Geography of the UK. Population. The main industrial centres.
The United Kingdom is situated in the north-west coast of Europe between the Atlantic Ocean on the north-west and the North Sea on the east. The U. K. includes Great Britain and Northern Ireland. I Great Britain, the largest island in Europe, contains England, Scotland and Wales. The United Kingdom has an area of 244,000 square kilometres (94,249 square miles). The capital of the country is London. English is the official language. The population of the U. K. is nearly 60 million people. The population lives mostly in towns and cities and their suburbs. Four out of every five people live in towns. Over 46 million people live in England. Over 3 million — in Wales. A little over 5 million — in Scotland. About 1.5 million— in Northern Ireland. London's population is over 7 million people. The British nation consists of the English, the Scots, the Welsh and the Irish. The main industrial centres are Sheffield, Birmingham and Manchester. The largest cities of the country are London, Birmingham, Cardiff, Manchester, Glasgow, Belfast, Dublin. Agriculture takes an important sector in economy of the country. The British people grow wheat, fruit, vegetables oats.
Places of interest in GB. Traditional holidays, sport games.
Oxford and Cambridge are the old university towns. These towns are sometimes called together Oxbridge. Stratford-upon-Avon is the birthplace of William Shakespeare. Southern part of England is full of historical monuments and romantic scenery such as Cathedral of St. Tomas Becket, Cathedral of Saint Mary, which has the highest spire in England, historic monument of Stonehenge in Salisbury Plain.The West Country is still unspoiled by industry. The only larger towns here are Bristol, Plymouth, Bath and Exeter. On the north is Birmingham it is the second largest city in Britain. We can see Victorian architecture here and the network of canals. In Manchester we can visit the Museum of Science and Industry and Space Museum. The other lit cities here are Liverpool (the birthplace of Beatles), Leeds, Sheffield and York. Northern England is famous by Cumbria and Northumbria is the country of beautiful nature, many national Parks and cultural traditions, e.g. the city Durham. The Lake District National Park with beautiful Windermere Lake. The other national parks here are Northumberland Park and Yorkshire Dales National Park. The land lot Wales is full of mystery and beauty. There are snow-capped mountains, green valleys, sea resorts, big cities and little seaside towns. Cardiff, Newport and Swansea are the biggest cities here. Sometimes is Wales called the land of castles, the best known is Caernarfon and Harlech.Scotland is a historically and culturally separate country from England. It is the land of many special traditions - playing the pipes, quality tweeds, woollen and knitwear, wearing kilts, Scotch whisky. The biggest city is Glasgow, on old Victorian town, the culture centre and the heart of the arts in Scotland (festivals the Mayfest and the International Jazz Festival). The biggest lake is Loch Lomond and Loch Ness is famous for its "Loch Ness Monster". There are fewer public holidays in Great Britain than in other European countries. They are: Christmas Day, Boxing Day, New Year's Day, Good Friday, Easter Monday, May Day, Spring Bank Holidays and Summer Bank Holidays. The most popular holiday is Christmas. Every year the people of Norway give the city of London a present. It's a big Christmas tree and it stands in Trafalgar Square. Central streets are beautifully decorated. The fun starts the night before, on the 24th of December. Children hang stockings at the end o their beds, hoping that Father Christmas will come down the chimney during the night and fill them with toys and sweets. Christmas is family holiday. Relatives usually meet for the big Christmas dinner of turkey and Christmas pudding. And everyone gives and receives presents. The 26th of December, Boxing Day, is an extra holiday after Christmas Day. New Year's is less popular in Britain than Christmas. But in Scotland, Hogmanday is the biggest festival of the year. Besides public holidays there are some special festivals in Great Britain. The British like sport very much. They are fond of all kinds of sports. The national British sports are: football, golf, cricket, tennis, racing, darts.
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Official symbols of the uk.
The flag of the United Kingdom is the Union Flag. It was created by the superimposition of the Flag of England, the Flag of Scotland and Saint Patrick's Flag in 1801. Wales is not represented in the Union Flag as Wales had been conquered and annexed to England prior to the formation of the United Kingdom. However, the possibility of redesigning the Union Flag to include representation of Wales has not been completely ruled out. The national anthem of the United Kingdom is "God Save the King", with "King" replaced with "Queen" in the lyrics whenever the monarch is a woman. Britannia is a national personification of the United Kingdom, originating from Roman Britain. Britannia is symbolised as a young woman with brown or golden hair, wearing a Corinthian helmet and white robes. She holds Poseidon's three-pronged trident and a shield, bearing the Union Flag. Sometimes she is depicted as riding the back of a lion. At and since the height of the British Empire, Britannia has often associated with maritime dominance, as in the patriotic song Rule, Britannia!. The lion symbol is depicted behind Britannia on the British fifty pence coin and one is shown crowned on the back of the British ten pence coin. It is also used as a symbol on the non-ceremonial flag of the British Army. The bulldog is sometimes used as a symbol of the United Kingdom and has been associated with Winston Churchill's defiance of Nazi Germany.
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Theatre and music in GB.
Britain has about 300 theatres intended for professional use, of which about 100 are in London, including the Royal National Theatre. The Royal Shakespeare Company performs in Stratford-upon-Avon, Shakespeare's birthplace, and in London. Sixty-four companies receive subsidies from the Arts Councils. Contemporary British playwrights who have received international recognition include Harold Pinter, Alan Ayckbourn, Caryl Churchill and David Hare. The musicals of Sir Andrew Lloyd Webber, including "Evita", "Cats" and "Phantom of the Opera", have been highly successful in Britain, New York and around the world. There is music for every taste in Britain including opera, choral and classical orchestras pieces, rock and pop, folk and jazz, military and brass bands, acoustic and newly emerging musical collaborations such as music theatre, music video and music with live arts. In musical composition, experimentation is in vogue, with composers mixing their sources: medieval modes and minimalism, quotations from Wagner and from Debussy, Indian melodies and African rhythms. Since the early 60s with the emergence of the Beatles, The Rolling Stones, and the Who, through the 70s with Genesis, Led Zeppelin and Pink Floyd and the 80s with Dire Straits and The Police and punk pioneers like The Sex Pistols and others, British bands have generated major followings worldwide representing a multi-million dollar industry. And the legacy continued into the 90 with Pop phenoms The Spice Girls and groups like Oasis, The Verve, Jamiroquai, and the list goes on. British Pop music is alive and well and will continue to be in 2000 and beyond.
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National sports in the uk.
Sport in the United Kingdom plays an important role in British culture, and many people make an emotional investment in their favourite spectator sports. The most popular sport is association football, except in Northern Ireland, where Gaelic games are the most popular sports, and Wales, where rugby union is generally perceived from outside as being the national sport, although there are more registered football clubs than rugby clubs. Cricket is popular in England and Wales, but is less popular in the other home nations. Rugby union and rugby league are the other major team sports, with union generally more popular in the south of England and league traditionally associated with the north. Major individual sports include athletics, golf, motorsport, and horseracing. Tennis is the highest profile sport for the two weeks of the Wimbledon Championships, but otherwise struggles to hold its own in the country of its birth. Many other sports are also played and followed to a lesser degree. The United Kingdom has given birth to a range of major international sports including: Association football, rugby (league and union), cricket, golf, tennis, badminton, squash, rounders, hockey, boxing, snooker, billiards and curling. It has also played a key role in the development of sports such as Sailing and Formula One.
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