Все об Англии и Лондоне

Jack London

(1876-1916)

Jack London the famous American writer, who reflected the hopes, conflicts, frustrations (разочарование), was born in San Francisco on January 12 1876. His family moved to Oakland where he wrote in his autobiographical “John Barleycorn”. He had quitted school at 14. He started working as his family was very poor. He was a sailor. The experience of a sealing cruise formed the basis of his future sea stories. He was a member of Industrial army later he was arrested for vagrancy(бродяжничество) About the age of 19 he attended Oakland High school for a short time and then had a year at the University of California. He got a job because he has no money to pay his tuition(обучение). In winter 1897 London joined the gold rush to the Klondike. He didn’t find gold but wonderful stories written after returning were based on the life in the North. He had always been an excellent storyteller. He won the first prize, 25$. His first book “The Son of the Wolf” gained a wide audience(завоевать аудиторию). During his short life London wrote fifty books his most popular books are: “The God of His Fathers”, “The Call of the Wild”, “White Fang”, “Martin Eden”, “The War of Classes” and others. He died on November 1916. His books are read everywhere I think Jack London on of the favourite writer among teenagers.

London Places of Interest.

There are a lot of places of in­terest in London. Among them are: Westminster Abbey, Houses of Par­liament, Buckingham Palace, St. Paul's Cathedral, London Bridge, the Tower of London.

London stands on the river Thames. Crossing the river by the Tower Bridge you can see the Tower of London. It is one of the oldest buildings of the city. Many centu­ries ago it was a fortress, a royal pa­lace and then a prison. Now it is a museum of arms.

On the bank of the Thames, not far from the Tower of London, you can see Westminster Palace, or the Houses of Parliament. It is the seat of the British government and it is one of the most beautiful buildings in London. In one of its towers there is the famous Big Ben, the larg­est clock of England. It strikes ev­ery quarter of an hour.

Buckingham Palace is the Queen's official London residence. Tourists always go to see the ceremony of changing the Guard there.

London has many fine squares. Some of them are quiet, others are busy like Trafalgar Square. Tra­falgar Square is the central square of the city. To the right of the square there is the National Gallery which has a fine collection of Europian paintings.

St. Paul's Cathedral is the big­gest English church. Another famous church is Westminster Abbey where kings, queens, and many fa­mous people are burried.

London is also famous for its beautiful parks. Hyde Park is the most democratic park in the world, as anyone can say anything he likes there. Regent's Park is the home of London Zoo.

I'd like to see it all myself.

Sports in Great Britain

Sports plays a large part in British life. The British are proud that many sports originated from their country and then spread throughout the world. The national sports are football, golf, cricket, table tennis, lawn tennis, darts, racing. The most popular sport in Britain is football. Golf is Scotland’ chief contribution to British sport. English people love cricket. Cricket is played in school, colleges, universities, in most towns and villages. Tennis is played by both men and women either in exclusive tennis clubs or on public tennis courts. People all over the world know Wimbledon as the centre of lawn tennis. The Wimbledon championships is held annualy in a southern suburb of London. Englishmen like racing. There are all kinds of racing in England: horse-racing, motor-car racing, boat-racing, dog-racing, donkey-racing. You see all sports are very popular among the British.

The UK of Great Britain and Northern Ireland

The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland (the UK) occupies most of the territory of the British Isles. It consists of four main parts which are: England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland. Their capitals are Lon­don, Edinburgh, Cardiff and Belfast.

The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland is the official name of the state which is sometimes referred to as Great Britain or Britain (after its major isle), England (after its major historic part) or the British Isles.

The UK is an island state: it is composed of some 5,500 islands, large and small. The two main islands are Great Britain (in which are England, Wales and Scotland) to the east and Ireland (in which are Northern Ireland and the independent Irish Republic) to the west. They are separated by the Irish Sea.

The UK is one of the world's smaller countries (it is twice smaller than France or Spain), with an area of some 244,100 square kilometres. The UK is situated off the west coast of Europe between the Atlantic Ocean on the northwest and the North Sea on the east and is separated from the European continent by the English Channel (or La Manche) and the Strait of Dover (or Pas de Calais).

The population of the United Kingdom is over 57 million people. There are fourteen other countries in the world with more people.

English is not the only language which people use in the UK. English is the official language. But some people speak Gaelic in western Scotland, Welsh—in parts of northern and central Wales.

The flag of the United Kingdom, known as the Union Jack, is made up of three crosses.

Great Britain is the name of the largest island of the British Isles and it is made up of England, Scotland and Wales, it does not include Northern Ireland. In everyday speech Great Britain is used to mean the United Kingdom. Geographically, the island of Great Britain is subdivided into two main regions — Lowland Britain and Highland Britain. Lowland Britain comprises southern and eastern England. Highland Britain consists of Scotland, most of Wales, the Pennines, and the Lake District. The Pennine Chain extends southward from the Cheviot Hills into the Midlands, a plains region with low hills and valleys.

England is separated from Scotland by the Cheviot Hills, running from east to west.

The chief rivers of Great Britain are: the Severn, flowing along the border between England and Wales, tributaries of which include the Avon, famed by Shakespeare; the Thames, which flows eastward to the port of London and some others. The swiftest flowing river in the British Isles is the Spey. Part of the border between Scotland and England is along the lower reaches of the Tweed, near which is made the woollen fabric that bears its name.

There are many lakes in Great Britain. On the northwest side of the Pennine system lies the Lake District, containing the beautiful lakes which give it its name. This district is widely known for its association with the history of English literature and especially with the name of William Wordsworth (1770—1859), the founder of the Lake School of poets.

The largest cities of Great Britain are: London, Birmingham, Glasgow, Liverpool, Manchester, Sheffield, Bristol, Leeds, Edin­burgh. The most important ports are: London, Liverpool, Southamp­ton, Belfast, Glasgow and Cardiff.

The United Kingdom is a constitutional monarchy. This means that it has a monarch (a king or a queen) as its Head of State. The monarch reigns with the support of Parliament. The powers of the monarch are not defined precisely. Everything today is done in the Queen's name. It is her government, her armed forces, her law courts and so on. She appoints all the Ministers, including the Prime Minis­ter. Everything is done however on the advice of the elected Government, and the monarch takes no part in the decision-making process.

Once the British Empire included a large number of countries all over the world ruled by Britain. The process of decolonisation began in 1947 with the independence of India, Pakistan and Ceylon. Now, apart from a few small islands, there is no longer an empire. But the British ruling classes tried not to lose influence over the former colonies of the British Empire. An association of former members of the British Empire and Britain was founded in 1949. It is called the Commonwealth. It includes many countries such as Burma, the Sudan, Canada, Australia, New Zealand and others. The Queen of Great Britain is also the Head of the Commonwealth, and so the Queen of Canada, Australia, New Zealand...

The Queen is very rich as are other members of the royal family. In addition, the government pays for her expenses as Head of State, for a royal yacht, train and aircraft as well as for the upkeep of several palaces. The Queen's image appears on stamps, notes and coins.

Parliament consists of two chambers known as the House of Commons and the House of Lords. Parliament and the monarch have different roles in the government of the country, and they only meet together on symbolic occasions such as the coronation of a new monarch or the opening of Parliament. In reality, the House of Commons is the only one of the three which has true power. It is here that new bills are introduced and debated. If the majority of the members are in favour of a bill it goes to the House of Lords to be debated and finally to the monarch to be signed. Only then it becomes law. Although a bill must be supported by all three bodies, the House of Lords only has limited powers, and the monarch has not refused to sign one since the modern political system began over 200 years ago.

UK HOLIDAYS

There are many holidays in Great Britain. The main are Christmas and Bank holidays.

Christmas is celebrated on the 25th of December and symbolizes the birthday of Christ. This day is marked by setting the fur-tree and decorating it with different toys and candles. Children wait for Santa Claus who comes to every house and brings presents. Going to bed chil­dren leave their stockings and shoes to receive presents the next morn­ing. There are a lot of parties orga­nized by people to celebrate this wonderful holiday. Young people like to spend it together in good companies. There are a lot of fun and jokes on that day.

Meeting the New Year Eve is held in family in England. Some people in Scotland go outside and meet New Year on squares singing songs or dancing. The first man coming to you after the New Year Eve may bring you luck, especially if he comes with a piece of bread and coal. Bread symbolizes wealth and coal — warmth. Children like this holiday very much. They go from house to house, sing songs and con­gratulate people. People treat them candies or give them little money.

Bank holidays are celebrated four times a year. This day is the day-off for everybody because all banks and all places of business are closed. Englishmen spend this holiday in the country.

There are also great fairs with a lot of goods for sale, with fun, jokes and choosing the Pearl Queen and King. The Pearl Queen and King are people at the Fair who have the most unusual costume with a lot of pearl buttons on it.

There are many other holidays in Great Bri