.jpg)
.png)
.png)
.png)
.png)
The Royal Coat of Arms of England was the official coat of arms of the Monarchs of England, and were used as the official coat of arms of the Kingdom of England until the Union of the Crowns in 1603.
Afterwards, the arms became an integral part of the Royal Coat of Arms of the United Kingdom. The spread of the British Empire has led to the arms being incorporated in various other coats of arms of
the UK's former colonies.
Following the Norman conquest of England after 1066, the arms of the House of Normandy were used in England, two golden lions on a red field. The succession of King Henry II of the House of
Plantagenet in 1158 saw the first known arms of an English monarch used, a golden lion on a red field.
When King Richard I ("The Lionheart") came to the throne he adopted his personal arms as three golden lions on a red field. The origin of these arms is thought to be based on the earlier Norman arms.
According to one tradition, the extra lion was added to two existing Norman lions to represent the combined Anglo-Norman realm. According to another tradition the two leopards were combined with
the single leopard of Aquitaine, as Henry II, the first Angevin king, had acquired the duchy of Acquitaine by marriage before inheriting the throne of England. Other heraldic authorities have claimed that
at an early stage in the development of heraldry the number of Norman lions was not fixed and that it is simply a matter of design as to why England has ended up with three heraldic lions and
Normandy with two.
In 1340, King Edward III laid claim to the throne of France and quartered the English arms with those of the France, the "France Ancient", a blue shield with a tight pattern of small golden fleur de lis of
the French royal house.
In 1406, the French quarterings were updated to the modern French arms, three fleurs-de-lis on a blue field.
On the death of Queen Elizabeth I in 1603, King James VI of Scotland inherited the English throne, becoming King James I of England. The arms of England were quartered with those of Scotland. A
quarter for the Kingdom of Ireland was also added, as the English monarch was also King of Ireland.
The French arms were dropped from the Royal Arms of the United Kingdom in 1801 when King George III renounced the claim to the French throne. From that point, the heraldic representation of
England reverted to the version used between 1198 and 1340, three golden lions on a red field.
The arms of England are not used in any official capacity on their own, although they do feature in the first and fourth quarters of the Royal Coat of Arms of the United Kingdom. However, the arms of
both the Football Association and the England and Wales Cricket Board are based on the three lions design. In recent years, it has been common to see banners of the arms flown at English football
matches, in the same way the Lion Rampant is flown in Scotland.
In 1996, Three Lions was the unofficial song of the England football team for the 1996 European Football Championship, which was held in England.
Anthem:
Their Anthem is not offical, but the United Kingdom anthem "God Save the Queen" is commonly used. However, the following are considered to be unofficial national anthems:
"I Vow to Thee, My Country"
"Land of Hope and Glory"
"Nimrod"
"Jerusalem"
"Heart of Oak"
Lyrics To God Save the Queen:
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.
O Lord our God arise,
Scatter her enemies,
And make them fall:
Confound their politics,
Frustrate their knavish tricks,
On Thee our hopes we fix:
God save us all.
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.
Lyrics to I Vow to Thee, My Country:
I vow to thee, my country, all earthly things above,
Entire and whole and perfect, the service of my love;
The love that asks no question, the love that stands the test,
That lays upon the altar the dearest and the best;
The love that never falters, the love that pays the price,
The love that makes undaunted the final sacrifice.
I heard my country calling, away across the sea,
Across the waste of waters she calls and calls to me.
Her sword is girded at her side, her helmet on her head,
And round her feet are lying the dying and the dead.
I hear the noise of battle, the thunder of her guns,
I haste to thee my mother, a son among thy sons.
And there's another country, I've heard of long ago,
Most dear to them that love her, most great to them that know;
We may not count her armies, we may not see her King;
Her fortress is a faithful heart, her pride is suffering;
And soul by soul and silently her shining bounds increase,
And her ways are ways of gentleness, and all her paths are peace.
Lyrics to Land of Hope and Glory:
Dear Land of Hope, thy hope is crowned.
God make thee mightier yet!
On Sov'reign brows, beloved, renowned,
Once more thy crown is set.
Thine equal laws, by Freedom gained,
Have ruled thee well and long;
By Freedom gained, by Truth maintained,
Thine Empire shall be strong.
Land of Hope and Glory,
Mother of the Free,
How shall we extol thee,
Who are born of thee?
Wider still and wider
Shall thy bounds be set;
God, who made thee mighty,
Make thee mightier yet
God, who made thee mighty,
Make thee mightier yet.
Thy fame is ancient as the days,
As Ocean large and wide
A pride that dares, and heeds not praise,
A stern and silent pride
Not that false joy that dreams content
With what our sires have won;
The blood a hero sire hath spent
Still nerves a hero son.
Lyrics to Jerusalem:
And did those feet in ancient time
walk upon England’s mountains green?
And was the holy Lamb of God
on England’s pleasant pastures seen?
And did the countenance divine
shine forth upon our clouded hills?
And was Jerusalem builded here
among these dark Satanic Mills?
Bring me my bow of burning gold!
Bring me my arrows of desire!
Bring me my spear! O clouds, unfold!
Bring me my chariot of fire!
I will not cease from mental fight,
nor shall my sword sleep in my hand,
till we have built Jerusalem
In England’s green and pleasant Land.
Lyrics to Heart of Oak:
Come, cheer up, my lads, 'tis to glory we steer,
To add something more to this wonderful year;
To honour we call you, as freemen not slaves,
For who are as free as the sons of the waves?
CHORUS
Heart of oak are our ships, jolly tars are our men,
we always are ready; Steady, boys, steady!
We'll fight and we'll conquer again and again.
We ne'er see our foes but we wish them to stay,
They never see us but they wish us away;
If they run, why we follow, and run them ashore,
And if they won't fight us, we cannot do more.
CHORUS...
They swear they'll invade us, these terrible foes,
They frighten our women, our children and beaus,
But should their flat bottoms in darkness get o'er,
Still Britons they'll find to receive them on shore.
CHORUS...
Britannia triumphant, her ships sweep the sea,
Her standard is Justice -- her watchword, 'be free.'
Then cheer up, my lads, with one heart let us sing,
Our soldiers, our sailors, our statesmen, and king.
CHORUS...
"God Save the Queen" is usually played for English sporting events, such as football matches against teams from outside the UK, although the "Land of Hope and Glory" was used as the English anthem
for the 2002 Commonwealth Games. Since 2004, "Jerusalem" has been sung before England cricket matches.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
*****************************************
Prime Minister: Gordon Brown MP.
Monarch: Queen Elizabeth II.
~Fast Facts~
Capital City: London.
Cities: London, Birmingham, Liverpool, Leeds, Sheffield, Bristol.
National Holiday: St. George's Day, April 23.
Language: English.
Population: 50,663,700.
Religions: Christian, Muslim, Hindi, others.
~Land Statistics~
Coastline: 3,246 km.
Land Area: 129,355 sq km.
Water Area: 1,540 sq km.
Total Area (Water And Land): 130,895 sq km.
Horizontal Width: 292 km.
Vertical Length: 558 km.
Bordering Countries: Scotland And Wales.
Regions: England divides itself into 47 boroughs, counties, 29 London boroughs, 12 cities and boroughs, 10 districys, 12 cities and 3 royal boroughs.
Highest Point: Scafell Pike, a moutain located in the Lake District, at 978 meters.
Lowest Point: -4 Meters below sea level, in a very low region of marsh area called The Fens, or Fenlands.
Timeline:
5,000~2,000 BC - Stone Age settlers arrive, crossing the English Channel, farming introduced.
2,200 BC - The Bleaker People construct ring of stones at Stonehenge.
600~50 BC - Celtic people establish their culture throughout the British Isles; Druids populate Wales.
55 BC - Julius Caesar attempted invasion of Britain, forced to withdraw.
54 BC - Second invasion attempt by Julius Caesar; captured in St. Albans.
43 AD - Roman Emperor Claudius and 40,000 troops invade, Britannia becomes a Roman province.
61 AD - Queen Boadicea organized rebellion against Romans, was defeated.
120 AD - Emperor Hadrian ordered wall to be built to mark Roman territory of Britain in north.
211 AD - Britain divided into two parts - Britannia Superior and Britannia Inferior.
254 AD - St. Alban beheaded, became first Britain Christian martyr.
290 AD - Carausius rebelled against Roman Empire, took control of Britain and North Gaul.
296 AD - Emperor Caesar Constantius Chlorus invades Britain, recoveres it for the Roman Empire.
306 - Constantine declared Emperor of Rome.
360~369 - Saxons from Northern Germany attacked Roman occupied Britain; Scot invaders attacked northern Britain; Romans retained control.
410 - Roman troops withdrew from Britannia; Roman occupation officially over.
440~450 - Assorted tribes inlcuding the Picts, Saxons, Angles and Jutes invade unprotected Britain.
477 - Saxon chief, Ella, captured fortress at Anderida; proclaimed himself king of Sussex.
525 - AD system introduced; Saxons attacked between London and St. Albans; form Kingdom of Essex.
556 - Saxons set up seven kingdoms in Britain.
597 - Saint Augustine sent to Britain to convert English to Christianity.
613 - Anglo-Saxons conquered all of Britain; land divided into 30 kingdoms
617 - Edwin, King of Northumbria, conquers England.
617~685 - Northumbrian kingdom reigns supreme.
620 - Ireland invaded by Norsemen.
663 - Plague outbreak across British Isles.
668 - English Church established.
730~821 - Mercia kingdom reigns.
668 - English Church established.
730~821 - Mercia kingdom reigns.
741 - York burned.
779 - Offa's Dyke (huge earthworks) completed from River Dee to River Wye.
793 - First Viking raid on Britain at Lindisfarne.
802~839 - Kingdom of Wessex gained control of most of England.
836 - Vikings and West Welsh defeated in battle at Hengists Down near Plymouth.
866 - Vikings, the "Great Army", invaded England.
867 - Northumbria captured by Vikings.
870 - Vikings sacked York; captured Nottingham.
836 - Northmen and West Welsh defeated in battle at Hengists Down near Plymouth.
872 - Vikings defeated Wessex army at Wilton; conquered Mercia.
897 - King Alfred built first English fleet.
926 - Eastern England recaptured by Saxons.
955 - Northumbrian Danes defeated.
957 - After revolt, Edgar named King.
980 - Vikings again invaded England.
994 - Danes and Norwegians attacked London.
1002 - St. Bryce's Day Massacre; King Ethelred ordered all Danes in England be killed.
1012 - Danes captured in Canterbury.
1013 - Danes captured all of England, King of Danes, Sweyn, made King of England.
1016 - Danish King Canute became King of England.
1035 - King Canute died; England divided between three sons, Sweyn, Norway, Hardicanute, Denmark and South England, Harold Harefoot, North England.
1042 - Edward the Confessor became King.
1066 - Battle of Hastings occurred; William I crowned King of England.
1086 - Domesday Book (survey of England) finished.
1087 - King William I died; son, William II King.
1096 - The Crusades began (lasted 150 years).
1100 - King William II killed; brother Henry I King.
1106 - King Henry I conquered Normandy.
1154 - Henry II crowned King, first in Plantagenet line.
1170 - Thomas Becket (Archbishop of Canterbury) murdered after quarrel with Henry II.
1189 - King Henry II ousted; Richard the Lionheart (Richard I) crowned King.
1199 - King Richard I died in battle; John new King.
1204 - Philip II of France seized Normandy.
1215 - Magna Carta (the Great Charter) completed.
1224 - France declared war on England.
1259 - Treaty of Paris signed; war with France ended.
1272 - Henry III died; Edward I crowned King.
1282~1283 - Edward I conquered Wales.
1284 - Wales annexed to England.
1290 - King Edward I expelled Jews from England.
1296 - Edward I invaded Scotland; Scotland became dependency of England.
1297 - William Wallace of Scotland, defeated English at Stirling Bridge.
1298 - Edward I invaded Scotland; defeated Scots.
1307 - King Edward I died; Edward II succeeded to throne; withdrew from Scotland.
1314 - English defeated at Battle at Bannockburn.
1318 - Scottish forces invaded North England.
1320 - Declaration of Arbroath signed by earls and barons of Scotland, rejected English rule.
1327 - Edward II abdicated throne; Edward III King.
1328 - Edward III made peace with Scotland; treaty of Edinburgh signed.
1331 - David II (age seven) crowned King of Scotland.
1337 - Hundred Years' War with France began.
1346 - English claimed first land victory in northern France of Hundred Years' War.
1348 - Black Death Plague ravishes England; over 50% of population dies.
1377 - King Edward III died; Richard II (age 10) crowned King; Poll tax introduced.
1381 - Peasant's Revolt against poll tax occurred.
1399 - King Richard II forced to resign; Henry IV crowned King.
1404 - Welsh hero, Owain Glyndwr, gained control of Wales; declared himself Prince of Wales.
1409 - Welsh surrender to England.
1413 - King Henry IV died; Henry V new king.
1415 - English defeated French at Battle of Agincourt.
1419 - Henry V took control of Normandy, France.
1422 - Henry V died; Son Henry VI (aged nine months) succeeded; council established to rule England.
1453 - Final battle of Hundred Years' War occurred at Chatillon; War ended; England ousted from France.
1455 - War of the Roses began between parties of Plantagenets and Lancastrians.
1471 - Edward IV reclaimed crown from King Henry VI; Henry VI died.
1483 - King Edward IV died; dispute occurred about rightful king; Richard III crowned King.
1485 - Henry Tudor, descendent of Edward III, fought to take over English throne; King Richard III died during battle, Henry Tudor crowned King Henry VII; War of the Roses ended at Battle of Bosworth.
1492 - Kings Henry VII of England and Charles VII of France negotiated Treaty of Etaples; Christopher Columbus discovered Bahamas.
1509 - King Henry VII died; King Henry VIII crowned.
1513 - English defeated Scots and French invasion at Battle of Flodden Field.
1533 - King Henry VIII divorced Catherine of Aragon; married Anne Boleyn; Pope excommunicated Henry VIII from church.
1534 - King Henry VIII formed Church of England.
1536 - Anne Boleyn executed; Henry VIII married Jane Seymour.
1542 - Scottish forces attacked England at Battle of Solway; King James V of Scotland died; daughter Mary crowned Queen of Scots.
1547 - King Henry VIII died; Edward VI (age nine) became King.
1549 - Book of common prayer introduced; First Act of Uniformity passed, banning Roman Catholic mass.
1553 - King Edward VI died; Lady Jane Grey declared Queen of England for nine days; Mary I crowned Queen.
1558 - French retook Calais; Queen Mary I died; Elizabeth I crowned Queen.
1559 - Mary, Queen of Scots, claimed her royal right to the English throne.
1565 - Walter Raleigh brought tobacco to England.
1567 - Mary, Queen of Scots, abdicated, son James declared King.
(1587 - Queen Elizabeth ordered execution of Mary, Queen of Scots, for treason.
1588 - Spanish Armada sent to attack England; the English overwhelmingly defeated the Spanish fleet.
1593 - William Shakespeare's first published work.
1600 - East India Company established.
1601 - Queen Elizabeth I died; James VI of Scotland became James I of England, the first Stuart king.
1604 - Kings James I of England and Philip III of Spain signed Treaty of London, ending war.
1605 - Plan to blow up Parliament, the Gunpowder Plot, failed.
1614 - Parliament called Addled Parliament for not passing one act during sitting; James I dissolved Parliament.
1620 - Mayflower with Pilgrims arrived in America.
1621 - Thirty Years War began (Protestants against Catholics).
1625 - King James I died; son Charles I crowned.
1640 - Long Parliament sat (until 1660).
1642 - English Civil War began.
1645 - Civil War ended, Charles I defeated.
1648 - Second Civil War occurred.
1649 - King Charles I tried for levying war; found guilty and was executed; son Charles II declared himself King.
1653~1658 - Lord Cromwell ruled as Lord Protector.
1654 - England declared war on Spain.
1660 - Monarchy restored with King Charles II.
1665 - Great Plague struck London; over 75,000 died.
1666 - Great Fire of London destroyed more than 12,000 houses, 80 churches.
1685 - King Charles II died; brother James, Duke of York, crowned King James II.
1688~1689 - Glorious Revolution took place, King James II deposed by Parliament.
1689 - William III and Mary II jointly crowned King and Queen of England.
1690 - Battle of the Boyce occurred, King William III defeated armies of James II.
1691 - King William III took control of Ireland.
1694 - Queen Mary II died; Bank of England established.
1702 - King William III died; daughter of James II, Anne, crowned Queen.
1707 - Act of Union passed - united England and Scotland as Great Britain.
1714 - Queen Anne died; George Ludwig, great grandson of James I became King George I, the first German-speaking monarch.
1720 - The South Sea Bubble financial crisis struck.
1721 - Whig politician, Robert Walpole, became first Prime Minister of Great Britain.
1727 - King George I died; son, George II new king.
1745 - French defeated Great Britain and Austria at Battle of Fontenoy; Bonnie Prince Charlie, claimant to throne, defeated by King George II supporters.
1752 - Gregorian calendar (also known as New Style) adopted by Britain and all British colonies.
1756 - Seven Years' War began.
1760 - King George II died; George III new king.
1763 - Treaty of Paris ended Seven Years' War.
1770 - British troops sent to American colonies; Boston Massacre occurred; British troops quickly removed from Boston.
1773 - Colonists in America dumped chests of tea into sea protesting taxes (Boston Tea Party).
1775 - American Revolution began.
1776 - American Declaration of Independence signed by thirteen colonies declaring break from Britain.
1781 - American Revolution ended; America won its independence.
1801 - Act of Union placed Ireland under British Parliament control.
1805 - British defeated Napoleon's French fleet at Battle of Trafalgar.
1811 - King George III deemed unfit to rule; son George, Prince of Wales, appointed Prince Regent.
1811~1817 - Luddite Movement occurred - rioting against unemployment due to Industrial Revolution; potato famine ravishes Ireland.
1820 - King George III died; George IV became king.
1829 - Roman Catholic Relief Act passed, gave political rights to Catholics for loyalty to Protestant monarchy.
1830 - King George IV died; succeeded by brother, Duke of Clarence, as King William IV.
1832 - Great Reform Act passed, male property owners allowed to vote; cholera struck Britain, more than 20,000 died.
1820 - Factory Act banned child workers under nine.
1834 - Charles Babbage invented mechanical calculating machine, prototype for modern computer.
1837 - King William IV died; his niece crowned Queen Victoria of Britain.
1845 - Potato crops across Europe ruined.
1851 - Great Exhibition took place; more than six million visited.
1854~1856 - Britain victorious in Crimean War.
1863 - First underground railway in London opened.
1867 - Second Reform Act passed - male household heads allowed to vote.
1869 - Suez Canal opened; women rate payers given right to vote in local elections.
1870 - Education Act passed, school mandatory for children up to 11 years.
1872 - Ballot Act passed - voting now secret.
1875 - Captain Michael Webb first person to swim across English Channel.
1877 - Queen Victoria declared Empress of India.
1878 - Pleasure boat, Princess Alice, sank in Thames River, more than 600 died.
1892 - First Labour MP elected.
1896 - Britain won three gold medals at first modern Olympic Games in Athens.
1899~1902 - Boer War took place; Britain defeated South African Dutch settlers.
1901 - Queen Victoria died; son Edward VII new king.
1903 - Suffagrette movement founded.
1908 - Introduction of pensions.
1910 - Edward VII died, son George crowned King George V.
1912 - Titanic left Southampton, sank in North Atlantic, 1,513 people died.
1914 - World War I began.
1918 - World War I ended, one million Brits dead.
1920 - League of Nations launched.
1921 - Ireland granted independence by Ango-Irish Treaty; six counties retained as part of United Kingdom.
1922 - United Kingdom became known as United Kingdom of Great Britain and North Ireland; British Broadcasting Company aired first radio service.
1924 - John Logie Baird, Scottish engineer, invented television.
1926 - Two millions workers went on strike, the "General Strike" lasted for nine days.
1928 - Women aged 21 received right to vote; Amelia Earhart landed in South Wales; first female to fly solo across Atlantic; Doctor Alexander Fleming of London discovered penicillin.
1929 - New York Stock Exchange crashed, economic slump hit Britain.
1936 - King George V died; son Edward VIII crowned king, abdicated the throne to marry Mrs. Simpson (second shortest reign in English history); brother George (George V) became king.
1939 - World War II began.
1940 - Ration books introduced for food, clothing, petrol; Winston Churchill leader of British forces.
1945 - World War II ended.
1948 - National Health Service now offer free medical care (from the cradle to the grave).
1951 - Festival of Britain took place; Winston Churchill elected Prime Minister again.
1952 - King George VI died; Britain tested nuclear bomb.
1953 - Elizabeth II crowned Queen of England; scientists at Cambridge University discovered structure of DNA.
1955 - Churchill resigned as Prime Minister.
1958 - Great Train Robbery occurred - Royal Mail train robbed; Beatles release hit songs.
1966 - England won Football World Cup; Aberfan, Wales swamped by mining waste, 116 children died and 28 adults.
1969 - Maiden flight of Concorde took place; Queen Elizabeth II's son, Charles, named Prince of Wales; death penalty abolished.
1971 - Decimal currency adopted; rioting in Ireland left 20 people dead.
1973 - Britain joined Common Market; bombs in London killed one and injured 250.
1976 - Britain had hottest, driest summer in 250 years; Concorde made first commercial flight.
1978 - Test tube baby, Louise Brown, born in Lancashire.
1979 - "Iron Lady" Margaret Thatcher became first female Prime Minister.
1980 - Iranian terrorists sack Iranian Embassy in London; John Lennon, killed in New York City.
1981 - Prince Charles married Lady Diana Spencer; ten prisoners died during hunger strike of IRA at Maze Prison in Ireland; rioting in South London.
1982 - British troops drove Argentine forces out of Falkland Islands; IRA continued attacks on London at Regents Park and Knightsbridge, nine people killed.
1985 - Fire at Bradford City Football Ground killed 40 and injured 150; rioting at European Cup final killed 39 people; Live Aid concert took place in London; race riots in Bruston occurred.
1987 - Margaret Thatcher re-elected; hurricane hit Britain causing 17 deaths; IRA bomb in County Fermanagh killed 11 and injured more than 60; Stock markets crashed around world; named Black
Monday; Kings Cross underground station fire killed 30.
1989 - Crowd crush at FA match in Sheffield killed nearly 100.
1990 - Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher resigned.
1994 Channel Tunnel opened rail link between Britain and rest of Europe.
1997 - Labour Party won landslide victory, Tony Blair became Prime Minister; Princess Diana killed in auto accident in Paris; British returned Hong Kong to China at end of its 99 year lease.
1999 - Minimum wage introduced; bombings occurred in London; Scottish Parliament and Welsh Assembly formed.
2003 - Britain joined United States-led coalition in Iraq war; 750,000 people in London staged anti-war protest.
2005 - London's public transport system struck by four bomb attacks; 54 people killed, more than 700 injured; Tony Blair elected to third term; Irish Republican Army gave up weapons arsenal.
2007 - Severe winter storm killed 47.
Motto: Dieu et mon droit. (French) "God and my right".
Religion: Due to immigration in the past decades, there is an enormous diversity of religious belief in England, as well as a growing percentage that have no religious affiliation. Levels of attendance in
various denominations have begun to decline. England today is largely a secular country. Although the following percentages : Christianity: 71.6%, Islam: 3.1%, Hindu: 1.1%, Sikh: 0.7%, Jewish: 0.5%,
and Buddhist: 0.3%, No Faith: 22.3%.[52], the EU Eurobarometer poll of 2005 shows that only 38% of people in the UK believe in a god and that religious belief is on the decline.
Christianity: Christianity reached England through missionaries from Scotland and from Continental Europe; the era of St. Augustine (the first Archbishop of Canterbury) and the Celtic Christian
missionaries in the north (notably St. Aidan and St. Cuthbert). The Synod of Whitby in 685 ultimately led to the English Church being fully part of Roman Catholicism. Early English Christian documents
surviving from this time include the seventh century illuminated Lindisfarne Gospels and the historical accounts written by the Venerable Bede. England has many early cathedrals, most notably York
Minster (1080), Durham Cathedral (1093) and Salisbury Cathedral (1220), In 1536, the Church was split from Rome over the issue of the divorce of King Henry VIII from Catherine of Aragon. The split led to
the emergence of a separate ecclesiastical authority, and later the influence of the Reformation, resulting in the Church of England and Anglicanism. Unlike the other three constituent countries of the
UK, the Church of England is an established church (although the Church of Scotland is a 'national church' recognised in law).
Other Religions: Throughout the second half of the twentieth century, immigration from many colonial countries, often from South Asia and the Middle East have resulted in a considerable growth in
Islam, Sikhism and Hinduism in England. Cities and towns with large Muslim communities include Birmingham, Blackburn, Bolton, Bradford, Leicester, London, Luton, Manchester, Oldham &
Sheffield. Cities and towns with large Sikh communities include London, Slough, Staines, Hounslow, Southall, Reading, Ilford, Barking, Dagenham, Leicester, Leeds, Birmingham, Wolverhampton and
others.
The Jewish community in England is mainly located in the Greater London area, particularly the north west suburbs such as Golders Green; although Manchester and Gateshead also have significant
Jewish communities.
Old Traditional Food:
Bangers and mash
Bubble and Squeak
Cornish pasty
Fish and chips
Full English breakfast
Lancashire hotpot
Mince pies
Pie and mash
Pork pie
Shepherd's pie
Spotted Dick
Steak and kidney pie
Sunday roast
Toad in the hole
Yorkshire pudding
Another List Of Food:
Coronation Chicken
Bangers and mash (sausages and mashed potato)
Black pudding
Bubble and squeak
Cauliflower cheese
Cheese
Chicken Tikka Masala
Cornish pasty
Cottage pie
Cumberland Sausage
Dumplings
Fish and chips
Full English breakfast
Jellied eels
Lancashire Hotpot
Lincolnshire sausage
Pie and mash
Pork pie
Shepherd's pie
Sunday Roast
Toad-in-the-hole
Yorkshire pudding
Bread and butter pudding
Christmas pudding
Dumplings
Mince pie
Spotted dick
Sticky toffee pudding
Custard
Treacle tart
Meal Times And Names:
The British all recognize the early morning meal as breakfast, but after that a division becomes apparent. One pattern is a light midday lunch, perhaps afternoon tea, and a large dinner in the evening.
The other is midday dinner and a substantial tea in the early evening. Sometimes this is called high tea or supper, though "supper," confusingly, is also used to indicate a light, late-evening repast. This
divide originated when dinner, once a midday meal, slipped first to the early evening and then as late as 8:00 P.M. in the early nineteenth century. Lunch and afternoon tea developed to fill the long
hours between breakfast and dinner. Wealthy younger people and southeasterners tend toward the lunch and dinner pattern. Poorer people, older ones, and northerners follow, to a diminishing extent,
the dinner and tea pattern.
Breakfast
There is much nostalgia for the full English breakfast, a meal now mostly encountered in hotels, guesthouses, and cafés. Fried bacon and eggs are essential. Tomatoes, mushrooms, baked beans, fried
bread, sausages, and black pudding are often added. Toast and marmalade generally follow. In cafés this meal is often available at any time. Time-consuming to prepare and eat, it is rarely made at
home on a workday, when breakfast usually consists of cereal or toast, or coffee and a pastry bought on the way to work. However, cooked breakfasts are often made as a weekend treat.
Other items sometimes found at breakfast are oatmeal porridge (now closely identified with Scotland, but a survivor of a general British tradition of grain pottages) and kippers. In India, the British took
khichri, spiced rice and lentils eaten with dried fish, and transmuted it into kedgeree, a mixture of rice, onions, and smoked haddock, still popular. Substantial breakfasts were most fully developed in
country houses in the mid-nineteenth century, when huge buffets including such delicacies as deviled kidneys, raised pies, and cold tongue were laid out.
Lunch
Lunch has few special foods linked with it; though large formal lunches are sometimes eaten, a collation of odds and ends is more frequent. Sandwiches are a popular choice. The English have found
sandwiches a convenient handheld meal since the mid-eighteenth century, when the Earl of Sandwich is said to have asked for his meat between two slices of bread, so as to avoid leaving the gaming
table. Currently enjoying a zenith of popularity and variety, numerous specialty shops sell them filled with anything from conventional cheese and pickles or roast beef and horseradish combinations to
chicken tikka or prawns and avocado. For those who want a hot lunch, soup or "something on toast"—cheese, eggs, fish, baked beans—are popular.
Dinner
Dinner is a substantial hot meal, whether taken at midday or in the evening. The traditional pattern is cooked meat or fish with vegetables. A sweet course, usually referred to as pudding, follows. Food
may come from the prepared-food counter in a supermarket, and home cooks are as likely to choose dishes from the Mediterranean or the Indian subcontinent as traditional English ones. Take-away
(takeout) food, from traditional fish and chips to kebabs, curries, or "a Chinese," are possible choices.
Confounding the lunch-dinner division are the special cases of Sunday dinner and Christmas dinner. These phrases still imply a large midday meal. Sunday dinner is often roast beef and Yorkshire
pudding, served with gravy made from the meat juices or a commercial mix. Roasted or boiled potatoes and other vegetables, typically boiled cabbage and carrots, are also served. Lamb, pork, or
chicken may take the place of the beef. Pudding choices include trifle (sherry-soaked sponge cake covered with layers of custard and cream); treacle tart (filled with golden syrup, lemon, and
breadcrumbs), or lemon meringue pie. Steamed suet or sponge puddings are seen as old-fashioned but remain popular, as do fruit pies.
Christmas dinner usually centers on turkey or goose accompanied by sage and onion stuffing. Bread sauce, milk infused with cloves and shallot, thickened with breadcrumbs, is a classic
accompaniment and a survival of a medieval tradition of bread-thickened sauces. Brussels sprouts are generally among the vegetables. This is followed by Christmas pudding flambéed with brandy,
served with rum or brandy butter. Turkey is now the general choice, a reflection of centuries of great feasts involving various bird species, though roast beef was also a standard Christmas dish until the
nineteenth century.
Afternoon Tea And High Tea
Tea is overlaid with social nuances. Apart from tea to drink (a beverage of primary importance in England since the mid-eighteenth century), afternoon tea is a dainty meal: bread and butter, small
sandwiches filled with cucumber, a cake. Cream tea is a variant on this, with scones, jam, and cream. Elaborate afternoon teas are now most often taken in a café. High tea is a substantial meal, for
people returning from work, or for children after school. It involves hot food such as kippers, eggs, pies, or sausages, or, in summer, cold ham or tinned canned salmon and salad. Bread and butter is
always on the table, together with jam, and a selection of cakes—large ones, such as fruit cake or a Victoria sandwich (sponge cake filled with jam and cream), and small fairy cakes (similar to cupcakes
or miniature muffins), jam tarts, and cookies.
The The Present Monarchs Of England:
Prime Minister: Gordon Brown.
Queen: Elizabeth III.
King: Prince Phillip.
Prince: Prince Charles Of Wales.
Princess: Princess Anne.
Bibilography:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Queen_Elizabeth_II ~ This is pretty good help for learning about Queen Elizabeth II.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/England ~ Great for research.
http://worldatlas.com/webimage/countrys/europe/uke.htm ~ It has alot of things I needed.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/English_Cuisine ~ Good amount of information for the food.
http://www.images.google.com/ ~ Well, this is a link many of us may know, and it is the one most used. Almost all of those pictures are from this link.
Afterwards, the arms became an integral part of the Royal Coat of Arms of the United Kingdom. The spread of the British Empire has led to the arms being incorporated in various other coats of arms of
the UK's former colonies.
Following the Norman conquest of England after 1066, the arms of the House of Normandy were used in England, two golden lions on a red field. The succession of King Henry II of the House of
Plantagenet in 1158 saw the first known arms of an English monarch used, a golden lion on a red field.
When King Richard I ("The Lionheart") came to the throne he adopted his personal arms as three golden lions on a red field. The origin of these arms is thought to be based on the earlier Norman arms.
According to one tradition, the extra lion was added to two existing Norman lions to represent the combined Anglo-Norman realm. According to another tradition the two leopards were combined with
the single leopard of Aquitaine, as Henry II, the first Angevin king, had acquired the duchy of Acquitaine by marriage before inheriting the throne of England. Other heraldic authorities have claimed that
at an early stage in the development of heraldry the number of Norman lions was not fixed and that it is simply a matter of design as to why England has ended up with three heraldic lions and
Normandy with two.
In 1340, King Edward III laid claim to the throne of France and quartered the English arms with those of the France, the "France Ancient", a blue shield with a tight pattern of small golden fleur de lis of
the French royal house.
In 1406, the French quarterings were updated to the modern French arms, three fleurs-de-lis on a blue field.
On the death of Queen Elizabeth I in 1603, King James VI of Scotland inherited the English throne, becoming King James I of England. The arms of England were quartered with those of Scotland. A
quarter for the Kingdom of Ireland was also added, as the English monarch was also King of Ireland.
The French arms were dropped from the Royal Arms of the United Kingdom in 1801 when King George III renounced the claim to the French throne. From that point, the heraldic representation of
England reverted to the version used between 1198 and 1340, three golden lions on a red field.
The arms of England are not used in any official capacity on their own, although they do feature in the first and fourth quarters of the Royal Coat of Arms of the United Kingdom. However, the arms of
both the Football Association and the England and Wales Cricket Board are based on the three lions design. In recent years, it has been common to see banners of the arms flown at English football
matches, in the same way the Lion Rampant is flown in Scotland.
In 1996, Three Lions was the unofficial song of the England football team for the 1996 European Football Championship, which was held in England.
Anthem:
Their Anthem is not offical, but the United Kingdom anthem "God Save the Queen" is commonly used. However, the following are considered to be unofficial national anthems:
"I Vow to Thee, My Country"
"Land of Hope and Glory"
"Nimrod"
"Jerusalem"
"Heart of Oak"
Lyrics To God Save the Queen:
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.
O Lord our God arise,
Scatter her enemies,
And make them fall:
Confound their politics,
Frustrate their knavish tricks,
On Thee our hopes we fix:
God save us all.
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.
Lyrics to I Vow to Thee, My Country:
I vow to thee, my country, all earthly things above,
Entire and whole and perfect, the service of my love;
The love that asks no question, the love that stands the test,
That lays upon the altar the dearest and the best;
The love that never falters, the love that pays the price,
The love that makes undaunted the final sacrifice.
I heard my country calling, away across the sea,
Across the waste of waters she calls and calls to me.
Her sword is girded at her side, her helmet on her head,
And round her feet are lying the dying and the dead.
I hear the noise of battle, the thunder of her guns,
I haste to thee my mother, a son among thy sons.
And there's another country, I've heard of long ago,
Most dear to them that love her, most great to them that know;
We may not count her armies, we may not see her King;
Her fortress is a faithful heart, her pride is suffering;
And soul by soul and silently her shining bounds increase,
And her ways are ways of gentleness, and all her paths are peace.
Lyrics to Land of Hope and Glory:
Dear Land of Hope, thy hope is crowned.
God make thee mightier yet!
On Sov'reign brows, beloved, renowned,
Once more thy crown is set.
Thine equal laws, by Freedom gained,
Have ruled thee well and long;
By Freedom gained, by Truth maintained,
Thine Empire shall be strong.
Land of Hope and Glory,
Mother of the Free,
How shall we extol thee,
Who are born of thee?
Wider still and wider
Shall thy bounds be set;
God, who made thee mighty,
Make thee mightier yet
God, who made thee mighty,
Make thee mightier yet.
Thy fame is ancient as the days,
As Ocean large and wide
A pride that dares, and heeds not praise,
A stern and silent pride
Not that false joy that dreams content
With what our sires have won;
The blood a hero sire hath spent
Still nerves a hero son.
Lyrics to Jerusalem:
And did those feet in ancient time
walk upon England’s mountains green?
And was the holy Lamb of God
on England’s pleasant pastures seen?
And did the countenance divine
shine forth upon our clouded hills?
And was Jerusalem builded here
among these dark Satanic Mills?
Bring me my bow of burning gold!
Bring me my arrows of desire!
Bring me my spear! O clouds, unfold!
Bring me my chariot of fire!
I will not cease from mental fight,
nor shall my sword sleep in my hand,
till we have built Jerusalem
In England’s green and pleasant Land.
Lyrics to Heart of Oak:
Come, cheer up, my lads, 'tis to glory we steer,
To add something more to this wonderful year;
To honour we call you, as freemen not slaves,
For who are as free as the sons of the waves?
CHORUS
Heart of oak are our ships, jolly tars are our men,
we always are ready; Steady, boys, steady!
We'll fight and we'll conquer again and again.
We ne'er see our foes but we wish them to stay,
They never see us but they wish us away;
If they run, why we follow, and run them ashore,
And if they won't fight us, we cannot do more.
CHORUS...
They swear they'll invade us, these terrible foes,
They frighten our women, our children and beaus,
But should their flat bottoms in darkness get o'er,
Still Britons they'll find to receive them on shore.
CHORUS...
Britannia triumphant, her ships sweep the sea,
Her standard is Justice -- her watchword, 'be free.'
Then cheer up, my lads, with one heart let us sing,
Our soldiers, our sailors, our statesmen, and king.
CHORUS...
"God Save the Queen" is usually played for English sporting events, such as football matches against teams from outside the UK, although the "Land of Hope and Glory" was used as the English anthem
for the 2002 Commonwealth Games. Since 2004, "Jerusalem" has been sung before England cricket matches.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
*****************************************
Prime Minister: Gordon Brown MP.
Monarch: Queen Elizabeth II.
~Fast Facts~
Capital City: London.
Cities: London, Birmingham, Liverpool, Leeds, Sheffield, Bristol.
National Holiday: St. George's Day, April 23.
Language: English.
Population: 50,663,700.
Religions: Christian, Muslim, Hindi, others.
~Land Statistics~
Coastline: 3,246 km.
Land Area: 129,355 sq km.
Water Area: 1,540 sq km.
Total Area (Water And Land): 130,895 sq km.
Horizontal Width: 292 km.
Vertical Length: 558 km.
Bordering Countries: Scotland And Wales.
Regions: England divides itself into 47 boroughs, counties, 29 London boroughs, 12 cities and boroughs, 10 districys, 12 cities and 3 royal boroughs.
Highest Point: Scafell Pike, a moutain located in the Lake District, at 978 meters.
Lowest Point: -4 Meters below sea level, in a very low region of marsh area called The Fens, or Fenlands.
Timeline:
5,000~2,000 BC - Stone Age settlers arrive, crossing the English Channel, farming introduced.
2,200 BC - The Bleaker People construct ring of stones at Stonehenge.
600~50 BC - Celtic people establish their culture throughout the British Isles; Druids populate Wales.
55 BC - Julius Caesar attempted invasion of Britain, forced to withdraw.
54 BC - Second invasion attempt by Julius Caesar; captured in St. Albans.
43 AD - Roman Emperor Claudius and 40,000 troops invade, Britannia becomes a Roman province.
61 AD - Queen Boadicea organized rebellion against Romans, was defeated.
120 AD - Emperor Hadrian ordered wall to be built to mark Roman territory of Britain in north.
211 AD - Britain divided into two parts - Britannia Superior and Britannia Inferior.
254 AD - St. Alban beheaded, became first Britain Christian martyr.
290 AD - Carausius rebelled against Roman Empire, took control of Britain and North Gaul.
296 AD - Emperor Caesar Constantius Chlorus invades Britain, recoveres it for the Roman Empire.
306 - Constantine declared Emperor of Rome.
360~369 - Saxons from Northern Germany attacked Roman occupied Britain; Scot invaders attacked northern Britain; Romans retained control.
410 - Roman troops withdrew from Britannia; Roman occupation officially over.
440~450 - Assorted tribes inlcuding the Picts, Saxons, Angles and Jutes invade unprotected Britain.
477 - Saxon chief, Ella, captured fortress at Anderida; proclaimed himself king of Sussex.
525 - AD system introduced; Saxons attacked between London and St. Albans; form Kingdom of Essex.
556 - Saxons set up seven kingdoms in Britain.
597 - Saint Augustine sent to Britain to convert English to Christianity.
613 - Anglo-Saxons conquered all of Britain; land divided into 30 kingdoms
617 - Edwin, King of Northumbria, conquers England.
617~685 - Northumbrian kingdom reigns supreme.
620 - Ireland invaded by Norsemen.
663 - Plague outbreak across British Isles.
668 - English Church established.
730~821 - Mercia kingdom reigns.
668 - English Church established.
730~821 - Mercia kingdom reigns.
741 - York burned.
779 - Offa's Dyke (huge earthworks) completed from River Dee to River Wye.
793 - First Viking raid on Britain at Lindisfarne.
802~839 - Kingdom of Wessex gained control of most of England.
836 - Vikings and West Welsh defeated in battle at Hengists Down near Plymouth.
866 - Vikings, the "Great Army", invaded England.
867 - Northumbria captured by Vikings.
870 - Vikings sacked York; captured Nottingham.
836 - Northmen and West Welsh defeated in battle at Hengists Down near Plymouth.
872 - Vikings defeated Wessex army at Wilton; conquered Mercia.
897 - King Alfred built first English fleet.
926 - Eastern England recaptured by Saxons.
955 - Northumbrian Danes defeated.
957 - After revolt, Edgar named King.
980 - Vikings again invaded England.
994 - Danes and Norwegians attacked London.
1002 - St. Bryce's Day Massacre; King Ethelred ordered all Danes in England be killed.
1012 - Danes captured in Canterbury.
1013 - Danes captured all of England, King of Danes, Sweyn, made King of England.
1016 - Danish King Canute became King of England.
1035 - King Canute died; England divided between three sons, Sweyn, Norway, Hardicanute, Denmark and South England, Harold Harefoot, North England.
1042 - Edward the Confessor became King.
1066 - Battle of Hastings occurred; William I crowned King of England.
1086 - Domesday Book (survey of England) finished.
1087 - King William I died; son, William II King.
1096 - The Crusades began (lasted 150 years).
1100 - King William II killed; brother Henry I King.
1106 - King Henry I conquered Normandy.
1154 - Henry II crowned King, first in Plantagenet line.
1170 - Thomas Becket (Archbishop of Canterbury) murdered after quarrel with Henry II.
1189 - King Henry II ousted; Richard the Lionheart (Richard I) crowned King.
1199 - King Richard I died in battle; John new King.
1204 - Philip II of France seized Normandy.
1215 - Magna Carta (the Great Charter) completed.
1224 - France declared war on England.
1259 - Treaty of Paris signed; war with France ended.
1272 - Henry III died; Edward I crowned King.
1282~1283 - Edward I conquered Wales.
1284 - Wales annexed to England.
1290 - King Edward I expelled Jews from England.
1296 - Edward I invaded Scotland; Scotland became dependency of England.
1297 - William Wallace of Scotland, defeated English at Stirling Bridge.
1298 - Edward I invaded Scotland; defeated Scots.
1307 - King Edward I died; Edward II succeeded to throne; withdrew from Scotland.
1314 - English defeated at Battle at Bannockburn.
1318 - Scottish forces invaded North England.
1320 - Declaration of Arbroath signed by earls and barons of Scotland, rejected English rule.
1327 - Edward II abdicated throne; Edward III King.
1328 - Edward III made peace with Scotland; treaty of Edinburgh signed.
1331 - David II (age seven) crowned King of Scotland.
1337 - Hundred Years' War with France began.
1346 - English claimed first land victory in northern France of Hundred Years' War.
1348 - Black Death Plague ravishes England; over 50% of population dies.
1377 - King Edward III died; Richard II (age 10) crowned King; Poll tax introduced.
1381 - Peasant's Revolt against poll tax occurred.
1399 - King Richard II forced to resign; Henry IV crowned King.
1404 - Welsh hero, Owain Glyndwr, gained control of Wales; declared himself Prince of Wales.
1409 - Welsh surrender to England.
1413 - King Henry IV died; Henry V new king.
1415 - English defeated French at Battle of Agincourt.
1419 - Henry V took control of Normandy, France.
1422 - Henry V died; Son Henry VI (aged nine months) succeeded; council established to rule England.
1453 - Final battle of Hundred Years' War occurred at Chatillon; War ended; England ousted from France.
1455 - War of the Roses began between parties of Plantagenets and Lancastrians.
1471 - Edward IV reclaimed crown from King Henry VI; Henry VI died.
1483 - King Edward IV died; dispute occurred about rightful king; Richard III crowned King.
1485 - Henry Tudor, descendent of Edward III, fought to take over English throne; King Richard III died during battle, Henry Tudor crowned King Henry VII; War of the Roses ended at Battle of Bosworth.
1492 - Kings Henry VII of England and Charles VII of France negotiated Treaty of Etaples; Christopher Columbus discovered Bahamas.
1509 - King Henry VII died; King Henry VIII crowned.
1513 - English defeated Scots and French invasion at Battle of Flodden Field.
1533 - King Henry VIII divorced Catherine of Aragon; married Anne Boleyn; Pope excommunicated Henry VIII from church.
1534 - King Henry VIII formed Church of England.
1536 - Anne Boleyn executed; Henry VIII married Jane Seymour.
1542 - Scottish forces attacked England at Battle of Solway; King James V of Scotland died; daughter Mary crowned Queen of Scots.
1547 - King Henry VIII died; Edward VI (age nine) became King.
1549 - Book of common prayer introduced; First Act of Uniformity passed, banning Roman Catholic mass.
1553 - King Edward VI died; Lady Jane Grey declared Queen of England for nine days; Mary I crowned Queen.
1558 - French retook Calais; Queen Mary I died; Elizabeth I crowned Queen.
1559 - Mary, Queen of Scots, claimed her royal right to the English throne.
1565 - Walter Raleigh brought tobacco to England.
1567 - Mary, Queen of Scots, abdicated, son James declared King.
(1587 - Queen Elizabeth ordered execution of Mary, Queen of Scots, for treason.
1588 - Spanish Armada sent to attack England; the English overwhelmingly defeated the Spanish fleet.
1593 - William Shakespeare's first published work.
1600 - East India Company established.
1601 - Queen Elizabeth I died; James VI of Scotland became James I of England, the first Stuart king.
1604 - Kings James I of England and Philip III of Spain signed Treaty of London, ending war.
1605 - Plan to blow up Parliament, the Gunpowder Plot, failed.
1614 - Parliament called Addled Parliament for not passing one act during sitting; James I dissolved Parliament.
1620 - Mayflower with Pilgrims arrived in America.
1621 - Thirty Years War began (Protestants against Catholics).
1625 - King James I died; son Charles I crowned.
1640 - Long Parliament sat (until 1660).
1642 - English Civil War began.
1645 - Civil War ended, Charles I defeated.
1648 - Second Civil War occurred.
1649 - King Charles I tried for levying war; found guilty and was executed; son Charles II declared himself King.
1653~1658 - Lord Cromwell ruled as Lord Protector.
1654 - England declared war on Spain.
1660 - Monarchy restored with King Charles II.
1665 - Great Plague struck London; over 75,000 died.
1666 - Great Fire of London destroyed more than 12,000 houses, 80 churches.
1685 - King Charles II died; brother James, Duke of York, crowned King James II.
1688~1689 - Glorious Revolution took place, King James II deposed by Parliament.
1689 - William III and Mary II jointly crowned King and Queen of England.
1690 - Battle of the Boyce occurred, King William III defeated armies of James II.
1691 - King William III took control of Ireland.
1694 - Queen Mary II died; Bank of England established.
1702 - King William III died; daughter of James II, Anne, crowned Queen.
1707 - Act of Union passed - united England and Scotland as Great Britain.
1714 - Queen Anne died; George Ludwig, great grandson of James I became King George I, the first German-speaking monarch.
1720 - The South Sea Bubble financial crisis struck.
1721 - Whig politician, Robert Walpole, became first Prime Minister of Great Britain.
1727 - King George I died; son, George II new king.
1745 - French defeated Great Britain and Austria at Battle of Fontenoy; Bonnie Prince Charlie, claimant to throne, defeated by King George II supporters.
1752 - Gregorian calendar (also known as New Style) adopted by Britain and all British colonies.
1756 - Seven Years' War began.
1760 - King George II died; George III new king.
1763 - Treaty of Paris ended Seven Years' War.
1770 - British troops sent to American colonies; Boston Massacre occurred; British troops quickly removed from Boston.
1773 - Colonists in America dumped chests of tea into sea protesting taxes (Boston Tea Party).
1775 - American Revolution began.
1776 - American Declaration of Independence signed by thirteen colonies declaring break from Britain.
1781 - American Revolution ended; America won its independence.
1801 - Act of Union placed Ireland under British Parliament control.
1805 - British defeated Napoleon's French fleet at Battle of Trafalgar.
1811 - King George III deemed unfit to rule; son George, Prince of Wales, appointed Prince Regent.
1811~1817 - Luddite Movement occurred - rioting against unemployment due to Industrial Revolution; potato famine ravishes Ireland.
1820 - King George III died; George IV became king.
1829 - Roman Catholic Relief Act passed, gave political rights to Catholics for loyalty to Protestant monarchy.
1830 - King George IV died; succeeded by brother, Duke of Clarence, as King William IV.
1832 - Great Reform Act passed, male property owners allowed to vote; cholera struck Britain, more than 20,000 died.
1820 - Factory Act banned child workers under nine.
1834 - Charles Babbage invented mechanical calculating machine, prototype for modern computer.
1837 - King William IV died; his niece crowned Queen Victoria of Britain.
1845 - Potato crops across Europe ruined.
1851 - Great Exhibition took place; more than six million visited.
1854~1856 - Britain victorious in Crimean War.
1863 - First underground railway in London opened.
1867 - Second Reform Act passed - male household heads allowed to vote.
1869 - Suez Canal opened; women rate payers given right to vote in local elections.
1870 - Education Act passed, school mandatory for children up to 11 years.
1872 - Ballot Act passed - voting now secret.
1875 - Captain Michael Webb first person to swim across English Channel.
1877 - Queen Victoria declared Empress of India.
1878 - Pleasure boat, Princess Alice, sank in Thames River, more than 600 died.
1892 - First Labour MP elected.
1896 - Britain won three gold medals at first modern Olympic Games in Athens.
1899~1902 - Boer War took place; Britain defeated South African Dutch settlers.
1901 - Queen Victoria died; son Edward VII new king.
1903 - Suffagrette movement founded.
1908 - Introduction of pensions.
1910 - Edward VII died, son George crowned King George V.
1912 - Titanic left Southampton, sank in North Atlantic, 1,513 people died.
1914 - World War I began.
1918 - World War I ended, one million Brits dead.
1920 - League of Nations launched.
1921 - Ireland granted independence by Ango-Irish Treaty; six counties retained as part of United Kingdom.
1922 - United Kingdom became known as United Kingdom of Great Britain and North Ireland; British Broadcasting Company aired first radio service.
1924 - John Logie Baird, Scottish engineer, invented television.
1926 - Two millions workers went on strike, the "General Strike" lasted for nine days.
1928 - Women aged 21 received right to vote; Amelia Earhart landed in South Wales; first female to fly solo across Atlantic; Doctor Alexander Fleming of London discovered penicillin.
1929 - New York Stock Exchange crashed, economic slump hit Britain.
1936 - King George V died; son Edward VIII crowned king, abdicated the throne to marry Mrs. Simpson (second shortest reign in English history); brother George (George V) became king.
1939 - World War II began.
1940 - Ration books introduced for food, clothing, petrol; Winston Churchill leader of British forces.
1945 - World War II ended.
1948 - National Health Service now offer free medical care (from the cradle to the grave).
1951 - Festival of Britain took place; Winston Churchill elected Prime Minister again.
1952 - King George VI died; Britain tested nuclear bomb.
1953 - Elizabeth II crowned Queen of England; scientists at Cambridge University discovered structure of DNA.
1955 - Churchill resigned as Prime Minister.
1958 - Great Train Robbery occurred - Royal Mail train robbed; Beatles release hit songs.
1966 - England won Football World Cup; Aberfan, Wales swamped by mining waste, 116 children died and 28 adults.
1969 - Maiden flight of Concorde took place; Queen Elizabeth II's son, Charles, named Prince of Wales; death penalty abolished.
1971 - Decimal currency adopted; rioting in Ireland left 20 people dead.
1973 - Britain joined Common Market; bombs in London killed one and injured 250.
1976 - Britain had hottest, driest summer in 250 years; Concorde made first commercial flight.
1978 - Test tube baby, Louise Brown, born in Lancashire.
1979 - "Iron Lady" Margaret Thatcher became first female Prime Minister.
1980 - Iranian terrorists sack Iranian Embassy in London; John Lennon, killed in New York City.
1981 - Prince Charles married Lady Diana Spencer; ten prisoners died during hunger strike of IRA at Maze Prison in Ireland; rioting in South London.
1982 - British troops drove Argentine forces out of Falkland Islands; IRA continued attacks on London at Regents Park and Knightsbridge, nine people killed.
1985 - Fire at Bradford City Football Ground killed 40 and injured 150; rioting at European Cup final killed 39 people; Live Aid concert took place in London; race riots in Bruston occurred.
1987 - Margaret Thatcher re-elected; hurricane hit Britain causing 17 deaths; IRA bomb in County Fermanagh killed 11 and injured more than 60; Stock markets crashed around world; named Black
Monday; Kings Cross underground station fire killed 30.
1989 - Crowd crush at FA match in Sheffield killed nearly 100.
1990 - Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher resigned.
1994 Channel Tunnel opened rail link between Britain and rest of Europe.
1997 - Labour Party won landslide victory, Tony Blair became Prime Minister; Princess Diana killed in auto accident in Paris; British returned Hong Kong to China at end of its 99 year lease.
1999 - Minimum wage introduced; bombings occurred in London; Scottish Parliament and Welsh Assembly formed.
2003 - Britain joined United States-led coalition in Iraq war; 750,000 people in London staged anti-war protest.
2005 - London's public transport system struck by four bomb attacks; 54 people killed, more than 700 injured; Tony Blair elected to third term; Irish Republican Army gave up weapons arsenal.
2007 - Severe winter storm killed 47.
Motto: Dieu et mon droit. (French) "God and my right".
Religion: Due to immigration in the past decades, there is an enormous diversity of religious belief in England, as well as a growing percentage that have no religious affiliation. Levels of attendance in
various denominations have begun to decline. England today is largely a secular country. Although the following percentages : Christianity: 71.6%, Islam: 3.1%, Hindu: 1.1%, Sikh: 0.7%, Jewish: 0.5%,
and Buddhist: 0.3%, No Faith: 22.3%.[52], the EU Eurobarometer poll of 2005 shows that only 38% of people in the UK believe in a god and that religious belief is on the decline.
Christianity: Christianity reached England through missionaries from Scotland and from Continental Europe; the era of St. Augustine (the first Archbishop of Canterbury) and the Celtic Christian
missionaries in the north (notably St. Aidan and St. Cuthbert). The Synod of Whitby in 685 ultimately led to the English Church being fully part of Roman Catholicism. Early English Christian documents
surviving from this time include the seventh century illuminated Lindisfarne Gospels and the historical accounts written by the Venerable Bede. England has many early cathedrals, most notably York
Minster (1080), Durham Cathedral (1093) and Salisbury Cathedral (1220), In 1536, the Church was split from Rome over the issue of the divorce of King Henry VIII from Catherine of Aragon. The split led to
the emergence of a separate ecclesiastical authority, and later the influence of the Reformation, resulting in the Church of England and Anglicanism. Unlike the other three constituent countries of the
UK, the Church of England is an established church (although the Church of Scotland is a 'national church' recognised in law).
Other Religions: Throughout the second half of the twentieth century, immigration from many colonial countries, often from South Asia and the Middle East have resulted in a considerable growth in
Islam, Sikhism and Hinduism in England. Cities and towns with large Muslim communities include Birmingham, Blackburn, Bolton, Bradford, Leicester, London, Luton, Manchester, Oldham &
Sheffield. Cities and towns with large Sikh communities include London, Slough, Staines, Hounslow, Southall, Reading, Ilford, Barking, Dagenham, Leicester, Leeds, Birmingham, Wolverhampton and
others.
The Jewish community in England is mainly located in the Greater London area, particularly the north west suburbs such as Golders Green; although Manchester and Gateshead also have significant
Jewish communities.
Old Traditional Food:
Bangers and mash
Bubble and Squeak
Cornish pasty
Fish and chips
Full English breakfast
Lancashire hotpot
Mince pies
Pie and mash
Pork pie
Shepherd's pie
Spotted Dick
Steak and kidney pie
Sunday roast
Toad in the hole
Yorkshire pudding
Another List Of Food:
Coronation Chicken
Bangers and mash (sausages and mashed potato)
Black pudding
Bubble and squeak
Cauliflower cheese
Cheese
Chicken Tikka Masala
Cornish pasty
Cottage pie
Cumberland Sausage
Dumplings
Fish and chips
Full English breakfast
Jellied eels
Lancashire Hotpot
Lincolnshire sausage
Pie and mash
Pork pie
Shepherd's pie
Sunday Roast
Toad-in-the-hole
Yorkshire pudding
Bread and butter pudding
Christmas pudding
Dumplings
Mince pie
Spotted dick
Sticky toffee pudding
Custard
Treacle tart
Meal Times And Names:
The British all recognize the early morning meal as breakfast, but after that a division becomes apparent. One pattern is a light midday lunch, perhaps afternoon tea, and a large dinner in the evening.
The other is midday dinner and a substantial tea in the early evening. Sometimes this is called high tea or supper, though "supper," confusingly, is also used to indicate a light, late-evening repast. This
divide originated when dinner, once a midday meal, slipped first to the early evening and then as late as 8:00 P.M. in the early nineteenth century. Lunch and afternoon tea developed to fill the long
hours between breakfast and dinner. Wealthy younger people and southeasterners tend toward the lunch and dinner pattern. Poorer people, older ones, and northerners follow, to a diminishing extent,
the dinner and tea pattern.
Breakfast
There is much nostalgia for the full English breakfast, a meal now mostly encountered in hotels, guesthouses, and cafés. Fried bacon and eggs are essential. Tomatoes, mushrooms, baked beans, fried
bread, sausages, and black pudding are often added. Toast and marmalade generally follow. In cafés this meal is often available at any time. Time-consuming to prepare and eat, it is rarely made at
home on a workday, when breakfast usually consists of cereal or toast, or coffee and a pastry bought on the way to work. However, cooked breakfasts are often made as a weekend treat.
Other items sometimes found at breakfast are oatmeal porridge (now closely identified with Scotland, but a survivor of a general British tradition of grain pottages) and kippers. In India, the British took
khichri, spiced rice and lentils eaten with dried fish, and transmuted it into kedgeree, a mixture of rice, onions, and smoked haddock, still popular. Substantial breakfasts were most fully developed in
country houses in the mid-nineteenth century, when huge buffets including such delicacies as deviled kidneys, raised pies, and cold tongue were laid out.
Lunch
Lunch has few special foods linked with it; though large formal lunches are sometimes eaten, a collation of odds and ends is more frequent. Sandwiches are a popular choice. The English have found
sandwiches a convenient handheld meal since the mid-eighteenth century, when the Earl of Sandwich is said to have asked for his meat between two slices of bread, so as to avoid leaving the gaming
table. Currently enjoying a zenith of popularity and variety, numerous specialty shops sell them filled with anything from conventional cheese and pickles or roast beef and horseradish combinations to
chicken tikka or prawns and avocado. For those who want a hot lunch, soup or "something on toast"—cheese, eggs, fish, baked beans—are popular.
Dinner
Dinner is a substantial hot meal, whether taken at midday or in the evening. The traditional pattern is cooked meat or fish with vegetables. A sweet course, usually referred to as pudding, follows. Food
may come from the prepared-food counter in a supermarket, and home cooks are as likely to choose dishes from the Mediterranean or the Indian subcontinent as traditional English ones. Take-away
(takeout) food, from traditional fish and chips to kebabs, curries, or "a Chinese," are possible choices.
Confounding the lunch-dinner division are the special cases of Sunday dinner and Christmas dinner. These phrases still imply a large midday meal. Sunday dinner is often roast beef and Yorkshire
pudding, served with gravy made from the meat juices or a commercial mix. Roasted or boiled potatoes and other vegetables, typically boiled cabbage and carrots, are also served. Lamb, pork, or
chicken may take the place of the beef. Pudding choices include trifle (sherry-soaked sponge cake covered with layers of custard and cream); treacle tart (filled with golden syrup, lemon, and
breadcrumbs), or lemon meringue pie. Steamed suet or sponge puddings are seen as old-fashioned but remain popular, as do fruit pies.
Christmas dinner usually centers on turkey or goose accompanied by sage and onion stuffing. Bread sauce, milk infused with cloves and shallot, thickened with breadcrumbs, is a classic
accompaniment and a survival of a medieval tradition of bread-thickened sauces. Brussels sprouts are generally among the vegetables. This is followed by Christmas pudding flambéed with brandy,
served with rum or brandy butter. Turkey is now the general choice, a reflection of centuries of great feasts involving various bird species, though roast beef was also a standard Christmas dish until the
nineteenth century.
Afternoon Tea And High Tea
Tea is overlaid with social nuances. Apart from tea to drink (a beverage of primary importance in England since the mid-eighteenth century), afternoon tea is a dainty meal: bread and butter, small
sandwiches filled with cucumber, a cake. Cream tea is a variant on this, with scones, jam, and cream. Elaborate afternoon teas are now most often taken in a café. High tea is a substantial meal, for
people returning from work, or for children after school. It involves hot food such as kippers, eggs, pies, or sausages, or, in summer, cold ham or tinned canned salmon and salad. Bread and butter is
always on the table, together with jam, and a selection of cakes—large ones, such as fruit cake or a Victoria sandwich (sponge cake filled with jam and cream), and small fairy cakes (similar to cupcakes
or miniature muffins), jam tarts, and cookies.
The The Present Monarchs Of England:
Prime Minister: Gordon Brown.
Queen: Elizabeth III.
King: Prince Phillip.
Prince: Prince Charles Of Wales.
Princess: Princess Anne.
Bibilography:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Queen_Elizabeth_II ~ This is pretty good help for learning about Queen Elizabeth II.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/England ~ Great for research.
http://worldatlas.com/webimage/countrys/europe/uke.htm ~ It has alot of things I needed.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/English_Cuisine ~ Good amount of information for the food.
http://www.images.google.com/ ~ Well, this is a link many of us may know, and it is the one most used. Almost all of those pictures are from this link.
No comments:
Post a Comment