Culture Dossier | The United Kingdom

Dossier

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the united kingdom Quick facts

The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly called the United Kingdom or the UK, includes the countries of England*, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland.

Great Britain (or sometimes just Britain) refers to the largest island which includes the countries of England, Scotland and Wales while the expression British Isles refers to this entire group of islands off the north west coast of mainland Europe, including Great Britain, Ireland, the Channel Islands, the Isle of Man, the Orkney Islands and many others.

The UK covers an area of just under 244,000 km2 and has a population of approximately 66.04 million, with 55.6 million people living in England, 5.4 million in Scotland, 3.1 million in Wales and 1.9 million in Northern Ireland.

England is the most densely populated with 413 people per square kilometre and Scotland the least densely populated with 68 people per square kilometre.

*

The term ‘England’ is often incorrectly used to refer to the whole of the UK and the term ‘English’ to refer to the citizens, instead of using ‘British’ or the individual country’s nationality.

The capital city of England and the UK is London, situated in the south east of the country on the River Thames. A famous tourist destination, as well as one of the most important business and financial centres in the world, London has a population of 8.7 million. Cardiff, located on the Bristol Channel, is the capital of Wales and with a population of 363,000, it is the largest city in the country. Edinburgh, with a population of 503,000, is the capital of Scotland while the capital of Northern Ireland is Belfast (population 339,500).

Wales

England 55.6 million

Scotland

Edinburgh

GET STARTED

1 Work in pairs and answer these questions. Then read the text and check your answers.

1 What is the capital city of the UK? 2 What other cities or landmarks/places can you name?

3 What do you know about the geography of the country?

Can you think of any mountains or rivers?

READING COMPREHENSION MEDIATING TEXTS

2 Read the text again and complete the fact files above.

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149 per sq km

Northern Ireland

135 per sq km

The national flag of the UK is the Union Flag (often called the Union Jack) and it is made up of the flags of Scotland, England and Northern Ireland.

UK political system

The United Kingdom is a parliamentary democracy with a constitutional monarch, which means that the king or queen is the Head of State and a prime minister is the Head of the Government, which is voted into power by the people.

The monarch, who must remain politically impartial, has ceremonial duties but very limited powers.

The business of the UK parliament takes place in the House of Commons and the House of Lords, and decisions made in one House have to be approved by the other. There is also a national Parliament in Scotland, a national Assembly in Wales and a national Assembly in Northern Ireland.

The process of devolution, which happened in 1999, transferred varying levels of power from the UK parliament to these countries, while keeping the authority over the devolved institutions in the UK parliament itself. The devolved powers include matters such as education, environment, culture, transport, justice and health.

READING COMPREHENSION

1 Read the text and answer these questions.

1 What political system is there in the UK? 2 What role does the monarch have?

3 How is the UK parliament divided?

4 What is devolution and when did it happen in the UK? 5 What powers do the devolved national parliaments have? © ELI 2

Dossier

1 A brief history of the UK Prehistoric history The first people to inhabit the British Isles were hunters and gatherers. Around 4,500 BC the introduction of farming marked the beginning of the Neolithic period, when people started to have more settled lives and introduced rituals and ceremonies. Famous monuments, like Stonehenge, were built in this period.

Through the Bronze and the Iron Ages the population increased and defensive forts were built.

The Romans (43-410 AD)

The Romans first arrived under Julius Caesar in 55 and 54 BC but the first conquest was carried out by Claudius and his troops in 43 AD. They gradually conquered all of what is now England and Wales but never managed to conquer Scotland.

In fact, they built Hadrian’s Wall across the north of the country to protect them from the Scottish tribes. The Romans founded many important settlements, such as London, Bath, Manchester and York. They also built roads and introduced sanitation and sewage systems.

The Anglo-Saxons (410-800)

With the departure of the Romans, Britain was vulnerable to attacks from the Anglo-Saxons, from northwest Europe.

They invaded and eventually settled in most of England, parts of Scotland, but not Wales or Ireland. The country was divided into several kingdoms.

High and Late Middle Ages (1154-1485) This part of the Middle Ages was marked by war (the Hundred Years War between England and France), natural disasters (such as the plague of 1348 which killed between 30% and 45% of the population) and public rebellion.

The monarchy was starting to become less dominant and in 1215 King John was forced by his feudal barons to sign the Magna Carta, the oldest constitutional charter in Europe, which imposed limits on the monarch’s power.

The Vikings (800-1066) The next invasions came from the Vikings from Scandinavia. They settled in many areas and dominated a large part of the country, taking over political control. Yorvik (now York) was their capital. Their legacy was the formation of the independent kingdoms of Scotland and England.

The Normans (1066-1154)

Bath

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In 1066, William, the Duke of Normandy, defeated the Saxons at the Battle of Hastings.

He became King William I of England and ruled the country under the feudal system, where the king had complete control and owned all the land.

The Normans built many stone churches and cathedrals, as well as castles to protect the land.

The Tudors (1485-1603)

The Stuarts

The Georgians

This period had perhaps two of the country’s strongest monarchs: Henry VIII and his daughter Elizabeth I. Henry, who had six wives in his attempt to have a male heir, separated from the Catholic Church as the Pope would not allow him to divorce and remarry.

He appointed himself head of the Protestant Church of England. Queen Elizabeth I reigned over a period of great discovery and exploration as well as cultural renewal.

On her death, the crown passed to her cousin James Stuart, King of Scotland.

With James I now King of Ireland and England, as well as Scotland, it started to be difficult to maintain peace between the Catholics and Protestants. Civil War broke out in 1642 between Royalists, who supported the monarch, and Parliamentarians, led

by Oliver Cromwell, who were against the absolute power held by the king and in favour of a more powerful parliament.

King Charles I, who succeeded James, was executed in 1649 and later Cromwell became Lord Protector of England, Scotland and Ireland. The monarchy was restored in 1660.

After Queen Anne, the last of the Stuarts, the crown passed to George, from the House of Hanover.

The Georgian period (there were four kings of the same name) saw social change, for example the abolition of slavery, and the increase in the power of Parliament.

It was also a period of wars, notably the American War of Independence and the Napoleonic Wars, with Nelson beating Napoleon at the Battle of Trafalgar and Wellington’s victory at Waterloo.

(1603 -1714)

(1714-1837)

The Victorian period (1837-1901) The period of Queen Victoria’s reign saw dramatic changes: the Industrial Revolution, with the invention of the steam engine, railways and telegraph; increased urbanisation and a move away from rural life; the expanding power of Britain and its empire; increased wealth for the upper and middle classes. The values of the Church and the patriarchal family were fundamental, but this morality and respectability was not reflected in the reality of society: the working classes faced terrible poverty, deprivation and injustice.

GET STARTED

1 Read the texts on these pages quickly and complete these sentences with the names of the historic figures.

1 Claudius was the first Roman Emperor to conquer Britain.

2 ______________ ruled under the feudal system.

3 ______________ signed the Magna Carta.

4 ______________ formed the Church of England.

5 ______________ was an important figure in the Civil War. 6 ______________ won the Battle of Waterloo.

READING COMPREHENSION

2 Read the texts more carefully and decide if these sentences are T (true) or F (false). Correct the false ones.

1 The Romans invaded Britain before the Anglo-Saxons.

2 The Anglo-Saxons settled in Wales.

3 The kingdoms of England and Scotland were formed under the Vikings.

4 The building of stone churches and castles was common under the Normans.

5 During the Middle Ages the figure of the king became even more important.

6 Queen Elizabeth I was one of Henry VIII’s wives.

7 The Civil War was between supporters of the king and supporters of Parliament.

8 During the Stuart Age, the country became a republic for a short period of time.

9 Slavery became illegal during the Georgian period.

10 The working classes in the Victorian period became richer.

T

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F

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Dossier

1 Key moments in the 20th and 21st centuries WAR AND CONFLICT • Britain fought in World War I (1914-1918) and World War II (1939-1945), both of which left the country in serious economic difficulties.

• The Northern Ireland ‘Troubles’ were three decades of violence and killing (between 1969 and 1998) regarding the status of Northern Ireland within the UK. The unionist community (mainly Protestant) was in support of remaining part of the UK and the nationalist community (mainly Catholic) was in favour of a united Ireland.

• British troops were part of the coalition force involved in the Gulf War (1990-1991), after Iraq invaded Kuwait, and in the Iraq War (2003-2011), which toppled Saddam Hussein’s government. British forces were also involved in military action in Afghanistan against al-Qaeda and Osama Bin Laden after the 2001 terrorist attacks in the USA. • On 7th July 2005, four suicide bombers attacked central London tube stations and buses, killing 52 people.

• In 2017 there were several terrorist attacks in London and one in Manchester, causing many deaths and injuries.

POLITICS AND ECONOMICS • In 1979, Margaret Thatcher, the leader of the Conservative Party, became the country’s first female Prime Minister.

• The global financial crisis which began in 2007-2008 had severe effects on the British banking system and economy, and led to a recession.

• Scotland held a referendum in 2014 about becoming an independent country but 55% of the voters said ‘no’ and, for now, the country remains part of the UK. • In 2016, the UK held a referendum on the country’s membership of the EU. Those in favour of Brexit won, with 52.5% of the vote, and official notification to leave was given to the EU on 29th March 2017.

READING COMPREHENSION

SOCIETY AND CULTURE • In 1918 women over the age of 30 won the right to vote, but it was not until 1928 that all women over 21 were able to vote.

• The ‘Swinging Sixties’ are often considered a liberal and permissive decade. The laws regarding divorce, abortion and homosexuality were liberalised.

Fashion had a new look with Mary Quant and the mini-skirt. Groups like The Beatles and The Rolling Stones changed the music scene.

• Tragedy struck the royal family in 1997 with the death of Diana, the Princess of Wales, in a car crash.

Prince William and Kate Middleton got married in 2011 and, in 2018, Prince Harry and Meghan Markle tied the knot at Windsor Castle.

• Queen Elizabeth II celebrated her Diamond Jubilee in 2012. That was also the year that the summer Olympics The Olympic Stadium were held in London.

1 Read the texts and answer these questions.

1 What international wars or conflicts has the UK been involved in since the start of the 20th century?

2 What were the ‘Troubles’ in Northern Ireland?

3 Who was Margaret Thatcher?

4 What two referendums were held in the last few years and why were they important?

5 What were the 1960s like in the UK? 6 What events have the Royal family been involved in over the last 25 years?

INTERNET RESEARCH & WRITING MEDIATING COMMUNICATION

2 Work in pairs. Prepare a timeline of significant events and situations (political, economic, cultural) that have affected Italy in the 21st century. Then write a short report.

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UK population and identity The population of the UK is getting older, mainly due to increased life expectancy, and 18.2% of the population is over 65. Of the people living in the UK, 9.4 million were born outside the UK. This is largely accounted for by immigrants arriving from the EU, in particular Romania and Poland. This, as well as earlier immigration from ex colonies such as Jamaica and India, means that a large variety of ethnic groups make up the population. This ethnic diversity has enriched and UK population data – 2017 influenced many aspects Total population 66.04 million of British society although, Number of births 762,000 unfortunately, integration and acceptance still raise Number of deaths 602,000 many issues.

Influenced by factors such as increases in divorce, married couples without children, co-habiting couples and one person households, the family unit has changed from the traditional nuclear family of a married couple with children.

The average household size is 2.4 people.

The official religion is the Anglican Church, with the Monarch as its head, but many other religious faiths are practised from Judaism to Buddhism.

Christians (Protestants and Catholics) total 35 million, while the second religion is Islam with 2.7 million Muslims. Around a quarter of the population state they follow no religion.

HAVE SOME MORE The period of the British Empire brought about many changes to the food available in the UK and immigration has continued to affect the way the country eats. Chicken tikka masala, an adapted Indian dish, is probably more popular than the traditional plate of fish and chips nowadays. Curry, spices, rice, couscous, pasta and pizza are eaten in homes and restaurants across the nation, both in authentic versions and also modified to suit local tastes and ingredients. Think, for example, of the horror an Italian would feel when presented with a ham and pineapple pizza!

READING COMPREHENSION

1 Read the texts and decide if these sentences are T (true) or F (false). Correct the false ones.

1 In the UK, a quarter of the population is older than 65.

2 More than 9 million people who live in the UK were not born there.

3 The UK no longer has problems related to integration.

4 The family unit has remained unchanged.

5 The UK does not have an official religion.

6 The type of food popular in the UK has been affected by immigration.

T

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F

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SPEAKING

2 Work in pairs. Look at the images on this page. Which ones represent ‘Britishness’ to you? Why? © ELI 6