THE UNITED KINGDOM OF GREAT BRITAIN

AND NORTHERN IRELAND

LECTURE II

PLAN.

1.London — the capital city of England and the UK.

2.England.

3.Oxford and Cambridge Universities.

4.English characteristics.

5.Scotland.

6.Wales

7.Ireland.

London is the capital city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of about 7 mln. people. It is the largest city in Britain and one of the largest in the world.

London is a focus of civilization and political wisdom — exercised with unique democratic effect in the historical record of the House of Commons — truly exemplary in the western world. The gradual growth of the city helps to explain the fact that London does not have just one centre, it has a number of centres, each with a distinct character: the financial and business centre called the City, the shopping and the entertainment centre in the West End, the government centre in Westminster.

London is the city of great variety, ranging from the narrow medieval street-patterns of the City to the spacious neo-classical squares of Belgravia. Two enduring architectural influences have been Sir Christopher Wren (rebuilder of St. Paul’s Cathedral after the Great Fire of 1666), the spires of whose 29 surviving City churches still contribute an imaginative element to the City skyline, and John Nash, who under the patronage of the Prince Regent, later George IV, at the beginning of the 19th century laid out a large part of London (including Regent’s Park, Regent Street and the Mall) in one of the grandest examples of town planning.

The most famous older buildings in London include Buckingham Palace (the Sovereign’s residence in London), the Houses of Parliament (an outstanding example of nineteenth century Gothic Revival architecture), St. Paul’s Cathedral (the second largest church in Europe), Westminster Abbey (where Sovereigns are crowned), and the Tower of London.

The length and the breadth of Greater London extends over an area of 700 square miles. The whole of London is full of buildings of incalculable artistic areas — the City, Piccadilly, Hyde Park Corner to the banks of the Thames.

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From the History of London. London was important in Roman times, and there are substantial Roman remains, mostly below street level. By the Middle Ages, when London became the political and commercial capital of England, it was one of the most important cities in Europe.

The history of London begins about the year AD 43, when the Romans were in possession of the southern part of Britain and founded a military station on the present site of London. It was the centre of various disturbances until about 306, when Constantine constructed walls and fortifications, and thereby established stability and laid a firm basis for commercial prosperity. From 369 until 412 it was the capital of Britain, when it was known as Augusta. Subsequently it became the chief seat of the Saxons. King Alfred expelled the Danes and fortified the city. It became famous as a commercial centre at the beginning of the reign of Edward III.

London was not built as a city in the same way as Paris or New York. It began life as a Roman fortification at a place where it was possible to cross the River Thames. A wall was built around the town for defence, but during the long period of peace which followed the Norman Conquest, people built outside the walls. This building continued over the years, especially to the west of the City. In 1665 there was a terrible plague in London, so many people left the city and escaped to the villages in the surrounding countryside. About 69,000 persons succumbed to the dread disease. In 1666 the Great Fire of London ended the plague, but it also destroyed much of the city. A destructive fire spread over 340 acres, burning about 15,000 houses.

From these calamities the city recovered with marked rapidity. The Bank of England was established in 1694. Sir Hans Sloane founded the British Museum in 1759, the old walls were torn down in 1760, and about that time the streets were improved by pavements, lighting and sanitary regulations. In 1840 the present parliament buildings were commenced and in rapid succession followed the construction of great parks and many different municipal improvements. Although people returned to live in the rebuilt city after the plague and the Great Fire, there were never again so many Londoners living in the city centre.

In the course of history the original commercial nucleus of the City of London (only a mile square — 2.6 sq.km.) was adjoined by the City of Westminster, where the political centre established by the monarchy was supplemented by the administrative offices of Parliament and Whitehall.

The Sights of London. The Houses of Parliament constitute perhaps the most popular and widely spread image of London, known and recognized throughout the whole world. In this famous palace are also many meeting halls and various parliamentary offices.

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The Palace of Westminster, together with Victoria Tower and the Clock Tower — which houses the most famous clock in the world, Big Ben — form an unmistakable architectural complex. But the Towers and the Houses of Parliament are not only associated architecturally, but also in the democratic spirit that rules the political life developed in the House of Commons, for, if Parliament is sitting — British parliamentary debates an exemplary political spectacle — the flag flies on top of Victoria Tower during the whole day. If the debates go on during the night — which quite often happens in the dynamic parliamentary life of Great Britain, especially if matters highly important for the nation are being discussed — a light burns above Big Ben in the Clock Tower. This light at night and the flag during the day-time signal for the people of London that the members of Parliament, each from his political point of view, are watching over the nation’s interests.

The Westminster Abbey. The great glory of Westminster is, of course, the Abbey. Ancient tradition claims that St. Peter founded the first church here, but the Abbey’s 900 years of existence since dedication go back to Edward the Confessor. Henry III rebuilt the earlier church and the present building dates from his reign.

Poet’s Corner. Many visitors to the Abbey are attracted to Poet’s Corner, with its memorials to great men of letters: Geoffrey Chaucer, Samuel Johnson, Charles Dickens, Alfred Tennyson, Thomas Hardy and Rudyard Kipling. Here too, though these writers are not buried in Westminster Abbey, are memorials to William Shakespeare and John Milton, Burns and Byron, Walter Scott, William Makepeace Thackeray and the great American poet Henry Wadsworth Longfellow.

Here in the Abbey there is also the Tomb of the Unknown Warrior, a symbol of the nation’s grief.

Whitehall. The street called Whitehall stretches from Parliament Square to Trafalgar Square.

Downing Street, which is a small street off Whitehall, is the home of the Prime Minister, who lives at number 10. Next door at # 11 lives the Chancellor of Exchequer, who is responsible for financial planning and the British economy. Just around the corner in Whitehall itself are all the important ministries: the Foreign Office, the Ministry of Defence, the Home Office and the Treasure.

In the middle of Whitehall is the Cenotaph where the Queen lays the first wreath of poppies on Remembrance Day. On that day each year the people of Britain remember their dead from the world wars of this century by wearing a red paper poppy.

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The West End. The West End is the richest and most beautiful part of London. The West End is the name given to area of central London north from the Mall to Oxford Street. Fine buildings, theatres, museums and big shops can be found in the West End. The best streets and parks of the capital are there too.

Trafalgar Square. This is one of the nerve-centres of London. It was named Trafalgar Square to commemorate the historical naval victory won on the 21st of October 1805 by the British fleet under the command of Horatio Nelson over the combined French-Spanish commanded by Willeneuve. The battle took place at Cape Trafalgar in the mouth of the Straits of Gibraltar and lasted several hours. Nelson was fatally wounded by a shot which broke his backbone. He died on board his flagship the Victory, but not before being told that he had won the battle.

Nelson’s Column, with the statue of Admiral Lord Nelson on top, rises in the centre of Trafalgar Square. This most impressive monument is 170 feet (about 52 m.) tall. The statue of Nelson itself, placed facing towards the sea he loved, measures 17 feet (more than 5 m.) in height.

To the north-east of Trafalgar Square there is the building that houses the National Gallery of Art — one of the most important art galleries in the world — and behind is the National Portrait Gallery.

Quite often the square becomes the location for meetings and in it crowds of Londoners congregate to celebrate political rallies. So it can be said that Trafalgar Square is the heart from which the beat is emitted to all the Londoners. There are many pigeons in the square and Londoners like to feed them. Everybody knows that the dove is the symbol of peace all over the world.

Piccadilly Circus is the centre of night life in the West End. This is one of the most popular meeting points of London, probably second only to Trafalgar Square. It is actually quite small and most people are rather disappointed when they see it for the first time, because they had imagined it would be much bigger. Piccadilly Circus is a dynamic and picturesque place with a happy and lovely cosmopolitan atmosphere. There stroll people who come from the most far-flung countries in the world, of all races, dressed in their national clothes. Groups of people like to gather around the foot of the statue of Eros, the god of love, work of Sir Alfred Gilbert. They form a brightly colourful picture. Piccadilly Circus is a West End shopping centre. There are many shops with big advertisements, belonging to different foreign firms there.

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BUCKINGHAM PALACE. With its architecturally defined profile, this is one of London’s most popular historical buildings. Buckingham Palace was built in 1703 for the Duke of Buckingham. Later restored by Nash, the present facade was planned by Sir Aston Webb in 1913. At the west end of the Mall, Buckingham Palace is the London residence of the Sovereign. When the Queen is here, the Royal standard flutters over the palace. The Royal Mews, in Buckingham Palace Road, house the coaches and horses used on all state occasions and are open to the public on Wednesday and Thursday. The Queen’s Gallery, also in Buckingham Palace Road, has special exhibitions from the Royal collection and may be visited every day except Monday. In its entirety, the Palace and the beautiful gardens which surround it occupy an area of approximately 40 acres.

HYDE PARK. Hyde Park is one of the most frequented points in London. In one corner is located the old residence of the Duke Wellington, Apsley House, now Wellington Museum. Along one side of Hyde Park runs Park Lane, by which one can arrive at Marble Arch, not far from where is Speaker’s Corner, universally renowned as the place where numerous speakers propound the most extraordinary ideas in front of the most heterogeneous public. Hyde Park is the largest park in London: including the adjoining Kensington Gardens, the length and breadth of the Park extend over an area of 636 acres. Hyde Park has a large and most attractive lake called the Serpentine, whose area of 41 acres is used to swim in and to quietly row on in summer.

England.

Of the four parts which make up Great Britain England is the largest, the industrial and most densely populated part of the United Kingdom. Over 46. mln. people of the population of the UK live in England. The greatest concentrations of population are in London, Birmingham and northwest industrial cities. The coasts of England are washed by the North sea, the Irish Sea, the English Channel and the Strait of Dover. No part of England is more than 120 km. from the sea.

It is interesting to note that the sea has been important in the history of England. It was a good protection against the attacks of outside peoples. Fishing has always been an important industry, especially in the east. The sea also has a great effect on England’s climate.

There are many rivers in England. The longest is the Severn (388 km),

the most important is the Thames (354 km.). The rivers are of great importance for communication and especially for carrying goods.

England is mostly a lowland country. There are upland regions in the north and the southwest, but the rest of England is almost flat.

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Northern England, midlands and Southern England — each part of England is different. The lake District in northern England with its lakes, mountains and valleys is a favourite holiday area. On either side of the Pennines the plains of Yorkshire and Lancashire stretch to the sea. In Yorkshire swift rivers flow down from the hills into valleys called ‘dales’.

The wool industry is centred in Leeds and Bradford, the cotton industry in Manchester, iron ore goes to the steel, heavy machinery and shipbuilding industries of Newcastle and other cities. The industries of the Midlands, with Birmingham as its chief city, produce metal goods, from motor cars and railway engines to pins and buttons. The Midland plain makes good farm land.

In Southern England are found some of the oldest British settlements and traces of ancient monuments such as Stonehenge.

Oxford. Oxford was an important town even before the University came into existence; it is mentioned in the “Anglo-Saxon Chronicle” of 912 as “Oxenforde”, the ford where oxen, and so presumably men, could cross the river.

The University of Oxford may be said to date from 1214, when the first charter was granted by the Pope, but long before this date there had existed in the town a number of religious communities and these were the real beginning of the University.

The college corporate institutions with special rules and privileges came into being during the Middle Ages, but at first only graduates were full members of them and it was not until the 16th century that all undergraduates were admitted to them.

The 13th and 14th centuries saw many quarrels between the students and townsfolk culminating in the riots on St. Scholastica’s Day. Subsequently the King gave his support to the University which gained considerable influence over the town and its trade. In 1672 the Test Act required all students to subscribe to the Thirty-nine Articles of the Church of England, a requirement which was not abolished for another two hundred years.

Academic life in Oxford is full and varied. Some of the occasions are solemn, some exciting and a few unashamedly frivolous. The three principal annual events are Commemoration, Congregation and Convocation. The first is mainly concerned with the conferring of Honorary Degrees, the ceremony commemorating the opening of the Sheldonian Theatre in 1669.

Oxford is not only one of the two oldest university cities of Great Britain, but an industrial town as well. Its history can be traced as far back

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as the eighth century, when the earliest monastic foundation was already in existence. Oxford is also famous for its architecture.

Unlike Oxford, which is both a university and an industrial city, Cambridge, as the saying goes, “is” the University.

Cambridge is so called because most of the town is built on the east side of the river Cam, a tributary of the Ouse.

Cambridge is situated at a distance of 70 miles from London; the greater part of the town lies on the left bank of the river Cam crossed by several bridges.

It is very green presenting to a visitor a series of beautiful groupings of architecture, trees, gardens, lawns and bridges. The main building material is stone having a pinkish colour which adds life and warmth to the picture at all seasons of the year. The dominating factor in Cambridge is its well - known University, a centre of education and learning, closely connected with the life and thought of Great Britain. Byron, Newton, Darwin, Rutherford and many other scientists and writers were educated at Cambridge. In Cambridge everything centres on the University and its colleges.

The oldest college is Peterhouse, which was founded in 1284. The most recent is Robinson College, which was opened in 1977. The most famous is probably King’s, because of its magnificent chapel. Its choir of boys and undergraduates is also very well known.

The University was exclusively for men until 1871 when the first women’s college was opened. Another was opened two years later and a third in 1954. In the 1970s, most colleges opened their doors to both men and women. Almost all colleges now are mixed, but it will be many years before there are equal numbers of both sexes. There are more than 20 colleges in Cambridge.

There is a close connection between the University and colleges, though they are quite separate in theory and practice.

Each college has its own building, its own internal organization, its own staff and students. In order to enter the University one must first apply to a college and become a member of the University through the college. The colleges are not connected with any particular study. Students studying literature, for example, and those trained for physics may belong to one and the same college.

However the fact is that one is to become a member of a college in order to be a member of the University. The colleges are governed by twenty or thirty “fellows”. Fellows of a college are “tutors” (teachers are often called “dons”). Each tutor has 10 -12 students reading under his

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guidance. Tutors teach their own subject to those students in the college who are studying it, and they are responsible for their progress.

Every college is governed by a dean. Discipline is looked after by proctors and numerous minor officials called “bulldogs”.

The University is like a federation of colleges. It arranges the courses, the lectures and the examinations, and grants the degrees.

Students study at the University for four years, three terms a year. Long vacation lasts about three months. There are many libraries at Cambridge; some of them have rare collections of books. In one of them the earliest books by Shakespeare and other great writers one may see an early description of Russia by an Englishman on diplomatic service there (in 1591) and a Russian reading book of the seventeenth century.

English Characteristics. In a nation of many million people, there are many different kinds: good and bad, honest ant dishonest, happy and unhappy.

The British people, who live in other countries are not fully typical of their nation. As usual, they live a completely different life from the life in Britain. However, we can talk about some general things. The best-known quality of the English, for example, is reserve. A reserved person is one who doesn’t talk much to strangers, does not show much emotion. He never tells you about himself. If English people are making a journey by train, they will try to find an empty compartment. If they have to share the compartment with a stranger, they may travel many miles without starting a conversation. If a conversation does start, personal questions like “How old are you?” or even “What is your name?” are not easily asked. Questions like “Where did you buy your watch?” or “What is your salary?” are impossible.

Closely related to English reserve is English modesty. If a person is, let us say, very good in golf, and someone asks him if he is a good player, he will probably give an answer like “I am not bad”, or “I think I’m not bad”, or I think I’m quite good”, or “Well, I’m very keen on golf”.

The famous English sense of humour is similar. Its ideal is the ability to laugh at oneself — at one’s own faults. “He is a man of humour” or “He has no sense of humour” is often heard in Britain, where humour is so highly prized.

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Scotland. At the beginning of the 6th century, Scotland was ruled by Scottish kings and queens, but was divided between different groups of people: the Picts and Celts, who were the oldest inhabitants, the Scots, who came from Northern Ireland, the Britons, who were driven north by the Anglo-Saxon invaders of England, and the Angles, who originally came from what is now Germany. The Romans had left two centuries earlier.

England and Scotland were finally united when, in 1603, the son of Mary Queen of Scots became James I of England. This was because Mary’s cousin Elizabeth I had left no heir when she died.

Today Scotland is part of the United Kingdom and is governed from London. There is a special minister in the Government, the Secretary of State for Scotland, who is responsible for education, local government and other important matters in Scotland. Although the legal education and banking systems are slightly different from those in England, life is very similar to the rest of the United Kingdom.

Comprising an area of some 30,000 square miles (about 79,000 sq.km) Scotland has a population of just over 5 mln. people of whom about one third live in the cities of Edinburgh, Glasgow, Aberdeen and Dundee.

All the inhabitants speak English although about 100,000 still speak Scottish Gaelic. Many of the Scottish accents of English are very strong, and visitors from abroad (or even England) sometimes have difficulty in understanding them.

In terms of physical geography Scotland can be divided into Southern Uplands, which never rise to much more than about two thousand five hundred feet, the Central Lowlands, which include the valleys of the rivers Tay, Clyde and Forth, and the Northern Highlands which are themselves divided by the Great Glen which runs from Fort William to Inverness. In this area are the tallest peaks, the highest of which is Ben Nevis (4,406 ft high — about 1,342 m) in the Grampian mountains. The Northern Highlands are sparsely populated but contain much of the most beautiful and impressive loch, moorland, mountain and coastal scenery in the country.

Scotland is a very mountainous country; three-fourths of the area of Scotland is occupied by mountains with a great amount of moorland, in which few people live.

Scotland is famous for her beautiful large lakes with mountains, round them. They are not like the English ones; there are not so many trees and flowers, and green hills around them as in England. There are many rivers in Scotland, but they are not long. The longest and the most important Scottish river is the Clyde.

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Scottish steel has long been used chiefly by the heavy industries of the Glasgow area, where shipbuilding has been paramount. For a time Clydeside was the most famous shipbuilding district in the world. Shipyards extended along both banks of the Clyde estuary for about 30 km.

Clydeside also benefited by having pioneered the building of ships. Foreign competition, which drove Britain from first to fourth place among shipbuilding nations, seriously affected Clydeside. In the 1970s, further beset by the economic crisis, Clydeside lost its place as the leading shipbuilding area in Britain.

Edinburgh, the capital of Scotland, is one of the most beautiful cities in Europe, full of historical monuments of great interest.

The dominating feature of the city is the Castle, standing high on a steep rock. It is in the royal apartments of the Castle that the son of Mary Queen of Scots, the future King James I, was born.

The Royal Palace of Hollyrood House, which is the official residence of the present queen of England, Elizabeth II, when she comes on a visit to Scotland, is also associated with the memory of Mary Stuart. The murder of David Rizzio, Mary’s Italian musician and secretary, took place within its walls.

The finest street in Edinburgh and the main shopping area is Prince’s Street. In the gardens on its south side stands the monument of Walter Scott, the famous writer of historical novels. Beyond the Scott monument, at the foot of the Castle, is the National Gallery of Scotland.

To the north of Edinburgh is the Firth of Forth. The Forth Bridge, which goes across it, is one of the great engineering achievements of the world.

Edinburgh University, which was founded in 1582, is famous for its medical faculty.

Edinburgh is also an important centre of cultural life, and each year, in late August and early September, it produces a festival of music and drama which is famous all over the world.

The Scottish People as They Are

People who live in Scotland are Scots. They are also called Scotsmen or Scottish. Scotsmen will be rather annoyed if you call them Englishmen.