SPOTLIGHT ON BRITAIN SECOND EDITION Susan Sheerin Jonathan Seath GiIIian White Oxford University Press Oxford University Prcrs, Chris Andrewr Photogrnphic Art Wnlron Srrcct, Oxford OX2 6DP Anglia Television Ltd T. Annan & Sons Lrd Oxford New Yotk Toronto Mndrid Melbourne Austin Rover Group Ltd Auddand Kuala Lumpur Singapore Hong Kong Hclcnn Bcnufoy Tokyo Delhi Bombay Cnlcurra Mndrns Knrnchi Big Pit Muscum Trust Nairobi Cape Town Dnr es Salaam Brisrol Evening Posr nnd associntcd compnnies in Brisrol United Press Lrd Berlin mndnn Britain on View (BTAIETB) British Rnilways Board OXFORD and OXFORD ENGLISH are trade marks BrontE Society of Oxford University Press Cambridge City CouncilIStephcn R. Rnyment Cambridgeshire Libraries Headquarters ISBN 0 19 432788 4 Camera Press Chris Chrisrodoulou First published 1985 Colchester Borough Council Second edition 1990 Colmnn's of Norwich Fourth impression 1992 Colorsport Cromwell Murcum 0Susan Sheerin, Jonathnn Senth, Gillinn White 1985, The Edinburgh Photogrnphic Librnry 1990 Tim Gnham Picture Libnry SaUy & Richard Greenhill All rights reserved. No part of this puhlicatian may be JohnHillclson Agency Lrd re~roduced,srored in n revieval sysrem, or Michael Holford Photognphs tmnsmilred, in any form nr by itny mmns, el:crronic, House of Commons Public Iuformntion Office mcchnnic~l,phnrocopying, recording, or nrhcnviau, Phorognphic Callcction wirhnur ihc prlor permission nlOslurd Unlvcrsily Hulron-Deurach Collection l'ress, ImpacrIPhilippc Achnche; Alnin le Gmmeur This bookis soldsubiccr ro rhe condition that it shall KobnlCollectiou nor, by way ofrrnde or orhenvise, be lcnr, re-sold, F m k Lane Picrure Agency Lrd hired or athenvise circulnrcd without thc oublisher's London Transport Executive ~ ~ prior cnnrsnr in any form ofbinding or cover orhcr Mogdalenc College, Cambridge chon rhnr in which ir is publishcdnnd tvichour n Magnum PhorosIChris Srcde-Perkins similar cnndiriun includind this condirinn being The Mnry Rose Trusr imposed on rhe subscquenr purchnscr.
Marhews Photognphy Chris Moore The nurhors and publishers would likcro thank Nntional Film Archive David Ilighnm Associntcs Lrd for heir kind Nntionnl Grid, n division of C. permission to quore the lines from 'Do nor go gentle National Museum of Wnlm into rhnrgood nighr', which nppenr in Dylan Thomas' National Poruait Gallery 'Collecrcd Poems', published by Denr. Nntionnl Trust Network/Neil Libbcrt; John Srurrock; IUusunred by: Geoff Franklin Sally Dnvies News TCMIProfessionnl News &Pictures Mnrie-Helene Jeeves Northern IrelandTourist Board Norrhumbriu Tourisr Board Terry Kenncm Gamy & Marilyn O'Brien Lindn Smith Pictorial Press The Press Assodatian Lrd Printed in Hong Kong Rex Fenrures Lrd The Royal Bnnk of Scodand plc Roynl Mail Science Museum Libmy The Scotsmnn Publication Lrd Scotdsh ~ - ~ - ~aurisr Board - ---~.- Sporting Pictures (UK) Lrd The Tclegrnph Colaur Libmry The aurhorsand publishm would like ru bunk thc TophamPicturc Library fullowing for p;rmission ruruproduccphu~ugmphs, Ulster Muscum maps and logos: University College of Cardiff University College of Swansen 20th C c n ~ r FOX y Dora Wnkelicld The AA Photo Libnry John Wnlmsley AUspon UK Lrd Andes Press Agency Additional pbotogrnphy by Rob Judges Contents The United Kingdom Magic circles Who are the British? Offshore islands The political system The sea - ships and sailors Religion Glossary Family life Festivals Scotland Glossary Folk music Beating the 'Sassenachs'! London The Highland games A city with a difference Tattoo spectacular The City Welcome to the Festival Historic buildings in the City A tragic queen The East End Scotland seen from abroad The West End L i e on the rigs Westminster Glasgow Whitehall The Highlands Royal London Clans and tartans Kensington and Knightsbridge Scottish festivals Glossary Glossary The Southeast Wales Welcome to Britain Language The Garden of England History Oh, I do like to be beside the seaside! Life in the Valleys Are you a railway buff? The Welsh and their words A tale of Canterbury The National Parks The stockbroker belt Energy inside a Welsh mountain Glossary Cardiff: a modern capital East Anglia Glossary Cambridge Northern Ireland The Fen Counuy The troubles Let's go shoppingin Norwich Two nations? Britain's oldest recorded town The search for a solution Glossary Belfast The Heart of England The Glens of Antrim and the The Swan of Avon Causeway coast Birmingham -the market place The Giant's Causeway Fermanagh A cathedral of our time Oxford Londonderry Liverpool and the Beades Glossary Glossary In and out of School The Dales to the Border TV and radio Northumbria More than 30 years of Rock Music The most beautiful corner of England Sport Ghosts of Yorkshire The education system The historic city of York L i e at college Glossary Glossary The Southwest Answers Holiday time in the West Country Historical Chart This chart covers the most important periods of British history. It shows the chief England (until 1603) and of Britain (after 1603).
Only monarchs or rulers mentioned 1 inhabitants or invaders of England until the in the text appear on the chart. Middle Ages, then the royal houses of The Celts 900 B. The Anglo-Saxons 450-1066 Offa (8th century) The Viking Invaders 8th-11th cennuies The Normans 1066-1 154 William the Conqueror (1066-1087) The Plantagenets 11561399 Henry11 (11561189) Edward I(1212-1307) The Houses of York and 1399-1485 Lancaster The Tudors 1485-1603 Henry VII (14861509) Henry VIII (1509-1547) Mary I ('Bloody Mary') (1553-1558) Elizabeth I(1558-1603) The SNarts 1603-1649 Tames I(1603-1625) (The Civil War 1628-1649) Charles i (1625-1649) The Republic 1649-1660 Oliver Cromwell (1649-1660) The Smarts 1660-1714 W i a m and Mary (1688-1702) The Hanoverians 17161901 George I, 11,111, TV (17141830) ('Georgian' period) Victoria (1837-1901) ('Victorian' period) The House of Saxe- 1901-1910 Edward VII (1901-1910) Coburg ('Edwardian' period) The House of Windsor 1910- Elizabeth I1 (1952- ) The United Kingdom is very small highest mountain in the world, is 29,000 compared with many other countries in the feet (8,839 m. In fact everything in the world.
However, there are only nine other United Kingdom is rather small- the countries with more people, and London is longest rivers are the Severn (220 miles, 354 the world's seventh biggest city.) and the River Thames (215 miles, 346 The main areas of high land are in Icm. Compare these with the River Scotland, Wales and Cumbria. In the Amazon in South America which is 4,195 centre of England is a range of hills called miles (6,751 km.)long! the Pennines, which are also known as the Despite its size, there is a great deal of 'backbone of England'. The highest variety within the islands of the United mountains are in Scotland and Wales: Ben Nevis is 4,406 feet (1,343 m.) and Snowdon Kingdom, and this book aims to show the is 3,560 feet (1,085 m.
Of course, these particular character of each country and region. are very small compared with other mountains in the world - Everest, the Who are the British? Why British not English? But it is important to remember that Many foreigners say 'England' and Southern Ireland - that is the Republic of 'English' when they mean 'Britain', or the Ireland (also called 'Eire')- is completely 'UK'. This is verv annovine for &e 5 million people who live in A - indeoendent. So you can see that 'The United Kingdom' Scotland, the 2.8 million in Wales and 1.5 is the correct name use ifyou are million in Northern Ireland who are referring to the counuy in a political, rather cenainly not English.
(46 million people than in a geographical way. 'British' refers live in England.) However, the people from to people from them, G~~~~Britain or the Scotland, Wales, Northern Ireland and England are all British. So what is the British Isles in general. diffhrence between the names 'Great Britain' and 'the United Kingdom' - and what about 'the British Isles'? The United Kingdom This is an abbreviation of 'the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland'.
It is often further abbreviated to 'UK', and is the political name of the counuy which is made up of England, The IVelsliflag, called tlze Welsli dragon. Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland (sometimes known as Ulster). Several islands off the British coast are also part of How was the United Kingdom formed? the United Kingdom (for example, the Isle This took centuries, and a lot of armed of Wight, the Orkneys, Hebrides and struggle was involved. In the 15th century, Shetlands, and the Isles of Scilly), although a Welsh prince, Henry Tudor, became the Channel Islands and the Isle of Man are King Henry VII of England.
Then his son, not. However, all these islands do recognize King Henry VLZI, united England and the Queen. Wales under one Parliament in 1536. In Scotland a similar thing happened.
The King of Scotland inherited the crown of Great Britain England and Wales in 1603, so he became This is the name of the island which is King James I of England and Wales and made up of England, Scotland and Wales King James VI of Scotland. The Parlia- and so, strictly speaking, it does not include ments of England, Wales and Scotland - Northern Ireland. The orikn of the word were united a century later in 1707. 'Great' is a reference to size, because in many European languages the words for The Scottish and Welsh are proud and Britain and Brittany in France are the same.
In recent years there In fact, it was the French who fust talked have been attempts at devolution in the two about Grande Bretagne! In everyday speech countries, particularly in Scotland where 'Britain' is used to mean the UnitedKingdom. the Scottish Nationalist Party was very strong for a while. in a referendum in 1978 the welsh rejected The British Isles devolution and in 1979 the Scots did the This is the geographical name that refers to same. So it seems that most Welsh and all the islands off the north west coast of the Scottish ~ e o o l eare h a o ~ vto form oart of Euro~eancontinent: Great Britain.
the the UK even though &e; sometimes whole orIreland (Northern and ~ ~ " t h e r n ) , complain that rheiare dbminared by the Channel Islands and the Isle of Man. England, and particularly by London. 2 Unit one The whole of Ireland was united with Great from France. These invasions drove the Britain fiom 1801 up until 1922.
In that Celts into what is now Wales and Scotland, year the independent Republic of Ireland and they remained, of course, in Ireland. was formed in the South, while Northern The English, on the orher hand, are the Ireland became part of the United descendants of all the invaders, but are Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern more Anglo-Saxon than anything else. The story of this particular union is These various origins explain many of the long and complicated and you will read differences to be found between England, more about it in Unit 10. Wales, Scotland and Ireland - differences in education, religion and the legal systems, but most obviously, in language.
The Union Jack Language The Celts spoke Celtic which survives today in the form of Welsh, Scottish Gaelic and Irish Gaelic. Less than a quarter of all Welsh people (600,000, out of 2,800,000) speak Welsh. Scottish Gaelic and Irish Gaelic are still spoken, although they have suffered more than Welsh from the spread of English. However, all three languages are now officially encouraged and taught in schools.
The flag of the United Kingdom, known as the Union Jack, is made up of three crosses. English developed from Anglo-Saxon and The upright red cross is the cross of St is a Germanic language. However, all the George, the patron saint of England. The invading peoples, particularly the Norman white diagonal cross (with the arms going French, influenced the English language into the corners) is the cross of St Andrew, and you can 6nd many words in English the patron saint of Scotland.
The red which are French in origin. Nowadays all diagonal cross is the cross of St Patrick, the Welsh, Scottish and Irish people speak patron saint of Ireland. St David is the English (even if they speak their own patron saint of Wales.