UK

Well this is a report about the United Kingdom. In this report are questions answered like: -Why does the Queen have two birthdays? -What are Britain’s national costumes? -What is the difference between the United Kingdom and Great Britain? -How do the British spend their leisure time? It’s a big report about the most important things of the UK. We have to know these things
because we’re going to visit the UK on the 8th of May till the 12th of May. We get some
information from Bob Tucker. An English men who live in the Netherlands for a long time, but still love the UK. There is a small difference between the names United Kingdom and Great-Britain. By United Kingdom is mentioned: Northern Ireland, Wales, Scotland and England. By Great Britain are all these mentioned except Northern Ireland. The flag of United Kingdom is called the Union Jack. Union Jack means a jack-staff. It consists of three parts (see below). England, Scotland and Northern-Ireland were invented in the Union flag because they came under the same Sovereign. St. George England St. Andrew Scotland St. Patrick Northern-Ireland

Wales is not represented in the Union flag because, Wales was already joining England before the flag was made. The national flag of Wales. The red dragon on the flag of Wales was probably introduced by the Roman legions. An other story tells that the red dragon appeared on a crest borne by King Arthur. His father had already seen a dragon in the sky who predicting Arthur to king. The United Kingdom is a multicultural country means a country with different cultures and nationalities. So not every Britain is white and is a Christian. No, there are living many people from Caribbean, India , Pakistan and Hong Kong as well. They make up 8% of the population. 9% of them are living in England and half of the immigrants live in London or Birmingham and Manchester. Because of the different cultures and nationalities there are spoken 300 different languages and there are different religions in the UK. This makes up the UK to the country it is today. Each region of the United Kingdom has its own national flower. England: Rose
The rose is a combination of the loyal house of Lancaster and the loyal house of York. They wer in war about the emblems so Henry VII combine them to a red rose with a with centre. Northern Ireland: Shamrock
It’s said that St. Patrick used the shamrock to illustrate the dogma of the Holy Trinity. Scotland: Thistle
It was used in the 15th century as a symbol of defence. Wales: Daffodil
The national flower of Wales is usually considered to be the daffodil. However, the leek also is seen as a traditional symbol of Wales. The currency used in the UK is the pound sterling (£) . The pound (£) is made up of
100 pence (p).The singular of pence is the penny. They use coins and banknotes. The
banknotes are printed with the queens. The coins are injected by different symbols.Each region of the UK also has its own costume. England: England has no national costume. The most common costume they wear is that from the Morris dancers. The costumes mostly consist of a white trousers, a with shirt, a pad of bells worn around the calf of a leg and a hat of felt decorated with ribbons and flowers. The meaning of the bells and ribbons is: give joy, and chase away harm. Scotland: The most famous costume is the kilt. It’s made of a woolen cloth with some pleated in it. Each Scottish family has an other type of kilt(so withe other colours). The kilt is only wear by men. Wales: The costume of Wales is like that from the peasants. So with a gown worn with a petticoat topped with a shawl. The shawl was sometimes decorated. The mark point of the costume was the black hat. The costume was mostly worn by the women. Northern Ireland: The costume of Northern Ireland is based on that rom the Norwegian. For men a trew or with a cloak or a short tunic. For women a skirt with a short tunic. Almost no one weares it anymore. National days in the UK are not celebrated as the National Days in our country. Each region of the UK has its own Saint’s day. Scotland's national day: St. Andrew's Day, 30 November
They commerate St. Andrew, the patron saint of Scotland. He was one of the twelf apostles. Wales' national day: St. David's Day, 1 March They commerate St. David the patron saint of Wales, by wearing daffodils or leeks. England's national day: St. George's Day, 23 April
They commerate St. George the patron saint of England. The story is that St. George recued a poor maid by slaying a dragon. His name was shouted on every battle in the hundred years war, by the Britains. Northern Ireland national day: St. Patrick’s Day 17 March
St. Patrick was the man who brought the Cristianity to Northern Ireland. The day is marked by wearing of shamrocks. Xmas: In the UK they spent Christmas with family and friends. The British decorate there houses with evergreen, holly etc. Traditional food they eat is: sweet mince piese, Christmas cake and pudding. There are two days. Christmasday(25th) and Boxingday(26th). At Christmasday they go to the church in the morning. Ofcourse there is a Christmastree with presents beneath on

Christmas Eve brougt by Santa Claus. They alos hang up their sucks then. In the evening they eat their Christmasdinner with turkey and after that the pudding. On Boxing day they open the presents, watch tv and go shopping. New year: It’s celebrated with family, friend in ous or outdoors in the pub. A tradition is that the first who steps over the threshold give his toast to every one indoors called First Footing. In Scotland they Celebrate New Year with Hogmanay. It’s marked by merrymaking and in midnight walk at Edinburgh’s tron Kirk and Glasgow’s George Street with singing ‘Auld Lang Syne’. Pancake day: Pancake Day is celebrated on Shrove Tuesday which is the day before Lent. People eat a lot and have fun the day before Lent begins. There is a race add as well. Only women may to participate in this race. They must run to the church with a frying pan. They have a hot pancake in the pan which must flip at least three times before they complete the race. The first woman arrive is the winner. She serves the pancake to the bellringer and get a kiss from the bellringer called the "Kiss of peace". This race still occurs in England and in several other cities. Guy Fawkes night: They celebrate the excution of Guy Fawkes and the fact that King James and the houses of Parliament were not blown up on the 5th of nov. 1605, by burning stuff figures of Guy Fawkes on bonfires. The days to 5th nov. the children ask a penny for ther stuff Guy Fawkes. Sport and leisure time: In there leisure time Britain’s watch television and listen to the radio. Adults go to the pubs very common. They also like to visit the theatre, cinema and the shops. The most practise sport is walking but also swimming cycling and cue sports like snooker. Other popular sports are tennis, cricket, rugby and football. Cricket and rugby are played because they the UK develop this sports. They are very proud about that. I think tennis is played so much because they support the interesting for tennis by organising the Wimbledon Tournament. And why football is played so much is the same as by us. They just enjoy it. Cricket and rugby are played not so much in Holland because we play other sports. A great event is the Edinburgh Festival. It’s a festival on which theatre groups can showcase their work. It’s such a popular festival that the city is full of tourists when the Festival take place. Food en drinks: This is the traditional English breakfast. Mostly this is eaten on Saturday or Sunday. · toast · sausages · fried, grilled or tinned tomatoes · cornflakes · mushrooms · black pudding · baked beans · kidneys · sautéd potatoes/chips. · spices like ketchup/brown sauce
Other very popular and nice food is fish and chips, beef on Sunday, spicy meat or fish with vegetables for meal. The Britain’s love tea. That’s why High and Low tea were invented. There’s a difference between them. High tea is a meal served in night. Low tea is just a break round 16:00 with a biscuit. Yorkshire pudding served before the meat and vegetables. Spotted Dick is a steamed suet pudding containing dried fruit, usually currants served as a dessert. The takes place World Black Pudding throwing Competition every year. The object is to throw puddings at a row of Yorkshire Puddings on a wall and knock off as many as possible! Black pudding is made from dried pig’s blood and fat. It’s mosly eaten at breakfast time. Haggis is the national dish of Scotland. This is a heart, a lung and a liver of a lamb. And traditional they are packed in a stomach of a sheep. Here are some famous attractions in the UK. Museum of London: Famous because London is a very famous city and many people want to know more about that. It tells much about the historical city London. It has a big collection of information and god organized guided tours. The Big Ben in London: The Big Ben looks spectacular at night when the clock faces are lighted. It came from the old Palace of Westminster, it was given to the Dean of St. Paul's by William III. From that moment it was one of London's landmarks. Salisbury Cathedral in Salisbury: It was built in 1220. It has the smallest spire in Britain. From that moment there were services. It’s famous because it looks beautiful and you can climb to the top of the spire. Peak District National Park between Sheffield en Manchester: You have to visit this place because the nature is beautiful. There are mountains, sheep and you can find quiet. It was the first National Park set up in 1951. there also live people. They live mostly from the tourism. Lord’s in London: Is a very famous arena were many famous cricket players have been. You also can visit the museum, long room. Lord's was set up in 1787 by Thomas Lord, a cricketer, a successful developer. It was great success. Children in Britain go to school from their 5th (4th Northern Ireland) till the 16th.There are different types of schools. The Primary school for children from 5 till 11, and Secondary schools for children from 11 till 16 years old. There are different secondary schools: -comprehensive schools: these are secondary school: take pupils from all abilities.(Wales) -grammar schools: (Northern Ireland and some areas of England); -modern schools these give more general and technical education; -specialist schools: give more art, business, music, science (only in England) -academies and city technology colleges: give more business and technology. The university of Oxford is the oldest of the UK dating from 12th century. It’s build up of 39 colleges. Cambridge is build up of colleges. Trinity College was founded by Henry VIII in 1546. It’s the biggest of the UK. This college is one of Cambridge University. The official language that is spoken in United Kingdom is English. However, the people of different regions also speek different languages. In Wales they speak Welsh, in Scotland Scottish Gaelic and in Northern Ireland they speak Irish. English is spoken worldwide. 375 million people speak english as their first language and 375 million people speak English as their second language. Many languages use English words. Some English words are spelled different from the way they’re written. In the past the English language had 40 letters. They changed that to 23. Later they discovered that is was unhandy. They wanted to change but that was a big discussion so nower days it’s still the same. William Shakespeare was a playwright and poet. His works is considered to the greatest in English literature. He used tragedy and comedy. He wrote dozens of plays which we know still 400 years later. The most famous on is Romeo and Juliet, because he was good in showing the aspects of human nature. Shakespeare wrote his works between 1588 and 1613. He lived from 23-04-1564 till 23-04-1616. Charles Dickens wrote some of the most popular novels of the 19th century (Victorian time) from Oliver Twist to A Tale of Two Cities and Great Expectations. He got so famous because he wrote about the problems of that time. Even when this problems decreased later on, his books stayed famous. He lived in the Victorian time (bad time) from 7-02-1812 till 9-06-1870. King Arthur is an important figure in the mythology of Great Britain, because he was an ideal king in war and peace. He is one of the great mythic figures of English literature. Historians can't decide whether anyone like Arthur ever existed, they think the story is based on a real person, a ruler of the 5th and 6th century. An other person a legendary robber of the Middle Ages in England, who stole from the rich and gave to the poor, is Robin Hood. An excellent archer, he lived in Sherwood Forest with the fair Maid Marian, Little John, etc who helped him rob rich landlords and thwart his chief enemy, the sheriff of Nottingham. Britain hasn’t got a written constitution. A written constitution is a consolidated document with all the rules. In Holland we’ve got one. They (UK) have constitution documents in stead with their own laws and rules. British constitution document is called Magna Carta. This document was made by King John because he was forced to do this by barons. This document consisted of 61 clauses who set out a clear expression of the rights of the country against the Crown. The people of the UK elect Members of Parliament (MPs) to the House of Commons in London at a general election, held no more than five years apart. Most MPs belong to apolitical party, and the party with the largest number of MPs in the House of Commons forms the government. The three major political parties are: Labour, Conservative and Liberal Democrat. The people who may vote are 18 years or older. On Downing Street number ten lives Tony Blair. The prime minister of the UK. This is a tradition of the UK. The Queen of the UK is Queen Elizabeth 11. She was born on the 21-04-1926. Although she celebrate her birthday on an other day than the 21 of April. She also celebrates her birthday on 17th of June. This is because it’s better weather in the summer. They hang the Union Jack as a symbol of happiness. The National Anthem is God Save the Queen. It became known as the National Anthem from the beginning of the 19th century. This is the National Anthem is God Save the Queen. 1. 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! 2. O Lord our God arise, Scatter her enemiesAnd make them fall;Confound their politics, Frustrate their knavish tricks, On Thee our hopes we fix, God save us all! 3. Thy choicest gifts in storeOn her be pleased to pour;Long may she reign;May she defend our laws, And ever give us causeTo sing with heart and voice, God save the Queen! 4. Not in this land alone, But be God's mercies known, From shore to shore!Lord make the nations see, That men should brothers be, And form one family, The wide world over. 5. From every latent foe, From the assassins blow, God save the Queen!O'er her thine arm extend, For Britain's sake defend, Our mother, prince, and friend, God save the Queen! 6. Lord grant that Marshal WadeMay by thy mighty aidVictory bring.May he sedition hush, And like a torrent rush, Rebellious Scots to crush.God save the Queen! On official occasions the first is only verse sung. The UK has one National Anthem. However, Wales and Scotland have other songs which they sing when they’re playing against England in sport matches. The eldest son of the monarch is heir to the throne. Followed by his heirs. After that comes the other sons of the monarch and their heirs, followed by any daughters of the monarch and their heirs. 1. Prince Charles, (The Prince of Wales) 2.Prince William (of Wales), Son of Charles Prince Charles 3 - Prince Henry of Wales (Prince Harry) Here are the places I’ve found my information to make this report. Websites: http://www.answers.com/robin%20hood
http://www.answers.com/king%20arthur
http://en.wikipedia.org
http://www.visitbritain.com/vb3-en-us/?url=travelbritain
http://www.woodlands-junior.kent.sch.uk/customs/questions/flag.html
http://www.number10.gov.uk/ etc. etc. etc. Books: The United Kingdom: 100 questions answered.