Icons of Great Britain

The Rose

England. The national flower of England is the rose. It all started during the time of the Wars of the Roses – civil wars (1455-1485) between the royal house of Lancaster (whose emblem was a red rose) and the royal house of York (whose emblem was a white rose).

At the end of the war the two roses were combined in the Tudor rose. The idea belonged to Henry VII, the first Tudor monarch and the father of Henry VIII. Henry was a Lancastrian, but he fell in love with Elizabeth of York, married her – and united the two houses. Looking for a symbol of this union, he chose a red rose with a white rose in it.

During the Tudor period, hundreds of inns were named the Rose – to show loyalty to the royal family. There are still many pubs and hotels all over the country named after this flower.

In 1871, the newly formed Rugby Football Union selected an England team to play the first ever international match against Scotland. The committee chose a red rose as the team's badge. Although England lost the match, held in Edinburgh, the country's rugby teams have worn red roses ever since. Besides, every country in the United Kingdom has its own national flower.

Scotland. The national flower of Scotland is a wild plant – a thistle.

Wales. The Welsh emblem is a vegetable or a flower – a leek or a daffodil.

Northern Ireland. And the national flower of Northern Ireland is another wild flower – a shamrock.

The V-sign

Nobody knows for sure where the V-sign came from but many English people have chosen it as a national icon. During World War II it was used to mean victory, and it was used again by hippies in the 1960s and 1940s to mean peace. As the symbol of peace, it has become universal, while the «V for Victory» will forever be associated with the wartime prime minister, Sir Winston Churchill.

Fish and Chips

It all started about 150 years ago, when women in poor English families had to go out to work in factories. There was no time to shop and cook so they bought fast food in the street, on the way back from work. The most popular was fried fish with a piece of bread. Then the first chips came from France. The «chipped» potatoes, as they were called in those days, were also sold in the street. But at first, no one thought of selling fish and chips together.

The idea to sell fish and chips together first came to a Londoner Joseph Malin. In 1860, he opened a fish-and-chip shop in Cleveland Street in London’s East End. Soon there were fish’n’chip shops everywhere in working-class areas. They used to put your fish and chips in an old newspaper – with a lot of salt and vinegar on top. Be careful because sometimes they give you too much!

Today, fish and chips are a still very popular in Britain but they come in clean white paper bags! You can buy your fish and chips «open» so you can eat them as you walk home, or you can buy them «wrapped» to keep them warm until you get home. More than 250 million portions are eaten in the country every year.

TEXT 4. Read and translate the text. Make up 10 questions on its contents.