United Kingdom

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United Kingdom of Great Britain
and Northern Ireland 
Flag Royal coat of arms
Motto
"Dieu et mon droit" 2  (French)
"God and my right"
Anthem
God Save the Queen 3
Location of the  United Kingdom  (dark green)

– on the European continent  (light green & dark grey)
– in the European Union  (light green)
Capital London
51°30′N, 0°7′W
Largest conurbation (population) Greater London
Urban Area
Official languages English4
Government Constitutional monarchy (Parliamentary democracy)
 -  Monarch HM Queen Elizabeth II
 -  Prime Minister Gordon Brown
Formation
 -  Acts of Union 1 May 1707 
 -  Act of Union 1 January 1801 
 -  Anglo-Irish Treaty 12 April 1922 
Accession to
the European Union		 1 January 1973
Area
 -  Total 244,820 km² (79th)
94,526 sq mi 
 -  Water (%) 1.34
Population
 -  mid-2005 estimate 60,209,500 [1] (22nd)
 -  2001 census 58,789,1945 
 -  Density 243 /km² (48th)
629 /sq mi
GDP (PPP) 2006 estimate
 -  Total $2.006 trillion (6th)
 -  Per capita $35,051 (11th)
GDP (nominal) 2006 estimate
 -  Total $2.373 trillion6 (5th)
 -  Per capita $38,624 (13th)
Gini? (1999) 36.8 (medium) 
HDI (2006) 0.940 (high) (18th)
Currency Pound sterling (£) (GBP)
Time zone GMT (UTC+0)
 -  Summer (DST) BST (UTC+1)
Internet TLD .uk7
Calling code +44
1 In the United Kingdom and Dependencies, some other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous (regional) languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, the UK's official name is as follows:
Cornish: Rywvaneth Unys Breten Veur ha Kledhbarth Iwerdhon; Irish: Ríocht Aontaithe na Breataine Móire agus Thuaisceart Éireann; Scots: Unitit Kinrick o Graet Breetain an Northren Irland; Scottish Gaelic: An Rìoghachd Aonaichte na Breatainn Mhòr agus Eirinn a Tuath; Welsh: Teyrnas Unedig Prydain Fawr a Gogledd Iwerddon.
2 This is the royal motto. In Scotland, the royal motto is the Latin phrase Nemo Me Impune Lacessit ("No-one provokes me with impunity"). There is also a variant form of the coat-of-arms for use in Scotland; see Royal coat of arms of the United Kingdom.
3 See #Symbols below. It also serves as the Royal anthem.
4 English is established by de facto usage. In Wales, the Bwrdd yr Iaith Gymraeg is tasked with ensuring that, "in the conduct of public business and the administration of justice, the English and Welsh languages should be treated on a basis of equality".[2][3] The Bòrd na Gàidhlig is tasked with "securing the status of the Gaelic language as an official language of Scotland commanding equal respect to the English language".[4] Under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages the Welsh, Scottish Gaelic, Cornish, Irish, Ulster Scots and Scots languages are officially recognised as Regional or Minority languages by the UK Government. See also Languages in the United Kingdom.
5 From the 2001 Census
6 CIA Factbook. Official estimate provided by the UK Office for National Statistics.[5]
7 ISO 3166-1 alpha-2 is GB, but .gb is practically unused. The .eu domain is also shared with other European Union member states.

The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland (usually known as the United Kingdom, the U.K. or Britain[6]) is a country[7] and sovereign state to the north-west of mainland Europe. It comprises the island of Great Britain, the north-east part of the island of Ireland and many small local islands. Northern Ireland is the only part of the UK with a land border, sharing it with the Republic of Ireland.[8][9][10] Apart from this land border, the UK is surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean, the North Sea, the English Channel and the Irish Sea. It is linked to France by the Channel Tunnel.

The United Kingdom is a constitutional monarchy comprising four constituent countries: England, Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales. The British monarch is also monarch and head of state of fifteen other Commonwealth Realms including Canada, Australia, New Zealand and Jamaica. The Crown Dependencies of the Channel Islands and the Isle of Man, formally possessions of the Crown, are not part of the UK but form a federacy with it.[11] The UK has fourteen overseas territories,[12] all remnants of the British Empire, which at its height encompassed almost a quarter of the world's land surface.

Britain was the world's foremost power during the 19th and early 20th century,[13] but the economic cost of two world wars and the decline of its empire in the latter half of the 20th century diminished Britain's role and status in global affairs. The UK remains a major political, cultural, economic and nuclear military power with the second highest defence spending in the world; it holds a permanent seat on the United Nations Security Council, and is a member of the G8, NATO, the European Union and the Commonwealth of Nations.

Contents

  • 1 History
  • 2 Government and politics
    • 2.1 Administrative subdivisions
    • 2.2 Law
    • 2.3 Foreign relations
  • 3 Geography
    • 3.1 Topography
    • 3.2 Climate
    • 3.3 Cities and urban areas
      • 3.3.1 Largest cities
      • 3.3.2 Urban areas
  • 4 Demography
    • 4.1 Population
    • 4.2 Migration and ethnicity
    • 4.3 Language
    • 4.4 Religion
      • 4.4.1 Christianity
      • 4.4.2 Islam
      • 4.4.3 Dharmic religions
  • 5 Economy
    • 5.1 Currency
  • 6 Infrastructure
  • 7 Armed forces
  • 8 Culture
    • 8.1 Cinema
    • 8.2 Education
    • 8.3 Literature
    • 8.4 Media
      • 8.4.1 Broadcasting
      • 8.4.2 Print
    • 8.5 Music
    • 8.6 Philosophy
    • 8.7 Science, engineering and innovation
    • 8.8 Sport
    • 8.9 Visual art
  • 9 Symbols
  • 10 See also
  • 11 Miscellaneous data
  • 12 References
  • 13 External links

[edit] History

Main article: History of the United Kingdom
The Battle of Waterloo marked the end of the Napoleonic Wars.

England and Scotland had existed as separate sovereign and independent states with their own monarchs and political structures since the 9th century. The once independent Principality of Wales fell under the control of English monarchs from the Statute of Rhuddlan in 1284. Under the Acts of Union 1707, England (including Wales) and Scotland, which had been in personal union since the Union of the Crowns in 1603, agreed to a political union in the form of a unified Kingdom of Great Britain.[14] The Act of Union 1800 united the Kingdom of Great Britain with the Kingdom of Ireland, which had been gradually brought under English control between 1541 and 1691, to form the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland in 1801.[15] Independence for the Irish Free State in 1922 followed the partition of the island of Ireland two years previously, with six of the nine counties of the province of Ulster remaining within the UK, which then changed to the current name in 1927 of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland.[16]

Britain was an important part of the Age of Enlightenment with philosophical and scientific input and a literary and theatrical tradition.Over the next century the United Kingdom played an important role in developing Western ideas of parliamentary democracy with significant contributions to literature, the arts and science.[17] The UK led Industrial Revolution transformed the country and fuelled the British Empire. For a time, like other Great Powers, the UK was involved in colonial exploitation, including the slave trade, but the passing of the 1807 Slave Trade Act made the UK the first nation to prohibit trade in slaves.

The British Empire in 1897. The largest in history, the British Empire led to the current spread of the English language

. After the defeat of Napoleon in the Napoleonic Wars, Britain became the principal naval power of the 19th century. At its peak the British Empire controlled large territories in Asia, Africa and America.

In the 19th century the country played an important role in the development of parliamentary democracy, partly through the emergence of a multi-party system. At the end of the Victorian era the United Kingdom lost its industrial leadership, particularly to the United States which surpassed the UK in industrial production and trade in the 1890s, and to the German Empire. Britain remained an eminent power and its empire expanded to its maximum size by 1921, gaining the League of Nations mandate over former German and Ottoman colonies after World War I.

After the Great War, the world's first large-scale international broadcasting network, the BBC, was created. In 1924 the country's Labour movement, which had been gaining strength since the late 1890s, formed the first Labour government. Britain fought Nazi Germany in World War II, with its Commonwealth allies including Canada, Australia, New Zealand, South Africa and India, later to be joined by further allies. Wartime leader Winston Churchill and his successor Clement Atlee helped plan the post-war world as part of the "Big Three". World War II left the United Kingdom financially and physically damaged. Loans taken out during and after World War II from the United States and from Canada were economically costly but, along with post-war US Marshall aid, they started the UK on the road to recovery.

The famous Spitfire of the RAF in World War II.

The immediate post-war years saw the establishment of the British Welfare State and one of the world's first and most comprehensive health services, while the demands of a recovering economy brought people from all over the Commonwealth to create a multi-ethnic Britain. Although the new postwar limits of Britain's political role were confirmed by the Suez Crisis of 1956, the international currency of the language meant the continuing impact of its literature and culture, while at the same time from the 1960s its popular culture found an influence abroad. Following a period of economic stagnation and industrial strife in the 1970s after a global economic downturn, the 1980s saw the inflow of substantial oil revenues, and the premiership of Margaret Thatcher, under whom there was a marked break with the post-war political and economic consensus. Her supporters credit her with economic success, but her critics blame her for greater social division. From the mid-1990s onward these trends largely continued under the leadership of Tony Blair.

The United Kingdom has been a member of the European Union since 1973. The attitude of the present Labour government towards further integration with this organisation is mixed,[18] with the Conservative Party favouring a return of some powers and competencies to the state,[19] and the Liberal Democrats supportive of current engagement.

[edit] Government and politics

Main article: Politics of the United Kingdom
Queen Elizabeth II

The United Kingdom is a Constitutional Monarchy, with executive power exercised on behalf of the monarch by the Prime Minister and other cabinet ministers.

Winston Churchill, Prime Minister 1940–1945 and 1951–1955

Following the Act of Settlement 1701 only the descendants of Sophia of Hanover who were Anglican or Protestant, and had not married a Roman Catholic could succeed the throne. The monarch technically holds all executive power and must nominate a head of government (Prime Minister) that the Parliament agrees upon. The Prime Minister is now, by convention, a member of the House of Commons; Lord Home (pronounced "Hume") was the last Prime Minister to be a member of the House of Lords when appointed in 1963. However he renounced his title soon after to enter the House of Commons at a by-election.

The cabinet, including the Prime Minister, and other senior ministers collectively make up Her Majesty's Government. These ministers are drawn from, and are responsible to, Parliament. The British system of government has been emulated around the world – a legacy of the British Empire's colonial past, most notably in the other Commonwealth Realms – however the United Kingdom is one of the three countries in the world today that does not have a codified constitution (the other two being New Zealand and Israel), relying instead on traditional customs and separate pieces of constitutional law.[20]

Location of the British Overseas Territories

The current First Lord of the Treasury and Prime Minister of the United Kingdom is Gordon Brown of the Labour Party, having succeeded Tony Blair on 27 June 2007. The Prime Minister appoints ministers to government posts, usually from senior members of their own party. Most ministers are members of, and answerable to, the House of Commons (particularly at their Department's "Question Time"). The remaining ministers are usually from the House of Lords, Ministers do not legally have to come from Parliament, but that is the modern day custom, and a Prime Minister who wants to bring someone into the government from outside Parliament will usually first create them a Life Peer, i.e. give them a non-hereditary seat in the House of Lords. The chief advantage put forward for the Parliamentary system of Government is this direct accountability of cabinet members to Parliament. The counter-argument is that the majority of legislators (elected to hold government to account) are (because they are in the PM's party) actually looking to the Prime Minister for personal advancement — and that most politicians (at least in the early stages of their career) appear to view their being an MP not as an honourable and status-awarding end in itself but as the route to office.

In the United Kingdom, the monarch has extensive theoretical powers, but his/her role is mainly, though not exclusively, ceremonial.[21] The monarch is an integral part of Parliament (as the "Crown-in-Parliament"), and theoretically gives Parliament the power to meet and create legislation. An Act of Parliament does not become law until it has been signed by the monarch (known as Royal Assent), although not one has refused assent to a bill that has been approved by Parliament since Queen Anne in 1708.[22] Although the abolition of the monarchy has been suggested, the popularity of the monarchy remains strong in the United Kingdom. Support for a British republic usually fluctuates between 15% and 25% of the population, with roughly 10% undecided or indifferent.[23] The present monarch is HM Queen Elizabeth II who acceded to the throne in 1952 and was crowned in 1953.

The Palace of Westminster.

The Parliament is the national legislature of the United Kingdom. Housed in the Palace of Westminster on the banks of the River Thames in London, it is the ultimate legislative authority in the United Kingdom, according to the doctrine of parliamentary sovereignty (however, questions over sovereignty have been brought forward because of the UK's membership of the European Union).[24] It is bicameral, composed of the elected House of Commons and the unelected House of Lords, whose members are mostly appointed. The House of Commons is the more powerful of the two houses. The House of Commons houses 646 members who are directly elected from single-member constituencies based on population. The House of Lords has around 700 members (though the number is not fixed), constituted of life peers, hereditary peers, and bishops of the Church of England. (Note: the House of Lords Act 1999 removed the automatic inheritance of seats in the Lords and permitted 92 hereditary peers to remain.) The Church of England is the established church of the state in England only.[25]

There are also three unicameral legislatures devolved from the United Kingdom Parliament which relate specifically to three of the four constituent countries of the United Kingdom. The Scottish Parliament, National Assembly for Wales and Northern Ireland Assembly each have their own Executive, (Government), led by a First Minister, which control separate law making and constitutional powers devolved from Westminster. However, despite being the largest of the United Kingdom's four constituent countries, England, (with the exception of the Greater London Authority), has no devolved executive.

[edit] Administrative subdivisions

Main article: Subdivisions of the United Kingdom

The United Kingdom is divided into four home nations or constituent countries. Scotland, Wales, and Northern Ireland each have a parliament or assembly and a devolved executive. England has no national parliament or government; it is ruled directly by the UK government.

Each nation is further subdivided for the purposes of local government. The Queen appoints a Lord-Lieutenant as her personal representative in lieutenancy areas across the UK; this is little more than a ceremonial role. The following table highlights the arrangements for local government, lieutenancy areas and cities across the home nations of the UK:

Manchester Town Hall. Many towns and cities reflect their "civic pride" with public buildings.
Flag Country Status Population Subdivisions Cities
England Kingdom 50,431,700

Regions
Metropolitan and
non-metropolitan counties
Lieutenancy areas

 English cities
Scotland Kingdom 5,094,800

Council areas
Lieutenancy areas

 Scottish cities
Wales Principality 2,958,600

Unitary authorities
Lieutenancy areas

 Welsh cities
Northern Ireland Province 1,724,400

Districts
Traditional counties

 Northern Irish cities

Historically, the four nations were divided into counties as areas for local government administration. Although these are still used to some extent for this purpose and as geographical areas, they are no longer the sole basis for local government administration.

In recent years, England has, for some purposes, been divided into nine intermediate-level Government Office Regions. Each region is made up of counties and unitary authorities, apart from London, which consists of London boroughs. Although at one point it was intended that each or some of these regions would be given its own elected regional assembly, the plan's future is uncertain following a rejection, by referendum, of a proposed assembly in the North East region.

City status is governed by Royal Charter. There are sixty-six British cities: fifty in England; six in Scotland; five in Wales; and five in Northern Ireland.

The Crown has sovereignty over the Isle of Man and the Bailiwicks of Jersey and Guernsey. Collectively, these three territories are known as the Crown dependencies, lands owned by the British monarch but not part of the United Kingdom. They are also not part of the European Union. However, the Parliament of the United Kingdom has the authority to legislate for the dependencies, and the British government manages their foreign affairs and defence.

The UK also has fourteen overseas territories around the world, the last remaining territories of the British Empire. The overseas territories are also not considered part of the UK, but in most cases the local populations have British citizenship and the right to abode in the UK. This has been the case since 2002.

[edit] Law

Main article: Law of the United Kingdom
Parliament House, Edinburgh is the seat of the supreme courts of Scotland.

The United Kingdom has three distinct systems of law. English law, which applies in England and Wales, and Northern Ireland law, which applies in Northern Ireland, are based on common-law principles. Scots law, which applies in Scotland, is a hybrid system based on both common-law and civil-law principles. The Act of Union 1707 guarantees the continued existence of a separate law system for Scotland.

The Appellate Committee of the House of Lords (usually just referred to, as "The House of Lords") is the highest court in the land for all criminal and civil cases in England, Wales, and Northern Ireland, and for all civil cases in Scots law. Recent constitutional changes will see the powers of the House of Lords transfer to a new Supreme Court of the United Kingdom.[26]

In England and Wales, the court system is headed by the Supreme Court of Judicature of England and Wales, consisting of the Court of Appeal, the High Court of Justice (for civil cases) and the Crown Court (for criminal cases). In Scotland the chief courts are the Court of Session, for civil cases, and the High Court of Justiciary, for criminal cases, while the sheriff court is the Scottish equivalent of the county court.

The Judicial Committee of the Privy Council, comprising the same members as the Appellate Committee of the House of Lords, is the highest court of appeal for several independent Commonwealth countries, the UK overseas territories, and the British crown dependencies.

[edit] Foreign relations

Main article: Foreign relations of the United Kingdom

The United Kingdom is one of the permanent members of the United Nations Security Council. It is also a large member state of the European Union, and is one of the three 'big powers' along with Germany and France. The United Kingdom also has close relations with the United States, the Special Relationship. Britain's close allies outside of Europe include members of the Anglosphere and Commonwealth of Nations, a legacy of the British Empire. With its membership of the G8 and NATO, Britain has a certain influence in international institutions. Britain's global presence is amplified further through its trading relations and its armed forces, which maintains approximately eighty military installations and other deployments around the globe.[27]

[edit] Geography

Main article: Geography of the United Kingdom

The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, or UK, is in Western Europe. It comprises the island of Great Britain (England, Scotland and Wales) and the north-eastern one-sixth of the island of Ireland (Northern Ireland), together with many smaller islands. The mainland areas lie between latitudes 49°N and 59°N (the Shetland Islands reach to nearly 61°N), and longitudes 8°W to 2°E. The Royal Greenwich Observatory, near London, is the defining point of the Prime Meridian. The United Kingdom has a total area of approximately 245,000 km², almost a quarter-of-a-million square kilometres.

The UK lies between the North Atlantic Ocean and the North Sea, and comes within 35 kilometres (22 mi) of the north-west coast of France, from which it is separated by the English Channel. Northern Ireland shares a 360 kilometres (224 mi) international land boundary with the Republic of Ireland. The Channel Tunnel ("Chunnel") bored beneath the English Channel, now links the UK with France.

[edit] Topography

Map of the United Kingdom

Most of England consists of lowland terrain, with some mountainous terrain in the north-west (Cumbrian Mountains of the Lake District), north (the upland moors of the Pennines and limestone hills of the Peak District) and south-west (Exmoor and Dartmoor) by the Tees-Exe line. Lower ranges include the limestone hills of the Isle of Purbeck, Cotswolds and Lincolnshire Wolds, and the chalk downs of the Southern England Chalk Formation. The main rivers and estuaries are the Thames, Severn and the Humber Estuary. The largest urban area is Greater London. England's highest mountain is Scafell Pike, which is in the Lake District 978 m (3,208 ft).

Scotland's geography is varied, with lowlands in the south and east and highlands in the north and west, including Ben Nevis, the highest mountain in the British Isles at 1,344 metres (4,409 ft). There are many long and deep sea arms, firths, and lochs. There are nearly eight hundred islands in Scotland, mainly west and north of the mainland, notably the Hebrides, Orkney Islands and Shetland Islands. In total, it is estimated that the UK includes around one thousand islands.[28]

The panorama across Eskdale from Ill Crag, in the Lake District

Wales is mostly mountainous, the highest peak being Snowdon (Yr Wyddfa) at 1,085 metres (3,560 ft) above sea level. North of the mainland is the island of Anglesey (Ynys Môn).

Northern Ireland, making up the north-eastern part of Ireland, is mostly hilly. It includes Lough Neagh, at 388 square kilometres (150 sq mi), the largest body of water in the UK and Ireland.[29] The highest peak is Slieve Donard at 849 metres (2,785 ft) in the province's Mourne Mountains.

The greatest distance between two points on the UK mainland of Great Britain is 1,350 kilometres (839 mi) between Land's End in Cornwall (near Penzance) and John O'Groats in Caithness (near Thurso), a two day journey by car. When measured directly north-south it is a little over 1,100 kilometres (684 mi) in length and is a fraction under 500 kilometres (311 mi) at its widest.

[edit] Climate

Main article: Climate of the United Kingdom

All parts of the United Kingdom have a temperate climate, with plentiful rainfall all year round. The temperature varies with the seasons but seldom drops below −10 °C or rises above 32 °C. The prevailing wind is from the south-west, bearing frequent spells of mild and wet weather from the Atlantic Ocean. Eastern parts are most sheltered from this wind and are therefore the driest. Atlantic currents, warmed by the Gulf Stream, bring mild winters, especially in the west, where winters are also wet, especially over high ground. Summers are warmest in the south east of England, being closest to the European mainland, and coolest in the north. Snowfall can occur in winter and early spring, though it rarely settles to any great depth away from high ground.

Absolute temperature ranges:

[edit] Cities and urban areas

Main article: City status in the United Kingdom

The four capitals of the United Kingdom's constituent countries are London (England), Edinburgh (Scotland), Cardiff (Wales) and Belfast (Northern Ireland). London is also the capital of the UK.

[edit] Largest cities

Main article: List of United Kingdom cities by population

The term "second city" has been disputed in several ways.

[edit] Urban areas

Main article: List of conurbations in the United Kingdom

[edit] Demography

Main article: Demography of the United Kingdom
The populations and percentage of total population in the four nations of the United Kingdom.

[edit] Population

At the April 2001 UK Census, the United Kingdom's population was 58,789,194, the third largest in the European Union (behind Germany and France) and the twenty-first largest in the world. This had been estimated up to 59,834,300 by the Office for National Statistics in 2004.[30] Two years later it had increased to 60.2 million, largely from net immigration, but also because of a rising birth rate and increasing life expectancy.[31]

The UK's overall population density is one of the highest in the world. About a quarter of the population lives in England's prosperous south-east and is predominantly urban and suburban,[32] with an estimated 7,517,700 in the capital of London.[33]

[edit] Migration and ethnicity

Main article: Ethnic groups of the United Kingdom

Located as they are on a group of islands close to Continental Europe, the lands now constituting the United Kingdom have historically been subject to many invasions and migrations, especially from Scandinavia and the continent - including Roman occupation for several centuries. Present day Britons are descended mainly from the varied ethnic stocks that settled there before the eleventh century. The pre-Celtic, Celtic, Roman, Anglo-Saxon, and Norse influences were blended on Great Britain under the Normans, Scandinavian Vikings who had lived in northern France (Normandy). Since 1945, international ties forged by the British Empire have contributed to substantial immigration, especially from Africa and South Asia, and, most recently, the accession of new EU members in 2004 has fuelled more immigration from continental Europe. As of 2001, 13.1% (5.2% white, 7.9% non-white[34] ) of the UK population identified themselves as an ethnic minority.[35]

Trafalgar Square in London is one of the most famous public places in the United Kingdom.
Ethnic group Population  % of total*
White British &&&&&&&050366497.&&&&&050,366,497 85.7%
White Irish &&&&&&&&&0691232.&&&&&0691,232 1.2%
White (other) &&&&&&&&03096169.&&&&&03,096,169 5.3%
Mixed race &&&&&&&&&0677117.&&&&&0677,117 1.2%
Indian &&&&&&&&01053411.&&&&&01,053,411 1.8%
Pakistani &&&&&&&&&0747285.&&&&&0747,285 1.3%
Bengali &&&&&&&&&0283063.&&&&&0283,063 0.5%
Other Asian (non-Chinese) &&&&&&&&&0247644.&&&&&0247,644 0.4%
Black Caribbean &&&&&&&&&0565876.&&&&&0565,876 1.0%
Black African &&&&&&&&&0485277.&&&&&0485,277 0.8%
Black (others) &&&&&&&&&&097585.&&&&&097,585 0.2%
Chinese &&&&&&&&&0247403.&&&&&0247,403 0.4%
Other &&&&&&&&&0230615.&&&&&0230,615 0.4%
* Percentage of total UK population

In contrast with some other European countries, high foreign-born immigration is contributing to a rising population[36], accounting for about half of the population increase between 1991 and 2001. The latest official figures (2005) show net immigration to the UK of 185,000, 565,000 immigrants and 380,000 emigrants, down from a record high of 223,000 in 2004.[37][38] Immigration from the Indian subcontinent, mainly fuelled by family reunion, accounted for two-thirds of net immigration.[39] High minority group percentages are found in London (40.1%),[40] Birmingham (34.4%),[41] and Leicester (39.5%).[42] By contrast, at least 5.5 million British-born people are living abroad.[43][44][45][46] The most popular emigrant destinations were Australia, Spain and France.[47][48]

A study by a city forecaster, however, contends that the above immigration figures are unreliable and that net immigration for 2005 was circa 400,000.[49] Nonetheless, the proportion of foreign-born people in the UK population remains slightly below that of some other European countries.[50]

In 2004 the number of people who became British citizens rose to a record 140,795 - a rise of 12% on the previous year. This number had risen dramatically since 2000. The overwhelming majority of new citizens come from Africa (32%) and Asia (40%), the largest three groups being people from Pakistan, India and Somalia.[51] One in five babies in the UK are born to immigrant mothers, according to official statistics released in 2007 that also show the highest birth rates in Britain for 26 years.[52]

Between 1 May 2004 and 31 March 2007, 630,000 people from the new EU countries applied for residence in the UK, of whom 605,375 were accepted.[53], although net migration from these countries is likely to be lower.[54] 55 per cent of people arriving from the new EU member states to work in 2006 stated that they planned to stay in the UK for less than three months. Of the 2.5million foreign workers who moved to the UK to work, the majority were from EU countries[55], but net migration in 2005 from the new EU states stood at 64,000.[37]

[edit] Language

Main article: Languages in the United Kingdom
Countries where English has de facto official or official language status.

Though the UK does not have a de jure official language, the predominant spoken language is English, a West Germanic language descended from Old English, featuring a large number of borrowings from Old Norse and Norman. The other indigenous languages are Scots (which is closely related to English) and the Insular Celtic languages (which are not). The latter fall into two groups: the P-Celtic languages (Welsh and the Cornish language); and the Q-Celtic languages (Irish and Scottish Gaelic and Manx). Celtic dialectal influences from Cumbric persisted in Northern England for many centuries, most famously in a unique set of numbers used for counting sheep (see Yan Tan Tethera).

The English language has spread to all corners of the world (largely due to the British Empire) and has thus become the business language of the world. Worldwide, it is taught as a second language more than any other.[56] The United Kingdom's Celtic languages are also spoken by small groups around the globe, mainly Gaelic in Nova Scotia, Canada, and Welsh in Patagonia, Argentina.

Recent immigrants, especially from the Commonwealth, speak many other languages. The United Kingdom has the largest number of Gujarati, Hindi, Bengali, Urdu, and Punjabi speakers outside of Asia.[citation needed]It has recently acquired many speakers of Eastern European languages, notably Polish.

[edit] Religion

Main article: Religion in the United Kingdom
Canterbury Cathedral is the mother church of the Church of England, which itself is the mother church of the Anglican Communion.

The UK is traditionally a Christian state, but it has become predominantly secular; only 38%[57] of the population believe in a God and 66% have no church connections.[58]. For cultural reasons, some non believers still identify themselves with a religion, perhaps explaining why 71.6% of people identified themselves as Christian in the 2001 UK Census.[59]

[edit] Christianity

Westminster Abbey is used for the coronation of all British Monarchs, who are also made the head of the Church of England.

Christianity is the majority religion, and there is a wide variety of Christian churches, denominations, and sects. Each of the four countries of the United Kingdom has distinctive churches.

Scotland and northern England were evangelised first, by Celtic missionaries from Ireland, such as Ninian, Columba and Aidan. Augustine was subsequently sent to southern England by Pope Gregory I in 597.

The English Church split from Rome in 1534, during the reign of Henry VIII of England (see English Reformation). Today, the Church of England is the officially established Christian church in England and senior branch of the worldwide Anglican Communion. The British monarch is required to be a member of the Church of England under the Act of Settlement 1701 and is the Supreme Governor. The senior bishop of Church of England is the Archbishop of Canterbury.

The Church of Scotland (known informally as the Kirk) broke with the Roman Catholic Church in 1560 (see Calvinism and Scottish Reformation). Today it is a Presbyterian church, recognised as the national church of Scotland, and not subject to state control. The British monarch is an ordinary member, and is required to swear an oath to "defend the security" of the Church at the coronation. The Scottish Episcopal Church, which is part of the Anglican Communion, dates from the final establishment of Presbyterianism in Scotland in 1690. Although it is in full communion with the Church of England, it is proud of its own independent origins and history. Further splits in the Church of Scotland, especially in the nineteenth century, led to the creation of various other Presbyterian churches in Scotland, including the Free Church of Scotland.

In the 1920s, the Church in Wales was separated from the Church of England and became disestablished, i.e. lost its "official" status as the state religion. However the Church in Wales remains in the Anglican Communion. Methodism and other independent churches are traditionally strong in Wales.

The Anglican Church of Ireland was disestablished in the nineteenth century. It covers the entire island of Ireland, ie. both Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland. In Northern Ireland the Catholic Church in Ireland is the largest single denomination, although Protestants are in the majority overall. The Presbyterian Church in Ireland is the largest Protestant denomination and is in terms of theology and history closely linked to the Church of Scotland

The Roman Catholic Church is the second largest denomination of Christianity in the UK. After the Protestant Reformation, strict laws were passed against Catholics; these were removed by the Catholic Emancipation laws in 1829. There are separate Catholic hierarchies for England and Wales, Scotland and Ireland.

Other large Christian groups include the Methodists (founded by John Wesley in London) and the Baptists. There are also growing Evangelical or Pentecostal churches, many of which have flourished with immigration from around the Commonwealth and beyond.

Christianity in the UK, however, is showing signs of decline. The Tearfund Survey[58] in 2007 revealed 53% identifying themselves as Christian, a large decrease from the 2001 census. Only 7% of people in the UK are actually practising Christians.

[edit] Islam

Muslims in the United Kingdom are believed to number over 1.8 million,[60] and mosques are a common sight in some regions. The biggest groups are of Pakistani and Bangladeshi origin. More recently, refugees from Somalia, Northern Cyprus, the Balkans and Arab countries have increased Britain's Muslim population. The 2006 controversy over the burqa, brought up in comments by politician Jack Straw, reflects a split between some Britons questioning the extent to which traditionalist forms of Islam are compatible with British society, and others who believe that wearing the veil is not incompatible with Muslim integration in Britain.[61]

[edit] Dharmic religions

Religions of Indian origin, such as Hinduism and Sikhism, also enjoy an increased following in Britain. As of the 2001 census, there are about 560,000 Hindus and 340,000 Sikhs. Buddhism is practised by about 150,000[62] It is likely that these figures have increased since 2001. One non-governmental organisation estimates the Hindu population is about 800,000.[63] Leicester houses one of the world's few Jain temples that are outside of India.

[edit] Economy

Main article: Economy of the United Kingdom
The City of London is a major business and commercial centre and leading centre of global finance.[64]

London is a major centre for international business and commerce and is the leader of the three "command centres" for the global economy (along with New York City and Tokyo).[65] For over twenty-five years, the British economy has corresponded with what has been described by some since the 1980s as the Anglo-Saxon model, focusing on the principles of liberalisation, the free market, and low taxation and regulation. Based on market exchange rates, the United Kingdom is the fifth largest economy in the world,[66] and the second largest in Europe after Germany.

The British were the first in the world to enter the Industrial Revolution, and, like most industrialising countries at the time, initially concentrated on heavy industries such as shipbuilding, coal mining, steel production, and textiles. The empire created an overseas market for British products, allowing the United Kingdom to dominate international trade in the 19th century. However, as other nations industrialised and surplus labour from agriculture began to dry up coupled with economic decline after two world wars, the United Kingdom began to lose its economic advantage. As a result, heavy industry declined, by degrees, throughout the 20th century. The British service sector, however, has grown substantially, and now makes up about 73% of GDP.[67]

The Bank of England; the central bank of the United Kingdom.

The service sector of the United Kingdom is dominated by financial services, especially in banking and insurance. London is the world's largest financial centre with the London Stock Exchange, the London International Financial Futures and Options Exchange, and the Lloyd's of London insurance market all based in The City. It also has the largest concentration of foreign bank branches in the world. In the past decade, a rival financial centre in London has grown in the Docklands area, with HSBC and Barclays Bank relocating their head offices there. Many multinational companies that are not primarily UK-based have chosen to site their European or rest-of-world headquarters in London: an example is the US financial services firm Citigroup. The Scottish capital, Edinburgh, also has one of the large financial centres of Europe.[68]

Tourism is very important to the British economy. With over 27 million tourists a year, the United Kingdom is ranked as the sixth major tourist destination in the world.[69]

The British manufacturing sector, however, has greatly diminished, relative to the economy as a whole, since World War II. It is still a significant part of the economy, but only accounted for one-sixth of national output in 2003.[70] The British motor industry is a significant part of this sector, although it has diminished with the collapse of MG Rover and most of the industry is foreign owned. Civil and defence aircraft production is led by the United Kingdom's largest aerospace firm, BAE Systems, and the continental European firm EADS, the owners of Airbus. Rolls-Royce holds a major share of the global aerospace engines market. The chemical and pharmaceutical industry is also strong in the UK, with the world's second and sixth largest pharmaceutical firms (GlaxoSmithKline and AstraZeneca, respectively)[71] being based in the UK.

The creative industries accounted for 7.3% GVA in 2004 and grew at an average of 5% per annum between 1997 and 2004.[72]

The United Kingdom's agriculture sector accounts for only 0.9% of the country's GDP.[73]

The UK has large coal, natural gas, and oil reserves, although the natural gas and oil reserves are diminishing. Primary energy production accounts for about 10% of Gross domestic product (GDP),[citation needed] one of the highest shares of any industrial state.

Government involvement throughout the economy is exercised by the Chancellor of the Exchequer (currently Alistair Darling) who heads HM Treasury, but the Prime Minister (currently Gordon Brown), is First Lord of the Treasury; the Chancellor of the Exchequer is the Second Lord of the Treasury. However since 1997, the Bank of England, headed by the Governor of the Bank of England, has control of interest rates and other monetary policy. The UK government has greatly increased public sector spending (i.e. government spending of taxes) since 1995, and annual spending on investment in infrastructure has grown from £5.6 billion in 1997 to £29 billion in 2006.[citation needed]

[edit] Currency

New Bank of England £20 note.

The currency of the UK is the pound sterling, represented by the symbol £. The Bank of England is the central bank, responsible for issuing currency. Banks in Scotland and Northern Ireland retain the right to issue their own notes, subject to retaining enough Bank of England notes in reserve to cover the issue. The UK chose not to join the Euro at the currency's launch, and British Prime Minister Gordon Brown has ruled out membership for the foreseeable future, saying that the decision not to join had been right for Britain and for Europe.[74] The government of former Prime Minister Tony Blair had pledged to hold a public referendum for deciding membership should "five economic tests" be met. In 2005, more than half (55%) of the UK were against adopting the currency, whilst 30% were in favour.[75]

[edit] Infrastructure

Main articles: Transport in the United Kingdom and Telecommunications in the United Kingdom
Heathrow Airport is the world's busiest airport in terms of numbers of international passengers

The government's Department for Transport oversees the well-developed transport system in the United Kingdom. A radial road network of 29,145 miles (46,904 km) of main roads is centred on London, Edinburgh and Belfast, whilst, in Great Britain, a motorway network of 2,173 miles (3,497 km) is centred on Birmingham, Manchester and London. There are a further 213,750 kilometers
(132,818 mi) of paved roads.

The National Rail network of 10,072 route miles (16,116 route km) in Great Britain and 189 route miles (303 route km) in Northern Ireland carries over 18,000 passenger trains and 1,000 freight trains daily. Urban rail networks are also well developed in London and several other cities. There was once over 30,000 route miles of rail network in the U.K., however most of this was reduced over a time period from 1955 to 1975, much of it after a report by a government advisor Richard Beeching in the mid 1960s (known as the Beeching Axe).

Heathrow Airport is the world's busiest international airport, and being an island nation the UK has a considerable network of sea ports, which received over 558 million tonnes of goods in 2003–04.

[edit] Armed forces

Main article: British Armed Forces
HMS Illustrious, one of two Invincible class aircraft carriers currently in service. A third carrier is in reserve.

The Army, Navy and Air Force are collectively known as the British Armed Forces (or Her Majesty's Armed Forces) and officially the Armed Forces of the Crown. The commander-in-chief is the monarch, Queen Elizabeth II and they are managed by the Ministry of Defence. The armed forces are controlled by the Defence Council, chaired by the Chief of the Defence Staff.

The United Kingdom fields one of the most technologically advanced and best trained armed forces in the world. According to various sources, including the Ministry of Defence, the UK has the second highest military expenditure in the world,[76][77] despite only having the 28th largest military in terms of manpower. Total defence spending currently accounts for 2.2% of total national GDP, compared to 4.4% at the end of the Cold War.[78] It is also the second largest spender on military science, engineering and technology.[79] The Royal Navy is considered to be the only other blue-water navy along with those of France and the United States.[80] The British Armed Forces are equipped with many advanced weapons systems, including the Challenger 2 tank and the Eurofighter Typhoon jet fighter. Further, the government's announcement on 25th July 2007 confirmed the acquisition of two massive new aircraft carriers, HMS Queen Elizabeth and HMS Prince of Wales, each displacing 65,000 tonnes and equipped with 40 fighter-bombers.

A Trident II SLBM being launched from one of the Royal Navy's 4 Vanguard class submarines as a test launch.

The United Kingdom is one of the five recognised countries possessing nuclear weapons, utilising the Vanguard class submarine-based Trident II ballistic missile system.

The British Armed Forces are charged with protecting the United Kingdom and its overseas territories, promoting the United Kingdom's global security interests, and supporting international peacekeeping efforts. They are active and regular participants in NATO, including the Allied Rapid Reaction Corps, as well as the Five Power Defence Arrangements and other worldwide coalition operations. Overseas garrisons and facilities are maintained at Ascension Island, Belize, Brunei, Canada, Diego Garcia, the Falkland Islands, Germany, Gibraltar, Kenya, and Cyprus.[81][82]

The British Army had a reported strength of 102,440 in 2005,[83] the Royal Air Force a strength of 49,210 and the 36,320-strong Royal Navy, which includes the Royal Marines, who provide commando units specialising in amphibious warfare.

The United Kingdom Special Forces, provide troops trained for quick, mobile, military responses in counter-terrorism, land, maritime and amphibious operations, often where secrecy or covert tactics are required.

There are also reserve forces supporting the regular military. These include the Territorial Army, the Royal Naval Reserve, Royal Marines Reserve and the Royal Auxiliary Air Force. This puts total active and reserve duty military personnel at approximately 429,500, deployed in over eighty countries.

Despite the United Kingdom's comprehensive military capabilities, recent pragmatic defence policy has a stated assumption that "the most demanding operations" would be undertaken as part of a coalition.[84] Apart from the intervention in Sierra Leone, Bosnia, Kosovo, Afghanistan, and Iraq may all be taken as precedent. Indeed the last war in which the British military fought alone was the Falklands War of 1982.

The United States has maintained a substantial peaceful military footing in the United Kingdom since soldiers and airmen were stationed there as part of the war effort during World War II. The presence of the USAF has continued into the 21st century, albeit now confined to the two large airbases located within five miles of each other at RAF Lakenheath and RAF Mildenhall, Suffolk. RAF Lakenheath has a population of around 7000 service personnel, RAF Mildenhall is unknown. This does not account for non-combatant personnel and families.

[edit] Culture

Main article: Culture of the United Kingdom

[edit] Cinema

Main article: Cinema of the United Kingdom

The United Kingdom has been influential in the development of cinema, with the Ealing Studios claiming to be the oldest studios in the world. Despite a history of important and successful productions, the industry is characterised by an ongoing debate about its identity, and the influences of American and European cinema. Famous films include the Harry Potter and Ian Fleming's James Bond series which, although now made by American studios, used British source materials, locations, actors and filming crew.

[edit] Education

King's College chapel, part of the University of Cambridge, England.
Further information: Education in the United Kingdom

The United Kingdom's official literacy rate (99%) is normal by developed country standards. Universal state education was introduced for the primary level in 1870 and secondary level in 1900 (except in Scotland where it was introduced in 1696, see Education in Scotland).[85] Education is mandatory from ages five to sixteen (15 if born in late July or August).

The majority of children in the UK are educated in state-sector schools, only a small proportion of which select on the grounds of academic ability. Around 7% of children in the UK are educated privately, the vast majority at the anachronistically named public schools. The products of public schools make up about 50% of students at the leading universities of Cambridge and Oxford, as well as the majority of doctors, judges and business leaders. State schools which are allowed to select pupils according to intelligence and academic ability can achieve comparable results to public schools: out of the top ten performing schools in terms of GCSE results in 2006 two were state-run grammar schools.

Some of the UK's 138 university level institutions are internationally renowned, especially those of Cambridge, Oxford, and London.[86] In the 2006 THES - QS World University Rankings,[87] 30 UK institutions were ranked amongst the top 200 universities in the world.

[edit] Literature

Main article: British literature
The Chandos portrait, believed to depict the famed playwright William Shakespeare.

The countries that make up the United Kingdom have provided some of the world's most notable and popular authors, poets and literary figures. The English playwright and poet William Shakespeare is widely regarded as the greatest writer in the English language.[88][89][90]

In the history of the novel England is particularly well represented. Early English writers included Geoffrey Chaucer, Thomas Malory and Geoffrey of Monmouth. In the 18th century, Samuel Richardson (often credited with inventing the modern novel), and subsequently Henry Fielding, Laurence Sterne and Jane Austen all innovated in the novel form, followed by Thackeray, the Brontë sisters, Charles Dickens, Thomas Hardy, and Anthony Trollope. In the twentieth century, H. G. Wells, D. H. Lawrence, the Modernists Virginia Woolf and Henry Green, E. M. Forster, George Orwell and Graham Greene were prominent. More recently, Ian McEwan, Martin Amis, Alan Hollinghurst, Ben Okri, Will Self, Monica Ali, and Zadie Smith were among those gaining recognition, while children's author J. K. Rowling has seen immense popularity, recalling that of J.R.R. Tolkien.

Scotland has also contributed many notable writers to the UK’s literary tradition with writers including Arthur Conan Doyle, Kenneth Grahame and Lewis Grassic Gibbon and has a particularly strong heritage in poetry.


In Romantic literature, Scotland saw Sir Walter Scott and Robert Louis Stevenson's epic adventures and one of the world's most celebrated poets , Robert Burns. Modern Scottish writers like Hugh MacDiarmid and Neil M. Gunn helped develop a distinct modernist and nationalist Scottish voice, sometimes termed the Scottish Renaissance. A more grim outlook is found in Ian Rankin's stories and the psychological horror-comedy of Iain Banks. Other notable authors from Scotland include Muriel Spark, Alasdair Gray, Alan Warner, and Irvine Welsh.

Scotland is also home to UNESCO's first worldwide city of literature - Edinburgh.

In the early medieval period, Welsh writers composed the Mabinogion. In modern times, the poets R.S. Thomas and Dylan Thomas have brought Welsh culture to an international audience.

Many authors from other nationalities, particularly from Ireland, or from Commonwealth countries, have also lived and worked in the UK. Significant examples through the centuries include Jonathan Swift, Oscar Wilde, Bram Stoker, George Bernard Shaw, Joseph Conrad, T. S. Eliot and Ezra Pound, and more recently British authors of overseas origin such as Kazuo Ishiguro and Sir Salman Rushdie.

There have been many British poets; the best known include Robert Burns, Geoffrey Chaucer, William Blake, William Wordsworth, and John Betjeman.

The history of the theatre in the United Kingdom is particularly vivid. Shakespeare's contemporaries Christopher Marlowe and Ben Jonson add depth to the early theatre. More recently Alan Ayckbourn, Harold Pinter, Michael Frayn, Tom Stoppard and David Edgar have combined elements of surrealism, realism and radicalism; with successful recent playwrights also including John Osborne, Arnold Wesker, Alan Bennett and David Hare.

Further information: English literature, Scottish literature and Welsh literature

[edit] Media

Main article: Media of the United Kingdom

The prominence of the English language gives the UK media a widespread international dimension.

[edit] Broadcasting

The BBC is the UK's publicly funded radio, television and internet broadcasting corporation, and is the oldest and largest broadcaster in the world. It operates several television channels and radio stations both in the UK and abroad. The BBC's international television news service, BBC World, is broadcast throughout the world and the BBC World Service radio network is broadcast in thirty-three languages globally.

The domestic services of the BBC are funded by the television licence, a legal requirement for any British household with a television receiver that is in use to receive broadcasts, regardless of whether or not the householders watch BBC channels. Households which are the principal residence of any person over 75 are exempt[91] and the requirement does not extend to radio listeners. The BBC World Service Radio is funded by the Foreign and Commonwealth Office and the television stations are operated by BBC Worldwide on a commercial subscription basis over cable and satellite services. It is also this commercial arm of the BBC that forms half of UKTV along with Virgin Media.

There are five major nationwide television channels in the UK: BBC One, BBC Two, ITV1, Channel 4 and Five - all currently transmitted by analogue terrestrial, free-to-air signals with the latter three channels funded by commercial advertising.

The UK now also has a large number of digital terrestrial channels including a further six from the BBC, five from ITV and three from Channel 4 among a variety of others.

The vast majority of digital cable services are provided by Virgin Media with satellite being provided by BSkyB and free-to-air digital terrestrial television by Freeview. The entire country will switch to digital by 2012.

Radio in the UK is dominated by BBC Radio, which operates ten national networks and over forty local radio stations. The most popular radio station, by number of listeners, is BBC Radio 2, closely followed by BBC Radio 1. There are also many hundreds of mainly local commercial radio stations across the country offering a variety of music or talk formats.

[edit] Print

Traditionally, British newspapers could be split into quality, serious-minded newspaper (usually referred to as "broadsheets" due to their large size) and the more populist, tabloid varieties. For convenience of reading, many traditional broadsheets have switched to a more compact-sized format, traditionally used by tabloids. The Sun has the highest circulation of any daily newspaper in the UK, with approximately a quarter of the market; its sister paper, The News of The World similarly leads the Sunday newspaper market,[92] and traditionally focuses on celebrity-led stories. The Daily Telegraph, a right-of-centre broadsheet paper, has overtaken The Times (tabloid size format) as the highest-selling of the "quality" newspapers .[93] The Guardian is a more liberal (left-wing) "quality" broadsheet. The Financial Times is the main business paper, printed on distinctive salmon-pink broadsheet paper. Scotland has a distinct tradition of newspaper readership (see List of newspapers in Scotland). First printed in 1737, the Belfast News Letter is the oldest known English-speaking daily newspaper still in publication today. One of its fellow Northern Irish competitors, The Irish News, has been twice ranked (2006, 2007) as the best regional newspaper in the United Kingdom.[94]

[edit] Music

Main article: British Music

Classical music: Notable composers from the United Kingdom have included William Byrd, Henry Purcell, Sir Edward Elgar, Sir Arthur Sullivan (most famous for working with librettist Sir W. S. Gilbert), Ralph Vaughan Williams, and Benjamin Britten, pioneer of modern British opera. London remains one of the major classical music capitals of the world.

Popular Music: Prominent among the UK contibutors to the development of rock music in the 1960's were The Beatles and The Rolling Stones. Heavy metal, hard rock, punk rock and New Wave were among the variations that followed. In the early 1980's UK bands from the New Romantic scene were prominent features of US billboard charts. In the 1990s, Britpop bands and electronica music also attained international success. More recent pop acts, including Take That and the Spice Girls, have ensured the continuation of the UK's contribution to popular music.

[edit] Philosophy

David Hume (1711–1776).

Eminent philosophers from the UK include William of Ockham, Thomas Hobbes, John Locke, David Hume, Jeremy Bentham, John Stuart Mill, Bertrand Russell, Adam Smith and Alfred Ayer. Foreign born philosophers who settled in the UK include Isaiah Berlin, Karl Marx, Karl Popper, and Ludwig Wittgenstein.

[edit] Science, engineering and innovation

See also: Category:British inventors and Category:British inventions

The scientific method was promoted by the English philosopher Francis Bacon in the early seventeenth century. Subsequent advances credited to British scientists and engineers and include:

Notable civil engineering projects, whose pioneers included Isambard Kingdom Brunel, contributed to the world's first national railway transport system. Other advances pioneered in the UK include the marine chronometer, television, the jet engine, the modern bicycle, electric lighting, the electric motor, the screw propeller, the internal combustion engine, military radar, the electronic computer, vaccination and antibiotics.

Scientific journals produced in the UK include Nature, the British Medical Journal and The Lancet. In 2006, it was reported that the UK provided 9% of the world's scientific research papers and a 12% share of citations, second only to the USA.[95]

[edit] Sport

Main article: Sport in the United Kingdom
The Wimbledon Championships, a Grand Slam tournament, is held in Wimbledon, London every July.

A number of major sports originated in the United Kingdom, including football, rugby, cricket, tennis and golf.

The most popular sport in the UK is football. The UK does not compete as a nation in any major football tournament. Instead, the home nations compete individually as England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland. This is due to historical reasons and a level of disassociation with the other nations by fans[citation needed]. It is because of this four-team arrangement that the UK does not compete in football events at the Olympic Games. However, there are proposals for a united team taking part in the 2012 Summer Olympic Games, which are to be held in London. The English and Northern Irish football associations have confirmed participation in this team while the Scottish FA and the Welsh FA have declined to participate, fearing that it would undermine their independent status.

The UK is home to many world-renowned football clubs, such as Manchester United, Arsenal, Chelsea and Liverpool in England; together with Celtic and Rangers in Scotland. Clubs compete in national leagues and competitions and some go on to compete in European competitions. British teams have been relatively successful in European Competitions and several have become European Cup/UEFA Champions League winners: Liverpool (five times), Manchester United (twice), Nottingham Forest (twice), Aston Villa, and Celtic. Tottenham Hotspurs were the first British club to win a major European trophy. The European Cup competition itself was brought about due to the success of another UK club, Wolverhampton Wanderers, against top European sides[96] in the 1950s. The English Premier League is also the most-watched football league in the world and is particularly popular in Asia: in the People's Republic of China, matches attract television audiences between 100 million and 360 million, more than any other foreign sport.[97][98]

The new Wembley Stadium is the most expensive stadium ever built costing £793 million ($1.6 billion).

The 90,000 capacity Wembley Stadium is the main sporting stadium of the UK. Between the demolition of the former 'twin towers' stadium and construction of the new one (completed in March 2007), Cardiff's 73,000 seater Millennium Stadium served in this role.

The early reference to the separate national identities in the UK is perhaps best illustrated by the game of cricket. Cricket was invented in England. There are league championships but the English national team dominates the game in Britain. There is no UK team. Some Irish and Scottish players have played for England because neither Scotland nor Ireland have Test status and only play in One Day Internationals.

The UK has proved successful in the international sporting arena in rowing. It is widely considered that the sport's most successful rower is Steven Redgrave who won five gold medals and one bronze medal at five consecutive Olympic Games as well as numerous wins at the World Rowing Championships and Henley Royal Regatta.

Both forms of rugby are national sports. Rugby league originates from and is generally played in the North of England, whilst Rugby Union is played predominantly in Wales, Ireland, Scotland, and Southern England. Having supposedly originated from the actions of William Webb Ellis at the School at Rugby, it is considered the national sport of Wales. In rugby league the UK plays as one nation – Great Britain – though in union it is represented by four nations: England, Scotland, Wales and Ireland (which consists of players from the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland). England is the holder of the Rugby World Cup. Every four years the British and Irish Lions tour either Australia, New Zealand or South Africa. Here, rugby football differs internationally to association football, as the England, Scotland, Wales, and Ireland (including the Republic of Ireland) teams combine to form the British and Irish Lions although they compete separately in all other international competitions.

The game of tennis first originated from the UK's second city of Birmingham between 1859 and 1865. The Wimbledon Championships are international tennis events held in Wimbledon in south London every summer and are regarded as the most prestigious of the tennis calendar.

Thoroughbred racing is also very popular throughout the UK. It originated under Charles II of England as the "Sport of Kings" and is a royal pastime to this day. World-famous horse races include the Grand National, the Epsom Derby and Royal Ascot.

The Royal and Ancient Golf Club of St Andrews, generally regarded as the world's "Home of Golf".

Golf is one of the most popular participation sports played in the UK, with St Andrews in Scotland being the sport's home course. Cricket is also popular, although the popularity of the game is dramatically greater in England than in other parts of the UK, all four constituent nations as of 2006 compete at the One-Day International level – Scotland independently, Wales as part of the English team, and Northern Ireland as part of all-Ireland.

Shinty (or camanachd) (a sport derived from the same root as the Irish hurling and similar to bandy) is popular in the Scottish Highlands, sometimes attracting crowds numbering thousands in the most sparsely populated region of the UK.

The country is closely associated with motorsport. Many teams and drivers in Formula One (F1) are based in the UK and drivers from Britain have won more world titles than any other country. The country also hosts legs of the F1 and World Rally Championship and has its own Touring Car Racing championship, the BTCC. The British Grand Prix takes place at Silverstone each July.

[edit] Visual art

Main article: Art of the United Kingdom
Flint Castle, by J. M. W. Turner (c.1775–1851).

The Royal Academy is located in London. Other major schools of art include the Slade School of Art; the six-school University of the Arts, London, which includes the Central Saint Martins College of Art and Design and Chelsea College of Art and Design; the Glasgow School of Art, and Goldsmiths, University of London. This commercial venture is one of Britain's foremost visual arts organisations. Major British artists include Sir Joshua Reynolds, Thomas Gainsborough, John Constable, William Blake, J. M. W. Turner, William Morris, Francis Bacon, Lucian Freud, David Hockney, Gilbert and George, Richard Hamilton, Peter Blake, Howard Hodgkin, Antony Gormley, and Anish Kapoor. During the late 1980s and 1990s, the Saatchi Gallery in London brought to public attention a group of multigenre artists who would become known as the Young British Artists. Damian Hirst, Chris Ofili, Rachel Whiteread, Tracy Emin, Mark Wallinger, Steve McQueen, Sam Taylor-Wood, and the Chapman Brothers are among the better known members of this loosely affiliated movement.

[edit] Symbols

The Statue of Britannia in Plymouth.
Flag Country Patron saint Flower
England St. George Red and White rose
Scotland St. Andrew Cotton thistle
Wales St. David Leek/Daffodil
Northern Ireland St. Patrick Shamrock/Flax
Britannia, featured on Royal Mint gold bullion coin