England

England stretches in the central and southern part of the British Isles. It is covered, especially in the south, with lowlands. The north of England is mountainous – the highest range: the Pennines. On the border with Scotland there are Cheviot Hills.

There are many rivers in England – they are very short. The longest and most important river is the Severn. It springs in Wales. The tributary of the Severn is the Avon. Through London flows the river Thames. In Liverpool – the river Mersey. In the north – the Tyne.

The UK is not situated only on a big island but also on hundreds of small little islands. The most important are:

• Channel Islands (Guernsey, Sark, Jersey, Alderney) – they are closed to France
• the Isle of Wight
• Anglesey
• the Isle of Man
• the Hebrides
• the Orkneys
• the Shetlands
• the Isles of Scilly

 

Britain is a beautiful country with many places of interest, attractive countryside and a temperate climate. Its winters are mild and summers are not very hot, it rains a lot.

• the white chalk cliffs of Dover
• Stratford-upon-Avon – probably the second most visited town in England; birthplace of William Shakespeare (born in Henley Street, the grave of him in the Holy Trinity Church); the Royal Theatre; two miles away – Shottery (there is House of Ann Hathaway, Shakespeare’s wife)
• castles Kenilworth and Warwick
• Oxford – seat of the oldest English university (12^th century)
• Cambridge – the second oldest university (13^th century)
• Canterbury – seat of the Archbishop
• Nottingham – legend of Robin Hood; city of lace; many beautiful houses
• Hastings – seaside resort; village of Battle (1066 – William the Conqueror – victory over the Anglo-Saxons
• Stonehenge
• Liverpool – port; city of the Beatles
• the Lake District – glacier lakes: Windermere, Grassmere, Aldermere,…
• Dover, Portsmouth – ports
• Birmingham, Leeds, Sheffield, Newcastle-upon-Tyne – industrial cities

 

Although everybody speaks English in the UK, it is not the same language. English has its own special accents and dialects. Occasionally, people have difficulty in understanding one another because of these accents. One of the most difficult to understand is probably Cockney, the standard London dialect.

English is a Germanic language. Besides English, some nations speak their own language as well. Welsh, Scottish and Irish are of Celtic origin. There are 3 varieties of Celtic. Some people in Wales still speak Welsh; Gaelic is spoken in Scotland – mainly in the west Highlands and Islands; Irish Gaelic is the first official language in the republic of Ireland. There are also dead Celtic languages (e.g. used in old manuscripts) – Cornish and Manx (on the island Man). There is an effort of revival.

Scotland

Scotland fills the northern third of the main British island and many surrounding islands (Hebrides, Orkneys, Shetland Islands).

Scotland can be geologically divided into 3 parts:

• Southern Uplands
• Lowlands – most fertile, industrial and densely settled part
• Highlands – in the north with the peaks over 1300 m; mountains Grampians – the highest and largest mountains in Scotland with the highest peak of GB – Ben Nevis (1343 m)

 

The cost is lined with many bays (firth).

The rivers are short. The biggest are Dee and Tweed, the most important are Clyde and Tay.

Scotland is famous through lakes (lochs) – Loch Ness, Loch Lomond.

The climate is temperate with many rainfalls.

The Scottish national flower is the thistle. The patron is St. Andrew.

Scotland has its own parliament from 1999; own banking system and bank notes and coins.

Scotland is the native place of many famous people (Robert Burns, Sir Walter Scott, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, A.G. Bell…)

In the Highlands, there are many distilleries. What else is typical for Scotland? Curling, golf, whiskey, kilt, clan (family) with own tartans, Mac/Mc – the person is of Scottish origin.

• Edinburgh – the capital of Scotland; industrial, financial and cultural centre
• Glasgow – the biggest city of Scotland; centre of business and industry
• Aberdeen – the third biggest city; famous fishing port; shipping industry
• Perth – former capital of Scotland

 

Wales

It’s a mountainous country. The highest peak – Snowdonia. It includes the island Anglesey. The patron is St. David. The national sport is rugby. The capital is Cardiff. There is a National Assembly.

• Newport
• Swansea

 

Northern Ireland

Ireland as such was the first British county. It has a population of over 1,6 million. It consists of six counties, the biggest county is Ulster. 50% of the people are Protestants, about 40% Roman Catholics. The Protestants are descendants of Scots or English settlers (17^th century). The Roman Catholics are of Irish origin.

The Irish don’t like the British. They fought for independence. In 1921 Ireland was divided into IFS (the Irish Republic) – 26 counties and into Northern Ireland – 6 counties.

The cast majority of people living in NI are Protestants and want to stay with GB. Protestants formed the majority of Northern Ireland Parliament. They were discriminating the Catholics.

Catholics are represented by Sinn Fein (= We Ourselves) – the leader is Gerry Adams. This political party has been connected with the terrorist attacks (org. IRA). They were trying to pursue their targets with the help of weapons. During the history (after WW II) it cost a lot of trouble. Because of this violence London sent there their soldiers.

 

April 10^th 1998 – The Good Friday Agreement

• The Labour Party (Tony Blair) was in power
• George Mitchell, the US senator, brought the Irish to the discussion
• Irish Government
• British Government
• Protestants (Unionists – David Trimble)
• Catholics (John Hume)

 

→ successful negotiations

 

• the just representation in the Parliament
• no discrimination of people because of their religion
• creating own government – cross-border (supra-national) council which would deal only with Irish matters (no involvement of London)
• all people will have to decide for themselves in a peaceful way if they want to stay with GB or if they want to join Ireland

 

The main condition (demand) was that the IRA should have decommissioned (given up their weapons, but they haven’t done it yet.

1998 – J. Hume + D. Trimble were awarded Nobel Prise for Peace

The work of Irish Government has been three times interrupted. Some members can’t cope with the fact that some people of Sinn Fein were members of the Parliament.

August 2002 – the last incident – Sinn Fein was accused of having gathered the materials about policemen and prisons in Britain allegedly for the IRA → result: London took control over Northern Ireland.