England

A photo of England, taken near Big Ben in London (taken from Introverted Expat)

**England** is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The country covers five-eighths of the island of Great Britain, which lies in the North Atlantic, and includes over 100 smaller islands, such as the Isles of Scilly and the Isle of Wight. The area now called England was first inhabited by modern humans during the Upper Paleolithic period, but takes its name from the Angles, a Germanic tribe deriving its name from the Anglia peninsula, who settled during the 5th and 6th centuries. England became a unified state in the 10th century and has had a significant cultural and legal impact on the wider world since the Age of Discovery, which began during the 15th century. The English language, the Anglican Church, and English law—the basis for the common law legal systems of many other countries around the world—developed in England, and the country's parliamentary system of government has been widely adopted by other nations. The Industrial Revolution began in 18th-century England, transforming its society into the world's first industrialised nation.

## Climate

England has a temperate maritime climate: it is mild with temperatures not much lower than 0 °C (32 °F) in winter and not much higher than 32 °C (90 °F) in summer. The weather is damp relatively frequently and is changeable. The coldest months are January and February, the latter particularly on the English coast, while July is normally the warmest month. Months with mild to warm weather are May, June, September and October. Rainfall is spread fairly evenly throughout the year.

Important influences on the climate of England are its proximity to the Atlantic Ocean, its northern latitude and the warming of the sea by the Gulf Stream. Rainfall is higher in the west, and parts of the Lake District receive more rain than anywhere else in the country. Since weather records began, the highest temperature recorded was 38.7 °C (101.7 °F) on 25 July 2019 at the Botanic Garden in Cambridge, while the lowest was −26.1 °C (−15.0 °F) on 10 January 1982 in Edgmond, Shropshire.

## Transport

The Department for Transport is the government body responsible for overseeing transport in England. The department is run by the Secretary of State for Transport. England has a dense and modern transportation infrastructure. There are many motorways in England, and many other trunk roads, such as the A1 Great North Road, which runs through eastern England from London to Newcastle (much of this section is motorway) and onward to the Scottish border. The longest motorway in England is the M6, from Rugby through the North West up to the Anglo-Scottish border, a distance of 232 miles (373 km). Other major routes include: the M1 from London to Leeds, the M25 which encircles London, the M60 which encircles Manchester, the M4 from London to South Wales, the M62 from Liverpool via Manchester to East Yorkshire, and the M5 from Birmingham to Bristol and the South West.

Bus transport across the country is widespread; major companies include Arriva, FirstGroup, Go-Ahead Group, National Express, Rotala and Stagecoach Group. The red double-decker buses in London have become a symbol of England.

National Cycle Route offers cycling routes nationally. There is a rapid transit network in two English cities: the London Underground; and the Tyne and Wear Metro in Newcastle upon Tyne, Gateshead and Sunderland. There are several tram networks, such as the Blackpool tramway, Manchester Metrolink, Sheffield Supertram and West Midlands Metro, and the Tramlink system centred on Croydon in South London.

Great British Railways is a planned state-owned public body that will oversee rail transport in Great Britain from 2023. The Office of Rail and Road is responsible for the economic and safety regulation of England's railways.

Rail transport in England is the oldest in the world: passenger railways originated in England in 1825. Much of Britain's 10,000 miles (16,000 km) of rail network lies in England, covering the country fairly extensively, although a high proportion of railway lines were closed in the second half of the 20th century. There are plans to reopen lines such as the Varsity Line between Oxford and Cambridge. These lines are mostly standard gauge (single, double or quadruple track) though there are also a few narrow gauge lines. There is rail transport access to France and Belgium through an undersea rail link, the Channel Tunnel, which was completed in 1994.

Crossrail, under construction in London, is Europe's largest construction project with a £15 billion projected cost. High Speed 2, a new high-speed north–south railway line, projected in 2015 to cost £56 billion is to start being built in 2020. England has extensive domestic and international aviation links. The largest airport is Heathrow, which is the world's busiest airport measured by number of international passengers. Other large airports include Gatwick, Manchester, Stansted, Luton and Birmingham. By sea there is ferry transport, both local and international, including from Liverpool to Ireland and the Isle of Man, and Hull to the Netherlands and Belgium. There are around 4,400 miles (7,100 km) of navigable waterways in England, half of which is owned by the Canal & River Trust, however, water transport is very limited. The River Thames is the major waterway in England, with imports and exports focused at the Port of Tilbury in the Thames Estuary, one of the United Kingdom's three major ports.

## Leisure

### Food and drink

Traditional examples of English food include the Sunday roast, featuring a roasted joint (usually beef, lamb, chicken or pork) served with assorted vegetables, Yorkshire pudding and gravy. Other prominent meals include fish and chips and the full English breakfast (generally consisting of bacon, sausages, grilled tomatoes, fried bread, black pudding, baked beans, mushrooms and eggs). Various meat pies are consumed, such as steak and kidney pie, steak and ale pie, cottage pie, pork pie (usually eaten cold) and the Cornish pasty.

Sausages are commonly eaten, either as bangers and mash or toad in the hole. Lancashire hotpot is a well-known stew originating in the northwest. Some of the more popular cheeses are Cheddar, Red Leicester, Wensleydale, Double Gloucester and Blue Stilton. Many Anglo-Indian hybrid dishes, curries, have been created, such as chicken tikka masala and balti. Traditional English dessert dishes include apple pie or other fruit pies; spotted dick – all generally served with custard; and, more recently, sticky toffee pudding. Sweet pastries include scones (either plain or containing dried fruit) served with jam or cream, dried fruit loaves, Eccles cakes and mince pies as well as a wide range of sweet or spiced biscuits. Common non-alcoholic drinks include tea, the popularity of which was increased by Catherine of Braganza, and coffee; frequently consumed alcoholic drinks include wine, ciders and English beers, such as bitter, mild, stout and brown ale.

### Arts and Literature

In 2017, The Culture Trip noted that Natural History Museum was the best museum to visit in England. Citing that it had *"hundreds of fascinating exhibits, including dinosaur skeletons and fossils, a mind-blowing blue whale skeleton, and the Darwin Centre, where you can see hundreds of specimens and hear talks from scientists"* and was free to get in to. The Royal Society for Arts, Manufactures and Commerce (RSA) is a London-based organisation committed to finding practical solutions to social challenges. Founded in 1754 by William Shipley as the Society for the Encouragement of Arts, Manufactures and Commerce, it was granted a Royal Charter in 1847, and the right to use the term "Royal" in its name by King Edward VII in 1908. The shorter name (The Royal Society of Arts) and the related RSA acronym are used more frequently than the full name. Notable past fellows include Charles Dickens, Benjamin Franklin, Stephen Hawking, Karl Marx, Nelson Mandela, David Attenborough, William Hogarth. Today, the RSA has fellows elected from 80 countries worldwide. The top 3 most visited museums in 2019 (before COVID-19) were cited to be in London: British Museum, Tate Modern, and National Gallery.

The Victorian Period of English Literature is named for the reign of Queen Victoria *(1832–1901)*, who ascended to the throne in 1837, and it lasts until her death in 1901. It was a time of great social, religious, intellectual, and economic issues, heralded by the passage of the Reform Bill, which expanded voting rights. The period has often been divided into “Early” (1832–1848), “Mid” (1848–1870) and “Late” (1870–1901) periods or into two phases, that of the Pre-Raphaelites (1848–1860) and that of Aestheticism and Decadence (1880–1901). The Victorian period is in strong contention with the Romantic period for being the most popular, influential, and prolific period in all of English (and world) literature. Poets of this time include Robert and Elizabeth Barrett Browning, Christina Rossetti, Alfred Lord Tennyson, and Matthew Arnold, among others. Thomas Carlyle, John Ruskin, and Walter Pater were advancing the essay form at this time. Finally, prose fiction truly found its place under the auspices of Charles Dickens, Charlotte and Emily Bronte, Elizabeth Gaskell, George Eliot (Mary Ann Evans), Anthony Trollope, Thomas Hardy, William Makepeace Thackeray, and Samuel Butler. The best known English writers include but are not limited to Jane Austen, Charles Dickens, George Orwell *(pen name of Eric Blair)*, William Shakespeare, George Eliot, C.S. Lewis, and Virginia Woolf. Government regulations issued in 2015 set the boundaries for the GCSE *(General Certificate of Secondary Education)* curriculum. They stated that students must study: one text by William Shakespeare, a selection of poetry since 1789; including representative Romantic poetry, a 19th-century novel and a British play or novel written after 1914. These are the guidelines that exam boards use to set their syllabuses.

## Sports

Sport in England plays a prominent role in English society. Popular teams sports in England include football, field hockey, cricket, rugby union, rugby league, and netball. Major individual sports include badminton, athletics, tennis, boxing, golf, cycling, motorsport and horseracing. Cricket is regarded as the national summer sport. Association football is the most popular sport, followed by Cricket, Tennis and Rugby. A number of modern sports were codified in England during the nineteenth century, among them cricket, rugby union, rugby league, football, field hockey, squash, tennis, and badminton. The game of baseball was first described in 18th century England.

## References

1. ↑ Introverted Expat — "Living in England: Pros and Cons". Published 19 March 2019.
2. ↑ Trip Savvy — "Top 20 Most Popular UK Cities for International Visitors". Published 4 April 2021.
3. ↑ Statista — "Total population of the United Kingdom (UK) from 2015 to 2025". Published 6 January 2021.
4. ↑ 4.0 4.1 Difference Between — "Difference Between GMT and BST". Published Retrieved 22 June 2021.
5. ↑ Alison Hudson for British Library — "How was the kingdom of England formed?". Published Retrieved 22 June 2021.
6. ↑ The Culture Trip — "The 10 Best Museums in England". Published 31 July 2017.
7. ↑ ALVA — "VISITS MADE IN 2019 TO VISITOR ATTRACTIONS IN MEMBERSHIP WITH ALVA". Published Retrieved 22 June 2021.
8. ↑ ThoughtCO — "A Brief Overview of British Literary Periods". Published 3 February 2020.
9. ↑ Discover Walks — "Top 10 most popular British writers". Published 26 August 2020.
10. ↑ No Sweat Shakespeare — "English Authors: The 10 Best English Writers". Published Retrieved 22 June 2021.
11. ↑ Alice Vincent for Penguin — "Who decides which books you study in school?". Published 18 March 2021.