A first visit to the UK

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It seems a bit silly to pick favourites from a whole country! I don’t know the country equally well all over, although I’ve traveled fairly extensively, so I’ll just list a few of the places I particularly love rather than suggest a definitive list. I was born and brought up in London, and I love the city above all others. It is also difficult to see the UK in any kind of perspective without seeing something of the capital – but it’s also difficult to see the UK properly unless you leave London and see some of the rest of the country. For a variety of experience, you might go to one or more of Norwich, Oxford, Cambridge, Bath, Lincoln or Chester – all old towns with wonderful buildings, cathedrals or ...Read More

It seems a bit silly to pick favourites from a whole country! I don’t know the country equally well all over, although I’ve traveled fairly extensively, so I’ll just list a few of the places I particularly love rather than suggest a definitive list. I was born and brought up in London, and I love the city above all others. It is also difficult to see the UK in any kind of perspective without seeing something of the capital – but it’s also difficult to see the UK properly unless you leave London and see some of the rest of the country. For a variety of experience, you might go to one or more of Norwich, Oxford, Cambridge, Bath, Lincoln or Chester – all old towns with wonderful buildings, cathedrals or colleges or Roman Baths, or all of them! If castles are your thing, you can either join a tour group to see some or strike out on your own – possibly hiring a car, as otherwise you might be limited in which castles you are visit easily.

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Are you coming to the British Isles, UK, England, Scotland, Great Britain…? There is often confusion about these terms, but it can’t hurt to be sure of the place you’ve chosen to visit! England, Scotland, and Wales make up Great Britain, and the nation state is the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland. Rather confusingly, the adjective “British” is used to apply to the UK, and “Britain” is often used loosely to mean the UK. The UK, Ireland, and smaller islands (the Channel Islands, the Isle of Man, etc) with various complicated legal statuses make up the British Isles, a geographical rather than political entity. London is the capital of the UK, and Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland have their local governments based in Edinburgh, Cardiff and Belfast respectively. The UK (and Ireland) belong to the European Union (EU), a grouping of 15 states that collaborate through European institutions on a range of issues such as farm policy, industrial and political issues, and some financial matters.

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Walking is very popular in the UK as an activity – after Sunday lunch at someone’s house you might very well be dragged out for “a nice walk” through the mud with any dogs your hosts happen to own. You can also go on much more ambitious hikes with ease – maps, hostels and signs are all common as it’s a popular activity. There are many good books available about walking in the UK countryside also. One famous walk is the coast-to-coast cross-pennines hike, which starts on the west coast of northern England and crosses the Pennine peaks to the other side of the country. I believe the whole walk takes about 2 weeks, and there are plenty of pubs and hostels to stay at en route. Read Less

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Geography

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The UK is based on two islands just off the northwest coast of continental Europe. The country is often said to have little climate and lots of weather; the conditions are often unpredictable and you should be prepared for all eventualities. That said, the climate is rarely extreme in most of the UK, just changeable. Although quite far north, the country benefits from the Gulf Stream / North Atlantic Drift which passes to the west, meaning that the country is rarely as cold as its northerly location would suggest. One consequence of being so far north is that the hours of daylight vary throughout the year – in the summer it is still a little light when the pubs chuck out at 11pm, and it gets light ve...Read More

The UK is based on two islands just off the northwest coast of continental Europe. The country is often said to have little climate and lots of weather; the conditions are often unpredictable and you should be prepared for all eventualities. That said, the climate is rarely extreme in most of the UK, just changeable. Although quite far north, the country benefits from the Gulf Stream / North Atlantic Drift which passes to the west, meaning that the country is rarely as cold as its northerly location would suggest. One consequence of being so far north is that the hours of daylight vary throughout the year – in the summer it is still a little light when the pubs chuck out at 11pm, and it gets light very early in the morning. In the winter the converse is true, at the time of the shortest day it is light by 8:30am and dark again well before 4pm. On cloudy wet days, it doesn’t seem to get properly light at all! If this bothers you, winter isn’t the best time for you to visit.

The UK is, very broadly speaking, higher and wetter in the west, and flatter and drier in the east. The predominant wind direction is from the west, the Atlantic, with depressions moving in every few days from the sea and the rain getting less heavy as the depression moves eastwards. None of the country is really dry, however. The west of the country is also usually a little warmer, thanks to the moderating influence of the North Atlantic drift. On the whole, and not surprisingly, it is also usually colder as you go northwards.

The major conurbations of the UK are generally of two types. The first group is the old cities of the Romans, Saxons, and Middle Ages – London, Winchester, Lincoln, Norwich, Colchester, and Chester, among others. The other group is the cities of the industrial revolution, which before it were only small towns or villages – Birmingham, Manchester, Liverpool, and Newcastle, for example. The first group is generally of more interest to the tourist, but this isn’t a universal rule.

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Member Rating 4 out of 5 on January 18, 2002

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A history of Britain

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Tower and City Photo - United Kingdom, Europe

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The UK’s history is long and complicated, and no comprehensive overview could be attempted within the confines of this journal! All I’ll do is try and sketch the faintest of outlines. The Romans invaded some 50 years BC, and set up the Roman colony that lasted for 400-odd years. They built the extant Hadrian’s Wall, which divided what they ruled (England) from what they didn’t (Scotland). As the empire fell, the Romans withdrew, the cities emptied (including Londinium), and the Dark Ages fell on England as well as the rest of Europe. Waves of successive invaders from the continent brought their own cultures with them – Saxons, Angles, Jutes and Vikings, among others. Individual...Read More

The UK’s history is long and complicated, and no comprehensive overview could be attempted within the confines of this journal! All I’ll do is try and sketch the faintest of outlines.

The Romans invaded some 50 years BC, and set up the Roman colony that lasted for 400-odd years. They built the extant Hadrian’s Wall, which divided what they ruled (England) from what they didn’t (Scotland). As the empire fell, the Romans withdrew, the cities emptied (including Londinium), and the Dark Ages fell on England as well as the rest of Europe. Waves of successive invaders from the continent brought their own cultures with them – Saxons, Angles, Jutes and Vikings, among others. Individual areas of the country still reflect these settlers – Essex, Sussex and Wessex were the east, south and west Saxons, for example. The predominance of -thorpe places and surnames in the north of England is a good example of a Viking influence. After some time the various warring kingdoms began to unite – Wessex was the biggest of the Saxon Kingdoms, ruled at one time by Alfred the Great, the only British king ever thus named. Alfred learnt, as an adult, to read and write, and helped fight off the Vikings.

By the end of the first millennium, the country was united, Christian, and run by one King, Edward the Confessor, who built Westminster Abbey. Unfortunately, he seems to have made an unholy mess of his succession, apparently promising it both to William the Bastard of Normandy, and Harold Godwinson, son of the principal Baron in the country. When he died, Harold was crowned, but William invaded to claim what he saw as his – and at the Battle of Hastings in 1066 won and took charge. 1066 was the last time the country was invaded, and marked a watershed – the adoption of French as the language, for example, is still reflected in the English tongue to this day. The words for animals (cow, pig, sheep) are Saxon, the peasants who looked after them, and the words for the meat they produce (beef, pork, mutton) come from French, the people who ate them.

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Member Rating 4 out of 5 on January 18, 2002

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A history of Britain - 2

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For some time, then, England was the possession of a French Duke who ruled also elsewhere. He took over existing buildings such as Westminster Abbey, and built defensive ones such as the Tower of London. Things changed gradually, and by the time of Chaucer, writing in the 14th century, English was more used as a language and a culture. The common law traces its modern roots back to Henry II’s statutes. The medieval English built the astonishing cathedrals, the wonderful monasteries, and the hundreds of small churches that still exist around the country. By the 16th century, English Kings ruled in London (the capital having moved from Winchester in the early Middle Ages) and not much of France remaine...Read More

For some time, then, England was the possession of a French Duke who ruled also elsewhere. He took over existing buildings such as Westminster Abbey, and built defensive ones such as the Tower of London. Things changed gradually, and by the time of Chaucer, writing in the 14th century, English was more used as a language and a culture. The common law traces its modern roots back to Henry II’s statutes. The medieval English built the astonishing cathedrals, the wonderful monasteries, and the hundreds of small churches that still exist around the country. By the 16th century, English Kings ruled in London (the capital having moved from Winchester in the early Middle Ages) and not much of France remained to the Crown. The last city, Calais, was lost by Queen Mary who said, "When I die you shall find Calais engraved on my heart".

From the early part of the 16th century, England grew away from Europe. The reformation put England on a different footing from the other, mainly Catholic powers in Europe - France, Spain, and the Habsburgs. Henry VIII, second of the Tudor monarchs, was married to the older Catherine of Aragon, and despaired of begetting the male heir he so desperately wanted. Several boys had been born, but died young, and the only surviving child was a girl, Mary, born in 1516. Seeking an annulment on the grounds that Catherine had been married to his older brother, and that this was prohibited by consanguinity rules, he was unsuccessful in obtaining it (not surprisingly, as Catherine of Aragon’s nephew Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor, had the Pope under his armed control at the time.) After a lot of too-ing and fro-ing between England and Rome, Henry VIII declared himself Head of the English Church, and granted himself his own annulment. In 1533 he married Anne Boleyn, and before he executed her for adultery she gave birth to the future Elizabeth I. He married for a third time, but his wife Jane Seymour died shortly after giving birth to the future Edward VI in 1536. His last three marriages (to Anne of Cleves, another annulment, to Catherine Howard, another execution, and Catherine Parr outlived him) produced no children.

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Member Rating 4 out of 5 on January 18, 2002

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A history of Britain - 3

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When Henry VIII died in 1547, his three children inherited the throne in turn – the fiercely protestant Edward, who died in 1553, the Catholic Mary who died in 1558, and Elizabeth, who reigned over the Golden Age of Elizabethan England, calming down the bitter religious dispute that was threatening an internal religious war by supervising the Elizabethan Church Settlement – forming a church that is almost Calvinist in doctrine but which leans towards the Roman Catholic in pomp and circumstance. Emerging from the obscurity of the medieval period, England beat Spain at war, ruled the oceans through a combination of trade and piracy, and set up the first colonies in the modern day USA, at Roanoak and Che...Read More

When Henry VIII died in 1547, his three children inherited the throne in turn – the fiercely protestant Edward, who died in 1553, the Catholic Mary who died in 1558, and Elizabeth, who reigned over the Golden Age of Elizabethan England, calming down the bitter religious dispute that was threatening an internal religious war by supervising the Elizabethan Church Settlement – forming a church that is almost Calvinist in doctrine but which leans towards the Roman Catholic in pomp and circumstance. Emerging from the obscurity of the medieval period, England beat Spain at war, ruled the oceans through a combination of trade and piracy, and set up the first colonies in the modern day USA, at Roanoak and Chesapeake. None of Henry VIII’s children had heirs of their own, and Elizabeth was succeeded by James I of England and VI of Scotland, uniting the two countries in his throne. (Wales had been subsumed into England in the 13th century.)

Following the model of the Virginian Company, which established the New World colonies, the East India Company began colonising in the sub-continent. By the 19th century, the sun never set on the British Empire, as common law, the English language, and Anglicanism were exported all over the globe. The industrial revolution, agricultural revolution and transport explosion, of canals and railways, blew the UK out ahead of the rest, as Queen Victoria sat on the throne from 1837 to 1901.

The 1914-1918 war lead to the emancipation of women, who were granted the vote in 1918 over the age of 30, and in 1927 on equal terms with men, aged 21 years. The inter-war years were characterised by the roaring twenties, the depression in the 30s, and the rise of extremism in Russia, Italy, and Germany. The Second World War changed the UK forever – the Empire was dismantled, immigration began from the former colonies, life changed in very many ways.

The decline of British industry after the Second World War was not helped by the reputation for strike-ridden low productivity the workers had. Margaret Thatcher swept to power in 1979, as the country’s first (and, to date, only) female Prime Minister. She was a determined woman (the "Iron Lady") who kicked the unions into shape, privatised everything in sight, and threw the Argentineans out of the Falklands etc. She is generally either loathed or adored; there isn’t much of a middle ground. She was either a role model for women, or had the biggest balls in Parliament. Spitting Image, a TV political satire programme made with puppets, summed up one view, showing her sitting in a restaurant with her cabinet. "I’ll have a steak, raw," she orders. "What about the vegetables?" replies the waiter. Thatcher, waving at the rest of the politicians, says, "they’ll have the same".

When she was deselected in 1990, her Chancellor of the Exchequer, John Major, succeeded her. He lost the 1997 election to "new" Labour, led by Tony Blair.
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Member Rating 4 out of 5 on January 18, 2002

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Transport in the UK

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A country lane Photo - United Kingdom, Europe

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Transport in the UK is varied. Generally you have a choice of car, aeroplane, railways, or coach (long-distance) and bus (short-distance). In addition, there are also trams, underground railways, and ferries. The railways in the UK are in an unfortunate state at the moment (Jan. 2002) and the subject of various political rows. There are however still lots of trains running within cities and inter-city, as well as the Eurostar which goes from Waterloo in London and Ashford, Kent to Paris, Lille, and Brussels. Trains are generally fairly expensive if you just turn up and book on the day, and a lot cheaper if you book ahead. www.railtrack.co.uk is...Read More

Transport in the UK is varied. Generally you have a choice of car, aeroplane, railways, or coach (long-distance) and bus (short-distance). In addition, there are also trams, underground railways, and ferries.

The railways in the UK are in an unfortunate state at the moment (Jan. 2002) and the subject of various political rows. There are however still lots of trains running within cities and inter-city, as well as the Eurostar which goes from Waterloo in London and Ashford, Kent to Paris, Lille, and Brussels. Trains are generally fairly expensive if you just turn up and book on the day, and a lot cheaper if you book ahead. www.railtrack.co.uk is a very useful website which gives timetables - you enter your destination and starting place, and it tells you the trains available for particular times. First class is available on most trains, but not generally on the shortest commuter trips. The train map is London based – for many trips in SE England you will have to go through London and change trains there. It is generally easier to go to and from London that cross-country.

Long distance coaches are usually slower and a lot cheaper – 12 pounds return to Leeds from London at the moment, for example, against a minimum book-ahead train fare of at least 30 pounds. National Express is one of the biggest companies.

Driving in the UK is on the correct (i.e. the left) side of the road. If you’re not accustomed to driving on this side of the road, be careful as it is hard to get used to – I’ve driven in continental Europe so I appreciate the difficulties. It is worth reading something about rules of the road here, before you give it a go. One particular feature of the road system in the UK is roundabouts – they are everywhere. Priority is to the right, to vehicles already on the roundabout. Speed limits (in miles per hour) vary – 70mph on motorways, 60mph on most roads, 40mph and 50mph where marked, and in towns with streetlights 30mph unless otherwise stated. There are lots of speed cameras and cameras to catch people jumping red lights, so watch out for these kind of infringements. Drunk driving is frowned upon heavily – a gaol term is quite possible. Driving in the big cities is rarely a good idea – heavy traffic, difficult parking, and other options for transport. Parking in central London, for example, is about 3 pounds / hour on the street, maximum stay 2 hours, or 20 pounds a day in the car parks. If you’re just staying in London, there doesn’t seem to be much point hiring a car.

A number of places now have trams / light rail systems. In London there’s the Docklands Light Railway that goes from Bank in the city through the Docklands and down to Lewisham in South London, and there’s also the Croydon tram system, which cuts across south and southwest London. There’s a very good tram system in Leeds also. Read Less

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Media in the UK

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There is lots of choice of media for people visiting the UK. Newspapers are varied and widely available. There are two kinds – broadsheets and tabloids. The Times is the oldest of the dailies, and along with its sister The Sunday Times is fairly cautious, and moderately right-wing. The Daily Telegraph (and its sister, the Sunday Telegraph) is more right-wing, fairly old-fashioned (lots of retired Colonels read it) and has the best political cartoonist of the lot. The Independent (also the Independent on Sunday) takes a very neutral stance on everything, and has very good coverage of the arts. The Guardian is liberal, left-wing, environmentally friendly, and has lots about education and welfare, and ...Read More

There is lots of choice of media for people visiting the UK. Newspapers are varied and widely available. There are two kinds – broadsheets and tabloids. The Times is the oldest of the dailies, and along with its sister The Sunday Times is fairly cautious, and moderately right-wing. The Daily Telegraph (and its sister, the Sunday Telegraph) is more right-wing, fairly old-fashioned (lots of retired Colonels read it) and has the best political cartoonist of the lot. The Independent (also the Independent on Sunday) takes a very neutral stance on everything, and has very good coverage of the arts. The Guardian is liberal, left-wing, environmentally friendly, and has lots about education and welfare, and is renowned for making frequent mistakes with type-setting. Its sister paper is the oldest Sunday paper, The Observer. The satirical magazine Private Eye calls the broadsheets The Thunderer, The Daily Torygraph, the Indescribablyboring, and the Grauniad.

The main tabloids include the Daily Mail (Mail on Sunday) which along with the Daily Express (Sunday Express) is a right-wing, moral majority, anti-immigrant / single-mother / Labour paper. The Sun is Britain’s most popular paper (the Sunday paper is called The News of the World) and features a diet of puns, topless women on page 3, and polemics in simple language. The News of the Screws, as Private Eye calls it, specialises in stories about the Royal Family / famous footballers / pop stars etc and their sexual tastes and escapades. There is also the left-wing Daily Mirror tabloid.

On television, there are 5 channels on normal terrestrial sets - BBC1, BBC2, ITV, Channel 4 and Channel 5. The BBC has good new programmes at 6pm and 10pm on BBC1, and the 7pm Channel 4 news is also good. There is an excellent current affairs programme on BBC2 at 10:30pm called Newsnight. All of these times apply during the week and may vary at the weekends.

Two periodicals are worth mentioning – the Economist is published once a week and is a hard-hitting, well researched, well-written current affairs journal that will keep you very up-to-date. Private Eye, a satirical magazine, is published fortnightly. It fails to take anyone seriously and is a great publication. Read Less

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