the general elections of 1950, and the following year it was defeated by the Conservatives. During the long period of opposition that followed (the Conservatives were returned to power in 1955 and in 1959), the Labour party argued and almost split on questions of disarmament, aid to developing countries, and furtherance of socialism at home. When Attlee and other
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elder leaders retired and Hugh Gaitskell became party leader, Aneurin Bevan, leading the left wing of the party, unsuccessfully contested Gaitskell's position. Although Bevan was soon reconciled with the party leadership, his supporters continued to urge a policy of diplomatic neutralism and unilateral disarmament, in addition to a strong socialist program. The party's right-wing, on the other hand, argued that prosperity had diminished the appeal of socialism to the average worker and that the party should adopt a broader, more pragmatic program. Gaitskell consolidated his position as leader in the early 1960s, and the party achieved a new solidarity. Harold Wilson, who became leader on Gaitskell's death in 1963, was able to lead the party to victory in 1964. He was prime minister until the Conservative party returned to power in 1970. Wilson's administration was marked by a continued decline in Britain's international political and economic position, which gave little opportunity for social innovation. After 1970, the Labour party, in opposition, again found it difficult to present a united front. The reversal of the party's position on Britain's entry into the European Community (now the European Union), after having earlier supported it, and a renewed call for further nationalization of industry were indications of a greater left-wing militancy within the party. The party returned to power as a result of the elections of Feb., 1974, but as a minority government. Wilson's second administration began renegotiation of the terms of Britain's membership in the European Community and announced plans for large-scale nationalization. Despite continuing economic difficulties he called new elections in Oct., 1974, and Labour won a small majority. James Callaghan took over as prime minister following Wilson's resignation in 1976. The party lost power to the Conservatives under Margaret Thatcher in the 1979 elections and remained in the opposition until the late 1990s. Michael Foot became party leader in 1980 but was succeeded by Neil Kinnock in 1983. Kinnock led the party to abandon some of its traditional left-wing positions but proved unable to achieve victory at the polls. He resigned in 1992 after the Conservative victory in the general elections and was succeeded by John Smith. After Smith's untimely death in 1994, moderate Tony Blair was chosen to lead the party. Under Blair's leadership, the party formally abandoned traditional socialism in

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1995 and subsequently won (1997, 2001) consecutive resounding victories at the polls. Liberal party, former British political party, is the dominant political party in Great Britain for much of the period from the mid-1800s to World War I. The Liberal party was an outgrowth of the Whig party that, after the Reform Bill of 1832, joined with the bulk of enfranchised industrialists and business classes to form a political alliance that, over the next few decades, came to be called the Liberal party. Much of the Liberal program was formulated by an important manufacturing middle-class element of the party known as the Radicals, who were strongly influenced by Jeremy Bentham. The Liberals distinguishing policies included free trade, low budgets, and religious liberty. Their antiimperialism reflected confidence in Britain's economic supremacy. Most Liberals believed in the economic doctrines of laissez-faire and thought labor unions, factory acts, and substantial poor relief a threat to rapid industrialization. Lord John Russell is credited with originating the party's name, and his government of 1846 is sometimes described as the first Liberal ministry. Whig peers like Lord Melbourne and Lord Palmerston, upholding the principle of aristocratic government, prevented further franchise reforms for over 30 years after the 1832 act. But Lord John Russell, William Gladstone, and John Bright (one of the Radicals) fought stubbornly for electoral reforms, even though the newly enfranchised masses might then insist on labor legislation opposed by the party. These leaders provided the impetus for the Reform Bill that their Conservative opponents passed in 1867. The laissez-faire outlook and hegemony of the Liberal party were challenged in the last quarter of the 19th cent. When the party's program of electoral reform reached completion in 1884, Gladstone took up Irish Home Rule as a new cause. However, during the long period of depression from 1873 to 1893, many businessmen began to demand closer imperial ties. Because of the Home Rule issue, a large segment of businessmen, led by Joseph Chamberlain, along with English owners of Irish land, left the Liberal party in 1886 to form the Liberal-Unionists, who allied themselves with the Conservative party. In losing office, the divided Liberals became stronger advocates of labor legislation. They came to depend more heavily upon the support of
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special groups like the Irish, labor, and nonconformists. The party was once more victorious in 1892 and again, under Sir Henry CampbellBannerman, in 1906. Herbert Asquith, a Liberal imperialist, became prime minister in 1908, to be followed by the flamboyant David Lloyd George during World War I. By 1914 the Liberal government had passed substantial welfare legislation but, unwilling to adopt a full socialist program, the Liberals began to lose support to the new Labour party. The party's stubborn adherence to the doctrine of free trade, arguments between the Lloyd George and Asquith factions of the party, long years of depression, the Irish problem, growing labor radicalism, and the rise of a working-class party all account for the rapid postwar decline of the Liberals. During the 1920s they were still a strong element in Parliament, and several, notably Sir John Simon, were members of the National government of the 1930s. During the 30s, however, their parliamentary representation fell rapidly, and in no election between the end of World War II and the 1980s did they return more than a handful of candidates. In 1981 the Liberal party entered into an alliance with the newly formed Social Democratic party; together they won 22 seats in the House of Commons in 1987. In 1988 the parties merged to become the Social and Liberal Democratic party (now the Liberal Democrats).

The British Government A Brief Overview

The System of Government Britain is a parliamentary democracy with a constitutional monarch, Queen Elizabeth II, as head of the State. The British constitution, unlike those of most countries, is not set out in a single document. Instead it is made up of a combination of laws and practices which are not legally enforceable, but which are regarded as vital to the working of government. The Monarchy The stability of the British government owes much to the monarchy. Its continuity has been interrupted only once (the republic of 1649-60) in over a thousand years.
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Today the Queen is not only the head of State, but also an important symbol of national unity. Her complete official royal title is 'Elizabeth the Second, by the Grace of God of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland and of Her other Realms and Territories Queen, Head of the Commonwealth, Defender of the Faith', but she is usually referred to as Her Royal Highness or Queen Elizabeth. According to the law the Queen is head of the executive branch of the government, an integral part of the legislature, head of the judiciary, the commander-in-chief of all the armed forces of the Crown and the 'supreme governor' of the established Church of England. While that sounds like a lot of responsibility, the real power of the monarchy has been steadily reduced over the years to the point where the Queen is uninvolved in the day-to-day operation of the government. She is impartial and acts only on the advice of her ministers. The Queen, Prince Charles and the other members of the royal family take part in traditional ceremonies, visit different parts of Britain and many other countries and are closely involved in the work of many charities. Parliament Parliament, Britain's legislature, is made up of the House of Commons, the House of Lords and the Queen in her constitutional role. The Commons has 651 elected Members of Parliament (MPs), who represent local constituencies. The House of Lords is made up of 1,185 hereditary and life peers and peeresses, and the two archbishops and the 24 most senior bishops of the established Church of England. The center of parliamentary power is the House of Commons. Limitations on the power of the Lords (it rarely uses it power to delay passage of most laws for a year) is based on the principle that the Lords, as a revising chamber, should complement the Commons and not rival it. Once passed through both Houses, legislation requires the Royal Assent to become law. Parliament has a number of ways to exert control over the executive branch. Parliamentary committees question ministers and civil servants before preparing reports on matters of public policy and issues can be
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debated before decisions are reached. However, ultimate power rests in the ability of the House of Commons to force the government to resign by passing a resolution of 'no confidence'. The government must also resign if the House rejects a proposal so vital to its policy that it has made it a matter of confidence. The proceedings of both Houses of Parliament are broadcast on television and radio, sometimes live or more usually in recorded and edited form. General elections to choose MPs must be held at least every five years. Voting, which is not compulsory, is by secret ballot and is from the age of 18. The simple majority system of voting is used. Candidates are elected if they have more votes than any of the other candidates, although not necessarily an absolute majority over all candidates. Political Party System The political party system is essential to the working of the constitution. Although the parties are not registered or formally recognized in law, most candidates for election belong to one of the main parties. Since 1945 eight general elections have been won by the Conservative Party and six by the Labour Party. A number of smaller parties have national and local organizations outside Parliament, and are also represented in local government. The Government is formed by the party with majority support in the Commons. The Queen appoints its leader as Prime Minister. As head of the Government the Prime Minister appoints about 100 ministers. About 20 ministers make up the Cabinet, the senior group making the major policy decisions. Ministers are collectively responsible for government decisions and individually responsible for their own departments. The second largest party forms the official Opposition, with its own leader and 'shadow cabinet'. The Opposition has a duty to challenge government policies and to present an alternative program. Policies are carried out by government departments and executive agencies staffed by politically neutral civil servants. Over half the Civil Service, about 295,000 civil servants, work in over 75 executive agencies. Agencies perform many of the executive functions of the government, such as the payment of social security benefits and the issuing of passports and drivers' licenses. Agencies are headed by chief
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executives responsible for their performance and who enjoy considerable freedom on financial, pay and personnel matters. Britain's Legal System England and Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland all have their own legal systems, with minor differences in law, organization and practice. Criminal Justice Law enforcement is carried out by 52 locally based police departments with about 160,000 police officers. The police are normally unarmed and there are strict limits to police powers of arrest and detention. Firearms must be licensed and their possession is regulated. In British criminal trials the accused in presumed innocent until proven guilty. Trials are in open court and the accused is represented by a lawyer. Most cases are tried before lay justices sitting without a jury. The more serious cases are tried in the higher courts before a jury of 12 (15 in Scotland) which decides guilt or innocence. Civil Justice The civil law of England, Wales and Northern Ireland covers business related to the family, property, contracts and torts (non-contractual wrongful acts suffered by one person at the hands of another). Actions brought to court are usually tried without a jury. Higher courts deal with more complicated civil cases. Most judgments are for sums of money, and the costs of an action are generally paid by the losing party. Administration of the Law The Lord Chancellor is the head of the judiciary branch of government. The administration of the law rests with him, the Home Secretary, the Attorney General and the Secretaries of State for Scotland and Northern Ireland. The courts of the United Kingdom are the Queen's Courts, the Crown being the historic source of all judicial power. Judges are appointed from among practicing lawyers. Barristers or advocates advise on legal problems and present cases in the lay justices' and jury courts. Solicitors represent individual and corporate clients and
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appear in the lay justices' courts. Lay justices need no legal qualifications but are trained to give them sufficient knowledge of the law. A person in need of legal council may qualify for public funds assistance. The Structure of Her Majesty's Government Her Majesty's Government is the body of ministers responsible for the conduct of national affairs. The Prime Minister is appointed by the Queen, and all other ministers are appointed by the Queen on the recommendation of the Prime Minister. Most ministers are members of the Commons, although the Government is also fully represented by ministers in the Lords. The Lord Chancellor is always a member of the House of Lords. The composition of governments can vary both in the number of ministers and in the titles of some offices. New ministerial offices may be created, others may be abolished, and functions may be transferred from one minister to another. The Prime Minister The Prime Minister is also, by tradition, First Lord of the Treasury and Minister for the Civil Service. The Prime Minister's unique position of authority derives from majority support in the House of Commons and from the power to appoint and dismiss ministers. By modern convention, the Prime Minister always sits in the House of Commons. The Prime Minister presides over the Cabinet, is responsible for the allocation of functions among ministers and informs the Queen at regular meetings of the general business of the Government. The Prime Minister's other responsibilities include recommending a number of appointments to the Queen. These include: 1. Church of England archbishops, bishops and earls and other Church appointments; 2. senior judges, such as the Lord Chief Justice;
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3. Privy Counsellors; and 4. Lord-Lieutenants. They also include certain civil appointments, such as Lord High Commissioner to the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland, Poet Laureate, Constable of the Tower, and some university posts; and appointments to various public boards and institutions, such as the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC), as well as various royal and statutory commissions. The Prime Minister also makes recommendations for the award of many civil honors and distinctions. The Prime Minister's Office at 10 Downing Street, the official residence in London, has a staff of civil servants who assist the Prime Minister. The Prime Minister may also appoint special advisors to the Office to assist in the formation of policies. Departmental Ministers Ministers in charge of government departments are usually in the Cabinet; they are known as 'Secretary of State' or 'Minister', or may have a special title, as in the case of the Chancellor of the Exchequer. Non-Departmental Ministers The holders of various traditional offices, namely the Lord President of the Council, the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster, the Lord Privy Seal, the Paymaster General and, from time to time, Ministers without Portfolio, may have few or no department duties. They are therefore available to perform any duties the Prime Minister may wish to give them. Lord Chancellor and Law Officers The Lord Chancellor holds a special position, as both a minister with departmental functions and the head of the judiciary. The four Law Officers of the Crown are: for England and Wales, the Attorney General and the Solicitor General; and for Scotland, the Lord Advocate and the Solicitor General for Scotland. Ministers of State and Junior Ministers

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Ministers of State usually work with ministers in charge of departments. They normally have specific responsibilities, and are sometimes given titles which reflect these functions. More than one may work in a department. A Minister of State may be given a seat in the Cabinet and be paid accordingly. Junior Ministers - generally Parliamentary Under-Secretaries of State or, where the senior minister is not a Secretary of State, simply Parliamentary Secretaries - share in parliamentary and departmental duties. They may also be given responsibility, directly under the departmental minister, for specific aspects of the department's work. How Parliament Works The Houses of Parliament Parliament, Britain's legislature, is made up of the House of Commons, the House of Lords and the Queen in her constitutional role. They meet together only on occasions of symbolic importance such as the state opening of parliament, when the Commons are summoned by the Queen to the House of Lords. The agreement of all three elements is normally required for legislation, but that of the Queen is given as a matter of course to Bills sent to her. Parliament can legislate for Britain as a whole, or for any part of the country. It can also legislate for the Channel Islands and the Isle of Man, which are Crown dependencies and not part of Britain. They have local legislatures which make laws on the island affairs. As there are no legal restraints imposed by a written constitution, Parliament may legislate as it pleases, subject to Britain's obligations as a member of the European Union. It can make or change any law; and can overturn established conventions or turn them into law. It can even prolong its own life beyond the normal period without consulting the electorate. In practice, however, Parliament does not assert its supremacy in this way. Its members bear in mind the common law and normally act in accordance with precedent. The validity of an Act of Parliament, once passed, cannot be disputed in the law courts. The House of Commons is directly responsible to the electorate, and in this century the House of
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Lords has recognized the supremacy of the elected chamber. The system of party government helps to ensure that Parliament legislates with its responsibility to the electorate in mind. The Functions of Parliament The main functions of Parliament are: 1. to pass laws; 2. to provide, by voting for taxation, the means of carrying on the work of the government; 3. to scrutinize government policy and administration, including proposals for expenditure; and 4. to debate the major issues of the day. In carrying out these functions Parliament helps to bring the relevant facts and issues before the electorate. By custom, Parliament is also informed before all important international treaties and agreements are ratified. The making of treaties is, however, a royal prerogative exercised on the advice of the Government and is not subject to parliamentary approval. The Meeting of Parliament A Parliament has a maximum duration of five years, but in practice general elections are usually held before the end of this term. The maximum life has been prolonged by legislation in rare circumstances such as the two world wars. Parliament is dissolved and writs for a general election are ordered by the Queen on the advice of the Prime Minister. The life of a Parliament is divided into sessions. Each usually lasts for one year - normally beginning and ending in October or November. There are 'adjournments' at night, at weekends, at Christmas, Easter and the late Spring Bank Holiday, and during a long summer break usually starting in late July. The average number of 'sitting' days in a session is about 160 in the House of Commons and about 145 in the House of Lords. At the start of each session the Queen's speech to Parliament outlines the Government's policies and proposed legislative program. Each session is ended by prorogation. Parliament then 'stands prorogued' for about a
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week until the new session opens. Public Bills which have not been passed by the end of the session are lost. The House of Lords The House of Lords consists of: 1. all hereditary peers and peeresses of England, Scotland, Great Britain and the United Kingdom; 2. life peers created to assist the House in its judicial duties (Lords of Appeal or 'law lords'); 3. all other life peers; and 4. the Archbiships of Canterbury and York, the Bishops of London, Durham and Winchester, and the 21 senior bishops of the Church of England. Hereditary peerages carry a right to sit in the House provided holders establish their claim and are aged 21 years or over. However, anyone succeeding to a peerage many, within 12 months of succession, disclaim that peerage for his or her lifetime. Disclaimants lose their right to sit in the House but gain the right to vote and stand as candidates at parliamentary elections. Peerages, both hereditary and life, are created by the Sovereign on the advice of the Prime Minister. They are usually granted in recognition of service in politics or other walks of life or because one of the political parties wishes to have the recipient in the House of Lords. The House also provides a place in Parliament for people who offer useful advice, but do not wish to be involved in party politics. In addition, senior judges are given life peerages as Lords of Appeal. In mid-1994 there were 1,198 members of the House of Lords, including the two archbishops and 24 bishops. There were 758 hereditary peers who had succeeded to their titles, 15 hereditary peers who had had their titles conferred on them, including the Prince of Wales, and 399 life peers, of whom 21 were 'law lords'. Peers who attend the House - the average daily attendance is some 380 - receive no salary for their parliamentary work, but can claim for expenses incurred in attending the House (for which there are maximum daily rates), and certain travelling expenses.
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The House is presided over by the Lord Chancellor, who is ex-officio Speaker of the House. The House of Commons The House of Commons consists of 651 Members of Parliament (MPs) directly elected by voters in each of Britain's 651 parliamentary constituencies. At present there are 62 women, three Asian and three black MPs. Of the 651 seats, 524 are for England, 38 for Wales, 72 for Scotland and 17 for Northern Ireland. General elections are held after a Parliament has been dissolved and a new one summoned by the Queen. When an MP dies or resigns, or is given a peerage, a by-election take place. Members are paid an annual salary of 33,189 - as of January 1995 - and an office costs allowance of up to 41,308. There are also a number of other allowances, including travel allowances, a supplement for London members and, for members with constituencies a long way from London, subsistence allowances and allowances for second homes. While we're on the subject of salaries, might as well list a few more. The salaries of ministers in the House of Commons range from 45,815 a year for junior ministers to 64,749 for Cabinet ministers. In the House of Lords salaries range from 38,894 for junior ministers to 52,260 for Cabinet ministers. The Prime Minister receives 78,292 and the Lord Chancellor 120,179. (The Leader of the Opposition receives 61,349 a year; two Opposition whips in the Commons and the Opposition Leader and Chief Whip in the Lords also receive salaries.) Officers of the House of Commons The chief officer of the House of Commons is the Speaker, elected by MPs to preside over the House. Other officers include the three Deputy Speakers who are elected by the House on the nomination of the Government but are drawn from the Opposition as well as the government party. They, like the Speaker, neither speak nor vote other than in their official capacity.

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Permanent officers - who are not MPs - include the Clerk of the House of Commons, who is the principal adviser to the Speaker on the Commons' privileges and procedures, and the Sergeant-at-Arms, who waits on the Speaker, and is responsible for security. Other officers serve the House in the Library, and the Departments of the Official Report, Finance and Administration and Refreshment. Parliamentary Procedure Parliamentary procedure is based on custom and precedent. The system of debate is similar in both Houses. Every subject starts off as a proposal or 'motion' by a member. After debate, the Speaker or Chairman 'puts the question' whether to agree with the motion or not. The question may be decided without voting, or by a simple majority vote. The main difference of procedure between the two Houses is that the Speaker or Chairman in the Lords has no powers of order; instead such matters are decided by the general feeling of the House. In the Commons the Speaker has full authority to enforce the rules of the House and must guard against the abuse of procedure and protect minority rights. The Speaker has discretion on whether to allow a motion to end discussion so that a matter may be put to the vote and has powers to put a stop to irrelevance and repetition in debate, and to save time in other ways. In cases of serious disorder the Speaker can adjourn or suspend the sitting. The Speaker can order members who have broken the rules of behavior of the House to leave the Chamber or can initiate their suspension for a period of days. The Speaker supervises voting in the Commons and announces the final results. In a tied vote the Speaker gives a casting vote, without expressing an opinion on the merits of the question. The voting procedure in the House of Lords is broadly similar, although the Lord Chancellor does not have a casting vote. MPs' Financial Interest The Commons has a public register of MPs' financial interests. Members with financial interest in a debate in the House must declare it when speaking. If the interest is direct, immediate and personal, the MP cannot
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vote on the issue. In other proceedings of the House or in dealings with other members, ministers or civil servants, MPs must also disclose any relevant financial interest. There is no register of financial interests in the Lords, but Lords speaking in a debate in which they have a direct interest are expected to declare it. Public Access to Parliamentary Proceedings Proceedings of both Houses are normally public and visitors can watch the proceedings from the galleries of both chambers. The minutes and speeches are published daily in Hansard House of Commons and Hansard House of Lords the official report of debates. Each daily report also includes the answers to parliamentary questions put down for a written reply. The House of Commons also publishes a Weekly Information Bulletin which gives details about parliamentary affairs. Both Houses have information offices which prepare a variety of publications and answer enquiries from the public. And there is television and The Parliamentary Channel and, of course, government information on the web. The records of the Lords from 1497 and the Commons from 1547, together with the parliamentary and political papers of a number of former members of both Houses, are available to the public through the House of Lords Record Office. The proceedings of both Houses of Parliament may be broadcast on television and radio, either live or, more usually, in recorded or edited form. BBC Radio 4 is obligated to broadcast an impartial day-by-day account of proceedings when Parliament is in session. A weekly programme covers the proceedings of the select committees on departmental affairs. Many other television and national and local radio programs cover parliamentary affairs. Complete coverage is available on cable television. Also, most national and regional newspapers have parliamentary correspondents. Several national daily newspapers present a daily summary of the previous day's proceedings. The Law Making Process
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Statute law consists of Acts of Parliament and delegated legislation made by Ministers under powers given to them by Act. While the law undergoes constant refinement in the courts, changes to statute law are made by Parliament. Draft laws take the form of parliamentary Bills. There are generally three types of Bills. 1. Public Bills are those which change the general law and which constitute the significant part of the parliamentary legislative process. 2. Private Bills are those which affect the powers of particular bodies (such as local authorities) or the rights of individuals (such as certain proposals relating to railways, roads and harbors). 3. Hybrid Bills are public Bills which may affect private rights. The passage of private Bills and hybrid Bills through Parliament is governed by a special form of parliamentary procedure which allows those affected to put their case. Public Bills can be introduced, in either House, by a government minister or by an ordinary member. Most public Bills that become Acts of Parliament are introduced by a government minister and are known as 'government Bills'. Before a government Bill is drafted, there may be consultation with organizations which are interested in the subject. Proposals for legislative changes are sometimes set out in government 'White Papers', which may be debated in Parliament before a Bill is introduced. From time to time consultation papers, sometimes called 'Green Papers', set out government proposals which are still taking shape and seek comments from the public. Private Members' Bills Individual MPs have a number of opportunities to introduce Bills. Such Private Members' Bills often do not proceed very far, but a few become law each session. Peers may introduce private Members' Bills in the House of Lords at any time. A Private Members' Bill passed by either House will not proceed in the other House unless it is taken up by a member of that House.

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Passage of Public Bills A draft law is given a first reading in the House of Commons without debate; this is followed by a thorough debate on general principles at second reading. It is then given detailed consideration, clause by clause, by a Commons committee before report stage in the whole House, during which further amendments may be considered. At the third reading a Bill is reviewed in its final form and may be debated again. The House of Lords has similar procedures. Bills must normally be passed by both Houses. They must then receive the Royal Assent before becoming Acts. In practice this is a formality. Delegated Legislation In order to reduce unnecessary pressure on parliamentary time, primary legislation often gives ministers or other authorities the power to regulate administrative details by means of 'delegated' or secondary legislation. To minimize any risk that delegating powers to the executive might undermine the authority of Parliament, such powers are normally delegated only to authorities directly accountable to Parliament. Moreover, the Acts of Parliament concerned usually provide for some measure of direct parliamentary control over proposed delegated legislation, by giving Parliament the opportunity to affirm or annul it. A joint committee of both Houses reports on the technical propriety of these 'statutory instruments'. In order to save time on the floor of the House, the Commons also uses standing committees to debate the merits of instruments; actual decisions are taken by the House. The House of Lords has also appointed a Delegated Powers Scrutiny Committee which examines the appropriateness of the powers to make secondary legislation in Bills as they come before that House.

Parliaments Committee System Standing Committees

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House of Commons standing committees debate and consider public Bills at the committee stage. The committee considers the Bill clause by clause, and may amend it before reporting it back to the House. The standing committees include two Scottish standing committees, and the Scottish, Welsh and Northern Ireland Grand Committees. Ordinary standing committees do not have names but are referred to simply as Standing Committee A, B, C, and so on; a new set of members is appointed to them to consider each Bill. Each committee has between 16 and 50 members, with a party balance reflecting as far as possible that in the House as a whole. The Scottish Grand Committee comprises all 72 Scottish members and may be convened anywhere in Scotland as well as Westminster. It may consider the principles of Scottish Bills referred to it at second reading stage. It also debates Scottish public expenditure estimates and other matters concerning Scotland only which may be referred to it. The Welsh Grand Committee, with all 38 Welsh members and up to five others, considers Bills referred to it at second reading stage, and matters concerning Wales only. Similarly the Northern Ireland Grand Committee debates matters relating specifically to Northern Ireland. It includes all 17 Northern Ireland members and up to 25 others. There are also standing committees to debate proposed European legislation, and to scrutinize statutory instruments made by the Government. In addition, an MP wishing to discuss a 'specific and important matter that should have urgent consideration' may, at the end of question time, seek leave to move the adjournment of the House. On the very few occasions when leave is obtained, the matter is debated for three hours in what is known as an emergency debate- usually on the following day. Select Committees Select committees are appointed for a particular task, generally one of inquiry, investigation and scrutiny. They report their conclusions and recommendations to the House as a whole. To help Parliament with the control of the executive by examining aspects of public policy, expenditure and administration, 17 committees have been established by
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the House of Commons to examine the work of the main government departments and their associated public bodies. The Foreign Affairs Select Committee, for example, 'shadows' the work of the Foreign & Commonwealth Office. A select committee may be appointed for a parliament, or for a session, or for as long as it takes to complete its task. The composition of the committees reflects party strengths in the House. Other regular Commons select committees include those on Public Accounts, European Legislation, Members' Interests, and the Parliamentary Commissioner for Administration. 'Domestic' select committees also cover the internal workings of Parliament. In their examination of government policies and administration, the committees may question ministers, civil servants and interested bodies and individuals. Through hearings and published reports, they bring before Parliament and the public an extensive body of tact and informed opinion on many issues, and build up considerable expertise in their subjects of inquiry. In the House of Lords, besides the Appeal and Appellate Committees, in which the bulk of the House's judicial work is transacted, there are two major select committees, along with several sub-committees, on the European Community and on Science and Technology. Joint Committees Joint committees, with a membership drawn from both Houses, are appointed in each session to deal with Consolidation Bills (Bills which seek to bring together existing legislation) and delegated legislation. The two Houses may also agree to set up joint select committees on other subjects. . Party Committees In addition to the official committees of the two Houses there are several unofficial party organizations or committees. The Conservative and Unionist Members' Committee (the 1922 Committee) consists of the backbench membership of the party in the House of Commons. When the Conservative Party is in office, ministers attend its meetings by invitation and not by right. When the party is in opposition, the whole membership of the party may attend meetings. The then leader appoints
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a consultative committee, which acts as the party's 'shadow cabinet'. The Parliamentary Labour Party comprises all members of the party in both Houses. When the Labour Party is in office, a parliamentary committee, half of whose members are elected and half of whom are government representatives, acts as a channel of communication between the Government and its backbenchers in both Houses. When the party is in opposition the Parliamentary Labour Party is organized under the direction of an elected parliamentary committee, which acts as the 'shadow cabinet'. Checks and Balances In addition to the system of scrutiny by select committees, the House of Commons offers a number of opportunities for the examination of government policy by both the Opposition and the Government's own backbenchers. These include: 1. Question time, when for 55 minutes on Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday, ministers answer MPs' questions. The Prime Minister's question time is every Tuesday and Thursday when the House is sitting. Parliamentary questions are one means of seeking information about the Government's intentions. 'They are also a way of raising grievances brought to MPs' notice by constituents. MP's may also put questions to minister's for written answers; the questions and answer's are published in Hansard. There are about 50,000 questions every year. 2. Adjournment debates, when MP's use motions for the adjournment of the House to raise constituency cases or matters of public concern. There is a half-hour adjournment period at the end of the business of the day, while immediately before the adjournment for each recess Parliament's Christmas, Easter, Spring and summer breaks - a full day is spent discussing issues raised by private members. There are also adjournment debates following the passage -three times a year- of Consolidated Fund or Appropriation Bills, which are financial measures. These take place after the House has voted the necessary money for the Government.

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In addition, an MP wishing to discuss a 'specific and important matter that should have urgent consideration' may, at the end of question time, seek leave to move the adjournment of the House. On the very few occasions when leave is obtained, the matter is debated for three hours in what is known as an emergency debateusually on the following day. 3. Early day motions (EDMs) provide a further opportunity for backbench MPs to express their views on particular issues. A number of EDMs are tabled each sitting day; they are very rarely debated but can be useful in gauging the degree of support for the issue raised by the number of signatures of other MPs which the motion attracts. 4. Opposition days each session, when the Opposition can choose subjects for debate. 5. Debates held on three days in each session to consider details of proposed government expenditure, chosen by the Liaison Committee, which considers general matters relating to select committees. Procedural opportunities for criticism of the Government also arise during the debate on the Queen's speech at the beginning of each session; during debates on motions of censure for which the Government provides time; and during debates on the Government legislative and other proposals. House of Lords Similar opportunities for criticism and examination of government policy are provided in the House of Lords at daily question time and during debates. Control of Finances The main responsibilities of Parliament, and more particularly of the House of Commons, in overseeing the revenue of the State and public expenditure, are to authorize the raising of taxes and duties, and the various objects of expenditure and the sum to be spent on each. It also has to satisfy itself that the sums granted are spent only for the purposes which Parliament intended. No payment out of the central government's
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public funds can be made and no taxation or loans authorized, except by Act of Parliament. The Finance Act is the most important of the annual statutes, and authorizes the raising of revenue. The legislation is based on the Chancellor of the Exchequer's Budget statement, made in November or December each year. It includes a review of the public finances of the previous year, and proposals for future expenditure. Scrutiny of public expenditure is carried out by House of Commons select Committees. European Union Affairs To keep the two Houses informed of EU developments, and to enable them to scrutinize and debate EU policies and proposals, there is a select committee in each House and two Commons standing committees that debate specific European legislative proposals. Ministers also make regular statements about EU business. The Common's Ability to Force the Government to Resign The final control is the ability of the House of Commons to force the Government to resign by passing a resolution of 'no confidence'. The Government must also resign if the House rejects a proposal which the Government considers so vital to its policy that it has declared it a 'matter of confidence' or if the House refuses to vote the money required for the public service. The Cabinet & Privy Council The Cabinet The Cabinet is composed of about 20 ministers, although the number can vary. They are chosen by the Prime Minister and may include departmental and non-departmental ministers. The functions of the Cabinet are to initiate and decide on policy, the supreme control of government and the co-ordination of government departments. The exercise of these functions is vitally affected by the fact that the Cabinet is a group of party representatives, depending upon majority support in the House of Commons. Cabinet Meetings
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The Cabinet meets in private and its proceedings are confidential. Its members are bound by their oath as Privy Counsellors not to disclose information about its proceedings, although after 30 years Cabinet papers may be made available for inspection in the Public Record Office at Kew, Surrey. Normally the Cabinet meets for a few hours each week during parliamentary sittings, and rather less often when Parliament is not sitting. To keep its workload within manageable limits, a great deal of work is carried on through the committee system. This involves referring issues either to a standing Cabinet committee or to an ad hoc committee composed of the ministers directly concerned. The committee then considers the matter in detail and either disposes of it or reports upon it to the Cabinet with recommendations for action. The membership and terms of reference of all ministerial Cabinet committees is published by the Cabinet Office. Where appropriate, the Secretary of the Cabinet and other senior officials of the Cabinet Office attend meetings of the Cabinet and its committees. Diaries published by several former ministers have given the public insight into Cabinet procedures in recent times. The Cabinet Office The Cabinet Office is headed by the Secretary of the Cabinet, a civil servant who is also Head of the Home Civil Service, under the direction of the Prime Minister. It comprises the Cabinet Secretariat and the Office of Public Service and Science (OPSS). The Cabinet Secretariat serves ministers collectively in the conduct of Cabinet business, and in the co-ordination of policy at the highest level. The Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster is in charge of the Office of Public Service and Science (OPSS) and is a member of the Cabinet. The OPSS is responsible for; raising the standard of public services across the public sector through the Citizen's Charter; promoting openness in government; improving the effectiveness and efficiency of central government, through, among other things, the establishment of executive agencies and the market testing program; and advice through its Office of Science and Technology on science and technology policy, expenditure and the allocation of resources to the research councils.
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The Historical and Records Section is responsible for Official Histories and for managing Cabinet Office records. Ministerial Responsibility 'Ministerial responsibility' refers both to the collective responsibility for government policy and actions, which ministers share, and to ministers' individual responsibility for their departments' work. The doctrine of collective responsibility means that the Cabinet acts unanimously even when Cabinet ministers do not all agree on a subject. The policy of departmental ministers must be consistent with the policy of the Government as a whole. Once the Government's policy on a matter has been decided, each minister is expected to support it or resign. On rare occasions, ministers have been allowed free votes in Parliament on government policies involving important issues of principle. The individual responsibility of ministers for the work of their departments means that they are answerable to Parliament for all their departments' activities. They bear the consequences of any failure in administration, any injustice to an individual or any aspect of policy which may be criticized in Parliament, whether personally responsible or not. Since most ministers are members of the House of Commons, they must answer questions and defend themselves against criticism in person. Departmental ministers in the House of Lords are represented in the Commons by someone qualified to speak on their behalf, usually a junior. Departmental ministers normally decide all matters within their responsibility. However, on important political matters they usually consult their colleagues collectively, either through the Cabinet or through a Cabinet committee. A decision by a departmental minister binds the Government as a whole. On assuming office ministers must resign directorships in private and public companies, and must ensure that there is no conflict between their public duties and private interests. There is, however, compensation. The salaries of ministers in the House of Commons range from 45,815 a year for junior ministers to 64,749 for Cabinet ministers. In the House of Lords salaries range from 38,894 for junior ministers to 52,260 for
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Cabinet ministers. The Prime Minister receives 78,292 and the Lord Chancellor 120,179. (The Leader of the Opposition receives 61,349 a year; two Opposition whips in the Commons and the Opposition leader and Chief Whip in the Lords also receive salaries.) The Privy Council The main function of the Privy Council is to advise the Queen on the approval of Orders in Council, including those made under prerogative powers, and those made under statutory powers. Responsibility for each Order, however, rests with the minister answerable for the policy concerned, regardless of whether he or she is present at the meeting where approval is given. The Privy Council also advises the Sovereign on the issue of royal proclamations, such as those summoning or dissolving Parliament. Membership of the Council, which is retained for life, except for very occasional removals, is granted by the Sovereign, on the recommendation of the Prime Minister, to people eminent in public life in Britain and the independent monarchies of the Commonwealth. Cabinet ministers must be Privy Counsellors and, if not already members, are admitted to membership before taking their oath of office at a meeting of the Council. There are about 400 Privy Counsellors. Committees of the Privy Council There are a number of Privy Council committees. These include committees dealing with legislation from the Channel Islands and the Isle of Man and those responsible for approving certain rules and regulations made by the governing bodies of the medical and allied professions. Administrative work is carried out in the Privy Council Office under the Lord President of the Council, a Cabinet minister. The Judicial Committee of the Privy Council It is the final court of appeal for certain independent members of the Commonwealth, the British dependent territories, the Channel Islands and the Isle of Man. It also hears appeals from the disciplinary committees of the medical and allied professions and certain ecclesiastical appeals.
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Government Departments Government Departments & The Civil Service Government departments and their agencies, staffed by politically neutral civil servants, are the main instruments for implementing government policy when Parliament has passed the necessary legislation, and for advising ministers. They often work alongside local authorities, statutory boards, and government-sponsored organizations operating under various degrees of government control. A change of government does not necessarily affect the number or general functions of government departments, although major changes in policy may be accompanied by organizational changes. The work of some departments, for instance, the Ministry of Defence covers Britain as a whole. Other departments, such as the Department of Social Security, cover England, Wales and Scotland, but not Northern Ireland. Others, such as the Department of the Environment, are mainly concerned with affairs in England. Some departments, such as the Department of Trade and Industry, maintain a regional organization, and some which have direct contact with the public throughout the country, for example, the Department of Employment, also have local offices. Departments are usually headed by ministers. In some departments the head is a permanent official, and ministers with other duties are responsible for them to Parliament. For instance, ministers in the Treasury are responsible for HM Customs and Excise, the Inland Revenue, the National Investment and Loans Office and a number of other departments as well as executive agencies such as the Royal Mint. Departments generally receive their funds directly out of money provided by Parliament and are staffed by members of the Civil Service. Non-Departmental Public Bodies There are bodies that have a role in the process of national government, but are not government departments nor parts of a department. In April 1993 there were 1,389 of these. There are three kinds of non-departmental public bodies: executive bodies, advisory bodies and tribunals. The last of these are a specialized group of bodies whose functions are essentially judicial. Executive Bodies
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Executive bodies normally employ their own staff and have their own budget. They are public organizations whose duties include executive, administrative, regulatory or commercial functions. They normally operate within broad policy guidelines set by departmental ministers but are in varying degrees independent of government in carrying out their day-to-day responsibilities. Examples include the British Council, the Legal Aid Board, the Commonwealth Development Corporation and the Commission for Racial Equality. Advisory Bodies Many government departments are assisted by advisory councils or committees which undertake research and collect information, mainly to give ministers access to informed opinion before they come to a decision involving a legislative or executive act. In some cases a minister must consult a standing committee, but advisory bodies are usually appointed at the discretion of the minister. Examples include the British Overseas Trade Board and the Theatres Trust. The membership of the advisory councils and committees varies according to the nature of the work involved, but normally includes representatives of the relevant interests and professions. In addition to the standing advisory bodies, there are committees set up by the Government to examine specific matters and make recommendations. For certain important inquiries Royal Commissions whose members are chosen for their wide experience, may be appointed. Royal Commissions examine evidence from government departments, interested organizations and individuals, and submit recommendations; some prepare regular reports. Examples include the standing Royal Commission on Environmental Pollution, set up in 1970, and the Royal Commission on Criminal Justice, which issued its report in 1993. Royal Commissions are often referred to by the names of the people who have chaired them. Inquiries may also be undertaken by departmental committees. The Civil Service The Civil Service is concerned with the conduct of the whole range of government activities as they affect the community. These range from
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policy formulation to carrying out the day-to-day duties of public administration. Duties Civil servants are servants of the Crown. For all practical purposes the Crown in this context means, and is represented by, the Government of the day. In most circumstances the executive powers of the Crown are exercised by, and on the advice of; Her Majesty's Ministers, who are in turn answerable to Parliament. The Civil Service as such has no constitutional responsibility separate from that of the Government of the day. The duty of the individual civil servant is first and foremost to the Minister of the Crown who is in charge of the Department concerned. A change of minister, for whatever reason, does not involve a change of staff. Civil servants do not assist ministers in their party political work and do not normally attend meetings arranged by the governing party. Ministers sometimes appoint special advisers from outside the Civil Service. The advisers are normally paid from public funds, but their appointments come to an end when the Government's term of office finishes, or when the Minister concerned leaves the Government or moves to another appointment. Staffing The number of civil servants fell from 732,000 in April 1979 to 533,350 in April 1994, reflecting the Government's policy of controlling the cost of the Civil Service and of improving its efficiency. About half of all civil servants are engaged in the provision of public services. These include paying incapacity benefits and pensions, collecting taxes and contributions, running employment services, staffing prisons, and providing services to industry and agriculture. A quarter are employed in the Ministry of Defence. The rest are divided between: central administrative and policy duties; support services; and largely financially self supporting services, for instance, those provided by the Department for National Savings and the Royal Mint. The total includes about 48,000 'industrial' civil servants, mainly manual workers in government industrial establishments. Four-fifths of civil servants work outside London. Counselling at an Employment Service job centre With I,100 local offices, the Employment Service employs around 45,000 staff.
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Equality of Opportunity The Government is committed to achieving equality of opportunity for all its staff: In support of this commitment, the Civil Service, which recruits and promotes on the basis of merit, is actively pursuing policies to develop career opportunities for women, ethnic minorities and people with disabilities. The number of ethnic minority staff has been in proportion to, or better than, their representation in the working population since the Civil Service began ethnic monitoring in 1989. Management Reforms Civil Service reforms are being implemented to ensure improved management performance, in particular through the increased accountability of individual managers, based on clear objectives and responsibilities. These reforms include performance-related compensation plans, otherwise known in the king's English as pay schemes, and other incentives. The Political Party System The political party system is an essential element in the working of the British constitution. The present system depends upon the existence of organized political parties, each of which presents its policies to the electorate for approval. The parties are not registered or formally recognized in law, but in practice most candidates in elections, and almost all winning candidates, belong to one of the main parties. Since 1945, either the Conservative Party, whose origins go back to the eighteenth century, or the Labour Party, which emerged in the last decade of the nineteenth century, has held power. A new party - the Liberal Democrats - was formed in 1988 when the Liberal Party, which traced its origins to the eighteenth century, merged with the Social Democratic Party (formed in 1981). These three parties accounted for over 90% of the winning candidates in general elections held in 1992. Other parties include two nationalist parties, Plaid Cymru (founded in Wales in 1925) and the Scottish National Party (founded in 1934). In Northern Ireland there are a number of parties. They include the Ulster Unionist Party, formed in the early part of this century; the Democratic
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Unionist Party, founded in 1971 by a group which broke away from the Ulster Unionists; and the Social Democratic and Labour Party, founded in 1970. Since 1945 eight general elections have been won by the Conservative Party and six by the Labout Party; the great majority of members of the House of Commons have belonged to one of these two parties. The party which wins most seats, although not necessarily the most votes, at a general election, or which has the support of a majority of members in the House of Commons, usually forms the Government. By tradition, the leader of the majority party is asked by the Sovereign to form a government. About 100 of its members in the House of Commons and the House of Lords receive ministerial appointments, including appointment to the Cabinet on the advice of the Prime Minister. The largest minority party becomes the official Opposition, with its own leader and 'shadow cabinet'. The Party System in Parliament Leaders of the Government and Opposition sit on the front benches on either side of the Commons chamber with their supporters - the backbenchers - sitting behind them. Similar arrangements for the parties also apply to the House of Lords; however, Lords who do not wish to be associated with any political party may sit on the 'cross benches'. The effectiveness of the party system in Parliament rests largely on the relationship between the Government and the opposition parties. Depending on the relative strengths of the parties in the House of Commons, the Opposition may seek to overthrow the Government by defeating it in a vote on a 'matter of confidence'. In general, however, its aims are: 1. to contribute to the formulation of policy and legislation by constructive criticism; 2. to oppose the government proposals it considers objectionable; to seek amendments to government Bills; and 3. to put forward its own policies in order to improve its chances of winning the next general election.
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The Opposition performs this role both by debating issues and putting questions on the floor of both Houses and through the committee system. Government business arrangements are settled, under the direction of the Prime Minister and the Leaders of the two Houses, by the Government Chief Whip in consultation with the Opposition Chief Whip. The Chief Whips together constitute the 'usual channels' often referred to when the question of finding time for a particular item of business is discussed. The Leaders of the two Houses are responsible for enabling the Houses to debate matters about which they are concerned. Outside Parliament, party control is exercised by the national and local organizations. Parties are organized at parliamentary constituency level and also contest local government elections. Inside Parliament, party control is exercised by the Chief Whips and their assistants, who are chosen within the party. Their duties include keeping members informed of forthcoming parliamentary business, maintaining the party's voting strength by ensuring members attend important debates, and passing on to the party leadership the opinions of the backbench members. The Whips indicate the importance their party attaches to a vote on a particular issue by underlining items of business once, twice or three times on the notice sent to MPs. In the Commons, failure to comply with a 'three-line whip', the most important, is usually seen as a rebellion against the party. Party discipline tends to be less strong in the Lords than in the Commons, since Lords have less hope of high office and no need of party support in elections. The formal title of the Government Chief Whip in the Commons is Parliamentary Secretary to the Treasury. The Government Whips in the Lords also act as government spokesmen. Financial Assistance to Parties Annual assistance from public funds helps opposition parties carry out their parliamentary work at Westminster. it is limited to parties which had at least two members elected at the previous general election or one member elected and a minimum of 150,000 votes cast. The amount is 3,442.50 for every seat won, plus 6.89 for every 200 votes.
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The Legal System The Law Although Britain is a unitary state, England and Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland all have their own legal systems, with considerable differences in law, organization and practice. However, a large amount of modern legislation applies throughout Britain. The law is divided into criminal law and civil law; the latter regulates the conduct of people in ordinary relations with one another. The distinction between the two branches of the law is reflected in the procedures used, the courts in which cases may be heard and the sanctions which may be applied. The legal system of England and Wales comprises both an historic body of conventions known as common law and equity, and parliamentary and European Community legislation; the last of these applies throughout Britain. Common law, which is based on custom and interpreted in court cases by judges, has never been precisely defined or codified. It forms the basis of the law except when superseded by legislation. Equity law consists of a body of historic rules and principles which are applied by the courts. The English legal system is therefore distinct from many of those of Western Europe, which have codes derived from Roman law. European Community law, deriving from Britain's membership of the European Union, is confined mainly to economic and social matters; in certain circumstances it takes precedence over domestic law. It is normally applied by the domestic courts, but the most authoritative rulings are given by the European Court. The Judiciary The Lord Chancellor is head of the judiciary in England and Wales. His responsibilities include court procedure and, through the Court Service, the administration of the higher courts and many tribunals in England and Wales. He recommends all judicial appointments to the Crown - other than the highest, which are recommended by the Prime Minister - and appoints magistrates. Judges are normally appointed from practicing lawyers. They are not subject to ministerial direction or control.
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THE COURTS Criminal Courts: Summary or less serious offences, which make up the vast majority of criminal cases, are tried in England and Wales by unpaid lay magistrates - justices of the peace (JPs), although in areas with a heavy workload there are a number of full-time, stipendiary magistrates. More serious offences are tried by the Crown Court, presided over by a judge sitting with a jury of citizens randomly picked from the local electoral register. The Crown Court sits at about 90 centres and is presided over by High Court judges, full-time 'circuit judges' and part-time recorders. Appeals from the magistrates' courts go before the Crown Court or the High Court. Appeals from the Crown Court are made to the Court of Appeal (Criminal Division). The House of Lords is the final appeal court in all cases. Civil Courts Magistrates' courts have limited civil jurisdiction. The Y70 county courts have a wider jurisdiction; cases are normally tried by judges sitting alone. The 80 or so judges in the High Court cover civil cases and some criminal cases, and also deal with the appeals. The High Court sits at the Royal Courts of Justice in London or at 26 district registries. Appeals from the High Court are heard in the Court of Appeal (Civil Division), and may go on to the House of Lords, the final court of appeal. The Home Secretary The Home Secretary has overall responsibility for the criminal justice system in England and Wales and for advising the Queen on the exercise of the royal prerogative of mercy to pardon a person convicted of a crime or to remit all or part of a penalty imposed by a court. The Home Secretary can also send a case back to the Court of Appeal if fresh evidence emerges after a conviction has been made. Scotland The principles and procedures of the Scottish legal system (particularly in civil law) differ in many respects from those of England and Wales.
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Criminal cases are tried in district courts, sheriff courts and the High Court of Justiciary. The main civil courts are the sheriff courts and the Court of Session. The Secretary of State for Scotland recommends the appointment of all judges other than the most senior ones. He or she also appoints the staff of the High Court of Justiciary and the Court of Session, and is responsible for the composition, staffing and organization of the sheriff courts. District courts are staffed and administered by the district and islands local authorities. Northern Ireland The legal system of Northern Ireland is in many respects similar to that of England and Wales. It has its own court system: the superior courts are the Court of Appeal, the High Court and the Crown Court, which together comprise the Supreme Court of Judicature. A number of arrangements differ from those in England and Wales. A major example is that those accused of terrorist-type offences are tried in non-jury courts to avoid any intimidation of jurors. Tribunals Tribunals are a specialized group of judicial bodies, akin to courts of law. They are normally set up under statutory powers which also govern their constitution, functions and procedure. Tribunals often consist of lay people, but they are generally chaired by a legally qualified person. They tend to be less expensive, and less formal, than courts of law. Some tribunals settle disputes between private citizens. Industrial tribunals, for example, play a major role in employment disputes. Others, such as those concerned with social security, resolve claims by private citizens against public authorities. A further group, including tax tribunals, decide disputed claims by public authorities against private citizens. Tribunals usually consist of an uneven number of people so that a majority decision can be reached. Members are normally appointed by the government minister concerned with the subject, although the Lord Chancellor (or Lord President of the Court of Session in Scotland) makes most appointments when a lawyer chairman or member is required. In many cases there is a right of appeal
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to a higher tribunal and, usually, to the courts. Tribunals do not normally employ staff or spend money themselves, but their expenses are paid by the government departments concerned. An independent Council on Tribunals exercises general supervision over many tribunals. Britain & The European Union

Britain is a member of the European Union, which comprises the European Community (EC) and intergovernmental co-operation on foreign and security policy, and on justice and home affairs. The Union is an association of 15 democratic nations: Austria, Belgium, Britain, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, the Irish Republic, Italy, Luxembourg, Netherlands, Portugal, Spain and Sweden. `

Chapter 5 Foods and drinks

MEALS English people have three main meals a day:

Breakfast - between 7:00 and 9:00, Lunch - between 12:00 and 1:30 p.m. and Dinner - anywhere from 6:30 at night to 8:00 p.m.

On Sundays the main meal of the day is often eaten at midday instead of in the evening. This meal usually is a Roast Dinner consisting of roast beef, Yorkshire pudding and two kinds of vegetables.

BREAKFAST Most people around the world seem to think the typical English breakfast consists of eggs, bacon, sausages, fried bread, mushrooms and baked beans all washed down with a cup of coffee. Nowadays, however, a typical English breakfast is more likely to be a bowl of cereals, a slice of toast, orange juice and a cup of coffee.
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Lunch

Many children at school and adults at work will have a 'packed lunch'. This typically consists of a sandwich, a packet of crisps, a piece of fruit and a drink. The 'packed lunch' is kept in a plastic container. DINNER A typical British meal for dinner is meat and "two veg.". A gravy covers the meat, and one of the vegetables is almost always potatoes. However, this meal is rarely eaten nowadays, a recent survey found that most people in Britain are eating curry! Rice or pasta are now favoured as the 'British Dinner'. TAKE AWAY FOOD (Eat out food) Take-away meals are very popular and most towns have a selection of Indian, Italian, Chinese and Greek Restaurants. Fish and chips is the classic English take-away food and is the traditional food of England. It became popular in the 1860's when railways began to bring fresh fish straight from the east coast to English cities over night. The fish (cod, haddock, huss, plaice) is deep fried in flour batter and is eaten with chips. Traditionally, the fish and chips are covered with salt and malt vinegar and, using your fingers, eaten straight out of the newspaper which they were wrapped in. Nowadays small wooden forks are provided and the fish and chips are wrapped in more hygienic paper. In the north of England, fish and chips is often served with "mushy peas" (mashed processed peas). Fish and Chips is traditionally England's national food.
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TYPICAL TRADITIONAL ENGLISH DISHES The staple foods of England are meat, fish, potatoes, flour, butter and eggs. Many of our dishes are based on these foods. Harrys mouth fell open. The dishes in front of him were now piled with food. He had never seen so many things he liked to eat on one table: roast beef, roast chicken, pork chops and lamb chops, Yorkshire pudding, peas, carrots, gravy, ketchup and, for some strange reason, mint humbugs. Harry Potter and the Philosophers Stone, J. K. Rowling

Roast beef and Yorkshire pudding (roast meat, two vegetables and potatoes with Yorkshire Puddings). This is England's traditional Sunday lunch, which is a family affair. Yorkshire Pudding (made from a batter of flour, eggs and milk, and cooked in the oven) Fish and chips (fish is deep-fried, and the "chips" are fried potatoes) Ploughman's Lunch (a piece of cheese, a bit of pickle and pickled onion, and a chunk of bread) Shepherds Pie (made with minced lamb and vegetables topped with mashed potato and grated cheese.) Recipe Roast chicken Roast lamb Hotpot (beef/pork/chicken stew) Toad-in-the-Hole (a sausage covered in batter and roasted.) Pie and Mash Bubble & Squeak (typically made from leftover potatoes and cabbage fried together). It is an old dish, used as a way of finishing up the leftovers from a previous meal. English breakfast (eggs, bacon, sausages, fried bread, mushrooms, baked beans) Bangers and Mash (mashed potatoes and sausages). Bangers are sausages in England The name comes from the tendency of of sausages during the last war, to explode during cooking due to the amount of water in them. Black Pudding (a thick sausage made from the blood and fat of a cow).
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Lancashire hotpot Bacon Roly-Poly (made with a suet pastry) Cumberland sausage Pie and Mash - A traditional London speciality. PIES

Pies are very popular in England. Favourites include:

Pork pie, Steak and Kidney pie (stewed steak and kidneys topped with crisp puff pastry)

Cornish pasties (a semi-circular pastry case stuffed with meat, potatoes and vegetables). Cornish pasties are a traditional meal from the West Country of England. CAKES, BISCUITS and PUDDINGS (desserts) There are hundreds of variations of sweet puddings in England but each pudding begins with the same basic ingredients of milk, sugar, eggs, flour and butter. Many of the desserts involve fresh fruit such as raspberries or strawberries, custard, cream, and cakes. Favourites include:

the Victoria Sponge Trifle Bakewell pudding Shrewsbury biscuit Custard Bread and butter pudding - old English favourite Semolina. Spotted Dick (sponge pudding with sultanas and raisins) Jam roly-poly (rolled up sponge with jam) English Crumpets (tasty "muffin" that goes great with tea, and spread with butter and preserves). Mince Pies (Pastry shells filled with mince meat, and sometimes brandy or rum).
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Treacle pudding (a steamed pudding with a syrup topping). CHEESES English people have a great love for cheese and over 400 varieties of cheese are produced in England. They all have have unique flavours and textures. The most common are the harder varieties such as Cheddar, Stilton, Red Leicester, Cheshire and Double Gloucester. AFTERNOON TEA (The traditional 4 o'clock tea) Traditionally consists of Tea (or coffee) served with either of the following:

Scones

Freshly baked scones and crumpets served with cream and Country preserves (Know as a cream tea) Afternoon tea sandwiches often thinly sliced cucumber sandwiches with the crusts cut off. Assorted pastries

HIGH TEA (The traditional 6 o'clock tea) Traditionally eaten early evening, High tea was a substantial meal that combined delicious sweet foods, such as scones, cakes, buns or tea breads, with tempting savouries, such as cheese on toast, toasted crumpets, cold meats and pickles or poached eggs on toast. This meal is now often replaced with a supper due to people eating their main meal in the evenings rather than at midday. DRINKS

Crumpets

Tea is Britain's favourite drink. Cold milk is added to tea.

Britain is also well known for its ale which tends to be dark in appearance and heavier than lager. It is known as "bitter". Tea in Britain is traditionally brewed in a warmed china teapot, adding one spoonful of tea per person and one for the pot.
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If someone asks you if you would like a cuppa, they are asking if you would like a cup of tea. If someone says 'let me be mother' or 'shall I be mother', they are offering to pour out the tea from the teapot. Scotland Scotland is famous for its game and salmon, the national dish is haggis and neeps (innards and offal chopped up with spices and cooked in a sheep's stomach, served with mashed turnip). Glasgow is the home of the deep-fried Mars bar. Wales Two traditional Welsh foods are laver bread, baked with oatmeal, seaweed and bacon, and Welsh Rarebit (melted cheese on toast). English Recipes Basic British Scones 2 cups all-purpose flour 1 teaspoon cream of tartar teaspoon baking soda 1 pinch salt cup margarine 1/8 cup white sugar cup milk 2 tablespoons milk

Preheat oven to 425 F (220 C). Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.Sift the flour, cream of tartar, baking soda and salt into a bowl. Rub in the butter until the mixture resembles fine breadcrumbs. Stir in the sugar and enough milk to mix to a soft dough. Turn onto a floured surface, knead lightly and roll out to a -inch thickness. Cut into 2-inch rounds and place on the prepared baking sheet. Brush with milk to glaze. Bake at 425 F (220 C) for 10 minutes then cool on a wire rack. Serve with butter or clotted cream and jam. Black Treacle Scones

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3 2/3 cups all-purpose flour teaspoon ground cloves 2 teaspoons baking soda teaspoon ground nutmeg 4 teaspoons cream of tartar teaspoon ground ginger teaspoon salt cup butter 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon 2 tablespoons molasses teaspoon ground allspice 1 cup milk Preheat oven to 425 F (220 C). Lightly grease a baking sheet. In a large bowl, sift together flour, baking soda, cream of tarter, salt, cinnamon, allspice, cloves, nutmeg and ginger. Cut in butter with a fork or pastry blender. Combine milk and molasses in a small bowl; stir into flour mixture until moistened. Turn dough out onto a lightly floured surface and knead briefly. Roll dough out into a inch thick round. Cut out circles with a medium biscuit cutter and place pieces on prepared baking sheet so that they are barely touching. Bake in preheated oven for 10 to 12 minutes. Move to a wire rack to cool slightly before serving. For soft scones, cover with a dry cloth for 10 minutes. For crisp scones, do not cover. Apple Snow 6 large apples - peeled, cored and teaspoon ground cloves chopped teaspoon vanilla extract 3 tablespoons water 1 egg white 1 cup white sugar teaspoon ground cinnamon Mix graham cracker crumbs, sugar, melted butter or margarine, and ginger until well blended . Press mixture into a 9 inch pie plate. Cool in refrigerator. In a sauce pan, boil an unopened can of sweetened condensed milk for 3 hours. Monitor the water closely, to make sure there is always water in the pan. Remove can from heat and let cool for 10 to 15 minutes. Open can and pour toffee into pie crust. Allow to cool. Slice bananas over toffee.
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Whip 2 cups of cream and spoon it on top of bananas. Refrigerate before serving. Banbury Tarts 1 cup chopped dried figs 1 egg 2/3 cup packed brown sugar cup chopped candied citron cup raisins cup chopped walnuts 12 (5 inch) unbaked tart shells

Chop the figs as fine as possible, measure to 1 cup, and pour boiling water over to cover. Allow to stand for 45 minutes. Drain very well. Beat the egg and sugar together. Stir in the figs, peel, raisins, and nuts. Fill tart shells 3/4 full with fruit filling. Bake at 375 degrees F (190 degrees C) for 20 to 25 minutes. Cool on racks. Beef Wellington 2 pounds beef tenderloin 2 tablespoons butter, softened 2 tablespoons butter, softened salt and pepper to taste 2 tablespoons butter 1 (17.5 ounce) package frozen puff 1 onion, chopped pastry, thawed cup sliced fresh mushrooms 1 egg yolk, beaten 2 ounces liver pate 1 (10.5 ounce) can beef broth 2 tablespoons red wine Preheat oven to 425 F (220 C). Place beef in a small baking dish, and spread with 2 tablespoons softened butter. Bake for 10 to 15 minutes, or until browned. Remove from pan, and allow to cool completely. Reserve pan juices. Melt 2 tablespoons butter in a skillet over medium heat. Saute onion and mushrooms in butter for 5 minutes. Remove from heat, and let cool. Mix together pate and 2 tablespoons softened butter, and season with salt and pepper. Spread pate over beef. Top with onion and mushroom mixture. Roll out the puff pastry dough, and place beef in the center. Fold up, and seal all the edges, making sure the seams are not too thick.
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Place beef in a 9x13 inch baking dish, cut a few slits in the top of the dough, and brush with egg yolk. Bake at 450 F (230 C) for 10 minutes, then reduce heat to 425 F (220 C) for 10 to 15 more minutes, or until pastry is a rich, golden brown. Set aside, and keep warm. Place all reserved juices in a small saucepan over high heat. Stir in beef stock and red wine; boil for 10 to 15 minutes, or until slightly reduced. Strain, and serve with beef.

Eating Manners/Etiquette
In Britain, even today, people are judged by their table manners, especially when eating out or attending formal functions. There are certain ways you should behave and certain niceties to observe. These are just a few, from basic manners to some more advanced niceties for formal occasions. Basic Manners Eating Things you should do:

If you are at a dinner party wait until your host(ess) starts eating or indicates you should do so. Chew and swallow all the food in your mouth before taking more or taking a drink. Soup should be spooned away from you. Tilt the bowl away from you. Break bread and rolls with your fingers not with your knife. Break off a small piece of bread (or roll and butter it. Do not butter the whole slice or half a roll at one time. You may use a piece of bread on a fork to soak up sauce or gravy. Never hold the bread in your fingers to do this. Only clear consomme should be drunk directly from the soup bowl, and then only if it has handles.

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You may eat chicken and pizza with your fingers if you are at a barbecue, finger buffet or very informal setting. Otherwise always use a knife and fork.

Things you should not do: Never chew with your mouth open.

Never talk with food in your mouth. Never put too much food in your mouth. Never mash or mix food on your plate. Do not blow on hot food or drink. Do not sip from a coffee spoon or teaspoon. Never use your fingers to push food onto your spoon or fork.

Serviettes, crockery, and cutlery. Things you should do:

Your serviette should always be placed on your lap. If it is small you may open it out fully. If it is large it should be kept folded in half with the fold toward you. ( In some of the more exclusive restaurants the waiter will place your napkin on your lap for you.) The fork is held in the left hand, the knife in the right to cut food and to help carry food to the fork. The fork is held, tines down, and the knife used to move food unto the fork or support food so the fork can pick it up. There is no shifting of cutlery. When you are finished eating, soup spoons, coffee spoons, and dessert spoons should be placed on the side plate or saucer, never leave them in the bowl, cup etc. Do not push your plate away or stack your dishes. Place your knife and fork together in the "twenty past four" position, as if your plate were the face of the clock, with the knife on the outside and the fork on the inside. Or place the utensils side by side in the middle of your plate, fork tines down, knife to the right, sharp blade turned inward toward the fork. Keep your serviette in your lap until you leave the table. When you leave the table place your serviette in loose folds at the left side of your plate, never on top of the plate.

Things you should not do: Never tuck your napkin into the collar of your shirt.
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Never use a napkin as a handkerchief. Do not wipe off cutlery or glassware with your napkin. If dishes aren't clean, ask the waiter quietly for replacements. Do not cut up more than three bites at a time. Do not scrape the plate.

Passing dishes and food Things you should do:

Soup spoons, coffee spoons, and dessert spoons should be placed on the service plate or saucer when you are finished eating. Never leave them in the bowl, cup etc. Always pass to the right. Initiate the passing of rolls, butter, and condiments even if you do not want any. Pass jugs, gravy boats etc. with the handle toward the recipient.

Things you should not do: Never reach across the table. If anything isn't directly in front of you, ask for it to be passed. Posture and behavior Things you should do:

When being entertained at someone's home it is nice to take a gift for the host and hostess. A bottle of wine, bunch of flowers or chocolates are all acceptable. On arrival in a restaurant or at a formal function give your coat to the waiter, never hang it on the back of your chair. If in doubt ask your host(ess). When you wish to use the toilet, excuse yourself and leave quietly. Do not ask people where they are going if they excuse themselves.

Things you should not do: Elbows should not be on the table until after all courses have been cleared away. Never lean on your elbows! Keep your posture erect. Never rock back in your chair.
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Never smoke during a meal. Smoking should not take place until dessert is finished. Follow the lead of the host or ask if you may smoke. Use ashtrays only. Never apply makeup or comb your hair at the table.

The Formal Table Setting/Seating

At first glance, a formal table setting can be intimidating because there are so many forks, spoons, and knives, all for different courses. However, do not be dismayed, there is a simple system behind it all. Placement and procedure

Start with the utensils on the outside and work your way inward with each subsequent course. In other words, the outermost fork is your salad fork if salad is served first. Forks will be on your left. Knives and spoons on your right. One exception to this is the oyster or seafood fork, which will be on the right next to the soup spoon. If you are in a restaurant and did not order fish, soup, or salad, the waiter will remove those utensils. In a private home or at a banquet the silverware indicates the courses that will be served. At the top of your plate will be a dessert spoon and dessert fork. When dessert is served, slide them down to the sides of the dessert plate: fork on the left; spoon on the right. To eat dessert, break the dessert with the spoon, one bite at a time. Push the food with the fork into the spoon. Eat from the spoon. (Fork in left hand; spoon in right.) Coffee spoons are either to the right of the plate or brought with the coffee. Red wine is served in a glass with a round bowl and fairly short stem. Hold it at the base of the bowl. It should be served at room temperature. White wine is normally served in a larger glass with a longer stem. Hold it at the base of the stem. The same applies to all chilled wines. The order of the wine glasses begins with the one closest to you: (a) Sherry (soup course) (b) White wine (fish/chicken course) (c) Red wine (meat course) (d) Water goblet. ( There may be other glasses used throughout the meal. )
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There will be a butter knife located near the butter dish. Use it to transfer butter to your side plate. Your butter knife will either be lying diagonally across your side plate or as the last one to your right in the row of knives. Never use the knife with the butter dish to butter bread. If there is no knife with the butter dish, transfer the butter with your butter knife. Sorbet, a fruit flavored ice, may be served between courses to cleanse the palate. A spoon will accompany the sorbet. Salad may be served before or after the main course. The placement of the salad fork will give you a clue. Finger bowls are presented after the main course and before dessert. If the bowl is placed on a plate directly in front of you, lift the bowl with both hands and place it to the left of your place setting. If there is a doily under it, move it as well. Often the finger bowl will be placed to the left. Dip the fingers of one hand into the bowl, dry on your napkin which remains on you lap. Follow with the other hand. There may be a flower or a lemon slice in the bowl. Leave it be. (Some restaurants use hot towels in a similar manner as finger bowl.

Seating at a formal dinner

The male guest of honor sits on the hostess' right. The next most important man sits on her left. The female guest of honor sits on the host's right. The second most important woman sits on the host's left. Men and women should be alternately seated. Couples should be separated. Use of round tables puts everyone on an equal basis. There may be place cards at a formal dinner or your host/hostess may indicate where you should be seated. Social manners are expected: males should seat females and rise when they leave and return to the table.

Accidents will Happen

If you spill anything on the table or yourself discretely use your napkin or ask the waiter for sparkling water. Do not dip your napkin into your water glass.
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If you spill anything on someone else do not try to mop up the spill, offer them a napkin and let them do it for themselves. Offer to cover any laundering or cleaning costs. If you burp cover your mouth with your napkin. After it happens, say a quiet "pardon me" to no one in particular, do not make a big deal about it. If you break anything, call it to the waiter's attention. In a private home, speak quietly to the host and offer to replace the item. If you get some food stuck between your teeth do not use toothpicks, fingernails, or napkins to dislodge the food at the table. If necessary go to the bathroom and take care of it.

Chapter 6 Money in Britain

The English currency is the pound sterling. The pound () is made up of 100 pence (p) exactly like the Dollar is split into 100 cents. The English coins are of 1p, 2p, 5p, 10p, 20p, 50p and 1 (one pound) and 2 (two pounds). TWO POUNDS A symbolic representation of the development of British Industry from the Iron Age to the modern computer age. Edge Inscription: STANDING ON THE SHOULDERS OF GIANTS Designer: Bruce Rushin

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ONE POUND Three Lions passant guardant, being that quartering of Our Royal Arms known heraldically as ENGLAND Edge Inscription: DECUS ET TUTAMEN (An ornament and a safeguard)

FIFTY PENCE The seated figure of Britannia Designer: Christopher Ironside

TWENTY PENCE The Badge of England, the Tudor Rose, in stylised form and royally crowned Designer: William Gardner

TEN PENCE Part of the Crest of England, a lion passant guardant royally crowned Designer: Christopher Ironside FIVE PENCE The Badge of Scotland,a thistle royally crowned Designer: Christopher Ironside

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TWO PENCE The Badge of the Prince of Wales, comprising three ostrich feathers enfiling a coronet of crosses pattee and fleurs-de-lys with the motto ICH DIEN (I Serve) Designer: Christopher Ironside ONE PENNY A portcullis with chains royally crowned, being an adaptation of the Badge of King Henry VII Designer: Christopher Ironside

All coins bear The Queen's head on one side, but the 1 coins have different flip-sides to reflect the different countries of Britain: lions for England, a thistle for Scotland and a leek for Wales. On the edge of the English coins, the letters D.G.REG.F.D. always appear after the Queen's name. The letters stand for the Latin words Dei Gratia Regina Fidei Defensor, which means 'By the Grace of God, Queen, Defender of the Faith'. The English notes (bills) are 5 (five pounds), 10 (10 pounds), 20 (twenty pounds) and 50 (fifty pounds). The slang term for a British Pound is Quid. One Pound Sterling is referred to as "A QUID" , Five Pound Sterling as "Five Quid" and Ten Pound Sterling as "Ten Quid".

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Another way of referring to Banknotes is a "Fiver" or a "Tenner". For example "It only cost me a tenner". English people can also use Euro dollars but only in the major shops. Pound Sterling banknotes are issued by

the Bank of England (legal tender in England and Wales, but generally accepted throughout the UK); the Bank of Scotland (recognised currency in Scotland, and generally accepted throughout the UK); the Royal Bank of Scotland (recognised currency in Scotland, and generally accepted throughout the UK); the Clydesdale Bank (recognised currency in Scotland, and generally accepted throughout the UK); the Bank of Ireland, First Trust Bank, Northern Bank and Ulster Bank (accepted in Scotland, although rarely seen outside Northern Ireland).

Sterling banknotes are also issued by

The Isle of Man States of Jersey States of Guernsey

Notes issued by the governments of the Isle of Man, Jersey and Guernsey are not generally accepted off their own islands (although Jersey and Guernsey notes and coins circulate freely in both bailiwicks). Scottish notes can also be found freely circulating in Jersey and Guernsey. Bank of England Notes As of November 2003 the Bank of England banknotes in circulation, are:

5 pound note with Elizabeth Fry, showing a meeting of people possibly discussing prisoners' rights. 10 pound note with Charles Darwin, a hummingbird and the HMS Beagle 20 pound note with Sir Edward Elgar
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50 pound note with John Houblon

As of 2004, they are signed by the Chief Cashier, Andrew Bailey. Bank of Scotland Notes in circulation:

5 pound note featuring a vignette of oil and energy. 10 pound note featuring a vignette of distilling and brewing. 20 pound note featuring a vignette of education and research. 50 pound note featuring a vignette of arts and culture. 100 pound note featuring a vignette of leisure and tourism.

All the notes also depict Sir Walter Scott who was instrumental in retaining the right of Scottish banks to issue their own notes in the 1840s. Royal Bank of Scotland Notes in circulation are:

1 pound note featuring Edinburgh Castle (Not accepted as legal tender in England and Wales) 5 pound note featuring Culzean Castle. 10 pound note featuring Glamis Castle. 20 pound note featuring Brodick Castle. 100 pound note featuring Balmoral Castle.

All the notes also depict Lord Ilay (1682-1761), first governor of the bank. Clydesdale Bank Notes 5 pound note featuring Robert Burns on the front and a vignette of a fieldmouse from Burns' "Ode to a Mouse" on the back. 10 pound note featuring Mary Slessor on the front and a vignette of a map of Calabar and African missionary scenes on the back. 20 pound note featuring Robert the Bruce on the front and a vignette of the Bruce on horseback with the Monymusk Reliquary against a background of Stirling Castle on the back.

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50 pound note featuring Adam Smith on the front and a vignette of industry tools against a background of sailing ships on the back. 100 pound note featuring Lord Kelvin on the front and a vignette of Glasgow University on the back.

Bank of Ireland Notes 5 pound note. 10 pound note. 20 pound note. 50 pound note. First Trust Bank Notes First Trust Bank's current notes depict generic people of Northern Ireland on the front, alternately male and female, but with a pair of older people on the 100. The obverse generally features designs associated with the Spanish Armada, or coastal features.

5 pound note featuring Dunluce Castle on the obverse. 10 pound note featuring the Girona (galeass) on the obverse. 20 pound note featuring the chimney at Lagada Point on the obverse. 50 pound note featuring a commemorative medal on the obverse. 100 pound note featuring the Armada on the obverse.

Northern Bank Notes

5 pound polymer note featuring the U.S. space shuttle. 10 pound note featuring J.B. Dunlop on the front and the portico of Belfast City Hall on the back. 20 pound note featuring Harry Ferguson on the front and the portico of Belfast City Hall on the back. 50 pound note featuring Sir S.C. Davidson on the front and the portico of Belfast City Hall on the back. 100 pound note featuring Sir James Martin on the front and the portico of Belfast City Hall on the back.

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Ulster Bank Notes Ulster Bank's current notes all share a rather plain design of a view of Belfast harbour, flanked by landscape views; the design of the reverse is dominated by the banks' coat of arms. The principle difference between the denominations is their colour and size.

5 pound note, purple. 10 pound note, blue-green. 20 pound note, purple. 50 pound note, blue.

States of Jersey Notes The Treasurer of the States of Jersey, Channel Islands, holds 1.10 in Bank of England notes for each 1 issued, making the Jersey Pound a very strong currency. The current notes depict Queen Elizabeth II on the front and various landmarks of Jersey or incidents in Jersey history on the reverse. The watermark is a Jersey cow

1 pound note, green, St Helier Parish Church (In 2004, a special edition 1 pound note is in general circulation alongside the St. Helier Parish Church note. This commemorative note marks the 800th anniversary of the division of the Duchy of Normandy in 1204 and the design consequently includes Mont Orgueil Castle and other historic symbolism). 5 pound note, purple, La Corbire lighthouse. 10 pound note, red, The Death of Major Pierson, Battle of Jersey, 1781. 20 pound note, blue, St Ouen's Manor. 50 pound note, brown, Government House.

The Monarch on Bank Notes In the UK, particularly in England, in recent years there have been comments relating to the option of adopting the Euro along the lines of: we don't want to lose the Queen on our banknotes . This overlooks the fact that Queen Elizabeth II was the first UK monarch to have her face on UK banknotes. Prior to the issue of its Series C banknotes in 1960, Bank of England banknotes did not depict the UK monarch. Even today, notes issued by the other note issuing banks do not depict the monarch.
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How much do things cost in England?

The cost of living varies from one part of the UK to another. Generally it is more expensive to live in London and the south-east of England, and cheaper up north. Below is a very rough estimate of how much things cost in Britain. Item Milk (4 pints) Apple Juice Bread (loaf) Eggs (carton of 6) Sugar Butter Spread Raspberry Jam Newspapers Drinks (in a cafe or bar) 0.93 0.83 0.68 0.78 0.54 0.95 1.29 0.50 Beer - 2.50 per pint, 1:30p per half pint Wine - 2.50 per glass Coffee - 1.20 Soft drinks - 0.80 Tea - 0.70 0.80 per litre 2.19 1.39 0.50 Cost ()

Inexpensive restaurant 12.00 per person

Petrol (gasoline) Shampoo Toothpaste Can of pepsi

Kit Kat chocolate bar 0.35

Chapter 7 Transport in Great Britain

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What types of transport do English people have? Roads and motorways are Britain's primary domestic transport routes. At the beginning of the 20th century, railway trains and canal barges were the main means of transporting heavy goods. Now around 65% are carried by lorries. Cars: Most people in Britain travel by car. About 72% of households have at least one car.

Lorries: Most goods are transported by roads in lorries.

Buses and Coaches: English people have single decker and double decker buses. You can see them in English towns and cities. They use coaches for travelling longer distances or for going on school outings.

Double-decker bus

Single decker bus

Coach

Taxis: In London, the taxis are black but in the rest of the country they are different colours. Trains: Britain's rail network covers 16,659 kilometres.
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The Englishmen have a railway network throughout the UK used by many travellers. London was the first city in the world to have an underground railway, called the 'tube'. The first line was built in 1890.

Euro Trains When English people want to go to other countries in Europe they can travel on the Euro train. It travels under the sea in a very long tunnel called the Channel Tunnel. It is a fast train. It takes us about 3 hours to reach Paris. The "Shuttle" service joins Calais to Folkstone in 35 minutes. Airports: ENGLAND : London has five airports : Heathrow, Gatwick, Stanstead, London City and Luton. The first three have underground connections to the centre of London.

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SCOTLAND : Prestwick airport. Ships: Shipping still remains the main form of cargo transport in to and out of Britain, despite the opening of the Channel Tunnel to France in 1994. The busiest sea port is Dover. What is it like to drive in Britain? In Britain they drive on the left-hand side of the road, so the steering wheel is on the right. Why do they drive on the left? Roads Many of the roads of Britain are built on the old roads laid down by the Romans centuries ago. There are thousands of kilometres of roads in Britain. They range from wide modern motorways down to narrow country lanes. Cities and towns tend to have compact streets because they date back to well before cars were invented, and were certainly not planned for large lorries (trucks).

M roads are motorways which are fast roads. They have three or four lanes.

A roads are the main routes between towns. They mainly have single lanes but in some areas they have two lanes. Speed limits

The limits are: 30mph (50kph) in urban areas 60mph (96kph) on two-way roads away from urban areas 70mph (112 kph) on motorways and dual carriageways
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Why do the English drive on the "wrong" side of the road ? In days of old logic dictated that when people passed each other on the road they should be in the best possible position to use their sword to protect themselves. As most people are right handed they therefore keep to their left. This practice was formalized in a Papal Edict by Pope Benefice around 1300AD who told all his pilgrims to keep to the left. Nothing much changed until 1773 when an increase in horse traffic forced the UK Government to introduce the General Highways Act of 1773 which contained a keep left recommendation. This became a law as part of the Highways Bill in 1835. Reasons to travel on the right are less clear but the generally accepted version of history is as follows: The French, being Catholics, followed Pope Boneface's edict but in the build up to the French Revolution in 1790 the French Aristocracy drove their carriages at great speed on the left hand side of the road, forcing the peasantry over to the right side for their own safety. Come the Revolution, instincts of self preservation resulted in the remains of the Aristocracy joining the peasants on the right hand side of the road. The first official record of this was a keep right rule introduced in Paris in 1794. Britain's imperial expansion spread the keep left rule far and wide. This included India, Australasia and much of Africa (Although many African countries changed to the right later when they became independent). France also had quite an empire after the revolutionary wars and the keep right rule spread through much of modern day Europe and to colonies such as Egypt. The connection with the USA is thought to be General Lafayette who recommended a keep right rule as part of the help that he gave the Americans in the build up to the war of Independence. The first reference to keep right in USA law is in a rule covering the Lancaster to Philadelphia turnpike in 1792.

Chapter 8 British holidays

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BANK HOLIDAYS - 2004 and 2007 UNITED KINGDOM

BANK AND PUBLIC HOLIDAYS IN ENGLAND, WALES, SCOTLAND AND NORTHERN IRELAND: 2004-2007 The expected dates of bank and public holidays in England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland for the years 2004-2007 inclusive are listed below. 2004 England and Wales New Year's Day Good Friday Easter Monday Early May Bank Holiday Spring Bank Holiday Summer Bank Holiday Christmas Day Boxing Day Substitute Bank Holiday in lieu of 26th Substitute Bank Holiday in lieu of 25th Scotland New Years Day (or in Lieu of 1 Jan) 2nd January (or in Lieu of 2 Jan) Good Friday Early May Bank Holiday 1 Jan 9 Apr 12 Apr 3 May 31 May 30 Aug 25 Dec 26 Dec 27 Dec 28 Dec 27 Dec 2007 1 Jan 2 Jan 6 Apr 7 May 3 Jan 25 Mar 28 Mar 2 May 30 May 29 Aug 25 Dec 26 Dec 2 Jan 14 Apr 17 Apr 1 May 29 May 28 Aug 25 Dec 26 Dec 1 Jan 6 Apr 9 Apr 7 May 28 May 27 Aug 25 Dec 26 Dec 2005 2006 2007

2004 1 Jan 2 Jan 9 Apr 3 May

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2005 4 Jan 3 Jan 25 Mar 2 May

2006 3 Jan 2 Jan 14 Apr 1 May

Spring Bank Holiday Summer Bank Holiday Christmas Day ( or in Lieu of 25 Dec)

31 May 2 Aug 25 Dec

30 May 1 Aug 25 Dec 26 Dec

29 May 7 Aug 25 Dec 26 Dec

28 May 6 Aug 25 Dec 26 Dec

Boxing Day 26 Dec (or in Lieu of 26 Dec) Substitute Bank Holiday in lieu 27 Dec of 26th Substitute Bank Holiday in lieu 28 Dec of 25th Northern Ireland New Year's Day St Patrick's Day Good Friday Easter Monday Early May Bank Holiday Spring Bank Holiday Battle of the Boyne (Orangemen's Day) Summer Bank Holiday Christmas Day Boxing Day Substitute Bank Holiday in lieu of 26th Substitute Bank Holiday in lieu of 25th 2004 1 Jan 17 Mar 9 Apr 12 Apr 3 May 31 May 12 July 30 Aug 25 Dec 26 Dec 27 Dec 28 Dec

27 Dec 2005 3 Jan 17 Mar 25 Mar 28 Mar 2 May 30 May 12 July 29 Aug 25 Dec 26 Dec 2006 2 Jan 17 Mar 14 Apr 17 Apr 1 May 29 May 12 July 28 Aug 25 Dec 26 Dec 2007 1 Jan 19 Mar 6 Apr 9 Apr 7 May 28 May 12 July 27 Aug 25 Dec 26 Dec

27 Dec

Christmas The word Christmas (or Christ's Mass) comes from the Old English name Cristes Maesse, meaning the feast or festival of Christmas . The feast lasts for twelve days and is known as the Twelve Days of Christmas.
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Christmas is a truly magical season, bringing families and friends together to share the much loved customs and traditions which have been around for centuries. Most people are on holiday in England and stay at home with their family on Christmas day. The abbreviation for Christmas to Xmas is derived from the Greek alphabet. X is the letter Chi, which is the first letter of Christ's name in the Greek alphabet. Christmas is celebrated on the 25th of December in England , with a Christmas dinner for the whole family. Christmas has been celebrated in England for thousands of years. According to legend, King Arthur made merry in York in 521 surrounded by "minstrels, gleemen, harpers, pipe-players, jugglers, and dancers." Christmas Trees Most houses in England, will have a tree of some sort or other which they will decorate and will place the presents under. The traditional tree is a fir tree but now-a-days more people buy artificial trees to 'save the earth'. The decorating of the tree is usually a family occasion, with everyone helping. The Christmas tree became popular in England in 1841 when Queen Victoria's husband, Prince Albert, brought a Christmas tree over from Germany and put it in Windsor Castle. The Royal couple were illustrated in a newspaper standing around the Christmas tree with their children, and the tradition of decorating a tree became fashionable. The Christmas trees, during the Victorian times, were decorated with candles to remind children of the stars in the sky at the time of the birth of Jesus. Using candles was, of course, a great fire hazard. Christmas trees were also decorated with candies and cakes hung with ribbon. In 1880 Woolworths first sold manufactured Christmas tree ornaments which proved to be very popular.

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Today, Christmas trees are decorated with tinsel, lights and small ornaments which hang from the branches. Chocolate coins or chocolate shapes are also hung on the Christmas tree and the presents are put under the tree. An angel or star is usually put on the very top of the tree.

The most Famous Christmas Tree in Britain In London, near the statue of Lord Nelson in Trafalgar Square, a giant Christmas tree is set up and decorated with great ceremony each year. The tree is a thank you gift from the people of Oslo, Norway. During the Second World War, King Haakon of Norway was forced into exile in England when the Germans occupied his country. Since 1947, Norway has expressed its thanks for the help of the British people by continuing to send a huge Norwegian spruce to be shared by all. Christmas Cards People around the world send Christmas Cards to their friends and family. The first Christmas card was created and sent in 1843. A man named John Calcott Horsely printed the first Christmas card for Sir Henry Cole, the friend who had given him the idea. The card depicted a typical English family enjoying the holiday, and people performing acts of charity. An important part of Victorian Christmas spirit. A thousand copies of the card were printed and sold for one shilling. This is reportedly the first Christmas card to be produced and sold to the public. Traditionally, Christmas cards showed religious pictures of Mary, Joseph and baby Jesus, or other parts of the Christmas story. Today, pictures are often winter pictures, Father Christmas, or jokes. The average person in Britain sends 50 Christmas cards each year. There are special songs which are sung during the Christmas season. The songs are known as carols and they are about when Jesus was born. They were written for a special purpose, often to accompany performances of religious dramas dating from medieval times.
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People go 'carol singing'. This is where people will go from house to house singing carols and collecting money for charity. Caroling is one of the oldest customs in Great Britain, going back to the Middle Ages when beggars, seeking food, money, or drink, would wander the streets singing holiday songs. The traditional period to sing carols was from St Thomas's Day (December 21) until the morning of Christmas Day. Probably the most famous carol service is 'The Festival of Nine Lessons and Carols' held in King's College Chapel, Cambridge. It takes place on Christmas Eve and always begins with the carol, 'Once in Royal David's City' sung by a solo chorister. Some Famous Christmas Carols Joy to the World Joy to the world! The Lord is come: Let earth receive her King. Let ev'ry heart prepare Him room, And heaven and nature sing, And heaven and nature sing, And heaven and heaven and nature sing. He rules the world with truth and grace, And makes the nations prove The glories of His righteousness And wonders of His love, And wonders of His love, And wonders, wonders of His love. Frosty the Snowman Frosty the snowman was a jolly happy soul, With a corncob pipe and a button nose and two eyes made out of coal. Frosty the snowman is a fairy tale, they
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say, He was made of snow but the children know how he came to life one day. There must have been some magic in that old silk hat they found. For when they placed it on his head he began to dance around. O, Frosty the snowman was alive as he could be, And the children say he could laugh and play just the same as you and me. Thumpetty thump thump, thumpety thump thump, Look at Frosty go. Thumpetty thump thump, thumpety thump thump, Over the hills of snow. Frosty the snowman knew the sun was hot that day, So he said, "Let's run and we'll have some fun now before I melt away." Down to the village, with a broomstick in his hand, Running here and there all around the square saying, Catch me if you can. He led them down the streets of town right to the traffic cop. And he only paused a moment when he heard him holler "Stop!" For Frosty the snow man had to hurry on his way, But he waved goodbye saying, " Don't you cry, I'll be back again some day." Thumpetty thump thump, thumpety thump thump,
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Look at Frosty go. Thumpetty thump thump, thumpety thump thump, Over the hills of snow. Jingle Bell Rock Jingle bell, jingle bell, jingle bell rock Jingle bells swing and jingle bells ring Snowing and blowing up bushels of fun Now the jingle hop has begun Jingle bell, jingle bell, jingle bell rock Jingle bells chime in jingle bell time Dancing and prancing in Jingle Bell Square In the frosty air. What a bright time, it's the right time To rock the night away Jingle bell time is a swell time To go gliding in a one-horse sleigh Giddy-up jingle horse, pick up your feet Jingle around the clock Mix and a-mingle in the jingling feet That's the jingle bell, That's the jingle bell, That's the jingle bell rock. Let it Snow Oh, the weather outside is frightful, But the fire is so delightful, And since we've no place to go, Let it snow, let it snow, let it snow. It doesn't show signs of stopping, And I brought some corn for popping; The lights are turned way down low,
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Let it snow, let it snow, let it snow. When we finally say good night, How I'll hate going out in the storm; But if you really hold me tight, All the way home I'll be warm. The fire is slowly dying, And, my dear, we're still good-bye-ing, But as long as you love me so. Let it snow, let it snow, let it snow. Rudolf the Red Nosed Reindeer You know Dasher and Dancer And Prancer and Vixen, Comet and Cupid And Donner and Blitzen. But do you recall The most famous reindeer of all? Rudolph the red-nosed reindeer (reindeer) Had a very shiny nose (like a light bulb) And if you ever saw it (saw it) You would even say it glows (like a flash light) All of the other reindeer (reindeer) Used to laugh and call him names (like Pinochio) They never let poor Rudolph (Rudolph) Play in any reindeer games (like Monopoly) Then one foggy Christmas Eve
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Santa came to say (Ho Ho Ho) Rudolph with your nose so bright Won't you guide my sleigh tonight? Then all the reindeer loved him (loved him) And they shouted out with glee (yippee) " Rudolph the red-nosed reindeer (reindeer) You'll go down in history!" (like Columbus) Santa Claus is Coming to Town You better watch out You better not cry Better not pout I'm telling you why Santa Claus is coming to town He's making a list, And checking it twice; Gonna find out Who's naughty and nice. Santa Claus is coming to town He sees you when you're sleeping He knows when you're awake He knows if you've been bad or good So be good for goodness sake! O! You better watch out! You better not cry. Better not pout, I'm telling you why. Santa Claus is coming to town. Santa Claus is coming to town.

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The Twelve Days of Christmas On the first day of Christmas my true love sent to me: A partridge in a pear tree. On the second day of Christmas my true love sent to me: Two turtle doves And a Partridge in a pear tree. On the third day of Christmas my true love sent to me: Three French Hens, Two turtle doves And a Partridge in a pear tree. On the fourth day of Christmas my true love sent to me: Four calling birds, Three French Hens, Two turtle doves And a Partridge in a pear tree. On the fifth day of Christmas my true love sent to me: Five golden rings, Four calling birds, Three French Hens, Two turtle doves And a Partridge in a pear tree. On the sixth day of Christmas my true love sent to me: Six geese a laying, Five golden rings, Four calling birds, Three French Hens, Two turtle doves And a Partridge in a pear tree.
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On the seventh day of Christmas my true love sent to me: Seven swans a swimming, Six geese a laying, Five golden rings, Four calling birds, Three French Hens, Two turtle doves And a Partridge in a pear tree. On the eighth day of Christmas my true love sent to me: Eight maids a milking, Seven swans a swimming, Six geese a laying, Five golden rings, Four calling birds, Three French Hens, Two turtle doves And a Partridge in a pear tree. On the ninth day of Christmas my true love sent to me: Nine ladies dancing, Eight maids a milking, Seven swans a swimming, Six geese a laying, Five golden rings, Four calling birds, Three French Hens, Two turtle doves And a Partridge in a pear tree. On the tenth day of Christmas my true love sent to me: Ten lords a leaping, Nine ladies dancing, Eight maids a milking, Seven swans a swimming,
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Six geese a laying, Five golden rings, Four calling birds, Three French Hens, Two turtle doves And a Partridge in a pear tree. On the eleventh day of Christmas my true love sent to me: Eleven pipers piping, Ten lords a leaping, Nine ladies dancing, Eight maids a milking, Seven swans a swimming, Six geese a laying, Five golden rings, Four calling birds, Three French Hens, Two turtle doves And a Partridge in a pear tree. On the twelfth day of Christmas my true love sent to me: Twelve drummers drumming, Eleven pipers piping, Ten lords a leaping, Nine ladies dancing, Eight maids a milking, Seven swans a swimming, Six geese a laying, Five golden rings, Four calling birds, Three French Hens, Two turtle doves And a Partridge in a pear tree. Christmas Eve

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Christmas Eve (December 24) is traditionally the day for decorating churches and homes. It marks the beginning of the period formally known as Christmas-tide. Night time on Christmas Eve is a very exciting time for young children. It is the time when Father Christmas / Santa comes. The children leave mince pies and brandy for Father Christmas, and a carrot for the reindeer. Children hang their Christmas stockings or bags up ready for Father Christmas, who will hopefully fill them up with presents, if the children have been good. The children then go to sleep and wait for Christmas morning to see if he has been.

A Traditional English Christmas Dinner

Christmas is coming, the goose is getting fat Please put a penny in the old man's hat... -Traditional, English

This main Christmas meal is usually eaten at lunchtime or early afternoon.

A traditional English Christmas dinner consists of roast turkey and stuffing, roast potatoes and vegetables, bread sauce, cranberry sauce and gravy, followed by Christmas pudding with brandy butter. In the Past In Medieval England, peacocks and swans were eaten only by the rich at Christmas but boar's head was the main course. In the 18th century, turkey along with beef, slowly replaced the boar's head as most people's
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Christmas meal in Britain. By Victorian times, people were usually eating either turkey or goose at Christmas. A turkey tradition A Christmas tradition involving the turkey is to pull its wishbone. This is one of the bones of the turkey which is shaped like the letter 'Y'. Two people will each hold an end and pull. The person left with the larger piece of the bone makes a wish. The Christmas Pudding The Christmas pudding known today began life as Christmas porridge called frumenty, a dish made of wheat or corn boiled up in milk. As time went on, other ingredients, such as prunes, eggs, and lumps of meat were added to make it more interesting. When cooked, it was poured into a dish and called plum pudding. Today, a Christmas pudding is a brown pudding with raisins, nuts and cherries. It is served with custard or brandy butter. Often brandy is poured over the pudding, which is then set a light as it is carried to the table. The lights are turned off so people can see the flames. Traditionally silver coins were hidden in it. A silver coin brought good fortune to whomever was lucky enough to find it when the pudding was cut. The traditional time for making a Christmas pudding 'Stir Up Sunday ' at the beginning of advent. A proper Christmas pudding is always stirred from East to West in honour of the three Wise Men and traditionally made with 13 ingredients to represent Christ and His Disciples. Every member of the family must give the pudding a stir and make a secret wish. Christmas Crackers

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Traditionally a Christmas cracker is placed next to each plate on the Christmas dinner table. When the crackers are pulled, out falls a colourful party crown, a toy or gift and a festive joke. Did you know? It was the custom to eat goose at Christmas until Henry VIII decided to tuck into a turkey. 93 per cent of the population in the UK will eat turkey on Christmas Day; this means 11 million turkeys being cooked!. Christmas pudding was first made as a kind of soup with raisins and wine in it. One notable medieval English Christmas celebration featured a giant, 165-pound pie. The giant pie was nine feet in diameter. Its ingredients included 2 bushels of flour, 20 pounds of butter, 4 geese, 2 rabbits, 4 wild ducks, 2 woodcocks, 6 snipes, 4 partridges, 2 neats' tongues, 2 curlews, 6 pigeons and 7 blackbirds. Christmas Crackers Crackers are very popular and accompany many meals over the Christmas period and especially on Christmas Day. A Christmas Cracker is a brightly coloured paper tube, twisted at both ends. There is a banger inside the cracker and when it is pulled by two people, the cracker snaps in half with a bang. Inside the cracker there is a tissue paper hat, a joke and a little gift. Christmas crackers were invented by Thomas Smith in 1846. He had imported some French novelties to sell as Christmas gifts, but these were not popular until he wrapped them up and added a snapper. The custom of pulling crackers came to Britain in the 1860s.
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The traditional way to pull a cracker is crossing your arms and pulling a whole circle of crackers all around the table. Everyone holds their crack in their right hand and pulls their neighbours cracker with the free left hand. Boxing Day Boxing Day is the following day after Christmas Day. Like Christmas Day it is also a national holiday in England. The name goes back to medieval times, more than 800 years ago, when alms boxes were placed at the back of every church to collect money for the poor. Traditionally, it is on this day that the alms box at every English church is opened and the contents are distributed to the poor. Historians say the holiday developed because servants were required to work on Christmas Day, but took the following day off. As servants prepared to leave to visit their families, their employers would present them with Christmas boxes. During the late 18th century, Lords and Ladies of the manor would "box up" their leftover food, or sometimes gifts and distribute them the day after Christmas to tenants who lived and worked on their lands. The tradition of giving money still continues today. It is customary for householders to give small gifts or monetary tips to regular visiting trades people (the milkman, dustman, coalman, paper boy etc.) and, in some work places, for employers to give a Christmas bonus to employees. Boxing Day Hunts Traditionally Boxing Day is a day for fox hunting. Horse riders dressed in red and white riding gear with a pack of hounds chase foxes through the country side. Before a Boxing Day Hunt, the huntsmen and huntswomen drink hot wine. But the tradition of the December 26th hunt is changing. The 'sport' is slowly dying out due to the growing support for the fox.

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Shrove Tuesday (Pancake Day) Shrove Tuesday is the last day before the period which Christians call Lent. This day is one of the moveable feasts in the church calendar and is directly related to the date on which Easter falls. The name Shrove comes from the old word "shrive" which means to confess. On Shrove Tuesday, in the Middle Ages, people used to confess their sins so that they were forgiven before the season of Lent began. Shrove Tuesday a time for celebrations Shrove Tuesday is a day of celebration as well as penitence, because it's the last day before Lent. Lent is a time of abstinence, of giving things up. So Shrove Tuesday is the last chance to indulge yourself, and to use up the foods that aren't allowed in Lent. Pancakes are eaten on this day because they contain fat, butter and eggs which were forbidden during Lent. Other names for Shrove Tuesday Shrove Tuesday is also called Pancake Day, or Mardi Gras in France, which means Grease or Fat Tuesday. What happens on Shrove Tuesday in England? Pancakes are eaten and pancake races are held in villages and towns. The object of the race is to get to the finishing line first, carrying a frying pan with a cooked pancake in it whilst flipping the pancake a pre-decided number of times. The skill lies not so much in the running of the race but in flipping and catching the pancake, which must be intact when the finishing line is reached. Tossing Pancakes (pancake racing) The most famous one takes place at Olney. According to tradition, in 1445 a woman of Olney heard the shriving bell while she was making pancakes and ran to the church in her apron, still clutching her frying pan.

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The Olney pancake race is now world famous. Competitors have to be local housewives and they must wear an apron and a hat or scarf. Traffic is stopped whilst the competitors make their dash from the Bull Hotel (old coaching Inn) to the Parish Church of St.Peter & St. Paul, a distance of 380 metres. Skipping In Scarborough, on Shrove Tuesday, everyone assembles on the promenade to skip. Long ropes are stretched across the road and there maybe be ten or more people skipping on one rope. The origins of this customs are not known but skipping was once a magical games, associated with the sowing and spouting of seeds, which may have been played on barrows (burial mounds) during the Middle Ages. Shrove Tuesday in the past The Pancake Bell More than a hundred years ago, Shrove Tuesday used to be a half-day holiday. A church bell, called the Shriving Bell, would have been rung signaling the start of the holiday and to call people to church to confess their sins. The church bell was rung at eleven oclock in the morning, as a reminder to housewives to prepare their pancake batter and so the bell became known as the Pancake Bell. The bell is still rung today in villages across England, although Shrove Tuesday is now not considered a half-holiday. Cock Fighting Shrove Tuesday used to be a great day for cock-fighting in England. Cockfighting was introduced to Britain by the Romans. Superstition In the Midlands, the first pancake made was given to the chickens, to ensure their fertility during the year. It was believed that the first three pancakes cooked were sacred. They were each marked with a cross before being sprinkled with salt and then set aside to ward off evil.
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What is Lent? The forty days (not counting Sundays) before Easter is known as Lent. This is the time of year in England when the days begin to lengthen with the coming of Spring. When does Lent begin? Lent begins on Ash Wednesday, the day after Pancake Day. Why is Lent 40 days? The 40 days mark the 40 years of the Israelites going through the desert and the traditional 40 days of Jesus fasting in the desert. What happens during Lent? During Lent Christians used to fast (give up food) but now a days people try to give up something like chocolate. Lent is a time when Christians remember the 40 days Jesus spent in the desert without food. Lent is the time when Christians prepare for Easter by thinking of things they have done wrong. Ash Wednesday Lent begins with Ash Wednesday. It's a day of penitence to clean the soul before the Lent fast. Why is it called Ash Wednesday? Ashes were used in the past as a symbol of being sorry. Christians rubbed ashes on their foreheads. They wanted to show God that they were sorry for the wrong things they had done in the past year. What happens on Ash Wednesday today? Today, some Christians have ashes put on their foreheads at church on Ash Wednesday. What are the ashes made from?

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The ashes are made by burning palm crosses from the previous Palm Sunday.

Mothering Sunday - Mother's Day

Mothering Sunday is Britains version of Mother's Day and has been celebrated in Britain on the fourth Sunday in Lent since at least the 16th century. Mothering Sunday is the middle Sunday of the fasting period of Lent (which lasts from Ash Wednesday to Easter), so it was also known as 'Refreshment Sunday' or 'Mid-Lent Sunday'. Mothering Sunday began as a religious festival where people used to visit 'Mother Churches. In the 17th century, Christians went to church on this day to pay their respects to the mother church of their religion. Since everyone came to church on this day, it became a kind of family reunion day as well, and people would say they were gone "a mothering." They began to bring flowers, usually daffodils, and treat to their mother on the occasion and often baked a special fruitcake for her, called a simnel cake, with almond paste. Now-a-days, it is a time when children pay respect to their mothers. Children give presents and cards to their Mothers. Many churches give the children in the congregation a little bunch of spring flowers during the Mothering Sunday service, to give to their mothers as a thank you for all their care and love throughout the year. Simnel cakes are traditionally eaten on Mothering Sunday. The cakes are very rich and similar to Christmas Cakes. In the USA and Austalia, Mothers' Day is celebrated on the second Sunday in May. This is a fixed date and does not change from year to year like Mothering Sunday does in England.

Palm Sunday
The Sunday before Easter is known as Palm Sunday. It marks the end of Lent and celebrates Jesus' arrival in Jerusalem for the Jewish festival of Passover. Great crowds of people lined the streets waving palm branches to welcome him.
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On Palm Sunday, children are given crosses made from single palm leaves. Many churches hold processions around or between churches. It is a time of celebration as well as sadness because Jesus died on a cross less than a week after he had entered Jerusalem. Palm Sunday is the beginning of Holy Week, the last week of Lent and therefore the week leading up to Easter. Maundy Thursday On this day, Christians remember the Last Supper. It is one of the lesser known days of the Christian calendar and, were it not for the Maundy Ceremony, would probably have fallen into disuse altogether. Maundy Thursday is the day before Good Friday. Its name is derived from the Latin word maundatum (command) and recalls Christ's words at the Last Supper: 'And now I give you a new commandment: love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another.' During the Last Supper, Jesus washed his disciples feet. This act has sometimes been followed literally in history as a good way of reminding rulers that they are here to serve their subjects. In England, the custom of washing feet was preserved until 1689. Up until then the King or Queen would wash the feet of the poor on Maundy Thursday in Westminster Abbey. (You should, however note, that the feet were first washed by Yeoman of the Laundry before the monarch had to wash them and kiss them!) Food and clothing were also handed out to the poor. Gradually over the years the foot washing and the gift of clothing has been replaced by specially minted Maundy money. (Maundy coins are specially minted for the occasion and are legal tender and, as they are produced in such limited numbers, they are much sought after by collectors). In England today, the Queen attends a service in one of the many cathedrals through out the country, to distribute the Maundy Money. The Queen is accompanied by a Yeomen of the Guard, who carries a golden tray of Maundy Money in white leather purses, and the "Maundy children" who are selected from local schools to attend her. Everyone
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carries posies ("nosegays") of flowers - a traditional protection at the time of the Great Plague. (King Charles 1 distributed his Maundy coins in 1639 during an outbreak of the plague.) The number of purses handed out is equal to the age of the monarch.

Easter
Easter usually comes in the month of April. It is what is called a 'moveable feast' because the date of it is fixed according to the moon. Easter Sunday has to be the first Sunday following the full moon, after the Spring equinox - the Paschal Full Moon . This means that Easter can fall as early as March 22 or as late as April 25. Origins of Easter Like most Christian festivals, Easter has its origins in pre-Christian times. Our ancestors believed that the sun died in winter and was born anew in spring. The arrival of spring was celebrated all over the world long before the religious meaning became associated with Easter. Today, Easter celebrates the rebirth of Christ. Different Gods were thanked for bringing the Earth back to life. The word Easter is thought to have derived from the goddess Eostre, an Anglo-Saxon Goddess. Even though Easter is associated with Spring in England, it is not so in countries in the southern hemisphere. In these countries Easter falls near the end of autumn. However, through out the world Easter is felt to be a time of new life and new beginnings because of Jesus' rebirth. Easter starts with Good Friday. Good Friday Good Friday is the Friday before Easter Sunday. On this day, Christians remember the day when Jesus was crucified on a cross. Jesus was arrested and was tried, in a mock trial. He was handed over to the Roman soldiers to be beaten and flogged with whips. A crown of long, sharp thorns was thrust upon his head.

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Jesus was forced to carry his own cross outside the city to Skull Hill. He was so weak after the beating that a man named Simon, who was from Cyrene, was pulled from the crowd and forced to carry Jesus' cross the rest of the way. Jesus was nailed to the cross. Two other criminals were crucified with him, their crosses were on either side of him. A sign above Jesus read "The King of the Jews." This took place at approximately 9am Friday morning. Christians believe that Jesus stood in our place. His death paid the penalty not for his own wrong doings but for ours. It is traditional to eat warm 'hot cross buns' on Good Friday. Hot Cross Buns with their combination of spicy, sweet and fruity flavors have long been an Easter tradition. The pastry cross on top of the buns symbolizes and reminds Christians of the cross that Jesus was killed on. The buns were traditionally eaten at breakfast time. They were once sold by street vendors who sang a little song about them. "Hot cross buns, Hot cross buns, One a penny, two a penny, Hot cross buns." Hot cross buns baked on Good Friday were supposed to have magical powers. It is said that you could keep a hot cross bun which had been made on Good Friday for at least a year and it wouldn't go mould. Hardened old hot cross buns were supposed to protect the house from fire. Sailors took them to sea with them to prevent shipwreck. A bun baked on Good Friday and left to get hard could be grated up and put in some warm milk and this was supposed to stop an upset tummy.

Easter Sunday
Easter Day is the high point of the festival. A day of parties, gift-giving and above all a celebration that Jesus rose from the dead and lives forever. The traditional Easter gift is a chocolate egg.
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Christians gather together on Easter Sunday for a Sunrise Service. This service takes place on a hill side so everyone can see the sun rise. Eggs play an important part in Easter. Chocolate eggs are given to children. The eggs are either hollow or have a filling, and are usually covered with brightly coloured silver paper. Small chocolate eggs are hidden for the children to find on the traditional Easter Egg Hunt. Pace Egging All kinds of fun are had with the hard-boiled decorated pace eggs. Decorating and colouring eggs for Easter was a common custom in England in the middle ages. Eggs were brightly coloured to mimic the new, fresh colours of spring. The practice of decorating eggs was made even more famous by King Edward I of England who ordered 450 eggs to be gold-leafed and coloured for Easter gifts in 1290. Egg rolling is the most popular and is an Easter Monday sport. Hardboiled eggs are rolled down a hill. Customs differ from place to place. The winner's egg may be the one that rolls the farthest, survives the most rolls, or is rolled between two pegs. Another activity that happens is the playing of a game with the eggs known as "jarping", which is rather like conkers. Each person holds a pace egg firmly in his hand and knocks it against his opponent's to see which is the strongest and which egg can score the most victims. Easter cards Easter cards arrived in Victorian England , when a stationer added a greeting to a drawing of a rabbit. The cards proved popular.

Bonfire Night
November 5th "Remember, remember, the fifth of November, Gunpowder, treason and plot. We see no reason why
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Gunpowder treason Should ever be forgot!" Words to Guy Fawkes rhyme

Histo
Nearly four hundred years ago, in 1605, a man called Guy Fawkes attempted to blow up the Houses of Parliament in London with barrels of gunpowder placed in the basement. He wanted to kill King James and the kings leaders. Why did Guy Fawkes want kill King James and the kings leaders? When Queen Elizabeth 1st took the throne of England she made some laws against the Roman Catholics. Guy Fawkes was one of a small group of Catholics who felt that the government was treating Roman Catholics unfairly. They had hoped that the next King, James 1st, would change the laws but he didn't. What happened? A group of men led by Robert Gatesby, plotted to kill James. Guy Fawkes was one the group. The men bought a house next door to the parliament building. The house had a cellar which went under the parliament building. They planned to put gunpowder under the house and blow up parliament and the king. The king and his leaders were to meet on November 5. Guy Fawkes was given the job to keep watch over the barrels of gunpowder and to light the fuse, but he was discovered before he could blow up parliament. Guy Fawkes was put in prison and tortured until he told them the names of all the people involved in the Gunpowder Plot. Every year on 5th November, the anniversary of the Gunpowder Plot, Guy Fawkes is remembered. Throughout England, towns and villages light huge bonfires, let off magnificent fireworks, burn an effigy of Guy Fawkes and celebrate the fact the Parliament and James I were not blown sky high by Guy Fawkes.

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As well as burning effigy of Guy Fawkes, the bonfires are used to cook potatoes wrapped in foil and heat up soup for the crowds that come to watch the fireworks. In main town and cities, torch-lit processions are also popular on this night too. During the days before Bonfire Night, children used to take their homemade guys out on the street and ask for "a penny for the Guy" for fireworks. Also children, in some areas, blacken their faces as Guy Fawkes might of did when he plotted to blow up parliament.

Remebrance day
Remembrance Day is on 11 November. It is a special day set aside to remember all those men and women who were killed during the two World Wars and other conflicts. At one time the day was known as Armistice Day and was renamed Remembrance Day after the Second World War. Remembrance Sunday is held on the second Sunday in November, which is usually the Sunday nearest to 11 November. Special services are held at war memorials and churches all over Britain. A national ceremony takes place in Whitehall, London. The first actual Poppy Day was held in Britain on November 11th, 1921 and was a national success raising106,000.

Chapter 9 Mass media in Britain

National Daily and Sunday Papers In a democratic country like Great Britain the press, ideally, has three political functions: information, discussion and representation. It is supposed to give the voter reliable and complete information to base his judgement. It should let him know the arguments for and against any policy, and it should reflect and give voice to the desires of the people as a whole.
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Naturally, there is no censorship in Great Britain, but in 1953 the Press Council was set up. It is not an official body but it is composed of the people nominated by journalists, and it receives complaints against particular newspapers. It may make reports, which criticise papers, but they have no direct effects. The British press means, primarily, a group of daily and Sunday newspapers published in London. They are most important and known as national in the sense of circulating throughout the British Isles. All the national newspapers have their central offices in London, but those with big circulations also print editions in Manchester (the second largest press centre in Britain) and Glasgow in Scotland. Probably in no other country there are such great differences between the various national daily newspapers in the type of news they report and the way they report it. All the newspapers whether daily or Sunday, totalling about twenty, can be divided into two groups: quality papers and popular papers. Quality papers include The Times, The Guardian, The Daily Telegraph, The Financial Times, The Observer, The Sunday Times and The Sunday Telegraph. Very thoroughly they report national and international news. In addition to the daily and Sunday papers, there is an enormous number of weeklies, some devoted to specialised and professional subjects, others of more general interest. Three of them are of special importance and enjoy a large and influential readership. They are: the Spectator (which is non-party but with Conservative views), the New Statesman (a radical journal, inclining towards the left wing of the Labour Party) and the largest and most influential the Economist (politically independent). These periodicals resemble one another in subject matter and layout. They contain articles on national and international affairs, current events, the arts, letters to the Editor, extensive book reviews. Their publications often exert a great influence on politics. The distinction between the quality and the popular papers is one primarily of educational level. Quality papers are those newspapers which are intended for the well educate. All the rest are generally called popular newspapers. The most important of them are the News of the World, The Sun, the Daily Mirror, the Daily Express. The two archetypal popular papers, the Daily Mail and Daily Express were both built by individual tycoons in the early 20 th century.
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Both had a feeling for the taste of a newly-literate public: if a man bites a dog, thats a news. The Daily Express was built up by a man born in Canada. He became a great man in the land, a close friend and associate of Winston Churchill, and a powerful minister in his War Cabinet. The circulation of The Daily Express at one time exceeded four million copies a day. Now the first Lord Beaverbrook is dead, and the daily sales are not much more than half of their highest figure. The history of the Daily Mail, with its conventional conservatism, is not greatly different. The popular newspapers tend to make news sensational. These papers concentrate on more emotive reporting of stories often featuring the Royal Family, film and pop stars, and sport. They publish personal articles which shock and excite. Instead of printing factual news reports, these papers write them up in an exciting way, easy to read, playing on peoples emotions. They avoid serious political and social questions or treat them superficially. Trivial events are treated as the most interesting and important happenings. Crime is always given far more space than creative, productive or cultural achievements. Much of their information concerns the private lives of people who are in the news. The popular newspapers are very similar to one another in appearance and general arrangement, with big headlines and the main news on the front page. This press is much more popular than the quality press. In some countries, newspapers are owned by government or by political parties. This is not the case in Britain. Newspapers here are mostly owned by individuals or by publishing companies, and the editors of the papers are usually allowed considerate freedom of expression. This is not to say that newspapers are without political bias. Papers like The Daily Telegraph, The Sun, for example, usually reflect Conservative opinions in their comment and reporting, while the Daily Mirror and The Guardian have a more left-wing bias. In addition to the 12 national daily newspapers there are nine national papers which published on Sundays. The quality Sunday papers devote large sections to literature and the arts. They have colour supplements and are in many ways more like magazines than newspapers. They supply quite different world of taste and interest from the popular papers. Most of the Sundays contain more reading matter than daily papers, and several of them also include colour-supplements separate colour magazines which contain photographically-illustrated feature articles.
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Reading a Sunday paper, like having a big Sunday lunch, is an important tradition in many British households. Local and Regional Papers Besides, nearly every area in Britain has one or more local newspapers. Most local daily papers belong to one or other of the bog press empires, which leave their local editors to decide editorial policy. Mostly they try to avoid any appearance of regular partisanship, giving equal weight to each major political party. They give heavy weight to local news and defend local interests and local industries. The total circulation of all provincial daily newspapers, morning and evening together, is around eight million: about half as great as that of the national papers. In spite of this, some provincial papers are quite prosperous. They do not need their own foreign correspondents; they receive massive local advertising, particularly about things for sale. The truly local papers are weekly. They are not taken very seriously, being mostly bought for the useful information contained in their advertisements. But for a foreign visitor wishing to learn something of the flavour of a local community, the weekly local paper can be useful. Some of these papers are now given away, not sold out but supported by the advertising. The four most famous provincial newspapers are The Scotsman (Edinburgh), the Glasgow herald, the Yorkshire Post (Leeds) and the Belfast Telegraph, which present national as well as local news. Apart from these there are many other daily, evening and weekly papers published in cities and smaller towns. The present local news and are supported by local advertisements. The Weekly, Periodical and Daily Press Good English writing is often to be found in the weekly political and literary journals, all based in London, all with nation-wide circulations in the tens of thousands. The Economist, founded in 1841, probably has no equal everywhere. It has a coloured cover and a few photographs inside, so that it look like Time or Newsweek, but its reports have more depth and breadth than any these. It covers world affair, and even its American section is more informative about America than its American equivalents. Although by no means popular, it is vigorous in its comments, and deserves the respect in which it is generally held. Spectator is a weekly journal of opinion. It regularly contains well153

written articles, often politically slanted. It devotes nearly half its space to literature and the arts. Glossy weekly or monthly illustrated magazines cater either for women or for any of a thousand special interests. Almost all are based in London, with national circulations, and the womens magazines sell millions of copies. These, along with commercial television, are the great educators of demand for the new and better goods offered by the modern consumer society. In any big newsagents shop the long rows of brightly covered magazines seem to go on for ever; beyond the large variety of appeals to women and teenage girls come those concerned with yachting, tennis, model railways, gardening and cars. For every activity there is a magazine, supported mainly by its advertisers, and from time to time the police brings a pile of pornographic magazines to local magistrates, who have the difficult task of deciding whether they are sufficiently offensive to be banned. These specialist magazines are not cheap. They live on an infinite variety of taste, curiosity and interest. Their production, week by week and month by month, represents a fabulous amount of effort and of felled trees. Television has not killed the desire to read. The best-known among the British national weekly newspapers are as follows. The Times (1785) is called the paper of the Establishment. The Times has three weekly supplements, all appeared and sold separately. The Literary Supplement is devoted almost entirely to book reviews, and covers all kinds of new literature. It makes good use of academic contributors, and has at last, unlike The Economist, abandoned its old tradition of anonymous reviews. New Scientist published by the company which owns the Daily Mirror, has good and serious articles about scientific research, often written by academics yet useful for the general reader. This paper is most famous of all British newspapers. Politically it is independent, but is generally inclined to be sympathetic to the Conservative Party. It is not a government organ, though very often its leading articles may be written after private consultation with people in the Government. It has a reputation for extreme caution, though it has always been a symbol of solidity in Britain. Its reporting is noted for reliability and completeness and especially in foreign affairs. Its reputation for reflecting or even anticipating government policy gives it an almost official tone.
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The popular newspapers are now commonly called tabloids. This word first used for pharmaceutical substances compressed into pills. The tabloid newspapers compress the news, and are printed on small sheets of paper. They use enormous headlines for the leading items of each day, which are one day political, one day are to do with a crime, one day sport, one day some odd happening. They have their pages of political report and comment, short, often over-simplified but vigorously written and (nowadays) generally responsible. They thrive on sensational stories and excitement. The Guardian (until 1959-The Manchester Guardian) has become a truly national paper rather than one specially connected with Manchester. In quality, style and reporting it is nearly equal with The Times. In politics it is described as radical. It was favourable to the Liberal Party and tends to be rather closer in sympathy to the Labour party than to the Conservatives. It has made great progress during the past years, particularly among the intelligent people who find the Times too uncritical of the Establishment. The Daily Telegraph (1855) is the quality paper with the largest circulation (1.2 million compared with The Times 442 thousand and The Guardians 500 thousand). In theory it is independent, but in practice it is such caters for the educated and seem-educated business and professional classes. Being well produced and edited it is full of various information and belongs to the same class of journalism as The Times and The Guardian. In popular journalism the The Daily Mirror became a serious rival of the Express and Mail in the 1940s. It was always tabloid, and always devoted more space to picture than to text. It was also a pioneer with strip cartoons. After the Second World War it regularly supported the Labour Party. It soon outdid the Daily Express in size of headlines, short sentences and exploration of excitement. It also became the biggest-selling daily newspaper. For many years its sales were about four million; sometimes well above. The daily papers have no Sunday editions, but there are Sunday papers, nearly all of which are national: The Sunday Times (1822, 1.2 million), The Sunday Telegraph (1961, 0.7 million), the Sunday Express (1918, 2.2 million), The Sunday Mirror (1963, 2.7 million). On weekdays there are evening papers, all of which serve their own regions only, and give the latest news. London has two evening newspapers, The London Standard and The Evening News.
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Traditionally the leading humorous periodical in Britain is Punch, best known for its cartoons and articles, which deserve to be regarded as typical examples of English humour. It has in recent years devoted increasing attention to public affairs, often by means of its famous cartoons. This old British satirical weekly magazine, survives, more abrasive than in an earlier generation yet finding it hard to keep the place it once had in a more secure social system. Its attraction, particularly for one intellectual youth, has been surpassed by a new rival, Private Eye, founded in 1962 by people who, not long before, had run a pupils magazine in Shrewsbury School. Its scandalous material is admirably written on atrocious paper and its circulation rivals that of The Economist. News Agencies The principal news agencies in Britain are Reuters, an international news organisation registered in London, the Press Association and Extel Financial. Reuters The oldest is Reuters which was founded in 1851. The agency employs some 540 journalists and correspondents in seventy countries and has links with about 120 national or private news agencies. The information of general news, sports, and economic reports is received in London every day and is transmitted over a network links and cable and radio circuits. Reuters is a publicly owned company, employing 10,335 full-time staff in 79 countries. It has 1,300 staff journalists and photographers. The company served subscribers in 132 countries, including financial institutions; commodities houses; traders in currencies, equities and bonds; major corporations; government agencies; news agencies; newspapers; and radio and television stations. Reuters has developed the worlds most extensive private leased communications network to transmit its services. It provides the media with general, political, economic, financial and sports news, news pictures and graphics, and television news. Services for business clients comprise constantly updated price information and news, historical information, facilities for computerised trading, and the supply of communications and other equipment for the financial dealing rooms. Information is distributed through video terminals and Tele-printers. Reuters is the major shareholder in Visnews, a television news agency whose service reaches over 650 broadcasters in 84 countries.
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The Press Association The Press Association - the British and Irish national news agency is co-operatively owned by the principal daily newspapers of Britain outside London, and the Irish Republic. It offers national and regional newspapers and broadcasters a comprehensive range of home news general and parliamentary news, legal reports, and all types of financial, commercial and sports news. It also includes in its services to regional papers the world news from Reuters and Associated Press. News is sent by satellite from London by the Press Association, certain items being available in Dataformat as camera ready copy. Its Newsfile operation provides general news, sports and foreign news on screen to non-media as well as media clients by means of telephone and view data terminals. The photographic department offers newspapers and broadcasters a daily service of pictures. The News Features service supplies reports of local or special interest and grants exclusive rights to syndicated features. It also offers a dial-in graphics facility, as well as extensive cuttings and photograph libraries. Extel Financial Extel Financial supplies information and services to financial and business communities throughout the world. Based in London, it has a network of offices in Europe and the United States and direct representation in Japan and South-East Asia. Data is collected from all the worlds major stock exchanges, companies and the international press. The agency is a major source of reference material on companies and securities. It supplies a full range of data products on international financial matters. Up-to-the-minutes business and company news is bade available by the agencys specialist financial news operations. Other Agencies The British press and broadcasting organisations are also catered for by Associated Press and United Press International, which are British subsidiaries of United States news agencies. A number of other British, Commonwealth and foreign agencies and news services have offices in London, and there are minor agencies in other city. Syndication of features is not as common in Britain as in some countries, but a few agencies specialise in this type of work. New Printing Technology
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The heavy production costs of newspapers and periodicals continue to encourage publishers to look for ways of reducing these costs, often by using advanced computer system to control editing and production processes. The Front end or single stroking system, for example, allows journalists or advertising staff to input copy directly into video terminal, and then to transform it automatically into computer-set columns of type. Although it is possible for these columns to be assembled electronically on a page-sized screen, turned into a full page, and made automatically into a plate ready for transfer to the printing press, at present very few such systems are in operation. Most involve the production of bromides from the computer setting; there are then pasted up into columns before being places in a plate making machine. The most advanced system presents opportunities for reorganisation, which have implications throughout a newspaper office and may give rise to industrial relations problems. Generally, and most recently in the case of national newspapers, the introduction of computerised system has led to substantial reduction in workforces, particularly, but not solely, among print workers. All the national newspapers use computer technology, and its use in the provincial press, which has generally led the way in adopting news techniques, is widespread. Journalists key articles directly into, and edit them on, computer terminals; colour pictures and graphics are entered into the same system electronically. Where printing plants are at some distance from editorial offices, pages are sent for printing by fax machine from typesetter to print plant. Other technological development include the use of full-colour printing, and a switch from traditional letterpress printing to the web-offset plastic-plate processes. News International, publisher of the three daily and two Sunday papers, has at its London Docklands headquarters more than 500 computer terminals - one of the largest system installed at one time anywhere in the world. The Financial Times opened a new printing plants in Dockland in 1988 with about 200 production workers, compared with the 650 employed at its former printing facility in the City of London. The new Docklands plant of the Associated Newspapers Group uses flexography, a rudder-plate process. Other national papers have also moved into the new computer-based printing plants outside Fleet Street.

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Radio and Television British broadcasting has traditionally been based on the principle that it is a public service accountable to the people through Parliament. Following 1990 legislation, it is also embracing the principles of competition and choice. Three public bodies are responsible for television and radio services throughout Britain. They are: 1. the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) broadcasts television and radio services; 2. the Independent Television Commission (ITC) licenses and regulates non-BBC television services, including cable and satellite services, and; 3. the Radio Authority licenses and regulates all non-BBC radio services. Since the 1970s 98% of British households have had television sets able to receive four channels, two put out by the BBC, two by commercial companies. Commercial satellite and cable TV began to grow significantly in 1989 1990, and by 1991 the two main companies operating in Britain had joined together as British Sky Broadcasting. By 1991 about one household in ten had the equipment to receive this material. Every household with TV must by law pay for a license, which costs about the same for a year as a popular newspaper every day. Unlike the press, mass broadcasting has been subject to some state control from its early days. One agreed purpose has been to ensure that news, comment and discussion should be balanced and impartial, free of influence by government or advertisers. From 1926 first radio, then TV as well, were entrusted to the BBC, which still has a board of governors appointed by the government. The BBCs monopoly was ended in 1954, when an independent board was appointed by the Home Secretary to give licenses to broadcast (franchises) to commercial TV companies financed by advertising, and called in general independent television (ITV). These franchises have been given only for a few years at a time, then renewed subject to various conditions. In 1990 Parliament passed a long and complex new Broadcasting Act which made big changes in the arrangements for commercial TV and radio. The old Independent Broadcasting Authority, which had
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given franchises to the existing TV and radio companies, was abolished. In its place, for TV alone, a new Independent Television Commission was set up in 1991, with the task of awarding future franchises, early in the 1990s, either to the existing companies or to new rivals which were prepared to pay a higher price. The Commission also took over responsibility for licensing cable programme services, including those satellite TV channels which are carried on cable networks. The new law did not change the status of the BBC, but it did have the purpose of increasing competition, both among broadcasters and among producers. It envisaged that a new commercial TV channel, TV5, would start in the early 1990s. The general nature of the four TV channels functioning in 1991, seems likely to continue, with BBC1 and ITV producing a broadly similar mixture of programmes in competition with each other. ITV has a complex structure. Its main news is run by one company, Independent Television News, its early morning TV a.m. by another. There are about a dozen regional companies which broadcast in their regions for most each day, with up to ten minutes of advertisements in each hour, between programmes or as interruptions at intervals of twenty or thirty minutes. These regional companies produce some programmes of local interest and some which they sell to other regions, so that for much of each day the same material is put out all through the country. Some of BBC1s programmes are similarly produced by its regional stations. BBC2 and the independent Channel 4 (which has its own company) are both used partly for special interest programmes and for such things as complete operas. BBC The Corporations board of 12 governors, including the chairman, vice-chairman and national governors for Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland, is appointed by the Queen on the advice of the Government. The board of governors is responsible for all aspects of broadcasting on the BBC. The governors appoint the Director-General, the Corporations chief executive officer, who heads the board of management, the body in charge of the daily running of the services. The BBC has a strong regional structure. The three English regions BBC North, BBC Midlands & East and BBC South and the Scottish, Welsh and Northern Ireland national regions make programmes for their local audiences as well as contributing to the national network. The
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National Broadcasting Councils for Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland give advice on the policy and content of television and radio programmes intended mainly for reception in their areas. Local radio councils representatives of the local community advise on the development and operation of the BBCs local radio stations. Finance The domestic services of the BBC are financed principally from the sale of television licences. Households with television must buy an annual licence costing 80 for colour and 26.50 for black and white. More than two-thirds of expenditure on domestic services relates of television. Licence income is supplemented by profits from trading activities, such as television programme exports, sale of recordings and publications connected with BBC programmes, hire and sale of educational films, film library sales, and exhibitions based on programmes. The BBC meets the cost of its local radio stations. BBC World Service radio is financed by grand-in-aid from the Foreign & Commonwealth Office, while BBC World Service television is selffunding. In 1991 the BBC took over from the Home Office responsibility for administering the television licensing system. Since 1988 annual rises in the licence see have been linked to the rate of inflation; this is intended further to improve the BBCs efficiency and encourage it to continue to develop alternative sources of revenue. BBC National Radio The BBC has five national radio channels for listeners in the United Kingdom. Radio (channel) 1 provides mainly a programme of rock and pop music. Radio 2 broadcasts lights music and entertainment, comedy as well as being the principal channel for the coverage of sport. Radio 3 provides mainly classical music as well as drama, poetry and short stories, documentaries, talks on ancient and modern plays and some education programmes. Radio 4 is the main speech network providing the principals news and current affairs service, as well as drama, comedy, documentaries and panel games. It also carries parliamentary and major public events. BBC 5 (on medium wave only), which is devoted chiefly to sport, education and programmes for young people. The BBC has over 30 local radio stations and about 50 commercial
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independent stations distributed throughout Britain. To provide highquality and wide-ranging programmes that inform, educate and entertain, to provide also greater choice and competition the government encourages the growth of additional radio services run on commercial lines. Besides these domestic programmes, the BBC broadcasts in England and in over 40 other languages to every part of the world. It is the World Service of the BBC. Its broadcasts are intended to provide a link of culture, information and entertainment between the peoples of the United Kingdom and those in other parts of the world. The main part of the World Service programme is formed by news bulletins, current affairs, political commentaries, as well as sports, music, drama, etc. In general, the BBC World Service reflects British opinion and the British way of life. The BBC news bulletins and other programmes are rebroadcasted by the radio services of many countries. BBC World Service Radio The BBC World Service broadcasts by radio world-wide, using English and 37 other languages, for 820 hours a week. The main objectives are to give unbiased news, reflect British opinion and project British life, culture and developments in science and industry. News bulletins, current affairs programmes, political commentaries and topical magazine programmes form the main part of the output. These are supplemented by a sports service, music, drama and general entertainment. Regular listeners are estimated to number 120 million. The languages in which the World Service broadcasts and the length of time each is on the air are prescribed by the Government. Otherwise the BBC has full responsibility and is completely independent in determining the content of news and other programmes. There are broadcasts by radio for 24 hours a day in English, supplemented at peak listening times by programmes of special interest to Africa, East Asia, South Asia, Europe, the Caribbean and the Falkland Islands. BBC World Service news bulletins and other programmes are rebroadcast by some 45450 radio and cable stations in over 80 countries, which receive the programmes by satellite. Two World Service departments also specialise in supplying radio material for re-broadcast. BBC transcription sells recordings to more than 100 countries, while

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BBC Topical Tapes airmails some 250 tapes of original programmes to subscribers in over 50 countries each week. BBC English is the most extensive language-teaching venture in the world. English lessons are broadcasted daily by radio with explanations in some 30 languages, including English, and re-broadcast by many radio stations. BBC English television programmes are also shown in more than 90 countries. A range of printed, audio and video material accompanies these programmes. Another part of the World Service, BBC Monitoring, listens to and reports on foreign broadcasts, providing a daily flow of significant news and comment from overseas to the BBC and the Government. This information is also sold to the press, private sector companies, academic staff and public bodies. BBC Television The BBC has a powerful television service. It owns two channels: BBC1 and BBC2. Practically all the population of the country lives within the range of the TV transmission. With the exception of a break during the Second World War, the BBC has been providing regular television broadcasts since 1936. All BBC2 programmes and the vast majority of those on BBC1 are broadcasted on the national network. The aim of the Government is that at least 25 per cent of programmes on all channels should be made by independent producers. The BBC television programmes are designed for people of different interests. BBC1 presents more programmes of general interest, such as light entertainment, sport, current affairs, childrens programmes, as well as news and information. BBC2 provides documentaries, travel programmes, serious drama, music, programmes on pastimes and international films. The BBC does not give publicity to any firm or company except when it is necessary to provide effective and informative programmes. It must not broadcast any commercial advertisement or any sponsored programme. Advertisements are broadcasted only on independent television, but advertisers can have no influence on programme content or editorial work. Advertising is usually limited to seven minutes in any one hour of broadcasting time. Both the BBC broadcast education programmes for children and students in schools of all kinds, as well as pre-school children, and for adults in colleges and other institutions and in their homes. Broadcasts to schools cover most subjects of the curriculum, while education
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programmes for adults cover many fields of learning, vocational training and recreation. The Government has no privileged access to radio or television, but government publicity to support non-political campaigns may be broadcasted on independent radio and television. Such broadcasts are paid for on a normal commercial basis. The BBC is not the mouthpiece of the government. All the major political parties have equal rights to give political broadcasts. Radio and, particularly, television have their greatest impact on public affairs at election time. Each of the principal political parties is granted time on the air roughly in proportion to the number of its candidates for the Parliament. Television and radio coverage of political matters, including elections, is required to be impartial. Extended news programmes cover all aspects of the major parties campaigns at national level and in the constituencies. Political parties arrange photo opportunities, during which candidates are photographed in such places as factories, farms, building sites, schools and youth centres. They often use these visits to make points about party policies. Special election programmes include discussions between politicians belonging to rival parties. Often a studio audience of members of the public is able to challenge and question senior politicians. Radio phone-ins also allow ordinary callers to question, or put their views to political leaders. Broadcast coverage also includes interviews with leading figures from all the parties, reports focusing on particular election issues, and commentaries from political journalists. Arrangements for the broadcasts are made between the political parties and the broadcasting authorities, but editorial control of the broadcasts rests with the parties. Television and the other channels of mass media are playing an increasingly important part in bringing contemporary affairs to the general public. Radio and television programmes for the week are published in the BBC periodical, Radio Times. The BBC publishes another weekly periodical, The Listener, in which a selection of radio and TV talks are printed. By international standards it could reasonably be claimed that the four regular channels together provide an above average service, with the balance giving something to please most tastes and preferences. Some quiz-shows and soap operas, or long-running sagas, attract large
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numbers of viewers and to some extent the BBC competes for success in this respect. But minority preferences are not overlooked. In Wales there are Welsh-language programmes for the few who want them. There are foreign language lessons for the general public, as well as the special programmes for schools and the Open University. BBC news has always kept a reputation for objectivity, and the independent news service is of similar quality. Television is probably the most important single factor in the continuous contest for the publics favour between the political parties. Parties and candidates cannot buy advertising time. At intervals each channel provides time for each of the three main political parties for party-political broadcasts, and during an election campaign a great deal of time is provided for parties election, always on an equal basis. Minor parties get time, based partly on the number of their candidates. In Wales and Scotland the nationalist parties get TV time on the same basis as the three others. Studios and transmitters must be provided free of charge. But often a party prefers to film a broadcast outside the studio at its own expense, for greater impact. BBC TV Europe broadcasts some of its own programmes by satellite, and from 1991 BBC TV International began to sell and distribute its World Service TV news in English and some other languages. BBC domestic services are financed almost exclusively by the sale of annual television licenses; World Service radio is financed from a government grant, while World Service Television is self-funding. Popular television drama programs produced for the BBC are shown in America and many other countries around the world. BBC World Service Television BBC World Service Television was set up in 1991 to establish a world-wide television service. The BBC has generated its own funding fir this operation. The company at present provides three services: A subscription channel in Europe, based on mixture of BBC1 and BBC2 programmes, news bulletins, and weather and business reports. Viewers receive the service by cable or direct to their homes, using special decoders. A 24-hour news and information channel which is available throughout Asia, launched in November 1991. Funded by advertising, the service is one of the channels offered throughout Asia by the
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commercial company STAR TV. The cannel is compiled by the BBC and transmitted by satellite to the ground station in Hong Kong, where advertising is added by STAR TV before distribution. A news and information channel in Africa, launched in April 1992. The service is available to viewers who have the appropriate satellite reception equipment and in countries where national broadcasters make the service part of their regular output. ITV In addition there are two independent channels: ITV (Independent Television) and Channel4, which is owned by the IBA (Independent Broadcasting Authority). The ITV has 15 programme companies, each serving a different part o the country. These companies get most of their money from firms who use them for advertising. The whole of ITV is controlled by the IBA. The magazine TV Times advertises all ITV programmes; ITV programmes include news, information, light entertainment and are interrupted at regular intervals by advertisements. Despite the genuine entertainment that so many of the good commercials afford, television still succeeds in crushing its viewers with ads that are too annoying, too often, and just too much. Very often commercials are infuriating as well as irresistible. Commercials are the heavy tribute that the viewer must pay to the sponsor in exchange for often doubtful pleasure. The first regular commercial ITV programmes began in London in 1955. ITV Programme Companies The companies operate on commercial basis, deriving most of their revenue from the sale of advertising tome. The financial resources, advertising revenue and programme production of the companies vary considerably, depending largely on the size of population in the areas in which they operate. Although newspapers may acquire an interest in programme companies, there are safeguards to ensure against concentration of media ownership, thereby protecting the public interest. Each programme company plans the content of the programmes to be broadcast in its area. These are produced by the company itself, or by other programme companies or bought from elsewhere. The five largest companies two serving London and three serving north-west England, the Midlands and Yorkshire supply more programmes for brascast elsewhere on the national network than do the smaller ones.
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A common news service is provided 24 hours a day by Independent Television News (ITN). ITV Programmes The first regular ITV programmes began in London in 1955. ITV programmes are broadcasting 24 hours a day in all parts of the country. About one-third of the output comprises informative programmes news, documentaries, and programmes on current affairs, education and religion. The remainder cover sport, comedy, drama, game shows, films, and a range of other programmes with popular appeal. Over half the programmes are produced by the programme companies and ITN. Channel 4 and S4C Channel 4 forms part of the independent television network and provides a national TV service throughout Britain, except in Wales, which has a corresponding service in Welsh. Channel 4, currently a subsidiary of the ITC, began broadcasting in 1982. It provides a national television service throughout Britain, except in Wales, which has a corresponding service Sianel Pedwar Cymru (S4C). It is required to present programmes that are complementary to those of ITV, appealing tastes and interests not normally catered for by one original independent service. Channel 4 must present a suitable proportion of educational programmes and encourage innovation and experiment. It commissions programmes from the ITC companies and independent producers and buys programmes in the international market. Channel 4 broadcasts for approximately 139 hours a week, about half of which are devoted to informative programmes. At present the service, including that in Wales, financed by annual subscriptions from the ITV programme companies in return for advertising time in fourth channel programmes broadcast in their own regions. In Wales programmes on the fourth channel are run and controlled by S4C. Under the Broadcasting Act 1990 S4C became a broadcaster in its own right. Its members are appointed by the Government. S4C is required to see that a significant proportion of programming; in practice 23 hours a week, is in the Welsh language and that programmes broadcast between 18:30 and 22:00 hours are mainly in welsh. At other times S4C transmits national Channel 4 programmes.

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Under the 1990 Act the distinctive remit of Channel 4 and S4C has been strengthened and the services are guaranteed by special arrangements to protect revenue levels. From January 1993: Channel 4 was to become a public corporation, licensed and regulated by the ITC, selling its own advertising time and retaining the proceed; S4C was to be financed by the Government rather than by a levy from ITV. Teletext The BBC and independent television each operate a teletext service, offering constantly updated information on a variety of subjects, including news, sport, travel, local weather conditions and entertainment. The teletext system allows the television signal to carry additional information which can be selected and displayed as pages of text and graphics on receivers equipped with the necessary decoders. Both Ceefax, the BBCs service, and Oracle, the independent televisions service, have a subtitling facility on certain programmes for people with hearing difficulties. Both services are available whenever the transmitters are on the air. Nearly 40 per cent of households in Britain have teletext sets and over 7 million people turn to the service daily: more than most daily newspapers. The broadcasting Act 1990 introduces a new regulatory system for licensing spare capacity within the television signal. This allows more varied use of spare capacity data transfer, for instance but the position of teletext on commercial television is safeguarded. At the end of 1991 the ITC advertised three teletext licences a single public service licence for teletext on Channels 3 and 4 (andS4C) and two separate licences for commercial additional services to subscription or closed user groups. Broadcasting by Satellite Direct broadcasting by satellite, by which television pictures are transmitted directly by satellite into peoples homes, has been available throughout Britain since 1989. The signals from satellite broadcasting are receivable using specially designed aerials or dishes and associated reception equipment.

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Several British based satellite television channels have been set up supply programmes to cable operators on Britain and, in many cases, throughout Europe. British Sky Broadcasting (BSkyB) carries channels devoted to light entertainment, news, feature films and sport, transmitted from the Astra and Marcopolo satellites. Each Astra satellite can transmit 16 channels, simultaneously. Two satellites are operational so far, with more planned, and provide about 18 channels in England. Other channels broadcast sport, general entertainment for women, and a service for children. MTV is a pop video channel. The Marcopolo satellite carries BskyB broadcasts made under contract to the ITC in the five DBS channels allocated to Britain under international agreement. Educational Broadcasting Both the BBC and independent television broadcast educational programmes for schools and continuing education programmes for adults. Broadcasts to schools deal with most subjects of the National Curriculum, while education programmes for adults cover many fields of learning and vocational training. Supporting material, in the form of books, pamphlets, filmstrips, computer software, and audio and video cassettes, is available to supplement the programmes. Each year the BBC Open University Production Centre produces around 350 radio and audio programmes and 200 television and video programmes made specially for students of the Open University. The Centre also produces educational and training video materials in collaboration with external agencies such as the Department of Trade and Industry and the Department for Education. The ITC has a duty to ensure that schools programmes are presented on independent television. Advertising Advertisements are broadcast on independent television and radio between programmes as well as in breaks during programmes. Advertisers are not allowed directly to influence programme content or editorial control. In television, food manufacturers and retailers are the largest category of advertisers. Advertisements must be clearly distinguishable and separate from programmes. The time given to them must not be so great as to detract from the value of the programmes as a medium of information,
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education or entertainment. Television advertising is limited to an average of seven minutes an hour throughout the day and seven a half minutes in the peak evening viewing period. Advertising is prohibited in religious services and in broadcasts to schools. Independent televisions teletext service carries paginated advertisements. Parliamentary and Political Broadcasting The proceeding of both Houses of Parliament may be broadcasted on television and radio, either live, or more usually in recorded and edited form on news and current affairs programmes. The proceedings of the House of Commons have been televised since 1989.They are produced by an independent company appointed by the House of Commons, which makes television pictures available to the BBC, ITN and other approved broadcasters for use in news and current affairs programmes. House of Lords proceedings have been televised since 1985. The BBC and the commercial services provide time on radio and television for an annual series of party political broadcasts. Party election broadcasts are arranged following the announcement of general election. In addition, the Government may make ministerial broadcasts on radio and television, with opposition parties also being allotted broadcast time. COI Overseas Radio and Television Services The Central Office and Information (COI), which provides publicity material and other information services on behalf of government departments and other public agencies, produces radio programmes for overseas. A wide range of recorded material is sent to radio stations all over the world. COI television services make available material such as documentary and magazine programmes for distribution to overseas stations.

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Supplement The British history timeline

BC c.5000 - Neolithic (new stone age) Period begins; first evidence of farming appears; stone axes, antler combs, pottery in common use. c.4000 - Construction of the "Sweet Track" begun (named for its discoverer, Ray Sweet); many similar raised, wooden walkways were constructed at this time providing a way to traverse the low, boggy, swampy areas in the Somerset Levels, near Glastonbury; earliest-known camps or communities appear (ie. Hembury, Devon). c.3500-3000 - First appearance of long barrows and chambered tombs; at Hambledon Hill (Dorset), the primitive burial rite known as "corpse exposure" was practiced, wherein bodies were left in the open air to decompose or be consumed by animals and birds. c.3000-2500 - Castlerigg Stone Circle (Cumbria), one of Britain's earliest and most beautiful, begun; Pentre Ifan (Dyfed), a classic example of a chambered tomb, constructed; Bryn Celli Ddu (Anglesey), known as the "mound in the dark grove," begun, one of the finest examples of a "passage grave." c.2500 - Bronze Age begins; multi-chambered tombs in use (ie. West Kennet Long Barrow) first appearance of henge "monuments;" construction begun on Silbury Hill, Europe's largest prehistoric, manmade hill (132 ft); "Beaker Folk," identified by the pottery beakers (along with other objects) found in their single burial sites. c.2500-1500 - Most stone circles in British Isles erected during this period; pupose of the circles is uncertain, although most experts speculate that they had either astronomical or ritual uses. c.2300 - Construction begun on Britain's largest stone circle at Avebury. c.2000 - Metal objects are widely manufactured in England about this time, first from copper, then with arsenic and tin added; woven cloth
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appears in Britain, evidenced by findings of pins and cloth fasteners in graves; construction begun on Stonehenge's inner ring of bluestones. c.1800-1200 - Control of society passes from priests to those who control the manufacture of metal objects. c.1500 - Farms (houses and separate, walled fields) in use on Dartmoor (Devon) and in uplands of Wales; stone circles seem to fall into disuse and decay around this time, perhaps due to a re-orientation of the society's religious attitudes and practices; burial mounds cease to be constructed; burials made near stone circles or in flat cemetaries. c.1200-1000 - Emergence of a warrior class who now begins to take a central role in society. c.1100 - Geoffrey of Monmouth suggests that Brutus arrives about this time. c.1000 - Earliest hill-top earthworks ("hillforts") begin to appear, also fortified farmsteads; increasing sophistication of arts and crafts, particularly in decorative personal and animal ornamentation. c.600 - Iron replaces bronze, Iron Age begins; construction of Old Sarum begun. c.500 - Evidence of the spread of Celtic customs and artefacts across Britain; more and varied types of pottery in use, more characteristic decoration of jewelry. There was no known invasion of Britain by the Celts; they probably gradually infiltrated into British society through trade and other contact over a period of several hundred years; Druids, the intellectual class of the Celts (their own word for themselves, meaning "the hidden people"), begin a thousand year floruit. c.150 - Metal coinage comes into use; widespread contact with continent. c.100 - Flourishing of Carn Euny (Cornwall), an iron age village with interlocking stone court-yard houses; community features a "fogou," an underground chamber used, possibly, for storage or defense.
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55 - Julius Caesar's first invasion of Britain. 54 - Julius Caesar's second invasion of Britain. British forces led, this time, by Cassivellaunus, a capable commander. Despite early Roman advances, British continued to harass the invaders, effectively. A "deal" with the Trinovantes (tribal enemies of Cassivellaunus), and the subsequent desertion of other British tribes, finally guaranteed the Roman victory. Caesar's first two expeditions to Britain were only exploratory in nature, and were never intended to absorb Britain into the Roman sphere, at that time. 54 BC-43 AD - Roman influence manages to increase in Britain during this time, eventhough Roman troops are absent, as a direct result of trade and other interaction with the continent.

AD
43 AD: Roman emperor Claudius invades Britain 50 AD: the Romans found Londinium in Britain 80 AD: the Romans invade Caledonia (Scotland) 122 AD: Hadrian's Wall is built along the northern frontier to protect from the Barbarians 314 AD: British bishops are summoned to the council of Arles 350 AD: the missionary Ninian establishes the church Candida Casa at Whithorn in Galloway, Scotland 410 AD: the Romans withdraw from Britain, and Britain disintegrates in clans of Britons, Angles, Celts, Picts, Scots, Saxons, Jutes. 446: the Saxon leaders Hengist and Horsa are hired by a British chieftain 450: Saxons invade the southeast of England, while the rest is split among Wales (in the west), Rheged, Gododdin and Strathclyde (north) 450: Saxons expel Roman-British inhabitants of Britain to northern France (Brittany) 455: the Saxon leader Hengist takes over the kingdom of Kent and found their capital at Canterbury 476: the Saxon leader Aelle founds the kingdom of Sussex (South Saxons) 503: the Scots leave Ireland and build the kingdom of Dalriada in Argyll
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on the west coast of Scotland 532: the Saxon Cerdic founds the kingdom of Wessex (West Saxons) 540: the monk Gildas writes the "De Excidio Britanniae" 544: Ciaran founds the monastery of Clonmacnoise in Ireland 550: the Saxon kingdoms of East Saxons (Essex) and Middle Saxons (Middlesex) are established 563: the Irish monk Columbanus founds the monastery of Iona off the coast of Scotland, soon to become the main center of the Columban school 590: England is divided among the kingdoms of Kent (southeast), Northumbria (north), Mercia (southwest), and Wessex (west) 597: Pope Gregory I dispatches Augustine to England with forty monks 600: Taliesin and Aneirin write poems in old Welsh in Strathclyde (Scotland) 601: Augustine converts king Ethelbert of Kent and establishes the see of Canterbury with himself as its first archbishop 601: king Aethelbert of Kent promulgates the first English code of law 627: Pope Gregory I sends the Italian monk Paulinus to found the see of York and convert king Edwin of Northumbria 633: during the reign of the Saxon king Oswald conversion of Northumbria is completed 635: Cynegils, king of Wessex, converts to Christianity 635: Iona bishop Aidan founds a monastic community in the island of Lindisfarne off the coast of Scotland 664: the synod of Whitby brings the Celtic (English) church into conformity with Rome 664: Iona monk Wilfrid is appointed bishop of York 668: the monk Theodore of Tarsus is appointed archbishop of Canterbury 674: Benedict Biscop founds the monastery of Wearmouth in Northumbria 681: Benedict Biscop, a native Anglosaxon, founds the monastery of Jarrow in Northumbria 685: king Ine of Wessex conquers Sussex, Devon and Cornwall 685: the defeat of king Ecgfrid ends the domination of Northumbria over England 687: the Vikings (Danes) destroy the monastery of Whitbey in England 690: English missionary Willibrord evangelizes in Holland and
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Denmark 731: Bede of Jarrow (Northumbria) writes the "Ecclesiastical History of the English People" 757: the kingdom of Mercia dominates England under king Offa 793: Vikings (Danes) raid the monastery of Lindisfarne and destroy the monastery of Jarrow 825: the Saxon king Egbert III of Wessex conquers Kent and Mercia, thus reigning over all of England 830: "Historia Brittonum" by Nennius 831: Vikings (Danes) invade Ireland and found Dublin 834: Vikings (Danes) raid England 843: Kenneth MacAlpin unites the Scots and Picts in Scotland 844: Vikings (Danes) raid Seville 865: the Vikings (Danes) invade East Anglia 867: the Vikings (Danes) under Ivarr the Boneless establish a kingdom in York, Northumbria 871: Alfred becomes king of Wessex 878: Wessex king Alfred defeats the Vikings (Danes) 896: Alfred occupies London and pushes the Danes outside Wessex and Mercia to the north of England 899: Alfred's son Edward becomes king of Wessex 900: the "Beowulf" 910: Alfred's son Edward defeats the Danes and annexes to Wessex every town south of the river Humber 924: Edward's son Aethelstan becomes king of Wessex 927: Wessex king Aethelstan conquers most of England, except the five boroughs of Leicester, Lincoln, Nottingham, Derby and Stamford 937: Aethelstan defeats the Danes at the battle of Brunanburgh and establishes the kindgom of England 959: Edgar the Peaceful becomes the first king of a united England 968: Brian Boru expels the Vikings from Ireland 1000: 7 million people live in France, 7 million in Iberia, 5 million in Italy, 4 million in Germany, 2 million in Britain 1005: Malcolm II kills Kenneth III and becomes King of Scotlant 1013: the Danish chieftain Svend Forkbeard (Svend I) invades England 1016: the Danish king Canute (Knut) II defeats the Wessex king Edmund at the battle of Alney and annexes Mercia 1017: Edmund of Wessex dies and Canute annexes Wessex 1017: Canute converts to christianity
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1028: Canute, already king of England and Denmark, conquers Norway 1034: king Duncan of Strathclyde conquers most of Scotland 1035: Canute dies, leaving Denmark and England to Hardacnut and Norway to Swein 1040: MacBeth kills Duncan and becomes King of Scotlant 1042: Hardacnut dies suddenly and Edward the Confessor, heir to both Wessex and Mercia, regains the throne of England to the Anglosaxons 1045: the Houses Of Parliament 1065: Westminster Abbey is inaugurated 1066: Edward the Confessor dies, leaving no Saxon heir, the Norwigian Harald III Harraade invades northern England and is defeated and killed at the battle of Stamford Bridge by Harold Godwinson of England, who is in turn defeated by William of Normandy (the Conqueror), who thus ends the Anglo-Saxon rule of England and unites England and Normandy 1070: Lanfranc, an Italian lawyer, becomes Archbishop of Canterbury, establishing the primacy of the see of Canterbury over York 1072: William I the Conqueror invades Scotland 1078: William I orders the construction of the Tower of London 1087: William I the Conqueror dies and is succeeded as king of England by his son William II Rufus, while his other son Robert becomes duke of Normandy 1100: William Rufus is assassinated and is succeeded by Henry I, son of William the Conqueror, who fights with Pope Pasquale II on the issue of lay investiture (the king elects the bishops) 1107: the Concordat of London finds a compromise between Henry I and Pope Pasquale II on the issue of lay investiture (the king elects the bishops) 1106: Henry I defeats and captures his brother Robert, duke of Normandy 1113: the order of St John is founded 1114: Matilda (Maud), daughter of king Henry I of England, marries emperor Henry V 1124: David becomes King of Scotland and extends his reign 1129: emperor Henry V dies and empress Matilda marries Geoffrey the Handsome, Count of Anjou 1130: Geoffrey of Monmouth creates the myth of Arthur 1139: Matilda claims the throne of England 1153: Henry of Anjou, son of Matilda, invades England, and becomes
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Henry II 1154: an Englishman is elected Pope Adrian IV 1176: Henry II establishes the "common law" of England 1189: Richard I "Coeur de Lion", son of Henry II, becomes king of England 1189: the third Crusade is led by king Richard of England, king Philip Augustus II of France, and emperor Frederick Barbarossa 1199: John Lackland, son of Henry II, becomes king of England 1200: the Jews are expelled from England 1209: Cambridge University is founded 1203: Philip Augustus II of France conquers Normandy and expels the English 1215: king John I Lackland is forced by the English barons to sign the "Magna Carta", a constitution that grants them rights 1216: Henry III becomes king of England 1265: Simon de Montfort, leader of the barons, summons popular representatives to Parliament 1272: Edward I becomes king of England and annexes Wales 1283: the first mechanical clock in the world is installed in an English monastery (Dunstable) 1290: Edward I expells all Jews from England 1295: Edward I inaugurates the first representative parliament, the "Model Parliament", which features bishops, abbots, peers, knights and town representatives 1296: Edward I of England annexes Scotland 1306: Scottish king Robert Bruce rebels to the English 1307: Edward II becomes king of England 1314: Robert Bruce defeats Edward II at the battle of Bannockburn and regains Scotland's independence 1327: Edward II is deposed by the parliament and replaced with his son Edward III 1328: Charles IV, the last Capetian king of France dies, his daughter Jeanne is disqualified from occupying the French throne, and Edward III of England claims the French throne, whereas the French nobility chooses Philip of Valois 1333: Edward III invades Scotland 1334: the first gunpowder is manufactured in England 1337: Philip VI of France and Edward III of England go to war over France ("Hundred Years' War")
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1340: English knights and burgesses join in the House of Commons 1348: the plague ("Black Death") reaches England (1.5 people will die, out of a population of 4 million) 1356: England captures the French king and one third of France at the battle of Poitiers 1364: Charles V liberates France from England 1371: Robert II, grandson of Robert Bruce, establishes the Stuart line on the Scottish throne 1381: the Oxford theologian John Wyclif denies that the substance of bread and wine are miraculously changed during the Eucharist 1394: Richard II invades Ireland 1415: Henry V of England allies with Burgundy, defeats the French at the battle of Agincourt, takes prisoner the duke of Orleans and proceeds to reconquer Normandy from France 1420: England seizes northern France 1422: Henry VI becomes king of England 1429: the French army, led by Jeanne d'Arc, triumphs at Orleans 1431: the English burn Jeanne d'Arc at the stakes 1431: Henry VI of England is crowned king of France in Paris 1453: France expels the English (end of the "Hundred Years' War") 1455: the royal houses of York and Lancaster fight a civil war ("War of the Roses") to succeed the mad Henry VI 1485: Henry VII Tudor of Lancaster, supported by Charles VIII of France, defeats and kills Richard III of York and becomes the first Tudor king of England 1486: Henry VII marries Elizabeth of York, thus uniting houses of York and Lancaster 1496: the Italian explorer John Cabot sails from England to Canada (thinking he has reached Asia) on behalf of the king of England 1497: John Cabot discovers Newfoundland 1509: Henry VIII becomes king of England 1518: Thomas More publishes "Utopia" 1529: Henry VIII accepts the Protestant Reformation 1533: Henry VIII marries Anne Boleyn and is excommunicated by Pope Clement VII 1534: Henry VIII declares himself supreme head of the Church of England 1535: Thomas More is beheaded in Tower of London for refusing to submit to Henry VIII
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1536: Henry VIII directs the dissolution of the English monasteries under the direction of Thomas Cromwell 1540: Thomas Cromwell is executed 1544: Henry VIII and emperor Charles V invade France 1553: Mary I, daughter of Henry VIII and Catherine of Aragon, becomes queen of England and returns England to Catholicism, while hundreds of Protestants are burned at the stakes 1558: Elizabeth I, daughter of Henry VIII and Anne Boleyn, becomes queen of England and England becomes Protestant again and Catholics are persecuted 1563: the Anglican Church is officially founded 1567: Mary Stuart of Scotland is deposed and her son James VI becomes king of Scotland 1576: the first British theater opens in London 1580: Francis Drake sails around the world 1586: Francis Drake sails to the West Indies 1587: England executes Mary Stuart, former queen of Scotland and heir to the English throne, the for conspiring against queen Elizabeth I 1587: Francis Drake destroys the Spanish fleet at Cadiz 1588: Philip II of Spain declares war against Elizabeth I of England to protect Spanish possessions in America from English buccaneers, but the Spanish Armada is defeated by the English fleet of Francis Drake 1592: the British Parliament defines the statute mile as 8 furlongs, 80 chains, 320 rods, 1760 yards or 5280 feet 1599: the East India Company is established 1603: James VI of Scotland becomes king James I of England 1607: John Smith founds the colony of Virginia 1609: England conquers the Bermudas in America 1614: the Scottish mathematician John Napier coins the word "logarithm" and publishes the first logarithmic table 1618: after the "Defenestration of Prague", England enters the "Thirty Years' War" against the Habsburg empire 1620: English pilgrims aboard the "Mayflower" land at Plymouth Rock on Cape Cod, Massachusetts 1620: Francis Bacon publishes the "Novum Organon" to argue that truth should be found via empirical observation 1625: Charles I, King of England (to 1649); Charles I marries Henrietta Maria, sister of Louis XIII of France; dissolves Parliament which fails to vote him money
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1630: England signs peace treaties with France and Spain and abandons the "Thirty Years' War" 1642: a civil war opposes king Charles I and the Parliament 1645: Oliver Cromwell's New Model Army defeats king Charles I 1648: the "Peace of Westphalia" ends the Thirty Years' War 1649: Cromwell crashes a Catholic uprising in Ireland 1649: the Diggers promulgate a vision of a society free from private property and commerce 1651: Cromwell defeats Scotland 1651: Thomas Hobbes publishes the "Leviathan" 1653: Cromwell is appointed Lord Protector of the Commonwealth 1655: Britain conquers Jamaica from Spain 1658: Oliver Cromwell dies 1659: England and France defeat Spain 1660: Charles II resumes the monarchy 1664: England seizes New Amsterdam from the Dutch and changes its name to New York 1665: the plague reaches London 1666: the fire of London burns the oldest part of the city, including St Paul's cathedral 1666: Isaac Newton develops calculus 1668: England, Netherlands and Sweden form the "Triple Alliance" against France 1670: Hudson's Bay Company is founded 1675: the Royal Observatory opens at Greenwich 1677: William III, king of the Netherlands, marries Mary, heir to the English throne 1679: petitioners ("Whigs") call for a new Parliament while royalists ("Tories") side with king Charles II 1685: James II becomes king of England and of Scotland 1687: James II issues the "Declaration of Liberty of Conscience" but favors Catholicism and insists on the divine rights of the royalty 1687: Isaac Newton publishes the "Philosophiae Naturalis Principia Mathematica" 1688: the country (mainly the protestants) rise up against James II and drive him into exile, while William III of Orange is invited to replace him with a constitutional monarchy and the king subject to the laws of the Parliament ("Glorious Revolution") 1689: the Parliament issues the "Bill of Rights", thus establishing a
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constitutional monarchy under William III 1690: the philosopher John Locke publishes "Two Treatises of Government" and founds "liberalism" (people have rights, government has the duty to protect their rights, three branches of government for "checks and balances", separation of church and state, rule of the majority) 1694: the Bank of England is founded 1702: king William III forms an alliance between England, the Netherlands and Austria against Spain and France ("War of the Spanish Succession") to defend the archduke Karl of Austria's claim of the Spanish throne against king Philip II of Spain 1704: England captures Gibraltar from Spain 1707: the kingdoms of England and Scotland are formally united in Great Britain (Queen Anne Stuart becomes the first ruler of Great Britain) 1713: Britain and France sign a peace treaty ("Treaty of Utrecht") that hands most of Canada to Britain and leaves Britain as the dominant in force in north America, while Spain surrenders the Spanish Netherlands (Belgium) and southern Italy to Austria and Gibraltar to Britain 1714: Queen Anne Stuart is succeeded by George I, first king of the Hannover house 1721: Robert Walpole is Britain's first prime minister 1737: an English carpenter, John Harrison, invents the marine chronometer to measure longitude and latitude 1738: John and Charles Wesley found the Methodist movement 1741: Lewis Paul opens the first cotton mill 1751: by capturing the town of Arcot from the French, Britain becomes the leading colonial power in India 1752: Britain adopts the Gregorian calendar 1756: Britain and Prussia declare war against France, Austria and Russia ("Seven Years' War") 1757: at the battle of Plassey the East India company defeats France and gains access to Bengal 1757: James Watt makes the steam engine practical 1759: Britain seizes Quebec from France 1759: the British Museum is inaugurated 1763: the treaty of Paris ends the Seven Years' War, with Britain annexing the French possessions of Canada and India 1770: James Cook lands in Australia and claims it for Britain
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1770: the Encyclopedia Britannica is published in Edinburgh 1773: American colonists stage an uprising against British rule ("Boston Tea Party") 1773: Warren Hastings, governor of Bengal (India), establishes a monopoly on the sale of opium 1776: the American colonies ratifies the Declaration of Independence 1776: Adam Smith publishes "The Wealth of the Nations", the manifesto of capitalism 1779: John Wilkinson builds the first cast-iron bridge, the first large cast-iron structure 1783: Britain recognizes the independence of the United States of America 1785: the "Daily Universal Register" (later "The Times") is founded 1786: William Jones discovers similarities between Sanskrit and Greek and Latin 1787: Robert Peel builds an integrated cotton spinning, weaving and printing factory 1790: at the height of the British slave trade, one slave vessel leaves England for Africa every other day 1791: Thomas Paine publishes "Rights of Man" 1792: Mary Wollstonecraft publishes "Vindication of the Rights of Women" 1793: the first British settlers arrive in Australia 1796: Edward Jenner produces a smallpox vaccine 1798: Malthus publishes the "Essay on Population" 1798: admiral Horatio Nelson defeats the French navy at Aboukir Bay in Egypt 1800: Ireland is formally united to England 1801: Britain's population is 10.7 million and London's population is 959,000 1802: a steam-powered coach built by Richard Trevithick successfully completes the journey from Cornwall to London 1803: Britain declares war on Napoleon 1803: English chemist John Dalton proposes that matter is composed of atoms 1804: Richard Trevithick builds the first locomotive (it rode a track of 16kms in 4 hours, at the speed of 4 km/h) 1805: Horace Nelson destroys the French and Spanish fleets at the Battle of Trafalgar
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1807: Britain outlaws slavery 1812: the USA declares war on Britain 1813: American ships defeat British ships 1814: British troops storm Washington and burn the Capitol and the White House 1814: George Stephenson builds his first locomotive engine 1814: Britain purchases the Cape Colony in South Africa from Holland and rules over the Boers (descendants of the Dutch colonists) 1815: Andrew Jackson, helped by the French pirate Jean Lafitte, defeats the British army at the battle of New Orleans 1815: Napoleon is defeated at Waterloo 1815: Ceylon is occupied by the British, who ferry Tamil workers from India 1816: Nepal becomes a British protectorate 1819: The "Savannah" completes the first transatlantic crossing by a steamboat 1821: Sierra Leone, Gambia and the Gold Coast are combined to form British West Africa 1821: Giovanni Belzoni organizes a display of Egyptian antiquities in London 1823: rugby is invented at Rugby school 1825: Britain inaugurates the first public railway in the world (StocktonDarlington railway) 1826: Malacca, Penang and Singapore join in a British colony 1827: France, Britain and Russia help the Greek uprising against the Ottomans, the fleet of the Ottomans and of Mehemet Ali is sunk at Navarino, and the expansion of Ali's Egyptian empire is halted 1829: George Stephenson builds the first steam locomotive train 1830: the railway Liverpool - Manchester opens using Stephenson's locomotive "Locomotion" 1831: Michael Faraday discovers electromagnetic induction and invents the transformer 1832: the Great Reform Bill grants voting rights to the middle class 1833: Slavery is abolished 1834: Britain abolishes slavery in the Cape colony (South Africa) 1835: Manchester, the most industrial city in the world, has a population of 300,000 and 100,000 people are workers 1836: South Australia becomes a province of the British Empire 1837: Victoria becomes queen of England
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1838: the Boers leave the Cape colony, defeat the Zulus at the battle of Blood River and found the Natal colony (the "Great Trek") 1839: A Chinese attempt at suppressing the illicit British trade in opium causes the Opium war 1839: the port of Aden in Arabia is occupied by the British 1839: Scottish blacksmith Kirkpatrick Macmillan invents the bicycle 1840: the first postal stamp is introduced (the "black penny" 1842: under the Treaty of Nanjing, China cedes the island of Hong Kong to Britain 1843: the first Christmas postcard is printed (in London) 1843: Britain annexes the Natal colony of the Boers in South Africa, and the Boers move again founding the Orange Free State in the interior and the Transvaal in the north 1845: British policies cause a famine in Ireland that will kill a million people 1851: gold is discovered in Australia 1851: London's population is 2,363,000 1852: the Royal Observatory introduces a uniform time standard for the whole of Britain 1853: In the Crimean war Britain, France and the Ottoman Empire fight Russia 1855: Joshua Stoddard introduces a steam-powered organ called the "calliope" 1855: Henry Bessemer invents a process for mass-producing steel 1857: Persia surrenders to Britain all rights over Afghanistan 1858: Power on the Indian colony is transferred to the British government 1858: a telegraph wire is laid at the bottom of the ocean between Ireland and Canada 1859: Charles Darwin publishes "The Origin Of Species" 1862: Bahadur Shah II dies, the Mogul dynasty ends and India becomes a British colony 1863: the Salvation Army is founded 1863: the sport of football is inaugurated 1863: the London subway opens 1864: James Clerk Maxwell unifies electricity and magnetism in his equations of the electromagnetic field 1864: all the major power agree at the Geneva convention on rules for the treatment of prisoners of war
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1867: British North America becomes the Dominion of Canada, a federation of Ontario, Quebec, Nova Scotia and New Brunswick 1871: Arthur Sullivan and William Gilbert produce their first operetta 1877: Britain occupies South Africa 1879: Zulu warriors armed with spears massacre the British army at the battle of Isandhlwana 1880: Borneo becomes a British protectorate 1882: Britain occupies Egypt 1884: an international "meridian" conference decides to divide the Earth in 24 time zones, starting with Greenwich's meridian 1885: Burma becomes a province of British India 1885: the Canadian Pacific railway is completed 1892: Britain tonnage and seatrade exceeds the rest of the world together 1894: Uganda becomes a protectorate 1896: the electron is discovered 1898: at the Battle of Omdurman (Sudan) British troops massacre thousands of Sudanese tribesmen 1899: Britain occupies Sudan 1899: Britain invades the republics of the Transvaal and the Orange Free State in South Africa, founded by the Boers (the "Boer war") 1899: general Kitchener creates "concentration camps" in South Africa for the families of the Boer rebels (26,000 prisoners die), while the Boers engage in guerrilla warfare, and defend trenches with longdistance rifles 1899: Arthur Evans discovers the ruins of Knossos, Crete 1901: Queen Victoria dies 1901: Britain's population is 37.1 million 1901: the Federated Commonwealth of Australia becomes independent 1901: Nigeria becomes a British protectorate 1902: Japan signs the London treaty with Britain that recognizes Japan's rights in Korea and Britain's rights in China 1903: the suffragette movement (Women's Social and Political Union) is founded 1904: British troops occupy Tibet 1905: Britain apologizes to the Boers of South Africa for the war and grants independence to the Transvaal and the Orange Free State 1906: the Liberal party, representing financiers and entrepreneurs, comes into power
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1907: New Zealand becomes a self-governing dominion of the British empire 1907: Britain and Russia negotiate the status of Persia, Tibet and Afghanistan 1908: Britain and Germany engage in a "naval race" 1908: Margaret Murray performs autopsy on an Egyptian mummy 1909: Lloyd George's reforms tax land to pay for sickness, invalidity and unemployment insurance 1910: Transvaal, Orage Free State, Natal and Cape unite in the Union of South Africa 1911: the New Zealand scientist Ernest Rutherford discovers that the atom is made of a nucleus and orbiting electrons 1911: a Parliament Act weakens the House of Lords 1912: Britain and France sign a naval treaty to fend off the threat of the German navy 1914: World War I breaks out in the Balkans, pitting Britain, France, Italy, Russia, Serbia, USA and Japan against Austria, Germany and Turkey 1914: Egypt becomes and British protectorate 1914: Cyprus is annexed to Britain 1914: Britain occupies the German colonies of West Africa 1916: The Lucknow Pact unites the Congress and the League in their fight for independence from Britain 1917: the "Balfour Declaration" by the British government promises a Jewish homeland in Palestine 1917: Britain conquers Iraq 1918: Britain conquers Syria and Palestine 1918: the first world war ends: 2 million Russians, 1.8 million Germans, 1.3 million French, 1.1 million Austro-Hungarians, 0.9 million Britons, 0.6 million Turks and 0.5 million Italians are dead. 1919: the IRA is formed in Ireland to fight British rule 1919: Afghanistan gains independence from Britain 1920: Palestine becomes a British protectorate 1920: Arthur Eddington suggests that nuclear fusion fuels the sun 1921: Abdullah, son of Sharif Hussein, establishes the principality of Transjordan under British protectorate 1921: 156,000 British citizens rule over 306 million Indian subjects 1921: Ireland becomes independent except for northern Ireland that remains British
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1922: Gandhi is imprisoned following terrorist acts against the British 1922: Egypt declares its independence 1922: Faysal, son of Sharif Hussein, establishes the kingdom of Iraq under British protectorate 1923: Britain recognises Nepal's independence 1924: first Labour government 1925: Edwin Hubble discovers the first galaxy outside the Milky Way (Andromeda), 2 million years away from the Earth 1927: oil fields are discovered near Karkuk in Iraq and king Faysal grants oil rights to the British 1928: universal female suffrage 1928: Scottish biologist Alexander Fleming discovers penicillin, the first antibiotic 1929: the world's stock markets crash 1929: 1929: Edwin Hubble discovers that galaxies recede from one another and that the universe is expanding in all directions 1930: Gandhi unleashes "civil disobedience" against the British 1931: South Africa becomes independent 1931: Canada declares its independence 1931: EMI opens the largest recording studio in the world at Abbey Road in London 1932: Iraq becomes independent under the rule of King Faisal 1934: whites introduce "apartheid" in South Africa 1936: John Maynard Keynes' "The General Theory of Employment, Interest, and Money" claims that government spending is required to end economic recessions 1936: the "Queen Mary" transatlantic linear travels from Southampton to New York in four days 1938: the IRA carries out the first bombings in Britain 1939: England declares war to Hitler's Germany 1940: Germany bombs England and Churchill becomes prime minister 1941: during World War II, Britain and the Soviet Union invade Iran and Reza is forced to abdicate in favor of his son Reza Pahlavi II 1945: Germany surrenders 1945: At the Yalta conference the Soviet Union, Britain and the USA partition Europe in spheres of influence 1946: Jewish terrorists, led by Menachem Begin, bomb and destroy the King David Hotel in Jerusalem, the British military and civilian headquarters
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1946: Churchill delivers in the USA the "Iron Curtain" speech, virtually opening the "Cold War" against the Soviet Union 1946: Transjordan becomes independent 1946: Britain and the Soviet Union withdraw from Iran 1947: India and Pakistan become indepedent 1947: Dennis Gabor invents the hologram 1948: The Federation of Malaysia is born under British rule 1948: Ceylon becomes independent 1948: Burma becomes independent 1948: Israel becomes independent 1950: the first World Championship for drivers ("Formula One") is held, the first race being the British grand prix on the Silverstone circuit 1952: Elizabeth II becomes queen of Britain 1952: Britain explodes its first atomic bomb 1953: Francis Crick and James Watson discover the double helix of the DNA 1956: Britain grants Sudan full independence 1957: Malaysia becomes independent 1960: Nigeria becomes independent 1961: Kuwait becomes independent under the protection of Britain 1961: Amnesty International is founded by British lawyer Peter Benenson to promote human rights worldwide 1962: the Beatles debut 1962: Uganda becomes independent 1963: Kenya becomes independent 1964: Zambia becomes independent 1965: Rhodesia declares its independence 1966: Botswana becomes independent 1967: Aden becomes independent 1966: the British withdraw from Aden and marxists take over (South Yemen) 1968: the British withdraw from the Gulf and the United Arab Emirates are created 1969: the IRA begins a campaign of terrorism in Northern Ireland that will kill more than 2.000 people 1969: Britain abolishes the death penalty 1971: the first Hard Rock Cafe` opens in London 1973: Britain joins the European Union 1975: the first oil is piped ashore from the North Sea
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1976: punk-rock 1976: the supersonic airplane Concorde, built by France and Britain, begins service 1979: Margaret Thatcher becomes Britain's prime minister and begins a program of privatization 1981: Racial riots at Brixton, London 1981: Lady Diana Spencer marries Prince Charles, heir to the throne 1982: Britain defends the Falkland Islands from an Argentinian invasion 1985: a criminal case is solved thanks to DNA (England) 1990: Margaret Thatcher resigns 1990: Tim Berners-Lee of CERN invents the Internet protocol HTTP and the hypertext language HTML (i.e., the World Wide Web) 1991: Britain fights alongside the USA against Iraq 1994: the "Chunnel" between Britain and France opens 1996: the "mad cow disease" spreads in Britain and millions of cows have to be slaughtered 1997: Britain cedes Hong Kong back to China 1997: Joanne Kathleen Rowling publishes the first Harry Potter book, destined to become a world-wide phenomenon 1997: British biologist Ian Wilmut clones a sheep, Dolly. 1997: Lady Diana dies in a mysterious car accident 1998: Britain and northern Ireland agree on a solution for autonomy 1999: Scotland inaugurates its own Parliament 1999: NATO bombs Serbia to stop repression against ethnic Albanians in Kosovo 2000: the serial killer Harold Shipman, a doctor, is sentenced to life in prison for murdering 15 patients while working at a hospital, but is suspected to have killed between 215 and 260 people over a 23-year period, mainly elderly women, by lethal injection. 2000: Eva Morris dies at 115, the oldest British person of all times 2000: British and American biologists decipher the entire human DNA 2001: Britain fights alongside the USA against Afghanistan 2003: British Airways retires the supersonic jet Concorde 2003: Tony Blair and George W Bush order the invasion of Iraq to depose Saddam Hussein

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Monarchs of England Monarch HOUSE OF WESSEX Egbert 802-839 Aethelbald 855-860 Aethelbert 860-866 Aethelred 866-871 Alfred the Great 871-899 Edward the Elder 899-925 Athelstan 925-940 Edmund the Magnificent 940-946 Eadred 946-955 Eadwig (Edwy) All-Fair 955-959 Edgar the Peaceable 959-975 Edward the Martyr 975-978 Ethelred II (Ethelred the Unready) 979-1013 and 1014-1016 Edmund II (Ironside) 1016 DANISH Svein Forkbeard 1014 Cnut (Canute) 1016-1035 Harold I 1035-1040 Hardicnut 1040-1042 SAXONS Edward (the Confessor) 1042-1066 Harold II 1066 NORMANS William I 1066-1087 William II 1087-1100 Henry I 1100-1135 Stephen 1135-1154 Empress Matilda (Queen Maud) 1141 PLANTAGENETS
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Reign

Henry II Richard I John Henry III Edward I Edward II Edward III Richard II HOUSE OF LANCASTER Henry IV Henry V Henry VI HOUSE OF YORK Edward IV Edward V Richard III TUDORS Henry VII Henry VIII Edward VI Jane Grey Mary I Elizabeth I STUARTS James I Charles I COMMONWEALTH Oliver Cromwell Richard Cromwell STUARTS (restored) Charles II James II William III Mary II
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1154-1189 1189-1199 1199-1216 1216-1272 1272-1307 1307-1327 1327-1377 1377-1399 1399-1413 1413-1422 1422-1461 1461-1483 1483 1483-1485 1485-1509 1509-1547 1547-1553 1553 1553-1558 1558-1603 1603-1625 1625-1649 1649-1658 1658-1659 1660-1685 1685-1688 1689-1702 1689-1694

Anne HOUSE OF HANOVER George I George II George III George IV William IV Victoria SAXE-COBURG-GOTHA Edward VII WINDSOR George V Edward VIII George VI Elizabeth II

1702-1714 1714-1727 1727-1760 1760-1820 1820-1830 1830-1837 1837-1901 1901-1910 1910-1936 1936-1936 1936-1952 1952 - present

Prime Ministers
Robert Walpole - 1721-42 Spencer Compton - 1742-43 Henry Pelham 1743-54 Thomas Pelham-Holles - 1754-56 William Cavendish - 1756-57 William Pitt - 1757-61 Thomas Pelham-Holles 1761-62 John Stuart - 1762-63 George Grenville - 1763-65 Charles Watson-Wentworth - 1765-66 William Pitt - 1766-68 Augustus Fitzroy - 1768-70 Frederick North 1770-82 Charles Watson-Wentworth 1782 William Petty FitzMaurice - 1782-83 William Henry Cavendish Bentinck - 1783 William Pitt the Younger - 1783-1801 Henry Addington - 1783-1804
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William Pitt the Younger - 1804-06 William Wyndham Grenville - 1806-07 William Henry Cavendish Bentinck - 1807-09 Spencer Perceval - 1809-12 Robert Banks Jenkinson - 1812-27 George Canning - 1827 Frederick John Robinson - 1827-28 Arthur Wellesley - 1828-30 Charles Grey - 1830-34 William Lamb - 1834 Robert Peel- 1834-35 William Lamb - 1835-41 Robert Peel- 1841-46 John Russell - 1846-52 Lord Derby - 1852 Lord Derby - 1858-59 Lord Palmerston - 1855-65 Lord Derby - 1866-68 Benjamin Disraeli - 1868 William Gladstone - 1868-74 Benjamin Disraeli - 1874-80 William Gladstone - 1880-85 Lord Salisbury - 1885-86 William Gladstone - 1896 Lord Salisbury - 1886-92 William Gladstone - 1892-94 Archibald Philip Primrose Rosebery - 1894-95 Lord Salisbury - 1895-1901 Arthur James Balfour 1902-05 Henry Campbell-Bannerman 1905-08 Herbert Henry Asquith - 1908-16 David Lloyd George 1916-22 Andrew Bonar Law 1922-23 Stanley Baldwin - 1923-24 James Ramsey MacDonald - 1924 Stanley Baldwin - 1924-29 James Ramsey MacDonald - 1929-35 Stanley Baldwin - 1935-37 Neville Chamberlain - 1937-40
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Winston Churchill - 1940-45 Clement Atlee - 1945-51 Winston Churchill - 1951-55 Anthony Eden - 1955-57 Harold Macmillan - 1957-63 Alexander Douglas-Home - 1963-64 Harold Wilson - 1964-70 Edward Heath - 1970-74 Harold Wilson - 1974-76 James Callaghan - 1976-79 Margaret Thatcher - 1979-90 John Major - 1990-97 Tony Blair - 1997-

What Superstitions do they have in England? Good Luck 1. 2. 3. 4. Lucky to meet a black cat. Lucky to touch wood . Lucky to find a clover plant with four leaves. A horseshoe over the door brings good luck. But the horse shoe needs to be the right way up. The luck runs out of the horse shoe if it is upside down. 5. On the first day of the month it is lucky to say "white rabbits" 6. Catch falling leaves in Autumn and you're have good luck. Every leaf means a lucky month next year. Bad Luck 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. Unlucky to walk underneath a ladder. Seven years bad luck to break a mirror. Unlucky to see one magpie, lucky to see two, etc.. Unlucky to spill salt. If you do, you must throw it over your shoulder to counteract the bad luck. Unlucky to open an umbrella in doors. The number thirteen is unlucky. Friday the thirteenth is unlucky. Unlucky to put new shoes on the table. Unlucky to pass someone on the stairs.
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Big Ben

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The British Museum

The Buckingham Palace

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Changing of the Guard

Queen Elizabeth II

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The Houses of Parliament

Tower Bridge
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Trafalgar Square

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Millenium Bridge

Oxford Street

Piccadilly Circus
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London Taxi

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Nelson Column

Trafalgar Square

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St. Pauls Cathedral

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Tower Of London

Westminster Abbey
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England

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Sctoland

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 , 1. Patterns of the English family 2. Sports and physical culture 3. Leisure and cultural activities 4. The political parties of the UK 5. The main concepts of British education 6. England under foreign kings 7. King Alfred the Great 8. The Great Fire of London 9. The system of government 10. Press in Britain 11. Schooling in Great Britain 12. British university life 13. Curiosities of London 14. English character 15. Artistic and cultural life in Britain 16. Theatres in Britain 17. Sports in Great Britain 18. Beginning of Anglo-Russian relations 19. The Norman Conquest 20. The Saxon invasion 21. The Wars of the Roses 22. Tudor England 23. The medieval economy and society 24. English society in the early middle ages 25. Foreign policy and British Commonwealth 26. The English judicial system 27. Museums and art galleries of London 28. The Irish problem 29. The national identity of the English 30. The national identity of the Scottish 31. The national identity of the Welsh 32. The national identity of the Irish 33. Georgian England 34. Victorian England 35. Queen Victoria 36. Multicultural Britain 37. The national issues in the modern UK 38. The British monarchs of the 20th century 39. The 19th century Britain 40. The 18th century Britain 41. The 17th century Britain 42. The 16th century Britain 43. Britain in the 20th century ( 1914-1945)
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44. Britain in the 20th century (1945-2000) 45. Traditional industries and industrial zones 46. Types of schools and their characteristics 47. Youth in Great Britain 48. Examinations in secondary schools: GCE and CSE 49. British cinema 50. Public holidays in Britain 51. British television 52. School examinations in Britain 53. National costumes 54. Science and technology in the UK 55. British family life 56. The British social customs 57. Music in Britain 58. British gardens 59. British humour 60. British mentality 61. British youth culture 62. British food 63. British intellectual life today 64. Contemporary British art 65. Famous British painters 66. British architecture 67. Early British kingdoms 68. British fashion 69. British pop music 70.English folk music 71. Scottish folk music 72.Early British popular music 73. British pubs 74. British pioneers and inventors 75. Queen Elizabeth II 76. Unusual customs and festivals of the UK 77. Symbols of the UK and Great Britain 78. Famous British inventors 79. Famous British artists 80. Famous British writers 81. British Nobel prize winners 82. USSR-UK relations 83. Russian Federation- United Kingdom relations 84. British-Russian relations 85. British primary education 86. British social policy 87. British childrens literature 88. Famous British explorers
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89. British healthcare system 90. Media in the UK 91. The Industrial Revolution in Great Britain 92. Transport in Britain 93. History of the British Empire 94. British superstitions 95. English towns and villages 96. Stonehenge 97. British etiquette 98. The political role of Great Britain in the modern world

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Contents
Chapter 1 General information Chapter 2 London History Chapter 3 London attractions Chapter 4 The political system of Great Britain Chapter 5 Foods and drinks Chapter 6 Money in Britain Chapter 7 Transport in Great Britain Chapter 8 British holidays Chapter 9 Mass media in Britain Supplement 3 14 31 53 102 115 122 126 152 172

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