Culture of the
United Kingdom
The culture of the United
Kingdom is the pattern of human activity and symbolism
associated with the United Kingdom and its people. It is
influenced by the UK's history as a developed island
country, a liberal democracy and a major power, its
predominantly Christian religious life, and its
composition of four countries—England, Northern
Ireland, Scotland and Wales—each of
which has distinct customs, cultures and symbolism. The
wider culture of Europe has also
influenced British culture, and Humanism, Protestantism and representative democracy developed
from broader Western culture.
British
literature, music, cinema, art, theatre, comedy, media, television, philosophy and architecture are
influential and respected across the world. The United Kingdom is also
prominent in science and technology. Sport is an important part of British
culture; numerous sports originated in the country, including football. The UK
has been described as a "cultural superpower",[3][4] and
London has been described as a world cultural capital.[5][6][7][8]
The Industrial
Revolution, with its origins in the UK, had a profound effect on
the socio-economic and
cultural conditions of the world. As a result of the British Empire,
significant British influence can be observed in the language, culture
and institutions of a geographically wide assortment of countries, including
Australia, Canada, India, Republic of Ireland, New Zealand, Nigeria, Pakistan,
South Africa, the United States and English speaking Caribbean nations. These
states are sometimes collectively known as the Anglosphere, and are
among Britain's closest allies.[9][10] In turn
the empire also influenced British culture, particularly British cuisine.[11]
The cultures
of England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland are diverse and
have varying degrees of overlap and distinctiveness.
Language
Main
article: Languages of the United Kingdom
The manuscript of
the Anglo
Saxon,
Old
English, heroic epic poem Beowulf is
located in the British Library
First spoken in early
medieval England, the English language is the de
facto official language of the
UK, and is spoken monolingually by an estimated 95% of the British population.[12][note 1]
However, individual countries
within the UK have frameworks for the promotion of their indigenous languages.
In Wales, all pupils at state schools must either be taught through the medium
of Welsh or study
it as an additional language until age 16, and the Welsh
Language Act 1993 and the Government of Wales Act 1998 provide
that the Welsh and English languages should be treated equally in the public
sector, so far as is reasonable and practicable. Irish and Ulster
Scots
enjoy limited use alongside English in Northern Ireland, mainly in publicly
commissioned translations. The Gaelic Language (Scotland) Act, passed
by the Scottish
Parliament in 2005, recognised Gaelic as an
official language of Scotland, commanding equal respect with English, and
required the creation of a national plan for Gaelic to provide strategic
direction for the development of the Gaelic language.[note 2] There is
also a campaign under way to recognise Scots as a
language in Scotland, though this remains controversial. The Cornish
language enjoys neither official recognition nor promotion by
the state in Cornwall.
Under the European Charter
for Regional or Minority Languages, the UK Government has
committed to the promotion of certain linguistic traditions. The United Kingdom
has ratified the charter for: Welsh (in Wales), Scottish Gaelic and Scots (in
Scotland), Cornish (in Cornwall), and Irish and Ulster Scots
(in Northern Ireland). British
Sign Language is also a recognised language.
The Arts
William
Shakespeare, often called the national poet of
England[13]
Main
article: Literature of the United Kingdom
At its formation, the United
Kingdom inherited the literary traditions of England, Scotland and Wales,
including the earliest existing native literature written in the Celtic
languages, Old
English literature and more recent English
literature including the works of Geoffrey Chaucer, William
Shakespeare and John Milton.
Robert Burns, widely
regarded as the national poet of
Scotland[14]
The early 18th century is known as
the Augustan
Age of English literature. The poetry of the time was highly formal,
as exemplified by the works of Alexander Pope, and the English
novel
became popular, with Daniel Defoe's Robinson
Crusoe (1721), Samuel Richardson's Pamela (1740) and Henry
Fielding's Tom Jones (1749).
From the late 18th century, the Romantic period
showed a flowering of poetry comparable with the Renaissance 200 years earlier
and a revival of interest in vernacular
literature. In Scotland the poetry of Robert Burns revived
interest in Scots
literature, and the Weaver Poets of Ulster
were influenced by literature from Scotland. In Wales the late 18th century saw
the revival of the eisteddfod
tradition, inspired by Iolo Morganwg. A Vindication of the Rights of Woman (1792) by
Mary
Wollstonecraft, is one of the earliest works of feminist
philosophy.
Rudyard Kipling's If— (1895),
often voted Britain's favourite poem[15]
The most widely popular writer of
the early years of the 20th century was arguably Rudyard Kipling. To date
the youngest ever recipient of the Nobel Prize for Literature,
Kipling's novels include The Jungle Book, The Man Who Would Be King and Kim, while
his poem If— is a
national favourite. Like William
Ernest Henley's poem Invictus,[16] it is a
memorable evocation of Victorian stoicism, a
traditional British trait.[17]
Notable Irish writers include Oscar Wilde, James Joyce, Bram Stoker, Jonathan
Swift,
George
Bernard Shaw and W. B. Yeats. The Celtic
Revival stimulated a new appreciation of traditional Irish
literature. The Scottish
Renaissance of the early 20th century brought modernism to Scottish
literature as well as an interest in new forms in the
literatures of Scottish Gaelic and Scots. The English novel developed in the 20th
century into much greater variety and it remains today the dominant English
literary form.
Other globally well-known British
novelists include George Orwell, C. S. Lewis, Robert
Louis Stevenson, Arthur
Conan Doyle, H. G. Wells, D.
H. Lawrence, Mary Shelley, Lewis
Carroll, J. R. R. Tolkien, Virginia
Woolf,
Ian
Fleming, Walter Scott, Agatha
Christie, J. M. Barrie, Joseph
Conrad,
Graham
Greene,
E.
M. Forster, Aldous Huxley, Roald Dahl, Helen
Fielding, Arthur C. Clarke, Alan Moore, Ian McEwan, Anthony
Burgess, Evelyn Waugh, William
Golding, Salman Rushdie, Douglas
Adams,
P.
G. Wodehouse, Martin Amis, Anthony
Trollope, Beatrix Potter, A. A. Milne, Philip
Pullman, Terry Pratchett, H.
Rider Haggard, Neil Gaiman and J.
K. Rowling. Important British poets of the 20th century include Rudyard
Kipling, W. H. Auden, Ted Hughes, Philip
Larkin,
John
Betjeman and Dylan Thomas. In 2003
the BBC carried
out a UK survey entitled The Big Read in order
to find the "nation's best-loved novel" of all time, with works by
English novelists Tolkien, Austen, Pullman, Adams and Rowling making up
the top five on the list.[18]
Music
Main
article: Music of the United Kingdom
See also: British
pop music, British rock, British
blues, New Wave of British Heavy Metal, Britpop, British soul, British
Invasion and Second British Invasion
While the British national
anthem
"God
Save the Queen" and other patriotic songs such as
"Rule, Britannia!"
represent the United Kingdom, each of the four individual countries of the UK
also has their own patriotic hymns. Edward Elgar's "Land
of Hope and Glory", and Hubert Parry's "Jerusalem" set to William
Blake's
poem And did those feet in ancient time, are
among England's most patriotic hymns.[36] Scottish
patriotic songs include "Flower
of Scotland", "Scotland
the Brave" and "Scots Wha Hae";
patriotic Welsh hymns include "Bread of Heaven",
set to the tune "Cwm Rhondda", and "Land
of My Fathers"; the latter is the national anthem
of Wales.[37] The
patriotic Northern Irish ballad Danny Boy is set to
the tune "Londonderry Air".
The traditional marching song, "The
British Grenadiers", is often performed by British Army
bands, and is played at the Trooping
the Colour.[38] Written
by British Army bandmaster F. J. Ricketts, the
"Colonel
Bogey March" is often whistled, becoming part of British way
of life during World War II.[39] George
Frideric Handel composed Zadok the Priest in 1727
for the coronation of George II, which has been
performed at every subsequent British coronation,
traditionally performed during the sovereign's anointing. Jeremiah Clarke's "Trumpet
Voluntary" is popular for wedding music, and has
featured in royal weddings.[40]
Other notable British composers: Henry
Purcell, Ralph
Vaughan Williams, Benjamin Britten, Gustav Holst, William Byrd, Thomas
Tallis,
Henry
Wood,
John
Taverner, John Blow, Arthur
Sullivan, William Walton, John
Stafford Smith, Henry
Bishop,
Ivor
Novello, Malcolm Arnold, Michael
Tippett and John
Barry
have made major contributions to British music, and are known internationally.
Living composers include Sir George Martin, Harrison
Birtwistle, Andrew
Lloyd Webber, Oliver Knussen, Harry
Gregson Williams, Mike Oldfield, John Rutter, James MacMillan, Joby Talbot, John
Powell,
David
Arnold,
Anne
Dudley,
Trevor
Horn,
John
Murphy,
Henry
Jackman, Brian Eno, Clint
Mansell, Craig Armstrong and Michael
Nyman.
The Wallace
Monument in Stirling commemorates William Wallace, the
13th-century Scottish hero depicted in Braveheart (1995).
Hollywood films with a British
dimension have had enormous worldwide commercial success. Many of the
highest-grossing films worldwide of all time have a British historical,
cultural or creative theme. Films based on British historical events; RMS Titanic,[90] Piracy
in the Caribbean,[91] Mutiny
on the Bounty,[92] The
Great Escape,[93]
historical people; William Wallace, Lawrence
of Arabia, King Arthur, Elizabeth I, British
stories; The Lord of the Rings, Harry Potter, James Bond, The Chronicles of Narnia, Sherlock
Holmes, Frankenstein, A
Christmas Carol, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, Treasure
Island, The War of the Worlds among many
others,
while British video game Tomb Raider featuring
English archaeologist Lara Croft, has been
made into feature films. British influence can also be seen with the 'English Cycle' of Disney
animated films, which feature Alice
in Wonderland, Peter Pan, The
Jungle Book, Robin Hood, The Hundred and One Dalmatians, The Sword in the Stone, The Rescuers and Winnie
the Pooh.[94]
Broadcasting
Main
articles: Television in the United Kingdom and Radio in the United Kingdom
Broadcasting
House,
the new headquarters of the BBC
The UK has been at the forefront of
developments in film, radio and television. Broadcasting in the UK has
historically been dominated by the taxpayer-funded but independently run British Broadcasting Corporation (commonly
known as the BBC), although other independent radio and television (ITV, Channel 4, Five) and
satellite broadcasters (especially BSkyB which has over 10 million
subscribers[95]) have
become more important in recent years. BBC television, and the other three main
television channels are public service broadcasters who, as
part of their license allowing them to operate, broadcast a variety of minority
interest programming. The BBC and Channel 4 are state-owned, though they
operate independently.
Many successful British TV shows
have been exported around the world, such as Pop Idol (created
by Simon
Fuller),
Who Wants to Be a
Millionaire?, Britain's
Got Talent (created by Simon Cowell), The
X Factor, Hell's
Kitchen (created by Gordon Ramsay), The Office (created by Ricky
Gervais and Stephen Merchant), Ramsay's Kitchen Nightmares, Strictly Come Dancing, Doctor Who, Downton
Abbey and Top Gear. David
Attenborough's globally acclaimed nature documentaries, including The
Blue Planet, Planet Earth and Life on Earth, are produced by
the BBC Natural History Unit, the
largest wildlife documentary production house in the world.[96] The British
Film Institute drew up a list of the 100 Greatest British Television Programmes in 2000,
voted by industry professionals.[97] In 2004
the BBC conducted a poll to find "Britain's
Best Sitcom".[98] TV's
50 Greatest Stars was a 2006 awards show where the British
public voted for their favourite on-screen stars.[99]
International football tournaments,
such as the World Cup, are historically the most viewed sports events among the
public, while Match of the Day is the
most popular weekly football show.[100] Satire is a
prominent feature in British comedy, with one
example being the puppet show Spitting Image, a satire
of the royal
family,
politics, entertainment, sport and British culture of the 1980s to mid 1990s.[101] British
programmes dominate the list of TV's most watched shows in the UK, with the kitchen
sink dramas, ITV's Coronation Street and BBC's
EastEnders, both
frequently ranking high on the ratings list complied by BARB.[102]
The United Kingdom has a large
number of national and local radio stations which cover a great variety of
programming. The most listened to stations are the five main national BBC radio stations.
BBC
Radio 1, a new music station aimed at the 16–24 age group. BBC Radio 2, a varied
popular
music
and chat station aimed at adults is consistently highest in the ratings. BBC Radio 4, a varied
talk station, is noted for its news, current affairs, drama and comedy output as
well as The
Archers, its long running soap opera, and other unique
programmes. The BBC, as a public service broadcaster, also
runs minority stations such as BBC Asian Network, BBC
Radio 1Xtra and BBC Radio 6 Music, and
local stations throughout the country. Talksport is one of
the biggest commercial radio stations in the UK.[103]
Visual arts
Main
article: Art of the United Kingdom
The
Battle of Trafalgar is an oil painting executed
in 1822, by J. M. W. Turner
(c.1775–1851). The experience of military, political and economic power from
the rise of the British Empire led to a
very specific drive in artistic technique, taste and sensibility in the United
Kingdom.[104]
The Lady of Shalott 1888 by John
William Waterhouse in the Pre-Raphaelite style
From the creation of the United
Kingdom, the English school of painting is mainly
notable for portraits and landscapes, and indeed portraits in landscapes. Among
the artists of this period are Sir Joshua
Reynolds (1723–1792), George Stubbs
(1724–1806), and Thomas
Gainsborough (1727–1788). William Hogarth painted
far more down-to-earth portraits and satires, and was the first great English printmaker.
The late 18th century and the early
19th century was perhaps the most radical period in British art, producing William
Blake
(1757–1827), John Constable
(1776–1837) and J. M. W. Turner
(1775–1851), three of the most influential British artists, each of whom have
dedicated spaces allocated for their work at the Tate Britain.[105]
The Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood (PRB)
achieved considerable influence after its foundation in 1848 with paintings
that concentrated on religious, literary, and genre subjects
executed in a colourful and minutely detailed style. PRB artists included John
Everett Millais, Dante
Gabriel Rossetti and subsequently Edward
Burne-Jones. Also associated with it was the designer William
Morris,
whose efforts to make beautiful objects affordable (or even free) for everyone
led to his wallpaper and tile designs to some extent defining the Victorian aesthetic
and instigating the Arts and Crafts movement.
Visual artists from the United
Kingdom in the 20th century include Lucian Freud, Francis
Bacon,
David
Hockney, Bridget Riley, and the pop artists Richard Hamilton and Peter
Blake.
Also prominent amongst twentieth-century artists was Henry Moore, regarded
as the voice of British sculpture, and of British modernism in general.[106] Sir
Jacob Epstein was a pioneer of modern sculpture. In
1958 artisplt Gerald Holtom designed
the protest logo for the British CND, which later
became a universal peace symbol used in
many different versions worldwide.[107] As a
reaction to abstract
expressionism, pop art emerged
originally in England at the end of the 1950s. Known for his thickly impasted
portrait and figure paintings, Lucian Freud was
widely considered the pre-eminent British artist of his time.[108] Freud was
depicted in Francis Bacon's 1969 oil painting, Three Studies of Lucian Freud, which
was sold for $142.4 million in November 2013, the highest price attained at auction to that
point, and the highest ever for a British painter.[109] The 1990s
saw the Young
British Artists, Damien Hirst and Tracey Emin.
Randolph
Caldecott, Walter Crane, Kate
Greenaway, John Tenniel, Aubrey
Beardsley, Roger Hargreaves, Arthur
Rackham, John Leech, George
Cruikshank and Beatrix Potter were
notable book illustrators. In the late 1960s, British graphic designer Storm
Thorgerson co-founded the English graphic art group Hipgnosis, who have
designed many iconic single and album covers for rock bands. His works were
notable for their surreal elements,
with perhaps the most famous being the cover for Pink Floyd's The Dark Side of the Moon.[110] The
subversive political artwork of Banksy
(pseudonym of the renowned English graffiti artist whose
identity is concealed) can be found on streets, walls and buildings all over
the world, and has also featured in TV shows.[111][112] Arts
institutions include the Royal
College of Art, Royal
Society of Arts, New
English Art Club, Slade
School of Art, Royal Academy, and the Tate Gallery (founded
as the National Gallery of British Art).
Performing arts
The Proms are held
annually at the Royal Albert Hall during
the summer
Large outdoor music festivals in the
summer and autumn are popular, such as Glastonbury, V Festival, Reading and Leeds Festivals. The UK
was at the forefront of the illegal, free rave movement
from the late 1980s, which led to pan-European culture of teknivals mirrored
on the UK free festival movement and associated travelling lifestyle.[113] The most
prominent opera house in
England is the Royal Opera House at Covent
Gardens.[114] The Proms, a season
of orchestral classical
music concerts held at the Royal Albert Hall, is a
major cultural event held annually.[114] The
Royal Ballet is one of the world's foremost classical ballet
companies, its reputation built on two prominent figures of 20th century dance,
prima
ballerina Margot Fonteyn and
choreographer Frederick Ashton. Irish
dancing is popular in Northern Ireland and among the Irish
diaspora throughout the UK; it's costumes feature patterns taken from the
medieval Book of Kells.[115] The Edinburgh Festival Fringe is the
world’s largest arts festival.[116]
Established in 1947, it takes place in Scotland's capital during three weeks
every August alongside several other arts and cultural festivals. The Fringe
mostly attracts events from the performing arts,
particularly theatre and comedy, although dance and music also feature.[116]
Astley's
Amphitheatre, London circa 1808. Astley performed stunts in a 42
ft diameter ring; the standard size used by circuses ever
since.[117]
The circus is a
traditional form of entertainment in the UK. Chipperfield's
Circus
dates back more than 300 years in Britain, making it one of the oldest family
circus dynasties.[118] Philip
Astley
is regarded as the father of the modern circus.[117] Following
his invention of the circus ring in 1768,[119] Astley's
Amphitheatre opened in London in 1773. As an equestrian master
Astley had a genius for trick horse-riding, and when he added tumblers, tightrope-walkers, jugglers, performing
dogs, and a clown to fill
time between his own demonstrations – the modern circus was born.[120][121] The
Hughes Royal Circus was popular in London in the 1780s, while Pablo Fanque's Circus
Royal, among the most popular circuses of Victorian England (which showcased
the circus performer William Kite) inspired
John
Lennon
to write Being for the Benefit of Mr. Kite! on The Beatles' album, Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band. Joseph
Grimaldi, the most celebrated of English clowns, is
considered the father of modern clowning.[122]
The Christmas
Pantomime
1890, UK. Pantomime plays a
prominent role in British culture during the Christmas and New Year season.[123]
Pantomime (often
referred to as "panto") is a British musical comedy stage
production, designed for family entertainment. It is performed in theatres
throughout the UK during the Christmas and New Year season. The art originated
in the 18th century with John
Weaver,
a dance master and choreographer at the Theatre Royal, Drury Lane in
London.[123] In 19th
century England it acquired its present form, which includes songs, slapstick
comedy and dancing, employing gender-crossing actors, combining topical humour
with a story loosely based on a well-known fairy tale.[123] It is a
participatory form of theatre, in which the audience sing along with parts of
the music and shout out phrases to the performers, such as "It's behind
you".[124]
Music hall is a type
of British theatrical entertainment popular from the early Victorian era to the
mid 20th century. The precursor to variety shows of today, music hall involved
a mixture of popular songs, comedy, speciality acts and variety entertainment.
British performers who honed their skills at pantomime and music hall sketches
include Charlie Chaplin, Stan Laurel, George
Formby,
Gracie
Fields,
Dan
Leno,
Gertrude
Lawrence and Harry Champion.[125][126] British
music hall comedian and theatre impresario Fred Karno developed
a form of sketch comedy without dialogue in the 1890s, and Chaplin and Laurel
were among the music hall comedians who worked for him.[127] A leading
American film producer stated; "Fred Karno is not only a genius, he is the
man who originated slapstick comedy.
We in Hollywood owe much to him."[128]
Architecture
Main
article: Architecture of the United Kingdom
St.
Paul's Cathedral, designed by Sir Christopher Wren, is one
of the most important buildings of the English Baroque period
The architecture of the United Kingdom includes
many features that precede the creation of the United Kingdom in 1707, from as
early as Skara
Brae
and Stonehenge to the Giant's
Ring,
Avebury and Roman ruins. In most
towns and villages the parish church is an indication of the age of the
settlement. Many castles remain
from the medieval period
such as; Windsor Castle
(longest-occupied castle in Europe),[129] Stirling
Castle
(one of the largest and most important in Scotland),[130] Bodiam
Castle
(moated castle), and
Warwick
Castle.
Over the two centuries following the Norman conquest of
England of 1066, and the building of the Tower
of London, castles such as Caernarfon Castle in Wales
and Carrickfergus
Castle
in Ireland were built.
Dunrobin Castle in the
Scottish Highlands. Today there are thousands of castles throughout the UK.[131]
English Gothic architecture
flourished from the 12th to the early 16th century, and famous examples include
Westminster
Abbey,
the traditional place of coronation for the British
monarch, which also has a long tradition as a venue for royal
weddings;[132] Canterbury
Cathedral, one of the oldest and most famous Christian
structures in England; Salisbury
Cathedral, which has the tallest church spire in the
UK;[133] and Winchester
Cathedral, which contains the longest nave and
overall length of any Gothic cathedral in Europe.[134]
In the United Kingdom, a listed
building is a building or other structure officially
designated as being of special architectural, historical or cultural
significance. About half a million buildings in the UK have "listed"
status.
One of the UK's
many stately
homes,
Chatsworth
House
in Derbyshire, surrounded by an English garden
In the 1680s, Downing Street was built
by Sir George Downing, and its
most famous address 10 Downing Street, became
the residence of the Prime Minister in 1730.[135] One of
the best known English architects working at the time of the foundation of the
United Kingdom was Sir Christopher Wren. He was
employed to design and rebuild many of the ruined ancient churches of London
following the Great
Fire of London. His masterpiece, St
Paul's Cathedral, was completed in the early years of the
United Kingdom.[136] Buckingham
Palace,
the official London residence of the British monarch, was built in 1705.[137]
Harlech Castle in
Gwynedd, Wales
In the early 18th century baroque
architecture – popular in Europe – was introduced, and Blenheim Palace was built
in this era. However, baroque was quickly replaced by a return of the Palladian
form. The Georgian
architecture of the 18th century was an evolved form of
Palladianism. Many existing buildings such as Woburn Abbey and Kedleston
Hall
are in this style. Among the many architects of this form of architecture and
its successors, neoclassical and romantic, were Robert Adam, Sir William Chambers, and James Wyatt. The
aristocratic stately home continued
the tradition of the first large gracious unfortified mansions such as the Elizabethan Montacute
House
and Hatfield
House.
During the 18th and 19th centuries to the highest echelons of British society,
the English
country house served as a place for relaxing, hunting
and running the countryside. Many stately homes have become open to the public;
Knebworth
House,
now a major venue for open air rock and pop concerts,[138]
National parks,
museums, libraries, and galleries
Stonehenge,
Wiltshire at sunset.
Hadrian's Wall was built
in the 2nd century AD. It is a lasting monument from Roman Britain
Each country of the United Kingdom
has its own body responsible for heritage matters.
English Heritage is the
governmental body with a broad remit of managing the historic sites, artefacts
and environments of England. It is currently sponsored by the Department for Culture, Media and Sport. The
charity National Trust for
Places of Historic Interest or Natural Beauty holds a
contrasting role. Seventeen of the United Kingdom
UNESCO World Heritage Sites fall within England.[175] Some of
the best known of these include; Hadrian's Wall, Stonehenge, Avebury and Associated Sites, Tower
of London, Jurassic Coast, Westminster, Saltaire, Ironbridge
Gorge,
Studley
Royal Park and various others.[176]
Historic Scotland is the
executive agency of the Scottish
Government, responsible for historic monuments in Scotland, such
as Stirling
Castle.
The Old and New
Town of Edinburgh is a notable Scottish World Heritage
site.
Many of Wales' great castles, such
as the Castles and Town
Walls of King Edward in Gwynedd and other
monuments, are under the care of Cadw, the
historic environment service of the Welsh Government.
The Northern Ireland Environment Agency promotes
and conserves the natural and built environment in Northern Ireland, and The
Giants Causeway on the northeast coast is one of the UK's
natural World Heritage sites.[176]
There are 15 National parks in the UK,
including the Lake District in
England, Snowdonia in Wales,
and Loch Lomond and The Trossachs
National Park in Scotland.[177]
Museums and
galleries
Further
information: Museums
in England, Museums
in Scotland, Museums in Wales and Museums in Northern Ireland
The British
Museum
in London
Titanic Belfast museum on
the former shipyard in Belfast where the RMS Titanic was
built.
The British Museum in London
with its collection of more than seven million objects,[178] is one of
the largest and most comprehensive in the world,[179] sourced
from every continent, illustrating and documenting the story of human culture
from its beginning to the present. National Museums of Scotland bring
together national collections in Scotland. Amgueddfa
Cymru – National Museum Wales comprises eight museums in Wales. National Museums Northern Ireland has four
museums in Northern Ireland including the Ulster Museum. In
addition the Titanic Belfast museum, a
visitor attraction in the Titanic Quarter, east
Belfast, Northern Ireland on the regenerated site of the shipyard where Titanic was
built, was officially opened to the public in March 2012.[180] The
architecture is a tribute to Titanic itself, with the external facades,
a nod to the enormous hull of the cruise liner.[181] The first
Madame
Tussauds wax museum opened in London in 1835, and today
displays waxworks of famous people from various fields, including; royalty (Princess
Diana),
historical figures (Henry VIII), sports
heroes (Beckham) among
others.[182]
The most senior art gallery is the National Gallery in Trafalgar
Square,
which houses a collection of over 2,300 paintings dating from the mid-13th
century to 1900. The Tate galleries
house the national collections of British and international modern art; they
also host the famously controversial Turner Prize.[183] The National Galleries of Scotland are the
five national galleries of Scotland and two partner galleries. The National
Museum of Art, Wales, opened in 2011.[184]
Libraries
The British Library in London
is the national library and is
one of the world's largest research
libraries, holding over 150 million items in all known
languages and formats; including around 25 million books.[185] The National Library of Scotland in
Edinburgh, holds 7 million books, fourteen million printed items and over 2
million maps.[186] The National Library of Wales is the
national legal deposit library of Wales.[187]
Science and
technology
Main
article: Science and technology in the
United Kingdom
From the time of the Scientific
Revolution, England and Scotland, and thereafter the United
Kingdom, have been prominent in world scientific and technological
development. The Royal Society serves as
the national
academy for sciences, with members drawn from many different
institutions and disciplines. Formed in 1660, it is one of the oldest learned
societies still in existence.[188]
Isaac Newton's Principia is one of
the most influential works in the history of science.
Sir Isaac Newton's
publication of the Principia Mathematica ushered
in what is recognisable as modern physics. The
first edition of 1687 and the second edition of 1713 framed the scientific
context of the foundation of the United Kingdom. He realised that the same
force is responsible for movements of celestial and terrestrial bodies, namely gravity. He is
the father of classical
mechanics, formulated as his three
laws
and as the co-inventor (with Gottfried Leibniz) of differential
calculus. He also created the binomial theorem, worked
extensively on optics, and
created a law
of cooling.
Scottish physicist
James
Clerk Maxwell pioneered the classical theory of electromagnetic radiation,
introducing the Maxwell equations
Since Newton's time, figures from
the UK have contributed to the development of most major branches of science.
Examples include Michael Faraday, who,
with James
Clerk Maxwell, unified the electric and magnetic forces in what
are now known as Maxwell's
equations; James Joule, who
worked extensively in thermodynamics and is
often credited with the discovery of the principle of conservation of energy; Paul Dirac, one of
the pioneers of quantum mechanics;
naturalist Charles Darwin, author
of On the Origin of Species and
discoverer of the principle of evolution by natural
selection; Harold Kroto, the
discoverer of buckminsterfullerene; William Thomson (Baron Kelvin) who drew
important conclusions in the field of thermodynamics and invented the Kelvin scale of absolute
zero;
botanist Robert
Brown
discovered the random movement of particles suspended in a fluid (Brownian
motion);
and the creator of Bell's Theorem, John
Stewart Bell. Other British pioneers in their field include; Joseph Lister (Antiseptic
surgery), Edward Jenner (Vaccination), Florence
Nightingale (Nursing), Richard Owen (Palaeontology),
Sir
George Cayley (Aerodynamics), William
Fox Talbot (Photography), Howard Carter (Modern Archaeology,
discovered Tutankhamun), James Hutton (Modern
Geology).[189]
John Harrison invented
the marine
chronometer, a key piece in solving the problem of accurately
establishing longitude at sea,
thus revolutionising and extending the possibility of safe long distance sea
travel.[190] The most
celebrated British explorers include James Cook, Walter
Raleigh, Sir Francis Drake, Henry Hudson, George
Vancouver, Sir John Franklin, David
Livingstone, Captain
John Smith, Robert
Falcon Scott, Lawrence Oates and Ernest
Shackleton. The aquarium craze
began in early Victorian England when Philip
Henry Gosse created and stocked the first public aquarium at the London Zoo in 1853,
and coined the term "aquarium" when he published, The Aquarium: An
Unveiling of the Wonders of the Deep Sea, in 1854.[191]
William Sturgeon invented
the electromagnet in 1824.[192][193] The first
commercial electrical
telegraph was co-invented by Sir William Fothergill Cooke and Charles
Wheatstone. Cooke and Wheatstone patented it in May 1837 as an
alarm system, and it was first successfully demonstrated on 25 July 1837
between Euston and Camden Town in
London.[194] Postal
reformer Sir Rowland Hill is
regarded as the creator of the modern postal service and the
inventor of the postage stamp (Penny Black) — with
his solution of pre-payment facilitating the safe, speedy and cheap transfer of
letters.[195] Hill's
colleague Sir Henry Cole
introduced the world's first commercial Christmas
card
in 1843.[196] In 1851 Sir
George Airy established the Royal Observatory, Greenwich, London,
as the location of the prime meridian where
longitude is defined to be 0° (the point that divides the Earth into the
Eastern and Western
Hemispheres).[197]
Historically, many of the UK's
greatest scientists have been based at either Oxford or Cambridge
University, with laboratories such as the Cavendish
Laboratory in Cambridge and the Clarendon
Laboratory in Oxford becoming famous in their own right. In
modern times, other institutions such as the Red
Brick
and New
Universities are catching up with Oxbridge. For
instance, Lancaster
University has a global reputation for work in low
temperature physics.
A Watt
steam engine, the steam engine that
propelled the Industrial
Revolution in Britain and the world.[198]
Technologically, the UK is also
amongst the world's leaders. Historically, it was at the forefront of the Industrial
Revolution, with innovations especially in textiles, the steam engine,
railroads and civil engineering. Famous
British engineers and inventors from this period include James Watt, Robert
Stephenson, Richard Arkwright, and the
'father of Railways' George Stephenson. With his
role in the marketing and manufacturing of Watt's steam engine, and invention
of modern coinage, Matthew
Boulton is regarded as one of the most influential
entrepreneurs in history.[199] Engineer Isambard
Kingdom Brunel was placed second in a 2002 BBC
nationwide poll to determine the "100
Greatest Britons".[200] He
created the Great
Western Railway, as well as famous steamships including
the SS
Great Britain, the first propeller-driven
ocean-going iron ship, and SS Great Eastern which
laid the first lasting transatlantic telegraph cable.[201] Josiah
Wedgwood pioneered the industrialisation of pottery
manufacture.[202]
Religion
Main
article: Religion in the United Kingdom
See also: Religion
in England, Religion in Northern Ireland, Religion
in Scotland and Religion in Wales
Canterbury
Cathedral, seat of the Archbishop of Canterbury
The United Kingdom was
created as an Anglican Christian country
and Anglican churches remain the largest faith group in each country of the UK
except Scotland where Anglicanism is a tiny minority.[213] Following
this is Roman Catholicism and
religions including Islam, Hinduism, Sikhism, Judaism, and Buddhism. Today British Jews number
around 300 000 with the UK having the fifth
largest Jewish community worldwide.[214]
William Tyndale's 1520s
translation of the Bible was the first ever to be printed in English, and was a
model for subsequent English translations, notably the King
James Version in 1611.[215] The Book
of Common Prayer of 1549 was the first prayer book to
include the complete forms of service for daily and Sunday worship in English,
and the marriage and burial rites have found their way into those of other
denominations and into the English language. While 2001 census information[216] suggests
that over 75 percent of UK citizens consider themselves to belong to a
religion, Gallup reports
only 10 percent of UK citizens regularly attend religious services. A 2004
YouGov poll found that 44 percent of UK citizens believe in God, while 35
percent do not.[217] Christmas
and Easter are national public holidays in the UK,[218] and
Christian organisations, such as the Salvation Army founded
by William
Booth,
play an important role for their charitable work.[219]
Cuisine
Main
article: British cuisine
See also: English
cuisine, Northern Irish cuisine, Scottish
cuisine and Welsh cuisine
Fish and chips, a
popular takeaway food
throughout the United Kingdom.
Cheddar cheese
originates in the English village of Cheddar, Somerset. It is
the UK's most popular cheese.[232]
British cuisine is the
specific set of cooking traditions and practices associated with the United
Kingdom. Historically, British cuisine means "unfussy dishes made with
quality local ingredients, matched with simple sauces to accentuate flavour,
rather than disguise it."[233] British
cuisine has traditionally been limited in its international recognition to the full
breakfast and the Christmas dinner.[234] However, Celtic
agriculture and animal breeding produced a wide variety of
foodstuffs for indigenous Celts. Anglo-Saxon
England developed meat and savoury herb stewing techniques
before the practice became common in Europe. The Norman conquest
introduced exotic spices into Great Britain in the Middle Ages.[234] The British
Empire
facilitated a knowledge of India's elaborate
food tradition of "strong, penetrating spices and
herbs".[234]
The first recipe for ice
cream
was published in Mrs. Mary Eales's Receipts in London
1718.[235] The
18th-century English aristocrat John Montagu, 4th Earl of Sandwich is best
known for his links to the modern concept of the sandwich which was
named after him. When he ordered his valet to bring him meat tucked between two
pieces of bread, because Montagu also happened to be the Fourth Earl of
Sandwich, others began to order "the same as Sandwich!".[236] In the
city of Leeds in 1767, Joseph Priestley made his
"happiest" discovery when he invented carbonated water (also
known as soda
water),
the major and defining component of most soft drinks.[237]
Traditional
British cream
tea
(tea, scones, cream and jam). Tea is the most popular beverage in the UK.[238]
Each country within the United
Kingdom has its own specialities. Traditional examples of English cuisine include
the Sunday
roast;
featuring a roasted
joint,
usually roast
beef
(a signature English national dish dating back to the 1731 ballad "The Roast Beef of Old England"), lamb or
chicken, served with assorted boiled vegetables, Yorkshire pudding and gravy.[239] Other
prominent meals include fish and chips and the full
English breakfast—consisting of bacon, grilled
tomatoes, fried bread, black pudding, baked beans, fried mushrooms, sausages
and eggs. The first chips fried in Britain were at Oldham's
Tommyfield Market in 1860, and on the site a blue
plaque
marks the origin of the fish and chip shop and fast food industries in Britain.[240] Various meat pies are
consumed such as steak
and kidney pie, shepherd's pie, cottage pie, Cornish
pasty
and pork
pie,
the later of which is consumed cold.[239]
Sport
Main
article: Sport in the United Kingdom
Wembley Stadium, London,
home of the England football team and FA Cup finals
Most of the major sports have separate
administrative structures and national teams for each of the countries of the United Kingdom. Though
each country is also represented individually at the Commonwealth Games, there
is a single 'Team
GB'
(for Great Britain) that represents the UK at the Olympic Games. With the
rules and codes of many modern sports invented and codified in late 19th
century Victorian Britain, in 2012,
IOC President Jacques Rogge stated;
"This great, sports-loving country is widely recognized as the birthplace
of modern sport. It was here that the concepts of sportsmanship and fair play
were first codified into clear rules and regulations. It was here that sport
was included as an educational tool in the school curriculum".[260][261]
The most popular sport in the UK is
association football.[262] The rules were first
drafted in England in 1863 by Ebenezer
Cobb Morley, and the UK has the oldest football clubs in the
world.[263] The home nations all have
separate national teams and domestic competitions, most notably England's Premier
League
and FA
Cup,
and the Scottish
Premier League and Scottish Cup. The
first ever international football match was between Scotland and England in 1872.[264] Referred
to as the "home of football" by FIFA, England
hosted the 1966
FIFA World Cup, and won the tournament.[265] The
English Premier League (formed
in 1992 by member clubs of the old Football League First Division) is the
most-watched football league in the world,[266] and its
biggest clubs include Manchester
United,
Liverpool, Arsenal, Chelsea, Tottenham
Hotspur and current champions Manchester
City.
Scotland's Celtic and Rangers also have
a global fanbase. The best-placed teams in the domestic leagues of England and
Scotland qualify for Europe's premier competition, the UEFA
Champions League, where the competition's anthem, written by
English composer Tony Britten, is
played before each game.[267] Football
in Britain is renowned for the intense rivalries between clubs and the passion
of the supporters, which includes a tradition of football chants, such as,
"You're Not Singing Any More" (or
it's variant "We Can See You Sneaking Out!"), sung by jubilant fans
towards the opposition fans who have gone silent (or left early).[268]
St Andrews,
Scotland, home of golf.[269]
The modern game of golf
originated in Scotland, with the Fife town of St Andrews known
internationally as the "Home of golf".[269] and to
many golfers the Old Course, an ancient links course
dating to before 1574, is considered to be a site of pilgrimage.[270] In 1764,
the standard 18 hole golf course was created at St Andrews when members
modified the course from 22 to 18 holes.[271] Golf is
documented as being played on Musselburgh Links, East
Lothian, Scotland as early as 2 March 1672, which is certified as the oldest
golf course in the world by Guinness World Records.[272] The
oldest known rules of golf were
compiled in March 1744 in Leith.[273] The
oldest golf tournament in the world, and the first major championship in golf, The
Open Championship, first took place in Ayrshire, Scotland
in 1860, and today it is played on the weekend of the third Friday in July.[274] Golf's
first superstar Harry Vardon, a member
of the fabled Great Triumvirate who were pioneers
of the modern game, won the Open a record six times.[275] Since the
2010s, three Northern Irish golfers have had major success; Graeme
McDowell, Darren Clarke and four
time major winner Rory McIlroy.[276] The biennial
golf competition, the Ryder Cup, is named
after English businessman Samuel Ryder who
sponsored the event and donated the trophy.[277] Sir Nick Faldo is the
most successful Ryder Cup player ever, having won the most points (25) of any
player on either the European or U.S. teams.[278]
The 'Queensberry rules', the code of
general rules in boxing, was
named after John Douglas, 9th Marquess of Queensberry in 1867,
that formed the basis of modern boxing.[279] Britain's
first heavyweight world champion Bob Fitzsimmons made
boxing history as the sport's first three-division world champion.[280][281] Some of
the best contemporary British boxers included; super-middleweight champion Joe Calzaghe,
featherweight champion Naseem Hamed, and
heavyweight champion Lennox Lewis.[282] The
modern game of cricket was
created in England in the 1830s when round arm bowling
was legalised, followed by the historical legalisation of overarm bowling in 1864.[283] In
1876–77, an England team took
part in the first-ever Test match against
Australia. Hugely influential in terms of his importance to the development of
the sport, W. G. Grace is
regarded as one of the greatest cricket players of all time, and devised most
of the techniques of modern batting.[284] The
rivalry between England and Australia gave birth to The Ashes in 1882
that has remained Test cricket's most famous contest, and takes place every two
years. The County
Championship is the domestic competition in England and Wales.
Millennium
Stadium, Cardiff, home of
the Wales Rugby Union team
In 1845, rugby union was
created when the first rules were written by pupils at Rugby School,
Warwickshire.[285] A former
pupil of the school William
Webb Ellis, is often fabled with the invention of running with the
ball in hand in 1823.[286] The first rugby international took
place on 27 March 1871, played between England and Scotland.[287] By 1881
both Ireland and Wales had teams, and in
1883 the first international competition the annual Home Nations Championship took
place. In 1888, the Home Nations combined to form what is today called the British
and Irish Lions, who now tour every four years to face a
Southern Hemisphere team.[288] The major
domestic club competitions are the Premiership in
England and the Celtic League in Ireland,
Scotland, Wales and (since 2010) Italy.
In 1895, rugby League was
created in Huddersfield, West Yorkshire, as the result of a split with the
other Rugby code.[289] The Super League is the
sports top-level club competition in Britain. Since the 1920s, Henry
Lyte's
Christian hymn "Abide With Me" is
sung prior to kick-off at every rugby league Challenge Cup final,
and football's FA Cup Final.[289][290]
Centre Court at Wimbledon. First played in
1877, the Wimbledon Championships is the oldest tennis tournament in the world.[291]
The modern game of tennis
originated in Birmingham, England in the 1860s,[292] and after
its creation, tennis spread throughout the upper-class English-speaking
population, before spreading around the world.[293] Major Walter Clopton Wingfield is
credited as being a pioneer of the game.[294] The world's
oldest tennis tournament, the Wimbledon
championships, first occurred in 1877, and today the
event takes place over two weeks in late June and early July.[291] The
eight-time Slam winner and Britain's most successful player Fred Perry, is one
of only seven men in history to have won all four Grand Slam events.[295] The 2013
Wimbledon champion Andy Murray is
Britain's most recent Grand Slam winner.[296]
Originating in 17th and
18th-century England, the Thoroughbred is a
horse breed best known for its use in horse racing. Horse
racing was popular with the aristocrats and royalty of British society, earning
it the title "Sport of Kings."[297] The National
Hunt
horse race the Grand National, is held
annually at Aintree
Racecourse in early April, and three-time winner Red Rum is the
most successful racehorse in the event's history.[298]
The 1950
British Grand Prix was the first Formula One World
Championship race.[299] Since
then, Britain has produced some of the greatest drivers in the sport,
including; Stirling Moss, Jim Clark (twice F1
champion), Graham Hill (only
driver to have won the Triple Crown), Jackie
Stewart (three time F1 champion), James Hunt, Nigel
Mansell (only man to hold F1 and IndyCar titles at the same
time) and Lewis Hamilton. The British
Grand Prix is held at Silverstone every
July. Other major sporting events in the UK include the London Marathon, and The
Boat Race on the River Thames.
A great number of major sports
originated in the United Kingdom, including association football, golf, tennis,
boxing, rugby league, rugby union, cricket, field hockey, snooker, billiards, squash, curling and
badminton, all of which are popular in Britain. Another sport invented in the
UK was baseball,[300][301] and its
early form rounders is
popular among children in Britain.[302] Gaelic
football is very popular in Northen Ireland, with many teams
from the north winning the All-Ireland Senior Football Championship since the
early 2000s. William
Penny Brookes was prominent in organising the format
for the modern Olympic Games, and In
1994, then President of the IOC, Juan
Antonio Samaranch, laid a wreath on Brooke's grave, and
said, "I came to pay homage and tribute to Dr Brookes, who really was the
founder of the modern Olympic Games".[303] The Highland
games
are held throughout the year in Scotland as a way of celebrating Scottish and Celtic culture
and heritage, especially that of the Scottish
Highlands, with more than 60 games taking place across the
country every year.[304] Each
December, the BBC Sports Personality of the Year is
announced, as voted for by the British public. In 2002 Channel 4 broadcast
the 100 Greatest Sporting Moments, as voted for by the UK public.[305]
Education
Main
article: Education in the United Kingdom
See also: Universities in the United Kingdom
Each country of the United Kingdom
has a separate education system. Power over education matters in Scotland,
Wales and Northern Ireland is devolved but
education in England is dealt with by the UK government since there is no devolved administration for
England.
New
College, University
of Edinburgh
Scotland has a long history of
universal provision of public education which,
traditionally, has emphasised breadth across a range of subjects compared to
depth of education over a smaller range of subjects at secondary school level.
The majority of schools are non-denominational, but by
legislation separate Roman Catholic schools, with an element of control by the
Roman Catholic Church, are provided by the state system.
Qualifications at the secondary school and post-secondary (further
education) level are provided by the Scottish Qualifications Authority and
delivered through various schools, colleges and other centres. Political
responsibility for education at all levels is vested in the Scottish
Parliament and the Scottish
Executive Education and Enterprise, Transport & Lifelong Learning
Departments. State schools are owned and operated by the local authorities which act as Education
Authorities, and the compulsory phase is divided into primary school and
secondary school (often called High school, with the world's oldest high school
being the Royal High School (Edinburgh) in 1505,[309][310] and
spread to the New World owing to
the high prestige enjoyed by the Scottish educational system.). Schools are
supported in delivering the National Guidelines and National Priorities by Learning and Teaching Scotland.
Scottish universities generally
have courses a year longer than their counterparts elsewhere in the UK, though
it is often possible for students to take a more advanced specialised exams and
join the courses at the second year. One unique aspect is that the ancient universities of Scotland issue a Master of Arts as the first degree in humanities. The University
of Edinburgh is among the top twenty universities in the world
according to the QS World University Rankings 2011. It
is also one among the Ancient
Universities in Great Britain.
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