15. Creation of the affluent society in gb in the 20 century

The rise of the British youth culture in the 60-70s of the 20^th century.

English music has been an instrumental and leading part of this phenomenon, which peaked at the end of the 1960s and into the 1970s.The UK was at the forefront of punk rock with bands like The Sex Pistols and The Clash, as well as in the creation of heavy metal along with being the birthplace of the Goth youth culture. The late-1970s and 1980s saw the rise of Post-Punk and New Wave. Football maintains a consistent popularity across the country and is often indicative of trends across wider culture in England, such as in clothing and music. The increase in hooliganism amongst football fans in the 1970s and 1980s can be in part attributed to a parallel rise in unemployment.

Как и в предыдущие века, английская литература в XX в. оставалась одной из величайших национальных литератур. В этот период творили Бернард Шоу, Герберт Уэллс, Джеймс Джойс, Вирджиния Вулф, Джон Голсуорси, Сомерсет Моэм, Ричард Олдингтон, Грэм Грин, Арчибальд Кронин, Олдос Хаксли и другие.Самый выдающийся композитор за все историю существования страны – Бенджамин Бриттен.Ансамбль-легенда «Битлз» создан в 1959 г., распался в 1971 г. break apartДостижения британских ученых:Джозеф Томсон – в 1903 г. удостоен Нобелевской премии, в 1897 г. открыл электрон.Поль Дирак – создатель квантовой механики. quantum mechanicsБертран Рассел – его главный труд «Основания математики».Дороти Кроуфут-Ходжкин – единственная женщина нобелевский лауреат, в годы Второй мировой участвовала в работах по изучению первого антибиотика – пенициллина. penicillinaseСтивен Хокинс – физик, автор трудов по космологии, гравитации, теории относительности (theory of) relativity и природе «черных дыр».В 1904 г. была основана знаменитая британская автомобильная фирма «Роллс Ройз».

M.Thatcher’s economic reforms.

In the elections of April 1979 the Conservatives, led by Margaret Thatcher, emerged with a substantial majority of parliamentary seats and with the first woman prime minister in British or European history. She was to remain in office for the next 11 years, making hers the longest continuous prime ministership since the end of the Napoleonic Wars. Thatcher’s first years were difficult. She sought to halt inflation by a policy of high interest rates and government budget cuts, rather than of wage and price freezes. By 1981 and 1982 those policies were showing some success, but only at the cost of the highest unemployment rates since the 1930s. The government was jolted in April 1982 when Argentina forcibly occupied the Falkland Islands, a British-held archipelago in the South Atlantic that Argentina had long claimed. When U.S. mediation efforts failed, Thatcher sent a British counterinvasion fleet, and in June that force succeeded in recapturing the islands.The decisive Conservative victories in the elections of June 1983 and June 1987 were the consequence not only of widespread popular support for the government’s Falklands policy, but also of a sharp division in the ranks of the political opposition. The years between 1982 and 1988 were economic boom years in Britain. The living standards of most Britons rose and the rate of unemployment gradually ebbed. British industries became more efficient, and London maintained its role as one of the world’s top three centers of finance. The economic role of government declined as Thatcher promoted privatization—the turning over to private investors of government monopolies such as British Airways, the telephone service, and the distribution of gas and water