Lecture Notes one A Brief Introduction of the Great Britain Guide This tourism and travel guide for London, featuring hotels, street maps, restaurants, tours, attractions and more, will help you plan a successful trip to London, England, United Kingdom. London is a city of contrasts - steeped in history and tradition and yet always at the forefront of contemporary fashion and ideas. The list of sights and attractions is endless but includes such world-renowned places as Westminster Abbey, Buckingham Palace and the Tower of London. Take a stroll in Trafalgar Square, go shopping on Oxford Street and don't miss a ride on the latest sensation - The London Eye - a giant Ferris Wheel commanding stunning views. For those that are theatre lovers London's West End has a phenomenal selection of plays and shows. For museum fans the British Museum and the Science Museum are amongst the best anywhere. The Tate Gallery and the National Gallery have collections of some of the world's greatest art works. Visit the WorldWeb Travel Guides for England's Home Counties, East Anglia and Central England for information about visitor destinations near London. Westminster Abbey . The Westminster Abbey dates back to 1045 when it was started by King Edward I. Today it remains a regular place of worship and the setting of many Royal celebrations and grievances. Kings and other stately figures are buried here. It is 32,000 square feet and an architectural marvel. The bells used by the church date back to the 13th and 16th centuries. Tours are available. Buckingham Palace . Buckingham Palace is the official London residence of Britain's Queen and is one of the most recognized buildings in the world. It is decorated and furnished with works of art that form part of the Royal Collection - one of the major art collections of the world. Parts of the Palace are open to visitors on a regular basis. Visitors can visit some of the State Rooms where the Queen receives and entertains her guests. The State Rooms contain some of the best pieces of the Royal Collection and stunning French furniture. Guests can also explore some of the apartments inside the Palace. The Tower Bridge began construction in 1885 and was open 9 years later. It is the only bridge in London that can be raised. Inside the bridge is the Tower Bridge Experience, which explains the bridge's 100-year history. Sights in London Tower of London . The White Tower was started in 1078 and was the first building in what would become the Tower of London. The official title is "Her Majesty's Royal Palace and Fortress the Tower of London". Over time additions have been added to the original structure. Some of the additional towers include the Crown Jewels, St. Thomas's Tower, the Salt Tower and many many more. The Clock Tower outside the Palace of Westminster is commonly referred to as Big Ben. What most people don't know about Big Ben is that the real Ben is actually the bell inside the tower, not the tower itself. The Palace of Westminster contains the Houses of Parliament. Empire Theatre, Theatre District of London See slide English Opera House, London See slide Harrods Harrods was first opened in 1849 and is probably the world's best known store. It is situated on Brompton Road in Knightsbridge. Harrods is a department store offering a full variety of merchandise. London Sidewalk Café See slide Musicals in the Theatre District of London See slide Red Telephone Booths, London See slide Famous Streets in London Regent Street, Piccadilly, Shaftesbury Avenue and Haymarket intersect and join together at the Piccadilly Circus. The statue commonly known as Eros has lived here since it was unveiled in 1893. The Piccadilly Circus makes for a great meeting place, or resting spot from the busy streets surrounding it. Regent's Street, London Westminster Abbey, London Natural Regions The island of Great Britain can be divided into two major natural regions—the highland zone and the lowland zone. The highland zone is an area of high hills and mountains in the north and west. The lowland zone in the south and east consists mostly of rolling plains. The zones are divided by an imaginary line running through England from the River Exe on the southwest coast to the mouth of the River Tees on the northeast coast. The lowland zone has a milder climate and better soils for farming. Historically, most people in Britain have lived in the lowland zone rather than in the harsher highland zone. B1 The Highland Zone Cumbrian Mountains Northwest England’s Cumbrian Mountains include Scafell Pike, the country’s highest peak. The range also incorporates the Lake District, an area of rivers and lakes that became famous when several British poets, including William Wordsworth, settled there in the early 1800s.Fergus O'Brien/FPG International, LLC The highland zone contains what is often called rough country, consisting to a large extent of rugged hills, mountains, and eroded areas frequently broken by valleys and plains. The highest elevations in the British Isles are in the highland zone; the highest point is Ben Nevis at 1,343 m (4,406 ft), located in the Highlands of Scotland. The highland zone is cooler than the lowland zone, and receives more rainfall and less sunlight. In many places farming is impossible. Even where it is feasible, the soil is often thin and stony, with a hard rock formation below. Rainwater often cannot escape readily, so many areas tend to be waterlogged. The highest elevations in the British Isles are in the highland zone. Wales, Scotland, and parts of England are located in the highland zone. The parts of England in the highland zone include the Pennine Chain of mountains, extending down into northern England and into the southwestern peninsula. The Pennine Chain is sometimes called the backbone of England. It is a massive upland area extending 260 km (160 mi) north to south, starting at the Cheviot Hills on England’s border with Scotland and ending in the Midlands of central England. It is made up of several broad, rolling, windswept moorlands separated by deep river valleys. Many of England’s major industrial areas lie on the flanks of the Pennine Chain, where there are many coalfields. To the west of the northern Pennines are the Cumbrian Mountains, a mountainous dome of ancient rocks deeply eroded by glaciers. This region contains the Lake District, famous for its lakes and scenic beauty. The part of the highland zone in England’s southwest peninsula is often referred to as the West Country. This peninsula, which juts out into the Atlantic Ocean, contains the counties of Devon and Cornwall. It features hilly, rough areas, the moorland plateaus of Dartmoor and Exmoor, and many picturesque valleys. Its sheltered areas are noted for their mild climate. Grampian Mountains, Scotland The Grampian Mountains in central Scotland form a natural division between the Lowlands and Highlands. Cairn Gorm Peak, shown here, has an elevation of 1245 m (4084 ft) and is one of the Grampians’ major summits.STB/Still Moving Picture Company North of the Cheviot Hills, in Scotland, are the Southern Uplands, an area of rounded hills and broad valleys. The maximum elevation here is 850 m (2,800 ft), and much of the area consists of moorlands used for grazing sheep. North of the Uplands is a broad valley known variously as the Central Lowlands, the Scottish Lowlands, or the Midland Valley. This valley is sandwiched between two areas of uplands and contains most of Scotland’s urban centers, industries, and mines. Farther north are the Scottish Highlands, a rugged area of mountain ranges, bleak moorlands, and deep, narrow valleys known as glens. The Highlands contain sparsely populated areas of moors. These tracts of wasteland are mostly covered with coarse, low, bushy plants, including varieties of heath and heather, hardy evergreen shrubs most often found in cooler climates. The Grampian Mountains are the chief range in the Highlands, reaching as high as 1,343 m (4,406 ft) above sea level. The western portion of the Highlands contains most of Scotland’s famous lochs, or large lakes. Northern Ireland consists of hilly highlands similar to those of Scotland. Most of Northern Ireland is situated in a large valley formed from an old lava plateau. In the center of the valley is Lough Neagh, the largest lake in the British Isles, which is 29 km (18 mi) long and 18 km (11 mi) wide. The highest part of Northern Ireland is the Mourne Mountains in the southeast, which reach a maximum elevation of 852 m (2,796 ft) above sea level. The narrowest point between the islands of Britain and Ireland is a distance of only 21 km (13 mi), between Tor on the coast of Northern Ireland to Mull of Kintyre on the Scottish coast. The peninsula of Wales is almost entirely covered by mountains. The peninsula of Wales is almost entirely covered by mountains. The Cambrian Mountains extend roughly from northeast to southeast across the peninsula, forming an area of high, craggy peaks and bleak moorlands. They contain the highest peak in Wales, the huge mountain called Snowdon (Yr Wyddfa Fawr in Welsh), which rises to 1,085 m (3,560 ft) above sea level. In southern Wales lower and less rugged mountains, the Brecon Beacons, extend in a roughly east-west direction. A thin ribbon of lowland rims much of the Welsh coast, broadening out in the northwest to include the offshore island of Anglesey. It also broadens out in the southwest and southeast. Sometimes the lowland region of southeastern Wales is considered an extension of the lowland zone of Britain. This region contains the largest cities and industrial establishments in Wales. Coal mines in the mountains just to the north of this southern lowland were of great importance to the Welsh economy for many years. Hills running along the Welsh border with England continue into parts of a few English counties. B2 The Lowland Zone In general the lowland zone is a great plain with a gentle, undulating surface and extensive areas of almost-level ground. It receives less rain and more sunshine than the highland zone and much of the soil in the zone is fertile. Most of the lowland region is less than 150 m (500 ft) above sea level, and the hills rarely reach more than 300 m (1,000 ft) above sea level. It has been extensively inhabited, farmed, and grazed for thousands of years. Most of Britain’s population lives densely packed into the lowland zone, which covers most of England. The metropolis of London and most of Britain’s large cities are located in the lowland zone. The flattest lands in the lowland zone are in the east, particularly on the large, hump-shaped area called East Anglia. The inlet called the Wash is located off East Anglia’s northern coast. The Wash was once surrounded by the flat, swampy areas of the Fenlands, or the Fens, most of which has now been drained. The broad, rolling Midland Plain is south of the Pennine Chain. Northwest of this plain, on the western side of the Pennines, is the Lancashire-Cheshire plain. Another plain extends from the eastern slope of the Pennines to the sea. It is broken in the north by the Yorkshire Moors, a high wasteland overgrown with coarse plants. Several chains of low hills break up the lowland plain. They are sometimes called scarplands or escarpments, meaning that they tend to drop steeply on one side and slope gently downward on the other side. One of these upland ridges, the South Downs, runs along the southern coast eastward from the Salisbury Plain. Running parallel to this ridge, south of the Thames valley, are the North Downs. In between the North Downs and the South Downs is a region called The Weald, an area of scenic, gentle hills. Another elevated chain is the Chiltern Hills, which stretch southwest from the central part of the lowland plain. The Cotswold Hills lie to the west near Wales. The Cotswolds and the plain’s northern hills have a limestone base, while the Downs have a chalk base. C Rivers and Lakes Avon River, Bidford-on-Avon The Upper Avon River flows through central England for 154 km (96 mi). Here, a barge passes Bidford-on-Avon.Susan McCartney/Photo Researchers, Inc. Since Britain has a moist climate with much rainfall, rivers and lakes are numerous. Rivers in central and eastern Britain tend to flow slowly and steadily all year long because they are fed by the frequent rain. Many have been navigable, and from the earliest times they have served peoples interested in either commerce or invasion. The Highlands act as a divide and determine whether rivers flow west to the Irish Sea or east to the North Sea. Rivers and streams moving westward down from the Highlands tend to be swift and turbulent; rivers flowing eastward tend to be long, graceful, and gentle, with slowly moving waters. The Thames and the Severn are the longest rivers in Britain and are almost equal in length. The Severn flows south out of the mountains of central Wales to the Bristol Channel at Bristol. It is 290 km (180 mi) long. The Thames, 338 km (210 mi) long, flows eastward out of the Cotswold Hills and weaves through the metropolis of London. The Thames provides water to the city of London and is used to carry commercial freight. Other important rivers in England are the Mersey, which enters the Irish Sea at Liverpool; the River Humber on the east coast, into which the Trent River and several other rivers flow; and the Tyne River in northern England, which flows past Newcastle upon Tyne to the North Sea. Thames River, London The Thames River in London is the most important river in England and the main source of London’s water supply.M. Bertinetti/Photo Researchers, Inc. In Scotland the important rivers are the Clyde and the Forth, which are joined by a canal. The River Clyde flows northwest, past Glasgow, and empties into the Atlantic at the Firth of Clyde. (Firth is the Scottish name for an arm of the sea that serves as the broad estuary of a river.) The River Forth flows eastward into the Firth of Forth, where Edinburgh rises on its south bank. The most important rivers in Northern Ireland are the Lagan, the Bann, and the Foyle. Most of the large lakes in the United Kingdom are located in the upland areas of Scotland and northern England, although Lough Neagh in Northern Ireland is the largest lake in the United Kingdom. Loch Lomond, on the southwestern edge of the Highlands of Scotland, is the largest on the island of Great Britain, measuring 37 km (23 mi) long and from 1.6 to 8 km (1 to 5 mi) wide. Lake Windermere is the largest of the 15 major lakes in the famous Lake District of northwestern England. It is about 1.6 km (1 mi) wide and more than 16 km (10 mi) long. D Coastline Alum Bay, Isle of Wight The Isle of Wight lies in the English Channel, off England’s southern coast, and is noted for its mild, sunny climate. The multicolored cliffs of Alum Bay and the Needles formation are part of the chalk uplands that run across the island.Steve Vidler/Leo de Wys, Inc. Great Britain’s coastline is highly irregular, with many bays and inlets that provide harbors and shelters for ships and boats. Coastal trade involving ships sailing along the coast has been carried on since ancient times. The coastline is about 8,000 km (about 5,000 mi) long and affords some of the best scenery in Britain. The western coast is characterized by cliffs and rocky headlands, especially where the Highlands meet the sea in northwestern Scotland. On the more gentle southern and eastern coasts there are many sand or pebble beaches as well as tall limestone or chalk cliffs, the most famous of which are the White Cliffs of Dover in the southeast. A few islands lie just off of Britain’s coast. The Hebrides, an archipelago of about 500 islands, cover a considerable area along the coast of western Scotland; the isle of Anglesey lies just off the coast of northwestern Wales; and the Isle of Wight is off England’s southern coast. Northern Ireland has a beautiful and rugged coastline and is the location of the famous and unique Giant’s Causeway, an expansive and curious formation of rocks shaped like giant cylinders. E Natural Resources E1 Soils Britain’s soil quality varies greatly. In northern areas the soils are thin, lying right above rock formations, while the south possesses areas of rich loam and heavy clay soils. When handled carefully the soils of eastern and south central England are very productive. While 77 percent of the land in Britain is used for agriculture, only 26 percent of this land is used to grow crops. Almost all of the rest is used as grazing land. E2 Forests and Woodlands Ancient Oak Tree Sherwood forest in central England was formerly a royal forest. It was cleared in the 18th century. Shown here is an oak tree in the forest with props supporting its heavy branches.Robert Estall/CORBIS-BETTMANN Trees grow well and quickly in the heavy soils of England, and for a long time prehistoric settlers did not have tools strong enough to cut down the heavy oak forests. Over the centuries the expanding human population cut back the forests, so that today only 10.7 percent of the United Kingdom is forested, roughly 3 million hectares (6 million acres). In contrast, 25 percent of Europe is forested. Only 8 percent of England is covered by forest, 15 percent of Scotland, 12 percent of Wales, and 6 percent of Northern Ireland. Britain’s forests produce about 15 percent of the total wood the country consumes, and Britain imports substantial amounts of wood and wood products. Efforts have been made in Britain to grow more trees and expand the managed forest areas. Local authorities have the power to protect trees and woodlands. It is an offense to cut down trees without permission, and when trees protected by the government die they must be replaced. National Anthem God Save the Queen The words of the national anthem of Great Britain were first printed in Gentleman’s Magazine in 1745, their author unknown. The composer of the melody to which they are sung is also unknown; interestingly, the same tune is also used for the national anthem of the country of Liechtenstein. The piece was being referred to as Britain’s national anthem by the early 19th century. God Save the Queen (King) God save our gracious Queen, Long live our noble Queen, God save the Queen! Send her victorious, Happy and glorious, Long to reign over us; God save the Queen! O Lord our God arise, Scatter her enemies And make them fall; Confound their politics, Frustrate their knavish tricks, On Thee our hopes we fix, Oh, save us all! Thy choicest gifts in store On her be pleased to pour; Long may she reign; May she defend our laws, And ever give us cause To sing with heart and voice, God save the Queen! Not in this land alone, But be God’s mercies known, From shore to shore! Lord make the nations see, That men should brothers be, And form one family, The wide world over! From every latent foe, From the assassins blow, God save the Queen! O’er her thine arm extend, For Britain’s sake defend, Our mother, prince, and friend, God save the Queen! Rivers and Lakes Since Britain has a moist climate with much rainfall, rivers and lakes are numerous. Rivers in central and eastern Britain tend to flow slowly and steadily all year long because they are fed by the frequent rain. Many have been navigable, and from the earliest times they have served peoples interested in either commerce or invasion. The Highlands act as a divide and determine whether rivers flow west to the Irish Sea or east to the North Sea. Rivers and streams moving westward down from the Highlands tend to be swift and turbulent; rivers flowing eastward tend to be long, graceful, and gentle, with slowly moving waters. The Thames and the Severn are the longest rivers in Britain and are almost equal in length. The Severn flows south out of the mountains of central Wales to the Bristol Channel at Bristol. It is 290 km (180 mi) long. The Thames, 338 km (210 mi) long, flows eastward out of the Cotswold Hills and weaves through the metropolis of London. The Thames provides water to the city of London and is used to carry commercial freight. Other important rivers in England are the Mersey, which enters the Irish Sea at Liverpool; the River Humber on the east coast, into which the Trent River and several other rivers flow; and the Tyne River in northern England, which flows past Newcastle upon Tyne to the North Sea. Thames River, London The Thames River in London is the most important river in England and the main source of London’s water supply.M. Bertinetti/Photo Researchers, Inc. In Scotland the important rivers are the Clyde and the Forth, which are joined by a canal. The River Clyde flows northwest, past Glasgow, and empties into the Atlantic at the Firth of Clyde. (Firth is the Scottish name for an arm of the sea that serves as the broad estuary of a river.) The River Forth flows eastward into the Firth of Forth, where Edinburgh rises on its south bank. The most important rivers in Northern Ireland are the Lagan, the Bann, and the Foyle. Most of the large lakes in the United Kingdom are located in the upland areas of Scotland and northern England, although Lough Neagh in Northern Ireland is the largest lake in the United Kingdom. Loch Lomond, on the southwestern edge of the Highlands of Scotland, is the largest on the island of Great Britain, measuring 37 km (23 mi) long and from 1.6 to 8 km (1 to 5 mi) wide. Lake Windermere is the largest of the 15 major lakes in the famous Lake District of northwestern England. It is about 1.6 km (1 mi) wide and more than 16 km (10 mi) long. Microsoft? Encarta? Encyclopedia 2002. ? 1993-2001 Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved. The Union Jack (Flag)  The Union Jack is a combination (union) of the flags of St George, St Andrew and St Patrick. The flag of St George is white with a red cross. The flag of St Andrew is blue with a white diagonal cross and the flag of St Patrick is white with a red diagonal cross. In 1603 King James VI of Scotland became King James I of England and united England and Scotland under a new flag combining the Cross of St Andrew with the Cross of St George, which the Navy referred to as The Union Jack. In 1801 King George III updated the design when he added the Cross of St Patrick. The flag is normally called the Union Jack because it represents a union of countries ?England, Ireland, and Scotland and Wales (although the current flag does not include a flag from the latter*). The red cross of St George The white cross on a blue background of St Andrew The red diagonal cross of St Patrick *The national flag of Wales is a red dragon on a background of white and green. Wales is not represented in the Union Flag because when the first version of the flag appeared Wales was already united with England, but the Welsh flag is in widespread use throughout that country. II. Climate The U.K. covers a small area of 241 752 km, of which the island of Great Britain (or Britain) takes up the great part of 228 279 km, accounting for over 94% of the total. Britain is under1000 km (about some 600 miles) from the south coast to the extreme north of Scotland and just under 500 km (some 300 miles) across in the widest part. No point in this country is as much as about 120 km from tidal waters. The shores of British Isles, especially the western shores are bathed by a warm drift of water, the North Atlantic Drift which is a continuation of the Gulf Stream. And except for certain periods in the winter, the British Isles lie wholly within the westerly wind belt, which is warmed by the Gulf Steam and made moist by the Atlantic Ocean. The prevailing south westerly winds make Britain much milder than that of many places in the same latitude. The configuration of the Highland Zone in the north and west, and the Lowland Zone in the south and east in Britain, and particularly the existence of numerous inlets, make the penetration inland of oceanic influences extremely effective. So it is not strange that Britain has a temperate, maritime climate, which is damp and warm all the year round and generally doesn’t run to extremes. The temperature is rarely above 32℃ (90℉) or below －10℃. The annual temperature is about 10℃. In Britain, there are no great distinctions among the different seasons. But people can experience four seasons in the course of a single day. Day may break as a balmy spring morning; an hour or so later black clouds may have appeared from nowhere and the rain may be pouring down. At midday conditions may be really wintry with the temperature down by about eight degrees or more centigrade. And then, in the late afternoon the sky will clear, the sun will begin to shine, and for an hour or two before darkness falls, it will be summer. It’s quite safe to say there’s weather instead of climate in Britain. Due to the prevailing moist south---westerly winds, there’s abundant rainfall in Britain. The average rainfall is about 1000 mm. In mountainous areas of the west and north, it reaches more than 1600 mm, but less than 800mm over central and eastern parts. Rain is fairly well distributed throughout the year. In some places there are even over 260 rainy days a year. In England much of the rain comes down as drizzle. Violent storm or wind is not the usual case. The uncertainty about the weather and the constant rain has had a definite effective upon the Englishman’s character. They tend to be cautious and adaptable. It may be strange to a foreigner to see an Englishman setting forth on a brilliantly sunny morning wearing a raincoat and carrying an umbrella. It has been said that one of the reasons why the English colonized so much of the world was that, whatever the weather conditions they met abroad, they had already experienced something like them at home. And the unsteady and changeable weather also provides an unchangeable topic of conversation. Even the most taciturn of Englishmen is always prepared to discuss the weather.  MonthAvg .HighAvg. LowRecord HighRecord LowAvg. Precip. January 42/46° F32/36° F 55.0° F 9.0° F 2.1/2.2 in. February43/46° F32/35° F 63.0° F 7.0°F 1.3/1.4 in. March 47/51° F 34/38° F 68.0° F 19.0° F 1.7/1.8in. April 52/56° F 36/40° F 73.0° F 23.0° F 1.7/1.8 in. May 59/63° F 42/46° F 83.0° F 26.0° F 1.9/2 in. June 65/68° F 48/51° F 91.0° F 34.0° F 1.9/2 in. July 69/73° F 52/55° F 93.0° F 39.0° F 1.7/1.8 in. August 69/72° F 50/54° F 95.0° F 36.0° F 1.9/2 in. September63/67° F 46/50° F 82.0° F 34.0° F 2.1/2.2in. October56/60° F 42/46° F 77.0° F 24.0° F 2.2/2.3in. November48/52° F 36/40° F 63.0° F 18.0° F 2.1/2.2in. December45/48° F 35/38° F 59.0° F 12.0° F 2.2/2.3 in. centigrade = 5 / 9 X(F – 32 ) Fahrenheit = C X 9 / 5 +32 100 F = 37.7C -20F = -28.8 C 1 inch = 2.5399mm